Toxic Cooking Show
Misogyny, $800 first dates, simps, and high-value women: Social media has been busy cooking up and feeding us an addictive but toxic slurry of trends over the past few years. Here at The Toxic Cooking Show we're two friends dedicated to breaking down these trends, terms, and taunts into their simplest ingredients to understand where they came from and how they affect our lives. Join us each week as we ponder and discuss charged topics like personal responsibility and "not all men" before placing them on our magical Scale O' ToxicityAny comments or topics you want to hear about write to us at toxic@awesomelifeskills.com
Toxic Cooking Show
Cybertruck Syndrome: When Identity Meets Denial
Have you ever watched someone defend a clearly broken product or problematic politician with the fervor of a religious zealot? That strange psychological phenomenon finally has a name: "Cybertruck Syndrome."
This episode introduces a fascinating new concept that explains why certain people become utterly incapable of admitting when they've backed the wrong horse. We explore how this cognitive pattern goes beyond simple stubbornness or sunk cost fallacy to become an identity-level investment that makes acknowledging failure psychologically impossible.
Starting with Tesla's problem-plagued Cybertruck and its devoted fanbase, Lindsay and Christopher analyze how owners continue defending their $150,000 vehicles despite multiple recalls, breakdowns, and design flaws that would send most reasonable consumers looking for refunds. From stuck accelerator pedals to windshield wipers that fail in the rain, these trucks embody a perfect metaphor for misplaced loyalty.
The conversation expands beyond vehicles to explore politically charged examples, including Christian conservatives who support politicians whose behaviors directly contradict their professed values, small business owners voting against their economic interests, and Democratic leaders who couldn't acknowledge Biden's debate performance issues until it was too late.
What makes this pattern particularly toxic is how it normalizes never admitting when you're wrong. As Christopher notes, "When you rely strictly on faith and nothing else, that's where you kind of come up with these things." The hosts examine how faith-based thinking versus evidence-based reasoning might contribute to vulnerability to this syndrome.
Through equal-opportunity criticism of both political sides and thoughtful analysis of cognitive dissonance, this episode offers valuable insight into a psychological pattern affecting everything from consumer choices to political polarization. If you've ever wondered why some people simply cannot admit when they've made a mistake, this conversation provides illuminating answers.
Hi and welcome to the Toxic Cooking Show, where we break down toxic people into their simplest ingredients. I'm your host for this week. Lindsay McLean, with me, is my co-host.
Speaker 2:Christopher Patchett, LCSW.
Speaker 1:Now, normally I would start off an episode that's about a certain topic by asking you if you've heard of this before, or then maybe going ahead and reading you the example. But you haven't heard of this phrase before Cybertruck Syndrome and I know you haven't because my dad came up with this a couple of weeks ago. This is fresh off the press, so I'm going to give you a couple of examples of what I think make up Cybertruck syndrome. Then together we can come up with a definition of what this is. Okay, Sound good.
Speaker 2:Let's hear it.
Speaker 1:All right. Example one, which is where the name comes from, is Cybertrucks and Cybertruck owners specifically. So I'm not talking about Teslas in general, this is just the Cybertrucks, because I know, I know you have seen the videos of these things just breaking down constantly.
Speaker 2:You know it's funny because I didn't even know that there were other companies that made cyber trucks like cyberspace trucks, you mean no no, this is the cyber truck made by tesla yeah yeah I I, because I thought that you said we're not just just talking about tesla ah, no, sorry.
Speaker 1:I mean we're not talking about like tesla cars in general, like not the whole range of cars, just just the cyber trucks okay, okay yeah, so you have seen the videos of the cyber trucks breaking down yes yes, I know you have enjoyed those yes, very much so because we've, we've seen.
Speaker 1:If you've been on the internet for any amount of time recently, you've seen them. You know the guy who tries to and yes, it usually is a guy, let's be honest tries to drive into the water and the car stalls and then it dies and it has to be pulled out. Or there's the one where they try and like drive up a sandy cliff and you can see the wheels like turning and it's not going away. It has zero traction and the Jeep just like up the side of the cliff past it. I saw one where the guy tried to like manly drive over this little picket fence with his cyber truck and I don't know what it did to this thing, but it definitely like fucked up the car. There was like smoke coming out of part of it Because it looked like the pickets got like pushed into part of the underbelly of the thing and it was like good job. You may have like completely ruined your hundred thousand plus dollar vehicle. Yay, Because you wanted to be a manly man.
