Simon Webb

Simon Webb.

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“”The strongest societies and countries are those with no diversity in ethnicity, nationality, language, or religion.

—Simon Webb

Simon Webb, also known as History Debunked, is a British far-right YouTuber, global warming denialist, and pseudohistorian. Ironically, despite his YouTube channel claiming to debunk history, it mostly focuses on Webb's stance on modern politics, particularly in regards to the decline of British society. His content mostly focuses on the problems of immigration, multiculturalism, climate change, the black diaspora, the territorial disputes between Israel and Palestine, and supposed historical revisionism.

Webb has connections to far-right influencers and white nationalists. He was interviewed by Edward Dutton and was a speaker on the far-right Aporia Magazine podcast. He has spoken at events for the Traditional Britain Group. He is an opponent of diversity and multiculturalism and has complained about seeing interracial relationships between black men and white women on British television. Unsurprisingly, his video comments sections are rife with racists, white supremacists, antisemites, Islamophobes, transphobes, conspiracy theorists, and just about every collective crowd of far-right bigots you can think of.

Prior to his History Debunked YouTube series, Webb ran a small blog on homeschooling called "Home Education Heretic". While the blog did detail his experiences homeschooling his children, the vast majority of it was devoted to often-strange criticisms of the very British homeschool movement he was part of, particularly what he saw as its commitment to "so-called autonomous educators."

In March 2024, in response to this article exposing Webb's racist views, he removed his offensive video "The BBC are obsessed with the idea of black men and white women, preferably blondes…" from his YouTube channel in an attempt to prevent damage to his "reputation", if he had such a thing. He also deleted a video he made criticizing trans rights.

Views

Several arguments made by Simon Webb in his videos include:

• The idea of pre-colonial African civilizations is a fairy tale invented in the 1980s to appease the black diaspora.
• The original Africans were white and were displaced and wiped out by the Bantu in a genocide.
• The crime statistics committed by black people are due to ethnicity.
• Multiculturalism is like colonialism.
• Diversity is destroying Ireland's identity as a Catholic nation.
• Islamophobia does not exist.
• Western civilization is responsible for everything.
• Climate change is essentially a religion among atheists.
• The reasons for the homicide rate in the UK are due to immigration.
• Gaza is not a concentration camp, because it has luxurious hotels.

African history

Simon Webb's Video

RationalWiki response

In the video Ancient civilizations of Africa, Simon Webb attempts to lay out an argument that combined colonialism apologia with a selective depiction of African architecture in order to advance the racist position that "African culture" is inferior to European culture and that pre-colonial Africa was populated solely by primitive ignoble savages. Using cherry-picking, Webb attempts to contrast selective shots of Great Zimbabwe with European architecture such as Salisbury Cathedral, as well as contrasting a random small African sculpture with Michelangelo's Pietà. Webb claims that "the art of Africa" is simple enough to "easily be knocked out by high school people in Britain or America", essentially attempting to argue that European art is superior due to purported greater complexity. In a similar styled argument, Webb also complains that in British education systems, Western classical music was being overlooked in favor of teaching "African drumming". Next, Webb proclaims that the idea of pre-colonial civilizations in Sub-Saharan Africa was a myth invented in the 1980s. To attempt to prove that claim, he shows a book about ancient civilizations by Arthur Cotterell and claims that African civilizations are nowhere mentioned in the book. Webb then proceeds to claim that the Mali empire was entirely fictional, or at the least, hardly an example of a civilization. To "prove" this, Webb claims that the Great Mosque of Djenné is not an example of Sudano-Sahelian architecture. Instead, he claims that the French colonials were responsible for the mosque's re-construction in 1907. To demonstrate the supposed inferiority of pre-colonial African architecture, he shows a picture of the mosque's remains before it was reconstructed. He then concludes that Sub-Saharan Africa was completely absent of civilization prior to European colonialism, due to the absence of writing and wheels. Webb repeats many of these same arguments in Three famous African civilisations. Additionally, he also disparages sub-Sahara Africa for purportedly not having a written language, roads, buildings with upper stories, or wheels. In addition, he additionally advances his argument that Mali was purportedly uncivilized prior to colonial conquest, claiming that the culture of Mali was not created by black sub-Saharan Africans but by the Berbers and Arabs, and also claiming that Mali "did not become important until 600 years after the Arab conquest of North Africa". Webb also poo-poohs claims that Mali's Sankoré Madrasah was the "oldest university" as is claimed by some. In A brief history of Africa, Webb continues on similar themes. Webb claims that African art was limited to "a few scratches on a rock". Repeating many of the purported lack of technology claims Webb made in other videos, Webb also lists several Industrial Revolution inventions that Africa lacked until colonization. Webb re-asserts that Africa was, for the most part, purportedly still stuck in the Stone Age until colonization.

