A new study on Gen Z men revealed that Andrew Tate and Jordan Peterson are among the most trusted influencers.
It also found that 52% of UK men believe a “strongman” leader is needed to improve the country. Meanwhile, this article highlights how the right has been incredibly successful at indoctrinating young men into their ideology.
Why the hell is right-wing content so much more effective at gaining support? And why do left-wing influencers consistently fail to do the same? I’ll tell you why: we decided that social issues should take precedence over everything else, and by so doing have thrown all nuance out the window in the process.
The left—and I don’t want to hear Marxists removed about how progressives “aren’t really leftists” because this kind of in-fighting is part of the fucking problem—needs to radically rethink its approach. Right now, the priority isn’t pushing our agenda. It’s stopping the worldwide fascist takeover.
And yes, this might mean abandoning identity politics entirely, as it is largely responsible for driving people away from the left and toward right-wing populism.
We need left-wing influencers who can effectively use populist tactics. We need less extremism from the progressive left, because in our obsession with social issues, we’ve lost the plot. We need to refocus on the economic needs of the people and stop alienating those who would otherwise support us.
The clock is ticking. Germany’s elections are coming up, and Elon Musk has already shown support for the AfD—the most far-right party in Europe. If we don’t correct course now, we’ll soon be living in a world where fascism dominates and equality is a pipe-dream.
Be the change you want to see, lead them.
In all honesty, it’s that it feels like the truth will speak for itself.
It doesn’t. Pointing it out is good.
Conservatives understand that they’re trying to manufacture agreement with their lies, so given the nature of the task, they’re really active. People on the left are just normal people, and they’re making the world a better place with art, science, coffee, anything and everything.
I was looking at podcasts recently and it was the same. I assumed it was because the people with the money will support content that furthers their bottom line.
I agree with another commenter who said that left influencers and intellectuals are systematically silenced. The right wing, no matter how extreme, has popular venues to reach people and don’t get cancelled for every slip of the tongue like the left wing gets cancelled. I think it’s all a concerted effort by liberals/capitalists to weaken the left.
I have found this essay helpful in understanding some of this issue: Exiting the Vampire Castle
I do community organizing and host reading groups with others.
Most terminally online people don’t talk to their neighbors so online communities give the illusion everyone is shut in and lonely.
A big issue with political influencers, is that they profit off of rage. Not only that, but the right needs to be told who to be mad at. They’re kinda dumb, so right winged people’s rage are often misdirected to something that won’t hurt the government.
The left is on average (not all of them, mind you) more intellectual. They know who to be mad at, and why. They don’t really need an influencer to tell them.
Moreso, the right wing is so condensed into one mind set, while the left wing, in America atleast, is more just anti right. The left is more diverse and spread out with many conflicting ideologies and motives. It’s hard to be on the same page as a whole. Because of this, when you have someone who is angry and tries to tell you who to be angry at, it usually misfires because of that conflict. Think Hasan. He’s always getting shit because he tries to direct that anger, but so many left wing people don’t directly line up their ideology with his, so they direct their anger at him instead.
I get what you’re saying about the right being more unified, but writing them off as dumb is a mistake. The reason their messaging works isn’t just because their audience is less intelligent, it’s because it speaks to their material concerns and fears. The left needs to stop assuming people will just ‘figure it out’ and start actually meeting them where they are.
Yes, the left has more ideological diversity, but that shouldn’t be an excuse for why we keep failing at mass mobilization. The right has factions too - libertarians, religious fundamentalists, corporate elites, working class conservatives - but they manage to unite under a common goal. We need to do the same instead of endlessly debating who is the ‘most correct’ leftist.
Also, the idea that leftists don’t need influencers because they already know who to be mad at is exactly why the left struggles with mass outreach. Working-class people aren’t sitting around reading theory; they need someone to break things down in ways that feel relevant to them (and this is one area where Marxists get things right). Right-wing influencers do this effectively, while many left-wing figures get bogged down in purity politics or academic jargon.
If we really want to win, we have to get better at messaging, outreach, and coalition-building, not just hope that people are naturally smart enough to come to the right conclusions on their own.
Yeah I think the mark was missed here. Is everyone on the right dumb? No. Are people who lean right statistically less educated? Yes. But more to the point, on the right horizons are closer (the world is smaller).