Speaker 1:I've seen them, you know, trying to quote unquote off road, ie, they're driving on like a flat grassy patch and the car dies. They get stuck in snow. They won't open in the snow, they stay locked. If they are in water, they can lock you in or out of the vehicle. These are all things that we know about them and, yes, those are just, you know, kind of like passerby videos where they're like hey, but we also have like documented evidence that this is like a really poorly built vehicle. Right, so, like end of 2019, when they were still like promoting these things, they were like bulletproof glass. Oh my gosh, two windows were broken during that live demo.
Speaker 2:I remember that.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh, uh-huh, that was yep, that's where it all started and it just went downhill. Then in mid 2023, I'm skipping over because some people if you look up like Cybertruck problems, they're like, oh, it was really delayed. A lot of things are delayed. I'm not, I'm not counting that against them, but it finally rolls out mid-2023. We realize that the front and back doors aren't properly aligned the way they should be and I was like we probably should have fixed that.
Speaker 1:2024 was a bad year for the cyber truck. It was recalled along with other Tesla vehicles because the indicator font size for some really important buttons was too small and obviously that could cause an accident. If you're like what is written there, you know you kind of want to be able to see what it says. Very fixable problem. But they had to be recalled because of that.
Speaker 1:Users began to spot rust on their vehicles despite the fact that they were stainless steel. There were users who were reporting that they were getting these like multiple flashing error messages, like critical system errors, and it would break the car sometimes. It was documented evidence of people having to go in and be like my car died and the Cybertruck place is kind of like sucks to suck man. We had the cyber guillotine. The anti-pinch sensors either are non-existent or like really, really bad. So watch those fingies as the doors close because they will not like stop and bounce back like they're supposed to. That's really fun. We also had accelerator pedals that were getting stuck because of lubrication issues that actually in April of 2024, they all had to be recalled because of that. That was such a big issue that they had to recall all of them.
Speaker 2:I can kind of see that being a um not a good thing to get your accelerator stuck yeah, yeah that that could cause some problems.
Speaker 1:But then, june 2024, we have the fourth cyber truck recall. Already these things have been only been out for a couple of years and this is like fourth recall and that was for its most recent one. I'm sure you heard about this. The front trim piece is falling off.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they just weren't properly attached. Oh, and also the front windshield wipers were failing Really important things if you're driving a car, really important things if you're driving a car. And also things that, like, we have known how to do for decades in some cases. This is not like super new technology where you're like, oh, we're still working out the kinks. We're still like, how should this work? And so you, you would be a little bit more open to the idea of, like, there will be some bugs along the way. No, we know how to put front windshield wipers on. I hope this, this should be common knowledge for building a vehicle.
Speaker 2:And yet the thing is, I've and I've I've seen a lot of other things where the side trimming coming off because of the glue that's not even like welded on or is not screwed on, it's just basically Tesla glue and then also the hitch on the back.
Speaker 1:It works great for a short amount of time if you're carrying, like you know, like um, a heavy load, basically you're counting down the miles to it, to you know coming off I mean again, I've seen videos of them trying to do like man-to-man truck things because they're the owners are convinced that this is like the manliest truck that you can own. It's definitely a truck. It's not a sedan, even though it technically kind of is, and they try and make it do truck stuff and it's just not meant for that. They're not meant to go off-road. They can't handle it. I've seen them have their back bumpers pulled off. At this point I honestly wonder how there are any Cybertrucks left, because I've just seen so many videos of them getting like, destroying themselves over dumb shit. Like you get into a pulling war with like a Toyota or something and that little thing just like and like pulls off your entire back bumper.
Speaker 2:So okay. So I, I gotta ask you let let's see how, how country you are.
Speaker 1:Yeehaw.
Speaker 2:Have you ever heard of the thing called mudding?
Speaker 1:That sounds pretty familiar yeah.
Speaker 2:So when I first moved out here to West Virginia I was talking to somebody and he asked me about like oh, have I ever done mudding? And I was like I don't know what the fuck that is.
Speaker 1:You are such a little city boy, I am.
Speaker 2:I will proudly admit that I am city as city comes, and so he's telling me about that.
Speaker 1:They take quads out into the middle of like nowhere yeah you just ring ring middle of like nowhere and through the mud.
Speaker 2:And then they'll also do that with like four by four trucks, and so, yeah, I mean, concerning the fact that I'm in a town of 7,000 people, you haven't gone mudding yet you were missing out, maybe wait until it's a little bit warmer. Then you can go and yeah, I, I grew up in the city, so I mean you know there's not a lot of places to mud at.
