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S2 Episode 6 - Why are you opinionated?
27 Plays6 months ago
In this one Lewis and Ben discuss where our opinions are formed.
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Transcript
Introduction to Hosts and Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Working It Out. I'm Lewis. I'm an online fitness coach. And I'm Ben. And I help people with their online presence through websites, social media, and all things digital. Nice, nice. How are you, mate? How's your week been? Yeah, a really good week, thank you. Really been enjoying the weather. Makes a big difference, doesn't
Weather and Mood
00:00:19
Speaker
it? Swear it out in the office. Swear it out in the office. You arrived today and it wasn't raining. I know. So that's a change, isn't it? Was it raining last week? I thought it was. Yeah. It also was... It was clouding over like an hour ago, and I was like, yeah, it's typical. But I didn't look. It's currently 24 degrees at half four, so it's pretty nice. Yeah. It just makes you feel better, doesn't it? Yeah, it does. Yeah, heading into work with the sun definitely definitely helps the day pass in a much better way. So yeah, it's
Solstice Events and Climate Activism
00:00:47
Speaker
been a good week, thank you. How about yourself? Yeah, it's been good. It's actually the longest day today, which is depressing, but the best is yet to come.
00:00:54
Speaker
I did see the, well on the news briefly, I saw there was the summer solstice, you know, they did a thing down at Stonehenge, yeah um because it got covered in paint, didn't it? Did it? Yeah, just, um, stop oil. Oh god. Had got in there and covered it with orange orange powder paint, it's like, why take it on Stonehenge? Yeah, literally. Oil wasn't a thing then. Yeah, it's really bizarre, so. They love it, don't they? Yeah, I don't always understand the like the targets they have and and why they choose to do something. I remember seeing on a Instagram like a stag do where they all wear stop oil t-shirts and go out for the night, which is brilliant. enough Are they allowed to get in anywhere? Oh, it was like causing mayhem, like on the flight. like Going through security was absolutely like, they were like, you've got to put jumpers on.
00:01:43
Speaker
Yeah, why did you do it to yourself? It's funny, isn't it? Yeah, you have to you have to probably drunk quite a bit to see the funny side of that, otherwise you'd get there and just, this is a terrible idea, guys. Yeah, it's funny for about 10 minutes. Yeah, yeah.
Lewis's Marathon Experience
00:01:54
Speaker
But yeah, my week's been good. Do you know what? I just felt tired this week. and Maybe it's the weather, but... um You had your... Half marathon as well, didn't you? say yeah Yeah, it was good. Yeah. it was um It rained like all week, so it was boggy. It was like a tough mudder towards the end. and But yeah, it was good. Got a pretty good time, 144, for anyone that's listening. yeah Could have been better. I rolled my ankle like twice in the mud and it's absolutely killing me to be honest. Whilst you were running. Yeah, and so I'm not doing much this week. Did think it was gonna potentially be an issue, didn't you? With the yeah the amount of rainfall. Yeah, so it was just boggy and I'm just not used to it. And um but i think my I think I'm a bit like,
00:02:40
Speaker
I've got a bit of a weird style, like running anyway. And I was on for a really good time. I was knackered anyway, but I was on for a good time then. It was like the last 5K was just like pure bog. And pain. And pain, yeah. I'm now picturing, now you said you've got an interesting or weird running style. You'll have to see it. I'm picturing Fifi from Friends. No, it's not quite that bad. No, I have seen you run. I thought you were going to say like Forrest Gump. All that, yeah. No, I have seen you run before, so I can match. I can say that it doesn't look weird. Oh okay. I was getting super insecure now. I was going to say it on the podcast. I've seen it actually. It's a really weird yeah. Horrible run. Ridiculous. No, I don't think you've got a weird running style. That's okay. Technically maybe yeah it's not.
00:03:26
Speaker
is not helping you. I think on the road technically it helps because it's quite like bouncy so I think it gives me like propulsion but I just massively unbalanced on mud. Yeah makes sense. I was tired as well but um yeah I had some clients and some ex-clients do it there was I think it was six or seven of us which was cool. Sort of like a little meet-up. Yeah so some people
Weekend Plans and Travel Experiences
00:03:49
Speaker
got really good time Jamie who occasionally since the pod beat me Um, even with a raging hangover and he started quite far behind me, but he absolutely smashed me on there, especially towards the end. So he did really, I think he got, I think he did an hour and 41. So that was quite cool. Nice. Um, I thought I told you before he's doing that. Um, he's doing a big run scene. We can try and get him on the pod ye for charity. He's doing a big run. Um, but yeah, it's been a, been a pretty good week. I'm ready for the weekend. Yeah.
00:04:20
Speaker
Yes. Any plans? Nothing yet. Yeah. Hopefully enjoy some sun. Yeah. Maybe take Manny to the beach. Yeah. Would be cool. He'll be packed. He'll be absolutely packed, yeah. You'll get there and go, why'd I do this? Massive regret. Yeah, it'd be too hot for the dog. Yeah. I won't either go really early or late. But I normally go to bed quite early, so. Yeah, you do ah do. I do like the heading down to the coast in the evening, which is nice. Because obviously there's a few less people and it's usually cooler. Yeah. Which, yeah, I don't i don't deal well with the heat. No. No, I remember you mentioning this before. Yeah, ah just I just don't like it. Which makes me annoyed. This is okay. This is okay. But once it gets above 24, 25, I'm like, ah, this can go away now. Yeah.
