The language Second Thought uses sounds like he's discussing his D&D campaign. "The liberal mindset is default for those in the imperial core. You will go from simply existing to rabidly defending the empire".
@@billybobthornton9668 Look at 99% of the world's problems, trace the series of mechanisms that perpetuate those problems, and they legit come down to "Murica bad" as a matter of fact.
The last few years have basically made me conclude that leftists will hate any politician if they have the gall to become successful. It legitimately feels like the point is to remain ineffectual.
Oh absolutely. You don't accomplish anything in non-Totalitarian politics without reaching across the aisle sometimes, so AOC and Bernie being willing to collaborate with the Center Left (not even republicans!!) is the only way that they're able to push any democratic socialist agenda at all. But the far left is horribly allergict to that reaching. It was never so clear to me until a few months ago when the student "Gaza encampments" took off and they all had a shared "non-normalization doctrine". This was a top-down order to 99% of participants that they weren't allowed to engage, at all, with anyone who might possibly recognize Zionism as legitimate. There are some eerie videos online of folks who weren't part of the "in-group" coming up to the encampment and asking the students to talk about Israel/Palestine and the students would just stare blankly and refuse to speak. This position has its roots in several factions of Palestinian resistance groups (Hamas and others) who view any sort of dialogue with Israeli officials, let alone attempted peace talks, as *criminal* because it means you're recognizing a government of a state that they strongly believe to be illegitimate. Hamas kills people for this. AOC is willing to get coffee with "known Zionists" Biden and Pelosi and believes that we are better off with four more years of Biden rather than Trump. That makes her, in the far-left's eyes, no better than a Zionist.
If you live in a red state you know how stupid it is to say liberals are the same thing as conservatives. Like dog you live in texas you should know this
I think people really misunderstand that classic quote of MLK. I don't think he was LITERALLY saying that the white moderate is worse than the full-blown racist, he was simply stating that there are (or in his case, perhaps will be) _a lot_ more white moderates than there are full-blown racists. While the racists slowly die off over time (or change their minds, in an ideal world), there will still be white moderates causing problems for black people while simultaneously telling themselves that they're helping. In other words: white moderates are _logistically or practically_ a bigger problem, not *ethically/morally* a bigger problem.
Lol. I actually think he has a lot of thoughts. But this is all a fascinating intellectual exercise in Marxist-Leninist theory and abolitionist rhetoric for a privileged white guy in Texas. He has no real skin in the game and it shows.
At the end of the day, ST’s political position is: “Some of you may die, but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make!” He’s no different than a hippie cult leader from the 70s who just wanted to exploit a gullible audience for his own ends.
The irony of Second Thought trying to be all witty and philosophical by ending the video with a video of Malcom X saying freedom has never been won peacefully, while starting the video with quotes from MLK.
Freedom has been won peacefully literally hundreds of times in history, meanwhile revolutions have invariably resulted in terror. How many times does Marx have to be proved wrong?
@@richardarriaga6271 Causing emotional damage to millions of people at once. That's failure management at a societal scale. Steven He's dad would be proud.
@@chasedavis9707 President Kennedy had to wage a public campaign to get the Saudis to end chattel slavery in the 1960s... Everyone knew. Yemen, etc. all also abolished chattel slavery due to US pressure
@@chasedavis9707 it was happening while Malcom X was alive and continued way way after his death. Most Arab countries abolished it in the 60s, but it still goes on unofficially to this day. Almost a million slaves are living in Saudi Arabia right now, with many many other living in Jordan, Kuwait, and pretty much every major Islamic country in the Middle East.
They always use the German vague example. They rather ignored, for example, how Social Democrats were one of the main factions (if not the main One) of the government side during the Spanish Civil War, fighting against the fascist rebels. Or, in the present, how the Liberals are fighting against the fascist Junta in Myanmar.
Same with Weimar Germany after the fascist nazi takeover the center left social democrats tried to fight the nazis while the communists Marxists Leninists let them take the over.
Going from Bernie and a smattering of "not quite left enough" Dems to Destiny, Keffals, and Vaush gave me absolute whiplash. And wtf was his point with Keffals and Vaush? They're literally both suuuuper pro-Palestine. They just happen to not be Marxist-Leninists lol
Yeah but keffals and vaush also criticize tankies. For second thought, stanning red fascist regimes is more important and relevant than being pro Palestine.
