Matt Walsh: Dishonest Media’s Obsession With Stoking Racial Division On Full Display

It's true that I don't think he's never claimed to be a uniter; being divisive and getting people fired up is a big part of what he does.

I think he says he put that in his bio because someone called him that. He gets called lots of names. Interesting he picked that one. Maybe he thought it was funny, but it seems like the sort of embrace that can always be downplayed as a joke while having some truth.

He seems to want to implement his religious beliefs in a way that even many other conservatives don't. I believe he wants to ban/criminalize pornography, for example, and Ben Shapiro doesn't even want to go that far. Walsh is now attacking Fox News for having internal policies which recognize trans employees. He's at war with lots of people and businesses. He wants to exile Republicans who disagreed with him about the gay marriage bill. He wants to execute people who assist with trans kids transitioning. He's noted that "separation of church and state" isn't in the Constitution.

Most of what I've seen from Matt Walsh relates to gender, sex, sexual orientation, trans issues, pornography, etc., but the racial resentment is there, too. I can't say if he wants to separate the races, but attacking multiculturalism and saying it's bad for America is often a softer way of saying that. Aside from saying multiculturalism is bad, he has questioned or mocked reports of White Nationalists who are Hispanic, which seems in line with those suggesting that's not possible and is part of some conspiracy. He has said the Great Replacement is a fact. He said the Black mermaid didn't make sense because a mermaid wouldn't have dark skin. He's lamented that people can't say the N word. He mirrors Tucker's language about Black on White crime. He seems overly concerned about birth rates. He uses the phrase "Western Civilization" a lot. He criticized Nikki Haley for taking down the Confederate Flag from the state capitol and seems very support of the Confederates.

He's gotten a lot of attention over the years with racially divisive commentary - even if other peoples' sex lives are his top concern.

 

To supplement what I said above, I know it's hard to truly know what's in peoples' hearts. That's why I try to reserve calling someone a White Nationalist unless they pretty much admit it (e.g. Richard Spencer). But I think Dave Chappelle's joke may fit here about people who use White Nationalist rhetoric and focus on White grievance politics while claiming not to support White Nationalism.

“The girl says "Oh uh-uh, wait a minute! Wait a minute! Just because I'm dressed this way does not make me a whore!" Which is true, Gentlemen, that is true. Just because they dress a certain way doesn't mean they are a certain way. Don't even forget it. But ladies, you must understand that is *** confusing. It just is. Now that would be like me, Dave Chappelle, the comedian, walking down the street in a cop uniform. Somebody might run up on me saying, "Oh, thank God. Officer, help us! Come on. They're over here. Help us!" "Oh-hoh! Just because I'm dressed this way does not make me a police officer!" See what I mean? All right, ladies, fine. You are not a whore. But you are wearing a whore's uniform.”

 

A whole lot to unpack here.

I think some of the stuff mentioned here is stupid, some of it is extreme, some of it is taken out of context, and some of it is just his opinion which shouldn't be considered outside the Overton Window. I'll try and quickly address each of these bit by bit.

1. I believe he wants to ban/criminalize pornography: I would say a reasonable policy opinion that I happen to disagree with. A good policy rationale can be made against pornography for the same reason as prostitution.

2. Walsh is now attacking Fox News for having internal policies which recognize trans employees: I think it's fair to suggest we're fighting a losing battle if the one conservative beacon left on cable news has company policies that contradict their rhetoric. It's not like he hates Fox News. He's just pointing out how that's a problem if the culture wars are a priority for them.

3. He wants to exile Republicans who disagreed with him about the gay marriage bill: Yeah, I think that's another one of those things that's tongue in cheek, but this one has a grain of truth to it. He doesn't believe that gay marriage should be legal, but he understands that he doesn't have the influence to actually exile any Republican who disagrees with him... so in a dry humorous sort of way, he'll make a declaration like this even though there's definitely a little resentment towards the conservatives who disagreed with him.

4. He wants to execute people who assist with trans kids transitioning: For purposes of clarification, he means people who assist in kids transitioning should get the death penalty, not that average citizens should go out and execute these people. And I think even that is too far, but I think that goes back to shifting what the boundaries for "normal" are. Such rhetoric taken in a vacuum is completely unhelpful, but taken as a counterweight knowing we'll never actually get to that point can have a positive effect. Basically if we have one side suggesting we strip kids from their parents who teach them "men are men" and "women are women" and the another who says people who castrate children should get the death penalty, hopefully the end result leaves us in a reasonable place in the middle despite both of those possibilities being terrible.

5. He's noted that "separation of church and state" isn't in the Constitution: I'm not sure if the Constitution actually uses the words "separation of church and state," but the Establishment Clause is in the Constitution, so this just implies an incorrect statement of law. Walsh is just wrong here.

6. Apart from his Twitter bio, I don't really see how he's attacked multiculturalism. To my knowledge, he believes in cultural assimilation and if minorities can be proud of their culture or defend their culture, Whites should be able to as well. Not like we should have a White History month or anything, just that you shouldn't hate yourself for being White. Too much of a culture clash can be a problem because it presents a country without an identity, particularly if those cultures are in direct contrast with one another regarding values. I think that's what he's getting at there.

7. he has questioned or mocked reports of White Nationalists who are Hispanic, which seems in line with those suggesting that's not possible and is part of some conspiracy: I think that's a common mistake on both sides of the aisle to be fair. A lot of people put Hispanics in almost this separate box from White or Black when that's not really true. That said, even actual racists probably make that mistake so at some point regarding that issue, perception is almost all that matters. If the White Nationalists don't think Hispanics are one of them, and are hostile towards Hispanics wouldn't that almost make it true?

