0:07 - Introduction to Movie Talk
15:30 - The Illusion of Selflessness
28:32 - Childhood Dynamics and Power
35:01 - Parenting and Political Needs
38:58 - Transition to Donor-Only Section
In this episode, I dive into the experience of watching two contrasting movies, which sets the stage for a broader discussion about themes in entertainment and their reflections on society. I start with a brief recounting of my movie night with my daughter, emphasizing our mixed feelings about the *Minecraft* movie. Then, I switch gears to my viewing of *Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning,* where I reflect on the extraordinary performance and athleticism of Tom Cruise, who at 62 continues to inspire awe with his action sequences.
Tom Cruise is not just an actor; he serves as a lens through which we can examine age and physical capability. His rigorous dedication and the sheer determination to push physical boundaries set him apart, reflecting what many might consider generational talent. In an age where most individuals slow down, his commitment to maintaining peak physical performance becomes a talking point that leads me into a discussion about societal perceptions of aging and male role models in action cinema.
Moving on, I critique the narrative style of *Mission Impossible*, describing it as "infantile" in its high-stakes scenarios contrasted with the lack of character depth among its protagonists. I draw parallels between the audience's engagement with these heroic figures and the emotional responses seen in infants, who experience high stakes in simple, everyday situations. The characters are portrayed as selfless warriors fighting for humanity without personal motives—much like our understanding of parents whose sole purpose is to care for their children.
I then explore the deeper implications of how these narratives shape societal beliefs about selflessness and authority. In an unfolding critique of the film, I suggest that audiences, much like children, encounter a simplistic dichotomy between the harmful "older sibling" archetypes representing societal power structures, such as corporate bosses, and the "selfless parent" figures likened to state or governmental authority figures. This leads to a larger conversation about the romanticism of the bureaucratic state, presenting it as a force for good when, ultimately, it is the flawed nature of human dependence and idealism that perpetuates such beliefs.
Throughout the episode, I utilize the framework of childhood psychology to examine why individuals gravitate toward narratives that serve to uphold authority—similar to how children depend on parents for safety. The notion that there are altruistic figures, akin to superheroes, who exist devoid of self-interest highlights a yearning within society for oversight, reinforcing budding beliefs that foster faith in governance.
As I transition into a discussion about politics, I draw insights from the film's theme to analyze the fabric of our governance structures, suggesting that our historical view of state actors as benevolent aims to mask the underlying self-interests at play. These realizations pose critical reflections on how our formative experiences with authority in childhood can shape adult perceptions of power dynamics—both in personal and political spheres.
As the episode wraps, I address comments from the audience, guiding them to understand the importance of addressing unmet childhood needs to avoid projecting those tenders onto political expectations. The conviction that the state can provide what was lacking in one's upbringing poses a significant barrier to personal growth and autonomy, reinforcing the necessity of critical reflection on past experiences.
The discussion builds toward advocating for self-reliance over state dependence, as I conclude with reflections on the ultimate goal of parenting: preparing children for independence, ensuring they grow to meet their own needs and navigate societal structures without the overwhelming grasp of authority figures.
[0:00] Well, good morning, everybody. Welcome to the 25th of May, 2025.
[0:08] And we are going to talk about a bunch of stuff this morning. I'm going to start off with a little bit of a movie I saw last night. I haven't seen a lot of movies in the theater lately. But, of course, I went to go and see the Minecraft movie with my daughter. After she saw it, she wouldn't see it, but then she ended up having a lot of fun. But I went to go and see Mission Impossible, The Final Reckoning, because what man in his late 60s doesn't want to feel almost infinitely physically inferior to the extraordinarily jacked up and possibly juiced up Tom Cruise? I say that with no sense of bitterness, but I saw this meme the other day from, I think there was the last song that Johnny Cash recorded, Hurt. And it was like, every time I go to the gym and I'm over 40, I hurt myself today. So, yes.
[1:06] It's a very interesting movie. I think it's worth watching because it is very much like old school, sheer entertainment movie making. Tom Cruise's physical abilities in his, what is, is he in his 60s? How old is Tom Cruise? How, I think he's in his 60s. How old is Tom Cruise? Uh 62 yeah he was born in 1962 so he's 62 years old and he's fantastic um i mean an extraordinary talent like an absolutely generational talent uh he does uh serious movies romantic movies seeing him as les grossman in tropic thunder is absolutely crazy easy. No, it wasn't a Nine Inch Nails cover of Hurt, was it? Johnny Cash's last song? Oh, Johnny Cash just sang for Nine Inch Nails? I don't know. Anyway, that hurt.
