For me it’s definitely that university education/atheism interface. There is this whole class snobbery and sense of superiority that comes in there. The number of atheists who argue against religion in incredibly dumb ways is astounding, using very shallow learned attitudes that they mistake for being innately more intelligent. I’m an atheist, but I find most of the professional atheists utterly unthinking drones who are also supremely arrogant and intellectually smug. Trump represents a revolt against established authority-but it’s that established authority that tells these people they are better than anyone else. Thus Trump strikes at the roots of their ego, and they despise him for it.
Good and necessary article by the way. The Harris Attitude is despicable and needs challenging both in him and others.
Thanks. Yeah I'm an atheist or rather agnostic to be more precise because I have a sceptical mind but I don't think it has anything to do with IQ. There are a lot of smart believers and dumb atheists (of which Sam Harris is a perfect example).
When these people use their atheism as a fuel for their inflated egos, it's not about atheism vs faith already. It's just their way to show their alleged intellectual superiority.
Same reason for Sam Harris and other Woke academics' contempt for a working class - they believe that as 'educated' they're much smarter and overall better than those 'rough dumb prejudiced' folks. It's just a pure arrogance and disgusting smugness. And since Trump represents working class resentment against the elite, these pseudo intellectuals like him even less.
Thanks by the way, I was mildly worrying my readers won't care much of Sam Harris but I believe he's important exactly because of this his attitude - he isn't really Woke in a classic meaning of this word yet in some ways he's worse than Woke.
No worries. He warrants discussion and you're very accurate on that class of alleged independent thinker that he represents (who are anything but independent in their TDS). I find that whole sneering intellectual superiority (which isn't warranted) reflex fascinating in a chilling way.
Thanks again. By the way I don't think people like Sam Harris are truly intelligent exactly because of their arrogance and sneering smugness. Really intelligent, wise people do understand that there are different kinds of intelligence, that sometimes even illiterate hobos might have something wise and important to say. So wise people learn from everyone and everything, never stop learning sbd grow wiser and wiser every day.
Smug people confident of their 'intellectual superiority' in the contrary dismiss everyone they consider 'beneath them' straight away, hence they stop learning and developing as human beings and eventually their intelligence degrades as a consequence.
I believe this is what happened to Sam Harris. He used to be much smarter and much more adequate actually before he was afflicted with TDS and began to degrade in his smugness.
He might harbour great delusions of himself. That it should be him running things, etc. i know a guy who hates Trump. Hates him with a passion. But it is because Trump’s wife is more beautiful than his, Trump is richer, Trump is taller. And Trump is (supposedly) boorish. He should be richer and more powerful than Trump. Not the other way around. A Psych prof I knew hated realtors! Furious about them. Because they made more than him. He is more valuable. He should make more.
You might have a point here. With his inflated ego Sam Harris might believe that only such 'refined intellectuals' like himself deserve such popularity as Trump enjoys, and certainly not such 'boorish rude brutes' like Trump. Then it's envy mixed with arrogance.
I used to admire Harris for his courageous stance against Islam and racialist ideologies, but his severe TDS is a non-starter.
I think once a person is afflicted with TDS, they get obsessed with Trump and any anti-Trump idea or thought is justifed and morally superior, no matter how illogical or stupid. Harris' TDS may be caused by a desire to be virtuous or morally superior to others.
Good points. I think a lot of TDS—and this is especially relevant with Harris—is tied to its associative nature. Everything Harris has opposed has positioned him as a responsible avant-garde figure. His anti-Islam stance, for instance, was acceptable alongside Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens as one of the “Four Horsemen” of atheism, was popular in elite entertainment circles like Bill Maher’s. Supporting Trump in 2024, however, still requires taking a stand against the establishment; there’s no “respectable” association to be found in this context.
Yeah, and also they trigger primitive emotional thinking instead of rational one.
I think supporting Trump in 2024 in some ways easier because of many exposures and unsavoury truths pm DemoNrats having come out over the course of last years but in some ways harder because Woke and DemoNratic TDS became way more unhinged now.
I am very unfamiliar with Sam Harris but he does seem to come up in discussions a far bit on various podcasts and Substack posts. Your writing here seemed pretty on target.
It is funny you ask that because I have noticed some specific words and phrases I have used in comments on IG against our corrupt government get repeated in parliament…..might just be my ego seeing this.
I used to do this at work as well, say something in an email or meeting and sure enough I would see the exact words or phrase repeated in a national directors meeting (I had contacts) or in a “talking point”
I came to realize long ago that as a person I am not a vehicle for change but I am a conduit for that change.
Who knows. People's attention and algorithms are weird combo. Some famous figure - though am I relatively famous too on Substack already, or it is also my ego speaking? - might see and restack/retweet your note, then it reaches someone in Parliament, they like it, and here you go...
