CuriousCat Archive Page 167 of 202

  1. Why would they intentially do something so counter productive?

    in response to Why and how do you avoid the sort of hating liberals that defines much of the far left?

    I don't want to psychoanalyze or be too dismissive. I am often infuriated by liberalism, I genuinely don't think modern liberalism can solve society's problems, and I think there is a fear that leftists will slide into liberalism the moment it starts to benefit them. So a certain animosity towards liberalism is both understandable, and useful for defending against the pull of centrism.

    I just feel like liberals can be useful allies, we can still get positive results out of them when they're in power, and they are the pool from which leftists can recruit, so I have little desire to throw them under the bus.

  2. Not to mention wildly inverting Thor Ragnarok such that the only thing left is Thors personality at Hemsworth's insistence.

    in response to Boo wrong opinion pls die. ; ) In all seriousness what was wrong with the film?

    The disappointing thing about the MCU is it's such a wonderful opportunity to do long-form character arcs over multiple movies. Like, the comics can do that in the short term, but, in the end, they always have to return to a status quo, or be reinterpreted by a different writer, or get retconned for story purposes. There's a certain essence to Comic!Tony that remains inviolate. But the movies have actors! They have expiring contracts! They have people who will get too old for the franchise! So it is entirely possible to have people grow and change because the character will, eventually, retire or die. They don't need to remain static forever.

    And the MCU has kiiiiiiiind of done this, but they keep undoing it. There is actual, meaningful character growth in the GOTG movies that Infinity War just abandons. And there's a totally comprehensible and even resonant character arc for Tony between Iron Man 1, The Avengers, Iron Man 3, and Spider-man: Homecoming, but you have to ignore Iron Man 2, Age of Ultron, Civil War, and Infinity War for it to work.

    It's just kind of depressing.

  4. Are you watching Game of Thrones final season?

    I guess.

  5. Occasionally you & other lefttubers get criticized by folks who will either imply or outright state that you're rich or "upper middle class" or smth on no evidence/despite explicit statements to the contrary. I know they're trying to insult y'all, but that particular accusation feels like such a weird reach.

    in response to Got any insight into why some folks just assume moderately successful LeftTubers like you & Shaun are rich?

    I've gotten that like twice to my face, both times from people on the Left who feel I'm not left enough, or that I'm doing the wrong praxis, and say I've abandoned my progressive positions now that I'm "upper middle class." So, in my experience, it seems to be a way of undermining my lefty credibility. My firsthand experience does seem sincere, though, even if it's blatantly incorrect. People genuinely feel angry with me, even betrayed, and I guess rationalize that I must be a class traitor.

    If I get this stuff from the Right, in addition to the same "make me look like a hypocrite to my allies" that the angry folks on the Left are doing, I'd assume the logic is similar to the claim that Anita Sarkeesian's male producer secretly writes all her videos: If you're in some way successful, they can't believe that you come from the place on the hierarchy you say you come from. Anita's videos MUST be written by a man, my videos MUST have money behind them. Even if they're bullshit, women and broke people can't possibly find audiences authentically; that would mean the hierarchy isn't built solely on merit. Gotta change that narrative.

    Funny thing is, even the videos where I ask for money don't mention what my economic background is. And my entire income is visible on my Patreon. It's a weird claim to make against me.

  6. Why and how do you avoid the sort of hating liberals that defines much of the far left?

    I dunno, it doesn't strike me as a thing that happens by default unless you avoid it. It seems more like some parts of the Left cultivate it.

  7. Got any insight into why some folks just assume moderately successful LeftTubers like you & Shaun are rich?

    Wait, who says I'm rich?

  8. Lol since when is an opinion wrong?

    GO F yourself anon. Since when the likes of captain America and Black Widow and the Vision and scarlet witch were actual dickheads in the movie?

    in response to Boo wrong opinion pls die. ; ) In all seriousness what was wrong with the film?

    anon was joking when they said my opinion was wrong

    Tony, Dr. Strange, and Peter Quill are the dickheads. in fact, they're all the *same* dickhead.

  10. Boo wrong opinion pls die. ; )
    In all seriousness what was wrong with the film?

    in response to Why would you think that Wrinkle In Time was a far better movie than Infinity War? Take note that infinity war is just part 1 of 2 movies with the second part surely ending Thanos' reign and powers hence why infinity war ended with a cliffhanger. It's meant to be along story unfit for just 1 movie. Even the Russo brothers admit it

    tedious, thematically incoherent, jokey without being clever, wipes away the interesting themes of the previous movies, undermines the character growth of the GOTG series, action is visually stimulating but not properly exciting, plot is dead simple yet still contrived, camerawork has no personality, too many characters are dickheads

  11. Maybe I'm blind but I don't really see it. Could you give some examples? Maybe like authoritarian or something? There's like nothing especially racial about the films that I saw. Do you categorize authoritarian movies and fascist movies separately?

    in response to What is it about Zack Snyder that attracts all the weird obsessive dweebs that likes to harass people? Is it just because his films are "dark" and "edgy" (in fact so dark that sometimes you can barely tell what's going on)?

    I dunno, friend, if it's hard to see how 300 is an authoritarian's wet dream, I'm not sure how I could explain it.

