|
Can't get enough of this video? Here are some related videos:
Wait, When Are Abortions Legal? | Planned Parenthood v. Casey (video released 7/9/21)
How Birth Control Became Legal | Griswold v. Connecticut (video released 12/18/2020) When Abortion Became Legal | Roe v. Wade (video released 2/19/2017) And as promised, here is the script from my video: Jackson, Mississippi March 19, 2018 The Mississippi state legislature passes a controversial law called the Gestational Age Act, which banned all abortions after the first 15 weeks of pregnancy except in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the pregnant woman. After Mississippi’s governor at the time, Phil Bryant, signed the bill into law, he said, “We’ll probably be sued here in about a half hour, and that’ll be fine with me. It is worth fighting over.”^1 Bryant and others who supported the Gestational Age Act, of course, had the true goal of banning abortion and supported this law because they knew it would be challenged and hopefully be appealed all the way to the Supreme Court. Sure enough, within 24 hours after the Gestational Age Act passed, Jackson Women’s Health Organization sued Mississippi. Specifically, Sacheen Carr-Ellis, a doctor at Jackson Women’s Health Organization, sued state officials Thomas Dobbs of the Mississippi State Department of Health and Kenneth Cleveland, the executive director of the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was Mississippi’s only abortion clinic and was already underfunded.^2 In the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, lawyers representing Jackson Women’s Health Organization said that the Supreme Court decisions of Roe v. Wade (1973) and Casey v. Planned Parenthood (1992) had long established that abortion was a right protected under the 14th Amendment’s Due Process Clause. In addition, their lawyers argued that the Gestational Age Act went against a woman’s right to privacy as implied through the Ninth Amendment. And finally, they argued that Mississippi attempting to ban abortions before the age of viability, or the age when the fetus could survive outside of the womb on its own, was also unconstitutional as established in the Casey decision. Typically, a fetus is not able to survive outside the womb until their age is at least 23 weeks.^3 District Judge Carlton Reeves sided with Jackson Women’s Health Organization, stating that the Gestational Age Act was unconstitutional and Mississippi had “no legitimate state interest strong enough, prior to viability, to justify a ban on abortions.”^4 Reeves ordered Mississippi to not enforce the law. Mississippi appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, but it agreed with the lower court. In that decision, senior Judge Patrick Higginbotham wrote, “In an unbroken line dating to Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court’s abortion cases have established (and affirmed, and re-affirmed) a woman’s right to choose an abortion before viability. States may regulate abortion procedures prior to viability so long as they do not impose an undue burden on the woman’s right, but they may not ban abortions.”^5 Mississippi appealed again, this time to the Supreme Court with the goal of overturning both Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood, which was its original plan all along amirite. In its request for the Supreme Court, the state said that a fetus can detect pain and respond to it at 10-12 weeks gestational age and that the viability standard needed to be updated. After the Court agreed to hear the case on May 17, 2021, “pro-choice” advocates, or those who supported abortion rights, got pretty nervous since six seemingly socially conservative justices now sat on the bench. While none of them had explicitly said they would overturn the Roe and Casey decisions, millions of Americans had voted for socially conservative Presidents for decades to get justices in the Supreme Court that would do just that. The Court heard oral arguments on December 1, 2021. Arguing for Mississippi, Scott Stewart argued that the Constitution doesn’t explicitly guarantee a right to abortion. He added that the Roe and Casey decisions should be overturned since fetal research has revealed new discoveries. Arguing for Jackson Women’s Health Organization, U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said the Roe and Casey decisions should not be overturned because the Court “has never revoked a right that is so fundamental to so many Americans and so central to their ability to participate fully and equally in society.”^6 On May 2, 2022, Politico released a draft of a majority opinion by Justice Samuel Alito that revealed the justices had sided with Mississippi. Well, this immediately created media fanfare and protests around the country. This leak of a draft decision was unprecedented, in fact, and definitely upset most of the Supreme Court justices, who have traditionally been proud of their ability to keep decisions under wraps until the right moment. As of the time of the recording of this video, we still don’t know who leaked the draft. The big question the Court had to consider in this case? Well, pretty simple, really. Was Mississippi’s Gestational Age Act unconstitutional? The Court said “no.” On June 24, 2022, it announced it had sided with Dobbs and Mississippi. And yep, it was 6-3. Not only did the Court say that Mississippi’s Gestational Age Act was constitutional, but it said that the Constitution does not guarantee a right to abortion. Justice Samuel Alito, who indeed wrote the majority opinion, used the Supreme Court decision Washington v. Glucksberg (1997) as precedent to back up this decision, writing, “The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision.”