PODCAST · society
The Great Ungaslighting
by Craig Boreth
We've all been conned into accepting a human culture that's out of sync with human nature, but it's time to fight back and put the kind back into humankind.
Episodes
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Ep54 -- Intrinsic Accounting
Finding ways to accentuate the positive, and figuring out what those "Anti-Elon Tesla Club" stickers are really saying.
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Ep53 -- The Paths Not Taken
The power and promise of imagining alternate realities: Remembering a pre-enshittified internet; revealing a less awful form of capitalism; and, considering a different type of Zionism. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: CSA: The Confederate States of America (YouTube) Jeff Tiedrich: Everyone Is Entitled...
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Ep52 -- The Extreme Center
If playing to the center has brought us to this, shouldn't moderate Democrats more accurately be called Extreme Centrists? ------------------------------------------- Lennar Lobbies for Endless Profits -- Substack Lennar Launches e-Marketplace -- The Lever
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Ep51 -- Believing Is Seeing
Our views and experiences impact how we see the world. One man's take on a 19th-century anti-monopoly law changed the world entirely. Mentioned This Week: Tony Conrad's "The Flicker" [YouTube] "Google Is Now the East India Company [The Honest Broker] "Beware of the Google AI Salesman"…
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Ep50 -- Excuses, Excuses
This episode explores how we so often believe in something -- from who is the NBA GOAT, to the legitimacy of one's economic status -- and then work backward to figure out why it's true. Mentioned this week: CNBC: Banks Keep Credit Card Rates High Doctorow: The Meritocracy to Eugenics Pipeline...
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Ep49 -- Learning the Wrong Lesson
They say that experience is the best teacher, but what if you're not a particularly great student and you learn the wrong lesson? I share a wrong-lesson experience from my childhood that stayed with me for decades, and nominate the Greatest Wrong Lesson Learner of all time. Mentioned this week:...
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Ep48 -- Blame the Burrito
Next time you inhale a burrito and slip into a food coma, don't blame yourself, because the very nature of the burrito requires that it be eaten too quickly to maintain consciousness thereafter. On this episode of The Great Ungaslighting, we explore ways that we misdirect blame, and how that can...
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Ep47 -- The Finger Butt Fallacy
This week I discover how a NSFW photo trick -- that makes it appear as if a naked butt is above your head -- helps explain what's wrong with everything from our understanding of high egg prices to the Chicago School's "rational markets" argument. MENTIONED THIS WEEK: YouTube: Paul Rudd explains…
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Ep46 -- The Upside of Falling Down
This week, an unsightly discovery while cleaning my house leads to some deep thinking about just how much truth about America I can handle. With a little help from Van Halen, Pee-Wee Herman, and Woody Allen, I come to terms with the fact that there have always been tyrannical Americans. And while...
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Ep45 -- Unhealthy Assumptions
We've known for decades that our healthcare system is deeply flawed, so maybe the key to fixing it is figuring out what we actually want it to accomplish. Mentioned this week: The Lever: Health Insurer Stock Buybacks The Prospect: How AARP Shills for UnitedHealth The Hartmann Report: White...
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Ep44 -- Of Mind Sounds
There's been a line from a movie stuck in my head since election day, and it has forced me to re-examine everything my previous reaction to and understanding of so many things that led to the outcome of November 5, 2024. And I think it provides a path forward for the political party that came up...
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Ep43 -- Breathtaking Failures
The people of Libby, Montana have been left barely able to breathe by industrial pollution, and the company that Medicare contracted to provide breathing machines has been screwing them over for decades. Why should they believe any politicians' promises to fight for regular people? And can you...
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Ep42 -- A Kindness Reminder
On this election day, to remind everyone that most people are mostly decent, I'm re-playing the poem that inspired this podcast: "Small Kindnesses" by Danusha Laméris.
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Ep41 -- Not-So-Great Expectations
This week, I'm reminding everyone that our brains don't just record reality, but interpret it based on prompts and expectations. This is especially relevant given we're near the end of an election cycle where candidates seem to be inhabiting totally different realities. Mentioned this week:...
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Ep40 -- Elf Delusions
This week, we explore how one writer's habit of imagining that magical elves are making her morning yogurt just for her pleasure can help us all find a little more security and comfort in the dangerous, scary outside world. Mentioned this week: MIT Study Shows Tailgating Causes Phantom Traffic…
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Ep39 -- Time Band-Aids
This week, we look at how we use our understanding of the variability of time to take some control over how we experience time, and use that sense of control to build up our resistance to the gaslighters of the world. Mentioned this week: The Guardian: The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli The...
