TRIGGERnometry - How Terrible Ideas Take Over Society - Konstantin Kisin

Episode Date: March 26, 2024

Have you noticed that things got weird a few years ago? And that the world makes less and less sense with every year? Konstantin Kisin gives his thoughts as written in his latest Substack. Konstantin's Substack: https://konstantinkisin.substack.com/ Join the TRIGGERnometry community on Locals! https://triggernometry.locals.com/ OR Support TRIGGERnometry with Bitcoin: bc1qm6vvhduc6s3rvy8u76sllmrfpynfv94qw8p8d5 Advertise on TRIGGERnometry: [e-mail] Join the Mailing List: https://www.triggerpod.co.uk/sign-up/ Find TRIGGERnometry on Social Media: @triggerpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Get the money side of the story. Subscribe now at Bloomberg.com. Have you noticed that things got weird a few years ago, that the world makes less and less sense with every year that goes by? Why did protesters in England where the police are not armed shout hands up, don't shoot, at cops who don't carry guns? Isn't it strange that within the blink of an eye, politicians suddenly became unable to explain what a woman is?

A woman can have a penis. Nick, I'm not. I don't think we can conduct this debate with, you know... Sorry, I've got this... No, no, no, it's just... How is it that societies whose stated goal was a world in which all men are created equal became obsessed with dividing themselves along racial lines?

Why do multinational corporations stick rainbow flags everywhere? Except in Saudi Arabia, obviously. Do you remember, when everyone lost their ship because Donald Trump said, we simply cannot allow people to pour into the United States, undetected, undocumented, unchecked, and circumventing the line of people who are well, waiting patiently, diligently and lawfully to become immigrants in this country.

You probably don't, because it wasn't President Trump that said it. It was President Obama. And no one lost their shit because up until three minutes ago, everyone left and right understood that countries need borders. And yet, here we are in 2023, where the definition of a woman is now controversial, people breaking into our country illegally is conflated with normal, lawful immigration, and the weird obsession with race just won't go away. And what's strange about it is that if you talk to most people, no one wanted this.

So how did it happen? And why did no one say anything? Around 2013, 2014, social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook began to take off. Virtually overnight, the mainstream media began to publish article after article about racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc. And this didn't just happen in Britain and America. It happened in places as far and wide as Nigeria, Japan, Cuba, the Philippines, Qatar and Brazil. The investor Charlie Munger, who's Warren Buffett's right-hand man, said, show me the incentives and I'll show you the outcome. What no one realized at the time is that

social media rewards certain types of communication, and whatever you reward, you get more of. Social media rewards complaining, outrage and victimhood. So it produces complaints, outrage, porn, and victims. Why didn't no one say anything? Well, first of all, some people tried to. J.K. Rowling said something, and went from celebrated author to demonized hate figure. Barry Weiss, a journalist at the New York Times, said something. She's no longer at the New York Times. Clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson said something, and now they're trying to take his license to practice away.

And despite their efforts, little change there's institution after institutions succumbed to the craziness. That in itself is weird. I often found myself naively thinking that all it takes is one more brave principle than articulate individual to stand up and say something and it would all be over. Instead, one after another, these people lost jobs, opportunities and careers. It's going on right now with Rashin Murphy who dared to suggest

that puberty blockers are a bad idea. The BBC responded by removing her work from their radio lineup. This is despite the fact that the Tavistock Clinic, which administered these puberty blockers, was shut down after the cast review raised serious concerns about giving these drugs to children. And despite the fact that most people in both Britain and America do not support puberty blockers, gender reassignment surgery, the inclusion of trans women and women's sports, and so on. In other words, prominent, respected and successful people

who speak the truth are punished for saying what most of their fellow citizens believe. Does that make any sense to you? To anyone? So what's going on? People will often use clever sounding phrases like institutional capture to explain it. But what does that mean exactly? The BBC wasn't physically overrun by a barbarian horde, and I can tell you from personal experience that not every one of these institutions agrees with what's happening. I once took part in a debate on the BBC in preparation for which I had a call with the producer. In the conversation, she told me how alarmed she herself was by what was going on, but she refused to speak up for herself.

Part of this is groupthink, which is when people agree to go along with something because they prioritise harmony within the group over making the right decision. They keep quiet because they know the majority disagree with them and they don't want to be the black sheep of the group. but a related and even more interesting phenomenon is the Abilene paradox. The term was introduced by management expert Jeremy Harvey in the 1970s. It's based on a story he used to tell about a family, which is sitting around comfortably playing dominoes in the heat,

when one of them suggests taking a long trip to Abilene, Texas for dinner. Thinking that's what everyone wants, the individual family members all agreed to go. It is only when they return from a hot, dusty, unpleasant trip that they gradually realized that none of them actually wanted to go. They went along not because they were in the minority, but because they all thought they were in the minority. But we are not in the minority. Those of us who believe that children can't consent to serious medical interventions,

the rational debate is better than name-calling, that countries need borders, that freedom of expression is better than censorship, we're in the majority. That's why we need the JK Rowlings, Barry Vices and Jordan Peterson's of the world. They shatter the illusion of consensus and give us a fighting chance against the tyranny of the minority. And this is why the way to end cancel culture is to embrace the canceled, to make sure that people who speak are rewarded for it, and to encourage others to say enough.

If you enjoy these monologues, make sure to head on over to my substack and subscribe. You can read them there weeks ahead of time.