October 8, 2025 • 24 mins
This week on Inspire Change...Gunter dives into a conversation: From the Self to the Common Good and How Personal Tranformation Protects our Universities, Hospitals and Schools.
#InspireChange #Philosophy #Science #Reflection #Contemplation #SelfDevelopment #Masculinity #MakingGoodMenGreat #stoicism
Our gratitude this week goes out to our listeners in both the USA and around the globe. For the US we would like to express our gratitude to those of you listening in New York City, and give you a great big CONGRATULATIONS!!!! for bringing New York all the way to #2 on the USA's Top 10 listeners List, thank you to all of you for inspiring positive social change. Next we Take a look at the "Top 10 Global Listener's List" and we want to thank our listeners in both Dunedin (Dun-EE-din) on New Zealand's South Island and on the North Island in the city of Turanga (Toe-rung-gah) for making New Zealand #5. CONGRATULATIONS !!!!! Thank you to not only all our New Zealand listeners, but all our listeners for tuning in & supporting Positive Global Social Change. This makes you a part of Gunter’s efforts in transforming not only men's lives but lives in general and we are grateful you have joined us. I, DeVonna Prinzi the Co-Exec Producer and our Showrunner Miranda Spigener-Sapon sincerely thank you and ask that you please take the time to like, follow, subscribe, and share as your efforts make a difference to everyone here at Inspire Change with Gunter. Please remember If you want to share your story of social change, feel free to reach out to the show directly. Please see the show-notes for our contact information, but most importantly keep Inspiring positive social change.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/inspire-change-with-gunter--3633478/support.
Gunter Swoboda and Lorin Josephson's neo-noir/supernatural thriller novel Amulets of Power, Book I A Brian Poole Mystery is officially ON SALE EVERYWHERE you like to get book, but if you want a discount please consider ording direct. ANY LISTENER who order's direct will get a surprise gift. https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?params=3RoOA6kVQ7ZgmqSK9LdnvNyDAZZFsg9IMaLUaprPgXK
Make sure you LIKE SUBSCRIBE & FOLLOW our new Official YouTube Channel of Video Shorts series: https://www.youtube.com/@InspireChangewithGunterSwoboda/videos where we will be adding new videos and content every week from Gunter and our guests. https://www.youtube.com/@InspireChangewithGunterSwoboda/videos
#InspireChange #Philosophy #Science #Reflection #Contemplation #SelfDevelopment #Masculinity #MakingGoodMenGreat #stoicism
Our gratitude this week goes out to our listeners in both the USA and around the globe. For the US we would like to express our gratitude to those of you listening in New York City, and give you a great big CONGRATULATIONS!!!! for bringing New York all the way to #2 on the USA's Top 10 listeners List, thank you to all of you for inspiring positive social change. Next we Take a look at the "Top 10 Global Listener's List" and we want to thank our listeners in both Dunedin (Dun-EE-din) on New Zealand's South Island and on the North Island in the city of Turanga (Toe-rung-gah) for making New Zealand #5. CONGRATULATIONS !!!!! Thank you to not only all our New Zealand listeners, but all our listeners for tuning in & supporting Positive Global Social Change. This makes you a part of Gunter’s efforts in transforming not only men's lives but lives in general and we are grateful you have joined us. I, DeVonna Prinzi the Co-Exec Producer and our Showrunner Miranda Spigener-Sapon sincerely thank you and ask that you please take the time to like, follow, subscribe, and share as your efforts make a difference to everyone here at Inspire Change with Gunter. Please remember If you want to share your story of social change, feel free to reach out to the show directly. Please see the show-notes for our contact information, but most importantly keep Inspiring positive social change.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/inspire-change-with-gunter--3633478/support.
