Oppenheimer: Why Tell Stories of Great Bad Men

This started out as a video essay about Oppenheimer and suddenly I had several tangents about pharaohs, impressionism, and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
If you liked the video, consider a tip! paypal.me/josemld
Featuring the voice talents of!
Sam Richardson pestcontrol.transistor.fm/
Sarah from ‪@TheLeftistCooks‬
Zack Paslay ‪@ZackPaslay‬
Hoots ‪@hootsyoutube‬
Simón Gómez
Camilo Vargas 💛
Other Video Essays:
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The Ancestral Storytelling of Over the Garden Wall: • The Ancestral Storytel...
How Movies Design Los Angeles: • How Movies Design Los ...
Wes Anderson: Style and Substance and Being Alive: • Wes Anderson: Style an...
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SECTIONS
0:00 - Intro: Rosebud
05:01 - Part 1: A Rotten Crowd
23:40 - Part 2: Creators and Destroyers of Worlds
37:24 - Part 3: Holding Prometheus Accountable
53:52 - Part 4: Escaping the Labyrinth
1:09:12 - Part 5: Finishing the Hat
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SOURCES
BOOKS
-Bird, Kai and Sherwin, Martin J. American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer (2005)
-Lebo, Harlan. Citizen Kane: A Filmmaker’s Journey (2016)
-.Darnell, Colleen and Darnell, John Coleman. Egypt's Golden Couple: When Akhenaten and Nefertiti Were Gods on Earth (2022)
-García Márquez, Gabriel. The General in His Labyrinth (1989)
-Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. (1925)
-Arendt, Hannah. The Human Condition (1958)
-Eliade, Mircea. The Sacred and the Profane (1957)
FILM
-The Battle Over Citizen Kane (1996) dir. Thomas Lennon and Michael Epstein, PBS
-Citizen Kane (1941) dir. Orson Welles, RKO
-The Day After Trinity (1981) dir. Jon H. Else, KTEH
-Elizabeth (1998) dir. Shekhar Kapur, PolyGram Entertainment
-The Favourite (2018) dir. Yorgos Lanthimos, Fox Searchlight
-Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) dir. John Hughes, Paramount
-Frankenstein (1931) dir. James Whale, Universal
-The Great Gatsby (2013) dir. Baz Luhrmann, Warner Bros.
-Jackie (2016) dir. Pablo Larraín, Fox Searchlight
-Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) dir. Martin Scorsese, Paramount & Apple
-Mank (2020) dir. David Fincher, Netflix
-Marie Antoinette (2006) dir. Sofia Coppola, Columbia Pictures
-Oppenheimer (2023) dir. Christopher Nolan, Universal Pictures
-Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) dir. David Hand, Walt Disney Studios
-Tár (2022) dir. Todd Field, Focus Features
-Titanic (1997) dir. James Cameron
-The Wind Rises (2013) dir. Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli
SHOWS
-The Crown, “Act of God” (2016) dir. Julian Jarrold, Netflix
-"Hyde Park Corner" (2016) dir. Stephen Daldry
-“Olding” (2019) dir. Benjamin Caron
-Dahmer-Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, “Bad Meat” (2022) dir. Carl Franklin, Netflix
-The Great, "The Beaver's Nose" (2020) dir. Geeta Patel, Hulu
-Hercules: The Animated Series, “The Prometheus Affair” (1998) dir. Phil Weinstein, Walt Disney Television Animation
-Veep, "Veep" (2019) dir. David Mandel, HBO
STAGE
-Ahknaten, Phillip Glass, dir. Achim Freyer, Phelim McDermott, and Nanine Linning
-Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda, dir. Thomas Kail
-Newsies, Alan Menken, Jack Feldman, and Harvey Fierstein, dir. Jeff Calhoun
-Sunday in the Park with George, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, dir. James Lapine
PUBLICATIONS
-Zemler, Emily. “Critics say omitting the Japanese toll makes ‘Oppenheimer’ ‘morally half-formed’ Los Angeles Times, 4 Aug, 2023. www.latimes.com/entertainment...
-Strate, Lance. “Death and the Public Realm” HAC Bard, 13 May, 2013. hac.bard.edu/amor-mundi/death...
-Zacharek, Stephanie. “The Ending of Killers of the Flower Moon Is Astonishing” Time Magazine, 20 Oct, 2023. time.com/6326449/killers-of-t...
-McCurry, Justin. “Japanese Animator Under Fire for Film Tribute to Warplane Designer” The Guardian, 22 Aug, 2013. www.theguardian.com/world/201...
-Raggio, Olga. “The Myth of Prometheus: Its Survival and Metamorphoses up to the Eighteenth Century.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, vol. 21, no. 1/2, 1958, pp. 44-62. JSTOR, doi.org/10.2307/750486
-Kruse, Horst. “The Real Jay Gatsby: Max von Gerlach, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the Compositional History of ‘The Great Gatsby.’” The F. Scott Fitzgerald Review, vol. 1, 2002, pp. 45-83. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41583032
-Álvarez Borland, Isabel. “The Task of the Historian in El General en su Laberinto” College of the Holy Cross, Sep 1993. crossworks.holycross.edu/cgi/...

