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No, silence isn’t violence; it’s just that here at Ricochet, we’d like to hear what you’ve got to say. As is our wont, we’ve got a few freethinkers to join Rob and James this week – unfortunately Peter is away. First up is Matthew Continetti of The Washington Free Beacon. He’s here to talk about the bewildering politics in a time of competing counter-cultures where both sides think they’re losing.
Next up, Nathan Harden, author of Sex and God at Yale, who in 2012 foresaw how political correctness was suffocating education. More recently, his work at Real Clear Politics has highlighted the literally-dumbfounding phenomenon of self-censorship on campuses. Is the death of free speech inevitable? You’ll have to listen to find out!
And on that note: Rob and James chat about Dave Chappelle’s latest brush with the many “theys”; banter some about both sides-ism, and find common ground on the value of occasionally shutting up – if only for a few moments.
Music from this week’s podcast: Fight The Power by Public Enemy
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In my experience on Ricochet, only Omega Paladin and John Walker like science.
Others have made the two points I wanted to make, so I’ll just second them here.
First, kudos to James for being James. I like Continetti, think he’s probably a good (and funny) guy, and appreciate what he does for conservatism. I don’t understand why he thinks there’s any significant symmetry between left and right extremism in our institutions, and I appreciated James pushing back on that. Continetti strikes me as neither naïve nor fearful, and so I wonder what motivates him to make what seems like an obviously mistaken assertion.
Secondly, yes, Rob hit a clinker with his 57:20: “I guess I’m more worried about the chilling effect on science and research. We’ll all be fine if we don’t see Lawrence Olivia’s Othello.” That’s a bit sanguine for my tastes, but then that’s Rob. (And I’ll give him back one point for suggesting, a few minutes later, that higher education makes less practical sense than it once did, and many would be better off going to a community or tech school and going out and getting a job.) My impression is that Rob made his fortune in the cultural space, and not the science space.
Maybe he figures the next young Rob Long, when told the cultural space is off limits to people who think unapproved thoughts, will simply learn to code.
You are such a nut.
That may be getting more problematic. Education in useful trades seems to be dwindling. I don’t know about community colleges, but the high school I went to was recently remodeled and expanded. According to my youngest brother who still lives in the area, the facilities for wood shop, metal shop, etc, are gone. I guess maybe they needed more classroom space for Critical Race Theory?
Ohhhhh, I get it! LOL Maybe he is just slow on the uptake like me :)
Most companies I have applied with for the last few years are proud of the fact that they only hire Bachelor or above. Nobody else need to apply. This may be as low as for bank teller position.
Continetti seems to live is a different universe than most of us do.
For a bank teller that might actually be wise, since they apparently don’t teach simple math in High School any more. Hopefully they learn some in college.
If my wife’s recent retooling by going back and getting her BA and MBA is indication this time is not wasted on stuff like accounting or math but much more about grievance studies and progressive activism.
How can one recommend Ricochet to others when we hear such an embarrassing opening segment today. We get Continetti bashing Christian beliefs and Long calling Republicans anti- science. This is boring. And the constant Covid talk is also boring. We’ve all made up our minds about vaccines and masks Rob, get over it. Get some people from the middle of the country. I live in Texas and tire of hearing from people on the coasts.
I’ll toss this in here, just for giggles:
And while I’m wound up, I also tire of Rob talking about the vaccines as a triumph of capitalism or the free market or something. Moderna was a failure until they glommed onto the government teet. And typical of government, they are under no threat of responsibility for their failures.
And wasn’t Rob among the “vaccine hesitant” until it became the Biden Vaccine?
I would be surprised. I don’t recall hearing Rob (who is a COVID Survivor) being other than enthusiastic about the vaccines. I disagree with Rob about a lot, but casual hypocrisy isn’t a trait I’ve noticed in him.
Context is important.
Almost everyone I talk to believes in creationism or conspiracy theories.
Couldn’t agree more re: Rob and that Othello line, which was chilling. But I think it speaks volumes about how a certain strain of conservative views the arts and higher education – – yes, even someone like Rob who, as you just indicated, has made his living in the arts. Such people tend to view education and art as important but not, y’know, that important. “You gotta learn to navigate!” such people say. “Navigate! Just tell the commissars whatever they wanna hear! Navigate!”
So as every film, stage play and TV show goes Woke (as most of them have now), well, in the minds of the navigators, c’est la vie. ”Losing that stuff is a big deal,” they say, “but not, y’know, a huuuge deal. And we‘ve got bigger fish to fry. We have to try and stay focused on economics and the ballot box! So as far as the arts are concerned: Navigate!”