Gunter Swoboda and Lorin Josephson's neo-noir/supernatural thriller novel Amulets of Power, Book I A Brian Poole Mystery is officially ON SALE EVERYWHERE you like to get book, but if you want a discount please consider ording direct. ANY LISTENER who order's direct will get a surprise gift. https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?params=3RoOA6kVQ7ZgmqSK9LdnvNyDAZZFsg9IMaLUaprPgXK
Make sure you LIKE SUBSCRIBE & FOLLOW our new Official YouTube Channel of Video Shorts series: https://www.youtube.com/@InspireChangewithGunterSwoboda/videos where we will be adding new videos and content every week from Gunter and our guests. https://www.youtube.com/@InspireChangewithGunterSwoboda/videos
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, listeners, it's good to siboa here with some exciting news.
We're on the lookout for sponsors to join us on
our incredible journey with Inspired Change with Conta. If your
organization cares deeply about meaningful conversations around masculinity, self development,
and mental health, we'd love to partner with you. Our
(00:24):
podcast has a wonderful, dedicated audience committed to personal growth
and positive social change. By sponsoring Inspired Change with Conta,
your brand will connect with listeners who truly value thoughtful
discussion and support initiatives that promote real transformation. We're incredibly
(00:47):
proud to be ranked number one in Australia and number
five in the USA on feed spots top men's mental
health Podcasts. For more information on how to become sponsor,
please reach out to Miranda Spegner sap On, our showrunner
and executive producer. We'd love to explore how we can
(01:09):
work together to inspire change. Now. Thank you for your
continued support, and let's keep inspiring change together.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
You're listening to Inspire Change, the broadcast that strives to educate, motivate,
and empower men to challenge traditions of masculinity to guide
us through the intricacies and intersections of emotions, relationships, and
male identity is renownced psychologists, author and speaker Gunter Swubota.
This is Inspire Change.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Before I begin the actual podcast, I would like to
respectfully acknowledge the gategor people of the Order Nation, who
are the traditional custodians of the lane on which I work.
I would also like to pay my respects to their
elders past and present. Welcome everybody to another episode of
(02:02):
Inspire Change with Gunter. I'm your host. Welcome everybody to
another episode of Inspired Change with Gunter, the show that
explores how inner work becomes out of change. I'm your host,
Gondor Swoboda. I'm a psychologist, an author, and content creator,
(02:23):
and I'm going to continue with the thread that I've
been doing over the last few weeks about the importance
of philosophy in our lives. You may not think it,
but it's there. It doesn't matter whether you've got a degree,
or whether you're a carpenter or whatever it is that
you do in life. The fact that you think brings
(02:45):
with it ideas of philosophy, and that's one of the
beauties of it. Now, obviously you can take it a
step further and begin to learn about logic and reason
and critical thinking. But I'm just going to give you
a few hints about how this operates in the real world,
(03:07):
irrespective of what some business people and politicians try to
tell you. One of the things that I want to
draw out in today's session is that I'm going to
argue that our inner lives shape the survival of institutions,
(03:29):
especially institutions that we all rely on. So take today
as a guided walk from the micro to the macro,
from your breath and the choices to the policy and
norms that keep our society healthy and running. So a
(03:55):
quick truth that I return to again and again is
that the quality of our lives depends in no small
part on the quality of our society and its institutions.
If a hospital treats you like a number, if a
school sorts rather than develops, if a university becomes a
(04:18):
marketplace of status and meal tickets rather than a commons
of inquiry, we all feel it to the bone. So
question what really keeps these institutions humane. Okay, we can
(04:38):
talk about funding, leadership policy, but upstream of those are worldviews, philosophies,
about what a human being is for. If your deep
stories as people are competitors before they are neighbors, get
(05:00):
one set of institutions. If your story is as people
are relational before they are transactional, you get another. Get
it now. Our theories ultimately turn into policies. Our policies
begin to shape practice, and practice becomes human culture. That's
(05:24):
the chain. Now, this is important to think about when
there is such a strong and powerful division in our
culture between what people refer to as the right and left.
So let me sketch a concise philosophy that guides us. Ultimately,
(05:48):
let's start with universities, which are there really to cultivate
truth seeking, critical inquiry, and the courage to revise our minds.
