Well, it's that time again, the time when
I ask for your Patreon support.
Usually I do it by threatening you, but this
time I've decided to entertain you in another
way.
So, after I'm done with the begging and groveling,
I am going to tell you the story of how and
why I became a youtuber, and I'm also going
to go over some of my early videos and provide
commentary on them.
Stick around - it's more fun than it sounds.
Now I do need your support.
I am currently out of work, and I am looking
for a job that will leave me time to work
on my videos, which is not easy to find.
Any amount you can give will help.
The link to my Patreon is in the description,
and you can also support me directly through
PayPal if you want.
As an incentive, I've tried to come up with
rewards I can offer to my patrons.
Most youtubers reward their patrons by giving
them a mention in their videos, but I actually
regard my videos as works of art, and I don't
want them to contain anything that is not
relevant.
That is why I rarely mention my Patreon, something
that many youtubers do in every video.
So I'll tell you what.
For those who pledge at least twenty dollars,
I will do a monthly hang out, where you can
talk to me about whatever.
For fifty dollars, I'll do it topless.
If you have any other suggestions, I'll be
glad to hear them.
Ok, let's get to the fun part: how I became
a youtuber.
So up until 2012, my trajectory was to be
part of the academy.
That year I submitted my proposal for a PhD
in philosophy, that was titled 'The Philosophy
of Pop'.
My claim was that all the academic writings
on pop culture get it wrong, because they
don't understand the metaphysics of the culture.
My aim was therefore to explicate that metaphysics,
and basically open up the field of study on
the subject.
I knew that the members of the committee reading
that proposal were mostly Frankfurt School
scholars, and naively I thought that this
would be to my advantage, since I was attacking
the foundations that their thought is based
on, so I believed it would be easy for them
to appreciate the power of my arguments.
But my proposal was rejected, and their reasoning
for it made it very clear to me that they
didn't make any effort to read it and try
to understand it.
So I realized that the philosophy department
of the Tel Aviv University has no interest
in knowledge, and I started to look for another
institute.
I didn't realize back then that it was just
a symptom of the disease that infects all
of academia today.
I was also trying to publish a book I've written
about Nietzsche, but couldn't find a publisher.
So I was really stuck, and quite depressed.
I have all these ideas and insights in my
head, and I want to share them with the world,
but it looked like the world doesn't want
to listen.
All the roads were blocked.
The only outlet I had was my blog.
It was a Hebrew blog, and it didn't have much
of an audience, but at least some people had
their lives enriched by it.
I started writing it in 2010, and at the end
of every year I would do a summary of the
year in pop.
In my 2010 summary, I point out that the center
of gravity of pop culture has shifted.
For fifty years prior to that it was music,
but now it became YouTube, the medium that
gives everyone the chance to express themselves,
the medium that creates viral videos that
become part of our collective consciousness.
And since the center of pop culture is also
the main conveyor of the spirit of the time,
it became the new focal point of my explorations
into culture.
In the 2011 summary, I had a chapter called
'The End of Identity Politics', but I also
added a question mark in parenthesis.
I discussed how identity, which was a hugely
important part of pop culture since the sixties,
no longer matters.
The reason why it was so important was that
certain groups, particularly blacks and gays,
were seen as the other of western society,
and their otherization prevented them from
advancing in society.
The last few decades in pop were therefore
characterized by the struggle to overcome
this otherization, and in 2011, I discussed
how every last bit of it has now been vanquished,
rendering identity politics obsolete.
But I added the question mark because I knew
that these things never end when they should.
I didn't know it yet, but identity politics
have been annexed by neo-Marxist scholars,
who were piggybacking on it to indoctrinate
their students into Marxist thinking.
My 2013 summary was very upbeat.
It was a tide year in pop, with YouTube, music,
television, cinema and other mediums all producing
an abundance of quality content.
Gay rights were on the march, religious authoritarianism
was on the retreat, and it seemed like liberalism
was winning.
But I ended it with a warning.
One thing that happened that year was the
body of King Richard the Third was found,
and I discussed the famous soliloquy that
opens the Shakespearean play that carries
his name, the monologue in which he tells
us that peace has been achieved and everything
seems glorious…
But he is not made for peaceful times, so
now he is going to fuck it up for everyone
else.
