Leo D.M.J. Aurini - Psycho-Pass： A World of Rabbits

00:00:00.000 Thank you for joining us.

00:00:30.920 Psycho Pass is a truly amazing anime series that I heartily recommend to anybody in the alternative right.

00:00:38.540 It makes me wonder if the creators had read the evolutionary psychology behind politics,

00:00:44.760 because this perfectly nails the R-type society that the social justice warriors are pushing for.

00:00:50.120 And it also expands upon technology that we are presently developing, which could very well make all of this come to pass.

00:00:59.720 Now, in this review, I'm going to be spoiler-lite.

00:01:03.940 I'm going to discuss the broad trends of the series and the themes brought up in it,

00:01:10.200 but I'm going to try and avoid the major spoilers.

00:01:13.140 So you should be able to watch this without ruining the series.

00:01:16.020 If anything, hopefully it will improve your appreciation of it when you do sit down to watch it, if you haven't already.

00:01:24.400 Now, the Society of Psycho Pass, it's set in Japan about 50 years in the future, thereabouts.

00:01:31.140 And the title comes from the fact that everybody has a Psycho Pass, a psychological passport, which measures your level of affect.

00:01:43.480 Essentially, if you go above a certain level of anger or distress, or quite frankly, probably even you stress, you will be arrested.

00:01:58.720 There's monitoring equipment all over the city streets that will record your Psycho Pass as you go past it to make sure that you are a sane, obedient little sheep.

00:02:12.440 And yes, we are developing this technology right now.

00:02:17.400 There's actually thermal imaging scanners that will record your level of anger.

00:02:23.260 So, if you're in a bad mood and you're walking down the street, hypothetically, the cops could come have a chat with you.

00:02:32.280 Sir, is anything wrong? Sir, are you upset? Sir? Sir?

00:02:39.860 And of course, in this world, so if you get to a certain level of stress, the cops are alerted to you.

00:02:47.440 And you get locked into a cube.

00:02:49.620 For probably the rest of your life, because very few people get better.

00:02:52.480 Because being locked in a cube tends to stress you out.

00:02:56.560 And if you run from the police, and if you engage in any violence,

00:03:01.440 in fact, like if you hurt another person, or another person witnesses the police arresting you,

00:03:06.960 there's a very good chance that they will need to be arrested because of the amount of affect it will create in them.

00:03:13.720 Their Psycho Pass will reach an unacceptable level, so they now need to be arrested.

00:03:18.280 Or if it gets too high, lethal enforcement.

00:03:22.480 So, Japan is living in a completely peaceful society with robotics that maintain all of the technology,

00:03:31.440 all of the food supply, everything.

00:03:33.680 And with holographic technology that essentially everybody is living in a holodeck.

00:03:42.640 So, you're living in a completely plain gray cubicle apartment,

00:03:47.020 and every day you change the holodeck to look like something else.

00:03:50.320 So, it is perfect, rabbity, unlimited resources, and the only goal of society is to keep everybody calm, 0.98

00:04:01.280 and relaxed, and obedient, and going to their jobs the way they're supposed to.

00:04:06.720 It is the perfect rabbit utopia where nobody ever does anything interesting.

00:04:12.540 So, the police forces in this, we've got the sheep, they're the bulk of society,

00:04:21.500 and the police force is a very interesting combination of sheep dogs and wolves.

00:04:28.940 You see, enacting violence on somebody else, that's the sort of thing that tends to make your psychopaths go dark.

00:04:39.340 You get too much affect.

00:04:41.220 And so, the sheep dogs, the people that corral the wolves, can't do it.

00:04:45.980 They only corral the wolves. 0.99

00:04:49.160 Once the hunt begins for a thought criminal, the wolves do all the hunting.

00:04:55.100 And the wolves, for the most part, the wolves are ex-sheep dogs.

00:04:59.900 That they got into a violent confrontation with a criminal, with a thought criminal,

00:05:05.680 and it wound up darkening their past so much that they had a choice.

00:05:09.900 Become a hired gun who, if you disobey the sheep dog, gets put to death instantly. 0.65

00:05:14.760 Or get locked up into a prison cell for the rest of your life.

00:05:21.360 And each one of them, each time that you go out hunting one of these thought criminals, 0.91

00:05:25.560 your psychopaths get a little bit darker.

00:05:28.100 So really, being a wolf is just a short-term stop on the way to your permanent prison cell.

00:05:35.900 It really absolutely nails the K-type versus R-type dynamic. 0.64

00:05:45.600 And like I said, this is the world that we're building right now.

