RadixJournal - The Hashtag Wars

00:00:00.000 So, Jack, how many people do you think died last weekend because they were run over by women texting all women while driving? 0.99

00:00:12.360 Well, we may never know.

00:00:14.400 But there's a strong possibility that while women were texting their woes about men checking them out and trying to buy them drinks and trying to hold doors for them, that possibly they ran over pedestrians in their Porsche Cayennes.

00:00:33.040 Yeah. Poor men who are out running errands for their wives and girlfriends.

00:00:37.260 Yes. Yes. Poor slaves out there doing hard work that goes unrecognized because, yes, all women. 1.00

00:00:46.100 So what was all women? You actually took part a little bit in this hashtag war, I hear.

00:00:55.120 Yes. Yeah. That was hashtag war.

00:01:01.400 Yeah. You know, I just.

00:01:04.160 What did you do during the hashtag wars?

00:01:06.180 Well, I can tell you, I fought in the battle of Joyce Carol Oates.

00:01:11.760 Well, I was on Facebook, but I really wanted to go.

00:01:17.720 I just I had too many commitments at home.

00:01:21.040 I had to go to college.

00:01:23.020 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

00:01:24.360 No, I. Yeah. No, I just I was sitting there.

00:01:28.660 I had other stuff to do and I could just play along with it for a while.

00:01:31.280 And so I sat there and Joyce Carol Oates was tweeting a bunch of yes, all women things about, oh, well, why do men get so upset when women just want respect?

00:01:43.420 And, you know, I was I was tweeting her back like respect is earned.

00:01:48.340 What do you mean? What kind of respect do you want?

00:01:50.300 Do you want control or do you want respect?

00:01:51.760 You know, just just just to mess with her. 1.00

00:01:54.000 I was hoping that she would say something terrible to me so that I could use it to promote my book.

00:01:57.160 But no such luck.

00:02:00.860 But, yeah, no, I followed it all day.

00:02:03.500 And, you know, it's it was just it was really one one guy nailed it.

00:02:07.560 And he said it was a massive humble brag.

00:02:11.440 Exactly.

00:02:11.880 You know, where women got to get on there and say how oppressed they were and kind of in a way say how desired they were.

00:02:23.660 Exactly.

00:02:24.060 Exactly. You know, and it was kind of it was kind of this one guy just went off on them all day.

00:02:30.540 I can actually like let's see if I can.

00:02:32.460 I retweeted almost everything when he posted because it was hilarious.

00:02:35.620 It was but it was it was pretty funny to troll that.

00:02:40.640 And I was also trolled some of the you know, of course, you know, you have anything you time you have women saying, oh, we're oppressed.

00:02:47.760 You'll have some white knights sweep in and say, yes, women are so oppressed, even though they're, you know, less oppressed than they've ever been in the history of the world. 1.00

00:02:56.080 And those white knights are just trying to get laid. 1.00

00:02:59.080 Yeah. 0.99

00:02:59.400 Either trying to get laid or their gay best friends trying to support, you know, girls. 0.99

00:03:04.220 They're all sitting there. 0.81

00:03:05.040 I just imagine them all sitting there and, you know, like in high chairs at some cocktail lounge.

00:03:09.480 And they're just saying, yes, all women while they're, you know, you know, drinking cosmopolitan's together.

00:03:15.600 Yeah.

00:03:18.720 It's very strange.

00:03:20.140 It is.

00:03:20.940 I mean, obviously, not everyone is on Twitter.

00:03:24.560 Right.

00:03:25.040 But nevertheless, it is a broad swath of the population of really the world population.

00:03:32.280 Yes.

00:03:32.700 And it's a hive mind. 0.60

00:03:34.700 I mean, it really is remarkable. 0.98

00:03:35.980 I mean, we can joke about the hashtag doctrine or someone like Suey Park, who seems kind of like a cute little girl who has mental problems. 0.59

00:03:48.080 It's hard for me not to feel sorry for her, actually, despite the fact that she is a completely obnoxious, I won't say the word.

00:03:57.380 But, you know, in a way, we can make fun of them properly.

00:04:02.900 But in a way, they are getting at something.

00:04:05.400 I mean, it's almost like this.

00:04:07.540 There's a hive mind quality to to things like Twitter, where everyone really is on the same page and all of this phony outrage.

00:04:16.280 Yeah.

00:04:16.620 Well, actually, the the tweet that I made that was retweeted the most was hashtag.

00:04:22.300 Yes, all women will be passionate about whatever hashtag the media tells them to be care about next week. 0.84

00:04:26.580 Good slaves.

00:04:28.300 Yes.

00:04:28.780 And people like that one, because that's I, I, I observe with glee that I don't think today it is trending anymore.

00:04:39.300 And so no one cares about all women anymore.

00:04:43.340 Yes, correct.

00:04:44.280 Right now it is Jay Carney, T-Cott, White House, some unpronounceable name, Tito, Starbucks, Taco Bell, and Josh Earnest, whoever those people are.

00:04:55.960 Yes.

00:04:56.220 So that's, that's what is on the, you know, on the minds of America today.

00:05:01.900 Well, I'm sure it would be funny just to get a screenshot of like, all women, and then cancel Colbert, and then Taco Bell. 1.00

00:05:08.780 Like, like, like, like, bullshit feminist causes followed by like, disgusting fast food. 1.00

00:05:19.240 Yeah. 1.00

00:05:20.020 Yeah.

00:05:20.660 And that's, and ladies... 1.00

00:05:21.920 Welcome to America.

00:05:23.560 Yes.

00:05:24.320 USA.

00:05:25.200 USA.

00:05:28.280 Well, what do you think?

