Strange times indeed. This week, Todd delves back into the fundamental conflict between fighting propaganda and our basic human nature ; when it comes to informational warfare, reason is NOT a factor, and the man who believes it is goes to battle unarmed. There may be three realistic options. He also explores Chris Rufo's theory about how Mao's Long March influenced Marxist strategy, led to systematic social eugenics, and eventually the institutional takeover now represented by this new artificial breed: Mao's Surrogate Grandchildren.     Like it? Share it! https://toddzillax.substack.com https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdLR140l--HufeRSAnj91A

In another uplifting and cheerfully optimistic episode, Todd cracks the seal on October 7th. Specifically, our domestic "death to America" Hamas supporters - roadway terrorists - useful idiots, and why Israel is not only justified, but obligated, to eliminate Hamas at any cost, including to Joe Biden's bunny-chasing campaign. Using borrowed audio from Joe Rogan's viral April 3 episode, Coleman Hughes perfectly articulates why that's so and also why Hamas is willing to use its own people as human shields, even while being annihilated in the process. (Hint: it's the useful idiots, dummy.)   Segment 2 ( 1:02:30 ) features a discussion about the conflict between "Jefferson's Coat"; the right every generation has to live free from the tyranny of their ancestors, and democracy's inability to defend itself against ideological insurgents who use a country's liberal freedoms to destroy it from within. Was McCarthy completely out of bounds?    Rogan's episode, #2130: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3o7YcgzyHdfdl2gEy7MTCy Coleman Hughes: https://www.amazon.com/End-Race-Politics-Arguments-Colorblind/dp/0593332458/   Like it? Share it! https://toddzillax.substack.com https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdLR140l--HufeRSAnj91A   RE20

Unfortunately, last week's obnoxious AI generated show notes didn't make the cut, but AJ Soprano did! After a seemingly random tangent about the pathetic state of the Oakland A's, Todd dives into how The Sopranos, specifically AJ,  was ahead of its time regarding the connection between obsessive media rumination, a naive messiah complex, and depression. Ask your shrink if a regular dose of gratitude is right for you. It often works for the terminally ill.  Also, a change is coming to the podcast! Believe it or not, all this is related.    Finally, his name was Rube Vickers (not Robert Paulson): https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/vickeru01.shtml   Like it? Share it! https://toddzillax.substack.com https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdLR140l--HufeRSAnj91A

I'm back after a 7-month tour of Africa, Gaza, and the Orient. That might be a lie. Click to find out for sure!  NOTE: The show notes were AI generated by my podcast host. I left them intact for the chuckles! The "chapters" are also courtesy of AI. Rely on them at your own risk! Enjoy and thanks for listening!  -- "In this exhilarating episode of "Escaping the Cave," host Todd navigates through the world of social media anarchy and its repercussions on society. Explore the delicate balance between the government and tech behemoths, focusing on the spread of disinformation and propaganda and pondering the skewed attention on right-wing content. This episode is a deep dive into our evolving digital landscape and its profound effects on individual and communal psyche. Amid discussions about World War I, Tristan Harris, Jonathan Haidt, and their work, Todd embarks on an examination of information manipulation. He questions the viability of shaping enlightened communities where leadership decisions are anchored on rationality. This engaging episode offers piercing revelations about our collective self-perception as rational beings, presenting the unsettling reality of humans as storytellers instead. Todd invites you to dive into the "informational sewage" and stimulate your curiosity with riveting discourses on human tendency towards manipulation, propaganda in our everyday interactions, and their roles in shaping world perception. The exploration doesn’t end here. It probes further into the polarity of skepticism and gullibility embedded in our biases, shaping our receptivity to information. This episode challenges us to confront our personal misconceptions, triggering introspections on personal identity and ideology. It sheds light on consequential socio-political topics like extremism and social religions, revealing how our ideologies shape the world around us. The host emphasizes our primordial nature as storytellers and discusses the narratives that influence our perceptions and social dynamics. Unmask the human condition at its core and delve into an enlightening journey exploring our collective subconscious. This honest and straightforward episode introduces listeners to propaganda's intricate workings, intricate human perception, and self-deception. A riveting discussion awaits listeners who are eager to challenge their biases and confront the narratives they absorb. Prepare for a soul-stirring narrative wrapped in discussions around self-conscious fears and societal norms. The episode probes into topics like evolutionary biology, psychology, propaganda, tribalism, and the pursuit of truth. It brings to light struggles with self-awareness, our inherent tribal instincts, and our collective movement towards a more scientific mindset. Tune in for an in-depth exploration of our reality, the compelling narratives we weave, and the need to understand our existence. Stay curious and explore the unknown with Todd!"   This...is the brave new AI world. Ha! https://toddzillax.substack.com/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdLR140l--HufeRSAnj91A