00:05:47.760 The conflict in this series comes from the fact that there is a very rare occurrence

00:05:57.220 of individuals who don't trigger the psychopath system.

00:06:03.700 Individuals who can remain completely calm, showing zero affect whenever they commit these crimes.

00:06:10.300 The psychopaths.

00:06:14.480 This society, they're psychopaths that just go under the radar. 0.98

00:06:19.680 And so, the guns are all set up to only shoot thought criminals, so the guns won't work against them.

00:06:25.300 They can pass in plain sight.

00:06:27.460 They can do whatever they want.

00:06:28.920 And the antagonist of the series is one such man that decides to make war against the entire system.

00:06:42.320 Now, in describing this man, there is an absolutely brilliant quote about what is the nature of charisma.

00:06:52.480 And it's broken down to three parts.

00:06:54.260 Making people feel good whenever you are around them.

00:07:01.720 The intelligence to speak competently on many topics.

00:07:08.700 And the nature of a hero or prophet.

00:07:11.520 And although this antagonist is very dark, he seeks to overthrow all of Japan in just a violent, destructive, pointless revolution, 0.88

00:07:27.680 it does describe him.

00:07:29.900 It's a very choleric description of charisma, of weaponized charisma, of leadership.

00:07:38.620 It's a very compelling description.

00:07:41.520 As well.

00:07:43.140 If you feel called to be in a leadership position, it's a very useful thing to keep in mind.

00:07:51.320 Try and make other people feel better when you're around.

00:07:55.480 You know, achieve professional competence.

00:07:58.580 Know what you're talking about and have a wide variety of interests.

00:08:02.460 And the nature of the hero or prophet.

00:08:06.260 A very Japanese thing to say.

00:08:08.780 But one worth meditating upon. 0.99

00:08:13.880 So this antagonist is a psychopath. 0.68

00:08:19.280 But he is a very charismatic, self-directed, even heroic psychopath. 0.99

00:08:26.600 Although he is a monster. 1.00

00:08:28.260 That's going to cause the deaths of millions. 0.87

00:08:33.220 He's a very interesting character study.

00:08:35.060 He's certainly not a hero.

00:08:37.180 But he is very interesting, nonetheless.

00:08:41.280 Now, the best scene in the series comes about halfway through when a murder happens in broad daylight in the middle of the street amongst the rabbit population. 1.00

00:08:56.860 It's an amazing scene.

00:09:01.180 And it calls to mind necklacing videos I've seen come out of South Africa.

00:09:06.320 Now, if you've never seen one of these, you know, and you don't want your psychopaths to go dark, you probably shouldn't look at one.

00:09:15.500 But in these videos, what will happen is you'll have just a crowd of people murdering the one individual.

00:09:24.460 Beating him, stoning him, and then the necklacing is where they put a car tire full of gasoline around his neck and light it on fire.

00:09:34.860 Truly horrific stuff.

00:09:37.040 But what I find really striking about the videos, what really stands out to me, is how the victim of the thing shows zero affect.

00:09:48.660 They just, they dissociate.

00:09:51.520 And they don't seem to be aware of their environment.

00:09:54.420 They don't seem to be responding rationally.

00:09:56.560 They'll just try and keep walking down the street as this giant crowd is trying to murder them.

00:10:01.400 You know, they won't really fight back or they won't try and escape.

00:10:04.620 They'll just try and walk away.

00:10:06.700 And it's almost like something's possessed them.

00:10:10.800 And in this series, with this murder happening in the middle of the street, amongst this population that does not know violence,

00:10:17.920 that's exactly what happens.

00:10:19.820 The man walks up to this woman, woman he doesn't know, and just, he hits her with a club or whatever, knocks her down,

00:10:30.640 and just starts violently murdering her in the middle of the street.

00:10:34.000 And she doesn't react.

00:10:36.460 She just, when she falls down, she just looks at him with confusion, because the system has always protected her.

00:10:42.440 The system said that this is impossible.

00:10:44.420 This could never happen.

00:10:45.780 And all around her, it's just one guy attacking her.

00:10:49.820 The rest of the population could have easily done something about this guy.

00:10:54.280 But they just stand around looking confused, saying,

00:10:56.920 What's he doing?

00:10:57.720 Is he murdering that woman?

00:10:59.280 What's going on?

00:11:00.280 You know, who was it?

00:11:06.280 Who was it that was saying this?

00:11:07.840 It might have been Stefan Molyneux.

00:11:09.340 It might have been somebody.

00:11:11.120 It might have been on Cantwell's channel.

00:11:13.280 But,

00:11:15.060 rose-tinted glasses.

