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Khari's Reviews > Black Rednecks and White Liberals
Black Rednecks and White Liberals
by
by
Wow.
There's not much more that I can say about this book other than 'woah'.
This was my first time through this book and I listened to it. The reader was great. Good on you Blackstone Audio for producing such a gem. On the other hand...I'm probably going to go buy this book, possibly in hard cover...it was that good and that intense. Just listening through it once was akin to dipping my toe into the ocean. There is a whole lot of information that I still can't wrap my mind around. I quoted half of this book as I was reading it and it still wasn't enough for me to understand it all.
One of the major things that I was struck with while reading this book was how often scholars and intellectuals do not read outside their own area of expertise. I'm a linguist, I have an MA in linguistics and we had several class discussions on AAVE (African American Vernacular English) aka Ebonics, and in not one of those classes was I introduced to the concept that many of the linguistic features of Ebonics were extant in 18th century England. That's kind of important. It does not surprise me that this isn't well known in the linguistic community: one, few read outside of their own specialty anymore and two, there are plenty of places where linguists fear to trod because of political repercussions and grant denials. On the other hand...as a linguist, I am still skeptical of Sowell's clear assertions, especially because a cursory search on Google scholar didn't really give me anything to back him up. On the other hand, a historian would have way more street cred with digging up first hand documentation of these phenomena than a run-of-the-mill linguist like me, so, to clarify this in my own mind I need to buy the physical copy of this book, check the notes, and then read his sources to find out for myself. I will actually probably do this, because I'm curious and linguistic puzzles are fun.
I also thought it was interesting because a lot of the ideas that I encountered in this book I have encountered recently in other non-fiction books that I read. It was interesting to see parallels between this book and Murray's 'Coming Apart'. Even though the authors were approaching different problems they came to similar conclusions based on the empirical evidence, and that was interesting. There were parallels between this book and the 'Sports Gene' book that I read before it (Why on earth would there be?!?! A book about genetics and sports written by a sports reporter shouldn't have parallels to a book about history written by an economist!). There were even parallels between Sowell's discussion of intelligence and Jordan Peterson's discussion of it.
Probably the greatest lesson I walked away with from this book was the nuance of history. The whole last chapter was about how we must not judge history or historical figures by the moral viewpoints or the cultural expectations of the modern age. As obvious of a truth as this is, it's still quite profound and very difficult to practice. I had never thought about the question: "How would you have felt if you were an Arawak who had their land taken away?" as a terrible question. I had always though, well, it's good for us to think by putting ourselves in other people's shoes. I still think that is the case, but Sowell made me view that question from another angle. How I as a millennial woman from a Western background view having my land taken from me is as far removed from how an Arawak would have felt as an alien imagining how I feel about riding a horse. My cultural history, values, experiences, concept of right and wrong, expectations of the universe, etc. are all different making it very difficult to even have a concept of how such a person would have felt. And that was his point, not that such a question is not valuable, but that it is not history. The place for such a question is after you have done the research to find out all of those things about that Arawak, then you can answer that question, anything else is rank speculation. What he said after that really smacked me upside the head, he said how can we imagine the impact of Columbus on an Arawak? There are no Arawaks left and they didn't leave any written records of what they thought or felt.
That really struck me. Not least because it's true!!! How bloody arrogant of us all, when we answer questions like 'How do you think they would have felt?' Really, what makes us think that we have the right to answer that?! I can't even put into words what I feel half of the time, feeling like I have the right to explain someone else's just seems like rank arrogance to me now. The other thing that really struck me is how sad that is. How sad that we will never know what the Arawaks thought and felt. It made me fear the future. So much of our knowledge and experience as humans is being written in cloud formats now, we have no way of knowing how enduring that will be. In the past humans wrote down what was important to them in the most age-defying and long lasting material they could find, literally carving it into stone and here we are entrusting it all to the most ephemeral of things: essentially electrical signals. It made my mind explode.
Anyway, read this book, learn about why the Marines have 'From the shores of Tripoli' in their song, about the success of certain schools in contrast to other schools, about pedagogies that work and those that don't, and about the dangers of letting ideologies dictate history instead of history being examined for its own value. It's a great book.
There's not much more that I can say about this book other than 'woah'.
This was my first time through this book and I listened to it. The reader was great. Good on you Blackstone Audio for producing such a gem. On the other hand...I'm probably going to go buy this book, possibly in hard cover...it was that good and that intense. Just listening through it once was akin to dipping my toe into the ocean. There is a whole lot of information that I still can't wrap my mind around. I quoted half of this book as I was reading it and it still wasn't enough for me to understand it all.
One of the major things that I was struck with while reading this book was how often scholars and intellectuals do not read outside their own area of expertise. I'm a linguist, I have an MA in linguistics and we had several class discussions on AAVE (African American Vernacular English) aka Ebonics, and in not one of those classes was I introduced to the concept that many of the linguistic features of Ebonics were extant in 18th century England. That's kind of important. It does not surprise me that this isn't well known in the linguistic community: one, few read outside of their own specialty anymore and two, there are plenty of places where linguists fear to trod because of political repercussions and grant denials. On the other hand...as a linguist, I am still skeptical of Sowell's clear assertions, especially because a cursory search on Google scholar didn't really give me anything to back him up. On the other hand, a historian would have way more street cred with digging up first hand documentation of these phenomena than a run-of-the-mill linguist like me, so, to clarify this in my own mind I need to buy the physical copy of this book, check the notes, and then read his sources to find out for myself. I will actually probably do this, because I'm curious and linguistic puzzles are fun.
I also thought it was interesting because a lot of the ideas that I encountered in this book I have encountered recently in other non-fiction books that I read. It was interesting to see parallels between this book and Murray's 'Coming Apart'. Even though the authors were approaching different problems they came to similar conclusions based on the empirical evidence, and that was interesting. There were parallels between this book and the 'Sports Gene' book that I read before it (Why on earth would there be?!?! A book about genetics and sports written by a sports reporter shouldn't have parallels to a book about history written by an economist!). There were even parallels between Sowell's discussion of intelligence and Jordan Peterson's discussion of it.
