Are affirmative action and racial-based policies efficacious in diminishing racial disparities in our society? This latest discussion investigates this contentious issue sifting through data from renowned institutions like Harvard and the University of North Carolina. We scrutinize the repercussions of policies implemented within the San Francisco School District, and the irony of increased disparities they unintentionally ushered in.
Shift the conversation to a divisive issue - gender reassignment for minors. We shed light on the ascension of gender-affirming care, and the dearth of research into its long-term effects. From the chronicles of the UK's gender clinics, social media's influence on young girls, to Jamie Reed's experiences in a pediatric gender clinic in Missouri, we navigate this intricate maze. We don't shy away from the delicate topic of detransitioning or the repercussions faced by those who've undergone gender-affirming procedures at an early age.
Finally, there is firm stand on the importance of open discourse around controversial issues. The suppression of dissenting opinions, the presumptuousness of a single acceptable viewpoint, and the need for civil discourse lie at the heart of our dialogue. As Jordan Peterson aptly puts it, the courage to think independently is what we all need. So, join us on this thought-provoking journey, challenge your perspectives, and broaden your understanding of these pivotal societal issues.
Jamie Reed article: https://www.thefp.com/p/i-thought-i-was-saving-trans-kids
Are affirmative action and racial-based policies efficacious in diminishing racial disparities in our society? This latest discussion investigates this contentious issue sifting through data from renowned institutions like Harvard and the University of North Carolina. We scrutinize the repercussions of policies implemented within the San Francisco School District, and the irony of increased disparities they unintentionally ushered in.
Shift the conversation to a divisive issue - gender reassignment for minors. We shed light on the ascension of gender-affirming care, and the dearth of research into its long-term effects. From the chronicles of the UK's gender clinics, social media's influence on young girls, to Jamie Reed's experiences in a pediatric gender clinic in Missouri, we navigate this intricate maze. We don't shy away from the delicate topic of detransitioning or the repercussions faced by those who've undergone gender-affirming procedures at an early age.
Finally, there is firm stand on the importance of open discourse around controversial issues. The suppression of dissenting opinions, the presumptuousness of a single acceptable viewpoint, and the need for civil discourse lie at the heart of our dialogue. As Jordan Peterson aptly puts it, the courage to think independently is what we all need. So, join us on this thought-provoking journey, challenge your perspectives, and broaden your understanding of these pivotal societal issues.
Jamie Reed article: https://www.thefp.com/p/i-thought-i-was-saving-trans-kids
The following mini-sode covers five controversial takes in modern society, and the point of this is not to be intentionally inflammatory or directly irritate people who may have and hold different beliefs, but rather spark a dialogue with maybe some of those people who are in strong disagreement of the following points. I spoke to Eric Scheidler he's the executive director of the pro-life action link back in December and so we had quite intriguing conversation and debate and I want to release that episode in tandem with a pro-choice organization, someone representing the opposing view. But after numerous inquiries there, nothing came through fruition, and that really just leads me to believe. If you're passionate and you're advocating about your beliefs, whether that just be on social media, even you should be confident, and confident enough to engage in open dialogue regarding them. So, with that, if anyone would like to continue on one or more of these topics, there is a guest form through the link in the Instagram bio.
Daniel Corcoran:At overcoming the divide, take number one affirmative action and racial based policies are unethical and ineffective at closing educational disparities. If you were to Google what affirmative action is, you would find definitions that seem quite reasonable, just and understandable. Affirmative action in the United States is the active effort to prove employment, educational and other opportunities from members of groups that have been subjected to discrimination. That is the definition from Britannica. I believe that is important reducing barriers and providing equal opportunity to people who have been historically marginalized and proponents of affirmative action would agree with this as well, pointing to the disparities in the quality of education as one justification for affirmative action. But their solution is where I have a fundamental disagreement and see as ineffective.
