Category Archives: Alt-right

How is the extremist right-wing content on TikToks For You Page so prevalent that reappears no matter how often its skipped or reported ? Thanks to the alt-right algorithm.

Around 2015, some of the most popular YouTubers were almost all white men in the genre they labeled as dark humor. In this era, it was common for these men to use racial and homophobic slurs, make ableist comments and poke fun at women in YouTube videos.

As young audiences grew older, problematic YouTubers such as PewDiePie and iDubbbz were quickly called out for their hateful comments and actions. The dark humor category of YouTubers lost more and more viewership over time, especially as TikTok became the hottest form of social media.

So where does that put us today? Despite the fallen fame of alt-right aligned YouTubers, the algorithm on TikTok still leads viewers down the same pipeline. Clips of Andrew Tate speaking hatefully about women, or snippets of Ben Shapiro on his podcast making fun of the LGBTQ+ community regularly appear on the For You page of TikTok. It is common for users of all kinds of backgrounds to come across these videos occasionally, even when they swipe up or report the content.

Studies have evaluated the radicalization pipelines on both YouTube and TikTok and shown that these extremist ideologies often violate community guidelines, but they are still not taken down. This may be because extremist ideologies attract views, whether it be people agreeing or disagreeing, and so there is active engagement with the videos. It could also be due to the fact that the quantity of content on platforms like TikTok are so vast, its hard to get every single video monitor and reviewed by staff.

While its mostly annoying for viewers to see alt-right pipeline videos on their For You pages, what about younger, more impressionable audiences? A recent study showed that 28% of teenage boys look up to Andrew Tate, who is famous for his misogynistic takes, toxic masculinity and for being charged with rape and human trafficking. Andrew Tate is a false role model for young men and teenage boys, attracting audiences with toxic ideas of masculinity and wealth.

The alt-right pipeline typically includes ideas of misogyny, homophobia, racism, white supremacy and violence. Some content creators even go as far as encouraging their viewers to target women and harass them, such as accusing women gamers of cheating. This is extremely harmful to young viewers who easily follow instructions from someone with power or influence. Who knows what level of violence followers of these ideologies are willing to commit?

As generation Alpha is the first generation raised completely fluent and immersed in technology and social media, society must evaluate the effects of this accessibility. With the alt-right algorithm still thriving on TikTok, its hard to say how many young viewers are having their views and values shaped by it. The alt-right algorithm has transitioned to a new platform, and its a neglected problem that needs to be addressed urgently.

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Alt-Right Algorithms - YouTubers - Study Breaks

On Saturday, May 25th, to jeers and boos, Donald Trump addressed the Libertarian Party conference, a testament to the far-Right turn that the third largest political party in the United States has made following the takeover by the Alt-Right aligned Mises Caucus.

Ironically, Trump spoke under a huge banner featuring a faux circled anarchist (A) and Libertarian black and gold colors reading, Become Ungovernable, a slogan that become popular during protests against Trumps policies during his presidency.

Trump is far from a Libertarian he openly proclaims that he will be a dictator on day one, runs ads online that refer to a United Reich, and has dinner with leading neo-Nazis. While Libertarians cheer tax cuts for the rich, the removal of environmental and worker protections, and calls made by Trump associates such as the fascistic Steve Bannon to attack the administrative state, meaning dismantling popular safety net programs such as food stamps, Medicaid, and Social Security which Trump has endorsed Trump also increased the national debt and government spending; funneling billions into the Pentagon and the war economy. Trump courts the support of fascist groups, weaponized Homeland Security against his political enemies, worked to accelerate the failed War on Drugs, attacked reproductive freedom, targets and attacks LGBTQ+ people, wants to carry out a militarized mass roundup of tens of millions of working-class people, has voted to increase government surveillance, and has built alliances with dictators and authoritarians across the globe. Trump also played a key role in a coup attempt on January 6th that attempted to install him as an unelected leader.