00:11:17.640 Do you know where that saying comes from?

00:11:21.200 According to rumor,

00:11:22.540 and hearsay,

00:11:23.620 which are almost as good as fact,

00:11:25.640 they used to put rose-tinted goggles

00:11:28.460 on cattle at the slaughterhouse.

00:11:31.340 Because the rose-tinted goggles

00:11:33.020 would prevent them from seeing blood.

00:11:35.500 Thus, they wouldn't be upset.

00:11:39.620 And so, we recently had Bono

00:11:41.420 at the,

00:11:43.120 he was at,

00:11:43.920 what was he talking to the Senate?

00:11:45.960 Talking to a bunch of people

00:11:47.180 that some jag-off musician

00:11:49.220 has no business speaking to.

00:11:51.560 And he was talking to them about how

00:11:53.140 instead of using force of arms, 0.96

00:11:54.660 we just need to ridicule Islam. 1.00

00:11:56.760 You know, that's how we start terrorism. 0.99

00:11:58.860 Is ridicule.

00:12:05.120 The R-types are unable 1.00

00:12:06.760 to understand violence.

00:12:10.020 You know, it's been discussed elsewhere.

00:12:11.420 They have malformed amygdalas.

00:12:14.100 You know, their threat assessment center

00:12:16.280 has been short-circuited.

00:12:18.400 They use other circuits

00:12:19.540 to avoid assessing threat.

00:12:21.960 Or they never developed any.

00:12:23.880 They never had any competitive sports

00:12:25.640 in schools.

00:12:26.700 They never got into a fist fight as a kid.

00:12:29.620 They've been perfectly coddled

00:12:31.140 and kept safe.

00:12:33.580 And so their brain,

00:12:34.380 they have an underdeveloped amygdala

00:12:36.740 and circuits that go around it.

00:12:38.680 Well, when one of these people,

00:12:42.820 when they encounter violence,

00:12:45.340 it overwhelms them.

00:12:46.980 They dissociate.

00:12:48.420 Their head, it breaks.

00:12:50.560 And they don't know what to do.

00:12:51.680 They freeze.

00:12:52.700 And this is what happens

00:12:58.460 with, like, the necklacers.

00:12:59.480 These are happening

00:12:59.920 in very R-type societies. 0.76

00:13:02.780 And the R-types in this, 1.00

00:13:05.620 yeah, they respond the exact same way.

00:13:07.160 They see violence.

00:13:07.900 It just confuses them.

00:13:09.920 They don't know what to do.

00:13:10.940 They're not hardened.

00:13:12.380 They're not toughened.

00:13:14.840 They're obedient.

00:13:26.460 So how do we fight evil?

00:13:28.980 You know, that's a very real question

00:13:30.660 in this series.

00:13:33.240 Because this solution

00:13:34.440 of creating the sheep,

00:13:36.640 you know, that's inhuman.

00:13:37.760 That's certainly not the answer.

00:13:39.020 And what's eventually revealed,

00:13:42.220 and I won't give away too much,

00:13:45.120 but the people ruling this society 0.96

00:13:47.680 are the very psychos 0.74

00:13:51.160 that can't be detected by the system. 0.99

00:13:54.540 It is a system ruled by psychopaths. 0.88

00:13:58.480 And, folks, 0.97

00:14:00.380 that's a perfect metaphor

00:14:02.120 for our modern day.

00:14:04.660 In fact, I was recently linked

00:14:05.980 to some psychological research

00:14:07.680 that only recently got

00:14:08.900 released publicly.

00:14:11.560 Prior to this,

00:14:12.240 much of it was redacted.

00:14:13.600 I'm still going through all of it,

00:14:15.120 but there's a link down below

00:14:16.620 to the guy's writing

00:14:19.360 and to his article.

00:14:23.440 So, yes, we do presently have

00:14:25.620 psychopathic rulers 0.93

00:14:28.640 that don't care about anybody. 0.94

00:14:31.080 They just want to manipulate.

00:14:32.900 And they don't have any affect.

00:14:34.360 They don't understand good and evil. 0.97

00:14:35.640 They're completely spiritually autistic. 0.95

00:14:37.180 And they're creating this system

00:14:41.740 of R-type behavior.

00:14:45.260 Everybody gets a trophy.

00:14:46.960 We need to keep everybody safe.

00:14:48.720 We don't want any bruised feelings.

00:14:51.660 And we have R-types 1.00

00:14:52.420 that are so damaged nowadays

00:14:53.980 that, you know,

00:14:56.080 a kid chewing a Pop-Tart

00:14:57.740 so that it looks like a gun

00:14:58.980 gets them sent home from school

00:15:00.620 because they're terrified

00:15:02.920 of pictures of guns.

