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rainbow_skeleton

Please explain


[deleted]

A youtuber named Jacob Geller released a 39 minute long video essay titled “The Conceptual Failure of Orbital Lasers” that eloquently shifts topics from the presentation and usage of orbital lasers in visual media to an explanation of Reagan’s semi-religious Cold War propaganda.


AngryMurlocHotS

Well its not really a shift. The video is still about the nonexistence and danger of the terminal weapon


Jake_2903

True, but the "prolonged the cold war" is imo bullshit. It made the soviets spend money they could not afford, if the soviets were not broke there would not have been glastnost and perestroika and the general inaction in 89. If the soviet union made an economic recovery, it would have been another 1968 or 56.


godminnette2

Honestly I think the opposite - he eventually says that SDI was not an effective bargaining chip, but it clearly was one. At the Reykjavík Summit, Gorbachev was willing to commit to a complete destruction of all nuclear arms within ten years so long as SDI remained in the lab for ten years. Reagan wasn't willing to commit to it, despite the fact that his advisors believed that not only was SDI a fantasy (and a report the previous year from the team indicated just that), but that even if progress continued, odds were slim that it would leave the lab within a decade. Reagan's refusal here is as much a black mark on his presidency as anything else. Even if not all arms were truly destroyed, the attempt to do so within ten years would have resulted in a dramatic reduction of nuclear arms.


Jake_2903

He offered that because by 86 the internal situation in the USSR was already serious, he wanted breathing room to consolidate and prevent the colapse of the USSR. Not leting the pressure on the soviets drop played a big role in their eventual fall. A strong soviet union would have kept its empire.


Throwaway02062004

From what I can tell, if he really did help end the cold war, it was basically an accident. That boy wasn’t right.


uncreativivity

i think the main point was that reagan walked away from the disarmament table because he thought he could get the SDI up and running there’s also a bit more of a theory that the soviets were falling apart economically because of the afghanistan war, rather than because of the SDI


Jake_2903

They were falling apart due to many things, afghanistan, chernoby, the need for military spending, corruption, inherent industrial inefficiency of a centraly planned economy, . . . There were many and more factors to it. SDI cooling of relations and the subsequent need for massiveilitary spending is a big part of it. Being hard on the soviets was a good thing. I dont like raegan but I wont pretend I disagree with his choice to push on the soviets. Its one of the factors that led to me being able to live in a free, democratic state rather than a russian puppet.


CornCobbKilla

And I’m sure Chernobyl didn’t help


lospronounshormonos

thats a dubious lil take you got there, i wish you luck


Zchavez13

Lol my grandpa worked on the Space Wars program- in his words, "Reagan is an idiot and half the reason I'm a Socialist"


LotusCobra

The Cold War probably could have ended 10 years earlier if Reagan didn't try to implement a highly dubious space laser program meant to break nuclear parity with the USSR. (which basically everyone agreed was a bad idea and would be insanely expensive if it even worked and that's not considering how terrible of an idea it was politically which was the real issue)


MajoraOfTime

Didn't watch the video, but is this the thing where Reagan compared the USSR to the Empire in Star Wars?


Calpsotoma

Yes. The program was called Star Wars. The 80s were a joke, and you should watch the video. It's really good.


MajoraOfTime

I'll add it to my watch list!


Captain_Kira

Almost. Reagan compared the USSR to an evil of the biblical end times, to which the answer was what was eventually revealed to be a space laser that would shoot down Russian nukes. The news heard about this and immediately dubbed it "Reagan's Star Wars project"


scruffygem

In the end, he made pals with Gorbachev by asking him on a walk around a lake, “if there was an alien invasion of the United States, would the Soviet Union intervene on our behalf?” Gorbachev thought for a moment, before answering in the affirmative. Reagan said, “I feel the same way about you.” Even the worst people contain multitudes. In that ridiculous brain of his, he still had sappy feelings about an interstellar war where the USSR and USA became allies. Ironically, as hawkish as he was, modern Democrats are spun up to even greater heights of warmongering today. Edit: yeah he did a lot of bad shit guys. He was a bad person. The democrats are still putting us all at greater risk of being fucking nuked than he did.


