WEBVTT - It Could Happen Here Weekly 103 0:00:01.800 --> 0:00:05.600 As media. Hey everybody, Robert Evans here, and I wanted 0:00:05.600 --> 0:00:08.639 to let you know this is a compilation episode. So 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:12.080 every episode of the week that just happened is here 0:00:12.200 --> 0:00:16.160 in one convenient and with somewhat less ads package for 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:18.320 you to listen to in a long stretch if you want. 0:00:18.800 --> 0:00:20.840 If you've been listening to the episodes every day this week, 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:22.639 there's going to be nothing new here for you, but 0:00:23.000 --> 0:00:31.760 you can make your own decisions. Ah, welcome back to behind. 0:00:32.040 --> 0:00:34.040 Wait no, sorry, it could happen here. 0:00:34.240 --> 0:00:34.479 You know. 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:38.639 We'll keep that in so that our audience, who I 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:42.720 know is deeply tied to the myth of my own perfection, 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:49.440 knows that I too, air speaking of perfect creatures who 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:54.360 have never made a mistake. Our guest today is Dan Olsen. Hello, welcome, 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:55.120 Hi Dan. 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:55.840 How you doing. 0:00:56.560 --> 0:01:01.120 I'm doing well, not making mistakes exactly exactly. You are 0:01:01.200 --> 0:01:03.360 the Buddha I met on the road, and I'm going 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:06.200 to say hello, teach me how to be flawless. 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:07.840 Right? 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:09.959 So, first, have you heard of gold? 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:10.440 Yes? 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:13.520 Yes, I was about to talk about gold. The perfect 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:18.840 investment Dan, perfect investment vehicle never fails. So Dan, you 0:01:18.959 --> 0:01:23.800 are a YouTuber, an investigator, one of my favorite researchers. 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:26.840 We had you on recently to talk well a couple 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:30.440 of months ago, I donuple time, Flat Circle etcheda, but 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:33.400 we had you wanted to talk about your work reporting 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:40.840 on the NFT bubble bursting and on the metaverse bubble bursting, 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:44.440 and more recently, you just published a two and a 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:48.320 half hour documentary investigation into. 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:51.040 The game Stop stock cult. 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:53.440 Which is a lot of people are aware of the 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:55.560 first part of this, which is that in January twenty 0:01:55.560 --> 0:01:59.840 twenty one, a bunch of folks started like buying you 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:03.960 via some weird Reddit movement, started buying huge amounts of 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:08.679 game Stop stock, which, in a period of pretty exaggerated decline, 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:13.600 caused it to briefly surge in value to absurd levels. 0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:15.799 And I think that's where most. 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:18.880 People kind of and then, you know, eventually it fell apart, 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:20.480 and I think that's where most people kind of stopped 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:21.040 paying attention. 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:24.480 Yeah, they they remember that week where it was like 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:26.800 in the news, and then they just kind of assumed 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:28.040 like that was it. 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:29.000 Yeah. 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:33.080 So yeah, it's it's been a It's an interesting and 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:38.680 weird ride because the evolution into like cult like behavior was. 0:02:41.240 --> 0:02:42.800 It was a very strange journey. 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:49.640 It happened surprisingly rapidly, but also not that surprisingly, Like 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:53.080 once you fully unpack it, you know you have this 0:02:53.240 --> 0:02:58.320 Internet movement that is very nebulous in its origins or 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:01.120 not in its origin. Sorry, the orders are very straightforward, 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:05.639 like Wall Street Bets is a gambling sub that had 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:10.000 like it self describes as if four Chan found a 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:15.959 Bloomberg terminal, so sure you know it's it's crass, it's 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:20.880 irony poisoned. You can get just as much social clout 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:26.400 for losing thousands of dollars as you can for winning 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:30.240 thousands of dollars. In fact, there's an argument that there's 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:33.680 more clout for lost porn than there is for like 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:40.520 actually posting big gains obviously, like not like the healthiest 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:45.680 or most wholesome community you could you could imagine, but 0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:52.800 you know, out of that plus COVID madness, plus stimulus 0:03:52.920 --> 0:04:02.120 checks and just general nihilism arose this kind of Frankenstein 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:10.600 short squeeze play on game Stop that weirdly never actually happened, 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:14.400 because the play just sort of turned into its own 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:18.720 self fulfilling thing that enough people believed in the idea 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:23.799 of this short squeeze play that they just kept piling 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:26.599 in and piling in, and suddenly like the short squeeze 0:04:26.600 --> 0:04:30.440 doesn't actually matter at all because there's enough critical mass 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:33.680 flooding in that you just get this massive pump anyway, 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:36.800 which convinces people that, oh, the squeeze is going on, 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:39.560 because in the moment you don't actually know like what 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:43.200 mechanisms are driving the price movement. You just see number 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:46.800 going up, and so more people kept piling in, piling in, 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:49.720 piling in. I got a phone call from, you know, 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:51.919 from a friend of mine who's like, hey, have you 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:54.200 heard about the GameStop stuff? And I'm like, yes, I 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:56.040 heard about it two days ago, So if you heard 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:59.080 about it today, it's it's way too late. 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:01.679 Do not over. It's over. 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:04.880 And sure enough, like I went back and reviewed our 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:07.000 text messages and like, and if he had bought, he 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:09.000 would have been a just massive bag holder. 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:10.680 Like it it plummeted, you. 0:05:10.600 --> 0:05:13.360 Know, hours later, and like for people who are not 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:17.440 finance people, which I certainly am not, this is like 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:20.600 if you watched The Big Short, Uh, that's kind of 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:22.719 the tax I mean number one. That movie is seen 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:25.000 as a blueprint by a lot of these guys. Obviously 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:29.640 there's folks, knowledgeable financial folks who have critiques of that movie, 0:05:29.680 --> 0:05:32.760 but it is it is accepted as like almost kind 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:36.000 of like a sacred text within the Game Stop Stop 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:36.799 Yeah community. 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:41.320 And it's weird because like they're the game Stop enemy, 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:44.240 the the the ape. 0:05:44.360 --> 0:05:46.520 Okay, well I'll just use their lexicon. We'll go over 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:47.120 real quick. 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:50.240 They call themselves apes for reasons that are not worth explaining. 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:58.520 Their enemy are short sellers. But short sellers are like 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:04.520 Doc Bury short sold the housing market. And Bury is 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:07.240 that's Christian Bales character, right, Christian Bales character. 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:08.960 Yeah, yeah, yeah, Like. 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:13.279 All of the main characters in that movie short sold 0:06:13.320 --> 0:06:14.159 the housing market. 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:14.760 Like that. 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:17.360 That was their play. That was the big short was. 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:19.840 They're like, look, there's this bubble, we're going to short 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:26.279 sell it. Then when the price goes down, we close 0:06:26.320 --> 0:06:30.440 our positions out and keep a tremendous amount of money. 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:33.000 And I should we should go just because when I 0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:35.919 watched this with a friend, they did not know what 0:06:36.040 --> 0:06:39.800 short selling was. It's not I think normal, it's not 0:06:39.839 --> 0:06:41.320 a thing normal people will. 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:42.159 Ever be in a position to do. 0:06:42.560 --> 0:06:44.839 The basic idea and this is all occurring with like 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:47.640 stocks and commodities, but the basic idea is you make 0:06:47.680 --> 0:06:52.000 an agreement with somebody to get basically a loan of 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:56.039 a bunch of shares in something, right, and with the 0:06:56.120 --> 0:06:59.640 understanding that you will give those back at a point 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:02.000 in the future. And then you take those and you 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:05.680 immediately sell them for their their present value, right, and 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:10.360 your hope, your like play it like goal is that 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:13.880 the value of that drops and then you are able 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:16.600 to buy back an equivalent amount to repay the loan 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:19.080 and have made a profit based on the gap between 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:19.840 those two numbers. 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:21.160 Right, that's the idea. 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:24.440 That's that's the that's the idea. You you can, as 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:26.160 an individual like do this. 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:27.360 You can. 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:29.840 You can take out a short position with your broker, 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:33.040 you can. You can do it through derivatives like puts. 0:07:33.960 --> 0:07:35.480 I wouldn't recommend it. 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:39.440 Yeah, it's it's not normal people's stock stuff. 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:42.560 Yeah, it's not normal people's stock stuff. Like you're there's 0:07:42.600 --> 0:07:45.800 nothing legally barring you from doing it. But it really 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:47.840 is kind of this like advanced play. You got to 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:51.120 know what's going on, especially because like a thing that 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:53.640 a lot of people in the description sort of skip over, 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:56.360 is it. Well, you're borrowing it, you know, you're borrowing 0:07:56.400 --> 0:07:59.200 a thing, and thus there's the expectation that you'll pay 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:05.000 some kind of like you know, borrowers fee akin to 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:07.480 a kin to interest on like the value of the 0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:12.520 thing that you've borrowed, but like it's it's not interest 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:15.440 on you know, like a housing loan where the interest 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:18.880 and like where your payments all are geared towards paying 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:20.800 off the loan. It's just kind of like, all right, 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:24.480 you owe me five bucks every single month forever as 0:08:24.520 --> 0:08:27.880 long as you're holding this. And so you know, if 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:30.320 you're not paying attention, like, you need to be very 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:34.360 actively managing these kinds of positions otherwise, like your borrowing 0:08:34.360 --> 0:08:36.600 fees will just eat up all of your profit. 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:40.400 Yeah, And it's the kind of thing where like today 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:43.120 most of those kind of kinds of trades aren't even 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:46.560 really made by people directly. They're made by massive banks 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:49.880 of computers and algorithms and shit kind of yeah. 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:51.160 Yeah, yeah. 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:54.120 Anyway, I think that's that's enough background back to the 0:08:54.240 --> 0:08:56.160 kind of cult aspect of it, which is I think 0:08:56.240 --> 0:08:59.760 much more relevant for what we're talking about here. One 0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:02.680 of the points you made early on that I found 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:06.160 really interesting is is that a significant amount of the 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:09.600 initial game stock game stops. I'm going to keep doing 0:09:09.640 --> 0:09:14.520 that hype was driven by influencers, right, and that there's 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:17.400 evidence based on kind of the US government's analysis of 0:09:17.440 --> 0:09:21.000 this that got published that like regulators are paying additional 0:09:21.040 --> 0:09:25.520 attention at increasing attention to the influences that that or 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:27.959 to the impact that influencers can have here, because there's 0:09:28.000 --> 0:09:31.040 this concern that, especially working in groups, there's like an 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:34.280 ability for people like this to disrupt the economy to 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:37.680 a significant extent a way that would affect like normal people. 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:41.319 Yeah, so one of the weird kind of so pump 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:45.560 and dumps have existed forever, right. The thing was is 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:48.360 that so the the memes stock run up, it wasn't 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:52.480 just GameStop. It was about like fifteen twenty, like in 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:55.520 January twenty twenty one, like so late twenty twenty, early 0:09:55.559 --> 0:09:59.520 twenty twenty one. It was about fifteen twenty different companies, 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:03.320 you know, Nokia, BlackBerry, bed Bath and Beyond, like you know, 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:07.119 just kind of a bunch of over the hill companies 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:09.800 that were all sort of part. 0:10:09.679 --> 0:10:11.679 Of this this wave. 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:17.600 And the issue was that in the game stop price 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:20.880 run up, So the price went from at the end 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:23.480 of twenty twenty as everybody like as sort of the 0:10:23.520 --> 0:10:30.000 meme wave like begins, and particularly once Ryan Cohen, billionaire Chewy. 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:33.760 Founder Chewy the Cat treat or dog. 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:35.160 Online dog food sales. Yeah. 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:37.840 Yeah, when he buys in like that kind of like 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:40.160 puts the stamp of approval on the whole thing. So 0:10:40.200 --> 0:10:43.120 it goes from like four and a half dollars up 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:47.360 to nineteen something, and then at the end of January 0:10:47.400 --> 0:10:50.880 it goes from nineteen twenty dollars up to four hundred 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:55.760 and eighty and so in that spread the short sales, 0:10:55.800 --> 0:10:59.320 so there was short interest in game Stop. There was, 0:10:59.320 --> 0:11:01.320 in fact a rec less amount of short interest in 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:05.440 game Stop, but the price increase was so huge, the 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:10.400 volume of participation was so big, so many people were 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:16.160 jumping on this that the short interest closing their position. 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:19.400 The actual like short squeeze portion of all of this 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:25.320 is only like ten percent of the price movement. All 0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:28.800 the rest of it is just people fomoing in on 0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:30.040 like this thing. 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:31.520 That they heard about through their cousin. 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:33.080 Yeah. 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:35.600 I think another thing that's kind of interesting to me 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:38.000 is like, as this thing has evolved, you know, you 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:40.240 mentioned that the actual price got up to like close 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:43.040 around five hundred dollars by the time this thing kind 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:47.240 of transitions into being this millenarian kind of apocalypse cult right, 0:11:47.360 --> 0:11:49.959 like not you know, nukes and stuff, end of days 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:53.720 apocalypse generally, but like a the entire economy is going 0:11:53.760 --> 0:11:56.880 to come The belief that kind of has evolved broadly 0:11:56.960 --> 0:11:59.560 and that obviously there's different kind of actions is but 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:02.320 is that like there is going to come a point where, 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:06.640 like the price of games stop stock will increase to 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:09.480 such an insane some people say hundreds of millions, billions 0:12:09.520 --> 0:12:13.800 of dollars per share that it effectively allows all of 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:16.720 these apes who have bought shares to hold the entire 0:12:16.800 --> 0:12:23.040 world economy hostage until they have their increasingly ourcane demands met, right, Yeah, 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:24.640 that is the belief, and that. 0:12:24.600 --> 0:12:25.160 Is the belief. 0:12:25.440 --> 0:12:27.920 So so out of that, like so okay, so the 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:30.400 short's closing was only like about ten percent of the 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:37.320 of the total movement. So that leads to the conclusion 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:42.079 that you know that the events of January twenty twenty 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:47.800 one weren't a short squeeze, which is actually kind of true, 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:50.200 Like it wasn't it wasn't purely a short squeeze. It 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:52.400 was actually very little of it was a short squeeze, 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:56.800 but because it wasn't a short squeeze like that term 0:12:57.120 --> 0:13:01.600 then allows the creative individual to fill in the gap 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:04.120 and just say that. It's like just say this like, oh, 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:10.720 the short squeeze never happened, Therefore it's still on the table, 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:14.960 the short like the the end. You know, it hasn't 0:13:15.000 --> 0:13:19.520 happened yet, therefore it can still potentially happen. And in fact, 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:22.400 if we just like look at the trend line, like 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:25.720 I bet since it hasn't happened, since it didn't happen, 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:29.000 and the position that they held in December was so reckless, 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:33.160 it's only gotten worse since, which means that they're getting 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:36.080 which means that these short sellers must be getting desperate, 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:38.360 which means they're going to be willing to engage in 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:44.440 whatever level of depraved criminal activity is necessary to protect themselves. Therefore, 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:48.240 it's just getting more and more and more and more extreme. Therefore, 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:51.160 when this finally goes off, it's not just going to 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:53.040 be like, it's not just going to be a five 0:13:53.120 --> 0:13:55.080 hundred dollars price point, it's going to be a nuclear 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:58.640 explosion that's going to topple the entire economy. Yeah, and 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:02.080 that's that's this like of logic and what they and 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:04.959 it all comes from that, just like missing the fact 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:08.000 that it's like, oh, it wasn't a short squeeze because 0:14:08.040 --> 0:14:10.600 it was mostly fomo. The short squeeze was buried under 0:14:10.640 --> 0:14:15.920 a mountain of fomo. Yeah, but so it wasn't a 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:17.840 short sc It's like, yeah, it's all just like based 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:19.920 in these like word games of like, ah, you said it, 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:22.840 you know that the dumb and dumber. You know, it's like, 0:14:22.840 --> 0:14:24.840 what are the odds a one in million? So you're 0:14:24.920 --> 0:14:27.120 saying there's a chance. It's like, well, yeah, that's not 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:28.240 what I'm saying. 