The Assassination Attempt and the Comfort of Certainty
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ย. 2024
- I hope I make the case in this video that doomscrolling / obsessively watching the news in a time of some significant event makes sense even if it is not healthy. Sometimes people come at me for being irrational, and I'm like "Yeah, ok, I'm literally an animal trying to feel safe in the world."
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What World are We Living in?
“If you want to have an allegiance to truth, you have to trade in the comfort of constant certainty”
-Hank Green, 2024
I love this quote SO MUCH
It's SO good! I wonder if he wrote that and was like "oh yeah, that's a banger" 😂 Because it is!
So perfectly said. This is why scientists are unpopular in politics. They are prone to accept change whenever better evidence is presented.
This is gold.
@@Razbeariez LMAOOOOO 100%
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"Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly; man gotta sit and wonder why why why."
"Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land, man gotta tell himself he understand."
Tiger got to roar, bird got to peck, man sit with thinking WHAT. THE. HECK?!
"Tiger went vegan, bird went terrestrial; man got confused and went in denial"
I did not know: It comes from Kurt Vonnegut's novel "Cat's Cradle." In the book, this quote is part of a fictional Caribbean religion called Bokononism. Vonnegut deliberately used a simplified, rhythmic style of English to evoke the feeling of Caribbean speech patterns and calypso music.
I just finished cat’s cradle!!!
I deleted Twitter yesterday after MONTHS of feeling dread and disgust and just sheer sadness every time I scrolled for hours. It's only been a day, let's see how this will effect my well being
I deleted Twitter and Facebook at the very start of the year. Haven't, and won't, go back.
what took so long
I deleted twitter back in December and Ive been on it a few times since then and it no longer the same I used to scroll for hours now if I ever happen to go back on on the internet (I refuse to redownload the app) I never last for more than 20 minutes
Welcome to the other side. I left FB in 2019 and Twitter in 2021. It really does help not having that in your life.
My only “social media” now is Discord, where I’m part of a few lovely interest-based communities.
If it helps you, there's this FOMO of news when you get off social media, but you will hear about stuff anyway, just sporadically and you will have a lot more peace to deal with it. So yeah totally worth it. I still watch youtube but curate it a lot! The "Don't recommend this" button is great.
I want to live in a world where we care about each other without an ulterior motive.
Edit- seriously how did this many people see a comment basically saying "Hey, can we try to be nice?" and think "OP is insane if they think that's at all possible"?
So doing anything without explicitly telling everyone what your goals are is evil?
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@@opensocietyenjoyer holy crap what a leap. U gotta be trolling bc you're reaching to the moon.
Same, but as someone who would do that; pain, fear, and anger are the issues. So maybe the country should ensure security and stability for everyone if this is to happen.
I am highborn by most standards; cultural and mental issues are keeping me down (I’m Indian American)
I can pretty easily make bank, so it doesn’t help me to say that. But I truly care about everyone and am extremely empathetic. So from what I’ve seen in my pretty short life, base economic security and greater safety would go a long way to ensure everyone could just be kind
"If you want to have an allegiance to truth, you have to trade in the comfort of constant certainty". That is one of the greatest quotes that I've ever heard in my 52 years on this planet. Thank you, Hank.
Knowledge is power. Sometimes it is merely knowing you CAN'T know.
also reallyreally poignant amongst the subject of man-made religions in this world, as well.
Thank you Hank.
This mindset is very Buddhist.
Constant certainty not only brings a comfort, but for many an identity as well. People want to be the one who knows what's going on. They want to be looked to, they want to be trusted, they want to be seen a certain way. Pursuing truth might shatter who they are if they're not ready for that level of deconstruction.
I think it was Voltaire? That said, something along the lines of. " Uncertainty is an Uncomfortable position, but certainty is an absurd one"
Common Voltaire w
Common Voltaire w
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It's funny because I kinda think absurdism is frequently supportive of the argument that you should be certain of your convictions in the face of objective uncertainty. So, in a sense, voltair and camus agree on this point.
I think it was Kant who said “experience without theory is blind, but theory without experience is mere intellectual play”
In other words, doomscrolling is like any other defense mechanism... it helps, but it can hurt.
Really rings true! Set limits, get in nature and enjoy it while you still can. Best to you~
Which is what anxiety is all about, right? Self protective thoughts and behaviours that are unhealthy.
@@janethansen9612Struggeling with this right now and are makeing changes! One bad part with it thought is that the bad ppl get more freedome to do horrible stuff when fewer get info ab it/protest in one way or another.
Algorithms paired with filters as moderators breed ignorance. Ask any prolife advocate who Hadley Duvall is. They don't know because they literally were never told. They believe it's rare because they rarely hear it. Being uncomfortable is absolutely needed now. Maybe not in the form of scrolling.
It’s like a form of harmful self-medicating
"You think you fell out of a coconut tree??? You exist in the context of all that has been & what came before you."
What can be
Unburdened by what has been
"cackles maniacally"
Where is this quote from, I feel like I've seen it before and it's bugging me
@@drummerofawe Kamala Harris, coconut queen
Kamala
I work in education, and I feel we don't work hard enough to teach people that "I don't know..." is often the right answer, and it is a perfectly good answer. Especially in education, where the whole point is that students don't know things, they are there to learn them.
The key thing is to recognise that "I don't know..." is only half the answer. You cannot always just stop there and call it done. The next step is to try to find out (as you did, Hank, in that lovely video recently about EVs and particulate emissions).
