Tower of Babel AI

Is America is Falling Apart?

• Todd Francis

Share episode

Is social cohesion breaking down?  Media networks have mastered the art of keeping viewers anxious and fearful.  Elected leaders create a false sense of urgency that drives us to want to escalate conflicts.  But, what happens when we step away from the screen and encounter real people in our communities who hold different political views?  Is political hatred going to infiltrate our neighborhoods and relationships to levels we have never seen before?  History says yes, but only time will tell.   

Speaker 1:

I guess the question for us is we reasonable people, what are we going to do with all this hatred, all of the spite we are throwing around at each other, even viscerally Smiling, all the time Caring for our neighbors and friends and co-workers and, in our minds still in the back of them, spitting fire at other people's beliefs? I don't spit at my Republican neighbors, do you, because of their worldview. O, tower of Babel. The Tower of Babel that a king, shinar, commissioned that a tower be built to reach the heavens as high as God's kingdom. God disapproved Humans had been unified in one language after the great flood, noah's Ark, and God saw the tower growing higher and disapproved, so it confounded their languages and the people could no longer work well together and the tower was abandoned. They spoke in different languages then and God scattered the people across the earth.

Speaker 1:

On this podcast, we are here at the base of the tower again, base of the Tower of Babel once more, ready to begin construction again, and we will advance into the sky with the wisdom of the angels and of the saints. We will sit quietly, as the angels would, and talk quietly now about many matters that affect us in this modern world. Welcome to the Tower of Babel 2.0. It said that, including hand gestures, there may be as many as 200,000 ways to say welcome around the world, we human beings and that's with just 700, 159 living languages, 200,000 ways to say welcome. I'm going to say welcome to people 50 times a day in my own language, in words and gestures, or at least one every half hour. Glad you've joined me here today. Hope you're having a good one day, evening or night, wherever you are around the world.

Speaker 1:

A slightly revised format, so let's get right into it. Format so let's get right into it. This world we live in is so full of monstrous voices and their primary goal is not to engage in communication with us but to pull or push people around, form their opinion for us, keep us locked in through a lot of terror. Really Fright, all of us, right of center, left of center, right down the media, right down the middle media, right down the middle media. Unintentionally, I'm sure, they hook into our emotions. They tie into what we think is right or wrong and attach to our emotional side and go to work. They talk about people who don't think as you do or as I do. They say how critically different their opinion is from yours and from mine, and how fast these other people are approaching to change your entire way of life, change you. They're coming. They're coming to harm your family and your children and they're coming to harm you. Media is not where our lives begin and it's not where it ends.

Speaker 1:

News media for some it does, for most of it it doesn't, but it all has some kind of influence on us, on most of us Me to you, left, right and center, and so much of it is just toxic. A friend of mine suggested that I read the Wall Street Journal because there's plenty of news in there, but it doesn't leave me with the impression that the world is going to blow up in the next five minutes. All is well with the world, a lot of analysis. I'm a Democrat, but I look at the journal and left, right has nothing to do with it. I take in the information and they're giving me information to think about and discuss. I don't feel as though I'm about to be assaulted when I read the journal. The coming for my firstborn. If I look at television, that's just that's how I feel. I first born if I look at television. That's just that's how I feel, and I'm not trying to ignore the importance of standing behind what I believe or what you believe in politics. I'm saying that we're all wearing sunglasses with red lenses or lenses that are too dark to see clearly because of the way information is presented to us.

Speaker 1:

Small things, so many small things. For example, donald Trump was elected as the 47th president today In an overwhelming victory, giving the Republican Party a clear mandate to set the agenda for the next four years. That sounds unbiased, sounds like good reporting, sounds clear. What it does, though it tells a Democrat. It tells a Democrat that they're going to be stuck in a Republican dungeon for the next four years. Clear mandate to set the agenda. That's not how our life is going to be for the next four years If the Republican Party is setting the agenda. Your life is not going to be influenced that deeply if the Republican Party sets the agenda.