Firstly, as noted, Webb engaged in major cherry-picking. For instance, in the first video, the images that Webb used of the Great Zimbabwe ruins were of a single wall. This is hardly representative of the entire site as a whole. In addition, Webb ignored many other world-renowned examples of African architecture and art, such as those of Ethiopia (Rock-Hewn Churches, Lalibela), the Kingdom of Benin (Benin Bronzes) and the Ashanti empire (Asante Traditional Buildings). Even though Cotterell's encyclopedia did indeed overlook far too many ancient African civilizations (at least in its 1988 edition), the book does includes a whole section on ancient Egyptian civilization — which, of course, was in Egypt, an African country. The omission of the rest of Africa from Cotterell's encyclopedia has a simple explanation. When the first edition was published in 1980, Western scholarly research was very limited on Africa. This was undoubtedly much due to the colonialism prejudice of the historians of the past. For example, in 1963, English historian Hugh Trevor-Roper insisted to listeners of his BBC radio series on world history that one needn't consider Africa as "there is only the unrewarding gyrations of barbarous tribes in picturesque but irrelevant corners of the globe." Webb's claims about the diminished influence of classical music in British academia in favor of "African drumming" is made without evidence. A glance at a sample structure of the music curriculum at the University of Oxford suggests that Western classical music still is a major portion of the curriculum at one of England's top tier universities. Webb's appeal to complexity argument ignores aspects of African art that have their own unique complexities, such as the polyphony and polyrhythms found in traditional African music. These elements have even been admired by Western classical composers such as György Ligeti. Multiple historians have done extensive documentation on pre-colonial African civilization, including the Mali empire that Webb claims does not exist. It's pretty obvious that Webb's claim that there is "no evidence" for the Mali empire is 100% bullshit. It is true that the current Mosque of Djenné, originally built in the thirteenth century, was a reconstruction built in 1907. Little is known about what the mosque actually originally looked like before the reconstruction; the mosque underwent severe decay in the 19th century due to the conquest of Djenné by Seku Amadu. However, contemporary historical accounts are skeptical that the French had much, if any, involvement in designing the new mosque. Most sources credit the design of the mosque to Ismaila Traoré, who was the head of Djenné’s mason guild at the time the mosque was built. Independent invention of writing is rare in human history. A common consensus is that a full writing system was independently invented only four times in human history: Cuneiform (Sumeria), Egyptian hieroglyphs, written Chinese, and Olmec hieroglyphs (Mesoamerica). It seems strange to try to make the claim that a lack of an independent writing system proves that Africa was a backwater; the European continent he champions also lacked such. Most of Webb's other technical superiority claims are simply bullshit. To give just a few examples: pre-colonial Bokoni society in South Africa notably had networks of stone-wall lined cattle roads. The Ashanti Empire had an extensive road network prior to colonization. Multiple European visitors to Africa prior to full colonization have documented the existence of multi-story buildings — among them Mungo Park and Thomas Edward Bowdich. While the general lack of wheeled transport in much of sub-Saharan Africa pre-colonial history is indeed a notable curiousity, the technology was known to Africa through trade contacts, and was used some in Dahomey and a few other locations. The Mali Empire was founded by a West African ethnic group called the Mandinka people; his insistence on an "Arab conquest" bringing about Mali's importance is unclear and seemingly unsupported by the country's actual history. Technically speaking, Sankoré Madrasah was not a "university" in a modern Western sense. It was a madrasa, and reflects Islamic teaching traditions, which tend to be individually driven rather than institutionally driven. The "university" nickname has been applied by some people merely to reflect the relatively advanced nature of scholarship that was occurring there. While Webb might be "technically correct" that Sankoré Madrasah is not what would be commonly thought of as a university, it still is a fine example of a historical non-European educational institution. Regarding metalworking, there is good evidence that as early as 2000 BC, the Agadez Region of Niger learned how to work with copper. Even more striking (as it conflicts with the stereotype of Africa being a passive receiver of inventions that Webb promotes), while the exact details remain complex and difficult to determine, the current historical consensus suggests that at least two parts of sub-Saharan Africa, northern Nigeria and the African Great Lakes region, appeared to independently invent at least some aspects of the smelting and forging of iron as far back as 1000 BCE. After these developments, ironworking spread throughout the continent of Africa. This contradicts Webb's claim that Africa generally was mostly using stone tools. It is worth nothing that there are other technologies that Webb ignored where Africa played a significant early role. For instance, cotton weaving began along the middle reaches of the Nile River around 5000 BCE. An earlier textile technology, that of weaving raffia cloth, appears to go further back then that. Now, it is very true that Africa has not been much of a factor in developing any of the technologies of the Industrial Revolution so far. However, this does not mean that Africa in the future will never play any role; it can take time for technology to spread. The Industrial Revolution started exclusively in Britain in the late 1700s, eventually spreading into the United States and Western Europe in the mid 1800s. Then, other Western colonies (such as Canada and Australia) along with Japan and Russia picked up on these technologies in the late 1800s. In the 1960s and 1970s, Pacific Rim countries (including China) industrialized. In the 1990s, Turkey, India, and parts of Latin America (such as Brazil) industrialized. Some countries (e.g. Japan) that at one point had a reputation for being shoddy producers of copycat junk eventually became known for high-quality manufacturing. It is worth noting that many historians and others in similar fields believe that "de-industrialization" was an aspect of colonialism, e.g. the impact of colonialization on the colony's native industries was quite negative. While Africa has lagged in contributing to the Industrial Revolution of the past (perhaps in part due to leftover colonial headaches), some analysts see a bright future for Africa regarding their contributions to the Industrial Revolutions of the future.

