1 00:00:00,840 --> 00:00:01,960 Speaker 1: We understand. 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:08,839 Speaker 2: The thinking atheist. It's not a person, it's a symbol, 3 00:00:09,400 --> 00:00:10,000 an idea. 4 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:13,519 Speaker 3: The population of atheists this country is going through the. 5 00:00:13,519 --> 00:00:19,039 Speaker 2: Rule, rejecting faith, pursuing knowledge, challenging the sacred. If I 6 00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:23,160 tell the truth, it's because I tell the truth, not because. 7 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:26,679 Speaker 4: I put my hand on a book and made a wish. 8 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:28,839 Speaker 2: And working together for a more rational world. 9 00:00:29,079 --> 00:00:32,039 Speaker 5: Take the risk of thinking. Feel so much more happiness. 10 00:00:32,079 --> 00:00:34,719 Truth Usian wisdom will come to you that way. 11 00:00:35,679 --> 00:00:43,520 Speaker 2: Assume nothing, question everything, and start thinking. This is the 12 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:52,759 Thinking Atheist podcast hosted by Seth Andrews. 13 00:00:56,520 --> 00:00:59,679 Speaker 5: I hear the word Nazi throwing around a lot as 14 00:00:59,679 --> 00:01:03,000 we watch the rise of autocracy in this country, and 15 00:01:03,039 --> 00:01:06,319 I used to resist it more than I do. There 16 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:12,000 is a rising tide of Naziism parallels to Nazi Germany, 17 00:01:12,079 --> 00:01:15,560 and I thought, well, there are some there's some overlap. 18 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:20,200 But I mean, is that hyperbole these days? I mean, 19 00:01:21,599 --> 00:01:26,719 I just I was so naive like neo Nazis. I 20 00:01:26,799 --> 00:01:30,319 used to think that mostly today's white supremacy groups, I 21 00:01:30,359 --> 00:01:34,040 don't know. They were a bunch of fringe organizations, bunch 22 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:37,560 of cranky, young white guys who were sitting around making 23 00:01:37,599 --> 00:01:40,319 a lot of noise because they were terrified at their 24 00:01:40,359 --> 00:01:44,560 impending irrelevance. Right, they were always going to be on 25 00:01:44,599 --> 00:01:49,480 the outside. But it wasn't the fifties and the sixties. 26 00:01:49,599 --> 00:01:52,920 They weren't walking around in white hoods and burning crosses 27 00:01:53,079 --> 00:01:56,400 and waving the Nazi flags. And then oh wait a minute, 28 00:01:56,519 --> 00:02:00,799 look there are marches, and what are they carrying. They've 29 00:02:00,799 --> 00:02:08,560 got Nazi flax. It's just crazy. They make me do it. 30 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:12,439 They make me say there is a rising tide. Or 31 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:15,319 maybe they've always been there, but now they just feel 32 00:02:15,639 --> 00:02:20,400 empowered to step out of the shadows the American Nazi. 33 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:25,039 Did you know that way back in nineteen thirty nine, 34 00:02:25,199 --> 00:02:29,879 a Nazi rally, I mean a Hitler Nazi rally, actually 35 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:35,520 took place in this country at Madison Square Garden and 36 00:02:35,599 --> 00:02:40,479 more than twenty thousand people attended. No kidding, This was 37 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:43,800 some history that I didn't know until just a few 38 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:48,919 years ago February twenty. At nineteen thirty nine, there was 39 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:54,520 a group called the German American bund Bund. They were 40 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:58,759 aligned with another organization called Friends of New Germany. And 41 00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:02,319 of course this was during the rise of Hitler and 42 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:06,840 an American Nazi organization was formed, and they organized and 43 00:03:06,879 --> 00:03:13,599 held this massive rally at Madison Square Garden. Obviously hugely controversial. 44 00:03:13,639 --> 00:03:16,680 There were real concerns about violence on that day. They 45 00:03:16,719 --> 00:03:23,000 had over seventeen hundred uniformed police officers, six hundred undercovered 46 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:27,520 detectives and cops not in uniforms scattered throughout and all 47 00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:31,439 around the facility. They had firefighters there in case there 48 00:03:31,439 --> 00:03:34,840 were riots and people started burning shit down. They had 49 00:03:34,919 --> 00:03:38,319 bomb squads on location. I mean, it's just crazy that 50 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:41,960 it happened in this country, but it did. Over one 51 00:03:42,039 --> 00:03:45,560 hundred thousand people stood outside as the rally took place. 52 00:03:45,639 --> 00:03:48,599 They were protesting the whole thing, and good for them. 53 00:03:48,639 --> 00:03:51,280 It gives you hope. Right one hundred thousand people in 54 00:03:51,319 --> 00:03:55,840 the streets outside Madison Square Garden. There's a feature on 55 00:03:55,919 --> 00:03:59,000 the whole thing that was produced by PBS. It's called 56 00:03:59,039 --> 00:04:02,000 a Night at the Garden and you can find it 57 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:05,639 on YouTube if you're curious, and it will chill the blood. 58 00:04:05,719 --> 00:04:08,879 So here we are nineteen thirty nine to two thy 59 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:13,520 twenty six, some thinking of last year when the Labor 60 00:04:13,599 --> 00:04:16,959 Department started to post a lot of these images and 61 00:04:17,079 --> 00:04:22,199 slogans that were eerily reminiscent of nineteen thirty's Germany with 62 00:04:22,279 --> 00:04:28,519 these really nationalistic headlines one Homeland, one People, one heritage, 63 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:34,160 Remember who you are, Americ And one of the slogans 64 00:04:34,319 --> 00:04:38,240 of Nazi Germany all those decades ago was one People, 65 00:04:38,319 --> 00:04:43,319 one Country, One leader. Hitler used it to rally the 66 00:04:43,439 --> 00:04:46,759 Nazi Party, and you can see this slogan posted or 67 00:04:46,839 --> 00:04:51,240 listed at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The two 68 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:55,839 messages not word for word, but Jesus, they sure are similar. 69 00:04:56,759 --> 00:05:01,240 Donald Trump rams up his desire to take over for Greenland, 70 00:05:01,519 --> 00:05:04,600 of all places. And so what happens next? The White 71 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:08,839 House shares this cartoon that shows two dog sleds at 72 00:05:08,839 --> 00:05:12,560 a crossroads. One path is leading toward the United States, 73 00:05:12,879 --> 00:05:16,240 the other is leading to Russia and China. And the 74 00:05:16,279 --> 00:05:22,279 caption of this cartoon was which way Greenland Man? Now, 75 00:05:22,319 --> 00:05:26,480 this was posted on the actual White House x accounts. 76 00:05:26,839 --> 00:05:29,480 So let's jump back to a book which was published 77 00:05:29,519 --> 00:05:34,560 in nineteen seventy eight, a book by William Gaily Simpson, 78 00:05:34,639 --> 00:05:39,920 who was a neo Nazi, defending Adolf Hitler. His book 79 00:05:40,079 --> 00:05:44,759 was titled which Way Western Man? Don't tell me that's 80 00:05:44,759 --> 00:05:49,920 a coincidence. The official Department of Homeland Security online accounts 81 00:05:49,959 --> 00:05:54,240 recruiting for Ice. They use the slogan We'll have our 82 00:05:54,439 --> 00:05:59,920 home again. This sounds awfully similar to a neo Natzi 83 00:06:00,319 --> 00:06:06,040 song called by God, We'll have our home Again. The 84 00:06:06,079 --> 00:06:09,560 Department of Labor, the Department of Homeland Security on the 85 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:14,800 White House continue to post these very imposing, hardcore nationalistic 86 00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:18,600 images and this is all messaging. Many of these things 87 00:06:18,639 --> 00:06:23,600 have Donald Trump looking stern. He's lit in very contrasty 88 00:06:23,839 --> 00:06:27,720 light and shadow, never smiling, never smiling. He's always hunched 89 00:06:27,759 --> 00:06:31,120 over and sticking his jaw out and squinting and trying 90 00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:34,920 to look like a badass. And it's very hitler esque. 91 00:06:35,319 --> 00:06:38,360 This is not an exaggeration. This is some hitler esque 92 00:06:38,519 --> 00:06:42,879 shit and it's all I do know. It's so nationalistic 93 00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:50,439 and warlike and overtly white. Slogans like never surrender, embrace Americanism, 94 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:57,000 patriots in control, Americanism will prevail. This reminds me of 95 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:02,079 that line from V four Vendee with Adam Suttler as 96 00:07:02,240 --> 00:07:06,759 the fascist leader, and the slogan for fascist England was 97 00:07:06,879 --> 00:07:14,920 England prevails. Trust the plan, Globalism has failed, recapture the dream, 98 00:07:15,519 --> 00:07:21,319 dominate the sea. One American heritage. I could go on 99 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:24,279 and on and on and Peppered in with all of 100 00:07:24,319 --> 00:07:29,839 these images are these Norman rockwell Ish depictions of a 101 00:07:29,959 --> 00:07:35,199 bunch of freaking white people. There is one, it's easily 102 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:40,439 findable online, and it's in front of a little country church. 103 00:07:40,439 --> 00:07:43,800 It's very nineteen fifties. There is a family of white 104 00:07:43,879 --> 00:07:47,800 people of every generation. They're at an outdoor picnic table. 