Author and podcast host Sam Harris said author and Daily Wire host Candace Owens “should not” have opinions on subjects like the vaccine, climate change, or the war in Ukraine, adding that people should also not listen to her about such matters.
Harris seemed to deem the mother-of-two unworthy of having her own opinions on issues he often speaks about because she’s not an “expert.” Owens recently called out Harris and other self-described intellectuals for discouraging people from doing their own research and only relying on the so-called experts.
“We’re swimming in a sea of misinformation, where you’ve got people who are moving the opinions of millions of others who should not have an opinion on these topics,” Harris said. “There is no scenario in which you should be getting your opinion about vaccine safety, or climate change, or the war in Ukraine, or anything else we might want to talk about, from Candace Owens.”
“She’s not a relevant expert on any of those topics, and what’s more is that she doesn’t seem to care,” he accused. “And she’s living in a culture that has amplified that ‘not caring’ into a business model, an effective business model. And there’s something very Trumpian about all that.”
Sam Harris says @RealCandaceO isn't worthy of having opinions on vaccines or climate change.
What Sam fails to realize is that Candace arrives at her opinions based on conversations with experts like @RWMaloneMD and @ShellenbergerMD
Why does Sam feel he deserves an opinion? pic.twitter.com/OhWWnkBsE0
— Mythinformed (@MythinformedMKE) March 15, 2023
Owens shot back at Harris on Wednesday, writing, “You heard him! Unless you are an ‘expert,’ you are not at all entitled to have an opinion about anything. Even the drugs that those who are motivated by profit are telling you to take. Even the manner in which your hard earned money is being spent overseas.”
“No opinions, please!” the BLEXIT founder emphasized.
You heard him! Unless you are an “expert”you are not at all entitled to have an opinion about anything.
Even the drugs that those who are motivated by profit are telling you to take.
Even the manner in which your hard earned money is being spent overseas.
No opinions, please! https://t.co/EnQzrNj1OX— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) March 15, 2023
Owens last month called out Harris for discouraging people from doing their own research and read a number of quotes from conservative author Thomas Sowell she found applicable, such as the following: “People who have acquired academic degrees, without acquiring many economically meaningful skills, not only face personal disappointment and disaffection with society, but also have often become negative factors in the economy and even sources of danger […].”
This is not the first time Harris has attacked Owens, previously calling the conservative a “blowhard and ignoramus.”
“[Sam Harris], you called me a ‘blowhard and ignoramus’ because of my COVID stance,” Owens, an early opponent of lockdown measures, responded to Harris last year. “Turns out you were sorely wrong but too convinced by your education to see what was plainly obvious. Free speech keeps society safe from arrogant pricks.”
As a reminder, @SamHarrisOrg, you called me a “blowhard and ignoramus” because of my covid stance.
Turns out you were sorely wrong but too convinced by your education to see what was plainly obvious.
Free speech keeps society safe from arrogant pricks.https://t.co/deHAXIYNUC
— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) November 21, 2022
Harris was a COVID alarmist who expressed intolerance for people who do not want to get vaccinated against COVID. He famously complained about low vaccine compliance earlier this year, suggesting there could be harsher mandate measures if COVID were more dangerous to children.
“The patience — there would’ve been no f***ing patience for vaccine skepticism, right,” he said. “And everyone would’ve recognized, this is not my body, my choice. This is you’re not gonna kill my kids with your ignorance.”
Owens last year, while speaking to Dr. Robert Malone, a vaccine scientist who worked on the development of mRNA technology, said Harris called her at the start of the pandemic in sheer panic.
“I do not say this to knock him at all, it was just something that stuck with me for a very long time,” Owens said, recalling the phone call. “He sounded like he was in a bunker, and was just like, ‘You don’t understand, there’s going to be gurneys in the streets,’ and, ‘I know doctors in Italy, this is what’s going to happen in two weeks in the United States.’”
“He was in a mania,” she continued. “I just sort of listened to him, because, in my head, I wanted to be kind, but I was looking at my husband, thinking, this man needs a therapist. … He was unstable — and this is a smart person who got himself into this position.”
“I think it’s probably relevant that he’s an atheist,” Owens later asserted, to which Dr. Malone agreed. Religious people, the scientist said, have a stronger sense of community, which grounds them and makes them less likely to fall into a “psychosis” or panic about an issue, including COVID.
Related: Owens Reveals Sam Harris Phone Call As Pair Discuss Godlessness And Pandemic Panic