O TYM ODCINKU
Season 2 kicks off with a bang. Andy and Siobhán dive headfirst into a conversation that starts with echo chambers on social media and spirals (in true Why Not & What If fashion) into flags, racism, homelessness, ADHD, Covid resets, world peace, and why assumptions make an ass out of you and me.
From Andy’s raw story of being homeless in the French Alps to the uncomfortable reality of St George’s flags and what they’ve come to represent, this episode asks: how do we disagree without dehumanising? What’s the intent behind the symbols we see? And are we evolving fast enough for the world we’ve created?
It’s messy. It’s challenging. It’s occasionally unhinged. And it’s exactly why you came back for Season 2.
💬 Got a view, or a topic you want us to dive into? Email us at letstalk@whynotwhatif.com
.
Got a story or a view? Email letstalk@whynotwhatif.com
— we might do a follow-up episode with your takes.
POKAŻ NOTATKI 🔗
TRANSKRYPCJA 🔗
00:00:03.394 --> 00:00:05.176
Welcome to Why Not and What If.
00:00:06.179 --> 00:00:13.313
And I'm Siobhan Godden, a HR consultant, coach, and the one who listens through the noise to what really matters.
00:00:13.313 --> 00:00:16.298
Think of me as the calm to Andy's creative storm.
00:00:16.298 --> 00:00:17.821
Hi.
00:00:17.821 --> 00:00:24.582
This is Andy Cracknell, creative whirlwind, disruptor of dull thinking and allergic to doing things the usual way.
00:00:25.463 --> 00:00:25.963
Thanks Siobhan.
00:00:25.963 --> 00:00:28.827
I'm also a marketing and communications consultant.
00:00:28.827 --> 00:00:30.370
And this is...
00:00:30.629 --> 00:00:37.478
The podcast where we explore the messy, magical intersection of life, work, leadership and all the bits we're not supposed to talk about.
00:00:37.478 --> 00:00:38.960
Let's get into it.
00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:45.469
I think so too.
00:00:47.170 --> 00:00:48.956
that dropped you in it didn't
00:00:49.402 --> 00:00:50.173
it yeah
00:00:50.274 --> 00:00:52.115
So we're back for season two.
00:00:52.115 --> 00:00:54.938
Season one was an absolute hit.
00:00:54.938 --> 00:00:57.719
I can't believe that we got the audience levels we did.
00:00:57.719 --> 00:00:58.240
I know.
00:00:58.240 --> 00:00:59.341
For
00:00:59.722 --> 00:01:01.323
our little fledgling podcast.
00:01:01.323 --> 00:01:01.704
I know.
00:01:01.704 --> 00:01:02.243
Who knew?
00:01:02.243 --> 00:01:02.323
And
00:01:03.204 --> 00:01:07.088
the fact that we're season two means that we've not been, what's the word, cancelled.
00:01:07.088 --> 00:01:09.730
Yes.
00:01:09.730 --> 00:01:12.393
Which is actually what we're going to talk about today, isn't it?
00:01:12.393 --> 00:01:15.215
Because you've just said something quite profound.
00:01:15.215 --> 00:01:16.656
So do you want to run that again?
00:01:17.037 --> 00:01:18.457
And so did you.
00:01:18.457 --> 00:01:20.239
One of our off-air compliments.
00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:21.221
I'll
00:01:21.242 --> 00:01:28.474
tell you what, let me go back and I'll say what I said because it kind of leads into what you were saying.
00:01:28.474 --> 00:01:49.698
So I was saying that I was having a conversation with somebody yesterday about Life up to the point I went into the police, I lived in this cloud cuckoo world where I thought that everybody was caring and considerate and people didn't break the, you know, break rules or not break rules because I'm well known for breaking rules, but didn't, but didn't break the law and do all these horrific things.
00:01:50.439 --> 00:01:50.560
Yeah.
00:01:51.340 --> 00:02:15.109
And then when I went into the police, it was quite a, quite an awakening and a realization that actually the way I think and feel is, is definitely in the minority if it's not potentially quite, unique and then you throw adhd into the mix as well and that makes it even more interesting but then you came up with something that you heard so go on run run through what you was you said
00:02:15.849 --> 00:02:44.770
so we were saying how this is where we're shocked about what we see in social media sometimes with people's comments and you get into arguments with people and i also saw another thing on a on social media about how we should almost be put in sets like you are at school so that, you know, you got top set people discussing bottom set issues when there's none of their business, which I thought was quite amusing.
00:02:44.770 --> 00:02:57.341
But at a deeper level, I was listening to an interview with Jamelia Jamil and she's quite insightful, I find anyway, about how media works really.
00:02:57.341 --> 00:03:37.198
But she was saying how the problem we've got in society now is that we're not all seeing the same thing so you could I could be seeing something in the news or on social media very political and I'd have a very strong opinion about that somebody will have an opposite opinion and I'll be thinking how can you possibly think that and she raised the point that actually they're seeing something different to what I'm seeing because the way algorithms work and the way social media works your sense and fed information based on what you've already seen and responded to and reacted to.
00:03:37.198 --> 00:03:38.603
So actually...
00:03:38.603 --> 00:03:41.515
I've only got one lens now.
00:03:41.515 --> 00:03:43.378
So it's hard.
00:03:43.378 --> 00:03:45.161
You're not measuring the same thing anymore.
00:03:45.701 --> 00:03:51.368
No, and this is the silo effect or the echo chamber effect that you get on social media.
00:03:51.368 --> 00:03:54.954
I mean, there was a great example of this on our local Facebook group.
00:03:54.954 --> 00:04:02.944
There's a homeless individual that lives on the street, one of the main streets through our area.
00:04:02.985 --> 00:04:03.966
Yeah.
00:04:03.985 --> 00:04:05.427
He's got mental health problems.
00:04:06.028 --> 00:04:06.188
Right.
00:04:06.710 --> 00:04:18.773
And there was a post up about, how he had intimidated, sworn at a group of young girls and a woman that was with them.
00:04:18.773 --> 00:04:31.723
And you get the, what I refer to, and I shouldn't do this because it's political, but the Nigel Farage thugs coming out as a woodwork saying, let's beat him up.
00:04:31.723 --> 00:04:33.725
Let's go and do him in.
00:04:33.725 --> 00:04:36.988
How dare he treat women like this and blah, blah, blah.
00:04:36.988 --> 00:04:44.795
And I got really annoyed because absolutely what he did was unacceptable.
00:04:44.795 --> 00:04:47.119
Let's just be very, very clear about that.
00:04:47.119 --> 00:04:52.764
But not one of them was thinking about what was going on in the background for him.
00:04:52.764 --> 00:04:55.367
So why was he like that?
00:04:55.367 --> 00:05:05.317
So from my mind, and I'm very aware that this is just my view, but you have to separate the cause and effect.
00:05:05.317 --> 00:05:35.550
Now, the effect is he ended up having a go at a load of young girls and a woman and he intimidated them and he scared the crap out of them let's you know let's not mess about with it absolutely needs to be dealt with for that but the calls for violence to go and beat him up were just I mean they're animalistic those individuals don't even deserve to be labeled as human because you know who are they judged jury and executioner like excuse me what's going on there
00:05:35.571 --> 00:05:36.471
yeah
00:05:36.632 --> 00:05:43.226
that's coming from somebody who is married to a woman and has daughters so I I know exactly how I'd feel in that situation.
00:05:43.226 --> 00:05:46.680
I'd be absolutely raging about it, but I wouldn't go beating people up.
00:05:47.283 --> 00:05:47.485
No.
00:05:48.367 --> 00:05:49.533
But I...
00:05:49.533 --> 00:06:06.483
did some digging locally and found out that this individual's got serious psychological problems to the extent that he's been let down by the NHS, local NHS services.
00:06:06.483 --> 00:06:09.348
He's had problems with medication and everything else.