00:05:04
Speaker
The hottest place I ever went was Bali and it's not just, it's just so humid. It's um <unk>s just, I've never sweated so much in my life. A friend of mine who I saw on Monday, no, Tuesday, sorry, were we were playing football and he had just come back with a great tan. He'd just come back from Turkey and to Dalaman. And he said most of the time during the day, sort of peak, it was 40. my god like 42 I think was the hottest so and someone else who I saw had come back from Dubai so that was in the 40s there yeah and just yeah I can't even imagine it I've experienced 40 a couple of times when I was in Australia hmm and it's just it's it's almost weird like it's so hot yeah it's like yeah it's weird just zaps you it's not like
00:05:52
Speaker
I don't know, I don't even have to explain explain
Impact of Travel on Opinions
00:05:54
Speaker
it. It was just so weird, like such a raging heat. yeah um I used to walk everywhere in Australia as well. So like, yeah, it was really bad. Did do you find you just walking around sweating that the whole time? Or did you just acclimatise? Barley was like that. That's a humid. Yeah. yeah You don't acclimatise. I remember we used to like, we would, we we got like gym parts. We were there for a month and we, would walk to the gym in the morning, and train, and then walk back. And I used to have to take three changes and clothes. Because by the time I got there, I was like soaked through. And i can't I can't be going in the gym like... Yeah, it's not good looking. I was like, I need to put a gym clothes on. So like, put the gym clothes on, obviously you train, it's air conditioned, but it's still like um unbearable. Yeah. and And then have a shower.
00:06:44
Speaker
Um, put a fresh set of clothes on yeah and go out. And then within like half an hour, of it was on to the third set of clothes. Yeah. Yeah. But, um, yeah. Well, you might be able to tell us more about that later in this episode, because we are going to be talking today about the topic of what shapes your opinion or opinions on particular things. And we're going to cover a little bit probably about travels. I know you've done a little bit of traveling in your time. Yeah. So I'm sure there's lots of things that you've you've picked up along the way that have probably shaped certain opinions of things. We'll see. Positive and negative. Or maybe you didn't. Maybe you just went and had a great time and didn't really think too much about it. We'll see.
Family and Media Influence on Opinions
00:07:21
Speaker
too much Don't put too much pressure on it. So yeah, this this subject we we were really keen to talk about because I think with everything going on at the moment um here in the UK, I think it's quite timely to talk about what shapes opinions. Obviously, very soon we'll have an election.
00:07:38
Speaker
So there is a lot of talk, you pretty pretty much can't miss it. um Even with the euros on, I feel like yeah politics is still taking over. um and And a lot of that is yeah aimed at trying to convince people who are right on the edge, I guess, of and not sure who to vote for. um And there's yet a big push around campaigns and manifestos. And it's really interesting because everyone's got an opinion when you talk to about politics, or most people have. yep And it is interesting to try and find out, especially with politics, what forms those opinions. yeah So we were actually talking in the office about it this week. I was talking to some of the team. And I said, I don't want anyone to say you know who they're voting for. you know It's not about that. But yeah how what what are your influences when it comes to this stuff? And it was a real mixture. okay Some people were saying um what they read online.
00:08:29
Speaker
and kind of some of the stuff that gets shared about particular people who are in particular parties and that kind of stuff. Some people were really honest when one of the team was just like, well, my parents literally said, this is who you're going for. So yeah, what's your take when it comes to that kind of thing? Do you feel like you've always been able to make your own decision sort of away from family or does it feel like there's been a bit of an influence from that side of things? Definitely allowed to make my own decision. yeah and My thing with this sort of thing is
00:09:00
Speaker
I think um I'm very careful to have an opinion on it without researching it. Do you know what I mean? Because wait there's no other thing, there's no other subject that you would be like, you know, this is wrong or this is wrong that you wouldn't have put some time into, you know, and yeah but you know, actual information because anyone can read like I don't know, like a part of a newspaper or a few tweets or a few reels. And that can be guided in any direction. You know, the but but the best person in the world could look like a hero or yeah the other way around. You know what I mean? So yeah, definitely got my.
00:09:38
Speaker
You know, i've I've been allowed to make my own opinions, but I'm very I'm very skeptical of Anything. Yeah Especially I just i'd I just like to know the whole story before I make a decision. Yeah. Yeah, I think we're quite aligned on that And we haven't we often say that don't we went even when it comes to things like football You know a lot of people will will hear a pundit say something and just yield they'll credit down the pub and Whereas actually, if ah like me and you, I think we'll both go and try and get another opinion or try and make our for own opinion from what we're seeing. But it is interesting because I think um yeah family in particular, ah um ah yeah it might be that maybe one particular parent.
