Episode 1033 Scott Adams: Talking About Systemic Racism

Date: 2020-06-20 | Duration: 54:27

Topics

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Rough Transcript

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Transcript

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• Cornel West explains concept of offensive things

• Mike Pence’s impressive question handling

• Systemic racism

• Whiteboard: Unlucky History and Poor Kids

• People respond to other people’s expectations

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[0:11]

hey everybody come on come on gather round grab your containers you know what I'm talking about it's time for the best part of the day yeah it's called coffee with Scott Adams and you have come to the right place for that let me tell you oh you're on a hike well that's good for you this is a perfect entertainment companion for taking a hike look at that tree over there watch your step it's like I'm right there with you all right everybody you know what you need to have a great day to get it off in the right way all you need is a cup or a marker a glass a tanker chelators time a canteen juggler flask a vessel of any kind fill it with your favorite liquid I like coffee and join me now for the dopamine hit of the day the unparalleled pleasure I usually say those in the other order it's called the simultaneous something that happens now go do you know why I could never be an

[1:18]

go do you know why I could never be an actor well lots of reasons but one of them I can't remember lines my memory the way my memory works is very different from other people's so I care about of the exact order of anything I'm a little bit dyslexic anyway so putting things into order is hard but concepts I can remember forever like a joke if I hear a joke remember it forever so I don't have a bad memory I have a different memory I can remember concepts forever but exact things like phone numbers not a chance
I've had a question that I've had for a long time and I feel like I got an answer yesterday it was on the question of what the anti-trump people are really thinking which might be separate from what theirs saying because you've wondered this too for example when you heard the

[2:18]

for example when you heard the president's critics say that when he referred to the so-called countries that that was racist right and you heard that when he called the kneeling NFL players sons of your that that was racist as well now if you're not an anti-trump er did you not have the following question in your head which is do they mean that or is that just a convenient attack because they can sort of turn it into an attack or do they really think that is racist because I know that you don't yeah I know that it didn't hit me that way but of course you know maybe by filter is different it doesn't mean it's not racist because it didn't it didn't it didn't hear that any particular person that way I'm just saying I had a question do they really believe what they're saying or is it just politics and I was

[3:18]

or is it just politics and I was listening to interview with Cornel West you may know him he's professor or somewhere Harvard uh Harvard professor I think African American man if you don't know him that's important to the story and a very good spokesperson just in general because he's just really he's just good at communicating and he's verbally really gifted so you think okay Cornel West he somebody could maybe help sort out this question and it turns out he did but somewhat accidentally it happened I think it was Bret Baier I may have uh for some reason I remember Cornel West but I think it was Bret Baier who's interviewing and those two examples came up so Cornel West brought up the countries and the SOPs when he brought up the SOPs I think it was Bret Baier who just added a little

[4:19]

was Bret Baier who just added a little professional context he was really good at it by the way because the way he did it was yeah I had to be Bremer the way you did it was he just added the context it wasn't in any argumentative way he said well you know that the context of the sons of was not specifically racial here's what Cornel West sent because the whole point of the SOB thing being racial is that it's obviously racial that's the whole point isn't it and here Brett Barrett says well it's not you know there was no specific call-out to race how did Cornel West answer that and it was really interesting he said it felt like it basically and I'm paraphrasing but what he said was that when he sees a black person Colin Kaepernick included in the category of a sons of he thinks of Colin's mother and he

[5:19]

he thinks of Colin's mother and he thinks of other black people thinks of himself thinks that maybe like his own son and he takes it personally and I thought to myself well that's not exactly what people are saying is it because he said fairly clearly that no it wasn't a racial statement but it feels like one because that just the way he processed it was racial even acknowledging that the president's statement was not intended that way isn't that interesting it's a clear intention it he's clearly saying there's no indication that the president meant it as a racial statement and yet it offends him the same way and and the point being more about the I guess the carelessness of the president's words that lead you to those feelings so what about this year all countries so Cornel West also explained that he didn't say

[6:19]

