December 2, 2024 • 18 mins
On this episode of Revelizations Brian James records one of his pontifications and calls it a Revelization. We revisit the fascinating world of cognitive biases and look deeper into the groupthink cognitive bias. Does history always repeats itself? Can we break the cycle and learn from our predessors? It doesn't look promising. Grab your favorite snack, grab a seat, and enjoy today's episode of Revelizations, Three Men Make A Tiger.
Enjoying Revelizations and don't know what to do next? Let me offer a suggestion: Grab a device capable of playing a podcast along with some earbuds, turn on an episode of Revelizations, place them in the ears of your loved ones, and watch with joy as they thank you endlessly for introducing them to the Revelizations podcast. While you're at it feel free to leave a review on whatever platform you're listening and follow/subscribe so you never miss an episode.
Not enjoying Revelizations and don't know what you do next? Let me offer a suggestion: Grab your loudest portable speaker capable of pairing with a device that can play a podcast, turn on an episode of Revelizations, go to a densely populated area with great acoustics, crank up the volume, and laugh maniacally as the unsuspecting population looks around in confusion to the situation they are in. While you're at it feel free to leave a review on whatever platform you're forcing everyone to listen to the Revelizations podcast and follow/subscribe so you don't miss these types of opportunities in the future.
Thanks to today's sponsor: Drywall
Be sure to use code Revelizations at any and all checkouts. Probably nothing will happen, but it is worth a shot.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
This episode of Revelizations is brought to you by Drywall. Drywall, when having a wet
(00:17):
wall simply will not do.
Hi everyone and welcome to Revelizations.
(00:47):
I am your host, Brian James, here with a change of pace or perhaps a return to form.
Today's episode of Revelizations is going to be the first official episode that is a Revelization.
But if this is the first Revelization episode of Revelizations, then what were the first five
(01:08):
episodes of Revelizations if not a Revelization?
Semantics.
Those first five episodes will be their own origin story arc and the excruciating lesson
learned throughout the episodes.
It will be your own stumbling block to your ambitions.
Yes, I boiled down my first five episodes into a single sentence.
(01:31):
Turns out, I can be succinct after all.
On the last episode of Revelizations, I had Ken Smith and Tessa Mudge on to discuss cognitive
biases and their effects on decision making.
If you haven't listened to it already, I really recommend checking it out.
It was an episode stuffed full of interesting information, but I may be a little biased.
(01:53):
One of the cognitive biases we discussed was the group think bias.
The group think bias is a phenomenon in which a group of individuals come to a consensus
without critical reasoning or considering the consequences or alternative conclusions.
It is also where an individual will go along with what a group holds to be true even though
(02:14):
the individual may have information that disproves the group's narrative.
The influence of group think can lead the individual to dispel their own beliefs and
knowledge in order to seek conformity and uniformity within a group.
We covered a few different shapes and forms that the group think cognitive bias can present
itself.
(02:34):
However, there was one example that we had to skip due to time constraints.
That's what I want to cover with you on today's Revelization episode of Revelizations.
The group descriptor and group think can be a bit of a misnomer.
That may lead you to believe that it takes a large number of people to sway you.
(02:55):
How many people would it take for you to start to believe something that you know isn't true?
You're out somewhere and one person comes up to you and says, did you know that wearing
baseball hats causes you to go bald?
You respond with, did you know that regular showers make for more pleasant social encounters?
Get out of here, pigpen.
Feeling good that you just made a Charlie Brown peanuts reference effortlessly, you
(03:19):
carry on with your walk.
Then another person comes up to you and says something remarkably similar.
You shouldn't wear a baseball cap, you'll go bald.
You avoid eye contact and give a quick, polite smile.
You think you're not even wearing a hat, but now you're starting to wonder about the
validity of the claims.
(03:39):
Maybe there is some truth to it.
Maybe baseball hats reduce blood flow to your scalp and that causes the hair follicles to
fall out and die.