00:06:09.348 --> 00:06:13.396
So the question comes up about whose responsibility is he?
00:06:14.562 --> 00:06:14.862
Yeah.
00:06:15.122 --> 00:06:18.365
Now, as a society, he's our responsibility.
00:06:18.365 --> 00:06:28.817
Now, whether that's through the taxes we pay so that the NHS is there to support him or whether it's people checking in on him, helping him with food, whatever it might be, there's the moral standing there.
00:06:28.817 --> 00:06:34.043
But I went back to the argument and I'm like, I have never read...
00:06:34.043 --> 00:06:40.331
This isn't word for word, but the gist of it was I've never read such a bunch of ignorant responses to a post.
00:06:41.052 --> 00:06:41.172
Right.
00:06:41.172 --> 00:06:41.473
Like...
00:06:42.562 --> 00:06:44.944
Who are you lot to say, let's go and beat him up?
00:06:44.944 --> 00:06:49.148
Had any of you considered what might be going on in the background for him?
00:06:49.148 --> 00:06:51.149
Absolutely, what he did was abhorrent.
00:06:51.149 --> 00:06:54.331
You know, we don't tolerate that as a society.
00:06:54.331 --> 00:07:08.223
But if we just go around killing people or beating people up because they've done something wrong, every one of you in here that's responded to this would have had a kick in and would have been in hospital because you've all done something wrong at some point.
00:07:09.365 --> 00:07:10.225
Yeah, exactly.
00:07:10.225 --> 00:07:27.000
And it's that added of like it's a bit like when you look at America let's fight guns with guns it's that same mentality isn't it it's like well actually your behaviour is just as bad and actually the response should be something different not the same
00:07:27.021 --> 00:07:38.370
yeah so it got I mean that wasn't that wasn't all of it it got worse because then I was accused of defending and sticking up for somebody who goes around abusing women and then I started getting death threats
00:07:39.151 --> 00:07:40.812
no really wow
00:07:41.112 --> 00:07:44.536
people were saying oh, well, we'll come around and sort you out.
00:07:44.536 --> 00:07:45.418
You're the same as him.
00:07:45.418 --> 00:07:46.982
Let's beat you up, blah, blah, blah.
00:07:46.982 --> 00:07:49.687
And then I, so I just, and Emma went mental when I did this.
00:07:49.687 --> 00:07:51.771
So I just put a response back to this.
00:07:51.771 --> 00:07:53.656
This was all in a public forum as well.
00:07:53.656 --> 00:07:55.740
I just said, here's my address.
00:07:55.740 --> 00:07:57.684
And I put my address up.
00:07:58.204 --> 00:07:59.588
Oh, I wouldn't have done that.
00:07:59.588 --> 00:08:00.930
Oh, you're brave.
00:08:02.353 --> 00:08:07.767
But the thing is, is, in hindsight, it was a stupid thing to do.
00:08:07.767 --> 00:08:12.432
But at that point in time, this is the injustice part of ADHD.
00:08:12.432 --> 00:08:14.374
I was raging about it.
00:08:14.374 --> 00:08:16.035
And I was like, come on, bring it on.
00:08:16.035 --> 00:08:19.999
Let's see what happens and you'll all suffer the consequences.
00:08:19.999 --> 00:08:23.141
I knew damn well none of them would turn up because they're all keyboard
00:08:23.661 --> 00:08:23.822
warriors.
00:08:23.822 --> 00:08:24.862
And that's what I was going to say.
00:08:24.862 --> 00:08:30.427
We know the reality is these people are keyboard warriors and they wouldn't do anything in real life.
00:08:30.427 --> 00:08:34.951
It's all very easy to say these things when you're safe at home, isn't it?
00:08:35.152 --> 00:08:35.552
That's it.
00:08:35.552 --> 00:08:39.976
But I did get a very stern lecture from Emma about not putting us at risk.
00:08:39.976 --> 00:08:41.298
And she was right.
00:08:41.298 --> 00:08:42.539
I absolutely shouldn't have done it.
00:08:42.539 --> 00:08:43.660
But that was the point I got to.
00:08:43.660 --> 00:08:52.831
But anyway, the upshot was that I then, it was amazing because of the number of people who privately messaged me who said, yes, we know that guy.
00:08:52.831 --> 00:08:55.313
Yes, he's got this problem and that problem.
00:08:55.313 --> 00:09:01.539
And without giving too much information away, I got quite a lot of information about him and what was going on with him.
00:09:01.539 --> 00:09:02.441
Yeah.
00:09:02.441 --> 00:09:03.783
Police were aware of him.
00:09:03.783 --> 00:09:05.104
NHS supports him.
00:09:05.104 --> 00:09:07.525
services, psychology services were aware of him.
00:09:07.525 --> 00:09:15.732
And then I got a letter or a message on Facebook from somebody who works within the NHS.
00:09:15.732 --> 00:09:28.224
And she got in touch to say off the back of the post that was on Facebook and off of the back of the challenges that you put back to the community, we've been inundated with
00:09:28.683 --> 00:09:30.785
contact.
00:09:31.047 --> 00:09:34.649
They picked him up and he's now in a secure unit.
00:09:34.649 --> 00:09:36.208
Now.
00:09:36.208 --> 00:09:38.667
That's what should happen.
00:09:38.667 --> 00:09:46.193
So what should have happened was somebody should have put a post up saying, first of all, all women and girls be warned.
00:09:46.193 --> 00:09:49.636
There's this individual in this location and this is what he's done.
00:09:49.636 --> 00:09:50.857
End of, right?
00:09:50.857 --> 00:09:51.717
Be factual.
00:09:51.717 --> 00:10:01.687
If there's anybody in the community that works within NHS mental health or there are police or there's this, that or the rest of it, can we have a conversation about what's going on?
00:10:01.687 --> 00:10:03.308
Because this individual needs help.
00:10:03.308 --> 00:10:10.937
And we also need to make sure that the girls and the woman involved are okay and that there's no knock-on effect, you know, and that's managed.
00:10:10.937 --> 00:10:17.048
But it just turned into this echo chamber of, it was almost Nazi-like.
00:10:17.048 --> 00:10:20.754
It was like he's below community.
00:10:20.754 --> 00:10:21.855
He's substandard.
00:10:21.855 --> 00:10:23.018
He's not human.
00:10:23.018 --> 00:10:29.889
And I'm just sitting there thinking, and that was the other thing, because there was a point a long time ago where I ended up homeless.
00:10:29.889 --> 00:10:31.051
I was homeless for about...
00:10:31.051 --> 00:10:33.791
Eight weeks.
00:10:34.530 --> 00:10:34.851
Really?
00:10:34.851 --> 00:10:34.912
No,
00:10:35.211 --> 00:10:35.591
six weeks.
00:10:35.591 --> 00:10:36.753
This was in the French Alps.
00:10:36.753 --> 00:10:38.475
So I'd gone over there.
00:10:38.475 --> 00:10:40.096
This is the first rabbit hole now.
00:10:40.856 --> 00:10:41.277
Okay, yeah.
00:10:41.277 --> 00:10:43.678
This was in the French Alps.
00:10:43.678 --> 00:10:44.679
Okay.
00:10:45.380 --> 00:10:48.423
No, I'd gone over there and I took a career break.
00:10:48.423 --> 00:10:51.245
This was when my boss at LV said, look, you're burning out.
00:10:51.245 --> 00:10:52.866
You need to go and do something a bit mental.
00:10:52.866 --> 00:10:54.948
So take a year out, go and have a career break.
00:10:54.948 --> 00:11:07.019
So I applied for a job working as an operations manager for a small tour operator in France, which owned three chalets in Maribel and Courchevel so proper high-end stuff
00:11:07.480 --> 00:11:07.721
yeah
00:11:08.581 --> 00:11:35.750
and the gist of it was they screwed me over because the operations manager they had the year before they wanted back but he couldn't get there for the first three or four weeks pre-season but they told me they were keeping me on but they just wanted somebody out there just to get the ball rolling and then when he became available I then got dismissed and kicked out of the chalet I was living in nowhere to go nowhere to go no flight, no flight ticket home, nothing.
00:11:35.750 --> 00:11:40.495
So, and this is one of my proudest moments.
00:11:40.495 --> 00:11:50.547
I ended up living in a cave at about 1400 meters above sea level in, it's a place called La Pra, which is just outside of Courchevel.
00:11:50.547 --> 00:11:52.928
It's one of the villages further down the mountain.
00:11:52.969 --> 00:11:54.009
Right.
00:11:54.029 --> 00:12:04.041
And I spent two weeks, six hour walk every day there and back going up to Courchevel and round to Maribel to find work, knocking on chalet doors and bar and all this kind of stuff.
00:12:04.041 --> 00:12:07.225
And I managed to get another job, which lasted me for a little while.
00:12:07.225 --> 00:12:08.365
Wow.
00:12:08.365 --> 00:12:13.691
So I've been in that position where you're homeless, you've got nothing, you don't know how you're going to feed yourself.
00:12:13.691 --> 00:12:20.599
You're reliant on the mental support from people to keep you going.
00:12:20.599 --> 00:12:27.025
And I look back at it with massive fondness because when I say I lived in a cave, I literally lived in a cave.
00:12:27.025 --> 00:12:29.128
It was a rock overhang, which was filled with snow.
00:12:29.128 --> 00:12:30.730
And I just dug a bed into the snow.
00:12:30.730 --> 00:12:32.711
So snow is actually a great insulator.
00:12:32.711 --> 00:14:09.575
so if you dig a trench in the snow and you have a sleeping bag and stuff you really warm it was quite toasty at night and I used to just lie there and look at the stars and listen to all the animals and stuff running around in three and four feet of snow anyway so it really annoyed me because the point is is that these people were missing the obvious messages which were the guy's homeless he's not well he needs help know what he's done it's inexcusable it's like that chef that's recently been done and he's used autism as an excuse yeah it's not it's not it's not okay but they couldn't see past this vitriol and it was and you could see them whipping each other up it was just a want it was wanton violence and aggression and there were women coming in calling me misogynistic and sexist and you know you think women deserve a kicking and the second rate in society I'm like hang on a minute wait a minute I am not saying that but look at what all of you were saying about this individual who's ill eventually we got to the end result but I'm seeing this time in and time out and we're seeing it a lot in the press at the moment people go from 0 to 500 instantly there's no logical thought processes or no how do we fix this how do we make sure that everybody's okay how do we sort the problem out everybody is too willing to jump on the bandwagon blame the police blame the NHS blame this person and blame that person rather than actually stick their neck out and go, I know something about this, I can fix it, or I can help fix it.
00:14:10.176 --> 00:14:17.403
Well, the other prime example at the moment, and I don't know when this will go out, but at the moment there's a lot of talk about immigrants, isn't there?
00:14:17.403 --> 00:14:19.785
And they're to blame for everything, apparently.
00:14:19.785 --> 00:14:20.966
Let's blame immigrants.
00:14:20.966 --> 00:14:22.909
That's a really convenient excuse.
00:14:22.909 --> 00:14:29.697
And that's a really interesting point, actually, when we're looking at people's viewpoints and opinions.
00:14:29.697 --> 00:14:38.886
So all these flags that are going up, the moment what's what comes up for you when you see all these flags coming up
00:14:39.467 --> 00:14:48.038
it's despair because go
00:14:48.818 --> 00:14:49.058
on
00:14:49.519 --> 00:15:02.961
i was going to say it's despair because i still have this inherent belief that as a member of the human race we should be working together to fix our problems.
00:15:02.961 --> 00:15:17.009
But because of the influences of social media primarily in the media and and my eyes have really opened to the the slants in media you know over recent years
00:15:17.048 --> 00:15:17.769
yes
00:15:18.051 --> 00:15:33.144
got corrupt politicians you've got politicians that are out for line in their own pockets then there's you know you can even extend that to the royal family you can extend it to any level of society at that end They're all in it for themselves.
00:15:33.144 --> 00:15:34.667
Absolutely.
00:15:34.667 --> 00:15:36.470
Very side-slide track here.
00:15:36.470 --> 00:15:51.033
On my way up to an appointment yesterday, the thought went through my head, and it was because I was listening to James O'Brien on LBC doing his Mystery Hour thing, which he does on a Thursday, where people ring up with questions and other people ring in and answer it.
00:15:51.033 --> 00:15:56.321
If you take...
00:15:56.321 --> 00:16:01.655
let's just convert all the money in the world to GBP.
00:16:01.655 --> 00:16:02.779
So British pound.
00:16:02.779 --> 00:16:03.643
Okay.
00:16:03.643 --> 00:16:07.495
There's only so much money in the world, right?
00:16:08.238 --> 00:16:08.317
Yeah.
00:16:08.546 --> 00:16:17.374
All that we're doing in our day-to-day activity is shifting that money from one place to another, but it's all going in one direction, and that's up to the top.
00:16:17.374 --> 00:16:20.976
So the poorer are getting poorer, the richer are getting richer.
00:16:21.017 --> 00:16:21.957
That
00:16:22.217 --> 00:16:29.924
fundamentally goes against what we are as human beings, and that is community, that is...
00:16:29.965 --> 00:16:31.004
Animals.
00:16:31.706 --> 00:16:32.927
Yeah, and it's social.
00:16:32.927 --> 00:16:38.511
You see people like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and everything, and I've forgotten...
00:16:38.511 --> 00:16:40.573
what the word is, where they put money into...
00:16:40.614 --> 00:16:41.875
Philanthropy.
00:16:42.115 --> 00:16:44.639
That's it, philanthropy, where they put money back down the chain.
00:16:44.639 --> 00:16:47.662
Richard Branson's another good one for that and James Dyson.
00:16:47.662 --> 00:16:50.083
There's loads, right?
00:16:50.083 --> 00:17:18.875
But then when you look at the business people, which are the people that are never mentioned or spoken about, they're the ones, like the heads of the oil companies and the heads of the banks and all the finances and people, I'm sorry, not all, most finances that I know, they're all just raking the money in to keep it for themselves And they're sat in these multi-million pound houses laughing at the rest of society while they fly around in their helicopters and their private jets.
00:17:18.875 --> 00:17:21.518
And to me, that doesn't compute.
00:17:21.518 --> 00:17:29.906
It's like you could give away a lot of what you've got and still have the lifestyle you've got because they've got more money than they know what to do with.
00:17:30.446 --> 00:17:36.354
Yeah, and actually they make money off their money that means they don't need to make any more money themselves.
00:17:36.354 --> 00:17:38.215
They can give it away and still be earning.
00:17:38.215 --> 00:17:39.777
Yeah, absolutely.
00:17:39.777 --> 00:17:49.887
And I think a lot of this, like the riot, not riots, the protests that have been going on are driven by greed fundamentally.
00:17:49.887 --> 00:17:54.613
But the flag thing I find really interesting because I'm the same as you.
00:17:54.613 --> 00:17:58.156
I feel sad about it.
00:17:58.156 --> 00:18:01.980
I feel disappointed about it.
00:18:01.980 --> 00:18:11.310
But it has made me think a lot because I've spoken to a couple of people about this, a few people about this actually.
00:18:11.310 --> 00:18:13.952
And it's quite interesting.
00:18:13.952 --> 00:18:26.523
So I've got some friends who are slightly more extreme to me in the sense that they feel this is that extreme racism and it's awful and they want to go around and take all the flags down.
00:18:26.523 --> 00:18:28.726
I understand that emotion.
