Notes on upcoming video series

I hope you end up releasing these!

NightDocs

As a new comer to this and to this deeper political discord I think a video explaining the difference between liberal and left would be amazing. After watching one of your videos where you said they were different I was like....what?!?! I did some googling and am now more informed. I think assuming this is known knowledge is a thing that needs to be addressed. As someone coming into this new I had no idea what I was saying when I said I was a liberal for all these years.

Joseph Cook-Williams

I think that this video series is a great idea - A badly informed world view is often built upon shaky fundamentals such as poor education and experience of the world around us. Anyway, waffle aside from me - ideas regarding video length for "introductory politics videos" should be 20-30 minutes for each initial concept with longer videos as more depth is applied i.e Video 1 - 20mins Video 2 30mins Video 3 50 mins This isn't just scaled numbers for the sake of it, start light and ramp up. Your regular subscribers and those with a decent hold on politics won't learn much from the initial video ideally. - That said I might learn more than I thought especially by video two! XD

I think if you're going to be talking about economics, you should definitely get into what money as a concept is. It seems so simple, so it's often overlooked, but I do think it's really important to break it down as an abstract concept, and the factors that play a role in its value. Also acknowledging that the gold standard is no longer used anywhere in the world and the implications that has for various things.

A Goblin

I’d like to see the other axis included in the first video - talking about whether people want to achieve their political goals through action and disruption or through a process with less upheaval. That said, you’ll be the best judge of whether that fits in with your message and makes sense in the video.

I don't know if you had that planned already but maybe including the difference between socialist, communist, marxist and liberal would be great as well. Lots of Americans are confused, even our social democratic grand daddy Bernie.

Armin Hüneburg

I can advise on the 2008 housing crisis. What happened is after 9/11 and the dot com bust, there ceased to be "easy money" via the stock market. Previously affluent people supplemented their income / wealth by trading stock. That dried up from 2002-2006 (It didn't help that major corporations like Enron and WorldCom went under, taking vast amounts of $$$ with them). SO the easiest way to make money became real estate investing. At the time, the Bush administration had loosened banking regulations that allowed anyone to get access to a home loan. Banks & mortgage brokers, who work on commission, were pumping out loans to borrowers who couldn't pay back. They got their commissions though. All this activity from 2002 onward increased property values substantially. A lot of people were OK because they were flipping properties anyway. Basically flippers and say speculators did well, at everyone else's expense. The bubble finally collapsed because properties were over-valued (not worth the money people paid for them) and a lot of borrower documentation was phony. People mis-stated their income and wealth in order to get the loan in the first place, hoping that the property would go up in value that they could flip and ovoid the debt. I ended up buying a foreclosure in 2011 that was exactly that, purchased for too much in 2007 by real estate "investors".

Studioroom

I think this series sounds really great! I have friends who feel a disturbance in the force, but they can’t put their finger on what is so broken in our society. Having a fairly basic primer narrated by someone with a soothing scouse accent is just what they need. I absolutely love the idea of a worked example too! My only worry is that it’s going to end on a really depressing note because the systems that brought around the crash are still in place and there has been no real justice. Overall, you’ll have to be careful not to sound too defeatist given the Tories will be in power for at least 4 more years and Biden is a Republican at heart, but I don’t know how comfortable you’d be taking a more ‘angry’ tone.

James King

That sounds great!

Theo Sloan

Even more late to the party than the last commenter, but I specifically would like to address the "mainly focusing on the US & the UK, for now at least"-part. It makes sense to start with that approach, given where you live and also the fact that the english language internet discourse at large tends to focus on those two countries. I would, however, love to see some coverage of/perspectives relating to other countries - partially because diversity is good, and partially because it can illuminate subjects from new angles or just give some weird/fun examples of things. For example if one would like to talk about the issue of naming the left and the right, in Denmark our main right wing party's name seriously translates to "The Left, Denmark's Liberal Party" (Venstre, Danmarks Liberale Parti) and they are neo-liberal/conservative, while the actual Conservative Party that we also have (whose full name, weirdly enough, translate to "The Conservative People's Party") get like 3% of the vote. That's why the Danish press like to divide politics into "the red block" (the Social Democrats and everyone left of them) and "the blue block" (Ventre, and everyone right of them) - this is super reductive and doesn't at all cover a bunch of centrist parties, but I think it's a pretty funny reversal of american political color coding.

