The past week has seen two of internet’s most prominent Conservative media stars go head-to-head in a mud-slinging contest. The basis of the conflict: who stood for Conservative values more on the subject of how certain companies like the Daily Wire cave into the demands of Big tech.
The fight became an interest to the public when Conservative Host Steven Crowder revealed to his viewers that he was in contract negotiations with Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire which Crowder did not complete. The negotiations soured when Steven Crowder had issues with the compensation ($50 million over 4 years) and the fact that Shapiro’s Daily Wire would penalize the content creator if he violated the terms of service of video platforms like Youtube.com. The terms Crowder revealed through videos like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTcq4UCTZ-Y&t=75s
Crowder revealed his issues with the Daily Wire in order to announce the launch of his own website “Stop Big Tech”, and “Stop Big Con”. In Crowder’s proclamations, Ben Shapiro is a corporate conservative who pretends to fight for “conservative” values but in reality, is interested in playing the game and following the guidelines of “woke” censorship.
The moral crusade that many conservative pundits claim to be on is not for the rights of the aggrieved masses. Crowder is doing this publicity stunt in order to gain followers and money. It is for him to establish his own brand and receive much more money than the millions he is already earning.
Both Shapiro and Crowder earn their money by telling a select yet angry part of the populace what they want to hear. That the LGTBQ community has infiltrated all forms of media and education to indoctrinate the next generation. How racial minorities are lying about discrimination and that it is really the white majority that is under attack. However, the main point of these channels is to say to their audience that we are fighting for “you” while all the “woke leftists” are fighting for the other side which really wants to destroy the conservative way of life and “Western” civilization itself.
The truth is that there is anger and despair in all sections of the population. The effects of the pandemic are still felt everywhere in our supply chain, the crisis of affordability has spared no one but what is mostly fueling the anger is our leaders pitting our people against each other. The social media confusion we all see doesn’t help either.
Conservative media and politicians seize upon the anger and fan it. They will look for the most egregious examples of “degeneracy”, tell half the story, and inflame their audience as much as possible. Why? Because it makes the most money.
Commentators like Crowder often claim they are fighting “the power”. Fighting big tech censorship and the war against conservatism. In reality, they are fighting for eyeballs and the disposable income of their fanbase.
The negotiations between the Daily Wire and Steven Crowder showcased just how much money is involved in right-wing agitation. Crowder countered his $50 million offer with one for $140 million. Remember this money is being paid to a man who primarily rants about the ills of gay and black people all day.
Movies like the social dilemma show that content that riles up the viewer, trends the best. The algorithm sucks in the viewer and a by-product is making that viewer more extreme and more siloed from the rest of society. The end result is a general public that cannot see eye to eye on basically anything., that has more affection for the people who agitate them on their screens than the people they share their local community with.
The radical left does have a version of this as well, but it is nowhere near as popular or heavily funded as the figures on the right. While the political left speaks to the working class about the inequalities of modern-day capitalism and oligarchy, the right obfuscates these problems with misinformation and culture wars. This is why Big Business likes to fund these political figures. It allows them to tap into the angry market that does exist in people being ground by the system but leads the viewer to conclusions that do not threaten the winners of the inequality.
In conclusion, Crowder and Shapiro are not fighting for the little man as they so often state, they are looking for more money and couch the interests of big business into something called Right-wing populism. It is a complete grift as their viewer’s problems are not being addressed. They are just resulting in inciting these people to feel contempt for their fellow citizens.
Himat Grewal
