Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast - #571: Color Talk - Black Speaks

Episode Date: September 14, 2018

I turn over my podcast to the color black, which explains in its own words what it believes. This is part three of a five-part series I'm calling "Color Talk."

I'm pulling out of the parking lot. We all know what that means. It's time for the drive to work. And I dropped my son off at camp again. Okay, so we are in the middle of a series where I let the colors talk for themselves to explain what exactly they think and believe and how they think about the other colors and such. So we've already listened to white and we listened to blue. So since we're going in Woburg order today, that means we listen to black. Okay, black, take it away.

Thank you, Mark. Okay, everybody, this is black. So, I know part of what I want to do today is explain sort of my rationale, and I know the other colors, my enemies especially, really want to paint me as being this evil color, and I just think that colors, my enemies especially, really want to paint me as being the evil color.

And I just think that's, I think it's unfair. And so today I want to sort of talk about what exactly I believe in, what I want. And I think what you'll see is that I definitely get treated unfairly, I think, in how I'm painted. Okay, so first and foremost, here's the thing that I believe most. I believe that the goal of life is to take every opportunity available to you so that you can have the life in which you have the most control, that you have the most ability to do what you want. And it starts from the following premise.

The premise I have is each person, it would be awesome if each person in the world had somebody who prioritized and looked after them. And the answer is they do themselves. Nobody understands you better than you. Nobody has, nobody prioritizes you like you will. You know, you have a lot of reasons and cause to look after yourself. And all I believe is that people's first priority is taking care of themselves. Now, secondarily, they can help other people do other things. I'm not, somehow people seem to think like I'm, you know, they can help other people do other things. Somehow people seem to think like I get labeled with a selfish brush.

And the point is, I'm not selfish. I just believe that you have the right to prioritize your own needs before other people. So here's my example is, you're on an airplane. You have a child with you. And oxygen falls. What do they tell you to do? Do they say the first thing you need to do is put oxygen on everybody who is weaker than you? No. The first thing you need to do is put oxygen on yourself. Because if you don't put oxygen on yourself, you're of no use to anybody else. You're not going to help your child if you fall unconscious. And so mostly what I'm saying is I'm a firm believer that you have to first take care of yourself.

Okay? Now, somehow there's this idea that, oh, I don't believe in helping others or working with others. I do believe that it's okay to interact with others. I have relationships. I have relationships. I have friends. I have the idea that the best thing in the world is to be isolated from everybody. I don't believe that. What I do believe, though, is that everybody needs to have some priority. And what I'm saying is, look, the world is a harsh place.

And part of that means that you need to first make sure that you're okay. Now, that's not a horrible thing. Self-preservation is not a horrible thing. You know, prioritizing yourself is not a horrible thing. I mean, I'll get to white and green in a bit. And white especially really likes to demonize me for not putting the needs of people

I don't even know over myself. You know what I'm saying? And the needs of people I don't even know over myself. You know what I'm saying? And the root of what I believe is the idea that, look, you are your greatest champion. You are your greatest supporter. And you need to support yourself. You need to prioritize yourself. And you need to make sure that you are okay before others are okay. that you are okay before others are okay.

Secondly, I'm a big believer in opportunity, that I want everybody to have opportunity. I'm really big on merit-based systems. I love the idea that anybody has the potential to become what they want to be, that, you know, but, but, and here's the thing that I believe in is I don't believe in handouts. I don't believe, you know, I believe that you earn what you get.

And that there's nothing wrong with people that are more capable of having more than those that aren't. Here's my simple example is, I take a class, okay? Well, why should I get an A in the class? I should get an A in the class if I do the work and do it well. And if it's graded on a curve, I should get an A because I do better than other people in my class. But I shouldn't be deserved an A. I shouldn't get an A without doing work. Like, if I want to get something, I need to work for it.

Capitalism. Awesome, awesome example here, which is I love the idea that in a capitalistic society, any person has the ability to rise. You know, it's a system which says, look, if you work hard enough and you're dedicated and you put in the hours and the dedication, you can make something of yourself. Now, here is the hard part,

and this is the part where I tend to get painted evil. By the way, real quickly. The whole idea of good and evil is a creation of people. There's no... The one thing I'll say about... I'll talk about white today. The one thing... I'll give white a compliment.

