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Sept. 23, 2010 - Freedomain Radio - Stefan Molyneux
19:57
1752 Freedomain Radio E-Mails of the Week, September 23, 2010

http://www.fdrurl.com/donate Dealing with insults, integrity and parenting, the evils of Original Sin, and the awesome power of the 700 Club!

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Hi everybody, it's Stefan Molyneux from Freedom Aid Radio.
It is emails of the week this day of September the 23rd, 2010.
It is the last day of my 43rd year.
Very exciting. Some excellent emails.
I'm so sorry that I can't get back to everyone about your emails, but I am flooded.
So, somebody has asked a question about insults.
So he received an insult, tout est mignon, en français, which could mean that it's somebody who is cute or delicate or somebody who's puny and ridiculous.
And he was really bothered by this because he thought it might have been puny and ridiculous.
And the question is, how do you deal with insults, whether true or false?
And that's a very, very good question.
It's an excellent question. Anyone who does anything on the internet is subject to delusious of insults.
Praise, but insults as well.
I could share with you some of the more choice ones that I've gotten, and I'm always disappointed when somebody gives me a true ringer of an insult, but it's not all in caps.
Really, if you're going to send that kind of stuff, I just generally prefer it to be in all caps.
I like the form to follow the function.
But insults, they don't have anything to do with you.
I mean, it's the basic empirical reality.
Somebody who, let's say, is upset by me or something I've said or some argument I've put forward who then starts lashing out at me and sending me aggressive emails, well...
There's nothing to do with me.
I'm just a bunch of pixels on their computer screen.
I don't have anything to do with me.
If somebody says to me, Steph, your mohawk looks totally gay.
Well, I don't have a mohawk.
In fact, I have quite the opposite of a mohawk.
So insults have nothing to do with me.
People are just describing their own histories, their own childhood.
So when somebody insults you, all they're saying is, I was verbally abused as a child, and I'm too chicken shit to deal with it, so I'm going to act out and lash out against others in order to normalize the behavior and therefore not criticize those who verbally abused.
It's a very, very simple equation.
It has nothing to do with you.
All they're doing is confessing that they were verbally abused and they're too cowardly to deal with it.
So they're just acting out against you.
It is a confession of weakness in the face of abuse, not a confession of strength in the face of hierarchy.
So insults, I understand, but just recognize that they don't have anything to do with you.
It's just other people acting out their own shit.
Somebody else, and I get a lot of this kind of stuff.
This is really, really cliché, but it's worth talking about because I get so much of it, I'm going to assume that there's a fair amount of it out there.
Why preach atheism?
Why go out of your way to try to make others see things your way?
Steph, I understand that without religion there's a chance the world would be much more peaceful, but doesn't that make atheism a religion, in a way?
Preaching something to people in hopes of converting them so you can reach some ultimate goal is exactly what religions do.
It is not at all what religions do.
I mean, this idea that atheism is a kind of religion...
It's such a brain short circuit that I have a tough time seeing the people beyond the smoke of cordite haze and the acrid stench of dying brains.
First of all, an atheist is somebody who simply accepts the fact that gods do not exist.
I'm just finishing up a book on agnosticism where I talk about this in more detail, so I won't bore you with it here, but rather will bore you in the book about agnosticism.
Atheism is a terrible word because there's no such thing as a leprechaun, like anti-leprechaun, or against leprechauns, or against pixies, or dryads, or against...
There's no Azuses.
There's no anti-imaginary beings.
Atheism is a terrible word because...
It accepts that the default position is theism, and then you're against theism.
I'm not against gods. I can't wrestle with something that doesn't exist.
I can't oppose something that doesn't exist.
If I think that there's a mirage, like if I think there's a lake somewhere out there in the desert, and I run towards it and try and jump in, it turns out to be a bunch of sand, and I say, well, gosh, this is just sand.
Am I anti-lake?
No, I'm not anti-lake. I'm just recognizing that the lake doesn't exist.
It was just a mirage. And the mirage of gods that are inflicted on too many of us when we're children, we simply grow up, we examine them, and we find that it's just the illusion of water, and it's all just the sand of non-existence.
And so I say, well, there's no...
There are no gods. I'm not against gods because I'm against errors, I guess you could say, but I'm not against gods.
It's like somebody says 2 plus 2 is 5, and I say 2 plus 2 is 4.
I'm not anti 2 plus 2 is 5.
I'm not anti that person.
I just, you know, what they have said is incorrect.
Some people say that there are gods.