Speaker 1:I guess no, philly doesn't have room for that right but yeah, I mean you, you couldn't do that with a cyber truck, it would be dead. Yeah, like the chances of it breaking while driving it like that in those conditions is incredibly, incredibly high. There's also the fact they're just really really expensive vehicles, so when stuff breaks and goes wrong, you have limited recourse and it will cost you thousands of dollars to fix. Why would you do this?
Speaker 2:Meanwhile you'll still see pickup trucks from the 80s still on the road.
Speaker 1:Yeah, little white Chevys, yep, they're still going. But that's what I think puts the Cybertruck on this list and why it got this name is that, despite all of that, this is objectively a really poorly built vehicle. It has not been well thought out. It was clearly just like they slammed something together to get it down that assembly line, like realize there was a problem and someone's like whatever, just put some extra fucking glue on there and keep it moving. We have got to get this thing out. It is very clear that that is what happened here. We did not think stuff through. We tried to reinvent the wheel to make it, you know, cool and manly, and that did not work.
Speaker 2:And yet I, I, so I'm gonna stop you before, because you keep on using the word we, um, they, they did not think this all the way through I know, I know it's just a verbal tick.
Speaker 1:That's true, they didn't, and that's why they are now stuck with these things and they are the ones who are obsessed with it. And you can, if you go on reddit, you will find people like, sitting there in their broken down truck talking about this, being like yeah, I drove over a little rock and this happened, it fell apart and whatever, but fuck that Honda who flicked me off while I was driving down the road. They're an asshole and, anyways, they're not cool because they're in a Honda. I've got a Cybertruck, sweetie, you're the idiot here, unfortunately. But they are so dead set on nope, this is a great vehicle, this is a perfect vehicle. It's very manly, it's very cool, it's very stylish, it's very edgy. Like me, I am all of those things and they have wrapped themselves up around it and they're like it's become their personality and so they cannot accept any critique of it. There's no way to be like oh, I think it's really cool, but you know, yes, there's some problems. Nope, no problems. It literally died on me. I'm out 100,000, $150,000 because this thing bricked on me, but this is still the best vehicle ever. So that is example one of Cybertruck syndrome, just to get your mind thinking.
Speaker 1:Example two, and again these are all very specific ones, so you can help me come up with the definition at the end. Example two would be christians and small business owners who support trump or other really far right republican candidates. Again, very, very, very specifically these ones. Now, full disclosure the only time I have ever read the Bible was as part of a university class. It's the only time. Do we have them in my house? Yes, have I ever felt the need to pick one up? No, it can stay that way. So I was not raised Christian. I certainly am not. Now you are not Christian. So are we qualified to talk about what Christianity is Actually? Yes, in this case, I think we are. I think we are more qualified.
Speaker 2:You know, the funny thing is, I do have a Bible in my house too.
Speaker 1:I don't even have one where I live here, but my dad has a whole bunch. I don't even have one where I live here, but my dad has a whole bunch. So we have some people that we, we know, that are, you know, near where my parents are, and they are very openly super conservative Christian. Their kids go to Christian private schools. They have made it known that this is what they believe. It comes up in conversation, not appeared in their yard, but a sign supporting Herschel Walker. Now, you may have heard a little bit about this. Probably not a lot.
Speaker 2:I've heard plenty.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah, good, good, so you know who Herschel Walker is.
Speaker 2:Walker is, and one of the reasons why I did hear playing is because he was a football player for the Eagles.
Speaker 1:Oh, I never realized he was up with the Eagles, okay, yeah, yeah, for those of you who were lucky enough not to hear about this man, so in Georgia a couple of years ago there was a Senate race and it was. Georgia magically has two Democratic senators, oh my God. And one of them was up for reelection and he is a Black man, raphael Warnock. And I legitimately think Republicans were just like we can game this system too. We're going to get ourselves a Black man so that people can't be like, oh, you're just voting because of this way. So they found old Herschel Walker, former football player, pretty beloved in Georgia. Apparently I had never heard his name before, probably because my family has nothing to do with football, but a lot of people knew of him, certainly before he said like I'm running to be senator.
Speaker 1:As the race progressed, there were two women who came forward, and these are accusations. One of them produced a fair amount of evidence, the other one a little bit less, saying that he had pressured them to have abortions. So one of them was an ex-girlfriend and another one said that she had been seeing him while he was married, oh God, and that she had pressured him to have an abortion and the one who was the ex-girlfriend. If I remember correctly, she produced like a card that he sent her that basically was like sorry, and he also had like sent her a check to help pay for it. Again, these are accusations.
