Why Smart Women Podcast

Scepticism, Socks, And Self-Protection

Annie McCubbin

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We turn a chaotic week—stolen bikes, a shredded laptop, and a dog’s sock surgery—into a guide to better decisions by swapping blame for causation and drama for clarity. We unpack coercive control, how to warn a friend without lecturing, and why scepticism is a safety tool against health misinformation.

• shifting from blame to causation to regain control
• spotting early coercive control masked as care
• using calm, specific language to influence a friend
• jealousy as insecurity not love
• metacognition as a buffer against emotional decisions
• health misinformation on social media and why scepticism matters
• practical sceptic habits for medical advice
• update on Ryder’s surgery and recovery

Please, please respect that gut feeling. Staying safe needs to be our primary objective. And don't forget to subscribe when we're going to do the podcast and share it with your fellow smart women and allies

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SPEAKER_01:

You are listening to the Why Smart Women Podcast, the podcast that helps smart women work out why we repeatedly make the wrong decisions and how to make better ones. From relationships, career choices, finances, to photo jackets and chaos movies. Every moment of every day, we're making decisions. Let's make some good ones. I'm your host, Anima Cabin, and as a woman of a certain age, I've made my own pair of really bad decisions. Not at all. I don't think I did go to find it. And I wish this podcast had been around to save me from myself. This podcast will give you insights into the working of your own brain, which will blow your mind. I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which I'm recording and you are listening on this day. Always was, always will be, Aboriginal land. Well, hello, smart women, and welcome back to the Why Smart Women Podcast. I am broadcasting today from Australia, specifically in DY on the northern beaches of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and it is weirdly freezing cold and raining. So it got hot and now it's cold again, which is really odd, but that's spring for you, I guess. Um Hello David.

SPEAKER_00:

You're lucky to have me here this morning, you know. How come? Yeah, because I I'm missing my dog.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so yeah. We thought we'd um for regular listeners, we thought we'd fill you in on the upshot of what has happened since we spoke to you a couple of days ago to our beloved Grudel rider. So yes, he survived the surgery. Um That's right.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't I think I think I think last time we spoke he was probably in surgery. He was in surgery. He survived. It was tremendously complicated. Yes, I mean it is The stupid dog had swallowed a sock, but not any old sock. It had to be a Lululemon sock. Yeah. With a fabulously um stubborn and non-dissol dissolving cord um that connected all the pieces of this sock that were scattered through his stomach, his duodenum, his large intestine, his small intestine, the bowel. I mean, there was basically a a nylon string running from one end to the other, and the poor dog just couldn't couldn't couldn't vomit it at one end, couldn't get it out the other end. Poor darling. So yeah, they had to they had to go into his stomach and in his intestinal tract, I think there were four incisions, um, each of them removing various parts of this wretched sock. So and Annie Annie and our Annie and I are now gonna boycott Lululemon.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I'm never going to a I I had a thing about Lululemon anyway, because they they once had a sign in their window that said 99% of all um illnesses are caused by stress, which is incorrect, because riders' issue with the sock from their organization was not caused by stress. Or maybe dogs aren't included in the 99% of um things are caused by stress.

SPEAKER_00:

Maybe it's human stress.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, then it's just such a stupid thing to put in a window, and then there's some implication that you know if you just never get stressed, or if you manage your stress, or if you put your Lululemon pants on and do some meditation and some yoga, you'll never get sick. It's just stupid. Yes. I hate that.

SPEAKER_00:

But I tell you what, speaking of speaking of critical thinking errors, can can can you see how how how enthusiastically we have identified the villain in the piece? Oh, you know, when when when when something goes wrong, who's to blame? Who's to blame? You know, it's it's um it's never satisfying to go, well, it's just one of the things that happens, you know, that's nature, that's the cycles of the of the seasons. Um cycles of the seasons.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh well, yeah, I'm just just What do you mean the cycles of the seasons?

SPEAKER_00:

I'm just saying things happen.

SPEAKER_01:

You know things happen.

SPEAKER_00:

Shit happens.

SPEAKER_01:

But uh I you know And we want to assign blame. We want to assign blame to attribute, it's it's attribution.

