Based Camp - But ... WHY Are Progressives Less Happy？

00:00:00.000 Hello, Simone. I'm excited to be here with you today.

00:00:03.980 Today, we are going to be revisiting a topic that we have talked about before,

00:00:08.040 but with a different question and with some new evidence,

00:00:10.800 which is why are progressives so unhappy when contrasted with conservatives?

00:00:17.260 And this is something that's been very persistent.

00:00:19.820 Since Pew started recording polling on progressives and Democrats,

00:00:23.280 progressives have been unhappy, but it's gotten sharper recently.

00:00:26.600 And you also see many more mental health problems among progressives.

00:00:30.100 You can go to our previous episode on this.

00:00:32.040 If you want us to just shower you with data on this.

00:00:36.300 We got to help them.

00:00:37.920 If we find out what makes them so miserable, maybe we can save them.

00:00:42.100 We can pull them out of the dark hole.

00:00:45.380 To fight the bug, we must understand the bug.

00:00:50.260 We can ill afford another Klendathu. 1.00

00:00:53.340 Would you like to know more?

00:00:55.500 What mysteries will the brain bug reveal?

00:00:57.880 Federal scientists are working around the clock to probe its secrets.

00:01:03.460 Once we understand the bug, we will defeat it.

00:01:06.840 Oh my God.

00:01:11.220 Because they're bug men, Simone.

00:01:12.940 They defend it.

00:01:13.720 They say this themselves.

00:01:16.000 They have videos on YouTube with like hundreds of thousands of millions of views

00:01:19.740 saying that the bugs were in the right, that the Federation was evil, 0.93

00:01:23.900 that this was a false flag attack, that the Federation deserves to be destroyed.

00:01:27.880 And by the way, we know it's not a false flag attack because we saw the asteroid hit the

00:01:33.600 Ticonderoga, the big spaceship, outside our solar system, meaning that it had to come

00:01:39.940 from quite far away.

00:01:42.360 And because it knocked out their...

00:01:44.180 You know what?

00:01:44.680 You should watch our Starship Troopers episode if you care about how we know it's not a false

00:01:47.840 flag attack.

00:01:48.840 Take his word for it, people.

00:01:50.720 No, don't take my word for it.

00:01:52.180 Go watch that episode.

00:01:53.020 We need the watch time, Simone.

00:01:54.460 It was a good episode.

00:01:55.400 Go watch the episode.

00:01:58.640 But in this episode, we're going to be going over a post from Mike Peska and Nate Silver

00:02:04.420 titled, What Explains the Liberal-Conservative Happiness Gap?

00:02:08.520 And this is in the Silver Bulletin.

00:02:10.560 And he goes over a few graphs that I hadn't seen before.

00:02:14.560 Oh.

00:02:15.240 And what these graphs do is they look at demographically where the gap is biggest.

00:02:22.680 And from that, and just so people know of these people's political...

00:02:26.800 Like, Nate Silver is a very mainstream, centrist pollster.

00:02:31.780 Of 538 fame.

00:02:33.120 538, yeah.

00:02:33.940 Yeah.

00:02:35.460 He's pretty sane from what I've seen.

00:02:37.820 And so I'd be very interested to see his views on this as somebody who's not going to

00:02:40.480 have the, you know, charged conservatives perspective that we're going to have.

00:02:43.280 Although he has been attacked by the left, one of the reasons being that he called Trump

00:02:48.080 2016, when everyone else...

00:02:51.080 Yeah, they were like, how dare you?

00:02:52.080 It was always possible that he could win.

00:02:53.260 No, he didn't even call it.

00:02:54.340 He just said, it's really possible, and we need to stop saying it's only a 1% or 2% chance.

00:02:59.660 And they said that he was like a Trump...

00:03:01.580 I didn't know if Trump won, of course.

00:03:03.120 But they never went back on saying he needed to be deplatformed.

00:03:05.440 Yeah, they defenestrated him for saying that it was a very real possibility.

00:03:09.160 Yeah.

00:03:09.740 And this is one of the areas where my, you know, believing the left really began to

00:03:14.100 broke, and I began to move, where I was just like, wait, so you are all lying?

00:03:20.120 Do we not care about that?

00:03:23.080 And when I think that this is also really different, you know, like the left, everyone was lying

00:03:28.300 and everyone was just like, okay, it's all over under the bus.

00:03:31.180 Right now, with the Epstein files, we've even gone over why Trump is probably actually

00:03:36.560 keeping them quiet in an episode, and his own side is just like, nope.

00:03:41.100 Like, at a Trump rally recently, like one of his supporters held up a picture of Trump

00:03:44.740 and Epstein together, you know, and they're like, nope, you actually gotta explain this.

00:03:49.600 You got some explaining to do here, buddy.

00:03:51.540 Yeah.

00:03:51.820 Why didn't you release those files that everyone said existed?

00:03:55.900 But anyway.

00:03:56.560 Oh, boy.

00:03:57.360 Young people in general report fairly miserable mental health with rates of anxiety and depression,

00:04:04.080 but this is particularly true for young women, and assumptions Democrats make about how to 1.00

00:04:10.200 attract younger voters may not appeal to men.

00:04:13.300 Still, arguably, the SBSQ buried the most interesting finding, which is that conservatives

00:04:18.560 have a much higher level of self-reported mental health than liberals.

00:04:21.940 It's a wide gap, according to the 2020 Comparative Election Study, CES, a very large sample of

00:04:28.880 60,000 respondents that provides the opportunity for highly detailed demographic analysis among

00:04:34.940 people who report, quote-unquote, excellent mental health.

00:04:37.740 Conservatives outnumber liberals 51 to 20.

00:04:42.040 Literally have over double the rate.

00:04:45.760 Wow.

00:04:46.060 Like, yeah, well, well over double the rate of liberals at that category.

00:04:51.400 51 to 20.

00:04:52.220 Even if you've doubled the number of liberals in that category, it would only be 40 to 51.

00:04:55.800 So this is shocking. 0.98

00:04:57.320 Just liberals do not have excellent mental health.

00:05:00.960 But liberals outnumber conservatives 45 to 19 among voters who say they have poor mental

00:05:08.020 health.

00:05:09.140 So keep in mind how extreme that is.

00:05:10.920 That means even if you doubled the conservative number there, you know, you would still be

00:05:15.640 at 38 to 45 with liberals having way poorer mental health.

00:05:20.720 Is this a product of, I remember, for example, when pharmaceutical companies tried to introduce

00:05:26.900 antidepressants to Japan, they also had to introduce the concept of depression because

00:05:33.580 it just wasn't a thing.

00:05:34.760 Is this more a product of conservatives just not believing in poor mental health the same

00:05:41.180 way that the left does?

00:05:43.020 Progressives are going to say this, but the reality is, is that if you look at the studies

00:05:47.600 around this, if you do not believe in mental health problems, you typically are not susceptible

00:05:51.740 to those mental health problems.

00:05:52.860 Yeah, that's kind of my point.

00:05:54.360 Is it like they don't believe in the demons, so the demons cannot possess them?

00:05:58.740 What a progressive would say is, well, they're reporting their mental health as excellent,

00:06:04.220 even though they have depression.

00:06:06.180 Oh, like you're just, you just don't realize that you're dealing with unrealized trauma.

00:06:11.820 You need to see a therapist.

00:06:13.060 They just need to go see a psychiatrist and then they'd have it all fixed up.

00:06:17.840 Oh, you know what?

00:06:18.760 Back when they were still progressives on X, they used to say things like that all the

00:06:22.060 time.

00:06:22.560 Like talk about like the unaddressed mental issues that we undoubtedly have.

00:06:27.280 They say it's not that conservatives have way lower mental health issues.

00:06:30.780 They'd say it's that they just do not acknowledge the issues that they do have.

00:06:34.220 Okay.

00:06:34.680 And I do not think that the data suggests that when you look at things like happiness

00:06:37.940 rates, which we'll get to.

00:06:39.460 Oh, yeah.

00:06:39.860 Conservatives clearly understand the concept of being unhappy.

00:06:43.080 Yeah.

