Engaging Life with Courage and Intelligence
In the tradition of truth and history, this video examines the psychological connection between a boy with an out-of-control ego and his impact on the course of history. Abe Lincoln and Mark Twain introduce the video by asking why America suddenly wants to take over the peaceful and cooperative land of Greenland. Direct web address…
Ideologies and beliefs offer certainty. Reality offers consequences. In moments of stability, fixed belief systems can appear wise and efficient. But history shows a recurring pattern: when conditions change suddenly, ideology often fails — and reality takes over. In this Truth Matters episode, we examine three defining crises: 1) The Great Depression (1932), when economic…
When we live in an absurd world…we create absurd videos. This is the web address for the @HistoryIn1865 playlist @HistoryIn1865 Playlist
Who do you trust? For years, I have used Snopes, FactCheck, and PolitiFact to verify the numerous fraudulent internet claims sent to me by my diminishing conservative friends. My conservative friends are not getting physically smaller; they have stopped asking me for the verification of their “trusted” sources of information. Facts can get in the…
We all grew up either in a family or knew families in which truth was not their highest priority. When a family member failed a class in school, wrecked the family car, or was involved in a teen pregnancy, the grown-ups in the family swiftly moved into cover-up mode. With the talent unseen since the…
Shakespeare’s Hamlet dramatizes the tragedy associated with madness, paranoia, and deception. Unfortunately, all Americans have become unwilling actors in a similar tragedy. As an aside and to quote Polonius, “Though this be madness, yet there is method in ’t.” From day to day, the current administration spews nonsense, and more dangerously, acts in bizarre and…
Welcome to Veritonia — a totally fictional modern nation where truth is flexible, confidence beats correctness, and memes count as peer-reviewed research. This short cinematic satire explores how facts get “professionally improved,” arguments replace thinking, and news guarantees certainty — not accuracy. But some people still dare to ask the most dangerous question: “Is this…
How do smart people fall for confidence tricks like grandparent, lottery, and romance scams? How do smart people buy into Ponzi schemes and crypto-ATM cons? How do smart people believe totally unfounded theories about vaccinations, ethnic conspiracies, the Denver Airport is the Illuminati’s headquarters, a pizza shop in Washington, DC, is the center of a…
The central premise of this website is based on the belief that political, economic, and religious extremism forces those on the boundaries of reality to circle their wagons, irrationally defend their extremism, and create painful mental states for themselves. Many of these folks are “tag-along” extremists. While “true” extremists proudly display their extreme beliefs, “tag-alongs”…
How about a little satirical humor to start the new year? The video takes place in the quiet mountains of Kentucky, where two time travelers from the 19th century are relaxing on the porch of a mountain cabin. The peaceful evening is interrupted when a silver craft lands nearby, and a gray extraterrestrial visitor arrives….