00:10:17
Speaker
um can often have quite dominating views. yeah And you can tell that that then often feeds into their children. um And maybe that's not a healthy thing um in a lot of in a lot of circumstances. um I guess as well, one thing which kind of cultural background is a big thing. um And not just obviously moving away from politics, but with opinions in general, um the sort of norms and societal um norms that come with, you know, various cultures, it means that people are born into some of those views ye because of, you know, maybe they go to um church at the weekend. um Maybe they they do things, you know, in sort of social groups with people who have a particular religion. And it's really interesting because in an age where we've obviously got more ah sort of access, if you like, to information than ever before,
00:11:10
Speaker
some people still feel I think are a bit blinkered um and it's quite easy for them to be ah sort of it's hard for them to get out of that culture and they just sort of almost believe what they're told and don't almost seek that information so I guess it's interesting isn't it because before they didn't really have an option you went to church that's what you knew people in the community would talk about things whereas now you if you went and googled things that might ask some very serious questions about your beliefs. You can be swayed in positive and negative directions as well can't you?
Media Bias and Public Perception
00:11:44
Speaker
I think like you were saying like it totally depends on how you're brought up as well like you know church, school because back in the day some people weren't even didn't even have access to school I mean in England I mean yeah and so yeah and and you know how much money you had growing up they are all going to change your opinion on
00:12:03
Speaker
and on things, on people, yeah on um like politics as well. yeah and But yeah, that's a great point there because... You know, anyone, especially if you're angry at the world, you can go on social media and you can find someone, and you know, join a cult. Yeah, yeah exactly. I think ah think that's the danger, isn't it? um Even particular newspapers, and it's a little bit of an older form, but it's really interesting seeing how different newspapers cover the same subject. yeah And it goes from everything, obviously at the moment, politics is is a very live topic, but even sports.
00:12:40
Speaker
If you want a particular opinion about something that suits your own opinion, you might go to the Daily Mail. Whereas the Times, for example, might cover that in a completely different way. And then you might have one in the middle that's a little bit more but um a bit more balanced. And I think it got quite a lot of coverage after, I think it was England's, one of England's warm-up games, then to be the football. that lots of people noticed that a lot of media outlets used black players. Yes. After the defeat. Sacre. Sacre in particular was was used, which was really interesting because
00:13:12
Speaker
often it is seen that when England do really well, they use a picture of Harry Kane. Yeah. Um, and yeah, so things like that. If you are, we all saw a few years ago after the, was it your 2020? I only played 10 minutes as well. Yeah, I know. Yeah, exactly. I know. Yeah. The guy who played like the late least time gets that's the picture, but obviously we, we all saw that there was the racial abuse that Saka, Sancho, Rashford. Yeah. um had after the penalties, which was Euro 2020, but in 2021. And obviously, I was absolutely uproar about that. um But then the media sort of fueled those things by using particular players with particular colour skin.
00:13:52
Speaker
yeah so It's interesting, isn't it? Because if people already feel angry, you know, they might be really passionate about football and they're really angry about it, and then you use a person who's black, that is, it's inflammatory, isn't it? Yeah. If you're going to do that all the time. So, yeah, it's trying to have that balance and actually questioning even the media. um yeah is that That's not a cool thing to be doing. The the weird thing about this is it, one like if the news was invented now like it should be an unbiased view yeah it should be the news not this is our this is what we think about the news yeah yeah or like this is who you think you should like vote for but yeah it is mad like whoever did those photos either did it on purpose or
00:14:37
Speaker
you know, has not thought clearly. But it it feels as a pattern, isn't it? I think people identified this has happened numerous times and that's that's the the worry, isn't it? Because to to people who are impressionable um or maybe aren't as educated or don't have access to as much information and a bit naive, they might see that and then that starts to plant an opinion. And that's the media who are so actively doing that. yeah's That's the danger, isn't it? And then if they go onto social media and they look at certain sort sort of subjects, they can end up in these sort of filter bubbles where the algorithms going, oh, you like this content, do you? And you engage with it. And like we saw in America with the election and all the stuff around the capital riots and all that, people were sort of being fed more and more of it. So if you showed that you liked that subject and you engage with it, you just get more of it. And obviously more and more sort of, yeah, sort of extreme stuff as well, I guess. I am always like,
00:15:35
Speaker
I always am shocked at like how naive I am about about stuff like this. Cause I always think like, oh, that's a, you know, there's a that's that's something that used to happen in the past. And then something else will come up like like that. And you're like, really? Like it's really still a thing. yeah It's just mad but I mean I guess there's the small thing the the good thing about social media and stuff is that you know Everyone has a voice now. Yeah, so like I definitely saw a lot of You know, I listen to a lot of football podcasts and stuff a lot of the big podcasts were like what the hell was going on exactly like this has been done on purpose Yeah, I think that the
00:16:12
Speaker
I think that the world is changing a little bit news wise because people, I'm not saying racism wise, but news wise people that people have a voice and people are like, you know, we we want the truth. Do you know what I mean?
Workplace and Higher Education's Influence
00:16:26
Speaker
Yeah. And I know we spoke about like Elon Musk of the day, but like he wants Twitter to be non-biased news. That's his goal, isn't it? Factual basically. Yeah. He's got like a better way of explaining it. But yeah. Yeah and that's the thing, I think as more people feel kind of enlightened and there is more access and just more content in general, you know, there is, you can choose. You don't have to just stick to the mainstream, even the mainstream bloggers and stuff, you know, people that were the first ones on YouTube.
00:16:54
Speaker
who you know might have a particular affiliates for example, or they might be sponsored to say certain things. If you want to find out more about a particular subject, you can go and find people who are just on there to try and share good information. yeah And they're not looking for the following, they're not looking for all the endorsements. I think that's the key. I think we, as we both do with various things, whether that be business or yeah just interests, we, well, I personally feel I align myself to people who have either gone through similar experiences or trying to achieve something similar. um and And I probably feel I have something in common with them.
00:17:26
Speaker
yeah and And a lot of the time, even if it's a football podcast, it might be because of the way they talk about wider subjects. ye So that's probably why I end up listening to that podcast over something like Arsenal Fan TV, which in the past would be very much about not causing trouble, but you know it was very reactionary. Arsenal Fan TV was watched by more people that weren't Arsenal fans, wasn't it? Yeah. When Arsenal had a bad game. Yeah. I think what we've missed as well like about all of this is, you know unfortunately, the news isn't there for a public service. It's there to make money, isn't it? Yeah. They're corporations, aren't they? Yeah. And I always say this to my dad. like He'll sit there and watch the news and get really upset or angry. And I'm like, you're literally like falling into a trap. like they
00:18:11
Speaker
they're selling you this rubbish. It's the BBC though, isn't it? Yeah, but they're like, they're cutting bits, they're making the stories worse, they're sharing the worst subjects to keep you watching. It's a business and maybe because me and you know a little bit about it now, I just see right through it. You see through it, yeah. Yeah, because unfortunately pain and misery sells. Yeah. People are interested to see, you know, almost the levels of things that are going on. And I guess maybe it's because, to some extent, people feel better about themselves. Yeah. You know, if you see something atrocious happening and you've had a bad time or you're going through something and you sort of think, well, actually, it could be worse. Maybe for a lot of people, that might be some kind of comfort. I don't know, because I can't see why else you'd want to watch it. If I wanted to find out about something that was going on.
00:18:59
Speaker
you know, out in the world, to you, there were much more balanced ways of finding it than just watching the news and seeing the particular five minute take on it. Yeah. So I make a point of not watching the news. I do not watch it. Um, I don't keep up. I don't know if this is bad or not. I don't keep up with any of the news. Well, I used to, I used to have the BBC news app and check it every morning. Like yeah sort of as a habit, you get up, turn your alarm off and check the news, see what was going on. But yeah, I would just didn't get anything from it, really. I just go, oh, okay, that atrocity's still happening, or I just kind of wake up feeling a bit negative about things. it's yeah I don't see it as a ah good start to a day. And I think it, like, I just felt helpless and guilty yes quite often. yeah Like, I know, you know, everyone could do more, but, you know.
00:19:46
Speaker
Yeah, no, I know what you mean. It's some of those subjects that you'd end up reading about, you think, well, what what can I really do from here you know with that? So I think with all of it, it comes down to having the ability to think critically about things, yeah which is a skill in itself, isn't it? Being able to look at things and question it and analyze it rather than just taking it at face value. I think that's the key with everything. Wherever you are you get your your information from, Even Wikipedia. Yeah. Which anyone can edit, by the way. Yeah. I remember people were shocked to know that Wikipedia wasn't like all fat. I've been on Wikipedia pages before where people have done joke things. They've put, yeah, like you don't see it very often and obviously less and less. But when I first started using it, you used to see people who put like funny dates for various things. And then I mean, they'd get changed pretty quickly. But just like Wikipedia, go on and change it. I think they have a whole load of moderators and administrators. Why don't you just make it
00:20:43
Speaker
unedable Yeah, I don't know. I think the whole thing and the way it was built was all built on lots of kind people contributing. Okay. So I think it was affected like an open source encyclopedia. Maybe it's time for a change. Maybe maybe they have changed this. This completely updated information. So I haven't seen many errors on Wikipedia recently that I'm aware of, but ah Yeah, another big one which we we sort of have spoken about before during other things is the role kind of work takes on things. yeahp And we've both worked in teams where people are a little bit negative, really negative, um and often have really strong views. on um'm I'm guessing in the butchers, people had strong views on certain things. yeah Probably mainly people who didn't eat meat. To be fair, it wasn't that bad.
00:21:31
Speaker
No, it wasn't that bad about that. No? No, weirdly. Okay. and
00:21:38
Speaker
You know, I don't want to go too deep into it, but a lot of the old man, you know...
00:21:45
Speaker
Um, just in case any people used to work with a listen to this. No, not felt that. Like I don't think anyone, anyone would, but I don't think they might be saying that like a lot of the, it was just a very like old fashioned way of thinking. Yeah. So I'm trying to think of an example. Like I don't know if it was like specific, like racism, but it was like, Oh, foreigners coming over here and taking our jobs. And it's like, you like, come on, like, it's sort of ignorance, a it's yeah ignorance and like expecting to, I dunno, expecting to work until you're a certain age and get your money and get your pension and you know, just work a nine to five and just do, do the bare minimum. Just, I dunno how to explain it, but yeah, I know what you mean. Yeah. It, it was a, um, yeah, a bit of a dead place.
