In this video I show off some different Lemmy instances and discuss why the lemmyverse and even some individual Lemmy instances can become a better alternative to Reddit.
I dunno how the community collectively feels about Mental Outlaw in sum, but there’s content of his that has its way of piquing my interests. He just put up a video showcasing Lemmy, some instances, and the mechanics/interactions between them. Probably old news for many of us, but I think it’s always pretty cool to see Lemmy get its mention.
Beehaw specifically got its mention through the video and he briefly touches on Beehaw’s defederation from sh.itjust.works. I’m pretty confident he disagrees with the decision, but his opinion and description of things struck me as balanced and respectable enough. I’d wager that a more precise description of the intrigue would likely take as much time as the video itself.
Any thoughts on Mental Outlaw’s coverage of either Lemmy in sum or Beehaw? Anyone else seen creators they keep their eyes on give mention of Lemmy?
What kind of iffy politics? Only thing of what I see coming from his channel that could be considered political is complaining about government surveillance which is problematic for many regardless of whether they’re right or left. Other than that it’s not like politics are a talking point on his channel.
i can’t pretend i know who this guy is but: i’m pretty sure he has iffy politics. i scrolled through the comments on this video the other day (because we’re mentioned in it, and just to get a sense of who watches his videos) and i immediately came away with the sense that his community is full of right-wing freaks who think censorship is when you moderate and who are mad that trans people exist. i think counted at least three blatantly transphobic comments in a brief scroll, and the general vibe of that comment section was like a youtube facsimile of 4chan. as a content creator, you have the agency to make dipshits like that unwelcome–so the fact that he isn’t is uh, telling, imo.
He does attract a certain crowd on his channel. I think he did express his support on human rights issues like LGBT and racism on certain occasions. He seems kind of libertarian tho. Nevertheless he keeps his political opinions mostly to himself. The FOSS and privacy movements just attract weird people across the spectrum.
His videos are pretty watchable regardless of personal political opinions imo.
There was another comment somewhere in this thread that did a pretty good job at summarizing where I think it comes from. From what I can tell of the videos I hunt and peck from him, his general outlook can be summed up to be libertarian in the traditional sense of the term. On one end of that, he consistently criticizes the reach and practices of US intelligence agencies, which is something I’d think a lot of the country’s politically left would agree with. On the other end, he’s a passionate advocate for firearms, something more in line with the country’s right leaning libertarians. The consistent trend seems to be a view that government ought to have less authority. I don’t think that’s inherently a politically right or left attitude, but in the US at least, I think that it’s more embraced by the country’s right rather than the left, so that’s the kind of audience that builds up a sizable chunk of his own.
There’s also the aesthetic. I think it’s reasonable to say that his demeanor styling appeals to that kind of bend, so that’s another pull for people who get into that kind of culture. I wouldn’t have any examples that come to mind, so take it as hearsay, but I’d wager it would be in theme of him to throw in the likes of a 4chan derived slur if it were relevant to the content. Which is a shame, because I like the kind of internet grit that comes with the vibe, I hate the discrimination it tends to attract and even have baked in it if you’re not careful.
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It’s all to say I can see him leaning libertarian. Not necessarily in the politically right sense, but in the general “let people govern themselves” sense. I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t mean to have an intolerant fan base, but his political stances end up letting him have that intolerant fan base. Goes back to that paradox of tolerance, I suppose. I keep my distance from his comments.
Still, the man and the content itself seems textbook and divisive, at least around here. I’ll keep future material of his to myself and continue having him in the kinda arms-length distance I have. He has occasional takes that strike me as informative and balanced, but he also has occasional takes that I plainly don’t care for. Seems like a creator to look at critically and not to take their word as gospel, which come to mention it, is likely a kinda perspective to have of creators by default.
Just because they advocate firearms doesn’t make them right libertarian. For a lot of leftists like me arming the proletariat is essential.
I don’t particularly like Mental Outlaw because he’s one of those edgy people who likes to use the word “normie” a lot, but at least he’s not like Distrotube or god forbid Luke Smith.
Distrotube is fairly normal imo. Tbh tho I listen to DT’s vids primarily as sleeping aid