I just listened to Sam Harris' podcast about recent protests over George Floyd's death and the BLM movement in general. I have to say he challenged many of my own preconceived notions about what the movement means—especially my perception that police brutality against blacks has reached epidemic proportions. Sam Harris is an excellent thinker and will likely challenge your beliefs, whether you're coming from the left or the right.

I highly recommend listening to the podcast, though it's pretty long and you'll have to subscribe to listen to the full version. If money is an issue, there's a way to subscribe for free.

https://samharris.org/subscriber-extras ... ack-brink/

Also a nod to Dexter, who mentioned Sam Harris' podcast in an earlier thread.

https://www.booktalk.org/post171034.htm ... is#p171034

I had forgotten to check in on Harris about all this.

I don't agree with Harris on all things of course but some of his political views are spot on, IMO.

Thanks for posting this. I will be sure to give it a listen.

I wouldn't mind paying for podcasts if the cost is reasonable and there's no advertising. Harris is good at challenging thinking. I'm curious whether he believes BLM isn't based on reason solely because police violence against blacks doesn't constitute a true epidemic. There could still be a good justification for that movement. I'll just have to listen to find out where he's coming from.

DWill wrote:I wouldn't mind paying for podcasts if the cost is reasonable and there's no advertising. Harris is good at challenging thinking. I'm curious whether he believes BLM isn't based on reason solely because police violence against blacks doesn't constitute a true epidemic. There could still be a good justification for that movement. I'll just have to listen to find out where he's coming from.

The title of this thread doesn't really summarize the podcast very well. Harris is very careful to say that George Floyd's death and others are horrific events and that reform of police departments is definitely a priority. He never says that the BLM movement isn't justified, only that there are some highly irrational aspects. For example, the move to defund the police is highly irrational and the looting and violence only diminishes the possibilities for meaningful change. He says there's definitely systemic racism in our country and provides several examples of it. But if I understand Harris correctly, as far police arrests and shootings, the data doesn't really point to racism. We have a lot of cops who simply aren't adequately trained for the job. Video clips of police brutality against blacks are highly publicized, but don't represent the norm. Above all, the picture of race is complicated.

These are only a few of Harris' points. The podcast is more than 90 minutes long and well worth the time, in my opinion. Harris is really an exceptional speaker.