FULL SPEECH: Maria Ressa at the Freedom of Expression Conference

Summary

Maria Ressa, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and journalist, discusses the urgent need to defend democracy against the erosion of truth and trust in information. Highlighting the impact of disinformation on elections and the rise of illiberal leaders, she calls for courage in the face of fear, emphasizing the power of individuals to shape the future through education, legislation, and civic engagement. Ressa shares her experiences with legal attacks and online harassment, advocating for a collective effort to uphold the rule of law and create a shared reality based on facts.

Takeaways

• 🌟 Maria Ressa, a journalist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, emphasizes the importance of truth and trust in the face of technology's impact on freedom of information.
• 🗣️ She calls for courage in defending democracy against the 'death by a thousand cuts' to personal hopes, dreams, and integrity, urging individuals to embrace their fears.
• 📉 Ressa highlights the decline in global democracies, comparing current numbers to those in 1989, and warns of the potential for democracy to 'fall off the cliff' by 2024 if trends continue.
• 📅 She discusses the impact of disinformation on elections, citing the Philippines' presidential elections and the role of social media in spreading false narratives.
• 🛡️ Ressa describes the various forms of online attacks against her and other news organizations, including DDoS attacks and black hat SEO tactics, illustrating the challenges faced by journalists.
• 🏛️ She shares updates on legal battles against her and Rappler, including cyber libel complaints, showcasing the weaponization of the law as a form of intimidation.
• 🤝 Ressa introduces the concept of a 'whole of society approach' to combat disinformation, involving collaboration among news organizations, civil society, businesses, and the church.
• 🔍 The importance of research in understanding disinformation campaigns and the role of academics in providing data to the public is underscored by Ressa.
• 📚 She stresses the need for education on media literacy and the role of legislation in regulating social media platforms to prevent the spread of misinformation.
• 📉 Ressa's personal experiences reflect the broader struggle for truth and the sacrifices made by those who stand up for a shared reality based on facts.
• 🌱 Her five lessons for maintaining courage in the face of challenges include learning, speaking out, drawing the line between good and evil, trusting, and having faith in a better future.

Q & A

Who is Maria Ressa and what is her connection to Rappler?

Maria Ressa is a journalist, author, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. She is the founder and CEO of Rappler, a news site based in the Philippines.

What is Maria Ressa's main concern regarding the state of democracy globally?

Maria Ressa is concerned about the decline in the number of democracies worldwide, comparing the current situation to the numbers in 1989. She fears that the rise of disinformation and illiberal leaders could lead to the end of democracy.

What is the significance of the 'death by a thousand cuts' metaphor used by Maria Ressa?

The 'death by a thousand cuts' metaphor is used by Maria Ressa to describe the gradual erosion of democracy and personal integrity through various forms of attacks, including disinformation and cyber-libel.

How has technology impacted the right to freedom of information according to Maria Ressa?

Maria Ressa believes that technology, particularly social media, has contributed to the spread of disinformation and the manipulation of public opinion, which in turn affects the right to freedom of information.

What is the role of the 'mesh layer' in Maria Ressa's strategy to combat disinformation?

The 'mesh layer' involves civil society groups, business groups, and other stakeholders who help distribute fact-checks and add emotion to the content, making it more engaging and shareable on social media.

What are the five lessons Maria Ressa shared from her book?

The five lessons are: 1) Learn, 2) Speak, 3) Draw the line, 4) Trust, and 5) Have faith. These lessons emphasize the importance of education, vocalizing concerns, establishing clear moral boundaries, fostering trust, and maintaining faith in humanity.

How did Maria Ressa describe the impact of social media on human behavior?

Maria Ressa described social media as a platform that amplifies fear, anger, and hatred, pushing people to their worst behaviors and eroding the shared reality anchored by facts.

What is the significance of the 'person-to-person defense of democracy' Maria Ressa mentioned?

