Sargon of Akkad - Carl Benjamin - Who I Am and What I Do

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Dec. 8, 2014 - Sargon of Akkad - Carl Benjamin

14:12

Who I Am and What I Do

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	This guy, Sargon of Akkad.
	Sargon of Akkad.
	Sargon of Akkad and Sargon of Akkad.
	Now, if you're not familiar with Sargon...
	Sargon of Akkad instructs his cult following on what to do.
	He, in his misogyny, can't accept this idea.
	He imagined what Thunderfuck was like in his teens, what he would have been like.
	And you've kind of got a very good idea of what Sargon of Akkad is like.
	Sargon's not interested in reflecting on his views.
	In addition to being a coward.
	We did an entire series on puros of aperos that is, needless to say, riddled with inaccuracies, inability to understand historical context, and inability to understand the greater picture.
	We're talking internet misogynist with views bordering on the disturbing, quite frankly, views that are flat out disturbing.
	Sargon's rich harassment campaign.
	This is his life.
	Alright, this is his job.
	His livelihood depends on the hate and vitriol he pours out all over the internet.
	I got him basically telling me by the end of it that I should just apologize to him after sending out a tweet calling him a sexist, bigoted asshole.
	Sorry, Sargon.
	Sorry, buddy.
	It's not happening.
	Sargon, are you a Po?
	Did I stumble upon your carefully laid trolley poe trap?
	When Sargon set up his Patreon account, he was unemployed.
	How much money does he make?
	If you look on his Patreon account, he makes nearly $300 per video.
	But whatever, it's their money.
	You know, they can do what they want with it, even though I find it to be horrible and I find it to be just like it's like one of the worst things that you could spend your money on.
	Hello, and welcome to my channel.
	I go on the internet as Sargon of Akkad, and I chose this name because I'm a lover of history and the lessons it can teach us.
	I started my channel about a year ago because I was unable to silence my own conscience.
	Too much is being done in the name of legality instead of morality.
	There are too many bad arguments being passed off as truth without being supported by evidence or backed up by reasonable arguments.
	And it got to the point where I was genuinely starting to lose sleep sometimes because my silence was my consent.
	By simply doing or saying nothing, I was complicit in these activities.
	It got to the point that I felt that I had to have some kind of voice in the public dialogue, no matter how small and insignificant, just so I was able to rest easy at the end of the day, knowing I had done something.
	If I were to flatter myself, I would like to think that I'm following in the footsteps of the best classical orators, and I try to create rock-solid arguments backed up by reason, evidence, and logic.
	I am tired of partisan politics that make no attempts to compromise with the other side.
	I am absolutely sick of hearing one person's opinion and disregarding the others.
	To make my points, I use rhetorical arguments, most often apologia, polemics, or philippics.
	I can be exceedingly strident in my opinions, but I am always willing to change my mind if I am shown to be wrong.
	Because ultimately, I am most concerned with reaching the most objective truth it is possible to reach.
	Now, I'm sure you're probably thinking, but objective truths are a myth.
	We can never really be objective.
	And I agree, we can't.
	But I think that the journey is more important than the destination.
	And I think that trying to do these things, just the mere act of attempting it, is in itself the goal.
	I list my sources for all of my videos, so everyone who watches my videos has access to the same information and facts that I do.
	Because ultimately, I want people to come to their own conclusions.
	Because I suspect that when people are fully informed, the right conclusion is self-evident.
	I realise that this is sounding quite serious and rather humorless, but I don't take my channel quite this seriously all the time.
	In fact, one of my favourite types of video to do are the polemics.
	And as reasonable as I might sound now, I can be quite harsh in my denunciation of an opposing argument or the person giving it.
	I am not in favour of ideologies.
	Ideologies make people's thought processes rigid and inflexible, as they have to fit their entire worldview and all of the facts that they receive into this ideological cage.
	And too many times, I have seen ideologues simply dismiss facts outright because they do not fit their worldview.
	I think that when new facts come to light, you must change your position.
	And therefore, ideologies are simply inappropriate.
	I think issues should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, applying the available facts with reasonable arguments.
	Now, I understand that as a human being, I'm going to make mistakes as often as anyone else.
	But I'm always, always open to retracting or correcting an argument I have made if new information comes to light or I have simply made a mistake.
	I don't think there's any shame in doing this.
	In fact, I think it's shameful not to do this.
	As a gamer and a man concerned primarily with ethics, I'm naturally a supporter of Gamergate.
	And as a gamer, I like to include gaming content on my channel.
	And I mostly favour strategies, whether real-time or turn-based.
	Although I certainly don't turn my nose up at other genres of games.
	Basically, I want my channel to be a place where people can go to find interesting and intellectually stimulating content.
	I never disable the ratings or comments on my videos, because feedback is very, very important to me.
	If I say something you don't agree with, I would like to hear about it, because there's a good chance you know something I don't.
	And if I'm misinformed, then I'm not doing my job properly.
	And that is something that would deeply trouble me.
	My channel is my job, so I have the luxury of being able to spend the time and address any comments that inform me where I've made a mistake or I'm lacking information.
	And as such, I am never afraid to address my critics.
	Indeed, I welcome good, constructive, solid criticism.
	These are the standards I hold myself to, and they are the standards that I run my channel by.
	I do not accept any corporate funding for my channel, nor will I ever do so.
	I am not affiliated with any kind of channel network, nor shall I ever be.
