A text dump on Eisel Mazard | The Library of Unconventional Lives

Title: A text dump on Eisel Mazard

Topic: original texts

Notes: This is a work in progress formatting.

Full list of videos

Food Truck: Sam Bankman-Fried v. Caroline Ellison.

[Back in 2018:] "It’s particularly troubling that much of the Nazi glorification in Ukraine is government-supported…"

[Meanwhile:] Will Canada's 98 year old Nazi end up in jail for WW2 era atrocities?

[Meanwhile:] The question of Neo-Nazi military units in Ukraine re-emerges from obscurity.

[Other voices:] "Norway's Muslim immigrants attend classes on western attitudes to women."

Buying one console per game: makes sense. @MyArcaderetro

The Danziger Bridge Massacre: Police Brutality in New Orleans.

Kalel Cullen will never be young and beautiful again.

Sam exits, stage left.

A desperate cry for help revisited.

5,400 views in its first day: my 20 second video on the Danziger Bridge Massacre.

The wonder that was New Orleans.

[Dept. of Difficult Subjects to Satirize:] "Send Them Back!" - AOC migrant press conference...

[Other voices:] "We came to a compromise that she would only play [video games] for around 8 hours a day…"

Duxpeer: the epoch of the pale, red shirt is coming to an end (on my channel).

Neil Degrasse Tyson is right, vegans are wrong.

[Other voices:] The "Canada is Hell" discourse in 2023.

[Meanwhile:] Chicago, also, is struggling with the absurd implications of "a world without borders", infinite immigration and refugee arrivals, etc.

[Other voices:] Should transgender prisoners be allowed to switch between prisons?

[Meanwhile:] 110,000 asylum seekers, of whom 19,000 are students…

[Meanwhile:] Drastic change in the propaganda message about "asylum seekers" and "sanctuary cities" from New York's Mayor Adams.

The End of Philosophy: Kristen Leo is Ex-Vegan.

Kristen Leo ALSO blocked me on Instagram.

Being an intellectual in an anti-intellectual culture: banned by Kristen Leo.

[Footnote to a footnote:] Brian Turner blocked me on Instagram.

[Other voices:] An especially depressing dialogue on transgender surgery, hormones, etc.

Comedy in Las Vegas: where old ideas come to die.

Untitled excerpt from a conversation with a fan.

Department of Minor Ironies.

There's no future in comedy, just go into Latin.

Department of Minor Ironies.

The only trace of Brian Turner's scam is (now) the critique of it on my channel.

[Other voices:] A cinematic edit of the (anti-)Burning Man climate protest… and its malcontents.

[Meanwhile:] Completely normal news.

Are you writing to me, offering to help me… or are you begging me to help you?

JFK Assassinology in the 21st Century: Not Just a Book Reivew.

[JFK:] A partial confession from a sharpshooter on the sixth floor.

[Other voices:] Richard Dawkins eats meat… but not when he's home… because it's immoral.

[Department of Minor Ironies:] Protesting against "Burning Man" for all the wrong reasons.

[Meanwhile:] The Wild Boars of Haifa.

[Other voices:] Aristocracy: another scandal drawing attention to the extent to which universities are built on fraud.

Left Wing Atheists (Should) Oppose the Transgender Agenda.

[Other voices:] Anti-vegan propaganda from the BBC.

[Other voices:] Hitomi talks about prostituting herself, attempting suicide five times in a week.

On evidence: reasoning through nihilism vs. religion in the absence of evidence.

Chess is Transphobic. @BotezLive

Chess is transphobic: transwomen expected to compete with… men?

SBF: no vegan options in New York city jail.

I do not believe you're autistic, but…

[Addressed to Decline:] "You can't choose whether to be loved or hated: you choose whether you're going to be known or unknown."

The instructions on this cardboard box clearly say, "recycle".

What actually happened with Jordan Peterson's day in court (in just six screen shots).

I rarely use the n-word, BUT WHEN I DO...

I am always 100% right about everything: fan mail… of a kind.

Refuting "Gender is a Social Construct": God is a Social Construct.

Mr. Thompson was found dead in a filthy jail cell after being eaten alive by insects and bed bugs.

Comedy Writing for Late-Night TV by Joe Toplyn, a book review.

You do realize this guy is the author of five highly successful books, right?

The increasingly surreal situation of open borders and sanctuary cities in 2023.

I'd turn off my email account if I could.

Gendergeddon 4: Two Gender Two Geddon. @rationalityrules

Venice is sinking; Yellowknife is burning… and completely depopulated.

You have freedom of speech so long as you limit your discussions TO MATTERS OF NO SIGNIFICANCE.

[Other voices:] J.J. McCullough with the shallowest angle on Afghanistan imaginable…

[Other voices:] Remember the economic hype about China's "Belt & Road" strategy?

[Other voices:] The caliber of climate change discussions in American government.

Mexie is now EX-VEGAN and anti-vegan... but is still an insane Communist.

Alex O'Connor: the Ethics of Rape and/or/as Veganism. @CosmicSkeptic

On quitting the vegan movement: my final act of vegan activism is already in the past tense.

[Other voices:] SOMEONE ELSE (bothered to) CRITICIZE DECLINE!

[A semi-satirical fundraiser:] Veganvania: Castlevania… without the meat.

[Other voices:] Memories of the "wild west" years on youtube.

[Other voices:] "Senator, I am not a Communist." An especially surreal moment.

[Other voices:] U.S. Congress gets into the details of the lab leak origin hypothesis: was there "a cover up" on the American side?

False facts endure long: Neo-Nazi "statistics" that still pollute political discourse.

The doomed planet: what can we actually do about climate change?

The Doomed Hobby: Arcade Stick "Modding" (Retro Gaming Lore)

What is the best version of Puyo Puyo? Retro Gaming Lore.

My critique of "the great replacement theory" from more than five years ago: the spirit of season one.

Global warming in the news: the masses (briefly) pretend to care about antarctic sea ice.

Jordan Peterson used to be left wing.

Thomas Jefferson: it's possible to be racist (and a white supremacist) and nevertheless have mixed race babies.

My message to AronRa. He won't read it, he won't reply, but…

Lauren Southern is Still a Nazi.

Blackpilled Incels: Refugees from the Toxic Optimism of Christianity.

No, seriously: I refuse to pander to the stupidest 80% of the audience.

Converting to Mormonism so I can attend the only university in America with a decent language program IN CHINESE.

[The Spirit of Season Two:] Coronavirus and Direct Democracy.

Gendergeddon: the Gender Politics Apocalypse

The Taliban's long shadow: you will learn nothing by ignoring Pakistan, you will learn something by paying attention...

Unsubscribe now: you may not be smart enough to watch this video...

Gendergeddon 3: Richard Dawkins vs Rationality Rules.

Optimism is Dangerous: Against Steve Kaufmann… AGAIN.

The only time the Federal government pretends to have an education policy is when it is bemoaning the failure of education policy.

Catching up with 2012: the arctic-centric view of climate change.

[The spirit of season one:] Everyone is Lying About Climate Change: the Phony Politics of Crisis Management.

Our one friend in Israel has convinced me NOT to consider moving to Israel as an option.

Kristen Leo is moving to New York: I am not.

You say that you are an intellectual.

Among the dead and dying.

[The spirit of season one:] "I stand with people of all species", etc.

The Red Queen of Climate Change: Jordan Peterson vs Greta Thunberg.

The revolution will not be… nude.

[The spirit of season three:] I am more attractive than you: it's the only thing that matters.

[The spirit of season two:] I'm still too ugly to lead the vegan movement.

Veganism is Doomed, Episode 998 of 999.

The sun also rises; I also get fan mail. ;-)

A supernatural appendix to my conversation with Anna Scanlon.

Anna Scanlon is a Scumbag and a Hypocrite.

After many years of being ANTI-VEGAN, is Roger Hallam now… ?

Violence: Peace is the Shadow of War, etc.

It's Only a Theory: Jimmy Dore vs. Greta Thunberg and "THE VEGANS".

And the irony is, I REALLY DO WANT TO LEARN LATIN…

[The Spirit of Season One:] USE SOAP, YOU IDIOTS: Why I Hate Vegans.

Crisis Q&A with… my mom, for a change.

An especially surreal example of "Mascotismo" (Petism).

On the inevitability of the current crisis (IF YOU ONLY READ ONE THING FROM THIS BLOG…)

Conspiratorial Political Censorship in the English-Speaking World: 5 Minutes of Your Time…

Zero out of 2,700. So far.

I hate you, unsubscribe now, revisited.

[Other voices:] I don't normally share links to edutainment videos, but… this one is an exception to all the rules.

Revolution, yes, but buy my book on Amazon first: learning languages to change the world.

Quitting YouTube: "This has become a company that creators hate."

Ecology and Veganism: the Lost Cause. [An important video to watch again and also an example of youtube censorship.]

How Youtube Censorship Works in 2023.

[The spirit of season one:] My very first video condemning Utilitarianism.

The Philosophy of Prostitution: Mixing Money & Sex Can Ruin Your Life.

Why I'm not moving to Taiwan. Why I'm not learning Chinese.

You fucked up. You let me down. I don't forgive you. I never will.

[My own writing in 2015:] Kita Ikki [北一輝] and the Origins of Democracy in Japan.

How I learned (or failed to learn) Cambodian (ft. Eisel Mazard)

Moving to Tokyo, Japan… unless you've got a better idea?

The return of the 16 star mindset: one month later, it's back on youtube.

When incels turn 30 they don't become wizards: "Decline" turns 30.

Moving to Japan: you got a better idea?

Now now now now now now now.

[Under ten minutes long & under 1,000 views:] Against Utilitarianism: in Ethics & Politics, Net Happiness is Irrelevant.

[Still important, still relevant:] Torture & War: Ethics vs. Excuses vs. Idiocy.

Vs. Rationality Rules (Gendergeddon 2: This Time, It's Personal)

If you can help, help; if you don't know how to help, ask how.

Zero Options: Trying to Make Something Out of Nothing.

A desperate cry for help revisited.

Oregon decriminalized drugs 2 years ago; British Columbia decriminalized drugs 6 months ago; it isn't working.

The Long Shadow of the French Revolution (in 2023)

Death Grows Green: Hank Green's Cure for Cancer.

[One year later:] Compassion is a culturally inculcated lie.

Atheism vs Agnosticism vs Nihilism: "How do you prove god doesn't exist?"

J.J. Mccullough is Wrong About Everything: American Exceptionalism.

The problem with hating your audience (is different from the problem of your audience hating you).

Debating (& Debunking) Steve Kaufmann: HE REPLIED!!!

[Meanwhile:] Not just Quebec, the West Coast is Burning.

[Meanwhile:] Everything is completely normal. There is nothing to worry about.

How much money did Canada spend on search for that Titanic-bound submarine?

Steve Kaufmann backs the fuck down.

The critique of pure compassion: la critique de la compassion pure.

[Dept. of Minor Ironies:] The Wrath of Steve Kaufmann: LingQ Strikes Back

I now have a "threads" account.

[Meanwhile:] Valladolid, 1550 A.D.

[Other voices:] Homeless Drug Addicts: Sewage, Turf Wars & Organized Crime.

[Meanwhile:] White powder that appeared to be cocaine is indeed cocaine.

[The Spirit of Season Two:] I learned Chinese in Six Months! But You Can't!

[Other Voices:] And then there are lawsuits…

[Other voices:] RFK Jr. is not especially well informed about the assassination of JFK or RFK.

I do not identify as an egomaniac, but…

Q&A for a change.

Not all learning is book learning, but, today, book learning is the only type of learning available to most people, most of the time.

Alternatives to quitting video games: the chronological approach.

Gendergeddon: Matt Dillahunty's Transgender Crusade.

Torn from the Comment Section.

Is Religion "a Mental Health Problem"? Nihilism and/or/as/vs Insanity.

[Meanwhile:] The meaning of "science" is remarkably close to "magic" around here…

Scams and Pseudoscience: Steve Kaufmann's LingQ is a New Religion. @Thelinguist

The inevitable return of the Speedrun to Hell.

The misleading legend of Steve Kaufmann: LingQ and consequences.

Why the study of religion (and "cult phenomena") still matters.

[The spirit of season one:] How to learn any language and bench press 270 pounds in just a few months, weeks, days hours.

Actually a Scam: Steve Kaufmann - lingosteve #polyglot #languagelearning

The problem with (ancient) Latin in 2023.

[Meanwhile:] Sammy-Marie Grimm admits I was right… without directly saying, "He was right".

Alternatives to Being Autistic: Learning Languages in an Autism-Encouraging Society.

[Other voices:] Atheists vs. Christmas: Nihilists vs. Copium.

On the absurdities of youtube censorship: Bomb Cyclone.

Department of Minor Ironies.

Lauren Southern pretty much says about herself the same thing I said about her in Future of an Illusion.

Being Wrong is an Important Part of Being Right.

[The spirit of Season One:] Some reflections on my career(s), or the ways in which I did and did not specialize.

Youtube is getting worse: there still is NO ALTERNATIVE platform to me to switch to.

[Meanwhile:] Hey, even a broken watch is right twice a day…

[Other voices:] The gathering cloud of transgender surgery skepticism.

[Meanwhile:] Eliminating Fentanyl at its source: Mexico.

[Meanwhile:] In Laos, you can still get shot for criticizing the government.

Department of Minor Ironies.

[The Spirit of Season One:] How to Get High Grades in University/College.

[Other voices:] Punch the ceiling

Cross examination before the Senate has become indistinguishable from parody.

[The spirit of season one:] The Nihilistic Approach to Humanitarian & Political Engagement.

How many hours per year do I spend fighting Youtube's censorship and copyright system?

Money: dialogue with a fan… with a plot twist at the end.

Nihilism vs. Jordan Peterson: the nihilists are right and you know it.

Carly Hammond and Jordan Chariton: Open Relationship Office Politics.

[Other voices:] Why I think atheism failed

[Dept. of Uncritical Endorsements:] "LOOK AT THAT FAT" Super Mario 64 Remix

Atheists: Stop Making Excuses for Buddhism.

The wonder that was Fandar: a very different "speedrunning" video from years ago.

Ghosts of Fandar: Martin Exists Stage Left.

No Context Necessary.

The 16 Star Mindset: Greensuigi's Speedrun from Hell.

Everything is rap music.

[Meanwhile:] The mainstream media can't deal with what's wrong with the University system (BUT I CAN).

Joining the Republican Party in 2023: AN OPTION.

[Other voices:] Who is (or was) Louis Farrakhan?

A video that contains the words, "Thanks, Eisel".

[Meanwhile:] Vegan Gains is STILL deleting his old videos to avoid getting banned from youtube… AGAIN.

[Meanwhile:] San Francisco: cotidienne consequences of decriminalizing drugs.

[Other voices:] When do we admit decriminalizing drugs DOESN'T WORK exactly?

[Other voices:] Vice Magazine, Vice Television… Vice BANKRUPTCY.

Short term, quitting veganism has been "good for business" over at Cosmic Skeptic's channel.

[Meanwhile:] The failed plot to murder Luna, explained by one of the co-conspirators.

[Meanwhile:] Trying to make sense of the criminal allegations surrounding Sv3rige.

The Blue Bathrobe Interview: life with and without video games.

[Meanwhile:] An insane, immoral and inaccurate endorsement of the Unabomber…

[Other voices:] An already forgotten precedent in Cryptocurrency history: LBRY.

The Black Hole Problem: Give, Give, Give, Take, Take, Take.

It wasn't worth it because "you" weren't worth it.

The most serious allegations against Trump never went to court.

100% typical conversation with a longtime fan and supporter of the channel.

[Other voices:] Sam reading from (and reflecting on) Aristotle's Politics.

[Other voices:] Living surrounded by drug addicts in Canada: a siege "of all against all".

Intellectuals: far fewer than one in ten thousand.

Differences of degree, differences in kind.

Meeting Jason Momoa: He's Ugly In Real Life.

What percentage of youtubers are on drugs?

[Other voices:] Oh, hey, remember democracy in Hong Kong? What ever happened TO THAT?

When atoms get the right to vote...

[Department of Minor Ironies:] Meanwhile, IN ISRAEL…

[Department of Minor Ironies:] "Well, let's not politicize the raising of FLAGS…"

Nothing else for either side to say.

[Other voices:] The long term legacy of looting in 2020: strongarm shoplifting "is normal" now.

[Other voices:] War Hasn't Changed.

On the unusual popularity of, "Why I'm forcing you to read Aristotle".

On attracting an audience of intellectuals.

Fear of a Woke Planet: the WOKE MOB Anthem.

It's hard to accept that people are really this stupid. They are.

[Other voices:] Meanwhile, in Iran… 2023: the revolution that never was.

[Other Voices:] First Nations (Native Americans) in video games: a rare discussion.

[Other voices:] What happens to "migrants" after they arrive in New York City?

Emotion is not the opposite of reason.

[The right wing can't be wrong about everything:] "Canada Is Dying" by Aaron Gunn.

Stendhal: the #1 book on Jordan Peterson's reading list.

[Other voices:] Richard describes himself as teetering on the edge of suicide all day, every day, and thus "needs" Nicotine.

[3 minutes:] Are any of these people going to be alive 5 years from now?

Extinction Rebellion: is anyone else asking where all the money went?

[The spirit of season one:] Your mental health problems are who you really are.

The case of the Incel Anthem: how censorship at youtube works (and how it doesn't work)

[Other voices:] Admitting that video games really are the problem: "Hiding in My Room" comes clean.

[Meanwhile:] The decline and fall of "Decline".

[Other voices:] The challenges of going vegan in meat-crazy Pakistan

Does this summer have a name yet?

[Other voices:] The beginning of the end of left wing drug policy, and left wing mental health policy.

What 2,000 views means to me: a look back at the lost avant garde of season one

[The Spirit of Season One:] "Veganism 2.0" more than four years later!

Hank Green Gets Cancelled by Cancer: the Vegan Perspective.

[Other voices:] Can Portland admit drug addiction is the problem? No, of course not!

[Other voices:] An ode to the Chinese cinderblock utopia.

[Other voices:] There are so many drug addicts, Starbucks is removing all the chairs.

[Other voices:] The implicit absurdities of the "sanctuary city" model are becoming difficult to ignore.

[Other voices:] Conspiracy to commit murder allegations against Sv3rige a.k.a. Goatis

[Department of Quitting Video Games:] The Intellivision Amico Saga ISN'T OVER YET…

YouTube

Full list of videos

- [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BEpOSh_r_c][Why Soycrates Hates Me	Chantelle Robin	Vegan vs. Vegan Drama!]]

- [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3SBTQtGo8s][Greece is Hopeless.	Daughter - Divorce - Custody	]]

Categorised

Table of Contents

Nutrition & Health

Diet
Weight
Exercise
Supplementing
Lifestyle vs Medication

Lifestyle

Domestication (A Vegan Perspective AGAINST Pet Ownership, etc.)
Minimalism
Pest Control
Recreational Drugs
Vegan living around the world
Family, Friends & Partners
Children

Advocacy, approaches and critique

Approaches – Positive about
- THE SHORT LIST: my approach to veganism IN BRIEF.
- Veganism: the Wildlife Management Paradigm
- Veganism as a political movement
- Brass Tacks (Vegan Political Organization NOW)
- On community building
- “On Community” (a Vegan Manifesto) in Many Languages
- Permanent Vacation and/or/as/vs. Vegan Activism
- THE SHORT LIST: my approach to veganism IN BRIEF.
Approaches – Negative about

Activism

Ethics

Historical Nihilism, 历史虚无主义, “My Own” Philosophy.
Buddhism (A Pali Scholar’s Perspective)
Utilitarianism, critique of
Consequentialism
Virtue Ethics
Deontology
The Meaning of Life. Not Clickbait.

Ethical issues

Economics
Guilt
Human Rights
Ecology
Vivisection
Second-hand leather (critique of excuses for)
Fur
Culture/ Tradition
Anti-Anti-Natalism (Ecology & Having Kids)
Palm Oil (Vegan Idiocy About)
Racism and/in Vegan Politics

Other

Autobiographical (Eisel Mazard / à-bas-le-ciel)
- Divorce (My First Wife)
Learning Languages
- Learning Chinese (Written Language + Spoken Language)
Modern Greek, learning the language
Fiction
- ASOIAF (“A Song of Ice and Fire” & “Game of Thrones”)
Feminism
- Stop Treating Women Like Infants
Music
- Rap Music / Hip Hop (Commentary)
Atheism
- Replace Christmas
Academia
- University Education, Critique Of
- On Peer Review (Critique of Academia)
Career Advice
- [ESL中国] Advice on Teaching English in China
- The State of Youtube (Analysis of)
International & Historical Politics
Policy
Ideology
Depression
- Anti-AntiDepressants (Depression, etc.)
Recreation
- Drugs #QuitEverything
- Quit Video Games.
Satire is not comedy
(Comedic) Vegan Masterpiece Theater
True Love / True Romance (Advice?)

Conversations & Responses to

Vegan
- Conversations With Vegan Gains
- Responses To Vegan Gains
- Earthling Ed, Critique of
- Nina-and-Randa: Most Offensive Playlist Ever?
- Claire Michelle (Responses to)
- Unnatural Vegan (On critique, consequentialism and pet domestication)
- Criticism of Mic. the Vegan
- Durianrider (on the defamation lawsuit, permanent vacation philosophy and diet pseudoscience)
- “Ask Yourself” (Criticism of the Youtuber known as…)
- Peter Singer, Critique Of
- A Critique of the Permanent Vacation Philosophy: Ted Carr.
- Gary Yourofsky
- Gary Francione
- Plant Based News (Critique of)
- Mayim Bialik, critique of
- Norvegan is Lying to You
- Gary Yourofsky, Critique Of
- Erin Janus, Critique Of
- Supreme Banana (Cammy), Critique Of
- Ted Carr, A Critique of the Permanent Vacation Philosophy.
- Aaron Yarmel, replies to
- Mod Vegan
- Tofu Godess
- AmericanUnicorn (formerly PlantBasedHippy)
- Dumb Vegan
- Vegan Lass
- Vegan Revolution
- Dexter Deveau (formerly Lance Carbstrong)
- Reg Flowers
- Onision
- Earthling Ed
- Cory McCarthy
- Vegetable Police
- The Golden One
- Tobias Leenart
- Andy Warski
- The Vegan Anarchist
- Wengie
- Kiwi Banana
- Zahria
- Conradical Vegan
- Vegan Minimalist Mark
- Lea P
- Anonymous
- The Vegan Activist
Ex-Vegan
- Bonny Rebecca (ex-vegan icon?)
- Kalel Kitten / Kalel Cullen, Critique of
- Ex-Vegan Jacko Wacko Vegano
- Vegan Cheetah, Conversations With
- Responses to Vegan Cheetah
- Izzy Davis, Replies To.
- Joe Vegan
Anti-Vegan
- Sv3rige, Critique Of
- Jordan Peterson (Critiques Of)
Politics
Athiesm
Other
- ProJared
- Onision, Critique Of
- Jaclyn Glenn, critique of
- Faith Goldy, Critique Of
- Critique of John St Julien Baba Wanyama
- Based Zeus vs. Based Pawn
- Celebrities
Viewer Questions

Nutrition and Health

Diet

Weight

Exercise

Supplementing

Feeling Like Garbage on a Vegan Diet.

Lifestyle vs Medication

Anti-Depressants: Euphoria, Sorrow & Science.

Lifestyle

Domestication (A Vegan Perspective AGAINST Pet Ownership, etc.)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHTNMYBiTic&list=PLZEkgohG7k7rpxzjaIVXoMvvVOrNU19VG][

Minimalism

Pest Control

Recreational Drugs

Vegan Living around the world

Family, Friends & Partners

Children

Advocacy, Approaches & Critique

“On Community” (a Vegan Manifesto) in Many Languageshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT864jYQT8I&list=PLZEkgohG7k7r2yc18ZAehpfiLBtBwmNQh][

On community building

Veganism as a political movement

Veganism: the Wildlife Management Paradigmhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atY1BwqPEE0&list=PLZEkgohG7k7qrHC5-UQDpMKvEmQjPiTTv][

Brass Tacks (Vegan Political Organization NOW)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eczd0XOaNt0&list=PLZEkgohG7k7okWjcSH0HnY6BUbMkELHEG][

Book Reviews (Politics / Vegan Politics)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c59ckXsUcgI&list=PLZEkgohG7k7p-Gh60Ko_nM6-xSU3X20tU][

Social Justice: Veganism is NOT a Social Justice Movement.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5O4xypPurs&list=PLZEkgohG7k7qg5zmJyFasMn3W6tOwmDWt][

Anarchism

Communism

DxE: Critique of Direct Action Everywhere (Activism in Theory & Practice)

A Critique of the Permanent Vacation Philosophy: Ted Carr.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEswCQf_1CE&list=PLZEkgohG7k7pT2VULD2abhlVRlXy80uk2][

HCLF / RT4 Critique

Gary Yourofsky

Gary Francione

Celebrities

Idiocy! Vegans Can Be Idiots, Too.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7lqJFYbhU4&list=PLZEkgohG7k7qiLiimIZDIgbaMqfPiS7iR][

Advice nobody wants to hear.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xmbk9-M3Do&list=PLZEkgohG7k7roNNGMARf3BPJj_1cB3IHN][

Misc Advocacy:

Misc Bad Vegan Advocacy:

Activism

Vegan Storybook (For Children), “Even Earthworms Want to See the Sky”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcK4Y8_d5XQ&list=PLZEkgohG7k7pperokk75ic6XpyLqy7MUw][

Interviews with journalists / press / media

Vegan Mind Tricks: Talking to Meat Eaters.

Running a YouTube Channel

Ethics

Historical Nihilism, 历史虚无主义, “My Own” Philosophy.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F59Rx7uoRpo&list=PLZEkgohG7k7ogRyDdIAh757EGzOrGoLWs][

.

Buddhism (A Pali Scholar’s Perspective)

Utilitarianism

Consequentialism

Virtue ethics

Deontology

Ethical issues

Economics

Guilt

Human Rights

Ecology

Vivisection

Palm Oil

Leather

Kat Napiorkowska is against “vegan terrorists” & “black-and-white” morality.