The 'person-to-person defense of democracy' refers to the individual responsibility each person has to protect democracy by being informed, vocal, and active in their communities, especially in the face of disinformation.

What challenges has Rappler faced in terms of legal attacks?

Rappler has faced numerous cyber libel complaints, with Maria Ressa herself facing seven existing criminal cases. These legal challenges are seen as attempts to harass and intimidate the news organization.

How does Maria Ressa view the role of education in combating disinformation?

Maria Ressa views education as a critical tool in combating disinformation. She emphasizes the need for people to learn and understand the issues at hand, especially in the context of the information ecosystem.

What is the importance of civic engagement in the age of disinformation according to Maria Ressa?

Maria Ressa believes that civic engagement is crucial in the age of disinformation. It involves active participation from individuals and organizations to fact-check, distribute truth, and uphold the rule of law to protect democracy.

Outlines

00:00

🌏 Addressing Global Challenges to Democracy and Information

Maria Ressa, the CEO of Rappler and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, discusses the impact of technology on democracy and freedom of information. She emphasizes the importance of confronting the challenges of disinformation and the erosion of democracy, particularly highlighting the situation in the Philippines. Ressa calls for courage and collective action, urging the audience to embrace their fears and take a stand against the rise of fascism and authoritarianism. She also mentions the significance of the upcoming elections in various countries and the potential for a shift in the global balance of power.

05:02

🛡️ Defending Against Cyber Attacks and Legal Weaponization

This paragraph details the cyber attacks faced by Rappler and other news organizations in the Philippines, including DDoS attacks and black hat SEO tactics. Ressa describes the efforts to identify and counter these threats, such as working with Facebook to remove malicious actors. She also addresses the weaponization of the law through cyber libel complaints, which have been used to harass journalists and undermine press freedom. Despite these challenges, she notes the positive outcome of many of these cases being dismissed by the courts, indicating a resilience in the face of legal intimidation.

10:02

📉 The Struggle for Press Freedom Amidst Legal and Regulatory Pressures

Ressa recounts the ongoing struggle of Rappler with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the threat of being shut down. She describes the precarious nature of working for a company under such uncertainty and the difficulty of recruiting under these conditions. Additionally, she discusses the personal impact of losing a colleague and facing an appeal on cyber libel, which resulted in an increased jail sentence. Despite these adversities, she maintains a resolve to continue the fight for press freedom and the integrity of journalism.

15:03

🔍 A Multi-Pronged Approach to Combating Disinformation

In this paragraph, Ressa outlines a comprehensive strategy to fight disinformation, which includes fact-checking, distribution through a 'mesh' of civil society and business groups, research to analyze and expose propaganda, and legal action to protect journalists and academics. She describes the collaboration among news organizations, research groups, and legal teams in the Philippines to create a robust defense against the spread of false narratives and the erosion of truth in the public sphere.

20:04

🌟 Five Lessons on Courage, Truth, and the Future of Democracy

Ressa concludes with five key lessons derived from her experiences and observations. These include the importance of learning and staying informed, speaking out against injustice, drawing clear moral lines, fostering trust and love in the face of manipulation, and maintaining faith in humanity. She emphasizes the role of empathy and the need to create a better world by holding the line on truth and shared reality. Ressa encourages the audience to consider what they are willing to sacrifice for the truth and to use their courage to shape a brighter future for democracy.

Keywords

💡Disinformation

Disinformation refers to the deliberate spread of false information or manipulated narratives to deceive and mislead. In the context of the video, Maria Ressa discusses the impact of disinformation on democracy, particularly during elections. She cites the Philippines' presidential elections as an example where disinformation significantly influenced the outcome, highlighting the urgent need to address this issue to protect democratic processes.

