How America Got Divorced from Reality: Christian Utopias, Anti-Elitism, Media Circus | Kurt Andersen
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- Опубліковано 26 сер 2024
- How America Got Divorced from Reality: Christian Utopias, Anti-Elitism, Media Circus
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Since a boat of religious fanatics with buckles on their hats hit the shores near Plymouth Rock and claimed that this was their utopia, America has always been a little bit crazy. It's this kind of wide-eyed "anything can happen if you believe" mentality that, at its best, can produce incredible art. But at its worst, it can be cruel and conspiratorial. We live in a country where people refuse to believe vaccination can help you and where a White House is spinning "alternative - but Kurt Andersen is here to say that this is nothing now. At the time of the Civil War, society had become split by two sides that refused to listen to each other. Back then, the political and social divide is stoked by a hyperbolic partisan media where anyone could publish whatever they wanted in a pamphlet without fact-checking. Sound familiar? It definitely should. Kurt's latest book is appropriately titled Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire.
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KURT ANDERSEN:
Kurt Andersen, host of Studio 360 on NPR, is a journalist and the author of the novels Hey Day, Turn of the Century, The Real Thing, and his latest non-fiction book Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History. He has written and produced prime-time network television programs and pilots for NBC and ABC, and co-authored Loose Lips, an off-Broadway theatrical revue that had long runs in New York and Los Angeles. He is a regular columnist for New York Magazine, and contributes frequently to Vanity Fair. He is also a founder of Very Short List.
Andersen began his career in journalism at NBC's Today program and at Time, where he was an award-winning writer on politics and criminal justice and for eight years the magazine's architecture and design critic. Returning to Time in 1993 as editor-at-large, he wrote a weekly column on culture. And from 1996 through 1999 he was a staff writer and columnist for The New Yorker. He was a co-founder of Inside.com, editorial director of Colors magazine, and editor-in-chief of both New York and Spy magazines, the latter of which he also co-founded.
From 2004 through 2008 he wrote a column called "The Imperial City" for New York (one of which is included in The Best American Magazine Writing 2008). In 2008 Forbes. com named him one of The 25 Most Influential Liberals in the U.S. Media. Anderson graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, and is a member of the boards of trustees of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the Pratt Institute, and is currently Visionary in Residence at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. He lives with his family in New York City.
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TRANSCRIPT:
Kurt Andersen: Americans have always been magical thinkers and passionate believers in the untrue. We were started by the Puritans in New England who wanted to create and did create a Christian utopia and theocracy as they waited for the eminent second coming of Christ and the end of days. And in the south by a bunch of people who were convinced, absolutely convinced that this place they’d never been was full of gold just to be plucked from the dirt in Virginia and they stayed there looking and hoping for gold for 20 years before they finally faced the facts and the evidence and decided that they weren’t going to get rich overnight there. So that was the beginning. And then we’ve had centuries of buyer-beware charlatanism to an extreme degree and medical quackery to an extreme degree and increasingly exotic extravagant implausible religions over and over again from Mormonism to Christian Science to Scientology in the last century.
And we’ve had this antiestablishment "I’m not going to trust the experts, I’m not going to trust the elite" from our character from the beginning. Now all those things came together and were super-charged in the 1960s when you were entitled to your own truth and your own reality. Then a generation later when the Internet came along, giving each of those realities, no matter how false or magical or nutty they are, their own kind of media infrastructure. We had entertainment, again for the last couple hundred years, but especially in the last 50 years permeating all the rest of life, including Presidential politics from John F. Kennedy through Ronald Ragan to Bill Clinton. So the thing was set up for Donald Trump to exploit all these various American threads and astonishingly become president, but then you look at this history and it’s...
Read the full transcript at bigthink.com/v...
![АЛАУДИНОВ у Скабеевой: эти их ВСУ нас НЕ ДОГОНЯТ 😁 [Пародия]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/an0anqU4WGQ/mqdefault.jpg)
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Smarter faster... From this joke of pseudo intellectual thought?
Present more fact and less editorialized history.
No one is as dangerous as a highly educated person of ill intent!
*I am a Poor White Racist & I HATE Lib-Tards!!!! & I BeLive in the LORD Jesus Christ!!!*
*Guess Who I VOTED for????*
for European peasants, namely my Scottish and Irish ancestors the myth that was real, was that in America you could own your own farm - which in the old country was impossible, because all of the land was owned by the feudal system
@@moroniflake8724 AGREED!!!
“Whoever can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities” Voltaire
That saying should be tattooed on this guys forehead
He can also get rich off you and even become the POTUS.
Translation: MAGA
@@ohiowatha 100%
MAGA, Qanon..
"The Americans always do the right thing - after they have tried everything else" - W. Churchill
Fuck Winston Churchill!!! 💩🙄
@@pavelm.gonzalez8608 why?
@@ben5073 Him stopping the US and Canada from shipping food to India during a famine because he wanted them to starve to try to break them?
@@Waywardpaladin when? Are you talking about the Bengali Famine of 1940s?
His mother was American! 😒
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” -Isaac Asimov
That is a damn good quote.
Well said
Thanks
He wasn't wrong
Those ones from random Twitter users : “my feelings don’t care about your fact” or “a woman is someone who identify as a woman”.
Sometimes I cannot get past the immense irony that we have become an Idiocracy right in the middle of The Information Age. The collective knowledge of humankind is at our fingertips, yet . . .
the movie just keeps getting better with time.
Knowledge: Yes.
Wisdom: No.
Let me put it this way: Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put one in a fruit salad. The problem isn't that people don't have enough information; the problem is that people don't know _which_ information to follow.
covidiocracy
@@schwarzwolfram7925 Yes, there's plenty of information and disinformation. You need to sift out the disinformation to the best of your ability, and then interprete the good information to draw conclusions.
The sifting and interpreting is where I see most problems, just look at the covid-19 vaccinations.
Amen.
It’s gotten to the point where I just don’t talk about politics with certain family members and friends. It’s hard to argue with someone who is not dealing in reality.
You’re soooo right!!’
Funny thing is, they think the exact same thing about you...but at least they're willing to have a conversation.
@@universalsoldier2293 When one side believes the Democrats are cannibalistic pedos who control the “New World Order”, and that the guy from “The Apprentice” is the savior who will deliver us from evil, there’s no conversation to be had.
We can't be silent. They certainly are not. It's difficult to not become angry, but they need to hear fact from rational ppl.
Agreed. When ur cousin believes men can have periods there really isn’t much else to talk about
I am from the UK and visited the US many times. In Europe, we are allowed to discuss and question religion and politics. In the US these topics seem to be topics not to be discussed in bars or workplaces. Which is very strange. I was a catholic but talking with other people and opinions you begin to question things. This is the joy of conversation. I am now an atheist and proud. My parents accept this also because we openly discuss my journey. I don't think this journey could happen in the US
It's cause you're likely gonna start a fight if you do, most people would rather avoid that. Pretty much keep those conversations to good friends and family
To question in America is to invite combat.
The UK is a pathetic crumbling island. Most of it's people don't take their future seriously, so why would such topics really be of great concern to most of you? I'm also not just saying that because you outed yourself as unbearabling naive like most foreigners who stay in one onclave of the country not your own.
If you're an Atheist, that probably indicates you're lacking any form of critical thinking skills yourself.
@@TheGoldenBoot-cz1do It sounds good except that even family members and people who used to be friends are now divided as conspiracy cults like Qanon get worse and worse. Reddit has a site for sane family members who have been forced to protect the family's remaining assets as some Qanons become "doomsday preppers". They blow the family's entire savings on combat gear and buying up crypto and leave the rest of their family members with nothing. One poor woman had to sneak out with all of her kids because her husband had threatened to kill all of them because they didn't believe that Trump was the second coming of Jesus. How can you even reason with something like that?
Holy shit as an American I find this analysis disturbingly true; a succinct summary of my problems with the society I don't feel I live in, but rather one I feel forced to endure.
We’re really forced to play a part in something we want nothing to do with… hard to feel motivated
If I was an American....I would not want to be smart or intelligent.
It would make me feel depressed, angry and afraid. A real dumb hillbilly is the only reasonable person I would want to be over there😅
It’s Easier to Fool People Than to Convince Them That They Have Been Fooled
The bigger the lie the harder they fall. Never trust priests or scientists in the pay of corrupt Marxist politicians.
@@brucefrykman8295 how about scientists in the (direct or indirect) employ of big capitalist companies, of which nearly all of them are?
@@compteofficiel4112
Big capitalist companies don't hire "scientists" to "save the Earth" Big oil corporations hire real scientists to help them find the oil they sell us in order to make profits and some fake ones to tell the idiots that they really don't want to find this oil and sell it to eager customers. Customers like "climate cultists who' need oil by the boatload to jet off to their next climate gala held at some exotic tropical beach resort instead of freezing their asses off at home with their snot nosed kids and paying for their own crummy meals.
@@brucefrykman8295 so who hires real scientists that want to just do science and find out about the world?
@@compteofficiel4112 Can't trust scientist ? I guess you don't realize we live by science... from toilet paper to the space shuttle.
It's distressing to me, having grown up in the 50's an 60's to see so many people completely separated from knowledge, science and critical thinking. I was taught to study things thoroughly in order to find truth. Nobody seems to do that now.
I don't know about education and democracy. All I know is taxes are rising, regulations are making it more and more impossible to truly create a competitive buisness, and industries are moving overseas were they don't have to deal with those issues. Oh and I'm expected to be a wage slave to fund your "greater good".
And I'm expected to just smile, say nice things, and just be happy. While bottling up my hatred for elitist degenerates.
@@m0ther_bra1ned12 I haven't noticed taxes rising. They were higher when I was younger. The tax breaks for the rich has ballooned the deficit. This is what Republican administrations always do...
@@m0ther_bra1ned12 "I don't know much about education and democracy." THAT'S the problem!!
Great! I see you're not a Democrat.
@@johnscanlan9335 You're right. I'm a Democratic Socialist.
" Nothing concerns me more than the Glorification of ignorance "
Carl Sagan
Two minutes in and this thing is riddled with anachronisms.
It didn’t take 20 years for the colonists in Virginia to figure out there wasn’t much gold to be found. Even then, “gold” was only one motivation for settling Virginia in the first place (and wasn’t unfounded considering the Spanish were carting enough gold away from the Americas to cause currency devaluation in the Spanish Empire over the course of a couple of centuries).
The main reason why the English settled North America was because everyone else was settling the continent. The Spanish, Dutch, and French were also attempting to settle the continent, meaning that, if England wanted to remain a relevant power, they would have to jump in as well. So, they did and founded Jamestown after at least one previous attempt to the south on Roanoke Island.
It didn’t take them long to figure out there wasn’t gold in the region they’d settled. That is why, within the span of a decade, they turned towards tobacco cultivation and successfully entrenched themselves in Virginia’s rich, fertile soil.
The reason why it took as long as it did had nothing to do with some false notion of Gold, but because they were constantly being assaulted by the Powhatan Confederacy and nearly starved to death in the winter of 1609-1610. It wasn’t until the Powhatan Confederacy and the English settlers came to a long-term peace agreement that the colonists could begin growing crops - like tobacco - for export back to England.
However, The most important error committed in this entire video is this: you are assuming that the skepticism towards “experts” is not rational and logical from the perspective of Americans.
We are skeptical of authority because authority figures, right from the beginning, had absolutely no idea of the reality of the situation at hand. If we go back to Jamestown, the colonists who first arrived were explicitly ordered not to build a fort so as to not provoke the native population. However, the colonists were _forced_ into making a fort at Jamestown because the natives were hostile towards them from the get-go. They figured out early on that the authority of England could not be trusted whatsoever in the affairs of managing the New World. So, in 1619, once all of the previous crises had been dealt with, Jamestown and the surrounding colonies in Virginia (Henricus and the plantations along the James River) came together and formed a legislature for governing the colony and it’s affairs; the House of Burgesses. This government was the first democratic government in the New World and it came about because they could not rely upon the authority figures to make reliable decisions to best mitigate any crises that would crop up.
This skepticism of central authority has carried on throughout the centuries because, every single time an authority seeks to assert what they think is best, it almost always conflicts with the reality of the situation on the ground.
In truth, the reason for the skepticism of authority and the doubt placed upon “experts” is perfectly rational. After all, what is best for a given region is best determined by the people living in that region. An elite living in Silicon Valley does not have the knowledge of the conditions and environment in Central or Southern Virginia. That person does not know what is best for that region, but the local population - people who have worked the land for generations and have lived there for hundreds of years - do know what is best.
Interesting argument which means you must accept your own corollary: farmers from the midwest do not have the knowledge of the conditions and environment of California or the east coast , and therefore do not know what is best for the local populations ...
@@forge20, but are the Midwest farmers dictating politics for you or are you dictating politics for them?
@@forge20 Farmers should be making the rules for everybody. They are the only ones left who still have any common sense.
Finally, some truth
Old Australian saying...you got the puritans...thank christ we got the convicts..
Lol
Sheesh... ever get the feeling idiots love being morons? I think most Aussies have highly developed BS recognition skills... unlike many Americans who seem to believe science is merely a tool for determining exactly how to piss off your political rivals
A totally splendid comment - and look how well the convicts did....even to beating the Poms at cricket often
Call Sharpening - wow!!!! Awesome!!!! I'm so envious right now!!!! Long live Australia!!!!
Thanks, Call Sharpening, for posting this comment. I've often thought about exactly that situation, but never realized you guys down under had a quote about it!
The problem is reality isn't punishing people fast enough for being stupid.
How about the people of our major US cities picking Democrats to rule them.
I'd say the punishment for such stupidity is swift and sure.
@@brucefrykman8295 You, sir, have just proved the OP's point! Well played!
@@brucefrykman8295 ....
Bubba.
What's better for your job;
Rugged individualism consumerism and monopolies chugging up all the resources leaving your customers broke
Or.
Social safety net programs, anti-monopoly programs, higher minimum wage (BTW, the amount of loans citizens take out decides inflation, not minimum wage. That's just how money is printed in the usa) and a slightly higher tax rate, leaving 99% of your customers with spare cash?
Ya... Its the latter. That's what democrats do. Thats why Democrat ran states pay more in taxes then they receive in federal aid most years. And Republican ran states take more in federal aid then they pay in taxes.
@@allhumansarejusthuman.5776 I was a 'rugged individual' who parleyed 160 grand a year (back when it was real money) with high a school education working as a project engineer and engineering manager for a variety of data comm firms. As such I have nothing against individual achievement. Teams don't do shit, they sit on their asses and try to find who was at fault for their failure to produce anything of value.
Social safety nets are what is fueling our drug addiction pandemic, they are hammocks. No one who is of sound mind and body should get a dime of help by robbing those who get up off their asses and try to find a way to scratch out a living no matter how difficult. This is the American ethic and our ideal, not useless cancerous socialism.
Why would I or anyone hire anyone whom they would have to pay more than he or she can produce? That's just nutty. Driving up minimum wages make people like me richer and you poorer. You see I'm the guy who designs systems that replace people who demand more than they can produce. They buy my machines instead, (that work 24/7 and never complain) rather than an army of useless whiners - it very true and nothing can stop this.
I wont pay people more than they are worth. I'll farm my jobs out to whomever gives me the best value just as they to in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark where they have no minimum wage. They just have more equal taxation than we do. They tax the first dime (kroner) as well as the last. Sweden has far more billionaires per-capita than the USA does. Wise up.
Wages have nothing to do with inflation; we have debt based currency, this is what produces inflation and the US government is by far the the most indebted spendthrift driving up this mountain of debt. 26 Trillion and growing - by trillions per year.
This is what is making those with no skills like you impoverished. When I was you age the world was my oyster with no way to go but up. What do you think has reduced you to putting your hand out begging for money?
I think we need less government and less taxation, most of it is wasted when the DC monkeys reallocate productive resources to the non productive.
The federal government spends more in Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia than they they do in Massachusetts New York and New Jersey for exactly the same reason that Toyota and Boeing does: They get far more value for their money.
Why would any self respecting young man live in these Northern socialist shit holes?
Beats me.
@@brucefrykman8295 I usually don’t jump into back and forth discussions like this but you sir, fired me up. I (like you, as you seem to indicate) don’t have a 4 year college degree. I finished HS then got a 2 yr degree in EE tech. I was born in 1960, so I’m coming up on 60 now. I’m also an IT instructor who has been moderately successful and consistently earned 200k+ a year.
You talk about rugged individualism but you fail to understand that you had a lot of luck along the way to help you get to where you’re at, as did I.
If I would have been born in a different time, like maybe 10/20 years later, I’d probably be nowhere near as successful.
What we’re (I’m talking progressives - don’t like right/left labels) trying to accomplish is to level the playing field.
Just because you were born to a particular situation/time period/generation, shouldn’t determine your lot in life.
Everyone should get free (taxpayer funded) K-12 (just like it is now) and based upon your desire to continue on improving yourself, should get free higher education.
Switching gears, In your post you mentioned robotics. So let me ask you, in a functional society should humans be replaced by robots/automation when doing so would result in a catastrophic economical impact to those being replaced with goal being only to raise shareholder value and increase profit margin? So let’s be empathetic for a moment if you can. I’m a worker, of limited means/education, who’s been doing a great job for the last 20 years, never call in sick, just show up everyday and do my menial job to the best of my ability, then someone invents automation that can do what I do so subsequently I get laid off never to be called back again, lost my income any health benefits I might have had all in the name of unbridled laissez-faire capitalism, and I should be happy about it deal with it in my own rugged individualistic way?
If so, you sir are deluded. People like you and I were born in the right place at the right time like the saying goes. Many were not. What we should all be fighting for is a more egalitarian society where everyone starts at the same starting line.
To quote a line from an old song from a group called Everlast which I think succinctly captures what I’m saying: “You know where it ends
Yo, it usually depends
On where you start”
Think about that before you start acting so “superior” to all those “lazy moochers” around you who just want a handout from the government.
"Most people aren't gonna die tomorrow because of fantasies and untruths..." Man, wasn't pre-covid a simpler time?
Yeah thatd make sense except most people didn't die so...
I love how the American dream is basically a scam so people think it’s their own fault they’re poor when in reality, most of the times it’s the system’s fault. This brings gaslighting to a whole new level.
@ripurring alr let’s see you try to buy a house while making minimum wage and you can’t switch jobs because you couldn’t afford a college education while your landlord raises the rent on your apartment and you can’t move out because everything else is too expensive..we’ll see how that experiences enlightens you because you sound like the type of people the lower class hates with a passion
@ripurring my mother had a valuable job making responsible financial decisions and lived in a small studio apartment that could bearly fit both of us for 11 years and we still couldn’t move because a majority of our money went to rent, food, basic electricity, transportation and more and some months we had to rely on my father to pay some of the bills or else we would get evicted or lose an essential service so please go and find someone else to tell off about “not understanding the poor”
@ripurring also funny you say that since my family is dark skinned and we never got benefits, only unemployment during the pandemic for a year.
"Americans are passionate believers of the untruth." Perfect summary.
And you of course in contrast are a believer only in "truth" I hope no one is unfortunate to ever have you serve as their juror.
THE untruth? Which one do you refer to?
Yeah there are some of us stupid enough to think government works.
@@compteofficiel4112 The commenter is referring to the general untruth (lower case t) not THE which would imply a specific. Capitalization is important.
@@brucefrykman8295 What is the alternative?
It's grown to the point where I've isolated myself from most people. It's impossible to have an intelligent disagreement. Yes, it's really that bad.
Tj Knight I fully agree. It seems one has to wade through a lot of shit to find the one turd worth talking to.
Pursue intelligent disagreements, maybe gamify it for yourself. Part of the problem is that smart people have isolated, leaving the blabbing idiots to shape people's (kids' in particular) beliefs. Be a mentor, upload to UA-cam, volunteer with a kid-focused organization, coach people into being better thinkers. Don't give up. It's hard and thankless work, but you'll know when you've scored a goal.
I know what your saying I hardly will let anyone in my life anymore. I find the foreigners are better to talk to. I post things on the internet from time to time. I try to educate people. It is hard to see all this insane bull crap all the time. I have gotten through to a few people.
If you find somewhere to escape to, let me know.
David Schibilla You might benefit from what seems like meaningless engagement with people. Leave the teaching behind and just take the time to get to know people, you know, figure out with questions what they think of themselves, what makes them tick, how they tick like you and his they don't. At the very least, you'll garner some teaching skills by understanding some analogies that will click with them, what sorts of thought processes people tend to have, that kind of thing. People may be pretty dumb, but each is so in a unique way. I've found that approach insightful into my own stupidity. You'll also find out how much people will adore you just by listening to them, plus, you'll catch a gem here and there from surprising sources. It might be good, too, if you started writing your thoughts down. You never know when your ideas might lead to a culture-rocking book. Lots of smart people just journal to help them cope with... well... yeah, that. ("The foreigners?" It could be y'all just feel like outsiders in a pretty sick subculture. That's not a bad thing.)
Divorced from reality describes this video perfectly...misinformation is not a uniquely American problem (because of course it isn't). Nor are conspiracy theories a uniquely American phenomenon (it spans history). He mentioned the attitude of southern slave holders, they didn't deny slavery, but they did say blacks were made for slavery (a perfectly nonsensical view seeing how they were doing fine before European involvement and the start of the transatlantic slave trade). Seeing the time you live in as uniquely disastrous happens to every generation.
People typically behave rationally, those who get caught up in misinformation have a reason to believe it...it might not be a good reason, but it also isn't nothing.
My dad has some saying that it’s hardest to get someone to understand a thing when their money comes from not understanding it. That’s what I see as the cause of a lot of stupidity. People choose what makes them money over what benefits human life. Unfortunately that doesn’t account for all harmful beliefs.
The south didn’t deny slavery was bad. What they argued against was what the abolitionists were doing and the northern posturing towards a position of greater centralization of powers into the hands of the Presidency and the Federal Government.
Your assessment is nothing more than a narrative that attempts to place the south in the position of “defending slavery” when, in reality, they didn’t want to “defend” it. The south wanted to deal with the matters that concerned them on their own terms. They did not want the federal government to dictate to them how they ought do things because, though that, they saw tyranny.
@@MatthewChenault the southern confederate states had a more centralized government than the north. The vice president of the confederate states famously said "slavery is the foundation of the confederacy". Pretty weird actions if they just wanted to handle how to dismantle slavery on their own, but of course that isn't what they wanted. This is one of the stupidest arguments I have ever heard. If they didn't deny slavery was bad, then why not end slavery? Why form their own government in order to protect and expand the institution of slavery?
Your average everyday southern didn't veiw slavery as bad because they had convinced themselves that the black man was to immature for freedom (something like that, it was stupid so 🤷). The argument was slavery was a way of bringing enlightment to the black man, but as I said this was stupid. It was a justification not a real belief founded in anything save greed.
@@jdblanch1172, “the southern confederate states had a more centralized government than the north.” *Proceeds to eat rocks.*
@@jdblanch1172, “if they didn’t deny slavery was bad, then why not end slavery? Why form their own government in order to protect and expand the institution of slavery?”
Firstly, you can think something is bad, but also object to outright abolishing it. If we follow that line of logic, because I think alcohol consumption is bad, that means it should be illegal. The entire problem stems from the reasoning behind the action (a form of tyranny) and the consequences of those actions taken.
Just because I think something is bad and make it illegal based on that belief does not mean that the consequences will be positive.
Prohibition, for example, ended up being a terrible idea that resulted in absurd levels of organized criminality. The rapid abolition of slavery resulted in the upending of an established social order without properly establishing a new, functional one in turn. It was abolition and it’s consequences that resulted in the societal problems within the south rather than slavery itself.
Secondly, you automatically presume that the south’s entire goal was only that of the preservation and expansion of slavery, which is demonstrably false. The south seceded from the union because they saw the north as tyrants who sought to _dictate_ politics for the South rather than let the south govern itself. The entire slavery debate is nothing more than a facade to the reality of the situation: the south’s secession, and the war, was one over the sovereignty of the states to determine what was best for them; it was the cause of _self-determinism._
It's not only America. Actually, the whole world is detaching itself from reality.
No... only "western" capitalist society ... please go somewhere and see for yourself.. .
I am going to read his book. Anti-intellectualism has been happening since I was in college in 67. Carl Sagan predicted this.
What blows me away, this anti-intellectualism movement, has gained the traction it has. How in the world, seeking knowledge, in all things, can be spun as a negative is beyond me.
Anti-intellectualism has been happening for much longer than that. It's kind of funny. We have yet to convince scientists to study anti-intellectualism to learn how to combat it. The best we can do is get intellectuals, like this guy, to complain about anti intellectualism in an anti-intellectual way. Seems like a fitting end.
@@jerrodlittleton7019 how you combat it is you engage in civil discourse and present valid argumentation to actually change people's mind with evidence and reasoning, instead of trying to figure out the ideal propaganda campaign formula to "combat" the claims people choose to accept on rational grounds.
