YouTube keeps recommending me this awful girl. There’s a word for this, it’s called an ‘art h**’. I just loathe everything she is and represents. Her ‘artsy’ nature. The pretentiousness. The assumption she seems to have of herself that she has something deep and meaningful to say. Then everything she says is so predictable. I don’t even need to watch the video to know what she will say. It’s all the most basic opinions mascaraing as if it’s ‘counter-culture’. It’s repulsive. And the length! Who’d want to listen to her for even a few minutes. The video essay trend on YouTube is awful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uspD-d0DxGc&t=212s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMCRF7g5ptM&t=238s

These sorts of documentaries are why I believe the only people who should really be creating historical content are those who are either from the group itself (be it Country, state, county, community, etc.) or are sympathetic to it. Shouldn’t even really be called reconstruction because it just mostly talked about what the federal and state governments did with the former slaves and white/black relations in this period. Never talked about the lives of common, white Southern farmers and never talked about how white women adapted after the Civil War. If you’re going to give the documentary title “Reconstruction”, you should cover information in proportion to the population. Talk about emancipated slaves in the wider context of Southern society, don’t make the entire documentary about them. The title is deceiving and wrong. It’s making a false claim about the information that is actually presented in the documentary. Though I get the impression the purpose of this documentary wasn’t exactly for historical interest.

https://www.americanyawp.com/text/10-religion-and-reform/

https://www.americanyawp.com/text/11-the-cotton-revolution/

I think three important themes in chapters 10 and 11 were the changing landscape of religion, the establishment of cotton as being fundamental to the Southern economy, and slavery shaping Southern society and culture. Different denominations were rising and falling in popularity. The marked shift of more impassioned worship. Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian all grew in numbers. There was less emphasis on knowing theology inside and out. The Methodists were the best example of this. By 1850, Methodism was the most popular American denomination. At the end of the 18th century they had fewer than 1,000 members, yet by the mid-19th century they constituted 34% of people going to church.

In chapter 9 Paul began with a defense of himself and all his liberties that he could potentially partake of. He said that while he could potentially partake, it does not edify. In chapter 10 he states that the reason for the Jew’s stumbling in the wilderness is to serve as an admonition for us. They murmured, the tempted Christ, they were idolaters, and subsequently many got destroyed.

Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils. (1 Cor. 10:21)

Had to watch this documentary about slavery. Mostly it was information I already knew, but there were a couple interesting parts. It’s definitely decently made and the content is fine enough. The low resolution doesn’t help though.

This YouTube channel as well appears to be a good source of history documentary playlists.

This chapter has to do with idols and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. We learn that idols are nothing.

As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. (1 Cor. 8:4)

There is no God but one, so whether we eat or we do not it doesn’t make a difference.

Game is 天色＊アイルノーツ or Amairo * Islenauts. This game isn’t actually translated into English. It probably will be one day, but as long as it’s in the hands of translation companies and fan translations are taken down, then this game will probably not get into English. Why? You might be able to figure it out yourself with a little digging. The deeper reason is that Americans are Puritans. This is a pure visual novel, no gameplay. It’s also Yuzusoft, so you kind of know what you’re getting.

Let’s check in on Ukraine today.

Top comment on video.

Gahahahahahahaha.

Sometimes I get the impression that Ukraine is fighting as much a PR war than a conventional war. Some things they do and say are so absurd.

I feel like if there’s one thing that Japan really taught me it’s that fun things are simply fun. Maybe this sounds obvious, but I think the average person in this country doesn’t really behave that way. You don’t need some greater reason. People spend their whole lives fretting about productivity and about how they can better make use of their time. Self-help books fly off the shelves, and you see people filling their free time on advice about how they could potentially make their lives better. I think it’s just sad behavior. Every time they try to enjoy something themselves they have a guilty conscious about it and can never really get immersed into it. It results in people that don’t really have hobbies of their own outside of possibly their family or whatever is on television that night. And even with television they don’t really care about what they watch, to them it’s more a distraction to rest themselves mentally, so they can be in a good place to return to what they think “really matters”—their job. They think this is what adult behavior consists of. That’s not to say be a hedonist, but Utilitarianism teaches that the end of human life is pleasure and pain. It means the best activities are those that are easily available and don’t cause harm to those around you, course being an activity you enjoy. It means playing video games is no more noble than reading philosophy or playing the piano. If you do often read philosophy or play the piano it should be because you enjoy it, not that you think there’s some inherent value in the activity itself, and that by suffering through it it makes you a “higher “person.

I was talking to somebody the other day and I thought his perception about something of Christianity was misleading. People often say of Christ that he came for the weak. I think when people think of the weak they think of the poor, elderly, sick, etc., except I think this isn’t quite right. I wrote the following about this.

I meant to say something before, but I think you misunderstand what exactly “weak” is. Weak doesn’t literally mean the poor, the sick, the elderly, etc. There is a fundamental difference between Christianity and Islam. That is God’s judgement and his standard. For Muslims they think that God will balance out their good deeds and their bad deeds and if they did more good than they did bad then they are good people, almost like weighing on a scale. Christianity is different. God’s passing mark isn’t 20%, not 50%, not 99%, it’s 100%. Doesn’t make a difference whether you follow 50% of his commands or 99%, both are failing. Christians believe that Christ died on the cross to give us grace. God had to send his Son to redeem humanity in his eyes for God to do good for humanity. He wouldn’t be righteous if he encouraged wickedness. It was the death on the cross that brought us grace for our sins—grace is an undeserved favor from God. “Good” people have the delusion that they’re decent and upright people because they compare themselves to their neighbor, or they say something like “there’s many worse”. They think God will judge them by the standard of their neighbor. This is not the case. But they think it and it causes them to convince themselves of their own self-righteousness. “Good” and “successful” people are the least likely to accept God because they’re the most bound up in their own delusions of self-righteousness. Bad people know they’re no good, and consequently don’t have the same arrogance that “good” people do, so they’re more likely to accept God and be introduced into God’s kingdom. God knows that man can’t live up to his standard of righteousness, so the goal of a Christian life is not to measure good and bad deeds, but to earnestly seek both God and righteousness in simplicity with a pure heart. For such people God loves and will introduce into his kingdom.