Probably the greatest lesson I walked away with from this book was the nuance of history. The whole last chapter was about how we must not judge history or historical figures by the moral viewpoints or the cultural expectations of the modern age. As obvious of a truth as this is, it's still quite profound and very difficult to practice. I had never thought about the question: "How would you have felt if you were an Arawak who had their land taken away?" as a terrible question. I had always though, well, it's good for us to think by putting ourselves in other people's shoes. I still think that is the case, but Sowell made me view that question from another angle. How I as a millennial woman from a Western background view having my land taken from me is as far removed from how an Arawak would have felt as an alien imagining how I feel about riding a horse. My cultural history, values, experiences, concept of right and wrong, expectations of the universe, etc. are all different making it very difficult to even have a concept of how such a person would have felt. And that was his point, not that such a question is not valuable, but that it is not history. The place for such a question is after you have done the research to find out all of those things about that Arawak, then you can answer that question, anything else is rank speculation. What he said after that really smacked me upside the head, he said how can we imagine the impact of Columbus on an Arawak? There are no Arawaks left and they didn't leave any written records of what they thought or felt.
That really struck me. Not least because it's true!!! How bloody arrogant of us all, when we answer questions like 'How do you think they would have felt?' Really, what makes us think that we have the right to answer that?! I can't even put into words what I feel half of the time, feeling like I have the right to explain someone else's just seems like rank arrogance to me now. The other thing that really struck me is how sad that is. How sad that we will never know what the Arawaks thought and felt. It made me fear the future. So much of our knowledge and experience as humans is being written in cloud formats now, we have no way of knowing how enduring that will be. In the past humans wrote down what was important to them in the most age-defying and long lasting material they could find, literally carving it into stone and here we are entrusting it all to the most ephemeral of things: essentially electrical signals. It made my mind explode.
Anyway, read this book, learn about why the Marines have 'From the shores of Tripoli' in their song, about the success of certain schools in contrast to other schools, about pedagogies that work and those that don't, and about the dangers of letting ideologies dictate history instead of history being examined for its own value. It's a great book.
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Reading Progress
February 27, 2018
– Shelved as:
to-read
February 27, 2018
– Shelved
September 24, 2018
–
Started Reading
September 24, 2018
–
0.0%
""Common sense can be more readily expected when writing for the general public than when writing for the intelligentsia."
HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAH So true."
page
0
HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAH So true."
September 25, 2018
–
7.53%
""Where a northerner said, “I am,” “You are,” “She isn’t,” “It doesn’t,” and “I haven’t,” a Virginian even of high rank preferred to say “I be,” “You be,” “She ain’t,” “It don’t,” and “I hain’t.” . . .These Virginia speechways were not invented in America. They derived from a family or regional dialects that had been spoken throughout the south and west of England during the seventeenth century. "
AAVE is British!!!!"
page
28
AAVE is British!!!!"
September 25, 2018
–
10.48%
""However discordant the philosophy of the American Missionary Association (the replacement of the culture prevailing around and among Southern Blacks by a new imported culture) may have been with “multicultural” views prevailing today, the crucial fact is that it worked — as so many of today’s notions do not."
Ouch. Tell it like you see it Dr. Sowell."
page
39
Ouch. Tell it like you see it Dr. Sowell."
September 25, 2018
–
13.98%
"By projecting a vision of a world in which the problems of blacks are consequences of the actions of whites, either immediately or in times past, white liberals have provided a blanket excuse for shortcomings and even crimes by blacks. The very possibility of any internal cultural sources of the problems of blacks have been banished from consideration by the fashionable phrase “blaming the victim.”"
page
52
September 25, 2018
–
14.25%
""Blaming others for anything in which blacks lag has become standard operating procedure among white liberals. If blacks do not pass bar exams or medical board tests as often as whites or Asians, then that shows that something is wrong with those tests, as far as many white liberals are concerned.""
page
53
September 25, 2018
–
14.25%
""Andrew Hacker...says that academic problems...are created for black students in white colleges because such...curricula...“are white in logic and learning, in...scholarly knowledge and demeanor.” Why this does not seem to be a problem for Asian students remains unexplained, even though blacks have lived in this white society for centuries longer than either Asian Americans or contemporary immigrants. ""
page
53
September 25, 2018
–
14.25%
"GAH, 400 characters is not enough, I had to do a lot of ellipses to fit that quote in!
But, THIS, this is what annoyed me so much about the Loewen book, he made the same kind of idiotic, simplistic, blind, ignoring of other data assumptions!"
page
53
But, THIS, this is what annoyed me so much about the Loewen book, he made the same kind of idiotic, simplistic, blind, ignoring of other data assumptions!"
September 25, 2018
–
14.78%
""Black hostility to other minorities, such as the Koreans, has likewise often been ignored by such liberal publications as the New York Times or even defined out of existence by a variety of white liberal writers on grounds that racism requires power, which blacks do not have.""
page
55
September 25, 2018
–
14.78%
""Following that logic, Nazis were not anti-Semites until they gained control of the German government and the Ku Klux Klan today would not be called racist any more because it has lost the power it once had. But the arbitrary proviso of “power” was never part of the definition of racism until racism among blacks became widespread enough to require a convenient evasion."
Oh, another slap upside the face with truth."
page
55
Oh, another slap upside the face with truth."
September 25, 2018
–
15.05%
""The general orientation of white liberals has been one of “What can we do for them?” What blacks can do for themselves has not only been of lesser interest, much of what blacks have in fact already done for themselves has been overshadowed by liberal attempts to get them special dispensations-whether affirmative action, reparations for slavery, or other race-based benefits-..."
page
56
September 25, 2018
–
15.05%
"...even when the net effect of these dispensations has been much less than the effects of blacks’ own self-advancement."
Yeah, 400 characters is not enough, give me more goodreads!
Seriously, though, this is one of the things that has always irritated me. I think it's pure arrogance for someone to say 'We must help them.' It's an assumption that they are incapable of helping themselves. No, you need to back off"
page
56
Yeah, 400 characters is not enough, give me more goodreads!
Seriously, though, this is one of the things that has always irritated me. I think it's pure arrogance for someone to say 'We must help them.' It's an assumption that they are incapable of helping themselves. No, you need to back off"
September 25, 2018
–
15.05%
"and let them do as much as they possible can for themselves.
This is what you have to do with students, otherwise they never learn, with injured people, otherwise they never return to full activity, with elderly people, otherwise they lose self-respect, with children, otherwise they never grow. People have an inborn need to do things for themselves, otherwise they stultify."
page
56
This is what you have to do with students, otherwise they never learn, with injured people, otherwise they never return to full activity, with elderly people, otherwise they lose self-respect, with children, otherwise they never grow. People have an inborn need to do things for themselves, otherwise they stultify."
September 25, 2018
–
15.05%
"When discussing both blacks and Southern whites, slavery has served as an all-purpose explanation of many social phenomena, ranging from broken families to poor education, lower labor force participation rates, and high rates of crime and violence. Often evidence has been neither asked for nor given.