105 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:51,040 There's turkey and drinks and desserts on the table. And 106 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:54,040 oh look, right next to a picnic basket is a 107 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:57,279 little white boy in a blue shirt. He is playing 108 00:07:57,319 --> 00:08:00,319 with his dog. There's a lovely young white couple in 109 00:08:00,399 --> 00:08:04,079 their twenties sticking their toes in the water. Behind them, 110 00:08:04,480 --> 00:08:09,680 more church going people enjoying a sunshine fellowship. Not one 111 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:17,000 person of color anywhere. This is not an accident. There's 112 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:20,839 another one, a very white family sitting in a church 113 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:24,879 pew a lah nineteen fifties with a caption a dream 114 00:08:25,279 --> 00:08:30,079 worth fighting for a pristine Caucasian face in front of 115 00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:34,519 even more churches, restoring the American dream. There's a guy 116 00:08:34,679 --> 00:08:38,320 standing in front of the Bay Bridge of San Francisco, 117 00:08:38,679 --> 00:08:47,480 Americans First, etc. Etc. Etc. National Security Advisor Stephen Miller, 118 00:08:47,519 --> 00:08:51,399 who I think is a vampire. He's just a ghoul. 119 00:08:51,559 --> 00:08:52,279 Speaker 6: This guy is. 120 00:08:53,240 --> 00:08:56,759 Speaker 5: I'm what redeeming quality does he have As you go 121 00:08:56,840 --> 00:08:59,679 back through the decades of his life, all he has 122 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:04,840 is racism, bile, hate, venom, and general awfulness. Well, a 123 00:09:04,879 --> 00:09:09,080 few years ago there was a series of leaked emails 124 00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:13,039 that he had sent to the conservative website bright Barts 125 00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:18,039 and an email after email he was sharing white supremacist 126 00:09:18,279 --> 00:09:23,360 literature links to white supremacist websites. At one point he 127 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:27,440 recommended a book called The Camp of the Saints, which 128 00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:31,720 told a fictitious story about white replacement theory. This whole 129 00:09:31,759 --> 00:09:34,799 idea that immigrants are coming in and the deep state 130 00:09:34,840 --> 00:09:37,559 and the woke libs want to wipe out white people. 131 00:09:37,639 --> 00:09:42,879 It's a big conspiracy. The antagonist in that story, The 132 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:46,720 Camp of the Saints, was an Indian born man referred 133 00:09:46,759 --> 00:09:53,120 to as the turd Eater because he literally ate human feces. 134 00:09:53,559 --> 00:09:57,759 This was the bad guy in the story. Stephen Miller 135 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:02,279 often shared in these emails. Thanks to something called American Renaissance, 136 00:10:02,360 --> 00:10:07,480 this is a white supremacist publication. After white nationalist Dylan 137 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:12,399 Rufe murdered nine black churchgoers in Charleston in twenty fifteen. 138 00:10:12,759 --> 00:10:15,960 What was Stephen Miller upset about. He was mad that 139 00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:22,200 Confederate flags were being removed from public spaces. Stephen like 140 00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:26,480 to refer to President Calvin Coolidge, who signed the Immigration 141 00:10:26,679 --> 00:10:31,279 Act of nineteen twenty four. This legislation was based on eugenics, 142 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:35,440 its severely limited immigration from certain parts of the world 143 00:10:35,639 --> 00:10:41,639 into the US. Coolidge condemned the mixing of races. Stephen 144 00:10:41,759 --> 00:10:45,759 Miller invoked Coolidge, the same man who said these words, 145 00:10:45,840 --> 00:10:50,200 biological laws tell us that certain divergent people will not 146 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:54,759 mix or blend quality of mind and bodies. Suggest that 147 00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:58,679 observance of ethnic law is as great a necessity to 148 00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:03,799 a nation as immigration law. How many people did Stephen 149 00:11:03,879 --> 00:11:08,879 Miller stay in contact with who were white supremacists? Richard Spencer, right, 150 00:11:09,320 --> 00:11:13,399 arguably the most notorious racist in this country. You know, 151 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:16,519 he's the guy remember the video where somebody just sucker 152 00:11:16,559 --> 00:11:19,159 punched him out of the blue and everybody was cheering, oh, 153 00:11:19,159 --> 00:11:21,720 go punch a Nazi kind of thing. Well, he was 154 00:11:21,759 --> 00:11:25,879 associated with Miller anyway, you get it. And then I 155 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:28,080 have to go back and talk about Donald Trump and 156 00:11:28,159 --> 00:11:31,120 the Trump family. This was back in the nineteen seventies. 157 00:11:31,159 --> 00:11:34,960 Trump and his real estate company, actually his father's real 158 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:38,759 estate company, were sued by the Department of Justice back 159 00:11:38,799 --> 00:11:43,399 when it actually was a Department of Justice. The accusation 160 00:11:43,759 --> 00:11:50,200 was that they were not leasing properties to African American renters. Now, 161 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:54,440 the Trump family never admitted any wrongdoing, but that Trump 162 00:11:54,559 --> 00:11:58,639 settled this suit. Still, there were several people who said 163 00:11:58,679 --> 00:12:02,600 that they were qualified, they applied, and yet Donald Trump 164 00:12:02,759 --> 00:12:06,639 Senior said, hell, no, I ain't gonna rent my property 165 00:12:06,759 --> 00:12:12,799 to black people. Donald Trump himself talking about immigrants Mexico 166 00:12:12,960 --> 00:12:17,559 sending criminals. They're bringing drugs and crime. They're rapists, and 167 00:12:17,879 --> 00:12:22,159 I suppose some are good people. The Haitian immigrants, they're 168 00:12:22,159 --> 00:12:26,159 eating the dogs, they're eating the cats. What is this 169 00:12:26,879 --> 00:12:32,120 if not xenophobia and straight up white supremacy. The twenty 170 00:12:32,159 --> 00:12:36,600 seventeen white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, there was a 171 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:39,919 big blow up there, the marchers and the protesters. Of 172 00:12:40,120 --> 00:12:43,799 the marchers. Donald Trump he saw fit to call both 173 00:12:43,919 --> 00:12:48,080 sides very fine people, and on and on and on, 174 00:12:48,159 --> 00:12:50,960 and then I log on and I see an op 175 00:12:51,200 --> 00:12:55,200 ed published from February sixteenth in USA today. It's by 176 00:12:55,320 --> 00:13:00,960 Rex Hupkey. It's titled Wow Elon Musk zure does like 177 00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:04,440 white people. Well, I had to check that out. Let 178 00:13:04,519 --> 00:13:08,519 me just read the article for you. Elon Musk, the 179 00:13:08,559 --> 00:13:11,799 world's richest man and a guy whose social media platform 180 00:13:11,919 --> 00:13:16,320 most companies still use, is a big fan of white people. 181 00:13:16,879 --> 00:13:19,080 I mean, you could say he thinks white people are 182 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:24,799 super maybe even supreme. It's almost as if he supports 183 00:13:24,840 --> 00:13:30,960 some kind of white supremacy or something like that. Responding 184 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:34,639 to an ex user who posted the Irish will become 185 00:13:34,679 --> 00:13:38,519 a minority in Ireland because Irish men are afraid of 186 00:13:38,559 --> 00:13:41,639 being called racist and upsetting people from the Third World, 187 00:13:42,159 --> 00:13:47,879 Musk wrote on February eleventh, such men are pathetic traitors. 188 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:53,080 How subtle. On January the eighth, Musk reposted material from 189 00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:57,559 an obviously secure and well adjusted ex user who wrote, 190 00:13:57,639 --> 00:14:02,320 if white men become a minority, will be slaughtered. Remember 191 00:14:02,559 --> 00:14:06,360 if non whites openly hate white men while white men 192 00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:09,559 hold a collective majority, then they will be a thousand 193 00:14:09,600 --> 00:14:13,200 times more hostile and cruel when they are a majority 194 00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:17,639 over white's. White solidarity is the only way to survive. 195 00:14:18,679 --> 00:14:24,360 Musk added a one hundred noting complete agreement to his repost. 