1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:09,360 Speaker 1: Also media, Ah, what's Dick my Cheney's This is Behind 2 00:00:09,400 --> 00:00:12,240 Speaker 1: the Bastards, a podcast where every week we talk about 3 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:15,720 Speaker 1: the great decisions being made by the Democratic Party, which 4 00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:20,840 Speaker 1: this week includes really really burnishing their Dick Cheney credentials. 5 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:23,239 Speaker 1: We'll see how that works out in about three weeks 6 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:27,760 Speaker 1: with me to talk about, you know something related to 7 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:31,680 Speaker 1: this election is our lovely Yeah, is our lovely guest 8 00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:35,960 Speaker 1: today A contributing writer at Rolling Stone and contributing editor 9 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:43,680 Speaker 1: at Wired, Noah Shackedman. Noah, welcome to the podcast program show. 10 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:46,240 Speaker 2: You gave this very confused look in between. My first 11 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:47,760 Speaker 2: and last name was over time. 12 00:00:48,479 --> 00:00:51,520 Speaker 1: I wrote your the stuff you wanted me to, because 13 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:53,760 Speaker 1: we have a different intro for you this time. I 14 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:56,080 Speaker 1: wrote it up at the top of the piece, And 15 00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:58,600 Speaker 1: so the top of the piece is just the words 16 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:01,280 Speaker 1: Peter Teel because that's the sub of our episodes. So 17 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:03,520 Speaker 1: at the top of my article it says contributing writer 18 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:06,640 Speaker 1: Rolling Stone, contributing editor at Wired, Peter Teal And wait 19 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:09,280 Speaker 1: a second while, so I had to like catch my 20 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:10,880 Speaker 1: brain and fix it in between. 21 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:14,679 Speaker 2: Look, I welcome my new colleague. 22 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:17,679 Speaker 1: Yeah, Peter Teel would be a great guest on the program. 23 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:20,040 Speaker 1: But I wouldn't do Peter Teal for the you know what, 24 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:22,360 Speaker 1: I might do Dick Cheney for the Peter Teal episode 25 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:31,199 Speaker 1: about who does me? Yeah, Peter Teal? Noah oh Man, 26 00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:37,279 Speaker 1: So yeah, Noah. How do you feel about being friendly 27 00:01:37,319 --> 00:01:39,720 Speaker 1: with Dick Cheney. It's a good decision. Is this going 28 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:41,320 Speaker 1: to work out for the Harris campaign? 29 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:42,640 Speaker 2: You know? 30 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:43,399 Speaker 1: Uh? 31 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:51,560 Speaker 2: I am not incredibly bullish on the old befriending war 32 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:54,280 Speaker 2: criminal campaign strategy. 33 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:58,600 Speaker 1: It's the it's an impart a decision you make if 34 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:04,160 Speaker 1: like you don't understand Republicans because like I grew up loving, 35 00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:06,760 Speaker 1: like with a family that loved George W. Bush right, 36 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:09,120 Speaker 1: Like he was a hero in my household as a kid, 37 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:13,200 Speaker 1: and no one liked Dick Cheney, Like they didn't hate him, 38 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 1: but like he was not a figure of admiration to 39 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:18,959 Speaker 1: anyone in my family, like because he was. That was 40 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:21,120 Speaker 1: kind of the point of Dick Cheney is he was 41 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:24,639 Speaker 1: like the guy behind the scenes that you don't need 42 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:27,840 Speaker 1: to like very much. It's just confusing to me that 43 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:30,440 Speaker 1: they think there's a bunch of Republicans out there who 44 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:31,919 Speaker 1: will change their vote based on this. 45 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:34,960 Speaker 3: It was wild at the DNZ how credible it was 46 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 3: that this rumor that George W. Bush was going to 47 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:38,959 Speaker 3: come out and speak at the DNC. 48 00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:40,600 Speaker 1: I would have lost my mind. 49 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:43,400 Speaker 4: Everyone was like, Oh, he's coming, He's coming. 50 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:43,640 Speaker 2: It was. 51 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:45,720 Speaker 3: It was like more credible than Beyonce. 52 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:51,960 Speaker 1: It's happening here. Yeah, there's there's still time. There's still time, 53 00:02:52,440 --> 00:02:55,600 Speaker 1: and you know who. I don't know if he's he's 54 00:02:55,639 --> 00:02:57,920 Speaker 1: got a chance to be worse than George W. Bush. 55 00:02:57,919 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 1: I wouldn't say he's there yet. Peter Teal, Peter Tele Uh, 56 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:03,880 Speaker 1: And that's what we're going to talk about when we 57 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:06,720 Speaker 1: come back from the cold open to warm things up 58 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:16,080 Speaker 1: a little bit. Noah, so we're back, Peter Teal, how 59 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:18,760 Speaker 1: would you describe in brief if someone is like, hey, 60 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:22,040 Speaker 1: I hear there's this Peter tele guy who's influencing elections 61 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:24,920 Speaker 1: or whatever. Who is he? How would you describe Peter Teal? 62 00:03:24,919 --> 00:03:27,120 Speaker 1: What would be your like elevator, Like, Oh, that's who 63 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:27,720 Speaker 1: this guy is. 64 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 2: He's like the power behind like the weirdest curtain. 65 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:35,800 Speaker 1: Yeah. 66 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:38,000 Speaker 2: I guess this is how I would describe it, like 67 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:42,920 Speaker 2: deeply strange, deeply influential. I think it would be my 68 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:43,800 Speaker 2: elevator pitch. 69 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:46,720 Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, he's I would say, like, he's the guy 70 00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:52,520 Speaker 1: whose money is responsible for getting Oh shit, what's his name? 71 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:57,040 Speaker 1: The hillbilly jd Vance started. He's the guy who you know, 72 00:03:58,040 --> 00:04:02,160 Speaker 1: like backed Trump pretty early on in twenty sixteen. He 73 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:05,640 Speaker 1: was the you know, the billionaire who came up and 74 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:08,760 Speaker 1: endorsed him at the RNC that year and talked about 75 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:11,560 Speaker 1: how like he was supporting the Republicans as a gay man. 76 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:15,080 Speaker 1: These are all glad about Peter Teeter. 77 00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:17,240 Speaker 3: I'm really glad you're able to forget jd Vance's name 78 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:19,120 Speaker 3: like that. That feels That feels healthy to me. 79 00:04:19,480 --> 00:04:22,720 Speaker 1: Yeah. It took a lot of work and a lot 80 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:25,560 Speaker 1: of gas station substances, but I managed to do it, 81 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 1: and managed to do it. It was mixing the kraton 82 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:32,880 Speaker 1: Clemato and then one of those yellow jackets truckers take together. 83 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:36,160 Speaker 1: I reached a state of what I think the Buddhists 84 00:04:36,200 --> 00:04:40,279 Speaker 1: called nirvana, and yeah, all knowledge of jd Vance fled 85 00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:41,039 Speaker 1: from my mind. 86 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:47,640 Speaker 2: Dude, I'm gonna fucking throw up on a keyboard. Yeah, 87 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:51,200 Speaker 2: I mean, it seems like it's like in the weirdo 88 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:58,120 Speaker 2: crypto fascist right, if you follow the roots down far enough, it. 89 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:00,000 Speaker 1: All comes back to Peter. Yeah. 90 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:01,000 Speaker 2: Yeah. 91 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:03,599 Speaker 1: And there's a couple of ways of looking at Tel. 92 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:08,880 Speaker 1: One of them is he is a capitalist Lenin, And 93 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:11,520 Speaker 1: what I mean by that, I'm not comparing the two 94 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:15,680 Speaker 1: like ideologically, but Lenin is a guy who grew up 95 00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:17,800 Speaker 1: kind of in the upper middle class strata of his 96 00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:23,200 Speaker 1: society and from an extremely early age hated the system 97 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:25,960 Speaker 1: that he lived under because his brother was killed by 98 00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:29,800 Speaker 1: the czar, and dedicated himself to its destruction, and he 99 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:35,400 Speaker 1: went about destroying that system very methodically and very effectively. Right, 100 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:38,400 Speaker 1: Peter is a guy who grew up in the upper 101 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:42,719 Speaker 1: middle class strata of his culture always seems to have 102 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:46,600 Speaker 1: hated the systems that ran the country he lived in, 103 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:50,520 Speaker 1: and dedicated himself from an early age at getting resources 104 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:54,920 Speaker 1: and then kind of methodically destroying the system, which is 105 00:05:55,520 --> 00:05:59,240 Speaker 1: representative democracy, that he lived under. That's one way of 106 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:02,160 Speaker 1: looking at Peter. The other is that Peter is a 107 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:06,200 Speaker 1: guy who is fairly intelligent, has okay instincts, but not 108 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:08,200 Speaker 1: as good as he thinks they are, and he's just 109 00:06:08,279 --> 00:06:12,520 Speaker 1: kind of been careening from point to point, making gambles 110 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:15,560 Speaker 1: that have led him to this position where he is 111 00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:19,600 Speaker 1: now backing the Republicans to the hilt in order to 112 00:06:19,760 --> 00:06:25,360 Speaker 1: hopefully crumble the system of democracy enough that like he 113 00:06:25,400 --> 00:06:28,000 Speaker 1: gets to rule his own little bitty city somewhere on 114 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:31,479 Speaker 1: the West coast, right, Like one of them is Peter 115 00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:33,599 Speaker 1: Teel is the master Plotter, and the other is that 116 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:38,680 Speaker 1: he's this kind of like reactive figure. And I don't 117 00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:40,800 Speaker 1: actually know which is the better way to look at 118 00:06:40,839 --> 00:06:43,120 Speaker 1: this guy is some of it's got to come down 119 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:48,039 Speaker 1: to like personal preference. But he's an interesting character, and 120 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:50,599 Speaker 1: I think he's probably, of all of the figures on 121 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:53,679 Speaker 1: the right now, one of the ones that it's more 122 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:57,440 Speaker 1: it's easiest to kind of respect at an intellectual level 123 00:06:57,440 --> 00:07:01,560 Speaker 1: because he's very smart and he's succeeded in a lot 124 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:03,760 Speaker 1: of his Like the reason why the master Plottery thing 125 00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:06,520 Speaker 1: kind of has a lot of traction is he's been 126 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:09,280 Speaker 1: very successful in a lot of his goals over time, 127 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:11,320 Speaker 1: Like he's been willing to, he's been able to. He 128 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:14,920 Speaker 1: has a degree of like focus and discipline that's fairly 129 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:15,880 Speaker 1: rare on the right. 130 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:20,440 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's pretty weird, wells, isn't he also like drinking 131 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:23,760 Speaker 2: the blood of younger people or something like that. 132 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:26,640 Speaker 1: We're going to talk about that later on in the series. 133 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:28,960 Speaker 1: It's unclear to me if he's ever drank any young 134 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:32,280 Speaker 1: people's blood, but he's definitely been accused of it and 135 00:07:32,680 --> 00:07:35,520 Speaker 1: has like expressed an interest in it. I think the 136 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:39,120 Speaker 1: guy who definitely is drinking young people's blood is Brian Johnson. 