Very happy to have found you, Bari (thank you, too, Megyn Kelly). You’re an excellent, engaging and talented writer. I’m center-right and find myself nodding the whole time I read your work. Happy to support you.
I admire you greatly, but I disagree with your description of Trump. And just because I think you want to know what's on people's minds, I am afraid of China, which was reason #2 of why I voted for Trump. Reason #1 was that he believes in staying out of foreign wars. And now reason #3 is our arming Iran's attempting to obliterate Israel. Despite the IPCC, I don't think Greta Thunberg makes sense (only the future can tell). I also think Covid-19 is mass hysteria (only protect the vulnerable). You probably think I'm crazy, but I like you because you are for freedom of speech - the basis of any true Democracy.
I believe we have far more to fear from 4 years of Biden than we would have had with another 4 years of Trump (we are already seeing a rapid escalation of oppression and we may have passed critical mass). Trump did usher in a period of chaos. Biden is ushering in an era of tyranny. A large part of the reason Trump's tenure was marked by so much malignancy is that the Dems refused to accept him. In the past, Republicans had caved when they met even the slightest resistance. Trump was a fighter and they couldn't abide that. You can't spend 5 years behaving like Dems did and then shirk any responsibility for the environment you were equally culpable in creating. One not so small example: how many lives would have been saved if not the knee jerk reaction to HCQ simply because Trump said it might work. Now the medical community admits it is helpful. Yes Trump is a narcissist; most politicians are. But based on the books I've read recently from left, center, and right authors he seems to have been a "nice guy" in comparison to the administration who preceded him. And our politics was in dire need of a shakeup. We'll see how it turns out.
Based on the little I have read, I probably agree with you more than I disagree and I am happy to support you. (I also subscribe to Glenn Greenwald here.)
Can anyone access a central repository academic institutions that have deployed CRT and/or otherwise written CRT/1916 into history curricula? Among the overarching principles of the “conservative” flavor of liberalism is decentralization, which often undermines the effort to organize. CRT/1916 philosophies are the enemy of liberal democracy and therefore worthy or an organized/central effort. This dilemma occurred during the Barbary Wars when Jefferson-the stalwart of decentralization-argued on behalf of centralization to fund a defense infrastructure. This was initially perceived as a political and economic impossibility, but was eventually achieved. Despite the illiberals having gained control of many of our critical institutions, I believe Enlightenment thinkers can win. We must organize, coordinate, build infrastructure that is immune to censorship, perhaps reimagine education, and understand that it will be a long game. It sounds odd, but we also have to identify and distribute knowledge of the enemy: where it persists, its shape, tactics, and strategy. The illiberal left has been fighting this war for 60 years and they have been quite effective in organizing. We are only now beginning and it will get worse before it gets better.
I loved your interview with Megyn Kelly. Thank you for explaining why anti-semitism is rising and that the Jews “don’t count.” As a fellow Jew, that makes me very sad and I’m willing to help bring awareness to that kind of hate.
You are a national treasure. Your clear, honest prose gives me hope. Will you please run for public office? If not, pursue a television spot, because CNN/MSNBC/Fox need viewers since Trump departed and people are starved for a courageous, independent voice. I subscribed to your newsletter and will contribute to your political campaign. Lastly, thank you for leading us, for reminding us all that we still live in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
I also subscribed this morning after reading your piece in the Post. I'm appalled at what media has become, the entire NYT debacle with you, the non stop hyperbole and breathless demonization of anyone who has a different opinion. I love this country and like you understand history and how tyranny, propaganda and oppression really works. Our children are daily fed bad information.
I subscribed this morning after reading a piece in the Post. Thank you for being a voice of reason and common sense. I’m so tired of the liberal press telling me how bad I am if I don’t agree. I’m not a racist and I’m not stupid I just believe that the USA is the best deal going and there is actually more good in this country than bad. Thank you.
Hello Bari, I am a conservative, a physician and a parent. Even though I frequently disagree with your opinions on social issues it is a great to read your columns and listen to your interviews. I am more than happy to put my five dollars down to helping people like you be able to say what needs to be said without having to worry about the mob coming for your way to make a living. Please keep up the great job you are doing.