196 00:14:25,240 --> 00:14:28,279 Is worth noting the x user Musk deemed worthy of 197 00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:31,600 highlighting to his more than two hundred million followers, has 198 00:14:31,679 --> 00:14:36,600 posted racial slurs, anti semitic opinions, and this gem from 199 00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:41,679 February thirteenth quote, the white simp is to blame for 200 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:46,679 feminists and Jewish supremacy. White men, who are dominated by 201 00:14:46,759 --> 00:14:50,720 white women are the ultimate problem in the world. We 202 00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:54,519 must teach white men to control their women, and they 203 00:14:54,559 --> 00:14:58,720 will control the world. Good to know, the CEO of 204 00:14:58,799 --> 00:15:01,840 Tesla the number D one car for people who enjoy 205 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:06,080 driving in shame is reading only the purest forms of 206 00:15:06,200 --> 00:15:11,919 racist online commentary. Mosque owns x formerly Twitter, and has 207 00:15:12,039 --> 00:15:15,399 led it morph into the online equivalent of a circa 208 00:15:15,559 --> 00:15:20,320 nineteen forty one Nazi bar. While many have fled the site, 209 00:15:20,440 --> 00:15:24,759 corporations and news organizations, including my own, along with all 210 00:15:24,799 --> 00:15:29,039 manner of politicians and celebrities, continue to use a platform 211 00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:33,919 run by a man who was unapologetically promoting white supremacist 212 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:38,919 talking points. The Guardian analyzed Musk's ex post from the 213 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:42,080 first month of twenty twenty six and found the richest 214 00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:45,120 man in the world posted about how the white race 215 00:15:45,240 --> 00:15:49,440 was under threat, made allusions to race science, or promoted 216 00:15:49,559 --> 00:15:54,519 anti immigrant conspiracy content on twenty six out of thirty 217 00:15:54,639 --> 00:15:59,840 one days in January. The newspaper report added the Teslas 218 00:16:00,039 --> 00:16:04,519 CEO's most recent output displays a more consistent and explicit 219 00:16:04,720 --> 00:16:09,440 engagement with white supremacist content and nativist activists than in 220 00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:13,600 the past, however, lending them an impremature of the world's 221 00:16:13,679 --> 00:16:17,320 richest person and spreading their ideas to his audience of 222 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:22,080 over two hundred million followers. Heidi Byrick, co founder of 223 00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:25,879 the Global Project Against Extremism, told The Guardian, if you 224 00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:29,240 stripped Elon Musk's name off these things and showed them 225 00:16:29,279 --> 00:16:32,759 to me, I would think this was a white supremacist. 226 00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:37,799 My guess is that's because Musk is a white supremacist. 227 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:41,919 That's my opinion, of course, supported by facts I've already presented. 228 00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:46,759 Musk has consistently denied being racist, or anti Semitic or 229 00:16:46,919 --> 00:16:51,159 any of those white supremacist e things. But if there's 230 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:54,200 one thing I found about racists in my years on 231 00:16:54,240 --> 00:16:58,679 this planet, it's that they deny being racist despite saying 232 00:16:58,759 --> 00:17:02,519 a lot of racist things. They seem to think the 233 00:17:02,559 --> 00:17:04,920 words that fall out of their mouths make sense, and 234 00:17:04,960 --> 00:17:07,599 it's the fault of others if they take them the 235 00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:10,920 wrong way. The reason all this matters so much is 236 00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:15,160 we're not talking about some random garbage poster spewing hate 237 00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:19,480 from an anonymous social media account. We're talking again about 238 00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:23,119 the richest men in the world, a man who wields 239 00:17:23,200 --> 00:17:27,359 a massive megaphone and the power via money and ax 240 00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:32,839 to influence the ways people think and vote. On February fifteenth, 241 00:17:33,119 --> 00:17:38,160 Musk made a historically ludicrous cry for America to maintain 242 00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:43,680 some form of English Scott's Irish culture, which I assume 243 00:17:43,799 --> 00:17:47,960 is weird o code for white. For a country to survive, 244 00:17:48,079 --> 00:17:51,359 there has to be a common culture. Nobody dies to 245 00:17:51,440 --> 00:17:56,720 defend a multi cultural economic zone. Buddy, there are some 246 00:17:56,839 --> 00:18:00,839 military veterans who like to speak with you about that nonsense. 247 00:18:01,599 --> 00:18:06,880 And Princeton University historian Kevin Cruz responded to Musk's claim, 248 00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:11,279 writing on his Campaign Trails blog. There's an extensive literature 249 00:18:11,319 --> 00:18:14,440 that tracks the ways in which concepts of diversity have 250 00:18:14,519 --> 00:18:17,359 stood at the hearts of the United States of America 251 00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:21,519 from the founding. The founding generation believed in the ideal 252 00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:24,680 so much they put it on the Seal of the 253 00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:31,680 United States e plaribus unum, or out of many one. 254 00:18:31,720 --> 00:18:36,079 After all these years of watching movies with billionaire super villains, 255 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:39,599 we finally have one in the flesh. But far too 256 00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:42,799 many people continue to act like it's no big deal. 257 00:18:43,160 --> 00:18:46,240 Companies and people and every entity I can think of 258 00:18:46,400 --> 00:18:49,480 should have long ago dropped X like a bad habit 259 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:53,519 which it was. Promoting your product or your brands on 260 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:56,960 a site owned by a guy who thinks quote white 261 00:18:57,039 --> 00:19:02,759 solidarity is the only way to survive several steps beyond problematic. 262 00:19:03,519 --> 00:19:07,960 Musk's brand of white genocide conspiracy theory nonsense was once 263 00:19:08,039 --> 00:19:11,640 found only in the darkest corners of the Internet. Now 264 00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:14,960 he has mainstreamed it, and he's pulling people down a 265 00:19:15,079 --> 00:19:19,960 rabbit hole that can lead to horrifically bad places. I 266 00:19:20,079 --> 00:19:23,599 haven't posted on X for some time. My account there 267 00:19:23,720 --> 00:19:26,720 still exists, but only because I got locked out when 268 00:19:26,759 --> 00:19:29,000 I left, and I haven't been able to get back 269 00:19:29,039 --> 00:19:32,079 in to delete the whole thing. Let it rot. I 270 00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:35,559 say it's time to encourage Anny and all who still 271 00:19:35,680 --> 00:19:39,519 use that site to consider who and what they're tacitly supporting. 272 00:19:39,839 --> 00:19:43,640 It's a white guy who really thinks white people are 273 00:19:43,759 --> 00:19:50,839 great like to an increasingly uncomfortable degree, and that is 274 00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:53,720 the article posted just a few days ago in USA 275 00:19:53,839 --> 00:19:58,079 Today titled Wow, Elon Musk sure does like white people 276 00:19:58,599 --> 00:20:02,359 bio Rex hup I still have an ex account. I 277 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:06,400 go back and forth on it. It's a platform to 278 00:20:06,440 --> 00:20:10,920 get the word out, to post content. But Hupkey's right, 279 00:20:11,559 --> 00:20:16,240 the place is infected. What would you do? Would you 280 00:20:16,279 --> 00:20:19,079 go and dump the platform and move everything? I mean, 281 00:20:19,119 --> 00:20:22,880 I'm on Blue Sky, still on Facebook, but would you 282 00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:26,359 dump X Now that I read that, I feel a 283 00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:29,599 bit cold out. Maybe I should go and delete the 284 00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:34,599 account out right. Maybe I will, Maybe I will when 285 00:20:34,599 --> 00:20:36,880 I come back. I want to get more into the 286 00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:41,279 pulse of white supremacy, whether it's in this country or elsewhere. 287 00:20:41,359 --> 00:20:52,559 In the words of former white supremacists sang On, I 288 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:55,599 recently ran across a profile. It was kind of a 289 00:20:55,680 --> 00:20:59,799 video essay that was posted on Insider. This was almost 290 00:20:59,799 --> 00:21:04,799 a year ago, featuring a guy named Arnauld Mackaylis. Makaylis 291 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:09,359 was a hardcore racist, a white nationalist skinhead. He was 292 00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:13,480 lead singer of a neo Nazi metal band called Centurion, 293 00:21:13,680 --> 00:21:15,519 and he was a member of one of the most 294 00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:19,200 violent white supremacist gangs in the United States. It was 295 00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:23,359 called Hammer's skin Nation. This guy was a true believer. 296 00:21:23,519 --> 00:21:27,640 He spread Nazi ideology through his music, through recruitment, and 297 00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:31,599 he was engaged in street violence, but he found his 298 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:35,279 way out and now he's an anti hate activist. He's 299 00:21:35,279 --> 00:21:37,799 a speaker, he is an author, and he works with 300 00:21:38,079 --> 00:21:44,200 organizations like Parents for Peace trying to deradicalize extremists. If 301 00:21:44,240 --> 00:21:46,599 anybody's interested. The books that he's written are called My 302 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:50,799 Life After Hate and The Gift of Our Wounds. On 303 00:21:50,839 --> 00:21:54,599 the Insider profile, he explained some of what goes on 304 00:21:54,759 --> 00:21:59,640 under the skin of skin heads, starting with white replacement theory. 