Former WWE star Marty Jannetty, after posting on Facebook that he made a man “disappear,” confessed on a radio show, “I can’t say he deserved to die, but he deserved to get his a** beat. And, when I was beating him in the head with a brick, I was only trying to beat his a**, I wasn’t trying to kill him.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
&quot;That was the very first time I made a man disappear…they never found him…they shoulda looked in the Chattahoocie River.&quot;
Former WWE star Marty Jannetty seemingly admits to killing a man who tried to molest him at 13. Read his full Facebook post, here: <a href="https://t.co/xi8yt1pZj2">https://t.co/xi8yt1pZj2</a> <a href="https://t.co/CzvFcrcObf">pic.twitter.com/CzvFcrcObf</a>
&mdash; Complex (@Complex) <a href="https://twitter.com/Complex/status/1291082740683673602?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 5, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In the Facebook post, which was later deleted, Jannetty wrote of the alleged incident in Columbus, GA, the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/08/06/wwe-legend-marty-jannetty-claims-self-defense-from-rape-amid-police-probe/">reported</a>:
<blockquote>I never told no one this, even my brother Geno .. cause Geno would have killed him, and I didn’t want my brother gone .. hell he’d only recently came (sic) home from Vietnam .. I was 13, Working at Victory Lanes bowling alley buying weed from a f** that worked there .. and he put his hands on me .. he dragged me around to the back of the building .. you already know what he was gonna try to do ..
That was the very first time I made a man disappear .. they never found him .. they shoulda looked in the Chattahoochie River .. but Winnie (the girl in these pics) I likes you so damn much, probably my favorite .. but I promised myself way back then, nobody would ever hurt me again .. that includes you .. I loved you but you hurt me with your f***ing Jamaican jealousy .. you can go your own way, I don’t need you ..</blockquote>
On Wednesday, Jannetty <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaYnrqZVc0E&amp;feature=youtu.be">spoke in an interview</a> on the Boston Wrestling MWF YouTube channel, asserting, “I almost got raped. If I couldn’t have handled myself, that dude would’ve raped me … I didn’t say I killed him. I said he disappeared.”
“What I didn’t know was he lured in little kids,” Jannetty continued, adding that he was 13 and that he went to the man’s car to finish the drug deal. “But he reached over and grabbed me down there. And he goes, ‘What’s this?’ And I was like, ‘Nah, nah.&#8217;”
Prior to explaining the alleged incident further, Jannetty stated that he’s “got nothing against gay people,” and “a lot of my friends are gay as hell.”
Jannetty continued, alleging that the “big” man dragged him to the rear of the bowling alley by his hair and attempted to remove Jannetty’s pants. He said, “He got me back there and he threw me on the ground, and remember, I’m 13 and this is a big ’ol boy … I probably don’t need to say this, but there was a brick laying there. What I said in my Facebook post, I’m not gonna lie about nothing. Man, what do you do when you’re 13? … I was scared. I won’t lie; I was scared … I can’t say he deserved to be [killed] — I didn’t say I killed him. I can’t say he deserved to die, but he deserved to get his a** beat. And when I was beating him in the head with a brick, I was only trying to beat his a**. I wasn’t trying to kill him.”
“Can you imagine dragging a guy — he’s just tried to f*** you in the a** — can you imagine dragging him to the river and throwing him in?&#8221; Jannetty said. &#8220;And then finding out on the news this guy’s missing? You know the dude. And you know more than that. That f***ing affected me bad, bro … It hurt me and I made my mind up that day: nobody would ever hurt me again.”
TMZ Sports <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2020/08/05/marty-jannetty-apparent-murder-confession-columbus-police-department/">reported</a> that the Columbus Police Dept. in Georgia stated, &#8220;We are going to look into this.&#8221; A spokesperson from the homicide/cold case division told TMZ, &#8220;The first step will be seeing if we have any missing persons or unidentified remains cases that match the limited information in the post.&#8221;
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Padded corner of wrestling ring

Former WWE Star Tells Story Of Alleged Childhood Sexual Abuse: ‘The Very First Time I Made A Man Disappear’

Marty Jannetty

Sexual Abuse

Jussie Smollett&#8217;s sister, Jurnee, maintains that her brother is innocent of the charges that he staged a hate crime in order to boost his paycheck on the show &#8220;Empire.&#8221;
Speaking with <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/jurnee-smollett-is-ready-own-her-power-hbos-buzzy-lovecraft-country-i-dont-apologize-1305923" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Hollywood Reporter</a>, Jurnee said that her brother&#8217;s alleged scandal has been &#8220;one of the most painful things&#8221; her family has experienced.
&#8220;It&#8217;s been f**king painful, one of the most painful things my family&#8217;s ever experienced,&#8221; Jurnee said. &#8220;To love someone as much as we love my brother, and to watch someone who you love that much go through something like this, that is so public, has been devastating. I was already in a very dark space for a number of reasons, and I&#8217;ve tried to not let it make me pessimistic. But everyone who knows me knows that I love my brother and I believe my brother.&#8221;
&#8220;We are blessed to have a community of people who know him, and know that he wouldn&#8217;t do this,&#8221; she asserted later in the interview.
Sometimes Jurnee looks upon her brother in awe of just how &#8220;strong&#8221; he really is.
&#8220;I mean, f**k, man, I look at him sometimes and I&#8217;m like, &#8216;He&#8217;s so strong,'&#8221; she said.
In early 2019, the “Empire” actor claimed that he fell victim to a hate crime on a cold winter’s night in Chicago at the hands of two men who derided him with homophobic slurs and then yelled “this is MAGA country” before tying a noose around his neck. Many in the media took Smollett’s story at face-value until evidence quickly mounted that he had allegedly hired two brothers from Nigeria to stage the attack, supposedly in an effort to boost his salary on the show.
After Smollett turned himself in to police for the felony charge of filing a false police report, the situation took a turn for the worse when the charges against him were suddenly dropped by Chicago prosecutor Kim Foxx, prompting outrage from both the Chicago Police Department and Mayor Rahm Emanuel. In an obvious attempt to rectify the situation and regain city trust, a Chicago judge appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the way Smollett’s case was handled.
Smollett has since been indicted on charges of disorderly conduct; the city of Chicago is also suing Smollett for $130,000 in wasted police resources. He has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jussie-smolletts-malicious-prosecution-lawsuit-tossed-out-of-court">failed to have</a> the charges dropped on the basis of double-jeopardy.
After the Smollett story became a national sensation, the hit show “Empire” was canceled by FOX, leaving the actor’s career in virtual ruin. Speaking with Vulture last year, the show’s creator, Lee Daniels, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/48324/empire-creator-blames-hate-crime-hoaxer-jussie-paul-bois">admitted</a> that the actor’s antics played a part in “Empire” going off the air.
“I’m beyond embarrassed,” Daniels told Vulture. “I think that when it happened, I had a flash of me running from bullies. I had a flash of my whole life, of my childhood, my youth, getting beaten.”
Daniels added that his love for Smollett makes him feel “some doubt” at times that the actor indeed staged a fake hate crime against himself.
“Of course, there’s some doubt,” Daniels said. “I’m telling you that because I love him so much. That’s the torture that I’m in right now, because it’s literally if it were to happen to your son and your child, how would you feel? You would feel, please, God, please let there be that glimmer of hope that there is some truth in this story. That’s why it’s been so painful. It was a flood of pain.”
“We weren’t there. I can’t judge him,” he continued. “That’s only for the f***ing lady or man with that black robe and God. I had to detach myself and stop calling him, because it was taking away the time I have for my kids, the time I have for my partner. It was affecting my spirit and other shows, everything.”
RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jussie-smollett-attends-blm-protest-outside-trump-tower">Jussie Smollett Attends BLM Protest Outside Trump Tower</a>
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2018 Essence Black Women In Hollywood Oscars Luncheon &#8211; Red Carpet

Jussie Smollett’s Sister: ‘I Believe My Brother,’ Scandal Has Been ‘F***ing Painful’

Jussie Smollett

Though &#8220;The View&#8221; co-host Meghan McCain has often been critical of President Trump, she will not commit to voting for former Vice President Joe Biden come November.
Speaking on <a class="TrackingLink LinkWrapper" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/kamala-harris-plays-coy-about-vp-talk-and-drags-mike-pence-on-watch-what-happens-live">Watch What Happens Live</a> on Wednesday night, McCain was pressed about her future on &#8220;The View&#8221; after her baby is born, and her plans for the 2020 election.
“Why does everyone ask me if I’m getting fired or quitting every 20 seconds? No other host has to deal with this B.S. Yes, I’m coming back, it’s an election cycle!” said McCain, as reported by <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/meghan-mccain-wont-commit-to-voting-biden-over-trump?via=twitter_page">The Daily Beast</a>.
“You are voting for Joe Biden, I’m assuming?” host Andy Cohen asked.
“I’m not saying who I’m voting for &#8230; but I’m not voting for Trump&#8221; she responded.
McCain added that she wants to see who Joe Biden picks as a running mate.
“I want to see how this plays out, and I want to see the debates,” she said. “I’m like such a last-minute – I mean, I’m so spoiled because I’ve loved so many elections, and this one’s not my favorite for a lot of different reasons.&#8221;
During the online after-show, McCain said that Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) would be a good choice for Joe Biden.
“I think if he’s smart he’ll choose someone like Tammy Duckworth because she’s very hard to attack because she’s a veteran and she has such a long history,” McCain said. “But I know there’s a huge debate that people want a Black woman to be chosen.”
“I know, one hundred percent who he shouldn’t pick,” she continued. “I don’t think Susan Rice is a good choice at all because she’s never been elected to anything.”
While Duckworth may be gaining some traction in Biden circles due to her past service in America’s armed forces, her extremism may be a liability to winning over moderates and independents. Recently, in the wake of mobs targetting statues and historic monuments, and tearing them down without due process, Duckworth signaled that she is in favor of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/potential-biden-vp-pick-tammy-duckworth-signals-openness-to-tearing-down-statues-of-founding-fathers">having a dialogue</a> about removing the statues of America’s founding fathers.
People on social media were displeased with Meghan McCain&#8217;s trepidation about voting for Joe Biden, citing President Trump&#8217;s repeated criticisms of her father.
“So, Meghan McCain says she’s not committing to voting for Joe Biden, the man who eulogized her father, instead she’d rather see the moronic orange criminal who keeps insulting her father’s service in the WH. She’s married to the scumbag who owns The Federalist propaganda outlet,&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/TheRickyDavila/status/1291398641240772608?s=20">tweeted</a> singer Ricky Davila.
&#8220;Meghan McCain can&#8217;t decide who she&#8217;s voting for. Biden eulogized your father after he passed. Trump said he prefers war heroes who weren&#8217;t caught and routinely made fun of your father after he&#8217;d died. Wake the F up!!&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/osullivanauthor/status/1291408596735938561?s=20">tweeted</a> author Brian O&#8217;Sullivan.
&#8220;John McCain was friends with Joe Biden for 40 years. They worked together even when they disagreed. Biden eulogized McCain. Trump repeated insulted him. But Meghan McCain can’t decide who to vote for,&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/santiagomayer_/status/1291405416463650817?s=20">tweeted</a> Voters Tomorrow founder Santiago Mayer.
RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-right-people-whoopi-goldberg-rebukes-idea-that-biden-must-pick-a-black-woman-vp">‘The Right People’: Whoopi Goldberg Rebukes Idea That Biden Must Pick A Black Woman VP</a>
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ABC&#8217;s &#8220;The View&#8221; &#8211; Season 22

Meghan McCain Won’t Commit To Voting For Joe Biden

2020 Election

Donald Trump

Joe Biden

Meghan McCain

Leftist billionaire George Soros is attempting to ensure the reelection of St. Louis circuit attorney Kim Gardner, who brought felony charges against Mark and Patricia McCloskey on July 20 after they had pointed guns at a mob of Black Lives Matter protesters who had trespassed into private property and marched in front of their home.
Soros gave $116, 000 to Missouri Justice &amp; Public Safety PAC, which is working to reelect Gardner, <a href="https://freebeacon.com/democrats/soros-boosts-st-louis-prosecutor-after-prosecuting-gun-toting-couple/">The Washington Free Beacon</a> reported, adding, “Gardner is facing former homicide prosecutor Mary Pat Carl in Tuesday&#8217;s Democratic primary.”
Soros had already helped finance support for state&#8217;s attorney Kim Foxx in Chicago, who had been involved in the Jussie Smollett case. The Beacon noted, “The liberal billionaire has spent millions supporting far-left candidates in California, Florida, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and elsewhere.”
Regarding Gardner, she employed a private investigator rather than work with police to explore allegations against former Missouri GOP governor Eric Greitens. The Beacon noted that the investigator lied under oath and “the prosecutor&#8217;s conduct set off a separate probe into the handling of the case … Gardner has called the investigation into her handling of the case a ‘racially motivated conspiracy.’”
Following the news that Gardner, the city’s top prosecutor, had announced that Mark and Patricia McCloskey, would be charged with felony unlawful use of a weapon, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt filed a brief that would dismiss the charges. The brief stated that Schmitt “respectfully requests that the Court dismiss this case at the earlier possible opportunity.”
“The right to keep and bear arms is given the highest level of protection in our constitution and our laws, including the Castle Doctrine, which provides broad rights to Missourians who are protecting their property and lives from those who wish to do them harm,” Schmitt told <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/missouri-ag-moves-to-dismiss-charges-against-couple-who-pointed-guns-at-crowd">Fox News</a>, adding, “Despite this, Circuit Attorney Gardner filed suit against the McCloskeys, who, according to published reports, were defending their property and safety. As Missouri’s Chief law enforcement officer, I won’t stand by while Missouri law is being ignored.”
Gardner had stated, &#8220;It is illegal to wave weapons in a threatening manner &#8212; that is unlawful in the city of St. Louis,&#8221; without mentioning Missouri’s “castle doctrine.” The couple’s attorney, Joel Schwartz, called Gardner’s decision &#8220;disheartening as I unequivocally believe no crime was  July, A new investigation claims that St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, who decided to charge Mark and Patricia McCloskey with felony unlawful use of a weapon when they defended their home from protesters, did not disclose trips she took as required by law.
At the end of July, an investigation claimed that Gardner did not disclose trips she took as required by law.
“Sources tell News 4 that some of the trips were paid for in full, or in part, by an organization called Fair and Just Prosecution, a group that professes to support progressive prosecutors,” <a href="https://www.kmov.com/news/st-louis-circuit-attorney-hasnt-disclosed-trips-as-required-by-law-documents-show/article_bdee8a7a-d05f-11ea-b7c3-079ff4871843.html">KMOV</a> reported. “The organization has repeatedly applauded many of Gardner’s actions, including the charges against Mark and Patricia McCloskey for brandishing guns in the Central West End last month.”
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Kim Gardner

Soros Is Funding PAC Supporting Reelection Of Prosecutor Who Targeted McCloskeys, Report Says

