1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:02,680 Welcome to Keith Knight. Don't tread on anyone in the 2 00:00:02,680 --> 00:00:06,120 Libertarian Institute. Here is my latest article at the 3 00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:10,680 Libertarian Institute titled In Defense of Humor's Progressive 4 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:14,200 Myths. In a blog post last month, 5 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:17,720 Doctor Tyler Cowen listed a number of books he is currently 6 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:20,920 reading and specifically mentioned a book which I think 7 00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:23,560 is one of the greatest intellectual achievements of all 8 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:25,480 time. Here's what Cowen said. 9 00:00:26,160 --> 00:00:28,120 Michael Humor, progressive myths. 10 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:32,000 Michael is a very smart philosopher, but this book 11 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:33,880 seemed like a waste of time to me. 12 00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:39,520 Will it persuade anyone? Do we need Michael writing seven 13 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:44,400 page essays rebutting various claims of the BLM movement and 14 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:47,520 the like? I invited Doctor Tyler Cowen 15 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:52,240 onto the Libertarian Institute podcast to discuss his objection 16 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:55,880 to Humor's progressive myths. He politely declined. 17 00:00:56,240 --> 00:00:59,520 I'd like to address Doctor Cowen, who has an open 18 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:02,880 invitation onto my podcast to defend himself anytime. 19 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:07,640 I don't know what metric Cowan uses to differentiate productive 20 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:11,920 books from unproductive books. Let's assume productivity can be 21 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:15,960 categorized as increased efficiency, attempting to pursue 22 00:01:15,960 --> 00:01:20,280 a given end, accounting for opportunity costs and benefits. 23 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:26,640 This book cost $12.00 on Amazon, is 245 pages, and is a complete 24 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:30,440 refutation of the progressive ideology on economic, 25 00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:34,080 philosophical, empirical, and historical grounds. 26 00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:38,200 Humor provides readers with the very low cost education 27 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:40,080 progressives pretend to offer us. 28 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:44,320 Progressive ideas are widely embraced by both Democrats and 29 00:01:44,320 --> 00:01:47,920 Republicans since it allows politicians to increase their 30 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:52,120 power and social status under the guise of helping society 31 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:56,400 while using involuntary investors taxpayers to bear the 32 00:01:56,400 --> 00:02:00,080 cost of their programs. This is why presidents such as 33 00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:04,080 Republican Teddy Roosevelt and Democrat Woodrow Wilson can 34 00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:09,240 historically be categorized as progressive, along with George W 35 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:12,600 Bush and Barack Obama. Today, all four presidents 36 00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:16,920 drastically increase the size and scope of government under 37 00:02:16,920 --> 00:02:19,200 the guise of helping the vulnerable masses. 38 00:02:19,640 --> 00:02:22,640 Every basic tenant of progressivism has been fully 39 00:02:22,640 --> 00:02:25,120 embraced by both parties for more than a century. 40 00:02:25,600 --> 00:02:29,840 If Republicans or moderate Democrats were not progressive, 41 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:33,680 we'd see the following drastic decreases in government spending 42 00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:36,080 year after year. We, of course, see the opposite, 43 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:37,960 regardless of which party is in power. 44 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:41,040 Abolition of numerous regulatory agencies. 45 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:43,960 Abolition of Teddy Roosevelt's antitrust laws. 46 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:47,920 Universal school choice with the plan to fully voluntarize all 47 00:02:47,920 --> 00:02:50,520 education. Privatization of food stamp 48 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:52,600 programs. Abolition of Franklin 49 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:55,760 Roosevelt's minimum wage. Abolition of Woodrow Wilson's 50 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:58,320 income tax. Abolition of Woodrow Wilson's 51 00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:01,400 Federal Reserve. Abolition of the Department of 52 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:05,240 Education. No, Doctor Cowan, your time is 53 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:10,000 not being wasted when, for a monetary cost of $12.00 and an 54 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:14,680 opportunity cost of roughly 8 hours 1.5 days of school, you 55 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:18,560 get to see through a century of lies being promoted by the most 56 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:22,160 powerful people on earth. My time is not wasted when 57 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:25,920 decades of Humor's research is summarized for readers like me. 58 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:29,560 Humor's ability to save people time is astounding. 