so today's video is going to be a little different. or a lot different.
I want to talk about a trend that I've noticed over the last couple of years
where an increasing number of people in the comments and on social media in general
say that they don't trust any doctors, they've stopped going to the doctor,
they don't trust scientists or science, they don't want to see studies, they're done,
studies are all corrupt, they've basically checked out on anything scientific. and I think this is
part of a bigger picture where there is a growing sense of disillusionment, of disappointment,
maybe even betrayal and anger towards a number of Institutions that are seen as the establishment,
and that includes the government, corporations, mainstream media and to some extent Healthcare
organizations. and I think there is a rift in our society and I only see it growing,
to the point where sometimes it feels like there's a battle of two camps
and we're supposed to be either on the side of the establishment and accept every word that comes
from these organizations and dismiss anyone who disagrees as an anti-vaxxer or an anti-science,
or we're supposed to be in the camp against these organizations, these institutions,
and dismiss anyone who agrees with them on anything as an industry shill or a sheep.
and I think we see signs of this rift everywhere we look. the COVID pandemic for example became
essentially a political battle, people's beliefs about the virus, about vaccines, about masks,
were influenced more by their political leanings than by any scientific evidence, and a number of
people, probably a growing number of people that identify with this anti-establishment movement
are so disgusted with some of these organizations that they are willing to support anybody and get
behind anybody who will go against them. and I think the rise of RFK Jr is a clear sign of this,
five years ago I don't think anybody, almost anybody took him seriously and now he's writing
this wave of popularity post covid and seen as a leading figure of this anti-establishment
movement. now, it's very interesting that RFK Jr is seen as an anti-establishment figure.
someone who was born into extreme wealth, one of the most privileged families in the world, went to
the most prestigious academic institutions, his entire family are career politicians...
so it's very arguable whether he truly is anti-establishment. but because of his views
on vaccines, specifically, he is clearly seen as such. another figure that has clearly risen,
I think, largely as a result of this rift, is Joe Rogan, who is seen by many people as a voice of
the anti-establishment, who platforms many people who are seen as anti-establishment. and we saw
this rift and this clash between the two sides in full display recently with "debate-gate",
where Joe Rogan challenged this vaccine scientist, Dr Peter hotez,
to debate RFK Jr on his podcast in return for a charity donation. now, I remember seeing those
tweets on that day on Twitter and thinking that it was kind of a Twitter spat, maybe a
little bit of an Internet stunt, and I really didn't take it seriously, I went about my day,
but boy did that thing blow up. the New York Times wrote a piece about it. the Washington
Post. the LA Times. Forbes Magazine. Scientific American. the BBC. it was everywhere. and I
thought the language of those articles, of many of them, was very revealing in itself.
many of them started with something like "Joe Rogan, podcaster and notorious misinformation
spreader, has challenged Professor Peter hotez, world-renowned and award-winning expert"...
and whether those attributes are accurate or not, whether you agree with them or not,
I thought it was very clear from the writing, most of the authors of those pieces,
that they didn't see themselves as impartial observers, they saw themselves as very clearly
standing in one camp of this clash. so why did this exchange of tweets become national news?
because that's all it was, nothing came of it, right? nothing happened. it was just
a few people tweeting at each other. why was this seen as such a momentous event? I think
it's because it was seen as a confrontation across this rift that's forming in our society.
Peter Hotez, of course, representing the scientific community and the establishment
side and Rogan and RFK Jr of course representing the anti-establishment side. and many people
took sides accordingly, depending which camp they identify with, and started viciously attacking the
other side. so what does any of this have to do with us and our Channel and nutrition and science?