💡Courage

Courage, in this video, is portrayed as the inner strength required to stand up against fear and adversity, especially in defense of truth and democracy. Maria Ressa emphasizes the importance of embracing fear and acting courageously in the face of challenges to democracy and freedom of information. She calls upon the audience to exercise their courage to shape a better future, as exemplified by her own experiences and actions as a journalist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

💡Freedom of Information

Freedom of Information is the right to access information held by public authorities without censorship or restriction. The video underscores the importance of this right for a healthy democracy. Maria Ressa discusses how technology and the spread of disinformation can erode this freedom, affecting people's rights to accurate information, which is crucial for making informed decisions, especially in the political sphere.

💡Democracy

Democracy is a system of government where power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or through elected representatives. The video discusses the threats to democracy, such as the rise of illiberal leaders and the spread of disinformation, which can lead to a shift in the geopolitical balance of power. Maria Ressa warns of a potential 'fall off the cliff' for democracy if these trends continue, highlighting the need for collective action to uphold democratic values.

💡Fact-Checking

Fact-Checking is the process of verifying the accuracy of information, especially in the context of journalism and media. In the video, Maria Ressa mentions the critical role of fact-checking in combating disinformation. She describes an initiative in the Philippines where multiple news organizations collaborated to fact-check information, emphasizing the importance of this practice in maintaining the integrity of news and protecting democratic processes.

💡Social Media

Social Media refers to digital platforms that enable users to create and share content or engage in social networking. The video discusses the dual role of social media as both a platform for the rapid spread of information and disinformation. Maria Ressa points out how social media can be manipulated to seed false narratives, influencing public opinion and election outcomes, thus underscoring the need for regulation and responsible use.

💡Information Ecosystem

The Information Ecosystem encompasses the systems, processes, and actors involved in the creation, dissemination, and consumption of information. In the video, Maria Ressa discusses the importance of a healthy information ecosystem for democracy, where accurate information is freely available. She highlights the challenges posed by disinformation and the need for collective efforts to maintain the integrity of this ecosystem.

💡Nobel Peace Prize

The Nobel Peace Prize is an annual award given to individuals or organizations that have made significant contributions to peace. Maria Ressa, being a laureate, discusses the impact of receiving this prestigious award on her work and the recognition it brings to the fight against disinformation and the defense of press freedom. The prize also signifies the global importance of the issues she addresses in her talk.

💡Rule of Law

The Rule of Law is the principle that all members of a society, including government officials, are subject to and accountable under the law. In the video, Maria Ressa emphasizes the importance of the rule of law in maintaining democracy and protecting freedom of information. She discusses how the erosion of the rule of law online can lead to impunity and the undermining of democratic institutions, necessitating legal action to uphold these principles.

💡Shared Reality

A Shared Reality is a collective understanding of facts and truths that forms the basis of a society's discourse and decision-making. Maria Ressa talks about the importance of a shared reality anchored by facts for the proper functioning of democracy. She argues that the spread of disinformation threatens this shared reality, leading to a fractured society with divergent and potentially harmful beliefs and actions.

💡Cyber Libel

Cyber Libel refers to the act of publishing defamatory statements online. In the video, Maria Ressa discusses her personal experience with cyber libel complaints filed against her and her organization, Rappler. These legal actions are portrayed as a form of harassment and an attempt to silence critical voices, highlighting the challenges faced by journalists in the digital age.

Highlights

Maria Ressa, a journalist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, discusses the impact of technology on freedom of information and the challenges faced by democracies.

Ressa emphasizes the importance of courage in defending democracy against the 'death by a thousand cuts' of disinformation and personal integrity.

She highlights the role of social media in spreading disinformation and the influence it has had on recent elections, including the Philippine presidential elections.

Ressa calls for action against the existential threat to democracy, warning that if trends continue, 2024 could see a significant shift in the geopolitical balance of power.

The founder of Rappler shares her experience with cyber attacks, including DDoS attacks and black hat SEO tactics, targeting news organizations in the Philippines.

Ressa discusses the weaponization of the law, including cyber libel complaints, as a form of harassment against journalists and media outlets.

