Why a Texan Went to Wales - let's talk about Western Culture's identity issue

[@ericmoore6769]

You're awesome. I'm also from Houston, and have travelled all over the states as a homeless person. Great times. Thanks for this video,

[@BenLlywelyn]

I hope things worked out for you. Thank you

[@waynejones1054]

Hi Ben, sorry your journey was such a difficult one, but so glad you chose us.👍👍 You're a great ambassador for the Wales language.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Good to see you again. Thank you for your support.

[@guineapig55555]

wait you're gay?@@BenLlywelyn

[@aldozilli1293]

​@@BenLlywelynone query how are you managing to get a slight Scottish accent in South Wales?

[@lancersharpe]

I'm English and came to Wales 10 years ago. I've been universally welcomed and respected. However, I still believe that I could never be considered truly Welsh. The mythos of Welshness is strongly linked to the concept of jus soli. If Wales was a sovereign state I could claim citizenship through naturalisation. I certainly would be a dual citizen if such a thing existed. If I moved back to England would this wonderful Welsh adventure mean nothing? Not in my heart anyway. Can an English heart be moved by Mae hen gwald fy nhadau or yma o hyd? Yes, because part of it has become Welsh.

[@BenLlywelyn]

If you love Welsh culture, we want you here.

[@hunterluxton5976]

That's an interesting comment not one ix expect from an Englishman. I've lived in England close on 30 years. I'm still mocked, subtley slighted and seen as " suspect" a kind of fithcolumnist. No part of me feels anglicised. I still feel separate and Welsh - at least culturally.

[@alunjprice]

@@hunterluxton5976I’ve been in England for even longer, it’s bloody weird sometimes, some (though far from all) of the natives think I’m Welsh just to be contrary, when I explain that I didn’t choose to be Welsh, it’s just something I am, they can’t understand that. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve had people say to me if you love Wales so much what don’t you go back home, they think I hate England and the English, and they couldn’t be more wrong.

[@Jamestele1]

Wow, I am almost the same, in terms of having a fractured background. I was adopted and had a great life, until dad left us for a younger model lady. I knew my biological father's Welsh and Scottish roots and my mother's Scottish root. I always learned about Celts, Welsh, etc. I started learning Welsh, etc. I raised my family near Northern Virginia, but in a small town, and with a lot of traditions. I have visited the UK, and love Scotland and Wales.

[@BenLlywelyn]

It helps us heal and gain strength to know we are not alone, that we have sought identities and can mature from this and move on as men.

[@shawnmiller3015]

You tell a good tale love hearing your story

[@mango2005]

Before I knew you were from Texas, I couldnt figure out whether you were American, Welsh or Scottish. Anyway great video. Learned a lot about languages.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Thank you for watching. My accent has changed a lot!

[@Language_Guru]

Thank you so much, Ben, for sharing the story of your life. I found your channel through my interest in Welsh, and after hearing your pronunciation of English I wondered about your background. It is nice to know your background. I am sorry for the pain and instability you experienced growing up. I am an American, the son of a career Air Force officer. I have been fascinated by languages for more than 50 years. As a child growing up and as an adult I have lived in a number of countries. I spent most of my childhood in the U.S., mostly up and down the middle of the country. My background is very different from yours in that it was rock solid and steady (my parents have been married for 66 years). Still, as I see America becoming seriously fragmented, I have some understanding of where you are coming from. The so-called "progressives" are vehemently opposed to any kind of "American" culture being viewed as normative. However, as you clearly see, if a country is to remain unified, it has to have some core of common beliefs and practices. The America I grew up in in the 1960s and '70s had this core (aside from the West Coast hippies and the East Coast liberals). The core has now been seriously eroded. As a highly educated person with a lot of international experience I am not intimidated by immigrants from around the world. However, unlike when I was growing up, it seems that there is little expectation that immigrants will learn English the best they can and adapt themselves to American cultural values. The fact that we now have many millions of completely unassimilated adult immigrants, many of whom are not here legally, has made a majority of Americans to be anything from uneasy to fearful to furious. This drove the vote in the recently finished 2024 presidential election. I am a political moderate, not a right- or left-winger, so I am uneasy with the results. However, they are what they are and we will see what happens as a result. Like you, I have found my spiritual home in the Jewish people. This is a way that I have found to identify with a group of people who have a history which is similar to my own: not rooted in a single geographic location, always the outsider in some sense. I am glad you have found your spiritual home in Judaism and your geographic and cultural home in Wales. Thank you for your wonderful videos!

[@BenLlywelyn]

I am glad Judaism has touched you with kindness. Thank you for sharing. America has a changing 4 years ahead.

[@jackwalter5970]

Another wonderful video. I am 66 and about 90% German and 10% Welsh. I want to visit Wales before I get too much older. I feel it is in my heart.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Thank you, Jack. I hope you get to visit.

[@jenteale]

Bore Da...... I am English, and I lived in North Wales, the beautiful Vale of Clwyd, for 5 years. My youngest son was born in Wales, although he is now a US citizen. What a fascinating discussion about cultures! Assimilating into west Michigan, for me was much, much easier than acceptance by the Welsh 😊

[@BenLlywelyn]

Dyffryn Clwyd is a very beautiful place. Thanks for watching.

[@hunterluxton5976]

The English will never accept an English person. Why would they? Your country tried to destroy Wales and its culture by ethnic cleansing. Your people humiliated, mocked and undermined anything Welsh for centuries. What were you expecting?

[@NotanEmpire]

I'm in New Zealand, live here with my family. I've lived in Europe too as a child. My identity is torn yet enriched between these two ends of the earth. We travel back there when we can,, we have a second home over there and I learn the languages and cultures of these countries. The European identity at times feels of greater depth, and I'm lucky that my family and I can benefit from that. Thanks fir your reflections.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Thank you very much.

[@AMOGLES99]

Thank for this video. I really liked this. I found this one of the most thought provoking videos you have done so far, and that's saying a lot as you have made many good ones. I can completely associate with your past and motivations. My own story is different, and not as dramatic as yours, but there are certain common points and I find myself similarly embracing foreign cultures and languages because maybe I find them easier to approach and easier to find comfort in than my own. . Welsh is really only my second interest as my main learning language is Hungarian, which I have been learning for six years and I have been going to that country pretty much whenever I could find time of work, especially to one particular village where I have made many friends and more recently bought a little house that I am renovating. Hungarian is of course not an Indo-European language and according to linguists not really related to Indo European languages at all, but I do interestingly keep on discovering subtle parallels to Welsh. Sometimes in word order or thinking, but here are there even a word that looks too similar to be a coincidence. I think in Hungary there is still a strong sense of tradition combined with an attitude of being able to do things yourself and taking care of yourself. I think their major historical trauma was living first under the Austrians and then under socialism, and society there is pretty much allergic to anything that looks like socialism or indeed anything that looks like a foreign power - or indeed their own government - telling them what to do. This makes it maybe an antithesis to Wales where people generally think a little more socialism would have fixed many problems.

[@BenLlywelyn]

That you have learned Hungarian for 6 years and bought a house in a village where you have made friends is remarkable. Thank you for sharing. We get to build who we are.

[@justgold1]

2:01 Same problem here! I was going to go to wales tomorrow but there's no point because it'll be raining ALL DAY

[@BenLlywelyn]

You'll have a swimming good time.

[@justgold1]

Yes, but i suppose that's the uk for you 😂😂@@BenLlywelyn

[@janeclark1881]

Thought provoking. Quite a different life experience from mine, and it's always educational, and sometimes one heck of a lesson, to learn about people from quite different backgrounds from my own. You are definitely onto something about social fabric. Like you I have washed up in Wales, but for different reasons. I no longer know, or much care, whether I'm Welsh or English.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Most people don't care as long as you love this country.

[@aldozilli1293]

It's all about tribes and belonging. Humans need this. Genetically it's been proven the English are closer to the Welsh (and Irish, Scots) than Angles and Saxons. However, people associate England with the oppressor nation, the much larger nation. Hence people, even English people latch onto a Celtic connection as if it makes them different. In their heads it's the baddie v the goodie, David v Goliath and they're on the good side.

[@kayew5492]

Ben, I suspect that if we ever met, we would not get on. We definitely wouldn't agree (although it would be interesting to see if you can actually define Marxism, or even Socialism!) I've got a few years on you, I was a young newly-wed in South Wales during the Thatcher years, and I still find it hard to forgive her for what she did to our country. Yes, the mining industry had to be phased out, and maybe Arthur Scargill was a pain in the rear, but why, if you intend to close down the main source of employment for an entire region, was there no attempt to replace it with something else? In my opinion, it was Thatcher's wholesale destruction of industries and communities, her statement that there is no such thing as society, just individuals, and the emergence of greed and selfishness where there used to be close neighbourhoods that ruined everything. In my day, university was still free, and educational standards were much higher. For the less academically inclined, there were apprenticeships, house prices were still low enough that a family could afford to buy with one wage. Young people could have goals and aspirations, and a decent chance of making a life for themselves. No, I blame Reagan and Thatcher, not the hippies (which hippies would they be, I'm confused by that assertion). Still and all - I'm glad you ended up here.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Diolch. I don't think it was 1 sided in this cultural decline - both sides had a part. I hope of we ever meet we can get on

[@mihaiilie8808]

It seems he admires right wingers because he is the poster child of the neo marxists due to his sexuality and wants to distance himself from the mistakes of the neomarxists. He said in a video that Texas would break from USA .😂

[@MarkThomasMedia]

I get what Ben is saying about liberalism destroying the family and society. This is close to Jordan Peterson and the deep questioning of the truth that we are told to accept. God had to be killed so that a new God could take His place. I am descended from those Welsh farmers, a kind distant relative traced my forebears back 15 generations to the Prydderch family of Nant y Hebog, Carmarthen in the 1400s. I would like to think that they, like me, would have heard what Ben is saying and seen truth in it and that there is a job to be done. The threat doesn't come from capitalism or the free market but from the vacuum created after our souls have been sucked out of us. There are those in the world with firmer spirits who will readily see us replaced. Indeed, those who may have been preying upon our naivety to lead us to turn upon ourselves and so destroy ourselves from within.

[@petethomas1013]

Diolch am eich stori ddiddorol. Yesterday i was invited into my great great grandfathers house in Mid Wales. Overwhelming. I thank my family for making it possible, after 200 years, to do that.

[@BenLlywelyn]

200 years is a long time. What a good day for you to have enjoyed. Diolch yn fawr Pete.

[@petethomas1013]

@@BenLlywelyn Mae’r glaw trwm fy nhadau!

[@matthewblazer7932]

My great grandparents were Welsh. I have an old Welsh surname. My family can be traced back over 950 years in Wales through parish records. Thirty years ago i moved back to Wales and have a Welsh wife and family. Yet im not Welsh and never can be. Ill always be the English guy and get asked how long I've been here. You can't move here and become Welsh, you either are or aren't, its that simple. I came here for one night and never left. I've never felt so at home as being here and love Wales with All my spirit and its the one place I'd lay down my life to protect. I hike as a hobby and have walked the Valleys and mountains for thousands of miles in all directions. I have studied its industrial and cultural history first hand on the ground. I have joined the community and attend church and volunteer in our community cleaning up the local graveyard. I work as a gardener and regularly work for the elderly. Im learning basic Welsh because my grandchildren speak Welsh and attend Welsh school. Yet ill always be the English guy.. Deep down it hurts a little bit because my ancestors shouldn't have left and i wouldn't have lost my identity. All the same im home now and will be buried in the graveyard i maintain alongside the people im descended from. I'd love to speak fluent Welsh but im a busy man and to be honest here in the south i don't know a single Welsh speaker other than my grandchildren. I try to talk to people about local history and they're completely unaware of anything local and don't speak Welsh. It's very sad and disheartening.

[@BenLlywelyn]

You can be both Welsh and English.

[@MarkThomasMedia]

Maybe settle for British and forget that the Angles and Saxons ever came here.

[@matthewblazer7932]

@@MarkThomasMedia British is just a piece of paper. All the others are a genetic and cultural identity. Anyone can call themselves British but it doesn't make them actually belong to the ethnic people of this land. Genetically I'm Welsh with a little Saxon.