@@UmQasaann Liberalism is generally people not really caring. Like, you'll have a hard time anyone being obsessed with Macron or Biden where they take their word as dogma. Also, I know you will react badly, but this whole "you're a liberal!" does indicate that you're in the cult too. Calling each other liberals works as a sort of shunning, because only the cult members care about this and not being one is like this ultimate goal, proving you're not one is how you go up in ranks. Call anyone else a liberal and they'll probably not care much or just be confused.
54:19 You can absolutely do this by for example - like Sweden - have union and workers movement strong enough to force the regime to give in to demands of democracy and a long list of rights, freedoms, workers protections. Same with many of our democracies where there wasnt a violent coup like the tankies prefer. The threat of general strikes, shutting down the whole country is an effective weapon. Civil disobedience part of "peaceful", which is a cornerstone of democracy and have had a huge part in the struggle for democracy and freedom. If anyone ever doubted that.
I did some research into MLK a few years ago when I wanted to stream. Was going to talk about him. One thing I learned is the man was an avid Socialist, but openly spoke against Communism. MLK felt that communism boiling all of humanity's problems down to class did nothing to address the real and dramatic racial problems in places like America. And honestly I feel he's right. Socialism didn't require that we retroactively claim all problems are class problems, that race problems are still a thing and must be addressed specifically. Its also just the irony of the fact the ones who advocate for the violent revolutions are the ones who exist solely online and actively find any social interaction almost lethally stressful.
@@ottz2506 It kinda breaks my heart, honestly. Go to any comment section regarding 1984 and you'll find COUNTLESS right wingers thinking that he's talking to them about "wokeism", and he's just... he's just plainly not. It's just sad to witness so many people not realize that THEY'RE THE BAD GUYS IN THE BOOK (or more accurately: they support the bad guys. I don't like calling your standard Republican "the bad guys"; I do not think they typically possess the forward thinking ability or general wherewithal to have the capacity for actual "evil").
Wasn’t he a social Democrat? I thought he still believed in the trading of currency for resources and things like that? Just with a lot of government intervention and much stronger workers rights
He uses Destiny, Keffals and Vaush as examples. Funny that all these people just so happened to completely dismantle his shit ideas. I guess that’s just a coincidence. It’s like the Charlie Brown “I’m so great” meme but in real life.
I always here about MLK and writings like that letter so I finally read it before watching this video. Man. Dude was smart, dude understood humanity so well, I wish there were more humans that could do that. ' "Why direct action, why sit-ins, marches, and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are exactly right in your call for negotiation. Indeed, this is the purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has consistently refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. ' What a brilliant strategy and articulation of it, what good faith engagement with the criticism. It's just impressive. ' when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she cannot go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her little eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see the depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky, and see her begin to distort her little personality by unconsciously developing a bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son asking in agonizing pathos, "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?" ' And an amazing writer too. Good read, thanks for the rec
" If his repressed emotions do not come out in these nonviolent ways, they will come out in ominous expressions of violence. This is not a threat; it is a fact of history. So I have not said to my people, "Get rid of your discontent." But I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled through the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. Now this approach is being dismissed as extremist. I must admit that I was initially disappointed in being so categorized. "
" But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If the church of today does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authentic ring, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. I meet young people every day whose disappointment with the church has risen to outright disgust. " This one feels prophetic to me
When Second Thought posted the clip criticizing white moderates that were accompanied by the sigma male music that plays in all the Andrew Tate short vids, I about lost it 😂
Bro any time I enjoy something Hasan says or remember I used to respect him. I remind myself he believes the same bs this guy does, cosigns everything this guy says and believes he is a force for good. Some people call themselves a leftist because liberal is very boring and they're gay. People like second thought and Hasan use it to hide and propagandize their borderline fascist actual beliefs. If you think they care about queer people or poor people, just see how they talk about white poor people and white queer people. That is what they actually believe. Lenin himself despised the czarist peasantry. The USSR was an anti democracy colonialist state. Don't let them lie to you. Also asking people to condemn an extremist terror cell that held Palestine hostage for the past two decades is pretty based actually. Jihadists are not freedom fighters.
@@hermithefrog629 ah yeah the country where the last election was 24 years ago and the average age is 34-35. And voting rights were suspended openly in elections for decades. Famously the people never protested that.