West also explained that he didn't say did not say the president says black countries are bad which is what you think we're saying right when people are criticizing him like one I know he's heard was oh I get it you think he was only talking about black countries so that sounds racist to you I think he was talking about countries that are not producing you know highly educated experienced people who would immediately add to our economy on average which sounded more economic to me but Cornel West explained it and again I have to paraphrase because I don't remember exact words he explained it that when you call a country that was you know even if one of those countries and most of them were brown with black countries I think if you call them any kind of an insult he just takes it personally because he has some connection in his mind and in some cases maybe in his history to that country so he takes it

[7:20]

history to that country so he takes it personally that is really different isn't it because in both those examples he was pretty explicitly acknowledging that he has no no he has no accusation that the president intended it or even had a racial thought isn't that interesting he he acknowledged the two of his strongest examples of the president saying racist stuff has no indication in it that the president meant it that way or was thinking that way I always thought that that was the whole point is that he was thinking it that way and meant it that way wasn't that the whole point but the moment that Brett Baier just added that little bit of context that's all it took and here's what I appreciated about that I felt like that moved the ball a little bit like I felt like there was some kind of little breakthrough I was having so you know you need and and I had been confused for

[8:22]

you need and and I had been confused for a long time about this whole situation now if you explained it to me as this was offensive to me and here the connections about why I felt it that way I actually accept that completely completely if what are you saying is this made me feel bad and here are the reasons and maybe if you were in this situation you would make you feel bad too I think yeah maybe I can see that I don't they wouldn't argue with that at all but if you go to the further thing say the president in his mind which were reading from a distance intended it to be racist or revealed his inner race inside well that's just crazy talk but it turns out that Cornel West isn't saying that I can actually work with completely I mean we could work with what Cornel West is saying you know it can you can you modify your language so it's less offensive to people who's maybe

[9:22]

offensive to people who's maybe experienced you don't have a full appreciation for to which I say sure sure I would do that for anybody let's say you had a bad experience with a oh you've been attacked by a rhinoceros in your youth and I start telling you a story about a rhinoceros and you say please please please I know you're not doing this to hurt me but you know rhinoceros talk it bothers me and I just sort of take it personally that you would even bring up this conversation what would you do well if you're a jerk you keep talking about rhinoceroses rhinoceri plural of rhinoceros don't know so if you don't want to be a jerk you would immediately stop talking about rhinoceri right it has nothing to do with race and how about just not being a jerk not you know not being a dick that's it's exactly that what I feel

[10:23]

that's it's exactly that what I feel about the statues the people who are arguing that the Confederate statues are well technically their history and you know technically they're not meant to be racist and technically is you know the it wasn't put up for that purpose and it's all that's the nobody cares those statues are offensive you don't get to tell them they shouldn't be offended it's not up to you to tell people what is offensive to them right if you put up a decoration in your house and 40% of the people who have visited your house were deeply offended and told you so my god I'm really offended by that whatever it is it doesn't have to be a Confederate thing but if 40% of your gas who you like in love and want to be friends with their family or whatever if 40% of them come into your house and say I'm offended by that wouldn't you give it a thought to change

[11:23]

wouldn't you give it a thought to change your decorations I think you would if you're a dick you're gonna argue that the person shouldn't be offended now all 40% of the people I know you really shouldn't be that way so I'm just gonna keep my decorations and I think you need to get over it well you could do that it's a free country right and the 40 percent could hate you for it it's a free country but why why it's a decoration you can't get rid of a decoration that it's offending your family and your friends 40 percent of them I mean it's pretty reasonable pretty reasonable to get rid of that thing you also hear the argument that something like 25 percent somewhere in that neighborhood of African American citizens are in favor of keeping statues the Confederate ones included so is that an argument well look at look at that if 25 percent of them are okay with it it's not about race but that's not the point if 75 percent are deeply offended it

[12:28]

if 75 percent are deeply offended it doesn't matter what it's about it doesn't matter if it's about race it's deeply offensive we can't get rid of something that's deeply offensive let's just be reasonable somebody says Isis is also offended by the statues um here's my notes full Taliban so yes I'm completely aware that if you allow people to get rid of statues only because they're offensive that you would end up getting rid of all your statues is that okay sure yeah that's okay did you think I was going to be against it nope nope not against it at all I'm not to Wed two historical things if they're offensive now the Taliban of course were more about getting rid of everything now I think where this statue thing is going to go and it seems obvious where this will go