You are, I believe, more likely to fall into a majority segment on the right: white, Christian, middle class or lower, average education, not a world traveler, speak one language, etc etc. in that world, what is different is what is scary and so it’s easy to influence and rally. You speak to the 70% and you basically hit the mark. It’s easy to influence because obviously what you think quietly is what everyone else thinks and it just isn’t always easy to put into words. Your religion is under attack, your money doesn’t go as far and it’s going to people who don’t deserve it instead of to you, you don’t even know any trans people or people with different pronouns so why is the government messing with that instead of fixing the stuff that affects everybody?
On the left we are, in the best possible casting, a diverse group of honestly militant weenies. There is anger and pushback growing, but it is slow to catalyze. It’s a culture of everyone needing to be best and set a good example, which, sure, under ideal circumstances is true. But everyone on the left has an issue that is obviously the most important. We don’t take turns or wait in line on issues, we have no clear leader or group driving prioritization, so we are constantly incapable of producing a majority front. If you try to influence this group you will be shouted down by anyone whose issue you at not actively resolving.
Maybe the most accurate thing to say is that as a bloc the left is more heterogeneous and our interest are not necessarily directly aligned. It sure would be nice if we could just group together, but it has yet to happen.
Just a minor correction, I never meant the entirety of the right wing population isn’t as intelligent. Just the ones who gobble up the slop that certain influencers put out. Its also worth mentioning that a lot of right wing influence also comes from common social media and the news. They have a lot more control, so while they are more diverse than I initially stated, it’s easier to herd these people to a common goal.
With all that being said, I do agree with WHY we should have more influencers. But atleast for myself, I don’t need people to break down theory for me. I’ve picked up quite a lot passively from various different places, mostly common places for discussion, such as here on Lemmy and with friends that are smarter than me irl.
Of course, that’s just me, and I should probably be more cognitive of that and use better understandable language in my posts, and recognize that not everyone is the same as I am.
But good points all around.
Systemically silenced.
Nothing will meaningfully improve until the rich fear for their lives
Y’know, I’ve always been dismissive of scare tactics, but maybe there’s some sense in them
We need left-wing influencers who can effectively use populist tactics. We need less extremism from the progressive left, because in our obsession with social issues, we’ve lost the plot. We need to refocus on the economic needs of the people and stop alienating those who would otherwise support us.
I am trying to get UBI (Universal Basic Income) implemented, and i am against migration. (Read that carefully: I am against migration, not against migrants)
So … the left constantly shits on me for being “a racist”, while the right are … idiots.
What do i do?
Do what the right wing influencers do. Ignore everyone’s criticism and keep fleecing the idiots.
I wish. Not gonna happen though
Stay optimistic friend. If the right can do it, we sure can!
It would require an extraordinary culture shift…
Fuck it, it’s necessary. I’m in!
The (modern) Left is a big tent that’s founded on diversity. It promotes a multitude of voices and viewpoints, with none able to rise to the top.
The (current) Right is the opposite. It aims towards an ideal. Individual voices suppress their own diversity and attempt to speak with one voice. This naturally leads to the elevation of charismatic figures.
I disagree. The modern left is too busy and moralizing consumption, people’s personal mistakes, and vilifying them before they even get to the table.
If you listen to the lefts big influencers, you would have to cut out your family, a good chunk of your friends, and are expected to maintain exclusively left-leaning relationships.
The left needs a heaping dose of pragmatism.
I say this as a person who identifies as a leftist. I say this as a person who’s tried to spread the word of multiple community actions here in Tucson, only to not get resources because the various progressive organizations don’t deem me progressive enough.
So yeah, I have an entire website, that could advertise crucial community action. But people aren’t willing to send me graphics to upload in the various languages and won’t forward me to the organizations that initially planned these things. All because I don’t measure up to their moral standards.
All in all. Fuck The Democratic socialists of America. Fuck modern progressivism.
They are all no show pieces of shit.
The moderates in my life all do far more for their community than anybody on the left.
It’s moderates I find running the soup kitchen. It’s moderates that decide to start businesses and grow their local power.
The serious thing handicapping the left from having a Joe Rogan is that the left as a homogenous group only accepts leaders that are absolutely flawless and perfect in every way.
The instant there is a flaw that is found in any potential leader, the left invades that flaw, makes it the overriding characteristic of that person and destroys them because they do not allow flawed leaders.
