Take your "emotional support hamster" AND FLUSH IT DOWN THE TOILET!!!!

09 February 2018 [YT link]

Why I wear "VEGAN" on my sleeve: literally.

09 February 2018 [YT link]

Yep, I've patches sewn on the arms of my coat just lately.

Political Philosophy vs. Reality: Examples Never Represent Ideals.

07 February 2018 [YT link]

Proceed from particular examples to particular examples, don't get into the game of treating ideals as the criteria that we use to judge/filter the empirical evidence we're willing to consider (as "real"). Here's the link to my Patreon page, if you'd like to ask another question, and steer the conversation in another direction:

https://www.patreon.com/a_bas_le_ciel

Seducing INTELLIGENT Women (advice / how to).

07 February 2018 [YT link]

Real talk, posed in direct contrast to "Based Zeus", etc.

Communism and the Charitable Instinct: An Ex-Communist Perspective.

31 January 2018 [YT link]

Stupidity is Real: Matt Dillahunty & Unnatural Vegan.

30 January 2018 [YT link]

The video is only 5 minutes long, and it requires no prior knowledge of the Vegan Gains vs. Matt Dillahunty debate (on veganism).

Veganism & the political goals of this youtube channel.

28 January 2018 [YT link]

https://www.patreon.com/a_bas_le_ciel/

The video ends somewhat abruptly, as the waiter comes up the stairs to tell us that the café is going to close in 5 minutes: I suppose the pacing would be better if I'd let him say that, and then closed out the monologue thereafter, but, as it stands now, this is the conclusion "foreshadowed" in the first few minutes. ;-)

Culture and Counterculture: Ecology and "The End of the World".

28 January 2018 [YT link]

https://www.patreon.com/a_bas_le_ciel

Vegan / Vegans / Veganism / Ecology / Ecological Politics / Activism

The Future is Vegan and/or You. (Live streaming on Younow)

27 January 2018 [YT link]

https://www.younow.com/EiselMazard

^ That's the link, click to join the conversation.

Should we become lawyers? (Law school: an option.)

08 January 2018 [YT link]

Career and education options, with a cameo appearance from my mom (Gail Dexter Lord).

An Education in Politics: WHAT DO I READ?

29 December 2017 [YT link]

Some useful advice and reflections for students, educators and autodidacts.



Rightly or wrongly, this is included in the "advice nobody wants to hear" playlist — but, in fact, several people (spontaneously and separately) asked me to make this video in the weeks leading up to the recording.

https://www.youtube.com/user/HeiJinZhengZhi/playlists

Chiang Mai Reminiscences (Vegan Tourism & Autobiographical Reflections)

28 December 2017 [YT link]

Vegan / vegans / veganism

2018: Every Vegan Restaurant in Chiang Mai Reviewed.

28 December 2017 [YT link]

Yep, links to every restaurant reviewed can be found here. First, however, here's the link to the music played in the intro (acoustic): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Nym_fSyaOM

(1) Amrita: https://www.happycow.net/reviews/amrita-garden-chiang-mai-49074

(2) Vegan Heaven 2: https://www.happycow.net/reviews/vegan-heaven-2-chiang-mai-92072

(3) Imm'Aim: https://www.happycow.net/reviews/immaim-vegetarian-cafe-chiang-mai-31687/

(4) Free Bird Café (thumbs down!): https://www.happycow.net/reviews/free-bird-cafe-chiang-mai-17922

(5) Reform Kafe, a.k.a., Green Tiger: https://www.happycow.net/reviews/reform-kafe-chiang-mai-84403/

(6) Salad Concept: http://www.thesaladconcept.com/menu.php

That time we live-streamed from Bangkok airport.

26 December 2017 [YT link]

https://www.younow.com/EiselMazard

Live-streaming on #Younow from #Bangkok airport! We're using #couples instead of #vegan… why are there no couples, only #girls & #guys? https://www.younow.com/EiselMazard

Yes, I am calling you a Neo-Nazi: Fully Raw Kristina & John Rose.

24 December 2017 [YT link]

The video is not monetized, so "BE SURE TO LIKE, SHARE AND SUBSCRIBE!!!" We're talking about Vegans who engage in (1) pro-Hitler statements, (2) holocaust denial, and (3) anti-semitic conspiracy theories (blaming the Jews for an even more dizzying array of things than Henry Ford did —and nevertheless including/recycling the old propaganda from Henry Ford). I think it's reasonable to, thus, use the term "Neo-Nazi" in criticizing them.