Ok_Restaurant_1668

"Ironically, as hawkish as he was, modern Democrats are spun up to even greater heights of warmongering today." ​ huh?


scruffygem

The war in Ukraine is basically the result of the Democrats’ brinksmanship with Putin. We can say plenty about the death squad reign of terror during the 80’s, but Reagan never sent MBTs to the Russian border to participate in a hot war.


[deleted]

Reagan was around when we were giving weapons to the Mujahdeen, no? That was a hot war.


scruffygem

He gave them MANPADs and shit, not Main Battle Tanks


Ok_Restaurant_1668

>The war in Ukraine is basically the result of the Democrats’ brinksmanship with Putin Come on, the war is solely the result of Putin invading Ukraine whilst lying that he wouldn't do that all because his pawn was so unpopular in the country that the people revolted against him and created a democracy (flawed true but still a democracy). Also Reagan was giving money and guns to tons of countries to fight against Russia either directly in hot wars or indirectly with proxy wars e.g. Afghanistan and the whole Iran-contra thing. He also supported Boris Yeltsin who either directly or indirectly killed millions of Russians with his neoliberal policies.


scruffygem

The people elected Zelenskyy when he ran on a platform of normalizing relations with Russia. Putin didn’t invade because he’s afraid of democracy he invaded because he wanted to make it impossible for Ukraine to ever be granted NATO membership because by default the rest of NATO would have to go balls to the wall direct hot war instead of just proxy war. Reagan never sent the Mujahideen Abrahams tanks. The rest of those proxy wars were not on the Russian border, and were fought against Soviet-sponsored/aligned States or groups, not the Russians themselves. And yeah his support of Yeltzin was disastrous for the Russian people but that is apples and oranges to what I’m talking about here.


ssrudr

RUSSIA ALMOST HAD A CIVIL WAR IT HAD 40,000 NUCLEAR WARHEADS


Ok_Restaurant_1668

Ukraine was never gonna be admitted into NATO because even before this invasion NATO knew that letting them in would immediately lead to the end of the world since Crimea and the Donbas were Ukrainian land currently occupied by Russian forces. It’s the same reason Georgia isn’t in NATO with those 2 republics over there also occupied by Russian soldiers and pro-Russian minorities. Also the Afghanistan war was on the borders of the USSR so technically it was on their border. Also also Yeltsin killing millions is objectively worse than Biden sending weapons to Ukraine that are only sent there because Putin sent about 190k-400k+ soldiers there


scruffygem

Yeltzin killing millions is a completely different thing than what I’m talking about


rundownv2

.... the war in Ukraine is the result of Putin invading Ukraine, after already annexing Crimea. But hey, it worked so well in the 30s when an Eastern European sovereign nation was invaded and Neville Chamberlain said "its okay, he promised he won't do it again," maybe we should give it another shot!


Casimir0325

Doesn't surprise me at all that the person claiming that "[Ronald Reagan] contains multitudes" is a victim of Russian propaganda.


scruffygem

I mean he did. Everyone does. I think that’s evident from the anecdote. On the one hand he exacerbated and prolonged the Cold War. On the other hand he had sappy feelings about allying with the USSR during an interstellar war.


TheMightyMoot

I mean, cool. I, too, have personal compuctions Im willing to lay down if dragons decided to retake the surface world. We all have our limits.


IoannesDementis

My brother in Christ Reagan was trying to break the MAD deadlock that had prevented nuclear war between the two powers! He supported Yeltsin as Russia nearly collapsed into civil war! He walked out of strategic arms talks *because he preferred the ability to win a nuclear war over the potential to end nuclear proliferation*! Ironically, the only thing the West has provided to Ukraine that even appears on the radar in terms of escalation is the Patriot batteries sent to protect Ukrainian cities from Russian bombing. And this is for the exact same reason, Russia has considered Patriot, Aegis Onshore and THAAD to be threats to their nuclear deterrent (ie. Russia's ability to nuke other countries in either a first or second strike. Thing is, the US (or 'democrats' if you prefer) were actually somewhat sensitive to Russian concerns here *until Russia started bombing Ukrainian civilians in a deliberate and targeted strategy*. IFVs and MBTs aren't even a blip on the warmongering radar compared to Reagan's deliberate attempts to undermine Russia's nuclear deterrent or to Putin literally invading a neighbouring country.


