Attention Citizens!
The script for Video #89 is basically where I want it to be. It’s done, and now I’ve just got to finish it. That’s a distinction that probably only makes sense to me, but it’s the truth.
As predicted, it’s come down from 51 minutes, and is currently sitting at 34 minutes.
I thought that I was going to polish and finish the script this week, but throughout each revision I still found my argument evolving and growing. So I’m just going to keep on editing until I stop adding bits and bobs to the argument and the script settles into its final form. Like I said, the script is done, I’ve just got to finish it.
I hesitate to say this, but we’re all friends here, who cares. I’m extremely happy with the script, I think this might turn out to be my best video ever. I have no expectations as to view counts or audience reaction, that’s all out of my hands, but my own internal expectations going into this video all been exceeded, I’m very pleased with it.
It’s always dangerous to say that something is good before it’s done, but like I said, who cares.
I also took short break last week and organized all of my notes for Video #90, which is the next-next video. I’m already excited to start figuring out the first draft to that, and I think I already have a pretty good idea of where I’m going. But obviously it would be irresponsible to start that before the writing for video #89 is 100% done.
And then I’ve got to animate the damn thing! Hmm!
Books I’ve Recently Enjoyed:
On Writing (2000), by Stephen King
I had read this before, but I just felt like refreshing my memory. Just over here openly weeping while reading about King almost fatally being struck by a vehicle.
Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global (2025), by Laura Spinney
A book about Proto-Indo-Europeans, both the language and their migration. Still trying to expand my horizons when it comes to prehistory. I was not aware of the Yamnaya, who were a group that dominated the land around the Black Sea in like 3200 BCE. Was not aware that they were probably among the first to domesticate horses, which explains why their descendants can be found from Ireland to India. Interesting read, I admit that I didn’t know most of it.
The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (2001), by John Mearsheimer
Okay, this was fun for me. John Mearsheimer is a giant of Realist international relations, I’ve wanted to read him for a very long time, and finally got around to it this month. I also think about the world through a Realist lens, so I went into this with an open heart and an open mind. Much to my own surprise, I start disagreeing with Mearsheimer almost immediately. By the end of the book I found myself thinking “Nonsense! I don’t agree with a single word of this!”
But Mearsheimer makes compelling arguments throughout the book that are impossible to ignore, even if I strongly disagree with his conclusions. For example, he argues that Germany should have sought to dominate Europe in the year 1905, (after Russia was defeated by Japan,) and if they had done so, World War 1 would have been prevented. I don’t agree with this, my instinct is that an aggressive Germany in 1905 might have caused World War 1 anyways, but he argues it extremely well, and any argument that ends with the phrase “World War 1 would have been prevented” deserves to be taken seriously.
He also argues that Britain probably should have sought to stabilize the international system in the 1850s by dominating Europe, but then he argues that it would have been extremely difficult for them to do so because maritime power is so weak when it comes to power projection. I’m just reading this thinking to myself, “I disagree with every word of this argument.” I don’t agree that Britain SHOULD have dominated Europe, but I also disagree that they COULDN’T have dominated Europe. In my opinion they could have done it, but it would have required a degree of military mobilization that would cripple Britain and eventually rip it apart. Mearsheimer disagrees. It doesn’t help that he’s extremely rude when it comes to sea power, throughout the book he often describes the power of a state as a function of the potential size of its fully mobilized army, which… I just disagree, what more can I say!
It’s interesting to disagree with somebody so strongly while simultaneously thinking that they’re way smarter than you. It does funny things to your brain. It makes you pay very close attention to where your own opinions are coming from.
John Mearsheimer is the granddaddy of Offensive Realism. Going into this book, if asked where I stood on Offensive Realism, I would have been wishy-washy. “I don’t know, a little from column A, a little from column B.” Having read Mearsheimer and having had such a visceral reaction to his writing, I now know that I’m DEFINITELY a Defensive Realist. Holy cow. I’ve been radicalized, but only in this tiny world of international relations theory that nobody cares about.
Films I’ve Recently Enjoyed:
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
Maybe my 5th or 6th rewatch. Is it the greatest movie of all time? Very possible. Is it the greatest cat acting of all time? 100%.
Music I’ve Recently Enjoyed:
Gillian Welch
Perhaps related to my Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) rewatch, I went back and listened to everything ever released by Gillian Welch. Even the bootlegs. Insane behaviour from me this month.
For more, visit the Historia Civilis Website, Patreon, or YouTube.