Jordan Birnbaum

Host

The Solution Series-Ep. 1-How To Fix Everything

Apr 26, 2013·31 visitors

Michael Shapiro

Cohost

Stage· 178 messages

Apr 26, 2013

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:00 AM

Professor?

Michael Shapiro · 1:00 AM

Sir!

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:00 AM

welcome, and welcome to everyone. Thanks for coming.

Michael Shapiro · 1:00 AM

Pleasure to be here.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:01 AM

Before we get started, I just want to remind you to listen to each other in the audience to see what everyone else is saying.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:01 AM

And don’t forget to vote up comments so that we (the Hosts) can see them and incorporate them into the Tawk.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:01 AM

All right – we are here tonight to prove the thesis that when human nature is removed from the equation, there is a simple solution to virtually every problem in the world.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:01 AM

But to make it even more fun, we decided to turn it into a competition in the hopes of achieving victory at the expense of the other’s self-esteem.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:02 AM

So here are the rules – we each are going to present each other, one at a time, a major crisis facing a country, a region, or the world.

Michael Shapiro · 1:02 AM

Which is fragile enough as iis.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:02 AM

indeed. We don’t know what we’re going to be asked. On the spot, the recipient must begin to craft a response.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:02 AM

Now fortunately for us, like The Price Is Right, the audience is allowed to shout advice to the contestants.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:03 AM

Unfortunately for us, after a reasonable opportunity, the questioner gets to point out all the clever ideas that were missed and rub it in Michael’s, I mean the other’s, face.

Michael Shapiro · 1:03 AM

I could use an exfoliation.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:03 AM

And finally, you the audience will decide who won, point-by-point. It’s obviously all very scientific. Ready, Freddy? (That means you Michael.)

Michael Shapiro · 1:03 AM

Aye cap'n. Fire away.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:04 AM

Now do you want to take a crisis or offer a crisis first?

Michael Shapiro · 1:04 AM

You pitch; I'll catch. No homophobic jokes, plz.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:05 AM

OK -first ever question - buckle in

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:05 AM

The public airways are being used to disseminate misinformation. Michael, solve that problem.

Michael Shapiro · 1:06 AM

This presumes that the public airways are not also being used to disseminate accurate information.

Michael Shapiro · 1:07 AM

Which of course, they are.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:07 AM

even if it does both - you have to find a way to stop the intentional spread of information

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:07 AM

misinformation

Michael Shapiro · 1:07 AM

I believe the solution to that problem is with the johns and not the hookers.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:07 AM

lol

Michael Shapiro · 1:08 AM

We must teach ourselves to think more critically about information; that skill is unfortunately rare among American adults much less young people

Michael Shapiro · 1:08 AM

There is no way to stop a lie from being told; only from being believed.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:08 AM

I mean, that's a pretty lame attempt, bro.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:09 AM

★ Spotlighted from Lucy Dyer

“oh shut up Jordan,that was dam good answer”

Michael Shapiro · 1:09 AM

The onus is on us as consumers of information. Play out the scenario if we were to try and stop "misinformation" at the source. What effect would that have on free speech?

Michael Shapiro · 1:09 AM

Who would decide what narrative is the "true" one and which the "lie?"

Michael Shapiro · 1:09 AM

Thanks Dickies!

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:10 AM

The solution, my friend, lies in removing the conflict of interests

Michael Shapiro · 1:10 AM

You mean for-profit journalism?

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:10 AM

exactly

Michael Shapiro · 1:10 AM

But even NPR was cheerleading the Iraq War if you remember.

Michael Shapiro · 1:11 AM

The BBC, too.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:11 AM

I doubt even NPR hasn't been corrupted at some level

Michael Shapiro · 1:11 AM

Oh, it has. And therein lies the fallacy inherent in your solution. There is ALWAYS an interest. And eventually it will conflict with some other interest.

Michael Shapiro · 1:12 AM

Look, we need to teach people to think more clearly.

Michael Shapiro · 1:12 AM

Let me give an example.

