Yes, let’s give up the notion that heroes are going to save the day. It’s outsourcing our own agency. It says, fight for me--you’re the expert--let’s place our complete trust in you. But reality is far messier than that. Controlled opposition is part of the landscape, as is hubris, and just clumsy error, or rushing to completion. Human being stuff.
I think it’s instructive to go back to the beginning of this ‘pandemic’ and see that people turned to ‘heroes’ because: 1) they didn’t have a solid understanding of the science, math, or statistics at play, 2) they were told that they had no expertise, and therefore their viewpoint was not valid, 3) policy was rushing on like a freight train hitting folks in the mouth and they needed brave voices to speak out.
It was, in fact, useful and somewhat necessary to have heroic voices speak, no doubt. But we are at a somewhat different place now. We know a lot more, people like you, Mathew, and Jessica Rose, and too many to list have turned the magnifying glass on vital study, raising key concerns, crunching the numbers, using your formidable intellects to help people parse the deluge of data and propaganda that has rained down on us for what will soon be 3 years. The picture is not complete, to be sure, but we have enough meaningful information and evidence for everyday folks to act.
Hero ball might be applicable for things like press conferences and political campaigns, but only when the heroes are humble enough to not steer the ship, but rather give voice to the concerns, the data, the studies, the critical analysis. Some of the heroes that have been anointed are actually not very good at this voicing. They can be alternately either overly complicated and technical (read: impenetrable for most people), or over-simplify and gloss over critical information, or distort or even omit critical perspectives regarding what is known.
In the final analysis, the heroes aren’t really going to change this, because the actors who have staged this monstrosity are huge and have far far reaching influence. The only thing that can stand against this monstrous vampire squid are large numbers of people that refuse to cooperate. That’s what I believe is needed: more people finding common ground, armed with the excellent study and critique that has been (and should continue to be) developed and refined. That is in motion already--look at how the jab uptake has fallen over time. But there is more to do.
I offer this question: what common ground can be cultivated such that sufficient numbers can act (not to fix everything at once) to turn back the policies and programs that have kidnapped liberty and harmed so many?
Thank you for this. As a lay person trying to follow the story it's frustrating when all the pieces don't really fit together. There may be "controlled opposition" among the hero class, but I think there is another, simpler explanation you didn't touch on. Many of those who came out against the narrative saw their careers blown up and their comfortable lives severely disrupted. Many of them are just trying to make a living for themselves and their families in their new circumstances (Bret and Heather come to mind, also Dr. Peter McCullough.) There is also the problem of egos getting in the way - crowd adulation has a way of turning people's heads (Dr. Malone?) One of the things I like about Dr. Kory is that, while he has strong opinions, he keeps an open mind and moves with new information. It's probably why he has been successful reinventing his career as needed. And the DMED story - any successful totalitarian takeover will require the co-opting of the military in the US. There are just too many people with guns and the ability to live "off the grid" if necessary, especially here in fly-over country, for the electronic id regime to be completely successful. You are poking at a key part of the puzzle while others are being distracted elsewhere (they are happy to let Thomas Renz run with his incomplete story knowing it won't succeed), and the powers involved don't like it. Be careful.
Nice work. I think many of us have a strong desire to avoid hero worship. Ed Dowd was great for exposing the excess mortality angle from the insurance industry. That's good enough for me. Renz is and was a brand new lawyer when this all started. It would be highly unusual for someone with that little experience to hit the ground running with all the necessary highly developed skills. Essentially, you'd be looking for a polymath who happens to be a lawyer. Someone more like Mathew Crawford with a JD. And, with greatest respect, I can say Mathew is not my hero, but we are fortunate to have him.
Thank you. To assume that efforts to promote mass psychosis are entirely one-sided is dangerous. Massive social upheaval can be accomplished from both sides of a spectrum, and neither side need be aware that they're participating in the upheaval.
Excellent post Matthew, thanks for putting it out there.
Where do you place Del Bigtree, ICAN, and Aaron Siri in all this? Del definitely gained hero status with me because he provided the information I needed early on in the plandemic to keep my family and loved ones safe from the government/medical complex. But as far as striking back against the criminals, he seems to be largely frustrated as we are. I'd appreciate your perspective.
