How Alt-History Can Be Dangerous

I made this video because I love alt-history, but many creators use alt-history as a trojan horse for disturbing ideas. To understand how some creators of alternate history on Youtube might be misleading you, or feeding you propaganda, you have to first understand history, and what colours all of history that has been written and likely will be written.

#alternatehistory #history #politics
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If you enjoy the video, please leave a like, I'm told it helps. If you have questions or suggestions please leave a comment, I do my best to read them all!

[hallamhal]

Most "What if the Nazis won WW2?" Alt histories I've seen seem to start with some change to the Nazis that would go against their whole ideology, that lead to the war in the first place

[AlternateHistory]

Hi I am also an alternate history youtuber. The appeal for me, when it comes to alternate history, is the endless amount of worlds one can visit in an imaginary way and for someone who loves to travel, this is probably the single most important point. Interesting perspective you gave on the subject. I am positively surprised.

[MrOuija-rrkq]

I refuse to believe any entity is “unbiased”. That’s literally impossible.

[FreddaYT]

I asked Alternatehistoryhub if he wanted me to take him off the thumbnail, he said it's fine. He's there as representative of the genre as one of the best creators. The others are also there as representative of the genre, but for other reasons obviously.

Note: There's an issue on the Cuba timeline with duplicatre dates; one of the duplicates is meant to read "October 1960, Cuba nationalizes US properties"

[ErisRising]

Many years ago, I wrote an alternate history in which the turning point was Eisenhower having a heart attack shortly before the 1952 convention, and Walt Disney being offered as a compromise candidate when the other potentials can't draw enough unified support. The outcome ended up being catastrophic despite Disney being an overall well-meaning President. My point was to satirize the concept of America really needing a successful businessman to run things, and to illustrate how fragile the country really is, and how easily it can all fall apart when the wrong person is at the helm.

I was planning to write a sequel someday, but reality overtook me.

[richardnixonpog]

i think modern AHHub has hit that perfect balance between informative and realistic, his videos have definitely improved with time and as a long time viewer he's come a long way. not perfect and definitely guilty of a few of the sins you mentioned but I think he's found his footing. anyways, good video, hope you have a nice day

[SkullCrabz]

I think one of the biggest issues with alternative history is many treat it as a form of history which it is not its creative writing with a basis in history.

[puchy]

There is a term found on the AH wiki called a “wankfest” referring to Alternative histories that are either of a particular nationalist, religious, ethnic, etc. bias or domination. For example, if the Caliphate won one battle Islam would be the world religion, or Alexander the Great could’ve conquered his way to the Pacific Ocean. Good AH should at least be kept within the bounds of, realism.

[robert]

Possible History is one of the best alt history channels I’ve come across, with actually great historical analysis that takes materialist analysis into account. He is also a critic of Whatifalthist

[yiannchrst]

I am from Greece, and I have to say, at least half of the history we learn on school is false or at least biased. I hurt sometimes when I study it as someone who tries to learn history on his own...

[Nebyab]

Kudos for the opening. I've always had trouble explaining historiography and historical bias at a high level to people without extensive academic language. I think you did a really great job with that (and the whole video honestly).

As someone whose never been especially interested in counterfactuals, it surprised me recently not only how the youtube side of it has exploded in popularity, but also how frequently it seems that a reactionary worldview gets pushed as a baseline to audiences who (tragically) seem untrained in unpacking and unpacking bias.

Really great video on the topic.

(Also good choice with the Disco Elysium music)

[Testimony_Of_JTF]

If you want to see the really bad things Z posts look at his takes on geopolitics.
He deflects the criticism by saying they're "just a hobby" and things like that but they're truly awful. For example:
He predicted a possible collapse of Mexico due to political and economic pressures, completely ignoring Mexico did not collapse when things were oh so much worse+ The fact America wouldn't just allow their neighbour to collapse.

[bobbertcanuck]

I'll spoil something for all of you. NO, he does not tar and feather AltHistoryHub. I don't think he says a negative word against Cody. Fredda analyses Alternate History and what History even is at it's roots. It's a good video essay, watch it. I understand that the Thumbnail is what catches your eye, but the cover is not the entirety of the book.

[TheEmperorYTP]

Y'all think monsieur z is bad, but y'all haven't seen zvallid agree with the statements "the bad guys (referring to the allies) won ww2" or "the axis pact sounds more preferable than the european union" or "probably better than things are now(referring to an axis powers victory in world war II)". How there haven't been a thousand expose videos on this guy is beyond me.

By the way, if you want to find these comments, they are below the video "what it would be like if germany had won ww2?". His responses range from simply hearting the comment to "I think the same"

[gegecry]

Truly funny having the channel logos of Monsieur z, whatifalthist and alternate history hub in the thumbnail but having the map style of possible history in the background.

[zemiron]

Harry Turtledove's approach to alternative history is really to transplant a situation that happened in real history and apply it to an alternative history. For instance, Turtledove's Southern Victory series is more about how could a Confederate fascist and genocidal regime, like the Nazis, than about the South winning the Civil War. And in his "In the Presence of Mine Enemies, " he transplants the Fall of the Soviet Union into a world where the Nazis won World War II and became engaged in a cold war with the Japanese.

[enderkatze]

I'm glad to hear you consider cody a positive example of an alt-hist Youtuber, but the thumbnail made it look like you're accusing him of the same thing as others

[raiogelato]

How to prove you are right in any aspect: "trust me i read a lot of books"

[TheDragonborn]

As a writer in the AH wiki i could say that things did changed and for the better, now neonazi or confederate stuff isn't as popular as it was.

[QuadZillaGodZillasbrother]

Even though there are a lot of alternate history Youtubers out there that have political biases and that you can definitely tell they still make a great content that is interesting I love alternate histories they’re great works of fiction and they really make you think