Michael Shapiro · 1:13 AM

When Colin Powell spoke to the UN in the runup to the Iraq War (2003, I think). He waved a bottle of white powder. Played a tape of unidentified Arabs talking and showed grainy satellite photos.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:13 AM

No -the public broadcasters pay for independently run operations, and have to provide a minimum amount of hourly programming in exchange for their licenses

Michael Shapiro · 1:13 AM

Shaky grounds for an invasion, no?

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:13 AM

★ Spotlighted from B.Mark Seabrooks

“Maybe the problem with biased views/propaganda in the media isn't the lies, it is that the masses are profoundly gullible, and under-educated.”

Michael Shapiro · 1:14 AM

I thought: "Nobody's going to buy this crap. But every newscaster in the aftermath of that speech lauded Powell's "fireproof" case for war.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:14 AM

All right -I am not liking my chances on winning this first question

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:14 AM

even tho my idea is really good

Michael Shapiro · 1:14 AM

Anyone trained in critical thinking would have seen through Powell's argument, and read the subsequent imprimatur of corporate media as a sham.

Michael Shapiro · 1:15 AM

But more than half of the country bought that lie.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:15 AM

so is your solution to make the citizens of the country smarter? That's practical. (That's sarcasm.)

Michael Shapiro · 1:15 AM

Now, Jordan, you do have a point in that the consolidation of corporate media and the marginalization of small, independent voices has had a chilling effect.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:16 AM

★ Spotlighted from David Kaufman

“Oh, sure - let's let the government run the media. That's never been a problem.”

Michael Shapiro · 1:16 AM

So I'd say the FCC should reverse its decade-long policies that have encouraged this consolidation and encourage greater diversity in media.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:16 AM

David -do u like my idea?

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:17 AM

i need some validation here, people

Michael Shapiro · 1:17 AM

Yes. Make the country smarter while breaking up the Big Five media companies that control 80% of some media markets.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:18 AM

★ Spotlighted from Rick Rosner

“Even the best journalists can be misled - and most journalists are lazy.”

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:18 AM

what about lazy journalists?

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:18 AM

all right - forget the lazy journalists

Michael Shapiro · 1:19 AM

It's not that most journalists are lazy; it's that they're paid by corporations.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:19 AM

I concede the first point to you. Hit me baby!

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:19 AM

★ Spotlighted from Jordan Sudy

“Seriously though, Jordan...it always seems to come back to the need for a well educated populace”

Michael Shapiro · 1:19 AM

OK ... here she comes.

Michael Shapiro · 1:19 AM

The use of antidepressants and mood stabilizers, combined with the increasing pathologizing of mental states, has led to an unacknowledged epidemic of violence and suicide.

Michael Shapiro · 1:19 AM

Pharmaceutical companies are driving this social mis-engineering. Do we need the meds, and how do we get ourselves off them?

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:20 AM

First thing we do is acknowledge the human condition requires ongoing therapy

Michael Shapiro · 1:20 AM

At least yours does.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:20 AM

and provide the framework for emotional growth over emotional coping

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:21 AM

★ Spotlighted from Rachael Workman

“what do you mean by pathologizing of mental states?”

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:21 AM

★ Spotlighted from Blake Ian

“JB - 0 / Shapiro - 1”

Michael Shapiro · 1:21 AM

Let me clarify Rachael, and thanks for asking that...

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:21 AM

yeah - what the hell are you talking about?

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:22 AM

I still get to come back to pharma after this

Michael Shapiro · 1:22 AM

Meaning that the DSM is classifying disorders that might not be disorders (ADHD, for example, for which we're overmedicating children) or GAD, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, which could just be a natural response to living in a very fucked up world.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:23 AM

So THERAPY is the solution to get people off meds who don't need to be on them.

Michael Shapiro · 1:24 AM

Oh, I see. Educating the populace was a shitty idea when I had it, but when you have it, it's a freaking panacea!

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:24 AM

I mean, I can live with that.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:24 AM

★ Spotlighted from Blake Ian

“It's important not to get all Tom Cruise on meds either, extremes are bad. Let's not make those who are getting help from medications feel as if they are making a mistake.”