She reports on the success of a collaborative fact-checking initiative involving 16 news organizations in the Philippines, aimed at combating disinformation.

The importance of a 'mesh layer' for distributing fact-checks is underscored, involving civil society, business groups, and other stakeholders.

Ressa introduces the concept of a data pipeline for research, enabling a collective understanding of disinformation campaigns and their impacts.

The role of the legal community in fighting for press freedom and against impunity online is highlighted through strategic litigation.

Five key lessons from Ressa's book are shared, focusing on learning, speaking out, drawing lines, fostering trust, and maintaining faith in the face of challenges.

The significance of creating and maintaining a shared reality anchored by facts is discussed as a defense against disinformation.

Ressa encourages the audience to embrace their fears and use them as a catalyst for action in preserving democracy and truth.

The transcript concludes with a call to action for each individual to consider what they are willing to sacrifice for the truth and the future of democracy.

Transcripts

the founder and ceo of the new site

rappler

the journalist author and nobel peace

prize laureate maria reza directly from

the airport and ready to talk to us

about truth and trust and how technology

is affecting our rights to freedom of

information

please give her a warm welcome maria

reza

hi

uh when ingville was introduced to me i

was like oh my god that's me i'm

speaking can i get a clicker

is that

um oh i forgot to ask so um let me riff

i see it i see it here

thank you

wonderful

i really literally just got off the

plane

um that is what nobel has done um

oh

so look from what i have heard

uh how wonderful to be in the room with

you and to be back this is my third time

back in oslo since december so i am

thrilled to be here and to be in the

peace institute um how quickly

10 minutes talk about courage and part

of it is because it sounds like the day

so far has been not just telling each

other what the problems are because we

certainly know what they are we're

living through it but um hopefully going

to what are we going to do

right that's what i hope to get to and

uh and here's the thing i just put in my

my book last night at midnight

graphics galleys it went in so i have

five lessons from it so where are we

with courage well look the last time at

the nobel lecture i talked about a

person-to-person defense of our

democracy right because what are we

dealing with it's death by a thousand

cuts and you think about that in terms

of states but it is also very personal

to everyone in this room it's death by a

thousand cuts of

your hopes your dreams your integrity

right so so kind of look at it that way

with me micro macro and when that

happens to you it's happened to me

uh

you just have to like bust through it

and i see peter in the back hi peter uh

you know you bust through it and that's

the i come out of it with this thing of

embrace your fear whatever it is you're

most afraid of you have to touch it hold

it i think that the world is going to

turn fascist

and what are we going to do

it's much harder when it happens it's

easier

right when we're on the precipice which

is where we are right now

um

if we go i just got the report from vdem

you know if we go by where we are which

is there are less democracies in the

world today we're back at 1989

uh numbers

if we

you just have to look at the philippines

we had presidential elections on may 9th

this year

and there is no better example of the

impact of disinformation and our kind of

crazy information ecosystem

when we watched history change in front

of our eyes right there's 32 elections

this year

uh kenya just finished you have brazil

coming up

and it is the same existential problem

you're seeing a kind of stop the steel

metanarrative being seeded on social

media

if we follow the trends we have brazil

in october the u.s midterms in november

next year you have

africa nations you have turkey

by 2024 we have indonesia the world's

largest muslim population you have india

the world's largest democracy and then

the u.s presidential elections

if we follow the trend that we're at and

we don't do something now

i think 2024 will be the year we fall

off the cliff that will be the end of

democracy we will have elected

enough illiberal leaders that the

geopolitical balance of power will shift

and democracy will die

i said i would be hopeful right

so at least we know the problem right so

we embrace our fear what are we gonna do

well every person in this room is very

powerful

so i'm gonna ask you for your courage

because that will determine our future

uh

so here's

my update invil asked me to just quickly

tell you what's happened to us since

then well

and this leads to ours our second panel

the attacks online have increased so

it's not just information operations on

social media it's not just information

warfare on social media it is also like

quick things death by a thousand cuts

distributed denial of service attacks

ddos attacks you guys familiar with that

right because it started with the nobel

stream

um in december

from oslo to manila so the nobel

foundation said that

that stream was targeted uh on that day

but then i went home and all the media