Sigh.
We are in such trouble…
It never made sense to me that in the novel “Lucifer’s Hammer” one of the characters went to great trouble to secrete various books – sealed in plastic – in a septic tank. But it might make sense in the current situation.
How does a conspiracy theory become a generally accepted fact. You wait six months.
Among “liberal” Europeans, Orbán is one of those ogres who, if they did not exist, would have to be invented. He is so very “safe” to curse.
Rob Long mentions Chaucer…Many decades ago I once impressed a young lady (I was at the time young myself) by reeling off from memory the first dozen or so lines from the beginning of the Canterbury Tales–in Middle English, of course. At the time, I thought that such was more or less common knowledge. It wasn’t–even then…It is easy to become confused about the “ideals” of education. On the one hand, we want to believe (and I still believe) in broad common knowledge, in what in German is called Allgemeinbildung, in a shared culture, one that includes Chaucer. On the other hand, we are aware that knowledge and culture do not remain static. On the one hand, we want everyone to be “educated”; on the other, we want our kids to know more than other kids and thus land well-paying jobs…Learning Middle English (which is much less of a challenge than, say, Anglo-Saxon) leads one to appreciate something of the history of English. Reading the Wife of Bath may induce thoughtful reflections about feminism–and a mellow sense of irony. Alas, I rather doubt that many parents think about such as they shell out tens of thousands of dollars for the racket that is now “higher ed.”
I was gratified to hear the discussion at the end of this podcast that gently refutes Matthew Continetti’s “equivalency.” He makes much the same argument in a National Review article.
I have “liberal” American friends who, when asked about, oh, let us say, AOC, Antifa, or CRT, are flustered and even offended at the mere question. I have yet to speak to a single American conservative who is anything but forthright in condemning the January 6 riot.
If anyone has abandoned Ricochet because Rob Long is no fan of Donald Trump, I can only sigh: Look at what you are missing! Looking forward to what I hope will be a three-way discussion next week!
People should be able to develop their human capital any way they want at a fair price. What isn’t true about that statement?
Great, link to the CDC. I don’t trust the CDC. They have failed us as public health stewards – from masks to lockdowns to vaccines. They continue to peddle fear to keep control of us. Pushing vaccines and masks on children is psychotic, if not criminal.
I also usually enjoy the show more when Peter is there.
When Rob made his comment about people abandoning Ricochet because of Rob’s opinions, my thought was that Rob abandoned Ricochet for the same reason — abandoned in the sense that he doesn’t participate in the conversation.
It is odd that he shills for something he never participates in.
It makes sense economically: he has an investment, and it makes sense to promote that investment. And, of course, it’s a free country: he can participate or not.
My own view is that Ricochet would benefit if we all would strive for a bit more viewpoint humility, and work harder at getting along. Then even people who held outlier positions — people like Rob — could feel safe here.
He created – or at least helped to create via funding or just reputation – something that wound up largely (among the membership) disagreeing with him. Who knows, he might consider us his “Frankenstein’s Monster.”
Rob never bothered me until a short time a few weeks ago. It just isn’t that big of a deal to me.
It does make for an interesting situation, doesn’t it? You get the idea for a place where conservatives can gather to form a pleasant online community. You partner with the least confrontational guy you know, a fellow who makes Gandi look like a brawler, a man whose sweater is more likely to express a harsh opinion than he is, and figure you have the foundation for that civil center-right virtual café you seek. But evolving circumstances create stresses you couldn’t anticipate, the right fragments along unseen cultural fault lines — and suddenly you’re part-owner of a den dominated by populist loudmouths who shout you down when you dare criticize their scrappy and very imperfect leader.
Your hoped-for salon has become a tailgate party at a NASCAR race. You don’t fit in. But, still, it’s an investment — and it’s your continuing participation in the great debate. So you soldier on, you keep flogging the enterprise on your very civil podcast (where everyone hopes you don’t say something that will too tick off the volatile hoi polloi of paying membership), and you use your considerable charm and verbal skills to promote a forum that you hope will someday grow up and reflect your own more urbane sophistication — or at least not sound like a bunch of rednecks from Flyover, USA.
It’s all kind of fun, really.
And, I will add that Rob looked better on last week’s Gutfeld show than he did for his previous appearance.
It’s understandable not trusting the CDC, but the CDC is part of HHS and HHS runs and maintains VAERS database. So if you don’t trust the CDC, then you shouldn’t be using the VAERS database to make points about the efficacy of the vaccinations. Because you can’t cherry pick your data.