Hey, YouTube Progressives: You Gotta Be Fair
Let me start by putting it like this: if you're going to call a group out, make sure you are consistent. Because if one of your cousins or ex-coworkers is making the same claims as some jerk you're attacking, you're not serving your cause that well.
Jimmy Dore went after some "Democratic Strategist" and Joy-Ann Reid for smearing Tulsi Gabbard. Kyle Kulinski gave his take as well.
Both Dore and Kulinski were right in addressing these smears. Gabbard is sitting congresswoman, she has an impressive military record, and she sits on a number of important committees. If she was really part of some Russian plot she'd be bagging groceries in Hawaii by now. The "pro-Democratic Party" media is at best The Shaft; they want the political affiliations to be different but not the policies. Gabbard's campaign (and yes Bernie Sanders and Andrew Yang could also be plugged in here) are the antithesis of the status quo and the people who sign Reid's checks do not want the status quo to change. No one on that panel does.
And as Dore further demonstrated, Rising's Krystal Ball (a progressive) and Saagar Enjeti (a conservative) showed us how to swat away McCarthy-like Russai-gating claptrap in real time. So there's no question as to how we deal with this.
Which leads me to...The Young Turks (TYT). Dore's show used to be part of their network. Kulinski teamed up with found Cenk Uygur to form the Justice Democrats (which produced candidates like AOC).
Now, before I continue, let me make this correlation/assumption. One theme that both Dore and Kulinski share is that the media doesn't do thing like smear Tulsi Gabbard by accident; it's by design. The people running the show aren't dumb. If this is true (and I believe it is) it shouldn't be a stretch to believe that TYT is not also doing certain things by design. In addition, it it not crazy to think that Dore and Kulinski still occasionally peak over TYT and look at a video or two, especially when the video might deal with politicians and topics they feel strongly about.
If we assume that TYT is just as capable of smearing a presidential candidate as the mainstream media, than we should assume that eventually Dore and Kulinski would catch wind of it.
Now why would I think that TYT, "the Home of Progressives" would smear anyone in the manner that Reid did. Well because it happened, again and again and again and again.
Emma Vigeland and Ana Kasparian are not fans of Tusli Gabbard. Niko House, who has gone on record as not being a rabid follower (or fan, TBH) of TYT, managed to picked this up. Two of the videos House posted are from two months ago. Kulinski has been a guest on TYT and has talked about Uygur's bid for Congress since all of House's videos went live, and has even done a video with Niko.
If Kulinski isn't aware of Niko's videos about TYT going after Tulsi, well...I can't even finish that sentence because I find it hard to believe. I would give Dore a bit more leeway, but he's mentioned Uygur and TYT enough in the last two months to indicate that he's at least still aware of things that go on over there.
Jimmy Dore and Kyle Kulinski are not the den-mothers of TYT. They are not obligated to call Vigeland or Kasparian out like House did.
But they did see fit to point out how demonstratively bad MSNBC was in their coverage of Gabbard. Is it too much to ask that they do the same when it comes to an outlet that claims to represent progressives more accurately than MSNBC?
Now in all this time, House did not mention that Dore and Kulinski have been curiously silent on this. I can't blame him; he seems to admire both of the guys and consider them as best friends and at worst compatriots in the progressive struggle.
One of the hardest things to do to call out or criticize someone you get along with; we're socially conditioned to "let things slide" when it involves someone you like.
I admire all three, in addition to some others. But I have learned the hard way that eventually you have to decide whether you want to be defined by your positions or your social circle. It's not easy because all three have a level of influence (whether they want to admit it or not) that resonates with the progressive movement, and (just as important in this case), their appeal crosses over (Dore fans can be Kulinski fans, Kulinski fans can be House fans, etc.).
Dore and Kulinski will probably not criticize TYT by name over this. I can live with that. But as a fan and follower, can I at least ask this: "If you believe in what you believe in, then why not?"
UPDATE #1: Status Coup has also chimed in on the Gabbard smearing. Jordan Chariton also has ties to TYT (he left to co-found Status Coup after leaving there) and he's gone on record saying that he doesn't have much to say about TYT (meaning his time there and whatever they are saying/doing now).