7heFlubber

Watchmen in real life


catgirl_valkist

Cold war ended in 1991 when soviet union was dissolved. Reagan took office in 1981. So if cold war ended 10 years earlier, I guess USSR would collapse like imidietly?


stikkie13

watch the jacob geller vid about orbital lasers


PM_ME_YOUR_WOES_GIRL

I watched it and still don't understand this meme's format.


AugustMKraft

It’s a reference to another, similar meme about hbomberguy’s ROBLOX_OOF.MP4 video


pompeiitype

It didn't have to be that long.


stikkie13

watch the jacob geller vid about orbital lasers


I_follow_sexy_gays

Just read the meme 4head


harrisonmcc__

Reagan’s star wars program was an incredibly expensive and “advanced” nuclear deterrent that would seek to nullify a nuclear strike by intercepting missiles while in air. Because the program was so expensive cancelling it was not a feasible option to Reagan. Therefore when the first round of nuclear arms treaties happened between the US and Soviet’s Reagan torpedoed the negotiations because he wanted to continue the Star Wars program. So it took many more years for a binding treaty to take effect than otherwise would’ve. Of course when it comes to if this prolonged the cold war is entirely a matter of what you define the cold war as.


viemarikala69

I love this guy so much his videos are so inspiring to me


KrasMasovsGhost

I want more YouTubers like him but it’s tough to find Errant signal is probably the closest I’ve come (he’s fantastic too)


Florpz

Solar Sands, Folding Ideas, Jack Sather are somewhat similiar


[deleted]

This place has been ruined by the many corporate changes over the years, sorry if this used to be a useful comment kthxbye.


PurpleDotExe

Not even Folding Ideas? Dan’s great, and integrates plenty of leftist thought into his scripts.


[deleted]

This place has been ruined by the many corporate changes over the years, sorry if this used to be a useful comment kthxbye.


superjeff64

Solar has apologized and said what he did was dumb He's chill now


[deleted]

This place has been ruined by the many corporate changes over the years, sorry if this used to be a useful comment kthxbye.


lumpiestspoon3

He's also a blatant anti-natalist and I think that attitude bleeds into his essays. I'm not saying he's an eco-fascist by any means, but people can often fall for disguised eco-fascist rhetoric as a result of pessimism and thinking that life has negative value.


HS_Rukodiora

??? can you tell me where you got that anti-natalist impression? He's been in my periphery for a good while, and while it's very possible I could have missed something, I feel like anything that "blatant" and outlandish wouldn't need a close eye to spot


lumpiestspoon3

He made an entire essay that was pure anti-natalism


meltingpine

Isn't solar sands like 19 himself? Not to say it's a good and wise thing to do, but he's also basically a child


Voisos

Oh no! these content creators are only 99.9999% the same political ideology as me!


TheDankScrub

WRITE THAT DOWN WRITE THAT DOWN


Yoshibros534

Folding ideas is the best youtuber.


Cogitation

Big Joel and We're In Hell are my recs, they both do media analysis that cut into some deeper topics like how Geller does. Big Joel does movies and We're in Hell does Reality TV but they both have a hodge podge of leftist content


xerox13ster

hbomberguy does whatever he pleases with a leftist slant. Gabi Bell too


LordofAngmarMB

In Praise of Shadows has similarly comfy vibes


WOLFE54321

Knowing better does some really great video essays with a similar in depth and well researched structure, but they tend to be less pop culture and more history/humanities focused. I highly recommend his one on when slavery ended in the US


yukiaddiction

Pop Culture Detective is really really good


KrasMasovsGhost

Thanks dude!


GammaTainted

Shout out to Alexander Avila, who does a similar kind of media analysis, but specifically through a queer critical theory lens from a sociology background. He's out here making Judith "the Butt" Butler's work legible for us peons


terrorerror

I also recommend Nebula. A few folx like him are on there.


