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June 20, 2025 - Freedomain Radio - Stefan Molyneux

01:42:06

WHY I CAME BACK!

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	Hello!
	Welcome to your Wednesday Night Live.
	It is the 18th of June, 2025, and we are reasoning from first principles to our last breath.
	Our last breath.
	Audio sounds better here than X. Well, I don't really know what to do about that, but I appreciate the feedback.
	It's always good to know when things are working or not.
	So, thank you.
	Thank you for that.
	All right.
	Let's see here.
	Let us make sure that we have our chitty chats over there on the X-O-Rama.
	It is good to be back as a whole.
	Sopanta says, Good evening, everyone.
	Seeing you here on X is going to take some getting used to, Steph, LOL.
	Well, it used to be my X account.
	Now it's my X account.
	Oh, you know, my daughter is not at home at the moment.
	And so you get the glorious dad jokes that normally only she, well, and my wife, and our friends, and their kids, and so on, get to enjoy.
	You just get them.
	So, again, I know I'm off politics.
	This is more about rhetoric, he said rhetorically.
	But I will say this.
	Well, no, let me ask you this question.
	Did you see the Tucker Carlson-Ted Cruz conversation?
	Oh, man.
	Talk about ungreased dildos straight to the ear canal.
	Holy crap.
	That was something else.
	Hit me with a Y if you'd like a few thoughts about that.
	I'm just here.
	You can type it there.
	Hit me with a Y. I couldn't make it through the whole thing because there's only a certain amount of rhetorical reaming that I can take before I start to walk bowlegged and horses don't want to let me ride them anymore.
	So hit me with a why if you would like at all, even a slightly little bit of thoughts on that.
	You haven't.
	Is it worth watching?
	I think it is worth watching as a whole.
	I would say it's worth watching as a whole.
	But you've got to keep your wits about you because, of course, it is – It's not really the fault of either participant.
	I did The Truth About Ted Cruz many years ago, and I enjoyed Tucker Carlson's last book.
	But I will say that the amount of dodging and bobbing and weaving and avoidance of the patently obvious is really something.
	It's a nice hat, isn't it?
	I wear it.
	Because I don't put a logo on.
	So there's my logo.
	And it's not like anybody needs more of my four, six, eight head in their feet.
	It's a whole, wow!
	So, yes, the pink ostrich bowling ball of philosophy is there.
	It's a very nice hat.
	Hello, Gungan.
	Hello, everybody.
	Jared says, I've been listening to Peaceful Parenting again to figure out how to phrase the contradictions of the parents of my girlfriend.
	Powerful stuff.
	Yes.
	I liked hearing Tucker push back on Ted's nonsense.
	I understand.
	I think that's interesting.
	I even agree to it to some degree, but they're both working in such a narrow and constrained area that it is something else and a half.
	Hello, Sanding Plane.
	Nice to see you.
	Nice to see you.
	I appreciate that.
	So, with regards to the conversation as a whole, I don't know, man.
	There's stuff that's just kind of blindingly obvious that people just refuse to talk about as a whole.
	And it does get a little maddening to see people dance around it.
	I'm not sure that Genesis should be informing public policy.
	I'm just not sure.
	If you're going to start taking stuff from the Bible as your politics, it seems to me a little bit of a narrowing of the separation of church and state, and then you're going to have to figure out how to better treat your slaves, and some of the other stuff in particular that's in the Old Testament that is not massively sanitary to modern sensibility, so to speak.
	But it does seem interesting.
	So yes, I think it is worth having a look.
	It's interesting seeing somebody hold somebody else's feet to the fire, and there is a certain amount of Gotcha!
	That people kind of like to see, which I understand as well, because politicians rarely have the gotchas.
	But the one thing that I find really tough about those kinds of conversations, and Tucker does sort of point out about this, like, where's the accountability?
	You know, for people who supported disastrous policies, you know, like Iraq, like Afghanistan, like Libya in particular, Turned from a relatively functioning, aiming for a gold-backed currency, semi-dictatorship, where at least some of the people were treated well, to a warlord-strewn, $400-a-head open-air slave market of the northern part of Africa.
	I mean, that's pretty bad.
	That's, you know, I don't know about you guys.
	I'm very sensitive to error.
	I'm very sensitive to making a mistake.
	And so because of that, I feel bad if I make a mistake in a presentation, which is why I get a little bit obsessive about getting things right.
	If I make a typo, I think so far I've been on X for two days.
	No typos yet.
	You know they're coming.
	You know, just lining up in the corridor, but nothing yet.
	So I feel pretty bad.
	About that.
	I mean, I remember when I did a miscalculation once in business that cost my boss $50,000.
	I said, hey man, just take it out of my salary.
	I feel bad.
	And he was nice and didn't.
	But people can support the most appalling catastrophes in the world.
	And you can go back and look at my presentation.
	I remember being on, I won't say, I remember being on Abby Martin.
	But I remember being on her show many years ago.
	I did a show called Iraq, A Decade of Hell, which was talking about the genetic destruction of significant portions of the Iraqi population, particularly in the areas around and within Fallujah, because of these depleted uranium weapons that are armor-piercing.
	And just, this is going to be, I mean, there are still people in Vietnam that are dealing with the genetic defects caused by Agent Orange.
	That is something else, man.
	And so I feel, and maybe this is just a, you know, high-strung British guy's sort of Gorgon-like conscience.
	I got a conscience like a Hydra or like Tiamat.
	And it's a good guide.
	You know, if I'm pleasing my conscience, all is well with the world.
	If I'm not pleasing my conscience, nothing is well with me.
	And it's a stern taskmaster, but a very great friend when it's on your side.
	I remember when I was younger, I'm like, well, you know, listening to your conscience, I can listen to it later.
	You know, I can just enjoy myself now and listen to it later.
	That doesn't work out very well.
	The longer you avoid your conscience, the worse the blowback is, you know.
	Have you ever gone hiking with people like through thick brush?
	and of course I worked up north gold panning and prospecting so I did this with people I worked with all the time.
	You know, they're walking ahead and they're like...
	I remember when I was in Africa, there was a set of bushes basically called, wait a moment, because they hook in and if you try to back out, the hooks all go in like those barbed arrows.
	You have to push through the body rather than pull out.
	Oh, man.
	That conscience stuff, the blowback, the longer you ignore it, is bad.
	And the blowback, my own conscience blowback, really hit me in my early 30s.
	And I went through a severe bout of insomnia because I was asleep to the reality of the need to bring recent facts, evidence, and virtue to my actual personal relationships.
	And heaven help me.
	My business relationships.
	And I got a whole novel about this called The God of Atheists.
	I hope you'll check it out.
	It's free!
	Free falling.
	All right.
	So, let me just get to your questions and comments, issues and problems, whatever is on your mind.
	I really did enjoy the Twitter spaces.
	It was great having those debates with people and all of that kind of stuff.
	Now, I'm trying to figure out the chat here with regards to X. Why?
	I hit the refresh and I just get like a couple.
	Of people.
	I've got it on the pop-out.
	And I only see two comments, and I know that that's not really what's going on with X. So I suppose I will just have to try.
	Let me just try refreshing the X thing.
	It shouldn't have any effect on the live stream itself.
	Just to see if I can see what might be going on.
	I'd like to get the questions from there.
	Only two.
	And I just saw more before I refreshed it.
	So I suppose please reset if you have not.
	Thank you, David, for reposting the stream.
	I appreciate that.
	I do appreciate that.
	I do love how young I am that my return to X has produced a not small number of Gandalf memes.
	And it's funny because I think that the guy who played Gandalf, Ian McKellen, It was about the same age when he played Gandalf as Tom Cruise is now.
	You know, Tom Cruise, who apparently just lives in massive sit-up-based cryogenic chambers between movies.
	It's pretty wild.
	It's pretty wild.
	All right.
	Let me get to your questions and comments.
	Thank you, says Shelby.
	I appreciate the tip.
	Thank you for the valuable work you've been doing all.
	You've been instrumental in helping me heal from the trauma I experienced in my childhood.
	I'm very, very thankful that you tell me that, and I really do appreciate that, and please accept my very deepest sympathies for what happened in your childhood.
	It's very, very sad.
	Very sad.
	Oh, Tim doesn't see the chat either?
	Is it not just me?
	Let me try try reload here.
	Sorry, I don't mean to bore everyone with technical stuff.
	But uh, I have not.
	I have not.
	And I just wanted to mention, just wanted to mention, since I've got my account restored, to all the people who were offering me absurd amounts of money to post something, A, I don't know if it's valid or not, and B, I don't do ads.
	I don't do ads.
	I mean, it's a fair amount of cash to be dangling in front of me, but I hate to sort of say it this way, but I wish I was more tempted by stuff like that.
	I don't care too much for money.
	Monica and by my truth.
	So I would say that I don't...
	Yeah, it's not particularly tempting for me.
	Let me see here.
	Should I advertise for a post?
	Okay.
	So if I close this pop out and go back just to, yeah.
	So, I mean, people offer me stuff and I don't.
	I've got a roof over my head and a decent camera.
	So, you don't see the chat either?
	Yeah, it's very strange.
	Very strange.
	And so, all right.
	Let me just get to see if there are comments here, there, or everywhere.