00:05:29.900 I mean, don't you think they're, I guess I would say, what do you think is behind these, these feminist things? 1.00

00:05:36.680 I mean, it's, it's a very weird thing.

00:05:38.780 I mean, I guess you could say, like, what wave are we in?

00:05:41.400 Because it's, as you were saying, you know, it's not, it's a kind of, it's all women are 1.00

00:05:46.960 oppressed in the sense that all of these guys are eyeing me and asking me out and rubbing

00:05:52.140 up against my breast or something on the subway, which are all this, you know, kind of indirect

00:05:58.800 manner of self-aggrandizement, of I am desired and I am beautiful.

00:06:04.300 Yeah.

00:06:04.740 So, I mean, is that kind of where we've ended up with feminism? 1.00

00:06:08.780 Well, no, it's just, you know, women want to feel special.

00:06:13.800 Everyone wants to feel special to begin with.

00:06:15.880 Yeah.

00:06:16.240 I think we all can agree that everybody wants to feel special and women want to feel special

00:06:20.600 and in our culture, being victimized makes you special and also being desired makes you

00:06:26.360 special.

00:06:27.280 So that's, you know, that's a twofer right there.

00:06:30.220 So, you know, they get to be divided, you know, desired and special at the same time.

00:06:34.360 Um, and, uh, but as far as any kind of movement goes, I mean, these things, I, I, I mean, I

00:06:43.760 don't know, I can't put the finger on who, uh, started this particular one.

00:06:49.180 Um, I'm sure someone knows somewhere I can't be bothered to even Google that, but, uh, you

00:06:56.120 know, the people who, you know, get behind it and push it are a lot of times these feminists 1.00

00:07:01.020 with a lot of followers, um, who really write clickbait articles almost every week.

00:07:08.460 And, uh, you know, and, and, uh, you know, about how women are oppressed because, you

00:07:14.200 know, that's, that's their stick.

00:07:15.800 I mean, that's what it's, you know, it's, uh, I don't know, like Michael Moore tweeting

00:07:22.240 about the 1% or something.

00:07:23.880 I don't know, whatever he tweets about that he cares about. 0.97

00:07:26.140 But I, uh, another person I don't give a shit about, but, uh, but yeah, no, he, you 0.92

00:07:32.220 know, it, it, that's their job is to write about this in many ways. 0.97

00:07:34.960 Like it's, it's our job to, to write about things that, uh, disgust us about modernity

00:07:41.360 and, uh, you know, the current state of affairs in the world.

00:07:45.260 Yeah.

00:07:45.880 And so that's what they're doing.

00:07:47.180 So, I mean, I don't think sometimes it's any more than that is these people riling, you

00:07:53.060 know, tapping into the, you know, women and everybody's need to feel special and desired

00:07:58.460 and, and whatever.

00:07:59.820 And, uh, you know, I think people love to jump on these bandwagons, but then forget about

00:08:04.100 them.

00:08:04.820 Do you think there's been a kind of collapse of the left?

00:08:08.200 Um, I, I've had this, I've had this article brewing in my head alongside the other 20 articles

00:08:14.640 that I've, uh, promised myself that I'm going to write, but one of them seems to be like

00:08:19.820 the left has in a way collapsed.

00:08:22.400 Like we always think that we live in this leftist society and blah, blah, blah, but in

00:08:26.820 a way the, the left has collapsed into the politics of outrage and, and just nonsense

00:08:33.260 like this, basically, if the left is no longer a revolution, the left is no longer a revolutionary

00:08:38.880 force.

00:08:39.360 It's going to fundamentally change society.

00:08:41.180 It's also not a force that threatens the establishment in any way, shape or form.

00:08:46.660 It's a conservative force, conservatism, conservatism, progressivism and conservatism are the same

00:08:52.220 thing right now.

00:08:52.940 Yeah.

00:08:53.240 Anyone who's, any, anyone who still calls himself a conservative and is not a progressive is,

00:08:59.120 hasn't caught on yet.

00:09:00.260 Yeah.

00:09:00.740 Yeah.

00:09:00.960 And so people like Suey Park are the future. 0.72

00:09:03.560 Like it's all bullshit outrage politics that we see now because there's in a way nothing 0.98

00:09:10.020 left like outside, you know, transgender marriage or I don't know what, what's next. 0.99

00:09:16.100 But there's, there's nothing really left.

00:09:18.640 I mean, we, we live, it's, it's just, I mean, I guess you could say that in terms, there,

00:09:23.820 there clearly is inequality of the human race and the sense that, you know, if you look at,

00:09:30.760 you know, who's, who's making a lot of money, who are, who was, who's doing entrepreneurship,

00:09:35.220 who's, you know, so on and so forth, there is clear gender inequality that will probably never 0.99

00:09:42.640 go away outside of some kind of totalitarian society.

00:09:47.240 So granted that is there.

00:09:50.260 But, you know, in, in the sense of rights or in the sense of just being recognized, I mean,

00:09:57.080 I think a lot of, I can even understand a lot of early feminism of just wanting to be 1.00

00:10:01.960 recognized.

00:10:02.560 I mean, that's a, also a human emotion.

00:10:05.360 Yeah.

00:10:05.560 Uh, and, uh, but it seems like that has kind of been done with.

00:10:10.220 And so we're just left with Sui Park.

00:10:13.080 I mean, Sui Park, we shouldn't make fun of her because she is in a way gotten, like she 1.00

00:10:19.060 has mastered the zeitgeist in a way that, that, that, that few have. 0.98

00:10:24.420 Like she, in a way really gets it, that it's all about bullshit outrage. 0.94

00:10:29.460 And that's what it's, I mean, if you think of even like the neocons, I'm sorry to go 0.95

00:10:33.160 off on a tangent here, but I think this is getting at something.