[13:29]

obvious where this will go I think you're going to have people tearing down African American statues eventually you'll have people saying oh well if that one offends you I'm offended by Martin Luther King so you're gonna get you're gonna get some kind of troll response yeah that's probably where it'll all end up but here's the thing the Taliban are pretty much you know there's no exception bla bla bla got to get rid of everything but getting rid of the statues of slave owners that doesn't feel like going too far to me and frankly I don't care where it ends up I have in favor of Juneteenth as a national holiday but I would at least want to give some consideration to the following branding Juneteenth you know that could be the name of it that's a historical name and that's good but maybe in addition to that it feels like Independence Day version 2.0 doesn't it

[14:30]

Independence Day version 2.0 doesn't it you know in software version 1.0 is well it works that's got a lot of bugs it's sort of version 2.0 that you've got a good chance of getting a good product because they've worked through all the bugs and you know the the July 4th Independence Day was allegedly you know a day of freedom but not so much right if you were black it wasn't your Independence Day which is the whole point so it feels like it was Independence Day version 2.0 was Juneteenth you don't have to brand it that way but it just feels that way that that that was the upgrade that's when we finally started getting it closer to right still not completely right but a lot closer
Mike Pence continues to impress me with his ability to avoid causing trouble yeah I've said this a bunch of times I'm

[15:30]

yeah I've said this a bunch of times I'm not a giant fan of Mike Pence I don't think he should be President like he doesn't doesn't quite fit for me as president but as a vice president I could not have more respect for the way the man is him link his job as a vice president I mean it's really tremendous and again it's the dog that doesn't bark right it's the problems he's not causing he is really good at avoiding problems and he was he was lured into this trap yesterday in a some kind of a press conference in which they were trying to get him to do a public gaffe on the black lives matter thing so the trick of course is to try to get any prominent Republican to to make them say the words black lives matter in public and of course Democrat you know and of course Republicans want to say some version of all lives matter and then that's the trap so people could say ah ah ah you're not willing to say the words black lives

[16:32]

not willing to say the words black lives matter racist obviously racist that was an obvious trap Mike Pence knows it's a trap and then he walks right into it all right so I just told you wait Mike Pence is really good at avoiding traps and he walked right into this he walked right into it but here's how he got out and of course the news doesn't doesn't like to focus on you know the way he got out so you have to read this story to find out his actual wording and stuff but it's kind of impressive the way he did it and I wanna so here's the setup so he was asked the question and he gave some generic response but he didn't say yes or no and he didn't use the words black lives matter so the next press person follows up I guess it was anchor Bryan Taft and he goes forgive me for pressing you on this sir he says two pence but I will note

[17:34]

sir he says two pence but I will note you did not say these words quote black lives matter don't you hate this deck he's such a dick the best reporter because there's no there's no news value in this whatsoever he's not even pretending there's news value in this he's just trying to trap the president of the vice-president in public and he's just such a dick move and he goes people are saying of course all lives matter but to say the words is an acknowledgment that black lives also matter at a time in this country when it appears that there's a segment of our society that doesn't agree does it does it seem like there's a segment of this society that doesn't agree that black lives matter really really can you show me one person who would say that I've never even been a racist who would say black lives don't matter like literally nobody there's yeah there's a segment of the country they're

[18:34]

there's a segment of the country they're hiding pretty well because I mean literally even racist don't say that anybody doesn't matter well yeah that's just nobody's mind all right
here is Mike Pence's quite impressive response to that because the quote well I don't accept the fact Brian now here's the first thing that pence does first he calls him by his first name he's just so friendly right it's a small thing but I don't think Trump does it right Pence is just so smooth yes well I don't accept the fact Brian so he doesn't call the lie he doesn't say he's a jerk he doesn't call the call him a dick like I just did he goes well I don't accept the fact Brian that there's a segment of American society that disagrees in the preciousness and importance of every human life oh wow that is so good I mean you don't you

[19:36]

that is so good I mean you don't you don't really realize how good it is until you see what didn't happen which is it didn't cause a problem Penn said and it's one of the reasons why as we advance important reforms and law enforcement as we look for ways to strengthen and improve our public safety in our cities that were not going to stop there
that's a really good answer that is such a good answer it's friendly its non-competitive it doesn't really it he's simply instead of arguing with the point he makes a defense of the human population the same as I did he just defended the population and said I don't think there's somebody out there who thinks that all life is an impression and I thought to myself I don't know if I've ever heard that have you have you heard a national politician on this topic not just say whether racism exists system systemic racism exists you're

[20:39]

system systemic racism exists you're sort of arguing about the the racism over here but pence took it all the way back to root cause right and he said I don't believe there's a segment of the society who thinks all lives are not precious and I thought to myself I've never met anybody who didn't think that have you I've never met anybody who didn't think a life was precious so Mike Pence man he just nails it and it's like he's like a silent assassin because it just doesn't really get the attention because that's the way he plays it he plays it without like he's like the hype the he's like the high board diver who does the perfect dive and it doesn't doesn't leave a ripple in the water he just got slices into the water and you know did Mike Pence dive into the water because I don't see a ripple how do you do that all right so in my ongoing effort to get canceled

[21:43]

in my ongoing effort to get canceled I tweeted today that systemic racism is a manipulation term which I reject now of course I accept that black lives matter of course now just so that I can be part of the conversation without distraction I always like to tack that on first because if you say it directly and you say it first and I would recommend my technique , of course because if you don't add the of course you leave you leave some suggestion that then maybe you just arrived at that opinion or something it's like well yesterday I wasn't so sure but today yeah now that I think about it black lives matter so comma of course I like to add that to eliminate what are we even talking about like why would you even ask me that dumb question of course but here's what my problem with systemic racism as a phrase in my views racism is universal

[22:47]

phrase in my views racism is universal and pervasive and it's in all things everywhere wherever they're humans so since humans are pattern recognition machines but they're not good at it they're subject to confirmation bias they don't have the full story most of the time we just don't so wherever there are humans there is something like bias you could call it racism but there's always bias and so the fact that it also exists in systems doesn't add as much to your understanding as you would hope so the first problem with systemic racism as a phrase is that it's a manipulation phrase it's a phrase of influence it's a phrase of persuasion which is different from a solution oriented description so I've been pushing back on that phrase because my problem with it is it doesn't suggest solutions and in fact it kind of makes you look away from where they might be so it is a very subtle

[23:48]

might be so it is a very subtle manipulation because it suggests the solution where it really shouldn't so in other words it it moves you past the sale into where you should be looking for
for solution but you really need to be back on the sail you need you need to be looking a little deeper that's my problem with it let me let me say more about that the problem is that if you say there's systemic racism the second part that usually is that it's a ripple effect from slavery now I don't believe there's anybody who would argue that the legacy of slavery did not have a ripple effect a strong one into the future and the current that disadvantages or has disadvantaged the black community there's nobody who argues that right you know the the legacy of slavery because what was it Chappell who was saying that his great-great I forget how many greats

[24:48]

his great-great I forget how many greats but somebody that he knew in his lifetime I think you know came from slavery so it wasn't that long ago so it's not that hard to imagine in fact it's obvious that there's an economic ripple effect but here's my problem with framing it that way let's say you got two kids one has an unlucky history and now he's a poor kid today he has all the disadvantages of poor kids today now none of this was his fault he had nothing to do with the his grandfather's yeah it wasn't even born he had nothing to do with choices they made he just ended up here then there's another kid also an unlucky history but let's say it's a different kind different kind of unlucky history but he wasn't there the kid wasn't even born it's people who came before him and did other things and now he's a poor kid now you got two poor kids which one which one gets the

[25:51]

kids which one which one gets the reparations which one gets the reparations because here's the thing it doesn't matter why you got there and the the systemic racism argument it's got lots of features to it but one of the main features is that it implies a solution and that is persuasion because the solution is implied in the framing of the situation if you are to frame it differently your solution would look different here's how you would frame it differently if your solution oriented you would say doesn't matter how these kids got here what's the difference how they got here well I wasn't I wasn't a slave owner I didn't cause this kid to be poor I had nothing to do with it it doesn't matter that his parents were you know drug addicts and grandparents were criminals or whatever happened had nothing to do with this kid this kid was

