Why People Are Mad At Kurzgesagt - In a Nutshell

The Hated One released a video saying that Kurzgesagt - In a Nutshell is cooking billionaire propaganda. Kurzgesagt has responded.

[ASHLAD.]

Wow! This video got way more attention than I thought! Truly interesting how split people are on this subject. I wasn't expecting that many people to actually believe that Kurzgesagt is propaganda. I also wanna ask a few commonly asked questions in the comments. No, this video is not made by an AI but yes the voiceover is Text To Speech as I can't record my own voice for multiple reasons. That is also the reason why the pronounciation of Kurzgesagt is wrong, as it was a robot saying it, not me. I didn't really think to hard about it, but it seems like the wrong pronounciation got a lot of people mad lol.

[Geb]

good video, but if I had a nickel for every time you mispronounced kurzgesagt, I would be Bill Gates

[Yolwoocle]

While some of the points in The Hated One's videos are fair, I think that they were blown out of proportion. Few channels try to be as transparent and open to criticism like Kurzgesagt, going as far as removing their most profitable videos and publicly admitting that they are misleading. They have said numerous times that they do their best to be independent from their sponsors and they are committed to delivering information that is as true as they can. It's not as if somebody at Kurzgesagt, holding onto the money they received from their sponsors, was rubbing their hands at the chaos they are causing. I believe in their good faith.
I think that the biggest thing to take away is that Kurzgesagt has opinions and views that align with their sponsors, and that they could be biased in their sources, and sure, that would be fair criticism. But it doesn't change the content of what they're trying to communicate ; it's still _their_ opinions, funded or not. Claiming that Kurzgesagt cooks propaganda for billionaires because of this is stretching a lot.

[Arraxy]

I find it funny that ALL of their sources are public, just, check them and decide if they are reliable yourself?

[Lucyorangejuicy]

I think they are very transparent and honest so I do not support the sentiment arguing that Kurzgesagt is curating misinfo. I follow the evidence, and while it is at least good to know how the channel is funded I think anyone actually doing their own research into it would come to the conclusion that Kurzgesagt is producing in good faith and not letting any donor control their content. They always admit that they do not know everything and present their data and how they interpret it. Most channels do not offer the same transparency especially regarding their source for their opinions...Kurzgesagt does this and goes above and beyond. Until proven otherwise I think it is fair to say they are merely a popular science education channel and any information is backed up or open to scrutiny and discussion.

Honestly this seems like misinfo against Kurzgesagt themselves in many ways...kinda sus that these negative sentiments mostly surface after Kurzgesagt sharing climate change content.

[zidebo]

I don’t watch much Kurzgesagt, but I really can’t tell if this is satire or not, because the whole “Bill Gates is controlling it” conspiracy is really common satire

[christophertodman]

People's personal opinions about billionaires and Bill and Melinda Gates, specifically, greatly influence their conclusions on the subject matter - this is called confirmation bias. We are all subject to it unless we employ rigorous fact base knowledge and processes to counter its effects. The problem is most people suffer from a too high opinion of themselves and their intelligence, ironically leaving them bereft of proper critical thinking skills and lowered cognitive abilities.

[GETSTICKBUGGEDLOL]

What prevents individuals from conducting their own research when they suspect something to be propaganda?

[Socrates]

As someone who watches Kurzgesagt, I beleive they are sincere in their views. It is possible that what the Bill Gates Foundation and what Kurzgesagt believe are highly aligned. At least Kurgesagt does not try to insult my intelligence. That is more than I can say for some channels.
Most of what I watch on Youtube could be defined as an essay. Essays are, by nature, one sided. Even when they are as balances as the presenter believes, there is a bias toward one beleife or another. This is fine. It is the nature of what esseys are.
Esseys are meant to convince one side of an argument, not make an argument for the other believes. Finding alternate arguments for or against any topic is the responsibility of the viewer.
There is also the issue that most subjects presented are, at best, high school level education. There are few (by comparison) channels that present any topics that are above high school level topics. There are fewer still, that do presentations above high school level teaching.


