Cam Reacts to: "The Questions We Never Ask"

Decent message: Yes
Filled with so many red-herrings you'll want to rip your hair out: Also Yes.

G’ Day Mates! Our friend Freshtastical has a new thinker for us today, “The Questions We Never Ask”. The video wasn’t as bad, or antigovernment as his other one we’ve looked over, The Lie We Live (check it out), but there were still some major flaws in it I would like to discuss. After two days of reacting to, let’s just say, misconstrued content (Onisions Topless Women Campaign, Is Life a Lie?), I’m definitely ready to go over another one, with maybe a bit more... common sense. So without further ado, let’s get right into it!

Note: I will be linking to parts of the video as I bring up each point, so you can follow along if you want, or if you can’t access the video, you can read along, and I’ll try to help you understand the best I can.

(0:07) – Yeah, no one cares about the internet. Seriously? I’m aware that this is a lead-in statement to the next point, but who do you know that doesn’t care about the internet? Obviously someone cares about it specifically all the information on it, as this video points out at the beginning. A few billion care enough to ask Google a ton of questions every day, and few hundred thousand people definitely cared to look up what questions they never ask, to get to this video in the first place.

(0:11) – Once again, no one is curious about the world? Is that why everyone always post up their vacation photos of beautiful mountain landscapes, searching for answers to questions about politics, technology, and conspiracies, and preparing information up in documents and spreadsheets for classes and jobs? I don’t think that the curiosity has left us quite yet, but go on.

(0:15) – As it turns out, when you get old, you get smarter. Why would you need to ask questions you already learned in the past? It’s a concept called knowledge, learn it.

(0:23) – People who question the world are usually ridiculed, because they come out with arguments like yours: They show real legitimate concern for something, but their justification for said concern makes no applicable sense, whatsoever. Take for example, what you said in your video, “The Lie We Live”, about education being a prime root of evil. You show legitimate concern for the children’s wellbeing, but other than that, your statement that education is evil because it’s endorsed by the government just makes no sense.

Question time! This is where the video starts to ask the real big questions, and I’m going to do my best to answer them all, because truth be told, they’re not very hard questions to answer. The highlighted questions are direct quotes from Freshtastical:

(0:59) – “Why do we search the universe for new life, when we can’t even coexist with the life on our own planet?” For starters, since when has it ever been practical to deal with just one problem at a time? This question presents somewhat of a logical fallacy, as according to the statement, it only makes sense to do one thing at a time, without multitasking. Here’s an example of the question in action, on any given day: I’m not quite sure what the assignment was for school, so I may need to contact my friend because I know he takes better notes than me, but my phone is dead, so it needs charging. I can do one of two things, start my work, then if I need help, start charging my phone then or plug my phone in before I start my work, so it’s ready if I need it. Make sense? Same thing can be said for this question. We look for extra ordinary life elsewhere, because even though we have problems at home, it doesn’t hurt to expand our reach elsewhere. Assuming the day finally comes, in fact, and assuming that we play our cards right, when we do come into contact with aliens, they might be able to help straighten out our problems here. Our lives continue, but it does no harm to look, and when we find what we’re looking for, it could do us good.

(1:05) – Fresh attempts to explain away what both I and he just said, by saying that we expect all life to be like us. He never again addresses economic struggle, or social justice like he did when he originally asked the question. As I said before: assuming the day finally comes, and assuming that we play our cards right, when we do come into contact with aliens, they might be able to help straighten out our problems here. It does no harm to look, and when we find what we’re looking for, it could do us good, and it doesn’t hurt to look, just in case

(1:12) – “How is it that in a world that in a world with millions of species, we see ourselves as the only one that thinks, feels, and matters?" Not to be mean to the animals, because they’re all important to how the world functions, but if we’re going to be as technical as possible, we are the only species on earth that thinks intellectually, feels emotionally, and matters on a grand scale. Most of us think in this way, because it’s true. Even though scientifically, we could not survive without other species completing the ecosystem, we are no doubt special. How many different types of animals can you name that are capable of rapid learning and adaption, not just for survival, but to better its understanding of the world it lives in? Has your dog ever expressed happiness, or sadness, or joy at anything other than the sight of you, or its food? And don’t tell me you’ve ever seen an animal capable of changing the physical world on the scale that humans can, because no animal other than humans has done so, and I have yet to see any other animal alive that fulfilled any of these requirements.

(1:17) – An important part of history is understanding why it was the way it was, good or bad. I’m not supporting any of this, but was it really that unrealistic for a culture as advanced as Europe’s, to call people such as the Native Americans, and Africans, inferior to themselves? In their eyes they were less advanced, both society wise, and technology wise, they didn’t have modern houses, weaponry, clothing, etc. They just didn’t understand ‘the modern world’. Now a days, this behavior would be deemed prejudice, and rightly so. Today our world is somewhat free of the “unknown factor” that explorers during the Age of Discovery had to deal with, such as the possibility that other people may not necessarily be inferior, just different. This is a process called, development, in case you didn’t know Fresh. We learned from our mistakes, and are smarter now as a result.