Speaker 1:

So how about this instead, as a Democrat? How about this instead as a democrat? How about this? What if the news media were to? What if the media were to say let's all celebrate democracy? Imagine cnn saying let's all celebrate democracy and give congratulations to the president-elect, donald Trump, and his campaign for an impressive victory today? That makes more sense, doesn't it? That's the glass half full comment, and it's celebratory and it's grateful for what we have, all of us, which are a set of elections where we can give. We can give our say to who should be our leaders. Jesus Christ himself might agree that election day might be the most important, the most holy holiday we have, then Christmas Day, then Easter. I think Easter actually trumps Christmas Day.

Speaker 1:

Problem is, if there were more positive language on any of the networks, there'd be immediately every second, one million TVs turned off, every second, right there, starting with election night, and you'd see producers fired by the end of the day the next day because of all the, because of the ratings losses, the viewership drop. The term positive, the urgency's down To watch. Turn the urgency down. The interest is down To watch. Turn the urgency down. The interest is down. No more. Red sirens going off all the time means television's going to be turned off. The Martians are not coming, the ground is not sinking, the fire's not raging, the earthquake is not there. Get the people out On edge. The network bosses will say or for you, mr Network TV producer, it's off to the soup line for you, isn't it funny, funny.

Speaker 1:

It's funny that when you turn on the TV and look for news during the day. You know exactly where to go to get an opinion just like yours and you know where to go to get an opinion that's not like yours. Now, what does it have to do with news? We're not sure, but you do. You know where to go and where not to go to find your opinion or find one not like yours. You can go one way to get agitated all day, or you can go one way to get irritated all day. If I go to Fox myself, I'll be irritated all day long, so I don't watch Fox. If I go to CNN, I'll be agitated all day long, all day, every day, so I don't watch CNN. It just doesn't make sense for me, cnn. It just doesn't make sense for me. So I hope you're getting what you need out of the news. Wherever your news source is, I hope it's giving you whatever it is that you need from it.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so let's look at this survey coming from the Pew Research Center. It's a caption related to Americans and what sources they've received their news from. In a previous week, recently, all right, 39% of all adults who watched the news got their news from Fox. 39%. In the same week, 30% of all adults who watched the news got some news from CNN. Watch the news got some news from CNN. Then there's NBC 34% got some news from NBC, then ABC, a little less. Cbs, a little less more or less than that, and then down to MSNBC, which is 24%. 20% of all adults who wanted news got some from NPR. That sounds pretty good. 5% of people looking for news got some from the New York Post. 5% of Democrats got some news from the New York Post. 5% of Republicans got some news from the New York Post. In this week's caption, 60% of Republicans got some news from the New York Post. In this week's caption, 60% of Republicans got some news from Fox. The largest source for Democrats is CNN, with 53%. One in four Democrats got some news from Fox and one in four Republicans got some news from CNN.

Speaker 1:

It appears, overall, that Democrats are getting more news from NBC, abc and CBS than Republicans. Democrats are getting more news from the Wall Street Journal and Politico. Now there's an actual politics and current affairs section from the Wall Street Journal and Politico. Now there's an actual politics and current affairs section in the Wall Street Journal. If you're not aware of that, it says that 15% of Democrats and 11% of Republicans receive news from the Wall Street Journal. Overall, it appears that Democrats get news from a larger number of news sources than republicans, but it doesn't say what percentage of democrats and republicans get news at all on a weekly basis or the amount of time citizens from each party spend receiving news Two unknowns Of the top 30 news sources. Democrats get a higher percentage of news than Republicans in all sources but Fox News, hannity Radio Breitbart, washington Examiner and Daily Caller. Peace, generation Peace.

Speaker 1:

I have this thought that if you took all of the upcoming legislation, put each proposal in a jar, put them all in a jar, remove the party affiliation, that you'd see support for the bills would become far less partisan. There'd be Republicans supporting bills from Democrats and Democrats supporting bills from Republicans on a much broader basis, far more than now. It's said, actually, that both Republicans and Democrats support about 80% of the same bills, the same proposals. We agree 80% of the time as it is, but reality, let's not ignore it or not ignore it. Reality does dictate, however can't be ignored, that supportive legislation. One bill is not at all. What's going on when deciding how you feel about that one bill?

