In this episode of The Glenn Show, I’m talking to David E. Kaiser, author of many books about American and international political history. As a distinguished professional historian, David has seen many changes in the way history is written both inside and outside the academy, not all of them for the better. In this conversation, David talks about why
I appreciate how you converse with Daniel B and then David to help us hear the various sides and can conclude for ourselves in community with you, Glenn. Thank you so much for what you do. David made some corrections on Daniel B's flawed observations about the Cold War that I suspected but now better understand.
Glenn - I listened to your colleague, Russ Roberts, podcast today. He had on Arnold Kling who mentioned his idea of an Intellectual Fantasy team. You were mentioned and I nodded in agreement.
This podcast is proof positive of why you would be the Patrick Mahomes of intellectual fantasy players. You are eloquently restate you interviewee's position for clarity. You provide the counter point in a way that its proponent would agree with, and let your guest address it. You ask pointed and thoughtful questions.
Too tired to go into the delusions expressed today. Maybe never get around to it.
But they were commenting on the Great Awokening and M. Pinker said:
"But organizations like Heterodox Academy, the Academic Freedom Alliance, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, Counterweight. The people who believe in freedom of inquiry, and freedom of thought, really do have to organize and push back..." against the Academy.
That'd be nice to see. Why DOESN"T this happen?
At same time, I believe it's wildly underestimating how entrenched it is in the Universities, right? Seems to me it's time to be thinking how to get the "silent majority" of everyday people to be more visible and outspoken. Any ideas?
A review of Black popular culture in the 1930's shows that Roosevelt and the New Deal were very popular among Blacks. Guido van Rijn's book Roosevelt Blues - African American Blues and Gospel cites over 100 recordings that mention Roosevelt. Most of these are very positive. This book was developed from van Rijn's dissertation:
One of these recordings was by Rev. JM Gates, who had about 200 recordings of his sermons. Gates was as popular as Bessie Smith and Leroy Carr had been:
Both of these recordings talk about Sylvester Harris, A Black man in Mississippi who appealed directly to FDR when he was about to lose his farm to foreclosure. The Chicago Defender also has articles on Sylvester Harris.
Yet another wonderful discussion with clearly a very sensitive, honest man who loves humanity. It is great to hear, just as it is when reading Thomas Sowell is to read,
the history of a group of people which is all too often separated from it’s context in a wider world. It not only contextualizes but also allows us to see with greater clarity
the actual real examples of policies in the military and in other areas which were determined by race as well as to see those where race played no factor. I feel sorry
for young people who are growing up in this ahistorical era as they are ignorant of (and possibly not curious enough to seek information) that in the era of slavery public
punishments such as whipping were used throughout the British Isles and of course other countries, this was not unusual and the fact that it has become associated purely
with slavery is a tragic distortion which quite naturally leads misinformed people to consider themselves uniquely persecuted. As Sowell points out the number of slaves
plundered FROM Europe TO Africa far out weighs the trans-Atlantic trade, he also describes (though FAR from ideal)how much better it was in terms of living conditions to be a slave than to be Irish in the 19th century. The “bloody codes” (again from the UK) were the penalties to be expected for criminal behavior, of which over 200 crimes were punishable by death!
You may be hanged for stealing a few shillings, or a loaf of bread or you might “simply” have been sent on a long voyage to Australia which you may not survive. Our history
is flawed, full of mistakes and two steps forward one step back after all we still haven’t quite grasped the Ten Commandments after over 2000 years, is it any surprise that
250 years after our founding we are imperfect. As recently as just over 100 years ago during WW1 the European nations threw their young men into a meat grinder where
you would be shot if you refused to go “over the top” of the trenches to be cut down by machine guns as literally thousands had just moments before in the first and second
waves. Human beings have behaved abominably for millennia but since our founding, we have been trying to get better. For todays new “historians” to imply that the 400000
who gave their lives from the north during the civil War and their families are somehow part of our irredeemable “racist” past is a sickening reading of past and present. It was
fascinating the hear David Kaiser explore aspects that, if viewed as isolated segments of history, could be seen as racist until explained how many of other races were actually
affected. Again until one is willing to read about the lengths we went to to end slavery worldwide and to understand that it was an institution which existed and STILL EXISTS
today as we enjoy products provided by Nike, Google, Hilfiger, apple and the like all of whom fought against the Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act as NBA profits and those of
millionaires come before any thoughts of human dignity (eh, Lebron?) humans have been viewed as expendable whether they were the heroes of Waterloo, the victims of WW1
or those plundered and sold into slavery by Tippu Tip.
