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Title: The BFP Roundtable Asks Why People Believe Stupid Things
Published: 2014-03-03
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umqbBHq2Uzs
Title: The BFP Roundtable Asks Why People Believe Stupid Things
Published: 2014-03-03
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umqbBHq2Uzs
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so it's just like okay let's just have a real calm real coffee and no censorship welcome ladies and gentlemen welcome back to another edition of the boiling frog post round table from boiling frog post dot com I am your co host today James Corbett of corporate report dot com and of course the host of the eye opener report that comes out on a weekly basis here2/151
on boiling frog post dot com and I'm joined today by Sibel Edmonds of course the founder and editor of boiling frog post dot com and also gear will he minutes of traces of reality dot com who also does the D. manufacturing consent podcast you're on boiling frog post and generally we're also joined by Peter B. Collins on but unfortunately he it seems he has not made3/151
it to the conversation yet so hopefully he'll be joining us shortly but we are going to proceed anyway for the time being and first off we'd like to talk of course just a briefly about the fundraising drive that we have the quarterly fundraising goal at boiling frog post dot com re been trying to raise twelve thousand dollars in order to help on fund all the podcast4/151
and all of the work that's coming out of boiling frog post up com and of course also as listeners and viewers of the eye opener report will know to keep the eye opener report completely free and open to the public so Sibel perhaps you can give us an update of where we are on that a fundraising drive sure I want to start by telling everyone all5/151
our supporters %HESITATION and eat and be a major thank you for all their support is spin really heartening he's been really great to see so much support and %HESITATION coming from many many people we have had a small donations and subscriptions and that's exactly what we are looking for you're looking for this publicly funded up publicly sponsored of website that race independent news and analysis and6/151
all this multimedia so I want to thank everyone on behalf of the entire team here at boiling frog post thank you very much you're almost there BR ninety five hundred dollars we have twenty five hundred dollars left them we have four five days to go so I hope that we can reach our goal by this coming Wednesday and %HESITATION and continue what we are doing and7/151
not only got me really really want to exist and what we are doing I I am I am really itching I want to have our own investigative reporters to follow and chase and uncover a lot of stories that no one else is daring to touch and do so independently thank you very much and we are counting on you and me are the %HESITATION I rate minorities8/151
year but we have a voice altogether many thanks to all of you you're more you and say a few words yeah absolutely one echo what's the bell said %HESITATION you know it's it's it is heart warming to see all the support come in %HESITATION at the time that I recorded the last of the manufacturing consent podcast %HESITATION we were about a less than half way to9/151
the goal instant last few days they've come in and %HESITATION the BST audiences come through as I knew they would and this is %HESITATION yes antacid habit the spells that you know this is the way to do it a publicly funded at independent media venture %HESITATION people out there I think appreciate it and it's showing in their support and the viewership and internal donations and stripped10/151
us attrition threaded socket so %HESITATION know it again it was a it's a it's a worthwhile a because it and people out there again are are realizing the %HESITATION the importance of independent media and so I want to thank them again a completely make it a point to thank them %HESITATION in every pot yes so it especially now %HESITATION drew this fund raiser a big big11/151
thank you to all of you subscribe donate the BST could not do this without you it that's exactly the point we couldn't do it without you guys and I once again the eye opener report is being kept free and open by these these %HESITATION donations and subscription so I personally really would like to thank everyone who has don't need to do this drive and help to12/151
make this possible and remember we're not quite there yet so we do need to have the last few days we need that last that that last push to get us to the goal but %HESITATION but I think everyone who has contributed so far and I just wanna echo what's a bell said I'm glad that this is coming from a lot of of small donations rather than13/151
a few big donations because of course we all know how the sugar Daddy view of our journalism or yes I don't think that just the other funding model that that so that we want to emulate so what some might think oh hats off to all of you guys out there who have helped to chip in and make this possible and on that note there will be14/151
no eye opener this week unfortunately I'm working behind the scenes diligently on a documentary and I really have to get it finished at this week so I am I the I opener report will be resuming again as usual next week so once again thank you to all your guy guys out there for your support now let's jump into the real meat and potatoes of today's conversation15/151
