You need to NOT LET UP! I am often in the same despair. I am white, not black. I suppose this means I do not look on this ongoing tragedy with the same sort of despair. However, my family does have a history of commitment to civil rights. A cousin of my mother was president of the NAACP in the 1960s and '70s. I fought the civil rights battles myself at college and later in the '60s and '70s and on, distracting and diverting my life course, in some ways for good reasons and in some ways for lousy reasons. I make no claim to any sort of suffering as to what I can imagine you feel, but I do feel betrayed by the perversion of the civil rights movement, tragically by some who even were a part of it, and all too many who came later and do not see how opposite their conceptual take on it all is now to what it in fact was. Please as I say, do not let up. You ARE having an effect. In the very long run, at least, it will survive and take.
Although there will always be a bit of lag, policy tends to mirror the priorities expressed in the public discourse; if the discourse assigns 90% of the blame for inequality to discrimination, something like that proportion of public dollars and policy efforts will go to addressing discrimination (and given the mechanics of the political arena, one might imagine that a discourse assigning any clear majority of responsibility for a public ill to a given phenomenon will lead to close to 100% of policy efforts going to address that phenomenon). The delta between the proportion of the public that agree with the public narrative represents the ideological disconnect between policy and the people - a crude measure of national dissatisfaction, disaffection and discord with "politics" or "government." So as long as the discourse continues to inflate the scope and impact of discrimination, the real causes will remain mostly (if not entirely) ignored and the PEOPLE will be forced to angrily witness it. This is fundamentally why everyone following Glenn and John and other heterodox voices on these issues must spread these messages as bravely as Glenn does. Every federal or state dollar spent addressing discrimination is one not spent on addressing the phenomena that truly limit our capacity as a society to bridge the many racial achievement and wealth gaps. So when someone asks, why is this issue, above climate change and natural disaster risk, or the threat of future pandemics, so important to me (or Glenn or John) I think of the dynamics of this policy zero sum game, and how getting the focus wrong means not only no progress on the issues, but a disgruntled populace forced to witness our politicians bumbling around podiums feeding us trite and dated versions of a simple reality that never was...
I am sorry Glen you are in despair. I have heard the sadness and anger in your voice at times when you speak about what is going on. I need some help, where can I find peer journal articles that are not woke, or far left? I want to do my paper in research class on how CRT and equity will not solve the disparity issues but only serve to hurt others.
Thank you a million times for your courage and willingness to say the truth. You are not alone in this, but as you have noticed, there aren't too many people in positions of influence who have the courage to speak the truth. But there ARE many who recognize the truth when they hear it. I'm very sure that many of your colleagues in education and many in government and working for large corporations who are afraid to speak out are nevertheless very thankful for your willingness to speak up. One day others will get the courage to speak up, and many of those will have been inspired by your example. Don't give up the fight. It's normal to get discouraged, but know that there are many of us out here who hear what you are saying and support it. I'm going to join up as a support of you on Substack as well. I sincerely view you as a great man! Thank you!
Dear Glenn, I despair over the issues as you do. I have been listening to your podcasts for so long that they've become somehow integrated into my thought patterns. Know that you are a source of much inspiration because you have the courage to say things even when it could come at personal cost to your reputation. You have the courage of a lion.
Thanks, Glenn - for speaking the truth. You're not really the only one saying so -- but so many others who have said so have been cancelled by the PC cancel culture/ Woke religion.
Maybe a targeted gov't program could work, by giving gov't rewards to those who "live good lives" in areas where so many are not.
1) In school districts ranked by # of kids with married parents, the married parents, with 1 or more children, could get some $1000/yr plus $100 * #years married as a gov't reward. So a couple, married for 8 years with a child, would get a Marriage Gift of $(1000 + 800). Those at the bottom would get the full 100% gift; at around the 30% non-married parent level the gift amount would go down 5% for each 1% level. At the 50% non-married parent level the gift would be 0; at the 40% level the gift would be half (50% of $1800 = $900).
The market already rewards good behavior, some. Most gov't programs based on "need" end up in the moral hazard area of supporting the victims of their, or their parents, bad choices. Rewarding bad choices means more bad choices are made.
Of course, when bad choices result in bad outcomes, there is a bigger "need" - somebody has to pay for the mistake. (No free lunch). The Marriage Gift idea is to reward those making good choices, so as to encourage more good choices.
America needs more kids with married parents. A subsidy for those making the good decisions but living among those making sub-optimal decisions could help. This is a carrot incentive; reality already has enough sticks, at least relatively.
