Bill Whittle

William Alfred Whittle (born April 7, 1959)[1] is an American conservative political commentator and YouTuber. He has made videos for PJ Media as the presenter of Afterburner and The Firewall, and as co-host of Right Angle with Stephen Green and Scott Ott, his former fellow co-hosts of Trifecta. Whittle has also produced videos and writing for other outlets, such as the NRA and Truth Revolt.

Bill Whittle
Whittle in 2014
Born (1959-04-07) April 7, 1959
New York City, New York, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of Florida
Occupation
  • Author
  • director
  • screenwriter
  • editor
  • internet personality
  • blogger
Websitebillwhittle.com

He is a former National Review Online contributor and has been a guest on the Fox News Channel, The Dennis Miller Show, Sun TV, and national radio programs. His first book, Silent America: Essays from a Democracy at War, was published in 2004. Since 2009, Whittle has been a featured speaker at universities and a number of Republican and Tea Party events throughout the United States. He is also the co-founder of the independent film studio Declaration Entertainment, and is a narrator for Encounter Books.

Early life

Whittle was born in New York City to a British woman and William Joseph Whittle, a hotel manager.[2] He is the oldest of four children.[3] Whittle spent his youth in Bermuda, where he attended Warwick Academy and Saltus Grammar School, and later moved with his family to South Florida in the early 1970s. At age 13, he began working at the Miami Space Transit Planetarium[4] and was made a console operator by its director Jack Horkheimer after a few months.[5] As a teenager he wrote and directed the planetarium's light shows.[6]

He had intended to become a test pilot for the United States Air Force. At age 17, he applied to the U.S. Air Force Academy, but failed the preliminary medical eye examination.[4] He developed an interest in filmmaking while helping friends make Super 8 short films and formed a short-lived studio, Mindfire Films, Inc., in the late 1970s.[7] He named Mike Jittlov's The Wizard of Speed and Time as one of his early influences.[8] In 1979, Whittle began attending the University of Florida as a theater major. While there, he wrote and directed the short film The Pigeon Hole which became a national finalist in the Student Academy Awards competition. Whittle did not maintain the required grade point average and dropped out of college after losing his financial aid.[5] In the summer of 1983, Whittle was part of a volunteer company of actors, directors and set designers which put on stage performances to sponsor a fundraiser for the Boca Raton Hotel's Caldwell Playhouse.[9]

Career

After leaving the University of Florida, Whittle moved to Los Angeles where he worked various odd-jobs.[3] He started working as a freelance film editor during the late-1980s and 1990s on television series and specials for The Discovery Channel, The History Channel, and NBC.

Whittle briefly ran a video editing company during this period which closed down in 1998.[10] He continued working in the TV industry as an editor on the Turner Classic Movies special Movie Monsters Revealed (1999), House Calls (2000), Ed McMahon's Next Big Star (2002), Movie Obsessions (2002), AMC's Sunday Morning Shoot-Out (2007–2008), and Shatner's Raw Nerve (2008).

On July 4, 2010, Whittle announced the creation of Declaration Entertainment, an independent film studio, which used crowdsourcing to finance its projects. Co-founded with Jeremy Boreing, the two had guest hosted for Larry O'Connor's BlogTalkRadio podcast The Stage Right Show earlier that year.[11] Its first feature film, The Arroyo, completed filming in August 2012, and is awaiting an official release date.

On January 31, 2017, Whittle began writing for The Daily Wire.[12] Also in January 2017, Whittle began producing video content for the National Rifle Association's NRATV network.[13] Whittle's show for the NRA, titled Hot Mic, was a critique of "left-wing pop culture's war on our freedom and rights".[14]

On July 11, 2019, Whittle announced that he would host a four-part podcast about the Apollo 11 moon landing, titled Apollo 11: What We Saw. The first episode aired on July 13, 2019 and the second aired on July 15, 2019. In 2020, he released a second season of What We Saw about the Cold War.

