Why the IDW Fell Apart
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- Опубликовано: 5 мар 2023
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In 2018, the journalist Bari Weiss crowned a heterodox group of writers and cultural figures as the “Intellectual Dark Web.” The promise of the IDW was that it was generating a substantive critique against left-wing orthodoxy that could not have emerged from the traditional Right. These new figures were also using new media, especially the podcast, to reach younger audiences and generate buzz for their intellectual movement.
But now, five years later, the IDW has become a spent force. As the group was confronted with a series of real-world political decisions-the rise of Trump, the COVID crisis, and the anti-CRT politics-it fractured, splintered, and decomposed. With some notable exceptions, such as Dave Rubin, Jordan Peterson, and Bret Weinstein, the “centrists” of the IDW could never move from the domain of criticism to the domain of action. They acted as if they could solve political problems through podcast debates and failed to offer a viable theory of change.
Consequently, the IDW was overtaken by events. Although the movement deserves credit for pointing out the problem of left-wing overreach in America’s institutions, this critique is now part of conventional wisdom and is no longer sufficient. As I explain in my new video essay, the lesson of the IDW’s disintegration is clear: opponents of left-wing orthodoxy must grapple with the reality that, in a two-party democratic system, the path to reform must go through politics. If they want results, they must be willing to get their hands dirty.
This video is sponsored by Manhattan Institute. Subscribe to City Journal here: www.city-journal.org.
I have a lot of discussions with people over exactly these issues. People desperately want the political issues of their youth to be there. A lot of my friends say, "I can't be a republican, they are enthrall to the big corporations." You cannot convince them that those days are gone, the big corporations have been scared and bullied into being subjects of Democrats, and the left. All these issues must be put on the back burner, if we lose to DEI, we lose all.
It’s hallucinatory to “see” the GOP as being the one party tied to corporations. That’s so ‘70’s-‘80’s.
To not see the Democrat moving with and for big corporations in the 1990’s is blindness. Both parties get their money from the big donors. To not see that the Democrats have abandoned unions, the blue collar worker, the middle class, etc can only mean you’re not really awake. To not see that it’s the Democrat Party that doesn’t stand for the 1st Amendment any longer is the most baffling because the actual elected ones have said anti-1st amendment comments over and over for 2 years. The Democrat Party used to discuss its Platform. I’m not even sure if people these days know that Platforms have always been an integral part of being a Party. I’m stunned by all that’s going on. It’s all lunacy.
We still have 'chamber of commerce' neocons who are wed to the multinational corporations.
I notice that many are locked in with their team as well. It almost doesn’t even
Matter what policies have changed - they won’t vote red.
The political world beyond hyper localized community organizing is integrated into corporate culture. Corporations behave like govts and govts behave like corporations. I am a survivor of a SocJus cult and long term abuse coming from my home culture in Minneapolis/St. Paul. And I will tell you, random high level politicians will not stand up for what we need as human beings with rare exceptions. And then, it won't be predictable and most will not be effective.
In the early 1990s, I was a leftist. I started to have doubts when I was in college. I was studying history and politics then, and it was depressing to go to class because it was all so negative. Finally, I caught my professor in a blatant lie about the country's founding. After that, I started to question more and realized that I had been brainwashed to hate my country; still, even with this realization, I didn't say it openly for years.
The left has been extremely successful at demoralizing the right and demonizing them simultaneously; it is worse now than ever. I have no tolerance for the cowards in the middle. Your one example of Sam Harris spells it all out. He rejects Trump, but he tolerates, the Russia Collusion hoax, the two phony impeachments, the rampant double standards, and the persecution of President Trump. I could go on.
I realized last year that I was stuck with the two party system. There was no magical third party that I could support. And I also detested gender ideology in schools and medicine. I was a loyal democrat for 25 years. I’d always voted Democratic. I voted for Bernie in the primaries and then went to bat for Clinton and Biden. But, after a year of trying to be a democrat who found the party incomprehensible, I realized in 2022 that I had to choose between being a democrat or fighting against child mutilation. I left the Democratic Party and voted Republican for the first time. I can’t see voting Democratic again as things stand. I still probably disagree with a lot of Republican stances but they are right on the essentials most important to me now.
A month late, but I feel the exact same thing you're feeling. I'm not a full conservative, but they're making the most sense out of the two parties.
Same here.
My red pill journey happened because of the IDW. i was a listener of the JRE clips channel, having been a longtime fan of Rogan. Through his channel I saw clips of Jordan Peterson, Shapiro, and a few other IDW people, which then led to the youtube algorithm feeding my clips of their content. I think the IDW was always too individualistic to have any solution.
@@tomsmith2340 that seems a bit of a stretch.
@@tomsmith2340 I'm not sure what more you want Jordan Peterson to do. He's being stripped of his clinical license because of his political activity. He does a show for the Daily Wire. He is starting a Peterson university, to create an alternative to the the left wing indoctrination offered by mainstream universities. All of this at an age most people are thinking of retirement.
