Escaping The Cave: The Toddzilla X-pod

Broadcast September 8, 2025, on WBCQ shortwave (7490 kHz), this episode challenges the idea that human beings are “blank slates.” Todd Thompson argues that much of what is labeled racism is better understood as cultural and tribal reflex — instincts wired by evolution, not just products of environment. Drawing on research by primatologist Frans de Waal, Todd shows how empathy, loyalty, and group boundaries appear in chimpanzees and humans alike. These instincts shape culture and survival, and when they’re ignored or denied, societies fracture. From Rwanda and Yugoslavia to American Indians to today’s unrest in Europe and the United States, history demonstrates the cost of refusing to acknowledge human nature. The broadcast also explores Cold War lessons. Former KGB defector Yuri Bezmenov described a four-stage strategy of subversion: demoralization, destabilization, crisis, and normalization. While he was speaking in the 1980s, the pattern is recognizable today. Modern influence campaigns no longer need spies