(1:25) – If something’s different, shouldn’t it be treated differently? In the context of the statement, it makes sense: just because someone’s from a different place doesn’t mean there any less smart or athletic than you, but as a general life practice, it makes no sense. Should I have to do jumping jacks in gym class if I’m missing a leg, or an arm? I think factors like that would have trouble fitting in to your one-size-fits-all philosophy.

(1:34) – “We look around us, and there’s little life to be seen”, he says as he shows videos of a populated street in a city. Just because we’re the “worst species on the planet”, doesn’t mean we don’t count as life.

(1:44) – He makes the point that we see ourselves as people, and all other life as animals, and we have nothing in common, and that’s, once again, a true statement. As with the previous question: “How is it that in a world that in a world with millions of species, we see ourselves as the only one that thinks, feels, and matters?”, drawing this unnecessary comparison between us and animals for the sake of the point is unnecessary. Cats, dogs, and other animals as we know it (I’m sure you will find), would have a hard time getting a job, working, raising a family, expressing emotions, and so forth. Are we similar to animals? Yes, but are we animals? Yes, but I’m sure that you can tell, we are not just like animals, our intelligence, free will, and right judgment make us different from them. Say, why is this starting to sound like a vegan argument video?

(1:51) – Tradition? Since when has killing things became a tradition? We kill to survive, just like animals do, and I’m 100% sure that killing is a tradition in very few cultures (I wrote up a whole Future Analysis on the subject of tradition). You could make the argument that we produce way more food than we need, so we don’t need to kill to survive, but that’s a corporate issue, not an active one. The act of killing for food, in and of itself, is neither tradition, nor barbaric in the sense, as the action alone is just simple survival.  Even though some do, society as a whole does not just kill for sport or tradition, as you may think.

(1:58) – This point is debatable, but do we really raise life to be killed? As opposed to what? Letting all the cows wander in the wild, so they can be eventually be killed anyway by wolves and bears? Do humans factory farm? Sure, but at least they’re going to a “good cause”, and not just being expelled in the wild, to throw the whole ecosystem off balance. There haven’t really been any new “questions we never ask” yet. Where did those go?

(2:04) – I can’t speak for hunters, but for the general population, who likes killing things? Seriously, where did that come from? Also, who eats meat “just for the taste”? I certainly don’t, there are tons of things that taste like beef that I can put on any food I want, without having to eat meat, and I’m willing to bet that many others realized this to, and that’s probably why vegans exist in the first place. Other than that, there are real benefits to meat, such as protein, fat, and cholesterol. Protein is important for muscle growth, and there’s no denying that meat is the best place to get this from, and even though fat and cholesterol have been given a bad name in the industry, they’re almost as important as protein is, that is, if you like testosterone, the key growth hormone found in both men and women, which is responsible for energy and growth. Seriously, is this a vegan support video?

(2:15) – “Why is it when some animals are killed, it becomes a headline, but when others are murdered we don’t blink an eye?” First off, murder is a strong word. As mentioned before, we don’t murder animals we kill and eat them for the energy they provide, and to complete the ecosystem. Second, and once again, this question is worded oddly, and frankly, makes no sense. It purposely try’s to degrade the argument he provides, by purposely leaving out the very article he showed as an example. For those who can’t see it, he uses an article reading: “Jimmy Kimmel fights back tears over the killing of Cecil the Lion”, as an example for animals that became headlines when they were killed. Excuse me? You can’t even compare these two events! Cecil the lion was a major park attraction at a zoo, who also happened to be important to local wildlife research, and who also happened to be killed in cold blood by a big game hunter. When compared next to the pig you show after that, it’s kind of hard to take you seriously. That would be like comparing a regular guys expected and normal death of old age, to the death of Elvis, which was not only sudden, but was surrounded in mystery, and who happened to be the second bestselling musician of all time. Both people were obviously important to someone, but without factoring in emotion, it should hopefully be obvious that Elvis’ death would be deserving of more coverage, in this scenario.

(2:22) – That’s just cultural difference. Fresh brings up the point that some cultures eat dogs, and we laugh at cultures that don’t eat cows. I don’t think this is really laughing, as much as it just thinking it’s weird. Like I said, there’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all philosophy, or at least, they’re hard to come by. Just because we think that such a practice is odd in western culture, doesn’t mean were laughing at them, and disgusted by them, there’s no reason to go to that extreme. In the words of Obi Wan, “Only a sith speaks in absolute”, or in other words, only someone deliberately trying to deceive someone would draw such a black and white comparison between two different subjects.

(2:32) – I guess Fresh decided to just summarize up for me his main weakness, and for that, I thank you. What is his main weakness, you ask? Well, he started by finishing off this portion of the video with the resounding statement of, the norm is different everywhere you go, but everyone wants to be normal, and it’s only when the norm changes, do we criticize the past ways... HELLO!!! That’s what I’ve been saying all along! The only problem is that he takes this relatively good, positive, and may I say, correct statement, and makes it sound evil, vile, and generally wrong. Freshtastical’s biggest weakness is very obvious at this point: he will say whatever needs to be said to twist whatever he needs to say, into something to further his agenda, that being this videos message. Is it really new knowledge that the human race changes with time? Or that different cultures have different beliefs? Maybe Fresh just doesn’t know that societal evolution is a good thing, and wants humanity to be perfect, all the time.

