Real Coffee with Scott Adams - Episode 1602 Scott Adams： Are You Smart or Just Afraid？ You Can't Tell the Difference

00:00:00.000 Good morning, everybody, and welcome to the highlight of your entire life.

00:00:07.460 It's called Coffee with Scott Adams, and this is the special Christmas Eve edition.

00:00:13.460 Yeah, in case you didn't think it could get any better, it could be special.

00:00:18.360 And let me remind you that tomorrow, a lot of the people that you would see on a regular basis,

00:00:24.700 and by regular, I mean, let's say five days a week.

00:00:27.820 You know, nobody does seven days a week like I do.

00:00:31.920 But tomorrow, a lot of them will be gone, but not me. Not me. I'll be here.

00:00:36.960 And not only will I be here, but I'll be here with a simultaneous sip, a special Christmas edition.

00:00:41.740 And all I'll need then, and all you need now, is a cup or mug or a glass, a tank or chalice or stein,

00:00:46.160 a canteen jug or a flask of vessel of any kind.

00:00:50.300 Fill it with your favorite liquid. I like coffee.

00:00:53.800 And join me now for the unparalleled pleasure, the dopamine hit of the day,

00:01:00.340 the thing that makes everything better, including the holidays.

00:01:03.900 It's called the simultaneous sip, and it happens now. Go!

00:01:10.340 Yeah, that was it. Yeah.

00:01:13.600 That was the stuff.

00:01:14.760 Well, there's a report that a team of astronomers have discovered 70 rogue planets in the Milky Way.

00:01:24.740 Now, they're rogue because they're not surrounding a star.

00:01:29.600 So they're not orbiting a star.

00:01:33.500 They're rogue planets.

00:01:35.660 And they just discovered them.

00:01:37.120 I guess we'd never seen 70 rogue planets in the Milky Way before.

00:01:41.400 But I'm no fool.

00:01:45.860 I'm no fool.

00:01:47.760 70 rogue planets suddenly appear.

00:01:51.540 I think it's pretty clear that these are death stars, and they're heading our way.

00:01:56.840 So if you're worried about the coronavirus or climate change,

00:02:00.340 it doesn't look like that's going to be your biggest problem.

00:02:03.740 70 death stars heading our way, allegedly.

00:02:07.000 I'd like to point out again that every day this is weird.

00:02:13.400 It's just weird.

00:02:14.940 A coincidence, really.

00:02:16.960 But we've learned in the last several years, and correct me if I'm wrong,

00:02:20.880 that our intelligence agencies can't be trusted,

00:02:24.140 the news can't be trusted, our politicians can't be trusted.

00:02:28.280 In fact, every institution in American life has shown us that it can't be trusted

00:02:32.600 except our election system.

00:02:35.720 Now, I guess we're all pretty lucky because 100% of our other systems are known to be fraudulent

00:02:44.820 in substantial ways.

00:02:47.960 But our election system, can I have a standing ovation for the only thing in the whole country

00:02:53.800 that is not corrupt?

00:02:55.260 Oh, it's impossible to audit it by design.

00:03:00.280 So it would be fair to say that you wouldn't know if it was corrupt.

00:03:03.780 But it's not.

00:03:04.860 It's not.

00:03:07.220 Standing ovation.

00:03:09.240 Let's give it up for the election system,

00:03:11.720 the only thing in America that is not corrupt,

00:03:14.240 even though it easily could be, and there's no way to check.

00:03:23.440 Sarcasm.

00:03:23.920 Yes, sometimes you can mock things into happening

00:03:28.820 when you can't reason them into happening. 0.97

00:03:31.880 And I'm going to fucking mock into existence 0.97

00:03:35.320 the belief that our election system is the only one without a problem. 0.99

00:03:42.560 I'm going to try to sell that.

00:03:45.060 Only one.

00:03:46.920 How about the international financial world?

00:03:52.500 That's okay, right?

00:03:54.800 Oh, there are plenty of fraud.

00:03:57.240 There's lots of fraud in the financial world, huh?

00:04:00.040 Well, at least our banking system never made...

00:04:02.740 What?

00:04:03.400 Our banking system has paid gigantic fines for fraudulent activities?

00:04:08.680 Well, okay.

00:04:10.340 I guess you can't trust the banking system.

00:04:13.100 But thank goodness our elections are first-rate, airtight,

00:04:21.940 and working, firing on all cylinders.

00:04:25.540 I was reminded yesterday that it is unfair to go after somebody's appearance.

00:04:33.240 Don't you think?

00:04:33.880 You know, saying nasty things about some public figure's appearance, totally inappropriate.

00:04:42.340 This came to me after I mentioned that the 1619 Project's Nicole Hannah-Jones dresses like a clown. 0.99

00:04:54.880 Now, she actually has, like, bright red clown hair with the two puffs 1.00

00:04:58.380 and wears clothing that sort of is evocative of the clown vibe, if you know what I mean.

00:05:05.800 And I do think that there could be special cases, right?

00:05:11.320 Here's a special case.

00:05:13.360 Suppose, and this did not happen,

00:05:15.680 but suppose the Surgeon General of the United States weighed 600 pounds.

00:05:20.160 Would it be appropriate to mention his or her appearance?

00:05:26.980 I think so.

00:05:28.540 Because it would be the Surgeon General.

00:05:30.960 Somebody who's promoting health.

00:05:32.660 And if they weighed 600 pounds,

00:05:34.100 I feel like that would be something you could criticize based on appearance.

00:05:40.640 Am I right?

00:05:42.200 Likewise, if somebody is selling the most clownish idea that the world has ever seen, 0.83

00:05:48.900 and they dress exactly like a clown,

00:05:53.340 that has to be noticed.

00:05:57.620 All right, you can't have a clown-like idea 0.74

00:06:01.860 and dress like a clown 0.83

00:06:04.000 and then ask me not to notice that.

00:06:08.040 I mean, I am willing to go with the idea

00:06:10.320 that we shouldn't make fun of people's, you know, appearance.

00:06:15.040 In general,

00:06:16.160 in general,

00:06:18.760 but not in these cases.

00:06:21.740 These are very special cases.

00:06:24.360 You know, 0.96

00:06:24.680 you give me clown material and dress like a clown, 0.98

00:06:27.760 I'm not going to ignore that. 0.98

00:06:30.420 Okay?

00:06:32.900 Speaking of the golden age,

00:06:35.540 I think it's the golden age for pranks.

00:06:37.760 Because somebody did this prank.

00:06:41.220 It was a fake headline.

00:06:42.720 Somebody faked a New York Times headline

00:06:44.500 that made it look as if teachers

00:06:47.800 were going to permit bullying against unvaccinated children.

00:06:51.960 So, somebody faked a headline

00:06:56.920 for the New York Times

00:06:59.660 calling on teachers to permit bullying

00:07:06.420 against unvaccinated children.

00:07:09.360 And all the fact checkers

00:07:10.740 had to fact check it as false

00:07:13.400 because we live in such absurd times

00:07:16.340 that it was believable.

00:07:17.840 So, this is the golden age of pranks

00:07:22.600 where you can say anything

00:07:23.980 and just put it in the headline

00:07:26.340 and somebody's going to say,

00:07:27.860 yeah, that probably happened.

00:07:29.680 That looks well within the realm

00:07:31.720 of something that could have happened.

00:07:34.120 Golden age for pranks.

00:07:36.320 If you don't think I'll be taking advantage of that,

00:07:39.320 you don't know me.

00:07:40.240 How many of you saw clips

00:07:42.400 or the whole interview

00:07:44.060 of Trump talking with Candace Owens?

00:07:47.800 Did many of you see that?

00:07:49.240 It's getting a lot of news today.

00:07:51.300 Now, it's interesting how it's being framed,

00:07:53.800 of course, because Trump's involved,

00:07:56.120 so it's highly polarizing.

00:07:59.240 But some people are framing it

00:08:01.760 as though Trump schooled Candace Owens

00:08:05.880 on the value of vaccines.

00:08:07.840 But I'm not quite sure I saw that.

00:08:12.640 I mean, I watched it.

00:08:14.700 But what I saw was he made a claim,

00:08:17.580 Trump did,

00:08:18.480 that the people who are vaccinated

00:08:20.400 are having far better outcomes.

00:08:23.380 But I didn't see her push back on that.

00:08:26.320 Did she?

00:08:27.440 So it wasn't really a disagreement, was it?

00:08:29.960 He made a claim and it just, it was true. 0.96

00:08:33.680 I mean, it's compatible with science,

00:08:35.440 whether it's true or not.

00:08:36.320 And then she brought up a related question

00:08:41.940 about mandates and then they agreed again.

