The Russian British libertarian pundit, host of the podcast Triggernometry and author Konstantin Kisin posts on X (on 4th August) to tell us that he has nothing to add. Except that he told us so.

He’s referring to the anti immigration riots which have convulsed the UK. According to Kisin they are totally predictable not to mention very preventable. And thankfully he knows exactly whose fault it is.

His humble “told you so” starts like this:

“People keep demanding that I comment on what is happening in the UK… But already did, weeks ago.”

Ah! So the oracle and polemicist has already whispered his words of wisdom? How did I miss them?

I missed them because the prophet of doom (more doom = more clicks) chose to bury his ominous, all-seeing prediction into a series of three meandering posts. These posts bemoan the usual cause célèbre of modern society as well as giving a sense of Kisin himself. He says, for instance, that he “fears the future” because “the balance between order and chaos is increasingly being lost in modern Western societies”. Well, on an optimistic note they said the same thing was happening the multiverse during the recent ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ movie, but luckily it worked out all right.

Kisin also mentions puberty blockers, Islamification, risk from fascists and communists, a fleeting reference to his own family’s experience of the Holocaust, Swedish crime as well as his normal trope about how the woke mainstream media censor voices of dissent. This last point is a popular refrain of people like Kisin which is easily dispelled by way of example: Nigel Farage MP is the living epitome of what voices of dissent can achieve and how little censoring has actually happened in 30 years. It’s funny how the right wing always claim to be censored, while on the other side the left wing say their voices are marginalised. They have more in common than they think.

Kisin also decries the high levels of immigration into the UK but clearly doesn’t regret his own: he was born in Moscow and moved to the UK as a teen. His 2022 book, “An Immigrants Love Letter to the West”, was according to Spiked a “message that we should value and protect what we have’. Well said that man!

But it was this quote in one of his three posts that really grabbed my attention. He states that “right-wing extremism (the forces of order) is rising as a response to left-wing extremism (the forces of chaos)…” I had to read that twice before it sank in. The extreme right acts as a force for order to keep the extreme left in line? Bonkers. Where I live (Ireland) the centre represents order and the far anything represents chaos. And this is where my first main problem is with Kisin. He’s effectively justifying what the far right do because the far left started it. That’s juvenile and just plain wrong.

Secondly, while Kisin is smart enough to “condemn the violence in the streets” without criticising the rioters, he goes further by adding, “And I condemn the people who made it inevitable.” Wrong again, Konstantin.

Violence on the streets was never inevitable. It was inevitable in the Deadpool movie and if I’m honest, I enjoyed it. But the real violence, toxic racism and destruction on UK streets was clearly a choice. Looting and helping yourself to trays of sausage rolls and multiple pairs of Crocs was also a choice. And no, these aren’t the actions of a far right rising to bring order to far left lunacy. Are there issues to solve in society? Of course there are and always will be. Are people entitled to have concerns about immigration or a host of other issues? Of course and many commentators including Ayaan Hirsi Ali articulate articulate them well. Just don’t try to tell me that the UK riots are anything other than antisocial thuggery.

Kisin has a large following and wields considerable influence. However he reduces individual responsibility (for rioting) to a game of “the other side started it” and it was all inevitable (again because of the other side). When you go down this road there’s not much room for constructive debate or reaching consensus on ways forward.

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