@@miramichi30 Apostate Prophet and his friends, including a female ex+Muslim from Pakistan, a Christian apologist scholar of the Quran, a woman from Canada who was forced into a marriage to an Egyptian Islamists (who is now imprisoned in Egypt for his work at the top of Al-qaeda), does criticize JBP on specific issues.
Apostate Prophet and David Wood mock JBP a bit but not maliciously. AP and Mikhaila spoke together once or a few times.
He can explain in detail why serious Muslims are not going to just "get over it" to form bonds with Christians and Jews. Mohammed forbade that. Some do so, but that is in defiance of Islamic scripture. They aren't going to reject Mohammed to accept instructions from Jordan Peterson.
@@tomsmith2340 Not biting your tongue and voicing your opinion should not get you fired. If you cannot think badly then how can you come to the right conclusion? I am concern that you just brushed that aside like nothing to see there. It is kind of alarming. I used to dislike Jordan Peterson on having opinion on things he does not know much about. But I have come to realize that he has interest in many many topics and field so he try to think through them in real time granted they may not be accurate at that time.. I cannot fault him for wanting to learn things outside of his realm. He at least concede ground to people that know more than him on any given topic when he interviews people.
Philosophy has always had a difficult time translating to the real world and real world issues. This is why Jordan Peterson is so unique. He understands the philosophical, the clinical, the political and the social. JP must be protected.
Rufo explains to me why I became a registered Republican just a year ago, after almost fifty years as a Democrat. I switched teams from my gut and from anger. It just felt right, to my amazement. Rufo brings logic and clarity to my decision.
Good on you, good for all, thanks brother.
Russel Brand, Rogan, Peterson, Brett and Heather Weinstein, are still fantastic in my opinion.
All of them have said explicitly, since the start that they feel that their role is to fascilitate the conversations, explore what’s going on, and pontificate possible solutions. They never, not once claimed that they would be the ones ushering in the change. They put their careers and reputations on the line repeatedly to have these conversations when no one else would touch it with a ten foot pole.
Then you had the likes of Matt Walsh and Candace Owens, and others from the Daily Wire, step onto the scene… going to the school board meetings, and Chris himself, working with DeSantis and the likes to actually present a concrete propositions for alternatives to these woke, neo marxist infiltrations into the institutions. James Lindsay, Peter (can’t remember his last name) and Helen Pluckrose shook the academic world up in the most creative way I could ever think of. That was some solid punking 😂
Good on them all. We wouldn’t be making the head way we are without any of them. These guys (and gals) were a force of emboldening us little people, and equipping us with an articulated and valid counter argument to the woke bs.
The IDW was never a centralised movement. It was a bunch of different individuals, from totally seperate disciplines who came together to ring the warning bells on what they saw happening. And they’re still doing it.
Good on all of them. Credit where credit is due I say.
If you have issues in your community, then step up and do something. We need to stop casting responsibility elsewhere.
The IDW was over the moment the NYT wrote about it.
For many "classical liberals" the equation goes something like this: Abortion > avoiding the horrors of communism. It's all about priorities I suppose.
I followed the IDW from the start, infact well before they were formed. In the early noughties I ordered several DVDs from the likes of Hitch & Dawkins, the four horsement etc, read all of Hitches & Dawkins books, then when YT came along I was adhered to it. After a year or two I remember asking them what solutions they could offer. Silence was all I got back. They existed on a plane of their own reality, and offered nothing but commentary and critique. I still loved it though, and it delivered the black & red pills I needed for my own enlightenment. Little did I know what was going to happen over the next 15 years, as I watched in horror, and still watch. Your example, I believe, will set a template for the great reformation, not just in education, but in politics also. I am in the UK, and the same applies here, due to the fact that alot of the woke ideology has been exported from the US, as American culture always does. Our identity is currently under attack by open borders, and I fear it will all be too late, but I for one wont stop trying, with whatever I am able to do in my own small way. Bravo Chris, this ideology needs not just to be defeated, but to be destroyed. It is poisonous to all of us.
It's good to have hope, things can get a lot worse than this, but also, things can recover from a state that is much worse than this.
Then, there are those us Rush (RIP) babies who read National Review in the era of founder William F. Buckley (RIP). These two gentlemen were the actual fathers of the modern conservative/Libertarian content creators which is greatly needed. I detest what's become of the now watered down NR and of course no one has replaced Rush. However, there are some pretty good kids coming up on You Tube.
@marknash4442, So, what does "destruction" look like to you, "mate"? Insipid and bloodless, I don't doubt... No Lincolns or Churchills on the horizon yet--just slavers and fascists aplenty!
It’s easy to criticize, it’s hard to find solutions, talk is cheap, action takes work.
The gradual dissolution of the IDW over the past few years is one of the most critical issues of our time. By allowing the new orthodoxies prevail and become further embedded into our national laws and belief systems, it soon becomes unlawful to oppose or question them. Thank your for summarizing the problem so eloquently.