when we approach a question that is scientific and that is factual as a battle of us versus them,
good versus evil, right versus wrong, automatically
critical thinking goes out the window. this posture that has become so common
is the opposite of objectivity and learning and making informed choices. it's literally where
science goes to die. so it's becoming really hard to have a conversation about most of these topics;
covid, vaccines, masks, even in nutrition we see it a little bit at a smaller scale,
without people becoming very combative, like you're attacking their identity. I know a
scientist who suffered pretty difficult, tough side effects of the covid vaccine,
and she has enormous trouble discussing this and raising awareness
even among her peers, even among other scientists, without being dismissed as an anti-vaxxer. and
she's very pro-vaccine, even the covid vaccine, she still says, despite what happened to her,
she says that it's very rare, it's a very rare event, and that the vaccine is a big net positive,
but what she's saying is these events, albeit rare, should be studied and this should be
improved upon. and of course we should be doing that. how did it get to this point where you
can't have a conversation anymore? you can't have different views without things becoming a battle
and people getting very upset and trying to cancel and de-platform anyone who disagrees? people want
to de-platform and cancel Joe Rogan so bad. people want to silence RFK Jr, they want him to just go
away. and I think that misses the point. Joe Rogan in RFK Jr are not the root problem of our society,
they´re maybe a symptom, they're a sign of how millions of people feel.
disappointed, disrespected, ignored, taken advantage of,
shoved aside. and they're willing to get behind anybody who suggests and proposes an alternative,
even if they aren't particularly accurate or evidence-based, because it's still better than
the official institutions that people no longer trust and basically despise. now, I'm probably not
going to single-handedly solve all of these societal problems with a YouTube channel.
I'm probably not going to single-handedly restore faith in science and scientists.
but what I can do is share some critical tools so you can take control of a lot of
these decisions. and those are the skills that I learned in 20 years of doing scientific research.
a very particular set of skills, as Liam Neeson might say. and they have been life-changing for
me, I use this every day, in my personal life, my family life, people around me, and it has
enriched our lives in immeasurable ways. I chose to get the covid vaccine when it first came out
not because Fauci told me to, or the CDC said I should, or I trusted big Pharma.
I don't particularly trust them any more than I trust any other Corporation. I looked at the
actual trials, I went through different trials conducted by different teams in
different populations and the numbers looked good, it looked methodologically robust,
so I made an educated choice that getting it seemed better than not getting it.
and I knew back then that it wasn't 100% safe or effective. I could have told you
that before the vaccines ever came out, any scientist could have told you that, because
there's no such thing as 100% safe treatment or supplement or drug or diet or anything in
life. walking out the door is not 100% safe. so it's not about being a hundred percent sure,
when does that ever happen? that's a completely unreasonable standard. it's about making the best
choice you can with the best information that you can access, that's available,
so you can stack the odds in your favor. now, your decision might be completely different from mine,
even looking at the same exact information, and that's exactly the point. access and comprehension
of information gives you the power to make your own informed choice. because let's face it,
automatically accepting every official recommendation because someone told me to
is not making an informed decision. and neither is automatically dismissing every
official recommendation because it came from "the establishment". those two things are basically the
same, they're two sides of the same coin, neither one is using much critical thinking. access is
power because it frees you from having to make all of these decisions strictly based on blind trust,
which sooner or later is going to turn to mistrust when somebody disappoints you. access gives you
a sense of agency. I don't hate any of these institutions. I don't hate the government. I don't
hate big Pharma. I don't inherently trust them either. they're populated by humans with flaws,
with their own interests. I listen to what they say and I try to fact check the information. and
I don't see anyone as enemies on the other side. I see people with different views, who maybe
looked at different information. so maybe having access to these tools can give you the same sense
of calm and the same sense of agency that I think I'm very fortunate to have. and maybe
that can help us smooth over some of these clashes. so that's what we're working towards,
that's the whole vision behind this channel. now, that's not going to happen overnight, it's not
the easiest process in the world, and it doesn't guarantee that you're 100% right 100% of the time.
but nothing does. what this process does is it stacks the odds in your favor. and lastly,
this process is not a monologue from me to you. I'm not a guru. I never want to be a guru.
your feedback molds the content of this channel. a lot of our videos are answering viewer questions.
this video is talking about feedback I got from viewers. so let me know in the comments if you
disagree with me, is this rift and this clash just a figment of my imagination? am I wrong
about all this? or do you think there is a good side and a bad side and I'm wrong about that too?
disagree with me, that's how we move forward. alright? and we'll keep talking, we'll be back
next week with some hardcore science, thank you for watching, take care, I'll see you next time