[2:09] So Tom Cruise is an absolute force of nature. And what has he been divorced three times? And he's involved in some pretty strange stuff. I think he's estranged from one of his kids from his marriage. Suri is her name. so i mean he's a working machine uh and he is a athletics machine in one of his last movies he did a jump across a building from building to building stunt and broke his ankle and i you know took a couple of weeks off and then came back and matt damon has a pretty funny story about talking to tom cruise and tom cruise saying and i've always wanted to do this stunt and my stunt coordinator says it's impossible so i get a new stunt coordinator i just keep going oh trent Reznor wrote it for Nine Inch Nails. Okay. It's not particularly important. He just sang a song. We don't need to go into the entire etymology.
[2:58] So, I mean, it's funny because here's the thing too. Like this is how foolish the human mind is, or at least my human mind is. It's completely foolish because, you know, like he's doing himself an IMAX. He's got massive close-ups. The man is the size of a helium balloon on the screen. And you're like, oh, his face looks a little puffy. Oh, he looks a little wrinkled. Like I don't. That's the funny thing. We sort of judge these things from a distance and we compare, or at least I do, sort of compare Tom Cruise to the smooth-faced, apple-cheeked young man of his risky business days and all of that. And so, you know, you look and you say, geez, a little wrinkled, you know, like I'm not.
[3:37] It's just funny. It's just funny to see the way the mind works because he looks fantastic and his physical and athletic abilities are absolutely staggering. Like 90% of people after the age of 30 never sprint again. And this guy's full on sprinting in his 60s. His fight scenes are incredible. And the physicality and commitment is astounding. And the movie is utterly infantile. And I say this having enjoyed a lot of the stunts, you know, you just kind of turn your Shakespeare brain off and just enjoy people sort of testing their physical limits. And I don't think he's wrecked his body in quite the same way that Keanu Reeves has. Like Keanu Reeves, his shoulder and his knee is all kind of messed up and all of that. But I'll tell you what makes it infantile. And I don't mean infantile in like the movie is immature or anything like that. Uh yeah he's five seven yeah no i mean the the man is an absolute force of nature when it comes to movie making uh he he just the work ethic is astounding the concentration is astounding the physical commitment is astounding i'm often wonder like action movie heroes i wonder if they um ever look at you know because he did um oh gosh my neighbor has two rabbits It's that one with Rene Zellweger where he just played this romantic guy.
[5:05] And I wonder if there are people like, well, I don't have to break an ankle to do this role. Must be kind of nice. Yeah, still bankable. And I think he talked to Ben Stiller when Ben Stiller wanted him to play Lou Grossman or whatever his name was in Tropic Thunder. And Tom Cruise said, like, I have two things. One, I want giant hands. Two, I'm going to dance. And he pulled it off in a truly astounding way. There's actually a very funny little bit he did with Robert Patterson about needing Robert Patterson. Jerry Maguire, thanks. Robert Patterson to continue to have dirty hair. Your filthy hair is making me millions. What are you going to wash it with? What are you going to wash it with?
[5:43] Dirt? So, yeah. So, Tom Cruise is an absolute force of nature and an incredibly admirable work ethic and all kinds of cool stuff that he does. But the movie is actually infantile. And the reason I say it's infantile is it's high stakes and no personalities. Right. So I won't do any particular spoilers, but the movie is it's incredibly high stakes. Like, you know, they're going out with a, with a bang. So they have to have that super high stakes thing. And I got no problem with that. Like, I remember explaining to my daughter when she was very little, the concept of the MacGuffin, like the MacGuffin is just what drives the plot. Like the Maltese Falcon and Maltese Falcon. And, you know, it's just what drives the plot. It's something that everybody needs, everybody wants, and they just fight like crazy to get it. And so So you just have to have things that people want in, I mean, just breaking down scenes as an actor when I was in acting school. It's like, what's my character's motivation? What's my intention? Why does the scene start here and then end here? What does my character want? How does he try to achieve it? So obviously this MacGuffin, this thing that they want is, you know, as high stakes as you could imagine.
[6:55] Thank you. Think clearly. Donations at freedomand.com slash donate. Very, very gratefully and humbly and appreciatively accepted. Thank you. But so here's the reason why it's infantile. So the audience, in my view, in a movie like this Mission Impossible, The Final Reckoning, and I guess I haven't seen many of the others. I think I saw the first one.