For more on the grandfather of Fully Raw Kristina (and his political views/connections), mentioned here in passing, see: https://elpais.com/diario/1988/02/08/internacional/571273209_850215.html

The Meaning of "Conservative" (vs. Veganism: a Message without a Movement)

23 December 2017 [YT link]

From Edmund Burke on down.

As mentioned toward the end of the video, here's the link to the "BRASS TACKS" playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZEkgohG7k7okWjcSH0HnY6BUbMkELHEG

Durianrider: Last of the True Believers.

21 December 2017 [YT link]

Liam Anthony is a piece of shit. And, yeah, he just did a collab with ModVegan, and you can see that on his channel, here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUE62Sk1VvLWtW60jMOakFA/videos

Rappers Reply: Kitty Pryde asked me to make this video.

20 December 2017 [YT link]

Rap / Hip-hop / Lil B / Simon Rex / Dirt Nasty / Kitty Pryde / Kitty Kitty / moira main / kittaveli / Orion's Belt / God's Father Mixtape

Historical Amnesia and/or Racism: Asian Perceptions of Blacks, First Nations, etc.

20 December 2017 [YT link]

I think it's genuinely impossible to express the topic of this video in the title alone, but hey, I tried. This discussion is featuring a Japanese channel called, "Find Your Love in Japan" = https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcIsxujzLRO5qY5f9buahCQ/videos

Vegans: false copyright claims and even "hate speech" complaints.

20 December 2017 [YT link]

It still happens. There are two sources to be cited here, the first being "The Flemface": https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5VKmVnpAneMg9KE-9rHcwg/videos

The second being Rebecca's World: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZw4oLe4guvTsb2buApVv2g/videos

TkyoSam: Un-Vegan Weight Loss Advice.

19 December 2017 [YT link]

INJUSTICE: Durianrider's Day in Court (No, He Wasn't There).

17 December 2017 [YT link]

Another day in court in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

No PhD? No Friends? [Q&A] Earnest answers to insincere questions.

16 December 2017 [YT link]

A Q&A of sorts (with some meta-Q&A commentary). "Why doesn't Eisel already have a PhD?" & "Why didn't you keep more of your friends (from high-school, or other, earlier chapters of your life) as you moved from one chapter to the next?"

Vegan Fundraising Scams: Who's Accusing Whom?

16 December 2017 [YT link]

About Vegan Gains (Anti-Racism, Cory & Tara McCarthy, etc.)

15 December 2017 [YT link]

Co-starring "VeganCalledQuest" on Younow: https://twitter.com/vegancalledQ

Apologies for the terrible sound quality (in fact, within the first few minutes of the video, I directly apologize for and explain the poor sound quality).

This video is a spontaneous, informal conversation: if you want to follow it up with a scripted, well-researched discussion of scientific racism ("Race and IQ", "The Bell Curve", J. Philippe Rushton, etc.) take a look at "Reading the Right — Volume One". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgZFGgJlAsk

An Asymmetry: "Pro-Capitalism" vs. "Pro-Communism".

15 December 2017 [YT link]

A follow-up video on many (many!) in which I've more directly dealt with mass-murder and (man-made) mass-starvation under Communist regimes (thus, you may notice, those themes and issues are not discussed here). I also mention an earlier video with Capitalism in the title that replies to a very memorable email I received from a Mapuche man from Argentina, and you can find that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZpcyJmKGoc

"I was wrong", says ex-Durianrider supporter, Ultrafitrunner.

15 December 2017 [YT link]

An edited excerpt from Ultrafitrunner (who describes himself as "not vegan", and yet a supporter of the raw food diet… I shudder to think what that entails…). His channel is here: https://www.youtube.com/user/ultra100able/videos



I do find it implicitly hilarious that so many of my critics claim (as he does at the very end of this excerpt, as I've edited it) that somehow political and legal causes are trivial things compared to "focusing on one's own health" —and although I DON'T put much of a priority on my own health, I'm nevertheless in a state of much better health/strength than they are. A lot of this sounds like an echo of the old John Lennon attitude of trying to win arguments by saying, "just focus on yourself man". Well, I'm not a John-Lennon-ist: my own health and happiness are a relatively low priority… and I think that is true for most people who are passionate about politics in general (perhaps ecological causes in particular).

Theatricality vs. Dishonesty (Ask Yourself, Durianrider, Vegan Gains, Cory & Tara McCarthy)

14 December 2017 [YT link]

This is not a new video but, to my astonishment, this is still a new issue: the commentary on Durianrider is still very salient today, and, even more strangely, on the connection between Ask Yourself (and Vegan Gains) and the overt racism of Tara & Cory McCarthy.