George Soros

Mark McCloskey

Patricia McCloskey

A massive explosion at Lebanon’s main port has sent an already precarious state hurtling toward failure, according to experts.
The Middle East country was already struggling under a plummeting economy and skyrocketing inflation. The coronavirus pandemic had dashed any hope for a recovery coming any time soon. On Tuesday, “the last nail in the coffin” came after a government warehouse stocked with 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/massive-explosion-reported-in-beirut-lebanon">exploded</a> in the middle of Lebanon’s main port in the capital city of Beirut, one former Lebanese government adviser told <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/beirut-explosion-brings-lebanon-to-the-brink-11596663015">The Wall Street Journal</a>.
“It’s the last nail in the coffin,” said Henri Chaoul, who resigned in June after advising Lebanese officials negotiating a potential bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Lebanese government defaulted on a $1.2 billion loan from the IMF in March.
“[Lebanese government officials] were incapable of running a much smaller crisis. How are they supposed to handle this?” Chaoul asked.
“I think Lebanon is fast approaching failed state status,” Lina Khatib, who studies the Middle East and North Africa at the Chatham House think tank in London, told WSJ.
The explosion <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/beirut-explosion-death-toll-skyrockets-as-thousands-injured-300000-left-homeless">killed</a> dozens and injured thousands more while damaging buildings for miles around, blowing out glass and warping beams and supports. The destruction has left an estimated 300,000 people in Beirut homeless. Shards of broken glass were seen two miles away from the blast site, encompassing an area where roughly 750,000 people live. The sound from the explosion could be heard more than 100 miles away.
Many Lebanese are anxious to hold someone accountable for the disaster while Lebanon’s leaders, many of whom are holdouts from the country’s last civil war, are trying to avoid responsibility.
“I will not rest until we find the person responsible for what happened, to hold him accountable and impose the most severe penalties,” Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab said in the aftermath of the tragedy.
Anger at Lebanon’s political class has been building for years as the country’s economy has stagnated and the value of its currency has plummeted. Inflation is nearly 90%, and the IMF predicts that Lebanon’s economy will contract by 12% by the end of the year.
“We’re entering this catastrophe already on the brink,” Oxford Economics economist Nafez Zouk, an expert on Lebanon, told WSJ, referring to the port explosion. “This just accelerates the free fall.”
Lebanon has been on the “brink” of another civil war for several years. The terror group Hezbollah maintains a strong presence in Lebanon, and is a constant threat to Israel to the south and has fought the Jewish state openly.
Hezbollah’s relationship with Syria to Lebanon’s north and east has contributed to Lebanon’s fall as the terror group aids Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, according to the <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/menasource/lebanons-fate-appears-to-be-irreversibly-tied-to-syria/">Atlantic Council</a>. Lebanon has also been drawn into confrontations between Iran and the United States. Tensions between Lebanon’s populations of Christian, Sunni and Shiite Muslim, and Druze residents are growing as well.
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Beirut

Beirut Explosion ‘Last Nail In The Coffin’ As Lebanon Hurtles Toward ‘Failed State Status’

Lebanon

We often look at today’s Hollywood product with a “they don’t make ‘em like that anymore” shrug. The same can be said of the modern action spectacle. Blockbusters are often interrupted by virtue signaling, CGI overload and rail-thin heroines who outmuscle men triple their weight. That wasn’t how things went down in the 1980s. The Reagan era gave rise to masculine heroes who saved the day without regret or apology. The decade’s female warriors could be just as tough, but their heroism came grounded with their strengths, like motherhood, and physical limitations. They still gave as good as they got. Ask Sarah Connor.
The following films could be played at a movie theater next week and still draw sizable crowds. Classic action movies don’t come with expiration dates.
Predator
“If it bleeds, we can kill it …
“Get to the choppah!”
“I ain’t got time to bleed…”
“C’mon, kill me now! I’m here!”
Few action movies spat out so many choice, and cheesy, lines as 1987’s “Predator.” Arnold Schwarzenegger and a muscle-bound battalion stumble upon an alien life form during a jungle raid. The creature systematically picks them off in epic fashion, hiding in not so plain sight.
Director John McTiernan (“The Hunt for Red October”) used the alien’s invisible nature to his benefit, letting a sense of mystery shroud the feature until the epic third act.
Self reliance is the overriding message here, from the preparation needed to take on an enemy encampment to Ah-nold’s ingenuity in defeating the title character.
Schwarzenegger’s rise to the A-list came, in part, because he collaborated with the best directors in the business, from James Cameron to Ivan Reitman. He did it again with “Predator,” a sci-fi actioner that screams ‘80s goodness.
<iframe title="🎥 PREDATOR (1987) | Full Movie Trailer in Full HD | 1080p" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X2hBYGwKh3I?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The Road Warrior
Forget the over-rated “Mad Max: Fury Road.” Tom Hardy’s Max is barely the star of his own movie. This slab of post-apocalyptic doom boasts one of the best action sequences of all time and a somber, conflicted hero in Mel Gibson.
The film’s pacing may lose modern viewers, addicted to near-constant mayhem. The dystopian set-up matters, as does the road race that caps the film in a bravura finish. The shooting location, an Australian town where the ore mines had dried up, lent the film a realistic air of desperation and decay.
The rest, including costumes partly cobbled together from leather specialty shops, completed the surreal picture. It’s how director George Miller staged it all, including humanity at its worst, that makes this the ultimate “Max” movie.
The story seems ripped out of a liberal nightmare, with dwindling oil supplies sparking global unrest. However, another, more robust theme emerges from the smoke and mayhem – appeasement won’t work. It’s why Max and co. finally stand up to Lord Humungus and his colorful thugs.
<iframe title="Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) Mel Gibson Post-Apocalypse Movie HD" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UlwtiOyaoo0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Aliens
It might be the best sequel of all time without the word “Godfather” in the title, especially considering how it extends the first film’s story while shifting gears to all-out action.
Cameron knew star Sigourney Weaver could carry an action film, but he gave her plenty of colorful support, including strong turns by Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen and especially Paul Reiser.
Together, they deliver some of the decade’s white-knuckle highlights, goosed by James Horner’s hypnotic score. The first alien bombardment shows the power of waiting, and waiting, for the villains to enter the frame.
Or, as Paxton’s character memorably says, “Game over, man!”
Best of all? Weaver’s patented blend of moxie and maternal spirit save the day, along with little Newt, from the Mama Alien’s clutches. Any remake might remove that essential element of the story in favor of a more “empowered,” progressive heroine.
<iframe title="Aliens (1986) Trailer #1 | Movieclips Classic Trailers" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oSeQQlaCZgU?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
RoboCop
Peter Weller turned down a lucrative role in what turned out to be the disastrous “King Kong Lives” to play a doomed cop named Murphy in this 1987 gem. And he didn’t have to audition, per se, for the role. Instead, he performed a dance-like sequence to show director Paul Verhoeven he had the moves to play a man trapped in a robotic shell.
“RoboCop” blended comedy, social satire, FX wizardry, shoot ‘em action and a big ol’ heart for its blue steel theatrics. Weller’s tragic hero added the final, bravura touch, but Verhoeven didn’t let the crush of genres interrupt the action.
The movie oddly resonates with today’s world, where the public is realizing why we need police officers in the first place. RoboCop represents the ultimate in police reform, as long as its creators don’t exploit his supreme firepower.
The 2014 remake, naturally, lacked the charm and wit of the source material, and the sequels proved increasingly inferior.
<iframe title="RoboCop (1987) Official Trailer - Cyborg Police Sci-Fi Movie HD" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6tC_5mp3udE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Die Hard
It’s merely the gold standard for the modern action film. Take a cranky, indefatigable hero (Bruce Willis), a charismatic baddie (Alan Rickman) and odds stacked so high they dwarf Nakatomi tower, and you have the prototypical actioner.
McTiernan, again, fuses familiar genre beats with Willis growing into his movie star status — even though he was simultaneously shooting ABC’s “Moonlighting” while working on the project. Some of the film’s best moments were created at the last minute, like the first physical meeting between Rickman and Willis, inspired by the former’s impression of a California dweller.
Willis’ John McClane doesn’t get political in the film, but is there any doubt which lever he pulls when he enters the voting booth?
And, for the record, it’s not a Christmas movie.
<iframe title="Die Hard (1988) Trailer #1 | Movieclips Classic Trailers" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jaJuwKCmJbY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Return of the Jedi
Many people refuse to forgive the third film in the original “Star Wars” trilogy for its fuzzy, kid-friendly heroes, the Ewoks.
Understood.
Look past the product placement jamboree. This 1983 sequel moves, from the spectacular battle on Jabba the Hut’s floating palace to the finale featuring not one or two but three epic fights happening all at once.
Director Richard Marquand, an odd but perfect choice, corrals so much mayhem into the third act without losing clarity of the saga’s soul, which revolves around a commitment to courageously confronting evil while also remaining open to the potential of personal redemption.
<iframe title="Return of the Jedi: Theatrical Trailer 1982" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7L8p7_SLzvU?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The Hidden
This under-valued sci-fi affair casts a pre-“Twin Peaks” Kyle MacLachlan as an FBI agent on the trail of a curious crook. Turns out the pair have something in common, much to the confusion of the Earth-bound officer (Michael Nouri) assigned to the case.
Call “The Hidden” a sly genre blend in the “RoboCop” mold, a lo-fi thriller brimming with action, mayhem and an otherworldly glow.
<iframe title="The Hidden (1987) Official Trailer - Kyle MacLachlan, Michael Nouri Alien Crime Movie HD" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bl-iB4WAB0o?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Lethal Weapon
If “Die Hard” cemented the action movie template, Richard Donner’s 1987 film nailed the buddy cop genre for years to come.
Mel Gibson stars as a cop on the edge, tempered by an older, wiser Danny Glover who’s getting too old for … eh, you know the rest.
Slick action, sharp comic asides and a gonzo finale featuring, who else, Gary Busey as the heavy, made this popcorn movie perfection. Gibson’s Riggs character is all alone at the start of the movie, but by the finale he’s embraced a new nuclear clan courtesy of his older, wiser partner.
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Raiders of the Lost Ark
This 1981 ode to cliffhangers of yore is nearly perfect. Where to even start cataloging the stunning action scenes?
The opening sequence, as good as any Bond adventure can summon? What about Indy versus the gargantuan Nazi, a fight settled by those spinning propeller blades?
By the time our hero lowers his body under a speeding car, you know you’re watching one of the greatest action films of all time.
The film’s FX-heavy finale explores Christianity in a way many blockbusters either avoid or downplay.
One of the most iconic scenes turns out to be a satirical twist on the standard action setup, with a weary Jones facing off against a scimitar-wielding villain but wisely opting for the pistol over the whip.
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Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Yes, the second part of the franchise has its glaring flaws. Kate Capshaw’s lounge singer shtick is no match for Karen Allen’s gritty heroine. The film’s gross out dinner sequence proved both unnecessary and culturally inaccurate.
But what a finale.
The film’s final 45 minutes simply do … not … stop. It’s classic Steven Spielberg, dragging us along from the mining caves to the edge of a mountain. Harrison Ford does the rest, scrambling to save the children enslaved by the film’s evil cult.
Indy saves the day, of course, but he also realizes “fortune and glory” matters little if he can’t use his skills to help his fellow man.
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Rocky III
The Italian Stallion stares down not one but two super-sized foes in this colorful sequel. The match against Hulk Hogan is just for fun, except no one told the gargantuan wrestler that. Clubber Lang (Mr. T in full grimace mode) is all business from the opening bell.
The challenger whups Rocky in their first confrontation, but you know there’s going to be a rematch. Sylvester Stallone, doing triple duty as star, writer and director, knows exactly what we expect from a Rocky movie. And he delivers, wearing his old pal Apollo’s red, white and blue trunks, of course.
The best part? A third fight between Rocky and Apollo Creed, teased in the film’s final seconds without a hint as to who came out on top. Perfect.
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The Terminator
It’s Cameron, again, teaming with Schwarzenegger for a film that affirmed his status as an elite action auteur (his preachy screenwriting side emerged later). The results are more rugged than you remember, courtesy of a smaller budget and modest expectations.
The film delivers anyway, from the classic police station massacre (“I’ll be back”) to the unlikely romance between Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) and her protector (Michael Biehn). Today’s female action heroes owe plenty to Hamilton’s stoic turn.
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More from Christian Toto: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/greg-gutfeld-rise-to-fox-fame-countering-cancel-culture">EXCLUSIVE: Greg Gutfeld Gets Candid About His Rise To FOX Fame, Countering Cancel Culture</a>
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Mel Gibson Mad Max 2

The Best Action Movies of the ‘80s

Hollywood

Ronald Reagan

In a Daily Wire exclusive interview, Lt. Col. Allen West sat down with Ben Shapiro to discuss how to push back on the identity politics and &#8220;victim culture&#8221; dominating American discourse and what it&#8217;ll take to keep the red states from turning blue.
Allen West grew up in the same neighborhood as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., an area more commonly known as the “Old Fourth Ward Neighborhood.” Despite being born a generation later, former U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, former U.S. Representative and now Texas Republican Party Chairman, Allen West continues to echo the same transformative message of Dr. King  — content of character and not the color of your skin.
But in a January 2019 “Sunday Special Interview” with Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro, Allen West stated that the narrative has since shifted. 
“For whatever reason, America has reversed and we&#8217;ve gone back to talking more so about the color of skin issues instead of the character of people,” West explained. 
With a family history of service to the country, West acknowledged that his value system is distinct from the rest of society. From a young age his father instructed him, “Son, when you go into the military, it ain&#8217;t about the color of your skin, it is all about what you can do out there on the battlefield.”
“And that&#8217;s how it should be,” West argued.
As a college campus speaker who tours the country with Young America’s Foundation, West has witnessed a different perspective sweeping the halls of higher education, one that promotes victimhood and “dependency on the Left.” 
After one night speaking on the Obama-era Iranian nuclear deal and American foreign policy, West was shocked by the first question he received from a young black female. “Do you identify as black?” she asked. 
Such thinking, West told Shapiro, is the product of the Left pushing people into an ideological box based upon their ethnicity or gender. There is an “effort on college campuses to say that if you&#8217;re Jewish, you&#8217;re supposed to think a certain way. If you&#8217;re black, you&#8217;re supposed to think of a certain way,” commented West.
And if you have any opinions that run contrary to the Left’s, then “you&#8217;re bad or you’re confused or, you know, maybe you&#8217;re mentally disturbed,” he remarked.
West said the Left’s message is clear: “No matter where you come from, we need more people to be victims.” 
“Why? Because the Left needs more people to be dependent upon them,” he explained.
According to the retired congressman, the way to counter this thinking is two-fold. First, “start to fight that culture war.” And second, “stop allowing the Left to define everything.”
West is confident there is more to the story than the Left’s dominant societal narrative. “Everybody wants to be a part of an American dream,” he asserted.
“I don&#8217;t believe that people wake up every day in life and say, ‘I want to stay here in Section 8 housing and get a check from the government.’ But if that&#8217;s the only message that they hear, if that&#8217;s the only people that are going into those communities and talking to them about being victims and not victors, then the Republicans are always chasing their tails.”
Victors look like West’s wife. She is the daughter of immigrant parents from Jamaica and her father fought in the U.S Military for 24 years. They laid a foundation for her to earn her PhD, MBA, and go on to teach as a business professor. 
“But those aren&#8217;t the stories that the other side wants to have,” West pointed out.
Rising above victimhood includes shaking off what West views is equally as repulsive as racism — “the soft bigotry of low expectations.”
To be told by someone, “Well, you probably can&#8217;t achieve it, so we&#8217;re going to lower the standards so you can get out there and play.” To this West responded bluntly, “That’s racist.”
Counteracting low expectations with high expectations is key. “You know, you find out what the standard is, what it means to get to the A, and then you get an A-plus,” asserted West. “And that&#8217;s what I&#8217;m driven to do.” 
For West, this means even if he has to brave the hate. 
“You know if you&#8217;re not willing to sit down, have that intellectual debate, then you&#8217;re irrelevant. I don&#8217;t hear names. I&#8217;ve been shot at. Okay. Names don&#8217;t bother me,” West told Shapiro.
This level of perseverance is evident by his recent mid-July win for Texas Republican Party Chairman. 
West is the author of, “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hold-Texas-Nation-Victory-Death/dp/1612542980">Hold Texas, Hold the Nation: Victory Or Death</a>” and its pages point to Texas as the crux of future conservative election victories.
West said that Texas is following the same path that Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada went down, a path that leads to red states becoming blue. One of the causes, he told Shapiro, is California residents moving to red states because of their own state’s “failed tax and regulatory policies.” 
“And what is happening is that the greatest export that comes out of California is not avocados, wine, or walnuts — it&#8217;s progressive socialism.” West is sure that “they&#8217;re flipping them because they&#8217;re, once again, holding onto these same failed policies.”
The looming danger is that Texas, along with California, which the Left already dominates, are the two largest electoral states. “And the Left without a doubt have their sights on Texas. As a matter of fact their mantra is ‘Turn Texas Blue,’” West said.
“And if the Left is successful in turning Texas, the national-level elections, they’re done. You&#8217;re never gonna be able to reverse that cycle,” he warned.
West believes this calls for serious action by the Republican Party to intentionally fight for voters in large urban cities and present them with the rationale of conservative policies and values. 
“And so we need to challenge the status quo,” he urged, “and we need to have a whole-hearted effort to go into these communities and show ourselves and show these policies.”
But for some reason, this seems to come easier to the Left than the Right, West noted. And he respects them for it. 
“One of the things that I admire about the Left and the Democrat Party — they&#8217;re tenacious, even in the minority. They&#8217;re tenacious because they&#8217;re true believers in what they believe in, even if it&#8217;s wrong,” he said. “But for us, we don&#8217;t show that we&#8217;re true believers. And I think at some point in time we have to have those elected representatives in the Republican Party that are true believers. I don&#8217;t know if we&#8217;re going to get there within the next four years, but this is my real vision that I think will happen.”
West’s confidence in the party stems from his larger positive vision for the country. “I&#8217;m always optimistic, man, because if you’re pessimistic why wake up,” he told Shapiro.
After all, West stated, “we didn&#8217;t fight for America to look like a Venezuela.”
Lt. Col. West believes that fighting for America is a privilege and passionately seeks to make the next generation better than the last. To that generation, he said, “stand on a mountain.”
“Sometimes you&#8217;re going to be down in the valley — but always keep your eyes on the mountain.”
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/sunday-special-ep-34-allen-west">Watch West’s full interview with Shapiro</a>
More exclusive interviews from The Daily Wire: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ted-cruz-on-the-fundamental-fight">Ted Cruz On ‘The Fundamental Fight’</a>
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Allen West

