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July 13, 2019 - Freedomain Radio - Stefan Molyneux
37:55
Inside The Black Community: What They Don't Tell You!
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I am a black atheist living in the South who is a former Democrat.
Even though I am an atheist, I can see the merits and values that religion gives certain people.
I don't agree with the medium in which the message is given, but that is beyond the point.
I'm also against big government regulation, because I don't think they should be granted so much power just going on past events.
Recently, while listening to a close friend, I told him that my ideals and views align more closely with conservatives, and he immediately told me that I couldn't be one because I'm an atheist.
So my question to you is, can an atheist consider himself a conservative?
That's from Jason.
Hey Jason, how you doing?
Hey, what's up Stefan?
My spirits, the lighting in my studio, my happiness at chatting with you.
Wow, you really are breaking some ranks here, aren't you, brother?
Tell me, were you raised religious?
How did you get on the atheist bandwagon?
Yeah, I was raised Baptist.
But my parents, I was raised with my father.
My dad pretty much raised me and my brother by himself.
I know, breaking even more stereotypes, single dad.
Holy God!
I know.
Does he not know how to read statistics?
I know.
And then my dad was pretty, he was kind of like, he was religious, but he was pretty nonchalant about it.
And my grandma was really the one who kind of like drove us to like be in Sunday school and everything and to get baptized.
And then my dad, he always kind of, he kind of made me become an atheist because when we were kids, he always kind of made us like study and Become educated and always question things.
When I was a teenager, I just pretty much started questioning religion, and I didn't really find it that logical, so it kind of started the path for me to become an atheist.
And then when I was in college, I dated a pastor's daughter, and that kind of just drove me even further to it.
You have a guy in the song.
Okay, now I know.
Now I know.
Married a preacher's daughter.
So wait, you dated a pastor's daughter.
Was that like a serious relationship?
Yeah, it was when I was a freshman in college and it lasted like three and a half years.
Wow.
Yeah, I know.
Did she know you were an atheist?
Yeah, she hated it.
She kept trying to convert me.
Dude, dude, I gotta ask you, Jason, how good looking are you?
I'm okay.
I mean, I think the main thing is that like what helps me get girls is like I would be considered, I guess, smart.
And then I think I have pretty good confidence when I'm talking to girls.
Okay, yeah, because I mean, for the pastor's daughter to go out with an atheist, man, you've got to have something in your back pocket, so to speak.
Maybe your front pocket, I don't know.
What happened at the end of it?
Were you guys thinking of going further?
I mean, yeah, I mean, yeah, we thought about it because, I mean, we also had, like, a pregnancy scare, too, so that really made us, like, really think about, like, making it, like, become married, and, I mean, we really cared for each other a lot, but it was just, like, it was kind of, like, the religion thing was a big part of it, and then also just, um, my, like, certain views I had, too, kind of started a lot of arguments, too.
Sorry, the which views?
My ex-girlfriend, she was Hispanic and just, yeah.
Just like my views on immigration and stuff like that.
Wait, did she have Hispanic in-group preferences by any chance?
Yeah, pretty much.
And then she was also Hispanic, and she was pretty racist towards other people, because at our university, it's very diverse, and we have Muslims, Indians, Asians, foreign exchange students.
She was very racist towards Asians, for the most part.
Wait, do you mean Indians or like Chinese and Indians?
Yeah, it's it's the Asian thing is always kind of confusing.
I like I like the categories where I don't have to remember geography.
East Asian.
I don't know.
Is that right?
Who knows?
That's why you know, Oriental was still okay.
So she was a racist towards Indians.
And so things kind of petered out.
And you know, it is it's true.
You know, I was in a relationship.
I wasn't dating her exactly.
We were kind of hanging out a lot together.
And she was a nice young lady and all that.
But Christian and I just, you know, my argument was, you know, if we ever were to get together, I mean, you could be Christian.
I mean, but the kids would have to decide for themselves.
And she's like, Nope, got to raise him in the church.
And that was a problem.
Sorry, deal breaker, deal breaker.
But um, So you went from religious, Baptist-y, and then you went to atheism.
