Counter Cultured Chats with ‘TokenLibertarianGirl’ Julie Borowski

by Gabriella Hoffman[1]

Here at Counter Cultured[2], we pride ourselves in being counter cultural against the tide of moral relativism and big government that has plagued our generation and our country. We are a group of millennials interested in dissecting leftist arguments and delivering spicy commentary from a young conservative edge that even libertarians can appreciate, since we discuss cultural issues from a small government perspective.Our blog highlights important cultural and political issues that are largely ignored by many. In addition to highlighting important cultural phenomena and news stories, we like to profile and interview people who share our message.

We’ve previously interviewed Heritage Foundation’s Ryan T. Anderson and former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (with whom we disagree with on some issues) about promoting counter cultural messages to millennials. Now, we’re going to profile millennials who are “counter cultured.”Our first counter cultured profile is on Julie Borowski, libertarian policy analyst and YouTube vlogger. For those of you unfamiliar with Julie’s videos, she is known for parodying radical feminists and big government stooges. Most recently, Julie mocked the viral “Potty-Mouthed Princesses Drop F-Bombs for Feminism by FCKH8.com” video. FCKH8 thought it was cute to use little girls as pawns to advance lofty talking points on income inequality and “rape culture.”

We recently asked Julie some questions on how to combat radical feminism and big government.

CC: Julie, thank you for allowing us to interview you for our website. We love your videos. Do you consider yourself counter cultured? JB: Thank you so much! In some ways, I do consider myself to be counter cultured. I’ve never been one to embrace something just because it’s popular or someone told me to. I attended public school. I remember being taught that FDR was a savior, government spending boosts the economy, raising the minimum wage helps poor people, etc. One thing that fascinated me about libertarian thought is that it often debunks conventional wisdom. I always recommend the book “Economics in One Lesson” by Henry Hazlitt because it just takes a hammer to mainstream thought about economics and it makes perfect sense to me. For me, libertarianism really makes you see the world in a different way.

CC: Your videos greatly appeal to millennials. Why is that?

JB: I think it helps that I’m a millennial myself. A lot of political commenters are older and stuffier. YouTube is a medium that a lot of young people watch and I’m not afraid to get a little goofy to get a point across. My favorite messages, though, are from little kids who watch my videos or their parents. I’ve heard that kids as young as 4 years old enjoy watching my videos with their parents because they like to laugh at me. I don’t know if they agree or not, but I think it’s cool that they are being exposed to alternative views at least.

CC: Though you identify as libertarian and have a huge following among liberty-minded folks, a lot of your videos resonate with conservatives, especially Millennials who are right-minded (us included). Do you think that’s true? 

JB:  Yes. I’m glad that there are conservatives who watch my videos and I’m reaching out beyond the echo chamber. I come from a pretty conservative background. The difference, now, is that I don’t think the government is the solution to societal problems. But I still have many of the same values that were instilled into me that might resonate with conservatives. I also try to be respectful of other people’s views. I’ll debate but I’m not going to call people “STATISTS!” if they disagree with me. On my Facebook page, especially, I like to ask questions and get people’s opinions on issues of the day. That way, everyone can add to the discussion and it comes across as less preachy. I’m just expressing my opinions and I can definitely learn from people who have different opinions.

CC: Your latest video—“Potty-Mouthed Princesses Drop F-Bombs for Feminism PARODY” — has over 100,000 views. Does this indicate that people have had enough of radical feminism influencing policy?

JB: There’s been a big push back against radical feminism on the Internet especially over the past few months with the #WomenAgainstFeminism campaign. You’ve probably seen young women holding up signs that say: “I’m not a feminist because _____.” To me, it’s nice to see women who refuse to fall in line. I took a few women’s studies type classes in college and so much of what was said just bugged me. I thought it was sending out destructive victimization messages to young women. I think my parody video was mostly just good timing. A lot of people—even some liberal feminists—were outraged or didn’t like the original F-bomb princess video and I quickly put out a response video.

CC:  What topic or person would you like to parody next? 

JB: Ooh, I don’t know. I guess I have to wait until someone makes the next dumb viral video that I can mock. My most watched videos have been the princess parody I just did and the Lena Dunham Obama ad spoof video I did in 2012. I have fun with it.

If you wish to follow Julie’s musings, like her Facebook page and follow her on Twitter at @JulieBorowski.