Episode 1016 Scott Adams: News Blackout on the Protests, Let’s See How the Country is Doing Today

Date: 2020-06-03 | Duration: 1:12:56

Topics

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

Rough Transcript

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Transcript

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• Why 3 months of hell are now largely over

• Which American organizations are credible?

• Protests, rioting, looting, violence…did empathy for BLM increase?

• Bad strategies compared to a strategy for success

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.
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[0:16]

hey everybody come on in it's time for the best part of the day yeah you made it you survived another evening despite all the coronavirus did it kill you no how about those riots did any of you any of you died in the riots not you know you're the smart plucky resourceful people who stayed away from it and because of all that good work on your part you've made it to this point this point in the universe we're at this moment in time when we're all going to enjoy a little thing called the simultaneous sip yes that's right and all you need is a cup of margaret glass a tanker Chelsey Stein a canteen jug a flask a vessel of any kind a handgun would be good but the Philip with your favorite look good I like coffee and join me now for the unparalleled pleasure that dopamine hit at the day the thing that makes everything better the thing that cured the coronavirus and

[1:17]

the thing that cured the coronavirus and stopped the riots and the looting it's called the simultaneous epic and it happens to have go I feel the racial tension subsiding that's how good the coffee is well something's happening somebody says I'm jealous of the beautiful Christina well let me talk about that for a moment a lot of people say to me Scott you're with the most beautiful woman in the world is she really that wonderful in person the answer is no no she's not that wonderful in person she's much more wonderful than that way more wonderful so you should be twice as jealous as you actually are so start there alright there's something happening I don't know what it is yet but it's very interesting did you wake up this morning

[2:18]

interesting did you wake up this morning and check the news and say what's happening there's something happening so there might be something happening that we don't know about in other words I feel like there's something brewing maybe internationally I don't know what it is it's just a you ever get ever just get this this hunch intuition thing that just can't turn off it's like there's something happening internationally but that's not what I'm talking about I think that might also be brewing but I checked the news today to see about all the you know altercations and violence and see if anybody got hurt last night in the riots and protests and looting and what I expected was going to be a rough night but there wasn't much reporting on it why why does anybody know okay so I have some guesses so here are some guesses

[3:20]

some guesses so here are some guesses one possibility is that nothing made news last night it could be that there just weren't enough newsworthy visual events so there wasn't much to write about but that doesn't seem right the even last night we were seeing live coverage that the crowds were immense immense crowds closing down cities where are the stories where's the news there's no news it's like it's a blackout no pun intended because there was that blackout social movement social media movement yesterday but it seems that the news has a blackout on the events of the protests and am I wrong about that it because it's my impression that they have some somewhat agreed there seems to be some kind of agreement not to show the news now is that intentional is intentional that neither fox news nor CNN seem to

[4:22]

that neither fox news nor CNN seem to have covered the biggest news what are the odds that neither them would cover the biggest news and when I say didn't cover it I mean not with the details and the picture isn't the violence and here's a bloody person and here's a cop and here's a video that'll make you mad it feels like and this is my I guess this would be like a conspiracy theory speculation so the next thing I say don't put too much credibility in it I'm just speculating it looks like the government and the news business have colluded that's what it looks like it looks to me like probably somebody in the government this is just speculation it had the thought that the news business is making things worse because it's whipping up its whipping up feelings beyond where they might have naturally been and that's obviously true because that's what visuals do visuals

[5:23]

because that's what visuals do visuals encourage you to do more of it if you see a car on fire if the news shows one picture of a car that was set on fire by a protestor is that going to make fewer cars set on fire in the future or more cars set on fire of course more so every time they show any kind of particular violence and you know if a lot of people see it it's gonna make somebody have a new idea so I don't think there's any question that the coverage of the news made the news worse in terms of the protesting I don't think that's questionable is it but at the same time we accept that as the price of a free free world and free speech and having a news business at all you know that sometimes it makes things worse but we accept that but after say seven days of whatever of coverage of the same news that it's still still protest still some bad people get in the mix still some

[6:23]

bad people get in the mix still some scuffles at some point it's not really the same kind of news news it's still news but now maybe covering it just makes things worse and it doesn't have the offsetting benefit that you have the first few the first few days people need to know so the benefit of telling us might be greater than the benefit of whipping up any extra energy but at this point so so correct me if I'm wrong it looks like collusion it looks like the government and the news organizations on both sides of the political divide seem to have agreed to cover it less or at least less visually may be fewer pictures but still talk about it maybe I know am i imagining this because it looks like a complete blackout in the news and I don't know what to think about that exactly because on one hand if that's what's happening and it certainly looks like it's happening that

[7:25]

certainly looks like it's happening that would be a responsible thing to do but it would also be a scary thing that you know your government too is somehow involved in suppressing the news even even if it's for everybody's you know best interest yeah that's a that's a dangerous place to go anyway here a few tidbits in no particular order finally yeah this is what I've been waiting for Pope Francis condemned the death of George Floyd and I've been thinking myself I don't know what to think about this situation I need to hear from the Pope because sometimes you know you just can't tell what's good and what's evil until the Pope is weighed in but now the Pope says he condemns it so now I guess all doubt is removed so I guess I guess everybody else is free to condemn it too so thank you Pope Francis for clarifying that if you put your knee on the neck of

