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Comment by seriousquestion | Hacker News Reader

Thomas Sowell is easily in the top 5 intellectuals alive, and yet most people are barely aware of him and his work. Why? I genuinely don't understand why he is so ignored.

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Whether he is ignored or not depends on the thought circle of discourse and how that circle sets, or does not set, expectations based on skin color.

He’s ignored for the same reason Clarence Thomas is ignored - the juxtaposition between the color of his skin and his words.

Thomas isn't just ignored, he is actively campaigned against (As a person, rather than his views) and 'unpersoned'. For example, there is a wonderful PBS documentary, Clarence Thomas in his own words, that was removed from Amazon Prime TV during Black History month at a time the company chose to 'center' black voices.

Apparently only black voices with the correct political leanings.

Love him or hate him, I highly recommend the documentary. It's very humanizing.

Would someone who is downvote-burying these comments care to explain their distaste? Irrespective of whether you agree with Sowell's viewpoints, they are articulate and seem germane to the conversation.

The distaste is a black man who is a republican. That is all there is to it. Ask any non-white republican, and you will understand. The hate dished out towards us is on a level white republicans never see (not that they should... it's absolutely ridiculous). Accusations of 'Uncle Tom', 'race traitor', etc are common. When the various racial groups organize anywhere, and you volunteer your time with them, they silence you, get rid of you, and prevent you from speaking up elsewhere.

Cornel West's resignation[0] seems to lend credence to your viewpoint.

[0] https://www.npr.org/2021/07/13/1015632217/cornel-west-has-an...

The documentary Uncle Tom talks about the active work the press and educational circles do to suppress Thomas Sowell's work. His data-driven research and conclusions counter leftist educational and media institutions, and those institutions see Sowell as a threat to their power base. In other words, follow the money.

Truly a shame...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RN7X-De2RA

The left doesn't like a black man with right-wing ideas so he doesn't appear in mainstream avenues which are typically moderated by the left.

Sowell doesn't advocate for "right-wing" ideas. He's a moderate classical liberal, which is generally described as a centrist position.

He's extreme far right wing, especially compared to other parties in the USA, which tend to be right wing and moderate-right compared to those in Europe, where the terms originated.

So, data-driven, factual research is the domain of the extreme far right wing these days? I mean, I knew the left was illogical, irrational, and irresponsible, but didn't realize leftists were admitting it.

Data is racist. (I guess that triggered a bot. Zero points as soon as it posted. Nice to know somebody cares enough to follow my comments around.)

> He's a moderate classical liberal, which is generally described as a centrist position.

Organizations like the Hoover love to present this as such, but there is a reason why the departments just 100 or so feet away don't interface with them - and it isn't because they are centrists.

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