A Brief History of the Culture Wars
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 มิ.ย. 2024
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A history and analysis of the Culture Wars.
Timestamps:
0:00 Prelude to Culture War
01:21 1. Introduction
09:01 The 1960s: Rise of the Counterculture
12:27 2. Meet the Culture Warriors
19:28 The 1970s: The Orthodox Fightback
22:46 3. The Ammunition
34:26 The 1980s & 1990s: All Out War
37:19 4. "Making Things Political"
44:29 The Present Day: Regroup and Revival
46:49 5. The "Culture War" and the "Class War"
In this month's episode of What The Theory?, I (Tom Nicholas) look at the "Culture Wars", combining a historical overview of some of the key events that have been central to this supposed cultural conflict with a critical examination of what distinguishes the culture wars from "conventional" politics.
We'll look at how the progressive movements of the 1960s (including the New Left, the Civil Rights Movement, the Free Speech Movement, the early LGBT rights movement and second-wave feminism) blasted cracks in the conservative conformity of the 1950s, consider the rise of neoconservatism and the Christian Right in the United States in the 1970s and the arguments surrounding art and music in the same country in the late 1980s.
We'll also look at more recent cultural fractures such as those surrounding Black Lives Matter, statues being torn down and the political right's current war on "wokeness", "identity politics" and critical race theory, as well as other debates which have been reignited in the United States following the election of Donald Trump and which have been imported to the United Kingdom following the Brexit referendum.
At the same time, we'll also look at why it is that "culture war" antagonisms often feel so irreconcilable and what separates the "culture war" mode of politics from both the "class war" mode and more liberal, idealist understandings of politics.
It's a long one, but my goal was to make the best "culture wars explained" video that I could. I look forward to hearing your thoughts!
Support the channel on Patreon at / tomnicholas
If you've enjoyed this video and would like to see more including my What The Theory? series in which I provide some snappy introductions to key theories in the humanities as well as video essays and more then do consider subscribing.
Thanks for watching!
Twitter: / tom_nicholas
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Website: www.tomnicholas.com/
#culturewars #culturewar #tomnicholas
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Support me to make more videos like this (whilst getting early access and bonus stuff) by heading to patreon.com/tomnicholas
And, as always, thanks for watching!
@@Tom_Nicholas thanks for all your hard work!!!!
Good work. This video has a lot of good content with awesome presentation with the necessary seriousness, sensitivity and scholarship that the topic demands.
My pleasure-thanks for taking the time to watch!
Subscribed and loving your content.
The biggest eye-opener for me was the realization that what they really, really, *really* don't want you to do is have any idea of what socialism really is.
What do you mean?
What exactly do you mean? (Just rather Said what do you believe socialism is?)
socialism is a type of food
“A paranoid is someone who knows a little of what’s going on. A psychotic is someone who’s found out what’s going on.” -Bill Burroughs
really? huh, cuz all i got was "socialism is fucking retarded"
The Battle of Pepe the frog. We lost many good men that day try to take discord hill
Haha, I think all the "what if the culture wars was a real war lol" jokes in the introduction were the reason I had to try and save this one from demonitisation...
Their sacrifice was not in vain, the enemy was forced back into the sewers where the Groypers live.
+
th-cam.com/video/OKdNw8aDTsA/w-d-xo.html
Kekistanis are the bravest warriors I've ever seen.
You're killing it with these recent videos! Always a great watch.
How are you?
Cheers JT, glad you’ve been enjoying them! Hope you’re well!
@yezede relegen I think you might have misread, friend
Gotta check out Pat Buchanan's The Death of the West: th-cam.com/video/RZ5l8_TQmgA/w-d-xo.html
@yezede relegen not who are you, how, and to add to that description he is some sort of marxist, and criticises the US and in general is against military spending and other stuff
When human rights can be packaged as politics without question, whether people deserve to live with rights and dignity becomes just a matter of opinion
What ARE 'human rights'? What is the foundation of such an idea? Do animals have 'rights'? How about insects, do they have 'rights'? Plants? Microbes? Viruses? Rocks?
Too true
yeah agreed, dont think its a good idea to have people worrying about larping like a video game character about being the wrong gender when our lands are being flooded with infinite orc immigration from ARABIA. we have bigger issues u can be a uwu transgender femboy catboy AFTER WE FIX THIS SHIT
That’s how conservatives want it.
@@avacadomangobanana2588You sound like a radical liberal
Theres a difference between saying “All gay people are bad” vs disagreeing with yalls wild ideas like math is racist and there are 65 genders and men can get pregnant
36:38 I love how there is a protest banner stating "If you give artists freedom of expression, soon every American will want it!"...as if that is a bad thing. But I guess that bafflement reveals which side of the culture war I'm on, huh?
I assumed that banner was sarcastic.
Yeah pay a little more attention there. I thought it was bad at first and then I looked into what the picture was
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
@Matthew Reichlin It still is the province of the left. The right wants freedom from expression.
@Matthew Reichlin maybe think about which side tries to shut down legitimate criticism by shouting "are you triggered lololol" and "why are you bringing politics into this".
This man deserves his phd and a much higher subscriber count
Haha, thanks. Almost there with the first thing at least!
@@Tom_Nicholas You're working on a PHD? that's sick!
I saw this comment and realized I wasn't subscribed despite watching literally hours of this guy's content, so thanks for helping me see the light 😆
@@TempestAmethyst same
don't we all deserve comfortable wealth?
Wow! This is a masterpiece.
Thanks! Feel free to drop me a line if you ever need a British contributor!
@Akul Rastogi you can like, not watch the whole thing
@Akul Rastogi it has been divided already into multiple parts, i know long videos can mar comprehension, if you think this is the case watch the whole thing in multiple viewings.