Speaker 1:However, if you were somebody who is against abortion, like morally, you're like this is wrong in every sense, like abortion should not be legal I would be concerned if my candidate, like, if that was me, I would be concerned if my candidate had these accusations leveled against him. At the very least, like you look was me, I would be concerned if my candidate had these accusations leveled against him. At the very least, like you look into that right, like you don't just you don't have to believe everything that is said. You know we should make sure that these are not false accusations, but you also should at least look into it and be like whoa, hey, what happened here? We need to know. And people didn't. They were just like nope, it's fake. Know?
Speaker 2:And people didn't they were just like nope, it's fake. You sure about that? You sure?
Speaker 1:about that Because I'm not. Yeah, I just. I looked at them. I was like you're not even quietly supporting. You literally have a sign for this bastard in your yard and you send your children to Christian school. Make it make sense. When your kids ask you about this person, how are you going to explain why are we voting for him, despite the fact that there's, you know, potentially this major issue there? How are you going to explain to them that you're voting for the guy who said grab her by the pussy, who has been married multiple times, who routinely does nasty things to women and, like, says nasty things about women?
Speaker 2:With Walker, the, the. The main thing is, though, is that, on top of that, this was, you know, two years ago, where rodney uh, wade, uh was just all that, that.
Speaker 1:That just happened this was before that happened, 22.
Speaker 2:Yes, so there was that threat, yeah, but that was a huge.
Speaker 1:I mean it still is, but at that time that was the probably number one issue that conservatives were kind of going with is you know, abortion yeah, conservatives have always loved to hate on and yet I find it interesting the number of conservatives who information comes out about them, like having mistresses and secret children on the side, or pressuring their, their mistress, girlfriend, whatever to have an abortion, paying, paying for some woman that they slept with, had a one night stand with, to have an abortion and then they turn around and they tell people they're like, yeah, abortion is bad, abortion is evil. It wasn't last night.
Speaker 2:And it should be outlawed.
Speaker 1:Yeah, premarital sex was apparently okay, then Cheating on your wife apparently is okay when you do it. It is horrifying the number of with Republicans who do this, and specifically Republicans. I do not see it to the same level with Democrats. There are some, of course, there are, people are shit and politicians are always slimy but I do not see it like to that level that I see it with Republicans. So I'm like, if you're going to sit here and be like I vote, you know I'm a Christian and I'm voting for the Christian person. Are they? Are they Christian Again? Are they up actually upholding what christianity should be, like those tenants that you supposedly believe in? Are they actually following through with them? Because I don't think they are so here's the thing.
Speaker 2:Is that, do you remember the name um al franken?
Speaker 1:al franken. That sounds familiar.
Speaker 2:So he was a Democrat senator that he did like a USO thing overseas and on the way back there was an actress who fell asleep and he stood over. Her had some pictures of him. Like you know, like ha ha ha, I'm about to grope her type thing ew do you remember that?
Speaker 1:no, I don't remember any of this. The name sounds familiar, though. Did he not get maybe brought up like during some senate hearing or something?
Speaker 2:I don't remember that I mean like more recently.
Speaker 1:Whatever, whatever this case was with him.
Speaker 2:So in 2017, he did a USO tour and he did it with. It was a radio broadcaster, a model, Leanne Tweeden, and I don't recognize her name. Yeah, I never heard of her either. Radio broadcaster and model, leanne Tweeden I don't recognize her name. Yeah, I never heard of her either. So this was back in 2006. So it came out in 2017, but during a tour in 2006, so that's 11 years beforehand. He had a picture that was photographs of him holding his hands above her breast while she was sleeping.
Speaker 1:Ew.
Speaker 2:He played it off that you know. Oh, the picture is obviously a joke. I'm not groping her, but the thing is is that you had a lot of people, like even civilians kind of you know, saying like, hey, that's totally fucked up. That's the same reaction as you. You know there was a lot of pressure on him to leave the Senate. So I mean, you know that's. It amazes me sometimes that, like that's something that comes out and you know people are able to say, oh well, that was a long time ago, this was 11 years ago. And people are still like, yeah, you were 50-something then, you should have known better.
Speaker 2:This isn't like whoops, I was 20 years old and I was stupid. No, you were 50 years old and you thought this was funny.
