- cross-posted to:
- suomi@sopuli.xyz
In this video I show off some different Lemmy instances and discuss why the lemmyverse and even some individual Lemmy instances can become a better alternative to Reddit.
I dunno how the community collectively feels about Mental Outlaw in sum, but there’s content of his that has its way of piquing my interests. He just put up a video showcasing Lemmy, some instances, and the mechanics/interactions between them. Probably old news for many of us, but I think it’s always pretty cool to see Lemmy get its mention.
Beehaw specifically got its mention through the video and he briefly touches on Beehaw’s defederation from sh.itjust.works. I’m pretty confident he disagrees with the decision, but his opinion and description of things struck me as balanced and respectable enough. I’d wager that a more precise description of the intrigue would likely take as much time as the video itself.
Any thoughts on Mental Outlaw’s coverage of either Lemmy in sum or Beehaw? Anyone else seen creators they keep their eyes on give mention of Lemmy?
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I don’t really know what I think of him. I have never heard him say anything bad but he feels like an alternate Luke Smith which gives me bad vibes.
His content is pretty good, though. I have discovered some neat stuff through him which I am grateful for
Same for me. I really don’t like his praising of crypto.
He’s actually only praising Monero
Yep. But ‘don’t invest in crypto, except for this crypto currency i own’ is what a lot of crypto folks say. So I’m always cautious when hearing this.
If you see crypto as an investment, you shouldn’t use crypto, imho.
I really miss that brief moment around the start when it seemed thought of as an alternate currency with its own benefits and drawbacks rather than an outright investment. I’d like to think that with crypto gradually exiting the light as popular grifting vehicle of the time, we’ll gradually return to that more grounded outlook of it.
Hopefully at least, but admittedly I’m not holding my breath 🫠.
It’s actually not possible to say anything else. If you think something is great of course you are going to buy it
I think when people say don’t invest in crypto, but if you need a transactional digital currency you can use monero. Those are different things.
You shouldn’t buy Monero if you think of it as investment. It’s probably the only crypto currency that is actually used as a currency.
What wrong with it?
I feel uneasy that he’s promoting Lemmy given his iffy politics. Lemmy, Kbin, etc… will die like Gab if they get flooded with 4channers and Redpillers.
In my opinion, the fediverse is quite resilient. Communities can be moderated, instances can be unfederated.
There are already a handful of relatively old right-wing lemmy instances, you’re just unlikely to see content from them without specifically seeking them out as most other instances do not federate with them.
What kind of iffy politics? Only thing of what I see coming from his channel that could be considered political is complaining about government surveillance which is problematic for many regardless of whether they’re right or left. Other than that it’s not like politics are a talking point on his channel.
What kind of iffy politics?
i can’t pretend i know who this guy is but: i’m pretty sure he has iffy politics. i scrolled through the comments on this video the other day (because we’re mentioned in it, and just to get a sense of who watches his videos) and i immediately came away with the sense that his community is full of right-wing freaks who think censorship is when you moderate and who are mad that trans people exist. i think counted at least three blatantly transphobic comments in a brief scroll, and the general vibe of that comment section was like a youtube facsimile of 4chan. as a content creator, you have the agency to make dipshits like that unwelcome–so the fact that he isn’t is uh, telling, imo.
He does attract a certain crowd on his channel. I think he did express his support on human rights issues like LGBT and racism on certain occasions. He seems kind of libertarian tho. Nevertheless he keeps his political opinions mostly to himself. The FOSS and privacy movements just attract weird people across the spectrum.
His videos are pretty watchable regardless of personal political opinions imo.
There was another comment somewhere in this thread that did a pretty good job at summarizing where I think it comes from. From what I can tell of the videos I hunt and peck from him, his general outlook can be summed up to be libertarian in the traditional sense of the term. On one end of that, he consistently criticizes the reach and practices of US intelligence agencies, which is something I’d think a lot of the country’s politically left would agree with. On the other end, he’s a passionate advocate for firearms, something more in line with the country’s right leaning libertarians. The consistent trend seems to be a view that government ought to have less authority. I don’t think that’s inherently a politically right or left attitude, but in the US at least, I think that it’s more embraced by the country’s right rather than the left, so that’s the kind of audience that builds up a sizable chunk of his own.
