JonTron

Jonathan 'JonTron' Jafari

Jonathan Aryan Jafari, also known as JonTron, is an American YouTuber, comedian, and media reviewer.

On Stream appearance and Controversy WIP

Destiny debates JonTron on immigration and assimilation WIP

JonTron agreeing to come on stream for a debate with Destiny(the suspended user). Also featuring 4THOT.

On March 12, 2017 JonTron tweeted out a defense to a quote from Iowa Representative Steve King, who tweeted in regards to the United States' immigration policy: "We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies." JonTron's initial defense of the tweet was the following: "Wow, how scandalous, Steve King doesn't want his country invaded by people who have contempt for his culture and people! NAZI!!!". JonTron would go beyond that initial defense for some time(4 hours) and soon crossed paths with Destiny on twitter. After some back and forth JonTron eventually agreed to come onto Destiny's stream for a debate.

The debate occurred on Destiny's channel and went on until around 2am the next morning. As the conversation begins, JonTron checks his mic, cracks some jokes, and even compliments Destiny on his looks. Destiny explains his interest in "cultural issues", mentioning its current popularity and his ongoing discussions on his stream, referencing Brexit and Trump's presidency as examples. He further notes that the "gaming" community often leans a particular way on these topics, especially after Gamergate, and suggests that JonTron seems to have gravitated towards that perspective, specifically on immigration and cultural matters. Destiny then expresses his concern about JonTron holding such a viewpoint, especially considering his vast audience. JonTron responds, saying he doesn't find his perspective troubling. In fact, he's more concerned that people find it troubling in the first place, as he does not find such a perspective to be very controversial. He goes on to say that "staying on the fence", and "avoiding conflict" in such polarizing times is pointless.

JonTron asks Destiny what he finds "so troubling" with his perspective on cultural issues. Destiny responds that the general defense of "American Culture" from the sources he's read defending JonTron's point, tends to boil down to: "I think that this thing is better because it's majority white, and I don't want that to change...". JonTron responds by stating this is not his "core-argument", and that his main argument is that "no other nation would voluntarily change it's demographics". JonTron continues to press this point, saying that demographics are important as they provide an easy way of "identifying who's the problem". Destiny counters this, stating the United States is unique in it's identity, and doesn't truly have an ethnic background tied to the country and highlights the varying Eurocentric backgrounds that makeup a lot of the American population. JonTron then claims the U.S. is historically a "European Nation." Destiny disputes this, noting historical discrimination against Italians and Irishmen in the U.S, and cites a slur used to refer to Irish Americans. JonTron responds that these people are "still European", and Destiny(noticing that JonTron has missed the point of his argument), points out that these people were not seen as such historically and still faced prejudice.

Aftermath of JonTron's debate with Destiny WIP

This conversation was quite the turning point in Destiny's streaming career, and cemented his position(for some time) as a "lefty" streamer willing to engage the right. Throughout the conversation, whenever Destiny presented a coherent logical argument, called JonTron out for a misstep, or cited a statistic, JonTron either derailed the conversation to a different topic or laughed off the questions/arguments. Those on the left lauded Destiny for his performance^{[citation needed ]}, while those on the right were hypercritical of Destiny's "debate tactics".^{[citation needed ]}

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