Jimmy Dore went after some "Democratic Strategist" and Joy-Ann Reid for smearing Tulsi Gabbard. Kyle Kulinski gave his take as well.
Both Dore and Kulinski were right in addressing these smears. Gabbard is sitting congresswoman, she has an impressive military record, and she sits on a number of important committees. If she was really part of some Russian plot she'd be bagging groceries in Hawaii by now. The "pro-Democratic Party" media is at best The Shaft; they want the political affiliations to be different but not the policies. Gabbard's campaign (and yes Bernie Sanders and Andrew Yang could also be plugged in here) are the antithesis of the status quo and the people who sign Reid's checks do not want the status quo to change. No one on that panel does.
And as Dore further demonstrated, Rising's Krystal Ball (a progressive) and Saagar Enjeti (a conservative) showed us how to swat away McCarthy-like Russai-gating claptrap in real time. So there's no question as to how we deal with this.
Which leads me to...The Young Turks (TYT). Dore's show used to be part of their network. Kulinski teamed up with found Cenk Uygur to form the Justice Democrats (which produced candidates like AOC).
Now, before I continue, let me make this correlation/assumption. One theme that both Dore and Kulinski share is that the media doesn't do thing like smear Tulsi Gabbard by accident; it's by design. The people running the show aren't dumb. If this is true (and I believe it is) it shouldn't be a stretch to believe that TYT is not also doing certain things by design. In addition, it it not crazy to think that Dore and Kulinski still occasionally peak over TYT and look at a video or two, especially when the video might deal with politicians and topics they feel strongly about.
If we assume that TYT is just as capable of smearing a presidential candidate as the mainstream media, than we should assume that eventually Dore and Kulinski would catch wind of it.
Now why would I think that TYT, "the Home of Progressives" would smear anyone in the manner that Reid did. Well because it happened, again and again and again and again.
Emma Vigeland and Ana Kasparian are not fans of Tusli Gabbard. Niko House, who has gone on record as not being a rabid follower (or fan, TBH) of TYT, managed to picked this up. Two of the videos House posted are from two months ago. Kulinski has been a guest on TYT and has talked about Uygur's bid for Congress since all of House's videos went live, and has even done a video with Niko.
If Kulinski isn't aware of Niko's videos about TYT going after Tulsi, well...I can't even finish that sentence because I find it hard to believe. I would give Dore a bit more leeway, but he's mentioned Uygur and TYT enough in the last two months to indicate that he's at least still aware of things that go on over there.
Jimmy Dore and Kyle Kulinski are not the den-mothers of TYT. They are not obligated to call Vigeland or Kasparian out like House did.
But they did see fit to point out how demonstratively bad MSNBC was in their coverage of Gabbard. Is it too much to ask that they do the same when it comes to an outlet that claims to represent progressives more accurately than MSNBC?
Now in all this time, House did not mention that Dore and Kulinski have been curiously silent on this. I can't blame him; he seems to admire both of the guys and consider them as best friends and at worst compatriots in the progressive struggle.
One of the hardest things to do to call out or criticize someone you get along with; we're socially conditioned to "let things slide" when it involves someone you like.
I admire all three, in addition to some others. But I have learned the hard way that eventually you have to decide whether you want to be defined by your positions or your social circle. It's not easy because all three have a level of influence (whether they want to admit it or not) that resonates with the progressive movement, and (just as important in this case), their appeal crosses over (Dore fans can be Kulinski fans, Kulinski fans can be House fans, etc.).
Dore and Kulinski will probably not criticize TYT by name over this. I can live with that. But as a fan and follower, can I at least ask this: "If you believe in what you believe in, then why not?"
UPDATE #1: Status Coup has also chimed in on the Gabbard smearing. Jordan Chariton also has ties to TYT (he left to co-found Status Coup after leaving there) and he's gone on record saying that he doesn't have much to say about TYT (meaning his time there and whatever they are saying/doing now).
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