-Again, this is exactly what irritated me so much in regards to Mr. Loewen."
page
56
-Again, this is exactly what irritated me so much in regards to Mr. Loewen."
September 25, 2018
–
16.94%
""There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than an achievement. For an achievement does not settle anything permanently. We still have to prove our worth anew each day: we have to prove that we are as good today as we were yesterday. But when we have a valid alibi for not achieving anything we are fixed, so to speak, for life.""
page
63
September 25, 2018
–
16.94%
"Those who provide black rednecks with alibis do no favor
to them, to other blacks, or to the larger society in which we all
live. In American society, achievement is what ultimately brings
respect, including self-respect. Only for those who have written
off blacks’ potential for achievement will alibis be an acceptable
substitute."
page
63
to them, to other blacks, or to the larger society in which we all
live. In American society, achievement is what ultimately brings
respect, including self-respect. Only for those who have written
off blacks’ potential for achievement will alibis be an acceptable
substitute."
September 26, 2018
–
27.69%
"Persecution and violence have driven many middleman
minorities from many countries and some have been explicitly
expelled by government authorities. The widespread belief that
such groups have made no “productive” contribution to the
economies in which they lived has often been belied by the
decline or collapse of those economies after their departure."
page
103
minorities from many countries and some have been explicitly
expelled by government authorities. The widespread belief that
such groups have made no “productive” contribution to the
economies in which they lived has often been belied by the
decline or collapse of those economies after their departure."
September 26, 2018
–
27.96%
"This suggests that what their enemies feel is not simply a need to be rid of them but also a need to rid themselves of feelings of inferiority by subjecting middleman minorities to humiliation and dehumanization. These middlemen — “their wealth inexplicable, their superiority intolerable” — are basically an ego problem among those who have been so blatantly outperformed.
I think this is true in general."
page
104
I think this is true in general."
September 26, 2018
–
27.96%
"It seems to me that a lot of the violence that is directed towards people is based on jealousy. When someone who is unsuccessful sees someone who is, they are jealous, and instead of putting forth the effort to also be successful, they would rather pull them down to equality. It's a generalization of course, but that doesn't make it untrue. Smart kids get bullied. Beautiful women get acid thrown in their faces. Envy."
page
104
September 26, 2018
–
29.57%
""Slavery was an evil of greater scope and magnitude than most people imagine and, as a result, its place in history is radically different from the way it is usually portrayed."
I nitpick only one thing 'was'. I would argue 'is'. Slavery is vile and it is continuing today. There is slavery extant RIGHT NOW in China, in Vietnam, in Japan, in America, in Britain, in Africa, everywhere, yet no one is talking about it!"
page
110
I nitpick only one thing 'was'. I would argue 'is'. Slavery is vile and it is continuing today. There is slavery extant RIGHT NOW in China, in Vietnam, in Japan, in America, in Britain, in Africa, everywhere, yet no one is talking about it!"
September 26, 2018
–
29.57%
""Mention slavery and immediately the image that arises is that of Africans and their descendants enslaved by Europeans and their descendants in
the Southern United States — or, at most, Africans enslaved by Europeans in the Western Hemisphere. No other historic horror is so narrowly construed. No one thinks of war, famine, or decimating epidemics in such localized terms.""
page
110
the Southern United States — or, at most, Africans enslaved by Europeans in the Western Hemisphere. No other historic horror is so narrowly construed. No one thinks of war, famine, or decimating epidemics in such localized terms.""
September 26, 2018
–
29.57%
""[war, famine, or decimating epidemics]....are afflictions that have been suffered by the entire human race, all over the planet — and so was slavery. Had slavery been limited to one race in one country during three centuries, its tragedies would not have been one-tenth the magnitude that they were in fact."
Read that a couple of times to really get it. Slavery in America is not one tenth of the tragedy."
page
110
Read that a couple of times to really get it. Slavery in America is not one tenth of the tragedy."
September 26, 2018
–
29.57%
""Why this provincial view of a worldwide evil? Often it is those who are most critical of a “Eurocentric” view of the world who are most Eurocentric when it comes to the evils and failings of the human race."
This is absolutely true. So many expatriates are like 'Western culture is BAD' but then try to force extant Western values on other people. I'm okay with spreading such values, but you might as be consistent."
page
110
This is absolutely true. So many expatriates are like 'Western culture is BAD' but then try to force extant Western values on other people. I'm okay with spreading such values, but you might as be consistent."
September 26, 2018
–
29.57%
"[It] is also consistent with the otherwise inexplicable contrast between the fiery rhetoric about past slavery in the United States used by those who pass over in utter silence the traumas of slavery that still exist in Mauritania, Sudan,...Nigeria and Benin. Why so much more concern for dead people who are now beyond our help than for living human beings suffering the burdens and humiliations of slavery today?"
page
110
September 26, 2018
–
29.57%
"Why does a verbal picture of the abuses of slaves in centuries past arouse far more response than contemporary photographs of present-day slaves in Time magazine, the New York Times or the National Geographic?
-Why indeed? A question I've often wondered.
-Setting aside the slavery issue, why is the only racism problem ever discussed the black vs white issue in the USA? What about Koreans in Japan? Whites in Africa?"
page
110
-Why indeed? A question I've often wondered.
-Setting aside the slavery issue, why is the only racism problem ever discussed the black vs white issue in the USA? What about Koreans in Japan? Whites in Africa?"
September 26, 2018
–
30.11%
"It takes no more research than a trip to almost any public
library or college library to show the incredibly lopsided cover-
age of slavery in the United States or in the Western Hemisphere,
as compared to the meager writings on the even larger number
of Africans enslaved in the Islamic countries of the Middle East and
North Africa, not to mention the vast numbers of Europeans also
enslaved in centuries past..."
page
112
library or college library to show the incredibly lopsided cover-
age of slavery in the United States or in the Western Hemisphere,
as compared to the meager writings on the even larger number
of Africans enslaved in the Islamic countries of the Middle East and
North Africa, not to mention the vast numbers of Europeans also
enslaved in centuries past..."
