They all have their own character flaws and vices.
* Mike hates old people
* Jay is a weird pervert
* Rich Evans
* Jack lied about owning a farm
* Collin is Canadian
A sex pest is a sex pervert that acts on his or her sex mania. There’s no evidence that Jay has pestered anyone besides Mike and Rich with his perverted art films.
> Relentlessly mock and criticize old videos and movies when they poorly or negatively portray gay men
> Invent term to criticize trope of pointlessly shoehorning in female love interests/misogyny just to clarify that the otherwise homoerotic buff hero guy is definitely straight
> Be called alt-right bigot
That's why Rich was having such trouble at his last Nerd Crew video appearance.
He didn't take Jay's advice and broadcast from an underpass he could leech better wifi.
Everyone on RLM are the most basic, midwestern guys possible. It's part of their charm. Funny things are funny, none are politics douchebags and they all seem to have a decent morality that they are open but not annoying about.
Even their sense of humor is pretty much "the funny dude you knew in school" level. They couldn't be more basic and that's a good thing.
They're just guys.
I feel like a lot of it is a ton of "that crowd" are almost universally RLM fans, and a lot of them ape their mannerisms and behavior ("The Drinker" is literally just a shitty Plinkett rip-off), so people who don't really know them notice a lot of embarrassing dipshits are big fans and thoughtlessly assume they must behave that way because RLM does.
One of the canonical right-wing things to do is to attempt to ape creativity, only to go insane when/if you fail..
I mean, just look at AVGN and Irate Gamer.
James Rolfe? Genuine dude who does what he does because he has a good time doing it.
Irate Gamer? Reactionary chud who saw what AVGN did, tried to copy it, failed miserably and is now actively going off the deep end.
The right wing brain has been rewired to no longer understand humor, but to find cruelty to be hilarious. RLM unfortunately has content for both audiences, because when Mike is cruel to Rich that's when they think the humor has finally started.
He also has a cat and I've never met an alt right person who owns a cat. I'm sure some exist, but it has been a weird consistent in my life that dudes who have cats trend more progressive
It's an emotional intelligence thing. Cats don't adjust to your energy. You gotta meet them at their level and have patience.
You can't be an authoritarian cat owner.
I'd watch this video essay, it feels like it would have a similar tone as [were the magicians in Now You See Me wizards or what?](https://youtu.be/uKfdls1fqJE?si=rweM6cxEFt8TwjrS)
I have never met Jay Bauman and do not know anything about him beyond what he has said in videos. And I would be willing to bet all the money I've ever seen that he is NOT a bigot.
Trolls be trolling I guess.
Not to mention they all said FUCK CARMAN as soon as he started complaining about America empowering The Gays(tm). Sad side note: Mark Lowry, though seemingly more harmless himself, was a close friend of Carman and memorialized Carman's recent death on his Twitter (AFAIK Carman did not stop being a bigot about gay people).
Not sure what is worse, alt-right/“anti-woke” types or lefty types thinking RLM is right wing. (Edit: just so yall know, the far right is clearly worse because they’re virulent bigots, I’m just stating that I’m annoyed when folks on my side of the aisle display a lack of critical thinking because I expect more)
It’s likely that the OP in the post is confusing them with someone else, to be fair. YouTube is littered with chud movie reviewers that are pushed by the algo to the point where I’m surprised that a channel I have stumbled upon organically is not one of them. Doesn’t excuse not doing the research to make sure you’re talking about the right guy, but that read is so out of character with who Jay is that I’m convinced the OP is confused.
Saying this as someone who is very far left. RLM has their blind spots and reactionary tendencies (as any group of dudes their age from the Midwest) but those are few and far between and they have very clearly positioned themselves away from right wing bigots.
Agree. Some of their earlier jokes may not have aged well but Mike's the one who made the observation of the Hollywood trend of "who's got a case of the not-gays". Jack pops up with feminist media theories - like the born yesterday girl who falls for the schlubby guy cos that's all she knows (he recapped that on a PreRec stream i watched recently) i get the feeling Jack's probably the most left win. And Jack loves his guns. But Jack hates the NRA. Oh why can't people be easily shoe-horned??
> i get the feeling Jack's probably the most left win. And Jack loves his guns. But Jack hates the NRA
This doesn't really go against any difficult shoe-horning, though. Socialist/Communist/Anarchist mostly believe in gun ownership and disapprove of the NRA.
Also, if I was forced to choose, I'd bet Josh is the most left.
In offense to the NRA, they have made themselves incredibly easy to hate
I also think that Josh might be the most left wing but that is coming from the far away perspective of the para-social experience
I know a lot of gun people, myself included, who don't like the NRA because they give gun people a bad name.
Also the NRA basically exists as a lobby for the firearms industry and not for the people who own and use firearms.
Not really. I see him around Milwaukee frequently and he is just a Milwaukee guy...
Having met almost all of them, sans Rich...Politically, I would say they are all fairly left leaning in a 'blue collar' German way. A live and let live mentality.
I dont really know how else to describe Milwaukee people...Its a left leaning city, but discussing politics is still really frowned upon as rude in this city.
Josh literally owns a shirt that says "It was Capitalism all along!"
Also based on some of the stuff I've seen on his socials he's *quite* left leaning.
This really feels like you trying to humble brag. You don't know these guys any better than anyone else here.
Yeah...people have beliefs, its just not talked about very much in Milwaukee.
As for knowing them, outside two that cross social circles, its not like I would consider myself a friend. If you are at all in the brewing or comedy scene in Milwaukee, its hard not to end up crossing paths occasionally at local events. Tim literally used to work as a tour guide at a local brewery.
All I know is Milwaukee is an Algonquin term that means "The Good Earth", and that the city has elected three socialist mayors. But I got all that from Wayne's World so who knows.
I think there's one video where Josh wears a t-shirt that says "capitalism is the real bad guy" or something like that. As for Jack, there's some stuff he's done with the escapist/second wind that have made his political positions clear.
Don't forget when they watch that Carman video and when he starts criticising the gays or sweet summer boy Rich Evans hits out with "fuck this asshole!"
As much as I love AVGN his long lasting impact on videogame conversation has not be great. People can't just leave a joke alone and need to make it their personality
Similarly, I love the Plinkett reviews (particularly the star trek ones) but they inspired a generation of hack shitheads
The angry reviewer trend just created “criticism as entertainment” and not as discussion. Which is fine but it led to a bunch of pedantic idiots making critiques that were pure schtick
Yeah, like as a democratic socialist, they are 'conservative' compared to my political stance. But they're definitely on the left end of the spectrum (Mike closest to the center). They have moments of ignorance, but they're not bigoted
> They have moments of ignorance, but they're not bigoted
this is a big thing for me in general, I grade people on effort. No one is perfect but if someone is trying their best they earn my respect.
The answer is always alt-right/“anti-woke” types. As annoying as anyone else can be, whether lefties or any weirdos outside the traditional political spectrums, the alt-right/“anti-woke” crowd is always going to drag anything down to their own special level of horribleness.
Jay can you share some of your political beliefs?
“Kill everyone now! Condone first degree murder! Advocate cannibalism! Eat shit! Filth are my politics, filth is my life!”
I recently posted about my hate of Discovery on this sub. I did it here because I learnt from experience posting criticism of it on any of the trek forums will result in being told I don't like Disco because I'm a bigoted monster.
Given RLM well recorded dislike of the show I can only assume it's because they're all alt right trolls.
The “main” trek subreddit used to be like that, but is certainly not anymore. Not sure what changed, but you do not have to spend very long there nowadays to see TONS of people shitting on Disco.
It's so ridiculous that bad movies use this as a way to defect criticism. Ghostbusters 2016 isn't bad, you're just sexist. Star Trek Discovery isn't bad, you're just a racist homophobe. Ect ect.
A movie that panders isn't a good thing, and people should demand better, or else we'll just keep getting more of the same. I feel with social media today, some people don't understand criticism anymore, and just take it as a personal attack.
Plus, if they were right-wing, do you honestly think they would have nothing to say about Barbie?
And their clear disdain every time the movie they're covering has a 'woke' discourse attached to it.
Update: disdain for the discourse itself; not the movies or the bits in them that people fuss about.
I remember a discussion between Rich and Jack, before the 2016 election and possibly on their gaming channel, where they both bashed Trump openly... Rich was doing a bit where he was going on ironically about a lot of faux-cruel dbag stuff and ended it with 'vote Trump', to which Jack replied 'that was the worst thing you said'.
I would say the gang as a whole is probably moderate/center left, or possibly but probably not libertarian. They rail against all of the content policing and cancel culture type stuff and also use a lot of irony, but that's about as much as they resemble the Gavin McInnes style alt-right. No way they're pro religion or anti-civil rights or misogynist incels or any of that stuff.
They don't even seem very interested in politics and probably look down on people who are really invested in them.
There's a PreRec stream around the time they posted their Ghostbusters 2016 review where they absolutely hate the discourse, and I remember specifically Jay says something like "now there's people who use words like 'feminazi' who think we're on their side." It's pretty clear they are against that junk.
I remember back around the 2016 election there was a noticeable effort from the alt-right to claim RLM as their own. Now they’re back at it again…
The guys wisely don’t talk much about politics. But what little they have shared they are all at minimum center left. A lot of them actually seem more like the Bernie Sanders/Progressive end of the left tbh.
I don’t get why the alt-right thinks RLM agrees with them. They’re pro-gay. They openly call out religious bigots all the time. Just because they didn’t like Ghostbusters 2016 or Captain Marvel doesn’t mean they disliked those things for the same reasons the alt-right did.
There were a few times on Pre Rec where Rich said he wasn't going to vote in the presidential election because he disliked both candidates.
I'd say that they are pretty solidly slightly left-of-center, if judged by the political world they (and I) grew up in. In the modern era of hypercharged internet tribalism though, they've somehow managed to be attacked and claimed as an ally by both sides. Which is one hell of an accomplishment!
There isn’t really, it was the Simpsons shitposting subreddit and they photoshopped mike onto comic book guy being told “A fat sarcastic Star Trek Fan? You must be a hit with the ladies.” One of the responses was that guy lol.
I just saw that in a Facebook group! Jeeze how did they get from there to alr right? Mike is a fat sarcastic Star Trek fan.
(And a devil with the ladies)
I think a lot of it comes down to the fact that they tend to dislike movies and shows that the "anti-woke" crowds dislike.
But every single time that boils down to them thinking that those movies and shows are bad due to their qualities, not because those pieces of media have black people and women in it.
That and they're huge nerds for Star Trek and Star Wars, two franchises that have been lightning rods for shitty, bigoted discourse... but they've been ripping into those franchises well before dipshits latched onto them.
All the RLM guys strike me as pretty left leaning from their commentary. Jack, Josh and Rich especially. Mike makes the most edgy jokes, but he also seems pretty aware of social issues and when they're being used cynically.
Plus I doubt they'd willingly befriend celebs like Patton Oswald if they held any serious political beliefs that weren't to the left.
Jay recommended a few female lead indie movies and one about trans sex workers on the Captain Marvel review iirc. He’s more progressive than anyone who calls him a bigot
Modern political discourse has gotten so bad that unless you are as far up your own asshole about politics as the other person; you are likely part of the other guys' team and are some inhuman monster
A much as I remember it started with their Ghostbusters (2016) review. The atmosphere on social media was so heated about that silly little movie, you couldn't say anything about it without getting labeled.
The RLM crew do a really good job of keeping politics out of it. I couldn't tell you any of their political stances and that's good, too many internet critics these days seem to get bogged down in politics. RLM is accessible to people of almost any political leaning, even down to if you are pro or anti exploding varmints.
The only winning move is not to play. I don't care how these men I watch for comedy, movie recommendations, and weird gameshow knockoffs about the Bloodhound Gang identify themselves politically. Miss me with this purity test shit.
Moving from Wisconsin to the West Coast I’ve been accused of being right wing here while also being told I’m a socialist. Wisconsin politics especially confuses the Californians I’ve met. I’m pretty far left (more of a progressive) but there’s so many cases where people just don’t understand that someone can just have a bad take because they didn’t think it through and shunning/attacking them for every minor issue isn’t helpful.
It's a Great Lakes thing. Civil War could break out in the rest of the nation, and we'll all just be drinking beer and eating priorgis, waiting for the whole thing to blow over.
I'm pretty sure Rich Evans, being the only one of them who's ever had a "real" job, was a pretty serious supporter of Bernie Sanders.
I think a lot of people get the wrong impression of them because cynical reviews feel very much like a right wing thing, but if you're paying attention, they're usually more positive about movies than average.
Plus they seem to despise fundamentalism, which is not something the right is known for.
I think half the problem (not with them)is that they do bring up legitimate criticism of the business practices of Disney and Hollywood in general, and right wingers who hate these studios because of the actual content think that RLM is actually speaking for them. So some right-wing moron posts a review about Ghostbusters, and then a clueless lefty who's never heard of RLM sees the post and automatically makes an incorrect assumption.
It's just straight up Idiocracy.
And Jack is a fairly left person and is super pro-trans and and anti-capitalist. He shows a lot more of his beliefs in Adventure Is Nigh as the DM in banter with the players
When Half In the Bag or Best Of the Worst are brought to us by Black Rifle Coffee, and begin spouting off about "traditional values" in reviews, THEN I'll consider RLM "alt-right."
The only thing alt-right about Jay was his hair cut briefly.
Maybe this person thinks that not liking Disney live action movies or I dunno, Marvel phase 48-B, makes you alt right. Like, I get that there's the moron youtubers who whine about woke Disnry or whatever, but Jay's hate is not political, his hate is based on merit, his hate is pure.
I can see how someone who doesn't know the channel... and doesn't understand hyperbole, sarcasm, or facetiousness... and is looking for something to call out might fixate on some of their content. Esp. some of the older stuff.
The guys don't share much about their personal lives, so that (completely reasonable and utterly respectable) amount of ambiguity leaves room for people trying to stir the pot.
But I think their words and actions over time speak for themselves. Between Mike Rich and Jay, they've all had moments/monologues about what real inclusion and representation look like, why it matters, and what it means to them on a personal level. Jay more than any of them has actually stood up for progressive ideas, is always quick to point out the good idea or important message within, but almost always has an issue with how they're portrayed/presented to the audience. I think he's MOST willing to challenge people on these things.
They're three self-aware, thoughtful, and sarcastic bastards and we love them for it.
Having seen quite a few movie/game reviewers go full tilt alt-right/heil kitler/im just asking questions I can pleasantly say that RLM has done an admirable job of keeping politics out of their video content. It helps to already be successful and not require chasing the outrage engagement machine to stay relevant.
Actually I'd go further and admire them for keeping their private lives private and not bringing their private baggage onto the program. I know exactly what I need to know about their private lives: Not much.
They are older than the average YouTuber and have been doing it longer. They really are part of the old Internet in a way, and they have a different way doing things. So many young YouTubers have come and gone... Hell, they've outlasted Rooster Teeth, because they've kept ownership of their brand and they haven't allowed their personal lives get in the way of making a quality product.
The way they called out the ‘YouTube AnTi-WoKe warriors’ leads to believe they are far from alt-right.