The capacity to change our thinking is fundamentally critical. Their
purpose isn't simply credentialing, it's thinking together so a society
(06:14):
doesn't fall for its own propaganda. That's one of the
reasons that fascists always want to control education. We're watching
it right now in the United States where Republicans are
putting out credos to teachers and lectures about what they
(06:35):
can and cannot teach. They talk about the educators not indoctrinating,
which is ironic because that's exactly what they're doing. Now,
let me take hospitals. They fundamentally exist to honor the
dignity of the vulnerable when we're ill, when we're requiring support, surgery.
(07:01):
It's not that a hospital is there for profit or
through put. It is all about care, and it's got
to be competent, compassionate, and equitable. Again, let me draw
on places like the United States whether the health system,
although touted as one of the best in the world,
(07:23):
is an abomination to human values. Let me turn to schools. Now,
Schools in many respects exist to nurture capacities. They're there
to nurture attention, imagination, discernment, cooperation, not just to sort
(07:46):
winners and losers. Their purpose is formation, non infiltration or filtration.
So begin to take notice of the through line. These
institutions are trust engines. They generate social trust by teaching
(08:09):
us to argue in good faith, to look after one
another when we're weak, and to pass on knowledge not ideology,
with humility. Philosophically, that means we must prioritize practical wisdom.
What is good to do here, and we need to
(08:30):
do that over mere technical efficiency, how fast can we
do it? When efficiency is untethered from ethics, we get
britual low trust systems communities. When efficiency serves as human ends,
such as truth, care, information, we achieve resilient high trust systems.
(08:58):
So how does you inner line keeper? University honest, a
hospital humane, or a classroom alive? And this is where
the making good men framework earns its keep. Most of
us carry with us a constructed self performances learned from culture,
(09:18):
to be invulnerable, to dominate, to fix quickly too. Don't
feel that mask often aligns with what I call the
five pillars of patriarchy, territory, hierarchy, acquisition, competition, and combativeness.
It's efficient in a fight, but it's corrosive in a
(09:40):
relationship in a clinic or in a seminar. Making good
men great invites a move towards the authentic self values aligned, emotionally, literate, collaborative.
And what does that mean? In practice? It means trading
brittle certainty for thoughtful careuriosity, for moving from domination to dialogue,
(10:06):
and by replacing we lose with learn and repair. When
men do this work, something beautiful happens. The room changes
supervision rooms, classrooms, wardrooms, ward rounds. Conflict doesn't advantage, but
(10:27):
it becomes workable. I talk about being able to use
conflict creatively. You can supervise people without shaming them. You
can teach without humiliating students. You can treat a patient
(10:47):
without retreating behind cold neutrality. Remember, personal transformation is in
the private luxury. It actually is a civic maintenance. Now
here's an interesting turn, and I want to throw this
in because someone asked me recently, in the current climate,
(11:11):
is it reasonable to argue that wherever right wing parties govern,
social cohesion erodes and violence rises. The short answer actually
is no, not as a universal rule. A more defensible
conditional claim is that when right of center governments and
(11:32):
act a specific bundle fiscals austerity that widens inequality, deregulated
firearm access, and polarizing ethno nationalist rhetoric, you do tend
to see lower social cohesion and high risks of aggression
and violence. When conservative party is governed with strong welfare states,
(11:58):
tight gun controls, and high trust institution, that pattern is
weaker or in fact often completely abstinent. Now why does
the conditional claim hold in many contexts? Well, firstly austerity
and social conditions, where these large cuts to public spending
(12:23):
often precede spikes in social distress, worse population health, stored
life expectancy, gains an unrest, especially in poorer communities, when
the social flow drops, people just don't suffer privately, they
(12:45):
suffer publicly. We're in public trust phrase. Firearms policy and
lethal conflict. Natural experiments in the US suggest permissive stand
your grip and right to carry laws increase homicides, More
weapons in everyday disputes, raise the lethality of ordinary conflict.
(13:12):
What about polarizing rhetoric and targeted harm? And we're seeing
this very clearly in the United States. Trump chastises judges
all the time. So what have we had in the
last forty eight hours? A bomb attack on a judge?
