I am a Jewish socialist who likes to mess around with fountain pens and I honestly could not care less about this. If I were in a room with the Noodlers guy I might say "Hey man, this is in poor taste." but that is about as far as any of this should go. It's like, do you have any idea how many people are starving in the world? How many are living under brutal dictatorships or grinding their lives away in sweatshops or have to watch their children die from cured diseases because they can't get vaccines? How many people in this rich country can't go to a doctor when they get sick or a dentist when a tooth is rotting because they can't afford it? Being outraged at an eccentric small business owner who put devil horns on a doodle of Ben Bernanke seems more like neurotic behavior than "social justice activism".
That is because you are a normal person that doesn't take his political views like a jihadi takes religion, I'm an European socialist and I can't help but roll my eyes whenever I have to interact with "culture warriors" online, like, I get it, the world has plenty of injustice and whatnot but why the everloving fuck do we have to argue about this with an ink/comic book/videogame/song etc.?
@@paulll47 You don't. You can continue to support horrible people if you so wish. As an American who lost several family members in WW2 during the liberation of Europe, don't ask us to do it again. Obviously it wasn't much appreciated by europeans who seem to be just fine with nazi's.
@@huntforagefish4730 Here is the social justice warrior, feeling better now? Rest assured, I will keep supporting horrible people if it means worse people (you) keep seething and coping about it. The world is on the verge of colapse with people dying left and right, while you feel that spending money on ink is somehow important, talk about privilege. Also, you weren't the only one in Europe, the Brits and the Ruskies took the brunt of it, so don't act you are somehow special, you spent all your hero points in Iraq and Afghanistan, you have no leg to stand on.
@@huntforagefish4730 Here is the outrage warrior, feeling better now? Rest assured, I will keep supporting "horrible" people if it means worse people (you) keep seething and coping about it. The world is on the verge of colapse with people dying left and right, while you feel that spending money on ink is somehow important, talk about privilege. Also, you weren't the only one in Europe, the Brits and the Ruskies took the brunt of it, so don't act you are somehow special, you spent all your hero points in Iraq and Afghanistan, you have no leg to stand on.
I have known Nathan for 40 years or more. He and I get along very well. We have our differences. Politics and pens. He likes Sheaffer, I like Waterman. I’m pretty liberal, he’s rather conservative. What we agree on is the love of pens, but also being proselytizers in encouraging all within earshot to use fountain pens. The naming of his pens and inks has been quite creative and thoughtful. I hate to see him be toned down by anyone. I don’t like titles of my artwork to be made more polite as it might offend a few people. I don’t try to offend, however. Actually, I do sometimes like to offend people or groups that I feel deserve it. Perhaps every head of the Federal Reserve deserves a set of horns. I’ve applied a set on an image I drew of Boston’s Cardinal Bernard Law for his miserable inaction during the church’s sex scandals. Those that asked Nathan to change the ink name should also write a letter to the Vatican demanding his holiness chip away the horns on Michelangelo’s statue of Moses.
Michaelangelo's Moses! Yes! I was wondering if anyone would mention that. I don't condone damaging a work of art, by the way, even art I don't like. I was just wondering if I spent too much educational time on art, because when this controversy pinged my radar, I remembered the statue and wondered about its horns.
@@taimdala the depiction of horns on Moses was due to a mistranslation of a word in the Hebrew Bible to the Vulgate Latin version. The original description was meant to mean emitting rays of light. I doubt Michelangelo meant disrespect by adding them. But, horns they are…where’s the chisel? Where Bernanke’s Christian schoolmates got the idea that Jews had horns was probably due to their ignorant parents.
@@PiersStudio thanks for your reply! I wasn't aware of the mistranslation, but now that I think about it, it makes sense that something like that could happen. As for continued/generational prejudice and ignorance, it's still senseless to me how it persists. (Edited: fixed a misspelled word.)
Love to hear about friendships despite political opinion. Thanks for sharing this about Nathan. And as a Catholic, yes! Church leaders failing to lead need criticism.
I think Nathan is probably a little isolated, overworked, and insensitive. My understanding was that there was pushback about the possible political interpretations of some of the names and label illustrations regarding Noodler's inks. I did NOT get the sense that any of this pushback originated really from Goulet Pens. It was just that when Nathan decided he was going to change the names and label illustrations of quite a few of his inks to reflect more social awareness of things that might be found offensive by some individuals or groups (including, for instance, changing the name of Apache Sunset to Southwest Sunset), Goulet suspended selling all of his inks until his "rebranding" efforts were completed and standardized, then the updated versions of the products would be stocked and sold. I never got the sense from what I saw Brian Goulet say about it in his videos that this was ever a falling out between Brian and Nathan. I thought the suspension of sales of Noodler's inks (and I notice there was never a suspension in the sales of Noodler's pens and nibs) was Brian's way of assuring people he would again carry Noodler's inks immediately upon completion of this "restructuring," and that he was actually supporting Nathan's choices in this way. But hell, that's just what I came away from it with. I don't know either of these guys individually and I don't know what "pissed off Brian" looks or sounds like.
I think that it was funny and I always enjoy ink labels being meaningful. I think this whole thing doesn't make sense at all and it is sad, but if we just hold our noses and quickly go through it, we might continue to enjoy it again.
I talked to Nathan last Friday. He didn't even know that Mr. Bernanke was Jewish, but he's a public figure and political satire and commentary has a over 200 year old history of being biting. It wasn't a comment on Mr. Bernanke's religion, it was a comment on his fiscal policies. Nathan has a family history of one of his ancestors, Mary Dyer was hung in Boston on 1 June 1660 for being a member of the Society of Friends, the same upbringing Nathan was brought up in, and that group is one of the most tolerant religious groups I know of. Cancel Culture has to stop because without its ending meaningful political humour and satire which often has very positive effects on redirecting the direction of society. Maybe Mr. Bernanke WAS being just a little bit devilish in his fiscal policy. To say that Nathan did this because Mr. Bernanke was Jewish completely misses the person and character of Mr. Tardiff.
The issue with the bernanke label was brought up originally years ago when it came out. The problem resurfaced, because he did it again with the Volcker Green label that was quickly pulled back in January. We also did not accuse nathan of being an anti-semite, We only pointed out the imagery that he was using was historically anti-semitic for the second time he put horns on Jews, (it was the second time he put horns on Bernanke in january) where he had a label of Bernanke and Greenspan with devils horns flanking Volcker with a Halo. While there are few images of it floating around because it was pulled almost immediately, the image can be found on reddit. If this was just a one off oopsie, I don't think anyone would have batted an eye, but it wasn't.
@@user-sw7iv6nh3e The raised fist murdered like 250,000,000 people last century, you complaining about that, or are you just playing communist word games?
@@user-sw7iv6nh3e but he didn't put the horns on because of Bernake's Judaism, he put them on as a longstanding critique of the fiscal policies of Qualitative Easing and of inflationary policies in general. It's been a theme of Nathan's for more than a decade now. It doesn't matter that it was brought up before because the intent was never about the religion and always about the politics.
Suuuuure he didn't *WINK*. I totally believe that too. Hey! I want to send you money. Can you send me your account details so I forcan transfer this? HAHAHAHAHA! What an IDIOT!!!
I'm Jewish and I am quite willing to accept Nathan's apology. I've been aware of Nathan for a long time, even before he was making ink and was just repairing pens. I believe this was an unfortunate mistake and I think he has made that clear. I think Goulet did the right think too. Nobody deserves to be 'cancelled' over this.
What I saw that cemented my opinion that Tardif's is actually sorry was the donation to the Anti-Defamation league. He's a bit of a conspiracy nutter so to have him do $3600- 18 (חַי, chai, "life") times 200 (ר, resh, "rabbi" or "knowledge") shows he put some serious thought into it, OR asked someone who knew what's what to help. That's more than any words.
I believe his artistic representation was misconstrued, politics seem to be Nathan’s focus, not religion. I was very upset with Goulet’s response considering their long relationship with Nathan and his inks and pens. They should have just pulled the inks of concern and told their customers that they were working with Noodler’s to correct the issues with the inks that were causing all the drama. Instead they sent out an extremely over reactive statement that even went as far as to apologize for their “association with this brand”, that statement right there pissed me off. That statement showed me their character, absolutely zero grace, zero loyalty. So with that went my loyalty, I wrote them an email politely with my concerns and actually got back a snippy response. So I closed my Goulet account, unsubscribe their newsletter and don’t watch anymore of their videos. There are lots of other pen companies to purchase from, and I can buy ink directly from the ink makers, and there are loads of other fountain pen related videos online too. It doesn’t affect me much to redirect my loyalty, it was easy. I love my Noodler’s inks and I love how unique they are.
@Rebecca C….Couldn’t agree more. I have watched bits and pieces of their weekly Pencasts lately and commented there. But I have slammed the Goulets for their disgracefully craven, unprincipled, virtue signaling antics over the Noodler’s ink controversy right here in this comment section, and elsewhere. I very seldom ever bought anything from Goulet anyway, for a few different reasons. So, striking them off my list was an easy thing to do for me after their cowardly conduct during this controversy. There are others who followed the Goulet’s sorry example. I struck them off my list, too. It was harder for me to do the same with Anderson Pens. But I did. Because to me, principles ought to trump business, every time.
I've got to know Noodler's through Goulet pens, so it would be sad not to see them together again. But then, Jetpens sells Noodler's ink too, so there are places to go, if you want to but Noodler's ink. Now, Bernanke Red has been around for a while, and so Bernanke Black. If I recall, the colors and the name had to do with decisions Bernanke did while heading the Fed. And both inks have been in the stock for a while. Noodler's also has a penchant for politically troublesome names, among them 54th Massachusetts. I remember Brian Goulet also mentioning that one time. Goulet pens is free to do business with anyone they choose, and if they now have decided not to do business with Noodler's, that's their right. Personally, I like Noodler's inks, and I like the amount I get for the money I spend, so I will continue buying, but from other vendors.
Not sure why the 54th Massachusetts would have caused Noodler's any controversy. The unit being a voluntary African-American unit was known for its bravery ( even with heavy casualties), taking a stand for equal pay and fighting against discrimination from the US government . If anything, the ink would be honoring that unit. Unless I'm missing something.
......I like Noodler's as well, a total of 52 inks (4 being for the Boston Safety Pens I have....being 4 as well). I really enjoy Nathan's videos he puts out about his inks,pens and Commonwealth shows he attends.
@@r.h3961 From what I remember Mr Tardif saying in the interview with Brian Goulet, the African-American soldiers' payments were delayed or never paid. The ink, I think, does honor them, but also calls on the injustice. However, maybe someone takes the reference as negative for highlighting the injustice. Same way with the Bernanke Red. The art is clearly a caricature as how people saw Bernanke's policies (evil policies, centralizing power in a nearly Soviet manner), but it wasn't about (I think) him being Jew, I believe. I still see both Bernanke inks as a set: the good (black) and the bad (red). The art, for me, just highlighted that popular perception.
We know that Nathan is a Libertarian and he has stated his dislike of the Fed. Vol let Green also had Volcker with horns. And Volcker was chairman of the Fed. Is he an anti semite or an anti Fed?
I’d argue that any fair-minded person ought to have instinctively interpreted this as a direct and honest jab at the FR, and a notoriously inept official like Bernanke. Why did ethnicity/religion have to be invoked here at all? Because people who do this know they can get away with these stunts of phony outrage over nothing. Nathan should never have apologised for this nonsense. Whatever happened to the right to freedom of speech and expression, (short of incitement to violence)?..Infuriating and disappointing at once.
Noodlers Volcker Green had Bernanke and Greenspan (the two Jews) with horns flanking Volcker (Christian) with a Halo. Nathan was told previously of the issue with the symbolism, and did again anyway. That was the major issue.
@@sajjadhusain4146 Because the outrage didn't happen over the Bernanke, it happened because years ago it was brought to his attention, and then he did it again when he came out with the Volcker Green label, and when it was pulled by the distributor back in January, rather than apologizing and doing what he is now, He went on a tirade of victim blaming and that old "I can't be racist, I like this guys book" nonsense. The right to free speech in the US Constitution, means only that you can stand on a street corner and spew out whatever crap you want without getting arrested. That does not mean that you have a right to say whatever you want without consequence.
@@user-sw7iv6nh3e …I have only four Noodler’s inks I still care for and use. And the Triple Tail pen. Never saw the Volcker Green bottle. From your description, it sounds like a rather cool picture on it, tbh. Besides, America isn’t a totalitarian state (yet), like communist Russia or Nazi Germany. I can’t fathom why Nathan must even be ‘warned’ about anything here, when he simply exercises his constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression. It is preposterous, to put it mildly. He has done this before on his ink bottles? So what? Christians are ridiculed, Jesus is crassly caricatured routinely in this country, quite often by famous Jews. Where is the outrage then? I have no time for this sycophantic sucking up to people of a specific race or religion to appease their splenetic reactions over nothing. It is way past time this pitiful nonsense needs to stop in this country.
@@user-sw7iv6nh3e Oh really? So, the First Amendment affords no protection against assaults on the freedom of speech of an individual by an irate lymch mob with wounded feelings? How enlightening!
