DxE, $800,000 FOR WHAT? (Direct Action Everywhere)

just lately I've been talking to a
journalist who's researching direct a chivalry's writing an article about it and I said to him look man the story here is the money period the story is where does the money come from where does the money go and who controls it and well they manage to ride this hypocrite thing all the way out because the most recent financial reports we've got over 800 thousand US dollars who is giving that money and what do they think it's going to but above all else let's remember this direct action everywhere promised that they would be different from all the other organizations that came before they'd be different from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals they'd be different from Humane Society they would be different because they were going to be the one and only organization that was devoted to social science research and what do they do now they do the lowest kind of headline chasing press release baiting attention-getting stunts publicity stunts they take a teenage girl in a bikini and have her lie down on top of the frozen meat in a grocery store and they put fake blood on her and they stand around and chant wearing masks and holding signs do you think they did social science research to back up that method do you think they did social science research into the effectiveness of any of the methods of these these stunts these demonstrations they do with these protests I mean really people like to disrespect my truth but the fact is that you know my name is I don't know you there was an old-fashioned saying that the media should hold up the mirror to society you know the newspapers hold up a mirror and you behold your reflection in it and you know what we do here on YouTube in some ways it's a sort of distorted funhouse mirror but in some ways social media now serves that purpose YouTube provides us with a very interesting metric a measurement of activity a measurement of public interest I'm going to contrast you right now two very different numbers eight hundred thousand and two hundred and seventy eight hundred thousand US dollars two hundred and seventy views on YouTube doesn't it seem a little bit fishy to you doesn't it seem a little bit strange that a group that manages to consistently propel itself into newspaper headlines a group with an astronomical annual budget eight hundred thousand dollars in donations coming in in just one year this is reported formally in basically tax information to the American government by the way this isn't just some rumor on the internet they got a 10,000 isn't it astounding that they have fewer views on a video talking about vegan activism than I do I have a lot of experience uploading videos talking about different issues veganism but I mean I blow away direct action everywhere numbers and talking about some really obscure topics and I managed to get several thousand views talking about Breana jackfruits in' ceasing to be vegan I mean I've made videos from you know straight up book reviews political science discussions field so I have experience with the whole range and direct action everywhere they're really putting some money and effort into these film productions I can't tell you that the quality their filmmaking has gotten worse and worse I think over the years it's gotten better and better but the audience has dwindled and that that's a little bit strange that's a little bit fishy to me alright it raises questions about what was supposed to be their their founding mandate which was to study social science research find out what was effective activism and what was not evidently what they're doing in a very real sense is not effective they're putting out a message that people do not want to hear so one particular this is a 44 minute video DXE responds to vices documentary about DXE so you don't know vice vice at this point can be called a mainstream media outlet they're not quite as mainstream as CBS or NBC they started as a magazine they have a YouTube channel they're carried on HBO on broadcast television vice is a mass-market big audience Ellen they made a documentary on - right - and ever on DXE and here's a video they're making on their own channel that's linked directly to that mass media coverage and one month later there are only 573 views on that video now I just say again I'm very experienced with YouTube when you have a video that is 44 minutes long if one person watches it seriously they watch the whole thing they're gonna count as three or four views because they watch it and then they stop and go to the bathroom and come back the next day and reopen it again it's not really measuring views it's measuring viewings so the same person ends up clicking on the video repeatedly when when you have a video that long these are really small numbers these are worryingly small numbers for an organization that again gets into the front pages of newspapers from time to time it has a huge budget and they claim they claim they have thousands and thousands of volunteers all around the world now today it's very very hard to get a number from them they'd always dodge the question of that if you ask them how many volunteers you have they'll say like well everyone who gives a thumbs up to our Facebook group is a volunteer everyone who supports us in spirit is in both here come on how many people are you actually organizing in these protests I don't know probably they don't know but this is ostensibly tens of thousands of people organized organized under the leadership of Wayne song with direct action everywhere and none of them seem to be interested in hearing what Wayne's Young has to say none of them seem