So when leaders legitimize outgroup hostility, hate, incidents follow digital amplification, pause,
(13:41):
accelerant on that fire, dial down, the queues, and the
temperature drops. Now here's the caveat that really really matters.
Institutions moderate risk. The Nordic countries with alternating center left
and center right governments maintain high social trust and low homicide.
(14:05):
Strong welfare regimes, rule bound policing and a culture of
procedural fairness act like shock absorbers in a car. For example,
Swedenes's right leaning coalition governed during a sharp drop in
homicides in twenty twenty four, reminding us that ete volatility
(14:26):
exists and context matters. Inequality is the mediator. Decades of
political science work links equality and clean government to higher
social trust, the backbone of cohesion, regardless of which party
is in power. So the bottom line is this, It
(14:50):
is too sweeping to say that conservative rule equals violence.
A stronger evidence based thesis is that where conservative government
enact austerity, relaxed gun regulations, and mainstream native US frames,
social trust declines and violence violence risks rise. Where they
(15:12):
preserve galitarian welfare, strict gun laws, and inclusive rhetoric, those
harms don't reliably materialize. Now we have this problem in
Australia where right the right wing party is looking to
relax gun laws. Now this is a really, really scary
thing because we have relatively speaking low gun crime. It's written,
(15:40):
but exactly to what degree and what context At this point,
I'm not sure I'm going to do a search on that.
So for us, in the context of this show that
take comes practical policy bundles and leader rhetoric either underwrite
or un to mind the trust that university's, hospitals and
(16:03):
schools need to function. Personal transformation helps, but it works
best insider system designed for our dignity. So when politicians
begin to tinker with university administration, educational administration, and hospital
(16:23):
administration to essentially bias profit rather than care, we are
seeing a serious problem. And we have a classic example
in the area that I live in with a hospital
where they've had to really call in auditors to check
(16:43):
out what's going on because the public care in that
hospital has some really serious flaws, whereas the private aspect
of the hospital didn't. So how do we articulate this
(17:04):
in our day to day life. Well, we can talk
about a preservation kit that is practices for people and
ultimately policy. So let me offer a simple two level
kit personal practices that scale up and policy guardrails that
keep the water clean. Personal practices I talk about three
(17:28):
wards the university of you, which is all about curiosity.
So once the day, I ask yourself what belief of
mind might be wrong? Then seek out one credible source
that could update you. Micro humility keeps collective inquiry alive.
(17:49):
The second one is the Hospital of the Heart, which
is about care practice a ninety second compassion around before
difficult conversations in hold for XL six or if you
do it my way, which is simpler in how five
hold five XL five. Those four those of you whore
(18:11):
numerically challenged, silently name the other person's possible fear, physiologically
down and regulating yourself is not indulgence. It's institutional hygie.
That's when we stop having school ground bully stuff happening
(18:31):
within parliament or within gatherings. The third one is the
school of we formation. Each week, teach one thing you've
learned to someone else with patients. After all, we are
a connected species. Teaching develops the social muscle that schools
(18:56):
need the capacity to enlarge an other person's compet without
shrinking their dignity. Now, what are the policy guardrails? And
I talk about the three keeps keep people whole, invest
predictably in health education and research, especially in low trust communities. Two,
(19:20):
keep the weapons down. Adopt and maintain gun safety, gun
safety regimes that reduce everyday lethality. And again, when politicians
are pushing to undo that. We need to push back
and keep retoric. Human leaders model strong spine, soft front
(19:43):
frmon values, spacious with opponents, make a de escalation a
civic norm. When these surround our institutions, your personal growth
multiplies rather than gets crushed by the system. So what
(20:04):
do I want to say in closing?
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Well?
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Let me give you a one minute practice as we close,
name one way your constructed self shows up at work
or home this week. Choose one setting a team meaning
a family, checking in a difficult email well where you'll
experiment with your authentic self, slow breathing, clear your values,
(20:31):
and use kind of language. Then ask if everyone did
a little more of this, how would our schools, clinics
and campuses feel in six months. Remember, universities, hospitals, and
schools are not buildings. They are relationships under a roof.
