Bret Weinstein Explains the Evergreen "Day of Absence" Controversy - The Joe Rogan Experience — Transcript

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1. 0:01hello freak uh for people that
2. 0:04don't know what's going on let's lay out
3. 0:07all of uh all the events that have
4. 0:10transpired essentially you were being
5. 0:14asked to step away from your college for
6. 0:19a day is that what it was is it one day
7. 0:22well this goes back farther than let's
8. 0:24let's lay out the whole thing okay so we
9. 0:27couldn't possibly lay out the whole
10. 0:28thing let's just for people that have no
11. 0:30idea what's going on right they're
12. 0:32listening right now and they're like
13. 0:33who's this Brett Weinstein guy so the
14. 0:36core of it uh surrounds a tradition that
15. 0:39we have at Evergreen called day of
16. 0:40absence and this tradition stretches
17. 0:42back long before I was ever at the
18. 0:44college I've been there 15 years this
19. 0:46tradition stretches back into I think
20. 0:47the early 70s and it's uh it's built
21. 0:50around a play written by Douglas Turner
22. 0:53Ward a black playrite and the play um
23. 0:56portrays events in a fictional town
24. 0:58where the black population decides not
25. 1:00to show up one day um in order to
26. 1:03emphasize their their roles in the town
27. 1:05that the white population is unaware of
28. 1:08um and as you would imagine all hell
29. 1:10breaks loose so anyway that's a it's an
30. 1:12excellent play and uh some early faculty
31. 1:15at our College decided that we should
32. 1:17have a day that mirrored this event and
33. 1:19that uh originally black faculty and
34. 1:21students and then later people of color
35. 1:24would leave campus for a day to
36. 1:26emphasize the role that they play in our
37. 1:28community and then they would later the
38. 1:31um the tradition was amended and had a
39. 1:33day of presence added to it where people
40. 1:34would come back to campus and this has
41. 1:36been going on uh as I said since the 70s
42. 1:39and the whole time I've been there and
43. 1:41then this year it was announced by the
44. 1:44organizing committee that the uh the
45. 1:47situation would be reversed and they
46. 1:49asked white student staff and faculty
47. 1:51not to come to campus and uh that did
48. 1:55not at all sit well with me um as I said
49. 1:58in my letter to the uh the person who
50. 2:02had announced this uh Rashida who I
51. 2:04should say is staff and I she has ended
52. 2:06up at the center of this controversy I
53. 2:08think wrongly just because my letter in
54. 2:10response is addressed to her and then it
55. 2:11was made public by our school paper so
56. 2:14her name has been dragged front and
57. 2:16center but in any case uh my letter I I
58. 2:19said that there was all the difference
59. 2:20in the world between a population
60. 2:23deciding to absent themselves from a
61. 2:24shared space in order to highlight their
62. 2:27role and a population deciding to absent
63. 2:30another population from a shared space
64. 2:32which uh I find unacceptable as as a
65. 2:35person as somebody devoted to uh the
66. 2:38gains of the Civil Rights Movement I
67. 2:40just I and I should also probably say as
68. 2:43a Jew I when people start uh telling me
69. 2:46where I can and cannot be um it it rings
70. 2:50alarm Bells um so that that's the gist
71. 2:55of the story and the letter caused quite
72. 2:59a amongst uh student staff and faculty
73. 3:02who responded many of them quite angrily
74. 3:05privately of course people were much
75. 3:07more divided on the matter and there
76. 3:08were plenty of people who agreed with my
77. 3:10letter but publicly speaking there was
78. 3:12condemnation of the letter but the uh
79. 3:14the event itself day of absence was
80. 3:18mostly uneventful I I did go to campus
81. 3:21as I said I would in my letter and um I
82. 3:25actually uh it's neither here nor there
83. 3:28it was accidental but
84. 3:30while I was on campus I ran into a
85. 3:33student that I know very well actually
86. 3:35student that my wife and I were abroad
87. 3:37in Ecuador with last year we were
88. 3:38teaching abroad and uh we had 30
89. 3:41students with us and so one of the
90. 3:42students who had traveled with us to
91. 3:44Ecuador happened to be on campus to this
92. 3:47is a student of color I'm going to stop
93. 3:49this right here because there's too much
94. 3:50banging around in here it's very
95. 3:58distracting
96. 4:01sorry that's all
97. 4:03right that was going to go on that was
98. 4:05going to drive me crazy right I
99. 4:07understand let keep going um so I ran
100. 4:09into this student that I I know well and
101. 4:12care about quite a bit and we had a very
102. 4:16nice conversation mostly not about day
103. 4:18of absence as a matter of fact I can't
104. 4:19even remember if we did uh talk about
105. 4:21day of absence but there was something
106. 4:23poignant to me about the fact that while
107. 4:25I was being condemned for uh refusing to
108. 4:29accept this new formulation that I was
109. 4:31able to meet with a student who is
110. 4:34important to me and
111. 4:36the neither of our racial backgrounds is
112. 4:40fun is primary in our relationship we