@The Gravel Institute
Give this man a episode.
It sure is, a masterpiece. Thank you.
Divisional cultural wars reappeared under Trump, but I would suggest that they had remained throughout, and well engrained in society (especially the religious right) which had 30 years to politically organize with big dark money, indoctrination and political, institutional power. They were just waiting for a Trump.
Very nicely done....an educational tool.
As a veteran of the war on Christmas, Thank You!
✊✊✊✊✊
Oh God that must have been cringe to deal with.
Lemme guess someone got butthurt when a cashier said "Happy Holidays" or "Happy/Merry Non-Xmas holiday here" instead of "Merry Xmas?"
German Historian here: The German Kulturkampf was mainly a struggle between the Catholics and the Empire, especially the chancellor Otto von Bismarck. The main goal of Bismarck was to eliminate all church influence from the decision making processes of the state, for example by introducing the civil marriage as a new standard. In Bismarck's mind, a German should not have another major allegiance beside the nation - like for example the Pope in Rome (he called Catholics "Ultramontane" (ultramontanes), stressing their loyalty to another power on the other side of the Alps). Additionally, he hoped to weaken the Catholic party Zentrum, one of the biggest opposition parties in the Empire and a major concurrence for the Conservatives.
This has to be seen in a wider perspective of his attempt to strengthen the interior cohesion of the young Empire, the first united German National State (founded in 1871), and to secure the power of the Kaiser. Therefore he declared organisations with transnational affiliations "Reichsfeinde" (enemies of the Empire). For the same reason, he attacked the rising Social Democrat movement with the fierce "Sozialistengesetze" (anti-socialist laws).
If I recall correctly wasn't the Kulturkampf also directed at national minorities like Poles, Silesians, and Kashubians?
Thank you for the additional information.
@@GreMnMlin There were repressions against minorities, especially against the Polish which were seen as potential rebels after two upheavals during the 19th century, but those were not strictly part of the Kulturkampf. BUT: There were points were the two fields overlaped, because some minorities (again: especially the Polish) were mostly catholic.
@@iamthesword1180 thanks for the quick response and the clarification I'd always just grouped the Kulturkampf and Polish repression together
If only America’s “Culture War” were an echo of Bismarck!
1) Bismarck was remarkable and successful in part for waging that “war” with accommodation and compromise. I know this technically happens in the following years, but German national identity was built in part on unifying institutions like national insurance, as he “attacked” Social Democrats by coopting their proposals. America’s Culture War seems to have gone in the opposite direction, with any hint of Social Democracy or compromise radically demonized.
2) I know it’s considered rude to draw these connections, but the idea of a culture war didn’t exactly disappear after Bismarck, did it? Weren’t the kirchenkampf and other elements important later?
*noting the lobster*
Hey kids, remember, Ketamine is a hell of a drug.
Haha. I'm really glad someone noticed that!
Powdered astral trip.
th-cam.com/video/Q_4bp8bBNVw/w-d-xo.html
How else will we stop the SSE?
@@Tom_Nicholas I immediately knew exactly what you did lmao. Subtle JP jab lmao
I was wondering why you sound so much more vastly educated than the average political TH-camr and it turns out you have a PhD😳 you're very good at this content creation thing!!
The Right seem
deep in the Culture-War and to be brutally honest: The Left
seems to care less. Thats how it looks for me; for me on the Outside.
But either side is anyway not looking enough at actual, real, not-trivial Issues.
The Leftists (not Dem's) are just better at adressing Problems.
Look at the Video "Obvious Solutions to Glaring Problems" by 'Some More News'.
Be My Guest: See how different the Approach is
and how problems are actually understood+tackled.
He also articulates his points very well and I think has that sort of... I forget how to describe it... slow, methodical manner of speaking that people psychologically tend to associate with thoughtful, deliberately-spoken people.
I’m slightly concerned that this British guy is more educated on American politics than most Americans
Most Americans aren’t educated
I'm not even surprised, everyone in this country is so dumb lmao
I mean no offence by this, but most folk around the world are more educated on American politics than a lot of Americans.
Thought that's mostly due to the fact that US politics carries with it heavy impacts on the rest of the world, and yet we cannot vote to alter the course the US hegemonic power swings
@@mattyking no offense taken, you’re speaking facts
housecats are more educated than most of us on our politics
"or an interpretation of what is natural." *shows lobster
_I see what you did there._
Sorry this is really random but I have a serious phobia of lobsters and this comment gave me a heads up to close my eyes at the right moment. Just wanted to let you know you saved someone across the world a lot of anxiety. Thank you 😇
Clean your room
Sorry, but could someone explain this joke? Don't really get it
@@AB-gw6uf i guess is something related to a popular argument or something by Jordan Peterson, in which he argues that the social stricter of lobsters shows hierarchical order in nature. don’t quote me though, i may be wrong
@@rogergalindo7318 Ah okay, that makes sense
Thanks for the reply
I just have to say how impressed I am at your presentation skills. The creation of the content is of course wonderful but your ability to articulate your points and the flow in which you do it is astonishingly good. You just have a very natural speaking and presentation voice and demeanor that makes listening to and absorbing the material that much easier. Well done.
Thank you so much, that's very kind of you to say!
@@linuswang6572 lol okay troll.
th-cam.com/video/OKdNw8aDTsA/w-d-xo.html
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The thoroughness of this presentation is mind-boggling. Not a dull moment at all.
I need to mull the content of this video over in my head for a while to get all I can out of it, but I already feel like I've gained a new perspective on the "culture wars", and more importantly a new way of sharing my perspective. Your works are excellent Tom, thank you.
