Islam and the Future of Tolerance

FIXED AUDIO: • Islam and the Future o...
Panelists Sam Harris, Co-founder and Chief Executive of Project Reason and Maajid Nawaz Founding Chairman of Quilliam, joined moderator Juliette Kayyem, Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, for a panel discussion to reflect on the future of Islam and tolerance regarding it. The panelists discussed many topics regarding Islam in modern society, such as Islam's place in modern culture, the events leading up to the modern public perception of Islam, and Islamic extremism. These topics were put forth with the final goal of collaborating to ensure a stable future of tolerance in the world.
A panel discussion with:
Sam Harris
Neuroscientist, Co-founder and Chief Executive, Project Reason,
Author, The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, among others
Maajid Nawaz
Author, Radical
Founding Chairman, Quilliam
Juliette Kayyem (moderator)
Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Former Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs, US Department of Homeland Security

[@HarvardIOP]

We apologize for the audio quality. We've uploaded a fixed version of this forum here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qYjGnaBqd85ni68

[@rebel7332]

Always a pleasure to listen to Sam Harris. The guy has such an amazing reasoning power. Ever since 2006 'Beyond Belief' convention I follow and share his wisdom and appreciate his efforts. I truly believe he makes the world a better place.

[@mcounlall9042]

15.00 UK Sam Harris obviously knows little about Islam but more about the anxieties about Muslims peddled by headlines. M. Nawaz is doing a laudable job trying to desconstruct the prejudices .

[@isacharjones]

The video starts at 9:55

[@anonxnor]

+Isachar Jones You're the real most valuable player.

[@llaauuddrruupp]

+Isachar Jones When does the audio start...?

[@Where_Is_Ja]

ahh, now I see why Sam and Maajid get smeared so much, they have solid arguments and make too much sense therefore making it difficult to refute.

[@urzapolariz]

+ImHandsome I disagree that their arguments make too much sense - it's clear that several stupid people (*cough*Affleck*cough*) completely misinterpret the arguments or fail to listen to them sensibly. Sam and Maajid both speak at a fairly high, well-educated level and I think that a major segment of the population simply cannot properly comprehend what's being said. That may either be due to lack of smarts, lack of education, ignorance or impatience. In some cases (*cough*Affleck*cough*) it's difficult to tell if it's stupidity or dogma that's getting in the way of understanding. As Sam has stated over and over again in his own words: people consistently conflate criticism of Islam with racism or Islamaphobia as a knee-jerk response. The liberal mindset seems to be resolute to jump in and defend Muslims to such an extent that any even rational, reasonable or logical questions about ANY aspect of Islam immediately reply with a knee-jerk response to decry the question as an insult to all of the poor, suffering Muslims of the world. To clarify, I believe their arguments are sound and reasonable in the utmost. That doesn't mean everyone else will feel the same or interpret them in the same manner. For many liberals today, piercing the thin veil between non-overlapping magisteriums (NOMA) is a taboo and for some reason (which has not been reasonably enough explained by them) religion requires immediate and unflinching defense against any and all inquiry. The epic irony therein is that liberalism is supposed to promote skepticism and the free exchange of ideas and welcome questioning and debate. My, how the pendulum swings the other way.

[@urzapolariz]

***** My hunch about the reason why there is this knee-jerk response that's been built into liberalism about Islam is due to the massive outcry (mostly conservative) against Islam in the years following 9/11, and a growing wall of liberal defense that most Muslims are decent people and the 9/11 attack only represents the action of a lunatic fringe. So after years of defending Muslims I think it has just become a de-facto (dogmatic) knee-jerk response that you cannot attack Islam because that's a wrong-headed view and automatically equates to either bigotry or racism. And of course, asking thought-provoking questions about Islam is just as good as an attack, hence the automatic response. The ultimate failure of these white knights is that they're not listening close enough to notice that there is no bigotry nor racism in the question, but rather a reasonable and rational question about why Muslims seem so complacent to harbor and support either directly or indirectly these heinous, radical fringe elements. I suppose that sounds at least slightly accusatory, but it's no different than asking mainstream Christians why they don't condemn the Westboro Baptist Church.