[@matthewblazer7932]

@@BenLlywelyn according to my DNA profile I'm 74% Welsh. 20% Saxon English and 6% Scottish.

[@MarkThomasMedia]

@@matthewblazer7932 I do think of myself as British as I have, on one side a fully Welsh grandfather (Thomas, South Wales, for at least 15 generations on one line), and a half Welsh grandmother, (Davies, North Wales) and on the other side a half Welsh grandmother (Owen) and a grandfather with Scottish (Brown, McAlpin), Irish (Oates) and possibly Indian roots, the Scots having spent a couple of generations over there putting down the mutiny etc. The rest, which isn't so much, is English. I haven't checked my DNA. So, I think that I am entitled to claim to belong to the ethnic people of this land, this land being Britain, including Wales. The small qualification to that might be my Pembrokeshire Skone roots. The Skones may well have been Flemings who, having fought with William the Conqueror, were settled there after the conquest. Perhaps knowing all of that gives me some feeling of being at least a bit 'at home' when I visit Wales and attempt to speak the language - or watch Ben's extraordinary videos!

[@Liz66bee]

Thanks for another interesting video Ben, you raise some very valid points. I agree with a lot of what you say, although I agree with another commenter about the wreckage inflicted by Thatcher et al, being old enough to remember it all! I do think we've lost our fundemental identities and sense of belonging, perhaps it all began to detoriate in the 18th century with the industrial revolution? I think by our very nature humans need to feel they belong to clan and land, as someone who prays to my ancestors, I very much relate to this need. You look very Welsh, do you not have Welsh ancestry? My great-great grandfather was from Blaenavan and I'm very proud of my Welsh roots, it's a truly beautiful place and I find the Welsh people to be some of the friendliest and nicest people in the British Isles. I also had an abusive upbringing and I think for abuse survivors the need to belong is very deep. Well done to you for making a succesful and (I hope) a happy life 🙂

[@BenLlywelyn]

Thank you very much for your kind message. To answer, I have some Cornish ancestry, so if I look Welsh there may be your answer!

[@dajjukunrama5695]

We all struggle with identity

[@VIEW-ut3bu]

So happy for ya!!!! Finally!!

[@Redhand1949]

I Liked this, a lot. "I'm basically a "New New Deal" Irish-American liberal given the New Guilded Age in America at this time, and am way too old (74) to think of uprooting my self from New Jersey where I have lived since 1974. BUT, I agree that American society has fragmented, and that there are many Americas now, from a neo-Confederacy in the South to the old liberal bastions in the NorthEast where I am comfortable, more or less, with the post corporate life I have led for the past 20 years as an immigration lawyer. So, I'm glad you did reverse immigration to Wales. And I am glad that you said why you made the move . The Channel would have been too enigmatic without it. I have subscribed with a black bell and will stick around. All the best.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Thank you for joining this journey, appreciated.

[@Rinzler86]

wales > texas. i love you Ben and all youve done for helping me and many others learn welsh. yes i lived in texas for 15yrs and dont miss it tbh. thanks for your story

[@BenLlywelyn]

You're welcome. Texas has points good and bad.

[@stella8726]

My partner will be coming over from Arizona soon, I’m gonna show off Powys to him 🙌🏻🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 #MaePowysYnGorau

[@BenLlywelyn]

Excellent news! Enjoy your time together.

[@ChristopherSTAINES-py8ll]

Very interesting; I am from the generation above when life was more stable. I moved from Somerset to Brittanny 31 years ago and acquired French nationality in2018. But I don't come from a broken home and wasn't really 'lost', just looking for more space amongst people with more time for me as a person. I asked you the question partly because I am totally integrated into local life here and now find the English way of living and behaving not at all to my taste. I also find that since I left in 1992 spoken English has become more slovenly. Although I speak fluent French I am immediately identified as a stranger because of my accent; maybe this is the case for you in Wales?