You're not a scientist, I guess that could be possible.
You look around and start to notice all the people wearing hats and the lack of hair on
their heads.
In the middle of all that noticing, another person comes up to you and says, I stopped
(04:04):
wearing hats because I was starting to go bald at a young age.
Now that I no longer wear hats, my hair loss has just about stopped.
That's when you reply, yeah, someone really needs to take on the big hat lobby and get
those guys out of our government.
Someone needs to stand up and end this epidemic of bald injustice and it just may have to
(04:25):
be me.
Now there of course is the possibility that even if you keep hearing something that sounds
ridiculous that it in fact stays ridiculous.
However, you can see how even after only a few encounters with something that you know
to be false, that certainty could start to be chipped away gradually.
(04:47):
That confidence can turn to openness to the possibility to eventually you've heard it
so many times, it has to be true.
That leads us to today's story, San Ren Cheng Hu, or as you English speakers say, three
men make a tiger.
Cantonese and Mandarin are tonal languages, meaning that you can say the same word with
(05:09):
different inflections and it can mean different things.
As someone who suffers from the monotone tongue ailment, Cantonese might not be the best second
language for me.
So if I just said something outrageous, go ahead and chopstick it up to me just being
a dummy.
I'm probably going to unintentionally butcher the names and places in the story too.
(05:32):
I'm going to do my best all the same.
A little background first before we get into the story.
The story takes place more than 2000 years ago, sometime between 475-221 BC in the Warring
States period of China.
As the name of that period alludes, states were at war with one another frequently.
(05:54):
One of the ways to curtail hostilities and show good faith was to send a member of your
own royal family to the state that you were in conflict with.
This member of the royal family would be the guarantor of the truce and also sort of a
hostage because if the truce was not upheld, then the royal family of the nation that you
(06:14):
lied to would execute the royal hostage in their custody.
That was sort of like the ancient world's mutually assured destruction doctrine.
So long as everyone kept their word, then each side's family member stayed alive.
Another thing to note, and this isn't too surprising with a story that is over 2200
years old, there were a few different versions of the story that I found.
(06:38):
Some of the characters or events vary to a slight degree, but the overall moral of the
story is consistent.
The characters in today's story revolve around two people, the King of Wei and his
advisor Zhuangzi.
Now let's see what they're up to.
(07:05):
The King of Wei had been going back and forth for a few weeks with the neighboring state
of Zhao getting the terms of their treaty amenable to both sides.
The moment had come when it was time to finalize it.
The King summoned his son, the Crown Prince, to the royal court.
The King let his son know how proud of him he was.
(07:26):
King Wei told the Crown Prince to remember that he may technically be a hostage to the
people of Zhao, but the state of Zhao will still treat him accordingly to his royal birth
and as a proper guest.
While he was away, he was to be an honorable ambassador.
In the past, the people of Wei and Zhao had their differences, but a new era was dawning.
(07:49):
The Crown Prince would be the personification of the covenant between the two states.
The Prince, sensing the weight of his father's words, accepted the mantle given to him with
a confident smile and a deep bow.
The two embraced and the King called forth his most trusted advisor, Zhuangzi.
Zhuangzi was the King's second-in-command.
(08:10):
There was no one else's words and advice that the King valued more than his most devoted
advisor.
That is why there was no one else he could trust to accompany his son on the long journey
to the state of Zhao other than Zhuangzi.
There were many people who envied Zhuangzi.
Many who desired to have access to the King's ear in the same way that he did.
(08:32):
With the King's favor came many political rivals.
Zhuangzi and the Crown Prince were going to be absent from the King for a prolonged period.
The trusted advisor knew in his absence, many would seek to usurp his position and malign
him against the King.
Zhuangzi needed to speak to the King one last time before he and the Crown Prince began
(08:55):
their journey to the state of Zhao.
As he was approaching the King in his court, before he could utter a word to the King,
someone ran past him shouting there was a tiger in the marketplace.