This is important to me. I give, what is for me, a substantial amount of financial support to our cause, ICAN being the largest contribution, and I want to make sure those resources are going to the right place. You've got me questioning my support for Renz, and I think it's time to do a full review.
I think it's not two parallel mass formations, but a fractal of fear, division and anger. People on the wrong side of the regime are feeling the pinch in all kinds of ways so I'm not surprised that it's getting... complicated.
I think some of the problems not only come from people's natural desires, but also from the selective pressure of needing to overcome the mainstream conversation. Shocking details and compelling stories are what lead and bleed. Maybe some people want to try to win with the truth in the back seat (you've outlined some great reasons why that's a terrible idea).
I feel somewhat at an advantage. I don't have great credentials or even a huge set of experience, I just try to stay in the lane of what I know and to contribute to the discussion that way. I'm comfortable recognizing the limits of what I know.
You're a hero in my book Matthew!
I think everyone would be more skeptical of their heroes, especially ones that just appear on the scene.
I think you have the right solution, as a techie I'm tempted to scream "Just get everyone on the fediverse" but I acknowledge some of the problem is people's behavior and attitudes.
You can't tech away a lack of willingness to listen and take time. I'm really sorry to hear about people not willing to accept your offers of assistance.
I'm a middle school math teacher at an alternative school, and one of my goals is to teach math in a way that all of my class can visualize the math so that it truly becomes a mental tool for them to use. While I also have the goal of teaching my class standard algorithms to mastery, if I'm honest, it's a secondary goal. This morning, I tried to teach my very smart, engineer husband a concept in a more visual way. He got annoyed (read mad) and wouldn't continue. Ever since I started studying higher math, I've noticed a difference (in myself and others) between being able to visualize (or maybe internalize???) underlying math concepts and being able to follow the recipe (apply the algorithm). When these two levels of math ability don't match in an individual, and those individuals are confronted with math that they "should" be able to understand (because they know the algorithm), but they can't understand the math, most people have an emotional (or physiological reaction): they get mad (if they're in middle school LOL or with people they're comfortable with) or they shut down (what most people do around professional peers). One aspect of your situation that I would gently suggest that you consider is that quite a few of your peers "should" be able to do the math you're describing (and may be quite familiar with the underlying algorithms), but they may not truly understand it such that it exists as a mental tool for them. So you may have a lot of people mentally turn off during your explanation of the math. You may have to start working on how you can present your most important math at a "kindergarden level" (I've always seen it attributed to Einstein that you should be able to explain something to kindergardeners if you truly know it).
Sep 3, 2022·edited Sep 3, 2022Liked by Mathew Crawford
Is this the seasonal analysis you were looking for? From March. It's the only article I have of yours in my inbox that hit the keywords seasonal and analysis...
I appreciate your brilliance but this article made me depressed. I'm just a high-school educated 56 year old Canadian who is trying to make sense of the insanity that has taken over our world. After reading this, I am even more confused about what is going on and who I can trust to tell me the truth so that I can make up my own mind.
thanks for taking the time to put words to the end of the hero archetype era. its been coming and we have been a feeling it but there is so much ego still invested in the ego belly gazing of the heros journey.
the most important part of that journey is coming home, and being received and recognized. which is the archetype we are moving into. the community archetype and we are being led by the trickster, the only one fool enough to bypass the ego.
and yes I am also amazed at why your not being called to help usher out the old, however am certain that it is because you are called to usher in whats next. try to be patient. i know its hard but you do have a thousand invisible eyes as your witness who have your back.
Sep 3, 2022·edited Sep 3, 2022Liked by Mathew Crawford
Great article. So many people don't pay attention to numbers if it goes against the narrative.
About hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin--AMA recommendations and FDA recommendations govern insurance which governs the large nursing home chains. Insurance doesn't follow the medical science or evidence.
Mar. 1, 2020 Trump first advocates HCQ for treating covid on national news.
Mar. 1, 2020 The AMA cautions doctors against prescribing HCQ for covid in a tweet.
Guess which one had the most impact on doctors?
Covid mortality began its steep ascent in the week of Mar. 21-29, about 3-4 weeks from Mar. 1.
What is the lag between covid symptoms and death, when progression occurs? 3-4 weeks?
I am not part of the Mensa Society, but I wanted to drop in and tell you all that the horrific and unparalleled situation we find ourselves in on earth is not about you.