305 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,400 Speaker 3: The most damaging aspect of the neo Nazi ideology is 306 00:22:03,799 --> 00:22:07,720 definitely the fear anybody does look like you and doesn't 307 00:22:07,799 --> 00:22:10,599 think like you. They're not only an enemy, they're the 308 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:15,000 highest order of enemy. They're a race trader. So it's 309 00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:18,519 this experience of going through every waking moment of your 310 00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:22,200 day thinking that everyone else in the world is not 311 00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:25,839 only out to kill you personally, but ol to destroy 312 00:22:26,119 --> 00:22:29,880 everyone who looks like you. And it's a miserable way 313 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:32,200 to live that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. 314 00:22:32,599 --> 00:22:36,599 Speaker 5: Throughout high control cultures, we will often see the vulnerable 315 00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:39,960 and the marginalized targeted. We know the churches do this. 316 00:22:40,599 --> 00:22:42,519 It's kind of a different animal, but I mean often 317 00:22:42,559 --> 00:22:44,880 you'll find somebody at a low point in their life, 318 00:22:45,039 --> 00:22:47,880 or they're on the fringes, or they feel ostracized, and 319 00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:51,599 you give them a place to be. Long and Arnold 320 00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:57,880 Michaelis talked about recruitment tactics by white supremacist organizations in 321 00:22:57,920 --> 00:22:58,640 this way. 322 00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:05,240 Speaker 3: Recruiting a neo Nazi was two steps. Basically, the first 323 00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:09,319 step was to get this kid to identify as white. Typically, 324 00:23:09,480 --> 00:23:12,279 if I have an archetype called Joe pissed off white kid. 325 00:23:12,519 --> 00:23:15,119 If I'm talking to Joe pissed off white kid, the 326 00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:17,519 first thing I have to do is convince him that 327 00:23:17,599 --> 00:23:21,000 he's a white man and that's how he should identify himself. 328 00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:26,759 In the late eighties, most people racialized as white didn't 329 00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:30,960 identify themselves as white. If I asked Joe who he was, 330 00:23:31,799 --> 00:23:36,799 he would say, I'm American. My family's Catholic. You know, 331 00:23:36,920 --> 00:23:40,000 we're Democrats or Republicans, whatever. There's going to be all 332 00:23:40,039 --> 00:23:43,680 sorts of ways that they identify themselves other than racially. 333 00:23:44,359 --> 00:23:46,119 So I have to stop him in his tracks and 334 00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:48,920 be like, listen, white man, whether you like it or not. 335 00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:52,559 The enemies of our people identify you as white. You 336 00:23:52,599 --> 00:23:55,519 don't have a choice about that. And the white races 337 00:23:55,599 --> 00:23:59,119 under attack. If you don't join us and fight back, 338 00:23:59,319 --> 00:24:01,640 we're all going to be wiped out. I have to 339 00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:04,720 get that across to this kid, and he has to 340 00:24:04,759 --> 00:24:07,799 buy into it before I can proceed the step two, 341 00:24:08,319 --> 00:24:11,400 which is to make him feel persecuted because he's white. 342 00:24:11,839 --> 00:24:14,160 In the late eighties, it was much more difficult to 343 00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:17,000 do that than it is today. In the late eighties, 344 00:24:17,359 --> 00:24:22,200 we didn't have all this talk of white privilege and 345 00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:26,400 white fragility and open talk saying well, everything wrong with 346 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:29,640 the world is basically white people's fault. Back in the eighties, 347 00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:32,559 it was just much more amorphous for all human beings. 348 00:24:32,599 --> 00:24:35,039 We have all these different ways of identifying ourselves. It 349 00:24:35,079 --> 00:24:38,519 wasn't like codified in the racial groups like it is today. 350 00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:42,000 So I had to like concoct things about how white 351 00:24:42,039 --> 00:24:44,759 people are oppressed, and once I could get him to 352 00:24:44,759 --> 00:24:47,480 buy into that that he is white and he's oppressed 353 00:24:47,519 --> 00:24:50,960 because of it, now he's a white nationalist. Now he's 354 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:53,400 a neo Nazi. Now he's ready to come up to 355 00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:55,319 our drink and hal get drunk with us and get 356 00:24:55,359 --> 00:24:59,640 beat up. That was the recruitment process that we went 357 00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:03,720 through back in the day. If you're a teenager who 358 00:25:03,759 --> 00:25:06,680 has a history of trauma in your family, if you're 359 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:11,119 living in poverty, whatever you have going wrong, the more 360 00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:15,200 things wrong you have, the more opening there are for 361 00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:19,400 neo Nazi ideology to take hold. And so that was 362 00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:23,000 how we recruited these kids was we blamed all their 363 00:25:23,039 --> 00:25:26,759 problems on Jews, and then they said, if you join us, 364 00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:29,920 we're going to fight back against that, and we're going 365 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:32,480 to take our country back and take our lands back 366 00:25:32,519 --> 00:25:34,519 and every and you'll have all sorts of women crawling 367 00:25:34,559 --> 00:25:37,319 all over you. You'll be a white warrior. It'll be great. 368 00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:40,559 Speaker 5: Earlier, I read that article about Elon Musk and we 369 00:25:40,599 --> 00:25:43,880 talked about how AX has become kind of a Nazi 370 00:25:44,039 --> 00:25:48,519 bar well. Arnold Michaelis had some thoughts about the online 371 00:25:48,559 --> 00:25:52,920 space and how recruiters are using it. Probably most interestingly, 372 00:25:53,400 --> 00:25:55,160 what are some of the worst places. 373 00:25:55,599 --> 00:25:59,400 Speaker 3: There's no social media platform that is proof against hate 374 00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:02,720 happening on it, and obviously neo Nazi groups are well 375 00:26:02,759 --> 00:26:05,680 aware that the screen is an amazing tool for them 376 00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:08,680 to connect and to recruit. It's going to be have 377 00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:13,640 the potential to be extremely harmful and extremely toxic. Of 378 00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:19,400 the existing platforms today, of consequence, there's four chan, eight chan, 379 00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:22,759 There's all sorts of obscure things where people meet and 380 00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:26,599 have these kinds of discussions and these ideologies propagate. But 381 00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:30,920 of the big ones, I think X is obviously first 382 00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:35,359 and foremost. It's a hotbed for people to be openly 383 00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:39,039 racist and openly hateful. I happen to think the most 384 00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:42,160 dangerous ones are the ones that are linked to video 385 00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:48,640 gaming discord, like actual platforms that are meant for gaming 386 00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:51,359 and like getting together, what Call of Duty map, where 387 00:26:51,359 --> 00:26:55,799 we're going to play. These are places where white nationalists, 388 00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:59,839 neo Nazis, and all sorts of other vound extremist ideologies 389 00:27:00,079 --> 00:27:04,240 and propagate and recruit, and it's something that parents need 390 00:27:04,279 --> 00:27:07,720 to be very aware of. I'm a big fan of 391 00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:11,480 a man named Jonathan Hight who is kind of at 392 00:27:11,519 --> 00:27:15,599 the forefront of getting kids to get off of social 393 00:27:15,599 --> 00:27:18,400 media get back to the real world. And I think 394 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:22,720 that that's really the answer not only to diminish the 395 00:27:22,799 --> 00:27:25,839 power of neo Nazi groups, but to diminish the power 396 00:27:25,839 --> 00:27:29,119 of these screens entirely on the hold they have on 397 00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:30,400 us as human beings. 398 00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:34,079 Speaker 5: Now before the video games and the Discord crowd goes crazy, 399 00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:36,960 I think the intent of what he's saying. I'm not 400 00:27:37,079 --> 00:27:38,720 going to put words in his mouth, but I don't 401 00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:43,319 think he was saying the platforms themselves, like gaming platforms, Discord, etc. 402 00:27:43,799 --> 00:27:46,960 Are inherently racist. But I do think he was saying 403 00:27:47,039 --> 00:27:50,960 that these are safer spaces where they can maybe crawl around, 404 00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:54,400 and it's not quite as high profile as X and 405 00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:58,000 Facebook and threads and Bluesky, etc. And because many are 406 00:27:58,079 --> 00:28:01,640 more youth heavy than the market is a bit more 407 00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:06,519 focused in those zones. Anyway, back before CBS News was 408 00:28:06,640 --> 00:28:11,839 compromised by Barry Weiss and essentially Ramdit's head so far 409 00:28:12,039 --> 00:28:16,039 up Trump sass they could check for cavities, CBS actually 410 00:28:16,279 --> 00:28:20,799 had journalists doing their jobs. This was from several years 411 00:28:20,799 --> 00:28:25,079 ago on CBS News a segment called Hate Rising White 412 00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:27,599 Supremacy in America. 