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:24 AM

TOTALLY AGREE BLAKE

Michael Shapiro · 1:25 AM

Therapy, yes. And massage, and meditation and yoga and acupuncture--all should be widely available, and not just to the rich.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:25 AM

agreed

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:25 AM

as for pharma, here's where I get a little radical

Michael Shapiro · 1:25 AM

★ Spotlighted from Blake Ian

“Speaking of extremes... EVERYONE needs Therapy!”

Michael Shapiro · 1:25 AM

Only a little?

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:26 AM

the government provides grants to research cures for disease. Those grants of course come from tax dollars.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:26 AM

So the populace is paying to find a cure, and when it does, Pharma then extracts maximum profit from the people who funded the research

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:27 AM

I think Big Pharma is a lot like medical insurance - kind of a scam

Michael Shapiro · 1:28 AM

Not just a scam, but a driver of disease.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:28 AM

★ Spotlighted from Rachael Workman

“are there any countries that we can use as a basis for comparison -- places which are making those alternatives widely available and the populace seems, well, happy...?”

Michael Shapiro · 1:29 AM

Yes, Rachael. Ironically, some of the poorest countries, like India and the Philippines consistently rank high on happiness indices.

Michael Shapiro · 1:29 AM

★ Spotlighted from Blake Ian

“@Rachael - Transcendental Meditation is being taught for free to schools in South America by the David Lynch Foundation, and they are ERADICATING ADD and Ritalin in those schools”

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:29 AM

I think Scandanavian countries are pretty progressive on this front. Which is ironic considering they are descendants of Viking assholes.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:31 AM

All right, so for my solution of therapy and dismantling the pharmaceutical industry and handing it over to academia, I think I take that point.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:31 AM

★ Spotlighted from Rick Rosner

“As an aside: there were no Jewish Vikings.”

Michael Shapiro · 1:32 AM

I think we kind of agree on this one--remove the profit motive from treatment, and turn over R&D to nonprofit interests, including the government.

Michael Shapiro · 1:32 AM

And eat a lot of hallucinogens.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:32 AM

Rick - LLOL. (The extra "L" is for legitimate.)

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:32 AM

★ Spotlighted from David Kaufman

“You're both twits on that one.”

Michael Shapiro · 1:32 AM

Rick, perhaps you don't recall Olaf Rosenblatt?

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:32 AM

★ Spotlighted from David Kaufman

“There was one: Olaf Rosenfeld.”

Michael Shapiro · 1:33 AM

Great minds, David.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:33 AM

you guys were only off by a "Blatt!"

Michael Shapiro · 1:33 AM

OK, Birnie. What ya got?

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:34 AM

Student debt is creating a society in which higher education is of dubious value for a majority of the populace. Most jobs don't pay enough to cover student debt, turning graduates into wage slaves. Michael, solve that problem.

Michael Shapiro · 1:35 AM

The core of that problem is that students are being trained for jobs that nobody needs.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:35 AM

like poetry?

Michael Shapiro · 1:36 AM

I say: More apprenticeships, less academies. More permaculture communities, fewer English lit departments.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:36 AM

★ Spotlighted from David Kaufman

“Privatize the debt - stop pretending an engineering degree is the same as a degree in women's pottery. Let the interest rates being charged reflect that.”

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:37 AM

I didn't even know I could have chosen Women's pottery!

Michael Shapiro · 1:37 AM

We need small farmers all over this country. We need those who can begin to decouple their local communities from the global plutocracy and begin to return the means of production to the people themselves. This isn't new, of course. It's Marx.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:38 AM

Just out of curiousity, are you wearing your red jumpsuit right now?

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:38 AM

★ Spotlighted from David Kaufman

“I took one women's studies course. It wasn't about what I thought it was going to be about.”

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:38 AM

INCONCEIVABLE!

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:39 AM

INCONCIEVABLE!

