this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2025
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I'm an admirer of Louis Rossmann and his efforts. In my opinion, he doesn't deserve this criticism from Drew DeVault:
I suppose Wolf and Rossmann are "no true leftists", but to tell the truth, I'd love to hear @FUTO@peertube.futo.org 's response to this. For added context, this is what Mr. DeVault claims to be Louis Rossmann's "milquetoast response" (his words, not mine) to Wolf inviting Rossmann to debate Yarvin:
I've been following this FUTO thing tangentially with no real understanding of where the drama is coming from and the players involved. I originally though maybe Rossman was the closet fascist that FUTO was funding, glad to find out it isn't. I don't have the fanboi cultist attitude I see surrounding Rossman all the time here, but I also like his stances on digital freedom that I have run across.
Drew seems like a shit-stirrer. Every post of his I've seen shared has been inflammatory agitprop. "Get angry because this person / org did something" Constantly on the look out for patterns of things he doesn't approve of.
Marvin might be a cunt, but I have yet to see Louis Rossman say anything terrible. He hates the fruit store with a passion, is against surveillance, finally stroking his cats and very anti-corporate in general.
Nuance just seems to be lost on people like Drew.
The "No True Scotsman", more technically known as an "Appeal to Purity", logical fallacy seems to pervade the entirety of political discourse these days.
This has been a common pattern in FUTO's PR history: Rossmann doing damage control for shitty stuff Eron Wolf did.
I get that he feels kinda obligated because of the funding from Wolf, but at some point he must realize that this is reputation washing and very damaging to himself as a public figure.
I disagree, based on Rossmann's own comments about Wolf through his YouTube Channel and watching his content for the better part of a decade.
I'm prepared to revise my stance on Louis, but I haven't seen any evidence for him "going to bat" for authoritarians and techno-feudalists in any tangible sense, ever.
It's always young people incapable of nuance who are largely unapologetic authoritarians in their own right presenting flimsy "gotchas" that have no ground under scrutiny, such as Louis' words above.
Simply put, for some people, it's never enough.
How is that a response to what I wrote? It literally has nothing to do with what I wrote 🤦
Responding to this part:
I disagree that it's "damage control", or that Rossmann is an authoritarian or techno-feudalist apologist.
I never said the latter and how else would you describe him regularly doing YT videos partially walking back or trying to justify shitty things Eron Wolf has said or done?
The 2nd part is indeed what DeVault is claiming, to be clear.
"Regularly doing videos" is too strong; this video and 1 other are the only I've personally seen talking about Wolf. This one's in the comments section. The other one he did address, in video, Wolf's financial sourcing just before he moved from New York, I believe. Please post more if you know of anymore, but to me, it reads like you're grasping at anything to find reasons to justify your enmity towards Rossmann.
If you disagree, of course, that's fine. If you just don't like Rossmann, sure. We can leave it at that. But I don't think he's an "apologist" or "fascist adjacent", as DeVault describes him.
He also did several videos around licensing of FUTO that were very clearly damage control.
I don't think Rossmann is a fascist himself, but he clearly got in bed with people that are fascist adjacent and is struggling to clearly distance himself from that, which is not exactly a good look for him and allows others to continue to misuse his relatively good reputation.
Can you link them (if you have time)?
For example: https://youtu.be/lCjy2CHP7zU
I watched the whole thing.
Perhaps in my ~~adult~~ addled old age, my comprehension and cognitive abilities have drastically diminished.
Which part is the part where Rossmann is "guilty" of what you and others who share your opinion are accusing him of?
Eh? I guess you have some strawman in mind of what Rossmann is being accused of. All I am saying is that he is constantly doing PR damage control for Eron Wolf, and that video is a clear example of that. It is not realistic to believe the shitty license happened accidentially... Eron Wolf intentionally wanted it to be like that and only had to walk it back when there was a massive community backlash.
Well, based on what I saw and heard, I just don't think I can make the logical leap to where everyone else is at. There's also a large possibility that I'm not comprehending the subtlety involved in their messaging and language.
Overall, assuming I understand correctly, the argument is that Rossmann performs damage control for a fascist-adjacent millionaire who has a shitty software license for projects he funds.
I disagree with that take, and I suppose we just leave it there. Thanks for providing the link, at least.
Are these unapologetically authoritarian young people incapable of nuance in the room with us right now?
Sure.