Standing Up to Progressive Infighting: My Experience Challenging TYT Critics

General Discussion
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I didn’t see this but I did read this: I Choose Freedom - by Ana Kasparian - Unaligned

I think it’s important that we hold ourselves accountable for our own bias too and I respect how Ana challenges herself. We have to pick what we consume and when, especially when our mood can color how we perceive it. It’s why I have to step back often. I’m currently listening to Sarah Smarsh’s Heartland. It’s such a clear representation of what poor, working class white people have experienced in this country. It’s amazing how much I relate to it, especially since I did not grow up on a farm and I am not white. But poverty is a net and more of us were/are/will be caught in it. It helps me to read something insightful and relevant that is not straight up news.

I don’t really have a point. Your post just reminded me that political journeys are complicated. We are shaped by the establishment/system and it can feel like we learned “too late” and are never truly free of those early influences. Then, a lot of the time, we have to hold the line against further exploitation especially when we are at our most vulnerable. We won’t always get it right but we have to allow for imperfections and course correction.

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I agree that it is beyond frustrating. I haven’t even watched many of the “critical” videos but the amount I watched was enough. That is not how I want to be spending my time but even the little glimpses I catch are demoralizing. The YT algorithms are pushing them hard. Channels I’d never heard of are recommended, with angry looking photos and dramatic titles. It genuinely hurt my heart when someone I liked a lot spoke of Ana in such a way that I could not excuse. I thought he really should know better… I wanted to understand. I wondered if they felt hurt, betrayed, confused… Then, I was just done. I started to think about how there is so much news to cover and THIS is what they are focused on. Some of the videos are long too! Even if I could stomach it, I don’t have that kind of time. Even if I did, I’d rather be doing something more heart-building.

I’ve seen some of the comments on the unlocked YT videos and I really hope the membership comments are better. The enthusiasm and certainty of the vitriol! My goodness! Are most of them bots? I’ve seen some comments on BlueSky too and I’ve engaged a little. I loathe the arrogance when they basically think TYT viewers are stupid for still believing in them. I can’t help but be suspicious because I don’t even see that sort of absolutism about legacy media. Where is all the hate coming from? And will the hosts critical of TYT recognize if and/or when their comments section is used against them? I don’t believe any of us are immune from messaging, especially not when we’re vulnerable. I genuinely worry that some of these hosts could become more disconnected from other progressives because they were encouraged at the right time to do so. Does that make sense? I know it sounds all conspiracy theorist-y. But division is how the establishment controls things. They want to end the rise of populism. What better way to do that than by getting the progressive left to turn on itself?

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I don’t know how TYT will fight back. I was on the Operation Hope call just now and some people had great ideas on how to do that. If they go that route, I hope it works out well. I, for one, am not sure. I worry emotions are too high, making bias even more active. But it’s definitely worth considering, especially since there may come a time when “fighting back” is undeniably necessary.

I genuinely believe that there is empathy lacking, even on the left. For example, I see this unwillingness to reconcile the desire to dismiss Trump supporters as stupid and the knowledge that they were misinformed. Well, if they were deliberately misinformed, a little bit of compassion could go a long way. Acting like someone should know they were misled completely misses key points of living. For one, humans are susceptible beings. Two, our educational system is lacking. When it comes to Cenk, I agree with you. It’s undeniable that he’s a human first, though admittedly, I’ve not seen him on Piers Morgan’s show. There needs to be more room for humanity. We are not and will never be perfect, uniform or in 100% agreement.

I feel like some of the critics want to hold TYT to a different standard than they hold themselves. I wondered if they viewed themselves as more of a blog whereas TYT is a news network. But whatever the reason, why is it okay for them to air out their emotions on their channels but TYT needs to think about how they could affect others with their outbursts? Have a standard, of course, but apply it to all, you know? I think some of the critics aren’t really considering the effects of what they are doing. Maybe they don’t recognize their influence or maybe the feedback is making them feel like they are really onto something. I don’t know but like I said, I agree with you. It’s frustrating as hell.