00:10:35.560 I mean, I was thinking like, you know, the neocons of an earlier generation, uh, like

00:10:39.900 their, the grandparent neocons were like arguing about Trotsky and Stalin and the dialectic of

00:10:47.120 history and blah, blah, blah, you know, and then like their, their children were, you know,

00:10:52.380 Oh, let's go work in the Pentagon and, you know, create the Iraq war or something.

00:10:56.940 And then the grandchildren are like, let's get a, you know, I'm thinking about Jamie

00:11:02.520 Kerchick and these types of people.

00:11:04.320 Let's get a, a Russia today reporter to resign on air.

00:11:10.600 You know, it's just, it's just, everyone is trolling.

00:11:16.160 Yeah.

00:11:16.540 It's the troll, right.

00:11:17.980 Trolling is like, it's trolling is the new politics.

00:11:21.760 Yeah.

00:11:22.380 Yeah.

00:11:22.940 It seems like that way.

00:11:23.920 Well, actually, I mean, Jim Goad, uh, I've, I've actually said the phrase before myself.

00:11:30.740 Um, but, uh, Jim Goad wrote a great piece, uh, called the new church ladies.

00:11:37.140 And, uh, you know, basically saying that the, you know, the, the people of the left are really

00:11:42.740 the, they're carrying on this kind of, you know, Protestant church lady tradition of, of like,

00:11:49.600 how dare you say that?

00:11:51.160 Oh my goodness.

00:11:52.080 You know, like this, you know, outrage over words.

00:11:55.980 Yeah, exactly.

00:11:56.860 You know, like that, that comic character.

00:11:59.120 And he used that as a, you know, for his article, it was on thought catalog, I think is where

00:12:04.000 he published it.

00:12:04.560 And, uh, you know, it's, it's a great, it really describes what's happening because these

00:12:10.800 are, these are prudes in a way, you know, they're, they're prudes there.

00:12:14.560 They, what they can't believe, they can't believe that everyone doesn't agree with them.

00:12:19.220 Or they, someone has said something that is socially inappropriate is where really what,

00:12:26.620 that's what they're responding to, you know, like, uh, this is socially inappropriate.

00:12:29.500 This is a breach of etiquette.

00:12:31.220 Yeah.

00:12:32.100 And, uh, that's what the, I mean, that's what it all is.

00:12:34.320 It's all this game.

00:12:35.460 And I've, I've thought about it and I was going to write an article about, uh, the difference

00:12:41.540 between being offended and being, uh, insulted.

00:12:45.160 And it actually became very complex, but one of the things I talked about as I was writing

00:12:51.480 it, I was thinking about the idea that in many ways, this is kind of a woman thing that, 0.68

00:12:57.860 uh, you know, this proving purity, because women have always, as I wrote in the article 0.99

00:13:01.860 for, uh, uh, Radix, um, women have always been put in a position where they had to prove 1.00

00:13:09.420 purity.

00:13:09.900 That was their value.

00:13:11.060 Yeah.

00:13:11.500 You know, this constant kind of chastity contest that women have, like, I am more morally 1.00

00:13:16.700 upright than you are.

00:13:17.800 And you see that that's the church lady thing. 0.99

00:13:19.640 Like, Oh no, I am far more morally pure.

00:13:24.900 And that's what they're doing.

00:13:25.780 They're having a purity contest.

00:13:27.100 And, you know, by, by voicing their opinion, all these people who are doing yes, all women

00:13:31.500 and all these hashtags and all these moral hashtags there, they're saying, I am more pure

00:13:36.240 than you there for, I'm morally superior to you and I can, I've now increased my value

00:13:42.620 and it's all evolutionary psychology.

00:13:45.220 They don't know what they're doing and they just, they're just being emotional and doing

00:13:48.160 their thing.

00:13:48.580 But, uh, you know, I, I really feel strongly that that's what's happening is this, this

00:13:53.340 kind of etiquette purity contest that people are having now.

00:13:57.000 And now the new purity is on the left or even whatever it is, the corporate progressive

00:14:02.300 mainstream.

00:14:04.000 Yeah.

00:14:05.000 You know, cause I don't even think it's a genuine left anymore.

00:14:07.380 I mean, it's just, you know, these kinds of social leftist causes, you know, they've

00:14:11.860 been sucked into the mainstream as a way of kind of making everybody interchangeable.

00:14:16.240 Yeah.

00:14:16.560 Yeah.

00:14:16.780 No, I agree.

00:14:17.440 I, I, that's what I was saying.

00:14:18.440 I think the left has collapsed maybe much more than the right.

00:14:22.660 Um, and, uh, cause you know, what we're seeing really, I think it's in a way better understood

00:14:27.320 as a, as some kind of weird new morality than, than thinking of it as like, this is what Stalin

00:14:34.640 wanted or something.

00:14:35.380 I mean, Stalin, Stalin.

00:14:37.180 Yeah.

00:14:37.600 Yeah.

00:14:37.740 They don't, they don't know about him.

00:14:39.400 No.

00:14:40.040 They don't even know about him.

00:14:41.400 Or, or, or Marx or Trotsky or any of them.

00:14:43.600 Yeah.

00:14:43.860 This is not part of that.

00:14:45.260 This is something very different.

00:14:47.380 Yeah.

00:14:47.840 Yeah.

00:14:48.040 Yeah.

00:14:48.780 I've actually had a progressive say that to me.

