First of all, i know Infrared isnt popular with many of you here, and thats ok. However i think this interview will be valuable to many of you, even if you dont like Infrared.
For those who dont know, Professor Grover Furr is a historian who has written many books debunking so called “stalinist crimes”. He investigated extensively topics such as the Holodomor, the Great Purges, Khrushchevs Secret Speech in 1956, the deportations of ethnic minorities during WW2, the Katyn Massacre and many more. These topics are discussed here.
Enjoy!
Infrared is a youtube ML channel that focuses mainly on debates and general entertainment while also politically orientated. While the Infrared team consists of several members, the main member who does most of the content is Haz, a lebanese american man. Hes not very liked over here because he has several, lets say, controversial takes on some things, mainly relating to identity politics, LGBT, patriotism for the USA and the Trump movement. Hes also created an extreme macho persona in his debates and often says that his debate opponents are “beta cucks”. Whether he is serious on this or its just a joke is up to you to decide. Finally he also often gets into drama with other leftist youtubers/streamers, which often degenerates into nasty insults and attacks.
Hes part of the wider american “patriotic socialist” movement associated with people like Caleb Maupin, who are also not very liked over here. I personally watch his content sometimes, and while i dont agree with everything he says i prefer to keep an open mind and not just shut off different perspectives, but thats just me.
The problem with Haz and Maupin is that they let their love of Great Men™ eschew internationalist, pro-indigenous, racial, and lower-class solidarity. It’s really obvious they have an ideological preference for the middle class, which gives them money-backed visibility but very little real proletarian power. All AES states leveraged serfs/lumpenproles as the bulk of their war economies and soldiers. It doesn’t matter how good the appeals to authority are if you fundamentally cannot grasp the social and numerical importance of people living on the boundary between base and superstructure.
Also Haz is an insecure little incel.
Of all the things you could critique of them, their supposed “preference for the middle class” is the worst you could pick. I have no idea where you deduced that they prefer the middle class. They literally ramble all the time AGAINST the middle class, saying they are “labor aristocrat urbanites” and “not true proletarians”. I personally disagree with that analysis, i think the middle class is just working class benefiting from imperialism, and once the unequal exchange from imperialism goes away (as the global south becomes socialist), they will inevitably join the revolution as proletarians, as it will be in their class interests. Many already do so now, even against their class interests.
If you americans really think you will achieve revolution by constantly attacking your fellow ML comrades because you dont like their personality/persona/behaviour, instead of joining with them to fight against your imperialist government, then i have no words. But hey, you do you, im just a spaniard, my job isnt to build socialism in the USA (although the rest of the world would highly appreciate it if you got your act together). Im totally sure calling Haz and Caleb Maupin nazbols/fascists 100 more times will bring you to socialism soon.
Maupin and Haz are American and everything about them reeks of American exceptionalism. Why would you even be into that? America is a garbage country.
If supporting Russia, China, Iran, Cuba, DPRK, Syria, etc against US imperialism and wanting the US to be socialist and antiimperialist is “american exceptionalism”, then i guess im an “american exceptionalist” too. The fact that you dont even know what Maupin and Haz actually believe yet you still have an opinion on them just shows you dont actually care about what they believe, you are just looking for excuses to repeat what moron lib debate bros say about them, that they are “evil fascists/nazbols american chauvinists”.
America is a garbage country, i agree. I hate America a lot.
I think maybe you should chill and consider why you’ve made me into a caricature in your head. You’re punching at shadows.
I am perfectly calm, im not punching anything, but thanks for asking. What caricature are you talking about? What of what i said is false? You claimed that Maupin and Haz are american exceptionalists, something completely false. They dont even consider the USA to be a nation, so i have no idea how you could make that allegation if not by listening to what certain lib debate bros say about them, instead of listening to what they actually have to say. Whether you agree with them or not, the only way to know what their political opinions are is by listening to what they say. I dont even agree with them on everything, there are many things i disagree with them, but the amount of lies about them floating in online leftist spaces is absurd. That they are fascists, that they are nazbols, that they are american nationalists/chauvinists. Complete bs! If you listen to Caleb talk, all he ever says is that he wants to see an America that cooperates with the rest of the world as equals, instead of imposing itself as the imperialist “world police”. How you can construct that as “american exceptionalism” is beyond me. Frankly if you hear Caleb talk you will hear very few things that people here disagree with, yet he is portrayed as if he were on the other side of the political spectrum!
Watching reactionaries stream from their bedrooms doesn’t really appeal to me. I have limited time off work and have better uses for it. I read marxist lit in my free time, instead.
Mmmm okay? When did i say you have to watch them or like them? All i said is dont lie about them, which you are doing right now by saying they are “reactionary”. I dont know how it is in America, but reactionaries here dont support China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, DPRK, etc against US imperialism, in fact they do the opposite. If you dont have time or interest to learn what they actually believe, then just say “i dont know anything about them so i dont have an opinion on them”. Its simple.
Lmao i immediatly remembered of this
XD