Amidst concerns that America’s social justice revolution threatens liberalism’s foundational values of pluralism and free debate, controversial social scientist Charles Murray charges into the fray with a new book titled Facing Reality: Two Truths about Race in America. Murray, 78, says he has written the book because he believes the American experiment is in danger, its foundational principles threatened by identity politics. Unlike, I suspect, most of Murray’s critics, I agree with him that the “woke” threat to liberalism is real. But Murray’s prescriptions amount to destroying the village in order to save it.
Here, I should pause to acknowledge that I have only read excerpts from Facing Reality, as well as two detailed and at least somewhat sympathetic reviews: Robert Verbruggen’s for National Review and Razib Khan’s for Quillette. I also watched a 90-minute interview with Murray by Coleman Hughes, who was critical but respectful and gave Murray every opportunity to explain his views. (Hughes, who is black, is also a strong critic of progressive racial politics.)
Read Full Article »