As even the Libertarian aligned Cato Institute, an uber-capitalist think-tank wrote:

[T]he list of Trump policies and postures that libertarians oppose is long and dangerousIn truth, Trumps appearance this week says as much about the Libertarian Party as it does about him.

[T]odays [Libertarian] party leadership has been taken over by a faction that places it well outside the bounds of libertarianism altogether and appears comfortable with right-wing authoritarianism. Some tweets issued from state libertarian parties and other libertarian operators can only be described as shockingly racist or antisemitic the Libertarian Party of Michigan, for instance, posted a cartoon portraying Jews as puppet masters of the Democratic and Republican parties and would be more welcome on the alt-right than among true libertarians.

In Trump, the Alt-Right trolls at the head of the Mises Caucus, which controls the Libertarian Party, find a kindred spirit. To them, the goal is not to chip away at authoritarianism, but instead to use the State to attack advances made by popular working-class movements from below. Far from pushing back against government control over our lives, they instead want to increase its targeting of those it deems to be its enemies.

The organized Right is a mass movement for inequality and thus needs to brand itself as an alternative to the system it exists to uphold and defend. Its fitting then that Libertarians have literally stolen the word libertarian from anarchists, who for decades used it to advocate a cooperative, anti-capitalist, and egalitarian society organized from the bottom up. Starting in the 1950s however, far-Right capitalists began using the term to advocate for a society where the State had been completely privatized with all aspects of social life being controlled by private businesses from courts, to cops, prisons, roads, and schools.

As Murray Rothbard, one of the leading architects of both so-called anarcho-capitalism and the Libertarian Party stated, One gratifying aspect of our rise to some prominence is that, for the first time in my memory, we, our side, had captured a crucial word from the enemy. Libertarians had long been simply a polite word for left-wing anarchists, that is for anti-private property anarchistsBut now we had taken it over.

But Rothbard was clear that this vision of privatized warlordism had nothing to do withactual anarchism. He later wrote, We must therefore conclude that we are not anarchists, and that those who call us anarchists are not on firm etymological ground, and are being completely unhistorical.

Like the modern-day Mises Caucus, Rothbard went on to call for alliances with neo-Nazis like David Duke and for the State to attack protesters, the poor, and social movements. He famously called to the State to direct its violence against the broader population, stating:

[U]nleash the cops to clear the streets of bums and vagrants. Where will they go? Who cares? Hopefully, they will disappear, that is, move from the ranks of the petted and cosseted bum class to the ranks of the productive members of society.

Such rhetoric echos that of Trump today. Rothbard would go on to help build the modern Libertarian Party and worked to push Ron Paul into the spotlight, whose presidential campaign in 2012 helped give birth to the modern day far-Right. For those Libertarians angry that Trump addressed their convention, enjoy your chickens coming home to roost.

Both Trump and the Libertarian Party try and brand themselves as an alternative to the status-quo, in the hopes of attracting dissatisfied voters angry at the growing cost of living, the current war, and the immiseration of everyday life for working-class people.

In reality, both Trump and the Libertarian Party want to make things better for the ruling class and corporations not those who toil under them. Moreover, like Rothbard, they want to remove any pretense of government oversight and accountability instead unleashing the States full potential for violence against anything that challenges the capitalist system.

In wake of the pandemic, corporations are making record profits by price gouging working-class people as rent has skyrocketed and wages have remained stagnant. But Trump and the Libertarian Party simply wants to accelerate this reality not attack it. But unlike Biden who cheerleaders how well the economy is doing, the far-Right instead offers a laundry list of manufactured enemies who they attempt to blame for our collective misery: immigrants, drag queens, woke, ANTIFA anything but the system of exploitation itself.

Trump and the Libertarian Party have no solutions to offer, only a worse version of the current system. The real alternative to the present crisis lies in our ability to actually build power outside of the State and the capitalist economy.