Nathan is an artist, sometimes creative artistic expression is impactful, and sometimes that might offend a few that don’t understand, but I have loved Nathan’s Inks for years, confident that none of Nathan’s intention was to hurt any specific group of people given he seems so intent on bringing some of the most beautiful and accessible inks in the industry to the pen community. Honestly, I truly believe that he enjoys pens and the pen community far more than promoting any brand of hate. I think an artist should be allowed to be an artist, and as long as it is not a direct promotion of hate, it should be allowed even if it rustles a few feathers. I appreciate Nathans hard work, and I enjoy his inks each and every day. I use them all day at work, and on my own time, and I always will. They have never left me disappointed or offended. On the other hand, I understand that he is a businessman too, and brands that fail to adapt to a changing world usually don’t last. The market demanded change, so he changed. Now I just hope he makes an ink titled Cultural Sensitivity Grey… In time it will be the only color left that wont be offensive if we keep going this way, I would truly miss the variety of beautiful colors and shades… If you read this Nathan, feel free to steal the name…
Agreed as well. People are forgetting that Nathan and Brian have personal relationship, there’s a UA-cam video of them together talking about inks. Also the ink Liberty’s Elysium(amazing Blue) was developed just for Goulet Pens, that’s how close they are. Also, I think people went way too far with accusing Nathan of being anti-Semitic. They could have reasonably said ‘hey this is an anti-Semitic trope, you may want to change it’ instead of jumping right to the accusation that Nathan has some sort of deep seeded hatred of the Jewish people. Plus these days we throw intent right out the window. I think, like you say that Nathan just didn’t like his fiscal policies-not his ethnicity and religion. Just followed you too. A great blue by Noodler’s is X-Feather blue, it’s a deep blue.
Despite the horn's existence as a trope (and mind you Christians have been putting horns on their opponents for a long time and haven't strictly limited the practice to Jews), I don't think Nathan would have changed anything were it not for the attempt to destroy his business. Not because he's a horrible person, but because the use of the horns wasn't done in the context of religion. Nathan has been outspoken about his disdain for the Federal Reserve's inflationary policies for years, and he's been using the labels of his quick drying ink series to reflect this artistically. And so the horns were obviously a critique on the evils of Qualitative Easing and the impacts of inflationary fiscal policies on current and future generations of Americans.
I've also dealt with Nathan before he ventured off to create a quality homegrown product accessible to everyone, and agree he is an artist as well. Brian launched Goulet at the beginning of this fountain pen Renaissance and I cheered, and am only coming to this controversy as we speak. My partner is Jewish, I'm not. We get along just fine, and I believe Bernanke desrves the horns whether he's Jewish or not! This "controversy" is sadly yet another revelation of what our "culture" has become these days. Would've thought, or rather hoped, our community was beyond all this crap.
WOW! I'm definitely going to get the ink now for sure. Bravo, Noodler's! The key is the horrible role of the FED, not whether Bernanke was Jewish or not. Excellent take from BlueBeard.
It was also imagry used HEAVILY by the nazi's in the 30's, so theres that. JFC. Read a history book or go back to school. Education is failing in this country.
I think about the same way on this one. I'm pretty liberal, and Nathan is known for being fiscally conservative. I disagree with him on many things, but I think he's a rational guy that you'd be able to have a good conversation with. I don't think his ink labels etc are based on antisemitism. He is also really into some pretty obscure history, which to me indicates he's probably read enough to know how many of those tropes are based on nonsense and xenophobia. I hope the rift with Goulet blows over eventually. Maybe Nathan could do one of his history videos related to antisemitism?
I’m kind of saddened that even my hobby being politicized. I’m not canceling anybody either. I’ve never used Noodlers ink, but I have ordered from Goulet, and I love their SHORT videos.
One you start using Noodler's, you don't go back to other brands. I do a lot of hand writing at work and Noodler's Heart of Darkness in my Lamy CP1 has been my workhorse for almost 10 years.
@@Steppenwolf27 Disagree. Noodlers ink is garbage. Different every time (no standards), spills easily, not a fan. And not just because Nathan supports the extermination of all jews.
@@huntforagefish4730 To each his own. I've been using Noodler's ink for about 10 years and I find it to be very satisfactory. Granted, I only use it for handwriting and I only use "Heart of Darkness" black. So my experience is probably different from yours.
You just got a like and subscribed. I will continue to support both companies. Everyone makes mistakes. Both companies are good ones and I hope Brian G and Nathan can learn from each other and move forward.
Given the amount of labels Nathan had to change, Goulet took it too far. Goofy considering most of the nonsense was froth an nonsense on Reddit. It was a power trip on Brian's part, and I don't support Goulet anymore because of it. Nathan has has some of the craziest labels out there. Now they're just collector's pieces.
People on Reddit were really ripping on Noodlers and Nathan over this… I’m glad to find the guy wasn’t a literally nazi lol. His Inks and his story are great! Honestly love his branding, packaging, and philosophy as well. Good vid, go Noodlers!
I also find it very interesting that Goulet had no qualms about names like Apache Sunset, but now it's problematic? Ok then. They just opened a can of worms.
I' m just glad I have some of these "offensive " inks like : Apache Sunset and Navajo Turquoise, I sure Ottoman Azure would be among the ones being changed. Im keeping these bottles, won't be throwing them out since they would become some sort of collector's value later down the road.
@@r.h3961 …Ha, I reckon you’d have bragging rights as somebody who didn’t give a toss about the critics and the controversy, and instead stayed on the side of free speech and common sense. I’m not a big fan of Noodler’s inks. But I honestly felt like offering the Goulets to buy their whole stock they suddenly pretended didn’t exist. Only to brown-nose to many of their carping customers. What feckless fools! 🙄
@@r.h3961 I'm jealous of you - I'm relatively new to fountain pens so I was waiting to get those until 1) I started using my pens more regularly and 2) I got some higher quality paper to really show off their beauty.... But man now it just won't feel the same Update: I went on eBay and Amazon and bought a bottle of Navajo turquoise, Apache sunset, and Rome burning, with the original labels. I have no idea why Rome burning is having its name changed too but whatever. I have half a mind to keep the bottles and whenever I buy another ink refill to literally refill these bottles
I will continue supporting both companies I love the noodler's creativity and their products and also I learned a lot about actual fountain pens with Goulet Co. Interesting video 👍
I agree with your middle of the road approach - I think Mr Tardiff was trying to make a political statement and not an ethnic/religious attack. I can understand it could be seen as offensive and I get the reaction. What I don't get is why noodler's is changing names of inks that aren't really offensive.... Like Navajo turquoise to Mesa turquoise. If an ink is respectful with its name, why would it be an issue? The reaction seems to be almost whitewashing the names. You can honor a culture by naming beautiful colors after them. I'm sure it's a knee jerk reaction (and there's probably some outside pressure) but it's a shame
I guess because Navajo turquoise is offensive. Why not use the correct indigenous names instead of the "white washed" names? What is a Navajo turquoise? Is that the name of a group of people or an actually color? Mesa turquoise sounds like one is talking about landscape. Sounds kinda vague to me.
@@chrisblanc663 exactly, it's not like there are inks "commanche scalper red" or "stingy banker blue" - there are some serious issues with those kinda names. Not really so with Apache Sunset, which is considered one of the best shading inks out there
Nobody is genuinely offended by Nathan's political commentary about Bernanke. They are crybully sadists shedding crocodile tears while they feel the perverse satisfaction of attempting to ruin people's lives.
The problem we have is everyone has an opinion about something and that opinion can be diametrically opposed to someone else's opinion. Look at the variations of opinions of the respondents to this video. It's impossible to have an opinion without offending someone. That's the nature of opinions. The key is how the two parties handle it - or if it even needs to be handled.
Thanks for sharing your views & generating more discussion on this. I also know Nathan & Brian. Both are doing what they think they should/need to. This is unfortunate on many levels. I also believe in free speech. You can decide not to buy something for whatever reason you want. But to attack someone based on what you think they believe is not what should happen. This will just restrict our free speech & limit creativity.
I like Noodler's ink and have been oblivous to his politics. I personally have not been a fan of Bernanke and I didn't know that he was Jewish till this thing came up. Goulet Pens is my go to vendor for pens and inks. People should stick to their trades and let the market make our own decisions.
Thank you for explaining it clearly to me. I knew Nathan was going to rename some of it inks because some were rubbing people the wrong way but not to the extent it went down between Goulet and Noodler's and the reasons why it escalated to the point of removing the brand on the Goulet website. I like both companies and there's that.
I like both Goulet, and noodlers. If they have a falling away, I’ll still buy from both, I’ll just have to get noodlers stuff somewhere outside Goulet. I’ll still buy my pens and supplies from Goulet.
Thanks for chatting about this. I had no idea about the drama. All I can say is Goulet Pens does a lot for the hobby, versus Noodlers, which I only know from watching Goulet Pens’ videos. I am not taking sides on this, but I do appreciate the info you provided surrounding the controversy.
You would actually be a little surprised! Noodler's has honestly done a surprising amount for fountain pens, but Nathan doesn't "do" spotlight. I only know of two I'm person interviews that he's done (Goulet took down theirs since this dust up). He makes an incredibly variety of inks, both in color and properties, at an amazing price point that drives competition. He can also be credited with almost singlehandedly bringing flex nibs back to market (you used to have to buy vintage for flex), which sparked other brands to start making flex nibs.
Arguably, both Noodler's and Goulet were instrumental in the recent fountain pen boom. Before Noodler's, fountain pens were relegated as expensive and fragile luxury items to those of us in the US. And before Goulet, one had to have access to a specialty stationary store to even find pens and inks. I think the number of people who were introduced to fountain pens through the accessibility of a FREE pen with a bottle of ink is likely to be staggeringly large, and the economical price of the Noodler's pens and inks certainly stimulated me to explore more when i first got into the hobby. Not to mention that the historical references and unique ink properties made me excited to actually use my growing collection of inks.
I got a sample of this ink from a pen pal originally from goulet pens. I just swatched it today and tried to find the color on goulet which of course led me here....I happen to live in Apache Junction Arizona (will Goulet ship to me???? Lol) and I found the original branding for sale on Amazon. The original branding also sports a picture of the Superstition Mountains which I live at the base of. Couldn't pass up purchasing some woke culture contraband!
I had no idea what happened but knew there was some drama. I’m late to find out why but I appreciate your video and I’m glad to know about this and what happened. Thank you for this video.
Two years on and I think yours is the best video exploring what happened. Great points, critical where need be, and very fair. Also I commend you for saying that it’s important to listen to the opinions of people who are offended 👍
Today's public needs to collectively grow some hide. Sooner or later everyone offends or is offended by someone, being offended doesn't mean that you are right.
Thanks for the video and explanation of the controversy regarding Goulet Pens. Received a note in reply to a positive comment I made regarding Goulet pens and something I bought from them made by Nathan. I was baffled by the comment and this explains what it was all about. I will be staying with both of them as I regard this as a case of over reaction to a mistake that they both have owned up to, as you explained. Thanks again for the clarification. M.
I was literally under the impression that Nathan was a “Jew hater” based on Reddit comments and finding that it was about people being offended of him criticizing a federal reserve person was kind of anti climactic lol
I have a lot of Noodler's ink. A whole. damn. lot. I bought an ink called "Q"ternity which is a very good, fast-drying ink. Awesome for a lefty like me. And then I found out what "Q" was all about. It's been rebranded Brevity Blue since then, but a leopard doesn't change its spots. Sorry for the late feedback, but this vid just appeared on my algorithm.
I forgot about the rebranding of that one. Berning Red was changed too. That one had Bernie Sanders' head in front of a background of an 18th century painting of someone being guillotined in hell. It had the communist hammer and sickle with cotton bolls to complete the theme. He's free to design his labels like he wants. It's his art and his opinion. But when you design labels like that, you can expect for people to not want to buy or sell them. That's how the capitalism that he's scared of losing works.
I'm a free market guy. Noodlers may have misstepped, but they adjusted based on feedback from the free market. What I think is far worse, is Goulet censoring a product. I am more than capable of liking or disliking, supporting or not supporting, any product through a free market. It will impact my patronage of Goulet in a not-so-positive way...
Isn't a company pulling a product also just free market? Censorship is something a government does, not a company choosing to carry or not carry a product. Sounds hypocritical.
@Username Well, any person or entity can censor. It's just unconstitutional for the US government to do it... That said, I agree that Goulet can choose what they sell. That said, Goulet(or any company really) should not begin down the slippery slope of attempting to be the morality police. If customer demand for a product dries up, then stop selling it. My point is to let the customer decide. The customer is always right, correct?
@@Mikey-ii8ef It's complicated, see the court case of the baker refusing to make a wedding cake for a gay couple (Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission), or the recent Supreme Court case on the website developer refusing to make a wedding website for a gay couple (303 Creative LLC v. Elenis)
@@error.418 Companies are free to pull their support for products they don't like, and I'm free to take my business elsewhere in support of that product, which I do like. I don't see anything hypocritical about it.
I`m pretty sure than Nathan`s mistake was inadvertent. I knew who Ben Beranke was before Noodler`s inks existed. I also knew who Alan Greenspan and Paul Volcker are. I happen to know that Greenspan is Jewish only because I`m familiar with his person history having read one of ihis books. Otherwise, I have never even wondered what religious affiliation that the chair of the Federal Reserve holds. A more recent chair is Janet Yellen and the current chair is Jereme Powell. I had to look up the religion of everyone mentioned here except Greenspan because it`s not apparent to me. Some names may be common and familiar to Jewish people, but even so that`s an unreliable indicator. Some people that are Jewish at birth may have converted to another religion or not be religious at all. Some Jewish people have very un-Jewish names. Nathan`s mistake is inadvertent. He`s apologized and tried to make amends. Why is that not good enough? I see no reaso why Noodler`s ....and Goulet... shouldn`t continue to be supported by the pen community.
Did it ever occur to his critics that he was putting horns on images of powerful men not because of their religion, but because of their malicious influences on the American financial system and the fiscal security of current and future generations? You know... the stuff Nathan has been vocal about for years and years now?
did horns representing malice start from something other than religion...? if the artist had no intention of referencing religion and moreover had the intention for the work to be interpreted merely as decrying malicious influences on the American financial system and the fiscal security of current and future generations, then how come so many people were able to see though that but you still can't? regardless-- how much integrity must he lack to not stand up for: You know... the stuff Nathan has been vocal about for years and years now? what if for the past decade and more he was merely performative to exploit people like you? is it not giving him the benefit of the doubt to have total trust in his competency and enlightenment? that the man didn't act on emotion when putting horns on images of powerful men -- that he instead made conscious, deliberate decisions to incorporate specific if not obscure historical references that only those with elite intellect matching his would see? what drives you to deceive yourself? be well
Thank you for your video, I really appreciate it, and was looking for just this. I had run across a long vitriolic thread on Reddit by falling down a rabbit hole for a minute on my phone yesterday. Count me as a subscriber.