September 26, 2018
–
30.11%
""At least a million Europeans were enslaved by North African pirates alone from 1500 to 1800, and some European slaves were still being sold on the auction block in Egypt, years after the Emancipation Proclamation [1863] freed blacks in the United States. Indeed, an Anglo-Egyptian treaty of August 4, 1877 prohibited the continued sale of white slaves after August 3, 1885""
page
112
September 26, 2018
–
30.11%
""During the Middle Ages, Slavs were so widely used as slaves in both Europe and the Islamic world that the very word “slave” derived from the word for Slav — not only in English, but also in other European languages, as well as in Arabic.""
page
112
September 26, 2018
–
30.11%
""Slavery was also common in India, where it has been estimated that there were more slaves than in the entire Western Hemisphere — and where the original Thugs kidnapped children for the purpose of enslavement.""
page
112
September 26, 2018
–
30.65%
""To make racism the driving force behind slavery is to make a historically recent factor the cause of an institution which originated thousands of years earlier. This enshrinement of racism as an over-arching causal factor accords far more with current instrumental agendas than with history. "
-It was only after the African slave trade that intellectuals started to call African people subhuman, not before."
page
114
-It was only after the African slave trade that intellectuals started to call African people subhuman, not before."
September 26, 2018
–
31.18%
""We may wonder why it took eighteen centuries after the Sermon on the Mount for Christians to develop an anti-slavery movement, but a more profound question is why not even the leading moralists in other civilizations rejected slavery at all. “There is no evidence,” according to a scholarly study, “that slavery came under serious attack in any part of the world before the eighteenth century.” ""
page
116
September 26, 2018
–
31.18%
""Themselves the leading slave traders of the eighteenth century, Europeans nevertheless became, in the nineteenth century, the destroyers of slavery around the world — not just in European societies or European offshoot societies overseas, but in non-European societies as well, over the bitter opposition of Africans, Arabs, Asians, and others.""
page
116
September 26, 2018
–
31.18%
""Moreover, within Western civilization, the principal impetus for the abolition of slavery came first from very conservative religious activists — people who would today be called “the religious right.” Clearly, this story is not “politically correct” in today’s terms. Hence it is ignored, as if it never happened.""
page
116
September 26, 2018
–
31.18%
""No non-Western nation or civilization shared this animosity toward slavery that began to develop in the Western world in the late eighteenth century, reached its peak in the nineteenth century, and continued to fuel the anti-slavery efforts that were still necessary in much of Africa and the Middle East on into the first half of the twentieth century."
I think he should make it clear that he means institutionally."
page
116
I think he should make it clear that he means institutionally."
September 26, 2018
–
31.45%
""This worldwide struggle went on for more than a century because the non-Western world in general resisted and evaded all efforts to get them to root out this institution that was an integral part of their economies and societies. ""
page
117
September 26, 2018
–
31.45%
"I never understand why people say 'everyone knows slavery is wrong.' No. Actually, not everyone does. Some people are completely seared in their conscience and incapable, or unwilling, to imagine themselves in the sufferings of other people, and to them slavery is simply something that is and they cannot comprehend why anyone would think it was bad. Take for instance the following quotes:"
page
117
September 26, 2018
–
31.45%
"""We took possession. . .in accordance with our customs and we caught all the people. Not one escaped. Some ran away from us, these we killed, and others we killed — but what of that? It was in accordance with our customs.""
-That wasn't said by European slave traders. It was said by Maori, in regards to their enslavement of other Polynesians.
What are the prison work camps in China but slavery?"
page
117
-That wasn't said by European slave traders. It was said by Maori, in regards to their enslavement of other Polynesians.
What are the prison work camps in China but slavery?"
September 26, 2018
–
31.45%
"What were the gulags in the USSR but slavery? What are current day sweatshops all around the world, but slavery? What are the majority of brothels, but slavery?
I will never understand the obsession with the past over rectifying the present! I guess it's because it is easy to virtue signal about the past, it doesn't require any action, whereas attacking these problems today requires action and risk."
page
117
I will never understand the obsession with the past over rectifying the present! I guess it's because it is easy to virtue signal about the past, it doesn't require any action, whereas attacking these problems today requires action and risk."
September 26, 2018
–
31.45%
"Difference in reaction to ending of slavery between the West and the non West. The last Western country to end Slavery, Brazil, erupted in spontaneous cheers and joy (1888).
When Turkey 'outlawed' slavery in 1855 it sparked a revolution and the assassination of the man who read the edict, with the result that the Sultan was still buying white slaves for his harem in 1891."
page
117
When Turkey 'outlawed' slavery in 1855 it sparked a revolution and the assassination of the man who read the edict, with the result that the Sultan was still buying white slaves for his harem in 1891."
September 28, 2018
–
33.87%
"A vast literature has detailed the vile conditions under
which slaves from Africa lived — and died — during their voyages to
the Western Hemisphere. But the much less publicized slave trade
to the Islamic countries had even higher mortality rates en route,
as well as involving larger numbers of people over the centuries,
even though the Atlantic slave trade had higher peaks while it
lasted."
page
126
which slaves from Africa lived — and died — during their voyages to
the Western Hemisphere. But the much less publicized slave trade
to the Islamic countries had even higher mortality rates en route,
as well as involving larger numbers of people over the centuries,
even though the Atlantic slave trade had higher peaks while it
lasted."
September 28, 2018
–
34.41%
"In short, racism was neither necessary nor sufficient for slavery, whose origins antedated racism by centuries. Racism was a
result, not a cause, of slavery and not all societies that enslaved
people of another race became pervaded with racism to the
extent that the American South did."
page
128
result, not a cause, of slavery and not all societies that enslaved
people of another race became pervaded with racism to the
extent that the American South did."
September 28, 2018
–
35.48%
""one of the signs of our own times is that intellectuals have made desperate but futile efforts to depict the worldwide British anti-slavery crusade as somehow motivated by economic self-interest, rather than by the kinds of moral imperatives activating the kinds of people that today’s intellectuals find hard to understand.""
page
132
September 28, 2018
–
35.48%
""At the time, however, John Stuart Mill said that the British “for the last half-century have spent annual sums equal to the revenue of a small kingdom in blockading the Africa coast, for a cause in which we not only had no interest, but which was contrary to our pecuniary interest.” ""
page
132
September 28, 2018
–
34.14%
""There were thousands of other blacks in the antebellum South who were commercial slaveowners, just like their white counterparts . An estimated one-third of the “free persons of color” in New Orleans were slaveowners and thousands of these slaveowners volunteered to fight for the Confederacy during the Civil War.""
page
127
September 28, 2018
–
36.83%
""The death toll...exceeded even [that] on packed slave ships crossing the Atlantic. Slaves who could not keep up with the caravans were abandoned in the desert and left to die a lingering death from heat, thirst and hunger. Thousands of human skeletons were strewn along one Saharan slave route alone — mostly the skeletons of young women and girls, who were more in demand than men in much of the Islamic world.""
page
137
September 28, 2018
–
36.83%
""While much of the history of the treatment of slaves has
been presented as a history of the treatment of African slaves, the
treatment of European slaves in North Africa and elsewhere was
by no means benign.""
page
137
been presented as a history of the treatment of African slaves, the
treatment of European slaves in North Africa and elsewhere was
by no means benign.""
