Tuesday, February 13, 2018
Episode 95: Let Me Educate You
Play Now!I confess: I sometimes screw up. We all do, after all. The point worth remembering is not the fact that we D'oh! on occasion, but what we do afterwards. And, given our almost universal screw-upped-ability, it's probably best to not assume we are god's gift to the unlearned every time we drop "knowledge" on the masses' asses, and, moreover, to occasionally subject our own insights to review. Those two lessons are the subject of today's Episode 95: Let Me Educate You.In this episode, I read from: my computer's quickie dictionary; and a few chapter titles from Michael Shermer's Why People Belive Weird Things. I played audio from: Sam Harris' Waking Up podcast (Episode 31, "Evolving Minds"); and from "The Hate Debate" from Jad Abumrad's More Perfect podcast.Tunage includes: KMFDM's "Attack" (backing Mark Blyth); Lee Rosevere's "Multivac;" and two from Jahzzar, first "Lullaby," and then "Dip." I close once again to Mistle Thrush's "It's All Like Today."I'm releasing this and all my episodes under a Creative Commons 4.0 attribution, share-alike, and non-commercial license.
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I think on a later podcast Harris did acknowledge that the "let me educate you" bit made him seem like a conceited jerk.
ReplyDeleteOn a completely different topic, that "she parts the dust" bit seems like an intentionally bowdlerized version of the joke. It would be wild conjecture to speculate (not going to let that stop me!) that this is exactly what happened to your friend, but it seems to me that just as "parts the dust" is a strange turn of phrase for a joke-telling nine-year-old, it's also a strange mishearing for a five-year-old. But some canny adult, upon hearing that joke repeated, might say "ah, you actually misheard!" and thereby confound a kid into mentally editing that slightly-blue joke into something a bit more defused.
Hey, L33t!
DeleteI think on a later podcast Harris did acknowledge that the "let me educate you" bit made him seem like a conceited jerk.
Good! I'm glad to hear that!
As to the dust being either parted or farted: …it's also a strange mishearing for a five-year-old.
It helps to know the five-year-old in question; since we were in first grade together, I'll confirm. I'm quite sure he mis-heard the joke, given what he was like. He is just the type to mis-hear and later piece together what he thought he heard and try to find the logic therein (even though logic might not be involved).
This wasn't always a handicap, since his mental meanderings were sometimes brilliantly original. Other times…. Ah, well. Either way, we got a laugh.
(Hopefully, bleaknemesis will wander over and chime in with further confirmation. Got yer ears on, Bleak?)
Jim,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reply to my question on the last podcast. Sadly, my beefs are mostly with liberals and not republicans and libertarians (which I mostly just listen and nod to whilst I go to my happy place). I was kind of replying to the types KMO could/would have on that would cite Hanlon's razor (or whichever one of those smart sounding las of human nature) who see society as one long line of endless progress.
On Sam Harris, I feel dirty, cause:
1. I do listen to him if only to hate on his ideas.
2. Because I feel like I have to defend him just a little.
I didn't hear Sam say what L33t says above, which if true is commendable. The part in the podcast you refer to is where Aziz states that Harris and co author is hating Muslims just for the money. The thing is anyone who has listened to Harris will know it is obvious that Sam wets his bed every night in fear of them. The dude is in my opinion being genuine to himself and his inner emotional life. And later in the podcast Omar actually says, "let me educate you." back to Harris. I am sure I only caught it cause I was primed. I should go back and find where Aziz says it but I refuse to waste my time listening to the same exact Harris podcast with Harris quotes like: Sam is the "most", "no one has written more than me", or "paitiently(sp) obvious." One listen is all I can give any of his podcasts, especially when he is at his worst and his guest was awful too.
Hey, thefuturefarm!
DeleteI completely understand beefing with those that more closely comport to your own philosophical positions. I've found that trying to discuss a completely foreign mind set is like seeing an obvious tear-down of a house and having the advocate of that mind set argue that the kitchen linoleum is worth keeping. It's too much stress on the brain to even consider the situation seriously.