If we don't start speaking up it will be the end of the America we know. I try to explain to my husband and others that to stay silent and stick their heads in the sand, just because it isn't happening to you (yet) it is dangerous. I subscribed to your page and I thank you for being brave. Wish I knew how I could be heard in this very dangerous time of censorship.
I think that Bari is uniquely positioned to start a "Cancel cancel culture" project. We can go with a hashtag on Twitter #cancelcancelculuture , we can have a website and ask individuals, politicians and corporations to sign a "cancel cancel culture" pledge. Those who sign will commit to not participating or calling for boycotts based on political or religious views. I think it might give some of the corporations and prominent figures a nice way out of being pressured by the woke mob. (Just read that a lot of corporations backed out of Super Bowl ads, out of fear of offending either side and being cancelled).
Part of the project might also be organizing debates (IRL or online), where people from the opposite sides of political spectrum will debate their ideas.
I think our country really needs this right now, and it will be well received. If Bari could reach out to Joe Rogan, Meghan Kelly, Ben Shapiro and other influencers, and spread the word far and wide - we can get a lot of ordinary people if not entirely out of the political closet, but opposing culture! And if we can tame/abolish culture - more people will become more open about their views, we can start rebuilding trust, and potentially even unify the country (long shot, but there is no unity without the trust - only oppression).
It might be worth remembering that one intent of our First Amendment was for speech to be a safety valve, one that allows disputes to be settled through words — harsh, hateful, vicious, hurtful words — rather than through physical violence.
And to remember Robert Heinlein's words:
"Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
"This is known as 'bad luck.'"
And thus it is with speech. Advancement, betterment, cannot come without free speech.
And the advocate of free speech is often "frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people."
Very happy to have found you, Bari (thank you, too, Megyn Kelly). You’re an excellent, engaging and talented writer. I’m center-right and find myself nodding the whole time I read your work. Happy to support you.
I admire you greatly, but I disagree with your description of Trump. And just because I think you want to know what's on people's minds, I am afraid of China, which was reason #2 of why I voted for Trump. Reason #1 was that he believes in staying out of foreign wars. And now reason #3 is our arming Iran's attempting to obliterate Israel. Despite the IPCC, I don't think Greta Thunberg makes sense (only the future can tell). I also think Covid-19 is mass hysteria (only protect the vulnerable). You probably think I'm crazy, but I like you because you are for freedom of speech - the basis of any true Democracy.
I believe we have far more to fear from 4 years of Biden than we would have had with another 4 years of Trump (we are already seeing a rapid escalation of oppression and we may have passed critical mass). Trump did usher in a period of chaos. Biden is ushering in an era of tyranny. A large part of the reason Trump's tenure was marked by so much malignancy is that the Dems refused to accept him. In the past, Republicans had caved when they met even the slightest resistance. Trump was a fighter and they couldn't abide that. You can't spend 5 years behaving like Dems did and then shirk any responsibility for the environment you were equally culpable in creating. One not so small example: how many lives would have been saved if not the knee jerk reaction to HCQ simply because Trump said it might work. Now the medical community admits it is helpful. Yes Trump is a narcissist; most politicians are. But based on the books I've read recently from left, center, and right authors he seems to have been a "nice guy" in comparison to the administration who preceded him. And our politics was in dire need of a shakeup. We'll see how it turns out.
Based on the little I have read, I probably agree with you more than I disagree and I am happy to support you. (I also subscribe to Glenn Greenwald here.)