Speaker 1:But see, at least he got in trouble for it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because these people are not getting in trouble for it, and that's the issue here. Is that Herschel Walker I mean he, he didn't win. Oh my God, we had to go into like there was the first round of voting and then they had to do like a special one a couple months later because it was like so close or something, I don't remember. I was just really glad that I was in the US at the time, as opposed to having to like send my ballot in because, oh my God, it was nerve wracking. But he did lose to Raphael Warnock, but he never faced any consequences. And Trump has never faced any consequences for saying these horrific things and doing these things that don't match up with what people are saying. It's like, oh, I support him because I'm a Christian. He is not acting. That Christian life. Sending people like disappearing people, to foreign prisons is not super Christian. I'm just putting that out there. That's not good.
Speaker 2:And even if you don't want to go in the Christian stance, because these are the same people that say I love this country and I stand behind the Constitution, well, that's part of our bill rights. That's uh due process.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, we, we thought about some of this stuff. It's the Christians, though they get me Cause it's like you. You've made this your personality, that you're a Christian for Trump or a Christian for this person, and this person is not. Again, what are you going to say to your kids? How are you going to explain to your kids that, like, yeah, I get it that you know he's actually doing this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this. They're all wrong, that you've learned about in Bible school, but we still support him because he said that he would help us on this one issue. Nope, it's the same thing for business owners, a little bit less, but still, trump said and this is like small business owners, particularly if you were selling goods Trump said before he was elected that he was going to tariff the shit out of everyone.
Speaker 1:Trump said before he was elected that he was going to tariff the shit out of everyone. Right, we had this discussion. This was, this was. You know, people knew that this was a distinct possibility and, yes, trump says a lot of things that he doesn't go through with, like all politicians, but you can't say like, oh, I didn't know he was going to put tariffs on China. Yes, you did. You, 100 percent knew that. He said he was going to. I'm upset, and this is like small business owners um, particularly if you were selling goods trump said before he was elected that he was going to tariff the shit out of everyone. Right, we had this discussion, this was this was. You know, people knew that this was a distinct possibility and, yes, trump says a lot of things that he doesn't go through with, like all politicians. But you can't say like oh, I didn't know he was going to put tariffs on china. Yes, you did you, you 100 knew that. He said he was going to I.
Speaker 2:So I actually made a uh, a tiktok video about that. Uh, I I said you know, one of the things that makes me really happy is that everybody who is supporting the these tariffs on on china are now going to be paying double for the MAGA hats that they love so much.
Speaker 1:This is true. This is so true. That is exactly part of this too. All of your MAGA stuff made in China. That does mean that it is going to be hit with the I don't even whatever figure I quote right now will probably change because everything's in flux, but whatever tariff it is, it will be slapped with that and it's not going to be. Small businesses cannot just, you know, deal with maybe a 10% tariff. You can work that out with your suppliers and you're like, hey, I'll take this much, you take that much. In that way, like we keep the stuff moving. But when you what was the most recent one he slapped on shine, it was over a hundred percent 147 or 145.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry I knew it was something horrific. It's like you can't just swallow that like margins are not. Ain't nobody doing that. Prices will rise, and I know that I have definitely seen. I mean, I'm in europe right now but my favorite nail polish brand is an American one and they've sent out an email and they're like we are going to have to raise prices soon. I was like, yeah, your costs are going up. You cannot keep eating. That Trump said he was going to do this, and so if you are a small business owner and you're like I'm going to vote for Trump because Trump has my best interests at heart, trump has never had your best interests at heart and he has made that clear.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry. I mean right now. I'm really feeling the heartbreak of your nail polish.
Speaker 1:You should, you should. I don't think you understand. This is the best nail polish. It's moon cap, by the way. I mean, you can't see that very good on camera because I have a shit camera, but it's. This is the one I've got on right now, the the velociraptor one. It's. It's good nail polish. Okay, I need you, hey. Hey, this is my little treat to myself. It's how I get through the day. All right, the world's falling apart around us, but I have pretty nails. Treat to myself it's how I get through the day. All right, the world's falling apart around us, but I have pretty nails.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'll, I'll give you that. I mean, molly has her doggy biscuits. I get her through the day. You can have your nail polish.
Speaker 1:Exactly that's. That's why I mean I'll still buy their stuff, but like it does potentially mean. But like it does potentially mean, depending on how much it goes up, I may be able to buy less of it, and that means if I'm buying less, other people are buying less, which is bad for their business. It's bad for the whole economy. Oh my God. So yeah, again, those two specific groups, the Christians and the small business owners who are like Trump is our Lord and Savior Cybertruck syndrome that is what they suffer from. I have a third example for you to help you create your definition in mind, and because I am like a pigeon, I will shit on everyone equally.
