Current Events > There's a YouTube series you guys should watch about the alt-right

(+) Yeah! (+)

From Innuendo Studios, "The Alt-Right Playbook"

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJA_jUddXvY7v0VkYRbANnTnzkA_HMFtQ

Goes pretty in depth on common rhetorical tactics of the alt right, how they became the face of conservatives in recent years, and how to engage with them (spoilers: don't), as well as the origins of conservatism in general, and why it has the potential to be such a dangerous ideology

It's a long series, but well worth it if you're interested in the political discourse going on in this country right now
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I have seen and enjoyed his videos. Everyone here can benefit from them, but they won't. I wish people would listen to the videos and ignore the alt right troll baiters, but they won't.
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i feel like internet leftists watch more videos about the alt right than actual alt right people

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Pukelid posted...

I have seen and enjoyed his videos. Everyone here can benefit from them, but they won't. I wish people would listen to the videos and ignore the alt right troll baiters, but they won't.

That's the key take away from all this. There's no sense in arguing most of their points, especially on a forum like CE, since their goal isn't to argue in good faith, but to seem like the one that was controlling the flow of conversation, and thus appear as the winner to onlookers and get people thinking about their ideas

It's the exact same type of rhetorical tactics that Trump uses
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MarqueeSeries posted...

That's the key take away from all this. There's no sense in arguing most of their points, especially on a forum like CE, since their goal isn't to argue in good faith, but to seem like the one that was controlling the flow of conversation, and thus appear as the winner to onlookers and get people thinking about their ideas

It's the exact same type of rhetorical tactics that Trump uses

even before watching that channel my dumbass knew to engage any of them was to instantly lose. it's clear as day that their goals are to muddy the waters and normalize insane shit
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This should be required viewing in schools
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Romulox28 posted...

i feel like internet leftists watch more videos about the alt right than actual alt right people

Why would the alt right watch videos about themselves
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Bump
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Is the video about the actual alt right- as in that sub group of Neo Nazis led by Richard Spencer? Or is it just another left wing video where they apply the term to the alt lite?
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Shadowplay posted...

Is the video about the actual alt right- as in that sub group of Neo Nazis led by Richard Spencer? Or is it just another left wing video where they apply the term to the alt lite?

Why don't you watch it and find out?
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I watched the first video and I was deeply unimpressed.

Point 1: What is the alt-right?

It does not identify any political principles at play and defines the alt-right not by specifying their positions on various social/political issues, but instead by association to certain persons and movements of interest. Not only that, but the associations cast in the video are unbelievably broad to the point of being utterly meaningless. He also identifies the Amazing Atheist as one of these associated parties, despite the fact that the Amazing Atheist is VERY left wing in almost all of his politics. He also does not even specify or defend these associations at all.

This entire mode of analysis is ironic because he just shortly beforehand claims the alt-right to be reactionary (and it certainly is), despite the fact that a political analysis done by associations to persons and movements rather than arguments is effectively the definition of reactionary. So we have a startling lack of self awareness to begin with.

Point 2: Why are they called the alt-right?

He gets the history of the name correct as far as I know, but he continues making assertions that he never even tries to prove. There is nothing anchoring his analysis down to the real world, it is pure opinion. When you are actually trying to understand what something really is in reality, your own opinion is almost by definition insufficient. His explanation for alt-right being used as a politically inoffensive mask for white supremacy is not an invalid suspicion, but he just doesn't substantiate it with anything. For example, you could just as easily assert that the name alt-right was a way for people of that political affiliation to distinguish themselves politcally from the establishment. This explanation also does not require the assumption of an almost conspiratorial level of political coordination to deliberately mask white supremacy as a strategy by using a new name for it.

He also doesn't categorize his points well and continues attributing features to the alt-right that should have been placed in the prior section of the video. Those features were also just a list of '-phobic' buzzwords that he does not clarify or defend at all.