Fur

Culture/Tradition

Ex-Vegans

Other

Autobiographical (Eisel Mazard / à-bas-le-ciel)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RStGHvFZEw8&list=PLZEkgohG7k7o6fYFC3mhSCBtDLzIZsXNS][

Learning Languages

Learning Chinese (Written Language + Spoken Language)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS1BdHUWnKA&list=PLZEkgohG7k7rziMgl6iLHWQxC1yYutVRL][

ASOIAF (“A Song of Ice and Fire” & “Game of Thrones”)https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZEkgohG7k7oK5ShvyvAswb-3lSWjlQe6][

Stop Treating Women Like Infants

Music

Atheism

International Politics

Careers Advice

Conversations with

Vegan Gainshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvce3UhlOe8&list=PLZEkgohG7k7qPwAQogr2qIRszfbtGO6yW][

Responses to

Vegan Gains

Earthling Ed, Critique of

Claire Michelle (Responses to)

Criticism of Mic. the Vegan

Durianrider (on the defamation lawsuit, permanent vacation philosophy and diet pseudoscience)

Peter Singer, Critique Of

Gary Yourofsky

Gary Francione

Plant Based News (Critique of)

Mayim Bialik, critique of

Norvegan is Lying to You

Gary Yourofsky, Critique Of

Erin Janus, Critique Of

Supreme Banana (Cammy), Critique Of

Unnatural Vegan (On critique, consequentialism and pet domestication)

Durianrider controversy (on defamation lawsuit, permanent vacation philosophy and diet pseudoscience)

Nina-and-Randa: Most Offensive Playlist Ever?

“Ask Yourself” (Criticism of the Youtuber known as…)

Debating the “I Don’t Care” Mentality (Vegan Gains vs. Bearing)
Theatricality vs Dishonesty on Youtube feat Ask Yourself, Ted Carr, Cory & Tara McCarthy
Vegan vs. Vegan: “Ask Yourself” Boxing Match in Chiang Mai or GTFO
[2 min.] The resolution of the dispute with “Ask Yourself”?
À-Bas-Le-Ciel vs. Ask Yourself! Racism, Veganism & the Meaning of Life!
New Values: Politics, Personhood, Meaning of Life.
Colonialism & Genocide (vs. “Ask Yourself”)

ModVegan

Tofu Godess

American Unicorn (formerly PlantBasedHippy)

Dumb Vegan

Vegan Lass

Vegan Revolution

Dexter Deveau (formerly Lance Carbstrong)

Reg Flowers

Kiwi Banana

Zahria

Steven Feit

Conradical Vegan

Friends, strangers, activists (w. Conradical Vegan)

Lea P

Gaining Weight: Freelee’s Diet Delusion. (vegan / vegans / veganism)

Jake Eames

Chiang Mai: Paradise for Some?

The Violent Vegan

Interview, à-bas-le-ciel vs. “The Violent Vegan”

Lauren Kenzy

Lauren Kenzy vs. à-bas-le-ciel, the podcast nobody asked for! 😉
(1hr+) Lauren Kenzy on The Permanent Vacation Podcast.

Jason Pizzino

Henya Maniahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6DUExtkzh4][

Henya Mania vs. Freelee & Joe Best.

The Vegan Transition

“Abolitionism” and its Implications (with Amy: “The Vegan Transition”)

The Light Twins

Angry Vegan

Earthling Ed

Critique of Earthling Ed: Vegans can’t offer “Social Justice” for animals.

Cory McCarthy

Vegetable Police

Tobias Leenaert

Andy Warski

FAKE VEGANS (Andy Warski & Tobias Leenaert)

The Vegan Anarchist

Wengie

Vegan Minimalist Mark

Bullfighting, animal individuality and human civilization. (vegan / vegans / veganism)

The Vegan Activist

IMHO, the Political Approach to Veganism is Less Depressing than the Alternatives.

Erin Janus, Freelee & Angie Varona

Erin Janus vs. Freelee vs. Angie Varona.

Aaron Yarmel, replies to

Mod Vegan

AmericanUnicorn (formerly PlantBasedHippy)

Tobias Leenart

Anonymous

Pro-Vegans

The Golden One

Vegan Neo-Nazis Actually Exist (Beneath Contempt).

Ex-Vegan

Melanie Murphy

The Ethical Omnivore: Melanie Murphy. (vegan / vegans / veganism)

Tori Sterling

Tori Sterling: Chasing a Feeling.

Conversations With Vegan Cheetahhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuiuOMiFwtQ&list=PLZEkgohG7k7q3qn7RiaVrYAlndkH4VuKq][

Responses to Vegan Cheetah

Joe Vegan

Bonny Rebecca (ex-vegan icon?)

Kalel Kitten / Kalel Cullen, Critique of

Ex-Vegan Jacko Wacko Vegano

Vegan Cheetah, Conversations With

Izzy Davis, Replies To.

Anti-Vegan

Sv3rige, Critique Of

Jordan Peterson (Critiques Of)

Politics

Vaush, critique of

Richard Wolff, Critique Of

Rachel Oates, critique of

NonCompete, critique of

Mexie (Responses to / Criticisms Of)

Athiesm

Sam Harris is Wrong: Theravada Buddhism

Rationality Rules, critique of

KanadaJin3 (Japan, Islam & Canada)

Atheist ❝Activists❞, critique of

Other

Onision, Critique Of

Jaclyn Glenn, critique of

Faith Goldy, Critique Of

Critique of John St Julien Baba Wanyama

Based Zeus vs. Based Pawn

Celebrities

Viewer Questions

Unsorted

Misc:

Unsorted

Blogspot

2023

2023(78)

Sept

Aug

Jul

Jun

May

Apr

Mar

Miss me with that, catch me with this.

Feb

Jan

2022

2022(81)

Dec

Nov

Oct

Sept

Aug

Jul

Jun

May

Apr

Mar

Feb

Jan

2021

2021(40)

Dec

Nov

Oct

Sept

Remember 2013? My Final Judgement on Buddhism.

Jul

Jun

May

Apr

Mar

Jan

2020

2020(20)

Nov

Oct

Sept

Applying for a very humble job with the local city...

Aug

Jul

Where there's a desk and a desk-lamp…

Apr

Feb

2019

2019(40)

Dec

Nov

Oct

Sept

Aug

August, 2019, Financial Report: How Much Do I Earn...

Jul

Jun

May

Apr

Mar

Feb

Jan

2018

2018(15)

Dec

Nov

Jul

A Funny Story From My Time as a Denizen of the Chi...

Jun

Apr

Giving advice to a suicidal (long-time) viewer.

Mar

Published in a Chinese Newspaper! "小康社会”有什么意思？

Feb

Jan

2017

Nov

Oct

Aug

2016

2016(91)

May

Apr

Mar

Feb

Jan

2015

2015(87)

Dec

Nov

Oct

Sept

Aug

Jul

Jun

May

Apr

Mar

Feb

Jan

2014

2014(77)

Dec

Nov

Mongolian Democracy, Chinese Dictatorship (1989–2014)

Oct

Sept

Aug

Jul

Jun

May

Apr

Mar

Feb

2013

Oct

The Opposite of Buddhism (Article)

Jan

2012

2012(68)

Dec

Nov

Oct

Sept

Aug

Jul

Jun

May

Patreon

I’m getting pretty fast at spreadsheeting website code and turning it into lists for hobby research. Creating this list is related to my Deleted Vegan Video Archive where I’m attempting to preserve some of the recent history of vegans and legal animal rights advocates digital presence.

Listed below are all the patreon posts for the youtube channel a-bas-le-ciel. This means you can hit Ctrl+F and search for a topic that interests you. The further back you go, the more likely you are to find productive discussions. Also you can always sign up for a few days and cancel before midnight at the end of the month to avoid getting charged.

Obviously beware the echo-chamber effect of clones dogmatically agreeing with all his views and the absense of strong critique due to people having to pay to engage in the space and knowing they might have their comments deleted or be banned anyway.

Finally, here’s a few other spaces where fans and critics can discuss his content and any related subjects:

2023

September

Food Truck: Sam Bankman-Fried v. Caroline Ellison.

2 days ago at 9:42 AM

And now: a very important rap song…

Canadian government comes to the defence of Nazi SS and Nazi collaborators but why?

In late April more than 50 members of the U.S. Congress condemned the government of Ukraine's ongoing efforts to glorify "Nazi collaborators."

ottawacitizen

[Back in 2018:] "It’s particularly troubling that much of the Nazi glorification in Ukraine is government-supported…"

2 days ago at 4:24 AM

[2018:] "Contrast that to how the Canadian government handled a related issue last year when the Russian Embassy in Ottawa tweeted out that, 'There are monumets (sic) to Nazi collaborators in Canada and nobody is doing anything about it.'"

The article is worth reading, but if you don't have time, it is also worth clicking on just to take a glance at the photographs.

Poland's education minister says he's 'taken steps' to extradite Yaroslav Hunka - CBC News

Poland's education minister says he has "taken steps" to effect the extradition of Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old Ukrainian Canadian, to Poland after it emerged that the veteran served in the Nazi SS Galizien formation during the Second World War.

[Meanwhile:] Will Canada's 98 year old Nazi end up in jail for WW2 era atrocities?

2 days ago at 4:18 AM

Poland has politely proposed an extradition so that the elderly man can be put on trial…

Death to Nazis and not in Minecraft.

[Meanwhile:] The question of Neo-Nazi military units in Ukraine re-emerges from obscurity.

2 days ago at 4:10 AM

Quote, "Liberal MP Anthony Rota is stepping down as Speaker of the House after inviting a Ukrainian who fought in a Nazi division to Parliament." This is a 30 minute long video, but the story is told within the first sixty seconds or so.

Quoting Al Jazeera: "[He] invited Yaroslav Hunka to Friday’s special parliamentary session in the House of Commons, where he recognised the 98-year-old as a “Ukrainian hero”. Hunka served in the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the Nazi’s SS military unit…" https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/26/canada-parliament-speaker-faces-calls-to-step-down-after-honouring-nazi

Quoting Al Jazeera: "[He] invited Yaroslav Hunka to Friday’s special parliamentary session in the House of Commons, where he recognised the 98-year-old as a “Ukrainian hero”. Hunka served in the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the Nazi’s SS military unit…" https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/26/canada-parliament-speaker-faces-calls-to-step-down-after-honouring-nazi

[Other voices:] "Norway's Muslim immigrants attend classes on western attitudes to women."

2 days ago at 3:57 AM

Seven years later, here's a surreal glimpse at the (left wing) Guardian Newspaper's attempt to articulate western Europe's equivalent to Xinjiang re-education camps, eleven minutes long. Note that many (all?) of the classes are conducted in English, as the "lingua Franca" in Norway.

So the drugs don’t work, but the camps…?

Buying one console per game: makes sense. @MyArcaderetro

4 days ago at 9:07 PM

The My Arcade Pocket Player (with or without the "Pro") line of products encompasses Galaga, Galaxian, Xevious, Pac-Man, Ms. Pac Man, Street Fighter, Mega Man, Street Fighter 2, Dig Dug and several others —now, also, including a collection of eighty Atari 2600 games. BTW, I do now have a separate youtube channel for just this kind of thing: https://www.youtube.com/@VEGANVANIA

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

The gamer's video game console is his gun, his game—its mag.

The Danziger Bridge Massacre: Police Brutality in New Orleans.

September 22 at 11:03 PM

Eleven minutes long.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

"Everything I learned is from the way I see it:/ You can’t trust your fellow man, the government, or even Jesus"

Kalel Cullen will never be young and beautiful again.

September 22 at 8:28 PM

I thought the main discourse, at least several years ago was about changing cultural beauty standards or at least accepting the differences between people and not about complaining about how hard my life is because i'm not fitting into those beauty standards.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Body-positivity?

Sam exits, stage left.

This is the same Sam who reviewed my book, No More Manifestos , many months ago.

A-bas-le-ciel

Sam exits, stage left.

September 21 at 5:42 AM

This is the same Sam who reviewed my book, No More Manifestos, many months ago.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Body count number 4080. The unexamined life is not worth living.

Yes, but you can see he's self-loathing about it: he wants to be someone (and something) other than what he is.

"I've paid university professors thousands (per course per semester) and I've gotten much less." Bruh 😄🥲

Dude, the vast majority of university professors I've known (1) do not do "Q&A" during office hours (even though they're paid to and contractually required to) and (2) will not provide a substantive reply to a question by email —they certainly won't record a video/livestream for an hour in reply to an email. My viewers get a lot more value out of their connection with me than I've ever gotten out of a connection to a professor.

True that. I had a language professor once who never answered any of my emails asking for help with basic grammatical concepts over a six-month period. She also didn't grade a single assignment until months after the course was over.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

I express sympathy.

Sorry to see that.

A desperate cry for help revisited.

September 21 at 4:38 AM

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Gail,

I think you fundamentally misunderstand the situation we are in.

I think this is because you never watched my video, "Desperate Cry for Help", although we both repeatedly urged you to do so.

(1) Insofar as people here know me, they hate me.

(2) This is not a surface level hatred: the more that they know (and understand) who I am, the more they hate me.

This is an anti-intellectual culture.

I am an intellectual.

I was trapped here by (1) Coronavirus and (2) a desperate need to complete a university degree at UVic (in something, anything). It is a serious error for us to behave as if we're trapped here again, now, for no reason at all. It is a serious error to think that we can remain here for even three more months.

We need to leave Victoria immediately. You spent your time here, Gail, ignoring and dismissing the seriousness of the problem.

The fact that I do not have a solution does not diminish the seriousness of the problem: (1) I must leave, (2) there is nowhere (that I know of) that I can go.

There is no contradiction between point 1 and point 2. This is the problem we must address.

E.M.

—————

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

That line is as long as my gastrointestinal tract.

5,400 views in its first day: my 20 second video on the Danziger Bridge Massacre.

September 19 at 4:56 PM

Perhaps "Shorts" are a loophole out of the shadow ban. The way youtube is pushing Shorts, trying to become TikTok... it wouldn't surprise me.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Sounds like you've seen some shit.

A-bas-le-ciel

The wonder that was New Orleans.

September 18 at 8:51 PM

Typical healthy American snacks in the last picture 😄

September 18 at 5:26 PM

[Meanwhile:] A rare example of actually "defunding the police": town of 250 persons w. 50 police officers.

Annoyingly, this first posted with the autocorrect error "defend" for "defund".

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Error, Error on the Wall, Who’s the Fairest of Them All?

MEANWHILE…

September 18 at 6:22 AM

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Silence. No, literally, watch (or listen to) their video on this: "CBS News poll has Trump with a 1-point edge over Biden in potential rematch" https://youtu.be/DTodjFB3tAA

[Dept. of Difficult Subjects to Satirize:] "Send Them Back!" - AOC migrant press conference...

September 16 at 7:07 PM

5 min. long, but the first 30 seconds will do...

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

I wonder why the migrants wear slick clothing from brands such as Nike, Adidas, Champion.

Lost my girlfriend to gaming

3 weeks ago my 3.5 year relationship came to an end over an MMO. My girlfriend (28f) and I (24m) were in a LDR and she would spend most the day...

[Other voices:] "We came to a compromise that she would only play [video games] for around 8 hours a day…"

September 16 at 6:27 AM

I will have you know, parenthetically, that the only video game I have played this week was Xevious, and I never once reached level two. I'm sure my Xevious habit has exceeded 15 minutes this week, but when you're in the position of asking someone to reduce their habit to eight hours a day…

Duxpeer: the legacy of the pale, red shirt is coming to an end (on my channel).

When I was living in Yunnan many (many!) years ago, I bought just two shirts manufactured by Duxpeer -a brand name so obscure that you can h...

A-bas-le-ciel

Duxpeer: the epoch of the pale, red shirt is coming to an end (on my channel).

September 14 at 9:07 PM

Neil Degrasse Tyson is right, vegans are wrong.

September 14 at 6:38 PM

Touché

This reminds me of how the US supported the Taliban/Mujahideen against the Soviet Union. Today in Ukraine the US is supporting the Azov Battalion. Working with people/groups with opposing ideologies to try to achieve a common outcome. With the result that those you supported end up being your enemies in the future.

It applies to problems big and small. What if you want to open a stand up comedy club: what kind of guys are you willing to employ as security?

Guys with the highest number of likes on Linkedin

"bifurcation of people's reaction" Neil The Great Observer.

[Other voices:] The "Canada is Hell" discourse in 2023.

September 14 at 4:35 PM

It's really hilarious how shallow these people are… the more profound (political and cultural) problems never get mentioned… cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent_Is_Too_Damn_High_Party

[Meanwhile:] Chicago, also, is struggling with the absurd implications of "a world without borders", infinite immigration and refugee arrivals, etc.

September 14 at 4:09 PM

Two minutes long.

[Other voices:] Should transgender prisoners be allowed to switch between prisons?

September 11 at 10:29 PM

Seven minutes long.

NYC rushes to enroll migrant students ahead of first day of school on Sept. 7

New York City schools are preparing to educate about 19,000 temporary housing residents this year - most of them asylum seekers.

New York Post

[Meanwhile:] 110,000 asylum seekers, of whom 19,000 are students…

September 11 at 3:19 PM

The article is, in fact, relatively sympathetic toward the students (and their parents) rather than merely ringing the alarm that an already bad education system is about to get worse (due to the burden of having so many students who don't speak English, and who are reliant on government handouts to a massive extent).

————
“I came here from Venezuela because the situation is so unstable. There is no work, no education for my kids, no food, nothing,” said Silva.

“I’m really excited for him to be able to go to school here. The education for him before was so bad.”

Silva and other shelter residents talked to The Post in Spanish as National Guard members were on hand at the hotel handing out supplies and registering people for various social services.

“The process has been really easy so far. The paperwork has been no problem. People show us what do do. We have gotten a ton of help from people for the process,” she said.

“My son doesn’t speak English, but I’m not worried about it. They will give him English lessons at school.”

—————

[Meanwhile:] Drastic change in the propaganda message about "asylum seekers" and "sanctuary cities" from New York's Mayor Adams.

September 11 at 3:05 PM

Quote, "this issue will destroy New York City… 110,000 migrants that we have to feed, clothe, house, educate the children…". The video is only six minutes long.

The End of Philosophy: Kristen Leo is Ex-Vegan.

September 11 at 2:00 AM

Kristen Leo ALSO blocked me on Instagram.

September 10 at 11:16 PM

Being an intellectual in an anti-intellectual culture: banned by Kristen Leo.

September 10 at 10:22 PM

Shout out to Kristen Leo for Banning me: https://www.twitch.tv/kristenleotv @KristenLeo #nihilism

[Footnote to a footnote:] Brian Turner blocked me on Instagram.

September 6 at 7:09 PM

Alas, Brian Turner has now blocked me on Instagram.

So a collab will not be forthcoming.

I wonder if he showed the video ("Bomb Cyclone") to a friend, having a laugh, and the friend wrote back saying, "Do you have any idea who that is?"

[Other voices:] An especially depressing dialogue on transgender surgery, hormones, etc.

September 6 at 7:40 AM

Comedy in Las Vegas: where old ideas come to die.

Las Vegas is both a victim and a canny exploiter of cultural inertia. Everything here is about 30 years behind the present day: ...

A-bas-le-ciel

Comedy in Las Vegas: where old ideas come to die.

September 5 at 9:15 PM

Untitled excerpt from a conversation with a fan.

September 5 at 7:44 PM

——————————

Re: "I still value your content and I hope to be able to contribute more again, sometime in the future."

^ I don't value my own content any more…

The impossibility of anything positive coming from it

entails that I don't value the content I create myself.

I pointed out to my mother a few days ago:

I have seven million views (on ABLC)…

even if you say, "it's one in a million"

I should have seven colleagues, or seven friends, by now, as a result (of so many years put into making so much content).

And I don't.

I don't even have one.

And I live with the grim expectation that I never will have even one.

So, in this sense, there's nothing for me to value about content creation anymore:

I did this to meet talented, passionate, highly motivated people.

I did this to meet intelligent people who had some kind of common ground with me (not necessarily veganism, not necessarily anything else in particular).

And I've met zero.

Absolutely zero.

So, now, I have to ask: what is the point in content creation? For me, how/why am I supposed to value it?

(Obviously, I'm not doing this for the money, and the money is vastly less than a minimum wage job, etc.)

And I could say the same thing about studying Chinese:

I had to quit studying Chinese, because I was living with the grim expectation that nothing positive would ever come from it.

——————————

I don't know if this is any consolation, but while you may not have found a colleague, I do think that you often positively inspire some few people to a great extent.

I don't think being inspired by you and sharing some values and working on oneself will ever enable people to be your colleagues.

At least that's not all that's necessary, I think.

But still, some people will do good things on their own (or at least try to) because of your videos, I believe.

It may not be what you wanted. But it's a good thing that you achieved, nonetheless. And I see value in that, even if you don't

——————————

I should know people I can record podcasts with.

I should know people I can record TYT-style discussions of politics with (i.e., three people sitting around a desk).

I should know seven people I can record a book review with.

I know zero.

I don't know one.

——————————

Department of Minor Ironies.

September 4 at 7:40 PM

https://youtu.be/8sYPxgGCxOQ

There's no future in comedy, just go into Latin.

September 4 at 5:47 PM

Roma delenda est!

Department of Minor Ironies.

September 3 at 9:29 PM

The only trace of Brian Turner's scam is (now) the critique of it on my channel.

September 3 at 8:52 PM

BRIAN TURNER DELETED EVERY TRACE OF HIS STOCK MARKET (AND CRYPTO) INVESTMENT CHANNEL:
IF YOU SEARCH FOR "BRIAN TURNER INVESTS", GUESS WHAT YOU'LL NOW SEE?

[Other voices:] A cinematic edit of the (anti-)Burning Man climate protest… and its malcontents.

September 2 at 7:44 AM

Mushroom pickers urged to avoid foraging books on Amazon that appear to be written by AI

Sample of books scored 100% on AI detection test as experts warn they contain dangerous advice

[Meanwhile:] Completely normal news.

September 2 at 5:08 AM

No description necessary.

Denouement to "I rarely use the n-word, BUT WHEN I DO..."

If you haven't seen the correspondence this is a sequel to, here it is: http://a-bas-le-ciel.blogspot.com/2023/08/i-rarely-use-n-word-but-w...

A-bas-le-ciel

Are you writing to me, offering to help me… or are you begging me to help you?

September 1 at 6:00 PM

[This is the denouement to an earlier post titled, "I rarely use the n-word, BUT WHEN I DO..."]

Let me ask you a really simple question: are you writing to me, offering to help me…

or are you begging me to help you?

In your mind, the two are one and the same; in reality, they're two diametrically different things.

The purpose of this conversation cannot possibly be to make you feel better about yourself: you've known about my youtube channel for five years, and you've never yet lifted a single finger to help me.

You should re-read this correspondence from beginning to end: there is something important for you to learn from it.

And there is nothing, absolutely nothing, for me to learn from it.

Re: "But I doubt I would continue to work with someone who was cursing and using slurs."

(a) We have not begun to work together: therefore you can't continue.

(b) And you never once ask yourself why it is that I would want to work with you: why do you imagine I'd have some kind of respect for your opinion, in this "creative dialogue" that you're fantasizing about?

Quote: "Please let me know if some kind of dialogue interests you. A creative dialogue."

In the last five years, what has your relationship to me been? You take and take and take; you give me nothing in return. What do you think is going to change in the next five years? Nothing. Nothing at all.

Here is your rather surreal offer of assistance, in your original words:

"As I have been quietly watching your channel for more than 5 years, I am surprised that you do not have a massive following. I would be willing to dialogue with you on how to solve this."

That is not the problem I'm complaining of in my "desperate cry for help" videos. And that is not a solution I could possibly expect you to provide: I am not asking you or anyone to provide me with "a massive following", but it is especially bizarre to imagine how you (you of all people!) would actually be able to provide that —especially through "dialogue". It is a surreal offer that I am eager to refuse.

The problem that I am asking for help with (in my "desperate cry for help" videos) is stated very clearly there, and it has been briefly restated here, along with a few examples.

The difference you can make is what matters more than the difference you can't. You have —presumably— heard me say that many times.

You write to me telling me that my philosophy has given you so much (that it's so meaningful, that it's transformed your life in so many ways). That is what my philosophy means to you, that is what my words mean to you (that is what my books are to you, that is what my videos and podcasts are to you, etc.). And what does your philosophy mean to me? And what is it, now, that you're supposed to give?

Re: "You began this conversation by admitting that you're not even willing to risk revealing your real name. Dig deep. Look in the mirror. Figure out what the fuck you are willing to do."

You have not answered this question: it is a question you must demand of yourself —and without cowardice.

E.M.

Typical spam advice.

JFK Assassinology in the 21st Century: Not Just a Book Reivew.

September 1 at 8:35 AM

August

[JFK:] A partial confession from a sharpshooter on the sixth floor.

August 31 at 4:17 AM

Just a few weeks before he died, Loy Factor spoke on camera, wistfully identifying Mac Wallace as the man who had recruited and paid him to be part of the team that would shoot J.F.K. from the sixth floor, and admitting that he held a rifle (although he claimed he did not shoot, while the other two men did). In general, the testimony from Loy Factor has been massively inconvenient for everyone, overturning many longstanding theories and seemingly factual assumptions.

[Other voices:] Richard Dawkins eats meat… but not when he's home… because it's immoral.

August 30 at 9:02 PM

Start at the ten minute mark (10:00).

Going to Burning Man? Climate, anti-capitalist activists block traffic into festival

Climate and anti-capitalist activists blocked a road leading to Burning Man, creating gridlock and leading to clashes with motorists and tribal rangers.

Los Angeles Times

[Department of Minor Ironies:] Protesting against "Burning Man" for all the wrong reasons.

August 30 at 6:15 AM

You might think that SOBRIETY protestors would be trying to shut down the burning man festival… but no…

[Block quote:] _Video and photos posted on X, the website formerly known as Twitter, show a trailer blocking the road that leads to Black Rock City, along with about half a dozen protesters, some of whom locked themselves to the trailer, and banners with signs including “BURNERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE!,” “ABOLISH CAPITALISM,” and “GENERAL STRIKE FOR CLIMATE,” also blocked the road. A sign reading “Ban Private Jets” was draped across the asphalt._

[Meanwhile:] The Wild Boars of Haifa.

August 29 at 9:02 AM

NO, LITERALLY. In case the link doesn't work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soTyjFlyaTE

[Other voices:] Aristocracy: another scandal drawing attention to the extent to which universities are built on fraud.

August 29 at 2:45 AM

Left Wing Atheists (Should) Oppose the Transgender Agenda.

August 29 at 12:17 AM

[Other voices:] Anti-vegan propaganda from the BBC.

August 28 at 9:27 PM

Five minutes long. Reminder: the BBC is a government agency.

[Other voices:] Hitomi talks about prostituting herself, attempting suicide five times in a week.

August 27 at 8:53 PM

The link should take you to 16:20 (and you might want to fast forward to that point if the link doesn't work). And this is Hitomi Mochizuki, not Hitomi Tanaka, we're talking about.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Just to get by man, just to keep living in the outside, mane

On evidence: reasoning through nihilism vs. religion in the absence of evidence.