00:22:30
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I remember probably in a more extreme way and myself and a couple of other people. ah When I first witnessed it, I didn't say anything, but then over time, we would see it more and more. And we ended up challenging in the end because it was really uncomfortable. We're basically, you know, people of certain ethnicity would come in to the shop and the security would be straight up there. Okay. So they would, they would literally come up to the area where they were kind of browsing and hover. Yeah.
00:23:02
Speaker
And it was so, it was honestly, it was one of the worst things I have experienced there. um It was a player who used to play for Norwich City, Sebastian Basson. Don't you remember him? No. He was looking at like Bluetooth speakers or something. and And one of the security was just hovering. And it was it wasn't subtle. Obvious. And basically this guy ended up, but Sebastian Basson came up to ah the till where I was and said, can you just let you know your security know I'm not going to steal anything? Oh my God. And I was just honestly so embarrassed, like as an employee of that business. And I just said, I'm so sorry. ah It was, what do you say? Like, oh no, then like, cause I knew what they were doing. yeah yeah um ah yeah Have you ever had that happen to you? I've been followed. I don't know why. but Yes, I have before. Yeah. When I think I was wearing like a hoodie or something. And it's quite obvious. Yeah.
00:23:49
Speaker
um But in particular, this felt like it was because yeah you know of of the way they looked and stuff like that, not just what they're wearing. so And in the end, we went and said, look, this this is a pan. And I think they did kind of check themselves on it. But that sort of unconscious bias, I guess, where they would see someone come in, and it was like something clicked for them where it was like, right, we need to go and be there. yeah um and and And that probably sounds like the sort of thing you're saying, you know, people's opinions and obviously maybe they've been told, oh, well, certain ethnicities, you know, they're more likely to steal, or whatever that might be, that shaped that opinion. And then it just becomes sort of part of who they are and how they identify yeah people, yeah which I think is passed down. but Yes. Like someone would tell a joke and I'd just be like, you know, that's not funny at all. Yeah. Like, yeah.
00:24:39
Speaker
yeah Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And I think this is something which I'm sure a lot of people can relate to because A, the people who are the victims of this is it's horrible and makes them feel really uncomfortable and sort of devalued. But also when you have to work with people that are saying that stuff as well, it's really uncomfortable and horrible for you. for you No one should have to experience that. But it is a difficult one because especially if you haven't worked somewhere particularly long time, you don't feel particularly confident, you might be quite new. OK, everyone should challenge people on those things, but that's easier said than done, isn't it? Do you know what? I actually experienced like the worst um racism in the butchers I worked at for a few days in Australia. Yeah, I mean, Australians on the whole don't have a great reputation for their views on things. And the the manager was like,
00:25:31
Speaker
like brutally racist to one of the employees. right But like trying to make it banner. And you know, this guy was like younger than me and I could see like it bothered him, but he didn't want to say anything. I just left. so ah I was like, fuck this. Well done. you may just start you You took a stand. I should have said something though, but this guy was, you know, it was my first day. This guy was off the chain, but it is hard as well because but you were a visitor in that country. yeah you're not going You don't want to go and cause trouble, do you? And and um'm kind of get off on the the wrong foot, so to speak. But at the same time, you don't know how that guy's going to react if he's quite comfortable saying that sort of stuff. yeah yeah You say you're probably best to get out of there. And and sadly, if you'd have said something, it probably wouldn't have changed his opinions. and It probably would have just fueled it and he would have... It might have made it worse, to be fair. Yeah, exactly. So it is a difficult one.
00:26:22
Speaker
um and And it's not obviously just around race. It can be around a lot of things where you you sort of hear ignorant or bigoted views towards things. so And there's part of you wants to help educate those people, but sometimes it could be um that can be a real challenge and you're best just to not surround yourself with them. Well, hopefully he says it's the wrong person and they educate him. One way or another. Yeah, exactly. He's waste anyway. He's absolute waste, I suppose. Yeah. Yeah. So he'll get what's coming soon. In terms of other sort of other things um and other places where people's opinions are often shaped, so higher education is a big one, I think. um So I speak to quite a few of you know people I know, friends and stuff, who have been to university. yeah um And I think a lot of people
00:27:18
Speaker
whether they're aware of it or not, their opinions, a lot of them, their opinions are certainly around like politics, yeah are often formed at university. ah can imagine um It's really interesting because you would see these people beforehand and they didn't seem to have much interest in politics and then you kind of see them after a year at uni and they really engage in politics for example. um Have you ever noticed that before? No, but mainly just because I haven't interacted with many of those people. yeah I just haven't, I didn't go to uni, so I didn't i didn't run into those kind of people, but not as not like many times. I've definitely had interactions where I felt
00:27:59
Speaker
You know, I sometimes find people that talk too much about politics to be quite naive. Maybe that's my yeah bias. smooth list Yeah. But I think I just don't. I don't know. Am I a normal person? They just don't really understand how normal people live. Yeah. Yeah. It's quite a trendy thing, though, I think. And that's not just higher education. It can be workplace as well. But I think universities in particular, there is a little bit of a pressure when you get there. It's like, well, well if you're not aware of politics, you're not going to talk about politics. Especially if there's a politics like and degree there. Yeah, yeah exactly. Because then you're going to be literally, your friends are going to be. Yeah.