	You can't comment on the live, is that right?
	Excellent.
	I mean, I can't imagine I'm here for two days and I'm being suppressed already.
	That would be...
	Thoughts on AGI or superintelligence?
	Will it destroy us or governments first?
	So I have a little bit of a view into artificial intelligence because I know leftists.
	And also...
	And computers can't think.
	They can't think.
	They can't reason.
	They can't dream.
	They don't have ambitions.
	AI, massively impressive.
	The technology is amazing.
	And for research, it's, I mean, gosh, I wish I had AI back in the days of the truth about, you know, I'm just cranking out one of those or two of those a week because those took days and days and days and days and days to put together.
	Now, I know that AI hallucinates and so on, but AI is not going to compete with human beings.
	It is going to compete with NPCs because NPCs are programmed.
	So the human beings who are programmed by propaganda, the NPCs who are programmed by the media, the NPCs who are programmed by emotional avoidance, right?
	So, you know, reactive people, like you bring up some kind of truth and they get really upset and angry.
	The people who are programmed to be reactive, to act out, those people are going to be replaced by AI.
	But people who think Originally, creatively, and it's not like an IQ thing.
	You can think creatively and originally without being smart, super smart, or anything like that.
	But those people are not going to be replaced by AI.
	So the less you think, the more replaceable you are.
	And the people who just repeat what the media tells them as if it's their own thoughts, they're totally going to be replaced.
	If you're programmable, as most people are, just programmable, Do what the culture tells you.
	Do what the media tells you.
	You seek out advantage and you avoid negatives.
	So if you are programmable, then AI, which is programmable, will replace you.
	And so you've got to start adding value through originality and then that's the best way to hang on to your job.
	But no, I don't think that AI will destroy us.
	I think that AI, as I talked about in the...
	All right.
	Paul says, you're an ad for the betterment of the human race.
	Your StephBot AI helped me with the path forward after the Bas-Aquids path, or the Bas-Bakids path.
	We found ourselves on the past five years.
	Where do we go from here?
	Lecture.
	Oh, good.
	I'm very, very glad.
	For that, and of course, if you are on X or wherever, if you could repost the stream, I would be thrilled if you would do that.
	It would be very helpful, and I imagine it's going to be helpful to philosophy as a whole.
	So, sorry, somebody just posted.
	Let's do this.
	Live, baby, live.
	Now that the day is over.
	All right, save that.
	These are jobs estimated to be reduced by AI.
	I'm actually working on this on my latest novel, that there is a woman who is a secretary, and this is the kind of stuff that absolutely will be replaced by AI.
	All right, so what have we got here?
	Within five years, by 2030, Data entry keyers, 80-95%.
	Cashiers, 75-90%.
	Office clerks, 70-85%.
	Bookkeeping clerks, 70-85%.
	Customer service representatives, 70-85%.
	Telemarketers, 65-80%.
	Retail salespersons, really?
	Okay, 60-75%.
	I mean, stuff that requires a body, which retail sales workers do, would seem to me less likely to be replaced, but maybe they're talking about robots, or maybe they're just talking about cashiers, but no, that would be in the higher category.
	Fast food workers, 60-75%.
	Paralegals and legal assistants, 60-75%.
	Assembly line workers, 55-70%.
	Sales reps, 55-70%.
	Delivery drivers, 50-70%.
	Truck drivers, 50-70%.
	Market research analysts, 50-65%.
	Manufacturing workers, 50 to 65. Accounting clerks, 50 to 65. Fire clerks, 50 to 65. Postal service clerks, 45 to 60. Journalists, the ultimate brain programmers, 45 to 60 percent.
	Also one of the professions which ranks highest in sociopathy and addiction.
	Bank tellers, 45 to 60. Travel agents, 45 to 60. Man, a travel agent's still a thing.
	Graphics designers, 40% to 55%.
	Right.
	Right.
	Yeah, that makes sense.
	That tracks, as they say.
	Thank you very much.
	So, am I set up for subscriptions on X?
	No, because I wasn't on X for quite some time, and I need 5 million impressions over the last three months.
	And, of course, because I wasn't posting, I had virtually no impressions.
	But that is changing rapidly.
	We've had a little bit of a spike.
	And so, yeah, that is changing quite a bit.
	All right, let me just refresh this.
	All right, but it's nice to see a quarter million people or so have viewed my request for YouTube.
	Most people in the fiction space are afraid of AI, but that's because they write slop anyway.
	Yes, that is very true.
	I'm writing a novel about very cruel people, and I've known some cruel people.
	Okay, let me ask you this.
	Write to me the number of cruel people you've had at some relative closeness in your life, not just someone you met at a party who was mean.
	But I'm trying to think for myself.
	It probably would be, I think, six.
	I think six cruel people.
	I've known in my life.
	But I'm just curious, how many people, like, the people, and you don't need a huge definition of cruel, you're a very sort of smart group of people, but, you know, people who giggle when other people get hurt, they do a lot of this insults, and, hey, man, I was only joking, and ha-ha, and they're just constantly unsettling to be around because you never know where they're coming from, and they don't have any particular empathy, and everything is kind of a joke.
	So I'm just curious what...
	Because I'm drawing upon some of the people that I've known over the course of my life.
	I'm writing a novel about a couple of really cruel people, and it's wild, man.
	It is wild.
	Let's see here.
	So I said six.
	Miller said 30. Kevin said maybe a couple dozen work and personal.
	Miller says, oh, yeah, way too many.
	Yeah, 30 is a lot, man.
	30 is a lot.
	I mean, I have the luxury slash well-earned situation where I, of course, work from home, although I'm getting invited places now.
	I'm not sure whether I'll go or not, but I'm getting invited places now.
	Maybe I've done my time in the wilderness.
	Maybe not.
	It's really hard to say.
	Five or six.
	Four.
	Chris only seen one.
	Three.
	Okay.
	Your rugged good looks are criminal.
	Thank you.
	I appreciate that.
	Not earned, although mildly maintained, with decent exercise.
	I did 45 minutes of waits right before the show tonight.
	All right.
	Computers can't break up fights or stop shoplifters, so security guards say for now, bio robots to their employer.
	Yeah, for sure.
	Well, and of course, as there are computers coming in, the remaining workers will be...
	Hey, Steph, what do you think about Canada becoming the 51st state?
	Yeah, that's not going to happen.
	It's not going to happen.
	Canada has, in general, a highly resentful younger sibling relationship to the United States.
	So, I would say not likely.
	Not likely at all.
	All right.
	I have, let's see here.
	Let me just get to my bookie bookmarks.
	Here we go.
	Here we go.
	Yeah, there was an interesting, because I'm back on X. I won't call them trolls because that's a little bit too easy.
	And it's actually been troll-free almost exclusively.
	But there was an interesting interaction.
	And I do this because I think it's instructive on how to challenge people who say you're wrong.
	Look, I don't want to be wrong.
	You know, if I think I put sunscreen on my back, I'm on the beach or something like that, which I very rarely go to, but if I put sunscreen on my back and I missed a spot, do I want my wife to say, hey, I think you missed a spot.
	You got like a red bit on your back.
	Well, of course.
	If I met, oh, I think I put the sunscreen on my back.
	I missed.
	I want, because I don't want a little flaming spot of, you know, whatever, right, on my back.
	So I want people to tell me if I've made a mistake, right?
	If I'm at the gym and I'm doing something incorrectly, I want someone to say, hey, you should do it this way, not that way, so that I don't pull a muscle.
	Because, you know, I was at a cafe the other day working on my novel, and I have a… it's not exactly a fetish, but it's a deep and abiding interest.
	When I see an injury in public, not someone getting injured, but somebody, you know, they're on a...
	I just, I have to know the backstory.
	I just, I just have to know the backstory.
	And I would just ask people, hey, what happened?
	And I find people in general are very sort of keen to talk about it.
	But I was talking to this guy and he was, he had broken his ankle in a sport.
	Oh, when did it happen?
	What's the prognosis?
	How are you feeling?
	And how long till healing?
	And all that kind of stuff.
	And I just, I always want to know.
	I want to know the backstory for everyone.
	Like, whenever my daughter and I go to, like, say, a farmer's market or a renaissance fair, I want to go there, like, with a camera crew.
	I want to go to a renaissance fair with a camera crew, for instance, and just ask everyone, why are you here?
	How did you?
	Not like it's a bad place to be.
	They're a lot of fun, but it's a kind of wild half-circus subculture.
	Why are you getting up at five in the morning to sell pretend armor?
	Like, that's just a fascinating thing.
	I want to know everyone's backstories.
	How did you end up?
	And that's why, for me, when I get to do these call-in shows, I think of the number of, you know, hundreds of people I've asked over the years, you know, what was your first memory?
	And I know people I never would have met.
	I now know their first memory and now so does the whole world.
	Backstories to me are completely fantastic.
	But anyway, so I was talking to this guy in the cafe and he's like, oh yeah, I'll be better in like five weeks.
	And I'm like, bro, you broke your whole ankle.
	Like if I broke my whole ankle, I mean, I remember when I was in St. Louis chasing my daughter as a monster down the hallway and I was in new sneakers and I hit some tile and my leg just went down because it kind of stuck like glued there.
	I banged my knee, man.