Heres what isn't taught about the freedom of speech. With this freedom comes everyone elses freedom to offend you! Someone offending you does not constitute a crime! Reasonable people already understand this. Reasonable prople dont try to offend others but it still happens.
I had not heard about this blowup until this video. I’m saddened that the situation played out this way. Nathan shouldn’t have used a personal attack in his product packaging, and there is a long and ugly history of Jewish demonization he should have been aware of. Trigger imagery is real and he should have recognized it. But I’m not convinced he intended antisemitism rather than animosity to the one person and his policies. I don’t know how much discussion there was before Goulet’s reaction. I hope all involved can move on calmly and with better communication and awareness. Thanks for this video.
I missed this controversy, recently ran into it on the Reddit r/fountainpens. Just wanted to add sometimes 2 things are true: 1) someone can not intend to be anti-Semitic AND 2) repeat/rehash an anti-Semitic imagery and reinforce anti-Semitic ideals. My concern after reviewing a few run-ins with Tardiff/Noodlers was this was not the first time he was given feedback about his imagery, and he pretty much just brushed it off until it hit his pocketbook. That makes me wary. I have purchased Noodlers, and while I don't support cancelling the entire brand (as in stores not carrying it), I was glad to hear about the history. I will be paying attention in the future to decide if I will support the brand with *my* dollars and my endorsement. Tardiff can have whatever personal opinions he wants, but I will only support brands that don't support racist messages in their branding & marketing. This is the risk you take when you are a one person operation with a limited number of people you interact with, you leave it up to the community to educate you. It can be an expensive way to learn.
Nathan needs no education on the matter I assure you. I think he should do history videos that would be an education. very knowledgable and well read. Bernanke deserves the horns no matter what religion he belongs too. When you understand the fed bank which by the way is not Federal then you understand that not just Bernanke but all the private shareholders have horns. An evil entity that has destroyed our economy with paper backed by nothing. FIAT is not money but debtors notes no more no less. This has been an exercise of free speech and I will die for your very same right. End the fed.
If he uses certain imagery as a political commentary and not a racial attack, why should he change anything when given feedback about it? It's not inherently anti-Semitic to criticize a Jewish person if you're not being bigoted about their beliefs. Nathan has been staunchly advocating for his views on fiscal policy for more than a decade, including his strong criticisms of Qualitative Easing and inflationary policies from the Federal Reserve. So him putting horns on Fed Chairmen isn't due to their faith, but due to their policies. Until people tried to destroy his business over misconstruing things, Nathan had no reason to change.
He doesn't have to change, and I do not have to spend my dollars with someone I disagree with. Specifically, I could care less about his thoughts on fiscal policy. I do care that he used his product to promote anti-Semitic beliefs as I indicated in my original comment. Freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from others reacting to your speech if they find it offensive or harmful. I, and others who feel similarly, have the choice not to promote it.
@@JanetRichards1 But he wasn't promoting anti Semitism, he was promoting fiscal conservatism. His messaging has been very clear for the past decade and more. The linking of horns to anti Semitism is tenuous at best, since artists of Christian faith have placed horns on those they view as evil for centuries. There's no special bigotry behind putting horns on someone of Jewish faith, and Tardif has repeatedly expressed that he had no idea Bernanke or Greenspan were Jewish to begin with. The entire thing is manufactured outrage. Of course, spend your dollars how you wish. But don't boycott someone over false pretenses.
@@theKashConnoisseur Way back in middle school, if a classmate put horns on someone - I knew it was a message that the person was "evil" and it was mocking them. This isn't middle school, this is a commercial product and it sends a message that was intentional. An ink bottle is not the place for a message of fiscal conservatism if it's going to be done this way. At the very least it was foolish. But that, actually, isn't my issue. It was that after being informed how it was being interpreted; there was intentional doubling down and denial. Until the pressure was too great, I can only guess. I am a black person. It really doesn't matter what hidden message I am trying to portray, if I produced a commercial product that had a white person with horns; it would be interpreted as a symbolic message of hatred and anger toward white people. Obviously! Sometimes (most times) the most obvious interpretation is the correct one. If you don't want people to react accordingly (stop buying your products), don't put hidden symbolic messages on your product that people will interpret and react to.
I wholeheartedly agree with you. I am sick of the media and those who try to infect our society to give them some power or attention. We need to get back to the Golden Rule and yes there are those who are too sensitive and looking for an insult, and there are really mean people out there who really want to hurt people with their words. I like Noodler's and I like Goulet pens and I will keep doing business with them both. As you can see from a post of Nathan's it was an unintentional misunderstanding.
I accept Nathan’s apology and approve of his donation to the Anti-Defamation League. I continue to support both companies. But criticism of anti-Semitic imagery in the original label was completely justified. Nathan’s apology explicitly admits his ignorance and takes responsibility for his mistake.
Thanks for posting this. I was unclear what the problem was. There are many equity-minded groups that have become needlessly hypersensitive. I didn’t give a crap at the time of the “crisis,” and I give even less of a crap now. I’ll continue to buy Noodlers and from Goulet.
i just stumbled on this video 2 years late. i never knew that this controversy was a thing. I think this whole thing seemed to have been overblown. What i've come to understand about Nathan, i believe it was a 100% political cartoon. The Federal reserve is a private bank, not a government organization, and as such has received a loot of well deserved scrutiny, especially considering how much of an impact it has on the economy, and monetary system here in the U.S. Anytime they change change interests rates it has a major impact on peoples lives, often times for the worse. Bernanke was serving in that position from 2006-2014. The economic downturn, and the housing crash. I'm pretty sure the reason for the devil horns was a political cartoon for the economic failures during his tenure that screwed people over rather than anything to do with his ethnicity. Also please don't mistake my comments as blaming the fed reserve as the cause of all economic problems in the US. They are not, but they are a top contributor.
A year has gone by and I'm happy that Noodler's has renamed many of their inks. It shows that the company listens to their customers and will respond to criticism.
Goulet were very professional over this entire situation. Brian Goulet has talked about it a few time on his podcast and it was clear he wasn't interested getting rid of Noodler's. Goulet has talked about being friends with Nathan a number of times.
Goulet did not get their way with Nathan privately, so they turned to social media to try a force Nathan’s into what they wanted. That is not professional that is acting like a four year old. Now, Goulet’s decision to not carry inks, they do not agree with the label or message was professional.
I would guess it is a bit over the top. Nathan is a great guy as far as I know and he do not did this to make a point aganst jews he make an apointment to a person. Not theier roots make people good or bad. So it should be possable to take this two things appart or we get a problem to act together as humans. But yes maby not all think this way so I like both companies very much and canceling is a thing I do not like, they sell theier products and both have great things to offer. I hope they get over this issue it is a great cooperation so far.
The point your totally missing is this isn’t the first or second time time he put horns on a Jew, and this isn’t the first time people asked him to change the label. Finally, he had an opportunity to apologize and he didn’t. Once, sure you can give the benefit of the doubt but he was made aware what he had done and he did not stop, he didn’t apologize and continued. He only listened after it affected his bottom line.
If you are somebody who believes Charlie Hebdo, for example, had every right to caricature Prophet Muhammad, (I do), regardless of how despicable anybody else found that sort of tawdry political stunt (again, I did), I reckon you shouldn’t have the slightest truck with the knee-jerk reactions and controversy surrounding the offensive imagery on Nathan Tardiff’s ink bottles. Free speech is at stake here. Let’s not treat Jews with unique deference and lecture everybody else to get on with the program. 🙄
@@sajjadhusain4146 Who is talking about Charlie Hebdo? This is totally a non sequitur to the conversation. Charlie Hebdo, upset a lot of people so your analogy doesn't really prove anything. Again, back to the original point of this video - Nathan was asked to change the imagery. He could have done so the first, or second time but he didn't. He didn't apologize, he just stuck to his guns. Apologizing now after he realizes his bottom line is affected really shows his colors. People specifically told him the imagery is damaging and plays on prejudice. The creator of the video seems to be oblivious to the fact that people asked Nathan to change the images on multiple bottles of ink over years. That should be taken into consideration when making a video like this... P.S. You going out of your way to comment about giving deference to Jews is questionable in intent.
@@ShahriarFarkhan Oh, please, stop deflecting and dodging the issue under debate. You needn’t be so puzzled, either. The issue is obviously free speech and how to define its limits. I’ve always held that limits on free speech should be set as narrowly as possible, i.e. NOTHING short of incitement to violence and spreading of false news ought to be ever liable to prohibition and/or prosecution, whatsoever. The analogy of Charlie Hebdo is actually quite apt. Because again, the issue of freedom of speech and expression was at stake, then - as it is now. You admitted that the Hebdo events ‘upset a lot of people’…Many Muslims were indignant about the grievous offense to their religious sensibilities the Hebdo cartoons had caused them. And the backlash ended in violent tragedy. My point: Why would your or anybody’s hurt feelings and being ‘offended’ be a cause of curtailing somebody else’s right to free speech? It absolutely should not be so. Why does Nathan Tardiff need to be ‘warned’ about his choice to depict pictures on his ink bottles any way he pleases? So, now an irate mob of offended folks decide what is permissible or not? You clearly endorse this kind of thing. I never will. My point about special treatment and decades-old coddling of Jewish sensibilities in this country is a self-evident truth. It just needs to stop. Of course, you may disagree. And your snide comment about my saying so indicating some ‘questionable intent’ is just quite pitiful piffle. Nathan needn’t have apologized. He had nothing to apologize for. He was coerced into expressing contrition just as much for adverse business consequences as the persistence of mob rule that is rampant nowadays.
@@sajjadhusain4146 So much to unpack... "My point about special treatment and decades-old coddling of Jewish sensibilities in this country is a self-evident truth." Please elaborate on how people objecting to Nathan putting horns on a Jews on multiple bottles of ink are some how "self-evident truth" and objecting to that is "coddling"? Also, thank you for pointing out your views on Jews. Also, "Why does Nathan Tardiff need to be ‘warned’ about his choice to depict pictures on his ink bottles any way he pleases? So, now an irate mob of offended folks decide what is permissible or not?" People asked kindly the first time to change the images after explaining their negative meaning. There was no mob until the THIRD TIME. They then boycotted his ink and retailers who kept it on shelves. That's how you do things in Capitalist society, you vote with your wallet. Furthermore, Nathan doesn't have to apologize for his images but it will most certainly affect his sales -- To your point: Freedom of speech exists but there are consequences to one's speech and actions. Nathan showed his true colors and only relented when it cost him directly. That is the consequence of his "freedom" and his desire to stick to his guns vs make a simple change. Well he did it finally and accepted it after the damage was done. Full stop.
@@ShahriarFarkhan …Here in America there’s apparently always been a quite inexplicable and indefensible taboo against any and all criticism of Israel, in particular, and Jews, in general. It is rarely tolerated and the doer usually ruthlessly pilloried, ostracized and occasionally driven to professional and financial ruin. This has been demonstrably true for decades. Every other religious or racial minority, except of course African-Americans, seems to be fair game, on all counts, in comparison. Btw, you don’t really know half of what all I think of Jews or any other people. So what’s with your facetious thanking me for revealing my true opinions on Jews here? I find that pretty presumptuous. I have no quarrel with people’s right to be offended by Nathan’s use of what they, rightly or wrongly, regard as odious and inflammatory imagery on his new ink bottles. And they can vocally object to this, of course. But I reject this typical orchestrated campaign to smear someone with these tired, old, specious charges of ‘anti-Semitism’. It is a wicked and contemptible tactic to muzzle free speech and discredit an individual because you despise what he says or does. You’re right, though, how many people can and do choose to let their wallets do the talking, as they have done in Tardiff’s case by shunning his products. Leave it at that. Why these cacophonous demands for Nathan to comply by removing the offending images or face ‘consequences’? At any rate, the self-righteous, sneering zealots ought to lighten up and have a sense of humor, for a change. Lastly, if I liked Noodler’s inks nearly as much as I do, say, Sailor or Birmingham Pen Co. inks, I reckon I’d buy the entire stock that the cowardly, virtue-signaling clowns at Goulet suddenly put out of reach. Anyway, thanks for the back & forth, Shahriar, even if we stand on opposite camps on this issue.
I am Jewish. Honestly I feel like he made a mistake, I think he needed to apologize and he did. He has done the right thing at least in my eyes by changing the labels on the bottles. Also the donation of 36k which is giving double חי (or Chai, which means life in english) to the ADL, indicates that his apology is genuine.
I like Goulet pens, their videos are always useful, even if they don’t ship to the UK. I only have one noodlers ink, the Heart of Darkness, boy, what a black!! Personally, they should have removed the inks causing offence and replaced them once they had been rebranded. Removing the whole line was OTT in my opinion.
Offense is always taken, never given. People need to learn to better control their emotional reactions to things, instead of insisting that artists censor themselves.
It’s easy to complain about “cancel culture” when you’re not a member of the group being disparaged. I’m glad that the Goulets had the courage to risk their relationship with what I’m guessing is a very profitable supplier to say, “Hey, this product branding has problems” and then spell those problems out. Good for them. I also hope that Nathan saw the problem and realized there were better ways to make his point. (Sound like he has.) In the meantime I’m going to continue to enjoy my “El Lawrence” Noodler’s Ink - purchased from Goulet Pens - without any regrets. 🖋 😃
Hope this all passes. You have a good perspective on this issue. Personally I like Noodlers and Goulet; and I am a supporter of Israel and the Jewish people. As I've said in the past, I came into the fountain pen hobby for the pens, and I stayed for the people. This hobby is my opium, my safe place, my temporary escape from the real world. I don't want it to turn into something else.
Labels are art, art is subjective to interpretation. Did anyone ask Nathan what he meant by the art? No. The community assumed the worst & canceled him outright until he cried "uncle". This is bullying from the people who claim bullies are bad, it's inconsistent morality &/or duplicitous dishonesty. It's sad to see from my favorite hobby, but people are evil everywhere (Genesis 6:5/John 2:24/Romans 3:23).