Don't worry, the IDW weren't that powerful to begin with, even if fame goes to their heads. Slavoj Zizek, the guy who stopped JP's winning streak in debates, makes a very good comment about how the public see figures such as him (Zizek) and others, as having power, when all they are actually doing is talking, but not putting anything into action.
Marx had no power until Lenin came along and put his ideas into motion - if you get my reference?
We need to push back hard now, because once the freedom of speech is eradicated in the name of hate speech and having a different opinion gets criminalised it will be really hard to fight back. We will need to resource to more radical options and that’s good for no one.
The fact that McWhorter said he would never vote republican is so unhinged and insane.
I love Mcwhorter. But his thing about not voting republican has quickly become outdated.
I got the impression from several of them that they were more concerned with their personal image than actually getting anything done. Talking was fine, musing over ideas was fine, within certain "very serious person" boundaries, but they seemed to regard action as something beneath them.
Yeah Sam's ego is measured in light years....
This is excellent, thank you for having a spine and taking a stand!
James Lindsay remains one of my favorite IDW figures for exactly this reason.
It's incredible the energy that is put into criticizing James' unrestrained behaviour, and very telling how concerted it is. It's these authority appeasing actors who frustrate me far more than the hard lefties. "I used to be a follower but you've really lost it this time James!" These are the people who are dragging us down and unfortunately it's a huge contingent.
James is running far out ahead of the others right now. They hate him because he is on to them. Many claim to be his fans when they criticize but this is a tactic. They are trolls.
I've listened to countless (I do mean countless!) hours of podcasts/interviews/whatever. I've followed his social media. I've read articles and have started books and need to get back to them. As far as I can tell, not knowing him personally or having any personal interaction with him, he's the real deal. I respect him. He's one of the few people I trust.
James Lindsay denies ever having been a part of the IDW
@@jay_sensz That maybe be so, but I think it's undeniable that he rose to prominence within the IDW sphere.
Photo shown for Bret Weinstein was actually Eric
It didn't fall apart - it went mainstream - no need for a "darkweb". You're right about those players always commenting "after" events - but never creating, leading, and implementing actual new solutions. Jonathan Haidt did well with his hetero-dox academy - and now FIRE with Bari Weiss (and you too of course)
Haidt is part of the problem: he’s a partisan Dem who told people to vote for the “moderate” Biden. He’s afraid of being canceled. Moreover, he has not applied his own moral psychology (“The Righteous Mind”) to the problem for fear of being labeled a conservative/Republican.
As for Heterodox Academy, it is hopelessly biased against Conservatives. (I am not one, btw.)
@@reenlight I understand what your saying, but disagree, Haidt moved the needle to the right (intentionally) while playing the role of tolerant liberal perfectly. Not every touchdown is scored with a long pass, haidt got the first down on on 3rd and 3 when the movement was on its own 25 yard line. (as I see it). The drive keeps going with every first down. Its only the 2nd quarter of this game. Steady as she goes. I just watched Tucker carlsons report on jan 6th footage, thats another first down. etc etc. Where the momentum of the game changes, is when people organize against "30 Rock" (and all the bile that comes from rockefellers lair) - those are long pass touchdowns that even the game at the right times
@@andrewleidner8142 - LOVE football analogies!
both Haidt and Bari Weiss are hardcore democrats. they can pretend to be centrists all they want, they'll end up voting for Biden.
Most people are sensible and have no interest in trying to tell other people what to think. We are a huge untapped middle, waiting for a new political home.
While it is true that the few thinkers who comprised the IDW and the limited audience who tapped into their ideas and discussions, and therefore the IDW itself, have "gone dark", it is also true that ideas never die, nor are they ever completed buried, as the continuing presence of the "I am" in French philosopher Rene Descartes' cogito ("I think, therefore I am") so clearly points out.
A good explainer for people whose first experience as a part of a political movement was the IDW!
It was very exciting at first but slowly became frustrating as it started to feel like we were having the same conversation over and over while the energy was fading and no real-world changes were happening.
I believe you may have just explained my latest depression. It's not too severe, but definitely a complete loss of the joyful hope I held a few years ago, which I would attribute to the logically solid rebellion against the establishment and popular culture. Everyone caved. Tapped out as you say. Obviously not everyone, but as you've said, what once appeared to a collective of intellectuals, has dispersed into fragmented splinters of intellectual hard zones. Echo chambers perhaps.
Keeping it real Mr. Rufo! Thank you for more empowerment. God Bless!
Great analysis and summary 👏👏👏
Stellar argument 👍Very well presented!
Thanks, Christopher. I’m a huge fan of what you are doing and a subscriber to your substack. You videos have become very helpful to me and my friends who are addressing the same issues you are plus ones that are probably not at the forefront of your fight. But very much aligned. This one is especially terrific and because I followed many of the thinkers who were labeled as the IDW long before this group were labeled by Eric Weinstein and then Bari Weiss in her NYT magazine article. So it was always more of a loose agglomeration of thinkers but not an actual movement. Having seen this form and then fall apart as something coherent, I really appreciate your analysis of why that happened and how it is easy to critique but difficult to act. You are a real role model!
