John McWhorter: belief

Transcript context

…Partly. I also just wanted to hear your thoughts on the culture wars writ large. Today our fights are not really about politics. They’re about a deeper cultural thing that you were a part of in the ’90s. The Ebonics debate was part of that. Kenny Williams stuck out, not just because of her views on authorship, but because of her views about culture and the way it was weaponized. Sure. The left won that war. I think that anybody who comes up now is immersed in a set of assumptions where, if they’re going to go against them, they’re going against an orthodoxy to an extent that somebody 35 years ago would be less likely to feel. So, although there is always a diversity of opinions, I think that what was called the culture wars back then has been won by the left in terms of a certain orthodoxy, a certain set of ideas that you’re considered to at least have to grapple with. And this is within the rarefied world of the university and college town. I think that elsewhere, there’s particularly a pushback against it now, especially over the past 10 years. But in terms of what I sense is your world and the one that I have maybe six of my toes in, I think that it’s not even a war at this point. Next question over here.…

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