Escaping The Cave: The Toddzilla X-pod

Reflecting on the rather shocking midterms and Trump's uninspired announcement. Was he pouting after being robbed of his triumphant return? Or worried about investigations? Segment 2 (16:02): The changing social media landscape and TikTok posing an obvious data-driven election threat from China. Segment 3 (22:12): Mankind at its best: Artemis finally lifted off sending Orion to the moon!    "ToddzillaX" on most social media. LIKE, SHARE & SUBSCRIBE! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdLR140l--HufeRSAnj91A https://toddzillax.substack.com https://www.escapingthecave.com Music by Yellow Pills!  https://open.spotify.com/artist/7rDvBzvGcNPV3BYZ1n5VdZ

Todd's back for the midterms and starts off by blasting the populist Poor Media Victim attitude, exploring whether propaganda and media literacy even matter, discussing informational warfare, and the finer points of navigating ideological drift and its extremists.   Segment 2 (23:00): the Democrats' abortion debacle, The Sham-Wow Guy vs. Fettergump, and how the '22 midterms are a sure sign Idiocracy is here.  Segment 3 (39:00): There were no blacks on the World Series rosters. So? Segment 4 (58:20): Elon's Twitter drama, his inevitable choice between free speech absolutism and truth ministers, euphemism warnings, then returns to The 21st Century Informational War and how human self-deception is converging with technology to trigger a battle over reality itself.   "ToddzillaX" on most social media. LIKE, SHARE & SUBSCRIBE! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdLR140l--HufeRSAnj91A https://toddzillax.substack.com https://rumble.com/c/c-1253271 https://www.escapingthecave.com Music by Yellow Pills!  https://op

From 2019: Social validation, dopamine, and social media's Walter White; more on how people are more willing and eager than deceived when it comes to swallowing fiction and disinformation; choking on data leading to confused gullibility; honestly in a crisis; Sausage Party Hope: children demanding their happy ending. Where's the spring of genuine hope? ALSO:       The Battle of the 21st Century The iceberg bobbing off our bow Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube: Walter White cutting his meth supply?  Pinker's Utopian vs. Tragic Vision Evolution and self-awareness The bi-weekly apocalypse and their "chosen ones" Progress's Myth and becoming organic   *LIKE & SHARE; RATE & SUBSCRIBE!   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdLR140l--HufeRSAnj91A https://toddzillax.substack.com  

From #79, this episode dove in to storytelling, a central theme in the quest to not only understand but hopefully fight propaganda's mind hack. Also, the relationship between stories, hope, and both kinds of religion: theological & ideological. What's the major distinction and why I believe traditional religion deserves its pass...on ONE ironclad condition. Watch YouTube for new video from July's scrapped episode! A flood of fresh audio is coming!     LIKE & SHARE; RATE & SUBSCRIBE!   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdLR140l--HufeRSAnj91A https://toddzillax.substack.com   Music by Yellow Pills!  https://open.spotify.com/artist/7rDvBzvGcNPV3BYZ1n5VdZ

This is the first of what will be weekly reloads highlighting ETC segments from the first 111-shows. From #97, this episode featured uplifting topics such as: why it's not necessary to conquer a democracy when a just little doubt'll do ya. Also, how can a nation avoid inevitable conflict when each half of the country functions according to different rules of factual physics? Is there a relationship between likability, deplorability, & disinformation?   LIKE, SHARE & SUBSCRIBE! Music by Yellow Pills! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdLR140l--HufeRSAnj91A https://rumble.com/c/c-1253271 https://www.escapingthecave.com SocMed: ToddzillaX  

The one where Todd finally plants his flag! We're tribal critters who are bound by self-serving fictions; these stories are called cohesive narratives; national myths. And, in this country at least, the collectivist fairy tale of socialism is the antithesis of individualism; the "prepare the road for the child" mentality is mutually exclusive with our established American principle: meritocracy. Collectivist socialism and its "equity" cult is, therefore, an invasive species. Wokeism is an ideological insurgency. But from where? #111 also features the details of a lengthy and dramatic tribalism re-think, how data overload & its existential chaos push people toward idiocratic political cults, and foreshadowing hints about finding propaganda's Rosetta Stone! Answers are finally coming! But are they the ones you think you want?   "ToddzillaX" on most social media. LIKE, SHARE & SUBSCRIBE! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdLR140l--HufeRSAnj91A https://toddzillax.substack.com https://rumble.com/c/c-125327

Selling blind confirmation bias back to us.