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:32.880 It's interesting because of the impossibility of the things they're 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:36.160 actually hoping for, but also their fundamental belief that like 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:39.160 it's inevitable, in part because you know, this is this 0:14:39.280 --> 0:14:43.120 is not wildly different from the psychology of like needing 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:46.600 to believe in uh that you are going to paradise 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:47.200 in the after. 0:14:47.200 --> 0:14:49.720 Yeah, hallmarks of millennarians. Yeah, yeah. 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:53.320 Because of that, what you get is a lot of 0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:56.400 people who think that they are thinking scientifically, but what 0:14:56.400 --> 0:14:58.680 they're doing is taking an endpoint, and the endpoint is 0:14:58.720 --> 0:15:01.400 that you know this specific you know these hedge funds 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:06.000 or whatever are are evil and you know, illegally bribing 0:15:06.080 --> 0:15:09.080 or whatever the government to stop us from succeeding, or 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:12.640 there's this other conspiracy. You're starting with this endpoint and 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:15.840 then working backwards and like finding ways to explain the 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:18.960 things that have happened within that framework, like the. 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:21.320 Things that would need to be true in order for 0:15:21.400 --> 0:15:22.280 the yeah thing. 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:24.600 To happen, like the thing that like Citadel must have 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:27.840 ordered robin Hood to stop letting people buy and share 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:31.640 game stock stocks rather than like, you know what what 0:15:31.840 --> 0:15:35.640 actually happened, which is that robin Hood simply like could 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:39.760 not exist if they allowed this to continue. Yeah, and 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:42.400 you know legally, I don't believe there's anything that was 0:15:42.400 --> 0:15:47.880 stopping them from doing that. It's medieval peasant brain kind 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:49.840 of stuff, is what I initially like. That's how when 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:51.680 I was watching your documentary, I was like, Oh, it's 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:54.520 this you know, this need to find this kind of 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:57.400 like magical answer to the problem. And then I like 0:15:57.920 --> 0:16:01.240 interrogated that conclusion and was like, well, no, it's not. 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:03.600 This is just the way people's brains work, right, Yeah, 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:06.360 like we're pattern making. This isn't medieval pissant shit. They're 0:16:06.400 --> 0:16:10.200 no dumber than we are. Like, yeah, that's what this shows. 0:16:10.680 --> 0:16:10.920 Yeah. 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:12.520 And one of the things that I love just kind 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:14.440 of on that is that, like you if you had 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:16.560 a time machine and you went back one hundred thousand 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:21.320 years and and found a bunch of you know, homoliteral 0:16:21.400 --> 0:16:25.600 literal cavemen, yeah, actual apes more or less, you know, 0:16:26.000 --> 0:16:29.440 but like hundred thousand years ago, that's that's modern humans. Like, 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:33.480 you know, genetically, that's genetically modern humans. You could just 0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:37.119 like implant yourself in their tribe and teach them calculus 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:39.800 and you know, yeah. 0:16:39.600 --> 0:16:42.960 They would be short game stuff stuff that. It's like 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:45.040 like we're like, things don't change. 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:47.120 It's like he's like, yeah, no, we've been We've been 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:50.320 doing this ever since we were you know, this pattern 0:16:50.400 --> 0:16:54.080 seeking doesn't change. It's almost like it is basically endemic 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:59.680 to the human psyche. There's a really good question that 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:02.160 that I've gotten in response to this is just like 0:17:02.760 --> 0:17:06.400 is this just secular religion? Like is this just are 0:17:06.440 --> 0:17:12.440 we just like wired to need faith in some shape 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:16.840 or form and if that is not provided by some institution, 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:20.280 we will just invent it. And it's like I don't 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:23.359 have the answer to that, but sign's point to yes. 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:25.560 Yeah. 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:28.960 Now, so I wanted to talk a little bit about 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:30.760 one of the other things that you brought up that 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:34.480 I thought was interesting is the way you've got this 0:17:34.480 --> 0:17:38.640 this cast of and these are you know, the influencers. 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:40.680 These are the people who make a lot of these 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:44.440 like arcane videos or put out these publish these prospectuses 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:48.280 with dozens or hundreds of pages laying out you know, 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:53.320 the arcana of how these different sort of anticipated apocalyptic 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:57.560 financial moves are going to go out, right, Yeah, a 0:17:57.600 --> 0:18:00.520 lot of these people. The belief is that that I 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:02.320 think is accurate at least this is what I got 0:18:02.320 --> 0:18:04.440 from your documentary. Maybe I was interpreting you wrong, is 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:07.040 that most of these or many of these people are 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:10.840 not believers. They're manipulating a group of people because there's 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:14.359 money in it. And one of the tactics that you 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:17.280 see used a lot is kind of faux humility. Right, 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:19.800 I'm just a dumb ape. You shouldn't trust me. I'm 0:18:19.840 --> 0:18:22.240 not qualified to give financial advice. But here's the secret 0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:24.240 history of the universe to invest your money here. 0:18:24.280 --> 0:18:28.080 Now, So, I mean, you've seen this a lot with 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:31.320 with various like cult leaders and pseudo cult leaders and 0:18:31.400 --> 0:18:34.679 just general like grift fluencers. You know, there's always this 0:18:34.800 --> 0:18:38.360 question of like how much of their own how much 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:40.680 of their own hype do they believe? How much did 0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:43.959 they believe when they started, how much did they eventually 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:48.800 just like convince themselves of as people you know, follow them, 0:18:48.800 --> 0:18:51.320 and I think it's it's very much like kind of 0:18:51.400 --> 0:18:54.840 a an individual case by case basis. Some of them 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:58.840 are absolutely true believers, like from the get go. Some 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:02.480 of them, like a lot of them, are like soft believers, 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:07.719 you know, you know where it's like they're not hardcore 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:10.600 into it, you know, if you really pressed them, Like 0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:14.840 it's not motivating their their daily decisions. But what they're 0:19:14.880 --> 0:19:18.560 taking from it is like social reinforcement. That they've found 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:22.159 a group of people who respond to them, who like 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:25.359 their posts, who leave messages. It's like, oh man, this 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:28.479 blew my mind. I can't believe the system is like 0:19:28.560 --> 0:19:33.840 this fragile. You know, my tits are jacked, lighting the 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:36.920 fuse on the rocket ship, buying more moon tickets, you know, 0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:40.840 and they and they respond to that very socially, and 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:43.679 and and out of that sort of soup of like 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:50.760 reinforcing messages, it's really easy for people in those influencer 0:19:50.800 --> 0:19:55.879 positions to just kind of like hold conflicting like hold 0:19:55.880 --> 0:19:59.440 the conflicting beliefs of like, I know that this is impossible, 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:03.560 but also so it is like fulfilling me socially to 0:20:03.960 --> 0:20:08.159 say these things. I'll just I'll just juggle that inconsistency. 0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:09.480 Yeah. 0:20:09.880 --> 0:20:13.360 And the way the mechanics of social media, and particularly 0:20:13.359 --> 0:20:15.480 in this case, it's the mechanics largely of Reddit. That's 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:17.760 not the only place this occurs, but Reddit is certainly 0:20:17.880 --> 0:20:22.160 like the homeland. You could say, the way in which 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:23.879 up votes and down votes work, and the way in 0:20:23.920 --> 0:20:27.760 which upvotes and down votes take you know, critical content 0:20:27.880 --> 0:20:31.320 people who are trying to induce some accuracy or you 0:20:31.400 --> 0:20:34.239 might even say sanity in the discussion, and that that 0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:37.960 gets pushed down and hidden after a certain point of 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:40.959 time with enough down votes, as opposed to like the 0:20:41.000 --> 0:20:46.160 stuff that is fundamentally unhinged but is like utopian gets 0:20:46.240 --> 0:20:49.679 up voted. It's it's the the physical, like the actual 0:20:49.680 --> 0:20:52.880 mechanics of how the site is structured to work enforce 0:20:53.000 --> 0:20:55.880 fund at a fundamental level, enforced group think consensus. 0:20:56.080 --> 0:20:57.040 Absolutely. 0:20:57.160 --> 0:20:59.000 Oh, and I mean in the best part about it. 0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:02.840 And we see this like all across Reddit communities. Which 0:21:02.880 --> 0:21:05.800 is this like it is it? It's the social enforcement 0:21:05.800 --> 0:21:09.680 of truth, that that people will take this social mechanism 0:21:09.680 --> 0:21:13.240 of up votes and down votes and use it as 0:21:13.640 --> 0:21:16.800 proof against the claim that it's like, oh, well if 0:21:17.080 --> 0:21:21.840 if your negative sentiment were true, it would have been 0:21:21.920 --> 0:21:25.840 up voted. Yeah, because like there's this underline, there's this 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:30.800 kind of just like implicit belief that people will recognize 0:21:30.960 --> 0:21:35.000 truth and will upvote truth, and thus up votes and 0:21:35.080 --> 0:21:40.879 down votes are are an accurate filter on reality, which 0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:43.480 is demonstrably not true. 0:21:43.920 --> 0:21:44.120 Yeah. 0:21:44.520 --> 0:21:47.440 So yeah, that's intensely at play here because you'll see 0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:49.919 apes who will then like reference the fact that like 0:21:50.720 --> 0:21:54.919 that you know that it's like if this insane theory 0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:59.119 were false, why did it get so many up votes? 0:22:00.119 --> 0:22:04.520 Well? Because it it hypes you up. It makes you 0:22:06.280 --> 0:22:07.200 people are irrational. 0:22:07.280 --> 0:22:09.440 You got a tingle feeling in your tummy when you 0:22:09.560 --> 0:22:11.680 read it and the person told you that you were 0:22:11.680 --> 0:22:12.760 going to be a millionaire. 0:22:13.240 --> 0:22:14.800 Yeah, that's why. 0:22:14.440 --> 0:22:18.800 It's like asking why do we like magicians? Of course 0:22:18.840 --> 0:22:21.760 we like magicians. It's it looks nice, it's fun, it 0:22:21.800 --> 0:22:24.720 makes us feel a sense of wonder. Yeah, I want 0:22:24.720 --> 0:22:27.119 to discuss one of the terms that you use a 0:22:27.160 --> 0:22:29.160 lot that I missed the first couple of time because 0:22:29.160 --> 0:22:29.320 I'm not. 0:22:29.440 --> 0:22:29.679 I'm not. 0:22:29.800 --> 0:22:31.640 This is not a community I had studied. I thought 0:22:31.680 --> 0:22:35.600 you misspoke at first when you described like someone reach 0:22:35.720 --> 0:22:39.159 achieving a financial wind fall as wife changing money. I 0:22:39.200 --> 0:22:40.680 just thought you, like, I do that all the time, 0:22:41.000 --> 0:22:41.840 show it's delivererate. 0:22:42.920 --> 0:22:44.399 Yes, yeah, no, No. 0:22:45.840 --> 0:22:48.000 I was like, okay, this is a thing they say. 0:22:48.240 --> 0:22:48.480 Yeah. 0:22:48.560 --> 0:22:50.360 A lot of people are like, I thought you misspoke. 0:22:50.400 --> 0:22:52.280 I'm like, no, that's because I was tricking you, Like 0:22:52.320 --> 0:22:55.160 I was. I was deliberately like very lighting in this term, 0:22:55.359 --> 0:22:57.919 like because like because they use it like obviously as 0:22:57.960 --> 0:23:00.920 a as an entendre yea, and I it's like, okay, 0:23:01.040 --> 0:23:03.919 like I'll just use it straight faced with no explanation 0:23:04.280 --> 0:23:07.159 three four times and then finally explain it at the 0:23:07.280 --> 0:23:11.440 end and make a lot of people angry when they 0:23:11.480 --> 0:23:14.159 realize that, like, no, they weren't just mishearing me. 0:23:15.720 --> 0:23:16.280 Yeah. 0:23:16.359 --> 0:23:17.879 So that's one of those things like that goes to 0:23:17.880 --> 0:23:20.760 sort of the four Chan roots of of all of this, 0:23:20.920 --> 0:23:24.600 which is, you know, the sort of like crass irreverence 0:23:24.760 --> 0:23:32.679 slash misogyny of of chan speak and just this you 0:23:32.720 --> 0:23:35.320 know Wall Street bets will use this kind of like 0:23:35.440 --> 0:23:39.960 celebration of making so much money that you can afford 0:23:40.000 --> 0:23:46.359 to be misogynistic and just like swap your wife. And 0:23:46.560 --> 0:23:50.000 it turns out that, like, as we know, you make 0:23:50.040 --> 0:23:52.760 a joke like that often enough, you're eventually going to 0:23:52.800 --> 0:23:55.400 attract the people who are just straight up like, yeah, 0:23:55.440 --> 0:23:56.240 I hate my wife. 0:23:56.560 --> 0:24:00.200 Yeah I want to be able to replace her, Yeah, 0:24:00.720 --> 0:24:05.000 using my using my crypto or my yeah whatever, my 0:24:05.320 --> 0:24:09.240 game stock Stop, god gains. I was wondering if you 0:24:09.320 --> 0:24:11.359 might lay out one of the things, the parts that 0:24:11.440 --> 0:24:13.359 was most interested in me was the whole Teddy Day, 0:24:13.720 --> 0:24:17.280 Teddy Day, Oh boy, Teddy d Yeah. Can you explain 0:24:17.400 --> 0:24:18.879 Teddy Day to our listeners? 0:24:19.440 --> 0:24:25.200 Okay, So Ryan Cohen, who fancies himself an activist investor, 0:24:25.320 --> 0:24:31.520 he buys into game Stop and gets a minority, pretty 0:24:31.520 --> 0:24:34.399 substantial holdings that count as like a minority thing. You 0:24:34.440 --> 0:24:36.560 need to file a bunch of paperwork with the sec 0:24:36.680 --> 0:24:38.720 that say, like you know, it's like I hold greater 0:24:38.800 --> 0:24:43.400 than ten percent of this company. And he used that 0:24:43.480 --> 0:24:47.239 position to basically get power inside the company itself as 0:24:47.359 --> 0:24:49.680 chairman as of a couple of weeks ago. 0:24:49.800 --> 0:24:50.720 He's now CEO. 0:24:51.520 --> 0:24:55.120 So so Ryan Cohen gets heavily involved with with Game 0:24:55.200 --> 0:24:57.720 Stop and he's like, I'm gonna turn this around because 0:24:57.760 --> 0:25:01.720 his real angs, what seems to be his anxiety in 0:25:01.760 --> 0:25:03.880 life at the moment, is this like sense of legacy. 0:25:03.880 --> 0:25:05.320 He doesn't just want to be like like, oh, I 0:25:05.320 --> 0:25:08.480 got lucky with an online pet food sales thing. I'm 0:25:08.480 --> 0:25:11.480 a I'm a real I'm a big boy finance guy, 0:25:11.760 --> 0:25:15.440 you know, I save dying companies, real rich guy hobby. 0:25:16.480 --> 0:25:20.840 He puts out a series of children's books called Teddy, 0:25:20.920 --> 0:25:21.800 named after. 0:25:21.680 --> 0:25:22.440 His late father. 0:25:23.160 --> 0:25:23.440 Uh. 0:25:23.440 --> 0:25:28.639 And these are it's it's five books that have a 0:25:28.720 --> 0:25:31.360 target audience of two year olds. 0:25:32.040 --> 0:25:35.840 That because you know, when when you're rich and you 0:25:35.880 --> 0:25:37.960 want to do something like that, you want to vanity 0:25:37.960 --> 0:25:41.160 published books. You don't just like go to an off 0:25:41.200 --> 0:25:45.200 the shelf vanity publisher. You make your own vanity publisher 0:25:45.200 --> 0:25:47.359 because in the scheme of things like that's just not 0:25:47.520 --> 0:25:48.320 that expensive. 0:25:48.640 --> 0:25:52.240 So Amazon has made it easier than ever, easier than ever. 0:25:52.480 --> 0:25:56.400 So he found this LLC, you know, air Quote Founds 0:25:56.560 --> 0:25:59.720 pays the like six hundred bucks in filing fees to 0:25:59.760 --> 0:26:05.639 create this LLC. Teddy Publishing files a whole bunch of trademarks. 0:26:05.680 --> 0:26:08.160 You know, we're talking like a few thousand dollars all 0:26:08.200 --> 0:26:10.320 in all in order to file, like in order to 0:26:10.320 --> 0:26:12.680 just file a bunch of paperwork. And this is all 0:26:12.760 --> 0:26:15.520 just like the scattershot stuff of like, Okay, we're making 0:26:15.560 --> 0:26:19.000 a product aimed at children, let's file the trademark for 0:26:19.119 --> 0:26:22.719 Teddy very broadly, and so it's going to cover like 0:26:23.480 --> 0:26:27.640 basically children's merchandise across the board. You know, what if 0:26:27.680 --> 0:26:29.400 we want to put what if we want to put 0:26:29.400 --> 0:26:34.639 the characters on blankets or bottles or cups or plates 0:26:34.880 --> 0:26:39.280 or party supplies or whatever. So these trademarks are just 0:26:39.359 --> 0:26:45.919 incredibly wide ranging across just merch Yeah. But the existence 0:26:45.960 --> 0:26:51.479 of these trademark applications and this LLC becomes the seed 0:26:52.200 --> 0:27:01.040 for Teddy the company. As this like the mechanism through 0:27:01.080 --> 0:27:05.720 which Ryan Cohen is going to collaborate with Apes in 0:27:05.960 --> 0:27:11.320 order to trigger MOASS. Because I guess this is the 0:27:11.359 --> 0:27:14.520 important thing about the mythology. Apes believe Ryan Cohen is 0:27:14.520 --> 0:27:18.480 on their side, that he is, he is their inside man, 0:27:18.800 --> 0:27:21.440 he is working with them. He is as frustrated as 0:27:21.520 --> 0:27:25.199 they are that this hasn't happened yet. But for like 0:27:26.320 --> 0:27:29.760 arcane legal reasons. He needs to like he needs to 0:27:29.840 --> 0:27:33.240 operate like a like a clockmaker, you know, he has 0:27:33.280 --> 0:27:37.600 to do everything very delicately and indirectly, and like his 0:27:37.760 --> 0:27:42.680 hand cannot be seen pushing on the scales. So they 0:27:42.720 --> 0:27:44.840 think that it's like that this becomes the thing that 0:27:44.880 --> 0:27:49.760 they view all of their all of their hopes and 0:27:49.840 --> 0:27:52.879 dreams into his Teddy llc that it's like, this is 0:27:52.880 --> 0:27:54.960 the thing that he's going to use as the mechanism 0:27:55.000 --> 0:27:58.960 to do this. He's going to like buy game Stop 0:27:59.240 --> 0:28:02.919 via Teddy. He's gonna buy maybe some other company via Teddy. 0:28:03.000 --> 0:28:06.720 Teddy's going to get bought in to, like is gonna 0:28:06.720 --> 0:28:09.520 get bought by game Stop, like one way or another. 0:28:10.680 --> 0:28:15.680 There were like hundreds of competing theories all rooted in 0:28:15.680 --> 0:28:16.080 in this. 0:28:16.200 --> 0:28:17.920 But then back in. 0:28:19.400 --> 0:28:27.080 January of this year, a insanity starts in two So 0:28:27.280 --> 0:28:31.800 in both GameStop forums and bed Bath and Beyond forums, 0:28:31.840 --> 0:28:35.199 the two meme stocks that are linked by Ryan Cohen, 0:28:37.200 --> 0:28:43.320 they they create this idea called Teddy Day, which is 0:28:43.400 --> 0:28:47.440 a combination of a bunch of things. So Ryan Cohen 0:28:48.040 --> 0:28:58.640 tweeted several Titanic references. James Cameron's Titanic was being re 0:28:58.640 --> 0:29:03.720 released this past February on a day that aligned with 0:29:04.480 --> 0:29:10.959 National Teddy Bear Day, and so two different communities of apes, 0:29:11.040 --> 0:29:17.440 for completely separate reasons, latched onto this idea of Teddy Day. 0:29:18.200 --> 0:29:23.920 It was Friday, February tenth, twenty twenty three. 0:29:24.400 --> 0:29:25.760 They latched onto it. 0:29:25.680 --> 0:29:29.080 As just this that like, this is the day, this 0:29:29.160 --> 0:29:31.320 is when it's all going to come together, this is 0:29:31.360 --> 0:29:34.400 when he's going to make his big move. And a 0:29:34.480 --> 0:29:39.200 major driving piece of evidence that they had for Teddy 0:29:39.280 --> 0:29:43.880 Day was that in one of the Teddy books, the 0:29:44.080 --> 0:29:48.240 kids learned to read a clock and the hands on 0:29:48.280 --> 0:29:53.960 the clock are pointed to ten and two. So Ryan 0:29:54.080 --> 0:29:59.320 Cohen left them clues in this children's book published six 0:29:59.400 --> 0:30:06.480 months early, warning them that that February tenth was going 0:30:06.560 --> 0:30:09.480 to be the day that it all went down. 0:30:10.120 --> 0:30:14.240 That was the day of the apocalypse. That was Teddy Day. 0:30:14.720 --> 0:30:20.280 And it got just like the the spread of this 0:30:20.320 --> 0:30:22.880 got just like absolutely unhinged on the forms, like it 0:30:23.000 --> 0:30:26.440 was all that super stunk and BBB why we're talking 0:30:26.480 --> 0:30:30.400 about For like a week and a half leading up 0:30:30.400 --> 0:30:32.520 to it, the hype was like unreal and then of 0:30:32.600 --> 0:30:33.640 course nothing happened. 0:30:34.880 --> 0:30:36.880 You you I don't know if you noticed this. 0:30:37.040 --> 0:30:41.360 But but the US economy did not collapse last February. 0:30:42.320 --> 0:30:43.040 Oh that's good. 0:30:43.120 --> 0:30:45.640 I had been I have been living like a postal 0:30:45.680 --> 0:30:49.200 apocalyptic warlord under the assumption that it had. But all, yeah, 0:30:49.240 --> 0:30:50.080 I'll pivot now. 0:30:50.640 --> 0:30:51.040 Yeah. 0:30:51.320 --> 0:30:54.000 So so it's just it's one of those like it's 0:30:54.040 --> 0:30:56.160 just such a great encapsulation of the fact that like 0:30:56.680 --> 0:31:00.720 that these communities, they will they will invent these these 0:31:01.240 --> 0:31:05.440 catalyst moments, convinced themselves that like, oh, here's a date 0:31:05.480 --> 0:31:08.480 that's upcoming, and then the moment that, like the great 0:31:08.480 --> 0:31:12.640 disappointment happens, some of them like bleed off, but for 0:31:12.680 --> 0:31:17.960 the most part, like it. Nothing can actually like stop 0:31:18.120 --> 0:31:21.480 the inertia. They can just discard it. And and they did. 0:31:21.560 --> 0:31:24.280 They you know, no one talks about Teddy Day anymore 0:31:24.480 --> 0:31:27.080 except for the fact that like it, it had a 0:31:27.080 --> 0:31:33.880 brief Teddy Day two point zero as October second was 0:31:34.000 --> 0:31:38.920 like upcoming, because you know, ah, maybe it wasn't the 0:31:38.920 --> 0:31:42.520 tenth of February, it was the second of October, you know. 0:31:42.640 --> 0:31:45.640 And and sure like I'm willing to bet that when 0:31:46.040 --> 0:31:49.360 next February rolls around, like we'll we'll get Teddy Day 0:31:49.360 --> 0:31:50.160 three point zero. 0:31:50.560 --> 0:31:53.280 Yeah, I'm sure it just keeps this. The same thing 0:31:53.320 --> 0:31:56.280 has happened with like different kind of Christian apocalypse cults, 0:31:56.360 --> 0:31:58.800 right where you'll have a guy pick a day, then 0:31:58.840 --> 0:32:02.400 the day comes and then there's always a reason. And fundamentally, 0:32:02.480 --> 0:32:06.360 because this becomes so much of someone's social life, because 0:32:06.400 --> 0:32:10.640 it becomes part of their emotional support network, because it's 0:32:10.880 --> 0:32:14.640 like fundamentally, you changes the way you talk, Like you 0:32:14.800 --> 0:32:17.200 learn so many new words that make it into your 0:32:17.200 --> 0:32:21.480 diction that like it's easier to just keep rolling the 0:32:22.120 --> 0:32:26.440 expected date ahead rather than like acknowledge that kind of 0:32:26.600 --> 0:32:29.960 fundamental hit to your self conception that admitting you got 0:32:30.040 --> 0:32:30.920 played would take. 0:32:31.280 --> 0:32:32.720 Yeah. 0:32:31.920 --> 0:32:37.600 Yeah, the guy who does so religion for breakfast, Yeah, 0:32:36.680 --> 0:32:39.200 he picked up on the fact that, like I was 0:32:39.280 --> 0:32:42.960 using phrases like a great disappointment in in the video, 0:32:43.080 --> 0:32:45.440 like very deliberately, because it's like it's the it's the 0:32:45.440 --> 0:32:48.360 same mechanism. So the great disappointment was like that's the 0:32:48.400 --> 0:32:51.640 event that caused the Seventh day Adventist to come into 0:32:51.720 --> 0:32:56.720 existence because it was like a expected date of the 0:32:56.720 --> 0:33:00.680 apocalypse of the Second Coming, Like yeah, didn't happen, and 0:33:01.000 --> 0:33:04.000 you end up with like this, then fragmentation of the aftermath, 0:33:04.040 --> 0:33:06.200 a bunch of people just bleed off. But you end 0:33:06.280 --> 0:33:09.120 up with like a couple different factions. Ones who are like, ah, well, 0:33:09.560 --> 0:33:12.920 the date was like the date wasn't wrong per se, 0:33:13.200 --> 0:33:15.440 or like the idea wasn't wrong, just like the date 0:33:15.600 --> 0:33:18.000 was wrong, like maybe it's off by one hundred. 0:33:17.760 --> 0:33:18.440 Years or whatever. 0:33:18.640 --> 0:33:20.520 And you get other people who are like, actually, it 0:33:20.640 --> 0:33:23.880 did happen. It just happened in secret, like obviously it 0:33:23.960 --> 0:33:27.920 wasn't going to just like happen in Times Square. It happened, 0:33:27.960 --> 0:33:32.240 like you know, the millennium is already kind of like 0:33:32.440 --> 0:33:37.440 rolling underneath normal like normal looking society. It's going on 0:33:37.600 --> 0:33:40.240 right now. It's just day to day life hasn't changed. 0:33:40.480 --> 0:33:42.960 And that's how you know it's happening is that nothing's changing. 0:33:43.400 --> 0:33:49.920 It's like okay, okay, cool, so completely unfalsifiable, rad awesome. 0:33:50.040 --> 0:33:52.080 Love that for you. Yeah. 0:33:52.360 --> 0:33:55.160 So, one of the things that kind of related to 0:33:55.200 --> 0:33:59.480 that I have been thinking about a lot lately is we've. 0:33:59.320 --> 0:34:00.160 Got this. 0:34:01.560 --> 0:34:04.000 The story that keeps, you know, popping into the news 0:34:04.040 --> 0:34:06.720 every couple of usually a couple of times a year, 0:34:06.800 --> 0:34:11.360 that what are called nons are are increasing as a 0:34:11.360 --> 0:34:14.759 percentage of the population every single year, which is like 0:34:14.800 --> 0:34:20.840 people who are not affiliated to any religion. And I've seen, 0:34:21.000 --> 0:34:24.680 especially a few years ago, you know, atheists that I 0:34:24.760 --> 0:34:27.799 knew who were kind of like more active and like 0:34:27.880 --> 0:34:33.080 atheism is a movement really celebrating this. I think that 0:34:33.960 --> 0:34:36.360 does Like the the assumption that that means that like 0:34:36.440 --> 0:34:40.239 atheism is growing more popular has been kind of fundamentally inaccurate. 0:34:40.480 --> 0:34:42.520 I think what we're seeing and what this this is 0:34:42.600 --> 0:34:46.000 kind of evidence of, is that like non affiliation with 0:34:46.080 --> 0:34:49.600 an organized religion is more common than ever. People are 0:34:50.120 --> 0:34:54.440 rejecting organized, settled religion at a kind of unprecedented rate 0:34:54.480 --> 0:34:59.359 that's certainly undeniable. That doesn't mean they're as they are 0:34:59.400 --> 0:35:02.000 still believe and this is an example, right right, This 0:35:02.080 --> 0:35:05.839 is people are creating. The Internet has given created a 0:35:05.840 --> 0:35:11.720 tremendous capacity to build religions, and that's what people are doing. 0:35:12.920 --> 0:35:13.759 That's what this is. 0:35:14.560 --> 0:35:20.600 Yeah, And it's like how long lasting will it be? 0:35:21.040 --> 0:35:24.960 I mean, I don't in the scope of in the 0:35:24.960 --> 0:35:30.200 scope of world faiths, I don't think game stopism is 0:35:30.200 --> 0:35:34.960 is poised to stand the test of time. I don't 0:35:34.960 --> 0:35:39.640 think we'll be seeing an ape emperor any anytime soon. 0:35:40.000 --> 0:35:43.000 But yeah, like and and the thing is is that 0:35:43.040 --> 0:35:43.319 like you. 0:35:43.280 --> 0:35:45.520 Go back through history and like you you look at 0:35:45.520 --> 0:35:48.320 like religious archaeology, and like you start sort of breaking 0:35:48.360 --> 0:35:53.319 away from sort of this idea of Christian hegemony as 0:35:53.440 --> 0:35:56.760 being effectively like that it's like, okay, you know, once 0:35:56.880 --> 0:36:00.439 the Christianization of Rome happened, like it was was then 0:36:00.640 --> 0:36:05.960 locked in like until you know, Martin Luther, and then 0:36:06.080 --> 0:36:10.800 you get like fragmentation into sects, but like it stays 0:36:10.880 --> 0:36:13.000 like locked in, and it's like it's like nah, when 0:36:13.040 --> 0:36:15.480 you start really digging into the history, it's like this 0:36:15.560 --> 0:36:19.240 is just this is always going on, This is always 0:36:19.280 --> 0:36:24.040 boiling under the surface. You look at like Puritanism in 0:36:24.400 --> 0:36:28.920 America through a non like through just kind of like 0:36:28.920 --> 0:36:30.719 a human lens of like what you know about how 0:36:30.719 --> 0:36:33.279 people behave, and you suddenly start seeing that it's like, oh, 0:36:33.360 --> 0:36:36.440 they were just like in a constant, perpetual state of 0:36:36.560 --> 0:36:43.040 internal fragmentation as people had different ideas about like what 0:36:43.120 --> 0:36:45.920 was supposed to happen, what should happen, and just kind 0:36:46.000 --> 0:36:50.600 of like formed you know, cliques and factions, and sometimes 0:36:50.600 --> 0:36:53.759 those factions got big enough to split off and then 0:36:53.760 --> 0:36:57.759 they lasted, you know, ten twenty thirty fifty years and 0:36:57.840 --> 0:37:01.160 then like either folded back into the main thing or 0:37:01.640 --> 0:37:04.759 or whatever. But this kind of like churn in in 0:37:04.880 --> 0:37:08.320 faith and belief is is just it's always there. It 0:37:08.520 --> 0:37:14.960 just in an organized, codified faith. It's a lot easier 0:37:15.000 --> 0:37:18.800 to lose track of it. Particularly from a historical perspective. 0:37:18.840 --> 0:37:21.000 It's a lot easier to just look at like the 0:37:21.040 --> 0:37:23.200 bigger picture and be like, ah, it was all the same, 0:37:23.280 --> 0:37:24.319 it was homogeneous. 0:37:25.000 --> 0:37:25.160 Uh. 0:37:25.440 --> 0:37:31.520 And it turns out no, yeah, sorry, that was a 0:37:31.640 --> 0:37:34.279 very no, no, no, there was. I threw a lot of 0:37:34.320 --> 0:37:40.160 like very big assumptions into a very tightly packed statement there. 0:37:41.320 --> 0:37:43.120 No, no, no. I think that was great. 0:37:44.080 --> 0:37:46.759 And yeah, that's that's kind of I think what I 0:37:46.840 --> 0:37:50.040 what I had to sort of ask about, you know, 0:37:50.200 --> 0:37:55.200 just sort of this fascination with the way in which 0:37:56.440 --> 0:38:00.480 almost anything can become a cult these day thanks to 0:38:00.520 --> 0:38:04.160 sort of the social dynamics of the different online communities 0:38:04.320 --> 0:38:07.160 and how they they reinforce each other. Like this is 0:38:07.880 --> 0:38:10.400 kind of at the center of almost everything that's a 0:38:10.440 --> 0:38:12.239 problem right now one way or the other. 0:38:12.440 --> 0:38:15.560 Right, Yeah, I think the thing that is new and 0:38:15.760 --> 0:38:19.960 modern really is the ability or is the I don't 0:38:19.960 --> 0:38:25.839 want to say ability, the phenomenon of decentralized self organizing 0:38:26.560 --> 0:38:31.480 belief systems. You know that like there's these a lot 0:38:31.520 --> 0:38:34.719 of the a lot of the meme stock influencers. You know, 0:38:34.800 --> 0:38:42.680 they're not leading it. They're just like nudging it. They're 0:38:42.719 --> 0:38:44.759 not in charge of it. And if they if any 0:38:44.800 --> 0:38:49.280 of them like tried to like really like seize the reins, 0:38:50.440 --> 0:38:55.919 that that would get them like exiled. You know, any 0:38:56.000 --> 0:38:58.799 any kind of like overt power grab would be would 0:38:58.840 --> 0:39:01.480 be antithetical to it. But so it's the it's and 0:39:01.520 --> 0:39:04.360 it's the same thing like in QAnon, if somebody anyone 0:39:04.360 --> 0:39:07.920 who's come out and been like I am q listen 0:39:08.000 --> 0:39:12.319 to me, gets immediately just like just demolished by the 0:39:12.360 --> 0:39:17.239 faithful because like it's it's antithetical to their whole thing 0:39:17.320 --> 0:39:21.440 to have a really identifiable leader. And and the fact 0:39:21.440 --> 0:39:25.120 that there is no identifiable leader, that that the leader 0:39:25.360 --> 0:39:32.680 is mythological is is useful and beneficial to the to 0:39:32.800 --> 0:39:38.200 the organization. And those kinds of like those kinds of movements, 0:39:38.320 --> 0:39:40.800 they're not unique to the modern age, but the modern 0:39:40.800 --> 0:39:46.800 age has made them very easy to form, almost by accident. 0:39:47.640 --> 0:39:51.440 Yeah, well, dan uh, this be something for people to 0:39:51.480 --> 0:39:54.360 continue to keep an eye on because it's not gonna stop. 0:39:54.440 --> 0:39:58.880 Probably, oh boy, I'm I'm there's gonna be some like 0:39:59.000 --> 0:40:02.640 amazing doctor dissertations on this subject in like ten years. 0:40:03.000 --> 0:40:08.680 Yes, I would, I would certainly agree with that. Well, Dan, 0:40:08.760 --> 0:40:10.239 you want to let the people know where they can 0:40:10.360 --> 0:40:10.880 find you. 0:40:11.880 --> 0:40:14.279 They can find me on YouTube. The channel name is 0:40:15.040 --> 0:40:23.160 Folding Ideas and I'm on Socials, Twitter, Blue Sky, et cetera, 0:40:23.200 --> 0:40:25.839 et cetera, et cetera, as as Foldable Human. 0:40:27.080 --> 0:40:27.560 Excellent. 0:40:27.880 --> 0:40:32.640 All right, check out Dan's videos. Check out his YouTube channel, 0:40:32.920 --> 0:40:35.240 like and subscribe and. 0:40:35.440 --> 0:40:36.080 Check us out. 0:40:36.120 --> 0:40:39.200 But you already have because you're here, so continue to 0:40:39.320 --> 0:40:39.919 check us out. 0:40:56.360 --> 0:41:00.759 It's it's chaos in congreg This is this is it 0:41:00.800 --> 0:41:04.440 could happen here, the podcast about things Falling Apart and 0:41:05.160 --> 0:41:07.239 just this is a jest a falling Apart episode with 0:41:07.280 --> 0:41:08.399 though it's a kind of funny one. 0:41:08.920 --> 0:41:11.040 Yeah, I'm your host, Mia Wong and with me is 0:41:11.080 --> 0:41:13.200 Garrison Davis. Hello. 0:41:14.000 --> 0:41:17.160 Chaos every everywhere, but especially in Congress. 0:41:18.000 --> 0:41:18.560 So I just. 0:41:18.560 --> 0:41:22.719 Realized you grew up in Canada, which means I did. Yes, 0:41:23.360 --> 0:41:26.759 can can you explain what the speaker that? Do you 0:41:26.840 --> 0:41:30.560 know what the speaker of the House is for America. 0:41:31.280 --> 0:41:36.320 Yeah, it's the guy who like presides over the things 0:41:36.400 --> 0:41:39.920 and has the hammer and he yells, you. 0:41:39.880 --> 0:41:43.120 Know, that's that's that's that's that's pretty close. Okay. 0:41:43.160 --> 0:41:44.160 See see come. 0:41:44.040 --> 0:41:45.600 On, yeah, yeah, it's not bad. It's not bad. This 0:41:45.640 --> 0:41:47.160 is okay. So what we're we're going to go into 0:41:47.160 --> 0:41:49.600 a bit more death about what this person does because 0:41:50.480 --> 0:41:53.280 I don't know, the American Constitution was written by absolute 0:41:53.360 --> 0:41:58.200 clowns and there's some wild stuff there. But however, comma, 0:41:59.000 --> 0:42:02.560 you know, so some more seriously, this is a very 0:42:03.280 --> 0:42:06.600 this is a very sort of consequential and dangerous moment 0:42:06.680 --> 0:42:10.200 in American political history. And in this moment, Congress is 0:42:10.239 --> 0:42:15.520 incomplete chaos. It is it is. It is the most 0:42:15.560 --> 0:42:18.960 non functional it has been in my entire life. And 0:42:19.239 --> 0:42:22.960 that is that is saying something like Congress has been 0:42:22.960 --> 0:42:25.960 non functional for my entire life. This is the worst 0:42:25.960 --> 0:42:28.200 it has ever been. And the reason this is the 0:42:28.200 --> 0:42:30.719 worst has ever been is that Kevin McCarthy, who is 0:42:30.760 --> 0:42:34.120 the now former Speaker of the House, was removed by 0:42:34.160 --> 0:42:36.640 a vote of no confidence on October third, which when 0:42:36.640 --> 0:42:38.759 this comes out, that will be exactly two weeks out. 0:42:39.160 --> 0:42:41.960 And he is removed because he tried to cut a 0:42:42.000 --> 0:42:44.399 deal with the Democrats to avert a government shutdown untill 0:42:44.400 --> 0:42:46.320 the seventeenth, and he got the deal through. 0:42:47.320 --> 0:42:49.080 It would have been crazy if we had a shutdown 0:42:49.120 --> 0:42:53.640 till seventeenth. God, imagine, imagine, I met Jesus. Fuck. 0:42:54.560 --> 0:42:57.320 Here's the thing. Okay, there's no shutdown till the seventeenth. 0:42:57.480 --> 0:43:01.879 There's also a chance of a real serious chance that, 0:43:01.920 --> 0:43:03.880 like the shutdown starts and we still don't have a 0:43:03.880 --> 0:43:07.080 Speaker of the House. Oh yeah, like it's not that high, 0:43:07.120 --> 0:43:09.640 but it could happen, which is nuts. This has never 0:43:09.719 --> 0:43:12.640 happened before. Yeah, and so so I guess we should 0:43:12.680 --> 0:43:15.160 we should go into specifically what hasn't happened before. And 0:43:15.200 --> 0:43:17.160 the thing that hasn't happened before is that no sitting 0:43:17.200 --> 0:43:19.319 speaker of the House dream their term, has ever been 0:43:19.360 --> 0:43:22.440 removed by a vote of no confidence, which is nuts 0:43:22.800 --> 0:43:25.640 because again, and I cannot emphasize this enough, for most 0:43:25.680 --> 0:43:28.080 of the two thousands, the Speaker of the House was 0:43:28.120 --> 0:43:30.920 a guy named Dennis Hastick, who was literally a pedophile, 0:43:31.320 --> 0:43:34.360 and he was not removed by a vote of no confidence. 0:43:35.000 --> 0:43:39.040 So like, this is this is the level of you know, 0:43:39.320 --> 0:43:42.760 weirdness that we're in, like like literally the two hundred 0:43:42.800 --> 0:43:44.720 something year history of the US, this has never happened. 0:43:45.680 --> 0:43:48.399 And from my understanding, you don't actually have to be 0:43:49.040 --> 0:43:52.480 like an elected member of the House to be the speaker, 0:43:52.760 --> 0:43:55.960 which means they could carry on this tradition and they 0:43:56.000 --> 0:43:59.680 could get Polanski as Speaker of the House if they 0:43:59.680 --> 0:44:01.200 could ef thoughts to carry it over. 0:44:01.840 --> 0:44:03.960 You know, at this point, this is only we're gonna 0:44:03.960 --> 0:44:05.719 get you later. There was a there was a a 0:44:05.800 --> 0:44:08.560 two day span, two and a half days span where 0:44:08.600 --> 0:44:10.840 Trump was trying to get himself elected a Speaker of 0:44:10.880 --> 0:44:13.040 the House. Yes, yes, and then that. 0:44:13.080 --> 0:44:16.360 Which would be probably the most funny, the most funny. 0:44:16.160 --> 0:44:17.280 Oh yeah, results. 0:44:18.440 --> 0:44:20.680 Yeah, but you know so so because this is he 0:44:20.760 --> 0:44:22.600 also has a path to the presidency. 0:44:23.200 --> 0:44:23.399 Yeah. 0:44:23.440 --> 0:44:26.759 Yeah, you just have to get two impatriotes. 0:44:26.000 --> 0:44:30.279 Somehow and take it out. This is how Trump can 0:44:30.320 --> 0:44:32.360 still win. This is the path, guys. 0:44:32.440 --> 0:44:36.680 This unfortunately she's well, I mean here's the thing. Okay, legitimately, 0:44:36.719 --> 0:44:39.280 if Biden and Harris died in a plane crash tomorrow, 0:44:39.320 --> 0:44:42.440 I actually think Trump could win the would win the 0:44:42.480 --> 0:44:43.520 Speaker of the House vote. 0:44:44.360 --> 0:44:49.080 Oh yeah, absolutely, But this is this. 0:44:49.120 --> 0:44:51.120 Is this is how Berdie can still win. This is 0:44:51.160 --> 0:44:51.560 the path. 0:44:55.120 --> 0:44:58.160 So all right, so so you know we're in this, 0:44:58.320 --> 0:45:00.200 We're in We're in I don't know, We're just you know, 0:45:00.480 --> 0:45:02.520 this is all like nuts but like again, we are 0:45:02.560 --> 0:45:04.920 just we are in the wilderness, like we're in complete 0:45:05.000 --> 0:45:06.000 chaos lands. 0:45:06.120 --> 0:45:08.600 No no one the US has never been here before. 0:45:09.160 --> 0:45:11.479 And okay, the other thing we need to mention is, okay, 0:45:11.560 --> 0:45:13.920 so you know you were saying that there there hasn't 0:45:14.000 --> 0:45:15.680 like you know, we we need we need to bring 0:45:15.760 --> 0:45:17.839 back the like pedophiles to be the Speaker of the House. 0:45:18.080 --> 0:45:21.120 So Speaker of the House, not a pedophile. The guy 0:45:21.160 --> 0:45:25.000 who removed him as Speaker of the House. He's by 0:45:25.440 --> 0:45:27.480 Mad Gates probably probably. 0:45:27.520 --> 0:45:27.719 Yeah. 0:45:27.880 --> 0:45:31.000 So here's here's what I can say legally about Matt Gates, 0:45:31.040 --> 0:45:34.240 the guy who led eight Republicans to join the Democrats 0:45:34.239 --> 0:45:36.640 in the in the voter no confidence. He is a 0:45:36.680 --> 0:45:39.520 man best known for being investigated for the Department of 0:45:39.680 --> 0:45:42.879 Justice for trafficking underaged girls. What I can legally say 0:45:43.000 --> 0:45:45.279 is that he was suspected by the Justice Department of 0:45:45.280 --> 0:45:48.839 being a pedophile. There are there are like there were 0:45:48.960 --> 0:45:53.640 receipts from his like on his phone from like cash 0:45:53.680 --> 0:45:58.319 app of him sending money to underage girls. So you know, 0:45:58.480 --> 0:46:01.960 bad things, bad things happening there. That investigation got killed 0:46:02.040 --> 0:46:08.000 because the bourgeoisie uh protects its allies. But Comma, we 0:46:08.080 --> 0:46:11.360 do not Speaker of the House right now, so something 0:46:11.480 --> 0:46:13.279 I think, I guess we should also mention this. So 0:46:13.320 --> 0:46:16.200 there's like a there's no Speaker of the House. There's 0:46:16.440 --> 0:46:21.360 some guy they put in who's like, is not actually 0:46:21.400 --> 0:46:23.360 an acting Speaker of the House. The only thing he 0:46:23.400 --> 0:46:27.080 can do effectively is like make sure that there's vote 0:46:27.120 --> 0:46:31.399 specifically on there being another Speaker of the House. Yeah, 0:46:31.480 --> 0:46:34.879 And this has thrown the entire American political system into 0:46:34.960 --> 0:46:38.480 chaos because with no Speaker of the House, the House 0:46:38.520 --> 0:46:42.239 of Representatives cannot pass bills. They can't do it, They 0:46:42.280 --> 0:46:45.400 cannot pass any bills at all. And because of the 0:46:45.400 --> 0:46:49.279 way that the American system was designed, not having this 0:46:49.719 --> 0:46:54.239 one person shuts down the entire effectively shut it shuts 0:46:54.239 --> 0:46:56.359 down the entire legislative branch, right because you can't get 0:46:56.400 --> 0:46:58.480 anything passed in the Senate without also getting it ratified 0:46:58.520 --> 0:47:03.200 in the House. And this has just shut down effectively, 0:47:03.360 --> 0:47:06.080 like most of the American government outside of the like, 0:47:06.160 --> 0:47:07.680 you know. I mean, so the executive branches and all 0:47:07.680 --> 0:47:10.200 of the departments stuff are self functioning, but there is 0:47:10.239 --> 0:47:13.120 no legislative branch right now, effectively, is what has happened, 0:47:13.200 --> 0:47:17.799 right I think maybe subcommittee meetings are still running, but 0:47:18.120 --> 0:47:20.600 they can't pass any bills, and this is both a 0:47:20.640 --> 0:47:23.400 blessing and a curse. Normally, this I think would just 0:47:23.440 --> 0:47:27.040 be a curse. I don't know. Maybe right now this 0:47:27.160 --> 0:47:29.280 is probably the best possible time this could have happened, 0:47:29.320 --> 0:47:33.080 because the consequence of this has been the US has 0:47:33.080 --> 0:47:35.160 been unable to follow through on its most sort of 0:47:35.280 --> 0:47:39.000 just rapidly genocidal impulses about Palestine because again, the House 0:47:39.160 --> 0:47:43.160 literally cannot pass any bills until they figure this shit out. 0:47:43.440 --> 0:47:45.640 So we haven't been able to send money to it Laziel, 0:47:45.640 --> 0:47:47.360 we haven't been able to send like God forbid, like 0:47:47.400 --> 0:47:49.799 we haven't been able to plenty troops, which I don't 0:47:49.800 --> 0:47:51.000 know if they I don't know if there was actually 0:47:51.000 --> 0:47:53.160 the political desire to do that anyways, But you know, 0:47:53.880 --> 0:47:56.600 the fact, the fact that there was no speaker in 0:47:57.080 --> 0:48:00.719 the immediate wake of the stuff that's been happening in 0:48:00.719 --> 0:48:05.560 Palestine means that you know, they've they've been restrained from 0:48:05.880 --> 0:48:09.279 just like glassing the entire Middle East, which is which 0:48:09.320 --> 0:48:13.000 is good. The downside is that again, we have until 0:48:13.000 --> 0:48:17.759 November seventeenth to pass a funding bill to avert the 0:48:17.800 --> 0:48:22.680 government shutdown. And not only is there like no progress 0:48:22.680 --> 0:48:26.239 on a deal about that bill, like the American legislature 0:48:26.320 --> 0:48:29.960 is currently incapable of passing any bill, much less the 0:48:30.040 --> 0:48:34.320 spending bill. So things are going great in the American 0:48:34.320 --> 0:48:37.799 political system. And okay, so we should we should ask 0:48:37.800 --> 0:48:41.800 the question why is this happening? And there are both 0:48:41.840 --> 0:48:45.640 sort of short and long answers to this question. Both 0:48:45.719 --> 0:48:47.799 of them effectively have the same route, which is that 0:48:47.840 --> 0:48:52.640 the Republican Party is a coalition. It's one that usually 0:48:52.719 --> 0:48:55.960 has pretty broadly compatible politics, but it is a coalition 0:48:56.080 --> 0:48:59.319 between different sectors of capital. So think, for example, you know, 0:48:59.320 --> 0:49:01.840 you have your different right wing like tech mogul billionaires, 0:49:01.920 --> 0:49:05.000 right like Elon Musk or like Peter Thiel. But these 0:49:05.000 --> 0:49:07.680 people align on a lot of stuff, but they don't 0:49:07.680 --> 0:49:12.560 necessarily have the same interests as like a weapons manufacturer 0:49:12.800 --> 0:49:15.560 or like coke industries, or I mean just like you know, 0:49:16.120 --> 0:49:18.640 like one of the big sort of tensions, for example, 0:49:18.680 --> 0:49:20.360 is that the Republican Party has a lot of backing 0:49:20.480 --> 0:49:24.800 among the financial sector. Uh, the financial sector has very 0:49:24.880 --> 0:49:27.360 little interest in conflict with China because they have an 0:49:27.480 --> 0:49:30.840 enormous amount of capital like tied up in Chinese firms. 0:49:31.719 --> 0:49:34.120 There are a lot of other like people who have 0:49:34.160 --> 0:49:35.560 a lot of like like even this is this is 0:49:35.600 --> 0:49:37.640 a thing between Elon Musk and Peter Teel right or 0:49:37.719 --> 0:49:40.759 like Musk is kind of more pro China than like 0:49:40.800 --> 0:49:44.960 the average like Republican tech billionaire because he has a 0:49:45.000 --> 0:49:47.640 bunch of contracts in a giant factory in China and 0:49:47.840 --> 0:49:49.520 so so okay, so this is this is a coalition 0:49:49.560 --> 0:49:52.080 between different segments of capital who disagree. This is also 0:49:52.120 --> 0:49:56.040 a coalition between different like right wing social movements who 0:49:56.080 --> 0:49:58.000 are also you know, a very powerful part of the party. 0:49:58.000 --> 0:50:01.840 You have evangelical stuff. But I mean, you know, the 0:50:02.560 --> 0:50:04.640 consequence of this, and the consequence of the sort of 0:50:05.000 --> 0:50:08.560 shift right of American politics has been you now have 0:50:08.680 --> 0:50:12.360 this party where there are like libertarians alongside neocons, you 0:50:12.440 --> 0:50:14.680 have more moderate conservatives, and you have basic people who 0:50:14.719 --> 0:50:18.960 are effectively neo Nazis. And the fact that the coalition 0:50:19.040 --> 0:50:22.279 is like this now, the fact that it is genuinely 0:50:23.160 --> 0:50:25.120 more so than it's been in a long time, a 0:50:25.640 --> 0:50:29.319 very broad and diverse coalition. This has made the House 0:50:29.360 --> 0:50:34.359 of Representatives effectively unmanageable. Okay, and this has been a 0:50:34.360 --> 0:50:37.640 real issue in the Republican Party for a while now, 0:50:37.680 --> 0:50:39.839 partially because you know, and this is this is why 0:50:39.840 --> 0:50:41.640 we're getting the government shutdown stuff, like a big part 0:50:41.640 --> 0:50:45.400 of Republican strategy for the last decade, basically since Obama 0:50:45.440 --> 0:50:48.080 took office, has just been shutting down the government and 0:50:48.120 --> 0:50:50.960 doing art obstructionism, so you know, nothing can get done 0:50:51.560 --> 0:50:53.960 at waitgre have you have you been Do you remember 0:50:54.760 --> 0:50:56.000 the last government shut down? 0:50:56.560 --> 0:50:56.759 Yeah? 0:50:56.880 --> 0:50:59.880 Yeah, yeah, it was only like two years ago. Yeah, 0:51:00.120 --> 0:51:02.719 it feels like maybe maybe it was longer. It feels 0:51:02.760 --> 0:51:04.560 like it was pretty recent. There was no it was 0:51:04.680 --> 0:51:06.680 it was in twenty eighteen. I think it was like, yeah, 0:51:06.960 --> 0:51:09.960 I see, because in my brain we're still in twenty twenty. 0:51:10.080 --> 0:51:12.480 Oh yeah, they were actually twenty So what I. 0:51:12.440 --> 0:51:15.480 Said when I say two years ago, what I mean 0:51:15.600 --> 0:51:16.560 is twenty eighteen. 