3 ms·

Alternative media is seeing a surge of right-wing because mainstream media is exclusively left-wing, often downright conspiratorially so. I could turn on the T

Alternative media is seeing a surge of right-wing because mainstream media is exclusively left-wing, often downright conspiratorially so. I could turn on the TV at prime time and expose my family to the supposed benefits of transgenderism, homosexuality, racial diversity, etc. I am infinitely more likely to see a positive portrayal of a mixed-race lesbian than a nationalist family man. If you share that perspective, then that's probably wonderful. You might even suppose I must have a serious flaw to see things differently. You need to realise that half of everyone else sees it the other way.

krapp 7y ago
> Alternative media is seeing a surge of right-wing because mainstream media is exclusively left-wing, often downright conspiratorially so. Ironically, the narrative that all mainstream media is left-wing propaganda is, itself, a right-wing conspiracy theory. A successful one, since it's the raison d'etre for Fox News, but it's still just a step removed from fears of "globalist elites" running a shadow government, cultural marxism or Hillary Clinton having a kill count. Even if there were a credible point to be made about left-wing bias in the media (which could easily be countered by pointing out the amount of pro-business, pro-war content in the very same media) none of that is going to make Reddit, Breitbart or Gab more credible as alternatives. >I am infinitely more likely to see a positive portrayal of a mixed-race lesbian than a nationalist family man. No, you aren't. Although I don't know (but I do suspect) what "nationalist family man" is supposed to mean as a qualifier, or why this is presented as the obverse to "transgenderism, homosexuality and racial diversity," the majority of relationships portrayed in media are heteronormative, and plenty are between Caucasians, and few portray those traits as inherently negative. Indeed, it's still common in mainstream media to fall back on old tropes like "killing your gays" (having homosexual or nonbinary characters die in a narrative, which goes back to the old Hays Code and its requirements that "sexual perversion" be punished or else never portrayed in a positive light) camp gay characters, depraved bisexuals and "traps." While not as common now as in the past, you're still more likely to find negative, or at least sterotypical, portrayals of non-white races and non-hetersexual identities than the opposite. >You need to realise that half of everyone else sees it the other way. Now you're trying to move the Overton window towards normalizing what is an extremist point of view. I am aware that plenty of people do hold such views, but it's simple falshood that they comprise at least half the population.
- Torches66 7y ago
  >Ironically, the narrative that all mainstream media is left-wing propaganda is, itself, a right-wing conspiracy theory. Incidentally, the narrative that left-wing propaganda doesn't dominate mainstream media is, itself, a left-wing conspiracy theory. A successful one, since it's the raison d'etre for CNN, but it's still just a step removed from fears of "White supremacists" posing a domestic terrorist threat, anti-Semitism or Russian hackers influencing Trump's election. >pro-business, pro-war content This is one area where the left-right paradigm breaks down. I've see far more leftist war-mongering in the last decade than anything coming from the right, though I'd readily acknowledge that the decade before was dominated by a war-hungry right (in the US, at least). This paradigm shift extends to business, where leftists have come to represent big business and academic interests, usually at enormous cost to the working class. If you imagine the quintessential American man, a hard-working White lower-middle-class family man, it's impossible to assign to him modern leftist politics. However if you imagine a highly privileged student at an elite university or a wealthy Jew in New York then it's practically impossible to imagine them leaning to the right, even if they're on a steep hill. To drive the point home further, you can find countless enormous multinationals sporting rainbow flags, enforcing diversity quotas, facilitating third-world migrants, and/or and contriving multiracial advertisements, yet some people would have a fit if they started brandishing White Identitarian flags, enforcing diversity limits, facilitating border enforcement, etc. >Reddit That's rather disingenuous. Reddit is exclusively, and even nauseatingly, progressive now. You can find some very small niche right-wing subs occasionally, until they're banned. Voat is to the right as Reddit is to the left; that would have been a more appropriate example. >media We clearly have very different TV sets. Perhaps we should trade! Do you think the proportion of openly homosexual and otherwise "sexually perverted" characters is representative of our society? Do you think that the representation of conservative viewpoints - such as the benefits of the nuclear family, racial homogeneity, etc - are portrayed as positively and commonly as progressive viewpoints - such as multiracialism as a strength, LGBT glorification, etc - in mainstream media? >Overton window It already has shifted to normalising extremist views. It just happens to be a flavour of extremism that is preferable to you. I'm afraid that blindness to the enormous proportion of the population who are resistant to these ideas is why Trump's election, Brexit, Boris, and so forth, continue to shock and confuse many.

