Glenn Greenwald is a famous journalist and podcaster. Sam Harris is a famous philosopher and neuroscientist.
I first came to know of Sam Harris. I bought his “End of Faith” in 2006. And others: His book on “Free Will” (2012). His discussion with Maajid Nawaz on "Islam and the Future of Tolerance" (2015). I subscribed to his “Making Sense” podcast.
What I liked about Sam was his clear thinking. His analysis. His take on the danger of ideologies and in particular the ideology of Islam -- Islamism. He’s read deeply the Trinity of Islalm: The Koran, the Hadith and the Sarah (the life of Muhammad).
I first heard of Glenn Greenwald as a counter to Harris. Glenn didn’t like Sam’s scorching criticism of Islam. According to Sam, Glenn took quotes out of context and then attacked them. Sam described this as “Greenwalding”. (TBF: it’s pretty much a standard operating procedure on social media these days. Aka Straw Manning).
So, of course, I hated Glenn Greenwald. I was very much in Sam’s side as I thought, and believe to this day, that he’s widely and deeply read in the core tenets of Islam, as an ideological structure, which needs to be criticised and which he did with skill and verve.
Then in 2016 came Trump and Sam’s brain was broken. He had a severe case of TDS. Which he has to this day. The first I noticed was with the Senate Hearings on Brett Kavanagh for SCOTUS. Sam wanted Kavanagh found guilty of sex charges even though there was no evidence (and is none to this day). Sam managed to twist the concept of “innocent until proven guilty” with his silver tongue rationalisation. But I didn’t like it. It damaged his kind of “just the facts, ma’am” brand. His hard-data, science-based brand.
Then I started to hear more about Glenn, as he’d left the Intercept, a company he’d founded, because of disputes with its board over the issue of free speech. And set up his own podcast. To continue free speech. I liked that.
Reminder: that Glenn was the guy who broke the Edward Snowden story, via The Guardian. So he’s no stranger to big stories.
And I’ve liked his podcasts, a number of which I’ve linked to on this blog.
Then came Gaza and Sam did “The Bright Line Between Good and Evil” online essay.
While Glenn went all pro-Hamas and anti-Israel. It seems he has his own Derangement Syndrome, this time Israel:
- He’s fully behind the massive pro-Palestine demos in the west, even as they call for the genocide of Jews, chant “Hitler was right! Kill the Jews”. Yes, even as they do that. And even as they are shot through with Hamas supporters and Hamas messages, even as they call for a “Free Palestine from the River to the Sea”, which is simple code for “get rid of the Jews”. Yes, Greenwald, a Jew, supports that.
- He supports the Gen Z fascination with the rediscovered Osama bin Ladin Letter to America. Supports its contents. Supports the Chomskyan views that “we deserved it”.
- He supports the narrative of “grievance”. Of Muslim grievance. Even of Hitler grievance! (i.e. “they had to do it”). Which I’ve shown to be, instead, a matter of ideology, not grievance, back in 2009.
- He’s gone crazy in a flurry of X-posts. And it’s not nice. To me, anyway. So I come back to having respect for Sam Harris for his take on “The Bright Line Between Good and Evil”.
So, we’re back full circle. Back to liking Sam and avoiding Glenn. Though I must be careful to keep looking at both. Otherwise the dreaded Silo. The dreaded Bubble. Which we ought be fighting against all the time, difficult as it sometimes is to read and hear the views of others.
