Sargon of Akkad - Carl Benjamin - This Week in Stupid (29⧸04⧸2018)

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April 29, 2018 - Sargon of Akkad - Carl Benjamin

22:10

This Week in Stupid (29⧸04⧸2018)

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	Hello everyone, welcome to this week in Stupid for the 29th of April 2018 and what a week this has been.
	Because this week we see people leaving the reservations.
	Kanye West, I still love Donald Trump.
	Oh shit.
	Kanye West stumped a radio host during a recent phone chat when he offered up support to embattle US leader Donald Trump.
	While most celebrities want the president out of office, the rapper told the DJ that he's a fan.
	The DJ revealed all about the weekend chat with Kanye during his Monday show and made it clear he was shocked by the rapper's support for Trump, whom he met in 2016 to discuss multicultural issues.
	Apparently he said, I do love Donald Trump.
	Which was then tweeted out by the DJ Sidekick, saying the biggest takeaway from Ebro on the morning today was, Kanye West is still an avid Donald Trump supporter.
	You can process that however you like, but if you're waiting for him to say my bad about his Trump statements, don't hold your breath.
	He also tweeted out, I love the way Candace Owens thinks.
	Oh shit.
	The left-wing media did not take this very kindly.
	Kanye West says, I love Donald Trump and likes how Candace Owens challenges conventional black thought.
	He went on to talk about demonization.
	He feels like he's been demonized.
	And how as a society we demonize individuals who are trying to speak out and challenge conventional thought.
	We demonize them for trying to think differently when really they're just trying to continue to make progress.
	Holy shit.
	Despite the controversy surrounding her on YouTube, there is no doubt that Candace Owens is correct when she describes Black Lives Matter protesters as whiners who are projecting a victim mentality instead of a victor mentality.
	And you can imagine just how the far left media has taken this.
	The Daily Beast, Yeezy Red Pill, how Kanye West became a far-right media hero.
	The rapper continued his exploration of MAGA land on Monday, tweeting a conservative Scott Adams rant and earning the plaudits of Alex Jones and others on the far right.
	When they say far right, they mean conservative.
	So Kanye West had apparently taken a year-long break from Twitter, and after returning to Twitter earlier this month, he started BTFOing everybody.
	West has raised eyebrows, sharing posts from prominent far-right online supporters of Donald Trump.
	After a series of tweets on Monday, the rapper shared links from Scott Adams, the ardently pro-Trump creator of the cartoon Dilbert, who recently wrote a book about the 2016 election that Politco dubbed possibly the worst explanation for why Trump won.
	I haven't read the book, but I'm guessing that it was probably rather accurate.
	Conservative digital media organization Prager University turned some of West's recent tweets into inspirational memes.
	Oh, those fucking racists.
	Self-victimization is a disease.
	One meme read with West's image in the background.
	I'm not exactly the world's greatest fan of Prague U, but come on, where's the lie?
	Bill O'Reilly, who once likened Kanye West to a disease, came to the rapper's defense tweeting that Yeezy finds himself under attack by the American Stalinists.
	I don't care for Bill O'Reilly either, but he's not wrong, is he?
	Other right-wing online personalities seized the moment as well.
	Dave Rubin praised the rapper for exposing the left's true bigotry.
	Alt-right ringleader Mike Cernovich declared that reality is ripped open by West's tweets.
	And as the Washington Post so astutely points out, Kanye West's embrace of Candace Owens has not been well received.
	West's politics have become increasingly right-leaning, attracting criticism from the left, and his embrace of Owens, who has aligned herself with Alex Jones and conservatism's other fringe thinkers, does not appear to have been well received by politically engaged blacks.
	Yeah, that's the best way to phrase that, Washington Post.
	Politically engaged blacks, you know, the people who all think the same because of their skin colour, really have a problem with what Kanye West, a politically engaged black man, is saying about Candace Owens, a politically engaged black woman, because they're going against the narrative of blacks.
	Because that's just not how blacks think.
	You've got to understand Kanye West is choosing to empower Candace Owens instead of anyone else is problematic because Owens is just a black and culture trying to get paid to be a contrarian.
