Episode 1004 Scott Adams: Polite Riots, Social Media Regulation, Poorly Educated News Consumers

Date: 2020-05-29 | Duration: 24:17

Topics

Find my “extra” content on Locals: https://ScottAdams.Locals.com

Rough Transcript

This is an auto-generated transcript and may contain errors.

Transcript

---

• Minneapolis burns, police flee, CNN camera team arrested

• CNN’s Chief Mind-Reader knows President Trumps inner thoughts

• WHO still says masks ONLY for medical professionals and sick

• Twitter flags another President Trump tweet

If you would like to enjoy this same content plus bonus content from Scott Adams, including micro-lessons on lots of useful topics to build your talent stack, please see scottadams.locals.com for full access to that secret treasure.
---
[0:14]

hey there you are good morning everybody it's an incredible incredible morning things are getting better all over the place while looking worse but they're getting better I'll tell you all about that in a minute but first you might want to enjoy a little thing called the simultaneous up and it doesn't take much all you need is a cover of mercury glass a tanker chelators die of a canteen jug a flask a vessel of any kind filled with your favorite liquid I like coffee and join me now for the unparalleled pleasure the dopamine here the day the thing that makes everything better including the damn pandemic and riots to which you could call protests here it comes the simultaneous it go yes I feel the tensions diminishing well is this

[1:14]

the tensions diminishing well is this the the weirdest the weirdest kind of day I don't know if you're noticing this but unity is breaking out everywhere except we're so trained not to see it that we're still acting as though were somehow on different sides but we're not because while you were not noticing black lives matters an tyfa and president Trump just wrongly took the same side in the the question about the George Loyd shooting now that's true right true or false black lives matter an tyfa and President Trump have strongly taken the same side of us I think that's true did you expect that probably not probably not right how about what is the opinion of CNN and

[2:15]

how about what is the opinion of CNN and Fox News today about the the police in Minneapolis pretty similar today Fox News and CNN suddenly kumbaya they both agree that the the arrest of the CNN reporter on the scene was a little bit too far I don't know if you watched the video but you really have to watch the video to appreciate how ridiculous it was because the CNN crew and reporter for the benefit of the story and because of the context of the story you have to know that the reporter his last name is hitmen is but he's very dark-skinned this is important to the story not important to you or me but important to the story and they decide that they're going to arrest this poor bastard along with some white crew members apparently and they were completely cooperating

[3:16]

and they were completely cooperating they were saying on camera live while the police were there or just tell us where you want us to go you know we were just getting out of your way when we came over here but let us know what you want us to do we'll go we'll be happy to do it and then they arrested them and the guys being arrested he's like for what what do you big what am I being arrested for and I gotta say if that had doesn't me and the cameras were rolling I think I would have flipped out I think I would have gone absolutely batshit crazy and see if the police try to rough me up on camera I don't know if I could let that situation go I mean I would have taken a little bit of a knee to the neck just because the cameras were rolling so I think that the reporter left a good opportunity for grandstanding behind I don't think I would left that behind I would have started screaming here's what I would

[4:16]

started screaming here's what I would have done I wouldn't have started physically resisting that would be crazy but I would have started screaming that there's that they're not telling me why they're arresting me because they kind of owe you that right they do need to tell you why you're being arrested especially when you're not resisting arrest and if they don't tell you why you're being arrested I would have just flipped out I would have just gone crazy not physically just mentally just you know verbally he missed a good chance
so is the weirdest situation I think the president has done exactly the right thing he's agreeing with you know almost all of the public and certainly black lives matter and anti-fog about this one situation with the with the police officer at killing George Lloyd but here's what's interesting we all agree that the president is taking the right position on this right so what is CMM

[5:19]

position on this right so what is CMM say when the President does unambiguously the right thing that they also agree with how does C and M cover the news when President Trump does exactly the right thing do you know in the comments see if you can guess brian Stelter covers it this way Trump should have weighed in sooner that's right if you do the right thing the criticism is it should have been done sooner and as you know there's no such thing as anything good that shouldn't have been done sooner so it's sort of the generic complaint so MSNBC apparently has decided that they're going to report the the happenings in Minnesota the so-called rioting so-called looting so-called protesting they're gonna call it protesting because it's more protests than riot sure there are some buildings

[6:19]

than riot sure there are some buildings on fire yes yes yes they overtook a police precinct and set it on fire but mostly in a peaceful protest kind of a way while they're breaking the windows out of police cars as they tried to get away so that's MSNBC's coverage so Trump of course just just to make all the stories more interesting Trump tweets that if there's looting you know the looting will be followed by shooting I forget the exact quote but because shooting was part of the tweet Twitter decided to to flag it and and hide it I guess hide it or flying it I forget which one but anyway there there's semis censoring the tweet I think you can still find it you can yeah you can still find it so it's not like you don't know what he said but the reason given this time is that a glorified violence because shooting was mentioned in

