Dave Rubin on Neocons and Labeling People

TRANSCRIPT FROM THIS 'DIRECT MESSAGE' WITH DAVE RUBIN:

Published on Ora TV on November 4th 2015:

Joining me on the show this week is author, speaker, and Associate Director of the Henry Jackson Society, Douglas Murray. I've been familiar with Douglas' work for almost a year now -- his name kept popping up on my Twitter feed after the Charlie Hebdo shootings. Like last week's guest, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Douglas has been a relentless defender of free speech, even when it isn't popular to do so.Part of my awakening about the regressive left came around the time of Charlie Hebdo, when I saw more concern for political correctness than for the victims of the horrific attack. I was really impressed with Douglas' clean and clear explanation of why free speech must be protected at all costs, so that's one of the issues we are going to talk about.

This is where I should tell you Douglas Murray is a neocon. The word "Neocon" sounds kind of evil to me, sort of like Decepticon. And like Decepticons, Neocons are big on world domination. Or are they? That's why I wanted to have this discussion with Douglas. We get so lost in throwing around labels all the time that we hardly know what they mean anymore. As I understand it, a neocon is someone who wants to spread democracy through military intervention. And we all know how well that usually works out, right? This is generally thought of in an American lens, but is it the same for the British? Am I way off altogether? That's what we'll find out.

Some of you might be thinking: Dave, you've been labeling the regressive left for weeks now.How is that different than labeling someone a neocon? We had to identify what the regressives stand for so that we could also identify what we stand for. As I've said before, I felt this need to talk about the lunacy on the left because there weren't enough voices amplifying the battle of ideas that you guys all want to have. That's why you're here and that's what I'm going to continue to do.

So today, as I sit with someone firmly on the right- a scary neoconservative- let's all have a battle of ideas and actually listen to what he says, then formulate opinions on those ideas. Let's not do what the regressive left does, which is label someone and then prejudge everything they say based on that label. I think there will be agreement, disagreement and everything in between. It's our ability to have those honest conversations and know that people we disagree with can feel as just and as principled as we do. That's the spirit that I will continue to do this show in.

While I do want to continue having these types of conversations I also wanna assure you guys that we're gonna be widening the net around here as well. I wanna talk politics, science, culture and more. Of course, free speech and the battle of ideas will always be a mainstay but I don't want to become a one trick pony either. Next week I have two people who are putting many of the ideas we've been talking about into action: David Keyes and Faisal al Mutar from AdvancingHumanRights.org. They're using the tools of Democracy to help advance human rights in parts of the world where people are most affected by the ideas we've been talking about.

The point is I'm going to keep mixing it up.Keep letting me know what you think and who you want me to talk to. Most importantly, let's keep pushing the conversation forward so we can build bridges where others would just tear them down.