John McWhorter & Clifton Duncan – Becoming Thomas Sowell
September 26, 2025
53 min
382 of 437
September 26, 2025
John McWhorter & Clifton Duncan – Becoming Thomas Sowell
0:00 / 53:44
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53:44This episodeJohn McWhorter & Clifton Duncan – Becoming Thomas Sowell
Summary
<p><strong>The Glenn Show is almost entirely listener supported. We need your help in order to keep bringing you the conversations you can't hear anywhere else. To get early episodes and much, much more, </strong><a href="https://glennloury.substack.com" target="_blank"><strong>become a full subscriber at my Substack.</strong></a></p><p>You can keep tabs on Clifton’s progress and support his work at his Substack, <a href="https://becomingsowell.substack.com/" target="_blank"><em>Becoming Thomas Sowell</em></a>.</p><p><strong>Video Links</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJokxDvJxZc" target="_blank">0:00</a> A Hard Day’s McWhorter</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJokxDvJxZc&t=231s" target="_blank">3:51</a> Jimmy Kimmel and the collapse of the“bluegeois” paradigm</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJokxDvJxZc&t=587s" target="_blank">9:47</a> Ground News ad</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJokxDvJxZc&t=690s" target="_blank">11:30</a> Ideological gatekeeping in the arts</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJokxDvJxZc&t=1022s" target="_blank">17:02</a> The Gamergate-ification of everything</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJokxDvJxZc&t=1550s" target="_blank">25:50</a> John: Wokeness isn’t dead, it’s changed shape</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJokxDvJxZc&t=1991s" target="_blank">33:11</a> Clifton’s one-man show in-progress, <em>Becoming Thomas Sowell</em></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJokxDvJxZc&t=2121s" target="_blank">35:21</a> Sowell at Cornell</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJokxDvJxZc&t=2410s" target="_blank">40:10</a> The challenge to Sowell’s conception of “the civil rights vision”</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJokxDvJxZc&t=2616s" target="_blank">43:36</a> The pressures of bringing Sowell to the stage</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJokxDvJxZc&t=2758s" target="_blank">45:58</a> Clifton: I think of Sowell as “the people’s intellectual”</p><p>Recorded September 20, 2025</p><p><strong>Links and Readings</strong></p><p><a href="https://glennloury.substack.com/p/john-mcwhorter-and-clifton-duncan" target="_blank">John and Clifton’s previous conversation on The Glenn Show</a></p><p><a href="https://becomingsowell.substack.com/" target="_blank">Clifton’s Substack, </a><a href="https://becomingsowell.substack.com/" target="_blank"><em>Becoming Thomas Sowell</em></a></p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Conflict-Visions-Ideological-Political-Struggles/dp/0465002056" target="_blank">Thomas Sowell’s book, </a><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Conflict-Visions-Ideological-Political-Struggles/dp/0465002056" target="_blank"><em>A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles</em></a></p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Knowledge-Decisions-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0465037380/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3UNPB8I030XC9&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.1RFCr2RTGmVSj1e4Vmk04Iw3xaRy7O2US-p6apN5HKnGJ0s9IbSwBgcIxG2wYSvJCTS3gGLDdnq0COSbxk4GQ-tTQ9evYeawQwAuGvVkmETu3x2I6zSBYYTfRdi2OSS74PvXEhlDPrhpLqd46U_eLF7Amxfi5iuJYns65Cr8NHS1XhLqdO4rUPe_ryUh0m3Uu-BIVzwwLxUtnG8Pod-47RfQV_4tt96zBIEHm3KPWUc.j8scGNkUw4gyHuw6pZP1760EachzmZoXmBg7-GjroCY&dib_tag=se&keywords=knowledge+and+decisions&qid=1758565013&s=books&sprefix=knowledge+and+decisions%2Cstripbooks%2C75&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Sowell’s