Daniel Corcoran:Affirmative action takes race into account when evaluating student applicants for university admissions. It puts an immutable characteristic at the forefront and merit, such as testing scores and GPA, to the back burner. One might say. Dan, this must be hyperbolic. How much of a role does it really play? Well, that's a fantastic question. One of the most prestigious universities in the country, one would guess, is Harvard. Harvard uses a desal ranking system for admitting their students, with 10 being the highest rank. When, using Harvard's own data, the students for fair admissions, sffa, who was the plaintiff in the Supreme Court case against affirmative action, spotlight in their brief that an Asian applicant in the eighth highest desal has a 5.1% acceptance rate to Harvard. That is, 7.5% for a white applicant, 22.5% for a Hispanic applicant and 44.5% fora black applicant, one would argue, or could, that this is Harvard. This is isolated. Well, in that same brief, they also showcased the University of North Carolina, unc, which had a similar trend with the race based admissions, and when looking at out of state applicants at the University of North Carolina, they saw an admission rate for 57, or of 57.87% for black candidates, 33.63% for Hispanic candidates, 15.87% for white ones and 15.51% for Asian applicants. On June 29, 2023, the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action and, even though your LinkedIn feed or virtue signaling peer may have you believe otherwise, this is not that controversial. According to a Pew Research study published April of last year, 87% of Republicans and 62% of Democrats say that race or ethnicity should not play a part in admission decisions, with about 60% or more agreeing with that statement as well across racial demographics.
Daniel Corcoran:Another utter failure of racially rooted policies comes from San Francisco. You now see, parents of the San Francisco School District are seeking to undo a math curriculum policy implemented in 2015. What is this policy? Well, officials of the San Francisco School District saw racial disparity in students enrolled in Algebra I and Honors Math in middle school, with that disparity continuing to increase. In high school. These high performing students were disproportionately Asian. In an attempt to equalize the playing field, the school district simply decided to take away Algebra classes for everyone till 9th grade. So Algebra classes, honors, math Taken Away till 9th grade for everyone. And one might be wondering why a student would even say want to take advanced math courses in middle school. I mean, I personally would never or would not as a kid. But it does allow these high performing students to say take Algebra II or Geometry the freshman year and put them on the right track for college and AP courses if they are interested in a career in STEM or engineering.
Daniel Corcoran:Well, the outcome of this ingenious policy is to be rather expected. The Fordham Institute reported on a study that drew data from 23,000 students in the school district. To reiterate, one of the primary goals of this policy was to reduce racial disparities in high school education. But after implementing this policy, you still saw white and Asian enrollment double of that for the black and Hispanic counterparts and precalculus, which is the typical course for juniors there. Now, altogether, course enrollment patterns shifted for the class of 2019. You saw 9th grade geometry enrollment fall by 45% points, from 52% to 10%, with Algebra 1 increasing by 53% points. In 10th grade, you saw Algebra 2 enrollment fall to 5%, originally from 35%, with Geometry enrollment increasing by 40%. Junior year you had Pre-calculus fall to 16% compared to 41%. Meanwhile, calculus enrollment remained sub 10% for Black and Hispanic students both before and after the policy.
Daniel Corcoran:So what did this policy really do? Stunt academic growth for students and help no one. No one whatsoever. So instead of performing a deep dive, understanding the why behind the racial disparity, then seeking to reduce that disparity by providing the students the means to succeed compared to their counterparts, they implement a name and policy and called it equity, in this case, equality of outcome. Now, it is also worth noting that the families who could afford it enrolled their children in expensive tutoring summer classes to make up for this educational gap, furthering the effects of a class divide. Now, I would not dare blame parents for that either, only wanting the best for their children, but it's still worth pointing out.
Daniel Corcoran:The issue of firm of action and like minded policies is seeking to solve requires a bottom up approach, not a top down which has a historic precedent to lift people above the poverty line and have real impact and representation matters, but to act if having diversity for the sake of diversity will solve the issues of lower socioeconomic classes, regardless of race, is nothing more than the virtue signal. Instead, it requires investing in, say, k through 12 education, and not by studying their academic growth, but rather a child tax credit to alleviate child hunger and economic development and, say, supporting private sector unions, as well as promoting a stable home life for a child, which plays a tremendous role in one's development and life trajectory altogether. At the end of this, fundamentally I cannot agree with putting it immutable characteristic such as race or sex ahead of merit. I believe diversity matters. Providing tools for equal opportunity to people who need them matters, and being open in accepting of different cultures and backgrounds matter. But firm of action and other policies like it are not only unpopular and ineffective but also unethical.