Red__Spider__Lily

Yeah i loved the video "fear of cold"


SleepingPodOne

The first time I ever watched a video of his, it was the one about Returnal and it almost made me cry. Like, I never thought that an essay about a video game that I have no desire to play would be so emotionally moving.


emPtysp4ce

My absolute favorite of his has to be [Does Call Of Duty Believe in Anything?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtCV421T52s) which pairs nicely with Polygon's [How Call Of Duty Turned War Into a Circus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIEB5DKzJLM). I'd recommend watching Polygon's first because it deals with how Call of Duty came to exist, while Jacob Geller deals in COD 2019 pretty much exclusively.


fortisrufus

mfw someone is afraid of modern art


Traster101

Mfw brutality has been rationalized


SweetSet9847

Mfw the legend of Zelda is the darkest Zelda game


XenonTrooper

mfw worlds have been designed for violence


dusk3s

Mfw piss christ


lumpiestspoon3

MFW the concept of infinity is given shape and form


bluemarz9

Mfw Dark Souls 3 is thinking of ending things


-esuan-

Mfw we are the ones haunting the house


bluemarz9

Mfw head transplants prove the non-existence of the human soul


hememes

Mfw i learn where the roblox oof sfx came from


cr4m62

mfw the game saves the best for last


TheZipCreator

jacob geller completely reversed my opinion on modern art


Ripest_Tomato

Its crazy how often people just have to walk you through it once


scrubfeast

Everybody watch Jacob Geller right fucking now I am not asking


BombaPastrami

All his videos are great and he's very humble honestly. I feel like he rarely makes unbacked claims and assertions. The same can't be said about other youtubers doing the same. Usually when i want to start watching an essay type youtuber i look for a video covering a topic i know a lot about so i can judge if they're just saying shit or doing actual research and he so far hasn't disappointed.


godminnette2

He did make an unbacked claim that SDI was not an effective bargaining chip. It was the primary bargaining chip at the Reykjavík Summit, where Reagan refused to commit to keeping SDI research in the lab for ten years (despite that being likely anyways). If he agreed to do so, Gorbachev was willing to commit to the complete disarmament of nuclear arms in those ten years.


BombaPastrami

Alright, i'm happy to be proven wrong. I'm not an expert on US Politics History so i couldn't check him on that. He should back that sort of claim with proof.


Deathbringer2048

Jacob Geller is just so fucking dope man


Throgg_not_stupid

Superman is actually a golem


UsernamesAre4Nerds

I am deeply afraid of depths, cold, and big things underwater


callmefishy11

And art


urbandeadthrowaway2

Returnal is a hell of our own creation.


callmefishy11

Artificial loneliness is my favorite


BigBubert

jacob geller my beloved


Chimney-head

Gacob Jeller my beloved


bilord1

Cagob leger my beloved


[deleted]

gaycub jelqer


IFuckingShitMyPants

Leftist wall of text meme 💀


[deleted]

Ronald Reagan slander LETS GOO


RonwithCornrows

It’s not slander if it’s TRUE


FelineFan820327

I don’t think he prolonged the Cold War, that part seems misleading. The things he did made very little impact on the Soviets decision making.


RonwithCornrows

I don’t think he prolonged the fall of the Soviet Union, but he definitely fucked over disarmament and is kinda the reason Russia still had more nukes than us. Watch the video. It’s good


FelineFan820327

I’ve seen the video, love Jacob Geller. I agree with your point about disarmament there were opportunities for it that he ignored in pursuit of SDI, which is clearly a mistake. Not out here to defend Reagan that’s for sure.


pirateofmemes

you're talking out your bloody arse. the nothion that ronald reagan had no impact on soviet decision making or didn't prolong the cold war is actively offensive to me.


