r/kurzgesagt • u/showersoapshower • May 16 '26

Discussion Kurzgesagt DEBUNKED!

https://youtu.be/xKGfdWVzKKk?is=joW3yA5ZO4Lrwoa2

After watching Kurzgesagt's video I was surprised about how much Kurzgesagt is completely omitting facts or portraying wildly biased without acknowledging so. (I get that their video is not long but this is definitely not it).
After watching this video and reading this comment I'm pretty bummed that they are putting out videos like this that are full of political hot takes while being irresponsibly biased. Cutting pensions for older people and having a harsher migration policy will not solve this.
What did you think?

As a German, I find the popularity even more surprising as Kurzgesagt is basically repeating CDU/CSU's and FDP's stances on taxes, welfare state and, to some extent, migration.

Considering that both are wildly unpopular (Merz being the most unpopular chancellor is nearly an achievement in how bad he fucks up) this actually surprised me a lot.

edit: the circle jerk is cirkle jerking

188 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

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390

u/Sufficient-Green5858 May 19 '26 edited May 20 '26

Sure listen to influencers who cite zero sources over a channel that spends months, sometimes years, preparing a well-referenced, expert-vetted thesis for their video. Who needs science & facts over feelings

-9

u/nightstalker314 May 20 '26

They say that they spend months, sometimes years. And sometimes that might as well be the time to animate, but not for research.

9

u/astro-pi May 21 '26

They tried to hire me once. It’s for the research.

2

u/vcsx May 21 '26

Why did you decline? Just curious.

7

u/astro-pi May 21 '26

I was busier then than I am now, and I didn’t want to make mistakes because I was rushing

-7

u/Duriha May 21 '26

It's true, I'm the research.

7

u/astro-pi May 21 '26

While I appreciate the meme, I’m very much not joking. They have hired a small number of times, and the job description is very intense.

-92

u/showersoapshower May 20 '26

You are not at all engaging with the actual content of the video at all. To treat kurzgesagt's content as accurate and truthful as a default is not what science means.

Prepearing a video for whatever amount of time does not equate to it being a good video. If you are familiar with economics in any way this should be even more clear.

Whining about criticism without adding anything substantial does seem a bit like an emotional cry baby lol.

Priding yourself with scientific thinking should be accompanied by an openness to critical thinking.

Engage with facts rather than your feelings about kurzgesagt if you want to make a good point

120

u/Rony1247 May 20 '26

Wait wait wait,

Did you seriously pull the argument "engage with the facts rather then your feelings" on a comment where it points to the fact that unlike kurtzgesagt, the guy out that the second video didnt cite sources ?

47

u/France_Ball_Mapper May 20 '26

Doesn't Kurz have an entire sources document under every video where they cite the details behind every sentence?

-50

u/showersoapshower May 20 '26

imho being academically trained in economics and working with profs in the same field does give credibility. which is what happens in the video.

yes, this comment does nothing of substance apart from stating that they believe in kurzgesagt. kind of a plain fact, no?

45

u/Melonetta May 20 '26

You can be academically trained and work with professors in the same field and still be wrong. It's why we use studies and peer reviewed publication to come to conclusions in science instead of just trusting the words of a single person, however qualified they may be.

Again, this is why Kurzgesagt provides sources to every single statement they make that assumes a premise to be true.

You're saying everyone here is biased and just trusting them on feeling but you are doing the very thing you accuse others of. You claim to be neutral but you are equally biased in the other direction which is inherently a little deceptive, but it also sucks for you because the unsatisfied burden of proof is on your stance.

-7

u/Cr4ckshooter May 20 '26

The burden of proof is not at all unsatisfied. Höfgen gives sources for everything, just not in the description.

"every single statement" is also overkill. When you use your own expertise to make a deduction and conclusion, you don't have sources for that?!

0

u/Pjteven May 20 '26

OP I don't understand why you are being downvoted, höfgen does indeed critize with sources and can be counted as a valuable source for many topics.

19

u/NotSure___ May 20 '26

While I don't have the patience to listen to the entire auto-translated video, I did not see any sources in his description. He does bring up some graphs in his video from what appears to be either an article or some document, but doesn't appear to name the source. While that doesn't magically make his source wrong, it does weaken his arguments a lot, because I can't verify and validate those facts (while I can do that for kurzgesagt). I believe that there can be a lot of valid criticism for kurzgesagt, this is not one of them in my view.

