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July 17, 2023 - Stay Free - Russel Brand
01:14:42
BEAR GRYLLS & RUSSELL BRAND: How To Survive The APOCALYPSE - Stay Free #169
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Outro Music In this video, you're going to see the future.
Hello there, you Awakening Wonders.
Thanks for joining me today for Stay Free with Russell Brand, only on Rumble.
Of course, this initial period we are on YouTube, but after the first 15 minutes or so, we exclusively switched to add the home of free speech, our mothership, Rumble, not so that we can propagate hate speech.
We've got no interest in that.
So that we can propagate free speech, and today I am privileged to be speaking freely with a world-renowned adventurer, a great man, a survivor, a man who has taught himself and others how to overcome challenges, who knows about leadership, who knows about the military, who knows about extreme situations, who knows how to master the body and conquer the self, and I'm going to be introducing him in just a moment. You know who he is, I know I'm trying to
build it up because we've already posted on social media who he is, so it's not like, who's
it going to be? Also, later in the show in Here's the News, we're going to be looking
at the digital dollar, about oh, you like cryptocurrencies now, do you? Now that you can
control them. I thought Bitcoin was evil. Now that we can control it, digital currencies
are a good thing.
We're going to be investigating that and just how much power that grants the establishment the ability to shut down bank accounts, to control economies.
It's extraordinary how fast this is moving.
Over 50% of the countries of the world are trialing and preparing for CBDC.
So I have to make sure I get that acronym right.
Now, it is my privilege To be able to introduce a man you will know from shows like Running Wild, Man vs. Wild.
His latest show is on National Geographic and he's had me as a guest, so he's been pushed to the very limit.
It's Bear Grylls.
Hello, Bear.
Welcome.
Hey, Russell.
Pushed to the very limit.
It was a privilege.
Listen, I tell you, out of all the episodes and journeys I've done over the years, that one will stay with me to my dying day.
And I loved it.
And it's been a lovely friendship since.
So nice to be with you.
Thank you, Bear.
Thanks for joining us.
Even when you're on a Zoom call, you look like you're in an outrageously rugged situation.
You must be hanging off the edge of a cliff or dangling from a helicopter.
Thank you for joining us in an appropriately rugged environment.
Like, over the years, with some of my favourite guests, I've, like, really enjoyed watching the Obama episode.
I loved some of the early shows you did with British stars like Jonathan Ross.
One of my favourites was Alex Harland, the free climber, and I know that was a Big one for you.
How do you deal with it when you have to survive with people that, uh, let's put it like... Like, when I was asked to come on your show, I thought, like, this is how I categorized it.
Like, some people did really, really well, and like, were like, oh my god, that person could actually survive in the wild.
Like, and then there are some people that you have to cosset a little bit, and cotton wool, and kid glove, and mollycoddle.
Where do I fall?
On that scale bear of like, you know, this is a person I can go into battle with, and this is a person I'm going to have to carry on my back in a knapsack.
You fall into both those categories.
I will go into battle with you any day, but there might be a few moments where I might have to carry you in the knapsack, as you call it.
I would say, I think for me, the really fun part of running wild is that 99% of the time, the people I take away Wilderness rookies, so to speak.
You know, they're totally out of their comfort zone.
Even the even the sort of, you know, alpha male adventure stars, even the guy, you know, like Zac Efron or Channing Tatum, somebody who's physical and, you know, fit and strong and loves that sort of thing.
Often, though, they've never done stuff off the beaten path.
You know, even Zach, I remember him saying to me, I love hiking, love, you know, being out Go left or go right from the trail.
And I think Running Wild thrives on going left or right off the trail.
So I would say 99% of the time the people I take are rookies.
I think though...
The kind of fun for me is taking absolute real rookies, you know, and therefore I know you were sort of, you know, a little apprehensive before doing it, saying, I've never done anything like this.
This is really out of my comfort zone.
But in a way, that's sort of, I love that, because it's honest, it's fun.
You know where you're starting from.
There's a sort of vulnerability that always then excels on the show, because I think if somebody arrives Knowing too much, or kind of thinking they're, you know, wanting to prove themselves physically too much.
In a way, it takes a while to break through that.
Where if you take somebody like you, who just kind of arrives saying, Bear, I trust you, I'm all in, here we go.
It's kind of like, my heart sings to that, because it's like, here we go, this is going to be so fun.
And sure enough, by the end, look at you.
You were smashing it.
Your eyes were even brighter than ever, and big smile on your face.
And all of the crew at the end of our one with you said, what a lovely, lovely, honest, strong, kind, family-centered, determined, vulnerable as well.
You were so honest about so much of your journey.
What a cool guy.
So you should be really proud of how you did.
And we all loved it.
Thank you so much, Bear.
I loved the experience myself.
What I can say is it's 100% authentic, that you are 100% authentic, that you actually can do all those things, that it was exposed to me, that I undeniably have challenges doing.
Like, I did things for the first time on that trip with you, man.
Like the rap There were moments in the show where I was actually genuinely terrified.
If you're watching us on YouTube, we'll be available for about 10 minutes.
Then I'm going to start asking Bear about how we're going to survive the inevitable and eventual apocalypse, however you approach that idea politically.
What's important to me about Bear and Bear's work, and there are many things, but one thing I really identify with or, excuse me, find appealing about Bear's work is The ability to be independent in this world, the ability to survive, the ability to look after yourself, the ability to be at home in nature, the environments that we evolved to live in that now seem so detached from us.
In a sense, one of the things that I learned from going on Running Wild is, oh my god, I'm evolved to live like this and I can't do it.
I mean, Bear, I told you at the time that straight after experiencing some of my challenges climbing, I went to near where I live in High Wycombe And went to, like, the climbing wall there and thought, I've got to be better at climbing.
I cannot be as bad at climbing as I was on Bear's show because that's unacceptable.
So I subsequently went and learned climbing.
If you have a question for Bear or any ideas for Bear, for example, if you're watching this, you might want to tell us who you'd most like to see on Running Wild or any other questions, press the red button and join us on Locals.
That's where I'm watching the chat and where we've got questions like this one from FCDT.
What wild antic have you done, Bear, that you would never do again?
So I'll just give you that question now, Bear.
Oh gosh, where do we begin?
You know, I think, as they say, adventure only really happens when things start to go wrong.
I've been in so many situations where things have gone wrong, from parachute failures to pinned in whitewater rapids, crevasses, avalanches, rockfalls, bitten by snakes, you name it.
I think You know if I had to pick one what was the other one that I would never want to do again?
Like you'd never do it again even though you deliberately did it?
Well I think um one of the early expeditions that people don't really know about but I took a team of five of us in a rigid inflatable boat essentially an inflatable boat with a little engine and uh across 3,000 miles of the arctic ocean from Halifax, Nova Scotia, North, across around Greenland, and eventually dropping down to Iceland and Scotland.
And we got caught in some, you know, this was, we got caught in horrendous storms, 500 miles offshore in the night.
Waves the size of houses crashing on top of us, icebergs everywhere.
And we were very lucky, I think, to come out of that one alive.
All of us were pretty shaken three weeks later.
And the sea is, well, the wild is a humbling place, but I think big mountains and the sea especially are incredibly humbling.
You know, I always remember this guy saying to me, Mother Nature's It's like your mother.
You know, if you respect her, she'll treat you right.
If you disrespect her, she'll teach you a lesson you're never, ever going to forget.
Mother Nature taught us a lesson that day that was, well, that month.
But I'm very grateful to have got out of that one.
Still, every year to this day, the guys I was with will send me a text on the day and the night of this worst storm, It lasts for about 48 hours, and they sent me a text saying, this time, X number of years ago, we thought it was game over.
