That was a brilliant interview, I'm blown away that you're only 20. That gives me hope for the future! Most young Westerners are not intellectually curious and are contemptuous towards anything they don't like, agree with or understand. So I came over and subbed cos I want to follow you on your journey as I learn more and grow more. Back when I was in uni, I studied philosophy and was introduced to the fact that in India, in Hindusim, there is no distinction between science and the spiritual unseen "religious" world, unlike here where it's one or the other, but never both. So getting that perspective at a young age changed my life, opened my mind and made me realize that just because things might SEEM opposed or in conflict, doesn't make it true. What IS true is that the unexamined life is not worth living! Shalom.
Great Interview. Love how you're detail experience of racism and yet show how that shouldn't be an excuse for revenge. One feedback if you can is to to say "right" less often while your guest responds to your question..sometimes it stops the flow of listening to your guests. Good luck with your future articles and career overall. We need more writers and journalist like you in the world!
"If you told me after I graduated high school in 2019 that I’d get to talk to Peterson, I’d laugh in your fucking face."
Only three years later... Inspiring to see what can happen if you take the effort. I have listened to a lot of interviews with Jordan Peterson, but yours is really in my top list! You didn't look at all like you were young or less experiened. Or nervous (like you 3 years back might have been?) It was a really open/personal conversations from both of you, and you have asked good questions that really opened up the conversation.
Rav, this podcast was my first exposure to you, and I haven't looked too much into your articles (or finished the podcast entirely) so perhaps you've already looked into this, but I wanted to give feedback on some of your ideas while it's fresh on my mind. Apologies in advance for the essay, too; I really appreciate your journalism, especially being so young, you give me hope of a bright future for our nation.
Something that I noted continually on the pocdcast is the idea that religiousness is on the decline in the US, and as a result you're finding ideology fill political void - which I don't think is an entirely accurate thesis. It's true that things like church attendence is on the decline, as well as people identifying with a particular religion which is on a fairly sharp decline[1], however when you look at individual spiritual practices (such as a belief in God, participating in prayer, etc) you'll notice that values are relatively stable, and still quite high! As of 2018, 89% of US adults believe either in God or some kind of higher force, and 75% of them engage in some manner of prayer, and 66% of them believe God has some influence over their life at least some of the time[2]. In regards to belief in God, this percentage was at 92% in 2007, and it's hard to shake 5% over a decade as anything more than statistical noise - according to Gallup, in 1988, it seems roughly 95ish% held a belief in God[3] (although notably the numbers here differ a bit than from Pew's statistics).
Notably, if you look at these sorts of 2018 statistics for, say, Italy (most religious of Western Europe) or Germany, you'll find these values MUCH lower than the US - regarding a belief in God or higher force, you'll find them at 73% and 66% respectively, with the western European median being 65% and even as low as 51% in Sweden![3] And yet, you don't find the same kind of fanaticism taking hold in Europe, certainly not to the degree of the US (granted, this isn't a 1:1 comparison, the states of the US are far more culturally homogenous than the different countries off the EU, nevertheless...)
Another point, of which I don't have the statistics on hand but you'll find if you look into them, is that we've been similarly divided as a nation in the past (e.g. in the 60s), without an accompanying drop in religiosity (your thesis isn't that ONLY a drop in religious belief causes political polarization, but I would say we aren't more culturally polarized now than we were then).
So, I'm not entirely convinced of the causal connection between a drop in religiosity and resultant political and cultural polarization - indeed, I'm not sure we can really even say that religiosity HAS dropped in a very meaningful way. It certainly has in terms of pop-culture, but I'm not sure if "pop-culture is less religious, and we're now politically more polarized" is a correct thesis, either. What, then, is the cause? That might be worth a second essay, I'll spare you having to read through that though, or perhaps I'll make my own substack ;)
Really though, keep up the good work Rav, extremely riveting stuff, I look forward to keep track of your writings!
That was a brilliant interview, I'm blown away that you're only 20. That gives me hope for the future! Most young Westerners are not intellectually curious and are contemptuous towards anything they don't like, agree with or understand. So I came over and subbed cos I want to follow you on your journey as I learn more and grow more. Back when I was in uni, I studied philosophy and was introduced to the fact that in India, in Hindusim, there is no distinction between science and the spiritual unseen "religious" world, unlike here where it's one or the other, but never both. So getting that perspective at a young age changed my life, opened my mind and made me realize that just because things might SEEM opposed or in conflict, doesn't make it true. What IS true is that the unexamined life is not worth living! Shalom.
