The cruelty is the point

The best way to combat cruelty is with compassion.

1 Like

It’s good to see people extolling their own growth. But one shouldn’t ignore if that’s self motivated or merely a facile response to social conditions and just as likely to change.

13 Likes

I agree about Limbaugh, or the Limbaugh schtick, being behind a lot of this.

A major part of that schtick is performing “crazy logical reversals”: “The feminists are the real sexists!” “Antifa are the real fascists!” “Your climate change concerns aren’t scientific, they’re ideological; my skepticism about climate change is what’s really scientific!”

Essentially all Limbaugh does is take every data point and, rhetorically, turn it into a bullseye for his side. That’s the pleasure of his performance. Sophistry as lowbrow entertainment.

Now that dynamic is operating everywhere: Fox, all over the Internet, in the White House.

When I hear talk of the “anger” and “hatred” of the right, I have to wonder. Those people seem really happy to me. They’re getting their rush.

(Pun not intended, but apt.)

18 Likes

I seem to be the only one who is seeing/hearing this but the words don’t line up with his lips. I don’t like the guy (Ben Shapiro) but it looks like he’s been stitched up here.

1 Like

So you’re saying this all actually goes back to Yakov Smirnov?

9 Likes

Ben likes the Whitefish crowd, but I don’t know if he or his mom would feel welcome living there.

11 Likes

Much scarier than Ben Shapiro is that if you watch only 1 of the recommended/related videos automatically linked from the end by youtube you immediately get stuck in a swamp of alt-right talking heads and fox news, mixed with some TEDx videos which fit the narrative (not that there was really anything wrong with the TEDx videos per se, as far as I could see, but to the casual title-scanner they all seemed to underline the black==violent narrative).

If I watch one video by Kurtzgesagd, or a similar informative channel, the related videos are all over the place.

I have a dynamic IP address and always wipe all my cookies on browser exit, so I suppose it is probably not because of my prior watching habits.

I have noticed this phenomenon before.

Either the alt-right people are very good at gaming google, or google is actively promoting this garbage (either because it sells, or because they decided to return to their old adage but with the “don’t” cut off. ).

Whatever is the reason it’s damn scary!

10 Likes

But - he’s special. He’ll get a pass; at least while he’s still useful.

Like Milo.

14 Likes

You rang?

17 Likes

This is more the case. They’re extremely savvy about keywords and gaming the system; there was an article recently that looked at Boris Johnson’s speeches (not really alt-right, but still) and his ability to work specific phrases into his speeches to maximize and hone his search results. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the same is true with YouTube videos from the Shapiro crowd.

13 Likes

John Oliver discussed the possibility that all of de Pfeffel’s talk about his supposed hobby of painting model buses is being spread to push out search results about his association with the big red lying Brexit bus.

The video I posted above also discusses the alt-right’s keyword gaming, which creates opportunities for potential recruits to stumble on their garbage.

17 Likes

i thought that was a movie about being secretly gay and a giant metaphor? (the buildings exploding? metaphorical sex scene between norton and pitt)

i’m kidding, it’s about toxic masculinity

3 Likes

Not discounting the gaming going on, but I think there is a natural element to it as well. It wouldn’t surprise me if it’s just a fact that people who watch alt right videos on YouTube tend to watch mostly videos with that specific angle, while non alt right people just have more diverse interests. Being part of an anti-reality movement might limit the range of things that appeal to you, since things are real.

11 Likes

Almost 20 years older, and finding the same thing. Started with Nixon and then really accelerated during Reagan and the dark years after that.

11 Likes

It’s also handily pushing out search results about his affair with a model.

7 Likes

…which is about the economic/psychological motivation of the fascist rank and file.

But from a more macro perspective, you can also view fascism as the defence mechanism of capitalism against the “threat” of socialism. Capitalist exploitation increases in intensity until it provokes a socialist reaction, at which point capital begins promoting fascism as an anti-socialist counterforce.

German capital backed Hitler; both directly via Nazi industrialists/financiers, and indirectly via the centrist parties’ collaboration against the left.

Currently, most American capital is divided between those who support Trump, and those who support most of Trump’s policies but wish that they were enacted a bit more elegantly.

15 Likes

They are extremely good at it. I have taken to watching ( when I actually do watch ) these kinds of videos in a porn mode session.

10 Likes

uh… PHRASING!
I… think I understand the last part of your post.
Like, uh, you put it in incognito or private mode before you (shudders) visit fox or some alt-asshole adjacent site, is that what I am gleaning here? Full disclosure, I watch way more fox (to hear what the cra-zay du jour is) than I watch any MSNBC.

3 Likes

Yes that. Porn mode was the joke name for it when the feature was introduced cause why else would you use it?

5 Likes

A little of both. They’re very good at gaming google, but also those are the kinds of people who actually click on those dick lengthening “Low-T Supplement” pill ads.

9 Likes