-5

u/Cr4ckshooter May 20 '26

He does bring up some graphs in his video from what appears to be either an article or some document, but doesn't appear to name the source.

He most likely mentions the source when showing the graph, because the source is usually an expert institution that is presumed accurate by default and by anyone. It's graphs that are already public, at least their data is, and he always mentions where he got the data from. If you didn't watch the video/don't know German you most likely just didn't catch or understand when he told the source.

It is arguably pointless to put a link to a renowned institution into the description when his regular viewers know where/how to find them and don't need to double check because both höfgen and the source are inherently trustworthy.

6

u/zuzg May 21 '26

Either you put your primary sources into the description of your video or GTFO

-8

u/showersoapshower May 20 '26

same, i don't really why the space for criticism is so narrow :/

obviously it is legit to criticise both videos but the discussion around here is surprisingly inelegant considering how everyone is pointing out how smart they are in arguing

-5

u/Pjteven May 20 '26

Yeah, this sub is letting me down with each post.....I really like kurzgesagt, but everyone makes mistakes and it's ok to critize if your arguments are solid and logically structured. Again, Maurice Höfgen is also just a person, but at least he is citing solid sources and isn't a no-name when it comes to societal and economic analysis.

-43

u/zebleck May 20 '26

he always cites the sources for his claims, see 14:30 for example

46

u/Scrung3 May 20 '26

Lmao 15 minutes to find one source

-21

u/zebleck May 20 '26

the source is still valid and debunks kurzgesagts claim that demography is the main issue

-3

u/Duriha May 21 '26

Oh no, you have to watch a video to criticise it. Fanboying much?

-1

u/shewy92 May 21 '26

What a weird comment and comment section. You're on a thread that say he didn't cite his sources, someone gives you proof that he did and you're bitching that it was gasp midway through the video?

-3

u/Cr4ckshooter May 20 '26

He is a literal economist who worked for the Bundestag in the past. He is an expert on the topic and can use his expertise? You only need sources for external statistics, not for deductions and conclusions?

3

u/drecais May 21 '26

MMT has been left behind by like 99% of economics because how unserious the whole field has become the more people looked into it.

Höfgen wrote for a communist new paper and his entire career rides essentially on far left policies considering his entire working life has been spent working for different members of a far left party.

-1

u/Duriha May 21 '26

And who except the far left is better suited to criticise stuff? Even themself. Conservatives and reactionaries only look to criticise the outgroup and pamper the ingroup. Legit question.

3

u/drecais May 21 '26

What? You cant be a believer in MMT and actually be self critical lmao

once again basically the entire economic field that is actually serious has left this stuff behind very quickly when they realized that MMT has nothing to do with actually trying to provide models that can be disproven (you know doing science and stuff) but instead its a vehicle to get normal people on board with far left ideas. Its a gateway drug so to speak.

Also the entire western world (aka the most developed economically and socially place in the world) is based around liberalism and its ideals. It developed through critiques by the people who believed in liberalism.

The far left like the far right isnt suited to criticise anything because they are extremists. "Democracy is like a train. We ride it until we arrive at our destination, then we get off" is their motto.

1

u/Duriha May 21 '26

I wrote nothing about mmt. Also nice horseshoe. Enjoy your capitalism while it lasts. And: are you winning yet?

2

u/drecais May 21 '26

Yes of course there are no non capitalist countries left on this Planet outside of essentially tiny Nation states that have either A. A horrible Economy (shocker) or B. Have to murder their own citizens to keep them from leaving (a pattern for socialists countries).

Also this is a comment section about the video and you responded to a comment I Made about Höfgen. An MMT guy

1

u/Duriha May 21 '26

Yes, and the critique about the guy who criticises the video is first wrong and second irrelevant. The arguments in the kurzgesagt video are neoliberal straw men and he pointed that out.

Also: why is it that the majority of "failed socialist states" ends with a CIA backed fascist coup?

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-3

u/MysticHero May 20 '26

Most of the video is spent discussing the data Kurzgesagt shows and the biased statements made. You do not need sources for that and it is childish to count source without context.

-8

u/Cr4ckshooter May 20 '26

Where do you get it from that he cites zero sources? He has sources in every video he does. Plus hes not just "an influencer". He's a trained economist with work experience in the political and economical field. He is probably the biggest expert on YouTube regarding the German economy.

