Thank you, Bari! you've spoken to the heart of the most important issue of the present decade. I've seen many TED talks and shared several of them with friends, family, and colleagues. In my view, not only is yours the best among them, it's the most important presentation of our time. And you delivered it thoughtfully, with passion, with conviction, and, needless to say, with courage! You have our admiration -- and, yes, we are subscribers to the Free Press. --JRG
This was a beautiful speech. Well done. I loved the part about courage. However, calling out Tucker Carlson for his commentary about Moscow being a clean place without directly saying Tuckers name is not courageous.
Courage would be to interview people like Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump on Honestly. Why not confront them directly, rather than make disparaging comments without any context?
While I did not attend Ms. Weiss’ TedTalk in January, I did listen to the entirety on “Honestly”. I paused my reading of a physical book on Due Process by Lobo, (Springer, 2022). It is a textbook for law school students. There is a chapter on my state of California. Due process is critical for democracy to survive.
I want to know everything about due process. Since the arrival of Covid (2020); institutions and city/state/fed-Gov consistently deny due process when DEI-interests are at stake. That is not legal and not acceptable, outside of North Korea.
On courage; I believe it is a function of:
(1): An occurrence that activates passion.
(2): A sense that ‘to not act’ would result in consequences one cannot tolerate.
I believe that courage can be taught by convincing others that they are human, not animals. Humans have endless potential to communicate and thus improve the lives of all.
Absolutely need the courage to speak up, and it's not always easy. This often triggers uncomfortable conversations with close friends, co-workers and family members.
I understand the fear at work. One’s job is the only thing preventing homelessness. Relationships with friends and family members will always be vulnerable to conflict (Greek tragedies). One must take the risk because if we do not speak, noone will. Earlier this year, my brother decided he doesn’t like witches, (me).
As sure as night follows day, Bari’s superb talk was immediately followed by the obligatory mealy-mouthed “pushback“ that implied that Bari and her like-minded allies somehow don’t care about people who might be suffering. Ugh.
Between this, and their mistreatment of Coleman Hughes, the TED organization may well be irredeemable.
Free speech and the freedom to express oneself are a threat to a small faction of humans. The same people are intolerant of ideas they do not understand, or are unwilling to analyze and comprehend. Bigots and fascists abound everywhere. When speech is labeled equivalent to violence, you know we have reached a new depth of stupid and dangerous. Yesterday's jack booted brown shirts and today's thin skinned and intellectually weak and dishonest whiners.
It was a beautiful TED talk. My concern is you say we should all listen to TED talks but you that you are about as far conservative as they want to go. I love most of your ideas. I certainly enjoy listening to you, but I don’t want to listen to, TED talks if you are as conservative as they allow.
You frequently state that schools should not have been shut down during COVID. I assume this is because of the very low levels of hospitalization and death among young children.
Are there other people, more vulnerable, in those same schools? What should have been done about them? I would really like an answer to this. I've posed it to many (online) who advocated for no school shutdowns. I have not yet received an answer to this question, which as a former engineer in the medical device industry, would have been an obvious and basic question for any proposal in that industry: Who could be injured and how badly? How can we eliminate or mitigate those harms?
As the spouse of a retired public elementary school teacher (who was in her 60s during COVID), this was an important question to me.
In addition, as any parent knows, schools and school children are extremely effective disease vectors/spreaders. What about the people, more vulnerable, who live with those school students?
Blanket statements that "schools shouldn't have been shut down" seem very narrow and thoughtless to me.
I live in Florida. Our lockdown lasted for like 2 or 3 months. Then everything reopened. Other parts of the country were locked down much longer. O also have friends and family in Hungary in Israel, both places faced very long lockdowns. I think Israel was practically in lockdown for a whole year or something like that.
Yet, none of these places dated better than Florida. They were predicting that Florida will be the next hot spot, everybody dying on the streets etc and none of this happened. For me, this is already a proof that we did the right thing.
But there are other considerations too. You are talking about outliers who can't mingle because of age or health condition. They should be accomodated. However, why don't we talk about outliers in the other direction? What about those kids, for example , who live in abusive situations and the school is their only safe place? What about kids whose only real meal during the day is the school lunch? What about kids who - instead of being safe in the classroom - were out in the streets doing mischief and trying drugs? You can't claim on one hand that you worry about vulnerable people, while ignoring that vulnerable people exist on the other side too.
Hi, I’m not Bari, but I agree with her on most things including the school closures. Aside from the very early pandemic days of 2020 when EVERYTHING was closed, it made no sense to keep *only* schools closed while the rest of society reopened. The people vulnerable people you cite were still vulnerable and would have been regardless of schools. Unless they were so ultra quarantined that nobody in their household worked outside the home, went shopping, traveled, ate at a restaurant, etc., they were being exposed anyway and with schools closed it was only kids who suffered. As for what could have been done about vulnerable students and staff, that’s what medical accommodations are for - remote school and work arrangements, long term disability leave, etc. Exceptions always exist for exceptional circumstances, but if all of society only functioned to “protect the vulnerable” nobody would ever leave the house because there is literally nothing in life that is risk free. If the goal is to eliminate all risk for all people we better outlaw cars ASAP…and so forth.