Allen West On Living As ‘Victors Not Victims’

Ben Shapiro

Republican Party

Throughout his whole career, C.S. Lewis fought against one significant error which he believed would lead in the end to political catastrophe: the error of materialism. In this second part of a series on the politics of C.S. Lewis, I argue that Lewis saw to the heart of a philosophical mistake that would gradually unmake our civilization: in speeches, books, and essays, he argued that if you debunk the idea of God, then the government will one day become your God.
In an <a href="https://faculty.fordham.edu/klima/Blackwell-proofs/MP_C30.pdf">essay</a> on the nature of existence, Thomas Aquinas — the great Medieval philosopher of the Catholic Church — recalled a point made by his favorite pagan, the Athenian philosopher Aristotle: “A small mistake in the beginning grows enormous in the end.”
Aquinas noted this at the opening of his On Being and Essence, because he knew what we too often forget: that the most catastrophic social and political errors are always rooted, somewhere deep down, in a seemingly minor misunderstanding of the most basic things.
In the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/klavan-the-politics-of-c-s-lewis">introduction</a> to this discussion of the politics of C.S. Lewis, I talked about Lewis’s distinction between justice and social engineering. Justice, in Lewis’s view, is a calculus of rewards and retribution: it is “giving to each what he deserves.”
As Lewis was well aware, this is an ancient idea that dates back at least to Plato’s Republic (especially <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0168%3Abook%3D4%3Apage%3D433">Book 4</a>). The notion of giving each his due, suum cuique, is foundational to the way we in the West think about ourselves and the societies we build.
Social engineering, on the other hand, is a different way of thinking about people altogether. In his essay on “The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment” (1954), Lewis argued that though it may seem humane to “rehabilitate” or “deter” criminals rather than punish them, it actually strips them of their humanity. To deny the moral character and consequences of a crime is to make both the criminal and his victims into something less than human: “instead of a person, a subject of rights,” wrote Lewis, “we now have a mere object, a patient, a ‘case.’”
The natural endpoint of social engineering is the worst kind of tyranny, the “tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims.” “Those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end,” wrote Lewis, “for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
And so a small error at the level of first principles, so appealing on its face, leads to a massive error at the level of politics and social life. Only accept that human evil is not a spiritual defect of the will but a neurological disorder to be corrected, and you have traded the entire Western tradition of justice for a sinister new vision of limitless oppression and control.
In this second part of the series, I’m going to describe in more detail the nature of this “small mistake” and the cataclysmic errors to which it leads. It is my view that the foundational error in first principles against which Lewis fought for his entire career is the same one that continues to plague us today.
That tiny error is materialism, the belief that there is only the material world — no spirit, no soul and thus no inherent morality or universal truth. The great disaster to which materialism leads is bureaucratic tyranny. Insist that there is nothing beyond flesh and you will be led, bit by inexorable bit, to the oppressive conclusion that the government must rule over men as God.
Freud, Darwin, and Materialism
Though Lewis rarely made it explicit, in his political and sociological writing he was often shadowboxing with one of his great intellectual nemeses, Sigmund Freud. In 1938 — shortly before Lewis’s own career took off — Freud fled his native Austria to escape Nazi persecution in the United Kingdom. At that point he was already world-famous as one of the 20th century’s greatest minds, the inventor of an entirely new way to view mankind and his place in the universe.
Freud’s voluminous literary output rivals Lewis’s own. Over the course of decades, he developed his view that the human mind is something like a biological machine for producing fantasies. In Totem and Taboo (1913) Freud argued that our higher impulses — our desire to engage in practices like religion and art — have their origins in primal physical experiences like sex and violence.
Out of those material sensations — those animal forms of life — the mind constructs elaborate narratives about God and truth. “Consciousness is the surface of the mental apparatus,” Freud wrote in The Ego and the Id (1923), but beneath our conscious ideas about goodness and beauty lie half-forgotten encounters with our brute appetites.
As the Freudian outlook became fashionable in Europe, the intelligentsia came to assume that the “true” or “authentic” human person can be found by scraping away the ideas about truth and justice that our minds construct to cope with our neuroses. This is where we get our modern set of assumptions — so ubiquitous that we have ceased to notice them — that “society” is an artificial “construct” and can be altered or dismantled at will.
The evolutionary theories of Darwin, also hugely influential at this time, gave the psychoanalytic outlook something like a scientific veneer: if our origins are to be found in the animal kingdom, then maybe all our noble ideas can be boiled down to our flesh and blood. “You and me, baby, ain’t nothing but mammals”: that is materialism exactly. It is the idea that only physical atoms, bouncing off one another in predictable patterns, are real. All else is illusion. Anyone who buys this view is a (probably unwitting) disciple of Darwin and Freud.
Lewis knew these arguments well, and he rejected them utterly. Freud had helped drive him away from religion in his youth, after his return from war in the 1920s: “the new Psychology was at that time sweeping through us all,” he wrote in his 1955 autobiography, Surprised by Joy. “We did not swallow it whole&#8230;but we were all influenced.”
The consequence was what Lewis called “almost a panic-stricken flight” from anything that looked like sentimentalism or superstition. Religion, fantasy, idealism: Freud was thought to have debunked them all. “I had (this was very precisely the opposite of the truth) ‘seen through’ them,” Lewis recalled. “With the confidence of a boy I decided I had done with all that.”
But of course Lewis would eventually discover that by tossing away everything except the physical world, he had lost everything that had any meaning to him, or to anyone.
Only if there are things we can’t see under a microscope that are nevertheless real — things like love, and courage, and imagination — do our lives make any sense. By contrast, if we are only animals, then there is nothing to stop us from behaving much less like men than we presently do.
<div id="attachment_135418" style="width: 1010px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-135418" class="wp-image-135418" src="https://editorial.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/C.S.-Lewis-5-681x576.jpg" alt="Irish-born academic Clive Staples Lewis (1898 - 1963), a fellow and tutor of Magdalen College, Oxford. Original Publication: Picture Post - 5159 - Eternal Oxford - pub. 1950 Original Publication: People Disc - HG0145 (Photo by John Chillingworth/Getty Images)" width="1000" height="845" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/C.S.-Lewis-5-681x576.jpg 681w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/C.S.-Lewis-5-300x254.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/C.S.-Lewis-5-768x649.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/C.S.-Lewis-5-1536x1299.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/C.S.-Lewis-5.jpg 2000w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" />John Chillingworth/Getty Images</div>
The Small Error
Lewis came to realize that materialism is the small error in first principles that leads to untold horrors in the end. Hence his argument in “On the Humanitarian Theory of Punishment”: it seems alluringly generous at first blush to think of criminals as mere patients, suffering from a mental imbalance in need more of cure than of retribution.
But to do so, Lewis argued, is to think of all human action as a consequence of chemical reactions in the brain rather than moral calculations in the heart and the mind. This leads not to kindness but to coercion, and to a tyranny of good intentions:
<blockquote>The things done to the criminal, even if they are called cures, will be just as compulsory as they were in the old days when we called them punishments. If a tendency to steal can be cured by psychotherapy, the thief will no doubt be forced to undergo the treatment. Otherwise, society cannot continue. My contention is that this doctrine, merciful though it appears, really means that each one of us, from the moment he breaks the law, is deprived of the rights of a human being.</blockquote>
Once Lewis describes this philosophy, you can see it everywhere in modern life:
The endless classification of everything as mental illness, implying that the best way to fix emotional problems is simply with the right cocktail of medication.
The insistence that gender and sexuality are mere social constructs, whose injustices can be rectified with surgery and hormone injections.
The idea that religion is just a holdover from primitive tribal fantasy.
All of these cultural trends are premised on the feeling — it is not even developed enough anymore to be called a philosophy — that our higher principles are just fanciful stories we tell ourselves about the way our bodies behave.
The Death of God and the Tyranny of Man
But of course, the very notion that it would be “good” to correct our fantasies or “liberating” to be rid of them is in itself an ideal: it is an abstract principle about what “should” happen. It comes from our principles and beliefs, not our physical urges.
Ideas such as “trans women are women” or “depression should be cured with drugs” are nowhere to be found in the physical universe or in our animal natures. They are ideals, every bit as abstract as “the Lord is God” or “thou shalt not kill.”
So the attempt to treat everything and everyone as mere physical matter turns out, in the end, to be an effort on the part of some people to treat other people as mere physical matter on the basis of their own abstract beliefs.
As Lewis saw, social engineers are not offering to rid the world of ideals. They are offering to clear the world of one set of ideals — those of piety, truth, and beauty — and install another set, chosen by themselves, in its place. And so materialism leads, by the implications of its own premises, to tyranny.
The Abolition of Man
Nowhere did Lewis articulate this argument more clearly than in a masterful three-part lecture series given at the University of Durham in 1943 and subsequently published as The Abolition of Man.
In those speeches, Lewis demonstrated that the scientific impulse to gain power over nature — to subdue the earth by gaining technological control of the material world — ends up making those with the best technology into masters of others who do not.
As a result, “what we call Man’s power over nature turns out to be a power exercised by some men over other men with nature as its instrument&#8230;. The final stage is come when Man by eugenics, by pre-natal conditioning, and by an education and propaganda based on a perfect applied psychology, has obtained full control over himself.”
And yet, if we have already “debunked” or “seen through” all the old ideals — if there is no God or morality to tell us which developments we should prefer over others — then we have only the basic impulses of our flesh to guide us.
Those who wield technological power and psychiatric authority must make some decisions about how they will breed mankind, what outcomes they will select for and against. But “those who stand outside all judgements of value cannot have any ground for preferring one of their own impulses to another except the emotional strength of that impulse.”
In other words: materialism begins by promising a perfect state of nature in which all are equal. But by the very necessity of its logic, it ends by creating a boundless tyranny in which a very few rule arbitrarily over the rest of mankind — as if they were mere animals. Could there be a more consequential error?
Lewis saw directly into the heart of this false materialist premise and predicted all the evils it would produce. That is why his writing only becomes more powerfully affecting over time: he is more relevant, not less, now that materialism has entrenched itself securely as the going assumption of our sophisticates and ruling classes.
“The kings of the earth take their stand,” says Psalm 2, “and the rulers gather together, against the LORD and His Anointed One. ‘Let us break Their chains and cast away Their cords,’” they say. The central political fight of Lewis’s life was the same as our own: the fight against a materialism which looks like freedom but produces slavery.
From COVID lockdowns to the hideous practice of transgender hormone injections for minors, we are surrounded by the nightmarish consequences of this one seemingly small error, the error against which Lewis never stopped warning us: get rid of God, and you will be ruled by men.
Read more from this series: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/klavan-the-politics-of-c-s-lewis">The Politics of C.S. Lewis</a>
Spencer Klavan is host of the <a href="http://youngheretics.com/">Young Heretics</a> podcast and assistant editor of the <a href="https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/">Claremont Review of</a> Booksand <a href="https://americanmind.org/">The American Mind</a>. He can be reached on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/spencerklavan">@SpencerKlavan</a>.
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

C S Lewis

The Politics Of C.S. Lewis: The ‘Progressive’ Error That Looks Like Freedom But Leads To Tyranny

C.S. Lewis

Charles Darwin

Progressivism

Sigmund Freud

In November 2015, three years after taking the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl, quarterback Colin Kaepernick was benched in favor of Blaine Gabbert, a career journeyman most recently unsuccessful with the Jacksonville Jaguars. The following preseason, Kaepernick began donning garb designed to mock police officers, including socks with cops dressed as pigs. He also remained seated for the national anthem during a preseason game, claiming &#8220;I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.&#8221;
At the time, multiple NFL players spoke out in opposition to Kaepernick&#8217;s symbolic move: New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz said &#8220;you&#8217;ve got to respect the flag, and you&#8217;ve got to stand up with your teammates. It&#8217;s bigger than just you, in my opinion. You go up there; you&#8217;re with a team; and you go and pledge your allegiance to the flag, and sing the national anthem with your team, and then you go about your business.&#8221;
At the time, this was a majority proposition: Seventy-two percent of Americans thought the gesture unpatriotic, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Kaepernick never regained a starting role in the NFL&#8230; but his career took off again. He signed a lucrative endorsement deal with Nike to cash in on his supposed bravery; he cut a content deal with Disney. When he was offered a private tryout with NFL teams, he promptly violated all protocols and blew up the process. In June 2020, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell urged NFL teams to sign Kaepernick anyway.
On July 4, Kaepernick tweeted: &#8220;Black ppl have been dehumanized, brutalized, criminalized + terrorized by America for centuries, &amp; are expected to join your commemoration of &#8216;independence,&#8217; while you enslaved our ancestors. We reject your celebration of white supremacy &amp; look forward to liberation for all.&#8221;
Today, Kaepernick&#8217;s symbolism has become the new normal, morphed into a rote ritual of wokeness thanks to the ugly sight of then-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, who would later die. Democratic elected officials knelt in the halls of Congress. Major League Baseball players knelt before the national anthem to protest supposed systemic American racism. NBA players knelt as well, wearing Black Lives Matter t-shirts.
And players who refused to comply were publicly cudgeled. When San Francisco Giants pitcher Sam Coonrod refused to kneel, stating that he would not kneel for anything but God, he was castigated as benighted at best, racist at worst. When black Orlando Magic basketball player Jonathan Isaacs stood for the national anthem, again citing the unifying anti-racism of Christianity, he was ripped as &#8220;dangerous.&#8221;
Only Gregg Popovich, coach of the San Antonio Spurs, who has spent years utilizing purple progressive language about President Donald Trump, was exonerated for standing for the anthem — and that was because he wore a Black Lives Matter t-shirt.
<div id="attachment_135354" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-135354" class="wp-image-135354" src="https://editorial.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Colin-Kaepernick-897x576.jpg" alt="Street art of Colin Kaepernick taking a knee is seen on the corner of Melrose Avenue and Fairfax Avenue on June 21, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. In recent weeks colorful new street art and murals, inspired by the coronavirus pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement since the death of George Floyd, have been created on empty spaces throughout Los Angeles. (Photo by Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty Images)" width="800" height="514" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Colin-Kaepernick-897x576.jpg 897w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Colin-Kaepernick-300x193.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Colin-Kaepernick-768x493.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Colin-Kaepernick.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty Images</div>
So, what changed?
Certainly not the data.
Despite the presence of individual racism in American life in all walks of life, America&#8217;s police are not systemically racist. Until the pandemic wrecked the economy across the board, black Americans were experiencing historic lows in unemployment and historic highs in median income.
What changed is that Americans surrendered to the narrative promulgated for so long by those who seek to undermine American comity: that American history is not the story of moving toward the fulfillment of the promises of the Declaration of Independence but of the continuous, chameleonic perversion of bigotry, that America&#8217;s founding ideas were lies, then and always, that only racial identity provides credence for talking about racial inequalities.
The burden of proof has shifted to America&#8217;s defenders.
And those defenders can never prove their case: first, because no country is perfect, and second, because systemic racism is a non-disprovable theory.
Four short years ago, we mostly assumed the best of our fellow Americans — that they weren&#8217;t endemically racist, at the very least — and the best of our country&#8217;s ideals. No longer. The counterculture has become the culture. And that is both a tragedy and a travesty. There can be no future for a country in which standing for the national anthem is considered gauche, while kneeling is considered heroic.
More from Ben Shapiro: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/shapiro-the-lefts-willingness-to-tolerate-violence-should-frighten-all-americans">The Left’s Willingness To Tolerate Violence Should Frighten All Americans</a>
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Colin Kaepernick Sign

