The Fairmont Conference: Four Decades Later | OLD PARKLAND CONFERENCE

In 1980, the economist Thomas Sowell organized the Black Alternatives Conference, which reporters later dubbed the Fairmont Conference because it was held at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. The goal of the Fairmont Conference was to bring together people within the black community who had unorthodox views about addressing social inequality and to showcase those views to a media establishment that too often covered racial controversies as though all blacks thought alike. Glenn Loury, Jason Riley, Ian Rowe, and Shelby Steele discussed how the economic, cultural, and political landscape has changed for blacks since the Fairmont Conference and why they were inspired to mount a similar effort in 2022.
Subscribe to AEI's KZbin Channel
kzbin.info...
Like us on Facebook
/ aeionline
Follow us on Twitter
/ aei
For more information
www.aei.org
AEI operates independently of any political party and does not take institutional positions on any issues. AEI scholars, fellows, and their guests frequently take positions on policy and other issues. When they do, they speak for themselves and not for AEI or its trustees or other scholars or employees.
More information on AEI research integrity can be found here: www.aei.org/about/
#aei #news #politics #government #education #oldparkland #oldparklandconference #shelbysteele #glennloury #ianrowe #jasonriley #thomassowell #fairmontconference

[@SomeGuy-cw9rw]

Sure, I'll be the first to comment. :D I've read most of Sowell's work, but I did not know that he organized a gathering that would come to be known as the Fairmont Conference. My interest is piqued and I need to know more. This is great.

[@Nirvana7734]

@Anya Wale It is not... great? Would you care to elaborate, because I thought that this video was fantastic.

[@davidfleischman4808]

Thanks for doing this. Some or all of you should take this discussion further. My KZbin feed brings up Thomas Sowell, Glenn, and Jason, but I don't see much Shelby Steele, and Ian Rowe is a revelation. Would like to hear more from all of you. So, Joe Rogan, Jordan Peterson, Williamson, Triggernometry should take note. Would love to see any of you talk with Mary Harrington (feminism, but she is at the same level of analysis as all of you). There is an audience out here for this. I don't watch any TV - I watch this stuff. I bet there are others.

[@jaehlee4982]

Love these men.

[@finnb2318]

I would move beyond the individual, and towards the societal when (abolishing) meritocracy is mentioned, and point out that a society may only abolish the one, true, never-failing test of one's worth, via work, the unleashing of one's productive capacities for the benefit of all mankind, to society, at the greatest peril. If I know my work to be for naught, my labor to be forever unrecognized, my thirst for economic and intellectual realization to be doomed from the get-go, I know that the society I inhibit is not long for this world. Abolishing meritocracy, the foundation of all civilized society, is akin to, in iconoclastic fervor, destroying the sacrosanct murals of Our Lady of Sorrows. It is not merely cultural decline, corruption and the filth naturally accumulated in opulence, in a society with lackadaisical moral guidance, is is the eulogy of a civilization and culture long dead, clinging on, wantonly, at such, only to past glory and achievement. (Meritocracy, in its protective capacity, viewed in abstract fashion, serves the same purpose as does private property. Meritocracy guards against incompetence and protects competence, at all levels, in all its forms, be they physical, intellectual or artistic, whereas property, again, at an abstract, an emancipated citizenry, is the only protection said citizenry might enjoy when confronted with state injustice, or as in Pol Pottian or Maoist times, state terror. A castrated, disowned and, by extension, disenfranchised citizenry can, necessarily, not rise to meet the challenge and threat posed to the existence of the body politic in the same manner.) It must, necessarily, be opposed in all form and proposal, must be fought tooth and nail, with fervor surpassing the inquisition, so that we may continue to enjoy the only justice there is, the justice of merit, and preserve ourselves, so that we may see the better tomorrow we all strive for.

[@edwinamendelssohn5129]

@Anya Wale you're out of your league here bud. Men are speaking

[@stacypastry2440]

@@edwinamendelssohn5129 was a comment removed?

[@edwinamendelssohn5129]

@@stacypastry2440 this is from months ago. Idk

[@thepatricianalta]

Where the Black People at.

[@ElizabethDohertyThomas]

Fantastic summary for open-minded liberals... just shared on my Twitter account, as a liberal to fellow liberals.

[@Dudi527]

sad very sad and discouraging, less then 3k views (as of Oct 22)

[@pseudonymn]

I was going to make this comment and then I saw this one. +1 to this thread, instead. The literal state of the world we live in, when 60 Second videos on Tictok, full of utterly inane, banal content, command so much more of our collective attention. Sad.

[@stacypastry2440]

There are other videos that are getting many thousands of views and comments. The lovely person that puts out Sowell's comments are a testament that the ideas of individuality and freedom are still pulsar. We need to do better at doing the message and it may take some fancy footwork

[@ewaoconnor7013]

The Scandinavian people trust their governments much more and they have much less inequality. Capitalism with a bit of social welfare works well.

[@rickjulian7237]

In real terms, and relative to the US, Scandinavian countries are monocultures in which trust, conformity, and solidarity make their economies much easier to manage than a highly diverse country of 350M with 400 different languages being spoken across a highly stratified class structure. The US is a very unique beast, and hard to manage which makes our continuing existence and success such an extraordinary accomplishment- even with our struggle to form a more perfect union.

[@hendrixfreak85]

Has Sowell ever been on this panel?

[@evanvarns4785]

Dr. Sowell actually helped organize and put on the original Fairmont conference in 1980, which was/is the precursor to this conference. I'm certain Jason Riley invited Dr. Sowell to this gathering, but he's in his 90s now, so I'm guessing travel is significantly more problematic than before.