Orwell wrote that international socialism is powerless against the power of simple patriotism. It's a simple concept that radicalized leftists are helpless to understand. Before the secular Cult of Wokentology can erect American temples, patriotism must be crippled. This is why basic American pride has been under systematic agitprop attack for decades. Traveling the third world: Todd articulates how, rather than creating another liberal "global citizen", it instead ignited his steadily building, and unexpected, patriotism.   Also: How conservatives could easily win over LatinosTribal politics and collectivist globalism are mutually exclusiveIdentity politics and the American Indians' demiseHow failing to unite against the clear and present threat both doomed Native Americans and led to HitlerWokentology's narcissistic time bomb: a rare message genuine of anti-woke hope!Communing with the ghosts of my colonizing ancestors at Ft. MichilimackinacFragile souls sent spiraling into a mental health crisis by "misgendering" pronouns and uncomfortable ideas demand that we be ashamed of, and apologize for, our very badass ancestors? Ha! No.  Like it? Subscribe then share it!  Subscribe on YouTube for video highlights: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdLR140l--HufeRSAnj91A https://toddzillax.substack.com

As with propaganda, Todd's thoughts on tribalism have evolved in the last 9-years. It's a trait, not a defect. Evolution burrowed tribalism deep into the human psyche for a reason and it's going nowhere. That makes it a potent force that needs to be more clearly understood.  Segment 1:  Sebastian Junger and his book TribeTribalism and social evolutionThe doe eyed folly of "anti-tribalism" splinter factionsUnity Via Division, huh? Go home, you're drunkThe Fantastical Cult of Utopian Diversity: do diverse super societies have a shelf life?Vichy Whites: Wokentology's moneyed bourgeois assuming they'll be judged as "one of the good ones" Careful of those reprisals Segment 2 (30:00) Tribalism offers the protection of the herd: physical, ideological, even rhetoricalThe accidental consequences of actually being a lone independent thinking chimpTribal politics, agitation and integration propaganda, and "revolution"Collectivism vs Individualism: The invasive species attacking the foundational and cohesive mythRevolutionary destabilization is the goalExtremist Roulette: the scapegoated majority choosing their own tribe's self-interest Mention this episode and receive half off any anti-depressant! Thanks, Dementia Joe!    Like it? Subscribe then share it!    Subscribe on YouTube for video highlights: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdLR140l--HufeRSAnj91A https://toddzillax.substack.com

In this short episode, Todd discusses the near complete loss of trust in American institutions, particularly the media, and the result: informational anarchy. What filth is left free to slither into the trust vacuum?    Like it? Subscribe then share it!  https://toddzillax.substack.com https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdLR140l--HufeRSAnj91A

Starting with a discussion about painfully reaching rock bottom and its role in addiction and recovery, Todd applies it to the dopamine drip of technology-driven tribal politics and how he and others wrongly assumed Donald was the tribal floor. (13:52) The Left's application of Newton's Third Law of Extremism: the Green Tea Party and how, with the media's deification of The Holy Counterfeiter, it mutated into an invasive Ideological Insurgency using scapegoats to aggressively attack American history, institutions, and core values. To colonize anywhere, you must first exterminate foundational myths and cohesive narratives, the established religion, in order to replace it with your own. There’s a reason Latin America is Catholic, after all.   Also: The Sopranos as social anthropologyWhat if there is no floor and rock bottom instead hits like Chicxulub? In the failing era of Unity Via Division, selling unity knockoffs is a good dollarCan we just dispense with the infanitile "Let's Come Together" stuff? No? Show your work!The "need to believe" is the death of reason   Like it? Subscribe then share it!  https://toddzillax.substack.com https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdLR140l--HufeRSAnj91A