The King immediately responded, that was a preposterous notion.
There hasn't been a tiger in the marketplace for hundreds of years.
(09:15):
The King dismissed the man.
As he was leaving, another townsperson ran past him, exclaiming that there was a tiger
prowling in the marketplace.
The King paused and considered what was being said.
After a few moments, the King dispatched one of his guards and told the townsperson to
show the guard where he had seen the tiger.
(09:36):
Shortly after they left, a merchant came tearing through the halls in a complete panic, alerting
the King that there was a tiger wreaking havoc in the King's marketplace.
The King, convinced of the tiger's presence, hastily dispatched a large number of his guards
to protect his citizens and rid the marketplace of the unwelcome guest.
(09:57):
Before the King's guards could leave, Zhuangzi spoke up.
He revealed to the King that there was no tiger in the marketplace.
My King, he said, it is as you have said.
There has not been a tiger in the city of Wei for hundreds of years.
Your original discernment was correct to disregard the news as an impossibility.
(10:18):
After all, why would a tiger go to the epicenter of such a noisy, populated area?
The King, taken aback, asked his friend, why would he conjure such a deception?
Zhuangzi spoke up, saying, although the original claim of a tiger in the marketplace was quickly
dismissed by you, by the third claim, without even going to the marketplace to confirm for
(10:40):
yourself, you believed the far-fetched story that there was a tiger in the Wei marketplace.
He continued that the journey to Zhao is much farther than the King's court to his marketplace.
My King and friend, my enemies number much more than three.
Though their stories may seem laughable at first, eventually you may become bewitched
(11:01):
by their fabricated tales too.
The King thanked his advisor for the last lesson before he departed on his journey.
The King of Wei assured his longtime friend that he will be vigilant to not fall for such
deceptive tactics.
The crowned prince and advisor said their goodbyes and departed.
(11:22):
When it was finally time for the crowned prince and Zhuangzi to return back to the
city of Wei, only one was welcomed back fully, the crowned prince.
The King's once top advisor and closest friend was no longer able to take audience with the
King.
The King fell prey to the tactics of Zhuangzi's enemies and their relentless rumors about
(11:43):
his once closest advisor.
Why?
San Ren Cheng Hu.
Three Men Make A Tiger
What I find fascinating about this story is that the moral of the story is as true then
(12:08):
as it is now.
The story was written thousands of years ago.
How much has human civilization changed in that time?
The progress in culture, the innovations of technology, how much more knowledge and understanding
we have about the world around us.
Yet, with all of those external changes, the makeup of our brains are still the same.
(12:31):
The cognitive biases influencing humanity thousands of years ago are no less effective
in modern day.
We may have changed how the world looks, but our hardware, our brains are the same then
as they are now.
We can look back at old black and white pictures and think how much different our lives are
now from when that snapshot in time was taken.
(12:54):
It wouldn't be unreasonable to come to the incorrect conclusion that we are intrinsically
different today than the people in those photos.
However, if you were to take a baby from that period and have them grow up in modern times,
they wouldn't be a relic of the past.
They would grow up and act like their peers.
In the same way that if a baby was born today and transported back to the medieval period,
(13:18):
that baby would grow up with the habits and values of the people from that era.
There is nothing fundamentally different physiologically from humanity now to thousands of years ago.
The difference is the knowledge learned and accumulated to hopefully navigate life a little
better and make more conscious, less instinctual decisions.
(13:40):
So what can we do to mitigate the influence of group-think cognitive bias on our decision-making?
What gifts of knowledge have our predecessors left us to better navigate this modern world
with our ancient brain?
First, question the source of the material.
Where are you getting this information and who is supplying it?
Is the person credible?
(14:01):
Do they have a certain narrative that will benefit them if you believe the same thing
as they do?
If the king would have stopped to ask himself, who were the people coming to me with stories
about Zhuangzi, what is their motivation and what do they stand to gain?
Perhaps he could have seen through their deception.
Second, verify the information.
