Comments by "justgivemethetruth" (@justgivemethetruth) on "Can We Pull Back From The Brink? (Episode #207)" video.

26:00 - "Giving a monopoly on violence to the state is just about the best thing we have ever done as a species. It ranks right up there with keeping our shit out of our food" LOL, LOVE IT. I love Sam Harris when he nails it like this, and is funny at the same time. I am not so much enamored with some of the things he said here, but it is a very good podcast with a lot to think about. Thanks SH!
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> being fully aware beforehand that they are going to be cynically misinterpreted Yeah, Sam really makes a huge effort to explain and facilitate discussion, but sometimes his points should be tossed back.
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I'd say that Sam is in the wrong universe here, from the perspective of African American demonstrators and rioters.( and even white people joining them ) in that this is about acknowledgement and respect, it is emotional, and not invalid. Maybe Sam's numbers are true or not, but it doesn't matter because this is about perception and what is shown and acknowledged in the media.
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26:00 - "Giving a monopoly on violence to the state is just about the best thing we have ever done as a species. It ranks right up there with keeping our SSSS out of our food" LOL, I love Sam Harris when he nails it like this, and is funny at the same time. I am not so much enamored with some of the things he said here - I completely disagree with what I think is his point, but it is an interesting podcast with a lot to think about.
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The problem is that every time this discussion comes up for black people ... and I am white so take this as a guess from my point of view. black people get schooled on how they should be behave and what they should expect, and the implication is that only when they accept and bend to the white man's law - then maybe they will be treated right. There is a lot of good stuff to think about in this podcast. I just heard it today on a hike, but it is too bad this is not a dialog. For instance about the time Michael Brown was killed it came out that the country doesn't keep track of stuff like this. I don't know what data Harris was talking about, but there is a lot wrong from making such conclusions without a really deep dive into that data with skepticism. It is the 21st century ... why do we thing the government either doesn't track this stuff or doesn't release the information to the public. Everyone is always talking about us losing our democracy, but we've never had a democracy and cannot have a democracy without and informed public, and to have an informed public and the honest keeping of certain metrics and measurements about the society, economy, justice system, etc. There are so many hundreds of ways rich people cheat regular people, and the black minority and African Americans are on the bottom of that - and though we talk about it endlessly nothing happens and in fact in many ways its worse. Some democrat ... I think it was either Yang or Booker made the points in the democratic debates about how for whites their wealth grows by compounding, but the crimes and oppression compounds over time as well. All the quibbling about the facts does is to make people realize again they are trying to ignore the problem.
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Just as a curiosity, I wonder if viewers would mind replying to this comment explaining to me what they think the major thesis was in this long-winded and meandering essay? If you can sum up in one line what Harris was trying to convey, that would be great. Then, if you want, maybe explain how Sam's thesis here compares in importance and relevance to what is going in with Black Lives Matter and police shootings ... optional for extra credit. I hear Sam trying to bring up a lot of numbers that he and most of us know are not very good numbers, i.e. the USA for some reason does not track, analyze and publish the results of these numbers. But even if they were accurate numbers, can you really just use numbers to try to interpret the character and result of police violence?
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Good question, but I think the issue you raise really shows the thinness of the numbers her. During the Michael Brown thing I remember looking into the numbers and statistics thing and was amazed that the government kept virtually no national stats on police performance. This is part of the war on democracy because without metrics, and good solid understandable metrics how can anyone really know what is going on to be a good citizen?
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25:54 - "but if you think a society without cops" is what the hell people mean when they say Defund The Police you are trying make an foolish straw argument and manipulate your listeners.
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@DanHoelck even with it sometimes.
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@soguelite You mean you are willing to give up your freedom to use violence? You are still free to use violence, but you will have to face the consequences if you do.
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After hearing so many interesting podcast from SH, I turned a friend of mine on to him, jsut as this fookin lame ass video came out, and now they think I am an idiot. Thanks Sam for this stupid rant that I cannot imagine where you came up with this POV other than you have right-wing supporters than you need to placate. Not that there is not some good comments in here, but the general conclusion and tone is very bad.
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