If you prefer visuals, you can skip to the 3rd part and watch an example on how to do your own research
If we want to have a chance to change this world, I believe it’s important that each of us get (really) informed on what’s really going on.
To me, being street smart in this context, it’s first to gather many perspectives, especially those that are different from the official narrative (Google, Facebook and most of the medias). Then, having access to this variety of ideas and opinions, we can start to making our owns.
In order to achieve this goal, we need to become really good at doing our own research.
I’m going to share with you some strategies, please tell me if you have others to add into the mix.
The issues and challenges for doing your own research
For most of us, getting informed means:
- listening to what our friends tell us.
- scrolling through a social media thread, like Facebook, Twitter or Youtube.
- checking a favorite media like CNN, Le Monde or BBC. Of course, radio medias included.
- watching a documentary on Netflix.
- checking what Wikipedia says.
And, the favourite for the last 60 years or so: TV.
“If it were true, they would have told us on TV.”
Well, well, well… (we say “plouf plouf” in French, in case you’re interested!) we can do better.
Hear me well, It could be a good starting point, and, if we stop there, several issues come up:
issue #1: when we don’t go to the source, or as closed to it as possible, the information is often times truncated.
issue #2: if the person I get the information from has some conflicts of interest, not only the information is not correct, it could be a (total) lie to fit what the companies that pay him want me to hear.
issue #3: if the media is corrupt, which is the case most of the times, then what I hear is also the narrative “they” want me to hear.
Following are my ideas on how to do your own research and avoid these issues. I would not say it’s perfect, and yet, if we all do this, it would be a great improvement.
How do I do my own research
Step 1: Checking with my intuition
When this idea of pandemic started to spread last year, it didn’t feel right. Actually it smelled very bad.
This was my intuition whispering to me.
It might seem like a weird place to start with for some, and yet, we all have intuition. Deep within, we all know what’s right for us.
What’s different from one person to the other, is how does this intuition manifest.
For some, they get some chills to confirm something is right.
For others, they get a image, or even some whispering voices.
I know, this seems woo-woo, and yet, our bodies are much more intelligent than our brains, and they always tell us the truth. The trick is to be able to discern what it wants to tell us, which can take years of practice.
Anyway, I wanted to point that this is how I function. I attended a long series of workshops in my twenties on this topic and since then it’s a radar that has served me tremendously.
The biggest hurdle: distinguish intuition vs fear.
Even though both express themselves through our bodies, this is not the same operating system.
To achieve this task, I ask myself questions like:
- how do I feel about this person, this media, this information?
- does it trigger my fears?
- does it feel genuine?
- does this person talks from her heart?
Comments:
These are starting points and I’m sure you can add your owns.
The big take away: how do you feel when you hear specific news.
Then we start the digging.
Step 2: Who’s talking?
This is the part to check about the person and the platform you’re getting information from. A key part for doing a good research.
2A: Is there any conflict of interests? Is there skin in the game?
The first research on the topic you are considering is whether this person or platform that informs you has some conflict of interests or instead Skin in The Game.
Many, and I dare to say, most people who are invited on TV/ radio/ main-screams medias, do have conflicts of interest.
In France, we have access to sites that show us whether doctors have conflicts of interests:
https://www.transparence.sante.gouv.fr/flow/main?execution=e1s1
https://transparence-sante.covidinfos.net/ (this one is easier to use, if you speak French, and shows the main doctors involved with the medias. One of those with the most conflicts of interests, Karine Lacombe, has been rewarded with the Legion d’Honneur. Just saying)
Moreover, we can argue that medias themselves do have conflicts of interest.
Read this one about the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation for instance.
So, to recap, I do my best to understand whether the information I get is here to help the official narrative.
On the other side of the spectrum, I’m interested to find out those people with Skin in the game.
As Taleb explains, people with skin in the game take risks. They have their reputation on the line. They show by example. No fake.
For instance, former warriors and generals were first on the lines to fight their ennemies. This is skin in the game.
On the opposite, these days we have financial advisors who tell you where to invest your money…while they are not doing what they preach (like in The Wolf of Wall Street).
As Taleb says in his book:
“don’t tell me what to buy. Tell me what you have in your portfolio.”
Comments:
At the end of this step, the goal is to be aware of the potential level of trust you can give to this source.
Let’s keep digging.
Step 2 B: what’s the dark side of this person?
This one also works with intuition.
Something that I think is helpful is to remind myself that we all carry light and dark sides within ourselves. Sure, we aim to portray the best qualities, our humour, confidence, joy or whatever amazing skill we have. Including humility.