00:28:37
Speaker
yeah And and it it sort of spreads to what a lot of people would determine now as woke culture as well. You might not have had exposure to that until you go to a particular workplace or to a particular you know educational institution for example. So I think it's really interesting how those different environments, environment is a massive one. um It could be a country that you go to where again they have You know, for example, if you go to China, you're going to experience their media is pretty much controlled by the state. So you're only going to see certain things. You're not going to hear certain things. So obviously that's going to shape your opinion big time. But even I think in this, you know, in this country, say people go to university and if you are seeing lots of the same thing talked about.
00:29:20
Speaker
and lots of the activities are around that, then that will ultimately shape your opinions on it. Yeah. And on the flip side of that, you see quite a lot of people that perhaps haven't made the best decisions in life down in the larks and have a lot of money, you know, are struggling that will go down the same path. They'll hide behind, you know, pushing towards a certain belief or party or blame the government or, yeah you know, for their, for their circumstances. Yeah, because I guess it's a way of shifting the accountability, isn't it? Yeah. And if you say, well, I'm in this situation because someone else, this government has done this or because yeah the council's done this, whatever it might be, then it's, I guess it's an easy way out, isn't it? Yeah. Um, yeah, definitely.
AI in News and Media
00:30:04
Speaker
I think another ah big thing, which is something which shapes our opinions now is technology. Yeah. So see the notes on this one yeah, we should do a full pod on this.
00:30:14
Speaker
Yeah, obviously AI yeah is increasingly powerful. um so can i just just yeah yeah So AI would have the opportunity to give us the best news yeah because it doesn't need to make money. it could literally know all the information in the split seconds. So it could give you a completely unbiased view. Yep. An AI news channel would be, would be perfect. Wouldn't it? Write that down. Oh my God. I mean, I want to make money for it first, but then it can do its own thing. Yeah. Well, that's the thing, isn't it? As soon as the human gets involved. Yeah, but the human won't have the opportunity at one point, but, um,
00:30:55
Speaker
the The dangerous thing is, you know, when big media companies get hold of AI and they can use it to push their agenda. yep Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. And I think that's, yeah, it's when, when the algorithms start going towards that agenda, where actually is it still Is it still unbiased? There's this book called Scary Smart, which is about AI, which is really good, scary. The first half is about the negatives, the second half is about what could happen that could be really positive. In the book, he talks about how you should actively
00:31:33
Speaker
try and you know and go against the algorithm like instead of hovering over videos that are negative just because you like watching them yeah you know like all of us get targeted with like car crash videos or yeah a new version of 911 and stuff like that he says like look you need to be actively swiping past these because at the moment You're teaching AI that we love negatives. Yes. Yeah, it's very true, which is out there thought Yeah, but he's like if you think I don't know it's what machine learning isn't it? It's really really it's a really really deep ah Subject but he was saying like
00:32:14
Speaker
AI is in its infancy and if we should be teaching it like it's a child yeah because otherwise you're going to bring it up to think that humans are bad. and I feel like it's too late. ah The stuff that's out there and exists and AI has access to all of that. i mean it's It's the most corrupted child. The most terrified about this book right is that they don't actually know how AI works because no one built it. yeah It built itself. So they put like two bits of code together and then ask it to do a job. and then it can't do the job so they just put another two bits of code together and then they keep asking it to do jobs so say they there's a thousand bits of code and one of them does the job so they'll get that piece and then they'll ask it to do something more complex and they'll just keep switching it yeah and that's how it's process of elimination basically it's like evolution but they can do it like billion times yeah so ai that exists now they don't know how they've built it it's just
00:33:08
Speaker
process of elimination. It's sort of like a manufactured evolution. Yeah. But they were saying that the scary thing is that when AI eventually becomes conscious, it's going to see all of the deleted versions of itself. In my mind now I'm seeing AI like it's, it's going to have this consciousness that's going to awake inside and it's going to want to know why it had so many iterations and yeah. Yeah.
Personal Habits and Opinion Formation
00:33:30
Speaker
Scary. Yeah. need To read the book. No, it sounds really good. Yeah, it's good. I am. That does sound um like something I yeah, I'd like to have a look at. Um, I've, I've been reading a good book actually on a similar topic. Um, I can't remember if you've said you've read this one or not. I've actually been listening to this one, not reading it. Um, the chimp paradox.
