A List of Reactionary and Far-Right YT Channels. Feedback Welcome!
So, long, long before I ever became aware of this particular subreddit, I was already all-too-aware of the sheer volume of reactionary nightmares populating Youtube. Enough so that I finally resolved to make a list of them to keep track of them all. But of course, I also knew that for every one I found, there were others I wasn't yet aware of. So I decided to share this list, both to get some assurance that my conclusions about these people are valid, and ALSO to get feedback regarding any names I may have missed.
First though, some things:
1. I am someone who considers himself politically “purple”, and so I will not necessarily have the exact same perspective as folks to the left of me. With that said, I do still try to recognize clear bad actors. But things like "he thinks boob armor is OK" or "he likes sexy female characters" are not going to rise to the level of proof for me (especially considering I myself am not opposed to sex appeal in things like video games).
2. I do think some of the things alt-righters love to go after (the obvious example being the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy) DO have flaws and that there are valid and legit criticisms to be made. With that said, constantly raging about Rose Tico is not one of them.
What these two points mean, is that I’m not necessarily going to consider an alt-righter anyone who thinks, say, TLJ, is something other than 100% perfect. Because I don’t see it as perfect myself. Obviously, where legitimate and good-faith criticism ends and bad-faith stuff begins can be difficult to discern, but that’s part of why I’m sharing this list. To separate the innocent (if there are any) from the guilty.
Finally, I should say what I believe are the “red flags” that make me inclined to put someone on the list:
- Use of the word “woke”: This is the big one. For me, the word “woke” is a tell; anytime I see someone using it in the context of criticism of ANY work of art, it immediately lets me know that I’m dealing with a reactionary rage-farmer. There has been only one (and I do mean only one) time I have sympathized with someone using this word in an argument, and it wasn’t a Youtuber complaining about comics, video games, movies, or anything else. It wasn't a Youtuber at all. So again, this is the big one.
- Hyperbolic / Constant Negativity: Again, some of the things that the right-wingers go after DO have legit flaws or problems…some of them. But when a channel is complaining about 90% of all media they’re looking at, including things that really aren’t all that bad, and making them ALL out to be not just mediocre or poor but hot trash, it’s a red flag (for example, something like the Ahsoka series wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible either, so acting as though it is, and especially because of a “Disney agenda”, isn’t persuasive to me).
- Bashing Batman: Caped Crusader: This one is closely related to #2, but I still felt like making it separate. Batman: CC is a perfectly fine Superhero cartoon, and acting like it’s a 1/10 is just ridiculous. And the fact that most if not all of the folks doing it are calling attention to Penguin being female just confirms it.
- Disney Bashing: Any sort of going on about how Disney is “evil”, “morally bankrupt”, etc. or celebrating Disney’s supposed failing/downfall/demise/etc. is also a red flag to me. Irony is that Disney traditionally is a conversative company with conservative values. So the fact that all of these people are constantly whining about how “woke” Disney is more just shows how far off the deep end the alt-righters are. EDIT: Since apparently multiple commenters have taken exception to this one, permit me to clarify: no, this is not merely disliking or criticizing this or that Disney product. This is more folks CONSTANTLY complaining about Disney because "wokeness", using the phrase "woke Disney", complaining any time a Disney movie or remake is less white and male than the older stuff, etc. If you're still not satisfied, think of this as a symptom rather than the disease; that it's presence alone may not be proof, but in conjunction with other things, it's a good indicator.
- Constant whining about Hollywood/Modern Hollywood/Modern Movies: Pretty much the same as #4, just replace the word "Disney" with the word "Hollywood".
- Use of the word “agenda” in a negative context when talking about modern media and the left’s supposed influence over it (again, I’m purple and even I find this eye-roll worthy).
- Videos “showing” some right-wing darling or icon “owning” or one-upping a liberal/leftist/feminist critic, the obvious intent being to celebrate right-wingers one-upping left-wingers.
- Blaming Kathleen Kennedy for everything under the sun / constantly bagging on Kathleen Kennedy: Pretty self-explanatory I think. Obviously this also applies to folks who do this for Amy Pascal.
I’d also bring up things like actively promoting conspiracy theories like QAnon, Covid being a hoax, the Great Replacement Theory, etc., but (thankfully), the channels I'm personally aware of don’t spend much time focusing on those things specifically, instead preferring to just shriek about this or that thing being “woke”. But yes, any channel that is subscribing to bile like that is also fit to be included.
Anyway, all of that out of the way, here’s the list:
- 1 / 4 Black Garrett
- ActualJusticeWarrior
- Adam Patch
- Adam Post (Possibly an alternate account for #3).
- Albeleo
- Alteori
- Andromeda
- AndyPants Gaming
- AntiSimp
- Arch (Formerly Arch Warhammer)
- The ArchCast (Almost certainly an alternate account for #10).
- Asmongold
- Asmongold Clips (Alternate account for #12).
- Avram
- Baggage Claim
- Benny Jones
- BoldDebate
- Bounding Into Comics (also a “news” website, and while I'd argue not literally ALL of their articles are bad, enough of them are)
- Bowlestrek
- Captain Meta
- Chrissie Mayr
- Chuck Dixon (man this one's a heartbreaker, as he was one of the best writers of Batman and Batman-adjacent comics there ever was. But a right-wing extremist is a right-wing extremist).
