Dr. Cornell West calls America “a failed social experiment” in the wake of the George Floyd’s death under the knee of a police officer. Bill Whittle agrees., and illustrates the stark difference between the failed social experiment, and the other America. Are you on Team Red or Team Blue?
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56 replies on “America’s Failed Social Experiment: Are You On Team Red or Team Blue?”
Bill, yet another example of fact based reason. Facts arranged logically, leading to a clear and obvious conclusion. So glad I became a part of the team.
Absolutely brilliant as always. Took way too long to become a member and I am paying the price. God bless you all.
As usual, Bill – you knocked it out of the park with this easy to understand analysis and comparison. Well done . . . !
This was really REALLY good. Classic Bill Whittle. Thanks.
I love this Firewall!! Thank you, Bill!!
Excellent work.
I found it amusing how Cornell West completely lost his guano when he was challenged by another black man. Struck me he’s too used to being listened to w/ reverence in classes and speaking engagements.
Great presentation Bill. Some of the other commentators are asking about an older program you did. Would like to see it if possible.
Young man, when you’re on you are ON!
In several ways, this is much like the Afterburner you did years ago. the one where you compared the America where a man is beaten to death, left on the sidewalk, and no one used their phones to call 911, they just shot photos. Then you described the other America, where you introduced us to Veterans Airlift Command, to the Girls of Moore Four, to Welfare Square in Utah, and to Sgt. Mike Schlitz.
If ever there was a time for PJMedia to release an archived Afterbuner, now is that time and that is the One to release. I can not recall the title, either “Straight from the Heart” or “A tale of 2 Americas”.
That particular Afterburner is nowhere to be found, but I’d say all of the new members of Bill Whittle.com would appreciate seeing it, and being reminded of all of the good that is out there.
Who the hell do I have to call at PJMedia to get them to release this?
Red Pill / Red Team please.
Bill – this ranks right up there with 3 1/2 days (Yes, I know that was an Afterburner and this is technically a Firewall) as one of your best.
This is a masterpiece!
Bill: To extend your great theme of red vs blue choices and states of mind, you could do a comparison of two people who have gone from one team to the other; for example:
David Horowitz from blue to red
Bill Kristol from red to blue,
and everything you generalized about as true can be shown as an example of each of these men. (I think Bill’s a man).
Sidebar: Is it possible to explain the marriage of Mary Matalin and James Carville?
Add Thomas Sowell as a young man firmly on the blue team, then a somewhat older man switching to the red team.
Uncommon Knowledge’s Peter Robinson did an amazing interview with Thomas Sowell where he explained how he came to Marxism as a very young man. Great story of transformation away from leftist ideology.
I had no idea Thomas Sowell was ever a Marxist… that’s surprising. I’ll have to read up on that. Sounds like it would make for a good discussion.
Hey there Donna! Here is a link to the Uncommon Knowledge episode with Peter Robinson and Thomas Sowell, Myths of Economic Inequality. The first 5 minutes of this amazing interview is where he talks about how, with a lack of any other explanation, he came to reading about Marxism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS5WYp5xmvI
Bill, you’ve done it again! Summed up very well the thoughts and feelings I’ve been having for years. My favorite part is your second to last point about “You don’t have to end up where you started from”. For me, this is very biblical, it reminds me of a passage in Ezekiel, Chapter 18:20 NIV “The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him”
This sums up the individuality of each person who has lived, is currently living, and will live in the future. That YOU are responsible for the actions YOU have taken, and no one else. You and I don’t answer for the sins of our ancestors, but we do have a choice to make this place better. This is isn’t going to be made better by dwelling on the sins of our ancestors and pretending that people now have to answer for them. Why should I? I didn’t do anything wrong (by any reasonable moral code). What I can do is be compassionate and caring, but also holding you accountable when YOU have done wrong. And vice versa, I must be held accountable if I have done something wrong.
As you said, “You don’t have to end up where you started”. My family used to live in a trailer home for the first year of my life, but through sacrifice and hard work, my parents were able to get my family to live in a two story house in a suburb, food on the table, and I was able to have a car to drive when I turned 16. They instilled in me the values of hard work, sacrifice, compassion, and grace, and now my wife and I of a year and a half are working hard towards our first home together while renting in an apartment. Not paid for by our parents or anyone else, but because of our hard work and sacrifice.
Like you said, anyone can achieve this, they just have to work hard, take ownership of their actions, and lighten up and have fun! Life is so much better when you’re only worrying about yourself! Thanks Bill for such a great video, keep em coming!
Rock on Dave, don’t be afraid to succeed!
Thanks, Bill. Your description of the “two Americas” is spot on!
Bill, that made me feel good. Thanks.
Nails it !!!
One of the best ever Bill. and I’ve been around since the beginning. Fantastic sir!
Still got the colours backwards. The whole world sees red for communism and blue for liberty and conservatism. Only the USA let some MSM scumbag flip the colours. Anyone with poor english, ending up in the USA or watching it from outside, is left thinking the Republicans are probably tyranny and the Democrats are somehow liberty. It takes a long time to realise the USA got its colour scheme wrong.