[8:28]

that if you put your knee on the neck of a man and grind him into the dirt until he's dead that that's condemnable turns out that's condemnable so we got some clarity there that's good Steve King lost his primary in Iowa I think he'd been reelected like ten times but he lost of course some idiot on social media comes after me and says that the person I'd been praising lost what do I say about that too much I say what are you hallucinating when did I pray Steve King I don't even know I didn't even know if he was a senator or or a house guy at one point I can't think of one thing he's ever done except for being taken out of context and being accused of a racist I don't know what he's voted for I don't I don't know anything about anything the only thing I've ever said of it about him is that he seemed unusually dumb he seemed like the dumbest guy in Congress because he let

[9:29]

dumbest guy in Congress because he let himself be accused of racism and again I don't know what's in his head so I'm not going to say he is or is not anything because I would be reading inside his head we could always see what he's done or what he said and he basically he got run out of office from then by a New York Times misquote he actually lost his job because the New York Times misquoted him that that actually happened now did he deserve to lose his job I have no idea in terms of did he do a good job in terms of is he a secret racist inside his head I don't know I don't have any opinion on that because I don't have any information about him he's he's to me he's he's just you know an empty box but but but I am sure he lost his job because of a quota taken out of context I'm sure of that so anyway

[10:34]

do you want to talk about some tough things well let me give you some happy things first I heard from somebody today who shall remain nameless that the said person was feeling hopeless today feeling hopeless because the the riots the looting the protests just keep going on and on and we've got every other kind of problem with coronavirus etc I think it's the opposite I think today were over the protests I'm not saying the protests will be done but it looks like most of the energy of the protests has dissipated in terms of being too dangerous so that the dangerous level of energy may have dissipated you'll still see lots of energy but I think we're below the dangerous level the coronavirus whoever did it just go away I don't know let me let me give you the most optimistic thing you're gonna hear

[11:35]

most optimistic thing you're gonna hear today you ready here's the most optimistic thought you will hear today probably nobody else is going to say this all day long we beat the coronavirus and the protests are largely over today is the beginning today is the beginning you're not going to feel it yet because you're still like you know you're still got the PTSD from the last three months of hell we just went through three months of hell I think today it's over I think it's over now that doesn't mean there won't be some more flare ups it doesn't mean there won't be people dying of Kovan there will be tragedies you know it's not we didn't reach heaven or something but the two biggest problems that we have seen

[12:37]

two biggest problems that we have seen in a long time I think they're over today today now I think that the news coverage made a difference I think that moving in the National Guard made a difference let me be the only person in the country who gives the president some credit for this I think he's scared scared the looters am I wrong do you think the looters didn't believe that the president was going to send in the army to shoot them in the head of course I believed it did that make a difference I think it might have because the whole point was to get was to get the police to hurt somebody if you send in the National Guard the military let's just call it the military if you send in the military you've sent him the most respected entity in the United States there's nobody in the United States as a

[13:38]

there's nobody in the United States as a group with more credibility and more respect than the US military am i right so the president's instinct to seven in the military I don't think he's gonna get any credit for that in fact he'll probably be criticized for it but there's a reason the energy came out of the protests last night and I'm talking about the looter energy the anti fire energy I'm not talking about the protest energy it looks to me like the president successfully scared the looters into thinking that the US military was going to be sniping their heads off if they loot it now I don't think that they had those orders my guess is they had no orders of anything like that but do you think the looters believe that all the looters know is that the people who kill for a living just just got on the on the job do you know what's the difference between the police and the military

[14:40]

police and the military well lots of differences but one is the police are really really about safety the police are trying to keep the bad guys safe let me say it again the police are a safety force they're all about health safety keeping you alive and they're all so trying to keep the criminals alive they're trying to keep everybody alive that's the job if they have to shoe somebody is to keep somebody else live so but that's not the military's job military is to kill so the president sent in the killing force that also by good luck the best fortune we could possibly have as a country is that we have more respect for our military than any other institution period I don't think there's anything close justice system no police sorry government not even close the organization Democrats nope GOP sorry Congress ha ha ha news

[15:44]

GOP sorry Congress ha ha ha news industry you we have one credible institution in the whole country and it's the military am I wrong about that we have one credible institution that's it that's all we have left one credible institution and I don't know you know I think I think that if the energy did go down last night in the protest it probably has something to do with several different forces one is the protesters themselves the well-meaning good intentioned protesters who probably created enough numbers that they I think they would have taken direct physical action against any looters or bad actors and you saw you saw lots of individual anecdotes of that happening it looked like that energy was also higher in other words the protective energy of the well-meaning protesters was probably sky-high and I think that there were able-bodied people among the good people let's call them the fighting people

[16:46]

let's call them the fighting people literally they were fined people who were protesting and I think that was part of it that they would have taken direct action to take a brick out of somebody's hand the other part is that the credibility of the military is so different if the military had heard a story that a policeman killed a protester or a lunar what's your first thought I don't know if it's a good I don't know if he did it right I don't know if that was justified I don't know if that was the right amount of force I don't know if that guy was trained right right because that's that's where we're at we're at that so your first thought is about the key the capability of the policeman because that's the topic it's only because it's the topic that that's your first thought so that would have done a terrible thing but just imagine that there Devan one tragic incident and involved a military person and a military person acted as a military person does there was some