  12. You Leftists make no sense? Y'all are like "We need to avoid using slurs to avoid micro-harms" and I'm like yeah ok that makes sense. Harm is bad don't do things that leads to more of it, standard liberal opinion. But then Y'all are like "overthrow the governent, kill all cops, vanguard party, a few eggs'll be broken along the way but it's all worth it to establish #communism" How can an immense sensitivity to micro harm be in the same person as someone who clearly gives no actual shits about vulnerable people given that they try to do revolutionary things that would (optimistically) kill millions and (pessimisticly) lead to a massive atomic civil war and centuries of dictatorship. (Or human extinction)

    when have I advocated any of those things?

  13. how can you not enjoy this movie?

    The action scenes are well-executed, it's not sloppy like wrinkle in time and despite the grim ending, it's got some solid characters

    overall, very competent and well done. so, what r you talking about?

    in response to Why would you think that Wrinkle In Time was a far better movie than Infinity War? Take note that infinity war is just part 1 of 2 movies with the second part surely ending Thanos' reign and powers hence why infinity war ended with a cliffhanger. It's meant to be along story unfit for just 1 movie. Even the Russo brothers admit it

    I prefer a movie that is flawed but has some vision to a movie that is competent but hollow.

  14. can comedies today enforce negative stereotypes?

    any media can enforce negative stereotypes

  15. is Thanos a perfectly written villain?

    heck no

  16. The movie Star Ship Troopers very clearly presents a fascist government, but one with gender and racial equality (from what we see) and even freedom to speak against the government. It's pretty positive... until the end when the bugs get humanized and we see things are still dark. We're nice to each other, but not everyone else.

    If the complaint is "nazi us an insult" because how very bad it was, would referring to a less badly seen but otherwise very problematic and undesirable example, even fictional, aid arguments against fascism or hinder?

    I see it going both ways and wanted your thoughts.

    I'm sure some people have, in all sincerity, made the argument that "Nazi" should only be used to refer to historical Nazis and using the term for modern white nationalists is disrespectful to those who suffered under the original Nazis. But, overwhelmingly, people make this argument in bad faith. The people who suffered under the original Nazis are the *most* freaked out by the spike in antisemitism and nationalism.

    Nazi is useful as a shorthand precisely because it so charged that modern Nazis have to distance themselves from it just to seem respectable. They believe the same things as the original Nazis. I use it because I won't let them distance themselves from it.

  17. Are you, by chance, considering changing your twitter handle to lil’danky?

    nah, fam, I'm kinda on this whole Adjective As First Name thing

  18. What is it about Zack Snyder that attracts all the weird obsessive dweebs that likes to harass people? Is it just because his films are "dark" and "edgy" (in fact so dark that sometimes you can barely tell what's going on)?

    His films are also kinda fascist, so that may have something to do with it.

  19. who the hell is this Peter person that the ModelOmega person was talking about? I saw the reply on my feed and now I am confused.

    Peter Coffin.

  20. Do you have a non-ARPB video in the pipeline right now?

    yes, the next one is about games

  21. Is trolling from the left (I mean the kind that don't terrorise people) useful?

    Maybe.

  22. How do you choose your haircut?

    It kind of chose me.

  23. Why would you think that Wrinkle In Time was a far better movie than Infinity War?

    Take note that infinity war is just part 1 of 2 movies with the second part surely ending Thanos' reign and powers hence why infinity war ended with a cliffhanger. It's meant to be along story unfit for just 1 movie. Even the Russo brothers admit it

    I did not enjoy Infinity War much at all.

  24. So, fair warning, this ended up being really long. Sorry.

    I'm writing a book (ugh, I know). Scifi. I mean, it's very early days, but it's gained more traction than anything I've attempted before. And, because it seems to be ending up fairly pessimistic about the state of the world, I have a speculative AF question inspired by your video on white fascism:

    Say (for the sake or argument) that there's a country, or part of a country that secedes, where fascists actually achieve their (currently) ideal white ethnostate - ideal in this case meaning the expulsion includes jews and (openly) LGBTQ.

    You discuss how white fascism is a death cult, and that even if it achieves its goals, it will end up drowning in either new stratification, or through starting untenable wars. So my question is: Do you think it's possible for a significant period of relative stability (if with growing tensions) to exist between "achieving" said state, and starting to collapse under the weight of its self-destructive tendencies? Even several decades?

    Basic shape of what I'm thinking: The U.S., or part of it, "achieves" an ethnostate by means "non-violent" enough (people being mostly driven out, rather than rounded up and killed en masse) that it doesn't face significant consequences from the rest of the world. Especially since it retains a bunch of large, influential corporations (because yay, capitalism). For story purposes I kind of need this to be a state that has lasted at least a good 50 years. Do you think there's any chance a scenario like that could take place?

    I realize this is, again, a speculative AF question, about a heavy subject, for pretty banal purposes. Not to mention a long-ass read for a CC question. But I thought I'd throw it at you.

    There is a long history of dystopian fiction that presents totalitarian governments that are some degree of stable. 1984 and Brave New World are the obvious reference points. So, from a basic perspective of "can I make this plausible in fiction," yes, I don't see why not.

