{"id":2107426,"date":"2023-11-25T05:12:02","date_gmt":"2023-11-25T10:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/thomas-sowell-still-on-solid-ground\/"},"modified":"2023-11-25T05:18:39","modified_gmt":"2023-11-25T10:18:39","slug":"thomas-sowell-still-on-solid-ground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/thomas-sowell-still-on-solid-ground\/","title":{"rendered":"Thomas Sowell remains steadfast and grounded"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthomas-sowell-still-on-solid-ground%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2107426&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>The Power \u2063of \u2063Ideas:\u200d Debunking Social Justice Fallacies<\/h2>\n<p>In economics, the law of diminishing returns \u200cstates that \u2062the benefits gained from\u2064 an enterprise will be proportionally smaller the \u2064more money, \u200ctime, or energy\u2064 is \u2064invested in it. Thankfully, this is not true in the realm of\u200d ideas, as the career of the economist Thomas\u200d Sowell attests.\u200c Now 93\u200b years old and the author of more than 40 books, \u2064Sowell\u2019s most\u2062 recent contribution, <em>Social \u200bJustice Fallacies<\/em>, tackles the many misguided social experiments of the past few decades and their often malign fallout.<\/p>\n<p>Any discussion of\u2064 social justice benefits from the clarifying \u2062wisdom of Sowell, but \u200cin this \u2063book, he provides a further service beyond the forensic accounting\u2062 of the mistakes \u200bmade by social\u200b justice advocates in areas\u2063 such as \u2064race, criminal justice, wealth redistribution, and\u2063 other \u2064forms of would-be \u2063social engineering: He reminds readers of the importance of\u2064 understanding the history behind contemporary ideas and\u200c he offers useful international \u2063comparisons that reveal just how myopic the debate over social\u200b justice \u200din \u2064the United States has \u2063become. \u2062With his trademark directness in describing the\u2063 facts and his wry\u200b humor, Sowell is always a pleasure\u2062 to read; despite the\u200c slim size of this volume, it contains a thorough debunking of the fallacies noted in the title.<\/p>\n<p>The book could not have arrived\u200b at a better time,\u200c given continued confusion over what, exactly, &#8220;social justice&#8221; means. As Sowell told one interviewer recently, social\u2063 justice is a powerful idea difficult to refute &#8220;because it has no \u2062specific meaning \u2062\u2026\u2062 fighting it would \u2064be like trying \u200cto punch the fog.&#8221; While lacking meaning, it does have &#8220;emotionally \u200dpowerful connotations.&#8221; Sowell added,\u2062 &#8220;There is a strong sense that\u200d it is simply not right\u2014that it\u200c is unjust\u2014that some \u2063people are so\u2063 much better off \u200dthan others.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>The Fallacies of Equal Chances<\/h3>\n<p>Sowell names each of the fallacies that follow from this assumption and explores\u2064 their impact. Examining the many &#8220;equal chances\u2064 fallacies&#8221; that plague current\u200c debate, for example, Sowell \u200dnotes how much they \u2063rely on the misguided spirit of \u200dJean-Jacques Rousseau. &#8220;In the\u2064 kind of world envisioned by\u2062 Rousseau,&#8221; he\u2062 writes, &#8220;all classes, races and other subdivisions of the human\u200b species would have \u200cequal chances in all endeavors\u2014<em>other\u2062 things \u2063being equal<\/em>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Yet \u200dit \u2064is \u200cprecisely those pesky\u2062 &#8220;other things&#8221;\u2062 that are crucial for \u200dmaking any calculation about the existence of\u200d inequality\u2014and some \u200dof them, such as climate, geography, and history, are impossible \u2063to eradicate.\u200d &#8220;Among\u200c the many factors that can prevent equal human \u200d <em>potentialities<\/em> \u2063from producing equally developed <em>capabilities<\/em> are\u200c factors \u2063over which humans have very\u200b little\u200b control\u2014such\u200c as geography\u2014and other factors over\u200b which humans have\u200c no control at all,\u200b such as the past,&#8221; Sowell writes. He notes\u2063 that the most popular brands of beer in the United \u2064States were created by\u2063 people of German\u200c ancestry, and &#8220;it so happens that \u200cGermans\u2062 were producing beer back in the \u200ddays of the Roman Empire. When a particular people has been doing a particular thing for more than\u200b a thousand years, is it surprising if they tend to be more successful\u200d in that particular endeavor than other\u200b who have had no\u2062 such history?