[26:52]

nothing to do with this kid this kid was just born that's all they did they were just born which one is the favorite one which one do we want to put our attention on I would I would say that it would be unambiguously racist to say that the one who came from a specific kind of history gets more help whatever that looks like reparations I don't know funding and the government whatever that looks like that would be purely racist to say that this person had one kind of history that got him to this situation this had another kind and all coincidentally all the ones that are like this are the same color that is racist by definition so it's systemic racism I don't know if it was created for this purpose but it has the quality of making you think past the details all the way to the solution it's if you if you don't study persuasion it's not as obvious that it's a persuasion term and not a descriptive term so let me say

[27:54]

not a descriptive term so let me say this those who say there is systemic racism I say to you you're thinking small there is universal racism to imagine that it's systemic limits it to well it's in some situations it's not in some situations it's in every situation in which there are people it does it if you replaced your system today with a new system it would be just as racist because all the people in it are racist and it doesn't matter who they are we are pattern recognition machines but we're not good at it so we're biased about everything all the time right it's just it's just the human condition we try to overcome it with laws and rules and we tweak them and we fix them and we study them and we try to use our higher sense of Reason for those who have a religious upbringing maybe a higher moral sense but we can we can fight pretty hard to overcome our biases but we can't get rid

[28:54]

overcome our biases but we can't get rid of them so let's be realistic about what can and cannot happen and I think we're just better off if we say you know God I'm just I'm just so biased you know you've seen this several times haven't you how many how many african-american people have you heard in your personal life or in the media say something like this I prefer the racist who were just telling me the racist the ones who bother me are the suburban soccer mom who pretends she's not but is all right how many black people have you heard say that either in public or privately to you it's fairly common right it's like I can deal with honestly I can deal with honesty it's actually simple to deal with oh you've got this feeling well you know good for you all I'll go over here because I'd rather be with people who don't feel like that or or how about

[29:56]

don't feel like that or or how about you're an idiot Bob about Bob you're an idiot because you're a bigot and I've got a PhD so you know that's great for you Bob being a bigot how is your as your GED because I got a PhD you know imagining there's a black guy talking to Bob so you should be able to just just laugh about it and kind of deal with it as a human condition that you're trying as hard as you can to use your better senses to overcome but as soon as you start saying well I don't have any racism but I'm a good suburban mom well what do you do with that right what do you do with that if you can't talk about it call it out and joke about it complain about it do something about it try something do something different yeah you're tying yourself in knots so there's my stand and I'll even

[30:58]

knots so there's my stand and I'll even go further you want me to take it to full cancellation here it goes full cancellation for Scott possibly the last time you'll ever experience coffee with Scott Adams unless I'm hiding somewhere and the victim another victim the the witness protection program here it comes I think it's child abuse to tell a young person there is systemic racism I think it's child abuse to tell young black kids or any kids that there's systemic racism even if there is now if you're gonna argue but Scott there is systemic racism I'm not arguing that you can call it whatever you want I've already said it's Universal Universal is much bigger than your little complaint about systemic you know if you're gonna go small go small but

[32:00]

if you're gonna go small go small but you know that's on you I'm going big I'm saying everybody's a racist all the time in every system all the time you're saying there's this little systemic racism thing that's a component of that and okay but I'd rather see the big picture not the small picture here's my point we have science which seems to clearly indicate that people respond to other people's expectations we know for example that if you do an experiment in which you randomly choose small kids and you say hey you small kids you're the gifted ones you're the you're the smart ones that we're gonna put you in a special class randomly chosen they are not the smart ones literally randomly chosen track them from a year their grades will be better it's pretty consistent it can be reproduced you tell kids they're smart they act smart they rise to their expectations you tell kids that they're

[33:00]

expectations you tell kids that they're not smart and they will they will lower to that expectation kids kids need to be told what they can and can't do and you tell them you tell them directly you tell them indirectly but they're hearing it what can I do what does a kid now kid doesn't know what they can do doesn't know what they'll someday be able to do they have no idea until they can do it so I would say that telling kids that there is systemic racism and there's this this hard to describe force you know imagine you're a kid you don't quite know what did all of it even means if you tell them that you're telling them your life will you know is gonna be suppressed you've got this force working against you now again if you're just joining me I'm not saying whether the the racism will hold people back or not obviously it's a negative I'm not arguing that it exists or doesn't exist or as bad ones so that's not even part

