BreadTubeorLeftTubeis a loose and informal group of online personalities who create video content, includingvideo essaysandlivestreams,fromsocialist,social democratic,communist,anarchist,and otherleft-wingperspectives.[1][2][3][4][5][6]BreadTube creators generally post videos onYouTubethat are discussed on other online platforms, such asReddit.[7]
The New York Timesauthor Kevin Roose wrote that BreadTube creators employ a method he calls "algorithmic hijacking".[8]This method involves them choosing to focus on the same topics discussed by content creators withright-wing politics,as a means for enabling their videos to be recommended to the same audiences consuming right-wing orfar-rightvideos,[8]thereby exposing a wider audience to their perspectives.[7]
Many BreadTube content creators arecrowdfunded,and their channels often serve as introductions to left-wing politics for young viewers.[9]
BreadTube creators align withcollectivist modes of governance,while opposing thealt-rightand far-right.[6]Infighting is common within the BreadTube community, which has been attributed to "the community hosting a spectrum of beliefs, ranging from Social Democratic toMaoist".[6]
Origin
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The termBreadTubederives fromPeter Kropotkin'sThe Conquest of Bread,[10][11][12]a book explaining how to achieveanarcho-communismand how an anarcho-communist society would function.
The BreadTube phenomenon itself does not have a clear origin, although many BreadTube channels started in an effort to combat anti-social justice warriorand alt-right content that gained traction in the mid-2010s.[13][14]By 2018, these individual channels had formed an interconnected community.[14]Two prominent early BreadTubers wereLindsay Ellis,who leftChannel Awesomein 2015 to start her own channel in response to theGamergate controversy,and Natalie Wynn, who started her channelContraPointsin 2016 in response to the online dominance of the alt-right at the time.[11]In an April 2021 interview, Wynn opined that "The alt-right,the manosphere,incels,even the so-called SJW Internet and LeftTube all have a genetic ancestor inNew Atheism."[15]
Format
editBreadTube videos frequently have a high production value, incorporating theatrical elements and running for longer than typical YouTube videos.[1][2]Many are direct responses to right-wing talking points.[7]Whereas right-wing andcyberlibertariancreators' videos are usually antagonistic towards their political opponents, many BreadTubers seek to analyze and understand their opponents' arguments, often employing subversion, humor, and "seduction".[7][16]Many aim to appeal to broad audiences, reaching people who do not already hold left-wing viewpoints rather than "preaching to the choir".[7]Videos often do not end with a solid conclusion, instead encouraging viewers to come to their own conclusions from the referenced material.[7]As BreadTube channels often cite left-wing and socialist texts to inform their arguments, this can act as an introduction to left-wing thought for their viewers.[9]
Channels
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The vast majority of BreadTube content is inEnglish,and most BreadTubers are usuallyAmericanorBritish.[17]The term is informal and often disputed, as there are no agreed-upon criteria for inclusion. According toThe New Republic,in 2019, the five people most commonly mentioned as examples were Natalie Wynn (ContraPoints),Lindsay Ellis,Harry Brewis (Hbomberguy),Abigail Thorn(Philosophy Tube), andShaun,whileKat BlaqueandAnita Sarkeesianare cited as significant influences;[5][11]Ian Danskin (akaInnuendo Studios),[2]Hasan Piker,[5][18]Vaush,[18]andDestiny[18][8]have also been described as part of BreadTube. However, several of these people, including Ellis,[19]Shaun,[20]and Wynn[21]have rejected the label.
Reception
editAccording toThe Conversation,as of 2021, BreadTube content creators "receive tens of millions of views a month and have been increasingly referenced in media and academia as a case study inderadicalisation."[13]According toThe Independent,BreadTube "commentators have been trying, quite successfully, to intervene in the right-wing recruitment narrative – lifting viewers out of the rabbit-hole, or, at least, shifting them over to a new one."[18]
Black BreadTube content creator Kat Blaque has criticized the lack of black content creators within BreadTube and argues that black content creators are marginalized within BreadTube.[6]BreadTube content creatorKyle Kulinskiargued that infighting within BreadTube has left the community "politically impotent and ineffectual."[6]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^abWilliams, Wil (June 1, 2021)."The video essays that spawned an entire YouTube genre".Polygon.Archivedfrom the original on August 11, 2021.RetrievedAugust 11,2021.
