We might look at a popular YouTuber like Sargon of Akkad and see what he's doing. Maybe we can learn something by following his lead. Some of his content is for laughs, some is for venting his anger and frustration at some particular issue of the day, some is his own arcane curiosities run wild. It's all over the board, really. It's hard to say what's motivating his production from one moment to the next. So I have to ask myself why I find myself following him. There's not a single reason for it. He scratches multiple itches, I guess. Eww, that sounds kind of bad. Oh, well. You know what I mean, right?
He does provide information, mainly from the point of view of what I take to be an average British citizen. He's a smart guy; he knows lots of things about history, and takes an historical view of the things that are happening in the news. So there's that. But he also tends to focus on a lot of contentious issues that don't necessarily have answers from within a purely historical view. Much of it seems to be about trying to discover what philosophical principles are even at play within current debates. And that's something I can relate to fairly well.
I think the point is that he is providing a stark contrast to what you get on mainstream media channels. Where the mainstream media is sensationalistic, he is calm. Where they are quick to hop around from one story to the next, he is dogged and sticks with the story until it is thoroughly digested. While they are somber and pretentious, he tends more towards a lightheartedness. So in short, he's the anti-media. At least, that's what I believe is a good way for us to think about what he's doing.
One of Sargon's guests at one point when he was trying to come to grips with the AltRight (linked article was written by Milo Yiannopoulos of Breitbart, and how I found Sargon in the first place) was Millennial Woes. Now here's a guy that I can relate to all too well in some ways, but he says some things that sound positively racist. And in that there's still the question of if he is wrong to do so. I don't know if my reactions against what he is saying is just a product of my own conditioning by liberal media. At any rate I know that the situation they are facing in Europe is a little more extreme than what is going on in the US, but then, for how long will that remain true?
Trying to figure out what is or is not the altright is not really something to get too deeply enmeshed in. What I can say that has benefited me in the exercise was understand greater nuance for my own case of how I fit in with he global political spectrum. And that's of interest in it's own right, the fact that the left has always been more internationally oriented and now that so many people are fighting against the extremes of left wing identity politics that they've found each other on-line in a desperate attempt to keep our sanity. What has become most clear is that the establishment right has failed to address the issues raised by Social Justice Warriors (SJW's). And what a great revelation that has been. It has led done some wonderful rabbit holes where you find some zany folks. And some that make scary amount of sense, when they're not talking about conspiracies on the grand scale. Check out Paul Joseph Watson for that adventure.
There's like a whole world of people popping up around Sargon. Some of those people he has inspired to become creators in their own right. You can look at Feminist Flow's Origins series that covers how YouTubers get started. But really, that's what we're trying to do here. We want to challenge the Big Media. And we're not big budget, so we need to rely on volunteer networks that help each other out. I can't leave this post without mentioning my absolute favorite YouTuber, SugarTits. She's so fun and talented, you've got to see it for yourself.
Enjoy.
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