the_dunk_tank

Am I reading something different than everyone else here? Because I completely understand what she's trying to get at.

Leftists are dismissing the song because its early interest was astroturfed. This is throwing the baby out with the bathwater, because it has actual interest among people now, because of the astroturfing. How do we combat this problem? Just because we dismiss the song as astroturfed right-wing propaganda doesn't mean the listeners are. The right is changing minds with content like this, and it's problematic for us.

"It can't be viral because it was astroturfed" isn't a helpful assessment, because the song absolutely is viral now. It even came up in my feed on a music community. I clicked it because it looked like it would be up my alley based on the title and thumbnail (I enjoy folk music that shits on capitalists) and I only realized it was that song once I got to the line about people "milking welfare." The astroturfing may have raised the song up the hill, but at a certain point it had enough views and such to carry it based on momentum.

What I think the author is trying to say is that the right is succeeding here, and largely leftist media fails to make the same impact. Probably because we don't have the same connections that allow astroturfing that the people who pushed this song do. But that does leave a meaningful question: how do we reverse this trend and get people interested in leftist topics through arts and culture? How do we promote the material we have already created?

Edit: Oh no, I just heard it on the radio.

she thinks that people like the song despite the bigotry, when they obviously like it because of the bigotry. this isnt even a far right song, its an average conservative song. there are millions of conservatives in usamerica its moronic to think that the left needs a "response" to a regular ass racist song. if anything all the usamerican left cares about is propaganda.

Roger Waters has faces more backlash for simply opening his mouth on any given day of the week for the last forty five years than this fella has over the last week. It's illegitimate to pretend like there hasn't been a organized and concerted effort by elites controlling all forms of popular media to quell the left's point of view for over 50 years. Where's the lefty viral artists?

Pawn Stars Rick: "Best I can do is a Grimes."

I'm glad I don't know who these people are or what they're referencing.

I get what she's trying to say, as goofy as this hog song is, it did it's job and people are eating it up. The left will never reach the masses with pro working class art, that stuff is going triple tinfoil and reaching nobody when you compare the numbers.

She later deleted it saying:

Gonna delete my "Rich Men North of Richmond" thread because too many people are mistaking it for an argument in defense of the song, which it isn't. My fault for not communicating better. I'll probably write an article fleshing out my thoughts later on.

Sure, Caitlin, we misunderstood what you were trying to say lol

Does this moron not realize there's plenty of leftist folk singers out there and also that youtube is heavily astroturfed by the right who game the system?

Caitlin Johnstone is good. She gets a little excited in her posts and tweets sometimes, but whom amongst us hasn't?

A communist Tom Macdonald would be pretty amusing

I knew this song was trouble when it popped into my feed. Its fash shit folks.

who?

Because she does say many things that are correct and worthy of taking seriously

Think about all the incorrect/weird shit that all the acclaimed and celebrated Marxist philosophers wrote/said

because she mostly writes interesting ideas, even if she sometimes has really bad takes like these because she's a complete idealist

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/08/oliver-anthony-and-the-incoherence-of-right-wing-populism.html

But the notion that Anthony’s viral success owes nothing to his song and everything to the machinations of conservative apparatchiks is a bit odd. I have no insight into whether Anthony organically came onto the radar of right-wing commentators, who then used their clout to promote him, or was somehow recruited for a meticulously planned propaganda operation. Regardless, it is not as though Matt Walsh has the power to mint chart-topping country songs at will. If he did, he’d be in a different and more lucrative line of work. The music industry is perpetually trying to “Astroturf” hits through concerted and expensive promotional campaigns. It does not always work. Anthony’s song would not have gone viral if it lacked genuine appeal.

i tried to warn you people

The success of Rich Men North of Richmond shows [...]

that the American ruling class has very deep pockets and is willing to finance astroturfs like this petit bourgeois garbage of a song: https://lemmygrad.ml/comment/1600227

I was paying attention to her a long time ago, maybe during Occupy?, until I looked her up. At that time, she listed her former occupation as astrologer. Even a broken clock is correct twice a day.