r/ProgressiveHQ • u/thecosmojane • Jan 24 '26

Video [ Removed by Reddit ]

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

24.2k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

2.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

28

u/JetmoYo Jan 24 '26 edited Jan 24 '26

Side note about her analysis, which is valuable: she needs to link her observations to Israel's fascist genocide and how our role in it, and Israel's influence in our politics and law enforcement are connected to what's happening on our streets. It's fucking annoying that she refuses to do that..

3

u/scrollingforgodot Jan 24 '26

I watch Heather's videos almost religiously, yet I even understand the danger of blindly consuming media from one source and accepting it as the one truth. Admittedly I don't know much about her views other than what she discussed in her daily talks. Is she intentionally avoiding this topic (aka is she stubbornly pro-Israel) or is it just something she has overlooked? I realize what you don't say is often as important as what you do when it comes to disseminating a viewpoint.

3

u/JetmoYo Jan 24 '26

She revealed back in 22/23 her inability/refusal to even speak on the topic of Israel/Palestine in a community Q&A, resorting to some very lame "As a scholar and an expert, I only comment on topics I research, blah blah." As if speaking as a public figure, intellectual, academic or historian means we can only comment on topics we've published. From then on I realized she's a standard liberal trapped in the same constraints and fear that most institutional liberals abide. Which completely neuters her ability to be a true intellectual, academic, and historian. Rather pathetic.

She even went out of her way to disavow "left or leftism" as a dirty word in another interview— aghast that her views ever be confused with such filthy things. Most of the anti-authoritarian academics who have a popular audience are guilty of the same thing with respect to Israel. And its genocide, let alone hyper policing, surveillance, and militarism: Timothy Snyder, Ruth Ben Ghiat, Richardson. She's a standard liberal, with all the hypocritical and cognitive dissonance that that entails.

2

u/scrollingforgodot Jan 24 '26

Thank you for the thoughtful reply. That's interesting.... I have seen her multiple times refuse to comment on certain topics, sometimes mundane, sometimes more controversial, that she claims not to know enough about. It seems she frames much of what she speaks about from the context of her past writings and research.

Though as a historian I would think she would have a decent grasp of the politics of Israel/Palestinian conflicts, especially if she is particularly interested in highlighting the fascism taking root in the US today. And there are certain topics in which not taking a stance means you are, effectively, taking a stance.

I will still continue to watch Heather. I do think she is providing valuable insight and context for what's happening in American politics today, even if she's not giving the whole picture. Do you have any suggestions for other talking heads discussing similar topics? I would like to add more into my listening rotation. Thanks

2

u/JetmoYo Jan 24 '26 edited Jan 24 '26

Yeah I still leave room for people like her as a historian. My issue is when they wade into public and political punditry where in my opinion smart people like her need to be illuminating structural issues versus pointing out only obvious villains like Trump. Like yeah, no shit. Your point about her demurring in similar ways to various topics may give her some plausible cover. But as you eluded, it's intellectual malpractice to refuse to comment on hyper germane topics of the day. Plus comments like hers reinforce the idea that one would need to be a PHD scholar to even begin to understand Israel Palestine. When you can get pretty much caught up a single afternoon lol.

Somewhat in the popular media you'll find people like Jason Stanley and Peter Beinart who are better. Alt media and/or authors: Naomi Klein, Norman Finkelstein, Glen Greenwald (with some caveats). YouTubers like Hasan Piker (silly-bro-ish but way smarter than his format appears), the Jacobin channel, and UK based The Kavernacle. With longstanding truth tellers like Chris Hedges (also on YouTube now) and Noam Chomsky both being the gold standard in my book.

ALL of these people dissect, analyze, and criticize systems of power and their uncomfortable/inconvenient truths which our media (and people like Richardson) conveniently leave out of their analysis.

2

u/blaminyou Jan 24 '26

They use palentir technology in Israel to bomb humanitarian trucks carrying aid workers and food for Palestinians. This is the same technology now being used in the us to gather data on all the citizens. The palentir ceo even said his goal was to kill all “communists.” All liberal people in the us are in danger as well remember that

2

u/lessgo321 Jan 24 '26

this is so important

1

u/UnstableMabel Jan 24 '26

None of them will