00:06:43.400 So, you know.

00:06:45.380 Do they, Malcolm?

00:06:47.400 Well, I mean, I think it's also just like obviously true.

00:06:50.320 When you think of the people you know, and like we have a high performing friends on both

00:06:56.080 sides of the aisle.

00:06:57.360 And most of the high performing friends that we have who are progressives have what I would

00:07:01.520 consider as self-imposed major mental health issues.

00:07:04.460 Totally.

00:07:05.120 Yeah.

00:07:05.840 And the ones we have that are conservatives have almost none.

00:07:08.320 Yeah.

00:07:08.600 Because it's just not normative.

00:07:10.240 Like why indulge in that?

00:07:11.540 So much of this is another episode.

00:07:14.160 We won't get into this now.

00:07:15.560 But I'm going to put the chart on the screen here.

00:07:17.340 So you can get an idea of just like how extreme the differences are between these two groups

00:07:22.940 in terms of mental health rates.

00:07:25.680 And then they go on to say here.

00:07:28.560 Could this reflection reflect a spurious correlation?

00:07:32.500 In other words, that voters whose characteristics associated with low happiness tend to be attracted

00:07:36.600 to liberalism, but that political attitudes themselves don't tell you much on their own.

00:07:41.720 In short, no, or at least probably not.

00:07:43.680 The difference between liberals and conservatives is remarkably persistent, even once you control

00:07:48.000 for these factors.

00:07:49.040 I'm going to show you a very long chart where I translated the five choices that the CES

00:07:53.840 provided to a hundred point scale, zero for poor mental health, 25 for fair, 50 for good,

00:08:00.820 and 75 for very good, and 100 for excellent.

00:08:03.780 The average American self-reports at 60 on this scale.

00:08:07.880 In other words, somewhere between good and very good mental health.

00:08:10.780 But liberals average at 53 and conservatives at 68.

00:08:15.360 I'm just going to ignore moderates for the rest of this post because they're predictably

00:08:19.640 somewhere in the middle averaging at 58.

00:08:21.760 Taking advantage of the large sample size in the CES, let's see how this difference holds

00:08:26.720 up across a wide array of demographic and political characteristics.

00:08:31.620 The data is just taken directly from the CES.

00:08:34.080 There's no fancy modeling of any kind.

00:08:36.380 And note here that I guess this is why I hadn't seen it because he's translating the data

00:08:39.520 in a different way.

00:08:40.380 And I'm going to send you some pictures of this so you can also try to find interesting

00:08:43.640 things like that.

00:08:44.880 All right.

00:08:45.640 So the reason I wanted to do this is because I wanted to go over where some of these are

00:08:50.000 bigger and smaller because this is what we can understand the susceptibility.

00:08:54.900 This is happiness here, by the way, not mental health.

00:08:58.400 So we're trying to understand what is it specifically, like what demographics seem to be most exposed

00:09:06.180 to this gap when you differentiate out their conservative versus liberal voters.

00:09:13.880 And I would note here was in literally no demographic is this trend opposite.

00:09:21.320 And so this actually really matters because somebody might say something like, well, I

00:09:27.680 mean, clearly if you're gay and you're around all gay people and you want gay lovers, you're 0.94

00:09:33.980 going to be less happy with your life if you're a conservative gay person, right? 0.96

00:09:38.340 Because, you know, presumably your friends are going to be less approving of you.

00:09:41.720 You're not going to be satisfied with yourself.

00:09:43.880 And we see that this is actually not true, not even close. 0.57

00:09:46.740 The gays on the progressive side were at a 49 and the conservatives who were gay were 0.74

00:09:53.780 at a 60.

00:09:55.040 So not even close to the same level of happiness.

00:09:57.840 So even if you were part of one of these quote unquote discriminated groups, you see

00:10:02.540 that this helps you a ton.

00:10:04.120 That's crazy. 0.98

00:10:05.380 Right here, like consider you're black, right? 0.99

00:10:07.420 Yeah. 0.96

00:10:07.720 If you're a progressive, 68 if you're a conservative.

00:10:10.620 Yeah.

00:10:10.960 So we'll start by looking at men versus women. 0.97

00:10:13.580 What's interesting here, women seem to benefit more from men, happiness-wise, by being conservative. 0.99

00:10:19.460 Yeah.

00:10:20.140 Small saying.

00:10:21.020 One point for trad wives. 1.00

00:10:24.520 If you're looking at race, who is it that benefits the most by being conservative?

00:10:30.360 It turns out...

00:10:32.020 Equally...

00:10:32.680 Well, no, no, no. 0.82

00:10:33.220 White people benefit the most from being conservative. 0.91

00:10:35.680 No, white people benefit about as much as Hispanic or Asian because look, their top happiness 1.00

00:10:38.600 is a little bit lower.

00:10:39.380 So white people, Hispanics, and Asians all benefit about the same, whereas other are mixed 1.00

00:10:46.360 benefits by far the most, and black benefits the least by about half, which is really interesting. 1.00

00:10:53.540 Why do you suppose that is?

00:10:54.520 Why would black benefit the least? 1.00

00:10:56.540 I think that of progressives, black progressives are the most distinctive from the urban monoculture. 1.00

00:11:05.000 Like, they're more likely to maintain their views around, like, being gay is bad and, like, 0.95

00:11:11.480 yeah, you're right.

00:11:13.340 So I think it's just resistance to the urban monoculture that we're seeing here.

00:11:16.600 What you're showing here is what's causing this.

00:11:21.560 It's the urban monoculture.

00:11:23.660 The more seeped in the urban...

00:11:25.580 This is the hypothesis we're going with right now.

00:11:27.660 The more seeped in the urban monoculture, this is the culture of the urban elites, the

00:11:33.060 more affected a group is going to be by going from left to right.

00:11:38.360 The less affected by the urban monoculture, the more it's a sign that they are exiting

00:11:44.420 the urban monoculture to identify as a rightist, the more positively they will be affected

00:11:49.080 by this.

00:11:49.860 Yeah.

00:11:50.260 That is a going hypothesis right now, okay?

00:11:52.760 Yeah.

00:11:53.320 So who's affected the least by this age-wise?

00:11:56.720 It is the older generations, like the silent generation. 0.97

00:12:00.380 Who's affected the most by this?

00:12:02.280 Gen Z. 0.58

00:12:03.340 That would work with the urban monocultural theory.

00:12:05.640 Yeah.

00:12:05.960 Because Gen Z is going to be more exposed to the urban monoculture than the silent generation 1.00

00:12:11.420 or than Gen X.

00:12:13.280 Yeah.

00:12:13.560 I mean, they're functionally not even.

00:12:15.180 I mean, the liberals of silent generation that was born before 1964 is at the same position 0.67

00:12:25.600 basically as the most conservative of Gen X, which was born from 1965 to 1980.

00:12:32.580 It's actually wild.

00:12:33.520 The conservative Gen Zs are less happy than the progressive silent generation. 0.99

00:12:40.360 Yeah.

00:12:40.700 That's crazy.

00:12:42.600 Yeah.

00:12:43.380 Educational attainment.

00:12:45.000 You see the lowest amount of impact.

00:12:48.420 So again, we're going with the urban monocultural hypothesis, less exposure to the urban elite

00:12:53.220 ideology, the urban monocultural ideology.

00:12:55.240 So you would expect, okay, no high school or just high school.

00:12:58.680 Yes.

00:12:58.920 They're the least affected by far where, you know, some college, four-year degree, post-grad

00:13:03.240 are all about the same in terms of how affected they are.

00:13:06.160 What's also notable here is the more education you get, the happier you are.

00:13:09.580 In this graph, if you've noted that, like with both groups, with a high school degree

00:13:15.780 only, conservatives with a high school degree only are only slightly more happy than progressives

00:13:21.060 with a PhD.

00:13:26.440 All the good it does you to be more happy, but I'm just pointing out here.

00:13:30.000 Okay.

00:13:30.360 Okay.

00:13:30.980 Slight opportunities here.

00:13:32.540 Yeah.

00:13:34.320 Household income.