113. 4:43know each other as people and that's
114. 4:44really how I would like to see all of us
115. 4:46interacting on campus we all have our
116. 4:48backgrounds they matter to us but it can
117. 4:51it cannot become the primary interface
118. 4:54between us let me stop you here and let
119. 4:57me try to understand um what the
120. 5:00reaction was because you rightly said
121. 5:03that you think there's a huge problem
122. 5:04with asking people to not show up simply
123. 5:07based on their color of their skin
124. 5:09exactly and what was the argument
125. 5:12against that like when when you said
126. 5:14that and I read your letter and your
127. 5:16letter didn't sound racist at all it
128. 5:18sounded very well thought out it it made
129. 5:21a very good point but the response the
130. 5:24inflammatory response to your letter was
131. 5:26so disturbing and
132. 5:28shocking was there anyone who had
133. 5:30reasonable debate with you about this
134. 5:32was there anyone who said well we we
135. 5:35should take into consideration why
136. 5:37they're asking us to do this we should
137. 5:38sit down with them we should talk
138. 5:40through this was there was there
139. 5:42anything reasonable or was it just dig
140. 5:44your heels in the sand and then let the
141. 5:46insults and the white privilege and all
142. 5:48these accusations fly well um like I
143. 5:51said there's a huge difference that you
144. 5:53can't see unless you're at the center of
145. 5:55one of these things between the public
146. 5:57discussion and the private discussion
147. 6:00privately I had very interesting
148. 6:02discussions with many people that was
149. 6:05not absent but if you were to look in on
150. 6:07the discussion at the public level it
151. 6:09looked as if there was consensus United
152. 6:11against me now when you say public and
153. 6:14private are the same people making
154. 6:16contradictory statements in public that
155. 6:18are that are commiserating with you in
156. 6:20private or is it just different people a
157. 6:24few of them do that that actually is the
158. 6:26thing I find most surprising is that
159. 6:28sometimes people will privately say one
160. 6:30thing to you and then publicly do
161. 6:31another uh mostly it's different people
162. 6:34and I should say the people who um have
163. 6:37talked to me privately and expressed
164. 6:39concerns are actually quite a diverse
165. 6:41group so it's not as if white folks are
166. 6:44disturbed by this and people of color
167. 6:46are united it's not at all like that but
168. 6:49the part of the the hidden story here is
169. 6:52that in order to in advance certain
170. 6:55policy proposals it has to appear that
171. 6:58the community is is United behind them
172. 7:01and that anybody who stands against them
173. 7:02is standing against them for
174. 7:03illegitimate reasons so that means that
175. 7:06the number of people who are willing to
176. 7:08express any sort of nuance about what's
177. 7:11taking place has to be small and they
178. 7:13have to be dismissible so what they did
179. 7:15is they uh called me a racist which is
180. 7:19ironic um because I'm an anti-racist i
181. 7:22really I've I've gone out of my way to
182. 7:25first of all study the question of why
183. 7:27racism occurs and uh I've I Believe been
184. 7:31pretty courageous in fighting against it
185. 7:33where I've run into it so to challenge
186. 7:35me with that particular epithet uh was a
187. 7:39mistake on their part it was a strategic
188. 7:40mistake and I I kept trying to tell them
189. 7:43while this was still internally being
190. 7:45discussed in the college I kept trying
191. 7:46to tell them that they should really
192. 7:48check the concept that I'm a racist they
193. 7:51should ask because if they did they
194. 7:53would discover that they were actually
195. 7:55Way Off the Mark and then they would
196. 7:56have an interesting puzzle on their
197. 7:58hands then they would have to expl
198. 7:59explain to themselves why they had found
199. 8:01themselves hurling this most poisonous
200. 8:04uh term at somebody who not only isn't a
201. 8:07racist but is pretty nearly the opposite
202. 8:11well it's it's a standard maneuver when
203. 8:13someone wants to silence someone when
204. 8:15someone wants to put someone in a
205. 8:16category that's instantly recognizable
206. 8:19one of the best ones is racist oh
207. 8:20absolutely and and what I found is
208. 8:24that um people simply could not figure
209. 8:28out what they would do if that term was
210. 8:31applied to them they were able to
211. 8:33preview in their minds what that would
212. 8:35be like and so many people could see
213. 8:37that there was no Escape for them right
214. 8:40so it's like being called a rapist
215. 8:42almost it's like even if you are
216. 8:44exonerated there's still that cloud
217. 8:46hanging hanging above you yes but this
218. 8:49also actually points to something pretty
219. 8:51important and for anybody who uh travels
220. 8:53this ground thems they're going to
221. 8:55discover this that many of the terms
222. 8:57that are being used have been redefined
223. 9:00but they haven't been fully redefined so