@@TheJacklwilliams Spoiler alert: the people in power who aren't getting their books censored like the guy in the video are the ones preventing learning
Carl Sagan was part of the Jewish diaspora, and he had no respect for the people's and cultures of the world, and downplayed human significance just because of a stupid photos of the earth taken from space. How small we are in the universe has absolutely no relevance to how we should perceive our existence. Do you think a tiger or bear cares about the Milky Way's collision with Andromeda, and is gonna have some existential crisis over how small a component it's territory is? Utter nonsense. I love Carl Sagan's science documentaries, but he's a scientist, not a historical philosopher, historian, politician, economist, psychologist. He was a physicist, which requires no competency in things relevant to the intelligent management of Earth's resources
Agreed! We need fewer Reality Shows and more Reality Checks.
The reality checks in the mail.
@@ge2623 With today's reality, the check bounced.
Death is a reality check 😂
So true
@@billh.1940 - Looks like quite many people do need even more convincing than that.
A video about the fantasyland spoken from purely inside the fantasyland. Joe Goeb would be proud…
"In this softer age where most people aren't going to die tomorrow of believing fantasies and untruths..."
Covid: "Hold my beer"
Truth is not popular... Most want fantasy
Just look at the amount of television the average person watches every night.
Entertain me or else!
And it's not rooted to one aisle of the spectrum. Both parties have their own sci fantasy of why they didn't actually lose Presidential elections. You have to go back to 88 the last time a party lost and accepted defeat respectfully and didn't accuse the other side of cheating or blaming 3rd parties.
Most want to believe fantasy is true
True, fantasy all day, every day. Wherewolves, vampires, zombies, elves, Yawn. Reality is so much more interesting. And compelling.
"How exactly did it get so bad?" Simple; we began to conflate 'notoriety' with 'significance', and worse yet, through that conflation imply that non-notoriety makes you INsignificant.
Beautifully stated.
D Snodgrass
MEDIA - owned by Rothschild and application of teaching ideas that evoke paranoia for ability to manipulate.
Next Question?
Beth Bartlett -Rothschild is dead, or nearly so; it's Mercer and Murdoch that I consider the threat. But you do you.
Accurate and succinctly put.
Mike Schnobrich - you're definitely thinking! I would love to hear a scholar answer your questions.
"We were started by the puritans in New England" - the native Americans would like a word
There is a link between religion and magical thinking. Religion encourages belief in something that cannot be proven which makes some Christians very gullible to conmen like trump and the Republican Party.
"You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing after they have tried everything else"- Winston Churchill
Yet another quote.
CHURHILL'S MOTHER WAS AMERICAN FIRST AND FOREMOST! AND YOU ARE WELCOMED AND HE WAS RIGHT !
Lol, as if Churchill were a liberal. Churchill would be called a Fascist by today's standard my love. He personally killed several people of color who were just defending their homeland you know. Their reality was very very different from ours.
😂
Idiots
"You can't make me put brakes on my car. That infringes on my freedom."...
Brilliant!
What the public allows others in their community to do is the basis for self rule. When we don't like their rules we leave their company; the ultimate form of self rule. Smashing Nancy Pee-Low-See's teeth down her throat also infringes on my freedom, as much as I would like to I am forbidden to do so by the rules I have agreed to live by.
@@brucefrykman8295 you are an idiot
@@amyjbennett Brilliant. Why don't you make it the thesis of your climate change research paper.
I like your profile picture. I know Captain Terror appeared for like 30 seconds in a 50+ year old anime but I feel like he's underappreciated.
@@brucefrykman8295 I'm curious. Why do you hate her so much? I'm really ignorant on American politics these days...and I'm not trolling either, I'd just like to know.
I'm not American but I can tell you that your description fits perfectly with European Western countries too. The key: the last 20 years. Before these 20 years maybe things were different but since these 20 last years is just everywhere this not-dealing-in-reality.
As detestable as a lot of things he says are to me, I have to applaud and thank this channel for truly presenting a full spectrum of viewpoints.
As willing as Kurt Anderson here is to point his finger at "the right, and the entire republican party," I have to wonder why he's only telling one side of the story. I think he's onto a good start when he's talking about the Fantasy Industrial Complex, and it certainly does manifest centrally in America, but I think that insisting that these problems are largely American and specifically right wing/Republican is negligent at best. These are Human Problems, and ignoring how either side might be committing these sins against reality itself only exacerbates the problem.
I agree. When he stated the only reason Trump won was because he was a star made me realize this is a little biased.
And so demonstrates the magical thinking. "The other side is just as wrong as mine, so pointing out errors on my side only shows your bias." Bullshit. That's just typical right-wing whataboutism. The left doesn't deny reality to the extent that the right does, which was exactly his point when he says it's not necessarily limited to the right, but does there does in fact seem to be a tremendous amount of stupid nonsense coming from that direction.
@@forge20 You just proved my point. One could swap out "left" and "right" in your statement there and end up with essentially a word-for-word quote from any of the pundits on either side. We're all accusing each other of the same exact sins, and then responding with more accusations of projecting, lying, gaslighting, etc. We all need to change our attitudes and our approach, or there's no saving us.
@@BULLTRONHERO Were you able to find the survey he references near the end of the video? It's around 8:52
This has aged so well.
I agree---I just wish he would have cleaned up his delivery a bit. Great message but fumbling, stumbling delivery of it.
aged like milk lol
Calling 'a giant blue trowel art' seems to fit the bill too.
It will age even better. Come back every year until the american collapse ;)
guy comes off a unhinged socialist who's pissed off that it's really hard to implement nationalised socialism like it has been in the past. He seems to have forgotten the levels of propaganda the American system has engaged with throughout its history.
In the past all the papers would be on the literal same page. If we were going to war with some country, all the papers would demonise them and give reasons as to why its okay to put their citizens into camps. All the businessmen who wouldn't contribute to the coming war effort were seen as the enemy.
The Bipartisan nature of American politics enabled National Socialism when the elites needed to "rally" the troops or mobile a population in to collectivised action. You trusted your "party's paper". So when when there was consistent message between both "party's paper", you assumed it to be total truth.
And it's not just traditional war... also think Anti-Black/Asian/Muslim/Jew/Slavic/German/Italian/etc racism, Pro-leaded gasoline propaganda, McCarthyism, Pro-Consumerism propaganda, Anti-Drugs propaganda, etc, etc
This thing (at least where it relates to politics) reminded me of the scene in "Back to the Future" where Marty meets Doc Brown in 1955 after traveling back in time and their initial conversation, which is based on Doc Brown's denial and Marty's attempts to convince him goes something like this:
Doc says "So tell me, future boy, who is president in 1985?"
When Marty responds "Ronald Reagan" Doc sees this as proof that the whole story about coming from the future is a lie, he goes from annoyed to agitated and exclaims 5 inches away from a heart attack: Ronald Reagan, the actor..? And who is vice president? Mickey Mouse?
He said "And who is vice president? Jerry Lewis?" Actually, it was George H.W. Bush, but he was close enough. 😆
It was as much of a joke in 1980 as it was in 2016.
Same with Selensky in the Ukraine...
With the power the Mickey Mouse Company Controls, he is actually Chief of Staff.
I have always appreciated how uncertain the future is, but my goodness, in 2012 I would never have even begun to anticipate the following decade. I'd have thought you were pulling my leg.
Religion is the bridge from logical thinking to the ridiculous and dangerous.
Even on the biggest stages, gotta reinforce the fantasy. Remember dubya in a speech saying, "from day one, america has stood for freedom" 😄 Most reasonable people were wondering wtf he was talking about.
Some people want to be fooled because to admit they were fooled would make them feel like fools. And that's foolishness. A neverending cycle.
I believe Carl Sagan said something like that.
@@dalethelander3781 did he? Interesting. He was a brilliant man. He certainly was a visionary.
Stay well. Stay strong. Stay 😎😎😎.
@@sheilalopez3983 Look up Sagan's "bamboozle" interview.
@@dalethelander3781 okay!
Very nicely put- and a terrific observation
Amazing how COVID has added the "dieing for your beliefs" back into this assessment. And amazing how even when there is a horrible price to pay, people still cling to their unfounded beliefs.
COVID has been completely hyped, and you won’t even ask yourself why. Keep believing everything politicians tell you.
Watch me not die of CoVid just fine, thanks. 🙄
Hey Sylvia.. health professionals, and scientists world wide..👍
Keep politicising it though.. please🤤. This vlog was made just for you.
@@briankenyon1543 - Do you mean the politicized career bureaucrats, or the others who better shut up if they want to keep their job?
