Contrapoints & Political Youtubers

[No War, but the War on Christmas]

I'm not sure if this is the correct place to post this, and if not feel free to move it mods.

I'm curious if anyone else here watches Contrapoints, or any other political Youtubers? Now, if you don't know who Contrapoints is, her real name is Natalie Wynn, she is Transgender and makes some legitimately top tier, high quality content discussing ideology, psychology, philosophy and other fascinating topics. She is definitely part of the Leftwing sphere on YT, but as Vice covers on she also reaches out to the Right, especially incels, and is genuinely a very openminded and simply inquisitive person.

If you don't know anything about Natalie/haven't heard of her before, here's a pretty cool Vice video on her:

Over the last three years I have to say that Contrapoints has actually had a pretty big influence on parts of my political ideology and even an interest in psychology, and how it plays into parts of our politics, and I genuinely appreciate Natalie for encouraging me to be more critical when it comes to systems of power and 'established' ways of doing things. And she's also an amazing voice for the LGBT+ community.

Anyway, if you haven't I genuinely encourage y'all to check out Contrapoints, even if you don't agree with her viewpoints ALL her videos are also genuinely entertaining which makes them palatable either way. I'm also curious to see who y'all are interested in.

[Torrain]

I did spend some time on the “breadtube” parts of YouTube, back in 2017, when I was a newly minted undergrad, horrified by Trump, and panicked about the world.

I became pretty disillusioned with most of those creators pretty quickly  though. Its always strange to me that figures like ContraPoints, Hbomberguy etc are touted as deradicalising impressionable young adults online. Because in truth, they seemed to me at the time to be more interested in pushing their own ideologies than anything else.

Sure, their brand of online leftism may not be as toxic as the alt-right, but I quickly tired of being told that all centrists do is appease fascists, and that voting for anyone to the right of Tony Blair would directly risk democracy.

The answer to everything seemed to be to reframe it through leftist economics.
 - Climate change? We must overthrow existing capitalist frameworks.
 - Video games have longstanding ideological issues? All a product of the profit incentive.

Maybe that is a legitimate criticism. But there never seemed to be answers, only frustration.

I left that sphere with a renewed sense of the importance of social tolerance and inclusivity, but with my moderate, consensus-based politics largely intact.

I apologise, iBizzBee, if this post comes across as overly cynical. But that feeing that I was being propagandised to was really important to my political development, and making me more critical of the media I consume in general, evaluating sources and both questioning and defending my opinions. It did affect me, but in a weird, complicated way. In a strange way, Wynn did succeed with me - making me more critical, more aware. I just also became more cynical of her in the process too.

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

I watch Shoe0nHead and David Pakman sometimes.

[Big Abraham]

Youtube is pro-censorship so I avoid looking at political content there.

[Kuumo]

I watched Contrapoints, PhilosophyTube, hbomberguy, and some similar channels a lot in junior year of undergrad. I wouldn't say that it changed my political views much if at all, but it gave me exposure to topics such as trans issues, philosophy, cults, and online misinformation that I was less knowledgeable about before.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Legal Eagle is the closest thing to one I watch. Vlog Brothers also have some politics related content.

[Ferguson97]

Innuendo Studios and Shaun are the only ones worth listening to, and I strongly urge everyone to listen to the former's "The Alt-Right Playbook" series.

[No War, but the War on Christmas]

I did spend some time on the “breadtube” parts of YouTube, back in 2017, when I was a newly minted undergrad, horrified by Trump, and panicked about the world.

I became pretty disillusioned with most of those creators pretty quickly  though. Its always strange to me that figures like ContraPoints, Hbomberguy etc are touted as deradicalising impressionable young adults online. Because in truth, they seemed to me at the time to be more interested in pushing their own ideologies than anything else.

Sure, their brand of online leftism may not be as toxic as the alt-right, but I quickly tired of being told that all centrists do is appease fascists, and that voting for anyone to the right of Tony Blair would directly risk democracy.

The answer to everything seemed to be to reframe it through leftist economics.
 - Climate change? We must overthrow existing capitalist frameworks.
 - Video games have longstanding ideological issues? All a product of the profit incentive.

Maybe that is a legitimate criticism. But there never seemed to be answers, only frustration.

I left that sphere with a renewed sense of the importance of social tolerance and inclusivity, but with my moderate, consensus-based politics largely intact.

I apologise, iBizzBee, if this post comes across as overly cynical. But that feeing that I was being propagandised to was really important to my political development, and making me more critical of the media I consume in general, evaluating sources and both questioning and defending my opinions. It did affect me, but in a weird, complicated way. In a strange way, Wynn did succeed with me - making me more critical, more aware. I just also became more cynical of her in the process too.

Oh, not at all. You actually make some valid points. I try to keep myself from becoming too dependent on any one source of information or critique. But I will say that if you haven't seen many of Natalie's videos since the 2017-2018 era you are certainly missing a significant change in her content from present-day issues / politics to a bigger focus on philosophy, the human psyche, psychology, philosophy and things like that. As someone who wasn't traditionally educated due to being raised in a very Conservative / Evangelical family environment, Contrapoints was my first foray into a lot of those things and I just genuinely enjoy the aesthetic and way she explains otherwise sometimes daunting and scary topics I'd be intimidated to approach myself.