[@matthewschoen9827]

I'd subscribe to promethus's only fans

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yep. take my drachmas

[@omnipotentbanana1576]

Here before the inevitable kissinger biopic in 20 years

[@soupstoreclothing]

you're giving me war flashbacks from the future

[@felipevalerio3438]

When you mentioned how Orson Welles was exploring what he could have become when making Citizen Kane, I remembered a video I saw of Paul Schrader talking about how he wrote Taxi Driver as a way to exorcize himself from the anxieties he had at the time. Like he created Travis Bickle as a way not become him. Which makes me wonder if this isn't the same thing Nolan does with his movies: creative deeply obsessive people who may bring damnation to the people around them.

[@c-r]

This will blow up or it's an unjust world or both

[@lorriechristian7164]

More than likely both 😄

[@sleepinbelle9627]

^Quote from J. Robert Oppenheimer

[@Non-Legit]

Both Fr

[@invalidavatar]

well i’ve just found it in my feed so let’s hope for that

[@NotBamOrBing]

I mean it's pretty clearly an unjust world

[@ValerieEnriquez]

The algorithm brought me here and I am surprised I had never seen any of your other work before. Multiple hours-long video essays on film, literature, pop culture and random tangents are my jam. Definitely checking out your Roger Rabbit and LA Mass Transit video since I'm also a nerd about urban planning. Also thank you for listing out your sources in the description.

[@soupstoreclothing]

MORE 👏 GREAT 👏 BAD 👏 WOMEN 👏

[@lararys7765]

Support women's rights and women's wrongs !!!

[@isabelhowden-ferme3092]

A great 'paper' (really it was a speech delivered in 1994) on this topic is Margret Atwood's 'Spotty Handed Villanesses'. Here's a link for an online copy: syllabus.nesa.nsw.edu.au/assets/global/files/margaret-atwood-speech-2019-2023-english-prescriptions.pdf

[@Of_infinite_Faith]

Damn I'm glad you brought up Tar. Its great that you could draw a connection between Tar and Oppenheimer

[@jesustovar2549]

Both movies produced by Universal, easily my favorites, I''m a classical music expert and already knew things about Oppenheimer, so I was the target audience. Btw, Focus Features is my go-to film house for quality films, never dissapoints me (except the 50 Shadows trilogy, ugh), same with Searchlight Pictures.

[@BryonyClaire]

This was fascinating, I'm amazed at your production value with only around 1k subs, too! I'm positive your channel will blow up

[@JoseMariaLuna]

Thank you so much! This means the world!

[@woweethebard9439]

Literally a combination of my favorite movie this year, the last 2 books I studied and annotated in English, and a link to some of my favorite musicals this essay had some very interesting connections

[@hootsyoutube]

This video is outstanding.

[@noctap0d]

1:00:15 Thanks for this ❤❤❤ I've never seen Hamilton as an endorsement but as an examination of our own society through the framing of history and at the same time making a musical that kicks ass. Is great to hear someone going deeper into that aspect in a nuanced way.

[@soupstoreclothing]

i've always hated hamilton but when he framed it this way i did change my mind a little bit. that doesn't excuse the fact that lin-manuel miranda supports fracking and enriches himself through the exploitation of other people though lol. i still hate it but i can appreciate the commentary from his (this channel's) perspective.

[@bigtimebutterbaron8873]

​@@soupstoreclothingHaven't been able to find anything on him supporting fracking on Google; could you point me in the right direction to get informed?

[@desdar100]

​@@soupstoreclothing he isn't though? Contrary to popular belief Hamilton was the creation of him, the rapper black thought, and Questlove. He very much work with a variety of black artists and producers to make the play a reality, and it's not like he's trying to make the statement that the founders were indeed good actually

[@angelsubs1114]

your videos remind me of a more cinema-centric version of philosophy tube with your own incredibly charming personality!! I see you blowing up very soon because you're truly a gift to the youtube video essay niche!!!