SHAPIRO: When The Counterculture Becomes The Culture

Colin Kaepernick

George Floyd

Law Enforcement

Patriotism

Systemic racism

China NBA

6 Things You Need To Know About The NBA’s Relationship With Communist China

Adam Silver

China

Chinese Communist Party

Hong Kong

John Kasich

Josh Hawley

LeBron James

As COVID-19 grows to consume every element of our society, the focus has now landed on the subject of education. When should schools re-open? What protections should be put in place for teachers? What should “the new normal” be for children and their education? While these are all important questions during these unprecedented times, another stunning question is also being discussed: “Should schools re-open at all?”
While portions of the American Left engage in an absurd battle over demands from teachers unions who see this crisis as an opportunity for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nations-largest-teachers-unions-back-safe-schools-plan-that-demands-police-free-schools-an-end-to-private-education">political gain</a>, some on the Right are in danger of failing to fight in favor of reopening schools. The reason for this is the widespread view that alternative educational solutions, such as homeschooling, make the debate over public schools redundant.
The issue here is not whether homeschooling should be permitted — it is obviously the right of any parent to choose the style and substance of their child’s education — or whether homeschooling is effective — <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reasons-homeschooling-is-the-smartest-way-to-teach-kids-today-2018-1#students-may-achieve-more-in-the-long-run-6">data</a> suggests that “homeschooled children tend to do better on standardized tests, stick around longer in college, and do better once they&#8217;re enrolled.” The issue is the underlying assumptions required to enable the general conclusion that all parents should homeschool their children as a solution to the COVID-19-induced educational crisis.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Schools don’t want to open, and they don’t want to educate the children? Okay, problem solved. We can all keep our tax dollars and we’ll home school our kids or work with our neighbors to find local solutions. Thanks. Problem solved.
&mdash; Dan Bongino (@dbongino) <a href="https://twitter.com/dbongino/status/1289918336805953547?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 2, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Such statements certainly don’t come from positions of malice or spite. In fact, they are almost exclusively motivated by an honest desire for children to receive the benefits of a good education. However, while there are certainly legitimate criticisms of the public school system, including curriculum, school choice, and funding, some conservatives are making the mistake of providing arguments rooted in idealism over realism, and make a few critical errors by claiming that homeschooling is an appropriate solution to the broken — and now closed — public school system.
The first is that these arguments assume the existence of the resources homeschooling demands. Children require basic supplies, an established space in which to study, and access to resources such as the internet. The unfortunate reality is that many families are not able to afford the supplies required to homeschool their child. Some <a href="https://usafacts.org/articles/internet-access-students-at-home/">9 million</a> children (14% of children between the ages of 3 and 18) don’t have access to the internet at home. Without adequate funds or internet access, it’s unrealistic to expect poorer families or neighborhoods to provide their children with appropriate or equitable levels of education.
The second mistake is the assumption that all adults are either able or willing to homeschool their children. Speaking frankly, the fact that some parents may wish to homeschool their children does not mean that they are either educationally or financially capable of doing so. When it comes to poor neighborhoods, the concept of finding “community solutions” seems somewhat lacking in compassion when everyone in that community is under the similar financial stress.
In addition, considering the <a href="https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2013/jul/29/don-lemon/cnns-don-lemon-says-more-72-percent-african-americ/">familiar statistic</a> that 72% of children in the African-American community are born into single-parent homes, many of those households would be left to decide between providing for their children financially or educationally.
Finally, the brutal fact is that some parents simply do not value education and would not provide their children with any educational support.
When it comes to education, conservatives often approach this area of debate by focusing on successful examples of alternatives. Yes, the benefits provided by private or charter schools are often preferable to public schools. Yes, an involved home support system is optimal for a child’s success. Yes, parents should have the option to choose their child’s school.
However, when it comes to early education, conservatives must also acknowledge that equality of opportunity must be a primary goal. It is the purpose, and duty, of our public school system, as imperfect as it is, to provide those who were born without the benefits of others with the opportunity to better themselves through the meritocracy of education.
Conservatives should reject the attempts to use the closure of public schools as leverage to achieve radical political aims, while also taking the lead when it comes to the fight to re-open schools for those who depend on them. If we abandon public schools by assuming that the alternatives for some are realistic options for all, we abandon future generations to real and inescapable inequity. If we truly believe in equality of opportunity over equality of outcome, then we must also work to provide children with the opportunity that some parents cannot, or unfortunately will not, provide.
More from Ian Haworth: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/haworth-5-ways-orwells-1984-perfectly-describes-the-american-lefts-quest-for-power">5 Ways Orwell’s ‘1984’ Perfectly Describes The American Left’s Quest For Power</a>
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Empty Chairs And Tables In Classroom

HAWORTH: Why Conservatives Should Fight For Reopening Public Schools

Coronavirus

COVID-19

Education

Two months after footage of George Floyd’s death went viral, sparking an epidemic of rioting and violence that killed dozens of people and caused untold damage to countless communities across the country, body cam footage of the incident has finally been made available. Published by the Daily Mail after being <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8576371/Police-bodycam-footage-shows-moment-moment-arrest-George-Floyd-time.html">leaked</a> to the outlet, the additional video (below) lends crucial context to the fatal encounter between Floyd and Officer Derek Chauvin, and gives insight into the states of mind of both men. 
Given that this tragic episode and the reaction to it has been the most significant story in the country for two months, and one of the most significant of the past decade, you might think that the media would treat the new evidence as a rather big story. But so far the opposite has been the case. The news media, for the most part, has had a noticeably muted reaction to the footage. One might say suspiciously muted. Perhaps that’s because the story the new footage tells is, at the very least, far more complicated than the one the media and activists have been screaming into our ears since May. That story, with which we are all extremely familiar, is that George Floyd was a <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/new-george-floyd-video-shows-him-compliant-handcuffed-early-fatal-encounter-1506684">compliant</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/RepMichaelWaltz/status/1266792501882560519">peaceful</a> man who was <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/05/31/george-floyd-death-white-cop-black-anger-protests-column/5299937002/">strangled</a> to death by a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52928304">racist</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/04/opinion/george-floyd-anti-blackness.html">anti-black</a>, <a href="https://www.wpxi.com/news/investigates/former-fbi-assistant-director-derek-chauvin-showed-sociopathic-behavior-during-george-floyds-death/CZPF6OAP6RDJ7OUZDUCVF53X3U/">sociopathic</a> cop. It was straightforward, we were told. Quite literally black and white. And the only opinion one can really have about it is the kind of opinion that is easily expressed on a protest sign. 
Of course we’ve known from the beginning that some of this was, to put it gently, not quite accurate. However Floyd was or wasn’t acting on the day of his death, it strains credulity to use a word like “peaceful” to describe a man who once forced his way into a woman’s home and robbed her at gunpoint in front of her child. As for the racism claim, there was perhaps no evidence to disprove it, but neither was any evidence ever presented to support it. It is merely assumed that any white police officer who kills a black suspect no matter the circumstances is motivated, at some level, by racism. Some of them may be so motivated, but the burden of proof is on those who make the claim. Yet those who make the claim rarely acknowledge that there is any burden to meet, much less make any honest attempt to meet it. 
Also, anyone following the story has known for sometime that, according to the <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-racial-justice/2020/06/04/869278494/medical-examiners-autopsy-reveals-george-floyd-had-positive-test-for-coronavirus">medical examiner’s report</a>, Floyd was not strangled to death and did not die from asphyxiation as the media had so confidently declared in the immediate aftermath. It was found that Floyd — who had a pre-existing heart condition and three illicit drugs in his system, including fentanyl, which is 50 times more potent than morphine and known to cause respiratory distress — died of “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restrain, and neck compression.” A medical examination performed by an examiner hired by Floyd’s family contradicted those findings, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/independent-autopsy-george-floyd-findings-announced/story?id=70994827">claiming</a> that Floyd did in fact die of asphyxiation.  
That was the status of things prior to this week’s developments: we had a disturbing video without prior context, a bunch of assumptions, and not much more. And those assumptions were considered reason enough to burn our cities. The new footage does not necessarily clarify things — in fact, it does the opposite, adding complications and nuances to an issue that was once assumed to be utterly straightforward. 
The body cameras worn by officers Alex Kueng and Thomas Lane, the first two cops on the scene, show Floyd agitated and uncooperative from the first moment that officers arrive in response to a call from a business owner who accused Floyd of trying to pass off counterfeit bills. Floyd is in his car when law enforcement first shows up. One of the officers draws his weapon because Floyd is initially hesitant to show his hands. Once Floyd places his hands on his head, the gun is holstered. After much coaxing, he is eventually removed from his car and taken over to the police cruiser.
Floyd appears to have trouble walking on his way over to the police car. He shouts “ow” and seems to be in pain even though he is only being grabbed by the arm. Once at the vehicle, he repeatedly refuses to get inside, saying that he’s “claustrophobic,” though he’d just been sitting in his own car without any apparent difficulty (on the contrary he was extremely reluctant to get out of his own vehicle). At one point, as officers try to convince him to get in the car, Floyd says he&#8217;d rather lay on the ground. He also says several times that he’s “going to die” and that he can’t breathe — all before he was on the ground. He ends up on the ground because he either falls or pushes himself out of the other side of the police cruiser as officers struggle to get him inside. From that point, the scene unfolds as we all saw on the initial video two months ago. 
<iframe title="EXCLUSIVE - FULL VIDEO: Leaked police bodycam footage shows George Floyd&#039;s arrest for the first time" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YPSwqp5fdIw?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
As previously stated, none of this conclusively exonerates the officers of any and all wrongdoing, but it does establish a few facts that might mitigate their culpability: 
1. George Floyd was not fully cooperative and clearly intoxicated.
2. The officers were calm and reasonable for most of the interaction.
3. George Floyd claimed that he couldn’t breathe and was going to die well before he had a knee on his neck.
4. The officers never did or said a single thing that any reasonable person could construe as racist. 
Point three in particular warrants further consideration. Floyd said he was too claustrophobic to get in the police car and that he might die and couldn&#8217;t breathe, even though he&#8217;d just been sitting in a car. He was screaming out in pain even though the officers at that point weren&#8217;t doing anything that could have caused him physical harm. We should note that he also said his mom just died even though she&#8217;d been dead for two years. The officers wouldn&#8217;t have known that latter detail, but the point is that cops hear nonsense like this from suspects all day, every day. This can create a &#8220;boy who cried wolf&#8221; situation where it&#8217;s harder to tell when a suspect is actually in distress. When Floyd was on the ground saying he was going to die, it was no different from what he was saying while he was standing, or what he was saying in the car. These facts may not be exculpatory but they certainly are relevant.
The narrative, as it was originally presented, does not take any of these details into account. It demands that we see the event as nothing more or less than a wanton act of random cruelty, with nothing precipitating it and with not even an ounce of blame or responsibility to be shared by Floyd himself. In reality, Floyd may still be the victim of some degree of negligence, but it seems that the murder charge will be difficult to prove. The truth just isn’t that simple. It rarely is. And that’s a lesson we would all do well to remember for the future.
More from Matt Walsh: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/walsh-i-looked-up-every-case-of-an-unarmed-black-man-shot-by-cops-in-2019-heres-the-truth-the-media-and-blm-are-hiding">I Looked Up Every Case Of An Unarmed Black Man Shot By Cops In 2019. Here’s The Truth The Left Is Hiding.</a>
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

WALSH: George Floyd Body Cam Footage Is Out. The Story Is Far More Complicated Than Media Led Us To Believe.

Minneapolis Police informed residents of the city&#8217;s embattled 3rd Precinct to prepare for the giving up of their personal belongings to potential robbers and advised them to do as criminals say for their own safety.
According to a July 28 email provided to <a href="https://alphanewsmn.com/minneapolis-police-tell-residents-to-obey-criminals-and-be-prepared-to-be-robbed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Alpha News MN</a> that was also forwarded to The Daily Wire, the Minneapolis Police Department offered &#8220;prevention tips&#8221; to residents hoping to avoid being a victim of the skyrocketing cases of robbery and carjacking that have plagued the city since George Floyd&#8217;s death in May.
&#8220;Robberies and Carjacking&#8217;s [sic] have increased in our Precinct,&#8221; the email begins. &#8220;Cell phones, purses, and vehicles are being targeted. Some victims have been maced, dragged, assaulted, and some threatened with a gun. Most of these crimes have occurred north of 42nd St. E. 100 Robberies and 20 Carjackings have been reported to 3rd Precinct Police in July alone. Downtown and Southwest Minneapolis have seen an increase as well. We want those who live and work here to be safe!&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Minneapolis is about to turn into the rape capital of the world. <a href="https://t.co/aHLqHGyYyY">https://t.co/aHLqHGyYyY</a> <a href="https://t.co/JiY2Bp5oob">pic.twitter.com/JiY2Bp5oob</a>
&mdash; Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) <a href="https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1289733745432387584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 2, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The email goes on to list several tips that citizens can supposedly use to protect themselves, which includes letting criminals have what they want:
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>Do not walk alone</li>
<li>Be hyper-aware of your surroundings at all times – pay attention!</li>
<li>Carry only items you need, and carry less cash</li>
<li>Be prepared to give up your cell phone and purse/wallet</li>
<li>Have keys already in your hand as you approach your car</li>
<li>Despite all our efforts, robberies may still occur! Do not argue or fight with the criminal. Do as they say. Your safety is most important!</li>
<li>Be a good witness. When you call 911, be prepared to answer many questions. How many suspects? Age, height, complexion, hair and eye color? Scars or tattoos? Weapon – what did it look like? What direction did they leave in? Vehicle description?</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
The email also lists suggestions for avoiding a carjacking, such as &#8220;never leave anything of value in your car,&#8221; and &#8220;never leave your car running unattended,&#8221; since many whose cars have been stolen were dropping off food or other deliveries.
The email comes weeks after the liberal Minneapolis City Council took steps to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/absurd-crazy-ridiculous-black-leaders-slam-minneapolis-city-councils-plan-to-defund-the-police" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">defund the city&#8217;s police</a> department in exchange for a &#8220;transformative new model for cultivating safety.&#8221; Derek Chauvin, who knelt on George Floyd&#8217;s neck for more than eight minutes until he died, was an officer with the 3rd Police Precinct, which served as the epicenter of violent protests that broke out in the wake of Floyd&#8217;s death.
On May 28, Democratic Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey evacuated the 3rd Police Precinct after rioters torched it and destroyed other businesses before the National Guard arrived.
President Donald Trump blamed the chaos in Minneapolis at the time on &#8220;a total lack of leadership,&#8221; and accused the rioters of being thugs who &#8220;are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd[.]&#8221; Twitter censored the tweet for allegedly violating &#8220;the Twitter rules about glorifying violence.&#8221;
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&#8230;.These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1266231100780744704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 29, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/absurd-crazy-ridiculous-black-leaders-slam-minneapolis-city-councils-plan-to-defund-the-police" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">‘Absurd, Crazy, Ridiculous’: Black Leaders Slam Minneapolis City Council’s Plan To Defund The Police</a>
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