Sam lost his marbles
"The only thing necessary for evil to triumph in the world is that good men do nothing"
I was just thinking about this yesterday that the IDW isn’t a thing anymore. But I don’t think their job was to put forth policy prescriptions for fixing the problems they agreed on. Part of what made the IDW great was that they disagreed on some issues and didn’t agree on fixes to the problems they agreed on. But their real task was to win hearts and minds and Jordan Peterson and Joe Rogan are among the most successful in that regard. JP changes minds and Rogan keeps minds open. But JP does not speak very effectively about race as a Canadian, and it’s not really Rogan’s wheelhouse either, he’s much more comfortable combatting LGBTQ. And we need that too.
But they’re the entertainers and the public intellectuals, they’re not the policy wonks, that’s a different role in the political ecosystem. That’s Rufo’s role and maybe we need a dozen more Rufo’s. But don’t mistake the IDW’s failure to materialize policy actions with the fact that policy wins on the right are far downstream of where they manifest on the left. A problem has to exist for a while for it to build up the kind of awareness for center-right folks because they’re often busy raising families; they’re not glued to the Daily Kos like the average lefty, nor are they likely to have ever attended a protest. Policy on the left begins in academia and is enacted before the argument is even made to the people. Then the media backfills the rhetoric. That’s the system and the reality we have.
Poor Sam's a spent force now. Any credibility he once had is long gone. I always thought Bret Weinstein was a huge lightweight in that group, but he was pretty solid throughout the Covid thing.
👍🏽
Bret Weinstein refused to leave his partisan allies behind - he reaped what he sowed
I feel like Bret and Rubin are the only ones that took it serious. The others kinda just gave an eye roll every time it was brought up. Especially Rogan. Rufo goes on to say that the NYT is always having these viewpoints in their paper now. Well, it was the NYT that brought the term IDW into the conversation in the first place. Bari Weiss was the first to report on it, and reported on it in the NYT! It was a NYT invention. So, whatever. It was joke then and remains one now.
Brett and heather are the least flashy, and habe some of the most actual substance of all the group.
@@smelltheglove2038 Gad Saad is my pick for most consistently based IDWer. Still no sign of him "tapping out" at any stage thus far. Underestimate honey badger energy at your peril.
You neglected to mention egos. If this group could not determine how to work together, is there any hope? They all wanted it their own way. They didn't know how to find a middle ground that would have produced a more powerful platform for those of us who need it.
They fragmented and destroyed something exciting and hopeful. It would be wonderful if they could overcome their egos. If they can't, who can?
The weird thing is that if you follow them individually it is really clear that they have moved closer to the right. Even some of their objections to Trump have been to acknowledge they were wrong about him in some way, with reluctance. They just can't acknowledge openly and completely to themselves that they really are more closely aligned with the principles of the right . So you are so right: they need to choose a side and then lead change within that side. We need them to help us peons find a way to save our country. We want to join the fight but can't find leaders.
It is completely understandable that academics do not want to be politicians. Why didn't they think to invite those with interest in being politicians into their group? Michael Shellenberger, Larry Elder, Ben Carson, DeSantis, etc.
Thank you for making this plea.
I am personally an independent. I am not married to either political party. I don't think that anyone was supposed to be except for those voted into those two parties. When you marry either party you give them the ability to be lazy. They talk about battle states and all states should be. It should not matter if its a republican or a democrat the question should be if its Right or Wrong for your family. Who is making the best policies for your family, what have the results been? No don't go look online for some talking points. Go talk to the people in your community. Vote to the best results of the People. Read and understand the policies, who benefits? Who is burdened with the cost? What is the cost? All politicians have been bought by corporations and lobbyists.
When the boot of Tyranny was on our necks, the IDW was the hand the kept it from choking us. Thank you, IDW.
The Group is gone, but the spirit lives on.
Really? Bill C16 passed. Lockdowns happened. Several of them fled California and similar hell holes and ran to Austin, which they are now destroying. Rogan allowed Spotify to add warning labels to his show. Douglas Murray was silent about Covid and then told us not to use the term "groomer” etc etc. Thanks for nothing IDW.
@@dtrfgr Douglas Murray - aw, really? I used to like him a lot.
@@Yesica1993 And he did a hitpiece on Pedro Gonzales(on Bari Weiss' watch) calling him a "barrio n*zi".
Absolutely spot on.
Voices like yours putting argument to actual calculated and organized action have been such a fresh breathe of hope.
Truely, thank you, God bless you.
Compliments on the conclusion/finale-- glad you put the options into concrete for the mealy-willed ditherers!
Fantastic analysis, Chris nails it.
Great points Christopher. Can your next video please analyze what rolls the WHO and the WEF play in all of this?
Man this is exatcly what was ithcing me. I am starting to get bored of IDW videos, its the same all the time, the same song over and over. YOu are the exeption to this rule, the only one who does not make me sleep . And in this video you explain exactly why, it is time to get action, its time to do something, and the logic behind it is simply brilliant!