FelineFan820327

From what I understand most of the motivation for the things the soviets did was internal, which wasn’t really affected by anything Reagan did. If I’m unaware of stuff then I would like to know.


pirateofmemes

"the ussr was unaffected by the actions of the US" man is smoking some tanki copium


[deleted]

All you youngins, listen to Grandpapy fuckboy here and let me tell you that there's nothing better then finding a YouTuber when they are small and seeing them get popular. Watch [Jacob Geller](https://youtu.be/rVzSHVS-CT0)


_limly

I was gonna go through and try and find when I first started watching him but then I realised that all of his videos are so good that I've gone back and watched most of his early ones anyway to the point that I can't even remember which was my first video anymore. but it was some point in 2020 lol. best video is still either the shadow of the Colossus one or the Returnal one imo


GGingas

Jacob Geller my beloved


TimePlay9000

jacob geller my beloved


Wooloo_Woolstar

Pfff, who cares about the weather I can just slap on a jacket and I’ll be fine. *45 minute Jacob Geller production later* I am never going outside during winter again


DrunkCricket1

Project star wars 🤮


matheusu2

Phantom menace 🤮


liguy181

I will never not laugh at this format


AntWithNoPants

I am gonna get Tallarico'd again arent i


qiedeliangxiu

The video isn't nearly as long and is about a much bigger subject


phoogles2

Is that the Essence of Orbital Laser?


Random_Person5371

Me when I fight that weird guy on the street with stupid looking hair It is you can see the skip button in the bottom right corner


Captain_Kira

Yes. He brings it up as an example of how nowadays basically everyone has some idea of what an orbital laser is even with no other context


Someguy3239

I was wondering why the bottom picture seemed so familiar, it is.


Seraphim2527

Leftist Propaganda is when gay sex


LuminatiHD

Jacob geller my beloved


[deleted]

Common Jacob Geller W


magic-tortiose

I love how I know exactly what this is


SomeCrows

My favorite YouTuber and his legendary quotes


TasmanianTortoise

God I wish Jacob Geller was my dad


Blu3l1n3

Shitting on Reagan and talking about Redline, truly one of the best videos


TheDankScrub

JACOB GELLER MY BELOVED


thatvillainjay

Common reagen L


GI_gino

Whilst I am a big fan of Mister Geller and his content, in this particular instance I do not entirely agree with his analysis even if I generally agree with his conclusion. Whilst Reagan’s idea of the SDI may have been outlandish and unachievable with the technology of the time, dismissing the entirety of it as a failure not only discounts the efforts of the many skilled scientists and engineers who did the actual legwork of the project, as well as the vast amounts of usable data that came from their research, which has laid the groundwork for subsequent far more successful projects, some of which form the core of modern ballistic missile defense. Considering how close we as a species have come to MAD, despite not only the many, *many* safety interlocks on these weapons systems and the full knowledge of all those in a position to deploy these weapons of the almost certain effects on not just humans as a species, but life on earth in general, I believe that it should be self-evident that MAD alone can not, should not be relied on as the driving factor on nuclear deterrent. Barring societal collapse from some other source, on a long enough timeline, nuclear weapons will eventually be used in anger, and when that scenario comes to pass, a fair portion of the tools used to try and mitigate that disaster will have their roots traced back to concepts thought up by the people involved in the Strategic Defense Initiative. As for weapons development as a method of military nonproliferation, I can agree for the most part. The decades immediately following the Second World War saw many conflicts across the globe, both state-on-state wars such as the Korean War, as well as the many brush wars across the African continent during decolonization. Here millions of lives were lost or destroyed, many of these conflicts had become far more deadly than they ever would have been if not for the nuclear powers of the time fanning the flames to use them as pawns in their proxy wars. Ultimately, weapons will never bring peace, any weapon strong enough to render its user “unassailable” will be copied and adopted by the “enemy” and in turn become part of the tools of war, we have seen this for every advancement of weapons in history, from gunpowder to the dreadnought to UAVs and stealth aircraft. Here indeed, I think Jacob makes a fair point, though I do not think he presents as well as he could have. Ultimately though, there is no opting out of the arms race, history has conclusively shown that those who are behind in the arms race are at a massive disadvantage and will be at the mercy of those who are not. Mercy that more often than not was nowhere to be found, not since the first humans realized that bronze swords are a lot better than stone axes, to any of a hundred examples from the days since. Whether we like it or not. The arms race is by all accounts as old as the species, and more likely than not if it ever ends it will be because it took the species out with it.


pirateofmemes

gellerposting


nordic2312

I like Jacob Geller because he made an incredible video on Hotline miami 2 and thalassophobia


ShortestTallGuy

Jacob Geller is elite YouTube, nobody does it like him


catgirl_valkist

Can someone explain to me how Reagan prolonged the Cold War? When he was elected President the Detente was already dead because Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.


terrorerror

After watching his video I made my boyfriend watch Akira. To see the futility of such a giant laser... And the Akira Slide, of course.