	I went to physio people.
	Physio people are mostly just made up stuff, right?
	You know, oh, ear of newt and a couple of lizard hearts and punch yourself in the spleen three times with some knuckle dusters and you'll be fine.
	Everything they gave me was completely useless and I went to two or three of them.
	Complete waste of time and money and so on.
	I just found out that I just had to dig in and massage.
	For me, if I injure something that's taking a while to heal, it's always because I'm It's some completely non-intuitive thing, you know, like, oh, it's your, if you've got a pain in your knee, it's your right elbow.
	It's just making things up, right?
	But it's always like some bizarre thing that doesn't make any sense that loosens it up.
	And so, but it took like 10 months before I sort of figured all of that out.
	And I was just like, oh, you're 25?
	You're going to heal before you know it.
	But you don't want to get these kinds of things in your 50s because then the healing is not quite as.
	Snappy.
	Not quite as snappy.
	So, yeah, I mean, if I'm lifting something incorrectly, if I'm skiing badly, if I, whatever, I haven't been skiing in years, but I just, just tell me so I don't hurt myself.
	I want to be corrected.
	So, I like to be corrected, but let me ask you this.
	Here's another audience participation question.
	Let me ask you this.
	What percentage of people, let's just say online, what percentage of people online want to correct you in good faith?
	In other words, hey, you know, you're making an error.
	I want to help and here's a better argument or here's where I think you went astray or something like that.
	What percentage of people online are correcting you in good Faith.
	And that is always an interesting question.
	Less than 5%.
	Is that what you're saying?
	Less than 5%?
	It's not as common as it should be.
	It absolutely is not as common as it should be.
	About 2% to 5%.
	I'm optimistic enough to say a whole 5%.
	How does it feel to play stadiums again?
	Feels the same as before?
	No.
	I remember Mick Jagger saying, you know, if you're playing a nightclub, it's very different from playing a stadium.
	It's a whole different focus and energy.
	So it's a little bit more.
	Joe says, 10% of people online are correcting you in good faith.
	All right.
	I appreciate that.
	That's good to know.
	I was going to say to the people on X, let me know if you can't post a message.
	Kevin says, 20%.
	Nice.
	Nice.
	3%.
	Of my real audience, 80% of strangers, perhaps 2%.
	So to me, it's always interesting to know whether or not people are correcting you in good faith.
	If they're not correcting you in good faith, I mean, you can say they could have a good argument even if they're malicious.
	I mean, it's true.
	Technically, technically.
	Technically, it's true, but you could also jump out of a plane and land without injury some way, right?
	But don't do it, right?
	Technically, you can win the lottery, but don't play the lottery.
	It's just a tax on mathematical ignorance.
	So...
	Once I have established a lack of good faith, I'm out.
	You can't heal people who manipulate in that kind of way.
	You can't fix them, and you're not going to get anything valuable out of them.
	And maybe you feel like, oh, if I expose this person, then other people will see.
	But that's not your job.
	That's not your sort of service.
	Other people are saying 2% to 5%, 10%.
	Somebody says 25%, but I spend a lot of my time on technical message boards.
	Yeah, that's fair.
	Technical message boards, for sure.
	On Reddit, none.
	Yeah, that's probably quite true.
	That's probably quite true.
	Putting the commie red in Reddit.
	So, I posted a request for YouTube to restore my YouTube channel.
	And somebody wrote, this dude helped to rip apart so many families and relationships.
	Right?
	And I said, spreading malicious rumors is a sin, my friend, because, you know, that is a malicious rumor, and there's no evidence, and it's just, me podcasting, me doing some videos, me writing some books, has torn apart so many families and relationships.
	I don't see how that would particularly follow, but there's no example, right?
	So I said, spreading malicious rumors is a sin, my friend.
	And he said, not sure why you would invoke fairytale concepts.
	So, boom!
	Right?
	You know, you know, atheist, right?
	You know, atheist.
	And Fedora Wehra, and, well, actually, right?
	I mean, you just know.
	And this is what I said on the stream the other day, on the Twitter spaces, are you still an atheist?
	I'm like, well, I can't stand atheists for the most part.
	You know, present company accepted if you're an atheist.
	I mean, you're into philosophy, but.
	So...
	So he has no basis for his morality.
	It's really, really important to understand.
	Atheists outside of UPB, outside of universally preferred behavior, atheists have no, none, zero basis for their morality.
	Zero.
	It's all vague Darwinian in-group preference evolution.
	Although they don't accept in-group preferences in certain groups.
	It's all the greatest good for the greatest number.
	That's just a mealy-mouthed avoidance of the actual question or the actual issue.
	It's all, oh, generic, being nice and being good and doing good for you.
	There's no basis.
	If you don't believe in God, your morality becomes rank superstition, which is much worse.
	Much worse.
	Religious people have a basis for their morality.
	Universal objective.
	Not rational.
	It's religious, faith, right?
	not reason.
	But the moment somebody says, "I'm an atheist,"again, UPB is not spread like wildfire, I guess like wildfire in a heavy rain of anti-morality, but it's really He's saying there's no such thing as sin, which is obviously immoral behavior.
	So there's no such thing as immoral behavior.
	So if there's no such thing as immoral behavior, why would he criticize me?
	No such thing as immoral behavior.
	Oh, it feels bad.
	No, that's just hedonism on the other side of the coin.
	No!
	When you talk to atheists, they've got nothing!
	Nothing!
	Behind their moral pronouncements.
	It's all manipulation and feels and conformity and cross-your-fingers wishful thinking bullshit.
	Bullshit.
	So, there's no such thing as good and bad, right and wrong, but apparently ripping...
	And there's no morals.
	So, he says, not sure why you would invoke fairytale concepts.
	Now, the word sin, to me, is something that your conscience will get you on, that you claim is universal, but use for your own advantage, right?
	So, he said, your entire schtick for a while.
	So, there's certain NPC words, right, that you just know.
	Grifter, of course, is one of them, and schtick.
	Also, when people use inappropriate, quote-friendly nicknames, like Steffi, Molly Meme, I'm sort of torn on because, you know, it's become a meme of its own, so I don't consider it particularly malicious.
	So, your entire shtick, that shtick is not an argument, for a while was about convincing people to cut ties in relationships with those around them that you would perceive to be, quote, toxic.
	This isn't a rumor.
	Andrew Wilson, thank you, chimed in, so good advice.
	So convincing people to cut ties in relationships with those around them that you would perceive to be toxic.
	So, Thank you.
	So, The analogy I used many years ago was if you think that a bridge, like I say you've got a little footbridge over a stream, right?
	A little footbridge over a stream.
	And you say, this footbridge is solid and firm and strong.
	And I say, well, then you should walk over it because you don't want to get wet or muddy or whatever.
	And then you walk over it and the footbridge collapses.
	Are you mad at me?
	Hey, man, you made me go on this footbridge.
	No, I didn't.
	You said the footbridge was strong.
	I don't want you to get muddy and wet, so go walk on the footbridge.
	So what did I say to people back in the day, for many years, which I absolutely would still say today?
	It's a triple T. Standard English afternoon, a triple T. Tell the truth.
	Oh, you thought I was going to go up there, didn't you?
	So did I, but no.
	Tell the truth.
	That's all I said.
	People say, well, my father did this wrong.
	My mother did this wrong.
	I was really angry about this.
	I'm really upset.
	Tell them the truth.
	Sit down with them and tell them what your problems are.
	Tell them what your criticisms are.
	Tell them what your issues are.
	Don't be in a relationship and lie your ass off.
	And I say that with great sympathy.
	Don't be in a relationship and lie your ass off.
	That is dishonorable to you.
	It's dishonorable to the other person.
	And lying in your primary relationships has massive negative effects on your heart, mind, conscience, your soul, for want of a better word.
	Don't lie in your primary relationships.
	Don't put on a fake smile.
	Don't pretend things are fine when you're angry.
	Communicate.
	Be honest, open, direct.
	With people in your life.
	So people would go and talk to their parents.
	And if it was parents, right, it could be husband, wife, but in parents, this is a typical thing, right?
	Now, if telling people, go and talk to your parents about what's bothering you, how would that be to rip apart families?
	Families are already apart.
	Like, they're already apart.
	If people aren't talking about what they think and feel.
	There is no connection.
	If you're in a family situation and you're biting your tongue, you're dissociating, you're not being honest, you're just being run over by the other person's indifference and avoidance and gaslighting, you don't exist.
	You're like a ghost.
	Go and be honest and tell the truth.
	I mean, it's like the Robin Williams genie in Aladdin.
	Just tell the truth, triple T. Forgive me, Father, for I was raised...
	Almost whipped up with the commandment, thou shalt not bear false witness.
	Thou shalt not bear false witness.
	What was I always told as a child?
	What were you always told as a child?
	Tell the truth.
	Tell the truth.
	Be honest.
	Don't lie.
	Hit me with a Y if you were punished as a child for lying either directly or indirectly.
	Hit me with a Y if you were punished either in school or in church, extended family, in your family, wherever.
	Were you punished for lying?
	I mean, I was.
	I was punished for lying.
	And I was told, To tell the truth.
	Wasn't complicated.
	Be honest.
	Be honest.
	And I was told that I had to be responsible for my own decisions.
