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HumanBehaviorByBjork wrote

i won't contest the brocialist descriptor, but as for tankie (a label i have criticisms of in general), i think that's very inaccurate. the subreddit and the fandom of the podcast is multi-tendency, mostly united by being "extremely online," and if anything leans more demsoc than M-L, anarchist, trot, leftcom, or whatever else.

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celebratedrecluse wrote

yeah it's definitely a demsoc podcast but it's funny as fuck on a regular basis

i do steal every episode though, so there's that

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[deleted] 0 wrote

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celebratedrecluse wrote (edited )

Nah not at those points, no

edit: I will elaborate and say that there are not infrequently some uncomfortable moments on the cast, and I pretty consistently don't agree with their take on privilege & the role of constructive self-critique on the left. The electoralism is hilarious. However, i do find most of it entertaining, especially when they dunk on the right and neolibs, and so i listen to most of the episodes as they come out.

The reason i am modding, however, is to try and steer the chapotraphouse community in a less lib direction, by encouraging them to migrate & exposing the largely demsoc audience to what they will find to be genuinely challenging POVs on Raddle. Call me foolish, but I think this might end up being a good thing. I've seen movement on /f/shoplifting that never would have happened on reddit, imo. Perhaps we will see some positive developments for including this group of people in a subforum here, that's my theory right now.

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HumanBehaviorByBjork wrote

those bits are extra funny, actually

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celebratedrecluse wrote

: /

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HumanBehaviorByBjork wrote

stupid questions get obnoxious answers

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celebratedrecluse wrote (edited )

I mean, okay. Look. It was a nonspecific attack on something you and I both like. You and I both have been acculturated to reply to that sort of thing with derision. That's not unwarranted when taken into our social discourse context, and I understand why you wrote what you did.

However there are definitely instances where the chapo guys lib out. This includes literally any issue where Will, Felix or Amber are made to feel uncomfortable or at a disadvantaged place. For example, that mailbag ep segment where Will hesitates hillariously on the question of "what do you think we should do to recognize our own privilege" and ends up just giving the most lib answer i've ever heard.

I love will. he's great, and I would have a beer with him. But he's not fucking infallible. He's a podcast host, ffs.

Let's not kid ourselves. They have a personality type on air which is anathema to the kind of constructive self-crit which is needed in political movements. Listen to what they say. They repeatedly emphasize that what they do is not politics. it is making people's commutes bearable. they are producing entertainment. Don't get committed to them, even when someone is being a bit confrontational over your choice in podcasts. It's absurd to claim that they are above reproach, not even they would defend that. They have repeatedly told us online lasses and lads to "stop jumping to defend them online".

The only reason i am posting this, after typing this all in a DM to you, is really just that i want this to sink in for the rest of people like us who listen to chapo and have absorbed this dirtbag leftist thing. Our. Consumer. Choice. Doesn't. Matter. You catch me?

edit: clarity

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HumanBehaviorByBjork wrote

I appreciate the long response. I honestly forgot what he said that ep, I'll look it up.

In general, I will agree that they're not perfect, their takes aren't always right, and I'm not interested in crusading for them to my last breathe, but this is an entirely separate question from "uh, aren't they misogynists and rape-apologists?" and if responding patiently and at length to every baseless accusation is what is meant by "self-crit," I'm frankly not convinced the left does need it. I'm hesitant to relate this to a wider point about movement-building, but we have buckets upon buckets of self-crit, self-flagellation, and self-loathing on the left. Acting like the NKVD asking people if they've stopped beating their wives yet is toxic to honest discussion.

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[deleted] wrote

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HumanBehaviorByBjork wrote

yeah and you torture small animals, so i don't think you get to have an opinion

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[deleted] wrote

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ego_mutt wrote

Not to downplay the fact that this guy is a rape apologist, but do you actually torture small animals, cause car wrecks and whatever other claims I've seen about you today?

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celebratedrecluse wrote

Yeah I don't know what ep # it was exactly, i think it was somewhere in the late 100s. there's so damn many it gets confusing. I'm not trying to be intentionally vague, it's definitely there, and was a moment where i was like "wait, for real? this makes some of the dark humor a lot less funny."

it was kind of the same feeling i get when a standup tries to tell the audience what to do: shut up, laugh, clap as you're told. it's pretty droll, and shows the performer to be a bit inflexible/needy in a way that undermines their comedic role. So regardless of what the specific thing the poster we replied to was referring to, i understand what they were talking about, i think.

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