59 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:33,240 You could spend 1000 hours watching mainstream news and 60 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:37,520 never learn about the important empirical evidence humor brings 61 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:40,960 to light. On page 189, humor addresses a 62 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:43,680 claim few, if any, are familiar with. 63 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:48,800 How could masking possibly increase the spread of disease? 64 00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:53,200 Most people also wear the same mask repeatedly for many days, 65 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:56,480 so pathogens may accumulate in the mask. 66 00:03:56,760 --> 00:04:00,520 This is a particular problem with cloth masks, which many 67 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:04,600 people wore during the pandemic. Indeed, one study found that 68 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:10,200 cloth masks caused a nearly sevenfold increase in the risk 69 00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:14,280 of influenza like illness compared to wearing no mask. 70 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:18,200 He mentions this after quoting Doctor Anthony Fauci on 60 71 00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:22,400 Minutes in March of 2020. Right now in the United States, 72 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:24,800 people should not be walking around with masks. 73 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:27,720 There's no reason to be walking around with a mask. 74 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:31,600 Consider Humor's refutation of the entire concept that 75 00:04:31,840 --> 00:04:36,320 billionaires are people with bank accounts hoarding billions 76 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:40,320 of stationary dollars. Jeff Bezos, for example, does 77 00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:44,440 not have $200 billion sitting in a bank account. 78 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:48,080 Rather, he owns a large stake in Amazon. 79 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:52,680 When you read that Bezos is worth $200 billion, that is 80 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:57,720 based on the current Amazon stock price and the portion of 81 00:04:57,720 --> 00:05:02,560 the company that he owns. Having the opportunity to 82 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:07,000 clearly see the world around you at a microscopic cost is not a 83 00:05:07,280 --> 00:05:10,480 waste of time. Ever since I lost my crystal 84 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:13,640 ball, I've been unable to see the future and determine what 85 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:16,200 will persuade who and to what degree. 86 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:19,640 I can say with a high degree of confidence that the chance of 87 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:23,320 humanity being de bamboozled from the wealth destructing, 88 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:26,680 divisive death cult of progressivism is higher than it 89 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:29,800 otherwise would be. When we have professors with pH 90 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:33,320 DS debunking progressive conspiracy theories regarding 91 00:05:33,440 --> 00:05:38,080 the economy, race, American history and gender, The 92 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:40,880 economist should be quick to ask, compared to what? 93 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:43,160 How are people usually persuaded? 94 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:46,520 White papers that are read only by peer reviewers and policy 95 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:49,360 wonks? Online videos, academic books, 96 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:52,920 blog posts, tweets? What is the right way to 97 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:56,200 persuade people out of 12 years of progressive indoctrination, 98 00:05:56,400 --> 00:05:59,680 followed by four years of progressive ideas dominating 99 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:03,120 universities, followed by a life where the entire corporate press 100 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:06,680 defends every welfare policy and regulatory department under the 101 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:10,600 sun? Many people will be persuaded by 102 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:12,800 progressive myths for three reasons. 103 00:06:13,280 --> 00:06:17,240 First, social proof or the tendency for humans to do what 104 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:20,600 others are already doing. The more people who 105 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:24,600 unapologetically hold the anti progressive position, the more 106 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:28,840 people will feel welcome to embrace anti progressive ideas 107 00:06:28,840 --> 00:06:32,760 such as free markets or decriminalization of all 108 00:06:32,760 --> 00:06:35,280 economic activity between consenting adults. 109 00:06:35,800 --> 00:06:39,000 Second. Authority or the human tendency 110 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:41,880 for people to trust those with a high social status. 111 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:45,880 Having a published, well documented book by a PhD 112 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:49,720 philosopher increases the legitimacy of his thesis in the 113 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:53,920 minds of many that progressivism is primarily a mythical belief 114 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:57,160 system. Third, the documentation is so 115 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:00,920 overwhelming in the economic section alone, it is very likely 116 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:04,240 to drastically increase the amount of insecurity 117 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:07,840 progressives hold in their positions, thus decreasing the 118 00:07:07,840 --> 00:07:10,320 confidence they have in silencing critics. 