(14:21):
If someone is making a claim, then seek out information surrounding that claim.
Whether it was the king walking down to the market to see if there was a tiger or going
to different people who knew Zhuangzi.
The king could have avoided being swept up in rumors.
Third, just because multiple people are repeating the same information doesn't necessarily
(14:41):
make it true.
Don't outsource your thinking to other people.
When the king first heard the reported rumor of the tiger, he was confident it wasn't
true.
However, due to the group-think bias, even though he knew better, he was slowly persuaded
that something unheard of was indeed happening.
The same with his advisor.
(15:03):
He had a trusted relationship with Zhuangzi and he let it get eroded by the same people
and by the same means that Zhuangzi warned the king to be skeptical of.
Fourth, take time to come to a conclusion.
People were coming at the king in quick succession, telling him about the tiger.
This resulted in him making his decision just as fast.
(15:27):
If he would have taken his time, he could have possibly realized that his initial reaction
was the right reaction.
Then, if he still had his concerns, he could have went to verify the information.
There are many modern-day versions of how three men make a tiger.
We have news outlets with certain narratives they want to propagate.
Social media echo chambers, organizations, companies that want to sell you products,
(15:51):
your shady cubicle co-worker Bethany who is insecure and makes up rumors about everybody,
advertisers, social influencers who want to pretend like they have some insider information,
pseudo-health coaches, and on and on.
This doesn't mean that you need to be wary every time you hear information from a group
of people.
It means be aware that it is easy to be swept up with an opinion if you hear it from multiple
(16:15):
people.
Don't let other people reach a conclusion for you.
Keep an open mind and guard it with critical thinking.
Be cautious to jump on bandwagon thinking.
Unless it is about how great the Revelizations podcast is, then the safest, most responsible
thing to do is throw caution to the wind and begin chanting in unison with everyone that
(16:38):
Revelizations is one of the greatest gifts mankind has ever received, second only to microwavable
pizza rolls.
Thanks for listening, everyone.
See you on the next episode of Revelizations where I get to sit down with a long-time friend
and have a conversation about a certain ancient, but still modern worldview.
(17:25):
As a contractor that specializes in hanging pictures, drywall has definitely saved my
rear end on more than one occasion.
I remember all the times I would go to a client's house using wetwall and the project was nothing
but a soggy mess.
I would try and put something up on the wall and within minutes, sometimes even seconds,
it would be on the floor, completely soaked.
(17:48):
I can't count how many pictures I tried putting up using wetwall, for I just slunk off, if
I was even able to get it up in the first place.
Don't even get me started on the mold either.
Drywall saved my business and my family.
Thanks Drywall.
Drywall, when having a wetwall simply will not do.
This episode of Revelizations is brought to you by Drywall. Drywall, when having a wet
(00:17):
wall simply will not do.
Hi everyone and welcome to Revelizations.
(00:47):
I am your host, Brian James, here with a change of pace or perhaps a return to form.
Today's episode of Revelizations is going to be the first official episode that is a Revelization.
But if this is the first Revelization episode of Revelizations, then what were the first five
(01:08):
episodes of Revelizations if not a Revelization?
Semantics.
Those first five episodes will be their own origin story arc and the excruciating lesson
learned throughout the episodes.
It will be your own stumbling block to your ambitions.
Yes, I boiled down my first five episodes into a single sentence.
(01:31):
Turns out, I can be succinct after all.
On the last episode of Revelizations, I had Ken Smith and Tessa Mudge on to discuss cognitive
biases and their effects on decision making.
If you haven't listened to it already, I really recommend checking it out.
It was an episode stuffed full of interesting information, but I may be a little biased.
(01:53):
One of the cognitive biases we discussed was the group think bias.
The group think bias is a phenomenon in which a group of individuals come to a consensus
without critical reasoning or considering the consequences or alternative conclusions.
It is also where an individual will go along with what a group holds to be true even though
(02:14):
the individual may have information that disproves the group's narrative.