00:13:34.780 I guess this is helpful in that if you want to stay a progressive, you can look at least

00:13:38.840 at factors that correlate with less depression on the progressive end.

00:13:42.500 And yeah.

00:13:43.480 But let's go to the household income here, which I also find really interesting.

00:13:47.740 Yeah.

00:13:48.040 Those with the least outcome, household income and the most household income appear to be

00:13:52.420 least affected by this.

00:13:53.860 This also aligns with me because you can have the power to resist the urban elite mindset

00:13:59.100 more when you have a high amount of income and you can just ignore it if you have a low

00:14:02.420 amount of income.

00:14:03.120 What's really interesting about this as well is that happiness goes up pretty much lock

00:14:08.060 in step with income, but note the top income level here is a hundred K.

00:14:12.840 Now, what I find interesting is while happiness goes up lock step with income, having the gap

00:14:20.860 in happiness is so high that your average family with less than 30 K household income is that

00:14:29.320 is conservative is exactly as happy as your average family with over a hundred K income, who is progressive.

00:14:35.760 I kind of feel like also progressives are way more likely to be urban.

00:14:38.920 And if you're loving, let's say you, you make a hundred K, but you live in Manhattan, you,

00:14:43.860 you're, you're struggling, you're struggling.

00:14:47.420 I'll buy this car about Simone.

00:14:49.620 It's very stressful.

00:14:50.640 Whereas if you are conservative and you live in rural Idaho, it's our children that are

00:14:56.780 obsessed with lollipops.

00:14:57.980 Titan last night insisting that an apple was a lollipop.

00:15:02.520 When she, when, when can she just chew? 0.96

00:15:05.280 Yeah.

00:15:05.680 Our daughter likes to eat like apples and bread. 1.00

00:15:08.720 Like she eats lollipops or she just, she makes no problem.

00:15:11.900 You don't, it won't be consumed that you can't lick an apple and get anything or bread.

00:15:18.000 Oh, okay.

00:15:19.200 And I'll tell her it's not a lollipop.

00:15:20.940 And she'll go, no, it's a lollipop.

00:15:23.480 It's a lollipop.

00:15:25.180 Cause she knows way better than we do.

00:15:27.460 Way better than we do.

00:15:28.400 But it's, it's telling when you look at the religion section, that just being religious

00:15:32.000 means you're going to be happier than if you're not religious. 0.84

00:15:35.420 So religion's way happier, right?

00:15:38.640 It also is, you're happier if you're a Protestant or a Catholic than other named religion, i.e.

00:15:43.620 Muslim or Jew.

00:15:44.420 But what's interesting here about religion is that the, the religious categories are

00:15:50.300 affected by this very little.

00:15:52.100 With like.

00:15:52.720 Yeah.

00:15:52.960 Very small gaps between.

00:15:54.580 Catholics have a very small gap between the progressives and the conservatives.

00:15:58.500 Very interesting.

00:15:59.540 Because you see a much larger gap on the atheist and agnostic category.

00:16:03.620 Yeah.

00:16:03.820 Also fun to note here that if you are an atheist and you are conservative, you have the, around

00:16:11.500 the same happiness level as a Protestant or Catholic who is progressive.

00:16:16.560 Whatever.

00:16:17.000 I mean, also this, this explains why birth rates are so low among, well, another reason

00:16:23.040 why they're so low among progressives because marriage and children, if you are, if you're

00:16:29.780 married and you're conservative, you're, you're pretty freaking happy.

00:16:33.520 Oh wow.

00:16:33.980 Happiness rates.

00:16:35.300 This is, this is really interesting.

00:16:36.880 So married or in a domestic partnership in your conservative, your happiness rate is

00:16:43.440 71.

00:16:44.700 That is really high.

00:16:46.980 That means that conservatives who are married are like nearly ecstatic, which, which is,

00:16:52.240 which is wild to me actually to see how high that is.

00:16:55.140 Cause I hadn't seen that broken out before.

00:16:56.940 Now the unmarried or separated seem to have a wider divide between them, but I don't know

00:17:00.240 if that's like more exposure to urban monoculture.

00:17:02.700 Yeah.

00:17:02.960 I don't know.

00:17:03.940 What's interesting though, is, is if you're conservative and you have children who are

00:17:08.500 grown, like you're an empty nester, you are significantly more happy than if you are 0.98

00:17:13.060 conservative and you have children under 18 in the household.

00:17:16.460 I think there's just like, they're actually, it's, it's a pretty close rate.

00:17:20.280 56 versus 65 with 65 being conservatives, 56 progressives.

00:17:25.100 The, I think there, there is stress of raising kids.

00:17:29.240 And I think that's reflected in these numbers, which is interesting.

00:17:32.140 Well, what's interesting here to me is that the never had children category, progressives

00:17:38.860 who never have children are like so unhappy.

00:17:41.840 Yeah.

00:17:42.380 Gosh, this really goes to show like being a dink is probably not going to predict a lot 1.00

00:17:46.700 of happiness for you. 0.93

00:17:47.700 Yikes.

00:17:48.080 That's one of the lowest rates.

00:17:49.500 I mean, if you look at this, it's the lowest little rates.

00:17:51.760 Does anyone less? 0.99

00:17:52.580 The only thing that could make you more miserable is to be bisexual, but you're probably. 1.00

00:17:56.620 Hold on, hold on, hold on. 0.99

00:17:57.640 What can make you more miserable is to be a Gen Z progressive. 0.98

00:18:01.280 That's, that's, that's slightly more miserable. 0.99

00:18:03.680 We'll get to the bisexual one in a bit because that number is staggering. 1.00

00:18:07.120 But the. 0.80

00:18:08.320 Yeah.

00:18:08.500 But aren't like so many Gen Zs, childless, bisexual, non-religious. 1.00

00:18:14.260 No wonder they're miserable. 0.98

00:18:15.560 We're just saying here that the, the two number one ways to be unhappy is to be a progressive

00:18:20.000 who's never had kids or a Gen Z progressive.

00:18:22.520 And then, wait, how do you top the conservative on this chart?

00:18:25.460 The top conservatives on this chart are conservatives earning 70, a hundred K a year who have a post

00:18:31.920 graduate degree are in the silent generation of grown children or have children or are just

00:18:38.960 married.

00:18:39.700 Yeah.

00:18:40.220 That is wild.

00:18:41.080 But now we're going to go to sexual orientation. 0.62

00:18:42.800 I think this is the most telling, right?

00:18:44.120 So you can say like, okay, if you are like, like which group between its progressive faction

00:18:50.860 and its conservative faction, is this most likely to be a sign of exposure to the urban

00:18:56.200 monoculture, right?

00:18:57.240 Like, yeah, like agreeing with urban monocultural norms, but I'd say sexual orientation.

00:19:01.660 And this is where you see by far the largest line in the entire chart in terms of distribution

00:19:09.220 of happiness.

00:19:09.840 And that is around bisexual or other progressive.

00:19:15.580 It is only 35, whereas conservatives it's 59.

00:19:20.300 So even on like the, the medium high end of this, this chart, whereas progressives, it's

00:19:25.360 the lowest number on the chart by about 10 points.

00:19:28.220 Like that is absolutely wild.

00:19:30.580 And people can be like, what do I mean by this?

00:19:33.600 If you are a progressive, um, other or, or bisexual identified individual, you're almost 1.00

00:19:40.440 certainly pure urban monoculture brain.

00:19:43.500 Like everyone I see just because it's an opt-in identity for them.

00:19:46.140 If you are a conservative and you have one of these identities, it likely means that like

00:19:50.360 you're just actually bisexual, but like you do not want to engage with the rest of this 1.00

00:19:55.840 nonsense, right? 0.96

00:19:56.580 Like, so you are going to be uniquely steeled against the rest of this nonsense, or you're

00:20:02.100 a based traditionalist conservative.

00:20:04.440 So I've heard a lot of like Christian women be like, yeah, I'm attracted to women. 1.00

00:20:07.440 Like I'm bisexual.

00:20:08.520 I'm just not going to do that.

