How Terrible Ideas Take Over Society - Konstantin Kisin
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
182.5369
Summary
In this episode, I talk about the strange things that have happened to the world in the past few years, and why no one has done anything about it. I also talk about why people who speak the truth about racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia are punished.
Transcript
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Have you noticed that things got weird a few years ago?
00:00:03.280
That the world makes less and less sense with every year that goes by?
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Why did protesters in England, where the police are not armed,
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shout, hands up, don't shoot, at cops who don't carry guns?
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Isn't it strange that within the blink of an eye,
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politicians suddenly became unable to explain what a woman is?
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I don't think we can conduct this debate with, you know,
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became obsessed with dividing themselves along racial lines?
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Why do multinational corporations stick rainbow flags everywhere?
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Do you remember when everyone lost their shit because Donald Trump said
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we simply cannot allow people to pour into the United States
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undetected, undocumented, unchecked, and circumventing the line of people
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who are waiting patiently, diligently, and lawfully
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You probably don't, because it wasn't President Trump that said it.
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And no one lost their shit, because up until three minutes ago,
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everyone, left and right, understood that countries need borders.
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where the definition of a woman is now controversial,
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people breaking into our country illegally is conflated
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and the weird obsession with race just won't go away.
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And what's strange about it is that if you talk to most people,
00:01:39.160
Around 2013-2014, social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook
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Virtually overnight, the mainstream media began to publish article after article
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about racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc.
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And this didn't just happen in Britain and America.
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It happened in places as far and wide as Nigeria,
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Japan, Cuba, the Philippines, Qatar, and Brazil.
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The investor Charlie Munger, who's Warren Buffett's right-hand man, said,
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show me the incentives, and I'll show you the outcome.
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What no one realized at the time is that social media rewards
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Social media rewards complaining, outrage, and victimhood.
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So it produces complaints, outrage, porn, and victims.
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J.K. Rowling said something and went from celebrated author
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Barry Weiss, a journalist at the New York Times, said something.
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Clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson said something,
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and now they're trying to take his license to practice away.
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And despite their efforts, little change does institution after institution succumb to the craziness.
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I often found myself naively thinking that all it takes is one more brave,
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principled, and articulate individual to stand up and say something,
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Instead, one after another, these people lost jobs, opportunities, and careers.
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It's going on right now with Rasheen Murphy, who dared to suggest that puberty blockers are a bad idea.
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The BBC responded by removing her work from their radio lineup.
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This is despite the fact that the Tavistock Clinic, which administered these puberty blockers,
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was shut down after the Cass Review raised serious concerns about giving these drugs to children.
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And despite the fact that most people in both Britain and America do not support puberty blockers,
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gender reassignment surgery, the inclusion of trans women and women's sports, and so on.
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In other words, prominent, respected, and successful people who speak the truth
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are punished for saying what most of their fellow citizens believe.
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People will often use clever-sounding phrases like institutional capture to explain it.
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The BBC wasn't physically overrun by a barbarian horde,
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and I can tell you from personal experience that not everyone at these institutions agrees with what's happening.
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I once took part in a debate on the BBC in preparation for which I had a call with the producer.
00:04:04.940
In the conversation, she told me how alarmed she herself was by what was going on,
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Part of this is groupthink, which is when people agree to go along with something
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because they prioritize harmony within the group over making the right decision.
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They keep quiet because they know the majority disagree with them,
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and they don't want to be the black sheep of the group.
00:04:26.520
But a related and even more interesting phenomenon is the Abilene Paradox.
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The term was introduced by management expert Jeremy Harvey in the 1970s.
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It's based on a story he used to tell about a family which is sitting around comfortably playing dominoes in the heat
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when one of them suggests taking a long trip to Abilene, Texas for dinner.
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Thinking that's what everyone wants, the individual family members all agree to go.
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It is only when they return from a hot, dusty, unpleasant trip that they gradually realize that none of them actually wanted to go.
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They went along not because they were in the minority, but because they all thought they were in the minority.
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Those of us who believe that children can't consent to serious medical interventions,
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the rational debate is better than name-calling,
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the countries need borders, the freedom of expression is better than censorship.
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That's why we need the J.K. Rowlings, Barry Vices, and Jordan Petersons of the world.
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They shatter the illusion of consensus and give us a fighting chance against the tyranny of the minority.
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And this is why the way to end cancel culture is to embrace the canceled,
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to make sure that people who speak are rewarded for it,
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If you enjoy these monologues, make sure to head on over to my substack and subscribe.