Personally, I wouldn't link anything Thomas Sowell has written. He has literally claimed that Black Americans were better off during slavery than they are today [1].
> America is one of the least racist places overall in recorded history
[citation needed]
He doesn't say that in the article you linked. Sowel's argument is against the liberal policies of the past 30+ years compared to post-slavery economic growth among blacks prior to that. You can dispute his claims, but nowhere does he say that blacks were better off under slavery. He's claiming they were better off after slavery and before the modern welfare state, which as a conservative he views as destructive to the nuclear family and produces a sense of victimhood. Again, feel free to disagree with that. But don't misrepresent his argument.
You've repeated the point I was trying to make about Sowell's viewpoint. Thank you:
> He's claiming they were better off after slavery and before the modern welfare state, which as a conservative he views as destructive to the nuclear family and produces a sense of victimhood.
You: [Sowell] has literally claimed that Black Americans were better off during slavery than they are today
Sowell: If we are to go by evidence of social retrogression, liberals have wreaked more havoc on blacks than the supposed “legacy of slavery” they talk about.
If you can't see how these ideas are nothing alike, then I don't know how to help you.
> He's claiming they were better off after slavery and before the modern welfare state,
Goatlover's analysis of Sowell's words was much better than yours, but he too is wrong. Sowell is wisely not making any claims about whether blacks were better off overall in one time period or another. He is focused solely on the impact of the past on the present. In particular, he is responding to the claim that there is “overwhelming evidence that centuries of racial subjugation still shape inequity in the 21st century”.
In response to this claim, Sowell counters that the legacy of liberalism and of the welfare state has had a more negative impact on blacks today than the legacy of slavery. Again, he is solely dealing with the impact of the past on the present, which has absolutely nothing to do with your accusation. Your accusation would require him to make a claim about the overall well-being of blacks in the past versus the present, which Sowell never once makes.
Sowell's words are important, by the way, because diagnosing an illness wrong means prescribing the wrong cure and making the patient sicker, not better. "More harm than good" is the clarion call of the modern conservative, and it is because so many "progressive" policies in the last century have done exactly that, causing more problems, wreaking more havoc, and ruining more lives than helping, saving, or lifting anyone up.
Personally, I wouldn't blatantly tell obvious lies. I clicked on the link. Sowell didn't say that at all. But I have to admit, that's a new one. Falsely claim someone said something awful, then provide a link to make it look legitimate. It's a pretty vile and disgusting tactic, honestly. But that's what I've come to expect from people of a certain political persuasion.
Anyways, I'll continue to link Sowell. I suggest you stop with the dishonesty, though.
In the best case, you were mistaken. It is still a very evil thing to defame someone with such a horrible accusation when you couldn't even be bothered to take two minutes to get your facts straight! It took me literally less than 2 minutes to scan your linked article and see that you were wrong.
In the worst case, you're being willingly dishonest, which is even more evil. Or you could be somewhere in the middle. Regardless, your action is some kind of significant evil in my book, and it deserves calling out.
I called your action evil. So now I believe you either have poor reading comprehension or you're just habitually dishonest. Do you have any other explanations for your behavior?
And, frankly, pointing out that someone's statement is completely and unequivocally false is an even easier way to convince yourself you've won an "argument".
> America is one of the least racist places overall in recorded history [citation needed]
[1] - https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/thomas-sowell-on-the-legacy-o...