As a student, it feels like the conventional education system punishes not knowing because of how it affects your grade, which can be interpreted as how well you're doing in the class overall. If you don't know an answer in a classroom, then you don't get a positive response from the educator. Knowing is rewarded, not-knowing is disincentivized. Students are there to learn but they are expected to learn quickly or else.
Doubt is the key to knowledge.
The more you truly know, the more you know how little you know.
@@cameronschyuder9034 i hear you but one thing to note is that "I don't know" coming from students is oftentimes paired with immense apapthy towards any curiosity to fill that gap in knowledge.
Making a genuine effort to understand what it is that you don't know *will* pay off sooner or later. Everything you learn in school is foundational in regards to learning how to learn and developing solid habits around curiosity...if you allow it.
@@chrisjfox8715but that's because when they admit they don't know, they are punished. But are they given a choice? No, the knowledge was withheld, they simply do not know, and that is frustrating *apparently * for both parties!
As a student of history, the sad truth is that the real time news has almost zero truth value. I try to wait a week before I read anything about a current event. And it's much better if you can wait 100 years.
This depends entirely on your ability to discern a reliable news source from an unreliable one. It is possible to report news quickly. There are still media outlets who do so responsibly without guesswork and speculation. They just aren't in the United States.
As a general rule, however, yes, more substantive reliable reporting takes time. Depending on the topic, it might even be worth waiting months or years before looking for reliable information. That's generally true with most war reporting because it is utterly bogged down with propaganda and strategic disinformation.
Make it two maybe three hundred. I'm a history student too, and boy, oh boy, is it easier to research the 1700s than the 2000s.
THE HAIR LOOKS SO GOOD HANK. Like the world sucks but oh my gosh the hair
It’s sexy AND pretty at the same time! 😊
Love the baby's style hair.
The world is. If it sucks then youre missing all the nice things (like his hair and you). If its nice its missing all the terrible stuff (like violence and the not fun kind of fear). So maybe the world just is and we don't know if its more sucky or more awesome because its both all the time. Reducing world suck and supporting awesome is knowing both are part of the truth.
Bring on #CurlyBeardHank
agreeed
Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly;
Man got to sit and wonder 'why, why, why?'
Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land;
Man got to tell himself he understand.
Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle
Amazing!
💯
As someone with OCD, Reassurance Seeking is one of my biggest Compulsions. Doom scrolling feels like an extension of that... I'm seeking something that will reassure me - even if I don't know the reassurance I'm seeking.
Holy shit i did not realize reassurance seeking was an ocd thing but it makes so much sense
That explains a lot! I was sitting here thinking that the need to check twitter when stressed is like my need to compulsively pull out my eyebrows when stressed (also an OCD thing, unfortunately). I do think they’re similar. Your brain is yelling for relief, whether from endorphins, dopamine, reassurance, nicotine… all related addictive behaviors.
God this is so relatable
@@adag87it's not necessarily, but the behavior they describe in context is
Oh this really just conceptualized this for me, thank you. That's exactly what I'm doing.
"If you want to have an allegiance to the truth you have to trade in the comfort of constant certainty"
What a great way to put this. Being right often means admitting ignorance because when nothing is known any claim of knowledge is misguided
Thanks for your thoughts and wisdom on these topics, I hope you are doing well and taking care of yourself in spite of the craziness of the world
Searching for truth means being wrong as often as you are right, because the truth is so elusive and humans are so imperfect. At any moment the rug can and will be pulled from beneath you, but you keep walking all the same.
Having trained as a journalist, I can't articulate how true those words rang to me. So much of the modern problem of misinformation is not malicious actors or state influence campaigns, though those do exist, it is well-intentioned people trying to provide certainty in an uncertain world to themselves and those in their tribe at the expense, often unconsciously, of looking for the truth. Because living in uncertainty is hard, and with the advent of the internet, we no longer really have any kind of practice doing it in our lives. We have trained our brains to assume that certainty is only a google search or a social media update away, and when it suddenly isn't, we keep vainly repeating the same process as our brains struggle to process why what usually works isn't working anymore.
When you asked if I can identify the 4th option I instantly replied to the screen. "No?" and then you revealed what the 4th option is. I feel so proud of my self!
Comparing Vlogbrothers eras to Doctor Who, but using Hank's hairstyles as markers
Can't forget the goatee!
And John's mmmmmmMUSTACHE!!
Goatees are cool.
When did the current hairstyle start?
@@Selrahcthewise Cancer, like actually
We are such prideful creatures-- we feel like we need to have all the answers and we love a concrete answer. The smartest and most trustworthy people in the room are the ones willing to say "I don't know".
Amen.
Absolutely
it's got nothing to do with pride. wanting to be able to predict dangerous situations is literally a vital survival instinct that helped our ancestors not get eaten or starve. but like any survival instinct, it can lead us astray in the modern world we live in if used continuously and without scrutiny.
So not my medical doctor.
@user-yl4rh8vn8c Even your medical doctor wouldn't tell you with 100% certainty that a medicine or procedure will or won't have specific side effects. They use the best scientific knowledge available to try and correct whatever's going on. Sometimes everything's good, and sometimes it's wrong and maybe you have an allergic reaction, or sometimes people die. Either way, your statistics add to the scientific knowledge for the next person or doctor trying to make an informed decision. (I'm not a doctor, I'm just a human on the internet.)
People aren't looking for information on social media. They're looking for affirmation.
This whole situation surrounding Thomas Crooks reminds me of the film Elephant, a film that was tangentially about the Columbine massacre. That film has a very loose structure and seems to be pointing at a lot of the things that COULD have caused what eventually happened but ultimately we can never know for sure and the film never provides a solidified answer.
The reason the film was called Elephant was because it was in reference to the fable of the blind men trying to make out the shape of an elephant and all coming away with different conclusions. The point of the story being, everyone has subjective interpretations of what the actual truth is, but overall we’re influenced and limited by our own perceptions of the world around us.
At the end of the day, we are all doing our best with what we have to make out the shape of something based on our own sets of information, worldviews, and past experiences. All we can do is be perceptive, critical, or understanding of the situations at hand.
And as Hank said, we just don’t know. And at least for now, we have to be comfortable with that.
Beautifully written
"I don't know" is the state of curiosity, and curiosity is the most productive mindset we have. Stay curious and cultivate a feeling of unease whenever you feel certain and stop being curious.
Ok but "I don't know" can also be a path to apathy without curiosity
I think in this case, it's more important to consider "I don't know" not as a reason to keep digging, but as the inevitable conclusion of the digging you've already done. some things can't ever be known. like the intentions of a dead terrorist. or what the stock market will look like tomorrow. or if there is intelligent life growing alongside us out in space. (at least, we're far more likely to die natural deaths before you or I learn the answer to that last one.)
part of being curious, is trying to fill in the gaps of what you dont know, but it's important to know when it's time to accept "I don't know" as an answer. thats the point of the whole video. you've got to recognize an unanswerable question, and move on.
I think the only thing we know right now with any kind of certainty is that mental health care is really friggin' important.
Let me disagree a little:
I believe mental health comes organically from the overall cohesion and goodness of society, and that's what we need more of.
Whereas "mental health care" (professionals, gov't funding, CBT etc) is good but inadequate. Like cleaning a wound that's already gangrenous.
I just don't "believe in" the idea that mental healthcare is like a faucet that you can just turn on. If they need water you can turn a faucet on, if they need mental/spiritual wellbeing you can't just turn a faucet on.
Digressing: Of course (insert religion here) will say the answer is that everyone should just be a (insert religion here) so we can all get along and be cohesive, but that's not gonna work. Being human is tough I tellsya.
only an american would look at a situation like that and say with a straight face, 'look at this mental health problem!' rather than 'look at this completely absurd gun problem!'
according to the secret service sniper that killed the guy, he had him in his sights but chose not to shoot until the guy raised his rifle and shot because... well, it's the states, and you're allowed to carry a gun around. the guy wasn't in the 'no guns' zone
it's complete insanity, and handily demonstrates why the gun laws in america both cause unnecessary tragedies and are also impossible for law enforcement to deal with
@@ItWasSaucerShaped So here's something to think about:
"Mass shootings" here in the states were virtually unheard of until the 1990s. There have always been lots of guns here in civilian hands, but this is a new problem (the frequency of nutters killing people, the frequency of young men in gangs killing each other)...so what changed? Why didn't this sort of thing happen in the 80's/70's/60's? My point is that it's not the guns...rather mental/social health.
And would you please share a source for the sniper saying he didn't shoot because it was "outside of the zone"? That sounds silly.
@@ItWasSaucerShaped I'm perfectly aware of our gun problem. I despise the fact that we can't get legislation passed to do anything about it.
The problem is that gun culture runs deep in our history as a country. The U.S. was founded on a deep distrust of government, and many, many people still feel that way. In fact, I'd say that number is growing.
Until the citizens of this country realize that the government IS the people, the U.S. will not forsake its love affair with firearms. And until that time comes, we can only try to mitigate things as they stand.
“Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position. But certainty is an absurd one.”
― Voltaire
About doomscrolling:
The designers of those sites use sophisticated psychology to addict you, or in programmer parlance "increase engagement."
Those likes and shares are a randomized reward schedule that makes a social media site function like a Skinner box. You become like the pigeon or the rat endlessly pushing the button whether you're hungry or not. That's the state you're in when you doomscroll.
I've noticed disturbing attention span problems in myself that did not get better until I started using social media less.
watched something really interesting about the concept of a skinner box in the context of MMO games. They create this addiction and compulsion to participate regardless of whether the person in the box derives any joy from the scenario. They used psychology to rewire our brains to do repetitive tasks that provide no joy
The compounding problem is new facts also come out randomly. Which just reinforces the addictive draw.
There's also no need to doomscroll to get information. Just wait a week and then do some google searches.
My first trip down that rabbit hole, when engagement was not yet the statistical exercise it is now, was on 9/11. There have been enough episodes of that since then to know that the only certainty is that going down that rabbit hole again has no upside. So this time, the moment I saw the first headlines, I immediately turned off all notifications for news and social media and have not seen any to date. Any urge or curiosity to peek I might have had, even a little, had been wholelly manageable, for which I'm grateful. This vlog of Hank's is the first media I've allowed myself since in any way related to the topic. The only reason I had no hesitation is because I trust him to have a worthwhile grasp of what's important and the wisdom to know what and how to communicate it.
Remember when news was slower? When journalists wanted to be certain of facts before reporting because they hated the idea of what a retraction would do to their reputation? When the news wasn't just out to fight social media for you clicks and the seconds they could put you eyes on ads for?