So I was wondering: who is lurking in the
shadows, and is going to fuck this up?
Who is jealous of those that are happier than
them, and looking for a way to impose their
twisted form on them?
I guessed it would come from the Internet,
because the thing that brings in the cultural
tide is usually also the thing responsible
for the inevitable ebb that follows.
But I was still completely blind to what was
coming, and the main reason for it was that
I wasn't paying attention to tumblr.
My 2014 summary had a distinctly darker mood.
I dedicated a chapter to discuss the gender
wars, and I was still more sympathetic to
feminism, but I also commented on the notable
rise in silly radical feminism.
Then again, the expressions of misogyny were
worse, with the stories of Elliot Rodgers
and Bill Cosby.
I mentioned GamerGate, and characterized it
as a row about game journalism that drew in
radical feminists and misogynists, who turned
it into an ugly gender war.
That's how it looked at the time.
I didn't realize yet that feminism was the
root cause of it all.
Another chapter dealt with YouTube, which
wasn't that fun anymore.
YouTube matured, became big business, and
was no longer this anarchic place where anything
could happen.
I took the opportunity to review the history
of YouTube, and I built it around the story
of Boxxy, which for me symbolized the processes
that YouTube went through in its first decade
of existence.
I knew the Boxxy story mainly through blog
posts that were written about it, but for
that summary I wanted to dig a little deeper
into it, so I searched for videos made at
the time when it was happening.
And the more I got into it, the more I realized
that this story is a lot more interesting,
a lot more terrifying, a lot more moving and
a lot more inspiring than I knew.
I became obsessed with it for a while, scouring
YouTube for videos on the subject, unearthing
every part of the drama.
I eventually created a playlist that tells
the story.
This was on my previous channel, which had
no uploads, but I felt like with this playlist
I've invented a new form of art, which I called
"playlist art".
One of the interesting things about Boxxy
is that she was the first YouTuber that had
a community organically spring around her,
in a way that in that past they would spring
around musical artists or styles.
They were all kids who got together to express
their inner Boxxy, basically scene kids with
a positive and loving attitude to life, and
a kawaii sense of style.
One of these kids was this very cute and funny
and hyperactive girl named June, who made
several videos related to the Boxxysphere,
talking about Boxxy, singing about Boxxy,
and actually providing me with some pieces
of the puzzle.
As I was watching June's videos from back
in the day, the YouTube algorithm suggested
a newer video.
Turns out she came back to YouTube after a
long hiatus, and was uploading again.
I actually didn't realize it was her, because
it was a different channel, with a rather
silly name.
But the video was called 'Oppression Olympics',
and that piqued my interest.
So I clicked on it… and it was like watching
Boxxy being reborn.
Boxxy's sarcastic twin.
Thanks to
this video, I became aware of tumblr feminism
and the social justice warriors, and I used
the Internet to learn more.
Then I went on a forum that I've been part
of for years, and I made a post about the
danger to liberalism posed by these idiots.
It was lighthearted and mocking in tone, as
I regarded it as a fringe element, but the
response was not what I expected.
To my amazement, I've learned that people
on the forum that I've known for a while,
people who I thought were liberals like me,
believe in things like patriarchy and rape
culture, things that belong to the realm of
conspiracy theories.
And some of them didn't use to be like that
in the past – it felt like 'Invasion of
the Body Snatchers'.
I was perplexed, and I started to see it happening
on my Facebook as well.
I realized that there was something really
rotten going on, that extends way beyond tumblr.
I wanted to learn more about this culture
war, so I used Twitter to follow people on
both sides of it, but then I realized something
strange: some of the SJW accounts were blocking
me, just because I followed accounts on the
anti-SJW side.
This pretty much told me all I needed to know
about whose side I should be on.
Another instructive moment came in early April
2015, when I saw Anita Sarkeesian demanding
on Twitter that YouTube will not promote a
video, claiming it was a hate video against
her.
So I watched the video, which was made by
the Amazing Atheist, and there was nothing
hateful about it.
It was very fair and on point criticism.
But the SJWs on Twitter were supporting Anita,
which made me realize what a dangerous movement
this is.
While this is going on, I am still exploring
the Boxxy story.
And the contrast between Boxxy, a girl who
was terrorized by 4Chan for no reason, and
never once complained about it but rather
turned lemons into lemonade, and Anita Sarkeesian,
a powerful woman who was defining criticism
of her as hate speech and trying to silence
it, was making me even more disgusted with
Anita and her ilk.
An expression of that feeling eventually made
its way into 'Anita Sarkeesian vs. Boxxy',
one of my early videos.
As I was getting more and more into this fight,
watching the videos that the YouTube algorithm
was suggesting, I've noticed a few things.
First, I thought that the anti-SJWs had the
right intuitions, but they didn't know how
to formulate their arguments, and they didn't
have the background to understand where this
regressive leftist ideology was coming from.
They clearly needed academics to step in and
help them.
Secondly, I noticed the rise of a new type
of youtuber.
In the early years, YouTube was about performing
to the camera.
You had to be a good performer if you wanted
your channel to succeed.
The Amazing Atheist and Shoe0nHead are performers
– they have great showmanship.
But I've realized that there was now another
type, which was more like a presentation:
the video maker would not show their face
on camera, but instead you would only hear
their voice, and they would discuss a subject
at length.
There were always channels like that, but
they never went big.
Now, I realized there was a substantial audience
that just wanted to listen and learn.
And as I was watching Sargon of Akkad, Thunderf00t,
Mundane Matt and the handful of others that
were doing it at the time, I started thinking:
I can do that.
After GamerGate, there was suddenly a space
opened on YouTube for intellectual talk, and
also for leftists who remained true to liberal
values and wanted to save the left from the
anti-liberal SJWs.
Instead of banging my head against the academy
and the publishing houses, I could find the
audience I was always looking for through
the medium that I loved.
But there were a few problems.
First, I knew that I would have to make time
for it by quitting one of my jobs.
I was working two part time jobs at the time,
a combination designed to leave me time for
my research and writing, but for video making
I knew I would need more time.
Secondly, while I am a good writer, I am not
a good speaker, and I wasn't sure I could
make it in this medium.
Much like Moses, then, I had trepidations
about taking this new task, fearing that my
heaviness of tongue will fail me.
But then, God has sent me a messenger, to
show me the way.
The name of the messenger was…
Shia LaBeouf!
And he said…
Ok, so it wasn't actually Shia that did it,
but there were these two months were everyone
on YouTube was going around flexing and yelling
"Just do it!"
And I don't remember who it was, but after
watching one of them I said: you know what?
Goddammit, I'm gonna do it!
And a few days later I handed in my resignation
from one of the jobs.
And, you know, if that works out for me…
if I manage to make a name for myself through
YouTube… how awesome will it be that it
was because of that video?
So, this was in late 2015.
I spent the rest of the year thinking how
I'm going to approach it, and Zarathustra's
Serpent was born.
By the beginning of 2016, I was ready to go.
And that is the story of how I became a youtuber,
and part of the skeptic community.
Shia LaBeouf and Boxxy brought me here.
I knew nothing about video making, but I happened
to watch an Armoured Skeptic video, in which
he said that he makes his videos with the
Sony Vegas Movie Studio editor.
So I thought, what's good enough for the armored
one will definitely suffice for me.
I purchased it, and started to learn how to
use it.
But not too much.
I love the garage rock aesthetic, the idea
that a band that doesn't know how to play
can still produce magical records, because
they rely on things other than skill.
So I decided that I will just start making
videos, and learn as I go along.
In early February 2016, after I was done mourning
my mentor David Bowie, I uploaded my first
video.
It was called 'Cultural Appropriation Rocks
the Planet'.
The reason why I decided to start with that
was that this video gave me the opportunity
to display my knowledge in culture, and present
myself as a counter to the extremely ignorant
nonsense coming from the so-called "culture
critics" of the social justice movement.
From a technical standpoint, this is a terrible
video, so awful in quality that I later re-uploaded
it with an improved soundtrack.
But I have to say that I am amazed by how
good the editing on this video is.