00:14:51.060 I've, I've had a progressive, a school teacher say, you know, that he thought I was wrong

00:14:55.460 because I was, you know, I thought that people were losing values and he's like, no, we're

00:15:01.840 making new ones.

00:15:03.640 And I'm like, yeah, like not values, but morals.

00:15:07.120 Yeah.

00:15:07.520 You know, like, no, we're making new morals.

00:15:09.580 And, uh, I'm like, yeah, that's actually what's happening.

00:15:12.920 Yeah.

00:15:13.020 That's clearly what's happening.

00:15:14.540 And it's both.

00:15:15.700 I mean, it's, it's one thing it's to speak a certain language.

00:15:18.540 It's a shibboleth, um, which I, I believe the, the origin of the word shibboleth is, um,

00:15:24.160 it's from the old Testament.

00:15:25.540 And it's, if you pronounce that word differently, that meant that you were of this other ethnic 0.98

00:15:29.880 group and they'd kill you on the spot.

00:15:33.540 But, uh, um, but, but now the new shibboleth is I speak the certain language and I, I, I

00:15:41.220 check off a couple of little boxes and that means that I am employable for one thing, you

00:15:46.880 know, as a man, like, uh, you know, Oh, you know, all women. 1.00

00:15:50.440 Oh yeah.

00:15:50.960 I, you know, that's great.

00:15:52.000 That means that I could work at a corporation.

00:15:54.020 I can earn more money and so on and so forth.

00:15:56.120 So it has a social kind of like competitive nature, but then I also, I think it would be

00:16:01.300 wrong to totally discount the fact that it's just a moral thing.

00:16:04.600 Like people almost would want to think it's a good in itself and, and also just that weird,

00:16:09.760 the, the religious aspect of banning words.

00:16:12.940 Um, you know, I mean the, the one, I mean this, this notion that like a word, like the

00:16:18.600 letters N I G G E R have like Matt and really spelled it.

00:16:23.700 That was so brave.

00:16:26.820 I'm going to say it, but those, those words have such that, that, you know, all of language

00:16:32.480 is context.

00:16:33.220 I mean, remember we're just, we're throwing around little, uh, little sounds and, you know,

00:16:39.680 within a certain society and within a certain context and even within a certain tone of

00:16:43.960 voice, they have meaning, but there's, there's no, there's no meaning to nigger. 0.99

00:16:49.400 You know, it could, it, it's, it, it's just some thing.

00:16:52.720 It has a certain history.

00:16:54.340 It has certain connotations. 0.96

00:16:56.080 Some of them are contradictory or cunt, you know, I mean, great rapper, right. 1.00

00:17:01.020 Niggers with an attitude. 1.00

00:17:03.580 He's now, oh, right.

00:17:04.580 He's a billionaire now.

00:17:06.180 He's, he's now, he's the new Apple CEO.

00:17:09.480 I'm sorry.

00:17:09.920 I was just calling you a good rapper. 0.94

00:17:11.260 I don't, uh, but you know, I mean, cunt has a history and it's actually, you know, interesting. 1.00

00:17:16.860 I was watching this funny video by this, uh, shrill professional atheist named Thunderfoot. 0.99

00:17:22.880 But, you know, cunt has a, cunt has a certain etymology. 0.98

00:17:27.380 It has a history and it actually has very different meanings in different contexts. 0.98

00:17:32.340 In Australia, I did, I had actually never known this, but Australia, it's a term of endearment.

00:17:37.840 So it really, it's not, yeah, it's not real, but I think these people put all this magic

00:17:44.520 to it and it really is like an incantation or a spell and it keeps going.

00:17:49.280 So now no one in, in, you know, in a, and I would not, even I, I would, I'm not going 0.98

00:17:54.260 to go start using nigger and cunt around people because obviously they're like, wow, 1.00

00:17:59.500 this guy's a real jerk. 1.00

00:18:00.820 So, I mean, it's, it's obvious everything's in context, but, uh, you know, the, this, there 1.00

00:18:06.260 was a recent, uh, attempt to ban the word bossy.

00:18:09.860 Yeah, yeah.

00:18:11.060 So it's like bossy has a spell. 0.90

00:18:13.860 Like you, even though this is a perfectly fine word, uh, that can be used in all different

00:18:19.920 contexts, including patriarchal oppression, but also a myriad of other contexts.

00:18:25.160 That was beautiful.

00:18:26.220 A friend of mine said that.

00:18:27.740 It's a magic word.

00:18:29.360 Well, ban bossy was fantastic because it was bossy women telling you not to be bossy, telling 1.00

00:18:35.880 you not to say bossy.

00:18:37.420 I mean, it was fantastic.

00:18:38.340 You know, I, it was a joke that wrote itself.

00:18:42.100 A friend of mine pointed that out and I'm like, that is beautiful.

00:18:44.620 It's so true. 0.84

00:18:45.860 Exactly.

00:18:46.800 The other thing, I love the fact that Condoleezza Rice, like, so we're banning a perfectly fine 0.99

00:18:53.180 word, yet we're supposed to admire this horrible woman who was directly involved in the deaths 0.99

00:19:00.220 of millions.

00:19:02.080 Oh, well, yeah.

00:19:02.900 Like the, the wasting of a trillions of dollars, the violent, brutal death of more than a million

00:19:11.640 people.

00:19:12.400 And yet we're supposed to be like offended by bossy.