Please keep trying to work these issues out in public. I lived in SF & worked in the mostly black neighborhood of Bayview Hunter's Point where there used to be a naval shipyard. Seeing the lack of growth there in the '90s while the dot com boom was building was disheartening. There was a great opportunity to uplift all communities & it didn't happen there. It's sad & hard to watch for decades. I think it has to start at the family & community level.
I agree. I care. But I'm not entitled to a voice, or perhaps my voice is an expression of entitlement. In either case, my permissible role is regretfully limited to bystander.
I'm frustrated, that as a liberal I see myself in agreement with much of what is considered conservative positions today. Yet, I am not a republican or democrat as I believe both parties completely fail to stand on any principles. The only exceptions are a few individuals. No one though whats to discuss issues in fact based manners any longer. It is all about emotion. I can't speak to anyone on the left about concerns about the left that are illiberal without because called right wing or far-right. I can't talk about identity politics and the push for equity as a destructive force without getting called a racist. I'm white, therefore I must be privileged. It doesn't matter that I grew up low income. It doesn't matter that I was raised by a single mother from age 10 on. I can't have a discussion and ask, "Was the Jacob Blake shooting racist?" without being told that it must be because of the racial identities of the cop and person shot. The number of bullets get cited, yelled, as poof of racism of the shooting. Facts simply don't matter in a world of grievance politics.
Glenn, I would love to hear you talk to someone like Charles Hoskinson about decentralized apps and decentralized cryptocurrencies. It often feels like we're having a conversation like it's 1960 in regards to race and banning people from social media, when we're actually on the verge of these decentralized technologies gaining mainstream adoption and making this whole conversation seem antiquated, at least that's what I'm hoping. Either way I think you'd enjoy the change of pace conversation with someone like Charles. Cheers, you both keep me sane.
I do enjoy your excellent posts. I have to wonder if you have ever interviewed Dr Tony Sewell who runs the Generating Genius charity in the UK which is focused on getting more Black and Minor Ethnics in STEM (https://generatinggenius.org.uk/) and has had great success. He is currently heading the UK government's Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities which is due to be published soon. I would think you might find his thoughts interesting. https://policyexchange.org.uk/author/tony-sewell/
I follow you on social media and want to tell you that you inspire me and fill me with hope for the future. I get that current events and naysayers might fill you with despair but please don’t succumb to it. If you did, America would lose it’s most effective voice for true racial equality. Don’t let even one molecule of despair enter your mind.
Anger? Well, that’s another story – keep a little anger to fuel the effort.
Dear Glenn, I feel despair also. I’ve spent the last 20 years as a staff member at a Los Angeles area community college, choosing to be there because I wanted to put my MFA to use in service to those who may not have had a chance under other circumstances. I’ve been and am impressed with the commitment of my colleagues who put much effort to serving their students. Really impressed.
But since 2015 I think, the atmosphere started to change. Once Trump became president it seemed cemented in a direction that seemed confused.
I’m a white woman, half Iranian - my dad immigrated in the early 1960s. I understand a bit about not fitting in as I was raised in a small town in central Illinois. But I noticed the attitude from some of my black and brown colleagues - not all - became more guarded although for the most part we shared the same politics - quite liberal.
I recall working an event in which a couple of Black Lives Matter rep were on a panel. One of them was so unpleasant to a young Latino man who shared a story about his brother who was on a police force. She was extremely unpleasant to him and went so far as to shame him in front of the crowd. This was my first experience with BLM.
Since the George Floyd killing my college has made many changes to accommodate BLM. There are book readings of the “in” books in which staff are strongly encouraged to attend, changes in the focus of my projects which seem dubious, and a general derisive attitude toward our campus police who did a very good job of protecting our campus. Other things that seem questionable but perhaps are good for feeling empowered - I don’t know. At first I tried to go along but in my heart overall the changes felt terribly wrong; divisive, short sighted. Sam Harris’s “Can We Return from the Brink” helped me tremendously. I probably have listened to it 20 times in that 6 months. And that brought me to listening to you and John. You’ve both been very helpful.
And I despair too. I despair for the future of our country as the extremes become angrier and louder on each side of the political pole, each fueling the other with increasingly extreme antics. Yeats poem comes to mind, “The center cannot hold.” And yet holding to the center - each’s own personal center is what must be done as the political, environmental and viral (both biological and technological) seem to have sped up past the point of human comprehension.
So yes I despair. But there are also moments of walking in nature, spending time with my favorite people, playing fetch with my cat - simple things - that take me out of mind and remind me that life continues and - as corny as it sounds - love is real.
