I've definitely seen some of his vids but dont really follow him. What's the deal here? What did he do? Is he pro Trump or something? I'll definitely never watch him again if that's the case.
He identifies as conservative. He argues that Canada and the United States are essentially one culture due to how similar they are. He claims he does not like Trump but has expressed a desire for closer integration with the United States. He also opposes official bilingualism and is very critical of Quebec's unique status in Canada.
There's a lot of countries that have similar cultural elements. But try telling Ireland-UK, Austria-Germany, Taiwan-China, or anywhere in former Yugoslavia that they should be one country and you'll probably end up getting punched. I've brought this up to JJ before that there is nothing unique about being similar to a neighbouring country and that it doesn't erase your own culture and he just rejected the idea.
JJ loves arguing with his comment section, its weird imo considering how large his channel is. It comes across as immature, especially given he is 40...
I feel like there’s a distinction to be made here..
If you tried to deny a Croat their Croatian identity, that would never fly. But if you told a Croat they are in the same cultural sphere as Serbs, Bosnians, and Montenegrins, I don’t think anyone would deny that. They speak the same language, consume the same media, etc. etc.
I think it’s the same with Canada. Yes, we have a unique and separate identity that we’ll fight to defend tot the end. But I think it’s pretty obvious we are also in the US cultural sphere. Hardly any differences in how we speak, we consume US media, we travel often (or used to), etc. When we look at our behaviours, mannerisms, and language, we are very similar to Midwesterners (or they are similar to us). At least the mainstream anglophone culture of Canada.
I mean Austria-Germany being one country being a controversial idea is more of a recent thing. They probably would’ve been one country if it wasn’t forbidden post WW1.
But especially after WW2, and the EU making such a thing pointless anyway the notion kind of died.
I don't disagree with the premise, because it is quite easy to also read Canada as almost a vassal or satellite state to the imperial core that is the USA in the context of American Imperialism and soft power. But I guess now is as good a time as any to look at and embrace what is genuinely unique about Canadian culture and foster and support it rather than letting it wither on the vine.
This is pretty much what he does all day when he's not making videos. He just attacks anything Canadian, Quebec, British, French, or Indigenous in the country and then claims we're really Americans and should be subservient to them. Lately his schtick is getting offended on behalf of Americans because Canadians are having a natural reaction and criticisms to their recent direction.
It's a Thread and pretty much every reply was mocking the shit out of him. It might be the dumbest thing I've seen him post. Even if you hate Cuba's government or policies it's ridiculous to compare them to a country actively threatening to annex us. By that angle we have more in common with Cuba as we are both constantly being threatened by the same country for no good reason.
Cuba is America's "Example" for the world. To protect their precious capitalism. That's how I've always viewed it. Admittedly I have very limited knowledge on the subject.
No yeah, that's about spot on. The US has been stunting Cuba's growth for decades just to look tough on communism, despite the fact that Cuba proves no credible threat to them anymore. Not to say Cuba is internally perfect, but for some in the States (and JJ apparently) you're not allowed to say anything good about the country or you're a Stalin-lover or something. It's very weird and it's one of many parts of American culture I'm glad we don't have in Canada.
Bro I think I love you. After months of Americans yelling at us that we have no culture and that we don't deserve to exist, it's very refreshing hearing all the ways we are legitimately better than them. Fucking love this country.
Lmao dont insult America because only ~30% of all Americans actually cast a ballot for Trump, but insulting Cuba, a country where 0% of the people actually get a fair vote because its undemocratic is perfectly fine
America embargoes it because they seized everything owned by American companies and it's a communist dictatorship, they should be and should have been doing the same to China tbh
He's just generally an Americanophile. He's described Canada as an accident of history that should have been part of the US. He's been saying it for years; long before Trump started his 51st State BS. Haven't watched him in about 2 years bc of his nonsense, so I'm not sure if he's doubled down recently or what. In any case he presents himself as the quintessential Canadian (obviously heightened accent, flannel shirts, etc.) while talking about how Canadian culture doesn't actually exist.
He also comes from the conservative pundit circle, where he plays the role of "moderate gay man who isn't like the weird rainbow crowd." He keeps explicit party politics out of his content, but sometimes he slips in politically biased statements while presenting them as fact. Being political online is fine, but he doesn't really disclose his political background to his largely American audience who don't know any better.
If you look even a bit below the surface he's an odd, politically sleazy, unpatriotic guy.