This was the first time I worked with a video
editor, but the editing is quite seamless.
It is still one of my favorite videos.
There are other things that I am proud of
on this video.
This was before everyone started making fun
of Cenk for asking "right?"
every time he says something wrong, which
is every few seconds.
And yet my first video already begins with
me replying to Cenk and telling him that he
is wrong.
For those who saw the video, this is the part
where I spit sushi, and in case you were wondering:
yes, I am actually spewing sushi.
I've wasted two plates of sushi until I got
the desired effect.
See, that's how serious I am about my video-making.
I'm a method youtuber.
At that time, people like Dave Rubin and Gad
Saad were calling on other people to raise
their voices and join the fight.
So the first thing I did was to leave a comment
on Rubin's latest video, to let him know that
I just uploaded my first.
He replied to me and said that he loved it,
and that sent some traffic my way.
By the end of the day I had about fifty views
and my first eight subscribers.
I also got some valuable advice on how to
improve the quality.
The next video I uploaded was called 'Campussies
Fear Humor', an attack on the censorship of
comedy in the academy.
It wasn't a very important video, but I had
a reason to upload it before others.
My first few videos were all already in my
head when I created the channel, and while
I was thinking about this video, I came up
with a certain joke, a joke that involved
a snake sliding down a pole.
But in order to make the joke work, I had
to make the viewers identify my voice with
the snake, as if it was doing the talking.
So I decided that this will be my avatar,
which will appear on screen along with my
voice.
I remembered that back in the nineties, in
the early days of the Internet, I saw a gif
of a snake doing that, and I was sure that
by now there would be better specimens for
me to use.
But after hours of googling, I couldn't find
what I was looking for, until finally I got
to a site that offered such a gif, and I immediately
realized "holy shit, it's the same crappy
snake gif I remember from the nineties".
I decided to go with that, trusting in the
power of internet communities, trusting that
eventually my viewers will offer me a better
one.
Since I had no idea how to work it into my
video, I asked a friend to help me out, and
in subsequent videos I gradually learned how
to control it, although I never really did
work out all the problems.
So this was my second video, aimed mainly
at introducing my avatar.
I was pretty excited when I uploaded it, since
this was the first time that my subscribers,
all twelve of them, would see one of my videos
in their subscription box.
So I felt a sense of uplift when I clicked
the publish button, only to have it crushed
two minutes later, when I received an email
informing me that my video was blocked, due
to the use of copyrighted material.
This was a good early lesson about what to
expect on YouTube.
My use of the copyrighted material was definitely
fair use, so I submitted an appeal, and it
was accepted.
But, for those of you who are not creators
and don't know how YouTube works, here is
how it is: the owner of the copyrighted material
has final say, and if they decide that they
don't want you to use it, no matter how fair
the use is, then there is nothing you can
say about it.
Usually they will not block your video but
take ownership over it, and monetize it for
their gains.
If I use a thirty seconds clip of copyrighted
material in a fifty minute video, the owners
of that material can take ownership over my
entire video, and all the money goes to them.
The video you're watching now, for instance,
is probably already owned by Shia LaBeouf.
I can appeal it, but if they reject the appeal,
and some of them reject it without even watching
the video, then there's nothing more that
I can do about it.
This is one of the main reasons why I decided
not to monetize my videos, and rely solely
on patrons.
I want to make my videos the best that they
can be, and sometimes that means using copyrighted
material, so I don't want to have an incentive
not to use copyrighted material.
So I'm not losing anything when others take
ownership over my videos, but I am hurt in
other ways.
For instance, some companies don't allow their
videos to be played on mobile phones, and
that is why some of my videos won't play on
mobiles.
There's no point in you complaining about
it – it's out of my hands.
I'm sure that in the future, all the legal
problems will be settled and video makers
will get the revenue they deserve, but right
now we are screwed.
If you want to know why I am optimistic, check
out my video titled 'Toga!!!
Toga!!!'.
That's another one of my favorite videos,
which doesn't have nearly the amount of views
it deserves.
Now my next video also doesn't have enough
views, and this is one of my most important
videos.
It is 'Identity Politics are Obsolete', where
I explain why identity politics did make sense
until recently, and why they don't make sense
any more.