It's weird watching people having this panic, and just being like "Can we all calm down for like 4 days, and wait for the actual investigations to happen?"
Uncertainty sucks, but the doomscrolling of social media doesn't actually settle that, it just adds a gambling minigame on top of it. If you can accept that you'll be uncertain until facts are solidified, you can at least get off the roller coaster for a bit.
to be fair, no, I don't remember that lol. I get your meaning but news has almost always been panicked fearmongering to some degree.
@@Haduuna_Wrur The sad part is, no it wasn't always like this, I am also too young to remember it. But my parents assure me that it was indeed different in the olden days lol. (And it's not just nostalgia coloring things) the 24 hour news cycle pressuring people into turning trivial things into BREAKING NEWS to fill the time combined with mega corps buying up local papers and destroying their core, in addition to the democratization of knowledge distribution on the internet putting print out of business left and right means that journalism is doing VERY badly and the business side of things is strangling all of the poor journalists that actually give AF about truth and integrity and facts, because those kinds of things take time and effort, and that costs money.
Sure, the past had it's own problems obviously, I don't like gatekeepers to knowledge, and I think the democratization of knowledge is ultimately a good thing, it just has some unpleasant side effects. The presence of gate keepers and limited airtime, like it or not, did mean that they tended to prioritize stuff that actually mattered. And when print journalism was an actual job that actually paid decently, instead of being a sinking ship, journalists could just focus on doing their job, rather than scrambling to make ends meet in an increasingly stressful and morally dubious work environment trying to get enough views or clicks or whatever to keep the newspaper open or keep their jobs. Because unfortunately they are also human and need money for food and rent and stuff.
It's kind of a catch-22. News has to be independent in order to be free to report on things without interference. But at the same time, it has to make a profit somehow, so it is incentivized to jump the shark and say SOMETHING even when it's just empty noise (vacuous speculation).
*points and waves vaguely towards the USS Maine* what's that about news sources not rushing out stories for their own purposes and instead waiting for the facts in fear of having to issue a retraction?
@@leyrua This really is the core issue, though. Society's need is to be informed, but the objective of the companies that provide "News" is to make money.
They know that, in the market where they compete, the most competitive strategy is to drive engagement via constant noise, uncertainty, and controversy, thereby capturing attention and ad revenue, rather than give us facts and peace of mind.
Voting with you wallet/attention has never really proved to be effective, but in this particular case, it takes a back seat to how much better disconnecting from doom-scrolling, and the consequential undersized news cycles, is for the customer's mental health outcomes.
Okay that last bit was so poignant and salient right now. It's hard to feel optimistic and trust our country and leadership right now, and it definitely leads one down a nihilist mindset. I didn't make the connection that it can create a space for dictator-like leadership to "fix everything."
"If you want to have an allegiance to truth, you have to trade in the comfort of constant certainty." - George Orw oh, sorry, Hank Green
That last "we 7:39 just don't know" resonated with me . At 65 ,ive realized thats why i read stories (novels) , i finish it , knowing! And get cranky if a series ends . Cause I don't know(what else happens)!!
I’ve been watching vlogbrothers for about half of my twenty-two years alive, and the strongest and best lesson I have learned is the holy virtue of not knowing things. The truth resists simplicity. Thanks guys.
I’m an educator at a historic house from the 18th century. I say “we don’t know” to visitors often, and people are not ready to hear it, which makes me want to say it more. Thank you for saying it!
I tend to read the news or watch a bit online, then once I get the information I need, I tune out, because the news just makes me anxious. Plus, becoming focused on the horrible things can warp a person's viewpoint.
I hear you, there! I try not to look at any news articles after 8PM or so, hard as that can be, and I even make a practice of watching clips from various animated films in the last hour or so before bed time, just to reduce the anxiety. Works for me, might not for others, but you never know.
This happens to me as well, it started on 9/11. I just kept watching the news and now with every notable event I just scroll the internet for days.
"Trying to figure out the new world I live in" is a great way to put it. I feel anxious and trying to make sense of it all is my perceived way to fix the anxious feeling, but I know that's not the solution.
At this moment, I’m less concerned about the world we’re heading into than the world we narrowly avoided
Would you mind elaborating a bit on that and why that is?
Yes, I am also not sure what you mean atm but interested if you don't mind elaborating.
@@user-Aaron- @sparklydino234 You don't want to be in the world where Trump is dead. As for one thing, the SS failings were so bad the story would be that it was intentionally bad. Its JFK on steroids but back then you didn't have social media and people trusted institutions.
@@user-Aaron- @sparklydino234 I’m assuming what they mean is the reality where the assassination was successful (Trump was killed) and US politics devolved into chaos, polarizing our already deeply divided population even further.
Like if the shooter had been brown?
I feel like I have the opposite problem in these situations. I actively avoid any information until months later. I don’t know if the avoidance is for my own sanity or because I’m waiting for a complete picture…Probably both. In reality there’s never a complete picture and I just feel in the dark no matter how I go about it. These videos however bring me comfort knowing we’re all going through some kind of existential crisis during these times.
I wasn't online when this happened, so I didn't hear until a few hours after. Turns out I learned just as much information as if I'd been doomscrolling--MORE information, actually, because I didn't have to sit through the piles of falsehoods and conspiracy theories. And my world is no different for it, because this was not a situation which needed ME to address it.