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Such &#8220;reciprocal\u2062 inequalities&#8221;\u2014or ways \u200cin which\u2063 some groups achieve outsize \u200cexcellence \u200bin\u200d some areas\u2014occur even under conditions of inequality and we \u200cshould be attuned to the language\u200b used by social\u200b justice\u200d advocates when they describe them.\u2062 It is easy \u200dto find\u2063 headlines\u2064 decrying how women\u2063 and minorities are &#8220;kept out&#8221; of certain industries, he notes, but few stories about the lack of Asians\u200d in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-confuses-nhl-champions-with-comment-about-philadelphia-eagles-then-threatens-to-divorce-jill\/\" title=\"Biden Confuses NHL Champions with Comment About Philadelphia Eagles, Then Threatens to Divorce Jill\">professional ice hockey<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>The Fallacy of \u2063Race and Poverty<\/h3>\n<p>Similarly, on the issue \u2064of race and poverty, Sowell draws \u2064clear \u200ddistinctions between assertions and evidence. &#8220;The poverty \u200drate\u2064 among black \u200cAmerican families as a whole\u2063 has long been higher than the poverty rate \u2062among white American families as a whole,&#8221; he writes. &#8220;But, over a span\u200c of more than a quarter \u2063of\u2064 a century since 1994, in no year has the\u200b annual \u200dpoverty rate of \u2062black <em>married-couple<\/em> families been as high as <em>10\u2064 percent<\/em>. \u2026 If \u200dblack family poverty is\u2064 caused by \u2018systemic racism,\u2019\u200d do racists make an exception \u200bfor blacks who\u2063 are married? Do racists either know or care whether blacks are married?&#8221; He also notes that the poverty rate for white, female-headed, single-parent\u200c families \u2063is more than double the \u200cpoverty rate of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sowells-new-book-dismantles-social-justice-here-are-his-4-most-brutal-takedowns-of-dem-talking-points\/\" title=\"Sowell's New Book Dismantles 'Social Justice': Here Are His 4 Most Brutal Takedowns of Dem Talking Points\">black married-couple families<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As for\u2063 the tendency of social justice \u2062advocates\u2064 to argue that the current crisis \u200dof the black family is the\u2064 result of the &#8220;legacy of \u2064slavery,&#8221; Sowell is \u2064blunt in his criticism: If this were true, then how\u2063 to explain \u2063the\u2062 fact that, &#8220;<em>for more than a hundred years<\/em> after the end of slavery, most black children were born to women who were\u200d married and the children were raised in two-parent homes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>The Fallacy \u200dof Elite Interventions<\/h3>\n<p>Sowell \u200cis at his most\u2064 persuasive when \u2063he critiques social justice \u200dadvocates\u2019 tendency to assume that\u2063 &#8220;society&#8221; should \u2064fix these \u2062purported problems \u2064by \u2062&#8221;arranging&#8221; solutions. He writes,\u2062 &#8220;It is hard\u200d to imagine what\u2062 institution\u2062 could take on such a gigantic task, other than government,&#8221; and the &#8220;innocent sounding&#8221; word \u2063&#8221;arrange&#8221; can hide many sins. &#8220;Interior\u2064 decorators <em>arrange<\/em>,&#8221; Sowell writes.\u2063 &#8220;Governments <em>compel<\/em>. It is not\u200d a subtle distinction.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, in \u200dchapters covering &#8220;knowledge fallacies&#8221;\u200d and &#8220;chess\u2062 pieces fallacies,&#8221; \u2064Sowell returns to this crucial\u200d observation: &#8220;For \u200bmany social issues, the most important\u200c decision is <em>who makes\u200b the decision<\/em>.&#8221; In a large and heterogeneous \u2062society, people will not always agree about who is best\u200b suited to make these \u2062choices; one of \u200bdemocracy\u2019s great strengths is\u200d that it gives \u200dthe people a means for doing so.<\/p>\n<p>Social justice advocates, however, prefer elite interventions\u2014and such thinking has a long history. Sowell \u200dnotes\u2063 not \u2064only Rousseau but\u2063 also\u200c the social control proposals \u2064of\u2062 Progressive \u2062Era reformer John \u200bDewey and,\u200b more recently,\u2064 John Rawls. &#8220;Policies based \u2063on the social\u200b justice vision tend to \u200dassume\u200b not only a concentration of consequential knowledge in intellectual elites,&#8221; Sowell writes, but believe in &#8220;taking some decisions out\u2063 of the hands \u2063of the supposed victims\u2062 themselves, and transferring those decisions to elite surrogates, whose supposedly greater knowledge could better protect their interests.