I thought this might be important information to share. 35% of all ocean microplastics come from clothing, mostly polyester, acrylic, and nylon. This is largely due to clothes made of these materials being washed, which causes the clothes to quickly erode, sending microplastics into the water system and eventually the sea. Ocean Hero is a great search engine that we can use to help clean up larger plastics before they disintegrate into microplastics.
Just offering my comment as a sacrifice to the algorithm gods. Don't mind me.
I appreciate your offering!
.
+1
I think I'm gonna do the same, the algorithm must learn to love this channel
LIKES FOR THE LIKE GOD
COMMENTS FOR THE COMMENT THRONE
In the grim darkness of the social media there is only algorithms.
The main thing I find annoying is the “feedback loop” that shows up. You have reactionaries going one way, then you have overly vigilant progressives trying to seek out the secret reactionaries, then you have annoying “both sides” people. I feel like most of my time these days is trying to convince people I’m not in an “enemy camp” just because I get uncomfortable feeling pressured to select and follow a specific social script which is a big fat red flag for everyone now. It feels like everyone is constantly reacting to reactions against reactions ad infinitum and gets super higher order very fast
In short it's like this in the 1950s the Orthodox norm was at its peak. The ideal american society of company men with a stay at home wife and 2-5 kids white picket fence and ideal suburban neighborhood was the goal. By the 1960s it was being challenged by the 70s it was considered dead if not for the rise of neo conservative movements by the 80s/90s neoconservatives rebuilt america in their 50s image albeit with token representation of minorities and females. however by l the early 2010s the Orthodox norm lost massive ground. Trump meanwhile has rekickstarted a sense of neo American nationalism. Many progressives seek to undo some of the most fundamental ideals such as marriage, hetrosexuality, monogamy and etc...
The progressive camp is finding itself initially In charge in most of the major cultural institutions. While the Orthodox camp is on the outside. Progressives seeking to root out reactionaries at any cost has created serious fault lines in their traditional bases.
Ah, the "overly vigilant progressive" long have I railed against them ! (in my head of course) - Not because I'm not progressive, but because too often what they do is just score a farcical own goal, handing on a platter an opportunity for mockery to the right and more right leaning media. SJW's and the like really do need to learn how to pick their battles, see the bigger picture.
Being associated with a big group of people because of your beliefs is always a headache. You can't present your opinions or thoughts without some people putting a label on you, so that they can disregard your views and not engage with your ideas. "Oh, you a feminist, ha ha", "Oh, so you're a socialist now" etc.
@@katerynaufymtseva5073 The purity testing sort of encourages that way of thinking. If a group goes out of its way to kick out anyone not in line, it’s reasonable to assume people who seem attached to the group share the same mould.
@@skycastrum5803 what do you mean by "purity testing"?
I don't think, you can kick a person out of, say, feminism, for example, can you? The group is not that well defined and tight - it might seem that way from the outside, but there are always people with multiple different opinions.
Hi Tom, great video - I really enjoyed it! In your introduction you seem to suggest that the two camps described by Hunter are opposed because they have different cultures, but in my reading of the book the reason that they are embroiled in this battle is because they share the *same* culture. American culture is not only the field of battle for the conflict, but the prize for winning too. The different players in culture wars are (as you very aptly outlined) defined by their opposing appeals to moral authority, not by their different modes/uses of culture necessarily. I feel like I may be preaching to the choir here, as you clearly have a very strong command of this theory, but perhaps a clearer definition of what we're talking about when we say 'culture' might make this point clearer in the video? To this end, you might enjoy Thomas C. Holt's work 'Marking: Race, Race-making, and the Writing of History' . Thanks again for the video, it was extremely well thought out and articulated!
your videos are my newest intellectual obsession. making origami while listening to educational content is my passion, so thanks for being an accompanying part of it, and i hope u continue to make such quality content.
Honestly, over the last few years this channel went from making me go “kinda meh” to being one of my favourites. Keep it up. Love it ❤️
Haha, I'll take that as a compliment! Really glad you've been enjoying some of my stuff!
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first off im only on the introduction so far. when you were talking about the culture war idea being created around religion at first i instantly thought ireland. we've had such a rocky past with catholics and protestants, both through the famine, through land ownership, and through the troubles. that just hit me.
other than that i really enjoy all your videos and im enjoying this one :) btw you have a very nice smile
Yeah, the “culture war” metaphor essentially tried to transpose those kinds of conflicts into contemporary politics. That’s a really interesting parallel to draw!
Isn't the issue in ireland more one of the protestantic demographic traditionally being associated with the english colonizer class?
I really like the pacing of this video.
Breaking up the rather heavy chapters with (a little) lighter history to not overwhelm the listener/viewer.
Great video. Clear audio, nice cuts smooth writing.
Well done!
holy cow! This was my first video I saw and I'm blown away with how high the production quality is and how underrated this channel is. Great work, great job explaining everything, I thoroughly enjoyed it and I look forward to seeing more!
I’m a Culture Wars Veteran
ESPECIALLY the War on Christmas
I honestly love the war on Christmas meme. Shame some people think it's a real thing
@@nickmoser7785 It never was. And how exactly did leftist jews turn the holiday secular in the 1950s?
@Katrina S December 25 was Saturnalia in the Pagan days. Christ was probably born in the spring.
I lost family at the Battle of the Baggage Claim.
The Redcoats came in on three Airbuses, yet we prevailed.
God bless America!
@@nickmoser7785
Of course... blame everything on the Jews... you’re not original lmao.
You peaked my interest when you talked about how some can see everything as political. That’s something they taught in my poli sci classes. I like framing things that are “political” as things that people need to discuss/ change and things being “a-political” as things that can’t change or should be considered neutral. It can feel very gaslighty when people disagree on what’s political or get upset about “making something political” because it’s a way of avoiding important issues.