@@PunkiBroosterthey get to punish the citizens of a theocracy when that theocracy invades them, takes innocent people hostage, and fires unguided rockets into their civilian sectors The most famous women doesn't wear hijab? Great, now take the hijab from the rest of them and we can have a functional state of palestine Hamas holds the power in gaza. They are an explicitly Islamic group, which makes their rule of gaza a theocracy.
@@richardarriaga6271 ST genuinely doesn't care about minorities in the US. He doesn't even care about Palestinians. All he cares about is punishing the people he hates, which happen to all be liberals and Jews, and not even the Trumpist Right here in America.
what’s sad is that if there was an actual communist revolution, people like him would probably be the first to go. What’s even sadder is that ST would probably go voluntarily “for the cause”. My bf talked to a die in the wool communist who actually longs for a violent revolution for the proletariat and the guy went on about how you get these weird self proclaimed communists who think they’re not going to be targets of the revolution.
So, Second Thought is definitely a grifter, right? This is the one case where it would actually be less cringe if he was, his over the top takes and his demeanor of being this "marxist-leninist intellectual trying to reaxh out to the peasants" is so cringeworthy, and thats even ignoring his test driving of luxury cars 😂
@@nigerianprinceajani (1) You know Adolf wasn’t elected to the chancellor position, right? The party had the plurality, not majority, and it was only from administrative maneuverings that Adolf became chancellor. (2) This isn’t actually a relevant argument. No Thoughts is very specific. Economic decline causes fascism. That’s his argument. Which means, in order to be correct, that must always be true. I provided two examples where that is false. So No Thoughts is wrong. There is more to it than that
@@jloiben12 Yeah the NSDAP only got like 30% in that election, that's not a mandate of the masses. I'm not at that point already but if you look at what countries turned to fascism, none of them were in a good spot economically. So economic decline seems to be a key factor for the success of fascist movements.
@@nigerianprinceajani It's a bit more complicated than that. Mussolini got into power because the king feared violence in the streets would lead to a civil war, but the economic backdrop wasn't a question of decline but how Italy still lagged behind Britain, France and America in living standards and industrial development. In Japan there was never a political movement of fascism, rather fascism in Japan originated from a long process of radicalization and endemic insubordination in the Imperial Japanese Army, which culminated in a campaign of terrorism against the civilian government which eventually caused the civilian government to submit to the whims of the Army. For the fascist radicals in the IJA (of whom there were several factions, there was never a figure like Hitler or Mussolini in Japan it was a more "decentralized" form of fascism where power was fought over by multiple competing cliques; Tojo for example only got to be prime minister for a while because all of the IJA cliques could agree that they don't want to murder him specifically on sight) the economic backdrop was also Japan's lack of development. For Hitler, the instrumental factor for his rise to power was the Great Depression and that his cabinet was appointed so late into it. Between 1930 and 1932 the Great Depression had already toppled five cabinets before Hitler. The first winter was critical for the nazis to stay in power, as if the global economic recovery had taken just a little bit longer they'd have been sacked too. Another element to consider here is that economically, Germany was not tha different from Italy and Japan, it was not a rich developed country as we often project backwards from the present. Germany was a deeply unequal society in income and levels of development. All three had a similar conception of what the problem and solution was though: Land. Or rather, lack thereof. And so the solution was obviously to conquer more of it. Mussolini wanted Italy to get its "rightful place" as the inheritor of the Roman Empire. The IJA radical cliques all believed that Japan would inevitably face invasion and colonization at the hands of the Western powers because of Western racism and therefore the only guarantee of Japan's future is for Japan to conquer an empire of its own to match that of Britain or America. Hitler and the nazis believed that the only way the Germans could have living standards like that of America (or to survive in the inevitable war against America; this is often overlooked nowadays but in nazi ideology America was the ultimate enemy and Roosevelt the "chosen one" of the Jewish world conspiracy) was if they also conquered a continental empire in the East. So a much better way to look at historical fascist regimes and their ideological worldviews is not that they're spawned out of economic decline (indeed for Italy and Japan it not a perception of economic decline but that of a false promise), but rather a resentment of and desire to overthrow the existing order and most importantly the existing power relations and imperial division of the world. The goal of the Axis was not to defend capitalism, but to redistribute geopolitical power. If anything, where you can most clearly see that fascists are not capitalists is that fascists reject the notion that economic growth is possible, in Germany, Japan and Italy it was for all of them ludicrous to suggest that economic prosperity could stem from anything else except possession of land (and they'd point to America as justification for this "reasoning"). In regards to nazism and capitalism, one should keep in mind that nazi economic policy was incoherent and in perpetual conflict between ideological wants and material needs (ie, the Hunger Plan, where the ideological want of racial extermination had to give way to the dire labor shortage in the Reich), because they basically tried to bend reality by will alone and reality didn't bend. Adam Tooze's book The Wages of Destruction is an excellent overview of this chaotic process and why it's counter-productive to try and argue whether or not nazis were capitalists or socialists because they were neither.