&#8221; He notes the introduction of sex education into public schools in the late \u200b20th century\u200b as an example of elite, \u200c&#8221;expert&#8221; intervention.<\/p>\n<p>When \u200bparents protested, they were\u2063 not met with efforts\u2062 at persuasion \u2062or fact-based reasoning, but with condescension. Sowell quotes a typical expert who claimed\u2064 that\u200d &#8220;sex and\u2062 sexuality have\u2062 become far too complex \u200cand technical to leave\u200c to the typical parent, who is either \u200cuninformed or too bashful to\u200d share\u200d useful\u200b sexual information with his child.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This \u200bintroduces an irony into our\u200b current debate over \u2064who\u200b is a threat or \u200ca\u2063 protector\u200c of democracy: As Sowell notes, many elites &#8220;seem to regard themselves as promoting a more <em>democratic<\/em> society, when they preempt other people\u2019s decisions. Their \u200dconception of democracy seems to be \u200bequalization of outcomes, by \u2063intellectual elites.&#8221; This &#8220;casual contempt for ordinary people and \u200btheir \u2063freedom&#8221; is one of \u200dthe most corrosive side effects of the social \u2062justice vision, particularly given how\u2063 often these same elites prove to be wrong in their diagnosis and treatment of social problems. &#8220;Stupid people\u200c can create problems,&#8221; Sowell observes, &#8220;but it\u200d often takes brilliant people to create a\u200b real \u2064catastrophe.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>The Fallacies of Social Justice Experiments<\/h3>\n<p>This is clearest when Sowell describes the fallacies of the &#8220;words, deeds,\u200b and dangers&#8221; of social\u200d justice experiments, particularly in the criminal justice system. &#8220;A murderer may have had\u200b an unhappy\u2063 childhood, but does that \u200cjustify gambling\u2064 other people\u2019s lives, by\u200b turning \u200bhim loose among them, after some process that \u200chas been \u2063given the name \u2018rehabilitation\u2019?&#8221; he asks. &#8220;Are\u200d high-sounding notions and fashionable \u200ccatchwords important enough \u2064to risk the\u2063 lives of innocent men,\u2062 women and children?&#8221; Unfortunately, too many social justice-motivated progressive prosecutors and \u200djudges have answered that question in the affirmative.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>How to combat the growing tide of social \u200djustice ideology? It might come as a \u2062surprise that\u200d Sowell answers \u200cthis in part by quoting the late historian\u2062 Paul Johnson\u2019s advice to study history: &#8220;The study of history is a powerful antidote to contemporary arrogance. It is humbling to\u200c discover how\u2064 many of our glib assumptions, \u200bwhich seem to us novel and\u2063 plausible, have been tested\u200c before, not once \u2063but many times and in innumerable guises, and discovered to \u200dbe, at great human cost,\u200b wholly \u2063false.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But this answer captures well Sowell\u2019s unique blend of wisdom,\u200d fact-based reasoning, and insight. He is not a partisan for any\u2062 particular \u200bcontemporary political project. He\u2019s a \u200dpartisan for rigorous \u2064analysis and truth-telling \u2063about\u200d the past and the present\u2014something we have too few of\u2064 these days. It is fitting that he chose as the epigraph to his book the oft-cited observation by the late senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan: &#8220;You\u2019re\u2063 entitled\u200d to your own opinion,\u200d but you\u2019re not entitled to your own facts.&#8221;\u2064 For decades Thomas \u2062Sowell has given us both his\u2062 thoughtful opinions \u2062and a solid grounding in the facts. The world is a much better place for it.<\/p>\n<p><em>Social Justice \u2062Fallacies<\/em><br \/>  \u2064by Thomas\u200b Sowell<br \/> Basic Books, 224 \u200dpp., $28<\/p>\n<p><em>Christine Rosen \u2064is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise \u2062Institute.