Thank you so much for your story... it so echoes mine. I went into teaching in an urban school 30 years ago with the same good intentions. I see a lot being perpetrated in the guise of helping “black and brown” children that IS NOT demonstrably helping them, but is, in fact, quite detrimental. My children are black and I want this toxic idiocy nowhere near them.
The only part of Glenn’s lament I didn’t get was at the end when he said he is alone. Glenn- there is a groundswell of people resisting this- lawsuits are being brought, coalitions are forming. Did you read the letter from the Chinese parents’ group? You can take a great deal of credit for this, along with a handful of other brilliant thinkers. I am so grateful for your voice!
It’s a pleasure to read/listen to what you have to say, Prof Loury. You are obviously a good person. I’m at a small institution, and it seems to me that the name callers these days project what Jung would call their shadow, outwards. We sensitive types tend to stand up on behalf of sane deductions & conclusions. And I think we are actually far more compassionate.
Also, have you seen this Ted talk on motivated reasoning? We have to start learning about how our minds interpret information and negotiate allegiances and feelings or it's like we're driving drunk all day every day!
I think the lack of self-understanding in this age of knowledge may turn out to be the enlightenment's fatal karmic sin. We all navigate and negotiate our psyches through projecting them on each other, and when we seek to destroy our shadow we need a proxy, like a voodoo doll, to fight, shame, kill, destroy. People who are not aware that, in fact, we all hold this darkness within us, and that trying to be pure and perfect is the hallmark of movements that become totalitarian regimes, are an enormous danger; and unfortunately, the wave of intolerance and puritanism is gaining momentum at a moment when society is increasingly disrupted by paradigmatic shifts coming from multiple directions. There's a line in a U2 song that has always stuck with me:
"A man came on the radio late last night
said he's gonna kick the darkness till it bleeds daylight."
That's where we're at on the Left these days--people believe that they can shame and abuse the evil out of the world, all the while making the world more shame-filled, abusive, paranoid, intolerant, offensive, outraged, and increasingly violent.
We've got to get back to basics:
Fighting for peace is like fucking for virginity.
Walk a mile in someone's shoes before you judge them.
Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you. (RBJ)
You need to NOT LET UP! I am often in the same despair. I am white, not black. I suppose this means I do not look on this ongoing tragedy with the same sort of despair. However, my family does have a history of commitment to civil rights. A cousin of my mother was president of the NAACP in the 1960s and '70s. I fought the civil rights battles myself at college and later in the '60s and '70s and on, distracting and diverting my life course, in some ways for good reasons and in some ways for lousy reasons. I make no claim to any sort of suffering as to what I can imagine you feel, but I do feel betrayed by the perversion of the civil rights movement, tragically by some who even were a part of it, and all too many who came later and do not see how opposite their conceptual take on it all is now to what it in fact was. Please as I say, do not let up. You ARE having an effect. In the very long run, at least, it will survive and take.
Although there will always be a bit of lag, policy tends to mirror the priorities expressed in the public discourse; if the discourse assigns 90% of the blame for inequality to discrimination, something like that proportion of public dollars and policy efforts will go to addressing discrimination (and given the mechanics of the political arena, one might imagine that a discourse assigning any clear majority of responsibility for a public ill to a given phenomenon will lead to close to 100% of policy efforts going to address that phenomenon). The delta between the proportion of the public that agree with the public narrative represents the ideological disconnect between policy and the people - a crude measure of national dissatisfaction, disaffection and discord with "politics" or "government." So as long as the discourse continues to inflate the scope and impact of discrimination, the real causes will remain mostly (if not entirely) ignored and the PEOPLE will be forced to angrily witness it. This is fundamentally why everyone following Glenn and John and other heterodox voices on these issues must spread these messages as bravely as Glenn does. Every federal or state dollar spent addressing discrimination is one not spent on addressing the phenomena that truly limit our capacity as a society to bridge the many racial achievement and wealth gaps. So when someone asks, why is this issue, above climate change and natural disaster risk, or the threat of future pandemics, so important to me (or Glenn or John) I think of the dynamics of this policy zero sum game, and how getting the focus wrong means not only no progress on the issues, but a disgruntled populace forced to witness our politicians bumbling around podiums feeding us trite and dated versions of a simple reality that never was...
I am sorry Glen you are in despair. I have heard the sadness and anger in your voice at times when you speak about what is going on. I need some help, where can I find peer journal articles that are not woke, or far left? I want to do my paper in research class on how CRT and equity will not solve the disparity issues but only serve to hurt others.