	She doesn't deserve our attention.
	Candace Owens has proven to be anti-black, anti-LGBTQ, and fact-hating.
	Honestly, there are so many more descriptors, but I guess Twitter still has a character limit.
	For Kanye to align himself with her is messy and dangerous.
	I'm not surprised Kanye loves the way Candace Owens thinks, especially after he ran to Trump Tower to genuflect before his king.
	In fact, the people who responded most favourably to West's endorsement of Owens appear to be other conservative activists, many of them young white men, a demographic that is a huge patron of hip-hop.
	Alright, racists.
	And just in case you're wondering, Eugene Scott's entire job is to talk about being black.
	I guess we should probably look at some more reactions, shouldn't we, to how Kanye West is praising a woman who is saying that black people maybe shouldn't be perpetual victims for the rest of time.
	So Candace Owens is the communication director for conservative youth organization Turning Point USA and believes that an ideological civil war is happening with African-American people.
	She said some African Americans are focused on their past and shouting about slavery and others are focused on their futures.
	Again, how is she wrong?
	I always love a good hot take from a left-wing white guy.
	Aside from being an insane alt-right race pimp, Candace Owens thinks Donald Trump is literally the messiah, not you, Kanye West.
	You might want to reconsider.
	That's just genius, Tom.
	Good job.
	So what is it exactly that Kanye West is supporting?
	Possibly this quote from Candace Owens.
	Victim mentality is not cool.
	Well, it's not.
	I don't know why people like being oppressed.
	I don't either.
	We're oppressed.
	400 years of slavery.
	Jim Crow, by the way, none of you guys lived through that.
	Your grandparents did and it's embarrassing that you utilize their history.
	You're not living through anything right now.
	Not only do I not see anything objectionable with that statement, that seems to be factually accurate.
	I think it's exactly the right kind of mindset that black people should adopt to empower themselves to get out of the hole that the left is happy to keep them in.
	But what do you know?
	Turns out Kanye West is a Nazi.
	At least again, according to The Washington Post.
	This paragraph sums up everything about this article and the left's reaction to Kanye West having some thoughts of his own.
	Progressives, West's more typical fanbase, or at least they assume so, greeted his return to Twitter with breathless engagement.
	Apparently they'd forgot about West's onstage announcement last summer that he'd voted for Trump if he'd voted at all and his post-election visit to Trump Tower.
	But the moment West expressed his approval of Owens, quote-unquote liberals recoiled.
	Eager to signal their lefty credentials, they withdrew their support the moment West went against the party line.
	Exactly.
	That is exactly the problem of the left.
	If you don't agree with absolutely every single fucking position they hold, you're a Nazi.
	And this last paragraph is a fantastic demonstration of the ideological rigidity of the left.
	In the end, the weekend's West affair was a very public display of people using other people.
	West has hyped up his announced album even further with the publicity he gained from courting controversy.
	Right, so he can't possibly believe in the things that he's saying.
	This is all about album sales, as if he's not rich enough and doesn't have millions of followers already.
	Liberals have shown off their willingness to enforce ideological purity, no matter who the offender is, as if the progressive narrative is the law and contravening it makes you an offender.
	And the far right, you know, those evil, unforgiving, unremitting Nazis, have demonstrated once again that they're willing to flip-flop at the slightest sign that they may be able to land a mainstream celebrity recruit.
	You mean, when someone says, you know, I actually don't agree with the radical left on something, they say, great, neither do we.
	How would you like to have a conversation?
	Wow, those fucking intolerant Nazis.
	I can't believe they're willing to forgive and forget.
	Don't trade your authenticity for approval, West tweeted last week to the tune of 170,000 retweets and 344,000 likes.
	Too late.
	Are you joking, Molly Roberts?
	In that very paragraph, you point out that liberals are going to enforce ideological purity no matter who the offender is.
	And when one of them steps out of line and says, you know what, I'm actually not going to trade what I authentically believe for your approval, you suggest that the people who say good for you, stand by your own beliefs instead of standing with the group think, are the people who are compromising their authenticity.
	And oh shit, it turns out that Kanye West is watching Jordan Peterson's videos.