Daniel Corcoran:Take number two Do you? Us's efforts in the Ukrainian war are not aimed at providing a roadmap to peace and could escalate to nuclear war? If you have listened to any of the previous episodes that focus or featured the Ukrainian war, you could most likely deduce that, at a minimum, I am a skeptic of the US's efforts in the war and dissatisfied with the establishment quote establishment response. And what I mean by that is I do not believe the way we are prosecuting this war in Ukraine will lead to peace in the region. And before going further, I want to just quickly reiterate, for the people who are ready to jump on this, that Russia illegally started this war. There is no justification for what they have done, and that is in beta sovereign state. That is not irreconcilable and unjustifiable. Now, with that, the longer this war rages on, the worse it will be for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people.
Daniel Corcoran:The thing is from historical context. Russia does not fare too well in the first year or two of a major war, such as in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904, which the Japanese did quite well in the beginning but quickly sued for peace to solidify their gains, and then World War II, where, if it was not for Hitler's ego, moscow would have fallen to the Germans. But the thing about Russia is they have a massive industrial base and a massive population, and what I mean by that is Russia's population is about four times the size of Ukraine's, and they have the ability to draw on that population for soldiers on a continual time frame. They also have the ability to sell commodities such as oil to power their military efforts and economy, something Ukraine has neither of. And since they have neither of those. The US has been effectively backstopping their economy and war efforts in regards to supplies and arms, and therefore Russia sees us tied to all the Ukrainian operations in this war, and whether you personally agree with that or not does not matter, because that is simply how the Russians view it.
Daniel Corcoran:Now you also have General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, saying that the current counter offensive in Ukraine will take quote very long and be very, very bloody. That is in tandem with the mass amounts of reporting from outlets saying that the Ukrainian offensive, or counter offensive, is not going well. The loss of human life thus far and that which will continue is enough of a reason to realize this reality and push for negotiations in the future that will benefit Ukraine and her people. However, in addition to the conveyor belt of carnage, the lack of a large, fine populace and a sustaining industrial base is another major reason as to why I believe the US should be facilitating an off ramp instead of arming Ukraine with F-16s, which they could easily bomb the Russian interior with and that, along with a number of other things, could lead to the very real possibility of a nuclear exchange in Ukraine.
Daniel Corcoran:Just recently, cnn, among other outlets have reported that Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, stated in a telegram post that quote just imagine that the offensive in tandem with NATO succeeded and ended up with part of our land being taken away. Then we would have to use nuclear weapons by virtue of the stipulations of the Russian presidential decree. He continued quote there simply wouldn't be any other solution. Our enemies should pray to our fighters that they do not allow the world to go up in nuclear flames. Experts who arrogantly claim that is unlikely that Russia will utilize a nuclear weapon on the battlefield may be right today, but how about tomorrow or next month? There are now Ukrainian drone strikes in downtown Moscow. Now one wrong person gets killed, and no one has any idea of how that changes things and how Russia views the situation, which doesn't justify, once again, the way they view the situation, but has real consequences. Supporting Ukraine is the right thing to do, but so is pushing for peace in a war that has resulted in over 350,000 casualties already, according to Reuters.
Daniel Corcoran:I also need to quickly rebut the claim that this is about saving democracy, which the US government, along with other Western allies, have stayed quite a bit. I don't need to linger on this too long. But in essence it's not Look at Iraq, look at Nicaragua, iran with the shawl, cuba with Patista going back some of the years now. But that's not to say that American people don't care about democracy and their support for Ukraine isn't strongly rude in that. But the US government protects their international interests first and not democracy, and that makes sense to me. But even with that, I would argue our current efforts are not in our best international interests either. And one last question Would the US not support Ukraine if, hypothetically, it was non-democracy? Because I'm pretty sure the military industrial complex would say otherwise.
Daniel Corcoran:Take number 3. As a populace we are ill prepared for disaster and overly dependent on other entities, to quote save us. This past weekend I experienced something that had me thinking of the fragility of modern civility. This past weekend I lost power only for a day, but it was along with the entire area, and as I drove around to see what was open, all I really saw was darkness and buildings and people on the streets. As the power outage extended into Sunday, I went to get gas at the local station, but only to find I couldn't because the power was out. Thankfully, this outage was rather localized and I just had to simply drive 15 minutes to find a station with power, but all my drive over to that station it had me thinking what this outage Were to happen on a larger scale and for an extended period of time. Well, kind of already did. Everyone should remember the Texas snowstorm of 2021, which left 4.5 million homes and businesses without power for several days, and one data-driven report from BuzzFeed News found that a tragic 700 people died from this outage. That is much higher from the state's official count of 246. Also, not too long ago, we had this severe snowstorm in Buffalo, where several people tragically died in their cars.