^7 This was a pretty big freaking deal, because by deciding this way, the Court overruled both Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) and Roe v. Wade (1973). This decision caused several state legislatures to immediately pass laws to either severely limit or even outright ban all abortions. In fact, some states had passed laws already that did because they anticipated this decision. At the time of the recording of this video, at least 20 states have banned abortion or heavily restricted it.^8 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, as you could imagine, is an extremely controversial decision. According to one poll, 62% of Americans disapproved of how the Court decided.^9 Not only that, the decision has rejuvenated the “pro-choice” movement ever since. In the 2022 midterm elections, millions of Americans showed up to the polls specifically motivated to vote against those who wanted to ban or severely limit abortion.^10 The Dobbs decision revealed one thing for sure- the abortion debate isn’t going to cool off any time soon. I’ll see you for the next Supreme Court case, jury! Well I don’t have a sponsor for this video but I do have stuff to promote. First all of my videos are now on Spotify, so if you’re over there, find me there. I’ll be waiting there. Patiently. Second, don’t forget I have written a book about what I think are the 100 most important Supreme Court cases in history. And finally, behind me is a newly revamped Timeline of U.S. History poster that I helped make with Useful Charts. Hey if you’re looking for some last-minute Christmas gift ideas, these two things might just be what they never knew they wanted, eh? And now it’s time for a shout out for my Patreon supporters who donate at least $15 or more each month to my channel. Starting with my biggest donors in alphabetical order, thank you to… Thank you to ALL my Patreon supporters and channel members, and thank YOU for staying curious. _____________________________________________ ^1. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/19/595045249/mississippi-governor-signs-nations-toughest-abortion-ban-into-law ^2. https://www.thisamericanlife.org/774/the-pink-house-at-the-center-of-the-world/act-seven-13 ^3. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11753511/ ^4. https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/20/health/mississippi-abortion-ban-15-weeks-ruling/index.html ^5. Claeys, Eric (March 2022). "Dobbs and the Holdings of Roe and Casey". Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy. 20: 286 (page 5 of the PDF) ^6. Shimabukuro 2021, pp. 3–4 and Heritage Reporting Corporation 2021, pages 84–85 (pages 85–86 of the pdf) ^7. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf ^8. https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/state-policies-abortion-bans ^9. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2022/07/06/majority-of-public-disapproves-of-supreme-courts-decision-to-overturn-roe-v-wade/ ^10. https://www.npr.org/2022/11/25/1139040227/abortion-midterm-elections-2022-republicans-democrats-roe-dobbs Check out cool primary sources here: https://www.oyez.org/cases/2021/19-1392 Other sources used: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/597us1r58_gebh.pdf https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/597/19-1392/case.pdf https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/supreme-court-case-library/dobbs-v-jackson-womens-health-organization https://reproductiverights.org/cases/scotus-mississippi-abortion-ban-dobbs-jackson-womens-health/ruling-overturns-roe-v-wade/ https://www.scotusblog.com/cases/case-files/dobbs-v-jackson-womens-health-organization/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XjSawsyvYw Buy our Timeline of U.S. History poster? https://usefulcharts.com?aff=12
0 Comments
Can't get enough of this video? Here are some related videos:
Lawrence and Ames Compared Why Kansas City is (Mostly) in Missouri Where the American Civil War REALLY Began
And as promised, here is the script from my video:
Mr. Beat here. Basketball is one of my favorite sports. (throw up ball) (lands in clone’s hand as he makes the layup) Clone: Kobe! Mr. Beat: Bucket! (turning) Hundreds of millions of human beings play this sport (turning) BILLIONS watch it (turning) And yes, it brings in BILLIONS of dollars each year (turning) Heck, the highest paid athletes in the world are basketball players The National Basketball Association, or NBA, which is the top professional basketball league in the world (turning) made $11.3 billion alone last year. That’s just one league. $11.3 billion dollars. A billion is a thousand million. And they made 11.3 of those thousand millions. Holy moly. You can find basketball fans in every country Depending on how you look at it, it may be the third-most-popular or even SECOND-most-popular sport in the world. And yet, it didn’t even exist 135 years ago. And it began as just something to keep the kids busy indoors when it was too cold to go outside. Here’s the story of how basketball went from a weird gym class experiment to a global phenomenon, baby. (turn to look at clone) Clone: Kobe! Mr. Beat: Bucket! If you were alive in the 2020s like I was, you’d know that inflation has been bad, and since everything gets more expensive every year, I’m constantly trying to find new ways to save money and optimize my spending. And one way I’ve done that throughout the 2020s? Rocket Money, which is a sponsor of this video. And yes, I’ve literally been using Rocket Money this entire decade. It’s