137 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:44,920 Speaker 1: That like like rich founder dude who's obsessed with reducing 138 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:49,760 Speaker 1: his biological age back to seventeen. He takes his son's 139 00:07:49,800 --> 00:07:53,760 Speaker 1: blood as a supplement. Really yeah, oh yeah, yeah, I 140 00:07:53,800 --> 00:07:56,800 Speaker 1: mean he brags about it. Yeah, Like he's very open 141 00:07:56,840 --> 00:07:59,720 Speaker 1: about that. Peter has always Peter is on the record 142 00:07:59,720 --> 00:08:01,880 Speaker 1: to say I don't do that. He was just kind 143 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:03,960 Speaker 1: of He's invested in a lot of companies that did 144 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:07,640 Speaker 1: anti aging stuff, some of which like we're looking into 145 00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:11,000 Speaker 1: plasma replacement, right, But it's unclear if he ever did it, 146 00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:13,559 Speaker 1: and if he didn't do it, it would be because 147 00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:16,360 Speaker 1: like he just didn't think it worked. He is a 148 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:20,720 Speaker 1: big advocate of taking human growth hormone as an anti 149 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:23,840 Speaker 1: aging supplement. So I think it's one of those things 150 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:26,000 Speaker 1: where if he doesn't, if he hasn't done the young 151 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:28,920 Speaker 1: people's blood thing, it's just because he decided the science wasn't. 152 00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:31,960 Speaker 2: There, or he's just so fucking roided out that he's. 153 00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:36,960 Speaker 1: Just yeah, the ruids have given him enough blood. There's 154 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:43,560 Speaker 1: no more room for blood in Peter's body. So no, 155 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:46,280 Speaker 1: Like many of the worst things on this earth, Peter 156 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:51,120 Speaker 1: Teel began in Germany, Frankfort to be specific, where he 157 00:08:51,240 --> 00:08:56,040 Speaker 1: was born on October eleventh, nineteen sixty seven. His father, Klaus, 158 00:08:56,120 --> 00:08:59,520 Speaker 1: was a chemical engineer who the very next year, sixty eight, 159 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:03,400 Speaker 1: got high by a consulting firm that specialized in heavy industry, 160 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:07,280 Speaker 1: including oil and gas refining. The founder of the company, 161 00:09:07,440 --> 00:09:10,800 Speaker 1: Arthur G. McKee, had owned a series of steel foundries 162 00:09:10,840 --> 00:09:14,120 Speaker 1: in the Cleveland area, where the Teals moved in nineteen 163 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:17,120 Speaker 1: sixty eight. So now, at this point, and I think 164 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:19,520 Speaker 1: this is probably clue to most of our listeners, in 165 00:09:19,640 --> 00:09:22,680 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty eight, Cleveland is just a series of river 166 00:09:22,760 --> 00:09:25,400 Speaker 1: fires with some subjects attached, right Like, It's not the 167 00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:28,560 Speaker 1: city we know and tolerate today. It's nothing but the 168 00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:32,080 Speaker 1: kyah Hogan burning and a couple of soot drenched houses. 169 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:34,560 Speaker 1: And the reason the Kyahogue is always on fire is 170 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:38,280 Speaker 1: guys like Arthur McKee, who runs steel boundaries. 171 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:38,040 Speaker 2: You know. 172 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:42,520 Speaker 1: So that is that Peter grows up with his dad 173 00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:45,520 Speaker 1: kind of working in the destroying the planet industry, Like 174 00:09:45,559 --> 00:09:48,520 Speaker 1: he's an oil and gas man working for an industrial 175 00:09:48,600 --> 00:09:53,520 Speaker 1: magnate in fucking Cleveland. So Klaus works for a firm 176 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:55,800 Speaker 1: in Cleveland for a couple of years while he gets 177 00:09:55,840 --> 00:09:59,240 Speaker 1: his graduate degree, and in nineteen seventy one, when Peter 178 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:03,320 Speaker 1: was four, his parents have a second child, Patrick now 179 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:07,880 Speaker 1: tealsby biographer Max Chafkin, author of The Contrarian, which is 180 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:11,240 Speaker 1: a book that will be a sizable source for this. 181 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:13,520 Speaker 1: Although I do have some disagree. I think Chaefkin's a 182 00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:16,760 Speaker 1: very good writer, good biographer. There's a couple of areas 183 00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:18,760 Speaker 1: where I disagree with them that we'll talk about here. 184 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:23,400 Speaker 1: But yeah, he has described Klaus and Peter's mom Suzanne, 185 00:10:23,480 --> 00:10:29,200 Speaker 1: as fanatical Republicans who were absolutely gaga for Nixon. That 186 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:32,080 Speaker 1: may be true, you know, chaef Cains certainly knows more 187 00:10:32,080 --> 00:10:36,319 Speaker 1: about this than me. However, Peter disagrees with that characterization 188 00:10:36,360 --> 00:10:38,560 Speaker 1: of his parents. He doesn't seem to have considered them 189 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:42,360 Speaker 1: to have been fanatical Republicans or religious extremists, and chaf 190 00:10:42,360 --> 00:10:45,600 Speaker 1: Can also kind of paints them as Christian like hardcore 191 00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:52,200 Speaker 1: Christian conservatives. Peter is an outspoken Christian. It's unclear to 192 00:10:52,240 --> 00:10:56,360 Speaker 1: me again, if this is just Peter disliking the description 193 00:10:56,520 --> 00:10:59,160 Speaker 1: of himself and his parents as extremists, or if this 194 00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:02,000 Speaker 1: is that Chase can you know, maybe doesn't have all 195 00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:03,720 Speaker 1: of the context. We don't get a lot of detail 196 00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:10,160 Speaker 1: about Teale's parents, so it's not perfectly clear, right. Chaefkin 197 00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:15,960 Speaker 1: describes his father as cold, bordering on cruel at times. Again, 198 00:11:16,040 --> 00:11:19,760 Speaker 1: this is a characterization Peter would disagree with, at least 199 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:24,800 Speaker 1: publicly in terms of like stories that paint that picture 200 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:27,640 Speaker 1: of his dad is cruel. I don't see a lot 201 00:11:27,679 --> 00:11:31,040 Speaker 1: of really good detailed evidence about it. The story that 202 00:11:31,160 --> 00:11:33,559 Speaker 1: Chafkin cites is kind of evidence of how cold and 203 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:36,640 Speaker 1: cruel Peter's dad was. Is a story that Peter tells 204 00:11:36,679 --> 00:11:39,840 Speaker 1: a lot. Two biographers I've seen this or two interviewers 205 00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:42,560 Speaker 1: I've seen this story recounted in a couple of different 206 00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:46,640 Speaker 1: articles that interviewed Peter before Chaefgin's biography came out. And 207 00:11:46,679 --> 00:11:48,760 Speaker 1: the story is that one day, when Peter is a 208 00:11:48,760 --> 00:11:50,880 Speaker 1: little kid, like maybe four or five, he was looking 209 00:11:50,920 --> 00:11:53,160 Speaker 1: at a rug in the family home that was made 210 00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:55,800 Speaker 1: from a cow hide, and he asked his dad where 211 00:11:55,800 --> 00:11:58,440 Speaker 1: did this rug come from? And Klaus, matter of fact, 212 00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:00,480 Speaker 1: they explained that it was made from a dead cow. 213 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:03,480 Speaker 1: Peter asked, like, what what does it mean that something's dead? 214 00:12:03,640 --> 00:12:06,800 Speaker 1: And his dad told him, quote, death happens to all animals, 215 00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:09,160 Speaker 1: all people. It will happen to me one day, it 216 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:12,560 Speaker 1: will happen to you one day. And Chafkin describes this 217 00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:15,199 Speaker 1: as a moment of like brutal honesty, and he kind 218 00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:17,400 Speaker 1: of insinuates that it may have done some damage to Peter, 219 00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:20,200 Speaker 1: writing that he quote would return to the cow and 220 00:12:20,240 --> 00:12:23,680 Speaker 1: the brutal finality of the thing again and again, even 221 00:12:23,679 --> 00:12:27,120 Speaker 1: in middle age. Now, it does seem to be accurate 222 00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:29,880 Speaker 1: that Peter is stuck in his mind. I just don't 223 00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:34,160 Speaker 1: know that I consider that a brutal description of death. 224 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:37,959 Speaker 1: That seems like, you know, kind of just factual, right, 225 00:12:38,040 --> 00:12:40,960 Speaker 1: Like I had a conversation with my dad about death 226 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:43,440 Speaker 1: that wasn't all that different from this, right, Like, it 227 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:45,920 Speaker 1: happens to everything, it'll happen to me, it'll happen to you. 228 00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:47,959 Speaker 1: Like how else do you explain death to a kid? Right? 229 00:12:48,360 --> 00:12:51,840 Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, I mean I don't know. That feels like 230 00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:57,000 Speaker 2: pretty like a pretty weak antecedent for everything that's about 231 00:12:57,000 --> 00:12:57,720 Speaker 2: to transpire. 232 00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:00,880 Speaker 1: I think what's going on here is that Peter is 233 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:02,559 Speaker 1: obsessed with death and dying. 234 00:13:02,679 --> 00:13:02,800 Speaker 2: Right. 235 00:13:02,840 --> 00:13:05,679 Speaker 1: He's put a huge amount of money into like reversing 236 00:13:05,760 --> 00:13:08,320 Speaker 1: aging and anti senizence and all this kind of stuff. 237 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:10,920 Speaker 1: So like, he clearly is a guy who's obsessed with 238 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:15,480 Speaker 1: his own mortality, and like you're looking for evidence of 239 00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:17,760 Speaker 1: that in his childhood, and he does tell this story. 240 00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:20,000 Speaker 1: He told The New Yorker in twenty eleven that this 241 00:13:20,080 --> 00:13:23,640 Speaker 1: was a quote very very disturbing day. So obviously this 242 00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:26,320 Speaker 1: does stick in his mind. But I don't know that 243 00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:28,920 Speaker 1: that makes the case that his dad is like cold 244 00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:32,319 Speaker 1: because this I just don't see it from that anecdote. 245 00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:32,480 Speaker 2: You know. 246 00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:35,239 Speaker 1: Obviously that's one anecdote. We're talking about a whole childhood, 247 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:37,920 Speaker 1: So that doesn't mean that he was not cold. I 248 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:41,679 Speaker 1: just don't I feel like what we may get from 249 00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:45,640 Speaker 1: the fact that this story fucks Peter up so much 250 00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:47,960 Speaker 1: says less about his dad and more about like who 251 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:50,480 Speaker 1: Peter is as a person, because I think most of 252 00:13:50,559 --> 00:13:54,400 Speaker 1: us have this experience and like don't grow up dedicated 253 00:13:54,400 --> 00:13:57,440 Speaker 1: to conquering mortality, whereas kind of like, oh yeah, everything dies, 254 00:13:57,720 --> 00:13:59,720 Speaker 1: all right, well, I better figure out something I'm going 255 00:13:59,760 --> 00:14:04,440 Speaker 1: to do with my life, right yeah, yeah, you know, 256 00:14:04,640 --> 00:14:07,880 Speaker 1: like gas station drugs. That was my That was my decision, 257 00:14:08,080 --> 00:14:10,840 Speaker 1: which I think if Peter had gotten into that just 258 00:14:10,880 --> 00:14:14,319 Speaker 1: by some of these trucker pills, Peter, you know, yeah, 259 00:14:14,640 --> 00:14:17,560 Speaker 1: they'll keep you, they'll keep you alive forever, as well 260 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:24,560 Speaker 1: as HGH will. So anyway, Peter has never made peace 261 00:14:24,600 --> 00:14:27,080 Speaker 1: with death, or what he calls the ideology of the 262 00:14:27,080 --> 00:14:31,200 Speaker 1: inevitability of the death of every individual. I also love 263 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:34,640 Speaker 1: that the ideal. It's not an ideology, man, it's just 264 00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:38,040 Speaker 1: a fact. That's like, that's like seeing some people who 265 00:14:38,120 --> 00:14:40,360 Speaker 1: are like staying back from a cliff's edge on a 266 00:14:40,400 --> 00:14:42,520 Speaker 1: windy day and be like, oh, you've fallen for the 267 00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:45,120 Speaker 1: ideology of dying in a fall. 268 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:49,480 Speaker 3: Come on the ideal, man, the inevitability of the death 269 00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:50,920 Speaker 3: of every individual. 270 00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:54,640 Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I've had conversations with anti seatbelt guys 271 00:14:54,680 --> 00:14:57,960 Speaker 1: about like the ideology of safety of like a nanny 272 00:14:57,960 --> 00:14:59,760 Speaker 1: state culture, and it's like, no, man, I just don't 273 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:01,600 Speaker 1: want to diet at car crash. 274 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:05,960 Speaker 2: This huge old libertarian right. 275 00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:08,840 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, as all hell. Well, you see nowadays, I 276 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:10,600 Speaker 1: don't know if you'd call it that, but he definitely 277 00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:12,200 Speaker 1: comes out of libertarianism. 278 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:15,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, and so, and when I think of libertarians, I 279 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:20,200 Speaker 2: think of like people who never evolved past like second 280 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:26,920 Speaker 2: semester freshman dorm room, uh ideology, And that feels very 281 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:31,600 Speaker 2: much like the like the the the ideology of the 282 00:15:31,640 --> 00:15:37,119 Speaker 2: inevitability of death feels very like third bong hit freshman 283 00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:39,080 Speaker 2: year dorm room. 284 00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:46,560 Speaker 1: Yeah, dude, yeah, yeah, I agree with that. You know 285 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:49,120 Speaker 1: what I will say for libertarians, I always have to 286 00:15:49,280 --> 00:15:51,520 Speaker 1: give a little bit of pushback just because of where 287 00:15:51,560 --> 00:15:53,920 Speaker 1: I come out there. You've got your two kinds, You've 288 00:15:53,920 --> 00:15:57,040 Speaker 1: got your like dorm room. I'm gonna read fucking Murray 289 00:15:57,120 --> 00:16:01,600 Speaker 1: Rothbard and basically become a fascist whenever anyone suggests I 290 00:16:01,640 --> 00:16:06,600 Speaker 1: pay my fair share in taxes Libertarians, which Peter is no, no, no, 291 00:16:06,760 --> 00:16:10,080 Speaker 1: My kind the kind that I respect are I'm not. 292 00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:12,000 Speaker 1: I wouldn't say I'm there now, but I have I 293 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:13,680 Speaker 1: do have a degree of respect and love for Like 294 00:16:14,040 --> 00:16:17,080 Speaker 1: after the big hurricane in North Carolina, you had like 295 00:16:17,920 --> 00:16:21,240 Speaker 1: several dozen guys who owned their own helicopters and often 296 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:24,200 Speaker 1: built their own helicopters, who like flew in just because 297 00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:27,800 Speaker 1: they're like they're like helicopter libertarians. I like my helicopter 298 00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:30,800 Speaker 1: libertarians where it's like I just don't trust the States, 299 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:34,200 Speaker 1: so I bought my own helicopter a disaster rescue. Those 300 00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:35,000 Speaker 1: guys are fine. 301 00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:39,040 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, although are those the same guys that also 302 00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:42,120 Speaker 2: were the militia that tried to interfere with. 303 00:16:42,880 --> 00:16:46,080 Speaker 1: Those guys were in trucks. Those guys were in trucks. 304 00:16:46,560 --> 00:16:53,680 Speaker 1: That might be yet another different kind of libertarian Helicopterah, 305 00:16:54,040 --> 00:17:00,200 Speaker 1: we're very very pro helicopter libertarian in this ass. Those 306 00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:05,920 Speaker 1: guys are fine. So yeah, that's a Peter's like kind 307 00:17:05,960 --> 00:17:07,120 Speaker 1: of inciting incident. 