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Nikkolas from Texas Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#1: Sep 14th 2017 at 8:09:03 PM

Chapo Trap House

Surprised we have a tropes entry for them but no thread at all.

I think they are highly amusing but I also enjoy how savage they are. They combine great wit with a merciless message and the product is something quite enjoyable. I wasn't surprised to find they make nearly 100K a month. In fact, it was rather heartening to see someone on the Left get that much support.

What do you all think of 'em? Any patrons here?

Eldritcho Since: Nov, 2016
#2: Sep 14th 2017 at 11:47:26 PM

I feel like this is most likely just a political thread, and will probably get shut down, so i'll make this short.

They do more harm than good. They seem to take as much (if not more) time and delight in being "right" about things, than in actually talking about reasonable, achievable solutions to the problems America is facing.

And what are the things they like to be "right" about? More often than not, "Democrats suck, vote socialist". I mean, it's not like it's the Republicans who are currently running the country or anything. They don't seem to acknowledge that Republican politicians and voters have any agency of their own, which a) is insulting, b) willfully blind, and c) horribly obtuse, as by focusing their attention on the only side (Dem's) which might consider helping them achieve their goals (assuming they actually have any) in the coming years, their hurting their cause in the long run.

And furthermore, almost all of their observations can be summed up as: "You're a cuck!", "You're a fag!", or "You're a neo-liberal!"

Yeah, let's pay these guys $100,000 a month to hear what I could get for free on 4chan.

Also they're hypocrites. Calling out comedians and newscasters when they say nigger, fag or kike, but using those words themselves on their own comedy/news show is totally ok? And for how "socialist" they claim to be (when it suits them, they really seem to flip-flop on this issue), they sure do love that patron money.

edited 14th Sep '17 11:50:17 PM by Eldritcho

Nikkolas from Texas Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#3: Sep 15th 2017 at 12:40:25 AM

Oh boy, that was something.

Socialists don't need money to live in the world is what you're saying? For one, socialism doesn't exist but Capitalism does. And even in a socialist economy, you still need money for your goods and services. They produce their own service and are rewarded for it. There's nothing whatsoever hypocritical about that.

As for the rest.... I've listened to their last several podcasts and didn't hear one mention of fag, kike or whatever else.

edited 15th Sep '17 12:43:24 AM by Nikkolas

IFwanderer use political terms to describe, not insult from Earth Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
use political terms to describe, not insult
#4: Sep 15th 2017 at 5:14:07 AM

Well. That escalated quickly.

These two articles pretty much sum up my thoughts on Chapo.

1 2 We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. -KV
Bep none. from The Magic Planet Since: Apr, 2017 Relationship Status: In Lesbians with you
none.
#5: Sep 15th 2017 at 10:38:50 AM

I pretty much agree with Eldtricho*, and I'm a socialist myself.

|*with the caveat that I obviously don't think being a socialist and using Patreon is particularly hypocritical.

edit: Forgot that asterisks autoformat to bullet points here.

To further expound, I Fwanderer's linked articles make some good points too.

What bothers me about the Chapo people (less the podcast itself which I have minimal interest in to begin with) is that this entire "dirtbag left" curated identity is ridiculous. You cannot really claim to be representing class struggle if you willfully throw oppressed groups—the racial minorities, the women, the disabled and even simply the ugly—under the bus in order to appeal to the Obama->Trump flip demographic.

That is, I imagine, the "savagery" mentioned in the OP. I find it hugely distasteful. You cannot pick and choose what marginalized groups you stick up for, if you don't stand behind all of them, you stand behind none of them.

edited 15th Sep '17 10:49:44 AM by Bep

Agnes Tachyon (Japanese : アグネスタキオン, April 13, 1998 - June 22, 2009) was an undefeated Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse and a
yarrunmace Ghosts' Poet from Seine Since: Jun, 2009
Ghosts' Poet
#6: Sep 15th 2017 at 11:46:24 AM

I don't have that much to add, but I will say that I don't find CTH appealing.