8. He has said the Great Replacement is a fact: I've seen this thrown around a bunch and I think a couple things are being conflated:

• the notion that there's this broad conspiracy to basically end White people through demographic change
• the notion that Democrats are attempting to skew the demographics through policy including immigration policy in a manner that gives them a systemic advantage in elections.

I think Walsh believes the latter and the latter is unquestionably true.

9. He said the Black mermaid didn't make sense because a mermaid wouldn't have dark skin: I don't even know what to say to this. Just kind of a dumb comment. Unless they have some Nordic origins or something, it's a fantasy creature. It's not real. And I'm not a fan of the PC race-swapping stuff to prove some social justice point. This just really isn't a good argument against it to my knowledge.

10. He mirrors Tucker's language about Black on White crime: I'd need a more specific issue than that to really see the problem. I think Tucker goes too far as well sometimes, but I don't think he's a White Nationalist or White Supremacist either.

11. He seems overly concerned about birth rates: Again, don't really see what the problem is.

12. He uses the phrase "Western Civilization" a lot: Don't see the problem.

13. He criticized Nikki Haley for taking down the Confederate Flag from the state capitol: He's wrong on this, but I think it's within the Overton Window of reasonable opinion. This doesn't make him a bad person, I just think he's wrong on it and Haley is right.

14. He's gotten a lot of attention over the years with racially divisive commentary - even if other peoples' sex lives are his top concern: I would say culture wars are his top concern. And they matter. It's okay to have a niche.

 

So you think it's the equivalent of a false flag operation and the guy is really a lib or maybe a member of ANTIFA?

 

Speaking only for myself I didn't hear about it once on CNN or MSNBC nor did I read it about it the NY Times or the Washington Post. Wasn't even aware of the incident until I read this thread. That doesn't mean that the story may not have been buried some where in either paper but it certainly didn't receive much coverage. Same for the liberal/mainstream cable outlets. Certainly not wall to wall coverage.

 

That Chapelle bit is classic, but I really don't believe the evidence shows he is a White Nationalist or White Supremacist.

It shows that the meaning of "racism" has been bent to such a degree that things that merely disadvantage minorities are racist, but things that are explicitly written to disadvantage Whites is not. The obvious counter to that will be that "racism is racism" which is a sentiment shared by rational traditional conservatives and even old-school liberals... but it is ironically a sentiment that is also expressed by White Supremacists and Nationalists because it happens to give their pitch of White grievances more credibility or legitimacy.

But just because White Supremacists use a basic truth or standard as cover for themselves does not make that basic truth or standard untrue or unnecessary.

 

Thanks for your response. I think you do a good job of offering rebuttals to most of these in isolation.

To me, though, taken as a whole, they are very much in line with what I know about Christian Nationalists and White Nationalists. The focus on the role of God and religion. The focus on Western history and downplaying the bad parts. Strict gender and sex roles. Expectations of patriotic expression. White grievance and reverse-racism. Suggesting that societies are worse off unless they are more homogeneous. Making procreation a top priority in the West. Expanding capital crimes to be punishable by death. Downplaying the threat of racist extremist groups. These are all very common themes.

Part of the issue is that, as you say, he may be saying some things in jest or even offering opinions which go beyond what he really believes in an effort to shift the entire debate.That strategy can be used both as a sword and a shield because it allows someone to promote quite extremist positions while being able to fall back on the defense of merely pushing the envelope or using irony or using the other side's tactics against them. But then, it also makes it harder to know when someone is actually being serious.

 

Can you point to what media outlets had this wall to wall coverage?

 

And I get that, and I get why you made the Chapelle analogy, but one can have some common themes, or common trends in the same direction without the essential factors to being a White Nationalist or a White Supremacist.

For example, MLK had some things in common with the Black Panthers. Putting him in line with the Black Panthers would be completely missing the point about MLK. And I'm not putting Walsh anywhere close to MLK, I'm just using MLK as an analogy that's easily recognizable.

 

All fair points.

 

You take of the word of a self-professed Theocratic Fascist? Why?

 

I looked at CNN, NYT, WashPost and didn't see mention of her.

So the video was posted on Twitter and she got called all kinds of disgusting things.
The stories you've linked to appear to the be aftermath - that she had to go into hiding, her lawyer went public explaining that she had the receipts, etc. Those are in her defense, right?
Where's the media claiming she stole the bike, that she's a racist, etc?

 

It is all based on an individual’s interpretations of what their god wants. Folks struggling to connect the dots seem to go all in. The spiral is very evident with many over just a few years.

 

Ah, so all of the breathless, wall-to-wall coverage, all the accusations by the mainstream media have been scrubbed from the Internet and all we have is stories about her lawyer saying how she was wronged.
It's amazing.
Look,I have no doubt that she was called some inexcusable stuff. But even Fox, which loves to point out faults in mainstream media ... the best it could come up with was a civil rights attorney had a stupid, offensive tweet which he took down after he realized he was way wrong.

 

Selective outrage? I've heard that term before.

 

Matt Walsh:

https://www.mediamatters.org/matt-walsh/daily-wires-matt-walsh-diversity-anti-white-conspiracy

 

Said it in a previous post, I subscribe to both the Washington Post and New York Times and also watch MSNBC, CNN and occasionally the news on the broadcast networks and wasn't aware of the story until I read about in the original post in this thread. If you're talking about the so called liberal MSM, the coverage was not there.