Second Thought

JT Chapman, better known as Second Thought, is an American socialist commentator and educational YouTuber. Initially a scientific educational project, the channel is most widely known for producing videos on various political topics from a Socialist perspective. In addition to an alternative channel offering advice to new and existing creators (JT Chapman), Second Thought works in two ongoing collaborative projects with Hakim and YUGOPNIK: the left-wing news channel First Thought; and as co-host of The Deprogram podcast. 
== History ==
=== 2016 - 2020 ===
From Second Thought's first video, released on October 14th, 2016, until early 2020, Second Thought focused predominantly on scientific educational content, including explanations of natural phenomena,Second Thought: THE LOUDEST SOUND IN HISTORYSecond Thought: Why Do We Dream? scientificSecond Thought: Is Time Travel Really Possible? and social theories,Is Prayer Actually Effective? as well as outlines of thought experiments.Second Thought: What if NASA had the US Military's Budget? Among this early work were releases of a political natureSecond Thought: Five Presidents Worse than Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton including, notably, the channel's first video, "The Unfortunate Truth About Mother Teresa" containing analysis from a mostly liberal centre-left political positionSecond Thought: How Big of a Threat is North Korea? that were reflective of the creator's political influences at the time.Reference to JT's support of Bernie Sanders during and following 2016 elections (The Deprogram #1: Introduction)
Most videos from this period ranged from around 5 - 7 minutes in length, seeing a steady evolution in production quality throughout the years in terms of art style and factuality. JT generally did not appear on-screen for videos in this period, with a cartoon cow often taking centre-stage instead.Second Thought: This Was Supposed to be a 10,000 Subscriber Thank You...
==== Nebula ====
Together with a number of other creators (such as Wendover Productions, RealLifeLore and Real Engineering), Second Thought was a founding member of the content streaming service Nebula, a response to the exploitation within the YouTube creator economy which boasted a mildly democratic management framework and equal company shares among the creators.Wendover Productions: How We Built a $150 Million Streaming Platform with $100,000 Following the platforms success, in part due to a minority stake being acquired by that increased the company value, JT would later bring other projects over the Nebula as well as co-write and host a Nebula exclusive productions, The New F Word, a miniseries analysing the origins and examples of .Twitter @_Second_Thought: "I’m thrilled to announce that the first episode of my Nebula original series, The New F-Word, is live!"
Second Thought and its associated channels were silently removed from Nebula in mid-October, 2023, following controversy related to the escalation of the Israel-Palestine conflict earlier in the month.Second Thought: Why You Should Be A Socialist In 2024
=== 2020-Present ===
On March 28th, 2020, following a period of investment in socialist political theory and citing "boredom" with producing science-based videosThe Deprogram #1: Introduction, Second Thought released "Capitalism And The American Pandemic Response", a much longer and more detailed video than was generally expected on the channel. JT has stated that he worked harder on this video than he had on any previous release and largely expected it to tank the channel, preparing to return to his previous job at should this occur.The Deprogram #1: Introduction To his "surprise", the video performed very well and received largely positive reception, sparking a fresh wave of creativity and a complete shift in focus of the channel toward anti-capitalist content.
The channel now posts detailed anti-capitalist content from a , and perspective, with many videos directly criticizing elements of the socio-economic and political system of the United States and other capitalist imperialist powers (the "imperial core") and offering the ways these could be realistically changed for the better. Most videos released on the channel now range between 15 - 25 minutes and benefit from a cohesive art style and direction, with numerous longer and more in-depth releases targeted against specific events such as the .Second Thought: How Corporate Greed Destroyed East Palestine
==== Means TV ====
Following the channel's departure from Nebula in late 2023, Second Thought's second video of 2024 teased that viewers should "go check out Means TV. No particular reason... Yet."Second Thought: What Happens When Evil Wins? A subsequent announcement video was released on February 29th, 2024, confirming that all Second Thought content (including The New F Word miniseries that was originally a Nebula exclusive) was now available on Means TV, the streaming service arm of the media worker cooperative .Second Thought: Second Thought Is Now On Means TV. JT shows his obvious enthusiasm at being part of a truly creator-owned cooperative platform that is "home to genuine, principled, anti-imperialist content" that includes other leading Leftist creators such as Luna Oi!, Mexie and Thought Slime.
== Other YouTube Channels ==
=== Grand Test Auto ===
In collaboration with then-fellow Nebula creators RealLifeLore and The Royal Ocean Film Society, Grand Test Auto was announced as an upcoming car review show in September, 2019.Second Thought: Second Thought + Real Life Lore = A Brand New Show! 37 videos were released on the channel between September, 2019, and May, 2020, after which the project appears to have been abandoned - this is likely due in part to restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as Second Thought's shift to political content during this time.
=== The Deprogram ===
In November 2021, together with fellow YouTube content creators Hakim and YUGOPNIK, JT began The Deprogram podcast: an international socialist podcast discussing a wide variety of subjects including , historical and current events as well as interviews with other Leftist figures and content creators (including Revolutionary Left Radio, HasanAbi and Tom Nicholas). The podcast releases regular weekly episodes on YouTube and most podcast platforms, as well as occasional livestreams on YouTube, sometimes prompting companion videos on the participants' YouTube channels that expand on discussed topics.
