that sub is definitely overall a net positive but i dont think anyone there reads theory. back in cth days we would bully people who didnt read theory. deprogram just bullies liberals on twitter
deprogram is definitely too relaxed. I’ve also noticed a marked decrease in quality from hakim since joining as well. They all need to be more strict and teach more theory.
Hakim’s quality definitely went downhill. When was the last time he released a book recommendation video? I also don’t like how his newer videos are just him recycling his older videos that he has hidden(?). I feel like the newer recycled videos has less info compared with the original older videos, but I don’t have them to compare.
People should listen to audiobooks or perhaps college level, organized discussions (David Harvey has lectures and short Q&A about Capital going chapter by chapter, for example) if they want theory (in an audio format)
But that said, I do sort of agree that they should try harder to at least get people to seek out theory by giving more tastes of it dispersed throughout the podcast. Hakim usually is the best at it. He talks about something then says “Read Whatever by Whoever for more.” It just seems like between his “real job” and sort of realizing what people (their audience) want isn’t to be told to read books… yeah, he’s like “fuck it. Just subscribe, I guess.”
The sad fact is if you had a heavy, heavy theory oriented podcast. Like it’s basically just a review and highlighting of main points from a book, chapter by chapter. Very few people are going to listen to it. Some will, for sure. But let’s be realistic. I think all you can really do is what Hakim used to do more of which is shoutout books for people to go read. If it piqued someone’s interest they will go read. Of course the bottleneck or whatever here is the host(s) have to be incredibly well-read themselves. Hakim can rattle off a billion books because he’s clearly a theory nerd and has read, perhaps, too many books. That already places him in like the 0.01% of podcasters by education level (self or otherwise).
I guess what I’m getting at here is the same cliche. “Podcasts are slop content. Don’t expect anything. The best they can do is shame listeners into reading maybe one book.”
This especially, with regards to how Hexbear often criticizes Breadtubers or whomever, seem to expect these creators to drop everything and start making hyper-specific reviews of obscure theory or something that’ll accrue generously 1k views and be absorbed by absolutely nobody. Unfortunately I think Social media isn’t going to serve the cause in any meaningful way since it’s largely devoted by their owners to avoid that kind of thing, since people click on the digestible videos that interest them.
I just don’t want Guerrilla History to be the only podcast where people actually read and recommend shit to read. Outside of a select few, the vast majority of podcasts is just slop and Youtubers are even worse because it’s slop that you can’t even enjoy while commuting to work.
Yea I think the best we can hope for from “slop” is for it to funnel people into the leftist pipeline. If it’s not entertaining people won’t watch it, and I get that because sometimes you’re not in the mood to watch or read some theoretical work.
Right wing slop already serves this purpose, with the people who consume it not even aware it’s right wing
Unfortunately the benefit the right wing has is the more people consume slop and get pissed at manufactured controversies they create, the more it just swirls in a vortex of “shit” for everyone else. Notice that approximately zero American conservatives who aren’t capitalists (so “working class” non-business owners) seem to give a flying shit now days about anything that isn’t a “culture war” talking point. Or a derivative of one. There’s no like “serious” discussion on how to solve inflation or their wages becoming more and more dogshit over time. “Trump said tariffs will fix it! Yep! That’ll fix it. And he said we’re deporting the “illegals!” And making being trans illegal! Hell yeah!”
They’ve managed to just create this stew of shit where they create a “controversy” based on, I dunno, some sort of perceived “degeneration” of invented societal norms from the past, say “Yeah, we’re banning that. Also, taxes. Those are bad. When has the government helped you anyway? Also, the government is full of trans people. They want to tax you. Ban it all, right?”
It doesn’t matter because these people just want a distraction and someone to blame. The right wing slop bucket has endless opportunities to feed them “enemies.” Then their leaders, Trump, or whoever (he’s not unique. Maybe especially skilled at selling the bullshit though) come and say “I agree with you, long time listeners of SlopCast!” He feeds them the sloppiest slop, fucks something they probably rely on without knowing it (or will one day), and they’re just left smiling and giggling covered in shit. Like little hoglets.
The democrats have basically defined themselves as “We are the half measure party to republican full measures!” Aka, losers if you’re in the slop realm. Losers if you’re on the left. The only people who like the dems are those adjacent to slop world, suburban moms basically, who consume it but don’t like how it tastes. “Let’s kill… only half the immigrants?” is the conclusion they reach.
It’s rather unfortunate that “left wing” slop basically just distracts, for the most part. While right wing slop is actually required for their entire operation. The left relies on people organizing en masse and having leaders from within the working class that represent their fellow workers and are educated on class struggle. Podcasts probably aren’t pushing much there. The right relies on the spread of bullshit. 100 loud mouths spouting the dumbest shit you can imagine at people who sort of know everything is getting shittier and shittier and really want an enemy to blame… that’s ripe for the right wing to pluck. The left could, in theory, capitalize on the opportunity, and I think to an extent some are doing so currently. The question has long been floating in the ether though “What are the limits of radicalization via podcast/online content consumption generally?” So far, it seems to be extremely limited in reach. The people who consume the content often already agree with the host. It also sort of instills a feeling of “having done something” when you listen to someone else break down a situation. You feel like you addressed it. The anger starts to dissipate. That anger is essential to getting people to do stuff though. Something the right understands and exploits constantly.
Anyway, none of this is really unique. Just sort of observing stuff others have as well.
I think that the three of them attracted a much younger audience than they were aiming for, and they’ve kinda started trying to make things easier for that audience to understand (although that’s not exactly an excuse for Hakim who makes very historically-oriented stuff).
that sub is definitely overall a net positive but i dont think anyone there reads theory. back in cth days we would bully people who didnt read theory. deprogram just bullies liberals on twitter
deprogram is definitely too relaxed. I’ve also noticed a marked decrease in quality from hakim since joining as well. They all need to be more strict and teach more theory.