MINNEAPOLISPOLICEDEATH

‘Do As They Say’: Minneapolis Police Tell Residents To ‘Be Prepared To Give Up’ Personal Belongings To Robbers

Crime

Defund The Police

Minneapolis

Minnesota

Police

It remains nearly impossible to find any meaningful reasons for the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/khan-8-insane-things-that-happened-in-seattles-radical-autonomous-zone">rioting and destruction</a> all across the nation outside of entitlement, puerility, and boredom.
Since the initial outcry over the murder of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/williams-now-what">George Floyd</a> months ago, the motivations for most of these supposed protests have mutated into cynical tantrums masquerading as some <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/khan-5-radical-goals-of-the-black-lives-matter-organization-the-media-ignores">grand nebulous cause</a>. This has become all too apparent when the rioting here in America is thrown in stark relief with the protests in Hong Kong.
Writing for the <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/07/hong-kong-protestors-still-fighting-good-fight/">National Review</a>, Dmitri Solzhenitsyn recently detailed the grim, ongoing struggles in Hong Kong: 
<blockquote>Standing up for their beliefs against a superpower with no respect for individual rights and little regard for the essential preciousness of human lives, Hong Kong’s protesters are an example of bravery, creativity, and resourcefulness in the face of adversity. For Americans — long accustomed to having our freedoms safeguarded by our centuries-old Constitution — this is a bracing reminder of what’s at stake in the fight for liberty. Whatever actions the allies of freedom are willing or able to muster against Communist China, advocates for Hong Kong’s autonomy should hope that the activists continue to resist…</blockquote>
Unlike here in America, the protests in Hong Kong are an actual demand for civil rights against the marauding influence of China’s woefully oppressive Marxist regime – the very same rights taken for granted to nauseating extremes amid all the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-cnn-reporter-makes-excuses-for-rioting-looting">rioting and looting</a> in Portland and elsewhere.
The hopeless cynicism that informs the current protests in our nation is now legion. Anything to do with America and the monumental principles our nation was founded upon is met with open and adolescent hostility. A nascent desire to simply destroy all vestiges of America informs many of these protesters.
“America was never great” is a common refrain among these protests. Even <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/dc-protesters-chant-america-was-never-great-they-burn-us-flag-following-trumps-july-4th-1515488">Newsweek</a> seemed to express some dismay as protesters burned American flags in front of the White House on July 4th:
<blockquote>Far-left protesters burned U.S. flags while chanting “America was never great” outside the White House in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, just after President Donald Trump gave a July 4th speech.</blockquote>
The <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/07/portland-protests-on-the-scene/">National Review</a> reported on a recent speaker in Portland’s Pioneer Square “energizing” a crowd of protesters by saying “America was never great, but we can make it great.”
Just as federal law enforcement experienced a <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/07/31/portland-riots-read-out-july-31">brief reprieve</a> from all the chaos, protesters in Portland began burning Bibles as well as flags in a garish, nihilistic attempt at dissent according to <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/08/01/protestors-burn-bible-american-flag-as-tensions-rise-in-portland/">The New York Post</a>: “Protesters burned an American flag and a Bible in Portland, Oregon, sparking outrage just as weeks of violent demonstrations seemed to be coming to a close.”
Such open acts of defiance and hostility would immediately be quelled by force in <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/human-rights-violations">countless countries</a> around the world. <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-07-10/this-is-a-cultural-purge-with-new-security-law-even-blank-paper-is-subversive-in-hong-kong">The Los Angeles Times</a> reports that protesters in Hong Kong are being arrested for simply holding up blank pieces of paper:
<blockquote>There were no slogans and no words, only blank white sheets of paper, quivering in the hands of a few dozen Hong Kong residents standing in a shopping mall, saying nothing at all.
The police arrived in full riot gear, waving a flag that read: “You are in breach of the law.” They arrested eight people, searched others and dispersed the rest.</blockquote>
Stranger still, many of the protesters here in America are getting paid unemployment for their grandstanding in the middle of the pandemic by the very same government they accuse of being so “oppressive” and “unjust.” The irony verges toward some kind of dire comedy.
Protests in America exist and are even encouraged because of the very principles of freedom and democracy our country was founded upon. Yet these protesters thumb their noses at the very ideals that permit all of us a dissenting voice in the first place by engaging in senseless acts of destruction.
It’s worth noting again that much of the media refuses to chronicle the mindless violence and mayhem occurring in our cities, often reporting with subterfuge and smokescreens. Reality offers a far different story.
<a href="https://www.city-journal.org/portland-black-lives-matter-protests-riots">City Journal</a> published a concise summation of the media’s downplaying of the violence in Portland:
<blockquote>The media have downplayed the primary reason for federal agents being in Portland: a neutered police department has ceded a portion of the city to violent anarchists, who have staged an ongoing riot—<a href="https://youtu.be/bDeohHg7okA">firebombing</a> the police station, physically assaulting officers, and causing tens of thousands of dollars of property damage. “Any form of resistance is a good way to push our goals forward,” a spokeswoman for the Portland Black Youth Movement told me.</blockquote>
These nationwide protests do not, at all, harken back to “the summer of love” that the likes of Seattle’s woefully inept mayor, Jenny Durkan, hoped for when her own city was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/khan-8-insane-things-that-happened-in-seattles-radical-autonomous-zone">hijacked by extremists</a>. Instead, they point to a fatiguing brand of cynicism devoid of meaning and purpose outside the stamping of petulant feet.
When compared to the protests in Hong Kong against actual oppression at the hands of China, one can’t help but harbor a profound embarrassment for our nation by all the supposed outrage and meaningless chaos surrounding it.
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Riots

KHAN: When Compared To Hong Kong, These So-Called Protests Are Nothing More Than Cynical Tantrums

protests

Fearing that Donald Trump may lose in November and the presidency may go to whoever Joe Biden chooses as a running mate, I’ve been brushing up on my left-wing reasoning so I can get through the next four years without being thrown off Twitter. Let me see if I have this right. Speech is violence. Silence is violence. Violence is mostly peaceful.
Ninety percent of black Americans who are murdered are murdered by murderers who are also black, so we need to defund the police because white people.
It is absolutely fatal to attend a Trump rally, but perfectly safe to go to a riot.
It is perfectly safe to have a massive funeral for a dead Democrat congressman, but absolutely fatal to gather ten relatives to bury your grandfather.
Trump is a monster to want to reopen the economy, but the fallout from the economic shutdown is his fault.
Trump calling for law and order in Democrat cities violates Twitter policies on glorifying violence, but when Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calls for the extermination of the Jewish people that’s a political discussion.
Socialism, which always and everywhere exacerbates inequality, is the cure for inequality, while capitalism, which has made the entire world far wealthier than it’s ever been, is unjust.
The term “gaslighting” comes from a 1938 suspense play by Patrick Hamilton called “Angel Street.” The play, which became the movie “Gaslight,” is about abusive husband Jack Manningham, who seeks to hide the fact that he’s a murderer and a thief by convincing his wife that she’s insane. He does this by trying to make her think she does not see what she sees — the gaslights dimming — or hear what she hears — his footsteps in the apartment above.
Jack Manningham is now, of course, chairman of the Democrat party. All right, that’s a joke. I think. But it is true that America’s leftists are gaslighting us like never before. Every day, every hour, they are using their dominance of America’s information industries to make us believe we don’t see what we see and hear what we hear.
We see their cities burning, but they tell us they’re mostly peaceful. We hear them call America racist and disrespect the National Anthem and the flag, but they tell us they’re patriots. They try to cancel free speech, free worship, and the right to bear arms, threaten to abolish the Electoral College and pack the Supreme Court — and then they tell us it’s Trump who’s a danger to the Constitution. 
We are, all of us, living on Angel Street.
Of course, as an award-winning and dashingly attractive suspense writer myself, it is easy for me to see the problem with the gaslighting plot. In order to make it work, the villain has to completely isolate his victim. The moment anyone says to her: “No, you’re right, the gaslights are dimming,” the whole conspiracy falls apart.
That’s why Democrats wouldn’t let Attorney General William Barr respond to their dishonest and scurrilous charges during his House hearing this week. If he had spoken, America would know that the Democrats are more of a crime family than a political party. That’s why Heather Mac Donald — the best reporter in the country in matters of policing — has to be silenced on YouTube. If she’s allowed to speak, we’ll know the troubles of black Americans have nothing to do with the cops. Even any suggestion that Trump might be right about Hydroxychloroquine is grounds for censorship on Twitter. He’s been right about immigration, China, globalism, and the wars on terror — we wouldn’t want to find out that our experts are empty suits and Orange Man Bad is actually the smart one.
The thing is: You don’t need to censor people when you’re telling the truth. You need to censor them when they’re telling the truth.
It seems at times the gaslighters are winning. Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York is quite literally responsible for the deaths of thousands of old people through his high-handed incompetence in dealing with the Chinese Flu, and yet, after months of media love, he’s one of the most popular governors in the country. Only 29-percent of Americans disapproved of the Washington Redskins’ name, and yet the skins caved in to pressure and changed it. Joe Biden recently told reporters, “I don’t know where I am,” possibly one of the truest statements he’s made in his career, and yet he seems to be leading in the polls against an abrasive but highly competent president.
I don’t know if there’s a Silent Majority out there that still believes in America. I just hope there’s a Silent Majority that still believes in reality.
I guess we’re going to find out.
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Gaslight.

KLAVAN: Gaslight Nation

Democratic Party

Leftism

C.S. Lewis is primarily known for his fictional works (most popularly the Chronicles of Narnia) and his faith-focused writing, including Mere Christianity. But Lewis believed that claims upon the soul are claims upon the whole of life. In other words, everything Lewis said and wrote about his faith had real-world implications — including political implications. Reading Lewis’s work with this in mind reveals profound political insights. The following, the first of a series, looks at the politics of C.S. Lewis as revealed in multiple works.
In December 1918, a young man of 20 returned to Oxford University after a year of service among the British forces on the Western Front of the First World War. Heartsick and demoralized, C.S. Lewis completed the degree he had put on hold to fight in the army. His academic performance — in Philosophy, Ancient History and Literature, and English — was dazzling. But he was an embittered, broken man. The carnage of the war had snuffed out whatever diffident faith remained from his Anglican upbringing: he would later describe himself in Surprised by Joy (1955) as having been both “very angry with God for not existing” and “equally angry with him for creating a world.”
No one who met this inveterate atheist then would have guessed that he would someday become one of Britain’s best-known Christians. Today, though, anyone who hears the name C.S. Lewis will immediately think of the celebrated Narnia novels, a fantastically successful series of allegories that have made the Christian outlook freshly compelling to millions of readers. Some also know that Lewis was England’s unofficial theologian throughout the 1940s: in broadcasts, in sermons, in scores of essays and books, he served as the councilor and guide to a nation harrowed by the ravages of yet another World War.
But even though he played a central role in British public life during a crucial moment in the country’s history, Lewis doesn’t register for most people as a political writer. He’s first and foremost a novelist and a Christian apologist, the winsome preacher of an ancient Gospel to a modern world. But everything Lewis said and wrote about Christian teaching had implications for his audience as citizens of a great nation in one of the 20th century’s most fraught moments. To revisit Lewis’s works from this perspective finds them threaded through not just with theological grace, but also with political wisdom. What follows is a consideration of six interwoven political themes expressed in multiple works by Lewis.
Tyranny For Our Own Good
Near the end of his career, after the war was done, Lewis wrote: “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies.”
Like so many of his turns of phrase, this line is eminently quotable and ceaselessly quoted. It has had a bit of a moment recently in America, as governors selectively enforced increasingly nonsensical lockdown requirements, citing COVID-19 precautions as their rationale. It never seems to occur to such people that if their orders are in violation of the Bill of Rights, then the argument that they are “for the public good” is actually a shameless irrelevancy.
Lewis understood this, which is why he wrote that “those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
He was arguing that well-meaning tyranny is not simply a misapplication of principles which might, if differently and more sensibly applied, govern a just state. To the contrary: self-righteous, benevolent tyranny is based on premises that are wholly antithetical to those which undergird representative democracies and republics.
Free nations governed by popular sovereignty — the kind of nation that both Britain and the U.S. are supposed to be — are based on the stipulation that what the people deem good is what the state shall do. Benevolent tyrannies, on the other hand, proceed according to the stipulation that what the state deems good is what the people must do. The final outcome of such an outlook is embodied in Narnia’s famous White Witch, who would rather rule over a kingdom of lifeless statues than lose her own grip on control: “I was the Queen,” she insists in The Magician’s Nephew (1955). “They were all my people. What else were they there for but to do my will?”
COVID tyranny is galling not because it won’t produce good outcomes, but because the whole presumption of the thing is that “leaders” (many of them unelected) may determine which outcomes are righteous without accountability to the people whose good they claim to be seeking.
Justice vs. Social Engineering
Lewis made this argument in his 1954 essay “The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment.” But he wrote that essay to address a debate which is also alive today: the debate over the death penalty. Then, as now, a growing number of Westerners were becoming disgusted with the idea of a merely retributive justice — one that metes out punishment because it is deserved by the criminal, rather than in order to deter or rehabilitate him.
Dispensing at the outset with questions about whether capital punishment can in fact effectively deter or rehabilitate, Lewis argued that all such questions are governed by a wholly different logic than the logic of justice. Justice, argued Lewis, is nothing other than desert: the only way we evaluate the justice of a punishment at all is by asking whether the person punished deserves it. Even the objection that “the death penalty is unjust” boils down to the argument that “no one deserves the death penalty.”
Deterrence and rehabilitation, on the other hand, are forms of social engineering: they view punishment as a tool for making people do what the punishers want. “Thus,” wrote Lewis, “when we cease to consider what the criminal deserves and consider only what will cure him or deter others, we have tacitly removed him from the sphere of justice altogether; instead of a person, a subject of rights, we now have a mere object, a patient, a ‘case’.”
These two different governing ideas of punishment proceed along entirely separate tracks to very different destinations. Justice — though sometimes fearsome and always imperfect — treats the human being as a moral agent whose actions have weight and therefore consequences. By contrast, Lewis argues that “moral busybodies” (today we would call them “Karens”) are interested not in justice but in social engineering, “a dangerous illusion” which “disguises the possibility of cruelty and injustice without end.”
Confronting Evil
Lewis applied much the same reasoning to one of the central political questions of his life: can a Christian nation go to war? Christ’s injunctions to love the enemy and turn the other cheek weighed heavily on the two generations of British men who were forced in the World Wars to slaughter or be slaughtered.
But Lewis argued that to refrain from fighting against Hitler would be to pervert the relevant commandments. In a 1944 interview, he said:
You are told to love your neighbour as yourself. How do you love yourself?&#8230; I do not think that I love myself because I am particularly good, but just because I am myself&#8230;. You [may] dislike what you have done, but you don&#8217;t cease to love yourself&#8230;. You may even think that you ought to go to the Police and own up and be hanged. Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person&#8217;s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.
To disregard a person’s moral character — to treat him as if his actions make no difference — is not love. It is indifference. Or worse, it is condescension.
Real Christian love — that devoted, terrifying, purifying care whose model is a jealous God and a crucified Christ — cannot shrug off the moral character of the beloved. For God to merely excuse us would be for him to dehumanize us, to lie about the nature of who we are.
We do not really want excuses: we want forgiveness. And forgiveness means acknowledging that our evil is evil.
<div id="attachment_134305" style="width: 1010px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-134305" class="wp-image-134305" src="https://editorial.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/C.S.-Lewis-1-1800x1200.jpg" alt="25th November 1950: English novelist and scholar Clive Staples Lewis (1898 - 1963), a fellow and tutor of Magdalen College, Oxford in his college rooms. Original Publication: Picture Post - 5159 - Eternal Oxford - pub. 1950 (Photo by John Chillingworth/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)" width="1000" height="659" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/C.S.-Lewis-1-300x198.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/C.S.-Lewis-1-874x576.jpg 874w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/C.S.-Lewis-1-768x506.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/C.S.-Lewis-1-1536x1012.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/C.S.-Lewis-1.jpg 2000w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" />John Chillingworth/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images</div>
“Not A Pacifist”
This was not a stance Lewis took lightly or without accountability. In 1940, he had aired his arguments in front of a society of pacifists in a speech called “Why I Am Not a Pacifist.” He pointed out that pure nonviolence, if carried to its logical conclusion by all men of fighting age, would leave the pacifist nations defenseless and the world at the mercy of totalitarians and Nazis.
Lewis hoped that the prospect of world domination by the Third Reich would make clear his point that to refrain from violence is hardly the most loving approach in every instance.
He knew his opponents would counter that pacifism, idealist though it was, represented humanity’s only shot at a world without war. But that notion, he responded, “belongs to a mode of thought which I find quite alien to me. It consists in assuming that the great permanent miseries in human life might be curable if only we can find the right cure.”
Another Christian teaching — that sin and misery are permanent fixtures of a fallen world, capable of being alleviated but never escaped — warned Lewis against the alluring but disastrous temptation to cleanse the world of its imperfections.
Lewis did not imagine that the war he was urging upon the young men of Britain was anything other than an unspeakable horror. He had seen the war himself, and described it with ruthless detail in The Screwtape Letters, his fanciful rendering of Hell’s attempts to capture a human soul. The devils in Screwtape relish “the scream of bombs, the fall of houses, the stink and taste of high explosives on the lips and in the lungs, the feet burning with weariness, the heart cold with horrors, the brain reeling, the legs aching.”
It was this unflinching, firsthand grasp of what war meant in the 20th century — hard-won by his own sacrifices and those of his friends in the trenches — that made Lewis’s support for the war so clear-eyed and persuasive, his defense of the British military so powerful and realist.
“What Lies Before Us”
Lewis could urge such self-sacrifice because he believed the rewards of courage would be far more joyous than the agony of service would be painful. That, too, was a hard-won belief. Lewis had to fight his way back to God with greater difficulty, and for longer, than he had to fight England’s enemies on the battlefield. His faith was one which did not rely on easy certainties: he had wrestled ferociously with every clause of it.
Once he had grasped it, Lewis’s Christianity — the richness of heaven in his telling — gave moral and emotional logic to the entirety of his political outlook. He could write unflinchingly in Screwtape about the brutalities of war because he believed in, and could describe with unmatched elegance, the delights beyond this world. In “The Weight of Glory,” preached as a sermon in 1942, he said:
The faint, far-off results of those energies which God’s creative rapture implanted in matter when He made the worlds are what we now call physical pleasures; and even thus filtered, they are too much for our present management. What would it be to taste at the fountain-head that stream of which even these lower reaches prove so intoxicating? Yet that, I believe, is what lies before us. 
The sheer pleasure of heaven, which always glowed just outside the frame as Lewis wrote, was what he imagined the soldiers of the war would receive as the final reward for all their courage and consolation for all their misery. It was what gave coherence to his understanding of human justice on earth, and of the free civilizations which governments existed, in his view, to protect.
“On The Edge of a Precipice”
For these reasons Lewis understood the World Wars, horrific as they were, to be nothing other than an intensified version of the perennial human condition. “The war,” he told a group of Oxford students in 1939, “creates no absolutely new situation: it simply aggravates the permanent human situation so that we can no longer ignore it. Human life has always been lived on the edge of a precipice.”
That speech, published as “Learning in Wartime,” expresses Lewis’s conviction that the great aims of human life — family, art, scholarship, invention — have their meaning because they take place in a fragile world of imminent mortality, yet reach outward toward a heavenly horizon for which we were born but which we cannot yet see.
This outlook was pointedly not limited to wartime: indeed, in Lewis’s work the most eternally consequential things are those which happen out of sight of the world. Jesus said: “Be careful not to perform your righteous acts before men” (Matthew 6:1). For Lewis, part of what this meant was that the eye of heaven itself was upon the mundane, the seemingly unremarkable, aspects of daily life.
In The Great Divorce (1945), Lewis imagines his narrator given a vision of the heavenly realms, where he sees a woman of incomparable loveliness and majesty. He feels certain she must have been a queen on earth, until his guide corrects him: “‘it’s someone ye’ll never have heard of. Her name on earth was Sarah Smith and she lived at Golders Green.’” But because of Smith’s immense warmth of heart and daily devotion to those around her, in the truer reality which is Heaven she is “‘one of the great ones.’”
In the conclusion to “The Weight of Glory,” Lewis said: “You have never met a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.”
He viewed every moment of social and political life as minutely important, not because this or that government or program was important per se, but because the human souls participating in those governments and programs were, every one of them, beings of almost indescribable importance.
Lewis stood here in perhaps the oldest tradition of Judeo-Christian wisdom — the wisdom of Augustine’s City of God and the Gospel of John and the Prophecy of Isaiah — that though “all flesh is grass,” still it is our God whose word stands forever and our eyes that will see the redeemer at the end of days.
As Europe fell under the shadow of death, Lewis saw what Christian politics really means: he saw that the choices of England’s citizens and the decisions of her leaders, no matter how minute, would be of eternal consequence.
Read more from this series:<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-politics-of-c-s-lewis-the-progressive-error-that-looks-like-freedom-but-leads-to-tyranny"> The Politics Of C.S. Lewis: The ‘Progressive’ Error That Looks Like Freedom But Leads To Tyranny</a>
Spencer A. Klavan is host of the <a href="http://youngheretics.com/">Young Heretics</a> podcast and assistant editor of both the <a href="http://claremontreviewofbooks.com/">Claremont Review of Books</a> and <a href="http://americanmind.org/">The American Mind</a>.
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

