Podcast 436

Death and Tyranny. How’s that for click bait? Another protest, more glimpses of the French Revolution as an assistant professor throws ‘the media’ out of a protest on public property at a University in Missouri. Meanwhile a new study says white americans 30 to 64 are dying from alcoholism, drug addiction and suicide at alarmingly higher rates than in the past. Frustration. Anger. Despair. Name calling. Blaming. The first few years of the 21st century seem to be calling out for a new defense of ‘Freedom’. What is Freedom? Are we free? Are we free when we can’t express feelings without checking first to see if they will ‘offend’ some group with ‘special’ protections? Are we free when we have to make sure what we express is in line with paradigms determined by social acceptance? Not according to most definitions. So, are we free? What holds the United States together? A common enemy? An idea? A leader? A culture? A religion? A government? How can we hold together as a country if we aren’t allowed to express ourselves, to be ourselves? Over 60 percent of working age people are out of the work force. People are getting tired of being nudged, pushed, shoved, forced, shamed and cudgeled into behaviors the government wants, or behaviors deemed ‘acceptable’ by unelected culture czars, crowned by their exposure in media. We don’t trust our government. We don’t trust our leaders. We don’t trust the media. We don’t trust each other. If studies that show people descending into alcoholism and drugs and depression are true, one could conclude, we don’t trust ourselves either. When you travel the country, it doesn’t look like its falling apart, but any examination of the day’s news suggests something different. Political candidates slinging mud, name calling, finger pointing and the ever present blaming and subsequent atonement. Our entertainment is blood and gore, and sex. In short, our entertainment is coarse to say the least. What future is our art seeing? What kind of frontier are we pioneering today? Where is our toughness and virtue, and grit? Sponsored by X Government Trucks and Hydrus. 

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The Bob Davis Podcast

Podcast 228

Predicting the Future. Are TV shows and movies predicting the future? How do humans predict the future? On Wall Street they use computers and physics to create algorithms to tell traders what is happening across a wide spectrum of the market, and help make trading decisions. Other traders and analysis use models and theories like the Elliot Wave Theory, The Dow Theory and other technical analysis disciplines. Some people prefer Astrology, Tarot and other forms of Divination. Some suggest humans don’t predict the future well at all. Aside from the idea we are writing history as it happens, not living it as it is fated, it’s fun to ask whether movies and TV shows have some ability to predict the future, whether the writers and producers of those movies know it or not. Why do we resonate – internationally – on certain movies. ‘Titanic’ was a hugely popular movie, right before 9/11. A whole slew of movies at the end of the 90’s – from American Beauty and Magnolia to Fight Club and The Matrix – seem to predict a much more chaotic and unpredictable world than what we were experiencing during the Clinton Era. Would anyone argue we seem to be living in a world that is increasingly chaotic and unpredictable? Did the movies ‘predict’ it, or ‘depict’ it subconsciously? Or are these movies a subtle form of propaganda, pushing us subconsciously toward this kind of world? Finally, there’s TV. The shows we love. The shows we binge watch. House of Cards, Homeland, Breaking Bad, MadMen, and The Walking Dead. Shows that seem to be depicting a world where people in authority have short term, selfish and cynical views on how to manage, are just managing a government seconds from catastrophe, are losing their grip on reality, or are literally running from crowds of zombies. With the Ebola and Enterovirus outbreaks, border security in question, presidential security in question, thousands of thugs loose in the desert beheading people and keeping western governments at bay, economies slowing down, and confusion about what comes next, it makes you wonder. Will a new era break through, creating chaos and washing away the old, or will be it brought through by people who are free to innovate and solve problems? It’s up to us. Sponsored by Baklund R & D. 

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