Yes, please give me the fake vaccine (they changed the definition of vaccine for it to be considered a vaccine) that the FDA doesn't want to release data on for 55 years.
If you genuinely think these things aren't dangerous it's because you're either ill informed or you're an idiot.
Completely agree with what you are saying here, BUT I'm almost 100% sure that you are knocking on an open door, since I doubt it that any of those people living in an alternate reality watch a video clip such as this one. The big question is how can we convey this kind of a message to the people from the "other side"?
This is more relevant now, then it was four years ago.
facts are becoming harder to distinguish from lies. It’s almost impossible to even find facts when they’re shrouded by all these layers of media you need to dig through first.
We need to drop any biases we have and search objectively for truth, or else critical thinking dies.
You cannot claim that “a man is not a woman” anymore
@@superresistant0 ?
@@Timspt8 Read the news, many people have been cancelled at best, fined/jailed at worse for stating that a man is not a woman because it is considered hate-speech.
@@superresistant0 this is completely unrelated to what I had to say in my original comment.
It's absolutely related. Up until approximately 10 years ago everyone knew men can't become women. Now it's anathema to say that
“The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first, and love of soft living and the get-rich-quick theory of life.”-Theodore Roosevelt.
Hear Hear
Bruce Lee said, Don't pray for an easy life but the strength to to endure a difficult one. As well as don't take someone else's success and try to duplicate it. I also remember that if you really love life then you shouldn't waste time because that is what life is made of.
Amen!
@@thatoneguy7603 not just the strength to endure a tough life but the Felicity to make it seem easy
"This tendency of people to post nearly random quotations in comments sections is getting fucking boring." Mahatma Gandhi
I remember as a child I was always interested in finding out about new things and learning about other people and their cultures. (the best part of growing up in New York). I watched PBS a lot. I have dropped off of Facebook and stopped watching television.I like You Tube because I can pick and chose the content at the same time learning and watching people who are like minded. I've always told my Daughters "you should learn something new everyday".
I can no longer listen to commercial radio or tv. I watch netflix movies that I select and I watch videos and make comments on youtube. I also read several newspapers online just to stay in touch.
One of my best life lessons came from my grandfather, who told me " You'll learn something new everyday, if you pay attention."
It's the last part that's hard for most of us. Learning to listen.
@@JamesRichardWiley same here!
Wow, that felt like I was reading about myself! I was also into learning other languages as well as different cultures. I would always bug my bilingual friends to teach me stuff!
I was just insatiably curious and read a ton of books as well as watched PBS a lot.
I must have driven my family crazy bc every sentence started with “why” or “how”. Lucky for me, they always encouraged that.
I’m jealous that you grew up in New York though! My smallish town in So. Cal. was not terribly diverse and pretty boring. I always wanted to hang out on the front stoop, like on Sesame Street. Glad you encourage your daughters to learn...I really believe that ignorance breeds hatred, and this country needs a lot less of both!
@@ltraina3353 same.
Thank you for your perspective and insight. The ability to articulate facts and evidence in narrative form…
Oh boy... four years later and it still holds true. But not just for the US.
Started with the weakening of the educational system.
@@grantjohnson5785
You conservative little peanut heads are so easily TRIGGERED.
That guy Sinjin just climbed halfway up your ass and took a dump.
Keep those keyboard warrior threats coming in!
(he actually thinks that scares people)
DRY YOUR TEARS SNOWFLAKE !!!!!!!!!!
Giving leftists control of education has had devastating results
@@grantjohnson5785 correct the country?
@@paloma5704 If recent events (such as BLM being a front for Marxists to seize control through rioting, the quick kowtowing of most states to fear and panic over Covid) are any indication, YES, correct the country. It's currently on a self-destructive course.
Technically, it started with the removal of the fairness doctrine.
He basically predicated the Covid-19 fiasco in the US...
And Q-Anon... And the Capitol Insurrection...
We're you trying to say "predicted"? To predicate is to merely make a statement.
@@zshadows How it's an insurrection if they believed the election was stolen?
I never had the impression from anyone who came of age in the sixties that they believed they were entitled to their "own truth."
Some people can no longer understand the difference between reality and fantasy
Atheists
The amount of dislike is scary. People are really disconnected from reality!
How do you know that they don't agree with him, but rather dislike the way he says it? Quit reading into it.
If I had to venture a guess, those are mostly Christian dislikes. Don’t challenge their version of “reality!”
@@BTsMusicChannel no it's most likely the folks that insist America must have this squeaky clean noble history that you can worship. Watched people go nuts over being shown the real physical size of the US vs the continent of Africa to show how much flat maps fool us.
@@storm14k What is the 'it' that you are talking about?
@@BTsMusicChannel the reason behind the dislikes addressed by the OP.
"In this softer age where people aren't going to probably die tomorrow as a result of believing fantasies and untruths, we became freer to believe in." Wow, if only he knew.
ouch.
What do you mean
I never took a vaccine and didn't even get covid the whole time
@@christiantaylor1495 OK, so your N=1 anecdote is an exception to the general pattern. In general, people who didn't get vaccinated were far more likely to get COVID, to get serious cases of it, and to die from it. People in the most pro-Trump counties (and thus anti-vax and anti-mask counties) died of COVID at SIX TIMES the rate of people in the most pro-Biden counties. Masks, social distancing, and vaccines all worked.
@@karlwheatley1244 the statistics you're saying are a complete lie. It's like trusting Chinese statistics in Muslim in concentration camps. I personally know FIVE PEOPLE who died of the vaccine, but ZERO people who died of covid.
People who support Trump are more old and more White. White People have a higher average age due to lack of breeding. Younger people tend to be more left wing. So Trump supporters dying more of covid is obviously just them dying because they are older 🤡
Me and all my friends are zoomers and didn't take the vaccine and non of us died or even got very ill. My best friend who also likes Trump got covid and after three days all his symptoms were gone and he said it was a joke and that he's had more difficult shits than that virus. Non of us died because we aren't 80 years old 🤡
Died at six times the rate, but the total number of deaths was no different when accounting for age.
When you show the government that you will let them do anything during a crisis, you give them incentive to fabricate crises.
We’re 4.5 months away from 2023 and this video is still relevant lol
He didn’t talk about the elephant in the room “I identify as trans furry wolf”, “a woman is someone that identify as a woman”. This is the ultimate level of delusion.
When England was sending it's people, they didn't send their best people, folks.
Viren vs "and some of them, I'm assuming, are good people ."
That’s what they said about Australia, and I’m thinking England didn’t know what they had...
ua-cam.com/video/RK1zmWGTHoc/v-deo.html
Any Hitchhikers around?
Seems rather familiar.
Remember when Castro emptied his prisons and sent them all to the US? The Cuban crime wave? I always thought that was a brilliant move on his part. The same happened in America´s birth. England sent the worst of the worst, because they knew the chances of survival of those initial expeditions were very low. So they sent the religious zealots, the fanatics, the poor and destitute, the winos and the bums off the street. In essence, the dumbest of the dumb, the rif raf, low quality stock. And the consequences are showing. If you start a nation with a bad gene pool, the end result will always be a sore sight to behold.
The american success can be atributed to the use of cheap/slave labour. The economic success atracted more uneducated manual labour work horses that worked for peanuts. A boom taken advantage of by a select few inteligent characters, that built their empires on the back of these human beasts of burden. And by the 19th century, the money earned was used to outright purchase the brain power they lacked. They used, and continue to use their economical power to drain other countries of their brain power, and relocate them to the US.
But now that trend is reversing. These "brainiacs" are returning home, leaving the US in a pretty pickle. The home grown brains are few and far between, the US education system is not conducive to a healthy supply of inteligent graduates. So the industry is starting to crack. We now see the hubs of reserch and development have relocated to places like China, India, and Japan.
Placing even more hurdles in the path of immigrants is hurting the american industry even more. Some more enlightened american analists have already began to notice the problem. Just like the empires of old, the american empire is on the decline, and is resorting to its military forces more and more, to tilt the scale back in its favour. But eventually the empire will self destruct. The foundations are rotten, sinking in the sand. And electing imbeciles like Trump to run it is speeding its demise. It´s only a matter of time until we begin to see americans emigrating out en masse! We see quite a few choosing to go abroad already.
Darth Mucus
The Pilgrim Fathers left Boston, Lincolnshire, to go to Holland because they wanted to live in a country with a Calvinist state church. Some of these people then left Holland because it wasn't hardline enough for them, stopped off at Plymouth to pick up some Brethren, then sailed off to the New World. That's how British North America got started.