    If you're trying to be accurate, there's some stuff you could consider. Now, this is not a scientific statement, more a personal observation, but a primary reason authoritarians demonize The Other is to consolidate power. "We must suspend some civil liberties to keep you safe from Them." But consolidating power is the point. The public gives up individual freedom in exchange for the illusion of safety, and for some collective authority - they are given license to snitch on, round up, or even assault The Other. So long as that power is pointed *downward* on the hierarchy, it's not a threat to authority.

    But should The Other ever be dealt with, people start to wonder, "When do I get my civil liberties back?" Maybe you can control this, to some degree, with propaganda, but the risk that people will start pointing their power *upwards* in the hierarchy grows. And, since the point of demonizing The Other was never to get rid of The Other but to consolidate power, there must be an infinite supply of Others to focus the public's attention on.

    1984 achieved this with the war in Eurasia and/or Eastasia. The US achieved this first with the Cold War and then the War on Terror - terrorists and communists are a vague threat that never fully depletes. So your ethnostate could focus on policing the border, for instance, or trying to root out closeted LGBTQ+ people, or insisting there's an imminent threat overseas.

    As a person who is not yet an expert but has done a fair chunk of research, something along those lines would help me suspend my disbelief.

  25. I am sorry if it is nitpicking, but direct quote from your video is "most conservatives are white men, so are most billionaires". This phrase is totally false. Most billionaires are asian men. It would be different thing if you said "the richest"

    btw why asian men are always inferior to white men, even in narratives left tells about economy?

    I understand that your videos are about the US, but let's not pretend that these videos are not about global politics and are not useful for other continents too. Europe and Asia for example?

    https://curiouscat.me/InnuendoStudios/post/833462225

  26. As someone who’s not a fan of Star Trek and have only watched the new movies, I find the whole concept of Vulcan being the “most logical species” just... wrong. They remind me of the Youtube “iNTellEctuals” like Ben Shapiro who is a know-nothing-know-it-all and basically a school bully (no wonder the manchildren love him so much).

    in response to Do the needs of the many outway the needs of the few?

    this is not a question

  27. have you watched The Good Place?

    Yes, I love it.

  28. Which of your Alt-Right Playbook videos thus far was the hardest for you to make? (like trickiest research, toughest script, or if there was idk a mental block somewhere during the recording or editing process?)

    They're all hard in their own ways. White Fascism and The Card Says Moops were the hardest edits, because they required me to dig up a lot of photos and screenshots of horrible things. The early videos required the most revisions as I figured out the tone and presentation style - the Intro video was written, recorded, edited, and then scrapped and completely redone. And Always a Bigger Fish was the most unique drawings to date, with over 360.

    It's a very grueling series and I need to take breaks for fun projects now and then to keep from chewing my fingers off.

  29. OK, so I was feeling in a discourse-y mood and engaged with a conservative on a reddit thread about the Captain Marvel rotten tomatoes review bombing.

    I tried to keep everything in the Alt-Right Playbook in mind while I was arguing with him but I'm not sure how good a job I did.

    Professor Studios. will you go through this short argument and take a look at how these arguments play out in a practical setting?

    link: https://old.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/auwt4y/rotten_tomatoes_makes_changes_to_want_to_see/ehb6fua/

    If you're trying to debunk someone, do it in public, in front of their audience, and involve the person you're debunking as little as possible, because their presence gives them control of the conversation.

    If you're trying to persuade someone, do it in private, because you need them to get out of the performative mode and will probably need to let a lot of problematic arguments slide, and you wouldn't want the public to see you give them a pass.

    So: this is a public attempt to persuade, and it went about as well as one could expect. It seems you did a decent job of defusing their aggression, and maybe at least planted some seeds that will grow with more points of contact. So I would say, within the limited range of what can usually be accomplished in this environment, you did alright.

    But I want to stress that knowing the Alt-Right Playbook is not the same as having a blueprint for getting past it. What you're doing is a lot of frustrating conversation for a very marginal payoff, and, while I'm not going to say not to do it if that's what you feel driven to do, I feel our energies are better spent elsewhere.

  30. Have you seen JF's reactions to the alt-right playbook series? If so your thoughts?

    who?

  31. You said that most billionaires are white men, which is not true.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_the_number_of_billionaires

    Why you always overlook Asia?

    that... that page says that the country with the most billionaires is the US

    it has over 100 more billionaires than China

    some US billionaires are Asian but the large majority are white men

    the ten richest people in the world are nine white men and one Mexican man

    maybe you tallied up all the billionaires manually and determined white men are actually a large minority? in which case, I should have said "most American billionaires" or "most billionaires conservatives are familiar with," but it wouldn't undermine any part of my argument. and I don't see that you've made that tally.

    in summation: the richest people on earth are overwhelmingly white men, and the nation with the most billionaires is majority white, so I think I made a safe assumption. I will happily admit a mistake as soon as you actually demonstrate I made one.

  32. Have any thoughts on the idea that the main function of fascism (not in intent but in practice) is to destroy the momentum of leftists movements during an economic crisis so that capitalism (& existing capitalist power structures) can't be challenged?

    That's overly narrow, but fascism does rally whenever there is a threat to the existing hierarchy.