krapp 7y ago

> Alternative media is seeing a surge of right-wing because mainstream media is exclusively left-wing, often downright conspiratorially so. Ironically, the narrative that all mainstream media is left-wing propaganda is, itself, a right-wing conspiracy theory. A successful one, since it's the raison d'etre for Fox News, but it's still just a step removed from fears of "globalist elites" running a shadow government, cultural marxism or Hillary Clinton having a kill count. Even if there were a credible point to be made about left-wing bias in the media (which could easily be countered by pointing out the amount of pro-business, pro-war content in the very same media) none of that is going to make Reddit, Breitbart or Gab more credible as alternatives. >I am infinitely more likely to see a positive portrayal of a mixed-race lesbian than a nationalist family man. No, you aren't. Although I don't know (but I do suspect) what "nationalist family man" is supposed to mean as a qualifier, or why this is presented as the obverse to "transgenderism, homosexuality and racial diversity," the majority of relationships portrayed in media are heteronormative, and plenty are between Caucasians, and few portray those traits as inherently negative. Indeed, it's still common in mainstream media to fall back on old tropes like "killing your gays" (having homosexual or nonbinary characters die in a narrative, which goes back to the old Hays Code and its requirements that "sexual perversion" be punished or else never portrayed in a positive light) camp gay characters, depraved bisexuals and "traps." While not as common now as in the past, you're still more likely to find negative, or at least sterotypical, portrayals of non-white races and non-hetersexual identities than the opposite. >You need to realise that half of everyone else sees it the other way. Now you're trying to move the Overton window towards normalizing what is an extremist point of view. I am aware that plenty of people do hold such views, but it's simple falshood that they comprise at least half the population.

Torches66 7y ago
>Ironically, the narrative that all mainstream media is left-wing propaganda is, itself, a right-wing conspiracy theory. Incidentally, the narrative that left-wing propaganda doesn't dominate mainstream media is, itself, a left-wing conspiracy theory. A successful one, since it's the raison d'etre for CNN, but it's still just a step removed from fears of "White supremacists" posing a domestic terrorist threat, anti-Semitism or Russian hackers influencing Trump's election. >pro-business, pro-war content This is one area where the left-right paradigm breaks down. I've see far more leftist war-mongering in the last decade than anything coming from the right, though I'd readily acknowledge that the decade before was dominated by a war-hungry right (in the US, at least). This paradigm shift extends to business, where leftists have come to represent big business and academic interests, usually at enormous cost to the working class. If you imagine the quintessential American man, a hard-working White lower-middle-class family man, it's impossible to assign to him modern leftist politics. However if you imagine a highly privileged student at an elite university or a wealthy Jew in New York then it's practically impossible to imagine them leaning to the right, even if they're on a steep hill. To drive the point home further, you can find countless enormous multinationals sporting rainbow flags, enforcing diversity quotas, facilitating third-world migrants, and/or and contriving multiracial advertisements, yet some people would have a fit if they started brandishing White Identitarian flags, enforcing diversity limits, facilitating border enforcement, etc. >Reddit That's rather disingenuous. Reddit is exclusively, and even nauseatingly, progressive now. You can find some very small niche right-wing subs occasionally, until they're banned. Voat is to the right as Reddit is to the left; that would have been a more appropriate example. >media We clearly have very different TV sets. Perhaps we should trade! Do you think the proportion of openly homosexual and otherwise "sexually perverted" characters is representative of our society? Do you think that the representation of conservative viewpoints - such as the benefits of the nuclear family, racial homogeneity, etc - are portrayed as positively and commonly as progressive viewpoints - such as multiracialism as a strength, LGBT glorification, etc - in mainstream media? >Overton window It already has shifted to normalising extremist views. It just happens to be a flavour of extremism that is preferable to you. I'm afraid that blindness to the enormous proportion of the population who are resistant to these ideas is why Trump's election, Brexit, Boris, and so forth, continue to shock and confuse many.