Blogging

EjectEjectEject.com

In December 2002, Whittle started his first blog, Eject! Eject! Eject!, writing personal narratives and long format essays which discussed current events and political philosophy. He was inspired to start writing following the death of his father earlier that year.[2][8] He soon developed friendships with fellow bloggers Frank J. Fleming, James Lileks, and P.J. O'Rourke who praised his unique writing style. Whittle has credited O'Rourke, in particular, for "bringing me home to conservatism". In 2004, a collection of his essays was published in Silent America: A Democracy at War. They were also quoted in several newspapers across the country.[15][16][17]

Six years after starting Eject! Eject! Eject!, Whittle began writing as a guest columnist for the National Review Online.[18] Both his original essays and National Review columns have been cited by authors William DeMersseman,[19] Jim Geraghty,[20] and Frank Miniter.[21] Crime fiction author Robert Ferrigno used an excerpt from Whittle's essay "The Undefended City" for the introduction of his 2009 novel Heart of the Assassin.[22]

PJ Media

In December 2008, Whittle moved to PJ Media where he continued blogging and hosted several of its video segments:

  • Afterburner (2009–): A weekly three-minute editorial challenging conventional wisdom about politics and society from a conservative perspective.
  • Trifecta (2009–2016): A weekly program, co-hosted with Stephen Green and Scott Ott, which offers political commentary on current events.
  • The Firewall (2010–): A series of independently produced video essays based on his early political writing.
  • Klavan & Whittle (2011–): A Q&A video series with Whittle and author Andrew Klavan discussing various political and social topics.

His first Afterburner segment was broadcast on May 7, 2009, as a rebuttal to Jon Stewart's assertion on The Daily Show that the atomic bombing of Japan in World War II was a war crime.[8][23] A June 2009 essay entitled "The Michael Jackson Effect" was criticized by the Toronto Star for Whittle's suggestion that the federal government used the coverage of Michael Jackson's death to push through cap-and-trade legislation.[24] In October 2010, Joe Newby of the Spokane Examiner called his "What We Believe" series "a must-see for anyone who does not understand what the Tea Party is all about".[25] In February 2011, Laura Baxley of the Atlanta Examiner wrote that Whittle's "The Narrative" was "a brilliant discourse on this Marxist underpinning of critical theory".[26]

Whittle's video "Eat the Rich", presenting his position on the consequences of high taxation on the wealthy,[27][28][29] was played on Glenn Beck's radio talk show in April 2011. He was also on The Rusty Humphries Show that month and has filled in as a guest host for Rusty Humphries multiple times since his first appearance.[8][30] His politically themed videos have been released via YouTube through PJ Media and Real Clear Politics.[31][32]

Later that year, Whittle was hired by Encounter Books to narrate a series of animated "whiteboard" videos featured on TheBlaze. In November 2011, the Spokane Examiner reviewed one of these videos, based on the 2010 book "The World Turned Upside Down: The Global Battle over God, Truth, and Power" by Melanie Phillips, which purported to present the reasoning behind Communist, Islamist and Neo-Nazi support of the Occupy Wall Street protests. The newspaper complimented the video stating that it "ties the groups together rather nicely".[33]

In his role as a commentator for PJTV, Whittle has interviewed personalities including Ed Klein, Ayn Rand Institute fellow Don Watkins, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, Andrew Card, David Frum, Lord Monckton, Investor's Business Daily editor Terry Jones, Tim Cavanaugh, and Arizona Governor Jan Brewer.[34] Other PJTV segments featuring Whittle have included:

Whittle was friends with Andrew Breitbart.[35][36][37]

The Stratosphere Lounge

In May 2012, Whittle started his own weekly podcast, "The Stratosphere Lounge", in which Whittle takes questions from his Facebook followers.[8] It airs live on Thursday evenings via Twitch and is later uploaded on his official YouTube channel.[30] The show is still running and episodes typically last between 1 and 2 hours.