Shitty quality, but I suggest you watch it
if you haven't already.
Then came 'This Week in Thoughtful', where
I lay out one of the objectives of my channel.
My argument was that the anti-SJW community
is busy mocking what is wrong with SJW ideology,
without saying what is right, without offering
an alternative.
I announced that I was going to come from
a positive perspective, promote ideas and
cultural phenomena that represent a true liberal
society.
Looking back, I think I lived up to this pledge.
The video is built as a critique of Sargon
of Akkad, trying to move the conversation
from this week in stupid to this week in thoughtful,
from what is stupid about regressive thought
to how we should think more cleverly about
the issues.
I focused on Sargon because he was, and still
is, the central figure of the skeptic community,
especially of the side of it that fights against
SJWs.
But also because I noticed that Sargon answers
anyone who criticizes him, even if it some
egg on Twitter, so this was a good way to
get attention to my new channel.
I tweeted him about it, left a couple of messages
on his sub-reddit, and nothing.
It felt like he was replying to everyone except
me.
So I just carried on.
My next video was 'Feminism: a Diagnosis'.
Now as someone who was involved in identity
politics, I always considered myself a feminist.
But I realized that feminism had gone philosophically
and morally bankrupt, so I had to reevaluate
my stance.
I decided to keep calling myself a feminist,
and try to steer it in a positive direction.
In this video, through a scathing critique
of what feminism has become, I declare this
intent.
Another important video came next.
In 'Cultural Marxism Exposed', I establish
my channel as a philosophical channel, aimed
at helping youtubers understand the philosophy
behind the ideas that they are discussing.
In this video I explain Marxist thought, and
show how it devolved into the social justice
movement.
The sound mixing is bad, unfortunately, and
the music sometimes drowns my speech.
But if you are here for the philosophy, it
is a video that you should definitely watch.
Around that time, I purchased a microphone.
But I had it configured wrong, so the sound
went even worse in the videos of that period.
At the same time, I was getting better with
the editing.
I decided that with every video I make I will
challenge myself to do something new.
My next video was when I learned how to make
things move across the screen.
It was also the first time I identified myself
as an Israeli, and thus someone who has some
experience in the war against Jihadism.
This was when Europe was just beginning to
get used to deal with a reality of terrorism
on its streets, and the skeptic community
was starting to have discussions about it.
In 'A Motherlode of Good Ideas', I offer my
two shekels on how we can defeat jihadism.
After that I made 'Anita Sarkeesian vs. Boxxy',
the first video in which I tried something
different, just presenting without speaking.
For the purpose of making that video I watched
a lot of Anita Sarkeesian's videos, something
I never did before, and was utterly disgusted
by what I saw.
It planted a seed in my mind.
Then came 'Fanging Milo'.
At the time, the anti-SJW sphere was dominated
by right-wing voices, and I felt like the
left isn't heard enough.
I wanted us to be an alternative to the broken
dialogue in the mainstream, and establish
a sphere in which left and right have a productive
debate.
I expressed this desire by arguing against
Milo Yiannopoulos, and his right-wing views.
I think that since then the sphere has moved
in the direction I wanted.
I am quite happy with the debates going in
it at the moment.
I continued in the same vein with my next
video, 'The Regressive Left are the New Neocons',
in which I attack both left and right.
This video is also noted for being the first
time in my life that I've worked with photoshop.
It was a pretty shoddy photoshop program that
I found online for free, as you can tell by
the quality of this thumbnail.
But it was good practice.
'Slaying Pascal' is a video aimed at the atheist
community.
It is a philosophical attack on Pascal's wager,
but I am actually not attacking religion.
It is really criticism of atheism.
To me, the problem with a lot of atheists
is that they have still not freed themselves
from remnants of religious thought, which
make no sense in the context of atheism and
are only dragging it down.
What I am doing in the video is actually an
example of Nietzschean gay science: I am taking
all of the bad things that Pascal says about
earthly life, and show how they are actually
good things, if you have a truly atheist mindset.
If you are interested in the Nietzschean side
of my thought, this is a must video.
