Savvy world leaders like Vladimir Putin intentionally distort “reality” by creating intentionally conflicting narratives to confuse the masses and his political enemies. Unc and Phew discuss this, along with the further erosion of objectivity in the media, and the inability of many people to accept the truth because it’s simply too much for them to bear.

Show Notes

Phew’s Burgeoning Career as an Author

• Writing The Power Bible
• Good things keep happening
• New York Times Bestselling Author James Altucher is writing the forward for the book
• Altucher asked Phew to write a chapter for his upcoming release, Skip the Line
• How to advance your standing in a given area quickly

Frame Control

• Controlling context or narrative
• Frames: the context in which data occurs
• Why we grant authority to people
• How much is real, and how much is subject to manipulation

Putin’s Monopoly on the Nominal Truth

• Putin saying contradictory things in different situations and contexts
• Intentional disintermediation
• The goal IS confusion

Adam Curtis

• BBC documentarian Adam Curtis
• Documentaries he has created
• Oh Dearism Part 1
• Oh Dearism Part 2 
• HyperNormalisation

A Brief History of Information Distribution

• Power was distributed
• Power then began to become more centralized
• The problem in the past: information was unavailable and it was difficult to bring it together
• Then, for a few hundred years, information was available and could be distributed
• Now, we’ve entered an era of information proliferation
• French philosopher named Jean Boudreard, who wrote The Transparency of Evil
• The problems: terrorism, and the proliferation of information

Asymmetrical Advantage

• By controlling the ability of others to known the nominal truth, Putin gains an asymmetrical advantage
• Fox News, CNN. etc. have become nothing more than narrative dispensaries
• Two new COVID-19 studies: much higher percentage of population infected, ergo, mortality rate is dramatically lower
• What we saw in the press in the aftermath of that: two totally different things
• Two entirely different narratives

Which narrative do you pick?

• There is no middle ground
• Small outbreak in Manistee, MI
• All these outlets want to put out definitive statements on this, when they really don’t know

Beating the Dead Horse of Non-Objective Journalism

• Repeat of Journalism RIP
• Back in 2016, people still believed in journalism
• Now? Almost no one does
• Now, there is too much information, and if we can trust official sources anymore

Well, you know, it IS the New York Times

• How things have changed that people think that
• That becomes dangerous
• Seeking out confirmation of preferred narrative vs seeking the truth
• Victimhood narratives often seek out confirmation of their victimhood

Algorithms are getting out of control

• Differing search results based on different computers
• China has figured out how to centralize power
• We are a series of feuding fiefdoms

Our Own Worst Enemy

• Putin: Why would I fight America? We have the Democratic party for that
• We have two different Americas within the same geographic borders
• China even more oppressive than Putin-era Russia
• Whoever plays more by the rules is bound to lose
• When you are not restricted by law, there are no limits
• Whoever plays less by the rules wins

Refusal to Accept Reality Based on Inability to Handle the Truth

• Why so many people refuse to believe in conspiracy: because to believe is so psychologically heavy for so many people, they might not be able to handle it
• DMT: Joe Rogan has had multiple podcasts on the topics
• Video: I will never, ever take it again; I wasn’t meant to see what I saw
• Analogous to the thinking of so many people
• Can’t deal with the truly evil nature of some things

History Full of Horrific Atrocities

• Listen to Dan Carlin’s “Hardcore History;” listen to episodes on Mongols and Vikings
• H.P. Lovecraft: People would lose their mind when they encountered the real world
• You have to be able to meet evil where it is

God-Centric vs Humanistic

• Do you believe in a higher power, or do you not?
• If you don’t, you believe in secularism and humanism
• Human beings are your only option
• Absent a belief in God, Unc would be living in terror all the time
• If you only believe in man, you have an inherent tendency to overstate the good in man
• Designs don’t have to be evil to be bad
• Guy who was attacked in broad daylight for no apparent reason

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