Wednesday 23 November 2016

The Alt-Right Speech that Outraged CNN and the Rest of the Media



Richard Spencer is director of the National Policy Institute. A speech he gave at an alt-right conference in Washington over the weekend has created something of a tempest in the mainstream media–although it goes without saying that the mainstream media are more than a bit tempest-prone these days.
At any rate, the video above shows Spencer giving his speech in its entirety (that is assuming it doesn’t get removed from YouTube), while below are the first two paragraphs of a CNN report on that same speech:
Washington (CNN)The racism and anti-Semitism of the alt-right movement were on display Saturday in Washington when its members gathered to celebrate Donald Trump’s victory.
The president of the alt-right National Policy Institute Richard Spencer’s remarks were posted Sunday on YouTube by “Red Ice Radio,” which describes itself as “covering politics and social issues from a pro-European perspective.” The Atlantic magazine, which is recording footage of Spencer for a documentary they’re working on, also published a video of the same event showing audience members apparently giving the Nazi salute.
There was also an on-air discussion on CNN that raised a lot of angst–not so much for anything said by the speakers but for a subtitle that appeared at the bottom of the screen reading “Alt-Right Founder Questions if Jews are People.”
chyroncnn
In reality, the subhead, or chyron, as it’s called, is a bit misleading. What Spencer said was: “One wonders if these people are people at all, or instead soulless golem animated by some dark power to repeat whatever talking point John Oliver stated the night before.” If you watch the video, you will see that by “these people” he was actually referring to mainstream media pundits, strategists, and political consultants, not Jews (although, yes, the word “golem” pertains to a creature out of Jewish folklore).
Be that as it may, the chyron at the bottom of the screen opened CNN to a barrage of criticism–not because it was misleading, but because some people viewed it as a case of the network “aiding/abetting a new Nazi party,” as one overwrought Twitter user put it.
You can go here to view an RT report on the controversy, along with a sampling of the Twitter storm that accompanied it, although the article provides no link to the full speech–which is why I am posting this post, so that people can see it and judge for themselves.
CNN’s Jim Sciutto referred to Spencer’s speech as “hate-filled garbage.” Much of the rest of the media have also joined in the mudslinging, and according to a report here a Politico editor resigned after publishing Spencer’s home address and calling for people to take up “baseball bats.”
I must confess: prior to today I had never even heard of Richard Spencer, although I am certainly familiar with the work of Kevin MacDonald, who also was a speaker at the same event. If you are so inclined you can go here to access MacDonald’s presentation. While I agree with much of what he says, I take strong exception to his reference to Muslims as “not a high I.Q. group.” Comments like this are not only erroneous, they are also ill-advised as they lend fuel to critics’ charges that the Alt-Right is a “white supremacist” movement.
Christians and Muslims have a natural basis for affinity: we both revere Jesus and his mother Mary. This is in contrast to Jews, who disparage and denigrate Christ in their Talmud and who have endeavored to create secular societies while at the same time demeaning religious faith and promulgating the “hatred of whitey” that Spencer deplores in the video above. It would make abundant sense, then, for Christians and Muslims to unite, but I’m not sure the Alt-Right fully understands this.
Finally, I’ll close with this very interesting video I came across. The young man is quite a street preacher, as you’ll see. Watch as he fends off an attack from an enraged, Christ-hating Jewish woman with nothing more than his own grace and eloquence.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   
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