The Politics of C.S. Lewis

Christianity

Conservatism

In our politically obsessed society, references to George Orwell&#8217;s “1984” are so common that they are at risk of becoming cliché. Terms like “thoughtcrime” and “doublespeak” are effective retorts to the reliable buffet of political lies told every day. The American Left have made <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/11/teaching-1984-in-2016/508226/">repeated</a> attempts to claim that the United States under the Trump administration is <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/teens-1984-george-orwell-trump_n_5892445ce4b070cf8b8060a7">synonymous</a> with the “dystopian world in which war is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength” described in 1984. However, when we analyze the themes explored in George Orwell’s famous dystopian novel, we increasingly feel that we are reading what appears to be the American Left’s playbook.
1. History
“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”
On multiple occasions, the Left have demonstrated a desire to rewrite history with two primary objectives. The first is to escape their own history, and the second is to reshape history to enable their future. After all, the Democratic Party is forever tarnished by the legacy of slavery, the KKK, and Jim Crow. Even after the controversial and refuted “switch,” Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson’s repeated use of the phrase “n***er bill” during the Civil Rights era exemplifies the fact that the American Left never truly banished racism from its platform. Instead, they embraced a paternalistic bigotry of low expectations which exists to this day.
While this strategy is applied to American history through absurdities like the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/historians-shred-nyt-1619-project-claiming-slavery-defines-america">intellectually fraudulent</a> “1619 Project,” the same effort has been exerted against inconvenient elements of world history. The fact that fascism is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/haworth-the-deadly-double-standard-of-communism-vs-fascism">rejected</a>while communism, socialism, and Marxism are accepted is testament to the success of the American Left in purposefully failing to educate younger generations on the inevitable failure of Leftist regimes.
Because of this erasure of history, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/22/politics/biden-charlamagne-tha-god-you-aint-black/index.html">comments</a> from Joe Biden like “if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black” or that Mitt Romney would put African Americans “<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-tells-african-american-audience-gop-ticket-would-put-them-back-in-chains/">back in chains</a>” are ignored. It is why those who openly describe themselves as communists, socialists, or Marxists are embraced and celebrated. It is why we seem to be repeating the mistakes of the past.
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”
2. Language
“Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.”
After history is reformatted to be politically convenient, the next component of the Left’s Orwellian strategy is to gain control of our language in order to achieve ideological ends. There are countless <a href="https://americanmind.org/essays/the-terms-of-our-defeat/">examples</a> of this tactic, including the redefinition of racism to align with the flawed notion of intersectionality, the demand that you prove fealty by chanting “Black Lives Matter” with no regard for its underlying premises or the radical organization it supports, or the assertion that we must “Believe Women” despite the obvious fact that men and women are equally capable of duplicity.
The Left understands that achieving full control of language will open the gateway to their subsequent goal of controlling our culture. The generational removal of methods of dissent or disagreement, alongside the subjective redefinition of words for political gain, will be difficult, if not impossible, to undo. For this reason, and this reason alone, the Left focuses on speech more than anything else. “Speech is violence” justifies a violent reaction to speech, until the only speech that remains is deemed politically acceptable.
“It&#8217;s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words.”
3. Truth
“Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one&#8217;s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.”
As the Left’s grip on our language grows tighter, and historical excerpts which debunk their radical principles and positions are intentionally wiped away, they are finally equipped to target and redefine the ultimate and central metric of ideological debate: truth and logic.
While the notion that politicians have a habit of being deceptive shouldn’t be a shocking revelation, the Left’s modern approach to the definition of truth goes far beyond the intentional use of simple falsehoods. To put things bluntly, we have left the realm of “I did not have sexual relations with that woman” and have instead entered an illogical universe where sex and gender simultaneously have no meaning while also being characteristics of upmost importance.
Just like Orwell in 1984, we use the mathematical certainty that “2 + 2 = 4” as an example of concrete truth. However, even such binary notions have been slowly eradicated, with the culturally dominant Left demanding that we accept a fluid version of truth which disregards fundamental logic. For example, if men are women and women are men, how can the Left concurrently posit that our society is dominated by a systemic scourge of malicious misogynistic males who forcefully hold females in positions of subjugation and servitude?
“In philosophy, or religion, or ethics, or politics, two and two might make five, but when one was designing a gun or an aeroplane they had to make four.”
4. Freedom
“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.”
As truth becomes subjective, the unfortunate outcome is that freedom is diminished. The very notion of freedom has been subtly redefined to remove its original connection to individual liberty with the necessary partner of personal responsibility. Instead, freedom has become tainted by notions of selfishness and entitlement, with no regard for the individual freedom of others. In short, the negative rights of all have been replaced by the positive rights of some.
While this problem also exists on the American Right, the American Left approaches freedom in the same manner as George Orwell, with a distinct focus on the restriction of thought and speech.
Those who speak objective truths —  such as referencing <a href="https://www.manhattan-institute.org/the-myth-of-systemic-police-racism">statistical evidence</a> which counters the claim that police brutality is both racist and systemic, or that life cannot be measured as valid or invalid along a scale of convenience, or even that men and women are different — are castigated as bigots, societally “cancelled,” or even punished.
The fact that the Left attempts to justify such attacks on free speech — whether truthful or not — under the guise of achieving some notion of equality or tolerance is irrelevant when we consider that, without freedom of speech, we can never be free.
“The choice for mankind lies between freedom and happiness and for the great bulk of mankind, happiness is better.”
5. Propaganda
“The Ministry of Peace concerns itself with war, the Ministry of Truth with lies, the Ministry of Love with torture and the Ministry of Plenty with starvation. These contradictions are not accidental, nor do they result from ordinary hypocrisy: they are deliberate exercises in doublethink.”
No oppressive regime can exist in a vacuum, and all require a method of enforcing their demands. While the (remaining) pages of history are riddled with stories of power achieved through violence alone, the mainstream Left is potentially more dangerous because they exercise control and power not through the violence of groups like Antifa — whom they are happy to passively support — but through the control of truth through curated propaganda in the form of “objective journalism.”
The term “fake news” is so overused (and often misused) that it has lost all meaning. Unfortunately, this has allowed the dishonesty of the mainstream media to hide in plain sight. Instead of performing their assumed “duty” as objective journalists, they have morphed into an elitist gaggle of activists. Instead of screaming their demands in the streets, they shape their reality in our collective psyche through their words and voices.
Ultimately, the blame for this prevalence of shameless lies falls not just on the declining fraternity of journalists, but on society as their audience and consumers. However, it is arguably impossible for a society to question the given narrative when its freedom has been diluted, its ability to question stunted, and its understanding of contextual history rewritten. The nail in this particular coffin is the despicable compulsion of the political and journalistic classes to present adherence to subjective policy as proof of one’s virtue. By doing so, they bypass the need for debate or justification, instead providing people with a lazy method of proving virtue and ideological purity.
The mainstream media have abandoned any hint of objectivity, but continue to benefit from the generational levels of trust and respect earned by their predecessors. Until that changes, their deceitful words will remain powerful, and as a result they will continue to be convenient mouthpieces for the Left.
“Orthodoxy means not thinking&#8211;not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.”
****
George Orwell’s marvelous yet terrifying novel is a hauntingly appropriate novel to reference when criticizing the actions of any political movement. However, in recent years it appears as if the American Left have started to treat it not as a work of fiction, but as a guidebook for power.
Their objective is made simple if our children don’t read — and more crucially understand — profound political works like 1984. Why do you think the Left wants to control our education, our history, and our words?
More from Ian Haworth: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/haworth-the-difference-between-cancel-culture-and-free-speech">The Difference Between Cancel Culture And Free Speech</a>
Ian G. Haworth is a conservative commentator who provides an honest, principled, and hard-hitting insight into our politics and culture from his unique perspective as a British immigrant to the United States. Ian hosts “The Ian Haworth Show” and “The Truth in 60 Seconds.” He is a regular columnist for Townhall.com, and his work has appeared in other outlets including The American Mind, The Washington Examiner, and The Federalist. Ian graduated from Oxford University, and now lives in California. Follow him on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/ighaworth">@ighaworth</a>
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Lorne Greene In &#8216;1984&#8217;

HAWORTH: 5 Ways Orwell’s ‘1984’ Perfectly Describes The American Left’s Quest For Power