I don't know, I think there's a bonding about going through scary situations together, and there's an element of that always on Running Wild.
And I love that.
It's been the thing that's always been the appeal for me of The Wild is the bonds you create with people in difficult and scary moments.
But that was one of them.
I mean, that's a beautiful example.
One of the things I...
What I reflect on continually in my own journey of personal evolution is how uprooted and detached we've become from nature and from our own power.
And when you speak about the bonds between people that experience that kind of adversity, it speaks to a kind of a tribal connection, a kind of mutual initiation, A sort of strength in the unity of knowing that nature is all-powerful, but that we are part of nature, that we can draw upon resources in ourself.
One of the things that struck me during that experience, and I'm very glad to note that that experience of confronting the gale and the oceans and the element was not as traumatic as wearing traditional Scottish dress a kill with me and not having underpants because believe me
I've got some memories from that experience bear that we'll be talking about but we won't be
talking about on that on YouTube we'll wait till we're exclusively on rumble where we also have a
clip of my appearance on running wild we'll show that so if you're watching us on YouTube
join us over on rumble and if you're watching us on rumble press the red button right now to
join us on the chat and pass on a question There's a question here from Sherman Tank asking about your diet.
I understand, you know, I'm a vegan.
You mostly eat meat, I understand, Bear, and I can certainly see some of the side effects of that when I was abseiling down beneath you and looking up your kilt.
Certainly seems that there are some benefits that I would like to explore.
But for now, I want to say that one of the things that struck me is that a lot of your crew were ex-service people, like the people that have been in the military, people that have been in the police force.
I feel people that have been in elite service positions.
I know that you're a former SAS.
Is that important to you to work with people that have had that kind of experience in the military, and particularly in elite forces?
And what is it that you find uniquely working with men and women that have that kind of service experience, Bear?
I don't take those for granted and I think one of the things I really missed after the military was that camaraderie and I think what I've really worked hard over the years to create is to build that Team back up to put that a team, so to speak, back together.
And we employed so many former guys that I served with and friends from the Royal Marines and also different, you know, service branches, but people who've always got a connection.
It might be one or two away, but people with, you know, all the wider team work with and trust and love.
And I think that That's always come before skills, you know?
And same on expeditions.
We've always hired on character and people we like and trust before the skills.
The skills you can teach, loyalty and humility and kindness and selflessness, those sort of qualities are harder to teach.
And I think a lot of people talk a good game on them, but I think you develop a level of Connection and trust when you serve with people in whether it's the police or military or whatever that it's hard to recreate so my first port of call when we started the TV shows was to go to my best buddies and who I'd served with and we started small and we've grown from there but
Now having done it for a while and it's grown, I think one of the things I'm most proud of are those friendships that have endured.
The terrain has changed.
Our crew always say, it's not bad guys chasing us, it's us dodging the bad animals.
We're not having incoming bullets, we're having Dodging the snakes and the crocodiles and the typhoons.
But it's the same spirit, isn't it?
It's a different terrain, but the same spirit, which is you're going to work hard.
You've got to have each other's back.
You're going to have to dig deep.
You're going to have to trust each other with your lives most days, which is certainly true in our case.
But at the end of it, we get home, we get back to the family, and we We'll laugh and we'll take the mick out of each other.
I don't know, that part is as important to me as the working hard in the moment bit.
Start a job in the media, as you know.
Everyone's always very polite and nice.
I like the banter.
I really do.
I really value that.
Those old friendships that can still laugh at ourselves.
It's the thing I'm most proud of on our show.
The connections and friendships that have endured through so much and are still going.
I was really struck by the vibe of your crew and that it was run like a military operation at points.
And I feel like I have to candidly say that, because I talk about it all the time on Stay Free, I'm deeply, deeply cynical about establishment authority.
For example, the military industrial complex and many of the private interests behind it.
But I've got Absolutely nothing but respect for people that have served in the military, that are willing to put a higher purpose in front of their own safety.
And the men and women that I worked with on your show are such a great example of that.
In particular, obviously yourself, but also Scott, who seems to have a Scotty there, who has a very particular role on your show.
It seems to be like they're ensuring that there's safety.
I remember when I asked what his job was, everybody laughed.
So there must be some sort of ongoing joke there.
But I feel like Scotty has got background in the military, background in the police force.
He's such a laugh to be around.
Fantastic stories, not all of which are appropriate for broadcast, but all of which demonstrated the kind of camaraderie and good humour that you talk about.
Yeah, I felt like that.
It's an important thing for me to make clear that I always, whenever I get the opportunity, say I really respect people that are willing to put themselves in front of danger like that because sometimes you have to iterate that complexity so people don't think you're disrespectful towards people that are willing to put their lives on the line, man.
I wonder what you feel about that, how to balance that kind of complexity.
Well, I love hearing that.
And you know, those guys I work with are due so much respect.
They'll not only be best friends, but also we've been through so much together over the years on and off TV.
And they really are the unsung heroes.
When I say that, I don't pay lip service.
They really are.
They work way harder than me.
They're way tougher than me.
Way more competent in so many ways.
They carry all the gear.
They do everything I do, but backwards.
And yeah, so for me, best friends, unsung heroes.
And I love hearing sort of guests really value that as well, because I think often You know, often guests sort of, you know, they don't know what to expect when they arrive on Running Wild.
Sometimes they go, wow, I really thought there'd be a hundred crew and it'd be sort of craft catering and it would be sort of well organized.
And then they turn up and it's sort of six of us and a coil of rope and a rough idea of where we're going, but pretty rough.
But by the end, I often find the guests love that because it's sort of so The opposite of what they've experienced in Hollywood, which is everything so controlled and so measured.
Every box is signed and signed off and every harness double checked by this.
And I think what I've learned over the years is that big numbers of people and a lot of box filling doesn't necessarily equal safety.
You know, safety comes down to competence and experience and trust and a lack of ego in the big moments and a familiarity working together and a never get complacent spirit.
You know, those sort of things hold real currency and value in my world where, you know, I'm putting superstars lives on the line like yourself, you know, every week.
And you've got to get it right every time.
So we take this safety very In the friendships, I think, first.
There were moments making Running Wild with Bear Grylls where I was genuinely and actually scared.
And I, in my life, often sought comfort from the fact that there is a camera present.
I think, if there's a camera present, I cannot die.
This is television.
I must be safe.
But there were points making this show with Bear where I was actually like, oh no, I'm having a genuine experience.
I'm not in control.
It must be visible on my face.
As a result of that, I have not watched back this footage yet.
We've got an exclusive clip to show.
If you're watching us on YouTube, we're going to be exclusively broadcasting now on Rumble.
So click the link in the description and join us.
Join us now over on Rumble.
In addition to this exclusive clip, I'm going to be asking Bear about the phenomena of doomsday prepping.
Preparing for a post-civilisation world.
A world that, what?
One of the things I kept thinking making the show is, Bear will be alright.
Bear and his family will be okay.
I've already seen Bear basically throwing his 16-year-old kids out of aeroplanes and stuff.
The Grylls family are going to be able to deal with it when the ATMs stop watching.
How are your family going to be?
Also, we asked in a poll earlier, how long before the apocalypse?
Five years?
Ten years?
Or are we going to be fine?
We'll be discussing all of that and much more as well as showing my clip over on Rumble.
So if you're watching this on YouTube, click that link in the description and join us there now.
See you in a second, you Awakening Wonders.
If you're watching this on Rumble, why don't you press the red button where you can ask questions for Bear and I'll ask them after this clip.
Now, I've not watched this clip back yet because of...
