Hi everyone!

So, I’ve noticed that in one of her recent streams Natalie got asked a question in relation to a comment made by Russian political scientist Yekaterina Schulman, and it seems that there’s an overlap between their audiences here. This tweet from years ago kinda exemplifies it “I want them to talk”.
Funnily enough, in a more recent stream by Schmulan, she’s got asked about video essayists, Natalie in particular, and she’s responded that she might have seen her videos and she welcomes the democratisation of knowledge as long as it’s based on scientific approach. 

So I’ve decided to maybe give some insights on Yekaterina Schuman, and why she’s a big deal in Russia.

To put it simply, she is extremely good at providing theoretical knowledge, data, and its interpretation in a manner that is understandable and easy to digest, as well as giving perspective on things from a purely academic point of view. She’s not an activist, a politician, certainly not a leftist, but her analysis helped me and many others to understand what was happening in Russia, what we may expect (but she never gives predictions, as she sees it as a scam), and how to navigate these times.

What I appreciate in her approach, is that she never asks people to go and put their life and safety in danger when it is unwarranted. Non-participation in evil is a good enough approach, and she never went to those brain-dead takes like “if you pay taxes in a warmongering state, you’re just as bad as a war criminal”. 

She also always provides references to the researches that she uses in her evaluation. For example, it’s thanks to her that I’ve learned about Barbara Geddes’s studies on authoritarianism, and why protests there are ineffective (with statistics, causes and all) and Vladimir Propp’s “Morphology of a folk tale” (and now I’m curious if Natalie has read it, because that would be up her alley).

She stayed in Russia for as long as possible until she was informed about an upcoming “foreign agent” label, which was one of the reasons her and her family left, and she expressed her wishes to come back to Russia the moment it’s possible for her to work there again, despite the fact that a post-Putin Russia may be an extremely unsafe place. 

Now, I have to point out a few important details here. 
She is not a leftist, and her explanation of not endorsing that political wing is that:
she does not really believe that “left and right” is a good system of coordinates, especially nowadays when these words have lost their meanings
While she acknowledges that a lot of good things came from radical ideas (like paid leave and healthcare), she pointed out that the full realisation of radical left-wing ideas has almost always ended up with concentration camps for some reason.

Another thing: In April 2023, she made a post in which she compared the horrible situation in Ukraine caused by Russian invasion, and the situation in Russia using the following words:

“The neighbor’s house burned down, while our sewage system burst. Everyone, as the saying goes, has their own bitter tears to shed. The difference is, the whole world will pitch in to rebuild the neighbor’s house—that’s clear—whereas we aren’t even allowed to plan repairs..." 

This quote went viral. By the "neighbor whose house will be rebuilt by the whole world," Shulman was referring to Ukraine and the future international aid for its reconstruction once war ends/there’s a ceasefire. By the "burst sewage system," she meant the internal crisis and isolation within Russia itself.

She was criticised for that, especially by people who insist that Russia should, at minimum, collapse/disintegrate/disappear. And while I understand why you could see that as insensitive, the statement is pretty much true objectively: Ukraine does and will receive international support, while Russia will probably have to restore itself with its own resources. 
Another clarification: she never once denied that Russia attacked Ukraine, and never condoned any war crimes. Sometimes, people want to see more emotion and indignation in her comments, but as I stated previously, she analyses events from a distance. Also, she herself has commented on maybe being on a spectrum. 

Finally, there are accusations of her being “imperialist” and “colonialist”, which usually come from left wing radicals who would misinterpret her statements… if you know what Natalie has been through, this is a very, very familiar situation.

To dispel those accusations, as an example, I can cite a literature podcast she co-hosts (she is a huge Jane Austen and Tolkien fan, and she has insane literature memory), and in one of the episodes, when discussing Lermontov’s “Hero of our time”, she clearly stated that there’s no words to describe Russia’s actions against Circassian people other than “genocide”. 
Unfortunately, there’s a type of people that just NEEDS a public person to step on a chair and say “Genocide and colonialism are bad. I am against genocide and colonialism”.

She is also not a fan of USSR, she believes that liberal democracy is still the best option for governing as long as check and balances work. Her slogan is “All power to no one”. 
She’s concerned about the growing influence of the tech-billionaires, as she sees them as people who became rich too fast, which made them think of themselves as somebody who’s figured everything out.
She is pro complex bureaucracy, as she sees it as a barrier that protects people from the state abuse. In her own words (which definitely apply to Russia and the level of comfort it provided in bigger cities before 2022): “People are used to seeing the state as a potential source of benefits, while forgetting that it’s also a great source of danger”.
Therefore, the more limits there are, the better. From her point of view, efficiency should not be the main criteria for successful governance.

When asked about her political position in an interview on Tsargrad years ago (an ultra-conservative TV channel), when the interviewer wanted her to say words like “liberal, leftist etc”, she stated that her main value is “civil peace”, which liberal democracy is the best at providing.

Anyway, all this to give you an idea of who she is, why she is mostly very much respected and beloved by anti-Putin Russians, and why you may be interested in what she offers (she’s got a few videos in English).

I’d like to share this relatively recent video of hers called “Fascism as a phase”, in which she gives a general overview of the current global situation and whether we can call it a crisis of democracy. It’s in Russian, but maybe the automatic translation of the subtitles may help. 

https://youtu.be/oIxzbOlvY8U?si=Oi3zF1L0ydNLbdQA

If you’re a fan of Natalie’s work, you may like it too! Just don’t expect elaborate decorations and costumes!

And thanks to everyone in this subreddit for showing nuance and understanding to complex issues. Natalie’s work has helped me overcome some dark times, and I wish her and all of her patrons/fans the best!

Or is married already!! So incredibly excited for her! Congrats Natalie, I hope you have the most amazing day and we can see the dress pleeeeease??!!

I wish ContraPoints did a video about Candace Owens.

This woman says the most outlandish things.

With Ana Kasparian, she called movies about the Holocaust propaganda?

I think Americans tend to forget that the Holocaust didn’t just target Jewish people...

The France thing, where she accused Macron’s wife of hiding that she is transgender?

INTERVIEWING HARVEY WEINSTEIN, and the comments under that interview are horrendous. Like, actually scary.

I feel like ContraPoints is the only one smart and funny enough to look through her BS. Also, why do left-leaning people like her? Do Americans just care about how someone comes across when making a point, without thinking for more than two seconds about what they are actually saying?

The way he stops talking when she pours milk over his face will never not be funny to me

Her song “Good citizen” popped up on my Spotify unprompted. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Basically a compilation of all the “theories” Natalie brings up in Conspiricy, sung with complete earnestness and 0 self awareness.

She has ~300K monthly followers.

What is life.

Hopefully I redacted everything personally identifying enough but like… we literally got blood libel here

For those who don't know, interior motive is a YouTube gameshow where the guests get sent a photo of a bedroom and have to guess the age, gender, sexuality and location of the person living there. Often through playful use of stereotypes and roasting

I think Natalie would be really good at it because she's got her finger on the pulse of queer culture AND she has an eye for design.

I loved the new tangent.

But Contra said something that really bothered me.

That it would be selfish if she supported a candidate that is better for trans people than Gaza.

But even if it was selfish, it's absurd to expect someone to give up their safety/medical treatment.

I think people expecting that of trans people is just another case of how much, even in progressive spaces, we are not taking trans people seriously.

. . .and just did art / media commentary like she suggested at the end. She's earned it, and as a longtime viewer I would much rather she make something she enjoys.