Thank you a million times for your courage and willingness to say the truth. You are not alone in this, but as you have noticed, there aren't too many people in positions of influence who have the courage to speak the truth. But there ARE many who recognize the truth when they hear it. I'm very sure that many of your colleagues in education and many in government and working for large corporations who are afraid to speak out are nevertheless very thankful for your willingness to speak up. One day others will get the courage to speak up, and many of those will have been inspired by your example. Don't give up the fight. It's normal to get discouraged, but know that there are many of us out here who hear what you are saying and support it. I'm going to join up as a support of you on Substack as well. I sincerely view you as a great man! Thank you!
Dear Glenn, I despair over the issues as you do. I have been listening to your podcasts for so long that they've become somehow integrated into my thought patterns. Know that you are a source of much inspiration because you have the courage to say things even when it could come at personal cost to your reputation. You have the courage of a lion.
Yes he does.
Thanks, Glenn - for speaking the truth. You're not really the only one saying so -- but so many others who have said so have been cancelled by the PC cancel culture/ Woke religion.
Maybe a targeted gov't program could work, by giving gov't rewards to those who "live good lives" in areas where so many are not.
1) In school districts ranked by # of kids with married parents, the married parents, with 1 or more children, could get some $1000/yr plus $100 * #years married as a gov't reward. So a couple, married for 8 years with a child, would get a Marriage Gift of $(1000 + 800). Those at the bottom would get the full 100% gift; at around the 30% non-married parent level the gift amount would go down 5% for each 1% level. At the 50% non-married parent level the gift would be 0; at the 40% level the gift would be half (50% of $1800 = $900).
The market already rewards good behavior, some. Most gov't programs based on "need" end up in the moral hazard area of supporting the victims of their, or their parents, bad choices. Rewarding bad choices means more bad choices are made.
Of course, when bad choices result in bad outcomes, there is a bigger "need" - somebody has to pay for the mistake. (No free lunch). The Marriage Gift idea is to reward those making good choices, so as to encourage more good choices.
America needs more kids with married parents. A subsidy for those making the good decisions but living among those making sub-optimal decisions could help. This is a carrot incentive; reality already has enough sticks, at least relatively.
Please keep trying to work these issues out in public. I lived in SF & worked in the mostly black neighborhood of Bayview Hunter's Point where there used to be a naval shipyard. Seeing the lack of growth there in the '90s while the dot com boom was building was disheartening. There was a great opportunity to uplift all communities & it didn't happen there. It's sad & hard to watch for decades. I think it has to start at the family & community level.
Please just keep telling the truth. Thank you for your courage in doing just that.
I agree. I care. But I'm not entitled to a voice, or perhaps my voice is an expression of entitlement. In either case, my permissible role is regretfully limited to bystander.
I'm frustrated, that as a liberal I see myself in agreement with much of what is considered conservative positions today. Yet, I am not a republican or democrat as I believe both parties completely fail to stand on any principles. The only exceptions are a few individuals. No one though whats to discuss issues in fact based manners any longer. It is all about emotion. I can't speak to anyone on the left about concerns about the left that are illiberal without because called right wing or far-right. I can't talk about identity politics and the push for equity as a destructive force without getting called a racist. I'm white, therefore I must be privileged. It doesn't matter that I grew up low income. It doesn't matter that I was raised by a single mother from age 10 on. I can't have a discussion and ask, "Was the Jacob Blake shooting racist?" without being told that it must be because of the racial identities of the cop and person shot. The number of bullets get cited, yelled, as poof of racism of the shooting. Facts simply don't matter in a world of grievance politics.
Glenn, I would love to hear you talk to someone like Charles Hoskinson about decentralized apps and decentralized cryptocurrencies. It often feels like we're having a conversation like it's 1960 in regards to race and banning people from social media, when we're actually on the verge of these decentralized technologies gaining mainstream adoption and making this whole conversation seem antiquated, at least that's what I'm hoping. Either way I think you'd enjoy the change of pace conversation with someone like Charles. Cheers, you both keep me sane.
Thank you Dr. Loury. It has indeed become a hustle.
Prof Loury,
I do enjoy your excellent posts. I have to wonder if you have ever interviewed Dr Tony Sewell who runs the Generating Genius charity in the UK which is focused on getting more Black and Minor Ethnics in STEM (https://generatinggenius.org.uk/) and has had great success. He is currently heading the UK government's Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities which is due to be published soon. I would think you might find his thoughts interesting. https://policyexchange.org.uk/author/tony-sewell/
I follow you on social media and want to tell you that you inspire me and fill me with hope for the future. I get that current events and naysayers might fill you with despair but please don’t succumb to it. If you did, America would lose it’s most effective voice for true racial equality. Don’t let even one molecule of despair enter your mind.