00:18:28.726 --> 00:18:34.550
Then they've got people like me who are just like, I don't like this.
00:18:34.550 --> 00:18:35.771
It feels really uncomfortable.
00:18:35.771 --> 00:18:38.334
It feels racist.
00:18:38.334 --> 00:18:40.708
but I'm going to educate myself about it.
00:18:40.708 --> 00:18:46.553
But interestingly, most of the people I've spoken to have been a bit more, I don't know.
00:18:46.553 --> 00:18:48.815
That's what they're saying is I don't know.
00:18:48.815 --> 00:18:53.759
But one guy was saying to me that, well, it's our flag.
00:18:53.759 --> 00:18:56.461
Why should it be racist?
00:18:56.461 --> 00:18:58.583
But it feels racist and I don't know why.
00:18:58.583 --> 00:19:10.536
And I also spoke to somebody who is an immigrant and because I was driving somewhere to do some learning and development and on this main road, There was St.
00:19:10.536 --> 00:19:14.385
George's flags everywhere, all down this main road, the most I've ever seen.
00:19:14.385 --> 00:19:16.951
And I was like, I found it really jarring.
00:19:16.951 --> 00:19:20.580
And I asked this person, how did you feel coming in?
00:19:20.580 --> 00:19:22.023
And she was like, what do you mean?
00:19:22.023 --> 00:19:23.488
I was like, with all the flags.
00:19:23.488 --> 00:19:26.007
She's like, yeah, what do you mean?
00:19:26.007 --> 00:19:28.348
I was like, how did that make you feel?
00:19:28.348 --> 00:19:30.371
She's like, I didn't really take any notice.
00:19:30.371 --> 00:19:31.912
I was like, interesting.
00:19:31.912 --> 00:19:36.875
So you didn't feel like it was like a dig at immigrants and things like that.
00:19:36.875 --> 00:19:37.717
She's like, is it?
00:19:37.717 --> 00:19:38.938
Is that what it's there for?
00:19:38.938 --> 00:19:40.940
She didn't see that at all.
00:19:40.940 --> 00:19:48.486
And I was like, well, that's interesting because you are an immigrant and you weren't feeling as despairing as I was.
00:19:48.486 --> 00:19:54.832
So then I was thinking, is this just because my newsfeed is being filled with this stuff?
00:19:54.832 --> 00:20:28.228
and there is nothing wrong with our flag right i go to i think some of this is a cultural thing i think we're just not flag flying people unless it's the world cup or something you know i went to america on holiday there's blimmin flags everywhere and i hate it i just find it all a bit icky and yeah and distasteful and we're a bit more self-deprecating so i think as a culture it's not really our bag so when we start flying it we're trying to give a message of some description, and it's never a positive one.
00:20:28.228 --> 00:20:43.703
But I just thought it's really made me think this week, put it that way, that I still think it's fundamentally racists that are doing it and putting them up because they're making a point that immigrants are the root of all problems in the whole world.
00:20:43.703 --> 00:20:47.808
I think that's fundamentally what started it, but...
00:20:47.808 --> 00:20:50.843
Is that just my viewpoint?
00:20:50.843 --> 00:20:53.585
Because that's what I see and feel.
00:20:54.105 --> 00:21:00.592
Let's dig down into that because that's interesting because I was driving back from the appointment yesterday and a car overtook me with a St.
00:21:00.592 --> 00:21:02.813
George's flag clipped to it.
00:21:02.813 --> 00:21:04.734
You know, the little mini ones that you used
00:21:05.035 --> 00:21:05.154
to get.
00:21:05.154 --> 00:21:05.256
Yeah.
00:21:05.256 --> 00:21:07.557
See, we used to do that when it was the World Cup.
00:21:07.557 --> 00:21:08.417
That's fine.
00:21:08.417 --> 00:21:10.039
Or the Jubilee.
00:21:10.039 --> 00:21:11.340
We're celebrating something.
00:21:11.340 --> 00:21:12.102
Fine.
00:21:13.001 --> 00:21:17.625
But it got me because my first reaction was, oh God, am I missing some major sporting event?
00:21:17.625 --> 00:21:35.704
And then I was like no he's racist yeah and that was an uncontrolled thought so that wasn't that that was my knee-jerk reaction and I just sat there and I was like what the hell are you doing to yourself like you're now convinced the bloke driving that car's a racist because he's flying a St.
00:21:35.704 --> 00:21:36.586
George's flag
00:21:37.406 --> 00:21:37.487
yeah
00:21:39.108 --> 00:21:57.008
I guess this is the flip side to your argument because I would actually say and this is slightly influenced by people like Eddie Izzard that the Brits are actually incredibly incredibly proud of their flag because we used to go around, and this is a little bit controversial, but we used to go around sticking it in countries and saying, right, we own you now.
00:21:57.008 --> 00:21:59.089
That was our way of claiming countries.
00:21:59.089 --> 00:22:02.093
It's a bit tongue-in-cheek humour, but this was the Eddie Izzard sketch.
00:22:02.594 --> 00:22:04.076
But that's more the UK flag.
00:22:04.076 --> 00:22:07.638
That's the Union Jack, which I think is different from the St George's flag.
00:22:08.579 --> 00:22:10.082
Yeah, well, this is the point, right?
00:22:10.082 --> 00:22:20.593
So as a group of nations, so England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, the Union Jack is symbolic and it's symbolic of the empire and everything else.
00:22:20.673 --> 00:22:20.853
Now,
00:22:21.394 --> 00:22:22.654
my own views on the empire.
00:22:22.674 --> 00:22:25.998
That's the whole other history lesson, isn't it?
00:22:25.998 --> 00:22:27.159
The whole other history lesson.
00:22:28.740 --> 00:22:37.126
But the reason I make that comment is because I just want it to be known that I'm not pro-empire because I think it's a bit kind of slavey and racist.
00:22:37.607 --> 00:22:39.628
Yeah, colonisation and a bit, yeah.
00:22:39.990 --> 00:22:42.692
It's a bit ick and that's an understatement.
00:22:42.692 --> 00:22:48.696
But then when you boil it down to the St Andrew's flag or St George's flag or what's the Welsh flag?
00:22:49.634 --> 00:22:50.134
The dragon.
00:22:50.134 --> 00:22:51.336
I don't know what
00:22:52.098 --> 00:22:52.298
it's
00:22:52.480 --> 00:22:52.980
called, though.
00:22:52.980 --> 00:22:54.343
That's terrible.
00:22:54.343 --> 00:22:55.424
We don't know that.
00:22:55.625 --> 00:22:57.189
That is really bad, isn't it?
00:22:57.189 --> 00:22:57.630
Hang on.
00:22:57.630 --> 00:22:58.471
Let's Google it.
00:22:58.832 --> 00:23:00.255
Sorry to all Welsh people.
00:23:00.255 --> 00:23:02.759
Maybe we need a Welsh guest to educate us.
00:23:04.983 --> 00:23:06.487
Welsh flag is called...
00:23:06.487 --> 00:23:09.031
I can't pronounce that.
00:23:09.031 --> 00:23:12.161
Oh, it's the red dragon.
00:23:12.161 --> 00:23:13.604
Sorry.
00:23:13.604 --> 00:23:14.546
Red dragon.
00:23:14.546 --> 00:23:15.127
Red dragon.
00:23:15.127 --> 00:23:18.074
What's the Irish Northern Ireland flag?
00:23:18.074 --> 00:23:20.318
Northern Ireland.
00:23:20.318 --> 00:23:23.826
Hang on.
00:23:23.826 --> 00:23:27.294
Flag of Northern Ireland is the Ulster banner.
00:23:27.294 --> 00:23:29.498
also known as the Red Hand Flag.
00:23:29.498 --> 00:23:36.772
So that's the St George's Cross with the crest in the middle with the red hand on it, not to be confused with the provincial flag of Ulster.