0:51:17.080 --> 0:51:20.000 Yeah, I mean, and it's that one was funny because 0:51:20.040 --> 0:51:23.600 that was a that was a Republican president. Yeah, yeah, 0:51:23.640 --> 0:51:25.200 which is very funny. But yeah, but you know, but 0:51:25.200 --> 0:51:27.080 back when Obama was in office, like this just happened 0:51:27.120 --> 0:51:29.400 all the fucking time, Like every other week. There was 0:51:29.440 --> 0:51:31.279 like a threat of a government every single time a 0:51:31.320 --> 0:51:34.120 bill liken, a funding bill was going to pass Congress, 0:51:34.440 --> 0:51:37.040 like I had a bunch of family members get furloughed 0:51:37.360 --> 0:51:39.759 well at one point, because the government actually did shut 0:51:39.800 --> 0:51:43.560 down for a long time. But there's a real problem 0:51:43.560 --> 0:51:49.880 with this, which is that this political strategy encourages, effectively 0:51:49.920 --> 0:51:52.839 the it encourages creating chaos, right, and this is something 0:51:52.880 --> 0:51:54.560 that Trump has been very good at sort of exploiting. 0:51:54.600 --> 0:51:58.200 But it also means that there's now this like qudra 0:51:58.440 --> 0:52:01.680 of politicos who've come up who are like incredibly right 0:52:01.680 --> 0:52:03.840 wing and effectively the only thing they know how to 0:52:03.880 --> 0:52:06.920 do is obstructing anything from functioning. And this is what 0:52:07.000 --> 0:52:10.840 McCarthy ran into. He ran into Gates and his sort 0:52:10.840 --> 0:52:14.480 of like band of Mary I don't know, I was 0:52:14.480 --> 0:52:16.359 gonna call him a band of Mary weirdos, but that's 0:52:16.400 --> 0:52:21.960 way too complimentary. His band of like absolute fanatics. And 0:52:22.440 --> 0:52:26.440 the real issue here is that, Okay, so there's currently 0:52:26.480 --> 0:52:29.400 two vacant seats in the House, so this means right now, 0:52:29.440 --> 0:52:32.400 to win a vote in the full House. To become 0:52:32.440 --> 0:52:36.319 a Speaker of the House, you need two hundred and 0:52:36.360 --> 0:52:41.960 seventeen votes. Sorry, hold on, there's new shit happening, like 0:52:42.080 --> 0:52:49.399 right now, McCarthy thinks that Jim Jordan has two hundred 0:52:49.400 --> 0:52:51.080 and seventeen votes. I don't know if I believe him. 0:52:52.960 --> 0:52:55.239 I don't know. Well, I'll just explain what's happening now 0:52:55.239 --> 0:52:56.799 and then we'll put that at the end. 0:52:56.719 --> 0:52:59.480 As like breaking news. Inswer that at the end, Daniel, 0:52:59.520 --> 0:53:01.480 thank you? Or keep it in right now is a 0:53:01.480 --> 0:53:03.879 funny bit, yes, because this situation is still is still 0:53:03.920 --> 0:53:05.960 developing as of time of recording. 0:53:06.080 --> 0:53:09.000 So yeah, like as yes, it's the only way should mention. 0:53:09.040 --> 0:53:11.239 You know, this process is complicated enough that like, yeah, 0:53:11.239 --> 0:53:13.560 as we are recording it, stuff is changing rapidly, like 0:53:13.600 --> 0:53:15.120 stuff has been. News is coming in. 0:53:15.840 --> 0:53:16.520 So what's been. 0:53:16.440 --> 0:53:18.359 Making it hard is that in order to get two 0:53:18.400 --> 0:53:21.680 undred and seventeen votes, right, the Republican majority is only 0:53:21.760 --> 0:53:24.000 they only have two hundred and twenty one votes. So 0:53:24.520 --> 0:53:26.319 if you want to become Speaker of the House, you 0:53:26.320 --> 0:53:30.440 can only lose four total votes, and this means you 0:53:30.520 --> 0:53:34.320 have to win both the Moderates and Matt Gates's coalition 0:53:34.360 --> 0:53:37.279 of fanatics. And this is effectively impossible. It is, it 0:53:37.400 --> 0:53:41.520 is unbelievably difficult. McCarthy was able to do this because 0:53:41.520 --> 0:53:43.960 he pulled votes from the far right by like promising 0:53:44.000 --> 0:53:46.920 things like impeaching Biden and stuff like that, and also 0:53:46.960 --> 0:53:51.040 sort of cutting cutting his own deals with people like 0:53:51.080 --> 0:53:54.440 Marjorie Taylor Green who like and is And this is 0:53:54.480 --> 0:53:57.799 the other thing about about this impiacement vote is that 0:53:58.080 --> 0:54:02.200 it's not actually a purely ideological lines like far right 0:54:02.280 --> 0:54:03.920 versus moderate vote, because. 0:54:03.840 --> 0:54:08.520 No, like he he even split the more extreme contention 0:54:08.719 --> 0:54:13.000 of the Republican Party in Congress. It's it's it's really bizarre. Well, 0:54:13.200 --> 0:54:15.880 it's not bizarre because you can like understand it, but 0:54:15.920 --> 0:54:19.520 it is certainly interesting where where the dividing lines and 0:54:19.719 --> 0:54:21.200 ended up being for a lot of the people that 0:54:21.239 --> 0:54:23.600 we consider mostly being on the same side right because 0:54:23.640 --> 0:54:26.359 usually people imagine like Matt Gates and Marchie Taylor Green 0:54:26.719 --> 0:54:28.760 usually in the same kind of far right voting block. 0:54:29.120 --> 0:54:33.200 And to see like divisions over over this vote is 0:54:33.400 --> 0:54:37.719 certainly an interesting aspect of you know, possible fractures within 0:54:37.760 --> 0:54:40.360 the even the extreme contingent of the Republican Party. 0:54:41.080 --> 0:54:43.760 Yeah, and this and this has been a really interesting dynamic, 0:54:44.320 --> 0:54:47.400 but it also makes it just like impossible, Like you 0:54:47.480 --> 0:54:49.799 have to in order to do this, you have to 0:54:49.840 --> 0:54:53.840 somehow appease the moderates and gates and like you're dealing 0:54:53.880 --> 0:54:58.359 with multiple different right wing fringe factions. Yeah, and then 0:54:58.360 --> 0:55:00.359 and this is you know what we talk you more 0:55:00.400 --> 0:55:04.319 about the Freedom Caucus in a little bit. But you 0:55:04.440 --> 0:55:06.719 have to, like you're at a point where you're trying 0:55:06.719 --> 0:55:10.040 to appease so many different groups of people who all 0:55:10.080 --> 0:55:13.120 have kind of competing agendas, who also just have like 0:55:13.200 --> 0:55:19.400 personal beef with each other. And as of right now 0:55:19.680 --> 0:55:23.600 time of recording, which is two pm Pacific time on Friday, 0:55:23.800 --> 0:55:26.360 no one has been able to actually pull together this vote. 0:55:26.920 --> 0:55:28.600 We're gonna take an ad break, and then we're. 0:55:28.440 --> 0:55:30.920 Gonna do you know who else actually needs to be 0:55:30.960 --> 0:55:33.120 appeased by these same people? 0:55:34.280 --> 0:55:37.040 Is is it the products and services? It is podcast? 0:55:37.280 --> 0:55:40.200 Ronald Reagan Coin looks down upon Congress every single time 0:55:40.280 --> 0:55:44.399 that guy hits that little hammer, And Ronald Reagan Coin 0:55:44.440 --> 0:55:47.080 also looks down upon all of you. I think I 0:55:47.280 --> 0:55:48.880 think I have a good idea where to put my 0:55:48.960 --> 0:55:51.000 new uh my new four to oh one k investment 0:55:51.040 --> 0:55:54.319 in I'm going to do all all gold coin, move 0:55:54.360 --> 0:55:57.560 all that over to gold coin. It's stable, it's gonna 0:55:57.600 --> 0:56:00.920 be worth it, it holds value, and that is that 0:56:01.000 --> 0:56:01.879 is definitely my plan. 0:56:02.000 --> 0:56:02.680 Oh we're back. 0:56:02.960 --> 0:56:07.239 Hello everybody. Sorry, did didn't did not realize you were 0:56:07.239 --> 0:56:09.520 already back so soon. I was just talking with me 0:56:09.640 --> 0:56:15.080 about expanding my investment portfolio. Anyway, as you were saying, so, what. 0:56:15.120 --> 0:56:18.880 Has happened after that? The answer is an absolute clown show. 0:56:19.480 --> 0:56:21.759 I mean, this is this is one of the most 0:56:21.840 --> 0:56:22.879 like James. 0:56:22.840 --> 0:56:25.920 Lets let's not disparage clowns, shall we. 0:56:26.040 --> 0:56:27.040 That's true. This is unfair to me. 0:56:27.560 --> 0:56:29.520 This is we could have clowns in the audio, We 0:56:29.520 --> 0:56:32.400 could have closeted clowns in this phone call. 0:56:33.000 --> 0:56:35.719 That's true. That's true. Okay, I I yes, I've been 0:56:35.760 --> 0:56:38.200 being unfair to clowns by comparing them to the Republican Party. 0:56:38.680 --> 0:56:41.839 This has been this has been one of the most 0:56:41.880 --> 0:56:44.600 pathetic displays of politics I've ever seen. And I have 0:56:44.719 --> 0:56:48.480 followed the political trajectory of Israeli labor like this is. 0:56:48.600 --> 0:56:52.479 This has it's been truly awful. So all right, So, 0:56:52.480 --> 0:56:55.799 so McCarthy is ousted. The problem immediately is that no 0:56:55.840 --> 0:56:59.000 one has any where close to enough votes to replace him, 0:56:59.440 --> 0:57:02.320 like like and when I say no, what like McCarthy 0:57:02.440 --> 0:57:05.960 McCarthy went down by he lost eight votes from the Republicans. 0:57:06.480 --> 0:57:12.239 Yeah, yeah, No one else is within like sixty, right, 0:57:12.320 --> 0:57:17.320 Like what like this wasn't just a power move for 0:57:17.440 --> 0:57:21.200 Gates then? Like he he was like was was he 0:57:21.280 --> 0:57:21.720 looking to. 0:57:21.680 --> 0:57:24.080 Take the spot or no? No, get the Gate. There's 0:57:24.120 --> 0:57:27.240 Gates has absolutely no shot of winning. He would get 0:57:27.280 --> 0:57:31.840 like ten votes maybe, like basically nothing. What he was 0:57:31.880 --> 0:57:33.960 trying to and this is this is kind of Gates 0:57:34.080 --> 0:57:36.480 is in this kind of obstructionism thing where he's trying. 0:57:36.520 --> 0:57:38.400 The thing he's trying to do basically is he's trying 0:57:38.400 --> 0:57:41.520 to like he's trying to set up himself as a 0:57:41.520 --> 0:57:44.240 political flank of like the moost Republicans, Republicans and everyone 0:57:44.240 --> 0:57:47.640 else are these like sellouts to work with the Democrats. Yeah, 0:57:47.680 --> 0:57:50.960 and he's he's also been trying so so Gates's preferred 0:57:50.960 --> 0:57:54.440 candidate is a guy named Jim Jordan. Jim Jordan is 0:57:54.520 --> 0:57:57.040 the found he was the founding head of the powerful 0:57:57.080 --> 0:58:00.400 far right Freedom Caucus, and he's a really he's a 0:58:00.440 --> 0:58:02.520 real piece of work. He's mad. 0:58:02.800 --> 0:58:05.600 I feel like Jimmy Jordan has been a recurring character 0:58:05.640 --> 0:58:09.280 on this show. Yea, sometimes he's not a very n 0:58:10.480 --> 0:58:13.760 he sucks, like she's not quite like a full on 0:58:14.040 --> 0:58:16.160 neo Nazi in the way. 0:58:15.880 --> 0:58:17.960 Like yeah, but like he's not good. He's he's he's 0:58:17.960 --> 0:58:20.400 from like the far right. He's what I guess you 0:58:20.400 --> 0:58:22.680 would call the like the more acceptable far right of 0:58:22.760 --> 0:58:25.080 the Republican Party. Like he's from the Freedom Caucus, like 0:58:25.840 --> 0:58:28.760 is is a like a very right wing organization even 0:58:28.800 --> 0:58:31.200 within the Republican Party. But they're not seen as like 0:58:32.200 --> 0:58:34.560 weird fringe fanatics in the way, at the. 0:58:34.520 --> 0:58:38.640 Very least, they will hold the door open towards people 0:58:38.640 --> 0:58:43.120 that are even like like even way way more extreme. 0:58:43.960 --> 0:58:44.160 Yeah. 0:58:44.240 --> 0:58:47.960 Yeah, and that's been he's been serving in Congress since 0:58:47.960 --> 0:58:48.840 like twenty and seven. 0:58:49.400 --> 0:58:51.720 Yeah, he's a very he's a very high He's. 0:58:51.640 --> 0:58:52.240 One of the guys. 0:58:52.560 --> 0:58:54.480 He's he's been like the architect of a lot of 0:58:54.760 --> 0:58:57.080 well not the architect. He's been one of the figures 0:58:57.120 --> 0:59:01.520 behind a lot of the sort of like government shutdown stuff. 0:59:01.520 --> 0:59:04.400 He's been. He's he's been one of the guys who's 0:59:04.480 --> 0:59:08.240 kind of like I don't know, like he didn't he 0:59:08.240 --> 0:59:09.600 cause he didn't come in on the tea party wave. 0:59:09.640 --> 0:59:11.480 He came in before that. But he's been he's been 0:59:11.480 --> 0:59:13.600 a guy who's been pushing that kind of sort of 0:59:14.360 --> 0:59:17.440 like that kind of very very rote with politics. His 0:59:17.440 --> 0:59:21.920 his original opponent was Steve Scalise, who is a kind 0:59:21.920 --> 0:59:26.600 of semi McCarthy ally kind of and you will see 0:59:26.640 --> 0:59:32.160 him described as being more moderate than than Jim Jordan, 0:59:33.200 --> 0:59:36.840 and that is maybe kind of true in the sense 0:59:36.920 --> 0:59:39.040 that like he's being back in the fact that like 0:59:39.040 --> 0:59:42.080 like Jim Jordan is being backed by like Marjorie Terry Green, 0:59:42.120 --> 0:59:45.280 Matt Gates and like Donald Trump. This is after Trump 0:59:45.360 --> 0:59:48.000 gave up his bid to like become speak of house himself. 0:59:48.000 --> 0:59:50.320 He backs, which would have been the funniest dot com Yeah. 0:59:50.120 --> 0:59:51.760 Would have been very funny. But however, we don't. We 0:59:51.760 --> 0:59:54.040 don't live in the funniest off possible timeline set. We 0:59:54.080 --> 0:59:54.840 live in the worst one. 0:59:55.480 --> 0:59:55.720 Yeah. 0:59:55.800 --> 1:00:00.880 Yeah, So that didn't happen. So the problem is the 1:00:00.920 --> 1:00:03.360 other guy is is again this is Steve Scalise, and 1:00:03.480 --> 1:00:06.960 again he's called a moderate. Scalise also wants there There 1:00:07.000 --> 1:00:09.520 is a report of him calling himself and I quote 1:00:09.600 --> 1:00:13.120 David Duke without the baggage and in in the early 1:00:13.120 --> 1:00:16.880 two thousands, he spoke at a David at a rally 1:00:16.960 --> 1:00:21.640 for a group founded by David Duke. Mm hmm, what. 1:00:23.120 --> 1:00:26.600 Without the baggage? What is left of David Duke? Like, 1:00:26.880 --> 1:00:27.640 how what is that? 1:00:27.680 --> 1:00:31.920 What does actually mean? Like we should I guess we 1:00:31.920 --> 1:00:33.760 should have mentioned so David Duke if people don't remember 1:00:33.800 --> 1:00:38.480 David Duke was the Grand Wizard. Yes, yeah, so what 1:00:39.320 --> 1:00:41.440 he says David Duke without the baggage, What he means 1:00:41.640 --> 1:00:44.400 is that he he has David Duke's politics, but he 1:00:44.440 --> 1:00:47.320 doesn't have the immediate what the fuck association you get 1:00:47.360 --> 1:00:50.640 when you mentioned the head of the fucking KKK that 1:00:50.720 --> 1:00:52.760 that that's what he was going for. Right, So this 1:00:52.960 --> 1:00:55.240 is not a good guy he's being presented as. 1:00:55.360 --> 1:00:56.480 And again this. 1:00:56.320 --> 1:00:58.720 Is what passes for like a moderate I mean, he's 1:00:58.760 --> 1:01:00.600 kind of in the modern the part, but like, this 1:01:00.640 --> 1:01:03.120 is what passes for a fucking moderate Republican in twenty 1:01:03.120 --> 1:01:05.960 in twenty twenty three, right, Like these people have always sucked, 1:01:06.040 --> 1:01:12.760 They've always fucking been like this, and you know the problem, Yeah, yeah, 1:01:12.800 --> 1:01:14.600 it's it's it's it's it's a real issue that again, 1:01:14.640 --> 1:01:20.120 like this guy who is like speaking at like it 1:01:20.200 --> 1:01:24.200 should like in any even remotely noma political system, having 1:01:24.280 --> 1:01:28.480 given a speech at a rally for an organization ran 1:01:28.600 --> 1:01:33.040 by David Duke would immediately be disqualifying. But you know, no, 1:01:33.240 --> 1:01:34.720 like you can just do that. You can do that 1:01:34.760 --> 1:01:36.880 and you get to be a moderate in twenty twenty three. 1:01:37.760 --> 1:01:39.960 But the problem with the problem Scalisee has is that 1:01:40.000 --> 1:01:44.120 Sclezi's problem isn't that again like clan bullshit. It's the 1:01:44.200 --> 1:01:48.000 fact that the way that votes for the Speaker of 1:01:48.040 --> 1:01:51.880 the House work is that So there's an internal blind 1:01:52.040 --> 1:01:55.560 vote inside of the inside of the Republican Party where 1:01:55.600 --> 1:01:59.680 each each each representative gets to anonymously vote like each 1:01:59.680 --> 1:02:02.560 a problem representative gets to a anonymously vote for their 1:02:02.560 --> 1:02:09.200 preferred candidates. So Jim Jordan like kind of narrowly loses 1:02:09.240 --> 1:02:12.280 out to Scalise in the first route in the first vote, 1:02:12.520 --> 1:02:15.880 so he loses one hundred and thirteen to ninety nine, 1:02:17.440 --> 1:02:20.000 and so Scalise comes out as the guy who's the 1:02:20.040 --> 1:02:21.880 nominee for the Republicans. 1:02:21.920 --> 1:02:22.120 Right. 1:02:23.480 --> 1:02:28.280 Problem is, Scalise lasts one day as that guy. Because 1:02:28.320 --> 1:02:30.560 the problem is to actually become speaker, you need to 1:02:30.600 --> 1:02:32.600 win a vote on the House floor and the vote 1:02:32.600 --> 1:02:34.440 on the House floor with everyone in the House, including 1:02:34.440 --> 1:02:36.840 the Democrats. That's where he needs to win two hundred 1:02:36.880 --> 1:02:40.560 seventeen votes. He did not have it. He so incredibly 1:02:40.600 --> 1:02:43.840 did not have it. That again, within a day of 1:02:43.920 --> 1:02:47.040 him winning this vote, he is out. So Scalise is 1:02:47.040 --> 1:02:50.960 now out of the race. What has been so the 1:02:51.240 --> 1:02:56.040 developments Literally as we are recording this, Jim Jordan has 1:02:56.080 --> 1:02:59.360 won a vote to become like the next he's the 1:02:59.400 --> 1:03:01.880 next person to vote because he was running against just 1:03:01.960 --> 1:03:05.120 a fucking clown. Sorry I'm being offensive to clowns. He's 1:03:05.440 --> 1:03:08.600 just like a nobody, like just like some dipshit Republicans 1:03:08.640 --> 1:03:11.160 like picked off off the street, right, like this is 1:03:11.160 --> 1:03:12.920 where we're at, like that there's no one like if 1:03:12.920 --> 1:03:15.080 if Jim, if Jim Jordan can't do this, like there's 1:03:15.840 --> 1:03:18.400 like I don't know, like you would like bring McCarthy back, 1:03:18.400 --> 1:03:20.840 Like there's nothing he like Jordan. Jim Jordan's like the 1:03:20.880 --> 1:03:24.840 last even semi serious political figure of the Republican Party 1:03:24.840 --> 1:03:28.240 who could even conceivably do this. So Jim Jordan has 1:03:28.280 --> 1:03:31.800 won the vote inside the Republican Party. However, come and 1:03:31.800 --> 1:03:34.440 and also the other important thing that happened literally as 1:03:34.480 --> 1:03:37.440 we were recording, is that he's been he's been endorsed 1:03:37.440 --> 1:03:40.200 by McCarthy now, which is kind of a big deal. 1:03:40.640 --> 1:03:44.080 McCarthy has said publicly that he thinks that Jim Jordan 1:03:44.160 --> 1:03:46.520 has the votes. I don't believe him, and I don't 1:03:46.520 --> 1:03:48.480 believe him because immediately after he said that, it came 1:03:48.520 --> 1:03:53.080 out that Jim Jordan is sixty vote short on the 1:03:53.080 --> 1:03:58.240 floor of the House, sixty six zero. He is screwed. 1:03:58.440 --> 1:04:02.800 There's no way, like he has to get through sixty 1:04:03.200 --> 1:04:06.880 sixty votes and there's no way. I I don't see 1:04:06.880 --> 1:04:08.840 a path for him to do this, even even with 1:04:08.960 --> 1:04:11.480 McCarthy's support, Like, I don't, I don't think it's a 1:04:11.480 --> 1:04:14.560 way for him to do this. As a time of recording, 1:04:14.600 --> 1:04:17.280 the thing that has happened is that the Republicans have 1:04:17.320 --> 1:04:21.040 all gone home because they get out at five, and 1:04:21.480 --> 1:04:23.920 he's going to try to spend the weekends like building 1:04:23.960 --> 1:04:25.840 up support, trying to build up enough votes in the 1:04:25.880 --> 1:04:27.720 House to like win speakership. 1:04:27.760 --> 1:04:31.440 But yeah, this has not seen where it seems like 1:04:31.520 --> 1:04:36.160 it's it seems like a pretty uh pretty chance. 1:04:36.240 --> 1:04:40.000 It's it's possible that like on like Monday or Tuesday 1:04:40.040 --> 1:04:41.720 or something when they're like, when this comes out, I'll 1:04:41.720 --> 1:04:43.320 be eating crow and I'll have to record like it 1:04:43.400 --> 1:04:44.560 that's true because of his date. 1:04:44.760 --> 1:04:47.160 But yes, because this does come out after the weekend. 1:04:47.240 --> 1:04:49.200 So yeah, but we will, I. 1:04:49.120 --> 1:04:52.640 Know buy this. I I absolutely just do not buy 1:04:52.680 --> 1:04:56.760 that Jim Jordan has enough votes. This is this is 1:04:56.760 --> 1:04:58.880 this is this is this is my analysis. If I'm wrong, 1:04:59.000 --> 1:05:04.560 I'm wrong, but guessing at sixty votes and like, there's 1:05:04.600 --> 1:05:07.920 no way, there's no way. So this is this is 1:05:07.960 --> 1:05:09.560 this is a fact. This is the current state of 1:05:09.600 --> 1:05:12.480 Congress right now, Like we don't we don't have a 1:05:12.560 --> 1:05:18.520 legislave branch. Everything, everything is in chaos. Nothing but down. 1:05:18.600 --> 1:05:24.120 Two more to go. We're almost there, fellas. Yeah, well 1:05:24.160 --> 1:05:26.920 the executives. If we cannot come the executive. If we 1:05:26.960 --> 1:05:34.160 can not go the executive, the judiciary will fall by itself. Yeah. 1:05:34.200 --> 1:05:38.040 So that's that is certainly certainly exciting. There's always always 1:05:38.120 --> 1:05:39.360 good things to look forward to. 1:05:40.080 --> 1:05:43.200 Yeah, but you know, I think that I think a 1:05:43.240 --> 1:05:45.320 closing note on this is that the fact that the 1:05:45.440 --> 1:05:48.160 US effectively can't do anything right now while it's in 1:05:48.200 --> 1:05:51.360 the middle of a pretty serious like a couple of 1:05:51.480 --> 1:05:54.400 longline one is in the middle of like several very 1:05:54.520 --> 1:06:00.600 very serious international political crises and wars. Is has I 1:06:00.600 --> 1:06:03.400 don't know, it's been the thing right now that has 1:06:03.440 --> 1:06:06.680 been restraining the US from just like really going all 1:06:06.720 --> 1:06:08.800 out and trying to get it when of Palestine killed. 1:06:10.200 --> 1:06:14.440 So I guess there's that, But I don't know. Our 1:06:14.480 --> 1:06:19.720 government is a joke, yeah, and like and I guess 1:06:19.720 --> 1:06:22.080 I guess. The last thing I want to say is 1:06:22.200 --> 1:06:24.840 I want to invite all of you, everyone is listening 1:06:24.880 --> 1:06:28.040 to this, to look at these absolute numbskulls, Like, look 1:06:28.040 --> 1:06:31.160 at what they're doing right now. They can't even pick 1:06:31.520 --> 1:06:34.800 the one guy who is necessary for the entire legislative 1:06:34.800 --> 1:06:37.200 branch to function. And I want you to ask yourself, 1:06:37.400 --> 1:06:40.240 could we do this? Could like any of you and 1:06:40.360 --> 1:06:43.760 like your neighbors and your friends, run a political system 1:06:43.760 --> 1:06:46.760 better than this, because I bet the answer is yes. 1:07:03.480 --> 1:07:07.480 As mass bombing continues across Gaza, two point three million 1:07:07.560 --> 1:07:11.400 Palestinians remain trapped in the strip as the Israeli military 1:07:11.480 --> 1:07:16.040 conducts a total blockade. Israel has cut off water, electricity, 1:07:16.080 --> 1:07:21.000 and fuel while intentionally restricting humanitarian aid from being sent 1:07:21.160 --> 1:07:25.360 into Gaza. This is it could happen here. I'm Garrison Davis. 1:07:25.840 --> 1:07:29.680 On October seventh, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a 1:07:29.720 --> 1:07:34.600 speech addressing Palestinians inside Gaza. A part of the official 1:07:34.720 --> 1:07:38.040 English translation of the speech reads, quote, all of the 1:07:38.040 --> 1:07:42.560 places which Hamas is deployed, hiding and operating in that 1:07:42.640 --> 1:07:46.440 to wicked city, we will turn them into rubble. I 1:07:46.600 --> 1:07:49.840 say to the residents of Gaza, leave now, because we 1:07:49.880 --> 1:07:52.160 will operate forcefully everywhere. 1:07:52.520 --> 1:07:53.920 Unquote. 1:07:53.960 --> 1:07:57.720 The next sentence in the speech was left untranslated, but 1:07:58.080 --> 1:08:01.880 it roughly read quote, we will target each and every 1:08:02.040 --> 1:08:07.080 corner of the strip. According to the UN, by last 1:08:07.080 --> 1:08:10.680 Thursday October twelfth, about four hundred and twenty three thousand 1:08:10.680 --> 1:08:13.720 people had been displaced from their homes by Israeli air strikes. 1:08:14.000 --> 1:08:17.760 That's about twenty five percent of the Palestinian population. Many 1:08:17.800 --> 1:08:21.360 sought refuge in crowded United Nations shelters set up in schools, 1:08:21.800 --> 1:08:25.280 but even those shelters and hospitals were attacked by air 1:08:26.640 --> 1:08:31.280 Last Friday, October thirteenth, Israel issued a military order for 1:08:31.360 --> 1:08:35.640 all citizens in northern Gaza, including Gaza City, to evacuate 1:08:35.680 --> 1:08:39.000 their homes within a twenty four hour period in apparent 1:08:39.040 --> 1:08:43.040 preparation of a major ground assault on the besieged enclave. 1:08:44.040 --> 1:08:47.320 Over one million Palestinians live in this area. It's almost 1:08:47.439 --> 1:08:51.879 half the population of Gaza. In between bombings, Israeli military 1:08:51.920 --> 1:08:56.600 aircraft dropped thousands of leaflets into Gaza City advising civilians 1:08:56.640 --> 1:09:00.400 to immediately leave their homes and the un shelters, but 1:09:00.640 --> 1:09:03.719 not to actually try and leave Gaza, as the leaflet 1:09:03.800 --> 1:09:06.920 warned that if anyone approached the Israel Gaza security wall, 1:09:07.080 --> 1:09:12.200 they would quote expose themselves to death unquote. Israel laid 1:09:12.240 --> 1:09:14.600 out just a few roads that it was supposed to 1:09:14.640 --> 1:09:18.960 be quote unquote safe to travel southbound. Thousands of people 1:09:19.000 --> 1:09:22.000 in a northern Gaza began to flee towards the strip's 1:09:22.040 --> 1:09:25.479 southern half on Friday morning, but as they were following 1:09:25.600 --> 1:09:29.799 Israel's orders, civilian convoys transporting Palestinian families out of Gaza 1:09:29.800 --> 1:09:33.479 City were bombed by the Israeli military at three different 1:09:33.520 --> 1:09:37.880 points along the evacuation route. At least seventy people were killed, 1:09:38.080 --> 1:09:41.599 with hundreds more injured by the Israeli airstrikes as they 1:09:41.600 --> 1:09:45.639 were trying to follow Israel's impossible order to evacuate everyone 1:09:45.680 --> 1:09:50.160 from their homes in just twenty four hours between Netanyahu's 1:09:50.240 --> 1:09:54.280 speech and the evacuation order of northern Gaza. This leaves 1:09:54.439 --> 1:09:58.559 people questioning where exactly are these people supposed to go 1:10:00.320 --> 1:10:03.960 in Gaza told the Associated Press quote, we can't flee 1:10:04.200 --> 1:10:09.679 because anywhere you go, you are bombed. Unquote. Gaza isn't 1:10:09.680 --> 1:10:12.760 that big. It's only twenty five miles long, and it's 1:10:12.840 --> 1:10:16.600 completely surrounded by Israel and the Mediterranean Sea save for 1:10:16.760 --> 1:10:19.599 a small section on the southern tip, which borders Egypt 1:10:20.560 --> 1:10:23.960 with Israel, sealing off access to Gaza. The only way 1:10:24.040 --> 1:10:27.320 in or out is the Rafa Border Crossing, located at 1:10:27.320 --> 1:10:31.240 the southern end of the strip, bordering Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. 