Anger? Well, that’s another story – keep a little anger to fuel the effort.
Hold fast!
Dear Glenn, I feel despair also. I’ve spent the last 20 years as a staff member at a Los Angeles area community college, choosing to be there because I wanted to put my MFA to use in service to those who may not have had a chance under other circumstances. I’ve been and am impressed with the commitment of my colleagues who put much effort to serving their students. Really impressed.
But since 2015 I think, the atmosphere started to change. Once Trump became president it seemed cemented in a direction that seemed confused.
I’m a white woman, half Iranian - my dad immigrated in the early 1960s. I understand a bit about not fitting in as I was raised in a small town in central Illinois. But I noticed the attitude from some of my black and brown colleagues - not all - became more guarded although for the most part we shared the same politics - quite liberal.
I recall working an event in which a couple of Black Lives Matter rep were on a panel. One of them was so unpleasant to a young Latino man who shared a story about his brother who was on a police force. She was extremely unpleasant to him and went so far as to shame him in front of the crowd. This was my first experience with BLM.
Since the George Floyd killing my college has made many changes to accommodate BLM. There are book readings of the “in” books in which staff are strongly encouraged to attend, changes in the focus of my projects which seem dubious, and a general derisive attitude toward our campus police who did a very good job of protecting our campus. Other things that seem questionable but perhaps are good for feeling empowered - I don’t know. At first I tried to go along but in my heart overall the changes felt terribly wrong; divisive, short sighted. Sam Harris’s “Can We Return from the Brink” helped me tremendously. I probably have listened to it 20 times in that 6 months. And that brought me to listening to you and John. You’ve both been very helpful.
And I despair too. I despair for the future of our country as the extremes become angrier and louder on each side of the political pole, each fueling the other with increasingly extreme antics. Yeats poem comes to mind, “The center cannot hold.” And yet holding to the center - each’s own personal center is what must be done as the political, environmental and viral (both biological and technological) seem to have sped up past the point of human comprehension.
So yes I despair. But there are also moments of walking in nature, spending time with my favorite people, playing fetch with my cat - simple things - that take me out of mind and remind me that life continues and - as corny as it sounds - love is real.
Thank you so much for your story... it so echoes mine. I went into teaching in an urban school 30 years ago with the same good intentions. I see a lot being perpetrated in the guise of helping “black and brown” children that IS NOT demonstrably helping them, but is, in fact, quite detrimental. My children are black and I want this toxic idiocy nowhere near them.
The only part of Glenn’s lament I didn’t get was at the end when he said he is alone. Glenn- there is a groundswell of people resisting this- lawsuits are being brought, coalitions are forming. Did you read the letter from the Chinese parents’ group? You can take a great deal of credit for this, along with a handful of other brilliant thinkers. I am so grateful for your voice!
It’s a pleasure to read/listen to what you have to say, Prof Loury. You are obviously a good person. I’m at a small institution, and it seems to me that the name callers these days project what Jung would call their shadow, outwards. We sensitive types tend to stand up on behalf of sane deductions & conclusions. And I think we are actually far more compassionate.
Also, have you seen this Ted talk on motivated reasoning? We have to start learning about how our minds interpret information and negotiate allegiances and feelings or it's like we're driving drunk all day every day!
https://youtu.be/w4RLfVxTGH4
I think the lack of self-understanding in this age of knowledge may turn out to be the enlightenment's fatal karmic sin. We all navigate and negotiate our psyches through projecting them on each other, and when we seek to destroy our shadow we need a proxy, like a voodoo doll, to fight, shame, kill, destroy. People who are not aware that, in fact, we all hold this darkness within us, and that trying to be pure and perfect is the hallmark of movements that become totalitarian regimes, are an enormous danger; and unfortunately, the wave of intolerance and puritanism is gaining momentum at a moment when society is increasingly disrupted by paradigmatic shifts coming from multiple directions. There's a line in a U2 song that has always stuck with me:
"A man came on the radio late last night
said he's gonna kick the darkness till it bleeds daylight."
That's where we're at on the Left these days--people believe that they can shame and abuse the evil out of the world, all the while making the world more shame-filled, abusive, paranoid, intolerant, offensive, outraged, and increasingly violent.
We've got to get back to basics:
Fighting for peace is like fucking for virginity.
Walk a mile in someone's shoes before you judge them.
Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you. (RBJ)
Think globally, act locally.
and the Golden Rule:
Treat others as you would have them treat you.
Postmodernists talked about disillusionment with science; I never thought it would become this literal.
It is the only thing that prevents its collapse.