00:23:36.772 --> 00:23:38.536
Okay, so we've educated ourselves there.
00:23:38.536 --> 00:23:39.678
Interesting.
00:23:39.678 --> 00:23:40.599
But...
00:23:40.599 --> 00:23:45.413
The bit that, oh God, this is really deep.
00:23:45.413 --> 00:23:47.734
So whenever I see a St.
00:23:47.734 --> 00:23:51.858
George's flag, I get a sense, I feel a sense of arrogance about it.
00:23:51.858 --> 00:23:56.182
And I don't know why it's because I've never flown a St.
00:23:56.182 --> 00:23:56.482
George.
00:23:56.482 --> 00:23:56.982
Hang on.
00:23:56.982 --> 00:23:59.846
No, I've never flown a St.
00:23:59.846 --> 00:24:00.445
George's flag.
00:24:00.445 --> 00:24:06.371
The reason I question that is because I used to sell yachts and on the back of a yacht, you would have the flag of the country, the yachts registered in.
00:24:06.451 --> 00:24:08.492
It's usually UK, isn't it?
00:24:08.492 --> 00:24:10.974
Oh no, it's a special maritime one, isn't it?
00:24:11.256 --> 00:24:11.695
Red NC.
00:24:11.695 --> 00:24:13.179
Yeah, that's it.
00:24:13.179 --> 00:24:17.406
And I think the navy is the blue ensign, but if I'm wrong, somebody will correct me on that.
00:24:17.406 --> 00:24:22.636
Yeah, so the flag thing is a bit of an anomaly for me, but for some reason, I don't...
00:24:22.636 --> 00:24:24.180
St George's flag...
00:24:24.180 --> 00:24:28.868
I don't know whether this is because I have a loyalty to the St.
00:24:28.868 --> 00:24:32.892
Andrew's flag because of my ancestry, because I feel Scottish.
00:24:32.892 --> 00:24:35.795
That's where my pride sits, is in my Scottish ancestry.
00:24:35.795 --> 00:24:37.056
So it might just be that.
00:24:37.875 --> 00:24:38.876
And I feel Irish.
00:24:38.876 --> 00:24:43.181
So again, we've already got an inbuilt bias, haven't we?
00:24:43.560 --> 00:24:43.922
That's it.
00:24:43.922 --> 00:24:47.724
But the fact that the comment was made that the St.
00:24:47.724 --> 00:24:57.232
George's flag is being flown by racists, I think that's a reasonable conclusion to draw, given that, as you said, as English, we only ever tend to fly the St.
00:24:57.232 --> 00:25:00.277
George's flag when there's a sporting event coming on.
00:25:00.277 --> 00:25:11.147
But then I've also seen pockets on social media where they're saying that they're flying it in protest against the people that are using it as a racist thing.
00:25:11.769 --> 00:25:17.835
Yeah, like reclaim the flag, because it's like, why should our flag be ruined by these people?
00:25:17.835 --> 00:25:19.576
And I agree with that as well.
00:25:20.018 --> 00:25:20.498
Exactly.
00:25:20.498 --> 00:25:50.928
And the other thing is as well, it's also, it's exactly that, it's reclaiming the flag, but it's also around this what what the flag represents and and it's a slight segue but if you look at the general sentiment of our governing society over decades and centuries we've always had an open attitude towards immigration and everything else because immigrants are a good thing for this country there's no there is no
00:25:51.429 --> 00:25:53.009
two built on immigrants let's be honest
00:25:53.631 --> 00:26:01.518
and they saved us after the second world war without immigrants coming into this country we would never have developed and grown the way we did
00:26:01.557 --> 00:26:02.699
absolutely
00:26:03.098 --> 00:27:12.212
so it goes back to the original point and that is that with everything in the media and on social media and these echo chambers and everything else it's very easy to find yourself in a position where you're questioning your own morals and stance which I think on the one hand is a good thing but on the other hand is actually a really bad thing because you can go from being a decent human being into an absolute scumbag because you're being subjected to this barrage of crap on social media that is then pulling you into that space where you're like oh yeah I get it it's the same as indoctrination and with youngsters that are converting over to Islam and I'm doing that in air quotes because it's not this is not the truth but they're converting to Islam and becoming terrorists because they're being brainwashed online I can guarantee you if you speak to any Muslim out there who is a proper true Muslim, they probably have the same sentiment, possibly have the same sentiment towards the name of their religion or their identity being misused to excuse terrorism.
00:27:12.212 --> 00:27:13.835
And this is the same thing.
00:27:13.835 --> 00:27:14.174
It
00:27:14.255 --> 00:27:16.417
is actually a very good point.
00:27:16.417 --> 00:27:18.059
Yeah, it is a really good point.
00:27:18.059 --> 00:27:26.407
It's becoming like the badge of a symbol when actually the real meaning is becoming lost.
00:27:27.990 --> 00:27:30.759
But there's two sides to that coin, because there's the side of...
00:27:30.759 --> 00:27:35.933
So...
00:27:35.933 --> 00:27:45.038
There's the side of, okay, when you hear the word Islam, you think terrorist because of what's being said and what's happening and this stuff going on.
00:27:45.038 --> 00:27:50.442
But I've got Muslim friends and you can see the despair.
00:27:50.442 --> 00:27:53.085
It's like the Quran doesn't tell us this.
00:27:53.085 --> 00:27:54.625
It doesn't endorse this.
00:27:54.625 --> 00:27:59.829
There's no whatever that reinforces what they're saying.
00:27:59.829 --> 00:28:00.750
This is an excuse.
00:28:00.750 --> 00:28:03.133
It's the same with this thing over the St.
00:28:03.133 --> 00:28:03.993
George's flag.
00:28:03.993 --> 00:28:08.038
The actual culture and and ethos and morals behind St.
00:28:08.038 --> 00:28:16.996
George's flag as in the country do not support or endorse this anti-immigrant, racist way of living.
00:28:16.996 --> 00:28:25.131
So this kind of makes a bigger point here, and that is what is going wrong with society...
00:28:25.131 --> 00:29:03.605
where there is this sense that you can go in and take something over and use it for you know a negative when its core symbolism is actually a positive what i'm saying that isn't there something around the origins of the swastika that it wasn't actually a symbol that was negative but it was taken and adopted by the germ by the nazis and used us there i'm fairly sure there was something about this i'm just
00:29:03.644 --> 00:29:04.847
gonna origin
00:29:06.145 --> 00:29:18.876
So the swastika is an ancient Eurasian symbol originating from the Sanskrit word, meaning good fortune, used for millennia in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism as a sacred symbol of well-being.
00:29:18.876 --> 00:29:38.198
It also appeared in ancient European and Native American cultures as an auspicious motif before its adoption by the German Nazi party in the 1920s, which transformed the symbol into representation of hate and racial supremacy, leading to the widespread ban of the West.
00:29:38.198 --> 00:29:43.606
Sorry, a widespread ban in the West after World War II.
00:29:43.606 --> 00:29:45.009
So that, there you go.
00:29:45.009 --> 00:29:53.782
Classic example of what happens when you take a symbol that is good and it's then abused and used for something evil.
00:29:54.505 --> 00:29:55.707
Yeah, absolutely.
00:29:55.727 --> 00:30:06.523
And that must have an impact on Hindus, Buddhists and Jainists because it was a sacred symbol of well-being and it was taken and used.
00:30:07.566 --> 00:30:07.645
Yeah.
00:30:07.938 --> 00:30:10.121
to mean completely the opposite.
00:30:10.621 --> 00:30:10.821
Yeah.
00:30:10.821 --> 00:30:13.265
Yeah, how interesting.
00:30:13.265 --> 00:30:18.371
And also, going back to St George's flag, St George was an immigrant, wasn't he?
00:30:18.371 --> 00:30:19.913
I just Googled him as well.