On Harris, let me see if I've got this straight: you both like to hate on and defend his positions?!? Freud called. He has an open couch available. ;-)
Funning aside: …anyone who has listened to Harris will know it is obvious that Sam wets his bed every night in fear of them.
That was the impression I got as well. KMO read some of his stuff on his show that sounded absolutely boogieman Boo!.
Harris seems to have approached the Koran (and perhaps other supporting writings) from the position of a non-believer and drawn the conclusion that all of the scary stuff he read applies to all faithful Muslims. Which is weird, since there are equally scary passages in just about every religion to incite such fears and worries, until you realize that very, very few believers take such passages seriously, if they are aware of them at all.
And later in the podcast Omar actually says, "let me educate you." back to Harris.
Missed that; but I'm willing to score that to Omar as an ironic shot at Harris. It would be the low-hanging fruit of an eye-rolling jab.
And I have skipped half of some of the 'casts he has done simply out of frustration. Did you hear the Daniel Dennett one? They went back and forth like tennis players returning volleys on an esoteric question with no supporting empirical evidence for either of their positions. It's like both were trying to get the other to say, "Ah, I see that you are correct, in that there are more than ten angels dancing on that pin head!"
Excruciating.
I would be curious if you (or anyone else out in Show Notes Reading Land) could recommend any of his 'casts that stood out as excellent, and maybe steer peeps away from others.
Laterz!
-Jim
Ha. I was actually wrong. Omer actually said, "I don't want to educate you, at least provide some facts." @2:36:00. Episode 32 "Best podcast ever. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteThough I still find it weird to use this as the Sam quote as a basis for your point. Sam was defending himself from an ad hominum attack. I think personally, I would have used something like "screw you" if I were in his shoes. Omer refused to walk back on an ad hominum that Sam only did it as a money making sheme, when you seem to agree Sam is really afraid of muslims. Go after Sam for the meat of his arguments and not someone trying to defend their motivations. In this "debate" Sam actually walks back a few of his stances where Omer doubles down almost everytime, which made me more sympathetic to him as an individual (not his ideas). I got the impression of two D bags going at it in a cyclical refilling action. I listen to Sam's podcasts almost like you listened to the radio in your work truck. I hate siloing myself and every now and then he has a good scientist on lIke the guy who talked about power laws, great part in the episode the scientist points out how efficient natural evolution is and Sam breaks and goes off about prostates. Ugh, I need a shower now even if I guessed pretty close to where my misquote was in the episode.
Thought of one last way to put it. I listened to your clip and thought, "Sam is trying to teach Omer about the publishing industry, what a douche. And Omer is right to be outraged" Instead, I listened to it and thought, "Omer spoke poorly of Sam personally and not anything doing with how Sam may or may not represent muslims. And Sam was trying everyway possible to defend a personal attack and finally actually got upset and said "let me educate you" instead of F you. Omer was just using fake out rage that he couldn't be a bigger man and say, "yeah when I questioned your motives that may not have been kind or proper. Let's focus on our ideological differences."
DeleteHey, thefuturefarm!
DeleteThanks for your research listening diligence. I, too, know all too well how frustrating it is to misplace a source and have to hop back in the information cesspool from which you think you might have left it.
That said, though I could be wrong, I think you might be reading too much into my motives. They are pretty simple: I detest the phrase "Let me educate you." I think it is (as you point out) essentially an "F You, Little Person Who Ought To Know Better (As I Do)."
The way Harris used it in his podcast, though, it seemed to have been an unconscious insult (as it too often is with LMEY users). I think he genuinely wanted to help Omar with publishing ins and outs.
That's why I played the intro material, where he tries to show how innocent of insult he was in using that phrase. It was as if sought from his audience confirmation that he was not actually saying F You, Omar; as if he didn't realize the phrase was insulting.
Again, the only controversy for me was trotting out the LMEY. For all I care, they could have been trading snipes on which floral patterns in drapes best accentuate deep green shag carpeting.
I do look forward to sneaking a few more Harris 'casts into the player, preferably ones that don't induce a need to shower.
Thanks again!
—Jim