[17:48]

military person does there was some threat they responded and somebody died how would you feel about that I don't know that that would have sparked a riot I don't know that it would have because it would just look different it was feel different because the entities involved are not the ones that people are anything at the moment they're not hating the military if you're a minority I feel like the military is a job opportunity it's a it's a career stepping-stone I don't know that there's anything bad feeling about the military in the minority community but I don't know either I'm always threatened I try to be careful in pointing out that none of us know how anybody else feels or things and the moment we think we do that's where you where you get in all the trouble there's I did a little very informal meaning non-scientific poll on Twitter in which I asked people if their empathy for the black lives movement and

[18:49]

empathy for the black lives movement and keep in mind that the key word here is movement we're not talking about black people and we're not talking about black lives matter of members so it's about the the idea that the movement and I said did people feel that their empathy for the black lives of movement was higher or lower because the protests and over 70% of the respondents said it was lower in other words over 70% said the protests move things and backwards that they were a counterproductive that people have a worse feeling about about the movement now you say to yourself Scott Scott Scott you told us it was an unscientific poll but seriously your followers are all you know certain to certain kinds of people if you know what I mean certain kinds of people meaning mostly Trump supporters probably

[19:50]

meaning mostly Trump supporters probably 75% of my Twitter followers or Trump supporters I would guess and so you would not be surprised if they would have some negative feelings about the you know the protests and the lawlessness etc and that that would be conflated with the you know the good intentions of the fine people so here's the thing though what's the point of persuasion the point of persuasion is not to talk to yourself yeah I think it's true that the black lives matter people persuaded black lives matter people in other words the people marching with him etc I think they persuaded each other right probably persuaded each other of something I don't know but did they need to persuade each other I don't think so you know in politics that actually makes sense to talk to your own team because it's so hard to get somebody on the other side of politics to agree with you it's just

[20:51]

of politics to agree with you it's just so hard then your best play is to talk to your own side only just persuade your own site and see if you can get more of your people to show up at the polls then the other side can make show up but nobody in politics is really persuading the other team they're not even trying that's partly why you see the division nobody's even trying because it doesn't work but that's politics if you're you know that that's in terms of the political parties we're actually running for office but the larger politics which is the issues if you want to move an issue you have to persuade the other side and in this case the other side is anybody you think doesn't agree with the RT is there anybody who needs think you know that the police need some extra training or regulations or restrictions or whatever it is who's on the other side who are you trying to persuade according to this unscientific

[21:52]

persuade according to this unscientific poll 72% have a worse opinion of the people involved when the point of it was to give you a better opinion the entire point of it of black lives matter is to raise the opinion of other people about black lives or am I wrong about that the whole black lives matter is about how you feel about it they're not saying change the law I haven't heard any suggestions they're not saying change this or that they're saying change your mind black lives matter is literally about changing your mind it's about persuasion and they persuaded opposite as hard as you could possibly persuade it's the worst strategic blunder maybe you've ever seen of any movement of all time now I I'm going to treat the black community with respect in the next I

[22:53]

community with respect in the next I always do but the next thing I say is with respect I'm going to frame it that way because what's in the site what's in the middle of this little frame of respect is going to be a really bad criticism it's going to be really bad all right but the reason I'm framing it with respect is that I wouldn't say this unless I respect that the people I'm talking to there's some things you just you just wouldn't say unless you respect it okay so let's get that right first your strategy sucks it's terrible your strategy is terrible because it got you it it got you aggressively the opposite of what you wanted let me be as honest as I can do you think black people are more likely to get jobs after this than they were before because

[23:54]

after this than they were before because before this black unemployment was at a record low do you think that's gonna repeat I don't think so not not because of anything I'm gonna do but you've made things much much worse and I think a lot of people are gonna say I just don't need the trouble I'll just pretend you know pretend the other person has a better resume nobody'll know I think I think racial discrimination got a lot worse probably a 10-year setback and it's not because people don't care people started agreeing on day one people was up we're all on the same side that's my cat going crazy over there people were on the same side and the protest which was the looting and the other things that that you know came with it and made things so much worse and the truth has to be told with respect with respect all your leaders are incompetent the leaders of black

[24:56]

are incompetent the leaders of black lives matters are all incompetent because they got you exactly the opposite of what you wanted and we have now heard one constructive suggestion we're already the whole country is ready for a constructive suggestion even a constructive suggestion along the lines of we don't know what to do but if we could pull together the right people we could figure it out anything the lack of a constructive suggestion has discredited the movement in a way I don't think you could possibly appreciate because the point of persuasion was to persuade people like the people listening right now it wasn't to persuade yourself if you persuaded yourself that's terrific but it bought you nothing except more division if you're trying to persuade the other side you failed as hard as anybody could ever fail it's the worst failure I've ever seen of any political strategy of all time and I'm talking about all political

[25:57]

and I'm talking about all political strategies at all time the Democrats are running a brain-dead sack of dust for president and even that's not as bad a strategy as this was the worst strategy ever now the first few nights of protest even with any bad that came with it that was totally acceptable honestly you know you could understand some some some emotionally outburst because the situation that triggered it was so awful you can imagine it and you can also sort of get past it pretty easily because you saved me and that was pretty bad I can see why people reacted but after a week where you know there's gonna be trouble and you do it anyway well that's just discrediting your entire your entire point so you know I hate to put it in the starkest terms but well I'm not even

[26:58]

the starkest terms but well I'm not even gonna do that so here's what I don't think we should do anymore we should not Infanta lies we meaning people who are not black should not treat them like infants and that's the most racist thing you could do is to not not speak honestly if you're trying to be helpful and you're trying to be you're trying to show respect which you always should if you're trying to be honest and you try to show respect and you're trying to be helpful you have to say that the strategy of black lives matter is a complete absolute failure of the the highest level because it makes the the people they want to persuade think less of them not more and in fact I said the other day the black lives matter logo you know the the brand what would you call it the slogan the slogan itself the words black lives matter our devices and although they've been very successful as an attention-getting brand

