1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:04,680 Speaker 1: From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is 2 00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:09,080 Speaker 1: riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or 3 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:12,119 Speaker 1: learn this stuff they don't want you to know. A 4 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:13,920 Speaker 1: production of iHeart Radio. 5 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:28,360 Speaker 2: Hello, welcome back to the show. My name is Matt, 6 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:29,280 Speaker 2: my name is Noah. 7 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:32,400 Speaker 3: They call me Ben. We're joined as always with our 8 00:00:32,479 --> 00:00:36,479 Speaker 3: super producer Dylan the Tennessee pal Fagan. Most importantly, you 9 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:41,360 Speaker 3: are here. That makes this the stuff they don't want 10 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:44,440 Speaker 3: you to know. This is gonna be a wild ride. 11 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:46,919 Speaker 3: This will probably end up being a three episode series. 12 00:00:47,159 --> 00:00:51,000 Speaker 3: Maybe we get into it this way to the degree 13 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:54,720 Speaker 3: that we're comfortable answering. Have any of us donated to 14 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:55,720 Speaker 3: political parties? 15 00:00:56,440 --> 00:00:56,880 Speaker 4: I have not. 16 00:00:57,960 --> 00:01:00,800 Speaker 2: When I was a young man. I did this once, 17 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:04,399 Speaker 2: very young man, because as idealistic and I believe that 18 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:07,440 Speaker 2: my money would help someone somewhere and I could change 19 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:11,800 Speaker 2: things just by donating ten dollars, I would do it. 20 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:14,880 Speaker 3: The first part, your money did help someone somewhere. 21 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:16,880 Speaker 5: For the price of a cup of coffee a day, 22 00:01:16,959 --> 00:01:18,440 Speaker 5: you two could have democracy. 23 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:22,200 Speaker 3: And I used to be won't get into it, but yeah, 24 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:26,680 Speaker 3: I used to do some political activity in more idealistic 25 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:28,680 Speaker 3: days as well. I mean for a lot of us 26 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:32,520 Speaker 3: right now. If you're talking about financial donation, the answer 27 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:36,760 Speaker 3: is no, what do you mean? Partially because of cynicism, 28 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:39,000 Speaker 3: right and then partially due to the fact that it's 29 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:43,000 Speaker 3: very tough and challenging economy right now. But donation doesn't 30 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:46,520 Speaker 3: have to be just financial. People donate their time, their expertise, 31 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:50,240 Speaker 3: their ideas. Some people fly solo in this regard. You know, 32 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:54,120 Speaker 3: you could say that a single protester in a small 33 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:58,920 Speaker 3: town is making a political donation through their time right 34 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:02,440 Speaker 3: and their activism. But most most people, I think, tend 35 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:06,160 Speaker 3: to partner up with pre existing groups. And this is 36 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:09,919 Speaker 3: where we get to something really interesting. A fellow conspiracy 37 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:12,560 Speaker 3: realist we'll call him Noah, reached out to us a 38 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:16,880 Speaker 3: while back and hipped us to something called the Atlas Network. 39 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:20,640 Speaker 3: Had you guys heard of this before before Noah hyptos 40 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 3: do it? 41 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:23,480 Speaker 5: I want to say it came up in a podcast 42 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:25,920 Speaker 5: that I was listening to, but I can't quite remember 43 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:27,079 Speaker 5: the details. 44 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:31,280 Speaker 2: I was unaware of it, and when Noah first I 45 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:34,160 Speaker 2: think it was a voicemail that Noah sent in. When 46 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:36,800 Speaker 2: when I first heard of it, I really thought it 47 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:40,080 Speaker 2: was something I and Rand associatd. 48 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:42,480 Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, we have to say that at the top 49 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:46,880 Speaker 3: to be fair. Atlas Network themselves says Nope, not named 50 00:02:46,919 --> 00:02:50,600 Speaker 3: after Atlas Shrugged. But as we were talking about a 51 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:53,280 Speaker 3: little off air, we have questions on that one. And 52 00:02:54,080 --> 00:02:58,280 Speaker 3: I also had I was not aware of Atlas Network 53 00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:02,680 Speaker 3: before he reached out. Noah, and we love learning things, 54 00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:06,760 Speaker 3: especially disturbing things. But what is Atlas Network exactly? Why 55 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:10,840 Speaker 3: do they seem in the shadows? Well, Noah, some would 56 00:03:10,840 --> 00:03:13,160 Speaker 3: say they like it that way. Let's get into it. 57 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 3: After a word from our sponsor, here are the facts. 58 00:03:23,919 --> 00:03:28,480 Speaker 3: Our story begins with an Englishman named Sir Anthony George 59 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:30,480 Speaker 3: Anson Fisher or A. 60 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:34,679 Speaker 2: Gaff Herolds of Freedom. 61 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:34,920 Speaker 4: Always starts with an Englishman. 62 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:39,480 Speaker 3: This kind of stuff. Yeah, not the profile, but I 63 00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:42,480 Speaker 3: think you're right, nol a Gaff. Let's learn about him. 64 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:45,280 Speaker 3: He was born into a wealthy family. This isn't a 65 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:48,200 Speaker 3: coming up from the mud story. But he made good 66 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:52,360 Speaker 3: on his socioeconomic opportunities. He's a Royal Air Force veteran. 67 00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:56,360 Speaker 3: He graduated the top schools of his day. He became 68 00:03:56,400 --> 00:04:00,520 Speaker 3: a phenomenally successful chicken businessman, similar to us Fring. Some 69 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:01,400 Speaker 3: might argue. 70 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:03,120 Speaker 5: Similar to Rick Ross with all his chickens that go 71 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:04,000 Speaker 5: quack quack quack. 72 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:08,839 Speaker 3: That's right. Yes, similar to Rick Ross, who has been 73 00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:13,000 Speaker 3: mentioned pretty often on this show. We know Agaff. We 74 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:21,240 Speaker 3: know Sir Fisher was galvanized and inspired during the horrors 75 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:24,520 Speaker 3: he experienced in World War II, including allegedly witnessing the 76 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:28,000 Speaker 3: death of his own brother who was also serving. This 77 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:31,560 Speaker 3: put him on a lifelong ideological mission and his idea. 78 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:35,279 Speaker 3: His thesis was this, if I can help make Earth 79 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:40,560 Speaker 3: a more economically free, more prosperous place, then I can 80 00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:43,080 Speaker 3: help create a world without war. 81 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:48,040 Speaker 2: Sounds really great. And in World War Two he was 82 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:50,480 Speaker 2: he was an RAF pilot who actually was He took 83 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:52,440 Speaker 2: part in the Battle of Britain, so one of the 84 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:56,039 Speaker 2: one of the biggest things that happened in World War Two, 85 00:04:56,040 --> 00:04:59,600 Speaker 2: at least from you know, a British perspective, you can 86 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:03,600 Speaker 2: imagine how this guy was looked up to. And he 87 00:05:03,640 --> 00:05:07,479 Speaker 2: was an entrepreneur. He was big in the chicken business, 88 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:11,360 Speaker 2: as we're saying. If you want to learn more about that, guys, 89 00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:14,800 Speaker 2: I would send you on over to Atlas Network's own 90 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:19,320 Speaker 2: YouTube channel, where in twenty seventeen, a gentleman named Daniel Hannan, 91 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:22,560 Speaker 2: who we can talk about more if we want to. 92 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:26,479 Speaker 2: But this guy gave a Toast to Freedom wherein he 93 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:31,839 Speaker 2: talks specifically about the chicken business and that mister Fisher, 94 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:36,200 Speaker 2: how mister Fisher brought chickens to the masses. 95 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:40,760 Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, So we'll jump around in time a little bit, right. So, 96 00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:44,760 Speaker 3: originally Agath wants to go into politics. It makes sense. 97 00:05:44,839 --> 00:05:48,839 Speaker 3: He's a war hero, he's got a high level academic 98 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:53,400 Speaker 3: bona fides, and he is very worried. He's really unhappy 99 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:57,840 Speaker 3: with the post World War two government of the UK, 100 00:05:58,279 --> 00:06:01,039 Speaker 3: the labor government in particular, saying, you guys are doing 101 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:06,200 Speaker 3: your nationalizing industry. You're doing central economic planning, which is 102 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:10,120 Speaker 3: pretty communist to me. I think you're making a welfare 103 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:13,560 Speaker 3: state and I think it's going to lead to totalitarianism. 104 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:16,520 Speaker 3: And I've got to find some people. He did the 105 00:06:16,560 --> 00:06:18,919 Speaker 3: smartest thing you can do. He said, I've got to 106 00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:21,040 Speaker 3: find some people who know more than me. I've got 107 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:24,320 Speaker 3: to find some experts. And he gets inspired by the 108 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:28,559 Speaker 3: granddaddy of neoliberalism, Friedrich Hayek, the author of a book 109 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:33,960 Speaker 3: called The Road to Serfdom, and Hyak doesn't just immediately 110 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:37,680 Speaker 3: paddle on him. Instead, he says, don't waste your time 111 00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:38,839 Speaker 3: in politics, dude. 112 00:06:39,279 --> 00:06:42,200 Speaker 2: Yeah, he basically said, waste your time on the things 113 00:06:42,240 --> 00:06:44,960 Speaker 2: that influence politics. 114 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:45,800 Speaker 4: Right, yeah, yeah, the idea. 115 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:49,520 Speaker 3: Yeah, he said, think tanks are the best way to 116 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:53,960 Speaker 3: create real political change. And Fisher hop too. We're going 117 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:57,480 Speaker 3: to throw a lot of very vague organization names at 118 00:06:57,480 --> 00:06:59,800 Speaker 3: you and this one, folks just will let it wash 119 00:06:59,839 --> 00:07:04,239 Speaker 3: over us because they're all pretty samy sounding. He visits 120 00:07:04,279 --> 00:07:07,680 Speaker 3: something in the States called the Foundation for Economic Education, 121 00:07:08,120 --> 00:07:11,400 Speaker 3: pretty vague, and that's where he learns about the poultry business, 122 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:15,080 Speaker 3: about battery chicken raising. And then when he goes back 123 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:18,360 Speaker 3: to England, he starts this outfit Bucksted Chickens. 124 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:21,520 Speaker 5: Is that real Bucks died And it's amazing. It's like 125 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:23,880 Speaker 5: the ex is like an edgy stand in for. 126 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:25,800 Speaker 4: Right. 127 00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:29,080 Speaker 3: Yeah, this is the company that makes him a millionaire 128 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:32,240 Speaker 3: over time. And he was already he already had family money. 