to be interested in listening to their own leaders message that's worrying that's a warning sign again this is just YouTube being a mirror you can hold up to this phenomenon it leads us to scrutinize in question what's really going on here so and again let's be clear I have neither a false humility about this Norman Anza kind of ego trip if I upload a video talking about Aristotle and it has 1500 views believe me I'm at hey Wow I managed to get a thousand five hundred people to listen to me tell you my opinion about the philosophy of Aristotle Socrates if I upload a video about Socrates and Plato and has 500 use fabulous I'm doing absolutely nothing to cater to a mainstream audience I'm not offering any special effects drama oh these are kind of philosophical videos for a small number of people or sincerely interested in them all right here is a video the right to action everywhere uploaded eight months ago titled 58 activists arrested rescuing chickens and it's two hours long so again when you have video that long if anyone's watching it seriously they'll count as many of you when you have 58 activists involved in that event each one of those activists has friends and family who would be addressed in the video right oh you know my sister got arrested going to this thing oh I want to see what happened all right just whatever friends from high school connections in your own social media casual acquaintances who are connected to those 58 people and more than 50 people were there I think they will all click on the video and show some interest doesn't it seem peculiar to you that only 1300 people clicked on this video for this event and again it's an event that I mean these are ambulance chasers I know if you guys know that old sites are they court controversy they pursue controversy they try to force their way into headlines to get shameless self-promotion but with all that shameless self-promotion having been noted nobody cares nobody wants to watch this nobody wants to watch this even compared to me talking about Socrates or Aristotle even compared to me some of my videos complaining about irony's and kind of interesting little controversies within vegan activism as a movement right so why is that that raises questions and again we can just ask hypothetically whether you regard you know what I do here on YouTube as a success or a failure it's kind of irrelevant to this question how many viewers do you think would be looking at my content if I had a budget of $800,000 and if I had if I had organized under my leadership with these people leave in a compound they literally have a series of houses where they live like a cult or at best like a kind of hippie commune live together I mean if I had just 1,000 people organized my leadership wouldn't it make sense for these videos to have more than 1,000 views wouldn't if more than 1,000 people regard me as their leader wouldn't at least 1,000 people be clicking on the lectures giving no all right so it's it's a really interesting really quizzical situation so here on screen you see a selection of their most recent videos again I'm not gonna insult them I don't think this is complete garbage all right more than half of these videos I think are complete garbage some of these are okay some of them are informative some of them they put a lot of work into if anything over the years they've really been making an effort to improve their craft as filmmakers and doing outreach communication but they have failed and this failure is itself very interesting because there were numerous youtubers doing the same kind of infotainment for veganism without getting themselves thrown in prison without doing disruption without doing illegal forms of activism who became massively successful reached huge audiences with absolutely zero budget without having $800,000 behind them so there are some important questions to be asked now this is the 33rd video I've made on this channel about direct action everywhere just lately I've been talking to a journalist who's researching direct - Neville Rees writing an article about it and I said to him look man the story here is the money period the story is where does the money come from where does the money go and who controls it period that is the story about DXE there is no other story here that's worth talking what is the XE if this journalist were to ask me what is d XE why does it matter my answer is d XE today is the diametric opposite of everything it promised to be when it was founded just a few years ago d XE today is a parody of the virtues it formerly preached does this ring any bells for you guys do you remember this quote DX e is a completely horizontal network of activists not even an organization what I would I'd talk to their members ask the questions say oh well how are you guys organized it's oh no no we're not an organization it's completely horizontal there are no leaders there are no followers fully horizontal network of equal activists in chapters no leaders do you remember that do you remember direct action everywhere boasting that they do no fundraising that they don't want money they even said that in the debate with Gary France aione some of you guys were really into vegan activism we'll remember that there's there's a cultural reference for you um Gary France I own a debating with them and Wayne's Young said no we don't want any donations we do no no fundraising and Gary said back to him come on Wayne we all know you're lying I've been to your website and there's a big button you can click on that says donate now click here so even back then this contradiction was there and well they managed to ride this hypocrite thing all the way out because the most