[@dstein111]

Maajid is a damn snappy dresser.

[@haiderelias1982]

Brilliant is brilliant in everything, including dressing

[@ablanchi]

Harvard isn't known for its audio engineers is it?

[@KITM0USE]

+ablanchi Apparently not, I think it's MIT :)

[@rajadhirajmaharaj]

@@KITM0USE Yeah, MIT. Bose speakers.

[@fukpoeslaw3613]

@@rajadhirajmaharaj Bose? isn't that India?

[@brandonmalik3910]

you all probably dont give a shit but does someone know of a trick to log back into an instagram account? I somehow forgot the account password. I appreciate any tips you can give me

[@muhammaddominik7804]

@Brandon Malik instablaster ;)

[@TurboDally]

I wish the audio was a lot louder but it was an interesting thing to listen to nonetheless.

[@SamuelHauptmannvanDam]

+TurboDally I thought the exact same thing. The sound in incredibly low.

[@migueldeclercq3883]

+TurboDally Exactly. It made me stop watching the video.

[@chrisosatx]

Can't watch video with volume this low,

[@bbkingzor]

+Miguel Declercq Have you tried turning up your own speakers? Nifty trick if you find the volume to be low!

[@fantasick8880]

+TurboDally Yeah, this is a chronic problem on KZbin that really drives me nuts. Everyone loves to gush all over their video but the audio is often an afterthought or not thought about at all. Public service announcement to all people uploading video to KZbin: IF YOUR AUDIO IS SO LOW NO ONE CAN HEAR IT, ALL THE WORK YOU DID ON PRODUCING THE VIDEO BECOMES WORTHLESS! It's especially frustrating when one realizes that boosting the audio to a standard decibel is ridiculously easy. Cool interview though.

[@DaytakTV]

Wonderful collaboration thank you!

[@mxwtubemxw]

common sense, honesty and civility - brilliant.

[@quatsi212]

Interesting and encouraging conversation - we need more of this.

[@jacovanzyl3035]

You guys are stars. Thank you!

[@IsmailFahmi7]

Sam Harris answers on some of Islamic values shows that he needs to learn more about Islam.....

[@DriveIn8]

Suggestion for others; paste the link to this video into VLC Player, you can play it there and whack the volume up to 200%. Once I did that I could hear it much better and enjoyed the talk - thanks for posting.

[@laika5757]

Majid and Sam...2 of my heroes. God bless you both for spreading the Truth. Live long and prosper.

[@sydneymorey6059]

A brilliant intelligent program, hats off to all involved. I’ll keep hoping for change, so wish everyone good luck. Cheers SBM.

[@RaphaelSassi]

Is there going to be a version we can hear? The sound is tragedy. Can barely hear it with headphones against low ambient noise in my home. Very frustrating.

[@amentia666]

This is by far the best that has ever been said by anyone on this topic. And most likely the best that ever will be said...

[@haiderelias1982]

Well. You are talking about two of the best and most experienced people in the about the topic

[@yoitsjust]

This is amazing. So much Iq on one stage

[@MrSidney9]

Great conversation. Spread this, guys, via twitter, G+, FB...That's how good ideas beats bad ones.

[@eliehasteiner3167]

Beautiful talk. Actually inspired me a bit to hope that we're not all completely fucked.

[@Nokapp23]

William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898 ) was Prime Minister of Great Britain four times: 1868-74, 1880-85, 1886 and 1892-94. He called the Qur’an an “a cursed book” and once held it up during a session of Parliament, declaring: “So long as there is this book there will be no peace in the world.”

[@sydneymorey6059]

& now take a cue from Afghanistan, 25/8/2021. The lesson unfolding before your eyes ? Cheers SBM.

[@prithviprakash1110]

Anybody knows whom Sam Harris is talking about when he said that a prominent person with a platform referred to Maajid as his lapdog?