[7:16] But the reason why I think it's the audience is put in the position of an infant, the movie is Final, Mission Impossible, Final Reckoning. So the reason why I would call it infantile is for an infant, the stakes are incredibly high and the parents don't really have personalities.
[7:41] The stakes are incredibly high and the parents don't have personalities. So for a baby, if you're hungry or you're thirsty, you're uncomfortable because you're sitting in your own poop or whatever it is, the stakes are incredibly high, right? Because you can't feed yourself. So you're kind of helpless. The stakes are incredibly high. And your caregivers have no self-interest and no personality, right? So when you're a baby, you wake up at 2 in the morning, 4 in the morning, 6 in the morning, whatever it is, and you cry. And you cry so that you can get your food, your cuddles, your milk, whatever it is that you need. And you don't, and this is not a criticism of babies, it's just the way that life is, you don't actually have any empathy for your parents. And neither should you, right? Because you just, you need the food. All right, we're back. Sorry about that. I had forgotten that this computer gray screens from time to time. I'd completely forgotten about that because I haven't used this in a while, at least for live streaming. But I'm sure we'll be fine going forward. So that'll be good. My apologies. It's all quite exciting. so so yeah so when you're a baby everything's incredibly high stakes and you don't empathize with your parents right.
[9:11] And you.
[9:14] That's the way it is in the movie. So in the movie, everything's incredibly high stakes, and the crew has no personality and no preferences. All they do is they dedicate themselves to the betterment of humanity with no personal identity, right? So like Ethan Hawke, you know, he keeps falling in love, I guess, And then, you know, people keep, the women keep getting captured and killed and dying and all of that kind of stuff. So he doesn't have any particular personality of his own. He's just there to selflessly serve humanity in the most incredibly high stakes situation and doing things that are impossible to the audience, right? I mean, what Tom Cruise does, his athleticism, his, I don't know what diet and exercise regime he has, but I assume it's fairly intense. The audience can't do what he does. You know, I was in the movie theater and, you know, watching 62-year-old, you know, ripped abbed, incredibly flexible, strong Tom Cruise do his thing. And then you look at the audience and, you know, guys who are Tom Cruise's ages are kind of slowly getting up with the sort of nodded bob creaking sound from my novel just poor.
[10:39] And they they cannot do what he does right they can't do what he does and that's the baby's view right tom cruise is like a superhero of athleticism he just is right he's amazing and, he does things that the audience can't do, So, that is an infantile thing. Your parents are superheroes. They can do all of these things you can't do. And they have no particular personality. They exist to serve you just as the Mission Impossible Squad exists to serve humanity in a sort of thankless task and so on. And they say that nobody... That nobody knows what we do for them, that we are sort of secret and hidden, and nobody knows all of the good that we do for them.
[11:35] And that's sort of like parents, right? I mean, the babies don't understand what the parents do for them. They're incredibly, they're astounding, high stakes. They have no particular personalities. They exist to serve babies just as these guys exist to serve the population as a whole. And they are unappreciated. And of course, babies don't thank you, right? That's not their gig. They can't do it. They don't have the brain development, right? Babies are born, what, 60% of adult brain size, and by the time you're five, it's like 90% of adult brain size.
[12:08] So babies can't thank you. It's a thankless task in Mission Impossible, right? They don't have any personality. Neither do children or babies recognize the parents' personalities, and they selflessly serve humanity, and parents selflessly serve babies. They're incredibly athletic and do things that are impossible, right? And everything that parents do to babies is kind of impossible because babies can't do it themselves. So I think that Mission Impossible puts the babies in an infantile state. Because the other thing that's true, and Ving Rhames plays this as the black computer genius in the movie, plays this well where there's a point where Ving Rhames is in a very bad situation and he's totally calm and reasonable about it. And so when babies are panicking, which they do on a regular basis because they don't know how their needs are going to be met and they can't meet their own needs. So when babies are panicking, the adults stay calm.
