So, you know... One way of conceptualizing yourself is
that you're one speck of dust among 7 billion.
And when you conceptualize yourself
that way, you might think, well, what difference does it make,
what I say or do?
And that's actually quite convenient
for for you, because if it doesn't matter what you say or do,
then you don't have any responsibility and you can do whatever you want.
The price you pay for that is a bit of nihilism.
But if you don't have to shoulder any
responsibility, that's a small price to pay.
That's the underground motivation for nihilism.
But the other way of looking at it,
and this is actually the accurate way
of looking at it is that you're in a network, you're a node in a network.
And so you can do a little bit of arithmetic very rapidly and just figure
out how powerful you are.
You know a 1000 people.
You're going to know more than that over the course of your life.
But let's say a thousand for the sake of argument, for now.
They know 1000 people.
That means that you're one person away
from a million people and two persons away from a billion people.
And you're the center of that network.
And now the way networks work is
that information propagates in a networked manner.
So don't underestimate the power of your speech.
Now, Western culture is phallogocentric. Let's say it.
Okay. So we'll say, yeah, that's just fine.
That's exactly what it is.
It's predicated on the idea of the logos,
that the logos is the sacred element of Western culture.
And what does that mean?
It means that your capacity for speech is divine.
It's the thing that generates order from chaos and
then sometimes turns pathological order into chaos when it has to.
Don't underestimate the power of truth, there's nothing more powerful.
Now, in order to speak what you might
regard as the truth, you have to let go of the outcome.
You have to think all right,
I'm going to say what I think stupid as I
am biased as I am ignorant as I am, I'm going to state what I think as clearly
as I can, and I'm going to live with the consequences no matter what they are.
Now, the reason you think that, that's an element of faith.
The idea is that nothing brings a better world into being,
then the stated truth.
Now you might have to pay a price for that, but that's fine.
You're going to pay a price for every
bloody thing you do and everything you don't do.
You don't get to choose to not pay a price.
You get to choose which poison you're going to take.
That's it.
So if you're going to stand up for something, stand up for your truth,
it'll shape you, because people will respond and object and tell you why you're
a fool and a biased moron, and why you're ignorant.
And then if you listen to them,
you'll be just that much less like that the next time you say something.
And if you do that for five years,
you'll be so damn tough and articulate and able to communicate and withstand
pressure that you won't even recognize yourself.
And then you'll be a force to contend with.
And you don't get to wait until... I get
letters like Gad Saad gets all the time, too, from faculty members in particulary say:
Well, you know,
when I get tenure, then they think, well,
when I'm an associate professor, and then they think, well,
when I'm a full professor, it's like if you're a professor already,
you're like the most protected person in the history of the planet.
Well, okay, but one of the things
that that indicates is that it's almost impossible to provide people with enough
protection so that they feel safe to speak.
Okay, so we'll address that directly.
It is not safe to speak, and it never will be.
But the thing you've got to keep in mind
is that it's even less safe not to speak, right?
It's a balance of risks.
It's like you want to pay the price
for being who you are and stating your mode of being in the world.
Or do you want to pay the price for being
a bloody surf, one that's enslaved him or herself?
Well, that's a major price, man.
That thing unfolds over decades.
And you'll just be a miserable worm at the end of about 20 years of that, right?
No self respect, no power, no ability to voice your opinions.
Nothing left but resentment because everyone's against you.
Because, of course, you've never stood up for yourself.
It's like, say what you think, carefully.
Pay attention to your words.
It's a price you want to pay if you are
willing to believe that truth is the cornerstone of society.
And in the most real sense,
if you're willing to take that leap, then tell the truth and see what happens
and nothing better could possibly happen to you.
There will be ups and downs,
and there will be pushback and there'll be controversy and all of that.
But it doesn't matter.
The truth is what makes the world...
The truth is what redeems the world from Hell.
And that's the truth.
And we saw plenty of Hell over the last
100 years, and we haven't learned a bloody thing from it.
It's like, wake up, tell the truth, tell the truth, or at least don't lie.
That's a start.
And you've got to understand that's a risk.
But I will one more brief thing to say about that.
So I said what I had to say back
in September, and I'm sure that I could have done it better.
And many people have told me how I could
have done it better, although it didn't mean they would actually do it.
My job was at risk.
Serious risk for about two months and it destabilized my family,
who've been very brave about this so like, thumbs up to them, man.
They've just stood by me.
But here's the optimistic news.
The University has left me alone completely.
I shook hands with the Dean two weeks ago.
We're on friendly terms.
They don't want this to go any farther than it has already.
The students were tremendously welcoming
when I came back to teach in January, I haven't had a single negative incident
at the University, and I've received thousands of letters
from people all over the world, all of which have been in support.
I've received two negative letters.
That's it. Two!
So the people have it inchoate longing
to have the sort of thing that we're talking about articulated.
And so don't be thinking you're alone.
It's just that people can't talk.
They're afraid to talk or they don't know what to say.
And those are real problems.
So if you're reasonably articulate, like, start talking and sharpen yourself up.
I mean, the enemy is a cloud.
They're a cloud of gnats.
They're only courageous in groups.
They're only courageous in mobs.
If you stand your ground and don't apologize and articulate things properly,
they'll disperse around you like they're not even there.
So most of its illusion.
So don't be... Be afraid.
But be afraid of the right thing.
And the right thing you should be afraid
of is not saying what you say, because that's the same as not being.
And here you are suffering away.
You might as well BE at the same time.
At least, then there's something to you.