If there is one subliminal message we are sent again and again in the course of our days, it is that almost everything we think or do is measurable, and that by carefully collating all the data relating to these …
The Courage to Admit Mistakes in Public
Dear friends,
A few weeks ago I was invited to give a speech at the fourth International Crisis Summit in the Romanian parliament – you might know this already because I shared the text and the recording of my presentation in …
We Sacrificed Their Childhood at the Altar of Our Choices
140,000 school pupils in England are absent 50% or more of the time Between 20-30% of 5-15 year old boys are expected to have a mental health disorder by 2030
There are few doubts that the COVID-19 health crisis was …
Must We ‘Leave the World Behind’?
The recent movie, Leave the World Behind (Sam Esmail, Dir; 2023; Netflix), based on the novel by Rumaan Alam (2020) is not what it seems, to wit, a disturbing narrative of a family’s holiday weekend gone awry when an unfolding …
The Rise of Propaganda-Dependent Elites and Lonely Masses
ICS4 – Day 2 – 18. Mattias Desmet {"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org\/","@id":"https:\/\/straight2point.info\/the-rise-of-propaganda-dependent-elites-and-lonely-masses\/#arve-youtube-vrhcds4ma7u6649ae5b7c7f4917584226","type":"VideoObject","embedURL":"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/vrHcdS4ma7U?feature=oembed&iv_load_policy=3&modestbranding=1&rel=0&autohide=1&playsinline=1&autoplay=1&enablejsapi=1","name":"ICS4 - Day 2 - 18. Mattias Desmet","thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi_webp\/vrHcdS4ma7U\/hqdefault.webp","uploadDate":"2023-12-26T16:03:52+00:00","author":"International Covid Summit","description":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vrHcdS4ma7U In my opinion, one of the more important speeches provided at the recent Fourth International Covid\/Crisis Summit, held last month in Bucharest…
Sports After a Stolen Childhood
In a surprising turn of events that I’m not sure anyone expected from our team, the baseball team I coached won the league championship at the local little league.
It was an interesting experience for me. As the coach, I …
Why We Love the Nutcracker
Many people this holiday season will experience the joy of attending a local performance of The Nutcracker ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It’s the most implausible American tradition imaginable, an import from fin-de-siècle Russia straight to your hometown. It’s living …
The Blind Brute Blunders Forth
In the Jewish Quarter of Prague, the capital of Czechia, there is a strange-looking, if not bewildering statue. It is the tall figure of a headless, faceless, handless creature – with what looks like a massive, gaping hole where the …
The End of the World at Fort Bragg
Dying throes of US militarism, with post-Covid trauma and malaise, display themselves in Fayetteville, North Carolina, this December as I travel there on a Friday for a Saturday meeting. Fort Bragg is there, which is one of the largest military …
Scientific Meta-Analysis is Broken
All people of good faith should be troubled by the information I lay out below.
It took me eight years to figure out how to describe this problem and it’s massive — it threatens the very existence of humanity.
I.…Lives Unleavened by the Gift of Wonder
Not long ago, I spent a long day in a European capital in the company of a group of young Americans in their 20s and 30s who had been brought together as a result of their elite academic and creative …
Why are Lies so Believable?
Who you gonna believe….me or your own eyes?
In the 1933 classic, Duck Soup, after Groucho Marx left the room, Chico Marx, impersonating Groucho, exclaims to Margaret Dumont when she states he had left the room gives this immortal line. …
ESG, DEI, and the Rise of Fake Reporting
We know that the modern West has developed a jaw-dropping degree of totalitarianism, wherein the bureaucracies of the state and the corporate sector coordinate together to cripple humans outside their power networks and media channels. But what are the mechanics …
We Must Save Ourselves from the Public Health Professionals
Like other aspects of medicine, public health is about dealing with life and death. In the international sphere, this involves big numbers. If, as a group, a few million dollars is allocated here, it may save thousands of lives. Actual …
Independent Voices Sing in Symphony
One of my earliest memories of classical music is accompanying my father and older brother to hear Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony when I was 7. The symphony conveyed pure magic, filling my head with sonorous themes and exquisite harmonies, permeating the …