Michael Shapiro · 1:39 AM

If I had to do it again, I wouldn't have gone to college. I would have taken up a trade; most of my friends, who are lawyers now, or stock analysts, or portfolio managers, would have done it differently, too.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:39 AM

YOU HAVE FRIENDS?

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:39 AM

gotta get out of CAPS LOCK

Michael Shapiro · 1:39 AM

Well-wishers, more like. Tho I'm not even sure of that.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:40 AM

BTW - my solution is just like yours, so I'll concede the point. Hit me, bro.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:40 AM

★ Spotlighted from Lucy Dyer

“Jordan,Micheal - David has a dam good point. a degree is worthless in this day and age”

Michael Shapiro · 1:41 AM

Most Americans live in cities, which are unsustainable and inhumane.

Michael Shapiro · 1:42 AM

How can we reorganize our habitation patterns to be gentler on the Earth and on ourselves?

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:43 AM

I was always under the impression that the environmental impact of commuting was one of the larger contributors to the problem, So I think green cities are the solution

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:43 AM

we don

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:44 AM

we don't need to spread out, we need to change our consumption patterns

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:44 AM

And we definitely have to stop watering our lawns

Michael Shapiro · 1:44 AM

How about dispensing with lawns altogether and just allowing whatever grows natively to be there?

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:44 AM

I'm down with that

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:45 AM

seriously, tho, what Germany has accomplished with renewable energy should make us ashamed of ourselves

Michael Shapiro · 1:45 AM

Define "Green City."

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:45 AM

Fortunately the Pacofoc Northwest is leading the way and will become the model for humanity iof we avoid extinction

Michael Shapiro · 1:46 AM

But take cheap oil out of the equation, and every city, however green, collapses.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:46 AM

Not if we build a sustainable renewable infrastructure to accxount for it

Michael Shapiro · 1:47 AM

So far, there is no renewable resource, or combination thereof, capable of replacing the fossil fuel necessary to sustain a place like New York or Seoul.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:47 AM

And btw -didn't Nikola Tesla discover unlimited clean energy? Is there some reason we can't do that?

Michael Shapiro · 1:48 AM

Did he? I thought he just discovered much of what Edison discovered, but unlike Edison, Tesla would have given it away.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:48 AM

★ Spotlighted from Rick Rosner

“I'm afraid utopian solutions will require a population adjustment.”

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:48 AM

Somebody get me a Tesla expert stat!

Michael Shapiro · 1:48 AM

Or just a Tesla. Those are awesome.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:49 AM

But we do now have buildings that are completely powered by renewable energy. We have to tear down the buildings and put up new ones.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:50 AM

★ Spotlighted from David Kaufman

“Ah, destruction. So environmentally friendly.”

Michael Shapiro · 1:50 AM

That still doesn't account for the massive inputs required to grow food for a city and transport that food to it. Not just petroleum, but chemical inputs.

Michael Shapiro · 1:50 AM

Admit it: Cities are fucked.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:50 AM

All right - I challenge you. What's the answer hotshot?

Michael Shapiro · 1:52 AM

Incentivize movement out of cities by encouraging the development of eroded rural areas.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:52 AM

sounds like I'll need a shotgun

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:53 AM

★ Spotlighted from David Kaufman

“Living in yechupitzville is for Vikings.”

Michael Shapiro · 1:53 AM

Create semiautonomous economic zones where localism provides for most of a settlements needs. Small farms, homesteading. The way the West was settled in the 18th c. (easier now that the Injuns are gone), but without the chaotic land grabs.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:54 AM

What, did you write a college paper on this or something?

Michael Shapiro · 1:54 AM

That's why the Jewish Vikings preferred the pillaging to the raping, David.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:54 AM

lol

Michael Shapiro · 1:54 AM

No. I was smoking to much pot while pursuing my worthless expensive degree to write papers.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:55 AM

choke * choke

Michael Shapiro · 1:55 AM

And now look at me!

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:55 AM

You look pretty good, actually. Considering your age.

Michael Shapiro · 1:55 AM

I'll take it.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:56 AM

All right - I have enouigh character to admit I got my ass kicked tonight.

