# Choosing My Apocalypse Outfit: Dressing for the End of the World

An episode of [TheThinkingAtheist](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/412308695), 29 Apr 2025, 55 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/mgln.ai/e/711/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/65683150/podcast801_apocalypseoutfit.mp3

If we're going down, we're going down in style! Seth shares some bizarre headlines from around the world, plus your calls. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/thethinkingatheist--3270347/support.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: We understand.
[0:05] Speaker 2: The thinking atheist. It's not a person, it's a symbol,
[0:09] Speaker 2: an idea.
[0:10] Speaker 1: The population of atheists this country is going through the.
[0:13] Speaker 2: Rule, rejecting faith, pursuing knowledge, challenging the sacred. If I
[0:19] Speaker 2: tell the truth, it's because I tell the truth, not because.
[0:22] Speaker 1: I put my hand on a book and made a.
[0:24] Speaker 2: Wish and working together for a more rational world.
[0:29] Speaker 1: Take the risk of thinking, feel so much more happiness.
[0:32] Speaker 1: Truth Usian wisdom will come to you that way.
[0:35] Speaker 2: Assume nothing, question everything, and start thinking. This is the
[0:43] Speaker 2: Thinking Atheist podcast hosted by Seth Andrews.
[0:56] Speaker 1: Are we circling the drain? I have this question all
[1:01] Speaker 1: the time, often at three in the morning when I
[1:03] Speaker 1: wake up, I'm staring at the ceiling. My mind is
[1:06] Speaker 1: spinning and I'm like, is this it? Is this? What
[1:09] Speaker 1: it all looks like? I posted on Facebook my apocalypse
[1:13] Speaker 1: outfit and I have several. By the way, we're going
[1:16] Speaker 1: to have the apocalypse and we're going full Road Warrior.
[1:19] Speaker 1: What will my end of day's outfit look like? Now?
[1:23] Speaker 1: My first thought was to dress up like Humongous from
[1:27] Speaker 1: the Road Warrior, but I don't have the body to
[1:29] Speaker 1: pull that off. Right, what's that line, there were some
[1:33] Speaker 1: bodies where you look like a chip and Dale's dancer,
[1:37] Speaker 1: and I look like a chips Ahoy dancer, So so
[1:41] Speaker 1: I'm not doing humongous, okay. And then there's the Zardaws
[1:45] Speaker 1: outfit with Sean Connery, which is one of the greatest
[1:49] Speaker 1: things in the universe. And if you don't know what
[1:52] Speaker 1: I'm talking about, stop right now, go to Google and
[1:56] Speaker 1: type in Zardas. I believe it's z A R dzz
[2:02] Speaker 1: ar d Z outfit. Yeah, pops ride, Oh yeah, pops right,
[2:08] Speaker 1: Sean Connery essentially in a red cod piece with crossed suspenders,
[2:15] Speaker 1: no pants, no shirt. I think it's go go boots
[2:19] Speaker 1: holding a pistol. Yeah, that's my one of my apocalypse outfits.
[2:30] Speaker 1: And then the other one was the outfit worn by
[2:33] Speaker 1: Ace Hunter in the horrifying eighties film called Mega Force. Now,
[2:38] Speaker 1: Mega Force would be a great party movie if you
[2:41] Speaker 1: want to bring people over, get drunk or high, and
[2:45] Speaker 1: then put it in and just point and laugh at
[2:47] Speaker 1: the screen. Mega Force is one of the most eighties
[2:50] Speaker 1: things that was ever made. Horrible special effects, flying rocket motorcycles,
[2:58] Speaker 1: and of course you can tell that whenever they put
[3:00] Speaker 1: the effect together they have Ace Hunter and he's on
[3:03] Speaker 1: his flying cycle, but it's obvious it's sitting on the
[3:06] Speaker 1: ground somewhere on a green screen. So he's sort of
[3:09] Speaker 1: weaving back and forth and everybody. He's trying to fly
[3:12] Speaker 1: from the ground into the back of an open sea
[3:16] Speaker 1: one thirty during flight, and so Lieutenant Dallas and all
[3:21] Speaker 1: of his other crew and the Mega Force are on
[3:23] Speaker 1: the plane and they're like, come on, yeah, yeah, you
[3:26] Speaker 1: can do it.
[3:26] Speaker 3: Come on.
[3:29] Speaker 1: And the music's playing. It's and he's in there now.
[3:33] Speaker 1: Ace Hunter has hair sprayed golden hair and a big beard.
[3:42] Speaker 1: He's wearing a super skin tight glittery golden bodysuit so
[3:51] Speaker 1: tight that you can see is junk bulging out and
[3:54] Speaker 1: around his forehead. He has a baby blue bandana. And
[4:01] Speaker 1: the film is just atrocious and awesome at the same time.
[4:06] Speaker 1: So that's going to be my apocalypse outfit when the
[4:10] Speaker 1: end times come, when we are looking at the extinction
[4:13] Speaker 1: of all humankind and I read the headlines and I think, yeah,
[4:17] Speaker 1: maybe it's happening. Maybe we will die of stupidity, of absurdity.
[4:28] Speaker 1: Just a few examples true stories. Twenty four year old
[4:32] Speaker 1: American YouTube or a guy named Mikhailo Polikov decided it
[4:37] Speaker 1: would be an awesome stunt to visit an off limits
[4:42] Speaker 1: island in the Indian Ocean. The goal was to establish
[4:47] Speaker 1: contact with a tribe on the island, a tribe that
[4:51] Speaker 1: did not want to be contacted. They didn't want to
[4:54] Speaker 1: be bothered. So he shows up at the island and
[4:59] Speaker 1: he he leaves a can of diet coke and a
[5:03] Speaker 1: coconut as an offering to the tribe. He shot the
[5:07] Speaker 1: whole thing on his cell phone video and then he
[5:09] Speaker 1: goes back to a boat and he's got little containers
[5:13] Speaker 1: where he scooped up a memento, He got some sand
[5:16] Speaker 1: from the beach of this remote island, and then he
[5:20] Speaker 1: congratulated himself and apparently posted the whole thing online. Well,
[5:26] Speaker 1: the officials, the authorities law enforcement in Port Blair said,
[5:30] Speaker 1: oh thanks, you just did something illegal and you documented
[5:34] Speaker 1: the whole thing forrests much appreciated. It's a violation of
[5:39] Speaker 1: Indian laws. They're going to find him and potentially he's
[5:42] Speaker 1: looking at a five year prison sentence for encroachment and endangerment.
[5:49] Speaker 1: Now we talk a lot about these types of things, Right,
[5:53] Speaker 1: somebody goes to the remote island what are they bringing
[5:57] Speaker 1: besides a diet coke and a coconut, potential disease to
[6:03] Speaker 1: an entire culture of human beings who may not have
[6:07] Speaker 1: had the opportunity to build up antibodies immunities to those diseases. Essentially,
[6:14] Speaker 1: it's like showing up with the smallpox blanket and just
[6:17] Speaker 1: throwing it on somebody. Hey, you're welcome, No wonder it's illegal.
[6:23] Speaker 1: Who was that guy? Years ago? He decided he was
[6:26] Speaker 1: going to go and spread Jesus's good word to that tribe,
[6:31] Speaker 1: the remote, relatively uncontacted primitive tribe on the island. So
[6:37] Speaker 1: he's like, I'm going to go and take the word
[6:39] Speaker 1: of God. He fucking killed him. They killed him. Now
[6:47] Speaker 1: I am up two minds on this. My first thought
[6:50] Speaker 1: is you knowing you know what I'm saying. That's a
[6:59] Speaker 1: Darwin Award. That's my first thought. My second thought is
[7:03] Speaker 1: genuinely one where I grieve that a man was so
[7:06] Speaker 1: indoctrinated that he would put himself in harms way. I mean,
[7:10] Speaker 1: I'm not a total monster, right, you know, we're talking
[7:14] Speaker 1: about the murderer.
[7:15] Speaker 4: Murder.
[7:16] Speaker 1: I don't think I can call it murder. Maybe they
[7:19] Speaker 1: thought it was self defense, who is this interloper who
[7:21] Speaker 1: has come to our island to do whatever? Is the
[7:26] Speaker 1: first of a series of colonizers? Is he threatening to
[7:30] Speaker 1: Is he loaded up with disease? I don't know how
[7:33] Speaker 1: you would frame it, but he's dead, and I grieve
[7:38] Speaker 1: that so much damage is done in the name of indoctrination,
[7:42] Speaker 1: in the name of superstition. But it reminded me of
[7:46] Speaker 1: that story. Here's another one that'll blow your mind and
[7:48] Speaker 1: to make you worry about just the state of all things.
[7:51] Speaker 1: This happened in Australia. Woman goes in This is just recently.
[7:56] Speaker 1: She goes in for IVF in vitro fertilization treatments. She
[8:04] Speaker 1: ends up pregnant, has the baby. The IVF provider accidentally
[8:10] Speaker 1: gave her somebody else's embryo. Now they just went to
[8:16] Speaker 1: the freezer. Apparently there was a ton of stuff on
[8:20] Speaker 1: the shelves. The labels looked awfully similar, all those letters
[8:24] Speaker 1: and numbers. Whoops, they grabbed the embryo of another person,
[8:29] Speaker 1: thought it out, implanted it, and then the woman gave
[8:35] Speaker 1: birth to somebody else's kid. Would you say it that way?
[8:39] Speaker 1: Oh my god. Apparently this happens a lot in this
[8:43] Speaker 1: organization monash IVF. They were involved in a class action lawsuit.
[8:49] Speaker 1: I think this was last year. Seven hundred potentially viable
[8:55] Speaker 1: embryos were allegedly destroyed and they were sued and settled
[9:01] Speaker 1: without admitting any liability. But they paid fifty six million
[9:05] Speaker 1: Australian dollars. And I think this woman who got somebody
[9:10] Speaker 1: else's embryo, I think she is finding her own lawsuit
[9:14] Speaker 1: as well. Totally understandable. I'm just pinballing through some of
[9:21] Speaker 1: the insanity of humanity because it amuses me. Pardon County, Kansas.
[9:28] Speaker 1: Babysitter watching a kid. The kid comes out of his
[9:33] Speaker 1: bedroom and says, there's a monster under my bed. Babysitter says, oh,
[9:37] Speaker 1: come on, there are no monsters. You're totally safe. Kid
[9:43] Speaker 1: goes back to bed, comes back out, there's a monster
[9:45] Speaker 1: under my bed. Oh, it's just your imagination. You're totally
[9:50] Speaker 1: safe here. No, I'm serious, there's a monster under my bed.
[9:54] Speaker 1: The babysitter says, fine, gets down on her hands and knees,
[9:57] Speaker 1: looks under the bed and holy shit, there is a
[10:00] Speaker 1: person there, a man who used to live in that
[10:04] Speaker 1: house who had been ousted. Twenty seven year old guy
[10:09] Speaker 1: who had been told he can't even approach the property
[10:12] Speaker 1: because of a domestic thing he had. There was a
[10:15] Speaker 1: protective order for violence and abuse, and apparently he just
[10:21] Speaker 1: let himself back in and he was squashed in there
[10:24] Speaker 1: under the bed frame while the kid was trying to
[10:27] Speaker 1: go to sleep. So, yeah, the guy's in jail, but
[10:30] Speaker 1: it might not be a bad idea to do a
[10:33] Speaker 1: bed check before you call it a night tonight. I
[10:39] Speaker 1: read the stuff and I just think, man, maybe this
[10:43] Speaker 1: is the end. Maybe this is all the side of
[10:47] Speaker 1: the end. I'm just saying since scrolling here on the chat,
[11:00] Speaker 1: the man's name was John Chow, the missionary who went
[11:04] Speaker 1: to the island and died. The island was Sentinel Island,
[11:11] Speaker 1: according to Aaron, thank you so very much. Biddy said
[11:16] Speaker 1: she had heard about the story of the switched embryo
[11:20] Speaker 1: and she was forced to give up the child. Ascalon
[11:25] Speaker 1: said the way that story was worded was mental babysitter
[11:29] Speaker 1: finds man who wasn't meant to be there, as opposed
[11:33] Speaker 1: to a man that was like, in what context is
[11:37] Speaker 1: a man under a child's bed supposed to be there?
[11:42] Speaker 1: Two Oregon men found dead out in We'll call it
[11:47] Speaker 1: the wilderness. They'd been reported missing. There was a three
[11:50] Speaker 1: day search by the authorities in eastern Schamania County, am
[11:55] Speaker 1: I saying that right. Finally, searchers found the remains of
[12:01] Speaker 1: both men in the southwestern part of Washington State inside
[12:06] Speaker 1: a national forest. They had died of exposure and lack
[12:10] Speaker 1: of provisions. The purpose of their trip was they were
[12:16] Speaker 1: trying to find Bigfoot. The men died looking for sasquatch.
[12:29] Speaker 1: In Oklahoma, we have these stickers and they're on an
[12:34] Speaker 1: alarming number of cars. It's the frame of the shape
[12:38] Speaker 1: of the state of Oklahoma, and then imposed over it
[12:43] Speaker 1: is Bigfoot. And I don't know what dose mean. Hang on,
[12:46] Speaker 1: since I have a second, let's just look. Whether you're
[12:49] Speaker 1: a seasoned sasquatch hunter or simply love the folklore, these
[12:54] Speaker 1: stickers are perfect for adding some cryptid charm to your gear.
[13:04] Speaker 1: I see point of sale, but I don't see an
[13:08] Speaker 1: explanation for the Bigfoot. Oh Bigfoot sightings? Which states have
[13:16] Speaker 1: them the most? This is from Queen City News in
[13:21] Speaker 1: the Carolinas. Whether you call it Bigfoot, sasquatch, or YETI,
[13:25] Speaker 1: there are plenty of folks all over the country who
[13:27] Speaker 1: claim they've seen one. According to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization,
[13:34] Speaker 1: the top state for sasquatch sidings is Washington with seven
[13:40] Speaker 1: hundred and eight quote unquote credible sidings. Other states with
[13:47] Speaker 1: significant sightings California, Florida, Ohio, Illinois. I am dubious about
[13:57] Speaker 1: credible sightings in the Los Angeles area. Were freaked out
[14:03] Speaker 1: about a rogue bear that was damaging cars. Imagine spelling
[14:09] Speaker 1: that out on your insurance form. Winshield was shattered, bumper
[14:13] Speaker 1: was ripped off, paint ruined by a bear. And when
[14:17] Speaker 1: they filed the insurance claim, these victims provided video. They
[14:23] Speaker 1: had like security home video of the bear going into
[14:28] Speaker 1: their driveway and just tearing the shit out of their car. Now,
[14:32] Speaker 1: the problem here is that the insurance companies employ video players.
[14:39] Speaker 1: Those video players have zoom functions. Also, the insurance industry
[14:44] Speaker 1: has plenty of investigators and experts, like a biologist from
[14:49] Speaker 1: the California Department of Fish and Wildlife who took a
[14:53] Speaker 1: really good look at that bear video and realized as
[14:57] Speaker 1: not a bear. Those are people, and they are wearing
[15:01] Speaker 1: bear costumes and they are shredding cars in those costumes.
[15:05] Speaker 1: The whole thing was a big insurance fraud scam. Those
[15:09] Speaker 1: people were arrested, they went to jail, and oh lookie,
[15:13] Speaker 1: here's a little piece of good news for the apocalypse.
[15:16] Speaker 1: The doomsday clock is closer to midnight than it has
[15:21] Speaker 1: ever been. We are eighty nine seconds away from doom.
[15:27] Speaker 1: This is the first move of the doomsday clock in
[15:30] Speaker 1: two years. The clock itself has been in use for
[15:33] Speaker 1: eight decades now. The doomsday clock, for those who don't
[15:36] Speaker 1: realize this is a representation of how close we are
[15:40] Speaker 1: to the destruction of the world. It is based on
[15:44] Speaker 1: a number of factors, things like climate change, nuclear weapons,
[15:49] Speaker 1: disruptive technologies, and yes, that includes AI existential threats like
[15:55] Speaker 1: infectious diseases and Russia's invasion of U Crane and the
[16:00] Speaker 1: Gaza genocide and all that stuff. They add all these
[16:05] Speaker 1: up and some people apparently extrapolate what that means in
[16:09] Speaker 1: terms of potential human extermination, and they say, if you're
[16:14] Speaker 1: looking at us in a relative twenty four hour clock,
[16:18] Speaker 1: we are apparently eighty nine seconds away from doom. Biggest
[16:24] Speaker 1: concern for them right now the United States, China, and
[16:29] Speaker 1: Russia having the quote collective power to destroy civilization. Yeah, yeah,
[16:40] Speaker 1: what is your take on the data indicating we are
[16:43] Speaker 1: in overshoot and in the middle stages of civilizational collapse.
[16:49] Speaker 1: The actions of those in power make more sense in
[16:52] Speaker 1: the light of everything is gone soon. This is a
[16:55] Speaker 1: question from Emerging complexity. Well, I don't think Trump's that's smart.
[17:01] Speaker 1: I know a lot of people are like, yeah, you know,
[17:03] Speaker 1: he's playing four DJs man Art of the deal. He's
[17:07] Speaker 1: just such a genius. They say the same thing about
[17:11] Speaker 1: Elon Musk. I don't think these people are that smart.
[17:14] Speaker 1: I don't think they're thinking in terms of let's make
[17:17] Speaker 1: hay while the sun is shining or before the sun
[17:19] Speaker 1: goes super nova. I think they're just making Hey. I
[17:22] Speaker 1: think they're just opportunists, filling their pockets, consolidating power in
[17:26] Speaker 1: the now because the now is the most important. That's
[17:29] Speaker 1: just kind of me, Rusty said, Time magazine has used
[17:36] Speaker 1: the doomsday clock as fear porn to sell magazines for decades.
[17:43] Speaker 1: That's interesting, the Queen matriarch. Do you expect to see
[17:46] Speaker 1: more twenty twenty Portland, Oregon style crackdowns of peaceful protests
[17:51] Speaker 1: by the Trump administration After for twenty that Insurrection Act
[17:56] Speaker 1: thing is keeping me up at night. Thank you for
[18:00] Speaker 1: the super chance and the ten dollars and a great question.
[18:03] Speaker 1: We just posted or I just posted a conversation about
[18:06] Speaker 1: the Insurrection Act. You can find it in the archive
[18:09] Speaker 1: from a few weeks back. The Insurrection Act is just
[18:14] Speaker 1: another excuse for Donald Trump to do dictatorshit.
[18:19] Speaker 5: We know.
[18:20] Speaker 1: His fantasy is to weaponize the military against any alleged
[18:24] Speaker 1: enemies of the state. Who qualifies any person, organization, university, whatever,
[18:31] Speaker 1: that remotely grazes his tissue skin and decides they're going
[18:38] Speaker 1: to resist, right hedn't It doesn't matter who it is,
[18:42] Speaker 1: what it is. If you say no, we're not going
[18:45] Speaker 1: to do that, or no it's illegal, or no it's immoral,
[18:48] Speaker 1: or no you're full of shit, than you are now
[18:51] Speaker 1: an enemy of the state. His fantasy, his wet dream,
[18:55] Speaker 1: is to mobilize the military and crush you utterly. We
[18:59] Speaker 1: saw all this with the Alien Enemies Act. We've seen
[19:04] Speaker 1: this with the Insurrection Act. I think we're there. I
[19:07] Speaker 1: don't think it's I don't think it's a matter of
[19:09] Speaker 1: what's going to happen. I think the ice trucks and
[19:12] Speaker 1: all that stuff, you know, I think the kidnappings, I
[19:17] Speaker 1: think I mean, wouldn't you agree that we're already in
[19:23] Speaker 1: kind of a police state, the attempts to lock down
[19:28] Speaker 1: the media, pull funding from universities that teach something against
[19:33] Speaker 1: deer leaders propaganda. I mean, don't you feel like we're there?
[19:41] Speaker 1: What was I saying? Yeah, deny funding from universities. They're
[19:46] Speaker 1: going after Harvard, and Harvard essentially said no, going after
[19:54] Speaker 1: scientific organizations that are doing real science instead of our
[19:58] Speaker 1: FK Junior's propaganda. Threatening media outlets for not acting like
[20:05] Speaker 1: Fox News, demanding the impeachment of judges who rule according
[20:12] Speaker 1: to the law instead of the whims of Donald Trump.
[20:15] Speaker 1: Now that's happening. I want to talk to Kevin at
[20:20] Speaker 1: area code for zero two. Hi, Kevin, are you there,
[20:24] Speaker 1: I'm here, welcome. Let's talk. What's on your mind?
[20:27] Speaker 4: Well, I'm just wondering. I can't recall if you gast
[20:31] Speaker 4: this topic before or not, but I'm learned about how
[20:34] Speaker 4: Republicans they're all like devout Christians are claimed to be,
[20:39] Speaker 4: and how do they reconcile their Christianity with their devotion
[20:43] Speaker 4: to Trump. The two just don't seem compatible to me.
[20:47] Speaker 1: I can't put everybody in a box, which is what
[20:49] Speaker 1: human beings are inclined to do, and people like us
[20:53] Speaker 1: are no exception. We want a simple explanation. I don't
[20:57] Speaker 1: think there is one. It would be satisfying, wouldn't it
[20:59] Speaker 1: to say that all Republicans, all Christians, all Conservatives are
[21:05] Speaker 1: all motivated by the same thing. But do you draw
[21:08] Speaker 1: a circle around one of the great hypocrisies when evangelicals
[21:12] Speaker 1: are supporting somebody who is the kind of person where
[21:16] Speaker 1: if their child, their spouse, their best friend, their neighbor,
[21:21] Speaker 1: their boss, one of their subordinates acted in that way,
[21:25] Speaker 1: they would be horrified, They would be aghast. And you
[21:29] Speaker 1: and I look and say, well, how do you jive
[21:31] Speaker 1: that with happy, clappy love, everybody be humble, Jesus Christ
[21:36] Speaker 1: who wants to take care of the poor and heal
[21:39] Speaker 1: the world and all those types of things. How do
[21:41] Speaker 1: you jive that with Donald Trump and the sociopath that
[21:44] Speaker 1: support him. It makes absolutely no sense. But I think
[21:47] Speaker 1: there are a lot of reasons, a lot of rationalizations
[21:50] Speaker 1: for how people get there. Do you have a perspective?
[21:54] Speaker 4: Not really, it's just here, maybe pick somebody's bring to you,
[21:58] Speaker 4: going to be with some family on and hopefully the
[22:01] Speaker 4: politics won't be brought up. But if it is It's like,
[22:04] Speaker 4: I'm think of calling them on that and see what
[22:06] Speaker 4: their answer is.
[22:08] Speaker 1: Well, if you're going to a family get together for pleasure,
[22:12] Speaker 1: you realize if you bring up a hot button political
[22:15] Speaker 1: issue in a room full of people who stand in opposition,
[22:19] Speaker 1: that day is not going to be pleasurable for very long.
[22:22] Speaker 1: I'm not saying that you shouldn't have the conversation, but
[22:25] Speaker 1: it might be a time and place thing. You know,
[22:28] Speaker 1: This might be a different thing where you, Hey, do
[22:30] Speaker 1: you have a half an hour tomorrow to talk over
[22:32] Speaker 1: coffee when we're not doing a family reunion thing? Fair enough?
[22:36] Speaker 4: Yeah, all right, Well, thanks for taking the call.
[22:39] Speaker 1: Kevin, Thanks for calling. Be safe. We'll see you soon.
[22:43] Speaker 1: All right, my fellow apocalypters, we're just getting warmed up.
[22:48] Speaker 1: So much more to talk about after this. I have
[22:57] Speaker 1: been given the honor of being the keynote speaker weekend
[23:01] Speaker 1: at the Weekend Reason conference in Calgary, Alberta. There are
[23:06] Speaker 1: still tickets for that. I'm going to be in Wichita
[23:09] Speaker 1: June first, Nashville for Nanocon July twenty sixth, the Baja
[23:14] Speaker 1: Con conference in Sarnia, Ontario. That's the second weekend in August.
[23:20] Speaker 1: Details on these and other events. The Thinkingatheist dot com
[23:25] Speaker 1: slash events. Mark Allen said, do you see the parallels
[23:33] Speaker 1: between the Victor Orbon regime and the current US leadership?
[23:38] Speaker 1: Direct parallels Victor Orbon? Of course, the Prime Minister of
[23:43] Speaker 1: Hungary since twenty ten using the system of the government
[23:47] Speaker 1: to get himself elected and then dismantling that very system
[23:51] Speaker 1: once he got power. So he's been going after democracy,
[23:55] Speaker 1: dismantling the courts, dismantling freedom of the press. He has
[24:01] Speaker 1: a hugely corrupt government, and he likes to sort of
[24:05] Speaker 1: chest thump about Christian values. The Orbon regime has been
[24:10] Speaker 1: called in some ways a mafia state, and Trump loves Orbon.
[24:16] Speaker 1: I think he's taking a lot of his cues from
[24:19] Speaker 1: the Orbon authoritarian playbook Area code eight one seven. Hi,
[24:28] Speaker 1: what's your name? Hey, Hi fee? Thanks for me, Yeah,
[24:32] Speaker 1: what's up? What's going on?
[24:35] Speaker 6: It's about how I'm torn a little bit because I
[24:40] Speaker 6: do talk to a lot of people that say, oh,
[24:42] Speaker 6: I have zero compassion for people who are regretting their
[24:45] Speaker 6: vote for Trump. But I'm afraid I go one step
[24:48] Speaker 6: further south, and I'm just going to be really honest.
[24:51] Speaker 6: I hope they suffer I hope it hurts, Like hell,
[24:57] Speaker 6: I'm really really angry, and I don't I think they're
[25:00] Speaker 6: going to learn that lesson unless they really have it bad.
[25:05] Speaker 6: And I'm concerned that I've lost my humanity.
[25:10] Speaker 1: I don't think you've lost your humanity. Fee Natalie and
[25:13] Speaker 1: I've talked about this action reaction. There are consequences, and
[25:18] Speaker 1: I think you're right. There are some people it doesn't
[25:21] Speaker 1: matter unless it happens to them, and so a lot
[25:24] Speaker 1: of these people like here, A great example is the
[25:27] Speaker 1: agricultural community. These people in the red hats are like,
[25:31] Speaker 1: Trump's gonna save us all, and before you know it,
[25:33] Speaker 1: Trump has screwed them over. They may lose the family farm,
[25:37] Speaker 1: they may end up a million dollars in debt. It
[25:40] Speaker 1: may affect their family for generations. It is hard for
[25:43] Speaker 1: you and I to activate our sympathy centers knowing that
[25:47] Speaker 1: they set the house on fire and now they're getting burned.
[25:51] Speaker 1: It's action reaction, cause and effect. So you and I think, well,
[25:55] Speaker 1: am I just being a total asshole? Or is this
[25:59] Speaker 1: that we don't believe in karma? But we do believe
[26:02] Speaker 1: in cause and effect, right.
[26:04] Speaker 6: Consequences, that this is what they voted for and he
[26:07] Speaker 6: hasn't made any secret about what he plans on doing.
[26:09] Speaker 6: So all the shit we see going on right now,
[26:12] Speaker 6: and I agree with you. I think we're in that
[26:13] Speaker 6: police state. That's what you voted for. And people who
[26:16] Speaker 6: stayed home because they couldn't bring themselves to vote for
[26:19] Speaker 6: the other party, they just couldn't bring themselves to do that.
[26:23] Speaker 6: I'm they can get wrecked too.
[26:26] Speaker 1: I feel the same. I'm sorry that the I'm going
[26:30] Speaker 1: to stay at home and sit on my hands because
[26:32] Speaker 1: if you participate in the system, you're part of the problem.
[26:36] Speaker 1: And both parties are equally bad. Blah blah blah. It's
[26:40] Speaker 1: just a bunch of crap.
[26:42] Speaker 6: Yeah, they didn't like her stand on Israel or something.
[26:44] Speaker 6: It's like, can you look at the bigger picture? Can
[26:48] Speaker 6: you picture the nuclear bombs going off?
[26:50] Speaker 1: My h oh. Yeah.
[26:55] Speaker 6: I've had to give up on walking a couple of
[26:58] Speaker 6: several YouTubers that I love because it's so upsetting. I'm like,
[27:02] Speaker 6: this is not good for me to be watching stuff
[27:05] Speaker 6: and just getting upset over it. I almost am happy
[27:08] Speaker 6: to be like an Ostrich and just put my heads
[27:10] Speaker 6: stand and say I'm not looking stay away, you know,
[27:14] Speaker 6: because it's not just my mental health, you know.
[27:17] Speaker 1: I think this is a case of more than one
[27:19] Speaker 1: thing can be true at the same time. Binary thinking
[27:23] Speaker 1: can trap us all. So a lot of people are like,
[27:26] Speaker 1: if Israel's genocide in Palestine or in Gaza is an
[27:32] Speaker 1: atrocity and civilians are being massacred and it is a
[27:36] Speaker 1: human rights nightmare, this has to be resisted. That can
[27:41] Speaker 1: be true, and it can also be true that given
[27:46] Speaker 1: the cost benefit of one candidate over another, there is
[27:50] Speaker 1: still a lesser evil. And I think Kamala's language on
[27:57] Speaker 1: Israel and Gaza were disappointing. I'd like to have seen
[28:01] Speaker 1: a much harder stand. I understand why a politician would
[28:06] Speaker 1: use that language trying to appeal to people who may
[28:10] Speaker 1: be drifting away from Trump, and she didn't want to
[28:12] Speaker 1: be too polarizing. And we can have that conversation. But
[28:16] Speaker 1: this idea that I'm going to stay home, I'm going
[28:19] Speaker 1: to stay home and I'm going to envision the world
[28:21] Speaker 1: that we can build in a computer when the real
[28:24] Speaker 1: world is all around me to me makes no sense
[28:27] Speaker 1: in a lot of ways. I think the non voters,
[28:28] Speaker 1: the non participants, the protest absentees are really complicit and
[28:33] Speaker 1: partially responsible for the atrocities we're seeing today. As much
[28:37] Speaker 1: as they want to wash their hands of it, they're
[28:39] Speaker 1: a big part of the problem. How many people didn't vote,
[28:41] Speaker 1: like ninety million registered voters in this country. That's an atrocity.
[28:47] Speaker 5: You know.
[28:47] Speaker 6: I look at what happened in twenty twenty because we
[28:51] Speaker 6: all were in this lockdown, pandemic, horrific situation, and people's
[28:57] Speaker 6: eyes were open. They go, you know what, I got
[28:59] Speaker 6: to get out and vote and get this guy out
[29:01] Speaker 6: of office because he's nuts. You know, we need a
[29:06] Speaker 6: steady hand to write the ship. And then, I don't know,
[29:11] Speaker 6: I'm just very disappointed in humanity.
[29:13] Speaker 7: At disappoint in it.
[29:15] Speaker 6: Really, it really killed me when he won the popular vote.
[29:19] Speaker 6: That's when I think I just really lost faith in
[29:24] Speaker 6: my fellow Americans.
[29:26] Speaker 1: I understand. I think many understand. So maybe it's time
[29:31] Speaker 1: to find our apocalypse outfit. I'm gonna go get my
[29:34] Speaker 1: red cod piece and my blue bandana and whatever you choose.
[29:38] Speaker 1: I hope it satisfies you in some way.
[29:41] Speaker 6: Okay, faith, Oh tell me what I can do to
[29:44] Speaker 6: be human and not hate everybody. They're victims, maybe look
[29:49] Speaker 6: upon and as like they're victims of this right wing echoes.
[29:53] Speaker 6: There's that, there's like media that tells a bunch of lies,
[29:56] Speaker 6: just lies, lies, lies, lies, lies.
[29:59] Speaker 1: What I have done in my own life is I
[30:01] Speaker 1: look on contempt with the people who got us here.
[30:05] Speaker 1: But I also look with real hope and inspiration at
[30:09] Speaker 1: the tens and tens and tens of millions of people
[30:12] Speaker 1: who have resisted and voted against it. The people who
[30:15] Speaker 1: are rallying in the streets, the universities who are pushing
[30:18] Speaker 1: back and saying, you will not govern. What and how
[30:21] Speaker 1: we teach the judges who are ruling and throwing words
[30:25] Speaker 1: like contempt of courts into these important discussions. We're seeing
[30:29] Speaker 1: resistance rising. What does that mean?
[30:31] Speaker 5: I do not know.
[30:32] Speaker 1: But the resistance itself gives me hope. And yes, there
[30:37] Speaker 1: are some people extremely late to the party who are
[30:41] Speaker 1: waking up from the Maga sleep and they are joining
[30:45] Speaker 1: our ranks. So there are reasons to not give up hope, fae.
[30:51] Speaker 1: So hang on to that, all right.
[30:53] Speaker 6: I will do this. That's why I call it just
[30:55] Speaker 6: and again just to say thank you for what you do.
[30:58] Speaker 1: All right, We'll see you later. Well that's a hot button,
[31:01] Speaker 1: isn't it. Will you forgive those who got us here?
[31:07] Speaker 1: Will you forget the damage they caused? And I'm seeing
[31:11] Speaker 1: a big divide and I don't know the right answer.
[31:16] Speaker 1: I just don't. I mean, I probably would tend to
[31:20] Speaker 1: be a lot more gracious to someone who just took
[31:23] Speaker 1: a long ass time to bust out of the Fox
[31:26] Speaker 1: News bubble. They lived in an alternate reality, they were
[31:31] Speaker 1: part of a cult. They came out with real epiphany, regret,
[31:35] Speaker 1: and a desire to do the right thing. I'm going
[31:37] Speaker 1: to have some more grace with those people, I think
[31:40] Speaker 1: that's the appropriate thing. But those who sat around until
[31:44] Speaker 1: something horrible happened to them, and until that moment they
[31:47] Speaker 1: didn't give a shit or even cheered the cruelty and
[31:50] Speaker 1: the grift and the abuses of power. I'm not sure
[31:53] Speaker 1: I have a lot of forgiveness in my heart for
[31:55] Speaker 1: those people.
[31:56] Speaker 4: I just do not.
[31:58] Speaker 1: Is that a wrong answer? Does that make me a
[32:00] Speaker 1: bad person? Have I killed a part of my own heart?
[32:04] Speaker 1: Anna is calling in from four zero four. Hi. Anna,
[32:08] Speaker 1: Were you the one who told me that you had
[32:11] Speaker 1: immigrated here from an oppressive country and you were seeing
[32:15] Speaker 1: echoes of what's happening in the States Romania? Yes, that's right.
[32:20] Speaker 1: I got a flash and remembered a part of that conversation,
[32:23] Speaker 1: which is good for me because my memory is really
[32:25] Speaker 1: getting sketch as I edge towards senior citizenry. You know
[32:30] Speaker 1: what I'm saying, Well, I have some.
[32:32] Speaker 5: News for you that everybody ages, not just you, everybody.
[32:37] Speaker 5: There's nobody that's who from aging. We're all aging. So
[32:41] Speaker 5: even people who say that, you know, I remember being
[32:44] Speaker 5: younger thinking THEMN these thirty old are so old, and
[32:48] Speaker 5: I'm thinking, oh my god, I wish i could be
[32:50] Speaker 5: thirty again.
[32:51] Speaker 1: Yeah, but honestly, I've got the best life. I'm delighted
[32:56] Speaker 1: to be on this planet and sharing and being a
[32:59] Speaker 1: fellow with people like you as well. Anna, Was there
[33:02] Speaker 1: anything else before I move on? Oh?
[33:04] Speaker 5: Yes, I have two more things. Yes, it is a
[33:07] Speaker 5: very painful time we're going through, but I take comfort
[33:11] Speaker 5: in one thing. And you're going to think, maybe an
[33:14] Speaker 5: unusual point. I think Trump did something great that nobody
[33:18] Speaker 5: else has managed to do, and he managed to expose everyone.
[33:22] Speaker 5: Everybody kind of flipped their mask and were able to
[33:26] Speaker 5: see everyone for who they really are. I was shocked
[33:31] Speaker 5: when I realized the dark agenda. I know, the kind
[33:34] Speaker 5: of dark money they've been funneling into their bank accounts,
[33:37] Speaker 5: and the savage selfishness and incredible careless and recklessness towards
[33:43] Speaker 5: the people who put them in the office. So it
[33:46] Speaker 5: was a painful discovery and it really at the beginning,
[33:50] Speaker 5: it broke me.
[33:51] Speaker 1: I think it broke a lot of people long run.
[33:54] Speaker 1: A lot of articles have been written about how November
[33:57] Speaker 1: of twenty twenty four broke a lot of relationship ships.
[34:00] Speaker 1: People were like, how could you? I think that that
[34:03] Speaker 1: that really sums it up. We looked at the people
[34:05] Speaker 1: around this, the people we thought were acting in good
[34:08] Speaker 1: faith and were moral and had people's backs, and you know,
[34:13] Speaker 1: even those especially those of faith, we're talking about the
[34:16] Speaker 1: moral high ground, and we looked at them and said,
[34:18] Speaker 1: how could you? And it broke our hearts.
[34:21] Speaker 5: My last point is do you ever look at the
[34:24] Speaker 5: surveys that the falling and it says, how is it
[34:27] Speaker 5: possible that forty three percent or fifty one percent think
[34:30] Speaker 5: this is going great? And you know there is an
[34:33] Speaker 5: answer to that, it's falling and people. I thought for
[34:38] Speaker 5: the longest time that to be polled you have to
[34:40] Speaker 5: be randomly selected by it stands out that you can
[34:42] Speaker 5: go to this this organization called you gov dot com.
[34:47] Speaker 5: Why oh u g ov dot com. You can sign
[34:51] Speaker 5: up to be polled and they send you questionnaires every
[34:54] Speaker 5: day and they are very relevant. So I would like
[34:57] Speaker 5: to encourage everybody to sign up. It takes maybe ten
[35:00] Speaker 5: minutes of your day and have a wonderful red of
[35:03] Speaker 5: the day to everyone, and please take care.
[35:05] Speaker 1: All right, thank you so much for calling. We'll see
[35:08] Speaker 1: you later in I've got a web call, is it Vic?
[35:14] Speaker 5: Yes?
[35:15] Speaker 1: This welcome VIC. Let's talk what's on your mind? What's happening?
[35:20] Speaker 7: Well, actually, I wanted to respond to Fay. She mentioned
[35:24] Speaker 7: that it would be hard to forget people that God
[35:27] Speaker 7: does in this mess. And even though I'm not in
[35:30] Speaker 7: the US, I think I've got something to say. I
[35:33] Speaker 7: remember seven years ago saying to my wife, you know what,
[35:38] Speaker 7: this whole gender thing, that's just a fat It's just
[35:42] Speaker 7: some hype, and that's gonna blow over and it's gonna
[35:45] Speaker 7: be nothing. I was that short sighted. I was the
[35:49] Speaker 7: type of guy that read the book of Jordan Paterson
[35:53] Speaker 7: and all that jazz. Now I'm the guy that is
[35:58] Speaker 7: the only guy one in town that has a price
[36:00] Speaker 7: from his house. I'm the ally and from outside of
[36:06] Speaker 7: the US, I don't think that I would have voted
[36:08] Speaker 7: for Trump. But on the other hand, if I would
[36:11] Speaker 7: have lived in the US, I would have been that's
[36:14] Speaker 7: in the same pot that was slowly starting to cook,
[36:18] Speaker 7: you know, the metaphorical put with the fur inside. So
[36:21] Speaker 7: maybe I would have photoed for him, maybe even swives,
[36:25] Speaker 7: maybe even three times. But I learned my lesson, and
[36:29] Speaker 7: now I'm an ally. Do I need any forgiveness? No,
[36:33] Speaker 7: to pay for yourself? Yes, because you know that dumb
[36:38] Speaker 7: mother bear that photed so dumb it could be your ally.
[36:43] Speaker 7: He could be standing at some point next to you,
[36:46] Speaker 7: fighting with you, hey against this mons prosity Vic.
[36:50] Speaker 1: I had somebody in the chat named Alex ask what
[36:53] Speaker 1: changed your mind? In a nutshell? Can you tell me
[36:56] Speaker 1: what switched in you?
[36:58] Speaker 7: I grew up, I got children, I've got a sumhow
[37:04] Speaker 7: of nearly six Shirreffolds. And if people would come out
[37:08] Speaker 7: as a class, and you would come out of the
[37:10] Speaker 7: class of this trait or sis I love my son,
[37:13] Speaker 7: Then I see a beautiful boy. And I had to
[37:17] Speaker 7: see it, because you know, I was in my echo chamber.
[37:20] Speaker 7: I got outside the information thrown at me, forced on me,
[37:25] Speaker 7: you know, keep talking. I mean guys like you said,
[37:29] Speaker 7: and so many others that are talking. I think you
[37:32] Speaker 7: saved lives with that.
[37:35] Speaker 1: Well, you're being very generous, and I appreciate that. I
[37:39] Speaker 1: do I flap my gums. But I think one thing
[37:43] Speaker 1: that I'm able to do vic I do feel like
[37:45] Speaker 1: I'm often able to articulate or put language to the
[37:48] Speaker 1: feelings that some people have but don't know how to
[37:51] Speaker 1: express verbally. They're like, I feel something, but I can't
[37:55] Speaker 1: put it into words, And sometimes when I go off
[37:57] Speaker 1: on a tangent, they're like, yeah, okay, somebody else relates
[38:00] Speaker 1: and they have the language to be able to paint
[38:02] Speaker 1: that picture. I probably have the ability to do that.
[38:07] Speaker 1: And I appreciate the kind words very much.
[38:10] Speaker 7: It's not just kind, Horset, It's true, you very kind.
[38:14] Speaker 1: And the larger point is that you feel like we
[38:17] Speaker 1: do need to give some grace to those even those
[38:20] Speaker 1: who take a long time to extract themselves from toxic cultures.
[38:25] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[38:26] Speaker 7: I mean, if you are come to be angry at them,
[38:28] Speaker 7: it's really hard for them to become an ally.
[38:31] Speaker 1: I don't know, I'm pretty pissed, b don't be angry.
[38:36] Speaker 1: I am very angry.
[38:38] Speaker 7: I would meet myself ten years ago, I would not
[38:41] Speaker 7: like myself.
[38:42] Speaker 1: I am living. Look I again, more than one thing
[38:48] Speaker 1: can be true at the same time. I can be angry,
[38:51] Speaker 1: I can be lived, I can be outraged, But I
[38:53] Speaker 1: can also understand how cults operate information silos, disinformation silos,
[39:01] Speaker 1: brain psychology. And I can be angry but also receive
[39:06] Speaker 1: someone who crawls out of that sewer and genuinely wants
[39:11] Speaker 1: to be a better person. I think both of those
[39:13] Speaker 1: things can exist at the same time. But our engagements
[39:16] Speaker 1: with people, I think are situational. Where are they what
[39:21] Speaker 1: go ahead?
[39:22] Speaker 7: Often that we can compare to people as if they
[39:25] Speaker 7: had been in abusive situations that are now redoing the
[39:29] Speaker 7: same cycle, the same thing, And that's difficult. And if
[39:34] Speaker 7: we're just going to call them abuse of and abuse
[39:36] Speaker 7: of and abusers, then it is really hard to come
[39:40] Speaker 7: over to the other side.
[39:42] Speaker 1: I understand some welcoming.
[39:44] Speaker 7: I think it's important.
[39:46] Speaker 1: Well, I understand what you're saying here.
[39:48] Speaker 7: I have not the perfect solutions, of course, but hey, if.
[39:51] Speaker 1: We had the perfect solution, if we had the formula
[39:55] Speaker 1: that fixed the world, wouldn't that be amazing? But the
[39:58] Speaker 1: world is a messy, messy place. A big thank you
[40:01] Speaker 1: though for talking to me, and thanks for the kind
[40:03] Speaker 1: words today. Thank you all right, take care of yourself.
[40:08] Speaker 1: I've got fill up at six six zero. Welcome Phillip.
[40:14] Speaker 1: What's going on?
[40:15] Speaker 7: Well, first, I'd like to do a quick like yes,
[40:18] Speaker 7: and it did them to the.
[40:20] Speaker 3: Last caller because he was talking about the gender thing.
[40:23] Speaker 3: This isn't necessarily what I called it about, but he
[40:26] Speaker 3: didn't make me think of something. I never was a
[40:29] Speaker 3: trumper or anything like that, but as transgender people became
[40:34] Speaker 3: more visible, I was very skeptical about it. I still
[40:39] Speaker 3: don't know where I fallt epistemologically. I definitely fall much
[40:45] Speaker 3: more in camp with the consensus of the LGBT community,
[40:50] Speaker 3: but at the time I was very very skeptical. So
[40:53] Speaker 3: I said, okay, well, what I'll do is I'll just
[40:55] Speaker 3: use non gender language. And what kind of put me
[40:58] Speaker 3: over the edge to honoring people's gendered pronouns was seeing
[41:06] Speaker 3: what Tucker Carlson had to say, hearing what the pundits
[41:10] Speaker 3: had to say on local conservative radio, seeing what politicians
[41:14] Speaker 3: were saying about them, and just the mean, nasty things,
[41:18] Speaker 3: and that's a turnoff for people. My mother who's an
[41:22] Speaker 3: evangelical Christian like it. That's the stuff that turned her
[41:27] Speaker 3: off and kind of turned her around, And I said,
[41:29] Speaker 3: I want to leave no doubt that I am an
[41:32] Speaker 3: ally and I'm going to start honoring that. And it's
[41:37] Speaker 3: changed my perspective as well. So yeah, I just wanted
[41:40] Speaker 3: to throw that in there. There's room to grow and
[41:43] Speaker 3: there's room to change for people who come crawling out
[41:47] Speaker 3: of these really bad ideologies.
[41:49] Speaker 1: So I think there is merit to seeing how a
[41:54] Speaker 1: demographic is misrepresented and dehumanized and vilified it often and
[42:00] Speaker 1: then becomes the first step in the larger journey into understanding, well,
[42:04] Speaker 1: what something is, what it isn't, why people are so
[42:08] Speaker 1: terrified of it? And we know that we live in
[42:11] Speaker 1: a culture where people want everything to fit in a box.
[42:14] Speaker 1: I'm reminded of that Scientific American article that came out
[42:17] Speaker 1: a few years ago called sex Redefined, that the idea
[42:20] Speaker 1: of two sexes is overly simplistic. And my thought is,
[42:27] Speaker 1: what are you so threatened by? Right? Why is everybody
[42:31] Speaker 1: losing their mind? And I think they just want a villain.
[42:34] Speaker 1: I think many people want someone to hate. I think
[42:36] Speaker 1: they live their lives in fear and I'm like, what
[42:39] Speaker 1: are the possibilities the more we discover about the wide,
[42:43] Speaker 1: wild spectrum of the human condition, of the animal kingdom,
[42:47] Speaker 1: this should be an opportunity for discovery and the celebration
[42:50] Speaker 1: of our differences and trying to evolve our thinking. And
[42:53] Speaker 1: yet there's a whole culture of Tucker Carlson's and they
[42:56] Speaker 1: just lose their shit and treat people like sub humans,
[43:01] Speaker 1: and that reveals something about them and helps sort of
[43:04] Speaker 1: fuel our discovery of well, what is reality? What's the
[43:08] Speaker 1: science say? And I think there's a lot of merit
[43:10] Speaker 1: to that. Go ahead. What was your main point?
[43:12] Speaker 3: So you remember a few weeks ago you you started
[43:16] Speaker 3: your show talking about culture of I'm going to get
[43:19] Speaker 3: to the front. I'm not going to yield to others.
[43:23] Speaker 4: Me, me, me.
[43:24] Speaker 3: I think it was like stand clear of the doors
[43:26] Speaker 3: on the train, that sort of thing. And one thing
[43:30] Speaker 3: that you mentioned was whenever you're going down the road,
[43:34] Speaker 3: and it says that it's that you have a merger ahead,
[43:38] Speaker 3: that you're merging into one lane ahead. A bunch of
[43:40] Speaker 3: people just merge right at the sign, and then you
[43:45] Speaker 3: have other people who zoom right on past to get
[43:48] Speaker 3: to the front. That upsets you and and have You know,
[43:52] Speaker 3: that's that's a bad sort of things, and you're going
[43:55] Speaker 3: to get to the front expense of everybody else. So
[43:59] Speaker 3: my dad and I have argued and argued about this.
[44:03] Speaker 3: But when I was in college, there was a guy
[44:06] Speaker 3: who read a book. It was about civil engineering, and
[44:10] Speaker 3: it was just kind of a layman's book about that,
[44:13] Speaker 3: and he said that whenever you have that point, the
[44:17] Speaker 3: people who are rushing to the front are actually the
[44:22] Speaker 3: correct ones, because you want to merge as close to
[44:28] Speaker 3: the merger point as you can because that starts the
[44:32] Speaker 3: bottleneck further down the road. So then you don't have
[44:37] Speaker 3: if everyone merged it the merger point, predictable merging, and
[44:41] Speaker 3: you don't have the slamming on your brakes at head
[44:45] Speaker 3: and all of that stuff. So that has been my soapbox,
[44:50] Speaker 3: especially for my parents, who merge two miles ahead of
[44:53] Speaker 3: where the road merges. Is the people, now, the spirit
[44:57] Speaker 3: of what you were saying, I agree with, But the
[45:00] Speaker 3: people who rush to the front, I'm one of those.
[45:02] Speaker 1: Guys, you asshole. Sorry, I just had to throw that out.
[45:08] Speaker 1: I just had to get that off my chest. So
[45:11] Speaker 1: you're the one. A lot of people say that you're
[45:13] Speaker 1: the one. All right, well, let me dive into this.
[45:16] Speaker 1: I've got an article about it that I just pulled
[45:19] Speaker 1: up and the Zipper method that ostensibly validates your points.
[45:23] Speaker 1: So let me see what another perspective is on it,
[45:27] Speaker 1: or maybe your perspective, and we'll dive it a little
[45:30] Speaker 1: deeper and see what the comments have to say. Okay, yeah,
[45:33] Speaker 1: all right, awesome, Thanks Philip, thanks for coming. We'll see
[45:37] Speaker 1: you later. All right, yeah, okay, I want to get
[45:42] Speaker 1: into this article on merging and find out what science
[45:47] Speaker 1: may have to say about it. Let me take a
[45:50] Speaker 1: short break and we'll do it next. Thanks for your
[45:57] Speaker 1: support on Patreon, Patreon slash Seth Andrews. Quick note by
[46:04] Speaker 1: the way, for those of you who donated to the
[46:06] Speaker 1: Camera fund, if you remember, I had an old XA
[46:09] Speaker 1: twenty that was giving up the ghost, and thanks to you,
[46:13] Speaker 1: I have purchased a replacement XA camera and it's much newer.
[46:18] Speaker 1: It is a full four K camera. I actually shot
[46:21] Speaker 1: some video with it in Minneapolis at the American Atheist Conference,
[46:26] Speaker 1: and I'll have some videos in the coming months. And
[46:30] Speaker 1: so thank you so much for your generosity and for
[46:33] Speaker 1: helping to make that possible for me. Hopefully the whole
[46:36] Speaker 1: community and the channel will see the benefit in the
[46:39] Speaker 1: months and years ahead. Okay, we got to talk about
[46:43] Speaker 1: merging traffic. This is from Delaware Online the Delaware News Journal.
[46:52] Speaker 1: Have you seen the road sign right lane closed ahead,
[46:56] Speaker 1: merge left, But while you moved to the left lane
[47:00] Speaker 1: and other cars li by you in the right lane,
[47:03] Speaker 1: then they duck into the left lane ahead of the
[47:06] Speaker 1: cars in front of you, just before the right lane
[47:08] Speaker 1: is closed. Do you get mad? Yes, I'm sorry I
[47:14] Speaker 1: added the yes. It's not in the article. Believe it
[47:17] Speaker 1: or not, Those drivers who cut in line may be
[47:20] Speaker 1: practicing the best way to merge in that situation. It's
[47:25] Speaker 1: called zipper merge because it works like the teeth of
[47:29] Speaker 1: a zipper, and many states are studying the idea and
[47:33] Speaker 1: the best road signs to explain how drivers should do it.
[47:38] Speaker 1: See R McCloud, director of Community Relations for the Delaware
[47:42] Speaker 1: Department of Transportation, says, quote, when a vehicle slows down
[47:46] Speaker 1: to merge early in heavy traffic situations, it puts all
[47:50] Speaker 1: drivers in danger, slowing traffic down too quickly, leading to
[47:55] Speaker 1: unexpected crashes and lengthy queuing of traffic. The right lane
[48:00] Speaker 1: is closed ahead of most drivers trying to get over
[48:03] Speaker 1: into the left lane immediately after seeing the sign, traffic
[48:06] Speaker 1: in that lane slows and backs up past the point
[48:10] Speaker 1: of that first warning sign. Other drivers approaching at higher
[48:14] Speaker 1: speeds haven't seen any warning sign and may have to
[48:17] Speaker 1: slam on their brakes or veer into the right lane,
[48:19] Speaker 1: or may even crash into a vehicle in the left
[48:22] Speaker 1: lane that's traveling much slower or even stopped. These dangers
[48:26] Speaker 1: are decreased using these zipper merge, and traffic backups can
[48:32] Speaker 1: be reduced as much as forty percent. My position remains,
[48:40] Speaker 1: you assholes. I don't see this as a progression of society.
[48:46] Speaker 1: I see it as a regression. This is part of
[48:49] Speaker 1: the end of the world scenario that I've been talking about.
[48:51] Speaker 1: It's one of the reasons I may be driving with
[48:54] Speaker 1: my apocalypse outfit on. Like if I'm ever in a
[48:58] Speaker 1: car wreck, the paramedics pull me up and I'm wearing
[49:02] Speaker 1: the red cod piece and the baby blue bandanna. Maybe
[49:06] Speaker 1: I'm even hair sprayed with Mike Littery gold body suit on.
[49:10] Speaker 1: It will because of people who could not merge like
[49:15] Speaker 1: civilized people. I'm just saying, Seth has heard the science
[49:21] Speaker 1: and refuses to accept it. What kind of a skeptic
[49:24] Speaker 1: is he? You might have a valid criticism. I know
[49:27] Speaker 1: it's an emotional response, but still, you asshole. Rachel is
[49:38] Speaker 1: dialing in on the web. Hi, Rachel, what's going on?
[49:42] Speaker 8: I say, I'm calling from Australia. So it's a good
[49:45] Speaker 8: evening for me.
[49:47] Speaker 1: So let's see. That's a seventeen hour time difference. Why
[49:51] Speaker 1: it's an honor to speak to you. What's going on?
[49:55] Speaker 5: Oh?
[49:55] Speaker 8: Not too much, I think. I don't think this is
[49:58] Speaker 8: a new thought. That's something I've been thinking about a
[50:00] Speaker 8: lot lately, even though I'm not in the US with
[50:03] Speaker 8: Trump and everything, I kind of just get this sense of,
[50:06] Speaker 8: like thinking about what happened in the thirties with Germany
[50:09] Speaker 8: and fascist Italy and these kind of things that we
[50:11] Speaker 8: read about in history books, and I kind of get
[50:13] Speaker 8: the censor Like, I mean, we all know it's a
[50:16] Speaker 8: historical moment, but I kind of wonder, like in twenty
[50:18] Speaker 8: years time, when we look back on this time in
[50:21] Speaker 8: our history and kind of feel like this was our
[50:23] Speaker 8: generations reckoning with things like fascism and gender equality and
[50:28] Speaker 8: all these different issues that we deal with. I just
[50:30] Speaker 8: kind of think of like the people that lived back
[50:33] Speaker 8: in the thirties and forties and how it shaped their
[50:36] Speaker 8: lives and they're thinking and the sacrifices they made to
[50:39] Speaker 8: fight ideas like fascism, and how it kind of feels
[50:42] Speaker 8: that that's happening again now, but for a whole new generation.
[50:46] Speaker 8: So I just wanted to get your take on that.
[50:49] Speaker 1: What's that line, Those who do not learn from history
[50:52] Speaker 1: are destined to repeat it. It seems like what is
[50:56] Speaker 1: old is new again, right pretty much. I don't understand
[51:02] Speaker 1: why we don't understand it. Just seems like a cursory
[51:05] Speaker 1: look at the events of our past would show us
[51:11] Speaker 1: we would be able to recognize the authoritarians and the
[51:15] Speaker 1: opportunists and the tyrants and the monarchs and the abusers
[51:18] Speaker 1: and the oppressors. Seems like that, you know, we would
[51:22] Speaker 1: see them coming and we'd be like, Oh, this has
[51:25] Speaker 1: happened hundreds of times before. It's been chronicled throughout the ages.
[51:30] Speaker 1: We know what the signs are, we know what the
[51:32] Speaker 1: consequences are, we know what can and will happen, and
[51:36] Speaker 1: we know how to prevent it. It seems like we
[51:38] Speaker 1: would have gotten there, but humans just don't. Hurts the
[51:44] Speaker 1: heart doesn't it. No, I'm sorry, it looks like I
[51:49] Speaker 1: lost Rachel. That Cal apparently has dropped from the switchboard.
[51:54] Speaker 1: I don't know if we had a bad connection there
[51:56] Speaker 1: or not. Oh, Rachel, I'm so sorry about that. But
[51:59] Speaker 1: it's a great Those who do not learn from history
[52:03] Speaker 1: are destined to repeat it. And then in the nuclear
[52:08] Speaker 1: rage in the age of AI, what are we talking about?
[52:13] Speaker 1: I mean, I don't think I'm going all terminator when
[52:15] Speaker 1: I say whether if it's not us nuking each other,
[52:19] Speaker 1: what happens when AI decides that we're a pest, you know,
[52:24] Speaker 1: carbon based units, infesting enterprise, that's what we are. And
[52:29] Speaker 1: they just decide AI just says, man, you guys are idiots.
[52:33] Speaker 1: You're taking up oxygen, you're taking up resources. Boom, the
[52:38] Speaker 1: end of all things. I'm just saying, Gordon, I'm gonna try.
[52:44] Speaker 1: Gordon is dialing in on the web. Gordon, are you
[52:47] Speaker 1: with me?
[52:50] Speaker 5: Hi?
[52:50] Speaker 1: Gordon?
[52:52] Speaker 7: I am here. Wow, So I've got at experiment for you.
[52:57] Speaker 3: Think former you you were a Christian with a pot
[53:01] Speaker 3: of physic administration of the ship.
[53:04] Speaker 1: Gordon, our connection is horrible. But I did hear the question.
[53:08] Speaker 1: But I'm going to have to probably mute the calls
[53:10] Speaker 1: so I can answer it. How would the younger conservative
[53:14] Speaker 1: Republican Fox News christian Seth Andrews have approached Donald Trump,
[53:20] Speaker 1: I can guarantee you right now, despite the fact that
[53:22] Speaker 1: I was a Christian believed in God and Jesus and
[53:24] Speaker 1: all that stuff, I would have despised Trump, and I
[53:27] Speaker 1: would have known that guy was as full of shit
[53:29] Speaker 1: as possible. And let me tell you, I was already
[53:32] Speaker 1: when I was a younger believer, I was already looking
[53:35] Speaker 1: at the charlatan's, the televangelist, the grifters, the cons, the
[53:39] Speaker 1: cruel and saying that's just bullshit. I used to drive
[53:43] Speaker 1: a lot of my Christian associates friend's family crazy. I'm
[53:46] Speaker 1: not saying I was always a great skeptic, because I wasn't.
[53:49] Speaker 1: But I'll tell you I would have seen Donald Trump
[53:51] Speaker 1: and I would have known that guy is full of
[53:55] Speaker 1: shit and probably dangerous. Yeah. No, no, I don't think
[53:59] Speaker 1: I'm giving myself too much credit if I say that. Wow, Hey, brother,
[54:08] Speaker 1: I'm so sorry about the connection there. Unfortunately, the connections
[54:11] Speaker 1: making the rest of our conversation impossible at this point,
[54:16] Speaker 1: and I'm so sorry. So not having a lot of
[54:19] Speaker 1: luck with the technology. Maybe it's AI. Maybe it's interference
[54:24] Speaker 1: from the radiation because the bombs are flying overhead, and
[54:28] Speaker 1: it's the end of all things.
[54:32] Speaker 3: I don't know.
[54:33] Speaker 1: Thank you so much for spending some time with me.
[54:37] Speaker 1: As we discuss, we get all existential about the human condition.
[54:42] Speaker 1: You are so loved and appreciated. Your support is so appreciated.
[54:47] Speaker 1: Thank you very much, from me and mine to you
[54:50] Speaker 1: and yours, and I'll see you next time.
[54:52] Speaker 2: Follow The Thanking Atheist on Facebook and Twitter for a
[54:56] Speaker 2: complete archive of podcast and videos, products like monks and
[55:00] Speaker 2: t shirts featuring the Thinking Atheist logo, links to atheist
[55:03] Speaker 2: pages and resources, and details on upcoming free thought events
[55:07] Speaker 2: and conventions. Log onto our website, The Thinkingatheist dot com.

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