Frankly, shyness, because I know I was scared a bunch of times, so I'm not even sure what this clip is, but this is an exclusive moment from my time with Bear on the inner Hebridean Isle.
Presumably I'm wearing a kilt.
We'll discuss what was going on underneath those kilts in a minute.
Let's have a look at the clip.
Looking good.
Okay, we're getting to the edge.
Keep going, keep going.
Oh, God.
That's great.
I'm right with you here.
You're doing great.
Doing great.
Straight and wide.
Straight and wide and leaning back.
Hey.
Yeah, solid.
I love it.
Really good.
Keep them straight and keep them wide.
Beautiful.
Keep edging it out.
Keep leaning back.
Trust the system.
The more you lean back, the easier it will be.
There you go.
Keep leaning back.
Wide stance.
Have a little look under you now.
You'll love it.
You'll love it.
There you go.
Smashing it.
Brilliant, Russell.
Well done.
Total control.
Super calm.
Likewise stance.
Trust the system.
Trust the system.
Oh, God, it's very clipped.
Oh, the axe.
Were you winding me up?
Kept saying, like, the thing you were using to comfort me through that moment when I was raptoring or descending or abseiling or whatever it's called that.
You kept saying, trust the system.
Trust the system.
My main number one defining characteristic is I cannot trust the system.
I was so genuinely scared in that moment.
And what about the bit when you go, Bear, have a quick look down?
That's just cruelty!
Cruelty!
That's funny, no.
You're the wrong person to have said trust the system to.
I do, I do.
It's the only time those words have ever come out of your mouth.
You go, trust the system, I've got it.
The other thing that springs to mind is true pity and apologies to the crew who were underneath you on that cliff face, who'd rappelled down moments earlier.
Well, I don't know if you can see on that clip, but he's, Russell and me, wearing Scottish kilts, you know, which always traditionally is worn without underpants.
And the crew definitely were, yeah.
I got texts for weeks afterwards going, still in therapy from that cliff face.
Still in therapy, still recovering.
Yeah, not only was it a kilt without underpants, but of course I was also wearing a harness!
So it's like I was so proud of it!
So it's like a harness around my naked genitalia!
It was like, that moment after we got out, of course, at the moment, like, I don't want to spoil too much of it, but it's available now if you, I guess, do they release them simultaneously on Disney?
No, my episode's out in August, I think, but some of the other episodes are out now.
But we jumped in, I just want to make this clear in case an accidental shot snuck in.
The first thing we did was jumped in very, very cold water.
The second thing we did was take off our underpants and put a kilt on.
Like, even before we'd done anything dangerous, I was absolutely terrified.
But I do now feel much more confident surviving in the wild, and certainly my ego was reduced to its minimum size, along with everything else.
So, Bear, how, like, is that, and my episode's gonna be out on August the 6th, by the way.
Bear, how do you feel about, like, is it, do you ever consider, is it, how much of the forefront of your mind is it, the idea that you can survive in the wild?
I know it seems a slightly ridiculous question, but do you ever feel that that's something that might be actually necessary?
Is that the sort of thing you reflect upon, the fact that, oh, things may not always be like this, we may not always be cosseted by systems of comfort?
I do, yeah.
I mean, and that's a really interesting topic conversation.
I've got lots on that.
I mean, all I say is before we get on to that, just to wrap up Running Wild with you, I look back and I worry, I think, I wonder actually what Russell learned from his time on the show.
One is, you know, how to tie a man's skirt, basically, you know.
How not to get his testicles caught in the climbing harness, and how to sort of get thrown out of a seaplane at 40 knots before it takes off again.
So I'm not sure how relevant those three skills are to the modern apocalypse, but all I say is it's a start, isn't it?
It's a start.
Yeah, I now know how to be humiliated in front of ex-service people when I think my genitals have been shrunk to their absolute minimum capacity and now I've got to climb up a mountain.
I mean, there were just so many moments in that show where I felt like I've got no choice but to absolutely surrender.
I mean, obviously one of my key Spiritual principles that I've been taught is, you must surrender, you must surrender.
And on that shoe, I felt like I've got no control, I don't know what I'm doing, I was genuinely frightened a number of times, and thank God that I have a religious and spiritual faith, because I don't think I would have got through it without that, so thank the Lord for that.
But Bear, on this subject of survival, you mentioned that it is something you've reflected upon, the idea that it might at some point be necessary to utilize these skills, Not for entertainment and to demonstrate the capacity that human beings have that is unexplored and unexpressed, but simply because we have to survive.
So, what do you make about that?
Well I think survival is in our DNA, isn't it?
It's been a key part, the key part of our evolution for hundreds of thousands of years and I think there's a disconnect and suddenly the rapid pace of change that humanity's gone through over the last couple hundred years and actually even just the last 20 years where it's been just not like a A ripple of change.
It's been a tsunami.
And then to suddenly find yourself bereft of skills that have been passed down for so many generations.
And, you know, I think it's no surprise that there is a disconnect and an anxiety in people.
Because it is in our DNA to be able to look after ourselves, to be able to look after our family, to know how to survive.
And obviously in the modern world, survival takes many different You know, it looks different to how it looked a hundred years ago, but I think the smart people blend both of it.
So you're not just, you know, a modern survivor in terms of technology, you know, but you've also got the skills to be able to when things go wrong.
And even when things don't go wrong, I meet so many men who come up to me and they go, Just teach me a knot so I can tie the roof rack.
Or teach me one simple thing so I can navigate if I haven't got my phone.
You know, it's like, this isn't apocalypse stuff.
This is like, you know, my phone does work, I just happen to be in an area outside cell reception, so I still need, or I still need to tie that roof rack.
I need to know that knot.
I need how to start a fire because I haven't got any...
You know, firelighters or whatever.
These aren't apocalypse skills.
These are like just everyday skills that many men I find come up to me and feel bereft of.
And obviously, it's not a man thing, but I think it's been traditionally something that men want to feel that they can provide and protect.
And therefore, I think it's hard when If you're brought up in a way where you have none of those things, whether you're a man or woman, if you're brought up in a way where you're taught no practical skills, I think it's really hard.
I think it leads to a place of quiet anxiety where you go, I can do my job.
But I'm a little bit embarrassed that I can't do the knot or the navigating or the fire or whatever, you know, whatever it is.
And so I think smart survivors blend all of this.
You know, we never lose touch with what's behind us, but we always keep our eye on where we're going in the future.
But it is interesting how you can't get rid of That hundreds of thousands of years of evolution in a generation, you know, why is it I can sit the most powerful people in the world, you know, the most, you know, biggest superstars or Hollywood actors or presidents or prime ministers sit down and teach them how to make a fire and they're happy for the first time in a long time to sit and not talk and just watch the fire and think and breathe and feel.
Stop and just, you know, why is that?
I mean, it's like because it goes back so far.
It's deep in here.
Why does it light us up in a way that, you know, the blue light from a screen doesn't light us up.
Something's going on there.
And I think we lose that at our peril.
You know, we're not all You know, woodsman.
But you want to keep a connection with the land.
Keep a connection with the ground.
Keep a connection with risk.
Keep a connection with adventure.
You know, all of these things.
You don't need to climb Everest to be a risk taken and adventure spirit.
These things are state of mind.
So how we live every day.
How do we approach life?
How do we approach our job?
Our relationships?
Adventure?
It's a it's a state of mind.
And always remember the past and keep moving forward.