(20:55):
Protect the relationships and we protect the roof. We've had
a significant increase in violence in hospitals, and we've had
a significant interest in increase in parents essentially verbally attacking teachers.
We need to rethink this. So coming to the clothes,
(21:19):
let me thank you for listening to inspired change with Gunter.
If you think or If you feel that this episode
was helpful, please follow rate and share it with someone
who cares about inner work and public life. Next time,
I want to explore another level of this and from
(21:42):
there on are we going to sign off, Stay curious,
stay compassionate, and keep inspiring change. This is me signing.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
Off, Hello and welcome. This week, we take a look
at both the USA and around the globe. For the US,
we would like to express our gratitude to those of
you listening in New York City and give you a
great big congratulations for bringing New York all the way
to number two on the USA's Top ten listeners list.
(22:17):
Thank you to all of you for inspiring positive social change. Next,
we take a look at the top ten global listeners
list and we want to thank our listeners and both
dun Eden on New Zealand South Island and on the
North Island in the city of to Arunga for making
New Zealand number five.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Congradulations.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Thank you to not only all of our New Zealand listeners,
but all of our listeners. Thank you for tuning in
and supporting positive global social change. This makes you a
part of Gunter's efforts and transforming not only men's lives,
but lives in general, and we're grateful you've joined us.
I Devona Prinzy, the co executive producer, and our showrunner
(23:05):
Miranda spidnerse a pone sincerely thank you and ask that
you please take the time to like, follow, subscribe, and share,
as your efforts make a difference to everyone here at
Inspire Change with Gunter. Please remember if you want to
share your story of social change, feel free to reach
out to the show directly. Please see the show notes
(23:28):
for the contact information, but most importantly, keep inspiring positive
social change.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Love to hear from me, and if you interested, please
check out my work on www. Dot Gotosboda dot com
or www Dot gutman Grete dot com.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Thank you for listening to Inspire Change a broadcast. This
strives to educate, motivate, and empower men to challenge traditions
of masculinity. For more information on the Making Good Men
Great movement, or for individual or group coaching sessions with Gunter,
visit Goodman Grade dot com.
Hello, listeners, it's good to siboa here with some exciting news.
We're on the lookout for sponsors to join us on
our incredible journey with Inspired Change with Conta. If your
organization cares deeply about meaningful conversations around masculinity, self development,
and mental health, we'd love to partner with you. Our
(00:24):
podcast has a wonderful, dedicated audience committed to personal growth
and positive social change. By sponsoring Inspired Change with Conta,
your brand will connect with listeners who truly value thoughtful
discussion and support initiatives that promote real transformation. We're incredibly
(00:47):
proud to be ranked number one in Australia and number
five in the USA on feed spots top men's mental
health Podcasts. For more information on how to become sponsor,
please reach out to Miranda Spegner sap On, our showrunner
and executive producer. We'd love to explore how we can
(01:09):
work together to inspire change. Now. Thank you for your
continued support, and let's keep inspiring change together.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
You're listening to Inspire Change, the broadcast that strives to educate, motivate,
and empower men to challenge traditions of masculinity to guide
us through the intricacies and intersections of emotions, relationships, and
male identity is renownced psychologists, author and speaker Gunter Swubota.
This is Inspire Change.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Before I begin the actual podcast, I would like to
respectfully acknowledge the gategor people of the Order Nation, who
are the traditional custodians of the lane on which I work.
