Episode: The Three Whisky Happy Hour: Getting a Grip on Groypers

While it was sorely tempting to devote the entire show to celebrating the return of Sydney Sweeney to the public eye last week, we decided to turn our attention to the serious matter of antisemitism on the right, and just what the heck "groypers" (groyperism??) is all about. Rod Dreher passed along estimates that up to 40 percent of young conservatives in Washington are closet Nick Fuentes fans or groyper-adjacent, though this estimate has received strong challenges. We review a few of the counter-arguments that seem to be left unsaid at the moment.

Then we turn to a brief recap and critique from Lucretia on our brief segment last week with Akhil Amar about his new book Born Equal. We didn't have time to get very far with the subject, but the amazing thing is that Lucretia and John were together on their end of this episode, and Lucretia didn't hit John once (though she may have spiked his whisky).

Oh, and we did have time to talk briefly about Helen Andrews's legs. You'll just have to listen to find out what this means in this compact, ad-free episode.

CONTRIBUTOR

To read this bio, please join Ricochet.

Brickhouse Hank@HankRhody47w

With respect to The Jews, it's one of the most popular hatreds for ancient and well-understood reasons. But there are some parts where our Current Year has had influence.

Back in high school chemistry our teacher read off to us the warning labels on the sodium chloride container. Yeah, you have to get pretty generic to have something to warn about on table salt. Our lawsuit-happy society has no ability to declare anything 'safe'. Because anything can be misused and a lack of warning is a clear invitation for legal trouble we, as a society, have lost the ability to distinguish between mild risk and disaster. We'd all be safer if you can say "getting salt in your eyes will sting. Getting sulphuric acid in your eyes will blind" but the constant five alarm warning labels drone out any nuance.

Now think of that in terms of racism. My brother played a Paladin named "PolishMage" in a MMO, expecting to get banned. He never did because nobody cares about Polack jokes. (Though if you know any good ones do share.) In a culture, and not just online, that treats every microaggression as if it made you a klansman, where any mildly racy joke can get you brought in to HR, there's no way to distinguish between good-natured ribbing and seriously worrisome behavior.

And then there's Trump. A great deal of Trump's success on the political scene comes from him refusing to wuss out when the media jumps up on a table like a 50's housewife screeching about a mouse. Culturally speaking that's a necessary corrective to the overly sensitive slough we're in. If you have a well-informed notion of where those red lines ought to be, you shrug off the ones that are irrelevant, and you shake your head and tut tut when he goes too far. That's fine. But suppose you aren't well informed. Suppose the main message you receive is that it's fun to break the media's mores.

Anti-semitism is poison. I don't mind salting my comments with Irish jokes, but I wouldn't want to season my food with potassium cyanide. Even if the crystals and the warning labels look the same to the casual observer, and who's got the time to read those anyway? To a kid raised in a culture of zero tolerance for anything that might be construed as a racist joke, breaking the rules feels like breaking the rules all the way down the line.

I don't see any way to solve this problem, other than the ways Steve is already solving it. Talking to his drivers, one student at a time, explaining things so they understand. That, and of course

Discussion (3)

To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
WilliamWarford@WilliamWarford47w
Wait, John didn't stand up for his mentor? We need to hear Lucretia's charges debated next week!
CONTRIBUTOR
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
Brickhouse Hank@HankRhody47w
With respect to The Jews, it's one of the most popular hatreds for ancient and well-understood reasons. But there are some parts where our Current Year has had influence.
Back in high school chemistry our teacher read off to us the warning labels on the sodium chloride container. Yeah, you have to get pretty generic to have something to warn about on table salt. Our lawsuit-happy society has no ability to declare anything 'safe'. Because anything can be misused and a lack of warning is a clear invitation for legal trouble we, as a society, have lost the ability to distinguish between mild risk and disaster. We'd all be safer if you can say "getting salt in your eyes will sting. Getting sulphuric acid in your eyes will blind" but the constant five alarm warning labels drone out any nuance.
Now think of that in terms of racism. My brother played a Paladin named "PolishMage" in a MMO, expecting to get banned. He never did because nobody cares about Polack jokes. (Though if you know any good ones do share.) In a culture, and not just online, that treats every microaggression as if it made you a klansman, where any mildly racy joke can get you brought in to HR, there's no way to distinguish between good-natured ribbing and seriously worrisome behavior.
And then there's Trump. A great deal of Trump's success on the political scene comes from him refusing to wuss out when the media jumps up on a table like a 50's housewife screeching about a mouse. Culturally speaking that's a necessary corrective to the overly sensitive slough we're in. If you have a well-informed notion of where those red lines ought to be, you shrug off the ones that are irrelevant, and you shake your head and tut tut when he goes too far. That's fine. But suppose you aren't well informed. Suppose the main message you receive is that it's fun to break the media's mores.
Anti-semitism is poison. I don't mind salting my comments with Irish jokes, but I wouldn't want to season my food with potassium cyanide. Even if the crystals and the warning labels look the same to the casual observer, and who's got the time to read those anyway? To a kid raised in a culture of zero tolerance for anything that might be construed as a racist joke, breaking the rules feels like breaking the rules all the way down the line.
I don't see any way to solve this problem, other than the ways Steve is already solving it. Talking to his drivers, one student at a time, explaining things so they understand. That, and of course
MORE CLEAN AIR ACT CONTENT!!
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
Bishop Wash@BishopWash47w
Either I missed it or we haven't had Lucretia comment on Mophead's failed book tour, while doing away with the Mophead look.