Former Antifa or Radical Left? I encountered a Stefan Molyneux caller today who was former Antifa.
As with most of my posts this is purely a product of inspiration. I listened to a Stefan Molyneux guest today that identified as a former radical left, anarcho-communist, marxist, occupy, and antifa member.
The speech is peaceful and discussion was deep at moments and was very peaceful and enlightening. It is good enough that I believe it warrants a post.
Former ‘Antifa’ Speaks Out - 1:21:07
I don't want to however, leave this post as just being a repost of this video. I want to add some material based upon what they discussed in this discussion. I will state that I think this is an interesting video and worth a listen.
Here is an internet archive on Marxism that the guest mentioned as being extensive:
Marxists Internet Archive
If you listen to the interview the guest "Steve" mentions the paths of research he went down on this website while he was still a member. He was not a short term member, he was a member for a substantial amount of time.
Parts of the discussion focus on his early childhood and family and I think that is more out of being thorough and to add more information to whether there may be something related to family, and other aspects. Stick with it, they get away from that particular topic eventually and it becomes quite interesting.
At this point I started wondering if perhaps there are other former Antifa members that have also spoken out...
Former ‘Antifa’ Speaks Out Against ‘Antifa’
by Keith Preston
The comment section of this article I linked as well as the story itself is enlightening and worth reading as well.
I also enjoy Stefan Molyneux and have not slowed down to listen to this one but will..
This one is really good as far as I am concerned. I don't generally repost videos I watched unless they offered something I considered different or important.
I truly appreciated this one especially since his guest went through a world that I have considered very alien for some time.
Yeah that was a really crazy ride for sure. Its scary how much of a cult it has become.
I am glad you shared the video, listening to it as I work today, so far it is one of the best.
Interesting, i didn't get a chance to watch the video yet, but read your article. It seems like Antifa members are really all over the place. I'm not sure if you saw but there are some that even joined the Kurds in Iraq and Syria to supposedly fight against Daesh.
Well in reality Antifa has been around at least since the 1980s, but that was in Germany. In fact the Germans passed a law banning masks at protests due to Antifa in the 1980s. I didn't know that until @thatgermandude told me about it a few months ago.
I have devoted many hours & years listening to Molyneux. I don't too much anymore, but on occasion I do. He is very insightful and intelligent. However I feel he has sold out many of his principles, if he truly had them.
I had what I thought was a great group of friends in a FDR meetup group. Soon after I started questioning Molyneux I was ostracized from the group. Another member who held a similar perspective left the group.
I was very sad about it. I was very surprised at how quickly the group's attitude towards us changed.
Not that I'm trying to persuade you of anything. Chris Stefanic of "Choice Conversations" has a 5 part series titled *The Fall of Stephan Molyneux" that critically analyzes the shift in his public persona. It started around the time he appealed to youtube to take down a video based on some rather flimsy justification (IMO). He flat out lied to Joe Rogan about why his wife no longer appears on the FDR shows.
Larken Rose recently lambasted Molyneux and called him a liar.
I have lost a lot of respect for him, but not all. I still strongly believe in his position that the root cause of violence in the world is primarily due to flawed parenting.
Molynuex taught me a lot about life and philosophy, and although I distrust his motives now still believe he has much to offer the world. One just needs to be careful and discerning of his "truth" now.
I will chk out the video and perhaps comment more after I do.
Always appreciate your articles and opinion dwinblood, thx for your efforts!
I never really got onto the Molyneux bandwagon. I have liked some of his videos, others I have not. This one was good because of who the guest was, and the conversation they had was interesting. I don't actually have time to watch a lot of videos I much prefer to read as videos take me way longer to consume than reading. Yet this one was a topic that caught my attention and it was interesting enough that I actually watched the entirety.
I can understand why you were so captivated / intrigued with this conversation. It was the type of insightful and balanced convo I found so compelling when Molyneux was more of a truth seeker than a biased manipulator, who often doesn't give callers the empathy and basic respect they deserve.
