So I think we already know the outlines of the typical criticisms of Breadtube, namely that it's vaguely-leftist content that focuses on cultural critique and gives a nod to socialist theory here and there but it doesn't actually achieve anything and it's just a media-consumption demographic with no moves towards anything that resembles on the ground organising and activism. (Obviously there are a few outliers but as a rule this generally holds true.)
I dipped out of Breadtube years ago for plenty of reasons but I just posted on Lemmygrad criticising the SPD Three Arrows movement which prompted me to have a look at the Breadtuber Three Arrows and they have done exactly the same thing that Contrapoints and a lot of other large figures in this genre have done:
They build up a healthy Patreon base and then their content drops off to like a couple of videos a year, if that, while continuing to draw off a personal salary which rivals that of a full-time worker.
In the past two years Three Arrows has produced 4 videos, amounting to less than 4.5 hours of runtime all up.
That's staggering for someone who is getting over 60k a year, at the most conservative estimate.
Likewise Contrapoints claimed to be getting 20k a month and she's putting out like 1-2 videos a year. And there's plenty of other examples of this too.
Imagine what could be done if people supported their local grassroots organisations instead of paying boatloads of cash for their twice-yearly YouTube treats smh.
BadEmpanada's one good video provides a counterpoint: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=23h9emj2_Rw
It seems clear that a good number of people involved think this is what "the left" is
I would have to agree. Like many of us here have said in other posts, a lot of liberal politics (lib or conservative) is vibes based. Many of these so-called 'leftist' YouTubers are nothing but liberals (being charitable I guess they're closer to DemSocs) and they've successfully carved out a niche in the media landscape. I think many people are drawn to these channels when they're first dabbling into something a little further left than they currently are, and are wanting to know more.
These channels also attract viewers that think participating in media consumption is a form of activism. Just
The content is reformist and inoffensive to the ruling class.
This is my own personal conjecture here so take it with a requisite pinch of salt but I've had more than a few occasions where the worst end of the Breadtube/Breadtube-adjacent types have goaded me in the most smug way by demanding to know what irl organising I've been engaged in.
I'm not about to dox myself lol.
I'm not doing irl work for the purposes of bragging rights or for online credibility and if that ever changes then put me out of my misery immediately, please.
But the way that they do this in such a smarmy way gives me the impression that they don't do shit when it comes to irl work and therefore they're assuming that this is the case for everyone else too. It has the same vibes as a misogynist who will say something like "Yeah but you don't actually believe in any of that stuff, do you?" because it's literally beyond their frame of reference to conceive of a person who would actually be any different to them.
Of course there's no way to prove this either way but still.