First thing I'll say about white is a compliment. White is really, really good at getting people to work against their own self-. White is really, really good at getting people to work against their own self-interest. I mean, amazingly good at it, actually. And one of the ways white does that is by creating structures that it gets people to buy into. And then, to me, the craziest one is this idea of morality, that there's an absolute right and wrong. Like, no, there's not. You know, this idea that, like, you are a good or a bad person based on the actions you take is white just brainwashing people.

It's just like, well, how do I convince people that they should do things that are against their own self-interest? Well, I'll introduce this concept and, like, well, if you're good, you know, and I, there's a lot of abusive systems that goes on. I think White is very guilty of this, of using system as a means to control people

and to keep people down. In the system that I want, people have the ability to excel. That if you truly are, if you are able to accomplish things, you should be rewarded. That if you are smart and industrious and you're hardworking,

that you should be rewarded for that. That there should be rewards to say, hey, I put the energy and time in. It's not like everybody in the class should get an A or everybody who competes in sports is supposed to get a trophy. The winners get a trophy. That's who gets the trophy.

And I think we live in a world right now where, like, heaven forbid people face the reality that maybe they're not the best at something. Mostly what I want to say is it's okay to reward people that excel. That it's okay, like, this idea in life that everybody has to be treated equally is just not, it's not the way the world works. I mean, here's the other big thing that I want to stress. The things I'm talking about

is how I think people need to adapt to the world that exists. I'm not looking at some idealized world. I'm not saying, oh, it would be wonderful if. A lot of the other callers do this like, well, if people did this, but they don't. If people weren't greedy, but they are. And to be fair, I mean, I know greed gets sort of a really bad, I mean, this is once again, white's moralizing. But the idea is, it's okay to want things.

It is okay to work toward those things. It is okay to have systems that say those that are more able to do things should get rewarded. You know what I'm saying? The idea that if I am on a sports team and we work really hard and we win the championship,

I get the trophy. But I shouldn't get a trophy if we didn't win. You know what I'm saying? And so here's the important thing. I want to reward accomplishments. I want to reward actions. I want to reward people that are putting in the time and energy. And what that means is, is I don't want to reward mediocrity.

I don't want to reward laziness. Like if somebody goes to class and never does the work, they shouldn't get an A. Heck, they should get an F. They should flunk out of the class. You know, if I have a baseball team and we suck, well, guess what? We don't get a trophy.

You know what I'm saying? This idea that you need to coddle the weak is just crazy to me. I mean, for starters, there does nothing to get, like, how are you going to learn if every time you do something, regardless of the outcome, if you get rewarded? Like, how are you going to get better? How are you going to learn? You know what I'm saying? Like, the way you learn is you try something and you fail, and you experience failure. Failure is not this horrible thing. Failure is a teacher. Failure shows you that you need to be better. And all I'm saying is we have to acknowledge that success and failure are part

of what goes on. This idea that everybody's equal is just not true. It's just not true. That if you're smarter or harder working or just have access to resources, you're able to do things that other people might not be able to do. And the idea that like it's somehow wrong because you worked harder, you know. Now, here's the thing. This is where I usually get painted badly here is I want to reward strength. I want to reward people that are putting in the time and energy and have the extra capability. Now, what that means is, is there are people who don't get rewarded.

There's people who suffer. There's people who fail. Now, I'm not advocating, like, I like giving people opportunity. You know what I'm saying? I'm a big believer that the people who deserve to exceed, excel, people that deserve to succeed, or excel,

are the ones that are willing, that have the, the ability and the desire to do what it takes to get it done. And what that means is, like I said, this is the, the world is going to have

successes and failures the world is going to have people that thrive and people that don't and it is not the fault of the thrivers that other people are failing it is just not

I know people want to blame them I know it's so easy to say well the reason the people at the bottom are at the bottom is the people at top are doing something to them. And the reality is the people at the top are the ones that are just putting in time and energy. You know, like I get an A. It's not my fault someone else gets an F. Even if it's graded on a curve, I did better than them.