Lint

I am a little late to the party, but one important topic that is too often overlooked is voting systems. Especially the use of First-Past-The-Post in the US and UK and the problems that result from that (eg. two-party-system, unproportional representation, and increased conflict)

Atrobbus

We need to combat the idea of capitalist realism. That the way things are is the obvious and natural way that things can be. And the pandemic provides an excellent narrative backdrop to make this point. Millions of people haven't been working and yet everyone is still as fed and housed as they were before. The system can truly adapt to achieve other goals if needed and deprioritize the markets. The big challenge is around questions of identity , national security and religion. Conservatives have entirely monopolized all discussion on this topic and these matter a great deal to most people. By painting their opponents as people who threaten identity, security or religion its pretty to easy to use it as a wedge issue or a thought terminator. We have to wake people up to the idea that they do not care about any of the above other than using it as a wedge issue to distract.

We need a way to reach people who have been programmed to respond instinctively to words like "Left" "Right" "Socialism" and "Communism". It would help not to use those terms initially and get people used to the idea first. For eg explaining about democracy in the workplace before using terms such as socialism or capitalism.

I think one of the big challenges is defining "left" and "right" in a consistent, objective way that maps to people's actual usage of the words. For my money, the best definition is that the right wants to protect or strengthen the existing (or very recent) societal order, whereas the left wants to weaken or abolish it. This can play out it in a lot of arenas (economic issues, race, gender, etc.), and you have groups that are left-wing in some ways and right-wing in others, but it maps pretty well to the way people talk about things.

Hambone Fakenamington

everything i had to add has already been commented so i'll just say: love this, love you, look forward to the videos :-)

rebecca

That sounds great, in doing so it might be good to look at arguments certain pundits and media figures use to justify or criticize these things. For example in part two of the series it may be useful to take a look at arguments presented by someone like Ben Shapiro in support of capitalism or against socialism/communism and point out their flaws/address common misconceptions, especially if it's aimed at people who aren't interested in politics as they're the most susceptible to those type of peoples' "smart" sounding points. Explaining away opposing points is just as critical as making your own and can serve the added bonus of convincing not only people who are total outsiders to this type of thing but making those indoctrinated by the "right" and their standard line of arguments second guess their views as well

Sounds like it would be a very useful resource, and I believe you would do a good job of it. All I have to say about it is that I couldn't help imagining your voice as I was reading the post, which made it funny, because I don't think I've heard you use the f-word before. :) (Maybe you have, and I just don't remember, but it was still funny to me) :)

Tormuse

Love this idea! I would have "gotten into politics" much earlier if I found a free accessible and simple resource explained with modern examples.

Brontë Josephine

Agree heavily. Many folks think lib means anyone on the left. NOPE lol. Totally not the case.

Soi Born

I'd suggest the history of organized labor

Three quick points: 1. I like the concept, v good, do it 2. Declaring your audience is a good move - I like knowing here that these videos will be introductory material, and it'll just be clearer for everyone involved if you just say that up front 3. Definitions - the word "Liberal" has massively different meanings around the world. but also is probably too important a word to just avoid, so it would be worth the time to define it the first time it comes up (my preferred definition is "someone who supports capitalism and democracy, in that order"). Same could go for anarchist or fascist or all sorts of words that have been tactically muddled in mainstream discourse.

Lars Arney

I really like your idea of splitting each part into less intimidating subsections. Keep up your always enjoyable and informative work!