organizations the news organizations in

the philippines were attacked all

together and then it just got worse we

found like this hacker group that was

mounting attacks against the major

philippine news outlets and then our

government praised them

that's the upside down world we're

welcome right and then we went we dug

deeper with the swedish group we found

that there was one man in davao city who

was at the core of it davao city is

where president former president duterte

that's his home base so we found this

guy once we talked to him the ddos

attack stopped but then we looked at

where they were recruiting people than

it was

on facebook

so facebook took him down hi khadijah uh

that's the that's the first ddos attacks

the second is that

they didn't just come frontally they

came in the back end so check your

websites guys

who knows what a black hat seo attacks

are

yeah you gotta know yay

blackout seo attacks meaning they take

junk links to ai generated stuff some of

them on easily like these are sites that

google could do something about and has

i hope but what this means is it sends

death by a thousand cuts tens of

thousands of junk

links to your website in our case to

philippine news groups so we as an

industry were under attack and when we

looked at it you have to like physically

actually um annul these links tens of

thousands right so it takes your time

it just takes time time and time and we

weren't the only ones all the news

organizations what this means is you

have less people finding your site less

people finding the news so this was

something

i stopped working for raptor i just we

just started telling our all the

philippine news organizations how they

were being insidiously attacked behind

the scenes and guess what one of the

largest ones was a commercial black hat

seo operator from sweden

and that company not only like attacks

you with tens of thousands but then asks

you to pay them to take it down so it's

really interesting

here's the third one so anyway if that's

happening to new sites in the

philippines it's got to be happening to

others right it just takes a while to

find that death by a thousand cuts on

the back end

this is the third thing the third and

last update of what happened it's the

weaponization of the law

in january this year we had a dozen

cyber libel complaints right you know i

have seven existing criminal cases now

rappler has eight but uh

in order to be here i have to ask for

court permission

norway and the nobel always gets me

court permission thank you um

but here's what happened after i got

back we had these complaints their cyber

libel complaints kibaloy is the pastor

of former president duterte he's also

wanted by the fbi for sex trafficking

his site is kind of like a pseudo news

site that is the fastest growing attacks

all the news groups in the philippines

um

and they have just been awarded a

franchise the abs one of the franchises

of abs-cbns was given to them so here's

what happened

we had that

and then we found out that you know

will our justice system work so

it was thrown out the first seven were

thrown out by april but also in april we

found out that you know there were more

that we didn't even know about because

this is death by a thousand cuts right

there were cases that were filed in

different remote provinces of the

philippines and we had to take time to

respond to those uh otherwise you get an

arrest warrant because i'm reliable as

you know it's criminal in the

philippines right well by april we

actually had 16

more complaints and 50 counts of cyber

libel

this is really just to harass you right

so that you you take your eye off the

ball well

here's the best part all of them have

been thrown out all including the one in

davao city so you see there's hope

it's um but then that wasn't enough you

know around uh when was this

and the end of

june

the philippines reiterated we lost we

lost at the sec again

uh in april well around i guess this

would have been june

we were told that we needed to shut down

that's another one of those moments um

and i was like no you're gonna have

i can't say this because you're you're

watching philippines so um but

we decided to keep going

because

we're not violating anything in the

constitution so so

every day we go to work and we're not

sure whether we will get shut down that

day and at the same time because we're

doing well i'm trying to recruit people

to a company that may or may not get

shut down it's kind of a strange place

to be

and then of course this is the last

thing that happened

it's really slow july

um

i lost my colleague and i

lost the

appeal at the court of appeals on cyber

libel and then the decision

added more jail time you know it's you

have to laugh you have to laugh

um so that's my update for you right

more attacks more insidious death by a

thousand cuts attacks online

more attacks death by a thousand cuts i

mean that's like more cases this year

than i've had in the last six years but

there's an upside to it most of them

have been thrown out

the ones that have progressed it means

we're going to be arguing this at the

supreme court it means it's a very

high-stakes game of chicken and you

cannot veer off course we hold the line

so let me then go to

where how does this come back to you and

what are we going to do about it because