In part I believe this convo was more balanced and exploratory than many b/c the caller's intelligence was a better match to Molyneux's, and he presented himself without dramatic emotions and irrationality. The caller came off as very open and sincere, and clearly well thought out which seemed to disarm Molyneux's desire to "make an example" of him as well as trying to steer and focus the convo on the caller's childhood and failure of parenting. That was indeed explored but not dwelt upon to consume the entire scope of the convo. The flow of the convo seemed very natural and genuinely inquisitive by both people.
If I had one main take away it would be that Molynuex didn't seem to be pushing the convo to highlight his own perspective, rather he allowed the caller to go where he wanted while acknowledging and answering the questions put forth to him.
Lastly I really commend the caller for his reason for wanting to share his story, that it might help others who are seeking truth but finding little of it in their circle of people. It was geared towards helping others escape the matrix they find themselves in to a higher plane of truth in "the real word".
Exactly. I have a challenge listening to many Molyneux videos in their entirety. This particular one kept me captivated for its entirety and thus was why I thought it worth posting about it.
I do like Molyneux fine, he has his flaws just like was all do, but generally his longer videos do not keep me rapt and focused like this one did. I believe it largely was for the same reasons you so accurately described in your reply.
34:33 "verboten" :D
I don't like Molyneux. He comes across like Steve Jobs trying to be a psychotherapist in the first minutes. His smugness prevented me from watching the whole thing. I zapped through it a little though.
The guy he interviews seems pretty interesting. Bullying is a phenomenon that initially led me to the left as well. As much as I like competition , I feel like letting 7 years olds fight for the best grades is a little too much.
Intellectual discourse and learning in general has a competitive side on it's own. It does not need grading.
The intellectual class always forgets how much the stupid are bullied today. IQ and knowledge have become the most import personal attributes you can possess and people get shunned on a regular basis for their lack of intelligence and knowledge. It becomes really perverted when people are shamed for not knowing fake knowledge.
The dictatorship of the intellectuals is something that leads to the distortion of the left, the scientific society and even the IT-community.
That is what kept my attention.
Wasn't Molyneux caught posting fake comments and posting as a woman?
Why should I believe this person was actually an "antifa member"? Pretty sure antifa isn't a membership organization, and anyone that would call themselves that is definitely questionable.
I found other articles elsewhere that seem to be the same person. You can use whatever judgement you wish to use me posting this video and the other article, as well as the site to research marxism in detail was not an attempt to provide you with an appeal to authority. Make up your own mind.
I don't close my mind to listening to anyone. I think for myself, yet I also don't ignore people based upon the opinions of other people. That isn't thinking for myself. ;)
Molyneux is an interesting cat.
Its like the guy was born to be a podcaster, and all of his life just led up to this point from many directions.
Molyneux is a very good interviewer. He doesn't harangue his guests too much. But he does ask some deep questions.
However, he is a horrible person to debate with. Most actual philosophers don't even try anymore.
His views that he expresses in his shows have changed drastically from the beginning till now. He has also been accused of forming a cult... which is half true. Many of the stories are of the form that molyneux gave them the correct diagnosis and path. (Your mother is a narcissist, you have to go no contact.) But, when it worked for you, you tend to over proselytize it.
So, I haven't heard this video. I will go check it out.
This can happen to anyone that is considered intelligent. I've seen it first hand with family members of mine who had almost like cult followers. Sometimes being perceived as Intelligent causes certain people to let their guard down. It is much more comfortable to let someone else do the thinking on tricky topics for you, so they tend to gravitate to people like Molyneux.
The fact that they stop thinking for themselves is the real problem, and that's actually true of any CULT as well. ;)
I did a little bit of writing on this subject: https://steemit.com/politics/@jmillerworks/antifa-is-not-your-friend I started in college and dropped out right around occupy but I'd say I became disillusioned around g20 toronto.