	So Kanye West tweeted out a video, and in the video you can see this tab on his browser.
	This tab happened to go to a Jordan Peterson video.
	What was Jordan Peterson's reaction?
	First comedians, now rappers.
	My plan for world domination is proceeding apace.
	And if you actually look at some of the things that Kanye West is tweeting out, they are incredibly lucid.
	You don't have to agree with Trump, but the mob can't make me not love him.
	We are both dragon energy.
	He is my brother.
	I love everyone.
	I don't agree with everything anyone does.
	That's what makes us individuals.
	And we have the right to independent thought.
	I don't know about the dragon energy, but the rest of it's pretty damn good, isn't it?
	Oh shit, he has a signed MAGA hat.
	Oh shit.
	Not only is he wearing it in public, he's also tweeting out pictures of him with the OK sign, which as we all know is a sign of white supremacy.
	Oh shit, Kanye West is wearing his signed MAGA hat out in public.
	Oh shit, Kanye West is freestyling wearing his signed MAGA hat.
	I don't know anything about Kim Kardashian West, which is apparently his wife, but she seems to be being incredibly dutiful and supportive when she tweets out to the media trying to demonize my husband.
	Let me just say this.
	Your commentary on Kanye being erratic and his tweets being disturbing is actually scary.
	So quick to label him as having mental health issues for just being himself when he's always been expressive is not fair.
	I can't see any evidence of Kanye having mental health problems.
	I can see evidence of him thinking that maybe, just maybe, he doesn't have to be an ideological slave.
	Oh shit.
	According to sources close to Kanye West, he has had explosive fights with Chris Jenner and Kim Kardashian and they can't control him.
	It looks like Kanye's gone completely rogue.
	Oh shit.
	It looks like Kanye West has broken with his longtime manager Scooter Braun.
	Oh shit.
	Kanye West drops a new song, Ye vs the People.
	A fierce debate with TI about pro-Trump stance.
	Talk about doubling down.
	Oh shit.
	Donald Trump is reportedly thinking about inviting Kanye West to the White House for dinner.
	This comes hot on the heels of Kanye's tweet to say that Trump is his brother, with Trump replying, thank you Kanye, very cool.
	Unsurprisingly, all of these events have enraged the left, and so Stephen Colbert savages Kanye West's Trump Twitter bro fest.
	I don't know if you've checked Twitter today, the late show host told viewers Wednesday, but right now my Twitter feed is just tweets from Donald Trump and Kanye West.
	West tweeted, my MAGA hat is signed followed by 30 fire emojis.
	Now that is fitting, because that's how many times I would set that hat on fire.
	And like any good plantation owner, Stephen Colbert can't possibly have his Negroes having thoughts of their own and wandering off the plantation.
	If one of them gets away with it, the others might start to think they can do it as well.
	And then who's gonna pick that cotton, eh, Stephen?
	He deemed their Twitter exchange a total bro fest and advised viewers to look for their new album, Yeezy and Sleazy.
	Oh that doesn't make you look weak as hell, does it Stephen?
	It doesn't make you look like you just lost.
	Colbert concluded by congratulating Trump on securing the coveted Kanye West endorsement.
	You mean the one that you are currently fighting for and shaming him for not getting.
	Trevor Noah was also confused by the social media sweet talk.
	I don't care how long I wait, that will never soak in, he said.
	I don't even know what happened here.
	Yeah, you know what?
	I do.
	I know exactly what happened here.
	It's the same damn thing that happens with every person who goes against the far left narrative.
	You guys are awful.
	You're absolutely awful to that person and you don't let them have thoughts of their own.
	And if they differentiate from anything that you think, you publicly shame them in front of millions of people in order to bully them back onto the plantation.
	In order to pick your bullshit talking points and reinforce the fact that black people must forever be the victims.
	And this is why I know that this is exactly the case.
	If you feel something, don't let peer pressure manipulate you.
	Spot on Kanye.
	And naturally, black Twitter drags Kanye West to Koonville for Trump MAGA-loving trolling.
	Ye caught a Wi-Fi connection in the sunken place and it all went bad.