1:10:32.160 --> 1:10:35.599 The Rafa Crossing is a critical passage for humanitarian aid 1:10:35.880 --> 1:10:38.400 and serves as a vital gateway between Gaza and the 1:10:38.439 --> 1:10:42.240 outside world. One of the very first targets of Israeli 1:10:42.280 --> 1:10:45.240 bombing this month was the Rafa Border crossing between Gaza 1:10:45.240 --> 1:10:48.400 and Egypt. It was targeted by three air raids in 1:10:48.479 --> 1:10:52.519 a twenty four hour period, severely damaging the crossing, preventing 1:10:52.560 --> 1:10:57.000 it from operating and resulting in fatalities. There's video and 1:10:57.080 --> 1:11:00.840 audio of the bombings where you hear hundreds of people 1:11:01.040 --> 1:11:06.840 make a singular scream. It's pretty gruesome. With Israel undergoing 1:11:06.840 --> 1:11:10.479 a quote unquote complete siege of Gaza, this crossing was 1:11:10.520 --> 1:11:13.599 the only way to send humanitarian supplies into the Strip 1:11:13.920 --> 1:11:18.919 and to let willing refugees flee the assault. The Egyptian 1:11:18.960 --> 1:11:21.799 Foreign Minister has said that Israel has yet to allow 1:11:21.880 --> 1:11:25.799 the reopening of the crossing. Egypt is expected to assist 1:11:25.840 --> 1:11:29.320 in delivering humanitarian aid to Palestinians and the enclave, but 1:11:29.600 --> 1:11:33.960 it has rejected proposals to accept fleeing Palestinians into its borders. 1:11:35.240 --> 1:11:38.880 Both Egypt and Israel operate a blockade of Gaza to 1:11:38.960 --> 1:11:42.240 strictly control the passage of people and supplies going in 1:11:42.240 --> 1:11:45.639 and out of the Strip. There's no freedom of movement 1:11:45.760 --> 1:11:48.600 to enter or leave Gaza. Even when there's not a 1:11:48.640 --> 1:11:53.080 declared war. One can't simply leave Gaza. There is no 1:11:53.160 --> 1:11:56.680 Gaza airport, at least not since two US and two Historically, 1:11:56.800 --> 1:12:00.400 the Rafa border crossing into the Egyptian Peninsula was only 1:12:00.439 --> 1:12:04.160 open to the public very sporadically, and often for very 1:12:04.240 --> 1:12:09.560 narrowly defined categories such as medical patients, religious pilgrims, foreign residents, 1:12:09.680 --> 1:12:13.720 or residents of Gaza with foreign visas or passports. But 1:12:14.000 --> 1:12:15.640 I don't have to tell you how hard it is 1:12:15.680 --> 1:12:18.519 to leave Gaza even when there's not a war. Because 1:12:18.600 --> 1:12:21.840 late last year, we interviewed two Palestinians for a still 1:12:21.880 --> 1:12:25.479 upcoming episode that's being worked on. During the interview, they 1:12:25.640 --> 1:12:29.920 touched on their own experiences escaping Gaza. So we're going 1:12:30.000 --> 1:12:32.920 to play some of that interview for this episode, and 1:12:33.120 --> 1:12:37.280 I'll jump in occasionally to add some context. So here 1:12:37.360 --> 1:12:42.000 is Ahmed Matar and Abdullah al Casabre, athletes from a 1:12:42.040 --> 1:12:45.320 PK Gaza, one of the most recognized parker teams in 1:12:45.360 --> 1:12:45.880 the world. 1:12:46.439 --> 1:12:49.280 My name is Ahmad mat I'm twenty six years old. 1:12:50.760 --> 1:12:56.439 I'm from Gaza, Palestine, and I do parkour. I live 1:12:56.479 --> 1:13:01.479 at the moment tenniswit in because I'm open. Within six 1:13:01.560 --> 1:13:06.080 years ago after I got invited for the Eraword Challenge, 1:13:06.120 --> 1:13:09.920 it's a partcour competition that was organized in Sweden and Helsingburg. 1:13:10.960 --> 1:13:15.000 And yeah, since that time, I just live in Sweden 1:13:15.080 --> 1:13:18.120 because I just did not want to go back for 1:13:18.160 --> 1:13:20.920 so many reasons that we can just talk about it 1:13:21.040 --> 1:13:22.800 later in this episode. 1:13:23.720 --> 1:13:24.320 Hey, guys. 1:13:24.360 --> 1:13:25.400 I'm I'm a taddler. 1:13:26.439 --> 1:13:30.240 I'm twining, five years old and also in Barkour Athleta 1:13:31.160 --> 1:13:34.080 and I'm also right now in Italy. I got a 1:13:34.160 --> 1:13:38.479 chance to travel to Italy because I part debated in. 1:13:37.560 --> 1:13:40.800 A in a in a movie or in. 1:13:40.760 --> 1:13:45.200 A film which is the directory is in man village Girosa. 1:13:45.640 --> 1:13:49.000 He's an Italian movie. It's called more jumb But my 1:13:49.080 --> 1:13:50.960 friend he was the main character. I was one of 1:13:51.000 --> 1:13:53.000 the characters in the filma. So we got a chance 1:13:53.080 --> 1:13:57.880 to to participate in a festival in si And it 1:13:57.920 --> 1:14:01.160 wasn't really easy. It was really hard to do it 1:14:01.200 --> 1:14:06.680 because because you know, having visa Ahma as dad, it's 1:14:07.040 --> 1:14:09.840 we get a visa as a Palestinian, and especially from 1:14:09.840 --> 1:14:13.720 gether city is something really really hard. And even though 1:14:13.720 --> 1:14:16.559 it's about having the business about it, traveling outside Gaza 1:14:16.720 --> 1:14:20.040 something else. This is also other completely different story. But 1:14:20.240 --> 1:14:23.280 we could manage that, and I've been here in Italy. 1:14:23.280 --> 1:14:25.720 I came to participate in Sishida. First of all, me 1:14:25.840 --> 1:14:28.160 and my friend we managed to get shing a visa 1:14:28.160 --> 1:14:32.080 and it was just for five days. And now I'm 1:14:32.120 --> 1:14:35.840 here in Italy for almost eleven months. In the other city. 1:14:35.920 --> 1:14:39.479 You when you were there, it is not you don't 1:14:39.520 --> 1:14:43.120 really feel free as free, you know, because you're surrounded 1:14:43.160 --> 1:14:45.360 all the time by so many obstacutes, you know, which 1:14:45.400 --> 1:14:48.720 is which is really crazy and it drives even though 1:14:48.720 --> 1:14:53.000 because we were really kids and we didn't have a 1:14:53.040 --> 1:14:55.080 really good childhood somehow. 1:14:55.200 --> 1:14:57.760 Yeah, I remember since were we were kids, we were 1:14:58.680 --> 1:15:02.640 seeing that tanks or what is it called, Yeah, the 1:15:02.680 --> 1:15:05.479 tanks that bombs and we were seeing it in front 1:15:05.479 --> 1:15:09.200 of the street and we were hearing bombs and shootings. 1:15:09.280 --> 1:15:12.439 And that was before two thousand and five. That was 1:15:12.520 --> 1:15:15.840 like since I was four years I could remember all 1:15:15.880 --> 1:15:19.400 of that moments where the tanks are crossing our road 1:15:19.479 --> 1:15:24.719 and we were seeing that I attacks happening between people together, 1:15:24.840 --> 1:15:29.879 and bombs and flights and drones and and that's something 1:15:29.920 --> 1:15:35.800 that for sure affects us as a kid, that we 1:15:35.320 --> 1:15:39.080 we get the far whenever we see some bombs and 1:15:39.400 --> 1:15:41.880 just we want to hide from the bombs and we 1:15:41.920 --> 1:15:47.000 want to be close to the family. For me, all 1:15:47.040 --> 1:15:50.479 of these things that happened around me affected me that 1:15:50.560 --> 1:15:53.080 I wanted to be that guy who would like to 1:15:54.040 --> 1:15:57.800 enjoy life. In the same time, Gaza was a place 1:15:57.960 --> 1:16:03.520 that we had the situation, but we are the psychologically 1:16:03.640 --> 1:16:07.080 or how is it called, Like when you are affected 1:16:07.080 --> 1:16:11.000 by the situation where you know that you are you 1:16:11.040 --> 1:16:13.720 can be dead at a moment, or it can get 1:16:13.720 --> 1:16:16.160 a bump close to you any moment, or someone close 1:16:16.200 --> 1:16:17.080 to you who die. 1:16:18.040 --> 1:16:19.920 I mean kids the most important for the kids just 1:16:19.920 --> 1:16:26.680 there safety and we didn't have safety. The safety is 1:16:26.840 --> 1:16:29.960 what kids really want, you know all the time. I mean, 1:16:29.960 --> 1:16:31.720 when you're a kid, you just need your mom or 1:16:31.720 --> 1:16:33.760 your dad next to you because you really feel this 1:16:33.880 --> 1:16:36.840 kind of safety. But when we were kids, we couldn't 1:16:36.880 --> 1:16:39.639 have this kind of feeling because even our parents they 1:16:39.720 --> 1:16:42.680 were not really sure what might happen to us or 1:16:42.680 --> 1:16:45.080 to them, so how they will protect us. So it's 1:16:45.120 --> 1:16:47.840 not really easy for anyone to protect the others. You know, 1:16:48.680 --> 1:16:53.920 no one able to you know, to do that. That's 1:16:53.920 --> 1:16:59.560 something affected us for sure, like because we we we 1:16:59.840 --> 1:17:03.360 we grown up in such things like that. Maybe for 1:17:03.520 --> 1:17:05.720 me an hour, if you were talking about this is 1:17:05.760 --> 1:17:08.400 maybe something usual, which is something normal, because I really 1:17:08.400 --> 1:17:10.560 good used to it somehow, which is not normal. I 1:17:10.600 --> 1:17:12.759 mean it should have been normal for anyone, but for us, 1:17:12.800 --> 1:17:14.720 you know, we could it kind of normal because it's 1:17:14.800 --> 1:17:18.000 kind of we used to and now when I really 1:17:19.200 --> 1:17:22.720 because before I was really kids, so I didn't know 1:17:22.760 --> 1:17:25.840 what but it's really going on. I was really terrified 1:17:26.640 --> 1:17:28.400 and I was really scared, and I didn't know what 1:17:28.479 --> 1:17:31.160 is really going to happen. But now when I'm kind 1:17:31.160 --> 1:17:32.800 of an adult and I know what is really going 1:17:32.840 --> 1:17:35.799 on and I see the kids when when because for example, 1:17:35.840 --> 1:17:38.479 the last four especially when I'm even outside, guess that 1:17:38.520 --> 1:17:41.800 it's completely completely different, you know, because when you're inside 1:17:41.840 --> 1:17:44.760 Gaza with your family and your friends top apply, it's 1:17:44.800 --> 1:17:48.720 really different. But now when I can see how the 1:17:48.800 --> 1:17:51.960 kids they are screaming, how the kids they they they 1:17:51.960 --> 1:17:54.200 have this kind of feeling, you know that you know, 1:17:54.560 --> 1:17:57.640 they are really ter fired with the pomps because they 1:17:57.640 --> 1:18:00.880 are sneaks to them. So I can really myself and 1:18:00.920 --> 1:18:03.479 I just go through back, you know, the. 1:18:05.479 --> 1:18:06.880 Memory of the stories. 1:18:06.479 --> 1:18:09.160 That really happened via the memories, a lot of memories 1:18:09.200 --> 1:18:11.960 before about that it was really crazy. 1:18:13.080 --> 1:18:15.080 We're going to go on a quick ad break, but 1:18:15.160 --> 1:18:18.759 when we get back, Ahmed will talk about his long 1:18:18.840 --> 1:18:24.559 experience trying to leave Gaza. When Ahmed was younger, he 1:18:24.640 --> 1:18:28.360 began to share videos online of his athletic skills, slowly 1:18:28.400 --> 1:18:33.519 gaining notoriety around the world for his pretty impressive parker ability. 1:18:33.600 --> 1:18:37.040 Soon both himself and Pik Gaza were being invited around 1:18:37.040 --> 1:18:39.880 the world to perform a parker or to enter into 1:18:39.920 --> 1:18:43.959 parker competitions. P k Gaza was invited to the Arabian 1:18:44.000 --> 1:18:47.559 TV show Arabs Got Talent, but they were unable to 1:18:47.600 --> 1:18:50.920 go on the program due to difficulties traveling outside Gaza. 1:18:51.760 --> 1:18:54.719 During this time period, the Rafa border crossing into Egypt 1:18:55.120 --> 1:18:57.439 was only open around six times a year and for 1:18:57.520 --> 1:19:00.719 only a few days. To catch a flight out of Egypt, 1:19:00.800 --> 1:19:03.160 you need to have all of your proper paperwork, tickets, 1:19:03.640 --> 1:19:07.000 and a valid visa which lines up perfectly for when 1:19:07.160 --> 1:19:10.920 the Rafa border crossing happens to be open, and you 1:19:11.040 --> 1:19:12.880 have to also hope that you're not in the back 1:19:12.880 --> 1:19:15.120 of the line to get through the border crossing because 1:19:15.120 --> 1:19:17.559 they only let a certain number of people through each day. 1:19:18.240 --> 1:19:21.519 Ahmed was invited to participate in the Red Bull Parker 1:19:21.680 --> 1:19:24.920 Challenge in China and even successfully got a visa to travel, 1:19:25.280 --> 1:19:28.160 but wasn't able to leave Gaza because the Rafa border 1:19:28.160 --> 1:19:32.240 crossing was closed during the timeframe when the visa was valid. 1:19:33.000 --> 1:19:36.360 The US based World Free Running and Parker Federation tried 1:19:36.400 --> 1:19:39.320 to help Ahmed travel to the United States to participate 1:19:39.600 --> 1:19:43.680 in the wfpf's twenty sixteen competition in Las Vegas, but 1:19:43.920 --> 1:19:47.720 Ahmed was unable to get an American travel visa due 1:19:47.760 --> 1:19:51.000 to long wait times to use the Northern border crossing 1:19:51.160 --> 1:19:54.160 into Jerusalem, and even if you did manage to get 1:19:54.160 --> 1:19:56.920 into Israel, it was quite difficult to receive a US 1:19:57.000 --> 1:20:01.519 travel visa as applicants were frequently denied. A park Ori 1:20:01.560 --> 1:20:05.280 Gym in Italy frequently invited Ahmed to participate in their 1:20:05.400 --> 1:20:09.560 summer and winter events, but the Italian embassy denied requests 1:20:09.600 --> 1:20:14.280 for a travel visa three times. In late twenty sixteen, 1:20:14.520 --> 1:20:18.640 Ahmed got invited to the Air Whip Parkour Challenge in Sweden, 1:20:19.240 --> 1:20:21.640 and with the help of some Swedish friends, he was 1:20:21.640 --> 1:20:26.160 able to secure a travel visa in just two weeks. Unfortunately, 1:20:26.320 --> 1:20:30.160 when Ahmed got the visa, the Rafa crossing was closed, 1:20:30.600 --> 1:20:33.600 but by pure luck, just one day later it was 1:20:33.640 --> 1:20:37.720 announced that the crossing would be reopening. When he went 1:20:37.760 --> 1:20:40.519 to the crossing, he learned that there were thirty thousand 1:20:40.560 --> 1:20:44.320 people in line in front of him. With the crossing 1:20:44.400 --> 1:20:47.719 only set to be opened briefly and the temporary visa 1:20:47.760 --> 1:20:52.000 set to expire, it was not looking great. After a 1:20:52.200 --> 1:20:55.599 very challenging series of events that Ahmed is about to explain, 1:20:56.120 --> 1:20:59.200 he was able to get to Sweden and just last 1:20:59.240 --> 1:21:01.960 year he started in a play about his own life 1:21:02.280 --> 1:21:05.240 and his journey traveling from Gaza to Sweden. 1:21:05.800 --> 1:21:08.080 Tell us a little bit about this. This is going 1:21:08.120 --> 1:21:09.880 to be a play about your life that they're doing 1:21:09.920 --> 1:21:10.439 in Sweden. 1:21:11.240 --> 1:21:13.760 So we have had the premiere for the play in 1:21:15.160 --> 1:21:18.840 ninth of May. So we have been doing the show 1:21:18.920 --> 1:21:22.440 for a while now, like we have had eight performances 1:21:22.479 --> 1:21:27.920 at the moment, and the play is about me with 1:21:28.080 --> 1:21:32.400 my family and then my friends from Peking Gaza. I 1:21:32.479 --> 1:21:35.840 also talks about the journey from Gaza to Sweden, which 1:21:36.000 --> 1:21:39.920 was the biggest part of the play. That yeah, talking 1:21:40.320 --> 1:21:46.560 exactly about how it is to face the visa embassy, 1:21:47.360 --> 1:21:50.920 Egyptian control, Egyptian security when we get out of Gaza, 1:21:51.000 --> 1:21:54.559 that they have to also a Palestinian side that they 1:21:54.600 --> 1:21:57.160 have to interview. Was every like I have if I 1:21:57.200 --> 1:22:00.840 have the visa. Let's say I got the visa after 1:22:00.960 --> 1:22:04.360 some tries, then I have to apply for the trouble 1:22:04.400 --> 1:22:07.120 which I have to stand in the queue behind all 1:22:07.160 --> 1:22:10.680 of that people who already applied before me, which is 1:22:10.800 --> 1:22:15.960 imagine nine thirty one thousand, Mike, you number is thirty thousand. 1:22:16.000 --> 1:22:19.479 Then I have to wait. And okay, let's say I 1:22:19.560 --> 1:22:22.280 got in front of all of that people and today 1:22:22.320 --> 1:22:25.400 I am here in the Palestinian side. Then this Palestinian side, 1:22:25.400 --> 1:22:29.240 then RAPA orders have to interview me and check all 1:22:30.960 --> 1:22:33.640 why do I need to travel? Show me your documents 1:22:33.920 --> 1:22:36.840 if I have any mistaken my documents, and I go 1:22:36.920 --> 1:22:39.000 back to Gaza. Even if all my documents, I have 1:22:39.080 --> 1:22:41.080 the vision and everything. And then if you don't want 1:22:41.120 --> 1:22:44.759 me to travel, then I have to stay in Gaza. Okay, 1:22:44.800 --> 1:22:47.880 let's say I did best the Palestinian side. I am 1:22:47.960 --> 1:22:52.720 in the Egyptian security side, and there one time the 1:22:52.760 --> 1:22:56.519 Egyptian security sent me back to Gaza after waiting. I 1:22:56.640 --> 1:23:00.320 have the visa and I was like, no, what are 1:23:00.360 --> 1:23:02.240 you going to do? I'm going to do parkour. I 1:23:02.280 --> 1:23:05.040 have a poor competition. Now what is parkour? 1:23:06.400 --> 1:23:06.679 Jump? 1:23:07.320 --> 1:23:10.439 Oh, then you go jump back in Gaza. 1:23:10.800 --> 1:23:12.960 I have to go back, and my. 1:23:13.000 --> 1:23:15.320 Family did not expect I would be backing as because 1:23:15.360 --> 1:23:18.040 I was at home around five am in the morning, 1:23:18.720 --> 1:23:22.240 and that was a whole day, like waiting to get 1:23:22.280 --> 1:23:25.160 to the Egyptian side, and then from there he send 1:23:25.240 --> 1:23:31.080 me back and yeah, and the end, I mean, without 1:23:31.120 --> 1:23:33.400 the help I could, I would not have travel because 1:23:34.479 --> 1:23:37.000 thirty thousand people in front of me. I have the 1:23:37.080 --> 1:23:40.599 Q number, but I am behind them, and I have 1:23:40.680 --> 1:23:44.040 the visa that will expire in two days. Like let's 1:23:44.080 --> 1:23:46.760 say that it starts in two days and it will 1:23:46.800 --> 1:23:50.400 expire in twenty days. And if I don't travel in 1:23:50.439 --> 1:23:52.840 this twenty days, my visa will expire, and then I 1:23:52.880 --> 1:23:57.599 cannot travel with him. And the only thing I had 1:23:57.640 --> 1:23:59.960 to do was like going to the crossing the first 1:24:00.160 --> 1:24:02.960 day with my father. He went with me and we 1:24:03.160 --> 1:24:06.320 just stand there in front of the crossing. It's you know, 1:24:06.439 --> 1:24:08.719 there is a control, there is a list with names 1:24:08.760 --> 1:24:13.240 that you cannot really cross if you don't get any help. 1:24:13.760 --> 1:24:16.479 So I go there and then we just waited around 1:24:16.560 --> 1:24:19.320 six hours, me and my father. Then the sunset came 1:24:19.360 --> 1:24:21.639 and good dark, and then he was like, I cannot 1:24:21.680 --> 1:24:23.760 do anything. We have to go back, and then we 1:24:23.840 --> 1:24:26.840 went back home. The day after my fight, tell my 1:24:26.880 --> 1:24:29.120 father list can we go, I have to travel, I 1:24:29.120 --> 1:24:32.200 have the visa. I just will explore. And then he 1:24:32.320 --> 1:24:35.920 was like, well, I cannot do anything. He don't know 1:24:35.960 --> 1:24:39.599 what he will do, my father. So I told him, okay, 1:24:39.640 --> 1:24:43.320 I will go for the guy. We have a guy 1:24:43.320 --> 1:24:46.639 close to us, like let's say my neighbor, but he's 1:24:46.680 --> 1:24:49.600 a far neighbor. And he was the manager of the 1:24:49.640 --> 1:24:57.040 crossings between us, like managing of coordinating the visas or 1:24:57.200 --> 1:25:00.360 like the last between US and Egypt. So he can 1:25:00.760 --> 1:25:04.240 really do whatever he wants. He can enter Egypt whenever 1:25:04.320 --> 1:25:07.479 he wants. He's a very friend between Egyptians. So he's 1:25:07.479 --> 1:25:10.680 the manager of the christ he's the boss. So I 1:25:10.760 --> 1:25:13.320 go to him and I wait him outside his car. 1:25:13.479 --> 1:25:16.559 Like so, I was close to his car waiting him 1:25:16.560 --> 1:25:18.960 to get out of his home. I know he goes 1:25:19.040 --> 1:25:21.400 to his work around eight in the morning. Then I 1:25:21.439 --> 1:25:23.439 wake up at seven in the morning and I go 1:25:23.600 --> 1:25:25.840 there waiting him to come to his car. I see 1:25:25.880 --> 1:25:27.720 his car. Then I was really happy that he did 1:25:27.760 --> 1:25:30.439 not leave to his work, and I knew that he's 1:25:30.479 --> 1:25:33.720 still there and I was waiting waiting, and then he 1:25:33.880 --> 1:25:36.680 came and then I show him my visa and I 1:25:36.760 --> 1:25:39.439 really have to travel the competition and they have to 1:25:39.520 --> 1:25:44.080 join this competition. And then he was like, okay, but 1:25:44.439 --> 1:25:48.680 do you have the Q number? Yes, but I am 1:25:48.720 --> 1:25:51.559 the last in the list. Okay, but how will we do? 1:25:51.640 --> 1:25:54.360 I cannot tell you, but I have already. I told 1:25:54.439 --> 1:25:56.800 him I have already been into Egypt before, but the 1:25:56.840 --> 1:26:00.600 Egyptian security sent me back to Gaza and he told me, 1:26:00.640 --> 1:26:05.040 do you have the registration of that the time you travel? 1:26:05.040 --> 1:26:07.280 And I told him yes, and did have that time 1:26:07.320 --> 1:26:09.960 and it was okay, follow me to the crossing. I 1:26:10.000 --> 1:26:13.240 told him, yeah, but I can I go with you 1:26:13.280 --> 1:26:15.599 in your car so you don't forget me when you 1:26:15.600 --> 1:26:20.360 go there. Because he's very like beoble just run after 1:26:20.439 --> 1:26:25.439 him and a crossing mariandn there. I had to tell 1:26:25.520 --> 1:26:28.080 me I want to go with you, and he said yes, okay, 1:26:28.880 --> 1:26:31.519 you can come with me. And then he told me, 1:26:31.560 --> 1:26:34.000 but you cannot stop. I told him, can I stop 1:26:34.040 --> 1:26:36.200 her and say goodbye to my family first? Because they 1:26:36.240 --> 1:26:38.360 did not know that I will travel. I just took 1:26:38.400 --> 1:26:41.160 a very small bag with me in case I really 1:26:41.200 --> 1:26:44.479 had like a tack bag with me and he said yeah, 1:26:44.520 --> 1:26:47.040 but you cannot stop. I have to go now. And 1:26:47.040 --> 1:26:50.040 then I was okay. I called my mom, Mom, he's 1:26:50.080 --> 1:26:53.720 going to help me, and but I cannot stop say goodbye. 1:26:54.640 --> 1:26:58.040 And then yeah, I went to the crossing and he 1:26:58.120 --> 1:27:01.160 put me into like a viv that I had to 1:27:01.200 --> 1:27:04.960 go like in a very special past that was just 1:27:05.120 --> 1:27:09.960 five people in it. And I was very like respected 1:27:10.000 --> 1:27:13.559 by the control there and there was like I got 1:27:13.600 --> 1:27:16.120 all the way today to Egypt. And in Egypt, I 1:27:16.160 --> 1:27:18.640 really met the same guy that he also asked me 1:27:18.720 --> 1:27:24.200 about parkour and he was like, oh you And then 1:27:24.360 --> 1:27:26.960 my friend, the guy, the manager of the crossing told 1:27:26.960 --> 1:27:31.040 me I show him what parkour is. I really had 1:27:31.040 --> 1:27:33.960 to go slept for him. I did a workster in 1:27:34.080 --> 1:27:37.680 that room where he the control chick and I was 1:27:37.720 --> 1:27:41.200 oh wow, so cool. Okay, here is the stamp enter 1:27:41.280 --> 1:27:46.679 to Egypt. But I had to go into that airport. 1:27:46.800 --> 1:27:49.480 He did not know. You know, the Egyptian don't understand 1:27:49.479 --> 1:27:52.680 the visa, like if if it's in the visa, it 1:27:52.760 --> 1:27:56.840 says that it's gonna be valid in this day, if 1:27:56.880 --> 1:27:59.439 it's valid in this like imagine I get the visa 1:27:59.479 --> 1:28:02.600 today but it's not valid yet. But the crossing is 1:28:02.640 --> 1:28:05.320 opened today and tomorrow and the day after I have 1:28:05.439 --> 1:28:07.599 to travel in these three days, then the crossing will 1:28:07.680 --> 1:28:10.920 close for another six months, so I had to travel 1:28:10.920 --> 1:28:13.519 in them days otherwise I will lose my visa. So 1:28:14.600 --> 1:28:17.679 my visa was not valid at that time. I traveled 1:28:17.720 --> 1:28:20.880 from Kasas, so he thought that it's valid. 1:28:21.000 --> 1:28:22.200 So he was, oh, go to. 1:28:22.160 --> 1:28:24.840 The airport now and travel from there. He thought that 1:28:24.880 --> 1:28:27.519 I can travel to Europe directly, but if my visa 1:28:27.560 --> 1:28:30.320 is not valid, Europe would not let me in. So 1:28:30.400 --> 1:28:33.120 I had to stay in the airport that time that 1:28:33.360 --> 1:28:36.599 my visa was not valid, which was five days, and 1:28:36.680 --> 1:28:42.160 then and I traveled, but I had to wait in 1:28:42.160 --> 1:28:44.679 the airport because he did not understand my visa. 1:28:46.320 --> 1:28:48.960 No one should have to do a Webster front flip 1:28:49.000 --> 1:28:52.719 to cross a border. Because there was still one week 1:28:52.840 --> 1:28:56.720 left until the visa became a valid, Egyptian security sent 1:28:56.720 --> 1:28:59.280 Ahmed straight to the airport to wait for the week. 1:29:00.000 --> 1:29:02.800 While in limbo at the airport, the Egyptian authorities locked 1:29:02.840 --> 1:29:05.760 him in a small room without his phone or his 1:29:05.840 --> 1:29:11.520 belongings until the visa became valid. After many harsh difficulties 1:29:11.560 --> 1:29:18.360 and compounding inconveniences, Ahmed boarded his plane for Europe. Ahmed 1:29:18.439 --> 1:29:21.240 has built a life for himself in Sweden. He's been 1:29:21.240 --> 1:29:24.679 teaching parkour classes there for years now. In fact, that's 1:29:24.720 --> 1:29:27.519 how the play came about. The mother of one of 1:29:27.520 --> 1:29:30.479 his students is a theater director and she became interested 1:29:30.520 --> 1:29:34.639 in his story. By his account, life is much better 1:29:34.680 --> 1:29:37.559 for him now, but he still is not free to 1:29:37.760 --> 1:29:39.920 see his own family or to go back to his 1:29:40.000 --> 1:29:43.760 original home. Getting into Gaza is almost as hard as 1:29:43.880 --> 1:29:44.880 getting out of Gaza. 1:29:45.439 --> 1:29:49.920 And hopefully you guys can get back into your family's too, 1:29:49.960 --> 1:29:53.720 because I know that must be read difficult, being separated 1:29:53.760 --> 1:29:55.000 and not being able to get back. 1:29:55.640 --> 1:29:58.439 Yeah, it's been six years almost. 