In the continuation of the last episode, Todd re-explores his oft-ignored Path to Empathy, the DIKW pyramid, and data Overload before exploring religion's real purpose and offering our pompous atheist friends the back of his rhetorical hand. From that joyful and uplifting summit, he moves on to question how woke parents can sacrifice their own children to a foreign ideological god.    Also: Introducing The Desert of the Why! We know what legislative riders are. What about "truth" riders?  The one thing in news, information, and tech that must remain unspoken. Why climate change hysterics are misguided and a waste of time. How the stupid cliques we form as kids flare up like herpes for the rest of our lives. Todd's new Gatekeeper disconnect. Chasing Che.    Like it? Share it!  https://toddzillax.substack.com https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdLR140l--HufeRSAnj91A

After a brief introduction to metacognition, Todd delves back into how people are born as storytellers, not rational truth seekers, and how the storytelling ape probably evolved out of a need for simple explanation and meaning. Also, why are experts in detecting the "enemy's" bullish*t but so bad at sniffing out our own team's? After reflecting on the Facebook Wars, have we become organic pieces of agitation propaganda ourselves? Worse, can innate tribalism be exploited by agitprop-fueled hatred? Last question: gee, ya think?    Like it? Share it!  https://toddzillax.substack.com https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdLR140l--HufeRSAnj91A

Mr. Sunshine delivers another cheerful monologue on our deep and persistent strain of authoritarian thought! Book those children's parties now! Subtopics:  America's puritanical tradition began on the Mayflower. Why totalitarian cultural eugenics might do more harm than "good." Agitprop and authoritarianism are conjoined twins. Can a true Democracy even defend itself? The generational tyranny of tradition; each new generation has the right to rule itself free from the yoke of their dead ancestors. Is authoritarianism, like deceit and self-deception, an inherent trait rather than a character flaw? Is it democracy's self-destruct button? A brief introduction to Harold Lasswell. And finally, if you suddenly find you lack the freedom to NOT believe, you're living in a theocracy. Stand up. Push back.    Like it? Share it!  https://toddzillax.substack.com https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdLR140l--HufeRSAnj91A Now on Discord.

Your feral host is suddenly prolific? In the first of at least two episodes, Todd talks about how the Facebook document dump confirmed what most people already knew yet will only play to the messenger's choir. Trust: it matters. Also, what will happen when AI begins churning out endless supplies of effective algorithm-targeted agitprop? (hint: nothing good) Then comes a surprising, albeit half-hearted, defense of The Gatekeepers seasoned with a not as surprising dash of I-told-you-so.    Part two drops in a day or two.   Like it? Share it!  https://toddzillax.substack.com https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdLR140l--HufeRSAnj91A Now on Discord.

After another extended hiatus, Todd's back with another sparkling hour of uplifting inspiration!   (8:40) How does a person enthusiastically produce a podcast when the subject matter and outcome is completely devoid of basic hope?  (9:41) "Fix" the for-profit media complex? Good luck. "It's the people." Tiptoeing into how pre-programmed deceit and self-deception are major parts of the how and why. (30:45) Deceit and Self-Deception. The opening salvo.    Like it? Share it!  https://toddzillax.substack.com https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdLR140l--HufeRSAnj91A Now on Discord.

Taken from two episodes released in 2019, I begin laying the 2023 foundation for a return to my unfinished series focussing on Jacques Ellul's book, Propaganda. This episode focused on how propaganda severs the individual from themselves, robs them of their intellectual autonomy, and "crystallizes" inseminated thoughts, opinions, and agendas, inside the propagandee host. It then uses slogans, symbols, stereotypes, agitprop, and the warm glow of tribal fellowship, to turn them into malleable proselytes and militants always awaiting their righteous marching orders. More of what’s covered: a preview of what’s to come and having the real Courage to be Disliked as opposed to surrendering to fear and social momentum to avoid the pain, and punishment, of leaving a group.     "ToddzillaX" on most social media. LIKE, SHARE & SUBSCRIBE! Jacques Ellul's "Propaganda": https://www.amazon.com/Propaganda-Formation-Attitudes-Jacques-Ellul/dp/0394718747 https://toddzillax.substack.com https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdLR140l--HufeRSAnj91A