Michael Shapiro · 1:56 AM

Your decrepitude is likewise not unappealing.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:56 AM

awww

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:56 AM

but though I lost the battle, I have not lost the war.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:56 AM

yet

Michael Shapiro · 1:56 AM

I dunno, Jordz. Seems like we agree on a lot. Maybe we should deal with funnier problems next time. I sense we lost our audience to ennui.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:57 AM

I sense we lost our audience when we booked the Tawk with the 2 of us as hosts

Michael Shapiro · 1:57 AM

Well, I'm already unpopular. What's your excuse?

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:57 AM

same one

Michael Shapiro · 1:58 AM

Well I had fun begging the patience of e-strangers. Thanks for inviting me on!

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:58 AM

but Rick, Dickies, and David will be stepping into the ring with both of us in the near future I prophesize

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:58 AM

★ Spotlighted from Rick Rosner

“You had me at hello.”

Michael Shapiro · 1:58 AM

Brrrrrring it! I've always wanted to spar with a guy named Bint.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:59 AM

She's a l;ady, actually!

Michael Shapiro · 1:59 AM

Wouldn't be the first time I made that mistake. I just got back from the Philippines.

Jordan Birnbaum · 1:59 AM

let's go out on that very high note

Michael Shapiro · 2:00 AM

As we say in Hawaii, mahalo nui loa! (Thank you very much!) Aloha ...

Jordan Birnbaum · 2:00 AM

thanks to everyone for playing with us

Jordan Birnbaum · 2:01 AM

and if you are arriving after-the-fact, I suggest you hit the "Top" button in the upper left corner so all of this makes sense. And don't forget to host your own Tawks. I want to be in the audience!

Jordan Birnbaum · 2:02 AM

And come back tomorrow for "From Seed To Bud -The Legalization Movement" with Todd McCormick. He's pretty awesome.

Forum · 113

Forum· 113 comments

31 visitors

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 12:39 AM

Here I am, ready to make inane comments.

Blake IanApr 26, 2013, 12:43 AM

Here I am ready to vote them up!

Lucy DyerApr 26, 2013, 12:58 AM

anyone here yet?

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 12:58 AM

No, I'm not.

B.Mark SeabrooksApr 26, 2013, 1:00 AM

Hello.

Blake IanApr 26, 2013, 1:01 AM

So nice to see Mr Shapiro rise from audience to host so quickly!

Lucy DyerApr 26, 2013, 1:01 AM

evening everyone!!

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:02 AM

Blake, that's an American success story!

Lucy DyerApr 26, 2013, 1:02 AM

*points and laughs*

Lucy DyerApr 26, 2013, 1:03 AM

we are? holy cow!! :-O

Lucy DyerApr 26, 2013, 1:03 AM

freddy? how did he get in here?

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:05 AM

Seems like the New Yawkers are MIA.

Lucy DyerApr 26, 2013, 1:06 AM

*wits for reply*...this should be good

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:06 AM

We who are about to die salute you.

Blake IanApr 26, 2013, 1:07 AM

First response by Michael... A+

Lucy DyerApr 26, 2013, 1:09 AM★ Spotlighted

oh shut up Jordan,that was dam good answer

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:09 AM

I'm with Dickie. That was a great answer.

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:10 AM

And who decides that? You?

B.Mark SeabrooksApr 26, 2013, 1:10 AM★ Spotlighted

Maybe the problem with biased views/propaganda in the media isn't the lies, it is that the masses are profoundly gullible, and under-educated.

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:11 AM★ Spotlighted

Oh, sure - let's let the government run the media. That's never been a problem.

Lucy DyerApr 26, 2013, 1:11 AM

BBC can kiss my ass - that station so conservative it makes maggie thatcher look good

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:12 AM★ Spotlighted

Even the best journalists can be misled - and most journalists are lazy.