I want to live in a world where we respect each other, as a baseline for human existence.
"If you want to have an allegiance to truth, you have to trade in the comfort of certainty." Damn, dude.
I’ve been reading the Chaos Machine by Max Fischer and it does a really compelling job of arguing that so much of the violence and conspiracy stuff we’ve struggled with in the past few years has been pretty specifically (if unintentionally) manufactured by elements of social media and the attention economy and that has actually been really soothing to me bc it recontextualizes a lot of the extremes of the past decade from “human nature” to “humans being short circuited by this new tech,” which is a much more solvable problem. Obviously that’s a narrative I *would* find compelling and I’m still in the early stages of reading/thinking about this book, but it’s definitely been the thing that has most shaped my processing of events in the last couple of weeks.
same here. haven't read that book yet, but i've been having that thought, too.
As someone who's not read the book, I do not see why "human nature" and "humans being short circuited by this new tech" cannot exist together-- they do not appear mutually exclusive. It is because of the various elements of human psychology that already exist, that are then exploited by social media, to create this result.
Harmful conspiracy theories have circulated in every medium that's ever existed--witch hysteria spread by word of mouth and movable type; "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion", the Ur-text of modern antisemitism, was apparently fabricated in Russia around 1903. So it's not as if this is really new. I think what's new is just the speed, and the way that algorithms designed to prioritize "engagement" can magnify conspiracy talk without intending to.
I would offer a word for what you described "sensemaking"
Seeking out information and trying orient to your world based on new information is trying to make sense of the world. It's normal to try and do that sensemaking because it helps us survive in the world.
Also, I agree that we try to comfort ourselves because we naturally move from uncertainty and fear to comfort, but we need to learn to be ok with that discomfort if not knowing, because we know far less than we think we do.
We're with you Hank, we're all going through it. ❤️
All I know is that my brain feels like pudding this week. I don’t want to contribute to suffering and I don’t want to be on the “wrong side of history” and at the same time my mental health feels like it’s being turned into mush the more I try to stay informed. I feel frustrated with all sides and miss feeling hopeful like I did in my teen years.
Talk to God, or your good angel, or the energy of the universe, or what ever you call that moral foundation that lives deep inside your self. Show love to the people in your immediate life, and to that inner voice. Take a day to not listen to the world. Listen to (I call it God) and follow and then do what is good. Not what someone said was an action that would stop evil. Not what someone else said would be good for you. Talk to that inner good voice. WE all have it, we just call it by different names. You will find hope there. I wish you well.
@Comment_Leaver While I generally agree with this sentiment, I believe the internet has made this relationship far more complicated. If you choose to keep up-to-date with news that's occurring, you're constantly given a stream of wildly different information on similar topics. For example: It's very common to see a camera video of active harm taking place in Gaza, immediately followed by a report indicating that no such harm is occurring.
In the past, institutions would generally lie about some event that took place, and then the truth may or may not come out later. Nowadays, we see lies and truth placed adjacent to each-other constantly- this is certainly better for getting accurate information, however it's something that we aren't used to yet as a society. It's difficult to trust anything when you're constantly given conflicting "facts" of reality, it's not as simple for us as a society to digest.
I don't really know what the solution is or if we need one. I think most would fairly agree that seeing truth AND lies is better than only the lies, but the current state of things will take getting used to. People can no longer just believe an institution's lies and move on, they can see the reality of those lies, the deceit behind them, and they have to deal with that knowledge. I want to believe that most people have flexible worldviews and can update their thoughts based on new information / discrediting of old information- but it seems like a lot of people go to great lengths to justify *not* changing their minds.
No matter what though, I do think that this is a large reason for our current polarization- some try their best to to identify truth and incite change, some accidentally believe lies and try to incite change, some are made nihilistic and disconnected, some no longer trust anything, some are driven into extremist bubbles where opinions matters more than any information, some rely entirely on others to base what they believe is true on. It's a wild time, but I think (hope) we'll figure it out soon.
The feeling that not engaging is “failing” is fallacy. You looking at the news doesn’t change it, you checking over and over to see if anything new happened, doesn’t change it.
Things happen slower than the heartbeat of social media. Keeping generally abreast is as effective as fixated doom scrolling.
If you wish to prove it to yourself, use this week as an example. Maybe ONE new piece of info about the attempt drops a day, and it’s mostly not a particularly big piece of info. It’s always like this.
@@Inertia888 Your spiritualist argument is a dangerous and unsafe way to grapple with the world. There is not some universal ethical framework hidden inside everyone, and certainly not a uniform one. This is how you get people justifying evil behavior because it's what "God wants".
@@TheEnmineer I interpreted their comment as a variant of a more palatable-in-phrasing idea: practicing self-love and self-confidence or faith in one's own decisions and future, which are mentally healthy attitudes. After all, if someone cannot have at least some degree of self-confidence in their own decisions because there are many things that they cannot predict or control, then how will they get anything done? Should they just stay in a perpetual state of neurotic anxiety? There is a line between confidence and arrogance, and between self-love and having a superiority complex.
Being able to listen to yourself and not completely listen to others means you are less likely to be manipulated/used by others for their possibly malevolent goals.