The problem with that philosophy is that it’s very easy to see certain things as a-political when they don’t personally affect you. If you get right down to it, everything is inherently political- everything that affects people is a matter of politics, because the people in power have a direct impact on how policies and laws impact YOU, personally. Sometimes they have a positive impact and sometimes a negative. It isn’t fair to say that because you don’t feel particularly strong about a certain subject doesn’t mean that others might have a more personal investment.
'“a-political” as things that can’t change or should be considered neutral.'
Nothing ever fits into that category.
piqued*
@@InternetMameluq Climate change?
Politics arose from aspects of the human mind, for better or worse. Unfortunately, much of politics is emotional and irrational. Social scientists deal with facts learned about human behavior. Our ancient hunter/gatherer ancestors dealt with life and death situations frequently and our reptilian brain is hard-wired for fight or flight response patterns. this explains why we still have so many wars and domestic discord. Older societies have come to grips with this human failing and have evolved methods to avoid physical conflicts.
It's ironic that Tom's attempt at a balanced perspective between progressivism and conservativism is, itself, inherently progressive, because conservativism, by definition, is not a balanced perspective.
"Conservatism, by definition, is not a balanced perspective." Really? Why is that? Because you said so?
@@davefrompa5334 I'd figure that conservatism could be called unbalanced because it is an attitude around self-assuredness that the established way is best, giving no or shallow thought to new ideas.
@@matta6088 Yeah? How about this? If something isn't broke, don't fix it, especially if it has a proven track record. That doesn't mean you can't make minor improvements, but you don't throw out the baby with the bath water. Most of the Left's "bold new ideas" are things that have been debunked time and time again, often at the cost of countless people's lives Example-Communism
@@matta6088 I think conservativism Is more about rejecting new ideas and wanting to stick with what works.
To me I don't think it's inherently imbalanced bc not all new ideas are good and therefore conservativism rejecting all of them is both good and bad depending on what the idea is and how it evens out depends on what the new ideas are in a society
@@dirtydeeds4free553 so your saying that hes progressive but not neccescarily aligning with the typical western progressive values
A Brief History of the Culture Wars
or
Why Simpletons Find Nuance within Reality to be Frightening
Great video! I'm always blown away by your ability to weave together a coherent story about large amorphous concepts!
Thanks Brigitte, that's really kind of you to say! I'm really glad you liked it!
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I'm building a collective of film industry workers here in Brazil aimed at battling the neoliberal "common sense" atmosphere we live in today. This video just spoke to so many things I had in mind... thank you again for the excellent work!
boa sorte!
I thought this might be important information to share with you. 35% of all ocean microplastics come from clothing, mostly polyester, acrylic, and nylon. This is largely due to clothes made of these materials being washed, which causes the clothes to quickly erode, sending microplastics into the water system and eventually the sea. Ocean Hero is a great search engine that we can use to help clean up larger plastics before they disintegrate into microplastics. I thought that you and your fellow film industry workers are successful in resisting neoliberal atmosphere that you are in right now. Blessings to you.
Early 2000-2010s culture wars were still, at least in the US, still VERY much a thing (I say this as someone who was much more involved with them then)
In this era, though, it was the left who was more on the offensive. You had people challenging the narrative provided by those in power around the war on terror and the prism act. You had leftists concerned, rightly so in hindsight, about the right's moves to fascism and authoritarianism. You had groups like the Dixie Chicks getting a pushback for saying they disapproved of the actions of the president, and the American Idiot album by Green Day born out of a lot of the frustrations born of the right's control of the culture. The culture war didn't go quiet, the terms on which it was being fought, and which side held more power had just been different than it was in other eras you're discussing.
I think you are over looking things though about who was on the offensive. President canidate Bush ran both his campaigns on a federal amendment to outlaw same sex marriage for instance
@@jasonbolding3481 that's very fair. Defense of Marriage act absolutely emboldened a lot of the culture war hate on the right. I can even remember my parent's church at the time had sermons from the pulpit telling people to vote to ban same sex marriage when it came up for a vote in the state too (which shows that ministers have been emboldened for decades or longer to do political speech from the pulpit without any consequences to their tax exempt status)
The "right" has not been in power since the 80s. Bush is a liberal that ran as a republican. All the Republicans of the 90-00 support the left currently.
@@user-rn3rn6nl3h if you think that Bush was a liberal, then you, my friend, are very very far right. If anything most of the left started moving more to the right after Clinton and his embrace of neo liberalism while groups like the Tea Party and now MAGA are pulling Republicans even further to the right. The reason they seem to be very similar is not becase the conservatives got more liberal, it's because liberals got more conservative.
@@anthonydelfino6171 bush currently supports the democrats, he helped them campaign.
These longer formats suit your style, a documentary sized space frees you up for a more comprehensive take on a subject, I love the theatre in this episode, the change in tone and attack really keep my attention, something I noticed in the "myth of a free press" video too. A labour of love, fair play mate really, enjoying your output!
I thought this might be important information to share. 35% of all ocean microplastics come from clothing, mostly polyester, acrylic, and nylon. This is largely due to clothes made of these materials being washed, which causes the clothes to quickly erode, sending microplastics into the water system and eventually the sea. Ocean Hero is a great search engine that we can use to help clean up larger plastics before they disintegrate into microplastics.
The opening is killing me
In a good way?
@@Tom_Nicholas In the best way
Haha, PHEW.
Alas, another victim of the culture wars.
Where both sides simultaneously believe that their victory is inevitable, and that the other side is always at the gates...
14:12 you know you've made it in life when ur bold and dignified enough to eat Pringles out of a glass bowl
This is awesome! I shared this with my dad who is on the “other” side. I enjoyed that you don’t attack but explain.
Is your dad a gamer?