Of course, they also don’t allow leaders to be perfect, so they will tear them down for being obsequious or condescending or obsessed with always being right all of the time.
As soon as you can find somebody who is both flawless and also not so flawless that they are kicked out of the group for being flawless, then you can have your leftist strongman.
100%
So many self-identified progressives or leftists aren’t deemed moral enough to even be allies with.
I have far more moderate friends than I do leftist friends.
I have more conservative friends than I do leftist friends.
And to become moral enough for the left, you need to cut out everybody else in your life except the left.
The left expects you to cut out all of your support network, but then refuses to be a support network in and of itself. Leftists are the shittiest friends I’ve ever had. The constant judgment and moralization just drove me away.
I lament the loss of Al Franken.
Jon Stewart, John Oliver
I suspect that the right played up a lot of culture-war issues into major parts of the left’s identity, and was carefully and conspicuously silent about a lot of the economic and regulational core that used to form the backbone of the left. And, the left bought it, and obediently tried to set a counterpoint to particular ignorant stuff the right was saying, and spent all their time talking about trans issues and the value of inclusion and safe language. Is that important? Absolutely, we need to fight for it. Does it win elections? Is it important enough to justify stepping away from working people’s issues and environmental issues that used to be the core, and translated into concrete governmental action that would make a compelling argument for why this particular person is better suited to run the country in ways that 99% of the country can understand and agree with? Well…
And so the left “influencer” space is talking about things that, outside the people who want to make politics a particular and strong element of their identity, people generally don’t give a shit about. Whereas, Jordan Petersen and Joe Rogan are talking about how to actualize yourself as a person, the tension between “free speech” and corporate overreach and government censorship, and other things that a lot of people care about. Even if their solutions and framings are bullshit, it’s what people like to hear. It’s not a lecture, addressed to someone who is being defined as “bad” if they don’t agree with the message.
There’s also a significant factor that malicious people invest tons of money into promoting the right-wing thought leaders, whereas any particular influencer on the left is more or less on their own to promote themselves, painstakingly building a small audience year by year, without huge boosters attached to anything and everything they want to do.
Exactly. The right dictates the battlefield, and the left obediently marches onto it. We follow like their lapdogs and push back against their own agendas instead of forging ours. This always happens. Instead of setting our own agenda - focusing on worker issues, wages, housing, and healthcare - we keep reacting to right-wing provocations. Now left-wing politics is all about what it’s against than what it’s for. The core of our platform should be based on our economic and environmental prospects and policies rather than playing up culture wars that are secondary to the issues at hand.
Whereas, Jordan Petersen and Joe Rogan are talking about how to actualize yourself as a person, the tension between “free speech” and corporate overreach and government censorship, and other things that a lot of people care about
This is a crucial failure on our part. Right-wing influencers make their followers feel empowered - like they’re unlocking hidden truths about the world. Meanwhile, too many left-wing influencers have taken the approach of “my morals are better than yours” rather than educators or motivators. If we want to win, we have to stop lecturing and start leading.
There’s also a significant factor that malicious people invest tons of money into promoting the right-wing thought leaders
I agree, but that doesn’t mean left-wing populism is doomed. Leftist movements have thrived without major funding because they connected with people’s material concerns. Instead of relying on corporate funding, we should be building mass grassroots networks, leveraging crowdfunding, and focusing on organizing rather than just content creation. There are already people like Bernie Sanders who represent our sentiments on the grander stage, however where are his supporters? They’re mute in comparison to the right-wing supporters.
There are already quite a few left-wing content creators and influencers, but they’re responsible for the same moral gatekeeping i criticized earlier. We need the Ben Shapiros and the Charlie Kirks of leftism.
Yeah. Although I wouldn’t discount the significant of having wealthy backers, or not, in setting the landscape. The only leftist influencer I can think of that’s really talking about these issues is Jon Stewart, with this as a shining example of what the conversation should be looking like on the left:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeheoxWzf2o
Why is that relegated to an oddball Youtube channel, which is obviously nowhere in my recommendations because of course it isn’t, such that I almost would have missed it if not for seeing it on Lemmy? Because Apple told Jon Stewart to stop pissing off China, and he told them to go fuck themselves, and so he had to switch platforms.