I think American public schools and education in general seriously need critical thinking and discernment of information classes. I am alarmed at the lack of these skills in American society.
*RE: "I think American public schools and education in general seriously need critical thinking and discernment of information classes. I am alarmed at the lack of these skills in American society."*
Don't confuse my remarks as ever coming close to endorsing any education offered by government - government is run by politicians which are the lowest form of life among the human species; any product they offer must be considered defective.
I hear your sort of comment regarding "critical thinking" skills and I genuinely believe it has never been uttered by someone who actually has any understanding of what is meant by the phrase.
Education is the antithesis of "critical thinking" and no one can be taught how to critically think about anything without violating this fundamental concept.
Here is an example definition that I accept as close to hitting the mark:
*_"The key critical thinking skills are: analysis, interpretation, inference, explanation, self-regulation, open-mindedness, and problem-solving."_*
Notice that all of these processes are internally focused and cannot possibly be taught in any school from the very best to the very worst. Unfortunately, the very primary requirement for gaining critical thinking skills is "problem solving" and was listed last. One who cannot successfully solve problems (problems not involving adherence to "procedure") is incapable of critical thinking. It's like asking a fish to ride a bike.
In the world of mathematics, this would be solving some riddle for which no previous procedure ever existed. Such people often win the "Fields Medal"
As one might accurately surmise, very few people are capable of critical thinking and least likely to be capable of it are successful PhD candidates whose minds have been cluttered with decades of someone else's procedures that you might call learning, I would called it training. Circus seals are trained, thinkers are never trained.
Absolutely. Texas removed Critical thinking courses a few years ago. Who wants people who know how to fact check and use their reasoning skills?
@@dianemitchell1717 *RE: "Absolutely. Texas removed Critical thinking courses a few years ago. Who wants people who know how to fact check and use their reasoning skills?"*
I think you have just proven that you don't have the slightest idea of what is meant by the phrase. Critical thinking cannot be taught, the idea is preposterous, all that can be taught is merely prejudice Neither do they use "fact checkers: Critical thinkers are stand alone "fact checkers" and they don't "check facts" by "googling them."
Max Plank (in summary) held that science advances one funeral at a time.
Apply all of your critical reasoning skills to attempt an explanation of the concept behind this summary.
@@dianemitchell1717 yeah we don't even teach "critical thinking" in UK schools. This would be incredibly controversial in Europe. Thanks to all the awful political experiments run throughout the 20th century, Europeans are hyper sensitive to brainwashing children and biased teaching. Critical thinking can never be taught in an unbiased way unlesd the children are taught by a robot with no view either way
@@dianemitchell1717 we've already gotten rid of the necessity of decent spelling, reading and mental math abilities too sooo
Sometimes, as a Brit, I am absolutely BAFFLED at some of the stuff Americans genuinely believe. People with these views would be considered insane in this country.
Ah you mean the 74 million muh fascists (as the leftoid would say) that voted for muh orange baby hitler? Or you mean the degenerate stalinist leftoid?
Like what?
@@futuregoals6718 Like Andrew Tate. Some days ago a youtuber from my country published a video about him and took him as a joke but wow it's surprising how many americans take him seriously, for example Sneako and all his fans
Moving away from religious principles we now look for a living saviour. So we follow silly people with crazy ideas.
Aha I wish I could go back in time and tell this guy: "LOL, dude wait for 2020!"
Right? I'd like to hear from him this week🤣
lol. likewise
exactly
To me this feels like Obama's third term not Bidens first. Just how I feel about it.
2020 is just beginning. Mark My Words^^
There is nothing real about reality TV.
Magnus Kvalvik,
That is an awful lot of speculation to read into a simple declarative statement. But to set you straight, the answer is "no" I have known since the genre began.
I work in film and TV so I have seen first hand how the producers set-up and manipulate the narratives.
Even on Trump's major claim to fame, The Apprentice, it was the producers that decided who to boot each week and Trump found out who that was to be minutes before they taped the elimination scenes.
Then there is wrestling, which was doing 'reality entertainment' long before the term caught on in the modern vernacular.
You call one sentence "an awful lot of speculation"? Look at your own reply.
Le Green Boat,
Perhaps 'assumptions' would have been a more appropriate term since he obviously didn't put much thought into his post.
As for my post, please be so kind as to educate all of us on where I speculated or made assumptions.
@Chrisose - it's really fucking up reality when it gets orange nutjobs the presidency. Also it's really ruined the history channel.
burtosis,
So true. Between the "reality" shows and the "I'm not saying, I'm just asking a question" religious crap about 80% of the Discovery network content is unwatchable. I do have a guilty pleasure in History Channel's "Forged In Fire" though. You can see some influence of the producers manipulating the narrative but it is still primarily about making the blades.
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” Issac Assamof.
The false notion is that "intellectuals have everyone's best interest in mind".
.
And this is almost 5 years old. So much more crazy stuff happened since then.
2017, This Guy: Get back in touch with reality America!
2020, America: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
He is spot on. I feel like I'm living in a detached world where it's glaringly obvious that any attempt to bring reality to the table is met with a brick wall where nobody wants to hear anything bar their reality. I'm glad I'm not the only one seeing this. Even some very intelligent people seem incapable of dealing with anything that doesn't confirm their bias. It's absolutely frightening and something I spotted years ago. Ai is not the bogey man it's alternative realities is happening now.
qq
@Howardsend88 Scottish if you please. Loads of folk in scotland with their heads on a different planet. Quite scary actually.
It's the otherwise-intelligent people who mystify me.
@@erinthesystem9608 very worrying that the so called intelligent ones go along with the fantasy. Orwell looking more and more correct. As horse racing folk say when assesing how good they are,believe what your see with your eyes not what others say is true.
@@michaelrafferty2482 Thats the fault of the unregulated internet. Or at least to some big degree its part of the problem.
People always seek likeminded people. Before the internet, they needed to be conform with their family/friends to not be alone.
Nowdays, they need like 10 minute to find people who are as stupid as they themselfs and there starts an echochamber of idiocy.
But here in austria it's the same. The is happening in every western country to some degree. A good old "slap the idiot some common sense in their head" would help too maybe...
Craziness was here long before the Puritans. It was here shortly after mammals showed up. It really took off when homo sapiens established a footing. In many ways our lack of absolute sanity made us what we are today.
are there really people who believe anti elitism is bad?
I used to agree with his points until COVID.
COVID proved that people will hold onto their fantasies even when it has a real chance of killing them.
Even when it is *literally* killing them on their deathbeds 😭
COVID was a very sobering event, it killed any false hope I had.
@@nataliesteiner COVID was the slowest, easiest, baby-mode difficulty virus Nature could've thrown at us and we completely failed that challenge.
I now dread to think what will happen when Nature decides it's time to actually throw something serious our way. An outcome similar to something you see in The Division or Contagion now seems optimistic at best.
@@ParagonFury I just hope monkeypox doesn't get to that point or other shit like polio. We came so freaking far only to have anti-vaxxers throw us back in the well. Like whole families have been wiped out. Our morgues are bursting at the seams and people still think it's fake.
@@ParagonFury Yes because now our great great great grandchildren are gonna pay the price of our idiotic tyrannical restrictions for generations and that's somehow a good thing. Imagine thinking that fear of catching a cold is more rational than fear of literally handing over your right to fresh air to the government while it wants to restrict it and completely shut down your economy.
Fantasy Industrial Complex, so well put.
It is called Television.
I call it the financial business complex. I think that is closer to the reality of chaos.
Academicism is a cult like Catholicism and atheism and Mormonism.
@@johnhanks4260 WTF are you even referring too when you say "academicism"?
And since when is atheism a "cult"? What are you smoking?
Such a good way to describe it
Oh, my dearest past Kurt Andersen. If only you could see what its like now. Such a simple time you speak from.
Sometimes I see two differing realties in news titles for the same event. It just makes me sad that people dont even see the world the same. How do you fix a problem when people dont even see the same problem?
Guy: "Most people arent going to die tomorrow from believing untruths."
COVID-19: Hold my beer.
and, on a smaller scale, it is unusual for 5 people to die because the outgoing president lies about the outcome of the election, and a mob believes him :-(
It's unfortunate that it's not more effective in removing the cult of ignorance, and that collateral damage is high.