Absolutely excellent.
A leader for sure.
Listen up America and take action.
Yes, of course you're right, Chris. You are the man of action and I commend you for all you have done. The rest of us need to get involved. Let's goooo
It's also worth noting that the IDW was overwhelmingly liberal-minded Democrats who were concerned about the woke theology infiltrating their political party. When push came to shove, they were still just Democrats. Most of them decided that woke was better than Trump or pretended that that wasn't the choice they made in not supporting him. There's an almost unbelievable reluctance among the intellectual Democrats to even consider the Republican party. The number of people I speak to for example who think that the Republican party is still the party of big business (assuming it ever was which I don't really know) is rather remarkable.
Yes, and for all of them "the real threat" is the right. All of them warn about "the swinging of the pendulum", but unfortunately "the pendulum" is on a ratchet where the right wing positions of 15 years ago(such as being against gay marriage) are now almost unthinkable.
It’s difficult for centrist Democrats to vote Republican when we elevate eccentric wack jobs like Marjorie Greene, Donald Trump, and Matt Gaetz. When you interact with even mainstream conservatives and persuadable liberals off line in the real world, it’s our crazies that are keeping them in the Dem fold or not actively helping the conservative cause.
@@kevinkent6351 For what it's worth, that's what they seem to think about moderate conservatives too. Most liberals I speak to think people like DeSantis and pretty much all conservatives are too far Right. Case and point, Donald Trump wasn't that far Right, he was absolutely a moderate. But that didn't matter.
@@Batosai11489 Donald Trump and his hand-selected candidates cannot win independents. We saw this in 2022. It’s in established, provable fact. Other conservatives who are to the right of Trump, such as DeSantis and Kemp, trounced their opponents. Opposition to Trump is not predicated on his “conservatism”. Trump is a genuinely bad person who lies all the time about everything. A persuadable 5% cannot be persuaded by what they can clearly see is a bad person.
Excellent, thanks 🇬🇧
I voted for H Ross Perot and Dr Ron Paul.
I tried.🙈😎
I still believe in liberty, freedom and the United States constitution.🙏❤️💪 🇺🇸
Texans are very wary of people who move to their state from California. They're afraid these people are going to bring their bad ideas with them (the very same policies that caused them to move in the first place). And, they have a point. There's a pattern that forms:
You've got this nice, but sleepy Conservative town. It's not making huge waves but it's a sane, functional, safe place to live. Suddenly, Liberals move into town. Overnight... this town becomes cool, hip, trendy and exciting (the place everyone wants to be). Think 'Austin,' right now. But, along with all the fun and excitement, the Liberals also bring their policies (everything to accommodate the down and out, little guy). Well, those policies start attracting 'less savory' folk-- young, radical Leftists, welfare-dependent blacks, illegal immigrants, gays, homeless people and drug addicts. Think 'Portland,' right now. Next thing you know, your once, quiet little town, is now a Leftist bastion-- a wildly mismanaged nuclear waste dump.
Well, I must admit... I feel a bit of the same way with your call for Classical Liberals to join the Republican party. It's not that you're unwelcome-- I think the only solution to the mess we're in right now is to join forces. And it's also not that the Republican party was perfect-- I hate Rhinos just as much as Liberals do.
But, the fact is... Classical Liberals such as those in the IDW, did a lot of damage in the first two-thirds of their careers. Dare I say, they helped breath life into the Woke Frankenstein they now want to kill (figuratively speaking). Dave Rubin was a Young Turk, for Christ's sake. Bret Weinstein spent 20 years of his life, happily teaching at THE most progressive college in America. Sam Harris was instrumental in turning millions of young people off to the Christian faith upon-which Western Civilization is grounded.
Nevertheless, I, as a Conservative-- DO want to form an alliance with you guys under the tent of the Republican Party. But, we have to set some ground rules. Namely, you cant join-- and then immediately take it over; start calling the shots; setting the agenda; and dictating the party's direction and policies. You have to show a little respect; a little restraint, and little humility. Remember, you're the homeless ones-- you're the one's coming over to our camp. That fact alone should tell you that, perhaps, you're NOT the greatest decision-makers in the world. You're not the smartest/wisest guys in the room. You dont always have the best judgement, foresight, or intuitions. Join us... YES! But be willing to take a bit of a back seat and learn that 'new' is not always 'better;' and that doing things out of compassion does not always produce compassionate results.
This is what I admire about Rufo. He is brave and intelligent proposing real solutions to stop the far left advancement, not just point out the issues.
Those in power are not your friend, they’re your worst enemy
Just because people could not go along with the path the Republican Party took, does not mean they are inherently opposed to taking action. Unfortunately, the Republicans have gone to the root of appealing to their most extreme branch. Doing that ensured that they would never be able to take most people with them.
A lot of this was mirrored in the online RUclips scene with the Anti-SJW/Rational Skeptic movement, which occasionally overlapped with the older, more academic world.