Speaker 1:The third example is the top democrats who let biden make it to that first debate. You saw that debate, oh, with trump back in june the one that went uh, extremely well yeah, that went so well. I drank an entire bottle of wine at two o'clock in the morning because I was having so much fun watching it I, I remember that because remember we, we remember we were doing the texting party. That's true, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I came in a little bit late because I had a client at the time when it started. You're so lucky.
Speaker 1:It was horrible. It was so, so, so horrible.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But it was like, how did we get to this point? Like we have a man who's completely unqualified to be up here, who's in no way fit, and yet there are all these people standing around being like, no, this is fine, this is fine, he can do great, he's very smart, he's very with it, is he? He didn't look with it there, like the one time he needed to be super, super with it, that man was not. That is very telling. If the one time, if you only have to be with it this one little time and you can't do that, I am genuinely concerned. But the fact that we had to get that far before that came out and the fact that it was not a wow, that debate happened and people, you know instantly. It was like you know what. Something has to change. It took days. I don't remember how much longer it took after the debate.
Speaker 2:It was a good two weeks.
Speaker 1:I think it was. Yeah, it wasn't again, just like 24 hours, there was this whole like battle that was being drawn out to be like well, maybe, maybe, if he just has another debate. No, uh, no more debates, let the man go.
Speaker 2:I didn't even know that there were people like that, though I thought that everybody was pretty much on the same.
Speaker 1:Uh, same uh I thought so too. At first I was like we all saw that right, like we were all just horrified by what we had seen. And no, there were people who were like no, no, it's, it's, it's okay. And again, I'm not talking about like basic ass people like you and me, the peasants, I'm talking. They were definitely like top level people who knew and were just like no, it's fine, it's fine, everything's great here. As the thing is falling down in front of them, it's crumbling before their very eyes, and they're like no, it's not, no, it's not, he can do fine. Look, he's done great. Look at him walking energetically down this hallway. He couldn't form a sentence. He sounded like he'd been brought back from the dead. He cannot be president for another four years With that. Those are my three examples of what I think constitutes cyber truck syndrome. What do you make of this? I can also tell you what I think first, if that's easier, if you need time to like reflect.
Speaker 2:Yeah, let's hear yours.
Speaker 1:Okay. So my take on this is that there's the sunk fallacy cost idea right, where you've put something into this and because you've put so much, you don't want to back out now, right, like with gambling, people will get into it where they're like ah, but I've put this money in, I can't afford to lose and so I have to keep going. I think this is a form of that, but it is a belief within that and is an extreme form of it, because you were being shown evidence when you're gambling, for instance, and you're like, oh, I don't know, this is really bad, but it could get better, I could get these things. There's always that chance in there that things might change, and I know the sunk fallacy cost is not just for gambling, but for more stuff within that. There's still that possibility that it could get better. It could get worse, could get better, but that's why you stick.
Speaker 1:Cybertruck syndrome is the extreme version of that. It's not getting better, it cannot get better, better, it cannot get better. And yet you are stuck in this where you cannot accept a loss. You're unable to say you know what? I was wrong. I believe this, I thought this no-transcript and so I made a mistake. My bad, whatever. And you step back. Instead, you just dig in your heels and you're like no, you're wrong, I can't be wrong, only you are wrong. That is my take on what cyber truck syndrome is.
Speaker 2:My kind of take on it is just in general, is it's cognitive dissonance. It's basically the idea that you hold a certain type of values and even know that everything is there in front of you that you kind of pull yourself away. We all do it to a degree.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So, like the long-going joke between you and I, this time it's going to be different, of course. You know we've both gotten into shitty relationships in our past and we both have said the same exact thing. You know we've both gotten into shitty relationships in our past and we both have said the same exact thing that, oh yeah, I know that this, this and this are all drawing red flags, but I'm different, or this is going to be different Because I'm special. So you know, and that's the thing is that it is to a personal degree. So the thing is is that most of the time when we do it, it's affecting us. Then we come out of that relationship and we're like you know, like, oh, you know, like that was a really shit relationship. And then when you have friends like you and I who are very supportive and say I told you so.
Speaker 1:But only once.
Speaker 2:But only once. We're nice to each other that way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you have to say it because you have to be like I didn't fucking tell you. But I also know that you feel sad right now.
