>>25898

Sure it wasn't all about ethnicity; but Austria-Hungaria was a true hodgepodge of very distinct regional identities, and was hard to all keep in line during the best of times. Add to that the fact that Russia was meddling as well, under the idea of panslavism that sought to unite Slavic countries which at the time wete dispersed between different empires and spheres of influence.

As a construct, in the long run, Austria-Hungaria made as much sense as something like a British-Spanish empire. As even the main namesakes of (German) Austria and indeed Hungaria could not have been more different.

There is a reason why the German Holy Roman Empire, on the other hand, lasted almost a millennium, with varying borders and constituents during its lifespan. The German states encompassing it were far more homogenous in ethnicity than Austria-Hungaria. But of course, the Holy Roman Empire was also a much more loose alliance, which granted the myriad of German states far more autonomy.

You ever wonder what fairy-tales we'll have 1000 years from now based on the stories we tell today? Imagine them trying to tell a story over generations without knowing what a wolf is.

>>25899
I think you're forgetting that empires are the enduring norms of history where nations are a recent invention that are perfectly capable of imploding. We don't talk about the mess of Switzerland or New World states and AH contemporaries like Russia or Persia. In fact modern Iran is probably a great example because there is no ethnic majority - by nationalist thinking it shouldn't exist.

As the guy points out it wasn't even true that the successor states of AH were any less diverse.

>The German states encompassing it were far more homogenous in ethnicity than Austria-Hungary

The HRE was equally divided, even amongst Saxons, Bavarians etc. without getting into Czechs, Sorbs, Burgundians and Italians.

To what extent were the "ethnic" divides, even in old timey times, really just liguistic divides, do you reckon?

I think there's a very obvious reason why we'd want to be revisioning/unrevisioning ethnical views of cultures/peoples, in today's day and age, anyway. So I am not sure it's even the sort of history I'd like to engage with because it'll be full of bad faith takes, like how you get that "omg there were trans people in the stone age!" type shit. It's about on par with ancient aliens when you get there.

I think a culture can only really last three or four generations anyway. The Holy Roman Empire wasn't the Roman Empire at all, as neither were the Byzantines, and so on. Like, sort of, they were, and historians like to go on about how they were continuations and so forth, but they just clearly weren't the same thing any more, were they.

I was having a good conversation along those lines about how Britain is one of the oldest continuous cultures, if you think about it, stretching back as far as the civil war, or the Magna Carta; but again, it really isn't, is it, no more than how the HRE was the Roman Empire. We're a different country, living on top of that old country.

>>25902
I think in old timey times the linguistic divides across even short distances would be jarring for us with loyalties and identities being underpinned by social networks/memberships. It reminds me of that historian talking about traveling to the middle ages and how the first thing everyone would want to know about you is your social group and loyalties so that they could put you in the right box.

We've managed to change our society (somewhat) over a few centuries thanks to nationalism, individualism and ethnic cleansing but we're still basically monkeys wearing different hats and the stories we tell ourselves are more like intense hallucinations built over hunter-gatherer hardware.

>>25900
>We don't talk about the mess of Switzerland

Which particular Swiss mess are you referring to? I read a fairly serious book about Swiss history so have been absolutely desperate, truly blueballed, to talk about that subject with somebody. I would be really happy if gs consisted of discussions like the last few posts on this thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8zoVGyfr6Q

This was a very good video. The first half particularly about how you can use energy consumption as a direct proxy for wealth so that you don't have to lark about figuring out the exchange rate between a Roman denarius and a modern US dollar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulcCXtn8jLU

>>25911
I'm impressed at how closely he's copying the transformation sequences from critically-panned cult 1980s series Manimal, right down to the heavy breathing. Shame it doesn't have the cool music, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck8UEAIbBmE

She usually argues fair and valid points in her videos, although I can't help feeling reminded of a lass I knew at uni who was doing a liberal arts degree and who would just complain all day long how everything was so shit and expensive.