[27:58]

successful as an attention-getting brand they are divisive by their nature and so of course they made things worse shouldn't be a surprise actually and it's a tragedy and watching this tragedy unfold I gotta say is sort of heartbreaking because things we're right on the edge of making things better and I think it was the political leaders who decided that wait a minute instead of coming together over this massive agreement over how people felt about the George Floyd video instead of bringing us together which so easily could have happened it was the leaders who pulled us apart imagine if the leaders of black lives matter had said on day one we just noticed that everybody feels the same about this let's work with us let's use this we just made the biggest gains we've ever made through no effort of our own it was this tragic incident that

[29:00]

own it was this tragic incident that brought everybody to the same page let's work with it now what they do instead I think they said if we try to work with this and try to be productive it will be bad for us us being the leaders I believe the leaders the black lives matter have thrown the black community onto the boss because the black community had the biggest opening of maybe all time to just really make a gain just work with us just take yes for an answer yes we'd like to fix whatever's wrong with the police yes yes do you know what black lives could black lives matters could do to fix the police problem here's a persuasion is persuasion advice that I know they won't take and it's because the leadership is completely incompetent and they're completely incompetent on the persuasion level specifically because they're not thinking of what it takes to persuade

[30:01]

thinking of what it takes to persuade other people they're thinking as most people do by the way this is the most common persuasion problem is to think you're persuading yourself or to think that you're persuading other people and that they think the way you do and so therefore you're just persuading yourself it's the biggest problem in persuasion and and that's where it is let me tell you how you could get white people to fix the police problem for you you ready for this i'm gonna get again treat the black community with the respect that I don't think anybody gives them I'm gonna give you the truth I will respect you enough to give you the truth I don't think other people are telling you here's what you could do to fix the police problem if you care because I don't think I'm not saying that everybody cares honestly I'm saying that they care about the issue I'm not saying any evidence seriously I'm not being provocative here I don't see any evidence that any black person cares about fixing it because

[31:04]

person cares about fixing it because what that would look like is here are some suggestions can we get together we have meeting can we meet you mister president at the White House anything we're forming a committee can we get some white people to help us out you know to make sure we have the diversity of opinion anything like that but there's nothing we see that looks like any interest in fixing the problem now again I don't read your minds and I want to not do that I want to have the humility that I don't know what you're thinking I can only tell what you're doing I can't tell what you're thinking I can't get in your heads and as soon as you think you can that's where you go wrong so let me tell you I've been holding out on this it's the secret weapon it's the strategy that will work 100% and let me let me tell you this this strategy could get you all the way back to the agreement we first felt when all of us are the George Floyd

[32:04]

all of us are the George Floyd video that's how strong it is the thing I'm going to tell you next is so strong persuasion wise it would take you from a huge loss I mean I think the black community lost ten years of gains in last week I really do it's tragic but this one trick I'm going to give you would bring you all the way back to the day we saw the video and we're all on the same side and here would be the persuasion trick black lives matter should release the statistics on white people who have been killed by police and they should say hey white people look at how many people have been killed by the police who are white turns out there and more of them than there are black people killed by the police turns out if you were to look at the statistics you would be surprised that there's actually not a black problem per se but there's definitely in terms of the statistics you wouldn't find it but in terms of the lived the lived truth

[33:07]

in terms of the lived the lived truth it's got to be true that black people get pulled over and hassled bar that's probably that's probably true right I don't know what the statistics are but feels like that's true so if the black community wants to persuade the white community to do something practical about the police they just have to say we just noticed it affects everybody that's it it's the same strategy that cured AIDS so the gay community used a brilliant strategy I've said use this example before because it's the best example you'll ever see AIDS was thought to be a gay problem the trouble is if only gay is care about it there are not enough people to fund it to change laws or whatever you need to do I don't know if the same laws that need to be changed but to fund it and research and all that so the gay activists and by the way there's a little bit of speculation on my part it's just observing what happened at some point it became hey

[34:08]

happened at some point it became hey this is everybody's problem you could get it all these different ways heterosexuals give it etc once it became everybody's problem then enough resources got directed toward it and we got much better shape in terms of therapies so the best thing you can do is to tell the people you don't think are helping you that it's their problem - now how did black lives try to tell the white public that it was their problem - by destroying all the property that was there persuasion I think we can convince you that this is something you need to pay attention to by destroying the retail stores and and shutting down your economy how did how well did that persuade the people that they wanted to persuade not at all it worked in the opposite direction hard hard if they wanted to proceed white people to say holy hell this needs to be fixed what are we doing about police are they being trained

[35:09]

about police are they being trained right or we are we are we measuring this statistics right let's make sure we got good statistics let's make sure that whatever this problem is we've really researched it you know as thoroughly as we can if you want to get white people involved and fixing the problem acknowledge that it's our problem just acknowledge it simply acknowledge it here's the air of the statistics it's a big problem can you work with us is it because we feel it more in the black community I think that's true don't you think that the black community feels that more than the white community I'm it's obvious there's protests about it all the time how many white people were protesting police brutality none right I mean about police brutality about white people so it's a very simple strategy all black lives matter has to do is acknowledge that they're not the only ones with problems that's it that's it the day that the leader of black lives