This is not the first incident with Noodler’s. There was a previous incident with Alan Greenspan having horns and Paul Volcker having a halo. Goulet has handled this well. The in is a blood red color and combined with the horns the implication is blood libel. Then there is the hammer and sickle in red pulling in the Jews as communists trope. Too many tropes and a second incident. Not easy to completely overlook this, but renaming the inks, the contribution to the ADL (if it is made) and the apology all together are a start. Goulet has acted responsibly and I fully appreciate their action and intervention!
Unfortunate all around. I didn't know about the symbolism of putting horns on Jewish people; I learned something. Nathan said he didn't know either, but I think his biggest PR problem in this situation is that when it was first brought to his attention, he didn't immediately make changes. He sort of doubled down in a sense by insisting that is not what he meant - that it had to do only with him thinking the guy was evil for how he acted, and nothing to do with him being Jewish. And that people were being too sensitive. For the most part, we don't care about intentions but look at how things are perceived. We want to see changes made, and fast. That he didn't when he first learned of the issue, was a mistake. Noodler's is one of my favorite ink brands. I will continue to buy them after the changes have been made. And I will continue to buy from the Goulets and other stationery sites that have paused/cancelled selling the inks.
I, too, was completely unaware of the symbolism and took it as it was meant. I have seen a lot of other Jewish people come forward to say they, too, were unaware. As it stands, and given Goulet's wife's communications on the Reddit where this first blew up, I believe they overreacted and then pushed him into removing the outspoken and quirky political views he is known for from his labels, including ones that are completely unrelated. I have Native American friends and family that are bummed because now they won't be able to get inks and pens named for their groups. And that is totally because someone *else*, namely the Goulets, decided for those groups that they would feel offended instead of honored.
Christians have been placing horns on those they oppose for centuries. It's never been limited to Jews and there's no special symbolism behind doing it aside from stating that the horned subject is evil. This is manufactured outrage.
Nathan Tardiff is as fringe as our founding fathers in America. Love the man! He speaks to the hearts of all those that value our sacred Constitution. Thank you for the post I had no idea. I have a bottle of Bernanke and the horns are apropos for Bernanke no matter what religion he is into. He could be Catholic or muslim and those horns still fit. Nothing to do with religion but deeds. I would die for your right to offend me as free speech is essential to our liberty. To limit another is to limit yourself. Best damn ink out there, inexpensive and made in America! This has been an exercise of free speech and the second amendment ensures it will remain. Be well and love thy neighbor as thyself even if they disagree with one’s philosophy. Peace!
You can't criticize someone because they are Jewish? That's a great wy to make government not accountable to the people. Is there any evidence that Noodler's did this because Bernanke is Jewish? Or just that they don't like their politics?
Bernanke is a public figure if current history and as such a public figure eligible for criticism and jokes. Reducing him to his religious as a protection is just wrong and in fact … discriminating. Not sure if an ink bottle is the right place for political commentary, though.
Thank you for explaining what all the fuss was about. No, I don't think cancel culture is out of control, but this is not an instance worthy of cancellation. This is an opportunity for teaching, learning, and accepting people's opinions
It sounds to me rather like Nathan is doing the right thing here, and my guess is he probably didn't intentionally mean anything anti-Semitic by it. On the other hand, you kinda need to be careful about these things. I mean, what if he had decided to make a red ink called "watermelon" and then named it in honor of, say, Obama or Malcolm X or some other famous black person? Granted, that would have been a lot harder to accept as something inadvertent. But even with the Bernanke Red, what is it with making products that have politically controversial associations? (Which I suspect is at the root of the Goulets' reaction.) And why is it that it's almost always conservatives/right-wingers who run into problems with this? My own personal explanation would be that they seem (at least nowadays) a lot more pissed off about things in general and are more willing and even eager to stick their finger in the eye of those whose views are different. In that case, you sort of have to expect to run into a problem once in a while. But thinking about some good possible left-wing ink colors, how about something like "Russian Revolution Red," with a hammer and sickle on the label? Or maybe "Donald Trump Turquoise," which of course would actually be a bright orange, but if anybody said it wasn't turquoise, you would condemn them them as a liar.
I am fed up to the back teeth with these discussions but have to say that your idea of Donald Trump Turquoise gave me the most ginormous laugh! Thank you! Especially delightful for me as I am (inexplicably) a huge admirer of orange inks.
Noodler's has an entire line of Russian-themed inks named after famous Russian composers. Also, Noodler's inks have long had political connotations, and in fact Noodler's business ethos (giving consumers as much value for their money as possible while also being firmly against disposable tools such as pens) is heavily informed by Nathan's politics. So it makes perfect sense that many of his inks have (err, had) such overtones.
I think Goulet overreacted. Taking down the inks that are offensive makes sense until name change. Taking everything down including Noodler's Black? That's way over the top. I stopped using Goulet a long time ago because of their prices, shipping, and selection. I will continue to support noodler's via other retailers that don't cave to the mob mentality.
Goulet was embarrassingly craven in their reaction. If anything, I reckon I ought to buy a Noodler’s ink or pen or two directly from Nathan in support of the right to free speech. Alas, the fool also got frightened and has since needlessly apologized. The whole thing makes me nauseous.
Goulet was trying to score points by virtue signaling, end of story. They blasted it out on Instagram and have yet to address it on UA-cam. The backlash was pretty severe. I, for one, will not do business with Goulet ever again. Vanness, Pen Chalet, and Atlas Stationers will get my business from now on.
@@chuckbaker7909 …Oh, we’re on the same page here, Chuck. Goulet is absolutely cowardly and cringe-y. I already made that clear in my opening post here. In any case, I rarely if ever had bought anything from Goulet mainly because it pisses me off how they never seem to carry broad nibs on any of the pens I wish to buy. Anyway, I will now totally ignore all the virtue-signaling sheep like Goulet and the others who did not have the courage or the principles to stand up for free speech over this controversy - and instead courted only business and the approval of the moronic mob.
The devil horns were about the office not the man and his religious beliefs.... He has a problem with the establishment and the inner working of bureaucracy but not anti government either. He's an interesting fellow. Classic example of looking to the past to get triggered and hassle/cancel people. This has to stop. Nathan is more political in his beliefs than having anything to do with religion. This cancel culture needs to end. This is crazy. I'm just hearing about any pause and I shopped with Goulet for 10 years. They better not cancel noodler's. They're my favorite ink and Goulet is my favorite supplier. This whole thing is disgusting.
Mr. Noodler blundered. I'm glad he has changed the picture on the bottle. And I'm glad that Goulet's reacted, which appears to have sparked Nathan Tardiff to re-think. (And I will continue to not use Noodler's ink because I have never found one of his inks that I like.)
I didn't know about this until much later. I can forgive the man for taking responsibility for it & that's admirable. He did what he was supposed to after making a big mistake like that. Unfortunately, I have seen people who have doubled down, refused to take accountability, & refused to check their sense of entitlement & superiority. Honestly, we can critique people without using bigotry. I feel like Noodlers did make a mistake and I applaud Goulet for calling them out on it. People forget that bigotry starts at very very tiny, even subtle levels & eventually escalate to genocide or killings once people think that there's no consequences to their actions & nobody will check them. There should always be people who checks on that. We should be better than our forefathers ever were when it comes to bigotry & spreading that kind of ideology. That kind of thing should always be uncomfortable, because we know it's wrong since it dehumanizes real people with real lives. While cancel culture can be weaponized as it has been lately, cancel culture can actually be used to check people we SHOULD be worried about. If that person refuses to apologize & strive to be better, then we can't be OK with it...whether we admired the person or not. People make mistakes all the time and it's understandable, when it comes to making a big mistake like that, it has to come with actual actions. Him apologizing & taking responsibility actually says a lot. I heard that he is a history buff, I'm sure he understands VERY well what kind of actions like that facilitate. I guess only time will tell if Goulet & Noodlers will be good again. I hope that he honestly learned something important from this & I think a lot of us can. It's humbling because anyone can make a mistakes like this, but beware of those who refuse to acknowledge this type of bigoted behaviors or ideologies. Most of the time, they're just an average joe like the rest of us, but they can be extremely bigoted. It's those no accountability & all-entitlement superiority complex types who should get canceled... Who have zero understanding of why we have to be above it by being aware of it. So he handled it maturely & wholeheartedly. It's something the community can put behind them. After all, we can never forget that the fountain pen community is for anyone regardless of who they are and where they're from.
You are entirely missing the point here. The point is that this was already the third time an issue had been brought up with Nathan on various depictions of Jews. The first time we were ok with the excuse of ignorance. The second time, we were willing to still give the benefit of the doubt. This was the third time, and BTW, it was back in January, and it was the original Volcker Green label that was the last straw. Not only that, If he had simply apologized back in January when the controversy first came to a head, it would have quickly blown over, but he didn't do that. He claimed that he was the victim and talked about how he can't possible hate Jews because he likes this book that a Jew wrote and started referencing others. He went on further tirades continuing with anti-Semitic tropes. It took 5 months for him to finally be brought to a reckoning. Not only that, but as far as Goulet, they were the THIRD retailer to react. Two other major retailers reacted the day prior. This isn't cancel culture, this is accountability culture and the three strikes rule at play. With that said, I and others are still willing to accept his apology, He finally came to realize that he was not a victim of cancel culture, but was harming people. He apologized, He promised changes, and he is making them. While many including myself may still be cautious, giving someone the ability to make amends is part of our culture as well.
Christians have been placing horns on those they oppose for centuries. It's never been limited to Jews and there's no special symbolism behind doing it aside from stating that the horned subject is evil. This is manufactured outrage. He's criticizing powerful men who have made evil choices that affect current and future generations of Americans, and horns are a perfect trope to express that notion.
People who choose to be offended by bottle art are intolerant idiots and bullies. I was pissed at goulet for caving to the woke mob and sad Nathan caved and renamed his inks. I continue to support noodlers because he makes a great product that is affordable and has a bottle wide enough for all my pens to fit in. Shame on Goulet’s cowardice and virtue signaling. I do support both companies as goulet has great customer service and I genuinely like Brian and drew~~~Rachel not so much.
I understand Brian's position of putting a pause on business... You do have to protect the company.... Now that Nathan has apologized and showing extra good faith of donating money to a wonderful cause..... Now.....now... it's time to quit whining, crying and all that extra sensitive nonsense......quit making a big deal and get down to business at hand.... Humans do make mistakes and hopefully he has learned from it, it's time to move on....
I think that drawing devil horns on anyone, whether they are Jewish or not, is offensive. I think he did intend to offend this man. I suppose he's allowed to think whatever he wants about Mr. Bernanke. To put that on his products is inviting criticism. Whatever the motive, it was a personal attack. I do not support that sort of behavior and will not buy Noodlers ink.
Sounds to me like Goulet made a business decision. This controversy is bad for business. 'Cancel culture' is just capitalism. I don't like your behavior or your business practices I don't do business with you. Or I like you personally but publicly associating with you is bad for business. 'Cancel culture' is just business.
Cancel culture is more than just business, because thousands of people with no interest in fountain pens and no intent to buy from Goulet are called to action due to the online outrage being spewed in progressive political bubbles like Twitter and Reddit. And so they can place inordinate pressure on retailers and brands that punches far above their actual economic impact.
This is not the first time Tardif has done something like this. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck and looks like a duck ... etc. Your mileage may vary. I stand by Goulet's decision. Cancel Culture is simply people who have had enough of this bullshit drama to turn and walk away from it. Calling " Intelligent Discernment" Cancel Culture is a way for people with limited intellectual power to convince themselves they have control over their social environment. There is nothing wrong with making informed choices about what you feel is and is not worthy of your time, energy, and consumption. Were this not the case, we would refer to vegetarians and Meat Cancel Culterists. It's all just the background noise of Internet drama.
I am a Jewish socialist who likes to mess around with fountain pens and I honestly could not care less about this. If I were in a room with the Noodlers guy I might say "Hey man, this is in poor taste." but that is about as far as any of this should go. It's like, do you have any idea how many people are starving in the world? How many are living under brutal dictatorships or grinding their lives away in sweatshops or have to watch their children die from cured diseases because they can't get vaccines? How many people in this rich country can't go to a doctor when they get sick or a dentist when a tooth is rotting because they can't afford it?
Being outraged at an eccentric small business owner who put devil horns on a doodle of Ben Bernanke seems more like neurotic behavior than "social justice activism".
That is because you are a normal person that doesn't take his political views like a jihadi takes religion, I'm an European socialist and I can't help but roll my eyes whenever I have to interact with "culture warriors" online, like, I get it, the world has plenty of injustice and whatnot but why the everloving fuck do we have to argue about this with an ink/comic book/videogame/song etc.?
@@paulll47 You don't. You can continue to support horrible people if you so wish. As an American who lost several family members in WW2 during the liberation of Europe, don't ask us to do it again. Obviously it wasn't much appreciated by europeans who seem to be just fine with nazi's.
@@huntforagefish4730 Here is the social justice warrior, feeling better now? Rest assured, I will keep supporting horrible people if it means worse people (you) keep seething and coping about it.
The world is on the verge of colapse with people dying left and right, while you feel that spending money on ink is somehow important, talk about privilege.
Also, you weren't the only one in Europe, the Brits and the Ruskies took the brunt of it, so don't act you are somehow special, you spent all your hero points in Iraq and Afghanistan, you have no leg to stand on.
@@huntforagefish4730 Here is the outrage warrior, feeling better now? Rest assured, I will keep supporting "horrible" people if it means worse people (you) keep seething and coping about it.
The world is on the verge of colapse with people dying left and right, while you feel that spending money on ink is somehow important, talk about privilege.
Also, you weren't the only one in Europe, the Brits and the Ruskies took the brunt of it, so don't act you are somehow special, you spent all your hero points in Iraq and Afghanistan, you have no leg to stand on.