book, </a><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Knowledge-Decisions-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0465037380/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3UNPB8I030XC9&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.1RFCr2RTGmVSj1e4Vmk04Iw3xaRy7O2US-p6apN5HKnGJ0s9IbSwBgcIxG2wYSvJCTS3gGLDdnq0COSbxk4GQ-tTQ9evYeawQwAuGvVkmETu3x2I6zSBYYTfRdi2OSS74PvXEhlDPrhpLqd46U_eLF7Amxfi5iuJYns65Cr8NHS1XhLqdO4rUPe_ryUh0m3Uu-BIVzwwLxUtnG8Pod-47RfQV_4tt96zBIEHm3KPWUc.j8scGNkUw4gyHuw6pZP1760EachzmZoXmBg7-GjroCY&dib_tag=se&keywords=knowledge+and+decisions&qid=1758565013&s=books&sprefix=knowledge+and+decisions%2Cstripbooks%2C75&sr=1-1" target="_blank"><em>Knowledge and Decisions</em></a></p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Thurgood-Laurence-Fishburne/dp/B006YML8FO" target="_blank"><em>Thurgood</em></a><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Thurgood-Laurence-Fishburne/dp/B006YML8FO" target="_blank"> on Amazon Prime</a></p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Black-Education-Tragedies-Thomas-Sowell/dp/B000LB8O2Y" target="_blank">Sowell’s book, </a><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Black-Education-Tragedies-Thomas-Sowell/dp/B000LB8O2Y" target="_blank"><em>Black Education: Myths and Tragedies</em></a></p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cornell-69-Liberalism-American-University/dp/0801478383/ref=sr_1_1?crid=6YT03RGSRF4C&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.7AeRUKIhNj06c6A0R924Ag.IAa4No9VN5ziMG2jvfN-cIATxdzczE6dFTpYawTCtMo&dib_tag=se&keywords=Cornell+%E2%80%9869&qid=1758565081&s=books&sprefix=cornell+69%2Cstripbooks%2C60&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Donald Downs’s book, </a><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cornell-69-Liberalism-American-University/dp/0801478383/ref=sr_1_1?crid=6YT03RGSRF4C&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.7AeRUKIhNj06c6A0R924Ag.IAa4No9VN5ziMG2jvfN-cIATxdzczE6dFTpYawTCtMo&dib_tag=se&keywords=Cornell+%E2%80%9869&qid=1758565081&s=books&sprefix=cornell+69%2Cstripbooks%2C60&sr=1-1" target="_blank"><em>Cornell ‘69: Liberalism and the Crisis of the American University</em></a></p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Classical-Economics-Sowell-Thomas-Paperback/dp/B008AUL9XE" target="_blank">Sowell’s book, On Classical Economics</a></p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Saying-Loud-1966_The-Challenged-Movement/dp/1982114126/ref=sr_1_1?crid=QW2PXEEKT0L8&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.CrYCCzR1HyYk1satOv5hvw.vIvT-80H_6qfJilqJZw7D8_VzKQ6LP75Z85BzhJhHkg&dib_tag=se&keywords=Mark+Whitaker%E2%80%99s+book%2C+Saying+It+Loud&qid=1758565155&s=books&sprefix=mark+whitaker+s+book%2C+saying+it+loud+%2Cstripbooks%2C75&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Mark Whitaker’s book, </a><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Saying-Loud-1966_The-Challenged-Movement/dp/1982114126/ref=sr_1_1?crid=QW2PXEEKT0L8&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.CrYCCzR1HyYk1satOv5hvw.vIvT-80H_6qfJilqJZw7D8_VzKQ6LP75Z85BzhJhHkg&dib_tag=se&keywords=Mark+Whitaker%E2%80%99s+book%2C+Saying+It+Loud&qid=1758565155&s=books&sprefix=mark+whitaker+s+book%2C+saying+it+loud+%2Cstripbooks%2C75&sr=1-1" target="_blank"><em>Saying