I have two causes for celebration today: it is Australia Day and The Critical G has over 1000 subscribers and is fast approaching 100,000 lifetime views. Having arrived at this milestone after about 4 ½ months of regular activity, certainly a rapid ascent for me, I think a reflection on this channel's beginnings and direction is in order.
Although The Critical G is a platform for readings of interest and my own views, and a bit of comedy, it was originally a way for me to keep my interest in men's rights and libertarian-conservative politics to myself -- that has definitely changed!
The catalyst for this channel came about two years ago when I started dating a very talented, intelligent woman who turned out be a staunch feminist. Although her own career in academia had been destroyed by radical feminists for whom she was not extreme enough, she still thought that the ideology of feminism was good and necessary, and that government interference in work and marriage was needed in order to correct persistent imbalances between the sexes. In numerous discussions I asked her, the holder of a PhD who had worked in a prestigious publishing house in London and had enjoyed all the advantages of life in a wealthy first world country, why she still considered herself a feminist, but her answers never really made sense. The harder I pushed, the more defensive and agitated she became. This will come as no surprise to most of my viewers.
At any rate, our relationship did not work out for a number of reasons, but primarily because she attempted (willfully or subconsciously) to establish a double standard with respect to anger -- she could get angry, I wasn't allowed to. And this double standard arose from certain psychological problems that she was open about and, by her own admission, her feminist training, which had taught her to indulge her paranoia and aggression, but delegitimise her partner's.
So it became clear to me that our problems were at least partly on account of feminism. Now feminism and I go back a long way...
About 7 years ago I completed a liberal arts degree, majoring in English Literature, more accurately described as man-hating lesbian ultra-left-wing cultural-marxist feminism. Before I started university, I had no idea what I was getting myself in for, while I was in the viper's den I unwisely chose to see it through, and by the time I graduated I was fairly traumatised. A couple years later I started going out with a girl who despised feminists and although I thought myself more enlightened than she on matters of sexual politics I certainly appreciated being with someone who didn't believe that men are the root of all evil.
You see, for few years after university, I found it very difficult to muster much interest in repudiating the ideologies that had caused me so much misery. I was pretty much a typical white knight leftist, maybe not a mangina but definitely in agreement with most moderate liberals, and although deep down I never forgot what I went through, I repressed those thoughts in order to enjoy the sort of supercilious smugness that so many liberals I know positively reek of. I reckon that for a couple of years I suffered from a kind of Stockholm Syndrome -- I knew at an intellectual level that my university education and career prospects had been marred by those man-hating parasites (lecturers and students alike), but I couldn't or wouldn't put two and two together.
That was until I started dating the feminist. After a couple of months of dating, I started going online, looking for answers. I started to recall memories of my time at university, in the womyns den, the bullying and browbeating, the sneering hatred of men, capitalism, and conservative Western values by lecturers and tutors, in the textbooks and in the lectures, and the enraged propagandists on campus. I found A Voice for Men, Chapin's Inferno, Rocking Mr E, JohnTheOther, GirlWritesWhat. I reconsidered my acceptance of Leftist politics and started looking into libertarian and conservative positions. Before long my ex noticed my activity on my other YouTube channel (My Outcast State), to which she was subscribed.
At that point our relationship was already on its last legs and she became increasingly frightened by the illicit material that I seemed to be immersing myself in -- Chapin's Inferno especially.
So I started The Critical G and kept it secret from her, which enabled me to explore all the ideas that I had for so long stopped myself from looking into. For a long time that's all this channel was, a tool for me to find out more about topics of interest. But as you can see, I'm hardly the sort of person to keep my opinion to myself -- nor am I the sort to cling religiously to a point of view -- if you give me a soapbox, and especially an audience, I'll share my readings and opinions with you, but I'll also reconsider my position in light of new evidence or cogent reasoning.
And this is why The Critical G is a Free Speech Zone. I put out readings and my own views not because I seek to persuade anyone -- although it's flattering when it happens -- but rather to test these arguments. The guiding principle of this channel is not politics or ideology per se, but rather Karl Popper's test of falsifiability. I am often asked why I uploaded this or that reading; the reason is always the same: in order to see what you throw back at it. I often do not agree entirely with something I read, but I respect the effort of the writer to make the argument. Sometimes I am uncertain about an argument, but I can't place my finger on what bothers me -- by putting it out to you, there is a good chance that someone will see something I have missed or know something I don't. Think of it as an open source or crowd-sourcing approach to writing and philosophy.