00:20:09.880 Cause like the Bible.

00:20:11.660 Well, yeah.

00:20:11.860 I wonder if bisexual is, is more a way of, okay, like I am actually gay or lesbian, but

00:20:17.240 I'm also going to get married.

00:20:18.620 So I better call myself bisexual.

00:20:20.900 Like, do you think a lesbian woman or gay man who chooses to enter a heterosexual marriage

00:20:27.740 would just call themselves bisexual instead? 0.63

00:20:29.700 Cause maybe that's what's going on.

00:20:32.120 No, they wouldn't.

00:20:33.260 And they don't often.

00:20:34.360 They often just say I'm gay, but I want to do this.

00:20:37.500 Is this more like, okay, suppose like Grimes who has talked about wanting to convert to

00:20:42.060 Catholicism occasionally or like various forms of Christian.

00:20:45.300 And then she did that and she became a conservative.

00:20:46.740 She'd still call herself bisexual. 0.88

00:20:49.120 Like she's not going to ignore, you know, her arousal patterns or her past or something.

00:20:54.080 So I think that that's what we're seeing here.

00:20:55.740 Interestingly, don't see like that huge of a boost if you're gay or lesbian, but I assume

00:21:00.840 that's just from being in those communities.

00:21:02.680 And here I'd also note that these, these groups who, you know, your progressive would

00:21:08.640 say, you know, you're trans or you're gay or you're bisexual person who is in

00:21:13.680 conservatives and in conservative sexual circles and sees themselves as a 0.81

00:21:16.360 conservative eye is going to like themselves less.

00:21:19.580 And we can be like, that's objectively not true.

00:21:24.000 Yeah.

00:21:26.140 By, by like a huge statistical number.

00:21:29.460 So this is what I mean when I say at the end of the day, the conservative party really 0.92

00:21:32.940 is a party of the normal gay. 0.87

00:21:35.660 Okay. 0.92

00:21:36.460 As, as what's his face?

00:21:37.820 This was coined by JD Vance in that speech at the.

00:21:40.600 He, he coined normal gays. 0.99

00:21:42.580 Yeah.

00:21:43.140 This was at the, what was it called again?

00:21:45.540 You know, they have the, the, the mid thing during the campaign cycle or everyone gets

00:21:49.800 together and they do all the important speeches and he.

00:21:52.480 Oh, the Republican.

00:21:54.920 Yeah.

00:21:55.420 And he's like the normal gays support us. 0.98

00:21:57.720 He's like, I bet even the majority of normal gays support Republicans these days or something. 0.99

00:22:03.020 Well, I will say like the conservative gays that we know are pretty frigging happy people. 0.98

00:22:08.460 They have a lot of fun. 0.95

00:22:09.600 Yeah.

00:22:10.260 And when I, I follow a bunch of progressive gays online and you know, they talk about how

00:22:16.560 they have to not look at any commentary about them online.

00:22:19.380 Cause it would be too, it would be too, it's self-harm, but yeah, it just, it's, it's,

00:22:24.200 it's just hard.

00:22:25.000 It's hard being anything and also being urban monoculture because everything is about trauma

00:22:28.900 and pain and suffering.

00:22:30.080 So of course there aren't any of the lists one that might surprise people.

00:22:33.700 You know, some people are like, I just, I just don't engage with the news because it's

00:22:38.440 toxic.

00:22:39.160 Like I just, Oh, politics.

00:22:42.620 I'm above that.

00:22:44.120 Well, it turns out the more you engage with politics, whether you are progressive or conservative,

00:22:50.380 the happier you are.

00:22:51.620 That's so interesting.

00:22:53.300 Cause I would have, this surprises me.

00:22:55.400 I would have expected the opposite.

00:22:56.860 I, I think it has to do with a person's level of agenticness and vitality for life.

00:23:02.660 Like do they, yeah, I guess being excited about the world.

00:23:05.800 Right.

00:23:07.640 Because there was, I told you about the, when, when the one conversation I had at dialogue

00:23:12.420 where one of the people at the table was trying to make an argument as to how not engaging

00:23:18.320 with the news meant you were more in touch with reality.

00:23:20.540 And he pulled everyone on like, okay, you know, has crime gone up or down?

00:23:24.400 Like, what are the rates of this in the world, that in the world?

00:23:27.080 And the people.

00:23:27.860 So.

00:23:29.660 What?

00:23:30.840 Oh, continue.

00:23:32.040 The people who reported watching the news were way more off on all of the assessments

00:23:37.640 of actual reality.

00:23:38.660 Like how much crime is taking place, what's going on than the people who didn't actually

00:23:42.940 consume news.

00:23:44.420 Yeah, no.

00:23:44.960 And I think that this, what he was asking was mainstream news.

00:23:48.820 This asks is high interest in news or political interests.

00:23:52.520 I would.

00:23:52.760 Oh yeah.

00:23:53.040 So yeah.

00:23:53.420 Cause there's a really big difference between passive consumption and active seeking.

00:23:57.280 And I think active seeking is a sign of vitality and interest in not depression.

00:24:01.760 The opposite of depression.

00:24:02.640 When he said news, he meant like CNN, Fox, et cetera.

00:24:07.400 Yeah.

00:24:07.600 Yeah.

00:24:07.940 This question is worded means like Nugzanor and Asmogold and us and leaflet.

00:24:12.960 Yeah.

00:24:13.300 Like doing research on Wikipedia and trying to learn about something.

00:24:16.300 Yeah.

00:24:16.700 Okay.

00:24:16.900 Which is very different than thinking you're informed because you read the New York Times.

00:24:20.740 Okay.

00:24:21.020 That's fair.

00:24:21.540 So, so what we're seeing here is even if you're a Democrat, if you think that, you know,

00:24:26.360 you can change the future of the world, right?

00:24:28.700 You're, you're going to have a more internal locus of control.

00:24:31.280 I think a person's level of political engagement is in part a level of their agenticness and their

00:24:36.400 belief in their ability to influence the future and their level of internal or external

00:24:41.000 locus of control.

00:24:42.960 Do they believe the world is happening to them or are they happening to the world?

00:24:47.420 Yeah.

00:24:47.640 That makes sense.

00:24:49.420 Which is really interesting.

00:24:50.640 Also, it's really interesting that the, if you have a high news and political interest

00:24:54.880 and you are conservative, that is one of the highest happiness categories on the entire

00:24:59.480 chart.

00:24:59.880 That's 73.

00:25:01.740 Higher than conservatives was kids.

00:25:03.700 Isn't that crazy?

00:25:04.380 That is actually kind of crazy, right?

00:25:08.200 Like being a highly politically engaged conservative is going to make you very, very happy.

00:25:13.880 This is very similar to the research that you covered on the extent to which people were

00:25:19.820 really negatively affected by social media and online engagement only if they were progressives.

00:25:25.880 And if they were conservatives, it didn't really matter.

00:25:27.520 Like it wasn't toxic.

00:25:28.520 It wasn't terrible.

00:25:29.560 They were fine.

00:25:30.380 Here we go.

00:25:31.760 Urban monoculture is the point of this, but I'd also point out for people that they're

00:25:34.660 like, well, you know, at least if I'm a progressive and I'm really politically engaged, I'm going

00:25:38.500 to be happier.

00:25:39.520 And it's like technically than other progressives, but you still come in well below the happiness

00:25:45.080 of low political engagement or medium political engagement conservatives.

00:25:50.100 Which makes sense because it's such a negative narrative, like of the world that is painted

00:25:55.220 by most progressive news coverage.

00:25:57.640 Everything's horrible.

00:25:58.860 Terrible things are happening to people.

00:26:01.080 Crime is worse.

00:26:02.240 You're clucking it at a 57 versus they're 64 or 60.

00:26:06.140 Yeah.

00:26:07.620 Which, you know, I completely, I mean, I understand that they try to, but conservatives are all like,

00:26:14.320 look at the terrible things.

00:26:15.580 Look at the, the elitist, you know, PDA file networks.

00:26:19.680 Look at all the corruption in government. 0.94

00:26:21.820 Look at all these incompetent politicians, you know, like.