helped me track my spending and categorize transactions to see exactly where my money is going. I love using it to cancel unwanted subscriptions. Rocket Money will automatically scan your bills to find savings. In fact, Rocket Money has helped its customers save up to $740 a year when you use all of the app’s premium features. Rocket Money is free to download, but you can get a free premium trial when you sign up with my link. Go to Rocket Money dot com slash mrbeat or scan the QR code on the screen right now! Woahness! I’ll also include the link in my description. Thanks to Rocket Money for sponsoring this video. -The Shocking History of Basketball- Other than volleyball (which also started at a YMCA), basketball may just be the only major sport in world history that can definitively trace its origin to a single person. (turning) And who was that person? This guy. Dr. James Naismith. Hey, you want one of those fun facts? The guy who invented basketball spent most of his life in my home town and is buried here. In the fall of 1891, Naismith was an instructor at the (sing) YMCA school…seriously, the Young Men’s Christian Association Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts. It’s now called Springfield College. Anyway, Naismith’s PE students were bored. Stuck inside due to the cold and nasty weather outside, Naismith had tried to keep them active by doing gymnastics or calisthenics. But that wasn’t any fun to the students. They wanted something more competitive…something they could play with a team. And so, Naismith’s boss, a dude named Luther Glick, said Naismith should invent a new game that
And so he did. Naismith came to class one day in December 1891 with rules for a brand new game and taught them how to play. He nailed up two peach baskets on opposite ends of the gym balcony, grabbed a soccer ball, and split his class of 18 into two teams of nine. Even though the peach baskets were RANDOMLY about 10 feet (3 meters) off the ground because that’s how high the balcony was, TO THIS DAY nearly all official basketball hoops are 10 feet off the ground. Well, not this one. Yeah usually they let kids play on shorter hoops. Like myself. They had to pass the ball around and couldn’t run with the ball. And then, once they got near a peach basket, they had to throw or bounce the ball into the basket. Every time a team got a ball in the basket, it was a goal. The team with the most goals won the game. Naismith’s students weren’t enthusiastic. “Huh, another new game,” one said.^1 Soon Naismith typed out 13 rules for his new game and tacked them up on a bulletin board.
December 21, 1891- according to multiple sources, that was the date of the first-ever game of basketball. The final score of that game? 1 to 0. And that single point came when William Chase made a shot from about 25 feet away. Yep, we also know the first person to ever score a basket. Now, of course…someone had to climb up and RETRIEVE the ball from the peach basket after Chase made that shot. No holes in the bottom yet. That came later. Well, the boys loved this new game, and so did the YMCA…so much that it spread the word about it to other YMCA schools in the region. And the game wasn’t just for the boys. After reading about Naismith’s new game, a woman named Senda Berenson introduced it to her female students. Since she didn’t have peach baskets, Berenson used waste baskets for the girls to shoot in. The first recorded women’s basketball game took place on March 22, 1893. The players all wore bloomers, and no men were allowed to watch. Now, the game wasn’t called “basketball” right away. When Naismith decided to publish the new game’s rules in a local newspaper, he realized it didn’t have an official name yet. Some of his students suggested he should name it after himself: “Naismith Ball.” Instead, he went with the name “basketball”…since…ya know…the goal was to get the ball in the basket? Clone: Kobe! Mr. Beat: Make it rain! Next thing ya know, Naismith’s game was being played at YMCAs around the country. They even added holes to the bottom of the baskets. Still, compared to today, those early games were pretty chill and slow-paced. And BECAUSE the YMCA was a worldwide organization, basketball quickly became a worldwide sport, too. In less than two years, it had reached France, China, and India. The first known game between two teams representing college teams went down on February 9, 1895. Minnesota A&M, a college which later became part of the University of Minnesota beat Hamline University 9-3. Then again, that was when basketball was still played under the rules that allowed nine players to play on one team at a time. With the help of folks like Lambert Will, the rules evolved quite a bit in those early years. So these rules are outdated. Well crap! The first known game between two college teams in which players each had five players playing at a time went down on January 18, 1896 between the University of Chicago and University of Iowa. The first known “professional” basketball game...which means the players were basically actually getting paid to play…took place on November 7, 1896 in Trenton, New Jersey. The players each earned the equivalent of around $578 in today’s money for participating in the game.