Thomas Sowell Dismantles Egalitarianism (Frances Fox Piven Edition)

In this clip from the 1980 Free To Choose, socialist Frances Fox Piven tangles with Milton Friedman and Thomas Sowell. Sowell, in particular, is incisive with his discussion of "process" versus aspiration -- concluding that whatever the purported social goals, liberty suffers.

We thought this would be interesting in light of the recent dustup between The New York Times and Fox News (Glenn Beck) on the subject of Piven.

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[show0me0a0GOD]

It's so frightening how the LW extremists have corrupted thought. I'm just a year younger than your daughter and it's scary how they've managed to get into the heads of my generation by labeling classic American and capitalist values as simple greed and racism. They ALMOST got to me. Luckily, I was able to see the cracks and hypocrisy, as well as the subtle underlying pinko "philosophy". Just don't give up, my friend.

[Garrett Mills]

Seeing Friedman and Sowell side by side like this is just incredible.

[rastaman24211]

I have no clue what you are talking about. I`m a cost accountant, when I hire book keeper I don`t give a damn about their ability to think. All I care about is whether they can journalize the transactions or not. If they flunked out of school, I have no reason to believe they can do the job. If they do their job well, they can be groomed for management. If not, they will be fired. Give me a break with this free thought, fuzzy wuzzy bullshit.

[rastaman24211]

You`re right. I`m sure ability and capacity to get the job done and become a contributing member of the organizational team don`t factor into their decision making process at all.

[AnCapped]

High grades in school do not necessarily breed performance, they may breed the capacity to repeat things you're told. However this does nothing for you, you need to be able to learn and think, rather than read and repeat. That's what makes a good employer and a good employee, thought.

[HandyMan101]

Your right.

Many companies want bodies, and soldiers to do what they are told

Independent thought and creativity are not sought after by man companies..

Some have them... but not many.

[maximusdecimusjegna]

Their reasoning is what is called fallacious reasoning. I find most capitalist to lack an understanding of philosophy, either it be western or eastern. They think in absolutes. 

[rastaman24211]

I know. I have no words. I mean what kind of bizarro world are they living in where poor grades is something to be celebrated. Furthermore, as a person who is quite conservative on economic issues, I find their position offensive. Basically they are saying that you can`t be both smart, and free-thinking or conservative at the same time.

[rastaman24211]

You know who agrees with you? No Fortune 500 company, ever.

[maximusdecimusjegna]

Are you people mentally blind? Getting good grades has nothing to do with independent thought.  Independent thought comes from getting all sides and deciding which route to take or coming up with a unique thought.

[HandyMan101]

When a persons performance is based on reciting propaganda effectively, the best way to measure who broke out of that trap are the people who independently think for themselves and get lower grades.

If you perform well at regurgitating falsehoods drilled into you by indoctrination centers, that means very little in my view.

[deano2340]

Sowell at 2:32, "gtfo"