Stuart, [a.k.a. "The Unrepentant Atheist" on youtube] I've made a few comments on your channel raising the question of, "To what extent do w...

A-bas-le-ciel

On evidence: reasoning through nihilism vs. religion in the absence of evidence.

August 27 at 5:10 PM

On Ye Olde Blog.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

evidence (n.) c. 1300, "appearance from which inferences may be drawn," from Old French evidence, from Late Latin evidentia "proof," in classical Latin "distinction, vivid presentation, clearness" in rhetoric, from stem of Latin evidens "obvious, apparent" from ex "out, out of, fully" + videntem (nominative videns), present participle of videre "to see" (from PIE root *weid- "to see").

Chess is Transphobic. @BotezLive

August 27 at 12:22 AM

Fucking genius. I often say a version of "Nothing can get me to care enough about sports, to think about trans people in sports", and this just made a shallow thing way deeper. 10/10. The subtle stuff is brilliantly placed, in only a way that Mr. Clean could've done. Love it. Studying it.

Thanks for taking the time to write in, Manan.

It is absolutely not true that any significant percentage of tournament chess games are repeats of other recorded games. There's an often cited factoid that there are more possible games of chess than atoms in the universe. The number of reasonable moves (or reasonable looking moves to human eyes) in any given position is not constrained in the way you describe. Repeat games do occur but they're unusual. The biggest exception is that at the lower levels something could go terribly wrong in the opening. There are also known drawing variations where the players may draw by threefold repetition, perpetual check or agreement. This would require one or both players to be motivated to bring about a quick draw. Over a genuinely competitive game of any real length, one player will nearly always zig where another zags. I've seen top level games where a unique position was reached before move 10. I would guess most top level games reach a unique position between moves 15-20. For lower level chess this is even earlier because people know less theory. The average game goes to about move 40.

(1) Bullshit. "Repeat games do occur but they're unusual." At Cambridge (when I was there, briefly) they were checking a database for all of the competitive matches, and they'd all happened before: I just think the vast majority of games aren't compared to a database, and were never recorded in a database to begin with, because nobody cares. (2) I discussed this with a computer programmer who had made "A.I." (footnote: not really A.I.) for computer chess. He talked to me in detail about how finite the number of possible moves was at each stage, and how crucial this was for programming a machine to appear to play chess intelligently —and he was interested when I presented him with a contrasting board game that had too many possible moves per turn (in his opinion) to program A.I. in this same way for. (3) I would ask you whether or not the type of uniqueness you're asserting is actually unique in a meaningful sense: in the endgame, you can chase around the last pawn in a zigzag several different ways, but the differences really are meaningless. (4) Finally, it's a comedy video, not a thesis on chess. Although I admit: it's both, to some extent.

It is true that the number of moves in any given position is far more constrained than in a game like, for example, Go. (It’s worth noting that even in that game, the best humans are inferior to a Google Deepmind program). The observation that the number of legal moves is countable enough for either a brute force calculating machine like Stockfish or a neural network system like DeepMind to be successful at chess cannot lead you to deduce that human beings are playing identical games. Each individual position might lead many people will make the same decision when confronted with it. However, when you scale this up to many moves, there are so many paths that uniqueness is almost inevitable. I would be very curious to know what level these matches were and how long these games were at Cambridge. Again, this is only conceivable in a world where people were playing for tricks in the opening and winning in less than 20 moves. I completely reject the idea that many games go “out of book” when the king takes a trivially different route to mop up a pawn. It is the middlegame where the complexity scales up. I have played dozens of tournament games. If one of them was identical to another game up to move 25, I would be very surprised (the one exception being a game I lost in the opening that lasted far less than 25 moves). If another game was identical to mine up till move 40 I would fall off my chair. This does have the problem that most games, especially at my level of class B player, haven’t been put into the database, but I would be surprised if I don’t have access to a database at least as large as one at Cambridge. I could test this by uploading them since I already have the digital game files. Do you think this is happening at top level chess? (where people do check databases and top players do have their games recorded). Or is your contention that it mainly happens at lower levels where there are far more competitors? You often admonish people for speaking about things they know little about. You’re stepping into one topic where it’s obvious that you’ve formed incorrect conclusions from surface level engagement. And I completely accept point four that it’s a comedy video and that this particular point is not even central to the point that chess is ultimately pointless. I would add that chess is no longer a significant part of my life in large part because of your influence. I don’t dispute that broader conclusion. In this case I simply have to ask you to relinquish the title bestowed upon you in recent fan mail of “always right about everything” ;)

Alas, I will take off the crown of being right about everything, and replace it with a baseball cap symbolizing my ability to bully my audience as misperceiving me as right about everything: which is the more important skill. ;-) I do still think chess is a very repetitious game lacking meaningful variation from one match to the next, and that one game played will closely resemble another, even if the moves taken are not identical, as you argue, when checked against a database.

Labrador chess master blindsided by ruling banning transgender women from competing in events - CBC News

Chess player Morgen Mills, a transgender woman who has competed internationally, says a ruling by the World Chess Federation that bans transgender men and women from competing in the official events without proof of their gender could hurt young chess players looking to make a name for themselves.

Chess is transphobic: transwomen expected to compete with… men?

August 26 at 7:33 PM

I would also recommend a quick google search of where the hell Goose Bay is.

——————

Most chess tournaments are split into two categories — an open category and a women's category. Women can enter both categories, Mills said.

…

"There's no reason to believe that men would be better chess players than women. It's more to do with the importance of having female spaces, because it's been a long male-dominated sport and community," she said.

"Having female-only competitions provides, you know, a welcoming, comfortable, safe space to grow the game among women and girls."

——————

SBF: no vegan options in New York city jail.

August 26 at 12:55 AM

A significant footnote:

"His lawyers appealed the ruling to jail him to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. And earlier this week, they complained at a hearing that he has had to survive at a Brooklyn lockup on bread, water and peanut butter because they won’t provide him with vegan food."

Source: https://financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/sam-bankman-frieds-lawyers-renew-claim-that-the-ftx-founder-cant-prepare-for-trial-behind-bars

"Department's Bureau of Prisons, which runs the jail, to address the issues with Mr Bankman-Fried's medication. She was "reasonably confident" the facility offered vegetarian food, but was not sure whether vegan food was available, Judge Netburn added."

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-66589797

I do not believe you're autistic, but…

August 25 at 11:44 PM

[Arright, one more comment on the same video:] You ask, "Why would I care what men think?" If you're an architect, you care about what other architects think; if you play guitar, you care what other guitarists think, male or female. Your problem is that you haven't developed intellectually in any one field —let alone an array of many different fields. I do not believe you're autistic: you've just made the wrong choices. You're still trying to figure out how to be a teenager when you need to be figuring out how to be a man of substance in your mid thirties.

[I've already made a video questioning the extent to which non-autistic people end up cultivating stereotypically autistic behaviors. Probably an important area of social science research, TBH.]

[Addressed to Decline:] "You can't choose whether to be loved or hated: you choose whether you're going to be known or unknown."

August 25 at 11:32 PM

You can't choose whether to be loved or hated: you choose whether you're going to be known or unknown. We do not get to choose whether other people love or hate us, we ONLY choose whether to be known or unknown. What you've been doing in the last two years, it's a strat: there is more than one possible strat, and you are extremely hostile toward anyone telling you (1) what strategy has worked for them, and (2) what strategy they think would work for you (and what wouldn't work). I've seen you being extremely hostile toward guys just talking through with you their own experience with doing a ton of hard work but getting only mediocre results. I've been encouraging you to think in terms of the life of the mind, and I've really explained how that would improve your life in every way (including your relationships with women). That's not advice you want to hear, so you perceive what I'm doing as "negative" rather than "positive".

——————————

^ Posted as a comment below the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTNJfko_Jc0

The instructions on this cardboard box clearly say, "recycle".

August 25 at 8:41 AM

Ladies and gentlemen: I have invented THE SEIMITSU SHOEBOX.

What actually happened with Jordan Peterson's day in court (in just six screen shots).

August 25 at 6:14 AM

This is everything you need to know (directly quoted from the judge's decision)… and it's a significant contrast to what he's saying about it.

I rarely use the n-word, BUT WHEN I DO...

Well, look: I didn't meet ONE good person via my research in Buddhism (Buddhist Studies, Buddhist Philosophy, etc.). I didn't meet ONE good ...

A-bas-le-ciel

I rarely use the n-word, BUT WHEN I DO...

August 25 at 1:27 AM

The title may be a bit of a joke, but this is as important and serious as any of these posts on Patreon get. Each and every one of you is in an "act now or act never" situation, whether you realize it or not.

I am always 100% right about everything: fan mail... of a kind.

Hello Eisel, I have been watching your channel for a long time. I am writing to you about videos you made earlier this year. In them, you ha...

A-bas-le-ciel

I am always 100% right about everything: fan mail… of a kind.

August 24 at 10:01 PM

An interesting read from a five-year-long fan of the channel.

Refuting "Gender is a Social Construct": God is a Social Construct.

August 24 at 9:02 PM

Conservatives: “you are your biological sex.” Progressives: “you are whatever you choose to identify as.” Eisel: “you are an idiot.”

$4 million settlement for family of man who died covered in bug bites at Georgia jail

Officials approved a $4 million settlement for the family of LaShawn Thompson, who died from "severe neglect" at a Georgia jail, an autopsy found.

Mr. Thompson was found dead in a filthy jail cell after being eaten alive by insects and bed bugs.

August 24 at 4:17 AM

Ah, yes, I can remember the days of yore, in 2020, when people wanted to reform the criminal justice system…

The report listed Thompson's cause of death as undetermined. The report said there were no obvious signs of trauma on Thompson's body, but his entire body was covered in bed bugs and his cell had a "severe bed bug infestation."

From a separate article, linked below:

The Fulton County Jail, also known as the Rice Street Jail, is currently under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for potential civil rights violations.

Seven people [!] have died in custody there since the start of this year.

Labat, the Fulton County sheriff, has pledged to cooperate with the federal investigation and says it reinforces his calls for a new jail.

"I have publicly, privately and repeatedly raised concerns about the dangerous overcrowding, dilapidated infrastructure and critical staffing shortages of the jail," he said in July.

This month, the county reached a settlement with the family of Lashawn Thompson, who died in the jail's psychiatric wing last year and was found covered in bedbugs. An independent autopsy commissioned by the family found he died from neglect.

…

Eighty-seven percent of the jail population is Black and the vast majority have not been convicted, according to the Justice Department. Most are waiting for bail hearings or competency evaluations or are denied release awaiting trial because they cannot post bail.

LINK: https://www.npr.org/2023/08/21/1195080489/donald-trump-georgia-booking

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

When you say people wanted to reform the criminal justice system, did they really want to improve prison conditions, the thing that you care about? Because criminal justice system may mean several things: Law enforcement agencies, usually the police Courts and accompanying prosecution and defence lawyers Agencies for detaining and supervising offenders, such as prisons and probation agencies.

Comedy Writing for Late-Night TV by Joe Toplyn, a book review.

August 22 at 5:48 AM

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

"For me, the most discouraging part is facing up to the reality of what it means to write jokes for an audience of people that I despise, and jokes that don't mean anything, jokes that don't go anywhere, that aren't part of a plot or a story, as opposed to the pursuit of, what I consider, comedy that matters." Seems like you've made a grammatical error, IMHO: you seemingly intend to make the viewer ask themselves "What does it mean to write jokes for despicables?", but then you immediately answer with saying "In reality, it means to write meaningless jokes".

That is not a grammatical error.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Then tell me, what is the reality of what it means to write these meaningless jokes? It means you're perpetually stuck at pleasing people you despise. We could write those two sentences in the reverse order. There's a grammatical relation that your original paragraph fails to address.

You do realize this guy is the author of five highly successful books, right?

August 22 at 1:42 AM

Yes, you can see what an expert stylist he is, just from the quality of his composition here... and in the midst of his reproaches directed against my own writing.

Hah, the hero always seems to arrive just in time, right before the brink of destruction, right as you are about to give up all hope… In other words: it’s about time! I’m tired of your humble bragging, feigning lament, that you “have no rivals or equals”. Hah! I hope you weren’t getting too complacent there, Eisel, old boy, because you have clearly met your GRINDSTONE.

You know, there should be a separate font for this kind of intentionally voiced irony: we have italics, we have bold… y'know?

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

It's about time you get destroyed.

The increasingly surreal situation of open borders and sanctuary cities in 2023.

August 22 at 1:14 AM

BTW, if you missed it, compare today's post (above) to this one from New York City, a few months ago: https://youtu.be/bY-DQwqf3zE

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

"I want to go to London with my family." Yeah, London is nice, there's fish and chips and double-decker buses...

I'd turn off my email account if I could.

August 21 at 11:45 PM

I would close down this Patreon if I could, too.

It's not 95 percent of you who are idiots: it's 99.999 percent. And I've had enough. And I'm quitting. And I'm moving on. And nobody is going to help. Not even with advice. Not even with Google searches, frankly.

Gendergeddon 4: Two Gender Two Geddon. @rationalityrules

August 21 at 5:48 AM

Rationality rules is wrong. About Gender. Again. #skepticism #atheism #rationalityrules

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

I understand the new title better "Too Gender To Geddon".

Venice is sinking; Yellowknife is burning… and completely depopulated.

August 19 at 6:55 PM

"Bangkok underwater and my name in lights…"

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Lights in the sense of "the lungs of a slaughtered animal"?

You have freedom of speech so long as you limit your discussions TO MATTERS OF NO SIGNIFICANCE.

August 18 at 12:04 AM

Imagine if they applied this policy to all wars equally (that you were neither allowed to dismiss nor condone it… not any given war) instead of just this one war, just in these special circumstances, supposedly.

This has been going on for a lot longer than you realize (and it's not just youtube). I remember back when the Syrian Civil War was unfolding, there were numerous pro-Assad channels dedicated to exposing the crimes and staged attacks committed by "moderate" rebels. Around the time of the Ghouta chemical attack, most (if not all) of those channels were deleted. I don't know to what extent you're allowed to discuss the Syrian Civil War today, but it doesn't matter now, as that conflict has already more-or-less concluded. One thing you are allowed to discuss (if you're a mainstream news channel, though it hardly receives any attention) is that Israel has/still routinely launches airstrikes into Syria to this day. https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-jets-allegedly-bomb-damascus-triggering-syrian-air-defenses/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Israel_conflict_during_the_Syrian_civil_war There's a lot I could say about the other wars too, but it's beyond the scope of this format to be able to effectively convey here (and likely to incur the wrath of the censors here as well).

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

dismiss (v.) sense 3a: to reject serious consideration of (something or someone) condone (v.) : to regard or treat (something bad or blameworthy) as acceptable, forgivable, or harmless If so, then there's no fault with this policy. The implementation of it is what's cancerous.

Youtube dictatorship is real.

[Other voices:] J.J. McCullough with the shallowest angle on Afghanistan imaginable…

August 16 at 3:16 AM

but… I mean… nevertheless… HE'S GOT A POINT…

[Other voices:] Remember the economic hype about China's "Belt & Road" strategy?

August 16 at 12:44 AM

This was —believe it or not— an important reason for why we set foot in Athens in the first place.

[Other voices:] The caliber of climate change discussions in American government.

August 15 at 9:10 AM

"50 trillion dollars?" Circa five minutes long.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Sad.

Mexie is now EX-VEGAN and anti-vegan... but is still an insane Communist.

Here's Mexie herself speaking: Mexie speaking: Footnote: she also identifies as ...

A-bas-le-ciel

Mexie is now EX-VEGAN and anti-vegan... but is still an insane Communist.

August 15 at 7:47 AM

Alex O'Connor: the Ethics of Rape and/or/as Veganism. @CosmicSkeptic

August 14 at 10:10 PM

On quitting the vegan movement: my final act of vegan activism is already in the past tense.

My elegy to the vegan movement is more than two years old... https://youtu.be/GueIxWi7vOE My book, Veganism: Future of an Illus...

A-bas-le-ciel

On quitting the vegan movement: my final act of vegan activism is already in the past tense.

August 13 at 7:45 PM

My elegy to the vegan movement is more than two years old...

https://youtu.be/GueIxWi7vOE

My book, Veganism: Future of an Illusion, was written in response to ONE request from ONE viewer (i.e., a supporter on Patreon) as my final act of vegan activism, looking back on the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of the movement in retrospect. I understand that people who read the book are excited by it, as if it's the beginning of a new period in which I become some kind of guiding voice for the cause, but the exact opposite is the case.

Talent is scarce: the Cree and Ojibwe (language and politics) need all the talented people they can get, but they (i.e., anyone who cares in that field, not necessarily a person with power in an institution) squandered the opportunity to work with me (or to help me or encourage me) while it lasted, and they'll never have that opportunity again.

You might want to read that single sentence paragraph twice: I can say the same about research in Laos and Cambodia, or about Pali and Buddhist studies, or several other fields that I lost years of my life to without meeting a single person of any brilliance, ambition or even moral fiber (this includes the politics and language of modern China: supposedly significant to over a billion of us on planet earth, but paradoxically a smaller field than the other examples mentioned). I'm not going to be a one man political movement: I'm not going to be a one man academic discipline. I have to work with people, I have to work for people, and I have to work toward real outcomes: none of that is possible in veganism (nor in Chinese, etc.) so I'm moving on —and many members of my audience have disregarded the extent to which I already have moved on. I'm not suck in 2016: they are.

I still have people writing to me saying that I'm this uniquely important voice for the future of the vegan movement. They're wrong: in 2023, I'm a uniquely important voice FROM THE PAST. I'm part of the history of the vegan movement that's already over.

My book may be the most brilliant thing that's ever been written about vegan politics, and it may remain the most brilliant thing for many years to come. Yeah, guess what? Not a lot of people are writing brilliant essays about the politics of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar or even (shockingly) China. You wanna take a look at how much talent is on the bench for Hobbema, Alberta, as the Cree language slowly goes extinct?

By sheer dint of the stupidity and self-indulgent fatuousness of my contemporaries, I could have been (and/or briefly was) the most brilliant writer in any number of fields (even if I was only involved for a short time, as with Cree and Ojibwe). As an intellectual, I can't work FOR NOTHING and FOR NOBODY: being talented isn't rewarding for the person who has the talent, it's only rewarding for the people who lack it. Being the most brilliant author in veganism is an utterly thankless task: it would be just as miserable to be turning out one essay after another on the politics of Laos, or the misinterpretation of ancient Buddhist texts, I assure you.

The audience has power over the fate of the author: if everyone within Buddhism is genuinely too stupid to appreciate what I have to offer (and they were, and presumably still are) then I'm not going to remain a Buddhist intellectual. It absolutely never occurred to me that a field as enormous as Modern Chinese could be WORSE (in all these respects) than the rare and recondite areas of study I'd been in before, but it was (and is). Most of you can't imagine the kind of sacrifice (and permanent brain damage) you endure in learning Chinese as a second language over so many years; it is easier for you to visualize the permanent harm done to my life by my involvement in veganism (i.e., very few career options are open to me now, etc.). You tell me what's harder: walking away from Chinese, or walking away from the vegan movement?

They're both easy, because I'm walking away from you: from you utterly untalented people, who were neither worthwhile to work with, nor worthwhile to work for. I'm leaving nothing of value behind, because I'm leaving nobody of value behind. I will never wake up and wish I was back in Cambodia, but, likewise, I'll never wake up and wish I was (once again) eating lunch with my professors of Chinese studies, etc.

[Other voices:] SOMEONE ELSE (bothered to) CRITICIZE DECLINE!

August 13 at 3:31 AM

My comment on the video:

———

I thought I was literally the only channel on youtube criticizing Decline over the last several years. I mean… perhaps I WAS, but I'm happy to see at least one other channel putting some effort into it. You can learn a lot through the examination of other people's mistakes (AND MORAL ERRORS)… whereas you can learn nothing by ignoring them.

———

I found this short documentary thingy(not worth watching) about incels that briefly features him https://youtu.be/YWeKsNPdhMw

[A semi-satirical fundraiser:] Veganvania: Castlevania… without the meat.

August 12 at 8:43 AM

SAVE THE WORLD!!! DONATE NOW!!!

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Watch this man Cinemassacre make fun of the meat: https://youtu.be/Hfo6hoN0PUw?t=262

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Emuparadise for some, feasting on flesh for others.

[Other voices:] Memories of the "wild west" years on youtube.

August 11 at 5:31 PM

This contains comparative reference to WorldStarHipHop, and the culture of capturing moments of crime and police violence on camera, etc., that has (now) long since disappeared.

[My comment, left below the video:] During those years —when there was _a real opportunity_ on youtube— I totally ignored the platform, and I ignored social media, broadly defined. I wanted to reach the public through the written word: articles, books, magazines, journals, newspapers. I figured out (too late) that people are only going to read my book (in the 21st century) after they've become interested in hearing what I have to say, because they've heard my voice on youtube —or via some competitor to youtube (past, present or future). At an early phase, youtube was a "can't fail" proposition (i.e., anyone making content would find an audience, i.e., the audience would find them); but in 2023, it's a "can't win" proposition (even the most talented and assiduous uploader _WILL NOT_ find an audience here).

[Other voices:] "Senator, I am not a Communist." An especially surreal moment.

August 11 at 8:53 AM

A professor from Cornell Law School is questioned about the extent to which she may be a Marxist. It's only five minutes long, I'd encourage you to watch all the way to the end.

Cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saule_Omarova#OCC_nomination

[Other voices:] U.S. Congress gets into the details of the lab leak origin hypothesis: was there "a cover up" on the American side?

August 11 at 1:37 AM

False facts endure long: Neo-Nazi "statistics" that still pollute political discourse.

August 10 at 11:29 PM

My own words are in italics, the (anonymous) commenter's words are in bold.

———

2:51 - are there still people who don't think replacement is happening...

———

The real statistics are presented here (around the four minute mark, although I recommend watching the whole thing from start to end). Mysteriously, you'll never see Lauren or Faith presenting (or being honest about) these statistics: https://youtu.be/_xJp2mEwyeY?t=247

———

@a-bas-le-ciel so your argument is it's happening in USA but not in Canada?

———

No, on the contrary: the per capita rate of real immigration to the United States _IS MUCH LOWER_ than Canada, you're just someone who has chosen to imbibe (and utterly unconvincing and statistically falsifiable) fictional narrative that makes you feel morally superior to other people (who don't believe in the same fables that you do). Note the series of charts on screen here starting at the one minute mark: https://youtu.be/kRhZdmtw3Wg?t=63

———

The doomed planet: what can we actually do about climate change?

August 10 at 9:05 PM

Great video, I sent it to several friends.

Thanks: all my stuff is greylisted (if not blacklisted)… and if you just glance at the front page of my channel, it's obvious that the big exception is videos about Jordan Peterson… apparently because people who love him (and/or hate him) share the link. ;-)

I am guilty of sharing links to your JP videos :)

The Doomed Hobby: Arcade Stick "Modding" (Retro Gaming Lore)

August 10 at 9:02 PM

What is the best version of Puyo Puyo? Retro Gaming Lore.

August 10 at 9:02 PM

My critique of "the great replacement theory" from more than five years ago: the spirit of season one.

August 10 at 5:59 PM

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Season two started when you were repatriated to Canada (not Melissa, she's from Detroit), am I correct?

No: season two basically starts with the new livestream format, and the white (anti-Communist) flag (with a dragon on it) hanging in the background, etc. There was a formal announcement for season two, that you've probably seen a dozen times: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-7NNaLl67s

No quick fix to reverse Antarctic sea ice loss as warming intensifies - scientists

Sea ice in the Antarctic region has fallen to a record low this year as a result of rising global temperatures and there is no quick fix to reverse the damage done, scientists said on Tuesday in a new study of the impact of climate change on the continent.

Global warming in the news: the masses (briefly) pretend to care about antarctic sea ice.

August 10 at 9:15 AM

I like this use of the word "loss": sea ice loss. Perhaps we should start saying brain loss instead of brain damage.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Brain decapitation [di-ˌka-pə-ˈtā-shən]. Sea ice transportation to hell.

Jordan Peterson used to be left wing.

August 10 at 9:11 AM

The NDP is further to the left than Canada's liberal party: especially in the context of Alberta politics at that time, it's fair to refer to this as "left wing" and not merely "left".

Directly quoting Wikipedia:

In junior high school, Peterson became friends with Rachel Notley and her family. Notley became leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party and the 17th premier of Alberta. Peterson was a member of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from ages 13 to 18. As a teenager, Peterson decided that "religion was for the ignorant, weak and superstitious" and hoped for a left-wing revolution, a hope that lasted until he met left-wing activists in college.

Thomas Jefferson: it's possible to be racist (and a white supremacist) and nevertheless have mixed race babies.

A-bas-le-ciel

Thomas Jefferson: it's possible to be racist (and a white supremacist) and nevertheless have mixed race babies.

August 10 at 6:54 AM

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

What was the holy trinity, again? Stupidity, malignancy, and insanity?

My message to AronRa. He won't read it, he won't reply, but...

Aaron, you're a scientist, but you never studied _political science..._ and you never developed any ("scientific") background in the study of...

A-bas-le-ciel

My message to AronRa. He won't read it, he won't reply, but…

August 10 at 3:36 AM

If anyone knows a better way to get a message to the guy, by all means share the link with him, etc.

—————

Aaron, you're a scientist, but you never studied _political science…_ and you never developed any ("scientific") background in the study of religion. I would not lecture on the evolutionary links between "clades" of dinosaurs; but you have to be willing to recognize that you're far, _far_ outside of your area of expertise (and competence) when you talk about politics —and, to be blunt, when you talk about religion. And you've never been willing to talk to anyone who could have helped you in these areas because (in my opinion) it would require a kind of humility from you that's unfamiliar; I am not saying you're incapable of it, just that it's unfamiliar (whereas, e.g., I have to be prepared to humble myself every time I start learning a new language (like Chinese) and I struggle to speak at a child-like level, or when I start working on the history and politics of a heretofore unknown country and culture).

—————

Lauren Southern is Still a Nazi.

August 9 at 10:28 PM

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

vagina (n.) "sexual passage of the female from the vulva to the uterus," 1680s, medical Latin, from specialized use of Latin vagina "sheath, scabbard, covering; sheath of an ear of grain, hull, husk" (plural vaginae), a word of uncertain origin. Perhaps cognate with Lithuanian vožiu, vožti "to cover with a hollow thing" and Latvian vāzt "to open or to close".

Blackpilled Incels: Refugees from the Toxic Optimism of Christianity.