413 00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:30,039 Speaker 7: So it just arrived at the Southern Poverty Law Center. 414 00:28:30,079 --> 00:28:32,799 It's a group that monitors hate activity in the real 415 00:28:32,839 --> 00:28:34,880 world and now more and more online. 416 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:36,720 Speaker 4: In all the years that we've been tracking, we've never 417 00:28:36,759 --> 00:28:39,480 seen this many of these groups everywhere. We've never seen 418 00:28:39,519 --> 00:28:42,160 their ideas penetrating the mainstream in the way that they are. 419 00:28:42,400 --> 00:28:46,680 Speaker 7: Heidi Byrick is the director of the SPLC's intelligence project. 420 00:28:47,279 --> 00:28:50,200 CBS News is the first major network she allowed into 421 00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:54,039 their secure facility where they monitor hate group activities online. 422 00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:58,640 How worried should Americans be looking at this map of activity? 423 00:28:59,599 --> 00:29:02,119 Speaker 4: Well, I would say most Americans don't realize how much 424 00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:04,720 there is of this. There's more than nine hundred hate groups. 425 00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:08,680 Speaker 7: They define hate groups as organizations with beliefs that attack 426 00:29:08,759 --> 00:29:11,720 an entire people. Two thirds of the groups they are 427 00:29:11,759 --> 00:29:15,359 watching subscribe to ideals of white supremacy, and last week's 428 00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:18,839 rally in Charlottesville is considered the largest white supremacy march 429 00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:25,359 in decade. The idea that white America is discriminated against 430 00:29:25,559 --> 00:29:29,680 is growing. In fact, nearly seven in ten white American 431 00:29:29,720 --> 00:29:33,039 workers without a four year college degree or salary job, 432 00:29:33,359 --> 00:29:36,359 along with a majority of the public overall, believe the 433 00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:39,759 US is in danger of losing its culture and identity. 434 00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:44,799 Speaker 4: Anytime a country goes through demographic change, it's difficult. We 435 00:29:44,920 --> 00:29:47,960 had a hard time in this country digesting people that 436 00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:50,039 we now consider white, but we didn't back in the 437 00:29:50,119 --> 00:29:52,759 nineteen hundreds. It is entirely possible that that's what we 438 00:29:52,759 --> 00:29:57,000 could face here right, a full racist backlash in terms 439 00:29:57,000 --> 00:30:01,079 of policy and everything else against people color in this country. 440 00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:04,519 Speaker 7: Do you think we're going to see white nationalists openly 441 00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:06,640 running and potentially winning office. 442 00:30:07,119 --> 00:30:09,160 Speaker 4: Maybe I expect more of these people are going to 443 00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:12,720 pop up. They're interested in politics. They didn't care before. 444 00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:15,640 They thought Republicans were as bad as Democrats. Nobody wanted them, 445 00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:18,240 and they couldn't influence the political system. Now they don't 446 00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:19,279 feel that way. 447 00:30:19,319 --> 00:30:22,720 Speaker 5: Interesting to hear that conversation from a CBS News report 448 00:30:22,839 --> 00:30:27,359 from eight years ago. They're more interested in politics. They 449 00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:31,480 used to reject the Republican Party. Now they probably find 450 00:30:31,519 --> 00:30:34,920 it useful. At the very least. That's kind of chilling. 451 00:30:35,559 --> 00:30:38,680 You want to talk about how normalized white supremacy has 452 00:30:38,759 --> 00:30:42,839 become in Trump's America. There's a guy in Tennessee. His 453 00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:48,680 name is Eric Orwall, and he wants a white only community, 454 00:30:49,119 --> 00:30:54,400 like no non whites allowed an entire neighborhood. What This 455 00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:57,160 is part of the report that was filed in late 456 00:30:57,279 --> 00:30:59,960 last year on news Channel five. Check it out. 457 00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:02,960 Speaker 6: How do you describe yourself? Are you a white supremacist, 458 00:31:03,079 --> 00:31:06,599 white nationalists, neo Nazi, any of the above. 459 00:31:06,559 --> 00:31:10,599 Speaker 1: None of the above. I'm a white identitarian. I think 460 00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:14,720 that ethnic identity. Racial and ethnic identity is a big 461 00:31:14,759 --> 00:31:15,680 part of who you are. 462 00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:20,240 Speaker 6: Well portraying himself as someone mainly interested in preserving white heritage, 463 00:31:20,599 --> 00:31:24,079 Orwal has developed a closer relationship with the white nationalist 464 00:31:24,279 --> 00:31:27,480 Patriot Front, which wants to turn the US into it 465 00:31:27,640 --> 00:31:31,720 Ethno state for whites only. What is your relationship with 466 00:31:31,759 --> 00:31:32,799 the Patriot Front. 467 00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:38,599 Speaker 1: I believe that they are good faith actors. I think 468 00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:43,640 their ambitions for seeing political change are noble, even if 469 00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:49,039 I don't completely agree with their strategy or perhaps ultimate objective. 470 00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:52,640 Speaker 6: But photos posted by Patriot Front show Orwall was one 471 00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:55,920 of the speakers recently at the group's first national conference, 472 00:31:56,200 --> 00:32:00,359 alongside Neil Nazi Robert Rondo. This is Rondo at hecking 473 00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:03,519 a counter protester at a Trump rally in twenty seventeen, 474 00:32:03,960 --> 00:32:07,000 and here at the Patriot Front conference. That's Rondo on 475 00:32:07,079 --> 00:32:10,400 the left. To the right is or Wall giving the 476 00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:16,480 fist over hearts salute Life Victorie, the official salute of 477 00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:22,319 Patriot Front. You had a post on x on September fifteenth, 478 00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:25,559 that said, folks are willing to call for violence, but 479 00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:29,240 unwilling to join one of the few groups on our 480 00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:33,640 side that know how to organize and deploy men. Who 481 00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:35,880 is that group that you were referring to. 482 00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:39,200 Speaker 1: I was indirectly referring to Patriot Front. 483 00:32:39,279 --> 00:32:42,599 Speaker 6: As our news General five investigation has revealed a Patriot 484 00:32:42,599 --> 00:32:45,839 Front has built a compound in East Tennessee where it 485 00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:47,319 trains men to fight. 486 00:32:47,920 --> 00:32:50,200 Speaker 5: Okay, let's talk about some of these hate groups, and 487 00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:53,160 I'll get into Patriot Front specifically in just a second. 488 00:32:53,599 --> 00:32:56,519 According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, we are seeing 489 00:32:56,559 --> 00:32:59,720 a dip in membership and the actual groups. I think 490 00:32:59,759 --> 00:33:04,200 they listed fourteen hundred and thirty groups in twenty twenty three. 491 00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:07,240 There was about one hundred lesson twenty twenty four. Now. 492 00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:10,880 It is speculated one of the reasons for this is 493 00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:14,440 that white supremacists are seeing more and more of their 494 00:33:14,480 --> 00:33:18,480 own beliefs in the mainstream, so they don't necessarily feel 495 00:33:18,559 --> 00:33:21,160 the need to go out and join the Proud Boys, 496 00:33:21,559 --> 00:33:26,319 the Three per Centers, Patriot Front, etc. Because society in 497 00:33:26,599 --> 00:33:30,279 general validates them. They feel like, from the top down 498 00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:34,599 they are already part of a major white supremacist organization 499 00:33:35,440 --> 00:33:39,039 Patriot Front itself. This is of course a white nationalist 500 00:33:39,039 --> 00:33:43,400 and an overtly fascist organization. They are advocating for quote 501 00:33:43,759 --> 00:33:49,880 the preservation of white European culture, so immigrants bad, multiculturalism bad, 502 00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:54,920 diversity bad. These are existential threats to the United States. 