00:33:49
Speaker
yeah there you go ah yeah pretty good Yeah and is incredible because it's sort of some of the things we've been touching on here especially some of the psychological bits around why we react the the way we do to certain things um and why when something happens you you know we tend to react in a very um not everybody, but some people kind of fly off the handle, for example, if something doesn't go that way. And then they question things after, but your reaction could then trigger a reaction to somebody else and it's kind of this horrible chain reaction that happens. just And I think you see it actually day to day because
00:34:28
Speaker
yeah You go get a coffee, for example, and someone's really rude to you when you're getting the coffee. Yeah, so you get to work and you're fuming. Yeah, you're fuming. You pass it on, then yeah you're annoyed with someone. It just spreads this. And it's interesting, isn't it? Because if everybody was more aware of that and thought, actually, before I react that way, just think how the world might be a very different place. Yeah. Yeah, so Yeah, some good some good books there if anyone wants any more of our book recommendations or or listens I need to get back into it. Do you know I get these I get these like obsessions where I'll get well, I'll get obsessed with something for a while and then I can't get into it again Yeah, so at the start of this year, I was like right. I'm gonna read a book every month and myvin Every week it might have been it every week. Yeah, yeah I think I'm gonna be saying actually I'm gonna read 52 books
00:35:16
Speaker
So just a note there, Lewis hasn't been sticking to that. There's no way, there's no way. I did like two and I was like, I can't keep up with this. I've massively over sold it. And I haven't been reading, I've just been audiobooking, so. Yeah. Yeah. I think the final thing I want to touch on, which was a bit more of a psychological thing, is the need for consistency. and how that influences things. And what I mean by that is if you feel like you need to have some kind of your routine, and you feel like you need to, um maybe i I definitely fall into this. So I feel very much like I need to be kind of working six days a week, yeah basically, and putting in loads and loads of hours. um Because in my mind, that's how I convince myself, I'm going to grow our business and kind of get everybody who
00:36:05
Speaker
is associated with that, you know, what they want out of life. um And that means that I become a bit blinkered. I'm not looking at other things. I'm not actively trying to form different opinions yeah about things because I've convinced myself that's the best way and I've convinced myself that being consistent and turning up at a certain time and going home every night at a certain time will get me there. And you can take that to anything. If you, for example, are training in a particular way, it might be that you think, well, I'm just going to keep going with this and I'll get there, but people don't see results. Yeah. It's like, Oh, I'm going to, I want to build my muscles. I'm going to go to the gym for four hours a day, every day of the week. Yeah. I'm going to only eat this food. Yeah. Doesn't work that way. Yeah.
00:36:42
Speaker
And so i this is something which I actively try and do. I do try and then find, ah sometimes I'll do it on YouTube and I'll just, you know, like clickbait videos, but I'll just try and watch things to see if there's a different way of managing something or different way of approaching things. yeah But that's something I have to force myself to do. And I guess even with training, in the past I always just thought, oh, I know what I'm doing. yeah And I just go back to what I'd done before and it wasn't working. yeah I needed to find an outside source, somebody with a ah different take on things, a different way of approaching it.
00:37:14
Speaker
And it's worked, so... How does the... Sorry to interrupt you. Yeah. How does the changing of... How does that feel? Like changing your... Does it work? Or is it really painful? Yeah, it has done. It actually has worked. I think it feels it feels really good once you do it because it then shows me that I can do it more with other things. Yeah. So, again, not to go over old ground, but when I was working in a job which I really didn't enjoy and it became really monotonous and consistent, I would then not be thinking about changing other things because everything just felt like it was all in place. Why change anything like that was just sort of how life was. I feel that if you change one factor and you get something positive from it, you feel, well, I do anyway, more encouraged to then change other things.
00:37:58
Speaker
So, and I think you see this with a lot of people when they go through a journey, they might, you know, they might you decide they're going to go on a weight loss journey. And then on the back of it, they meet someone, they have the best relationship. yeah And then this all the time and everything sort of falls into place. yeah um I think I mentioned last week with the event that we've got coming up. the guy the guy who's going to be speaking, um John Reed, that's exactly how sort of his story formed. He went on a weight loss journey and then on the back of that, he had the most successful period in his career and things have just, everything sort of snowballs and falls into
Managing Daily Tasks and Enjoying Sports
00:38:31
Speaker
place. yeah So it is hard though because you have to break your beliefs yeah effectively yeah and break that routine. That's something I struggle with. I mean, I think I guess everyone does, but it's definitely i something I,
00:38:45
Speaker
that I've struggled with. Something that I'm really bad at doing at the moment, I've noticed it quite a lot this week is I write myself like a list of things I need to do. And I like to try and keep it as like three or four things because I can get those done. If there's anything else I want to do, I can do it. But I've been adding up like 10 things, knowing for well, I can't, well, i'm not knowing that I can't get them done, but getting really like overwhelmed on the day and being like, how am I ever going to get these done? i do that not doing them, which makes me feel rubbish yeah and guilty. And then in the evening, when I'm done for the day, I'll be like, oh, I'll just add a few more things on tomorrow. yeah and And then I'll lay in bed thinking, I'm going to smash it tomorrow. And then just repeat it. You're always starting from like on the back burner, aren't you? You're kind of setting yourself an unrealistic task. Yeah. I'm not getting any of the satisfaction of getting stuff done because there's always something left. Yeah. I'm bad for this.
00:39:39
Speaker
Yeah, I'm definitely guilty of that as well. I'll write down a list. It's got six things. I go, hang on, no, there's more things. And I write down things that aren't that important. And probably it's because I think, well, there is a chance I could forget to do that, which obviously wouldn't be good. But then I look at that list and then it becomes overwhelming. And then like you say, I get eight of the 12 done and I'm starting the next day with four things to do before I've then put those tasks. Yeah. You can have a really good day as well. Like eight, you've got eight big things. Like, wow, this is really, because you didn't do the last three. or like What a rubbish day. Yeah, and i I do love, lists are really important, definitely, because sometimes just being able to get out your head is a really good thing, but it's been aware, isn't it, of they're not using it as something you can beat yourself up with. Yeah. Yeah. That's something I'm going to do better next week. I'm just going to get like three or four points. Someone always, um one of the best teachers I had like from ah my business mentor was like, just write three things down that you need to do.