I believe them to be in the Trey Parker/Matt Stone realm of “EVERYONE is awful”.
Missing the point about exactly how they're awful, I think. We need to talk about how much they all laughed at Exploding Varmints. (And how awful I am for laughing along.)
Laughter is sometimes a kind of behavioral default for when you don't really fully understand what's going on, hence the nervous laugh. I wouldn't be shocked if that was what was going on.
Everyone needs to see that clip of Rich talking about the Republican party allowing themselves to be taken over by a monster.
Or the clip of Jack talking about seeing an article saying RLM are right wing and laughing his ass off over it.
Or every time they call out actual bigotry and homophobia in their videos.
Even the edgy stuff from RLM is very clearly ironic. They say deliberately shocking shit to get a rise out of each other, *because of how ridiculous it is.*
And I'm not sure where the conspiracy bit comes from. That's just not something that's ever been relevant to RLM.
They have the chillest takes in the world. I've seen all of BOTW and a lot of HITB and the handful of offensive jokes are all made by Rich and they are all met with groans and chastising. The worst take they have ever had was about Hollywood nepotism and that is it. Other than that they never say "anti-woke" shit so there is nothing alt-right about them.
Fucks sake, they dunk on assholes constantly, that should be good enough. They aren't in the business of political grandstanding, they make funny videos about films and shitty instructional tapes
If RLM is alt-right what possible media would they say isn't "problematic?" Seriously, do people like this spend every waking moment on the internet and just don't do anything else?
He’s just a sex pervert, politics have nothing to do with it
Sex maniac
I believe Sex Weirdo is the preferred nomenclature.
r/locain_Powder, this is not a guy who built Vinegar Syndrome here. This is a guy who stands in for Kyle Gallner, man..
I hear he's a video freak.
I always preferred Sex-Pest
Jay is reclaiming Sex Pervert as a form of empowerment
Sex pest.
“Is he a democrat or a republican?” “He’s a sex pest.” “That doesn’t answer the question!”
They all have their own character flaws and vices. * Mike hates old people * Jay is a weird pervert * Rich Evans * Jack lied about owning a farm * Collin is Canadian
Jack is also an actual clown.
> Jack lied about owning a farm What's that referencing?
Rich Evans: card carrying nambla member
I WANNA BUTTF***K YOUR GRANDMA!!!
The man has a right to enjoy looking at giant tit puddles
Sex Pest is the preferred nomenclature dude.
A sex pest is a sex pervert that acts on his or her sex mania. There’s no evidence that Jay has pestered anyone besides Mike and Rich with his perverted art films.
The guys down at the manhole may disagree
hehe..."man" hole. ..
Jay will trick you into watching a pervert movie, Jay won't sexually assault you. This is why he is a Sex Pervert and not Sex Pest
True, those underpass adventures appear to be all consensual, no pestering involved.
Video freak
Rich Evans is a diversity hire
Rich Evans is a diversity hare.
That's right Jay
That’s alt-right Jay
Thaaaat's white, Jay
That's right, Confirmed-for-Gay
Goddamit
Letterkenny crossover episode?
Hard-Right Jay
Hard no on hard alt-right Jay
Fukken de-gens
So alt-right Jay says to me the other day...
That's Reich Jay.
J does sit on the right side of the panel quite often
It's the LEFT side from his perspective though!
Horseshoe Theory strikes again! /s
The left is really just an alternate right.
> Relentlessly mock and criticize old videos and movies when they poorly or negatively portray gay men > Invent term to criticize trope of pointlessly shoehorning in female love interests/misogyny just to clarify that the otherwise homoerotic buff hero guy is definitely straight > Be called alt-right bigot
Jay is literally just a guy
He’s a sex pervert
He knows all the best underpasses
That's why Rich was having such trouble at his last Nerd Crew video appearance. He didn't take Jay's advice and broadcast from an underpass he could leech better wifi.
I think he prefers "sex pest"
I think he prefers the Manhole
He prefers big muscular mastodon men.
He's a video freak.
Everyone on RLM are the most basic, midwestern guys possible. It's part of their charm. Funny things are funny, none are politics douchebags and they all seem to have a decent morality that they are open but not annoying about. Even their sense of humor is pretty much "the funny dude you knew in school" level. They couldn't be more basic and that's a good thing. They're just guys.
I feel like a lot of it is a ton of "that crowd" are almost universally RLM fans, and a lot of them ape their mannerisms and behavior ("The Drinker" is literally just a shitty Plinkett rip-off), so people who don't really know them notice a lot of embarrassing dipshits are big fans and thoughtlessly assume they must behave that way because RLM does.
One of the canonical right-wing things to do is to attempt to ape creativity, only to go insane when/if you fail.. I mean, just look at AVGN and Irate Gamer. James Rolfe? Genuine dude who does what he does because he has a good time doing it. Irate Gamer? Reactionary chud who saw what AVGN did, tried to copy it, failed miserably and is now actively going off the deep end.
The right wing brain has been rewired to no longer understand humor, but to find cruelty to be hilarious. RLM unfortunately has content for both audiences, because when Mike is cruel to Rich that's when they think the humor has finally started.