Nothing is impossible but everything is unpredictable as I like to say.
Thanks for writing this Alex. I’ve had very similar thought for a few years. It is definitely puzzling that a guy like Sam, who I genuinely enjoyed listening to for years, felt I learned a lot from, and as you point out very accurately has been so spot on with criticism of the excesses of the left, has over the last few years become so partisan, so defensive of institutions, of censorship, and critical of “doing your own research”.
The very first podcast of Sam’s I listened to was his adversarial talk with Ezra Klein over the criticism Sam took from Ezra over Sam having the courage to have Charles Murray on his podcast. I really admired how Sam stood up to Ezra. One other podcast of Sam’s (I am pretty sure I even remember the number, 208, Can We Step Back From The Brink), where he very courageously spoke honestly and candidly about the insanity of excesses of the post George Floyd protests, and the associated unfair criticism of our policemen. I really admired him then.
I also was a Waking Up subscriber, and felt I learned a lot from the year I practiced his guided meditation and listened to him and his various partners on his app. But even then, I could feel that he was not capable of relating to those not in his class. A small thing, but within his waking up meditation sessions he would always use references related to including meditation in your everyday life such as “when you get up from your desk”, never “when your putting away your tools”.
But then he went on someone else’s podcast and said some really stupid things. The comments on how the news media suppressed the Hunter laptop story, and the aftermath was the turning point IMV. Shortly following that event, he left Twitter, and IMV seemed to have become obsessed with defending himself. I found it to be so ironic that this man who teaches his followers to not have an ego, seemed to be blind to how much his own ego was driving him. He called anyone who criticized his Hunter laptop comments as being far right crazies who supported Trump, and were therefore beneath his paying any attention to them. He became very critical of Elon, to the point of being very personally vindictive. He also decided that his listeners needed to hear from him about how Brett Weinstein and others had really gone off the deep end, that he seems to feel it was he had an obligation to tells others who was worth believing and who was not, rather than leaving that decision to each individual. That’s when my understanding of him changed.
I do not think that Sam is by any means stupid. I think he is much smarter than I am. Much more intelligent and knowledgeable. But I also know that a lot of much more intelligent, educated, knowledgeable people, than I am, are capable of being very very wrong. I think that this is especially true with regard to politics. I think that in Sam’s case, he is incapable of understanding in even the slightest way, why so many Americans feel they way they do about supporting Trump. He has zero perspective on what it may be like to not be wealthy, highly educated, living a life that is deeply connected to people in that same social class, and his arrogance prevents him from even attempting to understand them.
Yeah, it's great I had written this article if I had gotten such thoughtful responses like yours. Yeah I also used to like Sam Harris over his criticisms of Islam and BLM and overall standing up to mainstream thought. But his TDS changed it all.
And I agree - his arrogance and inflated ego drives his TDS. He despises working class as 'stupid', he despises Christians as 'stupid'. But first there are different kinds of intelligence - not just book smart like Sam but also street smart, and even if someone is not as smart as you, it's not really a good enough reason to despise them.
Also for me it tells that Sam isn't actually as smart or not wise at least because wise people are never arrogant. They understand all the complexities of this world and different kinds of intelligence and they listen to every perspective because it brings something new. People like Sam Harris reject perspectives they consider 'stupid' or those they can't relate to directly, hence, they stop developing and stop learning and thus erode their own intelligence.
In the lead up to the 2020 Stealection Sam was very unbiased in his discussion, voicing concern at the possibility of civil war resulting from it. I listened to a few episodes in which he openly and objectively spoke of Trump with a high degree of critical thought. I guess back then he was still a journalist Now, obviously, he's not. I haven't listened to him in a while, so I haven't seen this transformation of his.
Well he still was biased against Trump and was calling him a tyrant even then.
I ceased to listen to him since 2021 as well but he pops up in some news, podcasts and discussing even here on Substack from time to time including today with Ben Shapiro, so hence my article.
For me it’s definitely that university education/atheism interface. There is this whole class snobbery and sense of superiority that comes in there. The number of atheists who argue against religion in incredibly dumb ways is astounding, using very shallow learned attitudes that they mistake for being innately more intelligent. I’m an atheist, but I find most of the professional atheists utterly unthinking drones who are also supremely arrogant and intellectually smug. Trump represents a revolt against established authority-but it’s that established authority that tells these people they are better than anyone else. Thus Trump strikes at the roots of their ego, and they despise him for it.
Good and necessary article by the way. The Harris Attitude is despicable and needs challenging both in him and others.
Thanks. Yeah I'm an atheist or rather agnostic to be more precise because I have a sceptical mind but I don't think it has anything to do with IQ. There are a lot of smart believers and dumb atheists (of which Sam Harris is a perfect example).
