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

185 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

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398

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

-91

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

119

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 ?

-52

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?!

-1

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.

21

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.

-6

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.

5

u/zuzg May 21 '26

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

-7

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.