>>25913
She spent 15 minutes describing enshittification without once calling it enshittification. But she did say "shit" a couple of times in the video, so it's not like she just doesn't want to swear while describing it. She's going to kick herself when someone points out that her observation has already been made.

>>25914

>She's going to kick herself when someone points out that her observation has already been made.

Don't tell her. In fact, don't tell it to anybody like her. It would make half of the entire raison d'être for youtube channels like that disappear in a puff of smoke.

>>25905
The mess of the ethnolinguistic divides mostly.

>I would be really happy if gs consisted of discussions like the last few posts on this thread.

I used to post somewhere else where everyone took it seriously and you'd end up posting a few times a week at most. It was great in a way and every post was dense with both information that you'd usually get a laugh out of too but life gets in the way and it quickly becomes exhausting like online roleplays or where an argument on here goes on for too many posts and you just stop caring.

I'd be happy for a board that is the opposite of /iq/ where the expectation is that you only post once a week when you have the time.

>>25915
>It would make half of the entire raison d'être for youtube channels like that disappear in a puff of smoke.

Good. There's far too much of it and it's all 20 year olds coming to 20 year old realisations. David Achu is the best example where it's really entertaining but then at the end you ask what you learnt:

>>25916

I feel like I've really done a lot of that over the last few years, where you mutter "Well done, you figured that one out all by yourself eh?" under your breath, at the profound realisations people younger than me are coming to, and subsequently documenting online.

The thing is though, I was doing the same thing at their age. We all did. Because that's what it is to grow up, mature, wisen, and then become old. You forget you didn't know it all once, everything you know now, you learned, and figured out at some point.

>>25918
I think it's telling that the typical age for these Youtubers is their early 20s which is the same age where people get quarter-life crises and have an obsession with talking about themselves. You see less of it from people in their 30s and 40s outside of the usual 'listen to me young'uns' and rose-tinted glasses.

Maybe we're the worse for it. We've gone from the 'me' internet generation to our dad's silent stoicism.

>>25929

>>25929

>You see less of it from people in their 30s and 40s

I'm 51, and much earlier than my age, you come to realise that not a fucking thing you've ever come up with was genuinely original and you were the first to have had a particular thought. It's all been said, done, and thought before. Which is a bit sobering, but at least you're no longer like, "I'm 15 or 20 or 25 and this is deep".

You learn to let go of a lot of ideas about yourself being that highly original edgelad you fancied yourself as a teenlad or twenlad. And it's all for the better, and feels quite liberating. Don't mistake it for cynicism. It's more like, you've learned your place in life, and you've accepted it. On the other hand, if you still haven't by that point, then you will not enjoy middle age. You'll be one of those miserable 50something cunts that nobody likes to be around.

>>25929

The oldlads on YouTube are all doing woodworking or playing Dire Straits covers in their conservatory.

>>25936

I'd love to do either of those two, but neither my woodworking nor my guitar skills are presentable enough for a youtube video.

My passions nowadays are classic cars and winemaking. I could probably put together loads of footage on my S-reg MGF that I am in the process of fixing/restoring, but in many people's minds, that one's not a true classic yet, more the kind of car that has just been kicked to the kerb by minimum wage hairdressers or part-time aerobics instructors. And there are already too many channels on winemaking as well. In any case, I'm not sure what I could add to the conversation about what a well rounded cherry wine should taste like. I could tell you that the best cherry wine can almost taste like a Bordeaux red, but who would be listening.

More Banban, I'm afraid.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKaaMvJQNmY

>>259374
You don't exactly sound overcome with the idea of starting a YouTube channel, but those interests seem like a fine place to start if you were.

>>25937

>could probably put together loads of footage on my S-reg MGF that I am in the process of fixing/restoring, but in many people's minds, that one's not a true classic yet

There's an entire subculture dedicated to cars that are a bit crap.