It Loud: 1966—the Year Black Power Challenged the Civil Rights Movement</em></a></p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Civil-Rights-Rhetoric-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0688062695/ref=sr_1_1?crid=313FHUEES2KCQ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.q2D6FJdLjkUZG_qpqtvTk3MPN3KcuAJy__YSbmY7Kgg.rQ-sWHhJo_33HOvRlkEaLOuhgFkX87Y0i5LgAxCb_Xg&dib_tag=se&keywords=Sowell%2C+Civil+Rights%3A+Rhetoric+or+Reality%3F&qid=1758565201&s=books&sprefix=sowell%2C+civil+rights+rhetoric+or+reality+%2Cstripbooks%2C47&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Sowell’s book, </a><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Civil-Rights-Rhetoric-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0688062695/ref=sr_1_1?crid=313FHUEES2KCQ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.q2D6FJdLjkUZG_qpqtvTk3MPN3KcuAJy__YSbmY7Kgg.rQ-sWHhJo_33HOvRlkEaLOuhgFkX87Y0i5LgAxCb_Xg&dib_tag=se&keywords=Sowell%2C+Civil+Rights%3A+Rhetoric+or+Reality%3F&qid=1758565201&s=books&sprefix=sowell%2C+civil+rights+rhetoric+or+reality+%2Cstripbooks%2C47&sr=1-1" target="_blank"><em>Civil Rights: Rhetoric or Reality?</em></a></p><p><a href="https://glennloury.substack.com/p/jason-riley-thomas-sowells-path-from" target="_blank">Jason Riley’s latest appearance on TGS</a></p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Maverick-Biography-Thomas-Jason-Riley-ebook/dp/B08HLR6HXQ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2IEUNPGPG08M8&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.5Xt6OQAPJ3thzU7qJeJhsJX3kP4fPoCb5Ephu9bkq1VJ6mEN2kpzBpeAvABdV8O5.n6D4dKK7-cK8efJIbc5o7gQ3mIcW16Quw_ym7kUUekE&dib_tag=se&keywords=maverick+sowell&qid=1758565263&s=books&sprefix=maverick+sowell%2Cstripbooks%2C88&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Jason’s book, </a><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Maverick-Biography-Thomas-Jason-Riley-ebook/dp/B08HLR6HXQ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2IEUNPGPG08M8&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.5Xt6OQAPJ3thzU7qJeJhsJX3kP4fPoCb5Ephu9bkq1VJ6mEN2kpzBpeAvABdV8O5.n6D4dKK7-cK8efJIbc5o7gQ3mIcW16Quw_ym7kUUekE&dib_tag=se&keywords=maverick+sowell&qid=1758565263&s=books&sprefix=maverick+sowell%2Cstripbooks%2C88&sr=1-1" target="_blank"><em>Maverick: A Biography of Thomas Sowell</em></a></p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Personal-Odyssey-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0684864657/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1WAA7HTWLVG26&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.PvcRdEa3t2J_STz3f9frSQ.XIFlwQg4iPEjLy11KRLzKFf7WZGZm5lybYfPBtZ1cQE&dib_tag=se&keywords=Sowell%E2%80%99s+memoir+A+Personal+Odyssey&qid=1758565302&s=books&sprefix=sowell+s+memoir+a+personal+odyssey%2Cstripbooks%2C75&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Sowell’s memoir, </a><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Personal-Odyssey-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0684864657/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1WAA7HTWLVG26&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.PvcRdEa3t2J_STz3f9frSQ.XIFlwQg4iPEjLy11KRLzKFf7WZGZm5lybYfPBtZ1cQE&dib_tag=se&keywords=Sowell%E2%80%99s+memoir+A+Personal+Odyssey&qid=1758565302&s=books&sprefix=sowell+s+memoir+a+personal+odyssey%2Cstripbooks%2C75&sr=1-1" target="_blank"><em>A Personal Odyssey</em></a></p> <br /><br />This is a public episode. 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