#edit: in a previous version I incorrectly stated that the Greens also fundraised for PCRF

[notaplaceofhonour]

Resisting the urge to “Why Is No One Talking About This” this, but outside of replies to my own posts [Exhibit A, Exhibit B] about it, I have seen maybe one or two people even mention the radicalization of DropOut, and seen zero people mention the fact that the platform is a hub for multiple “Media Empires”, from the Green Brothers, to The McElroys, to Critical Role.

I often feel, when I talk about anything to do with Antizionism, like I did in 2019-2020 when I was saying “hey this QAnon stuff is pretty concerning”, and most of the people I mentioned it to were like “uh, yeah, okay… sure…” until January 6th, 2021.

And I’m aware this specific case of DropOut is probably not what most people, even those who are worried about I/P being used to radicalize people, are immediately concerned about. After all, a bunch of improv nerds playing tabletop games & panel game shows (however bigoted or misguided) are hardly Hamas fighters. DropOut is just one relatively small link in the chainmail, so to speak.

But damn if it isn’t a significant link if it can connect maybe 80% of the media I (and many of my friends) cared most about in the last half decade within 2 degrees of separation.

I’m obviously not afraid of Brennan Lee Mulligan walking into a synagogue with a bomb strapped to his chest or leading a brutal militia in some kind of wannabe Bolshevik Revolution. What I am worried about is him (and Sam Reich, and Ally, and others in the cast, and associated guests from Hank Green and Matt Mercer) putting a fun, friendly face to the pipeline that pushes people in the orbit of people who want to convince them that maybe, just maybe, it wouldn’t be so bad if some other people did. I’m concerned about DropOut pushing JVP/SJP-style propaganda (both in employees’ social media & in campaigns), pushing people towards JVP & associated organizations, which themselves push people towards terror groups like the PFLP.

I’m concerned about The McElroys fundraising for PCRF, an organization with concerning ties, run by openly antisemitic people, that pushes antisemitic narratives. I’m concerned about the Green Brothers fundraising for UNRWA, which Hamas is heavily embedded in, and whose employees participated in the October 7th attacks. I’m concerned about the broader pattern of radicalization that this represents.

I’m concerned about queer nerdy neurodivergent people like me who grew up on Vlogbrothers or John Green novels or DFTBA records, who go to VidCon, who watch Polygon & Game Changers & SciShow & Brian David Gilbert & GeoTheBio & Worthikids & ContraPoints & Tom Cardy & follow fandom artists & cosplayers & listen to D20 & The Adventure Zone & MBMBAM & Sawbones & Delete This! & Chappell Roan & You’re Wrong About (or G-d forbid QAA & Behind the Bastards) & Conspirituality & Knowledge Fight & whoever else and are now surrounded by a media ecosystem in which many of its members are slowly (or perhaps in some cases not so slowly) tilting its floor into a funnel towards extreme, violent organizations.

I’m concerned about the people who aren’t connected to or knowledgeable enough about I/P to recognize that’s what’s happened. I’m concerned about the people who are and now find themselves losing comfort media, losing safety & feeling seen in their fandoms, losing community.

Idk if people know. Idk if they want to. Idk if anyone outside of like a handful of (let’s be real, mostly only Jewish) former DropOut fans are ever going to care.

The fact that a significant amount of influential & prolific people in the internet media landscape—several of whom have been so influential & prolific that their ventures have been described in media profiles as media “Empires”—are at most 2 degrees of separation from individuals actively promoting the manifesto of a terrorist organization involved in the October 7th massacre is truly, mind-bogglingly concerning.