Violence & Protest

Great video, insightful as always. However, as a German, I find myself more than a little annoyed by your (mis-)use of my language, especially considering how you obviously spent some time researching the "Ende Gelände" group and their activities, but not enough to even run a simple Google translation (or maybe just asking any German speaking friends or followers on Twitter or Patreon) on whatever source you found to figure out that "massive(n) kriminelle(n) Gewalttaten" cannot be quoted like that, as the "-en" suffix in "massiven" and "kriminellen" depends on the (missing) context/remainder of the sentence. Now, I'll be the first to admit that I am something of a stickler when it comes to English speakers using German words while mucking up the prononciation or even the translation itself, so I am most certainly more annoyed with this than your average German viewer would be. And I get how accents are a thing that exists, and that without a lot of practice you would not be able to produce perfect German prononciation, just as my English is an unholy mix between British and American with a noticeable German accent. However, since this isn't the first time bad German has been a problem in your work, not to mention a punchline (that is not *remotely* how "Schwarze Pumpe" is pronounced) where the entire joke seems to be "lol, German words funny, rofl" (a tired and honestly almost xenophobic joke/trope, especially when combined with the classic half-yelled delivery), I just had to get this off my chest at this point. I am generally a big fan of your work, and the thoroughness of your research is a big part of why that's the case. But this mishandling of a simple topic (again, even Google Translate managed to get it right when translating "massiven kriminellen Gewalttaten" to English and back to German), aside from irritating the more pedantic parts of my personality, has me worrying about where else your preparation might be more negligent than I as a layperson would notice. And all I can do is hope that German is your only weak spot.

(Insert the sound of someone saying "Ummm, actually....") Is it horrifically nitpicky of me to point out that you're dressed as Athena in the video, but the shield you're holding has the sigil of Sparta on it, which would have been Athena's enemy given she was the patron goddess of Athens? The video was amazing otherwise :)

Ali Bushell