>>25939

The MGF will probably still end up becoming a low-key classic at some point. Back when the MGB was in production, it was also far from the cult status it eventually gained. It was the poor man's E Type, along with, and maybe even more so than the TR6.

Loads of MGFs have gone to the breakers in recent years, and the market is now at an inflection point where most of the tired and worn out examples that have turned into a money pit too big to handle for 20 year olds and hairdressers are being stripped down for parts to keep better preserved examples running. Which will then eventually rise in value again. They will never fetch silly prices, because if we're honest they were a mass produced 90s car with shoddy build quality throughout the model's run, but give it another ten to fifteen years and an all original F in good condition could sell for £5K-£10K.

My F has fallen a bit into disrepair, I've had it for over a decade and always took exemplary care of it, but due to loads of upheaval in my personal life I just haven't been able to look after it properly the last two years. I'll have to invest nearly another £700 just to get it MOT ready. But once all those things are taken care of, it has all the ingredients to be a classic one day.

>>25941

I'm going to have to watch My Dinner With Andre one of these days aren't I. It feels like I'm missing some sort of basic cultural foundation.

>>25942
I've seen it and it's very much like the Steamed Hams video (which is excellent, by the way, and I can't believe I watched all 43 minutes of it). My Dinner With Andre is a good film, but it doesn't really have any standout moments. I was also thinking about it after watching >>25941, and I think the only place that ever made jokes about it was that one episode of The Simpsons. I don't think I've ever heard it mentioned anywhere else.

>>25943
I can't remember what the point of MDWA was but I do remember being pleasantly surprised by it. More than I enjoyed >>25941. But it was referenced in Community, when Abed accidentally misses his own birthday party recreating it with Jeff.

>>25943
>I can't believe I watched all 43 minutes of it
I managed 11. Skinners monologues became too boring to listen to. Filming was good, sets and all that.

>>25945

I tried to watch MDWA last night so I could get this a bit more deeply, and I have to say that, despite how acclaimed it is, that's basically how I felt. I watched about 40 minutes in total, just skipping forward briefly. That Andre just does not shut the fuck up, does he? I'd have avoided him for five years anall if that's what the cunt is like.

Either way. The way this has come full circle, from Simplsons references to MDWA, through Steamed Hams memetic mutation, is an actual work of art. I'm impressed by it as a concept enough to not even really care how good it is on a surface level.

You gotta watch this guys, it's funny as shit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFgU_Rtta2w

>>25947

A lot about this reminds me of Metalocalypse.

This is a very soothing channel. You can watch a video or two and feel like you were satisfied that you didn't waste half an hour on shite, but it wasn't so mentally stimulating that your brain is rattling afterwards.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9jxMgrG-PA


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zAka-TjgWw

It's mad seeing the late 80s and early 90s type of "look" everything had when I was a wee lad looking properly ancient now though. God knows how you feel 51lad.

I don't know if I'd recommend them but I'm watching these horrible Elsagate adjacent videos, at the moment. I can't figure out what the deal is with them - in some ways they're similar to Salad Fingers, but the visuals are much more disturbing and unusual. There doesn't appear to be any point to them except - contrast to suggested videos - traumatising children.
I'm wondering if I should play them all night while sleeping, see what happens.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBwm5-PaX7w

>>25950
Alright, thank fuck for that.
=HBwm5-PaX7w if anyone is even remotely interested.

I've been binging Feral Historian lately. Basically a guy walking in the woods musing about historic science fiction - he feels like one of those Americans you wouldn't want to meet in the woods but he argues it quite well. My favourite is probably the evolution of I Am Legend but his look back on H.G. Wells Things To Come made me glad we live in a cynical meaningless world.

But I know you're much more likely to watch a video on Ceaser's Legion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDTo_qtR1UU

I completely agree.

>>25955

>The fact that you exist is useful information

They obviously haven't met me.

>>25955
This was really interesting, not because it's anything I haven't heard before, but because I had absolutely no idea that companies have been doing this since around the time I was born. It's the sinister horror news that I still consider fairly interesting today, but filmed when I was a baby, so nicer somehow even though the '80s were always so bleak and dark and grey, all the time.

