I’m experimenting with whether it’s worthwhile to spend some extra effort turning my articles into well-made videos with actual clips and music and stuff.
Please don't. I was just thinking as i was seeing your email that your voice, meaning the clear, concise, morally sound one in your writing, cuts through all the bullshit and resonates with my soul. The truth doesn't need bells and whistles. It just cheapens the message IMHO. Keep it up!
I liked the video, and it's probably a way to reach a much wider audience. But it's not needed for all of us faithful readers. I guess it comes down to how much time you want to invest in it. Maybe make one article into a video every week or two?
I already worry about you and Tim suffering from burnout. Making even mediocre videos takes an awful lot of extra time and effort. Making good ones takes even more. The extra effort can become a distraction and can detract from the points you make (or are trying to make).
Don't think it is something you "have" to do. Don't put undue pressure on yourself. There may be times when a specific incident or idea occurs that is of special significance, or when you are particularly inspired that it is worth your effort to create a video. On those occasions, please make one. There is something to be said for doing something well and doing it consistently.
Absolutely brilliant and very much the way to go in the war of attrition which is the narrative control battle with the empire - a riposte to the pap spoonfed to the hoi- poloi by the likes of Sky and the BBC. My guess is that if you put enough of this kind of thing on YouTube, they'd eventually find an excuse to shut you down because it promotes "wrong think" very effectively 🤣🤣 It will engage a whole load of visually oriented people out there who might not otherwise bother reading and article. I read the article (I read and share a lot of your article) before I watched the video and the subjective experience was wildly different. I got the concepts by reading it of course, but listening passively to the script as it is displayed on the screen, along with engaging visual images really cuts through - it will piss the empire off. Bravo!
I find the videos distract from the message and agree with Matt. Your written communication skills are superb. Unique. Don’t dilute them with inane video clips. They add nothing.
I can't speak to how this "YouTube treatment" may connect with any broader demographics, but as for me, I found the video got in the way of the message. Your voice as a writer is considerably more passionate and penetrating than the spoken reading was able to get across. When I'm reading your essays, I'm impressed by your fierce moral urgency and intolerance for equivocation, and it makes me want to do something for the cause. When I was watching the video, I was just counting the seconds till it was over.
Caitlin, this is somewhat entertaining but I don't read what you write for entertainment. I read it because of the wisdom that you express and how you write. It must take a lot of time to create these videos and my suggestion is: don't spend your time doing that or your husband's time, it's much better spent on doing the research that you do and on your writing itself. Thanks for experimenting with other forms but for those of us who are your devoted followers, none of that is necessary! Thank you for all you do!
The video is a way to reach a much wider audience, but PLEASE don’t do it. It very difficult for the average — not that your subscribers are average — human brain to focus on two things simultaneously. Images are way more compelling to the average person, above and beyond words. The images take away the focus and attention of the viewer from your words.
The effect of your efforts and insightful analysis and commentary is what is impactful and captivating. If you were to reach, say, 50,000 more people by adding images, who in the hell cares if the brains of those 50,000 don’t really grok and deeply resonate with what you say along with the images. The images are captivating and distractive.
For those of us who have to turn on closed captioning in order to understand all that is being said in videos, we're fine with the written word alone. It just seems that fewer people today know how to read and "imagine" things in their minds because they're so used to watching TV, videos, etc. Just an observation.
For those under the control of (or blindly loyal to) the Institutions of the USA, I think it is helpful to learn more about the truth of the history of resistance.
I live under the sibling institutions of the Dominion of Canada, and while there are some minor details that are different, there is so many more similarities between the 5 members of the UN's Western Europe and Other Group (WEOG) that share no border with Western Europe: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United States, Israel.
There is so much mythology and misinformation about the founding of these institutions, and getting past those mythologies is required to resist. This is not about a specific political party or specific leader, but the very foundations of these institutions that have never adequately been understood or challenged/resisted.
An Association Fallacy, and the need to move past settler-colonial thinking
Please don't. I was just thinking as i was seeing your email that your voice, meaning the clear, concise, morally sound one in your writing, cuts through all the bullshit and resonates with my soul. The truth doesn't need bells and whistles. It just cheapens the message IMHO. Keep it up!