You know what I'm saying? Like I got my A because I earned my A. I shouldn't feel bad because other people got Fs. My A didn't make them get Fs. They made them get Fs. If somebody is failing, if somebody is suffering, it is because they did not take the steps they needed. Okay, now, I mean, one of the things that you have to understand is that there are byproducts of what I'm talking about. So, for example, let's say I was going to talk about driving a car, okay? Now, are cars a good thing or a bad thing? And I'm like, okay, generally cars are a good thing.

They allow people to travel distances, which allows all sorts of freedoms that, you know, you can live far away from where you work. Or if you want to experience things, you can drive and get those things. You can travel. You know, cars do a lot of good. Okay, but does that mean that there's no evil side to cars? Well, I mean, once again, I don't believe in evil, but is there a downside to cars? Yes, there's pollution.

There are car accidents. There are bad things that can happen from cars existing. Okay, but should we eradicate cars because so many people die a year from car accidents? Does that mean we should get rid of cars? No, no, no. That's just acknowledging that there is good and there is bad, and that good and bad come together that like whenever somebody like for example if i win a an award well someone else

didn't win the award you know if i apply to a school and i get into the school well someone else didn't get into the school you know i'm saying that the very the very nature of competition, of just life, is that some people will succeed while others don't. But it's not the fault of the succeeders that the other people didn't. You know what I'm saying? Like, people have to take personal responsibility. That's my big thing is, look, I'm a big believer of turning toward yourself and saying, you are the person that is most responsible for what you get out of life.

And you have, I mean, a lot of what my whole philosophy is, is trying to empower the individual and say, look, success or failure rides on your shoulders. Now, once again, that doesn't mean you can't interact with other people. That doesn't mean you can't have relationships. You can't have friendships. You can't have friendships. You can't belong to groups. You know, I know people like to paint me with a selfish paintbrush, but I'm not against you working with other people.

My only thing is that acknowledge that when you have interactions with other people, there's something you get out of that. I'm just trying to acknowledge that. Like, when I work with somebody else, there is something I get out of that. I'm just trying to acknowledge that. Like when I work with somebody else there is something I get out of that. If I'm in a relationship I'm giving something to that person but I'm getting something from that person.

If I'm in a friendship yes I'm giving something to that person but I'm getting something from that person. So the idea is just acknowledging that the reason that you're in relationships or you belong to groups or whatever is there's a benefit for you

for that happening. That you know a lot of times I talk about how you have to do what you belong to groups or whatever is, there's a benefit for you for that happening. That, you know, a lot of times I talk about how you have to do what it takes to get things done. Sometimes that's working a group. You know, I'm not, I'm not,

sometimes people want to paint me as like I'm the loner, lonely color. No, no, no. I'm fine with working with other people and I'm fine. My only issue is

I want you to think about why you're doing what you're doing and how it impacts you. Somehow, that's a bad thing. Like, looking out for yourself is a bad thing. It is not. It's not. And the idea that because of what I'm saying, the system has positives and negatives. Well, look, any system has positives and negatives.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, there's going to be car crashes and pollution. That doesn't make cars an evil thing. You know what I'm saying? And that, I think what happens is a lot of my enemies want to look at what I'm doing and say, well, let's just solely focus on the absolute worst of what this color

does. You know what I'm saying? And they're like, oh, he promotes suffering. I don't promote suffering. I mean, I promote people succeeding. I promote opportunity. I promote the ability for people to succeed if they're capable of succeeding. You know what I'm saying? So I mean, I promote that system. I'm not promoting people fail on. I'm just acknowledging that people will fail. You know what I'm saying? That's the other big thing is, look, the world is the way the world is.

And that if you don't look out for yourself, you can have problems. Well, I'm just saying to look out for yourself and that I want each person to look out for themselves. I want a system by which we say, okay, look, there's personal responsibility. That's not an evil idea, personal responsibility. But people have to own up that what happens in their life, what happens to them is basically what they put into it.

