Steve Shives: The Soy-Infected Facist
Ah, my first polemic. You, know they say you never forget your first love but I think for me, being the lovable curmudgeon that I am, it may be the first hate.
Perhaps, the first "extreme dislike" is more apropo, but that isn't quite as catchy.
I think that hatred, though it often provides rather junky energy can, in fact, be tremendous cause to spring out of bed in the morning. Further, the cleverest of this breed of curmudgeon may attempt to canalize this energy into writing.
This is what happens on a given evening when I have had three beers instead of two. In my defense, I was left without adult supervision.
Here goes...
I have recently developed a quiet obsession with the YouTube skeptic community. These include such luminaries as Sargon of Akkad (who very recently had his Patreon membership withdrawn and he has a new account for his supporters which is here: https://www.subscribestar.com/sargon; please give) and Bearing (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwW_vaMPlq8J4weKDsfeJzw). Wonderful videos full of irony and self-deprecation, neither of which I could do without. Add to that the biting satire displayed throughout and you have me engaged. I don't know about you, dear reader, but I feel that a day without a healthy dose of sarcasm is like a day without sunshine.
And yes, indeed these videos all display political alignment with my own which I certainly will not say I am ashamed. I thought I better call that out straight-away lest I be accused of attempting to hide it.
There are also a number of what you may call leftist representative videos. You can probably form some sort of picture in your minds of what I am speaking of. Think of the sort of person who invokes the words "white supremacy", "literally Hitler", "hateful rhetoric" (incidentally pay close attention to this one in political discourse. In my experience, the dead give-away for when someone doesn't know what they're talking about is when they use the word "rhetoric"-- not perfect advice, but I promise you well-worth bearing in mind), with frightening, not to say suspicious regularity and in the absence of a "real" argument or point.
One representative of this misguided and virtue signaling enterprise would be the clownish and risible figure of Steve Shives. He is well known for being open-minded and well-researched enough to answer questions regarding his position (I told you I enjoy sarcasm) in an intelligent even-handed way. I ought to know, he blocked me from his Twitter account earlier today. My great crime was as follows:
He tweeted the following: "I strongly support deplatforming fascists and bigots for two reasons: 1) it's the right thing to do, and 2) it works." -- https://twitter.com/steve_shives/status/1072172930191249409
I believe that this is a contemptible statement and I believe that anyone who agrees with it should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. More on that later.
I tweet back one very simple question: "How do you define the term "fascist?". I am able to define it (in fact I have read fairly extensively on it) and was more than prepared to file Mr. Shives under "Unclear On The Concept" in my estimation but I much wanted to know his thoughts (friends of mine, particularly those with whom I disagree with, will likely have to concede my genuine curiosity on matters such as this).
So, imagine then, my great surprise (my surprise, on the other hand, was not so very genuine) when I was unceremoniously blocked from his Twitter (I have the screenshots to prove it).
Mr. Shives presents something of a dialectical dilemma. On one hand, there is an insufferable lemming-like ideological conformity that characterizes his utterances, while at the same time showing himself to be a moderately talented purveyor of weapons-grade rantings, and distortions, which may not be morally advisable.
Shives has said of Sargon of Akkad in a livestream debate with Queeny Martha on feminism that took place back in 2015 he was a "misogynist, and a bigot who was more interested in grand-standing than having a discussion".
That seems to me an extraordinary statement for Mr. Shives to be making given his legendarily thin skin in terms of receiving criticism. It does seem to me that one of the main reasons why he prefers the safety of his communal echo chamber (you won't get me to say "safe space" as even I am above that cliche) and he only really feels brave enough to crack the odd sinister joke regarding Bearing or Sargon when he is pervading his own silly little channel on YouTube where there is no opposition.
Now, onto the tweet in question. Mr. Shives stated that he is for deplatforming bigots and fascists because it works and because it's the right thing to do. I demand to know what Mr. Shives defines to be a fascist and for that matter a bigot. I am at the mercy of my own speculation at this point because, at the risk of being redundant, Mr. Shives rather bravely threw me off his feed.
Here's my speculation on what Mr. Shives believes "bigot" and "fascism" to be: the umbrella term to be used to describe any and all persons of whom the dogmatic embrace of social justice warrior brand ideology isn't fully welcomed with both arms open. In other words, those with a dissenting viewpoint. He will be either at your throat or at your feet depending on your ideological position; recalling once again his ideological conformity as well as his pathetic reactionary tendencies.