August 9 at 4:54 AM

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

"When I used to go to the gym in my twenties [..] I never went to the gym to draw no hoes, because I don't believe that working out will draw any hoes to you" Man's been lonely since his twenties. EDIT: He says he's 34, less than I thought, I thought he was 44 or something.

No, seriously: I refuse to pander to the stupidest 80% of the audience.

August 8 at 11:13 PM

If you didn't see the first half of the conversation, here it is: http://a-bas-le-ciel.blogspot.com/2023/08/unsubscribe-now-you-may-not-be-smart.html

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Intelligence is a gradient; there's the smartest 20% of the audience, the stupidest 80%, and then this guy who can't even be the member of the audience.

Converting to Mormonism so I can attend the only university in America with a decent language program IN CHINESE.

August 8 at 7:27 PM

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

"America" can mean a lot of things.

[The Spirit of Season Two:] Coronavirus and Direct Democracy.

August 8 at 7:17 PM

We have Coronavirus symptoms again RIGHT NOW… although with much milder symptoms than before… let's take a look back at what I said about government restrictions (on personal freedom, etc.) on April 11th, 2020… I admit, it hasn't been quite long enough to have "nostalgia" for this issue, but… this is an instructive contrast to demagogues like Jimmy Dore… and, indeed, a contrast to Peter Breggin…

Gendergeddon: the Gender Politics Apocalypse

August 8 at 7:05 PM

You know, I have a long history of coming up with snappy titles for things…

I COULD HAVE gone with Transnarok…

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Youse mean ze myth of Ragnarök?

The Taliban's long shadow: you will learn nothing by ignoring Pakistan, you will learn something by paying attention...

August 8 at 8:20 AM

Unsubscribe now: you may not be smart enough to watch these videos.

Unsubscribe now: you may not be smart enough to wa...

A-bas-le-ciel

Unsubscribe now: you may not be smart enough to watch this video...

August 8 at 6:04 AM

It's shallow and it's deep AT THE SAME TIME.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Haha "intro-digression"

Gendergeddon 3: Richard Dawkins vs Rationality Rules.

August 8 at 1:12 AM

Optimism is Dangerous: Against Steve Kaufmann… AGAIN.

August 7 at 8:21 PM

———

Steve, 99.9% of people will NEVER have these opportunities offered to them: not in Paris, not in Hong Kong and certainly not in Canada (and I have experience living in all three). You really seem to have lost touch with the extent to which life is a tragedy for the vast majority of people, the vast majority of the time: you're encouraging people in the audience to make sacrifices (devoting themselves to study languages) with the expectation that (magically) fate will reward their hard work. That isn't true: the vast majority of people who devote themselves to learning Chinese end up regretting it for the rest of their lives, and even the vast majority of people who start off studying at Cambridge and Oxford end up regretting the sacrifices they've made for the rest of their lives.

———

———

Quote, "we're surrounded by opportunities" —no, Steve, that is just not true. Really think about how few illegal immigrants (in Paris!) get to study at Univ. Sciences Po, as you did. Think about how few political science majors get handed a position in Hong Kong, as you did. The failure rate is worse than 99%. The vast majority of people who take up E.S.L. work in Asia really have their lives ruined by it —and it just isn't convenient for you (and your youtube hustle) to face up to this.

———

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMOXHnviCH4

^ I have, also, read the salient parts of his PDF autobiography, describing the same trip to Paris, etc.

The only time the Federal government pretends to have an education policy is when it is bemoaning the failure of education policy.

August 7 at 5:41 AM

AMEG Strategic Plan

2012-12-04 AMEG Strategic Plan This strategic plan was prepared by the independent policy group, AMEG (the Arctic Methane Emergency Gr...

Catching up with 2012: the arctic-centric view of climate change.

August 7 at 5:24 AM

The retreat of sea ice is causing a non-linear rise in Arctic temperature, so that it is now rising at about 1 degree per decade, which is about 6x faster than global warming, reckoned to be rising at between 0.16 and 0.17 degree per decade. The temperature gradient between the tropics and the Arctic has reduced significantly over the past decade, as a result of this so-called ‘Arctic amplification of global warming’.

[…]

A further feedback loop is ominous: as the Arctic warms, the thawing of land and subsea permafrost allows the discharge of growing quantities of the potent greenhouse gas, methane, which in turn causes further warming in a vicious cycle. This cycle is not yet noticeable. However there is over a trillion tons of carbon stored in permafrost in the form of organic material, which is liable to decompose anaerobically to form methane. And the permafrost forms the cap on an even larger carbon store already in the form of methane. Most scientists now accept that Northern Hemisphere land permafrost will thaw entirely this century. There is the potential for the release of enough methane into the atmosphere to cause runaway global warming, with temperatures rising well over ten degrees C.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Interesting. I'd like to boast that my phone is nine years old. Okay, thanks.

[The spirit of season one:] Everyone is Lying About Climate Change: the Phony Politics of Crisis Management.

August 7 at 3:17 AM

Again, I would never make a video like this today: I would never make a video with this (positive, hopeful) tone reaching out to the audience. Now, what I do is both (i) more purely creative and (ii) more purely destructive.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

I wonder what you mean by "destructive". You used it in No More Manifestos in relation to your philosophy of art, where you said: "This book contains new answers to the question of how we live, how we create, how we destroy". I don't think this is in the department of art. You can't just trash somebody's artwork. Or can you? That's unsportsmanlike.

Our one friend in Israel has convinced me NOT to consider moving to Israel as an option.

August 6 at 10:10 PM

That's pretty much the whole message:

Danny (our one friend in Israel) convinced me to NOT consider Israel as an option.

Perhaps I should add the word "finally":

Danny (our one friend in Israel) FINALLY convinced me to NOT consider Israel as an option.

E.M.

—————

[Marta:]

and his reasons (in short)?

Israel seems particularly difficult at the moment, but I wonder if he meant the political situation...

—————

Yeah, it's everything.

He is (like myself) genetically half-Jewish (and it is his father, not his mother, who is non-Jewish [and for purely supernatural reasons, this matters in Israel])…

he's an atheist

he's a vegan

he's NOT left wing

but (obviously) left wing people are the only people who eat lunch with him,

etc.

Allegorically;

in Japan, I would be an outsider, but not a hated and despised outsider.

In Israel, I would really be a hated and despised insider: the majority of Jews would hate me (my mere existence challenges their presuppositions about the universe in a way that makes them uncomfortable) and they would really prefer that I not exist.

A minority of Japanese people would be willing to work with me, and in a city of 30 million people, that minority is a significant number —even if the majority of Japanese would NOT want to work with me.

In Israel, basically, the math is much worse —and the depth of invidious hatred much worse, too.

I would just add:

for me, at this moment, Japan is not "Plan A", nor is it "option 1".

At this moment, I have to say: Latin seems like the most appealing option.

It is humanly possible that I'll reconsider one of the "agenting" options (going into filmmaking and comedy (etc.) via being a talent agent and a booking agent).

I would say Japan is in third place, out of those three. However, if Melissa now visits Japan, she might love it.

If Melissa were to visit Italy (and Latin programs in Italy)… who knows? [Note that Melissa already went on a long and expensive "exploratory mission" in Spain!] My opinion of Italy and Italian academia, I must admit, is very low: of all the post-fascist countries, Italy has done poorly in its… transition. Certainly, the comparison between Italy and Japan (as post-fascist states, making a transition to democracy after WW2) is extremely unflattering for Italians to behold.

E.M.

I can talk about the situation of the Latin language in France. It’s bad. It’s teaching has been on the decline in high schools for the last decades both in volume and quality. Eighty years ago, most students who got into university to study the classics used to be able to read Latin before taking their first class. But academia did not adapt to the fact that they now had to actually teach Latin and Greek, for both economical and ideological reasons. This, combined with very low motivation from the students’ part (good students do not go on to study the classics anymore, as there are no prospects of employment, besides becoming a high school teacher), is causing the collapse of the discipline. So basically, my only hope, as someone who wants to devote my life to it, is to found a Latin school, as there are a few people all over the world disenchanted with the way academia is going, which I hopefully will be able to do in a few years. Just to say that you risk to be disappointed with Latin. I don’t think the situation is much better if at all in Italy. Event outside of academia people really committed to the language tend to have religious and or dubious ideological motives. I’m sure that what I’m saying mirrors what you encountered in the field of Buddhist studies, at least to some extant.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

"But academia did not adapt to the fact that they now had to actually teach Latin and Greek" How does this manifest itself?

You get a 90min long low quality language class a week, when 900min would barely be enough...

Kristen Leo is moving to New York: I am not.

August 5 at 9:06 PM

Here's my comment, left below the video:

Kristen, I understand that you don't have any bad intentions in saying this stuff (and I don't even think you're making excuses) but at age 31 you can't just think in terms of the creative arts as a kind of person that you want to be: you need to have specific ambitions and specific methods that you're committed to building up your ability in for many years. At age 31, you're not saying that you want to be a sculptor (or a filmmaker or anything else) you're just saying that you want to be _the creative artist type. I think that's a red flag, and I think that you'll think that, too.

Here's my comment, left below the video: Kristen, I understand that you don't have any bad intentions in saying this stuff (and I don't even think you're making excuses) but at age 31 you can't just think in terms of the creative arts as a kind of person that you want to be: you need to have specific ambitions and specific methods that you're committed to building up your ability in for many years. At age 31, you're not saying that you want to be a sculptor (or a filmmaker or anything else) you're just saying that you want to be _the creative artist type. I think that's a red flag, and I think that you'll think that, too.

You say that you are an intellectual.

August 5 at 5:23 PM

[The person I'm writing to here speaks English as a second language: my own style of writing —in reply— is thus significantly different than it would be in writing to a native English speaker.]

You say that you are an intellectual.

Maybe so.

You say that you are studying to get a PhD.

Maybe so.

Most of the people I have known who have PhDs are stupid, crazy and malign.

Sometimes they are just stupid and crazy, sometimes just stupid and malign, etc., but very often they are all three: stupid AND crazy AND malign.

I have known many, many people with PhDs who are genuinely insane. I have known many PhD students (whether or not they completed their PhDs) who were insane.

How many people with PhDs were NOT STUPID? (Very few.) How many PhD students were NOT STUPID? (Very few.)

I have known these people all over the world, in many walks of life.

Do you actually believe that you are intelligent enough to sit at a wooden table with me for two hours and talk about politics, to record that as a podcast, and upload it for the world to hear?

IN NINE YEARS nobody has ever been willing to do that with me, including people with PhDs, and the most frequently given reason is: "I would feel stupid sitting next to you." [Footnote: many, many people have actually said this to me, directly, this is not an indirect inference on my part.]

Many, many times people with PhDs (including my professors) have said to me (sometimes in words that are polite, sometimes in words that are impolite), "you make me feel stupid", or "I feel stupid talking about politics / history / religion / etc. with you".

It isn't subtle. This isn't a matter of my interpretation. This isn't a matter of my psychological "projection". People openly tell me, again and again, that they feel I'm too smart (or too knowledgable) to work with —or, reciprocally, they say that they are too stupid (or too ignorant). [Footnote: and this has been in many different fields of study, including fields I had only recently switched to, such as when I'd first started on Chinese.]

Why do you think it is that after nine years I am still broadcasting TOTALLY ALONE? Why do you think I've never had a news and politics "show" with just one other person collaborating with me, as an equal? Why not two people or five people? Why was it impossible for a-bas-le-ciel to expand in any area?

(Note: I could have expanded in atheist news, in Chinese news, just reviewing new books on political history, ecology… I could have hosted "a show" in so many different areas unrelated to veganism… do not presume I'm talking about veganism primarily or only.)

Why?

And now, simply, I have to ask you to calibrate your claim: yes, perhaps you are tremendously intelligent, perhaps you are an intellectual who can talk to me on an equal level, and perhaps my new friendship with you will transform my life —forever— for the better (and I should fly off to Germany just to meet you!).

But this seems incredibly improbable.

Where is your "proof of genius"? Where is your Toulon?

I have been extremely positive and encouraging to people (like Tofu Goddess, etc.) who had no more "proof of genius" than a modest youtube channel where they expressed their frustrations. But you, like 99.9% of the people writing to me, do not even have that.

Again: I do not say this to insult you. I do not say any of this to insinuate that you have bad motivations.

Among the dead and dying.

August 5 at 5:10 PM

The same link again, in case you didn't figure out how to click on it, above: https://www.instagram.com/p/CvkbBIeLjXk/?hl=en

[The spirit of season one:] "I stand with people of all species", etc.

August 4 at 10:13 PM

I wouldn't make a video like this today. It's still salient, it's still meaningful, it's still "contemporary". But, for me, never again.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Hmm… "Video like this"… It's not like it's hard for you to make it: you observe things, you tell about your associations with the topic at hand, and then wrap it up, no moral of the story even required. You still do this now, and additionally you hone your skill at outrhyming. Outrhyming Oscar, that is.

No: videos like this (in season one) were made with the expectation of a positive outcome from the audience. Look at my most recent livestream, by contrast, "Veganism is Doomed, Episode 998 of 999.", and you'll see that I now relate to the audience with the expectation that they will perpetually disappoint me: there's no hope anymore, what I do is (1) entirely despairing, and (2) entirely punitive.

The Red Queen of Climate Change: Jordan Peterson vs Greta Thunberg.

August 3 at 9:36 AM

Satire is not comedy.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

This is the first time I heard the word "Geniuses".

The revolution will not be… nude.

August 3 at 2:12 AM

Mysteriously, nudity doesn't actually result in lower level of carbon dioxide emissions, nor some sort of drastic shift in the politics of ecology, no matter how many times the tactic is used…

BLOCK QUOTE

“My dangerous areolas are a threat to some,” said 37-year-old Ever, acknowledging societal discomfort with women baring their breasts.

“I’m attracting attention to raise an alarm for our world in crisis — a place where ancient trees that give all of us the oxygen we breathe are clear cut for profit.”

Ever remained on top of the visitor centre for over two hours. VicPD arrived on site but did not attempt to remove or arrest her.

Prior to this incident in Victoria Ever had also ran topless onto the pitch of a soccer game happening at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver in June, 2022.

She bared her breasts that time as well and glued herself to the goalpost, which caused the game to be delayed.

END QUOTE

https://www.victoriabuzz.com/2023/03/topless-junos-protester-has-bared-her-chest-for-trees-in-victoria-before-this-latest-scandal/

Meanwhile, Avril Lavigne: https://youtu.be/L9mUefSjz60

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

I don't understand people who eat ice cream when it's not hot or warm weather. I understand Eisel when he ate cuz he was in S.E.A., although I once heard him say he was buying some when the cashier reproached him for being vegan, sounds more like cold Canada.

The way she's dressed… she needs some kind of award for, "Worst sartorial choices made by someone who employs a professional stylist".

Meanwhile…

August 2 at 9:11 PM

https://www.youtube.com/@zel-from-ashdod/videos

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Good video. But now that I rewatch it, a confusion cleared up where I thought the doctor mentioned (I think he's called "HealthyGamerGG") was the voice of reason as opposed to the mentioned presumable virgin. He's actually a conformist.

Yeah, I'm a pretty harsh critic of HealthyGamerGG. https://www.youtube.com/@a-bas-le-ciel/search?query=HealthyGamerGG

[The spirit of season three:] I am more attractive than you: it's the only thing that matters.

August 2 at 7:35 PM

Or, "Why season two must die".

Ten minutes long.

Salient to yesterday evening's podcast, and to the post before it, etc.

[The spirit of season two:] I'm still too ugly to lead the vegan movement.

August 2 at 7:32 PM

Only eight minutes long. AND SEASON TWO AIN'T OVER YET!

Veganism is Doomed, Episode 998 of 999.

August 2 at 4:22 AM

The sun also rises; I also get fan mail. ;-)

I'm 21 years old and from _____________. I discovered your channel about 10 months ago via the video "Ashley Elise: it's shallow and it's de...

A-bas-le-ciel

The sun also rises; I also get fan mail. ;-)

August 2 at 1:23 AM

An anonymized message from a viewer (and reader!) in support of the channel, and or "the team" behind it. ;-)

A supernatural appendix to my conversation with Anna Scanlon.

August 1 at 10:40 PM

Things turned toward mortal sins and immortal verities toward the end of that conversation: it got a bit supernatural, if not quite occult. ;-)

About twelve of you clicked on my collected email correspondence with Anna Scanlon as soon as it was posted, and thus didn't see the final two messages in the sequence (containing the Yiddish verb "DAVEN", that I have never once seen or heard before in my life). These were added to the blog-entry later simply because those messages didn't yet exist at the time of its first posting. So… here are the FINAL THREE emails in the correspondence… all three may be new to you, or just two of the three, or you may have seen them all, etc., depending on when you clicked on my earlier link.

———

[Title:] Breadcrumbs

You see what I mean, now, about the need for a little bit of self-examination on your side following the trail of breadcrumbs?

And tell me, if our positions were reversed: do you think that I would have been speaking to your ex-husband (in parallel circumstances) without mentioning it to you ("behind your back") in the way that you did to me?

And do you think I would have been talking to Norvegan and Hannah Chloe, as my "good friends", if they had been doing to you what they'd done to me —i.e., something far worse than what Cheetah did to you?

Breadcrumbs, Anna.

You're an utterly despicable person. You're worse than Cheetah, and you're worse than Durianrider (and I know both of those men well enough to say so!).

I assume this is the last time I'll ever hear from you, or that you'll ever hear from me, given (1) that you have this indescribably awful disease that's killing you, and (2) given that you're a coward and an imbecile. I want to reassure you: there is no afterlife, however, in the same sense that each of us lives with an unequal amount of light, each of us —in death— goes into a different degree of darkness. And you, Anna, have been dim in this life, and shall be abyssal in that darkness.

E.M.

———

I’m sorry you’re in so much pain in your life that this is how you choose to speak to people you don’t even really know and/or feel they owe everything to you because you briefly supported them. I didn’t realize our relationship was so serious and that you were so loyal to me and that I owed so much loyalty to you. I really do feel badly for you, and it must be sad and lonely to lash out at people you don’t really know so horribly. I will daven for you and hope you find some inner peace.

PS- you gave me advice in 2017, I dropped the case in 2019.

———

I'm gleaming in the darkness, Anna.

The light I bring to the world is something that creatures like you and Mireille and Hannah will never understand.

This "daven" you speak of won't help you, and it won't help me, either: you're preparing for a transition from being a nonentity in this life to being something blacker still —a darker shade of nonentity.

People like you are trying to pray your way out of hell, while I'm trying to kick down the gates and fight my way in.

Oh, and the irony is that you're proud of yourself: that you sat in the audience cheering Hannah and Norvegan on, while they defamed me, without feeling the slightest sense of hypocrisy as you'd heaped so much scorn on Cheetah's audience when they gossiped and lied about you —when they enjoyed the lies being told about you as a kind of sport —as an exhibition. But that's why you were in Cheetah's audience in the first place, wasn't it? You were one of them: you dined on gossip, you regarded it as entertainment to see other people's reputations being destroyed —and so too you were thoroughly entertained to see Norvegan and Hannah doing it to me (and you were delighted to see Hannah conspire with me ex-wife against me, etc.). You must have been smiling from ear to ear as you saw this little conspiracy with my ex-father-in-law unfold: it never occurred to you that you ought to stand up for the same principle you supposedly stood up for in your own case. It never occurred to you that you were —now— guilty of the same evil you'd reproached others for in the past.

Hell is real, Anna: there are neither gods nor souls, and yet here I am, trying to lead an army, to break down the gates of hell.

E.M.

Anna Scanlon is a Scumbag and a Hypocrite.

The first two messages, below, date from March 31st, 2017, and then we leap forward to the present day (the last day of July and the first ...

A-bas-le-ciel

Anna Scanlon is a Scumbag and a Hypocrite.

August 1 at 8:26 PM

The whole conversation, 2017 - 2023.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Squeaky rat.

Extinction Rebellion founder served carrots as vegan option

Roger Hallam, 56, posted a photo of an almost empty plate from his bed which had just a portion of carrots on it, writing 391 words on the environmental benefits of going vegan.

After many years of being ANTI-VEGAN, is Roger Hallam now… ?

August 1 at 7:29 PM

If you don't know who Hallam is… https://www.youtube.com/@a-bas-le-ciel/search?query=hallam

Violence: Peace is the Shadow of War, etc.

Re: "At the time, Charles was living with Will and had access to guns and neither my partner or I felt safe being near him as it was obviou...

A-bas-le-ciel

Violence: Peace is the Shadow of War, etc.

August 1 at 8:05 AM

It's Only a Theory: Jimmy Dore vs. Greta Thunberg and "THE VEGANS".

August 1 at 12:07 AM

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Just the other day I watched your video entitled Jimmy Dore: Professional Hypocrite. Hmm, I'll maybe watch some of your other videos about this man. https://youtu.be/BGTgANw4WJ8

July

Footnote.

July 31 at 5:52 PM

And the irony is, I REALLY DO WANT TO LEARN LATIN…

July 31 at 4:41 PM

Two emails in a row here. Another contrast is to Hebrew and Arabic: I would MUCH RATHER learn Latin than modern Hebrew and/or modern Arabic. Chinese isn't really a fair comparison because I've already sunk so many years into it.

—————

Gail,

You know, if there were anything positive I could do within Canada, I would do it:

I bought a huge stack of books on Latin (i.e., the ancient language, literature, history and politics) because it seemed like the only positive thing I could do if I continued to be trapped here in Victoria (i.e., there is a classics department at UVic, etc.).

If I believed there were a program in Cinematography worth doing, if I believed there were a program in "agenting" worth doing, etc. etc.

Anything…

If there were anything positive I could do under any heading (learning Chinese, learning how to bake bread, anything) I would do it.

But there isn't.

I don't know what you expect me to do from here: we could (both of us) literally enroll to get university degrees in Latin at UVic…

but that would then create a new crisis at the end of the program / degree (several years from now) when we'd have to ask all the same questions again (we'd still have no home, no possible way of earning an income, etc.).

—————

The thing is…

I have a much more sincere interest in Latin than I ever had in Chinese or Japanese…

it is REALLY interesting to me, and it would be REALLY rewarding for me…

(in terms of history, philosophy, politics, etc.)

but it's impossible to be optimistic about (1) the Canadian university system, and (2) any kind of employment ensuing thereafter.

Melissa asked me once (within the last few months) what I'd do (with my life and career) if we broke up and I was living here (in Victoria) alone and my answer was that I'd probably re-activate my student status at UVic and study Latin (and again: the huge pile of books on the subject is visible in the middle of our one room apartment at all times).

What's a worse use of my time, at age 44: studying Latin vs. studying cinematography, given that the university system is garbage either way?

And given that the film industry is (now) dying, in the same sense that book publishing (and magazine and newspaper publishing, etc.) died within my lifetime.

E.M.

BTW, I assume you guys have already noticed the huge stack of Latin-related books in the background… but the truth is that ABOUT HALF OF THEM are usually UNDERNEATH the microphone (the one place you can't see during my videos and livestreams). ;-)

[The Spirit of Season One:] USE SOAP, YOU IDIOTS: Why I Hate Vegans.

July 31 at 4:52 AM

Not a smash hit, but a video that very gradually climbed its way up to 5,000 views. And it's still worth seeing to this day.

This does, also, relate to the recurring theme of why I don't have any vegan friends, and/or why it is that the majority of vegans hate me. ;-)

Crisis Q&A with… my mom, for a change.

July 31 at 1:59 AM

Gail,

Looking back at your prior emails, I tried to copy and paste your questions together into a summary.

I'm using bold italics just to differentiate your words from mine (what happened to colored text in emails?).

What is the cost of "sending Melissa to Israel"

☞ We've googled airplane tickets and we know nothing else.

Does Melissa want to go?

☞ We don't want to live in Israel. We don't want to live in Japan. I do not want ANY of the available options. Out of total desperation, I'm talking about Israel and Japan. I would remind you that Melissa spent several thousand dollars of her own money (and she has zero income) to travel to Spain: she did that when we both thought the U.S.A. would be open to us (and, thus, the Spanish language would be of significance, even if Spain itself proved to be impossible). If I could live in Spain, Greece, France… or even the U.K.… these would be options I'd seriously consider. Years of research has proven all of them to be impossible, so what remains to be discussed? Japan and Israel. Both are —so far as I know— indescribably horrible. (I REALLY MEAN THAT!) But maybe if Melissa visits Israel, she'll actually like it.

I think that you are saying that you still need to explore different locations.

☞ Yep, but the list of theoretically possible options is now dismally few.

How long can Melissa stay in Canada. When and for how long can she return to you after being out of the country (e.g. Israel)?
☞ I don't know.

Then, If it is an exploratory visit, why don't you both go?

☞ This is entirely possible for Israel, and it's entirely possible for Japan, also… however, if I'm going to continue to pay rent on this apartment, presumably I'd be away for a relatively short period of time, whereas Melissa could be away for a longer period of time (and this is what happened with Spain: she was there for two and a half months… in theory I could have joined her for two weeks, but I didn't —both due to illness and poverty).

Summary: Japan is bad, Israel is bad… I wish I had a better alternative, with or without a credential attached to it.

There are absolutely zero viable university (or college) programs anywhere in the world for me.

E.M.

An especially surreal example of "Mascotismo" (Petism).

July 30 at 2:23 AM

@2:51 "How would you feel if you had to live in a bathtub for your whole life?" Seemingly nobody is interested in questioning how a wolf feels when it is castrated and forced to live in their suburban home's back yard —or, worse, on their apartment's living room floor.

On the inevitability of the current crisis (IF YOU ONLY READ ONE THING FROM THIS BLOG...)

Gail, Re: "You need to do some actions to help yourself" I've already done everything I can do: I've already researched everything I can res...

A-bas-le-ciel

On the inevitability of the current crisis (IF YOU ONLY READ ONE THING FROM THIS BLOG…)

July 29 at 5:54 PM

Please take the time to read this one: it's the most important email I'll write this month (or last month, or next month) and it's the most important update I've ever posted to Patreon, or ever will. RIGHT NOW is the time when someone (anyone) can make a difference. And soon enough it will be too late.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

There's a student group called "Lettonia", but now that I read their website, they're conformists, just look at this: "A member of Lettonia cannot at the same time be a member of organisations that cultivate an anti-governmental, anti-national or anti-religious spirit and whose activities run counter to the spirit and traditions of Lettonia". But for you it's out of question in the first place because they don't speak English.

Meanwhile…

July 29 at 7:07 AM

There was a time when this was exactly the kind of political news I wanted to cover and discuss on my own youtube channel… and that time is now over.

Why not?

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Notice the word "discuss".