	I couldn't ever say, well, the other kids were doing it because you'd always get the same response.
	In America, it's the Brooklyn Bridge here in Canada.
	Well, if all the other kids were jumping off the CN Tower, would you do that too?
	Think for yourself.
	Don't blame others.
	Tell the truth.
	You are responsible for your own decisions.
	You can't blame others.
	That's what I was told.
	That's what I was raised with.
	Oh, yeah, the parents who say, I won't be mad if you tell the truth.
	Right.
	Right.
	You know, if society didn't want me to promote the truth, Maybe society should have shut the F up in demanding and insisting that I tell the truth.
	Maybe I shouldn't have been caned as a little boy in boarding school for lying.
	I'm not mad.
	If you did something wrong, I'm only mad if you lie about it, right?
	Lying is worse than doing something wrong.
	Lying is the worst thing ever.
	Cheating is a form of lying, right?
	Pretending to have knowledge that you don't have.
	So this is the funny thing.
	Society is a very, very funny...
	So at this point in my life, it's straight up comedic.
	Hello, Hedevra.
	Hever, Hever, Hedevra.
	I want to reach out in Chevy.
	Okay, I don't actually.
	But society is a funny place, right?
	Because they give you all these moral rules.
	And they're absolute, absolute moral rules.
	So then I grew up, I'm like, oh, okay, so this is the moral rules that society lives by.
	I better do these moral rules because, man, if those moral rules are strong and certain enough, and society is absolutely certain about these moral rules to the point where they will beat children.
	For disobeying these moral rules.
	Man, that's absolute.
	That's certainty right there, baby.
	100%.
	I'm like, oh, okay.
	So you want me to tell the truth, and I've got to think for myself.
	So then I make a career out of telling the truth and thinking myself.
	And when people say to me, they come to me on the call-in shows or however they're communicating with me, and they say, I'm lying to my family.
	I'm upset, but I'm not telling them.
	I'm angry at my parents, but I'm not telling them.
	I have problems with my parents, but I'm not telling them.
	I feel distant from my parents, but I'm not telling them.
	So, uh, what do I say?
	I said the same thing.
	If it's safe, if it's safe, I mean, there were a few people who had very violent parents and that may not be safe.
	I said, look, if it's safe, then you should, you should talk to your parents.
	Tell them the truth about what you think and feel.
	Be honest.
	Be honest.
	Apparently, it's a cult of honesty, right?
	Tell your parents how you feel.
	I can't tell you how awful it would be if my daughter was upset with me about something and didn't tell me for years.
	It would be appalling.
	It would absolutely shatter my heart into its component.
	Not even atoms, like electrons.
	Not even atoms, like electrons.
	Terrible.
	And...
	And telling people to go to their parents and tell the truth about what they think and feel is entirely in alignment with all of the morals that I was taught.
	Like when I was told, well, you shouldn't use violence to get what you want.
	If you want some kid's lunch, you shouldn't just push them into the mud and grab the lunch and run off giggling to the oak tree.
	Sorry, that may be a bit specific, but you know what I mean.
	Don't use violence to get what you want.
	And then I sort of noticed that society uses a lot of political violence to get what it wants.
	And I'm like, oh, well, I was told you shouldn't use violence to get what you want.
	So, anyway.
	So, I'm simply reflecting back to society the ethics that I was taught.
	But apparently, you see, society inflicts these ethics on children.
	But you sure as Sherlock better not try and put these morals into play.
	When you become an adult, so morality is just an exercise of power, right?
	It's not anything to do with anything that people particularly believe.
	It's just an exercise in power, okay?
	Well, at least that should be revealed, so we don't have to take moral pronouncements.
	So, if somebody said, I was beaten with a belt by my father, I don't think it's my subjective answer.
	So that would be a criminal act.
	So, I don't think beating a child, or if you're a drug addict or an alcoholic, or if you simply don't talk to your child, if you just neglect your child and the child is just sitting up, running in their room, staring into the testes of Satan online.
	So, I just said, you should be honest, and you don't have to have relationships with people who are relentlessly abusive.
	Again, exactly what I was taught as a kid.
	Because, of course, I grew up in the 70s, the feminist movement and so on, where women were never supposed to stay with abusive men, ever.
	These are men that women chose.
	Chose voluntarily.
	You didn't choose your parents.
	So, anyway.
	He says, your entire shtick for a while was about convincing people to cut ties and relationships with those around them that you would perceive to be toxic.
	This isn't a rumor.
	Well, it is, in fact, a rumor because you're just taking the word of people who were negatively affected by radical honesty, right?
	Who gets mad at someone who tells their children as adults to be honest with them?
	I mean, I think we can all get the answer to that.
	And of course, I always suggested to people that it's important to engage with a therapist, because, you know, especially if you have really volatile or aggressive parents, then you want to have a good therapist on your side during the process, and if you can get family therapy.
	And I had parents write to me saying, you know, wow, my kids were really honest with me.
	It really opened up things in the family.
	We're going to therapy.
	Things are way better.
	I did a call-in show with at least, I can't, more than one, but one parent that I can remember, a mom who thanked me for all this kind of stuff.
	So telling people to tell the truth.
	Apparently, that's just really bad, right?
	So, Andrew Wilson said, so he said, you would perceive to be, quote, toxic, right?
	So, now it's all subjective, right?
	So, good advice.
	And he said, in some circumstances, sure, not to the extent Stefan encouraged it, though.
	Right?
	Okay, so I was right sometimes, but...
	Now, just so you're aware, just so you're aware, going too far is not an argument.
	It's over.
	It's exaggerated.
	It's hyperbole.
	It's too much.
	It's too this.
	It's too that.
	Right?
	It's extremist.
	Right?
	None of that makes any sense.
	Right?
	I mean, the word extreme just appeals to NPCs who are blandly around the mean.
	And the extremes are bad.
	Right?
	I mean, if you're getting cured of cancer and the doctor says, I mean, this is an extreme cure.
	It'll absolutely wipe out the cancer.
	There'll be none left.
	It's extreme.
	It's like, that's what I want, right?
	I want an extreme cure.
	I don't want a moderate or somewhat or iffy, iffy.
	Like, take it all out, right?
	Take it all out.
	An extreme cure.
	So, if he says, well, Steph was right, but he went too far.
	Again, Maybe.
	Certainly an interesting thing, right?
	So then somebody wrote back to this guy, cool, so you agree that we should cut out toxic people, but what?
	It has to be to your personal standard?
	And he says, cool, so you agree that we should cut out toxic people?
	And the guy replied, perhaps.
	That depends on what you view as toxic.
	Okay, so he's saying it's subjective.
	So, if he's saying it's subjective, then...
	So who is he to disagree with their subjective?
	See what I mean?
	There's no reality.
	There's no truth here.
	And the guy said, but what?
	It has to be to your personal standards.
	And he said, if you have to be told that there is nuance and shades of gray, you are a first order thinker, right?
	That's not an answer, right?
	And so I wrote to him and I said, what is your personal standard for withdrawing from toxic or abusive relationships?
	No hate.
	I'm curious.
	Thanks.
	So he replied, there is no standard.
	And all the people who put stuff in quotes, putting things in quotes, scare quotes, is not an argument.
	Not an argument.
	There is no quote standard that I follow, nor is there one that can be broadly applied.
	What one person considers toxic or abusive, another may not.
	Right.
	So everything's subjective.
	So if everything's subjective, how can I be wrong?
	How can my listeners be wrong?
	And how can you go too far?
	Because everything's subjective, right?
	So if it's like, what's your favorite color?
	Well, that's subjective.
	What is your favorite color?
	I mean, obviously, objectively, it's navy blue, but what is your favorite color?
	That is subjective, right?
	So if something is subjective, how dare you say that someone is wrong?
	What's your favorite color?
	Green.
	You're wrong, right?
	It makes no sense at all.
	So if there is no objective standard, then how can he say that anyone is wrong?
	Again, this is just the mind maze that atheists get into, right?
	So, he says, the issue here isn't that I don't think one should withdraw from an abusive relationship.
	No one thinks you telling a spouse to leave their partner to stop getting beaten up is a bad thing.
	Okay, so he's saying there is no standard that can be broadly applied.
	The lack of self-knowledge is amazing.
	I don't know why people don't notice it about themselves, but clearly it's a thing.
	So he says, there's no standard that can be broadly applied.
	But you telling a spouse to leave their partner to stop getting beaten up, that's good.
	How is it possible for people to function in the world and not notice these things?
	I don't know.
	I don't know.
	There's no standard.
	But it's always good for a spouse to leave their partner if they're getting beaten up.
	All right, so he says, let's give his fair criticisms, right?
	The issue here is that you get paid to stir up drama.
	What does that mean?
	What does that mean?
	I get paid to stir up drama.
	How do I get paid for stirring up drama?
	I don't know the answer to that.
	I don't know that anyone does know the answer to that.
	But there is no answer to that.
	I think, I think he's, I mean, if I were to, you know, to steel man his position, and I want to be fair, right?
	Maybe he's got good criticisms.
	I'm always open to it, right?
	So it'd be something like, well, the more conflict there is, In the podcast, the more people will want to listen, like it's Maury Povich or, oh gosh, who were these people who had these crazy shows back in the day where people are whacking each other over the head with chairs or something like that, right?