[13:13] And, of course, when you are a parent, this is a very common thing with parents, when you're a parent, what you do is you look with some bemusement at the panics that your children have. Like, I have to have this toy, or it's like the end of the world or something like that. Everything's incredibly high stakes for children, which is fine. But, of course, as an adult, you know, I remember when my daughter was little, she liked, I don't know if you've ever done this, you can get these coins. At like places like Niagara Falls and other places. You get these coins and you get a stamp on them and then you get to keep the coin. So she really, really wanted one. I get that, you know, everything in video games or tablet games is like gems. You collect gems, right? That's why there aren't any. Collect cockroaches, right? You collect gems. And so, you know, gathering of wealth is essential for children's development. It's kind of what they want and need. And so i bought her one of these uh little coins that you you stamp right, and she was desperate for it so that's fine you know you she can't fulfill her own needs she doesn't have her own money when she was that little so i got her and then the next time she wanted one i said hey i'm happy to buy it for you again but you have to tell me where the last one is where's the last one remember we bought one here a while uh um.
[14:37] Somebody says, I'm barely following. Get the point of this, please. That's interesting. So I'm talking about immaturity, or not immaturity, but appropriate maturity for babies. I'm talking about people being in an infantile state in the movie, and that somebody's actually doing this on Rumble. I'm barely following. Get to the point of this, please. Well, no. I will do the show the way that I want to do it.
[15:08] And if you don't like it, this is how I communicate. And if you don't like it, there's a million other channels that you can go and see. But I'm trying to sort of build a case here about what the movie is doing and why people respond to it. And this is going to tie into politics as well, which we'll get to in just a second. So if you can't follow, that's fine. I sympathize.
[15:30] If you can't follow, this may not be the channel for you. So just wanted to mention that.
[15:42] So the belief or the fantasy that there are people out there massively dedicated to the good of humanity who have no lives of their own, no needs of their own, take no thanks, have no stability, and simply exist as you or other or population-serving machines is really the foundation for the virtues of people's imagination about statism and about bureaucrats. You know, there are just, you know, you see this all over the place, right? But there are these people who just wake up to serve humanity and don't have any needs of their own, don't have any families, don't have any preferences, don't have any regrets, and are just selflessly dedicated to doing the right thing and the good thing.
[16:36] In a way that doesn't exist right which is to say we divide humanity into those who have, self-interest and those who are selfless ideal kantian golden rule slaves robots or servants of the common good and because we fantasize that there are two groups in humanity the selfish and the selfless, those who have their own preferences and work towards satisfying their own, desires, and those who have no preferences for themselves and selflessly and, in a sense, slavishly dedicate themselves to the good of humanity as a whole, why is this compelling to us? Why do we believe this? I did an article rebuttal yesterday about critiques of anarcho-capitalism because it's a topic that I kind of miss and really, really like. Why is it that we divide humanity into the self-interested and the selfless?
[17:54] So we have selfish bad guys, self-interested good guys, and selfless heroes, right? Selfish bad guys, self-interested good guys, and selfless heroes. Well, I'm going to say that the reason why we have this belief, and here's a typical example is, well, you see, my friends, there are these evil capitalists in the world, right? These evil corporations, these capitalists, and they just want to exploit you and they just want to steal from you and underpay you and they're just really selfish, mean people who are drawn to power and want to exercise that power in an evil way over the general population, right? So the class of people who will exploit you if they have any kind of power or if they're your boss, right? They'll just demand that you work weekends or threaten to fire you and they're just mean, terrible, exploitive people. Right? So that's the selfish bad guys, right? And you are the self-interested good guy. You don't want to exploit others, but you don't want to be exploited. You're relatively empathetic and so on, right? So you got selfish bad guys.
[19:12] You've got self-interested good guys, and then you have selfless heroes. So, of course, the selfless heroes put themselves forward, or the propaganda puts themselves forward as, we're going to protect you, you, right, but we're over here. We're going to protect you, the self-interested good guy, from the selfish bad guy because we are the selfless heroes. So we're going to stand between you and the selfish bad guys so that you can be protected. And we don't need any thanks. We don't have any needs of our own, and we just exist to serve you. Now, let's put this in the baby crib, right? Because there's always a reason why people find such absolutely irrational things compelling, right? It's completely irrational, of course. Saying that there's selfish bad guys who love to exploit you through power, and they're your bosses in a voluntary free market environment, but the people in the government are just selfless caped crusaders who only exist to serve you and protect you from the bad guys is to create those with power into two categories. Those who have power in a voluntary sense, in other words, they're your boss, but you can quit and they can fire you and you can go get another job and so on. So those who are the bad guys in a voluntary situation are utterly corrupted by power. But those who have coercive power over you, the power of the state, are just selfless, noble, wonderful, virtuous heroes.