If memory serves NBC TV flipped them back in the 80s becasue they didn’t like having the Democratic Party associated with their spiritual mentors in the Communists. Hard to believe that there was a time when only a handful of loons thought that Communism was a good thing
I always thought th e colors were reversed too. First I said, “Well, both are opposite from the color assigned to them. Red for Communist, and blue for true blue.” But in the movie ” The Matrix” the red pill woke you up to reality, and the blue pill let you wallow in falsehood.
I’ve wondered about that also. Red says “Communism” to me, but the Blues are the real Commies. How did that happen?
Bill, an excellent presentation! I look forward to send this to my son who has expressed his confusion as to which side to turn to. I have every confidence this will answer his questions.
Bill, I am in awe. This will change lives eternally. Even better than Virtual President.
Sharing targeted, waiting for the weapons free call. Great load out!
Excellent! I have one question – it is one that has confused me for some time now.
Red used to be the designated color of all of the various leftists (communists/socialists/collectivists). Remember the “Red scare”? “Better dead than red”? How did the historical “reds” get the individualists (the right/conservatives, etc.) to accept that color designation?
I always wondered that, as well. Red should be green!! The ‘GO’ color.
Too bad green has also be co-opted.
Barbara, near as I can tell, TV networks assigned red or blue more or less randomly. I know that the names stuck during the 2000 election because the issue was in doubt for so long. I don’t know if by coincidence two or more networks happened to use red for Republicans, but I’d bet a dollar that red state / blue state is the result of some low-paid graphic designer(s) in 2000.
Before 2000, there are documentaries and books on it tracing the color flip back into the 1970’s when color TV first became common. The Republican message men were so ignorant of the wider world they let it happen. In the 1970’s some news organisations used red for Democrats and blue for Republicans. Both the DNC and the US communist party objected so the choice. I’ll see if I can find the YouTube documentry on it and other links. I know there a prager university one on it.
I thought that NBC TV led teh way on this back in the 80s
Hot Dayum, Bill! This is outstanding! I cannot wait to share it!
Great work, dude. *insert thumbs up emoji here*
Wow, this is good; definitely one for sharing. I think you just entered a new age of firewalls (can we call it that anymore?). About time you jettisoned the black background, mushroom clouds, and eerie music.
I am a little uncomfortable with some of the generalizations this video, though. I don’t like characterizing “the other side” as lazy, weak, or amoral, because I know that there are many people with whom I passionately disagree on politics who are nonetheless hardworking, principled, honorable people. If I were such a person, hearing some of these generalizations would only drive me further into my ideological trench. We should strive to chose our every word with the purpose of convincing our adversaries to join our side. That is not to say that we should not call put evil where we see it on the other side, only that we should use discretion when doing so so that we do not damage our cause by widening the rift.
I would characterize the good people you describe as people who identify as liberal, but actually live their lives as conservatives, as stated by Rush Limbaugh
I disagree. I’m talking about people who are very active in politics and completely sold on mainstream left wing ideology, but nonetheless have some fundamental virtues. I think we risk alienating those people.
If they’re quick to jump to judgements, then they’re fully blue. I think this is one of those “on balance, you’re more this side / that side” kind of problems. You can be for large government and extra rules if you’re living in a large city and people need more guidance when living so close together. I think that most red-group people are aware of that and would urge the rules that are needed and be against those that are not.
They might not be lazy and might have a work ethic, but I think if you go along with racial justice ideas being pushed lately, reparations and the $15 minimum wage, you do not understand your own values enough to really hold them. The concept of objective truth I think is one of the more important “red” concepts. Things must be true for everyone or they are true for no one. The idea that your work must be worth a set amount based on what your expenses are, and not what value your effort adds to the item or service divorces from reality. When you realize that your position will be eliminated because you only add $7 worth of value and either fewer are sold, meaning less of your work is needed, or because it becomes cheaper to automate your work, then you get the red pill square in the face.
On the other hand, if you realize that, and urge people to find work that does add $15 value then you’re already on the red team and you know where you are.
Too many people have either not had to the time to think through their ideas and values or had guidance like a good mentor or videos like these can provide.
The thing is… in defense of Nolan and his generation, they have no experience. I know I’m generalizing here, but aren’t we all…
You can state facts and statistics and draw conclusions, but here (I’m thinking of a couple of my nieces/nephews) all they have is 1) their moral upbringing from their parents, and 2) the socialism crap fed to them by professors in college, which is a new concept to them (unless they were already getting it in high school, or even grade school), and being new is a fascinating idea to cogitate about.
They have none of their own experiences with work and fitting into society (becoming a productive member of), they only have the experiences and philosophies of others. And, then there’s their peers… another topic… who just want to have fun and gain experience in life.
I do agree, and focused more on what I took as older people Nolan knew, that were active and he thought grounded in some virtues. What I’ve found is that some people haven’t really thought about what the ideals they hold mean in relation to things they say or think they agree with.