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There's No Liberty Under Fascism and No Alternative In Trump - ItsGoingDown.org

This, in turn, has fueled racist narratives that these college students, many of whom are themselves Jewish, are antisemitic terror supporters, often implicitly encouraging outside violence against them. Instead, these students have been smeared as fake Jews, a slur of convenience that allows those who are ostensibly concerned with the safety of Jewish students to place these protesters outside the protections of the tattered social compact they claim to champion. Our leaders are signaling to the public that the mere feelings of pro-Israel supporters are sacrosanct, but the physical safety of Arabs, Muslims, and pro-Palestinian Jews are not.

Despite the fact that these students have been censored, arrested, slandered, assaulted, and harassedand through it all demonized by journalists and politicians on a national level for their principled stancethe campus movement to divest from Israeli apartheid is only growing stronger. Solidarity and divestment encampments are popping up at universities across the country, including at my alma mater, the University of Southern California, which has controversially prevented its valedictorian, Asna Tabassuma Muslim womanfrom speaking at commencement after cowing to a racist pressure campaign against her. Instead of taking student and faculty concerns about censorship of Tabassum seriously, USC cancelled its main commencement ceremony to halt the risk of protests and sent LAPD officers to attack its own students.

Everywhere, academic freedoms, free speech, and civil liberties are under attack when they are used for the most basic criticism of war crimes, wanton bloodshed, an illegitimate occupation, and Americas material support for these and other violations of humanitarian law perpetrated by a corrupt Israeli government thats under mounting criticism from its own citizens. Because they can no longer defend Israeli crimes against humanity at face value, pro-Israel forces are deflecting focus away from the horrors in Gaza. Instead, they are deploying tired, reactionary tropes about student activists, a conservative bogeyman dating back to the opposition to the Civil Rights Movement. This pathological hatred of student activists embodies the worst tendencies of an unjust society.

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The Grotesque Slander of Comparing Gaza Protesters to Neo-Nazis - The New Republic

"Then you can ask them, 'Do you know how to change the algorithm? If that's content that you don't want to see, what would you do? Do you know what to do?' And it might be different on different platforms. Ask, 'Is it something that you think is worth reporting?'" She also notes that this approach requires parents to really understand how social media works, which can be an obstacle for some but one that parents must overcome.

She also gives some examples of how she talks with her own sons about what they see online. "I have three boys, so I get them to show me the kind of stuff that they're watching, and then we talk about it. And it doesn't all have to be bad stuff. I might say, 'Hey, what are some followers that you like?'"

She also suggests keeping resources handy so kids know they can also call a hotline like Kids Help Phoneor Kids in Crisisin case something comes up that they don't want to talk about with their parents.

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How The Manosphere Of Alt Right Content Targets Boys - BuzzFeed

Irish and Welsh rugby Twitter is taking the fight to the alt-right - ahead of Ireland vs Wales next week - as it aims to counteract racist hashtags which dominate the search bar when the word 'Ireland' is typed.

Hashtags such as '#IrelandBelongsToTheIrish' and '#IrelandIsFull' can be seen, but '#IrelandWeek' is already making waves, and is currently the third pick when '#Ireland' is searched.

It must be noted, however, that the movement was initiated by Welsh fan Edward Jenkins (@edjenx), who is one of the more colourful personas on the site - known for his amusing tweets which wind up many a fan.

He wrote: "I think we have a collective duty, Irish and Welsh alike, to get the hashtags #IrelandWeek and #IREvWAL trending, in order to nudge out the bin fire of alt right trashtags that 'Ireland' is acting as a prefix for right now."

So spread the word and add to the #IrelandWeek initiative, ahead of the big Six Nations clash at the Aviva next Saturday.

READ HERE: Ireland Rugby : Ronan O'Gara Has Intriguing Theory On Jack Crowley's Goal-Kicking Issues

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Ireland & Wales Rugby Fans Take On Alt-Right On Twitter - Balls.ie

"I don't need to explain myself," said Doja Cat before proceeding to do just that two months after she courted controversy for wearing a t-shirt with comedian Sam Hyde on it. Hyde is a controversial figure himself with alleged neo-Nazi ties.

