The YouTube channel Einzelgänger is soothing us of late. It’s headed by an anonymous Dutch narrator who has revealed little about himself over the years, preferring to dish out his philosophical insights minus the attention seeking.

His video essays explore practical philosophy lessons alongside human psychology and wider questions on the human condition. All of it is contemplative but learned, challenging social norms in our hard-right capitalist society to help people overcome tedious social burdens.

YouTube’s Einzelgänger is a Pathway to Calmness

The core of the channel is stripping away the sense of excess and glory many people expect from this hard-right capitalist society we live in. An economy where wealth and status are celebrated as having succeeded in life.

A note on the channel name, einzelgänger in German means “loner” or “lone wolf”. The channel does celebrate personal agency and remaining unconcerned with the wailing mania of modern life.

Namely, the expectation of wealth, status, fame, and ATTENTION.

The host challenges modern, lingering notions by turning to various philosophers. Epictetus, Aristotle, Laozi, Socrates, Marxism, Kant etc. Sometimes they get the basis for a whole video, other times an overarching analysis of how their opinions apply to our era. It’s curious how we can separated by millennia from these people, but their wise words still ring true.

For example, Greek stoic philosopher Epictetus taught that inner peace comes from a focus on what you can control, then accepting what you can’t:

“Any person capable of angering you becomes your master; he can anger you only when you permit yourself to be disturbed by him.”

Taoism, existentialism, stoicism etc. They’re all covered on the channel. If you factor what Lao Tzu wrote in Tao Te Ching you get the general gist of the assuring essays:

“Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are.”

These are all concepts we’ve channelled over the years on Professional Moron. In amongst the absurdist satire and social commentary, we’ve brainwashed you all with propaganda about ignoring social conventions and yearning for stupid things (i.e. wealth, lots of stuff, and power).

Einzelgänger takes things even further, using his well read brain to consider his own philosophies as applied to the expectations of western society. See below.

Bringing the Reality of Life to YouTube

It’s common on YouTube channels for the creator to be very goddamn annoying. Clickbait, ragebait hyperbole is one way to try and quickly get a reputation. Many will start their videos with a heightened persona (“HI GUYSSS!!!“) and surface act their way through videos with shrill intonations.

Einzelgänger isn’t about any of that, there’s a very stoic approach to his work.

Take his recent social commentary essay on a childfree existence. Over 20 minutes he calmly makes his point, highlighting his mental health struggles, and probable autistic traits. Nothing flashy, just well argued and clearly explained whilst considering both sides of the argument.

This is a big one right now as Conservatives are in uproar about childfree people. They yearn for “traditional values”, yet vote for an economic system that rips families apart, creates mass poverty, and ensures younger generations can’t afford children. Then they blame feminism.

But it is the ideal way to debate. Consider the argument, respond calmly, weigh up the situation, push on.

You can have a temper tantrum later, if you want, and go online and call some left-wingers “libtards”. Up to you. But it’s this graciousness in thought Einzelgänger has that’s so sorely lacking in the social media era. Where the likes of Elon Musk respond to arguments on X with AI generation content or laughing crying emojis to try and make it look like he’s not upset. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

To reach a point in society where someone so inherently vile is considered “normal” as he has 14 kids is kind of a problem. Besides, we’re raising a pet cat (Susan). Thus, we’re doing our bit.

Finding Peace in the Mayhem of Life

Einzelgänger isn’t pining over the past here and yearning for simpler times, the channel is essentially a self-help platform for burned out people. He’s aware the wisdom of smart people from the past can guide our moral conscience today, as you can see with another slice of Taoist philosophy above.

He also has a Substack blog (Journey of Ideas) should you wish to read his words, rather than hear them.

In a September 2026 post Why We’re All Burning Out, he turns to Korean-born German philosopher Byung-Chul Han for insights. Han is noted for his criticisms of digital capitalism, hustle culture, and achievement obsessed economic system.

“The insidious thing about the achievement society is that, as members of it, we think we’re free, but, as Han makes clear, we’re not. The achievement society also has its own forms of confinement, but they’re so hidden and paradoxical that most people don’t even realize they exist. The real Matrix is today’s society: a celebrated illusion of freedom and boundless opportunity that, in reality, is one of the most ingenious prisons ever created. And the ‘freedom’ we fight for (and some are even willing to die for) is illusory. We’re not free.

One of the fundamental differences between disciplinary and achievement societies is what Han calls the ‘negativity of Should’ versus the ‘positivity of Can.’ In the case of ‘Should,’ there’s an external force telling us what to do, placing restrictions upon us, and imposing rules …

An essential difference between ‘Should’ and ‘Can’ is that the latter involves an internal motivator. Han describes this as ‘carrying a work camp inside.’ We have become our own masters. Instead of being put into prison camps where a bunch of sadistic guards force us to work, we embody the camp as we push ourselves to work; we’re both the guard and the prisoner. Intrinsic motivation is more effective than extrinsic motivation.”

It’s thought provoking stuff and will annoy anyone who has sold their soul to capitalism. For anyone who hasn’t (such as if you’ve experienced a long bout of unemployment in a system that just doesn’t work), in this content you’ll find the reassurances you need to understand you aren’t a failure.

All it takes is to be content, cool, and self-aware enough to be a positive force to those around you. Even if this means, in capitalism’s eye, you’re a pathetic loser. It’s the Einzelgänger way of things.