Conspiratorial Political Censorship in the English-Speaking World: 5 Minutes of Your Time…

July 28 at 7:47 AM

5 minutes on the SEEMINGLY boring story of Hunter Biden's laptop computer…

Zero out of 2,700. So far.

July 27 at 9:03 AM

Another email to my mother.

—————

Gail,

I am asking for help.

I am asking everyone for help.

I am asking anyone for help.

I am asking complete strangers on the internet for help.

Anyone, anyone, anywhere, please please please help me.

That's what I'm saying again and again and again.

And nobody helps.

And nobody tries.

And nobody cares.

And when I asked you and Melissa for help, more than eight months ago now, neither one of you helped, and neither one of you even wanted to listen: neither one of you replied to my "desperate cry for help" video, and you both (at first) refused to watch it.

So: that is something very interesting that you and Melissa have in common.

2,700 people saw that video. More than eight months ago.

I am still asking for help. I am still begging and pleading with complete strangers for help on the internet.

If there were anyone I could ask for help here —face to face— in Canada, I would do that, too.

Nobody is going to help.

E.M.

—————

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

"Can you stop giving me irrelevant advice? No, I can't help it. Can you stop being a bystander? I can't help it. Can you stop being so easygoing? Can't help it. Can you help me? No, I can't help you."

I hate you, unsubscribe now, revisited.

July 26 at 8:47 PM

This was/is posted publicly on Instagram with a photograph of a haggard man with a beard staring off into the future (link at the end).

When I had a newborn baby in my arms (approx. ten years ago) I sent photographs to a long list of brothers and colleagues and "so-called friends". The people who didn't reply at all: I never forgave them, and I never spoke to them again —aside from informing them (when they asked) that this is why I'd never speak to them again. Mme J. Filliozat of the EFEO sent me a baby-sized cotton sweater: not a single one of my brothers or sisters sent me a gift or toy, and not a single one gave me a Skype call. This is what you have to understand: I now hate my audience and Patreon supporters in the same way, because not a single one of you cared when I posted the "Desperate cry for help" videos. Guess what? If you're trying to rent an apartment in Los Angeles, or if you're trying to rent an apartment in Athens, or if you're trying to rent an apartment in Tokyo, JUST ONE PERSON who takes the time to provide you with advice can really help: it can mean SO MUCH to have just one person provide advice (no, not a sweater) and to talk the problem through with you… and there are SO MANY people in my audience who I've directly helped in that same way (talking to them about their career choices, education choices, deeply personal life choices involving family, death, breakups with bfs/gfs)… and not a single one of them gave a damn when I was the one asking for help (not even the specific people I've helped: and over a ten year period that adds up to a significant number of people). I can get a new audience: you'd be surprised how many new people subscribe even now, and I don't have the same attitude toward new subscribers as the old. But yes, "you people" need to know: if you've been following me since 2016 and you didn't lift a finger when I posted "desperate cry for help" over 8 months ago, I am never going to forgive you. I was never asking for money: I was asking for every kind of help aside from money… and nobody could even be bothered to try (not even the specific people who have thanked me for profoundly influencing their lives, etc. etc.).

https://www.instagram.com/p/CvLDw-lvarj/?hl=en

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

I can read four negative hyperboles in this text. 😐 wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_numerology

Still.

July 25 at 7:40 AM

https://youtu.be/_CL6n0FJZpk

Can’t sell shit with the Fandar attitude. Wouldn’t last a day in sales if he said the shit that he says online.

Fandar is just a genuinely stupid and malign: I assume he's been diagnosed with a mental disability (based on what he's said to me directly) but if not... he is simply an example of an extremely stupid person.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

If he weren't stupid he would structure his comment above more like this: "I agree on this point, she really let herself go".

[Other voices:] I don't normally share links to edutainment videos, but… this one is an exception to all the rules.

July 24 at 8:30 AM

Primarily about North Korea.

Secondarily makes you reflect on the extent to which Hank Green is a no talent bum.

Revolution, yes, but buy my book on Amazon first: learning languages to change the world.

July 23 at 9:46 AM

An interview (or conversation) with thehyperpolyglotactivist.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

The blue robe seems to be now your signature. It gives the coziness of the trope where the narrator is sitting by the fireplace, reading a book, and says to the viewer "Hello! I didn't see you come in!". Wouldn't be too bad if you appeared in my nightmares, if I had any. Before, I was hesitant to work hard, they say you should take breaks so as to prevent mental exhaustion/burnout, and even you play your video games a little bit. As for you playing video games, I don't know, it's hypocritical of you to be doing that, but it bears no meaning on who you are.

Re: "As for you playing video games, I don't know, it's hypocritical of you to be doing that…" (1) I don't practice what I preach because I'm not the kind of person I preach to —J.R. "Bob" Dobbs. (2) I play video games for FIVE MINUTES, not five hours, and not even one hour: the main example I recommend is (the NES version of) Pac Man Championship Edition: there's a clock at the top of the screen, and the maximum duration of a game is about 3 minutes, etc.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

I like that the fictional character you quote has "worked weekends doing Evangelical Christian preaching "strictly for the money"".

Quitting YouTube: "This has become a company that creators hate."

July 21 at 5:16 AM

[Here it is posted on ye olde blog, in case you'd want to share this "on the outside":] http://a-bas-le-ciel.blogspot.com/2023/07/quitting-youtube-this-has-become.html

Humans make mistakes:

I have a video that was first banned for being racist...

I appealed, explaining that the video is NOT racist...

that appeal was accepted

but suddenly

after the video was uncensored for NOT being racist

a reviewer decided it contains nudity.

So the video was banned again.

Then I received an email from YouTube admitting that the video contains zero nudity, admitting that a mistake had been made.

Then (just as suddenly) I received an email that the video will be restricted to viewers over 18 because of nudity.

The video contains ZERO nudity: it does not have women in bikinis. It is just a lecture against racism (with quotations from the racist people I'm criticizing).

I'm told the same thing you're telling me now: "all decisions are final, no appeal is possible."

Why?

Anyone who is not blind would agree: the video does not contain nudity.

I've brought more than seven million views to YouTube with the work of my hands.

Why should I be treated this way?

People like me now deeply hate and resent YouTube: we are all waiting for a competitive website to give us an alternative. The people who should feel gratitude toward YouTube instead feel hatred.

Your website now has advertisements on my video with over 18,000 views: you make money out of it, but I don't. You say the video is too provocative to monetize: but you've monetized it for yourself, while refusing to share the advertising revenue with me --while falsely claiming that the video is violent, racist or excessively sexy (and that the arbitrary decisions of your staff in India are final no matter how obviously false).

It is not possible to get a human being to look at a video and agree, "this does not contain nudity". It is not possible to get a human being to look at a video and agree, "Okay, I can see that you're quoting a Nazi while condemning Nazism, and that this video shouldn't be banned as if it were racist/pro-Nazi."

I had a video banned for being racist against the French, and I wrote in to explain that my own daughter is French (and living in France, etc.). I had a video talking about anti-Semitism with my daughter, in which I'm explaining to her that we're Jewish, and that we'll both have to cope with antisemitism our whole lives long, and this video was censored as if it were antisemitic.

In the past, appealing to human review was possible: now it is impossible. And YouTube is incentivized to steal from its creators by running ads on demonetized videos. It is not possible to get a human answer from a human being any more; and most of the employees are in India, and do not understand the English language (and American political subtleties) well enough to determine what is racist and what isn't (nor what is nudity and what isn't, what is educational and what isn't, etc.).

You have made your supporters into your enemies: this has become a company that creators hate.

E.M.

Here it is posted on ye olde blog, in case you'd want to share this "on the outside": http://a-bas-le-ciel.blogspot.com/2023/07/quitting-youtube-this-has-become.html

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

There's no end to this, it'll get worse and worse. Curiously, this music video from a successful rapper has a butt naked woman in it. https://youtu.be/MrJhGGmyOuc

YouTube still has nonsensical exceptions built into their own rules: nudity can be allowed for educational or artistic purposes... who defines what is and is not a sufficiently artistic purpose? I have a permanent warning ("strike") on my channel because of the appearance of violence that was judged to be "not" for educational or political commentary purposes... and, of course, the video was both educational and political (and the violence = animals in a slaughterhouse). So, yeah, the system is designed to fail, and it is failing.

In the past I could watch something on YT without ad block on, but now one or more ads are visible before each video. For Google it is profitable for sure: https://www.statista.com/statistics/289659/youtube-share-of-google-total-ad-revenues/ but for content creators like you it would mean more and more control is given to advertisers.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Control over what?

In 2023, what is the alternative to YouTube? VIMEO?

Control over what is censored and what is not. If your video would contain something that may influence advertisers sales then it could be silently censored beforehand. In the end platform goes into direction which goal is to satifsy the most and in the same time minimize controversy.

If Vimeo is less restrictive then maybe you could upload video to yt and wait for feedback. If it would be censored you could upload instead some dummy video to yt and give link to your video on Vimeo in the description (if it is allowed). Stupid I know but what is the alternative currently? Maybe mixture of patreon and yt would be good idea but I think there is no such a platform yet.

Post on as many video platforms as possible that way the video stays up and new people are likely to find your channel. This is just a theory I have not done this before. Another option is give everybody the download link and let them post it on other platforms.

The hardest option will be make a website to post everything on once it’s been uploaded to YouTube.

None of this helps with monetizing your videos.

Another sad thing is that many of the alternatives that have cool tech behind them (like peertube) are a haven for nutjob conspiracy theorists or neo nazis. Sort of a typical social media situation where the nuts flock to the alternatives after being deplatformed from the mainstream ones. So then these alternatives, which are sometimes better in many ways on a technological level, become places you want to avoid. No one wants to be associated with the wackos that use the alternatives.

I think you gave good clue why there is no alternative. Maybe solving censorship is the hardest problem on those platforms. If you would leave it to operate as "free market" of ideas it will deteriorate over time because of weird groups already censored somewhere else publishing their dicks everywhere. If on the contrary the platform would be overly censored then it will become boring and meaningless.

I was really excited about bittube. It randomly disappeared off the face of the earth with absolutely no explanation to be found of why it failed/was abandoned.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Don't quit Youtube, please. @TridiverParanormal 2 days ago Well Bye @a-bas-le-ciel 2 days ago http://a-bas-le-ciel.blogspot.com/2023/07/quitting-youtube-this-has-become.html

Ecology and Veganism: the Lost Cause. [An important video to watch again and also an example of youtube censorship.]

July 20 at 8:36 PM

The stated reason for this (genuinely important, genuinely interesting) video being censored is: "Raw footage focused on violent law enforcement; graphic dead bodies in a non-educational video; edited video gameplay that primarily focuses on graphic violence; domestic violence."

How Youtube Censorship Works in 2023.

I uploaded exactly the same video twice: one "version" was censored, whereas the other was not censored -even though the two versions are ...

A-bas-le-ciel

How Youtube Censorship Works in 2023.

July 20 at 8:09 PM

[I uploaded exactly the same video twice: one "version" was censored, whereas the other was not censored —even though the two versions are identical. Nevertheless, it was (and is) completely impossible (in 2023) to get Youtube to re-examine the decision made by (human) censors, and to correct the error by either censoring both of them, or censoring neither.]

[The spirit of season one:] My very first video condemning Utilitarianism.

July 20 at 6:07 PM

This is very different from the spirit of my current videos in many ways: note the way in which I ask the audience (and particular people in the audience) to understand and sympathize with my own concerns (e.g. "How do you think this makes me feel in relation to the extinction of the Cree and Ojibwe languages?"). I don't do that anymore: all of my videos, now, are built on the assumption that the audience is entirely hostile and uncomprehending —an assumption that proves to be true, again and again.

The Philosophy of Prostitution: Mixing Money & Sex Can Ruin Your Life.

July 20 at 8:11 AM

What if someone would record porn video without selling it and without cheating on his/her partner and then video will become public? Would you expect similar or some social consequences like losing job or ostracism? I would say yes, possibly because public sex and money goes together. But even if connection would be broken would it make a public sex video socially acceptable? I think not just because the cultural assumption sex is private otherwise something is wrong with you.

I think the more interesting scenario are the consequences of the recording of sex videos and distributing them regardless of financial reward. Would it not be the same if they had more or less the same dialogue and scenes but for free? Like an amateur or volunteer thing. Then again realistically i doubt attractive, young women would be less attracted to such a proposition. Which might be an important point there. Then also a point which Eisel has brought up before, what if the money from sex work was used for productive reasons? What if the person came from a poor family and they used the money to pay for college and had like the top grades in the class? Instead of working a dead end job they became the highest rated surgeon in the area. What if the money was used to start a chain of successful restaurants?

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

@Ivan We can talk about fanciful conceptions, but at the end of the day, you're the one gambling with your daughter's/son's life, when you resign him to sex work. Pragmatism.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

@Ivan What you're contemplating on is not far removed from the reality—Eisel has written/talked about prostitutes in South East Asia building hotels from their earnings.

There are, nevertheless, important differences: in your hypothetical scenario, it was a husband and wife (or a boyfriend and girlfriend) together (recording the video for themselves to see) rather than an act of prostitution (and a performance) between two people who otherwise would not have had sex. Am I dismissing everything else you have to say here? No: I am just pointing out that there are some important differences. Quick comparison: a politician is caught (on camera) having sex with his own wife in the back seat of his car (via a security camera, let's say) and the public have a laugh at him, but understand that they were a busy couple trying to meet up and have sex under difficult circumstances. This is different from the same politician being caught having sex with a prostitute (on camera, in a car). Thus, as I say, there are some differences worth thinking about.

@Artus That's what i was alluding to but yeah thanks for pointing it out (non sarcastic).

"Then again realistically i doubt attractive, young women would be less attracted to such a proposition." Yes it is possible for example as an ego trip or as the way to "sell" yourself. However I think it may give a mixed results depending who's your target audience. But it points to the fact that even if sex and money link would loosen still public sexuality would be something to think about. "Quick comparison: a politician is caught (on camera) having sex with his own wife (...)" I can see the difference - the first case could be seen as part of intimate relationship caught public. The second case could be seen and coercion or bribery using money to satisfy own urges. The first would make the public smile, but the second will make the public disgusted. Still I think more blame would go to prostitute for depriving honorable man (also potentially through video) as is the case with those women in the video. I have no doubts cheating on someone who trust you is bad and you have all the rights to leave the relationship, but in the same time the social consequences are way to far reaching. It's looks like scapegoating or witch hunt. Still all too Christian.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/porn-star-professor-goddard-quits-11036444 In this story, there is a university professor who was secretly making pornographic films. In the article it says this started after his divorce, and he did not make much money in his porn career (at least in comparison with the salary of a university professor). Thus, it could be the case that some people record and publish sexual videos of themselves because they enjoy the voyeur and/or humiliation. The "cultural assumption" (as you say) that sex is private creates a taboo/stigma which acts as further fuel for such a fetish. By the way, I think the assumption that sex ought to be private is not necessarily religious. It is rational that most people do not expect or want to witness people having sex on their front lawn or at a public bus stop. Thus, people who want to have sex in the public eye (which includes the internet) are viewed as degenerate and/or lacking "modesty" (which is a religious concept).

Nice example. I'm not sure why he did it, maybe it was some fetish, maybe he just likes sex, I don't care. The question is why it was such a fuss in the first place. If indeed there would be something rational (which i'm not denying there is) we would have some form of public discussion about it instead of easy answers. In human history sexuality was both public and private, monogamous and not. It would be good to answer what we're gaining and what we're losing chosing any of those options.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

"[T]hey ought to be able to have [from the women's perspective] all the advantages of exploiting their beauty in order to achieve both FAME [Emphasis added] and money, without the disadvantages—that side of the moral equation, I think makes everyone in the audience feel uncomfortable to think about", this makes me think that even women, who do pursue and achieve fame, porn stardom, also end up bad. Before, I thought of porn filmed in studios as "clean", everyone's responsible, they also ascribe names to actors (although, I concede, they could be just adopted pseudonyms), and I can list seven major porn studios off the top of my head. There's a parallel between transgenderism chopping off sexual organs, and pornography circumscribing parenthood among other things. Now I condemn porn as such.

I think that what makes the problem interesting is the inevitability of some tolerance: you can have a society with zero gambling, but never a society with zero prostitution —and never a society with zero pornography. It is very easy for me to say "I condemn gambling as such", but not pornography. And, as you know, I like to deal with political questions that are NOT EASY on my channel.

I remember seeing a tweet around 2019/2020 from some rando saying that dating was going to be impossible because "every young woman will be on OnlyFans" Obviously it hasn't gotten that bad, and the time I dismissed him as being paranoid. But I have to say, the amount of people I know, who I've met and spoken to, who tried a side hustle on OnlyFans/Twitter, has floored me. In the years since that tweet, I could name about a dozen people from my state school alone who do/done it, and those are just the ones I know about! The real kicker is, you don't make any money being a nobody posting your nude body for the audience of like 20 people on Twitter

I knew people doing this stuff straight out of high school, circa 1996. I assume the cameras were running at 240 pixels back then. Re: "The real kicker is, you don't make any money being a nobody posting your nude body for the audience of like 20 people on Twitter." To be fair: they make more money than I do (for example) on via this very Patreon group, or via my own youtube channel (with seven million views).

Why I'm not moving to Taiwan. Why I'm not learning Chinese.

July 20 at 5:06 AM

An interview with a university professor. And not the first to appear on my youtube channel, I might add.

Wow I'm sorry Eisel it was clear how frustrating the conversarion was. It was not just a no, it was a "no matter what you say" kind of no. Without clear and reasonable reasoning or pathways to make the differrence.

You fucked up. You let me down. I don't forgive you. I never will.

July 19 at 11:48 PM

[Writing to Sam:]

I'm not your university professor: you've seen me give lectures about Aristotle (in a surreal sense "I've given lectures to you") and I've seen you read and discuss Aristotle ("I've received lectures from you").

University professors get paid $100,000 a year to give lectures on Aristotle.

Students pay at least $5000 per year in tuition, but more likely $50,000 (and I've seen $100,000 tuition programs… wish I was joking).

Yeah, guess what?

I do this shit for ten years, and I expect something in return: when I made "a desperate cry for help" I expected people (at least a few people) to really care, and to really try.

Nobody did.

Yeah, I expected something better from you than, "Well, why not devote your life to anti-antidepressant activism", etc.

———

[And now here's a message within a message quoted from a Patreon supporter:]

I guess the only reason I care about you is that I feel stuck and unsure about how to turn my life around and what you told in your videos felt relatable. I liked your book and I think some of your ideas are inspiring. I felt compelled to offer some support and I'm sorry I can offer none.

———

[And my reply:]

Re: "I liked your book and I think some of your ideas are inspiring. I felt compelled to offer some support and I'm sorry I can offer none."

I'm sorry, too.

Imagine if I had just one fan who could have helped me to publish the illustrated children's storybook I wrote so many years ago.

I don't. I don't have one fan who is a useful or intelligent person in any way.

Producing a children's storybook is a very low-pressure, flexible example: no deadline, and there are many "right" ways to do it (not just one way to succeed with many ways to fail).

My desperate cry for help is a high pressure, inflexible example, with a deadline.

You fucked up. You let me down. I don't forgive you. I never will.

And that's how I feel about everyone in my audience now.

—————

Everything turned out better than expected. 👍

That's my steez, bro: I tell people how I really feel, I tell people the whole truth, and then I find out what happens next... as opposed to telling half of the truth and living with doubt as to what would have happened if I'd been entirely sincere. And I'm not saying everyone should live this way: that's just my steez.

Kita Ikki [北一輝] and the Origins of Democracy in Japan.

The 1936 uprising in historical photographs. The 1936 uprising in cinema: 1962's 二・二六事件脱出 & 1989's 226 . §1. At a time when Art...

A-bas-le-ciel

[My own writing in 2015:] Kita Ikki [北一輝] and the Origins of Democracy in Japan.

July 19 at 7:01 AM

----- Kita has no sense that the benefits of democracy emerge from debate within a given society, nor that the functions of democratic institutions are linked to ongoing negotiations between different social forces. Instead, from his perspective, new institutions (and a new society) could simply be set up by the military, and so it didn't much matter if it were the Japanese military, the Korean military or the Chinese military. This is, again, the quintessentially Japanese assumption that democracy itself arises as a form of "military preparedness in civilian garb". [文裝的武備] -----

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

I think I found a typo in the essay: "The notion that democratic reform arises a military strengthening against foreign threats is ineluctably (and uniquely) Japanese", because "arise" is exclusively an intransitive verb. If, presumably, the meaning of the sentence is parallel to the matter talked about in your comment above (i.e., military intervention gives birth to new institutions), it should be formulated differently, IMHO. Although I haven't read it full, I'll go to sleep now. I think the issue would be resolved if there were "s" in front of "a", as in "reform arises a[s] military strengthening against…". I'm so fucking dumb, you already have it correctly enunciated in your comment at the end, ad finem. Let this idiocy of mine be known to the public eye so they beware.

There are typos in the essays: they were each written in about one day / "one sitting".

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

You are everywhere and you are nowhere at the same damn time.

What was the context for writing this? Was it for a university course when you were studying Japanese?

How I learned (or failed to learn) Cambodian (ft. Eisel Mazard)

July 18 at 4:20 AM

Only six minutes long.

Interview feels to short.

The real thing is over an hour long.

Is the full version going to be released?

It’s not worth it for me to watch it anyways if there was a full version. I’m trying to stay away from youtube.

Yes, soon enough, you'll get the whole interview as one (long) unedited file (on à-bas-le-ciel).

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

You mentioned "the stress you were under, actually in learning Cambodian in just a few weeks before you got on the airplane, you were absolutely cracking up": was that self-induced? More likely I think that was the dread of living in a destitute, free-for-all, literal minefield of a country.

English is your second language, so I just say: self-induced is not precisely the right term... but the stress was 100 percent the result of a kind of rigor that was self-imposed, and an educational program that was self-created. Nobody was teaching me anything, nobody was testing me, nobody was punishing me: nobody created any deadlines for me (or goals for me) other than the ones I created for myself. It was purely a matter of, "be all you can be" —and, also, "be prepared for the worst case scenario".

Moving to Tokyo, Japan… unless you've got a better idea?

July 18 at 3:24 AM

Matt vs Japan, who follows you on Instagram*, has seemingly relocated to Japan for a few months now. You and him are about as different as can be but if you wanted a biased opinion about moving to Japan he may be the one to start with

AFAIK, I've never communicated with the YouTuber known as Matt vs. Japan. I do not (currently) know any vegan YouTubers in Japan. There is nobody speaking to me of any description that is now living in Tokyo.

You've mentioned some intellectuals in Japan. I'm wondering now what are your criterion to regard someone as intellectual. Do you have anyone specific in mind? Also Japan doesn't seem like safe haven for any dissident. But well it is easy to judge such a things from outside. From other perspective Japan is developed country with low crime rates and rich history.

I have made videos discussing what it means to be an intellectual (and who is an intellectual, who is not) at great legnth and in great depth, in the past. Re: "Also Japan doesn't seem like [a] safe haven for any dissent..." —take a look at what happens to you if you dare to criticize the government in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar or Communist China. Hell, take a look at what happened TO ME. Even when I was a professor in Yunnan, every single one of my emails within the university was read and censored by the Communist Party: a professor asked me to send him an article I'd written about the history of Buddhism (that we'd discussed face to face) and then he was astonished to find that all my replies were blocked by the authorities. That article was not even criticizing the government of China. He was kidding himself about the extent to which we were watched and censored.

I will check the video again. From the description in one of your videos I see some nice definition: "An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about society and proposes solutions for its normative problems. Some gain authority as public intellectuals." Of course if you compare Japan to China or any other autocratic government, Japan is way better choice. In my first question I was pointing to the second one, so have you found someone worthy of your attention in Tokyo, because I have no doubts finding anyone from outside is not an easy task.

I see i can understand why you would choose Japan. Certainly, if you want to collaborate in these many platforms and mediums then Japan is a great place. It amazes me the amount of things i see get published in their media. If you need an artist to work with it might be the place. i could had suggested Japan for that but you had already stated why you wouldn't be interested in Japan or Taiwan and i figured you wanted somewhere closer to France. I see that you both had made signifcant effort to explore Spain and Greece as possibilities. I write this anticipating that you've already discussed Korea, but i would ask why Japan is more attractive than Korea. I guess I could name the reasons i mentioned above and those you had mentioned in the video. Particilarly are there any politics in Japan you find more interesting than in Korea?

The return of the 16 star mindset: one month later, it's back on youtube.

July 17 at 7:49 PM

I am now dealing with censorship problems on a daily basis. Sadly, at least one of my video has disappeared permanently for this reason, and I cannot find a copy of it on my own hard drives (etc.) so it seems to be "gone forever" (i.e., I would re-upload it if I could).

Which video?

I ask because I watch YouTube videos after they’re cached on my computer, so I may have a copy of it

I'll send this to you as a DM, also: the video should be about 19 minutes long and titled something like, "Mixing Money and Sex: It Ruined My Life", but (for example) the title is also given as "'It Ruined My Life...'" --and other variations in the title are possible.

When incels turn 30 they don't become wizards: "Decline" turns 30.

July 17 at 8:13 AM

Instead they turn into Übermensch looking with pity onto earthly pleasures

Moving to Japan: you got a better idea?

July 17 at 2:02 AM

Gail,

Absolutely nothing is possible in Spain: Melissa spent many thousands of dollars (of her own money) going there, living there, and studying there to investigate.

The only option in Spain is retirement:

zero employment options, zero education options, zero career options.

This idea of having "a digital nomad visa" is something you read about in a newspaper or something you made up in your own head: that's never what I was presenting to you.

It is not the case that we ever had the option to work in Spain under a digital nomad visa: that is just not true.

As with France or Greece, the only way we could live in Spain would be having enough money to start up our own business, but even so, the Spanish system really just wants you to retire, whereas France and Greece are more open to you working (I could tell you the legal details, but I think there's no point).

It is not the case that there are education, employment or career options for us in New York.

It is not the case that Melissa could possibly earn enough money to provide an apartment for herself in New York and travel back and forth to see me in Montreal. Nor vice versa, that I could do so in Montreal.

The idea of living in Montreal relied on the existence of institutions. Those institutions do not exist.

I could say the same about many other places: "if there were a university teaching subject x in place y then we'd have opportunity z."

x, y, z.

But we've got nothing: zero.

Melissa found nothing in Spain. I found nothing in Taiwan. There's nothing in Victoria, Vancouver, Montreal... it's a long list, and I could go on.

A lot of zeroes.

So: we've got to start a new life in Tokyo, Japan.

There's some hope there. 30 million people. Zero unemployment. Zero crime. Some intellectuals. Some democracy. Some freedom of speech.