I consider this little hit-piece to be my oh-so humble contribution to a movement that I find myself to be more and more attracted to. This is the movement that advocates for freedom of speech and expression over that which may offend or what another party has deemed "fascistic" or bigoted". J.S. Mill in his timeless essay "On Liberty" states rather plainly that it's not just the right of the person who speaks to be heard, it is the right of everyone in the audience to listen and to hear. Further, everytime you silence somebody you become a prisoner of your own action because you deny yourself the right to hear something. I wake up most mornings thinking to myself, "what can I do today to further the cause for secularism, pluralism and open, honest debate and what can I do to humiliate and inconvenience its foes". There, you have it.
Saul Alinsky wrote a wonderful book called "Rules For Radicals". Think of it as a book of guidelines for how and in what way to grow a significant community effort and how to enjoy it which Alinsky underlines as almost as important as the effort itself. I will let you look up the full list and only say that my personal favorite rule would have to be rule #5 : "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon". Well worth bearing in mind and certainly a rule that I tried to keep in mine as I went along this piece.
Incidentally, please pay attention to this Patreon scandal (and it is a scandal) as I believe that this is a watershed moment that will inaugurate a sudden shift in what we all digest in terms of political content. I have to admit that I cannot state with 100% precision what that inauguration will hail; but I can tell you this. Since Patreon banned Sargon of Akkad as it had previously banned prominent conservative commentator Lauren Southern, Sam Harris (very heroically, I may add) voluntarily took down his Patreon out of solidarity to the cause of freedom of speech and expression. Additionally and perhaps most excitingly, Dave Rubin (who I should be interviewing early next year) and lobster-aficionado Dr. Jordan Peterson (both of whom depend on Patreon) are working to create their own censorship-free platform and I am incredibly excited to see what form that platform takes. There had been talk of simply moving said accounts to SubscribeStar as previously stated, but PayPal very suddenly (and suspiciously) dropped their service to SubscribeStar. I don't believe anybody could quite sum up my thoughts on this as well as the incredibly talented animator Seamus Coughlin in this wonderful little video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCTARq1IXD4), who by the way is also a Patreon subscriber.
That's what I have at the moment. Please feel free to leave any feedback at all.
Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei66ZNbAVvg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg7R6LhAcMM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmjpsdWl9Es&t=323s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXZm-f3Jcrk&t=224s
https://www.youtube.com/user/stevelikes2curse
FreedomTunes: https://www.youtube.com/user/Cartanimation
Perhaps, the first "extreme dislike" is more apropo, but that isn't quite as catchy.
I think that hatred, though it often provides rather junky energy can, in fact, be tremendous cause to spring out of bed in the morning. Further, the cleverest of this breed of curmudgeon may attempt to canalize this energy into writing.
This is what happens on a given evening when I have had three beers instead of two. In my defense, I was left without adult supervision.
Here goes...
I have recently developed a quiet obsession with the YouTube skeptic community. These include such luminaries as Sargon of Akkad (who very recently had his Patreon membership withdrawn and he has a new account for his supporters which is here: https://www.subscribestar.com/sargon; please give) and Bearing (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwW_vaMPlq8J4weKDsfeJzw). Wonderful videos full of irony and self-deprecation, neither of which I could do without. Add to that the biting satire displayed throughout and you have me engaged. I don't know about you, dear reader, but I feel that a day without a healthy dose of sarcasm is like a day without sunshine.
And yes, indeed these videos all display political alignment with my own which I certainly will not say I am ashamed. I thought I better call that out straight-away lest I be accused of attempting to hide it.
There are also a number of what you may call leftist representative videos. You can probably form some sort of picture in your minds of what I am speaking of. Think of the sort of person who invokes the words "white supremacy", "literally Hitler", "hateful rhetoric" (incidentally pay close attention to this one in political discourse. In my experience, the dead give-away for when someone doesn't know what they're talking about is when they use the word "rhetoric"-- not perfect advice, but I promise you well-worth bearing in mind), with frightening, not to say suspicious regularity and in the absence of a "real" argument or point.
One representative of this misguided and virtue signaling enterprise would be the clownish and risible figure of Steve Shives. He is well known for being open-minded and well-researched enough to answer questions regarding his position (I told you I enjoy sarcasm) in an intelligent even-handed way. I ought to know, he blocked me from his Twitter account earlier today. My great crime was as follows:
He tweeted the following: "I strongly support deplatforming fascists and bigots for two reasons: 1) it's the right thing to do, and 2) it works." -- https://twitter.com/steve_shives/status/1072172930191249409
I believe that this is a contemptible statement and I believe that anyone who agrees with it should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. More on that later.