00:26:24.960 That sounds like tittering gossip to me. 0.75

00:26:27.660 That's euphoric, Malcolm.

00:26:29.120 That's not dysphoric.

00:26:31.720 I think both sides get a lot of negatives.

00:26:34.840 It's just conservatives think, okay, well then let's fix it.

00:26:38.420 And I think that that also differentiates.

00:26:40.280 Agentic versus communal, again.

00:26:41.940 By political engagement groups.

00:26:44.320 Then if we go to social media activity, I found this pretty easily.

00:26:49.460 So audience, if you were to predict who is happier, recently posted on social media are

00:26:57.420 no recent social media posts.

00:27:00.440 Recently posted on social media is happier, both conservative and progressive, which is

00:27:05.620 pretty interesting to me.

00:27:07.480 Was recently posted on social media progressives at 55 and conservatives at 69.

00:27:12.080 So really high.

00:27:13.100 Like if you're a recently posted on social media conservative, you're a very happy person,

00:27:17.220 but you're not like that differentiated from those recent posts, conservatives.

00:27:21.000 That's 50 as progressives versus 65 as conservatives.

00:27:25.520 I found that really interesting.

00:27:27.260 I attended a political protest in the past year.

00:27:29.440 Now, this one is really interesting because it's also one of the longest lines on this

00:27:34.000 graph.

00:27:34.900 And I think it also has a high level of predictivity of whether or not you're in the urban monoculture

00:27:39.800 or not.

00:27:40.700 And this is, yes, you have attended a political protest in the last year.

00:27:44.120 And with progressives, you're very unhappy, 51.

00:27:47.200 And with conservatives, you're fairly happy, 68.

00:27:49.360 But what's interesting here is that conservatives, if you did not attend a political event, you're

00:27:54.240 at the exact same level, 68.

00:27:56.900 Whereas if you're progressive, you're slightly happier, 53.

00:28:00.240 And what this indicates to me is I think you're pretty much equally likely if you haven't

00:28:03.520 or have attended an event, if you're a conservative, that you are outside the urban monoculture.

00:28:07.300 But for progressives, if you haven't, you're slightly more likely to be outside the urban

00:28:10.040 monoculture.

00:28:11.100 So all of these things taken together, the black thing, the bisexual thing, this, the age 1.00

00:28:17.880 thing, it says to me that this is all downstream of urban monocultural norms.

00:28:23.720 It is the urban monoculture itself which is destroying people's both mental health and

00:28:29.220 happiness level.

00:28:30.420 And we have pointed out this conjecture in the past, but I think that this evidence for

00:28:34.420 me really confirms my pre-existing hypothesis.

00:28:38.700 And if people are like, why?

00:28:40.840 Why does the urban monoculture create this mental damage?

00:28:45.300 It's because it's so highly externalizing.

00:28:48.940 And nothing is ever really your fault.

00:28:51.340 Everything is always somebody else's fault.

00:28:54.120 Everything is always the fault of society.

00:28:56.800 And there's nothing that you can really do about anything but screech at people.

00:29:00.960 And then when you go to your friends for support or you try to interact with your own community,

00:29:04.640 they all screech at you because it's this crazy social dominance fight.

00:29:07.400 And worse, you've been coddled and coddled and coddled because they told you the only

00:29:11.440 thing that mattered is feeling good and self-affirmation and feeling comfortable with yourself.

00:29:16.380 And so you've lived this life where you just constantly sought this, whatever pronouns you

00:29:20.640 wanted to use that day, whatever way you wanted to see yourself that day, everyone had to affirm

00:29:24.300 you, which gave you very poor mental robustness and allowed you to quickly mentally degrade when

00:29:31.180 exposed to anything that was potentially negative or disconfirming.

00:29:35.080 Absolutely.

00:29:37.980 Yeah.

00:29:41.940 So, yeah, I guess there's not a lot tactically you can do aside from just abandon mainstream

00:29:50.800 progressive culture if you really want to feel better, which is hard, possible.

00:29:59.700 I don't know.

00:30:00.660 What would you advise to someone who-

00:30:02.800 What is your takeaway from this information?

00:30:05.080 Or thoughts? 0.99

00:30:09.180 My big takeaway is being bisexual is apparently terrible for you. 0.99

00:30:13.320 I figured it was like the more chill sexual orientation because it wasn't particularly tied 0.97

00:30:19.080 to any controversy aside from people saying that there's no such thing as bisexuals.

00:30:25.240 And I didn't realize just how apparently terrible it is for you.

00:30:32.000 And I still don't-

00:30:33.220 It's not that bad if you're conservative, but it's still not good. 0.98

00:30:36.780 Like, the conservative bisexuals are less happy than the conservative gays. 1.00

00:30:42.360 Yeah. 0.99

00:30:42.880 Do you think progressive bisexuals are extra miserable because they're seen as not going 0.98

00:30:51.600 all the way with a sexual identity that they really should be identifying as? 0.96

00:30:55.720 No, because the category here isn't bisexual, it's bisexual or other.

00:30:59.200 And that includes all of the made-up sexualities and transsexuality. 1.00

00:31:03.120 Oh, like, attack helicopter, but serious. 0.97

00:31:07.740 Yeah.

00:31:08.080 Well, I mean, that's like 50% of trans people, you know?

00:31:13.000 No.

00:31:13.560 Well, come on.

00:31:14.420 We joke- 0.98

00:31:15.120 I think people who identified as attack helicopters would be happier than those trans people. 1.00

00:31:18.360 No, when I say attack helicopter, what I mean is somebody who obviously is not trans by any 1.00

00:31:24.320 definition.

00:31:25.140 Like, we always, like, if you watch our Funday Friday episode, I'm like, they keep calling

00:31:29.540 themselves a queer couple, but, like, clearly neither of them is trans.

00:31:33.460 Yeah.

00:31:33.700 And they look like a heterosexual couple to me.

00:31:36.160 Yeah.

00:31:36.340 So what it means is that one of them decided to identify as a different gender or is gender

00:31:41.060 queer, and now the other one has to identify as bisexual because they're dating a gender 0.94

00:31:44.620 queer person, and now they're both stuck in the bisexual bubble because, well, at one 1.00

00:31:48.640 point I was straight, but now, you know, you identify as sure, so all of a sudden I have

00:31:54.600 to say that I've been actually queer this whole time because I had no idea, you know, I was

00:32:00.140 dating somebody who wasn't the gender I thought they were, and I found them attractive this 0.69

00:32:04.900 entire time, but they saw themselves as a sure, so now I'm bisexual.

00:32:09.260 No, this happens so often to progressives in relationships.

00:32:12.000 They're dating somebody, dating somebody, dating somebody, think they're going to head

00:32:14.420 out of sexual or gay relationship, and then their partner comes to them and is like, actually,

00:32:18.640 I'm gender queer.

00:32:20.300 Now, they can say, well, actually, I'm still gay, and then the person's like, well, you're

00:32:24.480 not gay because you found me attractive, so now they're bisexual or other in the phylogeny 1.00

00:32:31.940 of the progressive left.

00:32:33.960 So this is just pulling people in the more in the urban monoculture they are instead of 0.88

00:32:38.200 just like regular bisexual they are. 0.99

00:32:41.460 Okay. 0.65

00:32:42.080 I also found the political involvement one very interesting, that you're better off being

00:32:46.360 more politically involved.

00:32:48.740 Yeah, that runs counter to a lot of the common sense that spreads.

00:32:53.140 So this was useful.

00:32:54.180 Yeah.

00:32:54.800 Yeah.

00:32:55.540 Yeah.

00:32:56.180 In the end, though, I think just generally not believing in it.

00:32:59.020 Let's just not believe in it.

00:33:00.140 I don't believe in mental health.

00:33:03.200 Well, I've thought a lot about it, Simone, and I'm not sure I'm totally comfortable with

00:33:07.980 my gender.

00:33:09.340 Well, then we can both, can we both identify as a tech helicopter?