119 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:15,680 Humor takes the poor get poorer concept and simply verifies if 120 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:17,920 the evidence proves or disproves this. 121 00:07:18,160 --> 00:07:23,480 From page 146 of Progressive Myths 2007 Treasury Department 122 00:07:23,480 --> 00:07:28,640 report tracked individuals from 1996 to 2005. 123 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:33,320 It found that 58% of people who started out in the bottom 124 00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:39,320 quintile of income earners in 1996 had moved up to a higher 125 00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:43,840 quintile by 2005. In two sentences, humor debunks 126 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:47,200 the generational wealth conspiracy theory that almost 127 00:07:47,240 --> 00:07:50,760 every progressive believes. Consider his debunking of the 128 00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:53,840 Rich Don't Pay taxes myth from page 155. 129 00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:58,800 In case you're wondering about the notorious top 1% of income 130 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:03,240 earners, despite comprising only 1% of the population, they 131 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:07,440 shoulder 1/3 of the entire net tax burden. 132 00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:12,240 Yes, the book is persuasive and likely to persuade people who 133 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:15,560 already see progressive mascots like Bernie Sanders and 134 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:19,160 Alexandria Ocasio Cortez as complete sellouts. 135 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:22,680 Allen asks whether or not we need narratives like the Black 136 00:08:22,680 --> 00:08:25,320 Lives Matter movement. Refuted Need. 137 00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:31,000 It's not a matter of needing X, it's a matter of is X true, and 138 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:35,440 will more people understanding X to be true be beneficial to 139 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:37,520 readers and the general population? 140 00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:41,320 The Black Lives Matter movement rioted, looted and assaulted for 141 00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:45,680 months in the summer of 2020, victimizing innocent and 142 00:08:45,680 --> 00:08:48,840 powerless people when they were mad at the US government police 143 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:51,120 force. Conservatives on the other hand, 144 00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:54,240 when they were mad at the government, flew to Washington 145 00:08:54,240 --> 00:08:57,920 DC and stormed the Capitol building, taking on the most 146 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:02,120 powerful people in society responsible for so many ills. 147 00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:06,440 Now do you see why the American establishment pushes the BLM 148 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:10,200 narrative happily while calling January 6th the worst thing 149 00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:12,560 since the crimes of the Mongolian Empire? 150 00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:18,240 Imagine raising a male child and saying to the child five times a 151 00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:21,760 day you are discriminated against as a male. 152 00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:26,920 You are 50% of the population, yet 95.5% of those killed by 153 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:31,200 police, 90% of workplace deaths, and the only gender that must 154 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:34,560 register for military, slavery, conscription and selective 155 00:09:34,560 --> 00:09:37,720 service. You must fight the white male, 156 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:42,360 Asian woman pay gap with every fiber of your being since Asian 157 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:46,400 men make more than white women. You must riot and loot every 158 00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:48,920 time a male is killed by the police. 159 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:51,920 Don't try to improve your skills, don't get on the job 160 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:55,680 training, don't show up on time or be a good person in general. 161 00:09:55,880 --> 00:09:58,400 The problem has nothing to do with your behavior. 162 00:09:58,560 --> 00:10:02,680 The problem is the system. No sane parent would raise their 163 00:10:02,680 --> 00:10:06,880 son this way, yet it is how progressives wish for women and 164 00:10:06,880 --> 00:10:08,720 non whites to view the world around them. 165 00:10:09,560 --> 00:10:12,400 Thankfully, Japanese Americans didn't take the advice of 166 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:15,640 progressives, according to Thomas Soul in Civil Rights 167 00:10:15,640 --> 00:10:18,920 Rhetoric or Reality. Japanese immigrants to the 168 00:10:18,920 --> 00:10:22,720 United States also encountered persistent and escalating 169 00:10:22,720 --> 00:10:26,320 discrimination, culminating in their mass internment during 170 00:10:26,360 --> 00:10:30,240 World War 2. But by 1959 they had about equal 171 00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:35,080 the income of whites, and by 1969 Japanese American families 172 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:39,520 were earning nearly one third higher incomes than the average 173 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:43,000 American family. Apparently, Indian Americans and 174 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:46,840 Nigerian Americans have been able to dodge the white 175 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:50,680 supremacy of America by having income significantly higher than 176 00:10:50,680 --> 00:10:53,840 whites on average. If you had to guess how many 177 00:10:53,840 --> 00:10:57,400 people in general know the following quote from Progressive 178 00:10:57,400 --> 00:11:01,720 Myths, pages 58 to 59, the police killed far more whites 179 00:11:01,720 --> 00:11:04,600 than blacks. Here are some more unarmed 180 00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:06,640 people who were killed by police recently. 