308 00:17:07,200 --> 00:17:07,320 Speaker 2: Right. 309 00:17:07,320 --> 00:17:09,560 Speaker 1: If you're making the Peter Teal movie, you started with 310 00:17:09,600 --> 00:17:12,119 Speaker 1: his dad explaining death to him while looking at this 311 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:17,760 Speaker 1: cowhide rug. Now, shortly after that conversation, his dad decides 312 00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:20,399 Speaker 1: to move the family away from Cleveland, usually a good 313 00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:24,520 Speaker 1: decision and live every engineer's dream, which is, of course 314 00:17:24,800 --> 00:17:31,199 Speaker 1: helping South Africa build a uranium mind. You know what 315 00:17:31,359 --> 00:17:35,920 Speaker 1: engineer doesn't want to live that? So the Teal family 316 00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:39,200 Speaker 1: moves to South Africa kind of yeah, I mean they're 317 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:43,679 Speaker 1: technically in South Africa. Peter's parents send him to an expensive, 318 00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:48,160 Speaker 1: whites only private school called Pridwin. According to the school's website, 319 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:50,480 Speaker 1: it was founded in nineteen twenty three as a non 320 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:56,240 Speaker 1: denominational school rooted in Christian ethics and values. Today, the 321 00:17:56,280 --> 00:18:00,680 Speaker 1: Pridwood website prominently features numerous stock photos of non white kids. 322 00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:04,240 Speaker 1: So it does seem like maybe things have been forced 323 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:08,119 Speaker 1: to move forward there. But when Peter went there, it 324 00:18:08,160 --> 00:18:11,000 Speaker 1: would have taught racial separation as an obvious good and 325 00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:14,119 Speaker 1: a necessity. Right this is we're talking South Africa in 326 00:18:14,119 --> 00:18:18,679 Speaker 1: the seventies, right after Pridwen. Peter went to a German 327 00:18:18,760 --> 00:18:22,119 Speaker 1: language public school. He was a good student. He always 328 00:18:22,119 --> 00:18:24,919 Speaker 1: does well in school, but these are not happy years 329 00:18:24,920 --> 00:18:27,919 Speaker 1: for him, at least his chafkin paints it quote. A 330 00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:30,560 Speaker 1: picture from that era shows a sullen boy in shorts, 331 00:18:30,600 --> 00:18:34,119 Speaker 1: knickers and a tie carrying an adult sized briefcase. A 332 00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:37,960 Speaker 1: grade school classmate in Namibia, George erb recalled Teal as 333 00:18:38,040 --> 00:18:41,080 Speaker 1: smart but withdrawt. He had that distinct, striking smart look 334 00:18:41,119 --> 00:18:44,080 Speaker 1: about him, almost like he seemed bored. Rb said, we 335 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:46,560 Speaker 1: didn't really mingle a lot with Peter in school, though 336 00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:49,080 Speaker 1: we always knew the miners' kids would not stay long 337 00:18:49,119 --> 00:18:51,399 Speaker 1: in town. Now, as he noted here, I said that 338 00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:54,119 Speaker 1: they moved to South Africa. They are, though actually not 339 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:58,080 Speaker 1: in what in South Africa. They were in Namibia, which 340 00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:01,800 Speaker 1: a big chunk of Namibia is governed and run by 341 00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:05,359 Speaker 1: South Africa. At this point, right at the time, a 342 00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:07,679 Speaker 1: lot of what we call Namibia today was known to 343 00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:11,720 Speaker 1: South Africans as South West Africa, and it was governed 344 00:19:11,800 --> 00:19:14,800 Speaker 1: under a military occupation, as if it were essentially the 345 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:18,520 Speaker 1: little brother of the apartheid state. The whole reason that 346 00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:22,959 Speaker 1: South Africa has a uranium mine comes down to environmental 347 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:26,439 Speaker 1: regulations in western nations. Around this period, some of the 348 00:19:26,520 --> 00:19:29,320 Speaker 1: very earliest waves of uranium had been mined in places 349 00:19:29,359 --> 00:19:31,679 Speaker 1: like the US and Australia. But pretty quickly, once it 350 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:33,920 Speaker 1: becomes clear that we're going to need a lot of uranium, 351 00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:37,280 Speaker 1: it also becomes clear that like uranium mining is really 352 00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:39,919 Speaker 1: bad for the environment, so we'd better do that a 353 00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:43,080 Speaker 1: lot in Africa, right, like a big bit. Actually, King 354 00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:46,400 Speaker 1: Leopold's old colony in the Cargo becomes a major source 355 00:19:46,440 --> 00:19:49,720 Speaker 1: of uranium mining, and Namibia in this period becomes the 356 00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:53,400 Speaker 1: fourth largest global producer of uranium. During the Cold War, 357 00:19:53,480 --> 00:19:56,080 Speaker 1: when we are using up quite a lot of the stuff, 358 00:19:57,080 --> 00:20:00,480 Speaker 1: so That's why South Africa is a big. Part of 359 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:03,400 Speaker 1: why South Africa is so hesitant to give up their 360 00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:06,000 Speaker 1: occupation of Namibia is like, Namibia has a shitload of 361 00:20:06,119 --> 00:20:09,920 Speaker 1: uranium and South Africa wants that for several reasons, none 362 00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:13,119 Speaker 1: of them good. Now, the managing and engineering staff at 363 00:20:13,119 --> 00:20:16,560 Speaker 1: the mine where Klaus worked was white. The workforce were 364 00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:20,959 Speaker 1: largely migrants on one year contracts for white families. This 365 00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:24,120 Speaker 1: was a good job. You had good access to medical care, 366 00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:27,240 Speaker 1: you had nice houses. You're basically living in a company 367 00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:30,760 Speaker 1: town that is built for the white employees of this mine. 368 00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:34,320 Speaker 1: There's a country club there, there's quality schools. Things are 369 00:20:34,359 --> 00:20:37,400 Speaker 1: a lot uglier for the contract workers who are being 370 00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:39,480 Speaker 1: brought in to do a lot of the heavy lifting 371 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:42,479 Speaker 1: at the mine. Now, much of this ugliness came from 372 00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:45,600 Speaker 1: the fact that South Africa was not allowed to be 373 00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:49,040 Speaker 1: in Southwest Namibia. Right, They are not supposed to be 374 00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:53,240 Speaker 1: occupying this chunk of Namibia. The UN had ordered them 375 00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:56,240 Speaker 1: to leave in nineteen sixty six, but by the time 376 00:20:56,240 --> 00:20:59,040 Speaker 1: the Teals moved into the country, South Africa had yet 377 00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:01,840 Speaker 1: to move their troops out. This is like nineteen seventy 378 00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:06,560 Speaker 1: to one or two, right, So they've overstayed their visa 379 00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:08,480 Speaker 1: by quite a while. But you don't really need a 380 00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:10,320 Speaker 1: visa if you have enough guns. 381 00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:15,600 Speaker 2: Yeah, this whole thing is fucking grim man. Yeah, it's 382 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:19,440 Speaker 2: parteid uranium. Mind, just fucking grim. 383 00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:23,480 Speaker 1: Peter's childhood is in an apartheid uranium mine. 384 00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:28,480 Speaker 2: Like I thought Elon Musk had liken uh kind of 385 00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:31,720 Speaker 2: like super villain origin story with the emerald mine. But 386 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:34,119 Speaker 2: the uranium not really trumps. 387 00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:37,280 Speaker 1: Honestly, bro, I'll take an emerald mine over this any 388 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:42,280 Speaker 1: day in a fucking week. So in nineteen seventy three, 389 00:21:42,359 --> 00:21:45,200 Speaker 1: the ICC, the International Criminal Court, upheld that you in 390 00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:48,840 Speaker 1: ruling and said again South Africa, you've got to leave Namibia. 391 00:21:48,920 --> 00:21:51,480 Speaker 1: This is not your country. What are you doing there, 392 00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:53,720 Speaker 1: to which South Africa says, we are getting a lot 393 00:21:53,720 --> 00:21:57,119 Speaker 1: of uranium and we're not going to leave. This leads 394 00:21:57,119 --> 00:22:00,159 Speaker 1: to sanctions against the sale of minerals from mine and 395 00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:04,000 Speaker 1: occupied Namibia, sanctions that are ignored by much of the West. 396 00:22:04,320 --> 00:22:07,680 Speaker 1: And I'm going to just quote read about that via 397 00:22:07,760 --> 00:22:10,800 Speaker 1: a quote I found on the website Mining Sea. The 398 00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:15,119 Speaker 1: decree warned that anyone found extracting and selling minerals from 399 00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:19,360 Speaker 1: Namibia would be held liable beneficiaries to Namibia's minerals, including 400 00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:23,119 Speaker 1: Britain and the United States, except Sweden did not honor 401 00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:26,320 Speaker 1: the decree when uranium production from Rossing would satisfy Britain's 402 00:22:26,320 --> 00:22:30,080 Speaker 1: ten percent demand. So because uranium was so needed for 403 00:22:30,119 --> 00:22:34,359 Speaker 1: this build up, basically a lot of the West was like, no, fuck, 404 00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:36,880 Speaker 1: what the UN says, We're going to keep paying South 405 00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:40,000 Speaker 1: Africa for their uranium because we really need it right 406 00:22:41,720 --> 00:22:45,440 Speaker 1: tale as old as time now. The company that ran 407 00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:48,399 Speaker 1: the mine where Klaus worked as a contractor was called 408 00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:51,840 Speaker 1: Rio Tinto, and they had You're not going to be 409 00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:55,159 Speaker 1: surprised to hear that this illegal uranium mine company has 410 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:59,800 Speaker 1: an evil history, but they have like a comically evil history. 411 00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:01,679 Speaker 2: I feel like I've heard a name before. 412 00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:05,320 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, oh yeah. So in the late nineteen thirties, 413 00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:08,639 Speaker 1: Rio Tino had called on Francisco Franco to use his 414 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:12,119 Speaker 1: soldiers to crush left wing miners protesting against bad working 415 00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:14,800 Speaker 1: conditions in Spain. The head of the company at the 416 00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:18,600 Speaker 1: time Sir auckland Getty's, which is such an evil mine 417 00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:24,800 Speaker 1: owner's name, What an amazing evil Sir auckland Getty's. Jesus 418 00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:29,040 Speaker 1: Getty's brag that quote miners found guilty of trouble making 419 00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:34,000 Speaker 1: our quote martialed and shot big fan of Franco the 420 00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:38,040 Speaker 1: leaders of Rio Tento. As another interesting side note, Noah, 421 00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:41,440 Speaker 1: Rio Tinto was also a major source of raw materials 422 00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:44,280 Speaker 1: for the Nazi rearmament campaign. These are the guys that 423 00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:47,600 Speaker 1: build the Wehrmacht back up into fighting shape. Thank God. 424 00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:50,080 Speaker 1: You know where would we be without Rio Tinto. 425 00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:51,560 Speaker 2: God? 426 00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:57,680 Speaker 1: Yes, Now, by the early seventies there were no more 427 00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:01,240 Speaker 1: Nazis to arms, so Rio said about finding their next 428 00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:04,840 Speaker 1: best equivalent, which is of course s apartheid South Africa. 429 00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:09,359 Speaker 1: Right now, since they're running an illegal uranium mine and 430 00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:13,119 Speaker 1: occupied Namibia, they're like, why not go full fascist? And 431 00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:17,000 Speaker 1: they decide to operate their facilities in Namibia like a 432 00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:19,840 Speaker 1: concentration camp. And I'm going to quote from an article 433 00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:23,760 Speaker 1: by the London Mining Network. Here, black workers constructing the 434 00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:28,159 Speaker 1: Rossing uranium mine lived in appalling conditions in temporary camps, 435 00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:32,199 Speaker 1: which researchers found akin to slavery. By akin to slavery, 436 00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:35,439 Speaker 1: it means that actually leaving work for any meaning, but 437 00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:38,560 Speaker 1: being for any reason, but being dismissed by your manager 438 00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:42,000 Speaker 1: was a crime, workers who misplaced or forgot their ID 439 00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:45,959 Speaker 1: badge could be jailed. Now, the fact that someone might 440 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:49,240 Speaker 1: get hired to consult at such a mind doesn't imply 441 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:51,960 Speaker 1: that they were involved with setting up or executing any 442 00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:54,960 Speaker 1: of these policies, but it does suggest that one was 443 00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:59,040 Speaker 1: broadly fine with them. As Max Chafkin writes, a contract 444 00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:02,040 Speaker 1: laborer on the Construs Auction project, the project Klaus's company 445 00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:04,720 Speaker 1: was helping to oversee, who said workers had not been 446 00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:07,040 Speaker 1: told they were building a uranium mine and were thus 447 00:25:07,119 --> 00:25:10,080 Speaker 1: unaware of the risks of radiation. The only clue had 448 00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:13,160 Speaker 1: been that white employees would hand out wages from behind glass, 449 00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:17,640 Speaker 1: seemingly trying to avoid contamination themselves. The report mentioned workers 450 00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:20,880 Speaker 1: dying like flies in nineteen seventy six while the mine 451 00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:21,800 Speaker 1: was under construction. 