[36:11]

the day that the leader of black lives matter goes on TV this will never happen by the way goes on TV and says look this isn't just a black problem look at how many white people got killed by police can you work with us do you know do you know how many people would say yes so hard that it would be deafening look how many white people got killed by police can you work with us yes yes how about yes as hard as you can yell yes take yes for an answer that's what a strategy would look like all right
somebody on Twitter so I tweeted yesterday that the the protests with all the badness that came along with the protests from the people who were not to find people that it set things back and probably will end up in more deaths of black people than if there had been no protests because of extra of poverty and

[37:13]

protests because of extra of poverty and so somebody looked at that statement that poverty would kill more black people than the police well and decided that that was a case of my white privilege so somebody tweeted at me there was a sign of white privilege that I believe that more black people will be killed by poverty than the police now the first thing I thought was well I don't know how that makes sense and I can't connect those dots but I tweeted back that I lost three separate jobs for being white and male true story dumb I just add that curse word at the end because guess our attention but a lot of people don't believe that's true Oh some of you've heard the story you've heard it two of them but there's one of them I've never mentioned in this context so here the three times lost jobs for being white and male first time was my job at a bank my boss called man

[38:16]

was my job at a bank my boss called man she was a woman and she said we can't promote you because you're white and you're male directly she said that the company got in trouble for not having enough diversity and so they couldn't hire they couldn't promote you if you're white are you male and she was calling me to tell me directly and again directly so this is now something that I read between the lines it's not something that I thought about afterwards and thought maybe they were trying to discriminate against me nothing like that indirect words she said I'm afraid you won't get promoted here because you're white and you're male and the orders have come down the you know we got to slow down on that so I quit so that was the first job career you could say because I thought my career was going to be in banking so this was a early 80s heading and so I went to Pacific Bell it was the local phone company at the time and I got on the

[39:18]

company at the time and I got on the management fast track so they had a little program where they had identified people who were you know maybe couldn't be senior management someday I was finishing my MBA you know I look like corporate guy on the way and when it was about time I'd been seasoned enough and it was about ready for that big promotion because at the folk up in you didn't make a ton of money back in those days the jobs were really good at the management levels they paid a lot with bonuses and stuff and I was ready for that big one to is called a director level and I was thinking on next year or so I'm gonna get the big bump my boss called me in his office and he said that he couldn't promote me he was he just wanted to warn me he couldn't promote me because I'm white and I'm male he said it directly those very words you're white you're male can't promote you and he said that management had just said the word down that they couldn't promote any white males because they too had

[40:20]

any white males because they too had gotten in trouble didn't have any diversity in senior management so that's two entire careers that went down the toilet because I'm white and male and black people tell me I don't understand the effects of discrimination now of course I don't understand them in exactly the way any black man or any minority or any woman would experience them of course not but the only point I'm making is that you also don't know my life you don't know my life you don't know my life just like I don't know yours the third time that happened was after Dilbert was successful now I'd quit you know I'd give it up on my corporate careers because of those experiences and I started working on my side you know my side hustle if you will and my side also was trying to get some comics published and that went pretty well now Dilbert took off and of course I had to find a place I was working for myself so I needed a job or I didn't have a

[41:22]

so I needed a job or I didn't have a boss who would tell me that I couldn't be promoted because of my race or my gender so I thought I'd Scott I got to work for myself I guess so I became an entrepreneur if you will in cartooning was one of the things I tried so that worked out and then the Dilbert TV show was created you know fast forward in time I created the Dilbert TV series on UPN no UPN is a network that doesn't exist I think WB bought them or something but at the time there was a small network and I I intentionally took a deal with a small network because I thought I could be a big fish in a small network and if you're the one they give attention to yet you have a much better chance of success so I thought how Dilbert would be kind of a big deal on UPN could be like the Simpsons made Fox a big Network you know that was the The Simpsons was a big deal for Fox's history I thought well I could do that for you p.m. so we go over there we have a successful first season and we get

[42:23]

a successful first season and we get renewed yay got renewed in the second season upm decided to make a strategic change and they decided that they would become a network focused on african-american content so upm decided to become the african-american content channel and that was the end of my show now the reasons given were other reasons right they moved it to a bad time slot the other the ratings went down because it was in a bad time slot and then they say well the ratings went down so you're cancelled but of course the ratings went down and because they moved the time slot that's the only reason it would that so I lost my TV career because the product I make was not you know oriented for the african-american community so those are three enormous you know inflection points in my life based on

[43:24]

inflection points in my life based on racism
am i interpreting that incorrectly would you now say that racism is exactly what I experienced and that on three separate occasions it knocked me off a pedestal now here's what here's the most provocative thing I might ever say and so I'll try to say as carefully as possible again with great respect I always respect people they're just automatically it doesn't matter who you are I always respect people what I don't respect is strategies people have bad strategies I don't respect the strategy I always respect the person though now I think bad strategies come from bad I don't know maybe you've never seen a good strategy so you just don't know what it looks like it's not something that necessarily common sense will get you to I don't know if you can come up

[44:24]

you to I don't know if you can come up with a good strategy just by thinking it through sometimes you have to see examples that's the best thing oh I'll do I'll do it like they did it that's the whole point of case studies in business school you want to see examples of a lot of stuff then you know what to pick from I'm going to make a provocative claim that no matter your color no matter your gender and no matter a lot of different things anybody who used the strategies that I've used has succeeded that's that it's very provocative anybody who's used the strategies for life that I've used has succeeded eventually yeah I told you my story that a racial and sexual discrimination was a huge problem in my life a gigantic problem in fact arguably the biggest problem my biggest career impediment was race and gender discrimination all right I just told you