	That's right, Kanye, because if you're not like them, there's something wrong with you and you're a traitor to the black race.
	I don't know who SMI is, but they say make Kanye black again.
	Because Kanye is being black wrong.
	Why aren't you singing the Negro songs, Kanye?
	You might be familiar with a music personality called John Legend, who is apparently also a far-left progressive activist, who DMs Kanye in order to try and persuade him to come back and carry on being whipped by Masser.
	Hey, it's JL.
	I hope you'll reconsider aligning yourself with Trump.
	You're way too powerful and influential to endorse who he is and what he stands for.
	As you know, what you say really means something to your fans.
	They are loyal to you and respect your opinion.
	So many people who love you feel so betrayed right now because they know the harm that Trump's policies cause, especially to people of colour.
	Don't let this be part of your legacy.
	You're the greatest artist of our generation.
	And Kanye fucking destroys him.
	I love you, John, and appreciate your thoughts.
	You bringing up my fans on my legacy is a tactic based on fear used to manipulate my free thought.
	Fucking got him.
	And so you know what?
	It turns out that Bill Maher really was completely correct when he said, Here's the thing about Donald Trump.
	He never apologizes.
	He's never wrong.
	No matter what crazy thing he says, he's totally bad.
	He's the white Kanye.
	And I just want to say to Kanye West, more power to you, buddy.
	You be the person you want to be and don't you let these bastards put you back in chains.
	And on that note, another powerful, important celebrity also left the plantation.
	Admittedly, this happened last week, but the major blowback happened this week, so I'm going to cover it now.
	Natalie Portman pulls out of Israel Award due to distressing recent events there.
	Portman, who was born in Jerusalem and holds dual Israeli and US citizenship, was named in November as the recipient of the 2018 Genesis Award, a yearly prize for outstanding achievement by individuals who have attained excellence and international renown in their chosen professional fields who embody the character of the Jewish people.
	However, Portman informed the Genesis Prize Foundation she would not travel to Israel for the ceremony, which has been cancelled.
	A representative of hers said, recent events in Israel have been extremely distressing to her, and she does not feel comfortable participating in any events in Israel.
	She cannot in good conscience move forward with the ceremony.
	No specific events were mentioned, but the recent military response to the Palestinian demonstrations on the Gaza-Israel border has provoked worldwide condemnation.
	I know this is a highly divisive issue, so I just want to make it clear, I don't give a shit about Israel or Gaza.
	I just don't care.
	I'm personally interested in Natalie Portman's breaking away from a certain kind of groupthink in exactly the same way that Kanye West is doing.
	Naturally, many Israelis were bristling at criticism from one of their own, which honestly I think is the best place for criticism to come from.
	So at this point, more than 40 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the March of Return protests.
	Israel says that many of the dead and wounded have links to the military wing of Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza.
	But Israelis are still trying to digest Portman's refusal to attend the ceremony to accept the prestigious Genesis Prize, sometimes referred to as the Jewish Nobel.
	She posted a clarifying statement on Instagram, saying that she did not want to appear to be endorsing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to appear at the ceremony.
	And in an apparent reference to the Palestinian deaths in Gaza, she wrote, The mistreatment of those suffering from today's atrocities is simply not in line with my Jewish values.
	So not only did members of Israel's parliament demand that her citizenship be revoked for having this opinion, one member speaking on television said that Portman, who is Jewish herself, of course, was anti-Semitic.
	What Natalie Portman did, she played as a tool for those who hate us more.
	Even those opposed to the government said that Portman has unintentionally played into the hands of the anti-Israel activists, including supporters of the boycotts, divestment and sanctions movement.
	Despite the fact that she herself has claimed that she does not support this movement, she is just following her own conscience.
	So naturally, the Israeli government has denounced Natalie Portman.
	How very dare you not want to come and do something that we have offered you because you disagree with our policy regarding Gaza.
	Naturally, many people took to social media to criticise Portman for choosing not to travel to the country of her birth, while others lamented the fact that her statement coincided with the tail end of Israel's 70th Independence Day.
	But this is probably the wokest take on this whole thing.