[@JoseMariaLuna]

This means so much to me! Thank you! 🥹

[@mikkosaarinen3225]

Yes!! The Prometheus scene immediately brought Abigail to my mind.

[@tammyragsdale2007]

This is a masterpiece. Thank you so much for all the work you had to have put into it.

[@JoseMariaLuna]

Thank you for your incredibly generous words!

[@zenleeparadise]

Probably the best video essay of the year

[@AugustRx]

what's worse than all of these people? The sheer cruelty of the algorithm for not recommending this to me earlier.

[@kalka1l]

I am blown away by the segue from Killers of the Flower Moon to El General y su Laberinto. Stunning.

[@OrganicCyborg]

I had this bookmarked so I could sit down and really enjoy it, and it was worth the wait. Wonderful work!

[@stbananastein]

Dang, feel like I'm getting in kind of early on a channel that is going to really pop off. The writing, the editing, everything. This is top-tier stuff, thank you for putting it out there!

[@skateisdestiny]

This is incredible!! The amount of research! the level of depth and nuance! The cited works! Also lowkey wanna read this novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez now. Phew that was mindblowing. Thanks for your time on this. Also, really love this take on Hamilton btw.

[@manicpixie7024]

Yessss I've been longing for another of your video essays! The sets, the costumes, the essay itself, just *chefs kiss* !

[@ghazaln]

Amazing work! Thank you 🙏🏼

[@rachels.8051]

This was such an incredible video essay! Thank you for this work - it is sincerely appreciated.

[@wolborg105]

Fantastic and thorough essay that really engaged with the material at hand. I have been saying The Wind Rises is a mirror to Nolan's Oppenheimer since the latter's release and I'm glad someone else noticed this as well. Earned my sub for sure and this is one of my new favorite film essays!!!!

[@GustavoSuperSonic2001]

No esperaba una mención de Simon Bolivar, exelente trabajo. Ojala un dia puedas hablar de el, pq suena facinante la forma en la que contaste esta historia

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[@InfinityStyk]

i'm so happy this came up on my recommended - thank you for all the work and thought you put into this!! now i'm excited to go listen to more of what you've created :D

[@meala23]

Yes, this is excellent! I love how you have woven so many significant works of art into this essay, some of which I'm going to make sure to watch next. Thank yo❤

[@rudetuesday]

This is so good. I really appreciate how you tell a story.

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caelan conrad sent me and i'm already in love with your work only 3 minutes in. subscribed and can't wait to binge your entire channel!

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I’m here because of Caelan and I’m not disappointed. I’m excited to have more amazing long-form content to watch while I craft

[@TooMuchG]

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[@darrowblue]

Great Video :) I also loved the costumes, especially the 'classical' one

[@KWilliamWhite]

Every single one just keeps getting better and better! Your craft here is so inspiring José!

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Commenting to boost this!! Really great work!! Hope you keep making stuff

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This is amazing!!

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This is such an excellent video essay and is a total attention grabber. Aside from the actual content your costumes and set changes were a great addition.

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This was AMAZING

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Awesome work as always. I've recommended your channel on my social several times. I hope you get more subscribers because your content is on par with the largest creators in this genre.

[@JoseMariaLuna]

Incredibly flattering! Thank you for spreading the word!

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[@writethepath8354]

Great essay ✨️

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Yo this is a underdog banger for best KZbin essays of the year.

[@JoseMariaLuna]

This means so much! Thank you!

[@SmehmahhKamma]

Your lighting is beautiful. I really didn’t think I’d ever find a way to appreciate Hamilton so good job all the way around!

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This is such excellent quality. It is a crime that your subscriber count isn’t higher.

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friends, i believe we are witnessing the beginning of one of the great video essayists

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this is awesome; looking forward to seeing what comes next :)

[@comrade_mikey6138]

to those who visit without commenting: comment anyway to boost this creator; they def deserve the engagement!

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@@comrade_mikey6138 lol look through the recent comments i'm trying my hardest here

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[@Tramadol_is_my_boyfriend]

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This is a great video. Happy new year.

[@JoseMariaLuna]

Thank you so much!

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Outstanding essay. 💜

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it really was

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I’m here from Twitter and feeling pretty excited!

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[@weevala]

Just led here from Calem’s recommendation; sooooo good! 👏👏👏👏. Subscribing ASAP, telling others, & I look forward to more video essays. TY for this great work you do

[@AnIdiotsLantern]

With contrapoints mostly retired and Abagail Thorn on Nebula making movies, we’ve badly needed more video essays with mood lighting and costumes. Fantastic work. Thank you. Followed

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Great essay!

