Bo Burnham vs. Jeff Bezos 

jesus fucking christ

I hope bo and Jeffrey watch this together and slowly lean in to a kiss that they tell no one about

Without irony, this is at LEAST in the top 5 most important pieces of visual media I have ever consumed. I truly appreciate the way this helped me reconsider my relationship with technology, and not necessarily in a negative way. Its helped me develop a stronger respect for, as well as scrutiny of, my online life. Thank you so much.

This went from a fast paced funny rant about capitalism and Bo Burnham, to an existential discussion about cyborgs and transhumanism, to a monumentally soul-wrenching ending that shifted my whole fucking paradigm. At the end of all of it, I realized that you did something truly special. You changed my perspective.

So I just need to shave my head...say less.

"Don't be intimidated by music theory, it's just names for noises you already know." That's some good shit right there.

This is unquestionably a masterpiece, but it kind of scares me, because there are many points throughout where I felt my feelings change about a subject, and I didn’t know if it was because the points being brought up rung true to my values, or because CJ is such a persuasive personality with such a mastery over words and delivery that my feelings were completely swayed and won over. I know that just sounds like a compliment but it’s legitimately scary and concerning to me.. Obviously, there's nothing wrong with changing your stance or begin swayed to the other side on an argument, it's extremely valuable and important, but like, it's important to understand the reasons you were swayed, right?

I'm not sure if anyone is going to read this, but I want to say that I've watched this video three times and every single time I learn something new. I recommend it to everyone I can. It has genuinely completely changed how I view the world and myself. The first time I watched it, I had a complete mental breakdown and deleted all of my social media accounts for a couple months and called my mom and dad to ask them what they did everyday in the 60s and 70s before they had the internet because I literally don't know how to live without it. At all. What a mindfuck. 10/10.

THIS ESSAY IS LONGER THAN INSIDE AND YET CJ TALKS AT 3X THE SPEED OF BO

"Profit isn't value. Value is value. Don't let them convince you they're the same thing." might be my favorite quote anyone has ever said

I'm 70 and I'm in awe. Thank you.

part 1: hysterical in concept alone -- 7:00 part 2: lyrical analysis -- 9:33 part 3: the solo -- 19:57 part 4: what's bothering bo? -- 23:10 part 5: we are already cyborgs -- 28:59 part 6: transhumanism & luddism -- 36:37 part 7: customer obsession -- 52:21 part 8: the transhuman souls of children -- 1:06:31 part 9: the performer audience divide -- 1:15:59 part 10: eviscerating inside -- 1:31:56 part 11: wait but i don't want to kill myself -- 1:51:53 conclusion: are you happy? -- 2:14:58

This guy would've been considered an oracle in ancient greece

"You're just a blob of compliments that will morph into an abusive mob when my time comes" is hands down the best description of the RU-vid/Twitter/Instagram/Tiktok commentariat that I have literally ever heard.

having this video periodically interrupted by amazon ads is. an experience to say the least

You and Bo exist in the same timeline. His verse “I want to leave this world better than I found it” and then you making this very real and authentic and enlightening video essay..you’re both simultaneously making the world a better place. That scratches an itch deep in my soul that I can’t describe via text. Thanks for this, I literally enjoyed every second of these 2.5hrs.

Ben Shapiro has used the song unironically, while praising Bezos, it's amazing and I need everyone to be aware of this.

"I'm just gonna talk about this 56 second song about Jeff Bezos and nothing else." Me, to myself: "Two hours...?"

I... legitimately went through all the stages of grief while watching this. Thank you. I needed this.

I’m sure this has been said: The “Luddites” were also highly trained and skilled crafts people who feared that machines would bring down the quality of the industry. Funny how right they were

You know that feeling you get when you finish a movie and you’re walking out of the movie theatre with a renewed sense of meaning in life? This is probably one of the only RU-vid videos that ever made me feel that way.

