Difference between revisions of "Essay:The Groyper Wars"

Latest revision as of 00:36, January 24, 2022

I will call you out if you are a cuck or if you are an extremist. This seems to be a contentious issue.

Nick Fuentes is a white identitarian.^[1] While it is interesting that the conservative movement seems to ostracize the white identitarian groypers while tolerating or even promoting the black identitarian "conscious conservatives," neither form of identity politics is truly justified.

Some people seem to be on the wrong side of this one.^[2][3] Take Tarl Warwick, who defended Nick Fuentes while attacking Sebastian Gorka^[4] and Ben Shapiro.^[5] Or take identitarian Faith Goldy, who produced a video for VDARE in support of Nick Fuentes and his defenders that condemned Turning Point USA and the Trump Administration as "Conservative Inc."^[6]

This is not establishment vs. anti-establishment. I am very anti-establishment. But these people attack movement conservatives as well as mainstream and establishment conservatives. The Washington Examiner may have forced its employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 even before Biden announced his federal mandate,^[7] but The Daily Wire filed a lawsuit against the Biden Administration challenging the mandate.^[8]

I don't have a problem with people who question or criticize the Civil Rights Movement.^[9][10] Elijah Schaffer called Abraham Lincoln a globalist,^[11] and though I disagree I won't hold it against him. However, I take issue with people who trivialize, downplay, or engage in historical revisionism about the Holocaust. I'm not talking about clear-cut satire, as long as one makes sure the aim of the comedy is to deride neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers. Neither of those labels applies to Nick Fuentes or the famous Canadian anti-lockdown protester Chris Sky, but in the case of the former the satire seemed to be aimed against people who believe that 6,000,000 Jews died during this horrific genocide.^[12] Likewise, Chris Sky claimed that this figure originated in the Talmud and that it is unrealistic --- before storming out of the interview by Rebel News' David Menzies having accused the People's Party of Canada and Rebel News itself of being controlled opposition.^[13] A historical event with such a monumental toll on a group of people that caused such great collective emotional, physical, and psychological damage is and should be an incredibly sensitive topic. Even VDARE's John Derbyshire reprimanded Fuentes for his nonchalant attitude toward it.^[14]

You can disagree with Ben Shapiro on trade^[15] or theology.^[16] People have respectfully challenged him in those areas, and he has admitted when he has been wrong.^[17] Even his own co-workers have disagreed with him^[18] or held differing opinions from him.^[19] You can do that without stooping to anti-Semitism or emotionalism, or attempting to humiliate him in front of his wife and children.^[20] Ben Shapiro is largely right about the groypers,^[21][22] despite the claims of some.^[23] He is not the only one on the right side of this issue.^[24][25]

I'm all for criticizing Breitbart News, as Nick Fuentes has done. When I heard that Breitbart caved and fired editor Katie McHugh for criticizing Islam,[1] I opposed and continue to oppose that. If Nick Fuentes' claims are true that Breitbart tried to pressure Congressman Paul Gosar to disavow him, I oppose that as well. Fuentes is right when he says that Breitbart is no longer relevant and that not very many people read their articles anymore in all likelihood. He's right when he says that part of the explanation is that all the interesting people are gone (Bannon, Yiannopoulos, Shapiro). But he's wrong when he says the main problem with Breitbart is that it's run by a Jewish Zionist.^[26] I've found Joel Pollak to be too politically correct at times,^[27][28] but that has nothing to do with his Judaism or Zionism. And contrary to what Fuentes maintains, the establishment is not Jewish or Zionist --- quite the opposite, in fact (see The Establishment and Zionism).

The facts and the truth are all that matter. Disagree with Ben Shapiro on economics, the divinity of Christ, or whether the 2020 election was stolen. Disagree with him on foreign policy or even call him a cuck (even though he really isn't). Don't attack him for condemning arguable bigotry in the form of identity politics for white people and anti-Zionist tangents. If he chooses to condemn that sort of thing, that's his right. That doesn't mean I always agree with Ben Shapiro: sometimes I do, and other times, I disagree with him (see Essay:Ben Shapiro's Milquetoastery). And I admittedly cringe when TPUSA shills for the Federal Reserve^[29] and panders to the LGBT community.^[30] I think they went too far in firing Ashley St. Clair for taking a picture with Nick Fuentes and Baked Alaska.^[31] I think YAF went too far in cutting ties with Michelle Malkin for her speech defending Fuentes and the groypers.^[32] But I think Malkin went too far as well. She even tried to start a Twitter brawl with Candace Owens over immigration.^[33][34]

I'm a protectionist. I'm a populist. I'm a nationalist. And I am an anti-establishment anti-racist who opposes both globalist neocons and the far-right.

