King’s College London’s Libertarian Society has invited two controversial speakers for an event on philosophy that will be taking place on Monday 5 March on the Strand Campus.
The two speakers are Carl Benjamin, a noted libertarian Youtuber, and Ya…
King’s College London’s Libertarian Society has invited two controversial speakers for an event on philosophy that will be taking place on Monday 5 March on the Strand Campus.
The two speakers are Carl Benjamin, a noted libertarian Youtuber, and Yaron Brook, the director of the Ayn Rand Institute (ASI), an economic non-profit. The event is a debate between Benjamin and Brook on Ayn Rand’s philosophy, objectivism, followed by a question and answer period.
Carl Benjamin, better known as “Sargon of Akkad” has become popular amongst right-wing circles for his channel exploring issues of philosophy and history, often with an anti-feminist bent. He rose to fame during the “Gamergate” controversy in 2016, where a feminist games critic was sent rape threats, and makes videos criticising “SJWs”, or social justice warriors.
Benjamin alleged that Heather Heyer, the activist who was killed by a white nationalist’s car in Charlottesville, Virginia in August of 2017, actually died of a heart attack and not as a result of the car’s impact.
Previously, when Jess Phillips MP tweeted last year that rape threats had become par for the course as a part of her job, Benjamin responded by saying that he wouldn’t “even rape you (Jess Phillips)” in a tweet.
While his channel has been reviewed by Youtube several times, he remains able to monetize content from the channel and has a Patreon where he makes about $8,100 per month.
Yaron Brook is a scholar and author who has spoken at other institutions, such as London School of Economics. He has written a book called “Equal is Unfair”. He has also repeatedly asserted the superiority of Western civilisation and made anti-Islam remarks, asserting that countries must be “brought to their knees” in order to accept the superiority of Western civilisation.
He has advocated for foreign policy that pushes American self-interest, arguing that even the bombing of civilian centers and the torturing of enemy prisoners of war is acceptable if it ..