129 00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:36,960 Speaker 3: And he sticks to his guns. You know, he doesn't 130 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:41,120 Speaker 3: just become a quiet guy who shows up in a 131 00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:44,680 Speaker 3: fundraiser once a year. He invests his personal profits in 132 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:47,640 Speaker 3: his ideology and he starts creating stuff. 133 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:50,720 Speaker 5: Yeah, that chicken money can go a long way to 134 00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:54,560 Speaker 5: creating stuff, and some of that stuff included the Institute 135 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:59,000 Speaker 5: of Economic Affairs, which was in staunch opposition to the 136 00:07:59,040 --> 00:08:01,760 Speaker 5: current economic concepts and policies of the time. 137 00:08:03,080 --> 00:08:04,520 Speaker 3: Yeah, nailed it. 138 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:07,120 Speaker 2: Just for a little more context on the chicken thing there, guys, 139 00:08:07,160 --> 00:08:10,160 Speaker 2: I didn't realize that when we did our chicken episode, 140 00:08:10,840 --> 00:08:14,080 Speaker 2: this guy is credited, at least within the mythos of 141 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:19,800 Speaker 2: the Atlas Network for essentially creating and or revolutionizing the 142 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:23,760 Speaker 2: broiler chicken business in the United Kingdom or in Britain. 143 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:27,840 Speaker 2: So it you know, you can imagine how much money 144 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:31,360 Speaker 2: is in there. Right When we talked about the number 145 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:34,800 Speaker 2: of chickens that are produced and eaten across the world, 146 00:08:35,800 --> 00:08:36,640 Speaker 2: it was a big deal. 147 00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:41,840 Speaker 3: Yeah. Factory farming, yes, the S word we're using. Yes, 148 00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:47,480 Speaker 3: he's a factory farming founder and popularized it indeed throughout Europe. 149 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:52,040 Speaker 3: Over the decades. He and his affiliates involved in these 150 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:57,160 Speaker 3: think tanks and these ideological campaigns. They say, look one off, 151 00:08:57,240 --> 00:09:01,160 Speaker 3: think tanks aren't enough, we need something bigger, and they 152 00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:05,359 Speaker 3: keep creating stuff. They created something called the International Institute 153 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:08,520 Speaker 3: for Economic Research in nineteen seventy one, which was later 154 00:09:08,559 --> 00:09:13,120 Speaker 3: renamed the International Policy Network or IPN, so all in all, 155 00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:15,960 Speaker 3: without getting two into the weeds, he helped create a 156 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:20,440 Speaker 3: Baker's dozen or so of related organizations that had the 157 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:23,280 Speaker 3: same They had different focuses, but they had the same 158 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:27,840 Speaker 3: ideological push at their core, and they all sounded kind 159 00:09:27,840 --> 00:09:28,400 Speaker 3: of samey. 160 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:31,440 Speaker 5: And these aren't the same as lobbying groups, right, I mean, like, 161 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:34,320 Speaker 5: this is a different way of influencing policy. 162 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:36,920 Speaker 2: You can do a lot with a think tank. I 163 00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:38,480 Speaker 2: would just say, yeah. 164 00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:40,080 Speaker 3: You can do lobbying as part of it, kind of 165 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:43,520 Speaker 3: the way that a car also has an air conditioning unit, 166 00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:47,400 Speaker 3: but it's it's still a car. So they write a 167 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:51,080 Speaker 3: lot of white papers, they do a lot of networking, 168 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:53,720 Speaker 3: and they do a lot of quiet funding. And the 169 00:09:53,760 --> 00:09:56,720 Speaker 3: way that they succeed with this quiet funding. The second 170 00:09:57,120 --> 00:10:01,920 Speaker 3: revolution that Fisher leads after factory farming of chickens, is 171 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:04,640 Speaker 3: the idea of a meta think tank, I think tank 172 00:10:04,679 --> 00:10:08,480 Speaker 3: that births other organizations and supports them. 173 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:11,720 Speaker 2: An incubator if you will, there you go, yeah, yeah. 174 00:10:12,200 --> 00:10:13,880 Speaker 4: Chicken metaphors, Yeah, there we go. 175 00:10:14,040 --> 00:10:17,400 Speaker 3: I like it. So, after all these iterations of these 176 00:10:17,480 --> 00:10:21,800 Speaker 3: vaguely named groups, IPN leads to the creation of the 177 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:26,640 Speaker 3: Atlas Network in nineteen eighty one, and it originally is 178 00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:32,360 Speaker 3: meant to bring all of Fisher's previous one off things together, 179 00:10:32,920 --> 00:10:37,520 Speaker 3: sort of like how you had individual superhero movies and 180 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:38,679 Speaker 3: then you had the Avengers. 181 00:10:39,679 --> 00:10:44,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, and they're all five oh one c three organizations. Guys. 182 00:10:44,559 --> 00:10:46,960 Speaker 2: That means tax free baby. 183 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:52,120 Speaker 3: Oh take that religion, But yeah, they are. They are, 184 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:56,320 Speaker 3: especially Atlas because Atlas is US based. Fisher would later 185 00:10:56,440 --> 00:10:59,000 Speaker 3: move to the States. It was originally called the Atlas 186 00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:02,760 Speaker 3: Economic Research Foundation. Thank goodness they change the name because 187 00:11:03,160 --> 00:11:06,559 Speaker 3: just hearing foundation and Economic over and over again. I 188 00:11:06,559 --> 00:11:08,400 Speaker 3: don't know about you, guys, been the research for this. 189 00:11:08,520 --> 00:11:10,959 Speaker 3: My eyes started to glaze over. It's like, how are 190 00:11:10,960 --> 00:11:13,320 Speaker 3: we supposed to tell the difference between all of these 191 00:11:13,360 --> 00:11:16,600 Speaker 3: things that are just a word salad of the same 192 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:17,280 Speaker 3: five words. 193 00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:19,120 Speaker 4: It does do your head, and god, it's true. 194 00:11:19,720 --> 00:11:22,000 Speaker 2: I'm looking up just really quickly. Let's even let's do 195 00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:23,520 Speaker 2: it right now. We're going to get in this further. 196 00:11:23,559 --> 00:11:25,280 Speaker 2: But if I'm just going to go off of the 197 00:11:25,440 --> 00:11:29,319 Speaker 2: organizations that are currently on the atlasnetwork dot org website, 198 00:11:30,040 --> 00:11:34,480 Speaker 2: Foundation for Economic Freedom, Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs, 199 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:39,439 Speaker 2: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, African Students for Liberty 200 00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:43,959 Speaker 2: Ideas Beyond Borders. It's just like what it just kind 201 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:45,520 Speaker 2: of okay. 202 00:11:46,559 --> 00:11:49,720 Speaker 3: Yeah, And after this, by the way, folks, after we 203 00:11:49,760 --> 00:11:52,560 Speaker 3: get through this series, we do want you to know 204 00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:55,360 Speaker 3: that you have the option on Atlas's website to become 205 00:11:55,400 --> 00:11:56,440 Speaker 3: a partner yourself. 206 00:11:57,040 --> 00:12:00,680 Speaker 2: And that's not just to become a member, right. 207 00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:03,080 Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, if you come up with your own vague 208 00:12:03,080 --> 00:12:05,960 Speaker 3: sounding organization and you pitch it and it's in the 209 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:10,120 Speaker 3: part of the world that they're interested in, like maybe 210 00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:14,680 Speaker 3: or pretty much all of Latin America, definitely East Africa, 211 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:17,760 Speaker 3: you know what I mean, or just make them a pitch, like, hey, 212 00:12:17,840 --> 00:12:19,320 Speaker 3: what do you guys know about Tuvalu? 213 00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:23,200 Speaker 2: You know, they've got a couple of bulleted points there 214 00:12:23,240 --> 00:12:25,600 Speaker 2: that just say exactly what you need to do and 215 00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:27,640 Speaker 2: you might get some of that grant money. 216 00:12:29,160 --> 00:12:32,400 Speaker 3: Yeah, the wallet will open. So this is why you 217 00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:36,120 Speaker 3: hear people calling Atlas a think tank that creates think tanks. 218 00:12:36,200 --> 00:12:39,360 Speaker 3: That's pretty meta. At liass Network itself, we spend a 219 00:12:39,400 --> 00:12:41,320 Speaker 3: lot of the time on their website, by the way, guys, 220 00:12:41,400 --> 00:12:45,440 Speaker 3: Atlas Network describes itself as quote a nonprofit that aims 221 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:48,760 Speaker 3: to secure the right to economic and personal freedom for 222 00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:50,800 Speaker 3: all individuals. 223 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:55,199 Speaker 5: Dope, ms fine, Yeah, I like freedom. 224 00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:57,280 Speaker 4: I like the individual. 225 00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:06,079 Speaker 3: Right right, we like surviving in an economy. Exactly. It's 226 00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:09,000 Speaker 3: as if you heard of a charity that said, we're 227 00:13:09,040 --> 00:13:11,679 Speaker 3: trying to stop people from kicking puppies, you know what 228 00:13:11,720 --> 00:13:15,000 Speaker 3: I mean? Like, are you pro animal torture? Are you 229 00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:17,679 Speaker 3: anti freedom? My guy? 230 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:21,880 Speaker 2: So imagine you put out this call, right or this 231 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:24,200 Speaker 2: you you've created this thing, right, you got what do 232 00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:28,080 Speaker 2: we say? A handful of a dozen organizations that make 233 00:13:28,160 --> 00:13:31,679 Speaker 2: up this version of Atlas network. And then they want 234 00:13:31,679 --> 00:13:33,520 Speaker 2: to bring more, they want to start more. Have they 235 00:13:33,559 --> 00:13:35,040 Speaker 2: been pretty yes? 236 00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:38,079 Speaker 4: Yeah, no, yes, seriously, what is it? 237 00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:41,040 Speaker 5: It isn't it on par with McDonald's in terms of 238 00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:43,360 Speaker 5: like how broad their reach is? 239 00:13:44,400 --> 00:13:48,079 Speaker 3: Yeah, so McDonald's operates in around one hundred and nineteen countries. 240 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:50,400 Speaker 3: This is not the perfect analogy. It should have been 241 00:13:50,400 --> 00:13:55,600 Speaker 3: a chicken restaurant. But Atlas has expanded, including everything the 242 00:13:55,679 --> 00:13:59,000 Speaker 3: Koch brothers do and all these other organizations. So it 243 00:13:59,040 --> 00:14:03,240 Speaker 3: went from like twelve ish think tanks to six hundred 244 00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:06,680 Speaker 3: various things like think tanks, well less than six hundred. 245 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:09,679 Speaker 2: Shout out to the Cato Institute and the Koch Brothers and. 246 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:15,000 Speaker 3: The Heritage Foundation shout out to I mean, just picture it. 247 00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:16,120 Speaker 3: They're probably in the club. 248 00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:18,920 Speaker 5: And I mean, at the end of the day, isn't 249 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:24,320 Speaker 5: it somewhat apolitical or at least politics agnostic. Like it's 250 00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:26,680 Speaker 5: not like they're going for a particular you know, left 251 00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:29,320 Speaker 5: or right lean. It's more of like an overall goal 252 00:14:29,360 --> 00:14:33,160 Speaker 5: they're trying to achieve, right, Yeah, I think that's that's 253 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:37,160 Speaker 5: the way to put it. Yeah, because critics will tell 254 00:14:37,200 --> 00:14:40,640 Speaker 5: you that Atlas is a shadowy network of right wing 255 00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:45,600 Speaker 5: think tanks. But Atlas itself, they say, we are nonpartisan, right, 256 00:14:45,640 --> 00:14:49,360 Speaker 5: We're pushing these ideas of economic freedom and personal freedom, 257 00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:52,680 Speaker 5: which should be something anybody can get behind. Well, And 258 00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:55,000 Speaker 5: whether or not that's true or not, it does kind 259 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:57,960 Speaker 5: of call attention to the idea that like, sometimes whether 260 00:14:58,000 --> 00:14:59,560 Speaker 5: you're on the left or the right, at a certain 261 00:14:59,680 --> 00:15:02,520 Speaker 5: level of government, it all becomes about kind of the 262 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:03,040 Speaker 5: same thing. 263 00:15:03,920 --> 00:15:06,480 Speaker 3: Fingers on a hand, you know what I mean. They 264 00:15:06,480 --> 00:15:09,280 Speaker 3: look separate until you see the palm. But yeah, it's 265 00:15:10,760 --> 00:15:14,880 Speaker 3: what we call neoliberal ideology, which here in the US 266 00:15:15,840 --> 00:15:18,560 Speaker 3: both big political parties are very much a fan of 267 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:24,560 Speaker 3: the idea that free markets and globalism will ultimately be 268 00:15:24,680 --> 00:15:26,640 Speaker 3: the tide that carries all vessels. 269 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:31,040 Speaker 2: For sure, And definitely check out the Economic Policy Institute 270 00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:34,200 Speaker 2: or the Roosevelt Institute or any of the other many 271 00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:38,160 Speaker 2: think tanks that exist on the opposite side of the 272 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:39,920 Speaker 2: spectrum than the Heritage Foundation. 273 00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:45,400 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, exactly, because these different organizations, their goals don't 274 00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:48,240 Speaker 3: always one hundred percent a line, but they team up 275 00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:51,720 Speaker 3: on specific stuff that they want to see changed. So 276 00:15:52,280 --> 00:15:56,640 Speaker 3: back to our restaurant analogy. If Atlas was in the 277 00:15:56,640 --> 00:16:01,800 Speaker 3: restaurant business, they wouldn't be like McDonald's making in individual stores. Instead, 278 00:16:01,840 --> 00:16:04,920 Speaker 3: they would make entire restaurant brands, and unless you were 279 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:08,640 Speaker 3: very careful, you would never know how deeply these different 280 00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:09,920 Speaker 3: restaurants are all connected. 281 00:16:10,640 --> 00:16:14,440 Speaker 2: And as we found with research for this episode, it 282 00:16:14,560 --> 00:16:20,080 Speaker 2: makes searching for specifics and details about actions really difficult 283 00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:23,960 Speaker 2: because if you imagine the search terms that you'd have 284 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:26,280 Speaker 2: to put in to successfully track down one of the 285 00:16:26,320 --> 00:16:29,040 Speaker 2: six hundred organizations that are a part of this group, 286 00:16:29,560 --> 00:16:34,120 Speaker 2: right then tracking, you know, tracking it and finding the 287 00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:38,120 Speaker 2: right information becomes extremely difficult. When the information is this busy. 288 00:16:38,360 --> 00:16:41,200 Speaker 5: It's not entirely dissimilar from the way, like you know, 289 00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:44,720 Speaker 5: corporations have all kinds of little sub organizations, and there 290 00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:47,520 Speaker 5: are these like org charts that kind of spiderweb their 291 00:16:47,560 --> 00:16:49,720 Speaker 5: way out to the point where it can get really convoluted, 292 00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:52,680 Speaker 5: like ge you know, like the whole thirty Rock scenario. 293 00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:59,800 Speaker 3: Yeah, we know that part of this obfuscation seems purposeful, 294 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:02,640 Speaker 3: and then another part of it is just a function 295 00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:06,880 Speaker 3: of how many things these other organizations with very similar 296 00:17:06,960 --> 00:17:11,320 Speaker 3: names do any given day. So luckily we were able 297 00:17:11,359 --> 00:17:14,840 Speaker 3: to well we'll get into it, but we looked at 298 00:17:14,840 --> 00:17:18,320 Speaker 3: some specific cases of controversies. They can help you trace 299 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:22,359 Speaker 3: the line of conspiracy. We'll look at some larger conspiracies. 300 00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:25,720 Speaker 3: We'll also see we'll see things that are very clearly 301 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:28,359 Speaker 3: one off front groups as well, which are a little 302 00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:29,200 Speaker 3: easier to trace. 303 00:17:29,560 --> 00:17:31,440 Speaker 2: And then we'll do an entire episode on the National 304 00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:32,440 Speaker 2: Endowment for Demarcower. 305 00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:32,760 Speaker 4: Right. 306 00:17:32,840 --> 00:17:36,359 Speaker 3: Our third episode is on our own boys. Yeah, the 307 00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:39,639 Speaker 3: second CIA or the CIA sidekick, whichever term you'd like. 308 00:17:40,119 --> 00:17:43,680 Speaker 3: So what we're saying is Atlas is this hidden kaiju 309 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:49,680 Speaker 3: of neoliberal ideology. Neoliberalism again, socioeconomic theory that says free 310 00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:54,240 Speaker 3: market capitalism is the holy grail. Almost said holy ghosts, 311 00:17:54,240 --> 00:17:56,840 Speaker 3: but it's gonna save everything. It's gonna save the world 312 00:17:57,080 --> 00:17:59,560 Speaker 3: if we just free these gosh darn markets, if we. 313 00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:06,120 Speaker 2: Individual freedom allowed through whatever mechanisms the government ends up 314 00:18:06,160 --> 00:18:06,840 Speaker 2: actually doing. 315 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:10,119 Speaker 3: And hey, they mean the government should have less of 316 00:18:10,160 --> 00:18:14,520 Speaker 3: a say in that, you know, right, So there's nothing 317 00:18:14,560 --> 00:18:17,360 Speaker 3: wrong with people getting their views out there. That's one 318 00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:20,600 Speaker 3: beautiful thing about democracy when it works. Everybody gets a 319 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:23,800 Speaker 3: voice in the room, even if not everyone agrees, and yes, 320 00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:27,760 Speaker 3: even if some people say very stupid things, they get 321 00:18:28,040 --> 00:18:28,560 Speaker 3: to do that. 322 00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:29,320 Speaker 4: Yeah. 323 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:33,560 Speaker 2: Well, and ultimately this is an exercise in looking at 324 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:37,000 Speaker 2: a group of people that are extremely effective at it. 325 00:18:38,119 --> 00:18:41,320 Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I mean the Atlas. Atlas is like a 326 00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:45,439 Speaker 3: training camp. It's it's ideologically similar to the School of 327 00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:49,120 Speaker 3: the Americas in a way because they take people and 328 00:18:49,280 --> 00:18:53,720 Speaker 3: they give them expertise, networking, financial support and grants for 329 00:18:53,760 --> 00:18:58,080 Speaker 3: all sorts of conservative groups or free market initiatives or 330 00:18:58,359 --> 00:19:02,160 Speaker 3: you know, libertarian thing tanks through the world. Originally they 331 00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:06,560 Speaker 3: just wanted to focus on Fisher's first organizations, but now, 332 00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:10,680 Speaker 3: as we said, they've expanded. They're forty four years old 333 00:19:11,119 --> 00:19:13,960 Speaker 3: and as of twenty twenty three, the organization had an 334 00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:17,720 Speaker 3: annual revenue of twenty eight point eight million dollars that 335 00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:20,800 Speaker 3: we know about. And that's where I think we kind 336 00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:23,200 Speaker 3: of have to pause and spend a little bit of time, 337 00:19:23,560 --> 00:19:25,280 Speaker 3: because doesn't that number seem low? 338 00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:29,440 Speaker 2: I was thinking of some low Yes, well, with these groups, 339 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:33,399 Speaker 2: this is revenue, right, And maybe I'm wrong here, but 340 00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:36,879 Speaker 2: I imagine there's a ton of investment money that is 341 00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:39,560 Speaker 2: funneled through these things that grows and grows and grows 342 00:19:39,560 --> 00:19:42,760 Speaker 2: so that they can give out things like the Templeton 343 00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:45,280 Speaker 2: Freedom Awards, where sure every year they give out like 344 00:19:45,359 --> 00:19:48,040 Speaker 2: four hundred and fifty thousand dollars, you know, in these 345 00:19:48,119 --> 00:19:50,600 Speaker 2: various grants and things like that, on top of all 346 00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:53,199 Speaker 2: the other grants that they end up giving out. And 347 00:19:53,520 --> 00:19:55,879 Speaker 2: I imagine the way this functions is you've got rolling 348 00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:58,639 Speaker 2: investment funds that just build and build and build, and 349 00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:01,960 Speaker 2: then that's the money that actually ends up being operational, 350 00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:04,040 Speaker 2: or at least for the most part. 351 00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:06,880 Speaker 5: Maybe, so that's not transparent, like we don't see those. 352 00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:10,560 Speaker 3: It's much more difficult too, depending on the country. There 353 00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:15,560 Speaker 3: are different laws about how their financials have to be publicized, 354 00:20:16,359 --> 00:20:18,280 Speaker 3: and it's more murky in some places than it is 355 00:20:18,320 --> 00:20:21,199 Speaker 3: in others. But I think what we are all on 356 00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:25,359 Speaker 3: the same page about is that the official, seemingly small 357 00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:29,040 Speaker 3: number for the revenue is just a very tiny facet 358 00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:32,800 Speaker 3: of a very large iceberg because it's not counting money 359 00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:35,879 Speaker 3: that moves in other ways. It's kind of like how 360 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:41,720 Speaker 3: the Coca Cola company. Actually it's an empire, yes, but 361 00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:46,640 Speaker 3: most of its employees are going to be subcontracted through 362 00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:50,280 Speaker 3: some other thing, right, There are actually very few full 363 00:20:50,359 --> 00:20:53,080 Speaker 3: time Coca Cola employees. When you look at the size 364 00:20:53,119 --> 00:20:54,520 Speaker 3: of the organization. 365 00:20:54,359 --> 00:20:58,560 Speaker 2: And remember it's a nonprofit organization, right, so it is 366 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:02,600 Speaker 2: not profit driven, is functioning to fuel itself and to 367 00:21:03,080 --> 00:21:07,600 Speaker 2: perhaps give out money for things. It's just it's murky. 368 00:21:08,119 --> 00:21:11,480 Speaker 3: It's murky on purpose by design, a clever design. And 369 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:16,000 Speaker 3: the revenue to that point is most of the revenue 370 00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:19,239 Speaker 3: goes to their overhead cost as an organization, So on 371 00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:22,320 Speaker 3: paper it makes sense for a five oh one C three. 372 00:21:22,440 --> 00:21:26,880 Speaker 3: They're not making a ton of money for Atlas as Atlas, 373 00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:31,080 Speaker 3: but they are managing and moving a lot more money, 374 00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:34,439 Speaker 3: and that's the money that gets hidden often. 375 00:21:34,520 --> 00:21:36,920 Speaker 2: Yeah, because it's not about profit guys, it's about hearts 376 00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:37,399 Speaker 2: and minds. 377 00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:40,760 Speaker 3: On their website, it's not about financial profit. 378 00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:44,080 Speaker 5: They actually say hearts and minds, yes, yes, they love it. 379 00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:47,560 Speaker 3: They're nuts for it. They're like that SNL cowbell sketch. 380 00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:50,600 Speaker 2: Yeah. And legislation, actionable legislation. 381 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:54,119 Speaker 3: Yeah, that's the real profit. But still there's no denying 382 00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:58,919 Speaker 3: they've been successful. Jolly good tickety boo. Right, this is British. 383 00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:01,160 Speaker 2: Ultra tickety boo Pip pip. 384 00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:08,440 Speaker 3: Double plus good. Yes, But critics disagree because, depending upon 385 00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:12,480 Speaker 3: whom you ask, this powerful obscure group is responsible for 386 00:22:12,560 --> 00:22:17,400 Speaker 3: all sorts of shenanigans that are at the very least controversial, 387 00:22:17,680 --> 00:22:23,880 Speaker 3: things like fueling economic chaos, climate change, conspiracies, overthrowing government, 388 00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:29,160 Speaker 3: helping to overthrow governments, making sure people ignore the dangers 389 00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:31,560 Speaker 3: of smoking, all kinds of stuff. So what the heck 390 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:34,000 Speaker 3: is going on? Maybe we pause for a word from 391 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:44,440 Speaker 3: our sponsors. Here's where it gets crazy. The conspiracy is true. 392 00:22:44,800 --> 00:22:48,160 Speaker 3: It is absolutely true. We're not trying to ruffle any feathers. 