When these people use their atheism as a fuel for their inflated egos, it's not about atheism vs faith already. It's just their way to show their alleged intellectual superiority.
Same reason for Sam Harris and other Woke academics' contempt for a working class - they believe that as 'educated' they're much smarter and overall better than those 'rough dumb prejudiced' folks. It's just a pure arrogance and disgusting smugness. And since Trump represents working class resentment against the elite, these pseudo intellectuals like him even less.
Thanks by the way, I was mildly worrying my readers won't care much of Sam Harris but I believe he's important exactly because of this his attitude - he isn't really Woke in a classic meaning of this word yet in some ways he's worse than Woke.
No worries. He warrants discussion and you're very accurate on that class of alleged independent thinker that he represents (who are anything but independent in their TDS). I find that whole sneering intellectual superiority (which isn't warranted) reflex fascinating in a chilling way.
Thanks again. By the way I don't think people like Sam Harris are truly intelligent exactly because of their arrogance and sneering smugness. Really intelligent, wise people do understand that there are different kinds of intelligence, that sometimes even illiterate hobos might have something wise and important to say. So wise people learn from everyone and everything, never stop learning sbd grow wiser and wiser every day.
Smug people confident of their 'intellectual superiority' in the contrary dismiss everyone they consider 'beneath them' straight away, hence they stop learning and developing as human beings and eventually their intelligence degrades as a consequence.
I believe this is what happened to Sam Harris. He used to be much smarter and much more adequate actually before he was afflicted with TDS and began to degrade in his smugness.
He might harbour great delusions of himself. That it should be him running things, etc. i know a guy who hates Trump. Hates him with a passion. But it is because Trump’s wife is more beautiful than his, Trump is richer, Trump is taller. And Trump is (supposedly) boorish. He should be richer and more powerful than Trump. Not the other way around. A Psych prof I knew hated realtors! Furious about them. Because they made more than him. He is more valuable. He should make more.
You might have a point here. With his inflated ego Sam Harris might believe that only such 'refined intellectuals' like himself deserve such popularity as Trump enjoys, and certainly not such 'boorish rude brutes' like Trump. Then it's envy mixed with arrogance.
Check out my rant abour Sam Harris.
https://open.substack.com/pub/itsallaboutlogic/p/must-watch-podcast-recommendation?r=p5po3&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I watched that. Spot on re both Harris and De Niro.
I used to admire Harris for his courageous stance against Islam and racialist ideologies, but his severe TDS is a non-starter.
I think once a person is afflicted with TDS, they get obsessed with Trump and any anti-Trump idea or thought is justifed and morally superior, no matter how illogical or stupid. Harris' TDS may be caused by a desire to be virtuous or morally superior to others.
Yeah I also started to like him because of his stance against Islam bit his TDS turned me away from him.
I think you're right and his smugness is one of the main reasons of his TDS along with cowardice.
Exactly :
https://open.substack.com/pub/itsallaboutlogic/p/must-watch-podcast-recommendation?r=p5po3&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Excellent critique!’
Let me add/reenforce a position, Harris is commercial and no longer organic. His expressed views are constructed not to detract from ‘SALES’!
Very good analogy, thanks for a valuable addition!
Good points. I think a lot of TDS—and this is especially relevant with Harris—is tied to its associative nature. Everything Harris has opposed has positioned him as a responsible avant-garde figure. His anti-Islam stance, for instance, was acceptable alongside Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens as one of the “Four Horsemen” of atheism, was popular in elite entertainment circles like Bill Maher’s. Supporting Trump in 2024, however, still requires taking a stand against the establishment; there’s no “respectable” association to be found in this context.
Yeah, and also they trigger primitive emotional thinking instead of rational one.
I think supporting Trump in 2024 in some ways easier because of many exposures and unsavoury truths pm DemoNrats having come out over the course of last years but in some ways harder because Woke and DemoNratic TDS became way more unhinged now.
Even a so-called intellectual can be wrong or stupid. Trump Tomorrow!
Absolutely, yes to both!
Deniro and Harris both weak and counterfeit.
Absolutely
They're worthy of each other for sure.
It's weird. Leading up to 2020 Harris was definitely more objective and supportive of Trump. I remember listening to his podcast.
Really? I thought he got TDS prior to it but it definitely got worse since 2020.
Great writing🤔👏🏽
Thanks! Sam Harris problem bothered me for a while, now I finally was able to explain it at least somewhat.
I am very unfamiliar with Sam Harris but he does seem to come up in discussions a far bit on various podcasts and Substack posts. Your writing here seemed pretty on target.
Thanks! I wonder if my article would actually reach him.
It is funny you ask that because I have noticed some specific words and phrases I have used in comments on IG against our corrupt government get repeated in parliament…..might just be my ego seeing this.
