This week on TGS we’ve got Rav Arora. He’s a compelling writer on race matters in the US. He’s also a college undergraduate, though it would be a mistake to underestimate him. He’s already published in a number of widely read outlets, including the New York Post
Fantastic. Great to see someone who is so intelligent, and so passionate about his subject. In fact, Rev has so much to say, and has so many threads to tie together, that he obviously does not know when to shut up, and he could have easily kept on going for another hour or two. Rav obviously wore Glenn out, which he could put on his resume.
Rav's command of facts, studies, and connections obviously means he will be someone to pay attention to, as Glenn says in his summary. Congrats.
Sorry, this comment doesn't strictly relate to this podcast, but I wasn't sure how to get this message to you.
As I was surfing recently, trying to research black composers, I came across a video from a group called Buskaid. This is a string ensemble based in Soweto, South Africa. After listening to several of their videos, I was absolutely gobsmacked by their performances. While listening to them, I recalled Glenn's oft repeated observation that just because he is black, that doesn't mean he cannot appreciate Shakespeare and Beethoven and Raphael.
Please if you haven't already heard (and heard of) this group, listen to this video. They play with such professionalism and just plain joy, that it's inspiring. https://youtu.be/VRBUA5rgaLs
Enjoyed seeing Glenn show his steelman skills in an effort to educate and provoke thought in this extremely reasoned and intelligent man. Discussions of this sort help better my own understanding of the difficult subjects presented on the show.
Why aren't the people who live in the communities where homicide rates have spiked outraged about what is going on in their neighborhoods? Aside from Glenn and some of his guests like Rav there appears to be virtual silence. In fact the mainstream press is dismissive of the statistics Rav brought up. In an article entitled "How bad is the rise in US homicides? Factchecking the ‘crime wave’ narrative police are pushing", The Guardian suggests Rav is "fearmongering". it writes,
"Fearmongering about rising crime has also been used for decades to undermine Black Americans’ protests for civil rights.
If the people who live in the affected communities and their leaders and the mainstream press are unconcerned with the rising homicide rate, why should the rest of us be? Can someone help me here?
Again another good interview that gets one thinking. I believe that the possibility of a genetic component may be present, I find it hard to follow as only a small proportion of the Black male population are committing crimes. Is there even a way to assess the genetic component that is the same or similar in these men vs those that do not commit crime despite coming from the same or similar ancestries. The study of such is fraught with potential 3rd-rails I don't see it ever happening. I do wonder if you could trace back the lineage to a far distant time could these criminal propensities be related to a Jared Diamond-like, environmental (hunter/gatherer in jungle) survival mechanism different then in other hostile environments. Or could there be a relationship with any existing Cro-Magnon, Neanderthal, Homo Habilis, etc. DNA which in the "wrong" mix with environment, diet, cultural factors become no longer latent? Any really smart physical anthropologists out there?
Thank you for another interesting and thought-provoking episode.
On the question of whether there are any models of programs that could help communities where culture or behavior might have an impact on violent crime rates, I was thinking about the work Bob Woodson, Sr. and The Woodson Center have done and supported around the country and, as an example, the specific work that Pastor Corey Brooks and Project H.O.O.D. are doing on the south side of Chicago. My impression is that, if we as a society (whether via public support or private donations) supported to a greater extent efforts like those, led by people living in the zip codes that need the help, we could see programs that are already making a difference have an even bigger impact. Further, that impact might not only be material in nature, but could also serve as inspirational and motivational models for others to try to replicate in ways that are tailored to the local realities in any given place.
Dr. Loury, in terms of Asian women out-earning white men, if white privilege and supremacy were trully in force....the Asian women would not even be allowed to be in a position where they could out-earn white men.
Enjoyed your talk with Mr. Arora. Please be as pointed with your other guests.....How do you know? What are your sources? What are the absolute numbers, etc. .......as you were with him.
Like officer involved shootings I think sometimes we all suffer from frequency bias when looking at the problems in the black community. This is obviously a function of the 24-hour news cycle and the internet...Over the last 20 years there's been some amazing success stories with incarceration rates and teenage pregnancy, officer involved shootings and a whole list of other things but we never seem to talk about those... I guess positive news is taboo and we all know that if it bleeds it leads but if we're going to have a balanced conversation we need to be looking at the positives and the negatives.
This was a really good interview although I thought Glenn (as devil's advocate) was tougher on Rav than he was when he talked with Briahna Gray.
Rav is an excellent writer and synthesizer of information and data. I was glad to hear he is a Thomas Sowell fan. I found myself wondering how a 20 yr. old Canadian from British Columbia has achieved so much in an area outside his direct experience. I would like to hear from Rav again in 10 years (I was going to say 25 years but I'm 74) after he's had a bit more experience of life.
Are people too gobsmacked to comment? I listened and thought I'd find a million comments here.
After learning of the guest/subject a couple of days go, I immersed myself in information about the current crime wave. The Wilfred Reilly appearance on Coleman Hughes's podcast, for one example. There I heard that of all violent crime offenders, 5 percent of them commit half the violent crimes. Meaning, if you have a population with 100,000 violent criminals, you can cut violent crime in half by locking up just 5,000 of them. Chesa Boudin and his ilk seem hellbent on releasing that 5 percent. All the work society did in identifying and imprisoning these bad apples, the Democrats -- in the interest of winning this or that election -- are undoing.
Dr. Loury, I don't know when you and John record your videos, but I hope you can discuss Davide Giri, which comes just two years after Tessa Majors. Three University of Chicago students have been killed thus far in 2021. A Temple student was recently killed, and a high school kid in Florida. These are not gun-toting druggies with outstanding warrants meeting their end at 2am in a dive bar parking lot. These are law-abiding citizens walking down the street minding their own business, often in broad daylight.
