First off, I wanted to say I rather enjoy Jason's commentary on serious news. His videos helped me get into Marxism back around 2011-2012. This is NOT intended as any kind of shitpost attacking him.
However, I've been growing weary of him ever since he made a video back in 2013 claiming he was going to analyze "the trans issue" from a "dialectical materialist" standpoint. He never made the video itself as he chickened out after being pressed on it. Recently though, a few incidents regarding his behavior on Twitter have irked me to the point where I have to ask: why the FUCK doesn't he just give his opinion on gender? The two incidents in question were 1. his bullying of anarchopac (who recently came out as a trans woman) and 2. the fight he was having all last night with Muke where Muke (being as annoying as he is) did the right thing by asking Roo to clarify his stance on transgender issues.
Roo used to have TERF fans, and one would think this is where his reluctance to talk about the subject comes from. However, Roo has also made videos in recent months attacking feminists, defending masculinity, and writing off "SJWs" as "first worldism". Now, while their theory definitely has its problems, when TERFs attack trans, they do so out of the position of gender abolitionism. They see gender (masculinity and femininity) as inherently problematic. When right-winger attack trans, they do so for the *opposite* reasons in that they want to make the gender boxes stricter. If Roo isn't advocating gender abolitionism, than his "critique" of transgender identities is nothing more than bigotry, not feminism. If he wants to write off concerns for trans people as "first worldism" then he's also wrong given that the gender binary as we know it was virtually non-existent outside the West until the advent of colonialism, and even today you see flourishing trans rights movements in several third world countries.
So again, what the fuck is he hiding if he's gone this long without revealing his actual views?
Ryan Bailey
Roo is trash.
Justin Butler
It's so obvious Jason is the brocialist version of a TERF. He's totally okay with degrading and objectifying women, but he still holds to his old transphobia, and not within a "gender abolitionist" framework, as TERFs do. Jason's "critique" of trans-politics is super right-wing. RadFems base their critique of trans-politics and the Butler brand of gender theory on their radical "gender abolitionism." Some RadFems also say that they'll accept trans-women as women but not as females, for example.
Jason's transphobia stems from his former friendships with notable outspoken TERFs like NuclearNight, aka Terri Strange, whom Jason is tweeting at in this screencap, and DollSnatch. I'm surprised Jason has stuck with his transphobia to be honest. He's not much of a feminist these days. Again, he'll degrade and objectify women and defend the virtues of masculinity and the gender caste itself, but he'll bash transgender people for reinforcing gender.
Jason still claims to be a feminist though, albeit a "Third-World feminist," i.e. fuck First-World women.
FYI, I'm a trans-woman myself, so please don't accuse me of defending TERFs. I'm just explaining this so-called "gender abolitionist" position: they see gender as being a kind of societal caste system, designating certain roles for males and females from birth. They seek to destroy this "gender caste system" entirely. Jason, on the other hand, appraises masculinity.
Jace Diaz
*Roo is trans.
Wyatt Brown
He conveniently came out as bisexual after he was called out for making homophobic remarks over FB.
Nathaniel Hall
I'm a former friend of Jason's, and I can confirm that Jason expressed an interest in cross-dressing to me. He wanted to wear one of his mom's skirts and experiment with makeup. He could very well be in the closet.
Noah Hernandez
Sounds more like a fetish.
Jackson Mitchell
Jason has a trap fetish, he was really into Bailey Jay, so I wouldn't be surprised. Jason came out as bi because of his trap fetish, which shows that he sees trans-women as men.
Jaxon Garcia
To be honest, Jason doesn't seem all that mentally stable these days. I mean just look at most of his recent videos. He can barely speak in a linear fashion. He flubs over and over, pauses abruptly, has tone problems with his voice, and so on.
If I were him I'd just take a break from youtube.
Charles Phillips
Wanted to add, several of his videos from the past month (including today's) concern Youtube and other social media sites deleting/censoring content. It's almost as if he's terrified his channel will be shut down sooner or later.
Carson Rodriguez
Muke is an asshole and had a way more transphobic views by his own standard just a few months ago and has engaged in a "call-out" culture with liberal Twitter to suck up to them.
He's not an anti-feminist, he has defended Anita Sarkeesian who is the embodiment of First World feminism. Also proofs for his serious "transphobia" have yet to be posted. He called out Anarchopac's identity-based Tumblr politics, I've never heard him say that people with gender dysphoria shouldn't be able to identify with whatever gender they want.
There is a very old video of him where he talks about having a boyfriend. It's hot a recent claim.
It's just the burden of making a video every day. Quality drops in favor of quantity.
That's totally a justified concern. Out of all commie channels, he's probably the one of the top of the hit list, pro-DPRK channels have been shut down a couple of months ago, and the fact that he is on Iranian state TV certainly doesn't help.