00:19:16.620 It's like, God, ban Condoleezza Rice. 0.99

00:19:20.720 I mean, I mean, America is ridiculous. 0.94

00:19:22.620 That's why people, that's why people want Putin to take us over, you know, America has 1.00

00:19:26.480 become ridiculous. 0.86

00:19:27.540 And, uh, you know, that's, that's the way it is. 0.94

00:19:29.940 One of the, one of the tweets I sent, I sent out when I was, you know, being, wasting time

00:19:33.640 was, uh, you know, uh, Angela Merkel and, uh, clearly Hillary Clinton are embarrassed

00:19:42.320 by yes, all women, you know, because they can't, uh, yes. 1.00

00:19:47.380 Yeah.

00:19:47.760 So there's something like the effect of like, because, you know, obviously, you know, they

00:19:52.340 had a hard time getting to be some of the most powerful women in the world because, you 1.00

00:19:55.960 know, men were checking them out and trying to rape them all the time. 1.00

00:19:59.940 You know, it's like somehow they've managed to overcome all this stuff to become these

00:20:04.760 amazingly powerful women, you know, but all these women are complaining that, you know, 1.00

00:20:09.620 men are trying to hold doors open for them.

00:20:14.120 I remember when I was a graduate student at the university of Chicago in about, it was

00:20:19.500 more than, it was about, you know, 2002 or 2003.

00:20:22.180 And I actually held a door open for Martha Nussbaum. 0.71

00:20:27.200 I don't, I don't know if you know who she is.

00:20:30.160 I didn't know who she was.

00:20:31.100 No, huh?

00:20:31.400 Well, I, I only realized that who she was. 0.99

00:20:34.380 She used to be married to Cass Sudstein, um, who's this, uh, big Obama figure.

00:20:41.240 And he seems to actually be this kind of alpha male who trades out, uh, various, uh, leftist

00:20:49.780 icons and then dumps them once their ovaries shrivel or something.

00:20:53.540 So he, he was marrying this philosopher, quote unquote, Martha Nussbaum.

00:20:58.000 And then he dumped her for, uh, Samantha Power, the, uh, horrible, uh, like humanitarian 1.00

00:21:05.240 interventionist who works at the UN or so.

00:21:07.740 Anyway, I remember opening a door for Martha Nussbaum and then she was like, and she opened

00:21:12.980 the door for me.

00:21:14.360 And I was like, oh God.

00:21:16.220 It was a standoff.

00:21:17.860 Yeah.

00:21:18.060 It was a Mexican, a feminist standoff of door opening. 1.00

00:21:22.960 Of glaring and kissing.

00:21:24.940 Right.

00:21:25.240 Now I, I was really close to power then.

00:21:28.400 Yeah.

00:21:30.800 Oh gosh.

00:21:33.220 Well, what's, what else is going on?

00:21:35.420 So do you think, um, do you think Elliot Rogers is kind of the, uh, the Anders Breivik

00:21:42.700 of the men's movement?

00:21:44.440 Do you think?

00:21:45.820 Uh, you know, I, I can, well, I can assure you is that no one will remember him two weeks

00:21:50.420 from now.

00:21:51.080 Yeah.

00:21:51.600 Uh, you know, like, and that's, that's the thing with these, these shooters.

00:21:55.240 I mean, I know that there were a bunch of people online.

00:21:57.440 It was actually fairly grotesque and whorish in the way that, uh, a bunch of feminists 1.00

00:22:02.840 kind of jumped on that and, uh, wanted to make his murdering of more women than men. 0.91

00:22:08.900 I mean, sorry, more men than women into, uh, into something that was about misogyny.

00:22:14.800 I mean, obviously, you know, he was, he was just a poor kid that, well, he's a rich kid

00:22:19.960 actually, but the, you know, they couldn't get laid and, uh, you know, and it had to 0.73

00:22:23.780 be about white privilege, even though he was half Asian and all these, you know, it was

00:22:28.160 so nakedly grotesque in the way that they, they tried to fit this into their narrative 0.57

00:22:32.420 and, and, uh, it, it's, it just makes them look trashy in my, in my point of view, but

00:22:39.500 at the same time, I mean, these shooters, I mean, I think we're just, we have whatever

00:22:45.180 300, is it 300 or 350 million people in America?

00:22:48.900 Something like that.

00:22:50.080 Something like that.

00:22:50.880 It's in the threes.

00:22:51.900 And, uh, and you know, the fact that more of us don't kill each other on a regular basis

00:22:58.980 is actually pretty amazing, you know, the fact that, I mean, I, a lot of people have

00:23:03.980 thought about shooting or strangling or whatever, their coworkers or the people who screwed them

00:23:10.880 over or whatever.

00:23:11.780 This is a constant human drama throughout all.

00:23:14.220 This is what Shakespearean drama, this is what the epics, this is what everything is about. 1.00

00:23:17.720 Like the, this person screwed me over, therefore I want to kill them. 0.99

00:23:21.360 That's a normal human thing. 0.99

00:23:23.540 Most of us don't do it.

00:23:25.500 The fact that some, every once in a while with millions and millions and millions of

00:23:30.560 people, somebody does, you know, it's just amazing to me that more people don't do it.

00:23:36.020 I agree.

00:23:36.860 As our society grows, you know what I mean?

00:23:38.500 Like how many people do it in China?

00:23:39.660 We'll never know.

00:23:40.180 They won't tell us, you know, but I mean, you know, every so often they go on sword killing

00:23:44.220 and knife killing sprees or wherever, but, uh, you know, we, you know, it's going to keep

00:23:49.640 happening.

00:23:50.000 It's going to happen at once every three months.

00:23:51.980 It seems like that's the deal.

00:23:54.260 And, uh, for me to care about it or get outraged or get upset or even find it notable, you

00:24:00.880 know, as we, you know, as we started this thing, how many, how many people died while

00:24:04.900 texting while that happened?

00:24:07.640 Literally, that's not an insignificant number.

