I feel that Destin (SmarterEveryDay on Youtube) is straying from the path

Eh, I don't share his beliefs, but I don't have any issues with people who believe in God, or are religious, even devoutly so, as long as they're not using it to promote harm, or being overly preachy/prostheletizing.

I don't see Destin as ever doing any of those things. He's obviously a Christian, and it's an important part of his life, so I'd expect that his channel, which is largely based on him as a person, would share a little bit of that. I don't think he's a creationist or anti science at all. I don't see any problem with saying "this thing is cool and I want to thank God that things like this exist"

I have similar feelings as an atheist when I'm excited about something; not about God obviously, but I get thankful that things exist the way they do, and I'm certain if I were religious, I'd be specifically thanking God about it.

About the Sir thing, yes, it's 100% a cultural southern US thing. I live here and moved down from the northeast when I was a kid, and it was very jarring to me back then too. A lot of my friends called their parents sir/ma'am growing up, and I even got in trouble a few times for not also calling them sir/ma'am. It's not explicitly a religious thing, even though there is a strong correlation. I agree that it also makes me uncomfortable, but I'd chalk that up more to a me problem than a them problem; it's definitely very common down here, if not a norm. It's not only radical Christians that do it, although most of them definitely do.

Overall, no, I don't have any issues with him. He's a southerner, and very much is part of southern culture, but he's never been racist, ignorant, mean spirited, abusive, or overzealous as far as I know, so he's a ok in my book. He also seems like a very nice guy.

I don't have a lot to add, but it's almost eerie how much this sounds like I could've written it myself!

"Humble" is exactly the word that comes to mind when watching him, and it's something I have a lot of respect for in someone as clearly intelligent and successful as he is. The "sir" thing stands out to me too, it's always felt awkwardly formal and hierarchical - both qualities that I do not respect - and the bible references at the end make me faintly uncomfortable.

But I've also always questioned myself on both of those things: am I right to make assumptions based on how he and his family refer to each other? It's clearly a different cultural norm to my own, but perhaps I'd be more naturally open minded about it if it were a radically different culture rather than one that's juuust close enough to be uncomfortable? Am I justified in feeling twitchy about the bible verses, given how often that the same technique is used as a shield for people doing awful things? Or should I be all the more pleased to see someone who actually seems to honestly embody the positive side of the morality that Christians try to lay claim to?

I've never come to a satisfying answer! I'm genuinely ambivalent, sometimes I feel like I'm being a judgmental asshole about someone who seems to be an decent person in pretty much all the ways that matter, other times I think it's only reasonable to at least be wary of patterns I've seen in people doing harm far, far more often than in people doing good.

That's not much of a conclusion, but I wanted to acknowledge how much the line of thinking resonates, at least. For what it's worth I haven't noticed these things particularly ramping up or down, but I also don't watch every single video, and I normally skip the ones that don't have a very specific engineering focus, so maybe I'm not getting the full picture.

Grew up in the south, kids calling parents sir/ma'am is reserved for the same types conservative traditionalist groups you mentioned. However, it's seen as normal depending on who you talk to.

I have largely felt the same about his channel over the last few years, however that Pompeii video I just clicked off of. Didn't even finish it. I'm of the opinion that if you dip even one toe into that area, you're definitely just hiding your actual beliefs and it leaks through in his content more recently. Whether or not this has to do with the growing political issues in the US, I don't know. But it's definitely there!

I don't particularly enjoy the Christian undertone of his content, but at least for the most part it's the good bits of Christianity (charity, kindness, respect for fellow man, etc.) rather than more common fake, American style of it. The "sir" thing rubs me the wrong way because my dad tried that shit with me as a teenager and I did not take to it and I resent it. Heck I've kind of flipped it on its head by throwing in a respectful "sir" or "ma'am" when talking to my kids from time to time. I'd probably tell them not to call me that if they tried to return the favor...

But anyway of all the educational YouTubers I've watched over the last decade or so, he's one of the only ones that has stuck to his core mission of education without dumbing it down to appeal to a broader audience. You mention Rober, but my problem with him is less "omg NASA" and more that he has super dumbed his content down to be more appealing and is constantly trying to sell his subscription box. There are no in-depth videos, just "we built a cool thing, here's a sped up montage and some ultra high-level explanation".

Destin on the other hand has focused on becoming a better educator more capable of explaining complex topics. I can't even get into Veritasium's stuff. I watched their "Rods From God" video and they half-assed it so badly that it soured me on the entire channel. So it's basically down to just Destin if I want high-quality educational content.

I don't really know where I'm going with this... I do wish Destin would keep the life stuff on a separate channel (which is what most YouTubers do), but I can easily ignore them if it means he still cranks out high-quality stuff.

I mostly watch Destin because he's the most positive human I can imagine. He's basically a Golden Retriever in human form. I believe he could walk up to almost any stranger in any part of the world and become friends. He always seems genuinely interested in every person he meets, even if it's some grumpy old redneck dipshit with a gun. It's always a joy to watch him meet new people.