The influence of group think can lead the individual to dispel their own beliefs and
knowledge in order to seek conformity and uniformity within a group.
We covered a few different shapes and forms that the group think cognitive bias can present
itself.
(02:34):
However, there was one example that we had to skip due to time constraints.
That's what I want to cover with you on today's Revelization episode of Revelizations.
The group descriptor and group think can be a bit of a misnomer.
That may lead you to believe that it takes a large number of people to sway you.
(02:55):
How many people would it take for you to start to believe something that you know isn't true?
You're out somewhere and one person comes up to you and says, did you know that wearing
baseball hats causes you to go bald?
You respond with, did you know that regular showers make for more pleasant social encounters?
Get out of here, pigpen.
Feeling good that you just made a Charlie Brown peanuts reference effortlessly, you
(03:19):
carry on with your walk.
Then another person comes up to you and says something remarkably similar.
You shouldn't wear a baseball cap, you'll go bald.
You avoid eye contact and give a quick, polite smile.
You think you're not even wearing a hat, but now you're starting to wonder about the
validity of the claims.
(03:39):
Maybe there is some truth to it.
Maybe baseball hats reduce blood flow to your scalp and that causes the hair follicles to
fall out and die.
You're not a scientist, I guess that could be possible.
You look around and start to notice all the people wearing hats and the lack of hair on
their heads.
In the middle of all that noticing, another person comes up to you and says, I stopped
(04:04):
wearing hats because I was starting to go bald at a young age.
Now that I no longer wear hats, my hair loss has just about stopped.
That's when you reply, yeah, someone really needs to take on the big hat lobby and get
those guys out of our government.
Someone needs to stand up and end this epidemic of bald injustice and it just may have to
(04:25):
be me.
Now there of course is the possibility that even if you keep hearing something that sounds
ridiculous that it in fact stays ridiculous.
However, you can see how even after only a few encounters with something that you know
to be false, that certainty could start to be chipped away gradually.
(04:47):
That confidence can turn to openness to the possibility to eventually you've heard it
so many times, it has to be true.
That leads us to today's story, San Ren Cheng Hu, or as you English speakers say, three
men make a tiger.
Cantonese and Mandarin are tonal languages, meaning that you can say the same word with
(05:09):
different inflections and it can mean different things.
As someone who suffers from the monotone tongue ailment, Cantonese might not be the best second
language for me.
So if I just said something outrageous, go ahead and chopstick it up to me just being
a dummy.
I'm probably going to unintentionally butcher the names and places in the story too.
(05:32):
I'm going to do my best all the same.
A little background first before we get into the story.
The story takes place more than 2000 years ago, sometime between 475-221 BC in the Warring
States period of China.
As the name of that period alludes, states were at war with one another frequently.
(05:54):
One of the ways to curtail hostilities and show good faith was to send a member of your
own royal family to the state that you were in conflict with.
This member of the royal family would be the guarantor of the truce and also sort of a
hostage because if the truce was not upheld, then the royal family of the nation that you
(06:14):
lied to would execute the royal hostage in their custody.
That was sort of like the ancient world's mutually assured destruction doctrine.
So long as everyone kept their word, then each side's family member stayed alive.
Another thing to note, and this isn't too surprising with a story that is over 2200
years old, there were a few different versions of the story that I found.
(06:38):
Some of the characters or events vary to a slight degree, but the overall moral of the
story is consistent.
The characters in today's story revolve around two people, the King of Wei and his
advisor Zhuangzi.
Now let's see what they're up to.
(07:05):
The King of Wei had been going back and forth for a few weeks with the neighboring state
of Zhao getting the terms of their treaty amenable to both sides.
The moment had come when it was time to finalize it.
The King summoned his son, the Crown Prince, to the royal court.
The King let his son know how proud of him he was.
(07:26):
King Wei told the Crown Prince to remember that he may technically be a hostage to the
people of Zhao, but the state of Zhao will still treat him accordingly to his royal birth
and as a proper guest.