  33. I wish more people were open to saying this? I had a friend who — for years — when asked about his stance on Palestine and Israel, would tend to fall on Israel's side. I have no opinion on the matter, but his entire worldview came from a joke in one episode of Community where a tutor pointed out that someone's presentation was "oddly critical of Israel", and from there he just sort of assumed that a well-meaning lefty wrote the show (Harmon has a complicated moral footprint) and then screened himself from pro-Palestine stuff.

    I don't know anything about the Palestine-Israel discussion. I wish more people were open to saying they didn't know, rather than just saying something. Is that something you run into a lot? How much Direct Involvement do you have with political institutions vs what is your full time job?

    in response to When will you do a video on Israel? from a Palestinian fan

    I have no direct involvement with political institutions, other than the basic shit, like voting and attending protests.

    My full-time job is YouTube.

  34. Just to shed some light on someone whose conversion from alt-right adjacent, former Sargon-subscribing edgelord, you also definitely fulfil a role in making complex and often niche discussions accessible. Your video on dogwhistling played a massive part in me realising that I had become an agent of bigotry.

    But, I think you would agree (?) that the focus you have isn't always what results as output, and you're bound to have some people like me among the leftists for whom you're throwing light on topics/better equipping them.

    in response to Would you say your expertise is exposing backwards ideas and showing people the light of progressivism?

    There is a certain persuasive power to talking to someone like they already agree with you, rather than treating your core beliefs as up for debate. Gets the viewer thinking like a progressive.

  35. couldnt you make the argument that talking shop and strategising could produce converts? one reason i slid to the left. rather than staying in a neolib cocoon, is because i saw people with ideas discussing plans about how to handle issues that matter to me.

    Sure. My point is only that, even if it's the outcome, it is not my aim.

  36. Any thoughts on the philosophy of Effective Altruism? I've come across it in a few places, and can't decide if it's an insightful approach to triaging aid and alleviating suffering or if it just ends up dismissing the nuances of how complicated so many of the worlds problems are.

    The idea is compelling, but given that the actual site seems to think funding AI is one of the most effective forms of altruism because rather a lot of people there believe in The Singularity, I am unconvinced of their methodology.

  37. Why is your focus on talking to existing progressives rather than "converting" new ones? I find that interesting because you were my first introduction to Lefttube at a point where I was basically a moderate Democrat

    I think both are necessary, but I wish people would focus more attention on talking to - and empowering - existing progressives. I feel we over-focus on the Right.

  38. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find which video it was in, but I remember you at some point stating that criticising the arguments made by someone who is being harassed is prioritising the argument over their well being.

    If this was the argument you were making, what would you see as the threshold where criticism should be withheld? Few opinionated voices escape death threats on the internet, even if they've got a straight flush of privileges.

    Sorry if I misrepresented you, this has been rattling in my head for a while.

    I've been voicing my opinions loudly on the internet for 5 years and never received a death threat. GamerGate flirted with throwing concerted harassment at me a few times, but always got bored. I have been under a few dogpiles from Far Right assholes that are grueling but have generally passed in a matter of days. Someone tried to dox me once.

    None of this is acceptable. But I reject the premise that "few opinionated voices escape death threats on the internet." It is erasing the massive spectrum of behaviors that includes trolling, callouts, and hate campaigns, and minimizing the degree to which my straight flush of privileges generally means you can call me out for whatever and you will not be empowering a harassment campaign because there almost certainly isn't one against me.

    I refuse to believe that people can't think of a single way to criticize someone who is being harassed other than to yell at them publicly in exactly the ways that give the harassers cover. I think folks have more imagination than that. I think folks can wrap their heads around the fact that a person being harassed is not going to be able to hear you because the harassers are deliberately drowning you out with similar arguments made in bad faith. I think they can understand that the victim of harassment is going to prioritize their safety over your complaints, no matter how valid you think they are, and will not be able to address your concerns without putting themself at risk. I think people can understand that their criticism cannot, at this point in time, accomplish what they claim it's trying to accomplish.

    So how long should criticism be suspended? It's a fake question, because I AM NOT TELLING YOU WHAT TO DO. I have only ever said what *I* would do, and what I felt was *best* for other people to do, which was to just fucking wait. If your criticism is meant to accomplish something, wait until that something can be accomplished. If refuse to do that, you're revealing that your anger isn't about achieving anything, it's about the catharsis of yelling at someone and the freedom not to care about their harassment.

    Given that the situation we're referring to was ostensibly about the need to remove a serial harasser from the community, "we don't care about harassment" is a pretty damning thing to admit.

  39. Do the needs of the many outway the needs of the few?

    So that's a very Spock statement. He said it just before trading his life for that of the crew in Wrath of Khan. Bones would probably echo Captain America in Infinity War: "we don't trade lives." The arc of most episodes of Star Trek was Kirk being stuck between the empathetic ethics of Bones and the logical ethics of Spock and usually finding a miraculous third solution that satisfies both.

    In the real world, we don't often find that third way. And I feel both statements are true: moral people don't trade lives, but, also, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. These are two irreconcilable truths, and most ethical quandaries must be looked at with both in mind. Sometimes you have to choose one. Sometimes you have to choose the other. I don't think there can ever be a consistent rule for these things. To always be Spock is to sacrifice our humanity; to always be Bones is to sacrifice the many.