Also it’s significant that for a lot of Democratic politicians, it’s a hell of a lot easier to talk about performative issues of social justice, in ways that are only ever pretty indirectly connected to specific policies, than it is to talk about issues of economic justice and get angry phone calls from the super-wealthy people who finance all their campaigns and operations.
Jon Stewart is one of the few left-wing figures actually making the right arguments (although i haven’t seen that specific video), and the fact that he got pushed to the margins for it proves that media conglomerates don’t want real leftist messaging getting mainstream traction. This is why we need independent platforms, community organizing, and alternative funding sources. The right didn’t build their media empire overnight, and neither will we, but we have to start.
get angry phone calls from the super-wealthy people who finance all their campaigns and operations.
This is exactly why corporate-backed liberals love identity politics. It lets them appear progressive without challenging the structures that keep the wealthy in power. A perfect example is how corporations slap rainbow flags on everything in June but continue union-busting, exploiting workers, and funding right-wing politicians behind the scenes. This shit is right in our faces but we’re blindsided to see that we’re only dancing to the tune of conservatives.
the left wing “influencers” I can name off the top of my head:
- J.T. (Second Thought), Hakim, & Yugopnik (The Deprogram)
- Cody Johnston & Katy Stoll (Some More News)
- Roz, Liam, Nova, & Gareth (Well There’s Your Problem)
- Jake Flores, Alex Ptak & Anders Lee (Pod Damn America)
but yeah none of them use the types of manipulative communication that got Tate and Peterson so famous in the mainstream, for better or worse 🤷♀️
I was about to mention Hakim, he is the single most successful left wing persona I have ever seen, albeit he is on the authoritarian left spectrum so it does make sense.
I’m seeing people call themselves hakimists, and other than Bernie Sanders there isn’t a liberal/progressive alternative
Also, feel free to reply if you want to discuss the future of leftist influencers
I believe people like Bernie and Hakim have an opportunity to create obvious alternatives to the right as they encroach onto the US, they could focus on diversifying their language options to allow for universal education (such as turkey, Greece, Spain, Portugal and Iraq where I believe socialism is growing and have in fact gained power in parliament)
It’ll only happen if others recommend them, however.
Hakim is far left of anything considered in usual American politics and I don’t think Bernie is going to be a youtuber or a blogger any time soon
BUT someone could follow his ideals, make consistent news, debate with others of their kind and have events dedicated
Food for thought
Uhhh yeah… I’m not too fond of Hakim’s content as he spews largely the same stuff that is paraded here on Lemmy by Marxists (I’d be shocked if he didn’t have a Lemmy account even), but i guess auth left > auth right🤷
to play devils advoc—you know what nvm, full transparency I’m a moderate authoritarian so feel free to judge the following according to your own ideals
authoritarianism has colloquially come to be nearly synonymous with fascism but I don’t think it should be. things like
- “I think the government should protect citizens from price gouging”
- “I think the freedom of expression should be protected to the maximum extent that excludes violent intolerance”
- “I think environmental regulation is necessary to protect public health and the natural world”
are authoritarian stances because they involve control of individuals’ actions by authorities
too little control by official authorities often results in power vacuums that give others (usually corporations) de facto control for the worse
I often encourage fellow leftists to reevaluate their stance on authoritarianism after taking this into account
that being said, the corrupting nature of power is an unsolved problem and governments historically described as authoritarian came by their bad reputation honestly. :[
Those things you listed are just regulations though, and all leftists are for more of it. The grey area is when governments start to encroach too much on private enterprises. For example, I don’t think it’s authoritarian to demand that businesses pay a minimum wage to workers or adhere to environmental laws; however, I do think it’s authoritarian to force forfeiture of all private assets and suppress opposition political parties which have been the hallmark of socialism and communism in the past.
Too much state control doesn’t eliminate exploitation, it just shifts it from corporations to an unaccountable government - and considering collectivisation is necessary to achieve the Marxist “dream”, it doesn’t make the theory any more attractive. I think decentralization and democratic institutions are better solutions to corporate overreach.
Right Wing Content - Is never fact checked by its audience, as long as it aligns with the brand of hatred they follow it Left Wing content - Is always fact checked by the audience, requires thinking skills, comprehension skills
This doesn’t mean that left-wing populism is dead though. There can absolutely be left-wing movements based on facts that appeal to the majority