Point 3: How to engage with the alt-right?

Coward. Gutless. Useless.

Just some of the words you could use to describe this part. Recommending non-engagement is pathetic. He recommends this should be done because the angry and defeated alt-right person will then go and vent their frustrations on celebrities and other public, pollitcally active figures in the culture. For a video bereft of specificity and explanation up until this point, this was oddly specific and of course, utterly unsubstantiated. The phenomenon of people getting angry at, and devisive over, public figures with regard to social issues is typically what politics is by definition. Its operations can be explained otherwise in possibly countless ways.

The alt-right are not scary and their racialized politics are weak and empty, they are easily defeated in argument and the only way to innoculate society against any influence they have is to put the arguments out their for people to digest and debate is the only salient manner to achieve this. Running away and refusing to engage only makes you look like a coward.

CONCLUSION

He at least admits that this is opinion and that he has no solutions at the moment by the end of the video. I might do him the courtesy of assuming better of his video series. Maybe this really is just an introduction and he actually argues his points more effectively in subsequent videos on these specific topics but I certainly won't give him the time of day. This is a terrible first impression.
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I'm not going to watch it, but I can pretty much guarantee it's not as insightful as you think it is, TC.
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I like his series, but some parts of it are stronger than others. I personally prefer content by Three Arrows and Shaun in relation to cultural analysis but it's still good
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The "alt right" is not the face of conservatives. That's an offensive blanket statement and its been marked as such
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idk it was ok
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I don't remember every video, but summarizing the series as "don't engage" is not entirely accurate. A lot of it goes into their rhetoric and what responses work or don't work. It's also about mentions that often trolls aren't interested in your opinion, but in influencing outside readers. It perfectly addresses the CEers that are WAY off the boat.

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ChocoboMogALT posted...

I don't remember every video, but summarizing the series as "don't engage" is not entirely accurate. A lot of it goes into their rhetoric and what responses work or don't work. It's also about mentions that often trolls aren't interested in your opinion, but in influencing outside readers. It perfectly addresses the CEers that are WAY off the boat.

I'll certainly concede that you should not engage with trolls, and there is certainly a cross over between trolls and just about any persuasion politically or socially. I don't recall this point being fully discussed in the introduction video specifically, which is the only one I watched. As I said, later videos may have done a better job but I didn't like what I saw.
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The alt-right doesn't really have a presence here. I don't see the point of having this topic on CE.
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Should I?

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darkzero297 posted...

I'll certainly concede that you should not engage with trolls, and there is certainly a cross over between trolls and just about any persuasion politically or socially. I don't recall this point being fully discussed in the introduction video specifically, which is the only one I watched. As I said, later videos may have done a better job but I didn't like what I saw.

Ok, I skimmed through that first video and understand why people disagree. It looks dumb. The other videos expand on when you should retort and how, and I think the end hints at that, "talk past them," and, "if you don't know how to reply, don't. " I think that's generally good advice. Don't be a coward, but if you don't know the subject butt out. If you do know the subject, consider whether you can actually talk to whoever you disagree with, or if you will never convince them and should talk "over them."

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MarqueeSeries posted...

Why don't you watch it and find out?

Good. Within the first few minutes my intuition that he was yet another liberal who conflates the alt lite with the alt right
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I don't like compelled speech laws, I don't like laws that give the government power in the private affairs of citizens, I don't like bankers, etc etc.

Am I alt right?
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I had to stop when he got to the point where he just listed all of the ists and phobias.

"These guys are all of these things!"

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F1areaGaman posted...

I don't like compelled speech laws, I don't like laws that give the government power in the private affairs of citizens, I don't like bankers, etc etc.

Am I alt right?

You sound like a fellow pinko to me, comrade.
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Anything that the ContraPoints videos doesn't cover?
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TheoryzC posted...

Anything that the ContraPoints videos doesn't cover?

No idea, haven't seen them
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