^2 Around that time, James Naismith took a job here, at the University of Kansas. Oh the job had nothing to do with basketball. The University hired Naismith to be a chapel director/P.E. teacher, duh. They paid him the equivalent of just over $50,000 a year in today’s money. (looking over) Cheapskates. Around the time Naismith first arrived at the university, which is in Lawrence, Kansas by the way…basketball was considered a sissy game…not even considered a real “sport” yet. But that didn’t stop Naismith from teaching his new P.E. students how to play. And wouldn’t ya know it, they ALSO loved it. Soon enough, Naismith started a campus league and then the university let him pick the league’s best players to form the school’s first official team in 1898. They mainly just played YMCA teams. Naismith would often step in as the referee during these games. But then the University was like, “uh hey James Naismith, would you like to, like totally, COACH, these guys?!?” And James was like, “Coach? These guys don’t need to be coached.” And soon enough, Naismith indeed became the University of Kansas basketball team’s first official coach. And here’s a crazy fact for you- Naismith was the only University of Kansas basketball coach in history to retire with a losing record. Let me rephrase that. The only person to coach Kansas basketball to ever have a losing record over his career was the guy WHO LITERALLY INVENTED THE SPORT. One of Naismith’s players, though, went on to become one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time. In fact, he’d take Naismith’s job and then go on to win three national championships and 24 conference championships over 39 seasons. That man’s name was Forrest. (turn) No, not Forrest Gump. Forrest Allen…aka “Phog Allen.” Yep, that’s a statue of him. And today, the University of Kansas basketball team plays in this historic arena behind me…Allen Fieldhouse…yep…named after Phog Allen. It’s a special place, for sure, even if you’re not a KU basketball fan. It's the loudest college basketball arena in the country. The playing surface is named “James Naismith Court,” of course. Oh, and guess what that street’s called? (pointing) Naismith Drive. Very good. Extra credit for you. Phog Allen would go on to coach players who later became Hall of Fame coaches themselves. Ok, enough about KU. Do realize I only brought a lot of this stuff because I’m biased. I went to the University of Kansas and have cheered on my Jayhawks MANY times in Allen Fieldhouse. Anyway, over the following years, the rules of the game continued to change. For example, for many years, basketball was played in cages and there was no out of bounds. In 1906, organizers began replacing wooden baskets with metal hoops and nets, like THIS, which you’re probably more familiar with. By that time, many African Americans had begun playing the sport, but leagues would remain racially segregated for decades afterward. The first independently organized black basketball team was the Smart Set Athletic Club of Brooklyn, New York. Smart Set Athletic Club…yeah that should totally also be a band name. Also by that time? Many realized they could make serious money off the game, and professional leagues popped up. Many came and went. The first ones were regional, with many cities having multiple teams. During World War One, the sport got introduced to A LOT more people as soldiers would play it during down time. In 1926, a team popped in the South Side of Chicago that called themselves the Harlem Globetrotters. They started out as a serious competitive team before evolving into entertainers, and today have fully turned the sport into an art form. The most famous professional team of the 1920s, though, was the Original Celtics…not to be confused with today’s Boston Celtics. Nah man, the Original Celtics were based in New York and even played at Madison Square Garden. Take that, Knicks. But yeah, the Original Celtics captured the attention of millions of Americans as they dominated nearly every game they played. In 1936, another notable team arrived on the scene. The All-American Red Heads. Yeah, that was really their name. The All-American Red Heads were the first professional women’s basketball team. But they played by men’s rules and played AGAINST men’s teams. They toured the country in a limousine at one point, and apparently really dyed their hair red…unless it was naturally that color already. Jump ahead to 1946, and a group of arena owners created the Basketball Association of America, hoping to fill their arenas during hockey’s off-season. Three years later, the league merged with its rival, the National Basketball League, to form the aforementioned National Basketball Association, or NBA. The first NBA game went down on November 1, 1946 between the Toronto Huskies and the New York Knickerbockers, a team that still exists that I mentioned earlier that we now just call the Knicks. Because syllables are difficult. I mean, hard. Back then, games were slow-paced and still low-scoring. There was no shot clock, so teams could just play keep away from their opponent or just dribble the clock down endlessly. That all changed in 1954 when the 24-second shot clock was introduced… Mr. Beat: At the buzzer…3, 2, 1, (passes) Clone: Kobe! Mr. Beat: Bucket! Forcing faster play and revolutionizing the game. The 1950s also saw the NBA integrate. Folks like Earl Lloyd, Chuck Cooper, and Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton became the first African Americans to play in the NBA. Then came Bill Russell, who joined the Boston Celtics in 1956 and then promptly led them to 11 championships in 13 seasons. No big deal. And don’t forget Wilt Chamberlain, who yep, played basketball here at the University of Kansas. There I go on about KU again. He went on to the NBA to dominate, at one point averaging 50 points a game. To this date, Chamberlain is the only professional basketball player in history to score 100 points in a single game. Holy crap. I forgot about that. Yeah, he scored 100 points as his team, the Philadelphia Warriors, beat the Knicks 160-146 on March 2, 1962. At the time, college basketball was still just as popular if not more popular as the NBA, and just 4,124 people witnessed it. The game wasn’t even televised.