Friday, August 11, 2023

Briefly discussing the Vaush vs Ana Kasperian controversy

 So....Vaush can't stop talking pot shots at the rest of the left, and now Ana Kasperian is the target of a lot of his flak online. Ana has recently been controversial on the left since she's starting to come out against wokeism more and more and pushed back against the "birthing persons language". Now, I dont really disagree with Ana here. I don't think all of her takes are great, but honestly? I definitely agree more with TYT's "we need to rein the left in these guys are gonna cause us to lose" mentality. The woke stuff is insular and alienating to anyone not in that cult, and while the SJWs don't like to hear it, it's true.

Of course, Vaush IS an SJW. It's like his main thing. He's exactly that kind of leftist who focuses primarily on empathy and caring for the underprivileged. And he isn't afraid to throw shade at anyone who doesn't think the same way. Which is the core reason I hate him. He ALWAYS loves to push his views in peoples' faces and shame them for not thinking like him. His worldview is one dimensional and comes down to everything being an eternal struggle against "fascism." It's ridiculous. Leftie brain rot, this guy has. 

And of course, he's gonna do things like compare Ana's "Im leaving the left" pitch to dave rubin and blah blah blah. Again, I can't say I agree with ana completely, but as someone who is "leaving the left" in that sense too in recent weeks, months, and even years, I can't fault her for her frustration.

Still, I tend to also not really symapthize totally with ana. Sometimes her takes are crap, like the one on parental notification and trans stuff, and stuff like that. But...no one's perfect. And I wish we'd understand that more. I also think that some criticisms I've seen of ana and TYT in general from third parties are correct. For example, TYT members like Cenk and Ana seem to approach relationships with other streamers, podcasters, and hosts, as ones based on loyalty. And when people sometimes criticize TYT for bad takes, they seem to get petty and cut off their relationships with them, which is pretty petty. And of course, this criticism came up in Ana's attacks on Vaush. I also noticed this dynamic when Kyle sided somewhat with Jimmy Dore and I can't say that I like that either. Being forced to compromise your values to save relationships, and being punished for being honest, is one of the things I hate most about politics. I wish people would just do and say what they believe, and screw the haters. But, given politics is a field of relationships, quid pro quo, and give and take, people who so do are often ostracized in their own way.

Still, given vaush's own antagonistic behavior in this case, i think the push back is reasonable. 

Honestly, as such, I agree more with Ana than Vaush here. You can still be liberal, and defy social justice orthodoxy. The haters might not wanna hear that, but it's true. And I wish people would be more open to this. We shouldnt let this weird cult of critical theorists just dictate the views of the rest of the left in such a gatekeepy fashion. It's insular, it's irritating, and honestly, TYT IS RIGHT ON THIS. We need a more sane centrist social left focused on traditional liberal values, rather than this weird cult of social justice.

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