 Jesse Smollett just made us all look really, really dumb and there's some valuable lessons that we can learn from this situation to try to ensure that it doesn't happen again. What is up everybody? This is Chris from the Rewired Soul where we talk about the problem, but focus on the solution. And if you're new to my channel, my channel is all about mental health and what I like to do is pull different topics from pop culture to try to teach you how to improve your mental and emotional well-being. So if you're into that stuff, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell. And boy, do I feel good, even though we're going to be talking about a serious subject. And right now you're like, Chris, why are you feeling so good? Because I just got off the phone with my amazing therapist, Katrina. All right, so I started therapy about a month or so ago through BetterHelp Online Therapy. I have been an affiliate of theirs for a very long time, but I just finally started using their service about a month ago since my brain's been going on crazy as my channel continues to grow. But anyways, awesome session. I feel rejuvenated. And if you want to check out BetterHelp, go ahead and check out the link down below. That is my affiliate link. And yeah, it's pretty affordable online therapy. So if that's the option for you, go give it a look. All right, but anyways, let's talk about Jesse Smollett in this case. So when this first came into the news a couple of weeks ago, a ton of people asked me to make a video about it. I check in with my emotions and my motives all the time because I have to, especially now that my YouTube channel is growing, I have to, right? So I was like, I'm going to wait because there were some parts of the story that seemed kind of weird. I was like, I'm going to wait until more comes out about this. All right, so those of you who are living under a rock and don't know about this, Jesse Smollett is an actor on the show Empire. All right. And real quick side note, I used to watch Empire, loved it. I loved like the songs and everything, but learning about, you know, the main dude, God, I don't even remember the character's names. I don't remember the actor's names. But anyways, he has a history of assault and domestic violence and it's kind of been brushed under the rug. So I'm like, I'm not going to support this show anymore. Anyways, one of my favorite characters was Jamal, Jesse Smollett's character, right? And I loved his voice. I love, you know, R&B and stuff like that. But anyways, basically what happened, what supposedly happened was a couple of weeks ago, he, you know, he was back in Chicago. He was hungry. He went to a 24-hour subway. And as he went to subway, he got jumped by two men. All right? Supposedly two white men who, you know, jumped him. And they were saying, you know, racial slurs, homophobic slurs because Jesse Smollett is a gay man. And they also were saying things like, this is Maga country, right? And he even had a rope tied around his neck. But part of that story that didn't line up was he waited like 45 minutes to call the cops and left the rope around his neck, which was kind of weird or whatever. So the next development in the story, and by the way, I recommend you watch Philip DeFranco to get caught up on all the little minor details. But anyways, next thing you know, two Nigerian brothers were arrested for the assault, and they were quickly released saying that Jesse Smollett hired them to do this. And now it's like, all right, plot twist. Well, the newest development is Jesse Smollett is now facing felony charges because allegedly it looks like he hired these guys to do this and make it look like a hate crime. All right? So in this video, in this video, we're going to be talking about the extremely, extremely important subject of confirmation bias. All right? So like I said, I waited to even make a video on this, didn't even know if I was going to, because I could see my emotions making me want to react. Like when this story first came out, people were outraged, people were talking about Trump supporters, people are, you know, saying they're going to, you know, go out to Chicago and avenge, you know, Jesse Smollett sending him his, their prayers too and all these other things. And it turns out that he was lying. Now, I'm not saying don't defend victims, but this is really hurting victims, by the way. So those of you who didn't get the memo yet, I am a half black man and I am very, you know, pro LGBTQ plus, you know, right. As somebody who grew up around, you know, gay men, my mom's best friends were gay. The guy who was like my uncle who unfortunately passed away about six years ago or so, you know, he was my mom's best friend. He was gay. So, you know, I'm very like, you know, for that community too. So obviously when I heard this, like my reaction is, I want to get angry, I want to get pissed, you know, all these things and it starts playing into my confirmation bias. And I put up a poll asking you guys if you wanted me to cover this, right? And talk about, you know, the mental health side of things. And a couple of comments that I want to point out, I'm not going to show them on the screen, but trust me, they're there and you can go look at them. But one of them, you know, one of them, actually multiple, quite a few of them said, let's, Chris, you should wait, don't do a video on this until more facts come out. Now come on, come on. Like this reminds me of what I mentioned in a video a few weeks ago, Dr. Judson Brewer, how he was, you know, trying to hold out hope for Lance Armstrong, even after Lance Armstrong admitted to taking steroids for the Tour de France. Like, come on, you guys, okay? Like, the