This reminds me of a profound change in my life that happened when you and John started having less opinions. It brought me a change in judgment: I don't want to judge anymore, instead I can observe and abstain from making assumptions. It's a constant exercise (in fact, I talked about it in therapy yesterday), but it's something that makes me more in tune with myself and with the world around me
I think one of the most important things as a human is to understand our biases and how they affect our view of the world. Thank you so much Hank for helping us acknowledge our tendency to fit useful facts into comfortable narratives.
When I explained to my therapist why I thought I was manipulating people around me she said, "Does that help you feel in control? " I would have been less stunned if she got up and slapped me. Oddly, that realization led me down a road where I still want to know, but now I'd rather sit in the limbo of not knowing a bit longer than rush in simply so I can feel like it was my choice to do so. That has helped a LOT in this political Mad Max style landscape.
Love the tangent on doom scrolling, because it does have some really useful value. Quick shallow information is important when you are in danger and need to act quickly. In high emotion environment, this allows the brain to feel better getting it, because it provides a sense of safety and action. It is when you are trying to contextualize the world around you, deep complex information is far, far better than quick shallow information. Both complex and simple information are good tools for their respective problems and terrible tools to handle other problems. Our problem is using doom scrolling for complex topics, we use the wrong tool and in turn we get bad outcomes.
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Yes, yes, not knowing is so hard. Ignorance is not bliss. Thanks for this.
Ignorance IS bliss. Ignorance isn't an absence of answers; ignorance is the absence of questions. Blessed is the mind too small for doubt.
You're not alone. It's so bad right now. I want to run from this country so badly, but want to have a reason not to as well. I feel so stuck in life, because I have things that I need to build, but might leave the country, so why build them? Right now, I'm just going to try to pay off bills and move forward.
I've been so bent up about all of this, literally last night I was a mound of sadness, too filled with dread and sorrow to actually move from of the floor of my living room. Everyone around me keeps saying how young I am and how I should be focusing on things besides this, but I can't cause i feel my life will be over before I even hit 21. I just don't want that to happen, but at least I know people are getting bent out of a shape out because of this too.
This is my favorite Hank video EVER. CORRECT. CORRECT... CORRECT!!
Hank, I deeply appreciate the way you spoke on this topic. “I don’t know” is such an important perspective for each of us to keep. I crave knowledge, but I strive most for wisdom. And with wisdom I have found “I don’t know” can dim the intensity of our anger. It’s a sobering reminder that we are small creatures still trying to understand ourselves and our universe. While I believe humanity is made to do great things, I also believe we need to be humbled of our certainty at times.
Even though the answer is that we "don't know" - I found this whole video to be very helpful in how to look at this from every angle. Thank you, Hank.
One of my all-time favorite vlogbrothers videos is "Towering Mountains of Ignorance"... I can't help but imagine today's video as an unfortunately dark sequel. I am once again grateful to hear your insight and commentary, Hank; I am saddened by the gravity that necessitates it.
"I don't know." - Hank Green, July 25, 2014; and, broadly, all of us.
I am privileged to listen to your insights for free on the internet right when I need them.
Thank you Hank. For just stating the facts like you always do. In this day and age where we can’t trust what we hear on the news, it’s good to know we can always rely on you.
At least rely on the fact that you’re trying your best to help as many people as possible, and are educated enough to at least give a pretty solid hypothesis as to what that is.
Your commitment to give as much of the truth as possible is always appreciated. At least by me, and I’m very sure I’m not alone
You aren't alone! Hank and many others' commitment to truth and humanity is admirable and really inspires hope in me too! Nowadays truth and lies are treated as equally valid facts, usually contradicting each-other, and it's incredibly disorienting- having people like Hank to let us know that yes, this is not a normal time and it *should be disorienting*, is a comforting reminder that we're doing the right thing by not falling into simplistic worldviews.
I'm sorry to hear you were doomscrolling; your explanation makes a lot of sense. My brother is often on the other side of the political divide than me, but we love each other and try to understand where the other is coming from. He texted me the day this happened because he was feeling shaken, and I immediately said I was sad and sorry it happened. It's hard to understand where violence comes from, and the points in this video about the desire we all have to construct a comforting narrative when something scary happens are really important.
I have saved to my favorites Hank's video about "I am a towering mountain of ignorance" because I need the reminder
I also went searching for "Towering Mountains of Ignorance" immediately after this video! +
Hank, I rarely comment on on youtube videos. In fact, this might be the second comment I've ever made. I just wanted to say how appreciative I am for the kind of thoughtful and unbiased content you create. I really like how you filter everything down to the fundamental questions and then discuss them in a factual way. In a world where everyone is trying to promote their agenda or convince other people to believe the way they do, it's refreshing to have content that leaves open the possibility for "I don't know".
Hank, thank you for being so committed to finding and facing facts. And then sharing them with us. I keep hiding from uncomfortable facts when I know that it doesn't help. But I can take them from you because you have already thought them through by the time you present them, and that helps to keep me from reacting with fear. You and John are some of the most compassionate deep thinkers I have ever encountered. I hope I get to keep learning from you for a long time.
I usually don't comment on youtube, i'm mostly a social media lurker outside of my own sphere, but the end of this video was rly powerful for me. I feel like i don't know so much in my life. Theres people constantly expecting me to know things that i dont, and saying that i don't know just feels so gross. I wish society could just accept "i don't know" more often, when it comes to things like this, or just existing in general. Sometimes, people just dont know.