I apologize for the long reply. Time got away from me and that is how I always have (or feel like I have) so little time! :slight_smile:

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Just a quick one to say I can’t think of a format to recommend, unfortunately. For a brief moment, I wondered if the panels set up for when an interviewer questions a tv-show or movie cast would be fun; but I really don’t know. In some ways, it might depend on the guests, right? Maybe one format would work for TYT hosts but not for a different group of guests. Thanks for the link. Will try to check it out. Also, I just added two longer-than-expected posts. They looked so much longer after hitting reply too! (Yikes.) I don’t know the etiquette. I got a blue pop up making suggestions I didn’t understand. I hope it’s okay. If not, I apologize and will try to be more succinct in future.

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Very well said!

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Both the left and right can act cultishly, failing to practice true compassion and inclusion when faced with opposing views. As Daniella Mestyanek Young notes, we’re all influenced by systems that push conformity. Acknowledging this helps us recognize our biases, like dismissing Trump supporters as ‘stupid,’ which ignores systemic misinformation. This awareness prompts me to confront my biases and engage with differing opinions, which is why I appreciate TYT’s commitment to debate as essential for understanding and progress.

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Lol! I sent a long response to you last night, but this morning I realized you never got it. Instead of clicking on “visit topic to respond”, I simply responded to the email the discussion board sent me. Just as well, it was pretty long winded. I’ve been in public service all of my life, but the last 31 years I worked with an organization that provides services to people involved in the criminal justice system. I had several jobs with them, but my favorite was the 13 years I spent working with 15-19 year olds. It was a recidivism prevention program. Kids who completed successfully got lighter sentences, or even had their cases terminated.

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I think it is important for us to remember that there are 2 things going on here. One is Ana’s quest to find where she fits in in the political landscape. It is a journey of personal discovery. As I said in the town hall, I saw no value in going on Glen Beck’s show. But what I value is not important. It is her journey, not mine. Those who use that decision as evidence that she has abandoned progressive principles are being unfair. Many are acting out of fear. Others are being duplicitous.

The second thing happening is that we have a populist plank to promote. We want to pull in people from all sides. That is OUR journey. Ana’s position at TYT makes it inevitable that many people will connect the 2 in their minds, but we should resist falling into that category. I didn’t get a chance to make that point in the town hall, but I think it is an important one.

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I had a whole lot to say and very little time on the Town Hall last night, and I’m not sure how well I communicated it, but the main points I was trying to get across were:

  1. Folks are feeling angry, targeted, stressed and afraid, and are looking for political allies to come together to stand against what’s coming. People aren’t ready to find common ground with political enemies right now - they’re ready to fight.

  2. Other outlets like the Majority Report, and folks that have left the show like Mondale may be lashing out because of the feelings I mentioned in #1, or because they’re trying to get attention or clicks or other reasons, but in the end it doesn’t matter; what matters is that they and TYT are still political allies and need to get past whatever beefs that exist, at least enough so that they can stop the infighting and work together.

  3. I know there are different opinions about how bad things are going to get under the new Trump administration; Ana seems to give off the impression that she doesn’t think there’s that much of a threat, I’ve seen other opinions going all the way up to apocalyptic, but regardless of what is really going to happen, those feelings that people have (see #1) are real, and I think that’s why these criticisms of TYT, especially with those not that familiar with the show, are resonating. I still think the best solution would be something like the Progressive Media Summit, so folks can get together to talk and hash out differences while still remaining political allies. I haven’t heard back much on that except from Maggie, so please let me know what you guys think!

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Both the left and right can act cultishly, failing to practice true compassion and inclusion when faced with opposing views. As Daniella Mestyanek Young notes, we’re all influenced by systems that push conformity. Acknowledging this helps us recognize our biases, like dismissing Trump supporters as ‘stupid,’ which ignores systemic misinformation. This awareness prompts me to confront my biases and engage with differing opinions, which is why I appreciate TYT’s commitment to debate as essential for understanding and progress.

Hi [mggbwmn8]. There are other possibilities here, aside from Trump voters being stupid or misinformed. They include particularly that they may be (in some cases) actually right, whether that is through smartness and being well-informed, or through another path. I do not mean to imply that they are right to vote for Trump (as I’ve said to friends, acquaintances and family, nobody has any business voting into office someone who has tried to take over the government and relentlessly demonstrated complete cynicism and contempt for the rule of law he will be sworn to protect). No, not right to vote for Trump, nor right on many of the issues, but on some of the issues here or there, or on parts of issues, the possibility should not be ruled out that they are smart, and-or well-informed, and-or right.