In Aksum, an ancient kingdom in Africa, Webb argues that the existence of the historical Kingdom of Aksum (in what is now modern Ethiopia and Eritrea), despite clearly being an ancient civilization located in Africa, is actually purportedly not an ancient indigenous African civilization. According to Webb, this was because Aksum was colonized by Semites from Yemen, thus purportedly making the Aksum kingdom a mere colony of these regions. Webb then attempts to support his argument by explaining that even though he knows no words of the Tigrinya language, he came across an article describing the Beta Samati excavation, and believes that there are Hebrew influences in that name. Somewhat off topic, Webb also insinuates that "most educated Ethiopians don't think much of African languages", stating (without evidence) that educated Ethiopians look down on the Oromo language (favoring the Amharic or Tigrinia languages) simply due to its purported African origins.

It is true that Aksum, prior to its foundation as a kingdom, did have significant Semitic influences, notably from the Sabaeans. However, this did not negate Aksum from being an African civilization. According to Ethiopian historian Dr. Stuart Munro-Hay, the Sabaean influence was more one of "cultural sympathy" — there was significant mutual links between the Sabaeans and indigenous Ethiopian rulers, but there is no evidence for Sabaean political dominance, and Sabaean influence was restricted to a limited geographical area. It is true that the Oromo language is looked down upon by at least some of those historically in power in Ethiopia, but in such cases, it would be more likely due to a century-long conflict with the Ethiopian Empire. The state of Oromia was once independent, but was then brutally conquered by Ethiopia (then Abyssinia) in the late 19th century. In particular, the brutal dictatorship of Haile Selassie sought a policy of "Amharization", with the goal of ensuring the dominanc of Amharic culture and the power of the Amhara elite. To implement this, the Oromo language, along with multiple aspects of Oromo culture and identity, were banned entirely. Due to this violent suppression, the Oromo Liberation Front was formed in 1973. The following year, Selassie's government was overthrown, replaced with a military junta known as the Derg. Throughout their rule, the Derg fought with the Oromo population (along with many other insurgencies). Conflict continues in the Oromo region as of May 2023. Although Oromo is part of the Cushitic language family, and Amharic and Tigrinia are part of the Semitic language family, both Semitic and Cushitic languages fall under a wider umbrella of languages known as Afroasiatic languages. No consensus exists on the origin of proto-Afroasiatic languages, albeit somewhere in the Middle East or Africa is most likely. Nonetheless, it is strange to try to imply that one Ethiopian language is "African" (and thus inferior) and one is not (and thus superior). Ultimately, all three aforementioned languages are part of the same language family and thus have the same point of origin, regardless of where it was.

