domain:mattlakeman.org
Corvos
8m ago
I suppose as a measuring stick I should say I also had not heard of Kirk before his death, although I think I had heard of Turning Point.
eee
10m ago
Are Crowder, Shapiro, and even Kirk trying to change people's minds via debate at their events on college campuses? No, they are there to rile up lefty college students that have never in their life actually had their beliefs challenged and completely fail to defend them to clip farm. I think Destiny approached it more honestly and wanted more real engagement than they normally do, but I see this as very weak evidence of Destiny's persona and ethos.
If you had evidence of Destiny saying like we live in times that are too polarized and people should be more civil and settle things through calm debate and then tweeted like Destiny tweets you might have a point. However, I have not seen him talk like that and he established himself primarily from internet bloodsports debatebro culture. He's a pig that loves playing the mud. I've never seen him say you shouldn't play in the mud. You are right, he does ragebait a lot on twitter. What I'm not seeing is him making a big stink about how everyone needs to get along and sing kumbaya and then acting like he does on twitter. If someone presented themselves like Peter Boghosian--someone at least outwardly trying to have real conversations and have people question and validate their beliefs--and they acted like Destiny you would have a point. But Destiny doesn't present himself like that.
If you want to paint Destiny like you are it wouldn't even be hard, but you haven't even attempted to do it! He was a pretty niche figure and most mainstream people would not want to give him the light of day. The places he does get debates are places like Minds Fest and Better Discourse.
Here is how Minds Fest 2023 was billed:
“Minds is bringing people together IRL from across the social and political spectrum to facilitate real conversations, human connection and the evolution of ideas. MINDS: Festival of Ideas will feature prominent voices who will come together to have civil dialogue on the important topics of the day. The goal of the event is to create a space to engage honestly with others in open dialogue surrounding divisive ideas in hopes to bridge the current divide and create a path to a healthier discourse and reduce extremism.”
Here's someone describing Better Discourse:
The Better Discourse conference seeks to help create a space where important issues can be discussed, and common ground can be found.
Discourse between differing viewpoints is part of the American Way. Engaging honestly with others in open dialogue about the topics which divide us can help bridge the divide and create a path to a healthier country.
We’ll bring together great minds across the left-right spectrum and find common ground. Or not. Either way, this healthy discourse seems sorely needed and too often ignored.
Both of these basically sound like they espouse the kind of ideals that you are ascribing to Destiny and he's actually spoke at both of them. Did Destiny try to keep a high quality of discourse and decorum at either? Not really. He acted basically the same as he always does. Hell, basically heckled and disrupted a panel he wasn't even on. I'm sure if you want to you can find parts in these talks where he is behaving badly but I don't care to watch them again.
That he could not behave himself and he did not really try would be easy to spin as duplicitous or engaging is bad faith. Personally, I think the organizers invited him knowing exactly how he behaves and expected him to act that way given they invited him back the the next two years.
If you want to make this argument, make it! Instead you are just gesturing wildly at the form of an argument without ever producing one.
ArjinFerman
Tinfoil Gigachad
12m ago
We can talk about cooling the rhetoric once the 2026 elections happen.
Of all the things to say... I don't suppose it crossd their kind this incident might have a negative impact on the coming elections?
FCfromSSC
Nuclear levels of sour
20m ago
School shootings are not generally committed by ideological allies of the right, nor aimed specifically at leftists because they are leftists. This was not random badness striking a man down. The people saying get over it are the same people who convinced this person to kill.
IGI-111
God was a dream of good government.
20m ago
I gave you a bunch of public, conspicuous and escalating acts of political violence against specifically mere speech and you dismissed it out of hand.
It sounds like nothing short of people getting gunned down like it's the years of lead in very early memory, in your own country, would convince you that politics is dangerous.
The difference between mere public appearance and politics is that there are organized murderous groups that want you out of the picture. Not just nutters. But you conveniently just pack all these in the nutter bundle to avoid having to deal with the fact that there are perfectly sane murderous actors.
haroldbkny
30m ago
That's nice that you can admit that sort of thing. For what it's worth, every time I have to act pro trans against my will in small or large ways, I usually am surprised that it doesn't feel as bad or hurtful to me or my pride as much as I thought it would. At the very least I feel like it's definitely worth it in order to have a job.
it still leaves a ton of latitude for trans people to seek out their version of human flourishing as best they can
The pro trans argument regarding the small things usually comes to "if you don't do these things than you're denying that trans people are people". That's such a silly phrasing that they've chosen, and I'm always surprised that more conservatives don't call it out. Since when is it a given that getting to choose your own gender is a defining aspect of being a person?
Agree on the other points, but 10 million plus immigrants per year from the shittiest countries in the world can quickly and easily ruin your country.
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