Malcom Gladwell says he is “ashamed” of having said in a previous panel discussion that trans women have a place in women’s sports. He says he was “cowed” into saying so. “Trans athletes have no place in the female category,” he says.

Is this a tipping point on this issue?

Tim Miller is not impressed by Gladwell’s shifting stance.

Turns out the guy who wrote a book about standing up to 'Goliaths' crumbled under peer pressure from Lilliputians.

I simply don't understand how anyone with an ounce of backbone, intellectual integrity, or basic common sense could permit themselves to be "cowed" on this issue

I respect his honesty. I would have respected it more had it come earlier when the majority opinion hadn't shifted. As before, he is now comfortably in agreement with the majority opinion. Therefore I think all future opinions of his should be viewed with skepticism.

It only took 10,000 hours.

He was cowed into saying it because he is a coward.

MG is a fantastic storyteller and a mediocre thinker. In my humble opinion.

I think that Gladwell could very easily have gone quiet on this issue. For him to instead stand up and admit to cowardice is, perversely, courageous, and we should applaud it. It helps a lot to have someone admit this in public.

Now ask yourself how many other issues they're doing this with, and that will explain a lot of today's culture.

Correct, Malcolm. And now that we know this about you, and now that you know this about yourself, please explain again why we should listen to your advice going forward?

I'm Malcom Gladwell and I misrepresented what I really felt because I wanted to please people in the room. But now I'm totally not doing that, even though I explicitly say I think everyone would agree with the other view now. Please believe me again.

I think what the radical left did not understand was that pushing male transvestites in women’s places, spaces, and sports was a bridge to far for thinking people, for people who have genuine compassion and empathy. They see women and girls who fought so long and hard for their rights have them stolen by mentally disturbed persons. Always like Gladwells books and am glad he has shown his ability to admit he was wrong.

He has approached others with such righteous indignation when they disagreed. I'm glad he's seen the light of day, but fuck him for being such a grade A weenie. No courage. Just an idealogue who sees the winds changing and wishes to stay relevant.

That's not 100% correct. At that panel, he moderated a debate, I was one of the debaters/panelists. And he is saying he was 'cowed' into not challenging some of the things said by other panelists. And into not expressing his views. He didn't actively give his opinion though

Anyone who can be bullied into saying men deserve a place in women’s sports is not a person to be trusted

Could this be The Tipping Point?

That's kinda refreshing of him to be so honest about it. But you can't really be a thought leader when you're so susceptible to social contagions.

Watching his Munk debate with Matt Taibbi, where Gladwell multiple times made accusations of antisemitism instead of actually debate the topics, has convinced me he is but another in a long list of pseudo-intellectuals.

The rats are fleeing the ship, a good sign

Gladwell is a highly intelligent dumbass that gets a lot wrong.

@sometherapist

At least he is willing to admit he was wrong

coward - now that the tide has turned he’s jumping ship - anyone who listens to him going forward is a sucker, no credibility

I question your judgment if you ever fell for this

Exactly—too little, too late. If you bent the knee once and denied basic biological reality just to stay in the club, you’ve already shown you’ll fold under pressure. Gladwell admitting he was “cowed” isn’t courage, it’s proof he’s weak. Yeah, he’s finally spitting truth, but credibility doesn’t reset—you already sold it. This isn’t forgive-and-forget, it’s note-taken-and-never-trusted-again.

He’s a complete dumbass. And these people that change their position on things based on the way society is headed deserve complete condemnation and derision. They have no moral values or basis in truth. They are only trying to keep ahead with what’s popular

Good for him. Disturbing that he was cowed into something. He's supposed to be Mr heterodox thinker. He's always had a strong left bent though. His recent Joe Rogan takedown where he put Oprah's interview of markle as the golden standard was embarrassing.

How was he cowed into saying this? Did they kidnap his family? Threaten to cut his hair? I’m curious. And who exactly cowed him into saying this? The organizers? Why is he so easily cowed?

I read his books and was impressed and then I saw his sordid and childish debate performance against Douglas Murray at the Munk Debate on November 30, 2022. He behaved like an unstable teenage girl with no substantive ripostes whatsoever. He's a woke coward with the intellectual substance of a toddler. "Cowed?" He's a coward.

Lost all respect for him awhile ago. Any fool should know men don’t belong in women’s sports.

Yeah too bad, this just means you’re a total pussy who can’t be trusted to say what he means, because you’ve demonstrated you can be cowed into doing anything

He (Gladwell) failed in the moment. It's a lot easier to speak out now that the nuttiness has passed. 'Real' thinkers and heroes spoke their truth when it wasn't easy or comfortable.

Coward.

So he’s a tool. Shocking.

@JoshKraushaar Why are “cultural elites” such abject cowards? Sad.