If you want to make this outwardly accessible to people who consider themselves lowercase "c" capitalists, I feel like it'd be helpful to explicitly talk about the difference between Capitalism as a concrete distribution of captial (ie. most capital in the hands of a few Capitalists) and the ideals that Capitalism has co-opted (ie. economic freedom, market-based exchange, small government, etc.). As a former right-leaning libertarian myself, it's frustrating to see people with really great analysis talk past those who equate Capitalism with free markets as if they were the same thing.

I agree with you, but that may run into the continental divide. Europeans, in a general sense, are a lot less aware of racism than Americans, very much in a mirror to the way most Americans are unaware of class. Now, Shaun has clearly worked to educate himself more than most people, but still, there have been moments in his work where he seems to have just figured out something about race that seems pretty basic, from an American point of view. Again, you're right, it absolutely should be discussed, I'm just not sure how he'll handle it.

Jesse Berg

it's definitely not happened to the same degree elsewhere - shaun has made disparaging comments about liberals because despite what people in the us seem to think, liberals are not leftists and the left-right spectrum itself is fluid depending on where the overton window sits. discussing the divides within political parties or between labour and the dems vs labour and the tories (not sure which exactly shaun is proposing here but either works) sounds like exactly the sort of nuanced conversation you're asking for

alexis

This sounds great shaun! I then will finally have some digestible infodump videos to show my friends to understand the issues closer and lead them to other deeper discussions which require that former knowledge. Also a small suggestion would be to explain the used Big Political Words when introducing them instead of taking them as granted knowledge (so that watchers outside of the US/UK also understand the meaning and the context in those countries), Although I trust you to do that anyway :)

ruru

I appreciate and look forward to these topics, especially taking a deeper look at capitalism. One thing about the concept and practice of capitalism I find so quirky (lack of a better word) is how it's been tied into nationalism or patriotism. I imagine that is done somewhat on purpose just because if you have a majority of the masses jumping on board because they feel like they are part of something bigger then it's easier to get them to stay on board. That's mostly a guess. But again I look forward to "seeing" you do these topics. Cheers.

Lynn Short

This sounds like a superb idea to me. If I could suggest one particular thing I'd love you to cover within it, I don't think people at any stage of education in the US, UK or Australia (I'm less familiar with elsewhere in this specific regard) are taught well to see through promises made about trickle-down economics that come alongside those about deregulation. If you could cover why the former is bullshit too, I think that'd be a crucially helpful thing to those watching the video who might potentially not be well-informed about politics. I'm sure the videos will be great even without such an explanation though, and I'm looking forward to them!

I would like to know more of why this series in particular seems like a bad idea to you given that Shaun’s channel discusses politics regularly

Mike Blackney

In regards to not making 'capitalists' look like a shadowy conspiracy, I feel like that's going to be the most difficult thing to do, since we're kinda taught a very 'Great Man' centered narrative of the world from an early age. The idea that the individual goodness or badness of people in power doesn't actually matter that much is probably one of the last things I personally was able to internalise. I feel like you'd need to dedicate most of the second video just trying to convince someone that the internal structure of a company/country/economy has more of an impact on how they act ethically/politically than the individual people in control, even before getting in to capitalism.

this sounds really cool and i'm excited to see what you make!! you might already have this in mind, but i think it's worth considering the way that race ties into everything you've mentioned here since the ways that capitalism as we know is especially weaponized towards poc since it began. again, i think this idea is great and i hope to be able to share it with friends and family!

This sounds like it could work, and I do have a suggestion: as I'm sure you know, we have simplified, dumbed down to tell the truth, the left/right spectrum to the point of it being inherently tribal. I think we've really lost something by calling every thing to the right of center "conservative" and everything to the left of center "liberal". I don't know if that's happened to the same degree in the UK, but it has been adopted in the US to such a degree that Elizabeth Waren is discribed as a liberal, inspire of her clearly being a progressive reformer, and wild-eyed reactionaries are discribed as conservative. I feel like reintroducing nuance into our discussion of the political spectrum is hugely important, even if it means going back to the National Assembly in Revolutionary France, where the King's supporters sat on the right and those who wanted him excecuted sat on the left, with others organizing themselves along a spectrum in-between.