393 00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:50,520 Speaker 3: We know these things could be sensitive, but it is true. 394 00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:52,879 Speaker 2: What's the conspiracy? 395 00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:58,040 Speaker 3: It's okay, it's true. Caveat asterisk. It's true in that 396 00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:03,320 Speaker 3: Atlas is often associated with controversial things. The supporters will 397 00:23:03,359 --> 00:23:07,240 Speaker 3: say no, there's not a conspiracy afoot. You can find 398 00:23:07,359 --> 00:23:09,880 Speaker 3: all the answers that you want. You just have to 399 00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:12,600 Speaker 3: ask the right questions. We're not No one's trying to 400 00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:16,359 Speaker 3: cover anything up. We're just like ALEC or any number 401 00:23:16,359 --> 00:23:20,320 Speaker 3: of other similar organizations that are often in our network. 402 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:23,040 Speaker 3: We talk to politicians right like you were saying. No, 403 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:27,359 Speaker 3: We lobby, we write policy papers, we talked to the media. 404 00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:30,679 Speaker 3: We put out our handpicked pundits to push for our cause. 405 00:23:31,359 --> 00:23:36,960 Speaker 3: We draft legislation and policy. We're a helpful force. 406 00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:43,879 Speaker 2: Yeah. Remember that guy I mentioned, Daniel Hannan m M. 407 00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:47,200 Speaker 2: Do we know who he is? Like? Does that name 408 00:23:47,320 --> 00:23:51,240 Speaker 2: ring true to anybody out there? This is this guy 409 00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:55,240 Speaker 2: was a member of Parliament in the UK and he 410 00:23:55,520 --> 00:23:59,359 Speaker 2: was one of the loudest voices for Can we guess 411 00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:02,040 Speaker 2: the big thing he was pushing for Brexit? 412 00:24:02,359 --> 00:24:04,960 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's unfair that I'm pretending to. 413 00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:12,800 Speaker 2: Get Well, that's fine, but this guy is ah. He 414 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:15,760 Speaker 2: is a member of let's say the Atlas network. If 415 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:18,400 Speaker 2: he had a pin, it would be on his lapel. 416 00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:20,359 Speaker 2: As he gave a speech in twenty seventeen that you 417 00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:22,959 Speaker 2: watch the YouTube video for and you know when you 418 00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:27,040 Speaker 2: see that somebody like that is in the upper echelons 419 00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:30,840 Speaker 2: of power and still a member of this thing. You 420 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:34,320 Speaker 2: can see that this type of legislation and movement that 421 00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:37,320 Speaker 2: we're talking about is actually happening and not you know, 422 00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:39,760 Speaker 2: not just at the local grassroots levels. 423 00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:44,040 Speaker 3: Oh yeah, one hundred percent. That's an excellent observation. I mean, 424 00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:47,040 Speaker 3: Atlas is one of the top think tanks in all 425 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:49,720 Speaker 3: of the United States, and it has a lot of 426 00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:53,400 Speaker 3: weight to swing as political capital and connections to burn. Right, 427 00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:56,199 Speaker 3: no one's denying that. But let's so we had to 428 00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:59,520 Speaker 3: look into how this power structure works in practice some 429 00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:02,000 Speaker 3: of the con traversies. This will help us learn why 430 00:25:02,119 --> 00:25:05,160 Speaker 3: at least the critics are so concerned. Let's start with 431 00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:10,080 Speaker 3: big Tobacco, super duper deep with Atlas. They love it. 432 00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:12,200 Speaker 3: Smoke them if you got them right. 433 00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:15,520 Speaker 5: They have had, according to Tobacco Statistics dot org, a 434 00:25:15,640 --> 00:25:19,560 Speaker 5: longstanding funding relationship with the tobacco industry. 435 00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:21,880 Speaker 4: Trade groups like British. 436 00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:26,800 Speaker 5: American Tobacco, Japan Tobacco International, Altria and Philip Morris International 437 00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:33,280 Speaker 5: have all contributed heaps of money in support of Atlas Partners. 438 00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:34,520 Speaker 2: For agen decades. 439 00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:39,080 Speaker 3: Atlas Partners, right, uh huh, so not directly to our 440 00:25:39,119 --> 00:25:42,880 Speaker 3: buddies at the network. But the Atlas board members, this 441 00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:46,359 Speaker 3: is where these kind of organizations get really fascinating. The 442 00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:51,040 Speaker 3: Atlas board members often come straight up from private industries 443 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:56,320 Speaker 3: that private industries that share, that share the goals, right, 444 00:25:56,480 --> 00:26:00,680 Speaker 3: or that already employ Atlas, And it's become such a 445 00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:03,120 Speaker 3: vent diagram, especially when you throw in politics. 446 00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:03,320 Speaker 4: Right. 447 00:26:03,359 --> 00:26:05,919 Speaker 3: We talked about the revolving door of private and public 448 00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:10,359 Speaker 3: service that happens here as well. There's one example be 449 00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:14,639 Speaker 3: jose Renee Skull. He's an Atlas board member, but before 450 00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:17,560 Speaker 3: he was an Atlas board member, he was a Philip 451 00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:21,560 Speaker 3: Morris man in South America and Asia before he officially 452 00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:24,160 Speaker 3: joined up with Atlas, and he was working with them 453 00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:28,479 Speaker 3: hand in glove well before officially joining. And he had 454 00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:30,040 Speaker 3: a quote. I don't think you put it in here, 455 00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:33,080 Speaker 3: but he had a quote where he said he described 456 00:26:33,119 --> 00:26:35,760 Speaker 3: his time in Asia by saying, essentially, it was my 457 00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:40,160 Speaker 3: job to make the air rain Marlborough's Now that makes sense, 458 00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:43,480 Speaker 3: I mean it's his job. Yeah, he's meat points for honesty. 459 00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:43,920 Speaker 4: Right. 460 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:48,639 Speaker 2: What's that company cover the world? 461 00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:50,080 Speaker 4: Yeah? 462 00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:53,480 Speaker 3: Sherwin Williams. Yeah, God, what a sinister logo. 463 00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:54,760 Speaker 2: But with Marboro. 464 00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:58,120 Speaker 3: But with Marlborough's the relationship is so deep and it's 465 00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:02,040 Speaker 3: not a PSA campaign about the dangers of tobacco. That's 466 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:06,400 Speaker 3: not what they're paying at Lists to do. Instead, let's 467 00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:09,680 Speaker 3: go to an example from the University of Baths Tobacco 468 00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:12,960 Speaker 3: Tactics in twenty twenty, they noted the following. 469 00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:16,080 Speaker 5: In a nineteen eighty eight letter to Philip Morris, Atlas 470 00:27:16,119 --> 00:27:23,200 Speaker 5: then CEO Alejandro Chauffain explained, it uses industry donations to 471 00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:27,640 Speaker 5: select and fund individuals or organizations to help establish them 472 00:27:27,680 --> 00:27:32,679 Speaker 5: as a legitimate organization that can spread ideas about and 473 00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:38,600 Speaker 5: these are individual rights again, limited government. 474 00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:42,199 Speaker 4: And free enterprise. So quite literally, like you. 475 00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:44,000 Speaker 5: Said, Ben, smoke them if you got them, this is 476 00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:44,600 Speaker 5: a right. 477 00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:49,159 Speaker 2: So this is the Atlas CEO talking to Philip Morris 478 00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:54,080 Speaker 2: the company and explaining what Atlas does with the money. 479 00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:58,240 Speaker 3: Yeah, they say, we find individuals, thought leaders or influencers 480 00:27:58,280 --> 00:28:01,040 Speaker 3: we would call them now and or organizations, and we 481 00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:04,680 Speaker 3: helped train them and fund them so that they look 482 00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:09,120 Speaker 3: legit and they can help carry the message. They can 483 00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:13,360 Speaker 3: help change the way people see in this case tobacco use. 484 00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:17,960 Speaker 3: And the internal documents from the Tobacco giants themselves say 485 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:21,959 Speaker 3: that they had a couple of ideas. They wanted to 486 00:28:22,520 --> 00:28:25,159 Speaker 3: frame tobacco as a personal choice. Who were you to 487 00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:27,439 Speaker 3: tell me what to do, big brother. They wanted to 488 00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:32,000 Speaker 3: say that any anti tobacco legislation was Orwellian government overreach. 489 00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:36,000 Speaker 3: And in addition, Atlas also did a lot of underground, 490 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:40,000 Speaker 3: backroom damage control by attacking science. 491 00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:44,360 Speaker 2: Ah, yeah, that makes sense. And you may recall this 492 00:28:44,600 --> 00:28:46,960 Speaker 2: growing up. I think I was about ten years old 493 00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:50,600 Speaker 2: around the time that there was a lot of information 494 00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:54,560 Speaker 2: coming out from health officials about secondhand smoke and how 495 00:28:54,680 --> 00:28:56,840 Speaker 2: dangerous that was. I don't know about you guys, but 496 00:28:56,920 --> 00:28:59,360 Speaker 2: I had parents of friends who would like smoke in 497 00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:02,000 Speaker 2: the car driving somewhere, and we're in the back seat 498 00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:04,240 Speaker 2: and the parents up there smoking, and we thought it 499 00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:08,240 Speaker 2: was fine up until about nineteen ninety three, or you know, 500 00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:11,920 Speaker 2: right around that time, when it was kind of stated 501 00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:15,120 Speaker 2: by a lot of officials by the US Environmental Protection 502 00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:19,560 Speaker 2: Agency that second hand smoke contributes to lung cancer. And 503 00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:21,440 Speaker 2: so how did Atlas respond to that? 504 00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:26,000 Speaker 3: Ooh, they were clever, clever boys. They used a hidden 505 00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:29,520 Speaker 3: hand method, which is almost directly descended from the work 506 00:29:29,560 --> 00:29:33,520 Speaker 3: of Edward Berneze, the father of public relations. They go 507 00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:37,240 Speaker 3: to a guy named Fred Singer. Fred is the director 508 00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:41,400 Speaker 3: of something called the Science and Environmental Policy Project or SEP. 509 00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:45,000 Speaker 3: STEP sounds cool until you realize that SEP is a 510 00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:49,400 Speaker 3: creation of a Philip Morris pr firm called APCO Associates. 