I liked the video, and it's probably a way to reach a much wider audience. But it's not needed for all of us faithful readers. I guess it comes down to how much time you want to invest in it. Maybe make one article into a video every week or two?
I already worry about you and Tim suffering from burnout. Making even mediocre videos takes an awful lot of extra time and effort. Making good ones takes even more. The extra effort can become a distraction and can detract from the points you make (or are trying to make).
Don't think it is something you "have" to do. Don't put undue pressure on yourself. There may be times when a specific incident or idea occurs that is of special significance, or when you are particularly inspired that it is worth your effort to create a video. On those occasions, please make one. There is something to be said for doing something well and doing it consistently.
Very well done, but I much prefer to read things.
Please stay the same.
Absolutely brilliant and very much the way to go in the war of attrition which is the narrative control battle with the empire - a riposte to the pap spoonfed to the hoi- poloi by the likes of Sky and the BBC. My guess is that if you put enough of this kind of thing on YouTube, they'd eventually find an excuse to shut you down because it promotes "wrong think" very effectively 🤣🤣 It will engage a whole load of visually oriented people out there who might not otherwise bother reading and article. I read the article (I read and share a lot of your article) before I watched the video and the subjective experience was wildly different. I got the concepts by reading it of course, but listening passively to the script as it is displayed on the screen, along with engaging visual images really cuts through - it will piss the empire off. Bravo!
Perfectly stated ❤️❤️
I find the videos distract from the message and agree with Matt. Your written communication skills are superb. Unique. Don’t dilute them with inane video clips. They add nothing.
I prefer to read your words. I also don't like the distraction of visuals while I'm digesting your words. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
I can't speak to how this "YouTube treatment" may connect with any broader demographics, but as for me, I found the video got in the way of the message. Your voice as a writer is considerably more passionate and penetrating than the spoken reading was able to get across. When I'm reading your essays, I'm impressed by your fierce moral urgency and intolerance for equivocation, and it makes me want to do something for the cause. When I was watching the video, I was just counting the seconds till it was over.
Caitlin, this is somewhat entertaining but I don't read what you write for entertainment. I read it because of the wisdom that you express and how you write. It must take a lot of time to create these videos and my suggestion is: don't spend your time doing that or your husband's time, it's much better spent on doing the research that you do and on your writing itself. Thanks for experimenting with other forms but for those of us who are your devoted followers, none of that is necessary! Thank you for all you do!
The video is a way to reach a much wider audience, but PLEASE don’t do it. It very difficult for the average — not that your subscribers are average — human brain to focus on two things simultaneously. Images are way more compelling to the average person, above and beyond words. The images take away the focus and attention of the viewer from your words.
The effect of your efforts and insightful analysis and commentary is what is impactful and captivating. If you were to reach, say, 50,000 more people by adding images, who in the hell cares if the brains of those 50,000 don’t really grok and deeply resonate with what you say along with the images. The images are captivating and distractive.
For those of us who have to turn on closed captioning in order to understand all that is being said in videos, we're fine with the written word alone. It just seems that fewer people today know how to read and "imagine" things in their minds because they're so used to watching TV, videos, etc. Just an observation.
Thank you Caitlin. Tim's voice is perfect for this beautiful new work. I am a reader however the video is full of needed graphics : )
I think the voice sounds AI generated and inauthentic. Is it really Tim's voice?
Caitlin gives Tim credit for reading in her previous works as well.
Never forget: we can't be an empire and a republic at the same time ✊️
For those under the control of (or blindly loyal to) the Institutions of the USA, I think it is helpful to learn more about the truth of the history of resistance.
https://tadstoermer.substack.com/
I live under the sibling institutions of the Dominion of Canada, and while there are some minor details that are different, there is so many more similarities between the 5 members of the UN's Western Europe and Other Group (WEOG) that share no border with Western Europe: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United States, Israel.
There is so much mythology and misinformation about the founding of these institutions, and getting past those mythologies is required to resist. This is not about a specific political party or specific leader, but the very foundations of these institutions that have never adequately been understood or challenged/resisted.
An Association Fallacy, and the need to move past settler-colonial thinking
https://r.flora.ca/p/nato-weog