In the last half century, Penn Gillette and his colleague Taylor have become one of the most respected and recognizable magic acts in the world. But out of magic, the 65-year-old is, in his own boisterous way, a vocal commentator on issues such as atheism, libertarianism and, more recently, health and weight loss. Self-described “Carrie Garbage”, Gillette’s commentary can be found in his showtime show “Bullshit”, eight of his books, a YouTube channel and dozens of TV productions.
Add to that list a recent interview with Victoria Montgomery Brown, cofounder and CEO of Big Think. Brown and Gillette touch on a wide range of topics – how they lost more than 100 pounds in four months, to quell culture, the strange nature of friendship, the strangeness of 2020, and their relationship with the audience after them. Are changing over the years. There are many attractions of Brown and Gillette interviews, which you can see below.
How to be a businessman – not affectionate – can build strong friendships
Jillette has been working with magician and filmmaker Taylor for 44 years, currently based out of Las Vegas. Throughout that time, Gillette says that their friendship has been more business than affection.
“There are some people who just want you and feel cuddly there,” Jillette said. “And there are other people who would have the same relationship if it was on email, completely intellectual.”
The pair’s relationship is definitely the latter.
“Taylor and I never had any affection for each other,” Gillette said. “There is no desire to be hugged. We only join hands when we are part of a script. We don’t seek out each other’s company, but there is not one that I respect more and I am on a core level I believe I do better things with Taylor. I do it alone. “
But this is not to say that such relationships are solely about business.
“It turns out that respect is more permanent than love,” he said. “Now, let me add here that whenever my daughter says this she gets very upset, because she says Taylor is my BFF and there is no way around it and that is absolutely true. I am saying that in a way In Skeleton. The truth is that Taylor has my best friend all those years. “
Gillette’s description of this type of relationship sounds a bit like Aristotle’s idea of ”friendship of the good”.
The Greek philosopher outlined three types of friendship, each based on a different feeling or value: pleasure, utility, and “good.” Aristotle thought that “friendship of the good” was the best kind of relationship, because it is based on respect and appreciation for the qualities that each friend sees in the other. Aristotle believed that these friendships could not be formed quickly, but they last longer than other types.
Refusing to wear a mask is not a liberal idea
Libertarianism “is the belief that according to the Institute for Human Studies at George Mason University, peace, prosperity and social harmony are promoted as much as possible by liberty and as little government.” But when this impulse towards personal freedom becomes too harsh, it can create problems for a society that needs to work together to navigate a nationwide problem like an epidemic.
Since COVID-19 began to spread throughout the United States, Americans have been a part of it, saying that it is important for the government to try to implement it in the United Nations (or, more accurately, in most cases) ask) Citizens to wear masks in public. Here, Gillette distinguishes between positive and negative freedom, which is usually the most commonly defined Freedom to And freedom from.
“Libertarianism has become very distorted,” Gillette said. “I mean I don’t know if I have to get my name out of that ring. It has been adopted by people who don’t take responsibility for it and don’t favor it with mercy.”
“I can see the rationale for not wearing a seatbelt and I can see the rationale for not wearing a motorcycle helmet but I can’t see any rationale for driving drunk. And that’s not wearing a mask. It risks itself I’m not putting it in. It’s putting people around you at risk. I don’t see a way that is your right. “
How the removal of media gatekeepers did not promote utopia
How did media democratization and decentralization change the world? In the 1990s, Gillette may have said that removing media gatekeepers would create a kind of open, qualitative utopia: you have an interesting idea, you throw it online, and it spreads all over the world.
But this did not happen at all.
“I thought that getting rid of the gatekeepers could do nothing good,” Gillette said. “And now it seems that after getting rid of the gatekeepers, Trump gave us as president and in the same air, in the same air, didn’t let us wear masks and probably gave us a very unpleasant amount.”
It also gave us aborted culture. But Gillette said he “can’t even brag against the revoked culture,” because there is no clear way to fix it without disrupting free speech rights. After all, it is a good thing that aggrieved people are now able to go online, file complaints, and (sometimes) dispense justice, while in the past they have to file their complaints with a series of gatekeepers Used to have But at the same time, this unmanaged system makes it vulnerable to misuse.
“Now you can clearly lie and still have a million-and-a-half people believe in you and do real harm to the person you said was wrong,” Gillette said.
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