^3 Then again, Wilt Chamberlain had quite the advantage over the other players. He was 7-foot-1. More and more, folks were realizing that if you had the height…AND…if you could jump high…you automatically had an advantage in this sport. That’s right, I called it a “sport.” By the 1960s it was definitely a sport. In the decades since, the players have gotten consistently taller and taller and taller. But hey, don’t forget about the ABA! In 1967, an exciting new league called the American Basketball Association, or ABA, started that brought in new ideas like the three-point line, (Kobe! Shoot three) the slam dunk contest (Slam dunk! Try to slam dunk) the full court press, and the shootaround before the game. The ABA was louder, faster, and frankly more entertaining…and it gave us future legends like Julius Erving, aka Dr. J. By 1976, the ABA and NBA had merged, and indeed, the NBA absorbed the ABA’s flair. After the NBA introduced the three-point-line in 1979, teams began to completely change how they ran their offenses. In 1979, teams averaged fewer than 3 three-point attempts per game. By the mid-2010s, teams averaged around 32 three-point attempts per game. (wearing yellow Afro) But let’s go back to the 1970s for a moment. This might surprise you, but around the time the NBA introduced the 3-point line, the league was struggling with poor ratings and a bad public image. And then came Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, baby. Their rivalry began in college and got reignited in the pros. Bird’s Celtics and Magic’s Lakers dominated combining amazing star power and teamwork on the court and mad rizz off the court. And then came Michael Jordan. (clips) When Jordan entered the league in 1984, he took everything to another level - athleticism, competitiveness, marketing, and style. Even shorts got longer after him. Jordan’s six championships with the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s, along with the “Dream Team” of American superstars competing at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, made the NBA a global brand. Now more than ever, kids around the world were picking up basketballs and playing wherever they could. After all, you didn’t need money to play the game- there were no barriers to entry. Professional leagues popped up in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Players like Dirk Nowitzki and Yao Ming showed the world could produce stars, too. Today, the NBA features a record number of international players and some of the best players to ever play the game…players like Nikola Jokić, Luka Dončić, and Giannis Antetokounmpo….ok I just call him Giannis were all born outside the United States. Today, basketball is played in pretty much every country in the world and watched by BILLIONS. And the game continues to evolve. Players like LeBron James are now billionaires and have saved the economies of entire cities. Players like Steph Curry have made the three-point shot more important than ever. There’s also the WNBA, the most prominent women’s professional league in the world, was the fastest-growing brand in professional sports last year.^4 And new forms of basketball, like 3X3, are now Olympic events. From a small gym in Springfield, Massachusetts to the streets of Manila, from neighborhood parks to billion-dollar arenas- basketball’s 134-year story is one of constant innovation and global connection. What started as a simple game to keep some students busy in the the winter became a world wide language- one that unites people of a diverse range of cultures and ethnicities. And all it took…was a ball, two baskets, and a Canadian. (shoot backward) What about YOU, punks? Do YOU play basketball? Do you WATCH basketball? Do you SMELL basketballs? Well if you do that…that’s a little weird. Uh…who’s your favorite basketball player of all time? And I realized most of my regular viewers don’t care about basketball, but that’s what I do. I alienate my audience. Hey, but thanks for staying curious anyway! _________________________________________________ ^1.https://books.google.com/booksid=t55KEAAAQBAJ&dq=AIELLO+Hoops&pg=PR7#v=onepage&q=AIELLO%20Hoops&f=false ^2. https://www.hmdb.org/PhotoFullSize.asp?PhotoID=10505 ^3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilt_Chamberlain%27s_100-point_game ^4. https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanmshaw/2025/02/04/the-wnba-was-the-fastest-growing-brand-in-professional-sports-in-2024/ Sources/further reading: The Undisputed Guide to Pro Basketball History by Bethlehem Shoals and Jacob Weinstein Purchase here: https://amzn.to/4o3OmTr Hoops: A Cultural History of Basketball in America by Thomas Aiello Purchase here :https://amzn.to/4ot0zRq Basketball: Its Origin and Development by James Naismith Purchase here: https://amzn.to/43wvcxp James Naismith: The Man Who Invented Basketball by Rob Rains Purchase here: https://amzn.to/4o34epj https://about.fiba.basketball/en/news/fiba-celebrates-more-than-610-million-players-globally-on-second-edition-of-wbd https://www.topendsports.com/world/lists/earnings/athletes-paid-sports.htm https://www.sportsvalue.com.br/en/nba-teams-surpassed-us-11-3-billion-in-revenue-in-2024-total-valuation-reached-us-132-8-billion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_basketball https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09523369508713887 https://www.britannica.com/story/why-are-basketball-hoops-10-feet-high https://vault.si.com/vault/1991/11/11/when-the-court-was-a-cage-in-the-early-days-of-pro-basketball-the-players-were-segregated-from-the-fans https://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2015/12/19/james-naismith-basketball-audio-springfield Creative commons credits: TonytheTiger Sandro Halank