Todd's back from sinus purgatory and joined in the studio by Cory! He's un-vaxxed and endured pre-omicron covid, so the show hits its crescendo with a frank, honest, and nuanced chat about responsibility, personal choice, and the ethical limits of anti-vax empathy.    Before that, they explore why no one believes politicians, what it would take to regain any trust (it's authenticity, stupid), whether there's anyone worth believing in and, if so, would they have the courage to speak truth to the mob? In a society increasingly based on the philosophy of Unity Via Division, is it such a shock when whites vote for their advocates, too? Also lawyers: practitioners of the Dark Arts of Rhetorical Bullshit, and Anger+Activism: Self-Righteous Erotica.   "ToddzillaX" on most social media. LIKE, SHARE & SUBSCRIBE! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdLR140l--HufeRSAnj91A https://rumble.com/c/c-1253271 https://www.escapingthecave.com https://toddzillax.substack.com Music by Yellow Pills:  https://open.spotify.

The podship begins slowly changing course as Todd discusses his new Rumble channel, propaganda-by-omission, my-team blind spots, and how his favorite podcast exposed itself as woke. The signs were always there! Also: the special interest boomerang, avoiding exposure to re-articulated ideological scripture, D.I.E. = r.e.p.a.r.a.t.i.o.n.s., the stupidity of scapegoating majorities, and the naive No Tribe Follies. Storytellers, not truth seekers. Memorize that.   "ToddzillaX" on most social media. LIKE, SHARE & SUBSCRIBE! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdLR140l--HufeRSAnj91A https://rumble.com/c/c-1253271 https://www.escapingthecave.com https://toddzillax.substack.com Music by Yellow Pills:  https://open.spotify.com/artist/7rDvBzvGcNPV3BYZ1n5VdZ    

After nine months Todd finally births another episode! In the return, he discusses his new video focus on YouTube, the year that's been, his wedding & vaccine-related informational anarchy costing him his mother, and how one is both free to exercise their vaccine choice and subject to the decisions others make in response. Also, "My Team" Bullsh*t has effectively neutralized the government's ability to respond to another public health crisis.   Music: Ryan Miera & Yellow Pills: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7rDvBzvGcNPV3BYZ1n5VdZ SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdLR140l--HufeRSAnj91A More Shows: https://www.escapingthecave.com https://toddzillax.substack.com

Trump's CPAC appearance marks the start of the 2024 campaign, barely a month into Biden's term. Will we survive this? After other contemporary messages of heartwarming fellowship and hope, Todd continues phoning his shows in, this time "reimagining" episode #64 which discussed performance-based validation addiction. Recorded at the beginning of the pandemic, other topics include how collective critical thought is impossible. You're not the Elephant Whisperer and their switch is internal. You can't "save" anyone! A timely reminder in the Age of Q. Also, leaving the vanquished a path home to save your own casualties.   MORE: https://www.escapingthecave.com https://toddzillax.substack.com

After a 2021 open, your friendly virtual Toddzilla mines early episodes, from 2014 & 2018, as a foreshadowing refresher on ideological religions and the Holy War being fueled by their proselytizing zombie hordes. Remember kids, mobs: they're f***ing stupid! Ask your doctor if intellectual autonomy is right for you! (RE27)   More: https://toddzillax.substack.com https://www.escapingthecave.com

People are storytellers not truth seekers. And we're explorers to the core. If you're looking for something positive, exploration brings out the best in us. Good luck today, JPL!  How do we become more sophisticated informational consumers? Loved him? Hated him? Either way, Rush Limbaugh was probably the best and most influential for-profit propagandist ever. Also, finding the line between honesty and aggression, how the pandemic complicates a digital detox, and the relationship between money and exploration.    More: https://www.escapingthecave.com https://toddzillax.substack.com