Our children are dying here. They’re about to push another deadly vax on the people we love. So, I don’t give a damn about your egos, your wallets, or your fan base. If you have the intellectual chops and the humbleness to help humanity, then step up and leave the petty human behavior behind.
And furthermore, if any of us clueless subscribers pinning our hopes on you finds that you are leading us astray in exchange for money from opposing forces, I can assure you, you will not be treated kindly.
None of the bickering geniuses on Substack today have given me any hope for humanity. Over and over again we devolve into the same sodden mess just when freedom looms a mile away.
A long time ago I was reading Robin Dunbar's book on gossip and grooming while simultaneously trying to plow through one of Gerald Edelman's books on Neural Darwinism, which was flummoxing me. I had been thinking, reading Dunbar, that maybe people who read the National Enquirer and people who cared about the Kardashians and celebrities were wired to be interested in gossip, but I certainly wasn't. In frustration I turned to the annotated bibliography in the back of the Edelman, and zoomed right in on an annotation in which he damned the writer Walker Percy with very faint praise. It then hit me that I was just as susceptible to gossip, my brain wired to select for social information, just like the rest of my species. What I worry about here is that we'll all get stuck in conflict and gossip and social information. "viruses don't exist" and "snake oil" theories can't stick, though they can siphon off energy, which I'm betting is the point, but they can't stick. Social information and conflict, which is how social media and the MSM capture our attention, will addict us and divide us. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, which sounds really stupid and glib, but I, for instance, love novelty, and my cognitive map is holistic and inductive. I need the overarching first, then the details. I can't be religious because it is too repetitive. That's both my strength and my weakness. If everyone of good faith is honest about those aspects of themselves, things might move forward in a more unified way. I mean in face of the event horizon of Goliath sucking at us all. IMHO.
We don’t really need the archetype of the hero at this juncture of human evolution. Heroes are fallible because they let the ego dictate. It’s the age of the the sage king archetype. May we move forward with wisdom, patience, and dare I say, a sense of humour.
Yes, let’s give up the notion that heroes are going to save the day. It’s outsourcing our own agency. It says, fight for me--you’re the expert--let’s place our complete trust in you. But reality is far messier than that. Controlled opposition is part of the landscape, as is hubris, and just clumsy error, or rushing to completion. Human being stuff.
I think it’s instructive to go back to the beginning of this ‘pandemic’ and see that people turned to ‘heroes’ because: 1) they didn’t have a solid understanding of the science, math, or statistics at play, 2) they were told that they had no expertise, and therefore their viewpoint was not valid, 3) policy was rushing on like a freight train hitting folks in the mouth and they needed brave voices to speak out.
It was, in fact, useful and somewhat necessary to have heroic voices speak, no doubt. But we are at a somewhat different place now. We know a lot more, people like you, Mathew, and Jessica Rose, and too many to list have turned the magnifying glass on vital study, raising key concerns, crunching the numbers, using your formidable intellects to help people parse the deluge of data and propaganda that has rained down on us for what will soon be 3 years. The picture is not complete, to be sure, but we have enough meaningful information and evidence for everyday folks to act.
Hero ball might be applicable for things like press conferences and political campaigns, but only when the heroes are humble enough to not steer the ship, but rather give voice to the concerns, the data, the studies, the critical analysis. Some of the heroes that have been anointed are actually not very good at this voicing. They can be alternately either overly complicated and technical (read: impenetrable for most people), or over-simplify and gloss over critical information, or distort or even omit critical perspectives regarding what is known.
In the final analysis, the heroes aren’t really going to change this, because the actors who have staged this monstrosity are huge and have far far reaching influence. The only thing that can stand against this monstrous vampire squid are large numbers of people that refuse to cooperate. That’s what I believe is needed: more people finding common ground, armed with the excellent study and critique that has been (and should continue to be) developed and refined. That is in motion already--look at how the jab uptake has fallen over time. But there is more to do.
I offer this question: what common ground can be cultivated such that sufficient numbers can act (not to fix everything at once) to turn back the policies and programs that have kidnapped liberty and harmed so many?