Speaker 2:So it's okay. So so, yeah, I mean we do it, but it's to a very low degree and it's only affecting ourselves. However, I think that, like you know, like with cyber-truck syndrome, that it is to a much fuller degree and you know, like when you were talking about, like the cyber trucks themselves, like it's, you know, one thing that I saw pretty recently was that they, they actually build a community around it so I'm not surprised so you know you'll, you'll see like hundreds of Cybertrucks coming together and they all like oh, you know, and the thing is, is that, okay, I'm sure there is some kind of like secret wave or something like that?
Speaker 2:Because I know, when I drove a motorcycle, if you saw another motorcycle driving by, you did like the two fingers, you know, like hanging down. I don't know if I'm going to get like killed for that by other motorcyclists. I don't know if that's like a top secret thing, but you know, you see, like you know, spilled the secret.
Speaker 2:And the thing is that one of the biggest times I got like a really big joy out of that is I saw a motorcycle cop and I did like the two fingers and then you know he, he weighed back with the two fingers. So I was like, but you know that. And then also like I know, when I had a Volkswagen bug like in 1966, volkswagen bug, you know we would do like the little wave and everything like that. I know Jeeps do that and I'm sure cyber trucks do that and and the thing is, is that okay? So, like, unless you're in a motorcycle club chances are you're you're not going to venture out and and really build like a community around just your motorcycle yeah volkswagen bugs like, unless you're a hippie, you're really not going to build like a huge community jeeps.
Speaker 2:I'm sure that there's, there's jeep things in them, but I mean you purposely go out to find you know community uh things that are revolve around the Cybertruck. So you know just kind of how you're saying that you're investing so much of things into it. So just how you were saying about, like you know, like with you know the Christians and things like that, where they made that their entire personality, they invested their entire life to this, the Cybertrucks, where they are doing the communities and they're putting so much of their lives into this and so much money into this that, just as you said, it becomes like the gambling thing where you just you want to really hold on to that. That, maybe, maybe.
Speaker 1:Yeah, maybe it will get better. It has to get better because I can't back out now. I have put too much into this and people will do it for relationships, people do it for jobs, like all sorts of things, and you know, to an extent is almost kind of like you know us in the relationship thing it's. People will do it where they're like this time I'm special, this time it'll be different and to a low level. I think that that is normal and okay, that we as humans kind of get called up in those little cycles.
Speaker 1:This is just so big and it's so all-consuming too. This is now so big and it's so all-consuming too. Is it like this is now your entire identity? You are nothing but a cyber truck owner. You are nothing but a Christian. For Trump it's. And you know, I tried, god. Finding the example about Biden was hard. I'm not going to lie. I saw a lot more of these on the right wing side of politics than I did on the left, found that very interesting, but you know, still I think that the Democrats who rallied around Biden were like no, no, no, no, no, it's okay. I think they do fall into this, because how could you have, like, seen this man go about his life and be like yeah, he can totally beat Trump.
Speaker 2:He's dead. You reanimated him. This is something that that, uh, this is my, my theory about it. Okay, kind of my my theory kind of goes around.
Speaker 2:It is that with biden, a huge majority of us uh were kind of on the same page like, dude, just pull the fuck out yeah you know, there was some people down to the point where, you know, like I said, I, I I literally thought that everybody was on the same page, so I wouldn't imagine it being that big of a group as opposed to christians for trump, where, yeah, they, they really make it known to everybody.
Speaker 2:People who drive cyber trucks, they really make it known, and I've seen so many like instagrams where people are defending of like you know, like how this is the greatest thing in the face of the planet and and just kind of how you were saying that it's, it's a very more of a right thing than the left.
Speaker 2:My, my idea and I would love to see if there's any research into this is that, as far as the right goes, it's all about a lot of it comes down to Christian nationalists.
Speaker 2:And if you're born into a family who is very, very conservative when it comes down to religion, you are being taught at the very beginning that you don't need proof of something, that you just go by faith. And the thing is is that I, you know, like I said, you know, as we kind of said before, I consider myself a Buddhist, a atheist, agnostic or whatever, but I think that having faith in things as a whole is not a bad thing. I think having faith in things, you know there is a part of me that really wants to believe, like ever since my father passed away, that he's still here somehow I think that it gives us a lot of comfort and everything like that of comfort and everything like that. But when you rely strictly on faith and nothing else, that's where you kind of come up with these things of, because a lot of it you know the.
Speaker 2:QAnon, there's absolutely no physical proof.
Speaker 1:You know, they actually think it was like two different people.
Speaker 2:What's that?