Speaker 1:

You vote on bills or people tend to many people tend to vote on a bill based upon their support of the party. What that party means to you is as heavy of a weight, heavier than considering the idea, the issues of a particular bill, legislation. We're starting to care about party support all the way through how we feel about society, how it should be organized, what our leadership should look like, how diverse it should be, what government should be doing for us, how to support us, how to lead, the character of our leadership. I'm not going to say that I think that Democratic people are more vested in being respectful to others than Republicans. I believe that one party, however, is more committed to an open environment for all citizens to be and feel prosperous than the other. To have the basics satisfied, whatever that means to you. To have the basics satisfied, whatever that means to you, and you can extend that to all people living here, citizens and non-citizens. That's where I'm at.

Speaker 1:

There's an article from the University of Rochester News Center. The question is does it matter how much Democrats and Republicans hate each other? Then it says, yes, it does. Their point is well, I haven't. Really. I don't think of us Republicans and Democrats hating each other. We have a political mind. Each of us does, and I guess it appears as though Republicans and Democrats and independents, and all of us in some way, may be having an increasing level of disconcern for others at this point, which is dangerous. Should we be concerned about Democratic v Republican fighting? Google AI's answer was In a political landscape marked by increasing partisan hostility, there is valid concern about the friction between Democrats and Republicans, and the reasons are Erosion of democratic institutions. Partisan animosity can weaken democratic institutions and hinder their effectiveness over time.

Speaker 1:

Number two impact on governance. Disagreement and lack of cooperation make it harder for the government to function effectively, address critical issues and deliver solutions that serve the public. Good Governance is I want to throw that in Governance is an environment Cares to position itself where it can accept the support of the public, to produce as dynamics and communication, and then, of course, shaping the conduct and order of our social system. Number three, according to Google AI a threat to social cohesion. Threat to social cohesion Political polarization can breed distrust and negativity, impacting relationships between individuals and contributing to social fragmentation. In my neighborhood even, I'm at the point now where I don't want to know if one of my neighbors is Democrat or Republican because I love them all. I love all my neighbors, I like them all. I actually don't know. Amazingly terrible. I don't want to know if one of my neighbors is a Democrat or Republican, because I like them.

Speaker 1:

The Journal of Democracy claims that Americans have sorted themselves into two broad identity groups. Democrats tend to live in cities, are more likely to be minorities, women and religiously unaffiliated, and are trending liberal. Republicans generally live in rural areas or suburbs and are more likely to be white male, christian and conservative, and are more likely to be white male, christian and conservative. There are more white Republicans than there are white Democrats. Somehow or another, we need to do a little better in understanding who we are. Just a little. If 40% of white Americans are Democrat, 46% of Americans identify or lean towards the Republican Party Democrats, 45% identify with or lean towards the Democratic Party. 8% of Americans identify as pure independents. I just prefer to think or hope. Hope that the Republican Party is finding a way to make its philosophy inclusive.

Speaker 1:

I will now fall back, as it is said, and resort to the magic of poetry to transcend the disaster which is American politics these days, and I state shine on me, o lonely star, o glorious star of Texas, rise, raise your fist at me, no more. Raise your hand to praise me. Raise me high as your many horses fly, mains swaying in this lullaby. Why won't you let me sing along? Oh lowly star of Texas, sing. Might I ask? Did a rabbit get stuck in that deep dark hole? You hide. Your first count tallies in.

Speaker 1:

I say again oh lowly star of Texas, shine on your red, white, blue behind. I'll take up my flag, I'll take it up, and then I'll stride, brush off my brown skin, then say again, brushing off this old raw hide. Spit on the ground, chaw, spit on the ground, dip, don't fall swiftly down. After a few of those Lone Star brewskis, you might just decide to disappear into my lonely heart where all the old folks hide and quiver. All the old folks liver shiver. All the old folks dare not die with you around, great Star of Texas, since you can wear a gun down on your hip, down at the Piggly Wiggly, anytime you want to, and shoot a dead man dead if you want to, and shoot a dead man dead while they ain't looking.