[45:27]

discrimination all right I just told you the story I didn't make that up but here's the second part and of course I wrote the book behind me I had it failed almost everything and still win big and I talked about developing systems and I talked about building your skill stack which is what I did and I would argue that anybody who did what I did has a good life meaning that you know of course you have health tragedies though so there could be you know exceptions but generally speaking here's what I did to succeed all right I'm gonna tell you what formula I used I want you to tell me if this would not work for black people okay so here's the formula I was in a small town with not my parents didn't go to college didn't even know much about what that was all about we didn't have money I won't go into the details but we were I'd say lower lower

[46:30]

details but we were I'd say lower lower middle income you know we had enough to eat all the time etc so we never were hungry but we you know we had used used cars let's put it that way I mean you know a lot of used stuff in my life and here was the strategy I used my my mother said just do really good in school and basically everything will work out that's it you know basically stay out of jail don't do anything that would you know derail you permanently don't get anybody pregnant you know don't be a drug addict when you're a teenager don't get in jail and just really pay attention to your schoolwork now what did that get me well so I graduated and had to get a scholarship to the college that I wanted so I got a scholarship how hard would it be to get a financial scholarship if you

[47:32]

be to get a financial scholarship if you were a black student who did good work and stay down in trouble not hard right if you just do well in school and stay out of trouble you can get a college scholarship if you're black I think correct me if I'm wrong but I think you could go to college if you've got a college and again you stay out of trouble you don't get somebody pregnant when you're too young too supportive just basic stuff if you do those things and you're a black man let's say a black man just to have a specific example you're a black man with a college education in the United States how do you do in life good every time because do you know how many corporations want to hire a qualified minority all of them all of them all of them yeah every one of them do you know how many corporations are looking to hire more white people not a one of them none none do you know do you

[48:36]

of them none none do you know do you know you're white hiring people just to pick an example let's say the hiring manager at the big corporation sees you walk in and you're a black man and he's looking at your resume and you're a black man with the right qualifications for the job what is the hiring manager the white hiring manager what do they feel like when a black man walks in and he's got exactly the qualifications you're looking for they salivate they salivate because it fixes their problem do you know what that white hiring managers biggest problem is can't hire enough qualified minorities it wants to it's in his job description the the frickin hiring manager won't even get a good bonus if he can't figure out how to get some diversity because it's so important in big corporations so you tell me that there's not a strategy for everybody to

[49:36]

there's not a strategy for everybody to succeed in this country if they're if they're smart enough to go to college now not everybody is smart enough to go to college right it doesn't matter your gender race right it's just lots of different people but if you just change that to instead of go to college learn to trade learn to trade that's it somebody's stayed out of trouble didn't get anybody pregnant didn't become a drug addict didn't join a gang learn to trade became a plumber how's that black plumber gonna do great because plumber is a good job great so let me give some some tough love on the question of structural racism this is gonna get me cancelled so hard I don't know I think I like danger or something

[50:36]

know I think I like danger or something because I'm only doing this to be productive that's the first thing you need to know I wouldn't do this if I didn't think it would help somebody all right everything I say is with respect and with the intention of making the world a better place so with that said loving all the people but being rough on the strategy I'm going to give you some tough love strategy-wise the strategy of saying that the problem with the world is a structural racism and that you need to dismantle the mechanisms of white supremacy is and I don't want to pull any punches that dumbest strategy of all time it's gonna make these riots look like they're brilliant it would make them look brilliant the dumbest strategy for making things better for black people is to complain that the problem is structural racism and they have to dismantle the

[51:38]

racism and they have to dismantle the white supremacy because again who are you who are you persuading are you persuading your own side to feel bitter because persuading your own side to be bitter and hey white people doesn't get you a job it really doesn't as strategy wise it doesn't get you a job might lose you a job what's never gonna get you a job so and here's why a little bit detail on that when you said let me prove this by asking a question in the comments I want you in the comments to back me up on this or to refute me so if this is not true tell me most of you I'm guessing or white I think 90% of my typical viewers are white I wish I had more african-american viewers would make it more fun but I think that's the ratio so just working with that ratio look at the comments and I'll ask you this question do you know

[52:39]

I'll ask you this question do you know what the raesha let me say it again
if for the white people watching this do you have any idea what the institutional racism is do you have any idea what that is because you're supposed to fix it you've been asked to fix it wouldn't it be nice if the thing that you've been asked to fix the only really ask that there's only one ask coming out of the black lives movement which is to fix this institutional racism what the is that do you think I don't want to fix it I would totally fix it do you know what here's a little tip about white people we love to fix it's like baked into the most basic thing about white people if you want to understand white people here's here's a tip number one for white people we love to fix stuff help

[53:40]

people we love to fix stuff help us just tell us what to fix don't tell us we got some structural racism no use whatsoever if you're trying to make it worse for black people that would be the way to do it every time I hear structural racism with no definition no detail no specific thing to do every time I get pissed off is that what you were is that what you're shooting for was the point of your persuasion and the way you want to make things better for the black community is was it your strategy to simply piss me off and give me nothing I can help with because that's all you're doing that's all are you doing you're just pissing off white people because we don't know what that is love to know love to help if you don't understand that white people to help you don't know anything about white people right you're you just it's like you're blind and stupid if you