I tweet back one very simple question: "How do you define the term "fascist?". I am able to define it (in fact I have read fairly extensively on it) and was more than prepared to file Mr. Shives under "Unclear On The Concept" in my estimation but I much wanted to know his thoughts (friends of mine, particularly those with whom I disagree with, will likely have to concede my genuine curiosity on matters such as this).
So, imagine then, my great surprise (my surprise, on the other hand, was not so very genuine) when I was unceremoniously blocked from his Twitter (I have the screenshots to prove it).
Mr. Shives presents something of a dialectical dilemma. On one hand, there is an insufferable lemming-like ideological conformity that characterizes his utterances, while at the same time showing himself to be a moderately talented purveyor of weapons-grade rantings, and distortions, which may not be morally advisable.
Shives has said of Sargon of Akkad in a livestream debate with Queeny Martha on feminism that took place back in 2015 he was a "misogynist, and a bigot who was more interested in grand-standing than having a discussion".
That seems to me an extraordinary statement for Mr. Shives to be making given his legendarily thin skin in terms of receiving criticism. It does seem to me that one of the main reasons why he prefers the safety of his communal echo chamber (you won't get me to say "safe space" as even I am above that cliche) and he only really feels brave enough to crack the odd sinister joke regarding Bearing or Sargon when he is pervading his own silly little channel on YouTube where there is no opposition.
Now, onto the tweet in question. Mr. Shives stated that he is for deplatforming bigots and fascists because it works and because it's the right thing to do. I demand to know what Mr. Shives defines to be a fascist and for that matter a bigot. I am at the mercy of my own speculation at this point because, at the risk of being redundant, Mr. Shives rather bravely threw me off his feed.
Here's my speculation on what Mr. Shives believes "bigot" and "fascism" to be: the umbrella term to be used to describe any and all persons of whom the dogmatic embrace of social justice warrior brand ideology isn't fully welcomed with both arms open. In other words, those with a dissenting viewpoint. He will be either at your throat or at your feet depending on your ideological position; recalling once again his ideological conformity as well as his pathetic reactionary tendencies.
I consider this little hit-piece to be my oh-so humble contribution to a movement that I find myself to be more and more attracted to. This is the movement that advocates for freedom of speech and expression over that which may offend or what another party has deemed "fascistic" or bigoted". J.S. Mill in his timeless essay "On Liberty" states rather plainly that it's not just the right of the person who speaks to be heard, it is the right of everyone in the audience to listen and to hear. Further, everytime you silence somebody you become a prisoner of your own action because you deny yourself the right to hear something. I wake up most mornings thinking to myself, "what can I do today to further the cause for secularism, pluralism and open, honest debate and what can I do to humiliate and inconvenience its foes". There, you have it.
Saul Alinsky wrote a wonderful book called "Rules For Radicals". Think of it as a book of guidelines for how and in what way to grow a significant community effort and how to enjoy it which Alinsky underlines as almost as important as the effort itself. I will let you look up the full list and only say that my personal favorite rule would have to be rule #5 : "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon". Well worth bearing in mind and certainly a rule that I tried to keep in mine as I went along this piece.
Incidentally, please pay attention to this Patreon scandal (and it is a scandal) as I believe that this is a watershed moment that will inaugurate a sudden shift in what we all digest in terms of political content. I have to admit that I cannot state with 100% precision what that inauguration will hail; but I can tell you this. Since Patreon banned Sargon of Akkad as it had previously banned prominent conservative commentator Lauren Southern, Sam Harris (very heroically, I may add) voluntarily took down his Patreon out of solidarity to the cause of freedom of speech and expression. Additionally and perhaps most excitingly, Dave Rubin (who I should be interviewing early next year) and lobster-aficionado Dr. Jordan Peterson (both of whom depend on Patreon) are working to create their own censorship-free platform and I am incredibly excited to see what form that platform takes. There had been talk of simply moving said accounts to SubscribeStar as previously stated, but PayPal very suddenly (and suspiciously) dropped their service to SubscribeStar. I don't believe anybody could quite sum up my thoughts on this as well as the incredibly talented animator Seamus Coughlin in this wonderful little video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCTARq1IXD4), who by the way is also a Patreon subscriber.
That's what I have at the moment. Please feel free to leave any feedback at all.
Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei66ZNbAVvg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg7R6LhAcMM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmjpsdWl9Es&t=323s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXZm-f3Jcrk&t=224s
https://www.youtube.com/user/stevelikes2curse
FreedomTunes: https://www.youtube.com/user/Cartanimation
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