	So, maybe he's saying that you get paid to stir up drama.
	Of course, I don't get paid to stir up drama.
	I take donations for my philosophical work, right?
	And people call in because they have problems.
	To use an analogy, does not create sick people.
	At least.
	So the call-in shows and live call-ins and so on.
	I mean, we did one.
	Was it just yesterday?
	I did a Spaces on Twitter.
	People wanted to talk philosophy.
	Fantastic.
	I did not set up the call-in show so that people could talk about their personal issues.
	I set up the call-in show so people could call in and talk to a philosopher.
	I think that's a pretty rare opportunity.
	I think it's a pretty cool opportunity.
	And people came in and they wanted to talk about their personal issues.
	There's no requirement for that.
	In fact, all people who had philosophical, this was when Mike was around for years, this was our policy.
	Everyone who has a criticism of me goes to the front of the line.
	And people who want to talk about philosophy, and UPB in particular, which is one of my favorite topics, they go to the front of the line.
	So I am not out there stirring the pot.
	I am receiving, from a neutral standpoint, what people want to talk about.
	So if they say, I'm really unhappy in my life, I'm miserable, I've got addictions, I'm not getting anywhere, I'm hiding in my room, I'm socially anxious, whatever, right?
	Okay, well, they're talking about it now.
	Is it the case that philosophy has nothing to say about that?
	No, philosophy has something to say about just about everything because it's the all-discipline, right?
	Physics, you've got to do...
	Biology, you've got to do nature and behavior of organic matter.
	But philosophy, overarching.
	It can do anything and everything any day of the week and twice on Sunday, right?
	So, if people come in and they say, I'm miserable, and I say, what was your childhood like?
	And they say, oh, I was beaten bloody by my parents, right?
	Violation of the non-aggression principle.
	Morality!
	Virtue!
	Ethics!
	Assault is bad!
	Can we say that?
	Can we say assault is bad?
	Neglect is also terrible for children.
	You don't care that I neglect you.
	Bob doesn't care if I neglect him, but if Bob has locked someone in his basement, that kind of matters.
	Because neglect for children is catastrophic.
	Because they need interaction.
	They need love.
	They're kind of locked in the house.
	They need education.
	They need moral instruction.
	They need all of these things from parents, and they can't go anywhere else to get them.
	All right.
	So he says, I used to listen to you for a long time.
	Good.
	So that's encouraging to me, because if somebody has a criticism of me, which is, again, always welcome and great.
	I want to improve.
	I don't want to get a sunburn.
	So fantastic.
	Then there should be an example.
	He's listened to me for a long time, so there has to be a point where he said, oh my gosh, Steph is doing something wrong.
	That's usually memorable, isn't it?
	I mean, if you listen to someone for a long time, And he says, I've seen you take otherwise inconsequential infractions and blow them out of proportion to the point of trying to convince the caller to cut off their relationship over it.
	No, that doesn't happen.
	I don't tell people to cut off their relationships.
	I tell them to stop lying and be honest in their relationships because I was taught to tell the truth and I was taught that thou shalt not bear false witness.
	So, when I've ever said to someone, oh, well, there was one guy who was drinking himself.
	Half to death and had four children and was driving with them, if I remember rightly, every time he saw his parents.
	And I said, you should stop seeing your parents and get to a therapist right away.
	Because that was highly dangerous.
	So yeah, once in 20 years.
	And I said very clearly at that point, I am breaking my rule here just for you.
	So I don't convince people to cut their relationship off.
	I say, go tell the truth to your parents and engage with the therapist.
	If the relationship can't handle the truth, If the parents blow up and get aggressive, or whatever it is, or whoever, parents could be a friend, it could be a sibling or a spouse or something like that, right?
	Or a boyfriend-girlfriend.
	Then the bridge can't handle the truth, right?
	Can't handle the weight of the truth.
	Is that my fault?
	He says, because you usually only hear one side of the story, you also make an awful lot of assumptions about the intention of the other person not on the call.
	So, if...
	And I'm sorry, I don't mean to laugh.
	I mean to laugh because it's so absurd, right?
	So, of course, I'm talking to one person.
	Of course, I can't get the other person.
	Of course, I can't.
	I mean, I've done calls with couples who are going through a lot of conflict and we'll get both sides of it.
	Sometimes I've done shows where I talk to one person and one side of conflict talk to the other person.
	And then we put the shows together, like four hour shows, two hours with the husband, two So sometimes I get both sites and they seem to be quite successful.
	But of course, if somebody is talking to me Okay, first of all, what is the other side of that story?
	I'm genuinely curious.
	I would really mean maybe I'm missing something obvious.
	Maybe I'm missing something obvious.
	What is the other side of the story for child abuse, for neglect, for molestation, for child rape, for child assault?
	For verbal abuse, screaming at a child and calling the child the most appalling names that will stick like a burr in the child's mind for the rest of his or her life.
	What is the other side of that story?
	You know, I mean, if I take an extreme example, it's like if a woman says, I've been, I was raped and she's like black eye and Cut lip and her clothes are half torn and so on.
	And you say, is it then sensible to say, or reasonable, irrational, or even remotely empathetic to say, well, I'm just getting one side of the story.
	What is the other side of the story with that kind of assault?
	What is the other side?
	She's got genital damage.
	She's bleeding.
	Like, what is the other side?
	Maybe I'm missing something.
	And I, you know, I don't mean to sound overly rhetorical, but what the living hell.
	would be the other side of that story.
	Anyway, so...
	The intention is just, it's not a magical shield to all immoral actions to say, I didn't mean to.
	If a husband beats up his wife, I didn't mean to.
	What does the intention matter?
	Intention might matter in terms of the degree of punishment, right?
	Involuntary manslaughter versus manslaughter versus second degree versus first degree, third degree.
	Like, I didn't mean to, but I was careless.
	So maybe you don't get punished as much, but you're not off scot-free.
	You still get punished.
	You still get three years or five years rather than 20 years or 30 years.
	So you still get punished.
	You're still wrong, still immoral.
	But if a parent beats a child, well, my intention was to make him better.
	It's like, well, did you read?
	Did you study?
	Right?
	I mean, when I was a kid, if I didn't study for a test, I forgot about it.
	If I didn't study for a test, I failed.
	I wasn't given any excuses.
	I was supposed to know.
	The difference between mitosis and meiosis and what photosynthesis is, and I was just supposed to know these things.
	In physics, like, why is it that a plane rises when it is pushed against the wind?
	So I had to know these things, and I was punished, and I could lose a year of my life, right?
	Because you got held back back in the day, right?
	You lost a year of your life having to take the course the whole year over again.
	You'd be the big guy in the back of the class who needs to shave his knuckles when everybody else can't grow a beard to save their life.
	So if I didn't study for a test, I was severely punished.
	What is a more important test?
	Some biology test in grade 8 or actual parenting?
	So you're supposed to study for the test.
	You're supposed to read up.
	You're supposed to get some knowledge, get some expertise.
	He says, much like your assumption of me being religious.
	I get that.
	I absolutely get that.
	I use the word sin.
	I am not a Christian.
	I use the word sin.
	I get that.
	I mean, so, I can totally get where he comes from as far as that goes, so I'm fine with that.
	When the call doesn't have enough drama for you to monetize, again, there were no live tips for like 90% of my show.
	When the call doesn't have enough drama for you to monetize, you look for and dig for drama that may have occurred at some point in the past and try to make it a big deal.
	Well, again, I don't know.
	And there's no examples of any of this, right?
	All that being said, I'm a free speech absolutist, and I don't support you being platformed at all.
	Your banking, YouTube, email, etc.
	should be reinstated.
	After all, the best way to remove all doubt is to let them open their mouth.
	And I said, so you have no standard, but I somehow failed your standard.
	Lord above.
	And that's, you know, he's saying there is no standard that I follow, nor is there one that can be broadly applied.
	It's totally subjective what one person considers toxic or abusive, another may not.
	Now, whether somebody perceives something as toxic or abusive is not particularly relevant.
	So, for instance, somebody who was savagely beaten as a child might grow up to be a masochist.
	And might get some perverse pleasure out of being beaten as an adult.
	We don't say that that's okay, do we?
	Do we?
	Especially, let's say, it's a mother who was beaten by her father, ends up marrying a guy who beats her as her husband, and there are children in the house, and she says, I'm fine.
	I brought it on myself.
	His dinner was cold.
	It's not, right?
	We wouldn't say, oh, that's fine then, because you subjectively don't view it as toxic or abusive.
	We would say, no, you got assaulted.
	You got a black eye.
	You got a cut lip.
	You got a boxed ear, right?
	Halle Berry lost half her hearing in an ear from being assaulted.
	I don't care if you don't find it a problem.
	It is a problem, and in particular, because there are children in the house.
	So, he says there are no standards, very clearly.
	There is no standard that I follow, nor is there one that can be broadly applied.
	There is no standard that I follow.
	And I say, so you have no standards, but I somehow fail your standard.
	Lord above.
	And he says, if you're going to strawman me, at least make a real attempt at it.
	At no point did I say, you failed my standards.
	No standards are needed to point out your actions.
	No standard are needed to point out that you help rip apart relationships.