503 00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:58,960 They're big proponents of the Great Replacement or white replacement 504 00:33:59,119 --> 00:34:03,039 conspiracy theory. The group is formed by a guy named 505 00:34:03,039 --> 00:34:06,960 Thomas Rousseau. This was right after Charlottesville, and they unite 506 00:34:07,079 --> 00:34:11,719 the right rally and these guys distribute literature, they hang banners. 507 00:34:12,039 --> 00:34:17,199 They commonly vandalize or deface public displays. They have marches, 508 00:34:17,239 --> 00:34:20,000 including what they call flash marches. They just show up 509 00:34:20,039 --> 00:34:23,920 quickly and they parade through streets with signs and banners 510 00:34:23,960 --> 00:34:27,400 and flags and chants and bullhorns, et cetera. At their 511 00:34:27,440 --> 00:34:31,519 first official protest in public September twenty seventeen, this happened 512 00:34:31,559 --> 00:34:35,119 in Houston, Texas. They brought banners that said things like 513 00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:40,639 for race and Nation, and they were chanting blood and soil. 514 00:34:41,239 --> 00:34:45,079 They use a lot of Americana type imagery. They've got 515 00:34:45,119 --> 00:34:48,480 the Betsy Ross flag. They've got red, white and blue 516 00:34:48,519 --> 00:34:52,480 in their logo. The whole idea is true. America is 517 00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:58,119 white America. What do we do with these people? Well, 518 00:34:58,199 --> 00:35:01,079 you've heard me mention on this broadcast, asked Dia Khan. 519 00:35:01,280 --> 00:35:05,119 She's a human rights activist and she produced and directed 520 00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:09,320 a documentary that won several Emmy Awards. It's an hour long. 521 00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:12,440 It used to be on Netflix, but regardless of where 522 00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:15,679 it is, find it, rent it, watch it. It's called 523 00:35:16,079 --> 00:35:22,000 White Rights. Da khn deeeya A. Six years ago, she 524 00:35:22,159 --> 00:35:26,440 screened her documentary at the United Nations and then afterwards 525 00:35:26,519 --> 00:35:30,280 she sat on stage with some interviewers and talked about 526 00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:34,559 her experience. I found one of her answers most interesting 527 00:35:34,719 --> 00:35:37,280 when she was dealing with the media and how the 528 00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:40,320 media has presented white supremacy. 529 00:35:40,519 --> 00:35:44,400 Speaker 8: The media's responsibility is so so severe in this. It 530 00:35:44,440 --> 00:35:46,760 doesn't matter if a young man has joined ISIS or 531 00:35:46,800 --> 00:35:49,519 has joined some sort of you know, neo Nazi organization. 532 00:35:50,239 --> 00:35:53,199 Part of the reason they're doing this is to be seen. 533 00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:56,159 It is to be I mean, I would say that 534 00:35:56,199 --> 00:35:59,760 the media ends up glamorizing them by showing how bad 535 00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:03,159 and tough and violent and horrific they are, because that 536 00:36:03,320 --> 00:36:07,280 speaks to there, that gives them the cover that covers 537 00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:09,639 up for the fact that he is insecure. It covers 538 00:36:09,719 --> 00:36:11,840 up for the fact that he is suffering or struggling, 539 00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:14,599 or in pain, or is broken in some way. What 540 00:36:14,719 --> 00:36:17,960 extremism provides for all these men, regardless of what type 541 00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:20,840 of movement that they subscribe to, is that it provides 542 00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:25,199 the perfect escape and the perfect facade for everything else 543 00:36:25,239 --> 00:36:27,760 that's wrong in their life. It's very easy to say 544 00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:30,519 that what's wrong in my life is the fault of 545 00:36:30,519 --> 00:36:34,000 someone Muslim or someone brown or black or Jewish, rather 546 00:36:34,039 --> 00:36:37,280 than self reflecting and looking at your own faults and 547 00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:41,039 your own brokenness. And so these movements are providing these 548 00:36:41,079 --> 00:36:43,800 incredible outlets for these young men, and then the media 549 00:36:44,280 --> 00:36:47,880 is completely and utterly feeding into what it is that 550 00:36:47,880 --> 00:36:51,079 they're so desperately craving and the reason for why they're 551 00:36:51,119 --> 00:36:54,159 doing it in the first place. Imagine being small and 552 00:36:54,280 --> 00:36:58,679 insignificant and powerless and invisible, somebody that nobody cares about, 553 00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:03,239 but then they care about once you do something absolutely monstrous. 554 00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:06,559 And again that goes back to that says something about 555 00:37:06,639 --> 00:37:09,599 us as a society more than it says about these 556 00:37:09,639 --> 00:37:10,079 young men. 557 00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:13,679 Speaker 5: I go back and forth on my own approach to 558 00:37:13,920 --> 00:37:18,719 white supremacists. The nerves are dead. My empathy well is dead. 559 00:37:19,199 --> 00:37:22,480 I have no more fucks to give. I have surrendered 560 00:37:22,519 --> 00:37:25,639 to that, and I will admit am I giving up 561 00:37:25,679 --> 00:37:29,039 on some people who might be reachable. I mean, we 562 00:37:29,119 --> 00:37:31,280 have to see it in this way. And this is 563 00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:35,639 not popular. This is not a popular opinion. But I 564 00:37:35,679 --> 00:37:37,840 think if you look at it with nuance, it does 565 00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:42,239 hold up. The people who are the victims of hate 566 00:37:42,320 --> 00:37:45,440 are victims of hate. I also think the people who 567 00:37:45,519 --> 00:37:50,760 are the perpetrators of hate are victims of hate. Now now, 568 00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:55,400 hang on, hang on, Let's talk about an Islamic extremist 569 00:37:56,039 --> 00:37:58,360 right the suicide bomber, the person who goes out and 570 00:37:58,440 --> 00:38:02,559 murders dozens of people. This is an agent of hate, 571 00:38:02,599 --> 00:38:08,000 a person who has surrendered to inhumanity and must be stopped, 572 00:38:08,039 --> 00:38:10,519 even crushed, at all costs for the safety of the 573 00:38:10,519 --> 00:38:13,280 rest of us. But if we look at the precursors, 574 00:38:13,599 --> 00:38:19,000 how did someone get there? They might have in other circumstances, 575 00:38:19,519 --> 00:38:21,840 had they been raised in an environment where they were 576 00:38:21,840 --> 00:38:25,440 taught to love people, where they were educated about the 577 00:38:25,559 --> 00:38:29,159 value of all life, where they were not indoctrinated with 578 00:38:29,320 --> 00:38:33,360 radical Islamist ideas. You know, cult thinking, if they had 579 00:38:33,360 --> 00:38:35,800 been introduced to the beauty of the rest of the world, 580 00:38:35,800 --> 00:38:39,360 to their fellow travelers on this planet, imagine what pro 581 00:38:39,559 --> 00:38:43,960 social things they might have accomplished. But instead, all of 582 00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:47,639 those energies and all of that focus got sort of 583 00:38:47,719 --> 00:38:51,639 boxed in and it got distorted, and then they were 584 00:38:51,760 --> 00:38:54,800 put on this path where they became the agents of 585 00:38:54,880 --> 00:38:57,960 destruction in this world. So not only were the lives 586 00:38:58,039 --> 00:39:00,079 lost to the people that they murdered, but there their 587 00:39:00,079 --> 00:39:03,599 own life, their own potential, is totally gone. And I 588 00:39:03,639 --> 00:39:08,119 think that's how Diacon sees white supremacist people who for 589 00:39:08,239 --> 00:39:14,400 a number of reasons, but obviously disenfranchisements, programming in group reinforcement, 590 00:39:14,559 --> 00:39:19,239 the hero narrative, fear insecurity, ignorance about everybody else, blah 591 00:39:19,320 --> 00:39:22,719 blah blah. All of these things create a perfect storm 592 00:39:23,159 --> 00:39:25,519 where someone then can go out. They have a sense 593 00:39:25,559 --> 00:39:28,599 of belonging, they have a sense of purpose. They get 594 00:39:28,639 --> 00:39:31,079 to be the heroes in their own story. And the 595 00:39:31,159 --> 00:39:34,280 more other people try to punch them or crush them, 596 00:39:34,360 --> 00:39:36,599 or throw bottles at them or call them every name 597 00:39:36,639 --> 00:39:39,840 in the book, the more they feel empowered that it's 598 00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:42,519 us versus them. Now, let me say it this way, 599 00:39:43,199 --> 00:39:45,760 like with Maga, I've come to the place in my 600 00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:48,480 life where my days of trying to reason with Maga, 601 00:39:49,280 --> 00:39:53,239 those days are over. Maybe a few years ago I 602 00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:58,079 had some something left in my empathy. Well maybe I thought, well, 603 00:39:58,199 --> 00:40:02,400 there's a chance I'm saying that they're not reachable. But 604 00:40:02,639 --> 00:40:04,960 I myself, I've just come to a point when I 605 00:40:05,039 --> 00:40:08,719 just can't do it. I've just my energies are going 606 00:40:08,800 --> 00:40:11,159 to go elsewhere. I think we're gonna have to steamroll 607 00:40:11,280 --> 00:40:14,199 over or pass them to build the better world. It's 608 00:40:14,239 --> 00:40:17,599 been ten years of jaw dropping awfulness. You know what's 609 00:40:17,639 --> 00:40:19,480 it going to take. And I'll admit that I've come 610 00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:21,400 to that point. And I feel much the same way 611 00:40:21,559 --> 00:40:24,719 if there is a neo Nazi or someone. But then again, 612 00:40:24,760 --> 00:40:28,400 I also admire somebody who can go in and do 613 00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:34,800 what Diacon is doing, and she's doing it with some success. Okay, 614 00:40:35,679 --> 00:40:38,840 I got a hand it to her. Hats off, high five. 615 00:40:38,639 --> 00:40:42,320 I've got to give props where they are due, because wow. 616 00:40:42,840 --> 00:40:45,679 In fact, she told the audience at the un that 617 00:40:46,119 --> 00:40:50,760 after the documentary White Right was released, she got a 618 00:40:50,800 --> 00:40:55,280 call from a former white supremacist that she had interviewed 619 00:40:55,320 --> 00:40:56,159 only months before. 