Friday, April 18, 2025

The Comparative Value of Opinions

Over the past week, I've been listening to this Joe Rogan interview with Douglas Murray and Dave Smith, really an argument, I don't think "debate" is the right word, between Smith and Murray. Rogan barely participates. The two primarily argue about Ukraine and Gaza and about the relative legitimacy of various opinions on the topics. From the start, I knew Murray was in the right but that nearly everyone would come away from the interview believing Smith had won the argument, and that's exactly what happened.

Murray is pro-Israel and Smith is pro-Palestine. Murray champions the cause of Ukraine while Smith routinely argues that Ukraine deserves blame and Putin was unjustly provoked. Smith is a libertarian while Murray is more of an old school conservative. Murray also came on advocating traditional authority and angrily denouncing Rogan's tendency to platform only a specific group of voices. It was not a good strategy on Murray's part if his aim was to convert Rogan, Smith, or most of Rogan's listeners to his point of view, all of whom naturally resist the idea that formal education and field experience have any bearing on one's qualifications, which is of course why they voted for Trump, valuing instead charisma and relatability.

The crucial point Murray was trying to get across was proved again and again by Smith's own arguments, which is that it's almost impossible for someone like Smith to have a useful perspective because the bulk of the content he creates is reacting to points of interest rather than points of genuine importance. It's more interesting to find ways in which Putin might actually be in the right, it's more interesting to take the side of Palestinians, than to stay with the simple and plain reality that Putin invaded Ukraine and Hamas is a brutal, myopic regime with genocidal goals that stands in contrast to Israel, a country where Jews and Muslims coexist and people are actively engaged in trying to foster peace. It makes me wonder how much Russian influence is genuinely infecting U.S. media and how much of it is just the instinct of entertainers to swim against a current of content by figures like Murray, who stubbornly continue to believe proper perspective on international issues requires foreign travel and extensive education. It really is a stark example of the devaluing of education that so many people see Murray as the loser of this argument.

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