(EF26) It Really Is All You Need
Love is paying attention for potential problems before they manifest into dangerous monsters.
(EF26) Challenged Realities
What is the worse reality: Complete freedom where anyone can create fake news and thus manipulate society? Or constrained press where the government can manipulate society with the laws?
(EF26) Bad Odds
The insidious nature of modern propaganda and social media algorithms has the deck stacked against you.
(EF26) The Darkest Path
Selling to fear and other powerful emotions is the only true path to sales… and votes.
EF26 Show Notes
EF26 peeks behind the curtain of Episode EF7 to dissect the following submitted questions: Is this really what happens in politics? Are there any honest politicians anymore? Does just knowing about conformism help you to not allow it to happen? What do we do about the problem of fake news? Was there fake news before the Internet? If rhetoric was once honorable, what happened? Is this really what happens in politics? Are elections really won more on misdirection and fallacy than on a platform of truth, say, in the USA? Who can I trust? Who is most at risk and how can I help keep my kids away from shit like this? And more…
But what are the real cornerstones of these dark arts of mental wordplay? And it possible to recognize—or even to fight back—when someone tries to sway you using mental magic tricks filled with lies?
EF26 (AMA-EF7): The Impossibility of Honest Politicians and Protecting Our Kids from The Most Insidious Fake News — Ask Me Anything for Episode EF7
EF26 is an Ask Me Anything about Episode EF7 (Sleight of Mind: The Black Magic of Rhetoric). The driving question of this episode (and this AMA) for you to think through is … can we trust reason? In an online world now overcome with fake news, reason and rational thinking would seem to be an obvious bet for an antidote. But how many times did you find yourself in a situation where your reasoning was unreasonable to somebody else? Does this mean it’s not a consistent tool we can trust in all situations? Or are there other skills you need to develop in your critical thinking toolbelt in order to fight fire with rhetorical fire?
(EF25) Deceit Comes with the Job
One of the dark arts of politics is to create a false mindset using people’s fears and emotions against them.
(EF25) Get Into the Mental Gym
Learning about reason, and then deciding when you can trust it, is a critical topic of our time.
(EF25) Learn the Tricks
A person who understands fallacies is hard to fool; magic tricks are just silly games once you know the secret.
(EF25) A Wolf in Sheep’s Skin
The deadliest enemy is powerful rhetoric or propaganda wrapped in a perfect package of reason.
(EF25) Facts Aren’t Powerful Enough
It’s no longer enough to counter ill-intended information with facts; now we must fight rhetoric with even better rhetoric.
EF25 Show Notes
In an online world now overcome with fake news, reason and rational thinking would seem to be an obvious bet for an antidote. But how many times did you find yourself in a situation where your reasoning was unreasonable to somebody else?
To peek behind the curtain of Episode EF7, we’ll dissect the following submitted questions: Why the question “Can we trust reason?” Did you write this episode before or after Trump’s election? Are these mental black arts really this much like black magic? What are some direct parallels? Is rhetoric the same as propaganda? Is Edward written around anyone real? Is Arding supposed to be like a Trump? What did Elliot do? And more…