00:24:10.120 I mean, not at all.

00:24:11.060 I was joking, but literally people died because of that.

00:24:15.200 Yeah.

00:24:15.360 People died texting.

00:24:16.500 Yeah.

00:24:16.600 More people died texting that day, you know, possibly all is texting the hashtag, yes, all

00:24:22.380 women, but absolutely died while texting in America that actually happened. 1.00

00:24:27.800 I mean, you, more people died while texting than were shot by this guy.

00:24:31.940 And, um, you know, the level of outrage is completely disproportionate to what's happening.

00:24:37.360 It's like, do we change society so that you let's, let's change the when may change the

00:24:44.280 way that all men think everywhere so that maybe one less shooter happens a year, you know,

00:24:51.600 like, what are you going to stop?

00:24:53.140 You know, but we have to change everything because these statistically insignificant shooters,

00:25:01.640 you know, are, are, you know, you know, it's sad.

00:25:05.980 It would be sad if your family got caught in the crossfire of one of these shooters.

00:25:08.800 It happens.

00:25:09.820 They could also get in a car accident.

00:25:11.260 You know, I mean, people want to blame somebody and that's what, you know, that's human nature,

00:25:16.620 but I, I, I just feel like they're, the media needs something to talk about.

00:25:21.120 And so they talk about that.

00:25:22.300 Yeah.

00:25:22.740 Yeah.

00:25:23.240 Cause it's exciting and dramatic.

00:25:25.700 Well, I think it was the Joker in, uh, in, in the dark night who said that, you know,

00:25:30.920 when people, when 30,000 people die a year in a car accident or soldiers die in war, it makes

00:25:37.120 the back page, but if, you know, the Joker does one of his stunts and he introduces chaos

00:25:42.960 to the system, it makes the front page.

00:25:44.980 It, you know, it, it, it kind of, in, in some ways what, what we actually accept in daily

00:25:51.160 life is so much more appalling and, and crazy than, than one, the fact that one person clearly 0.54

00:25:59.660 has a mental illness. 0.99

00:26:00.920 Yeah. 0.99

00:26:01.760 I mean, these guys are the jokers, you know, like, uh, yeah, like that's a good way to

00:26:05.940 put it.

00:26:06.880 You know, they're just these kind of random things that pop up and.

00:26:10.740 Yeah.

00:26:11.680 And so theatrical people, you know, this kind of self, uh, uh, I don't know how to, if it's

00:26:19.060 the right word, like self theatricalizing a person.

00:26:22.300 If you listen to Elliot Rogers, um, video or, or looked at his manifesto of sorts, it's

00:26:29.460 this person who took his life very seriously and he was, I mean, this is why I kind of,

00:26:36.100 um, I was reading like, uh, I was, I still call him Rossi, but, um, uh, I guess he now

00:26:42.740 goes by.

00:26:43.320 Artiste or whatever.

00:26:44.540 Yeah.

00:26:44.820 He used to be, what was his name before that?

00:26:46.900 Vigilant citizen, not Vigilant citizen, that's another guy, Citizen Renegade or some.

00:26:50.840 Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:26:51.520 That was a bad name.

00:26:52.700 Uh, but yeah, I mean, I, I kind of, I mean, it's, it's hard for me to disagree with anything

00:26:58.760 he says in the sense of this is a, he, this is a failure as a human being and so on and

00:27:02.740 so forth.

00:27:03.420 Um, there might've been a kind of homoerotic content to the fact that he stabbed men and 0.83

00:27:08.860 shot women. 1.00

00:27:10.100 You know, I kind of saw that peripherally and I thought maybe he was a little reaching a

00:27:13.680 little bit there, but I mean, it's possible.

00:27:16.220 Who knows?

00:27:16.780 I mean, I tried to not get too Freudian with, you know, that kind of stuff.

00:27:20.520 Let's not, let's not make everything about a weird sexual perversion.

00:27:24.180 Sometimes a violent stabbing is just a violent stabbing.

00:27:27.920 Yes, exactly.

00:27:29.440 It's Freud said.

00:27:30.060 Sometimes you just really hate that guy, you know?

00:27:34.020 I mean, we don't, I mean, possibly, I mean, the thing is, I mean, everybody was like, oh, 0.91

00:27:39.440 he was probably gay or whatever.

00:27:40.780 I mean, he, I mean, he was half Asian, so he's, he's got a more gender neutral face.

00:27:46.360 Yeah.

00:27:46.580 I don't know if he was actually, you know, if in that world or by those standards, that

00:27:52.720 would be true or not.

00:27:54.040 I mean, but it's easy for us to look at him and be like, oh, well, he has a, you know,

00:27:57.780 a slender jaw, you know, whatever.

00:28:00.400 He did, he did from, at least from my eyes, have a kind of feminine persona, but, but

00:28:05.100 anyway, I don't think that's in a way overly meaningful.

00:28:08.100 I mean, I, again, I, I have this, I, I, God, I don't want to say I sympathize with him

00:28:13.100 because not only have I just used the N and C words, but I'm saying this, but I, I kind

00:28:19.060 of.

00:28:19.280 Well, pray that the SDLC isn't the same.

00:28:20.780 But yeah, I, I, I, in some ways I have a certain bit of sympathy.

00:28:26.740 I mean, needless to say, you know, random killing is, uh, uh, something that I reject,

00:28:32.480 uh, totally.

00:28:33.440 It's very bad.

00:28:33.820 Yes.

00:28:34.640 I've got it.

00:28:35.800 But, um, you know, it's, and in some ways these people that take themselves so seriously,

00:28:40.500 they probably had, they, he probably did have a kind of Asperger's type, uh, you know,

00:28:45.460 autistic, uh, you know, some kind of odd on the autism spectrum of some way.

