Tag Archives: listenerfav

Logic is about understanding reality in a non-contradictory way and how can we see things for what they are. Metaphysical Laws 1.Identity 2.Causality 3.Non-Contradiction Topic: Today's show is a personal exercise to help me let go of a long-standing resentment against comedian and political commentator Bill Maher. Cory, Osborne and I analyze several clips from his HBO show, Real Time With Bill Maher, primarily focusing on two fallacies: composition and division. Many tangents result! Composition: This fallacy is a result of reasoning from the properties of the parts of the whole to the properties of the whole itself--it is an inductive error. Division: This fallacy is the reverse of composition. It is the misapplication of deductive reasoning. One fallacy of ...

Topic: Wes Bertrand joins me to discuss Nathaniel Branden's book, Breaking Free. Wes is currently doing on series on this book on Complete Liberty Podcast. "Do you believe you're worthless? Ineffectual? Mediocre? Helpless? Nathaniel Branden, best selling author of The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem introduces a revolutionary method to show you how repressed feelings and forgotten past experiences may have shaped your current sense of self. Breaking Free introduces 22 key questions designed to break down repressive barriers. Questions such as: Were you taught to be an independent thinker, or encouraged to be obedient? Were you free to express your fears openly, without fear of punishment? Did your parents' behavior towards you make you feel guilty? Were you taught to ...

Topic: Cory, Osborne and I discuss a new documentary film about psychopathy, power and society... "Every meaningful change starts with awareness. In our culture, we not only praise psychopaths in the highest positions of power, but in many cases, they became our role models. Challenge your beliefs! We have delved into the world of psychopaths and heroes and revealed something crucial about us." - I Am Fishead, documentary film About I Am Fishead: It is a well-known fact that our society is structured like a pyramid. The very few people at the top create conditions for the majority below. Who are these people? Can we blame them for the problems our society faces today? Guided by the saying "A fish ...

Logic is about understanding reality in a non-contradictory way and how can we see things for what they are. Metaphysical Laws 1.Identity 2.Causality 3.Non-Contradiction Topic: Activists Derrick J. Freeman and Michele Seven join us to discuss civil disobedience and the new documentary film, Derrick J's Victimless Crime Spree. We use their stories to examine a quasi-logical fallacy called argumentum ad bacculum (appeal to force). This fallacy is the #1 tool of people calling themselves government. "Of all the fallacies, the Ad Baculum fallacy may be the most difficult to reconcile with some form of legitimate reasoning. The Ad Baculum fallacy does not so much imitate good reasoning as announce that every effort at reasoning has come to an end. Now ...

It's good day for it. Topics: This morning I discovered a new website: www.criticalthinking.org, the homepage of The Critical Thinking Community. There's been a lot of talk on the show lately about the connection between critical thinking and emotional intelligence. And after searching through the site, I discovered the work of an educational psychologist named Linda Elder. I was very intrigued by her paper, Critical Thinking Development: A Stage Theory, so I thought I would turn it into a nice mp3 for you. Woven throughout the theory is a call to understand the roll emotional intelligence plays in effective and rational thinking, so I have also included some audio from an Objectivist writer and lecturer on philosophy named Dr.Diana Hsieh. ...

Cevin Soling, the director of the documentary The War On Kids joins me to discuss the film, his research and the pathologizing of normal youth behavior. Fortunately the 2009 film is now back in the news. Bumper Music: "Living In A Box" by Living In A Box Look Closer: thewaronkids.com Colbert Report http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/256926/november-30-2009/cevin-soling The War On Kids (Trailer)

Picture: It takes more than a couple of matches... Part 1 of 3 in an expansion of the School Sucks: The American Way You Tube Video. Topic: The American way... What is this way? Where does it come from? And where does it lead? In this show: Philosophy In school we are led to believe that we are all living in an ideal vision of what society should be... But who's vision is it? And what were their ideals? -Objectivism vs. German Idealism -Immanuel Kant -George Hegel -Johann Fichte -Friedrich Nietzsche Look Closer: INTRODUCING OBJECTIVISM http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=objectivism_intro Kant made simple http://soler7.com/IFAQ/Kant.htmll Analytic-Synthetic Dichotomy http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/analytic-synthetic_dichotomy.htmll Objectivism, Hitler, and Kant, by David Gordon http://www.lewrockwell.com/gordon/gordon13.html Fichte http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichte A People's History Of The United States ...

Imagine a door to complete freedom, abounding opportunity and greater personal satisfaction... Public education is the lock. This is the sixth in a series of non-sequential shows about finding keys. Dale J. Stephens joins me to discuss the Uncollege movement. Topics: (from dalejstephens.com) Hacking Your Education If you want to be unremarkably average, go to college, turn in your homework, and graduate summa cum laude. You’ll have a college degree to your name, but you won’t be any closer to changing the world. The path to wild success does not involve jumping through hoops. If you want to succeed you cannot be a lemming. We all have something that makes us different in one way or another–and society has trained ...