00:30:19.913 --> 00:30:21.615
I couldn't remember where he came from.
00:30:21.615 --> 00:30:23.577
He came from modern-day Turkey.
00:30:23.577 --> 00:30:25.039
There you go.
00:30:26.020 --> 00:30:26.402
That's it.
00:30:26.402 --> 00:30:28.624
And let's be honest...
00:30:28.624 --> 00:30:40.142
I think you'd find that actually the majority of the UK population, their origins are not here anyway.
00:30:41.263 --> 00:30:42.625
No, absolutely.
00:30:42.625 --> 00:30:44.890
Yeah, we're all Northern European.
00:30:44.890 --> 00:30:49.217
Everyone's got French in them, I think, at some point.
00:30:50.357 --> 00:30:50.659
Yeah.
00:30:50.659 --> 00:30:56.488
I mean, we've talked about it before, but my origins are Italian, Dutch, German...
00:30:56.488 --> 00:31:01.260
and then Scottish through Viking and English.
00:31:01.260 --> 00:31:02.501
Yeah.
00:31:02.501 --> 00:31:11.128
So the English bit, the definition of English origin is a combination of a mix of Northern European anyway.
00:31:11.650 --> 00:31:11.849
Yes,
00:31:11.970 --> 00:31:13.230
absolutely.
00:31:13.932 --> 00:31:14.172
Yeah.
00:31:14.172 --> 00:31:15.573
So, God,
00:31:17.375 --> 00:31:19.616
this is a lot deeper than I thought it was going to get.
00:31:20.958 --> 00:31:22.338
Why are you surprised?
00:31:22.338 --> 00:31:22.419
I'm
00:31:23.279 --> 00:31:23.859
not.
00:31:23.859 --> 00:31:25.721
This is RMO, isn't
00:31:26.343 --> 00:31:26.542
it?
00:31:26.542 --> 00:31:26.682
It is
00:31:26.903 --> 00:31:27.523
RMO.
00:31:27.523 --> 00:31:27.983
Yeah, but...
00:31:27.983 --> 00:31:53.151
five or six sentence exchange and then this idea comes out of what we're going to talk about and then all hell breaks loose because we end up getting into something really deep but yeah it's but you know it this is the problem and in in some weird perverse way i'm kind of hoping that at some point we go through we spoke about this on a podcast before where everything collapses and we go back to
00:31:53.671 --> 00:31:53.731
yes
00:31:54.071 --> 00:32:12.709
pre-second pre-first world war because whatever the call is tech fails internet fails AI fails and we end up becoming reliant on each other again to survive where you have people with small holdings that grow crop and animals and they share it locally to feed each other and all this kind of stuff
00:32:13.249 --> 00:32:13.489
yeah
00:32:14.009 --> 00:32:14.269
I think
00:32:14.289 --> 00:32:18.854
we kind of reset ourselves every every few thousand years don't we we keep resetting
00:32:18.894 --> 00:32:22.636
yeah and I think I think we're long overdue that
00:32:23.617 --> 00:32:24.499
yeah I do I mean
00:32:24.538 --> 00:32:27.422
if you look at all the topics we talked about in season one
00:32:28.738 --> 00:32:37.018
I'm going to say something very controversial now, but that was, I don't know if it is controversial, but that's my theory about what COVID was trying to do.
00:32:37.018 --> 00:32:39.103
That was nature trying to reset us.
00:32:40.834 --> 00:32:41.174
Yeah.
00:32:41.174 --> 00:32:42.637
Yeah.
00:32:42.637 --> 00:32:46.184
And, and there is, and that's something we spoke about before as well, wasn't it?
00:32:46.184 --> 00:32:52.217
And you know, it's how nature is, it's out of our control in as much as that nature will manage us.
00:32:52.217 --> 00:32:55.964
And when we get much, it, you know, we'll do something.
00:32:55.964 --> 00:32:57.888
Hang on a minute.
00:32:57.888 --> 00:33:01.576
Global death figures for COVID.
00:33:02.478 --> 00:33:02.557
Yeah.
00:33:02.786 --> 00:33:03.967
That's only 7 million.
00:33:05.087 --> 00:33:13.776
Well, the other thing was, yeah, so it should have been a high death rate probably because if you look at other disasters like that in history, it's wiped out millions.
00:33:13.776 --> 00:33:19.079
But also, for a little while there, it did change society, didn't it?
00:33:19.079 --> 00:33:21.541
We did have people coming together.
00:33:21.541 --> 00:33:24.545
Nature started rebuilding itself.
00:33:24.545 --> 00:33:25.506
Like, where do I live?
00:33:25.506 --> 00:33:29.808
We start to see loads of red kites, you know, the bird?
00:33:29.808 --> 00:33:30.490
Yeah.
00:33:30.490 --> 00:33:31.471
There's loads of them now.
00:33:31.471 --> 00:33:32.751
We see them everywhere.
00:33:32.751 --> 00:33:34.773
blimmin' second now.
00:33:34.773 --> 00:33:37.576
But before COVID, they were almost endangered.
00:33:37.576 --> 00:33:40.137
But nature's reset itself.
00:33:40.137 --> 00:33:45.803
So for a little while there, it was working, but we've gone back to work.
00:33:45.803 --> 00:33:47.184
We've forgotten about it now.
00:33:47.585 --> 00:33:49.666
Yeah, I'm just looking a bit deeper into this.
00:33:49.666 --> 00:33:55.372
So the estimated total death toll of COVID globally is 36 million.
00:33:55.372 --> 00:34:01.836
36 million people represents approximately 0.5% of the global population.
00:34:01.836 --> 00:34:12.010
So So this is where advances in technology and everything else become the problem for nature, because I think you're right to an extent that that was nature's way of trying to reset us.
00:34:12.010 --> 00:34:21.818
But we jumped in with vaccines and everything else to prevent it from doing that, which from my perspective is a great thing because I don't want people dying, but
00:34:22.217 --> 00:34:23.199
you've
00:34:23.518 --> 00:34:25.541
got to accept that nature is a stronger power.
00:34:25.541 --> 00:34:49.340
But then it might also be that nature made a decision to do something different, so the reset was actually actually successful and what you've just said about red kites is a great example we had wild animals deer and everything else roaming through the streets of towns around where we are wow And nature got a boost from it.
00:34:49.340 --> 00:34:59.789
I mean, I can't remember what the figures were, but when they put the lockdown on, the carbon monoxide emissions, carbon dioxide emissions in the UK dropped by like 95%.
00:34:59.789 --> 00:35:09.336
There were photographs of China and India where they had clear skies that they'd not had for decades because of the pollution.
00:35:09.757 --> 00:35:10.858
Yeah, I remember that.
00:35:12.000 --> 00:35:13.721
So yeah, there's definitely something in that.
00:35:13.721 --> 00:35:57.266
But yeah, I think there needs to be and some people will say that there'll be civil unrest and then there'll be anarchy and that'll be the reset and then others will say you know Putin will launch a load of nukes and everybody will get destroyed and there'll be a small handful of people will survive on the equator and blah blah blah and then there'll be other people that will come up with other theories around how this reset will go yeah but I think it's needed if nothing else from the point that we're just not evolving fast enough to keep up with the technological advances which is why we're seeing this demand on the human brain to evolve where you get as you and I have spoken about before neurodiversity which is not a disability it's an evolution in my
00:35:57.487 --> 00:36:14.706
absolutely yeah I do believe that but we're not quick we're not quick enough I mean when we look at when you look at evolution it's over a long period of time whereas we're evolving in a generation and we just can't keep up with that speed
00:36:15.186 --> 00:36:23.427
yeah yeah yeah And this is why characteristics for things like ADHD, where they refer to web browsers with 20 tabs open in your brain.
00:36:23.427 --> 00:36:24.632
I love that analogy.