As some one who is not on social media, so much of this video was WILD. Not only is the doom scroll impulse really hard for me to understand, but I had no idea what stuff was going down on social media. Despite that, the last point still hit home
I do this all of the time. Whenever something momentous happens, usually something bad, I doom scroll and research. For me, it’s an anxiety response. There does seem to be a sort of diminishing returns problem at least in the short term (ie if I scroll for hours and hours without a break it gets harder to decipher what information is helpful or even reliable.) rabbit holes, man.
You’re right that we cannot be 100% certain of the future, and that is somehow both terrifying and comforting (sometimes)
Incredibly insightful as always.
Don't let anyone tone police you. You're a good person.
A truly scientific education (and by that I mean a perspective based on the underpinnings of the scientific method, not based on accumulating presumptive "scientific facts"), and probably practice, helps embrace ignorance as an inevitable trade off of searching for the truth. Escepticism and uncertainty are key to be able to generate (scientific, original) knowledge, but you end up not-knowing more things than you even realised before.
You know, thinking about it, it's not "not knowing" that feels bad to me. In certain circles, that sort of professional skepticism is accepted. But it's when I say I don't know and then some self-righteous person claims that you're in denial and that the truth is obvious that I begin to rankle from that accusation. It feels then that I ought to push back with a version of truth or be in some way subsumed by their version of the world. I wish the culture was different.
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An addendum to this opinion is also that on Twitter, you will never escape this person. And they will be shown at the top with a blue checkmark every time. Which is why the site sucks.
Hank Green, expressing everyone's inner thoughts better than they can themselves for years.
Thank you for sharing this, Hank. Really. Hope you and every American can be alright sometime soon!
This may be the most impactful 7 minutes of content I've ever watched.
At the end of June I went to a braver angels conference which is an organization that brings conservative and liberals together to bridge the divide between us through workshops, shared meals, healthy debate and music, and ever since I have felt so wildly comforted despite what’s happening in the world. I’ve never had the opportunity to encounter people on the other side so directly in such an open and respectful container. It was so rehumanizing and hopeful. They have local chapters all over the country. If you feel afraid and hopeless I would highly recommend you find your way to a meeting. Media and the internet will tell you that everyone on the other side is extremist but that can’t be true. There is still hope through connection.
Thanks for the insight I’ll be looking into the Braver Angels as that seems something I would love to be apart of!
it's nice that this organization is bringing together people who are willing to be reasonable
you explaining the news makes me feel so much more comfortable with the scary.
Thanks for this Hank. We need more constructive social media reactions like this in the world
Thank you Hank. I appreciate your insights, they really help me in times like this.
Beautiful angle, looking straight the facts, and our human nature, thank you so much for this, I need it so much to hear a center reasonable mind, and opinion like yours.
I've been struggling with the state of things lately and I love this video. You're always a nice voice of reason and I really appreciate that.
same
I'm so glad you're making a video about this because yes
I quite resonate with your idea of having to sacrifice certainty for truth and how incredibly difficult it is to admit that there are things you dont and possibly can never know. I’ve felt this many times but couldnt voice it until you explained it
Very serious video, but really like this hair!
Watching a video like this makes me very happy with my current level of news intake and curation of my social media feeds. I pretty much only use Tumblr and I have curated the people I follow to not be the people engaging in as much of this "having to know," as Hank describes it. Which means it is possible for anyone to curate such a space for themselves and I wish you all the very best in you quests to do so.
I'm not sure why I'm crying after watching this but I am, thank you for putting this feeling of the last week/month/year into words
This has somehow explained so much of how I've been feeling too, better than I can explain it. I've sunk many hours into fixating, researching, consuming so much news the last few days in place of chunks of my routine, genuinely wondering why I can't stop.
It really is this, that I just crave information and understanding for security, I just really want to know how this unknown and erratic world works right now.
This has been one of the most secure and soothing things I've heard for a good while. You do incredible work Hank
I think with Thomas Crooks the reality was that he was confused kid that needed a lot help and didn’t get it. I mean 20 is so young- he was practically a teenager.
Assassination attempts are historically common in the US, watching Forrest Gump will teach you that 😂 But they don’t change opinions. Teddy Roosevelt was shot mid speech, finished the speech, looked all badass and… lost the election in a massive landslide to Woodrow Wilson.
"if you want to have an allegiance to truth, you have to trade in the comfort of certainty"
writing it down for myself and adding this to my "fave vids" playlist.
Thanks for the perspectives hank :)
It sucks to live in interesting times, but I think most people must have felt that throughout time.
I'm glad I don't use twitter and went to AP to see what was up even if it didn't have that much yet.
Hank, this was an excellent video. I think a lot of Americans would benefit from watching--/and internalizing/--this. Thanks for sharing.
Relevant to this, I think: Whenever two people have a disagreement that they're arguing about, the truth only has two possibilities: either one of them is right, or both of them are wrong. In Politics, I estimate that the latter possibility is profoundly more common than the former.
One more possibility- The truth, at this time is possibly unknowable. I'm thinking everything from religion, to aliens, etc.,...
I’d say it’s actually impossible for either of them to be totally correct unless the subject of disagreement can be statistically or scientifically verified. Everything else is semantics and arbitrary.
Not really. When it comes to politics, there's the party that wants to take away your rights and the party that doesn't, so it's pretty simple.
This is a tough topic to communicate, in current times, with recent events. It was done so well and so timely. Appreciate you Hank Green.