The news over the last month has been interesting... The invasive TSA. The emerging snitch society. The calls for the execution of Julian Assange. Surprised? Outraged? Juxtapose today's current events with your childhood experiences. Were you expecting some other social or political reality? Today's show is a renewed call to strike at the root of the acquiescence and aggression making it all possible. Bumper Music: "Paper Planes" M.I.A. Look Closer: History of the Income Tax in the United States http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005921.html Moms angry over swats: 2 students at City View get spanked http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2010/dec/11/moms-angry-over-swats/ The School Crotch Inspector http://reason.com/archives/2008/04/02/the-school-crotch-inspector#commentcontainer Pay Your Income Tax: 1943 Disney Propoganda http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00u6qUelp6c Michigan high school students terrorized in police-state security drill http://www.naturalnews.com/020931.html Students Say Schools’ Use of ...

...quickly PART 2: Is Anyone Learning About Economics In School? Anyone? Topic: Today I discuss collective and authoritarian schooling with a veteran teacher who walked away from the public school setting just four weeks into his new job. Rich Nastro explains why he did this, and what he saw while he was there. We'll Discuss... -The lies of government school history (every crisis is presented as a problem of too much freedom) -Voting -Family to schooling to Citizenship -The success of Government school (in service to evil) -Propaganda: Mixing the good with the evil -If force comes first, it doesn't matter what happens next -Erica Goldson -The National Debt: it's for the children...to pay -Central planning of the economy, the ...

(Kids Are Not Defective Part 6) Topic: There is a phrase, "hole in the soul," that describes how a person may feel incomplete, unworthy, or dependent on external things. While much of this is probably rooted in family, I believe that school can contribute to one's sense of personal emptiness. This is a long and winding show that covers a valedictorian's brave and moving graduation speech, leading into a discussion of the problems created for all students by the carrots and sticks of school. As Alfie Kohn points out in his book (linked below), even the rewards are a kind of punishment, robbing us of our own purpose and intrinsic motivation. Whether we are the "overachiever" who gets the carrots ...

(Kids Are Not Defective Part 5) Topic: in·cu·ba·tor (noun) 1.An apparatus in which environmental conditions, such as temperature and humidity, can be controlled, providing suitable conditions for a chemical or biological reaction. 2. A place or situation that permits or encourages the formation and development of new ideas Forced Associations Adolescence is plagued by an artificial, society-created extension of childhood dependence. This is time where people can certainly begin to achieve greater self-knowledge and emotionally maturity, unless they're trapped in place that prevents it. There is no escape from the negativity; school is compulsory The Hypocrisy of Adults What's even worse: in this place, some pretty abhorrent behavior is modeled for kids on a daily basis. This behavior violates all ...

PICTURED: A listener sent me this example of his son's (first grade) school work, which includes the teacher's thoughts on his exercise of creativity. The introduction to a new series of shows about some other messages forced into the minds of children and young adults. These shows will include topics like medication, parenting, spanking, behavioral "disorders," bullying, "reward" systems and zero tolerance policies. Today, and hopefully someday this will not be the case, childhood and adolescence are not about a process of discovery that eventually leads to the embrace of ideas and beliefs that are chosen by you. Instead, childhood and adolescence are all about a process of training that eventually leads to the acceptance of ideas and beliefs that ...

(American History F-ed #7) The seventh installment in a series of shows about government school's history curriculum. We'll explore the lies, myths, omissions and distortions used to indoctrinate blind patriotism (aka nationalism aka mysticism). Critical Thinking Question: Statism appears to be only example of a system of ongoing attack and predation where the aggressors seem to be more fearful of victims than the victims are of the aggressors. How do the aggressors manage these fears? Topic: An email from a listener gets me thinking about conspiracy theories. We'll divert our attention from the roots of the tree I like to think we're chopping at, to jump down a nearby rabbit hole. Let's see where it takes us! -Vietnam -Iraq and ...

(Introduction to the Hidden Lessons of School) Critical Thinking Question: Imagine a very small group people trying to exercise power and control over a very large group of people. How dangerous would this situation be for the small group if they lacked the tools to control the thinking of people in the much larger group? Topic: Introducing the three aims of public education: blind obedience, assimilation, and the surrender of self-ownership The Matrix and Plato's Allegory of the Cave What if the Hokey Pokey IS what it's all about? Bumper Music: Psychostick "Hokey Pokey" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKZZ7ed7vXY Look Closer: The Matrix and the Cave John Taylor Gatto: Schooling is not Education "AGAINST SCHOOL: How public education cripples our kids, and why" By ...

NOTE: This is the second part of a re-recording of the original episode one. My apologies if it temporarily appears out of order in the podcast feed. Critical Thinking Question: Why would something that's so good for us, like public education... need to be imposed on us with the use of force ? And funded with the use of force ? Maybe something else is going on. Topic: The problem with the "business?" of public education. And it's a big one. (An evaluation of the logic and ethics of the American public education system) Bumper music: "Stitching Leggings" by Kate Nash www.myspace.com/katenashmusic Look Closer: "The Non-Aggression Axiom of Libertarianism" by Walter Block http://www.lewrockwell.com/block/block26.html "The Argument From Morality (Or, how we ...