00:08:45.280 Trump doesn't like mandates.

00:08:46.620 Candace doesn't like mandates. 1.00

00:08:48.240 So they agreed on that.

00:08:50.500 But then she sort of started focusing.

00:08:54.120 I don't want to say she moved the goalposts

00:08:55.880 because I'm not sure that that happened.

00:08:57.760 But she started focusing on the question of

00:08:59.980 should somebody young and fit,

00:09:03.340 such as herself, get vaccinated?

00:09:05.000 And I don't know that Trump had an opinion on that.

00:09:11.840 So it was a weird kind of situation

00:09:14.000 in which some people imagined

00:09:17.860 they were having some kind of a disagreement.

00:09:20.840 But I didn't see any.

00:09:22.500 Did you?

00:09:22.880 Did you see any disagreement?

00:09:27.760 I didn't see any.

00:09:29.400 And, but I did notice that there is a,

00:09:32.920 and I'll talk about what we do

00:09:34.100 and do not know about vaccines.

00:09:36.340 But I think this is,

00:09:39.380 it sort of showed you why you need

00:09:41.820 the point-counterpoint kind of discussion

00:09:44.260 and you don't want a person interviewing one person.

00:09:49.640 That that model just gives you confusion.

00:09:52.920 All right?

00:09:53.420 And we saw it again here.

00:09:54.900 People couldn't even tell what they saw.

00:09:56.920 Did they see two people agreeing or disagreeing?

00:09:59.640 I saw two people agreeing.

00:10:01.900 What did you see?

00:10:03.400 Did you see two people disagreeing

00:10:05.420 or did you see two people agreeing on everything?

00:10:09.400 What did you see if you saw it?

00:10:12.220 I mean, that's pretty basic.

00:10:13.460 Were they agreeing or disagreeing?

00:10:15.300 And we can't even agree on that.

00:10:18.720 Yeah, okay.

00:10:23.220 And a lot of conservatives,

00:10:27.240 have you seen conservatives say

00:10:28.660 that vaccinations, quote, don't work?

00:10:32.900 Have you seen that?

00:10:33.580 How many of you would say that's true?

00:10:39.580 How many of you would agree with a statement?

00:10:41.660 And we'll talk about what that really means.

00:10:43.900 But how many of you would agree with a statement?

00:10:47.180 Vaccinations, quote, don't work. 0.60

00:10:50.060 Agree or disagree?

00:10:54.700 Mostly disagree.

00:10:56.200 Okay.

00:10:56.760 I say a yes on YouTube.

00:10:59.460 Okay.

00:11:00.440 Interesting.

00:11:01.380 Because I'm still seeing people,

00:11:02.660 I've seen more yeses on YouTube for some reason.

00:11:05.040 I think the locals people have,

00:11:08.460 I hate to tell you,

00:11:09.260 but they're better informed.

00:11:13.080 In general, they tend to be better informed,

00:11:15.380 at least on the topics I talk about,

00:11:17.200 because we talk about the same stuff.

00:11:19.420 So, here's what I saw on Fox News.

00:11:26.100 And I'm not going to name names,

00:11:27.520 because there's got to be more than one person doing this.

00:11:30.340 But I did see a prominent conservative last night on Fox News

00:11:33.880 say vaccines don't work.

00:11:37.640 Did anybody see that?

00:11:38.680 I'm not going to name names.

00:11:40.260 But did you see a prominent conservative tell you

00:11:45.260 that vaccines don't work on TV last night?

00:11:48.880 And it wasn't questioned.

00:11:50.500 I don't think there was any pushback on it.

00:11:53.300 Why would he say that?

00:11:55.360 He would say that because you can still get,

00:11:58.860 you can still transmit and catch the virus

00:12:01.100 if you're vaccinated.

00:12:02.340 But it seems that some people,

00:12:06.860 maybe to, I don't know,

00:12:08.660 manage their audience or something,

00:12:11.420 are saying that it doesn't work

00:12:13.180 when we know, as Trump pointed out,

00:12:16.640 that it lowers hospitalizations and deaths radically.

00:12:20.960 Or at least all information is on that side.

00:12:23.660 Now, how many of you would disagree with this statement?

00:12:26.420 That when the president said

00:12:28.060 that vaccinated people have better outcomes,

00:12:30.020 that 100% of the data agrees with them?

00:12:33.860 Would anybody disagree with that statement?

00:12:36.120 That all of the data agrees.

00:12:37.800 There's no data that says anything else.

00:12:40.240 Would anybody push back on that?

00:12:43.380 That 100% of the data, all of it,

00:12:45.940 every data anybody's ever looked at,

00:12:49.220 says the vaccinations drastically lower

00:12:51.560 your risk of death.

00:12:54.480 Does anybody see anything different?

00:12:56.720 I haven't.

00:12:57.720 Okay.

00:12:58.140 If you've seen something different, send it to me.

00:13:00.480 But I think the president was on pretty solid ground,

00:13:03.320 at least in terms of agreeing with science.

00:13:05.580 You know, science could be wrong.

00:13:07.980 No absolutes.

00:13:09.580 I'm telling you that what I've seen

00:13:11.640 was 100% of the data on one side.

00:13:15.020 But I'm asking you for an exception.

00:13:17.260 So I'll take your,

00:13:19.080 I take your guidance

00:13:20.340 that I should avoid absolutes.

00:13:23.980 Nothing's 100%.

00:13:24.980 That's correct.

00:13:25.620 It's easy to talk in absolutes,

00:13:28.620 and it's,

00:13:30.120 I like it when you catch me.

00:13:31.680 That's one of the corrections I always appreciate.

00:13:33.960 If I accidentally speak in an absolute,

00:13:36.520 because that's never true.

00:13:38.240 You know, the absolute,

00:13:39.180 well, I just use an absolute to talk about absolutes.

00:13:42.640 So let me just escape that conversation.

00:13:45.940 Christopher Hill on Twitter said this.

00:13:50.120 Until someone answers the question,

00:13:52.220 at what age slash BMI

00:13:54.260 is it no longer statistically beneficial

00:13:56.600 to be vaccinated against COVID-19,

00:13:59.780 all of this is a joke.

00:14:01.340 Well, not all of it.

00:14:05.560 But isn't that a pretty big,

00:14:08.980 a pretty big thing that we don't know?

00:14:13.660 And isn't that a fair question?

00:14:16.080 Shouldn't we see a chart that's got,

00:14:18.960 I'm designing on the fly here,

00:14:20.420 but I think if you had age on one side

00:14:22.120 and BMI on the other,

00:14:26.060 on the other axis,

00:14:27.540 that you could find the place,

00:14:31.740 you know, the zone

00:14:32.460 where you're both old enough

00:14:34.780 and heavy enough

00:14:36.940 that you've got to get,

00:14:38.880 you've got to worry?

00:14:41.080 Wouldn't that visual,

00:14:42.760 we could produce that, right?

00:14:44.020 We have enough data at this point.

00:14:46.000 And if we haven't given that to the public,

00:14:50.640 you have to assume

00:14:51.920 that we're not working with science.

00:14:54.160 Is that fair to say?

00:14:55.300 That given that this could be produced,

00:14:59.840 you know, the crossover of age slash BMI

00:15:02.420 to know when it doesn't make sense

00:15:04.880 to get vaccinated,

00:15:06.400 instead we're just vaccinating everybody.

00:15:08.520 But that tells you

00:15:09.600 that we departed science, right?

00:15:11.960 Or does it?

00:15:13.980 I'm going to take the opposite argument

00:15:16.640 a little bit later.

00:15:18.660 I'm just priming you.

00:15:20.480 Okay.

00:15:22.140 So it is very annoying

00:15:23.620 that we don't know that.

00:15:24.440 But I made the statement

00:15:26.620 that I had fun with this one

00:15:29.540 and I have to admit

00:15:30.240 this was a little bit trollish

00:15:31.820 because I really wanted to get comments

00:15:33.980 and then read you the comments.

00:15:36.200 So it was a little more trollish

00:15:38.540 than I have been doing lately.

00:15:40.560 I don't know if you've noticed,

00:15:41.460 but I've been trying to reduce the trolling,

00:15:44.000 you know,

00:15:44.180 where you're just trying

00:15:44.920 to get a big response

00:15:45.880 and try to make things,

00:15:47.680 you know, value added.

00:15:50.300 Although sometimes things

00:15:51.520 are just entertaining,

00:15:52.400 so I can't resist.

00:15:53.100 But here's what I said

00:15:55.080 and I'll tell you

00:15:55.740 some weird reactions to it.