620 00:40:56,400 --> 00:40:58,280 Speaker 8: You know, the young man with the Swaska tattooed on 621 00:40:58,320 --> 00:41:01,400 his chest. Ken He called me a few months months 622 00:41:01,440 --> 00:41:05,880 after the film and said he's left. He's completely renounced 623 00:41:06,039 --> 00:41:08,039 every and that tattoo. He's now in the process of 624 00:41:08,039 --> 00:41:10,440 having it removed. And remember he said he's never going 625 00:41:10,480 --> 00:41:12,519 to break bread with a Jewish person. He's done that. 626 00:41:12,639 --> 00:41:17,119 He's joined an all black congregation. We've become very good friends. 627 00:41:17,159 --> 00:41:19,239 I'm going to see him soon, actually, I mean he 628 00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:22,719 left me a message last night, so I was terrified 629 00:41:22,719 --> 00:41:27,280 of him, you know, but that capacity existed within him, 630 00:41:27,480 --> 00:41:29,440 and he said, look, yeah, I just wanted to tell 631 00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:31,039 you thank you for not giving up on me, and 632 00:41:31,039 --> 00:41:32,679 thank you for being kind to me even when I 633 00:41:32,679 --> 00:41:35,880 didn't deserve it. That to him, was the starting point 634 00:41:35,920 --> 00:41:38,440 of it falling apart. And then other people, you know, 635 00:41:38,480 --> 00:41:41,679 this black congregation that he's joined. He went there and said, 636 00:41:41,719 --> 00:41:42,800 I used to be a part of the you know, 637 00:41:42,960 --> 00:41:45,360 I've been a part of the Ku Klux Klan. I 638 00:41:45,400 --> 00:41:47,159 am now a Nazi and I believe this and this 639 00:41:47,199 --> 00:41:49,960 and this, And apparently the people within the congregation came 640 00:41:50,039 --> 00:41:52,280 up to him and hugged him afterwards and said, look, 641 00:41:52,280 --> 00:41:55,079 we don't like what you stand for. We completely disagree 642 00:41:55,079 --> 00:41:56,679 with it, but it takes a lot of courage for 643 00:41:56,760 --> 00:41:58,800 somebody like you to stand here and say what you've said. 644 00:41:59,199 --> 00:42:01,159 And that was the last STU for him. Him being 645 00:42:01,199 --> 00:42:05,960 shown kindness and compassion and respect by people who he 646 00:42:06,119 --> 00:42:11,559 thinks are not even human, showing more humanity to him 647 00:42:11,679 --> 00:42:15,960 than he's worthy of. That made him start questioning, well, 648 00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:17,800 then what does that say about me? What kind of 649 00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:18,760 a human being am. 650 00:42:18,639 --> 00:42:22,519 Speaker 5: I agree or disagree? You got to hand it to 651 00:42:22,599 --> 00:42:27,800 diacon I mean, she's got to be frustrated and depressed 652 00:42:27,840 --> 00:42:31,480 and occasionally filled with rage, and yet she continues to 653 00:42:31,519 --> 00:42:34,320 put herself right there in the crossair. She walks into 654 00:42:34,400 --> 00:42:38,760 the lion's den, and her method is producing results. I 655 00:42:38,760 --> 00:42:40,880 don't know that I could do it, but I certainly 656 00:42:40,880 --> 00:42:45,119 do admire that she is doing it. We've talked so 657 00:42:45,280 --> 00:42:48,280 much about the problems. Let me leave you with just 658 00:42:48,360 --> 00:42:52,239 a sliver of hope, a tiny ray of light, as 659 00:42:52,280 --> 00:42:55,880 I share with you the story of an anti racist 660 00:42:55,960 --> 00:42:58,760 who is also out there spreading some love, a man 661 00:42:58,920 --> 00:43:05,039 named Darryl Davis, and I will tell you his story next. 662 00:43:09,400 --> 00:43:13,360 The Guardian did a profile on Daryl Davis. He is 663 00:43:13,559 --> 00:43:17,800 a musician who is out there engaging and helping to 664 00:43:18,039 --> 00:43:22,960 dprogram members of the gay Gay Gay Darryl Davis an 665 00:43:23,000 --> 00:43:27,360 African American man who is just His story just blows 666 00:43:27,440 --> 00:43:30,159 my mind. The Guardian wrote a profile on him a 667 00:43:30,199 --> 00:43:32,599 few years ago. Let me just read this because I 668 00:43:32,760 --> 00:43:35,920 like the way they framed his story In the first place, 669 00:43:35,960 --> 00:43:39,639 it says Daryl Davis is a musician, a pianist to 670 00:43:39,719 --> 00:43:42,800 be exact. He's jammed with the likes of Chuck Berry, 671 00:43:42,960 --> 00:43:47,440 Jerry Lee, Lewis, Bbee King and even Bill Clinton. Loyal 672 00:43:47,480 --> 00:43:51,039 to music but not too genre. He plays jazz, blues, 673 00:43:51,440 --> 00:43:55,800 rock and roll, country, boogie woogie, swing, big band, and beyond. 674 00:43:56,440 --> 00:43:59,920 No matter his musical style, Davis will play it because 675 00:44:00,320 --> 00:44:03,559 he believes that music, in all its variations, is a 676 00:44:03,599 --> 00:44:08,159 great equalizer. So when he entered the Silver Dollar Lounge 677 00:44:08,199 --> 00:44:11,840 in Frederick, Maryland for a country gig one Fateful Night 678 00:44:11,920 --> 00:44:15,920 in nineteen eighty three, being the only black man present 679 00:44:16,239 --> 00:44:19,039 did not perturb him at all. While this was not 680 00:44:19,199 --> 00:44:22,320 his first country gig at the Silver Dollar Lounge, it 681 00:44:22,440 --> 00:44:25,920 was his most significant. After he and his band finished 682 00:44:25,920 --> 00:44:29,199 their set, Davis was approached by a patron, who was 683 00:44:29,239 --> 00:44:33,519 around fifteen years his senior, not an unusual occurrence for 684 00:44:33,639 --> 00:44:38,400 a working musician. However, while praising Davis on his performance, 685 00:44:38,480 --> 00:44:41,400 the patron candidly noted that he had never seen a 686 00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:45,719 black man who could play like Jerry Lee Lewis. More 687 00:44:45,840 --> 00:44:49,800 curious than offended, Davis used this encounter as an opportunity 688 00:44:49,880 --> 00:44:53,760 for friendly discourse rather than outrage. I explained to this 689 00:44:53,880 --> 00:44:56,920 older white guy that Jerry Lee Lewis was influenced by 690 00:44:56,960 --> 00:45:00,480 the same black boogie woogie and blues piano player as 691 00:45:00,519 --> 00:45:03,719 I was, Davis says with a chuckle, he didn't believe me. 692 00:45:04,199 --> 00:45:06,480 Then I told him that Jerry Lewis is a good 693 00:45:06,519 --> 00:45:09,719 friend of mine, and well, he didn't believe that either, 694 00:45:09,880 --> 00:45:12,880 but he was fascinated. So he asked me to join 695 00:45:12,960 --> 00:45:15,760 him for a drink. He continues, So I don't drink, 696 00:45:15,800 --> 00:45:17,920 so I had a glass of cranberry juice, and then 697 00:45:18,159 --> 00:45:20,719 he took his glass and cheered me, and then he said, 698 00:45:20,760 --> 00:45:23,119 you know, this is the first time I ever sat 699 00:45:23,199 --> 00:45:27,039 down and had a drink with a black person. I 700 00:45:27,159 --> 00:45:30,079 was instantly curious, and I thought, what's going on here? 701 00:45:30,320 --> 00:45:33,400 So I asked him why he didn't answer it at first, 702 00:45:33,480 --> 00:45:36,400 but eventually admitted that he was a member of the 703 00:45:36,519 --> 00:45:41,360 Ku Klux Klan. This is a story that Davis shares 704 00:45:41,480 --> 00:45:45,880 on lecture stages and in classrooms, both nationally and globally. 705 00:45:46,079 --> 00:45:49,639 It's an important anecdote as it marks a catalytic moment 706 00:45:49,840 --> 00:45:54,679 in which Davis's trajectory pivoted from working musician to race 707 00:45:54,760 --> 00:45:59,639 relations crusader. What began as a hobby gradually transformed into 708 00:45:59,679 --> 00:46:04,199 a car. As his music career continued to flourish, Davis 709 00:46:04,239 --> 00:46:09,199 also became enmeshed in quite arguably the world's strangest side hustle, 710 00:46:09,760 --> 00:46:14,159 meeting with KKK members of various ranks and attending so 711 00:46:14,280 --> 00:46:19,039 called cross lighting rallies. Some of these klansmen became close 712 00:46:19,119 --> 00:46:24,039 friends of Davis's. The aforementioned Silver Dollar patron included their 713 00:46:24,119 --> 00:46:28,079 long conversations untangling a nod of hate that had coiled 714 00:46:28,079 --> 00:46:32,519 for decades. In many cases, these civil dialogues led them 715 00:46:32,559 --> 00:46:36,719 to quitting the organization because they no longer believed in 716 00:46:36,760 --> 00:46:40,920 its tenets. While some say Davis converted these men, he 717 00:46:41,039 --> 00:46:44,159 prefers to say that they converted themselves and that he 718 00:46:44,239 --> 00:46:47,679 merely provided the impetus for them. To do so. Over 719 00:46:47,719 --> 00:46:51,239 the past thirty years, Davis has become well versed in 720 00:46:51,280 --> 00:46:55,679 the organization's ethos and hierarchy, which led him to becoming 721 00:46:55,719 --> 00:46:59,159 the first black man to write a book about the KKK, 722 00:46:59,559 --> 00:47:04,679 entitled Clandestine Relationships of black Man's Odyssey in the Ku 723 00:47:04,800 --> 00:47:08,719 Klux Klan, which was published in nineteen ninety eight. The 724 00:47:08,800 --> 00:47:12,519 Ku Klux Klan was formed in eighteen sixty five by 725 00:47:12,559 --> 00:47:15,239 a group of Confederate soldiers at the end of the 726 00:47:15,239 --> 00:47:18,280 American Civil War in an attempt to keep the newly 727 00:47:18,320 --> 00:47:24,800 emancipated slaves suppressed. Having seen several iterations, what remains consistent 728 00:47:24,920 --> 00:47:28,199 across all chapters of the group is its hate toward 729 00:47:28,280 --> 00:47:32,920 people of color, sometimes resulting in assault and murder. In 730 00:47:33,039 --> 00:47:37,480 twenty eighteen, one hundred fifty years later, a record high 731 00:47:37,559 --> 00:47:41,119 of more than one thousand hate groups, including the KKK, 732 00:47:41,400 --> 00:47:44,920 were documented as active in the United States by the 733 00:47:45,039 --> 00:47:49,480 Southern Poverty Law Center's Civil Rights Group. Davis said recently 734 00:47:49,559 --> 00:47:54,039 on the Joe Rogan podcast, our ideology needs to catch 735 00:47:54,119 --> 00:47:58,480 up to our technology. So why would a successful musician 736 00:47:58,679 --> 00:48:03,039 like Davis willingly meet with high ranking KKK members in 737 00:48:03,079 --> 00:48:07,239 his spare time. The journey to that answer begins long 738 00:48:07,320 --> 00:48:11,159 before his Silver Dollar Clan encounter in nineteen eighty three. 