Category Archives: Self Education

This self education category is to inspire the reader to improve their education and critical thinking skills, particularly in relation to financial freedom and personal development with sub categories of philosophical and financial. A key part of my personal development has been to overcome the ‘dumbing-down’ process I have experienced and here I present information which has been key to this process for me. Self education is about empowering yourself and taking responsibility – these are crucial aspects of entrepreneurialism and have many knock-on benefits which I will explain in various posts in this section.

The Tiny Dot Video By Larken Rose

Critical Thinking, , , ,

I came across this video while doing some online research. I really like it for a variety of reasons.

I really like the message and think that the Western world would be a better place if more people took a little time away from some of the mind-numbing activities they seem to be drawn to and instead spent that time thinking about the type of concepts and questions posed in the video, simplistic though they may be.

They should get children to ponder these questions in school ideally, but alas, schools are part of the system so that isn’t likely to happen anytime soon, is it?

I also like it because without being too condescending, it is a good example of how to get a message across to the ‘typical’ internet user who might have a short attention span and who might also have difficulty grasping the same concept presented in a more complicated manner.

There are a few aspects to this, some more obvious than others. For example, the graphical representation of the dots clearly emphasises the main point and demonstrates the difference in scale. But I also like the repetition used with the sound that is played whenever he mentions ‘the enforcers.’ Does this help to get the point across? It kind of tickled me.

The use of the ladies voice interjecting to point out the ‘accurate graphical representation’ aspect contrasts nicely with the ‘story-telling’ voices used by Larken, which (coupled with the handy green arrow that appears) makes sure that there can be almost no possibility of even the most distracted viewer from misunderstanding which group the narrator is referring to.

A little light humour (‘and one little troublemaker asked, “What if we don’t?”‘) helps to ensure that any youngsters watching are entertained, along with any easily entertained adults, like myself.

There is one important point which appears to be missing, though. The ‘dot’ is armed (via the enforcers) and in most Western countries the mass of dots are unarmed and the dot uses the implied threat and the actual use of violence to intimidate the mass of dots.

Any explanation of how the tiny dot intimidates the mass of dots is not entirely accurate if this little, but not insignificant fact is left out.

Regardless, it turns out (surprise, surprise!) to be an ad – for a book. I’m not the biggest fan of most advertising I come across, but this one gets the thumbs up from me. It’s educational, thought-provoking,  interesting, different (that’s especially cool) and the viewer gets a ‘takeaway’ even if they don’t buy – a freebie of sorts. That’s ethical and smart selling in my book.

If you have any comments on this video or my take on it, please feel free to leave them below and I will respond to them as soon as I can. Thanks for visiting.

Stefan Molyneux – The Handbook Of Human Ownership – A Manual For Tax Farmers

Philosophical, , , ,

Here’s another Stefan Molyneux video for you. I really like this one and listened to it three times in two days when I first found it. Because it’s quite long, I think Stefan spent his time on the audio content and grabbed some public domain video for the background, which doesn’t always match the topic being discussed. Therefore, I treat this as a podcast – for audio purposes only.

It is narrated in the style of a teacher explaining to a new ruler of a country who is in training, how they should proceed in order to keep the masses enslaved and themselves enriched via the production of the masses. He makes some particularly pertinent points regarding the origins and aims of feminism and the indoctrination of children within the state school system.

I imagine that for some people, this video may come across as incredibly boring or depressing. It’s one of those things that is difficult for me to judge. But for myself, it’s perfect for the stage I am at in my self education and personal development. Recently, I have made big strides in avoiding mainstream media (online newspapers) and television news and other TV programming. It’s this kind of stuff that I am replacing it with, often listening to it in the background as I complete other tasks.

I hope that some of my blog readers may gain something from this kind of material. If you do enjoy it or get anything from it, please leave me a comment below, letting me know.

Rob Newman’s ‘The History Of Oil’

Critical Thinking, , , ,

I came across this video on Sunday in my bookmarks, where I had saved it for watching at a later date after finding it via a link somewhere. It’s a live performance by Rob Newman, in which he couples his sense of humour with a political/historical message.

I chose to post it here because I think it’s excellent, educational, amusing and a great example of how to keep the interest of your audience while making a serious point.

If you can spare forty-five minutes for something a little different, I hope that you enjoy it. If you want to skim it quickly to see if you like it, try jumping to 17.50 where he does an impression of Tony Blair in order to answer this point –

“Of course, Blair can’t actually be a war criminal, can he? He listens to Oasis.

He can’t be a war criminal because we know what war criminals look like, they look like Goebbels.

But what did Goebbels look like to the Germans?”

Stefan Molyneux – The Story Of Our Unenslavement

Philosophical, , , ,

I embedded one of Stefan Molyneux’s videos earlier on this blog, called ‘The Story Of Your Enslavement.’

I like Stefan’s videos and include them here because they always make me think and they do so in a way which helps me to understand why my financial and business independence is important, along with many other things. To expand on this, I feel that it is risky to rely on anyone else, because others have their own agenda. Every time I put this theory to the test, the results come back the same – independence and freedom are a crucial part of the ExRat way.

I thought it was fitting to add the follow-up video to that one here. In this video Stefan expresses his viewpoint that statism is just another religion – it has similarities in the churches, symbols, deities, rewards and punishments plus it relies on the control and abuse of children.

He feels that the solution lies in raising our children without the language of the state – instead of aggression, raised voices and hands, bullying, control, punishment and manipulation we should instead choose gentleness but firmness coupled with love.

He suggests that violence is a language that we must unlearn, because then the state will reveal itself as just a silly superstition.

I believe that it’s an important part of anyone’s personal development to find the kind of material that makes us stop, think and ask more questions of ourselves and of the world around us.

Leverage, Liquidity, Re-Hypothecation & The Shadow Banking System’s Current Difficulties Explained In Layman’s Terms

Financial, , , ,

I am increasingly finding myself drawn to ZeroHedge.com to further my education regarding the current financial crisis involving the banking/financial system. It’s also refreshing to read this website after seeing the tripe served up by the mainstream media.

I read an article this morning regarding ‘Why The UK Trail Of The MF Global Collapse May Have “Apocalyptic” Consequences For The Eurozone, Canadian Banks, Jefferies And Everyone Else.’

The article draws heavily on Reuters for it’s references which is always a little bit more reassuring. It’s not a quick read but it explains how financial investments are leveraged up to four times larger than they should ever be within the shadow banking system and how this has led to a situation where one weak link in the daisy-chain of debt can now bring down the whole house of cards and more than likely will at some point.

I consider it essential reading for anyone who wants to become more knowledgeable about this subject and if you’re in business or have anything to do with money (all of us, in other words) you really should try and keep abreast of what’s going on in the higher echelons of financial ‘society’ because their shenanigans affect us all.