Interview: Curt Jaimungal, Director of “Better Left Unsaid”

“They reject ideas of the extreme, so that’s why there needs to be a delineation between what’s extreme and what’s not extreme.”

In this interview conducted just before the death of George Floyd and the subsequent civil unrest, Merion West‘s Kevin Turner was joined by Curt Jaimungal, the director of the crowdfunded documentary Better Left Unsaid, which explores the differences between the moderate and extreme left.

During the conversation, Mr. Jaimungal chronicles his intellectual journey from learning about the philosophy that underpins extreme leftist ideology, to discussing his methods for distilling abstract concepts into a visual format that a layperson can both understand and find compelling. For him, the extreme left is an intriguing subject due to its nuanced nature; whereas the extreme right is identifiable by pronounced features like overt racism and ethno-nationalism, the extreme left takes on a more subtle, but no less pernicious, form in the public discourse.

“I’m not going to affirm that point because I haven’t seen the data on it,” Mr. Jaimungal responds to a question, continuing, “I try to be extremely specific about what I say. If I haven’t found a study on it, then I try not to comment on it.”

The rising director’s preference for empirical evidence remains another defining attribute throughout the conversation, which the viewer will also find in the film. When asked what in the film he is most proud of, he cites having true ownership of the ideas presented, as opposed to recycling ideas promulgated by famous figures before him.