739 00:48:11,719 --> 00:48:16,000 Davis recalled with conviction. In nineteen sixty eight, when I 740 00:48:16,199 --> 00:48:19,159 was the age of ten, I had a racist incident. 741 00:48:19,840 --> 00:48:21,719 I was in the Cub Scouts and we were in 742 00:48:21,800 --> 00:48:25,559 a parade when people started throwing rocks and things at me. 743 00:48:26,239 --> 00:48:28,880 I didn't understand why people would do that, and I 744 00:48:29,000 --> 00:48:31,880 formed a question, how can you hate me when you 745 00:48:32,000 --> 00:48:35,760 don't even know me? The answer was always there's some 746 00:48:35,960 --> 00:48:39,760 people who were just like that. Davis ads, well, that 747 00:48:39,880 --> 00:48:43,440 wasn't good enough for me. What does just like that mean? 748 00:48:43,679 --> 00:48:46,800 Where does that come from? You're not born just like that? 749 00:48:47,559 --> 00:48:51,159 I was curious about racism ever since, but even still 750 00:48:51,239 --> 00:48:54,519 nobody can seem to answer the question. One of Davis's 751 00:48:54,559 --> 00:48:58,440 first and most fabled encounters was with the Grand Dragon 752 00:48:58,639 --> 00:49:02,159 Robert Kelly, who had been eventually became the Imperial Wizard 753 00:49:02,280 --> 00:49:06,440 of Maryland. After having his secretary set up a meeting 754 00:49:06,559 --> 00:49:09,119 with Kelly under the pretense of including him in a 755 00:49:09,159 --> 00:49:13,679 book about the KKK, Davis knew he was entering new territory. 756 00:49:14,280 --> 00:49:18,360 Kelly was unaware that Davis was black, so the grand 757 00:49:18,440 --> 00:49:22,800 reveal was a shock. After a few tense hours of conversation, 758 00:49:23,039 --> 00:49:28,039 the two parted ways, but their relationship did not end there. Eventually, 759 00:49:28,239 --> 00:49:31,719 Kelly began inviting Davis to his home and then to 760 00:49:31,960 --> 00:49:37,519 clan rallies, in which ritualistic chants were intoned, giant crosses 761 00:49:37,559 --> 00:49:42,000 were burned, and beer and hot dogs were served. Kelly 762 00:49:42,119 --> 00:49:46,679 shared everything with him, including the deeply racial stereotypes that 763 00:49:46,760 --> 00:49:50,400 helped form the foundation of the clan's hatred. All the 764 00:49:50,480 --> 00:49:54,880 while Davis listened, asked questions, took notes, and through his actions, 765 00:49:55,199 --> 00:50:00,880 slowly dispelled each stereotype one by one. With each other conversation, 766 00:50:01,119 --> 00:50:04,639 the gap between them narrowed and they were able to 767 00:50:04,679 --> 00:50:10,239 become friends. Finally, Kelly quit the clan, shut down his 768 00:50:10,519 --> 00:50:14,199 entire chapter, and as a trophy of sorts, gave his 769 00:50:14,400 --> 00:50:18,320 robe to Davis. That was not the last ku Klux 770 00:50:18,400 --> 00:50:21,639 Klan robe that Davis would be gifted, nor was it 771 00:50:21,679 --> 00:50:26,519 the last clansman he would befriend. I still perform sometimes, 772 00:50:26,559 --> 00:50:28,960 and though I would much rather be on stage playing 773 00:50:29,000 --> 00:50:32,079 happy music all the time and seeing people dance than 774 00:50:32,159 --> 00:50:36,440 be talking about the KKK and neo Nazis, Davis says, 775 00:50:36,679 --> 00:50:40,440 I found that lecturing and talking and educating people is 776 00:50:40,480 --> 00:50:44,840 by far more important and necessary today. Davis has lived 777 00:50:44,880 --> 00:50:48,239 through several eras of hate, from the assassination of Martin 778 00:50:48,320 --> 00:50:51,679 Luther King Junior in nineteen sixty eight to the Unite 779 00:50:51,800 --> 00:50:56,599 the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in twenty seventeen. Though 780 00:50:56,639 --> 00:51:01,360 he has convinced hundreds of white supremacists to radicalize and 781 00:51:01,480 --> 00:51:04,559 join the Land of the Loving, he does not deny 782 00:51:04,639 --> 00:51:09,320 that some are beyond saving. However, that acknowledgment does not 783 00:51:09,559 --> 00:51:12,880 deter his mission, as he continues to focus on those 784 00:51:12,920 --> 00:51:17,400 who are open to conversation, open to civil discourse, open 785 00:51:17,480 --> 00:51:23,239 to friendship, and ultimately open to change. Most recently, Davis 786 00:51:23,280 --> 00:51:28,360 partnered with minds dot com, an open source social networking 787 00:51:28,440 --> 00:51:33,440 platform that uses blockchain to reward the community with ERC 788 00:51:33,639 --> 00:51:38,039 twenty tokens. I'm guessing this is crypto. Davis hopes to 789 00:51:38,239 --> 00:51:42,800 utilize this platform, founded by Bill Ottman and John Otman, 790 00:51:42,960 --> 00:51:46,880 to educate people on how to conduct civil discourse beyond 791 00:51:46,880 --> 00:51:50,119 the world of white supremacy. The idea is to help 792 00:51:50,159 --> 00:51:55,920 individuals navigate through opposing perspectives, be it at a political protest, 793 00:51:56,000 --> 00:51:59,719 in a classroom, on social media, or at the dinner table. 794 00:52:00,119 --> 00:52:03,519 People must stop focusing on the symptoms of hate. That's 795 00:52:03,639 --> 00:52:07,280 like putting a band aid on cancer. Davis says, we've 796 00:52:07,280 --> 00:52:10,360 got to treat it down to the bone, which is ignorance. 797 00:52:10,639 --> 00:52:14,760 The cure for ignorance is education. You fix the ignorance. 798 00:52:14,800 --> 00:52:17,800 There's nothing to fear. If there's nothing to fear, there's 799 00:52:17,840 --> 00:52:21,920 nothing to hate. If there's nothing to hate, there's nothing 800 00:52:22,480 --> 00:52:27,920 or no one to destroy. Daryl Davis interesting guy. You 801 00:52:27,920 --> 00:52:31,119 know there's something about these conversations with people like him 802 00:52:31,159 --> 00:52:34,639 and Dacan and others. The love conquers hate. We have 803 00:52:34,719 --> 00:52:39,000 to de escalate, go and engage, rehumanize, try to break through. 804 00:52:39,079 --> 00:52:42,039 I think these are meritorious ideas. I think these are 805 00:52:42,079 --> 00:52:46,239 worthy conversations and approaches, But there's an element that I 806 00:52:46,400 --> 00:52:49,440 find is missing when I hear many of these people 807 00:52:49,519 --> 00:52:54,159 talk about how hate is taught. Right, you don't grow 808 00:52:54,280 --> 00:52:57,559 up hating people. You have to be taught or trained 809 00:52:57,639 --> 00:53:01,519 to hate people. And I'm not convinced that is accurate, 810 00:53:01,639 --> 00:53:04,800 or at least it's not complete, because it ignores the 811 00:53:04,960 --> 00:53:10,119 tribalistic tendencies that primates have. And we are animals. We 812 00:53:10,199 --> 00:53:14,800 are primates, and so you know we see throughout nature 813 00:53:15,000 --> 00:53:19,800 in grouping and out grouping, based on any number of factors, 814 00:53:20,119 --> 00:53:23,559 we are much more inclined to favor kin those who 815 00:53:23,639 --> 00:53:27,199 look and sound like us, those who validate us, those 816 00:53:27,239 --> 00:53:31,440 who are or appear more closely related to us, And 817 00:53:31,480 --> 00:53:34,679 then we start to build walls to divide us and 818 00:53:34,880 --> 00:53:39,159 them in grouping, out grouping, tribalism. This is a big 819 00:53:39,159 --> 00:53:42,480 part of the conversation that I wish was dealt with more, 820 00:53:42,559 --> 00:53:46,320 because once we understand how it has worked in our 821 00:53:46,400 --> 00:53:49,079 evolutionary past and how we've dragged a lot of this 822 00:53:49,199 --> 00:53:52,519 into our present, I think we can overcome it and 823 00:53:52,880 --> 00:53:56,599 better educate ourselves. You know, Darryl Davis is right right, 824 00:53:56,880 --> 00:53:58,800 You've got to get rid of the ignorance, and with 825 00:53:58,960 --> 00:54:01,599 that you can then get rid of all the baggage 826 00:54:02,000 --> 00:54:05,199 that comes with it. But in any case, I'm so 827 00:54:05,360 --> 00:54:09,440 thankful for the agents of kindness and humanity and humanism 828 00:54:09,679 --> 00:54:12,159 out there, Darryl and Dia and so many other human 829 00:54:12,239 --> 00:54:14,960 rights activists, and I think people here in this community 830 00:54:14,960 --> 00:54:19,320 and beyond, we resist the hate. We hate the hates. 831 00:54:19,519 --> 00:54:21,519 We don't want to live in that world. We want 832 00:54:21,559 --> 00:54:25,320 to celebrate the diversity that makes us all unique, even 833 00:54:25,360 --> 00:54:29,159 as we share this planet as brothers and sisters. Thank 834 00:54:29,159 --> 00:54:32,440 you so much for listening to the broadcast today. Be 835 00:54:32,599 --> 00:54:34,519 safe out there, and I'll see you next time. 836 00:54:34,639 --> 00:54:38,159 Speaker 2: Follow The Thinking Atheist on Facebook and Twitter for a 837 00:54:38,199 --> 00:54:41,840 complete archive of podcasts and videos, products like mugs and 838 00:54:41,840 --> 00:54:45,519 t shirts featuring the Thinking Atheist logo, links to atheist 839 00:54:45,559 --> 00:54:49,239 pages and resources, and details on upcoming free thought events 840 00:54:49,239 --> 00:54:56,440 and conventions. Log onto our website, The Thinkingatheist dot com.