I Define Myself - BGR Journal 2/18/26
I am back - Let's talk about self-liberation
Self-definition is not a personality trait.
It is a discipline that keeps you steadily down your desired path, whether or not people choose to walk beside you. Allowing others to define me is what sparked my isolation and recent absence. While I appreciate you all being patient with me during my absence, that in no way justifies my sudden disappearance; I could have announced my break at any point.
Anyway, this month has been a great period of reflection and vindication for me. I will discuss some of these with you all.
Who is BGR?
When I first made videos, I was attacked for not aligning with a specific type of Marxism. So, I began calling myself a Marxist-Leninist since I align with it the most. Now many MLs spend their free time shitting on me too.
“BGR is a liberal.”
“BGR isn’t principled enough.”
“BGR doesn’t deserve the platform he has.”
Admittedly, it has made me reactive. Why? In efforts to be who others want me to be, I forgot that this platform grew because of who I was when I started. It’s time to prioritize being myself, because that’s why I have this platform in the first place, while my loudest critics don’t.
I am no longer concerned with any labels assigned to me. Judge me by my words, actions, and enemies. My goals are related to building coalitions and connecting with people who I think are or can be assets for the left movement.
My ideology remains unchanged regardless. You can call yourself anything, and that doesn’t make it true, nor does it mean you uphold all of the standards expected of someone in that category. It also doesn’t make you a good person or an effective activist.
Recent events made me think about this. Witnessing the way some White Marxists disregard black liberation, the way some of my biggest haters were congregating in MY own Discord server, and how the loudest critics on the left are chronically online. But I am not here to bitch and moan. So let’s leave that bullshit behind us and look ahead.
My Video Essays
Let me be clear, I am very proud of my content. No matter how good you get at something, there’s always gonna be someone better than you. I have always understood this. But I must say:
Watching FD Signifier’s Tyler Perry video reminded me that there are levels to this shit, and I am not even close to it yet.
This, surprisingly, isn’t really a skill issue. If it were, my writing would be the weakest part of my videos, and it never is. It’s about time and effort. I don’t spend enough time on my videos out of fear of taking too long. If I began to spend more time researching and editing, my video quality would increase significantly. Of course, this makes it impossible to crank out two videos like this a month.
Moving forward, I will make monthly video essays.
It would be longer, more researched, and with far better editing. My upcoming video will be evidence of this. My video essay is nearly finished with the script rewrite, and will be out this month. I wanted to make this video worth the wait. The goal for every video essay moving forward is to beat the last one. This video is going to be hard for me to beat.
Exploring other content
To my detriment regarding platform growth, I hate producing short-form vertical video content. Yet, I do intend to explore beyond video essays and even writing pieces like this.
Two content forms I’d like to explore soon are fictional writing and streaming.
Full transparency, I fully intend to transition into a career of creative writing if the opportunity arises. It would be a miracle if I could craft a video essay every 6 months at that point. I have thousands of pages of unfinished stories, and I hope to finish something soon.
Becoming a Marxist has significantly shifted the themes of my writing. I used to write fantasy stories from the perspective of Royals, Nobles, and elitist Knights. Now I write from the perspective of farmers, thieves, and aristocratic class traitors.
This is not me trying to virtue signal.
It is almost impossible to write anything that does not address/explore the class war, imperialism, and bigotry, after dedicating so much time to making video content that does the same. These ideologies and contradictions make for more interesting storytelling.
Creative works grounded in Marxist values have the potential to radicalize people in a much different way than reading theory. A way that could prove to be a far more effective starting point than telling someone to read Marx, depending on the person.
“The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible” - Toni Cade Bambara.
Growth, improvement, and reclaiming my identity are not passive acts or free actions by any means. There’s a high cost. I must sacrifice chasing engagement, speed, approval, and all other short-lived goals in favor of making the media I want to make.
I am no longer as interested in being correct, as my peers will correct me. I am far more interested in being effective, and the future of BGR will reflect this.
Peace
I appreciate this post and look forward to following along. I'm not on Substack or YouTube nearly as much as I used to be, but I still hope to catch glimpses of your work.
At some point I need to sit down and write out my thoughts around why leftists are so prone to anti coalition sentiments.
Also the fact this is the first time I'm hearing about you writing fantasy feels criminal!