Marx Part 3: Cultural Marxism & Political Correctness | Philosophy Tube

What is Cultural Marxism? What is the conspiracy theory around the Frankfurt school; how is it linked to right wing white nationalism and political correctness?
Subscribe! tinyurl.com/pr9...
Patreon: / philosophytube
Audible: www.audibletria....
FAQ: / philosophytu. .
Facebook: / philosophytu. .
Twitter: @PhilosophyTube
Email: [e-mail]
Google+: google.com/+thephilosophytube
realphilosophytube.tumblr.com
Recommended Reading:
Malcolm Harris, “Hooray for Cultural Marxism,” america.aljazee....
William Lind, “The Origins of Political Correctness,” www.academia.or....
Michael Minnicino, “The Frankfurt School and Political Correctness,” www.schillerins....
If you or your organisation would like to financially support Philosophy Tube in distributing philosophical knowledge to those who might not otherwise have access to it in exchange for credits on the show, please get in touch!
Music: ‘Chiptune Anthem One,’ ‘Tek’s Abomination,’ and ‘8 Bit Robot Dance Party’ by TechnoAxe - tinyurl.com/kkr...
‘Phantom From Space’ by Kevin MacLeod - incompetech.com
Frankfurt School picture By Jjshapiro at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikime....
Any copyrighted material should fall under fair use for educational purposes or commentary, but if you are a copyright holder and believe your material has been used unfairly please get in touch with us and we will be happy to discuss it.

[@lorddelrenarthwipeiii1546]

My father always told me to stop asking "Why" so much. Despite not listening to him, I did eventually fall into a habit of not thinking critically about things for long periods at a time. I am glad to have found this channel, and to once again not only be asking questions, but actually thinking about them in great depth. It has gone a ways twards helping me to feel alive, and for that joy- I have you to thank. I probably won't be supporting you on patreon, but I will advocate for your cause at my college.

[@PhilosophyTube]

+Raharu Haruko Aw, thanks!

[@liberalstudiesmaterials899]

As poverty is a extreme tragedy. Which ways can eradicate it including the relative poverty class please?

[@chrism7275]

Poor liberal hates his daddy because he told you to have a little discipline and do as your told

[@sealogic4552]

Chris M it’s always worth asking if what you’re told is the right thing to do. If moral dicta come without a strong justification, odds are it’s not for good reasons. One can be a productive member of society without being a sheep.

[@MegaBanne]

My dad use to call me the crone against the stream when ever I question things he said. Then I would answer him "only dead fishes follow the stream".

[@dangerouslytalented]

So what sounded like a vague far right conspiracy theory: WAS a vague far right wing conspiracy theory.

[@dangerouslytalented]

Seth Apex Then go fetch me some quotes from Marx that say the things that cultural Marxism is about. Or things written by people from the Frankfurt school.

[@dangerouslytalented]

Seth Apex If it is not something codified by those whose philosophy it actually is claimed to be, it CAN'T BE A THING.

[@dangerouslytalented]

Seth Apex ONLY the stuff about class conflict was codified by him. It was ALL class struggle.

[@theillestbanger]

+dangerouslytalented Oh look "Muh Right Wingzz wawawa". Another indoctrinated fool.

[@dangerouslytalented]

Can you put your objection to what I have said into terms that actually put forward an argument? I mean, you did not even present a fallacy, you just put in ungrammatical mockery.

[@Blahidontcare11]

Alrighty, time to state anything slightly conservative or right winged as cultural nazism.

[@sebyiuga2184]

Wow, that's not what he said at all.

[@AYstrength]

+Blahidontcare11 the already demonize the right by godwin pointing allllllll the time

[@tjofsan1232]

+Seby iuga I believe Blahidon was sarcastic there, pointing out how absurd it would be if the same tactic was used the other way 'round.

[@tacovshotdog]

+Blahidontcare11 Doesn't that already happen? "OMG ur literally Hitler!!11" and all of that.

[@BigGamer2525]

+Seby iuga whoosh

[@SoftButReady]

Good guy Ollie even gives his time to analyzing total nonsense. He's the hero we need but not the one we deserve.

[@riskokrizkoslav1038]

+Ian Anderson I just destroyed his critique..go check my comment.

[@SoftButReady]

+Risko Krizkoslav I have no interest in you or your worthless ideas

[@riskokrizkoslav1038]

Ian Anderson It's natural for you to dismiss whatever ideas threaten your bubble. Incompetence and intellectual dishonesty isn't rare these days.

[@kissessaywhat]

Ian Anderson we were all thinking it but didn't want to say anything.

[@legzfalloffgirl5148]

I tried to read The Frankfurt School and Political Correctness... It's a mess and I think I'm dumber as a result😓

[@politics-bu3pw]

"undermining american values", that sound like when homophobes said that gay marriages is going to destroy the institution of marriage.

[@drphil3003]

Marriage was dead before gays ruined it even more

[@schonlingg.wunderbar2985]

@@drphil3003 And who destroyed it?

[@inactiveusertypeofaccount181]

It did

[@inactiveusertypeofaccount181]

@@schonlingg.wunderbar2985 the government. Marriage is a religious ceremony

[@David-gr1do]

@tester123532456 😂 According to who? A bible that means nothing to most people in the U.S.?

[@manifold.curiosity]

Ah, so this term really is as absurd as it sounds! It's being tossed around the Australian parliament lately in regards to a school program that educates about sexuality. How it infiltrated the highest levels of government is something I don't want to think about. In any case, it strikes me as odd that Marx would be associated with social justice trends and political correctness. In an age of rampant, domineering capitalism I reckon he'd have other things on his mind if he were alive today.

[@ikendusnietjij2]

+The Manifold Curiosity "tossed around the Australian parliament lately in regards to a school program that educates about sexuality" Clearly there's people highly offended by what's taught in that program and they wish to stifle free speech. (or that'd be said if it was the left that were complaining) "it strikes me as odd that Marx would be associated with social justice trends and political correctness." I can only imagine those invoking the term think like this: "Marx stands for socialist things - those are bad by definition - anything with Marx is bad and insulting - I don't have to give arguments if I can label something with an insult"

[@riskokrizkoslav1038]

+The Manifold Curiosity I just destroyed his critique..go check my comment.

[@ironwoodcarts4729]

Only vestiges of free-market capitalism remain. To blame the corruption of our time as being the result of property rights and voluntary transactions is absurd. If anything, our woes are the result of the subversion of free-market capitalism.

[@Blaze6108]

"Cultural Marxism" is used because "Marxism" is a scary word. It's the next generation of fear-mongering, want to make people agree on your political ideas, even if they are batshit insane? Just present the opposition as "Marxist", and the automatic communism emergency bell will ring in most people's heads and they will more easily agree with you. Not saying that communism wasn't a bad thing, but the recent attempts by certain groups to associate anything opposed to their views to it is telling of the sorry state of our political debate IMO.

[@a.carneirozhu8104]

@@Cha4k But are they doing it because they genuinely believe in and support his works or because it pisses them off and gets attention

[@MacrobianNomad]

Labour theory of Value predated Marxist adoption, Adam Smith developed on it and Karl Marx himself credited Benjamin Franklin in his 1729 essay entitled "A Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency" as being "one of the first" to advance the theory.

[@JamyOats]

The way I interpreted it (although this may just be me) is that Marxism was all about viewing society as groups in conflict with each other, with the exploited and the exploiter, so cultural Marxism referred to the modern assertion that society is divided into race, gender etc in which there is an oppressor class and an oppressed class. Isn't that a reasonable interpretation?

[@kirtichandrakomarraju5164]

That's how many feel it is supposed to be used and I think that's correct. The problem is that right wingers themselves do not know what they mean when they use it to point someone out. The leftists keep denying anything like that even exists. And neutral third persons are left confused.

[@smithfinland214]

@@kirtichandrakomarraju5164 well nobody in the left has or will call himself "cultural marxism" so it's mostly a right wing "Idea". marxism has a class theory where you have workers, bourgeoisie and aristocracts. for marxist american revolution and french revolution was a bourgeois revolution of rich men who were not aristocrats, that next revolution was going to be workers overthrowing the bourgeois and bla bla bla... a traditional marxist don't really care about gender or lgbt plus whatever. they see all this as a rich dividing the oppressed workers so they can rule them easier. instead of being united against the ruling class which are the rich and powerful. as a center-left social democrat, who is not a marxist. i am all for equality of all, but i think the way "SJW" go about it is not productive or reasonable. there's a better way to talk about it of course the right wingers take lot out of contexst.

[@fernandoterra4108]

Cultural marxism is a usefull term for this. Good description.

[@fernandoterra4108]

Nobody in the rigth describe himself "neoliberal". But neoliberalism is a thing, no?

[@annasawicka4096]

@@smithfinland214 that is what class reductionist would say, and those types are heavily criticized in socialist circles. Have you not watched the video? Marxists are very diverse group of people who can believe different things

[@The1AndOnlyDannyBro]

As I already knew, people who used the phrase "Cultural Marxism" have no idea what they're talking about. This means you, Sargon. Basic critical thinking shows that the term - by the conflicting meanings within the word "Cultural" and "Marxist" - holds no logical meaning.

[@WashashoreProd]

+The1AndOnlyDannyBro I would take it a step further. "Cultural Marxism" is a shibboleth for Dunning-Kruger cases.

[@madshummelshj-agerholm3820]

+The1AndOnlyDannyBro So Sargon used that term, suddenly it became at lot more clear why i could not take him seriosly

[@psychotic17]

+Mads Hummelshøj-Agerholm I think the reason for that might be very different, mate.

[@petepetersen5418]

It's because they went to Wikipedia University instead of a real University where they could've have learned real sociology. Then they would know that they've just made up a name for a term that already exists: cultural homogenisation.

[@EQOAnostalgia]

Yeah Sargon the controlled ops fence sitting libertarian lol. Spare me.

[@jacobromu]

As a marxist, I liked this one! I did think that the hand-waving about Stalinism was kind of unsound. Reading Stalin's works make it pretty clear that he understand Marx, Engels, Lenin etc. And heavy-handedness aside, the proletariat of the USSR continued class struggle when Stalin was in power, and gained serious victories, while the nascent bourgeoisie was really in trouble. This is best contrasted with Krushchev era and subsequent eras where you had really serious anti-marxism. I Also think with respect to Lenin 'inventing' the idea of the vanguard of the proletariat forming a party and seizing power, this stuff is present in Marx and Engels, but not as philosophically rigorously theorized until Lenin's writing. Many marxist groups aside from Lenin's were trying to do the same sort of stuff without 'following' Lenin's lead across Europe.

[@olofolofsson8544]

+jacobromu Reading Stalin actually makes it clear that he didn't understand Marx very well. The Stalinist ideologues even proclaimed the law of value "now functioning under socialism" in the 50s, with Stalins approval of course. Even a cursory reading of the - first chapter of Capital - is enough to debunk this as a blatant attempt to justify totalitarianism combined with state capitalism in the name of "actually existing socialism". Both Engels and Lenin would agree with me on this. And, as we all know by know, the proletariat was exploited under Stalin in a manner well comparable to the worst excesses of western capitalism. The suffering and starvation of the russian proletariat is well documented, excused by state accumulation of capital to further military expansion and regional domination. But in order to understand this you have to actuall READ and understand what it is Marx is trying to tell us about how we organize our world.

[@fenceyhen4249]

1:53 This is incredibly incorrect. Lenin did not advocate for a "coup by a small vanguard" as you argue. He understood that revolution can only take place when 1. There is a crisis among the working class (workers cannot continue living under the current system) 2. There is a crisis within the ruling class 3. The working class is conscious enough of the need for revolution to have formed a revolutionary vanguard party and their own systems of power - workplace/neighborhood councils (soviets). That is to say, revolution is inevitable and it's what the workers are fighting for. When these revolutions fail, the ruling class may embrace fascism to tamp the working class down (see: Germany, Italy Spain, etc. after their failed revolutions) What you are describing is Blanquism which is a trend within anarchism and has nothing to do with Marxism.