>>25957
Nothing new under the sun, m7.

>>25916
I'm replying late to this because I lost the post. I don't think that Switzlerland's linguistic divisions really ever caused them that much hassle, far more internal friction was historically created by religious division (which wasn't determined by language there either) which evolved into a radical vs. conservative divide later on.

Ethnolinguistic tension tends to happen when one group tries to force its language and culture on another or is negligent towards it. Switzlerland's historical lack of centralisation means that those things never really happened unlike in Austro-Hungary or Russia - if your people have got a really big problem they can just create their own canton, as happened with Appenzell and Jura, instead of committing ethnic cleansing (although I think I might be affirming the point you're trying to make, or just telling you things you already know).

There, I did it, I made the first lengthy post about Swiss history on Britfa.gs, do I get a prize or some kind of honour?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0M7cH4BxSw

Perhaps more obvious than in the last one, it doesn't occur to her that while what she is saying is mostly true, she is a bit late for the party with her realisations. Every other youtuber who fancies themselves a social critic told you five years ago that bullshit jobs are becoming widespread.

>>25961

David Graber's Bullshit Jobs was published in 2018, based on an essay he wrote in 2013. There's nothing in her video that you couldn't learn from the Wikipedia summary of that book. People criticise AI for just producing regurgitated slop, but the same could be said of the overwhelming majority of human-generated content.

Why has the YouTube recommendations thread become the "whine about not everyone on the internet not being at least 35" thead?

>>25963
For my own part in it, I assume it's an expression of that aspergers trait wherein we struggle to comprehend that other people may not have the same information as us.
Otherwise, it's just tired cynicism for cynicisms own sake. Wake up brothers, get some fresh air in your life :)

>>25963
I think youtube channels need a lot more criticism these days. Most of them are complete derivative shit with the same production and 'quirky' personality that only presents wikipedia article levels of detail for people who just need something to listen to while having dinner and doing the washing up.

The other day I was suggested a video that compared Disney and Studio Ghibli villains (made by a man who could grow a beard) and I clicked on it to enjoy the anger it generated in me. The only point was that Disney villains tend to be unambiguous bad guys while Japanese storytelling focuses on motivations and the reasons behind conflict before settling on some middling point of 'maybe we need both'. There was no cross-cultural analysis of what drives narrative differences and our perspectives on man versus nature despite it being a fascinating topic to get stuck into once you look at the relationship to dragons and our/character place in the universe or the influence of Manichean binary thought.

I don't fault the speaker for not wanting to risk the wrath of adult Disney women or lady-weebs but I'd have to hand in my middle-aged man card if I didn't complain that much of the media we consume leans too hard into entertainment over providing information.

I have started sometimes actually watching videos that get posted here, but on the whole, I stand by my initial position that nobody should ever watch any YouTube video that's over 20 minutes long. Fuck all of your autism-enabling documentaries on the cultural importance of the train set.

Also, if the thumbnail has a picture of the YouTuber pulling a face, don't watch it. This counts double if they are looking off to the side.

I enjoyed this. The complete chaos of sending a few Orca pods back in time is very cathartic:

I also enjoyed this video covering Jiang Zemin - there isn't enough covering the history and evolution of Chinese leadership post-Mao.

>>25966
>nobody should ever watch any YouTube video that's over 20 minutes long

What about properly spectrum stuff that you have to spend multiple sessions watching like Histocrat does?

Today I got randomly recommend this video about Tolkien and Beowulf translations. Not something I'd normally be interested in - but quite interesting none the less.

>>25969


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGi9sUpl4lE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k75iIykdfnw

Dr Kleiner, I presume.

>>25968
The video about Orcas was highly entertaining. I've been advocating for the human race to abandon Earth and leave it to the cetaceans for almost a decade now, so this video is right up my alley.

>>25970
You should feel bad for posting this.