i promised you that

the person-to-person defense of our

democracy short medium and

the long term we already know and you

know that academics will know will have

said this there have been numerous

reports education

it's like everything the medium term

the the eu has taken this it's

legislation it's necessary

the social media platforms the

technology companies are not going to do

this voluntarily there must be

legislation and

the eu is is paving the way the digital

services act the digital markets act

too late for the philippines but you

know it kicks in spring next year and

then in the short term in the short term

this is where it's person to person and

where we can do much more together this

is where we have to figure out what

civic engagement looks like in the age

of

exponential propaganda in the age of

a behavioral

modification system that is our

information highway right so what is

that i have an example for you we tried

this in the philippines we didn't do it

long enough

for our elections we decided and and we

worked with the google news initiative

and with another

a tech based kind of pipeline uh called

medan it's san francisco based but look

it's a whole of society approach that's

what i wind up calling it but it starts

with with this pyramid so we started it

really truly in february because it took

a few weeks to set up but 16 news

organizations working together for fact

checking

fact checking is really boring right and

you used to think this was like implicit

in everything a news organization does

on the internet fact checking is

critical so for the first time these 16

news groups nation nationwide and local

hyper local news groups we work together

and it was fantastic to do that

everything that we created was creative

commons anyone can repurpose anyone can

repost and then the second layer is the

most important part because remember

fact checks are really boring they don't

spread on social media which is how

filipinos

get our news so

we created the mesh layer

mesh these are civil society groups

business groups business finally joined

power and money's got to come into this

battle

the church asia the philippines is

asia's largest roman catholic nation um

and what we did is we told the mesh so

nobel peace center for example right we

told we organized ourselves so that the

mesh shares these fact checks

and they add emotion

because

it's a thinking fast distribution system

it needs emotion and we journalists

aren't very good at that

so mesh and look it it was actually

really good and i got the idea for mesh

did you guys watch that movie don't look

up

you remember how the planetary system

came together bit by bit by bit mesh it

was a mesh it created a mesh before to

throw off the asteroid

that's so the mesh was the distribution

system and it worked anyway the third

part is research

if if the first is to create truth the

second is to distribute the third is to

analyze and we had this is the first

time seven research groups came together

with the data pipeline that we all could

see right so the data pipeline brought

that and every week we did a webinar

where each each research group would

come out with their finding and tell our

public our our people who's doing what

what meta narrative what lie is being

seeded who benefits from this who is the

target

so the research groups did that they did

we did 21

research groups research papers um and

these are now all being peer reviewed

but it we reversed the academic cycle

instead of peer review and then media it

was like atomize it first bring it to

the public first because you need to do

that and then it'll go to the peer

reviews after but but we checked each

other right so there's lots of stuff

that was incredible 21 in like

from march to may

21 that's pretty cool

and the last one the one that's most

important is the law

where the heck are all the lawyers

because impunity online

is impunity offline

right if there is no rule of law online

how do you expect our rule of law in the

real world to survive it hasn't

that is the erosion right so what

happened here is that our legal groups

in the philippines came together and and

what they did is they filed more than 23

legal cases

strategic and tactical

litigation that helped protect the

journalists who were being attacked that

helped protect the academics because now

history is under attack so that

academics are feeling the heat that the

journalists have felt before

this

worked for a period of time but not

enough to stop the overwhelming

win of a new marcos the namesake of our

former dictator ferdinand marcos jr he's

our new president

but it works and how do i know it works

the impact it created within the first

two weeks that we rolled this out uh the

solicitor general the office of the

solicitor general

filed a petition at the supreme court

against rappler and the commission on

elections calling fact-checking

illegal saying that it is prior

restraint

it's we fought that also and it's gone

but it was at the supreme court so all

right let me i have less okay let me

just come with the five lessons now this

is for you

i tell you i just finished it so

um

at the nobel lecture i ask you what will

you sacrifice for the truth and i

realized that you know in writing this

book i wrote 400 pages that got edited

down to 200.