00:15:57.380 I said our collective awareness

00:15:58.700 is now almost high enough,

00:16:02.120 and the almost is a key here,

00:16:03.820 is almost high enough

00:16:04.820 to realize that no one used

00:16:06.260 reason to make

00:16:06.980 their vaccination decision.

00:16:09.200 Fear made all of our decisions

00:16:11.020 and we rationalized it

00:16:12.720 after the fact.

00:16:14.020 To imagine otherwise

00:16:14.980 is a denial of what science

00:16:16.580 knows about decision making.

00:16:17.900 So here's the thing.

00:16:21.140 It is irrational to say

00:16:23.120 that you followed the science

00:16:25.860 and made a decision

00:16:27.560 about your vaccination.

00:16:29.380 Do you know why that's irrational?

00:16:32.120 It's irrational to say,

00:16:33.800 it doesn't matter who you are

00:16:34.660 or even what your argument is,

00:16:36.160 it's always irrational to say,

00:16:37.960 I followed the science

00:16:39.580 and then I reached

00:16:41.060 my rational conclusion.

00:16:43.020 Do you know why that's irrational?

00:16:44.800 Because science knows

00:16:47.080 we don't do that.

00:16:48.940 If you follow science,

00:16:50.340 you would know

00:16:50.640 that you didn't do that.

00:16:52.300 You can't have it both ways.

00:16:54.440 You can't say you followed science

00:16:55.880 and reached a reasonable decision

00:16:58.120 if you believe in science.

00:17:00.500 If you believe in science,

00:17:01.600 you'd know you don't have

00:17:02.380 that ability.

00:17:03.680 You don't have the ability

00:17:04.940 to reach rational decisions.

00:17:07.180 Not in situations like this

00:17:08.820 where there's lots of complexity

00:17:10.140 and lots of unknowns.

00:17:12.580 It just can't be done.

00:17:13.480 We all got there by fear.

00:17:16.940 Now you're going to say to yourself,

00:17:19.020 Scott, I didn't.

00:17:22.140 Yeah, maybe other people did

00:17:23.980 and maybe only the people

00:17:25.300 who got vaccinated.

00:17:26.720 But I'm pretty sure I didn't.

00:17:29.500 So here's my statement again.

00:17:32.240 Our collective awareness

00:17:33.460 is now almost high enough

00:17:36.620 to realize.

00:17:38.900 So a lot of people who don't yet

00:17:40.360 have not reached that level

00:17:42.000 of awareness are fighting hard

00:17:44.620 to represent their point of view.

00:17:47.460 Let me tell you what it looks like

00:17:48.940 when people who are

00:17:50.360 in thoroughly irrational territory

00:17:52.420 try to rationalize

00:17:54.360 their irrationality.

00:17:57.320 You ready for this?

00:17:58.580 Here are just some comments

00:17:59.740 I picked out for this.

00:18:01.240 And I won't even tell you

00:18:02.100 who made the comment

00:18:02.760 because I don't think that's fair

00:18:03.880 because it's sort of,

00:18:05.220 everybody's in the same group here.

00:18:07.840 So one user said to me,

00:18:09.860 I didn't use fear at all.

00:18:11.460 Just common sense.

00:18:14.200 What's the first problem?

00:18:16.480 There's no such thing

00:18:17.540 as common sense.

00:18:19.200 Common sense is what you say you had

00:18:22.580 when you have an irrational decision

00:18:24.460 and then you rationalize it

00:18:26.200 after the fact.

00:18:27.620 We know common sense doesn't exist

00:18:29.460 because you and I would have

00:18:31.000 the same opinion on everything.

00:18:32.980 You and I would just use

00:18:34.240 our common sense.

00:18:35.420 Oh, we all agreed on everything.

00:18:36.600 Common sense absolutely does not exist.

00:18:41.340 So here's the first pushback

00:18:44.380 that, against us.

00:18:47.720 He uses common sense

00:18:48.860 and he says,

00:18:49.960 my ability to see blatant lies

00:18:51.740 for what they are,

00:18:53.600 and he used an example

00:18:54.560 that ivermectin is dangerous,

00:18:56.140 that's a, this user says

00:18:58.860 is a blatant lie,

00:19:00.400 told me everything I needed

00:19:01.620 to know about my decision.

00:19:04.100 Did it?

00:19:04.580 Did that one lie?

00:19:07.520 Allegedly.

00:19:08.580 This one person believes

00:19:09.640 he can identify lies,

00:19:11.580 has common sense,

00:19:12.820 and didn't use fear at all.

00:19:15.640 What level of awareness

00:19:16.880 is that about his own place

00:19:18.740 in the universe?

00:19:20.180 It's pretty low.

00:19:21.760 It's pretty low.

00:19:22.880 Because we don't have common sense,

00:19:24.520 you did use your fear,

00:19:25.860 and you certainly don't know

00:19:27.220 if ivermectin was a lie.

00:19:29.620 You might have a strong opinion,

00:19:31.800 but you certainly don't know

00:19:33.040 at this point.

00:19:35.260 All right, let me give you

00:19:35.940 another one.

00:19:38.620 Someone had said,

00:19:40.240 I disagree.

00:19:41.760 Vaccines typically have more time

00:19:43.460 to observe long-term effects.

00:19:45.840 In other words,

00:19:46.400 we usually have more data

00:19:47.980 for vaccines.

00:19:49.920 These were administered

00:19:50.940 in record time

00:19:51.840 with full understanding

00:19:52.840 that long-term risks

00:19:54.060 were a question mark.

00:19:55.100 I think one can reasonably

00:19:57.700 refuse a vaccine

00:19:58.820 where the long-term risks

00:20:01.720 are unknown.

00:20:02.620 What about that?

00:20:03.940 Is this a rational take?

00:20:05.660 That you can refuse a vaccine

00:20:07.600 where the long-term risks

00:20:09.200 are unknown.

00:20:10.840 Is that a good take?

00:20:13.240 Since you don't know

00:20:14.280 if the vaccination

00:20:14.940 is good or bad

00:20:16.200 in the long-term,

00:20:17.560 because we don't have data,

00:20:19.460 that therefore not taking it

00:20:20.940 isn't reasonable.

00:20:22.560 Is it?

00:20:22.920 No, it's fear.

00:20:26.820 You'd have to know

00:20:27.920 the risk of the virus,

00:20:30.040 which we don't,

00:20:30.860 in the long-term,

00:20:31.840 and you'd have to know

00:20:32.680 the risk of the vaccination

00:20:33.800 in the long-term.

00:20:34.700 We don't know either one.

00:20:36.340 So here's someone

00:20:37.020 who doesn't know

00:20:37.720 either the cost

00:20:38.720 or the benefit

00:20:39.440 of the decision

00:20:40.240 and is comfortable

00:20:42.120 with the reasonableness

00:20:43.120 of his decision

00:20:44.540 without knowing the costs

00:20:46.580 and without knowing

00:20:47.900 the benefits

00:20:48.460 of any of the variables

00:20:49.680 that mattered.

00:20:50.620 So this is what

00:20:54.020 it looks like

00:20:54.540 when you have

00:20:55.100 a fear-based decision

00:20:56.320 that you rationalize

00:20:57.780 after the fact.

00:20:58.600 I'll give you some more.

00:21:00.240 By the way,

00:21:00.780 once you learn

00:21:01.380 to recognize this,

00:21:03.180 you'll just see it everywhere.

00:21:05.360 You'll see that people

00:21:06.200 are just rationalizing

00:21:07.440 their fears.

00:21:08.560 And pretty much

00:21:09.280 that's all we do.

00:21:10.840 Almost all of what we think

00:21:12.300 is our common sense

00:21:13.220 and our thinking

00:21:13.700 is just rationalizing fears.

00:21:15.740 Here's another one.

00:21:16.620 All right?

00:21:16.780 We know healthy children

00:21:17.900 that are at very low risk.

00:21:19.740 A child is 10 times

00:21:20.900 more likely to die of cancer.

00:21:22.920 I would say

00:21:23.740 that is reasonably

00:21:24.800 sufficient information

00:21:26.020 when you're trying

00:21:27.100 to make a decision

00:21:27.960 against a vaccine

00:21:29.100 whose long-term risks

00:21:30.620 are unknown.

00:21:31.880 It's a no-brainer for me.

00:21:36.120 Is it a no-brainer?

00:21:38.680 So how many of you

00:21:40.300 would agree with the statement

00:21:41.500 that because children

00:21:43.000 that are super low risk,

00:21:44.700 that therefore

00:21:46.360 vaccinating them

00:21:47.420 isn't good for them?

00:21:49.620 How many of you

00:21:50.220 would agree with the statement

00:21:51.340 we should not vaccinate

00:21:53.120 young children?