Good video! The ideal is the enemy of the real. Too many "intellectuals" just like talking about stuff, but are scared of what it means to them - as far as their jobs and income and social circles are concerned - if they try to make it happen in the real world. At the end of the day, it is "the man in the arena" - as Theodore Roosevelt used to say - who makes things happen.
I've got a great deal of respect for Dave Rubin and Jordan Peterson, they seem to be very reasonable people.
This is a master class everyone should see and put in to practice. Thanks so much for your great work .
Glad you included Bret in the group of people who are solution oriented. He is. Buuuut that wasn't his picture. that was his brother.
"Centrism" - a term used to describe how smart you think you are. The mask always drops, and bias is revealed when push comes to shove.
Many of the public figures doing the "centrist" gig start tripping over themselves at the type of questions Rufo poses, and give very illogical, and circular thinking which can be summed up as "It would be wrong to do something about it".
It's not hard to see a problem, and use fancy words but it takes intelligence to find a viable solution.
Agree 100%, but wasn’t that Eric Weinstein’s photo, instead of Bret’s? 16:02
Damn, yes, I didn't proof the final graphics, and this is an error.
The IDW split on their analysis of why woke was happening.
On the issue of critique. One cannot make a critique without holding up a mirror for something better. Claiming one is "merely a critic" is a hypocritical position.
I appreciate that for people who cannot think of an alternative, the two options laid out (vote Democrat if you want to support DEI ideology, or hold your nose and vote Republican) are, indeed, without alternative. It does not, in my estimation, follow logically that no alternatives exist. The spirit of human ingenuity is precisely characterized by this inexplicable urge to not be pushed into the corner between the rock and a hard place, but to come up with a third choice, something that doesn't exist yet. People who have made their choice (of the lesser evil) will, when watching this teetering on a yet undiscovered solution, complain that the indecision and lack of support (for either side) is immoral... So be it.
Have you read "Culture of Critique"?
16:05 That's Eric not Brett!!!
I've been pondering this same subject for a while. I think you have a very valid argument concerning the IDW. I'm youtuber and Podcaster Javier Javier. I would love to chat if you're down.
It was not supposed to offer efficient solutions. It was only supposed to be some sort of "controlled opposition".
who needs enemies.
We wouldn't have wanted them to be a coherent institution. That said, I still can't get over Harris' take on free speech. I got whip lash over that one.
Excellent as always. I disagree however with your conclusion. Just because I criticize something doesn't mean I have to fix it. It doesn't even mean I have to be in favor of a particular fix, or a particular person to make the fix.
16:08 That's Eric, not Brett
Excellent explanation. Well done.
I really noticed one thing: that the real divide was between those who just wanted to talk and those who wanted things to change in practice.
And perhaps the mass formations of Covid and also Trump played in. Those who got the TDS and jumped the Covid band wagon necessarily had to fall by the wayside.
Fantastic Analysis Mr. Rufo.
I didn't hear James Lindsay mentioned, as far as speaking of intellectuals, but then again, he didn't enter the scene until 2018, so a little later and through the side, starting with the troll on getting woke appearing research papers that were quite absurd, actually approved and peer reviewed by the woke elite in academia:
"The grievance studies affair was the project of a team of three authors-Peter Boghossian, James A. Lindsay, and Helen Pluckrose-to highlight what they saw as poor scholarship and erosion of standards in several academic fields." --Wikipedia
Despite my criticism below (about "liking" Sam Harris), you have some of the best political analysis anywhere. Really well done, both content and form.
I follow Bret Weinstein on the Dark Horse RUclips channel. I like most of his insights, however he is consistently taking certain positions that stem from "ethnic minority rights", which results in "multiculturalism". This is historically the "Jewish interests" position.
You have entertained my opinion once before and I pray I may have your ear once more.
I disagree with your assessment that these are political issues. They are theological issues and we must understand them as such to move forward in a real, meaningful way.
To frame them as a political issue is to say that people have an option to vote yes to the mutilation of children or the racial vulcanization of the nation. They do not have this choice, they must not have this choice, and we must advocate for moral laws to be upheld and unassailable. We can not do that through framing them as political issues in a democracy because the people pushing these beliefs are already being votes in, and therefore their abhorrent policies must stand if they are merely political in nature.
Thank you for your time. I would love to hear from you. God bless.
I have just added Christopher to "My Intellectual Heroes" list.
So as We the People begin again to peacefully and lawfully by right and duty as well Govern the government; let us first discuss what are the foundational fundamental principles of American Jurisprudence?
Arizona Constitution Article 2 Declaration of Rights:
Text of Section 1:
Fundamental Principles; Recurrence to:
“ A frequent recurrence to fundamental principles is essential to the security of individual rights and the perpetuity of free government.”
This video earned my subscription
In your video you are talking about Brett Weinstein, but the photo you use is Eric Weinstein. Might want to rectify that.
