TYT - ANA KASPARIAN

[ceeboo]

note: You do not have to read this thread - You do not have to respond to this thread - You can simply ignore this thread - I will not be answering questions about why I posted this thread, and I will not provide justification for posting this thread.

As I mentioned on another thread recently, I have been watching a few podcasts that are politically on the left (I do this to at least here the other side) - One of the ones I have been watching a bit is TYT (Cenk/Ana)

I don't know very much about Ana but a few of the people that I know in real life, suggested to me that she has been very much engrained on and for the left politically for a long time (That's what I have been told, I do not how accurate that is). Anyway, here is a recent letter from her (September 30, 2024)



Independent and Unaligned
You're right, I've changed.

Ana Kasparian
Sep 30, 2024
After Trump came onto the political scene, and especially after he was elected in 2016, the us-vs-them mentality immediately took shape. Anyone who refused to “resist Trump” was seen as a threat to the country, and I was fully on board with that mindset.

It all felt righteous at first. But eventually, the tactics deployed to fight Trump became repetitive, boring and ultimately fruitless. Polling shows that he has increased his support among Black and Latino voters despite wall-to-wall coverage on his unsavory, racist or bigoted remarks. Several years of media raising alarm over Trump’s threat to democracy has only resulted in a tight presidential race between himself and Kamala Harris.

I can’t help but acknowledge that the only thing that was accomplished by resisting Trump was less understanding and more division among Americans. I personally became reluctant to challenge my “side” or engage with voters who disagreed with me. In turn, I became less knowledgeable about the people and world around me. I saw Republican voters as an evil monolith and that was a big mistake.

My evolution started in 2022 when I was sexually assaulted by a homeless man in my neighborhood as I was walking my dog. That horrible experience alone didn’t change me politically, but the treatment I received from the far left and some progressives after sharing the story did.

I was told that by publicly sharing what had happened to me, I was stigmatizing my “unhoused neighbors.” Others accused me of feeding into racist tropes because they assumed that my attacker was black. But I had never even disclosed the man’s race.

He was white.

Not only did I suddenly see the flawed thinking of some on the left, I also witnessed their cruelty and hypocrisy in real time. These terrible traits that I had associated solely with my political opponents were obviously not exclusive to their tribe. I was stupid for ever thinking that was the case.

That doesn’t mean everyone on the left thinks or behaves in the way this small group of lunatics do. Far from it. But it does mean that there are factions and flaws on both sides of the aisle and no one has a monopoly on truth.

Then there was the insane reaction to one of my tweets in March 2023:

All hell broke loose after I posted those words. Most “friends” in left-wing media didn’t bother reaching out privately to discuss their disagreement with my personal preference. Instead, many self-described socialists took it upon themselves to profit from conflict by publicly attacking me with monetized videos.

A smaller leftist YouTube show put out five separate videos skewering me about the tweet, while conveniently erasing the advocacy I had done on behalf of the transgender community throughout my career. They even went as far as drawing a link between my tweet and trans suicides, which sadly wasn’t the most unhinged outcome of the debacle.

TYT’s volunteer YouTube chat moderators quit over the tweet, and someone reported me to Human Resources. An on-air transgender contributor even resigned from the company after being urged by online mobs and leftist shows to do so. Curious that not one of those shows hired her after she took their advice.

I never apologized for the tweet and I never will.

That whole experience forced me to come to terms with the intolerance on the left and it allowed me to publicly reject the ideological shackles that kept my world small and less informed.

Help get the word out and build this community of Unaligned thinkers!

Today I’m less certain and more curious than I was four years ago. I’ve made humiliating mistakes while covering political news because I was previously unwilling to consider or understand the perspective of Americans who vote differently from me.

What to Expect From Unaligned
I’m hungry for dialogue, a space for in-depth analysis and a judgement free zone. That is what I plan to do here. Every week I will provide subscribers with:

two to three written pieces that dig deeper into the big stories of the week with the intention of finding truth rather than promoting a political side.

video posts sharing details on breaking news and political events.

a weekly podcast beginning in November that will feature long-form discussions and debates with guests from all walks of life.

engagement with me in the comments section for paid subscribers. Join me and be part of the dialogue.

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The point of this new project is the pursuit of intellectual freedom and open mindedness. I want to nurture curiosity without fear of offending the sensibilities of loyal partisans. I reject arguments about the evils of platforming people who are considered too naughty to converse with. I want to facilitate dialogue.

I don’t know what my political identity or label is, and I’m not even sure I want to be pigeonholed. This is my effort in pursuing extreme honesty and humility in the quest for common ground and truth without the constraints of a tribal identity.

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After I read that, I began to wonder if her current position is a rare one or if it is one of many - not so rare - meaning a growing number of people that are moving away from previously help political positions.

Thoughts?

[Gadianton]

I scanned about 10% of that. If you want to build your platform on extremist rhetoric combined with actual forays into extremism, like election stealing, even if much of it fails (at least the first time), then you're going to get a reaction. I asked before what policies Trump will implement that Nicky Haley wouldn't, that will make a critical difference to American prosperity, and I never got an answer. I don't expect one because there is plain and simple, no justification for Trump unless you are partial to extremism. If someone says Trump is needed because policy, then what policies of his will be so good that Nicky Haley couldn't compete? Because I would gladly compromise and vote Haley over Kamala if it means avoiding the risks with Trump. People who fancy themselves as tone patrol who are pro Trump have no leg to stand on. There couldn't be a more ironic self-image to have.