They're just incorrect. So it's not preaching.
Now, when you say, why am I trying to make other people see things my way?
Well, I'm not trying to make people see things my way.
Nobody should ever see things my way.
Nobody should ever accept anything that I say just because I say it.
I mean, I don't even do that, and I disagree with myself all the time.
So, no. Nobody should ever see things my way.
It's not about inflicting my view of things on the world.
If I say the world is round, I'm not...
Forcing my particular preferences down your throat, I'm simply saying that the world is round, which is a fact.
I guess you could say spherical rather than conical.
So it's not a matter of inflicting my opinions on other people.
My opinions are completely worthless.
I like this film. I don't like that kind of ice cream.
It's just my opinions, but that's not philosophy.
Philosophy cares nothing for your opinions.
It cares nothing for my opinions.
It is all about what is true and what is false.
The speed of light is constant.
Einstein was not Putting people in an Abu Ghraib basement and swinging light bulbs over their head and hitting them with electrodes to inflict his view of things on the world, because it's proven, it's valid, it's true.
Speed of light is constant, at least so far as we know.
There's no such thing as converting people to the truth.
Conversion is a very strange word.
I understand that it's used in religious circles or cult circles or whatever, but I don't know what it means in terms of philosophy.
Philosophy is not about converting people.
It's simply about making rational arguments with logic and evidence about the truth.
People weren't converted to the belief that gases expand when heated.
They weren't converted to that belief.
The belief was proven and established.
So, philosophy, like science, nothing to do with religion.
Religion is the assertion of things that are demonstrably false and the infliction of things that are demonstrably false on the helpless and tender minds of children for the sake of financial exploitation.
Religion is about lying to children, propagandizing children for the sake for the sake of financial exploitation of them throughout their lives.
It is the invention of imaginary illnesses called sin and imaginary cures called absolution for the sake of stealing from people their whole lives long.
It is a plague and a curse upon humanity.
I'm sorry, but this is the way that it is.
There's no such thing as sin.
There's no such thing as original sin.
There's no such thing as the devil.
These are all imaginary fairy tales inflicted as truths on children in order to exploit them for the rest of their lives and have them hand over money.
It is vile, it is disgusting, it is abusive, and any rational person opposes it.
So, do not confuse philosophy with religion.
So, hi Steph, long time fan.
I've been watching your new segments on email, so I thought I would share and maybe get some StephBot enlightenment.
Hey, if you really want enlightenment, I'll take off my do-rag.
I have two children that are attending preschool and sports leagues at a church, both which I pay for.
Being a strong atheist, it makes me feel dirty to associate and fund the things I rally against.
But this church offers the best sports league and daycare in the area.
How can I justify this?
Also, coming from a heavy religious background, my children are constantly bombarded with God talk at grandma's school and neighborhood.
I'm afraid to sit them down and explain to them the truths about religion for fear of alienating them in our circle.
I have hinted my disgust for religion, but I'm not sure how or when I should break in the news to them without affecting their personal lives.
Thanks. Great question.
Great question. And, first of all, massive sympathies for living in this religion.
I live in a pretty religious neighborhood.
Everyone around me is a Christian.
They're all off on Sunday mornings while we're at the park.
And there's a guy around the corner who's homeschooling his kids because he's a Christian.
So yeah, no, I live in a pretty Christian neighborhood, but them's the breaks.
Well, look, the question is, what are your beliefs worth?
What are your beliefs worth? And we all have a price.
It's impossible to live with perfect integrity in a corrupt world.
We all have some compromises that we need to make in order to survive.
There's no way to solve it, even if you move into the woods to escape all the corruption around you.
You're still in the woods because of the corruption, so it still is dominating your choices.
But here's the thing.
I don't care what compromises you make.
This is an individual decision for each person to make.
I do not care what compromises you make.
What I do care about is the degree of consistency you have With regards to those compromises.
So for you, you're willing to sell out your atheism for the sake of better sports leagues and a better preschool.
I personally would hold that for something a little higher.
I mean, I gave up a very lucrative career to do this crazy U-funded job.
And so I would hold that for something a little higher than better sports leagues.
But that's up to you.
So let's say that better sports leagues and a better daycare is your price for selling out or compromising your beliefs.
That's fine. But then when your children come to you when they're teenagers and say, I want to join in with these cool people who are doing these things like, I don't know, drugs and stealing that you disagree with, Or even if it's not things that you disagree with, then you really can't say to them, no, you need to hold out your beliefs.