(Thailand has less of these things: you really are in danger talking about politics in Thailand.)

Melissa can earn more money teaching English (or teaching at a kindergarten) in Tokyo than she can earn in New York City. And she can more easily afford rent in Tokyo than in New York, too.

Economically, Tokyo is sustainable. New York is not. Montreal is not. Spain is not.

E.M.

Also impossible in Spain: collaboration with Tkyosam 😉

"Collaboration" is an interesting choice of verb... ;-)

So fucking happy to see at least one possibile country that's not a complete non option.

Good luck in Japan, your knowledge of Chinese will come in hand when memorizing the japanese kanjis. Phonetically I doesn´t have tones like Chinese though the grammar is more complex.

If you had been watching the channel more than seven years ago, believe it or not, you would have seen me (briefly) studying Japanese.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

At worst, you'll no longer have drug addicts in your proximity that insidiously sit there, waiting for the moment to catch you off guard and hop on you. At best, "there is a better life you're going to live in the next five years if you go to Japan, better person [..] and you could know people of real substance—colleagues, even if those are colleagues who work on comedy videos with you or record comedy songs with you, colleagues that you can work in any capacity as a creative artist, as a filmmaker, politically or otherwise" as you said in "A desperate cry for help". https://youtu.be/BOQ44SHF-OE?t=955

Now now now now now now now.

July 16 at 8:43 PM

[Under ten minutes long & under 1,000 views:] Against Utilitarianism: in Ethics & Politics, Net Happiness is Irrelevant.

July 16 at 11:39 AM

Sadly, a lot more than 1,000 people need to see this video: this deals with the most fundamental presuppositions of the utilitarian (and "consequentialist") worldview in just 8 minutes —utterly laughable presuppositions that come up again and again in 21st century politics (on and off the internet).

[Still important, still relevant:] Torture & War: Ethics vs. Excuses vs. Idiocy.

July 16 at 11:28 AM

Relevant to today's upload, and relevant to today's politics, generally (the war in Ukraine, etc.).

Vs. Rationality Rules (Gendergeddon 2: This Time, It's Personal)

July 16 at 8:32 AM

If you can help, help; if you don't know how to help, ask how.

July 14 at 10:20 PM

[Also known as: From zero to a hundred, real quick.]

Gail, again, these are good questions.

You may be disappointed at how depressing are the answers.

Re: "The concept of cinema I thought is so you could improve the attractiveness of your already successful presence on YouTube and other media to earn more money on it."

With cinematography, keep in mind: we're not talking about an abstract concept.

We're talking about particular institutions, particular people (instructors), and a sacrifice of a particular number of years of your life (and many thousands of dollars) for a particular outcome.

These university programs CAN be worse than nothing, and THEY ARE worse than nothing: I know it's easy for you to agree with me about that in an offhand way during a casual conversation, but it is NOT EASY to really live with the implications. It is not easy to think through "what now?" and "what next?" while really remaining rigorously aware of how bad these university options are.

It is possible to learn absolutely nothing in an M.B.A. program: I directly asked the professors of at least two different M.B.A. programs, "What would I learn salient to the stock market in this program?" and the answer was ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. They said that to me: they admitted it. That wasn't my analysis of the program: it was their confession.

Likewise, a program that purports to teach you Chinese can be worse than nothing. A program that purports to teach you baking can be worse than nothing. It is really (seriously) fair to say, of these university programs, "I would be better off just renting an apartment in China (or Taiwan, or Hong Kong, etc.) and learning the language on my own than enrolling in this university program" —even if the total cost were the same for all options. Options like baking and language instruction are unusually pragmatic: they have measurable outcomes and deal with "hands on" (real world) skills. If you're talking about courses in political philosophy, everything gets worse.

What we found with cinematography was basically a mix of what we'd found with baking and political philosophy: these university programs are scams, and they're scams attached to a dying industry.

The other factor here is: WHO IS IN THE CLASSROOM WITH YOU? Whether you're looking at Lansing, Michigan, or Ottawa, Ontario, the actual people you're sharing the classroom with (both professors and students) are losers: you're better off hanging around a strip club in Los Angeles or an open mic comedy club in New York to make contacts who could actually collaborate on a youtube video with you —let alone take on a filmmaking project more ambitious than that (fiction or nonfiction, documentary, comedy, action or otherwise).

I am not joking when I say that: there are strippers who would be interested in getting on camera and acting, and there are aspiring comedians who'd be interested in playing any number of roles —perhaps even flying to Libya to make a documentary about Khalifa Haftar (etc.). The college and university cinematography programs are a dead end within a dead end: you're spending your time with people who are struggling to reach the intellectual level necessary to film a shampoo commercial.

Most of what we'd need to know about Cinematography is contained in one book that we have on our desk right now: you can pretty much read that one book (it's a long book!) and then get out and learn from experience (what angles work with what kind of lighting, etc. etc.). The crucial variable is knowing the right people to work with: that's why I was so interested in "agenting" (being a talent agent, being a booking agent, etc.). This would lead to knowing a network of people ("who to call") who can take on all the other roles in a filmmaking project (again: fiction or nonfiction, documentary, comedy or otherwise).

This, also, presumes a locus: if we're not living in New York or Los Angeles, it's all impossible anyway. Is Tokyo an option? Maybe. Maybe Tokyo is the last place on earth where there are actually enough talented people around for us to make something positive happen. In absolute numbers: there are definitely more people who speak English in Tokyo than there are in Montreal.

However, we do not have a single friend in Tokyo (nor anywhere in Japan). And my knowledge of the Japanese language is the result of just two semesters of education (and education of an extremely poor quality, although I worked very hard at it).

Re: "Please remember that you are resilient, strong and brilliant."

I'm not: I was brilliant ten years ago. Now, I'm a broken man on a Halifax pier.

I say again: there is nothing left in me to give. I have given and given and given for all these years, and nothing positive has come from it. Today is the day I crossed seven million views on youtube (and that is just counting my main channel, not adding up the smaller ones); even if people who were worth talking to were one in a million, I'd have seven of them by now. I don't. I need help and nobody is going to help me.

How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now.

Re: "This strategy could also work for Greece."

Okay: how many intellectuals are there in Greece?

How many of them speak English, or would have anything to do with us?

If we move to Greece, we'll be living TOTALLY ALONE, FOREVER. There won't be a single stand up comedy event for me to ever participate in (or perform at). There won't be a single person who ever collaborates on a youtube video with me. There won't be any political movement we're a part of in any sense. Nobody will publish my books there, nobody will illustrate the children's storybooks I've written, etc. etc.

The problem with Greece is, in brief, that it's worse than Thailand: we're better off living like millionaires in Thailand (i.e., my implicit point being that $1000 is worth much more in Thailand) than living like paupers in Athens —and Thailand would have all the same disadvantages (we'd live in an oubliette).

I'd just like to state again, briefly: we're anti-Communist and anti-Anarchist. Politically, we're close to the mainstream center in Greece today, and in most of the western world today; this does not make us any friends. We'd probably have more friends if we were part of the lunatic fringe in one political ideology or another. Within veganism, obviously, many people hate me precisely because I'm not a Communist (within Chinese language studies, too, I might add!). Politically, you can be isolated in the middle, and you can have a ton of colleagues and contemporaries on the extreme fringe (and this is one reason why people become extremists).

The unabomber had more friends than I do: his pathetic imitators (like John Zerzan) have more friends and followers than I do. I'm further to the right than Bernie Sanders (and, thus, closer to the center) but I'm completely alone "here".

Re: "I understand that The impossibility of the US option has been devastating for you both because you counted on that for so many years."

Indeed.

Re: "I fear that it has thrown you into a depression…"

No, Gail, I'm not depressed, I am simply running out of time, and running out of options: WE LITERALLY NEED TO DECIDE IF WE'RE BUYING AIRPLANE TICKETS TO JAPAN OR NOT THIS MONTH. And, yes, one of the reasons why I'm talking to you is that I do not remotely have enough money in my bank account to buy those airplane tickets outright (out of my youtube earnings, etc.). This is not a period of depression; this is a period of decisive action.

Re: "…and that this depression is preventing you from having the confidence to move and start again…"

Nope, you're thinking of some other guy: I have the confidence to move to Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Japan, Israel OR ANYWHERE ELSE ON EARTH. Self-confidence is not the problem. OTHER PEOPLE are the problem: the reason why I couldn't get a university degree in Chinese (for example) is OTHER PEOPLE. The reason why I couldn't get a college degree in baking is OTHER PEOPLE. How many more items should I add to this list? It wasn't a lack of confidence, talent, brilliance or anything else that stood in my way in these (numerous!) fields (including political philosophy, Buddhism, Cree-and-Ojibwe, etc. etc.) it was —simply— OTHER PEOPLE.

Guess what? Opening a comedy club involves OTHER PEOPLE. Comedy itself involves OTHER PEOPLE. Filmmaking involves OTHER PEOPLE.

You heard me say this many years ago, Gail: there is nothing more terrible than relying on something that cannot be relied upon. OTHER PEOPLE: that's what I cannot rely upon.

Just think about what happened at UVic: I had such low expectations, but the reality of that institution (and the people within it, comprising it) was SO MUCH WORSE than I possibly could have imagined. I could now repeat this for a list of other institutions, including the baking school.

No, Gail, my problem isn't a lack of confidence: I taught myself the Laotian language (NO TEACHER, NO HELP FROM ANYONE) while sleeping under a mosquito net and chopping my own firewood (to boil non-potable water) every morning. Getting on stage and doing comedy: my problem isn't a lack of confidence. Writing, researching, etc. —my problem is not a lack of confidence. My problem is other people —and, sometimes, the concatenation of cabals of other people in institutions.

It absolutely never occurred to me, ten years ago, that I wouldn't know a single person (in the whole world) with even a shred of talent or brilliance, but here I am: I have no contemporaries, I have no colleagues, I have no rivals, I have no equals.

There is no talent in Canada. There is no talent in Montreal. Canada is a dead end. Montreal is a dead end within a dead end.

Is Tokyo a dead end? Are there dissident intellectuals in Tokyo? If it's not gonna be Tokyo, then where?

E.M.

When did you stop considering the US as an option?

When we found out the paperwork will be impossible to proceed any further with.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

It would be such a sad story if such a vivid figure like you would languish in the precincts of a university that rhymes with "eunuch".

Tunic?

Zero Options: Trying to Make Something Out of Nothing.

July 14 at 8:13 PM

[Original title:] There are no intellectuals in Quebec; there is no stand up comedy scene in Montreal; there is no filmmaking opportunity in Canada.

There are no intellectuals in Quebec.

There is no stand up comedy scene in Montreal.

There is no filmmaking opportunity in Canada.

There are no universities in Canada where I could study
cinematography, baking, Chinese, OR ANYTHING ELSE. (It's a long
list.)

I am now 44. I've done twenty years of research into SO MANY THINGS.
I have absolutely nothing positive to show for it: we've only
confirmed (again and again) what is impossible.

[And, I will add, I live by this very simple religious principle: everything impossible is forbidden.]

Just to get between our apartment and the nearest bakery (which is
quite close by!) we walk past/over about 15 drug addicts —very often
they are smoking methamphetamine, crack cocaine and/or fentanyl out of
a glass pipe while we walk past them (openly). To get to the nearest
bank increases the number of drug addicts, we walk past even though we
plan our route (street by street) to avoid them. THIS IS NOW LEGAL IN
B.C.

There was a time when Melissa wanted to start playing basketball
(ALONE: WE HAVE NO FRIENDS IN CANADA) but I told her this was
impossible because she wouldn't be able to walk to the park (and back)
without me as a bodyguard —and there are drug addicts in the park,
also, where she would in theory be using the basketball.

I do not have a single friend in Victoria. I do not have a single
friend in Vancouver. I do not have a single friend in Montreal. I do
not have a single friend anywhere in Canada (AFTER ALL THESE YEARS AS
A PUBLIC FIGURE). Neither Melissa nor I talk with a single person in
all of Canada aside from you, Gail.

E.M.

—————

You have a good understanding of your situation... It very limiting. The logical conclusion is that you need to move.

Where you move represents a new beginning

If it is less than perfect, It would be an improvement over where you are now.

I love you as your mother

I can support your education

And some basic living expenses

Only you two can choose your destination and only you two can make friends

On the education side, you are both great a self-learning ---

Are there learning programmes at great universities that can provide certificates if not degrees?

Would the various "nomad visas" in countries like Spain work for you?? You seem to have friends there to build on?

You often talked about returning to Taiwan -- what has changed your mind about that?

It is a good time for you to make choices that get you out of the situation you are in... and take you toward some of your goals which I understood to be marriage and a child.

Taking steps -- even if halting and imperfect -- can take you in a positive direction.

You are both talented and you have love

I understand your disappointments -- but I hope that your strength of character and love will take you toward a happier life... There was a time about a year ago when you were more hopeful. I think that staying in Victoria has been bad for you -- I think it is time to make a move that can bring positive change even if you cannot see it now.

Love - gail

—————

Gail,

You're asking the right questions.

(1) "Would the various "nomad visas" in countries like Spain work for you??"

The problem with Spain is that we cannot earn money there: moving to
Spain basically means "retirement", and we will never be "normal
people" there. Whether you call that being a nomad or a retired
person makes no difference, really: different icing on the same cake.

There are no other options for Spain: zero.

We can take language classes there (i.e., learning Spanish) but that
would really just be a transition to living somewhere else that the
Spanish language is spoken (Cuba?).

In the past, when we thought California and Florida were options,
there could have been strategic significance to being in Spain for six
months (to learn to speak Spanish and then return to the United
States). Now, nothing in the U.S.A. is an option anymore, so Spain
and Spanish have disappeared from consideration.

(1.5) Greece is different: we could eventually become citizens in
Greece, and we could work and earn money in Greece (legally) if we buy
a house there and go through a series of stages. I am just mentioning
this to say, "Not every country in Europe plays by the same rules as
Spain". Each country has its own rules. We do not know of a single
positive example or opportunity anywhere.

(2) "Where you move represents a new beginning"

Correct.

(3) "Are there learning programmes at great universities that can
provide certificates if not degrees?"

I have searched for any opportunity for twenty years: I have not found
a single one under any heading, anywhere in the world.

I have never said to you, "Gail, there's this great university
program, but I can't go there for some logistical reason" —I have been
saying to you again and again, "there is absolutely nothing".

And I do not know if I can even type out a list of the options I have
investigated (it has included so many different subjects, many dozens,
even just within the last four years) but the areas I've discussed
most recently are (a) "Agenting" (being a talent agent), (b)
cinematography / filmmaking, (c) Chinese as a language, (d) Latin
(Ancient Latin) as a language.

None of these four would be "my first choice". I never even wanted to
study Chinese: I was forced to do so because of the impossibility of
studying other things (including Cree and Ojibwe!) that I actually did
study (in some cases for many years, e.g., the overlapping languages
(and history and politics) of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Sri Lanka,
Burma and Pali —a huge amount of work that very few people alive can
imagine).

Let me just repeat your question: "Are there learning programmes at
great universities that can provide certificates if not degrees?"

You've talked to us for so many hours about this over so many years:
you should already know the answer.

No, Gail, we haven't even found a program in baking bread (!) in all
these years, let alone a single program related to something I
actually want to do / something I'm actually talented and experienced
in.

There is nowhere in the world that we can even study Chinese. That is
about as mainstream a subject as I could possibly name (with over one
billion speakers). Keep in mind that —until recently— Melissa had
assumed we had the option of living in the U.S.A., and she looked at
universities across the United States for all these things (Chinese,
Cinematography, etc. etc.).

(4) Re: "You often talked about returning to Taiwan -- what has
changed your mind about that?"

I sent you an email about this recently: THE ONLY OPTION that exists
in Taiwan is taking short term language courses (as a holiday). We
can do that, and we could do that in Kunming, also, if you would pay
for it, but all of our belongings would remain here (in this
apartment) and we'd return to the same situation afterward, but better
able to speak Chinese. Both Taiwan and Communist China offer this
kind of short term language education program, but it is a vacation,
nothing more. And we would have zero positive options thereafter:
we'd be facing the same crisis again after the course is over that
we're facing now.

(5) "…but I hope that your strength of character and love will take
you toward a happier life..."

I DO NOT HAVE ANY STRENGTH OF CHARACTER LEFT.

I AM NOW 44 YEARS OLD: I HAVE ALREADY DONE EVERYTHING I CAN DO.

I NEED HELP. I HAVE NOTHING LEFT TO GIVE.

(6) "There was a time about a year ago when you were more hopeful."

That was when we assumed we could live in the United States of America
once the paperwork was completed: that assumption turned out to be
false. The whole of the U.S.A. is no longer an option for us.

I was more hopeful when I assumed Israel was an option for us, even
though Israel is hell on earth (it nevertheless has more intellectuals
than Canada!).

E.M.

Coincidentally, this was posted on the day my most popular youtube channel (ABLC) crossed SEVEN MILLION views, in total (according to the statistics I get out of youtube's own interface, directly). So… if people worth talking to were one in a million, I should have seven of them by now… AND I DON'T.

A desperate cry for help revisited.

July 13 at 11:05 PM

If you can help, offer. If you don't know how to help, ask.

Hello Eisel, what can I do to help? I am a 21 year old resident of Manitoba. PS: I am sadly not in the position to upgrade my membership to the $142 / month fee...

So I just re-watched two of your videos: "You are too stupid to watch this video (you're too stupid to help me)" and "A desperate cry for help.", and the conclusion that I have come to is that I am likely too ignorant and too stupid to help you, and for that I am sorry.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

That's just a snapshot of time you're seeing in yourself: if you put the work in, you will get just as apt as Eisel, he has said it could take two years. He needs hundreds, thousands of intellectually redeemable comrades/opponents. He's basically idle at the moment.

A fundamentally optimisic statement from Arturs, for a change.

Oregon decriminalized drugs 2 years ago; British Columbia decriminalized drugs 6 months ago; it isn't working.

July 13 at 6:59 PM

Note that in the first few minutes of the video we're shown the police issuing a $100 fine to a drug addict, and instructing the addict that the fine will be waived if he calls a number to (hypothetically) arrange for therapy. Here in Western Canada, decriminalization entails nothing of the kind: the use of these drugs (including cocaine, heroin, meth, etc.) is now simply legal.

They give people free drugs in Boston. https://t.co/x1CiPJVsB9

The Long Shadow of the French Revolution (in 2023)

griffmccoy5607:] Centrists/Libs enjoy the "White Man's Burden" and "White Savior" narrative because it reifies their view that they are sti...

A-bas-le-ciel

The Long Shadow of the French Revolution (in 2023)

July 13 at 2:11 PM

If we draw a dotted line with Voltaire on the left and Louis XVI on the right, my own position is far to the left of Voltaire, far further down the road indicated by the French Revolution, and my attitudes toward marriage, sexuality, religion and "tradition" as such (even Buddhist tradition, etc.) tend to reflect this.

Death Grows Green: Hank Green's Cure for Cancer.

July 13 at 2:27 AM

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

As we say here "Dots devējam atdodas": the giver receiveth back what he has given. The bass hits straight up like crunk.

Modern Latvian is shockingly similar to ancient Pali (and, thus, not so different from Sanskrit and Latin).

[One year later:] Compassion is a culturally inculcated lie.

July 12 at 9:19 PM

A more "relaxed" (although not relaxing) discussion of the philosophical issues covered more briefly (and powerfully) in my upload of just a few days ago (and chapter three of the book).

Atheism vs Agnosticism vs Nihilism: "How do you prove god doesn't exist?"

All literature is just literature, behind all authority is mere authorship. To quote NWA, "an AK-47 is a tool"; a book, also, is a tool. 君...

A-bas-le-ciel

Atheism vs Agnosticism vs Nihilism: "How do you prove god doesn't exist?"

July 12 at 8:57 PM

I genuinely think that this is a necessary shift in perspective for the whole atheist movement, skeptic movement, etc.

"Prove god exists" vs. "prove god doesn't exist" is (IMHO) beginning on a false footing —it misrepresents the problem and prefigures the only possible solution.

If these people (leading the movement) had more experience with significantly different religions (Daoism, Buddhism, Anthropology of tribal religions, etc., not just Abrahamic religion) it would help.

J.J. Mccullough is Wrong About Everything: American Exceptionalism.

July 12 at 5:58 AM

The problem with hating your audience (is different from the problem of your audience hating you).

This was a public comment on one of Stuart's videos (over at "the Unrepentant Atheist" youtube channel... but, really, you don't need to know...

A-bas-le-ciel

The problem with hating your audience (is different from the problem of your audience hating you).

July 12 at 3:11 AM

Debating (& Debunking) Steve Kaufmann: HE REPLIED!!!

July 11 at 9:35 AM

Also, incidentally, this video contains the secret to the meaning of life.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

I see, the secret to the meaning of life is to be able to talk to you as equals about history, politics and study of languages, in that order. 💥🦠🧽🪱🐟🦎🐀🐇🦧🦍🐒👪

[Meanwhile:] Not just Quebec, the West Coast is Burning.

July 11 at 6:00 AM

A record setting year for forest fires out here, too, although it hasn't been reported nearly so often as the fires in Quebec that have blacked out the New York skyline.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Banning campfires is a hard measure. My country who's main export product is wood just says that they "urge everyone to be very careful using an open flame. Spark from a cigarette, barbecue, campfire or vehicle could cause a devastating fire". Vegans will continue to be despised, and the only thing they can do is to try to make their raw intelligence shine.

[Meanwhile:] Everything is completely normal. There is nothing to worry about.

July 10 at 2:17 AM

The chart I'm trying to link to is on the right hand side here, but you may need to scroll down for a moment to see it: https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/carbon-dioxide/

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Aye, yo, these peeps call me El Niño When I hit the vapey they're like where's my burrito Your wifey Monsoon be breezing my d*** So you know you ain't gon' be having no sh** This took me surprisingly long to cook up.

How much money did Canada spend on search for that Titanic-bound submarine?

July 9 at 7:06 AM

(1) This is less than two minutes long, (2) yes, it's more money than you could have possibly imagined.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

The victim shown at right-hand side made me look up if he's Spongebob's creator, and although they share some facial features, Stephen Hillenburg passed away long ago.

Steve Kaufmann backs the fuck down.

Truly, a milestone in the annals of polyglot pissing contests. "You are proving that your own methods do not get results with the langauges...

A-bas-le-ciel

Steve Kaufmann backs the fuck down.

July 9 at 3:22 AM

Truly, a milestone in the annals of polyglot pissing contests.

"You are proving that your own methods do not get results with the langauges you've studied more recently, e.g., Arabic and Polish. Your failure with Chinese is an important, empirically real example: you need to re-examine the deepest assumptions built into your language learning advice. They are falsifiable and they are false."

And BTW, no: I did not respond to his earlier challenge by providing a list of all the languages I've studied, just three examples from three different language families. Apparently that was enough to get him to cut out the bullshit.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

You can't expect a full-on apology arguing in the comment section, but this is a significant step in destroying this person.

The critique of pure compassion: la critique de la compassion pure.

July 8 at 9:26 AM

The Wrath of Steve Kaufmann: LingQ Strikes Back

File under: Dept. of Minor Ironies.

A-bas-le-ciel

[Dept. of Minor Ironies:] The Wrath of Steve Kaufmann: LingQ Strikes Back

July 7 at 10:14 AM

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Hypocrite. 🙄

I now have a "threads" account.

July 6 at 11:13 PM

An alternative to Twitter.

Were you censored before or after Elon took over twitter?

Before. Long before.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Threads' terms of service (the same as Instagram's) have more details generally, so it doesn't just be like Twitter "We take action against the use of insults or profanity to target others", but from what I found "All private minors, private adults (who must self-report), and minor involuntary public figures are protected from [..] content that ranks them based on physical appearance or character traits, [..] Negative character or ability claims". Rules about hate speech are pretty much the same.

I nevertheless continue to believe Dr. Greger is a bimbo.

[Meanwhile:] Valladolid, 1550 A.D.

July 6 at 7:22 AM

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Judge evaluates the sculpture. He says: "What a tasteless slab of rock! Where's the Gothic sculpture I ordered?!"

[Other voices:] Homeless Drug Addicts: Sewage, Turf Wars & Organized Crime.

July 6 at 6:41 AM

Perhaps I should have put SEWAGE in all caps.

[Meanwhile:] White powder that appeared to be cocaine is indeed cocaine.

July 5 at 6:57 PM

The part of the story I do not understand is that the white house was evacuated when this "dime sized bag" was discovered.

[The Spirit of Season Two:] I learned Chinese in Six Months! But You Can't!

July 4 at 9:09 PM

13 minutes long… but the longest 13 minutes of your whole entire life!!!!

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Impressive. It amuses me that there are like 20 chapters generated in the video (the ones that break up the video, like in your "This is the End of the World: the Failure of the Vegan Movement" video).

Woman pressured into breast removal at 13 under 'erroneous belief' she was transgender: lawsuit

Kayla Lovdahl, 18, whose breasts were removed when she was 13 years old because she thought she was transgender is now suing the doctors and hospital that oversaw the procedure.

New York Post

[Other Voices:] And then there are lawsuits…

July 4 at 5:37 AM

Kayla Lovdahl, now 18, says she was pushed to “entertain the erroneous belief that she was transgender” at age 11, after being exposed to online influencers, according to the lawsuit she filed in California State Court against Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and four doctors.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

One thing that comes up repeatedly in these type of stories is that the parents are told that their child is under the threat of suicide if they don't medically intervene, which I don't really find convincing, although I knew a transgender girl, who was looking forward to surgery, and she did tell me she used to slit her arms, but I guess it wasn't of suicidal character, as she said it wouldn't bleed that much. Sick children.

MEANWHILE....

July 3 at 10:44 PM

Link to the original video: https://youtu.be/lXnyXvFTUSg

[Other voices:] RFK Jr. is not especially well informed about the assassination of JFK or RFK.

July 3 at 10:27 PM

It's interesting to hear his perspective, but most of what he knows is based on reading mainstream books (some of which he mentions by name in this interview) just like any other member of the hoi polloi.

However, in brief: ballistics evidence doesn't lie. That aspect of the story is indisputable (whether we're talking about RFK, JFK, or both).

I do not identify as an egomaniac, but…

July 3 at 9:22 PM

[Many years ago I stopped giving advice that nobody wants to hear; now, instead, here is some advice that somebody wants to hear.]

The only thing that is surprising (to me) about this story [that you've sent in to me] is the question that comes at the end of it:

"What would you recommend so I stop obsessing over this person?"

It is surprising to me that this is the question, that this is the problem you're struggling with.