The brief after-talk Q&A was instructive. The primary argument posed against free speech and open inquiry seems to be grounded in excessive empathy: bite your tongue and self-censor so as not to upset other people's feelings--which apparently is the same thing as challenging their "identity". Thus, while I agree with Bari that we need to be courageous speakers, perhaps what we need more are courageous listeners. When someone disagrees with you (or me), that is not a personal attack; it is just a difference of opinion. To love and respect someone--or some group of people--is not to always express agreement with them. Instead, love and respect is expressed through honest and open dialog and ultimate acceptance of who we differently are.
You unfortunately missed the part where, in your "moderation" you condoned and maybe even enabled the demonization of the other side. You claim that you are pro-choice but support European laws (abortion illegal after 13+/- weeks), but you don't say a word about Planned Parenthood as it demonizes anyone on the Right who might say, rightly, that abortion in the 9th month is infanticide. You were happy to march along with the pussy-hats led by openly anti-semitic Linda Sarsour because it was against Trump and the "hand-maids tale" Right, which is pure fiction. You never once made a stand that maybe your fellow Americans have a point and that demonizing them is wrong. You've never once said that Planned Parenthood's stance is morally bankrupt and has resulted in the deaths of countless (mostly) Black babies.
It isn't enough to "bravely" hold "moderate" opinions. You need to stand up against the demonization. You need to say enough is enough. Sure, you run articles about child mutilation, anti-semitism, and the government-industrial censorship cartel, but you don't show any indication that Biden is not your man although he supports all those things. You might pine for Hillary but remember, she is Bill's enabler, friend of Weinstein and Epstein and author of the Russiagate hoax. She is no paragon. You'll vote for Joe or Hillary and demonize Trump. For me, I'll vote against child mutilation, censorship, abortion on demand at any time, Hamas, anti-semitism, press lies, even if it means some mean tweets that I hate.
This is beautifully spoken, Bari, and it is so important that you did this. I’m sure it took courage, but thank you for mustering it and for your wise words. It is to TED’s credit that they invited you and to yours that you used the opportunity so well.
Thank you, Bari! you've spoken to the heart of the most important issue of the present decade. I've seen many TED talks and shared several of them with friends, family, and colleagues. In my view, not only is yours the best among them, it's the most important presentation of our time. And you delivered it thoughtfully, with passion, with conviction, and, needless to say, with courage! You have our admiration -- and, yes, we are subscribers to the Free Press. --JRG
This was a beautiful speech. Well done. I loved the part about courage. However, calling out Tucker Carlson for his commentary about Moscow being a clean place without directly saying Tuckers name is not courageous.
Courage would be to interview people like Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump on Honestly. Why not confront them directly, rather than make disparaging comments without any context?
While I did not attend Ms. Weiss’ TedTalk in January, I did listen to the entirety on “Honestly”. I paused my reading of a physical book on Due Process by Lobo, (Springer, 2022). It is a textbook for law school students. There is a chapter on my state of California. Due process is critical for democracy to survive.
I want to know everything about due process. Since the arrival of Covid (2020); institutions and city/state/fed-Gov consistently deny due process when DEI-interests are at stake. That is not legal and not acceptable, outside of North Korea.
On courage; I believe it is a function of:
(1): An occurrence that activates passion.
(2): A sense that ‘to not act’ would result in consequences one cannot tolerate.
I believe that courage can be taught by convincing others that they are human, not animals. Humans have endless potential to communicate and thus improve the lives of all.
Absolutely need the courage to speak up, and it's not always easy. This often triggers uncomfortable conversations with close friends, co-workers and family members.
I understand the fear at work. One’s job is the only thing preventing homelessness. Relationships with friends and family members will always be vulnerable to conflict (Greek tragedies). One must take the risk because if we do not speak, noone will. Earlier this year, my brother decided he doesn’t like witches, (me).
Loved it, an inspirational listen on Independence Day.
Loved it, thanks!
As sure as night follows day, Bari’s superb talk was immediately followed by the obligatory mealy-mouthed “pushback“ that implied that Bari and her like-minded allies somehow don’t care about people who might be suffering. Ugh.
Between this, and their mistreatment of Coleman Hughes, the TED organization may well be irredeemable.
Since TED pathologized Hughes, I voted with my feet, (until Bari Weiss’ talk.
Free speech and the freedom to express oneself are a threat to a small faction of humans. The same people are intolerant of ideas they do not understand, or are unwilling to analyze and comprehend. Bigots and fascists abound everywhere. When speech is labeled equivalent to violence, you know we have reached a new depth of stupid and dangerous. Yesterday's jack booted brown shirts and today's thin skinned and intellectually weak and dishonest whiners.
I believe in about 99% of the things you mentioned and it is shocking that your beliefs are considered provocative by this TED talk crew. Sad.
Excellent speech! Thank you for your courage!