You need to have a higher integrity. Never ever inflict a higher integrity on your kids than you're willing to exercise yourself.
Let me say that again, because it's essential.
Never ever inflict upon your children A greater integrity than you're willing to act on yourself.
So, if you're willing to say, well, expose your children to religious teachings for the sake, religious teachings are poisonous to the brain, they're poisonous to the mind, that the children are responsible for the death of the greatest and most noble human being in the world, that they are accomplices in the murder of the very best human being in the world because they were born sinful and dirty with the sin of Adam.
I mean, this is completely abusive.
I mean, it is completely abusive.
I mean, it's like me strangling their favorite pet and then saying, well, you made me do it.
You are the one who responds, but I didn't really do it.
You did it in your sleep.
I mean, that would be insane psychotic and abusive to say to a child.
It would render them hysterical and self-accusatory and conscious stricken.
It would be completely monstrous for me to strangle.
My child's favorite pet and then say, it's your fault.
It's your fault that the pet died.
You killed him. Well, this is exactly what people say about Jesus and children.
It is completely abusive.
If you're willing to expose your children to that kind of poison for the sake of better sports leagues and a better daycare and getting along slightly better or even more better with your grandma or with their grandma, well, that's fine.
I mean, that's your choice, of course, right?
But then you can't possibly rationally complain when your children go along With their peers to do things that are abusive or destructive because it's slightly better for them in some material way.
So, if you're comfortable with letting your children live with those standards when they're teenagers or adults, go for it.
If you're not comfortable with that, I personally wouldn't be.
I would be horrified at that prospect.
But if you're comfortable with it, then go for it.
If you're not comfortable with it, then you need to change your own actions because you can never hold your children to a higher standard.
Then you are willing to live by yourself, and that is going to go on throughout their lives.
So you're teaching your children about integrity based on what you do.
It has nothing to do with what you say.
Children read the body.
They barely listen to the words.
I can guarantee you that. All right.
Somebody else has written.
Hi, Steph. I have downloaded and read four of your books.
I really enjoyed How Not to Achieve Freedom.
Where is the book How to Achieve Freedom?
Oh, dude. Oh, dude.
Where do I even begin?
First of all, I checked this guy's email.
High consumer has downloaded audiobooks and maybe even the PDF versions, so a significant utilization of server resources and bandwidth.
I checked his email. He's not a donator.
I mean, I don't know.
People don't get a lot of feedback from others about how they appear.
Sorry about the planes. It's one of the reasons I have a fairly sizable backyard, is I'm willing to live with plane noise.
But I don't know if you get a lot of feedback, but let me tell you how it looks from my end.
I've had over 200,000 listeners to this show, and getting 300,000-plus YouTube views a month...
It's a significant show.
I've had over 20 million downloads.
It is the biggest philosophical show the world has ever known.
The biggest philosophical conversation the world has ever known.
And that's not due to any genius on my part.
I think I've got some good stuff to add, but that is the technology and that is the power of the listenership.
So I've had over 200,000 listeners.
Less than a thousand people have donated.
So that's half a percentage point of people donating.
And, you know, some of those donations have been pretty small.
I always quite enjoy it when I get the $1.50 donation of which PayPal takes about $2.
So, if you're going to download a bunch of my books, I don't mind if you're a free rider that much.
Like, I don't mind if you're...
It's kind of parasitical and you're kind of expecting everybody else to pay for your consumption, me and other donators.
So, if you're a free rider, if you're going to rely on other people to subsidize your education and not chip in, if you're going to consume without chipping in...
I think that's okay.
There are, you know, people who have legitimate reasons for that.
I would certainly appreciate it if people offered a little help on the site.
If you can't pay, maybe you can just help spread the word, post some videos around, you know, whatever.
But let's say you don't want to do any of that stuff.
Let's say that you're just in pure consumption mode.
Totally fine. Totally fine.
That's the nature of the beast.
But please don't write to me and say, well, where's the next book?
Where's the next book? It's like, dude, you haven't paid me a penny for my decades of hard work and writing and the server and the bandwidth.
I mean, you're just consuming. You're costing me money, and now you're demanding where the next book is.
Well, I'll tell you where the next book is.
How to Achieve Freedom is finished.
It's a great book. I am absolutely not going to release it as yet.
I'm not going to release it until we get at least 5% of people donating.
I'm going to hold it hostage. And the reason that I'm going to do that Because it's really important to me that you all understand reciprocity in relationships.
I mean, it's important to me that you understand integrity.
Like, I've got a free buffet of some great resources out there.