Free Speech

Hate Speech

Media Bias

A Black Lives Matter-led coalition has launched a drive to address “anti-blackness” within California State University, the nation’s largest four-year system, which consists of 23 campuses with about 430,000 undergraduates.
The alliance recently issued a set of <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd1KIs9gS8P08C4RHmyDv0JUIJK5c495DlSC5aZzr2_leVIBw/viewform">15 demands</a> intended to transform CSU’s Los Angeles location, commonly known as Cal State LA, into a “Freedom Campus” to “make Black Lives Matter.”
The list is directed to campus President William Covino. It starts by instructing him to appoint a prominent Black Lives Matter organizer as a Dean. Followed by calls to defund the campus police department, hire more non-white counselors, and establish “a student-driven process for the removal of administrators.” Seven of the demands are related to the newly established College of Ethnic Studies.
Those demands have been <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd1KIs9gS8P08C4RHmyDv0JUIJK5c495DlSC5aZzr2_leVIBw/viewform">co-signed</a> by the California Faculty Association, a labor union that <a href="https://twitter.com/CFA_News/status/1283831966488391681">represents</a> 29,000 professors, lecturers, librarians, and other staffers who teach in the CSU system. <a href="https://www.calfac.org/cfa-affiliates">According</a> to its website, the group is “affiliated nationally” with the Service Employees International Union, and “CFA members are automatically members of the SEIU.”
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<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DrAbdullah4Dean?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DrAbdullah4Dean</a> is about more than <a href="https://twitter.com/DocMellyMel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DocMellyMel</a>. It&#39;s about building a <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FreedomCampus?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FreedomCampus</a>&#8230; 1. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DefundThePolice?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DefundThePolice</a> on campus 2. Open up <a href="https://twitter.com/CalStateLA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CalStateLA</a> to Black students. 3. Invest in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EthnicStudies?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EthnicStudies</a>. 4. Appoint Dr. Abdullah! We&#39;re calling on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PresidentCovino?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PresidentCovino</a> to MAKE <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackLivesMatter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlackLivesMatter</a> <a href="https://t.co/nBlmulxwBq">pic.twitter.com/nBlmulxwBq</a>
&mdash; #BlackLivesMatter-LA (@BLMLA) <a href="https://twitter.com/BLMLA/status/1289301998488023040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 31, 2020</a></blockquote>
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. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PresidentCovino?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PresidentCovino</a> has the power to appoint a Dean for <a href="https://twitter.com/EthnicStudiesLA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@EthnicStudiesLA</a> College! <a href="https://twitter.com/CalStateLA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CalStateLA</a> students, faculty, staff, clergy &amp; community members have shown him who should represent our campus: <a href="https://twitter.com/DocMellyMel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DocMellyMel</a> . We demand <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DrAbdullah4Dean?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DrAbdullah4Dean</a> ! His silence screams <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Racism?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Racism</a> &amp; <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Sexism?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Sexism</a> <a href="https://t.co/fH1VH7QUhe">pic.twitter.com/fH1VH7QUhe</a>
&mdash; CA Faculty Assoc (@CFA_News) <a href="https://twitter.com/CFA_News/status/1289297423618072577?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 31, 2020</a></blockquote>
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A <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd1KIs9gS8P08C4RHmyDv0JUIJK5c495DlSC5aZzr2_leVIBw/viewform">statement</a> that accompanied the Freedom Campus demands reads:
<blockquote>There is a long documented pattern of anti-Blackness at Cal State LA that has created an unwelcoming environment for Black students, faculty, staff, and community members. Many Black people and others at this campus continue to lose confidence in the University leadership’s professed commitment to social justice, equity, and inclusion. The current national tragedies of institutional anti-Blackness are not isolated from this institution.</blockquote>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/black-lives-matter-and-teachers-union-work-as-partners-to-end-repressive-policing-in-schools">RELATED: Black Lives Matter And Teachers Union Work As Partners To End ‘Repressive’ Policing In Schools</a>
Dr. Melina Abdullah, who leads the LA chapter of Black Lives Matter, is also a professor of Pan African Studies at Cal State LA. The department is now part of the nation’s second College of Ethnic Studies. Abdullah <a href="https://twitter.com/DocMellyMel/status/1283623816673910784">asked</a> the public to help persuade President Covino to appoint her to the unfilled deanship position.
<a href="http://www.calstatela.edu/ethnic-studies/position-announcement">According</a> to the job description, the Founding Dean will participate “in developing University policy and strategic planning and represent the College internally and in the larger community and region.”
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Let’s convince President Covino of what students, faculty, staff &amp; community already know&#8230; we need a <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FreedomCampus?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FreedomCampus</a> and I’m committed to building just that. Please SIGN &amp; SHARE the petition to make me inaugural dean of the new College of Ethnic Studies. <a href="https://t.co/4K5oL88abA">https://t.co/4K5oL88abA</a>
&mdash; Melina Abdullah (@DocMellyMel) <a href="https://twitter.com/DocMellyMel/status/1283623816673910784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 16, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Abdullah’s supporters say the national search for a Dean was unsuccessful, and campus administration never took her candidacy seriously. Her allies <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd1KIs9gS8P08C4RHmyDv0JUIJK5c495DlSC5aZzr2_leVIBw/viewform">claim</a>, “She was told in no uncertain terms that they would not appoint her due to her unapologetic opposition to all expressions of anti-Blackness on campus and in the community.”
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. <a href="https://twitter.com/CalStateLA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CalStateLA</a> &#39;s refusal to advance <a href="https://twitter.com/DocMellyMel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DocMellyMel</a> beyond a courtesy interview for the College of Ethnic Studies dean reveals their antiBlackness! <a href="https://twitter.com/DocMellyMel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DocMellyMel</a> is authentic to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EthnicStudies?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EthnicStudies</a> and will make <a href="https://twitter.com/CalStateLA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CalStateLA</a> a <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FreedomCampus?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FreedomCampus</a> ! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EndAntiBlacknessAtCalStateLA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EndAntiBlacknessAtCalStateLA</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DrAbdullah4Dean?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DrAbdullah4Dean</a>
&mdash; Sunrise L.A. Youth 🌅 (@SunriseLAYouth) <a href="https://twitter.com/SunriseLAYouth/status/1284252790752043009?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 17, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Hundreds of activists, students, and faculty members rallied outside President Covino’s office on July 13, which coincidentally was the seventh anniversary of what would become the Black Lives Matter Global Network. LA. City Councilman Herb J. Wesson <a href="https://www.laprogressive.com/kaepernicking-melina/">reportedly</a> spoke on Abdullah’s behalf, saying the decision whether to appoint her was “a no brainer.”
<a href="https://twitter.com/PanAfricans/status/1283097111899197441">According</a> to the official Twitter account of the PAS Department, “President Covino locked doors and called parking enforcement instead of addressing the people.”
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.<a href="https://twitter.com/DocMellyMel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DocMellyMel</a> is speaking now
“Pan-African studies is not only the home for Black students but it’s the home for any student who wants to step into their fullest self and challenge systems of oppression.” <a href="https://t.co/tE6vTuSWAP">pic.twitter.com/tE6vTuSWAP</a>
&mdash; Lex Roman (@calexity) <a href="https://twitter.com/calexity/status/1282736264244899840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 13, 2020</a></blockquote>
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100s showed up yesterday to demand that our beloved <a href="https://twitter.com/DocMellyMel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DocMellyMel</a> be named Inaugural Dean of the College of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EthnicStudies?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EthnicStudies</a> that she helped to vision and win. President Covino locked doors and called parking enforcement instead of addressing the people. CALL HIM AT 323-343-3030.
&mdash; Pan-African Studies (@PanAfricans) <a href="https://twitter.com/PanAfricans/status/1283097111899197441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 14, 2020</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;
Abdullah was <a href="http://www.ethnicstudiesnow.com/dr_melina_abdullah">instrumental</a> in convincing LA’s public school district in 2014 to mandate ethnic studies classes as a requirement for high school graduation. She <a href="https://www2.calstate.edu/impact-of-the-csu/diversity/advancement-of-ethnic-studies">serves</a> on the Taskforce for the Advancement of Ethnic Studies for the CSU system.
Meanwhile, she is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/california-lawmakers-consider-ethnic-studies-jeffrey-cawood">pushing</a> statewide legislation requiring CSU students to take one 3-credit unit of any accepted Ethnic Studies class. That proposal, Assembly Bill 1460, would supersede a broader requirement recently <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-07-22/cal-state-passes-ethnic-studies-social-justice-course-mandate">approved</a> by CSU’s Board of Trustees. The bill is expected to reach Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk soon.
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how could you deny a thought leader her rightful throne? <a href="https://twitter.com/CalStateLA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CalStateLA</a> is trying to pacify the College of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EthnicStudies?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EthnicStudies</a> which would not exist without <a href="https://twitter.com/DocMellyMel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DocMellyMel</a> 
Call <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PresidentCovino?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PresidentCovino</a> (323) 343-3030 and let him know we will not accept anyone but Dr. Mel<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DrAbdullah4Dean?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DrAbdullah4Dean</a> <a href="https://t.co/tn4RQ5EQjI">pic.twitter.com/tn4RQ5EQjI</a>
&mdash; Michael Schirtzer (@MicSchirtzer) <a href="https://twitter.com/MicSchirtzer/status/1284253475728056320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 17, 2020</a></blockquote>
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In an essay titled, “Institutions Didn’t Birth Ethnic Studies, Movements Did,” Abdullah <a href="https://online.ucpress.edu/esr/article/43/1/5/107099/Institutions-Didn-t-Birth-Ethnic-Studies-Movements">explained</a> that the academic field stems from Black liberation revolutionaries from the 1960s:
<blockquote>The full-scale struggle for Ethnic Studies was launched in 1968 at San Francisco State College (now San Francisco State University). In the aftermath of the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and an era of Black Power, Black Studies became central to the fight. In its ten-point program, the Black Panther Party advanced a liberatory model of education that undergirds Ethnic Studies: “We want education for our people that exposes the true nature of the decadent American society. We want education that teaches us our true history and our role in the present-day society.” The Party went on to help organize community, students, and faculty at San Francisco State to demand Black Studies and, in short order, Ethnic Studies. The 134-day-long student strike that ensued carried with it real human costs: physical injuries, arrests, retaliation, loss of jobs and income, and trauma. In the end, however, the only set of disciplines to be grounded in community demand was birthed.
To be clear, Black Studies specifically and Ethnic Studies more broadly are the results of movement, demand, and struggle, not of administrative decision-making, or benevolent ideals of diversity and inclusivity initiated by structures that were designed to silence Black dissent and the voices of the oppressed.</blockquote>
“Black Studies transformed me from one who dropped out of traditional high school and was losing her way to one who earned her Ph.D. and became a professor and activist/organizer,” Abdullah once <a href="https://www.facebook.com/melina.abdullah/posts/10157021970540930">revealed</a> to her followers on social media. “There are countless others like me whose lives have been saved by ethnic studies.”
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/black-lives-matter-leaders-campaign-to-cancel-capitalism-shaped-by-marxist-upbringing">RELATED: Black Lives Leader’s Campaign To Cancel Capitalism Shaped By Marxist Upbringing</a>
Through the Pan African Studies Department, which bills itself as “the intellectual arm of the revolution,” Dr. Abdullah serves as a mentor to several students on a similar journey, often referring to them as her “spirit children.” The department lists at least three BLM members on its faculty and staff, which has sometimes functioned as a de facto extension of the activist group’s LA chapter. The setting has also provided opportunities to welcome students into the local progressive organizing scene, both on and off university grounds.
“Pan-African Studies’ contribution to the formation of Black Lives Matter was a significant touchpoint in the reclamation of the department’s and discipline’s community allegiance,” Abdullah <a href="https://online.ucpress.edu/esr/article/43/1/5/107099/Institutions-Didn-t-Birth-Ethnic-Studies-Movements">wrote</a>. “What emerged was an understanding that PAS and Black freedom struggle were bound together. By strengthening Ethnic Studies, we awaken and support generations of leaders who embrace the Black radical tradition.”
As the drive to “build a Freedom Campus” at Cal State LA gains momentum, a student-fronted BLM group recently <a href="https://sundial.csun.edu/158042/news/george-floyds-death-sparks-protests-in-downtown-los-angeles/">formed</a> at CSU’s Northridge location nearby. Activists from the university organized a protest march in the aftermath of George Floyd’s tragic death. They emphasized the benefits of ethnic studies courses and called for defunding the campus police department, closing the school’s jail, and renaming the library, which they say is named after a racist.
“Student activism is hugely important to the movement,” Dr. Abdullah recently <a href="https://sundial.csun.edu/158887/news/qa-professor-melina-abdullah-on-student-activism-defunding-the-police-and-upcoming-november-election/">told</a> The Sundial, a news organization covering the Northridge campus. “Young people are less invested in the current system. Young people tend to be more audacious and visionary in what it is they’re calling for. The initial convening of Black Lives Matter – when we were first called together by (BLM co-founder) Patrisse Cullors – about half of the people gathered were my students from Cal State LA.”
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/black-lives-matter-led-drive-to-defund-the-police-also-targets-capitalism">RELATED: Black Lives Matter-led Drive To ‘Defund The Police’ Also Targets Capitalism</a>
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Melina Abdullah

Black Lives Matter And Teachers Union Demand ‘Freedom Campus’ Within Nation’s Largest 4-Yr University System