September 28, 2018
–
37.1%
""While North African pirates enslaved Europeans primarily from the countries around the Mediterranean, they occasionally ranged much farther afield. Some of these pirates sailed into the English Channel and even into the Thames estuary.""
page
138
September 28, 2018
–
37.1%
""Earlier, in 1627, these pirates ranged even farther afield
and raided Iceland, carrying off nearly 400 people into bondage.
As late as the early nineteenth century, Barbary pirates captured
American ships on the high seas and enslaved their crews.""
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and raided Iceland, carrying off nearly 400 people into bondage.
As late as the early nineteenth century, Barbary pirates captured
American ships on the high seas and enslaved their crews.""
September 28, 2018
–
37.1%
""The phrase “to the shores of Tripoli” is in the U.S. Marine Corps hymn because Marines were part of a naval expedition sent to rescue hundreds of Americans from bondage in North Africa and serve as a warning against further pirate attacks on American ships. "
-I know that song! I didn't know that's why it had those lyrics!"
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-I know that song! I didn't know that's why it had those lyrics!"
September 28, 2018
–
37.1%
""After a successful raid on a European coast, the pirates sometimes...returned...under a white flag, to offer to sell some of their captives back to their families: This was especially effective when the captives were children...who might be brought before their parents in the custody of a fearsome and leering Moor, to leave no doubt what awaited them in slavery, perhaps even before they arrived in Barbary.""
page
138
September 28, 2018
–
37.37%
""The story of how human beings treat other human beings when they have unbridled power over them is seldom a pretty story or even a decent story, regardless of the color of the people involved. When the roles were reversed, Africans did not treat Europeans any better than Europeans treated Africans. Neither can be exempted from moral condemnation applied to the other."
Yes. Reverse racism does exist...aka racism."
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Yes. Reverse racism does exist...aka racism."
September 29, 2018
–
44.09%
""To have made the moral case for emancipation in the Proclamation would have undermined its acceptance as a matter of military necessity...As a distinguished scholar aptly put it, “we are so conditioned to expecting interest to masquerade as altruism that we may miss altruism when concealed beneath the cloak of interest .”""
page
164
October 2, 2018
–
54.03%
""Will Rogers once said that it was not ignorance that was so bad but, as he put it, “all the things we know that ain’t so.’’ Nowhere is that more true than in American education today, where fashions prevail and evidence is seldom asked for or given."
I am so glad! We have gotten to the education portion. Go Sowell Go! This is where I am passionate, since I am an educator, this is so true. So so so true."
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201
I am so glad! We have gotten to the education portion. Go Sowell Go! This is where I am passionate, since I am an educator, this is so true. So so so true."
October 2, 2018
–
54.03%
"The American education system absolutely follows fashions and trends instead of hard evidence. It takes one study, not an experimental one, a descriptive one, of how talented readers read and starts to teach everyone in that way, not even considering how those talented readers LEARNED to read like that. That led to the fiasco of sight words...which is STILL being taught in the U.S.A."
page
201
October 2, 2018
–
54.03%
"60% of our fourth graders today achieve Basic or above reading level. That means 40% are below where their peers reading level already at 4th grade!!!! 9% of adults can't read, compare that to the 1970s when 0.6 percent was illiterate. 0.6!!!! What happened!?!? Idiotic fashions in education is what happened. Teaching kids phonics, the sound symbol correspondence, oral onset rhyme drills WORK, why did we abandon them?"
page
201
October 2, 2018
–
54.03%
"I see it in the tertiary education system as well, 'let's implement this study that this other university did, and change our entire curriculum to match'. That study was on literally NO students. It was a guy theorizing! Could we at least run it on several pilot groups of different level students? 'No, we will just run it on the top level students, if it works for them it will work for everyone.'"
page
201
October 2, 2018
–
54.03%
""The quest for esoteric methods of trying to educate black children proceeds as if such children had never been successfully educated before, when in fact there are concrete examples, both from history and from our own times, of schools that have been successful in educating black children, including those from low-income families." This is such an annoying myth. Just look at George Washington Carver, W.E. Dubois etc"
page
201
October 2, 2018
–
54.03%
""Contrary to prevailing educational dogmas, there are schools in America today where low-income black and other minority students do in fact score well on standardized tests — both public schools and private schools, secular and religious — even as the vast majority of ghetto schools have abysmal performances on such tests. Moreover, there has been successful black education as far back as the nine-teenth century. ""
page
201
October 2, 2018
–
54.03%
"Even I sit around and parrot 'I'm against standardized tests' because that is what is popular to do. And I think that standardized tests are wrong in how they are often used, but the truth of the matter is that they DO predict lifetime success (see Charles Murray, coming apart). The problem is that people use them incorrectly."
page
201
October 2, 2018
–
54.03%
"Take tests like TOEIC/TOEFL. They are marketed as and seen as measuring English ability, but that is not exactly what they do, they actually measure success at studying. They do not actually predict English proficiency, but student conscientiousness, preparedness and skill at studying, all of which predict which students will make more successful STUDENTS, not more successful English speakers."
page
201
October 2, 2018
–
54.03%
"This holds true for most general standardized tests. They don't measure what students KNOW but how prepared they are for the test, so basically how successful their methods of study are. If they do well on the test, they have successful study methods, which in turn means that they will do better in the academic environment."
page
201
October 2, 2018
–
54.03%
"This is of course different than institution or grade level standardized tests, which are created to test if the students actually know what they were taught. In this case the tests are based on a specific body of knowledge that is taught in year/semester and they are tested on their retention of material, which is a little different than the generalized tests like SAT etc."
page
201
October 2, 2018
–
54.84%
"[Dunbar High] equaled or exceeded national norms on standardized tests in the 1930s, 40s, and early 50s...When this information on Dunbar High School was first published in the 1970s, those few educators who responded at all dismissed the relevance of these findings by saying that these were “middle class” children and therefore their experience was not “relevant” to the education of low-income minority children.""
page
204
October 2, 2018
–
54.84%
""Those who said this had no factual data on the incomes or occupations of the parents of these children — and the data that existed said just the opposite. The problem, however, was not that these dismissive educators did not have evidence. The more fundamental problem was that they saw no need for evidence. ""
page
204
October 2, 2018
–
54.84%
""According to their doctrines, children who did well on standardized tests
were middle class. These children did well on such tests, so therefore they must be middle class."