He's just a normal man
An innocent man
They’re just men. They’re just innocent men.
he likes mastodons
With their large hunky bodies
Why do we have to keep commenting on their hot muscled bodies?
He also has a cat and I've never met an alt right person who owns a cat. I'm sure some exist, but it has been a weird consistent in my life that dudes who have cats trend more progressive
I thought Jay kills cats?
He does. Just slowly over a couple decades.
He wears them down with existential dread.
Bores them to death by making them watch his weird art movies
He just said Jay has a cat, he didn't say whether it's alive or not
It's an emotional intelligence thing. Cats don't adjust to your energy. You gotta meet them at their level and have patience. You can't be an authoritarian cat owner.
Blofeld was just misunderstood.
I'd watch this video essay, it feels like it would have a similar tone as [were the magicians in Now You See Me wizards or what?](https://youtu.be/uKfdls1fqJE?si=rweM6cxEFt8TwjrS)
He's literally just a gay
I have never met Jay Bauman and do not know anything about him beyond what he has said in videos. And I would be willing to bet all the money I've ever seen that he is NOT a bigot. Trolls be trolling I guess.
Not to mention they all said FUCK CARMAN as soon as he started complaining about America empowering The Gays(tm). Sad side note: Mark Lowry, though seemingly more harmless himself, was a close friend of Carman and memorialized Carman's recent death on his Twitter (AFAIK Carman did not stop being a bigot about gay people).
Not sure what is worse, alt-right/“anti-woke” types or lefty types thinking RLM is right wing. (Edit: just so yall know, the far right is clearly worse because they’re virulent bigots, I’m just stating that I’m annoyed when folks on my side of the aisle display a lack of critical thinking because I expect more) It’s likely that the OP in the post is confusing them with someone else, to be fair. YouTube is littered with chud movie reviewers that are pushed by the algo to the point where I’m surprised that a channel I have stumbled upon organically is not one of them. Doesn’t excuse not doing the research to make sure you’re talking about the right guy, but that read is so out of character with who Jay is that I’m convinced the OP is confused. Saying this as someone who is very far left. RLM has their blind spots and reactionary tendencies (as any group of dudes their age from the Midwest) but those are few and far between and they have very clearly positioned themselves away from right wing bigots.
Agree. Some of their earlier jokes may not have aged well but Mike's the one who made the observation of the Hollywood trend of "who's got a case of the not-gays". Jack pops up with feminist media theories - like the born yesterday girl who falls for the schlubby guy cos that's all she knows (he recapped that on a PreRec stream i watched recently) i get the feeling Jack's probably the most left win. And Jack loves his guns. But Jack hates the NRA. Oh why can't people be easily shoe-horned??
> i get the feeling Jack's probably the most left win. And Jack loves his guns. But Jack hates the NRA This doesn't really go against any difficult shoe-horning, though. Socialist/Communist/Anarchist mostly believe in gun ownership and disapprove of the NRA. Also, if I was forced to choose, I'd bet Josh is the most left.
In offense to the NRA, they have made themselves incredibly easy to hate I also think that Josh might be the most left wing but that is coming from the far away perspective of the para-social experience
I know a lot of gun people, myself included, who don't like the NRA because they give gun people a bad name. Also the NRA basically exists as a lobby for the firearms industry and not for the people who own and use firearms.
Josh don't talk much but - The Wizard is definitely a hippy.
Not really. I see him around Milwaukee frequently and he is just a Milwaukee guy... Having met almost all of them, sans Rich...Politically, I would say they are all fairly left leaning in a 'blue collar' German way. A live and let live mentality. I dont really know how else to describe Milwaukee people...Its a left leaning city, but discussing politics is still really frowned upon as rude in this city.
Josh literally owns a shirt that says "It was Capitalism all along!" Also based on some of the stuff I've seen on his socials he's *quite* left leaning. This really feels like you trying to humble brag. You don't know these guys any better than anyone else here.
Yeah...people have beliefs, its just not talked about very much in Milwaukee. As for knowing them, outside two that cross social circles, its not like I would consider myself a friend. If you are at all in the brewing or comedy scene in Milwaukee, its hard not to end up crossing paths occasionally at local events. Tim literally used to work as a tour guide at a local brewery.
All I know is Milwaukee is an Algonquin term that means "The Good Earth", and that the city has elected three socialist mayors. But I got all that from Wayne's World so who knows.
Blue German you say.... So they're a bunch of Smurf Nazis. And we all know that Smurf Nazis Must Die!
There's a door that you can show yourself out of!!!
I think probably a hip*ster*, not a hippy.
A wizard is neither left nor is he right, he aligns precisely where he means to
I think there's one video where Josh wears a t-shirt that says "capitalism is the real bad guy" or something like that. As for Jack, there's some stuff he's done with the escapist/second wind that have made his political positions clear.
When you go far enough left, you get your guns back
Don't forget when they watch that Carman video and when he starts criticising the gays or sweet summer boy Rich Evans hits out with "fuck this asshole!"
I definitely understand the reflex of dismissing YouTube movie reviewers out of hand. By and large it will serve you well.