00:28:49.540 Um, but it's, it's these types of people who, if they're able to sublimate a lot of

00:28:54.620 these horrible desires they have, uh, they, you know, make crazy movies or write novels

00:29:01.440 or become hedge fund managers.

00:29:04.160 It really is these types who I think are almost, um, they can, they're in, in, in,

00:29:11.500 including if they can channel that resentment that they have, they can actually,

00:29:15.460 they do great things for society.

00:29:17.200 And I, I don't think they're actually, I mean, I think in a way mental illness, you

00:29:21.920 know, I, mental illness probably had a, an, a positive evolutionary, uh, uh, aspect to

00:29:28.100 it in the sense that, you know, you almost need some crazy psychopath if you're at war

00:29:34.780 or you, you need, in order to create great art or to, to kind of think outside the box, 0.98

00:29:39.820 you almost need someone who, who is quote unquote mentally ill.

00:29:45.460 Uh, because they, they, they serve a purpose in society and, you know, I mean, I'm, at some 0.98

00:29:51.120 level Beethoven was totally crazy.

00:29:53.740 I mean, he was, you know, live, you know, living in filth and had a, a, uh, bedpan underneath

00:30:00.700 the piano where he was, you know, did it when I walked to the, you know, these types of

00:30:06.360 people can sometimes be the great people.

00:30:10.880 And, uh, I mean, certainly not all of them. 0.99

00:30:13.080 Some people are just crazy.

00:30:14.380 But, uh, but, uh, but I don't know.

00:30:16.640 I, I, I think it's, it's, it's also, it's to, to kind of just see this as some, this is 0.94

00:30:22.080 a acting out of male patriarchy is totally ridiculous.

00:30:27.220 But I think it's also in a way kind of like demeaning these types of people who, who we 0.75

00:30:33.080 should try to kind of understand and, and try to actually have sympathy for of, you know,

00:30:38.120 we, you're, you're, you could be the type that thinks outside the box and does something

00:30:42.700 special. 0.93

00:30:43.900 Um, or you could be the type who shoots a bunch of people, but we're going to take that 0.99

00:30:49.040 chance.

00:30:49.400 Well, if I may make a bad pun, um, you know, the only difference between, uh, this guy and,

00:30:56.100 uh, Yukio Mishima is in the execution.

00:30:58.500 Yeah, so to speak.

00:31:00.620 You know, I mean, it's, it's, are you making a great artistic impact? 0.94

00:31:04.200 Are you doing this amazing thing when you kill people?

00:31:07.420 I mean, it's, there's so many ways you can go with that. 0.85

00:31:10.400 And yeah, I mean, like the things that make, the things that make people weird or all those

00:31:15.140 sorts of things that make them great and think outside the box, like you were saying.

00:31:18.880 And, and, and well, when, when you talk about mental illness, everyone wants to say, oh, 0.94

00:31:24.580 well, he was mentally ill. 0.70

00:31:25.820 He was failed by the system. 0.98

00:31:27.720 Oh, he shouldn't have been allowed to get this or that.

00:31:30.520 And they do this every time that this happens.

00:31:32.760 And, you know, that's, there's such a danger in that as well, because then you're

00:31:37.260 talking about what is the definition of crazy and, uh, you know, what is it, what

00:31:41.180 it makes someone mentally ill.

00:31:42.860 And that's so politicized and it's so controlled by a very specific group of people that, that

00:31:49.080 you really don't want to give more power.

00:31:51.040 At least we don't really want to give more power.

00:31:53.600 I mean, uh, we're talking about basically democratic women, you know, democratic, reliably 0.99

00:32:03.160 democrat women are the bulk of the psychology profession. 1.00

00:32:08.460 Yeah.

00:32:09.040 You know that, I mean, it's statistically, it's a fact it's most of those people who are

00:32:13.120 involved in that are progressively minded women. 1.00

00:32:16.640 So if you're going to let them decide who is crazy, it's going to be everyone doesn't

00:32:23.080 think like a progressively minded woman.

00:32:25.340 Oh, I'm sure.

00:32:26.120 And that's what's happened, you know, over time, you know, I mean, that's why we can

00:32:28.800 send people.

00:32:29.480 Oh yeah. 1.00

00:32:29.820 You can, I mean, obviously, you know, you're insane. 0.99

00:32:32.040 Yeah. 0.99

00:32:32.960 You know, I mean, I'm insane. 1.00

00:32:34.360 You're insane. 0.82

00:32:35.060 By their definitions, they can come up with a label for each of us that is clinically, that 0.97

00:32:40.720 has some kind of clinical context.

00:32:42.120 And, uh, that's the danger of everyone wants to be like, oh, well, you know, we should,

00:32:47.340 you know, put the focus on mental illness.

00:32:50.040 Well, the people who are making the decisions about what mental illness is and what isn't

00:32:53.960 are people who are not our friends.

00:32:56.820 No, absolutely not.

00:32:58.600 What is that list of, it's a big book that where they list essentially psychological

00:33:04.180 disorders.

00:33:04.540 I want to say DSM.

00:33:05.940 Yeah, that's what it is.

00:33:07.080 DSM or something.

00:33:08.180 I can't remember what it stands for.

00:33:09.760 I'll, I'll Google it.

00:33:11.140 Yes, I would not be surprised if, if racism is not already in there, it will be.

00:33:16.840 It is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

00:33:21.480 Right.

00:33:24.400 But, uh, yeah, no, I wouldn't be surprised.

00:33:26.300 I mean, as you can see, I mean, they stigmatize that in language anyway.