452 00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:24,359 Speaker 2: So this is so bad. 453 00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:27,000 Speaker 1: This is pretty evil. 454 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:32,160 Speaker 2: To illegal apartheid uranium mining concentration camp. 455 00:25:32,359 --> 00:25:34,879 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's Peter's dad's job and some of his 456 00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:36,440 Speaker 1: earliest memories as a kid. 457 00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:41,800 Speaker 2: And he's disturbed by like Bessie the coin. 458 00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:46,000 Speaker 1: What, Peter, If you want to end death, the first 459 00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:50,280 Speaker 1: step might be ending illegal uranium mines. If you just 460 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:51,959 Speaker 1: care about death as a concept. 461 00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:55,320 Speaker 2: I cannot believe how cartoonish is. 462 00:25:55,520 --> 00:26:00,639 Speaker 1: It's so funny. It's like the funniest bad story he 463 00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:04,880 Speaker 1: could have just being the guy he is coming from. 464 00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:07,119 Speaker 1: This is a background like a lot of these guys, 465 00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:10,080 Speaker 1: like Elon Musk, there's this period of time in musks 466 00:26:10,080 --> 00:26:12,120 Speaker 1: backstories like, oh, well, he is this kid who's moved 467 00:26:12,119 --> 00:26:15,240 Speaker 1: around about. His family sucks, his dad's this abusive monster. 468 00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:18,479 Speaker 1: He's bullied as a kid. It's a really sad like 469 00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:20,760 Speaker 1: I can see how he you know, there's a I 470 00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:23,080 Speaker 1: can see how a couple of different kinds of kid 471 00:26:23,119 --> 00:26:24,840 Speaker 1: could have come out of this, some of them who 472 00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:26,719 Speaker 1: would have been a lot better than Musk was right, 473 00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:28,520 Speaker 1: Maybe he wasn't always destined to be the kind of 474 00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:31,199 Speaker 1: guy he is. With Teal, you're like, oh, yeah, no, 475 00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:35,840 Speaker 1: this is this childhood. Was Taylor made to produce Peter Teal? 476 00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:38,240 Speaker 2: Yeah, totally. 477 00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:40,920 Speaker 1: You know what else was Taylor made to produce Peter 478 00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:48,480 Speaker 1: Tel Noah, Yeah. The sponsors of our show are attempting 479 00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:52,000 Speaker 1: to breed clones of Peter Teel in a tank. It's 480 00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:55,399 Speaker 1: kind of like that the fourth Alien movie, Alien Resurrection, 481 00:26:56,200 --> 00:26:58,640 Speaker 1: down to the fact that they are mixing Peter Teal's 482 00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:01,960 Speaker 1: jeans with Sigourney we So let's see what happens everybody, 483 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:11,199 Speaker 1: you know, We'll see what happens. We're back and in 484 00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:13,840 Speaker 1: the time that we were off air, the Peter Teel 485 00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:18,439 Speaker 1: Sigourney Weaver clones escaped containment in our in our our 486 00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:23,199 Speaker 1: our sponsors orbital base. Things do not seem to be 487 00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:31,320 Speaker 1: going well. Sorry, air, that was probably predictable. Anyway, We'll 488 00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:36,000 Speaker 1: keep you updated on the situation. So we're talking about 489 00:27:36,119 --> 00:27:39,440 Speaker 1: uranium mining in South Africa, which is getting South Africa 490 00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:41,440 Speaker 1: in trouble. And it's one of those things where if 491 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:43,399 Speaker 1: it was if it had just been about the money 492 00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:47,399 Speaker 1: South Africa could make exporting uranium, it probably wouldn't have 493 00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:50,600 Speaker 1: been worthwhile to piss off the whole international community to 494 00:27:50,680 --> 00:27:53,600 Speaker 1: keep this mine open. But that's not the only reason 495 00:27:53,640 --> 00:27:57,000 Speaker 1: why South Africa wants the uranium mine. A big part 496 00:27:57,080 --> 00:28:00,680 Speaker 1: of why they insisted on keeping this thing operational was 497 00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:04,040 Speaker 1: that they are an unpopular apartheid government that is in 498 00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:07,359 Speaker 1: the process of becoming a global pariah. They are dealing 499 00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:11,080 Speaker 1: with something of an extential of an existential pr crisis 500 00:28:11,359 --> 00:28:13,880 Speaker 1: because of all of like the racism and violence that 501 00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:18,199 Speaker 1: the world is watching them do, and the white rulers 502 00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:20,679 Speaker 1: of the country decided the best way for them to 503 00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:23,800 Speaker 1: gain long term security for the regime was to get 504 00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:26,960 Speaker 1: nuclear weapons, even if they had to break international law 505 00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:31,080 Speaker 1: to do so. Right, And South Africa does eventually construct 506 00:28:31,119 --> 00:28:34,280 Speaker 1: a handful of very illegal nukes, right. They are not 507 00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:37,200 Speaker 1: supposed to have these internationally, No one's supposed to be 508 00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:42,040 Speaker 1: allowed to be arming themselves with new nukes. South Africa 509 00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:45,560 Speaker 1: makes their nukes and it does not, as you may 510 00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:48,360 Speaker 1: be aware, keep the apartheid regime in power. You know, 511 00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:51,800 Speaker 1: the government does in fact fall and in a kind 512 00:28:51,840 --> 00:28:56,520 Speaker 1: of unique historical case, before the government hands over power 513 00:28:56,600 --> 00:28:59,760 Speaker 1: to the ANC which is, you know, the party that 514 00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:05,040 Speaker 1: over as apartheid goes out, they disassemble all of their 515 00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:08,560 Speaker 1: nuclear weapons. To this day, this makes South Africa the 516 00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:12,360 Speaker 1: only nation to have ever made nuclear weapons and given 517 00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:16,480 Speaker 1: them up voluntarily. Obviously Ukraine receive had nuclear weapons when 518 00:29:16,520 --> 00:29:20,360 Speaker 1: the USSR crumbled and gave those up. But South Africa 519 00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:24,400 Speaker 1: actually like makes their own nuclear weapons independently and then 520 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:28,000 Speaker 1: disassembles them and stops being a nuclear power. And that's 521 00:29:28,040 --> 00:29:30,280 Speaker 1: a unique thing in history. Although they do it, I 522 00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:32,640 Speaker 1: think mainly for reasons of racism. 523 00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:35,600 Speaker 2: It's still pretty wild. I've never heard that before. 524 00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:39,240 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's an interesting story. So while Peter's dad 525 00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:41,880 Speaker 1: was I don't know how you again, how you want 526 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:44,560 Speaker 1: to parse out his complicity here, but he is adjacent 527 00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:46,120 Speaker 1: to some very bad things. 528 00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:46,400 Speaker 2: Right. 529 00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:50,560 Speaker 1: While his dad's doing this, Peter himself gets very little 530 00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:52,360 Speaker 1: that seems to be good from his two and a 531 00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:55,400 Speaker 1: half three years in Africa. He mostly claims to have 532 00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:58,719 Speaker 1: played alone a lot near the family house. He started 533 00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:00,960 Speaker 1: to develop a habit for comp heative chess, and he 534 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:05,200 Speaker 1: became a voracious leader less than three years. After less 535 00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:07,800 Speaker 1: than three years away, the family decides they just haven't 536 00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:13,120 Speaker 1: had enough Cleveland and they move back. Yeah. Then as 537 00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:15,520 Speaker 1: soon as they're back in Cleveland, they're like, oh shit, 538 00:30:15,880 --> 00:30:18,080 Speaker 1: Cleveland is still not a great place to live. The 539 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:21,240 Speaker 1: Rivers have not stopped being on fire. So they move 540 00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:24,920 Speaker 1: one last time to the Bay Area. Their specific final 541 00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:28,000 Speaker 1: residence is Foster City, which is just northwest of San 542 00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:31,800 Speaker 1: Jose and south of San Francisco. Proper, it's a fairly 543 00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:34,960 Speaker 1: affluent town and in the late nineteen seventies, Teals family 544 00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:38,640 Speaker 1: seems like they probably would have qualified as upper middle class, right, 545 00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:41,600 Speaker 1: and this is what you tend to see with the 546 00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:44,800 Speaker 1: first and second generation of tech industry giants. Guys like 547 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:48,920 Speaker 1: Gates and Jobs all come from or move to similar 548 00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:52,200 Speaker 1: parts of California, and they're all kind of at a 549 00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:53,920 Speaker 1: similar level of family affluence. 550 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:54,120 Speaker 2: Right. 551 00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:55,880 Speaker 1: Their parents are not like rich, they're not going to 552 00:30:55,880 --> 00:30:59,240 Speaker 1: inherit generational wealth, but their parents have enough money to 553 00:30:59,320 --> 00:31:03,000 Speaker 1: shower their kids with attention and educational opportunities that really 554 00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:06,040 Speaker 1: weren't available before. And in part because of some of 555 00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:08,440 Speaker 1: the decisions guys like this make aren't going to be 556 00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:15,160 Speaker 1: available after, you know, lease not do as many kids now. 557 00:31:15,240 --> 00:31:18,840 Speaker 1: In terms of the parenting situation, because Gates Bill Gates's 558 00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:23,000 Speaker 1: parents doting absolutely like obsessed with his development and health. 559 00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:28,360 Speaker 1: Steve's parents again doting like really really like caring parents 560 00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:31,320 Speaker 1: who were very much focused on their child doing well. 561 00:31:31,640 --> 00:31:33,920 Speaker 1: It is unclear to me how much attention Peter gets. 562 00:31:33,920 --> 00:31:36,880 Speaker 1: This is kind of an open questions. It's left as 563 00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:40,160 Speaker 1: an open question. In Chafkin's book, Peter does not seem 564 00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:42,840 Speaker 1: to embrace like the claims that his parents were very 565 00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:46,480 Speaker 1: strict or you know, fanatical conservatives, but we also get 566 00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:48,680 Speaker 1: very little of them in his stories, right, which is 567 00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:51,160 Speaker 1: very different from like, Steve Jobs told a lot of 568 00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:54,320 Speaker 1: stories about his parents, right, and so did Gates. So 569 00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:57,280 Speaker 1: I don't really know if this is a case of, 570 00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:00,479 Speaker 1: you know, he didn't want to say much about his parents, 571 00:32:00,520 --> 00:32:02,600 Speaker 1: that this is an area of insecurity form, or if 572 00:32:02,600 --> 00:32:07,360 Speaker 1: it's just he's not a guy who's super talkative about 573 00:32:07,360 --> 00:32:09,880 Speaker 1: his background, which he definitely isn't you know. That may 574 00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:12,640 Speaker 1: just explain it, But it does seem that his parents 575 00:32:12,680 --> 00:32:15,920 Speaker 1: are not kind of central to his feelings or ambitions 576 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:18,560 Speaker 1: in the same way that they really seem to have 577 00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:22,320 Speaker 1: been for a lot of other like tech industry icons 578 00:32:22,360 --> 00:32:24,920 Speaker 1: that came up in a similar place in period. We 579 00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:28,080 Speaker 1: do know as a child, Peter Teel is a massive nerd. 580 00:32:28,520 --> 00:32:30,959 Speaker 1: He is one of the first wave of like really 581 00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:34,160 Speaker 1: big nerds, and he's particularly a fantasy nerd for his 582 00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:37,320 Speaker 1: kind of fantasy and sci fi. He reads The Lord 583 00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:39,239 Speaker 1: of the Rings as a little kid, he falls in 584 00:32:39,240 --> 00:32:42,720 Speaker 1: love with Tolkien. He would later claim that he memorized 585 00:32:42,840 --> 00:32:45,320 Speaker 1: the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which I suspect is 586 00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:52,800 Speaker 1: probably overstating things. That's a lot to memorize, Yeah, yeah, 587 00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:55,200 Speaker 1: three thousand pages. Yeah, that's that might be a little much. 588 00:32:56,120 --> 00:32:59,600 Speaker 1: I don't know how much I believe that, but I just. 589 00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:02,440 Speaker 2: Remember the English or the Yet. 590 00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:04,960 Speaker 1: Did he have the Elvish down? Does he know the 591 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:06,480 Speaker 1: Black speech by heart? 592 00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:14,600 Speaker 2: Speaks at all? Maybe folks so much? Yeah? 593 00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:21,520 Speaker 1: Yeah, the very few journalists know the Black speech. As 594 00:33:21,520 --> 00:33:24,000 Speaker 1: you might imagine from a kid who at least probably 595 00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:27,240 Speaker 1: meant memorized passages from the Lord of the Rings, Peter 596 00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:31,360 Speaker 1: gets bullied a lot, right, not super surprising from this kid. 597 00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:34,680 Speaker 1: He's also very small and skinny, and according to one peer, 598 00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:36,880 Speaker 1: he gets pushed around a lot as a little kid. 599 00:33:37,800 --> 00:33:39,560 Speaker 1: This may have had something to do with what seems 600 00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:42,080 Speaker 1: to have been a flair for escapism. In addition to 601 00:33:42,160 --> 00:33:45,640 Speaker 1: loving Tolkien, Peter is one of the very first Dungeons 602 00:33:45,640 --> 00:33:48,080 Speaker 1: and Dragons players, right, He and his because D and 603 00:33:48,160 --> 00:33:50,520 Speaker 1: D has just come out while he is a kid, 604 00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:52,560 Speaker 1: and he is he and his friends are playing it 605 00:33:52,600 --> 00:33:56,560 Speaker 1: while it is very new. They they played every single weekend, 606 00:33:56,640 --> 00:33:59,760 Speaker 1: and this is This may have caused a degree of 607 00:33:59,840 --> 00:34:03,840 Speaker 1: life a conflict with his parents, because there are at 608 00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:06,920 Speaker 1: least some stories that his parents they couldn't play, He 609 00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:09,359 Speaker 1: couldn't play at his house because his parents, being very 610 00:34:09,680 --> 00:34:13,440 Speaker 1: strict Christians, thought that D and D was evil. Again, 611 00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:16,600 Speaker 1: this is one of those things. Is that totally accurate? 