[@fenceyhen4249]

This is a pretty inaccurate video tbh

[@jewthulhu]

I don't know how long this has been sitting on my "watch later" list, but I'm glad I got around to it.

[@EtrielDevyt]

This comments section is pure gold. Thank you all so much, this has been a wonderful time.

[@marvin2678]

Nah

[@danielblank9917]

@@marvin2678 yah

[@marvin2678]

@@danielblank9917 no, not really, they can't form whole sentences, nor from their own opinion. Sad

[@nikzanzev2402]

Ehh... It was nice to learn more about the history of the term but I always thought it had a more specific meaning. Whereas Marx seems to have divided the classes into the worker class and the capitalist class based on the modes of production; cultural marxists divide people into classes based on culture, ethnicity and race. I understand that there are probably better terms for that (cultural dialectical materialism maybe?) but this video only explained how this way of thinking was (wrongly) associated with Marx in a typical smear campaign. Also, the definition that I presented explains the tendencies of cultural marxists to discriminate and fall into racism and sexism, so it has some explanatory power?

[@Matthew-ub5ce]

How do you ruin the credibility of an idea that goes against the woke narrative? Call it anti-Semitic when it really has nothing to do with Jews at all.

[@Silverswitch1]

Cultural Marxism is a renamed version of JudeoBolshevism. Many of the far right will include the Jews in Cultural Marxism.

[@sonofsanto]

kinda does when you look at who’s behind it

[@rateeightx]

1:17 An interesting thing to note is that, From a biological perspective, There's not such thing as a "Fish"; "Fish" refers to numerous groups of animals, Some rather distantly related to eachother, And there's not really any objective definition of a fish that would include everything we call fish but exclude, well, us, Or at the least exclude some things we don't consider fish, such as whales or sea-snakes. I'm not quite sure how/if this is relevant, but it felt like something interesting to mention.

[@stegsjenga5088]

Not a good description of Leninism (and no I'm not a Leninist).

[@GearyDigit]

Oh dear, enjoy the comments while you can before GamerGate turns it into sludge.

[@Camaranote]

+Geary oh honey........ gamer gators have been long dead.

[@GearyDigit]

Look down one comment.

[@GearyDigit]

I'm a WWII movie about a Sherman crew?

[@biscuitsalive]

I think you have missed the goal here somewhat. I agree it is a general and vague term. And I agree it’s roots are believed to be in many of the ideas that were combined by the “Frankfurt School”. But most people using this term are referring to a simplified Marxist view power struggles between class and economic grouping, mainly how one class oppresses and controls another class. And transposing that onto culture. How one group oppressed another group. Be it race, sex, sexual preference, religion etc. So instead of the power dynamic of one class against another. They pit one group against another. A view of the world that fits snugly in with collectivism, intersexuality and SJWs etc. It’s simply a lens on how they see the world. If you describe someone as a cultural Marxist, It doesn’t mean you think they are part of some grand plan, a giant conspiracy. It’s just an observation about how they view the world. All about power, all about cultural groups. No doubt some nut jobs try to flesh that out with crazy stuff. But then there’s always people that see patterns and grand narratives, plots and conspiracies where there really are not any. That’s part of why it’s so generalised, and for many people that it is used against its inaccurate. But it’s just like many on the left calling people down the middle or on the right “reactionary” Most of the time this is just a sweeping statement and is not accurate.

[@bella-bond]

Fascinating! I especially loved the deep dive into the conspiracy theories surrounding the Frankfurt School

[@jangtsedude]

Interesting Video! So basically Marxism is a pretty vague umbrella term and Cultural Marxism a misnomer which is used by lots of people in lots of different ways, but mostly with a negative touch to it. As in most cases, defining words when you're using them is helpful for avoiding misunderstandings.

[@noaho4515]

As a marxist i would like to applaud you on this series you've nailed all the fundamentals.

[@zachulrich3965]

It takes much longer than 3, 7min videos to thoroughly and adequately analyze the history and modern use of the term Marxism. (This comment is directed at the people in the comment section who are drawing inaccurate conclusions based on incomplete evidence)

[@LeftyConspirator]

And if you are that person Olly describes in the beginning of this video, you should go see hbomberguy's video on cultural marxism once you're done here. Should give some perspective on what sort of people use that term, at least unironically. Personally, I first became aware of the term a little over five years ago when I read the Anders Breivik's awful 'manifesto'.

[@arthurhill8185]

Isn't Minnicino a pokemon? Google autocorrects it as if it was, anyway.

[@wrathofgrothendieck]

missingno was a glitch pokemon in the original GB game

[@LukeLovesRose]

Now we have San Francisco choirs singing, "We're coming for your children."

[@SuperSpamcan]

Needs more flaming guitars.

[@PhilosophyTube]

+Ryan Gillen (Can of Spambot) ^ This comment is always applicable to all things.

[@theultimatereductionist7592]

Bottom line: ANYBODY in ANY nation has the fucking right to lobby for Marxist laws, and NOT be told to "move to some other nation".

[@petersmythe6462]

"Totalitarian ideologies" PC isn't an ideology... and Marxism, without Stalinist ideas included, isn't particularly Authoritarian.

[@robertspears5402]

Enjoy your channel, learning to understand what seems alot of youth is getting into. I already have gotten allot of info on this in the past but needed to sharpen my knowledge up.

[@EQOAnostalgia]

You're not getting knowledge from this channel... information maybe, and BAD information at that. It's propaganda lol.

[@yurt-the-silent-chief]

A channel with 1.55 million subs & this is the sub standard content you spew? Woe is me.

[@islandred]

it was made 8 years ago

[@StephenDeagle]

What I find funny about the term "cultural Marxism" is that one of the major focuses of Marx's work was flipping Hegel on his head, as in dialectical materialism, where the base (economics, means of production) determines the superstructure (culture, law, ideology). So, a properly Marxist critique doesn't seem to lend itself very well to the idea of changing apparently superficial cultural expressions/dynamics, instead looking to revolutionize or anticipate revolution in economic structures.

[@olofolofsson8544]

+Stephen Deagle I'm not sure this is Marx. Marx is usually more nuanced than that, and I suspect that Marx means that the interrelation of base and superstructure is more complex than "one determines the other".

