Kanye’s problem isn’t mental health, it’s fascism
Singer and producer Kanye West’s descent from musical genius to fascist fanboy has hit new lows after a bizarre interview with far-right huckster and bullshit foghorn Alex Jones.
The musician appeared on Jones’ Infowars show for three hours on 1 December, and engaged in a vicious right-wing diatribe. Somehow, West managed to make a programme which is already a sump of racism and fascistic conspiracy theory even worse.
A love of Hitler
From behind a mask, West praised Adolf Hitler and attacked Jewish people to the point that even Jones, whose politics are hardly far from West’s, tried to dial back the tone.
At one point West even stated that there were “a lot of things that I love about Hitler”:
Alex Jones desperately tries to get Kanye West to clarify that he doesn't actually love Hitler … but nope.
Ye: "There's a lot of things that I love about Hitler. A lot of things." pic.twitter.com/QI87RNcx8A
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) December 1, 2022
West’s rant featured some bizarre claims. These included that Hitler invented both highways and microphones. Naturally, the singer offered no evidence to support these claims:
“Well, I see good things about Hitler also.” -Ye pic.twitter.com/BdUj7tQXlL
— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) December 1, 2022
Mental health?
As comedian Jolyon Rubenstein pointed out, we are far past the point where mental health issues can be used to cover for West:
I was a huge Kanye fan.
This isn’t a mental health issue.
This is a man with 30M followers telling them that Hitler should be admired.
This has to be a line in the sand and I hope that artists will come out and make clear to their fans that this is utterly disgusting. https://t.co/lx5xaOR8bY
— Jolyon Rubinstein (@JolyonRubs) December 2, 2022
And Rubenstein is absolutely correct. Anyone with a basic understanding of fascism can unpick West’s ramblings for what they are. But his vast platform, and his millions of fans and followers, may not have that capacity. And that is, among other things, a danger to Jewish people and the broader public.
The interview was so bizarre that it might be tempting to see Alex Jones as a moderate voice within it. But Jones is far from moderate – his politics are barely a hair’s breadth from those of West. On 13 October 2022, Jones was ordered to pay out $965m to the families of victims of the Sandy Hook school massacre. His claims included that the massacre was faked by the government and that the bereaved parents were ‘crisis actors’. Crisis actors are a commonly used trope by conspiracists like Jones. And, like West, Jones has a long history of antisemitic statements.
Elon Musk
On the other hand, struggling Twitter owner and self-appointed free speech warrior Elon Musk isn’t free from blame all this, either. Twitter appears to have suspended West’s account as of 2 December:
Kanye West’s Twitter account has been suspended
Elon Musk says it’s for incitement to violence pic.twitter.com/0PNBNeRzXV
— ScreenTime (@screentime) December 2, 2022
However, Musk, West, and Jones are bedfellows in their permissive attitudes to hate speech, albeit dressed up as a commitment to free speech – another common far-right trope.
As one Twitter user pointed out, Musk can backpedal all he wants, but the fact remains that he had long advocated to allow space online for rants just like West’s:
elon musk: twitter needs more free speech
[kanye west is online for 20 minutes]
elon musk: fuck. what the fuck
— slate (@PleaseBeGneiss) December 2, 2022
The ban came after West had posted an image of the Star of David merged with a swastika. The Guardian reported that after West’s ban, Musk said:
I tried my best. Despite that, he again violated our rule against incitement to violence. Account will be suspended.
Dark times
The likes of Musk, West, Jones, and even Donald Trump are part of the same reactionary milieu. They’re all super-rich right wing grifters who weaponise free speech to justify their need for power and attention. West’s obvious musical talents should not obscure what he is – a fascist. Nor should his clearly troubled mental health be used to explain away his affection for Hitler. It is, after all, perfectly possible to be mentally unwell and not a fascist, as millions of people demonstrate every day.
Featured image via Wikimedia Commons/Jamielandis101, cropped to 770 x 403, licenced under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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And…. did this make you feel better for expressing it, Joe?
Because, I don’t think anyone else really gives a shit.
America is FULL of fucking Nazis, from the “Prison Camp for Negros” current POTUS, “Hey, lets invade Libya for the oil and bring back slavery!” Clinton, and including pretty much the entire Repug Party, and a whopping chunk of the Public too.
Alex Jones is TOOOO easy to attack, it’s not impressive for a grown man to punch down on him. And FWIW, Jones is also one of the few Americans with media presence to WARN Americans about the problems of turning Ukraine into WW3.