In the videos What do we mean by 'civilisation'? and Were Benin and Great Zimbabwe African civilisations?, in response to the release of a PBS series called Africa's Greatest Civilizations, Webb claims that double standards are being applied to Sub-Saharan Africa in regards to the concept of cities and civilizations. He cites Great Zimbabwe and Benin as prime examples of African societies being erroneously categorized as cities and civilizations, while also citing several superficially comparable sites such as the Tower of Jericho (which Webb insists is "more sophisticated" than Great Zimbabwe), the pre-Roman Oppidum settlements and Jarlshof as examples of settlements not classified as cities to back up his claims of African double standards. Webb declares that the term "civilization" should encompass several criteria, at least according to him: a written language; a substantial populace living in cities; roads; and political structure. Citing Roman poet Claudian and his depiction of Britain in Roman times as savage barbarians, he concludes that since pre-Roman Britain lacked what he considered to be the criteria for cities (depicting such settlements as a "collection of huts... all surrounded by defensive palisades, earth banks and ditches"), similar civilization structures in Sub-Saharan Africa shouldn't be considered cities, either. He further elaborates that since both Great Zimbabwe and Benin purportedly lacked both written records and political structure, this too exempts them from any merit of being categorized as cities. He also claims that the reasons for the double standards are due to historians expanding the definition to African settlements to avoid causing offense to the black diaspora.

As perhaps clearly demonstrated by the pseduohistory of Webb, the term "civilization" has historically been used in problematic ways. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the term "civilization" was used in Europe and America to justify a separation of countries into "civilized" societies, and "savage" or "barbarous" societies. Naturally, using racialist social Darwinism tinged reasoning, "savage" and "barbarous" people (including not just Africans, but Asians and Native Americans) were treated as "unequal" to the supposedly superior "white race". This ethos was used to justify colonialism. By the 1960s, many historians saw the problems with the loaded nature of previous definitions of "civilization", and sought to come up with categorizations that were non-judgmental and merely descriptive characteristics. "Big History" historian and educator Cynthia Stokes Brown, for instance, came up with the following short list of characteristics in 2009: Surplus food Density of population Stratified social ranks Coerced tribute State systems Accumulated learning Even within this list, Brown acknowledged that a civilization did not necessarily have to contain all the bullet points on the list to be called a civilization. The exact definition of "city" has proven to be even more difficult for historians to come up with. As classical scholar Moses Finley noted in an essay on Greek city states, "neither geographers nor sociologists nor historians have succeeded in agreeing on a definition. Yet we all know sufficiently what we mean by the label, in general terms". Urbanism has many faces depending on the culture, and perhaps the only characteristic that can be universally used to describes a city is that it is relatively large and relatively dense. Historians do not exclude cities based on a lack of writing, political structure, or the "wrong" kind of building architecture. Thus, there are many examples of communities that actual historians would consider "civilizations" and "cities", while failing to meet Webb's narrow criteria. A prominent example of such a civilization is the Inca Empire. By "classic" standards, the Inca empire lacked many of the customs and standards of European civilization. The Incas lacked wheels, animals to ride and plow, a system of writing, and knowledge of iron and steel. Nonetheless, the empire had surplus food; huge flocks of domestic animals; many towns and settlements; a 38,600km highway system; excellent gold, bronze and silver metallurgists; and a sophisticated political and economic structure. Anthropologist Gordon McEwan characterized the Inca empire as "one of the greatest imperial states in human history" due to the above. Even the civilizations and cities Webb disparages certainly would qualify as such by most historians. The Kingdom of Benin had advanced political structures, urbanized lifestyles, monumental architecture and sculpture, and an extensive trade network (including trade with Europe.) Greater Zimbabwe was a complex of stone-walled structures that probably was the largest settlement in sub-Saharan Africa before European colonization, with a population of between 12,000 to 20,000. The city contained monumental architecture, a distinct social structure, marketplaces, many artisans, extensive wealth, and an extensive trade network (including trade with Europe).

