Truth requires free thinking, honest talk
If you don’t know what the Intellectual Dark Web is, you probably will soon.
In short, it is a group of free thinkers who are having conversations with each other in the form of podcasts. On its face it doesn’t seem so extraordinary, but it is.
Why?
Because they are having honest, thoughtful exchanges without restraint and outside the politically correct parameters that today confine most discussions, the theoretical “safe zones” in which no one is allowed to say anything that might offend.
As it happens, no matter how well thought out, disciplined and sound those conversations are, they routinely do offend.
The offended class is a growing demographic and they’ve taken aim at free speech. They’re usually found shouting down and assaulting invited speakers on college campuses, mobilizing advertising boycotts, attacking those they don’t agree with on social media, and even getting some people thrown off entire platforms like YouTube.
The victims of these progressive mobs are often some of the most intelligent and interesting people around. People like Jordan Peterson, Eric and Bret Weinstein, Sam Harris, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Douglas Murray, Christina Hoff Sommers, Steven Pinker, Ben Shapiro, Lindsay Shepherd and Owen Benjamin, to name just a handful.
They are professors, authors, artists, comedians, journalists, engineers and some are just regular folks. They discuss politics, science, history, nature, psychology and everything else. When their work takes them to culturally forbidden subject matter that touches on race, religion, gender or the like, you can bet that vigilant progressives are on top of it. Every cross section of modern liberalism comes with a slew of built-in reasons to be offended and they rarely disappoint.
The result is that people who dare to have differing opinions than the progressive directive of the day are fired, boycotted and blacklisted or worse.
Intellectually curious podcast hosts like Dave Rubin and Joe Rogan, who are excellent interviewers, subsequently brought these thinkers onto their shows and the world got to hear them speak. Real, intelligent, respectful conversations are captivating listeners and viewers who’ve been craving content that hasn’t been fed through a progressive filter.
As is routine these days, another person practicing free speech is cast adrift by the inflamed, politically correct masters-at-arms and washes up on the little online island that is occupied by Rubin, Rogan and the rest. They take him in.
Into the Intellectual Dark Web. Dave Rubin of “The Rubin Report” told the Herald that it really comes down to people talking and listening: “The one unifying factor that brings everyone in the IDW together is a genuine interest in having conversations that cross the divide, whether it be political, racial, or religious. We aren’t pretending to have all the answers, but we’re willing to engage with people who disagree with us and who might change our minds.”
A far cry from cable news punditry, members of the IDW aren’t there to toss bombs: “Perhaps most importantly though, we will do it civilly and without personal attacks,” said Rubin.
That aspect of the consortium is notable in that members come from disparate political backgrounds, bound not by ideology but instead by an unspoken compact in which they assent to engage in conversational deep dives.
It is important that we notice this confederation of talkers, because their relevance is growing. More and more, consumers of traditional media have lost faith in the once respectable, traditional outlets like CNN, and they are looking for the truth. They are finding it, or at least an honest attempt to obtain it, in the Intellectual Dark Web.
We should applaud this resurrection of the civil colloquy in our society and hope that it can simmer tensions and bridge divisions. People having discussions with each other should not be news, it should be the norm. We are not our best selves in 2018 and we should endeavor to be better, to talk to one another and to listen.