Daniel Corcoran:Unfortunately, I know we can't prevent all of these tragedies and that they are simply a part of life to a degree, but what I will say, and am growing very strongly of, is that we as a society are, I'll, prepared for any kind of reasonably serious natural disaster or emergency. I've been contending with this thought for quite some time, specifically since listening to Mike Lover, the founder of fieldcraft survival, on the Joe Rogan podcast, and I would recommend everyone taking a listen to what Lover has to say, because it's simply mind-blowing. He points out that 46,000 Americans die each year from car accidents and that the national average emergency response time varies from like seven minutes to over 30 minutes. And in those dire, crucial minutes, how many people tragically bleed out or die partially due to blood loss? And with that same point, he spotlights a simple tool that can be life-saving to you, a love one or a stranger, which is a tourniquet, inexpensive and easy to use. Same thing with the people who are stuck in their car and frozen death or died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Having a sleeping bag or a heavy wool blanket or any kind of material that provides warmth to you Could be life-saving, as well as possessing the knowledge base To know to check if your exhaust pipe is covered if you are stuck in a snowstorm, on a routinely basis. These are some of the little things that can be done and save lives.
Daniel Corcoran:Results from a survey conducted by Wells Fargo found that 72% of respondents say that they or their families have been affected by a natural disaster and 71% admitted that they don't have a detailed emergency plan in the event of a natural disaster. And I am most certainly one of them. But becoming aware of this issue is the first step and I am not advocating for moving to North Dakota and living off the land, but rather realize this reality. Let me ask you a question too how many who died from some of these disasters just thought, hoped and prayed that someone would save them? And unfortunately that is not always the case, and sometimes only you can save you. And with closing this, I absolutely cannot ignore the fact that people almost killed each other Over toilet paper in the very early days of the pandemic. I only feel that this take is rather controversial, but simply lives beneath where most people view life and see society. So I do believe it is worth calling out and putting in this. Many so, and maybe we'll all have a couple ideas of now where to start.
Daniel Corcoran:Take number 4 Performing gender reassignment surgery on minors and prescribing them across. Sex hormones and PV blockers should be immediately halted in the United States. Before getting into the why and the evidence, I won't call out that. Obviously a child's suffering is heart wrenching and children suffering with gender dysphoria or any kind of number of issues Deserve nothing less than love, care and respect. But the current efforts of performing gender reassignment surgery on minors or prescribing them Lupron, a drug that was once used to castrate male sex offenders, is not the answer. Let's first take a look at the history.
Daniel Corcoran:Gender affirming care for minors is not a 21st century phenomenon. It did not happen just in the past couple years, when the word woke hit the United States and other places of the Western world. It actually dates back to 1920, when the Tavistock Clinic, named after its original location in Tavistock Square, london, saw their first patient a child. However, the clinic didn't focus on gender affirming care, but rather focused on military psychology and shell shock, now known as PTSD, and their children's department wasn't developed until 1948, in concert with the creation of the National Health Service in the UK, and gender identity and development services, commonly known as JIDS, wasn't established at Tavistock until 1989. What am I even talking about this clinic in the UK? What's the point of it? Until recently, they were the world's largest pediatric gender clinic and second oldest, and their history is not only revelating but also relates to us in the US.
Daniel Corcoran:Now, historically speaking, these clinics these gender pediatric clinics Solved predominately referrals for boys with lifelong gender dysphoria and gender incongruence. However, that changed in the 2010s. From 2009 to 2010, tavistock had 97 referrals for these services, which was a slight increase from the previous years and a continual increase from 1989, but by 2015-2016, this increased to 1400 referrals. That is, a 14 fold increase in less than a decade. Then, by 2017-2018, they had 2500 referrals. And now two thirds of the patients were girls, who did not have lifelong gender incongruence, but rather their distress started after the onset of puberty and were also suffering from other issues as well, such as eating disorders, suicidal ideation and anxiety. Well, what else happened in 2010s? So there is social media Instagram influencing, which we now all know negatively affects children's well-being and has a disproportionate pernicious effect on young girls. And I am well aware correlation does not equal causation, but I am simply pointing out the fact of the existence of this correlation. Now, the dramatic swing in patient demographic and referral size alone should cause concern.