Speaker 2:

Come here, girl. Come here, girl. Daddy's home, daddy's home, Come here, girl. Hey, I be movin' for that money in a hurry, feelin' about a bag, and I ain't worried. Henny got me talkin' hella slurry, but I'm still on point with the shot, steph Curry. I be movin' for that money in a hurry, feelin' about a bag, and I ain't worried. Henny got me talkin, talking hella slurry, but I'm still on point with the shot, steph Curry. If it ain't about a bag then I ain't worried. Henny got me talking hella slurry, but I'm still on point with the shot, steph Curry. I be moving for that money in a hurry. If it ain't about a bag, then I ain't worried. I'll see you next time. We'll be right back.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for watching no-transcript a Scottish man who believes the best pizza he's ever had was in Falkirk Scotland. So right now I'll say peace and love and harmony to you, coming to you from the Connecticut shoreline, usa. Thank you for joining me. If you'd like to see more, check me out on my website, which you can find at TowerOfBabel2.com, looking forward to seeing you there. Hope you've enjoyed yourself. Leave me a comment, give me a like, leave a review. Definitely subscribe. Love you much, everybody, Take care, see you next time.

Speaker 1:

Hunger around the world is endemic. It's a pandemic of its own, it's a crisis, and each person should be aware of it. We're going to now speak to someone who is going to tell us that the best pizza, the best slice of pizza he's ever had, is in a place called Falkirk Scotland. So let's see what this young man has to say Hello, hello, ramsey. How are you today? I'm very good. How are you Very well, ramsey. How are you today? I'm very good. How are you Very well, thank you. So I'm here with Ramsey, who I've already told everyone that you're going to explain to us, or tell us why you believe that the best slice of pizza you've ever had can be found in a place called Falkirk Scotland. Is that so?

Speaker 3:

Yes, that is so. However, there are a few things I need to let the listeners know. First, I know what the listeners are going to say. They're going to say well, ramsey, as you can hear from my voice and from the place I got the pizza Falkirk, scotland. I'm indeed Scottish Everyone's going to say, well, he doesn't know any better, he's not had proper pizza. And I'm going to tell you I've been to Rome, I've been to Sorrento in Italy, I've been to New York. I've been to several different places in America. I've tasted pizza from places everyone says are the best. I've tasted the pizza and it's good. Don't get me wrong. However, I was so shocked on the day I stepped into Sal's Pizza in Falkirk. So let me set the scene.

Speaker 1:

Hold on, hold on one second. So you know, I'm glad you said Sal's. That makes me feel a little bit better somehow, I won't say why. So it deflates my level of anxiety and angst about this, exceptionally because you said Sal's.

Speaker 1:

But, you have to understand something though the fact that you've traveled to all these places and then go home, including united states then go then say, well, the best pizza is in falkirk. It's a lot worse. You're saying that versus versus just saying it's better reasoning. Oh, it's hard, because you have experienced all of these pizzas and go home and tell me that the best pizza that you have is there. I, I love pizza. It's a part of the person.

Speaker 3:

Would it not be worse if I was living in ignorance, though?

Speaker 1:

I prefer to live in ignorance than to know. You're telling me, respectfully, that the best piece of pizza you've ever had is in Falkirk. Tell us about it.

Speaker 3:

Okay, so set the scene. I'm from Inverness, which is in the highlands of Scotland, so I have not really been to Falkirk at all. Really, I moved down to Glasgow for university and I've been there for about two years when the volunteering. I'm not going to get into it too much, but I volunteer for a group called Youth Football Scotland and we cover youth football. So I was sent over to Falkirk one day to cover a youth match and interview some of the players.

Speaker 1:

Just to keep everybody up, you went going to school in Glasgow, which is the largest city in Scotland.

Speaker 3:

Maybe it's in between glasgow and edinburgh, I forget okay, so, and then falkirk.

Speaker 1:

Falkirk is is where exactly? Between the two? Is almost slap bang in the middle of the two okay so this is a city, a city of about how many people, I have no idea.

Speaker 3:

Okay, it's small though right, it's not a particularly large city. All right, right, you're going to tell me, technically it's not even a city at all.

Speaker 1:

So is it a slap in the face for you to say that a place in the middle of Scotland, beautiful land that it is highly suggest that you visit in Scotland, has pizza better than one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world with a large number of Italian immigrants Greek, so that's not a slap in the face for us.

Speaker 3:

There are loads and loads of Scottish Italians. My grandfather, his father, was Italian. There are tons and tons. America is not the only country to have Italian Italian connections aha, ignorance, my ignorance as I was gonna say. It's also it's not my solicitor I. I did not step into a step off the train to fall through that day expecting to take perfection. But I did not step off the train into Falkirk that day expecting to taste perfection, but I did.