People who grew up knowing nothing but the comforts of civilization fail to appreciate that paper-thin line.
It was a beautiful TED talk. My concern is you say we should all listen to TED talks but you that you are about as far conservative as they want to go. I love most of your ideas. I certainly enjoy listening to you, but I don’t want to listen to, TED talks if you are as conservative as they allow.
Hi Bari,
Love your work. You are a superb speaker.
You frequently state that schools should not have been shut down during COVID. I assume this is because of the very low levels of hospitalization and death among young children.
Are there other people, more vulnerable, in those same schools? What should have been done about them? I would really like an answer to this. I've posed it to many (online) who advocated for no school shutdowns. I have not yet received an answer to this question, which as a former engineer in the medical device industry, would have been an obvious and basic question for any proposal in that industry: Who could be injured and how badly? How can we eliminate or mitigate those harms?
As the spouse of a retired public elementary school teacher (who was in her 60s during COVID), this was an important question to me.
In addition, as any parent knows, schools and school children are extremely effective disease vectors/spreaders. What about the people, more vulnerable, who live with those school students?
Blanket statements that "schools shouldn't have been shut down" seem very narrow and thoughtless to me.
I live in Florida. Our lockdown lasted for like 2 or 3 months. Then everything reopened. Other parts of the country were locked down much longer. O also have friends and family in Hungary in Israel, both places faced very long lockdowns. I think Israel was practically in lockdown for a whole year or something like that.
Yet, none of these places dated better than Florida. They were predicting that Florida will be the next hot spot, everybody dying on the streets etc and none of this happened. For me, this is already a proof that we did the right thing.
But there are other considerations too. You are talking about outliers who can't mingle because of age or health condition. They should be accomodated. However, why don't we talk about outliers in the other direction? What about those kids, for example , who live in abusive situations and the school is their only safe place? What about kids whose only real meal during the day is the school lunch? What about kids who - instead of being safe in the classroom - were out in the streets doing mischief and trying drugs? You can't claim on one hand that you worry about vulnerable people, while ignoring that vulnerable people exist on the other side too.
Hi, I’m not Bari, but I agree with her on most things including the school closures. Aside from the very early pandemic days of 2020 when EVERYTHING was closed, it made no sense to keep *only* schools closed while the rest of society reopened. The people vulnerable people you cite were still vulnerable and would have been regardless of schools. Unless they were so ultra quarantined that nobody in their household worked outside the home, went shopping, traveled, ate at a restaurant, etc., they were being exposed anyway and with schools closed it was only kids who suffered. As for what could have been done about vulnerable students and staff, that’s what medical accommodations are for - remote school and work arrangements, long term disability leave, etc. Exceptions always exist for exceptional circumstances, but if all of society only functioned to “protect the vulnerable” nobody would ever leave the house because there is literally nothing in life that is risk free. If the goal is to eliminate all risk for all people we better outlaw cars ASAP…and so forth.
The brief after-talk Q&A was instructive. The primary argument posed against free speech and open inquiry seems to be grounded in excessive empathy: bite your tongue and self-censor so as not to upset other people's feelings--which apparently is the same thing as challenging their "identity". Thus, while I agree with Bari that we need to be courageous speakers, perhaps what we need more are courageous listeners. When someone disagrees with you (or me), that is not a personal attack; it is just a difference of opinion. To love and respect someone--or some group of people--is not to always express agreement with them. Instead, love and respect is expressed through honest and open dialog and ultimate acceptance of who we differently are.
You unfortunately missed the part where, in your "moderation" you condoned and maybe even enabled the demonization of the other side. You claim that you are pro-choice but support European laws (abortion illegal after 13+/- weeks), but you don't say a word about Planned Parenthood as it demonizes anyone on the Right who might say, rightly, that abortion in the 9th month is infanticide. You were happy to march along with the pussy-hats led by openly anti-semitic Linda Sarsour because it was against Trump and the "hand-maids tale" Right, which is pure fiction. You never once made a stand that maybe your fellow Americans have a point and that demonizing them is wrong. You've never once said that Planned Parenthood's stance is morally bankrupt and has resulted in the deaths of countless (mostly) Black babies.
It isn't enough to "bravely" hold "moderate" opinions. You need to stand up against the demonization. You need to say enough is enough. Sure, you run articles about child mutilation, anti-semitism, and the government-industrial censorship cartel, but you don't show any indication that Biden is not your man although he supports all those things. You might pine for Hillary but remember, she is Bill's enabler, friend of Weinstein and Epstein and author of the Russiagate hoax. She is no paragon. You'll vote for Joe or Hillary and demonize Trump. For me, I'll vote against child mutilation, censorship, abortion on demand at any time, Hamas, anti-semitism, press lies, even if it means some mean tweets that I hate.
This is beautifully spoken, Bari, and it is so important that you did this. I’m sure it took courage, but thank you for mustering it and for your wise words. It is to TED’s credit that they invited you and to yours that you used the opportunity so well.
Are TED talks still a thing? I watched a few of these 10+ years ago and felt they were weak and thin presentations meant only to celebrate elitism.