Ah yes, a 2.5 hour breakdown on a 1 minutes song. That is exactly what my adhd brain craves; while your flamboyant presentation is what my goblin heart craves.

i hate sincerity. being honest about myself especially. i don't just hate it, i almost can't do it. when i try to talk about things i care deeply about with people i feel like a toddler just learning to speak. and that's why i always frame these discussions like they're detached from me. like it's simply objective to care and talk about them, but always with a layer of irony and doomerism. everything is hopeless and simultaneously everything is a joke, but it's no big deal, i don't care. it's like if i let myself talk about it it would become too real for me. i don't know how to redirect this emerging hopelessness into healing. i also don't know how to allow myself to be vulnerable, even with the closest of people, and trust them to not take advantage of it or start to perceive me differently because of it. but i am trying, this year. ineptly, but i am.

Elon pushing for AI regulation was a marketing gimmick for AI. He made it sound like we were on the precipice of a singularity and thinking, feeling machines when all it can do is predict text, not communicate. There’s been a million videos on this and I’m sure y’all know by now, just figured I’d throw this in

you made me actually want to have a real conversation with my friends about this but my vocabulary is shitty and i just ended up saying something like 'corporation bad' and started crying i wish i was joking...

you talking about para social relationships made me realize how alone I am every day. youtubers with smart thoughts are not a substitute for friends who keep up with you

There is so much in this video, and it is an instant favorite (though I am late to it). I am 47, so I grew up with books -- lots of books, some of which introduced me to a lot of these concepts (Gibson, McLuhan), and I was honestly excited about the possibilities of Transhumanism and the nascent internet, wanting to have cybernetic implants, wanting to get online and be there and get in touch with all the weirdos, cause, man, my childhood was lonely, and my hunger for knowledge nearly insatiable. I was really into the arts and into performing, but I quickly realized one of the things I valued most was my internal life, and thus my privacy. My biggest joy growing up in a big city was the anonymity, the ability to disappear. Maybe it was borne out of a certain amount of self-loathing, but also when you're constantly having small interactions with everyone you encounter, how does it ever get deep? And while I had a terribly ADHD brain, and I almost always had a book on me, I also took copious notes and spent lots of time daydreaming. I love having a computer in my pocket, but it is also mostly on silent because I cannot deal with the constant interruptions and calls for my attention. I almost never have my phone out while I am hanging out with friends, or when I spend time in nature. Even if I play a casual game or doodle in a notebook while I watch a video, that is actually cause it helps me focus and keeps my mind from wandering. And, again, I don't come at this from an anti-tech place -- I really, really love that tonight I was able to watch you talk about all this stuff for nearly three hours from the comfort of my bedroom while living in a small town and surrounded by trees... I couldn't have lived in a small town twenty years ago -- I would have been intellectually and artistically starved. But what I am saying is that I agree the constant interruptions create an inability to deeply connect to the world around us, and that fame and recognition do pretty much the same thing, as you state. And I was always uncomfortable with it, and I definitely see it all around me now, but I can also absolutely confirm that it is possible to go deeper, to connect with friends in long conversations, to go deep and not miss out. I get constantly caught up by friends on the latest memes or the newest culture, and I am sure I miss things, but if I were busy chasing the internet's fads I would be missing out on actual real life. And again, fantasy, art, tech, all wonderful things as well. I guess my point is that while, yes, making decisions about where to direct our attention does cause us to miss things (it is the literal definition of "decision" after all), we don't have to swing hard one way or another. Life is full of wonderful things, and that hour staring at a tree and listening to ourselves think is valuable, as is that hour spent talking to a friend, as is that moment of laughter when we find a good meme. It's all worth it, and it is perhaps exactly the variety that brings us contentment, if not happiness. A piece of candy is certainly an empty calorie, but it is also a burst of flavor and pleasure for us. Yet we can't live on candy alone. So is the meme an empty bit of data, but it is a burst of pleasure and fun. We can't live on memes alone. We must continue to sample all the good things in life, as well as the bad, to really live, to really feel the full spectrum of everything and get a real sense of what we value and have the bandwidth to think and come up with the solutions we need to make this world a better place. And let me say one last thing about that: because we are so scrutinized, atomized, and individualized, it *feels* like we have to solve all the world's problems, that if we cannot fix them, then all is lost. But this isn't true: we all contribute a little to the puzzle: every conversation we have may be the one that sparks an idea, that will spark another, that will contribute to big change. It is not up to each of us as that one person that will make a huge difference -- it is up to each of us as a collective to contribute to improving everyone's lives. We can do it if we act together, and of course I think that is the enormous power of collectivist politics... But, seriously, not one of us will be able to bring "change for the better" to this world, but we can do it, with the power of art to explore our hearts and point us towards better ideologies and deeper thought, with the power of the engineers who create the things that improve our daily processes, with the power of the therapists and counselors to heal our hearts, etc. etc. etc. Thank you for making this. Fantastic work.

