Episode 16: Fast Track Education

Play now!

Episode 16: Fast Track Education is mostly a rant from an old man witnessing changes to the campus where he received his post-high school formal instruction. Against a backdrop of an old man ranting from his rocking chair against those kids on his lawn, we do have some interesting coincidences that tie the whole thing together with a focus on how sponsorship and egalitarianism might coincide in the field of higher education. Hint: It's just like the pressures that advertisers use on their sponsored media outlets; but it's more permanent.

Other than the Pomp and Circumstance March, we hear from Jahzzar's "The Wrong Way"–a perfect title to back the sentiments expressed— and et's "Kopeika".

Episode 15: When We Assume

Play now!

Most every aspect of our perception of the world around us hinges on assumptions. People tell us things, and we assume them to be true. Things happen. If they happen enough, a pattern may develop, at least in the mind of the perceiver. As long as the things that happen continue to follow the perceived pattern—or as long as the pattern perceiver fails to see instances where the pattern is lacking or downright broken—the assumptions about the pattern will hold.

Episode 15: When We Assume takes a brief look at what happens when reporters assume the experts they consult on our economy's patterns and functions are not questioned enough. Sometimes there are experts out there that can refute the experts with whom we are most familiar. And many times, nothing bad will happen as a result of holding these assumptions . . . that is, until something bad does happen.

Some assumptions can be found in the Planet Money episode "The Island Of Stone Money". I point out the assumptions, and provide assumptions of my own that refute those assumptions. It's an assumption-fest!

In this episode, I read excerpts from a few books. The first was from David Graeber's Debt: The First 5,000 Years, Melville House Printing, 2011. The passage can be found in the footnotes on pages 394-395.

The second, a passage from Silvio Gesell's The Natural Economic Order, can be found online.

The third is from Thomas H. Greco, Jr.'s The End of Money and the Future of Civilization, Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2009, on page 114.

Music today from Mudlark's "&" and The Freak Fandango Orchestra's "Requiem for a Fish."

Episode 14: Thwarting Disbelief

Play now!

Tired of bullshit? Well, then, you've come to the right podcast. I won't say I won't bullshit the listeners from time to time—in fact, I can't really claim that this podcast isn't complete bullshit all the time—but at least Attack Ads! recognizes that most advertising is bullshit.

And I'm not just saying that as a perjorative. I mean most ads are bullshit.

Episode 14: Thwarting Disbelief dives a bit into bullshit, that is to say, bullshit of two kinds. The first are beliefs that have no evidential basis in fact, but are held nonetheless. The second kind is the appeal we can make to the non-rational brain, using setting, tone and acting to trigger those social and emotional cues that drive a majority of our behavior. The problem arises, in my opinion, when the attempt to discredit and reveal the first kind of bullshit runs counter to the commercial attempt to use the second kind of bullshit to promote products and services. On commercial media, therefore, only the bullshit that pays gets to play.

The Skeptologists page is still up, though no show seems to be forthcoming . . . not surprising, given recent events.


The Biolator

My hearty thanks to Hanna, who provided much needed non-Jim voice talent on this episode.

Music includes (in order of appearance) Necromonikon Quartett, "Future"; Podington Bear, "Happiness Is;" and Mistle Thrush's "It's All Like Today" once again. I just like that last bit as a closer, I guess, so expect to hear it a few times more.