Bear that you described of quiet anxiety. I sometimes feel that defines my life this understanding that we have become
captured by systems of comfort knowing that I don't know how to
Capture or in the case of me as someone who doesn't eat meat
acquire and prepare food adequately prepare shelter Essentially survive I think it's unnatural like in almost
the most the most literal sense And I feel that it's beyond emasculating so I recognize
that that's a word Oh, no, that it needn't be specific to gender in fact. It's
disempowering It's disempowering to feel that you are reliant on technology, that you are reliant on pre-packaged food, that you're reliant on forms of medicine, that everything sometimes starts to feel
disconnected. I believe there's a correlative between spiritual disconnection, like not
knowing that there is a deeper reality that we can access that can provide us comfort,
and a disconnection from nature. A lot of people, and let me know in the chat if you
agree with this, if your phone stops working, you feel like you don't know what to do anymore.
If you're lost and you can't use the map on your phone, you don't know what to do. I think
it's very difficult to feel empowered in this world, and present in this world, if you don't
have those skills. And when we live, as I believe we do, in a mental health epidemic,
where people are suffering from a great deal of anxiety, a great deal of depression, where
addiction's gone through the roof, particularly in the last few years, where a lot of people
have felt a deep sense of loss of control. One way of getting it back is through learning
these skills. And I know that you have programs to...
Uh, help kids that wouldn't have access to these skills, help people with mental health challenges.
What are those programs and what kind of impact do you see when people get to grips with some of the skills that you present them with, Bear?
Well, we run what we call the Bear Grylls Survival Academy.
We run it all over the world for kids, for corporates, for families, all sorts of things.
But what I see is that the fundamental principle of these is that nature is our best healer.
And there's always going to be a disconnect when, you know, it's all great when everything works, you know, when that cell phone works.
And the same with the spiritual as well.
When everything's going great, It's all great.
But what happens when the cell phone doesn't work or when you do find yourself in life on that back foot and struggling a little bit, you know, then to me, that is when adventure happens.
And it's when life gets interesting.
But you've got to have a place to go.
You've got to have some some skills to fall back on.
And in terms of faith, I think it's the same.
You've got to have somewhere to go apart from just maybe yourself.
So we try and In terms of wilderness stuff, self-adventure skills, self-reliance.
How can you do it if nobody's coming for you?
If it's all gone wrong?
You know, because traditional survival was always quite boring.
Traditional survival was always like, if it's all gone wrong, sit down, do nothing, wait for rescue.
And that was always going to make quite a boring TV show.
So I always liked it.
What happens when it's all gone wrong, but nobody's coming to look for you, and you've got nothing apart from A roll of gaffer tape, you know, a couple of coat hangers and a broken water bottle.
You know, for me it then gets interesting.
So we try and teach you things that is about being resourceful in life and just stopping and thinking and being smart and, you know, all of this sort of spirit, the sort of spirit that so many people I think lack because everything's always done for us or always given these convenient things and the cell phone always works and you know resourcefulness is just a muscle it's a muscle you know how do we train it we use it but if you're never
Never practice being resourceful.
You can't expect to be a brilliant MacGyver when that cell phone does work, or when you're lost with your family, or your car breaks down, or you're on their back foot.
You know, you have to practice these things.
So, our Survival Academy is very much the practical arm of that, and they do an amazing job, and I love that.
But I think it goes much further than that.
It's much more, you know, we are mind, body, spirit, And emotion, aren't we?
And I try and do stuff that speaks to all of that.
That's why I did a book called Mind Fuel, which is exactly that.
I did a book called Soul Fuel, trying to provide spiritual stuff that actually helps people when they're on the back foot.
Mind Fuel is about when we're experiencing that anxiety, what can we do to help us end?
So always try and do things, even in running wild, that empower people.
Like you say, so you're not disempowered by life.
You talk about.
You're right in so many ways, because whether it's intentional or not, but so much of modern day life is out to disempower you and to get you to be inoperable without them.
And it's easy to let happen.
And we're all guilty of that.
But it's at our own peril.
And we've got to, you know, yes, use things.
Yes, use convenience.
Yes, use all that stuff.
But keep something in the back pocket in that arsenal.
Be, you know, train yourself.
Be mentally resilient.
Be spiritually smart.
Know how to not just do the practical stuff, but but have an adventure spirit in life.
So and this is trying to give people back power rather than always just having the system or whatever you call it, always taking power.
And I think a lot of modern life does do that.
I'm not saying it's always intentional, but I do think it is a byproduct of modern life.
And that covers everything that you champion and talk about so powerfully, from pharmaceutical to big government.
It's all the same stuff.
The reason I find you a great leader and a great teacher is because you are able to instill, in a very graceful way, important principles that are applicable.
When I went to that climbing wall in High Wycombe, having been on Running Wild and found myself falling short, There was a moment where, just on a climbing wall, where you know that you can't really die, you're in a managed environment, with a rope and stuff, with a guy at the bottom, and I was nearly at the top, where it said, you know, when you reach this white grip, that's the finish.
And I actually got frightened, like, oh, I can't do this anymore.
And then I remembered, I think it's the title of one of your books, Never Give Up.
I almost saw your face, Never Give Up, like a lunchbox image of Bear Grylls.
I'm gonna get to the top of this climbing wall!
It was absolutely practical.
And I feel in my own life, like, I know how to hustle.
Like, I remember from, like, being 15, 16 years old, if I need to use the London Underground and I can't afford a ticket, I'm gonna get where I need to go.
If I don't have any money and I acquire chemical support because of my addictions, I'm gonna find a solution to those problems.
Like, hustle is urban survival.
You know, but I've always, like, you know, known that I'm coming from a place of vulnerability and that there's been a lot of fear in it.
And I recognise that.
What I found so appealing about being in that environment was, this is going to make me a better father.
This is going to make... Because I have so much distrust in the system.
And me and you have had very different journeys, obviously.
We're from, in a sense, even though we're both English and we're similar age, we've lived totally different lives.
But when I was there, I felt such a strong sense of affection and friendship, but identification as well.
I asked you once, What is leadership?
And you said it's just kindness, really.
It's just kindness.
I thought, this guy has a good perspective on stuff that is absolutely applicable, even when I come from a position of like, if not cynicism, I'm optimistic about life, but sort of real scepticism about the nature of power.
I was very I'm surprised and heartened by how much common ground, and even hearing you speak now about empowerment, because I do believe there are many conscious and unconscious systems of disempowerment at play, where the role of the individual is increasingly becoming, you are a consumer.
You are using this service.
You will do this.
This is what... No, you're not invited to have personal autonomy and authority in your life.
And whether it's, like, your... the survival skills that you talk about, the way that you talk about Christianity and faith, or the health hacks that you talk about, I think you find... you provide so many useful tools.
I want to offer you my respect publicly for that, mate.
Could you tell us a little bit about, like, these health hacks we talked about before?
Because these are the kind of things that our stay-free viewers love.
Well, yeah, that's the stuff.
First of all, I just reply to some of the other stuff you said, because leadership is so interesting, isn't it, at the moment in the world, you know?
The more I see Of so many leaders, it's always like, look at me.
It's always about look at me.
It's on that say, look at me.
That's actually the subliminal message.
And my experience from great leaders from the military beyond has been great leadership is the opposite.
Great leadership is look at you.
Look at what you can do.
Look at you.
It's always building other people up.
And I think kindness is a part of that.
But there's a strength as well of great leadership of taking it away from yourself and putting and building other people up.
And it's always powerful when you see and you talk about the never give up.
I remember you texted me when you were on that climbing wall.
Yeah, and you said that, you know, and my family would roll their eyes going, oh, Papa, you're always banging on about never give up and everything's never give up.
But you know what?
I don't apologize for it ever.
It's the number one thing, because all of these skills, everything we've been talking about, all the Survival Academy stuff, these skills you can learn.
You can learn that they're just stuff, they're skills.
I mean, look at me, any old idiot.
To learn these skills.