Okay, let me talk a little bit about the colors. Okay, I'm going to start with my allies. So let's talk about red. So the thing I really like about red is red also has this, this desire to prioritize what your needs. Red is very good at prioritizing needs. And, you know, red is very in touch with what it wants. Like one of the things that I think is important, part of self-preservation and sort of putting yourself first is understanding what it is you need. Because I think a lot of things that goes on is people who are sort of taught to like put everyone else's needs before your needs. And then what ends up happening is

you help others at your own, like, I truly am a believer that you are more useful to those around you, to your loved ones, if you are in a good place. If you're in a bad place, if you're suffering, if you're expending all your energy making everybody else better,

and you're not, you're going to have problems. And that, what I'm saying is, look, you've got to take care of yourself. You've got to look at what you need and what will help you. And you are better to those around you. You are better help to those around you if you are in a good place.

If you got the oxygen mask on, you can help other people get their oxygen mask on. But if you don't put your oxygen, well, I got to give everyone some oxygen first, you're going to collapse. And that doesn't help anybody. Okay, so I like that red really is in touch with sort of what it wants. And red has a sort of embrace it and take action sort of attitude that I like. Now, one of my problems with red is red's a little bit impulsive for my taste. Red doesn't always think long term. While I agree with Red that I do think you need to prioritize what you need I think Red sometimes

sort of does things that makes it feel good in the moment but causes problems long term but I do really appreciate the passion of Red the inner focus of Red and I enjoy that Red looks out after other people

that matter to them and prioritizes them. Like one of the things that people, people really like to paint me as a loner. And the point is, if someone matters to me, if someone's important to me, I will go to the bench for that person. I mean, barring it not harming me, obviously. But if somebody that I care about is having trouble or suffering,

hey, I'm there to help them. You know, this idea that I will never look out after anybody else, it's just false. No, I won't look after people that don't mean anything to me, that are strangers to me. This idea that somehow I have to prioritize strangers' well-being to my well-being is just nutty as far as I'm concerned. We'll get there.

Okay, the other ally I have is Blue. The thing I like about Blue is Blue really is good about planning ahead. Blue's really good about understanding the ramifications of what's going on. And Blue is really good at looking through and saying, what really matters? Like, one of the things I

appreciate about watching Blue fight, for example, in a duel, is that Blue goes, okay, we're fighting with magic. How can I best fight in a duel where it's about magic? And I really respect, like, a lot of the countersponsors. I can't do that. But I, wow, that's pretty cool. The idea of really understanding the essence of what it is you're doing. I think that's pretty cool. The idea of really understanding the essence of what it is you're doing. I think that's pretty cool.

And I like the fact that Blue is able to appreciate... Like, I love the idea of the perfection of the self. That Blue's quest to become the best that they can be. That is awesome. I really, I like that a lot. Now, blue tends to also have the, you know, the white side where it's like helping of the group. And I, I really think the perfection of the individual is more important than the perfection of the group.

I don't, I mean, I, once again, if the group can help you, if the group is advantageous to you, I'm not against helping the group, but only when there's a reason that the helping of the group helps you. You know, you have to make sure that the, the group, the only when there's a reason that the helping of the group helps you. You know, you have to make sure that the groups that you're interacting with, that there's a benefit. The idea of helping the group without helping yourself, I don't quite understand the value of that. And blue, blue is not as focused on the self as it could be. But if you take kind of the passion and the inwardness of red and the thoughtfulness of blue and merge them together, there's something really cool there. And that's why red and blue are my allies. Okay, so let's talk about my enemies. Okay, so as I said before, white is a master at getting people to work against their own self-interest.

is a master at getting people to work against their own self-interest. I mean, I must say, as an enemy of white, tip of my hat, that is... I don't know how white does it. I mean, I kind of know how white does it, but it's impressive. So here's what white is all about. White knows that... White is like, how can I take advantage of as many people as possible

and trick them in to basically giving me their power and so what white does is it creates these systems that sort of say oh well you have no choice but to do what I say and remember remember

people that white, you know, I'm all about free will. I'm all about you having the opportunity to do the things you want to do. We'll get into green in a second. The free will part also applies in green. I believe that each person has the right to do what they want to do.

