I think people are upset because when you have a movement that runs almost entirely on volunteer labor and donations while the top of it is millionaires it makes the left look like an MLM scheme. Like the whole thing is just arriving in the same space the progressive NGOs did where they realize they can manage a profitable coexistence with the issues rather than really trying to solve anything.
In what sense are twitch streamers "at the top" of the movement? I think this is an illusion that you get if you're just online. Is Hasan a big topic of discussion at your local Food Not Bombs?
where they realize they can manage a profitable coexistence with the issues rather than really trying to solve anything.
They're streamers! Why do you expect them to "solve" anything? That's simply not what they are.
I think the bigger issue is some of these streamers are habitually incorrect assholes, and it's painful to see someone make a shitload of money being both wrong and counterproductive.
Skull boy is right, though, and the house discourse is dumb.
Even bigger issue is that, as @ABigguhPizzahPieh points out in his comment, half the American left revolves around fundamentally unproductive shit like parasocial relationships with streamers. They're probably more of a symptom than a cause, though.
It's a symptom of the long degeneration of the left in North America, Western Europe, and maybe even the world. Capital is more international than ever but socialists are more and more atomized, and the parties that remain are bound up within national borders. People ask where is our Lenin or our Luxembourg, but those two weren't celebrity intellectuals that just happened to be really smart. They were part of a massive international party, a real force capable of thinking about what is going on and what to do not just in one place but everywhere. They were smart and capable in a way we can't produce anymore because there is no party or movement. There is a lot to do and unfortunately we're stuck in this loop of being mad at another streamer or podcaster
The top in that he's one of the most visible leftist in the country and the second thing is the point I'm making. There's nothing stopping the streamers from doing what the older leftist leaders did and using that status to fund larger efforts.
It's just an obvious point of conflict to me that if you constantly tell people to organize from scratch and donate to this thing or that, it is going to be an issue when people realize the money is already there.
I think people are upset because when you have a movement that runs almost entirely on volunteer labor and donations while the top of it is millionaires it makes the left look like an MLM scheme. Like the whole thing is just arriving in the same space the progressive NGOs did where they realize they can manage a profitable coexistence with the issues rather than really trying to solve anything.
In what sense are twitch streamers "at the top" of the movement? I think this is an illusion that you get if you're just online. Is Hasan a big topic of discussion at your local Food Not Bombs?
They're streamers! Why do you expect them to "solve" anything? That's simply not what they are.
I think the bigger issue is some of these streamers are habitually incorrect assholes, and it's painful to see someone make a shitload of money being both wrong and counterproductive.
Skull boy is right, though, and the house discourse is dumb.
Even bigger issue is that, as @ABigguhPizzahPieh points out in his comment, half the American left revolves around fundamentally unproductive shit like parasocial relationships with streamers. They're probably more of a symptom than a cause, though.
It's a symptom of the long degeneration of the left in North America, Western Europe, and maybe even the world. Capital is more international than ever but socialists are more and more atomized, and the parties that remain are bound up within national borders. People ask where is our Lenin or our Luxembourg, but those two weren't celebrity intellectuals that just happened to be really smart. They were part of a massive international party, a real force capable of thinking about what is going on and what to do not just in one place but everywhere. They were smart and capable in a way we can't produce anymore because there is no party or movement. There is a lot to do and unfortunately we're stuck in this loop of being mad at another streamer or podcaster
The top in that he's one of the most visible leftist in the country and the second thing is the point I'm making. There's nothing stopping the streamers from doing what the older leftist leaders did and using that status to fund larger efforts.
It's just an obvious point of conflict to me that if you constantly tell people to organize from scratch and donate to this thing or that, it is going to be an issue when people realize the money is already there.
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