    It's often impossible to do both, and you have to try anyway.

  40. Thanks man, this is some great advice.

    Too many sources parrot both "people love to avoid putting in the work in therapy" and "keep trying new people until someone fits" (I should point out, both independently correct) so whether you're considering sticking with the same therapist or finding someone else there's that gnawing "I am doing the bad thing they warned me about" thought sabotaging any benefit either option might give you.

    er, you = one, but saying one in that sentence sounds pretentious.

    Also it seems like there's rarely any consideration of how to go about finding the right therapist other than 100% research-free iterated Russian roulette, so thanks for that as well.

    Read your post above about the parasocial aspect of CC, and you're right - not to mince words, shit's fucked.

    See enough places that are nominally supportive communities that treat therapy like a black box panacea while assuming that everyone around has access and knows the process is kinda infuriating, and seeing you recommend therapy to a bunch of people made my anxiety-scrambled brain connect a bunch of tangentially related dots. This explains (but does not excuse) my... hostile tone is the right word I suppose, in the initial question. For this I apologize, and I also apologize for contributing to CC being a platform where weird strangers ask you to solve their personal problems.

    I wish you good luck as well, in all your endeavors. :)

    in response to Same anon, and the jerk who replied "have you tried radical acceptance?" to that one answer when you said something like "the reason I'm sad is because the world is awful." "Radical acceptance" what my shrink said when I told her survival requires living an actively unpleasant life so why should I bother with that when there is nothing left to live for. I tried explaining (badly and inarticulately while speaking with limited time because I can only ever express anything even mildly complex in writing with infinite revisions) the concept that the amount of work required to produce basic necessities is vastly less than the amount needed to afford them, and that if we got rid of jobs that provide zero or negative benefit we could all breathe a lot easier. She was also confused about why someone would not want to get bossed around all day. Also "how do you know that every workplace is exploitative?" (and due to self-consciousness around the whole "leftists don't think for themselves" BS concept, I couldn't bring myself to say "read about the labor theory of value") Also hearing horror stories about people's experiences doesn't count and all thinking is overthinking. The guy I was seeing before that went beyond "what is is all that can be, even if it kinda sucks" and insisted that no problems existed currently. With him I was discussing the problem with potentially writing something harmful, and how I don't know how to know what to avoid because I don't have a complete list of all the concepts to research. His response was "you can never please everyone so stop caring if someone is offended." Because it's impossible to both not want to be cancelled and not want to hurt anyone, I guess. I mean, obviously, caring about yourself and others are 100% mutually exclusive. He even said something like "some subconscious stuff is going to slip in there, you can't stop it" whatever the hell that is supposed to mean. I don't know of a way to interpret that other than "go out there and speak the truth, even if the eeeeeeevil sjw's try to suppress it." (vomits) ...I wonder if it's a regional thing? Are professionals good elsewhere? Is there some secret registry of people who aren't awful that everyone except me knows about? Are there reasons to live other than bland hedonism and revenge outside the galaxy brain state?

    <3

  41. is jim carrey crazy these days?

    i feel bad for him now... seems to become more like joel from Eternal sunshine than the old jim carrey

    I don't use that word anymore.

  42. Damn, why the hell was the AMA discussion on Discord so full of Alt-Right sounding types? The global-warming denier, the Pepe memes, the crypto-fash language, ugh! Was that some kind of a raid?

    I wasn't looking at the chat during the AMA, and generally trusted the moderator to weed out the hostile questions. But someone shot me a message that I didn't see til after that that server has a lot of crypto-nazis on it. So I dunno if I'm going to promote the AMA at all once it gets to YouTube. I think it was a decent conversation but I don't want to promote that kind of forum. Discourages me from doing this kind of thing in the future, too.

  43. Have you seen Captain Marvel? I ask because it seems like they took your proposed "avenging feminine" trope" and applied it almost to the letter.

    I have seen it, and I disagree. It wasn't a bad movie by any means - it was insubstantial even by Marvel standards but also held together as a proper movie better than most of the MCU - but I didn't feel it meaningfully engaged with gender in more than token ways. Yes, the villain is a man, and Carol's history with sexist men is seen in flashbacks, but no direct correlation is made between them other than having at some point stood in her way. Her enemy is *of* the patriarchy but does not *symbolize* the patriarchy, if that makes any sense. And the power she has is not a power she has by rights that patriarchy denies her, it is a superpower she has that other women don't. She is absolutely an elite, and, while she may fight for other women, her power does not empower them, and the respect her power commands from an audience need not extend to other women.

    None of this makes the movie bad or sexist, just an ill fit for the specific trope I outlined.

    Then again, as I say in the video, not every example perfectly fits the archetype, and there is enough overlap that, if someone were to discuss a larger trend of women in action cinema, I could see Captain Marvel at least being part of that trend.

  44. The fascism you're talking about could exist without an element of Ethnic Supremacy or Nazism?
    Why did you call the video "white fascism"?

    because the kind of fascism that is relevant to discussing the Alt-Right is white fascism

    it wasn't exactly a subtle about this

  45. What do you think of emma stone as an actress so far?

    that girl's goin places

  46. how can someone write a well-earned sex/nude scenes in movies/shorts/tv shows without it being gratuitous/exploitative?