I mean, even if you think that everything I say is crap, there are some great interviews with really smart people out there on this channel that people have really appreciated.
So, I've got a free buffet.
I've got a free buffet and you can come and you can stuff your face and you can put your foot up on the table.
And you can drink my beer and wine and you can burp if you want.
But there's a tip jar, which is, you know, help pay for the buffet, right?
Help pay for what we're doing here.
It costs money. I mean, I can only sacrifice so much.
But people need to step up and chip in.
So if you're going to come and stuff your face with my food and drink my wine and drink my beer...
It seems kind of weird to me that you'd sort of stick your hand up in the air and say, hey, you know, where's the whiskey?
It's like, you know, throw a little money in the change jar and you gain a lot more credibility with me.
It's just kind of rude, right?
To consume, consume, consume, and then just say, oh, where's your next book?
I don't know if you know how you look, but it's pretty entitled.
And it seems kind of narcissistic to me, but that's just my particular opinion.
There's a story that I sometimes think of when I'm thinking about donations and the number of people who are into this show, like maybe you, right?
You're into this show and you're really into personal responsibility and you're into property rights and you're into integrity and you're into reciprocity and you're into the free market.
And yet you're a free rider.
You don't contribute anything to the maintenance of the show or the growth of the show or any of the extremely high technical and server and bandwidth costs.
You don't contribute anything to it.
So to what degree do your values really mean anything if you're just going to consume and consume and consume and not, you know, kick a couple of bucks to help out the show?
And it doesn't mean anything.
Then it's just, you know, it's just noise.
It's just, it's fun words, I guess.
And that's fine, too. But then don't write to me and say, well, where's this?
And where's that? And, you know, like...
Anyway, so there's a story that...
The 700 Club is a Christian broadcasting network or program.
And... The reason it's called the 700 Club is it was founded, I think, in the early 60s, but it was floundering and it didn't have enough money to pay its bills.
So in 1962, I think it was Pat Robertson, in 1962 a call went out for people to donate 10 bucks a month for this show, for this Christian show.
And 700 people signed up at 10 bucks a month.
I'm going to guess that a dollar was worth maybe 10 times back then.
So 700 people signed up for...
$10 a month, which in modern dollars is $70,000 a month.
Imagine what this show could do with $70,000 a month.
Imagine if we had as many people interested in spreading philosophy as we had way back in 1962 of spreading Christianity.
They were able to keep an entire television show, an entire television station running for that amount of time, as opposed to me, who's like one guy and home video and, you know, whatever, right?
Imagine if this show had $70,000 a month.
If 700 people signed up for that.
The amount of money that went back then.
Because people say to me, well, how come the world is so irrational?
How come it's getting more irrational?
How come sanity and rationality and reason are not winning yet?
Well, look, I've spent a lot of years in business as an entrepreneur.
It's not the best movie that gets the most money.
Not always. It's the movie which has quality and also has the best marketing campaign.
There is a certain amount of it just takes some dollars for me to get a television station, for me to get a show, for me to get all of that kind of stuff.
It just takes some money. And I don't have the money.
The money comes from you, from the listeners.
So, if you want to know why religion is winning out, if you want to know why statism is winning out, if you want to know why politics and irrationality are winning out, it's because those people actually spend their money on what they value.
Christians have lots of criticisms of Christians, but by God, they are great at putting their money where their souls are.
They are great at putting their money where their integrity is.
And so, yeah, they spend a lot more money than people spend on philosophy, and so it's just a numbers game.
Religion wins. I mean, I have a donation level of 10 bucks a month.
It's 10 bucks a month. 30 cents a day.
What are these shows worth to people?
Well, for the vast majority of you, they're not even worth 30 cents a day.
I mean, that's just an empirical fact.
I know that they're worth a huge amount, because there's nothing else like this out there in the world.
But for most people, it's worth...
Less than 30 cents a day.
That is just an empirical fact.
So then when people write to me and say, well, how come the world is so crazy?
It's like, because crazy people actually spend money on their beliefs.
And sane people, unfortunately, like most of you, simply don't.
I don't mean to be harsh or anything like that.
This is simply a fact. This philosophy show will grow.
I think it's the best philosophy show in the world.
If it wasn't, I'd be going and joining whatever was better and working with that.
But it's only going to grow if you support it.
It's only going to grow if you actually put some coin where your values are, just like the crazy people do.
Then we will gain some traction.
Thank you so much for listening. Have yourselves an absolutely wonderful week.
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