224. 9:02one of the things that I've seen in
225. 9:03several places is that a term like
226. 9:06racist has been redefined so that the
227. 9:09bar for being a racist is so low that
228. 9:12you couldn't possibly help but trip over
229. 9:14it but then once you've tripped over it
230. 9:17and you have accepted that you are a
231. 9:19racist then the stigma goes back to the
232. 9:22original definition so it is the dodging
233. 9:24and weaving between the two definitions
234. 9:26that actually does the heavy lifting
235. 9:28well there's also really disturbing idea
236. 9:30that's being bounced around lately that
237. 9:32it's impossible to be racist if you're
238. 9:33anything other than white right which is
239. 9:36ridiculous it's Preposterous um anybody
240. 9:39who looks up the actual definition of
241. 9:40racism will discover that that's
242. 9:42preposterous um but yes that does pass
243. 9:46in certain places as logical yeah and
244. 9:49just it's pared in this very bizarre way
245. 9:52that's supposed to be unchallenged and
246. 9:54this is a fairly recent thing I mean
247. 9:56this is not something that existed two
248. 9:58decades ago right uh I agree and uh the
249. 10:01pace at which it's moving in the last
250. 10:03few years is very surprising it is
251. 10:06surprising but it kind of makes sense
252. 10:07because you get into these group groups
253. 10:09of people they have this confirmation
254. 10:11bias they lump up together and they all
255. 10:13reinforce their ideas in this Echo
256. 10:14chamber and they all do it inside the
257. 10:17colleges and then when it gets out to
258. 10:19the rest of the world as we're seeing
259. 10:21with your case at Evergreen it the the
260. 10:23rest of the world is like what is going
261. 10:24on over here like what is happening in
262. 10:26school and people who are sending their
263. 10:28children after school are very concerned
264. 10:31with the indoctrination of these ideas
265. 10:34and the adopting these very rigid
266. 10:37mindsets that the rest of the world just
267. 10:40simply could pick apart pretty quickly
268. 10:43well this is the most shocking thing
269. 10:45because I'm you know I'm I haven't been
270. 10:48censured I haven't been suspended I'm
271. 10:50still on the email distribution list so
272. 10:52I'm watching the traffic inside of my
273. 10:55college and I'm able to compare it to
274. 10:56the huge flood of stuff that I'm seeing
275. 10:59from the outside world as they get wind
276. 11:01of what's going on at Evergreen and the
277. 11:04difference is a million miles inside of
278. 11:08Evergreen actually we are descending
279. 11:10further into madness the The Faculty um
280. 11:13are uh blaming the fact that the campus
281. 11:17had to be suddenly closed due to a
282. 11:20threat from the outside yesterday uh on
283. 11:23me for having talked about this in the
284. 11:26outside world specifically for it's
285. 11:27hilarious I can't I can't use that term
286. 11:30yet to me hopefully someday so I I I
287. 11:33hope it's soon and you know I must say
288. 11:36one thing that I don't you know we
289. 11:38haven't even talked about where this uh
290. 11:40where I got thrust into the spotlight
291. 11:41here which your listeners are going to
292. 11:43have to know in order to understand why
293. 11:45I'm even sitting here but um but the uh
294. 11:49the intensity and the um outof touch
295. 11:54nature of the discussion inside the
296. 11:57college simply reinfor forces the uh the
297. 12:01impression that something is desperately
298. 12:03off that that what we really have is a
299. 12:05filter bubble that is so so strong that
300. 12:09even when the world sends very clear
301. 12:12evidence that you've missed something
302. 12:13somewhere and it's time to rethink what
303. 12:15you've been doing they're not waking up
304. 12:18and I I love this college this college
305. 12:22we maybe we'll get to talk about it but
306. 12:24the structuring of this college is so
307. 12:26unusual and what one can do as a
308. 12:28professor at Evergreen uh if you're
309. 12:30really dedicated to teaching it is the
310. 12:32place to be because you have
311. 12:34unparalleled pedagogical Freedom more
312. 12:36freedom than you'd have as a tene
313. 12:38professor at Harvard and you also have
314. 12:40room to teach individually to students
315. 12:43because uh our students take one program
316. 12:45at a time they're full-time in one
317. 12:47program and the professors teach one
318. 12:49program at a time full-time and they can
319. 12:50go on for a full year so imagine you've
320. 12:53got 25 students and you have them for a
321. 12:56year fulltime you really know every
322. 12:59student in your class individually not
323. 13:01just by name but you know how they think
324. 13:03you know their backgrounds you know um
325. 13:06their blind spots and that allows for a
326. 13:07kind of teaching that can't be done
327. 13:08anywhere else so I am quite distressed
328. 13:12at the fact that Evergreen is now
329. 13:14endangered by what's going on um and I
330. 13:17really would like to see it wake up and
331. 13:20rescue itself because it is worth
332. 13:27rescuing
333. 13:29[Applause]
334. 13:32I