Doja found herself in hot water with much of her own fanbase (again -- she sometimes revels in it) after uploading a photo to her Instagram in October with her sporting the t-shirt. Now, in a new interview with Apple Music. the rapper is weighing in.

She did replace the original post with a cropped close-up of her face, tongue sticking out, but the comments still reflect the content of that original piece with one person writing, "You support nazis? lol are you stupid.?" Another commented, "girl get it together. this isn't cute or funny."

Speaking to Ebro Darden for Apple Music, Doja said, "You can't know everything." She explained that she just thought Hyde was funny and denied the narrative that the shirt was harmful in some way, saying, "It's not an attack."

"First of all, I'm not a political person at all," Doja explained. "I feel like when it comes to that sort of thing, I have to back the f--k away. Politics are not something that I wanna sweep into my life. I just want creativity and joy and just sort of the immediate reality of my friends, my family and my music and whatever."

She went on to say of the t-shirt in particular, "It didn't affect the world in a way where we have to look behind our backs. We don't."

After a brief pause, she speculated, "Me saying that right now, I'm gonna get a lot of responses of people saying 'yes it did, it's going to change everything'"

In response to the notion that a t-shirt she might wear in a soclal media post could have the power to change anything, Doja shot back, "I also think that I'm way too f--king famous. 100 percent."

"I'm doing what I can slowly but surely to separate myself from this kind of narrative or whatever this world is that I kind of built," she said of her recent rise. "I'm fine tuning it and tailoring it to what I want out of it."

"I feel like it doesn't matter what you say, it doesn't matter what some people know," she went on. "There's fans that I have that know I don't put any involvement into whatever the f--k that negative s--t was. I am more just: funny guy on T-shirt, wore it that day."

After spending so long expounding on the controversy, Doja said she didn't need to explain herself or prove herself "to a bunch of people who are just gonna project no matter what I say." Just as she knows she has those who will stand by her, she believes those people who've decided she's "evil" won't change their stance, either.

Doja has enjoyed -- and we do think that's accurate -- a tumultuous relationship with her own fanbase, famously trolling them for dubbing themselves as "kittenz" over the summer, costing her 180,000 followers.

There's also a narrative out there that she actively hates her fans, which the artist denies. Still others suspected it was all part of an art piece in anticipation of the debut of her Scarlet persona for her latest album of the same name, which came out September 22.

Doja clarified to Apple Music that she's never actually said she hates her fans, acknowledging that she enjoys needling them in a comedic way, like when she said her fans "fell for it" with her "cash grab" albums.

"It's definitely something, and I know that people who get it, get it, and I'm fine with that," Doja explained. "I don't need to have to explain my sense of humor or explain comedy to anyone."

Her latest controversy, perhaps thankfully, has nothing to do with her relationship with her fans. Instead, Doja was accused of blackface ahead of the release of a playful interview where "Scarlett" interviews Doja.

Scarlet, as had been seen previously in multiple videos and even live performances, is coated in gloopy red paint. It was this that some mistook for blackface, leading Doja to share a few images of the character with the caption, ""YOU HAVE TO BE ... A VERY SPECIAL ... KIND ... OF F--KING STUPID."

She also had a nod to that comedic contention she shares with her afns in the clip. "This might be a silly question," asks "Scarlet" Doja in the clip. "Do you appreciate the people and the fans who support your music?"

Cutting over to Doja herself as the guest, we get a few snippets from her inner monologue -- "I hate my fans" and "My fans are dumb" -- before she answers out loud, "Yeah," and gets a huge reaction from the audience. You can check out that full self-interview below and her full in-depth and vulnerable conversation with Apple Music above.

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Doja Cat Reacts to Backlash Over Alt-Right Comedian T-Shirt: 'It Didn't Affect the World' - TooFab

Doja Cat has addressed the controversial t-shirt she wore in the fall that featured Sam Hyde a comedian known for his alleged association with far-right political ideology.