- Clown Planet
- Clownfish TV
- Comic Artist Pro Secrets (real name Ethan van Scriver)
- Comix Division
- Culture Casino
- Daily Insight
- Dark Lord Mountain (at least he's honest XD)
- Darth Aristysus
- DDayCobra
- Despot of Antrim
- Disparu
- Doctor Disaster
- Drunk 3PO
- Eat Garbage
- Echo Base Network
- ENDYMIONtv
- Enrobria
- European Lore
- Fan Advocacy Network
- Fanscape
- Flashgitz
- FreedomToons
- Game Knights
- Geeks and Gamers (probably the single most notorious example of this that I know of, although Nerdrotic is a close second).
- George the Giant Slayer
- Graham Cast
- Greg Owen
- GriffinGaming
- Grizzy
- HeelvsBabyFace (AKA AZ)
- Hero Hei
- Hypnotic
- Jedi Brooks (I hate this one especially. His "why X sucks, a scene comparison" videos are just the pinnacle of reductive reasoning).
- Jesse Grant
- JesterBell
- John Talks
- Jon Del Arroz
- JosiahRises
- JUST A ROBOT
- JustSomeGuy
- KNIGHTWING1
- Knights of Melvin
- KNIGHTS WATCH (you know, as someone who loves knights as a concept it's extremely depressing to see so many alt-righters with "knight" in their username and using that imagery).
- Liberal Hivemind (Username is clearly sarcastic / ironic
- Literature Devil
- LostChord
- Matt Walsh
- Mauler
- Mecharandom42
- Memology101
- MGOW
- Michael Fitzgerald Troy
- Midnight’s Edge
- Midnight’s Edge Live (Obviously alternate account for #75)
- Millennia Thinker
- MooLer
- Moon
- Nerd Word
- Nerdrotic
- No Bullshit / No BS
- Nyrion
- Odin’s Movie Blog
- OMB Reviews (Clearly alternate account for #84)
- Overlord DVD
- Paul Joseph Watson
- Phil’s Father Factor
- Podcast of the Lotus Eaters
- Polite Leader
- PowerfulJRE
- Rafe Heydel-Mankoo
- Reaper (this one also frustrating for me personally, as I like the word "reaper" and use it a lot when naming characters of mine).
- Renaissance Nerd
- RenownedZ3r0
- Robot Head
- Ryan Kinel
- Salty Cracker
- SC Reviews
- Shadiversity (as an aside, I NEVER liked this guy. I know a lot of people liked him before it became obvious how bad he was, but to me, he always seemed kind of pretentious, and his constant whining about double-bladed weapons and other "realism police" stuff was just so eye-roll worthy to me).
- SimpSaverSam
- SKizzle
- Smudboy
- Snarky Jay
- Star Wars Theory
- Stefan Molyneux
- Sydney Watson
- Synthetic Man
- Testify (pretty clearly an Islamophobe, or at least that was the sense I got).
- That Star Wars Girl (and a damn shame too, because as much as I find her repulsive she DID do one heck of a Jaina Solo cosplay. Good Rogue cosplay too).
- That’s Retarded
- ThatUmbrellaGuy
- TheCommonNerds
- The Babylon Bee
- The Based Conservative
- The Comments Section with Bret Cooper
- The Critical Drinker (my personal least favorite. I really do hate him most of all).
- The Critical Drinker After Hours
- The Daily Wire
- The Movie Cynic
- The Poor Man’s Podcast Reacts
- The Quartering
- The Rubin Report
- The Trent Report (Real name John F. Trent)
- The Uber Geek
- The Woke Critic (Username is clearly sarcastic)
- Think Before You Sleep (should follow his own advice)
- Thinking Critical (ironically named)
- Thorias Unlimited
- Timcast IRL
- Tyrone Magnus
- Valutainment
- Virtuous Men (another one whose ironically named)
- Vito Gesualdi
- WaywardCulture
- Weaponized Nerd Rage
- Woke Busters
- Woke Watchers
- Word of Wolf
- Words of Paradise
- WorldClassBullshitters
- Xray Girl
- YellowFlash
- YinkaThatGuy
Yowzers, that’s a lot of names! But wait, there’s also ones that I’m not sure on, but am suspicious of:
- baldbookgeek
- Black Pigeon Speaks
- Book Furnace
- Bread Boys
- Buddy Brown
- Charlie Hopkinson
- Critical Crackpot
- FearTheBeardo
- Just Judah
- Lack of Entertainment
- Legion of Men
- Let’s Review Crap Writing
- Lion of Judah
- Little Platoon
- Living Anachronism
- Man Talk
- Mannix
- Master Samwise
- Metatron
- Minimal Effort Gaming
- Possum Reviews
- PSA Sitch
- Raven Knight
- Sheev Talks
- The4thSnake
- The Gents
- The Scene Surgeon
- Theophilus
- Truff’s Stuff
- ZimoNitrome
- zvnazul
OK, that’s everyone. Let me know if I missed anyone and/or got anyone wrong (though if you do think the latter, please articulate your argument respectfully).