SPEAKER_00:

That's right. So it's Lululemon in their product department. You know, why are they not thinking about what happens when a when a grudel swallows one of their socks? I mean, surely they should be they should be ahead of the game. They're a premium brand, for God's sake.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that the there should be a department that that is headed up that's around what would happen if a dog of any breed, or maybe each the uh each dog breed should have its own little section. Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, because the nature of the uh the the the injury is going to be different between a large dog and a small dog.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, what would happen if he was a small dog? Anyway, the thing about it is it's true true what you say is who's to blame.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Um and I guess that's that part of our our brain, it's our attempt to regain control of a situation or the narrative.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, it's like something bad happens in the world, so we want to to what we want to know that there is a force that is causing it.

SPEAKER_00:

Causing it so we can so we can defend ourselves against it. You know, that we can that we can you know building Assuage the gods or something.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean it's this it's the bad things happen. We're back at bad things happen in threes. Yes. Or um everything happens for a reason. There's the everything happens for a reason thing. What?

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, so my my e-bike was stolen from um from the parking lot on on Friday night.

SPEAKER_01:

Incident one.

SPEAKER_00:

Rider swallows a sock and and has to have surgery. Incident two. So so what's gonna be the third one?

SPEAKER_01:

No, we've already got the third one. What was the third one? My computer fell off the table and my screen smashed.

SPEAKER_00:

You dropped it.

SPEAKER_01:

No, I well, that's well, that's some attribution there. Did I drop it or did I just fall off? What happened? I've got this I I think I don't know, I'm beginning to think that Yo-Yo, the other dog, is to blame for a lot.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh really?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I mean, my my girl one of my girlfriends messaged me last night and and she reckons that Yo-Yo has been plotting this for a long time with Ryder. And probably she gave him the sock.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, n nudging nudging the sock in his direction with the bigger.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, because she gets more food, she gets more attention, she gets the ball to herself.

SPEAKER_00:

Come on, and the other thing Lululemon. Yeah, come on, Ryder. I know you want it.

SPEAKER_01:

It's right. And the other thing I think is that maybe Yo-Yo um pushed my computer off the table.

SPEAKER_00:

It wouldn't surprise me. Well, look, I mean we know we've known for a long time that Yo Yo ruins everything.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, well, she's got an assassin quality to her, hasn't she? She's got a bit of an assassin quality. Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

She's got a she's got a thick face but a black heart.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, she has.

SPEAKER_00:

You can't see what's going on inside.

SPEAKER_01:

So I may decide to move the blame from Lululemon. I was enjoying that though. To um to to her other the the black grudel. What do you think?

SPEAKER_00:

Or we could get a small pair of leggings and make loot and uh make yo yo wear them. The Lululemon assassin.

SPEAKER_01:

It is it is true though, where that that notion that we have that there is something, there is a force bigger than us that is causing these things to happen.

SPEAKER_00:

Well sometimes it's true though. You know, I mean, you know, sometimes you're in a relationship, and if you're in a relationship with somebody who doesn't have your best interests at heart, then it's good to recognise that, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

But that's a person, that's not an invisible agent.

SPEAKER_00:

Hang on a minute. I I I know we're audio uh only, but I'm gonna see if Annie Annie recognises this sight gag.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, it is Yes, and I know the film you're talking about. It's the one with Julia Roberts.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

The the enemy within, the enemy next door, the enemy in your bed.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, close, what do you do in your bed?

SPEAKER_01:

Sle uh sleeping with the enemy.

SPEAKER_00:

Sleeping with the enemy, yeah. It was a it was a it was a Julia Roberts film that Annie and I used to laugh at the poster because she, you know, the the movie poster was just a very large close-up of Julia Roberts' face and her hair was wet and it was pulled back and she looked quite quite quite worried.

SPEAKER_01:

But yes, sometimes Yeah, but you extrapolate because that sounds mad, right? Okay, it does sound mad.