The Juicy hitmaker spoke in depth with Ebro Darden for Apple Music in an interview published on Thursday (December 14). While noting shes not political, the California native said that she didnt know Hyde was a controversial figure.

First of all, Im not a political person at all, Doja began. I feel like when it comes to that sort of thing, I have to back the fuck away. Politics are not something that I wanna sweep into my life. I just want creativity and joy and just sort of the immediate reality of my friends, my family and my music and whatever. You cant know everything and me wearing a t-shirt of somebody who I thought was funny is an attack on people? Its not an attack. It didnt affect the world in a way where we now have to look behind our backs. We dont.

She continued: And I know that. And me saying that right now, Im going to get a lot of responses of, Yes it did! Its going to change everything! I also think that Im way too fucking famous. 100 percent. Im doing what I can slowly but surely to separate myself from this kind of narrative or whatever this world is that I kind of built. And Im fine tuning it and tailoring it to what I want out of it. I feel like it doesnt matter what you say, it doesnt matter what some people know.

Because theres fans that I have that know I dont put any involvement into whatever the fuck that negative shit was. I am more just: funny guy on t-shirt, wore it that day. But I dont need to explain myself. I dont need to prove myself to a bunch of people who are just gonna project no matter what I say, too. Theres people who are incredibly dogmatic. It doesnt matter what the fuck you do, what you say, theyre always going to stand by, That persons evil.

You can watch the full interview below. The shirt convo happens around the 7:30 mark.

The t-shirt in question was featured in a selfie Doja Cat posted to her account in October. After fans got in her comments and dragged her for filth for the post, she deleted it. She then re-uploaded it with the picture of Hyde cropped out, with a new caption: a series of eye-roll emojis.

That didnt stop the internet backlash, though.

While Hydes Million Dollar Extreme comedy troupe purports itself to be transgressive and subversive in its humor, there have been more than a few instances where Hydes humor has fallen on the offensive side. The comedian has been photographed giving a Nazi salute alongside infamous alt-right troll Weev, who also writes antisemitic tirades for The Daily Stormer. In another, Hyde proudly displayed swastikas behind him while performing.

In addition to being associated with 4chan/alt-right-type politics (as this was not the first time), Doja Cat has also been accused of worshiping Satan for the devil-related imagery she has used in both music videos and tattoos. But according to the Scarlet rapper, the narrative is annoying and tacky.

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December 11, 2023

I like the idea of: I did it on purpose and its this big ruse to make people react, she said elsewhere in the interview with Darden. But I also like the idea of: I love this piece of visual art, I like this visual for this sound.

So I chose that visual and applied it to the sound and people made up what they [want], which is what you do with art. You interpret it how you want to interpret it. Everybody has a right to interpret how they want.

She continued: But this whole very confident Satanism thing is like Im sorry, when the fuck did I say that I was a Satanist? Or even go marching outside the church? When the fuck did I say that?

Its really tacky and annoying and discredits a lot of the hard work that Ive put in.

Excerpt from:

Doja Cat Responds To Backlash Over Alt-Right T-Shirt: 'It's Not An Attack' - HipHopDX

Comic Books

In an unsurprising drawing of battle lines regarding the newly-reinvigorated battle to rid the industry of one of its worst elements, veteran comic book writer Mark Waid has responded to colleague Mark Millars recent declaration of war against cancel pigs by not only dismissing it as a cry for attention, but also disingenuously attempting to write off its supporters as being composed of nothing more than the Alt-Right.