In Rhodesia and Zimbabwe; the end of colonialism in Africa, Webb states that Rhodesia was living a significantly more prosperous life than Zimbabwe and that the reasons for the latter's collapse is primarily attributed to the new government's reluctance to utilize economic complexity, due to animosity to the ideas of the white population. He then concludes that the unwillingness to economically plan ahead and delaying gratification, which he describes as "white ideas", are what led to the purported "failure" of most Sub-Saharan African countries since the end of colonialism.

There is little question that the rule and policies of Robert Mugabe were a disaster for Zimbabwe. However, Webb fails to provide any historical context beyond his ill-thought out racist interpretation. Prior to 1965, Rhodesia was a colony of the United Kingdom. In 1962, the right-wing white minority-rule anti-decolonization Rhodesian Front political party took over the government. This party was distinctively more populist than previous governments, characterized by fierce anti-communism, nationalism, a viewpoint that Britain was in decline, and more than a whiff of white supremacy. In defiance of London, in 1965, the Rhodesian Front issued Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence, signaling their intention to unilaterally break from the United Kingdom. What the Rhodesian Front didn't count on was that such an announcement would also radicalize the two Zimbabwe nationalist movements active at the time, Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) and Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), the later which was led by Mugabe. Denied a peaceful route to power, the Zimbabwe nationalist movements resorted to using violence. This resulted in a protracted, extremely bloody, and cruel conflict between white Rhodesians and the black nationalist movements in the late 1960s and 1970s. (Rhodesian Bush War) The Rhodesian Front's reign in power (and the Bush War) ended when all sides agreed to hold an election in 1980. (Lancaster House Agreement) Mugabe won the election and became the first prime minister of Zimbabwe. It is worth noting that Webb's inference regarding the purported poor economy of all sub-Sahara African decolonized colonies from a single example is a hasty generalization, and that Webb's conclusions are overly simplistic (and racist to boot). It is true that until 2000, the economic performance of post-colonial Africa overall was sluggish. But it is also true that no other continent experienced colonialism to such a far-reaching degree as Africa did. In 1867, Dadabhai Naoroji came up what is now known as the "drain theory", which characterized the economy of a colony as one that primarily exists to transfer ("drain") capital to the colonizers. Some studies have quantified that at least some of Africa's sluggish growth can be explained by the challenges transforming an economy from a colonial based one (that exists solely to be exploited by a colonial master) into an economy of an independent state. Despite these challenges, post-independence growth in many African countries exceeded pre-independence growth after independence. In present times, growth in Africa has improved. Between 2000 and 2010, real GDP in Africa grew at an average rate of 5.1 percent. Although growth slowed between 2010 and 2020 to 3.3 percent per year, several individual African nations' GDP nonetheless managed to continue growing during that period at an average rate of between 5 and 10 percent. In Zimbabwe, one key issue highlights the challenges involved in de-colonialization: land. Despite being a small minority, whites dominated the commercial farming business. In 2000, whites owned 70% of the most fertile land, despite being just .6% of the population. This injustice was created through a long series of racist land ownership laws going as far back as 1930, when the British colonists of Rhodesia passed the Land Apportionment Act of 1930. This act allocated over half the land in Rhodesia to colonists, making it explicitly illegal for natives to purchase. During Mugabe's 37 years at the top of Zimbabwe's government, Mugabe made many economic mistakes, and displayed a propensity for political thuggery, which perhaps to a degree reflects his original background as a nationalist revolutionary. Mugabe's violent land seizures in the early 2000s, which were partially done for political reasons, is considered one of the more important factors that triggered Zimbabwe's economic meltdown in the mid-2000s. Unfortunately, Mugabe's economic disaster helps enforce a glamorized, whitewashed, cause célèbre narrative for white supremacists on Rhodesia and the Bush War, in a manner reminiscent of the Lost Cause of the South. More sober analysts, however, tend to recognize that Zimbabwe's past injustices harm the present economy, and that while Mugabe's forced land reform policies were very harmful to Zimbabwe, implementing some sort of land reform is necessary to help undo a harmful artifact of Zimbabwe's colonial period.

