The European Middle Ages have historically been known as the Dark Ages, while the Muslim world during the same period is popularly depicted as scientifically advanced. However, the difference between them has been exaggerated greatly, and pop history is full of myths about the Islamic Golden Age. These videos examine a wide range of myths …
Were the Nazis socialists? Popular Youtuber TIKhistory claims they were, but the overwhelming majority of mainstream economists and historians, from the Nazi era to the current day, disagrees. These videos address TIK’s arguments. Activities (1938-1944), United States Congress House Special Committee on Un-American. Investigation of Un-American Propaganda Activities in the United States. Vol. 6. Washington, …
Read more “Were the Nazis socialists? | why TIKhistory is wrong”
In 1789 there was a sudden outbreak of smallpox in an area of Australia called Sydney by the British colonizers who had just settled there, with horrific consequences for the Aboriginal Australian population. Did the British use smallpox against Aboriginal Australians? This video shows there is strong evidence that the colonizers infected the Aboriginal people …
Read more “Did the British use smallpox against Aboriginal Australians?”
The year is 2014, and Cevin Soling, also known by his pseudonym Malcolm Jarry, one of the leaders of The Satanic Temple in the US, is visiting the tiny Pacific island of Tanna, part of the nation of Vanuatu. According to Soling, “Apparently there was a prophecy I would come”. This video tells the strange …
Read more “White savior in a foreign land: the Satanic Temple leader & cargo cult messiah”
This video explains that Hypatia of Alexandria was a mystic, not a scientist. She was a lot more like Gwyneth Paltrow than she was like Isaac Newton. Acerbi, Fabio. “Hypatia.” New Dictionary of Scientific Biography Vol. 3, Vol. 3,. Edited by Noretta Koertge. Detroit [etc.]: Scribner, 2008. Alic, Margaret. Hypatia’s Heritage: A History of Women …
Read more “Hypatia of Alexandria was a mystic not a scientist”
The black pygmy genocide myth has been used in Australia, Taiwan, and New Zealand to dispossess indigenous people. These three videos explain and debunk this weird historical fiction. Aboriginal History WA. Norman Tindale Collection: Name Index for Western Australia. Welshpool, Western Australia: Western Australian Museum, 2020. https://www.dlgsc.wa.gov.au/docs/default-source/aboriginal-history/norman-tindale-collection/norman-tindale-collection.pdf?sfvrsn=f38f281b_5. Araluen, Evelyn. “Stuff People Get Wrong About Aboriginal …
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. …
Read more “Who was Robert Oppenheimer? | Hero, destroyer of worlds, communist?”
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 …
Read more “Bruce Pascoe’s famous book “Dark Emu” is historical fiction”
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. …
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. …
Read more “Rebecca Watson is wrong about Uganda’s anti-gay law”