1:29:58.160 --> 1:29:58.720 Jesus man. 1:29:59.680 --> 1:30:01.360 Yeah, that's really hard, you know. 1:30:01.600 --> 1:30:06.960 Dramaton the Theater. I've invited my brother and luckily he 1:30:07.080 --> 1:30:10.439 got the visa from first time. He got help from 1:30:10.439 --> 1:30:14.280 the same guy and that helped me and asked him 1:30:14.320 --> 1:30:16.920 and he put him into a special vest. He traveled 1:30:17.000 --> 1:30:20.959 from Gaza with having doing and then now he's here and. 1:30:20.880 --> 1:30:23.000 Oh wow, he didn't have to be a backflip in 1:30:23.040 --> 1:30:23.519 the visa. 1:30:24.720 --> 1:30:26.920 I did not, because he's an artist and he had 1:30:26.960 --> 1:30:30.559 the visa and everything. So he got the visa because 1:30:30.840 --> 1:30:34.840 in dramat and the Theater Center invited him to be 1:30:34.920 --> 1:30:38.280 a part of the show with his cool piece of 1:30:38.360 --> 1:30:44.320 fabric that he drove. True. Yeah, Alla, the same way 1:30:44.400 --> 1:30:48.479 with the travel and you know, if you don't have 1:30:48.560 --> 1:30:50.880 someone to help you, you would not travel. 1:30:51.680 --> 1:30:53.280 Yeah, it shouldn't be that way. 1:30:53.880 --> 1:30:56.439 Abdulla had to get it also help because his visa 1:30:56.439 --> 1:31:01.680 also was also one week and one week and he 1:31:01.800 --> 1:31:04.000 had to prove that week and he's named the last 1:31:04.040 --> 1:31:04.519 of the place. 1:31:05.920 --> 1:31:09.280 Unfortunately, Abdullah had some internet issues and some of the 1:31:09.320 --> 1:31:13.080 audio isn't usable. But he similarly only made it out 1:31:13.080 --> 1:31:15.960 of Gaza because he had a friend who had a 1:31:16.000 --> 1:31:20.160 contact at the Italian consulate. When Abdullah tried to apply 1:31:20.280 --> 1:31:24.200 for the visa, the office wasn't taking any more applications, 1:31:24.640 --> 1:31:27.360 but this friend was able to explain Abdullah's situation to 1:31:27.400 --> 1:31:30.840 the consulate and they decided to give him a travel visa. 1:31:30.880 --> 1:31:33.639 Abdullah also had to travel through Egypt and was forced 1:31:33.640 --> 1:31:35.719 to stay in a small present cell for three days 1:31:35.720 --> 1:31:39.160 without food or water. Once he got to the Cairo airport, 1:31:39.520 --> 1:31:43.400 the German airline he was booked on refused to accept 1:31:43.400 --> 1:31:47.160 his paperwork because they didn't want the responsibility of stamping 1:31:47.200 --> 1:31:51.480 his passport with the alternative of just going back to Gaza. 1:31:51.600 --> 1:31:54.559 Abdullah was able to find a manager of sorts and 1:31:54.720 --> 1:31:58.160 explain his situation with the travel visa and needing to 1:31:58.320 --> 1:32:01.920 go to this film premiere or this Parkhorp thing. You know, 1:32:02.240 --> 1:32:06.080 it's not the easiest thing to explain, not everyone knows 1:32:06.160 --> 1:32:09.880 what parkhor is, but the manager was sympathetic, and then, 1:32:10.400 --> 1:32:13.599 just like what happened with Abed, they requested a Parkourt 1:32:13.640 --> 1:32:17.639 demonstration to see if this guy was actually telling the truth. 1:32:18.280 --> 1:32:22.040 So the already exhausted Abdullah did a backflip in the 1:32:22.080 --> 1:32:25.680 airport as he was recovering from the COVID vaccine, and 1:32:25.720 --> 1:32:29.719 then the manager, seemingly satisfied, transferred him from this German 1:32:29.720 --> 1:32:32.880 airline to an Egyptian airline and he was able to 1:32:32.920 --> 1:32:35.879 make it to Italy and escape the prison of Gaza. 1:32:36.600 --> 1:32:39.360 When you're anyone who's a prison, the only thing that 1:32:39.400 --> 1:32:41.160 he thinks about, I mean, when you're a prisoner for 1:32:41.200 --> 1:32:43.519 the whole life, I mean, the only thing they think 1:32:43.560 --> 1:32:45.479 about is just how to escape. No, I mean that's 1:32:45.479 --> 1:32:49.000 normally because you just want to be free, because you're 1:32:49.040 --> 1:32:49.479 a prison. 1:32:49.680 --> 1:32:52.519 I've never been into the prisons, I. 1:32:52.479 --> 1:32:55.000 Mean I've never No, we both say. 1:32:55.760 --> 1:32:58.000 I mean, I've been to the Brazen of Gaza, but 1:32:58.120 --> 1:32:58.400 not the. 1:32:58.439 --> 1:33:02.880 Real exact That's exactly what I mean. So we both 1:33:03.240 --> 1:33:06.120 we were in a prison which is open, big prison, 1:33:06.479 --> 1:33:09.000 and the only way that we were thinking about is 1:33:09.360 --> 1:33:12.600 help to get out of that. And the only was 1:33:12.680 --> 1:33:14.840 really possible is just to use per food as an 1:33:14.880 --> 1:33:18.320 opportunity for us so we can get our freedom. And 1:33:18.400 --> 1:33:21.760 somehow now you're in Sweden. Im in Italy, we have 1:33:21.880 --> 1:33:24.200 this scant freedom, but at the same time it's really 1:33:24.280 --> 1:33:27.240 hard because our family is all friends and everyone. We 1:33:27.400 --> 1:33:32.440 still connected, not freedom, so it's still connected. 1:33:32.920 --> 1:33:35.120 Like I mean, I was trying to meet my family 1:33:35.200 --> 1:33:39.439 last in this summer and I applied for the Egyptian visa. 1:33:40.200 --> 1:33:43.120 Because I still don't have the Swedish passports, I have 1:33:43.280 --> 1:33:47.760 to apply as a Palestinian to go back or to 1:33:47.840 --> 1:33:51.320 visit Egypt. So I applied for the Egyptian visa to 1:33:51.400 --> 1:33:54.840 visit my family because my mother was in Egypt and 1:33:54.960 --> 1:33:59.439 so there to to attend the marriage of my actem. 1:33:59.600 --> 1:34:06.120 But she was there in Egypt with my sister and 1:34:06.280 --> 1:34:08.720 the yeah, I applied for the visa. I never with 1:34:08.880 --> 1:34:12.840 the visa, so I have to it's like I'm not 1:34:13.120 --> 1:34:19.799 free yet. I mean, yeah, I will get the Swedish 1:34:19.880 --> 1:34:22.679 passport soon. I don't know when, but I'm sure it's 1:34:22.720 --> 1:34:24.840 not more than six months from now, because I have 1:34:24.920 --> 1:34:29.400 been applying. I have applied six months ago and it's 1:34:29.520 --> 1:34:32.080 usually not more than a year to get the decity. 1:34:32.280 --> 1:34:36.640 And usually it's accepted if you have everything correct in 1:34:36.640 --> 1:34:41.280 the country, like if you're legal and you pay attacks working, 1:34:41.360 --> 1:34:45.200 you're studying and another language, I'm good there, Just like 1:34:45.320 --> 1:34:47.160 I have to wait so in the end I will 1:34:47.160 --> 1:34:49.559 be able to meet them. I would not be able 1:34:49.560 --> 1:34:53.760 to I would not say I will be free to 1:34:53.960 --> 1:34:57.800 enter Gazza whenever I want, because yeah, to enter gas 1:34:57.840 --> 1:34:59.840 at the moment I hear from people, it takes like 1:35:00.560 --> 1:35:03.360 three to four days and you suffer in the way, 1:35:03.640 --> 1:35:06.240 just like you have to stay in the car these 1:35:06.280 --> 1:35:11.600 three days and every thousand kilometers one thousand meters to 1:35:11.760 --> 1:35:15.200 get to stop by a control like a road control 1:35:15.280 --> 1:35:18.479 that they need to check everything you have, every bag 1:35:18.520 --> 1:35:21.479 you have take it out in the road and you 1:35:21.560 --> 1:35:25.120 have put it back by yourself, and then the car 1:35:25.200 --> 1:35:29.160 continues another another control, and then in the end you 1:35:29.320 --> 1:35:31.320 arrive like Gaza and you say this is the worst 1:35:31.320 --> 1:35:36.759 part of my trouble because because they don't want to 1:35:36.800 --> 1:35:39.000 do it again, they don't want to get together and 1:35:39.479 --> 1:35:42.519 suffer the same way again and the same to get 1:35:42.600 --> 1:35:45.280 out of Gaza. To get out of Gaza. I mean, 1:35:45.360 --> 1:35:48.760 if I have the Swedish passport, for sure I will 1:35:48.840 --> 1:35:53.200 have I will have the best trouble from Gaza without 1:35:54.000 --> 1:35:56.479 worrying about getting a pieza or not. But in the 1:35:56.520 --> 1:35:59.800 same time, yeah, I need to wait an aqueue. When 1:35:59.840 --> 1:36:02.400 well I traveled, When I will be able to travel 1:36:02.439 --> 1:36:04.719 from Gaza, is it like going to be one month, 1:36:04.880 --> 1:36:08.719 two months, three months, because it's like thousands of people 1:36:08.720 --> 1:36:10.920 who want to travel, and it just they allow five 1:36:11.040 --> 1:36:15.600 hundred people a day and that's maximum. And then I 1:36:16.040 --> 1:36:18.439 don't allow any more of that people. And then also 1:36:18.680 --> 1:36:23.360 they they closed the crossing at any moment. And I 1:36:23.400 --> 1:36:26.200 remember the time I traveled from Gaza, was the crossing 1:36:26.400 --> 1:36:29.680 was closed for six months to three six months and 1:36:29.760 --> 1:36:34.000 it was none it was not open at all, and 1:36:34.040 --> 1:36:37.320 there was start thirty one thousand people in the front 1:36:37.360 --> 1:36:40.000 of me in the queue, thirty one thousand, So I 1:36:40.000 --> 1:36:42.120 imagine like I was the last person in the queue 1:36:42.120 --> 1:36:44.960 and they have to wait all of these people to travel, 1:36:45.560 --> 1:36:48.280 and the crossing was open just the three days every 1:36:48.360 --> 1:36:52.760 three months. That means like in this three days, it's 1:36:52.800 --> 1:36:55.639 one thousand, five hundred. When is the rest gonna travel? 1:36:56.439 --> 1:36:59.160 When will I have to travel? And imagine you have 1:36:59.280 --> 1:37:04.320 a visa that is valid for like ten days. If 1:37:04.360 --> 1:37:06.640 you get the visa just for everything in Europe that 1:37:06.800 --> 1:37:09.519 is just three days, and then you get the visa 1:37:09.560 --> 1:37:12.640 for ten days, and then if you don't travel in 1:37:12.680 --> 1:37:15.240 that ten days, your visa get expired, and then you 1:37:15.240 --> 1:37:18.280 have to apply for a new visa. And then after 1:37:18.360 --> 1:37:21.120 that you have to wait because if you get refused visa, 1:37:21.560 --> 1:37:24.160 you cannot apply directly. You have to wait six three 1:37:24.200 --> 1:37:27.600 to six months and then you can apply for the 1:37:27.640 --> 1:37:32.120 new visa. So it's really terrible, Like I don't want 1:37:32.160 --> 1:37:34.320 to go through all of that process again. And that's 1:37:34.320 --> 1:37:38.080 why I decide stay in Sweden and work in Sweden 1:37:38.120 --> 1:37:42.080 and get a Swedish citizenship where I can travel freely 1:37:42.120 --> 1:37:45.920 without worrying about oh, getting a visa or not. And 1:37:46.000 --> 1:37:48.760 because till now, because I'm not Swedish, I have to 1:37:49.400 --> 1:37:51.680 think about getting a visa or not. Will I be 1:37:51.720 --> 1:37:56.479 refuse vicea or not? And even Egyptian embassy refuse my 1:37:56.600 --> 1:38:00.400 visa and they did not even answer me. Call them 1:38:00.400 --> 1:38:02.720 every day, did I give the visa? When will you 1:38:02.760 --> 1:38:05.040 give me the visa? I go to their office here 1:38:05.040 --> 1:38:08.200 in Stockholm. The end, they're like, oh, you have to 1:38:08.240 --> 1:38:10.479 call us, send us an email, and I call and 1:38:10.560 --> 1:38:13.200 send the in. Oh, we will call you when you 1:38:13.200 --> 1:38:15.559 get the visa. But will you call me that if 1:38:15.600 --> 1:38:18.040 I don't get the visa. No, we will call you 1:38:18.080 --> 1:38:23.559 when you get the visa, Okay. And then they said 1:38:23.560 --> 1:38:25.080 to my mom, I'm not coming to the Egypt. 1:38:26.760 --> 1:38:29.960 Yeah, that sounds rough. And I know for a long 1:38:30.000 --> 1:38:33.040 time Abdallah was in Ghaza when you were in Sweden, right, 1:38:33.080 --> 1:38:35.880 and Abdellah was trying to get the visa to travel. 1:38:36.160 --> 1:38:38.200 Last time we spoke, you hadn't been able to get one. 1:38:38.240 --> 1:38:40.439 So I'm glad you did. I'm glad you're now a 1:38:40.439 --> 1:38:40.880 film star. 1:38:41.520 --> 1:38:44.920 You have been applying many times. Yeah, I remember we 1:38:45.439 --> 1:38:47.920 went together many times. And they also like there is 1:38:47.960 --> 1:38:51.240 a weird and also invited him and you had also 1:38:51.400 --> 1:38:55.200 and they got refused visa. And I'm sure he applied 1:38:55.200 --> 1:38:59.240 befo as to Italy and he applied for England. Yeah, 1:39:00.920 --> 1:39:05.559 I also applied Italy, I got refused Italian visa around 1:39:05.600 --> 1:39:12.280 four times, and I got the refused visa from Norway Oslo. 1:39:13.400 --> 1:39:19.760 I got an event in two thousand thirteen and USA 1:39:20.080 --> 1:39:25.280 fight did me like for Las Vegas, and WFTF invited 1:39:25.320 --> 1:39:28.639 me for an event in Las Vegas that I could 1:39:28.680 --> 1:39:36.320 not make, and also Germany Hamburg and Hanover invited me. 1:39:36.560 --> 1:39:39.800 And there was many events that I could not make. 1:39:41.200 --> 1:39:42.880 In the end, I could make it to airwork. But 1:39:43.000 --> 1:39:45.080 the first year of the airwork like they invited me 1:39:45.120 --> 1:39:49.519 twenty fifteen and I applied for the visa, I did 1:39:49.560 --> 1:39:52.080 not get it. And then the year after twenty sixteen 1:39:52.120 --> 1:39:55.240 and got the visa because I had the help also 1:39:55.240 --> 1:39:59.600 from another private invitation. So I got double invitations that 1:40:00.120 --> 1:40:05.479 it made it stronger for the consulate and the embassy 1:40:05.560 --> 1:40:09.599 in jury residence the visa and it was like yeah, 1:40:09.640 --> 1:40:14.320 it was twenty one days visa and directly when I 1:40:14.439 --> 1:40:16.880 arrived with and I was like, my friends knew I 1:40:16.920 --> 1:40:19.400 don't want to go back. So they taught me to 1:40:19.439 --> 1:40:24.040 the migration office in Helsingborg in Malmo and there I 1:40:24.120 --> 1:40:27.920 extended my visa for six months first and in that 1:40:28.120 --> 1:40:31.960 six months I wanted to work and stay here. So 1:40:32.080 --> 1:40:36.360 I started to look for a job and I started 1:40:36.400 --> 1:40:38.960 my own job actually like start to work with hardcore 1:40:39.120 --> 1:40:43.640 or myself, like making classes that I was teaching in English, 1:40:43.960 --> 1:40:47.479 and I had one of the students translating to the 1:40:47.600 --> 1:40:52.599 kids in Swedish, so he was getting three classes. It 1:40:52.640 --> 1:40:55.240 was tough at that time. I was like it was 1:40:55.320 --> 1:40:57.479 hard for him also to translate because he was not 1:40:57.640 --> 1:41:02.560 more than thirteen years old, who was so shy and everything, 1:41:02.800 --> 1:41:07.839 and I was forest forrest. You learned the Swedish language 1:41:07.880 --> 1:41:11.360 because of that, because I wanted to work, and I 1:41:11.520 --> 1:41:15.840 just started to know hands, head and the food, knee, 1:41:16.080 --> 1:41:19.200 and it was easy because it was similar to English. 1:41:19.240 --> 1:41:22.559 And by the time the kids had taught me to 1:41:22.600 --> 1:41:25.559 speak Swedish at the moment because it was the only 1:41:25.600 --> 1:41:28.200 way I learned Swedish. It was my way to learn 1:41:28.280 --> 1:41:30.760 Swedish was I was the kids all the time. The 1:41:30.840 --> 1:41:34.920 kids language was the easiest to take, like to back out, 1:41:34.960 --> 1:41:37.599 because the kids have a simple language that you can 1:41:37.720 --> 1:41:41.600 really learn it much faster than talking with another that 1:41:41.720 --> 1:41:46.839 talked really fast and talking very advanced Swedish. I dreamed 1:41:46.840 --> 1:41:49.840 to travel from Gaza and then I made it. I 1:41:49.880 --> 1:41:52.360 did travel from Gaza and then you think, Okay, what 1:41:52.360 --> 1:41:55.559 do I want to make next? And then I I 1:41:55.600 --> 1:41:58.120 want to work with Packport, and then I started working 1:41:58.160 --> 1:42:01.240 with Pakport. I never expected that I would be in 1:42:01.320 --> 1:42:05.479 the biggest theater stage in Sweden. A then I am 1:42:05.520 --> 1:42:08.320 here in the biggest theater stage in Sweden. That's just 1:42:08.439 --> 1:42:11.200 like being able to come and watch my store and 1:42:11.280 --> 1:42:14.439 watch me perform in Parkour and telling nice story to 1:42:14.439 --> 1:42:16.960 the It's like I never think thought about it, but 1:42:17.160 --> 1:42:18.560 just Parkour brought back to me. 1:42:19.560 --> 1:42:23.360 As an extra note, earlier this week, James spoke with 1:42:23.680 --> 1:42:27.000 Ahmed and Abdullah and as of a few days ago, 1:42:27.000 --> 1:42:30.680 at least both of their families were okay. Obviously, this 1:42:30.800 --> 1:42:33.800 is an ongoing situation, but I just wanted to add 1:42:33.800 --> 1:42:35.920 that in here because that's the most up to date 1:42:35.960 --> 1:42:40.360 information we have. Ahmed is still in Sweden, is still 1:42:40.479 --> 1:42:44.400 doing Parker. You can find him at Mataragaza on Instagram 1:42:44.479 --> 1:42:48.640 or his website Matargaza dot com. That's m A tar 1:42:49.280 --> 1:42:53.040 Gaza dot com. Abdullah is still in Italy and is 1:42:53.040 --> 1:42:56.600 studying to become an English teacher, and just last February, 1:42:56.880 --> 1:43:00.439 Ahmed and Abdullah were able to see each other in person. 1:43:00.640 --> 1:43:04.200 For the first time in quite a while. The documentary 1:43:04.240 --> 1:43:07.240 that Abdullah is in is called One More Jump. It's 1:43:07.240 --> 1:43:10.920 about very similar questions on whether it's worth it to 1:43:11.160 --> 1:43:13.639 stay and fight for your country or try to escape 1:43:13.760 --> 1:43:17.559 and fulfill your dreams. Thank you once again to Abdullah 1:43:17.640 --> 1:43:20.040 and off Ed for talking with us. I'll link their 1:43:20.080 --> 1:43:23.280 social medias in the show notes below. See you on 1:43:23.360 --> 1:43:39.480 the other side. 1:43:40.320 --> 1:43:43.160 Hello, everybody, Welcome to it could happen here. This is 1:43:43.280 --> 1:43:47.360 Sharene and I am so happy to be joined by 1:43:47.400 --> 1:43:50.080 my guest today. I'm so excited to speak to him. 1:43:50.160 --> 1:43:53.679 I am joined by dB Kashi. He is a pro 1:43:53.680 --> 1:43:57.760 palsying activist from New York and Israel, and there's just 1:43:57.800 --> 1:43:59.360 a lot of stuff I want to talk to you about. 1:43:59.400 --> 1:44:02.080 So welcome, pleasure to be here. Great to meet you, Sharen. 1:44:02.560 --> 1:44:04.800 I want to start with just some background for the 1:44:04.840 --> 1:44:06.599 audience to just like kind of get to know where 1:44:06.640 --> 1:44:09.680 the perspective you're speaking from. Can you tell me a 1:44:09.760 --> 1:44:12.080 little bit about your family history and where you grew 1:44:12.160 --> 1:44:13.840 up and where your parents are from and all of that. 1:44:14.520 --> 1:44:20.639 Sure, my parents were both born in Israel, and they, 1:44:20.920 --> 1:44:23.760 like Miny Israelis moved to New York City in the 1:44:23.960 --> 1:44:30.280 eighties and had myself and my two siblings, and as 1:44:30.439 --> 1:44:34.240 my grandparents were getting older, to whom we were very close, 1:44:35.479 --> 1:44:40.280 my mom decided to move back to Tel Aviv when 1:44:40.320 --> 1:44:44.480 I was in two thousand, so right before the Second Intifada. 1:44:45.120 --> 1:44:50.400 And so when I was thirteen eighth grade, I moved 1:44:50.400 --> 1:44:53.400 to Tel Aviv for the first time. And you know, 1:44:53.400 --> 1:44:56.559 obviously I was very familiar with it, like visit every summer, 1:44:58.120 --> 1:45:01.599 and you know, grew up in in our grandparents' house, 1:45:02.120 --> 1:45:07.559 both of whom were Iraqi Jews who immigrated to Israel 1:45:07.800 --> 1:45:11.840 in the early fifties. And so yeah, so when I 1:45:11.880 --> 1:45:17.040 moved there in eighth grade, I was completely pretty much 1:45:17.800 --> 1:45:20.840 a shock in terms of what I was used to 1:45:20.880 --> 1:45:24.479 in New York. Obviously, I had friends from many different 1:45:24.479 --> 1:45:28.280 walks of life, many different backgrounds here. I was very 1:45:28.360 --> 1:45:30.720 used to that, right. I didn't grew up in you know, 1:45:30.880 --> 1:45:34.439 a very staunch Jewish community. I had Jewish friends, but 1:45:35.160 --> 1:45:39.479 I didn't solely have Jewish friends, and so that's what 1:45:39.520 --> 1:45:42.519 I loved, that's what I embraced. But when I moved 1:45:42.520 --> 1:45:46.439 to Israel, it was very jarring. You know, I had 1:45:46.479 --> 1:45:49.640 studied in Hebrew for the first time, and you know, 1:45:49.800 --> 1:45:54.760 everything that we studied in school was pertaining to the 1:45:54.920 --> 1:45:59.960 Jewish identity. So every kind of history class, you know, 1:46:00.040 --> 1:46:02.439 you'd study about the Roman Empire and the Jewish people. 1:46:02.520 --> 1:46:04.880 You'd study about, you know, ancient Greece and the Jewish people. 1:46:04.920 --> 1:46:09.800 And that's okay to learn about Jewish identity, but intertwining 1:46:09.840 --> 1:46:14.639 it with every aspect of the school curriculum and really 1:46:14.680 --> 1:46:18.439 thinking about the persecure really kind of hammering home this 1:46:18.640 --> 1:46:24.519 notion of persecution. Really kind of understanding how you know, 1:46:24.760 --> 1:46:28.839 And again, I think it's important to understand your history 1:46:29.720 --> 1:46:33.000 and history in general, but I think that kind of 1:46:33.040 --> 1:46:38.840 introducing this notion of persecution as a tactic to retraumatize 1:46:38.880 --> 1:46:44.040 people that aren't directly experiencing the trauma. Right, So, everyone 1:46:44.040 --> 1:46:46.840 in the world learns about the Holocaust, but did you 1:46:46.920 --> 1:46:50.280 know that in Israel, Holocaust Remembrance Day isn't on the 1:46:50.320 --> 1:46:53.160 same day as the rest of the world's Holocaust Remembrance 1:46:53.240 --> 1:46:56.720 Day because they want to own their own kind of 1:46:57.120 --> 1:47:01.040 version of the Holocaust Remembrance Day, right, And so you know, 1:47:01.120 --> 1:47:04.200 when you think about the Holocaust, you think about other holocausts, 1:47:04.439 --> 1:47:08.560 other genocides that have happened, and Israel's failure to recognize 1:47:08.600 --> 1:47:12.719 those genocides like the Armenian genocide, right, and the fact 1:47:12.720 --> 1:47:15.280 that you know, many people don't know, but you know, 1:47:15.360 --> 1:47:20.400 throughout history Israel has armed genocidal forces with Israeli made 1:47:20.400 --> 1:47:28.080 weapons to you know, support imperialist motives and colonialist powers 1:47:28.120 --> 1:47:30.880 around the world. So you know, even even now with 1:47:31.439 --> 1:47:35.800 what's happening in Armenia with the Iserbaijani's right, Israel's on 1:47:35.840 --> 1:47:39.760 the wrong side of that equation, right, And so it's 1:47:39.800 --> 1:47:44.320 never been about standing with the side of the oppressed 1:47:44.400 --> 1:47:49.960 for Israel. It's never been about, you know, ensuring that 1:47:50.040 --> 1:47:53.679 what happens when they say never again, actually never again, 1:47:54.040 --> 1:47:57.160 never happens again to anyone around the world. Right. Think 1:47:57.200 --> 1:48:03.960 about their policies, the racist policies around refugees, right. I 1:48:03.960 --> 1:48:05.680 think people don't understand. 1:48:05.920 --> 1:48:06.080 Right. 1:48:06.240 --> 1:48:11.000 I have a very unique perspective because I understand kind 1:48:11.040 --> 1:48:16.120 of the minds of the colonizers. I can humanize the colonizers. 