[@gnetkuji]

Oh the comments this video is going to bring. This is going to be a shit show.

[@haraldvonhinten8921]

Yeah the people usually refered to as "cultural marxists" are surely not using Marx binary system of "Opressor" vs "Opressed" and applying it to various other aspects of life like race, gender, sexual orientation etc. etc. And people who embrace this ideology surely haven't gained control of most of academia, media and politics by now.

[@kinghassy334]

That's by hegel, please read some philosophy because it isn't as simple as oppressor vs oppressed

[@haraldvonhinten8921]

@@kinghassy334 Marx literally divided society into "proletariat" aka the oppressed and the "bourgeoisie" aka the oppressors.

[@Timbo5000]

I always assumed cultural marxism must've just referred to marxist class conflict ideas applied to race, gender and more, like modern identity politics.

[@pedroenrique9613]

It is, you have just encountered propaganda my friend.

[@EQOAnostalgia]

And you were right... this PoS channel is Marxist lol. Marxists can't review Marxists, or talk about Marxism objectively...

[@sarahsh541]

@@EQOAnostalgia define Marxism.

[@marvin2678]

That's it exactly

[@wilforddraper1894]

@@pedroenrique9613 ? I don't understand

[@LogicGated]

People propogating cultural marxism without fully understanding the implication.

[@MACNAOIS]

The term Cultural Marxism refers to a subgroup or shift in Marxist thought that began with or around the time of Antonio Gramsci’s writings concerning cultural hegemony’s role in preventing the proletariat from developing the class consciousness necessary to accept the revolutionary role assigned to them by Marx. Members of the Frankfurt school applied Marxist philosophy and other theories, such as those of Freud, to the problem of cultural hegemony and synthesized solutions like critical theory (which is very prevalent today in its nearly universal condemnation of every aspect of American culture). They wrote many things that were critical of traditional culture, although in the aftermath of WWII, it’s members were mainly concerned with preventing the rise of fascism which they had lived through as German Jews. However, member Herbert Marcuse was definitely connected to the counter culture of the 1960s. His works were very influential in 60’s subculture like the gay liberation movement, he was a mentor and teacher to Angela Davis (a Marxist activist), and he was known as the Father of the New Left. His works explored things like using collective memory as a source of revolutionary potential to overthrow the status quo and the need to be intolerant of all ideas coming from the right, while tolerating any and all movements from the left. These are known facts and the Frankfurt School’s influence is obvious today in things like cancel culture, critical studies, radical Marxist groups like antifa and BLM, and how tolerance is applied (ie. Only one riot in the last year was condemned - the one not from the left). Nonsense and conspiracy theories? I’d say that the so called nuts were pretty much on the money.

[@facetofloor]

It's called "gaslighting" and "not believing your lying eyes."

[@ecantu2600]

Yes, THIS is what cultural Marxism means. The narrator is confused.

[@marvin2678]

@@ecantu2600 I mean he's a Marxist so....

[@savtube]

I'm a little disappointed that this video wasn't actually about applying marxist ideas to textual criticism.

[@PhilosophyTube]

+Alex Savvinos If that's something you're interested in then @TheLitCritGuy is definitely your man, he's awesome.

[@charlieshaw1500]

The analysis of Stalin was disappointing. not much food for thought and very misrepresentative.

[@mightymulatto3000]

Origins of the Family, Private Property and the State is a good place to start. The premise is largely based on the studies of early societies in tandem with the emergence of private property and how it lead to patriarchal dominance. It in essence sees monogamy as a requisite to transference of capital and private property.

[@BlueTemplar15]

1:26 - Heh "fish" is a great example, since there's no such thing as a "fish" in (post?)modern taxonomy of biology.

[@anthonyhenriques7654]

"cultural marxism" _Jordan Peterson has entered the chat_

[@frunglefraggle3819]

ok so your understanding of leninism, 'stalinism', and marxism-leninism is not very good my sir

[@BlueTemplar15]

You'll have to give us more than that...

[@baaaldur]

@@BlueTemplar15 i can give you more than that. olly's description of leninism is mostly correct, although it should be noted that marx was absolutely also for enforced societal change instead of "waiting around" for something to happen. other than that, though, olly gives a simplistic but mostly correct view of what leninism adds to marxism. his description of stalinism is a bunch of bollocks. it's your typical portrayal of stalin from western propaganda: this unrealistically ruthless, meat-headed dictator that killed millions and was oh-so very evil and without any coherent ideology. i honestly think this bit is a really sharp contrast to the rest of the video which is actually pretty informative. regardless of what you think of stalin, this bit is just cartoonish. in reality, there is no such thing as "stalinism". there are no self-identifying stalinists in the world and stalin certainly had no part in the creation of that term. stalin only ever identified himself as a marxist-leninist, something olly says he did to give it more legitimacy than other ideologies, which... what? i dont get this bit. how does olly infer this? as far as i know, marxism-leninism is called that for a very simple reason: it's a synthesis of the ideas of lenin and marx. same as marxism-leninism-maoism. so yeah, that part of the video is disappointing. just blatant misinformation, and i think anyone with an ounce of knowledge of these sects of leftism can agree even if they dislike lenin and stalin.

[@penglkarp]

@@baaaldur so... is the death toll of stalin,... fake? like the neo nazi holocaust deniers?

[@mathieuleader8601]

You should a collaboration on Alltime Conspiracies about the Frankfurt School Conspiracy

[@erikamundson5515]

Ollie wanders gleefully into the crap-storm of American politics. Prepare to be viciously corrected and dismissed!

[@rhyswilliams6384]

Olly, the Frankfurt school WAS linked to the 60's counter-culture. I live in germany where they where at that point and they were the inspiration for the students movement. They tried to stop them from being so extreme, but it was there ideas nonetheless. And their teachings ARE still important in sociology. Oh, an the idea that minorities are marginalized is from Herbert Marcuse. He thought marxists should focus on them because the should be more willing to fight the revolution.

[@shanonsnyder9450]

leopold wunderaug Right, Foucault was marching in the student protests even though he wasn’t FS per se’. The philosophical assertions of the French PMs and the FS were overtly political and should be judged as such. That gets lost in most clarifications of cultural Marxism.

[@thebotanicalmind]

Are you going to do a video on the Frankfurt school? 📺

[@BigGamer2525]

he... just did?

[@thebotanicalmind]

Not really... I am thinking a deeper look into the philosophers of the Frankfurt school

[@ynnekthennek7009]

+BigGamer2525 in what way did this give any information at all about the Frankfort school? It avoided talking about specifics in every case even brought up by the narrator himself.

[@BigGamer2525]

Ynnek Thennek You're right

[@yashodhan1905]

This episode could be skipped if you want to learn Marxism.

[@KayWhyz]

You should do a video on "political correctness"-on its own a nebulous term.

[@ikendusnietjij2]

+KayWhyz It's a quite effective way of dismissing someone's views without requiring arguments.

[@KayWhyz]

+Darckense Onoda Exactly!

[@ikendusnietjij2]

KayWhyz Especially terrible if done by people who claim to be so amazingly rational. But then their compliments are nothing more than name-calling.

[@brundlefly]

+Darckense Onoda Yep. It's a cheap rhetorical trick used by lazy people, insecure in their own positions.

[@WashashoreProd]

+KayWhyz The most fascinating thing about the term "political correctness" is how the people who throw it around aren't actually against political correctness as such; they just don't like that they don't get to decide who's correct.

[@sunnymon1436]

The "Cultural Marxism" conspiracy theory was premiered at a Holocaust Denial conference put on by Willis Carto at The Barnes Review (an antisemitic magazine). The talk given was paid for by The Free Congress Foundation - who also feature Laszlo Pasztor (an "Arrow Cross Party" collaborator for the Nazis, who was stations in Berlin during WW2). Also, if you read Adorno's essay "On The Problem of Family" it's very clear The Frankfurt School never attacked the family, nor did they attack Religion (they were after all, Jewish). So there's a lot of conservative clap trap people get sucked into.

[@MaxwellLeftington]

ARRRRGHHHH. Ollie, I wish so much that I could do a deep dive with you over a beer. We agree on so much, have so much common ground, but disagree on just enough stuff that it would be so much fun.

[@dylanwilliams4459]

I hate to defend Stalin but the idea of Socialism in one country was invented by Lenin and later adapted by Stalin.

[@1MinutoFatos]

Plss do something about Anarchism

[@MegaBanne]

Lenin did not completely dispute Karl Marx' ideas. Karl Marx thought that for communism to happen the society hade to be industrialized (like for seriously good reasons). Russia was nothing but industrialized during the October revolution. So Lenin hade this idea that they would force rapid industrialization in Russia as well as teach the people about communism. This was to prepare the people for the forced communist revolution (which never happened). While Communism may be a bit naive, Leninism is about as naive as it gets.

[@iQKyyR3K]

Mensheviks ftw

[@sarcastichearts]

ah, thank fuck you're not a stalinist. :,) this is a great series!!!

[@ValVonRhine]

I know this is from a bazillion years ago, but just a wink-wink-nudge-nudge, I had a custom name badge made up that says "CULTURAL MARXIST" and I stitched it to my rifle bag to confuse the conservatives at the gun range.

[@basedzoomer9569]

So what sounded like a vague far right conspiracy theory WAS true after all.

[@EQOAnostalgia]

@@burblegobble Well that's because these sick pieces of shit are satanists...

[@rlrnilecroc]

I always knew people who use that term were making shit up.

[@ianman6]

+Philosopy Tube @3:20 Theodor Adorno, not Arno :)

[@PhilosophyTube]

+ianman6 Yup, realised while I was editing :( Shhhhh...

[@gorg8882]

Olly without facial hair is strange to see after all the recent videos

[@IXPrometheusXI]

Thank you! I've been trying to figure out what the story was behind this "Marxist academic" shit.

[@Carimbo575]

+Seth Apex so you call "cultural Marxists" people who oppose racialization?

[@IXPrometheusXI]

Seth Apex I think that a lot of the time *anger* about unfairness is interpreted as hatred, and having "done nothing" is more or less the problem. White people eating the cake they didn't bake while POC starve, and acting like that's fair because "well, if they had some cake, I wouldn't stop them from eating it." All it really takes to not be hated by these people is to acknowledge when your background gives you an unfair leg up and *do something* (affirmatively, not merely avoid harmful action) to level the playing field. The hatred is directed mostly at people with a "don't care, not my fault, not my problem" attitude. Not that some people aren't just being hateful because they're bitter, but in at least some of those cases I find it hard to blame them. The more I learn about the uncomfortable realities of "just being" black, gay, female, etc, the more I understand why some people can get to that point. Like, just yesterday I read a story about a gay couple near where I live being assaulted with boiling water, leaving one in a coma and the other disfigured. And you're fucking pissed because "some SJW" (or w/e) had the *audacity* to post a mean-spirited meme about straight people on tumblr?

[@shoorveersingh]

+Taylor Bennett Thank you.

[@Carimbo575]

Dude, when someone says "you are privileged for being white" they are not saying that they hate you. Or that you are oppressing someone.

[@nolaffinmatter]

+Seth Apex Consider Hollywood. It's fairly well known and easily observed that White guys get the majority of lead roles and screen time in American movies, and that even behind the camera, White guys make up the vast majority of producers, writers, and directors. This despite the fact that White guys make up less than one third of the U.S. population. There is no evidence to say that women or non-European White people are any less talented at acting/filmmaking, or that they aspire to Hollywood success any less, and there IS evidence that non-White people actually drive theater revenue (which should make them a prime audience to market to). So the disparities must come from somewhere else. One explanation is that the people in charge of approving, funding, and casting movies tend to be people who find stories about White guys to be more familiar / more relatable, and because of their positions of influence, their personal biases have ripple effects through much of Hollywood. Supporting this are many statements from women & non-White people in Hollywood who say they often have trouble getting their ideas accepted, or are kept out of the loop for certain roles, or that the places that Hollywood goes to recruit talent tend to be places that are vast majority White. There are also incidents like the one where the CEO of Marvel said in an email that superhero films about women were a bad idea because nobody would go watch them, or when Ridley Scott attempted to defend the all-White cast of Exodus: Gods & Kings by saying "I can't mount a film of this budget...and say that my lead actor is Mohammad so-and-so from such-and-such. I'm just not going to get financed. So the question doesn’t even come up." So there definitely exists evidence to say that White people and men have a privileged position in Hollywood. This doesn't mean it's EASY for them in Hollywood, by no means. It's near-impossible to make it big in Hollywood no matter who you are. But there seem to be additional obstacles that women & non-White people face. And while I'm specifically talking about Hollywood here, because Hollywood by nature is very visible to the public, similar evidence and stories exist for pretty much any industry. As Taylor Bennett says, you can argue the meaning of the evidence, but you can't deny that the evidence is out there. Edit: I am by no means passing judgement on White people and men, whether inside Hollywood or out. I'm simply saying "Hey, the other two-thirds of America also want to make movies and to be in movies. There still seem to be some obstacles, would you like to work with us to overcome them?"

[@joestack1921]

Wow, this is better than school!

[@TheFluffyDuck]

I think the term "cultural critical theorist" is a bit more accurate than cultural Marxist, as it would seem many of the origins of political correctness and anti-white rhetoric we see from the far left (on the basis of post colonialism) stems from that essay. The whole idea of a Jewish plot to destroy America is stupid! But a system that encourages a never ending cycle of cultural warfare about more and more marginalised groups at the expense of a whipping boy (white culture) is just a misguided ideology. Never assume malice when it can be more easily explained by incompetence.

[@roberteospeedwagon3708]

+TheFluffyDuck Yeah, I disagree with all this silly far right conspiracy stuff, but all this political correctness with all white hate has gone too far. Also, nice Hanlon's razor at the end!

[@anthonyodonnell8724]

@@roberteospeedwagon3708 Where do you think that comes from? Susan Sontag said in 1967 that "the white race is the cancer of human history." She was a member of the Marxist left and was personally and professionally connected to Herbert Marcuse, one of the chief figures of the Frankfurt School. He lived with her and her husband while writing "Eros and Civilization," which is intended as a synthesis of Marx with Freud and an attack on traditional morality in the tradition of other Marxists, most directly Wilhelm Reich. But it's all a conspiracy theory!

[@marvin2678]

@@anthonyodonnell8724 interesting

[@cj82-h1y]

Your video basically boils down to: "People may or may not use it incorrectly in modern day [summary of YOUR claim], so therefore it's a nonsense term". Instead, you should have actually broken down cultural Marxism, as it was expounded by the Frankfurt school, and analyzed its relationship with the happenings of today. Your video is like someone saying "Oh, look, left wing radicals call everyone they disagree with fascists, so therefore, there's no real thing as fascism or it can be dismissed". I came looking for better.

[@pankaches2723]

I've only heard cultural Marxism used by other Marxists/leftists, usually in a positive way. I'm having trouble understanding. Was the phrase "reclaimed" by leftists since this video?

[@krissyeva]

it wasn't a phrase that really is to be reclaimed in the first place, if someone is saying it as a joke - its within the context to make FUN of those who use it seriously because we all know it truly does not make sense.

[@whenyoupulloutyourdickands4023]

@@krissyeva just like systemic racism and white supremacy

[@hugeLANK]

This is the best video of the series

[@EQOAnostalgia]

lol

[@the_primal_instinct]

It looks like you didn't actually research Stalinism and that time period as well as you did Marxism and Leninism, did you?

[@baaaldur]

nope, he clearly didn't, which is rather disappointing. just incredibly reductive, blatantly incorrect series of statements in that part.

[@gustavosantos106]

I was about to comment the same thing. Thanks for having already done it.

[@EQOAnostalgia]

Both scumbags. Who cares? May they rot.

[@wodenravens]

+Philosophy Tube I think you need to include a critique of the actual ideas behind the term. I don't think the term is so vague that this cannot be attempted.

[@nordfreiheit]

Great series! I'm a Marxist-Leninist, and I don't agree with your critique of Stalin. Otherwise, very informative.

[@swedemaoist6847]

Mason B Ye it was quite mislead, this video is however 2 years old now and hopefully his mind has changed

[@yafietabraha2716]

I want to wrap up political correctness in this: While monitoring others can promulgate a safe society for the majority, that majority will live within confines as normality. No, I'm not Sartre, I'm not advocating radical freedom; people don't inherently strive for freedom;they strive for happiness. Happiness is derived from control. Control is having sufficient knowledge to understand how to get what you want from society in an unadulterated and sustainable way. Any defects to this knowledge leads to the lack of happiness, proportionately. When people are limited in a PC culture, they are protected from others, but restricted themselves. However, if people randomly broke from the system due to personal triggers(any sort of emotion that makes one curse or do anything outside their norm), there would be a wave of fear and pain due to the lack of security. As we're on Marxism, let's dissect capitalism to illustrate this point. Capitalism is founded on competition, and that, personal responsibility. This concept forces everyone to think that security can be thrown away for the sake of freedom. Freedom is only important as it allows us to express our desire to its fullest extent. When compounded by materialistic extensions upon our desires, our need for freedom infringes upon everyone's. Materialism is unsustainable, then. Also, it is extraneous due to its just doubling on our inherent desire. Thus, real freedom is the facade for ideal security. If we emphasize freedom, we just expand humans' range of desire where it doesn't naturally exist, like having the newest iPhone and due to materialism being unsustainable, as previously verified, and everyone is driven into the ground by competition. Like becomes an anarchic picture in which one member of every family is constantly at their door with a gas mask and a gun, infinitely vigilant as their freedom is a means to an end, but is respected to an end, thus simply enhancing the division the concept is being created to circumvent. Thus, we understand that security, at least internally, is a human idealism. Due to such, being "politically correct" assigns a set of rules designated by some misguided fellows seeking to enhance freedom, but like before, simply weaken freedom's effect and expand it vastly to make up for it, thus creating a stronger problem and giving off the vibe that they're instituting a sort of fascism to control everyone, when their intent is solid. It's fundamental attribution error at its finest. At any rate, to circumvent such restricting dictums/emergency powers, one must rationalize completely. To do this, instead of questioning everything(save that for internal study), one must seek to justify one's life in its vernacular, start dissecting it into general principles and start allowing for recognition in social constructs by and large and consistently applying such aphorisms to every aspect of life, thus destroying such inherently flawed power constructs like political correctness on the back end and we can destabilize such concepts forevermore. Thanks for those who got to the end of my little rant. Criticisms?

[@rhyswilliams6384]

+Yafiet Abraham "We should not give away freedom for security, and if its only for that there is no lasting security with our freedom" Karl Popper, marxist in his youth and left for his entire life

[@maturename1769]

"Wow I'm a Marxist" is words I never though I'd catch My self saying Days without Injury: 0

[@EQOAnostalgia]

sucks to be you, they shoot you first.

[@mrhouse3571]

my country adopted this and it destroyed everything we had

[@AlexGoldhill]

Great video as usual, and it was nice to find out a bit about the origins of Cultural Marxist conspiracy theories, although I was expecting a bit of a discussion on the Frankfurt School and Critical Theory (although to be fair that would probably take a months worth of videos to do any justice to their work).

[@PhilosophyTube]

+Alex Goldhill Yeah true. @TheLitCritGuy would be a good person to follow for that.

[@JC-ly8pz]

yuri bezmenov warned how they were actually trying to achieve this

[@vedinthorn]

Weird video since the term was used way before the 90s in sociology literature but alright.

[@EQOAnostalgia]

The guy is a liar and an obvious Marxist pawn.

[@GabiGhita]

The term "politically correct" sounds vague and threatening because that is its goal, but if you try to pinpoint its meaning based on its usage today, you must end up concluding that it just means "polite" (it's even in the root of the word), "respectful" or at most "diplomatic". There's nothing wrong with being PC or asking people to be PC. The only truly negative connotation I found was in an old NY Times newspaper article from 1934 where someone talked about how authors in Germany were only allowed to publish works that were not correct, but *politically* correct, i.e. towing the party line (wonder who was in power then, cause it sure as heck wasn't the "cultural marxists"). In that particular sense, which is likely the initial meaning of the term, it truly is ominous, and it's clear that's the feeling the people using it are trying to evoke, but look at the modern day examples they give and you'll soon see the motte and bailey: they only refer to instances of politeness/respectfulness/diplomacy which are expected by society when in society, but label them PC and describe it as this authoritarian boogeyman when talking about it in the abstract.

[@juliaisafilmbuff123]

The conspiracies are fucking ridiculous (not to mention laughable and entertaining), but I also think it would be worthwhile to give short but concise summaries of what the thinkers associated with the Frankfurt School actually said, and how far off their ideas were from traditional Marxism. For example, there is the fact that the Frankfurt School saw Soviet economism ("Stalinism") as being as much a product of the failure of the Enlightenment as capitalism and fascism.

[@riskokrizkoslav1038]

+Julia Riber Pitt I just destroyed his critique..go check my comment.

[@juliaisafilmbuff123]

Risko Krizkoslav Just asking, how familiar are you with the texts of the Frankfurt School? Have you read or studied them?

[@riskokrizkoslav1038]

Julia Riber Pitt Yes. Critical theory is a basically sociology with an aim to change. They question the fundamentals of social structure and of course an attempt at changing them.

[@ynnekthennek7009]

why did you quit the conversation? is it because you may have run into a person who knew what they were talking about, or does it take you 2 months to google the frankfurt school?

[@austinkreulach9295]

It's genuinely disturbing how much she looks like Tucker Carlson here. It's eerie

[@notforwantoftrying1]

I think this was a really good video, coming from somebody who strongly opposes Marxism. I think your description of cultural Marxism was largely accurate, however there is one other angle that I wish you had mentioned. As previously established, this (highly simplified for the sake of brevity) idea of "proletariat vs bourgeoisie" or "the oppressed having a revolution against the oppressors" originally made the argument along class lines. CULTURAL Marxism can be seen as, simply put, an analogous re-statement of Marxism along cultural lines, rather than class lines. So cultural Marxists are cultural relativists (i.e. it is not the case that some cultures are superior to others), and seek the revolutionary overthrow of the perceived "oppressor culture" (western civilization) by the "oppressed culture" - generally an amalgamation of historically marginalized cultures (ethnic minority cultures, homosexual cultures, etc). I think this description gets to the heart of what most of those using "cultural Marxism" pejoratively are really getting at, despite its nebulous definition.

[@WashashoreProd]

+notforwantoftrying1 That makes sense as far as I can follow it, but it's still a massive, massive strawman.

[@Social_Mechanic]

I'm no Stalinist but I think you need to invest some time into learning where those "millions of deaths" came from. A majority of that was just nonsensical propaganda from a book funded by the CIA, which BTW, many of the writers later came out and said was bullshit. Just sayin...

[@EQOAnostalgia]

Yeah no... its extremely well documented what Ole Uncle Joe the scumbag was up to. He murdered many more than the Nazi's. MANY more.

[@robinchetan8]

Why people find "communism/Marxism" appealing?? It is such a hollow philosophy

[@robinchetan8]

KingintheMountain still in capitalist countries there r some ppl who find it attractive

[@robinchetan8]

KingintheMountain how?? Their economies r much better than the communist models

[@robinchetan8]

KingintheMountain freedom? Human rights? In capitalist countries r Much much better than the communist regimes

[@robinchetan8]

KingintheMountain talk about present.

[@robinchetan8]

@KingintheMountain name any successful model of communism? close to some successful capitalist model

[@fustian]

I've seen the term cultural Marxism used inconsistently too, but I've found one thread that ties much of it together, and which also links it to Marxism. By Marxism I understand the idea that our belief systems are determined by material-economic conditions, and for many people this means that the beliefs they have serve their class interests. But because this isn't true for all people, since many are still taken in by beliefs that do not serve their class interests- which is thought to be especially true of the "classless" and upwardly-hopeful American populace- Cultural Marxism is the program to short-circuit the economic logic of Marxism in order to instead challenge these ideas (false consciousness in the jargon) directly, with cultural qua intellectual tools.

[@dallaskenn]

Goddamn Trot!

[@_98s]

I like the way you said "basically"

[@ParticleJesus]

The Wikipedia editor who deleted the page on Cultural Marxism and redirected it to a conspiracy page said he self-identifies as a Marxist. Isn't that a bit of a give-away?

[@GearyDigit]

And it wasn't overruled by other editors because the decision was correct, regardless of the original editor's personal views.

[@ParticleJesus]

Geary _"Because it was correct"_ = _"Because it agreed with my Marxist interpretation of the world that most of the high ranking opinion formers in society conformed to, which somehow, does not prove the initial claims of 'cultural marxism' having taken over in the slightest"_

[@mehname8597]

Somebody might say they are a Marxist and still get it wrong.

[@petepetersen5418]

Cultural marxism actually doesn't mean anything (at least not to sociologists). They already have a word for it: Cultural Homogenisation. It means the exact same thing, except they see it as natural development in a globalising world.. The people who don't agree with it, call it: Cultural Marxism.. They call it Marxism because it sounds scary.. Basically they just made up a whole new name for a term that already existed.

[@geraintthomas4343]

Minor correction: I feel like i should stress that the difference you put between lenin and marx seems like an artificial one: marx certainly did not advocate "waiting around for the working class to take power". He predicted that the working class would take power as a result of the contradictions of capitalism and the resulting class conflict *however* it's also clear that he saw his own role in building a working class party to take that power and a revolution as a part of that process. Hence his work in the first international and party building in germany in particular, the specific clarification/revision to the communist manifesto after the paris commune about the state, and his summary quote: "the philosophers have thus far interpreted the world, the object is to change it". Lenin's building was a lot more about the nuts and bolts of building that party and on the specifics of a revolution that arguably is just a natural development of marx (a lot gets made about being conspiratorial and underground but that was very clearly referring to organising in a country like tsarist russia, which is pretty demonstrable since he wasn't advocating that the communist parties, in britain for example, should go underground in the early comintern days. Stalin calling his governance and organising "Marxist-Leninism" was IMO far more about tying himself to both names than tying lenin to marx (specifically to combat the left opposition under trotsky, who called themselves bolshevik-leninist for similar reasons).

[@theabsurd9416]

Your critique of Lenin and Stalin are off some. Perhaps do some more research on those revolutionary individuals...

[@latvysh8486]

The Absurd immediately what I thought as well

[@sleepy0]

agreed 100%

[@evae4616]

Hey, what about the Gramsci prison note books? The Cultural hegemony

[@DerControllerLP]

First ! (GONE SEXUAAAAAAL!!!!)

[@MessiahofFire]

(With Hott Girls!!!1!!!11!) (Gone Wild) (2016) (In the Hood) (Nearly Buttraped)

[@IJustLoveStories]

If the modem idea of groups divided by social advantages should be called cultural Marxism because it's a class theory based on culture, then what should we call the idea of alpha/beta groups divided by masculinity? Sexual Marxism?

[@alfredocosta3416]

Where is the conspiracy tho?

[@christophersnedeker]

The organized attempt to undermine America part.

[@isaacperk9648]

Reminds me of Kubricks eyes wide shut, lots of subtle details in that movie related to some of the topics covered here but specifically the password to the party was Fidelio

[@rotraven]

Alt right boogeyman here. Im using occult magicks to summon the Nazis again OoOoOoooohhh

[@nordfreiheit]

+KokaKolaKan But that's how you all perceive Marxism lmao

[@armanm246]

*irony intensifies*

[@hughsmith7668]

Six years ago this would be silly. Now not so much.

[@the1exnay]

i noticed how everything you mentioned that had been attributed to marxism were things which you agreed with. and how everypony you mentioned who used the term "cultural marxism" were people you disagreed with. im not sure how i feel about this, but it seems biased tbh. and since it seems you are biased i am not inclined to believe you. so i may have to research if i want to know the truth.

[@the1exnay]

though i guess it doesnt change the point of the video in that cultural marxism is used to describe such a wide range of ideas (no matter what those ideas are). personally i hadnt understood the term so i had never used it. and now i know why i never managed to gain a grip on what it meant from context if it meant such a wide range of things.

[@simonsnek707]

I'm completely going to start calling myself a cultural Marxist.

[@marvin2678]

Ahhaaha clown

[@AN4RCHID]

You failed to explain the actual meaning of the term, which is actually not particularly vague or complicated. Cultural marxism is simply applying the marxist model of society as divided between the oppressed underclass and the oppressive elites, to culture instead of economics. White men are obviously the evil oppressive illuminati and women and minorities are the exploited working class. In cultural marxism, oppression is enforced by cultural instead of economic systems, such as gender roles, race, and the atomic family. The cultural marxist utopia is one where minority groups awaken to their oppression and tear down the cultural institutions that chain them, thus eliminating their version of class differences. All you do in this video is try to associate the term with evil nasty bad guys, so it can be dismissed without being understood. For a video that seems to be attempting to inform, this is more like propaganda than education.

[@ikendusnietjij2]

+quincy "You failed to explain the actual meaning of the term, which is actually not particularly vague or complicated." Can you source it, since I have seen people give different "non vague or complicated" definitions that are ... different from yours.

[@AN4RCHID]

+Darckense Onoda I'm sure you have, because a lot of people are curiously obsessed with defining the term purely in reference to an obscure theory from decades ago.

[@benjaminhennessy8050]

It's the nuclear family not the atomic family dumbass. It's also a bourgeois invention, most nations have multigenerational households with adult siblings living under one roof with their own spouses and children along with their own parents. Nuclear families are in fact rare.

[@AN4RCHID]

+Benjamin Hennessy lol, such a surprise to see griping about the "bourgeois". Nope, no relation to marxist thought at all here, no sir.

[@benjaminhennessy8050]

+quincy I am a proud socialist. That doesn't change the fact that cultural Marxism is a bullshit term invented by Nazis.

[@HouseholdDog]

You forgot to mention who came up with the term "political correctness"

[@ty2010]

Good show of using critical theory in an example :^)

[@kurono1822]

4:50 those words are repeated by Jordan Peterson everytime