Now, the former Democrat, did the Democrat stuff kind of coincide with the atheism to come before or later?
Actually, the Democrat came like a year ago because, I mean, before – and then I started – because, I mean, I'm a science major.
And one thing they always teach us, kind of like gospel, I guess, is to always question things, always question both sides, always question how they got their data, how they got their evidence.
And then I just started looking at both sides, liberals and the left, and just the points they were making.
And just like before, like, I was very pro, like, Black Lives Matter.
And I also, like, when I was growing up, I was, I think I was kind of racist towards white people, too, because, like, those things I was taught, like, growing up black, and the things they would tell me about, like, white people, and then things I was seeing in the media, and just think that white people were just suppressing us.
Then I just started, like, thinking about it, and thinking about, like, what are the real issues that are affecting black people?
Why are black people behind?
And it just kind of, like, changed my views on everything.
Oh, so like white people wake up and, you know, your life goal is to be an athlete and oppress blacks, right?
That's, that's, this is, this is all we do.
We just like, it's written on our mirrors, you know, make sure you oppress people who look different from you today, or you just haven't earned your lack of melatonin.
Anyway.
Make sure to say it's true too.
Melatonin.
So, okay.
Well, I'm certainly glad that you're over that and I appreciate that we're able to have this conversation.
So you went Democrat, right?
Was it, you said about a year ago?
Yeah, because at first I used to support Bernie Sanders and his whole thing.
Then I just saw the Bernie Sanders people, what they do, and then his message, and it was just, oh my god.
So, yeah.
And then you're really crossing into virgin territory for everyone, right?
Not just because you're black, I don't care about that, but the atheist who rejects leftism, let me tell you something.
It can be a little bit of a lonely caravan.
How did the Democrat stuff begin to crumble away?
I mean, you sort of said, looked into Bernie Sanders.
Oh, my God.
But you know, let's unpack those syllables just a little bit.
How did that begin to like, crumble down for you?
I'm just like how like pretty much my view is that how they use black because usually I feel like they just use black people as kind of like they're like a like the little slave puppy or a tag doll just to use for like to get votes and also used as like a like hey I'm not racist I got the black people behind me you guys be behind me too and it's like I feel like it's just counterproductive for like my people just the whole the way the whole things the Democrats preach to them and promise them just pretty much promise them free shit you don't have to work hard you don't have to try you don't have to earn anything
Just fucking sit on your ass and we'll give you stuff.
Sorry if I curse, I'm sorry.
That's fine.
But yeah.
Yeah, that's the least trouble I have with the stuff you're describing.
The swear word is the least.
Right, but didn't you know that the only Uncle Toms are on the right?
Maybe you're not aware of this, Jason.
Clearly I'm going to have to instruct you on how to be black because you're just not getting it right.
I know, like, I saw, like, um, like one of my friends posted something and it said, like, I don't, I don't support everything Donald Trump, like, stands for, or he says, not everything he stands for, just everything he says.
But I mean, I think he's a lesser evil.
But one thing they said was Donald Trump was never considered a racist until he was, like, Running against a liberal, I mean, running against Democrats.
And that's what I feel like with, like, black people.
It's like, it's like, I feel like it's like a whole bunch, it's these hardwired responses they have, if you don't agree with them.
And it's these barriers you gotta get over.
It's like, the first barrier is, first they call you a racist.
But if you're black, they can't say that, so they have to say you're Uncle Tom, or you're not informed on black culture, or you're not black enough.
You're an Oreo.
Is that still used from way out of date?
Seriously, because I'm light skinned and I have curly hair and I don't look full black.
You don't know how much shit I got growing up from black people.
I think it's kind of crazy.
Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait.
The fact is, Jason, I have no idea what kind of shit you went through when you were growing up from black people, obviously not being a light skinned, somewhat black person myself.
But what do you mean?
So what happened with you growing up with black people?
Because one thing I always hear black people talk about is that we need more educated black people.
We need more black people doctors.
And I'm a biology major trying to be a doctor.
But growing up, the most racism I ever received was from other black people saying that, oh, you're not really black.
You're not full black.
