Alex O'Connor

Alex J. O’Connor, (born: )https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIEewg701pMhttps://twitter.com/cosmicskeptic better known online as CosmicSkeptic, is an English YouTuber who uploads debates and arguments about religion, morality and (formerly) veganism. He is reading for a degree in philosophy and theology at St John’s College at Oxford University, and is an atheist.
==Personal life==
Alex was born on March 27, 1999 and grew up in Blackbird Leys, Oxford. https://twitter.com/CosmicSkeptic/status/1252016774763163648 He was raised Catholic.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrfBFZggqhg His father left his home when Alex was nine years old.https://twitter.com/CosmicSkeptic/status/1262395538906939399 His mother later left work due to cancer.https://twitter.com/CosmicSkeptic/status/1252016774763163648
When he first did his A-levels, he got DDDU grades. He then took them again with different subjects, and got A*AA, the grades needed to get into Oxford University.https://twitter.com/CosmicSkeptic/status/1181302759502405632
=== Veganism ===
Alex gave up animal products on April 12, 2019.https://twitter.com/CosmicSkeptic/status/1249402030780829697 He was an advocate for veganism and animal rights. He has discussed this position in videos with Matt Dillahuntyhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAOzGNFamgQ, Earthling Edhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-BTN8Ajs04, Peter Singerhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSEfiPm_YRE, and Joey Carbstronghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3tEeantDzA. He also convinced Genetically Modified Skeptic to become vegetarian.https://twitter.com/gm_skeptic/status/1212553527404486656
He has also discussed the topic with Telltale, who controversially suggested that veganism is an extremist position.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZVckXynaC8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HGsl86FXgU Alex called this stance “not only ridiculous but dangerous”.https://twitter.com/CosmicSkeptic/status/1217934082887372800
on February 13, 2023, Alex announced via a community post on his YouTube channel that he is not anymore vegan, and has gone back to eating animal products. On March 10, 2023, Alex made a 15-minute video further elaborating on his community post and explaining his reasoning for quitting veganism more in detail. Various vegan YouTubers, such as Lifting Vegan Logic and Joey Carbstrong responded to his community post,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIbHcjR1mgohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR-W5EjYmnA and later his video as well.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY-0TxoK_J4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVdWCr_sOn8
==Controversies==
=== Debate With Mohammed Hijab ===
On May 2, 2019, Alex debated the idea that Islam explains reality better than atheism, with Mohammed Hijab and Abdullah al Andalusi, at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n-zYRZy5NQ There was criticism of the debate, including accusations of Mohammed “strawmanning” Alex (the practice of misrepresenting someone else’s argument)https://twitter.com/CosmicSkeptic/status/1148951065347403776, and people interrupting each other.https://twitter.com/CosmicSkeptic/status/1128771443590746114
On May 17, 2020, Mohammed accused Alex of racism.https://twitter.com/CosmicSkeptic/status/1262103434372710408 On May 18, 2020, Mohammed stated that he had been called a terrorist by supporters of Alex.https://twitter.com/mohammed_hijab/status/1262392872625737731Alex responded in a tweet saying he was “just as disgusted”. He urged people to not “throw words like ‘terrorist’ around lightly”, and that he did not support such accusations.https://twitter.com/CosmicSkeptic/status/1262393342580711425
On May 18, 2020, Alex tweeted a video of Mohammed saying that the Cowley area of Oxford was “All Muslim” and that “you don’t want to make enemies”. Many interpreted the statements as threatening, and urged Alex to report Mohammed.https://twitter.com/CosmicSkeptic/status/1262356641225281542
‪The ‬Islamic Education and Research Academy (‪iERA) originally offered that Alex could upload a specified section of the debate, but not in full, to his channel, four weeks after they had uploaded it. He thought this seemed reasonable at the time, since they had provided the filming.‬https://twitter.com/CosmicSkeptic/status/1261310896850243587 Their conditions were that Alex should not edit the clip or restrict or manipulate the comments section, and that he should properly credit the iERA as the owners of the footage. Alex stated that these conditions were not respected by the iERA.https://twitter.com/CosmicSkeptic/status/1261311188744515584https://twitter.com/CosmicSkeptic/status/1261311535676301316https://twitter.com/CosmicSkeptic/status/1261311700193742848 Alex also stated that the iERA edited the footage to add separately filmed content that appeared to have been said in the original debate, but was not. He supported this by pointing out discontinuity in the video.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2JLLIb6A2M&t=333shttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2JLLIb6A2M&t=464sOn May 18, 2020, Alex said the iERA had told him he couldn’t have the footage of the debate because the camera men had to be paid. https://twitter.com/CosmicSkeptic/status/1262353246582190088 Alex was later given permission to upload only the opening statements of the debate, and stated in the comments that “the original upload has around 1.25 million views, and yet only around 700 comments” and that “this gives a false impression of public perception and negates the whole purpose of having an open discussion.”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxviXaL8pUs Before this, Alex had offered to donate all revenue from the full video of the debate to any charity of Mohammed Hijab’s choice, or directly to iERA, or turn to advertisements off.https://twitter.com/CosmicSkeptic/status/1296519698004180992
On May 17, Alex uploaded EXPOSED: Mohammed Hijab's DISHONESTY | **DEBATE REVIEW**. He stated that the title was deliberately “clickbaity”, as Mohammed had also used clickbait. Alex wrote in a comment “I can do clickbait too, Mohammed.”
Mohammed also quoted Alex quoting somebody else, relating to the idea that something came from nothing, and said this was a claim that Alex was making, that he would then have to defend. The statement came from a video about the Kalam Cosmological Argument, in which he granted a premise for the sake of argument.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JibSTglpnU&t=819shttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2JLLIb6A2M&t=1178s
Alex also pointed out Mohammed using the Tu Quoque fallacy in relation to a point about morality.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2JLLIb6A2M&t=3211s
On July 10, 2019, Alex alleged that Mohammed controlled comments on the video, and removed critical comments, stating that there were “a disproportionately tiny number of comments for a video with nearly half a million views”. He also stated that his own comment failed to appear, and that he emailed Mohammed’s team about it.https://twitter.com/CosmicSkeptic/status/1148944414473183233https://twitter.com/CosmicSkeptic/status/1261310416438902795
Holy Koolaid tested the hypothesis that Mohammed was controlling comments by leaving one of his own, accusing him of dishonesty. Alex could not find the comment.https://twitter.com/holykoolaid/status/1262107707311620096https://twitter.com/CosmicSkeptic/status/1262108031447416833
At one point during the debate, Alex was referencing a verse in the Qur'an about wife-hitting, and his microphone cut out. He left a comment transcribing what was said at that point, which disappeared. Alex also argued that the error could have been fixed during editing, but was not, unlike when Mohammed had a similar error at the beginning of the debate.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2JLLIb6A2M&t=882s
==Trivia==
*Fans have a running joke about an unusual chest of drawers. Alex does not know where he got them. They can be seen in the background of this video.
*He plays guitar, and used to be in a band.https://www.instagram.com/p/BYbkMMUldHP/ His first YouTube videos were guitar videos.
*In 2019, he appeared on Channel 4 News, discussing free speech. https://twitter.com/Channel4News/status/1092032497326714880
*Some fans have said that he looks like Genetically Modified Skeptic.https://twitter.com/gm_skeptic/status/1171874547836104704
==References==
Category:English YouTubers
Category:Commentary YouTubers
Category:Music YouTubers
Category:Users who joined in 2013