Next I took the time to make fun of Canada's
newly elected pompous windbag, in a video
titled 'Justin Trudeau, Translated to English'.
I think it's a really funny video, and I am
very disappointed by the abysmal amount of
views it has.
At that time I also introduced another objective
of my channel, and that is to talk about Israel,
Zionism and Jews.
There's a lot of misinformation out there,
coming from all directions, and I want to
help the skeptic community be more informed
on the subject.
In 'This Week in Thoughtful 2', and more deeply
in 'On the Jewish State', I started to set
the record straight on some of the common
misconceptions.
After that, I finally figured out how to configure
my microphone, and right in time, too, because
my next video was the beginning of my first
series, 'Anita Sarkeesian vs. Humanity'.
There were already thousands of videos out
there criticizing Anita, but I came at it
from a different perspective: not being a
gamer, I stated that I am going to assume
that everything she says about video games
is true, and still show how wrong she is.
In the eight parts of the series, I basically
used Anita as a showcase for everything that
is philosophically wrong with the regressive
feminism of today.
I tried to get the 'Kotaku in Action' people
interested, but they showed no enthusiasm.
Apparently people prefer videos that call
Anita names over videos that analyze and eviscerate
her ideas.
Still, my channel started to get more traffic,
and I started to get some constructive criticism.
After a few videos I got the sound balance
right, and started working on slowing down
my speech.
I'm still working on it.
By the way, if you have problems understanding
what I'm saying, I add captions to all of
my video.
I made the first five parts in succession,
but in the middle I also made a quick two
minute clip called 'Free Speech', giving answers
to two of the main tactics used to stifle
speech.
I used an image of Voltaire as the thumbnail.
After about three months, the video had 40
views, and I was wondering if changing the
thumbnail might improve its popularity.
So I tried to think of another image that
can be used to symbolize the suppression of
free speech, and came up with this.
Instantly, the video started to get more views.
I guess the colors are more appealing, hm?
It was a good lesson, and around that time
I started to pay more attention to my thumbnails.
When I upload my videos to YouTube, it takes
an hour or two to upload, and that's the time
I start to think about what the thumbnail
should be.
I always start out with no idea what I want
to do, but by the time the video uploads I
already thought of an idea and finished creating
it.
Usually it's a juxtaposition of two or more
pop culture images, and I don't always know
exactly what it is I am trying to say, but
I am almost always happy with the result.
Another quick video of that period is '#ProudToBe
a Free Thinker', which is my first attack
on the whole non-binary identity issue.
If I ever suspected shenanigans around the
YouTube algorithm, it's because of this video.
While all my other videos have thousands of
views, this one, where I criticize YouTube
directly, has less than 750.
It's annoying me, so if you want to help me
stick it to the system, take four minutes
to watch it.
To mark my six months anniversary on YouTube,
I re-uploaded my first video with improved
quality.
I was getting better at making videos, but
I was quite disheartened.
Six months in, I had only about three hundred
subscribers, and the channel didn't seem to
be going anywhere.
All my attempts at getting the attention of
other youtubers have failed.
But I just carried on, and worked on my next
video, which was called 'The Rise and Fall
of the Young Turks'.
I posted the video not expecting much, but
when I woke up the next morning, I realized
that it had gone semi-viral.
Several big names tweeted about it, including
Sargon.
And I guess this is when Sargon started to
get my videos suggested to him by YouTube,
because a month later, he finally saw 'This
Week in Thoughtful', and tweeted positively
about it.
It took six months, but it got to him in the
end.
This is one of the things that are so great
about YouTube.
The US presidential elections were heating
up, and I had to say something.
I didn't want to tell my American viewers
how they should vote in their elections, but
I did want to help them be more informed,
so I made a couple of videos about the US
policy in the Middle East.
I was worried because I saw that people didn't
understand the rationality behind Obama's
policies.
I may have disagreed with some of these policies,
but I understood the rationality behind them,
and I was worried that Americans will push
for irrational policies instead.
In 'The Religion that Must Not Be Named',
I tried to help my viewers understand why
Obama and other world leaders were so reluctant
to name Islam as the cause of the terrorism.
'Nationalism Reconsidered' is another one
of my more significant videos.