The key to survival is that hustle you talked about.
It's that resilience, that spirit, has many different names.
You know, fire inside, dogged determination, relentless like, never say die until you're dead, as Baden Powell said.
You know, that is, that never give up spirit is what conquers everything.
And You know, that's a thing to pass on and to share with people and it's what you're about as well.
So, you know, keep doing your stuff because you're right in that zone.
To answer your question about health, it comes back to this again about you've got to educate yourself because life doesn't.
You know, school doesn't educate people brilliantly.
Life does.
But it educates generally through failure.
And I've been there so often.
I've failed at so many things.
And I've got so many things wrong.
And I've learned so many of these health things, I think, through experimenting and failing.
I think we're you and me are pretty aligned.
Number one for me is let nature heal you.
You know, nature wants to heal you.
If you just if we can get out of the way, you know, just get out of the way of the medication, maybe for a second and let nature.
I mean, listen, there is a place for medication.
I'm not saying nobody should ever die.
There is a place, as you know, but but nature is always going to do it best.
And simple things for me, I've learned.
And by the way, I'm mindful This is for me.
This is what's worked for me.
It's what's worked from experience for me.
I'm very cautious.
I'm not telling everyone else how to live their lives.
People have to find this stuff out for themselves.
But what I have found is that I need to be outside.
Not just my physical health, but also my mental health.
I need to have that fresh air.
I need to have that sun on my face every day.
I need to take my shoes off and be barefoot as much as I can in a world that's always trying to separate me from the ground.
I need to be physical.
I need to physically lift weights every day and do pull-ups.
I need resistance training every day.
It doesn't have to go crazy, but I need that as I get older.
I need to get cold.
I know this is something you know.
You do it every day.
We've spoken about it.
You know, none of these things are rocket science, are they?
It's like they're all natural things.
And the thing is, not one of, not one of these things on their own is going to heal you.
But once they mount up, you know, 10, 15, 20 of these little things, of like, even if it's just like first thing in the day, not being on your phone in bed, but just, just get out and get moving.
Get moving.
Movement's so important.
You know, if you start putting enough of these things together, is a strong healthy life and as a father and you as a father and as my role as chief scout to 57 million scouts around the world to both of us having a presence on tv
You know, you've got to try and you try, especially with parenting, you do it by example, don't you?
It's the most powerful thing.
People go, how can you be a good dad?
It's like example, example, example.
You know, so I don't apologize to my kids for getting out in the morning, getting moving, getting cold, getting the shoes off, getting in the sun and telling them at school.
Never give up.
Be kind.
Be brave in the big moments.
Never give up.
But it's not about the grades.
The academics I don't care about so much.
I care about your friendships.
You know, none of this is taught at school.
And then you wonder why people...
I love that stuff.
I love the stuff about getting cold.
I love the stuff about getting in touch with nature.
I like the fact that your approach to nature is a very masculine and active one.
Not that there aren't numerous ways to attach to nature, I've just of course come back from Community Festival, where there was Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, where Wim Hof was there, running cold baths, Hiron Gracie and my teacher Chris.
Lots of what you might traditionally describe as masculine activity, as well as What are known as feminine activities, and there's, of course, a place for all of that, but what's plain is that our connection to nature is transcendent of limiting ideas around gender, because that's how, as a species, we've evolved.
It's obvious that you should eat food that you've evolved alongside, whether or not you have a dietary commitment that's carnivorous, like you, you mad meat-eating brute, or like me, where I don't rely so much on those products.
And also being fully open and accepting that there are different ways of being human and that we can harmonise.
We don't have to be in conflict about that.
I love what you said about leadership and the vanity of leadership.
I know that I can fall into that myself sometimes, you know, as a performer, as an entertainer.
can be, I can slip into, I just want to be looked at rather than it being about an example
and trying my best to instill and inspire, instill good values and inspire good values
in other people. These things have taken a lot of work over the course of my life. But
I want to touch upon this, like if you've got techniques for pull-ups, Bear, I need
help because I've gotten myself into a pull-up competition with a Democrat presidential candidate
and a Kennedy dynasty member, RFK, and he's really good at pull-ups. I think he can do
like 28, look at the grip he's using there.
Have you got any?
We're at $33,000 and I've not put this on social media yet because I'm not trying to promote it too much.
We have to get to $100,000 before to trigger this potentially humiliating experience.
And before that happens, I wonder, oh, I think we've got a clip of you doing pull-ups.
Can we have a quick look at that?
I know we've only got limited time with you, Bear, so I'll just have a quick look at this This footage of Bear doing pull-ups and then perhaps Bear you'll be kind enough to give me some tips for how to beat RFK and raise some money.
Let's have a look at Bear.
We've got a branch here ready to go and we're in.
Pull-ups.
And the great thing about training like this outside, in nature, is everything is instable.
Unstable.
It's not like a perfect pull-up bar.
It's awkward.
It's difficult.
Challenges your grip as much as your muscles.
Oh, that was pretty impressive there.
I think they call that a commando grip.
I don't know.
Perhaps you can enlighten me about that technique and how I might deploy it there.
Well, first of all, I'm mindful also not just falling into a category of sort of British machismo pull-up.
Listen, you know, we're all on a journey.
It doesn't matter how many pull-ups you can do.
It's about effort, isn't it?
And good for you.
And also, the other thing, more importantly, Is vulnerability and what I love about you is that you don't mind being honest and being vulnerable and I think that matters more than any number of pull-ups because it's where vulnerability is where we create connections and I never want to be bracketed as just like
It's just the way I live.
We all live differently.
I think it's about finding what feels true to you and following that, and that is courage.
The one thing I noticed on Running Wild is that these stars are top of their game, and yet they arrive like you, totally trusting and vulnerable and out of their control, and they don't know what's ahead.
And that, for me, is really interesting, because most people, when they get successful, sit inside their comfort zone, and they don't want to do anything that makes them look vulnerable, because they don't like that fragility.
So they'll create these barriers and walls around of machismo, and it's like, look at me, you know?
But actually, That's not a comfort zone, it's a comfort pit.
It's somewhere we rot and decay and need to get out of fast.
And great people, the people at the top of their game, like the Running Wildfolk, like yourself, are willing to be vulnerable because it's that uncomfortable muscle again of like, wow, here we go.
Nerves, nerves.
I'm climbing a cliff.
I'm doing whatever.
I'm trusting somebody else with my next few days and my brand and all of this sort of stuff.
And I admire that in you But vulnerability is harder.
And it's interesting, again, the final point on Running Wild is that often the stars that are most reluctant to do it are the big action stars.
And I won't name a few, but there have been certainly a lot over the years of going, I'll do it.
My knee's a bit bad at the moment.
I need to really train for this.
I need nine weeks to train for it.
And I'm always like, you don't tell me about the knee because the knee is your is your humanity.
I'm so relieved that you as a superstar, strong guy, haven't you?
You have some battles.
You're like all of us.
Scars and struggles and doubts and failures.
And like, that's what I'm going to love about you.
So share it and you do.
And it's part of your brilliance.
Oh, Bear, that's so beautiful.
I heard recently from someone who heard you speak that you're speaking for a group of young people, and they told me that everything you spoke about was your failures in life, times that you'd failed, times you'd slipped up, things you'd done wrong.
And even though your name is literally Bear Grylls, So that does suggest a degree of masculinity and a bit of grr, grr, like almost onomatopoeically, in fact.
You still do always make it clear that it's a very inclusive offering that you give that's open to anybody.
And I think that you are a living embodiment, in fact, of the best aspects of all of the institutions that you've been a part of.
The Scouts, The military.