I am Jewish and YOU are a gentleman. Thank you for bringing this up for discussion. Yes, Cancel Culture is over the top. Again, Thank you.
Great ink for drawing swastikas
I have known Nathan for 40 years or more. He and I get along very well. We have our differences. Politics and pens. He likes Sheaffer, I like Waterman. I’m pretty liberal, he’s rather conservative.
What we agree on is the love of pens, but also being proselytizers in encouraging all within earshot to use fountain pens.
The naming of his pens and inks has been quite creative and thoughtful. I hate to see him be toned down by anyone.
I don’t like titles of my artwork to be made more polite as it might offend a few people. I don’t try to offend, however.
Actually, I do sometimes like to offend people or groups that I feel deserve it.
Perhaps every head of the Federal Reserve deserves a set of horns. I’ve applied a set on an image I drew of Boston’s Cardinal Bernard Law for his miserable inaction during the church’s sex scandals.
Those that asked Nathan to change the ink name should also write a letter to the Vatican demanding his holiness chip away the horns on Michelangelo’s statue of Moses.
Michaelangelo's Moses! Yes! I was wondering if anyone would mention that. I don't condone damaging a work of art, by the way, even art I don't like. I was just wondering if I spent too much educational time on art, because when this controversy pinged my radar, I remembered the statue and wondered about its horns.
@@taimdala the depiction of horns on Moses was due to a mistranslation of a word in the Hebrew Bible to the Vulgate Latin version. The original description was meant to mean emitting rays of light.
I doubt Michelangelo meant disrespect by adding them.
But, horns they are…where’s the chisel?
Where Bernanke’s Christian schoolmates got the idea that Jews had horns was probably due to their ignorant parents.
@@PiersStudio thanks for your reply! I wasn't aware of the mistranslation, but now that I think about it, it makes sense that something like that could happen.
As for continued/generational prejudice and ignorance, it's still senseless to me how it persists.
(Edited: fixed a misspelled word.)
Love to hear about friendships despite political opinion. Thanks for sharing this about Nathan. And as a Catholic, yes! Church leaders failing to lead need criticism.
So you're an antisemite too? Good to know @piersstudio is antisemetic. I'll be sure to let people know this.
I think Nathan is probably a little isolated, overworked, and insensitive. My understanding was that there was pushback about the possible political interpretations of some of the names and label illustrations regarding Noodler's inks. I did NOT get the sense that any of this pushback originated really from Goulet Pens. It was just that when Nathan decided he was going to change the names and label illustrations of quite a few of his inks to reflect more social awareness of things that might be found offensive by some individuals or groups (including, for instance, changing the name of Apache Sunset to Southwest Sunset), Goulet suspended selling all of his inks until his "rebranding" efforts were completed and standardized, then the updated versions of the products would be stocked and sold. I never got the sense from what I saw Brian Goulet say about it in his videos that this was ever a falling out between Brian and Nathan. I thought the suspension of sales of Noodler's inks (and I notice there was never a suspension in the sales of Noodler's pens and nibs) was Brian's way of assuring people he would again carry Noodler's inks immediately upon completion of this "restructuring," and that he was actually supporting Nathan's choices in this way.
But hell, that's just what I came away from it with. I don't know either of these guys individually and I don't know what "pissed off Brian" looks or sounds like.
I think that it was funny and I always enjoy ink labels being meaningful. I think this whole thing doesn't make sense at all and it is sad, but if we just hold our noses and quickly go through it, we might continue to enjoy it again.
I talked to Nathan last Friday. He didn't even know that Mr. Bernanke was Jewish, but he's a public figure and political satire and commentary has a over 200 year old history of being biting. It wasn't a comment on Mr. Bernanke's religion, it was a comment on his fiscal policies. Nathan has a family history of one of his ancestors, Mary Dyer was hung in Boston on 1 June 1660 for being a member of the Society of Friends, the same upbringing Nathan was brought up in, and that group is one of the most tolerant religious groups I know of. Cancel Culture has to stop because without its ending meaningful political humour and satire which often has very positive effects on redirecting the direction of society. Maybe Mr. Bernanke WAS being just a little bit devilish in his fiscal policy. To say that Nathan did this because Mr. Bernanke was Jewish completely misses the person and character of Mr. Tardiff.
The issue with the bernanke label was brought up originally years ago when it came out. The problem resurfaced, because he did it again with the Volcker Green label that was quickly pulled back in January. We also did not accuse nathan of being an anti-semite, We only pointed out the imagery that he was using was historically anti-semitic for the second time he put horns on Jews, (it was the second time he put horns on Bernanke in january) where he had a label of Bernanke and Greenspan with devils horns flanking Volcker with a Halo. While there are few images of it floating around because it was pulled almost immediately, the image can be found on reddit. If this was just a one off oopsie, I don't think anyone would have batted an eye, but it wasn't.
@@user-sw7iv6nh3e The raised fist murdered like 250,000,000 people last century, you complaining about that, or are you just playing communist word games?
@@user-sw7iv6nh3e but he didn't put the horns on because of Bernake's Judaism, he put them on as a longstanding critique of the fiscal policies of Qualitative Easing and of inflationary policies in general. It's been a theme of Nathan's for more than a decade now. It doesn't matter that it was brought up before because the intent was never about the religion and always about the politics.
Suuuuure he didn't *WINK*. I totally believe that too. Hey! I want to send you money. Can you send me your account details so I forcan transfer this? HAHAHAHAHA! What an IDIOT!!!
@@theKashConnoisseur Uh huh. Sure he didn't. You seem like you aren't gullible at all.
I'm Jewish and I am quite willing to accept Nathan's apology. I've been aware of Nathan for a long time, even before he was making ink and was just repairing pens. I believe this was an unfortunate mistake and I think he has made that clear. I think Goulet did the right think too. Nobody deserves to be 'cancelled' over this.
What I saw that cemented my opinion that Tardif's is actually sorry was the donation to the Anti-Defamation league. He's a bit of a conspiracy nutter so to have him do $3600- 18 (חַי, chai, "life") times 200 (ר, resh, "rabbi" or "knowledge") shows he put some serious thought into it, OR asked someone who knew what's what to help. That's more than any words.
It's not anti-Semetic to criticize Jews.
@@hlaw2830 The truth is anti semitic. We all know that.
Why can't people criticize a public official??!
@@Jam-ku5tfapparently because he’s jewish that makes him immune to criticism.
I believe his artistic representation was misconstrued, politics seem to be Nathan’s focus, not religion. I was very upset with Goulet’s response considering their long relationship with Nathan and his inks and pens. They should have just pulled the inks of concern and told their customers that they were working with Noodler’s to correct the issues with the inks that were causing all the drama. Instead they sent out an extremely over reactive statement that even went as far as to apologize for their “association with this brand”, that statement right there pissed me off. That statement showed me their character, absolutely zero grace, zero loyalty. So with that went my loyalty, I wrote them an email politely with my concerns and actually got back a snippy response. So I closed my Goulet account, unsubscribe their newsletter and don’t watch anymore of their videos. There are lots of other pen companies to purchase from, and I can buy ink directly from the ink makers, and there are loads of other fountain pen related videos online too. It doesn’t affect me much to redirect my loyalty, it was easy. I love my Noodler’s inks and I love how unique they are.
I agree completely.
@Rebecca C….Couldn’t agree more. I have watched bits and pieces of their weekly Pencasts lately and commented there. But I have slammed the Goulets for their disgracefully craven, unprincipled, virtue signaling antics over the Noodler’s ink controversy right here in this comment section, and elsewhere.
I very seldom ever bought anything from Goulet anyway, for a few different reasons. So, striking them off my list was an easy thing to do for me after their cowardly conduct during this controversy. There are others who followed the Goulet’s sorry example. I struck them off my list, too. It was harder for me to do the same with Anderson Pens. But I did. Because to me, principles ought to trump business, every time.
I've got to know Noodler's through Goulet pens, so it would be sad not to see them together again. But then, Jetpens sells Noodler's ink too, so there are places to go, if you want to but Noodler's ink. Now, Bernanke Red has been around for a while, and so Bernanke Black. If I recall, the colors and the name had to do with decisions Bernanke did while heading the Fed. And both inks have been in the stock for a while. Noodler's also has a penchant for politically troublesome names, among them 54th Massachusetts. I remember Brian Goulet also mentioning that one time.
Goulet pens is free to do business with anyone they choose, and if they now have decided not to do business with Noodler's, that's their right. Personally, I like Noodler's inks, and I like the amount I get for the money I spend, so I will continue buying, but from other vendors.
Not sure why the 54th Massachusetts would have caused Noodler's any controversy. The unit being a voluntary African-American unit was known for its bravery ( even with heavy casualties), taking a stand for equal pay and fighting against discrimination from the US government .
If anything, the ink would be honoring that unit. Unless I'm missing something.
......I like Noodler's as well, a total of 52 inks (4 being for the Boston Safety Pens I have....being 4 as well). I really enjoy Nathan's videos he puts out about his inks,pens and Commonwealth shows he attends.
@@r.h3961 From what I remember Mr Tardif saying in the interview with Brian Goulet, the African-American soldiers' payments were delayed or never paid. The ink, I think, does honor them, but also calls on the injustice. However, maybe someone takes the reference as negative for highlighting the injustice. Same way with the Bernanke Red. The art is clearly a caricature as how people saw Bernanke's policies (evil policies, centralizing power in a nearly Soviet manner), but it wasn't about (I think) him being Jew, I believe. I still see both Bernanke inks as a set: the good (black) and the bad (red). The art, for me, just highlighted that popular perception.
@@r.h3961 As well,As well,As well,As well,As well,As well,As well, My new drinking game.😉
We know that Nathan is a Libertarian and he has stated his dislike of the Fed. Vol let Green also had Volcker with horns. And Volcker was chairman of the Fed. Is he an anti semite or an anti Fed?
I’d argue that any fair-minded person ought to have instinctively interpreted this as a direct and honest jab at the FR, and a notoriously inept official like Bernanke. Why did ethnicity/religion have to be invoked here at all? Because people who do this know they can get away with these stunts of phony outrage over nothing. Nathan should never have apologised for this nonsense. Whatever happened to the right to freedom of speech and expression, (short of incitement to violence)?..Infuriating and disappointing at once.
Noodlers Volcker Green had Bernanke and Greenspan (the two Jews) with horns flanking Volcker (Christian) with a Halo. Nathan was told previously of the issue with the symbolism, and did again anyway. That was the major issue.
@@sajjadhusain4146 Because the outrage didn't happen over the Bernanke, it happened because years ago it was brought to his attention, and then he did it again when he came out with the Volcker Green label, and when it was pulled by the distributor back in January, rather than apologizing and doing what he is now, He went on a tirade of victim blaming and that old "I can't be racist, I like this guys book" nonsense. The right to free speech in the US Constitution, means only that you can stand on a street corner and spew out whatever crap you want without getting arrested. That does not mean that you have a right to say whatever you want without consequence.
@@user-sw7iv6nh3e …I have only four Noodler’s inks I still care for and use. And the Triple Tail pen. Never saw the Volcker Green bottle. From your description, it sounds like a rather cool picture on it, tbh.
Besides, America isn’t a totalitarian state (yet), like communist Russia or Nazi Germany. I can’t fathom why Nathan must even be ‘warned’ about anything here, when he simply exercises his constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression. It is preposterous, to put it mildly. He has done this before on his ink bottles? So what? Christians are ridiculed, Jesus is crassly caricatured routinely in this country, quite often by famous Jews. Where is the outrage then? I have no time for this sycophantic sucking up to people of a specific race or religion to appease their splenetic reactions over nothing. It is way past time this pitiful nonsense needs to stop in this country.
@@user-sw7iv6nh3e Oh really? So, the First Amendment affords no protection against assaults on the freedom of speech of an individual by an irate lymch mob with wounded feelings? How enlightening!
Nathan is an artist, sometimes creative artistic expression is impactful, and sometimes that might offend a few that don’t understand, but I have loved Nathan’s Inks for years, confident that none of Nathan’s intention was to hurt any specific group of people given he seems so intent on bringing some of the most beautiful and accessible inks in the industry to the pen community.
Honestly, I truly believe that he enjoys pens and the pen community far more than promoting any brand of hate.
I think an artist should be allowed to be an artist, and as long as it is not a direct promotion of hate, it should be allowed even if it rustles a few feathers.
I appreciate Nathans hard work, and I enjoy his inks each and every day. I use them all day at work, and on my own time, and I always will. They have never left me disappointed or offended.
On the other hand, I understand that he is a businessman too, and brands that fail to adapt to a changing world usually don’t last. The market demanded change, so he changed.
Now I just hope he makes an ink titled Cultural Sensitivity Grey… In time it will be the only color left that wont be offensive if we keep going this way, I would truly miss the variety of beautiful colors and shades… If you read this Nathan, feel free to steal the name…
Agreed as well. People are forgetting that Nathan and Brian have personal relationship, there’s a UA-cam video of them together talking about inks. Also the ink Liberty’s Elysium(amazing Blue) was developed just for Goulet Pens, that’s how close they are. Also, I think people went way too far with accusing Nathan of being anti-Semitic. They could have reasonably said ‘hey this is an anti-Semitic trope, you may want to change it’ instead of jumping right to the accusation that Nathan has some sort of deep seeded hatred of the Jewish people. Plus these days we throw intent right out the window. I think, like you say that Nathan just didn’t like his fiscal policies-not his ethnicity and religion. Just followed you too. A great blue by Noodler’s is X-Feather blue, it’s a deep blue.
I always thought Brian looked uncomfortable in that video
Despite the horn's existence as a trope (and mind you Christians have been putting horns on their opponents for a long time and haven't strictly limited the practice to Jews), I don't think Nathan would have changed anything were it not for the attempt to destroy his business. Not because he's a horrible person, but because the use of the horns wasn't done in the context of religion. Nathan has been outspoken about his disdain for the Federal Reserve's inflationary policies for years, and he's been using the labels of his quick drying ink series to reflect this artistically. And so the horns were obviously a critique on the evils of Qualitative Easing and the impacts of inflationary fiscal policies on current and future generations of Americans.