Note that I do not identify as an egomaniac, but my own lack-of-egoic-weakness (shall we say) is part of the equation here, and will need to be mentioned.

Do you actually feel that you're better than him? Do you actually feel that you're "too good" for him?

Maybe the answer is no: maybe you feel that he isn't inferior to you, that he isn't contemptible to you, that (really) you wish he would love you (and that you could love him), etc., because you do not regard him as inferior at all.

I think you would admit that if you regarded him as entirely inferior and contemptible you would not be struggling with these feelings.

What do you need to do —in your own life— so that you can feel that you really are (starkly, absolutely) "too good" for this man?

Let me use Hitomi Mochizuki as an example here (a quick "google images" search with that name will familiarize you with why I'm using the example).

What if Hitomi Mochizuki wanted to fuck me? How would I feel? I would feel contempt toward her: I would feel that I'm too good for her. Again: I do not identify as an egomaniac. The basis for this feeling of contempt is not my physical appearance, nor hers: as far I know, Hitomi has worked as a professional model to some extent, and she is regarded as extremely beautiful by a huge percentage of people (she's not everybody's type, she isn't sexually appealing to everyone, but nevertheless… she's the object of desire for many, perhaps millions, of men and women).

If I went through a similar scenario (as you went through with this German guy) with Hitomi lying to me, or with some other attractive woman with similar attitudes (at a similar level of ignorance and stupidity, etc.) lying to me, how do you suppose I would feel if the lies were revealed (after we'd been arranging to meet but) before we'd met?

I would feel contempt for her, right? I would regard her as despicable. I would feel that she wasn't worth missing: she wasn't worth having regrets about, she wasn't worth worrying about. Even if I actually had met and fucked her, I would feel that she wasn't worth fucking: I would regard her as someone who wasn't worth falling in love with, I would feel that she wasn't worth having any kind of "reasonably profound" relationship with.

If I had never lived the life of the mind, in the same scenario with Hitomi, how would I feel? If I hadn't read a single book since the end of high school, how would I feel about a flirtation with such a woman, or a relationship with such a woman: if we're both merely living "the life of the body" and not "the life of the mind"? Comparing body to body, I'm her inferior; comparing the whole person to the whole person, she's utterly contemptible to me —she's beneath me.

Now ask yourself: why is it that you do not feel this way in relation to this German guy?

He's a bad person in various ways that you've described, but that's not how you feel about him: you don't feel contempt toward him, you don't feel disgust, you don't feel that you're too good for him (that you're too good "for this", in general).

Why?

What would you need to do (with your life, with "the life of the mind", etc.) to feel this way?

Having a big ego can be an incredibly positive and constructive thing..

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Keep in mind “Men may be bad in many ways, But good in one alone.”

Q&A for a change.

July 3 at 8:55 PM

—————

[Q:] Would you agree that non-negative health outcomes of a vegan diet are also non-falsifiable? I am still vegan due to the morality aspect, but I don't know how I would feel advocating a plant-based diet if I knew there were detrimental impacts to long-term health from not including small amounts of animal products? I am currently still fine eating bivalves, which don't "experience" pain, having no CNS.

—————

[A:] In general, I would say that the health benefits of a vegan diet are wildly exaggerated, but (1) admittedly, each and every other diet that veganism competes with has advocates wildly exaggerating the given diet's advantages, so this is "culturally normal", even if evil, and (2) some health benefits are nevertheless very real, and are very important, e.g., ingesting absolutely zero cholesterol (something easily attainable on a vegan diet, and almost impossible on a non-vegan diet). I would point out that the health advantages of drinking zero alcohol are obvious and indisputable, but this is insufficient to motivate the vast majority of people to quit drinking alcohol (and as with everything vegan: compare what I say on the matter in Future of an Illusion, my bookthat costs $1 digitally, and $4 on paper). https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZEkgohG7k7rE69S2fdmcRGJg2u4COrdr

—————

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Aside from cholesterol in the free form, there's also saturated fat which raises cholesterol levels in the blood, and it, annoyingly, can be found in the vegan diet, too, but fortunately it's only if you'd eat really junky, I mean french fries, mock meat and cheese, etc. that you'd be comparable to the standard American diet. Bivalves? Eww, what an urge to have.

Not all learning is book learning, but, today, book learning is the only type of learning available to most people, most of the time.

A member of the audience wrote in stating that they appreciate my discussion of autism (and stereotypically autistic behavior) in relation t...

A-bas-le-ciel

Not all learning is book learning, but, today, book learning is the only type of learning available to most people, most of the time.

July 3 at 8:34 PM

Alternatives to quitting video games: the chronological approach.

July 3 at 7:52 PM

"Don't play anything more recently made than the year 2000; if that doesn't work, don't play anything more recent than 1995; if you're still losing too much time to the hobby, play nothing more recent than 1990. Seriously: you aren't gonna lose that much time playing Star Soldier on the Famicom. But you can ruin your life with current gen games of any genre: the waste of time is off the meat rack."

^ The problem with this advice is that some people (some people) will become obsessive and addicted to even the simplest games imaginable (Pac Man, etc.) in the same way that they can become addicted to gambling, despite the utterly boring simplicity of the particular games involved (roulette, rolling dice, etc.).

However, yes, for the vast majority of people, an 8-bit game like Star Soldier would be a fifteen minute experience at most. With the exception of menu-driven RPGs, playing for 5 minutes feels like a very long time with that generation of games. 5 minutes of Ms. Pac Man is enjoyable; 15 minutes is misery.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

I used to play Game Boy emulated Pokémon but I got bored, because even fighting the gym leaders was a breeze, I think the only way to make the game more challenging would be to deprive your Pokémon of medical care, so their health bar is 10 percent full at most.

The whole category of menu-driven RPGs (JRPGs, etc., including Pokemon) = purgatory. You're being trained to regard filling out a bureaucratic form as entertainment, with hours and hours of senseless repetition.

Gendergeddon: Matt Dillahunty's Transgender Crusade.

July 3 at 5:47 AM

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

This might also apply to other body modifications like piercing, tattoos, but obviously not hair, nobody cares about hair because it grows back.

Torn from the Comment Section.

July 1 at 9:57 PM

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

Sorry, I'm extremely confused about the last clause you said about Islam "—nor even that it's not tremendously dangerous": can you paraphrase it? I think it's due to the double negative.

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

I'll suppose you mean "—nor even that it's safe".

It could help to separate that part and look at "it's [Islam is] not tremendously dangerous". He is saying that that is not the case either (in addition to "Islam isn't a good religion"). But I think you probably got it already.

Is Religion "a Mental Health Problem"? Nihilism and/or/as/vs Insanity.

July 1 at 6:39 PM

[Meanwhile:] The meaning of "science" is remarkably close to "magic" around here…

July 1 at 4:25 PM

The meaning of "science" is remarkably close to "magic" around here: I'd propose the definition, whatever bizarre hypothetical scenario I need to believe to win this argument IS SCIENCE.

The video is only two minutes long. Original title: "Matt Dillahunty In Womb Transplant To Biological Male Claim Plus Man Pregnancy Desire Is Fine."

‎Arturs Čistjakovs

I'm pretty sure the memory in his brain from which this imagery leached is the comedy film "Junior" starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

I mentioned that to Melissa: that Arnold Schwarzenegger had made a comedy with this "scientific" premise. In parallel, I note: Elon Musk seems to be influenced by the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Total Recall, and regards wildly implausible aspects of that movie as scientifically attainable.

Scams and Pseudoscience: Steve Kaufmann's LingQ is a New Religion. @Thelinguist

July 1 at 2:31 AM

June

The inevitable return of the Speedrun to Hell.

June 30 at 10:57 PM

Sometimes you have to fight for your right to party; sometimes you have to party for your right to fight. The quasi-legal battle over this comedy video has —now— taken up more time than the creation of the video itself.

The misleading legend of Steve Kaufmann: LingQ and consequences.

Re: Actually a Scam: Steve Kaufmann https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRBKFkglSKg

A-bas-le-ciel

The misleading legend of Steve Kaufmann: LingQ and consequences.

June 30 at 8:22 PM

I took a listen to him speaking just now and yeah I guess I never realized how bad his pronunciation is. Any consonant sounds unique to Arabic he blows right pass and seemingly doesn’t even try to pronounce it accurately lol. Specifically ain ع and qaf ق which are pronounced deeper in the throat

For the record I’m nowhere close to fluent but I did pay for lessons all last summer, studied on and off for about 2 years

If you check the link again, you'll see that I anonymized your comment and added it to the post / image.

Why the study of religion (and "cult phenomena") still matters.

June 30 at 4:43 PM

Most of you (now on Patreon) did not know me during the period in which I was actively "pitching" my C.V. to start an M.A. (and PhD) in the critique of religion —and, specifically, cult studies. It has come up in both my written work and my youtube channel from time to time.

—————

I have read a detailed account of a person being executed in a small (Buddhist) village in modern Laos because someone else in the village had a dream revealing something they had "magically" done wrong (not quite witchcraft) and the other villagers found the interpretation of the dream convincing. If you have a background in the anthropology of religion, if you have a background in real religious studies, let alone the discipline of cult studies more-or-less created by R.J. Lifton, you will know examples of insanity and its social consequences. People have hallucinations: those hallucination can be _the founding moment_ for a new religious movement —and they can also result in terrible consequences in an already established religious context (in which people have been trained to take those hallucinations seriously). I heard a detailed account of a whole extended family treating a child like garbage (from birth) because they believed she was the reincarnation of someone they all disliked (with the evidence for this being magical) and they treated her as if she were responsible for the things they resented that had been done by this deceased relative. Yeah, guess what: insanity is real, it is common, and it is far more dangerous in a religious context (than in a secular, skeptical one).

—————

No, Shannon, people who claim they can remember their prior incarnations ARE INDEED treated as if they have "a mental illness"; people who hear voices when they pray, people who see the ghosts of their dead ancestors, and so on —along with social phenomena (such as cult behavior) within religious groups. Dealing with insanity is a serious aspect of the "driest" of academic discourse on religion. The self-righteous attitude of S.Q. and M.D. is rooted in the most baleful ignorance imaginable: they are both people with zero awareness of the formal, academic study of religion and cult phenomena, trying to front as if they know what's in the literature and the caller does not. @3:54 Why do you suppose Shannon Q is so uncomfortable with one person being "intellectually superior" to another? Why do you suppose Matt Dillahunty has a problem with recognizing the extent and nature of insanity in modern society? Could it be that they struggle with "intellectual inferiority" and "mental health" respectively?

—————

The context for these comments, above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwFuTM3Mih0

—————

An example of my writing about R.J. Lifton: https://a-bas-le-ciel.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-psychohistory-of-the-cultural-revolution.html

Just read the article at the bottom, regarding the Protean Man: "(3) he responds to this anomie and absurdity with "the very antithesis of Maoist rectitude", namely, a willingness to switch between various beliefs and identities (in constant "flux")". Couldn't help but think or Orwellian double-think.

[The spirit of season one:] How to learn any language and bench press 270 pounds in just a few months, weeks, days hours.

June 29 at 10:37 PM

That image and slogan ("THERE ARE NO MIRACLES") really could be a t-shirt. :-/

Actually a Scam: Steve Kaufmann - lingosteve #polyglot #languagelearning

June 29 at 6:27 PM

"Just take it easy, just enjoy yourself, just spend 15 minutes every day, don't obsess over it". I've been learning how to draw, and ALL of this "advice" is repeated on "#ArtTube", it's terrible.

Augustus Sol Invictus

Augustus Sol Invictus - a goat-slaughtering, warmongering, repeat Senate candidate from Florida - is trying to reinvent himself as a leading voice in the alt right.

Southern Poverty Law Center

The problem with (ancient) Latin in 2023.

June 28 at 4:55 PM

As a bizarre footnote: parallel to Lauren Southern, despite his career as an overt Neo-Nazi, he is the biological father of non-white children. https://angloamerica101.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/1566736667737-1.png

[Meanwhile:] Sammy-Marie Grimm admits I was right… without directly saying, "He was right".

June 27 at 6:39 AM

I deal with a lot of "high stakes" political and moral questions on my youtube channel, but this was one of the most disturbing controversies I've analyzed on the channel… AND… if you listen to just what she says (e.g., about Haldol) and the way that she says it… it would seem reasonable to suppose that she has seen the videos I made discussing the (scientifically proven) effects and side effects of the drugs she was on (and the excuses she made for them at the time).

No, I don't think I'm gonna get a "thank you" card in the mail.

Alternatives to Being Autistic: Learning Languages in an Autism-Encouraging Society.

June 26 at 10:41 PM

I'm only halfway but I had to comment after you spoke about how a job can make you seem autistic I worked for the student billing office my first two years of college which meant I had to handle dozens of calls per day from dumb students and their angry parents with their billing statements. Oh god I became so socially withdrawn and was so people adverse within months of that job (mind you I wasn't the most social butterfly before college) that I thought I must be autistic I was actually tested as an adult and I don't have autism. Also, its been years since I've worked there and its amazing how more social I've become, in part due to not have to deal with fucking idiots every day lol

Re: "A disturbingly high percentage of my audience has autism." (Paraphrasing, I watched the video yesterday). I feel like, stereotypically, autistic people are perceived as being very blunt. I once knew an autistic guy who straight up said he had a "disease." I remember thinking that was a striking contrast to the way other people in the room were describing the issues (disability) at hand. I wonder if people with autistic behaviors are less likely to be offended. It seems many of your "haters" are reacting to an initial feeling of being offended. It could be the reason many of your fans have or have been perceived as having autism is that some of the attitudes associated with autism are the attitudes that would lead someone to actually consider your message in a more detached manner. That said, autism is a very broad concept, and I can also see the opposite argument being made with a totally different set of stereotypes that people could still perceive as being under the "autistic" umbrella.

Re: "I wonder if people with autistic behaviors are less likely to be offended." I would say the exact opposite: my experience with autistic people is that they quickly become overwhelmed with inconsolable rage (in response to a very minor challenge to their sense of ego equilibrium, so to speak).

Interesting. Maybe that just further goes to prove how broad/varied the category of what people culturally perceive as autism is. (Or maybe I'm just wrong.)

[Other voices:] Atheists vs. Christmas: Nihilists vs. Copium.

June 26 at 8:55 PM

Six years after the first Socmas… this is the first glimmer of my "modest proposal" even being heard by atheist youtubers.

On the absurdities of youtube censorship: Bomb Cyclone.

June 26 at 7:12 PM

In case it wasn't abundantly obvious: I DO NOT SAY THE N-WORD but there is a clip of an African American rapper using it (en passant) in the video in question.

—————

Hello E.M,

I hope you had a great weekend.

I hear back from our team and as per checking, there is heavy profanity present in the video at 0.04 seconds.

I hope this helps. If you have other concerns, please let me know.

—————

So your claim is that a black person cannot say "the n-word" in the context of a rap song?

(The rapper being quoted is indeed African American: that is a clip of a black man using the n-word.)

So your claim is that there are not any videos on youtube of black people (in rap songs) using this same word that are not demonetized and censored ("restricted")?

Are you saying that the same video that I've quoted (at 0.04) is demonetized and censored, where it was originally uploaded on youtube?

E.M.

—————

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sYPxgGCxOQ

Department of Minor Ironies.

June 26 at 6:44 PM

.....

June 26 at 7:29 AM

.....

....

June 26 at 2:32 AM

....

Three images, this time

Lauren Southern pretty much says about herself the same thing I said about her in Future of an Illusion.

June 26 at 1:41 AM

She uses the term "alternative conservative party" rather than "alt right" or "neo-nazi", but… if you recall what I said about her (i.e., as a sort of condemnation) in Future of an Illusion, what she says about herself (in retrospect) here comes fairly close to it…

...

June 25 at 12:22 AM

...

Note that there are two images in the sequence.

Being Wrong is an Important Part of Being Right.

People like Dillahunty SHOULD have the strength to say, "I know this is stupid and bad and wrong and I'm doing it anyway out of weakness". T...

A-bas-le-ciel

Being Wrong is an Important Part of Being Right.

June 24 at 10:18 PM

Sympathy is an analytical tool; self-righteousness is merely a fashion statement.

[The spirit of Season One:] Some reflections on my career(s), or the ways in which I did and did not specialize.

June 24 at 9:48 PM

Although my reason for directing your attention to it now has nothing to do with the title of the video, I'd encourage you to take seriously what I'm saying in the first five minutes here and directly salient to what I'm still struggling with in 2023.

Youtube is getting worse: there still is NO ALTERNATIVE platform to me to switch to.

June 24 at 8:56 PM

What am I supposed to do, upload to Vimeo?

—————

(1) The policy (erroneously) applied to this video is "Nudity and sexual content" @1:25. At that time there is a fully clothed adult male on screen, and he is not saying or doing anything sexual. (2) Most likely, the reason for censoring the video (at 1:25) is the use of coarse language (and an error has been made). However, (3) this a satirical (parody) rap music video, and the use of language must be evaluated relative to that standard. The person being quoted at 1:25 is the rapper Kanye West: he has similarly vulgar language in every one of his songs, and in innumerable youtube videos THAT ARE NOT restricted (to viewers 18+) on youtube. The video that moment was quoted from was not restricted to viewers 18+. You are applying a deeply incoherent policy in an incoherent way.

—————

E. Michael Jones was banned from both amazon and youtube and he´s now uploading his videos in bitchute

If you search for me on Bitchute you'll see that I already tried it, years ago.

[Meanwhile:] Hey, even a broken watch is right twice a day…

June 24 at 8:25 PM

The atheists are incapable of seeing that they're doing something wrong when the monotheists are right.

The left is incapable of seeing that they're doing something wrong when the right wing is right.

[Other voices:] The gathering cloud of transgender surgery skepticism.

June 24 at 8:09 PM

Note that this is one trans-trans person interviewing another (i.e., both women had been born as women but had transitioned to male, and then transitioned back again).

What's your estimate on this issue? Another 20 years? 200?

[Meanwhile:] Eliminating Fentanyl at its source: Mexico.

June 24 at 4:48 AM

I have no idea how this became a "left vs. right" issue. And even so, I have no idea how Joe Biden (of all people!) ended up on the left wing side of the equation.

Lao activist who was shot over weekend still alive, Human Rights Watch says

'Jack' Anousa had been reported dead, but family and others tell HRW that he is alive

Radio Free Asia

[Meanwhile:] In Laos, you can still get shot for criticizing the government.

June 24 at 1:04 AM

“Anousa was among the few people in Laos who regularly and openly expressed views that were critical of the Lao government,” HRW said, urging Laos authorities to “urgently conduct a credible and impartial investigation” into the shooting.

[…]

Anousa, 24, was the administrator of the Kub Kluen Duay Keyboard, or “Driven By Keyboard,” Facebook group that uncovered and denounced human rights abuses and called for the end of one-party rule in Laos.

In security camera footage that was later posted on the Facebook group page, Anousa was shot at 10:26 p.m. on Saturday in the After School Chocolate & Bar shop in Vientiane.

In the footage, an unidentified gunman wearing a cap and beige jacket came to the door and apparently asked a question. He then closed the door briefly and reopened it, stepped into the shop and fired what sounded like two shots at Anousa, who was seated on or near the floor, before fleeing.

——————————

Whether or not I've ever done a decent job telling the tale on the internet, and I suspect that I have not, as it was a story I was already bored of telling before my youtube channel began, I do have my own tale to tell about members of the government of Laos threatening to kill me (etc.). I did both literally and figuratively laugh in the face of danger at the time, and I had difficulty believing that I would be "worth killing" from the perspective of the Lao Communist Party, but nevertheless, Lao politics remains a game that is played with bullets and body bags on all sides.

Palestinian leader supports China's Uyghur policies in joint statement

"The Uyghur issue does not align with Palestine's interests," an expert says.

Radio Free Asia

Department of Minor Ironies.

June 24 at 12:41 AM

“Xinjiang-related issues are not human rights issues at all, but anti-violent terrorism, de-radicalization and anti-separatism.”

[The Spirit of Season One:] How to Get High Grades in University/College.

June 23 at 7:30 PM

This is salient to current and ongoing problems (just posted about) in my life (and visible on my youtube channel).

..

June 23 at 7:12 PM

..

[Other voices:] Punch the ceiling

June 23 at 7:28 AM

"Retweeting does not indicate agreement or endorsement" —isn't that what people always say these days? ;-)

Cross examination before the Senate has become indistinguishable from parody.

June 23 at 4:40 AM

It's not just what she says, it's THE WAY THAT SHE SAYS IT. This could never be captured in a transcript.

.

June 23 at 4:13 AM

[The spirit of season one:] The Nihilistic Approach to Humanitarian & Political Engagement.

June 22 at 9:23 PM

Apr 24, 2017

How many hours per year do I spend fighting Youtube's censorship and copyright system?

June 22 at 8:03 AM

I probably spent two hours doing this TODAY (both censorship AND copyright, entailing separate pseudo-legal processes). How many hours does it add up to in a year?

—————

This concerns my parody video found on YouTube: https://youtu.be/HNTN4cROt2o

This is a parody presenting original lyrics over a familiar melody for purposes of comedy and social criticism: there is absolutely zero ambiguity as to how American law and YouTube policy apply in this case.

Representatives of your organization have filed an erroneous takedown notice that will remove this video (from public view) within seven days.

Quoting Cornell University's Legal Information website:

"In the United States, parody is protected by the First Amendment as a form of expression. However, since parodies rely heavily on the original work, parodists rely on the fair use exception to combat claims of copyright infringement. The fair use exception is governed by the factors enumerated in section 107 of the Copyright Act: (1) the purpose and character of the use; (2) the nature of the original work; (3) the amount and substantiality of the original work used; and (4) the effect on the market value of the original work. Generally, courts are more likely to find that a parody qualifies as fair use if its purpose is to serve as a social commentary and not for purely commercial gain."

Quoting Wikipedia:

"Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569 (1994), was a United States Supreme Court copyright law case that established that a commercial parody can qualify as fair use.[1] This case established that the fact that money is made by a work does not make it impossible for fair use to apply; it is merely one of the components of a fair use analysis."

Note that this court precedent (510 U.S. 569 (1994)) directly concerns a parody song (original lyrics over a beat/music owned by someone else).

This is the most clearly protected form of freedom of speech under (1) Youtube's own policies, (2) U.S. law and also (3) Canadian law. Youtube has its own guideline videos on "fair use" and "transformative content" that explicitly protect this form of free expression —and it is even more expressly protected when the purpose is political commentary social criticism.

If it were not legal to create original lyrics over an established melody (or beat) that would have a chilling effect on both comedy and political discourse: it would create two classes of speech, one that can be criticized, and one that cannot (indeed, the latter class could not even be quoted without violating copyright). Fair use is not a trivial concept, ethically, legally or politically; parody itself may seem trivial, but the suppression of parody through the misuse of copyright claims on youtube is a substantial violation of civil rights.

Fan:] Can you comment on Neil deGrasse Tyson supposed cosmic perspective about veganism from his book "cosmic perspectives" including rele...

A-bas-le-ciel

Money: dialogue with a fan… with a plot twist at the end.

June 21 at 7:53 AM

The ending is actually LESS DEPRESSING than you think it's gonna be. ;-)

"You don't need to read the book, just watch this 50 MINUTE video" lol

I said to another youtuber (MANY years ago), "Look, you can't be better than Freelee without ACTUALLY BEING BETTER than Freelee: you have to do the research she doesn't do, you have to go to school and get the scientific credentials she doesn't have, etc." —and there's something similar to be said here. I'm better than the other youtubers partly because I WOULD ACTUALLY READ THE BOOK before criticizing it!

Nihilism vs. Jordan Peterson: the nihilists are right and you know it.

June 21 at 2:24 AM

Carly Hammond and Jordan Chariton: Open Relationship Office Politics.

June 20 at 8:11 PM

[Other voices:] Why I think atheism failed

June 20 at 5:22 PM

[Dept. of Uncritical Endorsements:] "LOOK AT THAT FAT" Super Mario 64 Remix

June 20 at 6:44 AM

Atheists: Stop Making Excuses for Buddhism.

June 20 at 6:06 AM

Merely 48 minutes long.

The wonder that was Fandar: a very different "speedrunning" video from years ago.

June 20 at 1:38 AM

I thought about re-posting this to Patreon for obvious but unrelated reasons. I assume that today's video on "the 16 Star Mentality" was the first time most of you could remember me mentioning the speedrunning subculture… but… in fact… it's not the first time it has come up on the channel… and now I might as well share this as the idiocy of Fandar has been "brought up" in such a dramatic fashion.

Ghosts of Fandar: Martin Exists Stage Left.

June 20 at 1:25 AM

How old do you think this guy is? I would have to imagine he's very callow indeed. But, yes, the other possibility is that he's just as mentally disabled as Fandar.

————————————

Martin

First. I was typing from a fucking cellphone.

Second I don´t accept impositions of morally inferior people (Yes, coincidentally, just so happened that I came across Fandar3 videos exposing you. You are, mentally and morally, fucked up).

If you took that long to write a book then you are not that smart as you pretend to be in your videos. ( Yes, I took my time to investigate further about you after your childish 5 year old angry reply).

20 years of research, C´mon! that´s part of the character you created all this time to justify your lifestyle and mistakes of your own past. As fake as the body language of many of your videos.

What do you for a living? Do you even have a job (any job)? Oh no that would be to low for Mr. Intelectual ooops don´t forget he´s vegan. Holy Shit the next Buddha right here ladies and gentlemen.

Who the fuck are you demand stuff from me (or anyone else)?. I live on my own and don´t depend from daddy and mommy funding me and I am younger than you. Already with that I am "I.R.L" miles ahead of you.

Since, you wanna interrogate me, someone told me about a video in which you (ex-buddhist and morally superior because... vegan!) claimed that your deserved more financial support than your brother who has a disability. How is that (Mr. intelectual and of course vegan!) something, morally superior?

By the way where´s the video in which you talk about your brother in such demeaning way?. I wanna show it to some people to warn them about these new breed of pseudo-intellectuals and morally bankrupt. (We had your type back in the days of rise of tibetan buddhism in the west, years ago).

Haven´t you thought about why I prefer an electronic version (which I am willing to PAY BTW), let me give you a hint, Ok let´s go: books require ----->paper ------->requires chopping down trees (are you following me Mr. Intellectual).

Maybe there´s a more eco-friendly solution. Could that be an electronic version? (I put some arrows (----->) in case the train of thought is too hard to follow for you, just for you ;-) )

Now Replying:

———
"You ain't writing to me about your youtube channel, your podcast, your book —nor about your "I.R.L." politics, ventures, or other achievements.