Daniel Corcoran:In 2018, parents of the children being seen by this clinic alleged in a letter to the Board of Trustees that their children were being fast tracked through these quote life altering decisions. This resulted in a commission being established by Dr David Bell, who concluded in 2019 that the patients children were being prescribed these drugs quote After a few sessions and without proper investigation of their cases. Under pressure from transgender rights groups, bell exhorted the suspension of quote all experimental hormone treatments For children who wished to change their gender until there was better evidence of the outcomes. During this investigation, it was also uncovered that since 2016, 35 psychologists resigned from the clinic, with six citing quote over diagnosis for gender dysphoria and a push for early medical intervention. To have a stock, the only NHS gender clinic for children in England and Wales is planned to close March of 2024. The independent review led by Dr Hillary Cass condemned the clinic as quote not a safe or viable long term option. Unquote because these medical interventions are made on poor evidence and leave children at quote considerable risk for poor mental health.
Daniel Corcoran:And now let's turn our eyes to the other side of the Atlantic. However, instead of running through a historical timeline of gender affirming clinics here, I'd rather directly provide you with the story of Jamie Reed, who worked at a pediatric gender clinic in Missouri. Reed is a St Louis native, a queer woman married to a trans man, who raises two of her own biological children and is quote quickly left of Bernie Sanders. She has spent most of her life providing counsel to vulnerable populations and in 2018, she accepted a role as a case manager at the Washington University Transgender Center at St Louis Hospital. In an article published by the Free Press. Reed writes that the practices occurring at her clinic were quote morally and medically appalling. Her article calls out practices and observations that were eerily similar to Tavistock, including the sudden shift in patient demographic from young boys to teenage girls with no history of gender distress. The rushed protocols for providing medical intervention to children, saying that patients only needed one visit with a therapist to be approved for these drugs, and the hospital even provided the therapist a template on how to write a letter of support for the transition. Following that, they were off to see an endocrinologist to get their prescription.
Daniel Corcoran:She goes on to tell heartbreaking stories of detransitioners, transgender people who want to return to their birth gender. She detailed a young girl who came from an unstable home life and had a history of drug use who was put on puberty blockers at 16. Then, at 18, had both her breasts removed, known medically as a double mastectomy. Three months later, this poor girl called the Surgeon's Office and forming them. She was going back to her birth name and was using her pronouns. She told the nurse quote I want my breasts back. Riga is on, saying that they eventually tracked her down sometime later to make sure she was in decent mental health and they found out that she was now pregnant, renoted that she will never be able to breastfeed her child. I cannot provide justice to read story and I can only highly recommend taking a read of it yourself, which I'll link in the description below.
Daniel Corcoran:Now, proponents of this medical intervention and this type of care will cite studies highlighting the positive results in children who have received this type of care. What they don't do is lay out the significant limitations these studies often possess. The economist published an article on this point, quoting One problem is that those who abandoned a transition are likely to stop talking to their doctors and so disappear from the figures. Studies have reported detransition rates as those 1%, but three papers published in 2021 and 2022, which looked at patients in Britain and America's armed forces, found that between 7% and 30% of them stopped treatment within a few years, which is another concern in and of itself, because a number of these studies operate on a timeline of, say one, the five years when the effects of these surgical operations and medications have and may have lifelong consequences.
Daniel Corcoran:I'm quote the Durham Bachelor Children's Hospital in Portland, oregon, provides quote full spectrum of pediatric care unquote which includes these medical interventions. They have a handout sheet for a gender-affirming care for minors, specifically puberty blockers. In this sheet, there is a why take puberty blockers section and, to quote that now, going through puberty that does not match your gender identity may cause stress and concern. This can be severe for some people. Taking puberty blockers can stop the process. This can give you time to think about making more permanent decisions about your body.