Doctrines is the right word for this kind of behavior. It's faith in an ideology. Go with what is proven to work, not with what you wish worked."
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204
were middle class. These children did well on such tests, so therefore they must be middle class."
Doctrines is the right word for this kind of behavior. It's faith in an ideology. Go with what is proven to work, not with what you wish worked."
October 2, 2018
–
56.18%
""All this contradicts another widely believed notion — that schools do not make much difference in children’s academic or career success because income and family background are much larger influences."
It makes me cringe to post that, because it's true and it's horrible. It makes a difference today if you go to public school, private school or charter school, the kids who come out have different outcomes."
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It makes me cringe to post that, because it's true and it's horrible. It makes a difference today if you go to public school, private school or charter school, the kids who come out have different outcomes."
October 2, 2018
–
56.18%
""Dunbar quickly became just another failing ghetto school, with all the problems that such schools have, all across the country. Eighty-five years of achievement simply vanished into thin air. It is a very revealing fact about the politics of education that no one tried to stop this from happening."
So sad."
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209
So sad."
October 2, 2018
–
56.18%
""Such are the ways of politics, where the crusade of the hour often blocks out everything else, at least until another crusade comes along and takes over the same monopoly of our minds."
Isn't that the truth."
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209
Isn't that the truth."
October 2, 2018
–
56.18%
""black high schools in Washington today have many of the so-called “prerequisites” for good education that never existed during the heyday of Dunbar High School and yet the educational results are abysmal. “Adequate funding” is always included among these “prerequisites” and today the per pupil expenditure in the District of Columbia is among the highest in the nation, while its test scores are among the lowest""
page
209
October 2, 2018
–
56.18%
""Politics is also part of this picture. Immediate, tangible symbols are what matter within the limited time horizon of elected politicians. Throwing money at public schools produces such symbolic results, even if it cannot produce quality education."
Yes. This is also true. Let's just tax everyone more so we can put more money to the schools, that will solve everything. Only it hasn't."
page
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Yes. This is also true. Let's just tax everyone more so we can put more money to the schools, that will solve everything. Only it hasn't."
October 2, 2018
–
56.72%
""Many, if not most, predominantly minority schools have performed very poorly, but enough others have not that this cannot be blamed simply on their being racially segregated schools. ""
page
211
October 2, 2018
–
56.99%
""Test scores were never used as a rigid cutoff for admission to St. Augustine. There were students there with IQs in the 60s, as well as others with IQs more than twice that high. Moreover, the average IQ of the school as a whole rose over the years — being in the 80s and 90s in the 1950s and then reaching the national average of 100 in the 1960s."
Wow, IQs in the 60s is really low."
page
212
Wow, IQs in the 60s is really low."
October 2, 2018
–
56.99%
"Even though some of the students were in the 60s they still produced 20% of all Presidential Scholars in that state. That's impressive."
page
212
October 2, 2018
–
56.99%
""By contrast with a private Catholic high school like St. Augustine, P.S. 91 in Brooklyn, New York, was a public elementary school, located in a rundown ghetto and housed in an even older building than the original Dunbar High School. Yet the students in most of the grades in this predominantly black school scored at or above the national norms on standardized tests when I studied it back in the 1970s.""
page
212
October 2, 2018
–
56.99%
""This was not in any sense a middle-class school or a magnet school. It was just an ordinary ghetto school run by an extraordinary principal."
Yup, true. One person who is really motivated can make all the difference."
page
212
Yup, true. One person who is really motivated can make all the difference."
October 2, 2018
–
57.26%
""Many today might disdain this message of self-improvement as naive at best. But the fact is that it worked — and much that is considered more sophisticated today has a dismal record of failure."
I think the message of self-improvement is the most empowering thing that you can give some one. You are in control of your own destiny, you don't need to wait on anyone else to help you. It's so freeing."
page
213
I think the message of self-improvement is the most empowering thing that you can give some one. You are in control of your own destiny, you don't need to wait on anyone else to help you. It's so freeing."
October 2, 2018
–
57.53%
""Important as the history of outstanding schools for black students has been, there is also much to learn from the history of very ordinary urban ghetto schools, which often did far better in the past — both absolutely and relative to their white contemporaries — than is the case today."
We are upgrading almost every area of science except educational. Why? Because in education we ignore what came before."
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214
We are upgrading almost every area of science except educational. Why? Because in education we ignore what came before."
October 2, 2018
–
58.06%
""While schools for low-income and minority students that succeeded in the past often had to do so despite the indifference of boards of education run by white officials, those which have succeeded in our own time have often had to do so in the face of active hostility by education officials of whatever race. "
Also true, even at the tertiary level. Both universities I've taught at have had this problem."
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216
Also true, even at the tertiary level. Both universities I've taught at have had this problem."
October 2, 2018
–
58.06%
""The principal of Bennett-Kew Elementary School in Inglewood, California, whose student body is 52 percent Hispanic and 45 percent black, raised these children’s reading levels from the third percentile to the fiftieth percentile in just four years.""
page
216
October 2, 2018
–
58.06%
""But she was threatened with loss of money because she used phonics
instead of the mandated “whole-language” teaching methods and taught exclusively in English, instead of using the “bilingual” approach required by education authorities. The fact that she was succeeding where others were failing carried no weight with state education officials.""
page
216
instead of the mandated “whole-language” teaching methods and taught exclusively in English, instead of using the “bilingual” approach required by education authorities. The fact that she was succeeding where others were failing carried no weight with state education officials.""
October 2, 2018
–
58.33%
""Documented results are not allowed to override the prevailing educational dogmas — which pervade the schools of education, the teachers’ unions, and state and federal education bureaucracies — none of whom pays the price for the failure of these dogmas. Neither do their children, who are typically enrolled in private schools.""
page
217
October 2, 2018
–
58.33%
"Should such revelations become widely known among parents and voters, this would threaten not only their careers but also their agendas, which
include the use of public schools to promote fashionable beliefs and attitudes — political correctness — rather than to equip students’ minds with knowledge and develop their capacity for independent use of logic and evidence."
page
217
include the use of public schools to promote fashionable beliefs and attitudes — political correctness — rather than to equip students’ minds with knowledge and develop their capacity for independent use of logic and evidence."
October 2, 2018
–
58.33%
""While successful minority schools do not use any single formula or ideology, they do make sure to teach those basic things that get neglected by more typical or more trendy schools, beginning with reading."