Yes, Hunter Avallone is a cuck.[2] Dan Bongino is also suspect.[3][4] But are you guys really much better?[5][6] Some of former President Donald Trump's unhelpful pandering to black Americans was manufactured by Jared Kushner.^[35] But Trump's philo-Semitism has been well-documented,[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] so don't you dare call yourselves Trump supporters. I will admit that I would not allow my daughter to convert to Judaism in order to marry an Orthodox Jew; attend let alone host Hanukkah celebrations; or constantly surround myself with Jewish people to the extent that Trump does. I'm Christian, and in an ideal world for me, all Jews convert to Christianity. But I never condemned a policy purely because it either intentionally or unintentionally benefited Jews: I don't automatically assume a policy benefits Jews to the detriment of others. I also don't insult Trump every time he has something positive to say about Jews or Israel. On the other hand, when the former President signed an Executive Order combating anti-Semitism on college campuses,^[36] the groypers and their sympathizers complained about it.^[37][38] One of these guys even told Andrew Klavan he wanted him and his family to die in a fire for criticizing Nick Fuentes.^[39]

There are definitely legitimate criticisms of Trump, but those have little or nothing to do with Israel. And Donald Trump, Jr. didn't need to be heckled off the stage by an angry mob.^[40][41] Nor should Nick Fuentes have been banned from YouTube,^[42] DLive,^[43] Twitter, payment processors, kicked out of CPAC,^[44] or put on a no-fly list like some kind of terrorist. He's not a terrorist. He's an eccentric young man with out-there ideas and erratic behaviour. Michael Knowles is a critic of Fuentes, but he won't hesitate to condemn the deep state for targeting him.^[45] Good for him. Brandon Tatum, another Fuentes critic, has given him credit for standing up for the January 6 Capitol protesters.^[46] DLive, an alt-tech and supposed pro-free speech platform, has also banned Vincent James,^[47] Baked Alaska,^[48] and Owen Benjamin^[49] in the aftermath of January 6. In the past, they banned Alex Jones and InfoWars.^[50] That censorship is wrong, and I have no problem condemning it.

Occasionally, Zionists need to be called out. In May 2021, a Jewish supremacist Zionist assaulted the chief videographer of Rebel News Mocha Bezirgan without provocation at a pro-Israel rally in Montreal, Canada. As Bezirgan reported the incident to a police officer, other Jewish supremacist Zionists present covered for the attacker, falsely accused Bezirgan of being armed, and made derogatory comments toward Bezirgan based on his ethnicity.^[51][52] Rebel News thankfully went to bat for Bezirgan. Jewish Zionist Ezra Levant rightly condemned these people,^[53] as did Zionists David Menzies and Sheila Gunn Reid.^[54] It isn't difficult for me to say that the behaviour of those protesters was disgusting and despicable.

If you don't like Israel, that's fine. I have my disagreements with Israel, past (i.e., the Lavon Affair) and present (i.e., mandatory COVID-19 booster shots). There’s nothing wrong with critiquing mass immigration even from a demographic standpoint. Matt Walsh,^[55][56] Michael Knowles,^[57] and even Charlie Kirk^[58] have critically addressed the decline in the white population. If you don't want to disavow Nick Fuentes or Michelle Malkin, then don't. If you don't want to support Ben Shapiro or Charlie Kirk, don't. No-one has a gun to your head, so stop pretending there is. I do find it odd that PragerU would remove Owen Benjamin's videos since he became a rabid anti-Zionist^[59] while leaving up the videos by Alan Dershowitz,^[60] who has been credibly linked to Jeffrey Epstein.^[61] No trouble pointing that out. I don't even like Dan Crenshaw anymore. But when people attack even strong conservatives like The Daily Wire's employees Matt Walsh, Michael Knowles, and Candace Owens, I take issue with that.

I side with Lauren Witzke against Ric Grenell^[62] and Karlyn Borysenko^[63] even though I don't agree with everything she said. I love Paul Gosar even though I don't like everyone with whom he associates. I agree with Michael Knowles' critiques of Tom MacDonald and Blaire White,^[64] and disagree with the backlash he received from nominal opponents of political correctness.^[65] I've heard that homosexual Trump supporters have ostracized Bryson Gray,^[66] and if that's true, I fully condemn them for doing so. I oppose homosexuality, transgenderism, and mass immigration.

One of the big problems I have with the groypers is that a lot of them seem to be trolls. In many cases, they interrupted and antagonized various right-wing events in 2019 instead of asking legitimate questions. That's how Nick Fuentes gets to the point where he's bashing Steven Crowder for opting out of a debate with Sam Seder because he was supposed to have it with Ethan Klein.^[67][68] Fuentes is unfamiliar with good-faith discussion. So he defends bad-faith discussion. I suppose in his mind, either nothing is done in bad faith, or everything should be done in bad faith. Rather than starting a productive dialogue or sparking interesting conversations, Fuentes makes people angry with him. Then they wrongly reject every position he and the groypers hold. That is, they reject those positions until they gradually realize some of them are correct. Two years later, many right-wingers have adopted stances for which they called the groypers bigoted. I am one example.

We all just need to be reasonable.

References