Why aren't impeachments argued before the Supreme Court instead of pre-decided partisans? What better time to revisit the ridiculous idea of Mob Wisdom and the Plague of Democratized Opinion? Are the intentionally misinformed qualified to sit on a We The People's Court Jury? And, if "the people" are going to metaphorically kidnap and blackmail their representatives, should "news" outlets be subject to perjury laws?  Also, the weird thing that happens when abstractions come alive!    More: https://toddzillax.substack.com https://www.escapingthecave.com

What about the inevitable Iron Fist of the Collective and the short path between one's idealistic morality and political fanaticism? The batsh*t political poles have shifted apart again! Since no quarter is found between the cults' compounds, Todd asks once again: where's a legit centrist supposed to go? Also, a refresher on narratives, a quick introduction to Sowell's "constrained" and "unconstrained" visions, a very human NEED for propaganda, understanding why many Trump voters just hate Democrats, and our great crime against humanity: self-advocacy!    More: https://www.escapingthecave.com https://toddzillax.substack.com

In this sprawling and questionably improvised episode, your slightly medicated and possibly menstruating host discusses everything from subject-matter-futility to contemporary colonizers attacking native temples. How is life in the jungle different from the zoo? What happens when propaganda is simply met with boring ol' truth? Social media is propaganda's plutonium. What's the relationship between moral imperatives and political violence? Enjoy the silence, Trump: The Second Season starts soon.  And what about that search for lost or missing significance and meaning? Is there something more to it that we shouldn't ignore?    More: https://toddzillax.substack.com https://www.escapingthecave.com

Joffrey's banished from Twitter and exiled to Florida while a traumatized and twitchy nation begins adjusting to something "normal." How has The Mad King's term eroded government legitimacy within our own borders? No inauguration day riots? What are those brave revolutionaries up to? A: trying to get each other banned from Twitter! President Biden's a reality. How long will Trump continue to set the standard and serve as the excuse? Also, last week's Woke State Media display was the fusion of big tech, pop culture, corporate media, and Green Tea Politics. It introduced us to our freshly exposed left flank and the future of Ideological Theocracy: technological totalitarianism. Where's the centrist supposed to pitch his tent? (RE27)   More: https://www.escapingthecave.com https://toddzillax.substack.com    

With troops flooding DC, Trump's term ends in two days time. Why doesn't it feel certain that it will? Was a nation of "patriots" suddenly afflicted with insurrectile dysfunction on Sunday? Is Donald Trump a foreign agent? Who cares? He performed like one. What lies at the confluence of technology & idiocracy? Also, letting escaped cultists find their way home, When Stories Attack:  factional storytelling is propaganda, and Toddzilla stalks Telegram! How did this thing make it to 100? (SM7B)   More: https://www.escapingthecave.com https://toddzillax.substack.com

Waiting for 2021's Inauguration Day storm to arrive, I intended this to be a quick repost of a segment from 2019's "Iceberg Ahoy!" episode but it took on a life of its own. It covers everything from QAnon and the Religious Mind's need to believe to the responsibility coming with our contemporary tech capability to our eventual (and deserved) loss of free-range free speech. But the core of the episode is this: it's the people. It's always been the people.     More: https://www.escapingthecave.com For Future Reference: https://toddzillax.substack.com

Trump's insurrection and the religious mind: why are so many Americans committed to faith before facts? Were they rioters? Protesters? Activists? Terrorists? That's decided by propaganda's very peculiar perspective effect. Is this the end of Trumpism or the beginning of something even worse? When it comes to free speech, where's the line between "liberty and license? If people ignore free speech's responsibilities, should social media accounts be licensed? Should Silicon Valley be in the gatekeeping business? Also, what's the relationship between likability and demonization?  (RE20)   More: https://www.escapingthecave.com For Future Reference: https://toddzillax.substack.com