Second Thought was that student who was just intelligent enough to write bullshit essays with ease and get by in school with little effort. Now he’s made his entire career off of writing bullshit essays in 5 minutes time with little effort.
Ahh Richard Evans. Part of the defense team that proved the reality of the Holocaust. I’d say he is something of an expert. (albeit this was only allowed to happen in the first place because of the wacky way English law handles defamation)
He’s a great man and has done the lord’s work…but unfortunately he shares his name with another person I know who has a similar name. Rich Evans from Red Letter Media
@@danieltobin4498 I dunno if that's unfortunate, the mental image of Rich dunking on David Irving with Mike and Jay snickering in the background is amazing.
What’s funny is that Martin Luther King Jr. did have some socialist ideological leanings, but he openly distanced himself from Communists. Second Thought trying to claim him is like the German SPD trying to claim Rosa Luxemburg.
I think the horseshoe theory between the extremes of the political poles is best understood through the perspective of power-politics. The far left and far right both desperately want power and both accurately recognise that the liberals hold that power. The far left won't criticise the far right directly and vice versa because the radicalism of either damages the centre and makes their own attempt at a desperate, violent power grab more attainable.
@@UmQasaann He probably would have opposed Israel’s government, but he wouldn’t, and didn’t, oppose Israel’s existence, or endorse the massacres second thought supports.
He basically stated that a progressive Israel should exist alongside Arab states, and admired Israeli democracy, though this was in the 1960s, long before the stuff happening in the west bank got serious. He's also quoted as saying that Israel should give back its conquered territories from 67' but not sure about the validity of that quote. Second though probably knows that the quote exists, but is either deliberately ignoring it or is cherry picking his understanding of MLK, he's just incredibly dishonest and poorly read
@@ravenmusic6392 does imagining stuff really help you here? Just listen to the man. He said “The whole world must see that Israel must exist and has the right to exist and is one of the great outposts of democracy in the world“. That isn’t ambiguous.
@@JasonWolfeYTThey don’t disagree with you? It’s just that there’s a bit more nuance to that quote than many would believe, although at the end of the day he did support Israel.
This video was the one that got me to stop watching Second Thought. Calling Bernie, AOC and Vaush "white moderates" really shows how much of a contrarian tankie he is.
I had to write an essay deconstructing "Letters from a Birmingham Prison" in 11 Grade, and OMG does this NOT support what the Anti-Intellectual Left! F SecondThought!!
lonerbox missrepresent the letter here a lot. second thought tries to show how negative attitudes against peaceful palestinian protests are similar to ones against civil rights movements, which mlk describes in the letter. lonerbox keeps on saying that oh but jt is a stalinist or smth, which has nothing to do with the argument. he also keeps on missrepresenting the letter saying that white moderates refers to few church people which is not true if you read the letter
The Birmingham jail letter is the biggest red flag that you can ever see any progressive try to hold up. White moderates that MLK spoke about were people who were debating whether or not to give black people full and equal rights in America or disrupting the status quo. To try to relate them with the current day white moderates on almost any issue is insane. Another common phrase taken from this is rioting is the language of the unheard. What people like second thought like to leave out is the fact that MLK while acknowledging that rioting usually came from somewhere also extremely disparaged it and was wholly against the use of writing because it in almost every single circumstance detracted from the civil rights movement.
Every time I've seen somebody use the Birmingham jail letter it's a white progressive trying ti enforce an us vs them situation and shame anybody who doesn't conform to their specific position
his summary of what John Stewart said is just will fully wrong, Stewart was just giving reasonable criticism of both sides not trying to deliberately steer people towards the democrats lol
the funniest thing is that they often use the pic of him with a gun looking through the window but none of them know that was taken when the NOI wanted him dead
which is interesting because ST brought up liberals who wouldn’t have supported MLK at the time but now overwhelmingly do because of history books showing who the good guys were.
