JonTron

I just think it’s funny that a couple of logical tweets have made me a 'conservative,' such a strong label. I don’t even know what it means to be conservative, or what a conservative is anymore. I feel like the meanings of these labels are changing. I certainly would never have called myself a conservative.

AlexJontron Jonathan "JonTron" Jafari is a popular YouTuber who reviews awful, old, or obscure video games and movies in a comedic manner. He was formerly the co-host of Game Grumps. Jafari's channel has 6.66 million subscribers and 1.17 billion views (as of 21 October 2021).

However, this is not why we are talking about him...

Here's the thing...
After the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Jafari became more vocal about his political views. Jafari has since expressed support of views consistent with white nationalists and the alt-right in a debate with Twitch.tv streamer Destiny. For obvious reasons, those living in the reality-based community didn't take too well to all that. This includes Playtonic Games, the developers known for being part of Rare's team that developed the games. Due to the controversy, Playtonic Games pulled JonTron's voice effects from.

Despite his vocal opinions outside the show, Jafari in the show surprisingly handles sensitive topics maturely while still being funny. In one notable video, "Disney Bootlegs", Jafari negatively reacts to a swastika and a blackface depiction while still executing a humorous and entertaining comedy routine. He has used "Nazi" as an insult and said that Adolf Hitler's death is the exception to the statement "the death of anyone is a sad occasion".

In stark contrast to how the issues are handled on the JonTron show, there is a problem with Jafari's real-life views — as expressed by himself outside the sketch comedy-type setting of the JonTron show.

Straight from the horse's mouth
In general, Jafari's responses to Destiny (the streamer, not the ) mainly consisted of laughter, moving the goalposts, and denial or willful ignorance in the face of well-established facts.

''Fact check: They're both right. Irish people were indeed historically persecuted in America due to being perceived as barbaric drunkards (and as Catholics, which was considered an "un-American" belief system at the time). However, they were still considered "whites" by law and custom (a foul group of whites, but still whites). For instance, they were allowed to go to "whites-only" schools in the South and were allowed to marry a white Anglo-Saxon when interracial marriage was against the law. It is also true that the Irish faced massive, systemic discrimination of another kind.''

Jafari repeatedly followed (almost word-for-word) the logic of the "white genocide" conspiracy theory.

''Fact check: False. Jafari's claim is flawed on multiple levels. First, a white person today cannot claim to be the descendant of any white person in history. A significant number of white people who currently live in the U.S. do not have ancestors who contributed to the formation of the U.S., and many of their ancestors still lived in Europe when the U.S. was formed. Second, Jafari incorrectly assumes that those who "built" the United States were exclusively white people, which falsely suggests that people of other races cannot claim to have ancestors who helped build the country. For example, his statement ignores the many important American structures built by enslaved black people. Third, people of mixed ancestry can have white ancestors, not just white people. Finally, Jafari contradicts his own point by being implicitly okay with the minority status of Native Americans in their native land.

''Note: Jafari's comment about Mexicans wanting to break parts of America off back into Mexico is referring to the, which the Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League have described as a myth and conspiracy theory. Jafari has also said that the Southern Poverty Law Center is "the worst" and sarcastically described them as "the most unbiased institution of all time". ''

''Fact check: This is false, chiefly for two reasons. First, Japanese liberals are evolving Japan's restrictive immigration and acculturation policies, albeit quietly. For one, in 2016, prime minister Shinzo Abe vowed to provide foreign workers with "the world’s fastest path to permanent residency in Japan". Second, claims to Japanese 'cultural homogeneity' are actually quite misleading. Massively simplified: both the current nature and international success of Japanese pop culture stand on two historical legs — forcible import of foreign culture (via U.S. influence post-WW2) followed by far-reaching export of remixed culture (ultimately via the Internet). The result of this globalized 'two-way cultural communication' is that even xenophobic Japan falls short of any disciplined standard of 'homogeneity', cultural or otherwise. A supposed rhetorical shift from 'cultural' to 'ethnic' homogeneity won't work either — and not merely because the very notion of 'ethnic purity' is inherently nonsensical — considering Japan has already accepted about 2.32 million immigrants, representing roughly 2% of Japanese citizens. And immigration aside — just consider the 'heterogeneity' already inherent to Japan. Perhaps most crucial of all: Japan isn't exactly a brilliant example to hold up in support of any thesis that "". In fact, as a consequence of its historically über-strict immigration policies, an unprecedented demographic crisis (read: acute lack of youths with elbow grease) now looms over Japan, leaving a massively increased influx of immigrants their best (and maybe only) option for safeguarding the very future of their country.