There are subtle attacks. He clearly is sympathetic to the "progressive" side because he frames everything as the "orthodoxy" side being dishonest in their motives while not doing so to the "progressive" side. He asserts that every action the progressive side does is for the betterment of society while the actions taken by the orthodox side are to maintain an iron grip on society.
@Anirban Chakrabarti Do you always assume the worst in people who disagree with you?
@Anirban Chakrabarti Then there can be no discussion. If you believe your political opponents are insincere then there is no point debating them, and if you can't change minds with words, there is no other recourse than violence.
@Anirban Chakrabarti I could say the same thing about progressives but I know arguing with you will not accomplish anything. I don't want to commit violence against my political opponents because the instigation of political violence is an illegitimate means of solving disputes.
Your worldview is that of a fanatic and ultimately such a worldview will cause more misery than it alleviates.
This was so much worth my time that I'm gonna spend another hour just looking at a blank wall.
This is such a great hyperbole, I'll constantly use it.
@Ivan Seems like you understood my message backwards
Agreed - think I might need this hour to work through some things I learned...
I saw the thumbnail and thought "guy put in the effort to wear a costume. Ill take a look"
This is what i wish mainstream media was more like, you have a way of not foregoing your ideals and thoughts but still representing the topic in such an unbiased and fair way, i especially enjoy how you explore the historical aspects of the subjects you cover. The fact that you can remain very factually based in such a nuanced and almost emotionally led dilemma is quite remarkable, you also touch on some rather "rabbit hole" (for lack of a better word) points very tastefully without falling into the endless possibilities of speculation; for example pointing out most people are mostly moderate in the direction they politically lean and have much more convergence in issues than the mainstream media conveys. I personally cant avoid the unlimited questions and speculations of such profound notions which is why i like your on point and concise videos so much, you are obviously very smart and very educated and i would like to thank you for using your knowledge, ability to research and put together such fair and entertaining content.
I thought this might be important information to share. 35% of all ocean microplastics come from clothing, mostly polyester, acrylic, and nylon. This is largely due to clothes made of these materials being washed, which causes the clothes to quickly erode, sending microplastics into the water system and eventually the sea. Ocean Hero is a great search engine that we can use to help clean up larger plastics before they disintegrate into microplastics.
Wow - your videos genuinely deserve more attention. Another extremely well put together video.
Had this in my watch later for a couple of weeks. Was waiting for the right time to watch. A great breakdown of something that is often heard but not always understood.
I thought this might be important information to share. 35% of all ocean microplastics come from clothing, mostly polyester, acrylic, and nylon. This is largely due to clothes made of these materials being washed, which causes the clothes to quickly erode, sending microplastics into the water system and eventually the sea. Ocean Hero is a great search engine that we can use to help clean up larger plastics before they disintegrate into microplastics.
The effort you put into your videos and the quality of them is actually astounding - it's entertaining and educational and just overall very impressive, thank you for making this!!
I thought this might be important information to share. 35% of all ocean microplastics come from clothing, mostly polyester, acrylic, and nylon. This is largely due to clothes made of these materials being washed, which causes the clothes to quickly erode, sending microplastics into the water system and eventually the sea. Ocean Hero is a great search engine that we can use to help clean up larger plastics before they disintegrate into microplastics.
Tom Nicholas makes great videos! Full of information and the effort to understand the world. What a great way to spend time on youtube!
Do you EVER miss?!?!
I keep trying but people keep saying the stuff is good anyway...
th-cam.com/video/OKdNw8aDTsA/w-d-xo.html
Every time. He is very interesting though...
@@marcschaeffer1584 what do you mean "everytime"?
@@totallynotacommie335 he is a philosopher and a thinker, and I have the greatest respect for that. He just happens to be wrong most of the time. I watch all his content, because it is interesting, but I agree with very little, and yes I understand what he says too.
Anytime people try break society into opposing camps, they are trying to sel you something and the person setting up the dichotomy probably owns both products.
Edward vs Jacob, Team Fruity vs Team Coco, etc.
Haha, what's Team Fruity vs Team Coco? I think I'm too old to get this reference...
@@Tom_Nicholas a dumb marketing gimmick that the cereal maker Post tried with Fuity pebbles and Coco pebbles at the height of the ”team x vs team y” marketing trend.
Oh, another example is ”Left Twix vs Right Twix”, if you are at all familiar with American chocolate brands.
Edit: Post is apparently still pushing the ”team” angle, I just am not their target demographic I guess.
And you think class isn't part of that?
I remember when it was Frankenberry vs Count Chocula (I'm old)
Let’s not forget Team Cap vs Team Iron Man
This was exceptionally well put together, thanks for this Tom
I thought this might be important information to share. 35% of all ocean microplastics come from clothing, mostly polyester, acrylic, and nylon. This is largely due to clothes made of these materials being washed, which causes the clothes to quickly erode, sending microplastics into the water system and eventually the sea. Ocean Hero is a great search engine that we can use to help clean up larger plastics before they disintegrate into microplastics.
Wow! First video of yours I've seen. Fantastic. Loved the presentation, the research and structure of the video. Now time to delve into your other videos.
i literally can't sit through a single class in school but this (which is 1000 times more compicated then anything i learn in school) is such an engaging and interesting video that just made me watch it all the way through in one sitting. props to the visuals and intresting script! if school was just 5% of this...
Because school only advances as fast as it’s slowest learner. You can’t read ahead so you spend an entire period reading 10 minutes worth of information and then get burdened with homework you could have done in class.
You may have the AD-HD (Atleast from my personal experience)
@@zackzittel7683 Not too bad tbh let's you slack off in school
This is an excellent video, so well-researched, argued, and incredibly thought-provoking.