1:48:16.600 --> 1:48:20.280 I think there's a dangerous kind of maybe thinking about 1:48:20.600 --> 1:48:22.960 things from a bit of a different angle than kind 1:48:22.960 --> 1:48:25.559 of people are used to. And also bringing it back 1:48:25.560 --> 1:48:27.800 to the events of the last ten days or eleven days, 1:48:27.800 --> 1:48:31.160 at this point, I think, you know, I've always kind 1:48:31.160 --> 1:48:35.400 of looked at and identified with the Palestinian struggle, right, 1:48:35.760 --> 1:48:40.080 And I've always seen it as a human rights struggle, right, 1:48:40.680 --> 1:48:45.320 and you know, as such, and as many well regarded 1:48:46.120 --> 1:48:50.760 activists and thinkers and intellectuals have always talked about the 1:48:50.880 --> 1:48:54.680 unification of all the struggles of the oppress, and that's 1:48:54.720 --> 1:48:59.320 always always arrived at the identification with this struggle for 1:48:59.320 --> 1:49:04.120 the Palestinian people. I've also felt, you know, by virtue 1:49:04.200 --> 1:49:08.560 of this se this imposed identity of you know, Israeli, 1:49:09.439 --> 1:49:13.439 I've always felt directly responsible for the oppression of the 1:49:13.479 --> 1:49:17.880 Palestinian people, even though I've never done anything myself to 1:49:18.120 --> 1:49:21.920 champion or perpetuate that oppression. I've always worked against it 1:49:21.960 --> 1:49:26.120 from a very very young age. Now, people always ask me, 1:49:26.320 --> 1:49:29.240 you know, kind of annoying questions like, you know, why 1:49:29.960 --> 1:49:32.160 do you care so much about the Palestinians when so 1:49:32.200 --> 1:49:34.639 many people in the world are suffering. And the answer 1:49:34.720 --> 1:49:37.960 to that question is I care about all suffering. But 1:49:38.439 --> 1:49:42.600 this is something that the government that supposedly represents me, 1:49:42.720 --> 1:49:47.160 that the entity that supposedly represents me is directly perpetrating, 1:49:47.760 --> 1:49:51.160 and frankly, after going to many protests in New York 1:49:51.240 --> 1:49:55.920 and in Israel itself. I've realized that this is the 1:49:55.960 --> 1:50:00.599 most important human rights struggle of our generation for sure, 1:50:00.880 --> 1:50:05.840 but of modern times because it stands for all of 1:50:06.040 --> 1:50:10.800 it's essentially the last beacon of direct colonialism. Right. We 1:50:10.880 --> 1:50:14.280 all know how kind of neocolonialism works. I mean maybe 1:50:14.320 --> 1:50:17.840 we do when we don't, but neocolonialism, through you know, 1:50:18.040 --> 1:50:22.960 different coupitalist structures, right, America has been able to perpetrate 1:50:24.920 --> 1:50:30.320 neocolonialism without actually having to occupy other people, you know, 1:50:31.520 --> 1:50:34.759 save for Iraq for almost twenty years, but or fifteen 1:50:34.800 --> 1:50:38.600 years or whatever, it was a very long time. But 1:50:39.200 --> 1:50:44.120 Israel is directly and physically occupying on other people, and 1:50:44.160 --> 1:50:46.760 they have been for the last seventy five years, right 1:50:46.800 --> 1:50:51.360 officially for the last seventy five years. And that's been 1:50:51.400 --> 1:50:55.840 a constant, Right, It's not, hey, you know, here's a 1:50:55.920 --> 1:51:00.479 country and let's you know fight, let's continue our kind 1:51:00.479 --> 1:51:03.320 of battle in that way. It's been it's always been. 1:51:03.360 --> 1:51:07.320 If you're a scholar of Israeli history, of Zionist history, 1:51:07.920 --> 1:51:12.000 you always you start understanding that the goal was to 1:51:12.120 --> 1:51:15.120 take over all of Judaea and Samara, right, and that's 1:51:15.200 --> 1:51:18.720 kind of how the settler government that Netanyahu has in 1:51:18.800 --> 1:51:24.799 power has been speaking for years. Right. I'm really upset 1:51:24.840 --> 1:51:29.080 and really kind of frustrated by the way that the 1:51:29.120 --> 1:51:32.599 Western media has been portraying what's happening over the last 1:51:32.600 --> 1:51:36.360 eleven days, because even Israeli media Halitz, which is an 1:51:36.400 --> 1:51:40.440 Israeli newspaper, which is very prominent one right, isn't portraying 1:51:40.479 --> 1:51:43.479 it the way that the Western media is portraying it. Right, 1:51:43.800 --> 1:51:48.040 they're criticizing the Netanyahu. There's so many people in Israel 1:51:48.120 --> 1:51:51.000 that are scared, right, All the leftists are scared. They're 1:51:51.000 --> 1:51:55.360 being persecuted. They're signal groups doxing friends of mine, people 1:51:55.520 --> 1:51:59.800 literally fighting for human rights, they're doxing them. Islaelfly he's 1:52:01.080 --> 1:52:06.640 orthodox reporter that's been staunchly pro Palestinian and he's a 1:52:06.720 --> 1:52:09.920 very prominent member of the press. Angry mob of right 1:52:09.960 --> 1:52:13.280 winging extremists try to knock down his door the other 1:52:13.360 --> 1:52:16.040 day and he had to escape from the back door 1:52:16.600 --> 1:52:20.280 and run away, so they don't, you know, potentially kill him, right, 1:52:20.560 --> 1:52:23.200 And so these voices are being silenced in Israel. No 1:52:23.200 --> 1:52:25.800 one is talking about that. Everyone in the West is 1:52:25.840 --> 1:52:28.679 beating the drums of war. The media is supporting that. 1:52:28.720 --> 1:52:33.000 We've seen on the kind of a micro but tragic level, 1:52:33.280 --> 1:52:36.080 what happened to that six year old kid that was 1:52:36.120 --> 1:52:39.720 stobbed to death by someone just because of the anti Islamic, 1:52:39.800 --> 1:52:43.800 anti Palestinian rhetoric that's being perpetrated. And so everyone's kind 1:52:43.800 --> 1:52:47.040 of losing their shit as all of a sudden, everyone's 1:52:47.080 --> 1:52:50.400 saying the same thing because everyone is being pushed to 1:52:50.640 --> 1:52:54.720 justify this war. But people are starting to wake up, right, 1:52:54.800 --> 1:52:58.160 The UN's woken up in very very slowly. People are 1:52:58.200 --> 1:53:01.200 starting to wake up because they're seeing that genocide is 1:53:01.240 --> 1:53:03.840 actually being committed and so you can't throw your full 1:53:03.880 --> 1:53:06.960 weight behind genocide. But they're walking it back too slowly. 1:53:07.320 --> 1:53:10.320 And the people that I'm disappointed by are people that 1:53:10.360 --> 1:53:16.360 are supposedly smart, spewing complete nonsense rhetoric about two sides. Right. 1:53:16.720 --> 1:53:19.640 I struggled, Right, this is important. I struggled. I know 1:53:19.720 --> 1:53:22.760 people who were killed in the Hamas attack personally and 1:53:22.800 --> 1:53:26.320 intimately know them. Right. You know my ex girlfriend's best 1:53:26.320 --> 1:53:29.760 friend was killed, right, She's We've hung out many, many, 1:53:29.800 --> 1:53:33.080 many times. She was a very sweet, very kind person. 1:53:34.080 --> 1:53:38.960 We know an activist who was literally because people don't understand. 1:53:38.960 --> 1:53:40.880 And this is for a lot of the kind of 1:53:41.040 --> 1:53:45.240 pro Palestinians that that and I completely empathize, and I 1:53:45.320 --> 1:53:48.640 understand why people believe what they believe. Believe me, but 1:53:48.760 --> 1:53:51.400 this is for a lot of the pro Palestinians that 1:53:51.640 --> 1:53:54.840 you know immediately called all of them settlers, right, And 1:53:54.920 --> 1:53:57.160 I think it's important to distinguish because if there's ever 1:53:57.200 --> 1:53:59.600 going to be a path forward in this mess, we 1:53:59.720 --> 1:54:07.759 have to offer a new rhetoric that deconstructs the nationalist ideologies. Okay, 1:54:08.120 --> 1:54:11.600 I don't put the Palestinian flag or say free Palestine, 1:54:11.760 --> 1:54:15.439 which I do as a nationalist ideology. I say that 1:54:15.479 --> 1:54:21.200 as a deconstruction of nationalism, as a call to freedom 1:54:21.400 --> 1:54:26.360 for all, right, though oppressed as well as the oppressor. Right, 1:54:26.560 --> 1:54:31.120 if you actually read everyone's quoting, everyone's quoting Phenonen, right, 1:54:31.400 --> 1:54:34.840 everyone's quoting all these revolutionaries, if you actually read the 1:54:34.880 --> 1:54:38.080 material that they said. Chae Gavari even said the true 1:54:38.080 --> 1:54:41.640 revolutionary is guided by deep with deep feelings of love 1:54:41.760 --> 1:54:43.960 in their heart. And he said this at the risk 1:54:44.040 --> 1:54:49.080 of sounding absurd, he said that direct quote the people 1:54:49.600 --> 1:54:52.520 perpetuating in Israel. I can say this from a first 1:54:52.520 --> 1:54:55.919 hand account. I know very good people that are guided 1:54:55.960 --> 1:55:01.760 by nationalists and fascist ideologies. However, they've been manipulated, they've 1:55:01.760 --> 1:55:05.320 been lied to, They've they're fed propaganda twenty four to 1:55:05.320 --> 1:55:08.920 seven through the news and the sentiment in Israel right now. 1:55:08.960 --> 1:55:12.160 And I can tell you this, I'm getting messages from 1:55:12.200 --> 1:55:16.080 people they think everyone is trying to kill Jews. That's 1:55:16.120 --> 1:55:18.600 what they believe, That's what they've been told. They think 1:55:18.640 --> 1:55:21.120 this is armageddon for the Jewish people. That's what the 1:55:21.160 --> 1:55:25.280 media narrative is in Israel. Okay, in spite of the 1:55:25.280 --> 1:55:28.320 fact that there are many people that are against what's happening, 1:55:28.360 --> 1:55:31.520 there are many people that directly blame Netanyahu for this, 1:55:31.960 --> 1:55:34.480 but they're being scared to believe that they're being going 1:55:34.520 --> 1:55:36.680 to be attacked on all fronts, and they have to 1:55:36.680 --> 1:55:40.640 do everything they can to neutralize the threats. Okay, that 1:55:41.480 --> 1:55:44.920 is the survival kind of That is a fact. Does 1:55:44.960 --> 1:55:47.240 that mean that every single person in Israel is a 1:55:47.320 --> 1:55:49.880 terrible human being, as evil as some people say, No, 1:55:50.000 --> 1:55:53.800 that is not true at all. Right, And my point is, 1:55:53.960 --> 1:55:56.560 and what a lot of the revolutionaries said, right. Palo 1:55:56.640 --> 1:56:00.080 Freer in The Pedagogy of the Oppressed said in the 1:56:00.120 --> 1:56:05.360 process of dehumanization, the oppressor dehumanizes himself. Putting that aside, though, 1:56:05.920 --> 1:56:08.920 I think that you know, for me, I see I 1:56:09.440 --> 1:56:12.040 know people that died, it was very difficult for me 1:56:12.080 --> 1:56:14.240 the post in the first two days. I think there 1:56:14.280 --> 1:56:19.880 were some problematic justifications for the massacre that didn't sit 1:56:19.920 --> 1:56:22.680 well with me because I'm a humanist. But in the 1:56:22.680 --> 1:56:27.720 same token, right, I think that I understand the context. 1:56:28.000 --> 1:56:32.280 I think it behooves us to understand the context. 1:56:32.560 --> 1:56:32.720 Right. 1:56:33.200 --> 1:56:35.200 There's a really famous quote. I forget who said it, 1:56:35.240 --> 1:56:41.520 but if you started the clock or started looking at 1:56:41.760 --> 1:56:44.400 kind of the colonization in America from when the Native 1:56:44.400 --> 1:56:47.480 Americans started shooting the arrows, you think that the Native 1:56:47.480 --> 1:56:51.120 Americans were the aggressors. Right. If you started looking at, 1:56:51.200 --> 1:56:55.680 you know, the colonization of Algeria when the Alga, when 1:56:55.680 --> 1:56:59.480 the local population started rebelling, you think that they were 1:56:59.520 --> 1:57:03.480 the aggressive, right. And that's not to say in the 1:57:03.520 --> 1:57:07.520 same breath that terrible things happen to amazing people there. 1:57:07.680 --> 1:57:07.840 Right. 1:57:08.120 --> 1:57:10.320 What people don't know, and a lot of the Propolst 1:57:10.840 --> 1:57:13.760 movement doesn't know, is that many of the people living 1:57:13.760 --> 1:57:17.960 in the area on Gazas are actually activists, like very 1:57:18.120 --> 1:57:23.640 anti Zionists activists, right that many of the testimonies of 1:57:23.680 --> 1:57:26.880 the families of the of those activists are saying to 1:57:27.040 --> 1:57:31.240 stop the genocide, that it's not going to bring back 1:57:31.320 --> 1:57:35.000 their friends, their family members. Those are the people that 1:57:35.080 --> 1:57:37.920 were a lot of whom were killed in the attacks 1:57:38.200 --> 1:57:40.280 because that's where they live, they work with. You know, 1:57:41.120 --> 1:57:45.880 organizations at GAZA like acknowledge that, right, understand the complexity 1:57:46.680 --> 1:57:49.560 saying hey, you guys are all settlers. That's just dumb. 1:57:50.000 --> 1:57:54.040 It's not factually true. Their grandparents were, their great grandparents 1:57:54.040 --> 1:57:57.880 were one hundred percent. But now their generations and generations 1:57:58.120 --> 1:58:01.840 of people, right, just like in their generations and generations 1:58:01.960 --> 1:58:05.880 of people that descended, Are they to be held accountable 1:58:05.920 --> 1:58:09.440 for the actions of their ancestors. Doesn't make any sense. 1:58:09.440 --> 1:58:11.680 They should be held accountable for actions that they take now, 1:58:11.840 --> 1:58:15.400 for sure, right, holding your government accountable, you know, thinking 1:58:15.400 --> 1:58:21.000 about an actual solution to this terrible situation that one 1:58:21.080 --> 1:58:23.760 hundred percent people should be held accountable for. But to 1:58:23.800 --> 1:58:27.200 call them settlers as a justification for their deaths is 1:58:27.240 --> 1:58:29.720 something that I will never do, right, and I don't 1:58:29.720 --> 1:58:33.280 think it helps the struggle, right. I think it's important 1:58:33.280 --> 1:58:37.000 to say and then simultaneously also say, did you guys 1:58:37.120 --> 1:58:40.560 know that Israel played a very major role in establishing 1:58:40.560 --> 1:58:44.480 the Commas, Like, don't be stupid, open a history book, 1:58:44.560 --> 1:58:48.320 see what happened. Right, Understand, don't just be quick to 1:58:48.400 --> 1:58:50.480 call and quick to say both sides. It's not a 1:58:50.520 --> 1:58:53.920 both side situation, even though the aggression was terrible, those 1:58:53.920 --> 1:58:57.600 are those two things can be true. It's a devastating, 1:58:57.720 --> 1:59:01.040 tragic event, right, and I know many great people that 1:59:01.040 --> 1:59:03.520 were killed in it, But in the same breath, we 1:59:03.600 --> 1:59:05.160 have to remember what caused it. 1:59:05.480 --> 1:59:07.160 Yeah, Context is everything. 1:59:07.000 --> 1:59:11.200 Right, context is everything. Israel funded the Kamas. Bib has 1:59:11.280 --> 1:59:15.240 direct quotes in Israeli newspapers saying we have to fund 1:59:15.400 --> 1:59:18.880 the Kamas in order for is Palestinians never to have 1:59:18.920 --> 1:59:21.760 a state. He directly said that how do you guys 1:59:21.760 --> 1:59:25.080 ignore these statements. They've been very Bib has been very 1:59:25.160 --> 1:59:27.680 clear as to what is going to happen and what 1:59:27.720 --> 1:59:29.880 he's trying to accomplish. And then on top of that, 1:59:29.960 --> 1:59:34.480 to compound things, the settlers in his government right now 1:59:34.560 --> 1:59:40.440 Isamal Bengvil and Smotrich are two settlers. They literally are settlers, 1:59:40.480 --> 1:59:44.360 like in according to the National Law they're considered settlers, okay, 1:59:44.600 --> 1:59:48.600 illegal settlers. And there the second and third most powerful 1:59:48.640 --> 1:59:52.720 people in Israel. Okay, I don't think people understand or know, 1:59:53.240 --> 1:59:57.400 but those two guys. There's there's a famous rabbi okay, 1:59:57.920 --> 2:00:04.440 in Jerusalem. He's an extreme missed fundamentalist rabbi, Jewish fundamentalist rabbi. 2:00:04.720 --> 2:00:07.640 What he's been calling for for a long time, Ka 2:00:07.960 --> 2:00:11.000 sadaka is Kahana was right. He was a very fascist 2:00:11.080 --> 2:00:14.240 rabbi that was basically calling for the extermination of all Arabs. 2:00:14.800 --> 2:00:19.160 And they're basically they're called kahanistem and that's it's basically 2:00:19.160 --> 2:00:22.120 what the left in Israel used to call this government. 2:00:22.200 --> 2:00:26.880 Man tash Khanistem means government of Kahanists, Okay, that is 2:00:26.920 --> 2:00:31.560 what that's who's running the country. And this rabbi has 2:00:31.600 --> 2:00:34.000 been calling for in a biblical sense. And we all 2:00:34.040 --> 2:00:38.720 know when people have an utmost you know, devotion to religion, 2:00:39.120 --> 2:00:42.040 that guides them right, not our world. Our world does 2:00:42.080 --> 2:00:44.880 not guide them. The religious texts and the religious leaders 2:00:44.960 --> 2:00:46.800 are the ones who tell them what is right and 2:00:46.840 --> 2:00:50.240 what is wrong right religious in religious fundamentalism, and so 2:00:50.600 --> 2:00:54.800 what this rabbi has been calling for for years has 2:00:54.840 --> 2:00:59.720 been a war to end all wars. Okay, that is 2:00:59.760 --> 2:01:01.440 what he's been telling them. That is what they've been 2:01:01.480 --> 2:01:05.520 operating under. Okay, their allegiances are to him, not to 2:01:05.600 --> 2:01:09.720 the Israeli people, like literally to that ideology, and so 2:01:10.080 --> 2:01:12.840 they're in the government right now. Over the last year, 2:01:13.680 --> 2:01:20.440 they've been essentially adding illegal settlements at a rapid rate, 2:01:21.040 --> 2:01:27.080 emboldening and empowering settlers to commit violence that we haven't 2:01:27.120 --> 2:01:30.160 seen in many, many years, levels of violence we haven't 2:01:30.200 --> 2:01:32.320 been seen in many many years, even before this latest 2:01:32.320 --> 2:01:34.840 aggression I'm talking about over the last twelve months. And 2:01:34.920 --> 2:01:39.880 the biggest most annoying thing that I hear from Westerners 2:01:40.240 --> 2:01:43.520 that think they understand, right, they're like, oh, yeah, we 2:01:44.280 --> 2:01:47.920 really care about Palestinians. But Hamas has to go two 2:01:47.960 --> 2:01:51.640 things to that. One, the fact that there are Palestinians 2:01:51.640 --> 2:01:54.760 on the West Bank and the Palestinians in Gaza doesn't 2:01:54.800 --> 2:01:57.200 mean they're not the same people. They're Palestinians in forty 2:01:57.240 --> 2:02:02.480 eight as well. They feel feelings of solidarity because they're 2:02:02.480 --> 2:02:06.760 all oppressed in different ways. Right, It's solidarity under this 2:02:07.080 --> 2:02:11.200 got under this Grand Zionist oppression that they experienced and 2:02:11.240 --> 2:02:16.400 so I think that it's a fallacy that it was 2:02:16.440 --> 2:02:20.680 an unprovoked attack. It's a fallacy, right, It's not the 2:02:20.760 --> 2:02:25.760 case the fact that Aleksa kept getting bombarded by settlers 2:02:25.760 --> 2:02:28.160 on purpose, on purpose, I don't put it back like 2:02:28.200 --> 2:02:31.840 they did this to get a provocation. They've been provoking 2:02:31.920 --> 2:02:34.520 to get the retaliation for Hamas. They've been doing this 2:02:34.560 --> 2:02:36.920 for years. This is nothing new, right. Every time Ramas 2:02:36.960 --> 2:02:39.560 shot rockets over the last five years is because Israel 2:02:40.160 --> 2:02:43.200 was attacking ELECXA right right after Ramadan if you remember, 2:02:43.440 --> 2:02:47.080 or doing Ramadan. Sorry, And so every time a barage 2:02:47.080 --> 2:02:49.320 of rockets came in right after that barrage rockets because 2:02:49.360 --> 2:02:52.040 Hamas wanted to show that someone is sticking up for them. 2:02:52.600 --> 2:02:55.400 But I'm just saying you have to understand the context 2:02:55.640 --> 2:02:58.160 when you're in a blockade, when you're living in a 2:02:58.200 --> 2:03:03.520 concentration camp. Worse than a concentration camp, frankly. Right, every 2:03:03.640 --> 2:03:08.000 electricity is controlled, water is controlled, food is controlled. You're 2:03:08.000 --> 2:03:10.840 not able to leave, right, You're not able to freaking 2:03:10.920 --> 2:03:13.160 leave when you want. You're not able to come when 2:03:13.200 --> 2:03:17.240 you want, not able to. A sixty kilometer strip of 2:03:17.320 --> 2:03:20.040 land is the most densely populated strip of land in 2:03:20.040 --> 2:03:25.000 the entire world, depression is the highest, the highest rates 2:03:25.040 --> 2:03:28.600 of depression. I think the highest rates of child suicide 2:03:28.800 --> 2:03:33.120 are in Gaza. Okay, when you're living under those conditions, 2:03:33.360 --> 2:03:36.280 I have no idea how you don't. I have no 2:03:36.320 --> 2:03:38.320 idea what that would feel like. So how can I 2:03:38.440 --> 2:03:43.280 judge anyone any response to that? Right in the same breath, 2:03:43.320 --> 2:03:45.440 I can also say it's a tragic thing that innocent 2:03:45.480 --> 2:03:48.800 people died, and they're innocent people, and I think it's 2:03:48.840 --> 2:03:52.080 important to hold that complexity. Also for the Palestinian cause. 2:03:52.360 --> 2:03:54.600 I think it's important to not lose sight of our 2:03:54.680 --> 2:03:59.720 humanity in criticizing the grave injustices that Israel has committed 2:03:59.800 --> 2:04:03.480 and putting the blame squarely on Israel's shoulders. That Hamas exists. 2:04:03.680 --> 2:04:08.560 Yeah, I think that's something that I keep coming back 2:04:08.600 --> 2:04:12.480 to is whenever someone is just all about condemning Hamas, 2:04:12.520 --> 2:04:15.480 which is like, yes, as you mentioned, like innocent people 2:04:15.520 --> 2:04:19.040 shouldn't have died, But I blame all the violence that's 2:04:19.040 --> 2:04:23.320 happening in Israel on Israel, like it's not you. Yeah, 2:04:23.360 --> 2:04:25.720 you can't just start like at a slave revolt as 2:04:25.800 --> 2:04:28.960 the beginning of history of slavery. It's like, no, actually exactly, 2:04:29.000 --> 2:04:31.360 they did that for a reason and they had no 2:04:31.440 --> 2:04:35.680 other choice. And I mean for Palestinians, I think, like, 2:04:35.720 --> 2:04:40.040 what's the biggest context that's missing is like they've tried everything. 2:04:40.480 --> 2:04:46.320 It's not their first choice to kill people that didn't 2:04:46.320 --> 2:04:50.280 deserve it. It's I think I think that's what's been 2:04:50.320 --> 2:04:53.840 really annoying with the the people that have chosen to 2:04:53.840 --> 2:04:56.280 spoke to speak out that have never spoken out before. 2:04:56.800 --> 2:05:00.400 They are so narrow in their view of them that 2:05:00.440 --> 2:05:02.920 it's so damaging because they have so many follow werds, 2:05:03.040 --> 2:05:05.120 or they're talking about the wrong things, and all of 2:05:05.120 --> 2:05:11.720 those things like kind of perpetuate a really dangerous environment 2:05:11.760 --> 2:05:13.480 where like a six year old kid can get stabbed 2:05:13.520 --> 2:05:16.520 to death. Or I don't know. I agree with everything 2:05:16.520 --> 2:05:18.640 you said, and I really appreciate you saying all those 2:05:18.680 --> 2:05:21.920 things before I forget. We're going to take our first break, 2:05:22.360 --> 2:05:27.160 so don't go anywhere and we're back. Something you mentioned 2:05:27.200 --> 2:05:29.920 early on that I have been thinking about and getting 2:05:30.320 --> 2:05:35.600 getting really angry about is why people are surprised or 2:05:35.640 --> 2:05:38.800 like unexpecting you to speak out about Palestinians if you 2:05:38.840 --> 2:05:42.120 are not a Palestinian. I am not a Palestinian. I'm Syrian, 2:05:42.840 --> 2:05:46.720 and I am extremely vocal about the Palestinian cause and 2:05:46.720 --> 2:05:49.640 the Palestine. I've always been one hundred percent free Palestine 2:05:49.720 --> 2:05:54.960 till I die. And it's almost like surprising to people, 2:05:54.960 --> 2:05:57.000 like why are you so worked up? Like why aren't 2:05:57.000 --> 2:05:58.920 you so worked up like that? That's what really gets 2:05:59.080 --> 2:06:04.440 me is your humanity and care. It shouldn't be contingent 2:06:04.520 --> 2:06:08.240 on your identity if you actually give a shit. And 2:06:08.240 --> 2:06:09.800 I think that's what I really want to like relate 2:06:09.840 --> 2:06:13.960 to people, is this is not the Palestinian's struggle solely 2:06:13.960 --> 2:06:16.280 for themselves, Like this is a struggle for all. Like 2:06:16.320 --> 2:06:21.080 if this genocide obliterates the Palestinian people, that's on humanity shoulders. 2:06:21.200 --> 2:06:23.880 That's not like that that is so indicative of how 2:06:23.920 --> 2:06:29.040 depraved humans have become. It's just so upsetting. It's just 2:06:29.120 --> 2:06:33.880 a complete obliteration. There has been videos of settlers saying 2:06:33.920 --> 2:06:35.800 they want to flatten the whole thing, make it a 2:06:35.840 --> 2:06:38.760 parking lot. I mean, I don't even have to tell 2:06:38.800 --> 2:06:41.120 you what like actual media and like politicians have been 2:06:41.160 --> 2:06:44.720 saying because it's like atrocious. But I think that's what 2:06:44.760 --> 2:06:46.680 I want to relate to people, is like if you're not, 2:06:46.800 --> 2:06:49.919 if you don't care, examine that, because that is troubling 2:06:49.960 --> 2:06:54.320 to me, if you don't care about actual genocide. And 2:06:54.360 --> 2:06:56.520 maybe that word has been used too much to like 2:06:56.560 --> 2:06:59.880 make people give a shit, but it really makes me 2:07:00.320 --> 2:07:03.080 people's humanity when they are able to kind of just 2:07:03.120 --> 2:07:05.880 like shrug it off and continue about their day. 2:07:06.280 --> 2:07:11.040 I've been practicing being hopeful. I think it's really important, 2:07:11.920 --> 2:07:17.040 especially in times like these, to be hopeful because without hope, 2:07:17.120 --> 2:07:21.800 and it sounds cheesy, but it's true, we're not empowered, right, 2:07:22.080 --> 2:07:28.480 We're not able to act. And I think what's exciting, 2:07:28.920 --> 2:07:34.600 what's I guess heartening to me is actually the people's 2:07:34.640 --> 2:07:40.560 response to what's happening. Yes, there are many influencers and 2:07:40.640 --> 2:07:44.480 celebrities that posted the wrong thing, I'm also seeing many 2:07:44.520 --> 2:07:48.080 that posted the right thing. I'm also seeing many people 2:07:48.240 --> 2:07:50.720 that I'm surprised by. I'm seeing many people that I 2:07:50.760 --> 2:07:56.720 wasn't surprised by posting the wrong thing, frankly, But I'm 2:07:56.720 --> 2:08:02.240 also seeing many people white people, you know, black people, 2:08:02.400 --> 2:08:05.920 right like, people of all kinds that are disconnected, you know, 2:08:06.120 --> 2:08:10.280 from an identity perspective to the Palestinian people doing so 2:08:10.480 --> 2:08:15.000 much showing up. I went to the I was. I 2:08:15.360 --> 2:08:20.440 saw images from the protest in uh the other day 2:08:21.000 --> 2:08:23.440 and there, and I'm not talking about the Jewish protest, 2:08:23.440 --> 2:08:26.560 which was amazing, right. What JVP did with if not 2:08:26.600 --> 2:08:30.480 now in front of truck Schumer's house was incredibly right. 2:08:30.520 --> 2:08:34.280 That's that's solidarity. That's that's that's real, right, That's that's 2:08:34.320 --> 2:08:38.040 that's that's humanity, right, that's what humanity should be. That's 2:08:38.040 --> 2:08:40.880 real solidarity. I'm talking about the protests though, that that 2:08:40.960 --> 2:08:44.120 was Palestinian lad in the midtown, and I saw tons 2:08:44.200 --> 2:08:48.200 of Jews there, m hm. And I'm not talking about 2:08:48.200 --> 2:08:52.480 the stmar Anti Zionist, you know Hasidic Jews, those are great, right, 2:08:52.560 --> 2:08:55.400 and they're they're helpful. I'm talking about like regular regular 2:08:55.400 --> 2:08:58.560 ass Jews, right, like me, Right, people like not even 2:08:58.600 --> 2:09:01.920 wearing yamakas, like people with you know, small yamlicas that 2:09:01.960 --> 2:09:06.360 aren't like you know, Hasidic or anything, holding up signs 2:09:06.800 --> 2:09:11.800 to help liberate the Palestinian people. In spite of the Hamas, 2:09:12.720 --> 2:09:16.160 in spite of everything that happened, they showed up. They 2:09:16.160 --> 2:09:20.120 were not scared. A Pastinian flag doesn't scare them, right, 2:09:22.360 --> 2:09:25.160 I shouldn't it shouldn't. But again, I want to be 2:09:25.240 --> 2:09:30.720 I want to I want to maintain my my I 2:09:30.720 --> 2:09:33.880 guess I want to maintain the view of objectivity. I 2:09:33.920 --> 2:09:39.160 think again, you know, Devil's advocate, I think when when, 2:09:40.520 --> 2:09:42.840 And again this is not not me blaming, right, it's 2:09:42.840 --> 2:09:47.640 more so offering kind of a perspective to question how 2:09:47.680 --> 2:09:53.760 to kind of move forward when people Israeli's Jews whoever, right, 2:09:54.160 --> 2:10:02.600 are indoctrinated to believe that Palestine means no place for me, okay, 2:10:03.360 --> 2:10:05.920 And then you couple that with the anger anguish that 2:10:05.960 --> 2:10:08.560 the oppressed people are feeling and saying, yeah, fu fuck that, 2:10:08.800 --> 2:10:12.040 like we we don't want you here, right, like you 2:10:12.400 --> 2:10:17.440 look what you're doing to us. I think that they 2:10:17.560 --> 2:10:22.440 view the Palestinian flag as a replacement of, you know, 2:10:22.680 --> 2:10:26.320 the flag of Israel, which many people actually kind of 2:10:26.800 --> 2:10:29.480 not many people, some people view it that way. And 2:10:30.480 --> 2:10:32.880 I think that the way I see it and the 2:10:32.920 --> 2:10:35.640 way many people I know see it, it's a flag 2:10:35.680 --> 2:10:43.520 that represents liberation from oppression, liberation of the Palestinian people 2:10:43.800 --> 2:10:49.480 who are being actively oppressed by Zionism, right, an ideology, right, 2:10:50.040 --> 2:10:54.080 you know, perpetuated and executed by people. But it's still 2:10:54.120 --> 2:10:55.080 an ideology. 