Should Sam Harris Listen to His Own Advice on Trump?

Analysis of Sam’s podcast: “Biology and Culture: Sam Harris and Bret Weinstein”

Original Podcast. Jump to about 32 minute mark for the discussion below.

They were talking about the people who believe Bret is a racist from the protests against his email Spring 2017. They had a Day of Absence where they tried to force whites to leave campus. He refused. They tried to get him to resign.
Bret and his wife’s students know they aren’t racist. But they can’t convince their friends who believe they are racist. Sam described this situation as a Cult. Bret agrees. They both agree that if they were presented with new evidence, they would re-evaluate and look for something they missed. I agree with their analysis.

Bret Weinstein’s email response to being pressured to leave campus for Day of Absence.

Sam: “If I’ve been wrong publicly… If I thought someone was Satan and they turned out not to be. I would be so uncomfortable having to maintain that by neglect. I’m wired to immediately rectify that problem.”
Bret: “Intellectually honest brokers all reach the conclusion you suggested. At the point you discover you have got something really wrong, It’s very painful to get on the right side of it. But it’s way cheaper than NOT getting on the right side of it and continuing to pay the cost of being dead wrong.”

Now why is this interesting you might ask. It’s interesting and relevant because this is almost exactly what Sam has been doing with President Trump for the past year. As soon as Trump has gotten into office and his behaviors didn’t match up with the extremist rhetoric from the left, he should have taken note. But what we see is that he and others have continued to cling to smaller and smaller portions of their position. They may not believe he’s “literally Hitler”, or a white supremacist, or an authoritarian, but still want to hate him. Despite Trump returning power to the Judiciary, and power to Congress with DACA. Despite Trump’s rhetoric, he leaves the press and DOJ alone. Despite his rhetoric, he cooperates fully with the Special Counsel. All of these normal, reasonable Republican actions chip away at the cognitive dissonance of Sam and others. It seems that Sam and other leftists might do well to take their own advice in a situation where many are telling him that Trump isn’t the embodiment of his worst fears. Sam might find it helpful to re-evaluate so he doesn’t keep paying the price for continuing to be dead wrong. Best wishes Sam and many others I know. Share this with them, and start breaking down that cognitive dissonance.

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