- ^abcSomos, Christy (October 25, 2019)."Dismantling the 'Alt-Right Playbook': YouTuber explains how online radicalization works".CTVNews.Archivedfrom the original on February 15, 2020.RetrievedJuly 3,2020.
- ^Alexander, Julia (January 31, 2020)."Carlos Maza is back on YouTube and ready to fight".The Verge.Archivedfrom the original on July 31, 2020.RetrievedJuly 3,2020.
- ^"Youtube: Auf der anderen Seite die linken Influencer".Die Zeit(in German). January 13, 2020.Archivedfrom the original on July 3, 2020.RetrievedJuly 3,2020.
- ^abcCitarella, Joshua (September 12, 2020)."Marxist memes for TikTok teens: can the internet radicalize teenagers for the left?".The Guardian.Archivedfrom the original on September 12, 2020.RetrievedAugust 8,2021.
- ^abcdeCotter, Kelley (March 18, 2022)."Practical knowledge of algorithms: The case of BreadTube".New Media & Society:146144482210818.doi:10.1177/14614448221081802.ISSN1461-4448.S2CID247560346.
- ^abcdefKuznetsov, Dmitry; Ismangil, Milan (January 13, 2020)."YouTube as Praxis? On BreadTube and the Digital Propagation of Socialist Thought".TripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique.18(1): 204–218.doi:10.31269/triplec.v18i1.1128.ISSN1726-670X.Archivedfrom the original on July 3, 2020.RetrievedJuly 3,2020.
- ^abcRoose, Kevin (June 8, 2019)."The Making of a YouTube Radical (Published 2019)".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Archivedfrom the original on May 22, 2021.RetrievedJune 2,2021.
- ^abFuchs, Christian (2021).Social Media: A Critical Introduction(3rd ed.).SAGE Publications.pp. 199–200.ISBN978-1-5297-5274-8.
- ^Roose, Kevin (February 12, 2020)."A Thorn in YouTube's Side Digs In Even Deeper".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on February 12, 2020.RetrievedJuly 3,2020.
- ^abcAmin, Shaan (July 2, 2019)."Can the Left Win YouTube?".The New Republic.ISSN0028-6583.Archivedfrom the original on July 4, 2020.RetrievedJuly 3,2020.
- ^"Three: Mirror Image".The New York Times.April 30, 2020.ISSN0362-4331.Archivedfrom the original on July 3, 2020.RetrievedJuly 3,2020.
- ^abLee, Alexander Mitchell (March 8, 2021)."Meet BreadTube, the YouTube activists trying to beat the far-right at their own game".The Conversation.Archivedfrom the original on June 30, 2021.RetrievedMay 27,2021.
- ^abMniestri, Aikaterini; Gekker, Alex (October 5, 2020)."Temporal Frames for Platform Publics: The Platformization of Breadtube".AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research.doi:10.5210/spir.v2020i0.11281.ISSN2162-3317.S2CID225166989.Archivedfrom the original on November 19, 2021.RetrievedNovember 19,2021.
- ^Maughan, Philip (April 14, 2021)."The World According to ContraPoints".Highsnobiety.Archivedfrom the original on April 29, 2022.RetrievedAugust 3,2021.
- ^Cross, Katherine (August 24, 2018)."The Oscar Wilde of YouTube fights the alt-right with decadence and seduction".The Verge.Archivedfrom the original on February 11, 2023.RetrievedAugust 18,2021.
- ^Koenigsdorff, Simon (January 13, 2020)."Youtube: Auf der anderen Seite die linken Influencer".Teilchen(in German).Archivedfrom the original on July 3, 2020.RetrievedSeptember 20,2021.
- ^abcdEllingham, Miles (January 17, 2021)."The rise of BreadTube: The battle for the soul of the internet".The Independent.Archivedfrom the original on January 17, 2021.RetrievedSeptember 20,2021.
- ^Lindsay Ellis [@thelindsayellis](November 10, 2020)."Someone tell this person that breadtube isn't a thing"(Tweet).Archivedfrom the original on April 24, 2021 – viaTwitter.
- ^Shaun [@shaun_vids](March 25, 2020)."do not send me messages about 'breadtube' drama. or 'breadtube' generally. its a fake group with arbitrary, subjective membership"(Tweet).Archivedfrom the original on March 11, 2021 – viaTwitter.
- ^Natalie Wynn [@ContraPoints](February 23, 2021)."I encourage my audience to drop the label 'BreadTube'"(Tweet).Archivedfrom the original on April 24, 2021 – viaTwitter.