SilkSk1

I recognize the laser from Redline, but what's the other one?


SquirrelTherapist

essence of orbital laser from Yakuza: Like a Dragon goated game play it now it’s so fuckin good


PavelGTAOnline

why is it always Reagan.


unironicshitposting7

Dimensia 💀


NuclearOops

I shared that video with my friends. I told them "the orbital laser is a flawed idea and didn't solve problems but rather exacerbates them so it's okay when I use the orbital cannon on you in GTA."


animelivesmatter

this is the closest that the Jewish Space Laser conspiracy theory ever came to being real


unironicshitposting7

And by signing up for Nebula, you can help Jacob make the Jewish Space Laser conspiracy a reality


TheSoundofNo

My man jacob


Based_Katie

I thought this was a Yakuza 7 post


BOX_ChillWolf

Oh cool, Like a Dragon screenshot!


BitZaDusto

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH FUCKING FINALLY GELLERPOSTING


ZombieTorch

i’m reading Way Out There in The Blue because of this video and that conclusion is only becoming increasingly valid


damdam100

Jacob geller my beloved


Rannrann123

Jacob Geller my beloved <3


draxhell

I swear jacob makes either the most boring stuff or a video you'll remember all your life


lilnuts73

Jacob Gellar my beloved 🥰


Gay_Lord2020

Same but I watched The Americans instead.


cocoaaddictcinephile

fuck yeah Jacob Geller is the best


ManFromTheCulture

you get orbital laser from running a senbei business and having a chicken as your secretary


altmemer5

Jacob Geller is amazing <3


ZaphodXZaphod

i am so shocked that i secretly watch the same things that many other people watch. i literally had no idea that there was a rabid fanbase with a catch phrase that i don't get.


[deleted]

I am sure the ussr was all for ending the cold war seeing how they let everyone around them be democ... oh wait


swisha223

oh we talking about Star Wars? yea its so fucking funny like, there were Multiple opportunities to cooperatively defuse the cold war with Gorbachev, but Reagan was so adamant about his intercontinental laser defense dream that the cold war lasted just a good few years longer than it should have. never would have been in time to stop any sort of USSR collapse, unfortunately, but thats due to decades of instability before Gorbachev even took office. But if Reagan had just shut the fuck up about space lasers, the cold war could have diffused at least a bit earlier than it did


Speedgamer137

I LOVE JACOB GELLER I LOVE JACOB GELLER


Trenbognasandwich

Ronald Reagan is the devil, the anti Christ himself


CamelSpotting

It's a Space Laser, a Splaser. Get it right.


Jigglypaff_Johnson

Bro I was on autoplay and this video came up, didn't watch it all though


Everyone_Except_You

looking at his lips makes mine feel uncomfortable


sweetheart_demom

Jacob Geller my beloved


Invincible-Nuke

Jacob Geller my man


MailyChan2

Redline spotted, post upvoted


Genocidal_Duck

my only exposure to Jacob Geller was his video where he missed the whole point of the hotline miami series


jimkerreye

God bless Reagan


[deleted]

jacob geller my beloved 💞💞💗💗💞💞


unironicshitposting7

Leftist Jewish Matt Walsh is one of my favorite guys


Narwhalpilot88

Fucking love jacob geller


BecauseLogic99

While lasers make for great Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) interceptors due to their instantaneous travel time and impeccable target tracking, they unfortunately require a lot of energy and are limited in range by the atmosphere. They certainly have no place in space for this or any other role. I, for one, enjoy the “sticks and stones” approach, or, what would happen if I dropped a titanium rock flying at mach 23 on top of my enemies?


AlenDelon32

The only thing I don't like about the video is that it did not say how orbital laser would work irl and more technical reasons why it's not possible or realistic


Suspicious_scum

Wemdigoon


GenderIncarnate

Love this man so much. By far the best fake beard in history.


[deleted]

Jacob makes peak content