Speaker 1:They think it's actually like two different people. I read a really great article on it back in the day I say back, and it was only a couple years ago, um, but somebody tracked that there were there have been some like changes in stuff and they they did like a deep dive into trying to figure out who was behind it. And yeah, they're pretty sure it's like two different people who work together. Like it wasn't like you know, they were just completely separate and like somehow came in.
Speaker 2:But but yeah, I you know the whole like pizza gate thing. Like you know, there was absolutely nothing and people bought into it and they reacted on that. And again, you know I am not saying anything bad about religion itself. I think that religion is a very beautiful thing. Religion itself, I think that religion is a very beautiful thing when used correctly. But yeah, if somebody who is extremely religious, that you're basically taught to only view the world through faith and not any type of science.
Speaker 1:So how would you rate Cybertruck syndrome? Would you say that this is a green potato? It will make you kind of sick if you eat it, but you can just scrape that part off and you'll be fine. Is this a death cap mushroom 50 50 chance of killing you, putting you in a coma even when cooked? Or is this antifreeze, a delicious but deadly last snack, especially when mixed with lime jello? With that definition in mind, I would.
Speaker 2:I would say that, okay, it is maybe a I I okay, so I'm gonna, I'm gonna take one of your your tears that you've used in the past. Um, okay, I I think that it is Jell-O With. That was mixed with a spoon that was left in the antifreeze.
Speaker 1:Okay, I still, I need somebody to look up how much antifreeze it takes To kill a person. For us, please, please. We need this information, but we can't have it.
Speaker 2:Because I think that something like Cybertrucks themselves like okay, yeah, a massive amount of people are losing out $100,000, $150,000, but if that's what you want to spend your money on, fine, go for it.
Speaker 1:Knock yourself out.
Speaker 2:But to some of these other things where it is you know, trump or Biden, that your dedication is affecting the entire United States.
Speaker 1:And the world, and the world, the whole world is screwed over by that.
Speaker 2:And obviously your nail polish, exactly exactly, it's the most important thing oh my god, it's gonna cost more.
Speaker 1:It's already expensive. You know how much this little bottle cost me. I got it on sale, but would it cost me 15 now? It'll last for a while, but still see it. You're like molly avoiding kisses. If I like, hold my nail polish up, you're like nope, nope, not looking at it, not looking at it.
Speaker 1:So I would have to agree with you that this is antifreeze lime jello territory and I debated if it really qualified for that, because you're right. I mean, these are such highly specific groups. It's not just, you know, christians, because there are plenty of amazing christians out there. It's not even like all trump voters. You know these very specific groups that are the problem and, yes, cyber truck owners, like that's a large part of them. I think there are some who are out there living their best cyber truck life and they and they have one that doesn't have problems. Okay, that's great, good, I'm happy for you.
Speaker 1:But I think that these people, because they have normalized this type of behavior, people see that and it starts to become more okay to act like this. People see that and it starts to become more okay to act like this, to find the thing, to make it your personality and to be unable to walk away from it and to admit that you're wrong. And then, when that carries over into your daily life and you cannot admit any fault or any problems, you can't like ever be the one who loses. That's toxic as fuck. Yeah. To have that type of person who's just like I can't admit that I made a mistake, like I will make no mistakes. Nothing is ever wrong. Like. Those type of people are not fun to be around.
Speaker 1:We've all met them yeah but I think that this normalizes that behavior and people may not necessarily realize that on the surface, and so that's what makes it lime, lime jello and lime jello with antifreeze. About this, I think it's more than the spoon. I I think this is like a proper one, because even though they're these very small groups, it has such an outsized effect on everything else, because you driving a crap cyber truck actually endangers me. If your windshield wipers are not working and you can't see it if your bumper falls off, if you're just having truck problems and you're focused on trying to figure out, why are these lights flashing at me, whether this or that that affects my safety on the road. You think it's like, oh, it's just me. No, it's, it's all of us. If you spin out in traffic, we're all.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, you know what I?
Speaker 1:I am gonna uh bump it out to like flat out for avery's we just like, splurged it in because we pour it in, it's a liquid. Pour it in, it's a liquid. So once again putting out the call for anyone who would like to look up how much antifreeze you would need to add lime jello to kill a person. If you would like to look up this information and let us know, we would be forever grateful. You can write to us at toxic at awesome life skillscom. You can also find us on Facebook, instagram and blue sky. You can follow us there. You can hit us up, give us your best ideas, let us know what you think about the episode. You can also text us through Spotify. That does work. We have established that until next week, this has been the toxic cooking show. Bye, bye, bye.