these are the lessons that i put in

there and

they may sound really naive but you know

i think that's what the world needs

remember when i pulled out the t-shirt

that said in order to be the good you

have to believe there is good in the

world

that's the part that social media has

taken away from us

that emergent human behavior that is

coming out today

emphasizes

fear anger hatred it it makes us our

worst selves so remember these things

these are this is what

i'm told by my publishers i should say

inside the book when you read the book

in the book

i actually go through and show you the

data behind all of this right but you

know lesson number one for me is learn

you're here

learn this is a time when it seems like

the world is falling apart which it is

but last night i was with a climate

scientist who was optimistic i think

that's the most existential problem we

face and we cannot fix climate if we do

not fix our information ecosystem right

how can we get the right information to

you so learn

um the studies also show that the people

in the middle the people like us

uh

are the ones who are quiet um they said

that this most extreme six percent are

the ones that are that are taking over

the information ecosystem so don't bury

your head in the sand right

the second

speak

speak

i was on the same stage where

salman rushdie was attacked

in chautauqua new york and

you know it was a community that had it

was a community that had been together

for 149 years

and when i sat it's like it seats 2 000

3 000 people and when i sat and spoke in

front of the community i had to face my

fear because i was like oh my gosh how

could that happen right it was in front

of so many people that he was

stabbed this is a man who

dealt with a fatwa for speaking

um and

someone said don't go and i was like no

no no no no we go and and i went and i

was so glad i did because i could see a

community

that was shattered

but yet came back together

believed in the community believed in

the good and it was fantastic to speak

to them because

if you don't speak

you say everything is okay

silence is consent and now at this time

you cannot

you can't be quiet if something in your

area of influence is wrong this is the

time to clean up our areas of influence

the third you've heard me say a lot

i've been saying it since 2016

draw the line

where on this side you're good

and on this side you're evil

it has to be that clear in your head

because that's how you

act

because this is also a time to act right

um

the fourth

is

this sounds naive again we have to trust

because that's what's been broken

so each of us in our area of influence

even if our families are being torn

apart we trust our families are easier

because we love

that's the other part love right it's

connected to this but trust

what's being used to manipulate us is

fear anger hate

um so think slow not fast

us against them when you run into that

and there are many ways to talk about

that it could be it's now part of state

ideology in hungary

it's moving in all different parts of

the world we need to avoid that and

europe

more than any part of the world

understands what could happen when us

against them is pushed to the end grow

and to the nth point we have to grow the

shared reality in the nobel lecture i

talked about that shared reality being

anchored by facts right

and then finally the last one again

sounds crazy

but we have to have faith

i'm not a religious person

but more than at any other time

it's kind of connected so i went back to

this thing from the bible

do unto others as you would have them do

unto you it's an empathy that can get

lost again on social media so if you're

not on social media stay off um

hi facebook live stream

um

so and then that last part right we will

these are my lessons just

people ask me how do you find the

courage

it's in these five things

because it's naturally not about

fighting something it's about holding

the line on who you are who you want to

be and i think this is the part that is

exciting

everything is falling apart

the world is insane right now our

politics i already told you 2024 please

please do something

um

it's also exciting in a weird way

because we're going to create

the world we want

and the world we want is actually better

than where we are today

you know that's what i think so

please you have to ask yourself the same

question what are you

willing to sacrifice for the truth that

shared reality because

your courage

will help determine

our future

thank you

thank you

thank you