White does not believe that. White believes that everybody, that your obligation, this is White, I'm quoting White, that your obligation is not to prioritize your own needs, but prioritize the larger needs of everybody else. So if doing something will harm you, but help other people, White's like, well, it's helping other people. And like, but it's harming you. Like why, the idea that you would advocate something that would harm you, White's like, well, it's helping other people. And I'm like, but it's harming you. Like, why? The idea that you would advocate something that would harm you,

why would you work against your own self-interest? And I understand white has created this, you know, like, I mean, I must admit, as a scam, I mean, white is a scam artist. Like, morality doesn't even exist. And white has convinced swaths of people to dedicate their lives to following these ideals

that just make them not prioritize themselves. That just make them work against their own self-interest. And that is one of the reasons white is a scary enemy, is how do you deal with people that are willing to throw away their own self-interest? That aren't even willing to, you know what I'm saying? Like, one of the things that I trust is that individuals have needs and have wants, and that one of the things that I really, that I find find helpful to me is understanding how you motivate people. And a big way to motivate people is understanding what they want.

But white tricks them into believing that what they want is not in their own self-interest. But anyway, white creates these laws and creates these civil laws and moral laws and just makes all these rules about how, oh, what you're doing is for the greater good. And really, it's just white controlling them. It's so funny that white likes to paint me as if I'm the controlling one, as if, you know, as if people suffer under me, when the reality is white makes them suffer. White gets people to self-select into suffering. Now, I admit, in my system, there's a byproduct of people who suffer. But, I mean, I try to give everybody opportunities,

meaning I want everybody to have the opportunity to not suffer. Yeah, yeah, there are people who are going to suffer because people are not going to be able to step up to it. But it's not my job to make people, you know what I'm saying? Like, the people that rise to the occasion are going to do great. And the people that don't, well, they didn't rise to the occasion. That's not my fault that they didn't want to put in the time or energy. Like, if someone wants to be lazy, that's not my fault.

You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm not supposed to reward people for laziness um but white white does white likes to reward people you know the meek shall inherit the earth why reward it stop coddling the meek like how's the world a better place because we're we're building up the meek how about building up the strong how about building up the people that have succeeded how about you know the strong? How about building up the people that have succeeded? How about, you know, how about saying, hey, who should be the people that run things? The people that know what they're doing or the people that don't know what they're doing? The people that have demonstrated strength or the people that have demonstrated weakness?

You know, when I talk about merit, I'm just like, I want the people that have proven themselves to have the opportunity to do things and run things. Okay, let me talk about green. So green also brainwashes. White and green love to brainwash. Green schtick, this is green schtick, is that you are born with things already decided. And so why should you do anything? It's already decided. Don't do anything.

You, you were born to be that. Be that. And my whole thing is, look, one of the side effects of you being empowered is that you have the ability to do whatever you want in life. You have free will. You have this idea that somehow

you're controlled by destiny. Screw destiny. You can do what you want. That one of the things about what I'm trying to empower is that you have the ability to, if you put your mind to it, if you are willing to do what it takes to get what you want, you can get what you want. You know, it requires putting in the time and energy.

It requires effort. You know, it requires doing the things that need to get done. But if you're willing to do that, you have the ability to be whatever. You're not limited by choices that you had nothing to do with when you were born, you know. And the other thing about green that really is kind of frustrating to me is green likes to define its terms the way it wants. It's like green's like, well, change is bad. Well, not adaptation. That's change, but that kind of change is fine. Or death, you know, death is bad. Well, except if a lion wants to eat a gazelle, well, that's just nature. That's okay. You're like, how is a lion eating a gazelle any different than somebody taking advantage of the fact that they're strong and someone else is weak?

There's no difference. But this whole idea that somehow you're locked in your system and that anytime you try to change, you are fundamentally violating something. Here's what both white and green love to do. There are things that exist that you have nothing to do with, that you had no say in, you know, that dictate what you have to do in life. That just, you are the victim of things that you had nothing to do with that just tell you how you must be. And that's baloney.

That is just, that is not true. I mean, the fact that white and green can fool people into believing that's wonderful. I mean, hats off. I mean, I do admire how many people white and green are able to fool. But my point is, the idea that there's rules in place before you existed that you must follow and that you have no say in those rules, you can't dictate those rules, that you are kind of trapped in the system. Look, that's just, that's con men, that's how con men work.