In terms of reparations it seems the only way to approach it is with the answer that if only 1% (or thereabouts) of the population of the few slave owning states at the time actually
OWNED slaves then we should figure out what that 1% would be in proportion to today’s population I dunno maybe .01% of the wealthiest Americans as it is only by establishing
who is wealthiest that we can see who has economically benefitted from our history and structures and have them pay. Yes this means Bezos, Spielberg, Gates, Zuckerberg and
even Winfrey, Lebron, the Obamas etc. It is the only way to be sure...
Yah, TYTY. I knew about the redlining but most-a rest was new. But people these manipulate so-called facts and interpret them in the exact OPPOSITE? Journalism SAME as History in that respect, right?
And this idea that there is no objective truth? That rational thinking is an example of "whiteness." AFAIK. Doesn't all that come DIRECTLY from the 60s nihilists that came up with Critical Theory? I'm still thinking how these things even PASS the SMELL TEST. (Hafta work on that, mebbe someday.) My thoughts today are that I don't know if it's cause or effect, but it seems that the two worthless older generations (Boomers and Gen-Xers) bought the idea of moral relativism, didn't they?
Anyhoo... TYTY again, Professor Loury. Garbage on my views of reparations probably coming today.
P.S. I'm sorry I missed so much previous discussion.
Excellent discussion. I really enjoy your discussions with your old nerdy buddies like Kaiser, Heckman, Cherry, Koltikoff etc. They bring a mature perspective that seems to be sorely lacking in a lot of today's dialog.
Word. A very interesting discussion, great historical insights from Prof. Kaiser, history is being distorted by people with questionable agendas... so experts in the subject like him must stand up and defend the truth!
I appreciate how you converse with Daniel B and then David to help us hear the various sides and can conclude for ourselves in community with you, Glenn. Thank you so much for what you do. David made some corrections on Daniel B's flawed observations about the Cold War that I suspected but now better understand.
https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/
Thank you for sharing Glenn... Some great nuggets of intelligence were shared.
Thank you for this interesting episode. I really appreciated learning more about the context and texture of the historical events discussed.
Glenn - I listened to your colleague, Russ Roberts, podcast today. He had on Arnold Kling who mentioned his idea of an Intellectual Fantasy team. You were mentioned and I nodded in agreement.
This podcast is proof positive of why you would be the Patrick Mahomes of intellectual fantasy players. You are eloquently restate you interviewee's position for clarity. You provide the counter point in a way that its proponent would agree with, and let your guest address it. You ask pointed and thoughtful questions.
Thank you for providing this content.
I appreciate Your all's efforts to push back. I read a tome today recommended in comments to Steven Pinker's article in Persuasion today: https://www.persuasion.community/p/pinker-is-it-rational-to-be-good/comments Probably requires subscription. Here's the article, which apparently doesn't: https://richardhanania.substack.com/p/rationality-requires-incentives-an
Too tired to go into the delusions expressed today. Maybe never get around to it.
But they were commenting on the Great Awokening and M. Pinker said:
"But organizations like Heterodox Academy, the Academic Freedom Alliance, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, Counterweight. The people who believe in freedom of inquiry, and freedom of thought, really do have to organize and push back..." against the Academy.
That'd be nice to see. Why DOESN"T this happen?
At same time, I believe it's wildly underestimating how entrenched it is in the Universities, right? Seems to me it's time to be thinking how to get the "silent majority" of everyday people to be more visible and outspoken. Any ideas?
This was a good discussion.
A review of Black popular culture in the 1930's shows that Roosevelt and the New Deal were very popular among Blacks. Guido van Rijn's book Roosevelt Blues - African American Blues and Gospel cites over 100 recordings that mention Roosevelt. Most of these are very positive. This book was developed from van Rijn's dissertation:
https://www.amazon.com/Roosevelts-Blues-African-American-Gospel-American/dp/0878059385
One of these recordings was by Rev. JM Gates, who had about 200 recordings of his sermons. Gates was as popular as Bessie Smith and Leroy Carr had been:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L7cZwO7gok
Here's an example by Memphis Minnie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytjj2NgyOdE
Both of these recordings talk about Sylvester Harris, A Black man in Mississippi who appealed directly to FDR when he was about to lose his farm to foreclosure. The Chicago Defender also has articles on Sylvester Harris.
