Why should you support Then & Now?

First, because you can see the scripts early, find out what’s coming up, see the videos early, get your name in the credits, and get access to the Discord server to discuss Then & Now themes and ask me anything. You can do so on Patreon here, if I’ve not convinced you yet, read on…

I get it, every YouTube channel and podcast now comes with a request for support. Which is fine, I believe wholeheartedly in independent content and journalism of all types. But I don’t want to just ask for your money, I want to justify it.

So why choose to support my content instead of any of the thousand other Youtube channels?

First, Then & Now videos take a long time to make. I publish a bibliography with each release, and I do my research, reading several books and many scholarly articles on each topic. I read what everyone has to say, and the information is fully referenced.

This attention to detail and academic approach is guided by my BA in History and Politics and MA in History. Both first class honours.

I’m often researching videos for months before I start producing a script. Most comparable content on Youtube relies on shoddy and shallow articles, Wikipedia, and other videos, and focuses on pumping out content. I focus on quality.

Having videos based on deep scholarly research is obviously important, but I believe the methodology I use is underserved, too.

If you’ve watched more than one Then & Now episode, you might have picked up on a loose theme.

I liked to take the trends, ideas, and issues I think are important and try to understand them is deeply as possible, historically and philosophically. This sometimes makes the videos demanding to watch, and demanding research. But I believe its fundamentally important that we have spaces that don’t surrender to quick and easy takes, throwaway content, personalities, drama and soundbites.

I try and dig deeply into what’s important – how we think, what we believe, what our mentalities, and sensibilities are, and so I sometimes circle around on topics, digging deeper, and, hopefully, contributing to our understanding of ourselves in a meaningful way. I’m searching for genealogies in history and first principles in philosophy.

You can read more about what I believe here.

Finally, it’s the Wild West out there. We’re up against bad content selling us biased talking points with deep pockets. The digital content landscape is full of takes and viewpoints that need countering. We need well-researched analysis more than ever.

So if you think having a space for longform, well-researched, careful videos is important, and you can spare a dollar or two a month, which goes on reinvesting into those videos with new cameras, lenses, lighting, books, then thank you.

The most effective way to support Then & Now is on Patreon, where you’ll get videos and scripts early and ad-free, get your name in the credits, and get access to the Discord server to discuss the videos and ask me anything. You’ll also get access to courses such as my Thinking Differently About History course. Sign up at: https://www.patreon.com/thenandnow

I know its repetitive, but it also cannot be overstated how helpful it is to subscribe, hit that bell, like the videos, and follow on Twitter & Instagram. All of it helps boost new videos.

Most of all, thank you.
Lewis