    Treat your characters as subjects, not objects.

  47. Do you have a problem with nudity in films? Especially the casual and gratuitous ones

    As with anything, nudity can be done well or poorly. Gratuitous, objectifying nudity isn't a hill I need to die on, but it's not great.

  48. is there in your opinion a tension between radical socialism (or communism) and democracy?

    Not the way I would do it.

  49. Sorry - was not specific enough - I was arguing *with* POC that this is the case. I frequently hear white people argue otherwise, and while I know it's not the case, I would *love* for a video (preferably from POC) to "debunk" the facetious "great divider" line of criticism. In fact, if POC is not involved, I'd say its a moot point. This question feels almost ridiculous to ask in 2019, but it's still, to this day, being repeated ad naseum and I am afraid that it will only continue to be entrenched as an "alternate truth" unless I seek out material that debunks it and all other falsehoods of that ilk.

    Do you know of any POC who produce similar videos to yours? I've recently leaned hard into "left tube", but unfortunately it's mostly just white dudes like yourself. Thanks!

    in response to I want to see a response video to the statement or sentiment of "Obama is the reason for the deteriorated race relations in America today" in the same style of your videos - mainly because I think when POC answer the question, "What did Obama do wrong re: race relations?" the answer is "Not enough" instead of "Too much/Broke it altogether" per the sentiment at the start of this question. More of a "debunk" than a "change the mind of" response, to set the record straight. This might not be a fit for your channel specifically, but do you know of other content creators on "Left Tube" that could take a similar approach?

    Sure!

    the1janitor: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCajw8zd6DPpXOuF6d22Fjkw

    Kat Blaque: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxFWzKZa74SyAqpJyVlG5Ew

    Also, not a video essayist, but a person who's written eloquently about racial tensions in response to Obama is Ta-Nehisi Coates. I believe most of it is collected in We Were Eight Years in Power.

  50. Is religion a protectorate of fascism?

    I ask because the Catholic Church has a pretty shitty history but in fairness there is that photo of Spainiards digging up that corpse of a nun.

    I dunno just thinking as a recent atheist convert lol.

    Many things can be *used* as tools by fascists. That does not make the thing itself fascist. Religion was an animating force of the Civil Rights Movement. In Latin America, religion is an animating force behind socialism and antifascism. I'm not religious, but it is clear that religion is one of the most malleable belief systems we have, so I hesitate whenever someone implies religion is part and parcel with anything, because odds are it's also part and parcel with the opposite.

  51. I saw tim schafer saying fuck white supremacists and i was like :) then i remembered all the people that burned me before with this type of talk and ended up revealing as The Worst and im like :( Aside from the fact that Schafer is (im mostly positive) jewish so you know, he has a horse in the "fuck white supremacists" race, how do you keep believing in people while not opening yourself up to bitter disappointments?

    Well, a couple of ways.

    a) focus your appreciation on the value of a person with that clout making that statement on that platform, rather than extending your appreciation to the person himself

    AND/0R:

    b) just appreciate who you appreciate and run the risk of being disappointed. hope is always a risk. but I feel taking the risk is preferable to living without hope.

  52. I don't know if i'm particularly blessed by the youtube algorhythm or what but I usally actually get reccomended good people. Case in point, i just discovered Popular C/C and I'm really digging her stuff, please check her out! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaMERdRDxTo8rgowNCLOyjA

    Hey, this is really good!

  53. How come progressives can propose shockingly regressive things like "gay people aren't minorities" and "interracial marriage is inheritely racist" and thats accepted but if I call for moderation in pursuing progressive policies I'm the fascist? Like I get these arguments are more nuanced than that but common sense says no.

    What progressives are making those arguments?

  54. What do you do when it’s a liberal who is being inconsistent or hypocritical? I’ve a liberal friend who claims to hate the word “l*me”. But the thing is, while they post a lot of anger to twitter when big names use the word, they’re never angry when their close friends uses it. And their close friends use it…not all the time regularly enough. And they’ve been using it since as long as I’ve known them, which has been a while. How do I even ask about why there’s this one standard for public figures and a different one for friends without being an asshole? Or am I the asshole?

    Well, I would ask in the most open and non-judgmental way possible, if they're your friend. They may actually have a thoughtful answer. For instance, they might hold the standard that what random people say in private does far less damage than what celebrities say in public. You don't have to agree with that, but it's an argument.

    Or maybe they're just a hypocrite! But maybe a conversation with a trusted person would change their mind. Maybe give them the benefit of the doubt, and be ready to rescind it if they disappoint you.

  55. You don't talk about the Tea Party in the Alt-Right Playbook. Why?

    I don't talk specifically about Odinists or militia movements, either, but much of what I say applies to them. They are all part of the same network of reactionary conservatism.

  56. I want to see a response video to the statement or sentiment of "Obama is the reason for the deteriorated race relations in America today" in the same style of your videos - mainly because I think when POC answer the question, "What did Obama do wrong re: race relations?" the answer is "Not enough" instead of "Too much/Broke it altogether" per the sentiment at the start of this question. More of a "debunk" than a "change the mind of" response, to set the record straight.