612 00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:18,440 Speaker 1: I don't know. He definitely played a lot of D 613 00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:19,879 Speaker 1: and D. It may have been a kind of thing 614 00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:23,120 Speaker 1: that he had to skirt around his family because it is. 615 00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:27,279 Speaker 1: And there's this thing that you get from Peter that 616 00:34:27,360 --> 00:34:29,040 Speaker 1: everyone will say about him, which is that like he's 617 00:34:29,040 --> 00:34:32,719 Speaker 1: a habitual contrarian. Whatever people are doing, he has to 618 00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:36,200 Speaker 1: be doing the opposite. There's this big moral panic against 619 00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:38,359 Speaker 1: dungeons and dragons at the time. It very much fits 620 00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:40,280 Speaker 1: in with that that he would want to be playing 621 00:34:40,320 --> 00:34:43,080 Speaker 1: this game that a lot of people in his life 622 00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:46,200 Speaker 1: and like maybe even his parents consider to be evil. 623 00:34:46,239 --> 00:34:48,879 Speaker 1: That is very like fitting with the guy Peter Teel 624 00:34:49,040 --> 00:34:52,000 Speaker 1: is like whatever the people around him are saying is bad, 625 00:34:52,160 --> 00:34:56,040 Speaker 1: That's what Peter's going to want to do, right. Yeah. 626 00:34:56,360 --> 00:34:58,719 Speaker 1: Outside of that, his main hobby seems to have been 627 00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:03,800 Speaker 1: Chess's extremely good at this. He was generally ranked number 628 00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:06,080 Speaker 1: one by his school chess club. He plays a lot 629 00:35:06,080 --> 00:35:09,520 Speaker 1: of speed chess. He probably could have been a professional 630 00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:12,239 Speaker 1: chess guy, but he has some There's some quotes he 631 00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:14,360 Speaker 1: makes later where he's like, I had to choose between 632 00:35:14,520 --> 00:35:17,120 Speaker 1: chess and everything else in life, Right, I just get 633 00:35:17,120 --> 00:35:20,640 Speaker 1: too obsessed with it. George Packer, writing for The New Yorker, 634 00:35:20,719 --> 00:35:24,760 Speaker 1: summarizes his chest kit was decorated with a sticker carrying 635 00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:27,719 Speaker 1: the motto born to Win. On the rare occasions when 636 00:35:27,760 --> 00:35:30,280 Speaker 1: he lost in college, he swept the pieces off the board. 637 00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:32,719 Speaker 1: He would say, show me a good loser, and I'll 638 00:35:32,719 --> 00:35:35,480 Speaker 1: show you a loser. So maybe not I guy you 639 00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:40,640 Speaker 1: want to play with, right, Jesus Christ. Yeah, A little 640 00:35:40,640 --> 00:35:42,879 Speaker 1: bit of a dick. This is the kind of guy 641 00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:46,480 Speaker 1: who I don't know. Again, I'm a big believer in 642 00:35:46,520 --> 00:35:49,280 Speaker 1: the fact that everyone who's proud of their chess performance 643 00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:52,319 Speaker 1: should get into the real game of skill. Warhammer forty 644 00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:57,799 Speaker 1: thousand fish shows your real skill, Peter paint some fucking orcs? 645 00:35:58,719 --> 00:36:00,399 Speaker 2: Do you have? Born to Win? 646 00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:06,480 Speaker 1: I haven't actually tattooed. You can't see it. The camera 647 00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:08,880 Speaker 1: blots out my tattoos. But I've got like one of 648 00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:11,440 Speaker 1: those throat tattoos. I got a sticking poke when I 649 00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:13,680 Speaker 1: was in prison that just says born to Win. And 650 00:36:13,719 --> 00:36:16,360 Speaker 1: it's got a picture of an orc on it. Yeah, 651 00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:20,840 Speaker 1: h correct, Yeah, yeah, it's good. It really makes me 652 00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:24,640 Speaker 1: popular at the gaming store with the fourteen year olds. 653 00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:29,880 Speaker 1: So Chaefkin has my favorite story of Peter and his 654 00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:32,120 Speaker 1: chess phase because it is the one that makes me 655 00:36:32,160 --> 00:36:35,760 Speaker 1: actually kind of hopeful that we can beat this guy eventually. Quote. 656 00:36:36,120 --> 00:36:38,680 Speaker 1: Once at a tournament, he was playing a scrimmage match 657 00:36:38,719 --> 00:36:40,839 Speaker 1: for fun in between games and seemed to be only 658 00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:44,800 Speaker 1: half paying attention. His opponent was inexperienced and not aware 659 00:36:44,840 --> 00:36:48,120 Speaker 1: of what was happening, put Peter in check. Then he realized, 660 00:36:48,120 --> 00:36:50,839 Speaker 1: to both of their surprise that it was checkmate. Peter 661 00:36:50,960 --> 00:36:53,880 Speaker 1: became visibly distraught and was unable to regain his composure 662 00:36:53,920 --> 00:36:55,960 Speaker 1: for the rest of the tournament and lost the rest 663 00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:58,440 Speaker 1: of the matches he played. A defeat, even a meaningless 664 00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:03,759 Speaker 1: one was too much to handle. Yeah, okay, that's been 665 00:37:03,760 --> 00:37:05,840 Speaker 1: a little hopeful. There a little bit of motivation for 666 00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:06,360 Speaker 1: you kids. 667 00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:09,759 Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, maybe wasn't so born to win. 668 00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:13,719 Speaker 1: Yeah. So among the nerds, Peter was king. He was 669 00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:16,840 Speaker 1: the most academically gifted of his friends, and I suspect 670 00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:19,879 Speaker 1: was the best at doing things like cooking up overpowered 671 00:37:19,960 --> 00:37:23,880 Speaker 1: characters in Dungeons and Dragons. He had a fantastic memory, 672 00:37:23,920 --> 00:37:26,840 Speaker 1: and he expounded upon different short stories and novels by 673 00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:29,680 Speaker 1: guys like Asimov and Clark with a faculty that would 674 00:37:29,719 --> 00:37:31,680 Speaker 1: have embarrassed most adults. He's the kind of guy who 675 00:37:31,680 --> 00:37:34,840 Speaker 1: can like quote passages of stories he likes from memory. 676 00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:38,000 Speaker 1: One of Peter's nerdy peers said that he and others 677 00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:41,360 Speaker 1: were quote in awe of Teal, but added, I don't 678 00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:44,959 Speaker 1: know that he had any close friends. So he's got 679 00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:47,600 Speaker 1: like some peers, but maybe not a lot of people 680 00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:52,160 Speaker 1: that he like actually entrusts any pieces of himself too 681 00:37:52,440 --> 00:37:56,960 Speaker 1: in any meaningful way. Right, Again, a lonely person in 682 00:37:57,000 --> 00:38:00,080 Speaker 1: a lot of ways. Peter is genuinely described by the 683 00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:02,640 Speaker 1: kids he spent time around the way wizards were in 684 00:38:02,719 --> 00:38:06,400 Speaker 1: Peter's favorite fantasy novels as this like mysterious figure. He 685 00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:10,480 Speaker 1: can do great and terrifying things, but who's also fundamentally 686 00:38:10,600 --> 00:38:12,680 Speaker 1: separate from all of the people around him. 687 00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:16,000 Speaker 2: Right, that's your characterization. You're calling him a wizard, or 688 00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:17,000 Speaker 2: he called himself a wizard. 689 00:38:17,080 --> 00:38:19,279 Speaker 1: No, no, no, that's just kind of my description based on 690 00:38:19,360 --> 00:38:22,200 Speaker 1: what other kids said about Peter, right that he's like, 691 00:38:22,800 --> 00:38:24,600 Speaker 1: we're in awe of him. He could do all these 692 00:38:24,600 --> 00:38:27,480 Speaker 1: amazing things, but we didn't really understand him. He seemed 693 00:38:27,480 --> 00:38:30,080 Speaker 1: to be like someone who was fundamentally separate. It's kind 694 00:38:30,080 --> 00:38:32,440 Speaker 1: of like the way Gandolf is written in The Lord 695 00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:36,279 Speaker 1: of the Rings, Right, Wizards are these like mysterious and 696 00:38:36,400 --> 00:38:38,920 Speaker 1: kind of frightening figures that you can't ever really get that, 697 00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:41,600 Speaker 1: Like they're kind of a knowable in certain senses. Right, 698 00:38:42,840 --> 00:38:45,080 Speaker 1: That's just kind of the way other kids talked about. 699 00:38:45,080 --> 00:38:48,760 Speaker 2: Peter seems more Seramone than Gandolph. 700 00:38:48,760 --> 00:38:50,720 Speaker 1: He's definitely I mean, he's going to build a company 701 00:38:50,800 --> 00:38:54,200 Speaker 1: named Palette here, so yeah, that's probably a fair fair note. 702 00:38:54,239 --> 00:38:54,319 Speaker 2: No. 703 00:38:56,120 --> 00:38:59,360 Speaker 1: As he became a teenager, the bullying changed from physical 704 00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:02,759 Speaker 1: violence to sillier shit that was also calculated to make 705 00:39:02,840 --> 00:39:06,279 Speaker 1: him feel unwelcome and othered. One example would be that 706 00:39:06,360 --> 00:39:09,759 Speaker 1: a group of kids frequently stole for sale signs from 707 00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:12,959 Speaker 1: around the neighborhood and set them up on Peter's lawn, 708 00:39:13,120 --> 00:39:14,759 Speaker 1: and then they would harass them about it the next 709 00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:17,359 Speaker 1: day school, being like, hey, when are you moving right, 710 00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:21,600 Speaker 1: and like that actually legitimately does suck, Peter, if you're listening, 711 00:39:22,239 --> 00:39:24,480 Speaker 1: that's like a really shitty thing this kids did to you. 712 00:39:24,520 --> 00:39:27,279 Speaker 1: I'm sorry, that's a bummer, you know, you can like 713 00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:30,520 Speaker 1: that's that's kind of like probably more devastating than the 714 00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:34,759 Speaker 1: physical violence like people stealing lawn signs to like make 715 00:39:34,800 --> 00:39:38,480 Speaker 1: it clear we want you and your family to leave. Like, yeah, 716 00:39:39,040 --> 00:39:41,160 Speaker 1: I can see, I can see how that feeds into 717 00:39:41,239 --> 00:39:46,320 Speaker 1: a guy becoming like Peter is. By the time the 718 00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:49,680 Speaker 1: high school years come around, You've got this kind of 719 00:39:49,760 --> 00:39:54,600 Speaker 1: misanthropic genius who spends his free time escaping reality and competing, 720 00:39:54,800 --> 00:39:57,000 Speaker 1: you know, in order to show everyone how smart he is, 721 00:39:57,120 --> 00:39:59,760 Speaker 1: right when he's The only times he wants to engage 722 00:39:59,760 --> 00:40:02,279 Speaker 1: with a people is when he can beat them in 723 00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:05,640 Speaker 1: a contest of wits. Otherwise he likes to kind of 724 00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:09,960 Speaker 1: focus on his fantasy worlds. One friend described his general 725 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:14,400 Speaker 1: attitude as fuck you world. Now. I think we all 726 00:40:14,480 --> 00:40:17,440 Speaker 1: knew or were to some degree, kids like that. Right, 727 00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:19,680 Speaker 1: this is going to sound very familiar, like as a 728 00:40:19,800 --> 00:40:22,840 Speaker 1: kid who grew up like bullied and nerdy. Aspects of 729 00:40:22,880 --> 00:40:24,040 Speaker 1: this are familiar to me. 730 00:40:25,360 --> 00:40:25,640 Speaker 2: Sure. 731 00:40:26,400 --> 00:40:29,719 Speaker 1: Peter also, it's interesting maintains this attitude while managing to 732 00:40:29,760 --> 00:40:32,239 Speaker 1: be the best student in his school. Right, he is 733 00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:35,919 Speaker 1: going to be the valedictorian. He's an exceptional student academically, 734 00:40:36,360 --> 00:40:39,640 Speaker 1: so he has both this kind of anger at normal 735 00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:43,440 Speaker 1: kids and the world around him, and also this attitude 736 00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:46,360 Speaker 1: that's reinforced by the social structures of his world, that 737 00:40:46,520 --> 00:40:50,919 Speaker 1: like he's better than everyone else in an important way. Now, 738 00:40:50,920 --> 00:40:55,760 Speaker 1: his classmates, interviewed by Chaefgins, seem to suggest that Peter 739 00:40:55,960 --> 00:40:58,279 Speaker 1: and kind of everyone at their school are obsessed with 740 00:40:58,360 --> 00:41:00,920 Speaker 1: getting like this. This is a school where the kids, 741 00:41:00,960 --> 00:41:03,440 Speaker 1: you know, their parents are high achievers. Everyone is obsessed 742 00:41:03,480 --> 00:41:06,759 Speaker 1: with getting into good colleges. This was seen as the 743 00:41:06,800 --> 00:41:09,759 Speaker 1: past of success at the time, and Peter's parents, if 744 00:41:09,800 --> 00:41:12,879 Speaker 1: they were strict, were probably pushing him hard to get 745 00:41:12,880 --> 00:41:15,240 Speaker 1: the best grades possible so that he could get into 746 00:41:15,280 --> 00:41:17,480 Speaker 1: the best school. Right. This is and this is going 747 00:41:17,520 --> 00:41:20,080 Speaker 1: to be important later he grows up being told by 748 00:41:20,080 --> 00:41:22,640 Speaker 1: all the authority figures in his life what matters most 749 00:41:22,680 --> 00:41:25,360 Speaker 1: is getting into a good college. Right That is like 750 00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:28,240 Speaker 1: the number one priority you have to have as a kid. 751 00:41:29,560 --> 00:41:31,239 Speaker 1: I don't know when I went to school that was 752 00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:33,640 Speaker 1: the priority that was really rammed home to me by 753 00:41:33,680 --> 00:41:35,759 Speaker 1: my parents. So I don't have trouble believing that this 754 00:41:35,880 --> 00:41:39,080 Speaker 1: is the case for Peter, and it's He's going to 755 00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:41,560 Speaker 1: get very angry at this later in his life. This 756 00:41:41,640 --> 00:41:43,839 Speaker 1: is going to be a major motivating factor in his 757 00:41:43,880 --> 00:41:47,000 Speaker 1: life the idea that like he was forced to value 758 00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:51,759 Speaker 1: higher education, which he fundamentally thinks is not a valuable 759 00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:54,160 Speaker 1: thing in the same way that his parents did, and 760 00:41:54,200 --> 00:41:56,640 Speaker 1: he's really angry about it. He's kind of never forgiven 761 00:41:56,680 --> 00:42:01,000 Speaker 1: the concept of academia for this. He graduates in eighty 762 00:42:01,040 --> 00:42:05,080 Speaker 1: five as the valedictorian of San Mateo High. During the 763 00:42:05,160 --> 00:42:08,080 Speaker 1: later years in public school, he had moved on from 764 00:42:08,120 --> 00:42:12,640 Speaker 1: Tolkien and Asimov to Einrand, And you know, this kind 765 00:42:12,640 --> 00:42:16,360 Speaker 1: of helps nurse the strain of vigorous anti communist sentiment 766 00:42:16,680 --> 00:42:18,719 Speaker 1: that would have you know, this would have been a 767 00:42:18,760 --> 00:42:22,920 Speaker 1: part of his upbringing. Anyway, We're talking like Silicon Valley 768 00:42:23,080 --> 00:42:26,120 Speaker 1: in the seventies. You know, it's a lot of defense 769 00:42:26,200 --> 00:42:29,640 Speaker 1: industry stuff is out there. It is not a radical 770 00:42:29,719 --> 00:42:33,399 Speaker 1: left hotbed. So he probably didn't need the Iron Rand 771 00:42:33,480 --> 00:42:36,280 Speaker 1: to make him into an anti communist, but this definitely 772 00:42:36,320 --> 00:42:40,399 Speaker 1: makes him into like a libertarian anti communist. During one 773 00:42:40,440 --> 00:42:43,640 Speaker 1: article in twenty eleven, he described his ideology as so 774 00:42:43,840 --> 00:42:46,919 Speaker 1: strictly libertarian that for a time he was against all 775 00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:51,640 Speaker 1: government spending, which he's not now he's very supportive of 776 00:42:51,680 --> 00:42:54,160 Speaker 1: like the government spending money to research how rich people 777 00:42:54,160 --> 00:42:56,440 Speaker 1: can live longer. So that's that's good. It's nice to 778 00:42:56,440 --> 00:42:57,439 Speaker 1: see that people can grow. 779 00:42:58,719 --> 00:43:00,359 Speaker 2: Yeah. 780 00:43:00,480 --> 00:43:04,120 Speaker 1: Yeah. You know who else has evolved since since the 781 00:43:04,200 --> 00:43:07,279 Speaker 1: last time we talked about them is the sponsors of 782 00:43:07,320 --> 00:43:10,399 Speaker 1: this podcast. You know, they're moving past their their their 783 00:43:10,440 --> 00:43:15,320 Speaker 1: mistakes of like twenty minutes or so ago, losing control 784 00:43:15,360 --> 00:43:18,759 Speaker 1: of that orbital habitat to the Peter Teal clones, and 785 00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:22,600 Speaker 1: they're moving on, you know, to to greater pastures, blowing 786 00:43:22,680 --> 00:43:25,840 Speaker 1: up that orbital habitat primarily. So we'll check back in 787 00:43:25,920 --> 00:43:34,359 Speaker 1: with them later and we're back. Noah, have you seen 788 00:43:34,400 --> 00:43:37,960 Speaker 1: Alien Resurrection? To these alien resurrection jokes? Hitting I don't 789 00:43:37,960 --> 00:43:38,840 Speaker 1: know if anyone seen that. 790 00:43:39,280 --> 00:43:43,040 Speaker 2: Remember, I'd like, I cannot recall this alien movie, and 791 00:43:43,080 --> 00:43:47,120 Speaker 2: I thought, like, I feel like I saw some spin 792 00:43:47,200 --> 00:43:53,560 Speaker 2: off with like a Roman name, like, oh God, Prometheus. 