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July 20, 2016 - Sargon of Akkad - Carl Benjamin
11:06
A Special Message to Cenk Uygur
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A little while ago I did a video on Sarah Palin and how she attacked Black Lives Matter.
And in that video there's a word that's unclear.
It could sound it sounded both like people and peaceful.
So I thought she said that they are not people.
It turns out, I think that in this proper context, it is that she did say they are not, they were not peaceful.
You know, Cenk.
Good for you.
It takes a big man to stand up in front of 3 million people and say, look, I was wrong.
I made an accusation against someone that was simply wildly inaccurate.
And good for you for delivering this correction in such a calm, measured and mature way.
So now, some of our detractors loved that and made videos and tweets like, ah, you got it wrong, Chank.
We win, you lose.
Mommy, he got it wrong, mommy.
He got it wrong.
God damn it, Chenk.
You got it very wrong.
You got it so laughably, cartoonishly wrong that you thought Sarah Palin was such a racist that she would go to the media and say, black people aren't people.
I mean, do you have any concept of what you're saying about a person if you think that's what they will do?
I mean, I personally can't really imagine much that's worse.
I mean, do you think that the grand dragon of the KKK would say black people aren't people?
Or would he say that they're inferior people?
He would at least still acknowledge their status as human beings, Chenk.
But you thought Sarah Palin would actually say that black people aren't even people.
I mean, that is just one of the, honestly, that is just so abominable.
Honestly, it's so awful, Chenk.
And it's the first thing you assumed about Sarah Palin because of her accent and the ambiguity of the word.
Despite the fact, in context, it was perfectly clear what she was saying.
And yes, Chenk, hundreds of thousands of people laughed at you for it.
A lot.
Because it was quite possibly the funniest thing you could do while indulging in your confirmation bias.
Because that's why this happened.
You hate Republicans.
You think they are evil.
We all know it.
We can see it.
We watch your channel for the fucking just to see how bad you're going to get.
And that was it.
You were going to accuse them of saying black people aren't even human.
And then you're like, oh my god, and you all laughed at us.
Yes.
And rightly so, deservedly so.
Because that was a monumental fuck-up.
And you even had the transcript in your hand.
But that didn't override the confirmation bias.
That didn't override your desire to see them say black people aren't human.
And this attempt to belittle people just comes off as petty and childish.
You were wrong.
The people laughing at you were not wrong.
You have no moral high ground with which to laugh at them.
You are the buffoon here.
You are the clown who thought that this was actually going to be part of your political discourse.
Okay, congratulations.
But you see, you're not really hurting us.
You're helping us.
Because we don't want something out there that's wrong.
And our fans, not quite as obnoxiously in the past, would have told us when we, from time to time, make mistakes.
The one I always refer to, John McCain, a local news station, when he was running, had edited something that made him look worse.
We ran that, and then you guys, some of the people who were at that speech said, Jank, you guys edited that wrong.
We had not edited.
But when you pointed that out, we looked at the full context and we made that correction.
We want to make those corrections.
And we want to help you, if you can believe it.
You know how many people are ex-viewers of yours.
The amounts of people who say, I used to like the young Turks, then they went off the deep end.
And do you want to know why you've gone off the deep end, Chank?
Because you are surrounded by yes men, and you are a huge, overbearing man.
You have a booming voice, and you get very excited about the things you're talking about.
Now, combine this with your constant desire to be agreed with, and the way that you don't really handle direct criticism very well.
It's created an echo chamber where you are surrounded by yes men who either think just like you or aren't really confident enough to speak out against you.
You being presumably the owner of the Young Turks network.
You are their boss, Chenk.
You control their money.
There's only so much they can say in order to correct you, especially if you won't listen.
And in many cases, you won't.
And the thing is, you've done this to yourself without even realizing.
You're becoming a cautionary tale of what it's like to not listen to people who disagree with you.
So we don't want to be wrong.
Now, the essence of that video was overall absolutely right.
No, it wasn't.
She said Black Lives Matter is responsible for the violence.
They are, Cheng.
Not all.
Good God, not every single individual one.
But there are tens of thousands of them walking around saying that they want dead cops.
