Walking on the Razor's Edge

Not buying what The Daily Wire is selling.

Jeremy’s Razors

Jeremy’s Razors

I don’t typically like to bring attention to people who are clearly desperate for it; however, I am making an exception this week. On Tuesday, The Daily Wire announced, in a commercial that you can watch here, that they are launching a razor company called Jeremy’s Razors. As the commercial makes clear, The Daily Wire has decided to make razors because Harry’s, another razor company, stopped advertising with The Daily Wire following a complaint that Daily Wire hosts were promoting homophobia/transphobia.

According to the commercial, it was The Daily Wire’s stance on transgenderism that sparked the severed advertising relationship between the two companies. Whatever the reason, the bombastic commercial makes clear that The Daily Wire is going after Harry’s for the advertising withdrawal. This is part of a larger attempt by The Daily Wire to fight back against progressive institutions by setting up their own.

Whether it is movies, social media content review shows, comedy, or talk shows, The Daily Wire is no longer a mere political or journalistic outlet but an entertainment hub. This flows right from Ben Shapiro’s, co-founder of The Daily Wire, belief that “politics is downstream from culture.” In other words, the beliefs that people hold dear are largely developed and cultivated from the culture around them, not the politics of the day. In order to influence politics, one must influence the culture first.

While I tend to prefer politically motivated actors to stay out of cultural creation on both sides, I understand this perspective, which is why I haven’t paid much attention to it. However, Jeremy’s Razors caught my attention because it seems to deviate so far from this attempt to influence culture. How does selling razors help shape the cultural beliefs of Americans and thus their political beliefs? I would argue that it doesn’t.

I want to be clear that I am not inherently opposed to The Daily Wire launching a razor company for whatever reason they want. In fact, I am all for businesses launching other businesses that they believe are profitable opportunities; however, I am hesitant to endorse this move from The Daily Wire or other conservative entities that may attempt to do something similar.

Creating Silos

One of my main hesitations is that the creation of political/economic silos leads to reinforcing extremes instead of mediating behavior. In my last newsletter, I wrote about how Adam Smith viewed free exchange as forcing people to act better whether they wanted to or not. The market does this by punishing immoral behavior and those who participate in it, as the world is showing right now in the case of Russia.

While I believe this principle holds broadly, there are limits to it. For example, the Ku Klux Klan is still around today, and members still wear the traditional garb. This means that somebody or some company makes money by producing and selling racist clothing to racist people. Such a company would certainly qualify as participating in immoral behavior but isn’t seemingly punished by the market (though, that company is “punished” in that they are limited in how much they can expand).

In a nutshell, the more niche or isolated from the broader population that a product or service is, the less the company selling it will experience the mediating influence of the market. In no way, shape, or form am I comparing The Daily Wire to the Ku Klux Klan, but the more they create their own products and institutions the more isolated they will become from the mediating influence of the market. In fact, starting their own razor company is in direct response to the market attempting to change their behavior.

Jeremy Boreing, co-founder and CEO of The Daily Wire, made clear that separating the economy into “conservative” and “progressive” silos is the goal. He said that because the Left “is happy to bifurcate the culture, ripping it in two” in order “to win, we [conservatives] have to rip the economy in two.” By doing this, it will “create economic incentives for better behavior” according to Boreing.

I think splitting the economy into progressive and conservative spheres will actually do the opposite. It will allow both sides to cater to a more limited market which will limit the broader market’s ability to enforce moral behavior. This matters because even when an action isn’t immoral (like The Daily Wire in this case), the potential to experience market consequences makes companies think twice, serving as a check against radicalism. If a company removes all potential market consequences by creating an economic silo, then there are less checks against the temptation towards extreme behavior.

They Hate You

The other hesitation I have of Jeremy’s Razors is its reliance on feeding the victim mentality of conservatives. Over, and over, and over the reason given that I should buy Jeremy’s Razors is so that I am not giving money to a company that “hates me.” I hope that this message is merely a marketing ploy because it is nonsense otherwise.

Like I’ve said, I largely agree with The Daily Wire’s views on transgenderism. I am also a conservative who believes in conservative values. Politically, I have my differences with The Daily Wire, but I am certainly closer to them than I am Harry’s. I assume that I am the prime target for the kind of person that Harry’s allegedly “hates.” And yet, I simply don’t care.

First, I don’t think Harry’s hates me personally. They may disagree with my political beliefs or conservative values. They may speak out against my political beliefs and conservative values. That doesn’t mean they hate me. They may hate what I stand for, but there is nothing personal about that, and to take it personally is childish.

Furthermore, even if Harry’s hated me personally and everything I stood for, I still wouldn’t care as long as they treated me well and made a good product. Harry’s leadership, management, and employees could right now have complete and total hatred of me personally, and as long as they didn’t act on it then who cares? I don’t need my feelings or ideas to be affirmed by total strangers: I just need to shave.

Finally, any and every conservative in the country can buy a Harry’s razor right now that is the same quality razor as one a progressive would buy. At the same time, the conservative would be treated the exact same way that any progressive would be treated. I, as a conservative, am being treated the exact same way, receive the exact same product, and Harry’s has never personally said or done anything against me, so how do they hate me?

Harry’s has done nothing to suggest that it does. Harry’s has simply made a decision not to advertise anymore with The Daily Wire. The suggestion that I should take that decision to mean that Harry’s hates me personally is nonsensical and another example of conservatives playing the victim. We live in a society with people who have vastly different beliefs and the freedom to act in accordance with their beliefs. If we as conservatives can’t accept that, then the problem is with us.

God Bless,

Hunter Burnett