In Rudyard Kipling; the archetypal British imperialist, before reciting The White Man's Burden by Rudyard Kipling, Webb claims that Sub-Saharan Africa (including countries such as Nigeria and Ghana) was still in the Stone Age prior to European arrival, and that the cities and infrastructure throughout the continent was entirely the work of British colonialism, while also stressing his patriotism towards the British Empire.

The arguments that Webb uses are not untypical of those who defend colonialism. Colonialism apologists tend to promote the paradigm that pre-colonial colonies were backwaters with no culture, education, commerce, craft, or serious agriculture, and that the colonizers actually provided great benefit via the spread of "civilization" and the benefits of the Industrial Revolution. Such viewpoints tend to be Eurocentric, and also ignore the wide variety of trade, craft, and culture that was occurring in pre-colonialization countries. It is no surprise that Webb is fond of Kipling's The White Man's Burden, which even at the time of publication in 1899 was widely seen as pro-imperialism and pro-white supremacy, and was subject to numerous parodies by those opposed to such. Historians who are critical of colonialism argue that although European colonial powers (such as the British Empire) were indeed responsible for the abolition of slavery in the colonies and the development of infrastructure, by and large they did not come to Africa with the specific intentions to import democracy or end famines and epidemics. Rather, they came to Africa to exploit the continent's natural resources, while also drawing artificial borders to the present-day states with complete disregard to ethnic and religious boundaries. In fact, some historians have gone further and argued that despite the infrastructure advancements, colonialism overall resulted in economic underdevelopment, as such infrastructure's purpose was exploitative and was entirely done for the economic benefit of the colonizing countries, with little benefit for the native population.

In What did colonialism do for Africa?, Webb claims that European colonialism is being unfairly denounced before stating that Africans would not have progressed beyond spears and harpoons had it not been for the introduction of schools, hospitals and infrastructure by European colonials.

Webb seems to associate colonialism as being synonymous with technological advancements, without considering consequences of colonialism, such as exploitation of economic resources and implantation of settlers into conquered territories. In addition, his statement about the history of technological development among Africans is erroneous, as various African nations also developed swords, knives, axes, crossbows and other advanced tools. For newer technologies, just because European colonialism was responsible for much of the continent's Industrial Age infrastructures and modernized cities doesn't mean that the process was necessarily good for the indigenous peoples. One thing Webb seems to ignore is the various atrocities committed against the African population by the Europeans. Examples of such include Belgian king Leopold II's "voracious" administration over the Congo Free State (Atrocities in the Congo Free State) and the Herero and Nama genocide committed by the German Empire. For a comparable example, China's justifications for annexing and occupying Tibet include the notion that it helped modernize the country by peacefully liberating it from the Dalai Lama's theocratic, socially backward regime in which high-ranking monks exploited their serfs and deprived them of their wealth. The Tibetan government-in-exile's position on the PRC's stance is that the PRC was responsible "for bringing more suffering in the name of liberation", and the Tibetan people are quite capable of reforming their society without foreign aid. Another position of theirs is that China's occupation of Tibet is illegal regardless of the PRC's "peaceful liberation" position, as international law does not allow a nation "to invade, occupy, annex and colonize another country just because its social structure does not please it".

In Exploding the fairy tales of medieval civilisations in West Africa, after a silly non-sequitur about a book titled Don't Touch My Hair by Emma Dabiri, Webb analyzes the veracity of its claim that Benin City had public street lighting by lamps powered by palm oil. He then reads a book about Benin city published in 1903, citing that the book only revealed that the lamps were decorated around the king's palace during times of human sacrifices and did not reference anything about street lighting. He also claims that the lamps were introduced by the Portuguese in the 19th century and concludes that West Africa did not host any urbanized cities prior to European colonialism.

Even if it was true that Benin City lacked public street lighting and that the idea has been exaggerated, this does not negate the idea that West Africa had urbanized cities prior to European arrival. Other examples of West African cities aside from Benin City include Kumasi, Abomey, and Ifẹ, all of which predate the era of European colonialism. While the history on how Benin acquired oil lamp technology is obscure, it is puzzling to be certain that the technology was acquired from Portugal in the 19th century, as Webb claims. Oil lamps are one of humanity's oldest technologies; oil lamps have been found in many cultures (such as Roman, Greek, Byzantine, Tunisian, etc.) and have even been found in Stone Age cultures. Due to the wide variety of possibilities, without further evidence, the source of knowledge for constructing Benin's large palm oil lamps cannot be conclusively pointed towards any single culture.

