Hbomberguy
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Harry Brewis,[1] better known as hbomberguy or Harris Bomberguy,[note 1] is a YouTube talker who identifies as a libertarian socialist.[5][6][7] Brewis is known for his videos ridiculing right-wing, anti-feminist, and/or bigoted YouTubers, particularly prominent figureheads of the Gamergate dumpster fire.
His channel has over half a million subscribers and 53 million views[8] and he makes over $6,655 per video, according to Patreon.[9][note 2]
Brewis came out as bisexual in July 2018.[10]
Views
Atheism
Brewis describes himself as an atheist who has no investment in atheism:
There are some stances that require no investment, and are simply words to describe your stance on the issues. I have no investment in atheism, even though I am one.[11]
Anti-antifeminism
Brewis' bread and butter is mocking the anti-feminist "skeptic" community on YouTube:
- Davis
AuriniAruni[note 3] and Jordan Owen, creators of the "The Sarkeesian Effect"[12] - thunderf00t[13]
- Rocking Mr. E, The Golden One, Sargon of Akkad[14][15][16]
- Others[17][18]
- JonTron: Mostly Tweets,[19][20] video planned.[21]
Brewis created a Browser extension for both Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome to disable reactionary YouTube suggestions,[22] which had around 3800 users.[23] However, this extension has been removed from the Chrome web store for "violating the guidelines" at some point.
Politics
Although Brewis' YouTube content focuses on debunking others, his off-YouTube content is substantially more political. For example, on Ask.FM he wrote:[6]
I'm a very far left socialist type with a reverence for the actual philosophers of the communist movement and their writings. While I'm often unsure what to label myself, what I want is a version of capitalism that actually works sustainably, and doesn't simply lurch from crisis to crisis while inflicting unethical labor on places that we don't think about as 'our problem' - working conditions rise in the west because we exported the dirtier, more shitty jobs elsewhere. Whether or not a 'version' of capitalism that doesn't have these aspects could even be called capitalism remains to be seen.
On Twitter, he frequently criticises capitalism and defends socialism.[24][25] For example, on the subject of YouTube demonetizing people for their politics, he wrote:[26]
BTW: People complaining that the system doesn't support their ideas ARE describing a real problem. It's almost as if Capitalism is bad. Like, the system's ability to repress ideas by defunding them, when you need money to live, is a genuine issue. The solution is not this libertarian-tolerance approach where you try to berate advertisers into being unbiased[.] The solution is to create a society where not being monetised means you won't starve to death.
He has said he generally supports some versions of communism[27] and has referred to himself as a communist.[28] Having said that, he's not a fan of the British Communist Party, describing it as "a fucking nightmare of actual literal stalinists".[29] He is also inconsistent with which label he chooses to describe himself with.
I'd probably throw my hat in with marxism-leninism or straight up full communism, at least as a conversation starter![30]
I would say I'm a Communist but I don't agree with any presently-existing states that call themselves Communist - I simply agree with the larger points of Marx, Weber or Epicurus.[31]
I keep calling myself communist as a way of making a point about the label but it's hard when The Bad Communists are still REAL[32]
I must admit I openly call myself a Communist partially because it drives idiots nuts and not out of any genuine allegiance to a legit commie party.[33]
I sometimes say I'm a socialist, and if it'll annoy the right people in the moment, a communist[34][35]
Question on Ask.fm: So are you an Archo-Communist[sic] or a Socialist? I'm kind of confused.
Brewis: I support one as an intermediary and another as an end-goal (or, to put it better, 'theoretical best society').[36]
Question on Curious Cat: You a Marxist? Libsoc? Trot? Or just a big tent socialist?
Brewis: im not clever enough to understand which label my views fall under when taken in totality.[37]
Brewis' videos occasionally contain anti-capitalist messages[38] and he is an outspoken critic of liberal capitalist democracies:
Just to float an idea: How about the global poor unite against the system? There are people in both Russia and America who are sick of this shit, good people who will die pointlessly in traditional warfare. Why not work together to destroy fascism and, while we're at it, the liberal capitalist system that makes for such a comfortable nest?[39]
Do not allow the victory of far-right ideology to strike you as spontaneous. It is baked right into liberal capitalist democracy.[40]
Media analysis
Brewis also makes videos analyzing media he likes and dislikes,[41][42][43][44] sometimes with a political attitude.[45][46]
Apologism for sexual harassment
On April 6th 2017, Brewis' content was banned from ever being posted on the socialist subreddit /r/LateStageCapitalism.[47] This was following a Tumblr post made by a former friend and employee of Brewis, Klaus, which has since been deleted. The post featured six screenshots from a Skype conversation that revealed Brewis had cast doubt on Klaus' memory of being sexually harassed by one of his moderators. The post has been archived[48] and there are additional screenshots of him doubting Klaus.[49]
Brewis posted an apology on his own tumblr[50] but initially did not have a link to Klaus' screenshots due to a fear that his fans might "go after" Klaus. After rectifying this, he removed the link again after the posts deletion, and did not feature a link to an archived or re-upload of the screenshots.
Brewis' apology was criticized for not addressing what he was going to alter to remedy the situation, nor mentioning whether or not he was going to cut ties with the moderator in question.[51] The apology was also criticized by the victim, Klaus, himself, for not being an apology at all.[52] Brewis has been criticized for not publicly addressing the situation further, but has stated that "[he has] been directly asked not to talk about it any more by Klaus."[53] The accused moderator in question has been removed from Brewis' Discord [54]
Mermaids stream
“”Trans rights OK!
|
—Donkey Kong[55] |
Graham Linehan, a comedy writer who did some work on a good show 20 years ago who happens to be a very normal man who's just very angry about trans people all day nowadays, went on Mumsnet and told them to email a lady from the National Lottery en masse and now the funding is under review. So well done, Graham! You have a massive audience and the power to choose to fight for progress in all the many forms we need in the world right now and you used it to make sure some children won't have access to helpful resources.
In response to TV writer, transphobe, and self-described "lesbian expert" Graham Linehan's harassment campaign that caused the UK trans childrens' support group Mermaids to have a funding grant held for review[56] Harry held a charity livestream over the weekend of January 19-21, 2019. He played through the notoriously time-consuming video game Donkey Kong 64 to 101% completion while viewers donated to the stream.[57][58][59] Over the course of the 57 hour stream, he spoke with various members of the trans community such as:
- Natalie Wynn of ContraPoints
- Chelsea Manning
- Riley Dennis
- Casey Explosion
... in addition to other YouTubers such as:
- Shaun
- Abigail Thorn of Philosophy Tube
- Three Arrows
- Jim Sterling
...as well as other guests, such as:
- Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
- Adam Conover of Adam Ruins Everything
- Virgil Texas and Matt Christman of Chapo Trap House
- Grant Kirkhope, who composed the music for Donkey Kong 64[60] and voiced Donkey Kong in several games[61]
- Chuck Tingle, gay erotica author who wrote masterpieces such as Space Raptor Butt Invasion, Pounded in the Butt By My Own Butt, and Pounded in the Butt By My Book "Pounded in the Butt By My Own Butt"
- Mara Wilson, writer and former child actress
- John Romero, creator of DOOM
Throughout the stream, they discussed topics ranging from issues confronting trans people, gender dysphoria and euphoria, the work the Mermaids organization does, nuclear power, differences in the financial model of growing bananas vs. most U.S. agriculture, and ape semen. At the time of its completion, the stream earned approximately $340,000 for Mermaids, roughly half of the grant that was awaiting review.
Shortly after the stream ended, a motion was lodged in the Scottish Parliament to honor him for his efforts, but failed to pass.[62]
See also
- Shaun and Jen, also a socialist.
- Potholer54, one of Brewis' personal inspirations[63]
- ContraPoints, HBG's American counterpart.
External links
- See the Wikipedia article on Hbomberguy.
- Hbomberguy on YouTube
- Hbomberguy on Twitter
- Hbomberguy on Curious Cat
- Hbomberguy on Ask.FM
- Hbomberguy on Twitch
Notes
References
- ↑ Tweet[a w] about article on Paste titled "Defective Products: Postal, Hatred, and For-Profit Controversy"[a w]
- ↑ Ask.fm
Hbomb was a name my cousin gave me when we were very young. Even he doesn't remember that he came up with it. the 'erguy' evolved because i played bomberman a lot and hbomb was taken when I was making a username to play Age of Mythology.
- ↑ https://ask.fm/Hbomberguy/answers/137001048107[a w]
- ↑ https://ask.fm/Hbomberguy/answers/114456063787[a w]
- ↑ Tweet[a w] about Curious Cat post[a w][dead link]
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Ask.FM post[a w]
- ↑ Tweet[a w] about Curious Cat post[a w]
- ↑ About, YouTube
- ↑ Hbomb on Patreon
- ↑ Outsiders: How To Adapt H.P. Lovecraft In the 21st Century
- ↑ https://ask.fm/Hbomberguy/answers/136266399787
- ↑ The Sarkeesian Effect: A Measured Response, YouTube
- ↑ Thunderf00t VS. FemiNAZI Ghostbusters: A Measured Response, YouTube. Channel: hbomberguy. Published 2016-03-30.
- ↑ Antifeminism VS FACTS, YouTube
- ↑ #FreeSargon: A Measured Response, YouTube
- ↑ Due Diligence, YouTube
- ↑ Thunderf00t VS. FemiNAZI Ghostbusters: A Measured Response, YouTube. Channel: hbomberguy. Published 2016-03-30.
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E0p0GQCAM8
- ↑ Tweet: I can't believe Jon 'look at all these blacks' Jafari turned out not to have the best ideas about race[a w]
- ↑ Tweet: "White nations should protect their culture" Says second generation Iranian immigrant, living on land stolen from Native Americans[a w]
- ↑ Tweet: Some of jontron's arguments will feature in a future thing about immigration but first i want to talk about games, and enjoy life for a bit[a w]
- ↑ HOW TO FIX YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS, YouTube
- ↑ Hbomb's YouTube Censorship Addon, Chrome Web Store
- ↑ from:Hbomberguy socialism, Twitter
- ↑ Tweet 1[a w], 2[a w], 3[a w], 4[a w], 5[a w], 6[a w].
- ↑ Tweet 1[a w], 2[a w], 3[a w], 4[a w]. See also this tweet[a w].
- ↑ Ask.fm
I owe lots of my politics to marxist thinkers and generally support some versions of communism but I support Labour on the grounds that its current slightly-left-of-center policies are better than more torie, and because the incremental improvements brought about by Labour stand a chance of showing people what the right direction might be, as it were.
I think the tools for building a post-scarcity utopia either already exist or are within our grasp right now. I like the idea of working towards that. - ↑ Ask.fm
Question on Ask.fm: So about your answer to the "Mix of Socialism and Capitalism" question. Would it be safe to say you hold beliefs similar to Democratic Socialism? or on the other hand Social Democracy?
Brewis: I am a communist. - ↑ https://twitter.com/Hbomberguy/status/735923323150970881
- ↑ https://ask.fm/Hbomberguy/answers/126684544299
- ↑ https://ask.fm/Hbomberguy/answers/136505518891
- ↑ https://twitter.com/Hbomberguy/status/735930878396932097
- ↑ https://ask.fm/Hbomberguy/answers/135897796651
- ↑ https://twitter.com/Hbomberguy/status/956246899031494658
- ↑ https://curiouscat.me/Hbomberguy/post/297733479?1516821913
- ↑ https://ask.fm/Hbomberguy/answers/136892631851
- ↑ https://curiouscat.me/Hbomberguy/post/750673457
- ↑ Fallout 3 Is Garbage, And Here's Why.
C: Capitalism is such a fucked up economic system that it's beneficial to create bad products in order to sell additional, fixed versions later or release slight improvements, a-la the iPhone or Windows or the new graphics card generation you're about to buy into hahahahha
- ↑ https://ask.fm/Hbomberguy/answers/140185187883
- ↑ https://twitter.com/Hbomberguy/status/823300429861818368
- ↑ Darkest Dungeon and Ludonarrative
- ↑ Fallout 3 is Garbage and Here's Why
- ↑ THE NO MAN'S SKY RANT
- ↑ The Power of VHS|Scanline
- ↑ Power Fantasy, Male Objectification and Lady-Fanservice
- ↑ Bethesda VS. Critics: How to Save the Games Industry
- ↑ Left Mods response to Hbomberguy Revelations
- ↑ Hey ya'll
- ↑ https://i.imgur.com/G6zkiBg.png
- ↑ An apology
- ↑ Under the title "Going Forward:"
- ↑ Hbomb’s apology post isn’t an apology at all
- ↑ Hbomberguy comments on Hbomb's Hidden Scandal - r/BreadTube
- ↑ https://twitter.com/Hbomberguy/status/849440372841480194
- ↑ Donkey Kong said "trans rights"! on YouTube
- ↑ Perslo, S.L. (2018, December 17). Big Lottery Fund reviews grant to trans kids charity Mermaids. PinkNews. Retrieved from https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/12/17/big-lottery-fund-grant-mermaids/
- ↑ First part of the Mermaids stream
- ↑ Next part of the stream
- ↑ Epilogue of the stream
- ↑ https://www.webcitation.org/5sqD99ttQ?url=http://www.grantkirkhope.com/donkeykong64.html
- ↑ https://www.mariowiki.com/Donkey_Kong#Speech
- ↑ https://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx?SearchType=Advance&ReferenceNumbers=S5M-15504&ResultsPerPage=10
- ↑ Bill Nye VS Pseudoscience (Part Two!) | Measured Response hbomberguy (YouTube). September 3, 2017.
And it's not just Rage that puts Crowder to shame. If you want to see his claims get debunked in more detail there are many good videos out there by the seminal and personally inspirational Potholer54.