Thank you for your genuine sentiments. Much appreciated. Welcome onboard to my journey!
Rav, keep up the good work young man! And read David Hawkins, "Power vs. Force" Bring spirit into intellectualism. You can do it.
Great Interview. Love how you're detail experience of racism and yet show how that shouldn't be an excuse for revenge. One feedback if you can is to to say "right" less often while your guest responds to your question..sometimes it stops the flow of listening to your guests. Good luck with your future articles and career overall. We need more writers and journalist like you in the world!
"If you told me after I graduated high school in 2019 that I’d get to talk to Peterson, I’d laugh in your fucking face."
Only three years later... Inspiring to see what can happen if you take the effort. I have listened to a lot of interviews with Jordan Peterson, but yours is really in my top list! You didn't look at all like you were young or less experiened. Or nervous (like you 3 years back might have been?) It was a really open/personal conversations from both of you, and you have asked good questions that really opened up the conversation.
Thanks a lot!
Much-appreciated! Open and personal was exactly what I was going for. Mission accomplished
Rav, this podcast was my first exposure to you, and I haven't looked too much into your articles (or finished the podcast entirely) so perhaps you've already looked into this, but I wanted to give feedback on some of your ideas while it's fresh on my mind. Apologies in advance for the essay, too; I really appreciate your journalism, especially being so young, you give me hope of a bright future for our nation.
Something that I noted continually on the pocdcast is the idea that religiousness is on the decline in the US, and as a result you're finding ideology fill political void - which I don't think is an entirely accurate thesis. It's true that things like church attendence is on the decline, as well as people identifying with a particular religion which is on a fairly sharp decline[1], however when you look at individual spiritual practices (such as a belief in God, participating in prayer, etc) you'll notice that values are relatively stable, and still quite high! As of 2018, 89% of US adults believe either in God or some kind of higher force, and 75% of them engage in some manner of prayer, and 66% of them believe God has some influence over their life at least some of the time[2]. In regards to belief in God, this percentage was at 92% in 2007, and it's hard to shake 5% over a decade as anything more than statistical noise - according to Gallup, in 1988, it seems roughly 95ish% held a belief in God[3] (although notably the numbers here differ a bit than from Pew's statistics).
Notably, if you look at these sorts of 2018 statistics for, say, Italy (most religious of Western Europe) or Germany, you'll find these values MUCH lower than the US - regarding a belief in God or higher force, you'll find them at 73% and 66% respectively, with the western European median being 65% and even as low as 51% in Sweden![3] And yet, you don't find the same kind of fanaticism taking hold in Europe, certainly not to the degree of the US (granted, this isn't a 1:1 comparison, the states of the US are far more culturally homogenous than the different countries off the EU, nevertheless...)
Another point, of which I don't have the statistics on hand but you'll find if you look into them, is that we've been similarly divided as a nation in the past (e.g. in the 60s), without an accompanying drop in religiosity (your thesis isn't that ONLY a drop in religious belief causes political polarization, but I would say we aren't more culturally polarized now than we were then).
So, I'm not entirely convinced of the causal connection between a drop in religiosity and resultant political and cultural polarization - indeed, I'm not sure we can really even say that religiosity HAS dropped in a very meaningful way. It certainly has in terms of pop-culture, but I'm not sure if "pop-culture is less religious, and we're now politically more polarized" is a correct thesis, either. What, then, is the cause? That might be worth a second essay, I'll spare you having to read through that though, or perhaps I'll make my own substack ;)
Really though, keep up the good work Rav, extremely riveting stuff, I look forward to keep track of your writings!
citations:
[1]: https://www.pewforum.org/2021/12/14/about-three-in-ten-u-s-adults-are-now-religiously-unaffiliated/
[2]: https://www.pewforum.org/2018/04/25/when-americans-say-they-believe-in-god-what-do-they-mean/
[3]: https://news.gallup.com/poll/268205/americans-believe-god.aspx
[4]: https://www.pewforum.org/2018/05/29/beliefs-about-god/
Beautiful. Thanks for sharing. You are on a noble path and looking up to the right people. Never lose your equanimity