I don't think it is fair to expect the IDW to have "done something". To me, the point of the IDW was to educate the interested public in ways that elevated their "feelings about the left" to "facts that I could actually use against the Left in an argument", and in that regard I think they succeeded. Many of my instincts about the Left were validated through Milo (who was unfortunately left out here), with the added benefit that he gave me the tools to go my own research. Summers did the same with the Factual Feminist. Many people were red-pilled by the IDW, and that they were is invaluable.
Chris, I would argue that the IDW paved the way for your (and our) current action.
Where’s the argument?
Perhaps you meant to say “assert”
ABSOLUTELY agree with everything you said here. I followed the IDW for years and in the end gave up on them on being committed to retrieving the good stuff and restoring a unity which could reshape a good political landscape 😳
7:33 "The first is that these are ultimately political problems."
No. These are ultimately MORAL problems. Politics is one of the avenues, one of the tools, that can be used to address the problems. But the problems, themselves, are moral ones. That's the issue that even the conservative side won't touch.
Morality needs a transcendent, objective standard. Otherwise, everything is one person's opinion over another's. One person thinks baby slaughter is moral. Another person thinks it is immoral.. One person thinks sexual mutilation of children is moral. Another person thinks it is immoral. One person thinks 2 men / 2 women make a marriage and is moral. Another person thinks it does not and is not. Who's to decide? Which view should prevail? And why?
There IS such a standard. It's the standard upon which this country was built. It is God's Word, the Bible. Until we get back to THAT, any solutions we find will be like a band-aid on someone who is bleeding out. Unfortunately, THAT is the standard this country (again, even much of the "conservative" side) has now fully rejected.
Agree that these are, even deeper, moral problems.
That’s Eric W, not Brett
Otherwise thank you. Well done
Glad, I wasn’t the only one who noticed! 16:02
Not everyone has to be an activist. There's a necessary and important place for pure thinkers.
In a stable society, we do have that luxury. But where we are now, we don't.
If the house is fine, we can debate about the most effective ways to put out a fire, should there be one.
If the house is actively on fire, you need to put the fire out. Once that's done, you can go back to theorizing and debating.
@@Yesica1993 Disagree. I agree that the fire needs to be put out, but the nature of our crisis now is rooted in the fact that people do not know how to think critically and have been denied access to truth and the means to discern it. Yes, political activism is necessary, but it can't be unthinking- every movement has been based in ideas, and true ideas are more necessary now than ever.
I think Rufo's hangup at the moment is that he feels like Peterson sort of undermined the political activist side of the equation when he criticized Florida's legislation about CRT in education. Which is fair, but that doesn't mean every single person has to join a bucket brigade. We all have our skills and abilities. As long as they are working in cooperation with each other, that's all we need.
The idea side is not as inconsequential to real world outcomes as Rufo seems to think, either. Attitudes matter, and when ideas become widespread enough, they will inevitably exert change in the real world, whether or not activists push legislation.
The flip side to this is that the IDW can function as the intellectual heavyweights of the GOP… they could shape the direction of the party for generations…
Our two-wings-of-the-same party system continually offers "the lesser evil" options... and for more and more people that doesn't seem to work anymore.
Lack of moral fortitude!!!
I have learned that I tend to be very naive. Until very recently, I assumed the big names on our side (whatever that means anymore) were doing it for the same reasons we little people comment and sometimes give $ and do what small things we can - because they believed in the ideas they spoke. It never occurred to me otherwise. I'm so stupid that I forgot that, unlike me, they make their living that way. They get MONEY that way. If the problems are actually solved, they won't have that anymore! So what motivation do they have to actually solve/end the problems?
You make a good point but at the same time every big endeavor requires money. You'll have to use your discernment on who is real and who isn't.
@@torrasque0151 Oh, I know things cost $. I'm realistic about that. It's the "who is real and who isn't" that lately has me stumped. I thought I knew. These days, I'm no longer so sure. That's what bothers me. I don't know any of these people personally. Or even "personally" as far as online interaction. Most audience members (we little people) don't. I don't have any answers here. Just... trying to think it through.
So this is the guy I keep hearing about...
More accurately Sam Harris is a spent force and to a lesser degree so is Richard Dawkins and these are two people who I used to greatly respect.
7:34 wrong. They are ultimately a spiritual and theological problem. All socio political issues are at their root spiritual/religious in nature. I agree however that in some situations like with education the tools of politics is necessary.
Yep! I posted a similar comment.
Agreed. When Rufo talks about moving beyond the intellectual critique to proposing a positive alternative, this is where the deeper thinkers need to articulate a coherent view of human nature and flourishing. The political question is a means to an end. The end (purpose, telos) itself is what everyone is fighting about. And there are many people, including in the former IDW, who can articulate what they don't like about other people's answers to the question but, when pressed for their own proposal, have little to offer. Sam Harris thinks atheists can be spritual. Jordan Peterson thinks the analysis of myth can instill a sense of purpose. And many in the IDW camp still cling to procedural, Enlightenment liberalism. None of that is substantive enough.