There’s also the aesthetic. I think it’s reasonable to say that his demeanor styling appeals to that kind of bend, so that’s another pull for people who get into that kind of culture. I wouldn’t have any examples that come to mind, so take it as hearsay, but I’d wager it would be in theme of him to throw in the likes of a 4chan derived slur if it were relevant to the content. Which is a shame, because I like the kind of internet grit that comes with the vibe, I hate the discrimination it tends to attract and even have baked in it if you’re not careful.
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It’s all to say I can see him leaning libertarian. Not necessarily in the politically right sense, but in the general “let people govern themselves” sense. I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t mean to have an intolerant fan base, but his political stances end up letting him have that intolerant fan base. Goes back to that paradox of tolerance, I suppose. I keep my distance from his comments.
Still, the man and the content itself seems textbook and divisive, at least around here. I’ll keep future material of his to myself and continue having him in the kinda arms-length distance I have. He has occasional takes that strike me as informative and balanced, but he also has occasional takes that I plainly don’t care for. Seems like a creator to look at critically and not to take their word as gospel, which come to mention it, is likely a kinda perspective to have of creators by default.
Just because they advocate firearms doesn’t make them right libertarian. For a lot of leftists like me arming the proletariat is essential.
I don’t particularly like Mental Outlaw because he’s one of those edgy people who likes to use the word “normie” a lot, but at least he’s not like Distrotube or god forbid Luke Smith.
Distrotube is fairly normal imo. Tbh tho I listen to DT’s vids primarily as sleeping aid
I have leftist views on many cultural and political issues, but getting firearms for my own usage is something essential for me. Though when the government retricts or loosens firearm laws I don’t really care. I get them the legal way, regardless of how long or annoying that process could be.
I agree with every other point tho.
I’ve only seen a few of their videos but didn’t pick up any right wing rhetoric or anything, what’s their politics and how does it come out?
Basically he is pro-privacy, somewhere in the libertarian space, supports usage of monero, recommends you move to a rural area, etc.
I made my own thread on the topic over at !fediverse@lemmy.world and it seems like a mix of “oh that’s cool” and “some of the stuff he says is kinda ehhh”
I’d say that sums up my opinion pretty well, too.
- Lengsel ( @lengsel@latte.isnot.coffee ) English15•1 year ago
He’s more entertainment or beginner’s guide than deep tech info.
I saw someone ranting, maybe a postig from a reddit comment, that Outlaw is too far right wing, I have no understanding of that for someone that talks about software and a little bit of culture.
How hollow and shallow someone has to be to view all opinions through politics.
I don’t personally find them offensive or think anything of them, but sometimes he does throw out a non-sequitur that I could see people disliking. He does do a good job at introducing topics in a digestible way though, and most of his takes aren’t all that bad.
- Lengsel ( @lengsel@latte.isnot.coffee ) English7•1 year ago
Overall I like him. If I had a criticism, it’s that his videos are not technical enough and covers topics in a more general sense. Some people look for their ideal personality who has all of the traits they want and none of the characteristics that they don’t like. That person will never exist
For material, I try to feed the intellectual thirst.
For material, I try to feed the intellctual thirst.
Jesus Christ I can smell the pretetion from my toilet seat
He seems to have a relatively anti government stance in various areas, eg. surveillance and the centrally driven monetary system. Those leaning right often have similar stances, so that might be why he is being put into the same mental box as them?
I agree that it’s a bit shallow to split people on the left/right axis merely based on a few ideas of how very specific aspects of the society are being run.
Ah even leftists have these views? Those are common anti-establishment viewpoints.
As far as I noticed he never actually said something offensive
He did say something antisemitic in one video, then he took it down. Let me find it real quick.
Should be this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63hor
It is disabled though…Please correct me if you find it!
Interesting, what was the topic of the video? And what did he say?
I don’t quite remember and that reminds me the need to clarify: DO NOT BASE YOUR OPINION ON WHAT I SAID, because I may be wrong.
I looked it up and the only thing i found was this in the description of one of his videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63horAFnbBc&t=0s , seems to be the link they’re referring to and its just penguins
- SSUPII ( @SSUPII@sopuli.xyz ) English17•1 year ago
I have not used Odysee for quite some time. Why is the comment sections of the video so filled with terrible opinions. Claiming being blocked federation is bad while they would also do it themself to keep the echo chamber?
Nowadays it seems to be filled with extremists and other people that got blocked from popular platforms for various reasons. It used to be a bit better a year ago, with more technical and FOSS oriented channels.