Is they create some system and say, well, what can you do? This is the system. And on the flip side, my big thing is saying, hey, you have the ability to do what you want to do. It's just you have the responsibility to do what it takes to get it done. You know what I'm saying? And this is another one. This is another one where I get painted as evil, is this idea that if you somehow take advantage of somebody else, like, for example, for example, I start a business. Okay, I'm able to start a business. I'm able to come up with an idea.

I'm able to get the money I need. I'm able to get whatever permits or permissions. And I'm able to build a company. Okay, I'm able to build a company. Now, somebody comes to me and they want a job. Well, you know, I can able to build the company. Now, somebody comes to me and they want a job. Well, you know, I can say to them, hey, to do this task, I can get people at this cost. Do you want the job at this cost? And they can say yes, or they can say no. I'm not taking advantage of them. I'm giving them an opportunity. You can do this job at this cost. If you don't want, I can get somebody else who will do this job at this cost.

And they have a choice. Do they, look, do they need the job? And if they do, they'll take the job. The fact that I try to pay them the least amount I can pay them, that's just me doing my job of trying to make my business work. Like I don't have an opportunity to say, well, I know I could just pay you N amount, but I will pay you N plus 5,000 just to be nice. No, no. Part of succeeding is recognizing the resources you have available. If someone's willing to do a job for a certain

amount of money, well, that's what I'm going to pay them. And I'm not some evil overlord because I do that. I mean, I'm giving that person a job. If that person was able to start their own company, they should have started their own company. I started the company. So the fact that I can reap some benefits of being the person that started,

and that I can use the resources of other people. Look, other people need jobs. Not everybody has what I have to start the company. So I'm giving them money. And the point is, if they don't have skill, like I will pay them what their skills are worth. They want to make more money, get skills worth more money. That's not me.

The fact that they only know how to do something that's worth a small amount of money is not my fault. It's not my fault. I'm running a business. You know what I'm saying? And that this idea that somehow I take advantage of people, I don't take advantage of people.

I pay people for what they're worth. I use people for what they're capable of doing. And the idea that, oh, somehow I have some moral responsibility to somehow treat them at a certain level. Look, I treat them as well as they earn the right to be treated. That if they have skills worth a certain amount of money, that's what I pay them. You know, and... I mean, a lot of my, that's what I pay them. You know, and...

I mean, a lot of my, I think my critics, it's all about misdirection. It's all about this idea that as if I'm the causer of all the pain in the world, rather than I acknowledge the pain in the world

and I work within the system to make it, to make it, to make better. People are greedy. Life is hard. I didn't make life hard. I'm not the one making life hard. Life is hard.

I didn't make life hard. You know what I'm saying? All I've done is give people opportunities to say, look, if you put in the hard work, that there are opportunities to deal with. Other people say, you know, like one of the things about white and green, like take green, for example.

It's like, well, if you weren't born a certain way, it's tough, you're out of luck. Well, you have to do this, and your parents did it, so you do it, and that's it, that's just your life, and you have no say in it. How is that being nicer? That, to me, is the cruelty.

Me saying, if you succeed, I will give you an opportunity to succeed, and if you succeed, there's rewards for succeeding how am I not the nice guy I'm giving opportunity anyway the thing to understand is a lot of what I'm saying is

that I'm putting I'm saying to people that there is responsibility on your shoulders. There are things that you have to do. And whether or not you are happy in life or sad in life or whatever you get out of life stems from what you do. There is personal responsibility. And people can label me evil for like wanting people to have personal responsibility of wanting people to,

you know, of saying that you get rewarded based on the merit of what you do. Okay, but that, that like labeling that evil when the reverse system is don't look out for yourself, don't do the things you need to do

and that you might suffer just because, well, I guess you're going to suffer. You know what I'm saying? Like, to me, that is the true cruel thing, is saying to people, you don't have a say in anything. That is already predetermined.

You know? Or, better yet, you are required to work against your own self-interest. To me, to me, if such a thing as evil exists, I don't believe that, but if it does, isn't that evil? Isn't the idea that you have no say in your life or that you have to work against your own self-interest,

isn't that way more problematic? Yet that's exactly what my enemies, that's what they preach. They preach work against yourself and you can't make changes. You can't control your own destiny. And I mean, that's what I'm offering. What I'm saying is I'm offering self-empowerment.