@@Yesica1993 cool, very good 👍🏼
Was it ever more than a collection of individuals who were pro freedom and liked debating ideas not talked about in the mainstream?
I am thankful for what you're doing and I don't think we can make it without this type of action. However, with all due respect, your brief description of libertarians was certainly not a steel man.
I hope we’re not talking about replacing one orthodoxy with another. Individualism + property rights (self ownership included) is enough.
Wow. Trying to mobilize the forces. Nice stuff.
sam harris is smart?
Excellent essay. I just 2 months ago switched my political registration to the little R. The Democrats lost me in 2013, when I realized that Obama's terrible policies were destroying the US working class. I did support Trump (never voted for him) until he fired Jeff Sessions.
Today, no one who is an intellectual can be a Democrat.
Isn’t that Eric not Bret? - so good other than that bit oops 😬
I do think though that there is an ongoing role to be played by the thinkers (where others are the doers) - but certainly, the thinkers do need to realize that it’s only by supporting the doers that the thinking as even an avocation with any pull remains a possibility.
Still mulling this over, but something like that.
It might be interesting to note that I personally was shaken out of my political complacency by the arrival of Trump and then voted in 2020 (much to the surprise of my staunchly anti-orange man father) - mostly because I was so offended at the option the Dems offered me with a straight face 😐
I was then subsequently dug in even further with the unfolding Evergreen College story which I was sent (3years after the fact) the 3 part video of in the Summer of 2020 just a month or so post George Floyd.
From there it was a diet of James Lindsay, Bret and Heather’s Dark Horse podcast in earlyish Covid, Jordan Peterson, Dave Rubin, etc that has me feeling fairly well informed, clear headed and sober about all of it.
I still don’t consider myself a conservative, but I’m not blindly married to those who clearly are only going to go further in a direction that I know from personal experience is not the solution.
Not only not the solution but, however well meaning is now fully corrupted by its own financial success.
I don’t know the answer and appreciate that there are others thinking and taking stands.
Also I will never again not vote against Woke. Period. That much is clearly necessary from my POV.
Chris, I'm a huge fan. Just wanted to point out that you do not have to have a mic right in front of your face for it to work. A cardioid mic projects a field in front of the mic based on the gain. You could be 1 ft from it and still get great quality. As for the IDW, it was always silly. Hitch and Dennett were legit world class thinkers. Harris was always a hack who should have stuck with neuroscience. And Dawkins allowed his politics to shape his 'scientific' book, The Selfish Gene. Fyi, what he's promoting there is something called 'kin selection' theory. What most don't know is that this was part of an atheistic attempt to reduce human free will and choice to base instincts that harm us. Nope, total BS. E.O. Wilson published The Social Conquest of Earth in 2015ish and blows all that up. Shows that 'group selection' is a much strong signal in the data. Of course, Dawkins can't face this, further revealing how his biases overwhelm his otherwise fine scientific mind.
Fyi I meant to say you could be 3 ft away from the mic I do this every day at my desk with great audio quality and nobody sees my mic. Just try upping the gain and experiment. The mic may also have different settings to shape the 'field' optimally for your environment.
You are a documentary film maker - you know mics work like this. I do not understand why so many RUclipsrs have their mics right in front of their faces.
what happens when the elected conservatives are unwilling to make the hard decisions?????????????
I'll admit that I think you raise several good points with this essay, but I also think that you've highlighted a certain level of over-confidence and ignorance within yourself when you attempt to characterize some of the positions and purported failings of the IDW (especially evident as you spoke of Bret Weinstein while displaying an image of his brother, Eric). I noticed that you used the word, "coherent" a number of times... both when criticizing the IDW, as well as when offering up a viable solution to The Problem; with that in mind, I think your argument could be distilled into a question: Is heterodoxy the antidote to an ideological orthodoxy---or does it require an equal and opposite force of another, coherent orthodoxy to be annihilated? I had hoped for the former, but am slowly being convinced of the latter.
If voting made a difference they wouldn’t let us do.
So what you are saying is the IDW was held together philosophically as critical theorists of Cirtical theorists without agreement on positive values and the policies and actions to get there.
Repent, and believe the gospel.
The heart is always the heart of the problem.
And the only solution is a broken heart, and repentance unto faith.
I don't think the IDW was ever coherent politically. It expressly was not intended to be. It was a group of people who had substantive conversations in good faith about subjects they disagreed about. I also have a lot of time for Sam, but it was him who failed on that USP.
McWhorter drives me crazy, as much as I usually like him.
He'll give his unwavering support to the dems and if pressed as to why he supports the dems he has 2 positions- 1)- cause no trump 2)- because maybe the dems wont be as bad as everyone thinks.
he can not articulate one single solitary good he believes will come from the democrats being in power, but he keeps voting for them anyway.
For me I asked myself what would I rather deal with? Endless idiotic over the definition of marriage and younger earth creatism or put people in power with a delusional worldview, the desire of her absolute power, unwillingness to debate, and worst of all incompetent.