I have a chance to pull someone from the matrix!

[Omegahero09]

My buddy and I whom I've mentioned in a previous post (a statist and aspiring to be a cop, but is starting to jive with my points on libertarianism and voluntarism), are now playing borderlands regularly every week AND is interested in listening to one of my podcasts while we play!

 

Now I've already got a couple ideas for introducing him to Stef and philosophy, the "Terrified of Morgan Freeman" podcast is one of my favorites but I want to gather a couple more options for what we listen to while we play.

 

Help me gather some options for showing him the power of philosophy and reason!

 

Context: my fiancé and I have asked his girlfriend (we and them are getting pretty close) deep questions about her personal life and her awful dysfunctional living situation that made her uncomfortable- after of course she opened up to us about it. They had never heard before the concepts of reason, truth, rational self-interest and holding parents accountable for the shit they do to their children.

 

Since that one uncomfortable talk, literally the next day she wanted to come over with her man and talk more about her feelings! Which was awesome because we short circuited them I think by not laughing at the trauma and reminding them that what was happening to her was heinous, and that it isn't funny, and that the reason why we aren't changing the subject or going along with their attempts to derail the conversation is because we care about her. I don't think she's ever had anyone in her life that wanted to talk about those 'hard, heavy, deep' conversations.

 

Since he's starting to see philosophy help someone close to him (we will play after we have that conversation and hang out over the weekend) he's more curious about it now than before it being something we occasionally talk about from time to time.

 

Anyone have any ideas for podcasts that can help pull my buddy out of the matrix into the rtr world of philosophy? I'm thinking have more of a lean towards relationships should come first, and then if he likes the podcasts start bringing in the anarchism into the podcasts

[Wuzzums]

I think it's advisable to not overload them with information lest they recoil from it. A foundation has to be made first.

 

If someone that just found out about the theory of evolution hears something like "monkeys and humans have the same ancestor" they're just gonna dismiss it firsthand as ridiculous. For someone that hasn't listened to the "Bomb In The Brain" series will think that Stefan is just jumping to conclusions or trying to find someone to blame when he's talking to a caller about their issues. I myself had to first become and atheist before an anarchist.

 

I think the books, including the "The Origin of War in Child Abuse", is the best place to start.

[Omegahero09]

Oh absolutely, it's gotta be a little gentle at first.

 

Bomb in the brain would be good, but honestly think that that presentation would be better if we watched it for the visual graphs and such.

 

I was thinking that call in shows, simply because Stef does a good job of cutting through what isn't real, and it's both startling and wonderful.

 

Do you have any favorites wuzzums?

[luxfelix]

Cool beans!

 

You'll know better than us what your buddy will find most interesting, of course; afterwards, you may or may not need to wait until they are interested in learning more (at their own pace).

 

I trust you'll have the prerequisite empathy. 

 

(I personally like the historical videos!)

[Wuzzums]

Gosh, I really can't say. I have favorite segments from shows but can't remember the title of the shows. The only one that I can recall right now is "Help, my ex-girlfriend is in the attic" specifically the segment that gives the title (don't remember what the rest of the calls were about). I think it's light, entertaining and gives a great example how an actual adult handles such a situation. 

[dsayers]

Context: my fiancé and I have asked his girlfriend (we and them are getting pretty close) deep questions about her personal life and her awful dysfunctional living situation that made her uncomfortable- after of course she opened up to us about it. They had never heard before the concepts of reason, truth, rational self-interest and holding parents accountable for the shit they do to their children.

 

Since that one uncomfortable talk, literally the next day she wanted to come over with her man and talk more about her feelings! Which was awesome because we short circuited them I think by not laughing at the trauma and reminding them that what was happening to her was heinous, and that it isn't funny, and that the reason why we aren't changing the subject or going along with their attempts to derail the conversation is because we care about her.

 

This was very touching to read. It sounds as if you're doing well without the use of aides, so keep it up!

 

However, I realize you were asking for aides to partake of while you're doing something else (probably not the best way to absorb critical data). Here are some of my favorites:

 

- Very long, but its starts with the basics of what is truth and how to arrive at the truth, later building from there.

 

- A great follow up to the first few episodes of the introduction series linked above as it expands on how we think.

 

- The first half talks about the biology of addiction, which can help ease somebody into the idea of the crucial formative years without outright calling their parents destructive (which I imagine would be a top source of resistance to any of this stuff).

 

The Ghosts of War - Talks about the lose lose nature of human conflict. Has a groovy musical track too!

 

- Non-FDR resource, it concisely and thoroughly explores objective morality and universal property rights.

[Omegahero09]

Dsayers my good man, thanks for that!

 

And I have found that with one exception people respond better to hearing this stuff, while doing something else at the same time.

 

For example: when I first tried to introduce the fiancé to the podcasts, she resisted. She just didn't like sitting still and listening to people talking. Granted, she had never really done anything like that before, she never listened to books on tape, never listened to the radio etc.

 

However, we've listened to a few call-in shows all the way through from time to time, and even listened to some back to back in a row- in a row! We listen to Stef while we do chores around the apartment, even stopping and talking about the topics or Stef and so on before diving back in and listening again. And this was just politely asking if she'd like to listen to some podcasts with me while we bust through chores.

 

I've already seen her start to incorporate what she's heard and learned and clearly thought about in her opinions of people we know and about tv shows and stuff, and especially between the two of us.

 

It's unreal and totally fucking awesome lol