Daniel Corcoran:We sometimes say that taking these medications is like pushing the pause button on puberty, but that's not really the case. There are studies that focus around prescribing children puberty blockers and the following steps and how those. What happens next, and one specifically from the Tavistock Clinic in 2011,. They launched a study on this too. They enrolled 44 children aged between 12 and 15 who are being treated for gender dysphoria on puberty blockers, and 43 out of the 44 participants, or 90%, elected to start treatment with cross sex hormones following this.
Daniel Corcoran:So, with this being the case, why is it widely advertised in society, among medical institutions, as a pause on puberty when, in reality, the children are moving forward in the process and it's not a pause, it's a stepping stone, and this should be known to the people in this realm. And this is where I become convinced that there are some, truly some bad faith actors in this and it's not just systems that are set up to fail children. My original take for this was providing gender performing surgery and prescribing puberty blockers to children is morally reprehensible and should be illegal, and a Parmi does feel that way, but another Parmi understands that I do not understand everything and I acknowledge a possibility that this could be beneficial to people, to children, in certain cases, but as it currently stands and a minimum, these practices need to be halted in the US because obviously something is going terribly wrong. Now, when it comes to consenting adults, I am largely a live and let live kind of person, aka libertarian, but for children that is not the case. I believe proponents of this type of gender affirming care have their beliefs rude and compassion. I truly do. Most people approach this issue with compassion and good faith, but compassion and good faith does not justify ignorance and oftentimes perpetuate an issue. And I'll close out with this to some of those people who may be on that side of the issue have you reviewed the data, have you read the stories and do you understand the long term consequences of these practices?
Daniel Corcoran:Final take there is a crisis among boys and men. That is often neglected and dismissed. I had a difficult time formulating the structure to discuss this issue, not from a lack of conviction or evidence that isn't there but rather the fact that society, even peers of mine, will scoff and reject any notion of this crisis, let alone issue. I originally wanted to throw data at the wall here. Did you know that 77% of suicides are committed by men and 9 million working-aged men are not working? But no, it won't be data that persuades society or these people, but rather tragedy, because that is when we are truly humbled.
Daniel Corcoran:And even though you may dismiss and scoff at everything, I may state I say these things for the men you care about in your life and their well-being, because you never know, as I said before, what some may be going through and one's dismissiveness to this issue and crisis will not resolve it. The existence of the other four issues discussed would never be questioned, regardless of what side of the aisle you fell on, and I've noticed that when discussing this issue, there's this zero-sum interpretation of it. For example, if I said boys and men need more role models, encouragement and support in society, that's all-matchly seen as women and girls need less, which is not the case whatsoever. Girls and women do need role models, encouragement and support, and so do men. One statement should not cancel out the other, for the simple truth at the end is men are struggling to, whether that be in education.
Daniel Corcoran:Citing the US Department of Education now, where you see those in the average high school district students with the highest GPA scores, the top 10%. Two-thirds of those students are girls and if you look at the bottom of that pool, the lowest GPA scores, two-thirds of those are boys. Looking at college enrollment, there's another 10% gender gap between men and women and a similar gap with those who graduate. There's now a wider gender gap in gang and college degree between men and women than there was in 1972 when Title IX went into effect. But with the other way around now, in looking past college, now in the workforce to play on that point earlier one in every nine men in their prime working years, that is, 25 to 54, have exited the workforce. That number compares to one in 50 in the 1950s and they're not spending more time with families. One in four fathers are actually not living with their children, and parents who do split up is much more likely that mothers gain custody, with one in three children not seeing their fathers at all only after a few years post-separation, which boys disproportionately suffer from. Kind of intuitive.
Daniel Corcoran:Touching again on men's suicide, george the Tim Men, a boys and men's health advocate, states to report that, stated that men's suicide isn't a mental health issue primarily, primarily that is, and they describe it as this rational decision when men can no longer deal with their life. These men who are committing suicide a large part of them are losing their jobs, their families and absorbent amounts of debt, and they see no other way out. Therefore, they unfortunately believe that this is their only choice. According to that same report, it also showed that these men who attempted suicide didn't consider themselves to be mentally unwell. A point that Chris Williamson has made in the past is when a man has an issue, he is told to talk about the problem rather patronizingly too, but that exists for no other group. Instead, billions of dollars of taxpayer money is spent, charities formulated and boards put together to solve this issue. It's the system, not the person, but it's not like that for everyone.
