Do you believe in free speech? Do you believe that people should be judged
by their character, not their skin color? Do you believe in freedom of religion? If you believe these things,
you’re probably not a progressive. You might think you’re a progressive.
I used to think I was. My show, “The Rubin Report” was originally
part of the progressive young Turks' network. Progressives struck me as liberals but louder. Progressives were the nice guys; they looked
out for the little guy; they cared about women and minorities; they embraced change. In short, who wouldn’t want to be a progressive? But over the last couple of years, the meaning
of the word “progressive” has changed. Progressives used to say,
“I may disagree with what you say, but I'll fight to the death for your right to say it.” Not anymore. Banning speakers whose opinions you don’t
agree with from college campuses – that’s not progressive. Prohibiting any words not approved of
as “politically correct” -- that’s not progressive. Putting “Trigger Warnings” on books, movies,
music, anything that might offend people – that’s not progressive, either. All of this has led me to be believe that
much of the Left is no longer progressive, but regressive. This is one of the reasons I’ve spent so
much time on my show talking about The Regressive Left. This regressive ideology doesn’t judge people
as individuals, but as a collective. If you’re black, or female, or Muslim,
or Hispanic, or a member of any other minority group, you’re judged differently than the
most evil of all things – a white, Christian male. The Regressive Left ranks minority groups
in a pecking order to compete in a kind of Oppression Olympics. Gold medal goes to the most offended. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream that his
children would be judged by their character and not their skin color was a liberal idea,
but these days, it’s not a progressive ideal. And what about religious freedom - the idea
that no one else can tell you what you have to believe? Surely progressives still support that basic right. Well, not so much. I’m a married gay man, so you might think
that I appreciate the government forcing a Christian baker or photographer or florist
to act against their religion in order to cater, photograph, or decorate my wedding. But you’d be wrong. A government that can force Christians
to violate their conscience can force me to violate mine. If a baker won’t bake you a cake, find another baker. Don’t demand that the state
tell him what to do with his private business. I’m pro-choice. But a government that can force a group of
Catholic nuns - literally called the Little Sisters of the Poor – to violate their faith
and pay for abortion-inducing birth control can force anyone to do anything. That’s not progressive; that’s regressive! Today's progressivism
has become a faux-moral movement hurling charges of racism, bigotry, xenophobia, homophobia, Islamophobia,
and a slew of other meaningless buzzwords at anyone they disagree with. The battle of ideas has been replaced
by a battle of feelings, and outrage has replaced honesty. Diversity reigns supreme,
as long as it’s not that pesky diversity of thought. This isn’t the recipe for a free society,
it’s a recipe for authoritarianism. For these reasons, I can no longer call myself
a progressive. I don’t really call myself a Democrat either. I’m a classical liberal, a free thinker,
and as much as I don’t like to admit it, defending my liberal values
has suddenly become a conservative position. So, if you think people should be able to
say what they think without being punished for it; that people should be judged by their
behavior, not their skin color; and that people should be able to live
the way that they want to live, without government interference, then there’s not much left on the Left for you. I’ll keep trying to explain that to progressives
until I’m totally left out. I’m Dave Rubin of The Rubin Report
for Prager University.
Dave didn't join the right with this video but he did list a few of the problems with the identity politics that are controlling the left.
He is so not the only person there. The liberal thought leaders supported Trumps bid for president in the beginning to get him on the republican ticket.
Before I click this link I'm just going to ask...
Does he mention the on air fight he had with Cenk Uygur over the Israeli occupation?
Because legit that's the real reason he left. He doesn't seem to like talking about that.
I remember when the Rubin Report first started, I was pretty excited to see it, and happy for Dave, since he'd pretty obviously been butting heads with the people at TYT for some time. As someone who butts heads against more traditional left wingers fairly often (and indeed, recently left a job due to exactly that), I was curious to see how he would handle the switch. TYT has many faults, but one area that they do a stunningly good job is absolutely nailing Republican/red tribe hypocrisy to the wall. In this way, they're similar to Jon Stewart: Ideologically biased, and admittedly so, but they use that as a strength.
Where they've always faultered, in my humble opinion of course, is in doing the same to Democratic hypocrisy and inanity. Anyone who watches the show knows that they will criticize various aspect of the left from time to time (for instance, Ana, a fairly orthodox progressive in most senses, has been critical of the concept of cultural appropriation a number of times). However, this is never done with the same vigour and passion, and to me, that's what's missing. So when I saw that Dave was spinning off to create a non partisan show, I was excited.There was potential here to create a highly critical, deeply incisive show that was able to criticize bad ideas, regardless of their origin.
Unfortunately, that's not what we got. The Rubin Report is a bland, miilquetoast show, that tows the middle of the line religiously. There's no challenging of beliefs going on, there's no hardline discussions about what the philosophical consequences are of certain positions, and there's no real attempt to challenge guests on their positions. In theory, the idea is to allow a platform for critical discussion, regardless of preconceived notions, biases or the percieved "political correctness" of the guests. In practice, it just becomes a platform for ideologues to spout their memes, unchallenged. So disappointing.
Especially ironic is his criticism of people on the left. Mostly, this takes the form of vague shadow boxing, dancing around some mysterious, unnamed boogey man. "Regressives judge people as collectives rather than individuals." Ironically, this statement is, itself, a judgement of individuals as a collective.
Of course, this is exactly what the right wing is interested in. By coming and saying "look, I thought I was a leftist, but now I see how evil and stupid those people are!" he increases his viewer capital by several orders of magnitude beyond what he could achieve if he had simply made a clone of the David Pakman show, or whatever.
I got banned from /r/anarchism because I said that punching Trump voters isn't a revolutionary act but just common violence. (I was called a "liberal" before I was banned, which is kind of funny.)
While I still consider myself a progressive, I also think the left also has some of the same issues that I see on the right, such as acting insular and opposing free speech, e.g., the_Donald banning people for dissenting views. They're BOTH regressive.
Loves Freedom. Hates the government telling people they should do things. Sounds like a libertarian :)
He doesn't like the idea of the government forcing companies to serve gays, but would he extend this argument to exclude women or blacks? He says that he is gay and married, but that wouldn't be legal if it was up to conservatives.
Maybe it's unfortunate that nuns have to pay for birth control, but when you couple health insurance with employment, it's the result. Why should an employer get to decide what kind of health care you are allowed? Does he think that you can tell your private insurance company that they are not allowed to supply birth control to others with money they've taken from you? (Or to fund any other health care decisions that you disagree with, for that matter).
If anything, his is an argument for a universal, single payer health care system. Except that would still be forcing people to pay for the health care choices of others.
The Right loves free speech and HATES outrage culture. That's why they never overreact when you criticize the police, the military, or Christianity. Don't kneel for the National Anthem? They are cool with it. Sing the National Anthem in Spanish? They don't care. Indian-American winning Miss America? Not an issue for them! The only crazy people you see overreacting to petty nonsense are Leftists! Right-wingers have no issue's with opposing views or criticism. Say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas"? Right-wingers just let that go and move on without making a scene.
What I don't get is the thought process behind "I hate the regressive left so I joined the right." I'm assuming that's what he did because he's in a PragerU video.
People like Dave Rubin aren't going to find the right or far right is anymore sympathetic to people with his views than the regressive left. Honestly, neither side of the political spectrum is particularly welcoming to "classical liberals" or liberals that hate what the regressive left stands for.