Ooo, he got on my soapbox. Yes. Yes. Yes. Reading. Honestly, the only real things we need to TEACH are reading, writing and arithmetic. After students know those, we should be setting them free."
page
217
Ooo, he got on my soapbox. Yes. Yes. Yes. Reading. Honestly, the only real things we need to TEACH are reading, writing and arithmetic. After students know those, we should be setting them free."
October 2, 2018
–
58.33%
"Setting them free to study what they want. Have a history class where instead of a pointless textbook, give the students free reign in the library and they have to read a primary history source of whatever they are interested in and write a book report on it. Then have them have a discussion class with small groups of children where they tell each other what they learned. Rinse and repeat."
page
217
October 2, 2018
–
58.33%
"Not only will they be learning history better because they are interested in it. But they will be learning discussion skills and writing skills. Of course the teacher can step in and assign primary source reading material if they see a missing gap. They could even create a time line for each grade. Grade 4 starts with the Colonial age, Grade 5 moves on to the revolution, by 12th grade modern history."
page
217
October 2, 2018
–
58.6%
"Until recent years, declining educational standards were visible in that half the students in 4th-6th grades were scoring two or more years below grade level. Then came a new principal with old-fashioned ideas about education who began to get old-fashioned results. Now 100 percent of the students are reading at grade level or higher and a majority of the students are above the national average in reading and math."
page
218
October 2, 2018
–
58.6%
""One is called “Directed Instruction” —...just plain teaching, as distinguished from the more trendy notion that teachers are to be “facilitators” on the sidelines, letting students “discover” and “create” knowledge themselves...In other words, kids who have nobody to teach them at home improve greatly when there is somebody to teach them at school, instead of using them as guinea pigs for experiments.""
page
218
October 2, 2018
–
58.6%
"I shouldn't agree with this, but I do. I have taught at two universities, one that employs just plain teaching, and one that employs student centered methodologies.
My prior university students came with 0 English, not even knowing the alphabet, and we had them writing 10 page research papers in two years. Here they don't write 10 page research papers until 4th year, if at all. And that's AFTER studying English K-12."
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218
My prior university students came with 0 English, not even knowing the alphabet, and we had them writing 10 page research papers in two years. Here they don't write 10 page research papers until 4th year, if at all. And that's AFTER studying English K-12."
October 2, 2018
–
58.6%
"It breaks my heart to see all this failure and all this lack of success. I also think that using the students as guinea pigs is exactly right. There is so much research happening on University campuses, and a majority of it doesn't stand up to robust science. It's not replicable, or the participants are too low. Education is basically a soft science now, and it shouldn't be."
page
218
October 2, 2018
–
58.6%
""Not satisfied with violating educational dogma by plain old teaching, Principal Ernest Smith also groups students by ability and gives them tests every ten lessons or about every seven or eight days — all of which is taboo in educational establishment circles."
Also true, students need something to work towards. Humans need a concrete goal to work towards, this was proved in animal literature decades ago."
page
218
Also true, students need something to work towards. Humans need a concrete goal to work towards, this was proved in animal literature decades ago."
October 2, 2018
–
58.6%
"Critical mass theory, and must have role models of your exact race and ethnicity and gender. It's not true, it's never been true, and it is disproven as soon as you look at other groups. Japanese Americans post WWII suddenly became some of the US most achieving students, and they did it without Japanese teachers and without Japanese cohorts in the classroom."
page
218
October 2, 2018
–
60.22%
""Studies from more recent times have shown that the education of black students has been negatively affected by the presence of large numbers of other black students.""
page
224
October 2, 2018
–
60.22%
""An empirical study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that “a higher percentage of Black schoolmates has a strong adverse effect on achievements of Blacks and, moreover, that the effects are highly concentrated in the upper half of the ability distribution ”"
page
224
October 2, 2018
–
60.22%
""Another study, focusing on the effect of ability-grouping on the performances of students in general, mentioned among its conclusions: “Schooling in a homogeneous group of students appears to have a positive effect on the achievements of high-ability students’ achievements, and even stronger effects on the achievements of high-ability minority youth ”"
page
224
October 2, 2018
–
60.48%
""History is too often the handmaiden of contemporary visions or agendas. Accomplishments among blacks are often either magnified or downplayed, or glided over entirely, according to whether these accomplishments do or do not advance the agenda of portraying victimhood or struggles against victimhood.""
page
225
October 4, 2018
–
72.58%
"Studying Western imperialism in isolation from other, non Western, imperialism—such as that of Genghis Khan or the Ottoman Turks—makes all the injustices, oppressions, and horrors incident to imperialism itself seem like depravities peculiar to the West."
page
270
October 4, 2018
–
72.31%
""Another modern Western tendency, at least among the intelligentsia, is to be anti-Western — to apply double standards that ignore or excuse behavior in non-Western societies that would be excoriated in the West or to picture the sins of the human race as if they were peculiarities of “our society.” Specific examples include the history of conquest, slavery, and war. ""
page
269
October 4, 2018
–
72.31%
""Conquest, like slavery, existed on every inhabited continent and involved all the races of mankind as both conquerors and subjugated peoples. Slavery and conquest existed in the Western Hemisphere before the first white man set foot on the shores of the Americas.""
page
269
October 4, 2018
–
73.12%
""For most of human history, and for nearly all of the non-Western world prior to Western contact, freedom was, and for many still remains, anything but an obvious or desirable goal. Other values and ideals were, or are, of far greater importance to them — values such as the pursuit of glory, honor, and power for oneself or one’s family and clan, nationalism and imperial grandeur, militarism and valor in warfare,...."
page
272
October 4, 2018
–
73.12%
""...filial piety, the harmony of heaven and earth, the spreading of the “true faith,” nirvana, hedonism, altruism, justice, equality, material progress —
the list is endless. But almost never, outside the context of Western culture and its influence, has it included freedom. ...""
page
272
the list is endless. But almost never, outside the context of Western culture and its influence, has it included freedom. ...""