Still Not Boxing? Durianrider: Defamation & the Damage Done.

14 December 2017 [YT link]

This does contain a screen-shot of Durianrider's reply, and (in the final few minutes) a minor update on the court-case (we are in Chiang Mai in order to attend the next hearing). However, the major theme here is, indeed, "Defamation and the damage done".

SHILL: you realize the intellectual caliber of the critics I'm facing. :-/

13 December 2017 [YT link]

The video being criticized here is an old one: "The Death of a Dream: Veganism After the End of HCLF / RT4 / Durianrider / Freelee /etc."

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

This might be an appropriate time to mention my thematically-related video (i.e., salient to this criticism), ""Chase Your Dreams" = BAD ADVICE NOBODY WANTS TO HEAR."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwBUTFdNe14

My critic (who believes that you can cure Crohn's disease and schizophrenia through "fruit and fasting") can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgXcU3g82RNg56ijEZE-Ekg/videos



Incidentally, I notice that he did (many months ago) make a short (two minute) video simply stating that Durianrider was in the wrong, and that I was in the right: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z5WFoa7dJs

Boxing Match for Charity: Durianrider vs. À-Bas-Le-Ciel?

12 December 2017 [YT link]

Want to know more about the (vegan) storybook I'm proposing we'd raise donations for in the fundraiser? Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZEkgohG7k7pperokk75ic6XpyLqy7MUw

Durianrider and I are both in Chiang Mai this Christmas: will there (finally) be a boxing match for charity in one of the town's arenas? He's made threats of street-violence before (see the link, below, if you don't know how serious that situation once was), and I've responded by offering to meet him in the ring… repeatedly.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZEkgohG7k7rnlpe1mrR7bnaQwSaBYfij

Quoting myself from the fourth video in the playlist:

@22:45 "What more can I do for an audience of vegans who say they're trying to save the world, but who have gradually become accustomed to this culture of constant defamation and conspiratorial thinking?"

​​@22:39 "We need to replace a culture of conspiracy-theory thinking with a culture of sincere engagement."

Interview, hiring and protocol: teaching in Chinese universities.

11 December 2017 [YT link]

Part of the playlist: "[ESL中国] Advice on Teaching English in China".

The Vegan Demimonde: Mexie, Ask Yourself & Anti-Communism.

11 December 2017 [YT link]

A conversation about the digital vegan demimonde and, in large part, about Communism and Anti-Communism.



BTW, criticism of Mexie does, in fact, get its own playlist on this channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/HeiJinZhengZhi/playlists

Predictions (vs. Preston Jacobs) [ASOIAF / Game of Thrones]

10 December 2017 [YT link]

Opening with a discussion of "The Children of the Forest" and their (evident) religious significance given GRRM's prior writing, e.g., in "A Song for Lya". In general, I state my opposition to Preston Jacobs's interpretation of GRRM as "pro-Communist" and "pro-loss-of-individuality" —precisely the same stories (from ASOIAF itself to "A Song for Lya") can and should be interpreted that opposite way (GRRM doesn't put forward "the moral of the story" as a simple statement in the protagonist's mouth).



This channel does, indeed, have an ASOIAF playlist (11 videos so far): https://www.youtube.com/user/HeiJinZhengZhi/playlists



A.S.O.I.A.F. = "A Song of Ice and Fire", i.e., the books of George R.R. Martin (G.R.R.M.), also known under the title "Game of Thrones", used by the T.V. adaptation to refer to the series as a whole.

Why are ESL teachers so despised? (& Tkyosam)

10 December 2017 [YT link]

Philosophizing about teaching English in Asia (and, yes, this is a response to a Tkyosam video).

[芒市的金塔] Descent from the Golden Temple.

10 December 2017 [YT link]

Cannibals when Convenient: Edwin's Generation & Unnatural Vegan.

09 December 2017 [YT link]

Partly in riposte to Unnatural Vegan's video: "When vegans eat meat (freeganism, Edwins Generation)". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFShfj8Phf4

Partly in response to: Edwin's Generation "I'm Vegan, But I Could Eat Meat". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKjBlW4yaxg

The Campus (德宏师范高等专科学校: Mangshi, Dehong, Yunnan)

07 December 2017 [YT link]

Tkyosam format: walking (and talking) around the campus of Dehong's main university (in 2018 it will be rebranded (or upgraded) from a teachers' college (师范) to a university (大学), sensu stricto).