I want to discuss on a topic that I've thought about quite a bit over the years and I think is an interesting topic to think about and I Fremont armed with the question why do people believe stupid things and people might remember that %HESITATION as the title of a book by Michael Shermer %HESITATION who at the time was writing about %HESITATION you people believing in spoon16/151
bending and things like that and why do people believe kooky things like that any talk about %HESITATION logical fallacies in like but of course everyone should member Michael Shermer is the person who wrote %HESITATION and article for Huffington post saying that of course Oswald killed duh it Kennedy of by himself because I've been to Dealey plaza and stood in the spot where Kennedy was and it's17/151
not that far from the book depository which is again a stupid argument to make am could someone be that stupid and make an argument like that aren't B. as supposedly intelligent as someone like Schirmer and supposedly a shrewd about logical fallacies and yet make a fallacious argument like that and expect his audience to believe it it does really bigger the imagination and it makes one wonder18/151
on so many of these different issues whether it is something like an Oswald JFK or whether it's on the official story of nine eleven or whether it's some of the %HESITATION that the things that I know you guys cover for example Guillermo you cover the at the drug war on and at the idea that all the CIA they don't ship in the drugs why do people19/151
believe stupid things like that on white white people believe all sorts of silly things about %HESITATION what's happening in in Turkey or for example or when we talk about false like terrorism there so many different avenues to explore here and done and I think it's important to do this because one of the first things that always happens when on the mainstream talks about conspiracy theories is20/151
they try to get away from the facts as quickly as possible in order to psychology ice the conspiracy theorists why do they believe these things %HESITATION it's because it provides them with this totalizing world view that makes them feel better about what they believe in makes them feel better about the world though it's not chaotic it's all orderly and therefore it makes them feel better they21/151
like the idea that that there's people manipulating these things behind the scenes I'm when of course the reality I would posit is the exact opposite that it's much more comforting to believe that it was nineteen guys with box cutters on to overpower the air defenses of the United States that day then the idea that there were elements within the U. S. government they're actually helping to22/151
bring that about on that's a that's a much scarier on thing to believe in I think one that takes more moral courage into and fortitude to stay as to look at that evidence in and to examine it squarely on that's of course a an issue that I've been looking at for several years so it's one that I think of immediately when I think of this topic23/151
but first let's let's get your thoughts on on some of the stupid things that you've noticed that people do believe whether it's %HESITATION Obama's hope and change or the drug or whatever it is what are some of the issues that really that you respond to in that that gets your %HESITATION your ire raised when you think about sound how many people does fall into believing some24/151
of these ridiculous things let's start with your own what what are some of the things that you think of when you when this topic is raised when you mention the one that that I'd like to spend the bulk of my attention %HESITATION looking at uncovering which is that the war on drugs and and the sort of %HESITATION but as far as the broader question of why25/151
people believe stupid things %HESITATION I hate to reduce it to this but honestly I I I just think that a lot of people out there are just not very pretty neat and for me it would be if you look at that you know I are averages %HESITATION log averages most people are just just not that great at night and I got a little bit of trouble26/151
a last time I said this on the show because I was interviewing some some guys from the joint the joint Catroux and this came up and I didn't say this delicately then but I but it's it's it's something that you know it's not very popular to express but it happens to be true we look around ourselves and we look at the you know all our culture27/151
for example on the surface of things to be calm %HESITATION very popular the sorts of things that gravel in people's attention it tends to bead your lowest common denominator tabloids %HESITATION celebrity %HESITATION things they're salacious and we've talked about this before in the program as well and and that is what most people like and so active back to you know reflect on that and say well28/151
that just that's a reflection on their sort of way of thinking their mentality in in I guess again and I don't reduce it to a simple as that but I mean it that it does play into it I think a little bit at least %HESITATION but as far as %HESITATION specific %HESITATION things %HESITATION yeah I guess I I would have to go back to what you29/151
