Quote:
Originally Posted by Buster
I have yet to hear Harris say anything inaccurate about Islam. Use of the word "Islamophobe" has run its course. It now says more about the user, than the target.
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Anti-muslim bigotry is certainly a more accurate term in that it can't be conflated with wholly appropriate (and in my view necessary) criticism of bad religious doctrine. But peoples' response here is inevitably going to be that it's just a semantic argument. The problem is that in order to think clearly about highly charged topics, we need to talk clearly about them too, and understand what our terms mean. Which is why understanding the difference between Islam, Islamism and Jihadism is so crucial to being able to have this conversation.
EDIT: If we're going to have a Sam Harris thread generally, by the way, that video at the top isn't the best one to use. I think his exasperation leads him to be less compelling than usual there. Still generally right, but he's much more interesting on other topics than Islam anyway, and has been more interesting on Islam at many other times.
Frankly, he's said all he's likely to say on Islam and so his discussion on that topic is far more boring than on AI, free will, how reasoning and intellectual honesty should work, and for some people I imagine meditation and spirituality (not my area of interest). I'd suggest if you want to know what the guy is about, there are better things to listen to him on -
This is a recent one with Neil Degrasse Tyson:
This one on the mutliverse is incredibly interesting and edifying... I've listened to it a couple of times:
Here's his spiel on Rogan about the Presidential candidates, mainly Trump, which is one of the most withering critiques I've heard: