In 1968, Abbie Hoffman famously wrote a book called Revolution for the Hell of It. In 1973, this negatively inspired David Friedman to write a chapter called “Revolution is the Hell of It.” Last month, I watched The Battle of Algiers, probably the most famous pro-terrorist (or at least anti-anti-terrorist) movie in history. If you don’t […]
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It was a fluke, really – a case of the enemy having their guard down that enabled Donald J. Trump to navigate his way to presidential victory in 2016 to begin with. Personally, I chalk it up to overconfidence on the part of the establishment: A smug certainty that such an entrenched, politically-connected public figure as former first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton could easily wipe an outspoken billionaire-entrepreneur-turned-TV-personality off the map without much rigging of the system. But of course, they were wrong.
“[T]o restore the soul and to secure the future of America,” President Joe Biden said in his inaugural speech, “requires more than words. It requires that most elusive of things in a democracy: Unity. … This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge, and unity is the path forward.” The bad news: Where politics is concerned, “unity” is a pipe dream.
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible,” President John F. Kennedy said in a 1962 speech, “will make violent revolution inevitable.” Nearly 60 years later, two warring groups within the American political class seem resolutely determined to make “peaceful revolution” — by which JFK seems to have meant orderly democratic decision-making — impossible.
This episode features a lecture by evolutionary psychologist, research professor, and author Peter Gray from 2018 on the role of play in the development of human children, the growing lack of play over the past several decades, and how to bring more play into our children’s lives.
An interview with Faisal Saeed Al Mutar.
Socialist and nationalist revolutionaries are Latin America’s most successful criminal gangs, augmenting sheer brutality with fanatical ideology. The average person in these countries, however, craves tranquility and opportunity. Revolutionaries are a handful of wolves who make daily life hell, all the while vainly promising a heaven-on-earth that never comes.
Episode 428 welcomes back Alex R. Knight III to chat with Skyler on the following topics: finally making the connection between his former alcoholism and trauma he experienced in childhood and adolescence; accepting failure as okay, and not as shameful; post-traumatic stress disorder experienced by both of them; family disfunction and divorce; the roots of authoritarianism in violent (physically and psychologically/emotionally) parenting; laws against spanking; the effects of prolonged brain exposure to stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline; stress in infancy, such as “cry-it-out”; evolutionary reasons why kids protest bedtime; Skyler’s family bedroom; and more.
For many years I have heard the tired old comments about government agents prying guns from cold dead hands. I recall a man with 300 partners on a mountain pass once said something similar, but he demonstrated through his actions that he actually meant it. I don’t think YOU really mean it. Your contemporary bravado is fine if we accept it for what it is. In truth, are YOU really THAT resolute & tough?
I’ve always been weird, but at this point in my life I feel like I understand non-weird people quite well. If you’re still baffled, my weird friends, one simple principle captures most of what you need to know.