In We were kings..., Webb argues that the Islamic settlements on the East African coast were not cities built by indigenous Africans, but rather Arabic slave ports established for the Indian Ocean slave trade, while also detailing the linguistic influences of Arabic on the Swahili language. He also claims that Sub-Saharan Africa lacked other stone structures.

It is incorrect to call the settlements of the Swahili coast at the zenith of its non-colonial period (approx. 900-1500) Arabic. The root of Swahili coast culture was the indigenous Bantu ethnic group. However, this group had significant Arab influences due to trade and immigration. It is important to note that Swahili coastal culture was more of a "melting pot"; while Arabs did immigrate to this region during this period, they largely adapted to existing African culture rather than imposing Arab culture on the Swahilis. The first group who colonized these settlements were the Portuguese, who conquered the region in the early 1500s. The first fully Arabic influence came from the Omani Arabs, who seized the Swahili Coast settlements from the Portuguese in the late 1600s.

Several of Webb's videos regarding the black diaspora involve him linking black crime statistics with ethnicity and accusing others of historical revisionism involving African history, where he claims that the concept of pre-colonial civilizations in Sub-Saharan Africa is merely a myth invented to appease the black population. In a now-deleted video, he also claimed that indigenous Africans were originally white. Ironically, despite citing the "myths" of pre-colonial African civilizations like Great Zimbabwe and Benin as well as the Bantu expansion, he also claims that nothing has changed in Africa for the past 20-30,000 years. Several of his videos on African history were put under heavy scrutiny in history-oriented social media for cherry picking historical accounts to downplay the significance of African achievements and to preserve the "Dark Continent" trope.

African American history

Unsurprisingly, Webb's cherry picked white supremacist tinged viewpoint of history extends to African-American history too. In The truth about the Tulsa race riot, Webb tries to whitewash the Tulsa Race Massacre.

• In the initial build-up to the riot on May 31, 1921, Webb significantly downplayed the role of the white lynch mob that surrounded the courthouse in instigating the riot. Webb suggests, without evidence, that the mob was unarmed, and that "the affair might very possibly have just died down" were it not for the initial arrival of approximately twenty-five (Webb incorrectly states fifty) armed African-Americans to offer their assistance in defending the accused teenager in the courthouse (Dick Rowland) from the mob. While these armed African-Americans indeed did electrify the white mob, there is no reason to suggest that the mob would've calmed down without their appearance. Indeed, without the commendable police protection of Rowland by sheriff Willard M. McCullough, it stands to reason that a lynching would have happened in a very similar manner to the then-recent 1920 Tulsa lynching of Roy Belton.
• After the arrival of the first group of armed African-Americans, Webb suggests that guardsmen "were called in to look after the black teenager, and things calmed down again". This is untrue. Some guardsmen were called to protect an armory that the mob was attempting to break into. By 9:30PM, the white mob outside the courthouse was 2000 strong and became increasingly tense. Rumors of the white mob storming the courthouse caused a second group of 75 armed African-Americans to show up; it was sometime after this point when the initial shot was fired, starting the riot.
• Webb falsely claims, unsurprisingly, that it was the black men who were the first to open fire. The reality is far more nuanced. The initial shot was fired during a physical confrontation between an African American veteran and a white man of the mob. It is unclear whether or not whether this first shot was unintentional. What is clear that after the first shot, almost immediately, members of the white mob opened fire on the African American men, who returned volleys of their own. Webb also claims that this initial conflict caused the deaths of eight white men and two black men, which for some reason he emphasizes as a key talking point. In reality, the exact number of deaths (let alone their racial composition) is not known.
• Webb summarizes the riot by suggesting that the number of deaths was "probably 30 or 40 people" with a third of them being white, so "it wasn't really a racist massacre". This number only relates to the confirmed deaths of 36. Counting estimates of unconfirmed deaths, some sources have calculated that the true death toll is as high as 300. In addition, Webb mentions nothing about property damage. Over 1,000 residents were burned in the riot, and another 400 looted. The largely African-American community of Greenwood in particular was almost completely destroyed.