Lucy DyerApr 26, 2013, 1:12 AM

david,this is the very things thats being discussed in our parliament right now

Lucy DyerApr 26, 2013, 1:13 AM

the newspapers want to have their own way of doing things - they want to be able to control what and who says what. but low and behold the government aint having any of it

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:13 AM

I know. I know the bbc has this wonderful reputation, but quite frankly I don't trust them.

Lucy DyerApr 26, 2013, 1:14 AM

they want their own way. they want to control the papers themselves

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:14 AM

Jordan. That's only over the air anyway. Doesn't apply in the increasingly relevant cable or Internet.

Lucy DyerApr 26, 2013, 1:14 AM

idea = 4/10...answer= um..pass

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:15 AM

Dickies - and that's the whole scary thing. And you don't have a Constitution to fall back on there.

Lucy DyerApr 26, 2013, 1:16 AM

david,we do...sorta

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:16 AM

Your solution seems to be to trust some Platonic guardian elite to disseminate the "correct" information. Way more dangerous.

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:17 AM

It's the "sorta" where we get in trouble.

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:17 AM

Jordan: nope.

Lucy DyerApr 26, 2013, 1:17 AM

yeah david,its only brought out when they feel like it

Jordan SudyApr 26, 2013, 1:18 AM★ Spotlighted

Seriously though, Jordan...it always seems to come back to the need for a well educated populace

Lucy DyerApr 26, 2013, 1:18 AM

lazy journalists? you mean like Ann Coulter?

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:19 AM

FCC is also not really useful here because of the reduced use of over the Air which is the only place they have power. (The Fox Network threatened to drop all of its over the air this week because of Aereo).

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:19 AM

People are more than willing to be led by the nose. Thinking for themselves is way too difficult

Blake IanApr 26, 2013, 1:19 AM★ Spotlighted

JB - 0 / Shapiro - 1

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:20 AM

I need the meds...

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:20 AM

Following religious dogma as a great example.

Rachael WorkmanApr 26, 2013, 1:20 AM★ Spotlighted

what do you mean by pathologizing of mental states?

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:20 AM

Burn!

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:20 AM

Who's channeling Tom Cruise?

Lucy DyerApr 26, 2013, 1:20 AM

tv,the media and incessant reality tv shows is enough to get me depressed

B.Mark SeabrooksApr 26, 2013, 1:22 AM

Maybe our collective mental state would improve if we free ourselves of the "Magic Thinking" that is religion.

Blake IanApr 26, 2013, 1:22 AM★ Spotlighted

It's important not to get all Tom Cruise on meds either, extremes are bad. Let's not make those who are getting help from medications feel as if they are making a mistake.

Lucy DyerApr 26, 2013, 1:22 AM

blah blah blah - my head just exploded....NEXT!

B.Mark SeabrooksApr 26, 2013, 1:23 AM

Ok, it's 9:30 in the AM here. Got to get ready for work.

C. Brian SmithApr 26, 2013, 1:23 AM

how about the adderral epidemic on college campuses

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:24 AM

Clinicians(and I was one, briefly) think that to label is to progress to a 'cure.'

Blake IanApr 26, 2013, 1:24 AM★ Spotlighted

Speaking of extremes... EVERYONE needs Therapy!

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:25 AM

As someone with ADHD, the meds help a LOT.

Jordan SudyApr 26, 2013, 1:25 AM

I'll take therapist for a thousand, Trebeck

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:25 AM

And psychotropic drugs

Lucy DyerApr 26, 2013, 1:26 AM

as someone who has never had ANY problem with my doctor or getting what i need - i think i shall sit this one out.....

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:26 AM

Oh, good. Here's the part where Jordan thinks pharma will come up with drugs for free.

Rachael WorkmanApr 26, 2013, 1:27 AM★ Spotlighted

are there any countries that we can use as a basis for comparison -- places which are making those alternatives widely available and the populace seems, well, happy...?

Lucy DyerApr 26, 2013, 1:28 AM

what a load of b*llocks Jordan......sorry but it is

Blake IanApr 26, 2013, 1:28 AM★ Spotlighted

@Rachael - Transcendental Meditation is being taught for free to schools in South America by the David Lynch Foundation, and they are ERADICATING ADD and Ritalin in those schools

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:28 AM

Big pharma's big goal is big money.

