Who was Robert Oppenheimer? | Hero, destroyer of worlds, communist?

The script for this video was written before Christopher Nolan’s 2023 movie Oppenheimer was released, so it does not comment on the movie’s content. Instead it examines the three most common identities with which Oppenheimer has become associated in popular culture and historical commentary. Who was Robert Oppenheimer? Hero, destroyer of worlds, communist? BADASH, LAWRENCE. …

Bruce Pascoe’s famous book “Dark Emu” is historical fiction

Bruce Pascoe’s book “Dark Emu: Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident?” makes the case that the Aboriginal Australians and Torres Straits Islanders were not hunter gatherers as commonly believed, but sedentary agriculturalists, with sophisticated engineering, aquaculture, architectural, and botanical knowledge. However, scholarly scrutiny has proved that “Dark Emu” is historical fiction. These videos describe the academic …

Classical statues weren’t whitewashed

Youtuber Adam Something made a video attempting to address misconceptions about classical statues, and managed to make more errors than he corrected. I have a double classics major, having studied Greek and Roman history, art, architecture and oratory, as well as the Greek and Latin languages, so I feel confident explaining where Adam went wrong. …

Rebecca Watson is wrong about Uganda’s anti-gay law

This series of videos explains how Rebecca Watson is wrong about Uganda’s anti-gay law, examining her video “entitled How the US & UK Led to Uganda’s New “Kill the Gays” Bill” and describing the complex history of homophobia in Uganda. Please view her video before watching these responses. Al-Abbas, Linda S., and Ahmad S. Haider. …

What is Duginism? | A video series on Russian fascism

This is a list of the sources used in the video series “What is Dugnism?”. See these links to each video. Aleksandr Gel’yevich Dugin is a Russian political theorist known for an ideology he has formed entitled the Fourth Political Theory. Dugin regards left and right liberalism as the first political theory, communism as the …

Nine famous black European swordsmen

This video describes nine black men who overcame racism and class prejudice to become famous swordsmen, and explains how they were all connected via blood or circumstance. Andrew. “Black Faces in Tudor England.” The Scholemaster, 21 February 2016. https://andrewbretz.wordpress.com/2016/02/21/black-faces-in-tudor-england/. Angelo, Henry. Reminiscences of Henry Angelo, with Memoirs of His Late Father and Friends, Including Numerous …

A bad history Youtuber tier list | scoring nine of the largest Youtube history channels

This video establishes a bad history Youtuber tier list, assessing nine of the largest Youtube history channels, based mainly on criticism they have received on r/badhistory and platforms. See here for a list of my sources. These were my criteria for inclusion. 1. Must be a history channel. 2. Must have over 500,000 subscribers. 3. …

The failure of Peter Gelderloos | defending non-violent social change

This article demonstrates the failure of Peter Gelderloos’ opposition to non-violent resistance against the state. For a video of this article, see here. The article argues in favor of civil resistance, as articulated and analyzed by Erica Chenoweth. See this video for a discussion on the same topic, between two anarchists. This article was written …

The true history of the chop suey font | Is it racist?

The origin and history of the “chop suey” or “wonton” font is greatly misunderstood. This video explains the true history of the chop suey font, correcting mistakes in a video by graphic designer Linus Boman. Brown, Miranda. “The Hidden, Magnificent History of Chop Suey.” Atlas Obscura, 30 November 2021. http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/chop-suey-history. Campbell, Mel. “Students’ Handwriting Remains …

Correcting mistakes in the history of climate change | Did Edith Foote discover global warming?

This video is aimed at correcting mistakes in the history of climate change, found in a video by Youtuber Simon Clark. Aside from a few errors, Simon’s video is a remarkably compact, accessible, and informative overview of the field’s development. The video made several claims about Eunice Foote, a nineteenth century scientist who made an …