15 Comments

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.

Expand full comment

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

Expand full comment

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.

Expand full comment

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?

Expand full comment

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?

Expand full comment

I am not an anthropologist, but I have read quite a lot about the physical differences in race. There is an easily identifiable genetic component that occurs in males which is directly linked to aggression: testosterone. In addition to aggression, higher testosterone levels can also be linked to chronic disease and mortality.

Globally, urine samples have shown males of African descent have the highest testosterone levels. Then Caucasians, then Latinos and the lowest levels of testosterone are found in the Han Chinese. To me, this data explains why more violent crimes are committed by one group of people and the least amount of violent crime by another.

Additionally, differences in testosterone levels in men vary depending on where you are growing up as well as your level of education.

One multi varied analysis titled "Racial variation in sex steroid hormone concentration in black and white men: a meta-analysis" shows "Black men had significantly higher unadjusted (WMD = 0.27 ng/mL, 95% CI 0.16–0.39), and multivariable-adjusted (WMD = 0.27 ng/mL, 95% CI 0.15–0.38) total testosterone levels than white men" https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4327897/

"Testosterone Is High among Young Black Men with Little Education"

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2016.00001/full

Does this answer everything...?

No, of course not however it is a measurable and well studied area . We see evolution and adaptation in every single aspect of nature, including humans. We see and admit the biological differences between males and females. We are quick to understand that a finch in one part of the US developed over time different physical attributes (beak shape, size) than one from another region.

We can measure other differences in biological race down to the milliseconds. Why is it people of East African descent own nearly all of the top 100 marathon times globally and people of West African descent nearly all of the top 500 sprint races (100M, 200M)? Why are these groups of people so much more able in athletics than the Han Chinese? East Africans have longer legs, shorter torsos and a pelvis ever so slightly tilted forward to which the physics of this makes the more efficient at running long distances. West Africans have dense muscles along with the fast twitch gene. These are undeniable facts... not based on training or education or food consumption.... it's clearly based on measurable biological, genetic markers.

If we can identify the physical differences between certain groups of people, like what I mentioned above or even facts like Africans are taller than Chinese on average... (and this is ALL from hundreds of thousands of years of human evolution), why are we so hesitant to say that perhaps one group is significantly more aggressive and violent than the other?

Expand full comment

Sorry to get to this so late. Been to busy to get to some emails, but I thank you for responding and the studies cited. I guess I was really looking for more evolutionary/natural selection rationale. As relates to your email, what were the genetic advantages for higher T levels? Why did these advantages not transfer to other races? Or why selected out/lower?

Expand full comment

And most importantly... our differences should be acknowledged for what they are and celebrated. In my opinion, it is all perfect and beautiful in natures scheme. We are different in many, many ways. Even within the race. Let's own it and move forward on how to maximize our strengths and minimize our weaknesses because we all need each other cooperation to make this life a good one.

Expand full comment

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.

Expand full comment

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.

Expand full comment

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.

Expand full comment

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.

Expand full comment

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.

Expand full comment

A little bit of digging reveals that all of the perps were black bangers from the nearby ghetto. Last week Glenn was so angry that he was close to tears talking about how ashamed he is every time it's revealed that the perp is black. What else is there for him to say or talk about? Do you expect John to agree that the Democrats/Progressives are the problem? That would be worth hearing, but it ain't going to happen.

Expand full comment

I think there's a lot to talk about. That two of the victims were from the Columbia/Barnard campus almost demands John discuss the matter. Also, the calls for "social justice" and "prison reform" and "bail reform" are starting to sound dangerously naive.

Discussing how many Princeton chemistry professors will be POC in the year 2060 seems far less pressing than ensuring people in 2022 can walk safely down the street.

Expand full comment