Can’t get enough of this channel 🙌🏼 it doesn’t matter whether you lean right or left or somewhere in between - it’s a pleasure to hear something well researched, with rigorously defined/interrogated terms, and a coherent argument. Takes me back to uni days. Wish there was more content of this quality on TH-cam!
This is an excellently produced video, when I finished watching, I felt like I've genuinely gained a new perspective of what's happening in politics today. Subscribed!
I thought this might be important information to share. 35% of all ocean microplastics come from clothing, mostly polyester, acrylic, and nylon. This is largely due to clothes made of these materials being washed, which causes the clothes to quickly erode, sending microplastics into the water system and eventually the sea. Ocean Hero is a great search engine that we can use to help clean up larger plastics before they disintegrate into microplastics.
My american foreignness is showing through as I find the idea of calling a Brit a Europhile as weird as calling an American a westaboo.
Hey, thanks! New word of the day for me, 'westaboo' 😅 (actually I'm thinking about how to use it in Brazil, it's likely that our president is a major case of westaboo)
@@brassen you're welcome
@@brassen anyway, when I made the comment, I had forgotten the "thinking x is superior" part of the definition.
@@reveranttangent1771 Yes, I understand. We've always had this kind of "cultural war" down here, people would usually use terms like "Disney-zombie", "Stockholm-syndrome", "mutt-syndrome" (poor mutts)... whereas we on the left are just called "communists" 🤣
@@brassen hmm, not pleased to realize how widespread and common certain problems are.
Nobody ever wants to talk about who won the great meme war of 2016.
It was a short lived revolution because there were no intellectuals and no real leadership.
@@hes_alive there were plenty of intellectuals, but you're right there was no leadership. Honestly I feel like that's going to be a perpetual problem as time goes on. Every modern movement lacks adequate leadership even the "legitimate" ones.
@@hes_alive that always happens with real grassroots movements. It's hard for regular people to defeat the system when censorship exists. This is why censorship is the hill we die on. Always fight censorship, always hate elites
pyrrhic victory
The what now?
This is such a clear and comprehensive video, thank you so much! As a high school student and a relatively new leftist, your videos really enrich my analysis of our society and my understanding of theory
xanderhaul and conure, unlike vaush and hasan, are pretty good on what they post. while the other two feel ok as a 101 intro-ish course on leftism
Wow. That's the first video of yours I have watched and it blew me away. I can't wait to watch more. Thanks so much
Not sure when this happened exactly, but recently you’ve become one of the TH-camrs I’m most excited about when I see a new video - keep up the fabulous work!
I thought this might be important information to share. 35% of all ocean microplastics come from clothing, mostly polyester, acrylic, and nylon. This is largely due to clothes made of these materials being washed, which causes the clothes to quickly erode, sending microplastics into the water system and eventually the sea. Ocean Hero is a great search engine that we can use to help clean up larger plastics before they disintegrate into microplastics.
This was an excellent watch. Going to have to watch it again more closely, like I do with many of your videos. This morning, I thought that the culture wars were manufactured divisions of the working class. Now I'm not so sure.
Thanks Tom
Thanks, glad to have provoked some thinking!
I thought this might be important information to share with you guys. 35% of all ocean microplastics come from clothing, mostly polyester, acrylic, and nylon. This is largely due to clothes made of these materials being washed, which causes the clothes to quickly erode, sending microplastics into the water system and eventually the sea. Ocean Hero is a great search engine that we can use to help clean up larger plastics before they disintegrate into microplastics.
This was excellent! You asked really good questions, and clearly put a substantial amount of work into this and it really shows. Thanks for making it, it was fascinating to see how consistent we humans can be with how we divide ourselves. I recall learning somewhere you could have found similar conservative and reform factions dividing the senate floors of the Roman republic more than 2000 years ago.
I thought this might be important information to share. 35% of all ocean microplastics come from clothing, mostly polyester, acrylic, and nylon. This is largely due to clothes made of these materials being washed, which causes the clothes to quickly erode, sending microplastics into the water system and eventually the sea. Ocean Hero is a great search engine that we can use to help clean up larger plastics before they disintegrate into microplastics.
This quite literally may be the best TH-cam video I’ve watched
I've just started Society of the Spectacle because of your videos on it and now I see The Spectacle everywhere.
I love the production value on your videos!
Cheers!
This is your best video to date IMO. Good work, Tom!
Fantastic content! You manage to articulate precise and concise thoughts in a highly engaging manner. Very interested to discover your other videos. Subscribed.👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Round Earth and heliocentricism as not being political, must be nice in the UK
What are you even saying?
you do realize that Flat earthers are not a large group of people, and of that small group of people, not all of them live in the US, right?
@@neothepenguin1257 did I say most live outside of the US? What are you trying to argue?
@@joehill4094 what are YOU arguing. I’m correcting you
@@joehill4094 why would any non-majority amount of flat earthers not in America influence how the topic exists in America? Your argument is much better focusing on the size of flat earthers period, or even better to focus on their ability to change the material world through state or nonstate means (or generally their lack thereof).
The danger is generally the presuppositions flat earthers hold anyway, as those ultimately lead to a material force shifting for the rest of the population.
I was about to watch a TV series. that can wait
That's very kind (and maybe a little optimistic about how good the video is, haha).
It really is dude..
Love the format of this video! The idea of approaching the culture war with the aesthetics of an actual, physical, war is just perfect.
Very good, well thought out video. Please keep them coming!
As someone doing a PhD in a Social Science discipline in a fairly heavily Critical Theory Lefty university in the US, it's remarkable to see from your video how consistent our reading lists are across the Atlantic. I've read ... SO MUCH E.P. Thompson
damn, that degree sounds useless AF, can you use it for something other than becoming a teacher?