I would also like to pay my respects to their
elders past and present. Welcome everybody to another episode of
(02:02):
Inspire Change with Gunter. I'm your host. Welcome everybody to
another episode of Inspired Change with Gunter, the show that
explores how inner work becomes out of change. I'm your host,
Gondor Swoboda. I'm a psychologist, an author, and content creator,
(02:23):
and I'm going to continue with the thread that I've
been doing over the last few weeks about the importance
of philosophy in our lives. You may not think it,
but it's there. It doesn't matter whether you've got a degree,
or whether you're a carpenter or whatever it is that
you do in life. The fact that you think brings
(02:45):
with it ideas of philosophy, and that's one of the
beauties of it. Now, obviously you can take it a
step further and begin to learn about logic and reason
and critical thinking. But I'm just going to give you
a few hints about how this operates in the real world,
(03:07):
irrespective of what some business people and politicians try to
tell you. One of the things that I want to
draw out in today's session is that I'm going to
argue that our inner lives shape the survival of institutions,
(03:29):
especially institutions that we all rely on. So take today
as a guided walk from the micro to the macro,
from your breath and the choices to the policy and
norms that keep our society healthy and running. So a
(03:55):
quick truth that I return to again and again is
that the quality of our lives depends in no small
part on the quality of our society and its institutions.
If a hospital treats you like a number, if a
school sorts rather than develops, if a university becomes a
(04:18):
marketplace of status and meal tickets rather than a commons
of inquiry, we all feel it to the bone. So
question what really keeps these institutions humane. Okay, we can
(04:38):
talk about funding, leadership policy, but upstream of those are worldviews, philosophies,
about what a human being is for. If your deep
stories as people are competitors before they are neighbors, get
(05:00):
one set of institutions. If your story is as people
are relational before they are transactional, you get another. Get
it now. Our theories ultimately turn into policies. Our policies
begin to shape practice, and practice becomes human culture. That's
(05:24):
the chain. Now, this is important to think about when
there is such a strong and powerful division in our
culture between what people refer to as the right and left.
So let me sketch a concise philosophy that guides us. Ultimately,
(05:48):
let's start with universities, which are there really to cultivate
truth seeking, critical inquiry, and the courage to revise our minds.
The capacity to change our thinking is fundamentally critical. Their
purpose isn't simply credentialing, it's thinking together so a society
(06:14):
doesn't fall for its own propaganda. That's one of the
reasons that fascists always want to control education. We're watching
it right now in the United States where Republicans are
putting out credos to teachers and lectures about what they
(06:35):
can and cannot teach. They talk about the educators not indoctrinating,
which is ironic because that's exactly what they're doing. Now,
let me take hospitals. They fundamentally exist to honor the
dignity of the vulnerable when we're ill, when we're requiring support, surgery.
(07:01):
It's not that a hospital is there for profit or
through put. It is all about care, and it's got
to be competent, compassionate, and equitable. Again, let me draw
on places like the United States whether the health system,
although touted as one of the best in the world,
(07:23):
is an abomination to human values. Let me turn to schools. Now,
Schools in many respects exist to nurture capacities. They're there
to nurture attention, imagination, discernment, cooperation, not just to sort
(07:46):
winners and losers. Their purpose is formation, non infiltration or filtration.
So begin to take notice of the through line. These
institutions are trust engines. They generate social trust by teaching
(08:09):
us to argue in good faith, to look after one
another when we're weak, and to pass on knowledge not ideology,
with humility. Philosophically, that means we must prioritize practical wisdom.
What is good to do here, and we need to
(08:30):
do that over mere technical efficiency, how fast can we
do it? When efficiency is untethered from ethics, we get
britual low trust systems communities. When efficiency serves as human ends,
such as truth, care, information, we achieve resilient high trust systems.
(08:58):
So how does you inner line keeper? University honest, a
hospital humane, or a classroom alive? And this is where
the making good men framework earns its keep. Most of
us carry with us a constructed self performances learned from culture,
(09:18):
to be invulnerable, to dominate, to fix quickly too. Don't
feel that mask often aligns with what I call the
five pillars of patriarchy, territory, hierarchy, acquisition, competition, and combativeness.
It's efficient in a fight, but it's corrosive in a
(09:40):
relationship in a clinic or in a seminar. Making good
men great invites a move towards the authentic self values aligned, emotionally, literate, collaborative.