RELATED: Mark Millar Takes A Stand Against Cancel Pigs, Calls On Creators And Fans To Never, Ever Appease Or Encourage Their Cruelties

Offering his thoughts on the comic book industrys latest turning point, as sparked by Millar after some of the industrys loudest voices sought to bully retailer Glenn OLeary over his very real criticisms of their current output, via a December 13th post made to his personal Facebook page, the current writer of DCs Batman/Superman: Worlds Finest Vol. 1, Teen Titans: Worlds Finest Vol. 1, and Shazam! Vol. 5 followed in the condescending footsteps of said bullies and opined, And like a falling star rocketing across the sky, another former comics superstar whose heat is fading chooses to cry for attention by blaming the industry, his peers, and the audience rather than taking stock of his own professional progress, admitting that we are often the authors of our own fate, and finding the courage to reinvent himself and stay relevant.

Its really Not. That. Hard, he continued. My stars not gonna burn forever, either. No ones does, and accepting that fact gracefully is a sign of emotional maturity. But if I ever, ever become That Guy, every single one of you has permission to slap me upside the head and force me to re-read the above paragraph as many times as it takes to sink in.

Following its publication, Waids post would be met with a bevy of responses from both supporters and critics, the latter of which he would use as jumping off points to further his argument.

Sharing the video of OLearys now-famous rant against the industrys turn to self-validation over good storytelling, fellow FB user Classic Marvel Era asserted, There are somethings that cant be agreed with but clearly there is a disconnect between the Big 2s editorial, the LCS owners and the readers: and Mark is not wrong to highlight that.

More quality story telling is needed, they detailed. Theres a reason why you, Joe Q, Kurt Buseik, Donny Cates made a mark that still wows the readers to this day.

Dismissing both the fan and OLearys frustrations, Waid proceeded to condescendingly declare, All this complaint about how comics are dying because familiar characters are being written out of character by people who want to self-insert their own political causes or turn them into SJW mouthpiecesbut not one single legitimate example given.

RELATED: Comic Book Pros Mock, Deny Complaints From Veteran Shop Owner Regarding Abysmal State Of The Market: His Business Is Dying Because He Refuses To Change With The Times

Proceeding to present one of the most dishonest reads of the entire situation that perhaps will ever be raised throughout the entire debate, Waid then questioned, Not one. Who? Superman? Batman? Green Lantern? Flash? Wonder Woman? Spider-Man? Captain America? Daredevil? Iron Man? Nightwing? Harley Quinn? Damian Wayne? Seriously, what am I missing here? Have these complainers read a single Marvel or DC comic in the 2020s?

Well they have and so have we, Classic Marvel Era pushed back. Since we focus on Marvel Comics, the Captain America series by Ta-Nehisi Coates is one of the bad examples (which seemed like a political manifesto shoved inside a comic unlike the writings of Kirby, Gruenwald and your very own Operation Rebirth) followed by post Hickman X-titles and most recently The Punisher by Jason Aaron.

Furthermore, shrugging an LCS owners opinion by simply questioning if they have read recent comics or not sounds a bit condescending, to put it mildly, they continued. Lets assume youre right but theyre the ones bearing the brunt in the form of loss of sales and possible business closure. Theres your POV, theres Millars POV, therere LCS owners POV and the truth is somewhere in between. Frankly youre too benevolent when it comes to todays comics which is surprising considering the kind of work you have produced for our favorite Marvel characters namely FF and DD.

Proceeding to immediately prove just how dishonest his above dismissal truly was, Waid then admitted, The Captain America series by Ta-Nehisi Coates is one of the bad examples (which seemed like a political manifesto shoved inside a comic unlike the writings of Kirby, Gruenwald and your very own Operation Rebirth) followed by post Hickman X-titles and most recently The Punisher by Jason Aaron.

Cap hasnt been written by Coates for some time now, said Waid as he attempted to shift the goal posts. The Punisher book thats being published today isnt reflective of your complaint. Isnt that what you wanted? Why are you arguing so hard for something you already have? As regards the current X-books, I need you to be more specific about your complaints. In what way are they any more SJW then they have been for decades?

Turning to the claim that he was too benevolent when it comes to todays comics, the writer argued, Im not benevolent; I simply acknowledge that not all of these comics are written to my specific taste, any more than the war and romance books were when I was a kid.