Take Kurzgesagt for what it is. A Youtube channel trying to present subject in an manor that is easily digestable by the most viewers possible.

[godingirlsclothing]

They made propaganda for black holes 😢

[cowfat]

people just call anything they don’t like propaganda

[johnvonkerman]

"It had 1.3 million views so it must have some reasoning behind it" 😂😂😂😂😂

[BPS]

I really don't think Kurzgesagt is propaganda in any way. I saw a video by llysis which basically debunks The Hated One's video. Apparently, in their video about Kurzgesagt being propaganda, one of their own sources goes against the claim that The hated One was using it for.

[Loredavv]

Kurzgesagt is just being sponsored by the people that have something to do with the stuff he says. Imagine talking about a space ship using a star as a motor and then randomly saying “ and a word from our sponsor ball razor 69!”
Also kurzgesagt has never mentioned how “GReAt ThE bILl GaTEs FOuNdaTion Is” he is just using the sponsor of a random guy who happens to be rich!

[PRTYPPR]

I just take the channel for what it is, information and reflexion. Kurzegezat content never seemed biased to me, but maybe I'm wrong because it's not the first time I see critic about their channel.

They're trying to do mainstream science education so I guess the info can't be as clear as informed subjects would expect it.

[WELSHGAMER]

Yet nobody seems to prove that Kurzgesagt is spreading misinfo or being biased. You can say that they are being funded sure but that in of itself is not worth being mad about. Its whatever if they are deliberately lying or omitting facts for said funders.

[tokeners]

I thought this was a comedy post or meme because it said "in a nutshell" but after looking into comments and also links that are sourced, I didn't expect for this to be a real situation that is happening right now tied with Kurzegesagt, so this is pretty surprising for me.

Because,
1. Kurzegesagt is an informational channel which they answer scenarios or questions about a certain subject, and they tackled with some science and other theories of what they may think of. So they are pretty well respected for their fine work and sometimes other channels even sourced and used Kurzegesagt as their information provided.

2. Kurzegesagt has not never been accused of this type of stuff before (As far I as know or aware), so usually Kurzegesagt is kind of like sitting in their own bubble which they would not be tied to anything before. You know like a chill standalone channel that just have, a passion for sharing their information of certain topics or subjects to spread the word for the benefit of the world.

Alright here's my opinion on Kurzegesagt weather or not they are propaganda:

I don't think Kurzegesagt is anything close to propaganda they seem very transparent and honest about themselves and their channel, they always cited sources and links for anyone to look into. And plus the channel is pretty much funded so they keep working, and doing their work as a team behind the channel to produce videos/content for their viewers. They also even admitted that their works are not always 100% accurate for the way they represent their info or for their own perspective on subjects. So I don't think there would be any misinformation spread, as they are trying to make little mistakes as much as possible, as they ARE an informal channel. Kurzegesagt is definitely in the green for me but remember this is all my perspective and opinion so everything I say may subject to change or be inaccurate. I am not 100% sure if Kurzegesagt deserved the call-out, but yeah that's all from me.

[jubeikibagamai]

The informations they spread are on subjects that are already well documented and you can fact check them yourself - of course nobody has patience to do that. Also, the Gates Foundations, - which is a charitable organization at it’s core - primary mission is to “expand educational opportunities and access to information”. But of course, conspiracy theories are always more interesting.

[lieschenmuller]

Quite silly. They had a cooperation with FUNK, that is asking for following the rules for national television and journalism etc. Sounds like yet another conspiracy theory to me. They left that cooperation a few weeks ago because they used it to get support within their startup-years, but seem to have grown enough yet. However, what they said in their videos was in line with what scientists said on those topics as well, and they were very accurate on those things. Obviosuly theyve made it. You did when people make videos about people who made videos about someones videos :D

[AJ-iifu]

“Because there were so many views, it must have had strong points.” That’s about as deep as thinking here goes.