While he was away, he was to be an honorable ambassador.
In the past, the people of Wei and Zhao had their differences, but a new era was dawning.
(07:49):
The Crown Prince would be the personification of the covenant between the two states.
The Prince, sensing the weight of his father's words, accepted the mantle given to him with
a confident smile and a deep bow.
The two embraced and the King called forth his most trusted advisor, Zhuangzi.
Zhuangzi was the King's second-in-command.
(08:10):
There was no one else's words and advice that the King valued more than his most devoted
advisor.
That is why there was no one else he could trust to accompany his son on the long journey
to the state of Zhao other than Zhuangzi.
There were many people who envied Zhuangzi.
Many who desired to have access to the King's ear in the same way that he did.
(08:32):
With the King's favor came many political rivals.
Zhuangzi and the Crown Prince were going to be absent from the King for a prolonged period.
The trusted advisor knew in his absence, many would seek to usurp his position and malign
him against the King.
Zhuangzi needed to speak to the King one last time before he and the Crown Prince began
(08:55):
their journey to the state of Zhao.
As he was approaching the King in his court, before he could utter a word to the King,
someone ran past him shouting there was a tiger in the marketplace.
The King immediately responded, that was a preposterous notion.
There hasn't been a tiger in the marketplace for hundreds of years.
(09:15):
The King dismissed the man.
As he was leaving, another townsperson ran past him, exclaiming that there was a tiger
prowling in the marketplace.
The King paused and considered what was being said.
After a few moments, the King dispatched one of his guards and told the townsperson to
show the guard where he had seen the tiger.
(09:36):
Shortly after they left, a merchant came tearing through the halls in a complete panic, alerting
the King that there was a tiger wreaking havoc in the King's marketplace.
The King, convinced of the tiger's presence, hastily dispatched a large number of his guards
to protect his citizens and rid the marketplace of the unwelcome guest.
(09:57):
Before the King's guards could leave, Zhuangzi spoke up.
He revealed to the King that there was no tiger in the marketplace.
My King, he said, it is as you have said.
There has not been a tiger in the city of Wei for hundreds of years.
Your original discernment was correct to disregard the news as an impossibility.
(10:18):
After all, why would a tiger go to the epicenter of such a noisy, populated area?
The King, taken aback, asked his friend, why would he conjure such a deception?
Zhuangzi spoke up, saying, although the original claim of a tiger in the marketplace was quickly
dismissed by you, by the third claim, without even going to the marketplace to confirm for
(10:40):
yourself, you believed the far-fetched story that there was a tiger in the Wei marketplace.
He continued that the journey to Zhao is much farther than the King's court to his marketplace.
My King and friend, my enemies number much more than three.
Though their stories may seem laughable at first, eventually you may become bewitched
(11:01):
by their fabricated tales too.
The King thanked his advisor for the last lesson before he departed on his journey.
The King of Wei assured his longtime friend that he will be vigilant to not fall for such
deceptive tactics.
The crowned prince and advisor said their goodbyes and departed.
(11:22):
When it was finally time for the crowned prince and Zhuangzi to return back to the
city of Wei, only one was welcomed back fully, the crowned prince.
The King's once top advisor and closest friend was no longer able to take audience with the
King.
The King fell prey to the tactics of Zhuangzi's enemies and their relentless rumors about
(11:43):
his once closest advisor.
Why?
San Ren Cheng Hu.
Three Men Make A Tiger
What I find fascinating about this story is that the moral of the story is as true then
(12:08):
as it is now.
The story was written thousands of years ago.
How much has human civilization changed in that time?
The progress in culture, the innovations of technology, how much more knowledge and understanding
we have about the world around us.
Yet, with all of those external changes, the makeup of our brains are still the same.
(12:31):
The cognitive biases influencing humanity thousands of years ago are no less effective
in modern day.
We may have changed how the world looks, but our hardware, our brains are the same then
as they are now.