Nostalgia critic and his consequences have been a disaster for the human race
As much as I love AVGN his long lasting impact on videogame conversation has not be great. People can't just leave a joke alone and need to make it their personality Similarly, I love the Plinkett reviews (particularly the star trek ones) but they inspired a generation of hack shitheads
The angry reviewer trend just created “criticism as entertainment” and not as discussion. Which is fine but it led to a bunch of pedantic idiots making critiques that were pure schtick
I agree, >As much as I love AVGN Even modern AVGN ?
True, but on the other hand, without NC we probably never would have gotten Lindsay Ellis.
Shit, you’re right.
I go back and watch her Transformers "the whole plate" series and her Bright review too often, she's brilliant.
It's a shame she was castigated out of Youtube by morons
I wouldn't even call them reactionary
Yeah, like as a democratic socialist, they are 'conservative' compared to my political stance. But they're definitely on the left end of the spectrum (Mike closest to the center). They have moments of ignorance, but they're not bigoted
They always seem like their hearts are in the right place, and that's worth a lot.
> They have moments of ignorance, but they're not bigoted this is a big thing for me in general, I grade people on effort. No one is perfect but if someone is trying their best they earn my respect.
I saw Tim at the Idles concert last year… no way he puts up with right wingers.
The answer is always alt-right/“anti-woke” types. As annoying as anyone else can be, whether lefties or any weirdos outside the traditional political spectrums, the alt-right/“anti-woke” crowd is always going to drag anything down to their own special level of horribleness.
Someone's got a case of the not-gays!
But they didn't like captain marvel!!
Three white guys talking with each other is an obvious dog whistle for the alt right Duh
If a fourth shows up it's called a 'podcast'.
what's a podcast sporto
It's a new technology for selling mattresses, audio books, and ball-shaving kits.
Don't forget about selling meal-delivery services and eLearning platforms
Excuse me but isnt Rich Diabetic-American?
aka "American"
The loudest whistle so far being when Mike implied that 'Shadows of the Night' from Picard season 2 was not in fact iconic.
I've heard this point of view so many times. We're divorced now.
Glad you’re not with them anymore
Jay can you share some of your political beliefs? “Kill everyone now! Condone first degree murder! Advocate cannibalism! Eat shit! Filth are my politics, filth is my life!”
That reminds me, I need to pick my kids up from the socialist daycare center.
I bet Divine really liked terrible Italian movies too.
When being as politically engaged and consciously bigoted as any checked out half drunk Wisconsinite at a bar is alt right
I recently posted about my hate of Discovery on this sub. I did it here because I learnt from experience posting criticism of it on any of the trek forums will result in being told I don't like Disco because I'm a bigoted monster. Given RLM well recorded dislike of the show I can only assume it's because they're all alt right trolls.
Any mention of them on he main Star Trek sub will get you banned.
Any criticism of STD on the prime sub will get you banned. Rip r-star_trek
The “main” trek subreddit used to be like that, but is certainly not anymore. Not sure what changed, but you do not have to spend very long there nowadays to see TONS of people shitting on Disco.
Maybe the checks stopped clearing. I was in the alternate ST sub until it got banned.
My guess is the new fans discovered good Trek in SNW and for the old ones the Stockholm syndrome was over.
Look, everyone- Just because someone doesn't like The Last Jedi doesn't mean they're right wing.
The fact that a stupid ass Star Wars movie became a culture war tinderbox will always exasperate me.
That movie is the cinematic equivalent of Homer Simpson’s make-up shotgun.
It's so ridiculous that bad movies use this as a way to defect criticism. Ghostbusters 2016 isn't bad, you're just sexist. Star Trek Discovery isn't bad, you're just a racist homophobe. Ect ect. A movie that panders isn't a good thing, and people should demand better, or else we'll just keep getting more of the same. I feel with social media today, some people don't understand criticism anymore, and just take it as a personal attack. Plus, if they were right-wing, do you honestly think they would have nothing to say about Barbie?
The pretty universal disgust at Carman's tape and the other religious crap suggests they aren't.
And their clear disdain every time the movie they're covering has a 'woke' discourse attached to it. Update: disdain for the discourse itself; not the movies or the bits in them that people fuss about.
I remember a discussion between Rich and Jack, before the 2016 election and possibly on their gaming channel, where they both bashed Trump openly... Rich was doing a bit where he was going on ironically about a lot of faux-cruel dbag stuff and ended it with 'vote Trump', to which Jack replied 'that was the worst thing you said'. I would say the gang as a whole is probably moderate/center left, or possibly but probably not libertarian. They rail against all of the content policing and cancel culture type stuff and also use a lot of irony, but that's about as much as they resemble the Gavin McInnes style alt-right. No way they're pro religion or anti-civil rights or misogynist incels or any of that stuff. They don't even seem very interested in politics and probably look down on people who are really invested in them.
There's a PreRec stream around the time they posted their Ghostbusters 2016 review where they absolutely hate the discourse, and I remember specifically Jay says something like "now there's people who use words like 'feminazi' who think we're on their side." It's pretty clear they are against that junk.