@@etyl2494 It is pretty useless unless you plan to be a university professor. I'm just doing it because I enjoy it and my employer is okay with me taking the time
@@cieproject2888 well its good that your realise it, many young people end up in dept with a useless diploma and no job :D
Thank you for this comment. This confirms my suspicion about this video. You've saved me 53 minutes of my life
@@FiatMihiSecundumVerbum What suspicion was that?
Your content is pure quality
Fantastic video, I really hope this channel blows up, the videos are so fascinating and useful 🖤
Analysis seems to be spot-on, and definitely worthy of my time!!! Thank you!
I love this channel. Consistently great work. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, really glad you’ve liked some of my stuff!
@@Tom_Nicholas "Some of.." Bless your modesty, Tom. The production, research, presentation, and subject matters are quite good. Always grateful to see your vids pop up in my feed. Speaking of which, your community engagement is a notch above.. running polls, posting upcoming content and teasers, responding to comments when you can.. Surely that makes for considerable work. I appreciate what you do, and the work that goes into it. That said, don't overwork yourself. So long as you have a pace that suits you, I look forward to a long a fruitful career. The responses are welcome in as far as you're not spread too thin by them. If you have any staff members or editors working along side, then my personal compliments to them as well.
Is always insightful, easy to understand and full of interesting facts. Also you are a great narrator😊
Thank you so much for your time making this video
this helped me understand the past and current societal atmosphere so much more than i did before. thank you!
Never let anyone convince you that something isn't political.
The definition of political is "that which pertains to the governing or public affairs of a nation"
A publicly visible statue, raised by government (taxpayer) money IS ALWAYS political.
Well, that means there are things that aren't political. Particularly anything that doesn't fall under the definition that you just provided.
Like taking a dump in the morning in the privacy of your own toilet in your own home because of nature's call, that isn't political in any way whatsoever. Poop can be used politically, though, but the example I provided is an instance where poop is not used politically.
I think I get what you're saying; that people shouldn't let themselves get deceived by people who are acting politically yet claiming they are not or people who deliberately diminish the political nature of certain things like the statues that you mention.
But your first sentence made it sound like not letting anyone convince you about the political nature of a certain subject is the stance you should maintain all the time when in reality, there are several instances where the subject is simply not political in any way whatsoever.
@@mikediamantakis5528 There is more history that is censored that is more important than a statue of a war criminal.
true. In a democracy/pseudodemocracy where government depends in some degree on popular sentiment, everything people do, say, and think impacts politics
@@mikediamantakis5528 But that is what those statues are, a cover up of facts. A lot of those statues glorify flawed or downright horrible figures and events. They are a denial of the history. A statue of a slave trader or a confederate general idolizes then as someone worthy of the statue, regardless of what they actually accomplished. Statues are not history, many of them are even political. A statue of a grand wizard of the KKK that gets erected in response to a civil rights movement is done to send a message, not to preserve history. Tearing down statues isn’t a cover up of history, the cover happened when they were erected
@@mikediamantakis5528 the first grand wizard has a statue down in Selma, Alabama. Actually got put up semi-recently.
Edit: just double checked and the statue was put up in 2000, the same year Selma elected their first black mayor. Talk about making a political statement
I can't imagine it took 2020, for me to find your channel. At least this year wasn't a complete waste.
seriously, your content is SO WELL MADE you deserve more subs bub
I think this just became my new favorite TH-cam channel.
The culture wars in America started when the "pilgrims", and others from Europe, immigrated to the new world and decided that Europeans had the right to cancel every "new world" culture. So, they immediately set about doing just that.
This entire phenomenon reminds me of Pratt's Arts of the Contact Zone, wherein two factions/cultures/communities clash, typically under the context of some form of power struggle. The "Culture War" theory is an intriguing one, though I definitely see how it could be another instance of Pratt's idea of the Contact Zone, for she also developed a timeless framework that can be utilized to describe conflicts between varying communities. Pratt utilizes both examples within her personal life and throughout history to back her claims, which is already dubious within academia (auto-ethnographies are a subject of debate regarding their falsifiability and thus research merit; though one could foresee a collection of auto-ethnographies to be a form of research, in which academics deem that as "oral history"). Pratt suggests that in order to navigate the contact zone in a way not to incite violence or perpetuated conflict (or at least minimize friction), platforms must be made that allow alternative ideas to be considered and played with, wherein the ideas merge or compete with each other to synthesize concepts that have the potential to demonstrate broader understandings of the realities of various cultures and perspectives throughout history and politics, in turn bridging the gap of cultural understanding. I find this perspective applicable to this video due to the mention of creating alternative outlets that will allow broader and more diverse opinions/values to be voiced, creating a better representation of public opinion and possibly assisting in the creation of novel ideas and movements, though as implied, there will always be some form of conflict or disagreement whenever information is misrepresented or in scenarios where the truth of value is ambiguous and is contingent upon our fallible understandings and interpretations.
Thanks, Tom. Brilliant. I wish I could express these ideas as clearly. You've got skills.
Impressive... most impressive.
Great work, man! Lots to think about. Definitely going to have to give this another watch or two.
