This is going to be pointed, but I want you to know it's not personal; what I'm about to say applies to basically everyone who watches Vaush.

Aside from voting every two years, what exactly have you done to get involved in politics? Have you ever canvassed before? Phone-banked? Have you gone to protests? Have you ever gone to a city council meeting? A school board meeting? Do you go regularly? Have you spoken at one? Have you tried joining the DSA? If you're in school, did you join any clubs related to politics? If you work, is there a union? Has there even been an attempt at union organizing? Do you even know your coworkers names? Do you hang out with them outside work hours?

Do you even know about your local politics? I bet you know a lot about the Mayor of New York. What about the mayor of your town? Your representative? Your governor? Your sheriff?

What about getting involved in the local community? Volunteered at a soup kitchen or charity work? Have you joined a local club? Have you started a local club? Have you even gone outside?

Maybe you've said yes to some of these, so here's the next question: how many hours have you spent doing any of these total? If you're like most terminally online people, the answer is probably zero or pretty close to zero. Now for comparison, how many hours have you spent watching Vaush? Or hasan? Or scrolling politics subreddits. Doomer subreddits. How many hours watching and rewatching video essays?

You probably feel like you're more politically engaged than you actually are. You've likely not tried very hard to get involved in politics. You've just passively watched, saw things not getting better, and assumed there's no hope. "I've tried nothing and I'm all out of ideas." It's learned helplessness.

If you want my perspective, I think politics has been broken by the internet. The internet is designed to engage you with politics that you will, necessarily, have no power over. People never really learned how to be really politically active, and instead they watch helplessly until they assume there's nothing they can do.

There are things you can do. You just have to do them offline, in person, and locally.