And what does that mean? In practice? It means trading
brittle certainty for thoughtful careuriosity, for moving from domination to dialogue,
(10:06):
and by replacing we lose with learn and repair. When
men do this work, something beautiful happens. The room changes
supervision rooms, classrooms, wardrooms, ward rounds. Conflict doesn't advantage, but
(10:27):
it becomes workable. I talk about being able to use
conflict creatively. You can supervise people without shaming them. You
can teach without humiliating students. You can treat a patient
(10:47):
without retreating behind cold neutrality. Remember, personal transformation is in
the private luxury. It actually is a civic maintenance. Now
here's an interesting turn, and I want to throw this
in because someone asked me recently, in the current climate,
(11:11):
is it reasonable to argue that wherever right wing parties govern,
social cohesion erodes and violence rises. The short answer actually
is no, not as a universal rule. A more defensible
conditional claim is that when right of center governments and
(11:32):
act a specific bundle fiscals austerity that widens inequality, deregulated
firearm access, and polarizing ethno nationalist rhetoric, you do tend
to see lower social cohesion and high risks of aggression
and violence. When conservative party is governed with strong welfare states,
(11:58):
tight gun controls, and high trust institution, that pattern is
weaker or in fact often completely abstinent. Now why does
the conditional claim hold in many contexts? Well, firstly austerity
and social conditions, where these large cuts to public spending
(12:23):
often precede spikes in social distress, worse population health, stored
life expectancy, gains an unrest, especially in poorer communities, when
the social flow drops, people just don't suffer privately, they
(12:45):
suffer publicly. We're in public trust phrase. Firearms policy and
lethal conflict. Natural experiments in the US suggest permissive stand
your grip and right to carry laws increase homicides, More
weapons in everyday disputes, raise the lethality of ordinary conflict.
(13:12):
What about polarizing rhetoric and targeted harm? And we're seeing
this very clearly in the United States. Trump chastises judges
all the time. So what have we had in the
last forty eight hours? A bomb attack on a judge?
So when leaders legitimize outgroup hostility, hate, incidents follow digital amplification, pause,
(13:41):
accelerant on that fire, dial down, the queues, and the
temperature drops. Now here's the caveat that really really matters.
Institutions moderate risk. The Nordic countries with alternating center left
and center right governments maintain high social trust and low homicide.
(14:05):
Strong welfare regimes, rule bound policing and a culture of
procedural fairness act like shock absorbers in a car. For example,
Swedenes's right leaning coalition governed during a sharp drop in
homicides in twenty twenty four, reminding us that ete volatility
(14:26):
exists and context matters. Inequality is the mediator. Decades of
political science work links equality and clean government to higher
social trust, the backbone of cohesion, regardless of which party
is in power. So the bottom line is this, It
(14:50):
is too sweeping to say that conservative rule equals violence.
A stronger evidence based thesis is that where conservative government
enact austerity, relaxed gun regulations, and mainstream native US frames,
social trust declines and violence violence risks rise. Where they
(15:12):
preserve galitarian welfare, strict gun laws, and inclusive rhetoric, those
harms don't reliably materialize. Now we have this problem in
Australia where right the right wing party is looking to
relax gun laws. Now this is a really, really scary
thing because we have relatively speaking low gun crime. It's written,
(15:40):
but exactly to what degree and what context At this point,
I'm not sure I'm going to do a search on that.
So for us, in the context of this show that
take comes practical policy bundles and leader rhetoric either underwrite
or un to mind the trust that university's, hospitals and
(16:03):
schools need to function. Personal transformation helps, but it works
best insider system designed for our dignity. So when politicians
begin to tinker with university administration, educational administration, and hospital
(16:23):
administration to essentially bias profit rather than care, we are
seeing a serious problem. And we have a classic example
in the area that I live in with a hospital
where they've had to really call in auditors to check
(16:43):
out what's going on because the public care in that
hospital has some really serious flaws, whereas the private aspect
of the hospital didn't. So how do we articulate this
(17:04):
in our day to day life. Well, we can talk
about a preservation kit that is practices for people and
ultimately policy. So let me offer a simple two level
kit personal practices that scale up and policy guardrails that
keep the water clean. Personal practices I talk about three
(17:28):
wards the university of you, which is all about curiosity.