[34:02]

or as bad ones so that's not even part of the conversation the conversation is strategy that whether it exists or doesn't exist what do you tell the kid all right how about this you're you've got some horrible problem in your life you're an adult it's just like a horrible problem do you tell a small kid no no it doesn't matter if it's true there are things you tell kids and they're things you just don't tell kids it doesn't matter if it's true that's not how you managed children because they don't help you know obviously develop brains so if you raise a kid to think that racism is going to hold them back do you get the same result as if you raised them to say oh racism everywhere you're gonna slice through that like it didn't exist which one of them gets you a better result overall every kid is different but overall it's not a bit close and we know

[35:02]

overall it's not a bit close and we know this we know it completely we know they're telling somebody that they will be held back will hold them back and we know that telling people that they are not they're not limited by the problems in life the problems are real but you're not limited by them there's nothing that makes that have to affect you in fact the existence of racism necessarily creates the strategic advantages necessarily all right let me save more about that if racism did not exist could a black person to walk into any fortune 500 company and be almost guaranteed a job so long as they have basic qualifications that are you know comparable to other people applying for the job no they couldn't they could not if if racism did not exist could a poor black kid be pretty much guaranteed a

[36:02]

black kid be pretty much guaranteed a college scholarship so long as they get good enough grades probably not probably not so if you are a poor poor black kid born into a family that says look here's the deal racism is everywhere you're not going to be able to fix that but here's the cool part because racism is everywhere it opens up these you know lesser but still perfectly acceptable you know lesser in terms of number channels for you to succeed and it's basically it's a superhighway you know get out of the get out of the forest walk over to the superhighway this has free college and you you're gonna get a good job and your life it's gonna look really good just walk over here here's the strategy that works over there there's a strategy that doesn't work does racism exist yeah it's everywhere well one affect you a bit I mean it'll

[37:05]

well one affect you a bit I mean it'll affect you in your social life and how you feel about things it'll affect you that way it's not going to stop your income it's not gonna stop you from getting married not gonna stop you from having a good life not gonna stop you from buying a house maybe there'll be a little discrimination so it's everywhere so you know maybe you get turned down for an apartment and you don't know why yeah that's going to happen because racism everywhere but is there another apartment yeah yeah wasn't like there was one apartment it's not like yes I like there you would be turned down so many times you couldn't get a place you probably hardly notice it so imagine if you will the two approaches to a kid yes this thing will hold you back or know you have strategies a little slice through it like it didn't exist and in fact you can use it like judo you can take the energy of it and use it in your advantage one of them is child abuse and one of them is good mentoring let me ask

[38:07]

one of them is good mentoring let me ask you this you're an employer two candidates come in for a job one of them believes as systemic racism exists and has been a big problem in their life one of them believes that racism exists everywhere there's just everywhere but that this candidate he or she has good strategies to overcome it or slice through it which one do you hire do you hire someone who believes that they're under the yoke of systemic racism and then you bring them into your company how is that going to work out how's that going to work out for you as an employer nothing to do with being black nothing to do with being black it's not a race question if you brings me an employee who believes the system is screwing them I don't want I don't want to be anywhere near that employee that employee is going to sue you

[39:08]

going to sue you they're already primed they're primed for it do you think confirmation bias will stop working the day you hire this person no the person who believes that systemic racism is the you know sort of an organizing model of their world is gonna see it everywhere begin they're telling you they're telling you directly I believe there is systemic racism so sure are they gonna see it they're gonna see it where it exists and also where it doesn't and not because they're black now because anything they're just people the human condition is that confirmation bias affects all of us all the time you're not immune from it nobody else so if you if you have somebody who has a framework in their head then they should expect that confirmation bias will fill in the framework and you're basically just asking yourself to get sued down the road so so keep that in mind if you go