The second idea I had was more related to the younger people that did not have heavy political discussions with their parents or mentors/teachers (which I never really did) or the non-politically active people busy living their lives. They might attend church or have a set of values, but have not really delved into how how things work or work together / against each other.
We probably do need to be more patient, and I’ve found when talking to people that just because I’ve worked through things and encountered people set in opposing views, that cannot transfer to others. What really urges me on though is that so many who are certain and are active are trying to push and if people don’t push back, will get someplace they don’t want to be.
I agree that objective truth is one of the fundamental red team values.
Are you a millennial? just curious…
I see this a lot in young people (as I was once called). They were maybe raised w/ conservative values, but then college/university got a hold of them, and now they’re confused and don’t know which way to think.
After some thought, I agree with you that Bill chose a far-left (communist) vs a not maybe even conservative, but capitalist (libertarian?).
It would be interesting to get some feedback from the young (what is the generation called that follows millennial?).
I watched a video recently (and since I’ve watched a lot recently, nothing else to do while stuck at home!, I can’t remember who/what) where a guy was proposing laying down breadcrumbs for people to follow to get them to swallow the ‘red pill’. Rather than hitting them w/ arguments that just set up their defences. Interesting tactic…
Thankfully I dodged the Millennial label by a couple years. I’m Gen Z. I’m working on my mechanical engineering degree at Montana State right now, but my conservative values aren’t going anywhere. It is true that the majority of college students are leftists, but don’t forget about the minority of conservatives who know full well that their school is trying to indoctrinate them and aren’t having any of it. You probably forget that we exist most of the time, but that’s because we keep our heads down by disposition. Most of us aren’t interested in parading our politics around everywhere we go; we just want to live our lives, enjoy college, and learn, and wish others would do the same. Take a look at how many people show up for Crowder’s live shows.
I recognize that I have a unique perspective on BW.com, and I would love to answer any questions people have about what college is really like for conservatives who are experiencing it from the inside. No offense to Bill, Scott, and Steve, but I think outsiders have an imperfect understanding of college. I would love to provide a more accurate perspective.
I totally agree, I do think this forum filled w/ Baby Boomers and the like would definitely benefit from the perspective of Millennial and Gen Z’s.
Keep it coming!
I would encourage more of your generation to sign up and become part of the discussion.
I would even go so far as to help them to do so out of my own personal funds. I know most (?) college students are racking up incredible amounts of student debt, and have little to spare for content/participation they have to pay for, but I am starting to see that ‘free’ social media is anything but. And also, subscription social media, such as this, may be the future…
I read a very good argument about that on Twitter…probably the same guy. It was quite a few Tweets long but he got the point across that we may need to (kindly) lead the liberals along a path that will help them noodle things out, bit by bit. (In my experience, the blue pill people tend to be emotion-based, where the red pills are logic-based. Not 100% true but more true than not.)
Somehow my very rebellious twenty-something (now early 30’s) daughter who hangs out almost exclusively with Democrat friends, has always been a red pill person. Not sure how that happened but the girl knows who she is, and she will NOT be moved to the blue. So grateful to God. Having a SJW kid would’ve been tough.
You hit this one out of the park, Bill. Thank you for bringing a ray of light and clarity.
Hot damn Bill is BACK! Bet he thought he never left 🙂
Excellent summary of the differences. I’ll try it out on my lefty British relatives and test the reaction if “they” ever let me meet up with people again.
One quibble: It’s easy to move from the red team to the blue team? Not if you have self respect it isn’t, that’s why no-one does it (no-one I’ve ever known anyway, and I know plenty who’ve gone from blue to red).
BTW If you wanted to keep this members only until Monday you should know that the audio showed up in my podcast service so early Sunday morning it was still Saturday evening in LA.
Content like this makes my membership $ worthwhile, thanks.
Apparently Elizabeth Warren was once a Republican. Can’t say for sure if she was what we would consider a conservative, but it seems that she was once on the right.
Warren is what you call a “false positive”.
I think it is easy to move because you can be seduced by the simpleness, the ease, and the false promises it offers. If you are aware of your values and value them it is not so easy to shift but there is also the what we’re seeing with the Never Trumpers, that to admit that they were wrong, or to put style so far over substance, they’re consumed by their own ego and trying to blame everyone but themselves. I don’t think the red vs blue (or grey vs pink he used in his essay Tribes [I thinkthat was it]) is a venn diagram, but more like the two axis XY graphs they use for other political identification.
Thank you, Bill, for putting this so perfectly.
Individualism vs collectivism is our fundamental choice.
I chose individualism a long time ago. Exactly because I am NOT a disposable, irrelevant, and interchangeable cog in the so called social structure to be to be used, abused, and sacrificed to the whims of society.
Collectivism, on the other hand, treats individuals as only disposable, irrelevant, and interchangeable cogs in the so called social structure to be to be used, abused, and sacrificed to the whims of society. If you need evidence of this, look at the history of the 20th Century and the mountains of human bodies collectivism sacrificed to their sacred hive societies.
What is your choice?