00:33:12.260 Because I think that's the best gender slash sexual orientation. 0.91

00:33:14.940 What's so funny is, you know, we'll go viral on a platform and somebody will be like, oh,

00:33:19.240 look at the way he looks.

00:33:20.960 Look at that.

00:33:21.940 Like, he's, I've seen people like this before, and they're just waiting to come out, right?

00:33:25.860 Like, they're just, and what they're really just noting there, and I think they're actually

00:33:30.100 noting the, you know, in a recent episode, we talked about like social class and conservative

00:33:34.620 versus progressive.

00:33:35.260 And we noted that progressives often try to code as upper middle class and conservatives

00:33:39.340 often try to code as lower middle class or lower class.

00:33:43.840 And because we code as upper middle class, people are sometimes very confused about like

00:33:48.640 where we stand on things.

00:33:49.880 Very uncomfortable, very threatened.

00:33:52.120 Right.

00:33:52.340 And what they're really saying is, oh, no, you look like you've been heavily brainwashed

00:33:56.560 by the urban monoculture.

00:33:58.160 Therefore, it's only a few years before you come out as an attack helicopter or what really

00:34:03.080 happens.

00:34:03.520 And I think that, you know, hyperbolizing this under underlays how common this really is among

00:34:09.620 progressives is one day I come to you and I go, well, Simone, I'm going to be honest.

00:34:14.620 Sometimes I have thoughts that aren't entirely masculine.

00:34:18.280 And so I think that I have a feminine side to me as well that I think that I need to identify

00:34:26.660 as something other than just he, which means, and I know you didn't know this, but you've

00:34:33.900 been sleeping with a whatever this whole time.

00:34:36.260 And because that would make me, yeah, you are either a bisexual or pansexual now, 0.99

00:34:43.400 or you have to divorce me. 0.98

00:34:47.680 That is a, yeah.

00:34:48.800 I've heard a lot of people.

00:34:49.600 It's a lot of disruption.

00:34:50.680 That's very scary.

00:34:52.280 Yeah.

00:34:53.780 Because it's like the other person is now basically taking ownership of your sexuality

00:34:57.580 in like a really weird and delusional and aggressive way.

00:35:00.760 Without your consent, your sexuality suddenly needs to change or your life falls apart.

00:35:05.220 You choose.

00:35:06.460 Yeah.

00:35:06.740 Well, not even that.

00:35:07.740 They're, they're even like your sexuality needs to change. 0.67

00:35:10.960 Or if you leave me, I haven't really changed on the inside.

00:35:14.940 So clearly you always found somebody who is really a woman attractive. 1.00

00:35:18.960 And this is like a huge deal for like gay people, right?

00:35:21.520 Where the partner is like, actually, I know we've been in a gay relationship our entire life

00:35:26.060 and you've identified as gay your entire life, but now you're bisexual because I decided 1.00

00:35:30.560 and the person will be like, well, no, I'm not.

00:35:31.860 And they're going to be like, well, I've always been this way and you've always been attracted

00:35:34.740 to me.

00:35:35.060 So clearly you were, or you're just transphobic.

00:35:38.700 Oh boy.

00:35:40.940 Yeah.

00:35:41.880 That's weird. 0.80

00:35:42.880 How like a coercive and gross parts of the trans movement are. 1.00

00:35:46.480 It's rough. 0.78

00:35:47.640 Yeah.

00:35:48.080 It's.

00:35:48.940 And I mean, I, there, when I was a kid, there would be people where my mom was like, oh yeah,

00:35:54.720 so-and-so's partner.

00:35:56.300 Cause I lived in the San Francisco Bay area.

00:35:58.400 So stuff like this happened all the time.

00:35:59.960 Um, like they now identify as a woman.

00:36:03.020 And so now I guess she's a lesbian. 1.00

00:36:06.620 And also like, I think the problem too is about the, the other partner there where they're

00:36:12.280 like, now she's a lesbian or like bisexual. 0.96

00:36:15.080 Yeah.

00:36:16.280 Yeah.

00:36:16.680 That there's a, well, there's also this requirement that now you have to like identify with this

00:36:21.940 community because your kids have two parents bisexual or else.

00:36:27.980 Yeah.

00:36:28.680 That's.

00:36:30.260 It's something.

00:36:31.520 Yeah.

00:36:32.740 Hmm.

00:36:33.900 Yes.

00:36:34.160 It's, it's, it's effed up.

00:36:35.200 It's really effed up. 0.94

00:36:35.980 The whole thing is just so coercive and gross.

00:36:37.680 I'm like, when I say gross, I don't mean gross because of who they are.

00:36:41.300 I mean, gross because of the way they force themselves on other people. 0.98

00:36:44.340 And, and, and this is like a big deal of like, you're a gold star lesbian. 1.00

00:36:48.600 And now somebody saying, no, you're actually not. 0.91

00:36:51.420 You didn't know it.

00:36:52.800 And I didn't know it yet, but actually I was a man.

00:36:58.940 Well, and I think the other trouble of it is this wouldn't matter if we didn't make

00:37:05.840 gender such a big deal. 1.00

00:37:07.620 And yet since the seventies, gender has been made this, its own separate thing.

00:37:11.480 Gender was made a big deal by the alphabet soup crowd.

00:37:14.200 Exactly.

00:37:14.940 And like, if it, if it didn't matter so much, you'd be like, oh, whatever.

00:37:17.860 Like, I just, I so remember that, like, I love the end of the scene.

00:37:21.280 Some like it hot where he's just, he's just like, listen, I'm a woman.

00:37:24.160 I'm, I'm, I'm really a man.

00:37:25.320 And he's like, we can make it work.

00:37:27.000 And I think nobody's perfect.

00:37:28.600 Yeah.

00:37:29.020 Like that's, that should be how it is.

00:37:31.440 The modern, the way that the gender movement like went.

00:37:35.180 We have our episode on the debauched fifties or whatever, like something like 20% of like

00:37:40.260 young men engaged in like mutual masturbation with other young men.

00:37:44.240 Like it just was not a thing back then. 0.94

00:37:47.100 You might've had like the odd, you know, like murder of like a gay person or something like

00:37:51.700 that.

00:37:51.880 I'm not saying that this didn't happen and it wasn't horrible, but there are multiple

00:37:55.700 directions.

00:37:56.400 The, this movement could have gone and the direction of gay and trans identity as a special

00:38:02.680 class versus we need to just stop caring about this stuff.

00:38:06.640 It led to a lot of negative externalities.

00:38:13.680 Yeah.

00:38:14.240 It's sad.

00:38:14.680 Cause it came from a good place.

00:38:15.940 I mean, I think it came from a place of wanting good things and, and assuming this would be

00:38:21.060 good for people.

00:38:22.340 People didn't come out.

00:38:23.360 This wasn't the, some cackling, like, and this is how I make everyone miserable.

00:38:27.320 It's all like some sailor moon.

00:38:28.880 I'm going to harvest all their happiness and take it for my energy sphere or whatever

00:38:32.980 it is.

00:38:33.220 They did.

00:38:33.520 I never really got what they were trying to do.

00:38:36.080 The evil people and sailor moon.

00:38:37.900 I didn't get it.

00:38:39.040 I couldn't pay attention to the show.

00:38:40.460 And so I was always, I actually have no idea what they were trying to do either.

00:38:43.140 Okay.

00:38:43.440 Okay.

00:38:43.680 So it's not just me.

00:38:44.580 I'm just like, what, what is anyway, fine, go off.

00:38:48.020 But yeah, it just well-meaning people causing such sad.

00:38:52.960 That's what makes it the worst is that this was people really trying to make themselves

00:38:57.140 and the world happier and better than, even though we don't really care about happiness.

00:39:01.240 Like they really do.

00:39:02.620 You know, it's like someone really just trying to make a chocolate cake and then like just

00:39:06.860 producing a giant turd, even though like all they want.

00:39:09.260 But here's the thing.

00:39:10.900 Some of them and many of the OGs of like the, the gender movement we've talked about in other

00:39:15.860 episodes are like the left is turning on the trans movement.

00:39:19.480 They've come out and they've been like, I'm sorry.