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Ep38 -- Alien Evasion
This week, we take a quick look at immigration, taking a moment to acknowledge the actual real human beings involved, and to push back on the anti-immigrant arguments that hold sway these days. Mentioned this week: Wikipedia: What is Dividend Recapitalization? The BIG Newsletter: Safelite is a…
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Ep37 -- The Messenger Is the Message
This week, we're reminded to heed Maya Angelou's warning, especially when it comes to politicians: "When people show you who they are, believe them." Mentioned this week: The Guardian: The Housing Crisis That Thatcher Built The BIG Newsletter: Rental Inflation Due to Price Fixing Bureau of Labor...
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Ep36 -- The Education of a Good Value
There are lots of things in life that we only notice when things go wrong. This week, we'll look at some public institutions that fit that description and remind ourselves not to take them for granted when things are boringly normal. Mentioned in this episode: Matt Stoller's BIG Newsletter:...
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Ep35 -- The Meanings of Success
Are humans the most successful species in the history of the world, or is it too soon to tell? After all, we've only been around for 300,000 years or so, and our long-term prospects aren't looking too great. This week, I look at how we define success and the benefits of looking at that definition...
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Ep34 -- No More Pizzaburgers!
This week, I share a few of my very minor, totally reasonable pet peeves, including one that I've recently come to discover occurs more because of other people's ignorance rather than they're trying to piss me off. And that got me thinking about how we all should test our beliefs and assumptions...
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Ep33 -- Laudable Reliability
This week, I look at how the key to healthy, happy relationships could be something as simple as reliably showing up. Mentioned in this episode: The CA Chamber of Commerce's Deceptive Poll The Marginalian on Donald Winnicott
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Ep 32 -- Your Patriotic Duty to Get Screwed
This week, I consider why it's so difficult to get Americans to fight back against getting screwed at airports, movie theaters, ballparks, etc. Since it feels almost un-American to push back against corporate gouging, does that mean it's our patriotic duty to get screwed? Mentioned this week:...
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Ep31 -- The Implication of A-holes
This week, I try to figure out what the originators of neoliberal economics were thinking at the time, as well as the mindsets of those who ascribe and benefit from that thinking today, and ask, does their behavior tell us anything about humanity in general?
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Ep30 -- What's It All About?
This week, I explore some strategies for noticing the completely normal, usually invisible part of your reality, and asking yourself, as Walt Whitman suggested: Does it insult your soul?
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Ep29 -- Electile Dysfunction
This week, I look at how the zeitgeist seems to be shifting just a little bit against our beloved tech-billionaire heroes, and suggest what the presidential campaign that I support could do to make me REALLY excited to vote for them. Mentioned this week: Citation Needed: Coinbase appears to have...
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Ep28 -- The Great Econ Con
This week I explore the conflict that seems to be at the core of so much tension in modern America: The relationship between equality and freedom. For the past 50 years, there has been a concerted effort --initially begun as an economic movement -- to place freedom above equality. Milton Friedman...
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Ep27 -- The Freedom Ruckus
This episode delves into the concept of freedom in America, contrasting its philosophical underpinnings with modern consumerism, exemplified by Amazon's Prime Day. I criticize how consumerism is often mistaken for freedom and explore differing societal views on government and market power. I...
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Ep26 -- Get Outta the Water
This week, I re-visit David Foster Wallace's famous graduation speech, "This is Water," and try to dig a little bit deeper into the nature and composition of our "water," that is, the culture that we swim in without even noticing it. Beyond just recognizing that our culture isn't governed by...
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Ep25 -- It's All In Your Mindset
This week, find out what Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jeremy Clarkson, and Ratso Rizzo can teach us about the ungaslighting power of controlling the way we interpret our own realities. From how we define success and how drivers think about pedestrians (and vice versa), to our understanding of corporate...
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Ep24 -- Tunnel Visions
This week I look at how the U-shaped curve of happiness -- how our happiness tends to decline into middle age and then increase again into old age -- is partly explained by our inability to fully understand how our future selves will view our lives. We see our future selves through a sort-of…
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Ep23 -- Caste Aspersions
This week, recount my personal experience during the eve of Y2K, purchasing our first home, and navigating through the American caste system as a new landlord. I look at the tax policies and systemic inequalities that favor property owners, using my journey to shed light on broader societal…
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Ep22 -- The Ungaslighting Power of Asking "Why?"
This week, I explore the power of asking 'Why?' to challenge assumptions, beliefs, and societal norms. Demanding explanations of why our politicians, thought leaders, and ourselves believe what we believe can lead to deeper understanding and meaningful change. Mentioned this week: This American...
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Ep21 -- Our Crystal Ball Sucks!
This week I try to rationalize my idiotic decision to not invest in Amazon's IPO by showing just how terrible we all are at making predictions, novices and professionals alike. But, more and more these days, lazy non-journalists are relying on clickbait-y predictions to attract more eyeballs and...