00:36:24.632 --> 00:36:26.016
Yeah.
00:36:26.016 --> 00:36:27.702
Because it is, it's the ability to...
00:36:27.702 --> 00:36:31.034
The ability to multitask.
00:36:31.856 --> 00:36:32.155
Yeah.
00:36:32.637 --> 00:36:35.800
Violently avoiding the stereotype about women versus men.
00:36:35.800 --> 00:36:44.146
But the ability to multitask now is something that has become a necessity.
00:36:44.186 --> 00:36:45.527
Yeah, absolutely.
00:36:45.527 --> 00:36:45.688
And our
00:36:45.748 --> 00:36:50.733
brains are evolving to be able to do it, albeit we're not able to do it.
00:36:50.733 --> 00:36:51.813
I mean, it depends.
00:36:51.813 --> 00:36:55.956
There are times when I can handle five or six things on the go at the same time.
00:36:55.956 --> 00:36:57.858
No problem at all.
00:36:57.858 --> 00:36:59.581
But there are other times I can't handle one.
00:37:00.527 --> 00:37:00.788
Yes.
00:37:01.190 --> 00:37:02.277
Which is you burn out and stuff.
00:37:03.001 --> 00:37:03.322
Yeah.
00:37:04.106 --> 00:37:04.931
Well, that was a...
00:37:04.931 --> 00:37:10.768
God, that was a rabbit hole of all kinds of rabbit holes, wasn't it?
00:37:10.869 --> 00:37:11.369
It was.
00:37:11.369 --> 00:37:25.295
And I don't know if we've come to any conclusions, but I think for me, these discussions are worth having because you've always got to question yourself and question what's really going on, haven't you?
00:37:25.295 --> 00:37:27.579
You've got to think, is this real?
00:37:27.579 --> 00:37:28.842
Is what I'm seeing real?
00:37:28.842 --> 00:37:30.123
And what does it mean?
00:37:30.123 --> 00:37:31.326
Yeah.
00:37:31.326 --> 00:37:33.028
And what do other people think about it?
00:37:33.028 --> 00:37:34.371
Because I've got my view.
00:37:34.371 --> 00:37:41.947
I still believe that if we're going back to the flag, I still believe the people that are putting them up are probably racist.
00:37:41.947 --> 00:37:44.291
But...
00:37:44.291 --> 00:37:53.766
It's good to question these things and see what other people are thinking about it and challenge yourself.
00:37:54.489 --> 00:37:55.311
It's about intent.
00:37:55.311 --> 00:37:57.534
It goes back to what we said before.
00:37:57.534 --> 00:38:01.324
It's about understanding intent and not making that judgment because...
00:38:01.324 --> 00:38:03.168
And I think...
00:38:03.168 --> 00:38:06.034
I think we differ slightly.
00:38:06.034 --> 00:38:08.436
No, we don't because of the example I gave earlier.
00:38:08.436 --> 00:38:11.380
So my knee-jerk reaction is to make the same assumption.
00:38:11.380 --> 00:38:13.762
The person finds that George's flag is a racist.
00:38:13.762 --> 00:38:22.469
When my conscious mind kicks in, I get a curiosity and I want a conversation with them to say, why are you flying that flag?
00:38:22.469 --> 00:38:23.791
Or what's the motive?
00:38:23.791 --> 00:38:28.875
Now, the odds are if you pick a racist and you ask them that question, you're going to get a load of abuse.
00:38:28.875 --> 00:38:49.715
If you ask somebody who's flying it to reclaim the flag or because they just want to fly the George's flag you're going to get a conversation out of it but I think and you know that goes back to the point we as a society have shied away from challenging things because predominantly we're fearful of confrontation
00:38:50.297 --> 00:38:51.518
yeah I think that's true
00:38:52.159 --> 00:39:29.599
but it goes back to the last podcast to the last episode the last series about men challenging other men with misogyny men don't as a rule because they're scared or they don't want to be viewed a particular way you know whatever and on top of the stuff we were talking about which is some men just don't see it and that's not yes naivety but actually we need to kind of drive this culture where people question stuff and almost i don't know almost go all in on something which they perceive as wrong but you do it in the right way to make sure that the understanding of intent is correct before you then start to challenge
00:39:30.440 --> 00:39:30.579
yeah
00:39:31.141 --> 00:39:53.123
maybe that's it that's the problem people may assumptions they don't uncover intent and by making assumptions they create conflict because they will on either side of the coin, they will defend their position, which may have been fed by inaccuracies, wrong information and everything else.
00:39:53.123 --> 00:40:05.161
So it's about speaking to people and understanding what information they've got, where they've got it from, what fact checking's gone on, and whether it's actually reality and truth over media spin or people spinning stuff.
00:40:05.161 --> 00:40:06.583
I think...
00:40:06.583 --> 00:40:14.027
I think it's fairly safe at the moment, given everything in the media, to assume that people flying the St.
00:40:14.027 --> 00:40:15.387
George's flag are racist.
00:40:15.387 --> 00:40:16.329
Yeah.
00:40:16.329 --> 00:40:17.389
Majority.
00:40:17.389 --> 00:40:25.416
But I can think of two people who are in their 70s and 80s who are independent of each other that have always flown the St.
00:40:25.416 --> 00:40:31.782
George's flag, and that's because they're proud of being English, but they're very much open arms around immigrants and stuff.
00:40:31.782 --> 00:40:32.342
I don't know.
00:40:32.342 --> 00:40:34.485
It's an interesting topic.
00:40:34.644 --> 00:40:35.184
It is interesting.
00:40:35.184 --> 00:40:38.447
And I've got people in my village, actually, that have flagpoles, which I find interesting.
00:40:38.447 --> 00:41:05.297
quite amusing but they change the flags depending on one of them's got an EU flag one of them's got the Ukraine flag went up when that all kicked off and sometimes it might be St George's flag see again it's context so if that person flew a flag I'd be like oh look they're flying a different flag I wouldn't really think because I know they're like flying flags but But if I was just driving through my village, I wouldn't know that.
00:41:05.297 --> 00:41:08.382
Oh, that George's flag is okay because they always fly a flag.
00:41:08.382 --> 00:41:09.483
I wouldn't know that.
00:41:09.483 --> 00:41:11.728
I'd make that assumption of they're racist.
00:41:12.108 --> 00:41:13.851
That's an interesting one to finish on.
00:41:13.851 --> 00:41:22.483
Oh, this is going to end up being a really long conversation, isn't it?
00:41:22.483 --> 00:41:24.547
Okay, really quickly.
00:41:24.547 --> 00:41:25.568
No, no, really quickly.
00:41:25.568 --> 00:41:39.534
This is the bit that makes me feel good about society because when everything kicked off in Ukraine, everything across social media, flags being flown, it was all the Ukrainian flag.
00:41:40.094 --> 00:41:40.355
Yeah.
00:41:40.735 --> 00:41:51.987
That for me was true humanity because it was showing solidarity with and support for what we perceived was going on in Ukraine.
00:41:52.547 --> 00:41:52.827
Yes.
00:41:53.449 --> 00:41:53.869
But...
00:41:53.869 --> 00:42:09.782
What we perceived was going on in Ukraine was information we got from the media who will always paint out that whatever's going on that Russia's involved with is because Russia's the bad actor.
00:42:09.782 --> 00:42:13.164
Now, I am not supporting Russia at all.
00:42:13.164 --> 00:42:16.108
I am 100% behind Ukraine.
00:42:16.108 --> 00:42:21.452
And I think what Russia has done is it's war crimes, it's unforgivable and everything else.
00:42:21.452 --> 00:42:26.358
So before people accuse me of being a Russian sympathizer, I Absolutely not.
00:42:26.358 --> 00:42:28.501
Let's just be bloody clear on that.
00:42:28.501 --> 00:42:34.672
But the point I'm making is that we only know one side of the story.
