I think there's something more serious to be said about how uniquely catastrophizing american culture has been for the past 100 years. No empire before the American Empire has so busied itself with its own inevitable end. Movies, books and entire academic careers have crowed about the eventual demise of the United States. This has been ongoing ever since the 'untamed frontier up for grabs' reached the pacific and there was no native or mexican land to redistribute. Often that energy is harnessed in a cynical way too, to spur politics within one talks about the prowess of the Soviets in the high cold war, one envisions a future dominated by Japan in the 1980s and, now, China is at the forefront whenever Israeli demands do not require that the War on Terror be kicked into gear yet again.

So I think there's a strong and even organic demand for videos that confirm certain myths that are baked into internet culture. Goldbugs love videos about the rise of China and dedollarization. Europeans and Americans who are less hostile towards and moreso baffled at the incompetence of local government too add to that demand. And, of course, right wing brainworms will cultivate anything that veers towards 'liberal multicultural pro gay west is dying, the triumph belongs to Russia'. And it's not just westerners either, Asia is very big and has its own contituencies that consume the same things. Hence people like Kishore Mahbubani and Lee Kuan Yew.

I'm probably a year ahead of you because I do watch a handful of interesting commentators often enough and avoiding the chaff doesn't mean my algo will get any better. But I think having a LKY video recommended is only less inevitable than the outright liberal to fascist pipeline that YouTube actively cultivates.