[40:10]

road so so keep that in mind if you go looking for a job I don't think you want anything on your social media history that says you believe systemic racism is holding you back now if you were a white person and you said systemic racism is bad it probably wouldn't hurt you for a job interview it might help you right I mean maybe if you had a person of color who was interviewing you they look at that and say oh there's an open-minded person I'll hire them but if you're black and you come into a job interview with a black employer how about this you it's a black hiring manager and a black candidate and one of the candidates actually let's say all three of them are black just keep it easy - black candidates and one black hiring manager and one of the candidates says racism systemic racism is a problem in their life and the other one says well racism is everywhere but it's not bothering me you know who do you hire I'm it's a

[41:13]

you know who do you hire I'm it's a no-brainer all right let's see the other thing that a systemic racism does is that it forces you to look in one place for solutions doesn't it so what do Republicans say is the problem with a black community I'm not a Republican so I'm just summarizing those views I think most of them would say that if you get the family unit right then other things work out I feel that's a little simplistic all right so I'm not on board with the the strong family unit is the the secret to success because I think that only works for some people in some situations and what it does it works great I'm very jealous of anybody who can you know make the strong family unit work so it makes sense that people have made it work for themselves and their friends they would say hey this work for us you

[42:16]

they would say hey this work for us you should try it I just don't think it translates into every situation so maybe you need something better but here's the thing if you say systemic racism racism is the the organizing thing that you're working on where do you look for your solutions at the system right if you think that systemic racism is the problem you would look at the system's because it it manipulates you to look past the question of where the problem is and where is the best place to fix it it makes you think past that - Oh which systems are we working on right so that's why it's manipulative and it's a persuasion term it's not a healthful term it's not a problem solving term it's a political term that's intended to get your emotions up and - and I don't know if it's intended but it makes you look in the wrong place and what I say

[43:16]

look in the wrong place and what I say buy the wrong place is one place in particular maybe it's not the wrong place it's just it forces you to look in one place I would rather say what could you do with let's say schools and families and early education and stuff because wouldn't you say that by the time the kid is 18 it doesn't matter what the other systems are doing he's in trouble if the entire problem is caused by the time the kid graduates high school or drops out of high school if all of the problems are baked into that person by that point in other words they didn't get the education and then you know they've got a jail record or whatever it is they're on drugs of course that's gonna ripple into the future there's nothing you could do fixing the system that's gonna fix any of that so I feel that calling it a systemic racism makes you look away from the first 18 years of life even though the school is a system but you don't see

[44:18]

the school is a system but you don't see people talk about that as much right schools a system your your early family life system but that's not what they're talking about is it you know of course the schools are worse in the inner cities and I do think that needs to be fixed but systemic racism makes you look in the wrong place that said as I said before the one place it just stands out is in the justice system it really it really stands out there and I think that if you say hey the justice system is creating these unequal outcomes what do we do about that I would say oh that's worth looking into nobody wants unequal outcomes there's nobody has that as an objective so if you say we're not we're not getting equal outcomes in theory you have every white person in the world on your side on day one okay look at this unequal outcomes what white person says oh that's the way I wanted it I wanted it to be unequal outcomes nobody nobody

[45:18]

to be unequal outcomes nobody nobody zero people have that opinion so if there's a statistical measurable problem yeah you got all the help in the world fixing that and I've suggested for example that if you have unequal outcomes in the justice system then maybe there was a way to anonymize the information that the judge used give that to some independent people who can't tell the race or ethnicity of the person involved and just have them see hey wait a minute this decision is an aligned with the average even considering all the extenuating circumstances and the and the the prison record of the person etc then maybe you could get rid of racism if some way you could anonymize it and have a you know an external people you know bring bring things back to the norm so there are lots of ways to deal with problems with your system and I'm all for it but calling it a systemic racism as the

[46:20]

but calling it a systemic racism as the unifying principle is misleading and ultimately racist actually yeah unintentionally all right I feel like just a broken record on all these topics
unequal inputs create unequal outcomes someone says yes that's true but unequal systems would do that as well somebody said did hotep Jesus block me if so why the answer is no he made a public joke about blocking me which you should have recognized as a joke I did see him blocking people for not being smart enough to know it was a joke so I guess you're lucky you got away without getting blocked so no Hotel Jesus and I have no reason that either of us was blocking the mis-predictions for Tulsa