	So, if there are no standards, I can't be deficient, or my behavior can't be negative in any way.
	If there are no standards, right?
	I come home and I say to my wife, oh, I'm starving.
	What is there to eat?
	And she says, oh, I can throw something together in a few minutes.
	Do you care what it is?
	And I say, I don't care what it is.
	I'm so hungry.
	Please just get me something to eat.
	I mean, I'm making up.
	This is not how I would act, but let's just make it up.
	I have no standards.
	I have no standards.
	Then can I say, the food you brought me has failed my standards.
	You have done wrong.
	You have done wrong in getting me this food.
	Right?
	I mean, there's this sort of joke where a husband says or a boyfriend says to their wife or girlfriend, where do you want to eat?
	And she says, I don't care.
	And he says, okay, we'll go to the steakhouse.
	No, I don't want to eat the steakhouse.
	Oh, let's go Mexican.
	I don't want Mexican, right?
	It's just kind of funny.
	I don't care where we eat, but then everything you suggest I say no to.
	I mean, that's kind of a joke, but you can't criticize someone for a...
	He's viewing that as negative behavior but then he's saying there are no standards.
	I mean, that's wild.
	Wild.
	Just wild.
	Anyway.
	So, I love being corrected, but in this particular case, of course, I tap out fairly quickly.
	My personal feeling is like, this is just crazy.
	You're doing terrible things.
	What are your standards?
	I don't have any standards.
	So you don't have any standards, but I'm failing your standards.
	I never said I don't have any standards.
	I never said you were failing.
	I never said you were failing my standards.
	It's like, I don't know what to say, right?
	I genuinely don't know what to say at that point.
	And I suppose that's sort of the point, is to paralyze you in just wildly inconsistent behavior.
	Okay.
	And it's interesting, because I haven't been around that kind of stuff too much.
	I mean, I have it sometimes.
	But I haven't been around that stuff too much.
	And there's very little of it as well.
	And I don't actually mind.
	I don't mind that at all, because I do find it interesting to try to figure out what is going on.
	Like, for instance, the guy who I had a call before I went back on X, I had a call with a woman who was doing OnlyFans.
	And one of the things I said is that you're probably not going to be too happy.
	Because she happened to have giant boobs, and apparently that's a big thing on OnlyFans.
	And so I said, well, you didn't earn that, so you're probably not going to be too happy with monetizing things you didn't earn, right?
	And then someone came at me, ton of bricks, fine, whatever, right?
	And it was like, well, you didn't earn your intelligence or your creative abilities or your eloquence, and you're monetizing those, and how's that different?
	Like, apparently giant boobs is the same as my giant lobes.
	All right?
	Only Stephans, it is.
	So that was...
	That is a very important show and well worth listening to.
	And I did responses to that because it was an annoying question, but it was actually very interesting.
	Because to be annoyed by an argument is like my instinct.
	It doesn't mean I'm right, but it means it's going to be a challenge to figure out why I'm not wrong.
	So it's an interesting challenge.
	The response shows 59.84 and 59.85.
	You know, it's funny.
	I still remember doing podcast 183 and being like, wow, that's a lot of shows.
	And now we're, boy, what should I do for 6,000?
	That's only 16 away.
	Oh, no!
	We probably have 16 in the can!
	In the can!
	So, all right.
	I'm so sorry.
	I'd love to get to these comments on X, but nothing seems to be...
	And now it's completely blank.
	I'm going to try doing the pop-out once more.
	Pop-out, the chat.
	Did Terrence Pop lose his channel?
	I remember seeing him at a conference many years ago.
	Yeah.
	Loading.
	Loading, loading, loading.
	Nothing.
	Nothing.
	Anything.
	All right.
	So I am very, very sorry.
	I can't get your questions.
	I can't get your comments.
	You know what?
	Oh, I don't have that set up here either.
	Oh, my gosh.
	Oh, my.
	We'll figure it out.
	We'll figure it out.
	Because I did the live stream the other night, and there were comments pouring in, which was great.
	Oh, somebody's got some comments.
	Oh, fantastic.
	Superb.
	Superb.
	Isn't it lovely?
	All right, what have we got here?
	Alright.
	Alright.
	Um.
	Amen.
	you Thank you.
	Does he have the egregious example that is the entire show?
	Apparently, of course not.
	Yeah, yeah.
	So, Nush, that's the sound of Indian food leaving my body.
	Nush says, sorry, that was an uncare.
	Unkind is a nice new username.
	Humanity is based on a set of accepted general standards, such as being honest, telling the truth, respect, doing right by others, doing no harm, etc.
	Likewise, self-justification can protect the opposite of such standards.
	Well, How such individuals approach and defend their positions.
	And listen, I appreciate that.
	I really do.
	Based on a set of accepted general standards, such as being honest, telling the truth.
	Well, I'll tell you this.
	I wasn't deplatformed for lying, my friend.
	I was deplatformed for telling the truth.
	And you know, people are attacking you for telling the truth.
	When they sling passive-aggressive, not you, of course, but they sling passive-aggressive or openly aggressive insults at you, and they tell you that you're nasty, bad, wrong, blah, blah, blah, but they don't say that you're wrong and here's why.
	So, I mean, in the example that I gave, well, you do this and you do this bad thing and you monetize and you provoke and you tell people, it's like, there's no examples.
	In the absence of empirical data, All that exists is manipulation.
	Oh!
	Oh, no!
	Nikolai!
	Just wanted to say hi from the John Anderson concert in Ocala tonight, playing the best of Yes, playing to the beat of Yes.
	Oh!
	Oh, my gosh.
	Envy.
	John Anderson, what a singer.
	Holy crap.
	I mean, the work he did with Vangelis as well.
	What a singer.
	Incredible.
	And a good songwriter, too.
	O 'er the green mountains and o 'er the green valleys, I've walked through the country and found me an age.
	All right.
	So, go listen to the concert.
	Catch the replay.
	Go listen to the concert.
	So, and I've seen John Anderson, well, yes, twice.
	All right.
	How old is my daughter now?
	She is, this is her 17th year.
	She is going to be 17 this year.
	She's almost done.
	Almost out of the coop.
	Almost going to spread her wings and fly away.
	So, yeah, humanity is based on a set of accepted general standards, which is when people in power want the truth from you, truth is a virtue.
	When you speak truth to power, you are a bad person and must be punished.
	People do not have, or societies don't have, A universal value of truth.
	Truth is only a value when you hold information that those in power want to get from you.
	So if some kid gets pushed, who did that?
	Who saw that?
	Who did that?
	And now you've got to tell the truth.
	As a teacher comes out, you've got to tell the truth.
	Because you have information that somebody in power wants.
	Now truth is a virtue.
	Truth is a value.
	However, if you say to the teacher, you're boring and scary, oh, and plus you're paid through coercion because my parents have to pay your salary or they go to jail, will they say, wow, truth, thank you for telling me the truth, right?
	So if you rat on your fellow kid, you say, oh, Bob pushed Ahmed into the mud or whatever, right?
	Thank you for telling the truth.
	I appreciate that.
	The truth is good, right?
	But if you're honest about your experience with the teacher, well, that's just rude.
	Go to the principal's office, right?
	It is negative to tell the truth that is unwanted to those in power.
	It is a virtue to tell the truth to those in power that they want to receive.
	There's nothing objective about it at all.
	At all.
	Yes, freedomain.locals.com.
	John Anderson, a great singer, one of the highest voices known to man.
	And you can never do him in karaoke and nobody covers his songs.
	Very few.
	Very few.
	All right.
	I don't want to bore people.
	The last thing I want to be is drilling through earth.
	I don't want to be boring.
	Now, let me ask you this.
	We do private live streams there as well.
	Donor-only live streams or subscriber-only live streams, freedomain.locals.com.
	Check it out.
	It's a great community.
	Plus, you get access to, like, five different AIs that we've created off my material.
	It's like your own personal Steph conscience in your ass.
	And trust me, you don't want me there.
	Maybe you do.
	Let's leave that open.
	Open question.
	So, I don't want to bore people.
	genuinely don't want to bore people.
	Because, you know, that's basically all philosophy come on to me as a whole.
	Hit me with a why.
	Would you like to know the full argument as to why baby got back?
	Why I'm back on X?
	And why I asked for reinstatement on YouTube?
	I don't want to bore people.
	My daughter made a strong case.
	Would you like to know the reasons why?
	I'm not offended if you don't.
	It may be a bit inside baseball.
	I don't particularly know.
	But I can certainly give you the case of how I went around making this decision.
	Yes, what was Izzy's argument?
	Yes.
	At premium.freedomain.com, you can look at the perks of subscribing, which I would very much appreciate.
	Finally!
	Yes, please.
	Yes, yes.
	Yeah, okay, but that's over on Locals.
	We've been doing the Jazz Club thing for a couple of years.
	I can't see on X. What is happening over on X?
	Where are my comments?
	It's like we have a whole bunch of mute people who are miming to their webcams and it's not translating.
	All right.
	We got some yeses.
	Please say why you returned.
	All right.
	Absolutely.
	Always prepared for the argument.
	Sure, I'm assuming it's not solely because X. All right.
	Yes, Steffi Molly.
	Okay, fine.