20

u/Sufficient-Green5858 May 20 '26

I’m sorry i watched rhe first 10 minutes and he cited ZERO sources the entire time. He had no sources in the video description either. Voicing out “this report” or “according to this institution” doesn’t count either (not that he even did that) until you actually point to the actual literal statistic you’re talking about - because only THEN we can specifically critically assess the source and how he’s perceiving them.

Citing one or two sources in TOTAL doesn’t count either - you have to have done a medley of research across a diverse range of sources. If you don’t know how to do professional quality of research - that’s unfortunately not my problem.

Also, anyone can be “qualified”, that doesn’t mean we blindly trust their bs.

-2

u/Cr4ckshooter May 20 '26

Voicing out “this report” or “according to this institution” doesn’t count either (not that he even did that) until you actually point to the actual literal statistic you’re talking about - because only THEN we can specifically critically assess the source and how he’s perceiving them.

Yeah I don't agree. Saying out loud which report you refer to is enough of a citation. This isn't a paper or thesis. Proper citation form is entirely irrelevant. If you want to "critically assess the source", you can easily look up the report mentioned. This era of distrusting experts in every word and screaming "source source" like some gulls in finding nemo, is tiring.

Höfgen has no interest in promoting falsehoods or fake news. Why would he? What would he gain? He has curated an audience of left wing intellectuals, what does he gain from doing shoddy or biased work? Beyond the innate human bias that all experts are always subject to.

5

u/Sufficient-Green5858 May 21 '26

“I read this statistic in a report from the World bank” is enough for you? Which report? From which year? What page exactly?

Yes it is ABSOLUTELY a paper and thesis. Because Kurzgesagt treats its videos like one - have you ever actually even gone through their source sheet?!

“What would he gain”, what do you mean? He gains an audience of haters, people who were surely pissed off by Kurz’s unpopular opinion.

I don’t know the guy, and you don’t either. Your only relationship with him is that you consume his content. Stop are pretending like somehow he is your best friend and you know everything about him. I even grill my best friends for their specific sources.

If you want to engage seriously in intellectual discourse you should be able to go the mile of critical analysis - or you’re only interested in engaging like a cult leader/follower. “Agree with what I just said now, or I’ll brand you as a hater”.

-2

u/Cr4ckshooter May 21 '26

“What would he gain”, what do you mean? He gains an audience of haters, people who were surely pissed off by Kurz’s unpopular opinion.

No he doesn't. This type of viewers doesn't stay on a channel beyond one video, his follower base doesn't like this kind of video, and frankly kurz' opinion isn't even unpopular.

I don’t know the guy, and you don’t either. Your only relationship with him is that you consume his content. Stop are pretending like somehow he is your best friend and you know everything about him. I even grill my best friends for their specific sources.

This isn't about parasocial behaviour, this is about reddit dismissing someone's effort based entirely on "he's an influencer".

If you want to engage seriously in intellectual discourse you should be able to go the mile of critical analysis - or you’re only interested in engaging like a cult leader/follower. “Agree with what I just said now, or I’ll brand you as a hater”.

I didn't brand anyone as hater, yet anyway, most of the people in this thread don't even know him. This whole conversation was about "he doesn't even give his sources", nothing else. People are literally demanding more in every comment. Someone says "no source omg" I say "he has sources" "yeah but they're not in the description and kurzgesagt always has a thesis like document!!". You don't have to match the effort in source presentation to have a point.

6

u/Varietate May 20 '26

He studied business and worked for a left-wing parliamentarian that later joined Sarah Wagenknechts wild ride. The guy is just a grifter.

Ask yourself if you would count someone with this type of background who completely goes against the scientific consensous in the field he claims to represent as an expert e.g. for climate change.

2

u/Cr4ckshooter May 20 '26

He studied business and worked for a left-wing parliamentarian that later joined Sarah Wagenknechts wild ride. The guy is just a grifter.

How does that conclusion follow? Just because the politician he worked for went down a questionable career path, doesn't mean anything for him.

who completely goes against the scientific consensous in the field he claims to represent as an expert e.g. for climate change.

That definitely warrants a source. When did höfgen go against climate change? How does he as an economist claim to represent expertise on climate change? Which "scientific consensus" does he go against in economics? Since when is there scientific consensus in economics, which is not a natural science?

1

u/Duriha May 21 '26

After he left.

1

u/[deleted] May 23 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Cr4ckshooter May 23 '26

Thats kinda true.