Alain de Botton on the Media

[@Krazybkc]

The best channel ever! This is my most treasured find on KZbin! Thank you so much for all the amazing videos!

[@pierrecolin7856]

+Krazybkc I sincerely second that.

[@DjStichie254]

+Krazybkc you can say that again..i am hooked

[@Bonobo3D]

+Krazybkc I agree, I'm also very pleased to have found this channel and learned about this brilliant and encouraging man, Alain de Botton.

[@harshalshinde227]

+The School of Life do a video on patriotism

[@lcarthel]

TOTALLY AGREE

[@shamimehsanulhaque5244]

Really brilliant! Love Alain de Botton. I live in Dhaka, Bangladesh and it is hard to get books written by him. I have been a fan since 2003 when I first read The Romantic Movement. And I am happy to report that now in 2013 you can occasionally find his books being sold in some of the bookshops of Dhaka. His ideas cross borders and cultures and are really accessible. We need more kind and gentle philosophers like him.

[@Mateo-et3wl]

Status Anxiety is excellent, as is his book on travel

[@shamimehsanulhaque5244]

@@Mateo-et3wl Thank you for your note! Yes, that is an excellent read. I also like Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, and several others on Love. Today, coincidentally, I was reading the last chapter from "Pleasures and Sorrows..", and there were some remarkably touching ruminations on death. At one point he memorably connects the mortality of a seemingly invincible airline pilot to the derelict Boeing jets that are slowly disintegrating in the Mojave Desert, having been decommissioned long ago from their strident flying days! You must read that portion to appreciate even more the genius that de Botton truly is!

[@pavitrasingla6128]

you can find his books online

[@yelizgunduz3681]

alain de botton, i almost listen to you everyday, helps me to get back on our core reality. the thought of death has been despairing me for a long time before you, when i discovered your thoughts i felt like me talking in terms of your main arguments. please continue producing, i believe not only your current audience but also and especially humanitys future generation will make a lot use of your thoughts and insights. cheers from istanbul !

[@ihazthots]

Ah! I'd rate Alain's content and delivery better than a lot of Ted talks. Can't wait for more topics.

[@MadComMar]

Linton S. Dawson LSD

[@Tjp7624]

King Crimson

[@jamescarmody4713]

Alain himself gave a TED talk. Look up "Atheism 2.0."

[@awaisaurelius6745]

@@MadComMar he took LSD? or

[@emmanikitina8859]

absolutely

[@CVET1111]

Love you very much,the way you explain your self from Los Angeles. Agree with your perspective. I love history and such. Currently what is going on and the past.past,and history.

[@Genny-Zee]

Watching Alain de Botton preach has become one of my daily KZbin rituals before bed.

[@孙明亮-w8z]

This is the greatest channel ever. One simple reason: the comments are logical, no one are killing each other.

[@joshuamontgomery0]

I couldn't stop smiling and just purely enjoying this video the entire way through. I thoroughly enjoy most every video some more than others. I have actually changed the way I look at the world and how I connect with people. I wish I could express my appreciation somehow more - "fan mail" from the US or what not.

[@Yuki-nz5xy]

I love the way Alain thinks and presents his thoughts to all of us. Everyday issues and situations perfectly explained, and this is something we can all learn from :)

[@Yervy]

These talks are brilliant! I'm so happy to have stumbled upon this channel.

[@ashkax]

I keep listening to Allen ,6 years on. Still as relevant as before.

[@noellebarbera4802]

I decided I wanted to watch Alain speak instead of watching the morning news and found this video. Perfect. Usually I'm disgusted by the news in less than 10 minutes. Instead, today I'll be late for work because I couldn't stop watching this. So glad I discovered him!

[@ave116]

Every time I scroll down to the comments after a TSOL video I can't help but read all the comments in the voice of Alain de Botton. Even this comment is currently being read back to me in the voice of Alain de Botton.

[@joshsancho7931]

+Christina Gonzalve What about when you come back to re-read all the comments?

[@nuagebleu88]

He's such a good speaker. I constanly find myself fascinated by the ideas he points out.

[@mynameisANG]

It was just half an hour but you may learn the whole world from him. Best 1/2 hour I've ever experienced!

[@123gillam]

This came into my orbit purely by chance , as is often the case with KZbin. A student of Philospohy that is able to bring the wisdom of ages to bear on current affairs. Thank you. I will continue to follow you :)

[@drumrit]

why can't they teach this stuff in school? I feel like I completely wasted 12 years of my life.

[@jamesstiller7151]

You're asking a good question so I doubt those 12 years were a waste.

[@purelight2025]

they CAN. they choose not to. think about it x x

[@noodle845]

Probably because the system wouldn't function if all kids grew up questioning the status quo. We would have a revolution

[@TheMaggieDress1]

our owners don't want critical thinkers just uneducated consumers...

