For example, if you're left-of-center, do you ever watch alt-right stuff just to see what they're like, what they talk about, how they might reference someone like you? If you are a tolerant person, do you ever watch racist youtubers?
shareI'm rightwing. We get exposed to the leftwing everywhere in polite society. You can't avoid it. Even in your post you contrast alt-right with left-of-center, not social-justice-left or simply left. People on the left imagine themselves the center, because that's how our society treats them. You can even see your political views echoed in the Home Depot human resources manual. There isn't a corporation on the Fortune 500 not flying the rainbow flag.
As for YouTube, as in individuals, I do watch. It is very difficult to find what to watch and often it's YouTube itself "recommending" which channels to go to. I suspect these are the more mainstream acceptable view points. The left would have a really hard time doing what I do in reverse because YouTube does not promote or even allow much alt-right content. Some of the better ways to find content are from looking up debates and then exploring content featuring a person in the debate. But leftists and debates are not always compatible. The left actually has this issue where debate is seen as bad because it gives a platform to bad people. For example, recently I looked for opposition to the scientific hoax "grievance studies" papers and could find none other than a few official comments in press releases they themselves referred to. Silencing and censorship are tools of the establishment and makes this frustrating. Famous people known for being liberal sometimes have speeches or lectures on YouTube and that's another good source but it's limited more to the historical because it is not ongoing narrative style thought.
It's a struggle and I would welcome recommendations. Just one request. Don't pick somebody who talks about white privlidge and has never mentioned wealth privlidge. I have never found any exception. The left also seems unanimously pro-war. I listen to right wingers who say things like we should go back to monarchy, and things that sound crazy like that, at first, but they often have a point. I suspect a liberal might be able to defend war in some creative way like it's in our blood. So I'm even open to that. But most liberals just sound like Fox News from 20 years ago. "The troops are very upset that Trump is forcing them to leave Syria". Give me a break. I think the left is in a bad place ideologically. Nobody is talking about anything interesting that matters. It's all jockeying over who's a bigger victim. They're stifling each other as much as the right, which is having a renaissance of intelectual thought totally outside the corrupt university system.
I have no patience for “YouTubers” of any stripe. Self-indulgent, overlong garbage.
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No, never.
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yes, the occasional jordan peterson or sam harris. often, on a lefty site such as sam seder's majority report, they will put them up for laughs. the rightys do something similar.
the thing about 'oppo' thought - if you understand it, and think it has no merit, there isnt much point in it. i used to be a conservative myself, an avid republican. i get their thinking, at least thru the GHWB era, it had a bit of civility & class to it.
after that, they went nuts. nuts is nuts. it doesnt really change, other than what particular phantom outrage they are moaning about.
i would say that sam harris, though he is a devious islamophobe and sneaky zionist/neocon, has a brain. he's just very dishonest. he makes peterson look like a chump. shapiro is probably closer to harris than peterson. the rest of them i dont bother with at all.
I've tried those guys only because I kept hearing their names. Jordan Peterson is a guy who says nothing but the obvious, and then a lot of bullshit. "Clean your room" or "You MUST get married" and "Wash your penis"... He throws the anti-PC out there to gain millions only because political correctness is annoying (and inherently prejudicial, deciding for minority groups what they can or cannot handle), and you mentioned Sam Harris, and described him perfectly well. I just can't stand him, and the way he talks. Very slimy kinda guy.
As much as I think religion is the cancer of the masses, going after Islam is low-hanging fruit. It's a monotheistic religion, Abrahamic, very Judeo-Christian in ways, but it's the path of no resistance, so Bill Maher (who I can't stand anymore, but will watch for guests) does the same in hopes to get a new demographic. I remember a few years ago he'd ride the "libertarian" thing by constantly saying he was one, again, probably to get a new demographic. The right-wing "token".
"I can't stand Bill Maher, but man, what he said about Islam is sooooo right" (while the other religions seem SO valid!)
nailed it. maher and simps like joe rogan think sam harris is a gawd.
shareI am a classical liberal leaning libertarian. I do watch differing views on YouTube. I do not watch any cable or network news. I also don't watch any late night talk shows with the sole exception being occasionally Bill Maher, even then only the opening and new rules, almost never those disgusting panels.
As for racist youtubers, of course I love Joe Rogan and many of the illiberal regressive ilk are constantly labeling him and other members of the Intellectual Dark Web racist. (oh, and Alt-Right to boot)
I actually find myself laughing at (and with) Richard Spencer.. He's funny, but sometimes it sounds like they are the only ones "plotting"... It's pompous, but funny, too.
shareI watch Ben Shapiro once in a while. It's impressive how quickly he speaks.
share"that means he's smart" -- I can't stand him. He was obviously ripping on Trump because he likes the "conservative" brand. When he talks, it seems like he's trying to get back at all the girls who beat the shit out of him.
shareI find him to be one of the more entertaining right wing talking heads, even though I disagree with him most of the time. And he does bash Trump, so he's more reasonable than most of them. Keep in mind I'm only comparing him to the right wingers.
shareI understand. He bashes Trump because he wants you for an audience, but also because the pro-Trump GOP are fully loaded on that side, or in their terms, that market is tapped. He probably already knows he'll get plenty attention, especially of the other side, because they love to see their own being eaten by their own.
If I'm going to watch a right-winger, I want a mixture of radicalism and humor.
Like Alex Jones? Or is that too conspriacy freakish radical?
shareNothing is too radical for me... I'd say I'll listen a handful of times each year, to also hear what his supporters are hearing/saying. 5% of the time, he's spot on, but then attributes it to some religious crap. But of course he knows the more wild the BS, the more viewers. Just like all the media.
shareMy unpolitical watching habits on youtube regarding movies and tv shows I like only tends to throw up recommendations for right wing political "discussions". Which kinda makes a mockery of all these films and TV shows being driven by and with a leftist audience. If that were true, I would be constantly bombarded with leftist propaganda. Right?
But to answer your question, I don't take time to watch racists being racist . It used to be enough that you could respond to stuff like that if it encroached, unbidden, on civilised arenas of life. I don't agree that we need to voluntarily give time to it.