You don't look black.
Why is your hair like that?
Or me and my friends, we were pretty nerdy.
And it was like, oh, you guys are making me rage.
You guys are fucking nerds.
You're losers.
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
Look at you trying to pass your test.
And it's like, are you serious?
Wait, that was the insult?
Look at you trying to pass your test?
Oh, you're kidding me!
Jason, don't make me cry, like, right here in the show.
What are you, just trying to, like, pass a test?
That's the big insult?
And it was just like, just for like other black people too.
I was like, Jesus Christ.
But okay.
Or like, oh, and because like, I feel like we went through like a little emo phase.
We listen to rock music and stuff and that shit too.
Like, oh, you don't listen to rap.
Like, you're not even like, you're not... Well, you have to listen to rap and fail your test.
Yeah.
It's like a cultural thing.
You're not black enough because it looks like you might succeed!
Oh no!
Oh god!
Oh no!
It's mandatory to have a fucking sleeve tattoo.
And most of your privileges you gotta flip up.
A what tattoo?
Like a sleeve, like your whole arm tatted out.
Like in tattoos and stuff.
Oh right, right, okay.
I knew that!
Sorry, I just forgot my hood origins for a moment.
I'm back now.
Wait, I can't do that with a British accent, can I?
I can't do that with a white accent.
Alright.
Oh man, that's rough.
That's rough.
Now the friends that you said were nerdy, were they like other blacks hiding out?
Yeah, they were like your typical like black anime fan.
They're like into video games and stuff too.
Wow.
Was this, I mean obviously this is coming from your peers, was there any like, were their parents like, you know, good for you?
And you know, if you could talk to my son or was it like totally like, yeah!
He looks like he might pass the test.
Let's get him!
Oh, no, not really from the parents.
I didn't really like talk to their parents.
Like, yeah.
Right.
Okay.
Well, I'm sorry about that.
That's fine.
Whatever.
It sucks.
It sucks.
Come on.
It would have been nicer to have a little bit more community support, wouldn't you say?
Yeah.
But I mean, if you, the definition of community, I don't know if you could qualify the black community as a community, but yeah.
Okay, I'm going to kick over this rock and see what's underneath it.
I have some idea, but obviously I'm not going to guess.
People usually have certain goals, they have certain ideas.
Like they work together to help each other and I feel, I don't... Like shared values kind of thing?
Yeah.
I don't feel like, I mean, I think you touched on this in one of your other videos and you had like a woman on, talking about like the fall of black people.
And yeah, like, I don't think we really work towards each other.
You either, you break down, you just like, we just attack each other and we break each other down.
And it's just like, it's kind of like a feeding frenzy, like, with it.
Is there, um, is there danger in that?
I mean, physical danger.
I mean, obviously there's some scorn and some sort of tearing you down emotionally or intellectually.
Was there any physical danger in that?
In other words, did you fear that if you sort of went against the not exactly highest standards in the black community that you might be physically attacked as well?
Yeah, of course.
I mean, yeah.
I mean, I felt like one thing I noticed is like usually if they have no point to make, they get aggressive and they like violently, like they get in your face and try to attack you.
But I mean, I don't know.
It's just how it was where I was growing up at.
I mean, fights were pretty normal at our school.
And altercations and stuff.
And those are like some real fights, right?
Not like the two anime kids swatting each other in the face like butterflies, right?
Yeah, it was a lot of... I mean, there were multiple times the freaking cops threw tear gas at us at the cafeteria.
What?
Yeah, I know.
Tear gas?
Yeah, I know.
I think that cop was kind of an asshole, but yeah.
He threw two guys at him.
I don't know what time he jacked a kid up by his throat on one of the doors.
But yeah.
What did your parents say about this culture that you were – I wouldn't say in, but was around?
I mean, like my dad, he has a very kind of – he's just very nonchalant and just chill about everything.
When I told him I was atheist, he was pretty chill about it.
And when I told him I don't really agree with Black Lives Matter, he was pretty chill about it.
He was more open to my ideas.
He knows that when I make decisions, I think about it critically.
I don't just go on a motion or anything.