Fantastic. Great to see someone who is so intelligent, and so passionate about his subject. In fact, Rev has so much to say, and has so many threads to tie together, that he obviously does not know when to shut up, and he could have easily kept on going for another hour or two. Rav obviously wore Glenn out, which he could put on his resume.
Rav's command of facts, studies, and connections obviously means he will be someone to pay attention to, as Glenn says in his summary. Congrats.
Sorry, this comment doesn't strictly relate to this podcast, but I wasn't sure how to get this message to you.
As I was surfing recently, trying to research black composers, I came across a video from a group called Buskaid. This is a string ensemble based in Soweto, South Africa. After listening to several of their videos, I was absolutely gobsmacked by their performances. While listening to them, I recalled Glenn's oft repeated observation that just because he is black, that doesn't mean he cannot appreciate Shakespeare and Beethoven and Raphael.
Please if you haven't already heard (and heard of) this group, listen to this video. They play with such professionalism and just plain joy, that it's inspiring. https://youtu.be/VRBUA5rgaLs
Enjoyed seeing Glenn show his steelman skills in an effort to educate and provoke thought in this extremely reasoned and intelligent man. Discussions of this sort help better my own understanding of the difficult subjects presented on the show.
Why aren't the people who live in the communities where homicide rates have spiked outraged about what is going on in their neighborhoods? Aside from Glenn and some of his guests like Rav there appears to be virtual silence. In fact the mainstream press is dismissive of the statistics Rav brought up. In an article entitled "How bad is the rise in US homicides? Factchecking the ‘crime wave’ narrative police are pushing", The Guardian suggests Rav is "fearmongering". it writes,
"Fearmongering about rising crime has also been used for decades to undermine Black Americans’ protests for civil rights.
If the people who live in the affected communities and their leaders and the mainstream press are unconcerned with the rising homicide rate, why should the rest of us be? Can someone help me here?
Again another good interview that gets one thinking. I believe that the possibility of a genetic component may be present, I find it hard to follow as only a small proportion of the Black male population are committing crimes. Is there even a way to assess the genetic component that is the same or similar in these men vs those that do not commit crime despite coming from the same or similar ancestries. The study of such is fraught with potential 3rd-rails I don't see it ever happening. I do wonder if you could trace back the lineage to a far distant time could these criminal propensities be related to a Jared Diamond-like, environmental (hunter/gatherer in jungle) survival mechanism different then in other hostile environments. Or could there be a relationship with any existing Cro-Magnon, Neanderthal, Homo Habilis, etc. DNA which in the "wrong" mix with environment, diet, cultural factors become no longer latent? Any really smart physical anthropologists out there?
Thank you for another interesting and thought-provoking episode.
On the question of whether there are any models of programs that could help communities where culture or behavior might have an impact on violent crime rates, I was thinking about the work Bob Woodson, Sr. and The Woodson Center have done and supported around the country and, as an example, the specific work that Pastor Corey Brooks and Project H.O.O.D. are doing on the south side of Chicago. My impression is that, if we as a society (whether via public support or private donations) supported to a greater extent efforts like those, led by people living in the zip codes that need the help, we could see programs that are already making a difference have an even bigger impact. Further, that impact might not only be material in nature, but could also serve as inspirational and motivational models for others to try to replicate in ways that are tailored to the local realities in any given place.
Dr. Loury, in terms of Asian women out-earning white men, if white privilege and supremacy were trully in force....the Asian women would not even be allowed to be in a position where they could out-earn white men.
Enjoyed your talk with Mr. Arora. Please be as pointed with your other guests.....How do you know? What are your sources? What are the absolute numbers, etc. .......as you were with him.
Like officer involved shootings I think sometimes we all suffer from frequency bias when looking at the problems in the black community. This is obviously a function of the 24-hour news cycle and the internet...Over the last 20 years there's been some amazing success stories with incarceration rates and teenage pregnancy, officer involved shootings and a whole list of other things but we never seem to talk about those... I guess positive news is taboo and we all know that if it bleeds it leads but if we're going to have a balanced conversation we need to be looking at the positives and the negatives.
This was a really good interview although I thought Glenn (as devil's advocate) was tougher on Rav than he was when he talked with Briahna Gray.
Rav is an excellent writer and synthesizer of information and data. I was glad to hear he is a Thomas Sowell fan. I found myself wondering how a 20 yr. old Canadian from British Columbia has achieved so much in an area outside his direct experience. I would like to hear from Rav again in 10 years (I was going to say 25 years but I'm 74) after he's had a bit more experience of life.
Are people too gobsmacked to comment? I listened and thought I'd find a million comments here.
After learning of the guest/subject a couple of days go, I immersed myself in information about the current crime wave. The Wilfred Reilly appearance on Coleman Hughes's podcast, for one example. There I heard that of all violent crime offenders, 5 percent of them commit half the violent crimes. Meaning, if you have a population with 100,000 violent criminals, you can cut violent crime in half by locking up just 5,000 of them. Chesa Boudin and his ilk seem hellbent on releasing that 5 percent. All the work society did in identifying and imprisoning these bad apples, the Democrats -- in the interest of winning this or that election -- are undoing.
Dr. Loury, I don't know when you and John record your videos, but I hope you can discuss Davide Giri, which comes just two years after Tessa Majors. Three University of Chicago students have been killed thus far in 2021. A Temple student was recently killed, and a high school kid in Florida. These are not gun-toting druggies with outstanding warrants meeting their end at 2am in a dive bar parking lot. These are law-abiding citizens walking down the street minding their own business, often in broad daylight.