The LeftTube Agenda
I have previously mentioned how current leftist media and thinkers (to my knowledge) have not been engaging in a discussion of power, demilitarization, and how to resolve the problem of WMDs. This is bad, because leftist thought, particularly anarchy and communism, requires the abolishment of the nation-state; of which is the entity where power and destructive potential is centralized. They aren’t doing it mostly because it is a troublesome topic to handle. There is something more to that though. I argue that the left is trying to tackle another problem, on the discursive level. This discourse is meant to educate, clear up misunderstandings individuals have of leftist ideology and make leftist ideas more common.
The biggest producers of leftist media are leftist academics and YouTube. The former is rooted in academic thought, exchange of ideas, a good chunk of elitism, and the production and publication of books and articles to be shared. It is both inaccessible and boring to the average person, who grinds away on their specific field and do not have the time or patience to read through a bunch of books. YouTube, however, is rooted in something else: a reaction. The platform was known for hosting right-winged, ‘rational’ skeptics that became fashionable after they spent a few years criticizing religious extremism and moved on to other things, such as feminism, social justice, gaming criticism, etc.
After a good while of letting those folks run rampant and observing how provocateurs and political influencers who cannot even get their own theory right caused a lot of damage, it came time to call in the cavalry. A bunch of people with different backgrounds started countering the skeptics’ arguments on YouTube and social media. While the damage had been done, the movement gained enough traction to be identified as a movement. Thus, we have arrived at LeftTube: a non-organized conglomerate of individuals that offer a critique towards current practices by offering a left-oriented take on politics, economics, literature, and entertainment. They have taken to the task of introducing leftist ideas into a much more mainstream.
This has been met with a good amount of success. Lindsay Ellis and Jim Sterling are notable media critics who tackle movies and shows/ videogames respectively. While Ellis has mostly critiques centered on literary techniques, tropes, production, and thematic content, Jim Sterling has focused a large portion of his content in critiquing the gaming industry and monetization methods that have been increasingly problematic while still barely being in the confines of the law. On the more theoretical and political aspects, YouTubers such as Oliver Thorne and Natalie Wynn have produced powerful and theatrical takes on current political and social ills, ranging from “incels” and the alt-right to environmentalism or suicide.
The names thrown out are just some of the most well-known voices, but not the only ones. However, it demonstrates that there is a general movement that has taken to creating a space within a widely used to consume media. The extent of their reach is still a niche: they clearly do not have the massive views of K-Pop videos, makeup tutorials and the warring channels of Pewdiepie and T-Series. However, the efforts of these creators have not been in vain. Natalie Wynn’s channel Contrapoints has gotten much notoriety as one of the most influential YouTubers in recent history.
The purpose of these groups is clear, they are dedicating themselves to making their ideas mainstream in very troubling times. The prevalence of right-winged ideas on YouTube caused this inverse to be created and recognized. While the group is not organized or agrees on a certain set of ideas, the goal is to get on a non-stop critique train. Be they a bit left of center or full-blown anarchists, if there is a need to look an injustice and talk about, LeftTube will do so.
Honestly, having such a prominent group of not right-winged individuals commenting on media and critiquing ideas is great. However, I have mentioned that they have an issue that revolves around optics and prominence of topics. While they will talk about topics people care about: gender, environmentalism, suicide, etc., getting into more topics such as governance, weapons, and other things. The discourse shies away from the very troublesome and harder topics because of both the complexity and the distance of most people from said topics. Environmentalism and suicide are very complex and important topics: the world’s on fire and I fear for the life of my loved ones. But talking about nuclear capacity, the nature of food aid and how it both helps and hurts foreign countries, and the true capacities of the United States on an international level are barred from the discourse. It’s also boring unless you are an international relations scholar like me.
There is also the factor of tackling right-winged ‘pundits and provocateurs’. Internet personalities that purposefully spout nonsense that is not even in line with any theory, proof, idea, or consequence and is used to create hate, ignorance, and distrust have been extremely popular with a good portion of the demographic. These individuals and groups even spread inconsistencies about their on supposed ideologies and theories. LeftTube and many other groups have tried to control the damage done by these groups. I refuse to say names or organizations in this work, but it is these individuals that help create turmoil, but I will admit that combatting them is an important task. Some creators do focus heavily on this aspect and I think it doesn’t do much after a while: yes, you proved that “Sven Sharp” doesn’t even know about how finance flows and works, but you did that multiple times in different videos and it loses its effect after a while. It might even give more exposure to people who didn’t know who “Sven Sharp” is, which helps absolutely no one.
What LeftTube does is important: it combats an opposing ideology, has a good track record in demonstrating the sheer insanity far right-winged personalities spew. They also have conveyed complex ideas to the masses and helped educate about more ‘left-oriented policies’ and other topics. However, this is but one front of important topics and ideas. We need to discuss transitions from the current system to a new one, whether or not certain aspects can and should be salvaged, and BOMBS. This is regardless even if the work is ‘done’ in making leftist ideas prominent.
