printSerious libertarians and conservatives will study and absorb the following principles articulated about the thought crime that is racism and the attendant impolite and impolitic speech that often accompanies it:
- “Racism—systemic or other—remains nothing but thought crime: Impolite and impolitic thoughts, spoken, written or preached.”—ILANA Mercer, “‘Systemic Racism’ Or Systemic Rubbish?” August 6, 2020.
- “Thought crimes are nobody’s business in a free society.”—ILANA Mercer, “‘Systemic Racism’ Or Systemic Rubbish?” August 6, 2020.
- “A lot of establishment libertarians and conservatives have joined the neoconservative and neoliberal establishments in the habit of sniffing out racists. Sniffing out racists is an absolute no-no for any and all self-respecting libertarians (and conservatives). True libertarians don’t, or should not, prosecute thought crimes or persecute thought ‘criminals.’ Period.”—ILANA Mercer, Big League Politics, Interview With Ilana Mercer, November 23, 2018.
Consider those fundamentals and, in commitment to liberty, you will shrug off Joe Rogan’s speech of many years back as rude and uncouth, albeit rooted in a realistic stereotype, and leave it at that—no more rude and uncouth than the plethora of “cracker”-hating, anti-white pejoratives emitted approvingly by blacks, who are cheered when they rail against a group that isn’t remotely associated with high crime and social disruption.
Rogan was referencing a video compilation that features him in various contexts using the racial slur. It also includes him comparing being in the presence of Black people with the film Planet of the Apes. The video has gone viral online and was highlighted by musician India Arie in an Instagram Story she posted Thursday.
Thus when Alex Berenson acts as a racism-spotting scold-–an old biddy deploying cliches like, “I don’t know what’s in his heart” (oh, fuck off; it matters not. Rogan is a peaceful, productive human being)—Berenson deserves and earns contempt.
Rogan’s use of the n-word – and that Planet of the Apes story – are indefensible and humiliating and will haunt him for the rest of his career.
Our woke revolution has brought lots of linguistic rules I’ll argue. Not this one. That word has a unique history and power that give it a unique ugliness. The only slur remotely close might be “kike,” though even it doesn’t compare.
Fox News darling Alex Berenson has a pattern—has already proven to be a self-promoting weasel, using a TV segment to try and take out Robert Malone, who shot him down with a smile, no sweat, like the high IQ, classy gentleman and scholar he clearly is. Watch.
For his part, Rogan must get off his knees and quit apologizing. He’s worth $100 Million (it is an intellectually impoverish market place that has resulted in that sorry reality). Rumble is pleased to pay that sum–as well as reinstate his verboten speech removed by the illiberal scolds.
The latest episode in a recurring series of political theatre that seems to never end. It’s frankly mystifying that so much coordinated outrage can be directed against a figure as inoffensive as Rogan—if anything he’s been unnecessarily deferential to establishment wisdom on a range of issues. He actually plays it relatively safe (especially since his ‘acquisition’ by Spotify), and it’s only due to his native curiosity and personal openness that he’s ever exposed to anything outside the milquetoast consensus on demographics, religion, foreign policy, etc. His science interviews are usually the most potentially interesting.
It’s telling that he never provoked such intense opposition as when he started to question the COVID narrative…
I share your exasperation at the disproportionate role he plays in (pseudo-)political discourse, when he figures as neither a deep nor an original thinker. Nevertheless, he represents by his example an important test for free speech in media, since no online commentator (to my knowledge) commands a comparable fund of wealth and celebrity connections. He should not have started apologizing—any admission of weakness before the mob is an invitation to further aggression.