If you think this doesn't foster an atmosphere in which violent rhetoric becomes acceptable, and if you think that then doesn't translate to one or two of the more lunatic ones saying, well, I actually should take action.
If everyone around me is saying we should take action, I'm going to do it, then you're wrong and we know this because there are five dead cops because of it.
She said they're thugs and I pointed out that her family literally caused the riot in Alaska.
Yes, this is a logical fallacy called Tukokwe or and you.
It doesn't prevent Black Lives Matter from being thugs or at least having many, many thugs within its ranks because it does chank.
And you saying, well, what about your family?
That's A, not even something Sarah Palin has done, and B, totally irrelevant as to whether Black Lives Matter is a movement that fosters and encourages violence.
It does chank, and you are living in denial because of your partisanship.
20 people involved in a fight, one violent episode after another, so she does live the thug life.
Incredible.
Do you have any proof that Sarah Palin has done anything to encourage or participate in violence?
The answer is, of course, no, otherwise you would be showcasing it instead of showcasing things that people did who aren't Sarah Palin.
This is a logical fallacy called guilt by association.
We are not going to blame Sarah Palin for the actions of other people.
However, we will blame people in Black Lives Matter for the actions of people in Black Lives Matter.
They choose to be part of this social movement.
They run around constantly, putting up signs in protests saying, what do we want?
Dead pigs?
What do we want?
Pigs in a blanket.
Cook them like bacon.
All this sort of shit, Chenk.
Where they are actually spouting violent rhetoric.
And then one of them at least goes off and kills a bunch of police.
And you think you can smear Sarah Palin for this.
Because she is pointing out that they are not a peaceful movement.
Because they don't appear to be a peaceful movement.
I'm not saying there aren't people in Black Lives Matter who don't genuinely care about the welfare of black people being killed by police and all these other issues.
I'm sure there are.
But there are also too many people to hide the fact that this movement is gestating something dangerous and you are acting as an apologist for it.
You have to start being honest.
But we gotta make sure every part of it is right.
And so even though you think that, oh, we got you and all that stuff, thank you.
I don't mind the corrections.
I like the corrections.
We want to be as right as we possibly can.
We're nowhere near perfect.
We make mistakes.
Thanks for pointing it out.
So that's why we took that video down and I just wanted everybody to know that.
Still horribly obnoxious comments by Sarah Palin, but we don't want to get any part of it wrong.
So thank you.
I don't want to defend Sarah Palin, Cenk.
I'm an ex-viewer of yours.
I am a liberal.
I am left-wing.
I do not think Sarah Palin is right on almost every single issue.
But on this, she is correct.
Black Lives Matter is becoming a problem, a cancer that is, frankly, looking like it's going to incite a race war in your country, and you are defending it.
But I do want to applaud your honesty.
You did make a mistake, and you did make the correction.
There are many who wouldn't do that.
So, honestly, 10 out of 10 on that regard.
Trying to belittle your detractors, such as myself, Devin Tracy, Bering and many others, because we pointed out you were wrong is childish.
What you need, Chank, is to have someone on your show who isn't just on your side.
Someone who actually thinks differently to you and can give a different perspective.
This would help you, it would help your lackeys, and it would help your entire setup.
It would give you more credibility to at least have the opposing argument there, rather than you creating a straw man of an opposing argument on it.
Think about it, Chank.
Just seriously, just think about it, because honestly, there is a lot of good you could do, and I know you want to, because I know you are a decent guy, and honestly, even after all this time of you saying just ridiculous things, I still quite like you, Cheng, as a person.
I like your presentation.
It's just you've gone in the wrong direction, man.
You've gone so far wrong.
And you need to start coming back and saying, okay, we just have regressive opinions on certain things.
And stop demanding acknowledgement and validation from the people around you.
You're the guy in charge.
You don't need to say right after every sentence.
If they don't think you're right, they will correct you.
And if they do think you're right, they won't say anything.
Or they'll just say, yeah, I think that's probably true.
And I tell you what, Cenk, if you wanted to get as a guest on one of your shows for a day, some of your detractors, or at least just one of them, so they can talk to you about what's going wrong in your echo chamber and maybe help to correct you if that's what you so desire, then I'm sure we can make it happen.
And I'm sure we can make it so it's not going to cost you a penny.
So think about it, Chank.
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