Or any more than half the DC and Marvel superhero line when I was a teenager, recalled Waid. And thats perfectly fine. Just because I dont like something doesnt automatically make it bad. Im not trying to minimize the fact that there are real problems in the industry right now. But strawman complaints about comics that simply dont exist arent helping.

Further expanding on his argument in reply to a since-deleted post from user Getsmelifted Amvs, Waid once again turned his nose up at readers and claimed, The overall complaint is that major classic characters are being written out of character, causing their books to fail. Tim Drake, Jon Kent, Iceman, Star-Lord? Those count as major classic characters? Do we really believe that the industry is ailing because of three mini-series and Star-Lord?

However, it would be in response to a separate user, Steven McKee, that Waid would confirm just how disingenuous his arguments truly were.

I love your work Mark but seems anybody who tries to highlight the issues that the industry is facing either gets piled on or in this case his star is fading and looking for attention, replied McKee to Waids original post. Mark [Waid] said he hasnt relied on income from comics for a long time. See rather than this tit for tat that we are seeing throughout the fandom maybe people should actually try get together and try to fix whats wrong. I am by no means an expert only a consumer but all this doesnt seem to be helping matters.

In turn, Waid made a play at fear-mongering and declared, I think a lot of us would just rather see the industry burn down than get together with the alt-right.

I know I would, he continued his rant. Sorry. And I call bullst on anyone who tries to highlight the issues gets piled on. I think its far more accurate to say anyone who wants to blame everything on SJWs gets piled on or anyone who wants to complain that their favorite characters are being written as political mouthpieces but cant provide any examples of this is being piled on.

Eventually, Waid would exit the conversation, leaving the discourse to take on a life of its own within his replies.

However, the next day would see the Marvels Champions Vol. 2 author offer one final (at least for the time being), backpedaling statement regarding his recent take, beginning with the admission that Yep, The mainstream superhero comics industry is having a rough time of it lately. Few people are saying otherwise, and my heart goes out to struggling retailers.

Proceeding to once more misrepresent his opponents arguments, Waid continued, Steps need to be taken, and even the alt-right loudmouths make some good points. But when make better comics! becomes make more comics that are to my own personal taste!, thats a solution I cant get behind.

Badly produced comics sure arent helping, and there are a bunch out there, but neither is pretending that bad superhero comics is some new phenomenon, he concluded. As someone whos been reading them for nearly 60 years, I can promise you that many of the ones you remember with nostalgic fondness because you liked them as a Middle Schooler were just as bad compared to the actual classics of the day. Just because you and your friends dont like something doesnt automatically make it empirically bad.

NEXT: Marvel Comics Executive Tom Brevoort Denies Industry Is Dying, Instead Argues What Is Likely Happening Is That The Market Is Changing

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Marvel and DC Writer Mark Waid Rejects Mark Millar's Call To Root Out Comic Book 'Cancel Pigs', Dishonestly Paints ... - Bounding Into Comics

Indie rock band Maudlin Strangers have returned with Im Not In The Right Mind. The song is shared alongside a music video and marks the return of the band after a hiatus.

Im Not In The Right Mind is all about the destructive cycle of addiction. Whether it be drugs, alcohol, a toxic relationship, work and more, distractions we use to numb our emotions can often become debilitating and not healthy. Lyrics including, "I don't want to care right now / I just want to fade out / I'm stuck inside a thought so loud / and I can get out / why does it feel so good / way better than it should," show how he realizes he is in an unhealthy pattern using something to cope with life's hardships. Sonically, the irresistible song features crunchy bass-heavy guitar riffs, and heat pumping drums under lead singer Jake Hays' enthralling vocals. Elements of dark wave, alt rock and indie pop weave together for a must listen to track. The accompanying music video cuts between the dynamic performance of the band to a photographer who inflicts pain and suffering on those she shoots. With every click of the camera, her subject is left in more misery as the photographer is a metaphor for our unhealthy addictions ultimately harming us.