This video was a wild ride. It made me laugh, it threw me into an extstential nightmare, it prompted a conversation with my husband. And it made me cry. The way you wrapped it up with Dave's story at the end....oof. And now I've developed another parasocial relationship with a creative, witty, thoughtful, articulate human that I will never know. Damn it. Also, I am old and will never make anything of value. I'm going to have to live by Dave's policy of needing to be happy regardless.

Okay so I just needed to write this down 7:00 Part 1 - Hysterical In Concept Alone 9:33 Part 2 - Lyrical Analysis 19:56 Part 3 - The Solo 23:10 Part 4 - What's Bothering Bo? 29:00 Part 5 - We Are Already Cyborgs 36:35 Part 6 - Transhumanism and Luddism 52:20 Part 7 - Customer Obsession 1:04:00 The Soul 1:06:30 Part 8 - The Transhuman Souls of Children 1:15:57 Part 9 - The Performer Audience Divide 1:31:55 Part 10 - Eviscerating Inside 1:51:50 Part 11 - Wait But I Don't Want To Kill Myself 2:14:57 Conclusion - Are You Happy?

I honestly cannot comprehend how a video made by a leftist RU-vidr talking for hours about some music made by Bo Burnham ironically cheering Jeffrey Bezos can be one of the deepest and most important videos I have ever seen, changing drastically the way I currently see the world.

what is so ironic is that I’m listening to this video on headphones at work. one day I came to work without my headphones, and I was genuinely off kilter and had no idea how I could get any work done. I had the same weird sense of loss you had with your phone. my brain really felt like something was missing. idk. I convince myself that my work is boring as shit and that I need a distraction in the background, but how much of that excuse is covering up a complete addiction and dependence? I don’t know anymore.

this is my favorite video on the internet, i’ve watched the entirety of it maybe twice, but i’ve countlessly rewatched my favorite bits. the first time i saw it i kept getting these epiphany moments, and i was just overall soooo excited about a subject i’ve never really thought of that much. it just felt so good seeing all the pieces forming a greater picture in my mind. you’re really good at understanding and making people understand stuff deeply. this video has over 2 hours i wasn’t bored for a minute, but also not slightly overwhelmed, its like its perfect

So this is what the ever-increasing length of Contrapoints videos has prepared me for

god the point you made about little kids not knowing the difference between expressing and performing is so real. When I facetime my baby sister, she talks to me like I'm her RU-vid audience. She says like "Hey guys! welcome back to my home, today I've been playing a lot of Minecraft" and when she sends me videos or pictures it's like they're little RU-vid videos she made and it's really uncanny to interact in a personal one on one way with someone who's trying to make our actual relationship into a parasocial relationship instead because they really don't understand the difference.

How do i make everyone i care about watch this? How can i make this mandatory viewing for my students without getting fired? How do i live the life that called to me as i watched this?

"trying to use a limb that was no longer there" really does hit the nail on the head. Gonna edit this to say that this is such a compelling video essay. I'm not great at conveying how I feel about things I view or ingest, but this held my attention for the full 2.5 hours, and that is saying something. Thank you for creating this.

I cannot stress enough how profound and deeply accurate this video essay is. Yes my soul IS online and dismissing this as “an Internet addiction” is so extremely reductive and fails to recognize the complete lack of control we have over the entire thing

"I'm literally selling my soul. And you? You're giving away your soul for free!" is literally the most raw line I have ever heard from a RU-vid video I literally had to put my phone down and stare at a wall for ten minutes

someone else has definitely had this idea before me, but ive always loved the concept of a social media platform with a big ass long form character limit, where you're only allowed to post _once_ every day. i _really_ would like to see the end results of that, even as a social experiment. excellent video!