00:21:55.580 Go.

00:21:57.300 How many of you

00:21:58.140 agree with that?

00:21:59.500 I'm expecting

00:22:00.300 almost all of you

00:22:01.200 to agree with this, right?

00:22:03.300 Agree, agree, agree,

00:22:04.640 don't know, agree,

00:22:05.720 yes, yes, yes, yes.

00:22:06.800 Now, when you say you agree,

00:22:09.220 I assume that your argument is

00:22:11.620 I assume your argument is

00:22:16.920 that it is not good

00:22:19.180 for children

00:22:19.740 to take on the vaccine risk

00:22:22.360 when the risk

00:22:23.760 that you're trying

00:22:24.280 to mitigate

00:22:24.660 is so close to zero.

00:22:26.980 Would that capture

00:22:27.920 your argument?

00:22:31.020 Anybody?

00:22:31.680 Does that capture

00:22:32.600 your argument pretty well?

00:22:33.580 Okay, I'm getting yeses

00:22:34.740 on that.

00:22:35.780 All right, here's

00:22:36.300 the counter-argument.

00:22:37.880 Do you think

00:22:38.280 there is one?

00:22:38.760 Do you think

00:22:40.520 there's a counter-argument?

00:22:44.320 There is.

00:22:45.940 And it's the argument

00:22:46.960 coming from the government.

00:22:49.200 And it's a pretty good one.

00:22:51.420 But they don't say it

00:22:52.680 out loud.

00:22:54.700 Because they can't.

00:22:56.380 So, here's my take.

00:22:58.120 I think the government

00:22:58.800 has an actual

00:22:59.960 pretty good argument

00:23:00.980 which is different

00:23:02.100 from saying I agree.

00:23:03.920 All right?

00:23:04.460 So I'm not going to agree

00:23:05.680 with the government argument.

00:23:06.920 I'm going to simply

00:23:08.240 explain it

00:23:09.080 as best I can.

00:23:12.020 And then I want you

00:23:12.660 to reassess your opinion

00:23:14.260 based on new information.

00:23:16.600 Okay?

00:23:18.220 Would you say

00:23:18.760 it's true or false

00:23:19.680 that a child

00:23:20.600 would be damaged

00:23:21.600 by the death of,

00:23:23.960 let's say,

00:23:24.220 one parent?

00:23:25.980 True or false?

00:23:27.360 That a child's well-being

00:23:28.520 would be damaged

00:23:30.340 by the death

00:23:31.080 of a parent?

00:23:32.940 True, right?

00:23:34.040 True.

00:23:34.280 Is the point

00:23:36.200 of vaccinating children

00:23:37.400 to only protect

00:23:39.700 the children?

00:23:41.500 Was that ever

00:23:42.520 the point of it?

00:23:43.860 Did the government

00:23:44.780 ever say

00:23:45.340 we're going to vaccinate 0.58

00:23:46.140 the children

00:23:46.680 strictly for the protection

00:23:48.460 of the children?

00:23:49.780 Never said that.

00:23:51.620 Right?

00:23:52.280 I believe it was always

00:23:53.540 part of the overall strategy

00:23:55.760 of getting enough people

00:23:57.700 to some kind

00:23:58.880 of herd immunity.

00:23:59.820 Wasn't it?

00:24:00.260 So I believe

00:24:02.800 the government's argument

00:24:03.940 goes something like this.

00:24:06.300 Again,

00:24:06.980 this is not me agreeing

00:24:08.400 with the argument.

00:24:09.660 I'm just representing it.

00:24:11.500 Because you should see

00:24:12.560 here both arguments.

00:24:14.460 If we let the pandemic

00:24:16.380 spread through

00:24:17.300 the normal adult public,

00:24:19.240 a lot of children

00:24:20.000 would lose

00:24:20.840 a parent.

00:24:23.800 Now you could argue

00:24:24.740 what is a lot, right?

00:24:26.260 But, you know,

00:24:27.560 maybe...

00:24:28.960 Let's say

00:24:29.740 if we didn't do

00:24:31.000 any mitigation at all,

00:24:33.480 and let's say...

00:24:34.680 Well, let's be more specific.

00:24:36.400 Let's say we vaccinated

00:24:37.580 adults mostly,

00:24:39.660 but no children.

00:24:41.560 And then the virus

00:24:42.920 sweeps through the children

00:24:44.060 and it becomes...

00:24:45.680 You know,

00:24:45.840 they spread it

00:24:46.400 to the adults.

00:24:47.360 And even some of them

00:24:48.200 vaccinated might die.

00:24:50.640 Not many.

00:24:51.440 But the argument is...

00:24:55.440 Scott,

00:24:57.640 do you really think

00:24:58.220 we affected

00:24:58.740 the spread at all?

00:24:59.800 Almost certainly.

00:25:01.280 But not maybe

00:25:02.120 in the long run.

00:25:03.980 You know,

00:25:04.200 Omicron's gonna get us all.

00:25:06.180 But I do think

00:25:07.480 we probably pushed off

00:25:09.020 some of the delta

00:25:10.380 that we could have had.

00:25:11.500 There's no way to know, right?

00:25:12.980 But I would say

00:25:13.780 that if you do

00:25:14.280 all the things

00:25:14.800 that logically

00:25:15.580 should have made a difference,

00:25:17.240 it's hard to imagine

00:25:18.440 that none of them did.

00:25:19.360 And, you know,

00:25:21.740 if you're looking

00:25:22.160 at small percentages

00:25:23.140 as being something useful,

00:25:26.000 you know,

00:25:26.580 it's always hard to tell.

00:25:28.080 Anyway,

00:25:29.420 I would argue

00:25:30.600 that the...

00:25:32.040 Let me ask you this.

00:25:34.060 If the economy goes down,

00:25:37.320 let's say the GDP,

00:25:39.240 and unemployment goes up,

00:25:41.160 is that good or bad

00:25:42.180 for children?

00:25:43.280 If the economy

00:25:44.280 does less good

00:25:45.880 than it could be,

00:25:47.000 good or bad for children?

00:25:48.080 I'd say it's bad.

00:25:49.360 Right?

00:25:49.920 And children get it the worst

00:25:51.620 because poverty

00:25:53.280 really hits a kid hard.

00:25:55.840 So the argument

00:25:57.080 for vaccinating kids

00:25:58.280 is that we are

00:25:59.340 intentionally

00:26:00.060 putting the young 0.95

00:26:02.240 at a little extra risk

00:26:03.840 to benefit

00:26:05.260 the older population

00:26:06.800 because,

00:26:08.380 and here's the part

00:26:09.000 the government

00:26:09.500 doesn't say directly,

00:26:11.320 because that's how

00:26:12.620 you protect the children.

00:26:15.280 Protecting the adults

00:26:16.600 is how you protect

00:26:18.520 the children.

00:26:19.360 It's just indirect.

00:26:21.240 Now,

00:26:21.720 it does absolutely

00:26:23.240 put children

00:26:25.080 at the extra risk

00:26:26.280 from the vaccination

00:26:27.160 itself.

00:26:28.460 We all agree on that,

00:26:29.420 right?

00:26:29.960 But the presumed trade-off

00:26:31.860 is not the kids' health.

00:26:34.500 The real argument

00:26:35.380 is the health

00:26:36.080 of society

00:26:36.820 because society's health

00:26:38.640 will have a big impact

00:26:39.740 on the kids.

00:26:40.280 Now,

00:26:42.600 having said that,

00:26:44.160 do you say to yourself,

00:26:45.600 yes, Scott,

00:26:46.360 but, but, but,

00:26:47.660 society does not,

00:26:49.200 does not

00:26:50.640 disadvantage the young

00:26:53.440 to benefit the old.

00:26:55.160 Right?

00:26:56.040 We don't kill kids

00:26:57.560 to save old people. 0.74

00:26:59.740 Am I right?

00:27:02.880 No,

00:27:03.380 of course we do.

00:27:04.100 We do it all

00:27:05.100 the time.

00:27:06.680 We massively

00:27:07.780 do that.

00:27:09.040 We've always 1.00

00:27:09.820 killed kids 0.99

00:27:11.520 to benefit the old.

00:27:13.360 This isn't new.

00:27:15.200 This is the most

00:27:16.100 basic thing

00:27:16.840 society does.

00:27:18.620 Have you heard

00:27:19.040 of the national debt?

00:27:21.060 Anybody?

00:27:22.640 Who's going to pay

00:27:23.440 the national debt? 1.00

00:27:24.980 It's not my old ass. 0.99

00:27:26.260 I'm driving up 0.99

00:27:28.360 the debt

00:27:28.800 so I can live

00:27:29.800 a good life

00:27:30.400 and, you know,

00:27:31.120 leave children

00:27:31.700 in poverty.