Can anyone access a central repository academic institutions that have deployed CRT and/or otherwise written CRT/1916 into history curricula? Among the overarching principles of the “conservative” flavor of liberalism is decentralization, which often undermines the effort to organize. CRT/1916 philosophies are the enemy of liberal democracy and therefore worthy or an organized/central effort. This dilemma occurred during the Barbary Wars when Jefferson-the stalwart of decentralization-argued on behalf of centralization to fund a defense infrastructure. This was initially perceived as a political and economic impossibility, but was eventually achieved. Despite the illiberals having gained control of many of our critical institutions, I believe Enlightenment thinkers can win. We must organize, coordinate, build infrastructure that is immune to censorship, perhaps reimagine education, and understand that it will be a long game. It sounds odd, but we also have to identify and distribute knowledge of the enemy: where it persists, its shape, tactics, and strategy. The illiberal left has been fighting this war for 60 years and they have been quite effective in organizing. We are only now beginning and it will get worse before it gets better.
Oh that and we have jobs...
I loved your interview with Megyn Kelly. Thank you for explaining why anti-semitism is rising and that the Jews “don’t count.” As a fellow Jew, that makes me very sad and I’m willing to help bring awareness to that kind of hate.
That was a great interview on Megyn Kelly
You are a national treasure. Your clear, honest prose gives me hope. Will you please run for public office? If not, pursue a television spot, because CNN/MSNBC/Fox need viewers since Trump departed and people are starved for a courageous, independent voice. I subscribed to your newsletter and will contribute to your political campaign. Lastly, thank you for leading us, for reminding us all that we still live in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Barry Brooks
I subscribed -- how will substack know it?
I also subscribed this morning after reading your piece in the Post. I'm appalled at what media has become, the entire NYT debacle with you, the non stop hyperbole and breathless demonization of anyone who has a different opinion. I love this country and like you understand history and how tyranny, propaganda and oppression really works. Our children are daily fed bad information.
I subscribed this morning after reading a piece in the Post. Thank you for being a voice of reason and common sense. I’m so tired of the liberal press telling me how bad I am if I don’t agree. I’m not a racist and I’m not stupid I just believe that the USA is the best deal going and there is actually more good in this country than bad. Thank you.
Exactly.
I'd be interested to hear you discuss CRT -- and much else here -- with David French.
Hello Bari, I am a conservative, a physician and a parent. Even though I frequently disagree with your opinions on social issues it is a great to read your columns and listen to your interviews. I am more than happy to put my five dollars down to helping people like you be able to say what needs to be said without having to worry about the mob coming for your way to make a living. Please keep up the great job you are doing.
If we don't start speaking up it will be the end of the America we know. I try to explain to my husband and others that to stay silent and stick their heads in the sand, just because it isn't happening to you (yet) it is dangerous. I subscribed to your page and I thank you for being brave. Wish I knew how I could be heard in this very dangerous time of censorship.
I think that Bari is uniquely positioned to start a "Cancel cancel culture" project. We can go with a hashtag on Twitter #cancelcancelculuture , we can have a website and ask individuals, politicians and corporations to sign a "cancel cancel culture" pledge. Those who sign will commit to not participating or calling for boycotts based on political or religious views. I think it might give some of the corporations and prominent figures a nice way out of being pressured by the woke mob. (Just read that a lot of corporations backed out of Super Bowl ads, out of fear of offending either side and being cancelled).
Part of the project might also be organizing debates (IRL or online), where people from the opposite sides of political spectrum will debate their ideas.
I think our country really needs this right now, and it will be well received. If Bari could reach out to Joe Rogan, Meghan Kelly, Ben Shapiro and other influencers, and spread the word far and wide - we can get a lot of ordinary people if not entirely out of the political closet, but opposing culture! And if we can tame/abolish culture - more people will become more open about their views, we can start rebuilding trust, and potentially even unify the country (long shot, but there is no unity without the trust - only oppression).
It might be worth remembering that one intent of our First Amendment was for speech to be a safety valve, one that allows disputes to be settled through words — harsh, hateful, vicious, hurtful words — rather than through physical violence.
And to remember Robert Heinlein's words:
"Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
"This is known as 'bad luck.'"
And thus it is with speech. Advancement, betterment, cannot come without free speech.
And the advocate of free speech is often "frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people."
I just listened to your MK interview. Greatly appreciate your vision of rebuilding this wonderful society and would love to join forces in the effort.