Conservative commentator Douglas Murray provided context for his performance during a recent appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, in which he excoriated the “just asking questions” approach so often on display on Rogan’s wildly popular podcast.
Last week, the British journalist called Rogan out directly for routinely platforming “fringe” commentators to speak about ongoing conflicts involving Israel and Ukraine. He took particular exception with his fellow guest, libertarian comedian Dave Smith, who frequently features on Fox News’ Gutfeld!
The resulting exchange, which lasted roughly 40 minutes, was one of the most contentious segments Rogan’s show has seen in a while. Murray, who has been vocal in his support for both Ukraine and Israel, repeatedly pressed Rogan on whether his guest list had featured both sides of the debate, and accused some of his guests of peddling conspiracies or amateur historical analysis.
Mediaite’s David Gilmour reported on the initial exchange:
He [Murray] then dragged in another Rogan guest: Darryl Cooper, who infamously labeled British WWII prime minister Winston Churchill “the chief villain of World War II” in a take that aired previously on Tucker Carlson’s podcast that he echoed on Rogan’s show.“It’s pretty hard to listen to somebody who says, ‘I don’t know what I’m talking about, but now I’m going to talk,’ or: ‘I don’t know about this,’ or: ‘I’m not capable of debating this historian, but I’m just going to
tell you what I think,’” he pressed as Rogan and fellow guest Dave Smith attempted to defend Cooper.Smith suggested that Cooper’s goal was to explain his view in long-form conversations rather than soundbites. But Murray wasn’t impressed.“But if you throw a lot of shit out there, there’s some point at which ‘I’m just raising questions’ is not a valid thing. You’re not raising questions. You’re not asking questions. You’re telling people something,” he said.“I’m not interested in the alternative views on this. And particularly when it’s a counter narrative that is wildly off,” Murray said.Addressing Rogan, he added: “Look, I just feel we should get it out straight-away. I feel you’ve opened the door to quite a lot of people who’ve now got a big platform who have been throwing out counter historical stuff of a very dangerous kind.”
This week, Murray appeared on the British UnHerd podcast and provided insight into what he was talking about.
“Joe’s a friend, and I was trying to be gentle with him about what I regard as being a dangerous tilt that he and some other podcasters are encouraging,” he told host Freddie Sayers. “What I really maybe should have said then, can now, is that everybody recognizes expertise in the areas they know about.”
“For instance, if you had gone on Joe Rogan and… sort of
“Okay, that’s the same with lots of other things,” he added. “I get very annoyed when I hear people who are in no way recognizably historians, in no recognizably expert in the subjects they talk about, regurgitating false versions of history that I saw debunked already in my life.”
“I mean, there’s an area of the American right which is at the moment simply reheating David Irving-ism,” he added. “Well, we saw that off 30 years ago. Everybody knew that there was a type of revisionist scholar who had a very specific game in mind, and I say it’s a game, a very dark game, the game that they engaged in and they’re engaged in again, is you minimize the sins of the Nazis, you minimize the crimes of Hitler. You maximize the criticisms of and the crimes
Murray appears to be taking a clear shot at Tucker Carlson in that last salvo, as he made a similar observation that drew wide criticism and garnered much craved attention.
Watch above via UnHerd.