00:42:34.672 --> 00:42:36.516
And I think that's a bad example, actually.
00:42:36.516 --> 00:42:38.478
But we only know one side of the story.
00:42:38.478 --> 00:42:43.788
So we were all supporting Ukraine and flying Ukrainian flags and everything else.
00:42:43.788 --> 00:42:48.436
But what's the other side of the story?
00:42:49.601 --> 00:42:59.851
Well, and the other example of that, and this is something I think about all the time, and I'm not going to go down this road because this is a whole can of worms, but Palestine and Israel.
00:42:59.851 --> 00:43:03.733
I think about this every single day.
00:43:03.733 --> 00:43:07.597
And I have a view about what's going on in Palestine.
00:43:07.597 --> 00:43:11.081
I have quite a strong view about what's going on in Palestine.
00:43:11.081 --> 00:43:18.027
But I can't help but wonder if there's a lot more to this than I know.
00:43:18.027 --> 00:43:34.610
There's a lot on face value we should be doing more about this we should I mean I think this is genocide and we should be doing more about it is my opinion but I also think that it's not as cut and dry.
00:43:34.610 --> 00:43:38.074
I mean, the history behind that in itself is very complex.
00:43:38.074 --> 00:43:43.539
But in today, I think there's more going on there than we know.
00:43:43.539 --> 00:43:49.403
So I have a strong belief in that, but I caveat that with, I don't think I know the full story here.
00:43:49.403 --> 00:43:58.291
I hate seeing humans suffer, and I think about that every single day, but I'm not naive enough to think it's straightforward.
00:43:58.851 --> 00:44:01.153
No, and I think it's the same with India and Pakistan.
00:44:01.153 --> 00:44:02.614
Yes, yeah.
00:44:02.614 --> 00:44:03.275
I've...
00:44:03.275 --> 00:44:41.481
learned from Pakistani friends and Indian friends and the dynamic I've seen between them when things have happened I haven't even scratched the surface with what's going on there and I've had hours and hours of conversations I think actually drawing this to a close this is quite a nice way to conclude because we've got three examples that you've got russian ukraine israel and palestine and you've got pakistan and india And this all goes back to, there's two parties involved.
00:44:41.481 --> 00:44:45.527
One has one view, the other has a different view, and they end up going to war.
00:44:45.527 --> 00:44:54.197
Now, there'll be people that will argue that there's oil behind it, or there's resources behind it, or it's a land grab, or it's whatever, or there's religion, or whatever it might be.
00:44:54.197 --> 00:44:56.340
But this is the point.
00:44:56.340 --> 00:45:05.833
If you cannot live in society with a level of acceptance that people are different, then you're going to live in a society where there's conflict and war.
00:45:05.833 --> 00:45:13.938
What we need to do as a human race is find a way of everybody respecting everybody else.
00:45:15.561 --> 00:45:18.983
Or just finding a way of disagreeing without killing each other.
00:45:19.324 --> 00:45:19.764
Exactly.
00:45:19.764 --> 00:45:21.507
But that comes with respect.
00:45:21.507 --> 00:45:22.487
So it's respectful.
00:45:22.487 --> 00:45:25.070
What's the expression that Nick Ferrari uses?
00:45:25.070 --> 00:45:30.376
I respectfully, I agreeably disagree.
00:45:30.376 --> 00:45:31.358
Yeah.
00:45:31.358 --> 00:45:34.222
So in other words, we need to agree to disagree with each other.
00:45:34.222 --> 00:45:40.789
We have a level of autonomy and intelligence that means that we can hold our own views.
00:45:40.789 --> 00:45:43.614
Now, why we hold those views is the thing that's questionable, right?
00:45:44.195 --> 00:45:44.454
Yeah.
00:45:44.755 --> 00:45:52.626
But the majority of this stuff is an injured party gets upset because somebody's done something to them and they retaliate.
00:45:52.626 --> 00:45:54.307
Yeah.
00:45:54.307 --> 00:46:00.996
So what do we need to do to get to a point where the initial action doesn't happen?
00:46:00.996 --> 00:46:16.994
And you can boil this down into society, going back to my original example of conflict in a local community, where one person said something which upset someone else.
00:46:16.994 --> 00:46:24.327
but the person who was offended or upset by it, did they really understand what the intent was behind it?
00:46:24.327 --> 00:46:42.643
Did they know that that person said what they said and they interpreted it the right way, or if they made assumptions and the final line to make an ass to assume is to make an ass of you and me that if you put that in the middle of absolutely everything, I say this to my kids every day.
00:46:42.663 --> 00:46:43.844
Yeah.
00:46:44.003 --> 00:46:51.112
They react to me when I say something to them and I'm like, you're, you're Reaction's interesting, but do you know why I said what I said?
00:46:51.152 --> 00:46:51.954
Yeah.
00:46:52.094 --> 00:46:55.019
When I tell them why I said it, I didn't think it was that.
00:46:55.019 --> 00:46:55.820
I thought it was this.
00:46:55.820 --> 00:46:59.768
And it's reflective of their own, what's going on in their own worlds.
00:47:00.349 --> 00:47:00.871
Absolutely.
00:47:00.871 --> 00:47:03.655
But highlighting that at a young age is key, I think.
00:47:04.878 --> 00:47:04.958
Yeah.
00:47:05.217 --> 00:47:05.697
There it is.
00:47:05.697 --> 00:47:13.284
So we need to educate our kids to understand that what their perception of someone is, is not necessarily truth or fact.
00:47:13.284 --> 00:47:22.112
And if you read that through society, when that generation gets to a place of power, there'll be more tolerance in the world.
00:47:22.932 --> 00:47:23.153
Yeah.
00:47:24.255 --> 00:47:26.115
Bloody hell, that got heavy, didn't
00:47:26.657 --> 00:47:26.697
it?
00:47:26.697 --> 00:47:28.458
World peace.
00:47:28.458 --> 00:47:31.740
There you go.
00:47:31.740 --> 00:47:31.880
Sorted.
00:47:31.880 --> 00:47:32.201
Easy.
00:47:32.661 --> 00:47:32.942
Yeah.
00:47:32.942 --> 00:47:33.603
World peace.
00:47:33.603 --> 00:47:34.983
Yeah.
00:47:34.983 --> 00:47:39.588
Bloody if only that was anywhere near anywhere near the truth I don't think we'll ever get world peace
00:47:40.208 --> 00:47:43.032
no I don't think so I think by human nature sadly
00:47:43.072 --> 00:47:44.434
we
00:47:44.494 --> 00:47:45.795
are still animals at the end of the day
00:47:47.036 --> 00:48:01.211
so if you've got a view on what we've just been talking about or you've got any other topic you want us to go into then drop us an email at letstalk at why not what if dot com cheers Siobhan
00:48:01.851 --> 00:48:04.494
cheers always nice talking to you
00:48:04.876 --> 00:48:06.179
that was good that was good
00:48:07.784 --> 00:48:10.494
well so you never know where we're gonna go with these things do we
00:48:10.876 --> 00:48:22.344
oh god that was insane that bounced around all over the place Well, that's it for this episode of Why Not and What If, where the conversations get messy, magical and a little bit rebellious.
00:48:22.344 --> 00:48:28.289
If it made you think, laugh or rage text your mates, job done.
00:48:28.289 --> 00:48:29.429
That's what we're here for.
00:48:29.429 --> 00:48:32.813
Got a topic you think we should dive into?
00:48:32.813 --> 00:48:37.797
Drop us a line at letstalk at whynotwhatif.com.
00:48:37.797 --> 00:48:40.519
Seriously, your ideas fuel this chaos.
00:48:40.519 --> 00:48:52.612
And don't forget to follow, subscribe, shout about us in your WhatsApp groups, on LinkedIn and come back next week for more brutally honest occasionally unhinged and always human conversations see you next time