[@hanarielgodlike9283]

school dont teaches you howto think, it teaches you what to think

[@danudamarjati5487]

21:18 The news headline is such a distorted picture of our society (Alain de Botton)

[@HyperMotion98]

I don't know how I stumbled onto this channel but it's definitely been an interesting time watching these videos.

[@theresajohnson5452]

I actually get up in the morning and listen to and watch the birds singing any flying and look at the flowers.

[@antichris78]

Alain De Botton is my new role model. Only discovered him today after the Daily Mash did a spoof article on him being the new Daily Mail editor. Love him now.

[@tylerwarcup3267]

yup. he's awesome no doubt. very relevant and thought provoking.

[@hakusansaku8800]

The talk is pretty long for a youtube format, but Alain likes to talk a lot. So here's a breakdown of the talk: 0:00 - 7:00 general talk about todays news periodically appearing similiar stories - archetypes taken from his book 8:50 Someone extraordinary doing something very ordinary 9:40 Report of some people dying somewhere 16:10 personal tragedy ( man killing his family) 19:30 technological accidents ( car, train and plane crash) 21:30 medical - something to crack death 23:00 celebrity in general 24:00 celebrity doing something boring 25:00 envy triggering 29:20 economic 31:00 obsession with bad guys and avoidance of systemic problems some important stuff to mention: 7:20 popularization of really important stuff ( global warming and legs of girls) 28:00 delivering unbiased news 32:00 important things occur irregulary and over longer timespans than the daily news might suggest 33:40 take a break from news watching 33:55 there are other living creatures besides humans

[@beegood1215]

i wish i read this before listening...would have saved me the time.

[@deedee-es4vg]

I'd still listen to the whole thing but thanks.

[@sushmithashrikanth8599]

I love how such a huge organisation takes the time out to reply to comments worth replying to :)

[@RobSmith2016]

I thoroughly Enjoyed this presentation.

[@noplsno20096]

It's just amazing. I wish that few journalists from India can take lecture from you as it's very important to revise their medium of information.

[@finnianwilliamson]

'It is only on the front page because it is so, deeply, unusual'. Quote of the video for me

[@stinkleaf]

"The medium is the message" is a phrase coined by Marshall McLuhan meaning that the form of a medium embeds itself in the message, creating a symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences how the message is perceived.

[@joshsancho7931]

+Stunami McLuhan was certainly on to something, but really all that he was trying to get at was the irony that the medium itself is actually Irony.

[@stinkleaf]

+Josh Sancho I'm puzzled. Will you articulate the irony for us?

[@joshsancho7931]

If you would be so kind as to read the comments I have left on this video specifically. Whilst listening to the great Alain speaking in the background of course! I'm hoping the irony will articulate itself to the point that you'll be able to spot the irony in infinitely more ways than I.

[@joannegild8001]

Wise, beautifully delivered words.

[@senaami23]

I love this channel, the best on KZbin!!. It' also great to put a name and face to the voice :D

[@alexandra80227]

I LOVE your channel. Thank you so much for making this.

[@PM9Video]

Excellence incarnate!

[@Rombizio]

What a brilliant man.

[@Simplehistory]

Great insight, here's a question how long will clickbait survive?

[@ddsjgvk]

Still around

[@mrknarf4438]

For as long as we have biases in our brains, I fear.

[@Alphacentauri819]

@@mrknarf4438 yes, biases, cognitive distortions…and lack of introspection. Also, key is healthy skepticism. I always ask, “what do they want from me?”…especially when the title is obviously constructed for maximum excitation, impact. That in itself, for me, can have the reverse effect. I’ve trained my brain to pause. Most of the time, the click bait stuff causes an aversive internal reaction for me. Too many people don’t step back, but instead get hooked subconsciously…don’t even realize what’s going on.

[@davewarwicker2512]

The pre-1997 BBC was excellent. What happened was the idea of being a gentleman was 'unpersoned' by post'97 universities.

[@jkjk8]

People need to re-watch this today. This video is so relevant now. Its crazy how nothing has changed since this first aired in 2014

[@JakeMcaulay]

equal parts informative and funny Alain should do stand up :)

[@joshsancho7931]

+Jake Mcaulay What if philosophers should do stand up? That's what the Ancient Greeks did. And they had a pretty good thing going while it lasted. If Ricky Gervais, the king of dead pan and parody; an athiest and philosophy graduate, became the head of a 'Church' of Philosophy, do you reckon you could be duped into becoming a convert?

[@joshsancho7931]

+The School of Life Could Jamie Oliver?

[@PITU-f7f]

is the kind of man you would listen all day

[@sarahjeffriesart]

Great work Alain!

[@spimentel562]

So, this is the wonderful voice behind animated series in SL. Awesome!

[@RichardMay1]

Wonderful find. Useful ideas to shape "living."