	I bow to the will of the people and of the listeners, and I will tell you the answer.
	So, the answer goes something like this.
	There were three requirements that I had in my relationship with X. One, an apology, because they said that I was gaming the system, I was engaged in platform manipulation or something like that, which I wasn't.
	So I wanted an apology, I wanted restitution, and I wanted some reassurance that it wasn't going to happen again.
	I mean, that's what I've always said to people if you're in difficult or problematic or abusive relationships, that you need an apology.
	And this is what I provide if I do something that hurts someone that's, you know, and that's their just and right to be upset.
	And I was given apology and, and restitution of some kind and a commitment by which it's not going to, to happen again.
	Right.
	So, you know, if, if your parent was, Some restitution, maybe they can pay for therapy, and they can go to anger management or therapy themselves.
	There's some indication to guarantee it's not going to happen again, right?
	So, my account was restored, I don't know, a couple of years ago, maybe two years ago, right?
	So, the argument goes something like this.
	Someone apologized to me from Twitter without exposing themselves to liability because an apology is an admission of fault.
	Now, none of this is legal advice.
	I'm not a lawyer.
	This is just my thoughts about the legal system.
	None of this is anything real or true or valid or legal or anything like that.
	Just so you know, don't take any advice from me.
	This is just my rambling thoughts about the legal system.
	So apologies, particularly in a hyper-litigious America, apologies are admissions of fault.
	So can I get an apology from a company that didn't just ban me, in my view, unjustly, but banned a bunch of other people unjustly as well, right?
	So can they apologize to me?
	Well, they can't give me a public apology because that would be an admission of fault.
	And if I can prove monetary damages, whatever it is, then...
	Now, can they send me a private message saying, don't tell anyone, but really sorry?
	Again, no.
	I would assume not, because they can't guarantee what I might or might not do with that private apology.
	So, if it's me and, let's say, hundreds or thousands of other people, if Twitter were to apologize, They could be exposing themselves to a class action lawsuit that could, I don't know, wipe out the company for all I know.
	Again, just amateur non-legal opinions, right?
	So the question was, can they actually apologize?
	The answer, I'm guessing, is not so much, right?
	Now, As far as restitution goes, they cannot provide restitution because restitution could also be considered an admission of guilt or fault from a legal standpoint.
	Again, just my amateur guess.
	Now, the assurance that it won't happen again, which is a big one, right?
	I don't want to go around investing in another platform to have the rug pulled out from under me and years of work vaporized, which is kind of what happened.
	Before, in a wide variety of platforms, right?
	So the case is something like this.
	Has Twitter, under Elon Musk, has Twitter maintained a significantly robust commitment to free speech?
	It kind of has.
	So the case is, well, Steph, you're kind of an empiricist.
	So you have a request for an apology, which they can't do.
	You have a request for restitution, which they can't do.
	So if you're going to have impossible standards, don't pretend to have those standards.
	Right?
	I'm like, oh, you know, like if you wrong someone and they say, well, I'll accept your forgiveness when you can jump 20 feet in the air.
	It's like, okay, just tell me you won't accept.
	I'll accept your apology if you jump 20 feet in the air or give me $10 trillion, right?
	Okay, then just say, just say.
	When hell freezes over, right?
	That was an old statement when I was a kid and also, I guess, when the eagles got back together.
	So, I'll accept your apology.
	When hell freezes over, it's like, okay, then you're just not accepting an apology, right?
	So if I'm asking for something, which again, in my amateur non-legal opinion, they cannot provide.
	It's a good case.
	That's a good case, right?
	Don't ask for the impossible.
	Now, as far as it not happening again, has Twitter maintained for the last couple of years of post-Elon a good commitment, a very good commitment to free speech?
	And I would say, outside of the platforms founded and solely driven by a commitment to free speech, which would be places like Gab and other places, right?
	Of the major social media platforms, has Twitter maintained a commitment to free speech?
	And the answer is, yeah.
	Is it perfect?
	Well, no, because you never know what's going on behind the scenes.
	You know, one of the things that was quite, and I think there's a lawsuit involved in this at the moment, one of the things that was really quite powerful was when Elon Musk was faced with a consortium advertiser boycott, a sort of cinched-together advertiser boycott, and he basically said, fuck you, to that, right?
	I'm not selling out for money.
	I will take the hit for my principles.
	As someone who has taken severe body blows for my principles, it's hard not to admire that and to feel that there's a confluence in spirit there.
	I also just know demographically, I did the Truth About Free Speech presentation many years ago.
	I know that demographically, it's not a certain thing, but it's a bit of an indication.
	That white males in particular tend to be free speech absolutists.
	Like three quarters of white males are free speech absolutists.
	So there's that factor as well.
	Okay.
	Okay.
	you Thank you.
	So my daughter was like, well, you're an empiricist.
	Has he not provided evidence of integrity in this matter?
	You have years now that you can look at.
	Dad.
	To see if he's serious about this.
	And if he has shown a commitment to free speech, then you have a reasonable guarantee that it's not going to happen again.
	Do you have a perfect guarantee?
	No.
	But there's no perfect guarantees about anything in life.
	I expect the next breath to occur, but I could have an aneurysm.
	Fingers crossed.
	I know some people, fingers crossed, the other way.
	And if you are expecting consistently good behavior, consistently virtuous behavior, and somebody has manifested and displayed that for the last couple of years, as an empiricist, what else are you looking for?
	And, of course, the good that can be done by reaching more people with peaceful parenting, that's consequentialist, so that's not any deciding factor.
	But it's not unimportant.
	It's not irrelevant as a whole.
	Does that, I mean, that's most of it.
	Again, I don't want to go into all of the brain-numbing details as a whole, but that's a general thought.
	Does that make sense as a whole?
	Let me know if it does.
	Let me know if it doesn't.
	There are, of course, still bans.
	I get that for sure, but...
	And let me know if that makes sense.
	Elon even changed the name of the platform you got banned from.
	Total different free speech standards.
	Yes, it does make sense, says Chris.
	And let me just go refresh over here on X. And I've always said, like, I will bow to reason.
	I will bow to reason.
	I have a bad reason.
	She made a case that I could not overthrow.
	You know, I mean, as she said, Dad, is it words or deeds, right?
	If he'd made promises, that's just words.
	But he's got deeds.
	He's got years of supporting free speech under his belt.
	So, am I going to say, no, no, what matters is the form, not the content.
	What matters are the words, not the deeds.
	It's like, okay, but then you're a Platonist.
	You're a language-based subjectivist.
	You're not a rational empiricist.
	Can't argue.
	I mean, I could, but it would be kind of sad, right?
	So.
	So.
	I'm just kidding.
	Makes sense.
	With the change of company ownership, the new ownership cannot functionally apologize for the old regime.
	Not exactly true because when you buy a company, you inherit the liabilities and the assets, right?
	But the empirical evidence of free speech support is more important.
	Like, that's an evidence of a commitment to free speech that goes above and beyond any verbal commitment I might get.
	So, the demand for apologies and restitution was legally, in my humble opinion, obviously non-legal opinion, impossible, and the accumulated evidence of a commitment to free speech on the part of X is empirical proof of their commitment.
	Does Izzy Hafer show any interest in philosophy?
	I wouldn't expect that from someone in their mid-teens, but I will say that she's really good.
	Thank you, Durbin, for the donation.
	FreeDomain.com slash donate if you would like to help out that.
	So, let's see here.
	Sorry, let me just get to the comments from X, and I appreciate that.
	I hope that was interesting as a whole.
	Sebastian says, it's not an absolute guarantee as people still get banned on X, but the vast majority of those people are irrational, unlike you.
	Izzy is awesome, 07 Izzy.
	I don't know what that means, but I like that.
	I appreciate that.
	Were you approached by any free speech networks?
	I'm not sure what that means.
	I mean, I'm on Gab and Mines and other places like that.
	William says, makes sense, but I do not get the impression YouTube is nearly as accommodating to free speech.
	Why YouTube?
	I think I already answered that.
	Not to be too coy, but I think I did.
	Oh, seven is a salute emoticon.
	Oh, thank you.
	I appreciate that.
	I appreciate that.
	She seems to be a very bright young lady.
	Glad you're back.
	Well, you have heard a thank for the most part and maybe a little bit on the side, my commitment to reason at all costs.
	I mean, I was ambivalent about coming back, but the case was made.
	The Gondor calls for aid, and Izzy lights the fire, and I find my way back.
	So that is the story.
	All right.
	Makes sense.
	Thanks for the explanation.
	You're welcome, Owen.
	I appreciate that.
	And what are we?
	Hour and a half.
	blink and it's gone.
	Like when I was doing the...
	No slow motion sickness.
	All right.
	Any other last questions, comments, issues, challenges, problems?
	The opposite of Merillion.
	Do give me your problems.
	Hey, I'm late.
	What did I miss?
	LOL.
	Just kidding.
	Don't give me a facial twitch.
	Don't give me a facial twitch.
	Yeah, the Twitter Spaces chat will come out tomorrow to the main feed.
	But you can only do it off a phone.
	You can't even do it off a tablet.
	And I tried putting in a headset for my phone to get better audio, but it just didn't take.
	So, anyway, we'll figure it out.
	We'll figure out a way to get better audio.
