James Aspey's Permanent Vacation: Donate Now?

hey everyone so a few of you have been
asking me what do you do for work where do you study blah blah blah Julie and I said I'll make this video in July and it's the end of July so it still counts it actually marks my seven year anniversary of not working so I'm actually really proud of this what I want to ask for our donations essentially I somehow gotta get money now just a quick question I'm probably going to Sweden with my girlfriend in September and I may also want to go to Norway if there's anybody out there without for us a place to stay probably in Oslo would be easiest but maybe somewhere else for around five days that's all I have to say just looking for a place to sleep and it can be on the floor or anywhere I don't need a lot of space both of us don't because we don't sleep on a bed anyway just something what's up everybody it is time for me to create a patreon page for those of you who do not know patreon is a way for supporters of my work to support me by giving a monthly donation this will give me some security in my life because for the last five years or I might I mean my fifth year now of doing full time volunteer animal rights activism I haven't ever asked for any money I've never charged a single dollar for any of the hundred speeches few hundred speeches that I've done and I wanted to do that so that no one could ever question my integrity or question why I'm doing this no one could ever question more integrity or caution why it would be like so easy for me to just sell out and like post an act like a [ __ ] t-talk sad on instagram and just be holding a [ __ ] skinny tea and make 10k like I could have done that so many times like I've gotten so many offers from companies to do that and I've never sold out because if I lost my authenticity and I would just lose everything I would lose everything that I've been building and it's not worth it but I was in this place a few months ago if like [ __ ] like I literally think what am i I'm a very lucky guy in life I'm very lucky very very lucky lucky lucky for real and the thing is that I had a girlfriend who I split up it now whose parents are millionaires and they gave me 500 euros at least every month usually more I recommend anybody who's in any grade now to drop out of school for real and that's no joke at all at some point if I get to the point where there's no other alternative for me then to work then I'll probably just take a few of my things and just get away somewhere maybe on some Island I'm not sure but I would probably rather die trying to hunt my food somewhere then I would rather live like that honestly then be enslaved I pretty much can't afford this diet anymore because I don't get the money anymore because I met somebody else and I chose her over everything else and I also want to be out of fire the best of I can and get involved in everything that need that I believe will help the cause and sometimes that takes money and often I am given opportunities to get involved in that I have to say no to because I simply do not have the funds so I don't want that to be an issue I want to try to start being more organized and getting more done and employing people if need be and getting the equipment that I need to get and whatever it takes to move this vegan movement as far forward as possible I want to be able to do that and if more money will help me do that then that is what I'm going to have to do I'm at this point where all I want to do is give and help and like just give back to people but like also I need money to do that and because I haven't been creating that much at all my income dropped significantly when I was in Hawaii but I literally had to sell my camera last month to pay rent my camera and that leg art is an extension of Who I am like art is art is what gives me life it's what makes me feel alive and I had to like I don't have my camera anymore like my beautiful camera that I used to film all those videos I literally don't have it because I was like broke like and I feel like it's so easy for social media yeah when I was in Hawaii it's so easy for social media to give the impression that like I have this together and that I like have my [ __ ] figured out and really like no one does I want to be able to do this job until the job is done until we bring total animal liberation to do that I'm going to need some sort of security some sort of income so that I don't have to quit doing this and get stuck in some sort of nine-to-five job where I am NOT helping this cause at all some sort of income some sort of security some sort of income so that I don't have to quit doing this and get stuck in some sort of nine-to-five job I somehow gotta get money now most of you know that I don't just make these videos to point the finger and laugh at people I don't just make these videos as a joke even if there may be some joking involved along the way I'm making these videos to ask important questions to raise questions for the audience that have come up for me in my life and in my attempts at political activism again and again now in this video I'm really asking you this lifestyle the donation driven permanent vacation how does it end how can it ever end well for these people and this is a lifestyle I've been invited to join many many times since this channel first began I remember