[54:42]

like you're blind and stupid if you don't understand how much white people just automatically it's we're just like the most healthful people in the whole world here's another strategy let me give you an example of this this is a very concrete and fresh example I saw Jack Murphy who you should follow on Twitter he had great video I've told you this before last night - he was in the middle of the protest live-streaming it was the best it was the best video you could have seen last night from any source professional news crew or other was Jack Murphy it was just him with his camera because he went into the middle of the action and unlike almost everybody else who owns a phone he knows how to hold the phone steady have you noticed that you watch anybody else's livestream and they'll be walking through the crowd like this alright I'm in the crowd do you see what I'm seeing and you're like no I don't see anything because you're moving the camera too much can you hold that still love to see what you're seeing so anyway that's a pet

[55:43]

you're seeing so anyway that's a pet peeve but so Jack Murphy knows how to hold the camera still yeah it's like part of his skill stack is this tiny little skill it's like I'll bet I'll be better than everybody who does this if I just hold the camera still sure enough so beyond that he has lots of other talents but he was somebody tweeted at him and he had responded that that I and Jack Kapoor Sabich had signal boosted him in other words we've we've promoted him online just as I did just now now why do I promote him online why do I do that what's in it for me I've done Jack's podcast but of course that also was helped helping him to boost his signal why do I help him it's a strategy it's a white person strategy and it works every time and it goes like this I just do things for people

[56:46]

just do things for people that's that uh-huh I do things for people I do things for lots of people Edie Latimer would tell you the same story at Latimer african-american he has built his following on Twitter up substantially he's got you know lots of really fun and really useful advice and you know framing of things etc and he's one of the most productive useful strategically sound people you'll ever see in your life I also boost his signal why do I do it because that's who I am why how did I get here like how is it that you're listening to me and I've got a famous cartoon strip how did I get here other people other people boosted my signal why did they do it I don't know they just did it and it's good when you boost other people's signal that's a

[57:47]

you boost other people's signal that's a strategy does this come back to me maybe probably karma some way I don't know it does it does it helped me directly not at all does it help me indirectly probably it's a strategy it's also the most common Silicon Valley strategy when I was going around talking to people with my my startup and not you know be asking for advice and or funding or whatever and the most unusual thing that would happen is they would offer me something for nothing and I would think everywhere you went in Silicon Valley you'd have a meeting and then when when I was done they'd say you know anything you need if I can help you I'll help you connect to people you know if I help you meet somebody if you need some advice I want to talk through something give me a call but unlike sort of normal you know social chitchat they all meant it they

[58:47]

social chitchat they all meant it they all actually meant it it's it's it's one of the most basic strategies of Silicon Valley that if you help other people it gets back to you you know this is this virtuous this virtuous system of people helping each other where they kept you know they're not like taking the shirt off their back they're giving advice and connecting people and sending an email and stuff you know pretty easy stuff but so is signal boosting so this is just an example of where if there's institutional racism I would look for strategy to route it out in other words I think if the black community focused on improving its strategy that it actually wouldn't even matter the structural structural racism existed and let me let me say that a little bit more clearly with some meat if your strategy is good enough you can slice through

[59:49]

is good enough you can slice through obstacles the the so-called structural racism I believe is a real thing but it's sort of amorphous and hard to figure out where the buttons are you know where's the user interface so I can get past this structural racism like what do I do get a strategy if your strategy is good you'll slice right through it it'll be like it wasn't even there it will still be there but one of the things they that I think is a framing problem is that you have to remove the structural racism to succeed and you don't and you can't you don't need it to remove it to succeed you need a good strategy and it doesn't need to be removed you need a good strategy and worse if you try to remove it you can't you can't it's just sort of too big and amorphous it's sort of like you know I'd

[1:00:50]

amorphous it's sort of like you know I'd like to get the air out of this room you know I suppose you could do that if you tried hard enough but point is strategy is where they should be focusing no I don't want to use it word should I'm trying to train myself never to use the word should because it's sort of a fighting word you think it isn't but it is you tell somebody they should do something and that and you know they'll just stiffen up or don't tell me what I should do so let me take the shirt out of it and say this to the black community with ultimate respect and affection I say this your strategy suck you've been duped by your leaders who are incompetent if you had better leaders they would be focusing you on strategy let me let me put it in the starkest possible terms if you were to replace whoever the hell is your leader I don't know I don't know who it is with Edie Latimer

[1:01:50]

who it is with Edie Latimer african-american man who's good at strategy you would fix all of your problems I'll say it again if Edie Latimer were even advising black lives matter even though its advisory doesn't have to be the new leader or anything just advising he would advise you on strategy and you would slice right through any any racial discrimination still be a problem still be you know still be emotionally disturbing still don't want and it's still evil it's still all those things but it would be like it wasn't there you would just slice right through it
likewise some of you may know I was born not very tall not good-looking not tall not good-looking got glasses lost my hair early short ugly glasses not good-looking balding did any of those things slow me down

[1:02:51]

did any of those things slow me down well some are gonna say no cuz you're white that's easy you're white no I just told you I lost three jobs by being white how much of a problem is it statistically to be short and ugly it's a pretty big problem how do I solve the fact that there is institutional discrimination against short ugly people I can't I can't it's too big and amorphous and there are no buttons how do I change the fact that people discriminate against shorter people and ugly people I can't change that but I can have a strategy that is so powerful I can slice through it like it didn't exist and I did I sliced through it like it didn't exist and anybody with a good strategy asked ed Latimer who you should be