SPEAKER_00:

The point is that sometimes we are sleeping with the enemy. Sometimes there are people in our lives who are making things difficult for us. And in that instance, it's it's it's actually um it's appropriate to attribute causation. Maybe let's not call it blame. But maybe I think it is appropriate to contribute causation to something that you then have power to defend yourself against.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, but that's an entirely different issue. In that situation, where someone is stuck in a crappy relationship with someone's where where someone is abusive, looking at that person and going, This is not good for me because you are causing me whatever is is is very, very appropriate. The thing that is inappropriate is to go to the next step and go, this relationship has been sent by something, you know, fill in the above, you know, God or the universe or whatever, to teach me a lesson, and then you get caught up in the what is this lesson about? What am I meant to learn by being with this dick? Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. As opposed to he is a dick, and I've got to get out of here, it gets layered on because what we want is that there is some agency. Yeah. That that so if you look at what happened with Ryder, if I had that sort of spiritual belief system, um, I would have then gone, right? Um, the universe has sent me this um issue with my dog, the dog has swallowed a sock. Um, what is the universe trying to tell me? And then I could get really caught up.

SPEAKER_00:

Get rid of all your socks.

SPEAKER_01:

Get rid yeah, don't yeah, get rid of all your socks, don't wear Lululemon. I don't wear Lululemon anyway.

SPEAKER_00:

But you do wear socks.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I do wear socks, and he has in the past swallowed underwear and also four weeks ago one single glove. Yeah. But he vomited that back up.

SPEAKER_00:

Sounds like a nightmare dog. Why are we so fond of him?

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know. I know. See, Yo Yo, the evil dog who pushed the computer off the table and possibly gave him the sock.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, she's fine. She's robust.

SPEAKER_01:

She doesn't ever eat any underwear or socks. Does she?

SPEAKER_00:

No. No, no, that's uh she'll sometimes she'll shall eat a pine cone.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's a big one.

SPEAKER_00:

But not a sock.

SPEAKER_01:

Tell you what, that dog rider is never going to be anywhere near I don't know how we're gonna do it. He's he's he's sneaky because he runs off into the bushes.

SPEAKER_00:

He's a th th this is this is now a perfect hook for your general anxiety disorder now. Oh it is. You're gonna you're gonna be hyper hyper vigilant.

SPEAKER_01:

Hyper vigilant about where is the dog and what is it?

SPEAKER_00:

He's gonna be a helicopter mother. Heli A helicopter owner.

SPEAKER_01:

Helicopter owner.

SPEAKER_00:

What's in his mouth now?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's not it's not not going to be good. This is not going to be a good three years.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm envisioning a a future where I'm constantly you know reaching into the dog's mouth to pull something out. Yes. Because while you say, David, David, David, he swallowed something.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, David, David, David, he swallowed something. Absolutely. So what else yes?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I mean so so I think I think when when trying to discern, you know, whether there is actual causation or whether you're just finding something to blame because it helps you to feel like you're back in crop control, I do think the language can help you make that distinction. And just those two different words, blame, you know, I blame the sock, I blame Lululemon, I blame Ryder, I blame Yo yo Yo yo. Um blame. Blame has got a an edge to it, a charge to it. There's almost drama there. But if you talk in in really kind of neutral language, like consequences, you know, this was a consequence of this. Of what though? Okay, well, this was a consequence of um you know of of of of Ryder being, you know, left to his own devices where he might find a sock. You know, uh it it it it's a consequence of, you know, the Grudel's natural instinct to consume things that it's chewing up. You know, that's why it's happening. Um it's it's cleaner, I think, when you when you think in terms of cause and effect. This cause so you've got causation, you've got you know consequences.

SPEAKER_01:

So you so I guess it's back to that notion of what can you control and what can't you control.

SPEAKER_00:

And are you saying that you can control the the the language that you use to describe the situation to yourself?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah. And also you can become more aware. You know, we will now be aware of what the dog is doing.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh my goodness, every time he's chewing, I'll I'll I'll give him a an oral exam.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah, that's right. So uh so instead of looking for some larger agent, agent, that's it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that's it. Where there's blame, you ascribe agency. You know, you you you say it's almost like you know, yo-yo's been scheming, you know, Lululemon are corporately in you know, um irresponsible with the products that they're developing. So when we ascribe agency, it kind of ramps up the drama and we get into blame. But if you don't ascribe agency and you talk in terms of the concrete um incidents, you know, this happened which caused that, uh-huh. That happened, that caused that. Now I can see causation.