00:27:33.140 Right?

00:27:33.860 We're doing that

00:27:34.520 intentionally

00:27:35.100 and massively.

00:27:36.500 We could not

00:27:37.580 be damaging

00:27:38.240 children more

00:27:39.180 than we are.

00:27:41.260 Those who believe

00:27:42.240 that climate change

00:27:43.100 is catastrophic,

00:27:46.120 does that mean

00:27:47.480 that we, you know,

00:27:48.380 raped the earth 0.99

00:27:49.080 and left destruction

00:27:50.400 for the children?

00:27:51.700 Well,

00:27:52.080 there's a big part

00:27:52.800 of the public

00:27:53.760 who thinks we did

00:27:54.540 exactly that

00:27:55.360 and is okay

00:27:56.900 with it.

00:27:58.920 How about

00:27:59.660 the military?

00:28:02.580 Now,

00:28:03.200 we have a

00:28:03.880 volunteer military

00:28:05.320 right now, 1.00

00:28:06.500 but if the shit 0.99

00:28:08.340 came down, 0.99

00:28:09.080 it wouldn't be

00:28:09.560 voluntary for long.

00:28:11.740 I mean,

00:28:12.380 if we got into

00:28:12.960 a real war,

00:28:14.060 like a big one,

00:28:15.640 it's not going

00:28:16.280 to be voluntary

00:28:16.780 for a minute.

00:28:18.560 You know,

00:28:18.860 you're going

00:28:20.160 to be drafted

00:28:20.620 right away.

00:28:22.700 So,

00:28:23.460 every military

00:28:25.140 is about

00:28:25.880 young people

00:28:26.440 sacrificing

00:28:27.140 for the older

00:28:27.980 generation.

00:28:29.160 Every bit of debt

00:28:30.300 is the same thing.

00:28:32.240 Every time we

00:28:32.980 increase the

00:28:33.560 social security

00:28:34.340 payments,

00:28:34.880 which increases

00:28:35.800 the debt

00:28:36.240 sometimes,

00:28:37.340 it's the same

00:28:37.960 thing.

00:28:40.620 All right.

00:28:41.340 What about

00:28:42.200 abortion? 0.89

00:28:42.940 Is abortion

00:28:46.080 good for the

00:28:47.120 children?

00:28:47.360 Or is it

00:28:49.300 something that

00:28:50.340 older people

00:28:52.140 do that's

00:28:52.800 bad for the

00:28:53.540 fetus?

00:28:55.860 You were

00:28:56.480 waiting for

00:28:56.800 that,

00:28:57.020 weren't you?

00:28:58.140 It took me

00:28:58.860 long enough

00:28:59.240 to get there,

00:28:59.740 didn't it?

00:29:01.520 I know that

00:29:02.280 was the

00:29:03.320 argument you

00:29:03.800 were waiting

00:29:04.100 for.

00:29:05.500 So,

00:29:06.320 let me

00:29:07.460 back up

00:29:08.220 and be

00:29:08.480 really clear.

00:29:10.240 I'm

00:29:10.680 uncomfortable

00:29:11.340 vaccinating

00:29:12.300 children.

00:29:14.040 I'm not

00:29:14.920 going to be

00:29:15.180 the one to

00:29:15.600 tell you that

00:29:16.020 was the right

00:29:16.460 decision.

00:29:18.440 Okay?

00:29:19.020 But,

00:29:19.560 I think the

00:29:20.540 government has

00:29:21.200 a better

00:29:21.600 argument than

00:29:22.280 you give it

00:29:22.760 credit for.

00:29:24.380 A much

00:29:24.900 better argument

00:29:25.540 than you give

00:29:26.180 it credit

00:29:26.560 for.

00:29:27.600 If the

00:29:28.460 government is

00:29:28.980 trying to

00:29:29.400 protect the

00:29:30.340 whole as

00:29:31.780 the way to

00:29:32.400 protect children

00:29:33.260 too,

00:29:34.740 they do have

00:29:35.920 an argument.

00:29:37.360 It's not one

00:29:38.200 I'm quite on

00:29:40.140 board with,

00:29:41.700 because,

00:29:43.060 and why am I

00:29:44.780 not on board

00:29:45.300 with it,

00:29:45.900 by the way?

00:29:47.220 What makes

00:29:47.780 me not

00:29:48.540 on board

00:29:49.020 with that

00:29:49.360 argument?

00:29:52.660 Fear.

00:29:54.020 Fear.

00:29:55.420 That's why.

00:29:56.980 Because I

00:29:58.680 would be

00:29:58.980 afraid of

00:29:59.760 directly hurting

00:30:00.520 the child.

00:30:02.920 Even if you

00:30:04.200 gave me the

00:30:04.740 argument that,

00:30:05.480 oh, but,

00:30:06.280 yeah, yeah,

00:30:06.640 yeah, I get

00:30:07.100 it, Scott.

00:30:07.860 You would be

00:30:08.900 directly hurting

00:30:09.640 some children,

00:30:10.680 because there's

00:30:11.300 always somebody

00:30:11.840 who's going to

00:30:12.180 get hurt by

00:30:12.660 vaccination.

00:30:13.140 But, you

00:30:14.660 have to look

00:30:15.100 at the big

00:30:15.520 picture, Scott.

00:30:16.700 In the big

00:30:17.160 picture, people

00:30:17.880 are better off.

00:30:19.180 Nope.

00:30:19.960 I can't get

00:30:20.640 there.

00:30:22.040 My brain

00:30:22.780 can't get

00:30:23.260 past, but

00:30:24.580 you're hurting

00:30:24.920 a child.

00:30:26.380 Right?

00:30:26.900 So, the fact

00:30:30.300 that my brain

00:30:30.920 can't get

00:30:31.380 past, but

00:30:32.240 you're directly

00:30:32.800 hurting a

00:30:33.240 child, no

00:30:34.320 way, I

00:30:34.960 can't be

00:30:35.700 okay with

00:30:36.080 that, I

00:30:37.540 can't think

00:30:38.140 of this

00:30:38.380 rationally.

00:30:38.900 And I

00:30:40.460 can tell you

00:30:40.920 directly why

00:30:41.520 I can't.

00:30:42.440 Because there's

00:30:43.220 no way I'm

00:30:43.660 going to

00:30:43.900 rationally

00:30:44.640 weigh the

00:30:46.120 life of a

00:30:46.760 child.

00:30:49.280 I can't.

00:30:50.880 I don't have

00:30:51.600 that capability.

00:30:52.600 If you think

00:30:53.120 you do, you're

00:30:53.800 just kidding

00:30:54.180 yourself.

00:30:54.900 You can't.

00:30:58.000 All right,

00:30:58.620 how about,

00:30:59.900 here's somebody

00:31:00.700 else who said

00:31:01.420 he did not

00:31:02.340 use fear for

00:31:03.460 his decision.

00:31:04.520 He said,

00:31:05.020 in order to

00:31:05.840 travel internationally

00:31:06.780 for my business,

00:31:07.780 which I must do,

00:31:08.480 I needed to

00:31:09.440 get the

00:31:09.780 vaccine in

00:31:10.400 order to

00:31:10.860 avoid mandatory

00:31:11.780 quarantine rules.

00:31:13.020 So he says,

00:31:13.780 tell me,

00:31:14.140 Scott, where

00:31:14.980 is the fear

00:31:15.480 in my decision?

00:31:16.640 Mine was

00:31:17.120 pure reason.

00:31:19.060 Do you agree

00:31:19.520 with that?

00:31:20.320 Here's somebody

00:31:20.880 who used pure

00:31:21.600 reason, simply

00:31:22.800 needed the

00:31:23.360 vaccine for

00:31:23.920 business travel,

00:31:25.340 and wanted

00:31:27.420 to avoid

00:31:28.080 inconvenience of

00:31:29.720 quarantines.

00:31:31.140 No fear at

00:31:31.760 all.

00:31:32.120 Wasn't afraid

00:31:32.640 of the virus,

00:31:33.300 wasn't afraid

00:31:33.760 of the shot.

00:31:35.160 No fear at

00:31:35.780 all.

00:31:37.640 No.

00:31:38.480 He was

00:31:38.800 afraid of

00:31:39.280 losing his

00:31:39.780 job.

00:31:42.360 This tweet

00:31:45.000 is,

00:31:45.380 how to say

00:31:45.940 you're afraid

00:31:46.440 without saying

00:31:47.060 you're afraid.

00:31:48.180 Of course he

00:31:48.900 was afraid of

00:31:49.460 something.