And then my mom is pretty much just her typical, she just makes excuses and apologizes for everything that black people do.
And she doesn't really hold them accountable for anything.
What do you mean?
Sorry, give me examples.
I think one time I was talking to her about the Michael Brown case.
And I was just telling her about how, like, I think they made a fair ruling on that case.
And she was just, just pretty much just going into, like, oh, that's not true.
Like, cops always abuse us or oppress us.
Or, like, black people, are they, like, we're still recovering from slavery or just stuff like that.
And it's just, oh my God.
Like, seriously.
Right.
Okay.
So, so she sort of, because of historical injustices and so on, like, the, the, the standards of, of behavior and so on are kind of lower, right?
Yeah, well she's just pretty much making excuses like the reason why black people act this way or the reason like we're not succeeding is because of X or yadda yadda yadda, just stuff like that.
And X, I'm gonna guess, tell me if I'm wrong Jason, but is X kind of like external factors?
Like it's not like, well, you know, we could put more of an emphasis on education, we could work on keeping families together more, we could raise aspirations for say passing a test.
Is it always the outside the black community stuff or is there stuff within the black community where they'd say, you know, we could work on this, right?
It's always outside.
Oh man, I was hoping you weren't going to tell me that.
Oh, come on.
Jason, let's rewind it.
Just lie to me.
Okay.
I'll give you five bucks.
Just, just lie to me.
I'll be happy.
Right.
It's the white devil, Stefan.
The white devil.
Apparently I have that.
I have that reputation.
Um, but um, So, former Democrat, and now the question is around conservatism.
So tell me what you mean by conservative.
It's one of these stretchy phrases, but what is it?
What does it mean to you, Jason?
Um, like, I don't really want like big government regulations.
I don't really want people telling me what to do.
I don't want people like getting into my business, for the most part.
And that's pretty much like what I get out of it.
Well, the way I see it.
I don't see, I don't really even tie it to religion, though.
I mean, yes, I'm atheist, but I mean, I don't, I don't see religion as, like, Christianity.
I don't see it as, like, a really, like, a bad thing.
Just, it can be used bad.
Right.
Oh, there's lots of things in Christianity I would agree with, and fortunately Christians have focused on a lot of the things that I agree with, particularly in America.
somewhat lately, you know, a little bit less of the sort of kill gay stuff from the Old Testament, a little bit more love thy neighbor stuff from the New Testament, which is obviously the Christian Christ in Christianity is pretty important as far as that goes.
So why do you think it's attractive to you?
I mean, obviously, I mean, good intellectual arguments, which we could go back and forth on.
But I find it interesting.
I mean, you're a young man, you came from a different perspective, then was there something like emotionally compelling about The sort of free market stuff, smaller government stuff.
As you say, I like the way you put it, I don't want people in my business.
Yeah.
Was there something emotionally when you came across these ideas that drew you to it or was it mostly like the intellectual arguments that won you over?
A little bit of both.
I mean, just because like the way I see it, well, it's just a lot of the points that they make that I agree with.
A lot of conservatives that I follow, I don't agree with all their points, but the main idea and goal, like I agree with it.
Yeah, but that's not the emotional side.
I'll just tell you for myself, Jason, one of the things that really drew me to small government, to no government, to free market and stuff is that I treasure self-ownership.
I want to be 150% responsible for who I am and what I do because that's the only way I can legitimately earn pride.
We all have that temptation to ascribe failures and almost never successes.
To ascribe failures to an external source.
It's a great temptation because it gives us this short-term emotional relief of not self-criticizing, of not self-attacking for mistakes that we might have made.
Oh you know I'm just a leaf tossed in the stream of other people's prejudices and so I'm going to externalize the causes of my failures.
Really tempting but I recognize the danger in that which is that if you do that you then can't claim success.
and pride in your success.
So I don't want to give away an inch of failure because I want to take 150% pride in my successes and I know it's just one big dial.
If you dial up irresponsibility, you dial down pride.
They work in opposite things and I want all of that self-responsibility and I hugely treasure and fiercely guard the idea of moral pride in a good conscience.