[@BenLlywelyn]

The Texan accent is not as slow as it was when I was a boy, and is less drawled. I think the boastful attitude back there would unnerve me as I am - i hope! - more respectful of others now. Fascinating to hear about your move and your English. 31 years ago was a much more light hearted time and I can imagine a move being even more of an adventure than it would be today.

[@Hawaiian_Shirt_guy]

Born and raised in Northwest alabama with a very similar story - mother liked pills, dad was violet and abusive.

[@BenLlywelyn]

It is far too common that should be, that story. Isn't it?

[@NomdeGuerre589]

Really appreciate your honesty Ben, it's quite brave of you to share this. I came here from your language material, which I found knowledgeable and really humorous. As for your diangoses of broken society in this video, I'm with you a lot of the way, but I think you shouldn't extrapolate so far from your own experience, to say that university students protesting in favour of Palestine are as lost as you were. I think that's unfair. There is something noble in taking up the cause of the oppressed. I am grateful however, that you stand against identitarianism and agree that it grows out of a sense of loss and victimhood. All in all, I value your insights, keep up the good work.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Diolch yn fawr. Thank you very much for watching and you ability to take two steps back and see it objectively.

[@peterpeter8325]

Bravo

[@judithparker4608]

Thankyou....!

[@davidvaughn367]

I don't know how to respond without writing you a novel. Once again, I find that we have shared very similar emotions, and experiences. My reaction however, ultimately led me down a different path. I wanted to "escape ",but was prevented by....something I can't describe. After searching here,and there, for a sense of belonging, I decided that what I was looking for didn't exist, and that it was something that I was meant to create. A new kind of indigenity is what I call it. Note by the way, the similarity between the word indigenity, and indigentity. I have also come to believe that the way borders are drawn is all wrong, especially in America,it is Not one country, but several even as I would divide it. This path,however, has become equally long and frustrating, at yet,perhaps in the end,I May have some form of inheritance to offer my children, both my own at home, and those out there wandering. That is about as short as I can make it, sorry for my long reply.

[@BenLlywelyn]

That I can touch others and help see they are not alone, is a blessing. Diolch yn fawr.

[@davidvaughn367]

You have both touched, and inspired me, and while my Welsh is not all that great, I will say, Ipisk inauwnir, ansor, ohlof, ash indeynik an eyufel.

[@tonyhelliar3719]

Sorry you had a tough journey Ben. Hopefully Wales is where you can find peace. I agree on the culture points you make. It seems to me that western nations have suffered over the last forty years or so from three developments; 1. The adoption of neoliberal economic policies, which have valued nothing of tradition and treats the nation as nothing more than a shop with everything up for sale; 2. Increasing social liberalism which has led to fragmenting identity politics at the expense of a sense of unity and 3. the decline of Christianity in the west, which has removed the bedrock core moral belief system which underpinned the west for centuries. In place of a unified identity we now have three undesirable attempts to replace it; 1. Increasingly extreme identity politics, 2. Increasing far right agitation against identity politics and a so called ‘elite’ and 3. a desire by Islamic immigrants and others to replace the cultural vacuum with their own belief systems. It’s all very worrying and hopefully something more sensible will emerge in due course.

[@BenLlywelyn]

We are in for a rough few decades, with identity and who we in the West are. But i have no doubt the otherside we will be more unified and free.

[@christopherellis2663]

😳 i was only too happy to leave Australia and get back to Europe. A new life in retirement, without the uncertainty of unaffordability. Especially the destruction nonsense of Political-Correctness and the insidious divisions of multiculturalism ¿Harsh? I don't like ideas that would kill people who don't agree, and they tried. New Age Fascists all agree that they know best for you and me. That was a quarter of a century ago

[@BenLlywelyn]

Southwestern Romania, Wallachia Romania, or southern Germany are serious considerations if I ran into money and did not want to ever work again.

[@christopherellis2663]

Banat, it is a wonderful mix of German, Serbian, Romanian, Hungarian, Bulgaria, Czech, and Țigane. Without the Social Engineering. Yesterday was the 308th Anniversary of the defeat of the Ottomans.

[@tadeu_marsher]

Exactly the reason I choose Catalonia

[@BenLlywelyn]

Interesting indeed.