two guys were released. The police were investigated again. Jesse Smollett turned himself in and is now getting charged, okay? This announcement today recognizes that Empire actor Jesse Smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career. I'm left hanging my head and asking why. Like, I don't know what you're holding out hope for. Like, which direction do you think this story's gonna turn? Like, maybe like aliens like invaded his body and made him do this? Like, I don't know what you're waiting for, but the facts are pretty much there at this point. Now, the other comment that I saw was one say, you know, yes, make a video about this, but don't make a political. Sorry, it's gonna get political and it's important too. So next year is, you know, the 2020 elections, right? And, you know, I don't mind mentioning my, you know, political views and things like that. I am, you know, I would say I'm a social Democrat and things like, I dig Bernie Sanders and all that stuff. But anyways, like this is something that happened, confirmation buys, this is something that happened in the last election, okay? And you guys gotta understand, people are playing you like a fool constantly. I don't care if it's the right, I don't care if it's the left, you are getting played, okay? Like one of the reasons I bring so many topics, you know, here on YouTube, like to the light, is because we're constantly getting played. You, one of the biggest illusions you all have that I have that we all have is this illusion of control. I'm in control of my thoughts, my feelings and my actions, no, you're not. No, you're not, we are such emotional creatures and so many people are just, their emotions are just off the leash, right? When you hear something, you just react, react, react, react. We are in this autopilot mode of reacting, cancel culture, politics, whatever it is. So when you hear a story that plays into your confirmation buys, let me paint a picture for you. You're somebody who's very anti-Trump, right? You are somebody just so anti-Trump, you believe, you believe that every single Trump supporter out there is anti-gay, anti-black, anti, you know, whatever. Now, not to say that some of them aren't, right? But you make this blanket statement and then when you hear this story about Jesse Smollett, originally you're like, aha, your brain wants to say, aha, I knew it, I knew it, right? Because that's how confirmation bias works. Our brain wants to believe that we're right. There are neurological studies that prove when we are right or when one of our beliefs are confirmed, we get spurts of different neurotransmitters that make us feel good, all right? The problem with this is we get very tunnel vision and we neglect the truth, okay? We see this happening all the time on YouTube. There are people where you have an idea, like I talked about this with expectancy theory, right? Where you see different YouTubers, you expect them to be a certain way and all that other stuff. Maybe you expect them to be on straight and narrow, be good or whatever, something bad happens, you know, them showing their human side and you're like, oh my God, oh my God, right? Or there's people who are like, nah, there might not be something right about this person and then something happens and you're like, aha, aha! Like, I truly believe that's what happens with a lot of YouTubers and how they get canceled but celebrities, politicians, all these things because so many of us are a victim of our own confirmation bias and we don't even realize it. And at the end of the day, it makes us look dumb. Like, there was a story, who was it? With James Gunn. James Gunn, the director of Guardians of the Galaxy and all that, where the right admitted to resurfacing these tweets and things like that to put a spotlight on James Gunn, like, just because they were playing into the left's outrage culture. All right, now think about that for a second, right? Now, most of us don't wanna get manipulated, most of us don't want that to happen to us but if you don't hurry up and get in control of your emotions, this is gonna keep happening over and over and over again and with people like Jesse Smollett, like, hurting the cause when it comes to racism, homophobia. You know what I mean? Like, it sets everybody back. You know what I mean? And I mean the country as a whole, back. You know, even on a global scale, okay? So we need to start getting in touch with our emotions, okay? So this is why I always preach meditation, start meditating. It will help improve your prefrontal cortex and give you some more emotional regulation. Something that I'm working on with my therapist this week is something called cognitive distortion, okay? That's where my mind goes and the stories it makes up and all these other things. So now you gotta break certain thought habits because they affect me mentally, right? So again, again, be very mindful of your confirmation bias cause it's only gonna hurt you as well as everybody else, okay? But anyways, let me know your thoughts down in the comments below. Again, if you wanna check out BetterHelp Online Therapy, link is down in the description below. It is an affiliate link so what that means is that you get cheap, affordable online therapy and it also helps support the channel, all right? Anyways, that's all I got for this video. If you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up. If you're new, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell because I make a ton of videos and a huge thank you to everybody supporting the channel over on Patreon. You are all amazing and the Patreon Q&A will be coming this week, all right? Thanks so much for watching. I'll see you next time.