📘 2+2=4 Vol. 12: Cure the mind virus
Lots of good Substack reading this week about the impact of smartphones, Big Pharma, the importance of mothers and Woke Identarianism. Plus: Two great Joe Rogan episodes.
During his latest appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast (which I recommend you watch), business mogul Elon Musk made reference to something he calls the “mind virus”. Explaining why he bought X (formerly known as Twitter) for a whopping $44 billion, Mr. Musk said that he wanted to prevent a mind virus from infecting more people around the world: “[A] philosophy that would be ordinarily quite niche and geographically constrained, so that […] the fallout area would be limited, was effectively given an […] information technology weapon to propagate what is essentially a mind virus to the rest of Earth. And the outcome of that mind virus is very clear if you walk around the streets of downtown San Francisco. It is the end of civilization.”
Whatever you want to call this “mind virus” – many a conservative has used the phrase “Woke mind virus”, thereby making many progressives weary and defensive about the term –, it is clear that something has infected many people’s minds. It is a virus that has attacked common sense, debilitating both our minds and our bodies. A mind virus quite possibly connected to the ubiquity of phones and social media (as Ms. Twenge argues). A mind virus that Big Pharma is keen on taking advantage of (see Ms. Witczak for more). A mind virus making us question the very concept of motherhood (as Ms. Henderson writes). A mind virus that seeks to randomly divide people into oppressors and oppressed (see Mr. Nayna’s piece). A mind virus capable of causing immense destruction (according to Mr. Musk) and that punishes anyone who dares question the narrative (as Mr. Hancock has experienced).
What’s the cure for this affliction? Be open, be curious, go outside, talk to people, listen to people. Take everything with a grain of salt. A healthy dose of skepticism goes a long way. And don’t forget your daily dose of humour, kindness and humility.
#1 Yes, it’s the phones (and social media)
by Jean M. Twenge (Generation Tech, published on October 18, 2023)
I first came across Professor Twenge a couple of years ago when I read her article in The Atlantic in which she dissects the reasons for the raging mental-health crisis among children, teens and young adults of Gen Z, the current generation to come of age since the late 1990s. Having published various books and conducted tons of research on the matter, Ms. Twenge is able to provide incredibly valuable insight into the influence of smartphones and social media use on our well-being, and she always comes back to the same conclusion: Yes, phones (and social media) have had a devastating effect on our youth and the evidence is crushing. In this new piece, Ms. Twenge thoroughly dismantles the most common counter-arguments against her thesis and, while acknowledging that there are other underlying societal factors, makes a very convincing case for the theory that smartphones are the single most destructive factor for a child’s mental well-being.
#2 Americans Are Fools for Pharma
by Kim Witczak (The Disinformation Chronicle, published on October 24, 2023)
If the Thalidomide scandal, the opioid crisis or the COVID-19 vaccine program haven’t convinced you of the utter recklessness and corruption of the pharmaceutical industry yet, then I encourage you to read this essay by Kim Witczak on Paul Thacker’s Disinformation Chronicle. Ms. Witczak became a consumer representative to a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee after tragically losing her husband Woody to a Zoloft-induced suicide. Witczak, a marketing expert, examines the deceitful ways in which Big Pharma tries to market and sell their products, be it lucrative antidepressants like Zoloft or even more lucrative vaccines like the COVID-19 shot. “The pharmaceutical industry is driven by commercial interests, not public health,” Ms. Witczak writes. And it is time we finally stop being so gullible.
#3 Speaking of Mothers
by Sarah Henderson (Sarah Henderson, published on October 27, 2023)
Using the etymology of the word “mother” as a starting point for her wonderful essay, Ms. Henderson outlines how absolutely fundamental the concept of motherhood is to the human species, since we all come from a mother and every forthcoming human will be born from one. The postmodern re-classification of the word “mother”, which is the logical result of the re-classification of the word “woman” happening all over the place right now, is destructive to the very fabric of society itself: We are supposed to play along in this charade where disturbed men pretend to be mothers (and, sickeningly enough, even pseudo-breastfeed babies) and where actual mothers are now supposed to be called “birthing parents”. This insanity has to stop and every woman and man with an ounce of common sense should speak up against it.