Nolan Sanders
Link?
Adam Ross
Jason defended Anita ages ago. He has since distanced himself from feminism under the guise that he supports "Third-World feminism" — but when does he talk about issues that TW women face?
Brody Reed
I wasn't defending Muke, and your comment here amounts to whataboutism. Muke being a dick doesn't make Roo any less of a dick, plus Roo has been transphonic ON RECORD time and time again all while refusing to apologize for anything he's said (whether on youtube or Twitter/FB).
What is he hiding? If his views on trans weren't controversial he'd just state them and move on. But instead, he insists on throwing trans people under the bus, denying a spectrum of gender identities, and, once called out on it, folds and dodges having to own up to his words. He's a coward, plain and simple.
Ayden Richardson
I'm not going to dig through 20 Roo videos on my phone. It's one of the old videos where he is in front of an apartment building wearing a Castro uniform. I think it's the one where he says he was "attacked" or something.
That's a lie. It's over an hour long and only five months old. Look up "Jason Unruhe Thunderfoot". I don't know. He could talk about it more but that may get him off PressTV. He talks about Third World exploitation a lot, that obviously includes women.
This comment symbolizes everything that's wrong with the left. This obsession about sending people through "struggle sessions" is r/socialism tier and I hate it. He has some opinions and he stands by it. He doesn't need to apologize for you disagreeing with him, you are not an omniscient arbitrator of what's right and wrong. Roo can be blamed for many things but he has the most consistent opinions over time.
Maybe he isn't hiding anything and you are just paranoid? Maybe he thinks an issue that affects 0,01% of the population isn't worth making a big deal out of it? If you are going to play the oppression olympics, where do you draw the line? What about the Roma and Sinti? What about agender people? What about dyslexic people? Left-handed people? When is he speaking out against their oppression? He's not obliged to focus on issues he perceives as marginal, and can still make criticism of people who take the whole thing into the vampire castle, like Anarchopac.
Daniel Peterson
That's not what a coward is. A coward would swing his opinion depending on what agrees with the mainstream leftist sphere online and increase viewers.
Wyatt Perry
Do us all a favor and climb out of Unruhe's asshole, user.
Jacob Torres
IIRC, Roo's homophobic language which started the whole thing was not an "opinion" but a crude remark he made on a Facebook group. He was called out and attacked the person who was upset with his behavior, rather than apologizing or admitting his behavior was un-Marxist (and frankly liberal, "muh freeze peach" and all that). He wasn't making a grand stance on anything, only behaving like a child.
It's a big deal insofar as trans issues are part of a greater social struggle in this day and age (this also includes trans struggles in the Third World, which Roo seems to conveniently ignore). If Roo is engaging in behaviors which attack a vulnerable section of the population, no matter how small, he should be condemned or re-educated.
So what? That doesn't justify his bigotry.
Jackson Barnes
What's cowardly is dancing around the issue instead of owning up to his bigotry.
Kevin Ortiz
Bullshit. A coward is someone who runs and hides instead of owning up to the shit they've said and done in the past. If Roo is strong in the sense that his ego won't break under pressure, he'll either 1. apologize for the times he's gone after trans and genderqueer comrades in the past, or 2. come out as a TERF and make an analysis of gender which emphasizes the RadFem/2nd Wave line. The fact that he refuses to do either is proof his ego is tremendously fragile.
Alexander Watson
Why?
Aaron Thompson
Pff. PressTV and RT have literal Nazis, anti-Semites and Holocaust deniers on their show.
Jayden Morris
Isn't Jason an anti-Semite himself?
Ethan Phillips
That tweet HAS to be fake. Last time I checked Jews weren't allowed in the DPRK.
Wyatt Powell
Calling me anti-Semitic is slanderous and libel. It damages my ability to get a job and make a living. I could fucking sue you all.
Educating people about communism and writing theory amounts to a hell of a lot more than sitting around posting anime girls to a CP board.
The First World left will never do revolution.
Eli Baker
Not on Iranian state media.
Zachary Cox
Jason has plenty of opinions I disagree with, but I'm totally supporting him speaking his mind and his refreshing take of completely not giving a shit on how popular or pure someone is but calling him out anyway when he disagrees with it. Everybody who attacks Roo based on the issues in this thread is discarded by me because it's silly and it's a witch hunt.
Example? Quote please. Come on.
Here is the thing, he didn't. He attacked an ideology based on rather cancerous identity politics, and he only attacked individuals who did in fact carry their label like a banner in front of them. You can criticize Israel without being antisemitic. The only accusation you leveled against him was that he doesn't mention trans struggle, and my response to that is that he doesn't mention the struggle of a lot of marginalized groups because there is frankly too many of them. The only reason people bring this up against Jason is because he rustle people's jimmies. There are plenty of leftist who are universally liked but never talk about trans issues, like the FinnishBolshevik. Nobody would ever accuse him of being transphobic, because he's not prone to be involved in drama, unlike Roo. In my opinion, both sides, Roo and the Twitter clique that attacked him, are feeding off drama.