SPEAKER_01:

Um okay, so you're in a relationship, yeah, and um he is maybe gaslighting you.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, so let's say that you're in a relationship, and people as your friends are starting to say to you, can you not see what's happening?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

You're being gaslit. You know, that classic situation where men make women feel mad. Yeah, yeah. They do something, the woman has a reaction, and then the issue is the reaction, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Yep.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, it's her reactivity, it's her hysteria, not what he has done.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And you're not gonna like this. Yeah. But I'm saying that when we use terms like gaslighting and he's you know, he's to blame and all of those sorts of things, then then then look, it does create a drama, you know? But it is a drama. It it is a drama. Is there a way of of giving that advice saying, you know, uh listen, I notice that whenever you try to um you know, whenever you describe one of your achievements, I notice that what he does is that he Diminishes you and pulls you down. That's right.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, let's take a really, really concrete example, right? Let's just take this. And this is often what happens with coercion and control. Okay, yeah. So the woman is has gone out with her friends, right? Let's just say on her own with her girlfriends, and then what he does is start to he'll ring her um just to check that she's okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01:

Just need to know where you are, you're okay.

SPEAKER_00:

And she's quite a nice thing to do, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01:

No, it's not not a nice thing to do, it's a control. So sh he's saying, I I'm just checking in on you because I love you. Yeah, she sees it as a positive sign of love and protection. Yeah, that's right. But her friends are alert to the fact that actually it's about control. Yeah. He's tracking her, he wants to know where she is, he doesn't want anybody else looking at her, and it's only going to deteriorate.

SPEAKER_00:

Right, okay.

SPEAKER_01:

And that's the re and that is a very, very common scenario, especially now with smartphones, is he can see where she is. Okay, right. Yeah. So what should her friends say?

SPEAKER_00:

What should her friends say?

SPEAKER_01:

In that situation.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, well, it depends on on what it is that they are hoping to achieve. What are what what what are the tr what do the friends want? They want her to mo her to be aware that she's being sure. Tracked?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that it's unhealthy. It's not love. Jealousy is not love. Control is not love. Yeah. It can be framed as love, but as soon as you're trying to control another person, it's not love. Yeah. So everyone should remember that. If someone's tracking you, um, if someone's often women think or people think that some if there's jealousy present, um, it's it's a sign of love. It's not a sign of love, it's a sign of insecurity on the side of the person and lack of trust of you, right? It's it's bad. Jealousy is not a positive thing at all.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh look, I I I I d I don't have a neat answer to the question, and I guess the thing that I'm wrestling with at the moment is what are the situations when actually uh ramping up the drama is actually a good thing? You know, when you ramp up the drama and you say, you know, he's he's he's um this isn't healthy, you know? It's not right what he's doing to do.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, but you're doing you're saying that with with a sort of a hysterical edge, as if all women are gonna go. Yeah, it's not right. He's yeah. Yeah, yeah. So you can just say, listen, have you thought about the fact that him tracking you could be the start of something that's actually quite negative?

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, so d d d did you notice the tenor of those two um sample statements that you just made? One of them was dramatic.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

One of them was very rational and measured. And and it seemed, you know, earlier in this conversation, I was saying that the probably the better way or the you know, the the cleaner way of doing it, is to take the drama out of it and talk about, you know, causation rather than blame. Yeah. But uh but but now I'm just posing the question, if you want to get through to your, you know, your girlfriend who is on the way to coercion and control and it's not good for her, um, how much do you do you use that for first voice, which is, you know, can't you see what he's doing to you? It's not healthy. Do you use that voice? Or do you use the voice which says, Look, I'm I'm concerned that he's called you, you know, twice since we've been out. He's asking you this.

SPEAKER_01:

Doesn't that does that, you know, m make you feel that you know and and I think if I'm in a relationship with someone and I'm thrilled to the back teeth because they're really lovely and they've given me a whole lot of attention and he's really super nice.

SPEAKER_00:

Hopefully that'll happen for you one day.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I can only hope. And and then that's my narrative. Yeah, and I've got a strong emotional attachment to that narrative. You know, maybe I've been out of a relationship for five, six years, and finally he's here. The last thing I want is someone going, listen, he's a gaslighter and he's a narcissist, right? Because it's going to cut across my hopes, dreams, and my narratives. Yep, yep, yep, yep. My narrative.

