An Elephant Update

Friends —

I haven’t written in awhile, but work life got busy. I kept meaning to sit down and write, and then a month passed by quickly.

My video channel “Elephants In Rooms” has been growing more quickly than I expected. It’s just passed a half-million subscribers, and the average video is now viewed by 400,000 people.

I never really thought that I’d be a “YouTuber” at age 60, but here we are. Stranger things have happened, I suppose.

It’s extraordinary growth, so … what’s going on?

Actually, I’m using a simple trick that’s been forgotten by the media class: I do my best to fairly explain the relevant sides of a story. I’m not trying to convince anyone of anything, and I don’t bother even thinking about whether the facts I present will bother any of my viewers.

As it turns out, there’s a real appetite for nuanced conversation. Not in the overt political space where everyone’s already dug in. But in the adjacent areas, like history or culture. The fun, often uncomfortable topics that don’t fit neatly into red or blue boxes.

People can be open-minded when you sidestep the partisanship, and they’ll actually listen to arguments they disagree with. They may disagree, but they can understand and debate the complexity. They just need someone to trust they’re not being manipulated.

An Unexpected Audience

Many of you reading this are conservative. You’ve been here from the early days. But lately we’ve seen a wave of new subscribers from an unlikely source—a recommendation by Joy-Ann Reid. Her audience started showing up, watching, engaging.

That’s exactly what I hoped could happen. Not that everyone would agree. But that people across the spectrum would watch the same video and come away thinking rather than simply reacting.

Here are some of the latest videos I’ve produced. You can check any of them out by clicking here or the image below.

Thanks for sticking around!

— Ken

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