After revisiting the March 2, 2020 episode recorded at the dawn of the pandemic, Todd uses 3-years of hindsight to explore ( 60:00 ) how much further trust in government and media institutions has eroded and the effects. Data overload, trust apathy, and monetized tribal agitprop leads nowhere good. Also, is a liberal democracy capable of defending itself against an illiberal insurgency without destroying itself in the process?   Rachel Botsman's Book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1541762703/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1   Your Undivided Attention: https://www.humanetech.com/podcast   "ToddzillaX" on most social media. LIKE, SHARE & SUBSCRIBE! https://toddzillax.substack.com https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdLR140l--HufeRSAnj91A

After spontaneously eulogizing his friend, Todd tries euthanizing our cliche-and disingenuous-gun "debate" addiction. Again (10:00) (18:00) Isn't it funny how the balloon and the ensuing UFO "mystery" distracted everyone from Biden's classified documents scandal? How about some MORE healthy rabid skepticism? (30:00) Your host got the inside poop on Ohio's train derailment. While the cause seems obvious, who's to blame? Is it corporate greed, the ongoing labor shortage, or worse, DOT incompetence?   (45:00) East Palestine, Ohio: in the culture wars, poor whites have become what Chomsky called unworthy victims. How would the response have been different in Ann Arbor, Portland, or Gary?    "ToddzillaX" on most social media. LIKE, SHARE & SUBSCRIBE! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdLR140l--HufeRSAnj91A https://toddzillax.substack.com https://www.twitch.tv/toddzillax https://www.escapingthecave.com/

As the podcast approaches the 5-years mark since its return, Todd revisits his Media 101 episode and further explores why the for-profit media sucks. (Hint: see the title!) Also, how personal attachments corrupt an already frail sense of basic reason, why emotionally compromised victims (and others)  should never be consulted, and how a supposedly idealistic cultist "morality" eventually seeks out and crucifies its traitorous blasphemers & heretics, like Elon Musk and Joe Rogan. Segment 2 starts (27:30) with an overdue return to Joan Didion's essay (and handy extremist test!) On Morality, transitions toward the Woke Book of Shouldism, Haidt's elephant, and steers into Toddzilla's plea for Sausage Party Hope in segment 3 (1:02:40).   "ToddzillaX" on most social media. LIKE, SHARE & SUBSCRIBE! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdLR140l--HufeRSAnj91A https://toddzillax.substack.com https://www.twitch.tv/toddzillax https://www.escapingthecave.com/   Music by Yellow Pills!  https://open.spotify.com/artist/7rDvBzvGcNPV3BYZ1n5VdZ

Studio 4 opens with a new episode and a new live stream on Twitch! This week at Davos, an official of the EU Taliban's Morality Police wants everyone to know that European hate speech laws "are coming to the United States." Do liberals realize that they've become exactly what  they used to hate? Grab Chief Wahoo gear while you can! Also, Biden destroys whatever credible self-righteousness Democrats had left, and thanks to BLM, performative reparations legislation, and far left bigoted preaching about the inherent evils of "whiteness," the cultural boomerang has begun its return journey. Finally, where tech and agitprop converge, the Great War of the 21st Century will be fought during Propaganda's Golden Age. An oblivious species with no self-awareness has no chance of surviving that as free men. Everyone supposedly demands "accountability" these days, so whose fault will it really be?    "ToddzillaX" on most social media. LIKE, SHARE & SUBSCRIBE! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdLR140l--HufeRSAnj91A https://toddzillax.substack.com https://www.twitch.tv/toddzillax https://www.escapingthecave.com Music by Yellow Pills!  https://open.spotify.com/artist/7rDvBzvGcNPV3BYZ1n5VdZ

Over information & reality itself.   From #112 - Storytellers, Truth, and The Great War of the 21st Century

In an exploding state of informational anarchy, who gets to decide what's "true?" Who can you believe?   From #112 - Storytellers, Truth, and The Great War of the 21st Century (11/8/22)