[@laika5757]

Music to my ears..🎼🎵🎶🎸

[@urzapolariz]

The audio is completely out of sync with the video. Is anyone else having that issue? I mean it's off by several minutes. Volume is also really low.

[@rrodmada]

Same

[@NiallxDDD]

+Jurann McRea It was fine for me about 15mins ago when I was watching on my phone on the bus; but now i'm home and on the laptop it's gone to shit! Whhyyyyyy world

[@Skymarshal]

+Jurann McRea How is this not top comment?

[@nuckable]

+Niall Mulholland it works fine on my phone as well, not on youtube though

[@patlecat]

+Jurann McRea Actually it was out of sync on Firefox but in sync on Chrome .... so it may be a problem with the KZbin player :-/

[@semidemiurge]

Very good discussion

[@Optimator7]

Good stuff

[@ricardoalmeida4719]

The sound is crap.

[@sydneymorey6059]

Opinion from Hitch, & Chris Hedges, need to be thrown into the mix here. Cheers SBM.

[@IrmaWalter]

Connor Reilly, (1:09) try this: first take at least 10 of the statements of your partner in conversation and try to repeat them in your own words as accurately as possible. Encourage corrections. And then gently guide the conversations towards questions like: what would happen if you believed otherwise? You'll find that mostly people hold on to extreme beliefs, because they are part of a sort of tribal conscience. If you do it right, they will realize that as well.

[@jakeyalmighty]

`holy shit the audio is so quiet

[@Jima1234567]

30:20 great point

[@ricardoalmeida4719]

How can someone from Harvard put this live without checking if it's at least decent?

[@rts100x5]

audio / video is completely out of sync.....please fix it

[@xavierbreath2227]

Ummm. I have my volume on max. I can barely hear it.

[@JamieTwells]

Discussion starts at 17:24

[@spencer871]

Sam and Maajid is my favourite intectual atheist/religious person bromance.

[@erdi950]

The audio is way to low and the voices are out of sync. What a poor job. It's barely usable. Come on!

[@Obiwancolenobi]

This is the first time i've heard "check your privilege" and it's not horseshit.

[@rajadhirajmaharaj]

so Harvard doesn't have proper microphones

[@MegaDanman25]

Why is the audio so pitiful?

[@thewakakeboarder]

Sam Harris first speaks at @21:38 The real discussion doesn't really start till @27:20

[@Vyjebanakurva1000]

Sam Harris starts at 21:12

[@pauleluard8854]

You must have meant "Islam and the future of intolerance" right?

[@OliverCox]

Great debate! Hope Maajid was joking when he said 'check your privilege'!

[@Hyde_Hill]

+Oliver Cox He was. Using ammo of regressive left against them. He confirmed that on twitter.

[@stephonscheult1173]

These students had such a great opportunity to ask provoking intelligent questions and they just failed horribly. The first guy fumbled and seemed incoherent at best.

[@internetmail3888]

Many people in america don't realise that the Qur'an claims to be the original message given to Jews and Christians and that Muslims acknowledge Jesus was a messenger of God.

[@Nokapp23]

Why Bill Warner is the best. Bill Warner takes Islam as SUBJECT... much better approach than Harvard.....

[@happydays8966]

Crap sound. I can't be bothered to enhance these tired old tropes.

[@tinkertaylor4447]

This discussion is very good. We must acknowledge that the population on muslims in the U.S. is minuscule compared to Chinese, Koreans, Hindus, Buddhists, Irish, Italian's etc..... yet the problem is almost completely the islamic issue.

[@timhenderson262]

Sam, your audio levels are always terrible!

[@SammyxSweetheart.02]

14:36

[@iswanmirzaumatnabiauzubill9485]

The wacthers Index Beeps...@Dia panggil aku ......{Got My Paperrrrr)on harvard before.....😎

[@honkyvanwildebeest8926]

how about boosting the volume?!? If you don't, you are purposefully presenting a debate with silence. Fuck me, speak up and speak louder to counter the ads KZbin plays at MAXIMUM VOLUME!!!