We can look back at old black and white pictures and think how much different our lives are
now from when that snapshot in time was taken.
(12:54):
It wouldn't be unreasonable to come to the incorrect conclusion that we are intrinsically
different today than the people in those photos.
However, if you were to take a baby from that period and have them grow up in modern times,
they wouldn't be a relic of the past.
They would grow up and act like their peers.
In the same way that if a baby was born today and transported back to the medieval period,
(13:18):
that baby would grow up with the habits and values of the people from that era.
There is nothing fundamentally different physiologically from humanity now to thousands of years ago.
The difference is the knowledge learned and accumulated to hopefully navigate life a little
better and make more conscious, less instinctual decisions.
(13:40):
So what can we do to mitigate the influence of group-think cognitive bias on our decision-making?
What gifts of knowledge have our predecessors left us to better navigate this modern world
with our ancient brain?
First, question the source of the material.
Where are you getting this information and who is supplying it?
Is the person credible?
(14:01):
Do they have a certain narrative that will benefit them if you believe the same thing
as they do?
If the king would have stopped to ask himself, who were the people coming to me with stories
about Zhuangzi, what is their motivation and what do they stand to gain?
Perhaps he could have seen through their deception.
Second, verify the information.
(14:21):
If someone is making a claim, then seek out information surrounding that claim.
Whether it was the king walking down to the market to see if there was a tiger or going
to different people who knew Zhuangzi.
The king could have avoided being swept up in rumors.
Third, just because multiple people are repeating the same information doesn't necessarily
(14:41):
make it true.
Don't outsource your thinking to other people.
When the king first heard the reported rumor of the tiger, he was confident it wasn't
true.
However, due to the group-think bias, even though he knew better, he was slowly persuaded
that something unheard of was indeed happening.
The same with his advisor.
(15:03):
He had a trusted relationship with Zhuangzi and he let it get eroded by the same people
and by the same means that Zhuangzi warned the king to be skeptical of.
Fourth, take time to come to a conclusion.
People were coming at the king in quick succession, telling him about the tiger.
This resulted in him making his decision just as fast.
(15:27):
If he would have taken his time, he could have possibly realized that his initial reaction
was the right reaction.
Then, if he still had his concerns, he could have went to verify the information.
There are many modern-day versions of how three men make a tiger.
We have news outlets with certain narratives they want to propagate.
Social media echo chambers, organizations, companies that want to sell you products,
(15:51):
your shady cubicle co-worker Bethany who is insecure and makes up rumors about everybody,
advertisers, social influencers who want to pretend like they have some insider information,
pseudo-health coaches, and on and on.
This doesn't mean that you need to be wary every time you hear information from a group
of people.
It means be aware that it is easy to be swept up with an opinion if you hear it from multiple
(16:15):
people.
Don't let other people reach a conclusion for you.
Keep an open mind and guard it with critical thinking.
Be cautious to jump on bandwagon thinking.
Unless it is about how great the Revelizations podcast is, then the safest, most responsible
thing to do is throw caution to the wind and begin chanting in unison with everyone that
(16:38):
Revelizations is one of the greatest gifts mankind has ever received, second only to microwavable
pizza rolls.
Thanks for listening, everyone.
See you on the next episode of Revelizations where I get to sit down with a long-time friend
and have a conversation about a certain ancient, but still modern worldview.
(17:25):
As a contractor that specializes in hanging pictures, drywall has definitely saved my
rear end on more than one occasion.
I remember all the times I would go to a client's house using wetwall and the project was nothing
but a soggy mess.
I would try and put something up on the wall and within minutes, sometimes even seconds,
it would be on the floor, completely soaked.
(17:48):
I can't count how many pictures I tried putting up using wetwall, for I just slunk off, if
I was even able to get it up in the first place.
Don't even get me started on the mold either.
Drywall saved my business and my family.
Thanks Drywall.
Drywall, when having a wetwall simply will not do.
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