00:15:04.820 Right?

00:15:06.060 That's enough to terrify them. 0.64

00:15:07.960 But if they actually saw

00:15:09.120 a fistfight,

00:15:09.860 they would freeze up.

00:15:11.160 They would dissociate.

00:15:12.880 They wouldn't know

00:15:13.800 what to do at all

00:15:15.100 because it just completely

00:15:16.340 overwhelms their emotions.

00:15:18.020 And so,

00:15:23.280 how do we deal with this?

00:15:26.720 How do we deal with the society?

00:15:28.640 And I think this is,

00:15:30.240 the series doesn't answer

00:15:31.400 this question.

00:15:32.880 But it really is

00:15:34.460 something worth meditating on.

00:15:35.920 The series meditates on.

00:15:38.080 Because the protagonist 0.98

00:15:39.580 is one of these sheepdogs 0.93

00:15:41.580 who discovers the system

00:15:44.000 and is absolutely

00:15:44.580 disgusted by the system.

00:15:46.400 But at the same time,

00:15:48.940 she's not about to

00:15:50.200 overthrow the entire system

00:15:52.180 and cause mass suffering

00:15:53.880 and blood in the streets.

00:15:58.680 And if there is an answer

00:15:59.960 to how do we deal

00:16:01.760 with an evil system

00:16:03.560 that encourages people

00:16:04.520 to be dependent, 1.00

00:16:06.340 pathetic, 1.00

00:16:07.200 weak, 1.00

00:16:07.460 and broken rabbits, 0.87

00:16:08.440 how do we deal with that?

00:16:09.420 The heroic persona.

00:16:15.120 Going back to that

00:16:16.000 definition of charisma.

00:16:18.160 The ability to make people

00:16:19.560 feel good for being around you.

00:16:21.620 The intelligence to speak

00:16:22.560 on many things.

00:16:24.540 And the nature of a hero

00:16:26.620 or prophet.

00:16:32.020 The series closes,

00:16:33.220 each episode closes

00:16:34.260 with a J-pop love song,

00:16:37.680 which might sound

00:16:39.400 a bit cheesy at first,

00:16:41.440 but it does point

00:16:42.500 to the way out.

00:16:45.420 Somebody heroic

00:16:46.400 that can set the example

00:16:48.080 that improves

00:16:49.040 the quality

00:16:49.820 of people.

00:16:54.060 Ultimately,

00:16:54.760 the only way

00:16:55.520 that we can

00:16:56.220 win back

00:16:57.440 our civilization

00:16:58.400 from the psychopathic 0.97

00:17:00.320 monsters that are 0.99

00:17:00.980 running things

00:17:01.700 to not let

00:17:03.980 ourselves

00:17:05.200 be

00:17:05.780 dominated 0.71

00:17:07.220 and destroyed

00:17:08.400 by the rabbits

00:17:09.760 is to embrace

00:17:12.180 the spirit

00:17:12.780 of heroism.

00:17:15.240 Is to

00:17:16.280 live

00:17:17.920 the best lives

00:17:19.140 that we possibly can

00:17:20.500 to achieve

00:17:21.620 our maximum potential

00:17:22.940 and help

00:17:24.620 others

00:17:25.160 in the process.

00:17:28.320 Folks,

00:17:29.220 go check out

00:17:29.920 Psycho Pass.

00:17:30.680 I think you'll

00:17:31.340 really enjoy it.

00:17:33.180 And this

00:17:33.920 is

00:17:34.220 I think I hope

00:17:36.280 it is.

00:17:38.100 I think I hope

00:17:38.120 it is.

00:17:38.940 I think I'll

00:17:39.200 stand to

00:17:42.640 the end

00:17:43.260 of this

00:17:46.000 thing

00:17:46.960 for a minute

00:17:47.160 jump to

00:17:47.360 get yourself

00:17:47.920 when you

00:17:51.480 ahead

00:17:53.380 and

00:17:53.820 take

00:17:54.740 the

00:17:56.080 end

00:17:56.440 and

00:17:56.660 as

00:17:56.920 we

00:17:57.400 would

00:17:57.880 work

00:17:58.880 to

00:18:00.320 go

00:18:00.820 and

00:18:01.220 go

00:18:01.520 and

00:18:01.940 open

00:18:02.460 Thank you.

Leo D.M.J. Aurini - April 21, 2016

Psycho-Pass： A World of Rabbits

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