Speaker 1:

Oh, my God, and I'm not going to apologize for that Perfection Tell us about the pizza. What was on it?

Speaker 3:

I'll walk you through the toppings. So obviously tomato base, plenty cheese. And then I like my pizza spicy, so I had spicy sausage, jalapenos, ground beef, ground beef and pepperoni. That was on top of the pizza and they give it to me in this box.

Speaker 3:

And it was quite a nice evening and I had to be getting back to glasgow, so I took this box and I was walking towards the train station and I was gonna eat on the train, to be honest, but it smelled really nice and it was like 15 minute walk to the train station. So I mean, you know what, I'm gonna take the risk, I open it and I take my first bite and, honestly, I I stopped in my tracks. I was like no way. Because, like my first thought was genuinely, oh my, oh, my goodness. Like I know what all my uh american friends are gonna say when I tell them about this pizza they're gonna be outraged.

Speaker 3:

But to be fair, the reason I was in Sal's in the first place was, I told what my friend Tubes. His real name is not Tubes, his real name is Daniel, but everyone calls him Tubes. That's quite a common nickname. Where he's from? I believe he's from Stornoway, which is um the main part of the Isle of Lewis and he says, ramsey, go into Sal's genuinely best pizza you'll ever have. And I was kind of like, well, yeah, yeah, whatever I'll go if I'm hungry.

Speaker 1:

But he was right, he was so, so right so if I oh, it sounds delicious, it sounds good. There's just several questions I have concerning, not the legitimacy of what you're saying, but well, put it away. I saw a movie once. There was a cop who came in and said why he thought somebody should be supported. And his boss said just because you say it with conviction, it doesn't mean blank to me. So you're telling me all these things, but I'm not necessarily a believer, not yet. So question is so if I said to you that the best sausage rolls I've ever had were somewhere in the middle of Pennsylvania, what would you say to that?

Speaker 3:

Well, the difference is you can get pizza anywhere in the world. If I were to hear of someone in America making a sausage roll, I'd be open to it, but the fact is I haven't heard of that yet. So your point is it's something that hasn't happened. If someone wants to point me to somewhere I can get a good sausage roll in america, I'll be more than open to that, but I'm still waiting for that day he's still waiting for it.

Speaker 1:

You know I feel like I'm being pushed against the wall. That's okay. Who was making the pizza? Was it a? Do you think it was an italian descended person or not?

Speaker 3:

I don't know. I mean, I was talking to the girl that was working in there making the pizza. It was just this Scottish girl. She might have had Italian heritage, but I don't know.

Speaker 1:

It's not fair. It's kind of unfair to say that a person who makes a great pizza has to be Italian, right? So you said you like the. What was the atmosphere like? What was that like?

Speaker 3:

It was a small shop in central Falkirk so it was quite a popular area as far as Falkirk goes. There wasn't anyone in there when I went in I think it was just before, you know, the classic dinner time and, yeah, it was just me in there. So I was chatting away to the girl in the shop. She was really nice, she told me about the course she's doing and everything. So quite a welcoming atmosphere.

Speaker 1:

All the ingredients are they close? Do they resemble the taste, like the pepperoni and the burger? All the different ingredients, all the toppings are they toppings that taste similarly to the ones you've had here, or are they different?

Speaker 3:

Good question. I think, first of all, the ingredient that struck me the most was the jalapenos, because I love jalapenos. But if you get jalapenos that are not that good, they can sour a little bit and they're just not that great. These jalapenos were perfect. As far as other ingredients go, I'd say the cheese was a little less greasy than it is in America, but more greasy than in Italy.

Speaker 1:

Right, there you go. You're also saying that the pizza quality in Falkirk is better than the pizza you've had in Italy. Is pizza really a big thing in Italy, though?

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

It is Anyway sort of to outmode you, but you make you're sounding so reasonable, so I'm not sure what to say.

Speaker 3:

I am not saying that everybody like I. Everyone has their own favorite pizza. I'm just saying the best. That, plain and simple. No one has to agree with me. Plain and simple. The best slice I've ever had comes out of Falkirk, scotland.