511 00:29:50,160 --> 00:29:53,800 Speaker 3: So they're paying at every step to obscure a little 512 00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:57,360 Speaker 3: more of their source, right, because they can't have Fred 513 00:29:57,400 --> 00:30:01,360 Speaker 3: go up and say, hey, I talk to guys who 514 00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:04,400 Speaker 3: make billions off cigarettes, and they say it's cool, and. 515 00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:05,400 Speaker 2: They say it's fine. 516 00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:09,320 Speaker 3: They see you need to chill the f out. So 517 00:30:09,840 --> 00:30:15,040 Speaker 3: he instead he writes an op ed and nobody knows 518 00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:18,160 Speaker 3: that Philip Morris is supporting this. Nobody knows the Atlas 519 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:20,560 Speaker 3: network is coordinating a lot of the stuff. In his 520 00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:24,320 Speaker 3: op ed says, look, the guys at the EPA, they're 521 00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:30,120 Speaker 3: not jerks. They're just drawing bad conclusions on junk science. 522 00:30:30,160 --> 00:30:34,360 Speaker 3: And they didn't think about indoor air quality. So well 523 00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:36,960 Speaker 3: intentioned but wrong and kind of dumb. 524 00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:40,160 Speaker 2: Yeah, just you know what. The science isn't there. 525 00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:45,040 Speaker 3: Yet, guys, science isn't there yet. He also made a 526 00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:48,960 Speaker 3: report funded by a different group called the Tobacco Institute 527 00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:53,880 Speaker 3: that tried to entirely discredit any connection between secondhand smoke 528 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:57,560 Speaker 3: and lung cancer. We could do a whole limited series 529 00:30:57,600 --> 00:31:01,560 Speaker 3: on big tobacco and Atlas especially. We're talking about Latin 530 00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:04,280 Speaker 3: America in the nineties, and then we're talking about the 531 00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:08,280 Speaker 3: Asian theater. This was not someone's pet project. It wasn't 532 00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:11,840 Speaker 3: a one time thing. This wasn't is a coordinated global 533 00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:15,440 Speaker 3: effort to keep tobacco money rolling in. And the best 534 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:16,360 Speaker 3: example is vapes. 535 00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:21,080 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, for sure. I just want to make that 536 00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:22,080 Speaker 2: connection right now here. 537 00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:22,400 Speaker 4: Guys. 538 00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:27,000 Speaker 2: Individual freedom is the thing that gets pushed and talked about, right. 539 00:31:27,640 --> 00:31:30,680 Speaker 2: It is individual freedom for you to choose to smoke 540 00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:33,480 Speaker 2: that cigarette, and it is important that you get to 541 00:31:33,600 --> 00:31:36,400 Speaker 2: choose that, right. That's what we're fighting for. That's what 542 00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:38,880 Speaker 2: we're pushing for. That's the hearts and minds thing that 543 00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:43,200 Speaker 2: we're putting out there. But ultimately, it is so that 544 00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:47,640 Speaker 2: these massive corporations can continue manufacturing and selling cigarettes and 545 00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:52,400 Speaker 2: then manufacturing and selling more cigarettes. So in the end, 546 00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:56,719 Speaker 2: it's actually about the individual freedom of a corporation and 547 00:31:56,960 --> 00:31:59,520 Speaker 2: or individuals that benefit from that corporation. 548 00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:04,719 Speaker 3: Yeah, same reason why a lot of military conflicts throughout 549 00:32:04,760 --> 00:32:07,800 Speaker 3: history are phrased in terms of ideology, but they're really 550 00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:10,800 Speaker 3: about resource control, you know what I mean, That's what 551 00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:17,120 Speaker 3: that's look like. When former President Barack Obama, people don't 552 00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:21,200 Speaker 3: like to hear this, but when he said we're engaging 553 00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:25,920 Speaker 3: in conflicts in Libya to protect American interest, was he 554 00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:29,680 Speaker 3: really talking about democracy or was he talking about global 555 00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:30,840 Speaker 3: control of currency? 556 00:32:31,800 --> 00:32:36,000 Speaker 2: See? Yes, And in that case, you know, the individuals 557 00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:39,320 Speaker 2: actually get harmed by all of those pursuits. The same 558 00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:42,760 Speaker 2: thing with the smoking here, right, If the EPA puts 559 00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:47,680 Speaker 2: out this damning report about secondhand smoke and the response is, oh, no, 560 00:32:47,760 --> 00:32:49,920 Speaker 2: that's not right, that's not going to happen. There's a 561 00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:53,360 Speaker 2: knowledge there and operating knowledge that people are going to 562 00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:57,120 Speaker 2: probably get cancer if we keep doing this thing. But 563 00:32:57,440 --> 00:33:01,400 Speaker 2: that doesn't matter compared to pushing for the individual rights 564 00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:05,200 Speaker 2: and freedoms of whatever this organization or company that they 565 00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:06,320 Speaker 2: are trying to prop up. 566 00:33:07,080 --> 00:33:09,240 Speaker 3: You know what be interesting to see this is a tangent. 567 00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:11,200 Speaker 3: I didn't think of it until just now. It'd be 568 00:33:11,320 --> 00:33:14,240 Speaker 3: interesting to visit the headquarters of some of these tobacco 569 00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:22,920 Speaker 3: companies and see if you can still smoke inside. Yeah, 570 00:33:23,120 --> 00:33:25,280 Speaker 3: you have to go out to the smoking section, right. 571 00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:28,280 Speaker 3: I don't know, it'd be interesting. That's a lapeline. 572 00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:31,480 Speaker 2: Somebody who's been inside the Philip Morris HQ let us know. 573 00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:34,880 Speaker 3: Recently, Yes, because I'm sure everybody was lighting up in 574 00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:38,880 Speaker 3: like the eighties. Of course, Uh, we got to talk 575 00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:41,240 Speaker 3: about the vape thing again. This might end up being 576 00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:45,280 Speaker 3: a series, but this gives us a specific example of 577 00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:47,000 Speaker 3: what we're talking about with front networks. 578 00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:49,480 Speaker 4: Yeah, Atlas has played a huge role. 579 00:33:49,320 --> 00:33:52,480 Speaker 5: In the battle that you're talking about, ben over vape legislation, 580 00:33:53,280 --> 00:33:55,840 Speaker 5: which we know has been a sticky subject in terms 581 00:33:55,880 --> 00:33:59,840 Speaker 5: of accusations of companies marketing them to kids and certain 582 00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:01,880 Speaker 5: flavored ones being outlawed and all. 583 00:34:01,760 --> 00:34:02,560 Speaker 4: Of that good stuff. 584 00:34:02,800 --> 00:34:07,440 Speaker 5: So, through groups like the World's Vapor Alliance, which is 585 00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:10,839 Speaker 5: a delightful name, Atlas and Big Tobacco launched a European 586 00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:15,960 Speaker 5: tour going through eight different countries touting the practice or 587 00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:19,960 Speaker 5: the benefits I guess of vaping over smoking. The idea 588 00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:23,880 Speaker 5: of the electronic cigarette could save nineteen million lives in Europe. 589 00:34:24,239 --> 00:34:27,640 Speaker 5: They argued, this as well as the idea that vaping 590 00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:30,960 Speaker 5: is ninety five percent less harmful than smoking. 591 00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:34,920 Speaker 2: Do you guys remember a couple of folks that we 592 00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:39,120 Speaker 2: interacted with one ture Do, and it was all about 593 00:34:39,200 --> 00:34:45,440 Speaker 2: a type of cigarette that essentially heats up the tobacco, yes, 594 00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:49,480 Speaker 2: the way similar things would for cannabis, but you're not 595 00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:52,080 Speaker 2: actually smoking tobacco. You're vaping it. 596 00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:55,359 Speaker 5: Put these little tobacco cartridges into them and they kind 597 00:34:55,360 --> 00:34:57,600 Speaker 5: of heat it up to vaporized temperature, and then that's 598 00:34:57,600 --> 00:35:00,080 Speaker 5: how you're spoking. But it is still it's not like 599 00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:02,000 Speaker 5: some sort of nicotine solution. 600 00:35:02,239 --> 00:35:03,360 Speaker 4: It is actually tobacco. 601 00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:07,600 Speaker 3: It's yeah, out in Asia. I don't think these things 602 00:35:07,640 --> 00:35:09,720 Speaker 3: are legal in the US yet, but out in Asia 603 00:35:09,920 --> 00:35:13,160 Speaker 3: there's a very popular thing where you buy you buy 604 00:35:13,200 --> 00:35:16,520 Speaker 3: these cartridges that look something like a cigarette, almost like 605 00:35:16,560 --> 00:35:19,200 Speaker 3: a candy cigarette, and then you pop them into what 606 00:35:19,280 --> 00:35:22,680 Speaker 3: looks like a little walkie talkie vapor thing, and that 607 00:35:22,680 --> 00:35:24,600 Speaker 3: that's tremendously popular over there. 608 00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:28,040 Speaker 2: I just wonder it just when I think back on 609 00:35:28,160 --> 00:35:32,480 Speaker 2: hearing the spiel, you know, the selling points of that 610 00:35:32,560 --> 00:35:34,560 Speaker 2: kind of thing, it feels very similar here. Okay, well 611 00:35:34,640 --> 00:35:35,160 Speaker 2: let's just continue. 612 00:35:35,239 --> 00:35:37,920 Speaker 3: Yeah, sorry, Yeah, we've got some war stories, you know, 613 00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:41,520 Speaker 3: well they'll be in the second book maybe, but yeah, yeah, 614 00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:46,160 Speaker 3: World's Vapor Alliance first off badass name, especially after all 615 00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:48,440 Speaker 3: the other names we had to sit through. Yeah, this 616 00:35:48,600 --> 00:35:49,120 Speaker 3: is a winner. 617 00:35:49,520 --> 00:35:53,160 Speaker 2: Well, and let's note that's it's vapor vap e R, 618 00:35:53,360 --> 00:35:54,400 Speaker 2: not v A p o. 619 00:35:54,600 --> 00:35:59,320 Speaker 3: R, right, because it's personal activity. It's personal action gask 620 00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:03,239 Speaker 3: not you know, for whom the vape heats, heats for 621 00:36:03,320 --> 00:36:06,480 Speaker 3: the whatever. They're not all going to land. The idea 622 00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:09,600 Speaker 3: here is that they would travel around just like a 623 00:36:09,640 --> 00:36:12,520 Speaker 3: stop smoking campaign you may have seen in the United States, 624 00:36:12,920 --> 00:36:16,200 Speaker 3: and they would say that big government is like they 625 00:36:16,239 --> 00:36:19,840 Speaker 3: would say, we're trying to help people. We're doing harm reduction, 626 00:36:20,120 --> 00:36:23,000 Speaker 3: which was a phrase that Big Tobacco and Atlas loved. 627 00:36:23,360 --> 00:36:26,160 Speaker 3: And the way we're doing this is by making it 628 00:36:26,239 --> 00:36:29,200 Speaker 3: easier for people to vape. And the issue is that 629 00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:32,960 Speaker 3: big government is in the way of progress, you know, 630 00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:36,760 Speaker 3: so really those nineteen million lives are kind of falling 631 00:36:36,840 --> 00:36:40,760 Speaker 3: at their feet. They're restrictions on vaping, all those pesky taxes, 632 00:36:41,239 --> 00:36:45,160 Speaker 3: all those unfair bands on flavored vape juices, you know 633 00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:47,799 Speaker 3: what I mean. We like, we're the good guys here, 634 00:36:48,040 --> 00:36:49,320 Speaker 3: we're grass roots. 635 00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:54,280 Speaker 2: Yeah. Well we're also one organic. 636 00:36:54,960 --> 00:36:57,799 Speaker 3: Yeah oh yeah yeah. Because their minibus did not have 637 00:36:57,880 --> 00:37:00,800 Speaker 3: carbon emissions, it was a green vehicle, which was smart 638 00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:03,080 Speaker 3: that they got in front of that, and they said, look, 639 00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:06,040 Speaker 3: all we're trying to do is amplify. And this is 640 00:37:06,040 --> 00:37:10,239 Speaker 3: a quote from an excellent lamand investigation. We're trying to amplify. 641 00:37:10,400 --> 00:37:14,760 Speaker 3: Quote the voice of passionate vapors around the world. 642 00:37:15,040 --> 00:37:17,360 Speaker 5: All the vapors around the world. 