Public speaking

Whittle is a frequent guest speaker at political rallies and other public events.

Whittle's appearance at the Orange County Republicans' annual Flag Day dinner in June 2011 inadvertently found him opposing co-speaker New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez who advocated that California Republicans should be focusing its efforts on winning over Hispanic-American voters.[38]

Personal life

Whittle is married to Russian photographer Natasha Melnikova.[39]

Aviation

Whittle is an instrument-rated pilot of glider and light aircraft. He studied aviation as a teenager with the intention of entering the U.S. Air Force Academy.[4][40] Author and screenwriter Michael Walsh, in his 2009 novel Hostile Intent, credited Whittle for teaching him the OODA loop.[41]

On July 9, 2005, Whittle was involved in an incident while attempting to land at Visalia Municipal Airport when the front landing gear failed. The airport's runway was closed for an hour, however, neither Whittle nor the other passenger were injured.[42][43] Whittle has described similar incidents in his flying career.[40]

Filmography

Editor
Year Title Role Notes
1999Movie Monsters RevealedEditorAlso camera operator
2000House CallsEditor
2002Ed McMahon's Next Big StarEditor
2002Movie ObsessionsEditor
2007–2008Sunday Morning Shoot-OutEditor
2008Shatner's Raw NerveEditor

Himself
Year Film Role Notes
2011–2012Red EyeHimselfEpisode: "March 15, 2012"
Episode: "June 4, 2011"
2012PolitiChicksHimself