793 00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:55,279 Speaker 1: Is that Prometheus? Yes? No, that's that's one of the 794 00:43:55,320 --> 00:43:59,439 Speaker 1: ones that was made by Ridley Scott. Again though, see 795 00:44:00,120 --> 00:44:03,080 Speaker 1: this was the the fourth Alien was the alien movie 796 00:44:03,080 --> 00:44:05,560 Speaker 1: that was written by Joss Whedon as kind of a 797 00:44:05,600 --> 00:44:09,200 Speaker 1: backdoor pilot for Firefly. It's a very strange movie, but 798 00:44:09,239 --> 00:44:10,680 Speaker 1: it's got Ron Pearlman in it. 799 00:44:12,239 --> 00:44:14,279 Speaker 2: I don't know what to say in response to any 800 00:44:14,320 --> 00:44:14,920 Speaker 2: of these words. 801 00:44:15,080 --> 00:44:17,840 Speaker 1: No one knows what to say in response to Alien Resurrection, 802 00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:22,839 Speaker 1: other than it's the fourth movie in the Alien series, so. 803 00:44:24,520 --> 00:44:25,279 Speaker 2: What will take You? 804 00:44:26,960 --> 00:44:29,720 Speaker 1: Probably shouldn't have hung so many jokes on the fourth 805 00:44:29,760 --> 00:44:33,080 Speaker 1: Alien movie you watching. 806 00:44:34,000 --> 00:44:36,520 Speaker 2: I feel like if you're hanging Alien jokes, it's going 807 00:44:36,600 --> 00:44:38,480 Speaker 2: to end with, you know, game over man. 808 00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:43,400 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's that I am the Hudson in this series. 809 00:44:43,480 --> 00:44:46,239 Speaker 1: Like I'm realizing that I've led us, I've gotten us 810 00:44:46,280 --> 00:44:48,600 Speaker 1: into a or we're in this horrible disaster that I'm 811 00:44:48,600 --> 00:44:50,279 Speaker 1: not going to get out of, and now I'm just 812 00:44:50,360 --> 00:44:54,080 Speaker 1: firing my gun blindly at the ceiling, trying to escape. 813 00:44:54,120 --> 00:44:56,200 Speaker 3: No, and I have no idea what you're talking about. 814 00:44:56,239 --> 00:44:58,719 Speaker 1: But someone in this he just brought up Hudson. Someone 815 00:44:58,719 --> 00:44:58,960 Speaker 1: in the. 816 00:44:58,880 --> 00:45:01,720 Speaker 3: Subred it will be really excited that you're just keeping 817 00:45:01,719 --> 00:45:03,959 Speaker 3: going on this. Oh my god, someone. 818 00:45:04,200 --> 00:45:08,280 Speaker 1: It really is game over man, Game over, game over unbelievable. 819 00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:12,960 Speaker 1: So one particularly baffling segment from the Chafkin book involves 820 00:45:13,000 --> 00:45:16,240 Speaker 1: Peter's senior yearbook quote, which he credited to the hobbit, 821 00:45:16,840 --> 00:45:20,000 Speaker 1: the greatest adventure is what lies ahead today and tomorrow 822 00:45:20,040 --> 00:45:23,440 Speaker 1: are yet to be said. Now, you know, that seems 823 00:45:23,480 --> 00:45:26,400 Speaker 1: like something a nerdy kid would do, And that's a 824 00:45:26,480 --> 00:45:29,680 Speaker 1: perfectly fined yearbook quote. I would go so far as 825 00:45:29,719 --> 00:45:32,839 Speaker 1: to say maybe even a little like stereotypical. But when 826 00:45:32,880 --> 00:45:35,080 Speaker 1: it comes up in Chafkin's book, chaef gin Actually, this 827 00:45:35,120 --> 00:45:37,160 Speaker 1: is one of the areas where I think his analysis 828 00:45:37,160 --> 00:45:39,600 Speaker 1: of Peter is a little unfair. Here's what Chafkin writes 829 00:45:39,719 --> 00:45:43,000 Speaker 1: about Peter putting that quote in his yearbook. Years later, 830 00:45:43,080 --> 00:45:46,200 Speaker 1: he'd say that he memorized the entire passage, which continues 831 00:45:46,280 --> 00:45:48,960 Speaker 1: the chances, the changes are all yours to make. The 832 00:45:48,960 --> 00:45:50,920 Speaker 1: mold of your life is in your hands to break. 833 00:45:51,320 --> 00:45:53,959 Speaker 1: It would become, in a way, the motto of his life, 834 00:45:54,040 --> 00:45:56,200 Speaker 1: though it was still at this point a confused life. 835 00:45:56,560 --> 00:45:58,919 Speaker 1: The passage is not in fact from Tolkien, who wrote 836 00:45:58,960 --> 00:46:00,600 Speaker 1: The Hobbit as well as the load of the Rings 837 00:46:00,600 --> 00:46:03,879 Speaker 1: trilogy books Teal obsessed over. It's from a theme song 838 00:46:03,920 --> 00:46:07,440 Speaker 1: written by Jules Bass, creative genius behind the nineteen eighties 839 00:46:07,480 --> 00:46:10,600 Speaker 1: cartoon ThunderCats for the animated version of The Hobbit, which 840 00:46:10,640 --> 00:46:14,680 Speaker 1: came out in nineteen seventy seven. Now, I think maybe 841 00:46:14,719 --> 00:46:17,440 Speaker 1: because it's not clear to me that Peter was being 842 00:46:17,480 --> 00:46:20,319 Speaker 1: dishonest or making a mistake, Like if he quote, if 843 00:46:20,320 --> 00:46:24,040 Speaker 1: he attributed that quote to the Hobbit, that quote is 844 00:46:24,040 --> 00:46:26,239 Speaker 1: from the Hobbit. It's from the Hobbit movie. But like, 845 00:46:26,680 --> 00:46:28,920 Speaker 1: I don't know if you'd necessarily care to be that 846 00:46:29,040 --> 00:46:32,279 Speaker 1: specific about this in like your fucking yearbook. Right, this 847 00:46:32,320 --> 00:46:35,359 Speaker 1: isn't an essay you're writing. I think like Chafkin kind 848 00:46:35,400 --> 00:46:37,800 Speaker 1: of wanted to point this out as maybe like Teal 849 00:46:38,400 --> 00:46:41,080 Speaker 1: not really being a token fan or something like that. 850 00:46:41,520 --> 00:46:43,359 Speaker 1: It's kind of unclear to me. I don't think it's 851 00:46:43,400 --> 00:46:46,480 Speaker 1: particularly weird that like an eighteen year old kid would 852 00:46:46,520 --> 00:46:49,799 Speaker 1: credit the Hobbit animated movie for a quote as the 853 00:46:49,840 --> 00:46:53,279 Speaker 1: Hobbit instead of like specifying that like it was it was, 854 00:46:53,640 --> 00:46:56,759 Speaker 1: you know, not the book. I think that that may 855 00:46:56,800 --> 00:47:00,719 Speaker 1: be a little bit like reaching. But anyway, I guess 856 00:47:00,719 --> 00:47:03,200 Speaker 1: you could see this as evidence that Peter wasn't a 857 00:47:03,200 --> 00:47:05,799 Speaker 1: big Tolkien fan and just like the animated movies. But 858 00:47:05,840 --> 00:47:08,160 Speaker 1: to be honest, if you are quoting from the fucking 859 00:47:09,760 --> 00:47:12,839 Speaker 1: Hobbit animated movie of nineteen seventy seven, you're a pretty 860 00:47:12,880 --> 00:47:14,120 Speaker 1: big Tolkien nerd. 861 00:47:14,320 --> 00:47:14,480 Speaker 2: Right. 862 00:47:14,760 --> 00:47:18,160 Speaker 1: It was not a wildly popular movie, although better than 863 00:47:18,160 --> 00:47:20,520 Speaker 1: the Hobbit movies we would later get arguably. 864 00:47:20,680 --> 00:47:25,600 Speaker 2: So, yeah, this whole thing seems like nerd like I 865 00:47:25,320 --> 00:47:27,520 Speaker 2: think it's a little bit of a little bit of 866 00:47:27,680 --> 00:47:31,279 Speaker 2: nerd fighting. Yeah, you're not actually memorizing the. 867 00:47:31,200 --> 00:47:34,160 Speaker 1: Book that was from animated movie. 868 00:47:34,520 --> 00:47:37,279 Speaker 2: How dare you? It's not even can And. 869 00:47:37,200 --> 00:47:38,960 Speaker 1: He brings up that the song was written by the 870 00:47:38,960 --> 00:47:41,680 Speaker 1: ThunderCats guy to kind of like make it more gents, like, man, 871 00:47:41,880 --> 00:47:43,880 Speaker 1: the ThunderCats was fine, Like, we don't need to be 872 00:47:43,920 --> 00:47:46,319 Speaker 1: shipping on the ThunderCats here because of what Peter Thial 873 00:47:46,400 --> 00:47:47,760 Speaker 1: does in twenty sixteen. 874 00:47:47,920 --> 00:47:48,440 Speaker 2: Incredible. 875 00:47:49,200 --> 00:47:53,480 Speaker 1: Come on, man, come on, Chafkin. Look I like Chafkin. 876 00:47:53,600 --> 00:47:54,759 Speaker 1: I just disagree with him. 877 00:47:54,760 --> 00:47:58,319 Speaker 2: Here there's a Hobbit movie. I thought there was only 878 00:47:58,360 --> 00:47:59,359 Speaker 2: a Lord of the Rings movie. 879 00:47:59,480 --> 00:48:03,000 Speaker 1: No, there's definitely a Hobbit movie. We are we are 880 00:48:03,040 --> 00:48:05,919 Speaker 1: not talking about the Peter Jackson Hobbit movie, Sophie. We're 881 00:48:05,920 --> 00:48:09,799 Speaker 1: talking about the animated Hobbit movie, which is wonderful. 882 00:48:10,719 --> 00:48:12,920 Speaker 3: No, I did watch that one. I did watch that one. 883 00:48:13,000 --> 00:48:15,680 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, no, uh, I'm gonna I'm gonna recommend like 884 00:48:15,840 --> 00:48:18,480 Speaker 1: half a hit acid and just sink down into your 885 00:48:18,480 --> 00:48:19,839 Speaker 1: couch and let it happen to you. 886 00:48:21,040 --> 00:48:22,960 Speaker 2: What I know of you, you would recommend a half 887 00:48:22,960 --> 00:48:25,640 Speaker 2: a hit acid literally anything, you know. 888 00:48:25,640 --> 00:48:28,600 Speaker 1: It keeps my hand steady when I'm driving, especially if 889 00:48:28,640 --> 00:48:30,800 Speaker 1: I've got a trailer. You know, I don't trust anyone 890 00:48:30,800 --> 00:48:33,839 Speaker 1: who tows on less than half a hit acid. That's 891 00:48:33,880 --> 00:48:36,959 Speaker 1: my advice. Kids out there, Yeah, going shooting? Oh man, 892 00:48:37,600 --> 00:48:49,239 Speaker 1: you don't even need tracers. So anyway, whatever I don't need, 893 00:48:49,280 --> 00:48:51,360 Speaker 1: we don't need to continue down this. Peter teal. 894 00:48:53,160 --> 00:48:57,440 Speaker 2: Like reading into somebody's your book quote, yeah, is like 895 00:48:57,480 --> 00:48:58,240 Speaker 2: a little much. 896 00:48:58,440 --> 00:49:01,360 Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe Peter didn't, specially by the animated version. And 897 00:49:01,400 --> 00:49:03,560 Speaker 1: then a yearbook editor was like, now like, we'll just 898 00:49:03,600 --> 00:49:04,920 Speaker 1: say the hobbit. It's fine. 899 00:49:05,840 --> 00:49:08,120 Speaker 2: But anyway, so that much thought into your yearbook quote, 900 00:49:08,160 --> 00:49:08,480 Speaker 2: come on. 901 00:49:08,480 --> 00:49:10,840 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a yearbook, come on. So A much better 902 00:49:10,920 --> 00:49:13,719 Speaker 1: story of Peter actually being a weirdo, which Chaefkin does 903 00:49:13,760 --> 00:49:16,880 Speaker 1: also share, comes from one of his few female friends, 904 00:49:16,920 --> 00:49:19,560 Speaker 1: who apparently shared with Peter at some point that she'd 905 00:49:19,600 --> 00:49:22,279 Speaker 1: been the result of an unplanned pregnancy, right that her 906 00:49:22,320 --> 00:49:26,960 Speaker 1: parents had had her without meaning to. Peter wrote in 907 00:49:27,000 --> 00:49:30,800 Speaker 1: her yearbook quote, I could never even hypothetically have aborted 908 00:49:30,840 --> 00:49:35,040 Speaker 1: you love Peter Teal. That is an odd thing to 909 00:49:35,120 --> 00:49:38,719 Speaker 1: write about your friend based on them sharing this with you. 910 00:49:40,960 --> 00:49:44,880 Speaker 1: That is that is an odd line. Now, I will say, 911 00:49:45,640 --> 00:49:49,000 Speaker 1: that's not a cold statement. It's just weird, right, Like 912 00:49:49,040 --> 00:49:52,080 Speaker 1: that is in a way kind of a warm statement. Right. 913 00:49:52,760 --> 00:49:55,279 Speaker 1: So I don't know, it doesn't it doesn't entirely comport with, 914 00:49:55,320 --> 00:49:58,720 Speaker 1: like Peter can't connect with people, but it definitely comports 915 00:49:58,760 --> 00:50:03,160 Speaker 1: with like nobody Peter doesn't quite talk like anyone else, right, 916 00:50:03,719 --> 00:50:06,480 Speaker 1: Like nobody else would say this just to a friend. 917 00:50:07,120 --> 00:50:10,560 Speaker 2: Yeah, unless he wrote in everybody else's your book like. 918 00:50:10,560 --> 00:50:15,359 Speaker 1: That, I would have aborted you. That's everyone else's Peter 919 00:50:15,520 --> 00:50:22,600 Speaker 1: deeeal signatures. Yeah. Now, Peter was accepted by Stanford and 920 00:50:22,640 --> 00:50:25,279 Speaker 1: started his freshman year at this at the beginning of 921 00:50:25,360 --> 00:50:28,719 Speaker 1: Reagan's second term. Now, Stanford at this period was a 922 00:50:28,800 --> 00:50:32,280 Speaker 1: major source of thinkers and doers among the conservative movement. 923 00:50:32,640 --> 00:50:35,319 Speaker 1: The Hoover Institution, which is a right wing think tank 924 00:50:35,480 --> 00:50:39,080 Speaker 1: on campus, gave the world Martin Anderson, who start who 925 00:50:39,080 --> 00:50:42,560 Speaker 1: helped create Reaganomics. Right, he's like the author of Reaganomics 926 00:50:42,560 --> 00:50:46,040 Speaker 1: as a concept. Many Institute fellows were members of the 927 00:50:46,040 --> 00:50:50,520 Speaker 1: Reagan administration. Peter definitely seems to have like seen this 928 00:50:50,560 --> 00:50:53,440 Speaker 1: as kind of maybe the path he wanted for himself. 929 00:50:53,800 --> 00:50:56,080 Speaker 1: And even though what's interesting to me is he, because 930 00:50:56,120 --> 00:50:59,160 Speaker 1: he has this sort of emotional need to be seen 931 00:50:59,280 --> 00:51:01,840 Speaker 1: as a contrarian, is the guy going against the grain, 932 00:51:02,280 --> 00:51:05,200 Speaker 1: he will always frame higher education as time as Stanford 933 00:51:05,280 --> 00:51:09,759 Speaker 1: is like this din of liberals and like leftist rivolity, 934 00:51:09,920 --> 00:51:12,480 Speaker 1: right where it's like, this is the school that gave 935 00:51:12,560 --> 00:51:16,440 Speaker 1: us the Reagan administration. Right, Like fucking Stanford is not 936 00:51:16,560 --> 00:51:19,719 Speaker 1: a hotbed of leftists. You know, there's like liberals and 937 00:51:19,800 --> 00:51:22,200 Speaker 1: leftists on campus and leftist clubs, but like one of 938 00:51:22,239 --> 00:51:25,319 Speaker 1: the most influential conservative think tanks in the countries is 939 00:51:25,440 --> 00:51:29,880 Speaker 1: based out of Stanford. Right. I think the main reason 940 00:51:29,880 --> 00:51:32,319 Speaker 1: why Peter has to kind of characterize college this way 941 00:51:32,360 --> 00:51:34,640 Speaker 1: is that he just doesn't like college, right, He doesn't 942 00:51:34,680 --> 00:51:39,239 Speaker 1: like Stanford, and he primarily seems to dislike Stanford not 943 00:51:39,360 --> 00:51:41,759 Speaker 1: because of a political thing, but because all of the 944 00:51:41,920 --> 00:51:47,359 Speaker 1: kids there acted like kids. Right. They're all teenagers, They're 945 00:51:47,360 --> 00:51:50,640 Speaker 1: not quite grown up, which is what college students are, 946 00:51:51,160 --> 00:51:54,200 Speaker 1: and this is annoying to Peter. One of his chief 947 00:51:54,239 --> 00:51:57,440 Speaker 1: bugbears was that there was a campus heide and seek game, 948 00:51:57,560 --> 00:51:59,920 Speaker 1: which made him very angry, right, the fact that other 949 00:52:00,080 --> 00:52:02,680 Speaker 1: people are like, well, he's trying to learn playing hide 950 00:52:02,760 --> 00:52:06,040 Speaker 1: and seek. Peter isn't like this. He avoids most parties. 