Konstantin Kisin

“The radical left is the home of the unhappy—and how best to create more miserable people than to break down the roots that give us security, stability and fulfilment?”

“I was obviously born Russian, but I had no control over that. However, when I got the freedom to choose my life, I gave my old life up for the West, which is the only real ‘privilege’ I truly have. It’s certainly the only one that matters. In doing so I’ve built a life for myself here that’s far better, much safer and more more rewarding than anything I could’ve had anywhere else.”

“Are they really trying to tell me to pack my things and fuck off back to Russia?From everything I am told, and everything I see on social media, I can only deduce that I would be better off elsewhere. Weirdly, none of the people who tell you how evil, bigoted, racist and sexist the West is ever move to any of the other ‘much better’ countries—but maybe they want me to?”

“My point is that the overwhelming majority of the things that are now described as ‘racism’, ‘xenophobia’ and ‘bigotry’ are simply a product of the fact that we now see everything through the prism of race. I was lucky to be denied the opportunity to do so.”

“Other than a handful of lunatics who advocate the idea of open borders, most of us understand that there is a sensible level of immigration which, when exceeded, becomes disruptive to existing communities. This, in turn, does everyone a disservice, including the immigrants themselves.”

“Perhaps most importantly of all, comedy is a by-product of the West and its virtues. Think about it: do you really think there’s much cutting-edge comedy going on in Afghanistan, China or Crimea? How about Venezuela, Libya or Kazakhstan? The answer is no. This is because comedy stems from freedom; it is representative of unfettered expression and open dialogue. To try and clip comedy’s wings is profoundly anti-Western—but then again, maybe that’s the whole point.”

“Just as journalists have turned into activists, so too have comedians. Not all, but a large number. They have morphed into representatives of a political agenda and they’ll censor anyone who doesn’t help them further it. They don’t want to criticise what you do or what you say or engage in debate; that would be a waste of time. They simply want to punish you, silence you and achieve their political goals by any means necessary.”

“If you’ve ever wondered why comedians—the very people who are supposed to push boundaries and challenge dogma—would embrace the cozy conformity of wokeness, then allow me to explain: it’s fundamentally about power. It’s not about making people laugh any more, it’s about securing the reins of cultural power, which to a large degree they have already done.”

“It was a complete overreaction and disconnected from reality, but that’s the norm.”

“Many comedians I’ve spoken to agree that this kind of entitled, moralistic response is more commonplace than ever before. Perhaps it’s related to what psychologists have identified as a general escalation of narcissistic behaviour. Or maybe it’s an inevitable by-product of social media, through which offence-seeking has turned into a kind of amateur sport.”

“But it’s not only comics who are self-censoring: increasing numbers of audience members are filing complaints against venues for allowing acts to ‘upset’ them. Years ago, such people would’ve been laughed out of town and told to grow up, but these days they’re taken seriously.”

“The big difference between those ‘alternative’ comedians and today’s activists is that the former actually pushed against the establishment. They challenged the formula and rewrote the rules, whereas modern-day wokeness is the establishment. It sets the rules and enforces the punishments. Every major comedy agent, TV commissioner and producer is looking for the next woke act, preferably one who ticks as many diversity boxes as possible. This isn’t a bottom-up revolution; it’s a totalitarian cult in which people with power tell everyone else what they can and can’t joke about.”

“The message I was given was clear: there is only one acceptable way of telling jokes and, if you don’t conform to it, then you should expect your career to die.It was all very, very Soviet.”

“George Carlin, probably the world’s greatest-ever comedian, once said that the comedian’s job is to find the line and then cross it.”

“The students had every right to set their own rules, but I had the right to say their rules were stupid and make fun of them.”

“Over the past century, socialism and/or communism has been attempted in more than two dozen places…None of them has succeeded.OK, some might have failed more spectacularly than other, but none of them has triumphed, at least not for more than a few months in the early stages. Why? Because, for all of capitalism’s flaws, radical socialism and communism—which are essentially two cheeks of the same arse—do not work in practice. They sound good and worthy, but they cannot withstand the ultimate stress-test of life.”

“In his best-selling book Love for Imperfect Things, Zen Buddhist teacher Haemin Sunim proves that things don’t need to be faultless in order for them to be good or adored. They can be cherished and retain their inherent value in spite of their failings, much like human beings themselves.”

“This chapter is a plea from the heart to journalists—please stop fucking with the media. It is not yours to co-opt or use to spread propaganda. You are merely stewards of the industry.”

“Ultimately, they know that for a stable society to exist, there must be a common language that everyone uses to communicate on the same basis of understanding. This is no good to radicals who thrive on conflict, because without societal infighting they cannot offer their agenda in the guise of a solution. This is why they stoke division through words and meaning.”

“If your goal is to force people to accept your unsubstantiated views you have to change the meaning of words. The purpose of newspeak is to create wrongthink.”