@Mendoza Juan speaking of untruths, 2020 death toll overall in the US was at least 12% higher than in 2019. And if we look beyond statistical averages as a way to pretend that we somehow AREN'T in a pandemic (see: lying with statistics), most COVID-19 deaths are preventable if hospitals have the adequate capacity, which most did not in 2020. The death tolls weren't because of people's personal choices (well, some were) so much as a lack of preparedness, which was because of bad planning and policy. The big lie here was that we have such a good healthcare system that no more investment was required. We now know these were deliberate policy choices made by people who were fine risking everyone else's lives to save some money on the budget.
@@FourtyParsecs finally a truthful comment !
It depends. We could conduct a cruel social experiment where believing an untruth and lacking critical thinking skills results in certain death. We could create something worse than Covid that kills way more idiots.
During my whole life, I don't believe America has bothered to find out what the reality is that underpins the reality of all other countries, regions or cultures, they just don't care. This indifference, smugness and ignorance about the world, is not a problem limited to the right or left of politics in America but a nationwide problem of hubris and arrogance as well as emotional immaturity and lack of reasoned logic applied to most common intellectual challenges. The world is so tired of this teenage mentality and wonder when America will grow out of its adolescence, because if they don't, their lack of general education and understanding of things such as differences in social structure and cultural morays in other countries etc will result in the world continuing to mercilessly bullied.
Remember we are a diverse and interesting people. Not a stereotype. If the American people had one man one vote democracy consent would have ruled, and if we had a sharing economy we probably would have had the time and wealth to educate ourselves conversationally, instead of indoctrination confined in classrooms. Knowledge about the world is great, but wisdom from conversations is more important. Young in school, girls had the wisdom. Male brats had none. Curiosity is where happiness came from good surprises. Kids had more and that's why they are happy. Egotistic authoritarian assholes (brats screwed it up.) Countless egotistic authoritarian assholes are clustered in the Republican party. (Bosses and businessmen) Businessmen have the wealth and time to go into legislatures where they make their greedy decisions. It is the same with royalty.
Big Red - You are TRULY clueless! The USA has it's finger on the pulse of every country in the world - which is why we're the most powerful nation on the planet. BTW, while most of the world continues to increase CO2 emissions, America reduced emissions by more than the rest of the world combined. If that's being "adolescent" we'll take that over the irresponsible behavior of the rest of the world.
I think what you have to understand is that there’s always been a huge element of ‘patriotism’ being taught in schools. In the 40’s and 50’s it was because of WWII, in the 60’s came the space race, in the 70’s and 80’s we had the Cold War and arms race. After the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe and Russia things calmed down a bit, but then we had 9/11.
As a well educated person (I’m 40 and grew up in the 80’s) it really took the internet to open my eyes to the propaganda I was fed my entire educational existence. When i think about being taught about how Russia and North Korea used propaganda to control their population i remember thinking ‘why didn’t people realize they were being lied to? I’m smart, I’d definitely know!’ We’ll, it’s not so easy, especially when critical thinking is very much discouraged in US classrooms....
@@amijohnson8987 I don't know where you got your education, but we were NEVER taught "patriotism" in school. It doesn't take a genius to recognize America is a pretty great place to live. We have it better than any other country when it comes to personal liberties, opportunity and quality of life. If you disagree, you've probably never traveled abroad.
C Y? On the contrary I travel abroad frequently, and it’s this more than anything that opened my eyes to America’s potential, but we’re wasting SO much money on needless wars and congressional infighting that the needle never moves.
Btw, I never said America wasn’t great,but it’s certainly it ‘the shining city on the hill’ envied the world over either. Our education system is pretty shameful, it’s a disgrace we have children living in poverty and homelessness, and right now there’s actually debate about what truth is, actual facts are now being questioned by seemingly normal people, like the Earth being flat. So America can still be great, and certainly have incredible potential, but it’s not perfect and there are many places deemed happier than the US, which mostly stems from financial security.
I don't know whats more absurd, people who say climate change doesn't happen or people who want it to not happen ever again.
There are two crucial issues that won’t help us mentally evolving the way we would hope, even after technology and more freedom of speech.
1) if we look at the information we have access to on social media, it’s very much based on the user preferences - meaning that each individual will only see more of what they want to see;
2) some people are not really concerned about getting informed, but they may want to have an opinion, so they will just stick to the easiest one without really ever questioning it.
I've always thought that the Vietnam War and the associated post-WW2 "fall from glory" sent American society into a collective depressive episode from which it had yet to fully emerge by 9/11. That became the final nail in the nation's quest for sanity.
I've had similar thoughts about the Vietnam War. Both sides of the political spectrum destroyed American's faith in the government and faith in expertise with lies and a clear disinterest in the welfare of the citizenry.
This has been exacerbated by the economic changes since then. The obsession with GDP and the "efficiency" of the market system, especially as that relates to foreign exchange has impoverished the bulk of the American working class while enriching a diminishing number of the very richest Americans. How complex is it? A company fires it's workers and moves jobs overseas; prices stay the same, labor costs drop by large factors, company managers take credit and give themselves big bonuses. Companies use profits generated by American workers, buy electronic goodies to replace workers. Managers give themselves big bonuses. We have created entire cohorts of Americans who have no place in the economy. Democrats want to solve the problem with welfare checks. Republicans want to solve the problem with tax cuts focused on the very richest.
The rest of the dilemma I have to blame on Republicans. During the Johnson years civil rights legislation was passed. Johnson said "We've lost the south for a generation". Worse, the Republicans, starting with Nixon, gathered up the racist south with dog whistle racism and have held unto racists nationwide for over 50 years. Meanwhile they have realized that there is short term gain to be had by discrediting science. So environmental, safety, medical and any other science that interferes with short term profitability is denounced until half of the country doesn't believe any expert on any subject. Of course demagogues need enemies and Republican expertise in this arena is historical. It's no coincidence that Joe McCarthy's mentor, attorney, was Trump's mentor. Adding to the established White-against-Black racism Republicans now have added Latino women and children, all of Islam (except those with oil) and George Soros. Trump was the beneficiary of this madness. Almost all the rest of the country are the losers.
Yes. Vietnam began the decline.
@@jjhpor you were good up until the third paragraph and then you just spun completely off what is true
I read commentary that called post WW2 years as "post war euphoria" and I grew up in the '50s having swallowed a lot of the feelings. It began to wear off rapidly when the contrasts of Vietnam emerged and our soldiers came home to some ugly demonstrations against them. We've been living a poison within ourselves and letting it be taken out of our systems is painful, no way around it or short cuts.
@@pparker768 It's important to remember that Democrat "quiz kids" ('intellectuals') dreamed this this complete disaster. They were as always completely ignorant of how the world works, having living most of their lives in an artificial bubble unwillingly supported by taxpayers.
Nothing ever really changes in government.
Long ago, the way people were disabused of their false beliefs, mistaken notions or downright stupidity was either being killed by an enemy, a big animal, or an accident. These days, people are fairly safe from these things, and the internet kindly brings scattered groups of the like-minded into a kind of community, so it kind of reinforces the notion that "Hey, I believe X and all my friends believe X and nothing bad is happening to us... so X must be TRUE!" If this continues, I fear that the old way of correcting stupidity may make a comeback to remind us that bad things happen when you are willfully stupid!
“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so. “ - Mark Twain
Anti elitism is a legit reaction to knowing history.
True.
"I don't trust the government, the leaders or the elite, but I'll overthrow democracy because I believe in a government run by an elite ruler who sends out decrees sitting on a golden toilet." Makes perfect sense.
@Eternity's End Yes. like how Putin has turned Russia from a communist hell to a capitalist paradise. LOL
@Eternity's End no, more a passive observer
I don't get it.
War is Peace, Slavery is Freedom, Everything is On Sale
@@jocktulloch3499 Russia isn’t even capitalist, though, it’s a democratic socialist federation. Not great, but a step in the right direction from what the soviet union was
When Saint Reagan did away with the fairness in media doctrine that was the beginning of the end for this country.
🤔
Agree. Reagan did more harm to the USA, just as Maghie Thatcher did to the UK.
This rings true except for anti-elitism. Anti-elitism is not a problem, elitism is. The establishment and government over all, has been part of the problem since square one. Trump got elected BECAUSE of elitist thinking, certainly not anti-elitism.
Meanwhile.
2022: hold my beer.
