D’Sousa’s Razor:
Identified by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in the Medium article: The Merchandising of Virtue" - May 27, 2017
"Kids with rich parents talk about “white privilege” at such privileged colleges as Amherst –but in one instance, one of them could not answer D’Souza’s simple and logical suggestion: ‘Why don’t you go to the registrar’s office and give your privileged spot to a minority student who was next in line?’
Hence the principle:
If your private life conflicts with your intellectual opinion, it cancels your intellectual ideas, not your private life.
and
If your private actions do not generalise then you cannot have general ideas.
This is not strictly about ethics, but information transfer. If a car salesman tries to sell you a Detroit car while driving a Honda, he is signalling that it may have a problem."
The video Taleb is referencing is:
SO SATISFYING: Dinesh D'Souza absolutely shreds SJW over "white privilege" - Young America's Foundation
Published 09 Jun 2018. Recorded at Amherst College.
If you hold an intelectual ideal, but your real world actions do not reflect or enforce this ideal. Then your actions cancel out this ideological stance. You cannot say to the word "I am a vegan" and claim the moral virtue for such an identity, but occasional eat chicken. The act of eating the chicken cancels out any moral or ideological virtue or superiority claimed by being vegan.
Identified by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in the Medium article: The Merchandising of Virtue" - May 27, 2017
"Kids with rich parents talk about “white privilege” at such privileged colleges as Amherst –but in one instance, one of them could not answer D’Souza’s simple and logical suggestion: ‘Why don’t you go to the registrar’s office and give your privileged spot to a minority student who was next in line?’
Hence the principle:
If your private life conflicts with your intellectual opinion, it cancels your intellectual ideas, not your private life.
and
If your private actions do not generalise then you cannot have general ideas.
This is not strictly about ethics, but information transfer. If a car salesman tries to sell you a Detroit car while driving a Honda, he is signalling that it may have a problem."
The video Taleb is referencing is:
SO SATISFYING: Dinesh D'Souza absolutely shreds SJW over "white privilege" - Young America's Foundation
Published 09 Jun 2018. Recorded at Amherst College.
If you hold an intelectual ideal, but your real world actions do not reflect or enforce this ideal. Then your actions cancel out this ideological stance. You cannot say to the word "I am a vegan" and claim the moral virtue for such an identity, but occasional eat chicken. The act of eating the chicken cancels out any moral or ideological virtue or superiority claimed by being vegan.
Student: "We have numbers that demonstrate precisely how much wealth was stolen, and that's money that in some way could be given back."
D'Sousa: "You're willing to have social justice with other people's pay, but you're not willing to pay.
So that's the problem. And that's the problem with the progressivism that marches behind social justice, while protecting its own privileges. You know, how you said, we all have to survive, really, you have to be at Amherst to survive?
You don't have to be at Amherst to survive, you have to be at Amherst to benefit.
You have to be at Amherst because you're getting opportunities at this college that many other people are not getting.
So if you say you believe in equal opportunity, you're a hypocrite because you are taking advantage of opportunities unavailable to others. But for you this hypocrisy is fully justified because you are militating on behalf of the poor. But if it's if you're against privilege - this college is privilege. So there's a glaring hypocrisy, and you will never turn your moral mirror on yourself to say, What am I doing about it?
That's my point. For you - society should act before you do - to enforce your moral code.
____________
Person A: Im a vegan but I occasionally have some chicken.
Person B: By the logic of D'Sousa's Razor, identified by Nassim Taleb - the act of eating the chicken cancel out your vegan claim, regardless of what you say about yourself.
D'Sousa: "You're willing to have social justice with other people's pay, but you're not willing to pay.
So that's the problem. And that's the problem with the progressivism that marches behind social justice, while protecting its own privileges. You know, how you said, we all have to survive, really, you have to be at Amherst to survive?
You don't have to be at Amherst to survive, you have to be at Amherst to benefit.
You have to be at Amherst because you're getting opportunities at this college that many other people are not getting.
So if you say you believe in equal opportunity, you're a hypocrite because you are taking advantage of opportunities unavailable to others. But for you this hypocrisy is fully justified because you are militating on behalf of the poor. But if it's if you're against privilege - this college is privilege. So there's a glaring hypocrisy, and you will never turn your moral mirror on yourself to say, What am I doing about it?
That's my point. For you - society should act before you do - to enforce your moral code.
____________
Person A: Im a vegan but I occasionally have some chicken.
Person B: By the logic of D'Sousa's Razor, identified by Nassim Taleb - the act of eating the chicken cancel out your vegan claim, regardless of what you say about yourself.
by bewdew December 9, 2023
Get the D'Sousa's Razormug. The act of fuckin a girl from the methadone clinic doggy style. Right before she nods off from the medication. The man pulls his penis out of her vagina. And without lube or shoves it in her asshole while punching her in the back of the head.
Bare in mind, for it to be a proper Richmond razor back. The girl can have no more than seven teeth.
Bare in mind, for it to be a proper Richmond razor back. The girl can have no more than seven teeth.
by Sweet Randy March 23, 2021
Get the Richmond razor backmug. A simple problem requires multiple complicated solutions to be discussed at length. This usually takes place while people are saying their goodbyes in an inconvenient location.
"It was nice to see you, goodbye. Actually... as per Connolly's Razor, let's go over the Christmas plans in detail while we stand in this doorway as I don't think what we agreed is suitable for my babysitter's gerbil"
by D-Rid November 4, 2019
Get the Connolly's Razormug. Explaining certain thing to someone in a simplest term.
referring to a character from the game Genshin Impact.
referring to a character from the game Genshin Impact.
Someone: Can you explain what is pistols in razor language.
Me: me squeeze, it goes pew pew-red water coming- now sleeping🥰
Me: me squeeze, it goes pew pew-red water coming- now sleeping🥰
by Certified Yapper February 12, 2025
Get the razor languagemug. when a conspiracy theorist ignores logic and reputable sources to keep believing their silly theory.
Matthew ignores Ackam's razor and thought that Jenga was a more representative model of a building than physics.
by TheMindsEye February 3, 2017
Get the Ackam's Razormug. by Tsms1 May 4, 2018
Get the razor clawmug. The act of making a cumcicle then breaking off a small piece of said frozen cum till it gets a sharp edge and then slicing your sexual parter with the dirty cum razor
Tanner: come here baby I made a gift for you
Prostitute: oh baby slice me up with your dirty cum razor
Prostitute: oh baby slice me up with your dirty cum razor
by Lookatmetantan October 13, 2023
Get the Dirty cum razormug.