	At least for me.
	Are the Swifties holding a grudge?
	Yes, based upon my Taylor Swift tweet.
	Well, of course, Taylor Swift is like a canary in the coal mine for infertility.
	She just, at this point, it would be almost a betrayal of her fan base to have kids.
	All right, let me just get back to your...
	Good trees bring forth good fruit.
	Bad trees bring forth bad fruit.
	Yes.
	Yes, for sure.
	All right.
	Let me just say, All right.
	They can't practically apologize.
	I believe that is accurate.
	Yeah, I think that's right.
	I think that's right.
	Thank you.
	Thank you.
	After dozens of people made failed attempts to convince you, we've got to know how Izzy did it.
	Yeah, she's good.
	Heading for a prayer meeting, what can I pray for you tonight?
	I would like to get the YouTube channel back, even if it's read-only.
	I think that there's a lot of great information there, and in particular, the comments.
	I mean, it's a big Library of Alexandria testament to the state of philosophy in the early 21st century, so I'd like to kind of get that back as a whole for people to see, so on and that.
	Thanks to Elon for holding a high standard the last couple of years, too.
	Amen to that.
	Very true.
	We're glad you're back.
	Timing is impeccable.
	A wizard does not arrive early, does not arrive late.
	He arrives precisely when he means to, blah, blah, blah.
	All right.
	All right.
	My staff is bigger.
	All right.
	Let me just get to your other comments.
	How often do you plan to do Twitter spaces?
	Will you be integrating it into your schedule?
	I would do...
	I would do...
	Twitter spaces, they're great.
	But yes, I will integrate it into my schedule.
	It's always tough to know because it's a worldwide audience, although most of it's centered in North America.
	It's a worldwide audience, so that's why I do the 11 a.m. shows on Sunday for the cheese-eating surrender monkeys.
	No, for the Europeans.
	Love the Europeans.
	But I could do the Twitter spaces every day.
	They are a blast, especially if I get somebody who really disagrees with me and really goes for me.
	It's good.
	It is that resistance that raises.
	The testosterone levels, even beyond the old faithful geyser I currently have, coming out of my nether regions.
	So I will try to do them as often as possible until I goad people into coming out.
	Come at me live, bro!
	Come at me live.
	That's the best.
	Because, you know, then, you know, again, I'm not saying that.
	Would you go on at whatever?
	I mean, I think I might be interested.
	Where do they record?
	I used to travel a lot.
	It's not like I put down roots exactly, but my ass has turned into a giant placid mushroom of beanbag comfort.
	Sorry, John, if you don't mind me asking.
	I could probably look it up, but where do they record?
	Because, I mean, I think I'd want to be in person on the cleavage tsunami known as the round table.
	I love these phrases.
	I enjoy them as much as you do, and I don't know where they're coming from either.
	All right.
	Have you committed to a completion date for the novel in progress?
	No, I haven't.
	But I'm at about 45,000 words.
	So I'd like to think I am...
	But I'm probably only a third.
	Did you see J.D. Vance joined Blue Sky and got banned in like 20 minutes?
	They unbanned his account now after people had a good laugh.
	So it's funny, it's called Blue Sky, right?
	So Blue Sky, all the colors, right?
	The sun is white.
	And by the way, if it wasn't for the sound deadening properties of the void of space, we would all go deaf in a moment from the sun's massive thermonuclear explosion forever and ever, amen.
	The light is all light, right?
	Coming from the sun.
	But the atmosphere filters it out so that it looks just blue to us, right?
	So the fact that it filters out a rainbow and has only one color based upon your perspective is a perfect name.
	Blue sky is a perfect name because they're taking all the rainbow, all the diversity, and there's only one perspective that is allowed.
	Frida says, I loved the callers on YouTube because of the comments.
	People commenting were often answered back by the actual caller.
	It's like comments section was the epilogue to the call.
	I'm hoping the YouTube page comes back.
	Yeah, it was really great stuff.
	Really great stuff.
	I am Molly Meme the White and I return to X now at the turning of the tide.
	All shall pass.
	You should go on Robert Barnes' sidebar show.
	I know, I think I've done shows with Robert Barnes in the past.
	One more question.
	I've heard whispers of a meet-up in July.
	Yes, of a freedomain.locals.com.
	I asked Rock, it looks like whatever is out of Santa Barbara, California.
	Oh, interesting.
	Interesting.
	Fascinating.
	Fascinating.
	All right.
	Interesting.
	Interesting.
	I know that Andrew Wilson does it remotely sometimes, right?
	Jacob Hansen is a fan of the show.
	A thoughtful faith show.
	You could have a great chat.
	I'm interested, interested.
	I gotta tell you, I mean, it's so nice to sit down and just jawbone with people about philosophy that all the setup it takes to do, all the research prep and setup it takes to do split screen combos.
	I'm not saying I'm lazy.
	Maybe I am.
	Yeah, maybe I am.
	Okay, I'll do it because I don't want to be lazy.
	I don't want to be lazy.
	I was in the Golden State.
	Yeah, of course, I did a whole, gosh, what was it, five hours documentary called Sunset in the Golden State about California.
	Well, at least none of that came true.
	Yeah, they're in Cali.
	What is the writing on your cup?
	Oh, that's a fine question.
	The writing on my cup is Axton Diner from Atlas Rutt.
	Yeah, people are like, I loved your fall of Rome presentation.
	It's like, yeah, remember when you could see the fall of civilization on a YouTube channel rather than, say, out the window?
	So vivid, so lifelike.
	The graphics are incredible.
	It's 5D.
	I can smell it.
	That's how good the presentation is outside my window of the fall of the West.
	I can smell it.
	I don't want to extend, but I don't want to end.
	Andrew Wilson mentioned on your feed he would love to speak to you.
	Would you be interested?
	Sure.
	I very much like Andrew and his wife Rachel as a delight.
	So I think that would be interesting.
	That would be interesting.
	Imagination is funny.
	It makes a cloudy day sunny.
	Makes the bees think of honey just like I. Think of you.
	Go listen to the album 20 by Harry Connick Jr.
	It's way old by now, but it's a really good album.
	All right.
	Speaking of Libertarian Party of New Hampshire retreated your post, adding YouTube.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	Steph, did you see the videos of the illegal immigrants picking radishes versus the chad radish machine harvester?
	Yeah, I mean, it's really sad.
	I'm glad to see you recovered from your chin reduction surgery so fast.
	Yes, I did the Chad meme.
	Somebody grafted my face on the Chad meme.
	Oh, well.
	So, what was it?
	Yeah, they did the Chad meme, right?
	What was the angle?
	What was the angle?
	Something like that.
	Oh no, I've lost my shirt.
	See, philosophy?
	Man, you'll just lose your shirt.
	It's so tough being de-platformed.
	Oh my god.
	Now it's inside out.
	Oh no, I can't possibly put a shirt on.
	That's inside out.
	Impossible.
	Because my wife would...
	Half aneurysm.
	Alright.
	Let's see here.
	What else?
	Any other last comments?
	Horror at my 58-year-old chest.
	Let's see here.
	Reload!
	Sounds a bit more sinister.
	They'll take the shirt off your back, I tell you.
	Gambling will do that better than OnlyFans.
	Thank you.
	Professor James says, so absolutely delighted to see Stefan again.
	I have years of pleasant memories just of walking around my hometown with his voice.
	Pouring sweet logic in my ear.
	Magnificent.
	Yeah, somebody was suggesting that I should do ASMR videos because my voice is apparently extremely soothing.
	Sorry, that was a little sinister.
	ASMR, I'm coming to get you.
	Third member of right said, Fred, I'm too sexy for my shirt.
	So sexy it hurts.
	This is the part of the show where all reason gets tossed out of the window and I just start.
	Wrapping and attaching a little propeller to my nipples and making myself into a triplane.
	All right.
	Just one last roll here.
	Do it.
	Oh, it's done.
	If it's a little bit behind.
	And I'm sorry, of course, if your phone brightness is up, I probably just blinded you with my pasty white middle-aged form.
	All right.
	I'm very psyched.
	You've got great energy and it's contagious.
	Got your candy necklace.
	That's right, from my M&M one.
	Thespian meets philosopher.
	Cracks me up.
	I appreciate that.
	All right.
	Well, I think we've had a great show.
	I think I'll leave on the topless rent-boy sexy stuff and have yourself a glorious evening.
	Of course, if you appreciate the show, you find it helpful, what it is that I do, freedomand.com slash donate.
	Hugely appreciated.
	FDRURL.com slash Locals.
	FDRURL.com slash Locals.
	You can sign up for subscriptions.
	You get access to massive amounts of bonus podcasts, all the spicy stuff.
	We do private live streams and you get access to a whole bunch of StephBot AIs.
	So have yourself...
	You can watch it in the replay.
	I talked about it at the beginning.
	Have yourself a glorious evening, my friends.
	Lots of love from up here, unless you're north of me, in which case it's from down here in the crotch groin region.
	So you need to bathe.
	So have yourself a glorious evening.
	I will see you Friday night, 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
	And lots of love from up here.
	And thank you for your incredibly kind and warm welcome back.
	It's great to be here.
	And thanks again, Izzy, for...
	All right.
	Thanks, everyone.

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