<\/em><\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> What are the flaws in the notion that government intervention \u2064can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/matt-walsh-why-they-are-coming-after-elon-musk\/\" title=\"Matt Walsh. Why they are coming after Elon Musk.\">solve complex societal problems<\/a>, according to Thomas Sowell in &#8220;Acies of Social Justice Experiments&#8221;?<\/h2>\n<p><span>  Acies of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/d-w-wilber-fundamentally-transforming-america-into-a-communist-hellhole\/\" title=\"D.W. Wilber: \u201cFundamentally Transforming\u201d America Into a Communist Hellhole\">social justice experiments<\/a>. He points out the flaws in the notion that government intervention can solve the complex problems of society. According to \u200bhim, the assumptions made by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/imagine-thinking-soaring-black-gun-ownership-is-a-bad-thing-pretty-racist-right\/\" title=\"Imagine Thinking \u2018Soaring\u2019 Black Gun Ownership Is A Bad Thing. Pretty Racist, Right?\">social justice advocates<\/a> often ignore the\u2063 complexity and diversity of human society. They assume that \u200dall groups\u2064 and individuals have equal potential and can achieve \u200dequal outcomes if given equal opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>Sowell argues against this fallacy by highlighting the\u2062 numerous factors, such as geography, climate, and history, that influence people&#8217;s abilities and opportunities. He gives the example of Germans who\u2064 have been producing beer for over a \u2062thousand years, which \u200bexplains why German-Americans dominate the beer market in the United States. These historical and cultural factors cannot be eradicated\u200c or equalized, which makes the \u200didea of equal \u2062chances unrealistic.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, Sowell addresses the fallacies in the discourse on race and poverty. He presents evidence\u200b that challenges the popular belief that systemic racism is the cause of black family poverty. He points out that the poverty rate among black married-couple families has been consistently lower\u2063 than the poverty rate among white, female-headed, single-parent families.\u2064 He questions whether racists would make \u2062exceptions for married blacks and highlights the fact that black children were born to married parents long after \u200cthe end of slavery.<\/p>\n<p>Another fallacy that Sowell debunks is the belief that elite interventions can solve societal problems. He argues that concentration of consequential knowledge in intellectual elites and taking decisions out of \u2063the\u2064 hands of the supposed victims undermine the principles of democracy. He\u2064 provides examples such as the introduction of sex education into public schools, where parents&#8217; concerns were dismissed by experts who believed parents were uninformed or incapable of providing useful information to\u200b their children. He highlights the \u200bcasual contempt for ordinary people and their freedom exhibited by these elites.<\/p>\n<p>In conclusion, Thomas Sowell&#8217;s\u200b book, &#8220;Social Justice Fallacies,&#8221; \u200dprovides a\u200b critical analysis of the misconceptions and fallacies that underlie social justice advocacy. Through his insights and evidence, Sowell challenges the\u200b assumptions of equal chances, the relationship between race \u200dand poverty, and the effectiveness of elite interventions. His work serves as a reminder to consider the complex realities and historical context when engaging in debates about social justice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In economics, the law of diminishing returns suggests that the more resources invested in an enterprise, the smaller the benefits. However, this does not hold true for ideas, as proven by economist Thomas Sowell. At 93 years old, he continues to thrive as an author, defying the law&#8217;s limitations<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":816,"featured_media":2107427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2107426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2107426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/816"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2107426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2107426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2107427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2107426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2107426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2107426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}