Video Essay Recommendations
Going to preface this by saying that, while I watch a lot of video essays, I do tend to go back to the same channels a lot because those are the people who change the way I think the most, so you’ll notice a lot of repeating names.
All video essays are on YouTube. List organized alphabetically.
AI Wars: How Corporations Hijacked Anti-AI Backlash by Alex Avila
incredible analysis on the nuance in the pro- or anti-AI debate
before watching this, i was of the firm belief that generative AI is bad, full stop, but he does a good job explaining a lot of misinformation in the anti-AI realm
one minor critique is that at times, he starts talking about analytic AI (which I support and supported before I watched the video) but he doesn’t outright state this, so it can be kind of hard to catch
astrology has a colonialism problem by Dr. Fatima
very interesting commentary on colonialism and the view of colonialism as a thing of the past vs an ongoing project
specifically interesting commentary on the colonialism of the Hawaii Islands
Conspiracy by Contrapoints
incredible insight into the modern political realm and how a lot of conspiracy theories have become mainstream
talks about how conspiricism works and how why people get so attached to their beliefs (she doesn’t specify it in the video, but I will say that this goes both ways)
The Cult in a Boarding School by Nexpo
one of those videos that just made me go “oh, so we live in a dystopia”
genuinely went to fact check some of this shit after because I was like “hey, this can’t be real” but here we are
i don’t even know how to go about describing this video
it’s like a fever dream that makes you question everyone’s motivations but like, in a neutral way? like, not an “everyone’s out to get you” type mindset; more of “i think i understand things a little better than i thought i ever would” sort of way
Hamilton and the Death of the Obama Era by Alex Avila
I think this might be the video essay that I go back to rewatched the most
changed the way I think about political movements and how we enact meaningful change
How Conservatives Invented Gender Ideology by Alex Avila
interesting analysis on gender and society
Is there a crisis of masculinity or is it just capitalism? by Alex Avila
good analysis on the effects of capitalism and patriarchy on masculinity and men
very entry level analysis but still a good watch
"If you come away from this video feeling like you found the right person or group to blame, you’re doing it wrong. And if you’ve come away from this video feeling as if there are persons or groups who’ve done nothing wrong, then I haven’t done my job."
"If we’re going to be feminists who want to challenge the root of patriarchy, we don’t want to just target the way that power is distributed. We want to challenge the way we socially define power and the ideal citizen."
incredible analysis on human sexuality
"…lust is inherently perverted, and society’s role is to channel it into outlets that minimize violence. And those outlets may include novels, and movies, and erotica, and “problematic ships,” none of which are to blame for “perverting” sexuality."
Who’s Right About Pluto??? by Dr. Fatima
interesting view on how we have a hard time accepting scientific change because of our tendency to view science as an objective, unchanging way to view reality