I believe that if we (all opponents of the coming further undermining of the rule of law) are able to distinguish between these two very separate matters (the difference between Trump’s total unsuitability for office, and the fact that on the issues Trump has a limited number of points that should be given proper consideration)… I think this could be one helpful tool in defusing the anger (and ultimately perhaps the statist tendencies) of some in MAGA, and it might give us a slightly improved chance to move the country away from this Constitutional Emergency and back to a decent footing. I don’t think it’s probable that we can do that, but I think such efforts could help a little.

On this matter (distinguishing between Trump’s total lack of suitability and some of the points that MAGA are making) Cenk is arguably showing some thought-leadership at least with respect to being open to some of what Musk or Trump says. Cenk has a practice that I also try to employ of giving both credit and discredit where he thinks they are due. This does not mean I agree with Cenk as to his engagement posture (I am not sure, but I don’t think that I agree) but I think we should give credit where it is due to him.

edit to add: I get that we are up against real statism (fascism in this case). I am not suggestig that I think it’s ok to be glib or loose with our principles in how we approach how to deal with that. So, again, I don’t know the right way to deal with the engagement question, and suspect that Cenk may not be right, but I just wanted to underscore that I get that the Constitutional Emergency is very real.

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I agree that they should talk and try to work things out. The grifters, I have no use for. I don’t see them as political allies, just bad faith actors. But I believe that most of the detractors are acting out of concern and/or fear of what we are facing. We need them, they need us, and the progressive cause needs all of us. I believe a media summit is a great way to make it happen.

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Agreed, we need each other! It depends on who you mean by grifters, but if you’re talking about folks like Jimmy Dore I agree with you there, too. Anyone pushing anti-vax nonsense and propping up folks like Tulsi Gabbard is not a political ally!

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So I’m on board. What are the next steps?

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Awesome! Maggie has some documents she put together, a planning doc we can look over and talk about, and a spreadsheet with a list of folks that we could potentially reach out to and invite to the summit that I’ve already been adding to, expanding the list as I think of new ones. @mggbwmn8 could you please give @tonymac52 access to those documents?

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Awesome, thanks. By the way, I watched the bonus episode tonight, in which Cenk and Ana responded to questions about the online drama. Cenk said they wont go on Majority Report of Ben Dixon’s show because the wounds inflicted by Sam and Ben’s words was too deep. So my guess is, neither Sam nor Ben will be attending the summit. Too bad, because I feel those wounds are the most important ones to heal. But as they say, “One monkey(or 2 in this case) don’t stop no show!” So we’ll do the summit without them. That still leaves plenty of others to invite.

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I just replied to you, but forgot to click on your comment and hit reply before I typed it, so it just appears as a comment. Too lazy to type it again, so I’m following up with this. When you go to the topic you’ll able to see my full response. Thanks!

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No worries. I must confess I haven’t quite figured out completely how replies/posts work on here myself, but I’m getting better and I saw your full response.

I saw that bonus episode too tonight, I think you’re right, it might be too big an ask with Sam and Ben. On the other hand, I’ve been in a similar situation and I know that with the tempers high and the wounds still fresh right now they might be saying ‘never’, but that can change over time as they see the good that could come from it. (When I was in that situation, I relented a bit over time after my friends had had a chance to talk with me a bit and things worked out pretty well)

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How do you find today’s bonus episode? I was watching on youtube tv and I thought they said the ask any questions part would be public today???

The only criticism I’ve seen was from a clip that popped up on Facebook from The Humanist Report (which I have never been a fan of) and made sure to unfollow after watching an uncompelling attack on why TYT was supposedly going right. I had to google this Sam Seder dispute. It is uncomfortable watching all this in fighting. Trying to understand what is going on.

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The Bonus Episode from tonight is up on YouTube but it is marked as [Members Only]. Hopefully it will just be like that for like 24 hours and then it’ll go full public.

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Thx, I will have to wait and see. I thought maybe I was doing something wrong when I couldn’t pull it up.

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