643 00:37:17,680 --> 00:37:21,880 Speaker 3: Shout out to the journalists Stefan Horel h O r 644 00:37:22,040 --> 00:37:24,160 Speaker 3: e L. Please read that. It's a long read and 645 00:37:24,160 --> 00:37:27,759 Speaker 3: it's phenomenal. It's excellent. So their tour and stick is 646 00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:30,799 Speaker 3: very much a propaganda war hearts and minds. They got 647 00:37:30,800 --> 00:37:34,560 Speaker 3: a selfie quarter. They set up this this ironic. We'll 648 00:37:34,600 --> 00:37:36,800 Speaker 3: see why in a second. They set up astro turf. 649 00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:41,240 Speaker 3: They have a tent where you can get assistance writing 650 00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:46,880 Speaker 3: to politicians, small gifts, little swag bags. They got everything 651 00:37:46,960 --> 00:37:50,560 Speaker 3: you need, right. Why is it funny that they put 652 00:37:51,200 --> 00:37:52,960 Speaker 3: astro turf out on their pop. 653 00:37:52,800 --> 00:37:56,520 Speaker 2: Up, Well, astro turf Generally that term would be used 654 00:37:56,560 --> 00:37:59,759 Speaker 2: about making something look like it's grassroots. 655 00:38:01,280 --> 00:38:05,320 Speaker 3: Yeah, ding ding ding nail on the head, A free 656 00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:07,640 Speaker 3: vapor to you, sir, first price. 657 00:38:07,640 --> 00:38:10,240 Speaker 4: Thank you, just what I always wanted. 658 00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:15,560 Speaker 5: Yeah, astroturfing is huge in this particular situation, this idea 659 00:38:15,600 --> 00:38:18,399 Speaker 5: of conspiring to make these goals appear to be part 660 00:38:18,480 --> 00:38:22,040 Speaker 5: of some sort of organic, from the ground up, bootstrappy 661 00:38:22,160 --> 00:38:27,719 Speaker 5: type movement that is spearheaded by the public for real reasons, 662 00:38:27,840 --> 00:38:31,959 Speaker 5: you know, the passionate vapors as you said, right, Yes. 663 00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:34,920 Speaker 3: We're just trying to make the world a better place. 664 00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:37,600 Speaker 5: I just want to be blow doomsdays out here with 665 00:38:37,600 --> 00:38:38,800 Speaker 5: with my giant vape. 666 00:38:40,239 --> 00:38:44,319 Speaker 3: So here's why it's astroturfing in this case, based on 667 00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:48,200 Speaker 3: excellent work of journalists, we can see a daisy chain 668 00:38:48,239 --> 00:38:53,400 Speaker 3: of funding that gives lie to the narrative of grassroots organizations. 669 00:38:53,920 --> 00:38:58,280 Speaker 3: World Vapors Alliance is assisted by a pr company called 670 00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:06,480 Speaker 3: Red Flag. Oh oh, write Little Pallenteer. Red Flag does 671 00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:11,960 Speaker 3: a lot of similar astroturfing operations. Most notably, in twenty seventeen, 672 00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:19,279 Speaker 3: they ran a campaign in Europe called Freedom to Farm Farm. Yeah, yeah, 673 00:39:19,760 --> 00:39:22,360 Speaker 3: food freedom, what's not to love? 674 00:39:23,520 --> 00:39:23,719 Speaker 2: Yeah? 675 00:39:24,320 --> 00:39:24,759 Speaker 4: Gosh man. 676 00:39:24,880 --> 00:39:26,759 Speaker 5: It is one of the situations though, where the name 677 00:39:27,080 --> 00:39:30,879 Speaker 5: likes as liberating and egalitarian as it sounds, what could 678 00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:34,479 Speaker 5: be the exact opposite involvements, which is where we're about 679 00:39:34,520 --> 00:39:38,160 Speaker 5: to see Monsanto, the opposite of freedom to farm, the 680 00:39:38,200 --> 00:39:41,360 Speaker 5: freedom to cower in their shadow. 681 00:39:41,440 --> 00:39:43,800 Speaker 4: Basically if you are a small farmer. 682 00:39:44,719 --> 00:39:48,440 Speaker 3: Yeah, it turns out this grassroots movement of freedom to 683 00:39:48,480 --> 00:39:54,399 Speaker 3: farm activists had very few actual farmers, humble or otherwise involved. 684 00:39:55,080 --> 00:39:58,040 Speaker 3: The ultimate goal of freedom to Farm was to allow 685 00:39:58,239 --> 00:40:02,200 Speaker 3: glyphosate throughout Europe on an industrial scale. 686 00:40:04,520 --> 00:40:08,320 Speaker 5: And just to reiterate a funded by Monsanto slash Bayar 687 00:40:08,400 --> 00:40:14,880 Speaker 5: who acquired Monsanto bay or such a central batty and 688 00:40:14,960 --> 00:40:17,880 Speaker 5: a lot of these corporates, you know, conspiracies. 689 00:40:18,280 --> 00:40:20,520 Speaker 2: I wonder if they had any of those terminator seeds 690 00:40:20,560 --> 00:40:21,799 Speaker 2: going on in that push too. 691 00:40:22,560 --> 00:40:26,600 Speaker 3: Yeah, that's that's freedom to plant right over the next one. 692 00:40:27,040 --> 00:40:27,279 Speaker 2: Yeah. 693 00:40:27,400 --> 00:40:32,160 Speaker 3: So Red Flag is UH an organization with a certain 694 00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:37,200 Speaker 3: focus and expertise put diplomatically and World Vapor Alliance itself 695 00:40:37,600 --> 00:40:41,240 Speaker 3: is a front created by something love this name called 696 00:40:41,440 --> 00:40:43,240 Speaker 3: the Consumer Choice Center. 697 00:40:44,120 --> 00:40:47,560 Speaker 2: Dang, that sounds reliable, sounds like something I should go to. 698 00:40:48,320 --> 00:40:53,720 Speaker 3: Yeah itself. CCC is a global grassroots movement. 699 00:40:54,239 --> 00:40:54,359 Speaker 2: UH. 700 00:40:54,560 --> 00:40:58,600 Speaker 3: It is funded by Japan Tobacco International, British American Tobacco 701 00:40:58,680 --> 00:41:03,800 Speaker 3: for Morris International, Altria, the co orchestrated Students for Liberty, 702 00:41:03,960 --> 00:41:07,840 Speaker 3: and of course the Star of tonight's show the Atlas Network. 703 00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:12,600 Speaker 2: Well, that's a humdinger right there. I don't know what 704 00:41:12,640 --> 00:41:13,080 Speaker 2: that means. 705 00:41:13,280 --> 00:41:16,520 Speaker 3: I can't get away with late books at the library, 706 00:41:16,680 --> 00:41:18,040 Speaker 3: you know what I mean. I can't even give them 707 00:41:18,040 --> 00:41:19,399 Speaker 3: the slide on the fees for me. 708 00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:22,560 Speaker 2: But ultimately for you. None of this is None of 709 00:41:22,600 --> 00:41:25,200 Speaker 2: this is illegal, right. Not a thing we've talked about 710 00:41:25,280 --> 00:41:25,800 Speaker 2: is illegal. 711 00:41:26,400 --> 00:41:28,239 Speaker 3: No, this is a bit. 712 00:41:28,680 --> 00:41:32,440 Speaker 2: This is just like just I don't know, it's just. 713 00:41:33,120 --> 00:41:37,080 Speaker 5: Immoral and illegal are two very different things, I guess, right, especially. 714 00:41:36,880 --> 00:41:40,120 Speaker 3: I mean, especially when you get to this level of 715 00:41:40,280 --> 00:41:43,399 Speaker 3: money and network and an influence. Moral and illegal, as 716 00:41:43,400 --> 00:41:46,520 Speaker 3: you said, are two different things. It's like, was there 717 00:41:46,560 --> 00:41:53,480 Speaker 3: anything illegal about Elon musk recent financial parkour with Tesla 718 00:41:53,960 --> 00:41:56,200 Speaker 3: that absolutely brought their prices back up? 719 00:41:57,480 --> 00:42:00,000 Speaker 5: What do you do being a just boughtish crap time? 720 00:42:00,160 --> 00:42:01,280 Speaker 4: That's called being a whale. 721 00:42:01,520 --> 00:42:05,640 Speaker 5: Basically, when you have that much capital at your disposal, 722 00:42:05,760 --> 00:42:08,520 Speaker 5: you can't affect significant changes in the market, which is 723 00:42:08,560 --> 00:42:12,399 Speaker 5: not technically considered market manipulation, or is market manipulation even legal. 724 00:42:12,440 --> 00:42:13,520 Speaker 4: It's kind of one of those things where it's like 725 00:42:13,560 --> 00:42:15,839 Speaker 4: I'm smart, I did it, I knew how to do it. 726 00:42:16,719 --> 00:42:22,719 Speaker 3: Exactly right. I just man, grassroots, I don't know, are 727 00:42:22,800 --> 00:42:27,080 Speaker 3: there any real grassroots movements left anyway? Like I say, 728 00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:31,160 Speaker 3: all these moves are not inherently illegal, and that's because 729 00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:34,799 Speaker 3: these are very well funded, very clever, and above all, 730 00:42:34,840 --> 00:42:39,440 Speaker 3: extremely careful enterprises. They hire top minds from the worlds 731 00:42:39,480 --> 00:42:43,680 Speaker 3: of psychology and advertising to socially engineer these outcomes. They 732 00:42:43,680 --> 00:42:47,840 Speaker 3: have extremely well paid legal beagles as well as super 733 00:42:47,880 --> 00:42:51,200 Speaker 3: sharp accountants, all to keep things on the right side 734 00:42:51,239 --> 00:42:54,520 Speaker 3: of the law if ever a situation goes sideways or 735 00:42:54,520 --> 00:42:56,960 Speaker 3: the optics get too bad. But we have to ask, 736 00:42:57,040 --> 00:43:00,359 Speaker 3: if these declared goals are in good faith, then why 737 00:43:00,360 --> 00:43:02,880 Speaker 3: would you obscure the sources of funding. Why wouldn't you 738 00:43:02,920 --> 00:43:03,680 Speaker 3: be transparent? 739 00:43:04,200 --> 00:43:04,399 Speaker 4: Right? 740 00:43:04,760 --> 00:43:09,759 Speaker 3: If there's nothing hinky afoot, As Chuck would say, it. 741 00:43:09,800 --> 00:43:12,160 Speaker 2: Makes me think about a few other organizations that had 742 00:43:12,200 --> 00:43:16,120 Speaker 2: some interesting funding we've interacted with. 743 00:43:16,560 --> 00:43:19,480 Speaker 3: Hmmm, oh, man, I'm trying to read your mind. 744 00:43:20,360 --> 00:43:21,800 Speaker 2: I think you know what I'm talking about. 745 00:43:22,239 --> 00:43:22,680 Speaker 3: It's tough. 746 00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:27,960 Speaker 2: Oh, Blockbuster, Yep, that's it, That's what it was. Thank 747 00:43:28,000 --> 00:43:28,920 Speaker 2: god they went down. 748 00:43:31,480 --> 00:43:35,279 Speaker 3: Of course, our corporate overlords, Dave and Busters, do check 749 00:43:35,320 --> 00:43:36,000 Speaker 3: it out, folks. 750 00:43:36,360 --> 00:43:37,640 Speaker 2: Uh huh, that's it. 751 00:43:38,360 --> 00:43:41,000 Speaker 3: I just wanted to squeeze the Dave of Buster's thing 752 00:43:41,080 --> 00:43:44,719 Speaker 3: in there. Anyway we're saying it makes you think we're 753 00:43:44,719 --> 00:43:47,320 Speaker 3: gonna take a pause for a word from our sponsors, 754 00:43:52,800 --> 00:43:57,760 Speaker 3: and we're back. Another example of controversy related to Atlas 755 00:43:57,880 --> 00:44:02,680 Speaker 3: that people call conspiracy is the against laws protecting the environment. 756 00:44:02,960 --> 00:44:05,720 Speaker 3: We all remember the environment right overrated. 757 00:44:05,800 --> 00:44:07,719 Speaker 4: Well, that was great back when it was great. 758 00:44:09,360 --> 00:44:10,439 Speaker 3: I liked it's early work. 759 00:44:10,680 --> 00:44:12,720 Speaker 5: Now there's still some good bits, but it does seem 760 00:44:12,760 --> 00:44:14,839 Speaker 5: like it's maybe on its way out. 761 00:44:15,600 --> 00:44:18,920 Speaker 3: Yeah it was once this missed as a fanciful Internet rumor, 762 00:44:19,239 --> 00:44:22,279 Speaker 3: but there's hard proof that big oil companies knew as 763 00:44:22,360 --> 00:44:26,759 Speaker 3: far back as the seventies and likely earlier, that widespread 764 00:44:26,760 --> 00:44:30,920 Speaker 3: consumption of fossil fuels like coal, gas, and petrol absolutely 765 00:44:31,239 --> 00:44:34,959 Speaker 3: wreak havoc on Earth's natural state. And before you feel 766 00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:38,400 Speaker 3: bad for gas prov excellon Royal Dutch and the rest, 767 00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:43,719 Speaker 3: just remember they too found a friend in Atlas, especially 768 00:44:43,880 --> 00:44:45,520 Speaker 3: BP and Royal Dutch Shell. 769 00:44:46,280 --> 00:44:48,120 Speaker 2: Hey, and as we go through this, go ahead and 770 00:44:48,239 --> 00:44:51,319 Speaker 2: check back through our catalog, because we've done I don't 771 00:44:51,400 --> 00:44:54,280 Speaker 2: know a dozen episodes on big oil and different things. 772 00:44:54,880 --> 00:44:57,560 Speaker 2: The first one is back in twenty twenty fourteen. 773 00:44:57,680 --> 00:45:02,359 Speaker 3: Guys, Yeah, great for the show, you know, yeah. 774 00:45:02,480 --> 00:45:06,279 Speaker 2: Learn about the petro dollar. Learn about Oh didn't we 775 00:45:06,400 --> 00:45:09,200 Speaker 2: interview somebody a while back that was all about this 776 00:45:09,280 --> 00:45:12,919 Speaker 2: specific thing about pre knowledge from exon. Do you guys 777 00:45:12,960 --> 00:45:14,040 Speaker 2: remember this at all? 778 00:45:14,040 --> 00:45:19,439 Speaker 3: We may have. This would be different from the DuPont story, right, 779 00:45:19,840 --> 00:45:20,240 Speaker 3: is that. 780 00:45:20,080 --> 00:45:20,960 Speaker 4: That DuPont story? 781 00:45:21,800 --> 00:45:24,800 Speaker 3: Definitely a similar conspiracy occurred with DuPont. 782 00:45:26,040 --> 00:45:28,960 Speaker 2: Okay, I can't remember the name of it. I know 783 00:45:29,000 --> 00:45:32,120 Speaker 2: we interviewed somebody that had made a whole show about 784 00:45:32,160 --> 00:45:35,680 Speaker 2: this very thing, and it was just it was crazy 785 00:45:35,760 --> 00:45:41,080 Speaker 2: to learn. But we can actually see the other side now, 786 00:45:41,160 --> 00:45:44,640 Speaker 2: like the influence side, rather than the like the big 787 00:45:44,640 --> 00:45:45,680 Speaker 2: oil action side. 788 00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:46,239 Speaker 1: Yeah. 789 00:45:46,440 --> 00:45:50,560 Speaker 3: Royal, Dutch Shell and British Petroleum or BP were some 790 00:45:50,719 --> 00:45:54,480 Speaker 3: of Sir Fisher's first big corporate donors, all the way 791 00:45:54,480 --> 00:45:57,280 Speaker 3: back in the nineteen sixties, which means they were down 792 00:45:57,360 --> 00:46:01,760 Speaker 3: with Atlas before it existed. If we go to Jeremy Walker, 793 00:46:02,280 --> 00:46:08,080 Speaker 3: senior lecturer at the University of Technology, Sydney, will get 794 00:46:08,120 --> 00:46:10,960 Speaker 3: a better look at this. Walker is the author of 795 00:46:11,000 --> 00:46:14,200 Speaker 3: a book called More Heat Than Life, The Tangled Roots 796 00:46:14,200 --> 00:46:17,840 Speaker 3: of Ecology, Energy and economics, and he has been studying 797 00:46:17,880 --> 00:46:21,879 Speaker 3: the Atlas network for a long long time. As far 798 00:46:21,920 --> 00:46:25,680 Speaker 3: as people outside of Atlas go, he's probably a world 799 00:46:25,680 --> 00:46:27,120 Speaker 3: expert on the organization. 