[7:21]

because shooting was mentioned in somewhat of an optimistic context which is weird because you know if you if you are that one of the looters got shot I don't know if you'd be unhappy I don't I mean you should about the loss of life but I don't know if you would yeah because we watch the we watch the video and we think well maybe if a few of them had some bad outcome you know that there might be less of it I don't know as I told you before I suspect this is the last time we might see this sort of thing because so many of them are eventually gonna get arrested yeah there should be mass arrests eventually because there's so many people just on film yeah it can't be that hard to round them up so we'll see what happens so
what do you call it a riot if some buildings are burning I don't know that it matters it sounds like most of the

[8:23]

it matters it sounds like most of the people want to be peaceful there are reports that black lives matter are trying to keep anti far from getting too violent I don't know if I could enjoy this any more what could you enjoy more than watching black lives matter try to keep aunty farm from destroying their city I mean that that just takes it to the ridiculous level so Michael ballasts have a had a insightful tweet this morning you say I don't know if I can get the gist of it but the idea was that that conservatives are being red-billed about how bad it is to be a black citizen stopped by police so so we're probably understanding it at a deeper level than we understood it before wouldn't you say because it's not like we didn't all know there was an issue there everybody knew there was an issue but watching the video gives you like a completely

[9:25]

video gives you like a completely different feel for it so I think that genuinely a lot of the country just woke up a little bit to something they knew but they didn't know no they didn't know it in their body they sort of do it intellectually they knew it they knew it was a story but they didn't know it in their body and I think that's what the video does know now you can actually feel it you can actually put yourself in the position of George Lloyd and by the way you've probably done that haven't you have you spent in no time I'll bet you have you've imagined you are George Lloyd have you not it's an interesting question how many of you have at least spent a second thinking what it would be like you're on the ground and what would you do and how to do feel and what did it is last moments feel like I've spent a lot of time thinking about that so when you when when you go from a concept you know there's police brutality it's you know there's a concern that it's it's aimed at some groups more than

[10:26]

it's aimed at some groups more than others you can sort of intellectualize that and then just move on to the next topic but if you spent a little time sort of living in your imagination of what it's like to be George Lloyd in his last moments of life you feel differently about it so sure so I think there actually was some kind of important inflection point that happened because of that video but at the same time as Michael Ballas points out I think we're all being read pilled about the corporate media meaning that the left used to trust the media and now they're just finding out wait a minute are you telling me that even my own side is lying to me yes yes your own side is lying to you because that's the new business model of the press telling you what will get the most clicks and so is it a coincidence the black lives matter

[11:30]

it a coincidence the black lives matter anti-fur president Trump CNN and Fox News are all on the same side if this should be reported as one of the greatest things that's ever happened to the country because it is it's it's horrible in Minnesota but what this is doing to our psychology especially when you know and you've got the additional context of the the kovat you know the Cova thing was yet again another situation where what was one of the biggest concerns in the country one of the biggest most talked-about concerns is that it was hitting the african-american community hardest there was intense effort to make sure everybody got fed there is continuous talk about how this is hurting the lower economic strata the most there is something terribly unifying about the virus it was a common enemy so in the

[12:31]

virus it was a common enemy so in the context of a common enemy where we've all just spent three months everybody's locked down everybody's trying to help each other we are trying to help each other it's unambiguous there is no question about it no matter what community you're in you just watched every other community step up and say all right how can we help who is in trouble doesn't matter what your color is doesn't matter where you live we don't care about your religion who needs help that's the mode we've been in we've been in a mode where nothing matters except you're a human you need some help that's it and then this comes up and weirdly the the timing of it just couldn't be better in terms of the psychology of the country because I think it is unified us all in a weird way now it's not gonna look like it because the news is gonna report division wherever it can find it but I

[13:31]

division wherever it can find it but I think this might change us I might it might actually change us so that's the positive news over I see you then they have a pundit who I'm gonna I'm gonna give him a nickname he's the chief mind reader so about once every few days he writes an article for cnn.com in which he reads the president's mind and finds bad things in there for example today is an article he he was impeached for using presidential powers to influence an election that's what CNN saying that's not a fact that's an interpretation but okay and now says it's now clear that his acquittal in a Senate trial only encouraged him to use that authority to serve to serve as personal whims in a pattern that becomes more pronounced so how do we know that his acquittal encouraged him to to use

[14:35]

his acquittal encouraged him to to use the authority of the government for his personal whims that's kind of mind-reading isn't it because that's not an evidence all this and evidence is what he does we don't have an evidence of his inner thoughts but the chief mind reader is CNN says we do and and that he's using the machinery of government to address personal affronts is that what he's doing is he using the machinery of government to address a personal LaFrance or is he trying to make social media more fair no interpretation all right so the World Health Organization continues to say that masks should not be used except by health care professionals so now the CDC and the United States Medical authorities say masks are good and you should wear masks but the World Health