[@Sorin5780]

You remind me of a movie, Grey Owl, where Pierce Brosnan adopted the identity of an Ojibwa Indian. Unlike Archibald Stansfeld Belaney, you crossed back ”the pond” in order to become Welsh. Do you have Welsh ancestry?

[@BenLlywelyn]

No Welsh ancestry.

[@lezoray]

Thank you for this video. If I understand well your point, the lack of cultural identity in the US is what feeds the extremisms. It’s interesting, I never thought of it this way. I’d like to know if tou think that there is the same lack of identity in Europe / Wales as in the US ? Is it comparable ?

[@lezoray]

English is not my first language, I may have not understood all of what you said in the video

[@BenLlywelyn]

You are mostly correct. Cultural identity, yes, but also family breakdown.

[@Ponto-zv9vf]

I have mentioned before that I was born in Malta, I am many generations Maltese, but I am Australian. Australia is my nation, I speak English though I have changed it to more RP than it was when I was younger, I am not a Roman Catholic or even Christian as I follow my own spiritual path. I regard Maltese people as foreigners as they have a different culture to me, different beliefs. I do worry about my country quite a bit. It is due to immigration that has occurred since the post WW2 years. It isn't the immigrants themselves as humans or what they look like, it's the way they don't want to belong, to become Australian. The immigrants have turned my country into something alien, and I don't like it.

[@BenLlywelyn]

I'm hearing similar stories across the Anglo West to with culture vanishing from mass migration.

[@NatSatFat]

There, there, there, you are safe now, you are in Wales, it has been said Wales is very boring, non-exiting, "stuck", but, for all that its much much better (as it's European) than any USA, (in fact someplace it has been discussed that it will self implode within 30 years, then it's bye bye USA). You come across as an honest chap, so carry on, way to go(Americanism?) live you life wear you want, bye the way the Weather in Wales is not terrible at all, but it is a maritime climate, which means constant changes of weather.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Way to go. (come from earlier Ametican athletics). Then popularised in the 1960s.

[@scarba]

Like your sense of humour. I don’t think these identitarian ideologies or any ideology necessarily has to fill a religious vacuum. Religion brings its own identities and not always wholesome. I think the woke stuff is an overcorrection to what was morally wrong before. It’s total permeation of society is extremely concerning to freedom of speech and critical thought. It just shows you how able people are to use magical thinking. I think the antidote is science and critical thinking not more religion, and how do you even force people to believe? It could only be with coercion. I don’t think belief in the supernatural is a good thing. Humans are unfortunately very malleable.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Yes, I agree we have a spiritual vacuum in our society.

[@sterlingdafydd5834]

Sut mae’n dweud “two peas in a pod” yn Gymraeg……..????? I moved from Austin to Portland Oregon..!!!

[@BenLlywelyn]

Wow. Tre'r Pontydd! The Town of the Bridges. Lovely place, yndê?

[@ethanbennett9000]

*born on the bayou*

[@BenLlywelyn]

It is so.

[@jaimebraz3148]

Maybe you are in conditions to read Fernando Pessoa’s “The book of disquiet”. In the beginning of that book he says something like: “I belong to a generation who have lost faith in God for the same reason our parents had it: without knowing why.”

[@BenLlywelyn]

Nice quote.

[@invertedcastle]

randomly throwing palestinian protestors under the bus like that is fucked up. and is it not literally the combination of capitalism and imperialism/colonialism causing white americans have such a void of cultural identity?

[@BenLlywelyn]

I support our military, political and religious allies against Islamic imperialism and the self-loathing of Western Marxists and deluded universalists who betray their own culture and heritage for the sake of secular virtue signalling. Thanks.

[@mixodorians12]

Lot of noise, that signifies nothing. I have no idea why Americans cannot understand democratic Socialism. The best people from Wales who have done a terrific amount of good are democratic socialists, from Nye Bevan to the recently departed Glenys Kinnock. We have some fine Welsh Nationalists too. The problem is to ignore or denude Welsh nationalism, is to to hope for the destruction of Wales...because I am quite sure the English right wing, and Englands supremacists who wish us out of existence, don't intend to go anywhere.