Maudlin Strangers began in 2010 by Los Angeles singer, songwriter and musician Jake Hays. Finding success and building a dedicated fanbase, the outfit toured alongside popular rock bands Bad Suns and Cold War Kids. After taking a hiatus with Hays dedicating time to producing other bands and acting, Maudlin Strangers returned this year with a new lineup including original member Richie Gonzales (drums), Alexander "Schmorgle" Morgan (guitar/keys) and Drew Bruchs (bass) alongside Jake Hays. Check out Im Not In The Right Mind and listen to one of the best releases this year.

Connect with Maudlin Strangers:INSTAGRAM

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Maudlin Strangers unveil intense alt rock banger Im Not In The Right Mind [Video] - EARMILK

There was a brief, strange moment in 2015 when Russell Brand mattered in mainstream British politics. With an election looming, the opposition Labour Party was trailing in the polls against a coalition government that was the very definition of establishmentled by an Eton- and Oxford-educated prime minister in David Cameron and his Westminster- and Cambridge-educated deputy, Nick Clegg, now president of global affairs at Meta. So the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, went seeking the endorsement of Brand, the actor, comedian, and emerging online provocateur whose anti-corporatist screeds to his 9.5 million Twitter followers and 100,000 YouTube subscribers gave him the appearance of a power player. Miliband got Brands endorsement but lost the election.

Since then, Brands reach has exploded. His YouTube channel now has 6.6 million subscribers, his X account more than 11 million followers. But his anti-establishment message has morphed, from a broader, almost coherent response to the politics of fiscal austerity that shaped the UK after the 2008 financial crisis to a series of cultish, conspiracy-driven narratives that draw in Covid denialism, Russian disinformation, and the far-right-inspired Great Reset theory, united by the meta-conspiracy that the mainstreamthe eliteshave darker agendas based on control.

On Saturday, the UKs Channel Four aired an hour-long documentary in which several women accused Brand of rape and sexual assault. Before the broadcast, the comedian came out swinging. In a video on his YouTube channel, titled So, This Is Happening, Brand not only denied the accusations, but leveled some of his own: [It] makes me question, is there another agenda at play? he said.

One of Brands alleged victims, speaking on the BBC, called his statement insulting and laughable. But within the alt-media, there was a show of support from figures including Andrew Tate, the misogynist influencer who is awaiting trial for rape and human trafficking in Romania, Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News anchor, who now runs a conspiracy-inflected show on X, and Alex Jones, fined $1.5 billion for lies about the victims of a school shooting. Xs owner, Elon Musk, posted underneath Brands video: Of course. They dont like competitionreferring, apparently, to those same dark forces referenced by the comedian. The camaraderie between conspiracy theorists, the alt-right, and the manosphere, is grimly predictable. Their shared narrative is one of alienation from the mainstream, outsiderdom, and dark forces massing to thwart them. Opposite day, but with real consequences for people, as Marc Owen Jones, an expert on disinformation and social media at Hamad bin Khalifa University in Qatar, puts it.

Its also their audience strategy and the foundation of their business model. Conspiracy influencers are content producers. Moments that generate intense emotionseven if the content producer is, themself, the focus of the scandalare fantastic for engagement, and they feed the grim economics of the conspiracy business.

Brands YouTube channel is a compendium of contemporary bullshit. Covid lockdowns were exercises in social control. The US has biolabs in Ukraine; the Wests support for Ukraine is capitalist imperialism. Central bank digital currencies are the governments attempts to control your money. Evolving gender norms are causing a crisis in masculinity and declines in fertility. There are routine crossovers between Brands content and the wider conspiracy cinematic universe, with clips on his channels of conspiracy theorist Robert Kennedy Junior, far-right Hungarian president Viktor Orban, and Carlson, who recorded an interview with Brand in August.

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The Dark Economics of Russell Brand - WIRED