[1:03:52]

asked ed Latimer who you should be following on Twitter anyway because he's great
ask him ask him to back me up strategy overcomes just about everything so CNN continues to make things worse I don't know how they sleep at night honestly it makes me wonder if their self aware of how much worse that are making things in this country I really don't know because they act like they believe they're making things better but they're they're so not here's an example they ran a an article on us black and white inequality in six stark charts and they showed you know income inequality and health care and they were they're quite shocking because the differences are or they should you know if you're if you're a good person this should bother you to see the gigantic miss of the

[1:04:54]

you to see the gigantic miss of the differences but here's what was not on the charts a normal or let's say a comparison by strategy what I'd like to see you know what would help me do you know it would help the black community more than anything not this this makes things much worse because they framed it in terms of inequality so if that's how its framed that's sort of how you accept it then you go forward I there's inequality here's what would have been useful to do a comparison of black and white citizens who followed the same strategies if you ever see compared to being the people who early in life said here's my strategy this is how I will succeed stay in jail study in school don't become a drug addict don't get anybody pregnant before I'm ready that's my strategy so how about showing

[1:05:56]

that's my strategy so how about showing me the chart everything you with just those four things everybody who had that strategy how'd they do out of the incomes compared now if you show me that chart and there's a big difference I'm gonna say well I think you found the discrimination because how do you explain that same strategy different results discrimination would have to be assumed to be the primary thing but the thing is it would look a lot different and it would also change the frame it would change the frame - whoa are you telling me that all the people with this strategy did well well maybe that's something all right
so Attorney General Barr has threatened to release the Anti Fog communications that would show which elites and I guess that means elite Democrats and politicians played a role in coordinating the riots now of course you

[1:06:59]

coordinating the riots now of course you could call them riots or protests or looting or anarchism or whatever the the word words matter but I'm not sure they matter in this case because everybody knows what you're talking about
Virginie so how much do you want to see the Anti Fog communications I think empty Fah will be shown to be not very popular and now black lives matter oh my god the you know I said black lives matter their strategy is the worst I've ever seen to try to get what they want but they've also allowed themselves to be paired with a domestic terrorist organization they've allowed themselves to be like paired with them it was easy to stop because after the first few nights they could have just said we don't want to march with an tyfa that's all they had to do do a few nights of protests and say look anti-shah we're not with you go do your own thing because we don't support what you support could have done

[1:08:01]

support what you support could have done that but didn't you know they were being inclusive I guess but it worked against their interest in an enormous way so AG bar is going to take down anti file and every time the Anti Fog is down you're gonna think of black lives matter because now they're paired in your mind so any bad thing that comes out of an tyfa is going to like slop over in your mind even though it's not fair totally not fair but that's not how minds work minds don't work on fairness they just pair things irrationally so could not be a worse week for the black community in my opinion in terms of their strategy
Virginia protesters lit a house on fire with a child inside the police chief called it and I quote unacceptable fair statement you know when somebody lights a house on fire that has a child inside the first word that comes to my mind is

[1:09:02]

the first word that comes to my mind is unacceptable you really should think this through before you set a house on fire there's a child inside I always like to recommend that you consider all your options maybe maybe consider that there are some acceptable things to do but that this one you know I I don't want to make you feel bad but I feel as though you've picked a suboptimal dare I say unacceptable a little bit unacceptable to burn down a house with a child inside and I would I would agree with this police chief it's unacceptable it really is all right I probably done enough to get cancelled what do you think
so I'm gonna leave you with the positive thought I think the energy has commanded the protests I think everybody got the message I think the coronavirus for whatever

[1:10:05]

I think the coronavirus for whatever reason is becoming less of a problem I think the economy is going to come back I think retail was going to die on its own and probably wasn't if you know about retail rental space the landlord makes money whether the whether the retail shop makes money or not because that they still have to pay the rent so I don't know that the retail store has made any money I don't so I'm not sure that the economic segment that just got wiped out I just don't know if it's a big deal now it's a big deal to jobs but if the economy comes back in general I think there'll be enough jobs we'll get there so I would say that today is a day you should feel very optimistic summer's here coronavirus on the run and I think that the protests made their point everybody heard it it's time to get back to business and if and

[1:11:07]

time to get back to business and if and of course as I make this offer all the time if there's any way I can help I am always available to do it why why would I be available to help why would I help when there's nothing in it for me it's a strategy it's a strategy if you can help people it's eventually gonna get back to you so you called me sulfation if you want but I'd like to help that's all for today I will talk to you I don't know if I'll be on tonight if it looks like the protests are going to turn into riots tonight I might do another another livestream tonight but if it's settled down I think I need to take a little time off just from the evening broadcast not the morning and if you would like to support me which I would appreciate there's a subscription service to see this content plus stuff you don't see anywhere else especially my comic robots

[1:12:10]

anywhere else especially my comic robots read news which will probably get me cancelled eventually because I do lots a edge of your stuff I get to swear in that comic I like to use all the use all the curse words I can because I've got the 30 years of not being able to say provocative things of newspapers so it's a very freeing experience but I'm also putting some micro lessons on everything from writing to humor to talent stacks etc so I'm trying to make the locals subscription service really additive and I'll try to be pumping that up as we go if you want to find that link you can go to locals comm or you can find the link in my Twitter Twitter profile you'll see the link there that's all for me I'll talk to you soon