SPEAKER_00:

So So you're saying in a situation like that you should keep it really um non-dramatic.

SPEAKER_01:

Non-dramatic, low-key, and very, very rational. And in order to, you really have to if you want to persuade someone, you need to really be able to climb inside their narrative and really acutely listen to what it is that they want. Right? What do they want? Do do you really think I just want to finish that thought. So if if it's me and I'm in this relationship and and you're seeing that it's um not going to work for me, you need to be super hip to what I want, what I need, and what my hopes and dreams are in order to influence me.

SPEAKER_00:

That's right. Well, I mean, this is this this this was the thought that I just had. Um, you know, you talk about trying to persuade somebody. I think with situations like that, the only the only person who is capable of persuading me to do something important, you know, that might be entangled with a a narrative around my identity, the only person who has any power to persuade me is myself. Correct. So so I think what what I'm hearing is you're saying you have a conversation that enables the person to persuade themselves, you know, to try and help them to see the concrete the concrete evidence that it's the same old thing that facts facts heat up against emotion, right? That's right, they'll bounce off.

SPEAKER_01:

They'll just bounce off the frame. You know, it's it's the old um telling anti-vaxxers that they're being idiots because of course vaccines worth at work, it just bounces off the frame. You have to try and find the commonality, right? Yeah between you. So if someone's in that situation, you know, you need to be able to climb inside there and go, wow, this person is really, really attached to this potential romantic outcome. How am I going to influence them?

SPEAKER_00:

What what happens when I I know I'm only picking one, you know, particular possibility, but when when someone has when someone's pathology is so kind of loaded up that that shifting that perception that finally someone's paying me attention and I'd and and I'd rather be called, you know, three times on an evening than than than completely an all. Yeah. You know, if someone's got really strong pathology, yeah. Again, same question. You know, do you do you try and break through it with emotion or do you try because that's that's it's it's questioning, you know, it's it's asking them so you know, obviously, you know, you're really enjoying this level of attention. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. Yes, I am. Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

What do you get out of it? Sounds like a therapeutic conversation.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, well you'd have to be super smart about it, I think. Um and then, you know, at some point going, Yeah, so how often does he call you when you're out? Oh okay, that that's quite a lot. Is there any any other areas where um he's sort of tracking you or following you or questioning you? Yeah, yes, he there are, but that's because he loves me and he really cares about me and he's very protective. Yeah. And then starting to unpack that with the person.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. So you're saying that a conversation that starts like that could actually end with someone going, gee, I can see there is a problem here, you know, I better I better have a conversation with him about boundaries.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, obviously not. But I think if at some point um you can just go, um, look, I don't know, I don't know him very well, but if I were you, maybe I would just watch for this because you know, sometimes at the beginning of a controlling coercive relationship, this is how it starts. I don't know, but why don't you become aware of this? And I mean, um, in fact, I'm watching a show at the moment where this serial manipulator, narcissist, scammer has taken um advantage of a number of women, yeah, and each successive woman has tried to warn the next one. Yes. And it's just bounced off. It's like, how could you say that? He's just bought me a ticket to the Barbados to Barbados.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. We're very protective of our narratives. This story is based on untrue events or something like that.

SPEAKER_01:

Something like that's really good. Yeah. He's so vile that I'm screaming at the television going, he's scamming you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Screaming at the television, so there's the drama approach. So again, I think that that's the instinctive approach, which is to blame, um, like we did with the Lululemon sock. Um, so is i i again I'm just trying to be really blaming the sock, though, are we? Or yo yo, we're not really. Yeah, but but but but we know how enjoyable it is to actually have something to blame.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, blame is great.

SPEAKER_00:

Blame is great because we get to be righteous and we get to have righteous anger, and I'm sure that there's a uh there's a circuit in the brain that feels very good about having righteous anger. Um but to your point, we need to scale it back, think in terms of causation and consequence, rather than creating large narratives about about blame and victims.

SPEAKER_01:

And and trying to find some sort of external agency. Um so David has to go now. Um so goodbye, David.

