What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?
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I unsubscribed from Sam Harris, after he once again raised his prices, while removing his "free subscription for those who can't afford it, and ask nicely" option. I had always been paying full freight, but his podcast has been becoming less and less interesting to me. I had been skipping most episodes. I was curious about his episode with Douglas Murray, after Murray's embarrassing showing on Rogan's show with the libertarian guy who wasn't all-in for Israel. To not be able to admit that Murray's arguments from authority were weak to the point of cringe, sealed the deal for me. I'm impressed by Sam's personal loyalties, but I prefer to listen to someone capable of honesty even in the face of that.
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I never saw the Rogan episode. But I did hear Murray say that the ‘have you ever been there’ remark was a very specific response to a comment the other guy made about what Gaza was like before the war, and not a more generalized argument from authority. Is that not an accurate representation in your view? Again I never saw it.
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I never saw the Rogan episode. But I did hear Murray say that the ‘have you ever been there’ remark was a very specific response to a comment the other guy made about what Gaza was like before the war, and not a more generalized argument from authority. Is that not an accurate representation in your view? Again I never saw it.
@jon-nyc said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
I never saw the Rogan episode. But I did hear Murray say that the ‘have you ever been there’ remark was a very specific response to a comment the other guy made about what Gaza was like before the war, and not a more generalized argument from authority. Is that not an accurate representation in your view? Again I never saw it.
First, that was not the only manner in which Murray argued from authority, while desperately wriggling around pretending that he wasn't arguing from authority. But for him to frame it like Dave Smith (the libertarian) said something which required that he had been there, only to be exposed as never having been there, is not accurate.
The whole premise that experts need to tell everybody else what to think about Israel / Palestine is garbage on its face, laughable actually. Who's the expert, and by what measure? is there a test one can take for knowledge of the excruciating details of the conflict, and whomever scores highest on that test, gets to tell everybody else the exact moral valence of the actions taken by both sides? It's just a ridiculous premise. Like it's impossible to find someone who meets some arbitrary threshold of knowledge about some arbitrarily detailed information about the conflict, but who takes any given side in the moral argument.
The most ridiculous aspect of Murray's attitude was to smarm all over the discussion about how certain people really shouldn't be expressing opinions, then face-planting when those exact people sitting right next to him ask him to explain why their specific opinions are so obviously wrong. Murray rarely had a satisfying answer. If one's expertise and experience and first hand knowledge can't be brought to bear with words in a discussion, then the claim of expertise and experience and first hand knowledge, is embarrassing garbage. And that was Murray in that debate.
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I like to read and listen to reasonably smart people with whom I disagree on an issue.
With respect to Israel, Sam Harris ain't the guy to listen to. He's taken the position that Islam=BAD, thus Israel=GOOD. Nuance, critical thinking=BAD.
Students protesting Israel's actions = clearly delusional, misinformed, and antisemitic.
"Gee, Sam - have you explored any of the videos or written evidence by the International Criminal Court, Amnesty International, etc. documenting IDF atrocities? You know, things that those ill-informed students watch?
SH - "don't need to... Here's Douglas Murray who saw Gaza - at the invitation of the IDF. Have you been gone to Gaza? - Best, of all, he agrees with everything I want to believe. And he's not Jewish - so therefore, he's independent and credible."
And this from the guy who claims he values truth. I have little doubt that if the IDF were to gas all of the inhabitants of Gaza, Harris would argue that it brought peace to the Middle East - and ultimately saved lives.
He used to say that he didn't want to invite pro-MAGA people on because they would invent facts. Well, why not invite one of the noted Israeli scholars who argue that Israel has been pursuing a land grab for decades - and uses pretenses to achieve its goals - Norman Finkelstein has studied this for over 30 years. He's pretty up on the facts. There are numerous other Israeli scholars who could argue point as well.
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More post-mortem on Murray's appearance on Rogan, from some relatively serious thinkers:
Link to video
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Aporia has a podcast, I think it may be subscriber only. I subscribe through their substack. https://www.aporiamagazine.com/
It's lots of third-rail genetic intelligence stuff, be warned. One of the guys in the above video is an ex-professor who got fired for talking about that stuff.
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Youtube is a podcast app if you pay for a youtube subscription, and the podcast is a video podcast available there. You can shut off your screen and the audio will still play. Youtube reserves that functionality for subscribers. Also add-free, which is a necessity for me.
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Zohran Mamdani is behind only Cuomo in the NYC mayoral race. He’s a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and, oddly enough, was interviewed on Bloomberg’s (the company not the man) Odd Lots podcast.
It’s strange because Odd Lots is a professional markets podcast with a largely professional markets audience.
All of this guy’s policies suck, from adding more Halal food carts to his re-branded Defund the Police (he talks about creating a sister organization of social service types) to government run grocery stores to sell subsidized produce.
Having said all that he is good at engaging the audience and can handle unfriendly interviewers pretty well, not unlike Mayor Pete in that regard.
While he doesn’t seem like he could win he could be a spoiler - if he loses the Dem primary (as expected) he could still get on the ballot as DSA and create a four way race between him, Cuomo, Adams, and whomever the GOP runs.
