“Joseph Stalin, Soviet dictator, creator of great power, and destroyer of tens of millions of lives …” Watch the latest episode with historian Stephen Kotkin, as he examines the political career of Joseph Stalin leading up to World War II.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=86&v=jhi2icRXbHo

"Kotkin argues that Stalin is the “gold standard for dictatorships” in regard to the amount of power he managed to obtain and wield throughout his lifetime. Stalin stands out because not only was he able to build a massive amount of military power, he managed to stay in power..."

"...for three decades, much longer than any comparable dictator." #Stalin

Jordan Peterson is getting dragged on Twitter. They're calling him "Nazi apologist" - But I don't see it. In fact, I think he's warning us.   #truthbombs

Lecture series of his first book, Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief.

I've been consuming a lot of Jordan Peterson's (a psychology professor) content lately, and I've to say, this is one of his best lectures. If you want to get more structure & order into your life, then this is a good starting point for you.

"The necessity of virtue both for the individual and for society at large."

A fascinating conversation about the existence of evil. #JockoPodcast

"It's easy to believe that a totalitarian state is made up of innocent individuals under the thumb of an evil tyrant. However, tyranny exists across all levels of a totalitarian state: in psychology, in the family, and in the mid-level." -Dr. J. Peterson

'Apprehending the Transcendent'

"La Boétie’s insights as to why people throughout history, and into the modern day, have acted against their best interests and consented to their enslavement."

"One of these factors, according to La Boétie, is “the powerful influence of custom”, or in other words, our tendency to become habituated to the social and political conditions we were born into. Just as an animal born in captivity knows nothing of the freedom it lacks..."

"...And hence does not resist its chains, so too those born into State slavery lack the knowledge of what it means to be free, and thus tend to accept their servitude as if it were natural."

"If the current trends continue, humanity may soon be divided into two groups. There will be those who welcome their pleasurable servitude, and those who choose to resist it for the sake of retaining not just their liberty, but their humanity."

"Huxley was familiar with Skinner’s experiments and understood their socio-political ramifications. In Brave New World and his subsequent works, Huxley predicted..."

"...The emergence of a “controlling oligarchy” (Huxley) who would conduct similar experiments on human beings to condition docility and minimize the potential for civil unrest."

"Skinner, like Huxley, also understood the social implications of his experiments, but he believed, contrary to Huxley, that operant conditioning could be used by social engineers for the greater good, leading to the development of a scientifically managed utopia..."

"Skinner’s book Walden Two, however, reveals that such mass-conditioning would in reality make possible a pernicious form of tyranny – one in which the masses would be enslaved, yet feel themselves to be free." N&N anyone? I'd love to turn some of them into human lab rats & study

Here's another book suggestion for you: "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley.

The experiment that's mentioned in Huxley's book. #SkinnersBox

An interesting take on Skinner's theory. #selfhatred #Africa

“He who feeds you, controls you” - Thomas Sankara

I do stan Dr. Peterson's psychological prowess, but his political hot takes are usually bad. Although he sometimes gets it right, this is one of those times.

Oz Talk: Jordan Peterson’s Rules to Live By