References
  1. Whittle, Bill (July 24, 2006). "CHAPTER ONE: THE WEB OF TRUST". EjectEjectEject.com. Archived from the original on November 23, 2012. Retrieved November 14, 2012.
  2. Whittle, Bill (December 22, 2002). "HONOR". EjectEjectEject.com. Archived from the original on October 16, 2012. Retrieved November 14, 2012.
  3. Whittle, Bill (Performer) (June 22, 2012). The Stratosphere Lounge Episode 31 (Podcast). United States: Ustream.
  4. Whittle, Bill (February 15, 2003). "COURAGE". EjectEjectEject.com. Archived from the original on April 4, 2014. Retrieved November 14, 2012.
  5. Whittle, Bill (Performer) (December 6, 2012). The Stratosphere Lounge Episode 21 (Part 2) (Podcast). United States: Ustream.
  6. Geoghegan, Jane P. "Jane's Corner". The Planetarian. Vol. 3–5. International Society of Planetarium Educators, 1974. (pg. 21)
  7. Whittle, Bill (September 19, 2008). "TRINITY (part 1)". EjectEjectEject.com. Archived from the original on February 6, 2013. Retrieved November 14, 2012.
  8. Whittle, Bill (Performer) (May 15, 2012). The Stratosphere Lounge, Episode 2 (Podcast). United States: Ustream.
  9. Arnold, Christine (August 17, 1983). "CALDWELL TRIES OUT SECOND-STAGE CONCEPT". The Miami Herald. An understated and entertaining pitch for funds was made in Whittle's original piece, Going Too Far – would that all those asking for money would do so with such wit.
  10. Whittle, Bill (Performer) (October 10, 2012). The Stratosphere Lounge, Episode 16 (Podcast). United States: Ustream.
  11. Bill Whittle and Jeremy Boreing (Hosts) (March 16, 2010). The Stage Right Show with Larry O'Connor (Internet radio). United States: BlogTalkRadio.
  13. "NRATV". BillWhittle.com. Archived from the original on December 4, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2019.
  14. Stein, Sam; Markay, Lachlan (February 21, 2018). "NRA Usually Shuts Up After Mass Shootings. Not This Time". Daily Beast. Retrieved April 24, 2019.
  15. Dennis, Tom (August 15, 2005). "Don't Call U.S. Soldiers 'Terrorists'". Grand Forks Herald.
  16. "Postscripts – A Roundup of Observations and Reflections". Savannah Morning News. September 12, 2005.
  17. "Random Notes". San Antonio Express-News. September 28, 2008.
  18. Olbermann, Keith (October 8, 2008). Countdown with Keith Olbermann (Television). United States: MSNBC.
  19. DeMersseman, William. Dissed Trust: America's Crisis of Truth, Faith, and Freedom. Bloomington, Indiana: WestBow Press, 2010. (pg. 41) ISBN 1-4497-0367-4
  20. Geraghty, Jim. Voting to Kill: How 9/11 Launched the Era of Republican Leadership. New York: Touchstone, 2006. (pg. 346) ISBN 0-7432-9042-9
  21. Miniter, Frank. Saving the Bill of Rights: Exposing the Left's Campaign to Destroy American Exceptionalism. Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2011. (pg. 313) ISBN 978-1-59698-150-8
  22. Crandall, Daniel (August 22, 2009). "An evening with Robert Ferrigno and 'Heart of the Assassin'". Seattle Examiner.
  23. Whittle, Bill (Performer) (May 7, 2009). Jon Stewart, War Criminals & The True Story of the Atomic Bombs (Internet video). United States: PJTV.com.
  24. Barmak, Sarah (July 4, 2009). "MJ and the mullahs". Toronto Star.
  25. Newby, Joe (October 9, 2010). "Video explains what Tea Party believes". Spokane Examiner.
  26. Baxley, Laura (February 19, 2011). "Now New York liberals need inclusiveness training". Atlanta Examiner.
  27. Edelman, Doug (April 11, 2011). "After the Shutdown Showdown: Reality STILL Bites!". St. Louis Examiner.
  28. Williams, Walter (April 12, 2011). "Tax The Rich? Good Luck With That". Investor's Business Daily.
  29. Baxley, Laura (April 13, 2011). "Townhall articulates horrifying consequences of America going bankrupt". Atlanta Examiner.
  30. Whittle, Bill (Performer) (October 25, 2012). The Stratosphere Lounge Episode 18 (Podcast). United States: Ustream.
  31. "What is wrong with our kids today?". Tampa Bay Examiner. October 15, 2012.
  32. "Why is he so mean to 'These Precious Snowflakes'?". Fayetteville Examiner. November 12, 2011.
  33. "Video explains why Communists, liberals and Islamists support Occupy protests". Spokane Examiner. November 8, 2011.
  34. Whittle, Bill (Interviewer) (December 9, 2011). Gov. Jan Brewer on Border Issues: "We Have an Out of Control, Arrogant Federal Government" (Internet video). United States.
  35. Breitbart, Andrew. Righteous Indignation: Excuse Me While I Save the World!. New York: Hachette Book Group, 2011. ISBN 978-0-446-58266-7
  36. Whittle, Bill (Performer) (March 1, 2012). IN MEMORIAM, ANDREW BREITBART: PJTV Remembers a True Patriot and Friend (Internet video). United States.
  37. Whittle, Bill (Performer) (March 2, 2012). Afterburner with Bill Whittle: My Friend Andrew (Internet television). United States.
  38. Mickadeit, Frank (June 16, 2011). "Martinez knows how to beat Dems". Orange County Register.
  39. Whittle, Bill (December 13, 2016). The Stratosphere Lounge 136 (Video). Event occurs at 2:37. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  40. Whittle, Bill (Performer) (July 18, 2012). The Stratosphere Lounge, Episode 8 (Podcast). United States: Ustream.
  41. Walsh, Michael. Hostile Intent. Pinnacle Books, 2009. (pg. 409) ISBN 0786020423
  42. "IN BRIEF; Plane mishap closes airport". Fresno Bee. July 11, 2005.
  43. "Close call on runway shuts down the airport". Visalia Times. July 11, 2005.

Further reading
  • Meckler, Mark and Jenny Beth Martin. Tea Party Patriots: The Second American Revolution. New York: Henry Holt & Company, 2012. ISBN 978-0-8050-9437-4
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