Billy Corgan recently reunited with his former Smashing Pumpkins bandmate James Iha, but that doesn't mean he's found peace with everyone out there. In a new interview with 9/11 truther and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on the famed Infowars talk show, Corgan admitted that he can't stand the Internet's "social justice warriors."
The two discussed what Corgan described as the "hashtag generation," referring to people who police language in an attempt to make online discussions more politically correct. Corgan also described "social justice warriors" as "Maoist" and "a cult."
Further, the alt-rock icon said, "I'm horrified as somebody who believes in free speech and as an artist. Because let's face it, those people are going to be coming for me. It may not be tomorrow, but it'll be soon enough. Because I said the wrong thing on the wrong day because I was tired."
Offering a plug for one of Jones' Infowars-branded supplements, Corgan continued: "I didn't take my X2 that day or whatever. To live like that, to live where every word is a land mine, that's not the world I want to live in."
To defend free speech, Corgan referenced a time that the Ku Klux Klan were allowed to march in Skokie, IL, in the late '70s.
"I was there growing up at the time when they let the KKK march down the street," he said. "And what was the issue? It was a freedom of speech issue. They're thumbing their nose at us, but you know what? It's better to have an America where these idiots get to walk down the street and spout their hate. That's the world I grew up in — a liberal, democratically leaning Chicago that was about tolerance and free speech. Not shut it down because it's unpleasant.
"The lack of tolerance of ideas and other points of view is the great Achilles' heel of the social justice warrior movement. They do not apply their philosophical bent across the board equally. That's what exposes them every time."
Jones then referenced the fact that so-called "social justice warriors" have spat in the face of his reporters over disagreements in the past. Corgan equated this with the way the KKK treated people of colour in the past.
"Let's flip the script here for a second, and I'm going to try to say this in a hypothetical Star Wars holodeck kind of way," Corgan said (mistaking Star Wars for Star Trek). "I'm not saying America doesn't have a racist bent so let's put that out there to start with, but let's talk about when racism was accepted. It was institutionalized. If you could go back to Selma, and the Klan member is spitting in some person of colour's face, don't you think that guy thought he was right too? So how is this any different?"
Finally, Corgan said that he thinks he'd be more successful if he were to cater to the politically correct ways of the current online climate: "I would sell more records, I would have more opportunities if I turned into one of those hashtaggy trendies."
The two discussed what Corgan described as the "hashtag generation," referring to people who police language in an attempt to make online discussions more politically correct. Corgan also described "social justice warriors" as "Maoist" and "a cult."
Further, the alt-rock icon said, "I'm horrified as somebody who believes in free speech and as an artist. Because let's face it, those people are going to be coming for me. It may not be tomorrow, but it'll be soon enough. Because I said the wrong thing on the wrong day because I was tired."
Offering a plug for one of Jones' Infowars-branded supplements, Corgan continued: "I didn't take my X2 that day or whatever. To live like that, to live where every word is a land mine, that's not the world I want to live in."
To defend free speech, Corgan referenced a time that the Ku Klux Klan were allowed to march in Skokie, IL, in the late '70s.
"I was there growing up at the time when they let the KKK march down the street," he said. "And what was the issue? It was a freedom of speech issue. They're thumbing their nose at us, but you know what? It's better to have an America where these idiots get to walk down the street and spout their hate. That's the world I grew up in — a liberal, democratically leaning Chicago that was about tolerance and free speech. Not shut it down because it's unpleasant.
"The lack of tolerance of ideas and other points of view is the great Achilles' heel of the social justice warrior movement. They do not apply their philosophical bent across the board equally. That's what exposes them every time."
Jones then referenced the fact that so-called "social justice warriors" have spat in the face of his reporters over disagreements in the past. Corgan equated this with the way the KKK treated people of colour in the past.
"Let's flip the script here for a second, and I'm going to try to say this in a hypothetical Star Wars holodeck kind of way," Corgan said (mistaking Star Wars for Star Trek). "I'm not saying America doesn't have a racist bent so let's put that out there to start with, but let's talk about when racism was accepted. It was institutionalized. If you could go back to Selma, and the Klan member is spitting in some person of colour's face, don't you think that guy thought he was right too? So how is this any different?"
Finally, Corgan said that he thinks he'd be more successful if he were to cater to the politically correct ways of the current online climate: "I would sell more records, I would have more opportunities if I turned into one of those hashtaggy trendies."