Thank you for this. As a lay person trying to follow the story it's frustrating when all the pieces don't really fit together. There may be "controlled opposition" among the hero class, but I think there is another, simpler explanation you didn't touch on. Many of those who came out against the narrative saw their careers blown up and their comfortable lives severely disrupted. Many of them are just trying to make a living for themselves and their families in their new circumstances (Bret and Heather come to mind, also Dr. Peter McCullough.) There is also the problem of egos getting in the way - crowd adulation has a way of turning people's heads (Dr. Malone?) One of the things I like about Dr. Kory is that, while he has strong opinions, he keeps an open mind and moves with new information. It's probably why he has been successful reinventing his career as needed. And the DMED story - any successful totalitarian takeover will require the co-opting of the military in the US. There are just too many people with guns and the ability to live "off the grid" if necessary, especially here in fly-over country, for the electronic id regime to be completely successful. You are poking at a key part of the puzzle while others are being distracted elsewhere (they are happy to let Thomas Renz run with his incomplete story knowing it won't succeed), and the powers involved don't like it. Be careful.
Nice work. I think many of us have a strong desire to avoid hero worship. Ed Dowd was great for exposing the excess mortality angle from the insurance industry. That's good enough for me. Renz is and was a brand new lawyer when this all started. It would be highly unusual for someone with that little experience to hit the ground running with all the necessary highly developed skills. Essentially, you'd be looking for a polymath who happens to be a lawyer. Someone more like Mathew Crawford with a JD. And, with greatest respect, I can say Mathew is not my hero, but we are fortunate to have him.
Thank you. To assume that efforts to promote mass psychosis are entirely one-sided is dangerous. Massive social upheaval can be accomplished from both sides of a spectrum, and neither side need be aware that they're participating in the upheaval.
Excellent post Matthew, thanks for putting it out there.
Where do you place Del Bigtree, ICAN, and Aaron Siri in all this? Del definitely gained hero status with me because he provided the information I needed early on in the plandemic to keep my family and loved ones safe from the government/medical complex. But as far as striking back against the criminals, he seems to be largely frustrated as we are. I'd appreciate your perspective.
This is important to me. I give, what is for me, a substantial amount of financial support to our cause, ICAN being the largest contribution, and I want to make sure those resources are going to the right place. You've got me questioning my support for Renz, and I think it's time to do a full review.
I think it's not two parallel mass formations, but a fractal of fear, division and anger. People on the wrong side of the regime are feeling the pinch in all kinds of ways so I'm not surprised that it's getting... complicated.
I think some of the problems not only come from people's natural desires, but also from the selective pressure of needing to overcome the mainstream conversation. Shocking details and compelling stories are what lead and bleed. Maybe some people want to try to win with the truth in the back seat (you've outlined some great reasons why that's a terrible idea).
I feel somewhat at an advantage. I don't have great credentials or even a huge set of experience, I just try to stay in the lane of what I know and to contribute to the discussion that way. I'm comfortable recognizing the limits of what I know.
You're a hero in my book Matthew!
I think everyone would be more skeptical of their heroes, especially ones that just appear on the scene.
I think you have the right solution, as a techie I'm tempted to scream "Just get everyone on the fediverse" but I acknowledge some of the problem is people's behavior and attitudes.
You can't tech away a lack of willingness to listen and take time. I'm really sorry to hear about people not willing to accept your offers of assistance.
This hero shit bugs the hell out of me, also. These guys stroke each other's egos rather than engaging in seriously challenging each other's biases.
We need to distinguish between celebrating HEROISM and falling into Hero Worship.
Celebrating Heroism is good for our cause. Hero worship is dangerous.
My 90 second pitch: https://video.thesetruths.com/Sk19bew/heroism-vs-hero-worship/
I'm a middle school math teacher at an alternative school, and one of my goals is to teach math in a way that all of my class can visualize the math so that it truly becomes a mental tool for them to use. While I also have the goal of teaching my class standard algorithms to mastery, if I'm honest, it's a secondary goal. This morning, I tried to teach my very smart, engineer husband a concept in a more visual way. He got annoyed (read mad) and wouldn't continue. Ever since I started studying higher math, I've noticed a difference (in myself and others) between being able to visualize (or maybe internalize???) underlying math concepts and being able to follow the recipe (apply the algorithm). When these two levels of math ability don't match in an individual, and those individuals are confronted with math that they "should" be able to understand (because they know the algorithm), but they can't understand the math, most people have an emotional (or physiological reaction): they get mad (if they're in middle school LOL or with people they're comfortable with) or they shut down (what most people do around professional peers). One aspect of your situation that I would gently suggest that you consider is that quite a few of your peers "should" be able to do the math you're describing (and may be quite familiar with the underlying algorithms), but they may not truly understand it such that it exists as a mental tool for them. So you may have a lot of people mentally turn off during your explanation of the math. You may have to start working on how you can present your most important math at a "kindergarden level" (I've always seen it attributed to Einstein that you should be able to explain something to kindergardeners if you truly know it).