The worst part about doom scrolling and trying to find information, is that no matter what, algorithms will end up giving someone the thing they want to see, and the side that they would most likely without context of the other side, and or people will have a empty void in logic, that needs to be filled in no matter what. The scariest thing for someone, is the unknown, and if someone doesn't know the context of another side they fill it in, and then refuse to believe another ones perspective, and it's just kinda sad at this point. We can't make a change by leaving blindside open, a bad person did a bad thing, that's all we know, why? because of some reason, twisting it and trying to fill it in will just make more and more confusion
I am happy knowing that because of this that maybe a few more people in the world will finally step out the box and learn to love each others again.
I spent 45 minutes out of my 60 minute therapy session this week talking about this.
Thank you for the little reminder that sometimes, I should just accept that I don’t know
Phil DeFranco is the only news I can stomach. I only have so many "spoons" in a day and most of them are dedicated to my job helping at-risk teens every day and focus on the change that I can actually control.
I recommend Beau, because it's "mr rodgers style", with no clips of politicians talking, no graphical splashes, or anything to monopolize your attention and raise your blood pressure beyond the commentary itself. Just a guy in a shed.
I suggest subbing to TLDR news channels from the UK, its all I use to get my information from, it's the best I found so far, PDF is oktho
@@randalalansmith9883 plus his foreign policy news takes are usually spot on and not alarmist. I dumped a few progressive news people because they kept doing the alarmist and conspiracy foreign policy takes.
Thanks for sharing Hank. Your experience being so closely aligned with my own is obviously comforting, but I also want to reinforce that moderate voices for reason and compassion need to be amplified and promoted.
Thanks for putting yourself out there. It’s helping.
Loving the curls, too.
Man that “event” feels like I happened a long time ago. Everyone was talking about the day it happened and nobody has talked about it after that. I haven’t thought about it since. You just reminded me that this happened.
This is the debilitating trade off that doomscrolling and being set to the current conversation on Twitter gives us. We cant know what new world we’ve entered the moment after a major event, no matter how hot the conversation becomes. Doomscrolling is a kick that makes you feel informed, without engaging in the long-term development of any of the real consequences that come after the initial buzz.
@@CharlieQuartz Very true but also true for people in general. I don’t use any social media or news besides whatever I watch on TH-cam. I think that the world just doesn’t really care. Like, most people are not doom scrolling or chronically online, and those people are not spurred into action or shaken to their core when something like this happens. I think it’s also an American thing specifically. What we should have done is started banning guns after the first incident.
You just forgot?
@@OttoKreml Well not literally forgot. There would be something very wrong with me if I forgot. I didn't say "I forgot".
I need more "I/We don't know" in my life. Learning to be comfortable with uncertainty is what I think might be called wisdom.
The fact that voting intention has barely changed at all after what was the best possible thing that could have happened for the Trump campaign is itself absolutely absurd. I don't think the US has that "undecided centrist" pool anymore, you're either fully on board with Trump and have been since 2020, or your single political concern is hoping Trump loses and has been since 2020. That's the only way to explain opinion not changing the slightest after a botched assassination attempt.
Realizing that John helped guide me through my teen years while Hank helps guide me through these crazy adult years.... so grateful to these two ❤
During the big Trump trial, my mom was really big on watching progressive TH-cam commentators discuss the possible outcomes, probably because she was holding out hope that they would take the sucker down. She even bought that action figure of Trump on a jumpsuit, giving the figure. I usually just left the room whenever she had those videos on; ever since Bush/Kerry, I have an almost pathological fear of holding out hope for any national politics.
this whole thing really destroyed my ocd and hearing this perspective of trying to fit new information into preexisting information really helped
Thanks for the overview hank! I have the opposite reaction you do to these things and immediately blocked all relevant tags on my tumblr (i... dont use any other social media) and stopped reading the news entirely! So I hadn't heard anything about the shooter at all!
I decided in January of this year that the US election cycle is bad for my mental health and I was going to start paying attention to the election ~3 weeks before it happens so I can research my local candidates... nothing that happens could possibly change my party vote for president for a multitude of reasons so why pay attention?
I really like to go straight to Under the Desk News either here or on tiktok. V just keeps so calm, they explain everything really well without it feeling like DOOM, and it really helps keep me from totally panicking. You and John definitely help me from panicking as well. 💙💙
Omg! TH-cam put John's nocd ad before this video
You're such a philosopher at heart. My favorite thing about teaching philosophy is showing my students that it's okay to be uncertain, that doubt is healthy and can even be exciting. It leads to questions, and questions are the joy of intellectual life!
Conservative here! For right now!
I love that you seek the truth. While I disagree on some of the things you share on occasion, I love that you are looking for the truth. I don’t know, but I’m ok with knowing that. Some of your videos have CHANGED my viewpoints on different points because of the points you made.
So, in the long run, whether I change or shift or vote differently depending on the circumstances, I am a person looking for truth, raised in my little bubble of perspective, recognizing that some of it’s wrong, and some (hopefully) is right in the grand scheme of things.
Isn’t that what growth and maturing is? Becoming closer to the truth, and recognizing that it sometimes will hurt?
I know this is off topic, but i love when it's reestablished that these videos are a discourse between brothers and not just information directed at the world at large.
"... I basically texted that to you, John."
I know we're all here watching, but it makes me nostalgic being reminded of two brothers just making videos for each other :)
Can't monetise, "We don't know."
I'm glad I listened to this