I've also dealt with Nathan before he ventured off to create a quality homegrown product accessible to everyone, and agree he is an artist as well. Brian launched Goulet at the beginning of this fountain pen Renaissance and I cheered, and am only coming to this controversy as we speak. My partner is Jewish, I'm not. We get along just fine, and I believe Bernanke desrves the horns whether he's Jewish or not! This "controversy" is sadly yet another revelation of what our "culture" has become these days. Would've thought, or rather hoped, our community was beyond all this crap.
WOW! I'm definitely going to get the ink now for sure. Bravo, Noodler's! The key is the horrible role of the FED, not whether Bernanke was Jewish or not. Excellent take from BlueBeard.
It was also imagry used HEAVILY by the nazi's in the 30's, so theres that. JFC. Read a history book or go back to school. Education is failing in this country.
I think about the same way on this one. I'm pretty liberal, and Nathan is known for being fiscally conservative. I disagree with him on many things, but I think he's a rational guy that you'd be able to have a good conversation with. I don't think his ink labels etc are based on antisemitism. He is also really into some pretty obscure history, which to me indicates he's probably read enough to know how many of those tropes are based on nonsense and xenophobia. I hope the rift with Goulet blows over eventually. Maybe Nathan could do one of his history videos related to antisemitism?
where can I look up this "Noodler's Ink/Goulet Pens controversy"? I tried to find something but couldn't
Reddit (be warned, its a bit of a cesspool and quite the political echo chamber)
I’m kind of saddened that even my hobby being politicized. I’m not canceling anybody either. I’ve never used Noodlers ink, but I have ordered from Goulet, and I love their SHORT videos.
One you start using Noodler's, you don't go back to other brands. I do a lot of hand writing at work and Noodler's Heart of Darkness in my Lamy CP1 has been my workhorse for almost 10 years.
@@Steppenwolf27 Disagree. Noodlers ink is garbage. Different every time (no standards), spills easily, not a fan. And not just because Nathan supports the extermination of all jews.
@@huntforagefish4730 To each his own. I've been using Noodler's ink for about 10 years and I find it to be very satisfactory.
Granted, I only use it for handwriting and I only use "Heart of Darkness" black. So my experience is probably different from yours.
You just got a like and subscribed.
I will continue to support both companies. Everyone makes mistakes. Both companies are good ones and I hope Brian G and Nathan can learn from each other and move forward.
Given the amount of labels Nathan had to change, Goulet took it too far. Goofy considering most of the nonsense was froth an nonsense on Reddit. It was a power trip on Brian's part, and I don't support Goulet anymore because of it. Nathan has has some of the craziest labels out there. Now they're just collector's pieces.
People on Reddit were really ripping on Noodlers and Nathan over this… I’m glad to find the guy wasn’t a literally nazi lol. His Inks and his story are great! Honestly love his branding, packaging, and philosophy as well. Good vid, go Noodlers!
I also find it very interesting that Goulet had no qualms about names like Apache Sunset, but now it's problematic? Ok then. They just opened a can of worms.
That kind of hypocrisy is actually pretty pervasive nowadays. Did you really expect any different from the Goulets?
Indeed they did. Goodbye, Apache Sunset.
I' m just glad I have some of these "offensive " inks like : Apache Sunset and Navajo Turquoise, I sure Ottoman Azure would be among the ones being changed.
Im keeping these bottles, won't be throwing them out since they would become some sort of collector's value later down the road.
@@r.h3961 …Ha, I reckon you’d have bragging rights as somebody who didn’t give a toss about the critics and the controversy, and instead stayed on the side of free speech and common sense. I’m not a big fan of Noodler’s inks. But I honestly felt like offering the Goulets to buy their whole stock they suddenly pretended didn’t exist. Only to brown-nose to many of their carping customers. What feckless fools! 🙄
@@r.h3961 I'm jealous of you - I'm relatively new to fountain pens so I was waiting to get those until 1) I started using my pens more regularly and 2) I got some higher quality paper to really show off their beauty.... But man now it just won't feel the same
Update: I went on eBay and Amazon and bought a bottle of Navajo turquoise, Apache sunset, and Rome burning, with the original labels. I have no idea why Rome burning is having its name changed too but whatever. I have half a mind to keep the bottles and whenever I buy another ink refill to literally refill these bottles
I will continue supporting both companies I love the noodler's creativity and their products and also I learned a lot about actual fountain pens with Goulet Co. Interesting video 👍
I agree with your middle of the road approach - I think Mr Tardiff was trying to make a political statement and not an ethnic/religious attack. I can understand it could be seen as offensive and I get the reaction. What I don't get is why noodler's is changing names of inks that aren't really offensive.... Like Navajo turquoise to Mesa turquoise. If an ink is respectful with its name, why would it be an issue? The reaction seems to be almost whitewashing the names. You can honor a culture by naming beautiful colors after them. I'm sure it's a knee jerk reaction (and there's probably some outside pressure) but it's a shame
I guess because Navajo turquoise is offensive. Why not use the correct indigenous names instead of the "white washed" names? What is a Navajo turquoise? Is that the name of a group of people or an actually color? Mesa turquoise sounds like one is talking about landscape. Sounds kinda vague to me.
The problem is the political statement was based on anti semitic ideology. I don't believe Nathan Tardiff.was not aware of this.
I agree with you. It’s canceling native tribal association with good things. It’s not like he named his inks something like poopy red skin purple.
@@chrisblanc663 exactly, it's not like there are inks "commanche scalper red" or "stingy banker blue" - there are some serious issues with those kinda names. Not really so with Apache Sunset, which is considered one of the best shading inks out there
Nobody is genuinely offended by Nathan's political commentary about Bernanke. They are crybully sadists shedding crocodile tears while they feel the perverse satisfaction of attempting to ruin people's lives.
Saw your post in the Facebook group. New subscriber.
The problem we have is everyone has an opinion about something and that opinion can be diametrically opposed to someone else's opinion. Look at the variations of opinions of the respondents to this video. It's impossible to have an opinion without offending someone. That's the nature of opinions. The key is how the two parties handle it - or if it even needs to be handled.
Thanks for sharing your views & generating more discussion on this. I also know Nathan & Brian. Both are doing what they think they should/need to. This is unfortunate on many levels. I also believe in free speech. You can decide not to buy something for whatever reason you want. But to attack someone based on what you think they believe is not what should happen. This will just restrict our free speech & limit creativity.
Only peripherally had I heard of this controvercy. Thanks for the explanation.
I like Noodler's ink and have been oblivous to his politics. I personally have not been a fan of Bernanke and I didn't know that he was Jewish till this thing came up. Goulet Pens is my go to vendor for pens and inks. People should stick to their trades and let the market make our own decisions.
Thank you for explaining it clearly to me. I knew Nathan was going to rename some of it inks because some were rubbing people the wrong way but not to the extent it went down between Goulet and Noodler's and the reasons why it escalated to the point of removing the brand on the Goulet website. I like both companies and there's that.
I like both Goulet, and noodlers. If they have a falling away, I’ll still buy from both, I’ll just have to get noodlers stuff somewhere outside Goulet. I’ll still buy my pens and supplies from Goulet.
Thanks for chatting about this. I had no idea about the drama. All I can say is Goulet Pens does a lot for the hobby, versus Noodlers, which I only know from watching Goulet Pens’ videos. I am not taking sides on this, but I do appreciate the info you provided surrounding the controversy.
You would actually be a little surprised! Noodler's has honestly done a surprising amount for fountain pens, but Nathan doesn't "do" spotlight. I only know of two I'm person interviews that he's done (Goulet took down theirs since this dust up). He makes an incredibly variety of inks, both in color and properties, at an amazing price point that drives competition. He can also be credited with almost singlehandedly bringing flex nibs back to market (you used to have to buy vintage for flex), which sparked other brands to start making flex nibs.
Arguably, both Noodler's and Goulet were instrumental in the recent fountain pen boom. Before Noodler's, fountain pens were relegated as expensive and fragile luxury items to those of us in the US. And before Goulet, one had to have access to a specialty stationary store to even find pens and inks. I think the number of people who were introduced to fountain pens through the accessibility of a FREE pen with a bottle of ink is likely to be staggeringly large, and the economical price of the Noodler's pens and inks certainly stimulated me to explore more when i first got into the hobby. Not to mention that the historical references and unique ink properties made me excited to actually use my growing collection of inks.
I got a sample of this ink from a pen pal originally from goulet pens. I just swatched it today and tried to find the color on goulet which of course led me here....I happen to live in Apache Junction Arizona (will Goulet ship to me???? Lol) and I found the original branding for sale on Amazon. The original branding also sports a picture of the Superstition Mountains which I live at the base of. Couldn't pass up purchasing some woke culture contraband!
I guess this means I must buy that bottle of Massachusetts 54th I want from another supplier. Liberty or Death
I had no idea what happened but knew there was some drama. I’m late to find out why but I appreciate your video and I’m glad to know about this and what happened. Thank you for this video.
Two years on and I think yours is the best video exploring what happened. Great points, critical where need be, and very fair.
Also I commend you for saying that it’s important to listen to the opinions of people who are offended 👍
Today's public needs to collectively grow some hide. Sooner or later everyone offends or is offended by someone, being offended doesn't mean that you are right.
Thanks for the video and explanation of the controversy regarding Goulet Pens. Received a note in reply to a positive comment I made regarding Goulet pens and something I bought from them made by Nathan. I was baffled by the comment and this explains what it was all about. I will be staying with both of them as I regard this as a case of over reaction to a mistake that they both have owned up to, as you explained. Thanks again for the clarification. M.
I was literally under the impression that Nathan was a “Jew hater” based on Reddit comments and finding that it was about people being offended of him criticizing a federal reserve person was kind of anti climactic lol
I have a lot of Noodler's ink. A whole. damn. lot. I bought an ink called "Q"ternity which is a very good, fast-drying ink. Awesome for a lefty like me. And then I found out what "Q" was all about. It's been rebranded Brevity Blue since then, but a leopard doesn't change its spots. Sorry for the late feedback, but this vid just appeared on my algorithm.
I forgot about the rebranding of that one. Berning Red was changed too. That one had Bernie Sanders' head in front of a background of an 18th century painting of someone being guillotined in hell. It had the communist hammer and sickle with cotton bolls to complete the theme. He's free to design his labels like he wants. It's his art and his opinion. But when you design labels like that, you can expect for people to not want to buy or sell them. That's how the capitalism that he's scared of losing works.
I support both. It's a shame that people are so busy looking for things to be offended by that they're missing out on huge chunks of life.
I'm a free market guy. Noodlers may have misstepped, but they adjusted based on feedback from the free market. What I think is far worse, is Goulet censoring a product. I am more than capable of liking or disliking, supporting or not supporting, any product through a free market. It will impact my patronage of Goulet in a not-so-positive way...
Isn't a company pulling a product also just free market? Censorship is something a government does, not a company choosing to carry or not carry a product. Sounds hypocritical.
@Username Well, any person or entity can censor. It's just unconstitutional for the US government to do it... That said, I agree that Goulet can choose what they sell. That said, Goulet(or any company really) should not begin down the slippery slope of attempting to be the morality police. If customer demand for a product dries up, then stop selling it. My point is to let the customer decide. The customer is always right, correct?
@@Mikey-ii8ef It's complicated, see the court case of the baker refusing to make a wedding cake for a gay couple (Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission), or the recent Supreme Court case on the website developer refusing to make a wedding website for a gay couple (303 Creative LLC v. Elenis)
@@error.418 Agreed, it's complicated.
@@error.418 Companies are free to pull their support for products they don't like, and I'm free to take my business elsewhere in support of that product, which I do like. I don't see anything hypocritical about it.
I love your jacket.
The reverse of the Swastika is a much older image, but I believe it was a Sanskrit symbol, not Hebrew.
You are quite correct!
@@sajjadhusain4146 It is called the Hotu symbol.
@@aldrinpacheco918 ..Oh ok..I never knew that.
Thanks for posting your video. Glad to see something clear up the story so well. Manufacturer has done his part to clean this up for sure.
It's not the first time that Noodler's change the ink name!
I know both heads and they are good people!
I look at him and I can't help thinking that he owns a Harley Davidson.
I`m pretty sure than Nathan`s mistake was inadvertent. I knew who Ben Beranke was before Noodler`s inks existed. I also knew who Alan Greenspan and Paul Volcker are. I happen to know that Greenspan is Jewish only because I`m familiar with his person history having read one of ihis books. Otherwise, I have never even wondered what religious affiliation that the chair of the Federal Reserve holds.
A more recent chair is Janet Yellen and the current chair is Jereme Powell. I had to look up the religion of everyone mentioned here except Greenspan because it`s not apparent to me. Some names may be common and familiar to Jewish people, but even so that`s an unreliable indicator. Some people that are Jewish at birth may have converted to another religion or not be religious at all. Some Jewish people have very un-Jewish names.
Nathan`s mistake is inadvertent. He`s apologized and tried to make amends. Why is that not good enough?
I see no reaso why Noodler`s ....and Goulet... shouldn`t continue to be supported by the pen community.
Did it ever occur to his critics that he was putting horns on images of powerful men not because of their religion, but because of their malicious influences on the American financial system and the fiscal security of current and future generations? You know... the stuff Nathan has been vocal about for years and years now?
did horns representing malice start from something other than religion...? if the artist had no intention of referencing religion and moreover had the intention for the work to be interpreted merely as decrying malicious influences on the American financial system and the fiscal security of current and future generations, then
how come so many people were able to see though that but you still can't?
regardless-- how much integrity must he lack to not stand up for: You know... the stuff Nathan has been vocal about for years and years now? what if for the past decade and more he was merely performative to exploit people like you?
is it not giving him the benefit of the doubt to have total trust in his competency and enlightenment? that the man didn't act on emotion when putting horns on images of powerful men -- that he instead made conscious, deliberate decisions to incorporate specific if not obscure historical references that only those with elite intellect matching his would see?
what drives you to deceive yourself? be well
@@kelliJANSEN liking your own comments doesn't give them validity.