Ever thought that not everybody is fluent in contemporary gender theory and therefore doesn't want to talk about it? I, for instance, know fuck all about gender theory besides 1-2 Žižek lectures involving Lacan, so I don't talk about it. You are telling him to either "apologize" or "come out as a TERF", which again is r/socialism tier. I can have my own opinion on this issue without subscribing to a prepackaged ideology some college kids made up. Not everything is black an white.
Julian Scott
Yeah, so we should just let the alt-right take over alternative media while we retreat into our bubble? This is exactly what happened in my country by the way. RT Germany always tries to invite tons of leftist alternative voices and they always decline because muh Russia and leave it completely to the alt-right who aren't afraid to show up there and debate.
Gabriel Anderson
From what I remember, it happened years ago but snowballed out.
Ridiculing any marginalized group under the status quo is anti-Marxist. Marxists, especially Maoists, emphasize unity in struggle to defeat a common enemy (capitalism, imperialism, etc.). Jason has shown an outright disregard for issues concerning trans and gender non-conforming people without ever stating why.
If he made a video teasing at the idea of tackling "the black issue" he would immediately have been condemned, and rightfully so. These are not the manners by which Marxists understand complex issues of oppression and social domination (in other words, class).
If he's against transgender POLITICS, then he should smarten the fuck up and state it in that fashion. He has never differentiated between trans politics and trans identities. He attacked anarchopac on his identity ("agender") first, only bringing up the "global class divide" as an afterthought, almost certainly as a means of deflecting.
Wrong again. My issue is that he has shown himself to be transphobic time and time again and yet cowers away at having to own up to it. If his anti-trans views were based on feminism and gender abolition, rather than alt-right-tier reactionary mindsets then he would embrace 2nd wave feminism and approach the topic from that position (which he has never done).
Asher Wilson
Who cares if it's r/soc tier? Jason isn't doing himself any good by running away from the issue at hand. Why DOESN'T he ever state his existing views on transgender? Perhaps it's because he knows he's going to get labeled as a hater and (rightfully) shunned from the rest of the leftist community?
Dominic Davis
Press TV and RT will host anyone who's anti-American. Appearing on either is not a good look for the left. It comes off as desperate. Why not build up a vanguard or mass-movement instead?
Nicholas Kelly
Roo certainly loves his non-sequiturs. "You aren't oppressed because other people are more oppressed."
Landon Thompson
I think trans people are gross and have mental issues. That said, what people decide to do with their body, what they want to call themselves or who they want to fuck is none of my business and if it makes them happy they should do it.
I'm tired of this idea that I have to *like* what trans people do and think it's 'amazing' or 'brave'. In fact, it makes me sick. But I will never discriminate against a trans person, I will never attack or insult them, and I will use whatever pronoun they want to be called.
Is this wrong of me?
Nolan Bailey
How does it make you "sick"? And why do you feel that trans people are "gross" and have mental issues? That's like saying "I think black people are ugly and being around them makes me uncomfortable but I'm not a racist." Have you ever actually met a trans person?
Tyler Wilson
I'm glad you asked and made me confront my own thoughts on the issue (unironically). Nothing makes you re-evaluate your position like when explaining it to someone.
Right now I'm listening to one of my favourite bands, Against Me!, whose lead singer is a FtM (Laura). I'm listening to their album "Shape Shift with Me" which has songs with trans themes.
It's not that I find trans people gross. In fact I have met several and hung out with them, and I have no problems with them. But when I think of what a sex reassignment surgery entails, like MtF vagina is an open wound that needs to be stretched with medical dildos, or when I think of someone putting a penis into that open wound, that makes me uncomfortable.
So basically in any way that affects me I don't have a problem, that's why I fully support people doing what they want with their bodies. I also think that gay sex is yucky, despite having gay friends and having a very good gay friend in particular who often talks/jokes about gay sex, his asshole being stretched, etc.
I guess it makes me feel ill the same way as someone who can't stand the sight of blood feels ill when they see open wounds or gory images.
I don't spend any significant time thinking about it and it doesn't affect my life in the slightest. I just don't like seeing or thinking about the details.
Levi Wood
Regarding the mental issue bit. I think it's a sign of an unhealthy mind that you are born one sex, yet feel like you should be another sex. There are people who think their arm or leg doesn't belong to them and they wish to amputate it. Do you think they have mental issues or are they just a one-armed human living in a two-armed body?
Mental health is not an easy issue and we don't know much about the brain that's why I support anything people do that makes them happy or happier and makes their life more fulfilling and bearable.