    This might not be a fit for your channel specifically, but do you know of other content creators on "Left Tube" that could take a similar approach?

    Wait... I can't tell if you're arguing that Obama *is* the reason for deteriorated race relations or not. At least, that's what it would seem by saying that all the POC you've seen debunk the position leave you dissatisfied. I also question the urge to, upon hearing POC voice a perspective you don't find convincing, messaging a white guy about it.

    For my part, I would say that blaming Obama, rather than racists who hate Obama, for the deteriorated race relations in the US is deeply suspect, and POC would be right to debunk that argument.

  57. so you'll allow people to be murderers then for aborting the lives of their own innocent babies?

    in response to Do you think it's possible to be a Christian and also pro-choice at the same time?

    Hi. This is a very combative and accusatory way of posing a question about a very thorny and complex social issue, which makes me worry you're trying to control the conversation by putting words in my mouth and making me correct you instead of asking me what I believe. I know this subject is emotionally charged and it sure sounds like you and I are on the opposite ends of an ideological divide, but if this is a discussion you truly want to have, please ask me a question in better faith. I promise my perspective, even if you disagree, is more complex than you assume. But, if you're just here to yell at a pro-choicer, I wish you the best, but I'll stop engaging.

  58. In the last few weeks, I've had more alt-right commenters in my orbits than usual: I commented on a "how I fell into the alt-right" video on YouTube, so there's been a few replies there, and then a fan community I'm part of was dealing with a particularly stubborn troll for a few weeks.

    What do you do that helps when they get under your skin? Not because they've hurt, threatened, or insulted me, but just because they're so persistently and dangerously wrong. Part of me gets fired up and dwells on all the ways I could come back at them--but I know I'm much happier when I just ignore them and move along. Have you found anything that makes it easier to get back to baseline after someone tries to rile you up?

    Have you tried launching a video series dedicated to deconstructing their worldview?

  59. Do you like in movies/tv shows/animation when the characters onscreen are tweeting/messaging and their messages/tweet shows up and superimposed onscreen next to them?

    Don't they just look corny and weird to you?

    Some do, some don't. Every Frame A Painting covered this best:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFfq2zblGXw

    Basically, the early seasons of Sherlock made it look elegant, and a lot of anime just leans into the weirdness in a way that works for them. Most of the corny stuff is somewhere in between.

  60. You've touched on it, but do you think you'd explicitly dedicate a whole video to alt-right anti-intellectualism? Like the ways Trump & Bush have used it to essentially pretend to be working class?

    Not a whole video, but it could be part of some larger arguments I have in mind. We'll see how the scripts shake out.

  61. is masturbation cheating?

    You should probably not date anyone who says it is, or even thinks it's up for debate.

  62. I agree and disagree with that. Fascism does have an economic doctrine. Which is Corporatism, other ideologies subscribe to Corporatism, but Fascism is the most infamous one. Now despite Fascism’s economics in power it did support interests of big business like in the case of Nazi Germany. But, Mussolini nationalized many industries and I believe at one point had the most state ran economy besides The Soviet Unions

    in response to Even though I agree with you on that Conservativism shares many aspects with Fascism, and that Fascism is a Far-Right ideology. Would you agree that Fascists agree with American Liberals more than American Conservstvies on Economics? Because both Liberals and Fascists accept of Keynesian Economics. “Fascism entirely agrees with Mr. Maynard Keynes, despite the latter’s prominent position as a Liberal. In fact, Mr. Keynes’ excellent little book, The End of Laissez-Faire (l926) might, so far as it goes, serve as a useful introduction to fascist economics.” - Mussolini

    If you're defining fascism by Germany and Italy alone, I think you're defining it too narrowly. We have fascist groups today that espouse all kinds of contradictory economic opinions. As I mentioned in Always a Bigger Fish, Third Positionism is anti-capitalist fascism. I think it's hard to argue that anti-capitalism is Keynesian.

    If we want to talk about fascism's history with corporatism, I haven't done that research, and I'm sure you're right that it would be enlightening. But, from what I know now, I'm still confident that they pick up and drop economic theories based on their usefulness. I think it's wrong to expect fascists to be ideologically consistent.

  63. Wait a minute...

    You wrote this?

    https://whatwentwrongwith.com/2019/03/29/what-went-wrong-with-outrage-culture-and-offence-culture/

    nope

  64. Do you think it's possible to be a Christian and also pro-choice at the same time?

    That's not really hypothetical, is it? I was raised by pro-choice Methodists. There are millions of Christians who believe in abortion rights.

  65. So your saying best strategy is to keep diversifying those communities? is it too late in a way for gaming and youtube where they allredy took base?

    in response to Why is there so much crossover among nerd culture and the alt-right? Gamergate, Comicsgate, Animegate. Or even attitudes of Snyderbros. They seem to influence the same kind of people, but also create new "leaders" in each movement. Comicsgate created Ethan Van Sciver and Richard Meyer as its ring-leaders for example. But it seems like the Venn diagram of these groups is pretty closely clustered.

    I don't know that it's ever too late, but certainly the degree to which they have entrenched themselves makes it arduous. The reality is, though, that people adapt as the culture adapts. Gaming and YouTube are (sloooooooooooowly) diversifying, whether the haters like it or not, and people's attitudes are going to adjust as a result of it.