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Great video!

[@aigadibujos]

ya siento que te amo❤ que buen video chinooooo. This video was in my watch later list for days and I’m so glad I finally watched it❤❤❤ who knew 2024 would bring me a video where both Simon Bolivar and Oppenheimer would be mentioned? Jejejejeje

[@teamworkop3712]

Glad to see a fellow Colombian on YT. I now know whom Sarah was referring to in the harm and justice video. Anyway thanks for detailing the context of Citizen Kane, making me eager to learn about Bolivar and make me rewatch The Wind Rises

[@quanphan8967]

Your channel is a great new find

[@noctap0d]

I was unsure about watching the movie, although Nolan is one of my favorite directors. I'm not anymore, I'll definitely watch it. Your perspective open my eyes and I thank you for that ❤

[@noctap0d]

Por cierto, me encanta ver a más latinos haciendo video essays. Una parte de mi todavía se emociona cuando alguien en un video en inglés menciona a García Márquez o Bolivar 😂

[@noctap0d]

Omg tienes un video sobre Encanto cuyo título hace referencia a Cien Años de Soledad. Me voy a hacer adicta a este canal!!!

[@jesustovar2549]

Soy de Venezuela y te entiendo pana, ya ví la película y me parece fenomenal, Nolan es de mis directores favoritos también.

[@JordanSullivanadventures]

You're brilliant! Subbed.

[@fleedoop7404]

Commenting for engagement, excellent work you deserve more views!

[@ob1quixote]

Thanks for making sure to include a scene from the Met performance of _Akhnatan_ under the relevant portion of your essay. For anyone who has never seen it, it's an experience like nothing else I've ever encountered. Definitely worth seeking out.

[@samrindfuss]

Just discovered your channel and this is AMAZING! Keep doing what you're doing :)

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This is amazing

[@brassen]

"A toast, Jedediah, to love on my terms." [23:32] The hangover setting in but hey it's Lambrusco

[@tommyfoskey8970]

earned a sub !

[@jadeholmes5669]

This was remarkable and i hope you get your deserved praise

[@JoseMariaLuna]

Thank you so much! This means a lot!

[@jadeholmes5669]

@@JoseMariaLuna I know my contribution is small but I hope it encourages you to continue producing incredible videos!

[@katieeckler7543]

Amazing video.

[@rawkshavant]

Good video!

[@flyingfoamtv2169]

i never new oppenheimer to be a "bad man".

[@robinm1331]

Oh, you may already know this through your research, but the reason Ankhenaten's name and Visage were erased was because in the ancient egyptian religion it was thought that if you erased all references and depictions to someone they would literally become undone in the afterlife. Similar tactic was taken to erase Hatshepsut, the only female pharaoh (Not queen).

[@jesustovar2549]

This is the first video I've seen of yours and I'm impressed, I like how you tied most of my favorite subjects: The Great Gatsby, Citizen Kane (thanks for including clips from Mank, I loved that movie), Oppenheimer, García Márquez and Bolívar (I'm from Venezuela, thanks, I think Francisco de Miranda is more of a latin american George Washington, even Washington admired Miranda) and Tar, loved the use of classical music throughout the video. You dealed with a subject in which I'm interested, I'm someone who is seeking for greatness and recognition, but I'm affraid of what people is going to say about me even after I die, there are parts of my life that I want to erase, I'm just entering adulthood and I know I did stupid things as a teenager, but it's probably a sign of grow. Btw can you do a video about why d'you thought that Napoleon was a good movie, maybe after the extended cut release? Can't say I didn't like it, but I felt cold and it lacked much more.

[@wiolettaziokowska1912]

Dear Big A, please give me moar of these videos. Great video

[@greyspeight8776]

Clicked on the vid and realized I was already subscribed and had watched most of your vids lmao.

[@anotherhuman3221]

Not Prometheus saying he's a victim of cancel culture T _ T COMEDY GOLD

[@trucquynh3948]

why is this so weirdly high quality :'DDD

[@soupstoreclothing]

i like this video so much that i'm gonna go through the comments and reply to so many of them to boost engagement and make it more popular. i hope this works and that i will go down in the history of these comments as a great (wo)man.

[@anotherhuman3221]

Wait I just noticed you've got 3k subs??? This is first vid from you that I'm watching and you, didn't even look at views and subscriber count and assumed it's like a milion. Sir you got a new fan, literally so underrated

[@soupstoreclothing]

i thought the same! i was so surprised at the production value for such a small channel. maybe this indicates some privilege on his part, access to the wealth necessary for the quality, but i'm still impressed.