October 4, 2018
–
73.12%
""Indeed, non- Western peoples have thought so little about freedom that most human languages did not even possess a word for the concept before contact with the West.""
page
272
October 4, 2018
–
73.39%
""One of the implications of universalism is that those who are more fortunate need not be any more deserving than those in misery. For some, this suggests an imperative for redistribution of wealth, while for some others it may suggest a sharing of the knowledge and the development of the habits, priorities, and values that would enable others to create wealth for themselves.""
page
273
October 4, 2018
–
73.39%
""For those who believe the latter, simply giving people things is counterproductive from the standpoint of getting them to become productive themselves. Nor is what is given likely to equal what the recipients could have created for themselves if the sources of productivity had been shared, rather than the fruits.""
page
273
October 4, 2018
–
73.39%
""In many other societies, especially non- Western societies, the notion that the supreme ruler was subject to the law would be foreign, if not incomprehensible. In many of these societies, the ruler’s word was itself law.""
page
273
October 4, 2018
–
73.92%
""The rule of law implies more than the principle that no one is above the law. It implies also that those with power cannot take action against individuals without some prior evidence of violations of existing laws and some prior determination through institutionally established “due process” that the individual in question is in fact guilty of transgressing specific prohibitions."
-Particularly apt right now."
page
275
-Particularly apt right now."
October 4, 2018
–
73.92%
""While they can bring the outward forms of Western culture — an independent judiciary, elections, markets, technology — what they cannot export are the centuries of evolution that led up to these things and the resulting ingrained traditions and attitudes which enable Western institutions to function. "
This is absolutely on point. It was really easy to see in Ecuador."
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275
This is absolutely on point. It was really easy to see in Ecuador."
October 4, 2018
–
73.92%
"--Even though Ecuador is technically a republic government with democratic elections and representation, it, even today, doesn't have the culture of voting or local communities stepping up to improve their own neighborhoods with legislation. I remember while we were there voters were being bribed right outside of polling booths to vote a certain way. That wouldn't happen in the U.S."
page
275
October 4, 2018
–
73.92%
"A far more urgent challenge faces the West than spreading its culture to other lands. The real culture war is within Western civilization itself and history is one of its crucial battlegrounds. In addition to the usual disputes over particular facts or their interpretation, there is a more fundamental and more pervasive attempt to make the sins of the human race look like peculiar depravities of Western civilization."
page
275
October 4, 2018
–
74.19%
""We do not have a choice whether or not to discuss history. History has always been invoked in contemporary controversies. The only choice is between discussing what actually happened in the past and discussing notions projected into the past for present purposes. History is the memory of the human race.""
page
276
October 4, 2018
–
74.46%
""Objectivity is too often a red herring. No one makes the impossible demand that mathematicians be objective but that does not mean that the logic of geometry or equations depends on how each individual chooses to look at it. Nor can a mathematician who gets his geometry or equations wrong take refuge in the truism that no one is objective. Neither should historians be able to find refuge in such truisms.""
page
277
October 4, 2018
–
74.73%
""How Columbus or Andrew Jackson or any other historic figure looked to any Western Hemisphere Indians is knowledge vouchsafed only to those Indians at that time — certainly not to others centuries removed from the scene, living in a very different cultural universe, and possessing not even isolated written statements from the indigenous peoples, much less any scientifically conducted polls among them.""
page
278
October 4, 2018
–
74.73%
""We may, from our own viewpoint today, lament that bloody and brutal conquests took place at all, but that is by no means to say that the Indians themselves rejected bloody and brutal conquests, or that they lamented anything about the battles that took place other than the fact that they lost most of them. What their true feelings were we can only speculate about. ""
page
278
October 4, 2018
–
75.0%
""Taking sides too easily degenerates into being morally one-up and imagining that we would have handled the problems of the past so much better than those who were there. Nothing is easier than creating higher standards for judging other people.""
page
279
October 4, 2018
–
75.27%
""Among the many other distortions of history growing out of a posture of taking sides is casting particular groups or societies in the role of victims, while overlooking their victimization of others.""
page
280
October 4, 2018
–
75.27%
""Peoples subjugated and oppressed by others have often been the objects of solicitude by intellectuals, as well as by political movements seeking their liberation. Yet, time and again, that liberation has been followed almost immediately by the liberated peoples oppressing the minorities now subject to their power.""
page
280
October 4, 2018
–
75.54%
""Reaching conclusions after the fact is not the same as taking sides before the facts, even if those conclusions reflect credit or discredit on different individuals or groups to differing degrees. The historian is the agent of the reader. That is whose side is supposed to be served and it is a conflict of interest to set out to serve some other cause while pretending to be informing the reader.""
page
281
October 4, 2018
–
75.54%
""Wanting to line up on the side of such people may be a generous impulse, but it can also be a dangerous self-indulgence. Such moral partisanship is
unlikely to do much good to those unfortunate enough to be born without the social and cultural prerequisites for prosperity or freedom.""
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unlikely to do much good to those unfortunate enough to be born without the social and cultural prerequisites for prosperity or freedom.""
October 4, 2018
–
77.69%
""While the lessons of history can be valuable, the twisting of history and the mining of the past for grievances can tear a society apart. Past grievances, real or imaginary, are equally irremediable in the present, for nothing that is done among living contemporaries can change in the slightest the sins and the sufferings of generations who took those sins and sufferings to the grave with them in centuries past.""
page
289
October 4, 2018
–
77.69%
""Galling as it may be to be helpless to redress the crying injustices of the past, symbolic expiation in the present can only create new injustices among the living and new problems for the future, when newborn babies enter the world with pre-packaged grievances against other babies born the same day.""
page
289
October 4, 2018
–
77.69%
""To be relevant to our times, history must not be controlled by our times. Its integrity as a record of the past is what allows us to draw lessons from it.""
page
289
October 4, 2018
–
77.96%
""The viability of these traditions is attested to by the mere fact that they are still here to be criticized, while the viability of alternative “constructions” has yet to be proved and they may be able to survive only in the minds of those who put them together. Notions and knowledge are different precisely because the former have not passed through the verification process, while the latter has.""
page
290
October 4, 2018
–
77.96%
""Where beliefs are not checked against facts, but instead facts must meet the test of consonance with the prevailing vision, we are in the process of sealing ourselves off from feedback from reality. Heedless of the past, we are flying blind into the future.
{"
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{"
October 4, 2018
– Shelved as:
non-fiction
October 4, 2018
– Shelved as:
absolutely-must-read-again
October 4, 2018
–
Finished Reading
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message 1:
by
Nicholas
(new)
Oct 06, 2018 09:27AM
After reading your review, I have only the vaguest idea of what the book is about, but I have more of an idea of how you reacted to it. I often feel that way reading your reviews, for better or worse, haha. Definitely sounds like a fascinating book!
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Oh yeah, definitely. My reviews are definitely not book reports. They are all about what I thought about while reading.
Unless, of course, they were truly awful books, then I tell you exactly what they are about and every place they went wrong. :)