00:31:50.340 But he never

00:31:51.500 felt fear because

00:31:53.380 he had a way

00:31:53.880 out.

00:31:55.020 Right?

00:31:55.900 So I would

00:31:56.680 agree in maybe

00:31:57.720 some technical

00:31:58.400 way that he

00:31:59.520 avoided any

00:32:00.320 actual feeling

00:32:01.420 of fear.

00:32:02.720 So when he

00:32:03.200 says, where

00:32:03.640 was my fear,

00:32:04.400 I agree there

00:32:04.900 wasn't any,

00:32:05.740 because he

00:32:07.200 had a path

00:32:07.920 that, in

00:32:09.560 his opinion,

00:32:10.240 avoided the

00:32:11.260 thing he

00:32:11.740 feared, which

00:32:13.520 is losing

00:32:13.960 his job.

00:32:17.540 Viva Fry

00:32:18.360 said, oh,

00:32:21.120 I did another

00:32:21.920 tweet in which

00:32:22.580 I was talking

00:32:23.080 about what

00:32:24.280 we do and

00:32:24.760 we don't

00:32:25.400 know about

00:32:26.000 the virus.

00:32:27.340 Viva Fry

00:32:31.660 was questioning

00:32:33.480 whether there's

00:32:35.940 any evidence

00:32:36.460 to suggest

00:32:37.140 that vaccinations

00:32:37.960 reduce the

00:32:38.900 time one is

00:32:39.640 infectious.

00:32:41.520 What do you

00:32:41.860 think?

00:32:42.560 Is there

00:32:43.080 evidence that

00:32:44.920 a vaccinated

00:32:45.560 person would

00:32:47.540 spread it less

00:32:48.620 than an

00:32:49.320 unvaccinated

00:32:50.080 person?

00:32:53.080 You're all

00:32:53.880 wrong.

00:32:54.900 All right.

00:32:55.140 So there was

00:32:55.540 a piece of

00:32:56.100 fake data

00:32:57.020 that convinced

00:32:57.800 everybody that

00:32:58.620 vaccinated people

00:32:59.520 spread it the

00:33:00.240 same as

00:33:00.780 unvaccinated.

00:33:01.940 The fake

00:33:02.780 data, which

00:33:04.580 was based on

00:33:05.360 true facts,

00:33:06.260 but the way

00:33:06.680 it was presented

00:33:08.320 is misleading.

00:33:10.240 The fake

00:33:10.660 data is that

00:33:11.420 vaccinated people

00:33:12.380 tested had the

00:33:13.340 same viral load

00:33:14.440 as unvaccinated

00:33:15.380 people.

00:33:16.880 And then that

00:33:17.280 was generalized to,

00:33:18.340 oh, I guess you

00:33:18.840 can spread it

00:33:19.520 the same.

00:33:21.440 Except that we

00:33:22.960 also know that

00:33:23.860 people who are

00:33:24.540 vaccinated clear

00:33:25.500 the virus faster.

00:33:27.020 So if both the

00:33:28.660 vaccinated and

00:33:29.500 the unvaccinated

00:33:30.320 peak at the

00:33:31.240 same amount

00:33:31.780 of viral load,

00:33:32.960 which is what

00:33:33.680 you've all heard,

00:33:35.020 and I think it's

00:33:35.660 true, but one

00:33:37.400 of them declines

00:33:38.840 fast and the 0.97

00:33:39.640 other one

00:33:39.960 doesn't, which

00:33:41.480 one would spread

00:33:42.100 it more?

00:33:46.660 I'm saying not

00:33:47.560 true, but can

00:33:51.260 you...

00:33:52.460 what about the

00:33:54.480 immunes?

00:33:58.720 Vaccinated and 0.99

00:33:59.420 unvaccinated are

00:34:00.180 treated the same

00:34:01.020 in terms of

00:34:01.680 isolation?

00:34:02.400 Yeah, probably

00:34:03.020 shouldn't, but

00:34:03.680 they are.

00:34:07.280 Okay.

00:34:08.140 Well, that's the

00:34:09.080 argument, and I

00:34:10.640 believe that 100%

00:34:12.580 of science agrees

00:34:13.900 with what I just

00:34:14.760 said.

00:34:14.980 I'm making a

00:34:18.420 big claim, and

00:34:19.780 I gave that as

00:34:20.780 an absolute to

00:34:21.760 see if you can

00:34:22.560 refute it.

00:34:24.580 All right.

00:34:24.940 So I'm being

00:34:25.640 provocative by

00:34:26.560 saying this is an

00:34:27.300 absolute.

00:34:28.460 In my

00:34:28.900 understanding, and

00:34:29.880 I want you to

00:34:30.720 prove me wrong,

00:34:32.300 because if you

00:34:32.820 could prove me

00:34:33.280 wrong, I would

00:34:33.700 find that exciting.

00:34:34.520 I mean, it would

00:34:36.720 be fun to be

00:34:37.900 proved wrong on

00:34:38.760 this question.

00:34:40.060 Prove me wrong.

00:34:40.820 I say 100% of

00:34:43.060 all the data

00:34:43.620 that we have

00:34:44.420 suggests that

00:34:45.800 vaccinated people

00:34:46.640 clear the virus

00:34:47.480 faster.

00:34:49.800 Check just

00:34:50.880 that.

00:34:52.040 They clear it

00:34:52.880 faster.

00:34:54.000 That's just the

00:34:54.740 only thing you're

00:34:55.180 checking.

00:34:56.100 I agree with the

00:34:57.420 fact that the

00:34:57.940 viral load can

00:34:58.700 be similar at

00:34:59.500 the peak.

00:35:00.440 I'm only arguing

00:35:01.660 that one side

00:35:02.540 clears faster.

00:35:04.280 That's all.

00:35:06.060 All right.

00:35:07.920 So all I did

00:35:09.920 was Google that

00:35:10.680 question, and it

00:35:11.520 popped right up.

00:35:13.420 So I don't know

00:35:15.840 why that's a

00:35:16.280 question, actually.

00:35:19.780 There's a story

00:35:20.540 that the Biden

00:35:21.400 administration got

00:35:22.400 this very credible

00:35:23.880 suggestion from a

00:35:26.640 bunch of people

00:35:27.220 who are in the

00:35:27.620 know that they

00:35:28.800 should, in

00:35:29.360 October, they

00:35:30.100 were supposed to

00:35:30.640 rapidly fire up

00:35:32.400 the rapid tests,

00:35:34.480 but the

00:35:35.160 administration

00:35:35.520 decided to

00:35:36.360 focus on

00:35:36.980 vaccines and

00:35:38.840 not go nuts

00:35:39.960 with rapid

00:35:40.480 testing.

00:35:41.680 And now

00:35:41.960 Biden belatedly

00:35:43.160 said, oh, I

00:35:43.740 wish I had

00:35:44.220 started earlier.

00:35:46.120 And this isn't

00:35:46.860 Vanity Fair.

00:35:47.620 Now, Vanity Fair,

00:35:48.620 as you know, or

00:35:49.900 you should know,

00:35:51.320 is a very pro-Democrat

00:35:52.980 publication.

00:35:54.160 It's an anti-Trump

00:35:55.200 publication.

00:35:55.680 Vanity Fair is

00:36:00.180 basically saying that

00:36:01.220 the Biden

00:36:02.060 administration failed

00:36:03.280 totally and was

00:36:05.000 told clearly, was

00:36:06.700 told how to do

00:36:07.520 it, you know, it

00:36:08.600 was all scoped

00:36:09.640 down, here's what

00:36:10.440 you need to do so

00:36:11.360 that we have lots of

00:36:12.040 tests for Christmas,

00:36:13.000 and he didn't do

00:36:13.820 it.

00:36:15.540 And do you think

00:36:18.140 that incompetence

00:36:19.040 can explain that?

00:36:20.000 Do you think

00:36:21.840 that incompetence

00:36:22.960 can explain why

00:36:25.160 it didn't happen

00:36:25.720 in October?

00:36:28.160 Here's the tricky

00:36:29.280 thing.

00:36:30.560 I've told you

00:36:31.280 about radical

00:36:32.060 compliance, or

00:36:33.940 extreme compliance,

00:36:35.040 as a way to stop

00:36:36.140 something you don't

00:36:36.820 like.

00:36:39.100 I feel like

00:36:40.500 somebody in the

00:36:42.060 decision-making

00:36:43.000 process is

00:36:44.640 following the

00:36:45.520 rules during the

00:36:46.440 pandemic, because

00:36:48.220 following the

00:36:49.000 rules is

00:36:49.980 is making

00:36:50.920 something happen.