In S3 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Captain Pike prays to god to save his girlfriend's life.

The Prime Directive/General Order 1 would require him to walk away from an entire civilization that was embroiled in religious war. But when his girlfriend is sick, he switches to prayer. This man has seen more of the universe than any other human, with other species, bi-peds, and god-like-entities, and he decides to start spreading Christianity through the cosmos, because his girlfriend is sick.

The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, until it's convenient.

Destin can probably expand his audience, make more money, and become a good Christian by spreading the word. It will push his average audience closer to the top of the bell-curve. And unfortunately, that 100 IQ sweet spot, isn't very intelligent.

I essentially agree with you on most points, but having been both raised in conservative evangelical Christianity in America and stayed in that for 20+ years before undergoing a long journey and becoming an atheist for the past 15-20 years, it doesn't surprise me that it's turned out this way.

The "sir" thing was a feature of how I was raised too. There's a very patriarchal / traditional / antiquated "language of respect" kind of attitude I think that comes out of (it's so normalized that even now it doesn't always immediately sound odd to me)

This is a kind of discussion that could go into some very deep rabbit holes about the psychology, mental gymnastics, cultural/familial aspects, indoctrination, America's unique baggage, etc but i will digress from digging into those other than to say it's unsurprising and at least for me personally disappointing (especially when it's someone talking science-y) but i have been on the other side of things so i get it. Speaking for myself I was in a bubble of religious worldview and that was all I knew for decades and I know what it's like to be inside that and have your entire architecture of life built to keep you there and give you whatever tools are necessary to workaround any questions or problems or whatever. I am just so glad to be free of it all now, but I very deeply understand what it is like to be on the other end- to be the believer. While that perspective has given me some anti-religious fervor at times (aimed at ideas and claims and organizations and political activity, not quiet everyday believers), i try to always remember how that was me at one point

A couple of creators I have enjoyed have turned out to have some religious connections/backgrounds. It definitely depends on how much it directly bleeds into their content as far as if it affects my decision to watch.

I even might have some qualms with the "made in the USA" stuff, not because I think it's bad for us to do more manufacturing and production and such in the US (that's all fine and good) but because of the weird isolationism, patriotism, nationalism, etc those conversations and supporters often fall into which I refuse to even remotely be associated with. There's a certain kind of blanket "China makes low quality things" sentiment that has a xenophobic bent to it that rubs me the wrong way (many of your quality electronics are also made there, etc, nuance is required) and so on. Not all made in the US products are good either... I am okay with buying things made elsewhere or made here with materials sourced elsewhere. I am a global citizen more than I am a citizen of any nation (certainly have no problem wanting things to be better for us here, including opportunities and trades and capabilities, as long as it's done mindfully)

But yeah- i totally get how you feel about this but it's so commonplace in America that to me it's almost more surprising when someone turns out NOT to be religious

Ultimately a while back I did decide to unsubscribe from SmarterEveryDay as a personal decision, actually more related to the made in the USA thing than religion (I actually hadn't noticed the verses or the references/implications made but those might have done it for me too). To be completely fair- I felt like he was relatively respectful and honest and avoided going too weird with that USA episode but something still just felt iffy to me. Maybe it's more of a personal thing for me of the vibes I get from those kinds of sentiments anymore

I can see where you're coming from as I've mostly enjoyed the videos he's come up with as well. That said I feel you can always separate the artist from the art and even in certain situations where the artist has a weird take, it doesn't necessarily have to mean that the entire artist is now spoiled.

One example where this did go the other way was with What I've Learned. Joseph used to heavily focus on nutrition and the relationship to the brain. There were a lot of sources mentioned and it was very concise and informative. Until a few years ago when I noticed him leaning into getting to interview good ol' Jordan Peterson which at that time already became somewhat of a questionable figure in his field.

I think Destin is free to belief what he wants, he can make the content that he wants, but will realize that if his views on ideology and/or theology also get a bigger role in it, he will lose viewers. It's up to him how to deal with that realization. Be it blaming non-creationists for being wrong or accepting that this doesn't help his content. Mostlikely it'll end up being something in between.

I'm curious how many folks in this discussion have friends and/or family who are religious. I'm not religious at all, but I used to be and I do have friends and family who are.

Religion is something that many folks consider to be a part of who they are. Sometimes that comes out in everyday conversation, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it comes out in a way that may feel like too much for the listener. If that happens often, you then need to decide if your relationship is worth tolerating that, or if it can hold up to an honest conversation where you explain how you feel.

One of my favorite YouTubers casually throws the phrase, "The Good Lord's ..." around a few times in almost every video (along with declaring several vegetables the Lord's delivery system for breading, which I think is pretty funny). I feel like asking her to stop would be straight up censorship, and that it would make creating the videos less fun for her.

You do have one option besides walking away, which is to bring up how you feel directly to the creator, obviously in a respectful way. Not anything public like a YouTube comment, he's probably got an email address or some other way to message him directly listed somewhere.