Thanks for posting! Cheers! ☺️❤️👍
Great stuff, well laid out 😊. I would argue though that sitting in the park on a sunny day, whether in the shade or not *has* a political aspect. Parks are public spaces, often free in our societies. But the value of free public land is constantly contested, making such spaces contingent. In Turkey for example, Gezi Park was the focus of defiance against urban gentrification and ultimately authoritarian oppression. In Apartheid South Africa, parks were often off-limits to non-white people. Also to have time to lie in a park, is the result of union activity to ensure days off. It's still an indication of your degree of economic freedom to be able to choose how to structure one's time. The strength of the sun's rays has increased with gaps in the ozone layer, caused by relentless emissions, making sitting too long in open sunlight more dangerous than it may have been a few decades earlier. Being able to read to, to have access to free public education is a privilege not all in the world enjoy. Many political things going on even in that simple activity. 😉
The topic of culture wars is portrayed differently in my country than how it is in western countries. As for me (a person who lives in a non western country) it’s more related to colonialism and cultural erasure and appropriation (which is still related to class in so many ways)
From the US here, progressive leftist: Our right wing politicians do not in any way acknowledge the harm of colonization, and even most of the "left" ignore it. However, when you get into the truly progressive fringes, there is ever-increasing awareness and attempts to acknowledge, make amends, and reparations. Real change will be a long time away, I'm afraid.
@@ExkupidsMom Sounds like you're describing the radical left of the modern western world. Extremism and radical activism turn people into modern day witch hunters. The other extreme is the far-right, they're quite good at feeding eachother hatred.
@@DeepfriedNutz Absolutely. That's why you see caravans of antifa liberals running Trump campaign vehicles off the road, carrying fascistic signs like the swastika, and shooting into crowds of people who disagree with them. Disgusting.
@@ExkupidsMom Once people talk about reperations that's mostly when the argument goes off the cliff. There is no way to regulate it and to decide how for back we go. I'm Dutch for example so from a colonial perspective we should pay reparations to Suriname and Indonesia. But no one is saying we should get reparations for the Germans bombing the shit out of our country, no one is saying we should go back to the Dutch rebellion of 1568-1648 and demand money from Spain. 1% of all males trace their DNA back to Genghis Khan. That's a shitload of child support that Mongolia has to pay back.
I think the way forward for the west is not to be self loathing or to throw money at corrupt governments in developing countries, but instead invest in the techonology and infrastructure needed to raise them up. Easier said than done obviously.
@@suckieduckie On a global level it is complicated, for sure, but even then, I wouldn't say the problem is insoluble, just complicated. If I confine the scope of reparations specifically to my country. From there, I can draw a number of reasonable boundaries, it's just a matter of choosing one. Is there one that will make everyone happy? Not a chance. We can't even, as a country, wholeheartedly say that fascism is bad, apparently... but I digress. So let's pretend I've decided that we will pay reparations only to descendents of enslaved people, stolen by us. Many people cannot document their ancestry, but we can institute DNA testing and do the best job we possibly can of collecting DNA from known slave burial grounds, etc, and use both documents and DNA as means of identifying those to whom we owe reparations. Or we could give reparations to every black American, because racism continues to limit their health, wealth, opportunities, and life-span to this day. Or... The world will never be fair unless we dump everyasset we have into a huge basket and reapportion everything. But that shouldn't stop us from doing the best we can at every turn.
I'd been putting off watching this one, which kept appearing in my recommendations, but I'm glad I now watched it. Best one yet on this channel. The question of what counts as 'political' is a debate I find myself in *constantly* with people. And the definition I use accords very well with one of the key points of this video. This is what I often say: politics has a more restricted sense limited to debates around the actions of official political authorities, but a broader, more important sense in which politics refers to the distribution and application of power in a society. Further, the attempt to limit the definition of political to the former, restricted, sense is itself a deeply contentious political move.
Super useful video. Keep up the great work.
Bravo! Thorough, well researched and presented! Subscribed!!!💜🌎
Thanks, I became interested in studying the 'Culture Wars' while working on a paper by the nature of divisions fostered by Digital Capitalism in general and Social Media in particular.
One aspect I think is worth pondering upon is how the complete dominance of media by capital affects our political worldview. This is particularly true for social media where we are led into what has been dubbed a 'Filter Bubble' that insulates us from encountering contrarian worldviews. We tend to believe that social media gives us greater freedom to debate and discuss with a wide range of contrarian positions, but the advertisement focus algorithms are not incentivized for such engagement.
The video was very interesting, especially it gives me a reading list on the US culture wars to start with.
This video is so worthy of my time, I may just end up re-watching the whole thing a couple of times. You share so many interesting facts and ideas that I couldn't really process it all on my first viewing. Absolutely fantastic job, thank you so, so much for making and sharing this.
Really like this channel. It's nice to see someone with a very modest perspective on culture.
I like how, unlike so many other commentator youtubers out there, you actually cite your sources. I applaud you, good sir.
Man, your channel is quickly becoming a favorite for me. Living in contemporary North America with the current political chaos can be quite challenging for a foreign citizen. I really appreciate the work it takes to make this kind of content, you are a rockstar, keep it up!
Thanks Mariana, I’m really glad you’ve got something out of my videos!
"An interpretation of what is natural" - cuts to lobster. I see you 👀
TH-cam told me I watched this already but I don't remember watching it. Glad I "rewatched"
I love your long video essays. Thank you!
the idea that history is not political, is ludicrous.
by definition history is EVERYTHING that has happened in the past such as when you:
walked the dog
went to work
ate lunch
slept
slightly tilted forward while sitting in a chair
winked
knocked on wood
ect.
@@revoltman-needsmoreclickbait nope. that's not what history means, at all.
@@revoltman-needsmoreclickbait the ones writing/taking note or promoting it can manipulate the meaning of events or cover the fact that things even happened at all, and therefore make history support their own claims or dislodge the opponents'. example: literally any propaganda film
@@revoltman-needsmoreclickbait we re talking about history in the academic sense of the word, not the layman usage of it
your history is reflected by your perception, and people have different perceptions of events, leading to arguments over the reality
Culture Wars: when policy isn’t sexy enough
*when your policy is shit
@@maxhuneeus7211 Synonymous.
This channel deserves WAY more subscribers!
Outstanding! Excellent analysis and presentation .