And the problem, like one of the things that really emotionally got to me was the idea that if, okay, my money is going to be taken from me by force, it's going to be put into causes.
And even if I agree with those causes, I can't claim any virtue because I'm being ordered to do something to be forced.
I want to have the moral pride of sovereign consciousness.
I'm going to make the decisions.
I'm going to succeed or fail.
I've got nobody to blame but myself.
I'm going to be a good person and I'm going to earn it and it's going to be something that I dedicate myself to.
I'm not going to blame others.
I'm not going to praise others.
It is my sovereignty of self that I'm going to sail Into the glorious sunrise of a good life and the degree to which the government forces me to go here and forces me to go there and threatens me with this and bribes me with that and bullies me with the other is the degree to which my self-ownership, my conscience is all just shattered.
and and spun away and that has always really really bothered me because i get one life and i don't know how long it's going to be but i damn well don't want to be ordered around because i lose the most precious part of myself which is my moral pride you couldn't say any better but yeah wait i'm going to start again and try no i'm just kidding as a beluga uh Yeah, for the most part.
And then, like, just seeing how, like, the result of, like, just trusting the government to do the right things, or do the regulations, and just how it just all falls apart.
And it just is pretty much counterproductive.
Now, do you mind if I ask you to completely betray your heritage?
Would it be alright if I just dip into that?
It's not your heritage.
Go for it.
Well, I mean, There are theories out there, and this is from economists of every ethnicity, but there are theories out there, Jason, of course, that says that, you know, as you say, you know, we promise you free shit and all that.
I mean, do you think that this stuff has done as much damage to the black community as some people fear it has?
I think it's like one of the main driving forces today that's hurting black people.
This and the false narrative that's being preached.
You mean the, like, white devils keeping you down kind of stuff?
Okay, so what damage do you think it's doing?
I'm in Canada, I can't really see it, but what would you reveal if I asked what's the damage being done?
Well, I think it's just a whole bunch of bad incentives.
It's incentivizing people to be lazy, not to work hard, not to strive to be successful or anything.
Just for instance, my mom, she grew up pretty poor.
And now, I mean, she pretty much gave up her family and gave up being a part of me and my brother's life growing up to focus on her career.
And now she makes really good money and she's taxed like out the ass for it.
And then my cousin, and then I have a cousin.
That is a category, right?
There's like a category just like super rich, out the ass.
Pretty much.
And then I have a cousin who's like probably like seven years older than me.
She has no college degree.
She has like three kids and pretty much she lives on government housing.
She's living in a house that's like twice as big as my mom's house.
Everything is given to her.
Her whole house is furnished.
She has all these things just because the government's giving it to her.
She doesn't have a job.
She has kids.
And if she gets married, then the government gives less to her, right?
Yeah, I know.
It's in the sense of not to get married.
Right.
And, you know, it is, as you know, pretty brutal in the black community, right?
The kids growing up, you know this better than I do, but the kids growing up without dads and how much challenge they have.
Just, you know, they're growing up without dads.
They don't know how to be men instinctively just by having a man around.
And then they're told that, you know, their whole society, the whole structure and hierarchy in their society just hates their guts and wants to oppress them and keep them down.
It's like, man, you couldn't create a witchery brew of failure more if you tried.
I know.
And I really see it too.
Like when I look, when I think about like my dad, cause like, I mean, my dad's like the best I could ever ask for like everything he's done for us.
And I pretty much just working his ass off.
Like since we were kids and he pretty much erased us as a single dad.
And then I looked at like how some of my friends who didn't have dads, like how they turned out.
Or like I have a stepbrother and he didn't have a dad and all he had was like his mom and then kinda, he had my dad, but it was like whenever he would do anything bad and my dad would try to reprimand him, his mom would like just get angry and try to stop it and make excuses for him.
And now he's just pretty much like a man-child who's like almost gonna be 30 and he has a kid who's like about to be in middle school who has like no support from his father.
No really support from his grandparents and it's just, it's just crazy.
Does he have a job?
No, he's collecting unemployment.
He's been unemployed for like I think a year now or something.
I don't, I don't even know.