"Why do all your sentences have to end with laughter from an audience? Why does that feel like victory to you" Is incredible. I genuinely had to stop the video and think for a minute

“He was patient zero” Fucking KILL me when i grow up i want to have half of cjs critical think skills; they got SO much more out the social dilemma than i did jesus christ

kind of ironic that they gave young people a world that we routinely want to escape from... and then gave us a way to escape it that also gives them money

After a few years have passed, I just wanted to say that the question, "How much of yourself would you feel you've lost if every archived post and chat history and all your social media accounts vanished tomorrow?" has completely changed my life and the way I perceive my identity and relation to pretty much everything. I put a lot more of my energy into things I really care about now. And I also do scrapbooking, lol.

iv watched this video before. i didn’t realize until the end. somehow the last couple years of my life changed enough to make this video feel completely different.

After watching Inside, I was pretty hesitant to watch any video essays about it as I felt that most wouldn't really offer a perspective that brought more value to it. I am really glad I watched this one though.

"you're not a customer, you're a person. Don't let them convince you otherwise." Chills, literal chills

Una de las cosas más bellas de poder entender Inglés (aunque no pueda hablarlo ni escribirlo tan bien como escucharlo) es poder ver video ensayos e ir poco a poco entendiendo los conceptos que se plantean. Este de aquí dura dos horas y media, ¡por Dios!, pero aún así estuve sentado durante todo ese tiempo frente a mi computadora, escuchando lo que este chico tenía que decir. Y ha sido una gran experiencia, maldita sea.

It's been a couple years since Inside came out and I still get hit sometimes w/ the need to re-listen to it over and over or watch people talking about it. Today I found this video of yours and it touched me in a deeply profound way. Thank you for having this deeply compassionate and empathetic conversation with your audience. I just want you to know that you're still having an impact years down the road.

when you hyped up Kill All Normies i was like "cool i should buy this so i can read it" and immediately went to amazon and then just had to lay down due to the several thousand layers of irony

"Don't be intimidated by music theory it's just names for noises you already know" -CJ This is a very comforting thing to say when I'm trying to learn music theory for a WIP and it's kicking my ass. I genuinely appreciate it

Thank you for the 2 1/2 hour video essay Johnny Silverhand

anyone else come out of this video feeling like they need everyone in their life to have seen it so they can discuss it? I'm half tempted to send this to my therapist just so we can really address my relationship with the internet.

Watching this as a 19 year old with almost no social media presence is a trip.

Jeez you went next level on this one. This legit elevated the genre.

Watching this at work. I work at Amazon.

The fact that I came here just because I recently watched Inside, and during the video I forgot that was the concentric topic of this odissey of feelings and literal "fuck you"s, is just breath-taking. How they flowed between references to literature and their own thoughts; how they transition from point to point; just the overall way of performing is charming. I tried using this video as a "podcast" and it lured me into watching it, focusing solely in it. They made a video that I was feeling like I was Inside (pun intended), even though it was a monologue, I was capable of "being talked to". Im happy of having found this channel, and as so, thank you for making this content, which I may like to call art.

It took me a couple times watching "White Woman's Instagram" to really get it but once it did it hit me like a ton of bricks. The whole song is shot in a square aspect ratio to mimic the Instagram aspect ratio. It cuts from one performative action to the next, never breaking that format. Then it gets to the point where she's mourning her mom and the aspect ratio expands to fill the frame. She's finally opening up a little about the challenges she's facing, but as the 'caption' goes on to exclaim her accomplishments, it too becomes part of the performance and the aspect ratio shrinks down to the square again in time for a joke. The platforms encourage us to open up about things and 'get real' which then just becomes an additional part of the performance. We are encouraged to never say our lives are hard, unless it's followed by how we're actually doing ok, or a joke. If you've ever tried to say something is emotionally challenging to go through on social media, you are met with a wall of people saying a quick "you can do it!" or some other platitude so we largely just don't. Also "Some random quote from Lord of the Rings incorrectly attributed to Martin Luther King" is just a really solid joke.