A book that opened my mind on this topic is The Dark Side of the Light Chaser, by Debbie Ford. I know Jung and Joseph Campbell talk a lot about this.
Examples:
- to me, the funniest person in the world, Robin Williams, was also quite depressed, with addictions and deep issues. One of his quotes:
“I think the saddest people try the hardest to make people happy because they know what it feels like to feel absolutely worthless and they don’t want anyone else to feel like that.”
- I met some impressive bodybuilders, and as soon as they started to speak I realised they had absolutely no confidence.
- I also know successful business owners who are full of fears at their core.
- Grant Cardone: drug addict till 25, almost billionaire at 60. He just uses his obsessive behaviour in another way.
- and I’m not talking about some politics, great on stage and full of morality, and we realize later on they had a private life that was not that clean after all…
Step 2C: Is it free?
There is a saying I read from George Gilder’s book Life After Google:
“If it’s free, it means you are the product being sold.”
Google, Facebook and many of these platforms make money selling data: your data.
Wikipedia is another “free” platform.
Awareness my friend!
Step 3: what’s another perspective? What’s the opposite? What’s the source of what they say?
For most topics, truth is not black or white.
Let’s take an example.
Some experts say being vegetarian is key for the best health and helping the planet.
And so I wonder:
- Is there another reliable perspective on this topic? Another expert? I can read Charles Polliquin’s work for instance. Charles was one of the best strength coach ever and he believes vegetarians are weaker, and only people with a DNA closed to the equator might have a chance to sustain this kind of diet on the long run.
- What’s the opposite? And so I type on different search engines (next step) this opposite idea and see what comes up. I can read about the carnivore diet, or the ketogenic diet, and see what they have to say. Some people explain that they healed from strong allergies, others from cancers with these diets. And their views on helping the planet is quite different.
- can I read the research paper(s) on which this person makes his claims? Even if I don’t understand all the tiny details, to understand the conclusions is not difficult. Going to the source can add some weight into a perspective, even though it’s not a definite answer, as often in science.
Final Step: multiple search engines
The first reflex when checking an information is, for many of us, to google it.
While this might me a good enough strategy when checking about sports’ results, if you look for something sensitive like covid, it’s probably not enough.
You might indeed be aware that Google, as well as all the GAFAM (Google Amazon Facebook Apple and Microsoft) with their monopoly positions, now have a HUGE power.
Blocking websites, deleting videos (reminder that Google owns Youtube), removing books from their catalogues have become their new normal.
Therefore, I suggest also checking else where.
The best policy, in my opinion, is to look at several search engines and then several articles to start to get some clarity.
Let’s do a little game, for curiosity and fun.
The search game:
- First, research in google.com what you’re curious about.
- Then do the same using https://duckduckgo.com/.
- Finally do the same using https://yandex.com/.
The reason to use Duckduckgo is because they (supposedly) don’t track what you are doing online, so the searches are not related to please your tastes.
The reason to use Yandex is because it’s a Dutch-Russian company, so this balances out the conflicts of interests!
If you’re keen to play, here are topics I would suggest:
- look for “who owns Wikipedia”
- look for “CIA controls media”
- look for “behind George Soros” or “truth about Bill Gates”
- look for “who owns {fill in with the source of media you are usually use]
Again, come back to step 2 to understand if the website you’re looking for has any conflict of interest.
Then, step by step, you are doing more and more intelligent searches, and the results might be different from what you hear in the radio and other propaganda media!
Bonus: other places to look for alternative news
Since Google owns about everything, or can hide stuff from you, it’s also good to know there are places that are not censored.
So, you can look at places like:
- bitchute.com
- lbry.com and odyssee.com
- telegram.org has a non censored platform as well.
- and many personal websites offer alternative views as well.
I also enjoy listening to long podcast interviews so that I have a better idea of the guest.
My favourite ones these days are Ema Krusi, Joe Rogan, Tim Ferris and Luke Storey.
Finally, the best place is probably still the old fashion books, more difficult to censor (though Amazon does it for some topics)!
I find interesting books either listening to podcasts/ video interviews, or from other books. For instance, recently I read a book explaining how the French Revolution was founded by money lenders bankers, so I read the book reference to this idea. Surprise surprise!
Conclusion
Doing your own research is like being a detective.
I do believe in the future, when a new decentralized internet will come up and, it will be easier to access information and have different perspectives for each topic.
Meanwhile, these are my strategies:
- intuition
- conflict of interest vs skin in the game?
- reliable source vs propaganda?
- what’s the opposite view? What’s the source?
- different search engines
- non censored platforms/ podcasts
- books
And you, do you have other strategies to add to the list?