Like I don't even try to ask about it because it just, it just pisses me off.
What happened to his, dare I say it, baby mama?
What happened to the mother of his kid?
Oh, they're both fuck-ups.
But I mean, the mom, I don't even know what she's doing.
I think she was in school at one point, but I don't think she's in school anymore.
But pretty much he has no really stable father or mother figure.
And they kind of just handed him over to his grandparents to raise him.
Yeah, now that's not uncommon, right?
Yeah, it's very common.
I mean, especially if the dad's in jail or something like that and, you know, if the mom has any kind of substance abuse, not to overly, you know, stereotype or whatever, but I read about this a lot, you know, especially with the kids, the black kids who end up in trouble with the law, you know, it's like parents AWOL, but man, some grandparents stepped in and it's...
Another thing, I mean, just like with stereotypes, I mean, it gets to a point where I just, like, is it really bad to call it a stereotype if a large percentage of it is actually true?
If a large percentage of this group is actually living up to it?
I think if you acknowledge the exceptions, I think we do have to generalize, right?
I know what I'm saying, but the exception, like, I mean, just like I had this argument, like, recently with, like, a black person, when I said that, like, like, we're not that educated, we're not that smart, like, we're not, I mean, like, we're not doing much, like, as a whole, and she said, yes, but they're all black people that are smart and educated.
I was like, yes, but that's a minority and a minority.
I'm just saying, it's a minority in minority.
I feel like if we look at other races and minorities, we should look at Asians.
Asians are fucking killing the game.
They're killing it.
They're the best.
I'm obviously completely terrified of them as well, because they will be our eventual overlords.
I'm actually getting more comfortable with that as time goes along.
I'm just kidding.
No, Asians are killing it.
The income and the IQ stuff, I mean they are beating the pants off the rest of us.
So I'm with you there.
And I admire that.
I mean some of it is maybe biological but man, that culture is – they don't screw around when it comes to advancing in education and having high aspirations, right?
I know, just like in one of your videos you said that if there's a group that can't make any excuses, all they have to do is succeed.
I think that's the result of Asians.
They can't make any excuses, all they can do is succeed, and they come from a culture where they praise hard work and education.
Right, and their families stay together.
They, you know, I think they're still a little harsher than their kids, although they're a lot easier on their kids than the black community is.
I mean, tell me, I mean, you know, the studies that I've read about black community is, you know, pretty heavy hand used in raising these kids a lot.
With beatings?
I mean, yeah, me and my brother, our dad, he did like whoop us and stuff.
I don't know, I feel like my dad was like, I feel like he's a Like a minority, I guess.
He was very loving and caring.
I remember times when he would whoop us, but after he whooped us, he would tell us why, and he would actually be sad.
I remember times when he would cry after whooping us, because he said he hated doing it.
He was just trying to teach us right from wrong.
I was reading the other day, to give your dad some slack here, I was reading the other day that about 65% of parents, if they had a better solution than whooping, that's what they do.
You know, and that actually gave me quite a bit of comfort that at least there are a lot of parents out there who are like, well, this is all I know.
I think this is the best.
But if someone can come up with something better, man, I'm all ears.
And I really like hearing that because it also helps, you know, motivate me to do the stuff that I do to get the peaceful parenting message out.
Because it means that if people can hear better options there, you know, almost two thirds of people are open to it.
Yeah.
So, yeah, of course you could be an atheist and a conservative because I think that as far as the free market goes, it's a rational position.
The free market simply says that self-ownership and property rights are universal, which means that there shouldn't be one tiny little group of people who can order everyone else around at the point of a gun.
You can't create This tiny minority of people or small minority of people who can use all the force they want in the universe, whereas everyone else has to respect property rights and the non-aggression principle.
So all with regards to the free market stuff, all it is is consistency and universalism, right?
Which, you know, as a scientist, it's kind of key.
If you've got a theory that's not universal, it ain't science, right?
Yeah.
And so I think it's a consistent position to be pro free market.
It's a consistent position.
I think atheism is a consistent position.