00:36:52.940 In other words,

00:36:54.120 keeping these

00:36:54.860 tests out of the

00:36:55.500 market is good for

00:36:56.520 somebody, find out

00:36:58.580 who, because

00:37:00.340 that's why we don't

00:37:01.220 have them.

00:37:02.280 The reason we don't

00:37:03.180 have the tests is

00:37:04.720 because it's good for

00:37:05.660 somebody that we

00:37:06.420 don't have them, and

00:37:07.600 that means money.

00:37:09.080 Follow the money.

00:37:11.520 And what you find is

00:37:12.980 you'll find a bunch

00:37:13.600 of bureaucrats who

00:37:14.420 followed all the

00:37:15.140 rules and broke no

00:37:16.060 law.

00:37:17.980 Do you see what's

00:37:19.480 going on here?

00:37:20.800 In order for a

00:37:21.740 bureaucrat, let's 0.86

00:37:23.880 say, hypothetically,

00:37:25.860 let's say there was

00:37:27.380 hypothetically some

00:37:28.340 member of the FDA or

00:37:29.960 somebody in the

00:37:30.580 decision-making chain

00:37:31.640 who wanted to stop

00:37:33.840 tests from being

00:37:36.520 available.

00:37:37.620 Maybe they took a

00:37:38.580 bribe from the

00:37:39.180 vaccination companies.

00:37:40.720 Maybe they took a

00:37:41.700 bribe for one of the

00:37:42.680 approved, early

00:37:43.700 approved test

00:37:45.200 companies.

00:37:45.620 I'm not saying any

00:37:47.060 of that happened.

00:37:48.080 I'm just saying work

00:37:48.960 through it in your

00:37:49.500 mind.

00:37:50.460 What would it look

00:37:51.320 like when you look

00:37:53.000 to find the

00:37:53.580 corruption?

00:37:54.820 What would it look

00:37:55.520 like?

00:37:56.840 It would look like

00:37:57.880 following the rules.

00:38:01.120 Because all you'd have

00:38:02.100 to do is just use the

00:38:03.660 regular FDA process,

00:38:05.600 and you could guarantee

00:38:06.700 that nothing got it

00:38:07.600 approved on time.

00:38:09.200 Right?

00:38:09.600 The reason we have

00:38:11.120 vaccinations quickly

00:38:12.840 is that Trump just 1.00

00:38:14.660 kicked asses until 1.00

00:38:15.740 they changed their 1.00

00:38:16.580 process.

00:38:18.180 But nobody kicked 0.99

00:38:19.660 their ass to change 0.99

00:38:20.820 their process when it 1.00

00:38:21.920 came to making

00:38:23.500 testing available.

00:38:25.180 So all they did was

00:38:26.300 follow the process.

00:38:28.980 And then they said,

00:38:30.040 you know, we should

00:38:30.560 have been better

00:38:31.040 funded.

00:38:32.380 I sure wish this

00:38:33.280 wasn't so slow, but I

00:38:35.100 guess we'll have to

00:38:35.680 follow the process and

00:38:36.680 keep you all protected.

00:38:37.600 The fact that they

00:38:39.760 did not break their

00:38:40.960 process during a

00:38:42.080 pandemic is the best

00:38:44.860 proof of corruption

00:38:45.980 you'll ever see.

00:38:47.820 A hundred percent of

00:38:48.760 the people involved

00:38:49.700 knew that this was a

00:38:52.340 pandemic and this was

00:38:53.740 the time to reassess

00:38:56.140 which of these

00:38:56.740 procedures make sense

00:38:57.900 in an emergency.

00:38:59.240 They did not do any

00:39:00.920 of that.

00:39:02.320 Right?

00:39:02.940 There's no reporting

00:39:04.160 at all that the

00:39:05.800 government even once

00:39:07.160 considered bending

00:39:08.800 the rule and putting

00:39:10.380 tests up to the top

00:39:12.200 of the list.

00:39:13.300 Not even once.

00:39:15.480 Why?

00:39:16.980 Corruption.

00:39:18.120 Now I think that the

00:39:19.180 government probably

00:39:19.960 couldn't see it.

00:39:21.680 Like if you were the

00:39:22.560 boss and you were in

00:39:24.320 charge and you said,

00:39:25.260 okay, why is this

00:39:26.240 taking so long?

00:39:27.940 You would say,

00:39:28.600 all right, everybody,

00:39:29.400 let's have a meeting.

00:39:30.520 Can you explain to me

00:39:31.400 why this is taking so

00:39:32.360 long?

00:39:33.420 And everybody in the

00:39:34.340 meeting would give you

00:39:35.060 a reason that actually

00:39:35.980 sounds really good.

00:39:37.160 There's a good reason

00:39:38.780 it's taking so long.

00:39:39.840 We're making sure it's

00:39:40.920 done right.

00:39:42.480 But all of those reasons

00:39:43.780 applied to vaccinations

00:39:45.360 and we did it anyway.

00:39:48.140 I don't think there was

00:39:49.120 even a conversation about

00:39:50.660 bending the rules for

00:39:52.320 tests.

00:39:53.560 There is corruption here.

00:39:55.380 It's obvious.

00:39:56.240 It's glaring.

00:39:57.180 It's glowing.

00:39:58.460 But it's also possible

00:39:59.960 nobody broke the law.

00:40:02.800 Weirdly.

00:40:03.440 All you'd have to do is

00:40:04.640 follow the existing

00:40:05.900 procedures and you

00:40:07.160 could stop anything

00:40:08.020 from happening.

00:40:09.400 I've done it myself.

00:40:11.460 I can stop something

00:40:12.440 just by following the

00:40:13.320 rules.

00:40:15.000 I have done it in my

00:40:16.260 corporate days quite a

00:40:17.180 bit, actually.

00:40:19.180 CNN is actually saying

00:40:20.420 that Biden is confused.

00:40:23.300 He talked about ordering

00:40:25.120 the 500 million test kits,

00:40:28.840 but he confused it with

00:40:30.300 a separate conversation

00:40:31.540 about therapeutic pills,

00:40:33.920 which were similar

00:40:34.600 numbers, I guess.

00:40:36.100 And at some point he

00:40:37.460 realized he had confused

00:40:38.620 them and corrected it.

00:40:40.340 But even CNN is calling

00:40:41.980 him out now for being

00:40:44.540 confused.

00:40:46.440 And it didn't look like

00:40:48.680 he even understood the

00:40:49.620 topic that well.

00:40:51.260 I have to admit, Biden's

00:40:53.280 doing better than I

00:40:54.020 thought he would do when

00:40:55.420 he explains things in

00:40:56.440 public, even when he

00:40:57.180 gets confused like this.

00:40:59.640 You know, these are easy

00:41:00.540 things to confuse.

00:41:02.540 I feel like he's better

00:41:03.620 than I thought.

00:41:05.480 I had pretty low

00:41:06.440 expectations, but I don't

00:41:07.980 think he's up to it.

00:41:09.180 Just better than I

00:41:09.920 thought.

00:41:11.960 So here's a summary of

00:41:13.140 the pandemic.

00:41:17.920 That we'll always look

00:41:18.980 back at the pandemic.

00:41:19.900 And I think we'll be

00:41:22.060 proud that we saved the

00:41:24.060 lives of so many obese

00:41:25.160 Americans at the cost of 1.00

00:41:26.500 our children and our

00:41:28.560 freedom.

00:41:29.900 Now, why is it that we

00:41:31.440 can't say that we saved

00:41:32.640 the fat to save at the

00:41:35.060 cost of the young and the 0.82

00:41:36.920 healthy?

00:41:38.220 Why can't we say that

00:41:39.380 out loud?

00:41:40.820 Because we're too woke,

00:41:42.080 right?

00:41:42.980 The trouble is, wokeness 1.00

00:41:44.380 just ruins everything.

00:41:46.860 The fact, as many people

00:41:48.400 on social media have said,

00:41:49.520 the fact that Biden is

00:41:51.680 not telling us to

00:41:52.820 exercise and lose

00:41:54.980 weight, especially

00:41:56.480 because he's actually a

00:41:57.580 good role model for

00:41:58.580 exactly that.

00:42:00.420 Biden's been a healthy,

00:42:02.360 fit, weight, all the

00:42:04.700 way to, like, nearly 80.

00:42:07.000 I mean, that's a really

00:42:07.820 good role model.

00:42:09.060 He should take advantage

00:42:09.940 of that.

00:42:11.080 I mean, we should be

00:42:11.680 hearing about that all

00:42:12.480 the time.

00:42:12.880 Anyway, how in the world

00:42:18.400 is China going to host the

00:42:20.000 Olympics without crashing

00:42:22.240 their economy?

