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Comment by gjsman-1000 | Hacker News Reader

I'm not a fan of all of those YouTubers, but quite a few of the big ones (i.e. Crowder, Shapiro, Peterson) detest racism, and have openly and many times said that they do not support white supremacy and think Nazis are racist morons. Someone asked why neo-Nazis were attending one of their conferences, and the speaker (Peterson) said he had no idea and wanted them to leave for being idiots.

Doesn't change the fact that NYT still calls them "white supremacist supporting." I think the problem here is that they support some policies which white supremacists, as a group, also like supporting. Just because two groups can agree on something doesn't mean those groups are allies. Also, "white supremacist" is a great slam against someone you don't like regardless as to if it is true.

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"Israelis like to build. Arabs like to bomb crap and live in open sewage. This is not a difficult issue. #settlementsrock" - Ben Shapiro

https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/25712847277

And he was totally blasted by his own fanbase for it. Everyone might say something, once in a while, too far. Doesn't make it right, but doesn't make him completely wrong on everything.

> but quite a few of the big ones (i.e. Crowder, Shapiro, Peterson) detest racism ...

Yes, but the YT recommendation algorithm doesn't know that, and even if it could know it wouldn't care. It's enough to watch a few IDW (Intellectual Dark Web) videos, the system will assume that you want racist, far-right, etc. content and that's what will pop up in your recommendations and "Up Next" video plays. That's an entirely programmatically-generated "pathway" into the alt-right rabbit hole; it has nothing to do with who the IDW themselves would want to associate with.

Agreed. However, at the same time, this happens with almost _everything_ on YouTube. I bet you 5 Fake Bitcoins that if you watch a lot of Left-leaning videos from NYT, Vox, and others, that you will be in your own rabbit hole.

As a left leaning person, absolutely! I viewed a few of hbomberguy's tamer videos, next thing you know I've got videos with commenters suggesting we bust out the guillotines. But hey, thats what gets the eyeballs and the ad revenue flowing!

> I think the problem here is that they support some policies which white supremacists, as a group, also like supporting. Just because two groups can agree on something doesn't mean those groups are allies.

I'm probably going to bleed karma for this, but whatever - I think Trump's campaign had the same problem. I don't believe he's explicitly a white supremacist or that he wanted the support of neo-nazis, if for no other reason than that would be a stupid move politically, but for whatever reason neo-nazis seem to consider him their champion.

Likely in part it's a combination of his antagonistic (politically incorrect) demeanor and his populist rhetoric, but also (just to put it out there) the Republicans and Tea Party have been sort of low-key courting favor with racists for years, so there were already plenty in the base to begin with, they just needed to find their anti-establishment dark horse.

Even if they're less "white supremacist supporting" as "white supremacist supported," that's still a problem. They still feed on and profit from that element.

Why is this a problem? Is it everyone’s duty to deny “white supremacists” in all things, to make sure you have absolutely nothing in common? If they tended to shave, would it then be the duty of every right-thinking man to grow a beard?

It doesn't matter what those people you list personally believe; the fact is their speech and behavior is de facto functioning as an entry point funneling[1] people into fascist beliefs. If that isn't their intention, they really need to stop this kind of behavior.

> they do not support white supremacy and think Nazis are racist morons

> NYT still calls them "white supremacist supporting."

These are not in conflict; your actions can still support fascists unintentionally. When people point out your beliefs are supporting white supremacists, it might be a good idea to correct the problem. Continuing to defend the problematic behavior is when what might have been unintentional support begins to look more like intentional participation.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnmRYRRDbuw

>It doesn't matter what those people you list personally believe; the fact is their speech and behavior is de facto functioning as an entry point funneling[1] people into fascist beliefs.

Sounds like "better not let anybody be right-wingers or they may someday turn to fascism!"

Only if "right-wingers" necessarily means someone with fascist beliefs. If that isn't your definition, don't imply that association by making them the target.

(for a more nuanced answer, see [1])

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