SPEAKER_00:

I hope I I hope I contributed something to do.

SPEAKER_01:

Um and we will continue this in a minute. So that's farewell to David, who had to nip off to a meeting. But listeners, I am still here. And I guess if this terrible, disturbing incident um with our dog, if it's taught us anything, it's the importance of scepticism and being aware of your own metacognition, which is thinking about your thinking. Because if you don't think about your thinking, then you're going to make some pretty poor decisions um when you're emotional. So um listeners may be aware that I am a paid-up member of the Australian Skeptics Society, and one of my favourite skeptics, um, Kate Thomas, who does some very, very interesting work around the dangers of getting your medical advice from the internet. Um, so Kate um is the wonderful pharmacist who I went to the mind-body spirit with, with Richard Saunders from the Skeptic Zone, who is the chief investigator for the Australian Skeptics, and we wandered around, as you know, this this festival of woo um and looked at all the stalls and sort of marveled at the amount of nonsense that people are selling. But of course, you don't need to go to an event, you don't need to turn up to a festival, you can just look at your phone or your computer, and misinformation and disinformation and woo um is coming at you hard and fast. Uh, we are in terrible danger, I think, because we are getting our medical knowledge, our medical information, our medical recommendations from completely um untrained influencers who get a little bit of science and then away you go, and they're sounding very, very certain, and they're all attractive, and they're all you know, they've all got lovely makeup on, they're very pretty, or they're men and they're muscular and and they look super fit, and they're telling you what you should do with your autoimmune disease or with your cancer or with your hormones. So if anybody um in Sydney perhaps is interested, um, Kate Thomas is going to be presenting at the Sydney Um Skeptics in the pub, which is at the Occidental Hotel, 43 York Street Sydney, at 6 o'clock on November the 6th. So if anybody's around and you'd like to listen to her speak, she's also super duper entertaining. So she sort of will talk about, she'll go through some serious data, proper research as opposed to the research that the anti-vaxxers do. Um, and she's got this interesting research around health in the social media space and she'll sort of discuss why people are turning towards health care delivered in this way. And she'll look at some of the really sort of wacky woo and quackery that you can find on TikTok. So she's really interesting. She's a pharmacist with 25 years experience and like me and the rest of the skeptics, we've sort of turned our attention to try and fight the disinformation. Um because look, even in the vet space, this is what I'm finding. So even with poor defenseless animals who need to have their their vaccinations and need proper care, people are coming in and saying to the vets, I don't want to vaccinate my dog. And can you do it homeopathically? And that would be a hard no. So, um, listeners, thank you for tuning in today. I hope you found um this interesting and informative. I will let you know how Ryder goes. He has to come home from the vet possibly tonight with a drain in. Ooh, I'm not very good with that stuff, but David's really, really good. So David's going to have to be tending to the poor dog's wounds. He'll probably have one of those cones of shame on his head so he doesn't lick his wounds. Anyway, it's going to be a very interesting time because Yo-Yo, the assassin dog who probably gave him the sock, um, she is definitely going to want to play in a rambunctious way, and she won't be able to. So we will let you know how that goes. Thanks for tuning in. As usual, stay safe, stay well, keep your critical thinking hats on. See you later. Bye. Thanks for tuning in to Wise Smart Women with me, Annie McCubbin. I hope today's episode has ignited your curiosity and left you feeling inspired by my anti-motivational style. Join me next time as we continue to unravel the fascinating layers of our brains and develop ways to sort out the facts and the fiction and the other six stars and thoughts we have in the course of every day. Remember, intelligence isn't enough. You can be as smart as paint, but it's not just about what you know, it's about how you think. And you can also talk on whether or not you can trust your gut. Please, please respect that gut feeling. Staying safe needs to be our primary objective. We can build with a live, but we have to stay safe to do that. And don't forget to subscribe when we're going to do the podcast and share it with your fellow smart women and allies. Together we're hopefully reshaping the narrative around women and making better decisions. So until next time, stay start, say study, and keep your critical thinking out shiny. This is Annie McCubbin signing off from why Smart Women see you later. This episode was produced by Harrison Hess. It was executive produced and written by me, Annie McCubbin.