I have seen some of their stuff around, it is recommended a lot for me when watching anything related to Ukraine. I first saw them in relation to the stuff that was happening with Gonzalo Lira, and because of that I’ve always assumed they weren’t worth taking that seriously. They were promoting Lira this dude known for red pill sexist bs and when I looked them up I saw they had a news app with a description talking about “traditional values” which was a huge red flag for me and I’ve ignored them since.
But today I go to watch The Left Lens with Danny Haiphong, and he had them on. I’m about 20 minutes in so far and honestly this has me interested in them. They’re covering that recent video of a EU official talking about how Europe is a “garden” and the global south, Russia, etc are “the jungle” and shit. Surprisingly to me the first response was one of the Duran guys talking against European supremacy and colonialism and the like and how they exploit the global South. I looked up Alexander Mercouris and the first article I see is about how Asia is the future and US empire is dying. Maybe it’s just me living in the US, but I’ve never heard a right winger talk like this. What do you guys think?
Short answer: yes Long answer: These guys along with Lira don’t hold the same ideological views as people in this sub. Yet, they have their feet firmly based on reality (albeit with their particular biases like when they grasp at anything that says vaccines are bad) which is why despite coming from different ideologies they often end up on the same side of this sub on many aspects. Add to this the fact that they are highly educated (Lira himself is an Ivy league graduate). You can’t really make them fit in a box like “reactionary” or “paleoconservative” because they have a different framework through which they see the world. Keep in mind that the labels of “reactionary” or “paleoconservative” are labels that we use to describe them but not necessarily what they use to interpret reality. A positive attribute of them is that, because of their background, they speak the language of the people in charge of government and policy in general. In addition to their education, they are privileged in that they can afford not to work regular jobs and so they are free to spend their time keeping up with current and sometimes obscure events. They are valuable in that they can follow along with the reasoning of what, why, how, and by whom decisions are made, and are able to add nuance to the conversation by raising valid points and pointing out inconsistencies in the regular news.
At their core, they do try to be honest in understanding the world, they just have a different toolset. I would even suggest to visit Lira’s two new channels as he is no longer into the “red pill” stuff. Sure you can listen to their programs, just be ready to interpret or translate what they are unable to articulate by lacking a Leftist view of the world. They can indeed be very insightful.