You want respect? Push respect"
———

I should thank you for your rude reply. Made me do a quick research which uncovered who you are really (thanks to that youtuber that exposed you). No I am not gonna share with you my politics, ventures, nothing! You are not worthy of any of them.

You want my respect, you just lost it for good.

P.S. Don´t write to me with UPPERCASE mother fucker I am neither your employee nor your submissive (and sadly manipulated) girlfriend, which I hope, for her mental health, breaks up with you ASAP.

I saw you were satisfied to see a college professor in the hospital... and you speak about moral superiority. You want anyone´s respect? Fuck you!

You want respect? Earn it! (getting a job, ANY JOB should be a good start).

And have a nice a wonderful day :)

————————————

Eisel Mazard

Oh yeah, bro, Fandar = 110% legit source of information.

哈哈哈哈哈哈

You could learn more about me from a casual reading of my own blog, or even my own Instagram.

Re: "You want my respect, you just lost it for good."

No, I don't want your respect: you've quite hilariously misinterpreted my message (and I can't even say that you've misinterpreted it in a self-serving way, so it is a peculiar error on your part).

I have never once been asking you to respect me: I have been asking you to provide evidence of who you are, of what you do, etc., so that I can respect you. That was very clear throughout.

You want me to send you a free copy of my book as a TXT file? I can do that, and I have done that (as mentioned) for one person who really was in a circumstance in which he found it impossible to buy my book on paper. Look at how wildly unreasonable and malicious your responses have been: I am saying to you, "look, if your own behavior were 'on the level', and I had some sense of who you were, etc., then I would be willing to do you this favor" —it is not a tremendously high level of respect we're talking about. However, doing such a favor for a faceless, nameless account on the internet (and, in your case, an account that has ONLY been an asshole toward me) is really a tall order.

Homie: talent is scarce.

When you look back on this five years from now, you're gonna have to ask yourself what opportunity was lost: what opportunity you'd squandered just to indulge your own ego and throw this little tantrum in front of me.

No Context Necessary.

June 19 at 7:21 AM

Re: "If you knew (by some means) you would see the world's intellectuals continually referencing your work and you winning a posthumous nobel prize - say in 100 years - would you take any satisfaction from that?"

No, I am not trying to make myself into a statue. My defiance is not the stuff monuments are made of: I am trying to change this world in this decade. My impatience is both shallow and profound.

The 16 Star Mindset: Greensuigi's Speedrun from Hell.

June 19 at 6:08 AM

Some of you… SOME OF YOU in my audience… know EXACTLY where to share the link to this video… and some of you HAVE NO IDEA… but trust me… there's A WHOLE SUBCULTURE that wants to hear it… ;-)

[Original title: The 16 Star Mentality.]

Everything is rap music.

June 19 at 2:53 AM

Push respect.

https://a-bas-le-ciel.blogspot.com/2023/03/miss-me-with-that-catch-me-with-this.html

[Meanwhile:] The mainstream media can't deal with what's wrong with the University system (BUT I CAN).

June 17 at 6:43 PM

A significant percentage of my book, No More Manifestos, advances a new philosophy of education, and a significant number of my youtube videos have presented a critique of the university of system. Some of the problems have become impossible to ignore… although the mainstream media remains incapable of really dealing with them.

Joining the Republican Party in 2023: AN OPTION.

June 17 at 8:55 AM

[Other voices:] Who is (or was) Louis Farrakhan?

June 16 at 10:21 PM

————

Within a few years, Gene Walcott [who would later adopt the name Louis Farrakhan] had dropped out of college and taken up a career as a calypso singer, styling himself the Charmer. Among those charmed, he would recount years later, were many women: “I wouldn’t go to bed with them. They wanted to give me money. . . . I told them, ‘You’re out of your damn mind.’ They said, ‘I think you’re a faggot.’ And I said, ‘I know what I am. You’ll never find out.’ ”

⋯

Before long, her son emerged as Minister Louis X, of the Boston Temple. He had been trained well by Malcolm in public speaking, and he also brought his own particular gifts to the task. He recorded a song entitled “A White Man’s Heaven Is a Black Man’s Hell,” which was a hit in Black Muslim circles, and he swiftly established himself as one of the most promising members of the ministry. He wrote—and performed in—a play entitled “Orgena” (“A Negro” spelled backward), a satire about assimilated blacks. He also wrote “The Trial,” in which a black prosecutor (usually played by Louis) tries the White Man for his myriad sins, and at the conclusion a black jury finds the defendant guilty and sentences him to death. Audiences responded with clamorous ovations.

——————

Source: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1996/04/29/the-charmer

A video that contains the words, "Thanks, Eisel".

June 16 at 4:03 AM

[Meanwhile:] Vegan Gains is STILL deleting his old videos to avoid getting banned from youtube… AGAIN.

June 15 at 6:42 AM

Less than one minute long.

[Meanwhile:] San Francisco: cotidienne consequences of decriminalizing drugs.

June 15 at 4:17 AM

People who can abandon the city do abandon the city; businesses close down; large complexes of businesses close down.

[Other voices:] When do we admit decriminalizing drugs DOESN'T WORK exactly?

June 15 at 12:36 AM

Original title: Portland's Meltdown: A Progressive Experiment That 'Has Gone Colossally Bad'

I live in Portland... My girlfriend asked me an ethical question the other day: "Should I call 911 if I walk past a homeless-looking man passed out on the sidewalk? Maybe they are dying and they need help." I didn't have a good answer for her. Obviously they are in a drug induced stupor, but on the off chance they really are dying maybe it is worth it to take the time to call for help? On the other hand, would it actually help to call 911? Likely it would just result in the police showing up, and the "call for help" would be resented (no one likes dealing with the police).

[Other voices:] Vice Magazine, Vice Television… Vice BANKRUPTCY.

June 14 at 9:50 PM

To say that I am six degrees of separation removed from vice would be an overstatement: I have known —directly— a few people whose lives were impacted by this "media empire" that formerly had a foothold both in Toronto and Montreal. One fellow spoke to me at great length about the factional politics that were ongoing within Vice at that time —although I wouldn't suppose those conflicts had much to do with the problems the company had before or since.

The simultaneously overrated and yet unknown podcast "Canadaland" has also attempted to make a sort of documentary about the early history of Vice (in Montreal and Toronto, etc.) including the recollections of people who were involved at the time.

Short term, quitting veganism has been "good for business" over at Cosmic Skeptic's channel.

June 14 at 6:55 PM

[Meanwhile:] The failed plot to murder Luna, explained by one of the co-conspirators.

June 14 at 5:50 AM

[Meanwhile:] Trying to make sense of the criminal allegations surrounding Sv3rige.

June 14 at 5:28 AM

Footnote: Sv3rige is now primarily known as Goatis on YouTube.

The Blue Bathrobe Interview: life with and without video games.

June 13 at 4:41 PM

This is an interview (from 2023) with a youtube channel that no longer exists, for a podcast that no longer exists, so I've uploaded it to my own channel, because this is —now— the only place you can see or hear it.

Do you know what happened to that channel? I remember when this came out

What are the odds that he finally quit video games?

He talked about it pretty openly: he moved to a new country, his wife gave birth to a new baby, etc.

The channel and original video still exist, he's just rebranded to "Cartridge and Disk Podcast" (@cartridgeanddiskpodcast). It's mostly the same content, though he did post a short video yesterday talking about retiring from his current career and going back to college.

Based on what he told me, I'd expect the rebranded channel to disappear, too... but we'll see, I guess.

[Meanwhile:] An insane, immoral and inaccurate endorsement of the Unabomber…

June 13 at 4:51 AM

…from Krystal Ball of all people!

If you want to know the extent to which she's misrepresenting her source material here, the most efficient way to catch up with what the hell the Unabomber was supposed to represent is to look up the one star reviews of his books (including his most recent books) on Goodreads. Yeah, there are a lot of five star reviews from people even crazier than Krystal Ball, but you'll find the one star reviews actually contain quotations to prove their point…

SEC Seeks to Slash $22M Fine on Crypto Firm LBRY to $111K

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) wants to revise a $22 million penalty set on crypto startup LBRY to $111,614, according to court documents from Friday. The regulator cited LBRY's "lack of funds and near-defunct status," as reasons for withdrawing its previous request for fine.

[Other voices:] An already forgotten precedent in Cryptocurrency history: LBRY.

June 12 at 5:32 PM

———
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) wants to revise [!] a $22 million penalty set on crypto startup LBRY to [only] $111,614…

The regulator cited LBRY's "lack of funds and near-defunct status," as reasons for [the reduction in the fine].
———

The Black Hole Problem: Give, Give, Give, Take, Take, Take.

You really cannot imagine how much "reaching out" to help others I've done: the mention of talking viewers out of suicide may seem maudlin (it may seem like an exaggeration) but it is (1) literally true, and (2) figuratively gives a sense of innumerable situations in which I did indeed have to be very "giving" to help people -about whom I knew little more than that they needed the help.

A-bas-le-ciel

The Black Hole Problem: Give, Give, Give, Take, Take, Take.

June 12 at 2:33 AM

You really cannot imagine how much "reaching out" to help others I've done: the mention of talking viewers out of suicide may seem maudlin (it may seem like an exaggeration) but it is (1) literally true, and (2) figuratively gives a sense of innumerable situations in which I did indeed have to be very "giving" to help people —about whom I knew little more than that they needed the help.

"It" wasn't worth it because "you" weren't worth it.

Compare the reflections on my experience with Buddhism circa page 103 to 107 of Future of an Illusion: I quit that religion not because of the badness of its principles, its abstractions, its theories or even its rituals, but because of the badness of the people within it -I rejected Buddhists, as they really are, not Buddhism as it could be or should be.

A-bas-le-ciel

It wasn't worth it because "you" weren't worth it.

June 12 at 12:35 AM

The most serious allegations against Trump never went to court.

June 11 at 7:57 AM

The spirit of season one.

100% typical conversation with a longtime fan and supporter of the channel.

June 9 at 7:03 AM

Also to be found on ye olde blog: http://a-bas-le-ciel.blogspot.com/2023/06/100-typical-conversation-with-longtime.html

The image within an image that he's replying to at the very top of the first screenshot (before the words, "it's a shame, man) can be found here: http://a-bas-le-ciel.blogspot.com/2023/06/on-attracting-audience-of-intellectuals.html And in case you're interested in the link in the first image (to a playlist titled, asking the audience for help), here it is: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZEkgohG7k7pJMWgCbzGti-z-5DvaIa3Y

[Other voices:] Sam reading from (and reflecting on) Aristotle's Politics.

June 9 at 5:32 AM

Yes, just a little bit of commentary has been intrusively added by Eisel Mazard, throughout. ;-)

[Other voices:] Living surrounded by drug addicts in Canada: a siege "of all against all".

June 9 at 5:05 AM

Note that this video is indeed government propaganda: everything the C.B.C. does is propaganda —even when it is presented as a critique of propaganda. And the most frequent implicit message is one of boosterism, sensu stricto. Even in this intensely dishonest context, however, some sense of the bleakness of our lives (yes, including my life) in the Pacific North West is connoted.

[Total runtime = 9:56.]

Intellectuals: far fewer than one in ten thousand.

June 8 at 5:38 PM

Differences of degree, differences in kind.

June 8 at 5:09 PM

Meeting Jason Momoa: He's Ugly In Real Life.

June 8 at 8:34 AM

An extract from a much longer philosophical (and political) discussion, found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGdVEjyKdpA

What percentage of youtubers are on drugs?

June 8 at 12:06 AM

[Other voices:] Oh, hey, remember democracy in Hong Kong? What ever happened TO THAT?

June 7 at 6:30 PM

Original title: "China clamps down on Hong Kong's annual vigil of Tiananmen massacre"

When atoms get the right to vote...

June 7 at 3:12 AM

[Department of Minor Ironies:] Meanwhile, IN ISRAEL…

June 6 at 9:57 PM

Original title: "Anti-Zionist Jewish community flying Palestinian flags in Jerusalem".

[Department of Minor Ironies:] "Well, let's not politicize the raising of FLAGS…"

June 6 at 9:55 PM

Raising flags is political. Banning flags is political. Flying flags at half mast is political. Burning flags is political. This is the most inevitable political conflict imaginable, just now starting to unfold.

Nothing else for either side to say.

June 6 at 5:59 PM

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZEkgohG7k7pJMWgCbzGti-z-5DvaIa3Y

[Other voices:] The long term legacy of looting in 2020: strongarm shoplifting "is normal" now.

June 6 at 5:43 PM

^ The title is my own "thesis", and is not stated in the video.

Russia says it thwarts another major Ukrainian offensive in Donetsk

June 6 (Reuters) - Russia's defence ministry said early on Tuesday that it had thwarted another major offensive by Ukrainian forces in Donetsk, inflicting huge personnel losses and destroying eight main battle Leopard tanks as Kyiv forces pressed on.

[Other voices:] War Hasn't Changed.

June 6 at 5:36 PM

"Russia, Ukraine blame each other for collapse of dam."

On the unusual popularity of, "Why I'm forcing you to read Aristotle".

I received a question about this video, or about its unusual popularity, or about the unusual quantity of fan mail I receive about it. What is it, exactly, that people like so much about the video?] People like the idea that they can change.

A-bas-le-ciel

On the unusual popularity of, "Why I'm forcing you to read Aristotle".

June 6 at 9:11 AM

Like a new years resolution huh

"Want to understand history and politics? READ THESE 10 BOOKS!"

On attracting an audience of intellectuals.

June 6 at 8:40 AM

Creating videos of lean, fit people showing off their bodies does not attract an audience of lean, fit, healthy people —quite the contrary, it attracts an audience of people who see in that performance something they lack.

They only yearn for what they lack: so it is that highly intellectual content attracts an audience even more mindless than mindless entertainment.

I realize how difficult this is to believe.

You cannot raise the intellectual or moral caliber of your audience by raising yourself up: you can only attract an even lower audience that enjoys gawking at you from a greater distance. Their very inferiority will make you seem exotic in their eyes.

E.M.

Fear of a Woke Planet: the WOKE MOB Anthem.

June 5 at 10:54 AM

AND WHO IS "THE WOKE MOB" EXACTLY?

It's hard to accept that people are really this stupid. They are.

June 5 at 6:09 AM

People really are this stupid.

REALLY.

90% of people are really this stupid, really this crazy, and really this malign —even at Cambridge University…

ESPECIALLY at Cambridge University.

Here's the link if you want it: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZEkgohG7k7piTjOcK4iA4RP6TlLj6-ss

People who are stupid don’t see that they are or accept that they are. Those are the stupidest among us. The ones that see how stupid they are can either except it or decide that they will do better. (Like me)

But in the way that I haven’t reached my full potential because of myself. No other person to blame.

The good news is it’s not over and we can turn our stupidity around and truly change.

The Dhammapada: Inasmuch as a fool is aware of his own foolishness, he is, to that extent, a wise man, but he who is a fool while considering himself wise is truly and utterly a fool.

I think you are very generous with this 90%. That would mean that there are ~800.000.000 smart people in the world. Even 1% seems too much. Are there 80 million of them? Where are they hiding?

I've lived in repressive regimes: I think that in many cultures around the world, intelligent people are indeed LIVING IN HIDING. If I had been born a citizen of Saudi Arabia, or even Pakistan, what would I be doing right now? Living my whole life under a mask —a masquerade.

[Other voices:] Meanwhile, in Iran… 2023: the revolution that never was.

June 4 at 12:47 AM

Oh, hey… FOR SOME STRANGE REASON… Americans and Western Europeans are ONLY interested in the early "promising" stages of these rebellions (Iran, Hong Kong and Myanmar much the same, not to mention the "Arab Spring" phenomenon) and then have NO INTEREST AT ALL in the real outcomes that ensue. One of the shops here in Victoria was literally selling flags supporting the democracy-and-women's-rights (feminism) revolution in Iran… well…

[Other Voices:] First Nations (Native Americans) in video games: a rare discussion.

June 2 at 6:35 AM

Dynamic Eye Studios

I recall my brother playing RDR https://youtu.be/RVoq0hLdGmo

[Other voices:] What happens to "migrants" after they arrive in New York City?

June 1 at 5:55 PM

The use of the word "migrant" in 2023 is slightly surreal: this video apparently concerns refugees throwing themselves on the mercy of the social services system and claiming a status (and benefits) totally different from the usual path through getting a green card, etc. (qua immigration, the meaning usually associated with "being a migrant", etc.).

Emotion is not the opposite of reason.

Hi Eisel. I want to share what I've been thinking lately. Each person's purpose is to become a mature human being, with the potency in their nature actualized. It's easy to see that the potency of intelligence is to grow and develop, but what is the potency of emotion?

A-bas-le-ciel

Emotion is not the opposite of reason.

June 1 at 5:37 PM

[The right wing can't be wrong about everything:] "Canada Is Dying" by Aaron Gunn.

June 1 at 5:21 PM

Only the far right wing cares about drug addiction and the rampant (misc.) criminal activity (and "mental health problems") linked to having a standing army of drug addicts on the streets at all times, so… however risible they may be on other issues, inevitably… the right wing becomes the only credible voice in politics.

May

Stendhal: the #1 book on Jordan Peterson's reading list.

May 31 at 8:06 PM

La Chartreuse de Parme, a.k.a. The Charterhouse of Parma by Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle)… inexplibaly the number one book on Jordan Peterson's "100 Great Books" reading list.

Interesting video. I read it six or seven years ago, but It's probably time for a reread. Any thoughts on his book The Red and the Black?

Do you think Water Margin also requires a certain level of knowledge about the historical period to appreciate? Or could you read it without knowing much about China? I remember you once recommended reading Water Margin to learn about Ancient China.

Overall, I would say that you can read Water Margin in English without any prior preparation... but I read something like four volumes out of ten (different editions divide the book into different numbers of volumes). I have not read the whole thing.

[Other voices:] Richard describes himself as teetering on the edge of suicide all day, every day, and thus "needs" Nicotine.

May 30 at 9:43 PM

The link should bring you to the 4:30 mark, but if it doesn't work, you might want to click to jump to that point.

You know… more than five years ago I was asking Richard directly, "who do you want to be five years from now?"

What do you want to be doing five years from now? What kind of person are you going to be?

[3 minutes:] Are any of these people going to be alive 5 years from now?

May 30 at 9:35 PM

Seroquel, Wellbutrin, and (yes, yes y'all) nicotine… this is the man who was formerly the most influential voice in the Vegan movement, Richard Burgess, a.k.a. "Vegan Gains".

Extinction Rebellion: is anyone else asking where all the money went?

May 30 at 7:46 PM

Over one million dollars per year for how many years? And they're NOT operating as a registered charity for some mysterious reason, you notice that? Nobody else is asking questions? Just me? Right.

[The spirit of season one:] Your mental health problems are who you really are.

May 30 at 6:59 PM

Only 8 minutes long (one of the shortest monologues on the channel).

The case of the Incel Anthem: how censorship at youtube works (and how it doesn't work)

4:56:28 PM Eisel Mazard: Hello Juvia. 4:56:38 PM Eisel Mazard: I am writing to you about the censorship status of THIS VIDEO: 4:56:39 PM Juvia: Hi there! 4:56:40 PM Eisel Mazard: https://youtu.be/M18KxgvWPts 4:56:45 PM Juvia: I hope you are doing great 4:56:55 PM Juvia: thank you for the video URL 4:56:57 PM Eisel Mazard: ^ This video is categorized as "hate speech".

A-bas-le-ciel

The case of the Incel Anthem: how censorship at youtube works (and how it doesn't work)

May 29 at 1:36 AM

The controversy here is the categorization (and blacklisting) of a comedy video "as hate speech" —and youtube's own implicit definition of hate speech (or a series of examples illustrating it) is quoted in the ensuing conversation below (and my video does not deserve to be censored by this definition!).

[Other voices:] Admitting that video games really are the problem: "Hiding in My Room" comes clean.

May 29 at 1:08 AM

I am surprised to hear that his problem began with the Game Boy and Sega Mega Drive… I am not surprised that his problems became dramatically worse with PC gaming (and World of Warcraft, specifically.)

[Meanwhile:] The decline and fall of "Decline".

May 29 at 12:52 AM

My comment:

[Me:] "If you work out at the gym, you can get a 20% improvement in your appearance, but don't kid yourself, you've got to focus on being a good person under several other headings, like, intellectually…"

[Decline:] "Only 20%? No way man! You're just a troll! I can do way better than that!"

[30th birthday deadline:] "Gee, in retrospect, 20% improvement seems pretty good about now, hunh?"

Intellectually and ethically, you can improve far more than 20% —but you've now found out (the hard way) just how difficult it would be for you to reach a higher level athletically, just 20% above your prior (personal) best.

The challenges of going vegan in meat-crazy Pakistan

RAWALPINDI: Digital rights activist Usama Khilji has been vegan since 2013, joining a global movement of people who eat a diet that is entirely plant based, eschewing even the eggs and milk of traditional vegetarianism.

[Other voices:] The challenges of going vegan in meat-crazy Pakistan

May 28 at 7:08 PM

"Pakistan’s per capita meat consumption in 2000 was 11.7 kg, which rose to over 47 kg by 2020."

Does this summer have a name yet?

May 28 at 6:24 AM

I realize "white boy summer" is over, but... ?

https://youtu.be/hHtZ4Kbo8R0

(Still a great video, BTW, with an explicitly political conclusion... maybe some of you never watched it until the end?)

[Other voices:] The beginning of the end of left wing drug policy, and left wing mental health policy.

May 28 at 5:35 AM

It's two minutes long: you don't get a summary.

What 2,000 views means to me: a look back at the lost avant garde of season one

This video just came up in an unrelated conversation: it is an utterly boring video with an utterly boring title, "Veganism 2.0". It is just 24 minutes of me speaking into the camera (intensely) talking about the theory and practice of veganism -and, again, there's nothing entertaining about the title, the thumbnail or anything else.

A-bas-le-ciel

What 2,000 views means to me: a look back at the lost avant garde of season one

May 28 at 1:53 AM

[From my email correspondence with a viewer.]

This video just came up in an unrelated conversation: it is an utterly boring video with an utterly boring title, "Veganism 2.0".

It is just 24 minutes of me speaking into the camera (intensely) talking about the theory and practice of veganism —and, again, there's nothing entertaining about the title, the thumbnail or anything else. 2,300 people clicked on a video titled "Veganism 2.0" just to hear me give this utterly boring lecture on the ethical implications of killing bears that break into your house, etc.

https://youtu.be/GF_wyl07YKQ

Now my point is this: the video can't be any more successful. It can't be.

That is really the upper limit of the tiny audience anyone can hope to reach (with "serious" vegan content of this kind).

Many of the people who watched that video will be the same people who listened to even more boring lectures by Gary Francione. And those people have a limited appetite for listening to morality lectures, as you can imagine.

The hardcore vegan activists are a very small audience in the English language, and it is an audience I know very well —and I had already exhausted the patience of that audience (with my even more puritanical message, reproaching them for being not pure enough, etc.) circa 4 or 5 years ago, when that video was made.

Again, I am not upset about this, and, on the contrary, it's something I'm entirely comfortable joking around about.

I do realize that it's implicitly hilarious that my role has been to reproach other vegans for not being vegan enough. And that is something I've been quite willing to make comedy videos about, i.e., ridiculing myself for.

It is not the case that there's a larger audience that I'm failing to reach: the metrics of what is possible if you want to be "the next Gary Francione" are very clear (and please note that Francione had millions of dollars at his disposal, a position of institutional privilege as a law professor, and he was willing to spend more decades doing this than I ever will, etc.).

Just a few thousand people on the whole globe (speaking English) are interested in this stuff (e.g., "Who is more vegan, Peter Singer or Gary Francione?"). And I had already saturated that small market circa 4 or 5 years ago.

So, again, I am not boasting: this is a very small subculture in which everyone knows everyone else.

I was much more surprised when people in the polyglot subculture told me that everyone there knew my work, but apparently that is an even smaller subculture, that is even more tightly knit (again: everyone knows everyone else, etc.).

[The Spirit of Season One:] "Veganism 2.0" more than four years later!

May 28 at 1:31 AM

Hank Green Gets Cancelled by Cancer: the Vegan Perspective.

May 26 at 9:42 PM

Has anyone ever told you that you can save the world for the cost of a can of Coca Cola? For the cost of a cup of coffee per day? Have you ever seen anyone argue back that _THAT IS NOT TRUE_ —or even that it's a dangerous delusion?

For less than the cost of a cup of coffee, I subscribed to this Patreon, so that I can leave comments :)

Presumably you do not have the delusion that you're saving the lives of children starving in Africa. ;-)

[Other voices:] Can Portland admit drug addiction is the problem? No, of course not!

May 26 at 6:54 AM

Long story short: the local government has given in to pressure from physically disabled people to remove homeless people "camping" on the sidewalks… because their presence there is unfair to people with "mobility challenges". And the implicit absurdity of the situation is that everyone can carry on pretending that drug addiction isn't the problem —and, I suppose, for a short while they can pretend that this pro-disabled-people policy is the solution!

[Other voices:] An ode to the Chinese cinderblock utopia.

May 25 at 8:45 PM

Or dystopia. Or both.

An interesting twist from Oscar Jenkins (i.e., this is a satirical song, but quite different from his others, thus far).

[Other voices:] There are so many drug addicts, Starbucks is removing all the chairs.

May 25 at 6:13 PM

I'd remind you: not all drug addicts are homeless, not all drug addicts are poor.

Crime, vagrancy, vandalism and homelessness are blamed for both coffee shops closing down, and coffee shops removing all seating… at what point do we bluntly admit that drug addiction is the problem?

[Other voices:] The implicit absurdities of the "sanctuary city" model are becoming difficult to ignore.

May 25 at 3:49 AM

Two minutes long. Note the briefly mentioned number of $150 million dollars.

[Other voices:] Conspiracy to commit murder allegations against Sv3rige a.k.a. Goatis

May 24 at 11:30 PM

Conspiracy to commit murder, kidnapping, etc., discussed by a direct witness (and self-confessed participant) in this video.

[Department of Quitting Video Games:] The Intellivision Amico Saga ISN'T OVER YET…

May 24 at 11:05 PM

Hey, he's better than John Sakars… and he's singing in his second language…

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- [[https://www.patreon.com/posts/why-soycrates-me-34185387][Why Soycrates Hates Me	Censored, but with MORE skin showing…]]

January

- [[https://www.patreon.com/posts/why-soycrates-me-33083539][Why Soycrates Hates Me	Ariel Garlow	Chantelle Robin	A.L.R. Garlow]]

2019

December

- [[https://www.patreon.com/posts/greece-is-32249147][Greece is Hopeless.	Daughter - Divorce - Custody	]]

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2018

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2017

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2016

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