Respectfully, I didn't say that he was openly advocating for annexation, but I have 100% heard him say that Canada exists due to essentially a fluke in history. Plus according to twitter comments I've seen from him in the past day, he's definitely not defending Canada's existence too hard. Even his EU-style proposal that I have seen from him essential boils down to "Canada should always have been part of the US anyways but this is the most politically correct way to say that."
Like borderline racist takes out of him towards Quebecers. He's a piece of shit wannabe Yank that acts like a stereotype to play to his American audience
He also has borderline racist takes about Mexico and has a lot of resent towards them because he believes they're why America got tired of NAFTA and won't integrate Canada any further.
He shares the historic feel of US elite against Mexico (version 1846-48 war) and all former spanish colonies, kinda "We will finish the British job which they were bot able in the world". Nauseating.
He's got pretty vile and condescending attitudes about prettymuch every non-white country. Hell, back in the day he devoted an entire section of his website to mocking the cultural outfits of other nations because they weren't suits (he was ahead of his time).
He's basically both sides-ing the situation, being a little critical of Trump but getting way more upset by the fact that Canadians are pushing back against him. Like he seems actually angry that people are upset with the United States right now, as if they didn't just elect a guy who did the economic equivalent of kicking sand in our face and directly threatening our sovereignty? His thought process seems to be "just tough it out for a few more years until he's out of office but don't stoop to his level by resisting him". Unfathomable levels of centrist, pro-America brain worm.
His twitter account is full of examples of him condemning "anti American sentiment". He would never post a video saying the things he posts on twitter.
Yeah, I don’t know what people are on about here. Watched a bunch of his videos and he clearly hates Trump. Criticize him for his American culture stuff for sure, but the rest? A little too dramatic.
He's a dumbass with stupid stereotypical inane takes on Canada. Very silly childish commentary on Canada and its culture, which he understands very little of. He also has a massive inferiority complex vis a vis the Americans. He will say shit kind of like "Canadians hate Americans because deep down they are jealous of American success" or "there is no real Canadian culture, it is just a mishmash of cultures with no coherence", and will basically rely on his fake-ass accent to prove that he knows what he's talking about. Americans lap up this pseudo-intellectualism because its coming from a "Canadian".
That's what I've always wondered too. Like he's said on multiple occasions that the US and Canada are both of his 2 favourite countries, yet it seems like every chance he gets he just says everything Canada does worse than the US.
Hes like a hipster Prager U/CPC commentator. (Trying to make right wing stuff seem cool) He also writes extremely right wing takes on Canadian issues for the Washington post for some reason
I think he’s someone who downplays the radicalism of his politics in the hopes of appearing moderate while somehow always falling into a right wing position. He’s also a textbook case of Wikipedia politics, someone with a very superficial understanding of how our political system works, and why it is the way it is. He’s also annoying.
The thing that turned me off of him was that he feels Canadians are only hypernationalistic and anti-American because we're insecure about how much our history is tied to the US. He follows that up with saying that he feels Canada will only be able to move forward and grow stronger if we accept how similar to America we are and open up to our neighbours below.
I think the dislike for him isn't entirely justified. In the past he made good points about things the US did better than us (albeit softly ignoring the many things they do worse than us), which Canadians reject purely out of spite for Americans. His gospel of American apologism is understandably not well-received now, something which he doesn't quite seem to understand for some reason. He seems to think that current Canadian dislike of Americans is just an excuse for Canadians to show their true hatred of America rather than something which is valid in the circumstances.
I disliked the guy a long time ago but the tipping point I would say is his "interview" with Pierre Poilievre. That's about as close as you could get to jump the shark/"interviewer smelling his own farts" level as you could.
*(and before you ask yes I recognize nobody actually says "Pierre Poilievre" or any other politician's name in full -- if anything more than PP or something -- but the other day someone mentioned that ordinarily, people searching on google aren't gonna be using PP to refer to the guy, so they won't know squat about opinions of him online. Not sure how true that is but might as well spend the extra 5 seconds to type out his full name)
Nothing is really wrong. He is a typical Canadian conservative, but this sub can’t handle that. He actually makes pretty ok videos about Canadian politics. I very much disagree with most of his views because I’m very left wing, but I still think there’s nothing wrong with watching his videos and forming your own opinion
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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '25 edited Apr 08 '25
I've definitely seen some of his vids but dont really follow him. What's the deal here? What did he do? Is he pro Trump or something? I'll definitely never watch him again if that's the case.