And that is why, besides the great pleasure it gives me to have you as my subscribers, you are so important to me. The beauty of web video is that the roles of broadcaster and audience are blurred, and here at The Critical G, I seek to deepen the interweaving between the two. Many of my best and most popular video readings were requested by you, and I have learned a great deal from them. I am as much your audience as you are mine.
So to my 1030 subscribers (and counting!), thank you a thousand times over.
I promise to continue posting the most thought-provoking readings I can find. Some will be funny, some you may agree with, and some you may dislike, but they will all be read, recorded, and edited to the best of my abilities and with honest conversation at heart.
I'd like to conclude this reflection by mentioning some of the many people who have contributed to the growth of The Critical G. If you are a subscriber or even if you have commented on my videos or messaged me your feedback, you can count yourself in too.
Especial thanks go to:
Bernard Chapin, http://www.youtube.com/pinegrove33 -- an inspirational video blogger.
RockingMrE, http://www.rockingphilosophy.com/ -- one of the most thought-provoking philosophers online and exemplar of a practical, positive philosophy that informs a healthy family life.
JohnTheOther, GirlWritesWhat, Dean Esmay, and the crew at AVfM for creating a resource that has helped me in more ways than I can describe.
Franc Hoggle, http://www.greylining.com -- surely one of the best blogs by any measure on the internet.
Naomi Chambers, http://www.venturephilosophy.blogspot.com -- a tremendously talented blogger.
MJ Aurini, http://www.youtube.com/aurini -- a deep thinker and excellent writer.
Integralmath, http://www.youtube.com/integralmath -- for never shirking from the task of critiquing ideologues of any persuasion.
And the following YouTubers are notable sources of reading requests: (apologies for pronunciation)
St37One, http://www.youtube.com/St37One
Brundlekev, http://www.youtube.com/Brundlekev
playswithlife, http://www.youtube.com/playswithlife
ferulebezel, http://www.youtube.com/ferulebezel
rprnorg, http://www.youtube.com/rprnorg
Although The Critical G is a platform for readings of interest and my own views, and a bit of comedy, it was originally a way for me to keep my interest in men's rights and libertarian-conservative politics to myself -- that has definitely changed!
The catalyst for this channel came about two years ago when I started dating a very talented, intelligent woman who turned out be a staunch feminist. Although her own career in academia had been destroyed by radical feminists for whom she was not extreme enough, she still thought that the ideology of feminism was good and necessary, and that government interference in work and marriage was needed in order to correct persistent imbalances between the sexes. In numerous discussions I asked her, the holder of a PhD who had worked in a prestigious publishing house in London and had enjoyed all the advantages of life in a wealthy first world country, why she still considered herself a feminist, but her answers never really made sense. The harder I pushed, the more defensive and agitated she became. This will come as no surprise to most of my viewers.
At any rate, our relationship did not work out for a number of reasons, but primarily because she attempted (willfully or subconsciously) to establish a double standard with respect to anger -- she could get angry, I wasn't allowed to. And this double standard arose from certain psychological problems that she was open about and, by her own admission, her feminist training, which had taught her to indulge her paranoia and aggression, but delegitimise her partner's.
So it became clear to me that our problems were at least partly on account of feminism. Now feminism and I go back a long way...
About 7 years ago I completed a liberal arts degree, majoring in English Literature, more accurately described as man-hating lesbian ultra-left-wing cultural-marxist feminism. Before I started university, I had no idea what I was getting myself in for, while I was in the viper's den I unwisely chose to see it through, and by the time I graduated I was fairly traumatised. A couple years later I started going out with a girl who despised feminists and although I thought myself more enlightened than she on matters of sexual politics I certainly appreciated being with someone who didn't believe that men are the root of all evil.
