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Discussion > Rationalist Black American Economist explains Alarmists mentality

@David Jones) posted a link to an extraordinary, Thomas Sowell video On Youtube so you can see the comments)

- His output on Climate is basically : "it's hysteria'
But some of insights of him and his supporters about anti-libertarians do crossover into explaiming the alarmists mentality.

- I'd like to see a debunk of him.
Cos otherwise he comes across he comes across as the Black guy who SHOULD be president.
- An old black academic from Harlem, saying things that would be dismissed if the normal old white guy said them.

Jan 23, 2015 at 7:01 AM | Registered Commenterstewgreen

Firstly a couple of quotes from his supporters on Youtube

"they'd dismiss you out of hand, label you as evil and/or misinformed and carry on with their narrative.
..It's not about dealing with reality, it's about ego."

"Probably the last sane black voice left on American TV. No wonder he gets nearly zero air time on the mainstream media. While race hustlers like Sharpton are on daily "

Dr Sowell's book on "Basic Economics", it's amazing. It makes Economics accessible to the common people.

Jan 23, 2015 at 7:08 AM | Registered Commenterstewgreen

Some things he says in the video of December 2014

- Basically said 'I was a Marxist it was a SIMPLE NARRATIVE that simply gave me all the answers I wanted'
'then I realised that reality was more complex'
(parallel of having a simple CAGW narrative ?)

'that the gov in trying to help people, screws markets'
then he showed several examples

eg 'bankers are evil is one narrative'
'but truth is the root is that, the gov forced banks to lend to poor people who couldn't afford it'

That the Great Depression was probably prolonged by Roosevelt's "spend our way ou of it" plan.
(Ironically this is a Hoover Institution podcast and President Hoover was replaced by Roosevelt cos the voters believed this plan )

Why does he believe modern African American leaders cause more harm than good
..and how was Martin Luther King different ?
cos at the beginning movements (like the church) are true
BUT then the movement becomes corrupted by the self serving interests. (Green movement ?)

(well how do you keep.that from happening ?)
(We Climate skeptics are uncorrupt aren't we ?)

about black & white poor in general.
'problem is self pity is tolerated'

His conclusion is "doing nothing is the hardest but right thing to do"
"Governments should largely just enforce laws, not try to engineer society" ...

Read the comments under the video

The Powerline Blog had more background

The Hoover Institution page for the video has even more comments

Jan 23, 2015 at 7:16 AM | Registered Commenterstewgreen

Some of his quotes :

If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 60 years ago, a liberal 30 years ago and a racist today.

It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.

If people in the media cannot decide whether they are in the business of reporting news or manufacturing propaganda, it is all the more important that the public understand that difference, and choose their news sources accordingly.

Education is not merely neglected in many of our schools today, but is replaced to a great extent by ideological indoctrination.

Liberals seem to assume that, if you don't believe in their particular political solutions, then you don't really care about the people that they claim to want to help.

The problem isn't that Johnny can't read. The problem isn't even that Johnny can't think. The problem is that Johnny doesn't know what thinking is; he confuses it with feeling.

Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three decades, has been a history of replacing what worked with what sounded good.

there's dozens more quotes

Jan 23, 2015 at 7:26 AM | Registered Commenterstewgreen

OK more quotes
(Think of the children ! Those skeptics should shut up & be banned from the BBC)
"A moral monopoly is the antithesis of a marketplace of ideas."

(BBC Diversity fetish)
The next time some academics tell you how important diversity is, ask how many Republicans there are in their sociology department.

Those who cry out that the government should 'do something' never even ask for data on what has actually happened when the government did something, compared to what actually happened when the government did nothing.
(CO2 Mitigation ?)

Jan 23, 2015 at 7:43 AM | Registered Commenterstewgreen

Here is one of my favourite quotes (not Thomas Sowell) -

"When it is not necessary to make a decision, it is necessary not to make a decision"

which has now become -

"When it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change"

Jan 23, 2015 at 10:45 AM | Unregistered CommenterDavid Jones

But similar patterns can be found in England, where the white underclass seems to be stuck at the bottom, while low-income, non-white immigrant children outperform them in schools, just as Asian immigrant children outperform black underclass children in America.

http://www.torontosun.com/2014/03/22/immigrants-dont-blame-society--and-they-succeed

Lot's more

http://www.torontosun.com/author/thomas-sowell

Jan 24, 2015 at 12:43 AM | Unregistered Commenterclipe

lots not lot's

Jan 24, 2015 at 12:54 AM | Unregistered Commenterclipe

When it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change
Viscount Falkland (1610-1643)

Jan 24, 2015 at 3:50 PM | Registered CommenterMike Jackson

Here's his opinion of the subject of special interest to this blog...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rweblFwt-BM
...which proves he's just another right-wing nut :-)

Feb 1, 2015 at 7:51 PM | Unregistered CommenterDave Salt

Thomas Sowell is one deep thinker who is not afraid to engage with topical issues. Not long after the first Climategate revelations, he showed he was also on the ball when it came to climate sacremongering: Thomas Sowell: Global Warming Manufactured by Intellectuals?: http://youtu.be/rweblFwt-BM where of course 'global warming' here denotes the scaremongering and not the platitude.

Feb 1, 2015 at 9:13 PM | Registered CommenterJohn Shade

Dave Salt: I presume that you were just trying to be ironic... I do hope you are not suggesting that we really should be taking such wisdom with a pinch of... erm... salt?

Feb 2, 2015 at 12:53 PM | Registered CommenterRadical Rodent

Rodie - didnt you notice the smiley?

It would be worth somebody's time to transcribe the Global Warming bit of the interview to make it available in text form.

Feb 2, 2015 at 1:33 PM | Registered CommenterMartin A

RR, the answer is 'yes' (to the former, not the latter :-)

Feb 2, 2015 at 2:43 PM | Unregistered CommenterDave Salt

Martin A: well, yes. But, ironically, even a smiley could be used in an ironic way...erm, ironically. /-|

Feb 2, 2015 at 3:23 PM | Registered CommenterRadical Rodent

@Martin .. There is a transcript tool built into Youtube. In desktop mode click on the MORE button in the middle of screen below the video

Feb 3, 2015 at 1:07 AM | Registered Commenterstewgreen

stewgreen - You live and learn. Thanks I'll give it a try. Previously, I have downloaded a video and then used a video player that makes stopping and starting easy.

Feb 3, 2015 at 4:21 PM | Registered CommenterMartin A