[15:35]

should wear masks but the World Health Organization says they're not recommended for healthy people so when somebody says you should trust the experts who should you trust should you trust the World Health Organization they're experts and their advice is the opposite of the CDC who are experts and this leads me to a tweet today by Richard Dawkins you know Richard Dawkins famous religious skeptic meaning he's skeptical of religion and he tweeted this and I assume he was talking about the whole fact-checking social media situation he tweeted how could fact-checking ever ever is in all caps how could fact-checking ever be a bad thing the only limit to fact-checking should be the time and expense of doing so what honest reasonable person could ever also a capital object to being fact checked

[16:43]

now I just gave you an example how would you fact check masks are good versus mass or bad how would you fact check that would you fact check it by going to the experts because the experts disagree so how does what Richard Dawkins was a famous scientist a famous rational person how in the world does he not know that the problem with fact-checking is that the fact checkers are really not to be trusted you know as many times as there have been articles written about Richard Dawkins and there have been a lot has he not noticed how often they're wrong and most of them have been fact checked so fact-checking doesn't really work and I'm surprised that he thinks it does but I'm not saying you should not fact jack I'm just saying that you know how could it fact-checking ever be a bad thing is his direct question and he says how could it ever be a bad thing he doesn't say it's more good than

[17:44]

doesn't say it's more good than add which I would probably agree with yeah it's more good than bad it's better to do that not do I would say that but how can you ask how could it ever be a bad thing you'd have to be in a coma for the last four years to ask how could that ever be a bad thing all right so now we've seen Twitter flagged to trump tweets one because the alleged had inaccurate election information now Fox News is reporting it that they were talking about his his statements that that ballot so the way Fox News is reporting it is wrong I think which is that I just noticed something wrong with my wall that's weird Fox News is reporting that the problem was the president was saying that well

[18:46]

was the president was saying that well you know the story it's too boring I'm just gonna bail out of the story because was too boring you'll be happy about it all right that's what's happening right now I would challenge you to see if you could figure out the positive in today's stories I think it's a positive that there's a creative friction between the public and the government and social media we don't know how this will come out but whenever you see creative friction I think that's a good sign all right so it was one thing when there was lots of grumbling about social media but there was no there was no sense of equal power social media could do whatever I wanted the users could grumble but what are you gonna do you know there's only one Facebook there's one Twitter for all practical purposes I know there are competitors but what are you gonna do so you end up just complaining about it but

[19:47]

you end up just complaining about it but now the president has decided to even up the power structure now it's the government versus social media which is kind of a fair fight if you think about it I'm not sure who has more more horsepower because Google can hire the best lawyers in the world the government can get great lawyers and has its own power it's kind of a fair fight and this is the kind of fair fight that you should be happy about because we even though we don't know where it ends it's almost certainly gonna move this to a more credible situation whatever whatever comes out of that will probably be something that's a little bit better at least concealment of bonuses remarks as going too far well let's say let's say that the categories that they decide to censor are limited to facts about the election and something that glorifies

[20:48]

election and something that glorifies violence suppose that was all they ever at it they ever a fact check and if it's the president of course you see it anyway we've all seen those tweets more than we would have because it got banned so if the effect of fact-checking the president's tweets is that we all are more exposed to them not less I don't know if that's really censorship because the net effect is we'd get more communication about the thing that was censored now that's unique to the president if it happens to one of us then that's just the end of it were our voices are disappeared but it's a good fight it's a good fight to have I don't know how it's going to come out but I like that society is wrestling with this somebody said Trump didn't glorify violence well you know that's that's an opinion and that's the problem with any kind of fact-checking and any kind of

[21:49]

kind of fact-checking and any kind of censorship it's always an opinion there's no way around it so you either have to not allow it or accept the fact that it's an opinion
somebody says CNN doesn't want Biden to win he's too boring yeah I think there's real mixed feelings there so razzle it yeah there's real real mixed feelings there all right ah
was he saying the military would shoot or the store owners would begin shooting well I think he was just in favor of that as being a solution and the fact that there's a lot a lot of you were in favor of it too you know if you heard tomorrow that and I think there's at least one case of a shop owner killing a looter I was kind of hoping for a few more am I

[22:50]

was kind of hoping for a few more am I allowed to say that and I am I allowed to say that I was hoping that a few more store owners would take matters into their own hands and defend their stores is that glorifying violence that's a that's a good question the does a glorify violence when I say I would like to see people defending in legitimate self-defense their property against looters even if that meant somebody died and the answer is I would actually be happy to see that is that glorifying violence I don't know I actually don't know I think is glorifying justice I think it glorifies a solution to a problem which recognizes that I don't care about the fate of the looters I actually don't you know I think if somebody puts themself in a certain type of risk they know what they're doing and if things don't go well and they chose

[23:51]

if things don't go well and they chose that risk of knowing the thing was very likely would not go well well I don't know that that's my problem I don't know that I'm going to spend any time worrying about that all right let's see - - all right I think all of you are agreeing with that that's all for now I'm going to keep this short and sweet and I will talk to you tonight