"he was patient zero" jesus fking christ this gave me chills like crazy

I'm only halfway through this video and its already one of the most profound things I have ever experienced. You are the voice of a generation, keep it up my friend

"It was trying to use a limb that was no longer there" BRO

When you realize "I promise to never go outside again" isn't about COVID. It's Bo's reluctant but inevitable return to comedy, once again re-entering the business of commodifying his self for an audience after his 5 years "outside". And the paradoxical tragedy is that he's really fking good at it, and it's what his audience has wanted this whole time. I hadn't understood this until now, so thank you for the phenomenal video

It's always interesting seeing people talk about Tumblr as someone who's been using the site since I was 16, lived through the rise and fall of the "SJW" culture that had such an effect on modern discourse, and still uses the same account now a literal decade later. All social media is terrible but if I could be a filthy tumblr apologist for a moment I do find it fascinating in how it's the only platform I know of that doesn't really have any mechanics that discourage long-form written expression. There's so little you can fit into a tweet or facebook status or insta post but on tumblr I'm regularly reading essay-length posts and there's no algorithm stopping me. Again, it's still very much Not Good, but there has to be something that can be said for just... being able to use more words than can fit in a single snappy comeback.

You, sir, are a modern day philosopher. You have taught me so much at once, I'm going to have to process this for weeks to come... give or take. Thank you.

the massive combo sponsor ad at the end (set to the same music that bo used in his knife monologue) was actually a perfect way to end this video holy shit

this is just as existentially draining as watching inside, if not more…

"when the medium of discussion becomes reductive jokes, a walking joke will be our leader." honestly, this video made so many great points so quickly that i couldn't write down all my favorite quotes if i tried, excellent analysis

this video contains 22 of the top 35 most excellent sentences i have heard this week

I've had various bits of this video playing in my head on loop ever since I watched it a few days ago, immediately after rewatching inside with a couple of good and smart friends. there's a lot, like a /lot/ in it that has changed me but now I have reached this point where I'm sitting here thinking about how when I was 14 and me and my siblings discovered bo burnham in the first place, it was "art is dead" that really reached into me and ripped my soul out for the examining I was a kid growing up on the internet in the modern world. I was depressed, anxious, dissociative, and clinging to art as the only thing that meant anything to me. my friends were all the same way. we all wanted to be artists, and some of us even are now but that existential dread of what it meant to make art and be an artist in this world was hanging the fuck over us and the anxiety of becoming little attention whores who only cared about ourselves was inescapable. your self is a performance, therefore it must be good, worthy, and meaningful. and your art is a part of your self, therefore your art must become part of the performance and the performance must be sold. because everything costs. everything has to pay. "art is dead" brought out of me that sensation of feeling like there was no fucking justification in the world good enough to want art, to want to make art and be an artist, in a time where everything has to pay and everything has to cost. how can you, as a child on the internet, justify buying and selling your own silly little existence? when there are problems so much bigger and more real than your entire life? when the entertainment that you provide ends up costing more than another person's entire life? more than a family of four for forty fucking fortnights. I guess inside brings up some of the same things to me. the question of the frivolity of art, why performance and the creation of art are fulfilling and what kind of a justification that is for doing it; the way that art as a discussion of our existences happens now in the context of the internet. being in the spotlight and what it does to you and why we all want it (money). what's inside all of us? the free fucking market, I guess. even then, when art was literally keeping me and most of the people I loved alive in the least material way it possibly could, none of us could /fail/ to be aware that most of it could only exist if it could be sold. maybe more accurately, if the person behind it and the people now in front of it could be sold. why are we living like this? why the fuck have we been living like this? anyways, thanks for the video. good stuff. really makes u think

the amount of times during this video that i went "oh fuck right this video is about bo burnham" makes it exactly the kind of video that scratches my brain just right

As a disabled and chronically ill person, I completely feel like I live inside the internet a lot of the time. Even before the pandemic, I couldn't physically interact with people or go to social events very much. A lot of abled people see this lifestyle as sad and while, yes, I do wish that I COULD do more, I CAN'T. And the internet offers me solace in that.

RU-vid video essays can be so effective. Breadsword makes me nostalgic and teary-eyed, in praise of shadows inspires me to create weird art, and you send me into downwards existential crisis mode that never ends and just gets more momentum every video.. except the water ranking video. That gave me so much genuine joy.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, CJ. I really needed this.

"capitalism will force individual humans to embrace transcendence as a profit motive" was not the mindfuck I was expecting today but it's definitely appreciated

The ending of this video remeinded me of this quote "Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly now, love mercy now, walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”

I can't believe it took my algorithm two years to recommend this.