[47:22]

blocking the mis-predictions for Tulsa today Wow let me tell you let me answer that by telling you my experience last night so last night I went to dinner at a restaurant in my town for the first time yet in my town for the first time it and rubber early on in the pandemic I was suggesting that the restaurants that could would close the street so that they could move their seeding into the street and it would be you know just our door saving for the summer at least until the weather changes it might work now I suggested that to the you know one of the leading restaurant tours and my town friend of mine and I think he took it to the town but in any case last night Main Street was blocked off and going forward I think I don't know if it's every weekend might be it might only be weekends I'm not sure yet but

[48:23]

only be weekends I'm not sure yet but so it and I went to Nate in the middle of Main Street so that the tables were spaced out now here is my experience I don't think that more than one in three people had masks on last night it was a crowd situation because even though the the restaurant thought it was extending its table sitting into the street that's not what the public thought so when when you imagine this you say to yourself oh that sounds pretty good the B seats outside the weather's great the weather was perfect seats in the street but it's a really nice Street you know but it's perfect seating really and you think and you imagine that you're like oh we're all sitting at her tables with lots of distance that sounds very pleasant but it turns out that the residents who were not there to eat of which there are many just walking about decided that it was a street fair a

[49:24]

decided that it was a street fair a street fair meaning that crowds of people were in and among the tables and the table I was at was right next to some Bros some white Bros you know some 20-somethings who talked too loudly when their friends come by you know what that is right here's here is a forty something when their friend comes by unexpectedly hey Bob I haven't seen you in a while all right now here's the 20 year old bro when he sees his friend he hasn't seen in a while and then his friend sees him and goes and they both shout as hard as they can but they they try to get the deep the deep manly shouts oh and it becomes a whole like Simeon you know ape-like situation where they're all trying to be louder and more aggressive and slapping each other harder or hugging each other harder

[50:25]

hugging each other harder chicken Ian's Howard and and you know establishing their territory and trying to alpha up and stuff so as a result you know there were four of the bros right next to us and they were really loud and then their friends come over now their friends are standing around the table and starting to crowd our table and they're really really loud and then another group of their friends come and the next thing I mean I'm basically you know right on the edge of a large group of large men who are effectively none of the met masks zero masks and the entire group none of them were quarantine together and they all just came to this one table so there was like now there were a million different contacts all represented at the table right next to me and they were all shouting drunk I don't know if they're all drunk but they're all shouting like drugs and it just went on for like 40 minutes

[51:28]

and it just went on for like 40 minutes now was I exposed to the coronavirus yes yes I was and I thought about what do you do in this situation because I should have walked down right I mean for safety reasons I should have just walked out but I didn't want to penalize the restaurant and I didn't want to pay and not eat I mean the whole point was I wanted to go ahead so my my personal restaurant experience was completely ruined by loud bros who were trying to kill me because they didn't have any risk the young people didn't really have any risk but they didn't give a that I did let me tell you and there was a one older guy that was with the other guys and he was like hey don't touch me don't touch me but he didn't have a mask on either so he said he's probably dead we'll never see him again that guy died anyway the point is what I when I witnessed last night was almost complete destruction of the medical

[52:31]

destruction of the medical recommendations and I don't know how much that was unique to the situation but I kind of feel like it wasn't unique and while Trump supporters might be really good at wearing masks because I imagine they'll probably be handing them out at the I'd be real surprised if there are not you know mega face masks although that would be a terrible idea because then people would wear them in public later and then they get their ass kicked so I hope they don't have those unless they're generic but it could be I don't know I so first of all I think that nobody is nobody's taking it seriously in California at least in my area and by the way the police the police were there so you know California you're supposed to have a face mask as of the other day you're supposed to have a face mask in these crowded public areas all the time the police were right in the middle of that crowded area and we're not enforcing

[53:32]

crowded area and we're not enforcing anything nor do I think they could have so I'm not blaming them I don't think they had really an option to do anything though the entire street was filled with maskless people there were two cops what could they do so you assume the risk that is correct you do assume the risk what do you call a gathering of Bros a bunch of twenty-something white guys we talk too loud and you know they like sports young guys don't care it's rampant yeah I would say that young males certainly are not going to be wearing masks not uni I'm looking at your comments so similar all right that's it for today and I will talk to you tomorrow