I am of course warming to some of the cultural necessity and moral necessity of religion and in particular Christianity, not because it's necessarily superior to the other religions, but it certainly is the one that's embedded in the West the most and we do need something to get us off our asses and get us defending our culture.
So I think, yeah, it would be kind of weird if you were into consistency in science, you were into consistency and universalism in your atheism.
And then suddenly you just created this giant exception in the realm of economics.
So, no, not only do I think it's possible with regards to conservatism and the free market, I think it's an absolutely admirable commitment to consistency.
I feel like with capitalism, I feel like it's one place where race doesn't really matter.
All that matters is just making money and being the best.
Yes, I think that's true.
And you know, the great tragedy of race relations now is the degree to which it's all run by the government and funded by the government, which is all about creating divisions and setting us against each other and all this kind of crap.
Like, with regards to race, I was just thinking about this today, you know, obviously think about the cause and try and sort out some kind of coherent conversation before I chat with you, Jason.
I was just thinking today about how, like you know how, I don't mean to sort of pick on your mom, but you know how you were talking about like Michael Brown, you think, okay, it's a decent, you know, it's a decent verdict given the facts and so on.
And then your mom like rushes in but like, well, you know, but you know, slavery and different standards, right?
Different standards.
You know, I think we'd all get along a hell of a lot better if we just all had the same standards.
You know in other words that people didn't have like one standard for white people which for the black community can sometimes be kind of negative and then people didn't have another standard for the black community which you know whites and blacks I think it's really tragic you know that old phrase the soft bigotry of low expectations.
If we just had one standard for everyone I think we'd feel that things are kind of fairer and I think we'd all get along a lot better but people don't like it When there are different standards for different groups because the people who have lower standards feel that it's kind of justified.
The people who have higher standards sometimes feel ripped off.
And I mean this with regards to your mom as well.
Like she can't be that happy working her butt off and then paying massive amounts of taxes so they can be scooped up and handed over to your stepbrother and the mess he's making.
Exactly.
And then I'm like – so I had this conversation with someone recently because like just like how – like seriously like – I mean recently with all my friends on social media.
They're going crazy over the whole Jesse Williams speech that he made on BET.
And they were talking about, like, oh, we need black equality and stuff.
And then I just seemingly just said, OK, if you guys want, like, black equality, it needs to be equal for everyone because, like, we have privilege.
We have affirmative action.
We have scholarships geared towards us.
We have programs targeting just us.
And I just told one of my friends, could you imagine just growing up white and having an unstable family, growing up dirt poor, having a single parent, and then you go to college and there's no scholarships good for you.
You have to compete with everyone in your pool.
And then I was like, oh, I never thought about it that way.
Seriously, I think it's just crazy.
Dude, you're a fucking hero.
You know that, right?
You're a fucking hero.
I'm telling you straight up, man.
That is a great thing to say, in my opinion, right?
It jolts people into thinking things differently.
It takes them out of their narrative, right?
I know, because, like, when I didn't, like, seriously, like, before, like, I never even thought about it until, like, I came to college, and I met one of my friends, and he's, like, he's white, and, like, he grew up dirt poor, he has a shitty family, his, like, his dad committed suicide, his brother committed suicide, his mom's very unstable, and now, like, he can't, he couldn't even graduate with us, because he got, he was so in debt that he couldn't continue, that he had to drop out of school and go work, Just to pay off his debt, just to come back and get him more debt, just to graduate.
And it's just, I know.
And then it's like, it's like, dude, he won't get any pity or any excuses because he's white.
And he's just in a shitty situation.
I mean, the fact that he's lazy, too, doesn't help.
But I mean, you know, come on, man.
If a guy has a childhood like that, I think lazy might not be.
He might just be stressed and traumatized from his history.
Right.
I mean, that's some that's some that's some harsh stuff.
Seriously, he's in the STEM field with me.
He's like an engineer major.
He's one of the smartest people I know and then it's just like dude, it just sucks that he can't… I was lucky enough… I have some college debt but compared to everyone else, my college debt is pretty low.
One reason is because… I paid for most of it because I work all the fucking time.
And then I got a scholarship in science, but it was a scholarship that was geared towards black people.