Jesse Berg

Great idea! The pandemic taking away so many forms of manufactured consent has caused many people to actually pay attention to what's actually going on in the world. They are seeing - some for the very first time - the cracks in the system. YouTube is where I first looked for leftist content when I woke up. I happen to be one of those people who likes to chew on long videos. But definitely, shorter videos as part of a series would be appealing to people looking for info they can't get from mainstream media. And since it will be a series, it will also appeal to those who enjoy movie-length political content. Can't wait to watch!

Jennifer

What else should be done? I'm genuinely curious.

J. Francis

i’ve tried to share olly’s antifa video too, several times, and it either gets immediately dismissed or its “too long”. frustrating to say the least. sigh

This sounds pretty good, I'm looking forward to it. Introductory critique of political media and information, and of capitalism? Can't have enough of that. I wish I could help in some way.

Thomas 'Kranodor' Hahn

this would be extremely helpful honestly. i have people i’d love to send these sorts of videos/discussions, but the length of many of videos that already exist is off-putting to someone just starting to pay attention to politics. it’s also extremely difficult to have some conversations when they don’t show a general understanding of basic concepts or even history. it would be a good introduction for sure.

Hey Shaun, My husband and I both enjoy you and your content very much. I would like to caution you about going down this particular road. As I’m sure you are aware, the political environment in the US is extremely volatile. Here so many people on YouTube discussing the problems in this country and I’m concerned you could be painted with a brush that you don’t necessarily want. I learned a long time ago not to discuss either politics or religion unless you know the people you are talking with really well. If I had a vote, I would say back away slowly. Since I don’t, please be extremely careful.

I'm definitely very interested in this series! I do hope we get a few minutes on why there even are terms like left and right in politics (the like minded sitting next to each other in Parliament, and hopefully some sort of joke about w[h]igs). As for the structure, might I request that it also gets added into a playlist for us insomniacs who like to listen to you talk for several uninterrupted hours? (Still love the Bell Curve video for this.)

Kat

This sounds great, thanks for doing this. The one thing I'd suggest is maybe doing a video (if not now, then maybe later) about the differences between liberalism, socialism, and communism. I live in the Midwest of the US, and there are a lot of people here who think democrats = socialists = communists/fascists. I'd really like to get them to think critically about their understanding of "The Left" and why it's wrong to just assume everyone on the left wants the same thing. Olly Thorn's video "The Philosophy of Antifa" is a good starting point, but I know my acquaintances refuse to watch it because they think it's just my attempt to indoctrinate them or something. Anyways, keep up the great work! I've gotten into your stuff over the last few months and, living in an area surrounded by conservatives, your videos have provided me with an excellent toolset for engaging with people across the aisle from me.

Reid Palmer + Shawna Wells

I'm really excited for this series! I'd love to be able to show some of these videos to my high school students. The discussion of the political spectrum sounds like it would fit perfectly with my province's social studies curriculum.

Great! My only feedback is that I hope you see this project through! I hope you don’t overthink it too much and get stuck in your own head, but that impulse you have is probably what produces such in-depth and self-aware analysis in the first place, soooo you do you?

Daniel S Cicala

I dunno. Its kinda glaring that left tube has been so "business as usual" during a time when people have been actually asking for ideas on how to restructure society. Im not sure this is the right time for a basic history unless you tie it to current events.

Kenna

Looking forward to it. I'm wondering if you have noticed that a lot of people who have not really thought beyond the "Capitaism good" mentality they were raised with tend to conflate Capitalism itself with basic economics? I think when they hear critiques of Capitalism they imagine a world without supply and demand or the like. It is perhaps something part 2 could at least briefly touch on.

