I stand with Douglas Murray

Cleanin' out the right - wing closet

Douglas Murray has reached for his broom and has decided the right – wing podcast world needs a thorough Spring clean. Murray has gone full Eminem and is cleaning out the closet.

The first cupboard is marked Joe Rogan. I haven’t listened to a Joe Rogan podcast in years, in fact the last one I listened to was when Douglas Murray was on the damn thing.

Last week, Murray went back on to have a go at Joe for having a lot of dodgy guests recently who have been peddling nonsense about Ukraine and Israel. In particular there have been a few charlatans running around informing us all that we have been ‘played’ over Hitler who may not have been such a bad guy after all. Murray has had enough of this and went back to Joe to tell him so.

Murray lays it out here in the New York Post. “So-called Israel-Hamas, Ukraine war ‘experts’ spew false info on Joe Rogan’s podcast — There has to be a standard.”

Murray explains his latest appearance on the Joe Rogan podcasts “this time, I went on with a question.

Having not spoken to Joe since the wars in Ukraine and Israel started, I had become increasingly irked that the guests he has had on have been almost entirely anti-Ukraine and anti-Israel. Many of the latter in particular are not just vindictively and maliciously anti-Israel but have been spewing claims that are demonstrably false.

Many are also people who are simply in no way expert at what they are talking about.”

Amen. Murray goes on to point out the damage people like Dave Smith and Darryl Cooper have been doing not just to the right but to civilisation. If you don’t know who either of those men are, lucky you. It should be noted that Niall Ferguson, Victor Davis Hanson and Andrew Roberts have also criticised this evil re-writing of history over at the Hoover Institute which I directed readers to here.

I have never been a huge fan of the likes of Joe Rogan but I understand a 44 year – old mother of four is not his target audience. The hoodie alone is enough to put me off.

I have long admired Murray who I have met socially a few times and interviewed on his prophetic book, The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam. If you have not read it yet, then shame on you.

In the last 2 years Murray has been genuinely brave; going to both war zones in Ukraine – Russia and Israel – Gaza. But it is his bravery in what he says that demonstrates his real courage: rightly saying Europe has had enough Islam (I paraphrase) and taking on antisemitism that has been dormant but is now infecting both Europe and the US. He is a one man bulshit slayer.

Murray again: “Journalism has had its own meltdown in recent years. But it doesn’t mean that we don’t have standards. Much though that might amaze some people. What the standards are in the new media — especially on podcasts — is still being worked out. But there must be some. Otherwise the new media will lead people into errors and evils far greater than the old media could ever dream of.”

Standards, this is the key word. In fact I think conservatism can be summed up as follows: having standards and maintaining decency. You know them when you see them.

(Hansel and Gretel get lost in the woods. Perhaps led astray by a Joe Rogan podcast.)

If you are a conservative you have standards. This means you wear a shirt and not a t-shirt in public. It means you read a book by actual historians such as Andrew Roberts and do not get your history of WWII from some batshit crazy person who says Hitler wasn’t that bad. It means you do not believe that the return of the word used to demean people with disabilities is some sort of cultural victory. Joe Rogan in a podcast using the word ret@rd said, “the word … is back and it is one of the great culture victories.” No, the return of people to Christian churches is a cultural victory. The free use of the word ret@rd is not.

Lord give me strength. It starts young. For instance, you don’t hand your kids the remote control first thing in the morning over the Easter holidays. Instead, you tell them to get dressed, make their room, have their breakfast and do their chores.

There is also such a thing as decency. As Murray says, “there should be a price to pay for spreading bulls–t. And part of that price is that you should be called out.”

Exactly. And although I have been called out for using the phrase called out (more Americana but Murray was writing in the New York Post) if you want to maintain standards and decency then you have to call out those who are collapsing standards and acting indecently.

Using the word ret@ard is indecent. Not dressing properly is indecent. And claiming that Winston Churchill was the chief villain of WWII (Darryl Cooper’s party piece) is not only wrong but indecent.

I stand with Douglas Murray, broom in hand. And so should you.