800 00:46:28,600 --> 00:46:30,520 Speaker 2: This is going to sound really familiar. Going back to 801 00:46:30,520 --> 00:46:34,040 Speaker 2: Brene's stuff, he was talking with the New Republic and 802 00:46:34,120 --> 00:46:38,359 Speaker 2: he talks about how Sir Fisher, through this thing, the 803 00:46:38,360 --> 00:46:42,800 Speaker 2: Institute of Economic Affairs, which existed before Atlas Network, quote, 804 00:46:42,920 --> 00:46:46,560 Speaker 2: would get these professors to write short, digestible articles, often 805 00:46:46,600 --> 00:46:50,600 Speaker 2: around things like currency conversion or sort of things that 806 00:46:50,640 --> 00:46:55,640 Speaker 2: were fairly technical to the non economists. Then quote, they 807 00:46:55,640 --> 00:46:59,120 Speaker 2: would have these wealthy donors to the IEA, that's the 808 00:46:59,160 --> 00:47:02,560 Speaker 2: Institute of Economic mcafairs, who would buy copies and send 809 00:47:02,640 --> 00:47:06,160 Speaker 2: them to all the schools and the universities for free. 810 00:47:06,840 --> 00:47:10,040 Speaker 3: Yeah, not even asking the school to pay shipping. And 811 00:47:09,640 --> 00:47:12,760 Speaker 3: this is this is, by the way, a successful hacker 812 00:47:12,840 --> 00:47:17,280 Speaker 3: publishing conspiracy that occurs today. Have you ever wondered why 813 00:47:17,360 --> 00:47:20,600 Speaker 3: so many ghost written politicians books end up on the 814 00:47:20,640 --> 00:47:23,520 Speaker 3: New York Times bestseller list. It's not because people are 815 00:47:23,520 --> 00:47:27,799 Speaker 3: reading them. It's because a different campaign associates buy them 816 00:47:27,840 --> 00:47:29,919 Speaker 3: in bulk, and they know exactly how to do it 817 00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:31,040 Speaker 3: to goose the numbers. 818 00:47:31,640 --> 00:47:34,000 Speaker 2: Dude, have you ever been in a doctor's office or 819 00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:37,640 Speaker 2: a dentist's office and seen the little brochures around that 820 00:47:37,760 --> 00:47:42,120 Speaker 2: have a lot of writing from actual people who clean teeth, 821 00:47:42,600 --> 00:47:46,960 Speaker 2: actual dentists, actual doctors telling you how great whatever medication 822 00:47:47,160 --> 00:47:49,680 Speaker 2: is or treatment is, and all this stuff. It's all 823 00:47:49,800 --> 00:47:50,960 Speaker 2: kind of the same thing. 824 00:47:51,560 --> 00:47:53,680 Speaker 3: I love it too, because you're bringing up one of 825 00:47:53,719 --> 00:47:58,640 Speaker 3: my favorite new folklore obsessions. We always hear the phrase 826 00:47:58,719 --> 00:48:01,320 Speaker 3: nine out of ten dentists mentioned it in the past, 827 00:48:01,400 --> 00:48:03,319 Speaker 3: but I am just obsessed with the idea of the 828 00:48:03,360 --> 00:48:04,240 Speaker 3: tenth dentist. 829 00:48:04,719 --> 00:48:07,040 Speaker 4: You know what this deal is. 830 00:48:07,040 --> 00:48:08,840 Speaker 2: This rogue, the rogue dentist. 831 00:48:09,080 --> 00:48:10,680 Speaker 4: Yes, he's the one that's. 832 00:48:10,520 --> 00:48:12,839 Speaker 2: Yeah, are you writing a story about how this one 833 00:48:12,960 --> 00:48:16,320 Speaker 2: dentist like discovers the conspiracy and goes down the rabbit 834 00:48:16,360 --> 00:48:18,279 Speaker 2: hole and tries to stop it? 835 00:48:18,680 --> 00:48:22,080 Speaker 3: There is a I am writing a dental based horror 836 00:48:22,120 --> 00:48:24,239 Speaker 3: story that I'm almost done with. And I think about 837 00:48:24,239 --> 00:48:29,399 Speaker 3: a haunted tooth. Uh no spoilers, spooky, but we've talked 838 00:48:29,440 --> 00:48:31,120 Speaker 3: to I think you and I talked about that when 839 00:48:31,120 --> 00:48:34,400 Speaker 3: a little off air baby. Uh yeah, excited about that, 840 00:48:34,480 --> 00:48:37,799 Speaker 3: but yeah that that thankfully, as far as we know 841 00:48:37,920 --> 00:48:40,560 Speaker 3: is going to be a work of fiction. This is 842 00:48:40,880 --> 00:48:45,080 Speaker 3: real life manipulation of people. Right, So if you're a school, 843 00:48:45,400 --> 00:48:47,880 Speaker 3: are you going to turn down a free book? Probably not? 844 00:48:48,040 --> 00:48:52,160 Speaker 3: Who would also R I P R inbox anyway? That 845 00:48:52,320 --> 00:48:54,399 Speaker 3: why are they sending out this stuff that Matt, as 846 00:48:54,400 --> 00:48:58,560 Speaker 3: you said, is technical, right, is very much not for 847 00:48:58,719 --> 00:49:02,880 Speaker 3: the lay folk to It's because it establishes the bona 848 00:49:02,920 --> 00:49:06,680 Speaker 3: fides of the authors in question, and it normalizes their 849 00:49:06,760 --> 00:49:10,520 Speaker 3: work or its presence across campuses, and that means their 850 00:49:10,640 --> 00:49:14,000 Speaker 3: next work becomes normalized as well. So you could just 851 00:49:14,040 --> 00:49:17,320 Speaker 3: push a little further each time, with each new article, 852 00:49:17,360 --> 00:49:20,040 Speaker 3: each in paper, each monograph, so long as no one 853 00:49:20,080 --> 00:49:24,680 Speaker 3: asks why the later work seems skeptical about the science 854 00:49:24,800 --> 00:49:28,880 Speaker 3: linking fossil fuels to ecological collapse, Because now you're not 855 00:49:28,960 --> 00:49:34,160 Speaker 3: just some random guy paid by a shadowy organization. Right now, 856 00:49:34,400 --> 00:49:40,279 Speaker 3: your doctor Frankenfurt from earlier, and you wrote pretty competently. 857 00:49:40,480 --> 00:49:44,279 Speaker 2: Earlier doctor Frankenfur, author of. 858 00:49:44,800 --> 00:49:47,960 Speaker 3: Right, yeah, yeah, that's a great boy author of And 859 00:49:47,960 --> 00:49:49,600 Speaker 3: then you get some of your buddies who are in 860 00:49:49,680 --> 00:49:53,000 Speaker 3: on the same grift to write the little blurbs at 861 00:49:53,000 --> 00:49:54,880 Speaker 3: the back of your book and they get an author 862 00:49:54,960 --> 00:49:55,920 Speaker 3: of as well. 863 00:49:56,160 --> 00:49:58,960 Speaker 2: Oh, bonus points if you can get somebody actually influential 864 00:49:59,239 --> 00:49:59,600 Speaker 2: on there. 865 00:50:00,480 --> 00:50:04,840 Speaker 3: Yeah, and at each point your manufactory credibility. 866 00:50:04,960 --> 00:50:07,000 Speaker 5: Well, here here's a quote to give some good contact 867 00:50:07,000 --> 00:50:10,840 Speaker 5: to this from Walker. The think tank method allowed corporations 868 00:50:10,880 --> 00:50:14,480 Speaker 5: to say things that they couldn't say themselves without appearing 869 00:50:14,560 --> 00:50:21,040 Speaker 5: to be merely speaking to their own profit motives. Serious switch, 870 00:50:22,080 --> 00:50:27,200 Speaker 5: m M, yeah, yeah, it's uh, it's weird. 871 00:50:27,200 --> 00:50:30,120 Speaker 3: I was trying to think of a more wholesome comparison. 872 00:50:31,880 --> 00:50:34,480 Speaker 3: The wholesome version I can think of as this. Let's 873 00:50:34,520 --> 00:50:37,040 Speaker 3: say you're a kid in elementary school and you have 874 00:50:37,080 --> 00:50:41,040 Speaker 3: a crush on a classmate, but you can't tell them yourself, right, 875 00:50:41,200 --> 00:50:45,560 Speaker 3: that would be just social suicide. So instead, you get 876 00:50:45,560 --> 00:50:50,680 Speaker 3: a more reputable buddy to go approach a friend of 877 00:50:50,719 --> 00:50:53,560 Speaker 3: the person you have a crush on, and they start saying, 878 00:50:53,760 --> 00:50:55,560 Speaker 3: you know a lot of people are saying this would 879 00:50:55,560 --> 00:50:56,280 Speaker 3: be a great couple. 880 00:50:56,600 --> 00:50:58,839 Speaker 5: Well, there's the inverse of that too, the cowardly move 881 00:50:58,880 --> 00:51:02,440 Speaker 5: of getting a friend to break up with somebody for you. 882 00:51:03,200 --> 00:51:07,359 Speaker 2: Yeah, but in this case, you're making it seem as 883 00:51:07,400 --> 00:51:10,400 Speaker 2: though it's a good thing. It's a positive action. That 884 00:51:10,440 --> 00:51:13,000 Speaker 2: you can take, or belief that you can hold. It's 885 00:51:13,040 --> 00:51:15,239 Speaker 2: like they it's good to believe this, it's good to 886 00:51:15,320 --> 00:51:19,239 Speaker 2: do this, And there's something so insidious about that to 887 00:51:19,400 --> 00:51:23,600 Speaker 2: me when when there's knowledge that oh, potentially this is 888 00:51:23,640 --> 00:51:27,000 Speaker 2: actually a harmful action or even a harmful belief, well. 889 00:51:26,800 --> 00:51:29,680 Speaker 5: And inherent in it is just outright dishonesty. 890 00:51:30,080 --> 00:51:30,279 Speaker 2: You know. 891 00:51:30,440 --> 00:51:34,440 Speaker 5: It's a way of like the disguising your true motives 892 00:51:34,800 --> 00:51:37,640 Speaker 5: and hiding behind like a pr line of some sort 893 00:51:37,680 --> 00:51:41,120 Speaker 5: of like manufactured concern for your customers or for the 894 00:51:41,160 --> 00:51:44,640 Speaker 5: public will, like behind the scenes, you're completely working against 895 00:51:44,640 --> 00:51:46,040 Speaker 5: against their best interests. 896 00:51:46,320 --> 00:51:50,279 Speaker 3: Yeah, this is asymmetrical info war, you know, corporations, we're 897 00:51:50,400 --> 00:51:54,120 Speaker 3: using these tactics to push the overall government of the 898 00:51:54,239 --> 00:51:58,600 Speaker 3: United Kingdom further and further toward their end goals, right, 899 00:51:58,640 --> 00:52:04,440 Speaker 3: and their end goals are pretty quantitative, more profit less regulation, 900 00:52:04,880 --> 00:52:08,919 Speaker 3: fewer legal consequences for companies involved, you know what I mean. 901 00:52:09,120 --> 00:52:12,200 Speaker 3: That's part of why every so this didn't catch on 902 00:52:12,280 --> 00:52:14,920 Speaker 3: with the American public. But every so often you might 903 00:52:14,960 --> 00:52:17,520 Speaker 3: hear a politician try to campaign on what they call 904 00:52:17,640 --> 00:52:20,480 Speaker 3: tort reform. Do you remember hearing that phrase? 905 00:52:21,120 --> 00:52:25,640 Speaker 5: It is essentially making it harder to I mean, I 906 00:52:26,160 --> 00:52:29,960 Speaker 5: one version of it is making it harder to sue doctors. 907 00:52:30,120 --> 00:52:32,279 Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, that was one of the big that was 908 00:52:32,280 --> 00:52:35,160 Speaker 3: one of the big pillars of it most recently in 909 00:52:35,239 --> 00:52:38,920 Speaker 3: the US and Atlas, by the way, especially in the beginning, 910 00:52:38,960 --> 00:52:43,440 Speaker 3: they were very focused on Latin America in particular, with 911 00:52:43,520 --> 00:52:47,960 Speaker 3: some support from the US government. This is where the 912 00:52:48,000 --> 00:52:53,520 Speaker 3: oil boy C suite types were terrified about growing leftist 913 00:52:53,680 --> 00:52:59,280 Speaker 3: movements in the nineteen eighties, people who might nationalize oil 914 00:52:59,400 --> 00:53:03,719 Speaker 3: resources or fossil fuel resources, people who might come up 915 00:53:03,719 --> 00:53:07,880 Speaker 3: with even more pesky regulations or tax schemes, you know 916 00:53:07,880 --> 00:53:10,280 Speaker 3: what I mean. So again, this is the shadow of Bernez. 917 00:53:10,800 --> 00:53:14,440 Speaker 3: In nineteen eighty four, Atlas funded the creation of something 918 00:53:14,520 --> 00:53:20,200 Speaker 3: called seed Dice. Okay, oh yeah, sorry, Center for the 919 00:53:20,239 --> 00:53:22,120 Speaker 3: Dissemination of Economic Information. 920 00:53:22,719 --> 00:53:26,040 Speaker 4: Yeah great, Yeah, that Sea Dice better. 921 00:53:26,520 --> 00:53:28,920 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a little better. Okay. 922 00:53:29,080 --> 00:53:31,959 Speaker 2: I'm so glad they're disseminating it though, you know, yeah, 923 00:53:32,360 --> 00:53:33,280 Speaker 2: exactly good. 924 00:53:33,960 --> 00:53:39,120 Speaker 3: Yeah, these names just give you semantic satiation after a time. 925 00:53:39,560 --> 00:53:43,239 Speaker 3: So fast forward, if you're from Venezuela familiar with it, 926 00:53:43,280 --> 00:53:46,719 Speaker 3: you might recognize this organization because if you fast forward 927 00:53:46,719 --> 00:53:50,560 Speaker 3: a few decades after their origin story. Sea Dice is 928 00:53:50,600 --> 00:53:53,160 Speaker 3: one of the big players in the downfall of Who 929 00:53:53,200 --> 00:53:56,759 Speaker 3: Go Chavez? Who Go Chavez? Of course on this show, 930 00:53:56,920 --> 00:54:00,600 Speaker 3: is most famous for having his own talk show podcast 931 00:54:00,960 --> 00:54:02,719 Speaker 3: and it was just wild. 932 00:54:03,000 --> 00:54:05,320 Speaker 2: Yeah, and having a three part series on our YouTube channel, 933 00:54:05,320 --> 00:54:06,799 Speaker 2: which you should definitely check out. 934 00:54:07,760 --> 00:54:11,399 Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, good call. I forgot about that one. Then 935 00:54:11,480 --> 00:54:14,640 Speaker 3: there's a work. In nineteen eighties Brazil, they used proxies 936 00:54:14,640 --> 00:54:19,160 Speaker 3: to cripple environmental regulations and indigenous activism. You can trace 937 00:54:19,560 --> 00:54:23,960 Speaker 3: the rise of the now convicted Bolsonaro directly back to 938 00:54:24,040 --> 00:54:28,439 Speaker 3: Atlas because they created and funded and directed a thing 939 00:54:28,520 --> 00:54:33,880 Speaker 3: called the Free Brazil Movement of twenty fourteen. Freedom meeting, 940 00:54:33,920 --> 00:54:38,480 Speaker 3: more profit, fewer regulations, more quote unquote personal freedom. 941 00:54:39,040 --> 00:54:42,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, from the tyranny of folks telling you what you 942 00:54:42,120 --> 00:54:45,560 Speaker 2: can and can't do, how much oil you can and 943 00:54:45,600 --> 00:54:47,120 Speaker 2: can't buy cigarettes. 944 00:54:48,600 --> 00:54:52,200 Speaker 3: Who are you Government of Brazil to tell us that 945 00:54:52,800 --> 00:54:55,680 Speaker 3: we got to keep some part of the Amazon around. 946 00:54:56,840 --> 00:54:59,480 Speaker 2: We need wood products. 947 00:55:00,440 --> 00:55:05,480 Speaker 3: Exactly? Oh man, Oh yeah, yeah. I wouldn't be surprised 948 00:55:05,480 --> 00:55:08,480 Speaker 3: if there were a couple of light propaganda attempts, like 949 00:55:08,560 --> 00:55:10,920 Speaker 3: you know, in fact, the Amazon is a really dangerous 950 00:55:10,920 --> 00:55:12,879 Speaker 3: place all. 951 00:55:12,760 --> 00:55:16,279 Speaker 5: Those snakes and predatory animals, you. 952 00:55:16,239 --> 00:55:17,560 Speaker 4: Know, and get rid of them. Who needs them? 953 00:55:17,560 --> 00:55:24,000 Speaker 3: They're they're calling it the original favella clean evil. But yeah, 954 00:55:24,040 --> 00:55:27,560 Speaker 3: so from the perspective of Atlas leadership, again, no bad 955 00:55:27,560 --> 00:55:32,759 Speaker 3: guys in the story. Environmentalists and their proposed regulatory policies 956 00:55:33,520 --> 00:55:38,600 Speaker 3: were themselves cancerous to society, and no matter where you go, 957 00:55:39,640 --> 00:55:42,920 Speaker 3: the giveaway is you can see a uniform argument at play. 958 00:55:43,080 --> 00:55:46,240 Speaker 3: The authors and experts share a party line. In this case, 959 00:55:46,400 --> 00:55:52,920 Speaker 3: the line is consistently anti environmental regulation. One example is 960 00:55:53,800 --> 00:55:57,279 Speaker 3: nineteen ninety one the Macinaw Institute, which is a fun name. 961 00:55:57,640 --> 00:55:59,640 Speaker 3: I don't know why. I just like the word Macanaw. 