So I got into BadEmpanada a while back when I was going through a Latin America phase (I have actually stayed there for a short time so I thought I'd better understand the politics).
I appreciated and still do admit that he has made some very good quality videos on LatAm related issues, most specifically: the Shining Path maoist cult, Fujimori's dictatorship, and Castillo's arrest. They seemed to be objective, well-researched, and aligned with what I had seen and heard first-hand.
So then I signed up for his Patreon on logged onto his Discord (mind you at this point I had not watched any of his videos relating to China, but if I had checked, I would have very quickly found out that had some pretty disgusting views).
Fast forward to a couple days ago and I came across his video commenting on BayArea415's decision to remove his videos and basically go AWOL. There were LOTS of red flags. Below I will list the very easily refutable points he made in the video, and, finally, point out exactly why he, himself, is a hypocrite and a fraud.
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First of all, he calls BayArea415 a LARPer, and says that he was not under any real threat. He cites "plenty of westerners supporting China on Youtube" without being completely anonymous, and gives no examples. The fact is that most of the popular pro-China westerners are based in China, or at least outside the US: Nathan Rich (China), Daniel Dumbrill (China), Andy Boreham (China), Barrett (China), Brian Berletic (Thailand), Cyrus Janssen (Canada, also, not a leftist). Not to mention, none of them go in depth into a Marxist analysis as BayArea415 did, let alone come out openly as a radical communist. This is a recipe for getting tons and tons of hate, which BayArea451 well knew and for which he was absolutely right to go anonymous.
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He then ridicules BayArea415 for actually being a foreclosure lawyer, as if this is something hypocritical and anti-leftist. As far as I understand he was defending the people who've had their houses be foreclosed.
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Next, he claims that BayArea415 was "literally begging the Chinese government to give him a job" as a journalist at CGTN. Okay, so state-owned media doesn't mean that you get employed directly by the government. State-owned companies are still autonomous organizations that have majority stake by the central government. You go through a normal interview process just like any other job, and as for a foreigner, there would be little difference from getting a job anywhere else.
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He claims that BayArea415 was not doing anything revolutionary or "threatening" to the bourgeoisie class because he supports "capitalist China". The joke literally writes itself. If you get so much street-cred for sh*tting on Youtubers who simp for China, then that's probably because you are the one touting a set of views that are based in appeasing the ignorant masses as opposed to going against the current despite the constant barrage hate and vitriol. I'm not even sure how anyone who calls themself a socialist could possibly assume the recipient of the wrath of the entire US empire is a capitalist nation... but let's not get into that argument here.
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Next -- and this is the most inexplicable part -- he says that the fact that BayArea415 disappeared from the public eye after getting doxxed just means that "it shows he values his corporate lawyer job more than his activism." Bro... some people need to work for a living! People have families to support and are integrated into their social community. Not everyone can go live the high life as a white guy in an underdeveloped country earning USD and Australian dollars!
Finally, as I said, I will now disclose proof as to why BadEmpanada himself is a LARPer, a hypocrite, and a fraud.
Back when I was still following him, I was watching one of his livestreams when I noticed he was charging $15 (USD) to answer a question from the audience. This is pretty steep, so I questioned him in the comments. Before long, I found myself banned from the stream. I went into the discord to ask about it. Here's his response:
There you have it: "My streams are a joke that only exist to milk money. If you don't want to be milked don't watch."
Below is the full context of the conversation. You can see some of his fanboys awkwardly sticking up for him. A very toxic community to say the least.
Final thoughts: It's not worth any more of my time to give this loser any more thought, but I felt I had to get this out there. As someone who has spent time in Latin America, I know that its absolutely depressing seeing the amount of poverty and neglect in most places, and for the same reason becomes even more intolerable to live there as a (foreign) socialist. Imagine living the good life in the nice center part of town, while millions are toiling away in the slums and outskirts, just scraping by. This is apparently what the man is doing. There is some mental derangement that must be associated with such a lifestyle, especially if you intend to be someone who lives by your values to any extent at all. The depravity becomes all the more salient the more the person in question believes himself to be righteous and principled.
I don't want to know what he is doing with that $15 per question, that's for sure.
P.S. - BadEmpanada's video bashing BayArea415 is first one that comes up on YouTube when you search "bayarea415". So basically he's now being used as a tool for western bourgeois media psyop narratives to invalidate real leftist voices. Nice job buddy.
He made a video called "The First World 'Left' Will Never Matter Again - The Hard Truth You Need to Hear", which is NOT a very good video. He told people in first world countries to move abroad instead of staying and trying to change material conditions.
Also in the comments of the video, he downplayed what is happening with Cop City as “sitting in a forest in Atlanta” and said “No one outside the us should waste any energy on thinking about them. They sure don’t think about us.” when someone asked for international solidarity regarding it.
Dude won't even join an org.
No one outside the us should waste any energy on thinking about them. They sure don’t think about us.
mfers an Australian named Yannis Stanopoulos, who the fuck is us, buddy??
He said that because he did that and has to justify his own shitty behaviour.
He made a video called "The First World 'Left' Will Never Matter Again - The Hard Truth You Need to Hear", which is NOT a very good video. He told people in first world countries to move abroad instead of staying and trying to change material conditions.
I support China and dislike bad empanada's behavior however I agree that 1st worlders should move abroad and go fucking help us especially in Palestine ,the 1st world is not gonna build class consciousness and you are wasting your time
pls help us in the middle east
Shit if I had any marketable skills I'd be begging China for a job too 😂😂😂😍
Moral of the story: never give money to anyone online unless you have vetted them for a very long time.
holy shit this. i can only think of two people i would give money and not have regret over it. so many let downs.
Badempanada lives in Argentina, right? His content seems pretty mid all things considered even for streamer's standards.
Yeah Argentina. Just a white expat whining on Youtube and exploiting the relative poverty of the locals while not contributing anything to their society.
The fact he of all people would call anyone a fuckin larper is why he bothers me so much. Theory without praxis is meaningless and afaik he doesn't actually do anything or even contribute that money to any causes in a meaningful way.
The extent of his praxis is shitposting on twitter and dox BayArea415
He didn't dox BayArea415, he merely uncritically supported the scum who did.
he also said every indian who lives outside india is a fascist. thought it was completely racist
BayArea415 got unwanted attention because what he said was true and often incendiary. BadEmpanada wants attention so he says incendiary things that are occasionally true.
this whole "transparent" Diva schtick wrapped in "irony" is so fucking tiring. like my god at least try to have a personality
He's just another shitty debatebro, he just happens to be a marxist one. He's attention seeking and thrives on drama. He would probably work with the CIA if they offered to boost his numbers.
Some of his content has been good, so can we please criticize him where criticism is due without hyperbolically calling him “a complete fraud”?
He's made some good videos, but his conclusions are nothing new and there are plenty of alternative, non-problematic sources. Should we not disavow Andrew Tate because he advocates for fitness and being fit is objectively good for you? Again, there are plenty of non-problematic people that will give this same advice.
There is Pascal Coppens who lives in Germany and actually wrote a book but he is not a leftist, his angle is absolutely liberal, though what he says is interesting
Maybe that's who he was talking about when he said people are openly supporting China in the West idk
Sorry this is really late, but I completely agree. I don’t like BadEmpanada SPECIFICALLY because of his BA415-bashing. Not only were most of BE’s points outright false(Xinjiang, calling BA415 a LARPer, saying he’s repeating CPC propaganda) but even the subjective opinions were overly rude. BayArea415 got DOXXED for his videos, what kind of LARPer gets doxxed for spreading radical content??? Thanks for posting, this was a great read
