Konstantin Kisin

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Kisin in 2021

Konstantin Kisin (born 25 December 1982) is a Russian-British satirist, podcaster, author and political commentator.

Kisin has written for a number of publications including Quillette, The Spectator, The Daily Telegraph and Standpoint on issues relating to tech censorship, woke culture, comedy and culture war topics in the past, but currently publishes articles on these subjects on his Substack. He has co-hosted Triggernometry since 2018, a YouTube channel and podcast featuring fellow comedian and co-host Francis Foster.

Quotes

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  • (About the 2018 interview Cathy Newman did with Jordan Peterson): I can't understand how no one in Channel four saw that and went "We can't possibly put this out there. It's embarrassing." but they did and they got the attention they deserved. But what they don't realize, these people, is it's one time attention. You watch that interview and you will never watch an interview with Cathy Newman again.
  • I'm a non-believer, but I can't help but think that what we've created as a society when we killed God is a vacuum that inevitably has to be filled. And when it gets filled, it gets filled by a new religion which is what social justice and intersectionality and all of that now is. They have priests. They have inquisitions. The only thing they don't have in that religion is redemption and forgiveness. [...] If we don't have forgiveness, I don't understand how this world is gonna work. I honestly don't.
  • This country is responsible for 2 percent of global carbon emissions, which means that if Britain was to sink into the sea right now it would make absolutely no difference to the issue of climate change. You know why? Because the future of the climate is going to be decided in Asia and in Latin America. By poor people who couldn't give a shit about saving the climate. [...] Do you know why? Because they're poor. [...] 120 million people in China do not have enough food. I don't mean that they don't get dessert, I mean they suffer from malnutrition. That means that their immune system is breaking down because they don't have enough food. You're not going to get them to stay poor.
  • I actually get invited on TV a lot nowadays, and I don't do as much of it as I used to. And part of the reason is that once you've [got] the heroin of a long term conversation, why would you drop down to methadone? This is so much more fulfilling and satisfying. We're sitting here for a good chunk of time, you're giving me the space to speak, you're not talking over me, you're not trying to make me look bad [...], and [in corporate media] you get three minutes to make one point. And look, there's a market out there for that [but] I enjoy this. I enjoy having a conversation [and] connecting with somebody, getting to know how they think and them getting to know how I think, disagreeing where there's disagreement but doing it in a constructive way as opposed to going for the click bait and all of that. That is a really fulfilling part of doing Triggernometry for me. We get to interview fascinating people [...] and we just sit and learn. [...] How many people get the opportunity to sit down with a great mind for an hour and just engage, and speak, and listen, and think about the world? To me, that is incredibly gratifying. And I don't think that if i was hosting something on TV [that] I'd get a chance to do that.
  • [About the importance of saying what you think]: We come from generations of people who were killed for their beliefs. Well, I'm not going to dishonor them.
  • During the whole Ngozi Fulani affair, it was covered like it was a terrorist attack when you sort of think there's probably much bigger core issues affecting way more people.
  • [About vaccination mandates after the Covid-19 pandemic:] I'm against mandates and I'm against mandates of vaccination, right? People are free to have the vaccination, people are free to wear a mask, people are free to do whatever they want, right? But I think, if you look back, the idea that people shouldn't be forcebly injected with medical things that they don't wish to have came out in 1945 for very good fucking reason. Very good reason. And the fact that that became a controversial thing to say... No! No, no, no. People came together in Nuremberg for a very good reason and decided we're not going to let this happen again. And the fact that people were willing to just completely overlook that. This is the thing, they flip everything on its head.
  • Many people woke up on October 7 sympathetic to parts of woke ideology and went to bed that evening questioning how they had signed on to a worldview that had nothing to say about the mass rape and murder of innocent people by terrorists.
  • We woke up on October 8 to the clamor of street protests in cities across the West condemning Israel even before any major Israeli response to the attacks. We watched celebratory crowds brandish swastikas and chant “gas the Jews” at events purporting to be about the loss of Palestinian lives. We saw Black Lives Matter chapters lionize terrorists.
  • The events of the last two weeks have shattered the illusion that wokeness is about protecting victims and standing up for persecuted minorities. This ideology is and has always been about the one thing many of us have told you it is about for years: power. And after the last two weeks, there can be no doubt about how these people will use any power they seize: they will seek to destroy, in any way they can, those who disagree.
  • What we have witnessed over the last two weeks—with enormous pro-Hamas rallies in cities like London, Paris, and Washington, D.C.—has the potential to change the immigration debate in a decisive way. It is much harder to pretend that allowing people to enter our country illegally is a moral good when you watch some of them celebrate mass murder in the streets of your capital cities.
  • Western civilization has produced some of the most stunning scientific, technological, social, and cultural breakthroughs in human history. If you consider yourself “liberal” or even “progressive,” it must surely be clear by now that America and her allies are the only places in the world where your values are even considered values. If our civilization is allowed to collapse, it will not be replaced by a progressive utopia. It will be replaced by chaos and barbarism.
  • [About Triggernometry and mainstream media:] We don't have a budget to employ a bunch of people to do extensive research on things or to do fact checking for us. So we can't do certain things that the mainstream media can do, and should do. The problem is the mainstream media isn't doing it either. [...] There's a really important role for the mainstream media. I just wish they'd play that role. [...] New media has its own problems. It over rewards charisma. It over rewards passion. It massively under rewards any attempts to cling to truth. It encourages people to go off in the pursuit of the most exciting take, and truth isn't always exciting. The truth is we need a vibrant ecosystem in which all of these different pieces play their own different roles, which is why I'm in favour of maximum freedom because that's when you get everybody doing their thing. Over time people who want wholesome content if you like, when it comes to fact or information or whatever, can seek it out. Because people aren't stupid.