[20:37] And the people in the free market are utterly corrupted by power, even though that power is voluntary. It's a voluntary relationship, but the people who have coercive power over you and your descendants through debts and unfunded liabilities, the people who have coercive power over you, well, you see, those people are not corrupted by power. So voluntary power in the free market utterly corrupts capitalists and bosses and managers, but coercive power in the political realm does not corrupt anyone whatsoever. Obviously, this makes no sense at all. This makes no sense at all. I mean, it is the moral and logical equivalent of saying, your boyfriend is going to abuse you, but the guy who kidnaps you is in love and just wants the best thing for you, right? The voluntary situation is corrupting, but the coercive situation is noble and heroic. So why do people believe this? Well, the reason that people believe this is because it mirrors infancy.
[21:45] See what I can get out of a Tom Cruise movie, right? So in infancy, what do you have? You have bad things. This is your hunger, your thirst, your discomfort, your boredom. And maybe if you have loud or tormenting siblings or something like that, there's sort of the negatives, right? So this is the equivalent of the selfish bad guy. As a baby, as a toddler, you have impulses that are painful, that are uncomfortable, that are maddening, and so on. Like babies can't even scratch their own backs, right? So you get an itch, you just got to cry, right? You can't, when you drink the milk, you often will end up with sort of bubbles and you need to be burped and patted and so on. You can't even discharge your own physical discomfort. Heaven forbid you have something like colic or something like that. It's just brutal on babies. Babies spend a fair amount of time utterly uncomfortable and helpless so saying that there are bad guys these are the negative impulses either internal negative experiences either internal discomfort or external if you've got um teasing or negative or hostile siblings which was of course the case from most families throughout most of human history i'm one i think my very first memory is of my brother dancing around me and teasing me in a sort of nasal, difficult, shrill, unpleasant voice. So it's just negative, right?
[23:09] So for a baby, the baby is good, self-interested. The baby's negative impulses are the villains. And the noble, selfless heroes are the parents who solve the problem.
[23:34] So and of course for toddlers the negative experiences are sometimes of their own making, right they they lean too forward they fall over they try to walk they fall over they grab something it's too hot they you know whatever that there's just negative experiences based upon their own choices right so i think this is why so so it's more free will free market stuff it's your own choices. So, I think that the Tom Cruise stuff is very compelling to people because he is the selfless, statist bureaucrat who is willing to undergo impossible, unbearable physical torture and negative stimuli with no self-interest and no preferences of his own in order to save humanity even though he gets no thanks. Well, that's the noble parent who takes care of the baby's needs. And this is why authority is salvation, right? You're giving government power is salvation. And when you're a baby...
[24:44] Your parents are the state, and they save you from the negative impulses of the negative experiences, either internal or external. I'll sort of give you an example with regards to siblings. So in this formulation, your boss is an older sibling. The state is the parent. Right? So the way it works for most of human evolution is as a younger sibling, you cannot compete for resources. Your older siblings will take more resources. They will take more time. They will take more attention. They will take more food. They will take more water. They will take more space. And they will take it away from you, right? So those who are slightly above you in power, but not as powerful as the parents is your a boss who's above you in power, but not nearly as powerful as the state.
[25:44] Just hit me with a why if you're following this so far, and I don't mean this in any way. It's a challenging series of arguments to make, but I think it really does, explode out why people are so susceptible to this power scenario, this power situation, why they fear their bosses, but love the state. Okay. So, so elder siblings. So with elder siblings they will take from you and it is up to the parents to to instruct the elder siblings to not take your stuff so, Now that you're getting to the point, I am, says someone.
[26:25] Yes, that's right. You must be really good at getting to the point. You should run shows, not watch shows. Because if you're better at explaining complex, psychopolitical social dynamics than me, then you should definitely run your own show and not watch mine. And I'll watch your show and take notes. I'm pretty good at explaining this stuff. It's very complex.
[26:45] So in the in that sort of the mind state of the citizen the boss is an older sibling who is dangerous because the older sibling can take things from you because you're a baby or a toddler right and you have to appeal to the parents to get the older sibling to give you stuff back which is why the capitalist your boss is the exploiting older sibling who's going to take from you and you have no uh you have no chance because he's got more power than you but much less power than the state in it than the parents right so your older sibling has more power than you it's going to take stuff from you it's going to exploit you but he's way less power than the state so you have to bypass your older sibling to appeal to your parents and say uh joe joe took the last orange right we had i've got i've got eight there are eight kids in the household there There were eight oranges, and the youngest kid doesn't get the orange because the older kid took it. And then you have to appeal to the parents. You can't go and get it from the older sibling because he's bigger and stronger. So you have to appeal to the parents, right?