	Natalie Portman's selectively anti-Israel application of Jewish values.
	Given the atmosphere of totalitarian repression being generated by the left-wing socialist extremists on many university campuses these days, I suppose that as an American, I risk being charged on various counts of cultural appropriation for daring to write this article.
	What this does is just go to show that it's not just left-wingers who do this, is it?
	In it, I criticise the evocation of Jewish values by Natalie Portman, a globally renowned entertainment icon who happens to be a Jewish citizen of Israel.
	However, I plead a mitigation of the charge that, on account of an act of our father God, I am an adopted sibling of Jesus Christ, a Jewish man from Nazareth.
	I further plead that I am by birth a citizen of the United States and therefore a citizen of that aforementioned cultural icon, and finally that I am by heritage of a black American whose variegated cultural DNA makes cultural appropriation the very definition of my way of being.
	Holy shit, dude, it's okay to criticize.
	It's even okay to have really hot takes like this.
	With her dramatic gesture, Miss Portman makes herself part of a strategic campaign that aims at nothing less than the annihilation of the Jewish state.
	That's right.
	If Natalie Portman disagrees with Benjamin Netanyahu's policies, she's tacitly in favour of the eradication of Israel.
	Natalie Portman's dual American and Israel citizenship makes her a weapon of mass destruction in achieving the strategic objects of the moral and sentimental aspects of unarmed invasion strategy as it is being deployed against Israel.
	You don't think that's slightly hysterical or anything, do you?
	And of course, given her global notoriety in American citizenship, her action also has strategic implications for the United States.
	I think you're giving Natalie Portman more credit than she actually deserves.
	But in Israel's case, moral and sentimental inhibitions are likely to pose a more immediate existential threat to its survival.
	Somehow, Natalie Portman is involved in an existential threat to Israel's survival.
	Do you think that this might be a little bit hyperbolic?
	Natalie Portman has, in the past, appeared to be a staunch supporter of Israel's existence.
	Now she's diametrically opposed to it because she disagrees with Benjamin Netanyahu and doesn't really want to go and share a platform with him.
	Now she wants Israel wiped off the map.
	If people like Natalie Portman are sincere in their dedication to peace, why is it that they never press the case against intra-Arab conflicts, replete with atrocity that are most responsible for the bubbling cauldron of incessant warfare?
	Well, I'm gonna guess mate is because they didn't offer her a prize.
	I imagine that if she was being offered a platform with ISIS or Assad, she'd probably refuse that too.
	And of course, Natalie Portman is wrong about Israel, and here's why.
	Despite the fact, she didn't make a statement about Israel.
	This article is actually a thing of beauty because there is no argument made in it.
	They go on and contextualize the situation and then end with this.
	It's hard to imagine that a woman who once worked as Alan Dershowitz research assistant could get this so wrong.
	Portman holds dual citizenship, and she, more than most Americans, should understand that Israel's founding was the rebirth of a nation.
	The creation of the modern state of Israel was not a result of spontaneous outpouring of sympathy from world powers, aghast at what befell the Jews during World War II, yeah that didn't take long, did it?
	But the product of many years of hard determined work.
	Zionism as a political movement far predated the creation of the state, and that movement came centuries after the Jews were exiled from their national homeland.
	It's a shame that 70 years after Israel's creation, the most basic facts of its existence are unclear to even those who are born within its borders.
	She clearly wants the abolition of Israel!
	She just doesn't support what Israel is doing to the Palestinians.
	She's not asking for the disestablishment of the bloody state!
	Naturally, there's been a massive backlash to Natalie Portman, with the most amusing one being a really sexist one from the ZOA president.
	Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, apologised for a tweet in which he suggested that Natalie Portman's criticism of Israel gives credibility and legitimacy to the ludicrous, false, nonsensical belief that beautiful women aren't too bright.
	Why on earth is that the first thought that pops into your head, Morton?
	Although not intended, I now realise that my comment could be construed as offensive, and I sincerely apologise for it.
	I do not retract my criticism of Miss Portman's decision not to go to Israel and accept the award.
	I should have focused solely on her decision without any reference to gender or appearance.
	Get back in line.

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