Can't get enough of this video? Here are some related videos:
How do you know if something is true? How to Spot Logical Fallacies (Featuring J... Why I stopped listening to Joe Rogan A Guide to Critical Thinking 4 Reasons Why We're So Divided Why we fall for con artists And as promised, here is the script from my video: These are dangerous times. Never have so many people had access to so much knowledge, and yet been so resistant to learning anything. - Tom Nichols, The Death of Expertise Street Studio My name is Matt Beat, and I’m standing out here on a street. But if you’re familiar with me already, you probably know me as Mr. Beat. If this is your first time watching me, you probably don’t trust me. And that’s a good thing. It’s good to be skeptical about people you don’t know or people you’ve just met. However, if you’ve been watching my videos for awhile, you probably DO trust me. I want you to think about WHY you trust me. Really think about that. In fact, pause this video to think about it if you have to. Ok, you can unpause it now. Thank you. I’ve worked really hard to earn your trust, but it doesn’t mean I’m perfect. I’m biased. Sometimes I make mistakes. Despite that, I’m hoping you trust me anyway because I am trying really hard to get it right. What does “getting it right” mean? I’ll explain that a bit later, but first, I need to tell you what this video is about. This video is about why we trust experts. Let’s do a little exercise… What is this man an expert at? (Stephen A. Smith) What is this woman an expert at? (Oprah Winfrey) What about THIS man? What is THIS man an expert at? (Bill Nye) Ahh, here’s another person. What is THIS woman an expert at? (Brett Cooper) What about THIS man? (pointing to myself) Well…we are all experts at the same thing. At least, we are all TRYING to be experts at the same thing. What is that same thing? I’ll tell you at the end of the video. No! Don’t skip ahead! What the whole video, if you don’t mind. I decided to make this video because I realized a while back that we are probably living in what future historians call The Misinformation Age, a time when it was easy to believe whatever we wanted to believe because it was easy to find evidence to back up what we believed, even if that evidence ignored lots of other evidence that proved the opposite was true. One of the most troubling trends of this Misinformation Age is the growing trend to not trust experts. https://youtu.be/WfA4jtUHG5k?si=ttvcrq0VSNE87Ejw&t=1088 https://youtu.be/IYGG84s1a28?si=VaB4oU-uqKTVyf6h&t=550 Or, at least, experts that tell us what we don’t want to hear. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY4Yx8CTVbc&t At the same time, we all seem to think we are experts about everything. https://youtu.be/q_Ogixg1WTg?si=64KG1jeqalHdy_8D&t=676 https://youtu.be/Ahr5biR8OAw?si=8yRJKbpBlmJvk2-F&t=1199 Ok I don’t trust anyone on the internet who says they’ve read studies. I am fairly certain that anyone who has ever said they read studies has probably never read one study. Mk? Anyway, I do think it’s good to question experts. We should question EVERYONE. But in this video, I want to convince you that trusting experts will make your life a whole lot easier. Like, you’ll be so much happier if you do. Titlecard: Why do we trust experts? Before I explain why we trust experts, I think it’s probably better to explain why we trust…ANYONE. Why do we trust ANYONE? Nearly all of us trust at least a few people. Mostly, we trust our family and friends…well…CLOSE friends. Robert is our friend, but we don’t always trust Robert because Robert tends to…exaggerate sometimes. Sorry Robert. We also trust people in the media. Yes, you do. You trust people in the media whether you realize it or not. Hey, speaking of which, the sponsor of this video is pretty freaking relevant. One great way to find out whether or not we should trust a media source is by going to Ground News. I’ve used Ground News for many years at this point. Need I remind you that Ground News is a website and app that gathers articles from over 50,000 news sources around the world to show you media bias. Here’s an example…. left/right/center Factuality Ownership And don’t forget the Blindspot feature, which shows you stories that have been underreported by either side of the political spectrum. With Ground News, you develop a more well-rounded worldview and see the nuance behind the headlines. Go to ground.news/mrbeat to subscribe through my special link for 40% off unlimited access with their Vantage Plan, the same plan I use. By subscribing, you’re directly supporting an independent platform on a mission to restore facts, transparency, and trust in the news. Thanks to Ground News for sponsoring this video. Let’s look at people we typically trust and people we DON’T trust. People we trust