These are all beautiful institutions that have great and high values, and I'm really grateful to be able to speak to you about that and so much more, and I'd keep you here all day, Bear, if it was up to me, because I've always got questions for you, but I'm mindful of your time, and I want to thank you, Bear, for trusting us once more in this conversation, and I'm very excited to watch in full.
I may wait till August the 6th, when my episode of Running Wild is on Disney Channel, I guess, because it's part of National Geographic, but there's loads and loads of other episodes.
So Lenski's done one, Bradley Cooper's done one, and did Benedict Cumberbatch do one?
I'm in some esteemed company there.
Yeah, yeah, but I don't think any of them I laughed as much as I did with you.
You know, it was genuinely a real pleasure.
Although, the Benedict Cumberbatch, we did have a cooler We had a nuclear sub turn up to pick us up, which was quite cool.
It came out of the water.
That aired last night on Nat Geo in the States.
But the Royal Navy sent the sub to pick us up.
So I feel I slightly under-delivered with your one.
How did we get out of there?
I can't even remember.
What did we do?
I think you shoved me.
Oh, it was a helicopter.
That was cool.
Well, I remember it.
How I'm going to frame this is Benedict Cumberbatch got a submarine.
I got shoved in a lake and I had to stare up your kilt for half an hour.
Seems to me like an unreasonable exchange.
You didn't need a nuclear sub.
You were just brilliant as you are.
Oh, thank you very much.
Yeah, I had enough torsos and fuselage to stare up that kilt.
Bear, thank you so much, mate.
Thanks for joining us.
Just before Bear goes, I'll let you know that Running Wild, my one, airs on National Geographic on August 5th, but there are other episodes up now.
And you can get tickets for Bear's festival, Gone Wild, which runs from 24th August to the 27th by going to gonewildfestival.com.
We'll post all of the links in the chat.
Thanks once again, Bear.
It's always a privilege to be in your company, sir.
Thank you.
You're a legend.
God bless.
God bless you.
Thanks man.
Thanks very much.
We've got the results of that poll.
We asked about Armageddon.
It's pretty plain that Bayer believes that by utilising our inner power we will be able
to deal with changes in the environment.
Most of you think, oh it's all fine, it's all fine, we're not going to die in an apocalypse.
Oh thank God, that's comfy.
And 53% it's all fine.
I'm going to actually take that poll result to the bank.
But it will not be a digital bank, I tell you that!
Because digital currencies seem to be yet another way to control us.
I'll be talking about that in a moment.
Guess who we've got coming up this week?
What other show?
Tell me in the chat, what other show could offer you this?
We've got presidential candidate Ron DeSantis coming on the show.
We'll be talking to him about his book, The Courage to Be Free.
Oh, nice, we've got that there.
I'm going to change that to Stay Free.
Shall I?
No, I won't do that.
God, imagine the questions for Ron DeSantis.
Get them posted in right now!
As well as speaking to the great spiritual teacher, Jack Kornfield.
We'll be talking about enlightenment.
Remember, one of our key projects here is to merge together personal spiritual awakening Individual empowerment with new activated communities that can form new confederacies and alliances in spite of potential cultural differences.
We don't need to argue with each other anymore about seeing the world differently.
We can celebrate that and come together, unify and confront establishment power.
Especially now that I know how to climb down a very tall cliff as long as Bear Grylls is there to coach me through every moment.
Occasionally asking me to look down and frankly looking down was easier than looking up when he was there with his kilt and Oh well, I'll talk about that in my stand-up.
Listen, if you want to join us on Locals, you bloody well should.
Press the red button, you get early access to interviews.
So in the event that we record something early, like tomorrow's interview with Oliver Stone, the great filmmaker and thinker, you'll be able to join us live for that.
There's people like now, I love a kilt, says Little Renegade.
Tamara Spencer, she's wishing people a happy day.
Imagination, masculinity and femininity can unite any individual.
Are you traumatised, says True Coimera.
Better believe it, baby!
So press that red button and join us.
Now, there's been another incredible reproach to our freedom.
I've talked to you so much about the surveillance state.
We've talked continually about anti-protest laws and how they're emerging.
We're talking to you continually about how your data is being captured and used by the state and private corporations to manipulate and control you.
In this episode, we talk about Digital currencies.
Do you know that 50% of the world's nation are piloting and augmenting new digital currencies?
Our one, the UK.
Your one, the US.
New digital dollars.
Do you remember when it was Bitcoin?
Oh, Bitcoin, it's bad for the environment.
It's dangerous.
Oh, it's not bad for the environment.
Now, what miraculous changes have you wrought?
Is it not so dangerous?
Of course they don't want us to have currencies where we can trade independently and bypass their centralised corrupt financial systems.
Digital dollars?
Let's have a little look at them.
Here's the news.
No, here's the effing news.
No, here's the fucking news.
Convenience! That's what the digital dollar will offer us.
Convenience!
And it certainly won't mean that our money tap gets turned off at any moment
if you ever say anything that people don't agree with.
They are piloting CBDCs.
The digital dollar is on its way.
When it was Bitcoin, it was bad.
Now that it's Britcoin, it's fantastic.
130 countries are ready to launch their own forms of CBDCs.
And many of us have been fascinated by cryptocurrencies for a little while now.
But in In many cases, that was because they were decentralized opportunities for us to trade without central regulatory authorities stepping in, taxing, controlling, limiting, mitigating, directing.
Guess what they've done now?
They're seizing control of cryptocurrencies.
Let's have a look at this and see, crucially, if we can stop it.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Innovation Center recently concluded a 12-week experiment in cahoots with the banking behemoths such as Citigroup Inc.
and Wells Fargo & Co.
Now, it sounds to me like the Fed and some powerful private banks have worked out how to monopolize digital currency.
I'm sure it's not that, though.
Let's have a look.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told the House Financial Services Committee in March that the Fed had already begun testing a digital dollar.
What we're doing is experimenting in kind of early stage experimentation.
How would this work?
Does it work?
What's the best technology?
What's the most efficient?
It's really weird because even that isn't quite true, is it?
Because it's already proven effective.
That's why they're even looking into it.
Because of the success of Bitcoin and numerous other cryptocurrencies, let me know in the comments below which ones you're already using.
They're like, oh no!
We've had the phase where we try and stop it.
We've had the phase where we smear it and discredit it.
Now we're into the phase where we're going to have to control it.
It's a kind of recognisable paradigm.
Even though digital currencies are, by their nature, innovative and new, what we're watching now is the colonisation of that space.
Oh no, they're going to do it anyway!
Quick, get control of it!
Smear, discredit, shut down the opponents and get control of it!
Just like paper dollars, a central bank digital currency, or CBDC, would be issued by the Federal Reserve.
Those pushing for it say it would have several advantages over physical money.
They say it could be used to fight inflation because the Fed would have more direct control over the money supply.
What I want, at this time more than ever, is for the government and government institutions to have more control over my life than at any point in history.
I mean, they're using that power and control so well.
It could speed up transaction payments and help fight money laundering.
Of course, that would mean that it could facilitate social credit scores.
It would mean that the government, like in the trucker protests in Canada, will be able to shut down your bank accounts.
There's been claims in the UK that people have had their bank accounts shut down or controlled.
Obviously, the fear is that this will be used to grant control that will then be used in judiciously against you.
The ability to track transactions has a couple of elements that are very attractive to economic policy makers.
One is to know where people are spending their money.
I don't want you to know where I'm spending my money.
Mind your own business.
Backers say the U.S.
needs a digital dollar if it wants to remain the world's reserve currency.
Opponents warn that it could be a very effective instrument of government control.
Physical money has been called one of the last bastions of privacy.
Laws like the Bank Secrecy Act have already stripped away most of the privacy from bank
accounts and financial transactions.
