Truth Unrestricted

Send us Fan Mail

What is propaganda? An organized effort to distort reality or the accepted truth of society at large. The idea of propaganda carries with it the idea that the set of things that the public generally believes both exists and matters to the entity producing the propaganda. For some, this set of ideas is the "zeitgeist". The spirit of the age. In this context, propaganda is then an attempt to engineer the spirit of the age.
Is propaganda different than what happens in current day political campaigns? Do we consider this as "legitimate political discourse" or do we consider it to be an unearned lever on society?
Is there a difference between institutional propaganda (like what a nation or a political party would do) and organic propaganda (that which happens as a result of an ideological movement)? Can groups that make a sustained effort to change the accepted truth (like flat earthers and anti-vaxxers) be considered "organic propagandists"?

Links
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda

Excerpt
Many people feel that the world is entirely fake. That the things we believe are true are only true because of our perception and that if we can change the perception of what is true then we can change the world.

Send us Fan Mail

Callback to most recent episode about "the two selves".
Vladimir Putin has his "finger on the button" right now. He wants to be seen as a leader of a powerful nation. If the current excursion in the Ukraine doesn't support that image he holds of himself this will cause (in my prediction) the worst version of Vladimir Putin to be shown to us. He may take more extreme measures to make the world see him the way he wants to be seen. We have not seen any sign of humility in Putin before so we cannot but hope that he still has some to balance out his psychological situation.
Some people who might be seen as "apologists" are making these sorts of arguments. I understand their concern but this amounts to appeasement and would be a failure of courage. Bullies must be opposed. If they cannot be prevented from getting what they want then at the very, very least they must be made to understand that the price they must pay is higher rather than lower.
Suicide is a strange thing. Its existence would seem to contradict everything we know about the instinct to survive. But knowing that there is a powerful instinct to continue that is overcome by something inside real humans should tell us about the strength of the thing that overcomes it.
Suicide has more than one single cause. The greater cause is hopelessness. One form of hopelessness is the belief that a person may never be able to be seen as the person they want to be known as. If the image we would want to create in other people is shattered then we are at risk of making terrible and desperate decisions. One of the times in a person's life when they are highly likely to feel like they won't be seen the way they want to be seen is during the time when they are still forming the idea of what it means to be seen this way at all: the teenage years.
Teen suicide is one of the darker aspects of our world and to shy away from it is to have a failure of courage on a local level. To look away to satisfy your own uncomfortability is to be okay with the consequences of looking away and we must do a better job of confronting this. We must find a way to talk about what is actually happening in a way that makes sense and gets to the root of the problem


Links
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_warfare
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_assured_destruction
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neville_Chamberlain
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_Canadians
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_Americans
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide

Send us Fan Mail

What is the meaning of death? Can we come to understand it in a way that makes grief easier to manage? Why do we attach ourselves to otherwise unimportant things once someone dies?

These are the sorts of questions I ponder when I think about death.

Send us Fan Mail

Episode X - The Two Selves
We each have two versions of ourselves. The first is the one known only to oneself. It is on the inside and it can only really be known by oneself. The second is the version of us that we want the world to see. It is based on our inner self but it is modified by our social influences.
Is this the "ego and superego" that is taught in psychology?
As to our "outer self", do we have separate versions of this with different social spaces we enter? For example, are we different with our families than we are with our coworkers? Are we different with our old high school friends than we are with new acquaintances?
Is the collection of actions that our inner self would allow but that doesn't fit the outer self we want to project actually the collection of things that would embarrass us or make us feel shame?
What happens when the outer self we want to project changes with time (I'm not that person anymore)? Are we then embarrassed by actions now that we weren't embarrassed by when we did them?
We are more psychologically healthy when our inner self is very close to our outer self. Think about people who are forced to hide their sexuality because of society's expectations.
The dangers of "piercing the veil" between the inner and outer self. Does it feel like an intrusion when you come to know something about someone that they didn't intend for you to know about them? Is it a common tactic for bullies to purposely try to pierce this veil to make their victims more vulnerable?

Links
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Id,_ego_and_super-ego
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shame#Comparison_with_embarrassment
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closeted

Send us Fan Mail

Links
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedge_issue
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dilemma

Send us Fan Mail

Notes

Why do we consider corruption to be a byproduct of being powerful?
Is it possible that most people would become corrupt if we achieved positions of power?
Would the process of becoming powerful change us in such a way that we began to appear (or become) corrupt?
Are all powerful people corrupt or are some powerful people using their positions to benefit society?
If you were among the powerful, would you be any different than them?
What is the social force that prevents the less powerful from making the world a better place?
Is apathy a source of corruption in our world that ensnares the less powerful into suffering at the whim of society's elite?

Excerpt: Before any success can be had, one must first make some attempt. But before one will ever make an attempt, one must first form a belief that making the attempt could have some positive outcome. Manufacturing in yourself this belief should be your chief concern if you want to have a better world.

Send us Fan Mail

Excerpt: If this world changes it will be because *I* worked to change it. Slowly. Little by little. With words and ideas. Join me.

Links
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_v._Wade
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-election_lawsuits_related_to_the_2020_United_States_presidential_election
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion

Send us Fan Mail

Our daydreams are often unrealistic but usually not so fantastical as to be outside the realm of possibility. They usually include situations we might actually find ourselves in and they probably include us doing things we wouldn't normally do. They will definitely include other people reacting to us in an unrealistic way.
Are daydreams part of our mental software that is meant to prepare us for future moments?
Fantasies are meant to be unrealistic. If we ever reach a place where we achieve outcomes we have fantasized about then our brains conjure new and more extreme fantasies.
Are fantasies a part of our mental software that drives us to achieve?
Is there really any difference between daydreams and fantasies?
Should we worry about violent fantasies (of murder, etc)?

Links
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daydream
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy_(psychology)
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/01/violent-fantasies-rumination/580858/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1990/06/13/violent-fantasies-common-among-serial-killers/2884a9ca-bc70-4903-b193-ce9d0aa58c48/
http://archive.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/04/20/violent_fantasies_not_uncommon/
https://wildabouttrial.com/trial-coverage/gilberto-valle-cannibal-cop-case/

Send us Fan Mail

Were the Nazis really fanatics? Can you change the minds of people through violence? Should you if you could?

Links
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMgctAIeL8c
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_trials
https://www.historyhit.com/hitlers-inner-circle/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_G%C3%B6ring
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteen_Words
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory_of_the_Islamic_State
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vln9D81eO60

Send us Fan Mail

Excerpt:
Game theory scenarios are structured around "rational agents". We assume that humans in these scenarios will act rationally, that they will act in a manner consistent with continuing their own life unimpeded by injury and with as much gain as possible. But as soon as they are irrational everything about the mathematics is worthless.

Links
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_theory
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Boy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robb_Elementary_School_shooting
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_shootings_in_the_United_States_in_2022
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/peace-and-war/202012/the-prisoners-dilemma-americas-gun-dilemma