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:28 AM

What a load of bollocks Michael. Sorry but it is.

Lucy DyerApr 26, 2013, 1:29 AM

paying to find a cure? they may well have found a cure for cancer,and will we know about it? heck no!! cos we pay for all those cancer drugs and make them money

Lucy DyerApr 26, 2013, 1:29 AM

david,stop nabbing my lines!! dam it! lol

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:30 AM

This would be the Phillippines where they had something like 1200 political assassinations in 10 years?

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:31 AM★ Spotlighted

As an aside: there were no Jewish Vikings.

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:31 AM★ Spotlighted

There was one: Olaf Rosenfeld.

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:32 AM★ Spotlighted

You're both twits on that one.

Blake IanApr 26, 2013, 1:32 AM

http://tracingthetribe.blogspot.com/2006/10/jewish-vikings-dna-mystery.html

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:32 AM

Hey!

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:33 AM

Hallucinogens - my area of expertise.

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:33 AM

You mean Olaf the tailor?

Lucy DyerApr 26, 2013, 1:34 AM

Olaf Alot?

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:34 AM

Nu?

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:35 AM

Don't work; you won't become a wage slave.

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:35 AM★ Spotlighted

Privatize the debt - stop pretending an engineering degree is the same as a degree in women's pottery. Let the interest rates being charged reflect that.

Lucy DyerApr 26, 2013, 1:36 AM

i've said it once already tonight - blah blah blah

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:37 AM★ Spotlighted

I took one women's studies course. It wasn't about what I thought it was going to be about.

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:38 AM

Karl or Groucho?

Lucy DyerApr 26, 2013, 1:38 AM★ Spotlighted

Jordan,Micheal - David has a dam good point. a degree is worthless in this day and age

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:38 AM

And look how we'll that worked for the farmers of Eastern Europe!

Lucy DyerApr 26, 2013, 1:39 AM

i give up!!!

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:39 AM

I certainly would have!

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:39 AM

Ooh. Burn!

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:40 AM

I treasure my education, but it hasn't made me money . . . .

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:41 AM

The value of education is in the journey, not the destination.

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:41 AM

Particularly NY

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:42 AM

Hey. If you think I'm moving out freakin Iowa with the corn corn corn corn, you're out of your gourd.

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:42 AM

There are alternatives in between

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:42 AM

I think his premise is faulty.

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:43 AM

I don't live in a city. I live in the burbs. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that is sprawl that is unsustainable.

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:43 AM

How?? Change human nature.

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:43 AM

That he'll say that, I mean.

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:44 AM

We can always just give everything to whomever the government sponsored "nonprofit" media tell us to...

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:45 AM

Except of course for those native plants which interfere with your family sustainable farming, right?

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:45 AM

Nothing Germany does can make me ashamed of myself.

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:46 AM

Yeah, let's go back to sustenance farming.

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:47 AM★ Spotlighted

I'm afraid utopian solutions will require a population adjustment.

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:48 AM

No proof he did that.

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:49 AM★ Spotlighted

Ah, destruction. So environmentally friendly.

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:50 AM

YES!

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:50 AM

Nope. You're wrong.

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:51 AM

Living in an anthill is for ants.

David KaufmanApr 26, 2013, 1:51 AM★ Spotlighted

Living in yechupitzville is for Vikings.

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:52 AM

That's funny, David, even though you lost me . . .

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:54 AM

Who do we exterminate this time to get the land?

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:54 AM

If I have to chose . . .

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:55 AM

I have three degrees. It gave my parents great nachas.

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:57 AM★ Spotlighted

You had me at hello.

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:58 AM

Not me, I like the gadfly role.

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 1:59 AM

Don't confuse him, Jordan.

Rick RosnerApr 26, 2013, 2:00 AM

thanks, guys.

Blake IanApr 26, 2013, 12:37 PM

Strange, after this Tawk last night... I woke up to this article. http://cir.ca/s/6LU