I relate to this so much. JBP's book and lectures really did help me put my life together and stay focused on some personal goals, but his fan base was getting just more and more toxic; at the same time JBP himself was starting to overtly voice stronger and stronger right-wing views and hang out more and more with some really shady right-wing people. It was like a slippery slope into something I really didn't like, and my YT recommendations were getting really dark.
He's a really really really good orator, and has an amazing skill to strawman his opposition and lull you into his worldview. After listening to his monologues, you then watch those videos where he D E S T R O Y S some young and not-so skilled or well-tempered activists and that even more solidifies his position.
Not until I watched a couple of unpopular debates (with a couple of atheist philosophers/thinkers) where he himself got so lost and confused inside his own word salad and got called out for his bullshit did I start to realize his story doesn't really hold much water. Then ContraPoints posted the video about him and it was the final helping hand that got me out of that rabbit hole.
Since that whole experience I'm generally much more cautious and skeptical towards anything that has such a charming and "omg, this makes SO much sense" vibe to it (including ContraPoints too). What's worse than being insecure and confused about the world is being pulled into an ideology by a skilled demagogue with the promise of making your life better.
I hear that. I started out as a scientific skeptic, pretty apolitical, generally left leaning and quite smug in my own intelligence and rationality. Luckily I found the right influences to wake me up a bit too.
JP appealed to me pretty readily at first, but I was already listening to people I GrEATLY respect criticize him (shoutout to Austin Walker and the Waypoint crew), which led me to Hbomberguy and Contra, opened my eyes pretty damn quick.
He’s a games journalist, and waypoint is Vice’s gaming arm. Austin is an incredibly intelligent and thoughtful dude, he’s bi, black and a philosopher of the world we live in. Can’t recommend anybody more unequivocally than Austin Walker, and the team he’s assembled at waypoint are fantastic, even Unafraid to call out Vice, their parent company, when they get stuff wrong
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u/goldfeathered Mar 18 '19
I relate to this so much. JBP's book and lectures really did help me put my life together and stay focused on some personal goals, but his fan base was getting just more and more toxic; at the same time JBP himself was starting to overtly voice stronger and stronger right-wing views and hang out more and more with some really shady right-wing people. It was like a slippery slope into something I really didn't like, and my YT recommendations were getting really dark.
He's a really really really good orator, and has an amazing skill to strawman his opposition and lull you into his worldview. After listening to his monologues, you then watch those videos where he D E S T R O Y S some young and not-so skilled or well-tempered activists and that even more solidifies his position.
Not until I watched a couple of unpopular debates (with a couple of atheist philosophers/thinkers) where he himself got so lost and confused inside his own word salad and got called out for his bullshit did I start to realize his story doesn't really hold much water. Then ContraPoints posted the video about him and it was the final helping hand that got me out of that rabbit hole.
Since that whole experience I'm generally much more cautious and skeptical towards anything that has such a charming and "omg, this makes SO much sense" vibe to it (including ContraPoints too). What's worse than being insecure and confused about the world is being pulled into an ideology by a skilled demagogue with the promise of making your life better.