[@cezartesvisuales8527]

great! Alain! we need more material with spanish subtitles, please please!

[@SuperBari2009]

This is excellent.

[@KoolT]

The group, there's power in the GROUP

[@LevUzlaner]

Really interesting. What you said about empathy for world news... I totally get it. However, the landscape is starting to change in that regard. If you ever look at Vice News, they do a type of "News Emergence" where the reporters live and breathe in conflict zones and describe the news and events in a type of documentary, and show the faces and lives behind the conflicts. I even saw the BBC trying to mimic their reporting style in some cases, like the war in Ukraine.

[@kardinalempress]

So many great minds, you've created so many solutions If only we could begin to transition back to Matrilineal societies, the solutions wouldn't be necessary We are in a world which lacks nurturing- true nurturing. We do not know how to nurture ourselves. #RussellMeans

[@JonA-ih5he]

love the bit about envy and Elon Musk...I'm envious of Alain de Botton! I wish I was as eloquent as him, as sharp and lucid as him, and have an audience like him. Hey-ho.

[@TheQNSzzz]

This talk is more relevant now than ever. The truth. We are being played like fiddles by the media. The comments sections on news pages, Twitter etc is damaging and divisive. We become hopelessly judgmental of others. Love and care about your family and friends. The rest is distorted truths and manipulation of your emotions. We can't change human nature, just accept that and apply gentle humour to this thing we call life.

[@XueTech]

Simply brilliant.

[@Thomas-ip3tg]

Will you please do a video on the art of leadership!

[@KampGallery]

Brilliance. Anyone who tells me again this guy's a middle-brow intellectural I'm going to deck!

[@andrewschultz6608]

Okay, next time I catch myself wasting time playing a game I've already won, or even worse, FreeCell, I'm going to remind myself that this channel has some lecture I'll really enjoy. Like this. I'd seen that the news was repetitive and didn't really push people forward, and I'm glad this broke down why. Also, I may or may not map certain media outlets to 127.0.0.1 in my hosts file. Even less time wasted!

[@janette9872]

One time I was at work and something stressful was going on and I said, “I’m just gonna read the newspaper to cheer myself up.” 😂

[@Soytu19]

Alain de Botton is a person that was meant to be born and exist.

[@Soytu19]

People get the media they 'deserve' and want. So, if the media is stupid and useless the reason of it being stupid and useless is pretty obvious. Ive learned in this channel that the demand is what builds societies, and its a brilliant idea. So the solution lays in education, as always. Thats why it seems like The School of Life and Alain de Botton were meant to exist. Just look at Alain, he is perfect for the duty and work that he is doing: ambitious and dreamful down to earth 'philosopher', good looking, extraordinary communicator (with a very archetypical voice), humble but at the same time a leader and very confident, man of action and strong will and former of the School of Life, etc... He is the ultimate 'philosopher'. Probably the most universal man on earth right now. People like Alain is what humanity needs, without being cliché, im being absolutely serious.

[@drblunder77]

Awesome talk!

[@elleh3495]

Chris Hedges explains this as the end of empire; obsession with absurdity instead of substance and reality

[@AndrewBell]

The BBC isn't biased? I think it's positively ORWELLIAN.

[@stephaniehand503]

thanks

[@marianasalles242]

He is brillant 🌎🌱✨🌈💚🙏🏻👏🏻

[@JessemyBeadle]

The greatest true philosopher alive today?

[@JudymayMurphy]

Link to the site that Alain mentions at the end of this. www.philosophersmail.com/

[@stephaniemorales6089]

Does anyone know what his new “news website” is? The one that’s meant to replace classic news, one with a different, more empathetic approach, to learning about new important situations. He said it was named “philosopher”-something? But I didn’t quite catch it. Pls lemme know if you do, thanks!

[@shawnburnham1]

1.Two ways to keep a society 2:57 passive , resigned, despairing, accepting of whatever status quo is given them 2. 5:08 GLOBAL WARMING vs TAYLOR SWIFT....Architecture of NEWS has broken down 3. 8:04 news archetypes 4. 10:49 steady state NEWS . why we don't care 5. 12:00 death of photojournalism 6. 30:32 how people are and why it's a disaster.....the end of his speech is SPECTACULAR

[@kate-miawhite5633]

this was amazing

[@radhika5802]

Would love to hear him comment on humans of new york

[@radhika5802]

Alain i mean

[@jamescarmody4713]

I would too! I cannot believe that the culture and values I witness in this state are the norm for humanity, no matter what New York psychologists might claim. Humanity would be dead if our state really was normal!

