“I’ve been thinking about that question you asked me …” – Walter White (“Breaking Bad”, Season 2)

MP3: https://planetarystatusreport.com/mp3/20220717_Philosophy_of_Breaking_Bad_with_Seattle_Mike_Season_2_On_Lying.mp3

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Core Themes: LYING, LIES, DECEPTION and CONTROL

Guest: “Seattle Mike” – https://twitter.com/seattleskeptic

Topics:

  1. Lying, and adding lies to cover up old lies … and where this all ends. “You heard my cell phone alarm …” What this does to relationships.
  2. Family Dynamics: the Pinkman family … what does it mean when family members use 3rd party force to resolve conflict – like the “aunt’s house”.
  3. Episode 2 is one of my all time favorite hour of tv.  Really good. 
  4. Ricin… https://www.britannica.com/science/ricin inhalation of ricin results in severe COVID or what used to be called ARDS.
  5. “Fugue state” equals high-functioning sociopath.  Our society seems to produce an intentionally high percentage of borderline sociopaths and narcissists on one end and a large percentage of helpless people on the other.
  6. Hospital painting of a man rowing out to a ship while his family is on shore waving goodbye.  An analogy for terminal illness ( but also emotional distance)
  7. There’s a theme of “owning” others through manipulation, emotional control, judgmental behavior.  The judgement Skylar gets for smoking while pregnant is the other side of the coin to the veggie bacon she makes her family eat….  Wanting to own someone and taking steps of control is a form of theft.
  8. Hank is a house of cards. Has an anxiety attack in elevator.  He’s a symbol of the weakness of the state
  9. Reputation — “Street Cred” and markets/branding
  10. The cops lie.  The state is a narcissistic parent running a lopsided triangulation scam on us.
  11. Jimmy “in and out” … “He likes it better inside, the outside world has not been too kind to him …”
  12. Jimmy “in-and-out” is a scapegoat. There’s been a lot of that throughout human history, mostly in cities. Our society creates a lot of them through arbitrary rules. (Muh democracy)
  13. Walt cooks meth, Ted Beneke cooks the books. What’s the difference?
  14. Walt’s cooking empire is really “born” on the same day as his daughter.
  15. The ethics of Jane’s death: what are our obligations in that situation? It’s clearly a shitty move, but not illegal. What’s the difference? Which matters more? Which should?