Thank you for your video, I really appreciate it, and was looking for just this. I had run across a long vitriolic thread on Reddit by falling down a rabbit hole for a minute on my phone yesterday. Count me as a subscriber.
Heres what isn't taught about the freedom of speech. With this freedom comes everyone elses freedom to offend you! Someone offending you does not constitute a crime! Reasonable people already understand this. Reasonable prople dont try to offend others but it still happens.
I had not heard about this blowup until this video. I’m saddened that the situation played out this way. Nathan shouldn’t have used a personal attack in his product packaging, and there is a long and ugly history of Jewish demonization he should have been aware of. Trigger imagery is real and he should have recognized it. But I’m not convinced he intended antisemitism rather than animosity to the one person and his policies. I don’t know how much discussion there was before Goulet’s reaction. I hope all involved can move on calmly and with better communication and awareness.
Thanks for this video.
I missed this controversy, recently ran into it on the Reddit r/fountainpens. Just wanted to add sometimes 2 things are true: 1) someone can not intend to be anti-Semitic AND 2) repeat/rehash an anti-Semitic imagery and reinforce anti-Semitic ideals. My concern after reviewing a few run-ins with Tardiff/Noodlers was this was not the first time he was given feedback about his imagery, and he pretty much just brushed it off until it hit his pocketbook. That makes me wary. I have purchased Noodlers, and while I don't support cancelling the entire brand (as in stores not carrying it), I was glad to hear about the history. I will be paying attention in the future to decide if I will support the brand with *my* dollars and my endorsement. Tardiff can have whatever personal opinions he wants, but I will only support brands that don't support racist messages in their branding & marketing. This is the risk you take when you are a one person operation with a limited number of people you interact with, you leave it up to the community to educate you. It can be an expensive way to learn.
Nathan needs no education on the matter I assure you. I think he should do history videos that would be an education. very knowledgable and well read. Bernanke deserves the horns no matter what religion he belongs too. When you understand the fed bank which by the way is not Federal then you understand that not just Bernanke but all the private shareholders have horns. An evil entity that has destroyed our economy with paper backed by nothing. FIAT is not money but debtors notes no more no less. This has been an exercise of free speech and I will die for your very same right. End the fed.
If he uses certain imagery as a political commentary and not a racial attack, why should he change anything when given feedback about it? It's not inherently anti-Semitic to criticize a Jewish person if you're not being bigoted about their beliefs. Nathan has been staunchly advocating for his views on fiscal policy for more than a decade, including his strong criticisms of Qualitative Easing and inflationary policies from the Federal Reserve. So him putting horns on Fed Chairmen isn't due to their faith, but due to their policies. Until people tried to destroy his business over misconstruing things, Nathan had no reason to change.
He doesn't have to change, and I do not have to spend my dollars with someone I disagree with. Specifically, I could care less about his thoughts on fiscal policy. I do care that he used his product to promote anti-Semitic beliefs as I indicated in my original comment. Freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from others reacting to your speech if they find it offensive or harmful. I, and others who feel similarly, have the choice not to promote it.
@@JanetRichards1 But he wasn't promoting anti Semitism, he was promoting fiscal conservatism. His messaging has been very clear for the past decade and more. The linking of horns to anti Semitism is tenuous at best, since artists of Christian faith have placed horns on those they view as evil for centuries. There's no special bigotry behind putting horns on someone of Jewish faith, and Tardif has repeatedly expressed that he had no idea Bernanke or Greenspan were Jewish to begin with. The entire thing is manufactured outrage.
Of course, spend your dollars how you wish. But don't boycott someone over false pretenses.
@@theKashConnoisseur Way back in middle school, if a classmate put horns on someone - I knew it was a message that the person was "evil" and it was mocking them. This isn't middle school, this is a commercial product and it sends a message that was intentional. An ink bottle is not the place for a message of fiscal conservatism if it's going to be done this way. At the very least it was foolish. But that, actually, isn't my issue. It was that after being informed how it was being interpreted; there was intentional doubling down and denial. Until the pressure was too great, I can only guess. I am a black person. It really doesn't matter what hidden message I am trying to portray, if I produced a commercial product that had a white person with horns; it would be interpreted as a symbolic message of hatred and anger toward white people. Obviously! Sometimes (most times) the most obvious interpretation is the correct one. If you don't want people to react accordingly (stop buying your products), don't put hidden symbolic messages on your product that people will interpret and react to.
Very thoughtful informative take. I agree with you. Enjoyed it.
I wholeheartedly agree with you. I am sick of the media and those who try to infect our society to give them some power or attention. We need to get back to the Golden Rule and yes there are those who are too sensitive and looking for an insult, and there are really mean people out there who really want to hurt people with their words. I like Noodler's and I like Goulet pens and I will keep doing business with them both. As you can see from a post of Nathan's it was an unintentional misunderstanding.
I accept Nathan’s apology and approve of his donation to the Anti-Defamation League. I continue to support both companies. But criticism of anti-Semitic imagery in the original label was completely justified. Nathan’s apology explicitly admits his ignorance and takes responsibility for his mistake.
In my opinion there are way to many people exploring ways to be offended! One must give permission to be offended; don't give it.
Thanks for posting this. I was unclear what the problem was. There are many equity-minded groups that have become needlessly hypersensitive. I didn’t give a crap at the time of the “crisis,” and I give even less of a crap now. I’ll continue to buy Noodlers and from Goulet.
i just stumbled on this video 2 years late. i never knew that this controversy was a thing. I think this whole thing seemed to have been overblown. What i've come to understand about Nathan, i believe it was a 100% political cartoon. The Federal reserve is a private bank, not a government organization, and as such has received a loot of well deserved scrutiny, especially considering how much of an impact it has on the economy, and monetary system here in the U.S. Anytime they change change interests rates it has a major impact on peoples lives, often times for the worse. Bernanke was serving in that position from 2006-2014. The economic downturn, and the housing crash. I'm pretty sure the reason for the devil horns was a political cartoon for the economic failures during his tenure that screwed people over rather than anything to do with his ethnicity. Also please don't mistake my comments as blaming the fed reserve as the cause of all economic problems in the US. They are not, but they are a top contributor.
Noodler's didn't carry Bernanke Red. People on Reddit attributed the image to the wrong online shop.
A year has gone by and I'm happy that Noodler's has renamed many of their inks. It shows that the company listens to their customers and will respond to criticism.
This guy almost helps. It was the Volker Green. Yes, he should have.
I love so much Lexington Gray, i'm very happy to see this video ❤
Thanks for your take on this… I agree 100%!
Tardiff donated money to the ADL lol. It's all about the benjamins.
Goulet were very professional over this entire situation. Brian Goulet has talked about it a few time on his podcast and it was clear he wasn't interested getting rid of Noodler's. Goulet has talked about being friends with Nathan a number of times.
Goulet did not get their way with Nathan privately, so they turned to social media to try a force Nathan’s into what they wanted. That is not professional that is acting like a four year old. Now, Goulet’s decision to not carry inks, they do not agree with the label or message was professional.
There's definitely folks being jerks, and others with too thin skin. We'll never "all just get along". Both sides need to tone it down a notch.
I would guess it is a bit over the top. Nathan is a great guy as far as I know and he do not did this to make a point aganst jews he make an apointment to a person. Not theier roots make people good or bad. So it should be possable to take this two things appart or we get a problem to act together as humans. But yes maby not all think this way so I like both companies very much and canceling is a thing I do not like, they sell theier products and both have great things to offer. I hope they get over this issue it is a great cooperation so far.
The point your totally missing is this isn’t the first or second time time he put horns on a Jew, and this isn’t the first time people asked him to change the label. Finally, he had an opportunity to apologize and he didn’t. Once, sure you can give the benefit of the doubt but he was made aware what he had done and he did not stop, he didn’t apologize and continued. He only listened after it affected his bottom line.
If you are somebody who believes Charlie Hebdo, for example, had every right to caricature Prophet Muhammad, (I do), regardless of how despicable anybody else found that sort of tawdry political stunt (again, I did), I reckon you shouldn’t have the slightest truck with the knee-jerk reactions and controversy surrounding the offensive imagery on Nathan Tardiff’s ink bottles. Free speech is at stake here. Let’s not treat Jews with unique deference and lecture everybody else to get on with the program. 🙄
@@sajjadhusain4146 Who is talking about Charlie Hebdo? This is totally a non sequitur to the conversation. Charlie Hebdo, upset a lot of people so your analogy doesn't really prove anything. Again, back to the original point of this video - Nathan was asked to change the imagery. He could have done so the first, or second time but he didn't. He didn't apologize, he just stuck to his guns. Apologizing now after he realizes his bottom line is affected really shows his colors. People specifically told him the imagery is damaging and plays on prejudice. The creator of the video seems to be oblivious to the fact that people asked Nathan to change the images on multiple bottles of ink over years. That should be taken into consideration when making a video like this... P.S. You going out of your way to comment about giving deference to Jews is questionable in intent.
@@ShahriarFarkhan Oh, please, stop deflecting and dodging the issue under debate. You needn’t be so puzzled, either. The issue is obviously free speech and how to define its limits. I’ve always held that limits on free speech should be set as narrowly as possible, i.e. NOTHING short of incitement to violence and spreading of false news ought to be ever liable to prohibition and/or prosecution, whatsoever.
The analogy of Charlie Hebdo is actually quite apt. Because again, the issue of freedom of speech and expression was at stake, then - as it is now.
You admitted that the Hebdo events ‘upset a lot of people’…Many Muslims were indignant about the grievous offense to their religious sensibilities the Hebdo cartoons had caused them. And the backlash ended in violent tragedy. My point: Why would your or anybody’s hurt feelings and being ‘offended’ be a cause of curtailing somebody else’s right to free speech? It absolutely should not be so.
Why does Nathan Tardiff need to be ‘warned’ about his choice to depict pictures on his ink bottles any way he pleases? So, now an irate mob of offended folks decide what is permissible or not? You clearly endorse this kind of thing. I never will.
My point about special treatment and decades-old coddling of Jewish sensibilities in this country is a self-evident truth. It just needs to stop. Of course, you may disagree. And your snide comment about my saying so indicating some ‘questionable intent’ is just quite pitiful piffle.
Nathan needn’t have apologized. He had nothing to apologize for. He was coerced into expressing contrition just as much for adverse business consequences as the persistence of mob rule that is rampant nowadays.
@@sajjadhusain4146 So much to unpack... "My point about special treatment and decades-old coddling of Jewish sensibilities in this country is a self-evident truth." Please elaborate on how people objecting to Nathan putting horns on a Jews on multiple bottles of ink are some how "self-evident truth" and objecting to that is "coddling"? Also, thank you for pointing out your views on Jews.
Also, "Why does Nathan Tardiff need to be ‘warned’ about his choice to depict pictures on his ink bottles any way he pleases? So, now an irate mob of offended folks decide what is permissible or not?" People asked kindly the first time to change the images after explaining their negative meaning. There was no mob until the THIRD TIME. They then boycotted his ink and retailers who kept it on shelves. That's how you do things in Capitalist society, you vote with your wallet. Furthermore, Nathan doesn't have to apologize for his images but it will most certainly affect his sales -- To your point: Freedom of speech exists but there are consequences to one's speech and actions. Nathan showed his true colors and only relented when it cost him directly. That is the consequence of his "freedom" and his desire to stick to his guns vs make a simple change. Well he did it finally and accepted it after the damage was done. Full stop.
@@ShahriarFarkhan …Here in America there’s apparently always been a quite inexplicable and indefensible taboo against any and all criticism of Israel, in particular, and Jews, in general. It is rarely tolerated and the doer usually ruthlessly pilloried, ostracized and occasionally driven to professional and financial ruin. This has been demonstrably true for decades. Every other religious or racial minority, except of course African-Americans, seems to be fair game, on all counts, in comparison.
Btw, you don’t really know half of what all I think of Jews or any other people. So what’s with your facetious thanking me for revealing my true opinions on Jews here? I find that pretty presumptuous.
I have no quarrel with people’s right to be offended by Nathan’s use of what they, rightly or wrongly, regard as odious and inflammatory imagery on his new ink bottles. And they can vocally object to this, of course. But I reject this typical orchestrated campaign to smear someone with these tired, old, specious charges of ‘anti-Semitism’. It is a wicked and contemptible tactic to muzzle free speech and discredit an individual because you despise what he says or does.
You’re right, though, how many people can and do choose to let their wallets do the talking, as they have done in Tardiff’s case by shunning his products. Leave it at that. Why these cacophonous demands for Nathan to comply by removing the offending images or face ‘consequences’? At any rate, the self-righteous, sneering zealots ought to lighten up and have a sense of humor, for a change.
Lastly, if I liked Noodler’s inks nearly as much as I do, say, Sailor or Birmingham Pen Co. inks, I reckon I’d buy the entire stock that the cowardly, virtue-signaling clowns at Goulet suddenly put out of reach.
Anyway, thanks for the back & forth, Shahriar, even if we stand on opposite camps on this issue.
I am Jewish. Honestly I feel like he made a mistake, I think he needed to apologize and he did. He has done the right thing at least in my eyes by changing the labels on the bottles. Also the donation of 36k which is giving double חי (or Chai, which means life in english) to the ADL, indicates that his apology is genuine.
Agreed
I like Goulet pens, their videos are always useful, even if they don’t ship to the UK. I only have one noodlers ink, the Heart of Darkness, boy, what a black!! Personally, they should have removed the inks causing offence and replaced them once they had been rebranded. Removing the whole line was OTT in my opinion.
Offense is always taken, never given. People need to learn to better control their emotional reactions to things, instead of insisting that artists censor themselves.
The world become stupid and I don't understand anything. Just take a read to the history of Goulet pens and you will see a vocational guy.