But there’s another type of people we tend to trust…or at least we DID trust until the current Misinformation Age we live in. Experts. Why do we trust experts? Wait, I still haven’t answered that question yet? Man, I really need to get to the point. We trust experts because they often predict the future. Sure, experts tend to have certifications and degrees. There’s the accreditation process, in which fellow experts approve of other experts. But how does someone even get to that point? Well, other than school and training, we generally know someone is an expert if they consistently have a track record of getting things right and can easily show how they know what they know. A real expert generally can explain something simply without dumbing it down. A fake expert will speak vaguely and dodge specifics or lean too heavily on jargon or authority. But overall, we listen to and trust experts because they are basically the closest thing we have today to fortune tellers. They know sooo much about a topic that they are often able to predict the future with their knowledge. They see patterns in data, history, or experience that most people miss. But unlike a fortune teller, their predictions can be checked, tested, verified, and improved over time. Let’s look at an example. (clip) In the early 1950s, scientists analyzed thousands of medical records to argue that cigarette smokers were far more likely to develop cancer. They predicted that lung cancer rates would rise and it’d become a major public health crisis. But many people doubted them. Many said they were being alarmist. But they were right. Lung cancer rates climbed exactly as they forecast. By the 1980s, it had become one of the leading causes of cancer death. Let’s look at another example. How about human-caused climate change! Climate scientists have been predicting human-caused climate change as far back as the late 1800s.^1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU9s0XyEctI Their predictions came true, which means they are experts. And I’m not talking about someone who predicts the future once. (Peter Schiff) I’m talking about people who CONSISTENTLY correctly predict the future. And fortunately for humanity, experts are consistently trying to debunk each other. Few things are more satisfying than dunking on a fellow expert. Due to this, different experts emerge. And if challenged, true experts tend to correct themselves and acknowledge their uncertainty, rather than double down or dig in their heels. In the Misinformation Age, many in the media either don’t have to predict the future specifically or are rarely held accountable if they make a specific prediction and get it wrong. I say we change that. I say if someone in the media consistently talks confidently about a topic, we ask them to make specific predictions. (Tim Pool 49-state landslide) And then follow-up by calling them out when their prediction is uh…VERY…wrong. Oh Timmy Boy (shaking head). I can’t believe people take that guy seriously. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VR3Rnhm8UPI Titlecard: A brief history of knowing stuff But we all can’t be experts about everything Sure, humans USED to be “Jacks of all trades.” If you lived in the year 1025, you probably knew how to farm, how to fix your roof, how to deliver a baby calf…I mean…you HAD to be good at as many things as possible. But then, society got complicated. We embraced the division of labor, or the separation of work so that workers may specialize. This led to specialization, or the process of focusing on specific areas of knowledge or work, and in turn led to both an increase in efficiency and productivity. I make shoes, you bake the bread, and that guy over there? He spends 40 years studying infectious diseases. The division of labor and specialization is literally why we have experts. And I’ve got what might be surprising news to some of you. Most human beings only specialize in one thing throughout their lives. Ok, if you’re superhuman you might specialize in maybe two things or even three. Modern civilization literally runs on the fact that we all specialize in something and that we trust that others specialize in something else. I don’t need to know how to refine crude oil into gasoline, because I trust that a chemical engineer figured that out for me. This is what the author Tom Nichols calls “the social contract of expertise.” We trade our own ignorance for someone else’s knowledge. By the way, have you guessed what I specialize in yet? Titlecard: These are dangerous times So, what changed? Why are people increasingly not trusting experts? Three words: The internet (walks away and but then turning around) Ok fine that was two words. The internet democratized information, which is great and all, but it also democratized the ILLUSION of competence. It fueled what’s now known as the Dunning-Kruger Effect, or a cognitive bias in which people with low knowledge about something tend to overestimate their knowledge. Basically, if you read three articles about vaccines, you might feel like you know as much as a doctor who went to medical school for eight years. Well sorry, Amy, but you don’t. But it’s deeper than that. Even WITHOUT the internet, human beings often instinctively resist information they don’t want to hear. So why wouldn't we trust an expert? Because an expert sometimes tells us stuff we don't want to hear. (Chernobyl clip) We especially don’t like to hear information that threatens our ability to make money. (I like money, though) During the 1930s, after farmers over-plowed their land and drought hit, an ecological collapse known as the Dust Bowl displaced millions of Americans. But look, these farmers…they were warned. For decades before this, agricultural experts had warned farmers in the Great Plains that deep plowing the topsoil would lead to disaster if a drought hit. People didn’t listen. They wanted profit. They trusted their gut. Now scale that up. If we ignore civil engineers, bridges collapse. If we ignore epidemiologists, pandemics kill millions more than they should. If we ignore astronomers, we may all die because we didn’t believe that asteroid was