Early Access Video & Update
Added 2017-02-20 00:55:04 +0000 UTCHey team,
A new video is up, called The Alt-Right Playbook: Introduction . This is a rough cut - there are a few lines I'll likely re-record, some timing I want to tweak, and I've already caught and corrected a typo. So this version is just for all of you.
Let's address the elephant in the room: this video is brief, short on content, and took way longer than expected. It's an introduction to a series, and the next videos in the series are underway but not finished yet. The script for the next one is done and I'll be recording and editing pretty much right away. I'm not going to make this introductory video public until the first video of the series proper is ready as well - no sense releasing an intro til there's something to introduce, y'know?
I had hoped to get something done in January before school started back up, because I had a lot more time then. But making my first videos that address Trumpism and the Alt-Right has taken a lot of attempts to get right. I wrote several scripts, some of them pretty long scripts, that eventually got scrapped because they weren't working right. Some of them were about news topics that ceased to be relevant by the time the script was finished, some were just the wrong approaches for the subject. Eventually my clients came back from their holiday breaks and school started back up again and my time became very limited again.
It's weird tackling subjects outside my usual wheelhouse. Before I made This Is Phil Fish, there were several attempts at making video essays that never saw the light of day. Scripts that got shelved, even some stuff that was filmed and partially edited. I had to figure out what I was doing. It kind of feels like that again - having to figure out how to do what I'm doing, because it's different from what I've done before.
Anyway. With my current workload, I find that, if I can keep on top of my homework and freelancing during the week, I tend to have some time for editing on the weekends, but it's tight. If any part of the schedule slips, things get backed up. I am getting some amount of work done on the videos every week, but some weeks are significantly less productive than others. It's one reason why I'm keeping these videos short - so they'll take fewer weeks to put together.
Lest you worry it's all political videos from here on out, I'm also working on a script on an adventure game, one I've been kicking around for a while. And I might be doing an analysis of a movie sometime soon? I think a video essay about Park Chan-wook's The Handmaiden might serve double duty as a final project for my Female Gaze in Film class. We'll see.
Anway, thank you all for your patience. Enjoy this little morsel for now, and there'll be more on the way soon!
Comments
As I say, if you are confident that engaging may accomplish something and will definitely put no one at risk, then go for it. It seems that the rubric for whether or not you can get through to someone is if you are either a person they see as an equal or a person with some kind of authority over them that they respect. Even then, though, it takes many, many points of contact to bring a person around, and your interaction may be an important component in changing their mind, but the actual change of mind may still be a long way off.
Ian Danskin
2017-03-04 14:56:30 +0000 UTC(I thought I wrote a good comment yesterday, but it's not here today. I had a small critique that the gist of it was: all of these "isms" are probably red herrings for the most part; masking attention seeking behavior.) (Sucks when you take the time to write something heartfelt and a website makes it completely disappear. Here today, gone tomorrow.)
Michael
2017-02-21 05:16:57 +0000 UTCBut if the serial harassers (the ones who are likely to hack emails) and the Angry Jacks are different groups of people, shouldn't it still be fine to engage with Angry Jack? Is it okay to engage proto-Jacks? Is it okay to engage as long as you are at least acquainted with the person you're engaging, like on Facebook? This is where I usually bother challenging people. I believe that many people are ready to engage you in good faith even if they hold questionable opinions. Should you still not engage even if you have reason to expect a good faith discussion? By the way, I'm thrilled you're making a video on the alt-right. I'm really looking forward to it a lot!
2017-02-20 19:05:47 +0000 UTCVery excited for this series. I've been showing friends "Why Are You so Angry?" because I feel like there is so much crossover between the ALt-Rights rise to prominence and Angry Jacks. So glad you are working on something that is more overtly commenting on the current political climate.
2017-02-20 16:54:51 +0000 UTCVery good video! It's a little bit scary to hear your take on this, because there were strategies and logical explanations to the Gamergate videos, and this brand of hatefulness is still largely unknown and unknowable on a logical level.
Xingcat
2017-02-20 13:43:22 +0000 UTCThank you for bringing focus to the idea of talking against their issues, not directly against the people using those issues. It's very hard for the audience of the alt-right to speak for racism, but it does feel empowering to speak for a racist person with the usual and completely incorrectly used 1st amendment defense. It's maybe why a lot of discussion starts "I'm not a racist, but..."; it's a way to dodge the statement itself and bolster the individual behind it.
Carla Hoffman
2017-02-20 05:56:37 +0000 UTCYeah, that's one of the lines I want to rephrase. Trying to say that the Alt-Right are basically all Trump supporters, but not all Trump supporters are Alt-Rights.
Ian Danskin
2017-02-20 03:13:39 +0000 UTCUh... I'm 100% positive there are A LOT of Trump supporters who are not alt-right and actually hate that movement (I'm related to a few)... but I will agree that it seems the alt-right as a whole loves that man, and the fact that Trump has put Steve Bannon in such a high seat of power is extremely worrying. I will be interested to see where this video series leads!
Robert Griffith
2017-02-20 02:45:09 +0000 UTCGreat preview. I hope when you publish it more patreons come in support and you will have more time to produce this content, which in my opinion is crucial going forward. I think the situation we are in is more dire than we'd like to admit. The trolls have figured out a very effective strategy for spreading misinformation and making productive discussions impossible. I believe we need a solid opposition core to which our less informed peers can coalesce and give strength to. We need to get our allies involved, not to attack but to get our discussion going. My humble suggestion would be that you be a guest with other feminist YouTubers, so that connections start to be formed and we, the audience, can discover more sources of information. Finally, thanks for your work and dedication. We really appreciate it.
Josafat Guerrero Jordan
2017-02-20 02:35:56 +0000 UTCI THINK it should be OK, since this is directed at my audience and not at the alt-right, but I may doublecheck with them before it goes public to be sure.
Ian Danskin
2017-02-20 02:16:13 +0000 UTCThat's the one I caught! It's already fixed in the project file. :)
Ian Danskin
2017-02-20 02:13:28 +0000 UTC"Trying to publicly disagree with someone may cause hell for third parties who have nothing to do with me." In that case, is it wise to include their twitter pictures/names? I don't think anyone with angry-jack like inclinations doesn't know Zoe Quinn's twitter handle and I'm sure Lindsey Ellis' mentions are no cakewalk either but all the same maybe blot out the names but keep the conversation??? I don't know.
gomollusk
2017-02-20 02:10:18 +0000 UTC"Fiercely Anti-Itellectual", while it did give me a giggle at the irony, should probably be corrected in the final version :).
Xianhang Zhang
2017-02-20 01:46:57 +0000 UTCExcellent stuff. Can't wait for more!
2017-02-20 01:41:06 +0000 UTCVery excited for this new series. We're (or, at least I'm) not just in it for the games.
Jacob Geller
2017-02-20 01:09:28 +0000 UTC