It’s easy to complain about “cancel culture” when you’re not a member of the group being disparaged. I’m glad that the Goulets had the courage to risk their relationship with what I’m guessing is a very profitable supplier to say, “Hey, this product branding has problems” and then spell those problems out. Good for them. I also hope that Nathan saw the problem and realized there were better ways to make his point. (Sound like he has.) In the meantime I’m going to continue to enjoy my “El Lawrence” Noodler’s Ink - purchased from Goulet Pens - without any regrets. 🖋 😃
Brian Goulet should have taken the issue with Nathan in particular before exposing it as he did. That's marketing as they (the Goulets) usually do.
Hope this all passes. You have a good perspective on this issue. Personally I like Noodlers and Goulet; and I am a supporter of Israel and the Jewish people. As I've said in the past, I came into the fountain pen hobby for the pens, and I stayed for the people. This hobby is my opium, my safe place, my temporary escape from the real world. I don't want it to turn into something else.
"israel" is not real lol
Labels are art, art is subjective to interpretation. Did anyone ask Nathan what he meant by the art? No. The community assumed the worst & canceled him outright until he cried "uncle". This is bullying from the people who claim bullies are bad, it's inconsistent morality &/or duplicitous dishonesty. It's sad to see from my favorite hobby, but people are evil everywhere (Genesis 6:5/John 2:24/Romans 3:23).
He should have stuck to his guns. He gave in.
4:08 oh the swastika…
This is not the first incident with Noodler’s. There was a previous incident with Alan Greenspan having horns and Paul Volcker having a halo. Goulet has handled this well. The in is a blood red color and combined with the horns the implication is blood libel. Then there is the hammer and sickle in red pulling in the Jews as communists trope. Too many tropes and a second incident. Not easy to completely overlook this, but renaming the inks, the contribution to the ADL (if it is made) and the apology all together are a start. Goulet has acted responsibly and I fully appreciate their action and intervention!
Unfortunate all around.
I didn't know about the symbolism of putting horns on Jewish people; I learned something. Nathan said he didn't know either, but I think his biggest PR problem in this situation is that when it was first brought to his attention, he didn't immediately make changes. He sort of doubled down in a sense by insisting that is not what he meant - that it had to do only with him thinking the guy was evil for how he acted, and nothing to do with him being Jewish. And that people were being too sensitive.
For the most part, we don't care about intentions but look at how things are perceived. We want to see changes made, and fast. That he didn't when he first learned of the issue, was a mistake.
Noodler's is one of my favorite ink brands. I will continue to buy them after the changes have been made. And I will continue to buy from the Goulets and other stationery sites that have paused/cancelled selling the inks.
I, too, was completely unaware of the symbolism and took it as it was meant. I have seen a lot of other Jewish people come forward to say they, too, were unaware. As it stands, and given Goulet's wife's communications on the Reddit where this first blew up, I believe they overreacted and then pushed him into removing the outspoken and quirky political views he is known for from his labels, including ones that are completely unrelated. I have Native American friends and family that are bummed because now they won't be able to get inks and pens named for their groups. And that is totally because someone *else*, namely the Goulets, decided for those groups that they would feel offended instead of honored.
@@tracebooks Did Goulet ASK for Nathan to remove/change names?
Christians have been placing horns on those they oppose for centuries. It's never been limited to Jews and there's no special symbolism behind doing it aside from stating that the horned subject is evil. This is manufactured outrage.
I admire you for taking a stand.
Nathan Tardiff is as fringe as our founding fathers in America. Love the man! He speaks to the hearts of all those that value our sacred Constitution. Thank you for the post I had no idea. I have a bottle of Bernanke and the horns are apropos for Bernanke no matter what religion he is into. He could be Catholic or muslim and those horns still fit. Nothing to do with religion but deeds. I would die for your right to offend me as free speech is essential to our liberty. To limit another is to limit yourself. Best damn ink out there, inexpensive and made in America! This has been an exercise of free speech and the second amendment ensures it will remain. Be well and love thy neighbor as thyself even if they disagree with one’s philosophy. Peace!
You can't criticize someone because they are Jewish?
That's a great wy to make government not accountable to the people.
Is there any evidence that Noodler's did this because Bernanke is Jewish? Or just that they don't like their politics?
Bernanke is a public figure if current history and as such a public figure eligible for criticism and jokes. Reducing him to his religious as a protection is just wrong and in fact … discriminating. Not sure if an ink bottle is the right place for political commentary, though.
Thank you for explaining what all the fuss was about. No, I don't think cancel culture is out of control, but this is not an instance worthy of cancellation. This is an opportunity for teaching, learning, and accepting people's opinions
It sounds to me rather like Nathan is doing the right thing here, and my guess is he probably didn't intentionally mean anything anti-Semitic by it. On the other hand, you kinda need to be careful about these things. I mean, what if he had decided to make a red ink called "watermelon" and then named it in honor of, say, Obama or Malcolm X or some other famous black person? Granted, that would have been a lot harder to accept as something inadvertent.
But even with the Bernanke Red, what is it with making products that have politically controversial associations? (Which I suspect is at the root of the Goulets' reaction.) And why is it that it's almost always conservatives/right-wingers who run into problems with this? My own personal explanation would be that they seem (at least nowadays) a lot more pissed off about things in general and are more willing and even eager to stick their finger in the eye of those whose views are different. In that case, you sort of have to expect to run into a problem once in a while. But thinking about some good possible left-wing ink colors, how about something like "Russian Revolution Red," with a hammer and sickle on the label? Or maybe "Donald Trump Turquoise," which of course would actually be a bright orange, but if anybody said it wasn't turquoise, you would condemn them them as a liar.
I am fed up to the back teeth with these discussions but have to say that your idea of Donald Trump Turquoise gave me the most ginormous laugh! Thank you! Especially delightful for me as I am (inexplicably) a huge admirer of orange inks.
Noodler's has an entire line of Russian-themed inks named after famous Russian composers. Also, Noodler's inks have long had political connotations, and in fact Noodler's business ethos (giving consumers as much value for their money as possible while also being firmly against disposable tools such as pens) is heavily informed by Nathan's politics. So it makes perfect sense that many of his inks have (err, had) such overtones.
I think Goulet overreacted. Taking down the inks that are offensive makes sense until name change. Taking everything down including Noodler's Black? That's way over the top. I stopped using Goulet a long time ago because of their prices, shipping, and selection. I will continue to support noodler's via other retailers that don't cave to the mob mentality.
Goulet was embarrassingly craven in their reaction. If anything, I reckon I ought to buy a Noodler’s ink or pen or two directly from Nathan in support of the right to free speech. Alas, the fool also got frightened and has since needlessly apologized. The whole thing makes me nauseous.
Goulet was trying to score points by virtue signaling, end of story. They blasted it out on Instagram and have yet to address it on UA-cam. The backlash was pretty severe. I, for one, will not do business with Goulet ever again. Vanness, Pen Chalet, and Atlas Stationers will get my business from now on.
@@chuckbaker7909 …Oh, we’re on the same page here, Chuck.
Goulet is absolutely cowardly and cringe-y. I already made that clear in my opening post here. In any case, I rarely if ever had bought anything from Goulet mainly because it pisses me off how they never seem to carry broad nibs on any of the pens I wish to buy.
Anyway, I will now totally ignore all the virtue-signaling sheep like Goulet and the others who did not have the courage or the principles to stand up for free speech over this controversy - and instead courted only business and the approval of the moronic mob.
@@chuckbaker7909 I noticed that Atlas also took down all Noodler's stuff, they just didn't mention it at all anywhere. Just, for the record.
@@lilit3307 The they are off my list as well. Thanks for the info.
The devil horns were about the office not the man and his religious beliefs....
He has a problem with the establishment and the inner working of bureaucracy but not anti government either. He's an interesting fellow.
Classic example of looking to the past to get triggered and hassle/cancel people. This has to stop. Nathan is more political in his beliefs than having anything to do with religion. This cancel culture needs to end.
This is crazy. I'm just hearing about any pause and I shopped with Goulet for 10 years. They better not cancel noodler's. They're my favorite ink and Goulet is my favorite supplier.
This whole thing is disgusting.
Cancel culture is out of control. Enough said.
Mr. Noodler blundered. I'm glad he has changed the picture on the bottle. And I'm glad that Goulet's reacted, which appears to have sparked Nathan Tardiff to re-think. (And I will continue to not use Noodler's ink because I have never found one of his inks that I like.)
No wonder I didn’t like Noodlers ink. I’ll be steering clear of that ink from now on.
That's fine, more for me.
I didn't know about this until much later. I can forgive the man for taking responsibility for it & that's admirable. He did what he was supposed to after making a big mistake like that. Unfortunately, I have seen people who have doubled down, refused to take accountability, & refused to check their sense of entitlement & superiority.
Honestly, we can critique people without using bigotry. I feel like Noodlers did make a mistake and I applaud Goulet for calling them out on it. People forget that bigotry starts at very very tiny, even subtle levels & eventually escalate to genocide or killings once people think that there's no consequences to their actions & nobody will check them.
There should always be people who checks on that. We should be better than our forefathers ever were when it comes to bigotry & spreading that kind of ideology. That kind of thing should always be uncomfortable, because we know it's wrong since it dehumanizes real people with real lives.
While cancel culture can be weaponized as it has been lately, cancel culture can actually be used to check people we SHOULD be worried about. If that person refuses to apologize & strive to be better, then we can't be OK with it...whether we admired the person or not. People make mistakes all the time and it's understandable, when it comes to making a big mistake like that, it has to come with actual actions. Him apologizing & taking responsibility actually says a lot. I heard that he is a history buff, I'm sure he understands VERY well what kind of actions like that facilitate. I guess only time will tell if Goulet & Noodlers will be good again.
I hope that he honestly learned something important from this & I think a lot of us can. It's humbling because anyone can make a mistakes like this, but beware of those who refuse to acknowledge this type of bigoted behaviors or ideologies. Most of the time, they're just an average joe like the rest of us, but they can be extremely bigoted. It's those no accountability & all-entitlement superiority complex types who should get canceled... Who have zero understanding of why we have to be above it by being aware of it. So he handled it maturely & wholeheartedly. It's something the community can put behind them. After all, we can never forget that the fountain pen community is for anyone regardless of who they are and where they're from.
He sold out. Changed the names of alota his inks. He paid the blutgelt. Pity.
I'm not a fan of Noodler's pov in his art so I don't choose to buy from him. Its that simple.
You are entirely missing the point here. The point is that this was already the third time an issue had been brought up with Nathan on various depictions of Jews. The first time we were ok with the excuse of ignorance. The second time, we were willing to still give the benefit of the doubt. This was the third time, and BTW, it was back in January, and it was the original Volcker Green label that was the last straw. Not only that, If he had simply apologized back in January when the controversy first came to a head, it would have quickly blown over, but he didn't do that. He claimed that he was the victim and talked about how he can't possible hate Jews because he likes this book that a Jew wrote and started referencing others. He went on further tirades continuing with anti-Semitic tropes. It took 5 months for him to finally be brought to a reckoning. Not only that, but as far as Goulet, they were the THIRD retailer to react. Two other major retailers reacted the day prior.
This isn't cancel culture, this is accountability culture and the three strikes rule at play.
With that said, I and others are still willing to accept his apology, He finally came to realize that he was not a victim of cancel culture, but was harming people. He apologized, He promised changes, and he is making them. While many including myself may still be cautious, giving someone the ability to make amends is part of our culture as well.
It's not anti-Semetic to criticize Jews, princess.
Christians have been placing horns on those they oppose for centuries. It's never been limited to Jews and there's no special symbolism behind doing it aside from stating that the horned subject is evil. This is manufactured outrage. He's criticizing powerful men who have made evil choices that affect current and future generations of Americans, and horns are a perfect trope to express that notion.
People who choose to be offended by bottle art are intolerant idiots and bullies. I was pissed at goulet for caving to the woke mob and sad Nathan caved and renamed his inks. I continue to support noodlers because he makes a great product that is affordable and has a bottle wide enough for all my pens to fit in. Shame on Goulet’s cowardice and virtue signaling. I do support both companies as goulet has great customer service and I genuinely like Brian and drew~~~Rachel not so much.
I understand Brian's position of putting a pause on business... You do have to protect the company.... Now that Nathan has apologized and showing extra good faith of donating money to a wonderful cause..... Now.....now... it's time to quit whining, crying and all that extra sensitive nonsense......quit making a big deal and get down to business at hand.... Humans do make mistakes and hopefully he has learned from it, it's time to move on....
So, I can't make fun of someone I don't like if they're Jewish because that makes me anti-Semitic. 🥴
I think that drawing devil horns on anyone, whether they are Jewish or not, is offensive. I think he did intend to offend this man. I suppose he's allowed to think whatever he wants about Mr. Bernanke. To put that on his products is inviting criticism. Whatever the motive, it was a personal attack. I do not support that sort of behavior and will not buy Noodlers ink.
Sounds to me like Goulet made a business decision. This controversy is bad for business. 'Cancel culture' is just capitalism. I don't like your behavior or your business practices I don't do business with you. Or I like you personally but publicly associating with you is bad for business. 'Cancel culture' is just business.
Cancel culture is more than just business, because thousands of people with no interest in fountain pens and no intent to buy from Goulet are called to action due to the online outrage being spewed in progressive political bubbles like Twitter and Reddit. And so they can place inordinate pressure on retailers and brands that punches far above their actual economic impact.
This is not the first time Tardif has done something like this. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck and looks like a duck ... etc. Your mileage may vary. I stand by Goulet's decision. Cancel Culture is simply people who have had enough of this bullshit drama to turn and walk away from it. Calling " Intelligent Discernment" Cancel Culture is a way for people with limited intellectual power to convince themselves they have control over their social environment. There is nothing wrong with making informed choices about what you feel is and is not worthy of your time, energy, and consumption. Were this not the case, we would refer to vegetarians and Meat Cancel Culterists. It's all just the background noise of Internet drama.