People like Sam Harris because he sounds smart. There are a few interesting conversations on his podcast but when it came down to important (geopolitical) issues I always got the sense that his fundamentals were wrong. You might want to read this thread:
This was the reason I was careful with him from the beginning. Many of my friends seem to listen to his podcasts and read his books. One day, a good friend send me an article that talks about Islam, the middle east and how the west should approach the situation (found it!). This was my answer to her when she asked me to comment it: Europe and the United States are the cause (yes, the cause) of the current state of terror in the world. Their interventions in the Middle East lead to the issue we have now. And this guy suggests more intervention by strengthening the people that need our help (how? More weapons probably). Islam is a religion that needs reform, that is true. Reform was happening and people we're changing, slowly! Iran or Palestine in the 70s was more liberal than now, because change was happening and coming from the people. Now however, Europe and the states messed up the region, invading, changing systems etc. and always selling it as "for the good of the people" while in reality they produced a vacuum that can only be filled by populists locally. And with the same trick they continue on doing so. Have a look at the oil prices and you will know that this strategy was very successful 🙂 I don't know what solution there is. All I know is that they should stand up and say "we fucked up, we have to take in any refugee that comes because we OWE them that". At least that is my opinion Right now, in the book, he is shit-talking every religion for similar reasons as to why I left Islam. As long as he sticks to the science of consciousness without trying to explain to me how the middle east works, I guess it is fine.Just commenting this piece. I am not sure if this guy is just writing what the president of the United States should say or if he is just not aware of what the actual truth is.
Pinging Odder, maybe you can better articulate what Harris' fundamentally flawed ideas are? I'll take a stab at it but I don't know enough about the topics he discusses to be certain of my position. (I apologize in advance for the snarky tone.) There's two things which I noticed while reading that piece. One is his eagerness to point to Islam school of thought as the main reason for atrocities. We burned witches because of our medieval believes, so now that Those Scary People burn people with acid it must be because of their medieval belief system. Let's blame that instead of the complicated geopolitical situation, the completely media-aware terrorists hitting weak spots, the economic interests in the area, [insert actual reasons here]. Secondly, as a Man of Science, he thinks that (religious) beliefs are the root of all evil and that it must thus must also be the solution. Thus, he seems to assume that if we change the minds of these morally and politically deprived people, everything will be alright and violence and tribalism will be a thing of the past. Islam, save the world! Of course, he combines it with a healthy dose of superiority, so our set of beliefs are never a problem since they are Enlightened and Secular and Based on Science. I mean, how else can you write something like this without irony:We live in a world in which people reliably get murdered over cartoons, and blog posts, and beauty pageants—even the mere naming of a teddy bear. [...] We want secular, enlightened, liberal Muslims in America.