Yet another wonderful discussion with clearly a very sensitive, honest man who loves humanity. It is great to hear, just as it is when reading Thomas Sowell is to read,
the history of a group of people which is all too often separated from it’s context in a wider world. It not only contextualizes but also allows us to see with greater clarity
the actual real examples of policies in the military and in other areas which were determined by race as well as to see those where race played no factor. I feel sorry
for young people who are growing up in this ahistorical era as they are ignorant of (and possibly not curious enough to seek information) that in the era of slavery public
punishments such as whipping were used throughout the British Isles and of course other countries, this was not unusual and the fact that it has become associated purely
with slavery is a tragic distortion which quite naturally leads misinformed people to consider themselves uniquely persecuted. As Sowell points out the number of slaves
plundered FROM Europe TO Africa far out weighs the trans-Atlantic trade, he also describes (though FAR from ideal)how much better it was in terms of living conditions to be a slave than to be Irish in the 19th century. The “bloody codes” (again from the UK) were the penalties to be expected for criminal behavior, of which over 200 crimes were punishable by death!
You may be hanged for stealing a few shillings, or a loaf of bread or you might “simply” have been sent on a long voyage to Australia which you may not survive. Our history
is flawed, full of mistakes and two steps forward one step back after all we still haven’t quite grasped the Ten Commandments after over 2000 years, is it any surprise that
250 years after our founding we are imperfect. As recently as just over 100 years ago during WW1 the European nations threw their young men into a meat grinder where
you would be shot if you refused to go “over the top” of the trenches to be cut down by machine guns as literally thousands had just moments before in the first and second
waves. Human beings have behaved abominably for millennia but since our founding, we have been trying to get better. For todays new “historians” to imply that the 400000
who gave their lives from the north during the civil War and their families are somehow part of our irredeemable “racist” past is a sickening reading of past and present. It was
fascinating the hear David Kaiser explore aspects that, if viewed as isolated segments of history, could be seen as racist until explained how many of other races were actually
affected. Again until one is willing to read about the lengths we went to to end slavery worldwide and to understand that it was an institution which existed and STILL EXISTS
today as we enjoy products provided by Nike, Google, Hilfiger, apple and the like all of whom fought against the Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act as NBA profits and those of
millionaires come before any thoughts of human dignity (eh, Lebron?) humans have been viewed as expendable whether they were the heroes of Waterloo, the victims of WW1
or those plundered and sold into slavery by Tippu Tip.
In terms of reparations it seems the only way to approach it is with the answer that if only 1% (or thereabouts) of the population of the few slave owning states at the time actually
OWNED slaves then we should figure out what that 1% would be in proportion to today’s population I dunno maybe .01% of the wealthiest Americans as it is only by establishing
who is wealthiest that we can see who has economically benefitted from our history and structures and have them pay. Yes this means Bezos, Spielberg, Gates, Zuckerberg and
even Winfrey, Lebron, the Obamas etc. It is the only way to be sure...
Yah, TYTY. I knew about the redlining but most-a rest was new. But people these manipulate so-called facts and interpret them in the exact OPPOSITE? Journalism SAME as History in that respect, right?
And this idea that there is no objective truth? That rational thinking is an example of "whiteness." AFAIK. Doesn't all that come DIRECTLY from the 60s nihilists that came up with Critical Theory? I'm still thinking how these things even PASS the SMELL TEST. (Hafta work on that, mebbe someday.) My thoughts today are that I don't know if it's cause or effect, but it seems that the two worthless older generations (Boomers and Gen-Xers) bought the idea of moral relativism, didn't they?
Anyhoo... TYTY again, Professor Loury. Garbage on my views of reparations probably coming today.
P.S. I'm sorry I missed so much previous discussion.
Excellent discussion. I really enjoy your discussions with your old nerdy buddies like Kaiser, Heckman, Cherry, Koltikoff etc. They bring a mature perspective that seems to be sorely lacking in a lot of today's dialog.
Word. A very interesting discussion, great historical insights from Prof. Kaiser, history is being distorted by people with questionable agendas... so experts in the subject like him must stand up and defend the truth!