Is this the seasonal analysis you were looking for? From March. It's the only article I have of yours in my inbox that hit the keywords seasonal and analysis...
https://roundingtheearth.substack.com/p/examining-temporal-associations-of
I appreciate your brilliance but this article made me depressed. I'm just a high-school educated 56 year old Canadian who is trying to make sense of the insanity that has taken over our world. After reading this, I am even more confused about what is going on and who I can trust to tell me the truth so that I can make up my own mind.
thanks for taking the time to put words to the end of the hero archetype era. its been coming and we have been a feeling it but there is so much ego still invested in the ego belly gazing of the heros journey.
the most important part of that journey is coming home, and being received and recognized. which is the archetype we are moving into. the community archetype and we are being led by the trickster, the only one fool enough to bypass the ego.
and yes I am also amazed at why your not being called to help usher out the old, however am certain that it is because you are called to usher in whats next. try to be patient. i know its hard but you do have a thousand invisible eyes as your witness who have your back.
Great article. So many people don't pay attention to numbers if it goes against the narrative.
About hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin--AMA recommendations and FDA recommendations govern insurance which governs the large nursing home chains. Insurance doesn't follow the medical science or evidence.
Mar. 1, 2020 Trump first advocates HCQ for treating covid on national news.
Mar. 1, 2020 The AMA cautions doctors against prescribing HCQ for covid in a tweet.
Guess which one had the most impact on doctors?
Covid mortality began its steep ascent in the week of Mar. 21-29, about 3-4 weeks from Mar. 1.
What is the lag between covid symptoms and death, when progression occurs? 3-4 weeks?
I am not part of the Mensa Society, but I wanted to drop in and tell you all that the horrific and unparalleled situation we find ourselves in on earth is not about you.
Our children are dying here. They’re about to push another deadly vax on the people we love. So, I don’t give a damn about your egos, your wallets, or your fan base. If you have the intellectual chops and the humbleness to help humanity, then step up and leave the petty human behavior behind.
And furthermore, if any of us clueless subscribers pinning our hopes on you finds that you are leading us astray in exchange for money from opposing forces, I can assure you, you will not be treated kindly.
None of the bickering geniuses on Substack today have given me any hope for humanity. Over and over again we devolve into the same sodden mess just when freedom looms a mile away.
A long time ago I was reading Robin Dunbar's book on gossip and grooming while simultaneously trying to plow through one of Gerald Edelman's books on Neural Darwinism, which was flummoxing me. I had been thinking, reading Dunbar, that maybe people who read the National Enquirer and people who cared about the Kardashians and celebrities were wired to be interested in gossip, but I certainly wasn't. In frustration I turned to the annotated bibliography in the back of the Edelman, and zoomed right in on an annotation in which he damned the writer Walker Percy with very faint praise. It then hit me that I was just as susceptible to gossip, my brain wired to select for social information, just like the rest of my species. What I worry about here is that we'll all get stuck in conflict and gossip and social information. "viruses don't exist" and "snake oil" theories can't stick, though they can siphon off energy, which I'm betting is the point, but they can't stick. Social information and conflict, which is how social media and the MSM capture our attention, will addict us and divide us. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, which sounds really stupid and glib, but I, for instance, love novelty, and my cognitive map is holistic and inductive. I need the overarching first, then the details. I can't be religious because it is too repetitive. That's both my strength and my weakness. If everyone of good faith is honest about those aspects of themselves, things might move forward in a more unified way. I mean in face of the event horizon of Goliath sucking at us all. IMHO.
We don’t really need the archetype of the hero at this juncture of human evolution. Heroes are fallible because they let the ego dictate. It’s the age of the the sage king archetype. May we move forward with wisdom, patience, and dare I say, a sense of humour.