Jafari also defended "scientifically racist" views of society:

''Fact check: False. The crime rates are not consistent across Africa and vary significantly. For instance, 2017 Crime Index has South Africa rated at 75.72 (the 4th highest globally), whereas Ghana is rated at 46.99 (56th globally). South Africa has the most white people with 8.9% of the population of any African country, and white people are so rare in Ghana that many locals have never seen them in person before. For comparison, Norway, a developed nation with a non-white population of 2%, is rated 45.69 (61st globally). Tunisia scores even better at 40.94 (73rd globally). Any implication of racial predisposition to crime is not backed up by the data.

Jafari further echoed the logic of the Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white white supremacist mantra.

Jafari goes on, saying that all forms of discrimination are dead and gone in the Western world:

''Fact check: False. Jafari seems to be referring to legal discrimination, but his statement is still inaccurate. While the United States does have anti-discrimination acts, that does not mean that the country has "gotten rid of discrimination." This logic would be the same as saying that a country has gotten rid of murder because it is against the law. Additionally, there are still many ways a person can be legally discriminated against in the U.S. ''

Jafari later admitted that "discrimination certainly exists."

Response video
Jafari made a video responding to this ordeal titled "My Statement" now unlisted  in which he makes two fundamental assertions: [1] he's a lousy debater and was unprepared, so he misstated some of his beliefs, and [2] "the increasing tribalization of our culture" prevents "honest conversation about race". While it is possible that Jafari was consistently, accidentally racist for over an hour, it's also possible that he's just playing damage control. Despite this, Jafari never apologized for any of his remarks and only retracted his comment that "we've gotten rid of discrimination." Jafari briefly addressed his statements regarding the treatment of Irish immigrants in the United States, stating "...we as a country have had a terrible history of dealing with race … even the Irish". However, the vast majority of Jafari's explicitly racist comments made during the debate are only vaguely alluded to as "offhanded comments" and "stuff that could be misconstrued a lot of ways". Whether these are deliberate attempts to obfuscate his political beliefs or just poorly structured rambling, it is clear that Jafari's views had not meaningfully changed.

Additional quotes
27 January 2017 (stream with Sargon of Akkad) ''(Note: In October 2014, JonTron made several tweets about Gamergate, including: "I don't even know what GamerGate was ever about and it needs to go away", "If you're trying to convince me this movement is about ethical games journalism at this point...you're doing a bad job" and "I just don't understand the movement and it seems largely poisonous.") (Note: This is not a fact. To be fair to Jafari, he is likely misremembering, misinterpreting or misstating the truth rather than lying. There were more murders in Chicago (between 2001 and September 2016) than Americans killed in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. That being said, this is not a fair comparison. In 2012, the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan was approximately 90 thousand compared to Chicago's population of almost 3 million. In other words, U.S. troops in Afghanistan amount to about 3% of Chicago's population. The overall homicide rates in 2015 were: Afghanistan: 33.3 per 100,000 people (not including deaths inside Taliban-controlled territory), Chicago: 18.1 per 100,000 people. )
 * "I didn't really understand what Gamergate was about. I think that was me still in my phase of like 'eh, this will go away.' Like, this isn't something that's gonna be, like, have staying power. Like I'll just stay out of this. I don't really care. I don't know what it is."
 * "I know some people look at [the] alt-right as right-wing SJWs. I really don't, I just see them as the only possible reaction to SJWs."
 * "If Germany goes 'eh, fuck it!' the whole world's like 'we're good. Germany uncucked, we're good guys.'"
 * "Once Le Pen and Wilders gets in. Hopefully they win, hopefully they win..."
 * "I hate that argument like 'Democrats are the real racists' but sometimes I don't fucking know."
 * "If I stay silent, shall this left take over and become New World Order, one world global, horror, shit show, gender equality government? Like what are we headed towards? [laughs]"
 * "These treasonous media elites. These fucking cancerous people have been lying, spinning narratives for four fucking years."
 * "People are generally tribal. It's ok, just don't try to kill each other over it please."
 * "He is like a super-villain." (referring to George Soros)
 * "They have been trying to silence science on those subjects because they're politically incorrect. I don't think there's any harm from studying them. But we shouldn't say you're low IQ so 'blank' or you're high IQ so 'blank'. A high IQ can go to waste. A low IQ can do amazing."
 * "...the fact that Chicago has a higher murder rate than Afghanistan."
 * "Bring it bitches, let's go. Debate me. I dare you to fucking debate me."