recent financial reports we've got over 800 thousand US dollars who is giving that money and what do they think it's going to you know and with the official excuse explanation from Wayne is that this is going to actually house and feed the animals that they've rescued takes a really brief google search to shed some doubt on that claim there's been a long storied history of the people who run the animal shelters complaining about the XE you rescue these animals you just dump them here you don't pay for them you don't take care of them there are huge financial burdens involved mm I have inside information I've spoken to one of those people who runs one of those one of those sanctuaries this has been a huge issue now that they've got $800,000 to burn I don't know what percentage the money is actually going to house and care for cows but and for the donors is that what you think you're is that what you think you're Jennifer look um there was a time I I know you guys who watch my channel will remember this promise there was a time when they promised no one has ever been arrested at one of their days of action do you guys remember that promise that they weren't about anyone getting arrived played that clip over and over again on this channel right if you just add up the different promises the things that defined them it becomes clear the core definition of what this organization was is it is supposed to be it's been turned inside-out it's been turned upside down on its head but above all else let's remember this direct action everywhere promised that they would be different from all the other organizations that came before they'd be different from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals they'd be different from Humane Society they would be different because they were going to be the one and only organization that was devoted to social science research it's been a long term since I heard those words from from Wayne see all right social science research that the actions they engaged in the strategic choices they made would be 100% based on learning the lessons of social science research and what do they do now they do the lowest kind of headline chasing press release baiting attention-getting stunts publicity stunts they take a teenage girl in a bikini have her lie down on top of the frozen meat in a grocery store and they put fake blood on her and they stand around and chant wearing masks and holding signs do you think they did social science research to back up that method do you think they did social science research into the effectiveness of any of the methods of these these stunts these demonstrations they do with these protests do you think they're doing social science research right now into why it is that they have thousands or tens of thousands of members and a budget of over eight hundred thousand US dollars but they can't get the number of viewers I get with zero followers zero members organization zero budget when they put up a lecture talking about veganism talking about vegan politics in this kind of thing all right that is mind blowing and here's the final irony from my perspective I got into this game with veganism with none of the none of the pretensions and none of the megalomania of wayne's young and direct as uniform none but you know what ironically we right now you and me viewer the viewers of about sale we're living up to the original dream of direct actually there were much more than they are you and I right now are in a fully horizontal decentralized network of activists there were no leaders and no followers here none of you are donating money towards me okay $1 a month on patreon if you if you want what's the total budget there now like $200 is only a few people donate money for the channel okay we're living up to that you're and I'm eight I know you're I'm sincerely interested in social science research I'm sincerely interested in the difference between what is effective activism and what is not instead of selling you a dogmatic dream that if you will just obey if you will obey obey obey if you will follow orders and get yourself put in prison that that will bring about the vegan utopia in the future all right young and direct action everywhere you have become a parody you've become the the sick inversion of everything you once preached and everything you once aspired to where are these people gonna be ten years from now everybody grows up I see that that red haired young woman who is still a university girl she was a teenager when she got started with with the right action everywhere she's moved up in the ranks I see her now sitting next to Wayne so young as if she's kind of number two and now maybe she's replaced Fria you know and she she makes better youtube videos than most of them well I I see people who started this just distinguished this is another girl who started when she was 14 or 15 started screaming as strangers in grocery stores I've had clips of these things on my my channel of the past okay everybody grows up sometimes and you know what ironically most of the people who are a part of direct action ever 1.0 they've all moved on and quit they've all gotten stretches gogol their names the people who were actually in the founding documents who are in the original generation kind of everyone except Wayne Wayne and his girlfriend pre have stuck around you know they've all grown up and moved on and you can write to those people on Facebook I have I've talked to some of those people you know the the generation of of original founders sooner or later people wake up grow up and move on and you know where Wayne's going to be Wayne is going to be sitting on top of 800 thousand US dollars [Music]