Editor’s note: welcome back to Film Sessions; a monthly feature on NIDC in which I share, analyze and expand on a relevant video created by someone on the left wing of YouTube.
Hello my friends; happy, um, November I guess. After taking a month to kind of re-establish my bearings and fire up a new blog, I'm back in the swing of things early with a new essay-length Film Sessions post on ninaillingworth.com. Today we're returning to important discussions about whiteness, and the corrosive nature of low-key white supremacist ideology in online left spaces; with an assist from a creator never-before featured in our study rotation. Join me as we examine John the Duncan's new video about why decolonization is not genocide, and Vaush is not a credible source of left wing analysis; this month in Film Sessions.
Editor's note: welcome back to Film Sessions; our quasi-regular feature here on Media Madness in which I share, analyze and expand on a relevant video created by someone on the left wing of YouTube.
Cracker Historical Revisionism
Buckle up lads and lasses; we're in for some real egg-head shit today. Way back when I first thought up the idea of this Film Sessions series, one of my major goals was to find a way to analyze and share the type of DIY intellectual discussions I'd observed in video essays by a few specific creators; some of whom we've featured here already, and some we haven't yet, but hope to eventually.
You mean besides thinly-veiled white supremacy? Well, it's obviously an attempt to essentially write the truth about slavery, abolition, and African American resistance out of the classroom; thereby indoctrinating future generations with a baseline set of beliefs that will tolerate, prolong, and reinforce white supremacist structures in American life. While the report is certainly an attack on history, it's also fundamentally an attack on social justice and Black agency as well. As if that weren't insidious enough, the report also explicitly attempts to cast educators and critical race theorists who do teach the truth about America's origins, as attacking the United States; thus, the 1776 Commission Report is a direct assault on teachers, historians, and critical observers, hidden within the false glow of "patriotism" and national pride.
Of course the above points are merely a synopsis of what's going on in Shaun's video; a lengthy presentation which explores these topics in greater detail. In addition to debunking literal nazi propaganda, our presenter also finds time to clown on some fraudulent Republican "intellectuals" and even provides a back-of-the-napkin left wing critique of the 1619 Project that has literally nothing to do with Trump's incoherent ravings. While there's no question that the 1776 Commission Report is in many ways a standard example of Trump's reactionary assclown nonsense, this video goes a long way towards demonstrating that not everything is about the Klepto Kaiser's vanity; guys like Stephen Miller are playing a much longer and more explicitly fascist game with this report.
Overall, there's just a whole lot to like here in this discussion and as such I'm excited to recommend it in this edition of Film Sessions; even if the presentation is certainly a little short on eye candy. You can check out Shaun's "the 1776 Report"by clicking the header below, or watching the embedded video itself:
Editor's note: welcome back to Film Sessions; our quasi-regular feature here on Media Madness in which I share, analyze and expand on a relevant video created by someone on the left wing of YouTube.
Digging Up Roots
Hey folks; remember me? As you may have already heard, I've been caught up in a remarkably frustrating month, or three, of feeling like an observer trapped outside my own ongoing experience. Frankly that hasn't been a whole lot of fun, and as such I haven't been a whole lot of fun to be around. Obviously, I'm back now, but I'd be lying if I told you that this tumultuous period hasn't had a profoundly disruptive effect on my work.
As always, ridiculously high production values and exceptional organization remain a hallmark of the What the Theory series; and this episode is no different. Dividing his discussion into easily-digestible packets, Tom explores key background issues like the invention of race as a sociological concept essential to colonial capitalism, why whiteness and the racialization of Pig Empire societies remain largely invisible to many white people, what we actually mean by the phrase "white privilege," and how latent white supremacy shapes our society in ways that are overtly hostile towards nonwhites, but remain studiously ignored by white folks themselves. Drawing on important scholars in the broader field of critical race theory, including Charles W. Mills, Peggy McIntosh, Sara Ahmed, and W.E.B. Du Bois, Nicholas ultimately identifies recognizing whiteness as a vital first step in the praxis of dismantling white supremacy; which in turn, makes it a vital first step in the praxis of dismantling capitalism.
Despite these hiccups however, this video offers an excellent primer on both whiteness as a concept, and its relation to white supremacy - you can check it out by clicking the header, or watching the embedded video itself, below:
Just before my most recent sabbatical, a friend of mine was kind enough to share this short presentation by the (seemingly) anarcho-communist channel NonCompete with me. I bring this up because this charmingly casual celebration of left wing online analysts who've successfully predicted aspects of our current descent into hellworld, briefly mentions my work studying the origins and political ascendency of modern American fascism. Originally after seeing it, my intention was to offer my thanks to "Emerican Johnson" by writing a full breakdown of "Why the Left is Always Right: Systemic Analysis" but the honest to god truth is that I don't really have a whole lot to add here. Johnson's theory that left wing analysts can seem to predict the future because they engage in systemic (often, but not always, Marxist) analysis is pretty much on point and warrants little elaboration.
Instead then, please allow me to simply thank the NonCompete channel for recognizing my work and including me in their impressive (and useful) list of left wing analysts to watch out for. I am truly grateful and hope to be able to return the favor at some later point in time. As always, you can check it out by clicking the header, or watching the embedded video itself, below:
