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In this episode we discuss:
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Transcripts
Suburban Eastern Australia.
Speaker:An environment that has, over time, evolved some extraordinarily
Speaker:unique groups of homosapiens.
Speaker:Despite the reputation of their homeland, some are remarkably thin skinned.
Speaker:Some seem to have multiple lifespans.
Speaker:A few were once thought to be extinct in the region.
Speaker:Others have been observed being sacrificed by their own.
Speaker:But today We observe a small tribe akin to a group of meerkats that gather together
Speaker:atop a small mound to watch, question, and discuss the current events of their city,
Speaker:their country, and their world at large.
Speaker:Let's listen keenly and observe this group fondly known as the
Speaker:Iron Fist and the Velvet Glove.
Speaker:Well, hello there dear listener.
Speaker:This is the Iron Fist and the Velvet Glove podcast episode 328.
Speaker:And, uh, something a little bit different on this episode, I wanted to
Speaker:talk about a few things solo almost, but also I wanted to get some input
Speaker:from you, the, the dear listener.
Speaker:So there's a general invitation on this one to come on board and have a chat.
Speaker:So if you're watching the live stream, there'll be details about the link.
Speaker:I've already sent it to the patrons, so they'll, they've got a headstart,
Speaker:but if you're keen to chip in.
Speaker:and talk about stuff, then hit the link and you'll enter the green room and Joe's
Speaker:gonna help me out and kick out any trolls who might try to enter, and uh, Shea's not
Speaker:here because it wasn't really intended to be a panel discussion, so I didn't invite
Speaker:Shai, and Jay's sort of just helping out more on the tech side, but anyway.
Speaker:This is the Iron Fist Velvet Glove podcast, talking about news
Speaker:and politics, sex and religion.
Speaker:One of the things that's really struck me in the last few weeks has just been
Speaker:the propaganda I see in relation to Ukraine, China, various other things,
Speaker:and just the way that we're subjected to it, even from sources that would
Speaker:probably try and be neutral, but they're actually just promoting the standard
Speaker:narrative line, such as the ABC.
Speaker:So I really want to talk about the influence of the media and really trying
Speaker:to look at What are some independent media sources that we can look at?
Speaker:Because I've just got the feeling that, more than was the feeling, the mainstream
Speaker:media is letting us down and even independent ABC is letting us down a lot.
Speaker:So yeah, we're going to be talking about mainstream media, manufacturing consent.
Speaker:What are the other choices we've got in terms of, of sources of of
Speaker:information, and I want you to tell me what your sources of information are.
Speaker:I'm going to tell you, I'm going to show me, I'm going to show you mine if
Speaker:you show me yours, type of situation.
Speaker:So let's do that.
Speaker:If you don't want to do it live, if you don't want to join us and do it by video
Speaker:and audio, then in the chat room, tell us what news sources you rely on that
Speaker:you feel give you If not an independent view, at least an alternative view
Speaker:that you put with the other things.
Speaker:So if you're exposed to a lot of right wing media normally, what,
Speaker:what left wing do you read or see and how do you balance it out?
Speaker:So yeah, that's what we'll get onto.
Speaker:Now, one of the things I wanted to talk about was, Shay mentioned
Speaker:last week about, you know, would you make a run in the Senate?
Speaker:Why wouldn't you do it?
Speaker:And I said, look.
Speaker:It's impossible to get traction, and really what I want to say is that no one
Speaker:in the regular world will care enough to start a movement that's going to
Speaker:vote for Trevor Bell or anybody like me.
Speaker:And as proof of that, nobody in the regular world is going
Speaker:to be interested in what I say.
Speaker:Um, my argument is that no one in the secular, rational world Cares enough
Speaker:about what we're doing here on this podcast, let alone in the normal world.
Speaker:So I was thinking about episode 327, which I did on the 15th of February
Speaker:titled Forgotten Atheist, and that was the episode where I basically went
Speaker:through the religious discrimination bill, basically from start to finish.
Speaker:Its origin, you know, Now I know that that was a pretty good rundown of the Religious
Speaker:Discrimination Bill, its origins, the city point at the start and at the end,
Speaker:the ethical arguments surrounding it, the interesting things that happened in
Speaker:the Parliament in Hansard, who voted.
Speaker:Like, that was a fairly decent rundown of the Religious Discrimination Bill.
Speaker:And groups like the Rationalists, And the National Secular Lobby.
Speaker:That's right in their wheelhouse, that topic.
Speaker:You know, The Rationalist put out a newsletter, and no mention of my podcast.
Speaker:The National Secular Lobby puts out a weekly rap, no mention of the podcast.
Speaker:Like, now they all know who I am.
Speaker:And if I, if I contacted them and said, Hey, I did this podcast,
Speaker:episode 327, recently, you know, Religious Discrimination Bill.
Speaker:You want to put a link in your next newsletter?
Speaker:I'm sure they would.
Speaker:Do I have to ask every time?
Speaker:Especially when, you know, Stan Grant will write an article saying
Speaker:outlandish things about the wonders of Christianity and they'll all link to it
Speaker:and write about it and talk about it.
Speaker:He didn't have to ring up the National Secular Lobby or email
Speaker:the Rationalists and say, Hey, can you put a link in for me?
Speaker:Like, they just did it.
Speaker:So It was on the ABC though.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Well, this is the point.
Speaker:Like, they're actually more willing to put links to stuff that's,
Speaker:that argues against their case.
Speaker:Then they are to put up a link from someone like me, who's actually
Speaker:providing a framework and information that, you know, call me silly, but this
Speaker:would be of value to their members.
Speaker:It's a strange, it's a strange phenomena where these groups, you
Speaker:know, if I was some crazy Christian pastor making outrageous statements
Speaker:about how bad atheists are.
Speaker:They'd be linking to me all the time, but I put up a half decent
Speaker:episode giving a full background on the Religious Discrimination Bill.
Speaker:Silence.
Speaker:Crickets.
Speaker:You know.
Speaker:Joe, am I being precious?
Speaker:Watching is the other question.
Speaker:What's that?
Speaker:Are they actually listening?
Speaker:Probably not.
Speaker:Like, indeed, probably not.
Speaker:They're probably thinking, well, what am I going to learn from Trevor?
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:So that's my argument, Shea.
Speaker:Next time you're trying to talk me into running for the Senate is I'm
Speaker:not going to get ordinary people interested in what I've got to say.
Speaker:Because I can't even get, you know, the National Secular Lobby or the rationalists
Speaker:or people like that to be interested, you know, say something to So, she did have
Speaker:a point, which was, if you were running as a Satanist That would be enough of a
Speaker:show card, enough of a draw card, to get the press, the popular press, interested.
Speaker:Mm.
Speaker:I don't think so.
Speaker:And Shay's comment is, oh diddums.
Speaker:That's good, Shay.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I'm having a Look, it's no whinge.
Speaker:I'm not actually, you know, I could, I could email him every week and say,
Speaker:oh, this particular one is of interest.
Speaker:You might want to link to it.
Speaker:It's like, eh, if it's not going to happen.
Speaker:Maybe not every week.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:If it's not going to happen, um, naturally, then it's just
Speaker:not going to happen, is it?
Speaker:So there you go, Shane.
Speaker:That's sort of, uh, a reason why I won't be doing it.
Speaker:And yeah, you know, I think they're in a bit of a mindset of linking
Speaker:to articles in mainstream media.
Speaker:So if I'd appeared in the Courier Mail and a 25 word sound grab was
Speaker:printed, they would link to it.
Speaker:But when I give a 45 minute detailed explanation in my
Speaker:own podcast, then they won't.
Speaker:There's sort of a mindset therein.
Speaker:So, the other thing is, dear listener, you know, what about you?
Speaker:When was the last time you were in some forum or somewhere and
Speaker:you said to your colleagues or friends or whatever, Uh, yeah.
Speaker:Iron Fist Velvet Glove did a podcast on this, here's the link, like, and, you
Speaker:know, it just doesn't happen, does it?
Speaker:It's very hard to generate viral interest in things, we're behind the eight ball.
Speaker:But having said that, I, I take some blame in this whole matter, and really is, you
Speaker:know, I haven't asked you to, have I?
Speaker:I haven't suggested it enough, I haven't made you feel guilty enough,
Speaker:and, and I haven't made shareable video bite sized snippets, so.
Speaker:I haven't created an easy way for you to do it, and Somebody did ask
Speaker:to share your rant the other day.
Speaker:Yes, that's right, somebody did.
Speaker:Which made me sort of think about it, because it was like, the first time in
Speaker:ages, so Maybe I'll remind you a bit more often and maybe we'll create some little
Speaker:video snippets and things like that.
Speaker:If anyone wants to help with that, let us know.
Speaker:Okay, who's in the chat room?
Speaker:So Shailene says get Joe to do it.
Speaker:Good on you Shailene.
Speaker:Tom the warehouse guy.
Speaker:Tom, the warehouse guy by the way everybody, was at the bar table with me.
Speaker:With my, uh, Supreme Court action and he has just got qualified as
Speaker:a solicitor just the other day.
Speaker:So congratulations, Tom.
Speaker:So now you're going to the bar to celebrate?
Speaker:He's going to celebrate, no doubt, he already has.
Speaker:And as the years go by, we'll be calling on Tom, the warehouse guy, to help
Speaker:us out in a few other legal actions.
Speaker:And he can do a much better job of it than I did.
Speaker:Craig B says, mentioned you at least half a dozen times last year
Speaker:at work, across a range of topics.
Speaker:Good on you, Craig B, thank you for that.
Speaker:It makes me feel good, so.
Speaker:I have to say, I've referred off to the Modern Monetary
Speaker:Theory episode a few times.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Pointed to people and said, hey, have a look at this in depth interview on this.
Speaker:That was with Stephen Hale.
Speaker:It was.
Speaker:Camille said, I sent a link to the Black Lives, Deaths in Custody
Speaker:episode to my uni study group chat.
Speaker:Went down like a lead balloon.
Speaker:I'm sure it did.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah, that was when we were talking about the statistics.
Speaker:In fact, once you were in jail, a slightly higher percentage of white people dying
Speaker:in custody than black people, of course.
Speaker:But it didn't match their confirmation bias, and therefore they didn't like it.
Speaker:We mentioned that your chances of going to jail were much higher.
Speaker:That's a black person, but once you were actually in, the
Speaker:statistics told a different story.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So what I want you to do, well, we're going to talk about the media, mainstream
Speaker:media, what they've been doing, and we're going to talk about some suggestions for
Speaker:ways of expanding our knowledge, so we get sort of alternative viewpoints, and what I
Speaker:want you to do in the chat room is tell me the blogs, the podcasts, the independent
Speaker:media, people on Twitter, that you follow, that you feel gives you a viewpoint.
Speaker:that you don't get in the normal media that people subscribe to.
Speaker:Send me some suggestions.
Speaker:I'm actually finding podcasts, not many out there, that are
Speaker:holding me in at the moment.
Speaker:I've sort of dipped my toe in a few and have just, uh, fallen out
Speaker:of love with them fairly quickly.
Speaker:There's not, I'm looking for some podcasts, if people have
Speaker:got some recommendations.
Speaker:I'll have some a bit later on.
Speaker:So, now, is our, is Dom still there or he disappeared again?
Speaker:Yeah, he is.
Speaker:He's, um Alright.
Speaker:I am here if you can hear me.
Speaker:Alright, Dom, what do you want to Before I kick off on
Speaker:things, what are you up to, Dom?
Speaker:What do you want to Well, yeah, I mean, I drive seven days a week, so I don't get
Speaker:a lot of time to do, to look at magazines and listen to articles and stuff, so my,
Speaker:most of my political exposure is you guys.
Speaker:And if something comes up in the show notes, something I'm interested in,
Speaker:I'll go and look at it later, but yeah, we're They, for some reason, they don't
Speaker:like me reading while I'm driving.
Speaker:They get very upset about it, the police and the general public and the boss,
Speaker:they all get very upset if I, if I, like, for example, at the moment, while
Speaker:I'm talking to you guys, I'm currently building a model kit and they don't like
Speaker:me sort of having something like that up in front of my face while I'm driving.
Speaker:Yeah, that's fair enough.
Speaker:Everyone gets really upset for some reason, I don't know why.
Speaker:So Don, what have I said in the last three months that you've
Speaker:disagreed with and you've gone?
Speaker:He's talking shit there.
Speaker:Like he's, I'm with you all the way, Trevor, but you've
Speaker:gone too far in that way.
Speaker:Not much really.
Speaker:Alright.
Speaker:You're on board on everything.
Speaker:? Yeah.
Speaker:No, 99%.
Speaker:Not anything that immediately comes to mind.
Speaker:If you're in the chat room and I've said something in the last three months where
Speaker:I've overstepped and you're thinking he's, I've jumped the shark, I've gone crazy.
Speaker:Tell me now, I'm keen to hear.
Speaker:I'm keen.
Speaker:I'm up for an argument.
Speaker:The Twelfth Man has not been around for ages and I'm up for an argument.
Speaker:So you're disappointing me, Dom.
Speaker:I think my opinions line up pretty directly with yours.
Speaker:And the Twelfth Man not being there means there's not that
Speaker:banter and not that discussion bordering quite often on arguments.
Speaker:And yeah, when the Twelfth Man was still around, there was respect
Speaker:there, but there was It was almost to the point of virtual fisticuffs.
Speaker:I mean, you disagreed on many things quite vehemently.
Speaker:Um, if it hadn't been a schoolyard situation, there would have been a whole
Speaker:bunch of us certainly going, fight, fight, fight, fight, but no, it was, it was good.
Speaker:I like getting, cause as I say, the way I think is in pretty closely aligned
Speaker:with what, but it's good to have someone else who, who always is the, the, the,
Speaker:the polar opposite going, look, you're talking out your arse, especially when
Speaker:he was talking about things like, um, masks and lockdowns and stuff like that.
Speaker:We know what's happened now.
Speaker:But yeah, but it's good to have someone.
Speaker:It's too easy, especially with social media, to get into these echo
Speaker:chambers where everyone just reflects the same thing that you think.
Speaker:So it's good to go onto sites where people think the opposite of
Speaker:you and go, okay, explain to me.
Speaker:Why the Earth is Hollow, why David Icke is right, and get
Speaker:into those sort of fun things.
Speaker:Yeah, it was getting a getting into debates with people that I disagree with.
Speaker:It was getting a bit exhausting with Paul, though, by the end.
Speaker:And we pretty much knew our positions, and we weren't budging, and it was
Speaker:hitting a lot of roadblocks, so.
Speaker:So we had a good run for a long time.
Speaker:It sort of got to a bit of a stalemate.
Speaker:But we did actually hit some roadblocks there where we just couldn't go beyond.
Speaker:And I think we finished at the right time there, and things move on.
Speaker:And here we are.
Speaker:Well Dom, if you're not going to argue with me, and you're not going
Speaker:to, what else do you listen to?
Speaker:What other podcasts?
Speaker:Because I'm going to bounce you off unless you're going to tell me something, you're
Speaker:going to argue with me, or you're going to tell me What other podcasts you've
Speaker:been listening to or other information you've been getting that you find useful?
Speaker:Uh, I mostly listen to the Puzzle and the Thunderstorm guys, which
Speaker:has nothing to do with this at all.
Speaker:Godawful movies.
Speaker:Actually, Citation Needed is an interesting one because the way
Speaker:that they describe it is they listen to one, they read one article in
Speaker:Wikipedia, which makes them an expert.
Speaker:And then I discuss it for an hour, so.
Speaker:Okay, there we go.
Speaker:I don't listen to a lot of political podcasts.
Speaker:I just, I read three articles from the John Menendee blog, and that makes me
Speaker:an expert, and I discuss it for an hour.
Speaker:So, we've got that in common, so.
Speaker:Yeah, there you go.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Alright, Dom.
Speaker:Well, by the way, for those who don't know, Dom attended the, uh, Satanic You
Speaker:know, we had at Noosa and he had his limousine there and we all climbed in and
Speaker:got a photo shoot at one point as well.
Speaker:So that was a good night.
Speaker:It was.
Speaker:And it's just a strange thing to do in Noosa, a bunch of Satanists heading
Speaker:into a limousine for photo shoots.
Speaker:That was a good night.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:All right Dom, I'm going to bounce you off so I can keep
Speaker:going and thanks for tuning in.
Speaker:Talk to you later.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Bye.
Speaker:Bye.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Later.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:That was Dom.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:If you're in the chat room.
Speaker:There's a link there.
Speaker:Talk to us.
Speaker:You won't bite, I promise.
Speaker:Okay, what's happening at the moment?
Speaker:Apparently Russia has moved troops and tanks into the Donbass region and the
Speaker:world is wondering are we headed for a serious conflict and my best guess
Speaker:would be that they'll take and secure that Donbass region and The rest of
Speaker:the world will impose sanctions, but they won't actually make a serious
Speaker:military effort to try and kick them out, because it'll be too difficult.
Speaker:This isn't some ragtag Al Qaeda or Taliban group here, this is the
Speaker:Russian army, and In a position of relative strength and the U.
Speaker:S.
Speaker:normally picks on much smaller targets in terms of easier targets, if you like.
Speaker:So, I would have thought, probably secure the region and the world will
Speaker:continue to impose even more sanctions.
Speaker:Joe?
Speaker:That's what BBC is reporting.
Speaker:They've said that they're looking at various ways of attacking
Speaker:Putin and his cabinet's personal assets hidden around the world.
Speaker:I know that one of the minister's luxury, whatever it was, 300 meter long
Speaker:yacht sailed early out of a European port where it was undergoing repairs.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Because they were worried that it was going to get seized.
Speaker:Yes, indeed.
Speaker:So it should be.
Speaker:So they were trying to move assets very rapidly out of Europe.
Speaker:When I did that talk on super imperialism, Michael Hudson was
Speaker:saying that, you know, the U.
Speaker:S.
Speaker:has already been applying a lot of sanctions onto Russia and it
Speaker:sort of backfired because they ended up broadening their economy.
Speaker:And, because they couldn't import things, they actually started making
Speaker:things internally, which made them more or less impervious to these
Speaker:sort of boycotts from the US.
Speaker:So, that remains to be seen how well they've done that, but that
Speaker:was his sort of argument was that.
Speaker:That the sanctions that had already been in place on Russia had, had had the
Speaker:effect of causing Russia to, to broaden and, and diversify its economy, so it
Speaker:could produce the things that it couldn't get out of the West, and if that's the
Speaker:case, um, they might feel like, well, we don't care what sanctions you put on
Speaker:us, we'll just, uh, do what we're doing and we'll deal with China and we'll deal
Speaker:with Iran and we'll deal with the people we've been dealing with, and we really
Speaker:don't care, it's entirely possible.
Speaker:Well, I think the biggest one is if the EU stopped taking their gas.
Speaker:Correct, that's the big one.
Speaker:And, and instead buy it from the U.
Speaker:S.
Speaker:via ships or something like that.
Speaker:I know that, um, the U.
Speaker:K.
Speaker:are having a major problem with heating costs at the moment.
Speaker:They're saying that the gas prices have gone up probably because, um, they were
Speaker:worried that this was going to happen and they would lose access to Russian gas.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:It'll be a tricky decision for the Germans and the rest when Russia says,
Speaker:Well We're happy to supply you with gas, and it's at this price here.
Speaker:Of course, you can buy it from America at twice the price if you like,
Speaker:but we're perfectly willing to sell it to you if you want to take it.
Speaker:So, then of course the US will impose sanctions on the Germans
Speaker:or others for dealing with Russia.
Speaker:That's the sort of thing that they do.
Speaker:I was listening to this um, lady talking about Cuba.
Speaker:She was, been visiting Cuba, and basically, if a ship delivers something
Speaker:to Cuba It's banned from all U.
Speaker:S.
Speaker:ports for six months, so that's one of the reasons why.
Speaker:And if any company is to sell anything into Cuba that's got more than 10 percent
Speaker:of its componentry is American, then they suffer severe financial hardships.
Speaker:So, so poor old Cuba has certainly been battered by, um, these sanctions,
Speaker:and Venezuela for that matter.
Speaker:But, you know China and Russia and whatever are different kettle of fish.
Speaker:So, interesting to see how well Russia can keep going.
Speaker:Eric in the chat room says, Perhaps we're all in Trevor's silo.
Speaker:Nobody wants to ring up and disagree with me.
Speaker:Maybe that's the case.
Speaker:And Denny asks, Can the EU really afford to get gas that way though?
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:What do you mean, Eric?
Speaker:Can they really afford to get gas from the Americans?
Speaker:Craig B says, Come to think of it, I listened to the IFVG for my
Speaker:alternative viewpoint, to be honest.
Speaker:Thanks, Craig.
Speaker:That's good.
Speaker:So, yeah, so that's what's happening.
Speaker:I thought we were all brainwashed sheeple.
Speaker:Yes, I thought so as well.
Speaker:Okay, just locally, we've got an election coming up in May.
Speaker:Scott Morrison, I mean, he's done a terrible job in terms of the vaccines and
Speaker:the, just the general response to COVID.
Speaker:He's clearly running an election campaign.
Speaker:The last one was on jobs and growth.
Speaker:The current one It's just this car key election.
Speaker:He's Jesus, guns and babies.
Speaker:Jesus, guns and babies.
Speaker:That's it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:He hasn't talked much about babies yet.
Speaker:Just Jesus and guns, isn't it?
Speaker:So for the Christians out there, he's your man and military stuff.
Speaker:This whole, really their election campaign based on the last couple
Speaker:of weeks is really one of national security and who's going to keep
Speaker:Australia safe from the bad guys.
Speaker:That's it.
Speaker:Oh, and lying about how the Chinese were trying to influence the Labour Party.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Manchurian candidates.
Speaker:To the point where the head of the security services said, no, we've
Speaker:not said anything of the sort.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And for them to make a public statement is incredibly rare.
Speaker:Indeed, yeah.
Speaker:You just wonder how much in the normal, the normal Joes who don't pay
Speaker:attention, how much of it seeps through.
Speaker:I'm going to deal with the chat room regularly in tonight's episodes.
Speaker:Shailene, Michael Costello, former head of DFAT, was on 7am today and
Speaker:yesterday and it was excellent.
Speaker:That's to do with what you were just talking about.
Speaker:Camille says, I listen to left, right and centre for American politics occasionally.
Speaker:Katharine Murphy's Auspol podcast.
Speaker:Big Sam Harris fan, and I do enjoy Trevor's silo most of
Speaker:the time, that's good, so.
Speaker:You know, Sam Harris, he's, he's, he's completely blind to the whole
Speaker:US freedom democracy type argument.
Speaker:I mean, he had a panel of people on the other day Anne Applebaum, David
Speaker:Frum, and really the whole tone of the conversation was American is a beacon
Speaker:of freedom and democracy, and why is it that we're having trouble promoting
Speaker:that idea around the world, sort of thing, like Oh, it's Julian Assange.
Speaker:Yes, indeed.
Speaker:So, he's good, Sam.
Speaker:He's intellectually honest.
Speaker:He never talks about economics.
Speaker:I've never heard him talk about economics and power plays in
Speaker:terms of the world and economics.
Speaker:He's very good on individual rights, freedoms, freedom of speech and
Speaker:conflicts between religion and freedom.
Speaker:All that, he's pretty good, even with identity politics stuff.
Speaker:The stuff he says there, I mostly agree with, but his worldview
Speaker:is Pay nearly enough attention to money, power, in my opinion.
Speaker:Anyway, still will chip in and listen to his occasional one.
Speaker:Eric V says, I watch and read mainstream media for an opposite view to my own.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:And yeah, Reds Under the Like, we really do have a Reds Under the Bed
Speaker:scare campaign happening at the moment.
Speaker:And I can remember when Hawke was coming into power, the dying days of
Speaker:the Fraser government, and, and Fraser tried a Reds Unbed campaign, but he
Speaker:was also doing a, you know, the economy will be stuffed under Labor, uh, line.
Speaker:So, Hawke made this joke that Fraser is telling everybody that You'll need to
Speaker:hide your money under your bed, but you can't do that because that's where the
Speaker:Reds are hiding, something like that.
Speaker:So, and he was just laughing about it because it was, that's literally
Speaker:what it had gotten down to.
Speaker:I think, I think it would be good for Albanesey to just
Speaker:start laughing at Morrison.
Speaker:I think that's, I think that's really effective when somebody is so bad, you
Speaker:think they ought to do that in Parliament?
Speaker:In Parliament?
Speaker:Laugh at him?
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Yeah, anything's, you can do anything there.
Speaker:You just can't call somebody a liar or corrupt, you can't make
Speaker:an outright allegation like that.
Speaker:That's unparliamentary.
Speaker:Not to another MP, but to anyone else, fair game.
Speaker:Did you see Clive, by the way, claiming that three of Australia's politicians
Speaker:had been members of the Great Australia Party or United Australia Party?
Speaker:And, you know, apparently he cancelled his National Press Club luncheon speech today.
Speaker:Why the hell did they invite him?
Speaker:Where is their
Speaker:Because he's a thought leader.
Speaker:Where is their I don't know, what do you call it?
Speaker:No shame.
Speaker:Like, why didn't they just Whoever came up with the idea of let's
Speaker:have Clive talk, couldn't somebody stop and say, this is crazy.
Speaker:Oh yeah, maybe he's not been vaccinated.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Apparently because of COVID symptoms, yeah.
Speaker:Joe, you're chipping in as much as you ever do, and you're just
Speaker:doing it via the messaging here.
Speaker:This is going to be a rambling episode, I can tell already.
Speaker:Okay, yeah, Morrison, and it's clearly lining up as he can't say
Speaker:anything about the economy because the deficit has just blown out.
Speaker:He can't say anything about unemployment, because it's not looking good.
Speaker:He can't hang his hat on the usual things that he'd like to.
Speaker:He can't find anything, because Labor is just agreeing to, with everything he does
Speaker:in terms of immigration, boat deporting, New Zealanders, you know, whatever he
Speaker:tries to pick up as a topic, Labor is just saying, yeah, we agree with you.
Speaker:So really, he's down to, he's down to China.
Speaker:Labor is agreeing with him and in fact has a far more consistent
Speaker:line on China than the Liberals do.
Speaker:The hypocrisy of the Liberals in relation to China is breathtaking and this is
Speaker:the thing that gets me with mainstream media is they will repeat the assertions
Speaker:of Dutton and Morrison and whatnot.
Speaker:As they make them in the current day, without any reference to how
Speaker:much the Liberals were bleating only, only four or five years ago
Speaker:about how wonderful China was.
Speaker:And criticizing the Labor Party for having the temerity to criticize China over its
Speaker:human rights, and in particular, like, like the, the human rights aspect with
Speaker:the Uyghurs and, and you know, holy, the horrible, the Chinese that liberals wanted
Speaker:to sign an extradition treaty with China and labor said, no, we can't do that.
Speaker:And the Liberals criticised them, going, oh, you're going to
Speaker:offend our Chinese partners here.
Speaker:We've got this marvellous partnership arrangement and you're endangering it.
Speaker:This was only four or five years ago, so, you know, they're struggling
Speaker:to find areas of difference.
Speaker:And they're completely manufacturing a difference with the Labor Party
Speaker:that doesn't exist on a, on ground where actually the Labor Party can,
Speaker:can just take the, sit on top of the hill and pop them off because they've
Speaker:got a much better credentials for having taken on the, the Chinese.
Speaker:Do you want to say something, Joe, or no?
Speaker:I was trying to copy Shae's link, but I Okay.
Speaker:Stuck it up.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So let me just try and find this.
Speaker:Yeah, I'm gonna try and find the right one.
Speaker:This is, this is where we don't get the story on the
Speaker:hypocrisy of The Liberal Party.
Speaker:Like, you just don't get it in the mainstream media.
Speaker:And I was on Twitter, and Kevin Rudd has basically produced some video
Speaker:which demonstrates what the Liberals were saying only a few short years
Speaker:ago and how they were criticising Labor for criticising China.
Speaker:Goes on for a bit, but I'll play this and, because you just don't see it anywhere
Speaker:else, we'll play this one and have a look.
Speaker:I have never heard.
Speaker:A Chinese leader declared that his country would be fully democratic by 2050.
Speaker:Taking President Xi's assurances at face value.
Speaker:It's absolutely clear that there are human rights abuses in Tibet.
Speaker:Brenda Nelson criticized him for making the, uh, the comments publicly.
Speaker:Brenda Nelson said, I don't know whether it's wise to have broadcast it
Speaker:as publicly as he seems to be doing.
Speaker:Now that's pathetic, isn't it?
Speaker:And the granting of a visa to Uyghur separatist leader, Rabia Khadija.
Speaker:Former Immigration Minister Philip Ruddick says it was a mistake.
Speaker:Julie Bishop mounting an argument which had only one conclusion, that,
Speaker:that was that Miss Kadir should not have been allowed into Australia.
Speaker:A statement which is sure to please Beijing.
Speaker:Mr Downer says in the case of a military clash over Taiwan, the ANZUS treaty
Speaker:with Washington is symbolic, and that Canberra would not side with Taiwan.
Speaker:Last week, the Prime Minister appeared to back in Beijing's
Speaker:approach instead of Australia's.
Speaker:But did he make a mistake in that comment?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:Landbridge's control of Darwin Port has caused considerable angst
Speaker:within Australia's defence community and annoyed American allies.
Speaker:Even concerned the US President Barack Obama.
Speaker:Who raised the issue directly with Malcolm Turnbull.
Speaker:We have to act in the interest, the national interest of our country.
Speaker:That's what's happened in the Port of Darwin.
Speaker:The meeting revealed by the ABC was set up by former Liberal Senator Santos Santoro.
Speaker:Now a lobbyist, to whom Mr Huang allegedly paid thousands of dollars.
Speaker:to secure the private lunch with Mr.
Speaker:Dutton.
Speaker:Former Trade Minister Andrew Robb has begun working for the Chinese company,
Speaker:which last year controversially gained control of Darwin's port.
Speaker:If people are suggesting anything about it, then frankly, uh, they're Impugning
Speaker:our finest ever trade minister and they're doing it without any basis at all.
Speaker:Andrew Robb has accused Australia's security agencies of
Speaker:spreading anti China sentiment.
Speaker:If I could see the reason for it, fine.
Speaker:But the evidence is not there.
Speaker:We see a lot of nose touching by the security people.
Speaker:If you only knew what I know, you'd be horrified.
Speaker:The emphasis on naval power is a direct response to China's
Speaker:increased military spending.
Speaker:The opposition says that's confusing.
Speaker:It makes no sense for Australia in 2009 to base its long term strategy on the highly
Speaker:contentious proposition that Australia is on an inevitable collision course.
Speaker:with a militarily aggressive China.
Speaker:The Chinese agree.
Speaker:The nation's shipbuilding industry is fighting for survival as the
Speaker:government considers where to buy its next submarines from.
Speaker:You wonder why I wouldn't trust them to build a canoe.
Speaker:Marking the end of car manufacturing in this country.
Speaker:The move, which followed security advice from ASIO, has sparked furious
Speaker:denials from the company's Australian board members who include Former
Speaker:Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.
Speaker:Andrew Robb and Malcolm Turnbull suggested that maybe the ban could be lifted on
Speaker:the Chinese communications company.
Speaker:This is just completely absurd.
Speaker:I have also reassured China that so called quadrilateral dialogue with India
Speaker:is not something that we are pursuing.
Speaker:This is the fifth year in a row that the Australian government
Speaker:has cut Australian aid.
Speaker:China wants to have more Belt and Road cooperation with
Speaker:the Pacific Island nations.
Speaker:It's very much in our national interest for us to have an
Speaker:extradition treaty, uh, with China.
Speaker:It was signed by the former Prime Minister John Howard's government in 2007.
Speaker:It does remain the policy of the Australian government.
Speaker:With a comprehensive strategic partnership established, this
Speaker:is a historic and memorable day.
Speaker:We have a, a strong and growing comprehensive strategic
Speaker:partnership with China.
Speaker:We're one of a relatively small number of countries that have a comprehensive
Speaker:Well, we have a comprehensive strategic partnership, uh, at official
Speaker:status, uh, with China and that's something we take very seriously and
Speaker:we work very hard on to maintain.
Speaker:Well, there you go.
Speaker:Like, that wasn't that long ago that all that was happening.
Speaker:They are so, and they're saying, they're, they're going to go into
Speaker:this next election saying, Well, clearly we're the party that you
Speaker:can rely on to stand up to China.
Speaker:That's their best shot so far.
Speaker:I was just making Except it seems like the retirement plan for all of their ministers
Speaker:is to go and work for Chinese companies.
Speaker:Indeed.
Speaker:The Honour.
Speaker:Rob.
Speaker:You have to ask, what happened?
Speaker:What happened between then and now that they are so anti China?
Speaker:What happened?
Speaker:They got in government.
Speaker:They were in government during all that.
Speaker:They were in, they were, they were in government.
Speaker:What happened was, what happened, dear listener, was we had a pandemic and Scott
Speaker:Morrison said, we need weapons inspector like powers to go into these countries
Speaker:and find out what's really going on.
Speaker:Meaning, people just going into China and wandering around the wet markets
Speaker:to And poking around, but basically I think they wanted to go into the weapons
Speaker:Oh, not the weapons, the research labs.
Speaker:Well, wherever They wanted to They wanted, basically, weapons inspector like powers.
Speaker:When we talk about weapons inspector like powers, this is what we had with Iran,
Speaker:where we cut a deal with them, and we said, we're going to let you back into
Speaker:the world community, but we're worried you're going to make a nuclear bomb.
Speaker:So essentially Our satellites are going to be looking at your territory 24 7, and if
Speaker:we see a suspicious movement of vehicles or a suspicious building, we will demand
Speaker:the right to enter any building that we want to go into, just to check that
Speaker:you're not building a nuclear bomb there.
Speaker:And if you agree to that, then we'll let you enter the world's
Speaker:economic community again.
Speaker:And Iran said, oh, okay, they complied with everything.
Speaker:Donald Trump of course said, I just don't like Iran and cancelled the whole deal.
Speaker:So, and Iran said, well, we'll start making nuclear weapons again.
Speaker:But, you know, that's the sort of what weapons inspector powers mean.
Speaker:And That's what Morrison came out with and said.
Speaker:And what did China say in return?
Speaker:Well, guess what?
Speaker:Maybe we don't need that shipment of barley, that wine.
Speaker:We'll still take your iron ore, because we need that.
Speaker:There's a few things here.
Speaker:So they essentially said, not happy with you, we're not going to buy your stuff.
Speaker:We're a customer and we are withdrawing our purchases from you.
Speaker:Is essentially what happened.
Speaker:They didn't, you know, start pointing missiles at us
Speaker:that weren't pointed before.
Speaker:They didn't do anything overtly military.
Speaker:The ships that are floating around in territorial waters that are getting
Speaker:lasers, that are, that are shooting lasers up, they were always there.
Speaker:That's all that happened, was Morrison said, Oh, we need weapons
Speaker:inspector like powers, without any regard to the history of China.
Speaker:A hundred years of embarrassment and the idea that they could just be pushed
Speaker:around and China said no, we are not copying that from you guys and we're going
Speaker:to withhold buying some stuff from you.
Speaker:Now if Australia had just shut up, then it all would have recommenced within
Speaker:six to twelve months and we'd be back on board, but no, they just had to
Speaker:crank up the pressure the whole time and argue that China is the bad guys.
Speaker:That's how we've ended up from the video that you've just listened to, to where
Speaker:China is just increasingly militant and they're the monsters of the world.
Speaker:In a few short years.
Speaker:Does anybody out there disagree with me?
Speaker:What have we got here?
Speaker:Event Horizon.
Speaker:Gain of function inspection.
Speaker:Actually not an entirely silly idea as long as both parties agree to it.
Speaker:There's little downside.
Speaker:Is that the weapons inspection stuff?
Speaker:I'm not sure if that's what you're referring to.
Speaker:This is around viral.
Speaker:So basically gain of function is we take a virus, we see if it can gain
Speaker:functions to make it more deadly.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So that's, that's what was happening in the Wuhan lab.
Speaker:And there's all sorts of conspiracy theories that they engineered this
Speaker:SARS virus to be particularly deadly, and that it, that's how it had leaked,
Speaker:was that it was a human engineered, supposedly for, the reason they do
Speaker:it is to go, what's the next leap?
Speaker:What's the next?
Speaker:virus that's going to hit us.
Speaker:What's the next pandemic?
Speaker:How do we counter it?
Speaker:And so they look at the viruses, they try and coerce them in different directions
Speaker:to go, all right, if it does this, then it will be particularly deadly and we've
Speaker:already pre built a vaccine for it.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:So this is what gain of function is.
Speaker:And they're saying if we went in and inspected and made sure that it
Speaker:was all above board and that there was nothing nefarious going on,
Speaker:then that would be a good thing.
Speaker:Sounds a bit different to the sort of weapons inspector like system
Speaker:that, that Morrison was proposing.
Speaker:Well, this was more like biological weapons.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So anyway, that's, um, that's how we've got on with this.
Speaker:Shay in the chat room is saying, on Insiders, one of the guests was
Speaker:claiming that other foreign powers were not only impressed, but had
Speaker:sought to construct Australian government on how to stand up to China.
Speaker:Other countries!
Speaker:Have asked us for advice on how to conduct a relationship with,
Speaker:or how to stand up to China?
Speaker:How to do it successfully?
Speaker:I think that was Macron, wasn't it?
Speaker:Yeah, Macron would be asking us.
Speaker:Yeah, wouldn't he?
Speaker:I don't think I know.
Speaker:That had to be somebody from the Institute of Public Affairs saying that.
Speaker:Goodness me.
Speaker:Because if anyone would want advice from us on how to stuff up
Speaker:a relationship with China, that's what we would be good at doing.
Speaker:So, you know, that's where we've come to with China and, uh, the fact that the
Speaker:Morrison government thinks that that's its Trump card in terms of an election,
Speaker:even small target labor is just Armed with stuff that they can throw at these guys.
Speaker:I, I couldn't imagine a worse topic to try and pick on as your, as your best argument
Speaker:as to why people should vote for you.
Speaker:Labor must be, well, I think they were, they were hoping that the Australian
Speaker:public have a short memory, which they do.
Speaker:They do, but it's so even the labor party can, they've got so many
Speaker:arrows to, to fire off and just knock them off with this stuff.
Speaker:It should be a piece of cake.
Speaker:It seems extraordinary to me that that's a topic they would, a
Speaker:ground they'd choose to fight on.
Speaker:China relationships.
Speaker:Anyway, that's what they're going to do, um, not going to be jobs
Speaker:and growth, it's going to be car key election, China, China, China.
Speaker:And you know, maybe you're right, because if the general public doesn't
Speaker:remember all that, and has no knowledge, and just gets beaten over the head
Speaker:with evil, awful China, they had a ship out in international waters
Speaker:that we were innocently surveilling and got lasered, we really need
Speaker:some strong guys now in parliament.
Speaker:Otherwise, who knows what might happen.
Speaker:I can run that argument successfully.
Speaker:But Albanese condemned the laser firing incident.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So it's not like he said our military were harassing them.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And it is, it's, it's very, very normal if you have a foreign warship
Speaker:in your water, that you tail it.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:What else are you going to do?
Speaker:That's what your job is.
Speaker:Just like these guys.
Speaker:They're out there surveilling, they're practising all the time.
Speaker:They used to surveil submarines, like they would be following them and
Speaker:dropping stuff in the ocean, checking where they were, and so yeah, a lot
Speaker:of that goes on, and that's, goes on all the time, no problem with that.
Speaker:But yes, the Chinese, wrong to be sending a laser beam and, you know,
Speaker:who knows what harm might eventually happen, so they're not entirely innocent.
Speaker:But, ah dear me.
Speaker:Anyway, we'll see what happens.
Speaker:So that's their hypocrisy.
Speaker:In Parliament, Morrison.
Speaker:I don't think you subscribed, I don't think you called Albanesia,
Speaker:I think it was Some other guy you described as a Manchurian
Speaker:Candidate, so, Manchurian Candidate.
Speaker:Did you ever watch that movie, Joe?
Speaker:I never saw it.
Speaker:I'm aware of it.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:It's a really, I think it must be an old black and white, very old fashioned
Speaker:sort of movie, but I think Well, the book was published in 59, apparently.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So, essentially they kind of brainwashed some guy, and It was the
Speaker:Deputy Labour Leader, Richard Myles.
Speaker:Okay, who was accused of being a Manchurian candidate, where In the
Speaker:movie, he's sort of brainwashed where He was a normal average patriot, and
Speaker:they'd somehow inserted some brainwashing trigger into him, which, which just
Speaker:needed a trigger to happen, and then he would convert and become a, his
Speaker:ideology would completely switch over.
Speaker:And that's the accusation against Richard Marles, a Manchurian candidate.
Speaker:Oh, it's a farcical.
Speaker:There was an interesting, Darren Brown, the magician, did an episode where he
Speaker:basically tried to get a guy to the point where he would push somebody off the
Speaker:edge of, uh, off the roof of a building.
Speaker:Really?
Speaker:And what happened?
Speaker:Well, that would be giving the show away.
Speaker:I'll point you to the episode.
Speaker:Oh, I'm not going to watch it.
Speaker:What happens?
Speaker:Spoiler alert.
Speaker:I think he did.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:He tried, he did try and push him, but obviously there's
Speaker:some safety apparatus there.
Speaker:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker:But, but it was setting it up so that.
Speaker:This guy was in a position to push, or was in the position to
Speaker:be embarrassed or lose money.
Speaker:I can't remember exactly what it was, but it was all a set up, because a lot
Speaker:of Derren Brown shows are all about putting people into psychological
Speaker:situations to see how they react.
Speaker:Right, okay.
Speaker:Anyway, that's meant you're in Candidate.
Speaker:So I've been complaining about mainstream media and In particular, I've found the
Speaker:ABC really disappointing because, you know, with all this China stuff, they
Speaker:basically just repeat the government's allegation and just say, the government
Speaker:says this, without really providing any context around it, so they're more or
Speaker:less a mouthpiece for the government.
Speaker:I don't think that's the role of the national broadcaster.
Speaker:If the, if the politicians make outlandish statements, they
Speaker:shouldn't just be repeated.
Speaker:I've really They've got to give lots of opportunity for the opposition
Speaker:then to contradict that crazy argument or provide somebody else
Speaker:who'll, who'll contradict it.
Speaker:So I've been finding the ABC really disappointing in, in just spewing forth
Speaker:the mainstream narrative about China.
Speaker:But having said that, and I really don't like David Spears on Insiders, but having
Speaker:said that, he was particularly good with the guy from the Institute of Public
Speaker:Affairs, can't remember his name, but have a listen to this clip as He really gets
Speaker:hold of this guy and he's well prepared and this is how, we had one last week
Speaker:with the, the spokesperson in the U.
Speaker:S.
Speaker:was confronted by the reporter and said, you're talking about
Speaker:declassified information, what, what declassified information?
Speaker:And the spokesperson said, I just gave it to you.
Speaker:And he said, well, you just said it.
Speaker:That's not proof.
Speaker:You're just saying it.
Speaker:And we're sort of watching and listening to that and thinking.
Speaker:That was good.
Speaker:We should have a bit more of that.
Speaker:And on this occasion, I have to give full marks to Spears and how he handled
Speaker:It'll come to me at the end of the clip.
Speaker:I'll play this one.
Speaker:Alright, let's talk about Richard Marles then.
Speaker:The Prime Minister called him a Manchurian candidate.
Speaker:You disagree?
Speaker:Oh, of course he's not a Manchurian candidate, and the Prime Minister
Speaker:very quickly withdrew that comment.
Speaker:I note when Anthony Albanese made the same comment a day later towards the
Speaker:Prime Minister, he didn't withdraw it.
Speaker:So I think the Labor Party's outrage over this is confected.
Speaker:I think what we know is happening here, David, is that the Labor Party has the
Speaker:most left wing leader since Scott Whitlam.
Speaker:They're very sensitive about their weakness on China and
Speaker:they're very uncomfortable with that now being pointed out.
Speaker:We'll come to that, but do you have any concerns about Richard Marles?
Speaker:No, I don't have any concerns about his loyalty to Australia.
Speaker:I think he gave a very bad speech in Beijing in September 2019.
Speaker:What was wrong with the speech?
Speaker:Well, he proposed that there should be closer military
Speaker:cooperation between Australia and the People's Liberation Army.
Speaker:That's the same People's Liberation Army that's out there aiming
Speaker:lasers at our Royal Australian Air Force pilots right now.
Speaker:Well he said in that speech that Australia and China should explore quote political
Speaker:cooperation and even defence cooperation.
Speaker:What's wrong about that?
Speaker:I think we shouldn't be cooperating with what has become a very serious
Speaker:strategic adversary that is trying to coerce and intimidate Australia.
Speaker:Because a month after he gave that speech, the Defence Department issued
Speaker:this press release announcing the next round of military exercises
Speaker:with China, Operation Pandaroo.
Speaker:These are military exercises your government, the
Speaker:coalition government, began.
Speaker:How come it's bad for Labor to suggest it, but okay for your side to do it?
Speaker:They were long standing, pre existing arrangements in what
Speaker:Richard Miles is suggesting.
Speaker:They began under the Coalition, yeah, in 2015.
Speaker:Yes, but they were long standing, long before Richard Miles speech, and what he
Speaker:was suggesting is we should take it up an extra tempo, we should increase it even
Speaker:further on a political and military level.
Speaker:I'm not sure if you're verballing him there, Senator, I've got the quotes.
Speaker:He said, Our starting point Has to be that we respect China, deeply
Speaker:value our relationship with China.
Speaker:We must seek to build it and not just in economic terms but also through
Speaker:exploring political cooperation and even defence cooperation.
Speaker:He's not saying off the tempo on military exercises.
Speaker:I think it's very clear he was.
Speaker:Why else would he make reference to it?
Speaker:If all he was saying, David, is we should just continue what we've already been
Speaker:doing, then why did he say it at all?
Speaker:And why has it never been posted on his website?
Speaker:Today, the only place you can read Richard Myles speech is on my website, not on his.
Speaker:Don't you think that that's a bit strange?
Speaker:Don't you think that he's obviously embarrassed about something in that
Speaker:speech and doesn't want to talk about it?
Speaker:Should the Prime Minister post everything, all the speeches he gives on his website?
Speaker:I don't know, I don't run the Prime Minister's website.
Speaker:It's up to him to post what he wants to post.
Speaker:But I think it's strange that Richard Myles hasn't posted it still today.
Speaker:Should he, the PM, perhaps post his speech he gave to the
Speaker:Christian Churches Congress?
Speaker:That's a matter for the PM, I doubt it.
Speaker:That was good preparation, obviously, in that interview.
Speaker:Somebody had finally, a journalist had finally done some preparation,
Speaker:had anticipated the answers.
Speaker:And was ready, some good probing questions, and wasn't
Speaker:going to take bullshit.
Speaker:And where he tried to verbal, Miles, he said, No, that's not what he said.
Speaker:I've got it right here.
Speaker:Like, that's what they should all be doing, all the time.
Speaker:I thought that was, that was good work.
Speaker:James Patterson was.
Speaker:And also saying, hang on, should the, the Prime Minister be publishing his
Speaker:speeches to the Christian churches?
Speaker:Great, like, that was really good stuff.
Speaker:Really good stuff.
Speaker:And it shines out like a beacon, because we just don't get it often enough.
Speaker:But yeah, it shows it can be done, and I thought that was outstanding.
Speaker:And, you know, it even showed things like, the Defence Department announced
Speaker:Pandaroo military exercises, like we used to be doing military exercises with the
Speaker:Chinese, under the Liberal government.
Speaker:I'm just shocked by the name.
Speaker:Pandaroo.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:Pandaroo.
Speaker:Yeah, I hadn't thought of it, you're right, Pandaroo.
Speaker:Panda, Kangaroo.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:I mean, seriously, guys.
Speaker:Operation Pandaroo.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:That is good.
Speaker:There we go.
Speaker:Good work.
Speaker:Spears, more of that please from the ABC and for other journalists.
Speaker:Do some homework, anticipate the answers, have the quotes on
Speaker:a piece of paper ready to go.
Speaker:Don't accept the bullshit.
Speaker:Stay off Twitter for a day and just read and prepare.
Speaker:Alright, that's China.
Speaker:Oh, just the other thing.
Speaker:And the whole, the Liberals were the guys in charge when the Northern
Speaker:Territory Government sold the port of Darwin to a Chinese company.
Speaker:Scott Morrison was the treasurer.
Speaker:I mean, he was the one who could have, with the Foreign Investment
Speaker:Review Board, kiboshed it.
Speaker:I mean.
Speaker:The federal government will try and say it was their decision, not ours,
Speaker:but it was a territory government.
Speaker:The Commonwealth can override the Territory whenever it likes, and you
Speaker:might remember that when the Territory decided that um, Long Tree Sister dying
Speaker:was a good idea, and passed laws, Kevin Andrews in the federal government said,
Speaker:Oh, we can't have that, and quickly passed some laws overriding the state Territory.
Speaker:And also Victoria with the Belt and Roads.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yep, all in favour of that.
Speaker:Like, there's any number of classic examples where Morrison
Speaker:himself was the treasurer, was part of the cabinet at the time.
Speaker:This is not ancient history.
Speaker:It's very recent history.
Speaker:Just how desperate they are to try and pick this as a
Speaker:topic to run an election on.
Speaker:Now, Ukraine, I had some stuff which who knows what's gonna happen there
Speaker:in terms of the Donbass and whatever.
Speaker:You know, the military industrial complex will be very happy.
Speaker:Because it just means more reason to spend more money on arms,
Speaker:so that'll be good for them.
Speaker:And, so yeah, it's been very difficult to get the mainstream media to speak
Speaker:properly on China, or to hear a full contextual position on the Ukraine.
Speaker:Even something as simple as Sydney's train debacle yesterday, the Sydney
Speaker:Morning Herald, like Sydney's premier newspaper, was describing it as
Speaker:being caused by a union strike.
Speaker:And it was not the result of the union strike.
Speaker:The union said, we've got drivers, we're ready, we're willing and we're able to
Speaker:run the network as we normally would.
Speaker:It was the government.
Speaker:Who pulled the pin and stopped the trains, not the unions.
Speaker:But the Sydney Morning Herald was running it and calling it
Speaker:a union strike that caused it.
Speaker:So, I mean, we've come to a point where we expect Anything from the Murdoch papers.
Speaker:There used to be a time when you could trust the Fairfax
Speaker:media, but that's since changed.
Speaker:Since Nine took over Fairfax and we had Costello in charge of the whole thing.
Speaker:Like, they've gone down the tube.
Speaker:As I said before, often the ABC is quite weak on things and is
Speaker:just repeating LNP press releases.
Speaker:Have you ever corrected the fact that The Liberals are not
Speaker:the better economic managers?
Speaker:No, not in the mainstream, no.
Speaker:I can't think of any, you know, not even the ABC has fat checked.
Speaker:No, you won't see any of that.
Speaker:So, we've got to, I think, look outside the mainstream media as to What other
Speaker:options are there for getting information?
Speaker:And, it's not just about accurate reporting, it's about the topics that
Speaker:they choose to report or, or not report.
Speaker:I mean, really, the ABC, what the hell were you doing reporting on Scomo washing
Speaker:the hair of that woman in a salon?
Speaker:Like, when you saw that, you should have walked out the door
Speaker:and said, we're not reporting that.
Speaker:This is not news.
Speaker:This is just some crazy stuff.
Speaker:He leaves his son in Hawaii.
Speaker:Yes, yeah, the fake son, yes.
Speaker:They did do that.
Speaker:60 Minutes, of course, used to be a great program.
Speaker:Long time ago.
Speaker:Now they've got his puff piece.
Speaker:Things like when he walks into a factory and starts doing some amateur welding.
Speaker:There shouldn't be cameras there.
Speaker:Just don't go.
Speaker:As soon as you see him put on a high vis vest, turn the other way.
Speaker:Don't show it.
Speaker:ABC, these guys have screwed you over for years.
Speaker:Why would you help them out?
Speaker:Why?
Speaker:Because if they don't, they're going to be even nastier.
Speaker:That's what they're afraid of, but let them be nastier.
Speaker:So He would have actually had a very tough night the next night at about
Speaker:2am, Scott Morrison, after that welding.
Speaker:You get a flash and Did he not wear his glasses?
Speaker:Oh, he, he, you haven't seen it?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:Oh, of course, because you don't watch the news.
Speaker:He was at this place, they put a welder's protective mask on him, and
Speaker:it was the type that, that clicks on when the flash happens, so you look
Speaker:through, it's clear, and it automatically darkens when the flash happens.
Speaker:And the video shows him going up to the thing with the weld, and he
Speaker:lifts it up, tacks it, goes flash, and then he pulls it back down again.
Speaker:And you can do serious, well, you know, a flash like that, you'll wake
Speaker:up at two o'clock the next morning with just this, as if somebody's rubbing
Speaker:sandpaper on your eyes, apparently.
Speaker:So that's what would have happened to him the next day, and he would have had Eye
Speaker:drops and an aesthetic happening to him.
Speaker:I'll try and play that next week.
Speaker:It's just worth seeing because he looks so goofy doing it and his hand comes in
Speaker:from the side trying to stop him from lifting the thing but it's too late.
Speaker:You know, mainstream media, ABC at least, don't go.
Speaker:Don't show that shit.
Speaker:Don't pander to that.
Speaker:Part of it is what are they showing?
Speaker:Is it accurate?
Speaker:It's not so much is it accurate, but what are they even showing?
Speaker:Now I did hear an allegation, a rumour, that Frydenberg was
Speaker:pushing for a Liberal Party spell.
Speaker:Because he was worried.
Speaker:He basically didn't want Dutton to be the next Prime Minister.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So there was, there's, there's Join, get in the queue, right and vert.
Speaker:That Scotty is going to lose, and so dump him now, get Frydenberg in,
Speaker:just to stop Dutton taking over.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Well, at the rate they're both going, both of them will quite possibly not
Speaker:be in the next Parliament anyway.
Speaker:So, both Frydenberg and Dutton are in serious trouble.
Speaker:Oh, fingers crossed.
Speaker:I, yeah, I've been in this electorate for 17 years now, and every time they vote
Speaker:him back in, so I can't see him losing.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Anyway.
Speaker:Oh dear listener, what are we up to?
Speaker:8.
Speaker:35.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:I think there's a problem with mainstream media in terms of what they choose to
Speaker:talk about and then the accuracy and the context surrounding what they do
Speaker:report and really the question is where else can we get information to try and
Speaker:work out what's going on in this world?
Speaker:So, I think you need to have a combination of different things, books,
Speaker:yes, real books, independent news organisations, blogs, newsletters,
Speaker:podcasts, maybe follow some people on Twitter, maybe some things on YouTube.
Speaker:I think, I mean, when you, when you understand what Chomsky was saying about
Speaker:manufacturing consent, when you've got these large media organisations who
Speaker:rely on Advertising, then they have to produce stuff that will keep their
Speaker:advertisers happy and advertisers with lots of money don't like Articles
Speaker:that criticise people who have lots of money and might, for example, suggest
Speaker:taxing people with lots of money or regulating people with lots of money.
Speaker:People with power won't appreciate news items that talk about
Speaker:decreasing the power that they have.
Speaker:So, there's an inherent problem in that the large Media organisations, in order
Speaker:to sustain themselves, have to pander to a particular powerful group, and
Speaker:consequently we don't get the information we need about those powerful groups.
Speaker:That information can't come from those sources because they'll
Speaker:go out of business if they start criticising the hand that feeds them.
Speaker:So, it's really up to the smaller, independent sources as to getting
Speaker:information because they don't care.
Speaker:Like on this podcast, I have no sponsors that I need to worry about.
Speaker:But also I've seen a lot of who I thought were independent thinkers
Speaker:chasing the right wing money.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:In the last couple of years.
Speaker:Correct.
Speaker:People who used to seem to be rational.
Speaker:have been spouting more and more radical views.
Speaker:And I think that's to do with following the money.
Speaker:There's a large disaffected audience who are willing to throw money at these people
Speaker:as long as they spout from the hemp sheet.
Speaker:Correct.
Speaker:A classic example would be someone like Dave Rubin.
Speaker:Who had a sort of an online talk show where he was doing quite well
Speaker:interviewing the likes of Jordan Peterson and Sam Harris and a whole
Speaker:bunch of other people from the intellectual dark web in particular.
Speaker:And in order to maintain the support base that he developed, what he found
Speaker:was that the people who were paying him the most money were from the right.
Speaker:And if he was to do anything that would be leftish in any sense, then
Speaker:those people would abandon him.
Speaker:So he became more and more right pandering to a particular audience that he'd found.
Speaker:So this is where I still admire someone like Sam Harris because I
Speaker:still think he says things that are objectionable to that right wing.
Speaker:So he was You know, merciless in his scathing assessment
Speaker:of Trump along the whole way.
Speaker:So, he would have had a lot of potential Trump supporters and he would have
Speaker:lost a lot of supporters because of his continual rightful bashing of Trump,
Speaker:but Sam Harris was prepared to do it.
Speaker:But I think his model, and he talks about it often, is good because he
Speaker:does have a cross section and he's getting enough money from what he's
Speaker:doing that he Can feel that he can say whatever he wants to without it having
Speaker:a significant impact on his finance, so.
Speaker:Isn't he a university professor anyway?
Speaker:I don't think he does that anymore.
Speaker:I think he's just relying on sort of Patreon type stuff.
Speaker:Yep, and an app for meditation and Things like that.
Speaker:I don't think he does any of that stuff.
Speaker:You need people who are independent in the sense that they feel they
Speaker:can say things and it's not going to affect them financially, so they can
Speaker:be sort of fearless in saying stuff.
Speaker:And there is a risk that some of these commentators will naturally,
Speaker:maybe acquire, for example, a right wing audience, and, and because
Speaker:they get greedy, and they want more and more money, they will
Speaker:pander to that right wing audience.
Speaker:So even though, realistically, they could say whatever they like, they might lose
Speaker:a third of their audience overnight if they were to come out with something.
Speaker:Uh, of a strong leftish bent.
Speaker:So there is that.
Speaker:The most independent ones Or even a strong pro vaccine bent.
Speaker:Yes, yeah.
Speaker:The most independent ones you'll get, people doing it where it's
Speaker:not their source of income that they're actually relying on.
Speaker:Because If everybody disappeared from the Patreon because of something I'd
Speaker:said, well, big deal, like, you know.
Speaker:Yeah, or if you even, or at least be aware, like, not everyone's perfect
Speaker:because you'd say, okay, well, I know this guy's got a strong right
Speaker:wing audience or a strong left wing audience and maybe he says things.
Speaker:And, you know, maybe it's hard to find these people who are truly independent,
Speaker:and what you then have to do is pick one from the left and one from the right,
Speaker:so you hear from both sides for example.
Speaker:I remember growing up just listening to French radio, and
Speaker:it was interesting because their current affairs were just different.
Speaker:I was hearing about different parts of the world.
Speaker:So obviously the UK, I'd hear all about the former colonies,
Speaker:the former British colonies.
Speaker:But, France, I was hearing all about the, uh, independence
Speaker:movements in New Caledonia.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Which I heard nothing about in the UK.
Speaker:Sticking to mainstream media gives you a very narrow cross section, you know, it's
Speaker:not a cross section, it's a very narrow channel of what's going on in the world.
Speaker:Time to break out, dear listener, and time to explore some other sources.
Speaker:You can do this two ways, really.
Speaker:You can go onto these sites and subscribe to their newsletters, and
Speaker:your inbox will be filled with news.
Speaker:Emails from these groups, or you could use an RSS feed reader where
Speaker:you basically, do you use that, Joe?
Speaker:I see you nodding your head.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You use one?
Speaker:Which one do you use?
Speaker:I'm on a Mac, so it's a different one.
Speaker:I bought a bundle of software and I'm using News Explorer, it's called, but
Speaker:there's another one which was called, that was the name of some European city.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Which is an open source one.
Speaker:Okay, so there's different RSS feed readers out there, dear listener.
Speaker:I use one called InnoReader, which costs me a couple of dollars a
Speaker:month or something like that.
Speaker:So essentially if you find people that you want to follow, you can go
Speaker:into their blog, for example, and it teaches you, you just sort of subscribe
Speaker:and As they do blog posts, it'll all appear in this one sort of app that you
Speaker:can, it saves clogging up your inbox.
Speaker:I find it useful anyway, otherwise you start getting just
Speaker:dozens and dozens of emails.
Speaker:So, so think about that or just subscribe and start getting newsletters.
Speaker:So, in terms of blogs, top of the list, I'd have to say John Menardew Blog.
Speaker:If you are not subscribed to their newsletter, or you're not subscribed
Speaker:via an RSS feed reader, then Do it now.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:That's my RSS feed.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:So that Pearls and Irritations is the, so that picture of
Speaker:this shell is John Menehue.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:So, yep.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:And you, the way that it sort of appears in a magazine style
Speaker:format in your, in that app.
Speaker:So, and you can quickly read the headline, decide if it's an article
Speaker:you want to read or not read.
Speaker:So John Menehue blog, I think, um, well qualified people with
Speaker:good experience, particular on the China and Ukraine matters.
Speaker:People who are former diplomats, uh, people with real world experience
Speaker:giving their opinions and I find that, uh, a really good source.
Speaker:That'd be number one.
Speaker:It's free.
Speaker:It doesn't cost you anything.
Speaker:Second source of my favourite would be, would be Crikey at the moment.
Speaker:I'm really enjoying Crikey.
Speaker:I see it as a good independent source.
Speaker:And, of course, that's one that's a paid subscription, but it's not that expensive
Speaker:and definitely worth giving a go.
Speaker:For the number of articles you get, I think it's well worth the money.
Speaker:They did an excellent series on religious groups as well, not so long ago.
Speaker:I find they are obviously on the left side.
Speaker:But I think they're fair in their criticism of this shambolic Liberal
Speaker:government, and I think they'll be pretty fair in their condemnation of
Speaker:whatever the Labor Party gets up to when if, if and when it gets in next.
Speaker:So, John Menedubog, Crikey, that would be A really good starting
Speaker:point now in terms the conversation.
Speaker:The conversation I, I've stopped be hit and miss.
Speaker:I've stopped trawling through it.
Speaker:I found there's too many misses and not enough hits, and I found it a bit.
Speaker:Conversation is supposed to be articles by academics written in a style which
Speaker:is easily digestible for the layman, but I just found their stuff a bit.
Speaker:Week at the end of the day, quite often.
Speaker:So, I just went a long time without finding anything useful.
Speaker:I kind of dropped off with the conversation, but give that
Speaker:one a go, the conversation.
Speaker:Just on independent media.
Speaker:I mean, The Guardian is good.
Speaker:It's free.
Speaker:There's a thing called Independent Australia.
Speaker:It's a free.
Speaker:Place to go, website, sort of a news type website, has some good writers there.
Speaker:You were talking about earlier, Joe, Al Jazeera, you thought was not
Speaker:bad, provided it was not on Middle Eastern issues, was that right?
Speaker:Basically, yeah, I mean, it was certainly, when you're looking at
Speaker:European news or US news, it was a slightly, I wouldn't say unbiased,
Speaker:but certainly a different viewpoint than you'll hear in the Western media.
Speaker:And quite often you'll hear some of the backgrounds that Is less, less flattering.
Speaker:Worth giving a try, and you also mentioned, uh, Deutsche Welle, is it?
Speaker:Deutsche Welle.
Speaker:DW.
Speaker:com, which is German World Service.
Speaker:That's as sort of independent news organisations.
Speaker:Just getting back to blogs.
Speaker:So I mentioned John Menardieu, which is really a blog.
Speaker:Michael West is good.
Speaker:The Michael Hudson is good, if you want to talk about economics.
Speaker:He was the guy who I did the Super Imperialism.
Speaker:Episode on.
Speaker:He blogs about different things to do with economic issues.
Speaker:Yanis Varoufakis.
Speaker:There's a group called Mint Press News.
Speaker:So this maybe should appear under independent media rather than a blog,
Speaker:but Mint Press News is quite left wing, but you get lots of good stuff on there.
Speaker:And there's a lady called Caitlin Johnston.
Speaker:Have you heard of her, Joe?
Speaker:Caitlin Johnston?
Speaker:No, She's a blogger, and she's just got a really good turn of phrase,
Speaker:good writing style, a lot of it is bashing of imperialist America.
Speaker:So, she concentrates a lot on that, because as she sees it, it's the most
Speaker:important topic in the world, and you can't talk about it often enough.
Speaker:So, check out Caitlin Johnston.
Speaker:Have you heard of Bellingcat?
Speaker:I have.
Speaker:So they were, they were the group, they're open source journalism.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Or citizen journalism.
Speaker:And so they do a lot of internet searches and putting together things
Speaker:like photographs from a news event and then using Google Earth to look at where
Speaker:it is and what time of day, given the shadows and doing lots of So, um, I
Speaker:think that's research behind stories.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And they were the ones, if you remember the, who was the Russian opposition leader
Speaker:who got I can't remember his name, but he returned to Russia and got thrown in jail.
Speaker:That one?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:So they were involved in tracking down the FSB operatives and then got him
Speaker:to call up one of the guys Pretending he was a superior officer and asking
Speaker:them why the operation screwed up.
Speaker:And they recorded the whole conversation, it's a half an hour
Speaker:long conversation with this guy going, so what went wrong with the mission?
Speaker:How come you didn't kill him?
Speaker:And it was actually the guy they tried to kill asking these questions.
Speaker:And they're going, well, you know, everything went according to plan.
Speaker:We did everything we had to, we smeared the poison on his underwear and we
Speaker:went in afterwards to clean it up.
Speaker:And so they have this full confession.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Just didn't put enough poison in his underwear.
Speaker:I can't remember.
Speaker:Well, it was just, he collapsed in Germany and the German doctors were
Speaker:curious enough to just try something that managed to cancel the, an antidote.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:German efficiency is what.
Speaker:Is what brought them undone.
Speaker:Basically, but, and it was Russian inefficiency that undid the FSB.
Speaker:The corruption is so bad that you can buy the passport database.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And the FSB had bought a block or have been allocated a block of
Speaker:sequential numbers of passports.
Speaker:And so you go through these records and the addresses are
Speaker:all an FSB barracks in Moscow.
Speaker:Right, okay.
Speaker:So that's Belling, that's Bellingcat.
Speaker:Bellingcat, as in putting a bell on a cat.
Speaker:Bellingcat.
Speaker:Yep, alright, check that one out.
Speaker:Podcasts.
Speaker:Philip Adams Late Night Live still gets some good guests, but, um, it's patchy.
Speaker:I found one recently actually I quite liked called Decoding the Gurus.
Speaker:Have you heard of that one, Joe?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:So they look at so called gurus like Jordan Peterson and guys like that
Speaker:and basically Analyse what they are saying, and this Australian guy, well,
Speaker:there's an Australian guy and an Irish guy, the Irish guy's got this really
Speaker:strange staccato voice that's sort of off putting initially, but they're
Speaker:quite good, so decoding the gurus.
Speaker:If you are deciding you want to follow somebody like, heaven forbid,
Speaker:Jordan Peterson or, or, or someone like that, type in to Google before
Speaker:you start, you know, Jordan Peterson, Criticism, or anybody like this.
Speaker:It's just Type their name and criticism, and then see what the
Speaker:alternative story is before you get too far into following them.
Speaker:But, uh, Decoding the Gurus, not a bad podcast.
Speaker:And otherwise, I'm looking for a new podcast, because I can't, I've sort of
Speaker:fallen out of love with a lot of them.
Speaker:I've been listening to Behind the Bastards.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Which is more historical.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And they usually do a two episode per person.
Speaker:And so we've had Robert Baden Powell, who was the leader of the Boy Scout movement.
Speaker:The Percy Maxim, I think it was the inventor of the Maxim machine gun.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:But they've also had Jeff Bezos, more modern people as well.
Speaker:Is it American?
Speaker:So there's, it is American.
Speaker:And unfortunately the guy, the main presenter, who is a historian.
Speaker:Or at least an amateur historian generally invites a co host on with him, and
Speaker:the co host is a comedian, and they, they go off into little sidetracks,
Speaker:but the actual, the content is good.
Speaker:And they did, he did a six parter on his own, which was all about
Speaker:the January 6th insurrection.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And it was exploring the different groups and what led up to the insurrection.
Speaker:Okay, Behind the Bastards, I'll give that one a go.
Speaker:The Assault on America is the other episode, the other, and that's a That's
Speaker:the name of the podcast or the episode?
Speaker:No, The Assault on America is the name of the podcast.
Speaker:Okay, yep.
Speaker:It's um, eight, eight episodes long, and that's just about January 6th.
Speaker:Yeah, I was listening to Pep, the guys from Planet X, Planet
Speaker:America, Planet Extra, but Okay.
Speaker:Ah, yeah, this went on a bit too much, maybe a bit like what I'm doing right now.
Speaker:But, having said that, dear listener Like, at the end of the
Speaker:day, articles, blogs, podcasts.
Speaker:It's a little bit of, uh, fast food, really.
Speaker:It's a fast food hit.
Speaker:Really, books are where you're going to learn the most.
Speaker:And then you'll be able to put the fast food in its proper context.
Speaker:So, let's talk about some books that you should think about.
Speaker:And number one, I would reckon The Shock Doctrine by Naomi
Speaker:Klein was a really good one.
Speaker:It showed what's happened in Latin America and other countries.
Speaker:When disasters occur and the IMF comes in and international,
Speaker:multinational companies come in and basically rape the local population.
Speaker:Shocking and eye opening and a good read, so the Shock Doctrine by Naomi
Speaker:Klein would be A good one to start with in terms of understanding how
Speaker:power works, and I did a review of The Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevins.
Speaker:I quite liked that book, which was another example of just pure military
Speaker:skullduggery by America in terms of Indonesia, Chile, Guatemala.
Speaker:Excellent sort of demonstration of, of what's going on there.
Speaker:The Divide by Jason Hickel looked at, again, Latin American countries and
Speaker:how wealth has just been extracted from them and it's made it very
Speaker:difficult for them to get on their feet.
Speaker:The Global Cold War by Odd Arn Wested, not bad, really demonstrates that.
Speaker:A lot of the time the Soviet Union was basically, you know, the sort of myth
Speaker:is that the Soviet Union was, well it's not the myth, but the story is that the
Speaker:Soviet Union was really encouraging the Growth of communism in various communist
Speaker:friendly countries around the world.
Speaker:Domino theory.
Speaker:Yeah, and really in this book he explains a lot of the time the Soviet
Speaker:Union was telling these countries, slow down, don't do anything, just,
Speaker:you're not ready yet, don't do it.
Speaker:So, which is what, you know, they said to Mao as well, was Don't
Speaker:do it, you're not ready yet.
Speaker:So, you know, so much for sort of pushing communism.
Speaker:A lot of the time they're actually dissuading these communist
Speaker:cells from taking action.
Speaker:This view of life by David Sloane Wilson in terms of human biology is good.
Speaker:If you're not reading a book on the go all the time and you're
Speaker:just consuming articles then you're really just consuming fast food.
Speaker:You need some books and it'll give proper context to what's going
Speaker:on because we are being Misled.
Speaker:If you are watching mainstream media, you are not getting the context of
Speaker:what's happening, why these events are taking place, and you're not
Speaker:really understanding what's going on.
Speaker:Yeah, that would be my recommendation.
Speaker:Game of Mates is another book.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:For sort of political machinations, is that right?
Speaker:This is about corruption in politics, mostly local government,
Speaker:but is a Queensland uni and a Sydney uni professor who wrote it.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So it was, how do people get captured by the system?
Speaker:How do we, how do we fix it?
Speaker:Because, dear listener, I mean, we're in trouble, aren't we?
Speaker:I mean, we're in an information age where realistically so much information is
Speaker:available, but it's now being contaminated so much that we don't know what to trust.
Speaker:So the only way is to arm yourself with knowledge so that you can spot snake
Speaker:oil salesmen and avoid their arguments.
Speaker:And really the only way is to educate yourself and you're going to have to
Speaker:do it by breaking out of mainstream media where there is a natural
Speaker:incentive not to question existing power structures because they're the
Speaker:people paying the advertising fees and there's a conflict of interest there.
Speaker:Craig B.
Speaker:in the chat room says, Skeptic's Guide to the Universe, and yes, Craig has mentioned
Speaker:Behind the Bastards to me via some email.
Speaker:You haven't listened to Skeptic's Guide?
Speaker:guide to the universe.
Speaker:I, I'm across a lot of skeptics stuff and I'm actually in a Discord group
Speaker:with the UK Skeptics and so I get to hear a lot of the stuff firsthand by
Speaker:the time it gets onto Skeptics Guide.
Speaker:The same with Skeptics with a K, which is the Merseyside Skeptics group.
Speaker:They, they took a lot of science and critical thinking, but generally
Speaker:I've heard a lot of the information already in, in weekly discussions.
Speaker:And of course, my friend Cam Reilly with his various podcasts.
Speaker:Bullshit Factor and Bullshit Filter.
Speaker:Yeah, Bullshit Filter and the Cold War podcast.
Speaker:They're good as well.
Speaker:Like I mentioned those, otherwise Cam would never forgive me.
Speaker:Except he doesn't listen to this anyway, so he'd probably never know.
Speaker:All right, well that's enough rambling for this episode.
Speaker:Yeah, you've got the picture.
Speaker:We need to arm ourselves with information so that we can
Speaker:sort the wheat from the chaff.
Speaker:There's a lot of misinformation out there.
Speaker:There's a lot of things said and repeated.
Speaker:A lot of press releases from Scott Morrison that are just repeated
Speaker:verbatim, even on things like the ABC.
Speaker:And in order to get the context of why things are happening, we need to
Speaker:explore outside and create your own little custom made sources and A list of
Speaker:sources, and if you, if you can't find something independent, then grab a bit
Speaker:of left and a bit of right so that you can see what's happening on both sides.
Speaker:So, alright, we'll see you next week.
Speaker:Shay will be back as well, and we'll talk to you then.
Speaker:Bye for now.
Speaker:And it's a good night from him.