And that if you want to spin that as an evil, horrible thing, okay. But I'm just saying that there's a system by which people have opportunity. But I'm just saying that there's a system by which people have opportunity. And in that system, the byproduct of the system is their suffering. But I did not make that suffering. Suffering exists. Suffering exists. Life exists.

People will suffer. I didn't invent suffering. And the idea that somehow I'm not crying because there's suffering in the world. Look, suffering exists in the world, but most of the time the reason people suffer stems from the fact that they are not doing what it takes to not suffer. I'm just a big believer in self-empowerment, in that, look, you have the ability to make decisions and make choices about what's going on in the life you live.

Now, do some people start with more advantages than others? Yeah. Yes, they do. Because life is not fair. You know? I didn't make life unfair. I mean, my big thing here is I'm trying to say this is the system you're trying to work with. Life is unfair.

Different people have different resources. Okay. But that doesn't mean, look, there's so many great stories about people that started with nothing and worked their way up. It is possible. It can be done. Can everybody do it? No, not everybody

can do it. But there's some idea that everyone is obligated, like people, the world exists the way it is. And what I want is, I want people to have the opportunity that, to pull themselves out of stuff if they're capable of doing it. But some aren't capable of doing it. That's okay. And, and, and, this idea that everybody has to be on top. Not everybody's on top. There are people lower down in that, look, if the best you can do is a job in which you work for somebody else and they pay you and you live off that, then

okay, that's the life you're living. That's the life you earned. That's the life you were able to get to. And look, that's my major thing today. The thing I want to get across here is that self-empowerment, self-preservation, having pride in what you do, having focus in what you do, taking responsibility for what you do. Like, the idea of each person being responsible for themselves and being the person who most has to look out after themselves is not a horrible thing.

I know people will want to paint it as if somehow, like, my enemies like to paint me as if I'm causing the suffering. And the irony is that I'm not causing the suffering. I'm actually trying to give people a path out of the suffering. Not all will take it.

Not all can take it. But some will. And the ones that I give that opportunity, like, my enemies don't even want to give the opportunity. My enemies want you to work against your own self-interest or just give up the idea that, you know, you have any ability to control anything or, you know, that you have a preformed destiny and so nothing you can do can change anything.

No, there's nothing wrong with free will. There's nothing wrong with self-empowerment. And that's my whole point today. That's my whole point is that if you want to paint me as somebody that just does nothing but propose evil, that you're just buying into my enemy's propaganda.

You know what I'm saying? And that if you actually listen to what I'm saying is I'm about free will, I'm about self-empowerment, I'm about enabling people to do what they're capable of doing. And that's not a bad thing. Even though people want to paint me that way, that's not a bad thing. And, you know, I, I, it is so easy. It is so easy to, like, I'm, I'm taking the hard path. I'm making people face up to hard realities. That you want to succeed in life?

Well, you've got to roll up your sleeves and do it. That whether or not you succeed in life is up to you. You control whether you succeed or not. And, you know, my enemies, oh, it's not your fault. It's society. Whatever. Whatever they want to blame. That they want to blame everybody but you.

And what I'm saying is suck it up and own up that you're responsible. And look, that is the heart of my whole philosophy. You are responsible. That if you want to be happy, if you want to have the power to affect your own life, to do the things that you want to do, it's in your control. But you have to take the reins. You have to do the things that need to get done to do it. And if you're not willing to do those things, then guess what?

You won't get those things. That you will only succeed if you put in the energy to succeed. And that, and that, so that's all the point I'm trying to make. And people will paint me however they want to paint me. They can try to make me to be the evil villain twirling his mustache. But that is not at all what I'm about. Free will,

self-empowerment. I'm really about things that are what can make people better. I'm about teaching people how to make their own life better. And that, my friends, is not a horrible thing.

Okay, Mark, back to you. Well, thank you very much, Block. That was very interesting. So I am now at work, so that means this is the end of my drive to work. So instead of talking magic, it's time for me to be making magic. See you next time.