[27:54] And so in the same way, you feel helpless with regards to your boss, helpless to negotiate with regards to your boss. And you can't gain strength and power with your sibling because they're always going to be older, right? Always going to be older and stronger. I mean, maybe at the very end of your life, they'll be a little weaker, but that's irrelevant to the sort of formation of the psychology. So you can't grow in power to get stuff back. And if you've had a fractious or abusive relationship with an elder sibling, it's really quite maddening because they're always bigger and stronger and faster and so on, right?
[28:33] You can't win. You can't win physically. So you have to bypass the sibling and appeal to the parents because you can't gain enough strength and power to take things back from your sibling.
[28:46] And in the same way, if you have a mean boss, a boss who dominates, a boss who yells or whatever it is, you can't gain enough economic strength, power, independence, and value to fight back. I mean, over time, you've got a mean boss, right? You've got a bad boss. One of the big solutions, of course, is to gain economic strength and value to the point where, you can start your own company and you don't need your boss, or you can go and get a better job and you don't need your boss. But that takes a while. It takes usually at a minimum a year or two to gain the kind of skills or value that means you can leave a bad boss behind and go to some new boss or become your own boss. I got thoroughly tired of working for people. So I have been my own boss for like, oh gosh, with one sort of brief couple of year exception in the middle since my late twenties. So that's almost 30, almost 30 years. I've been, they say 27 or 28 out of 30 years I've been my own boss because I just, I don't like working for people. I consider most people much less competent than I am.
[30:05] People start, and Mission Impossible, I remember a friend of mine many years ago referred to Tom Cruise's mindset as rage against the breast, which it seemed to fit. And that, of course, is. So Tom Cruise is working to create an infantile state among people for reasons I sort of talked about before. And this is the root of people's faith and trust in government, is that in people's minds, their boss is an older sibling. And you're in danger from your older sibling so you have to run to your parents to protect you from your older sibling who's going to take your resources and and maybe push and and you know in extreme cases put you in danger or or get you killed because you know you've seen these i'm sure you see these videos of the little baby birds in the nest pushing out the other baby birds because they want to keep the resources for themselves and that's sort of common in nature that siblings, Edmund and Edgar Starr from King Lear, our siblings can sometimes work to eliminate the other sibling. It happened a lot in sort of the ancient world when siblings were fighting for a crown or an emperorship. They just poison and eliminate each other to get the prize.
[31:21] So you have localized lesser power that you can't respond to or fight against or protect yourself from, or maybe even survive in an extreme case. So you have an instinct to bypass the cruel older brother to go to the selfless moral parent so that you are protected from the predations of the siblings and thus can survive. And this translates in people's mind to, this is from the Communist Manifesto, that the capitalists, the bourgeois, the corporations who are the elder siblings are corrupt, mean, and vicious, and you need an all-powerful state to protect you from them. And that's why people believe this stuff, even though it makes absolutely zero logical sense from a moral or practical standpoint or a historical standpoint as well. All right. So let me just get to your comments. And this is why peaceful parenting solves this stuff, right? Because if people have unmet childhood needs, they will attempt to get those childhood needs met through politics.
[32:32] If you had parents who didn't provide you what you needed as a baby, then you will be drawn to having the state provide you what you needed as a baby, and which was helpful to you as a baby, but what is utterly destructive for you as an adult. As an adult, trying to get your infant needs met through, or childhood needs met through politics is absolutely, utterly, completely destructive. Because it swells the power of the state, which is the real danger. Would you consider coming back to politics? No, I don't think that philosophy is where politics is at at the moment. Politics at the moment is about power. And politics. Debate is about reason, and I don't think politics is about debate anymore. All right.
[33:27] What do you think is some women's obsession over self-diagnosis of things like autism, borderline personality, and OCD? I know too many women like this, even my wife, who's great at many levels, look up these things every time she has an emotional flare-up, looking for the, quote, reason. Okay, so obviously I can't diagnose anyone, and I have no skill, expertise, or competence in this area, so this is all just foolish amateur opinions, but it is not. Let's say that you've had bad parents, childhood trauma, and so on you've not dealt with. So do your parents want you to look up something as a diagnosis, or do your parents want you to look at them in a critical manner?