His show also warned about the “Patriot Acts”, what the “OHS” would turn into, and probably a whole load of BS along the way. I only saw the clips forwarded by intelligent people, and if you pick and choose, even the Grundiag could seem reasonable.
As for those various mass murders, I remember them well. And there ARE serious questions that could be asked by proper journalists – if we or the US had any left. The “Manchester Bombing” definitely happened; the questions that SHOULD be asked is HOW did this Libyan get into the country, when he had previously been barred? What were the connections between him and the UK Intel Services? And a BIG red flag – WHY DID NO UK LAMESTREAM OUTLET POINT OUT THE BOMBING WAS CLEARLY INTENDED TO AFFECT THE GENERAL ELECTION IN FAVOUR OF THE TORIES “RULE OF LAW” POSITION?
And there are similar questions regarding many of the “Mass shootings” during Obama’s term. The “Boston Bombers” again – similar. MASSIVE questions about the role of the State in the attempted attack.
Lamestream corporate media knows well to leave well alone. Imagine a BBC documentary looking into whether May and her Home Sec not only knew beforehand, but HELPED THE MANCHESTER BOMBER ENTER THE COUNTRY AND COMMIT THE ATTACK. You cannot. It would never be made, unless somehow Corbyn could be blamed for it and anti-semitism at the same time.
It does not behoove the Canary to be mocking “Conspiracy theories”. Many of your readers come here BECAUSE you avoid the psyop manipulative BS of the lamestream corporate media.
All of you by now should KNOW conspiracies are happening all the time. You’ll have faced a few yourselves already.
Joe, until tonight and searching online for this clip, it was the only Alex Jones vid I’d seen in the past 10 years. Wierdo Xian paranoid rants are not my thing. You should watch this though, hold your nose about him, and recall this was BEFORE Russia’s “SME”. https://banned.video/watch?id=6202c654c6b28a071b6d6cc6
Now tell me this: Don’t you REALLY think the general Public SHOULD have been told about it? Of course you effing do! If you didn’t know before, it’s probably chilled your arse too.
This should have been HEADLINE lamestream news!!
Imagine a Cuban missile crisis, where the Soviet population is deliberately kept in the dark about the stakes, and what America was threatening, and only told “We have to defend Cuba no matter what!”. Would any of us be alive today now?
Do watch it, it’s just one vid. And then ponder – since when does the American State care so much about the “hurt feelings” of ANYONE?!?
They certainly don’t care about the hurt feelings and worse of their Vietnamese and Iraqi victims of US chemical and nuclear (Depleted uranium) wmd, do they?
I’d guess THOSE victims, and so many many others, would be pleased with a $1bn payout for “hurt feelings”.
Jones is a slimy, deceitful arsehole. In that how different is he to any mainstream media liar?
Weren’t the horrid, despicable Nazis, nevertheless, artistically and memorably innovative with their theatrically presented 1936 Olympic Games? Anyone of any appreciation of ‘art’ will be familiar with the fabulous photo and ciné creations photographer and filmmaker for the Nazis Leni Renfenstahl produced. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leni_Riefenstahl
Alright Joe, I actually watched the show two nights ago. Did you watch it yourself? It doesn’t sound like it.
Ye ALSO said “I love the Chinese Communist Party too, and I love Stalin! I love EVERONE!”.
Did you miss those bits?
PRETTY FUCKING IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND WHAT WAS HAPPENING.
Ever hear of the Heart Suttra, or the Rose Suttras? The aim is to find love within yourself for everyone. E.V.E.R.Y.O.N.E.!
He expressed love for the folk who just ripped him off TWO BILLION DOLLARS for a drunken tweet, that expressed aptly the state called Israel’s current trajectory.
Fuentes was the scary one there.
GTF off your high horse. I’ve never seen jack shit about this guy before, not my music, not my media. I don’t do “celeb” shit, as well as wierdo xian rantings.
But after watching ALL that – and it was hard at first – I’d fucking vote for Ye for POTUS over any of them except Bernie and the Greens.
Sure, I’d regret it probably, but I regret the existence of the USA in it’s entirety, anyway.
You’re a good chap Joe, and a good journalist. (I wouldn’t bother commenting otherwise). But you need to stop buying the lamestream line on so much. Be OUTSIDE the box. Question EVERTHING. Start from a clean slate, not what folk are being told to be angry about.
DID you watch it? (Shame you can’t answer directly, even by PM 🙁 )
Funniest damned thing I’ve seen in months.
And while you’re still pondering, add this to the list: Why is it so much attention is focussed upon THIS, and not the Ben-Gvir, Smotrich obscenity and the current massacres of Palestinians fighting against a Military Occpation?