00:33:31.020 And what we think is mentally ill, I mean, what we think is mentally ill is actually, it

00:33:34.260 says so much about culture.

00:33:35.900 Like, you could write a fascinating history about what is mental illness.

00:33:39.500 I mean, the one that jumps out just because this is what, you know, is, has become the

00:33:44.440 political cause celeb of the past five years is homosexuality in the sense that that once 0.90

00:33:50.560 was a mental illness. 0.70

00:33:52.420 That you had, we have to figure this out.

00:33:53.960 What's gone wrong here?

00:33:55.280 Let's do, you know, let's, uh, free them or save them or something.

00:33:59.480 And then, you know, you can't conceivably say that now, but you, you almost need a, there 0.95

00:34:04.480 has, someone has to be mentally ill. 0.57

00:34:06.040 So at one point, racism was like, oh yeah, well that's, that's a sign of sanity. 0.94

00:34:10.720 Uh, you know, race mixing. 0.99

00:34:14.120 Oh my gosh, lock this person up.

00:34:16.220 Uh, but you know, things have flipped and, you know, I guess this gets back to, I think

00:34:21.160 what's probably the theme of this conversation, uh, is, is this morality that the, this moral,

00:34:28.860 uh, this moral imperative, which is, is, is really deeply human and which we need.

00:34:34.940 And, you know, it's, it's wrong to say that we've, we're no longer moralist or morality

00:34:41.440 doesn't play a part in our lives just because, uh, a certain Christian morality has waned.

00:34:47.780 And, and clearly it has, um, but you know, we've become hyper puritanical in other ways.

00:34:55.400 And, uh, and maybe, maybe we can't ever get away from that.

00:34:58.600 I mean, maybe humans, that's just a real deep human need.

00:35:02.560 I never finished that, that piece that I was writing on, on being offended because it comes

00:35:06.560 down to social shaming and social shaming is how groups of people control each other.

00:35:11.400 And I mean, and that's, it happens in every society, whether you like the idea of the

00:35:17.920 society or not, you know, it happens in a group of men, every group of men has social

00:35:22.580 shaming.

00:35:23.160 Masculinity is a product to a certain extent of social shaming. 1.00

00:35:26.540 Uh, you don't want to be a pussy. 1.00

00:35:27.700 So then you do something that maybe otherwise, uh, because you don't want to be shamed by the 1.00

00:35:32.580 group.

00:35:33.000 I mean, that's, that's a normal part of masculinity and the same thing with anything that we could

00:35:38.140 value as good or bad.

00:35:39.280 You know, we're, we all shaming each other for different reasons.

00:35:41.820 Like, uh, it's just the, it's just a question of what kind of society we want to live in,

00:35:46.760 but we're going to shame each other either way.

00:35:48.900 So, I mean, I couldn't come, I couldn't make it, make social shaming bad because I, you

00:35:54.600 know, it's, it's good for a certain kind of society.

00:35:56.880 Yeah.

00:35:57.360 You know, it's just what, it's just, we're, you know, the only reason we're responding to

00:36:02.040 it because we think what they're shaming people about is ridiculous, you know, but, uh,

00:36:06.920 that's their values.

00:36:08.940 And that's why, you know, it's in many ways, it's, you know, important for us to think of

00:36:12.840 ourselves as, you know, part of something else and not part of their world.

00:36:17.320 Yeah.

00:36:17.820 No, I, I, I, I think we might also be getting at a theme that Alex Krutigich has talked about,

00:36:23.680 which is that we actually need a new morality.

00:36:27.740 And, um, a lot of people, I, you know, he, he mentioned this at a, he's mentioned this

00:36:33.000 at a couple of conferences that I've been to.

00:36:34.720 People usually don't understand him.

00:36:37.580 Um, but I, I think, I think he actually is right about this.

00:36:41.160 Um, I, you know, one of our chief tasks is to create a new morality.

00:36:47.320 Or many.

00:36:48.360 Yeah.

00:36:48.600 Or many.

00:36:49.000 Well, we will, we will, we shall shame people.

00:36:52.100 Yeah.

00:36:53.760 Yeah.

00:36:54.200 That's what people do.

00:36:55.080 I mean, that's part of, that's part of being human.

00:36:57.660 And it's just, it's just, you know, what we're shaming them for is the question.

00:37:02.700 And it just comes back to, it's, it's, it's all philosophy at that point.

00:37:06.000 It's what do we think is good?

00:37:08.100 Yeah.

00:37:09.120 And, uh, we shame them, you know, to the opposite of that.

00:37:13.460 Yeah.

00:37:13.900 And it's the philosopher's role to, in a, in a way to come up with justifications for social

00:37:19.420 shaming.

00:37:20.540 Yes.

00:37:22.460 Absolutely. 0.98

00:37:22.860 We hate this guy.

00:37:25.640 Let me figure out why.

00:37:28.540 Let's come up with good reasons why we hate this person.

00:37:31.680 Look, here's a sacred text.

00:37:33.320 Yeah.

00:37:36.220 It was revealed to me upon stones in the desert by whatever.

00:37:42.120 Something, something, something.

00:37:43.760 Holy.

00:37:44.020 Well, Jack, on that note, let's put a bookmark in it.

00:37:52.320 On something, something, something, holy.

00:37:54.180 I think that that's a good place for a bookmark.

00:37:56.120 This podcast itself will become a sacred test, a text in time.

00:38:00.660 Yes.

00:38:01.060 In many years, people will speak of it in, in hushed tones.

00:38:04.420 Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

00:38:09.560 Ha, ha, ha, ha.

RadixJournal - June 01, 2014

The Hashtag Wars

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