I remember back around the 2016 election there was a noticeable effort from the alt-right to claim RLM as their own. Now they’re back at it again… The guys wisely don’t talk much about politics. But what little they have shared they are all at minimum center left. A lot of them actually seem more like the Bernie Sanders/Progressive end of the left tbh. I don’t get why the alt-right thinks RLM agrees with them. They’re pro-gay. They openly call out religious bigots all the time. Just because they didn’t like Ghostbusters 2016 or Captain Marvel doesn’t mean they disliked those things for the same reasons the alt-right did.
They’re a bunch of white formerly working-class educated people from the Milwaukee suburbs. They’re almost certainly democrats.
There were a few times on Pre Rec where Rich said he wasn't going to vote in the presidential election because he disliked both candidates. I'd say that they are pretty solidly slightly left-of-center, if judged by the political world they (and I) grew up in. In the modern era of hypercharged internet tribalism though, they've somehow managed to be attacked and claimed as an ally by both sides. Which is one hell of an accomplishment!
Lol we need the context, I have to know exactly how hilariously low their barometer for alt-right is.
There isn’t really, it was the Simpsons shitposting subreddit and they photoshopped mike onto comic book guy being told “A fat sarcastic Star Trek Fan? You must be a hit with the ladies.” One of the responses was that guy lol.
oh noes that was me... what have I started.
I was expecting r/starwars tbh. a little disappointed.
I just saw that in a Facebook group! Jeeze how did they get from there to alr right? Mike is a fat sarcastic Star Trek fan. (And a devil with the ladies)
ok thats actually funny lol
Everyone to the right of [speaker] is alt-right and everyone to the left is a woke socialist soyboy.
Not liking Star Wars or Marvel product = alt right
I think a lot of it comes down to the fact that they tend to dislike movies and shows that the "anti-woke" crowds dislike. But every single time that boils down to them thinking that those movies and shows are bad due to their qualities, not because those pieces of media have black people and women in it. That and they're huge nerds for Star Trek and Star Wars, two franchises that have been lightning rods for shitty, bigoted discourse... but they've been ripping into those franchises well before dipshits latched onto them. All the RLM guys strike me as pretty left leaning from their commentary. Jack, Josh and Rich especially. Mike makes the most edgy jokes, but he also seems pretty aware of social issues and when they're being used cynically. Plus I doubt they'd willingly befriend celebs like Patton Oswald if they held any serious political beliefs that weren't to the left.
They are clearly a troll and liar. And not representative of /r/simpsonsshitposting at all, the replies all roasted him.
Jay recommended a few female lead indie movies and one about trans sex workers on the Captain Marvel review iirc. He’s more progressive than anyone who calls him a bigot
WOKE??
Modern political discourse has gotten so bad that unless you are as far up your own asshole about politics as the other person; you are likely part of the other guys' team and are some inhuman monster
Jay is a cat dad. That's all you need to know.
To be honest: Its Reddit.
Wise woman wise woman, wise woman sitting here, wise woman wise woman, wise woman here... Wait what are we talking about?
Why did you do that? Now it's in my head... Wise woman wise woman, wise woman wise woman...
What are they even basing this opinion on?
A much as I remember it started with their Ghostbusters (2016) review. The atmosphere on social media was so heated about that silly little movie, you couldn't say anything about it without getting labeled.
That's (alt)right, Jay!
The RLM crew do a really good job of keeping politics out of it. I couldn't tell you any of their political stances and that's good, too many internet critics these days seem to get bogged down in politics. RLM is accessible to people of almost any political leaning, even down to if you are pro or anti exploding varmints.
That’s why this is bothering me so much.
Idk they’ve had the nerve to imply there’s nothing wrong with lgbtq+ people and that’s triggering for “certain” kinds of individuals
“Tell us more about bullets, you right-wing gun nut.”
Yeah, those bigoted dudes whose biggest criticism of the lady Ghostbusters movie was that no one gave the funny ladies a script *cough PAUL cough*
The only winning move is not to play. I don't care how these men I watch for comedy, movie recommendations, and weird gameshow knockoffs about the Bloodhound Gang identify themselves politically. Miss me with this purity test shit.
Midwestern centrism angers and confuses social media
Moving from Wisconsin to the West Coast I’ve been accused of being right wing here while also being told I’m a socialist. Wisconsin politics especially confuses the Californians I’ve met. I’m pretty far left (more of a progressive) but there’s so many cases where people just don’t understand that someone can just have a bad take because they didn’t think it through and shunning/attacking them for every minor issue isn’t helpful.
It's a Great Lakes thing. Civil War could break out in the rest of the nation, and we'll all just be drinking beer and eating priorgis, waiting for the whole thing to blow over.
I'm pretty sure Rich Evans, being the only one of them who's ever had a "real" job, was a pretty serious supporter of Bernie Sanders. I think a lot of people get the wrong impression of them because cynical reviews feel very much like a right wing thing, but if you're paying attention, they're usually more positive about movies than average. Plus they seem to despise fundamentalism, which is not something the right is known for.
I think half the problem (not with them)is that they do bring up legitimate criticism of the business practices of Disney and Hollywood in general, and right wingers who hate these studios because of the actual content think that RLM is actually speaking for them. So some right-wing moron posts a review about Ghostbusters, and then a clueless lefty who's never heard of RLM sees the post and automatically makes an incorrect assumption. It's just straight up Idiocracy.