=== First Thought News ===
Following the success of The Deprogram and requests from the community, the three creators unveiled First Thought on April 1st 2023; an international news channel reporting with a self-described left-wing bias, with regular updates 3 times per week. Since the end of January, 2024, the channel has changed focus to in-depth analysis of geopolitical situations, which are released less frequently.
=== JT Chapman ===
JT released the first video on a self-titled channel (JT Chapman) on January 5th, 2024,JT Chapman: Why I'm Starting A New Channel having teased it in an earlier community post on the Second Thought channel.Second Thought | Community: "Crazy to think I've been working as a creative professional for a decade now..." In an alternating fortnightly release schedule with Second Thought,Second Thought: Are We The Baddies? the channel seeks encourage new and existing content creators while sharing advice on technical, economical and social aspects of running a YouTube channel.
== Personal life ==
JT currently lives in Texas with his wife and 2 dogs, Bandit and Bagel, and enjoys and The Deprogram #1: Introduction
In late 2022, JT and his wife celebrated the birth of a baby girl revealed to be named Evey.The Deprogram #89: FD Signifier
== Controversies ==
=== "Anti-Americanism" Accusations ===
Second Thought is criticized by many viewers and YouTubers as being overtly "anti-American"Actual Justice Warrior: Second Thought Is Anti American Trash and "pro-China", with others simply referring to the channel by the modern slang, "Tankie".Vaush: Second Thought Doesn't Understand Socialism Said critics argue that the channel's arguments detailing "U.S. authoritarianism" use "misleading data" and are hypocritical when factored against the 's own authoritarian measures, with the latter point receiving particular traction following the channel's use of a Mao-era propaganda poster as the thumbnail for the video released on October 8th, 2021, "The Importance Of Revolutionary Optimism". Second Thought would later clarify their views on authoritarianism in a video released October 20th, 2023, "We Need To Talk About "Authoritarianism"".
Following the release and demonetization of the video "The CIA is a Terrorist Organization" on the channel on November 27th, 2020, JT was questioned by the in response to reports of "anti-American sentiment".The Deprogram #47: Straight to Jail (Ft. loloverruled)
=== Comments on the October 7th Palestine-Israel conflict escalation ===
Following the escalation of the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict on 7th October, 2023, in which Hamas fighters carried out a surprise attack on numerous Israeli military and civilian targets (including a music festival being held close to the border of the Gaza Strip in Re'im), JT continued and amplified his long-standing vocal support for Palestinian liberation in the various projects he is part of on both YouTube and Nebula, with the other hosts of The Deprogram podcast doing similarly. While this largely constituted a perspective that the events described as an "unprecedented terror attack" by western news media and creators was, in fact, a military operation in response to the decades-long oppression of Palestine by Israel, some comments were very deliberately controversialClip of The Deprogram livestream discussing the October 7th events and surrounding context and sparked a large backlash from social media and other content creators.
===== Departure from Nebula =====
Numerous subscribers formed part of this backlash and demanded that the platform take down Second Thought and its associated channelsr/Nebula (Reference to deleted instances of these threads), resulting in the platform giving an ultimatum to "make a both-sides statement or leave the platform". JT, one of the founding members of the platform,Second Thought: Second Thought Is Now On Means TV.Wendover Productions: How We Built a $150 Million Streaming Platform with $100,000 chose to part ways with Nebula rather than "compromise [his and the other Deprogram hosts'] principles for business optics",Second Thought: Second Thought Is Now On Means TV. stating that a "both-sides" statement conflicts with what he believes is a "very black and white issue".Second Thought: Why You Should Be A Socialist In 2024 Nebula silently removed Second Thought and its associated content from Nebula around 18 - 19 Octoberr/TheDeprogram "Second Thought and First Thought just got silently removed from Nebula" which was celebrated by those calling for the result.Twitter @keffals: (Post about "success" RE: channel's removal from Nebula)
While JT has subsequently acknowledged the departure from Nebula, stating it was reasonably amicableSecond Thought: Second Thought Is Now On Means TV. with "no bad blood" and citing the positive aspects of being independent,Second Thought: Why You Should Be A Socialist In 2024 no statement has yet been put forward by Nebula as to the reason behind the removal.
== Subscriber milestones ==
*1,000,000 subscribers: January 21, 2021https://twitter.com/_SecondThought/status/1352270571921436673
== Trivia ==
*JT cites the 2016 presidential campaign as the beginning of his journey toward a socialist outlook.The Deprogram #1: Introduction
*JT is ordained and legally permitted to officiate weddings.The Deprogram #50: Pod About the Pod
*He has a self-proclaimed "addiction" to .The Deprogram #84: Hell On Cush Earth
*JT has a special disdain for the morning and those who thrive in it.The Deprogram #56: World Cup Deez N*ts
*JT is a member of the and frequently creates content for the party.Reddit r/ModernSocialist: "A small portion of Youtuber (second thought) JT Chapman’s speech at the CPUSA’s international conference on imperialism earlier today"Reddit r/TheDeprogram: "Comrade Chapman’s Message to the CPUSA’s International Conference on Imperialism"Twitter @_Second_Thought: "Literally made a video about that for CPUSA"
== Gallery ==
File:2ndthought.jpg|Former profile picture
== References ==
Category:Commentary YouTubers
Category:Educational YouTubers
Category:Animation YouTubers
Category:American YouTubers
Category:Users who joined in 2016
Category:One million subscribers