Okay, now I'm finished and this video essay stays with me. I think it's fascinating how, in two hours and twenty-six minutes (spelled out for gravitas), CJ manages do go through a review of Bo Burnhams works to Amazon business tactics, to an outlook on Transhumanism and Luddism to AI and corporation's data Krakens and echo chambers, to a debate about the essence of human self-identity and about internet-nativism and meme culture and parasocial relationships and the growing divide in political discussions ... and I definitely skipped a few. But the fascinating point is, that I could not only follow it all but understood the connection between these seemingly different subjects. CJ has an amazing didactic talent. Should have become a teacher.

"and don't take that out of context to be a TERF" I was already feeling this essay but this earned a sub

this man single-handedly defeated weeks of procrastination and actually made me start writing my script, what a chad

damn dude the end made me cry, thank you for your art

I've got a kid and this is. So much of what I've been thinking and had no words for watching him grow up. I'm very thankful for all your videos but this one especially has been a goddamn train ride above the mountain and through the ocean.

I got emotional when cj started talking about how my gen is called the me generation. I didn’t do this to myself. I don’t want to feel this way. This is everything I know

"Profit isn't value. Value is value" that deserve a like and a comment.

"the source of your pain and the source of your relief are one and the same. it can feel terrible the way the internet has violated the sanctity of yourself. and probably the best way to distract yourself from that is by going on the internet." goddamn i felt that

I cannot express how unprepared I was to cry at the end of this.

"I thought Bo Burnham wasn't that deep and HE BEAT ME!" Yeah that checks out. Whenever you try to look deeper into his work, you gaze into the void and the void gazes back. The void says "did you find it yet? Whatever it was you were looking for? Why don't you stay a while and keep searching"

i usually try to comment something witty or meaningful but i’m incapable of performing rn via comments. i just really like this video. thanks for ur services.

it's hard to admit to myself that despite this being an important powerful message it's still unhealthy for me to be watching stuff like this all day.

I come back to this every few months and it makes me cry every time. I talk about it all the time. Thank you for putting this out there, it has genuinely changed my life.

"I'd say it to his face and he'd agree with me" is so powerful

"He's a business-oriented self-help book that a wizard made a real boy" Best characterization of Jeff Bezos in the world so far

I think what sets CJ's video essays apart from others with a similar vibe is that while they have that witty clever comedy and hilariously aggressive attitude, at one point or another, sincerity is brought into the equation, and a point is made of its value. It's not cool to be apathetic, what are you doing if you don't care? Do you want to be doing it? And that respect for being human and emotional and sincere is problably the reason these essays not only present me with new facts and opinions but also make me change my mind, sometimes. I don't click off the second a statement is made that I dont agree with. Because I know it's going somewhere meaningful.

Really needed something like this over the past few months. Thank you so much.

“as if you people know what you want”. that was a little TOO ACCURATE.

"I'm not here to give, so I must be here to recieve" - I am crying.

I am so glad I clicked on this. As someone who is a Christian, had wandered into the shallow end of the memable "political" space of folks like shapiro, i felt the same longing for soul you've expressed here CJ. Thank you for putting voice to an ache I'd been feeling for years

This has generally been one of the most entertaining video I’ve ever watched. Thank you for making it

i simply cannot imagine how godly your essays in school must've been

youre somehow a person thats speaks in 2× speed while sounding 30 times more clear than most other youtubers. even when I have sensory processing disorder I can understand you clearly lmao.

Talking of sincerity in opinions - as an autistic young person who is always genuinely 100% passionate in opinions I hold, and always willing to share them, I find it incredibly difficult to find and make friends with people who also share genuine sentiments about *anything*. I love to discuss what I think, but I always get the sense when I talk to anyone else my age that they are afraid to hold a sincere and genuine opinion, unless I am talking to another neurodivergent person. It's a phenomenon that baffles and frustrates me - someone can almost always tell you how they feel about something as a reaction, but almost always refuse to engage in why, and justify something passionately or with any real feeling about it. If I am talking about something I love, hate, whatever, I'll tell you why I think that, but it seems like it's become impossible for others to do. It's despairing that sincere discussion seems to be so dead, and it's isolating as well. It makes me feel as though I am the only one with real feelings, which I know can't be true - and as such I worry for how much that is bottled up inside other people.

This is without a shadow of a doubt the greatest 2 hours of video I have seen this year. Thank you kindly.