If change is ever going to be had, both in the left and in the political spectrum at large, then structure and focus is what's necessary rather than personal satisfaction. We need to play smart, organize, negotiate and plan rather than just work off of a loose set of ideas and principles and mock anyone who presents an easy target, on either side of the spectrum. The latter is very popular, yes, and it gains an audience easily because everybody loves throwing shade at people they don't like, but that 'no true scotsman' left vs. left malarkey splits us apart to the point that we're too busy arguing with each other to focus on the other side. I've seen that sort of approach fall apart on both the left *and* right sides, and the last thing we need to do is encourage it on the left.

edited 15th Sep '17 4:09:57 PM by yarrunmace

you'll then have a grave in the clouds where you won't lie too cramped
AmbarSonofDeshar Since: Jan, 2010
#7: Sep 15th 2017 at 12:28:43 PM

Look up "brocialist" and you should find pictures of the CTH hosts. They're ableist, sexist, and at times outright racist, and spend most of their time pitching a reactionary agenda as if it were a progressive one, making them the very "regressive left" they so decry. Throw in a thoroughly juvenile understanding of history and politics (exemplified in many ways by their attempt to dissect the Wonder Woman film) and you've got a series that's main contribution to society seems to be telling frat dudes that they can be woke without having to change.

IFwanderer use political terms to describe, not insult from Earth Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
use political terms to describe, not insult
#8: Sep 15th 2017 at 12:36:06 PM

Further research has shown one of the hosts made jokes about a rape victim (for being raped) and when pressured by his audience, apologized to them but not to the person he made the jokes about (that is, he did a standard PR non-apology).

Yeah. these guys aren't worth my time.

EDIT: actually, I had seen this before so more than "further research" it's "I found the source for that claim I heard".

edited 15th Sep '17 12:41:17 PM by IFwanderer

1 2 We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. -KV
AmbarSonofDeshar Since: Jan, 2010
#9: Sep 15th 2017 at 12:39:50 PM

Time to ask a mod to lock the thread perhaps? We have rules against opening threads for hate speech channels like Sargon of Akkad, and if these pricks are mocking rape victims then they're headed in the exact same direction as he and his ilk.

edited 15th Sep '17 12:45:08 PM by AmbarSonofDeshar

IFwanderer use political terms to describe, not insult from Earth Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
use political terms to describe, not insult
#10: Sep 15th 2017 at 12:45:44 PM

[up]I'd prefer to give OP the chance to reply because I'm willing to believe they may not have known this stuff, (meaning, give them a day) but apart from that it's probably better to lock the thread before any fights start (seeing as most post apart from OP's have been negative, it'll probably happen should a Chapo fan or a few see the thread).

EDIT: on second thought, yeah, we should ask the mods to lock it ASAP, because it sounds like this can get ugly fast.

edited 15th Sep '17 1:26:18 PM by IFwanderer

1 2 We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. -KV
JHM Apparition in the Woods from Niemandswasser Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: Hounds of love are hunting
Apparition in the Woods
#11: Sep 15th 2017 at 2:52:39 PM

Honestly, speaking as a libertarian socialist myself, I feel like Chapo's ill-justified rejection of "identity politics" and outrage at others' criticism of them for their constant use of ableist slurs and other dodgy-at-best rhetoric exemplifies a very particular privileged do-nothing strain in neo-Marxist politics which often comes with an ugly crypto-reactionary bent and can be traced back to Militant Labour, if not earlier. Fifty years ago these guys would be arguing that women's liberation and the civil rights movement are unnecessary and homosexuality is a symptom of Western decadence, all the while enjoying the fruits of their bourgeois station just as they do now. It's this weird mix of ideological puritanism and sheltered hypocrisy that just gives me hives. The fact that many of their diehard fans sound exactly like right-wingers with a slightly altered vocabulary just takes things to the next level.

I probably shouldn't have posted in this thread, but god, am I tired of these people and their influence. There are plenty of funny leftists who aren't utterly wretched.

P.S. I also want to apologise to the OP. You're probably a perfectly nice human being and I don't want to hurt your feelings or contribute to any dogpiling. But holy shit, my dude, did you make a tactical error here.

I could recommend people I actually like who you might like, but maybe that's cold comfort at this point?

P.P.S. I wasn't even going to touch the stuff with the rape victim, as I'd only really heard it secondhand, but now that you mention it... 8\

P.P.P.S. (oh dear) Those Noah Berlatsky articles are good reads. I initially became familiar with his work through The Hooded Utilitarian and he rarely disappoints.

edited 15th Sep '17 3:09:46 PM by JHM

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.
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