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Politics and Activism

The Real Problem With Identity Politics On Political YouTube

It's time to focus on -and stop- identity politics.

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The Real Problem With Identity Politics On Political YouTube

Disclaimer: Throughout this article, I've made various generalizations of the left and right based on my own experiences on political YouTube. Please take no offense, I do realize no two people are the same, but for the purposes of this article and to get my point across, generalizations have to be made.

We've all seen a good "Ben Shapiro DESTROYS Leftist" video on YouTube. While conspicuous and appropriately funny at times, this niche of YouTube content pertains nothing to actual policy or change, rather the notion of "destroying" anyone of the opposite viewpoint. Shapiro gains popularity from his videos with fast-talking witty responses like the one linked above, but most often this genre of content is arguably irrelevant to current political issues. It's the same three problems each "destroying" session, whether it's the LGBT community, SJW content, or the victim mindset.

The same goes with feminist movements, or anything remotely left. These videos frequently show a small, radicalized group of feminists who conjure in viewers' minds to be women who lash out with no objective motive, blaming the "Straight, White Male" for nearly everything. The opposition to these infamous Anti-SJWs now seem laughable and borderline embarrassing, an image that's been fostered in their minds so carefully that the stereotype of a female with blue hair cut short and unshaven legs now applies to every self-proclaimed feminist.

You might be wondering, it's not easy to be this ignorant. The viewers of this content rationalize enough to know this just isn't true, and no one really cares about the fact that some feminists don't like to shave. It's true that rationalization is a key part, many of them citing themselves as virtues for facts, logic, and common sense. No issue seems too controversial to rationalize with. But this creates a phenomenon where everything that makes the left mad or "triggers" them is good, since the left adhering to their version of logic and basic human decency is impossible. They now resonate more with the promotion of All Lives Matter, Brexit being good, or dismissing feminism as a superannuated movement in the Western world. They've become the sole thing they swore to destroy, and have radicalized themselves just as much as the feminists they ridicule. It's not that they're extremely pro-right, it's that they've now become anti-left.

Just to level the playing field, I'm now going to talk about how the left is just as bad, if not worse. Leftist YouTube is toxic in its own ways, and you normally see the race card, the victim card, and the privilege card skirting in and out of every video.

One of the many faults of the left is perpetrating white guilt and advocate for racism towards white people on social media sites like YouTube and Twitter. Often times white liberals are too scared to say anything, afraid to "appropriate culture" or "accidentally offend any woke POC", so the normalization of this is widespread and considered to be "reverse racist," a made-up political term for anti-white racism, which is evidently just regular racism. We can see this clear double standard when evaluating racial slurs for each side, and while the severity of the N-word is far above the C-word, change isn't made by outcasting white people and victimizing all POCs (especially in the LGBT community), it's made through compromisation and targeting focus groups without blaming another.

Within their own community, when confronted with anyone who is stealthily pro-right, they are immediately disregarded as racist, homophobic, xenophobic, or anything of that nature. That's why campaigns like the Walk Away movement, which promotes exploring politics without a partisan stance, are steadily gaining momentum. Blair White, a right-winged transsexual political commentator on YouTube once said that "It was harder to come out as more right-wing than as trans"

So, what's my point? To set aside our stubborn values and bridge this growing gap between each side. That's it. Next time you see yourself making fun of Trump or a "triggered libtard", think "am I mocking policy or partisan stance?"

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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