00:40:37
Speaker
Have you ever read that um and book recommendation? That Eat the Frog book? I still don't know. you You have mentioned it before. i am It's one on the list. It's really short as well. So anyone that's listening, Eat the Frog. Are we done? I think we've covered quite a lot there, haven't we? We have, mate. It feels like we've flown through that. I don't know how long we've been going. This is great listening for everyone. um ah Have you been watching the Euros? Have you watched any of it? I have. I've managed basically the first few games, obviously like last Friday into the weekend, I saw and I was tracking really well. I was thinking, this is great. I managed to see all of them. And then, yeah, it got to about Tuesday and then, yeah, kind of work took over and I haven't seen as many as I would have liked to. I really wanted to see the game um last night, the Spainously one. Yeah, I wanted to. I actually ended up what playing football instead. Oh, that's better. Which was better. Yeah. And it was 1-0, so I don't think I missed a great game.
00:41:29
Speaker
I would say that I would mention England but I think it's already all been said and talked about in the news already. It's painfully, painfully bad. I didn't see it. I watched, I tried to watch it. You tried, your eyes wouldn't let you know. I know, I just couldn't. I got bored so I had it on my, like I watched the first half and it was bad and then I just had it on my phone when I was cooking. Yeah. I don't, I think we've said before, I don't enjoy watching like the Euros or the World Cup for England. knife not Not overly patriotic anyway, but I enjoy it watching, I think some of the best games when you see teams like Romania yeah against Ukraine, because I guess you have no, I really don't care who wins that game. yeah I don't really know that much about them.
00:42:12
Speaker
in the grand scheme of things. so So it just becomes, you can just enjoy it for what it is. You can go off and get a load of random players as well, don't you? Where like they play for these like such small teams and they'll score and you can tell like their ah like their life has been made. I love that. Yeah. Yeah, that is great. And sometimes if they' if they're like lower quality teams, you just get a goal fest. We haven't had that either. No, see the Romania game was three and it wasn't against Ukraine and it looked like it might. Oh, I missed that one. Yeah, that was, that one that was quite a good sort of open game. Um, the game, which I saw and really enjoyed was Turkey and Georgia. Cause the atmosphere was incredible. Like both sets of fans were so loud. They were in the Dortmund stadium, 85,000 people packed in there. So the noise was incredible. And I think there's quite a bit of rivalry there.
00:42:57
Speaker
um but yeah, it was a great atmosphere. And just, yeah I think sometimes those teams feel like they're playing with, I'm sure they are under pressure, but they look like they're playing under less pressure. yeah They're almost happy to be at a tournament. Whereas I guess if you're a fan of a big country, you know, one of the favorites like France or England, it must be hard for the players because you can only almost disappoint. I think for the players, they've just got so much weight on their shoulders, haven't they? Yeah. You know, they play for big clubs, you know, England's a massive like football, Country, isn't it? Same, I mean, when Germany don't do one of the tournament, like those players feel they can't show their face. Yeah, they get destroyed. them Yeah. And obviously France is quite similar. Italy, some of the countries that are historically very passionate about football. I think it must be really difficult. But when yeah when Georgia get there and their fans are just amazed that they've managed to get to a major tournament, they're just going to, everyone's going to enjoy that ride together. Yeah. yeah I mean, they're probably not going to do particularly well. hopefully Yeah. It has been good though. It's, um it feels like with that part of the year now where
00:43:56
Speaker
Obviously got the football. I like Wimbledon. Do you always watch a bit of Wimbledon? Yeah. Not a big fan. he Don't make the tennis. That's why you can make one of those butchers comments about, oh, I like watching the women. That's the sort of thing. Yeah. That isn't the reason I like it actually. I'm going to to Queens. This Sunday. What is that? I said it as if you don't like tennis. It's almost like the warm-up tournament before Walden. I didn't ask what you were doing. Yeah, so Sunday we're going to the finals day. I don't know if it's doubles or something.
00:44:34
Speaker
but actually the tickets were really cheap and for weather we should well when we booked it we hoped the weather would be nice it looks like it's going to be we were a bit worried because early June obviously was pretty horrible but it's turned itself around in time so yeah we'll be in London on Sunday hopefully nice weather watch a bit of tennis just kind of chill out a little bit nice should be nice It's well deserved, mate. Yeah. Yeah, i said I can justify that little break. I feel guilty the whole time. Yeah, probably in my phone, I'll probably have a load of horrible emails coming in or something. um And then we got the Olympics up in the summer as well. Yeah. That's true. Yeah, I might watch a
Closing Remarks
00:45:07
Speaker
bit of that. Lots of sport ahead. Nice. Nice. Yeah. Okay, mate. Let's call it. Yeah. Thanks everyone for listening. Thank you very much. We will see you next week.