Banks have really a ton of power that people don't realize to shut down accounts, to freeze
accounts and to end up holding them for really any number of reasons.
Any number of reasons.
What's the number?
I don't know.
I thought you were good with numbers.
Nah, numbers isn't my thing.
I like control.
Currency expert James Rickards says a digital currency would move America closer to a totalitarian state.
Good news, everyone!
If I buy anything, the government doesn't know it.
MasterCard kind of knows it, but even MasterCard uses product codes, so they don't say, you know, Jim bought a Snickers.
It says, Jim bought miscellaneous merchandise at a retail place.
So the government doesn't know what you're doing.
That's interesting.
It's yet another way where your private transactions will be tracked, where the information will be bundled up and traded.
It sort of seems irresistible to them, doesn't it?
Whether it's a commercial entity or a state entity to use data to facilitate control.
Private commercial entities will use the data to advertise.
You like Snickers, do you, Jim?
How about a great big Snickers?
Snickers are on sale.
How about a Snickers bedspread and a Snickers lunchbox?
How about a Snickers straight up your ass?
And the government will be like, if you want this guy to do as you told, put a trail of Snickers that lead him into this iron box!
With this new central bank digital currency, they will, because they maintain the ledger.
So if I buy, you know, Ron DeSantis' new book, or go to a Donald Trump rally, or whatever it may be... That's a confusing morning.
The government using artificial intelligence and having that information, which they would, are able to profile you.
They say, well, this guy kind of looks like a conservative and maybe he's MAGA.
And then you've got a target on your back.
Once upon a time, the state had to go through a convoluted dance of data capture in order to get your commercial and private information that social media and private entities had already captured and bundled.
Now they'll be able to directly track what you're doing because the currency itself is observable.
monitorable, they'll know exactly what you're doing and of course presumably be
able to prevent it. Where we've been for a while now is the behemoth social media
entities have had that data, they've had that information, they understand how
long your eyes are lingering on a particular picture, what you've clicked
on, where you've gone, what you've searched, all that stuff is evidently
being corralled, curated, put together, bundled and sold in a way that's
incomprehensible to all but the most literate of us in these new digital
The new precipice that's appearing is that the state and social media are cooperating and conspiring to a degree on how that information is used.
And now what's happening is it's being converged and become concomitant with trade and expenditure.
Ultimately, that means you can be totally excluded.
Excluded from society, I think.
Doesn't it mean that?
I mean, let me know in the comments.
They'll be able to say, oh, this person went here, went there, does this, does that.
I don't think they should be able to participate in elections.
Last year, a Canadian court froze millions of dollars raised for truckers blocking roads to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
When we talk about a globalist new order, a totalitarian state, even I, schooled as I am thanks to you, in the world of avant-garde conspiracy theory meets conspiracy fact, even I sometimes think these words seem ridiculous and these ideas seem implausible.
We've already witnessed, as this news report responsibly observes, in Canada, bank accounts being frozen, transactions being prevented.
Now what we're seeing is a further facility to do that.
The old adage, that even to me seemed to make a kind of sense, if you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear, is becoming irrelevant because they decide what's meant by something to hide.
You know, you and I might think, well, I'm not a paedophile.
I'm not a monster.
But they might decide, no, we don't like those views.
We don't like those opinions.
We don't like your affiliations with this media group.
We don't like the way you spend money on that.
So there's no agreed upon something to hide.
That category can be shifted at will.
When the Pakistani government was faced with almost nonstop protests last year, it threatened to switch off the bank accounts of the protesters.
Just think for a moment, that's a country like Canada, who are meant to be, if you're like me, anglophonic or North European, these kind of advanced post-colonial civilisations.
That's a bastion country, Canada, isn't it?
It's not even tarnished in the way that the British Empire is or the United States of America are, with being a great big force of injustice.
Of course, Canada's got its own history when it comes to colonialism or whatever, but it's kind of neutral and kind.
They impose those kind of measures.
And then you've got a country like Pakistan, a post-imperial nation that was messed up by our country, Britain, that's Islamic, identifiably and observably, and is sometimes spoken of as being from another world, another time, third world, or whatever language people use these days.
And both of them are doing the same thing.
Can you not observe now that the tendency and the trend will be further and further cooperation between these territories, the establishment of a global elite that have their own treaties to protect one another, and the rest of us just become chattel.
Just observable blobs.
Increasingly unable to determine what can be said, what can be purchased, where we can go.
It's all going to be justified.
No one's ever going to go on your TV now and just with charisma and a moustache tell you, do as we say.
They don't want to do that anymore.
They're beyond that.
They're at the point where it's going to be for your safety, for your convenience, sit still and shut up.
A digital dollar could not only be switched off, the Fed would be able to force negative interest rates on Americans if it wanted them to spend more, penalising savers.
They'll be able to influence what your money is worth.
You'll see that your money is suddenly worthless.
Hold on a minute.
That money, that $100 I had, is now only $50, $40.
Spend!
Spend!
Almost everything that we have regarded as solid is becoming diffuse, nebulous and peculiar.
I am a person that's very open when it comes to the way that a person might identify.
I think it's the business of the individual.
But categories are shifting and melting away.
I've got my money in the bank.
Oh no you don't.
I know what is possible to save based on my own intentions.
Uh uh uh no you didn't.
I'm able to go here or travel or teach my children.
I'm afraid not sir.
Everything is up for question.
There's a kind of mad and destabilizing nihilism in that.
If you think how we evolved to live, I'm not talking about right and wrong.
Those are difficult concepts for anybody to grasp, even though we all have our personal understanding of what they are.
But what I'm talking about is evolution.
For hundreds of thousands of years, possibly longer, we lived in small groups where you basically knew everyone, and you knew that our shared objective was to survive.
This meant it was sensible to look after one another, it was sensible to have a relationship with the environment that was convivial, and also we Pre-industrialization and pre-agriculture, that's not even a matter for discussion.
It's just an ordinary harmony that exists.
Now we're in a space where everything is shifting.
No one knows who they are, or what they are, or what's right and wrong, or what it's okay to say, or where it's okay to go, and what's good and what's bad.
Where one minute we're being told it's perfectly safe to do this, then we learn it wasn't safe.
That you have to stay in your home for these reasons, but actually that wasn't a good idea.
That you have to stand this far apart from other people, but that was actually just made up on the spot.
Can you see That there is no one in this world that you should be granting that degree of authority to.
No one.
No one has that right.
No one has that understanding.
It's impossible to have that understanding.
On the bank to bank level, a real-time payment system called FedNow is expected to begin in July.
It's not a digital currency, but an upgrade to what some call our antiquated banking system.
The FedNow service is an instant payments infrastructure that financial institutions can use to clear and settle payments instantly.
Large bank deposits will be expected to clear much faster than they do now.
Oh, dear old Kevin, just patiently standing there in his baker's outfit, little knowing that his bakery is going to be shut down if he dares to do anything that the government disapproves of.
Oh, look, I can instantly be... That's right, Kevin.
Put in jail for having a belief that we didn't like.
I'm just trying to make cakes.
I don't like cake.
Let's see how far along the line to Armageddon we are, then.
A total of 130 countries representing 98% of the global economy.
Let's migrate to that little 2%!
They're now exploring digital versions of their currencies with almost half in advanced development, pilot or launch stages are closely followed study shows.
Almost half are piloting or launching.
That means it's almost irresistible at this point.
The global push for CBDCs comes as physical cash use falls and authorities look to fend off the threat to their money printing powers from Bitcoin and big tech firms.
This is like what's happening elsewhere online.
The potential to free yourself exists, so they exert.