16 February 2017 (stream with Sargon of Akkad)
 * "I've stopped watching a lot of mainstream outlets because I'm like I just know they're gonna lie so why bother go here?"
 * " was interviewing Marine Le Pen for the first time on the BBC and he's like 'I'm sorry, we know what you're about to hear is shocking and the BBC wants to apologise for anything you might hear that will disturb you. Marine Le Pen, what will you have to say?' 'Uh, France should be for French people.' 'Shocking' [laughs] Like what the fuck? They act like
 * "My parents are both immigrants. One from a communist regime, the other one from a Muslim occupation. I think I understand the benefits of the Anglo-Saxon tradition, I'll tell you that."
 * "When it comes to the Cultural Marxism thing, I don't know that it arose out of nothing."
 * "Look, it's as simple as this. If you're white, don't you dare oppose your own dispossession."
 * "Virtue signalling is when you basically say something to make yourself look good. It comes at a very cheap cost to you to say like 'I care about all Muslims' but you don't actually mean it. You're not actually gonna go do anything."
 * "I do not believe women are oppressed in America by any degree." ... "I would argue that progress has been made to the maximum degree of human biology."

24 February 2017 (Q&A video)
 * "/our guy/" (at 4:22, Jafari says "our guy" and uses his fingers to denote the "/" symbol. On /pol/, "/our guy/" means someone who holds alt-right or "red pilled" political beliefs. Jafari has admitted he has "occasionally" browsed /pol/.)
 * "Thanks goys" (at 10:21, the phrase "thanks goys!!!" is briefly shown on the video. The length of time the phrase was shown indicates this was either a subtle antisemitic dog whistle or politically incorrect trolling.)

13 March 2017 (debate with Destiny) (Note: this is false.) 
 * "I think human beings are at the core tribal and they tend to want to stick to their own. I think that's completely natural, completely normal."
 * "Trump is a reaction to the retarded identity politics of the last, at least the last, four years."
 * "We don't need to take immigrants from incompatible places."
 * "Nobody wants to become a minority in their own country."
 * "I think that there's something to be said for preserving a culture, giving a nation a continuity..."
 * "I do think race influences culture. I do, I think it does."
 * "The Black Lives Matter movement doesn't disavow violence."
 * "RIP, my career."

Examples of doublethink
 * "There's nothing wrong with diversity." / "Like you were saying about diversity, I mean like, what does it just mean less white people?"
 * "To be honest with you, if people started going around saying like the 'white community', that'd be fucking weird too." / "What is so offensive about white people saying they'd like to preserve their demographic majority?"
 * "What I care about is facts, reason and evidence. So if you come at me and you say something that's baseless, that's what pisses me off." / "Wealthy blacks also commit more crime than poor whites, that's a fact. Yeah, look it up."

Twitter
I just think it’s funny that a couple of logical tweets have made me a “conservative,” such a strong label. I don’t even know what it means to be conservative, or what a conservative is anymore. Have I ever tweeted anything of neo-Nazi ideology?

In response to tweet that "[c]ulture and demographics are our destiny. We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies", Jafari wrote:

In response to Chris Maldonado's tweet that "Steve King's "baby" premise is dumb, but I do find it odd that multiculturalism is really only being championed in white majority nations", Jafari wrote:

Other tweets
 * "OPPRESSION TEST: Can you drive to McDonalds not in hijab and get biggest Big Mac value meal? If yes: Not oppressed" (24 January 2017)
 * "You're making an appeal to emotion.Bcuz [sic] 'Jazz and Pad Thai are sweet' does not mean a country should commit demographic suicide." (12 March 2017)
 * "What I'm simply saying is, if being a minority is such a great thing, why does no one else seem to want to be it?" (12 March 2017)

In closing and in irony
Jafari is himself half-Iranian and has a Muslim grandmother. It's a true testament to multiculturalism's progress that someone categorized as non-white by white nationalists and Jafari himself can now freely defend white nationalism.

Jafari has provided a cautionary tale in how alarmingly effective alt-right propaganda has become in recent years, especially considering Jafari is someone who has done the following:
 * Voted for Barack Obama twice
 * Used to support Bernie Sanders
 * Happily uses a person's preferred pronouns
 * Voted in favor of same-sex marriage
 * Is the child of two immigrants
 * Finds Gwyneth Paltrow’s goop ridiculous and a scam, thinks Dan Aykroyd’s crystal skull vodka is complete nonsense and called him out on ‘dragging the Navajo into this’, and called Sylvia Brown a fraud. In other words, normal stuff you wouldn’t expect an alt-right supporter to endorse.