An Immigrant's Love Letter to the West (2022)

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All quotes from the trade paperback edition published by Constable in 2023, ISBN 978-1-4087-1606-9, third printing.
Italics as in the book. Bold face added for emphasis.
  • Pavlik Morozov was murdered by his own family in retribution. But, eerily, I still catch glimpses of him in modern Western society, especially at this point in time, when we are routinely encouraged to put politics before the person, snitch on each other via government hotlines and prove our devotion to idealistic agendas.
    • Chapter 1, “Trust me—West is best” (p. 10)
  • The reality of life under the USSR is not something most people can accurately comprehend now, because it happened before most millennials were born and thus preceded the advent of social media, which means to most of my peers it might as well never have happened at all.
    • Chapter 1, “Trust me—West is best” (p. 12)
  • If there is one thing my Soviet childhood taught me, it’s that subscribing to someone else’s ideology will always inevitably mean having to suspend your own judgment about right and wrong to appease your tribe. I refuse to do so.
    • Chapter 1, “Trust me—West is best” (p. 20)
  • This is why so few Russians are rarely, if ever, progressive liberals. They are too busy dealing with the harsh realities of life, such as having to pay the rent or feed their children on a shoestring budget, to partake in self-righteousness and identity politics.
    • Chapter 2, “A reality check for Westerners” (p. 39)
  • If anything, free speech is the kryptonite of fascism, regardless of whether it stems from the left or the right. It’s the ultimate disinfectant for bad ideas.
    Tellingly, this is often why these people are happy to limit free speech: because, beneath all the bluster and virtue-signalling, they have flimsy arguments that collapse under the lightest touch of critical analysis. So, instead of making their ideas more robust—which is what most people would do—they put down debate altogether and hope it goes away.
    • Chapter 4, “Free speech—and why it matters” (p. 67)
  • Put simply, suppression of free speech is a symptom of tyranny.
    • Chapter 4, “Free speech—and why it matters” (p. 69)
  • If the right loses the ability to say what it wishes, then that’s a loss for the left as well, because sooner or later that restriction is going to hit them. That’s a mistake that the millennial left tend to make. They think they’re always going to be in a position of calling the shots and making the rules, because they’re so right-on and woke. They think a climate of fear isn’t going to affect them, because they always have the correct opinions, but this is a huge mistake. It’s like young people thinking that they’re always going to be young.
    • Chapter 4, “Free speech—and why it matters” (p. 77; quoting Lionel Shriver)
  • This whole idea that the only reason people keep nattering on about free speech is that they want to use racist language and promote bigotry—that’s ignorant.
    • Chapter 4, “Free speech—and why it matters” (p. 77; quoting Lionel Shriver)
  • She then adds that the primary motivation for contemporary censorship isn’t shielding people from ‘mean’ words but exercising power. ‘It feels good to tell people what to do. These people think they’re motivated by virtue, but the thrill isn’t doing good; it’s authoritarian: pushing people around and punishing them when they step out of line. It’s a predatory sport, and getting people sacked is one of the things you do on social media…and now in the mainstream media.’
    • Chapter 4, “Free speech—and why it matters” (p. 77; quoting Lionel Shriver)
  • Modern life has become Orwellian and—in many ways—we’re all 1984’s Winston Smith now.
    • Chapter 4, “Free speech—and why it matters” (p. 80)
  • Soviet citizens, including my great-grandparents, who made statements that were regarded as problematic by the authorities, were told, ‘Comrade, this may be factually correct but it is politically incorrect.’ In other words, political correctness originates from the desire to suppress the truth in order to protect and advance the prevailing political narrative of the day. How things haven’t changed!
    • Chapter 5, “How language is used to conceal truth” (p. 81)