having a conversation with Kenya and Jason that's Hannah mania and her boyfriend who at that time was also a successful vegan youtuber and one of the first things they said to me was why don't you just quit your job and drop out of university and become a full-time activist and the type of activism they were talking about type they had their own channels really had a lot to do with personal beauty lifestyle travel wearing a bathing suit swimming in the ocean a lot of things that you've just seen in this montage that don't resemble I don't know conventional activism don't resemble the life of dr. Martin Luther King jr. don't resemble the life of Ho Chi Minh don't resemble the life of conventional symbols of either revolutionaries leaders protesters or what have you now where are those two people today where is Jason Posey no where is Hannah mania not too long ago Hania made a video bluntly stating that the money she earned from YouTube has dried up and - whittled down to nothing to the point where she doesn't get a monthly check anymore so the idea of dropping out of university dropping out of your career path and doing this full-time even if it may provide several years of really memorable reckless leisure where is it going to lead you just five years from now for most people in most lines of work even people who are extraordinarily talented or extraordinarily beautiful or both extraordinarily talented and extremely people for most people fame is fleeting and it's really obvious to everyone involved that this type of pseudo political celebrity eBay gang on the Internet it largely is based on appearance Beauty charisma I don't think anyone really believes that James ASPI is a well-spoken articulate or intelligent voice for veganism I've now watched enough his videos trying to do my due diligence in making this commentary and it really just seems to me like he has nothing to say that he has no more message to deliver on behalf of vegan activism and he has really nothing original to say to meat eaters except of course eating meat is bad becoming vegan is good it's a message so simple that a child can understand it and a child can deliver it and unlike a medical doctor asking you for donations so he can fly to a third world country and provide medical care to poverty-stricken people maybe a country where they've just had an earthquake or a tornado he doesn't have any set of skills to offer the movement he doesn't have anything to offer the people he's allegedly helping and he doesn't have any way to show to his donors that he's actually delivering or doing something useful now just this month I received several emails and several messages I think two of them were here on YouTube public messages telling me urging me that I should quit my job drop out of college drop out of university stop what I'm doing that I should just become the next Gary Yourofsky who was Gary Yourofsky and how was his career made possible financially gary yourofsky's career was created by generous donations from a very successful guitarist in a rock band called Brian May and if you google this if you just google those two names together you're gonna find a constellation of evidence confirming that Gary Yourofsky himself always said that you know his whole program of touring around the world giving these lectures and so on was made possible by donations from generous donors and then you have the recognition in various places that Brian May is one of these most generous donors and so on so an obscure part-time school teacher from Detroit that's who Gary Yourofsky was he was a part-time schoolteacher in Detroit who worked very hard at his part-time job and lived in poverty and was totally devoted to vegan activism was raised up out of that poverty and that obscurity by donations from a millionaire a multi-millionaire Brian May and briefly had all of his wildest dreams handed to him on a platter and not too long thereafter burnt out and quote-unquote retired never to contribute to the vegan movement again it's a very strange story and I think a lot of these other stories at best you're gonna have many donors gathering their money together to provide a similar sort of rollercoaster ride for one would-be activist or another one would be celebrity another one would be beauty icon or another and it is really peculiar in all these cases that again their careers have nothing to do with building a foundation or delivering a particular service or a skill set or what-have-you it really seems to have everything to do with their beauty their appearance the lifestyle even you know even really the film of them swimming at the beach and so on sort of very strange you know glamor activism and the packaging of the activists as a celebrity in his or her own right but unlike other celebrities this is a celebrity you're you're supposed to make donations to so you know I have to ask on many different levels why would it be a good idea or why would it be a bad idea for me to take this advice the you know a few people sent in in the last month that I should drop out of school quit my job quit my career aspirations and from my perspective I would say go on permanent vacation and from their perspective become a full-time quote/unquote professional activist but what we're looking at here there's there's nothing professional about it is there [Music] evolution