Daniel Corcoran:A man enters an immutable world. He himself is not good enough, that every form of aggression is toxic, that enjoying things like cigars is his insecurity showing, and this is exactly how actors like Andrew Tate appear. They fill a need but unfortunately are not what men need. The one the major appeals to Tate is he acknowledges the problem. You have major media outlets reporting that fitness is part of the alt-right and Tate is saying you should be fit and capable. What message does one think will resonate more with the larger male populace and just make more sense? However, tate unfortunately is not a moral person, has emotionally exploited women by his own account that is and has said ample amounts of abhorrent things.
Daniel Corcoran:Potatoes rise also points to another issue and that is the lack of male role models boys have. As I said earlier, there's this increase in fatherlessness and boys, also, stated earlier, suffer more from that, which can cause intergenerational issues. And there's also a vacancy in some of the other earliest role models that there are for people, which is teachers. Only 24% of teachers are male. That is down from 33% in the 1980s and that is expected to continue to drop. People talk about male-dominated fields I hear that phrase far too often, but no one points to female-dominated fields, such as in the health and education sectors. You see psychologists under the age of 30, only 5% of those are male, and you have male psychologists down from a decade ago, from 39% to 29%. But this is where I truly see opportunity. And for the men listening to this I would say not only is there opportunity, but also responsibility to be a role model for the people in your life. And this doesn't translate to buying your first Bugatti, but rather being a source of strength for the people around you.
Daniel Corcoran:And you start by doing the things you know you should be doing. I originally outlined oh, do this and do that. No, what do I know? You know what you should be doing and it's as simple as that. But if you don't know what those things are, at least consciously, you could try this Pearson exercise. You could take a seat in a quiet room and simply think of what you're doing in life as actively making your life worse, whether that be financially, socially, mentally or physically. Then think of what your life would look like if you were to fix those things, say. Then think what your life would look like if you weren't to fix those habits. Think on a three year, five year timeline and how your life would look if you were to let those habits, those bad habits, grow and continue.
Daniel Corcoran:Following that, you have to decide your pain, the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. And that doesn't mean that there's not failures. Even today, as I record this, I got way too late and put my entire schedule behind me. No-transcript. It's a day by day vow, and I won't dare say that this is easy. But it's necessary. And through your excellence, people in your life will look to you and not the andrutates of the world for guidance. And the question that comes to me time to time too, is who should you look to? Well, the people who offer you some sort of value in your life. I'll finally say this Ignore those who hold contempt for you and your values. Don't indulge them with your attention and words. Understand that the best revenge is not to be like them. Quote derotive of Marcus Aurelius.
Daniel Corcoran:To close out this mini-soad, a number of hot issues were discussed, all of which, I believe, have their respective place in civil discourse, and I truly appreciate the people who tuned in and listened to me discuss these contentious issues at length for quite some time, and I would also deeply appreciate your feedback, both positive and constructive A nicer word for critical.
Daniel Corcoran:I also strongly encourage people who are passionate about these topics to fill out the featured guest form through the Instagram bio at overcoming the divide, whether you're in agreement or disagreement, and one of the main reasons I want to focus on these topics is, I believe that there is an arrogance among institutions such as education, big business, just social atmospheres where people can make politically charged remarks, say from the left, aim at the right or any dissenting viewpoint, because they see, as there's no other appropriate opinion on the matter, that the striking down of affirmative action is obviously bad, and that's just how it is, without truly realizing that affirmative action, broadly speaking, isn't really that controversial to strike down, even though it is a controversial issue, I would say.
Daniel Corcoran:But this is exactly why I didn't discuss any topics where I just sent from on the right, such as ending the war on drugs along the death penalty, because I don't see them as simply controversial whatsoever to have in society. I strongly believe it's important to be able to discuss issues without having to be in agreement with the left or the far left's view of it, and I hope by creating this, at minimum I can encourage at least one person on the left or the right to say what they believe in, even if it may be controversial, because no opinion is above being questioned, and I'll close with this a Jordan Pearson quote which is quite classic for me In order to be able to think, you have to risk being offensive. Talk soon.