Denying The Holocaust Isn't A Nice Thing To Do

The internet has normalised lots of things. Video conferencing, reaction gifs, potentially fatal stupidity, but one under-appreciated contribution of the online world is debate.

It’s now perfectly normal for people from all walks of life, and all over the world, to weigh in on niche cultural and political matters. Sadly, some topics are more worthy than others. 

In my article, Damn Kanye, I Did Nazi That Coming, I asked whether it made sense to devote time to debating Kanye West’s antisemitic comments. I asked whether somebody who claims to “love Hitler” was likely to offer any meaningful insights. I asked whether the scores of podcast hosts who invited him onto their shows were more likely motivated by a thirst for views than a thirst for knowledge.

J found these questions were too middle-of-the-road.

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J:

This is a well-written piece, but it never fails to surprise me how incredibly middle of the road Medium is when it comes to anything remotely controversial.

Sure Kanye talking about Mr H is probably more controversial than most things but we’ve had weeks of both this and the Balenciaga scandal and I've seen virtually nothing on either, with the exception of one guy sweating profusely while he considered whether there might be anything to what Ye had said (who then deleted the entire article) and then Umair Haque on Balenciaga who said nothing more than that Balenciaga was being punished for punching down at the proletariat.

The point is here none of these issues are being examined, not even as social phenomenona, they are simply being managed. Indeed this entire article is about how to manage deviant speech. Maybe that's sensible, but it makes medium dazzlingly dull.

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Steve QJ:

“Maybe that's sensible, but it makes medium dazzlingly dull.”

Sorry I failed to impress you😄. I look forward to reading your original, incisive thoughts on the topic.

Although, given that you haven't written any, I'll ask your opinion here; what non-middle-of-the-road take were you hoping for regarding Kanye's comments? You'll note, I didn't even address them in the article. Because there's nothing interesting about them. He gets to "love Hitler" if he wants.

Kanye is an attention seeker who has figured out that he can say "shocking" things and the world will react. He thought, wrongly, that he was bulletproof while he did this. And so he kept doing it to prove some kind of point. Then he lost his Yeezy deal and got banned from Twitter.

So while it uses Kanye as a topical example, the article isn't really about him. It's about the fact that we're so easily sucked in by the spectacle of a celebrity saying or doing something stupid. And that the media is so driven by greed and clicks that it amplifies people who really don't deserve to be amplified.

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J:

When you say you look forward to reading my original, incisive thoughts on the topic, are you assuming I will have none or merely that I will get myself into knots trying to express those incisive thoughts?