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Ep20 -- Get Beyond Us vs. Them
It's hard enough to move to another city when you're 12 years old. But when you're a die-hard Philly fan and you move to Boston, the trauma can last a lifetime. This week I look at how Us vs. Them thinking exists throughout our lives, in some innocuous ways and in some ways that have serious...
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Ep19 -- The Kids Aren't Alright
In this episode of The Great Ungaslighting, I revisit the famous Stanford marshmallow test and its implications for delayed gratification and life success, delving into subsequent studies that revealed economic and cultural biases in the original findings. I explore the broader context of adult...
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Ep18 -- We All Contain Multitudes
In this episode of 'The Great Ungaslighting', I'm reminded of a scary night from my college days in West Philly and I delve into how our perceptions of fear and our reactions to it can be surprisingly calm in the face of perceived imminent danger. This anecdote serves as a springboard to explore...
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Ep17 -- Mind Control
This week's episode delves into the nostalgic world of the Johnson Smith catalog, a treasure trove of novelty items, to springboard into a broader discussion on the concept of mind control. However, the focus here is not on fringe or malicious forms of mental manipulation but on empowering...
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Ep16 -- Human Strong
This episode uses the metaphor of a lobster's color change when cooked to explore how human nature is often revealed through external pressures. We'll discuss how tragedies and disasters bring out the inherent compassion in people, challenging the complacency and inward focus of everyday life.…
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Ep15 -- Fair Warning
This episode explores the effects on the ground (and in the air) of extreme inequality. It turns out, addressing extreme inequality can improve life satisfaction for everyone, even those currently at the top. And while we've been told over and over again that we're living in a society with...
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Ep14 -- There Will Be Consequences
This week we look into how our individual actions, no matter how small, are interconnected and influence the larger societal ecosystem. We'll draw on inspiration from anthropologist Gregory Bateson's views on the mismatch between natural systems and human thinking to highlight the importance of...
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Ep13 -- Our Toilets, Ourselves
This week we'll explore how discovering other cultures can help us better understand our own, featuring an interview with Jonathan Blank, writer and director of the documentary "Sex, Drugs, and Bicycles". Mentioned this week: Paul Fussell on the Lost Art of Travel The Strange Design of American...
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Ep12 -- The New Abnormal
This week, we take a closer look at the normal, everyday world we live in, and realize that in some important ways it's anything but normal. We explore how important it is to put our normal, everyday world in context, to better understand how we got here, and to figure out how we might move…
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Ep11 -- You Can't Have Too Much F'ing Perspective
We're always scolded not to think that we're the center of the universe, but David Foster Wallace reminded us that we actually kinda are. Every experience we have unfolds with us at the center of it, but we get into trouble when we forget that EVERYONE ELSE is also at the center of their own...
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Ep10 -- When to NOT Believe Your Own Eyes
The most famous gaslighter's line is, "Who you gonna believe, me or your own eyes?" While you should NEVER believe a gaslighter, sometimes you shouldn't believe your own eyes, either. This week, we look at moments when you might not want to believe everything you see, or think. Mentioned this…
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Ep9 -- Are You the Customer...Or the Product?
If you get something of value for free online, then odds are you're not the customer, you're the PRODUCT! You attention is harvested and sold off to the actual customers of that platform. This week, we look at the consequences of misunderstanding who or what we actually are. Mentioned in this...
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Ep8 -- (You Can Get Some) Satisfaction
This week, we explore why true contentment is so hard to attain, no matter how much stuff you have, and how once you recognize the most common source for your desires, it's much easier to figure out what's really important in your life. Mentioned this week: J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Study...
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Ep7 -- How to Kind
In this episode, we'll transform "kindness" from a noun to a verb, and unleash an army of kind-doers on the world. Plus, in just two short sentences, poet Danusha Laméris will transform the way you think about those tiny, kind interactions you have with your fellow humans all the time. You can…
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Ep6 -- Beyond the Myth of Male Supremacy
We are not humanity, as Daniel Quinn revealed in The Story of B, just one particularly successful and destructive culture that has devoured almost all other cultures and may not last all that long in evolutionary terms. The good news is, we can change. But we have to recognize the most…
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Ep5 -- Driving Ourselves Back to Sanity
This week's episode includes our initial introduction to the inspirational text of this podcast: Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. This wonderful philosophical novel attempts to reveal all the myths that our human culture takes as natural facts, and the consequences of our misunderstanding of our own...
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Great Ungaslighting have?
The Great Ungaslighting currently has 55 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Great Ungaslighting about?
We've all been conned into accepting a human culture that's out of sync with human nature, but it's time to fight back and put the kind back into humankind.
How often does The Great Ungaslighting release new episodes?
The Great Ungaslighting has 55 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to The Great Ungaslighting?
You can listen to The Great Ungaslighting on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Great Ungaslighting?
The Great Ungaslighting is created and hosted by Craig Boreth.
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