951 00:52:06,080 --> 00:52:09,759 Speaker 1: He does not date. Now. He's gay, right, and that's 952 00:52:09,840 --> 00:52:12,560 Speaker 1: certainly not nearly as acceptable a thing, even in a 953 00:52:12,600 --> 00:52:14,920 Speaker 1: place like Stanford in this period of time. So it's 954 00:52:14,960 --> 00:52:17,640 Speaker 1: not exactly weird, and that may play into kind of 955 00:52:17,760 --> 00:52:20,520 Speaker 1: part of why he's so frustrated seeing all of his 956 00:52:20,640 --> 00:52:24,040 Speaker 1: peers kind of date and socialize when that is not 957 00:52:24,120 --> 00:52:26,480 Speaker 1: a thing that's safe for him. I think maybe that 958 00:52:26,560 --> 00:52:30,640 Speaker 1: does play into it to some degree. Whenever he could, 959 00:52:31,080 --> 00:52:33,120 Speaker 1: rather than hang out with anyone he met on campus, 960 00:52:33,320 --> 00:52:35,480 Speaker 1: he would go back home to hang out with his 961 00:52:35,560 --> 00:52:38,360 Speaker 1: old friends from high school. Right now, one of his 962 00:52:38,400 --> 00:52:41,160 Speaker 1: Stanford peers suggests that he viewed other kids at the 963 00:52:41,200 --> 00:52:45,320 Speaker 1: school as deeply unserious. I think there's also an element 964 00:52:45,400 --> 00:52:48,480 Speaker 1: of discomfort insecurity and meeting and trying to connect with 965 00:52:48,560 --> 00:52:51,919 Speaker 1: new people. Whatever the case, Peter is the weird kid 966 00:52:52,000 --> 00:52:55,239 Speaker 1: on campus. Every morning he would leave his dorm room 967 00:52:55,360 --> 00:52:57,840 Speaker 1: and walk to the water fountain to take a huge 968 00:52:57,920 --> 00:53:00,880 Speaker 1: number of vitamins. One at a time. He seems to 969 00:53:00,920 --> 00:53:04,840 Speaker 1: do this in a way that's like deliberately exhibitionist. Classmate 970 00:53:04,920 --> 00:53:07,680 Speaker 1: Megan Maxwell alleges base that he kind of does this 971 00:53:07,719 --> 00:53:11,120 Speaker 1: to confront other kids, right to set himself apart. Everyone 972 00:53:11,120 --> 00:53:14,200 Speaker 1: else is partying and drinking and doing drugs, and every 973 00:53:14,239 --> 00:53:16,880 Speaker 1: morning Peter gets out there and slowly takes all of 974 00:53:16,920 --> 00:53:20,600 Speaker 1: his supplements so everyone can see him right. Quote, it 975 00:53:20,640 --> 00:53:23,759 Speaker 1: was like a ritual. She told Chafkin he was a strange, 976 00:53:23,840 --> 00:53:27,560 Speaker 1: strange boy. I don't think she's lying there. 977 00:53:28,200 --> 00:53:29,799 Speaker 2: Yeah. 978 00:53:29,880 --> 00:53:33,080 Speaker 1: He studied philosophy at Stanford and This as an undergrad 979 00:53:33,400 --> 00:53:36,280 Speaker 1: and was particularly drawn to the work of Renee Girard, 980 00:53:36,480 --> 00:53:41,000 Speaker 1: a professor and theorist of social sciences. Girard was particularly 981 00:53:41,040 --> 00:53:44,600 Speaker 1: focused on the psychology of desire, or why people want 982 00:53:44,640 --> 00:53:47,960 Speaker 1: things and how they decide they want things. From a 983 00:53:47,960 --> 00:53:50,600 Speaker 1: twenty twenty one article in The New Yorker by Anna Weener, 984 00:53:51,840 --> 00:53:55,480 Speaker 1: Teel was particularly taken with Gerard's concept of mimetic desire. 985 00:53:55,680 --> 00:53:58,040 Speaker 1: Man is the creature who does not know what to desire, 986 00:53:58,080 --> 00:54:00,400 Speaker 1: and he turns to others in order to make up 987 00:54:00,440 --> 00:54:04,200 Speaker 1: his mind. Durro wrote, we desire what others desire because 988 00:54:04,200 --> 00:54:08,840 Speaker 1: we imitate their desires. Memetic desire involves a surrender of agency. 989 00:54:08,960 --> 00:54:11,920 Speaker 1: It means allowing others to dictate ones once, and the 990 00:54:11,920 --> 00:54:16,520 Speaker 1: theory goes can foster envy, rivalry, infighting, and resentment. It also, 991 00:54:16,640 --> 00:54:20,279 Speaker 1: Duri wrote, leads to acts of violent scapegoating, which serve 992 00:54:20,360 --> 00:54:24,799 Speaker 1: to preclude further mass conflicts by unifying persecutors against a 993 00:54:24,800 --> 00:54:29,200 Speaker 1: group or individual. He thinks this is how people work, right, that, Like, 994 00:54:30,719 --> 00:54:33,480 Speaker 1: people's desires are largely based on this kind of like 995 00:54:33,640 --> 00:54:38,120 Speaker 1: herd mentality. Right, we're imitating other people's desires that we see, 996 00:54:39,000 --> 00:54:42,400 Speaker 1: We like surrender our agency to like let other people 997 00:54:42,440 --> 00:54:44,120 Speaker 1: dictate once for us. And this is kind of why 998 00:54:44,160 --> 00:54:47,839 Speaker 1: scapegoating is natural and actually is kind of a necessary 999 00:54:47,960 --> 00:54:51,279 Speaker 1: thing in order to avoid further mass violence. Right, If 1000 00:54:51,320 --> 00:54:54,520 Speaker 1: you can scapegoat individuals for problems, you can avoid more 1001 00:54:54,520 --> 00:54:59,120 Speaker 1: widespread violence. I think one could kind of extrapolate this 1002 00:54:59,239 --> 00:55:02,160 Speaker 1: into Peter as a member of like the wealthy ruling class, 1003 00:55:02,239 --> 00:55:05,480 Speaker 1: seeing the scapegoating that conservatives do with migrants or trans 1004 00:55:05,480 --> 00:55:09,560 Speaker 1: people as a way to like avoid potential you know, 1005 00:55:09,760 --> 00:55:14,719 Speaker 1: mass violence against his class, right, like the wealthy. But 1006 00:55:14,800 --> 00:55:16,960 Speaker 1: maybe I'm reading a little bit too much into it there. 1007 00:55:17,200 --> 00:55:20,680 Speaker 3: This is he's the he's the scapegoat author guy. You 1008 00:55:20,840 --> 00:55:24,480 Speaker 3: see also the violence and the sacred guy Gerard. That's 1009 00:55:24,600 --> 00:55:27,280 Speaker 3: that that that actually makes so much sense. 1010 00:55:27,400 --> 00:55:29,160 Speaker 1: It makes a lot of sense. Yeah, the fact that 1011 00:55:29,200 --> 00:55:31,160 Speaker 1: this gets brought I mean, Teal brings up Gerard a lot. 1012 00:55:31,160 --> 00:55:32,800 Speaker 1: There's a lot of writing Teal has done where he 1013 00:55:32,880 --> 00:55:35,560 Speaker 1: quotes Gerard talking about memetic desire. So it is not 1014 00:55:36,480 --> 00:55:39,720 Speaker 1: Chaefgen and others, you know, because I'm quoting directly from 1015 00:55:39,760 --> 00:55:42,400 Speaker 1: Anna's article here, like they're not going on on a 1016 00:55:42,440 --> 00:55:44,880 Speaker 1: limb connecting a lot of what he does to Chafgin, 1017 00:55:44,960 --> 00:55:47,080 Speaker 1: this is like a foundational part of his thinking. 1018 00:55:47,280 --> 00:55:49,680 Speaker 3: He's the guy who who wrote a book about like 1019 00:55:49,680 --> 00:55:54,840 Speaker 3: like sacrifice rituals and he's yeah, he's this makes sense. 1020 00:55:55,280 --> 00:55:57,279 Speaker 1: I'm on board with that. I think we should do 1021 00:55:57,360 --> 00:56:02,319 Speaker 1: more human sacrifice, and I think we should. We need 1022 00:56:02,360 --> 00:56:04,560 Speaker 1: to be building more pyramids. We don't build enough. We 1023 00:56:04,600 --> 00:56:09,080 Speaker 1: built that one in a where is it Nashville? Right? 1024 00:56:09,600 --> 00:56:11,200 Speaker 1: We did have a pyramid in every city, and we 1025 00:56:11,200 --> 00:56:15,960 Speaker 1: should sacrifice people on them. That's all I'm saying. Noziggarot 1026 00:56:16,120 --> 00:56:20,480 Speaker 1: guy even gotten by big ziggurat. The brickmakers, have you 1027 00:56:20,520 --> 00:56:24,640 Speaker 1: in their thrall. There's more material in a zigguratte that's all. 1028 00:56:24,800 --> 00:56:28,800 Speaker 1: That's why they want it there to walk up to 1029 00:56:28,080 --> 00:56:29,239 Speaker 1: the walk up. 1030 00:56:29,640 --> 00:56:31,879 Speaker 2: Yeah, and then you can throw your human sacrifice off 1031 00:56:31,880 --> 00:56:34,359 Speaker 2: the top, Yeah don't you. Yeah? 1032 00:56:34,480 --> 00:56:38,120 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I do like a ziggarot, a solid 1033 00:56:38,200 --> 00:56:42,000 Speaker 1: ziggarat a good old fashioned step pyramid. Hell yeah. 1034 00:56:42,080 --> 00:56:42,319 Speaker 2: Now. 1035 00:56:42,800 --> 00:56:45,600 Speaker 1: The concept of mimetic desire and the potential use of 1036 00:56:45,680 --> 00:56:50,440 Speaker 1: violent scapegoating would remain focuses of Peter's thinking on human nature, business, 1037 00:56:50,440 --> 00:56:53,160 Speaker 1: and politics up to the present day. Two years into 1038 00:56:53,200 --> 00:56:56,600 Speaker 1: his time on campus, he started a monthly magazine, The 1039 00:56:56,640 --> 00:56:59,400 Speaker 1: Stanford Review, with one of his high school friends who 1040 00:56:59,440 --> 00:57:02,480 Speaker 1: went to college with him. The Stanford Review was a 1041 00:57:02,560 --> 00:57:06,120 Speaker 1: right wing rag. It featured articles accusing professors of being 1042 00:57:06,160 --> 00:57:10,520 Speaker 1: closet Marxists, columns complaining about non white authors and a 1043 00:57:10,520 --> 00:57:14,560 Speaker 1: Western culture class, and some very weird takes on the 1044 00:57:14,600 --> 00:57:17,600 Speaker 1: AIDS epidemic. Here's an excerpt from a column in New 1045 00:57:17,680 --> 00:57:22,520 Speaker 1: York Magazine by Chafkin. The first issue featured a satirical column, 1046 00:57:22,560 --> 00:57:25,280 Speaker 1: Confessions of a Sexual Deviant, about a young straight man 1047 00:57:25,320 --> 00:57:27,840 Speaker 1: who'd chosen to be celibate. According to the Review, it 1048 00:57:27,920 --> 00:57:31,160 Speaker 1: was almost impossible to visit a men's restroom without witnessing 1049 00:57:31,240 --> 00:57:33,680 Speaker 1: a gay sex act, or to cross the quad without 1050 00:57:33,720 --> 00:57:36,840 Speaker 1: having fistfuls of free condoms pressed into your hand. In 1051 00:57:36,920 --> 00:57:40,640 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty seven, presenting homosexuality as an addiction, a columnist 1052 00:57:40,680 --> 00:57:43,680 Speaker 1: wrote that unnatural gay men had yielded to temptations so 1053 00:57:43,760 --> 00:57:46,800 Speaker 1: many times that the fires of lust burn within them, 1054 00:57:47,120 --> 00:57:50,479 Speaker 1: making it indeed difficult for them to control themselves. During 1055 00:57:50,520 --> 00:57:53,240 Speaker 1: Teale's last year on campus, his close friend and Review 1056 00:57:53,280 --> 00:57:56,840 Speaker 1: collaborator Keith Raboy stood outside the home of a Stanford 1057 00:57:56,840 --> 00:57:59,360 Speaker 1: residential fellow and shouted at the top of his lungs, 1058 00:58:00,280 --> 00:58:02,320 Speaker 1: f ward, you are going to die of aids. You 1059 00:58:02,440 --> 00:58:05,000 Speaker 1: are going to get what's coming to you. Two days later, 1060 00:58:05,040 --> 00:58:08,320 Speaker 1: the Review published the rape issue, with an impassioned defense 1061 00:58:08,360 --> 00:58:11,680 Speaker 1: of a student who'd pleaded no contest to statutory rape. 1062 00:58:13,080 --> 00:58:17,040 Speaker 1: So he's this is he's the guy that he's going 1063 00:58:17,040 --> 00:58:18,880 Speaker 1: to be the rest of his life. By eighty seven, 1064 00:58:19,080 --> 00:58:22,919 Speaker 1: we can say that there's a lot and because Peter 1065 00:58:23,080 --> 00:58:26,680 Speaker 1: doesn't like to talk about and I, you know, we'll 1066 00:58:26,680 --> 00:58:29,160 Speaker 1: talk about the Gawker stuff later. I actually think he's 1067 00:58:29,280 --> 00:58:31,280 Speaker 1: less in the wrong on that that he tends to 1068 00:58:31,280 --> 00:58:33,000 Speaker 1: be painted as which is not to say that he's 1069 00:58:33,040 --> 00:58:35,920 Speaker 1: in the right there, but like he doesn't like talking 1070 00:58:35,960 --> 00:58:40,880 Speaker 1: about his sexuality. I get the there's like a decent 1071 00:58:41,120 --> 00:58:45,360 Speaker 1: little chunk of even even up to this day. And 1072 00:58:45,760 --> 00:58:48,200 Speaker 1: this is not exactly Peter's kind of thing. But I've 1073 00:58:48,280 --> 00:58:52,520 Speaker 1: interviewed a couple of like gay conservatives who are celibate. 1074 00:58:52,600 --> 00:58:56,520 Speaker 1: They're like catholic. They believe, they accept that they're homosexual. 1075 00:58:56,520 --> 00:58:59,440 Speaker 1: They're open about that, but they think it's immoral to 1076 00:58:59,680 --> 00:59:02,840 Speaker 1: do a thing about it because they're also extremely catholic. 1077 00:59:03,600 --> 00:59:06,720 Speaker 1: And I see shades of that at least in Peter's 1078 00:59:06,720 --> 00:59:08,800 Speaker 1: thinking here. Like the fact that he is putting out 1079 00:59:08,800 --> 00:59:13,080 Speaker 1: these articles about celibacy and about like the the unnatural 1080 00:59:13,160 --> 00:59:16,000 Speaker 1: and like evil lusts of the gay community and like 1081 00:59:16,080 --> 00:59:21,360 Speaker 1: AIDS very much feels in line with that to me here. 1082 00:59:21,600 --> 00:59:23,920 Speaker 1: But you know, we just don't get a ton of 1083 00:59:24,000 --> 00:59:27,080 Speaker 1: Peter himself talking about but you can see like he 1084 00:59:27,080 --> 00:59:30,840 Speaker 1: wouldn't be putting out these articles about like how AIDS 1085 00:59:30,920 --> 00:59:32,760 Speaker 1: is the fault, like by this guy yelling about how 1086 00:59:32,800 --> 00:59:35,640 Speaker 1: like AIDS is your fault, right if you're gay, If 1087 00:59:35,640 --> 00:59:37,520 Speaker 1: he didn't, if there wasn't an element of that in 1088 00:59:37,600 --> 00:59:38,720 Speaker 1: his thinking, right. 1089 00:59:39,760 --> 00:59:42,800 Speaker 2: Yeah, this young man is extremely broken. 1090 00:59:44,320 --> 00:59:48,320 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean this is this is the Yeah, the 1091 00:59:48,120 --> 00:59:50,200 Speaker 1: the fact that you're defending a guy who pled no 1092 00:59:50,320 --> 00:59:55,600 Speaker 1: contest to statutory rape, the anger about condoms over a 1093 00:59:55,640 --> 00:59:58,800 Speaker 1: guy who pled no contest to statutory rape. I don't know. 1094 01:00:00,160 --> 01:00:01,840 Speaker 2: I mean, you don't want to judge someone too much 1095 01:00:01,920 --> 01:00:05,560 Speaker 2: by their you know, corny campus newspapers. 1096 01:00:05,080 --> 01:00:06,680 Speaker 1: If they move on from it. Yeah. 1097 01:00:06,800 --> 01:00:08,560 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I say this as someone who started 1098 01:00:08,600 --> 01:00:09,880 Speaker 2: a corny campus newspaper. 1099 01:00:09,960 --> 01:00:10,160 Speaker 1: Yeah. 1100 01:00:10,320 --> 01:00:16,400 Speaker 2: Like, but I mean that's really it's really beyond the pale, 1101 01:00:16,400 --> 01:00:19,160 Speaker 2: and it does seem to connect to who this dude 1102 01:00:19,240 --> 01:00:22,600 Speaker 2: is later, which is like this weird like there's so 1103 01:00:22,720 --> 01:00:29,560 Speaker 2: much like like hate, both internal and external happening. 1104 01:00:30,160 --> 01:00:32,720 Speaker 1: You really get why he becomes the guy he becomes 1105 01:00:32,800 --> 01:00:36,840 Speaker 1: because so much of Peter's modern politics is like the 1106 01:00:36,960 --> 01:00:40,360 Speaker 1: right wing hating the normies, like fuck the normies kind 1107 01:00:40,400 --> 01:00:44,000 Speaker 1: of politics, and like a big part of like just 1108 01:00:44,080 --> 01:00:46,880 Speaker 1: like how much anger there is at you know, Marxists 1109 01:00:46,880 --> 01:00:49,360 Speaker 1: on campus, they're handing out columns on the quad. It's 1110 01:00:49,440 --> 01:00:53,640 Speaker 1: just like whatever he sees the people around him are 1111 01:00:53,720 --> 01:00:57,320 Speaker 1: fine with makes him angry. You know that there is 1112 01:00:57,360 --> 01:01:00,520 Speaker 1: a degree of that in being this kind of dude 1113 01:01:00,600 --> 01:01:03,919 Speaker 1: in Stanford. Of this period of time now, the late 1114 01:01:04,000 --> 01:01:06,680 Speaker 1: nineteen eighties are a period in which public rage over 1115 01:01:07,040 --> 01:01:09,720 Speaker 1: the justices of apartheid had started to reach a fever 1116 01:01:09,800 --> 01:01:12,240 Speaker 1: pitch two. Right, this is one of the most kind 1117 01:01:12,280 --> 01:01:15,320 Speaker 1: of salient public issues at the time. Is like the 1118 01:01:15,480 --> 01:01:19,040 Speaker 1: entire Western international community is kind of lining up against 1119 01:01:19,080 --> 01:01:23,160 Speaker 1: the apartheid regime. There were regular protests on campus and 1120 01:01:23,440 --> 01:01:26,880 Speaker 1: calls to divest the school from South African financial interests. 1121 01:01:27,280 --> 01:01:30,640 Speaker 1: According to one source, Peter was not supportive of this. 1122 01:01:30,720 --> 01:01:32,720 Speaker 1: He was very angry that all of the kids on 1123 01:01:32,760 --> 01:01:37,040 Speaker 1: campus are anti South Africa. And I want to read now, 1124 01:01:37,080 --> 01:01:39,760 Speaker 1: this is a very interesting chapter of his life. From 1125 01:01:39,840 --> 01:01:42,760 Speaker 1: a medium post by one of his classmates at Stanford, 1126 01:01:43,240 --> 01:01:47,400 Speaker 1: Julia Lithcott Hayms. She wrote this about an encounter in 1127 01:01:47,520 --> 01:01:50,320 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty six, and this is going to be very relevant. 1128 01:01:50,440 --> 01:01:53,840 Speaker 1: Julie is a black woman. We ran in different circles. 