- SSUPII ( @SSUPII@sopuli.xyz ) English15•1 year ago
Sad, really. We really should try to push Peertube further. They are really struggling.
Definitely, the issue is that hosting videos is much more resource demanding than text or photos, thus there are few large instances with enough creators and quality content.
I am surprised how (relatively) mild the videos on Peertube are. For some reason I always thought that Peertube was even worse than Odysee.
- SSUPII ( @SSUPII@sopuli.xyz ) English2•1 year ago
It all depends on the instance. I found some pretty fucked up instances absolutely filled to the brim with conspiracies against people, healthcare and science.
Damn, im reading the comments and its pretty rough over there. Those guys are mad, they could always just make their own federated hellhole, or i guess stick with 4chan
- SSUPII ( @SSUPII@sopuli.xyz ) English7•1 year ago
Honestly, those type of people will be mad at anything. But lets not open the can of worms.
I am extremely sure there is already some instance catered to their thoughts.
I think both types of isolation are bad, personally. It’s all very divisive and non-constructive. To me it seems very easy to just ignore or block a community I don’t like instead of de-federating from the host instance entirely. Idk. It’s disturbing to me that that was the route taken to cut off a particular community.
- SSUPII ( @SSUPII@sopuli.xyz ) English2•1 year ago
Does Lemmy allow for blocking at an instance level single communities? Because I think the profiles should not be blocked from federating, but the communities of an instance dedicated to certain specific things should.
I as a user can go to a community I do not subscribe to and block it. I’m not sure if that’s exactly what you are meaning. Either way I find that this is the appropriate measure for anything from spammy/annoying communities to ones that are just toxic. I think we should all be more concerned with curating our experience to what is useful to us instead of worrying about what others can see. Otherwise we begin the creep back towards centralization - which is great until it isn’t.
- SSUPII ( @SSUPII@sopuli.xyz ) English3•1 year ago
I am talking about an instance A federating with not the full second instance B. I asked if A can set to be able to see only a not-whole fraction of B.
Isn’t he right-wing, LiBeRtArIaN? I could be thinking of someone else, though. Not a fan of his.
Yes he is pretty well. I still watch him because he is mostly interesting. I would say he is in the overly paranoid bucket when it comes to personal government surveillance. Pretty sure I heard him load a rifle in one of his videos talking about gun control recently. As an Australian, that was just bizarre to me.
I don’t know about a rifle, but there was at least one video of his recently where he draws a pistol to help drive a point home. Maybe it’s only because I’m from California, but even as an American that bit was jarring. I said it elsewhere in a comment for this post, but in sum I know to give his work a skeptical lens before I decide to take it in.
Ironically his videos ultimately helped me to become less paranoid about government and corporate data collection. His work help shows that no countermeasures taken will be absolutely bulletproof in protecting from data collection, and that the kind of work and changes needed to get somewhere closer to absolute feels like a mountain. Personally I have my respect for people with the resolve to see that through, but for the kind of experiences and tech I want in my life, there’s no way I could get close to that kind of dedication to privacy.
Man, the idea of having a gun strapped to your hip while making a YouTube video is… interesting. On balance though, I’m in the same boat as you. Hardcore security focussed technology reaches diminishing returns and seems to exponentially decrease the user experience.
Certainly Mental Outlaw helped me get into using Linux and caring about my online privacy and security, so I’m thankful to him for that.
I think you might be thinking about Luke Smith
There are so many Linuxy YouTube Guys With Terrible Politics™ that it’s really not that hard to confuse them with each other.
What deeply frustrates me about it is that a lot of people who would otherwise be big advocates for FOSS software get completely turned off by creeps like this being absolutely everywhere.
Then they never believed in it to begin with. Freedom comes with a cost.
It’s not surprising that people who have unacceptable views seek out the freest medium to express them. That’s always been the case.
You need the crazies to be crazy for alternate media to exist.
I remember this guy said slurs . Noped the fuck outta there
Cis is not a slur lol
I can’t think of a time he’s said any slur, but there is a particular video I would be interested to see it
Fuck this guy tbh. I look forward to the day men of his ilk succumb to their own bullshit and are entirely left behind and forgotten by society.
Why do you hate him so much, I don’t understand :o I watch most of his content and it seems alright I think?
Sorry, can you explain?