962 00:56:00,120 --> 00:56:03,000 Speaker 3: For now we know that nineteen ninety one they cherry 963 00:56:03,000 --> 00:56:07,520 Speaker 3: picked a rogues gallery of benighted economic theory to say 964 00:56:07,560 --> 00:56:11,960 Speaker 3: that arguing for environmental regulation was not just reactionary but 965 00:56:12,200 --> 00:56:17,800 Speaker 3: anti human. Why are you so worried about one kind 966 00:56:17,840 --> 00:56:23,080 Speaker 3: of bird when your decisions, however well intentioned they may be, 967 00:56:23,440 --> 00:56:27,400 Speaker 3: will sacrifice the economic freedom of potentially millions of people. 968 00:56:28,160 --> 00:56:32,000 Speaker 2: You may hear something ringing in your mind about recent 969 00:56:32,120 --> 00:56:35,640 Speaker 2: news over the past five years about waters being polluted, 970 00:56:35,680 --> 00:56:38,359 Speaker 2: and then the story comes out, or some expert will 971 00:56:38,360 --> 00:56:40,319 Speaker 2: come on television and talk about, why are we so 972 00:56:40,360 --> 00:56:43,759 Speaker 2: worried about this one tiny little species of fish? Who 973 00:56:43,760 --> 00:56:46,800 Speaker 2: gives a crap about that? It's anti human and anti 974 00:56:46,840 --> 00:56:49,920 Speaker 2: American to do all this other stuff, when in fact, 975 00:56:50,200 --> 00:56:53,680 Speaker 2: the real problem there is the polluting of waters right 976 00:56:53,760 --> 00:56:56,720 Speaker 2: by industrial runoff and waste and all these other things. 977 00:56:56,719 --> 00:56:59,799 Speaker 2: But what they're trying to spin it as who gives 978 00:56:59,800 --> 00:57:02,960 Speaker 2: a about this thing that's not us, that's not about us, 979 00:57:03,120 --> 00:57:04,759 Speaker 2: what we do every day when we wake up in 980 00:57:04,800 --> 00:57:07,319 Speaker 2: the morning and have our coffee. And you can just 981 00:57:07,360 --> 00:57:11,920 Speaker 2: see how little things like that can be spun. And 982 00:57:11,960 --> 00:57:16,560 Speaker 2: you're no longer even talking about the energy regulation at all. 983 00:57:16,800 --> 00:57:19,840 Speaker 3: Yeah, Rock Flag and Eagle, Am I right, Charlie, He's 984 00:57:19,840 --> 00:57:22,720 Speaker 3: got a point. This is the art, this is the 985 00:57:22,720 --> 00:57:26,720 Speaker 3: conversational parkour. Just like anybody with media training knows that, 986 00:57:27,080 --> 00:57:30,240 Speaker 3: no matter what an interviewer asks, you answer the question 987 00:57:30,600 --> 00:57:33,720 Speaker 3: you wish they had asked, right, And that's kind of 988 00:57:33,760 --> 00:57:37,320 Speaker 3: what's happening here. It's sith level stuff ethics asie. It's 989 00:57:37,440 --> 00:57:40,959 Speaker 3: very clever and effective, but if you include ethics, it's 990 00:57:41,080 --> 00:57:45,880 Speaker 3: just reprehensible. The guy who mentioned earlier I love the 991 00:57:45,880 --> 00:57:47,640 Speaker 3: way he says his name nol Chauffon. 992 00:57:48,960 --> 00:57:49,160 Speaker 4: Yeah. 993 00:57:49,320 --> 00:57:54,280 Speaker 3: He leaves in twenty eighteen. He leaves Atlas in twenty 994 00:57:54,320 --> 00:57:57,680 Speaker 3: eighteen and goes on to head a think tank named 995 00:57:57,680 --> 00:58:01,680 Speaker 3: the Acton Institute, which is part of the Atlas Network. 996 00:58:03,200 --> 00:58:05,120 Speaker 2: Only on the Atlas Network. 997 00:58:05,360 --> 00:58:09,240 Speaker 3: I love it. Yeah. Actin Institute for the climate change 998 00:58:09,240 --> 00:58:12,000 Speaker 3: stuff is really interesting because they have a big history 999 00:58:12,360 --> 00:58:17,440 Speaker 3: in spinning anti climate legislation through the perspective of Christian religion. 1000 00:58:17,840 --> 00:58:22,240 Speaker 3: So that's their parkour move. They created another thing called 1001 00:58:22,280 --> 00:58:26,480 Speaker 3: the Cornwall Alliance out of Tennessee. The Cornwall Alliance is 1002 00:58:26,560 --> 00:58:29,960 Speaker 3: famous for a twelve part series they came out with 1003 00:58:30,040 --> 00:58:34,040 Speaker 3: called Resisting the Green Dragon. It's available on DVD. 1004 00:58:34,600 --> 00:58:35,520 Speaker 4: What's the Green Dragon? 1005 00:58:37,920 --> 00:58:42,200 Speaker 3: It's the it's environmental activist. 1006 00:58:40,880 --> 00:58:46,000 Speaker 5: Oh, that's hilarious. I've never heard it put that way before. 1007 00:58:46,200 --> 00:58:47,160 Speaker 4: That's so funny. 1008 00:58:47,720 --> 00:58:53,160 Speaker 3: The regulation these environmental uh these eco terrorist propose is 1009 00:58:53,240 --> 00:58:57,920 Speaker 3: part of a grand spiritual deception and the implication is 1010 00:58:57,960 --> 00:59:00,480 Speaker 3: that if you are a true Christian, you we'll see 1011 00:59:00,520 --> 00:59:04,320 Speaker 3: through the charade of big secular government pretending to save 1012 00:59:04,400 --> 00:59:08,440 Speaker 3: the world by preventing Christian businesses from making an honest 1013 00:59:08,480 --> 00:59:11,760 Speaker 3: dollar that's kind of a hat on a hat. Isn't 1014 00:59:11,800 --> 00:59:13,160 Speaker 3: it a little complicated? 1015 00:59:13,680 --> 00:59:14,040 Speaker 4: Man? 1016 00:59:14,680 --> 00:59:19,920 Speaker 2: There's so much deception in hiding it. It's really I 1017 00:59:19,920 --> 00:59:21,880 Speaker 2: don't know. It feels like there's too much to talk 1018 00:59:21,880 --> 00:59:24,440 Speaker 2: about here, guys. There's so much more we need to 1019 00:59:24,520 --> 00:59:29,240 Speaker 2: get into. Agreed, Like I'm thinking about if we go back. 1020 00:59:29,840 --> 00:59:32,240 Speaker 2: Can I read off just three headlines that we found 1021 00:59:32,360 --> 00:59:35,640 Speaker 2: that are from news organizations that speak to the activities 1022 00:59:35,680 --> 00:59:37,960 Speaker 2: of the atlass network that we haven't even touched on yet. 1023 00:59:38,280 --> 00:59:41,960 Speaker 2: Here's rue from twenty seventeen. It's from the Intercept Sphere 1024 00:59:42,000 --> 00:59:45,960 Speaker 2: of Influence, How American libertarians are remaking Latin American politics. 1025 00:59:46,200 --> 00:59:49,400 Speaker 2: It's all about activities that the Atlas Network had been 1026 00:59:49,440 --> 00:59:54,080 Speaker 2: doing in many countries in Latin America. It's a huge article. 1027 00:59:54,080 --> 00:59:56,200 Speaker 2: There's a lot that we could cover in there. There's 1028 00:59:56,240 --> 00:59:59,480 Speaker 2: one from The Guardian called how a conservative US network 1029 00:59:59,560 --> 01:00:04,280 Speaker 2: undermined indigenous energy rights in Canada. So we've got Latin America, 1030 01:00:04,320 --> 01:00:06,680 Speaker 2: we got Canada. This one's from twenty twenty two, and 1031 01:00:06,720 --> 01:00:10,120 Speaker 2: one from this year from the Australian broadcasting company. How 1032 01:00:10,160 --> 01:00:12,680 Speaker 2: Atlas Network a master a global network of free market 1033 01:00:12,680 --> 01:00:16,760 Speaker 2: think tanks and reached into Australia and New Zealand, so like, 1034 01:00:16,800 --> 01:00:20,040 Speaker 2: think about the global reach of those three stories alone, 1035 01:00:20,640 --> 01:00:25,480 Speaker 2: about the influence that they're having on politics and legislation. 1036 01:00:25,760 --> 01:00:30,000 Speaker 3: Right, and why the names are so purposely vague and boring, 1037 01:00:30,160 --> 01:00:32,800 Speaker 3: and a lot of these things. Also, there's a lot 1038 01:00:32,800 --> 01:00:35,800 Speaker 3: of great academic research about this out now, and you'd 1039 01:00:35,800 --> 01:00:39,960 Speaker 3: be surprised how much of it is freely available online. 1040 01:00:40,000 --> 01:00:42,240 Speaker 3: Even if it's a little bit dry, it's important and 1041 01:00:42,360 --> 01:00:45,680 Speaker 3: always remember that if you go to an academic source 1042 01:00:45,760 --> 01:00:47,600 Speaker 3: and you find a paper or a study that you 1043 01:00:47,680 --> 01:00:51,160 Speaker 3: really want to read but you don't have access to it, 1044 01:00:52,000 --> 01:00:56,960 Speaker 3: you can write to the academic, the professor, the researcher 1045 01:00:57,160 --> 01:01:00,880 Speaker 3: who did the work, and nine times out of ten 1046 01:01:01,760 --> 01:01:04,120 Speaker 3: they will be more than happy to send you a copy. 1047 01:01:04,760 --> 01:01:06,920 Speaker 3: We've tried this, we know it works. I'd like to 1048 01:01:06,960 --> 01:01:10,280 Speaker 3: read just a few mentions of some more academic works. 1049 01:01:10,720 --> 01:01:15,160 Speaker 3: Merchants of Doubt, Absolute banger. This is about how a 1050 01:01:15,160 --> 01:01:18,160 Speaker 3: handful of scientists obscured the truth on issues from tobacco 1051 01:01:18,200 --> 01:01:22,160 Speaker 3: smoke to global warming. Featuring our panels with ATLAS. The 1052 01:01:22,280 --> 01:01:25,640 Speaker 3: International Journal of Health Planning and Management has a great 1053 01:01:25,640 --> 01:01:28,920 Speaker 3: write up. The at LIAS Network a strategic ally of 1054 01:01:28,960 --> 01:01:32,440 Speaker 3: the tobacco industry, and that that one is open source 1055 01:01:32,480 --> 01:01:34,720 Speaker 3: as well. There's just tons of info out there once 1056 01:01:34,760 --> 01:01:35,479 Speaker 3: you know where to look. 1057 01:01:36,040 --> 01:01:41,720 Speaker 2: Well, and don't forget these organizations specialize in giving out 1058 01:01:41,760 --> 01:01:46,360 Speaker 2: grants and getting you to do research, you to put 1059 01:01:46,400 --> 01:01:50,200 Speaker 2: out papers, you to get that information out there. So 1060 01:01:50,520 --> 01:01:56,520 Speaker 2: we have to remember that individual journalists, individual professors, individual 1061 01:01:56,600 --> 01:02:00,400 Speaker 2: anybody is not untouchable when it comes to this stuff. 1062 01:02:00,880 --> 01:02:03,720 Speaker 2: You have to choose who you end up believing and trusting. 1063 01:02:04,240 --> 01:02:07,760 Speaker 2: But it is just just keep that in mind when 1064 01:02:07,800 --> 01:02:09,800 Speaker 2: you go out there and you're doing your own research 1065 01:02:09,800 --> 01:02:13,560 Speaker 2: into this stuff. It's murky on purpose, and it's even 1066 01:02:13,640 --> 01:02:16,400 Speaker 2: murky in the things that maybe you would even like 1067 01:02:16,520 --> 01:02:19,160 Speaker 2: to believe right as you're going through. 1068 01:02:18,960 --> 01:02:24,640 Speaker 3: It, and you know full disclosure. You see this in 1069 01:02:24,720 --> 01:02:29,440 Speaker 3: any university of note and anything tank or research institute, 1070 01:02:29,600 --> 01:02:33,280 Speaker 3: because people often end up chasing funding, chasing grants just 1071 01:02:33,320 --> 01:02:36,280 Speaker 3: to make a living. I remember at Georgia Tech, which 1072 01:02:36,320 --> 01:02:39,040 Speaker 3: is home to a ton of incubators, a lot of 1073 01:02:39,400 --> 01:02:43,720 Speaker 3: state craft, especially in the fields of technology and nuclear proliferation, 1074 01:02:44,520 --> 01:02:47,200 Speaker 3: there were countless things like this right where you had 1075 01:02:47,200 --> 01:02:52,040 Speaker 3: to you as a member of a college you had 1076 01:02:52,080 --> 01:02:55,560 Speaker 3: to have some serious come to Jesus moments about how 1077 01:02:55,600 --> 01:02:58,919 Speaker 3: far your ethics were willing to go right now, how 1078 01:02:58,960 --> 01:03:01,720 Speaker 3: comfortable you were with knowing or not knowing the true 1079 01:03:01,760 --> 01:03:06,280 Speaker 3: source name of a funding opportunity. It's rough out there 1080 01:03:06,320 --> 01:03:09,360 Speaker 3: is what we're saying, and it's bigger than vapes. It's 1081 01:03:09,400 --> 01:03:12,320 Speaker 3: bigger than a cigarette, it's bigger than hip hop. It's 1082 01:03:12,400 --> 01:03:16,000 Speaker 3: largely invisible to the public, but these conspiracies are real. 1083 01:03:16,520 --> 01:03:19,000 Speaker 3: Our second episode in this series is going to be 1084 01:03:19,120 --> 01:03:22,840 Speaker 3: all about the CIA sidekick we mentioned little guy called 1085 01:03:23,000 --> 01:03:27,680 Speaker 3: NED the National Endowment for Democracy. In the meantime, we'd 1086 01:03:27,680 --> 01:03:30,840 Speaker 3: love to hear if you have experience with front groups 1087 01:03:31,160 --> 01:03:34,720 Speaker 3: of this nature. We can't wait to have you on 1088 01:03:34,800 --> 01:03:38,200 Speaker 3: the show. So drop us a line, give us a call. 1089 01:03:38,680 --> 01:03:41,320 Speaker 5: Find us on the internet by all means, hit us 1090 01:03:41,360 --> 01:03:43,919 Speaker 5: up at the handle Conspiracy Stuff, where we exist on 1091 01:03:44,040 --> 01:03:47,040 Speaker 5: Facebook with our Facebook group Here's where it gets crazy, 1092 01:03:47,320 --> 01:03:51,240 Speaker 5: on x FKA, Twitter, and on YouTube Video Content galor 1093 01:03:51,360 --> 01:03:55,480 Speaker 5: for YouTube peruse and hopefully enjoy on Instagram at TikTok. However, 1094 01:03:55,520 --> 01:03:57,160 Speaker 5: we're Conspiracy Stuff Show. 1095 01:03:57,920 --> 01:03:59,520 Speaker 2: If you want to give us a call, our number 1096 01:03:59,600 --> 01:04:05,840 Speaker 2: is one eight three three STD WYTK. What is your 1097 01:04:06,080 --> 01:04:09,960 Speaker 2: Maco Mupsey's name for an innocuous think tank. 1098 01:04:10,240 --> 01:04:13,440 Speaker 3: Other than Illumination Global Unlimited, which is real. 1099 01:04:14,080 --> 01:04:18,800 Speaker 4: Yes, that's very painfully real. Yes, terrifyingly real. 1100 01:04:19,200 --> 01:04:21,240 Speaker 2: When you call in, you've got three minutes, give yourself 1101 01:04:21,240 --> 01:04:22,600 Speaker 2: a cool nickname and let us know if we can 1102 01:04:22,720 --> 01:04:24,840 Speaker 2: use your name and message on the air. If you 1103 01:04:24,840 --> 01:04:27,520 Speaker 2: would like to instead send us an email, you can. 1104 01:04:28,080 --> 01:04:31,120 Speaker 3: We are the entities that read each piece of correspondence 1105 01:04:31,120 --> 01:04:34,040 Speaker 3: we receive. Be well aware, yet I'm afraid. Sometimes a 1106 01:04:34,120 --> 01:04:37,600 Speaker 3: proxy void writes back, what do we mean? There's one 1107 01:04:37,600 --> 01:04:59,320 Speaker 3: way to find out conspiracy at iHeartRadio dot com. 1108 01:04:59,520 --> 01:05:01,600 Speaker 2: Stuff I Don't Want you to Know is a production 1109 01:05:01,720 --> 01:05:06,240 Speaker 2: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 1110 01:05:06,320 --> 01:05:09,200 Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.