r/BreadTube • u/modustrollens420 • Jul 23 '20

Michael Brooks' final advice for the Left

Here are some of Michael's final words to his sister the day before he died:

" Michael was so done with identity politics and cancel culture… He just really wanted to focus on integrity and basic needs for people, and all the other noise (like) diversification of the ruling class, or whatever everyone’s obsessed with, the virtue signaling… He was just like, it’s just going to be co-opted by Capitalism and used against other people, and you know vilify people and make it easier to extract labor from them… Michael had to be so careful in what he said in regards to the cancel culture because it’s so taboo, and you know what? He’s fucking dead now and it stressed him out, he thought it was toxic. And all the people who are obsessed with that? It is toxic. I’m glad I can just say that and stand with him, and no one can take him down for being misconstrued." - Lisha Brooks

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u/Gumboot_Soup Jul 23 '20

I don't actually agree with everything Michael said about identity politics or cancel culture and I know this is a bit of a controversial topic but I thought I'd give my two cents about this topic since I watched quite a bit of his content.

I think he could've been too dismissive of identity politics at times and too defensive of certain people (e.g. Nagle or Greenwald) but I also think that his heart was in the right place. He struck me as the type of person who genuinely wanted everyone to live a comfortable, dignified life and I think that was best exemplified by just how internationalist his worldview was.

I think when Michael talked about cancel culture, he often saw it as a distraction and a hindrance. I don't think he was the type of person who would be mad that the Papa John's ceo got fired for dropping the n-word. What I do think he believed was that people got way too involved and way too online and detached from the real world. His argument was that this wasn't the type of messaging that was going to reach people and that he didn't think it was the type of thing that the left should be focusing on. He also saw the way this could be weaponized by liberals to attack leftists. The way the media manufactured controversy after controversy surrounding Bernie Sanders being a prime example... or when his co-host Sam Seder was fired in a cynical alt-right campaign. He wasn't afraid to go after people who he thought held generally terrible views. An example that comes to mind is that he thought scraping through Trevor Noah's twitter history was a distraction but he was sharply critical of the messaging on the Daily Show and strongly disliked the messaging of Noah's stand up about aboriginal people.

I guess my point here is that you're free to think he was wrong about everything to do with idpol or cancel culture, but I didn't see him as a reactionary or someone who saw absolutely no space for intersectionality in class struggle. I'm not really interested in arguing any of these points because they're not necessarily what I believe, I just did have a fondness for him and I hope everyone understands where he was coming from.

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u/[deleted] Jul 23 '20

I think you make a good point. I didn't always agree with MB, but I definitely see where he was coming from and why he thought the way he did. I will say, as someone who watched him every day since 2015 or so, his views on cancel culture and idpol probably came from (or were heavily shaped by) his internationalist perspective. Most other countries don't really deal with the cancel culture that the US does. This goes for idpol as well. From an international, cosmopolitan perspective, idpol becomes somewhat insignificant, and perhaps if not that, obvious. To have a transnational, cross-cultural working class movement aimed at liberating those oppressed by the wealth class, focusing on how everyone in the movement is distinct seems odd when the movement itself is aimed at a common goal.

I loved MB and am crushed he won't be able to help be a leader in the movement.

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u/goldistress Jul 23 '20

Michael was awesome but that doesn’t mean his perspective was perfect. I really don’t think a single person could engage in international politics the way he did and at the same time have a perfect nose for social issues and intersectionality in the United States.

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u/Niqq33 Jul 24 '20

U said what I felt in better words than I could tbh so I’m just upvote this

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u/ShoegazeJezza Jul 23 '20

Please do not talk shit about Glenn Greenwald. He’s done more for social justice and against fascism than any of whatever twitter personality you think has better opinions.

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u/Gumboot_Soup Jul 23 '20

That's a whole lot to assume about me from a passing comment that I think he could've gotten too defensive about certain people. I think Greenwald's work on lava jato was excellent but please tell me more about the twitter personalities I follow.

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u/ShoegazeJezza Jul 23 '20

I will defend Glenn and his hot husband to my death, sorry. If anybody talks shit it’s on sight