[@BenLlywelyn]

The fact is that most English don't spend an hour thinking about Wales and Welsh identity in their lives. We're not relevant to geopolitical realities, their economy or power balances within English or wider European society. Just because I was born somewhere does not mean I cannot understand leftwing politics - what you are upset about is that I have very different opinions to you and speak my mind freely.

[@iczemi]

Is it ....476 again?

[@BenLlywelyn]

No. Our time is not like Rome's end. This is something new.

[@mihaiilie8808]

I would be interested into your working with the Greenpeace. As an environmentalist I also have a few ideas to save the world. These ideas are mostly focused at trolling the USA EPA and helping lake Erie which is the most poluted large lake in the world. It's sad that Americans hate those jumping Asians Carps which are IMO, the most beneficial fish in USA, that could clean the water of lake Erie. If your interested to make a video about Asian Carps, contact me and il give you all the details. PS, these humble Carps could also have saved Australias Great Barrier Reed and thus reducing ocean acidification and also a lot of CO2 because the corals fix carbon as calcium carbonate. Its a subject that's at least 100 years ahead of its time.

[@BenLlywelyn]

I'm not sure what Asian carps are.

[@mihaiilie8808]

@@BenLlywelyn Silver carp. It eats as it breathes filtering the water of gunk and stores phosphorus in its magnificent skeleton as calcium phosphate. Doesn't even have a stomack - God made machine of cleaning water. Because it's a filter feeder, it cant harm a snail, only the plan to which is in excess and has build up due to phosphorus which never leaves the lake like nitrogen or carbon, because it's not a gas. EPA and Clear water Act were established because of a lake Erie crash and now a days lake Erie has accumulated 3 times more phosphorus. Only these fish can restore the phosphorus issue of eutrophication. But Americans, instead of respecting these valuable fish, both leftists and right wingers hate them. It's a hate for the beneficial and the innocent= USA mentality.

[@mihaiilie8808]

​@@BenLlywelynYour not fishing? Recently USA videos annoyed me because they kill for fun the longest living freshwater fish in the world, thats native. Its not that they kill one or 2 but each man ( cant call these fishermans) kills dozzens and houndreds of 80-100 years old fish. To then let to rot on the river banks. The name of those fish is buffalo, Ictiobus, there are 3 species. You should make an educational video about them. I could teach you the details. And also the jumping carps are harmless, beneficiial, eco friendly, good to have them and they protect the ecosystem from eutrophication. Americans kill them like they killed the bisons, through demented actions. Im not saying they are bad people just that they really need educated. Most civilised countries respect carps, like China and UK.Its like ceramic, culturally, a thing to measure the level of civilisation.

[@judithparker4608]

TH3 03OPLE AR3....PAWNS......FOR THE....FIEFDOM LORDS

[@yabyum108]

Bywyd diddorol, was :)

[@BenLlywelyn]

Hyd at hyn, cawn ni weld am y gweddill!

[@theyoutubeguy1]

Why are you speaking like that lol?

[@BenLlywelyn]

It is the way.

[@MobPlot]

Narcissism

[@terryfawr]

You can never become welsh, you are born Welsh or not. Learning Welsh and living here does not make you Welsh. Weles is not a country of immigrant like the USA.

[@BenLlywelyn]

It's cool, we can disagree.

[@JB-wh9ux]

Agreed. I’m British, I live in Romania, I speak fluent Romanian, but I’ll never be Romanian. Romanian, like Welsh, is more than a passport and a piece of land. And in all honesty, I think it’d be disrespectful on my part to assume their identity.

[@BenLlywelyn]

It takes a long time, @@JB-wh9ux, I think. And it has to be natural and slow and permanent without anything two-faced. Honestly, through human relationships, and lots of time.

[@justgold1]

I quite agree, but you can adopt the way of life of a group of people, but as you said you will never be them

[@terryfawr]

@@JB-wh9ux Was it Aristotle who said? 'Give me the child till he is seven and I will give you the man.' You are what you learn at your father's hearth, you cannot learn it from a book. You cannot re-live the past to become someone else.

[@jziffi]

no idea what you're on about mate

[@BenLlywelyn]

What do you want me to say? :)