  • As a rule, the more outward ‘diversity’ an institution has, the more political uniformity there usually is among the people within it. This is because those calling for ‘diversity’ don’t really want dissimilarity or opposing views. They just want certain groups to be promoted over others, and straight, white men taken down a peg. Never the other way around.
    • Chapter 5, “How language is used to conceal truth” (pp. 82-83)
  • Hand in hand with this new linguistic spin on diversity comes ‘inclusion’, which is another word that has been bastardised in recent years. Spaces, we are told, must now be made more inclusive in order for them to be healthy. However, on entering such a space, you’ll soon discover that some people are more included than others.
    • Chapter 5, “How language is used to conceal truth” (p. 83)
  • In fact, those responsible for setting up particularly ‘inclusive’ spaces frequently ask certain people to leave in order to ensure ‘safety’.
    Safety, you see, also has a new meaning based primarily around not having to be confronted with different opinions and beliefs (as opposed to physical threat, which is the sole ‘safety’ issue everyone cared about until five minutes ago).
    • Chapter 5, “How language is used to conceal truth” (p. 83)
  • Here’s an idea: why don’t we all stop telling other people how they should refer to themselves and mind our own damn business?
    • Chapter 5, “How language is used to conceal truth” (p. 87)
  • 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.
    • Chapter 5, “How language is used to conceal truth” (p. 89)
  • 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.
    • Chapter 5, “How language is used to conceal truth” (p. 90)
  • 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.
    • Chapter 6, “Why we need journalists, not activists” (p. 104)
  • 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.
    • Chapter 7, “The c-word (capitalism)” (p. 108)
  • 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.
    • Chapter 7, “The c-word (capitalism)” (p. 109; ellipsis represents elision of a list of countries)
  • 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.
    • Chapter 8, “The other c-word (comedy)” (p. 126)
  • 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.
    • Chapter 8, “The other c-word (comedy)” (p. 127)
  • 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.
    • Chapter 8, “The other c-word (comedy)” (p. 127)
  • 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.
    • Chapter 8, “The other c-word (comedy)” (p. 129)
  • 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.
    • Chapter 8, “The other c-word (comedy)” (p. 129)
  • 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.
    • Chapter 8, “The other c-word (comedy)” (p. 130; quoting Andrew Doyle)
  • It was a complete overreaction and disconnected from reality, but that’s the norm.
    • Chapter 8, “The other c-word (comedy)” (p. 131)
  • 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.
    • Chapter 8, “The other c-word (comedy)” (p. 132)
  • 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.
    • Chapter 8, “The other c-word (comedy)” (p. 132)
  • 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.
    • Chapter 8, “The other c-word (comedy)” (p. 136)
  • 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.
    • Chapter 9, “An immigrant’s view on immigration” (p. 139)
  • 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.
    • Chapter 9, “An immigrant’s view on immigration” (p. 143)
  • As American philosopher Eric Hoffer famously wrote, ‘Every great cause starts as a movement, becomes a business and eventually degenerates into a racket.’
    Diversity has long ceased being a noble cause. It’s been a business for some time and is now rapidly becoming a government-funded, media-supported, propaganda-driven, shameless racket. So many people are now aware of this that even the diversity hustlers have had to change the word—they call it ‘representation’ now. This is why any conversation about immigration immediately becomes a toxic, fact-free zone of hyperventilation—their livelihoods are at stake.
    • Chapter 9, “An immigrant’s view on immigration” (pp. 145-146)
  • 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?
    • Chapter 10, “Should I go back?” (p. 159)
  • 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.
    • Chapter 10, “Should I go back?” (p. 171)
  • 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?
    • Chapter 11, “Ten ways to destroy the West” (p. 200)
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