coming. (Don’t Look Up clip) But hold on. I can already hear the comments section going crazy. “But Mr. Beat! Experts have been wrong before!” And you are absolutely right. Experts can sometimes be corrupt and be influenced by money. Experts once said that lead in gasoline was safe. Experts gave us eugenics. Blind faith in authority is bad. That’s how you get dictatorships, after all. (running toward camera) But there is a huge difference between healthy skepticism and straight up denialism! Healthy skepticism be like, “Where is the evidence? Has this been peer-reviewed? Who FUNDED this study?” Whereas denialism be like, “I don’t like what this expert is saying because it threatens my worldview or my wallet, so I’m going to pretend they are lying.” Science isn’t about one person being right. It’s about a constant process of correction. When experts are wrong, it’s usually OTHER EXPERTS who prove them wrong. Last year, I released a video about the history of Mormonism. Well, many practicing Mormons didn’t like the video, especially if that was the only video they had ever seen of mine. I realize this is not surprising, but they particularly didn’t like that I was making their religion look bad by saying that Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, was a con artist. But he WAS a con artist. Like, 100% he was a con artist. This is a fact that has plenty of evidence to back it up. So why is it that people trust Joseph Smith, a proven con artist, more than me? Well spoiler alert- it’s because I’m not part of their family. They don’t know me. Even the few who unsubscribed I’d argue didn’t really know me. It’s completely understandable that people would get upset. In fact, I absolutely expected this would happen when I released the video. There’s even a Mormon apologist who immediately made a reaction video dunking on it. I predicted this as well. One of the biggest criticisms I got was that I was ignorant of the history of Mormonism. And sure, that’s fair. I’m no expert on Mormonism. I just made one video on the topic. I’ve only read a few books about Mormonism and listened to a few podcasts about Mormonism. Nah man, as I do with nearly every video I produce, I leaned on EXPERTS for information in that video. Here’s all the sources I used for that video. Sources from experts like Dr. Benjamin Park. I trust Dr. Benjamin Park when it comes to Mormon history, and you should, too. Dr. Park is a credible expert because he is a historian who has spent decades of his life studying the history of Mormonism. He uses primary sources extensively. He’s recognized by other historians and his work is peer-reviewed. He’s neither an apologist nor an ex-Mormon out to destroy the religion. And if you’re coming to me as an authority on Mormonism, you are sadly mistaken to do so. Like, stop it, bruh. Which brings me to my final point. Remember how I wanted you to think about what these four people were experts at? And how it’s the exact same thing I’m TRYING to be an expert at? We are all trying to be experts at communication. That’s it. I’d argue Stephen Smith’s knowledge of politics….or even sports for that matter…isn’t that deep. Sorry if it seems like I’m throwing shade there, Stephen, you seem like a nice guy. The same goes with Oprah Winfrey, Bill Nye, and Brett Cooper. They are all just really good at talking. Oprah isn’t an expert in literature. She’s an expert at TALKING about literature. Bill Nye is not an expert in most scientific fields. Although he studied mechanical engineering. Nah man, Bill Nye is an expert at TALKING about science. Brett Cooper isn’t an expert in politics. I mean, you probably knew that, though, didn’t you. Didn’t ya. And finally, I’m not an expert when it comes to history or even American history or even American political history. I’m an expert, or at least I strive to be an expert, in TEACHING American political history. That’s it. And so, if you think about it, MOST of the YouTubers we watch, MOST of the podcasters we listen to, and even MOST of the authors we read, are NOT experts about what they communicate about. They are simply experts at communication itself. Not only that, some of the people who are WORST at communicating are experts themselves. That’s why it’s so refreshing to see this trend starting to change with an increasing number of “influencers” who also happen to actually be experts in certain fields. It’s a rare gift to be an expert in a subject AND be an expert communicating about that subject. Titlecard: Trust Experts Or We All Die I am not an expert when it comes to just about everything. And, as it turns out, YOU are not an expert when it comes to just about everything, either. If we’re lucky, we’ll be an expert at maybe one or two things. For all OTHER things, we simply must trust experts. We live in a society that relies on trust. And not just trusting people we know or people that we like or people that we THINK we know. Look, I trust the person that purified this water. If we lose that trust- if we decide that one Google search is equal to decades of research- we aren’t just being annoying. We are dismantling the safety net that keeps us alive. Simply put, if we don’t trust experts, we all die. (walk off) _________________________________________________________________________ ^1. https://daily.jstor.org/how-19th-century-scientists-predicted-global-warming/ Sources/further reading: The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters by Tom Nichols Purchase here: https://amzn.to/489B9TX Egan, T. (2006). The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl. |
AuthorI am Mr. Beat. Archives
January 2026
Categories |
RSS Feed