In 1983 Somalia, I discovered systematic aid fraud that nearly got me killed. That taught me how oversight collapse—not any one group—creates fraud at scale.

40 years later, Minnesota's Somali community is taking heat for welfare fraud, and yes, the evidence is real. But fixating only on Minnesota Somalis misses the bigger story: SNAP fraud, Medicaid fraud, PPP fraud—it's happening nationwide across every demographic because we've built systems that invite exploitation and then act shocked when it happens.

This episode connects what I learned at gunpoint in Mogadishu to America's refusal to learn the same lesson: fraud isn't about ethnicity or geography. It's about weak oversight, perverse incentives, and our pattern of blaming symptoms instead of fixing structures.

Why do we keep ignoring what the evidence shows?

This is The Unpopular View: Challenging the Narratives Dividing Boomers, Gen Z, and the Global South.

I'm Michael Brown. I've spent 50 years in 80+ countries—Somalia, Mali, Congo—working on development, conservation, and climate projects. I've seen what works, what fails, and lived with remote communities while advising governments on policy. I also know what we tell ourselves to avoid uncomfortable truths.

This podcast exists because we're replacing evidence with tribal loyalty. We're choosing sides instead of testing claims. We're ignoring lessons from places we've never heard of while repeating the same mistakes at home.

Each episode tests a story: Is it true? Who benefits from believing it? What does the evidence actually show?