Again triggered by the US elections, I realized
that nationalism is making a comeback, so
I provide a review of the history of nationalism,
and try to make a distinction between good
nationalism and bad nationalism.
I didn't know it yet, but this was my first
counter to the alt-right.
And it was well received.
At that time, I acquired a good photoshop
program, and spent several weeks on a video
titled 'Renegades of Funk (Skeptosphere Edition)'.
It's basically a video clip that celebrates
this new sphere, and it contains many images
and ideas.
There are some images in there that I've worked
on for days, and appear for just a few seconds.
The concept is built around graffiti writings
that announce the values of this sphere, followed
by images of members that best represent these
values.
In the end, we also find out whose wall this
graffiti is sprayed on.
It is by far my most creative video, the one
I've learned from the most, and I am very
proud of it.
My biggest disappointment so far is how low
the view count on this video is.
I got over the disappointment and proceeded
with a video announcing a new series, about
the regressive left.
I felt like I've become good enough at video
making to start something more comprehensive,
a series that will expose and explain the
ideas behind the regressive left, and how
they became so twisted.
By the way, in case you're wondering, the
series isn't done.
There's another part coming soon, and then
I want to get deeper into criticizing the
philosophical movements behind it.
This will demand a lot of reading, and will
take time.
A few days later, in perfect timing, Sargon
of Akkad posted his 'Due Diligence' video,
in which he discussed some of the channels
that he likes, and mentioned me as well.
I had less than a thousand subscribers, but
overnight I gained a few thousand more.
And luckily, the next video I had lined up
was one of my best.
It was the seventh part in my 'Anita Sarkeesian
vs. Humanity' series, which helped me retain
many of you.
Thank you, Sargon.
I made a few more videos after that, one of
them being 'Droppen Ze Dead', my first comprehensive
philosophical attack on the non-binary issue,
which I recommend you watch if you haven't.
And then I started to think about monetizing.
I was about to lose my other job as well,
as the place was closing down, and be left
with no income source.
Like I mentioned, I decided not to monetize
my videos, but rely solely on patron support.
I wanted to make a video about it, but one
of my principles is that I don't upload videos
to my channel unless they have artistic merit,
so I had to come up with a concept.
I recalled that Bearing always tells his patrons
that he spends their money on strippers, and
I thought: what can I say that would be even
more insulting?
And eventually I came up with an idea, which
was good enough not just for one video but
for an entire series.
Check it out.
Then came 'My Nietzschean Feminism', one of
my most transformative videos.
Until then, my videos were usually revolving
around one theme, but I felt like it was time
to get more elaborate, and start to make videos
that have several themes, videos that combine
philosophy, history, art, culture, politics
and more.
This video has several aims.
First, it introduces my Boxxy playlist, which
I imported to my new channel.
Secondly, I begin to use my channel to do
criticism of art, in this case criticizing
YouTube videos and showing the art behind
them.
Third, this is where I first begin to discuss
Nietzsche's philosophy, which I think is very
relevant for our time, and I want the skeptosphere
to be more familiar with it.
And fourth, I present an alternative type
of feminism to the corrupt and regressive
mainstream feminism of today.
From then on, this multilayered approach will
typify most of my videos.
This is also the time when some of my viewers
were kind enough to start providing me with
fan art, including, finally, a new avatar.
Again, I needed an opportunity to present
it in a way that will not harm the integrity
of the video, and the opportunity came with
a video titled 'Heads Up', in which I shed
my old skin, as well as announce my series
on psychedelia, as well as perform a genealogical
analysis of the concept of patriarchy, and
show how wrong it is understood today.
And to me, this video ends the first phase
of my YouTube career, and begins the phase
that I'm in now.
And so, here we are.
I'm pretty much doing what I want to do in
life, and I would be very grateful if you
can help me continue doing it.
Like I said, any amount will be good, but
for twenty dollars you will be able to hang
out with me.
And if you want to meet me in person, I will
be in Arizona in April, taking part in the
Kilroy event, along with many other great
youtubers.
There's a lot more to come on my channel.
The better I get at this, the bigger the projects
I'm planning.
Stay tuned.