As a middle school student I did have my emotional problems, however I had an undying curiosity to better understand reality. I had a better time talking personally to adults in their 40s and 50s instead of kids within my age group. Kids within my age group were boring to me because they only seemed interested in taking up and repeating tropes from pop culture assuming that it makes them impressive or worthy of fitting into social circles. To me, this was just ridiculous. I’m almost 30 years old and I’m noticing that there are adults in their 40s and 50s who actually look like they’re rolling backwards to the stage of being only 13 and 14 years old. Having no sense of looking for credibility in any claim, brushing away any credible knowledge as part of the elite, claiming that they are victims of whatever “the establishment” is. Some of them gravitate toward a cult like mentality, in other words a sort of clique where they can feel special and validated. They can fit into a group where they can share the same belief with everyone else there and never have to worry about being challenged. Perhaps the largest indicator of immaturity is the idea that voting for specific president or leader or whoever will fix our problems quickly. This is the how children try to get help, by asking for help from a parental figure or a teacher because they don’t fully understand their surrounding reality. They rely on adults who have knowledge and authority. If we’re all adults here then why even bother to try relying on some sort of parental figure representing tens of thousands of people across a very large and diverse country? In order to really grow up, we need to find it in ourselves to break down our own emotional attachment to beliefs, our origin of bias and learn to analyze information, rather than remain uncertain about everything and rely on some sort of group or leader to coddle and perpetuate whatever we’re comfortable with believing.
“Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm -- but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.”-T. S. Eliot
Interesting, Danielle. Very interesting. I can remember from when I was around 10-12 talking with a neighbouring lady. She talked with me as an adult, about all sorts of things. I don't remember about what, but I do remember being talked with as an (almost) equal.
Oddly enough, I remember riding a bus here in Toronto several years ago. A middle-aged lady had 2 or 3 little kids (maybe aged 3-5) with her. As the kids looking out the windows noticed all sorts of things passing by and commented, she validated their observations and questions, and added a bit more info about each. Those kids are getting a wonderful head start in life.
o/' I believe the children are our future... o/'
QUESTION EVERYTHING EXCEPT YOUR OWN INTUITION.
That’s a Very insightful comment. Personally, I consider myself politically homeless, so I can watch the left vs right drama unfold, and see a shocking number of otherwise intelligent and sane people, so eager to divorce themselves from critical thought and have a political brand image at the core of their identity. Apparently it’s been like this since the 1800s, probably even before that, but I haven’t read that far back yet.✌️
When the comment section of a video completely reinforces the point made in the video...
This
Hunter, it's really sad that I actually can't tell if you're a troll or being serious. Whichever it is, you've reinforced Hsoj's point beautifully.
Double digit IQ's are fun sometimes.
Them ChemTrails are bending our psychic minds and we all know NASA and the Illuminati is behind it.
It is happening in every rational video
The irony of a guy I've never heard of on UA-cam telling me that people used to have to earn their fame.
Todays Christian= Money, Power and pray to God for more Money, Power..
Really, was Christ a rich man? I don't understand the reasoning with Christians thinking God gives people money.
To buy more porn
*bad Christians
I am a gen z, and modern-day America, and honestly its real historia is just terrifying. I am glad that my "mythical" route lead me to explain magic (like in books, games, plays, movies, etc.) through science and thinking science is magic while loving nature.
Just...the amount of people who are separated from reality and just empathy towards other people astounds me. It is one thing to struggle and not have time or resources to gather factual knowledge and realistic views or to be ignorant--but there are SO many people that are willfully ignorant, which is what I could call stupid. The ones who are nationalistic and bordering on fascism.
People who are nationalistic are stupid really the one thing never asked is the fact presented is true or not
How did “nature” come into existence?
Good luck...
So disagreement with your perceptions are stupid and those who adopt your views are intelligent?
@Andy Echeandia Sky daddy made it in Santa’s work shop?🎅🏽
Its what allows us to accomplish what everyone else says "can't be done"
The last four years since this came out: "hold my beer"
Gaius Julius Caesar said a couple of thing that I believe are pertinent here: "What we wish, we readily believe, and what we ourselves think, we imagine others think also" and "men in general are quick to believe that which they wish to be true." All of this is nothing new. In fact it just goes to show that people as a whole haven't really changed in over 2000 years.
Cesar Garcia - Well done Cesar. You get it 👍🏻
There is a video which was written and video taped from a former member of the Westboro Baptist church in Fla. in which he said,"We look at others hoping to only see ourselves." What a most true statement.
People have changed very little in a hundred thousand years. The toys that have been invented are different, but our minds and bodies are essentially the same.
Tribalism, xenophobia, greedy conquest to ensure the prosperity of you and yours at the expense of others - these are VERY old habits and hard to break.
Caesar reportedly chided his doom-saying prophet with: Well' the Ides of March are here and I'm still very much alive" as he headed off to the Senate.
To which his prophet replied: "Yes Caesar, the Ides of March have come, but they are not yet gone"
So when socialists wish government rules us all, they need to believe in some fairy tale like "the climate crisis" (hysterical laughter)
As the pandemic continues, this video really resonates more so now than when it was posted in 2017.
True. Many people got the heart attack vax and have suffered.
@@RilfDanielson And billions got that same vax and are just fine.
@@Muzakman37 Nicely said.
@@Muzakman37 but they sure aren't protected from Covid lol
@@RilfDanielson says a guy with no medical training
Being born in this country always felt like my soul was sold for the privilege of the higher social class before I was even born
I am a atheist so happy religion is not a big thing in the UK
....science flies you to the Moon...........religion flies you into buildings............
Walt Snow Well said my good comrade, well said.
to be religious is to be a blind man in a pitch black room looking for a black cat that isn't there. And finding it.
and people use it to set policies, rules and laws.
They would be The American Taliban.
and they are waiting. verry, very near to power.
Incomparable contrast between the words 'Religious' vs. 'Spiritual'!
Islam flies into buildings, you idiot.
Islam IS a religion.........now who is the idiot ??
This aired over 3½ years ago.
I'd like to see an updated version.
and it would be really easy to produce. Simply 20 minutes of repeating 'told you so!'
@@Skaldewolf just blindly follow some clearly bias publicist with no PhD on the matters he speaks of... you really know what's going on in the world bud lol
PhD? Trumpers don't believe people with real credentials!?
@@briankenyon1543 I'm not a "trumper"... you wanna actually talk we can talk, but yeah this man has no PhD on the matters he is educating all of you on ..
@@jesusiii6732 sure! We can talk. Do granted this prize winning author is no PhD.. But I wasn't so much commenting on his credentials, rather your obvious dispute of the thread material!? Given your aversion to the claims made.. I made the assumption that you must find yourself on the extreme right of the subject, hence the "Trumper" assertion. Apologies if that's off the mark.
It is However always hard to swallow.. the active denial of how this country has become so mired in the absurd... But! I am starting to understand just how successful the propaganda machine has been here.
Having come from an actual free country. Meaning SQUARLY, free from fear.. first and foremost. And second and equally as important, free from rampant Christan/chest pumping blind patriotism.. ie, we are our own harshest critics. (Not needing to be "CORRECT" at every turn.
Now good sir. You may defend your great and heroic nation... If you dear?
It's not just people on the right that are diverging from reality - it's all across the spectrum. “To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.” T. Paine
6 years later. What a lesson to see.
It’s almost like the ability to critically think has been stolen away from anyone on the right
It's exactly that sort of astoundingly biased an ignorant thinking that is the problem. The inability to think critically exists in absolute abundance in both the left AND the right. Both sides have logically incoherent, insane ideas. No doubt people like you buy into all the "left" ones and fail to critically analyse your basket of views individually, allowing your tribal mind to block out dissenting thoughts. This happens on BOTH sides.
“Fantasy industrial complex.” Congratulations, I just bought your book.
Euhm. Yea, this title aged like fine wine.
Now they didn't just divorce from reality but they got a restraining order, pay alimony and have no visiting rights to even a shred of reality.
Once upon a time I was stupid enough to think, that we just need to give them the knowledge... Oh dear, was I stupid. I. Was. So. Stupid.
Greetings from Germany.
America has never been invaded, hence the concept of pain and suffering from war is unknown. The US is so detached from war torn Europe of WWII or Vietnam.
War of 1812
Good point.
@Ann Linley America's cities were never bombed down or had people murdered in the most inhumane way possible. They've never suffered from poisonous gas or unexploded bombs.
You must be an idiot! America was heavily involved in both WWII and Vietnam. We paid a great price for wars we didn't even need to be a part of - but we came to the rescue of allies at our own expense. Practically every country in the world still owes America for war debts.
@@r.t.7626 Yeah, but that OP probably talking about millions of deaths like in WW2, not 3,00 in WTC. Or Europe in general, or old civilizations like India. Kings have always been fighting for thousands of years.