1129 01:01:53,920 --> 01:01:57,320 Speaker 1: His fiercely libertarian views were often a topic of conversation 1130 01:01:57,400 --> 01:02:00,080 Speaker 1: among those of us living in Branner Hall. Day I 1131 01:02:00,160 --> 01:02:03,000 Speaker 1: heard a rumor that Peter defended apartheid, which was then 1132 01:02:03,120 --> 01:02:05,320 Speaker 1: still the law of the land in South Africa, which 1133 01:02:05,360 --> 01:02:08,480 Speaker 1: I found morally repugnant to know that a fellow student, 1134 01:02:08,560 --> 01:02:10,760 Speaker 1: a dorm mate for that matter, might defend such a 1135 01:02:10,760 --> 01:02:14,280 Speaker 1: brutally oppressive race based caste system. Gave me the willies, 1136 01:02:14,520 --> 01:02:16,640 Speaker 1: but I wanted to give Peter the benefit of the doubt, 1137 01:02:16,880 --> 01:02:18,720 Speaker 1: so I mustered the courage to go to his room 1138 01:02:18,720 --> 01:02:21,840 Speaker 1: and ask him about it. He said, with no facial affect, 1139 01:02:22,160 --> 01:02:25,880 Speaker 1: that apartheid was a sound economic system working efficiently, and 1140 01:02:26,000 --> 01:02:29,160 Speaker 1: moral issues were irrelevant. He made no effort to even 1141 01:02:29,200 --> 01:02:32,240 Speaker 1: acknowledge the pain the concept of apartheid could possibly raise 1142 01:02:32,280 --> 01:02:38,120 Speaker 1: for me, a black woman. So, and it's very in 1143 01:02:38,160 --> 01:02:40,560 Speaker 1: line with the kind of like, well it works economically, 1144 01:02:40,560 --> 01:02:43,320 Speaker 1: the system is economically successful and that's all that matters. 1145 01:02:42,920 --> 01:02:49,120 Speaker 1: The moral issues are irrelevant, right, just completely that kind 1146 01:02:49,120 --> 01:02:51,959 Speaker 1: of guy. 1147 01:02:52,200 --> 01:02:54,000 Speaker 2: I mean, how much of this is just like that's 1148 01:02:54,040 --> 01:02:54,720 Speaker 2: my dad. 1149 01:02:55,080 --> 01:02:56,520 Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I mean how much of it is that's 1150 01:02:56,520 --> 01:02:59,600 Speaker 1: my dad, And just like this reflexive contrarian thing. All 1151 01:02:59,640 --> 01:03:02,320 Speaker 1: of these kids hate South Africa. I've been there. I 1152 01:03:02,360 --> 01:03:04,680 Speaker 1: know it's actually a good system because it works economy, 1153 01:03:04,680 --> 01:03:10,080 Speaker 1: you know, which to my dad, Yeah, yeah, great stuff. 1154 01:03:10,760 --> 01:03:13,240 Speaker 1: When Julie posted this in twenty sixteen. It went sort 1155 01:03:13,240 --> 01:03:16,200 Speaker 1: of viral, and Peter issued a response through a spokesperson. 1156 01:03:16,560 --> 01:03:19,280 Speaker 1: Peter has no recollection of a stranger demanding his views 1157 01:03:19,280 --> 01:03:21,440 Speaker 1: on apartheid. He has never supported it, but he can 1158 01:03:21,480 --> 01:03:24,920 Speaker 1: easily see how a conversation might be misremembered thirty years later. 1159 01:03:26,600 --> 01:03:29,680 Speaker 1: And that's interesting, Like, I don't recall talking to this stranger, 1160 01:03:29,840 --> 01:03:31,960 Speaker 1: but you can easily see how someone could misremember the 1161 01:03:32,000 --> 01:03:32,840 Speaker 1: conversation that. 1162 01:03:32,800 --> 01:03:35,840 Speaker 2: I'm not sure happened, if I did it. 1163 01:03:36,000 --> 01:03:42,360 Speaker 1: If I did it, Yeah, Apartheid Edition. Now, obviously I 1164 01:03:42,400 --> 01:03:44,880 Speaker 1: don't know that Julie's recollection of events from thirty years 1165 01:03:44,880 --> 01:03:48,040 Speaker 1: ago is perfectly accurate. No one's are ever right. But 1166 01:03:48,080 --> 01:03:51,400 Speaker 1: there is some outside corroboration for aspects of Julie's story. 1167 01:03:51,560 --> 01:03:54,240 Speaker 1: And I'm going to quote from an article an NPR here. 1168 01:03:54,840 --> 01:03:57,760 Speaker 1: Lifke At Haymes's account of Teel's opinion about apartheid was 1169 01:03:57,760 --> 01:04:00,640 Speaker 1: backed up by Megan Maxwell, a freelance at who also 1170 01:04:00,680 --> 01:04:04,480 Speaker 1: attended Stanford with Teal. Maxwell, who was also an African American, 1171 01:04:04,600 --> 01:04:07,280 Speaker 1: told NPR that in a separate incident, Teal also told 1172 01:04:07,280 --> 01:04:10,479 Speaker 1: her that morality and governments shouldn't be connected, and that 1173 01:04:10,720 --> 01:04:13,160 Speaker 1: you shouldn't judge a government based on whether it fits 1174 01:04:13,200 --> 01:04:17,760 Speaker 1: your view of morality. I don't know, man, shouldn't shouldn't 1175 01:04:17,800 --> 01:04:21,160 Speaker 1: you like, isn't that part of how you should judge 1176 01:04:21,200 --> 01:04:24,480 Speaker 1: a government, whether or not you think it's moral. 1177 01:04:24,280 --> 01:04:28,680 Speaker 2: Should he's doing anti morality or a morality? 1178 01:04:29,120 --> 01:04:33,280 Speaker 1: Yeah, that it should just matter if it's economically efficient, right. 1179 01:04:33,240 --> 01:04:36,480 Speaker 2: And then but but then gays are bad on the 1180 01:04:36,520 --> 01:04:37,320 Speaker 2: other hand. 1181 01:04:38,480 --> 01:04:41,280 Speaker 1: Yeah, at least he's publishing other people who are writing 1182 01:04:41,320 --> 01:04:52,280 Speaker 1: about the immorality of homosexual life, right, Yeah, I think interesting, interesting, Peter. Yeah, 1183 01:04:52,320 --> 01:04:54,160 Speaker 1: part of what's going on here is like Peter is 1184 01:04:54,200 --> 01:04:57,760 Speaker 1: an outspoken Christian and he is up to the present day, 1185 01:04:58,320 --> 01:05:01,240 Speaker 1: and that means some very odd the things for a 1186 01:05:01,280 --> 01:05:06,000 Speaker 1: guy who is also like gay and a libertarian. You 1187 01:05:06,000 --> 01:05:08,120 Speaker 1: know that's going to like, Well, he's. 1188 01:05:08,240 --> 01:05:12,680 Speaker 2: Spoking Christian who doesn't believe that we should judge things 1189 01:05:12,680 --> 01:05:14,400 Speaker 2: by their morality. 1190 01:05:14,680 --> 01:05:17,280 Speaker 1: That's what he says here, because he definitely seems to 1191 01:05:17,400 --> 01:05:20,680 Speaker 1: in other instances believe that we should judge things based 1192 01:05:20,720 --> 01:05:24,040 Speaker 1: on whether or not they're his definition of moral you know. 1193 01:05:24,440 --> 01:05:27,480 Speaker 1: Part of and this is not just Peter, this is everyone. 1194 01:05:27,720 --> 01:05:31,280 Speaker 1: He's not consistent nobody is right like this. We found 1195 01:05:31,280 --> 01:05:36,120 Speaker 1: a point of inconsistency here. Sure now Peter's present political situation, 1196 01:05:36,320 --> 01:05:40,000 Speaker 1: I will say, when we're talking about his classmates talking 1197 01:05:40,040 --> 01:05:43,200 Speaker 1: about thirty years ago, you should always read any quote 1198 01:05:43,200 --> 01:05:45,680 Speaker 1: about someone like this with the perspective of like the 1199 01:05:45,720 --> 01:05:50,040 Speaker 1: fact that his modern day political stances might be deep, 1200 01:05:50,200 --> 01:05:53,880 Speaker 1: like post facto coloring people's recollections of him right as 1201 01:05:53,920 --> 01:05:57,000 Speaker 1: a kid, because nobody's memories are perfect. So I did 1202 01:05:57,000 --> 01:05:59,600 Speaker 1: go looking for other accounts of the man at Stanford, 1203 01:05:59,640 --> 01:06:01,840 Speaker 1: and I found a few from former classmates of his 1204 01:06:01,960 --> 01:06:06,120 Speaker 1: on Quora. In one post, Chris Gray recalled he was 1205 01:06:06,240 --> 01:06:09,320 Speaker 1: very interested in constitutional law and wanted to clerk at 1206 01:06:09,360 --> 01:06:12,440 Speaker 1: the Supreme Court. He was serious about religion. He went 1207 01:06:12,480 --> 01:06:15,120 Speaker 1: to the gym frequently to work out. Peter was always 1208 01:06:15,160 --> 01:06:17,280 Speaker 1: what I would describe as thoughtful and civil in his 1209 01:06:17,360 --> 01:06:20,600 Speaker 1: dealings with people, which is unusual in my experience. He 1210 01:06:20,640 --> 01:06:23,320 Speaker 1: had a stubborn side and did not typically change his 1211 01:06:23,400 --> 01:06:27,240 Speaker 1: mind about things. And you know, maybe he was more 1212 01:06:27,240 --> 01:06:29,800 Speaker 1: friendly to this guy because this guy was more sympatico 1213 01:06:29,880 --> 01:06:31,680 Speaker 1: to his beliefs. But a lot of that seems like 1214 01:06:31,720 --> 01:06:35,640 Speaker 1: pretty consistent with other stories you get about Peter. Chris 1215 01:06:35,680 --> 01:06:38,880 Speaker 1: also recalled that Peter was very interested in another thinker, 1216 01:06:39,160 --> 01:06:42,600 Speaker 1: Leo Strauss. I recall the most interesting thing Peter said 1217 01:06:42,680 --> 01:06:45,240 Speaker 1: was derived from his understanding of Strauss, which was that 1218 01:06:45,280 --> 01:06:50,720 Speaker 1: there are not really any facts, just values. Another classmate, 1219 01:06:50,880 --> 01:06:55,160 Speaker 1: Lance Lance Ishimoto, recalls Peter as an outspoken conservative who 1220 01:06:55,200 --> 01:06:57,640 Speaker 1: was a part of the Federalist Society and hung out 1221 01:06:57,640 --> 01:07:01,560 Speaker 1: with Greg Kennedy Justice Kennedy. He went on to note 1222 01:07:01,720 --> 01:07:04,360 Speaker 1: his entrepreneurial nature was also apparent from the way he 1223 01:07:04,400 --> 01:07:06,560 Speaker 1: and a friend decided to make their own version of 1224 01:07:06,600 --> 01:07:09,760 Speaker 1: Stanford Laws sweatshirts and sell them at a price forty 1225 01:07:09,800 --> 01:07:11,920 Speaker 1: dollars that was cheaper than the official ones at the 1226 01:07:11,920 --> 01:07:16,360 Speaker 1: bookstore seventy five dollars. Yeah, so there you go. Peter 1227 01:07:16,520 --> 01:07:19,120 Speaker 1: got his BA in nineteen eighty nine and then got 1228 01:07:19,120 --> 01:07:21,760 Speaker 1: his law degree from Stanford Law. Now that's quite a 1229 01:07:21,760 --> 01:07:23,800 Speaker 1: lot of schooling for a guy that, as an adult 1230 01:07:23,840 --> 01:07:27,240 Speaker 1: would declare his own personal war on the higher education system. 1231 01:07:27,600 --> 01:07:30,200 Speaker 1: From Chaefkin and others. It certainly sounds as if some 1232 01:07:30,280 --> 01:07:33,560 Speaker 1: of this was related to his annoyance with liberal classmates, 1233 01:07:34,120 --> 01:07:36,880 Speaker 1: but I wonder if a larger reason wasn't the disillusionment 1234 01:07:36,960 --> 01:07:39,480 Speaker 1: he felt later because of his law career, which is 1235 01:07:39,520 --> 01:07:43,040 Speaker 1: a spoiler, doesn't work out the way he'd hoped. As 1236 01:07:43,120 --> 01:07:46,360 Speaker 1: Chris recalled, Peter was obsessed in this period as he's 1237 01:07:46,400 --> 01:07:48,720 Speaker 1: getting out of college, as he's finishing his law degree. 1238 01:07:49,080 --> 01:07:51,000 Speaker 1: The thing that he wants for his life is not 1239 01:07:51,040 --> 01:07:53,800 Speaker 1: to be an entrepreneur or a founder. It is to 1240 01:07:54,000 --> 01:07:56,800 Speaker 1: clerk for the Supreme Court. And one kind of assumes 1241 01:07:56,800 --> 01:07:59,720 Speaker 1: he's maybe hoping to eventually get on the Supreme Court. 1242 01:08:00,160 --> 01:08:03,440 Speaker 1: George Packer, writing for The New Yorkers states quote, after 1243 01:08:03,520 --> 01:08:06,680 Speaker 1: graduating from law school and clerking for a federal judge, 1244 01:08:06,760 --> 01:08:09,720 Speaker 1: he was turned down for a Supreme Court clerkship by 1245 01:08:09,880 --> 01:08:15,440 Speaker 1: Justices Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy. And if we're looking 1246 01:08:15,440 --> 01:08:19,320 Speaker 1: for like the inciting institute incident, of like Peter's turn 1247 01:08:19,479 --> 01:08:23,160 Speaker 1: towards evil, for like his desire to destroy higher education, 1248 01:08:23,640 --> 01:08:26,080 Speaker 1: what makes him choose the path of becoming like a 1249 01:08:26,120 --> 01:08:30,240 Speaker 1: corporate founder a venture capitalist? This is why, right his 1250 01:08:30,400 --> 01:08:33,920 Speaker 1: first choice is he wants to be in working in 1251 01:08:34,040 --> 01:08:37,120 Speaker 1: and around and with the Supreme Court, and he gets 1252 01:08:37,120 --> 01:08:40,439 Speaker 1: shot down. He's not this guy who has always been 1253 01:08:40,439 --> 01:08:44,320 Speaker 1: the best at everything, isn't good enough for Scalia or Kennedy, right, 1254 01:08:44,720 --> 01:08:47,240 Speaker 1: and that that's kind of what sets him on the 1255 01:08:47,280 --> 01:08:49,559 Speaker 1: path that he's going to go down later, at least 1256 01:08:49,560 --> 01:08:51,800 Speaker 1: according to a lot of people who knew him at 1257 01:08:51,800 --> 01:08:52,519 Speaker 1: this point in time. 1258 01:08:54,120 --> 01:09:01,360 Speaker 2: Wow, like the font of Skalia of so much not good, 1259 01:09:02,280 --> 01:09:06,000 Speaker 2: does one good thing and it backfires utterly and completely 1260 01:09:06,320 --> 01:09:07,280 Speaker 2: and fucks us all. 1261 01:09:08,120 --> 01:09:10,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, And I wonder if it's just that they can 1262 01:09:10,120 --> 01:09:13,080 Speaker 1: see the because like, even if you're Scalia, right, you 1263 01:09:13,120 --> 01:09:16,800 Speaker 1: don't really want to work every day with a reflexive 1264 01:09:16,880 --> 01:09:20,679 Speaker 1: contrarian right, Like they're not. That's not a guy who's 1265 01:09:20,720 --> 01:09:22,920 Speaker 1: always whose whole thing is always I have to be 1266 01:09:22,960 --> 01:09:25,160 Speaker 1: doing a different thing than everyone else, Like I have 1267 01:09:25,280 --> 01:09:28,479 Speaker 1: to be smarter than everyone else, everyone else who has 1268 01:09:28,520 --> 01:09:30,120 Speaker 1: to be wrong and I have to be right. You 1269 01:09:30,120 --> 01:09:33,840 Speaker 1: don't want to work with that guy, like that guy sucks. 1270 01:09:33,920 --> 01:09:36,120 Speaker 2: Or maybe because his work wasn't good enough, yeah, or. 1271 01:09:36,120 --> 01:09:38,479 Speaker 1: Maybe maybe maybe his lost shit wasn't good enough, right, 1272 01:09:38,520 --> 01:09:40,920 Speaker 1: Like I don't know. I'm not a lawyer. I don't 1273 01:09:40,920 --> 01:09:44,040 Speaker 1: have the ability to judge Peter Thiel's like writing on law. 1274 01:09:45,360 --> 01:09:49,519 Speaker 1: But whatever the case, he because he's the valictorian of 1275 01:09:49,560 --> 01:09:52,040 Speaker 1: his high school, he does very well at Stanford, He's 1276 01:09:52,080 --> 01:09:56,360 Speaker 1: friends with Kennedy's kid, he's he's he's doing everything he 1277 01:09:56,520 --> 01:10:01,200 Speaker 1: should be doing to make this work. Just doesn't work 1278 01:10:01,240 --> 01:10:03,400 Speaker 1: for him, right, and that does seem to be like 1279 01:10:04,120 --> 01:10:06,840 Speaker 1: the thing that fucks him up anyway, Noah, how are 1280 01:10:06,840 --> 01:10:08,080 Speaker 1: you feeling about Peter so far? 1281 01:10:08,680 --> 01:10:11,479 Speaker 2: I feel like right now, were it kind of like 1282 01:10:13,760 --> 01:10:20,519 Speaker 2: only somewhat harmful toxic nerd stage, and if the story 1283 01:10:20,600 --> 01:10:24,639 Speaker 2: ended there would be like, Okay, fine, you know, go ahead, buddy, 1284 01:10:24,680 --> 01:10:27,080 Speaker 2: Now you get to grow up and live life. 1285 01:10:27,200 --> 01:10:28,719 Speaker 1: I feel like you'd be a person. Yeah. 1286 01:10:28,800 --> 01:10:32,439 Speaker 2: Yeah, Like I feel like there's still like, you know, 1287 01:10:32,479 --> 01:10:35,519 Speaker 2: the fate is not set at this point. 1288 01:10:35,120 --> 01:10:38,280 Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, I would say the fate is not set. 1289 01:10:38,280 --> 01:10:40,719 Speaker 1: There's there's a lot of ways that this guy could 1290 01:10:40,760 --> 01:10:45,240 Speaker 1: go after this. But I also feel like you can 1291 01:10:45,280 --> 01:10:48,200 Speaker 1: tell that a guy who runs that kind of newspaper 1292 01:10:48,240 --> 01:10:50,639 Speaker 1: and whose goal is to work for Scalia or Kennedy 1293 01:10:51,040 --> 01:10:53,840 Speaker 1: probably isn't gonna wind up being like a guy you'd 1294 01:10:53,840 --> 01:10:58,639 Speaker 1: want to have dinner with, you know, Like, no, this. 1295 01:10:58,720 --> 01:11:02,320 Speaker 2: Isn't behind the Yeah, guys, you don't want to have 1296 01:11:02,400 --> 01:11:03,080 Speaker 2: dinner with. 1297 01:11:03,200 --> 01:11:05,960 Speaker 1: No, no, no, we're not guaranteed he's going to become 1298 01:11:06,000 --> 01:11:09,519 Speaker 1: a bastard yet, So we'll be hitting that increasingly by 1299 01:11:09,600 --> 01:11:12,360 Speaker 1: part two. And I'm excited for you to see where 1300 01:11:12,400 --> 01:11:16,160 Speaker 1: Peter goes after this. Noah, where are you going to 1301 01:11:16,200 --> 01:11:16,800 Speaker 1: go after this? 1302 01:11:18,240 --> 01:11:18,960 Speaker 4: Uh? 1303 01:11:19,120 --> 01:11:22,920 Speaker 2: I feel like I'm going to have like several shots 1304 01:11:22,920 --> 01:11:26,160 Speaker 2: of whiskey. Yeah, after this, I feel like I need it. 1305 01:11:26,320 --> 01:11:29,600 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's one pm, so that's the right time. Or 1306 01:11:29,600 --> 01:11:31,479 Speaker 1: a nice, nice stiff drink. 1307 01:11:32,640 --> 01:11:35,719 Speaker 2: Four o'clock over here, man, Yeah. 1308 01:11:35,560 --> 01:11:37,920 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's four o'clock somewhere. That's why I can 1309 01:11:38,000 --> 01:11:41,320 Speaker 1: start drinking. All right, Well, I'm going to go listen 1310 01:11:41,360 --> 01:11:43,880 Speaker 1: to some Jimmy Buffett. You call also go listen to 1311 01:11:43,920 --> 01:11:46,080 Speaker 1: some Jimmy Buffett and then come back on Thursday. 1312 01:11:46,640 --> 01:11:49,120 Speaker 2: We need six drinks Jimmy Buffett. 1313 01:11:53,680 --> 01:11:56,600 Speaker 4: Behind the Bastards is a production of Cool Zone Media. 1314 01:11:56,720 --> 01:11:59,320 Speaker 4: For more from cool Zone Media, visit our website cool 1315 01:11:59,400 --> 01:12:03,360 Speaker 4: Zone Media, or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, 1316 01:12:03,439 --> 01:12:05,920 Speaker 4: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 1317 01:12:06,200 --> 01:12:09,600 Speaker 3: Behind the Bastards is now available on YouTube, new episodes 1318 01:12:09,880 --> 01:12:13,519 Speaker 3: every Wednesday and Friday. Subscribe to our channel YouTube dot 1319 01:12:13,560 --> 01:12:16,160 Speaker 3: com slash at Behind the Bastards