[@handofdecay]

21:14 - 23:10 I have stopped and checked my priviledge, thank you very much Maajids. So let me get this right, unless I live the exact same life as Maajids, he will not see me as an equal in a debate about Islam, regardless of my experiences? Please tell my I misunderstood something.

[@MrBandholm]

+Anders Skov Johansen Nej, hvad han siger er at du ikke har lov til at bestemme hvad han skal sige, medmindre du er ham... Egentlig rimelig nok

[@handofdecay]

Det er der jo ingen der kan. Det er et underligt postulat at komme med. Den eneste grund jeg kan se, at han har brug for at sige det må være, at han selv har forsøgt at bestemme, hvad andre skal mene. Jeg håber jeg tager fejl. Har du et bud på, hvorfor han har behov for at udtrykke det?

[@MrBandholm]

Hvis du hørte efter, så var det netop fordi han blev kaldt en "onkel sam" og en show abe... Netop af Amerikanere, som aldrig har oplevet noget af det som de snakker om... Så han kommer med sit "udbrud" fordi han netop er blevet udsat for det.

[@MrBandholm]

Det er måske ikke den mest elegante måde at præsentere det på... Men jeg føler pointen står, omend det kunne have været bedre formuleret

[@handofdecay]

Det jeg mener er, at det i den her del af verdenen, som er befolket af hvide heteroseksuelle mænd, er fysisk umuligt at tvinge andre til en bestemt holdning, når vi har ytringsfrihed. Hvorfor har han brug for at fortælle, at jeg ikke kan fortælle ham, hvad han skal mene. Det kan jeg jo ikke alligevel. Jeg kan ikke se pointen du taler om, jeg prøver oprigtigt, men jeg kan ikke se pointen. Det virker unødvendigt, og så får han koblet mit køn og race ind i sammenhængen, det sætter umiddelbart ikke scenen for forståelse og dialog.

[@LoneWolf-wp9dn]

wow that ending was amazing... but of course a lot of people in politics and the media will not single out islamism as a problem because a lot of countries are islamis in their policies and they dont want to offend them

[@maxmaxwell4211]

I really can't understand how is Majid still a Muslim. With his intelligence and understanding of Islam, how is he still convinced that Muhammad was a prophet and that Allah actually exists.

[@zulfiqarsyed7294]

The same way Einstein was a Muslim. Max you criticize Islam, but have you actually read the Quran? I invite you to set your preconceived notions aside and read the Quran.

[@iswanmirzaumatnabiauzubill9485]

That why only you were Talking on chair...agreed....?..hehe...I am Not What as you were...

[@iswanmirzaumatnabiauzubill9485]

Kurang2 allah dah sedarkan bg semua side...dan kau2 sendiri2 dah tau mana kau berpijak

[@iswanmirzaumatnabiauzubill9485]

About berpasang2 twin turbo..hati2 ni skit bro...

[@9fifty5]

Religion tees of on the false premise of imaginary super natural being. Can we please just grow up now and move on now.

[@coecovideo]

If you want to Skip the BullShit : 21:11 38:50 54:00 1:07:34 1:20:50 more or less

[@coecovideo]

***** not for the year 2015

[@coecovideo]

***** ReligionS are obsolete in 2015. Sam is just being polite to give this topic and this guy a stage.

[@Ragnarockalypse]

+coecovideo Being religious doesn't render everything that a person says invalid. (It's not quite relevant, but I suppose it doesn't hurt to mention here that I'm an atheist.)

[@Psykoged]

+coecovideo I too am an atheist, and I happen to think Nawaz very much has a place in our time and age. He is well versed in the art of dialectics and I generally harbor more respect for Nawaz than I do for Sam Harris, though I tend to agree with Harris' views more and even first heard about Nawaz through Harris.

[@amentia666]

+coecovideo Its people like you that really brings the debate forward. NOT!

[@thecarlitosshow7687]

Tolerance only if you agree lol 😂