I used to do this at work as well, say something in an email or meeting and sure enough I would see the exact words or phrase repeated in a national directors meeting (I had contacts) or in a “talking point”
I came to realize long ago that as a person I am not a vehicle for change but I am a conduit for that change.
Who knows. People's attention and algorithms are weird combo. Some famous figure - though am I relatively famous too on Substack already, or it is also my ego speaking? - might see and restack/retweet your note, then it reaches someone in Parliament, they like it, and here you go...
Nothing is impossible but everything is unpredictable as I like to say.
Thanks for writing this Alex. I’ve had very similar thought for a few years. It is definitely puzzling that a guy like Sam, who I genuinely enjoyed listening to for years, felt I learned a lot from, and as you point out very accurately has been so spot on with criticism of the excesses of the left, has over the last few years become so partisan, so defensive of institutions, of censorship, and critical of “doing your own research”.
The very first podcast of Sam’s I listened to was his adversarial talk with Ezra Klein over the criticism Sam took from Ezra over Sam having the courage to have Charles Murray on his podcast. I really admired how Sam stood up to Ezra. One other podcast of Sam’s (I am pretty sure I even remember the number, 208, Can We Step Back From The Brink), where he very courageously spoke honestly and candidly about the insanity of excesses of the post George Floyd protests, and the associated unfair criticism of our policemen. I really admired him then.
I also was a Waking Up subscriber, and felt I learned a lot from the year I practiced his guided meditation and listened to him and his various partners on his app. But even then, I could feel that he was not capable of relating to those not in his class. A small thing, but within his waking up meditation sessions he would always use references related to including meditation in your everyday life such as “when you get up from your desk”, never “when your putting away your tools”.
But then he went on someone else’s podcast and said some really stupid things. The comments on how the news media suppressed the Hunter laptop story, and the aftermath was the turning point IMV. Shortly following that event, he left Twitter, and IMV seemed to have become obsessed with defending himself. I found it to be so ironic that this man who teaches his followers to not have an ego, seemed to be blind to how much his own ego was driving him. He called anyone who criticized his Hunter laptop comments as being far right crazies who supported Trump, and were therefore beneath his paying any attention to them. He became very critical of Elon, to the point of being very personally vindictive. He also decided that his listeners needed to hear from him about how Brett Weinstein and others had really gone off the deep end, that he seems to feel it was he had an obligation to tells others who was worth believing and who was not, rather than leaving that decision to each individual. That’s when my understanding of him changed.
I do not think that Sam is by any means stupid. I think he is much smarter than I am. Much more intelligent and knowledgeable. But I also know that a lot of much more intelligent, educated, knowledgeable people, than I am, are capable of being very very wrong. I think that this is especially true with regard to politics. I think that in Sam’s case, he is incapable of understanding in even the slightest way, why so many Americans feel they way they do about supporting Trump. He has zero perspective on what it may be like to not be wealthy, highly educated, living a life that is deeply connected to people in that same social class, and his arrogance prevents him from even attempting to understand them.
Yeah, it's great I had written this article if I had gotten such thoughtful responses like yours. Yeah I also used to like Sam Harris over his criticisms of Islam and BLM and overall standing up to mainstream thought. But his TDS changed it all.
And I agree - his arrogance and inflated ego drives his TDS. He despises working class as 'stupid', he despises Christians as 'stupid'. But first there are different kinds of intelligence - not just book smart like Sam but also street smart, and even if someone is not as smart as you, it's not really a good enough reason to despise them.
Also for me it tells that Sam isn't actually as smart or not wise at least because wise people are never arrogant. They understand all the complexities of this world and different kinds of intelligence and they listen to every perspective because it brings something new. People like Sam Harris reject perspectives they consider 'stupid' or those they can't relate to directly, hence, they stop developing and stop learning and thus erode their own intelligence.
How smart can he be if he has TDS? More like a poser currying favor if you ask me.
And this is my question - is he just a poser or genuinely delusional? Is it intellectual cowardice or pseudo intellectual smugness behind his TDS?
He’s not intelligent but wants to be so he aligns himself with the “expert class” even though they almost always wrong.
In the lead up to the 2020 Stealection Sam was very unbiased in his discussion, voicing concern at the possibility of civil war resulting from it. I listened to a few episodes in which he openly and objectively spoke of Trump with a high degree of critical thought. I guess back then he was still a journalist Now, obviously, he's not. I haven't listened to him in a while, so I haven't seen this transformation of his.
Well he still was biased against Trump and was calling him a tyrant even then.
I ceased to listen to him since 2021 as well but he pops up in some news, podcasts and discussing even here on Substack from time to time including today with Ben Shapiro, so hence my article.