In a late January of 2024 interview, UFC head Dana White spoke with former 2024 presidential candidate and current Trump ally Vivek Ramaswamy about the state of things in America and how cancel culture is starting to collapse as normal people both realize what’s going on and get braver and more willing to stand up to it.
That came when Vivek Ramaswamy, introducing the subject of victimhood culture and calling out its communist roots, said, “They used to have that culture of victimhood under Mao. And otherwise, that’s actually come back here to hold us down. And so I think that that is it is a phase we’re in. That’s the way I like to look at it . . . I hope it’s just a phase. I think it’s just a phase.”
White told him “I could not agree with you more.” Then, continuing to tear into cancel culture as Vivek agreed with him, White said, “More people like us need to stand up . . . And talk about this, because there’s a lot of people that feel that way. But for some reason, this whole canceled culture, and all the other bullshit that’s flying around right now. Or if you fucking say anything that anybody doesn’t like, they’re coming after you, you know…”
Vivek then said, that the goal of cancel culture is to tell people to “sit down, do as you’re told.” Then, adding to that, Vivek noted that things might be starting to change on that front, telling White, “I just hadn’t, like it’s the beginnings of that changing a little bit.” Explaining why, Vivek said that “we’re a hair’s trigger away” from ordinary people just saying “to hell with it.”
That’s when White absolutely unloaded on the media and cancel culture, explaining how people, particularly young people, are getting extremely tired of the current situation and are starting to get braver and ready to stand up and fight back. He said, “Everybody’s tired of this bullshit, especially young people. Yeah. Everybody’s tired of it, man. And, you know, people are getting braver and braver, now people need to start standing up.”
Then, calling on people to start standing up to the media and cancel culture, White said, “And everybody became real scared real fucking fast, for some reason, but, you know, it felt like everybody was being attacked. But a lot of this comes from media, the media started this whole thing. And what started to happen right now is the two most untrusted people right now, in this country, our politicians and the media.“
Agreeing, Vivek explained his personal experience with that vibe shit White referenced, saying, “Visiting friends and family in New York City, what I see is even a lot of my old friends who used to think in a very different way, after COVID, after what you’ve seen in the wave of crime affecting places up and down from California to New York. I think their views have totally morphed actually in a different direction. I expected I wasn’t sure what to expect, actually, because I used to live in Manhattan. You go back there. After saying the things I’ve been saying for a year. I kid you not we have people on the streets, sticking their heads out of cars and driving through Central Park, cheering for me just because they see me walk on the street, doorman into buildings. And they’ll say, ‘Hey, listen up, I’m with you. And I’m voting for Trump. But don’t tell anybody.’ But I had about 10 people on the same day telling me the same thing. So you might as well be telling it to each other, because many of them 10 Other people like you, from Uber drivers to doorman at building same thing and say the same thing. Same thing happens to me. It’s it’s a beautiful thing in this country. It’s because people are hungry, they’re afraid. But everybody’s afraid at the same time. And if everybody just lets their guard down, we realize it’s actually a majority of us that feel the same way.”
Agreeing with Vivek about the changing state of things, White said, “You know, you feel it. You feel it changing and shifting. I feel it too because everywhere I go, I get the same thing that you’re saying. I agree with you more.”
Watch them discuss the issue here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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