[@anotherhuman3221]

@@soupstoreclothing for me it indicates how passionate and skilled he is idk about money necessarily

[@nightmare_eyes_]

I didn't know any of that about Citizen Kane! Amazing

[@matthewcaldwell8100]

I think it's more that we tend to tell stories about the same dozen or so great bad men in a way that covertly valorizes them.

[@magicalgirlmania]

you unironically have the best hamilton take on the internet. congratulations

[@koboldcatgirl]

just commenting to say the chain outfit is good and I am Liking, Commenting and Subscribing respectfully.

[@IDontLikePplPlayinOnMyPhone]

I didn’t see Oppenheimer but I know quite a bit about him, and I don’t really see him as a bad man. At all. Especially compared to Hearst

[@noctap0d]

Prometheus ASMR, OF Ancient Edition... My dude's here throwing great ideas at us and I hope there's someone picking them up 😂

[@thomasgray4188]

1:12:30 FINALLY Someone is talking about these two films!!!

[@Starving_Phoenix]

Incredible video! Mostly commenting for the algorithm so more people see it. Tiny nitpick though: I noticed you capitalized "bell hooks". It's very specifically not capitalized for future reference.

[@sortingoutmyclothes8131]

43:00 One I think of that doesn't include royalty is Margaret Thatcher.

[@stadbab]

you are insanely talented, funny and handsome. here’s hoping the algorithm catches on!

[@avez1381]

So glad i cliked on this video

[@jedisquidward]

Very good video. Despite videos getting longer and longer on KZbin, this is a topic that actually warrants it and I appreciate the effort you must have put into it. I appreciate your cinematic style and I will now definitely take a look at Sunday in the Park with George, though this comment will probably be buried by KZbin and never seen since I posted it more than 30 minutes after the video came out. It's difficult in today's age to actually think critically about this topic because we are caught between two loud, obnoxious extremes: those who want to simply brush away or try to forget about the bad deeds in order to continue to idolize someone, and those who reflexively want to condemn someone because of any imperfection. For anyone who enjoyed this video, I greatly reccommend the video "Fake Evil Walt Disney" by Dreamsounds. Too much of the "conversation" for the majority of people can boil down to what you showed near the start of the video: Twitter people who want to feel morally superior, like life is a trashy reality show. Things get especially bad when it becomes "If you like __ that means you're a bad person!" History is something to learn from. I don't think that it's a given that you have to be evil to be a "great man". I feel bad for those that do; they may have been betrayed by someone very important to them. There are many important people in my life who have achieved great things without throwing away their humanity. However, I think it's easy and quite understandable why so many great men are evil; when you are powerful, so many opportunities are given to you on a platter (including really illegal, reprehensible things), and it's easy to fall for them due to your own weakness and self-centered selfishness. I think that power doesn't corrupt (though it can), but power most certainly reveals. I appreciate that you recognize that Oppenheimer is isolated in its perspective because Oppenheimer was isolated in his perspective, or at least tried his hardest. Every person does this to some level. After all, the machine you're reading this comment on is made thanks to slave labor and conflict minerals. That's not meant as a "gotcha" or some blanket statement to absolve all hypothetical wrongdoing that could ever happen; someone may have valid reasons as to why they make their choices, but there are points when reasoning for one's actions can be used as a shield for one's actions. I think that, along with your example of Hayao Miyazaki, the Metal Gear Solid series is a great commentary both on the manipulation of science to create weapons of war and how "good men" (though not always so good) with good intentions can decay as history unravels. I will say, though, that your idea that we should "hold historical figures accountable" in fiction seems rather obvious. In any work of fiction, a protagonist without some kind of flaw or acknowledgement of the ugly side of the message that they (and/or the work as a whole) believe in is uninteresting and unengaging. Though I'll admit I can't think of one, I do wish you used a word other than "accountable", as that word exists on a scale and very lax to very extreme treatments of someone's flaws can all apply under that one word and still fit its definition. At the end of the day, I think we all look up to "great men" in history, be they famous historical figures, our favorite artists, or even members of our family, (including examples of those we DON'T want to be like) and there is a human tendency to either completely deify or demonize these figures. Ultimately, we have to be mature enough to not discount either their flaws or their accomplishments. We have to see people as they are.

[@jackmac523]

Future classic

[@lenawalters1866]

Let's gooooooo!!!!!