Black Lives Matter

California

In the latest exclusive Daily Wire interview, Fox News star Greg Gutfeld discusses his unorthodox rise to media prominence and how to counter the &#8220;bully machinery&#8221; of Cancel Culture.
Greg Gutfeld remembers the time in high school where he feared he was a fraud.
The future Fox News superstar entered a debate on nuclear energy confident he could defend his anti-nuke bona fides.
“Bombs are made for killing,” the young Gutfeld said en route to what he predicted would be a sure victory on the nuclear freeze topic.
Not exactly.
“In the middle of it I realized I was a fraud. I didn’t know what I was talking about. I was a superficial clown on this topic,” Gutfeld says.
“I think I won, but It was so obvious that I didn’t,” Gutfeld recalls of the applause-driven metrics, adding his opponent “beat me to death” during the debate.
Years later, when he became a print journalist, he learned the rigorous research required to share data with the public. And, along the way, he discovered too many reporters weren’t much better than his teen self at getting the facts straight.
“I’ve been on every side of an interview. People look for stories to shape and match their assumptions,” he says. “It taught me to be super skeptical.”
And careful, of course, particularly when writing medicine-based stories for publications like Prevention Magazine.
“You make a mistake in these magazines, and you could kill somebody,” he says.
Today, the TV star draws a sizable crowd on both his Saturday night Fox News program, “The Greg Gutfeld Show” and “The Five” weekday roundtable. The latter crushed all of CNN’s daytime and prime time programming as well as most MSNBC shows for July, averaging 3.3 million viewers (including 489,000 in the 25-53 age demographic), according to Fox News.
“The Greg Gutfeld Show” lapped the combined audiences of MSNBC and CNN during the same period in total viewers. It also was the second most-watched late night program in all of television behind CBS’s “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert.
Former President George W. Bush White House Press Secretary Dana Perino credits Gutfeld for coaxing her out of her Beltway-built shell. “The Five” co-host wasn’t the only one Gutfeld helped along the way.
“He’s very good about spotting talent early and helping grow that talent,” Perino says, citing rising Fox News stars like Kat Timpf and Tyrus. “He really does give people opportunities. He doesn’t push them too far or too fast. He brings them along. It’s a skill that not that many people have.”
Her co-host also connects with audiences in a way that’s both plainspoken and pure.
“He doesn’t use big, fancy words to make his points,” she says. “He’s really honed skills over the last several years in terms of persuasion.”
Gutfeld’s irreverent presence, snarky but substantive, took root during his childhood.
“I was kind of a weirdo. My interests were pretty eclectic,” says Gutfeld, recalling how punk music “consumed” him. He cherished “Monty Python,” Mad Magazine and the group known as <a href="http://www.srl.org/">Survival Research Laboratories</a>, which created moving sculptures from mechanical doodads.
He longed to hang with people from the proverbial fringes but simultaneously learned how to understand people along the way.
“It’s a weird combination of traits,” says Gutfeld, who once played “Candyland” on air with the <a href="https://lbj.utexas.edu/he-was-human-tape-measure-ex-navy-seal-who-killed-bin-laden-says-they-confirmed-his-identity-asking">man credited with killing Osama bin Laden</a>, Navy SEAL Robert O’Neill.
Gutfeld credits his late mother, Jackie Gutfeld, for forging core elements of his personality. She got him hooked on the “usual gang of idiots” at Mad Magazine, encouraged him to write what he calls “crazy little short stories.” In turn, he made her a part of his professional journey.
She contributed a tips column to Stuff Magazine (where her son increased circulation from 750,000 to 1.2 million) and even served as a “senior” correspondent on “Red Eye.”
Those days in the print magazine trenches, including stints at Men’s Health, Prevention and Maxim magazines, prepared him for his Fox News duties. He thought he was ready for the gig long before he actually landed it, though.
“Dude, I can really work here,” he recalls telling a Fox News contact after the network had him on as a guest. He laughs at his chutzpah now, but it took another gig for the Fox News connection to take root.
He started writing columns for The Huffington Post, mocking the people who wrote for the liberal site. That caught the attention of Breitbart News founder Andrew Breitbart, who had connections with a Fox News affiliate in Los Angeles.
That led to his first Fox News gig, hosting the late, late night show known as “Red Eye.”
He trusted his curious instincts, and it paid off in unexpected ways. Consider the recurring bit around “<a href="https://redeyebonusroom.fandom.com/wiki/Pinch">Pinch</a>,” a puppet made of old New York Times newspapers meant to mock the liberal news outlet.
“I learned there are people as weird as I am,” he says. So he trotted out unusual bits without trying to over-explain them. Audiences, at least those on a similar wavelength, bonded with him and the show.
He also received “tons of hate mail,” he notes, letters pleading with his bosses to fire him.
The gig came with heaping helpings of anxiety, even if the on-camera Gutfeld took it all in stride.
“You’re getting up there and doing it without a net, making a fool out of yourself on TV,” he says. “I hadn’t performed [before]. I’ve never gone on stage and done bits. People assume that I did, but I was always a print dude.”
The “print dude” racked up impressive ratings for a 3 a.m. EST production, routinely topping competitors’ shows airing at much more friendly time slots.
The usual suspects didn’t immediately savage the show. In fact, the progressive Slate.com wrote a <a href="https://slate.com/culture/2007/04/the-bouncy-pleasures-of-red-eye-w-greg-gutfeld.html">tempered love letter</a> to “Red Eye” months into its improbable run. The site called it “a tabloid gabfest and a dumbfounding frat party—a production so light and crude that it seems to have been adapted from the margins of a spiral-bound notebook, right down to its hair-metal-indebted logo and that indifferent w-slash.”
That’s a compliment. So is this:
“[Gutfeld] tries to play the boor here, with Sarah Silverman shock tactics and one eye on the gutter, but there’s a nerdish twist to his sense of humor and a good-natured twinkle in his eye.”
Fox News eventually retired “Red Eye,” leaving Gutfeld with both “The Five,” and later his self-titled show. The host’s predilection for the printed page never faded. Best sellers like “Not Cool,” “The Joy of Hate” and “How to Be Right” showcased his wit in a retro, albeit familiar, format.
The older, wiser Gutfeld’s new book, “The Plus,” offers a different side of the media personality. His publishing contact targeted a 2021 release date for a new Gutfeld tome, but he saw too many culture fissures that demanded his attention now.
Cancel Culture. The pandemic. Mobs gone wild. Social media rage-a-thons.
“If I wait any longer on this it’ll be old,” he feared. Only he didn’t want to merely recite the modern ills damaging society. He had ways to deal with them, ways to put our best selves forward.
Meet “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Plus-Self-Help-People-Who-Hate/dp/1982149914">The Plus: Self Help for People Who Hate Self Help</a>.”
<div id="attachment_134241" style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-134241" class="wp-image-134241" src="https://editorial.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Greg-Gutfeld-The-Plus-378x576.jpg" alt="Greg Gutfeld The Plus" width="500" height="762" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Greg-Gutfeld-The-Plus-378x576.jpg 378w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Greg-Gutfeld-The-Plus-197x300.jpg 197w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Greg-Gutfeld-The-Plus-768x1170.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Greg-Gutfeld-The-Plus.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px" />Courtesy Greg Gutfeld</div>
The comedic book offers tips for navigating social media, supporting those pulled over by the P.C. police and more. Risk sharing, where we rally behind those unfairly “canceled,” is just one strategy highlighted in the book.
“If the person is innocent you have to help them,” he says, adding the more people who rush to someone’s aid, the less likely anyone will be officially “cancelled.”
The “Cancel Culture” passages in the book read as if they were written last week given the tenor of the times. It’s “bully machinery,” he says of the cultural movement.
Other chapters get more personal, with Gutfeld sharing how he evolved on a number of fronts. One painful episode shows the personality bombing with an opening joke, a reminder to be both humble and aware of the crowd before you.
A sidebar/rant on “How to Read a Never Trumper,” from a personality who took time to warm to the atypical leader, is similarly on target. So is his comic assault on “binary thinking,” offering clever ways to avoid that intellectual mouse trap.
Gutfeld shares “The Five” with liberals like Juan Williams, and he’s equally willing to knock back a few cold ones with progressive pals.
”I have friends who are liberals in rock bands, and they totally disagree with me on everything,” he says. “We go out and we have fun.”
That camaraderie isn’t always mutual these days, but Gutfeld has an ace in the hole.
His fans.
Those friends may loathe his politics, but chances are “their parents don’t,” he says. “It happens a lot,” he notes, including one liberal comic whose mother likes Gutfeld more than him, the Fox News star jokes.
Or is he?
He once nearly landed an artist on his Fox News show who initially turned down his invitation in no uncertain terms.
“Faux News!” the artist all but shouted via an email exchange. Then the artist had a change of heart.
“Two days later, ‘you know, um, I was telling my Dad I got an email from you and he totally flipped out,’” Gutfeld recalls.
“Whatever they feel toward me, there’s somebody in their family that likes me,” he says. “They have to deal with that.”
More exclusive content from The Daily Wire: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-progressive-comic-judy-gold-on-cancel-culture-the-left-is-eating-its-own">Progressive Comic Judy Gold On Cancel Culture: The Left Is Eating Its Own</a>
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Greg Gutfeld

EXCLUSIVE: Greg Gutfeld Gets Candid About His Rise To FOX Fame, Countering Cancel Culture

Fox News

Earlier this month, the hashtag “#JewishPrivilege” <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-white-supremacists-trigger-twitterstorm-by-using-jewishprivilege-hashtag-1.8990556">trended</a> on Twitter, spreading a “mixture of classic conspiratorial theories involving Jewish domination and control of the media, Holocaust denial and accusations of underwriting social unrest movements so that Jews could displace whites with minority groups.”
Leveraging our deep experience of combining suffering with sarcasm, Jews on Twitter <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/how-jewish-twitter-users-celebrities-took-down-virtual-anti-semitic-ncna1233915">quickly rallied</a> to flip the use of #JewishPrivilege to share stories of both modern and generational anti-Semitism.
Using the concept of “Jewish privilege” to justify the circular argument that so-called “Jewish success” is ensured by “Jewish influence” is nothing new. For centuries, Jews have been labeled as malevolent puppet masters, with their disproportionate success in various societies seen as further proof of the breadth and depth of their “control.” This remains true to this very day, with the same conspiratorial anti-Semitic rhetoric spread by <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/15/entertainment/nick-cannon-viacom-trnd/index.html">actors</a>, <a href="https://jewishjournal.com/news/317054/rapper-ice-cube-accused-of-anti-semitism/">musicians</a>, and even <a href="https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/ilhan-omar-voted-2019s-antisemite-of-the-year-613308">members of Congress</a>.
While the anti-Semitism demonstrated by “Jewish privilege” is the same sort of shallow bigotry which we have witnessed for centuries, anti-Semitism is a “<a href="https://rabbisacks.org/mutating-virus-understanding-antisemitism/">mutating virus</a>.” There is a new tentacle of anti-Jewish bigotry which continues to go widely unrecognized, anti-Zionism. Criticism of Israel has become a veil used by anti-Semites to dismiss any and all rebuttals, with “Israel” becoming a convenient synonym for “Jews.”
The difficulty here is that, while many Jews are quick to speak out against traditional anti-Semitism, the same is not true when it comes the intersection between anti-Semitic and anti-Israel rhetoric. Indeed, fueled by an experience of relative tolerance in liberal, insular, and secular bubbles, influential Jewish voices often give credence to the flawed arguments used by those who use their criticism of Israel as a mask for their hatred of Jews.
Speaking on Marc Macron’s <a href="http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-1143-seth-rogen">podcast</a> this week, Seth Rogen demonstrated a stunning ignorance of Judaism’s past and present when it comes to its identity and its immutable links with Israel, and thereby provided ammunition to those who seek its destruction.
“To me it just seems an antiquated thought process. If it is for religious reasons, I don’t agree with it, because I think religion is silly,” said Rogen. “If it is for truly the preservation of Jewish people, it makes no sense, because again, you don’t keep something you’re trying to preserve all in one place — especially when that place is proven to be pretty volatile, you know? ‘I’m trying to keep all these things safe, I’m gonna put them in my blender and hope that that’s the best place . . . that’ll do it.’ It doesn’t make sense to me. And I also think that as a Jewish person I was fed a huge amount of lies about Israel my entire life! They never tell you that — oh by the way, there were people there. They make it seem like it was just like sitting there, like the f***ing door’s open. They forget to include the fact to every young Jewish person.”
There are three fundamental failures underpinning Rogen’s arguments. The first is the dismissal of the undeniable Jewish connection to Israel (which has existed for thousands of years) under the banner of an atheistic secularism which disregards the religious foundation of Judaism.
Whether individual Jews embrace the religious or the cultural aspects of their heritage is entirely up to them, but to deny the importance of Israel as the one and only everlasting home of Judaism based on one’s personal lack of religiosity is profoundly selfish and theologically inane.
The second is the use of historical revisionism which ignores that there has been a continuous Jewish presence in Israel for thousands of years. To claim that the sole purpose of Israel is “the preservation of Jewish people,” and that prior to Israel’s founding there were (other) people there, assumes the false premise that Israel was apologetically handed to Jews for the first time in the aftermath of the Holocaust.
<div id="attachment_134030" style="width: 710px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-134030" class="wp-image-134030" src="https://editorial.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Western-Wall.jpg" alt="Jewish men wearing traditional Tallit prayer shawls and clad in face masks following tightened restriction aimed at fighting the spread of the novel coronavirus, gather for the morning prayer at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, on July 27, 2020. (Photo by MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP) " width="700" height="456" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Western-Wall.jpg 741w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/Western-Wall-300x196.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" />Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images</div>
Such a simplistic description of Israel’s ancient and modern history only fuels the intentional attempt by those who target Jews under the “anti-Israel” guise to mislabel Israel as the result of 20th century Jewish colonialism. Contrary to this historically illiterate belief, the founding of the State of Israel in 1948 was simply a recognition of reality.
Finally, the notion that dispersing Jews across the world is the answer to the everlasting threat of anti-Semitism forgets that our history of non-consensual dispersion has not exactly gone well. In addition, Rogen’s absurd blender analogy regarding the volatility of the Middle East, and that we should disperse that which we wish to protect, makes the argument that Jews should not claim what is theirs because there are those who wish to prevent them from doing so. The presence of continual mortal danger is insignificant when it comes to exercising the Jewish right to self-determination in our ancestral homeland, regardless of what the neighbors think.
Seth Rogen is utterly and completely wrong, and his arguments will be music to the ears of those who seek to destroy the Jewish State. Israel does not exist for the preservation of Jewish people. Instead, Israel exists for the preservation of Judaism, and Judaism exists for the preservation of Israel. Israel is Judaism, and Judaism is Israel, and no amount of ignorance or lazy historical revisionism will change the enduring fact that Israel is, and always will be, the enduring home of the Jewish people and of Judaism itself.  For Jews and Judaism to persist, Israel must survive.
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Ian G. Haworth is a conservative commentator who provides an honest, principled, and hard-hitting insight into our politics and culture from his unique perspective as a British immigrant to the United States. Ian hosts “The Ian Haworth Show” and “The Truth in 60 Seconds.” He is a regular columnist for Townhall.com, and his work has appeared in other outlets including The American Mind, The Washington Examiner, and The Federalist. Ian graduated from Oxford University, and now lives in California. Follow him on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/ighaworth">@ighaworth</a>
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Representative John Lewis was laid to rest at a funeral in Georgia on Thursday. The funeral — attended by dignitaries, former presidents, and politicians from all over the country including 50 members of Congress — was the culmination of several days worth of memorials and public remembrances for the late congressman and civil rights icon. 
The journey began with a service in an Alabama chapel and another at Troy University. The congressman’s body was ceremonially escorted by a military honor guard, via horse-drawn carriage, over a bridge in Selma with an audience watching. Lewis was then laid in state in DC for public viewing before being brought back down south, to Atlanta, for a series of memorials followed by the funeral. In all, there were more than ten ceremonies across five different cities. The final ceremony, the funeral, was invite-only, but many of the pews were still filled with people sitting shoulder-to-shoulder. 
Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t begrudge a prominent figure his memorials and posthumous celebrations. Lewis obviously is not the first such figure to get this kind of send off. John McCain, who died two years ago, had a similarly packed schedule of memorial services. But the difference between two years ago and today is, obviously, the coronavirus and the accompanying lockdowns and restrictions. 
For months now, many Americans have either been prohibited from holding any funeral service at all for their deceased loved ones, or have been forced to hold very small gatherings attended only by immediate family members. The CDC labels large or medium-sized in-person funeral services as “highest risk” events, and in many places, such events are still banned. As a funeral director wrote in The Washington Post, saying goodbye to a loved one has become a lonely affair. But not for everyone. 
A whole series of exceptions were made for the congressman, just as they were made for George Floyd’s various memorials and funerals. And the exceptions don’t just apply to the events themselves. As Buck Sexton <a href="https://twitter.com/BuckSexton/status/1288951529668575232?s=20">points out</a>, DC regulations require that travelers coming from Georgia must self-quarantine for 14 days. Will the 50 congressmen who attended Lewis’s funeral in Atlanta proceed directly to self-quarantine on their return to the capital? Somehow I doubt it.  
And this has always been the problem with the coronavirus policies and restrictions. It’s not just that they represent infringements on our constitutional liberties — though they do — but that they are blatantly arbitrary. From the beginning, exceptions have been granted in service to politics, ideology, and elitism, rather than sound medical and scientific reasoning. Why can John Lewis have a dozen memorials in 5 cities while you weren’t allowed to have even one for your beloved grandmother? The answer is, quite simply, that your grandmother’s life wasn’t as important as the life of a Democratic congressman — at least according to the Powers That Be. Why can’t you go to church even while thousands of left-wing demonstrators and rioters cram together on the street? Because the same authorities don’t care about your church or believe in its message. They do care about left-wing movements and their messages, however. So one is allowed but not the other. 
This arbitrary imposition of liberty-infringing policies is a true outrage and a disgrace. This is perhaps the most explicit case of “rules for thee but not for me” that we have seen in modern times. It is the very definition of tyranny. 
More from Matt Walsh: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/activist-teachers-say-its-not-safe-to-go-back-to-work">Activist Teachers Say It’s Not Safe To Go Back To Work, While Many Attend Mass Protests</a>
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Funeral Held For Rep. John Lewis At Atlanta&#8217;s Ebenezer Baptist Church

WALSH: John Lewis Memorial Services Highlights Arbitrary Double Standards Of Coronavirus Policies

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Beirut Explosion ‘Last Nail In The Coffin’ As Lebanon Hurtles Toward ‘Failed State Status’

Former WWE Star Tells Story Of Alleged Childhood Sexual Abuse: ‘The Very First Time I Made A Man Disappear’

Jussie Smollett’s Sister: ‘I Believe My Brother,’ Scandal Has Been ‘F***ing Painful’

Meghan McCain Won’t Commit To Voting For Joe Biden

Soros Is Funding PAC Supporting Reelection Of Prosecutor Who Targeted McCloskeys, Report Says

Ep. 1068 - Is Joe Biden Mentally There? Hours 2 & 3

Ep. 1068 - Is Joe Biden Mentally There?

Ep. 537 - The Problem With Pretending That Beyonce Is An Artistic Genius

Ep. 593 - Biden Forgets His Cognitive Decline

The Best Action Movies of the ‘80s

Allen West On Living As ‘Victors Not Victims’

The Politics Of C.S. Lewis: The ‘Progressive’ Error That Looks Like Freedom But Leads To Tyranny

SHAPIRO: When The Counterculture Becomes The Culture

6 Things You Need To Know About The NBA’s Relationship With Communist China

HAWORTH: Why Conservatives Should Fight For Reopening Public Schools

WALSH: George Floyd Body Cam Footage Is Out. The Story Is Far More Complicated Than Media Led Us To Believe.

‘Do As They Say’: Minneapolis Police Tell Residents To ‘Be Prepared To Give Up’ Personal Belongings To Robbers

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WALSH: John Lewis Memorial Services Highlights Arbitrary Double Standards Of Coronavirus Policies

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