00:42:23.940 Do you think that...

00:42:25.220 Now, I did see from my

00:42:27.740 nemesis, Chen, who is on

00:42:31.180 Twitter.

00:42:31.640 We interact a lot.

00:42:33.040 And Twitter actually labels

00:42:34.400 him as China State

00:42:36.860 Affiliated Media.

00:42:37.880 Now, Chen has informed me

00:42:40.700 that he is not a Chinese

00:42:42.460 operative, because he

00:42:43.480 watched my live stream.

00:42:44.940 He is not a Chinese 1.00

00:42:45.860 operative.

00:42:46.420 He is just a journalist

00:42:47.320 and has been a journalist

00:42:48.420 for a long time.

00:42:50.200 I probably would have

00:42:51.260 preferred a Chinese 0.99

00:42:52.220 operative over a journalist,

00:42:53.660 but that's just me.

00:42:54.620 That's just me.

00:42:56.220 And...

00:42:56.880 But Chen, who is part of a 0.89

00:42:59.140 China State Affiliated

00:43:00.180 Media, his opinions are

00:43:01.280 totally his own.

00:43:02.820 Totally his own.

00:43:03.760 He is not influenced one bit

00:43:05.400 by the mother country.

00:43:09.160 Not one bit.

00:43:10.720 And he would like you

00:43:11.380 to know that.

00:43:13.280 And he even says that the

00:43:14.740 Olympics won't be a problem

00:43:15.840 because China is so

00:43:17.040 efficient.

00:43:18.020 And they've got things

00:43:19.980 worked out in terms of

00:43:21.500 spectators and movement,

00:43:22.740 so they will limit the

00:43:24.260 transmission.

00:43:25.900 To which I say...

00:43:26.940 My nose is itching, by the

00:43:28.260 way.

00:43:28.520 Sorry about that.

00:43:30.980 To which I say,

00:43:32.380 how is that possible?

00:43:35.400 Are you telling me that

00:43:36.760 you're not going to get

00:43:37.560 one person with at least

00:43:39.280 Omicron into that country

00:43:41.300 who's, even though

00:43:42.640 they're tested, you know,

00:43:43.600 you assume they're tested

00:43:44.560 in quarantine and

00:43:45.420 everything.

00:43:46.220 But even with that,

00:43:48.320 you don't think a little

00:43:49.080 Omicron's going to get in

00:43:50.160 there?

00:43:51.000 And once it gets in there,

00:43:53.280 won't the Olympics just

00:43:54.380 crash the whole thing?

00:43:55.900 And how many countries

00:43:57.000 want to send their

00:43:57.840 athletes into that

00:43:59.040 toxic stew and then

00:44:01.720 have them come home and

00:44:02.980 infect the home country?

00:44:04.180 I feel like...

00:44:06.180 I feel like the Olympics

00:44:09.060 might destroy China.

00:44:12.240 But they can't cancel the

00:44:13.820 Olympics, can they?

00:44:14.940 Because they would lose

00:44:15.720 face.

00:44:16.620 If China canceled the

00:44:17.780 Olympics, it would make it

00:44:19.100 seem as if they can't

00:44:20.020 handle COVID and the

00:44:21.280 Olympics.

00:44:22.120 But they'd like you to

00:44:23.180 believe they can do both.

00:44:25.120 I feel like China is 0.99

00:44:27.460 hoping, or maybe half

00:44:29.060 hoping, that other

00:44:30.620 countries will cancel the

00:44:32.020 Olympics.

00:44:32.780 Olympics.

00:44:34.240 So here's what to look

00:44:35.560 for.

00:44:38.580 Dr.

00:44:39.340 Dixon Gayford.

00:44:41.900 You don't look like a 0.99

00:44:43.000 real person. 0.95

00:44:44.620 I'm going to block you. 1.00

00:44:46.260 You look like a troll. 0.99

00:44:51.840 So here's what to look 0.99

00:44:53.740 for.

00:44:54.040 Look for the Chinese 1.00

00:44:55.720 government to act as

00:44:59.260 though they kind of hope

00:45:00.640 other countries pull out of

00:45:01.980 the Olympics so they can

00:45:02.960 cancel it.

00:45:04.160 I think they want to

00:45:05.220 cancel it, but they don't

00:45:05.960 want to be the ones that

00:45:06.660 cancel it.

00:45:07.840 I think they want other

00:45:08.720 countries to say, oh, it

00:45:09.660 looks too dangerous.

00:45:10.540 Can we postpone this?

00:45:12.080 And then they'll say, ah,

00:45:13.000 well, if nobody's going to

00:45:13.900 come, you know, if we're not

00:45:15.860 going to have a full house, I

00:45:17.280 guess we'll have to cancel it

00:45:18.260 or postpone it.

00:45:18.960 So I've got a feeling that China's 1.00

00:45:21.800 got a really big problem, and I

00:45:25.760 don't know which way this is

00:45:26.840 going to go.

00:45:28.620 But apparently Japan just said

00:45:30.220 they're not going to send

00:45:31.000 government people to the

00:45:32.300 Olympics.

00:45:33.460 It's not quite a boycott.

00:45:35.100 They're just not going to send

00:45:36.260 government people to it, which

00:45:38.240 China noticed, by the way.

00:45:41.420 Jenny says, no, they don't want

00:45:42.800 to cancel.

00:45:43.160 Well, I'm not saying they want

00:45:44.960 to cancel, like, with all of

00:45:47.040 their heart and soul.

00:45:49.200 I'm saying that they might be a

00:45:50.420 little bit on the fence about

00:45:51.760 it, meaning that there are

00:45:54.080 probably some people there who

00:45:56.120 don't care about the Olympics,

00:45:57.380 but they do care about not

00:45:58.620 crashing China's economy.

00:46:00.900 So they might be saying to

00:46:01.900 themselves, you know, don't want

00:46:04.460 to cancel them, but if they got

00:46:06.620 canceled, I wouldn't complain too

00:46:08.360 hard.

00:46:10.180 Didn't they cancel the Olympics in

00:46:11.680 80?

00:46:13.860 I don't know.

00:46:21.980 Do we want a functioning global

00:46:23.740 economy and no war?

00:46:25.180 Yeah.

00:46:27.640 It is the best live stream every

00:46:29.320 day.

00:46:29.620 You are right, Jonathan.

00:46:31.300 I'm glad you noticed.

00:46:34.280 All right.

00:46:36.460 The U.S.

00:46:37.280 pulled out in 80.

00:46:39.380 Where was it when we pulled

00:46:40.700 out?

00:46:42.340 What country?

00:46:46.040 Oh, Russia? 0.78

00:46:47.000 Okay.

00:46:51.520 If they run out of food, they'll

00:46:52.940 be coming for ours.

00:46:54.160 Well, there's that problem.

00:46:55.700 All right.

00:46:57.860 Let us end here.

00:47:01.780 I didn't mean to talk about

00:47:03.240 nothing but coronavirus, but I

00:47:06.160 feel like when you hit these

00:47:08.040 slow news periods, it's going to

00:47:11.640 be, you know, whatever's already

00:47:13.020 out there.

00:47:13.640 It's not going to be new news.

00:47:14.940 It's just going to be more of

00:47:16.220 whatever's out there.

00:47:19.640 Well, Boo is doing great.

00:47:23.880 Thanks for asking.

00:47:24.620 2021 recap.

00:47:26.940 2021 recap.

00:47:28.820 Yeah.

00:47:29.860 I still have a few more days to do

00:47:31.420 the recap, but I'll probably be

00:47:35.120 calling out some people who were

00:47:37.300 especially productive and useful on

00:47:41.040 Twitter.

00:47:41.400 Twitter because I don't know if you

00:47:43.640 know it or probably you do know it, but

00:47:45.780 there's sort of a self-organized army of

00:47:50.660 people who send me things every day on

00:47:54.000 Twitter, which is amazing because I get to

00:47:57.860 see sort of the filtered good stuff.

00:48:00.060 So most of the people who are sending me

00:48:01.700 things are really good at filtering, and

00:48:04.880 that allows me to, you know, give you

00:48:06.920 better stuff here and maybe change the

00:48:09.680 world a little bit.

00:48:12.100 All right.

00:48:15.860 There's a recent Schellenberger tweet

00:48:18.040 string with good news.

00:48:19.300 Okay.

00:48:19.760 I'll go check that out.

00:48:21.920 All right.

00:48:22.700 That's all for today, and I will talk to

00:48:24.780 you tomorrow.

Real Coffee with Scott Adams - December 24, 2021

Episode 1602 Scott Adams： Are You Smart or Just Afraid？ You Can't Tell the Difference

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