ContraPoints

Today I stumbled across the Youtuber ContraPoints, who makes videos 'mostly discussing social justice issues and adjacent topics'. Usually I am incredibly wary of videos on Youtube that cover these kinds of topics as they are often polarising and inflammatory in nature, much akin to every other major social media platform, but the algorithm usually provides me with fairly solid recommendations, and I was intrigued by the thumbnail, so what the heck.

I was pleasantly surprised with her video on everybody's favourite fascim-hating fascist, Jordan Peterson. Her stance on the issues covered is of course heavily left-leaning, but she is capable of acknowledging valid and opposing viewpoints and does not use such dismissive rhetoric as Peterson et al often resort to. I found a lot of what she said both interesting and compelling, but in watching the video I was reminded of my own tendency to simply hold whichever opinion I absorbed last as my own.

Clearly when discussing these kinds of topics, there are points to be made on both sides, and eloquent, intelligent individuals to articulate them to a wider audience. These are also complex and nuanced topics - ones that I would need to put in hundreds if not thousands of hours of research into in order to understand comprehensively or even formulate a viewpoint that I would defend with any degree of certainty. And because of that, I think the appeal of those who opine on these matters with confidence is obvious - we can regurgitate their opinions during polite conversation with friends, and be sure we have a somewhat defensible opinion without spending any time at all drawing our own conclusions.

I think a huge number of people fall into similar traps, which are only intensified by the web's habit of entrapping them in echo chambers, and it is why polarising figures have seen so much success in recent years. The majority of indviduals espousing the values of the far-right and far-left haven't spent any time doing any kind of research for themselves, they are simply swayed by the last thing they heard, and because they are now so inclined, they seek out more people who say similar things, only serving to reinforce their newfound beliefs.

But, like I said, I do this too, and I do not want to fall into this trap. So, sorry ContraPoints, but I'm going to remain perched squarely on the fence for now.