So once the day, I ask yourself what belief of
mind might be wrong? Then seek out one credible source
that could update you. Micro humility keeps collective inquiry alive.
(17:49):
The second one is the Hospital of the Heart, which
is about care practice a ninety second compassion around before
difficult conversations in hold for XL six or if you
do it my way, which is simpler in how five
hold five XL five. Those four those of you whore
(18:11):
numerically challenged, silently name the other person's possible fear, physiologically
down and regulating yourself is not indulgence. It's institutional hygie.
That's when we stop having school ground bully stuff happening
(18:31):
within parliament or within gatherings. The third one is the
school of we formation. Each week, teach one thing you've
learned to someone else with patients. After all, we are
a connected species. Teaching develops the social muscle that schools
(18:56):
need the capacity to enlarge an other person's compet without
shrinking their dignity. Now, what are the policy guardrails? And
I talk about the three keeps keep people whole, invest
predictably in health education and research, especially in low trust communities. Two,
(19:20):
keep the weapons down. Adopt and maintain gun safety, gun
safety regimes that reduce everyday lethality. And again, when politicians
are pushing to undo that. We need to push back
and keep retoric. Human leaders model strong spine, soft front
(19:43):
frmon values, spacious with opponents, make a de escalation a
civic norm. When these surround our institutions, your personal growth
multiplies rather than gets crushed by the system. So what
(20:04):
do I want to say in closing?
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Well?
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Let me give you a one minute practice as we close,
name one way your constructed self shows up at work
or home this week. Choose one setting a team meaning
a family, checking in a difficult email well where you'll
experiment with your authentic self, slow breathing, clear your values,
(20:31):
and use kind of language. Then ask if everyone did
a little more of this, how would our schools, clinics
and campuses feel in six months. Remember, universities, hospitals, and
schools are not buildings. They are relationships under a roof.
(20:55):
Protect the relationships and we protect the roof. We've had
a significant increase in violence in hospitals, and we've had
a significant interest in increase in parents essentially verbally attacking teachers.
We need to rethink this. So coming to the clothes,
(21:19):
let me thank you for listening to inspired change with Gunter.
If you think or If you feel that this episode
was helpful, please follow rate and share it with someone
who cares about inner work and public life. Next time,
I want to explore another level of this and from
(21:42):
there on are we going to sign off, Stay curious,
stay compassionate, and keep inspiring change. This is me signing.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
Off, Hello and welcome. This week, we take a look
at both the USA and around the globe. For the US,
we would like to express our gratitude to those of
you listening in New York City and give you a
great big congratulations for bringing New York all the way
to number two on the USA's Top ten listeners list.
(22:17):
Thank you to all of you for inspiring positive social change. Next,
we take a look at the top ten global listeners
list and we want to thank our listeners and both
dun Eden on New Zealand South Island and on the
North Island in the city of to Arunga for making
New Zealand number five.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Congradulations.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Thank you to not only all of our New Zealand listeners,
but all of our listeners. Thank you for tuning in
and supporting positive global social change. This makes you a
part of Gunter's efforts and transforming not only men's lives,
but lives in general, and we're grateful you've joined us.
I Devona Prinzy, the co executive producer, and our showrunner
(23:05):
Miranda spidnerse a pone sincerely thank you and ask that
you please take the time to like, follow, subscribe, and share,
as your efforts make a difference to everyone here at
Inspire Change with Gunter. Please remember if you want to
share your story of social change, feel free to reach
out to the show directly. Please see the show notes
(23:28):
for the contact information, but most importantly, keep inspiring positive
social change.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Love to hear from me, and if you interested, please
check out my work on www. Dot Gotosboda dot com
or www Dot gutman Grete dot com.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Thank you for listening to Inspire Change a broadcast. This
strives to educate, motivate, and empower men to challenge traditions
of masculinity. For more information on the Making Good Men
Great movement, or for individual or group coaching sessions with Gunter,
visit Goodman Grade dot com.
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