[34:08] So if people, let's say your wife has an emotional flare-up, well, I would assume that one of the reasons or one of the good things to do with regards to her emotional flare-up would be to go to her childhood and figure out the sort of course and unmet needs and avoidance of legitimate suffering from the childhood that would cause an emotional flare-up. However, that leads towards criticism of the parents. So the parents, the inner alter ego parents, in my, again, humble amateur opinion, would be driving her to look for some sort of technical definition that lets the parents off the hook. Off the hook, right? So if you have ridiculously critical parents, then you're going to double, triple check everything and never feel quite at ease with your own decisions, which is something to do with OCD. So I'm not saying all OCD is related to parents, right? This is one possibility.
[35:01] So if you have to constantly check things because you have parents yelling at you in your head, because they're hypercritical, then your parents would rather you look at, oh, I have, quote, I have OCD, rather than go back to the source of all of this, which would be parental neglect or abuse. All right.
[35:24] Because we are all selfish, but it gives us hope we have to have something to strive for. Sure, but of course, you know, your selfishness as a parent includes the happiness of your children, right? As is your case with your wife and friends, right? All right, let me just get to your...
[35:45] I am the oldest in my family. Is that why I have an asshole persona? I wouldn't put it deterministically that way. after your last few uploads read some seneca you need it lately lol strange and immature set of comments i think we've had this guy as a troll before, that was quite awesome thanks Stef my girlfriend quite likes it too it was her first time hearing an argument like that i'm good in politics they can't even get the doge cuts passed yeah for sure, rock legend pete townsend of the who says bruce springsteen ruined everyone's night when he brought politics to the stage. He's a bit overrated to begin with. He's the kind of bloke who, who should just shut up and play. Hey, little baby, is your daddy home? Did he run away and leave you all alone? I got a bad desire. I'm on fire. Hey, little girl. Well, I assume that most people, I assume, and it happens on the right too, but I assume it's a bit more on the left. I assume most people, hardcore into leftist politics, have some seriously deranged skeletons in their closet. Seriously deranged skeletons in their closet. All right.
[37:10] And Bomega, nice to see you freedomain.com to help out the show you say, I'm thinking of the metaphor of training wheels on a bike, a child needs the adult will never be free if they don't learn to ride without them, can the adult ever rely on themselves if they never learn the risk of, falling and how to stop it, ditto with government, interesting.
[37:35] Yeah, I mean my daughter is eager to get her life started, eager to be independent, right? And I respect that. And, you know, I was talking about this with her last night. Like that's really been the goal. The goal has been to get her to a state of independence and self-reliance, right? Meeting all of her needs, teaching her how to meet her own needs, helping her divvy up legitimate from illegitimate needs, learning how to navigate the needs that other people have of you and the needs that you have for yourself and the needs you have of other people. This is all the purpose of parenting is, you know, like my friend, my roommate from college, right? His father said, you know, like you're as a parent, you're like a bow, right? You draw back the bow and then you launch the child into the world as an independent entity. And you have to meet the child's needs. So then the child knows the needs can be met, learns how to trust. And then the child learns how to meet his or her own needs and then how to navigate the needs other people have and they have. Right and then they can be independent and then they don't need the state they have self-trust right uh easy just turned 16 not too long ago right uh yeah she's uh 16 i'm a 16 and a half, so it's our last uh it's our last full year.
[38:54] Just the way that it is.
[38:58] All right. Let me just check my motivation.
[39:08] And see how the donations are. Are we getting anything? Is we going to go donor-only in a sec? No more I love you.
[39:30] And you can of course join that at fdrurl.com slash locals fdrurl.com slash locals, all right so um i really do appreciate that i've got some fairly spicy stuff to get into on the donor-only section. Hello, Trogaz. Sorry if you joined and you're not a donor. We're just about to head to donor-only. So you can, of course, get involved in that. And it's a great donor community. And boy, do you get a lot of bonuses. You get a bunch of AIs. You get the 23-part History of Philosopher series. And you also get Truth About the French Revolution. It's a 12-hour presentation. It's great stuff. Freedomain.locals.com. You're a member. Fantastic. somebody says crazy I started listening when I didn't have kids and more your is about to 18 and mine's about to be nine yeah that's true, all right so let's do our donor only local supporters only update stream and we will go to that.
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