#4 The Rainbow Blob
by Michael Nayna (The Process, published on October 31, 2023)
About a month ago, I had recommended Michael Nayna’s fantastic essay World III War on the momentous shift from the world of real objects (World One) to the world of human abstractions (World Three). In his most recent piece, Mr. Nayna tries to untangle the seemingly absurd coalition of leftist movements (transactivism, BLM, feminism, etc.) that has sprung up to side with Palestine in the on-going Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The “Rainbow Blob”, as he has perfectly named this coalition, stems from years and decades of indoctrinating academia with the destructive ideas of intersectionality, which focuses entirely on the (supposed) systemic oppression of different identity groups (“Like a leotard at a Lizzo concert, the oppressive construct is stretched and contorted to its absolute limit.”) and has now resulted in Woke Identitarianism. Mr. Nayna makes all the right connections to explain how the hell we have gotten to a point where people seriously believe that “Reproductive Justice means Free Palestine”.
#5 The Joe Rogan Experience with Elon Musk
by Joe Rogan (The Joe Rogan Experience, published on October 31, 2023)
For this year’s Halloween Special, podcaster Joe Rogan spoke with none other than business magnate Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, Neuralink, SpaceX and X/Twitter. Whatever you may think about Mr. Musk, he is without a doubt an immensely curious and interesting public figure and Rogan, as approachable and laid-back as ever, manages to keep the conversation afloat, even if Musk sometimes gives his typically curt answers. As they smoke cigars and eat pineapple-anchovi pizza (which should be forbidden if you ask me), they discuss the future of AI, the importance of X/Twitter, the production of the new Tesla Cybertruck (Rogan tries to damage Musk’s Cybertruck by shooting an arrow, but fails spectacularly), a possible Musk vs. Zuckerberg fistfight and much more. Despite having seen various interviews with Musk, he continues to elude me and I find it impossible to tell whether he is one of the “good guys” or not. But maybe that’s the whole point.
#6 The Joe Rogan Experience with Graham Hancock
by Joe Rogan (The Joe Rogan Experience, published on October 25, 2023)
Another great episode that Joe Rogan has recently put out is this one with journalist Graham Hancock. Mr. Hancock has made himself the target of many an archeologist by questioning the general narrative about nothing less than the history of the human race. An expert on the topic of ancient civilizations, Hancock argues that there is plenty of evidence that there might have been advanced human civilizations during the last Ice Age. Hancock’s conversation with Joe Rogan is a delight as the latter is clearly as passionate about the topic as anyone, and Hancock shares fascinating theories about sites such as Göbekli Tepe, the Sphinx, the Nazca Lines and Cerro de la Lindosa. Moreover, the two touch on many more interesting topics such as the legalization of drugs, psychedelics in general and Ayahuasca in particular, fenbenzadole as a possible anti-cancer medicine, and the hubris of modern-day academia.
If you’re interested in mysterious civilizations that possibly date back to the last Ice Age, make sure to catch Mr. Hancock’s documentary on Netflix, Ancient Apocalypse.
"... pineapple-anchovi pizza (which should be forbidden if you ask me)"
Phillistine. Heathen. Doncha know that's Gawd's gift to all we vulva-havers and penis-havers? 🙄😉🙂
But not sure about Musk myself. Some reason to consider that even Twitter 2.0 -- After Musk -- is part of the problem, notably of toxic social media.
And kinda think objections to "vulva-havers" underline the fact that too many have turned "woman" into a social category, an empty signifier, a mere fashion accessory, a badge of tribal membership. Many "women" get rather "peeved", rather deeply "offended" by my argument that if they want to bet the farm -- as many do -- on the "adult human female" definition then they either have to accept they lose their "female" and "woman" membership cards at menopause, or they have to accept the charge of "science denier".