No compromise with Communists: what "Marxist-Leninist" really means.

06 December 2017 [YT link]

Mexie may or may not know the meaning of "Communist, Marxist-Leninist", BUT I DO, and in this video, I'm going to explain it to you: it is just as serious as someone identifying themselves as a hardline Nazi (not a Neo-Nazi, but a Nazi, _sensu stricto)._

Mexie is a Communist (Marxist-Leninist).

05 December 2017 [YT link]

Here's a screen-shot of Mexie describing her position within the Communism spectrum (note that "ML" = Marxist-Leninist):*

https://twitter.com/EiselMazard/status/938062398014988293

The context for that comment (i.e., the youtube video it appears below) is here: the source of Mexie's comment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVUa5Svrt5M

The channel providing that video (and that context) is also host to (e.g.) the following video, showing what exactly he supports (i.e., men with balaclavas and assault riles, carrying out terrorist attacks around the world, etc): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09qTJBiwjy8

AND FINALLY, the link to the essay that played such a romantic role in our personal lives (but that might give you nightmares) describing political events around the fateful year 1920, in easternmost Russia: https://medium.com/@eiselmazard/1920-the-other-russo-japanese-war-70deb2972c42



* Within the Canadian political context (and many other contexts, although not consistently so) the suffix "Marxist-Leninist" normally indicates Maoism, i.e., parties that have an "anti-revisionist" (pro-China, pro-Mao-Zedong) alignment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Canada_(Marxist%E2%80%93Leninist)#Maoism

Nihilism: Living as if Santa Claus Isn't Watching.

03 December 2017 [YT link]

A very spontaneous (but also personal and profound) discussion on issues surrounding religion, disillusionment, death, the relationship between virtue and belief —and, in general, how life changes when you no longer believe that Santa Claus is watching.

Veganism: Despised Minority, or "New Technology"?

03 December 2017 [YT link]

There are many false assumptions built into the view that veganism is "a new technology" in the process of being adopted (by the masses) on a predictable "curve" (increasing exponentially from "early adopters" to the great majority). To a very limited extent, veganism may be compared to a a new technology, but it can also be compared to fringe religious groups —and to failed fringe religious groups, especially. Should we be planning for "a vegan future", meaning an vegan majority, or should we, instead, be planning for a long-term future as a despised minority, seeking to lobby for social change, even if we only represent 1% of the population? :-/



A topic proposed in reply to ModVegan's video, here: "Veganism & the Innovation Adoption Curve"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80YXIbbRpMs

Based Zeus is WRONG: "Achieve ANYTHING You Want"

02 December 2017 [YT link]

A response to "Achieve ANYTHING You Want | The Best Motivational Video & Speech Ever". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VOW-fAuzzE

"If not you, then who?"

28 November 2017 [YT link]

Atheism ☛ Nihilism ≈ Vegetarianism ☛ Veganism.

27 November 2017 [YT link]

"Atheism is to Nihilism as Vegetarianism is to Veganism". Answers to some recent questions (on "Historical Nihilism", but related to veganism) sent in to the channel.

Vegan Gains vs. Plant Eats vs. Canadian Culture.

26 November 2017 [YT link]

The critique of Canadian culture (and how this presents a problem for organizing the vegan movement (or ANY KIND of movement) in Canada) begins around 7:00 …many of you might prefer to start the tape at around that point. :-/

Vegan Gains vs. Plant Eats vs. Canadian Culture.

26 November 2017 [YT link]

The critique of Canadian culture (and how this presents a problem for organizing the vegan movement (or ANY KIND of movement) in Canada) begins around 7:00 …many of you might prefer to start the tape at around that point. :-/

Stop Treating Native Americans Like Infants (vs. Mexie & Privileged Vegan)

26 November 2017 [YT link]

With or without good intentions, a lot of left-wing white people seem to talk about indigenous people as if they're not quite human: this seems especially surreal when the linked issues of ecology, health and veganism come up (in the North American political context).



("Mexie" & "Privileged Vegan" are the names of two (other) vegan channels here on Youtube… not really the names of the people… but, hey, I'm often referred to as "à-bas-le-ciel" by the same token.)

Mangshi, Dehong, Yunnan, China (中国云南德宏芒市), downtown, 2017.

26 November 2017 [YT link]

A glimpse around downtown Mangshi during my last few weeks here (I was the foreign English teacher at their small university for one academic year).

Durianrider: The Court Case. Final Update & Reflections.

24 November 2017 [YT link]