Tom Martell

Oh this sounds very cool! Since I used to work as a "job consultant" at a temp agency, I actually find the history & rise of temp work in relation to the value of workers and workers' rights, and its current role in maintaining the system (worker disposability, artificial job insecurity, all that jazz) a neat angle, if you'd like to include something like that. (also how the temp sector is a significant factor in job discrimination against poc, disabled, lgbt,.. ppl and what that means for their material conditions). Will gladly volunteer my experience as a resource if necessary.

Jasper Jane

Maybe talk about the ideal modern capitalistic model (Norway? France? I actually have no idea) where capitalism is mixed with some sort of socialism in health care, social net, etc.

The downsides - environmental destruction, inequality - all of the stuff we talk about every single day - have to be expressed in that context. The standard of living of the global poor has skyrocketed in the age of globalization. Regulated free markets have improved the life of poor people more than any socialist system ever has. The issue is that if the regulations are too weak the system destroys itself. But denying that global poverty has fallen massively over the last few decades is exactly as unscientific as denying global warming - the data is there and no expert denies it. Life on earth is, objectively, better than it was 50 years ago in every possible way that quality of life can be measured.

Jason Pargin

This might lead too far from the main thesis, since it's already a pretty huge topic to sink your teeth into, but are you planning on mentioning the intersection of capitalism and colonialism?

Clementine Danger

To be credible I don't think you can criticize the excesses of capitalism without also pointing out that free markets have lifted two billion people out of extreme poverty over the last few decades, and in fact the objective quality of life of the global poor by any possible measure has skyrocketed - I'm talking about average lifespan, access to clean water, food, electricity, communication, information, travel, art, increases in rights for women, other sexual orientations and gender identities, etc: https://ourworldindata.org/extreme-poverty

Jason Pargin

I have no notes but I'm someone who has need for what you're offering here because capitalists and politicians in the US very much strike me as shadowy figures plotting evil in back rooms and I often feel like I'm a conspiracy theorist trying to talk to the non-leftist people in my life about systemic issues in my country. I hope there's a bibliography of citations to dig further into attached to your videos.

Corran MacCorran

this sounds great! in my anti-capitalist reading group, we've been studying lenin's "imperialism: the highest form of capitalism" as a lead-up to reading capital, and pulling together all these modern iterations of the exact same shit they were talking about is gonna be really helpful i think, and a really good gateway for petty-bourgeois liberals to start caring & seeing things for how they actually are. i'm really excited to see how this series turns out!

Lee Donie

Yes! Like the idea. I do think that breaking the parts up into smaller pieces is probably a good idea, aiming at around 20 min/video. Seems to be the sweetspot of being long enough to actually make a point and short enough that people would watch in 1 sitting.

Daniel of the Rosemary Lodge

Sounds awesome, cant wait!

Kritzlof

Really cool! Slap in some snazzy animations and you can call it ShaunU. I'll throw out a little suggestion: it might be a good idea to maintain an illusion of "objectivity" in order to attract and persuade right-wing viewers (as long as it doesn't detract too much from the point you're trying to make). What I mean is, for example, in the capitalism section you could introduce the concept of socialism early and bring up some common questions young conservatives have for it as an alternative to capitalism. Then these people won't immediately leave a dislike and close the tab when you segue into criticizing capitalism. Just a thought, though!

Very much looking forward to reading this

Nicholas Keane

Looks good! Can’t wait. For what it’s worth, I always prefer long videos. Maybe not Bell Curve long (though I like those too) but say longer than 15 min. Just my thoughts, looking forward to watching these!

gusbordel

Really cool project. I love the work you and many others have done over the years but this seems incredibly useful for bringing people in so they start to think about the project of politics through our same lens rather than someone else's, which we then have to dismantle to even have a shot at reaching them. Can't wait to see what you do.

jpVari

I love it

I love it. The left really needs a version of prageru. Instead of splitting an hour long video up into a few parts, split it into a bunch of 5 minute videos like prageru.

Zachery Gregg

This sounds amazing.

Liam Skoda

Hey Shaun, I don’t really have any feedback to offer, just wanted to say I cant wait for this series to come out! It will definitely be a great way to learn some arguments to persuade newbies down the lefty road