181 00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:11,760 Timothy Randall, Tyler Woodburn, Matthew Mitchell, John Ballmer, 182 00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:16,240 Richard Powell and Joseph Nagel. Jeffrey Glover, Klassen 183 00:11:16,240 --> 00:11:20,160 Crawford, Nicholas Roden. Those are all just from the year 184 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:23,800 2022. How many people saw the Dallas 185 00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:27,040 police murder Tony Temple by suffocating him to death on 186 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:29,000 camera? How many of your students? 187 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:32,280 Doctor Cowan can explain the disparity in the response by the 188 00:11:32,280 --> 00:11:36,200 corporate press between Tony Tempa and George Floyd. 189 00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:39,920 Do they even know Kelly Thomas was beaten to death on camera by 190 00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:42,320 police officers who were then acquitted? 191 00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:46,160 Consider that unarmed white woman Ashley Babbitt was 192 00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:49,600 murdered by a black officer on camera and there was not even a 193 00:11:49,600 --> 00:11:53,280 trial, let alone wall to wall media coverage and months of 194 00:11:53,280 --> 00:11:55,640 riots. Had they even heard the name 195 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:59,560 Justine Damond, the unarmed white woman who was fatally shot 196 00:11:59,560 --> 00:12:04,240 by 31 year old Somali American Minneapolis Police Department 197 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:09,160 officer Muhammad Noor after she had called 911 to report the 198 00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:12,800 possible assault of a woman in an alley behind her house? 199 00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:17,160 Humor ends with a heroic defense of America in general, giving 200 00:12:17,160 --> 00:12:21,600 Americans of both genders and all races a narrative to unify 201 00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:25,280 us in divisive times. Quoting from page 241 of 202 00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:29,160 Progressive Myths, Why does America have so much power? 203 00:12:29,480 --> 00:12:33,240 The answer is that America makes the most of human talents. 204 00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:37,160 The society does not guarantee you success, but it lets you 205 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:40,600 compete for success. Granted, not everyone has a 206 00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:44,320 perfectly equal opportunity, but the poor have much more 207 00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:47,880 opportunity in the US then in the vast majority of other 208 00:12:47,880 --> 00:12:50,080 societies today and throughout history. 209 00:12:51,080 --> 00:12:56,680 For those of us unwilling or unable to spend $100,000 and 210 00:12:56,680 --> 00:12:59,680 four years of our life at university only to be turned 211 00:12:59,680 --> 00:13:02,120 into a race baiting, economically illiterate 212 00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:06,080 Bolshevik Michael Humor gives us the economic and philosophical 213 00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:08,920 education I wish I would have had in school. 214 00:13:09,680 --> 00:13:12,040 Yes, Doctor Cowan, we need this book. 215 00:13:12,840 --> 00:13:16,280 I'm not sure why, in the face of a government which spends $6.27 216 00:13:16,280 --> 00:13:20,280 trillion a year, regulates all commercial interaction, taxes 217 00:13:20,280 --> 00:13:23,560 the income of productive people to subsidize parasitic behavior 218 00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:27,360 while provoking a third World War, Cowan would insult Humor's 219 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:31,360 heroic project of delegitimating the progressive worldview which 220 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:35,080 got us here. 1 theory is that humor did not take the boring, 221 00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:39,160 predictable establishment approach of Straussianing the 222 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:43,120 public into his thesis by shrewdly communicating in such a 223 00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:47,040 way that nudges the layman while dog whistling truths only 224 00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:51,200 academics can detect. Humor self published on Amazon, 225 00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:54,120 the company that has done more to improve the living standards 226 00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:57,000 of poor people than any progressive government program 227 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:00,120 could have ever conceived. By not going through traditional 228 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:04,000 roots, Humor was able to tell the truth, unapologetically 229 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:08,680 debunking conspiracies about racism, sexism, and the idea 230 00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:12,040 that the rich are out to get us. I'm eternally grateful for 231 00:14:12,040 --> 00:14:16,160 academics like Jason Brennan, Tom Woods, Brian Kaplan, Scott 232 00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:19,560 Horton, and Michael Humor who speak to the public in 233 00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:23,000 unapologetic terms they can understand on the most important 234 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:27,000 issues facing the human race. Thanks to everyone for watching 235 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:29,360 Keith Knight, Don't Tread on Anyone, and the Libertarian 236 00:14:29,360 --> 00:14:30,040 Institute.