Decent people aren't going to lay down and accept Trump and MAGA nonsense. I do believe to an extent "ignore it and it will go away" works, but these are unusual times. Ignoring Trump seemed to be working until the documents raid. I was 50-50 with pursuing justice for Trump's blatant criminality because at the end of the day, it's just more advertising for his brand, and it's building into a zero sum bet that just isn't worth it.

The shred of truth to the notion of "fight fire with fire" is that Republicans have a culture built into their outrage politics, and there is something to be said for those folks who are Trump demographic targets who reject Trump and let their voices be heard. It's an odd kind of bridge building, but it may be a necessary one to show that "liberals" aren't all rich guys in Silicon valley pretending to apologize for being white. This guy has been cracking me up lately:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=islr-aiwAec&t=245s

[Dr. Shades]

As I mentioned on another thread recently, I have been watching a few podcasts that are politically on the left (I do this to at least here the other side) - One of the ones I have been watching a bit is TYT (Cenk/Ana)

Hi ceeboo,

For those people who haven’t had the same life experiences you have, please explain what “TYT (Cenk/Ana)” is and provide a link to the website where one can listen to this podcast.

Thank you.

[Some Schmo]

As I mentioned on another thread recently, I have been watching a few podcasts that are politically on the left (I do this to at least here the other side) - One of the ones I have been watching a bit is TYT (Cenk/Ana)

Hi ceeboo,

For those people who haven’t had the same life experiences you have, please explain what “TYT (Cenk/Ana)” is and provide a link to the website where one can listen to this podcast.

Thank you.

It's The Young Turks (Cenk and Ana are hosts there).

I was watching them back in 2015/16 because they were big Bernie supporters, but something about their tone put me off the channel after that. I agree with a lot of what they have to say but I'm not necessarily a fan of their average conclusions, or the way they talk about, well, anything.

I also agree with some of the substance of Ana's post above. The extreme left is nutty and loud. However, the difference between the extreme left and extreme right is that those lefties aren't in government. The extremists on the right are House members and senators. That's the primary reason I worry about the right way more than the left.

[Dr. Shades]

Thank you.

What’s the URL of the website at which I can watch or listen to their podcast?

[canpakes]

The extreme left is nutty and loud. However, the difference between the extreme left and extreme right is that those lefties aren't in government. The extremists on the right are House members and senators. That's the primary reason I worry about the right way more than the left.

Exacty this.

Anyone can dig up ‘extreme’ examples from either side of the aisle. This was AtlanticMike's specialty; painting the entirety of the left-sided voting block as ‘extremist’. The article above may use a few anonymous examples that Ana found. The same exercise can be repeated for MAGA fanatics displaying racist/fringe/violent/whatever behavior.

However, when ‘the far left’ starts writing policy and government strategy and packaging it up for use by a proposed new Administration as the fringy right has done with Project 2025, or are given positions within a new Administration to reward their loyalty or their extreme POV, or when they start having to be hauled into court for trying to usurp the election process as Tina Peters has done, or when they rally around a grifter, fraud and crook as their presidential candidate, then Ana’s anecdote might become relevant.

For Ceeboo: you might want to include an image of ‘the tweet’, or include its content in some way. That additional context would be helpful.

[Gadianton]

Tone is one thing; if only it were about tone. When my right-wing friend goes into meltdowns and on occasion has called me a "libertard", it's not the tone that triggers me or the name calling, it's the abject stupidity of the underlying beliefs. Believe me, I really don't care that much if people are rude about Nancy Pelosi. When people become public figures, they accept the risk of vilification. It's the astounding levels of ignorance: the ignorance is what's insulting.

It's the constant nonsense and making things up. If somebody wants to berate me as a total idiot and whatever, if the person is knowledgeable about the subject, then I might be able to take the beating and listen because sometimes, that irritable person might know a lot and easy to trigger into continuing to answer questions. In my early Internet days that used to happen sometimes when I happened into a place and bit off more than I could chew.

It's not being rude while trying to steal an election that's the problem, the problem is actually trying to steal the election. Even if Donald Trump were totally civil and nice, if everything else where the same, he'd deserve the same derision.

[Morley]

Thank you.

What’s the URL of the website at which I can watch or listen to their podcast?

I think that this will take you there, Shades:

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheYoungTurks

[ceeboo]

As I mentioned on another thread recently, I have been watching a few podcasts that are politically on the left (I do this to at least here the other side) - One of the ones I have been watching a bit is TYT (Cenk/Ana)

Hi ceeboo,

Hey Shades,

For those people who haven’t had the same life experiences you have, please explain what “TYT (Cenk/Ana)” is and provide a link to the website where one can listen to this podcast.

Thank you.

It looks like others have provided the requested information (Thank you to those who did)

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

For what it’s worth, I don’t know much about them and I haven’t watched any of their shows or podcasts or whatever their medium is. I think I’ve seen clips here and their, but Like Some Schmo I didn’t care for their vibe so I clicked off it. I think I felt they were sensationalistic, and didn’t like it.

- Doc