said about the war on drugs and and just little just let the crazy inconsistencies in the in the way of thinking about these issues %HESITATION I talk about this on the podcast little bit but I guess all out if there's a little bit of repeating other markets with Peter criss we're talking about just the idea of prohibition and how %HESITATION some people %HESITATION generally considered to30/151
be up conservatives throughout the labels that we discussed last time also on the on the round table are we generally think that %HESITATION prohibition yeah prohibiting drugs is a good thing it works it could it can it can work to control our society can work to limit a crime and drug crime and gang crime and stuff like that but when you when you think of %HESITATION31/151
%HESITATION gun related crime there is there adamantly against a gun prohibition because they believe that if you prohibit guns then only criminals will have guns put put there is this gigantic disconnect between that idea and the idea of prohibiting when I dug drugs in general so that's the night in the disco the show that the level of stupid that you can't bridge that gap they can't32/151
make that connection and say no it's simply just the idea prohibition in either case does not work it just does it %HESITATION so that's just one quick example that comes to mind right now well for me it's usually and it becomes circular because there is this thing about being in college and the raw I. Q. so when you say stupid here in not talking about all33/151
this people have really minimal %HESITATION I use is that about heights you then what is it it it just really close to the notion of being ignorant so how do you separate being just you bid from ignorance right so a lot of people who may have extremely high I use which I know a lot of people who are like no man's the level IQ but they34/151
are they can be very very stupid because of the ignorance and I say that it becomes a circular because then you go and chase unstable wife Heidi ignorance because again many of these people if you look at their background they have gone to college and university they have gotten their degrees you know a lot of them they have good jobs but they are still very very35/151
ignorant and considering the fact that today it's so easy to go reach and grab knowledge to research to find out about things whether it's about Turkey or what's happening in Ukraine or as you just mentioned that Kennedy assassination not eleven this we sources for free no they are all around us and yet these people they still remain ignorant is it's because they're so stupid that they36/151
don't go and grab these and they are you know and which makes them more stupid so it becomes a circular kind of been arguments for me trying to pinpoint and say how much of it is that and how much of that is actually intentional ignorance because life becomes difficult and they are difficult questions that ends up making answers and people frequently they don't want to be37/151
in that position that out I see it even if people with their associations with me you know I Mike my daughter attends a Playskool during the week and I go there and the mothers are standing in the corner there there to pick up their children and babies so stick with each other but they're afraid to talk with me you know and even if some topics comes38/151
for example I start kind of kind to measure their reactions on this common core issue with education you know because Oregon just passed the law and now it's going to be any is being implemented in the schools they haven't done any research they haven't I'm I have been for the last two months I have been spending hours every day researching ins and outs of common core39/151
so either they don't know anything about it and then I ask questions or I give them actually I'm taking with me some printers research material yeah very uncomfortable is like %HESITATION now because if I know about it I have to think about it and if I think about it and I see some horrible things that can happen to my job that I have to do something40/151
about it I don't want to be in that position so I'd rather not know I read enough to associate with people people likes about because the force critical thinking and they are they are they are basically making me face these issues so guess is army my face I'm in my state alone and what I told you the other day by email James is people they like41/151
to carve out these little boxes give insight to squeeze themselves and they wanna live inside that box bad golden retriever and a little fans and the two kids back to back and therefore won T. A. and their golf maybe maybe not and then there what they would do when they're sixty five and they retired maybe that they want to live inside these little little boxes that42/151
even sells have carved out and that drives me crazy I usually referred to as this mediocrity okay and and that's me come across as something arrogant you know although I am so good and here are these Bulger mediocre people all I'm elite now I'm not talking about that I'm talking about people actually intentionally putting themselves in this mediocre kind you little box and this little short43/151