Black people in science.
It's not that much competition for black people in science.
Just saying.
I feel like when I got that scholarship, if it included everyone, including the Asians, the Indians, and everyone, I don't think I would have got it then.
Because it was just only for black people.
None of us are going to college if it includes the Asians.
I know!
So the scholarship that you got was targeted for black young men and women in the STEM field, is that right?
Yes.
Well, there's some privilege, right?
I'm benefiting from it, but I can admit and acknowledge that it's fucking wrong.
It's not right.
Well, or at least you can say that there could be some criticism of it that people can understand and say it's automatically white privileges, you know, may be a little premature because what we said recently, the Supreme Court upheld affirmative action, said they're going to revisit it in 25 years.
It's like, well, that's a whole bunch of Asian kids and white kids who aren't going to get into college.
I know.
And it's hard to sell privilege to people who are excluded from the institutions that their forefathers founded.
However, fairly or unfairly, Because, you know, people want to hit certain numbers.
Yeah, it's a tough case to make that it's a lot of privilege on the other side of the fence, so to speak.
I know, it's just, I know, it's just, this thing about this stuff, it's just very annoying.
And it just makes, it gives me a headache after a while, because seriously, I was arguing with one of my, he wasn't having a friend, I was arguing with someone, and his point he was trying to make is, why we need reparations.
And I was like, are you serious?
Like, seriously, we need reparations, we already have all this shit, and you want more shit?
To add to the shit we have.
Yeah, how's free stuff been working out for every community that's tried it?
You know, there's old stories about – it's not a black-white thing.
There's old stories about how when the Irish came across – you know, I can say this because I'm half Irish.
Irish Shield.
But when the Irish came across, they decided to go into government and they decided to go into the priesthood and they decided to go into being cops and all that kind of stuff.
And they, you know, got into politics and they tried to jig as much money towards the Irish community and so on.
It's a big, you know, broad brush stuff.
But it really happened that way.
Whereas the Japanese, when they came across, they really had nothing to do with government and nothing to do with the state and so on.
And they just, you know, worked like crazy.
And what happened was, of course, Japanese income took off and Irish income just kind of stagnated.
And, you know, the fact that when people attach themselves to the state, they just don't tend to do well.
Maybe a little bit in the short run they do better, but in the long run it's a It's quite a mess and, um, yeah, I just, I gotta tell you, you know, I, I, the idea of any group getting massive amounts of government money and thinking they're going to be better off, it's like, hey, more free heroin for your eyeball.
I just don't think it's going to be good.
It's like they've never heard of the natives.
Exactly.
I think one of your recent podcasts, you talk about how Native Americans weren't even native to here.
They came from Siberia or somewhere.
Yeah, and of course, you know, the interesting thing, as I'm sure you're aware of, is that the blacks in America have the highest per capita income of blacks in the world.
You know, I mean, Haiti's been largely free of colonial dependence for like 400 years, and it's It's not exactly a paradise.
I know.
So yeah, these challenges are going to be with us for a while.
I hugely appreciate these kinds of conversations.
We want to have honest conversations about race and I really like the fact that we can have these kinds of conversations.
It's what I was always taught we were supposed to have, so I'm glad that we actually can have them.
And I really appreciate that the work that you're doing, you know, in your community to talk about people, your thoughts, your experience, your focus on the free market.
I mean, it's, I think it's going to really help people to just, you know, we all get into this kind of groove, you know, the way that we think, the way that we look at the world.
And I love the stuff that helps you jump the tracks.
And if you're out there, Doing that, which you are, Jason.
That's like some great stuff and I really appreciate what you're doing.
Thanks, Stefan.
But I mean, I think I'm just the minority in a minority.
Like, seriously.
Yeah, but that's why we've got to work to spread our ideas as wide as possible.
And so, you know, you keep doing what you're doing, I'll keep doing what I'm doing, and we'll meet in the middle.
Yeah, hopefully.
All right.
Well, thanks, Jason.
I appreciate it.
Thanks, everyone, so much.
For this excellent, exciting, wonderful conversation that we have here.
It's a wonderful part of my week.
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