The Verge once described her as 'Youtube's Oscar Wilde' in an article I read once; and as you can tell by my signature, I'm a sucker for that sort of almost sensationalistic mockery. Camp and being over the top for the sake of deriding dominant culture. (There's probably a better way to describe it.) She's a performer in addition to an essayist. I realize some people can find that style of expression to be vexing; but hey, I'm Gay and my people (a large amount, anyway) live for it. Lmao.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

... Are we going to next list our favorite talk radio hosts?

[No War, but the War on Christmas]

... Are we going to next list our favorite talk radio hosts?

I get so tired of people like you; it's a forum and this is the 'Forum Community' section. If you don't have anything to add other than shallow little comments deriding people who want to discuss certain topics, don't post. I'm pretty damn sure not all 25,000 of your posts on here are full of world-changing commentary or dialogue. 

[John Dule]

... Are we going to next list our favorite talk radio hosts?

I get so tired of people like you; it's a forum and this is the 'Forum Community' section. If you don't have anything to add other than shallow little comments deriding people who want to discuss certain topics, don't post. I'm pretty damn sure not all 25,000 of your posts on here are full of world-changing commentary or dialogue. 

You posted a Vice video about Contrapoints and now you're criticizing other people's contributions to this forum?

[No War, but the War on Christmas]

... Are we going to next list our favorite talk radio hosts?

I get so tired of people like you; it's a forum and this is the 'Forum Community' section. If you don't have anything to add other than shallow little comments deriding people who want to discuss certain topics, don't post. I'm pretty damn sure not all 25,000 of your posts on here are full of world-changing commentary or dialogue.  

You posted a Vice video about Contrapoints and now you're criticizing other people's contributions to this forum?

What? I made no specific critique of anyones actual contributions, just a critique of simply posting to deride a topic of discussion that clearly many other people do find interesting. If that isn't you, fine. But the point of a forum is to discuss things; criticizing other for just wanting to do that cause you don't like the topic is inherently narcissistic.

Even your comment is evidence of that; you don't actually make any point, you simply assume that your comment has value because...Ew Vice, Ew Youtube I guess? /Shrug Get over yourself.

[Torrain]

Oh, not at all. You actually make some valid points. I try to keep myself from becoming too dependent on any one source of information or critique. But I will say that if you haven't seen many of Natalie's videos since the 2017-2018 era you are certainly missing a significant change in her content from present-day issues / politics to a bigger focus on philosophy, the human psyche, psychology, philosophy and things like that. As someone who wasn't traditionally educated due to being raised in a very Conservative / Evangelical family environment, Contrapoints was my first foray into a lot of those things and I just genuinely enjoy the aesthetic and way she explains otherwise sometimes daunting and scary topics I'd be intimidated to approach myself.

The Verge once described her as 'Youtube's Oscar Wilde' in an article I read once; and as you can tell by my signature, I'm a sucker for that sort of almost sensationalistic mockery. Camp and being over the top for the sake of deriding dominant culture. (There's probably a better way to describe it.) She's a performer in addition to an essayist. I realize some people can find that style of expression to be vexing; but hey, I'm Gay and my people (a large amount, anyway) live for it. Lmao.

Huh - that does sound like she’s evolved as a creator. I might give her another look one of these days, even if I’m still a tad skeptical. Thanks for being chilled out - I always seem to enjoy the conversation better on the off-topic boards here.

I was raised in an evangelical environment (while not being 100% straight myself) too (although educated in a secular state school), so I do understand part of the broad appeal Wynn has - as a performer she seems to be able to be transgressive, while still being broadly accessible, which is an impressively fine line to walk, and definitely what made her first stand out online to me.

[John Dule]

... Are we going to next list our favorite talk radio hosts?

I get so tired of people like you; it's a forum and this is the 'Forum Community' section. If you don't have anything to add other than shallow little comments deriding people who want to discuss certain topics, don't post. I'm pretty damn sure not all 25,000 of your posts on here are full of world-changing commentary or dialogue.  

You posted a Vice video about Contrapoints and now you're criticizing other people's contributions to this forum?

What? I made no specific critique of anyones actual contributions, just a critique of simply posting to deride a topic of discussion that clearly many other people do find interesting. If that isn't you, fine. But the point of a forum is to discuss things; criticizing other for just wanting to do that cause you don't like the topic is inherently narcissistic.

Even your comment is evidence of that; you don't actually make any point, you simply assume that your comment has value because...Ew Vice, Ew Youtube I guess? /Shrug Get over yourself.

Yes. Some things just aren't worthy of discussing, and we need people who are willing to push back against YouTube, Reddit, and Twitter infiltrating this forum.

[Anti Democrat Democrat Club]

Mostly Shoe.

[Mr. Reactionary]

I watch Tim Pool, Actual Justice Warrior, Salty Cracker, and the Stitch and Adam show.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I get enough "screen time" as it is without involving myself in the world of political theory as conducted on video platforms. I have a lot of sympathy for Natalie Wynn constantly being given the third degree by bad actors both within and without the trans community due to her high profile and the deranged standards to which they hold her, but that in and of itself further disincentivizes me from looking into the genre.

[_.]

Political YouTubers are cringe

The most political thing I get into on YouTube is Vegemite vs. Marmite

the former's "The Alt-Right Playbook" series.

I actually watched this, I found it very interesting
But it also alerted me to the fact that many liberals use some of the same tactics

Didn't have the intended effect of pushing me to the left, instead making me dislike both extremes more