The potential in independent media is to make mainstream media redundant.
Oh no, they don't need us anymore, they're just talking to each other!
Ah!
Shit!
Shut that down!
Censorship!
Do what you gotta do!
Say it's hate speech everywhere!
Same thing's happening with currency.
Oh my god, they're just trading with each other!
They're doing stuff all around the world!
They're making our nations, our laws, our rules irrelevant!
Oh god, do something!
Quick!
CBDCs.
Well, obviously you can't trust these ones.
These ones are pirate rogue ones.
They're bad for the environment.
They'll kind of have something to say about the pre-existing ones, so you have to use them, but they'll make it illegal, basically, to use anything except theirs, and then they'll shut you down if they don't like you.
A digital version of the British Pound may feature a way to verify the holder's age and citizenship status, potentially smoothing the purchase of alcohol and tobacco in transactions with government agencies.
The clues for how it will be used are already evident, because all it should be is a digital replica of a physical object.
Oh, should we just add that we know how, uh, old you are and what your citizenship status is?
Oh, yeah, I suppose that's no trouble.
And also, we could know how healthy you are and what you believe in.
Oh, yeah, that would be convenient, I suppose.
And whether you took your medicine, just, you know, so we can be sure that you're healthy.
Okay!
And also, we could have little photographs of you.
The Bank of England has hired digital payments platform Nugget to develop the digital currency's privacy and identity features as policy makers step up preparations for the currency dubbed Britcoin.
One R and suddenly it's all fine.
Nugget's Chief Executive Officer Alistair Johnson Said that he regrets the name of Nuggets.
Said that its technology would allow verification of a person's citizenship and for purchasing age-restricted products such as alcohol and cigarettes.
These are the things that we all sort of basically agreed on.
Like, children shouldn't smoke.
Except for that little Vietnamese kid.
I loved him.
The two-year-old puffing hungrily on cigarette after cigarette.
They sort of slip in.
You don't want kids smoking.
No, I suppose not.
Right, we're gonna lock you in your house for ten years.
Like, that is just sort of suddenly you've agreed to something.
Social media platforms like TikTok and Snapchat will face possible shutdowns when they don't crack down on problematic content during riots under the European Union's Content Law Digital Service Act, Internal Commissioner Thierry Breton said on Monday.
And what are they rioting about at the moment?
passing laws that do not have the consensus of the French population that
advantage globalist intentions rather than the ordinary population of France.
They won't be able to discuss that on social media platforms. So censorship laws will
prevent conversation. Digital currency laws will prevent transaction. It's a
conspiracy theory that we're looking for social credit score.
Well what are these two pieces of legislation then that could be used for that?
What's the recent memory of the pandemic where it's already been admitted that it was mishandled, that there was an overreach of the state, that whether intentionally or not, advantaged corporate and state interest.
Now you've got new tools that mean that your errors, let's call them errors, that your errors would be more profound and yet more compounded.
Breton, a French politician, was responding in a French radio interview to comments by French President Emmanuel Macron that floated closing down some social media to clamp down on riots.
The reason they're riots is because people are unhappy.
That's why it's important that us, us lot, don't go, oh that's an insurrection that one, oh I don't like that one, because you don't agree with the issue.
You have to say, if people are protesting, what are they protesting for?
Is there a conversation that needs to be had?
Whether it's being BLM, whether it's trans issues, whether it's January 6th.
If we have the common sense, the open hearts, the open minds to go, even if I disagree with the issue, I'm going to listen to what they're saying, because otherwise what's going to happen is the state are going to use this to shut down protest, and then they'll use it how they want.
It might not be Canadian truckers next time.
It might not be George Floyd next time.
It might not be your issue.
Eventually, they're coming for all of us, is the truth.
Some critics likened this to measures seen in authoritarian states like China and Iran.
I think the time where we're saying authoritarian states like China and Iran is over.
Now it's authoritarian states like all of them.
When there is hateful content, content that calls for example for revolt, that's not hateful, that's political, that's not hateful.
What if in China they went we should overthrow the Chinese state?
Oh well that's sensible.
Okay, well Let's look at the points of difference between Chinese authoritarianism and British or US authoritarianism.
I know, personally, I would rather live here than Russia.
Let's get that out there.
But what I'm saying is, is we're on a scale.
And the way that we prevent that scale sliding in the wrong direction is preserving free speech, individual liberty, control over finance, the ability for communities to determine how they live, what their religious credo is.
These things are just vital and necessary and they shouldn't be being discussed.
They're also cause for killing and burning of cars.
They will be required to delete the content immediately.
This is literally what happens in hypnosis and neuro-linguistic programming.
Two verifiables followed by a suggestion, right?
You don't want people killing, of course not.
You don't want people burning cars, of course not.
And revolt is bad.
Uh, what?
What was the last one again?
You know, killing, burning, revolt.
Revolt's not the same as killing and burning cars.
What you've done there, you're conflating dissent with killing and burning.
That means dissent becomes, well, that's the same as setting fire to a car.
It's not the same to say, I disagree with you, I want to vote on that, our community wants to be outside of that ruling, what about my individual autonomy?
What do you mean it's good to burn people's cars?
I didn't say that!
Legally you did, it's the same bill.
Breton said in the interview on France Info, citing the Digital Services Act which will impose new requirements on large platforms from August 25.
So they're noticing the capacity for social media platforms to allow dissent, or to permit dissent because it's free speech, they're looking at ways of shutting that down.
Digital currency here, censorship there, stuck in the middle of you.
If they fail to do so, they will be immediately sanctioned.
We have teams who can intervene immediately, he said.
If they don't act immediately, then yes, at that point, we'll be able not only to impose a fine, but also to ban the operation of the platforms on our territory.
This Breton geezer, have a look at him.
They will.
Respect the law.
He looks like your nan, doesn't he?
He basically looks like a grandmother.
He looks like Colonel Sanders without the balls to grow the beard.
But look how he's talking like Tony Soprano.
We got people.
People's gonna come round.
They'll shut down your platform.
You're gonna do what we say.
Hold on a minute, mate.
Aren't you like a French bureaucrat?
19 very large online platforms including TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter will have to comply with new legal obligations to limit the spread of illegal and harmful content from next month.
Platforms with over 45 million users in the EU will also have to hand the Commission a first detailed assessment of their major risks for users.
They risk potential fines of up to 6% of their global revenue.
Do you now see where we are?
It appears that centralist institutions, both financial and communicative, are further cooperating in order to shut down individual freedom.
This is why I suppose we find ourselves in the complicated position of supporting, in particular, the free speech and freedom of people that we disagree with.
Ideas that you don't agree with are more important than the ones you do agree with.
Do you see?
Because otherwise they will use your natural inclinations, or your, not even natural, your current inclinations, preferences and tendencies to legitimize more censorship and more control.
This is no longer a conspiracy theory.
This is a conspiracy fact.
When it was Bitcoin and those other cryptocurrencies that you lot are well into, they were like, Oh no, hold on, this is bad, this is illegal, it's bad for the environment.
Now they're doing it themselves because they don't have any principles.
Cluster bombs are bad, cluster bombs are good.
Cluster bombs are bad, cluster bombs are good.
Nothing makes any sense to them except more dominion, more control, more power, more money.
And in order for them to do that, they have to shut down your financial freedom.
They have to shut down your free speech freedom.
They have to shut down your freedom to move around.
These are the lines that have to be drawn in the sand.
These are the issues you have to stand firm on.
We will not be able to do it if we're devoted to individual preference and individual prejudice.
We must, must overcome our individual prejudice in order to stand firm together.
But that's just what I think.
Until next time, stay free.
Many switches, switch on, switch off.
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