Speaker 1:

Falkirk, Scotland.

Speaker 3:

It will be until the day I find another one, but I'll tell you it was so good. I have no connection to Falkirk, I have no reason to be in Falkirk. I very rarely go, but a week after I had this pizza I went back, for no other reason. It's like half an hour on the train from Glasgow. It's a bit of a pain, and I just went for another pizza.

Speaker 1:

And was it? Did it live up to the previous memory experience?

Speaker 3:

It did and I thought that before I had the second pizza from Sal's, I thought you know what? It might just have been because I was hungry and I was having a good day. So I went back to test it again and nope, it went two for two. It was absolutely fantastic.

Speaker 1:

Well, I guess I'm going to have to subside and say that your comments make more sense than mine, but I'm going to forever have to resort to guerrilla tactics till I find a way to completely dislodge your experience as that pizza being the best you've ever had okay, I look forward to it. What else are you up to? For one, you are one of the hosts of another podcast, daggy's view. Is that right in the uk? Yeah, that is correct. What's that all about?

Speaker 3:

so, uh, as I said, I'm from the highlands of scotland, um, me and my friends support ross county football club, who are a team, uh, in the top league of scotland currently, um, and have been for the past few years Not the best team ever. If you know how things work over there, you'll know that we have something called relegation. If you finish low enough in the league, you'll get demoted to the second league, down, and so on and so forth. So my team is currently fighting relegation. But you know, even though they're not the best team, they've given me some fantastic memories over the years and you know the losses make the wins mean a lot more. So, yeah, I'd follow them to the ends of the earth.

Speaker 1:

They're one of those funny teams that they're kind of like giant killers we call them. They can be really like mediocre season, or maybe even a little worse than that, and then all of a sudden pull off a big victory. What's that all about?

Speaker 3:

I think it's just a a mixture of being written off all the time and it makes it means that we have something to prove like we will like. Last season we beat rangers for the first time ever. Huge result. No one saw it coming and a couple of weeks later we went and lost 2-0 to Livingston who at the time were bottom of the league. So we are an unpredictable team and we have been known to be giant killers in the past. But in my opinion it adds to supporting the team, because you just don't know what you're going to get and it is very frustrating at times, but they are an enjoyable team to follow, even when they're not winning.

Speaker 1:

Well, you know they're an interesting team to follow. They are, and I too, from a distance, have gotten a lot of enjoyment following them at times, so I'm following them at times. Right Question for you now United States baseball, basketball, football, sort of our, our biggest sports, right? Basically, do you have a soccer following here and a lot of people, a lot of people play soccer here, but in terms of a front leading sport, it's not the most recognizable or the most favored. What would you say to an American in a friendly conversation? What would you say to them Okay, here's what you're missing in sports. Maybe you want to check this out.

Speaker 3:

I think okay. So for this example, I'm going to compare it to basketball. I love basketball, don't get me wrong. I think it's one of the most exciting sports to watch, just full stop, ever. However, I think it's got a bucket every few minutes, if not more often than that, like if a team doesn't shoot within 30 seconds, I believe then they turn over the ball. With football, the score will be less. And don't get me wrong, you do get some boring games, but when a goal goes in, it sort of defines a game and it's so important to the outcome of that particular match that the build-up to it just has you on the edge of your seat. And I think, as good as a sport like basketball is, it just doesn't really have that tension. If I'm going to compare it to American football, I think it sort of has the opposite problem, where the sport is really fun to watch, but that's only when it gets going, because just when it gets good, they stop.

Speaker 1:

I want to throw this in because it's hard to explain to Americans how you're watching not just the buildup, but the skill and the talent to move a team closer to getting a goal. It's not like goals just happen instantaneously. Often it's because a team has been moving forward, finding ways, asking deeper questions to the defense about how are you going to stop us. I can't say fairer than that. So, ramsey, it's been a pleasure speaking with you always. Um, you know a lot to think about in terms of falkirk pizza versus northeast american pizza. And thanks for your commentary on soccer as well. I have a feeling that I'm going to hear you, hear from you. Hope you're going to join us another time. Thanks a lot for your time. Thanks for having me. All right, dude, talk to you soon, take care, all right.

Speaker 1:

See you Okay, bye-bye.