5:51 - this is either dishonest framing or misunderstanding. MLK explicitly MENTIONS the Clerics he's referring to in the letter - and has direct criticisms. If he had meant the white moderate in a different way, he would have addressed those critiques when he addressed them directly. The "white moderate" is a broader criticism. It is absolutely meant as the general criticism that's implied here. You can tell, because King makes other similar statements after this in other letters and speeches. He criticizes gradualism *very* famously several times, and people hand-wringing more immediate changes in favor of "slow" changes.
Hard disagree on some of the israel/gaza takes in this response, but jesus christ it is an absolute mystery of the universe how this guy managed to get to his opinions. Few other people have managed to be so consistently wrong about everything they've said.
Okay, I know it's not 100% a good way to do this, but browsing the comments and seeing people whine and cope about how lonerbox is wrong and make completely baseless statements really validates my stance.
hes a zionist who’s genocidal takes themselves dont attract much viewership, so he tries to get some from critisizing others and get their haters to watch him, thats why his critiques get most views, very pathetic behavior
I'm not a fan of second thought. I do find it odd that your comment is basically the exact same as some reactionary who accuses their opponent of using too many "buzzwords" to describe perfectly normal concepts within a given field.
@@TheAsymmetrical you would be correct if there was any academically rigorous field (i.e. not continental philosophy and it's descendents) that used those terms. But there isn't. They are buzzwords.
I mean Second Thought is a guy who just said in one if his videos: Hey, Ukrainians why don't you give up your effort of independence and let Russia win?
The idea that MLK, a devout christian, would ever find his moral footing in Communism or any secular ML ideology is absolute brainrot. His personal notes 100% back his anti-communist stance.
@@thomsoapBrother, religion is the opiate of the masses and only exists to reinforce class hierarchy. Communists have been secularists since Marx was around.
@thomsoap All forms of communism were currently being practiced by a major power at the time absolutely were. You can call it "obnoxious" all you want, but when the Marxist-Leninists start dissolving churches and claim it is part of the ideology, the facts just don't line up. I notice tankies often use the term "obnoxious" when describing a negative stereotype that's absolutely or mostly true, and it seems to me like y'all know it's true and it's obnoxious that we brought it up.
@@thomsoap Communism and it's Marxist-Leninist subtype are 100% secular ideologies that are not compatible with the church teachings that MLK would have a thorough understanding of and practice daily as an ordained minister and Reverend. You are dense.
Is Lonerbox really misrepresenting Second Thought by setting up a straw man to attribute something to him about MLK about something he never actually said? Yes - I believe he is! Par for the course for Lonerbox! Did he enjoy his paid trip to Israel, perchance?
FYI the disguising yourself as doctors thing was done by an Israeli police special forces unit and their internal security service as a "policing operation" rather than a military one with the disguised operators being classified as undercover cops rather than soldiers committing perfidy.
The idea that the only moral difference between Israel and America is how long they've been around is dumb. The idea that how long ago a country was colonized is not relevant in deciding what Justice looks like is dumber. Do better lb
@@easytiger6570 By that logic, A child of someone who moved the new Jordan valley settlements that were officially annexed less than a month ago Is morally equivalent to someone of Germanic origin living in England whose ancestors settled their 1,500 years ago. Does that actually seem right to you? Hopefully not. If you steal my dog and give it to your kid It may not be your kids fault but it's also not his dog.
Sort of. There's no way to guess what he'd say today, but his position was essentially that a progressive Israel should stand as a beacon of democracy alongside the Arabs, and he's quoted as saying the Israelis should give back the territories they took in 67'. His position is a million miles off second thoughts, though again this was before the situation in the west bank was wisely publicised and a Zionist back then was a different concept entirely as the occupation of the west bank and Gaza was brand new. Second thought will just lie about everything, he's using MLK just as much as conservatives do with their "content of his character" quote
@@ravenmusic6392 I mean back then he wanted a Jewish state to happen and exist given the jewish past , and since jews helped alot in the struggle for blacks during the moment
You should read the chapter on the first intifada in why civil resistance works. The authors describe it as intentionally, overwhelmingly non-violent and the most successful strategy Palestinians have used so far.