Climate change

Simon Webb with white nationalist Edward Dutton being interviewed on his Jolly Heretic podcast

Webb also made a series of videos attacking the climate change consensus and downplaying the alarming effects of climate change, such as claiming that the majority of wildfires worldwide are attributed to arson. He also compares the climate change consensus to a religious cult, claiming that the consensus lacks any scientific basis and is more based on a spiritual phenomenon.

Criticism of interracial relationships

Webb dislikes interracial relationships between black men and white women, claiming there is an "agenda" by the British media to push these relationships which he considers "odd" and not reflective of typical relationships found in British society. He has made a video complaining about the BBC promoting such relationships, "The BBC are obsessed with the idea of black men and white women, preferably blondes". He says relationships between black men and white women are rare in society and questions the motives of the media for promoting such relationships on the television.

On his video, 'On the nature of inter-racial relationships in modern Britain and their depiction in the media' which he released on the 9th of June 2024 Webb maintained that during his lifetime he had been in a long-time relationship with an Indian woman and also had dated a black woman. He however then went on to compare women in inter-racial relationships to French women who slept with German soldiers in occupied France in World War Two.

Criticism of LGBT

Webb dislikes LGBT and is a proponent of the homosexual agenda conspiracy theory. He has criticized transgender surgery and has complained about seeing rainbow flags at a railway station.

One of his videos was titled "How ‘trans rights’ infringe upon, and interfere with, the rights of the other 99% of the population". In March 2024, Webb deleted this video.

Opposition to diversity and multiculturalism

Similar to Bo Winegard, Webb is an opponent of racial diversity. He claims that the strongest societies and countries have no diversity.

He is an ardent opponent of multicultural education, claiming that it is primarily used just to appease other groups of people and that it harms children, while also calling it "colonization" against western civilization.

Links to the far-right

Webb is a supporter of the far-right English Constitution Party and tells his followers to vote for them. The group has been described by Hope not Hate as promoting conspiracy theories and "antisemitic statements on social media". The English Constitution Party have attended anti-refugee rallies alongside Patriotic Alternative (a neo-Nazi group). He has spoken at events for the Traditional Britain Group.

Webb has been interviewed by white nationalists such as Edward Dutton and the far-right Aporia Magazine, so he obviously has no issue associating with racists. In April 2022, Webb made a video criticizing the far-right group Patriotic Alternative's methods as too extreme and stated that the group was destined to fade into oblivion. Since that time he has softened his opinions about members of the group and released two videos defending Sam Melia of Patriotic Alternative who was convicted in January 2024 for distributing material intending to stir up racial hatred.

Webb has said that he agrees with the anti-immigration policies of the National Front. His books have been positively reviewed on white nationalist websites such as Counter-currents.

Response to RationalWiki

On March 5, 2024, Simon Webb uploaded a video to his channel in response to his RationalWiki article. In the video, Webb accuses RationalWiki of being a left-wing wiki using McCarthyism-esque smear tactics against right-wing opponents like him via guilt by association. He then accuses the page of attempting to incite violence against him by citing the caption below an image of himself featured in the article: "Simon Webb displaying his resting bitch Dastardly Whiplash extremely punchable "smarmy git" face". Afterwards, he responds to the article's points about his opposition to interracial relationships and LGBTQ+ rights and dismisses them as lies. He then cites the article's points detailing his interactions with Edward Dutton and dismisses its claims that he only associates with far-right groups, as he states that he also attends meetings with far-left groups as well, such as the Workers' Liberty and Solidarity group and a left-wing conference in Berlin in 2019. Webb concludes that RationalWiki has slandered him for his supposedly exclusively far-right agenda when he attends meetings with anyone on the political spectrum.

Webb doesn't explain why his entire YouTube uploading history consists of him complaining about immigration, Islam and attacking black history. For example, within 48 hours of uploading his response to RationalWiki he uploaded a video calling black history a "scam" and another criticizing a Muslim war memorial. His uploading history reflects that of a far-right extremist, not an individual who shares left-wing viewpoints. Webb's claim that he is not far-right is similar to what others from the alt-center claim, in an attempt to rebrand their extremist views as moderate to gain more views.

External links

• Main account at YouTube
• Main website
• Account on Facebook
• Account on Lotus Eaters