Hakim’s quality definitely went downhill. When was the last time he released a book recommendation video? I also don’t like how his newer videos are just him recycling his older videos that he has hidden(?). I feel like the newer recycled videos has less info compared with the original older videos, but I don’t have them to compare.
its also very like… idk… drama seeking vibe? Like he wants to ‘own the libs’ and not just make communist content. I definitely prefer his older vibe.
It’s an entertainment podcast
People should listen to audiobooks or perhaps college level, organized discussions (David Harvey has lectures and short Q&A about Capital going chapter by chapter, for example) if they want theory (in an audio format)
But that said, I do sort of agree that they should try harder to at least get people to seek out theory by giving more tastes of it dispersed throughout the podcast. Hakim usually is the best at it. He talks about something then says “Read Whatever by Whoever for more.” It just seems like between his “real job” and sort of realizing what people (their audience) want isn’t to be told to read books… yeah, he’s like “fuck it. Just subscribe, I guess.”
The sad fact is if you had a heavy, heavy theory oriented podcast. Like it’s basically just a review and highlighting of main points from a book, chapter by chapter. Very few people are going to listen to it. Some will, for sure. But let’s be realistic. I think all you can really do is what Hakim used to do more of which is shoutout books for people to go read. If it piqued someone’s interest they will go read. Of course the bottleneck or whatever here is the host(s) have to be incredibly well-read themselves. Hakim can rattle off a billion books because he’s clearly a theory nerd and has read, perhaps, too many books. That already places him in like the 0.01% of podcasters by education level (self or otherwise).
I guess what I’m getting at here is the same cliche. “Podcasts are slop content. Don’t expect anything. The best they can do is shame listeners into reading maybe one book.”
This especially, with regards to how Hexbear often criticizes Breadtubers or whomever, seem to expect these creators to drop everything and start making hyper-specific reviews of obscure theory or something that’ll accrue generously 1k views and be absorbed by absolutely nobody. Unfortunately I think Social media isn’t going to serve the cause in any meaningful way since it’s largely devoted by their owners to avoid that kind of thing, since people click on the digestible videos that interest them.
I just don’t want Guerrilla History to be the only podcast where people actually read and recommend shit to read. Outside of a select few, the vast majority of podcasts is just slop and Youtubers are even worse because it’s slop that you can’t even enjoy while commuting to work.
Yea I think the best we can hope for from “slop” is for it to funnel people into the leftist pipeline. If it’s not entertaining people won’t watch it, and I get that because sometimes you’re not in the mood to watch or read some theoretical work.
Right wing slop already serves this purpose, with the people who consume it not even aware it’s right wing
Unfortunately the benefit the right wing has is the more people consume slop and get pissed at manufactured controversies they create, the more it just swirls in a vortex of “shit” for everyone else. Notice that approximately zero American conservatives who aren’t capitalists (so “working class” non-business owners) seem to give a flying shit now days about anything that isn’t a “culture war” talking point. Or a derivative of one. There’s no like “serious” discussion on how to solve inflation or their wages becoming more and more dogshit over time. “Trump said tariffs will fix it! Yep! That’ll fix it. And he said we’re deporting the “illegals!” And making being trans illegal! Hell yeah!”
They’ve managed to just create this stew of shit where they create a “controversy” based on, I dunno, some sort of perceived “degeneration” of invented societal norms from the past, say “Yeah, we’re banning that. Also, taxes. Those are bad. When has the government helped you anyway? Also, the government is full of trans people. They want to tax you. Ban it all, right?”
It doesn’t matter because these people just want a distraction and someone to blame. The right wing slop bucket has endless opportunities to feed them “enemies.” Then their leaders, Trump, or whoever (he’s not unique. Maybe especially skilled at selling the bullshit though) come and say “I agree with you, long time listeners of SlopCast!” He feeds them the sloppiest slop, fucks something they probably rely on without knowing it (or will one day), and they’re just left smiling and giggling covered in shit. Like little hoglets.
The democrats have basically defined themselves as “We are the half measure party to republican full measures!” Aka, losers if you’re in the slop realm. Losers if you’re on the left. The only people who like the dems are those adjacent to slop world, suburban moms basically, who consume it but don’t like how it tastes. “Let’s kill… only half the immigrants?” is the conclusion they reach.
It’s rather unfortunate that “left wing” slop basically just distracts, for the most part. While right wing slop is actually required for their entire operation. The left relies on people organizing en masse and having leaders from within the working class that represent their fellow workers and are educated on class struggle. Podcasts probably aren’t pushing much there. The right relies on the spread of bullshit. 100 loud mouths spouting the dumbest shit you can imagine at people who sort of know everything is getting shittier and shittier and really want an enemy to blame… that’s ripe for the right wing to pluck. The left could, in theory, capitalize on the opportunity, and I think to an extent some are doing so currently. The question has long been floating in the ether though “What are the limits of radicalization via podcast/online content consumption generally?” So far, it seems to be extremely limited in reach. The people who consume the content often already agree with the host. It also sort of instills a feeling of “having done something” when you listen to someone else break down a situation. You feel like you addressed it. The anger starts to dissipate. That anger is essential to getting people to do stuff though. Something the right understands and exploits constantly.
Anyway, none of this is really unique. Just sort of observing stuff others have as well.
I think that the three of them attracted a much younger audience than they were aiming for, and they’ve kinda started trying to make things easier for that audience to understand (although that’s not exactly an excuse for Hakim who makes very historically-oriented stuff).
Yeah thats where im more critical, Hakim definitely doesn’t have the same well-read punch he used to