(2:44) – So Fresh calls to attention that heart disease, cancer, and obesity has become the new “normal” (which by the way, is not the norm), but he takes it a step further, by saying that it’s “all we’ve ever known”? I surly hope that he’s not talking about all of human history, but we’ll get back to this. First off, as in the first video he made that I reacted to already, as you age, your body becomes more susceptible to disease, because nature did not intend for humans to live more than 40 years or so. Let’s just say that in order to be “normal”, it must affect at least 40% of the population, seems fair? Well, to start off, the worldwide cancer rate is about (doing some simple math), .45% (Source), not even close to being normal, in fact, it’s not even 10%. Next, the world obesity rate is only 1 in 3, or 33% (Source), closer, but still not quite normal. Lastly, the world heart disease rate (from what I can tell) is still only about 26.8% (Source), so heart diseases is also not a normalcy, despite its numbers also being high, thus putting the final nail in the coffin of Fresh’s bombastic statement that all the things prior were normal to people around the world. Second, as I mentioned before, he might just be referring to the current generation, but he heavily implies that throughout history, the human race has had problems what heart disease, cancer, and obesity, despite these all belong relatively new conditions in the human timeline. I have nothing more to say on that, I think it speaks for itself.

(2:50) – Aw, come on! Protein is a good thing! Meat is good! This is definitely a vegan pandering video, and I’m not going to let this one go. Now that I think about it, it’s starting to make sense; this is all just a cover. If you count all the points that were made in this video, it’s become clear that about half of them in some way further the vegan agenda. I don’t have a problem with veganism as a practice, but I do have a problem with vegans. I don’t mind not wanting to eat animals for ethical reasons, but if you’re going to try to sell me the idea that meat is unhealthy, than I have a hard time trusting you (I lay out all the arguments in this Post). Either way, let’s just see what else is in store for us here, and if it’s more of this malarkey, I’m just going to link back to the article I did previously, covering all of this.

(2:53) – Yeah, we’re not told protein can come from other foods. Seriously? What do you think the fitness industry does all day? Shoots up on steroids? No, just listen to any professional for five minutes on the subject of protein and he’ll happily tell you the same thing that you claim is some sort of “trade secret”.

(2:58) – Meat is unhealthy? No, just read my other article and you’ll see why (Here).

(3:02) – It appears that Freshtastical also doesn’t know what counts as a “waste”. Sure, farming may take up room, but it doesn’t waste land. A waste is something that’s bought or expelled for no reason, but there is clearly a reason for letting cows have a place to live, even if it’s for horrible purposes, as you claim.

(3:14) – What’s with all the robots you think make up our society? We don’t question tradition? Yeah right. I’m conservative as all hell, and even I questioned tradition, or at least the future of it (See Here). Besides, if there weren’t people questioning tradition, you wouldn’t be here, would you? After all, it’s all right to question something, but just because it may seem a bit old fashioned, or outdated, doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing.

(3:20) – The one thing I’ve noticed about Fresh is that right at the end of his videos; he always seems to come back around and has a change of heart. He finally works up the guts to make the statement I’ve made several times already; you can’t grow as a society unless you start asking questions. Perfect! He finally gets it!

(4:05) – So he goes on with a decent speech about how it doesn’t make sense why we try to hide our feelings, and why we think our actions will have no impact, and I get that. I think the same way. Someone’s got to do something, right? However, he lost me at the “humans are the villain” crap he says right at the end. I don’t have any context for why he’s saying this yet, so let us keep going on this journey, and finish off this last minute together.

(4:16) – As it turns out, he never really answers that statement, or follows up to it in any way. Why leave me hanging? “Humans are evil”, “Humans think they’re the good guy”, why say all these things without evidence. Up to this point, you’ve suggested that humans are corrupt, and I can see why you would think that, but now we’re just full blown villains? Why? Because we want to eat the foods we’re supposed to be eating in the wild, which you so clearly support? Is it because we understand the value of life, and wage wars to defend it? Is it because nations around the world have teams of experts trying to find the solutions to all these problems, as we speak? Seriously, give me something to work with before you go and make a statement like that.

And so the video finishes off with how we can still choose to change what we are, and how we can still change the fate of the planet. So, what did I think of this video? Well, if you read any of the text above, you know I wasn’t very fond of it. I personally think it’s petty and low to just assume the worst of everything, and that it isn’t very progressive to focus on past mistakes, much like this video does.

So, do any of you have any suggestions, or similar thoughts you’d like to make, or perhaps disagree with me completely, and would like to add to the conversation? Well then, what are you waiting for? Please leave some comments below to enhance other reader’s experience of this article, and get some of these thoughts off your chest. If you liked the article, or were informed by at least a few of the points I made, please leave a like, it really helps. That’s all for now, but I think my 3,000 word reaction should be enough to sate your desires for the time being.

As always, I’ll see you later! P.S. Just a heads up, but I’m getting ready for my first special article coming out next week. It’s a full analysis of, well, you’ll just have to wait to find out!