	It is very, very important for me to be able to maintain my independence with my channel, because I understand that it may well be necessary to address topics that would otherwise be restricted if I had backers who had a political or financial agenda of their own, and I do not want to be party to it.
	Therefore, my channel, my livelihood, is funded in two ways.
	The first way is by monetizing my videos on YouTube.
	This means unfortunately you may be inconvenienced by a short advert before watching one of my videos.
	I apologise for this, but unfortunately, it's the business model that YouTube offers.
	So I would appreciate it if you didn't use advert blocking software when watching my videos.
	But that is, of course, completely up to your own discretion.
	Once I've enabled a video for monetization, I have no further control over the adverts.
	The second method is via a website called patreon.com.
	Patreon is a site that allows people who wish to directly support content creators like myself through a financial donation.
	And Patreon has two ways of doing this.
	You can either have a monthly stipend where anyone who appreciates the content that you make can make a one-time donation per month.
	Or you can have a system by which whenever content is created, patrons can specifically fund that particular item.
	I've chosen this latter system for several reasons.
	I don't think that the monthly stipend option gives my patrons enough flexibility or control over their patronage of me.
	If I were to do less videos per month than usual and I still had a monthly stipend, then I would feel that I was taking money off them that perhaps I didn't deserve.
	Also, by doing the patronage by individual video, it means that if I don't produce any videos, or if I produce videos my patrons don't enjoy as individuals, they can choose to decline payment on those videos.
	This to me seems like the most ethical way of dealing with this.
	Patreon is entirely voluntary and it's entirely donation based.
	There is no contractual obligation, so it's not a payment system.
	And in my opinion, it's a win-win for all involved.
	My patrons who enjoy my content and want to enable me to continue producing it reliably can donate to my channel and support me in what I do.
	And they have complete control over how much they donate and what they donate in support of.
	Patrons are charged at the beginning of each month for the preceding month's videos, for reasons that I don't get to see, and I frankly don't want to see.
	I really don't mind why someone chooses not to patronise a certain video.
	It's completely up to them and it's none of my business.
	I began my Patreon account on the 1st of April 2014 and to date have made $4,834, which is around £3,094.
	As you can see, because people are completely able to cap the amount of money that they donate to me each month, the number you see on the front screen doesn't actually translate into the amount that is donated in total.
	And I think this is a really, really fair system, because I personally don't want people to donate money to me that they don't want to give me or can't really afford.
	My personal preference for the Patreon system would be for any of my subscribers that enjoy my content and do actively want to support me to donate $1 per video.
	I will of course not complain if you choose to donate more than that, but I think that $1 per video would be a fair amount, and it would allow me to continue having a living wage and produce high-quality content on a regular basis.
	I understand that some people prefer not to donate on such a regular basis, so I also have a PayPal tip email address if anyone would like it.
	I'll leave it in the description of this video.
	I just want to stress that I'm happy to take requests, but I'm not prepared to be swayed by your donations.
	My thoughts and ideas are entirely my own, and I get the feeling that if you're the sort of person who's considering backing me, you wouldn't want to sway my opinions in line with yours.
	This hasn't been something I've had to deal with in the past, and I don't expect to deal with it in the future, but I did want it on record.
	I also have a PayPal tip email address if anyone wishes to donate as a one-time occurrence, as I understand that some people simply don't want to do a regular donation scheme.
	I'll leave the email address in the description of this video.
	Even though my patrons have complete flexibility over which videos they would like to donate to, I have some personal standards on the kinds of videos that I put on Patreon.
	It's going to sound like a strange standard, but I don't put anything on Patreon I don't feel that I did any work for.
	Often this will include live streams, short, fun videos that I've done for a laugh, or any of my gaming videos.
	And the reason for this is because I don't feel like I've done any real work when I'm doing them.
	The only videos I put on Patreon are the videos that genuinely took me time and effort to do.
	But again, that's just my own standard.
	Any of my patrons have got complete control over the videos they choose or do not choose to fund, and that's how I like it.
	As far as I'm concerned, that's a win-win for everyone involved.
	And it allows me to fund my channel exclusively from my subscribers.
	It means I do not have to take any kind of outside money or influence to continue doing what I do.
	And I can't thank everyone enough for supporting me.
	I really can't.
	You have made it so that not only do I get to have the job of my dreams, I get to do it in the most ethical way I can imagine.
	And honestly, I sleep so much more soundly, thanks to you.
	So thank you very much for being a subscriber of mine or for watching this video and for all of your generous donations.
	I really can't thank you enough.
	And if you ever feel that my standards are slipping, let me know.
	I want to be the first to know.
	If you have anything that you need to tell me about my work, please contact me.
	Please don't try contacting me through YouTube's messaging system because it's abysmal.
	Please contact me at either my Twitter handle, which is at sargon underscore of underscore a CAD, or by my email address, which is instantly the same as my PayPal email address, which is into the ether at hotmail.co.uk.
	I try to respond to all messages and mails, so I look forward to hearing from you and thank you so much again for supporting me.
	Without you guys, none of this would be possible.

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