00:39:21.460 I, I thought I was good at making cake, but clearly I wasn't supposed to take a dump in

00:39:26.340 it.

00:39:26.820 I'm not going to make you eat that.

00:39:28.320 That was like horrible.

00:39:29.680 Let's try to find another solution here.

00:39:31.680 And then there's another group that's like, eat it, eat it. 0.94

00:39:35.500 Or it means you want me dead. 0.98

00:39:37.640 Eat it. 1.00

00:39:38.220 Or it means you want to kill everyone. 1.00

00:39:39.880 Eat it. 1.00

00:39:40.180 Eat it.

00:39:40.540 And if you don't look happy while you eat it, if you don't smile and slurp down every last 1.00

00:39:46.880 bite with a shit eating grin. 1.00

00:39:49.860 And yeah, and then some people are actually doing that. 1.00

00:39:52.880 They're eating it like, and the person's like, and the rest of us are like, bro, that's what

00:39:59.100 are you doing?

00:39:59.580 Don't do those.

00:40:00.440 No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

00:40:01.480 Yeah.

00:40:01.880 Yeah.

00:40:02.600 I will.

00:40:04.100 All right.

00:40:04.700 Love you to death, Simone.

00:40:05.960 You are the perfect wife.

00:40:08.080 You are my eye on this chariot.

00:40:10.220 I'd be a hundred.

00:40:10.880 They say, what's your happy name?

00:40:11.720 I'm a hundred.

00:40:12.860 I'm a hundred.

00:40:13.440 And it's all because of Simone and my kids.

00:40:15.940 Mostly Simone.

00:40:16.440 Totally, man.

00:40:17.140 Not now.

00:40:17.980 It's, it's mostly the kids and we both know it.

00:40:20.160 Come on.

00:40:21.200 They're so funny.

00:40:22.780 They're so great.

00:40:24.340 They're, they're, they're good.

00:40:25.940 I mean, they're certainly not bringing my happiness down.

00:40:28.500 We'll, we'll wait till they get into more trouble, but I'm looking forward to that.

00:40:32.100 I think they'll get into fun trouble.

00:40:33.200 They're going to get in so much.

00:40:35.460 I can't even imagine.

00:40:37.020 Yeah.

00:40:39.320 Every time we give them a role.

00:40:42.780 Oh, so it's a boundary for me to cross.

00:40:45.280 Thank you.

00:40:46.160 Thank you for presenting me with this new opportunity.

00:40:49.380 Yeah.

00:40:49.820 Oh, this is good.

00:40:51.200 All right.

00:40:51.820 Very excited for dinner tonight.

00:40:53.020 Cause you haven't made Bolognese in a year or whatever, at least.

00:40:56.600 A long time.

00:40:57.480 Then you want me to tell you, you're just super anti-spaghetti.

00:41:00.300 It has to be spirals or bow ties.

00:41:03.040 Literally anything else.

00:41:04.460 Bow ties, circles.

00:41:06.640 I'll see what I have.

00:41:07.540 Circles.

00:41:08.260 What are we making?

00:41:09.140 Spaghetti-Os?

00:41:10.060 Cylinders.

00:41:11.480 So there's macaroni.

00:41:13.500 There's.

00:41:14.120 Macaroni works.

00:41:14.860 Macaroni is a curved circle.

00:41:15.820 I don't know what we have.

00:41:16.940 I think I might've used our last.

00:41:19.320 I'll check.

00:41:20.180 I'm pretty sure we have stuff.

00:41:21.640 Now, if we have choice, do you prefer macaroni?

00:41:24.840 No.

00:41:25.180 Little ridges on it.

00:41:26.300 Do you prefer bow ties?

00:41:27.500 Or do you prefer, I think it's called, like the screws.

00:41:30.440 Toasty calls them screws.

00:41:31.380 He loves the screws.

00:41:32.240 Screws.

00:41:32.660 I love shells.

00:41:34.020 I love.

00:41:34.840 I also love bow ties.

00:41:36.520 I love all the things.

00:41:38.940 What I'd ask you to do is make sure you're running from a recipe today with gotcha junk.

00:41:44.220 It'd be like, if I was going to add gotcha junk to like this, go from like an AI recipe

00:41:47.820 or something like that.

00:41:48.460 Don't just wing it based on like Bolognese, Bolognese.

00:41:50.720 Cause then your Bolognese in the past has not been very good.

00:41:52.760 Like whatever you think a good Bolognese recipe, what you used to think was one, was not

00:41:56.740 a good recipe.

00:41:57.300 So I'm just asking you to, to base this on something other than whatever.

00:42:02.020 What kind of recipe should I ask for that?

00:42:03.520 Because I was just going to saute onions and garlic and then add meat and then add gochujang, 1.00

00:42:09.560 maybe after like dissolving it in water a little bit to get it.

00:42:13.420 So it doesn't clump and then add marinara.

00:42:16.820 What would you do differently?

00:42:18.540 Maybe at some stage try like coconut milk or like cream, more cream.

00:42:25.540 No.

00:42:27.020 Or like ask an AI.

00:42:31.880 I will ask an AI.

00:42:33.980 Thank you.

00:42:34.600 We're ending early today.

00:42:35.940 You have time to ask an AI.

00:42:37.520 Hardly no ending on time is ending it giving me an actual interval to take care of Indy, 0.93

00:42:44.360 go downstairs, start preparation.

00:42:47.460 So no, but also like I'm addicted to talking with you.

00:42:50.720 So I can't.

00:42:51.780 I'm your AI chat addict.

00:42:53.360 This is, this is your.

00:42:54.320 I mean, obviously, cause the, the only thing that actually got me engaged on AI chat platforms

00:43:00.180 was the prospect of potentially making an AI chat Malcolm that I could chat with when you,

00:43:06.440 you know, narcoleptically fall asleep sometimes because you need rest.

00:43:10.460 Cause you refuse to sleep anymore.

00:43:12.680 You used to take naps after waking up at 2am.

00:43:14.920 Now you're just Elon Musk-ing it.

00:43:18.480 Yeah.

00:43:18.940 Well, make time because you're not allowed to die.

00:43:22.800 All right.

00:43:22.960 All right.

00:43:23.420 I'll try not to die, to never die.

00:43:26.400 Love you to Desimone.

00:43:28.020 I love you too, Malcolm.

00:43:31.700 I'm looking up a recipe now.

00:43:33.700 Now we're all a little bit shiny because of the freaking heat.

00:43:38.520 Worst. 0.82

00:43:39.440 Want the darkness.

00:43:40.580 I wonder how many of our viewers also have reverse seasonal affective disorder where when

00:43:45.520 there's more light, you get more sad.

00:43:47.440 And when there's more darkness, you get more.

00:43:48.900 So we got to tell an amazing story about our kid yesterday.

00:43:52.680 Oh gosh.

00:43:53.420 So our kid comes home from school with a Pokemon card and we didn't give him a Pokemon card.

00:44:01.220 So we ask him, where'd you get this Pokemon card from?

00:44:06.160 And he goes, well, this other kid.

00:44:11.780 He ripped his piece of art.

00:44:14.060 Ripped his piece of art.

00:44:15.480 And so he told the other kid that if he didn't.

00:44:22.020 Well, there were consequences for damaging his property.

00:44:25.220 Yeah, there's consequences.

00:44:27.140 And then he said that he would tell the teacher if they didn't give him their Pokemon card.

00:44:32.400 He blackmailed this other kid.

00:44:42.200 He blackmailed this other kid.

00:44:42.920 He blackmailed a child.

00:44:44.540 Which is...

00:44:46.340 I just love where I'm like, Octavian, what?

00:44:48.940 And he's like, there has to be consequences.

00:44:51.560 Well, and that's...

00:44:52.340 I like maybe a little bit too much him or this home.

00:44:55.340 I'm like, you did this.

00:44:56.640 You pay the price.

00:44:57.380 Like, that's a consequence.

00:44:58.440 Like, you lose the toy.

00:44:59.800 You don't just get a replacement.

00:45:01.840 Now you don't have the toy anymore.