life that we have splendid wanting to be in the safety zones no critical thinking and how much of that is the stupidity or how much of that is is the intentional choice to be ignorant and stupid and that's how I see it yeah I I agree with that analysis very much so that resonates with me because again the issue of stupidity and and lack of intelligence44/151
it's I I think we can all identify that but the question I think really is where does that come from and I don't like to blame the victims for their victimization I think to a certain sense it to a certain extent we have been crippled by the crippled epistemology of this this education system that we arm that we all experience has killed or the vast majority45/151
of his experiences children which really drums out of us the natural curiosity that I think everyone really does have I don't know that many people who aren't our art actually innately curious about the world and now of course experiencing that with my own ten month old son I don't use it exceptionally curious about everything that he can get his hands on and %HESITATION and again that's46/151
just not the human nature how does that get drummed out of us to the point where people will literally run away from information and the %HESITATION I think the iconic image on when that comes the in the in that framework inside the the the scene from they live where he's trying to fight the guy to put on the glasses on the night midnight and as fighting47/151
against that they literally fight to resist the idea that they say they just don't want to see things because if they see it they have to do something about it so I think I don't like to blame the people victims for their victimization but if there is anywhere we can lay people blame on people for being ignorant it is I think in the moral cowardice IE48/151
they just don't want to live up to the actual moral obligations that come with knowledge and then I'm I I there's a second part of that that I just forgot as though speaking but yeah there's little artists I and leasing leaving this would be the other I mean I I'm sure there is a significant degree of that but I think it's the moral cowardice that concerns49/151
me more because again on the idea that people would resist learning about foundational events of that but the area that we're living through like nine eleven because they are scared of the consequences of that knowledge to me as sickening come to my core it is sickening because that is exactly precisely how we can be and are ruled over by is relatively small oligarchy because they count50/151
on people being just too much too cowardly to actually see through to face this information and to do something about it because again once you know it you have to do something about it indeed no I think both of you raise really really important points of the idea of this being %HESITATION anyway systemic it's institutionalized %HESITATION within the education system as it is a really good51/151
example of that %HESITATION broadly speaking %HESITATION just the economics at play that I as he mentions a bell and most people have to worry about what am I gonna do today for might as far as my job goes %HESITATION putting food on the table making sure the roof over my head scary for my family looking looking forward to retirement and you know that's about that's about52/151
it that's you know don't bother me outside of that box into took it to that extent it's really I mean I get unlucky James it's not about when I don't wanna blame someone like that for caring about those things obviously those things are important suits every single one of us that to care for ourselves and for our families for sure up but there is room I53/151
clearly there is room to to also to do that and also care about these important issues because the BOP affect you regardless of whether or not you two regardless of how much you want it track yourself in that box is that's a bell or shut your eyes to it another good movie reference I think will also be the matrix of course with the character of Seifert54/151
wants to go back into the matrix and not see the world for what it is because that that is I I think as you said earlier James that is much more psychologically satisfying to not be bothered with those realities and to not have to deal with that %HESITATION I know lots of people in my own personal life who I experienced throughout you know since I was55/151
a %HESITATION in college coming across people talk and then engaging with them about issues nine eleven was a big one and armor that the time you know I had literally peep friends of mine tell me I just don't want to hear it I mean I look at there's probably something to it you probably have something you know that that you want you know that support there56/151
but you know I just I'd rather just not hear about it I don't I don't deal with that I got my own problems you know what I mean I don't have that I want to deal with that on top of what I did the with my D. live so that has a lot to do with it so I have to wonder %HESITATION again if we look57/151
at this broadly to what extent there is some level of intentionality there as far as how the economics of this a structured such that it is very difficult for ordinary people to care about these issues and care about the big stop and look at the big picture because they're so bogged down by the economics by the consumer culture by materialism by you know the Hollywood is