Carlos Maza is leaving Vox to focus on solo work through YouTube after he spent last year criticizing the site.
This past Friday, January 31, Maza released a video on YouTube to share this change.
“I started making videos because I wanted to teach people about rhetoric and propaganda while still being somewhat entertaining,” Maza said in the video. “And, while I’ve loved working at Vox the past few years, I’m making this video because it’s time for me to do my own thing, to start my own channel, and go fully independent.”
Further in the episode, we see Maza interacting with two characters of his creation, a “left-flank” character and a “centrist” character. It’s from the leftist character named Karl that we hear more of Maza’s reasoning for leaving Vox.
“Breaking free from the prison of corporate media and seizing means of own production,” says Karl.
The Centrist character, named Charles, then asks why Maza would focus on YouTube after the controversy that surrounded him last year.
“I do hate YouTube,” Maza said in response. “It’s a sh*ty company that exploits its creators and doesn’t deserve to exist, but while it does I might as well flood its airwaves with leftist propaganda – use the master’s tools to take down the master’s house, or whatever.”
Maza was an employee of news and online content company Vox. Specifically, he hosted Vox’s “Strikethrough” program. But possibly what gave Maza the most popularity and attention on the internet was the controversy that surrounded him last year. On Twitter, Maza shared an edited video of fellow YouTuber Steven Crowder insulting Maza as a way to mock Vox. In the video, which shows several separate clips mashed together, we see Crowder calling Maza a “little queer,” “mister lispy queer from Vox,” “gay Latino from Vox,” and more. Maza has also received a wave of calls and social media posts from hecklers due to Crowder’s influence.
https://twitter.com/gaywonk/status/1134264395717103617?s=20
Maza then turned the topic to YouTube which states it has a policy against harassment and cyberbullying, yet the company has done nothing to stop Crowder.
“Again, the problem isn’t Crowder,” he posted on Twitter. “There will always be f***ing a**holes trying to get attention by being bigots. The problem is that @YouTube is designed to give those a**oles a megaphone, push new followers in their directions, and keep them listening. It’s a weapon.”
https://twitter.com/gaywonk/status/1134270918220554240?s=20
At the time, YouTube’s response was that it wouldn’t remove the videos because they didn’t violate the non-harassment policy. YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki later apologized to LGBTQ people and creators for that decision.
But despite that rocky past, Carlos Maza is sticking with the program in order to “flood its airwaves with leftist propaganda.” Will he be successful? We’ll see.
Source: Insider