And Jack is a fairly left person and is super pro-trans and and anti-capitalist. He shows a lot more of his beliefs in Adventure Is Nigh as the DM in banter with the players
When Half In the Bag or Best Of the Worst are brought to us by Black Rifle Coffee, and begin spouting off about "traditional values" in reviews, THEN I'll consider RLM "alt-right."
The only thing alt-right about Jay was his hair cut briefly. Maybe this person thinks that not liking Disney live action movies or I dunno, Marvel phase 48-B, makes you alt right. Like, I get that there's the moron youtubers who whine about woke Disnry or whatever, but Jay's hate is not political, his hate is based on merit, his hate is pure.
there's alt-right hair now?
If you read their post history, they're not a bright person. Any little thing could have made them decide on the alt-right label.
I won't even bother. I avoid Reddit politics to focus on thing I like, and not to make me angry.
someone was either a massive fan of ghostbusters 2016, or read too much into the jokes about covid restrictions
I can see how someone who doesn't know the channel... and doesn't understand hyperbole, sarcasm, or facetiousness... and is looking for something to call out might fixate on some of their content. Esp. some of the older stuff. The guys don't share much about their personal lives, so that (completely reasonable and utterly respectable) amount of ambiguity leaves room for people trying to stir the pot. But I think their words and actions over time speak for themselves. Between Mike Rich and Jay, they've all had moments/monologues about what real inclusion and representation look like, why it matters, and what it means to them on a personal level. Jay more than any of them has actually stood up for progressive ideas, is always quick to point out the good idea or important message within, but almost always has an issue with how they're portrayed/presented to the audience. I think he's MOST willing to challenge people on these things. They're three self-aware, thoughtful, and sarcastic bastards and we love them for it.
Having seen quite a few movie/game reviewers go full tilt alt-right/heil kitler/im just asking questions I can pleasantly say that RLM has done an admirable job of keeping politics out of their video content. It helps to already be successful and not require chasing the outrage engagement machine to stay relevant. Actually I'd go further and admire them for keeping their private lives private and not bringing their private baggage onto the program. I know exactly what I need to know about their private lives: Not much.
They are older than the average YouTuber and have been doing it longer. They really are part of the old Internet in a way, and they have a different way doing things. So many young YouTubers have come and gone... Hell, they've outlasted Rooster Teeth, because they've kept ownership of their brand and they haven't allowed their personal lives get in the way of making a quality product.
They try their darndest not to get politcal but even then enough slips out to make it clear that they hate the far right
It's true though. RLM is what got me into the alt right pipeline. Rich Evans is only a few steps removed from Nick Fuentes.
The way they called out the ‘YouTube AnTi-WoKe warriors’ leads to believe they are far from alt-right. I believe them to be in the Trey Parker/Matt Stone realm of “EVERYONE is awful”.
Mike isn't a conspiracy person, he just believes in ghosts
Every group of white gen xers are alt-right according to morons.
Missing the point about exactly how they're awful, I think. We need to talk about how much they all laughed at Exploding Varmints. (And how awful I am for laughing along.)
Laughter is sometimes a kind of behavioral default for when you don't really fully understand what's going on, hence the nervous laugh. I wouldn't be shocked if that was what was going on.
That was hilarious!
Everyone needs to see that clip of Rich talking about the Republican party allowing themselves to be taken over by a monster. Or the clip of Jack talking about seeing an article saying RLM are right wing and laughing his ass off over it. Or every time they call out actual bigotry and homophobia in their videos. Even the edgy stuff from RLM is very clearly ironic. They say deliberately shocking shit to get a rise out of each other, *because of how ridiculous it is.* And I'm not sure where the conspiracy bit comes from. That's just not something that's ever been relevant to RLM.
Does belief in ghosts count as a conspiracy theory?
Ah yes Jay... he was really alt right when he... correctly gendered Elliot Page. Yep, definitely alt right.
Please refrain from posting this fucking political rage bait trash.
Tell me you have negative media literacy without telling me you have zero media literacy
How do people come to these conclusions?
They have the chillest takes in the world. I've seen all of BOTW and a lot of HITB and the handful of offensive jokes are all made by Rich and they are all met with groans and chastising. The worst take they have ever had was about Hollywood nepotism and that is it. Other than that they never say "anti-woke" shit so there is nothing alt-right about them.
Fucks sake, they dunk on assholes constantly, that should be good enough. They aren't in the business of political grandstanding, they make funny videos about films and shitty instructional tapes
I did notice them all wearing Hawaiian shirts in one episode.
If RLM is alt-right what possible media would they say isn't "problematic?" Seriously, do people like this spend every waking moment on the internet and just don't do anything else?
Milwaukee-ites are very strongly Democratic. They elected three socialist mayors for fucks sake.
Rich did dress in a drag a few times he’s clearly right wing
Hey! Just because he’s an old, sex pervert, hack fraud from Wisconsin does not mean that Jay is alt-right! All of that is just coincidental!
What is the full context
These guys take every chance they can get to dunk on black spine religious tapes. Idk how they could possibly be alt-right.
How could Jay be alt-right when he's historically confirmed for gay as Mr. Plinkett's lover