[@shawnburnham1]

30:32 how people are and why it's a disaster.....the end of his speech is SPECTACULAR

[@leonardoromero2000]

I'm on the search of why art is important. And here he says a reason, in relation with the news: 9:32

[@randomfjord1256]

I'll wait a couple more years for this man to open Xavier Institute

[@jamescarmody4713]

On the subject of news comments: Keep in mind the people posting are in the vast minority. Even here on youtube, with our infamous comment section, most people just watch the video instead of voicing their views. This video itself has a 1:1000 comment-to-views ratio, which tells you precisely how many people are actually spewing this negativity. The "Silent Majority" goes unheard in many places, especially in news comments.

[@CharlotteFairchild]

I contacted a woman talking about hunger in the paper because she talked about gardening. She didn't mention kudzu. There are 250,000 articles on kudzu recipes for a vine that is organic, super plant that grows in many places in the USA. She was not interested in telling or writing anything about kudzu as a food. Sad because kudzu detoxes the liver. Also the Buddy System is not forced on women, and yet men have the Buddy System forced on them.

[@suereed3474]

We do care; we know we just can't do anything about these tragedies. When our governments invade countries, with a lesser aim of making their lives better, they came it worse. We are tired of viewing tragedies we cannot fix.

[@yilinli9731]

Alain would you do a talk on Envy

[@MissisVita]

What does he say at 28:29-28:30? "I'm not just the very, very (what?). it's nonsense! " Just can't understand this one word... is it 'firm'?

[@asmaeabj]

"and not just your favorite event"

[@miraclesage8622]

Elon isn't the founder of Ebay and Paypal, I know it's an innocent slipup though so not a big deal but just throwing that out there.

[@robstechchannel3687]

What would happen if the world was led by well-meaning psychologists?

[@just83542]

Psychology would become the field of narcissistic psychopaths looking to dominate society.

[@jasperrafols750]

There wouldn't be illusions such as gender neutrality, etc.

[@dolphineachonga555]

We'd have psychological politicians. Meaning, politicians well armed with psychological tactics of manipulation. That's a nightmare if you ask me.

[@laidir1000]

"Makes us envious" or about whom we choose to be envious of?

[@zakkdavis1704]

Plato and buddha headline news ...that'd be the day! ..or a weekly word from your beloved Nietzsche! :p

[@MrKane101111]

Hey Alain, you should add a link to the website in the video description.

[@Philosification]

But if the newspaper has stories about both Taylor Swift and Climate Change in it, isn't it better to put the image on the front that gets the most purchases? Wouldn't that increase the chance of the climate change story being read if more people purchase it? If not then perhaps the problem is just that people aren't interested in climate change to start with. Maybe Taylor Swift should be hired as a spokesperson for it.

[@josepablogonzalez9047]

Thanks

[@chaii_latte]

This being before 2016 says a lot..

[@nevokrien95]

He has a Ted talk u should watch

[@AntonSlavik]

Generally I get annoyed with Atheists, but this guy is indirect and has a sense of humour about it.

[@direbane]

Since every smart comment has been made, I'll make a silly one: turn on closed captions and watch the first 20 seconds

[@Mylojane]

I really love VICE media as a news artform. Their photojournalism is beautful and they actually cover events in a way that are much more thought provoking and empathetic.

[@skategenie]

de Botton is a Martian that has come to earth to point out the idiosyncrasies of mankind

[@Trishpage312]

Actually I fall asleep to your videos

[@mrdel8372]

Great mind

[@francescaterry]

Does the philosophers mail not exist anymore?

[@pedrofreire6169]

one weird tip discovered by a mom, a weird old trick discovered by a mom...

[@TheMaggieDress1]

brilliant

[@MrJackaquack]

Watching this after the George Floyd incident is really something...

[@CVET1111]

8 years ago but,possibly of movie. Or travel of other country. Mucho more money and ent your message.

[@shawnburnham1]

4:00

[@livondiramerian6999]

The media is focused on superficial things not on the core problems of humanity.

[@aleclahti6344]

his hair resembles a wreath which gives him a princely appearance. haha awesome!

[@peterdollins3610]

I admire Elon and think he is inspiring, I'm not so sure about Musk. Robert Graves wrote 'The Nazarene Gospels Restored' thinking it'd change the culture. It sold only 200 copies. Proves Alain's point? Though Robert's 'The White Goddess' has had more influence with his other works.

[@nenadjebivetar9748]

But Alain, arent saints christian representation of most primal of human tradition: Honored ancestors! People who did something great and we should look up to them. I, personaly, dont find them a great example for, lets be honest, useless celebreties that are forced upon us because they are exiting, or tragic. Great videos, and keep them up! Your a real rolemodel for young thinkers and philoshopers everywhere. Greetings from Serbia :)

[@wmheric]

Sailors fighting in the dance hall Oh man look at those cavemen go It's the freakiest show Take a look at the lawman Beating up the wrong guy Oh man wonder if he'll ever know He's in the best selling show

[@SnakeOfBacon]

Is there life on Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaars?!

[@beback_]

So... who was Taylor Swift of the time?