DocWatts

Like a lot of his content, I think it only becomes useful if someone is already at a certain stage of development, as this video isn't really something you can show someone who's down a Conspiracy Rabbit to get them to question their own views, as the ego backlash will prevent them from getting anything out of the video (especially the opening 20 minutes). But that's not the video's goal; it's more to get people who already aware of the dangers of Conspiratorial Thinking to have a deeper understanding of why the mindset behind Conspiratorial Thinking is flawed, knowledge that they can then use in more practical ways when they're interacting with people in the real world (or at least that's the sense I got from the video).

Well you know what... Fair point. For what it's worth that was meant more as an assessment of the current environment rather than an absolute statement, about where our attention should be focused right now. I take your meaning though, and it's a good point to keep in mind.

Here's a link to the article; https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.detroitnews.com/amp/5922301002 Tldr version: the FBI thwarted a plot for an armed militia group to storm the Michigan capital building and kidnap Governor Whitmer with the express intent to try her for treason and/or execute her. This came largely as a response to Trump's 'Liberate Michigan' tweets.

I've noticed that Existentialism is a popular philosophy among people at an Orange level of development; it definitely was for me back in my early twenties, with its emphasis on having the freedom to construct your own meaning in response to Nihilism. There are definitely flaws with existentialism as a philosophy, but on the whole I see it as a relatively healthy response to nihilism for someone at that stage of development; and of course something to be transcended once you develop a bit more and begin to finding meaning and value in your relationships with other people.

Communism is an outdated ideology that almost no one takes seriously these days (exists on the fringes, but little to no political power). Might as well focus on the political extremist faction that's seeing a resurgence and literally killing people. Yeah I might see Communism as not a great or realistic solution to the world's problems, but they're not the ones driving cars in to groups of people and being dog whistled to political violence in the United States these days.

Touché! Well said.

Great video. Considering the fact that we evolved as hunter gatherers whose sensory organs evolved primarily to help us find food, escape predators, and mate, it's not surprising that the psychical laws of the universe are deeply counter intuitive and abstract from our vantage point.

Seconded.

Leo's someone who has hundreds of hours of content on a wide range of topics; if you don't end up disagreeing with him on some portion of his ideas or worldview, it means that you're accepting his ideas uncritically, and should probably seek to find and incorporate more outside views in to your lexicon.

I like this. I've been using proto-fascists as a shorthand, so this works just as well either way One difficulty I see is that people have trouble distinguishing fascists from the most well known example, Nazi Germany, when it can be applied to really any far right authoritarianism with aspirations to set up an ethno-state.

@Leo GuraLate to the party, but in all sincerity that was one of your best videos. While I don't see it convincing anyone who's already down the Conspiracy rabbit hole (for the reasons you describe), it's one of the best resources I've ever come across for people who want a deeper understanding Conspiracy Theories on both a practical and an epistemological level, and something I would recommend to someone who's disturbed by the harms of Conspiracy Theories but may not understand it on a deep level. And considering the challenges society is facing right now, I also think it's one of the most timely and important videos I've seen over the last year or two of watching your channel. Kudos man.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/27/us-rightwing-extremists-attacks-deaths-database-leftwing-antifa The antifa scare mongering is an intentional bad faith argument by the right to draw attention away from social movements taking place in the country, and to draw false (and absurd) equivalency between protest movements against racism and police brutality with right wing domestic terrorism.

Just came across this on Reddit, point was too good not to share (for those outside of the states, the previous Republican Governor's criminal negligence was responsible for a humanitarian crisis that left an entire city without drinkable water for several years).

Some of the more formative books that I've read, In no particular order: - The Seven Mysteries of Life : Guy Merchie - Ishmael : Daniel Quinn - The View from Nowhere : Thomas Nagel - Guns, Germs, and Steel : Jared Diamond

I'll qualify 'saving the world from a nuclear war' as a checkmark in favor of him being a very good president. Sad thing is he only got to serve 3 years before being assassinated, so we don't really know what sort of legacy he would have left if he'd been in office for 4 or 8 years.

Well 'good' is going to be somewhat subjective, and subject to the political bias of the person answering the question, but I'd argue the last president that was respected by a broad cross section of the American public (regardless of political affiliation) would probably be Dwight Eisenhower, or possibly JFK to a much lesser degree. Keep in mind that this is more than half a century ago, with things getting increasingly fragmented the closer we get to the present day.

Never thought I'd be living in a time when the President is encouraging armed insurrection on Twitter, but here we are.

Things have gotten so bad I'd count a Conservative party that's not actively trying to undermine democracy, doesn't deny the reality of Climate change, and has an economic platform that's not just 'loot the country' as a major win for the long term prospects of our country.

It's not just Trump who's out of touch, of the last 7 presidential elections, the Republican party has only managed to win the popular vote one time. I'm hoping they either implode and are replaced by something better, or eventually change thier policy platform to a more moderate one that appeals to more people, so they don't have to resort to fanning the flames of racist resentment and voter disenfranchisement to win elections. Of course all evidence points to them just furthering thier attempts to subvert democracy to win elections, so my hopes aren't exactly high...

The Republican Party literally needs this to win elections, as their voting base is shrinking due to societal and demographic changes (appealing primarily to wealthy people but more importantly to whites who harbor racial resentment), and are going to do everything in thier power to block reforms to make the system more fair and democratic.

Not sure whether to laugh or cry for how true this is...

@Leo Gura (or @ anyone here who's knowledgeable about psychology as a field of study). Just out of curiosity, how rigorous is the Myers-Briggs personality profile as a psychological model? From what I've heard from various people in the psychological community is that the Myers-Briggs profile is something that isn't taken seriously by professionals; just wondering if it's possible that I'm missing something here.

He makes a good argument, and if it came down to a popular vote (or at least a fair election without widespread voter suppression amidst a pandemic) I'd have more confidence in his analysis.

The rats are leaving the sinking MAGA ship.