Righteous indignation is personally intoxicating, culturally powerful and incredibly motivating. It also doesn’t necessarily align with reality, as shown by the fact that opposite sides of many issues are often equally righteous and equally angry. So how do we move past righteous indignation to look at problems like racism in terms of realistic solutions and honest tradeoffs? On this episode of Conversations with Tom, the brilliant young intellectual Coleman Hughes discusses the ways that our national debate about race has gone far off the rails. He also points out real-world solutions to some smaller problems that have actually worked, and strongly advocates that we adopt a more facts-based mindset on the bigger issues.
This episode is brought to you by:
Tresta: Start your free 30-day trial at tresta.com/impact
Indeed: Go to Indeed.com/IMPACT for a FREE $75 credit to boost your job post.
PATLive: Get 15% off their regularly listed rates. Call 866-708-2507 and mention this podcast. For more information, visit PATLive.com
SHOW NOTES:
Coleman and Tom discuss music and the music industry [0:36]
Coleman describes the experience of taking online classes [2:24]
Tom and Coleman discuss social distancing, COVID-19 and authority [5:04]
Coleman talks about why he would prefer Obama to be president currently [9:48]
Coleman discusses the current state of racial conversations [18:00]
Coleman explains why he is willing to wade into the debates about race [22:58]
Almost anyone who has had a hard life and become successful doesn’t play victim [29:10]
Coleman says the cultural zeitgeist on race is getting things deeply wrong [35:45]
Coleman asks why people need to feel that they are victims of racism [38:29]
One of the worst things about growing up poor is not having actual role models [47:17]
What if creating wealth is more important than political power? [51:17]
Righteous indignation feels incredible, but it cannot be trusted [59:48]
Coleman explains why he actually favors dismantling police over defunding police [1:04:41]
Coleman describes ways to get police out of certain work while still reducing crime [1:12:26]
Coleman and Tom discuss whether there is a culture of murder [1:17:50]
How are we going to improve the quality of police forces? [1:23:26]
Coleman explains why sometimes he has answers, and other times he doesn’t [1:28:29]
Coleman argues against the connection between capitalism and racism [1:34:26]
Why do so many people take the same side on wildly disparate issues? [1:44:07]
Some people just aren’t swayed by logic, so what should be done? [1:50:49]
Coleman’s approach to music is completely intuitive [1:55:15]
FOLLOW COLEMAN:
WEBSITE:
https://colemanhughes.org/INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/coleman_hughes/
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/colemancruzhughes1/
TWITTER: twitter.com/coldxman