  66. As I write this the #3 link on r/all is about Trump saying wind energy doesn’t work when the wind stops blowing.

    I mention this because the top comment on that thread has links to both your Control the Conversation and The Card Says Moops videos with 8k upvotes and hundreds of comments. This isn’t r/breadtube. This is the Front Page of the Internet.

    You’re educating people and they’re spreading your message. You’re changing minds.

    You’re doing it.

    It’s working.

    Wait, what?

    Someone linked me to the thread but I didn't realize it was front page of Reddit!?!?!

    ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!??!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!

  67. I just discovered your curiouscat, and I kinda want to archive binge all of your answers to questions, but I also don't want to spend an entire weekend on it. Got any ideas on how to manage?

    Curious Cat has no search function to speak of, so you're borked.

  68. Reactionaries constantly obfuscate their actual beliefs because those beliefs tend to be socially unacceptable. But progressives don't like to state their beliefs bluntly either, even when they're broadly supported. Why do progressives do it?

    I'm not sure I agree that this is the rule for progressives, but it does happen. I think, when we aren't explicit about our beliefs, it's often a show of diplomacy. Not wanting to create tension by believing anything too strongly.

  69. Does YouTube give you much info on how traffic gets to your videos? I'm super curious how your work spreads, i.e how much is being shared on Reddit vs. showing up as recommended videos by YouTube itself vs. being linked from Twitter etc.

    It feels like your work is steadily gaining in reach and influence, do you get much insight into the channels and mechanisms by which that's happening?

    YouTube has a pretty hefty amount of analytic data, actually. It can be a little unhelpful at times - rather a lot of websites will just be listed as "unknown off-site link" - but it can tell me when I'm getting a bump from Twitter or Reddit, even if it doesn't direct me to the original tweet or thread.

    The lion's share of traffic is coming from within YouTube, though. To the best of my knowledge (which is limited by YouTube being a black box about this stuff), each Alt-Right Playbook has done steadily better than the last for some time now. This becomes a feedback loop - since each increases my sub count, I have a larger base of people who see a video on day 1. This, in turn, encourages The Algorithm to promote the video because it's popular. This leads to more traffic, which increases the favorability to The Algorithm further. And, all the while, the sub count is increasing, so I'll start with an even bigger pool with the next video. Some percentage of the people who see it go on to share it on social media, so the larger the starting audience, the wider the reach, which also feeds into increasing views and sub count. Honestly, it can be a bit maddening when you're starting out, because everything is built to reward success with more success and you have to fight tooth and nail to build that first pool of people that makes The Algorithm take note of you.

    I'm also just generally making videos about topics that are trending these days. Any discussion of politics is popular in Trump's America. The Endnotes tend not to do the same kinda traffic as the main episodes, and I suspect it's simply because "Alt-Right" isn't in the title. There were a few episodes I forgot to put metadata on and as soon as I put it in weeks later they got a bump in traffic, so really silly things can make a big difference.

  70. Is it true, what they say about non-stem education?

    what do they say about non-stem education, and is this some sort of setup for a deez nuts joke?

  71. He doesn't consider himself centrist, but he does occasionally say stuff like "trump is terrible but he's done a couple good things". Does this make him closer to your target audience?

    in response to Do you think strategically showing my dad some of your videos will help him become less centrist?

    Maybe? I am mostly geared around taking people who have the same base assumptions as me and recognizing our various failings and weaknesses in the face of an increasingly radical Right. I do not debate the merits of those base assumptions. If you feel your dad is onboard with the kinds of things I believe in, feel free to show him my videos and tell me how he responds!

  72. Even though I agree with you on that Conservativism shares many aspects with Fascism, and that Fascism is a Far-Right ideology. Would you agree that Fascists agree with American Liberals more than American Conservstvies on Economics? Because both Liberals and Fascists accept of Keynesian Economics.

    “Fascism entirely agrees with Mr. Maynard Keynes, despite the latter’s prominent position as a Liberal. In fact, Mr. Keynes’ excellent little book, The End of Laissez-Faire (l926) might, so far as it goes, serve as a useful introduction to fascist economics.” - Mussolini

    It is a mistake to think fascists believe anything about economics other than "whatever gives us power is right." They are Keynesians only until Keynes stops working for them.

  73. Do you think strategically showing my dad some of your videos will help him become less centrist?

    You know your dad better than I do. Changing centrists' minds isn't something I've written the videos with an eye towards, but I've heard from some recovering centrists that they've helped, so maybe?

  74. Why is there so much crossover among nerd culture and the alt-right? Gamergate, Comicsgate, Animegate. Or even attitudes of Snyderbros. They seem to influence the same kind of people, but also create new "leaders" in each movement. Comicsgate created Ethan Van Sciver and Richard Meyer as its ring-leaders for example.

    But it seems like the Venn diagram of these groups is pretty closely clustered.

    Here's the short, pithy version: https://twitter.com/InnuendoStudios/status/1032258112286326786

  75. Bro why do you even still have a curiouscat all you get are bad questions

    this is a bad question

Anon commented:
Ian replied: