EDIT: JT has now finished. Thank you all for coming. The thread will remain open for chats to finish then we’ll be locking it for preservation at some point after 24 hours. Thank you JT for joining us!

JT will be answering questions below, due to a scheduled appointment that couldn’t be changed he will be starting a little late, answers will begin roughly 1 hour after the post starts.

Like usual there are no strict time limits set for this so JT will come and go as and when his time allows, if he doesn’t get to your questions be patient! This post will be edited here when things end.

JT’s posting account for AMAs is: @Secondthought_JT .

Be sure to check out The Deprogram if you haven’t already! Available wherever you listen to podcasts.

The Deprogram | Second Thought | First Thought

The Deprogram on Twitter | JT on Twitter

The Deprogram subreddit

  • Secondthought_JT [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    2·
    3 years ago

    Okay everyone, I gotta run. Thank you all for your wonderful questions and your kind words! Lots of love, can’t wait to do this again in the future 🥰

    • Secondthought_JT [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      2·
      3 years ago

      I like his work. He’s a sharp guy, just unfortunately a very bitter and condescending person. That’s not the kind of personality we need on the left, so I hope he gets his act together. Gotta win hearts as well as minds.

  • Muad'Dibber@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
    2·
    3 years ago

    Thank you for all your efforts in combatting western chauvinism, its been wonderful to see your channel gain the traction it has.

    I’m sure we all feel like we’re fighting a losing battle against US propaganda, especially recently given the increased racism from liberals against China and Russia. Do you think there’s any hope of overturning that ideological stranglehold within the imperial core, or will the engine of revolution continue to be located in the global south?

    • Secondthought_JT [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      2·
      3 years ago

      I’m glad you like the channel! We certainly have an uphill battle to face in the imperial core. I don’t think there will ever be a moment where class consciousness overtakes the deeply ingrained ideology we’ve been fed for the last hundred years. Our job is to do the best we can. Fight fascism when it appears, educate our friends, family, coworkers, build resilient communities, and be prepared to weather the coming storm of warmongering and reactionary hate. As the US empire wanes, it will continue to lash out ever more violently. The people with the most to lose - those on the receiving end of the violence in the global south, will be the torchbearers of revolution. All we can do is help in whatever little ways we can.

      • Muad'Dibber@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
        1·
        3 years ago

        Thank you! 100% agree. If we can just get the imperialists to stay in their own lane, by creating enough traction and support for an anti-war movement in the imperial core, then we can have the multi-polar world we all dream of; reduced inequality between nations, decolonization / return of native lands, and socialism allowed to grow unhindered by US fuckery.

      • Ho_Chi_Chungus [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
        1·
        3 years ago

        As the US empire wanes, it will continue to lash out ever more violently.

        good lord I shudder to imagine what an even more violent US empire would look like

  • ydieb@lemm.eeEnglish
    1·
    3 years ago

    Hey JT. Not a question per say, but would it be possible to make sources a bit more “front and centre” in the videos? I have a tendency to link your videos to people I try to inform and the general feedback is that they “can’t just outright accept it”.

    Obviously you link sources / further reading in the description, which is decent. But would it be possible to make it a bit more obvious in the video themselves? As for example when statements are made in the video, make them refer to sources in the description or in some other non invasive way? As I think many don’t bother to directly further investigate before they dismiss statements made, which where it seems to also end.

    Hopefully that made sense. Love your content!

    • Secondthought_JT [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      1·
      3 years ago

      ehhh I understand where they’re coming from, but also I have to consider the longevity of my videos. It’s like adding a date stamp to pictures, once it’s baked in you’re stuck with it. If my videos end up getting hosted somewhere there’s no description box people will be wondering why there are these mysterious numbers popping up on screen. Also it’s just a lot more tedious work and I think it looks ugly. If people genuinely want to learn they can take two seconds to click the description box

      • Maoo [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
        1·
        3 years ago

        If you do ever want to add little citations in videos (like a little [5] in the corner for the fifth one), you could always have them be on your own website that is shown at the start of the video. This gives you complete and long-term control over that content and also means it works on sites lacking video descriptions.

        If someone decides to repost your video somewhere, it will also drive traffic to your site and therefore your other videos.

        You can also take advantage of directing people to your site by plugging whatever your current thing is. Maybe it’s First Thought, maybe it’s The Deprogram, maybe it’s something else. When it’s your own site you have control over what you’re currently plugging, whereas things like YouTube videos are kind of stuck plugging whatever you were doing at the time.

        Anyways I feel like I’m starting to make a hard sell when I really just wanted to suggest a simple idea. Hope some of it is helpful!

  • hexthismess [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    1·
    3 years ago

    Hi JT! I have greatly enjoyed the podcast and videos over the past few years. In your opinion, do you think labor relations has reached a tipping point in the favor of labor, in the US?

    Bonus question, how do you get your hair to have those beautiful curls?

    • Secondthought_JT [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      1·
      3 years ago

      Not just yet, but I think we’re getting there. Public opinion is shifting towards support for labor, but there are still a lot of people with that ingrained “union bad” worldview.

      Curl routine:

      • Wash with Dr. Bronner’s castille soap, no shampoo!
      • Tresemme curl conditioner, don’t wash it all out, just scrunch out the excess
      • Scrunch with microfiber towel to remove excess moisture, not too much though
      • DevaCurl gel
      • Blow dry on warm WITH A DIFFUSER, never blow dry without one
      • Wait as long as you can (1 hour+) before scrunching out the gel cast
  • 小莱卡@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
    1·
    3 years ago

    Hi JT, big fan of your YT channel and the podcats.

    What are your thoughts on french bulldogs? Are you a frenchie abolitionist or a frenchie supremacist?

    • Secondthought_JT [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      1·
      3 years ago

      They’re incredibly handsome dogs, but as far as I know they suffer the same breathing issues as Bostons and Pugs, so I think that selective breeding practice needs to stop

    • Secondthought_JT [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      1·
      3 years ago

      I would love to! I plan to tackle some proper feature-length documentaries in the future, possibly in collaboration with Hakim and Yugopnik. As for spicy food, I put ghost peppers in my chili, so I like it fairly spicy

  • QueerCommie@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
    1·
    3 years ago

    Do you know about the ChunkaLuta project? It’s mainly the Marx Madness podcast and @chunkaluta1973 on twitter atm, but they technically have a network started. You should consider a collaboration if you haven’t already.

      • Kaffe@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
        1·
        3 years ago

        We have a gofundme here that we passed 2 of 3 major goals on already and we are trying to fund another 10k for a comrade’s wheelchair replacement. The project is building a home for some elders and a meeting hall for the traditional government of Pine Ridge (as opposed to the imposed neo-Colonial IRA governments), as well as purchasing land for growing hemp for in-community clothing production and more, and the truck and logistics required for the construction.

        An affiliated group is also running a coat and winter supply drive for adults and children especially as Pine Ridge Reservation has one of the harshest winters in the lower 48 and many are without electricity. https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-lakota-families-stay-warm-through-winter

        For a TL;DR of what Chunka Luta is, we are a network of affiliated platforms and individuals acting as a forum for organizers/communists from all over to coordinate and assist each others’ on the ground organizing with the intent of creating a high level platform connecting the many movements on the continent together.

  • HoChiMint [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
    1·
    3 years ago

    I love The Deprogram podcast, have been listening since the beginning, and was a subscriber to all 3 respective youtube channels long before the podcast started. One thing that has kinda irked me to put it mildly, is that you guys sure do talk about food a lot. That in and of itself is no problem, but whenever it comes up, it’s invariably talk about how great certain fast food chains are and specifically how tasty the animal meat they killed and commodified is, which to some of your vegan fans is disappointing and even legit nauseating at times. I know to most it’s just humorous chitchat about something the three of you enjoy, and I get it, but I also know I’m not the only listener really put off by it.

    I wouldn’t presume to tell anyone what to talk about on their own podcast, but as a listener, I find myself consistently wishing you would seriously address leftist arguments for veganism and recognize the intersectional nature of socialism and non-human animal welfare. I remember Yugopnik saying some really positive things about veganism briefly in one of the livestreams (I can’t find which one now) when asked about it but then shortly after, in a regular episode he’s going off about how yummy veal is and even forgetting what animal it’s made from. stalin-stressed

    Do you think you could ever get some vegan comrades on the show to take you to task for your unexamined carnism? lol

    I want to add, more for some of the readers than for JT. Since someone always says the thought terminating cliche, I realize there is no ethical consumption under capitalism, but most leftists recognize there is a spectrum.