00:45:03.960 You have to understand.

00:45:05.100 Because that's how life works.

00:45:06.160 I know you just want to get them.

00:45:07.160 He's running a protection racket in school now, you know?

00:45:10.200 Well, but I also just...

00:45:11.140 He sees things through such a commercial and mercantile lens.

00:45:15.400 Like, he's like a Kardashian from Star Trek.

00:45:17.500 Although every single person he talks to, it is always...

00:45:21.420 Like, it was his brother and stuff like that.

00:45:23.220 His brother's like, can I have a toy?

00:45:25.640 And he's like, well, can I have some money?

00:45:27.300 And then what he will do is Tosu will be like, well, I don't have any money.

00:45:31.720 And so he goes, go tell dad you need money.

00:45:33.780 You know, and sometimes they trade things, which is great.

00:45:37.580 And more, like, they also very often just gift things to each other.

00:45:40.980 And they give things away to kids at school all the time.

00:45:43.060 But when I talk with him about his friends at school, Octavian, Octavian will be like,

00:45:48.240 oh, yeah, you know, if I hang out with so-and-so, maybe he will give me his red gemstone.

00:45:54.300 And I will give him a green army man.

00:45:57.440 And, like, he just thinks about, like, oh, this trade partner would be advantageous for

00:46:01.940 the following reasons.

00:46:03.380 I should engage more with them, which is just hilarious.

00:46:08.200 And I don't know.

00:46:09.320 I don't know what to make of it.

00:46:10.900 Well, I mean, it's a positive, you know, evolutionary trade to...

00:46:16.200 Or are we hammering it home too much at home?

00:46:19.200 Like, because I'm always like, well, what are you going to do for me?

00:46:21.240 Like, you'll get it if you do X.

00:46:23.780 Like, I'm very...

00:46:24.660 I am also very mercenary about things.

00:46:27.380 I've always looked at things that way.

00:46:29.360 I don't think, culturally speaking, that I have any problem with this.

00:46:32.380 If you want to hammer this home, hammer it home.

00:46:34.160 Okay.

00:46:34.520 Thank you.

00:46:36.760 So our only point of parental conflict still is with junk food.

00:46:42.700 You're like, shovel it in.

00:46:44.240 And I'm like, oh, highly processed food.

00:46:46.980 This is horrible.

00:46:47.860 Can't they just eat whole foods?

00:46:49.400 But they want candy.

00:46:51.700 I want candy.

00:46:53.040 Except Titan demands candy all the time and then, like, doesn't eat it.

00:46:57.180 She thinks that everything is to be licked, but she can't even finish a lollipop.

00:47:01.560 Like, we had her on one lollipop for three days, and she didn't even get close to finishing it.

00:47:06.880 Like, you could still see its full structure, like the ridges on the outside.

00:47:10.000 It was like...

00:47:10.680 And she does that with bread. 1.00

00:47:11.660 I'll give her a roll. 0.88

00:47:12.440 And she'll be like, meh.

00:47:13.600 Like, that's sweet, sweetie.

00:47:15.240 No.

00:47:16.220 It's never going to be eaten that way.

00:47:18.180 It's a...

00:47:19.380 Mmm.

00:47:19.980 Oh.

00:47:21.360 Just like they drive me so nuts.

00:47:23.320 She just wants to have it.

00:47:24.980 So these days, I just...

00:47:25.920 I get very quick to dissolve candy, and I put it straight into her mouth. 0.98

00:47:29.460 And so there's nothing she can, like, hold on.

00:47:31.220 Oh, yeah.

00:47:31.600 Cotton candy.

00:47:32.360 We got to do it this weekend, I guess.

00:47:34.080 Yeah.

00:47:34.360 We should do more cotton candy. 0.77

00:47:35.640 I'm all for it.

00:47:36.520 Oh, and by the way, you have to find the batteries for the boat, because I checked all around the basement.

00:47:39.720 I looked all around the basement, too.

00:47:41.340 I guess...

00:47:41.800 Is there a chance you...

00:47:43.640 You used to charge it in the kitchen of the, like that.

00:47:47.340 Yeah, could it be somewhere?

00:47:49.000 I'll check some other closets.

00:47:51.460 Yeah.

00:47:52.200 I mean, clearly we moved it somewhere.

00:47:54.920 To keep it safe.

00:47:56.220 Yeah, and also, because we have to be really careful with the kids, you know.

00:47:59.300 And they'll take anything.

00:48:00.700 They're little thieves.

00:48:01.800 Well, they might have broken one of the batteries.

00:48:04.280 You think?

00:48:05.420 Well, because they took the thing that I had to clamp the piece onto off of it.

00:48:09.320 Oh, of course.

00:48:09.920 It's unscrewed.

00:48:11.520 And it was a shiny, golden-looking screw.

00:48:13.420 Oh, a nut.

00:48:14.240 Okay, well, we can find that part, at least.

00:48:16.200 Oh, yes, the gold nut.

00:48:17.560 Yes, I saw Toasty walking around with that for the longest time.

00:48:21.020 Do you know where it is?

00:48:22.060 No, of course.

00:48:22.960 These things just disappear.

00:48:24.500 Now, I do have a bag full of all of the loose parts that Torsten has stolen over time,

00:48:29.840 because our furniture is basically falling apart.

00:48:31.920 He just takes off all the screws, and I try to keep them in one place,

00:48:36.800 and then I have this delusional vision that someday I'll go around the house

00:48:40.600 and screw everything back in.

00:48:41.980 It hasn't happened yet, so now just we have rickety furniture.

00:48:44.500 But, like, I don't throw it away.

00:48:47.260 I keep it, because I know it goes to stuff.

00:48:49.680 And that Torsten is just slowly disassembling our entire household.

00:48:53.480 And our older kid, Octavian, has learned to scare people,

00:48:56.400 which I did as a kid, that he thinks is so funny.

00:48:58.460 He will wait behind corners and go, boo!

00:48:59.940 And now I'll, like, try to ask, like, a ghost or something

00:49:03.720 and make ghost noises when I'm using the restroom or something outside

00:49:06.720 to try to scare me, so I've got to act all spooked.

00:49:10.940 The great thing is that he can't stop laughing when he tries to hide or be sneaky.

00:49:16.200 Yeah.

00:49:17.080 Oh, no, he's got me a few times.

00:49:19.020 Oh, yeah?

00:49:19.720 Oh, yeah.

00:49:21.360 That's great.

00:49:22.120 He's got a lot of patience.

00:49:23.340 That's the thing.

00:49:23.960 He only laughs at first.

00:49:25.380 All right.

00:49:26.040 Get started in some moment.

00:49:27.480 All right.

00:49:27.820 Pulling out the outline.

00:49:28.480 Pulling out the outline.

00:49:29.700 Okay.

00:49:30.760 Okay.

00:49:31.100 Okay.

00:49:31.300 Okay.

00:49:33.180 All right.

00:49:36.320 I should have got my next sooner.

00:49:38.540 It's okay.

00:49:39.140 Next one, maybe.

00:49:41.260 I'll get it.

00:49:42.840 I'll get it, okay?

00:49:44.700 I'll get it and then I'll pull it.

00:49:46.540 All right.

00:49:49.520 The bugs are still...

00:49:51.480 The invisible bugs are still in there, right?

00:49:54.960 Pretty sure.

00:49:55.600 Yeah, the bugs live on the leaves.

00:50:00.780 What do you think, Torsten?

00:50:04.080 Did you see birds back there?

00:50:07.320 All right.

00:50:07.920 Let's keep going.

00:50:08.580 All right.

00:50:09.000 I see a little white box of that.

00:50:11.360 Let's go.

00:50:12.320 Let's go.

00:50:12.980 Let's go.

00:50:13.100 Let's go.

00:50:13.480 Let's go.

00:50:13.660 Let's go.

00:50:13.720 Let's go.

00:50:14.040 Let's go.

00:50:14.640 Let's go.

00:50:14.980 Let's go.

00:50:29.480 Let's go.

Based Camp - July 24, 2025

But ... WHY Are Progressives Less Happy？

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