You see, for few years after university, I found it very difficult to muster much interest in repudiating the ideologies that had caused me so much misery. I was pretty much a typical white knight leftist, maybe not a mangina but definitely in agreement with most moderate liberals, and although deep down I never forgot what I went through, I repressed those thoughts in order to enjoy the sort of supercilious smugness that so many liberals I know positively reek of. I reckon that for a couple of years I suffered from a kind of Stockholm Syndrome -- I knew at an intellectual level that my university education and career prospects had been marred by those man-hating parasites (lecturers and students alike), but I couldn't or wouldn't put two and two together.
That was until I started dating the feminist. After a couple of months of dating, I started going online, looking for answers. I started to recall memories of my time at university, in the womyns den, the bullying and browbeating, the sneering hatred of men, capitalism, and conservative Western values by lecturers and tutors, in the textbooks and in the lectures, and the enraged propagandists on campus. I found A Voice for Men, Chapin's Inferno, Rocking Mr E, JohnTheOther, GirlWritesWhat. I reconsidered my acceptance of Leftist politics and started looking into libertarian and conservative positions. Before long my ex noticed my activity on my other YouTube channel (My Outcast State), to which she was subscribed.
At that point our relationship was already on its last legs and she became increasingly frightened by the illicit material that I seemed to be immersing myself in -- Chapin's Inferno especially.
So I started The Critical G and kept it secret from her, which enabled me to explore all the ideas that I had for so long stopped myself from looking into. For a long time that's all this channel was, a tool for me to find out more about topics of interest. But as you can see, I'm hardly the sort of person to keep my opinion to myself -- nor am I the sort to cling religiously to a point of view -- if you give me a soapbox, and especially an audience, I'll share my readings and opinions with you, but I'll also reconsider my position in light of new evidence or cogent reasoning.
And this is why The Critical G is a Free Speech Zone. I put out readings and my own views not because I seek to persuade anyone -- although it's flattering when it happens -- but rather to test these arguments. The guiding principle of this channel is not politics or ideology per se, but rather Karl Popper's test of falsifiability. I am often asked why I uploaded this or that reading; the reason is always the same: in order to see what you throw back at it. I often do not agree entirely with something I read, but I respect the effort of the writer to make the argument. Sometimes I am uncertain about an argument, but I can't place my finger on what bothers me -- by putting it out to you, there is a good chance that someone will see something I have missed or know something I don't. Think of it as an open source or crowd-sourcing approach to writing and philosophy.
And that is why, besides the great pleasure it gives me to have you as my subscribers, you are so important to me. The beauty of web video is that the roles of broadcaster and audience are blurred, and here at The Critical G, I seek to deepen the interweaving between the two. Many of my best and most popular video readings were requested by you, and I have learned a great deal from them. I am as much your audience as you are mine.
So to my 1030 subscribers (and counting!), thank you a thousand times over.
I promise to continue posting the most thought-provoking readings I can find. Some will be funny, some you may agree with, and some you may dislike, but they will all be read, recorded, and edited to the best of my abilities and with honest conversation at heart.
I'd like to conclude this reflection by mentioning some of the many people who have contributed to the growth of The Critical G. If you are a subscriber or even if you have commented on my videos or messaged me your feedback, you can count yourself in too.
Especial thanks go to:
Bernard Chapin, http://www.youtube.com/pinegrove33 -- an inspirational video blogger.
RockingMrE, http://www.rockingphilosophy.com/ -- one of the most thought-provoking philosophers online and exemplar of a practical, positive philosophy that informs a healthy family life.
JohnTheOther, GirlWritesWhat, Dean Esmay, and the crew at AVfM for creating a resource that has helped me in more ways than I can describe.
Franc Hoggle, http://www.greylining.com -- surely one of the best blogs by any measure on the internet.
Naomi Chambers, http://www.venturephilosophy.blogspot.com -- a tremendously talented blogger.
MJ Aurini, http://www.youtube.com/aurini -- a deep thinker and excellent writer.
Integralmath, http://www.youtube.com/integralmath -- for never shirking from the task of critiquing ideologues of any persuasion.
And the following YouTubers are notable sources of reading requests: (apologies for pronunciation)
St37One, http://www.youtube.com/St37One
Brundlekev, http://www.youtube.com/Brundlekev
playswithlife, http://www.youtube.com/playswithlife
ferulebezel, http://www.youtube.com/ferulebezel
rprnorg, http://www.youtube.com/rprnorg
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