2:10:55.280 --> 2:10:57.960 So just like because I think this always comes up 2:10:58.040 --> 2:11:00.960 but being anti zion and it has nothing to do 2:11:01.240 --> 2:11:04.320 with being anti Semitic, And I think they always get completed, 2:11:04.400 --> 2:11:07.680 and that's on purpose to make people afraid to speak 2:11:07.760 --> 2:11:12.520 up about Israel. I can only imagine how brainwashed Zionism 2:11:12.600 --> 2:11:17.720 becomes to like the whole, like the education and everything, Like, 2:11:17.800 --> 2:11:19.920 is that something you experience like firsthand? 2:11:20.840 --> 2:11:25.000 One hundred percent? I think what we've seen over the 2:11:25.040 --> 2:11:28.120 last decade, right, the fact that Natanya has been in 2:11:28.160 --> 2:11:32.240 power for over twenty years, that's that's like the dictatorship 2:11:32.680 --> 2:11:37.000 level stuff. And people in America are like, oh yeah, 2:11:37.080 --> 2:11:40.960 the West, you know, there is a semblance of you know, 2:11:41.800 --> 2:11:44.480 power to the people in the West, as semblance of it. Right, 2:11:44.520 --> 2:11:47.320 we're seeing how much the media is in cahoots with 2:11:47.800 --> 2:11:50.960 you know, power against the people right now. It's just very, 2:11:51.040 --> 2:11:53.320 very scary and everyone should be up in arms, no 2:11:53.320 --> 2:12:00.280 matter where your feelings lie. But there is you know, 2:12:00.600 --> 2:12:02.680 there's a new president. You know, every four years of 2:12:03.040 --> 2:12:05.320 a president is termed. Right, you can't be you can't 2:12:05.320 --> 2:12:07.160 be a president for more than two terms. Right. These 2:12:07.160 --> 2:12:10.280 are real things, right, these are real protections you have 2:12:10.360 --> 2:12:14.600 three different branches of government. Right, you have local level 2:12:14.920 --> 2:12:18.800 local government, you have so many different checks and balances 2:12:18.800 --> 2:12:21.240 that are you know, corrupted and corupted in certain ways, 2:12:21.280 --> 2:12:25.320 you know, through lobbyists and you know, corporate interests, et cetera. 2:12:25.440 --> 2:12:29.920 I'm aware, but at least you have that system. In Israel, 2:12:29.960 --> 2:12:36.520 that system doesn't exist, Okay, there's no constitution and a 2:12:36.600 --> 2:12:39.760 prime minister can't be termed. And so now Bibing Ntano 2:12:39.760 --> 2:12:42.320 has been in power and figured out how to survive 2:12:43.280 --> 2:12:47.680 attempts on his throne many times over through building coalitions 2:12:47.680 --> 2:12:51.080 with the right wing extremists, which frankly are against his interests. 2:12:51.080 --> 2:12:53.200 Like he wanted to kind of perpetuate status quo and 2:12:53.280 --> 2:12:55.680 just kind of be in power. Like this is kind 2:12:55.720 --> 2:12:57.680 of made it difficult for him to just be the 2:12:57.720 --> 2:13:00.800 guy who kind of you know, makes it makes everything 2:13:00.880 --> 2:13:06.200 okay for Israelis. Right now, Israelis are scared shitless and so. 2:13:07.680 --> 2:13:10.400 But but putting that aside and going back to your point, 2:13:11.840 --> 2:13:18.040 the knock about was never even discussed until recent history, 2:13:18.200 --> 2:13:20.280 Like it was not like no one even knew what 2:13:20.320 --> 2:13:25.960 that word means. Right, we celebrated it as Jomat's mote 2:13:26.360 --> 2:13:31.600 independence day. So the Israeli Independence Day is the Palestinian's 2:13:31.840 --> 2:13:35.040 knockbat which means the great tragedy for those who don't know, 2:13:36.920 --> 2:13:40.960 and what they call it the catastrophe. Yes and so. 2:13:42.520 --> 2:13:46.360 But but what's interesting and very sad is that in 2:13:46.440 --> 2:13:50.360 recent years, because of the world actually and when Israelis 2:13:50.400 --> 2:13:52.640 tell you don't know what you're talking about, don't comment 2:13:52.680 --> 2:13:56.280 on things you don't talk about that you don't know about. 2:13:56.600 --> 2:14:00.880 You most likely if you've done any any literally any 2:14:00.920 --> 2:14:03.920 if you read one book on Palistine, if you read 2:14:03.920 --> 2:14:07.360 on Palestine by Noam chomskyin and Elain Pape, like, you 2:14:07.480 --> 2:14:13.040 know more than Israelis know about their own situation. And 2:14:13.200 --> 2:14:16.880 I say that wholeheartedly because I know what they study, right, 2:14:17.240 --> 2:14:22.800 They omit the large swaths of information in order to 2:14:22.920 --> 2:14:28.840 form the psyche through the narrative that they perpetuate. And so. 2:14:29.880 --> 2:14:33.560 But because of recent external and global pressure, because of 2:14:33.880 --> 2:14:37.480 the fact that the world's the new generation of young 2:14:37.560 --> 2:14:42.080 people have educated themselves on Palestine, you know, catalyze a 2:14:42.120 --> 2:14:45.480 lot of them, catalyzed by the social justice movement. Right, 2:14:45.480 --> 2:14:47.840 the Angela Davis is the Tromskis of the world who 2:14:47.880 --> 2:14:51.919 always since the sixties I've been talking about Black liberation 2:14:52.040 --> 2:14:56.720 is incomplete without the liberation of Palestinians unifying struggles. They 2:14:56.800 --> 2:15:01.000 know more about history of it Israel and Palestine then 2:15:01.120 --> 2:15:05.680 Israeli's new. Okay. I've always been super impressed, not like 2:15:05.920 --> 2:15:07.480 not to say that people are dumb. I actually think 2:15:07.480 --> 2:15:10.280 people are very smart, right if they're willing to look. 2:15:11.560 --> 2:15:16.040 But every Palestinian friend of mine, every single one knows 2:15:16.200 --> 2:15:20.280 so much about Zionism and zion Is history, right, there's 2:15:20.320 --> 2:15:24.120 scholars of Zionist history, right, But Israeli there's no idea 2:15:24.200 --> 2:15:26.560 about Palestinians and Palestinian history. 2:15:26.560 --> 2:15:30.400 It's just I think it's really unsettling because, I mean, 2:15:30.400 --> 2:15:34.320 for those who don't know, the catastrophe was like like 2:15:34.360 --> 2:15:37.800 the mass expulsion of like seven hundred and fifty thousand Palestinians, 2:15:37.880 --> 2:15:43.720 ethnic cleansing, massacres extreme, like just a disgusting show of 2:15:44.760 --> 2:15:46.800 forcing someone to leave their land and taking it over. 2:15:47.440 --> 2:15:52.560 It was atrocious and her and I think the fact 2:15:52.600 --> 2:15:54.720 that they can't even learn about power or like learn 2:15:54.760 --> 2:15:57.480 deeply about Palestine or Palestinians, it's like another way of 2:15:57.520 --> 2:16:00.440 ethnic cleansing and like forgetting to even exist. And I 2:16:00.440 --> 2:16:05.920 think that's very unsettling because you can't just forget. I mean, 2:16:05.960 --> 2:16:07.840 at the same time, they say, like history is written 2:16:07.840 --> 2:16:09.680 by the people that are in power, right, or the 2:16:09.680 --> 2:16:13.520 people that like win the war, quote unquote, and they're 2:16:13.640 --> 2:16:15.880 very capable of convincing a big amount of people that 2:16:16.000 --> 2:16:18.160 likew like that they were never here. 2:16:18.760 --> 2:16:25.520 I think being hopeful is a practice, and I've definitely 2:16:25.560 --> 2:16:32.040 fallen into, you know, bouts of depression and helplessness and 2:16:32.080 --> 2:16:36.200 hopelessness also, I think we all do. But I think 2:16:36.280 --> 2:16:41.720 it behooves us to practice hopefulness, especially in times like these, 2:16:43.440 --> 2:16:49.400 because without it, we don't have the power to liberate 2:16:50.360 --> 2:16:56.320 the oppressed. Right, Yeah, and I think you know, yeah, 2:16:56.440 --> 2:17:00.320 I mean, like like you said, it's it's I think 2:17:00.360 --> 2:17:04.520 it's also important. I keep saying the Palestinian struggle is 2:17:04.560 --> 2:17:07.840 the people's movement all over the world, right, and we're 2:17:07.840 --> 2:17:10.560 seeing that It's not me, I'm nobody, but but we're 2:17:10.600 --> 2:17:13.440 seeing that people understand that. Right. Like I said, people 2:17:13.480 --> 2:17:16.400 are smart, Right, you don't have to go to you know, 2:17:16.879 --> 2:17:19.039 an Ivy League school to be intelligent. 2:17:19.160 --> 2:17:19.360 Right. 2:17:20.440 --> 2:17:23.680 Palafreer talked about banking and intelligence, right, when you just 2:17:23.879 --> 2:17:29.959 consume information from a teacher, perpetuating the perpetuating the injustices, 2:17:30.240 --> 2:17:33.720 and maintaining the system of oppression. Right, you can be 2:17:33.720 --> 2:17:35.680 as educated as you want in that form of education 2:17:35.800 --> 2:17:40.240 and not understand the world and understand the inequalities around you, right, 2:17:40.480 --> 2:17:42.959 But if you feel those inequalities, if you have that empathy, 2:17:43.000 --> 2:17:46.160 if you're able to expand your consciousness a little bit 2:17:46.440 --> 2:17:51.080 to also include those that you may not identify with 2:17:51.400 --> 2:17:55.680 or as or you know that that maybe are not tangible, 2:17:55.720 --> 2:17:58.560 their experience is not as tangible to you, then then 2:17:58.600 --> 2:18:02.240 you're able to understand and situations pretty clearly and easily. 2:18:02.760 --> 2:18:05.000 And I think the world is showing up because they 2:18:05.080 --> 2:18:07.880 understand that. Right. Sure, the air world is showing up. 2:18:07.879 --> 2:18:12.160 And that's incredible, right because they understand. Right, this is 2:18:12.520 --> 2:18:15.200 like what I always say is Palestine is the last 2:18:15.800 --> 2:18:20.080 kind of like I said earlier, the last direct colonialist 2:18:20.120 --> 2:18:24.959 project that exists in the world direct right, in terms 2:18:24.959 --> 2:18:29.040 of direct and active about that colonials project that exists 2:18:29.080 --> 2:18:32.520 in the world and the air world. You know, if 2:18:32.520 --> 2:18:36.120 you read Edwards Aid and Orientalism, you understand how the 2:18:36.120 --> 2:18:41.039 West basically created and othered kind of they are a 2:18:41.120 --> 2:18:44.440 world in order to create that separation and division in 2:18:44.560 --> 2:18:49.080 order to create you know, a world that serves self 2:18:49.080 --> 2:18:55.039 interest in visualism versus kind of communitarianism and of the 2:18:55.160 --> 2:18:58.760 kind of East. And so when when you think about 2:18:58.800 --> 2:19:02.480 in that context, you start understanding that, you know, this 2:19:02.560 --> 2:19:08.280 is and this is a struggle against kind of Western imperialism, right, 2:19:08.680 --> 2:19:13.040 this is a struggle to free all oppress people, because 2:19:13.040 --> 2:19:16.600 that's what that's what Zionism Israel currently stands for. And 2:19:16.640 --> 2:19:20.560 everyone who perpetuates it, and people that talk about intersectionality 2:19:20.640 --> 2:19:22.879 and anti racism and all of that, and they still 2:19:22.920 --> 2:19:26.960 say and they still don't understand that this is literally 2:19:27.200 --> 2:19:29.400 a real time manifestation of the ship that they've been 2:19:29.400 --> 2:19:33.000 reading in history books, right, and we're seeing it and 2:19:33.000 --> 2:19:36.880 it's jarring, and resistance is fucking jarring, right Like it 2:19:37.280 --> 2:19:38.880 was darring to me. I could barely watch it. I 2:19:38.879 --> 2:19:41.360 had people crying, you know, and this is I didn't 2:19:41.400 --> 2:19:43.560 say this earlier, but I had you know, family members 2:19:43.560 --> 2:19:45.400 that didn't want to speak to me, and like, you know, 2:19:45.760 --> 2:19:48.280 people cursing at me, and like friends from you know, 2:19:48.480 --> 2:19:51.920 middle school sending me hate messages. My mom is receiving 2:19:51.959 --> 2:19:56.480 death threats, right, Like this is real shit, right, And 2:19:56.520 --> 2:19:59.640 so like this isn't like an abstract like and and 2:19:59.720 --> 2:20:04.119 so you know that's what that's what people don't necessarily 2:20:04.240 --> 2:20:07.800 understand when they just approach it academically. And I commend them. 2:20:07.800 --> 2:20:10.920 And I think it's important to like understand the intellectual 2:20:10.920 --> 2:20:13.400 context of things, like I've done the work, I've read 2:20:13.400 --> 2:20:17.119 the books, but I think it's also important to kind 2:20:17.120 --> 2:20:20.840 of take a step back and contextualize things all around, right, 2:20:21.240 --> 2:20:27.920 and only through that contextualization can we rehumanize, you know, 2:20:28.080 --> 2:20:30.520 both the the oppressed and the oppressor are in order 2:20:30.600 --> 2:20:34.840 to actually have a path forward that's inclusive of all 2:20:34.959 --> 2:20:38.560 that doesn't that doesn't pit people against each other. Right, 2:20:39.160 --> 2:20:43.440 Jews lived on that land for many years before Zionism, 2:20:43.640 --> 2:20:44.080 if your. 2:20:44.000 --> 2:20:48.879 Scholar, I want to say, just fine, before the introduction 2:20:49.000 --> 2:20:53.640 of Zionism, which is a very modern, very fascist ideology. 2:20:54.320 --> 2:20:57.720 Not only Zionism though, right, Like think about Psych's Peco. Right, 2:20:58.400 --> 2:21:03.160 the British French treaty that was signed in nineteen twenty 2:21:03.760 --> 2:21:07.800 that sliced up the Arab world, according to their whim 2:21:08.400 --> 2:21:13.760 didn't take into account any demograph, any ethnic geographic relations, 2:21:13.959 --> 2:21:16.720 didn't take into account any of that, and that is 2:21:16.760 --> 2:21:18.879 what set the tone for a lot of what we're 2:21:18.879 --> 2:21:23.120 seeing in their world today. Right, compounded by the introduction 2:21:23.280 --> 2:21:28.920 of a European ideology into the region that served European interests, 2:21:29.560 --> 2:21:31.760 is what is what we're seeing to this very day, 2:21:31.800 --> 2:21:34.360 and the Palestinians bear the biggest brunt of it. I 2:21:34.400 --> 2:21:36.600 wouldn't say like I would say, like in recent years, 2:21:36.640 --> 2:21:41.600 there's tragedies all around due to Western imperialism and Western intervention. Right, 2:21:42.320 --> 2:21:43.880 I take that back, right, Like I don't want to 2:21:43.879 --> 2:21:47.680 compare tragedies, but the tragedy of the Palestinian people that 2:21:47.680 --> 2:21:51.160 there's no one really advocating on their behalf. Yeah, I 2:21:51.200 --> 2:21:53.760 was going to add a wrinkle that probably ninety nine 2:21:53.800 --> 2:21:58.000 point nine percent of the population doesn't know, including Pustinians 2:21:58.240 --> 2:22:02.120 and Arabs, because it was actively erased. But up until 2:22:02.200 --> 2:22:08.160 psychs Peco, up until Western imperialism, Arab Jews were an 2:22:08.200 --> 2:22:15.160 integral part of Arabic culture. Okay, An my grandparents from Iraq, Right, 2:22:15.280 --> 2:22:18.160 Iraq wasn't the Iraqi Jews were not Zionis. There were 2:22:18.240 --> 2:22:21.160 hundreds of thousands of Jews in Iraq that lived there 2:22:21.440 --> 2:22:24.200 since Babylonian times. Right, there are many you know, many 2:22:24.240 --> 2:22:26.960 empires that came through the air world, right, so this 2:22:27.120 --> 2:22:30.640 place replaced et cetera. But they were there for hundreds 2:22:30.640 --> 2:22:34.600 of years at the minimum. Some would say some of 2:22:34.600 --> 2:22:39.080 them were actually not there due to the Spanish Inquisition, right, 2:22:39.440 --> 2:22:43.520 but actually were there before and never left basically, And 2:22:43.600 --> 2:22:47.400 so you know they were musicians, you know, they played kusum, 2:22:47.520 --> 2:22:49.880 right like there were there were statesmen, there were they 2:22:49.879 --> 2:22:52.959 were very integral part of the culture, right. And and 2:22:53.040 --> 2:22:55.800 there many Arab friends that do know this, and they 2:22:55.959 --> 2:22:58.560 they're like, yeah, like this is the biggest, the biggest, 2:22:58.879 --> 2:23:01.240 one of the biggest tragedies is kind of the betrayal 2:23:02.000 --> 2:23:05.800 of the Arab jew right, And they understand, right, like 2:23:06.920 --> 2:23:09.200 at this point in time, and this is not only 2:23:09.240 --> 2:23:12.640 iraqis was Egypt and you know Yemen and Morocco. There's 2:23:12.680 --> 2:23:16.440 a huge just community, right, like these these people live there. 2:23:16.040 --> 2:23:20.240 The Nazism is not an Arabic concept. They're trying to 2:23:20.280 --> 2:23:21.840 paint Arabs as Nazis. 2:23:22.360 --> 2:23:24.440 Even growing up, I would go to Syria a lot, 2:23:24.600 --> 2:23:27.960 and my grandfather would like he would only get bread 2:23:28.120 --> 2:23:30.160 at the Jewish bakery, Like he would take the walk 2:23:30.200 --> 2:23:33.640 and go there, and it was normal. No one cares, like, 2:23:33.680 --> 2:23:37.440 no one gives a shit really what your religion is 2:23:37.440 --> 2:23:40.960 in those communities. And I think, I mean, this is 2:23:41.080 --> 2:23:43.560 obvious for people that are reading about all of this, 2:23:43.760 --> 2:23:48.720 but the media and Zionism in Israel, they're purposely conflating 2:23:49.040 --> 2:23:52.320 what's happening with religion to make it more complicated for people, 2:23:52.360 --> 2:23:54.640 to make it this like ancient battle of all time, 2:23:55.000 --> 2:23:58.560 when it's not about any kind of Muslim versus Jewish 2:23:58.720 --> 2:24:02.440 versus Arab versus whatever. It's it's really so simple, to 2:24:02.480 --> 2:24:04.920 the point where it's kind of silly. And I think 2:24:05.000 --> 2:24:08.120 they make it so complicated for people to be scared 2:24:08.160 --> 2:24:10.160 to talk about it. They're they're not informed enough. They 2:24:10.160 --> 2:24:11.960 don't know about religion, they don't know about the history. 2:24:12.080 --> 2:24:13.480 You don't have to know about any of that to 2:24:13.560 --> 2:24:16.320 know that oppression is wrong and genocide is wrong. 2:24:18.120 --> 2:24:23.560 And every every every resistance movement in history was considered 2:24:23.600 --> 2:24:30.280 a terrorist, yes, movement in modern times, right, even Israeli militias. Right, 2:24:30.320 --> 2:24:34.280 you had the Lefi, the Excel and the AGA. Okay, 2:24:34.600 --> 2:24:39.320 they're considered terrorist organizations because they would attack civilian British 2:24:39.560 --> 2:24:43.840 and they've attacked civilian targets during the British mandate. YEP, 2:24:43.959 --> 2:24:48.520 sounds familiar, but you know what, those those three militias 2:24:48.520 --> 2:24:53.720 became the idea, the idea exactly. The three militias that 2:24:53.800 --> 2:24:56.560 formed that formed the IDEF once Israel was given statehood 2:24:57.320 --> 2:25:01.720 were considered terrorist organizations. The ira Rist organization right Melson 2:25:01.760 --> 2:25:04.680 Mandela was on the US Terrorist watchless until two thousand 2:25:04.720 --> 2:25:07.680 and eight. These are real things. These are all facts. 2:25:08.120 --> 2:25:10.680 But I'm saying even if you're thinking about it from 2:25:10.760 --> 2:25:15.359 the perspective of attacking civilians, Okay, wrong in my opinion, 2:25:16.000 --> 2:25:18.960 but when you don't have if you look at actually 2:25:19.080 --> 2:25:21.560 ere another another fact, right, look at what the Chbella 2:25:21.640 --> 2:25:26.560 is doing. Okay, they were considered terrorist organization. Their armed 2:25:26.600 --> 2:25:30.520 to the teeth. Israel scared shitless of the Isabella threat. 2:25:30.560 --> 2:25:33.200 I'm hearing it from people on the ground. Right, they're 2:25:33.240 --> 2:25:36.960 attacking military targets. They're showing the world that they can't 2:25:37.120 --> 2:25:40.160 because they can. They used to not be able to, 2:25:40.640 --> 2:25:44.519 Now they can. So they are when a population is oppressed, 2:25:44.879 --> 2:25:49.400 suppressed to the level that the Gosins are, what military 2:25:49.400 --> 2:25:51.560 do they have? Do they have F sixteen fighter jets 2:25:51.959 --> 2:25:56.040 that they can go and bomb? I don't know the Kiriyah, 2:25:56.560 --> 2:25:58.560 did you guys know that the biggest military base in 2:25:58.600 --> 2:25:59.959 Israel is in the middle of the televis. 2:26:00.680 --> 2:26:02.320 Yeah, in a residential area. 2:26:02.560 --> 2:26:04.920 In a residential area. So what if, what if? What 2:26:04.959 --> 2:26:07.840 if the Gosins had f sixteen fighter what if Kamas 2:26:07.840 --> 2:26:10.720 had sixteen fighters? They wouldn't want to bomb that? Yeah, 2:26:10.840 --> 2:26:13.880 Like people are people that dense like that. They don't 2:26:13.959 --> 2:26:18.480 understand how this thing works and what what oppression looks like. Right. 2:26:18.800 --> 2:26:21.200 A lot of my Pastinian friends always say the world 2:26:21.280 --> 2:26:23.720 wants us to be the perfect victims. Yeah, and in 2:26:23.760 --> 2:26:26.600 a lot of in a lot of senses, the burden 2:26:26.840 --> 2:26:30.520 is always on the victim, right in these oppressive scenarios. 2:26:30.520 --> 2:26:32.840 So I always tell them, guys, like, we have to 2:26:32.879 --> 2:26:36.040 be smart. We have to make sure that you know, again, 2:26:36.200 --> 2:26:40.800 I like, it's it's trauma that I can't you know, 2:26:40.840 --> 2:26:43.520 I feel in my bones. But but it's not it's 2:26:43.520 --> 2:26:46.880 not directly happening to me, and and and so I can't. 2:26:46.879 --> 2:26:48.879 I'm not. It's not from a place of judgment. It's 2:26:48.879 --> 2:26:51.760 from a pragmatic perspective. We have to understand that that's 2:26:51.800 --> 2:26:54.879 the trap that they're setting for us. The Kamas enacted 2:26:55.360 --> 2:27:00.520 the Kamas did exactly with the right wing government wanted 2:27:00.959 --> 2:27:03.920 them to do in order to justify the plan that 2:27:03.920 --> 2:27:06.120 they had all along. I'm not going to go so 2:27:06.280 --> 2:27:08.880 far as to start perpetuating conspiracy theories because it's not 2:27:08.920 --> 2:27:11.560 my place. So I'm not going to say that they 2:27:11.600 --> 2:27:13.520 planned this and it was, you know, an inside job. 2:27:13.560 --> 2:27:16.440 I'm not going to say that. But what I will 2:27:16.440 --> 2:27:20.400 say is it served the interests of the right wing government. 2:27:20.840 --> 2:27:23.600 And the one thing I wanted to say, because I 2:27:23.680 --> 2:27:27.360 keep going off on tangents and I apologize, But to 2:27:27.400 --> 2:27:30.640 your point about the Knakba, I said, in the last 2:27:30.640 --> 2:27:34.400 ten years, it's pretty crazy to see the narrative shift. 2:27:35.160 --> 2:27:40.120 Israel has so been so emboldened. They feel so invincible 2:27:40.200 --> 2:27:43.600 because of the international support that they have. Now they 2:27:43.640 --> 2:27:46.760 acknowledge a knakoba. Now they acknowledge the knob, but we 2:27:46.800 --> 2:27:49.640 know how they acknowledge it. They say, yeah, the Knackba happened, 2:27:49.680 --> 2:27:52.840 Let's do a second one, yep, right, And so now 2:27:52.840 --> 2:27:54.840 they're now all of a sudden the knock by existed, right, 2:27:55.080 --> 2:27:57.440 and they're basically saying, hey, let's do a second one. 2:27:57.480 --> 2:28:00.280 All the like, all the right wing government of Mine 2:28:00.240 --> 2:28:02.200 officials are saying, second knof but let's do it now. 2:28:02.240 --> 2:28:05.680 Let's let's that's what they try to do. Yeah, they're 2:28:05.680 --> 2:28:06.480 trying to do in Gaza. 2:28:09.040 --> 2:28:11.039 It feels like the first one just ended, right. 2:28:11.200 --> 2:28:13.320 That I always I always say that I agree, but 2:28:13.400 --> 2:28:16.040 I'm saying, like I'm talking about mass expulsion right now. 2:28:16.200 --> 2:28:19.199 They're trying to They're trying, under international on everyone's noses 2:28:19.440 --> 2:28:25.760 to utilize genocide and ethnic cleansing to displace millions of 2:28:25.760 --> 2:28:28.840 Palestinians from Gaza. And God knows, I don't. They don't 2:28:28.879 --> 2:28:31.800 have a they don't. This was like a biblical idea, right, 2:28:32.200 --> 2:28:35.320 like the Judean Samaria. This is not like a there's 2:28:35.360 --> 2:28:38.080 no like specific plans that people had, Like this is 2:28:38.080 --> 2:28:43.000 a biblical, fervent, ideological idea. They don't freaking know what 2:28:43.040 --> 2:28:46.360 they're doing. They don't want to go to they don't 2:28:46.400 --> 2:28:48.320 want to go to war with Iran. They're scared of 2:28:48.320 --> 2:28:51.520 the Like these are real things, these are real threats, 2:28:51.520 --> 2:28:55.120 Like Israel hasn't fought a real opponent since the seventies 2:28:55.120 --> 2:28:57.280 and the Young pol War. That's what I'm trying to say, 2:28:57.320 --> 2:29:00.000 Like this showed how vulnerable they are and they're scared. 2:29:00.160 --> 2:29:01.920 I'm telling you, like I know the sentiment on the ground, 2:29:01.959 --> 2:29:04.360 like people are scared out of their minds. They don't think. 2:29:04.640 --> 2:29:08.520 They're not very confident in Israel's military, right, Like that's 2:29:08.560 --> 2:29:10.360 why they're bombing the shit, and like that's why they 2:29:10.360 --> 2:29:12.520 haven't invaded. They said they're going to invade, babes talking 2:29:12.560 --> 2:29:15.119 this big game. They haven't done yet because they're scared. 2:29:15.160 --> 2:29:18.760 Remember, also, is that the IDF that's all. It does 2:29:18.920 --> 2:29:21.560 not actually act in the best interests of the civilians, 2:29:21.600 --> 2:29:23.360 if anything. Like there was like a report from an 2:29:23.440 --> 2:29:28.720 Israeli woman who survived the massacre at the music festival 2:29:28.720 --> 2:29:31.039 that said a lot of them were shot by like 2:29:31.080 --> 2:29:33.360 their own forces. It was like indiscriminate shooting. 2:29:33.840 --> 2:29:38.320 The biggest casualties for Israeli soldiers up until this was 2:29:38.400 --> 2:29:39.040 friendly fire. 2:29:39.560 --> 2:29:41.320 Yeah really, that's that's. 2:29:43.240 --> 2:29:45.080 I mean, I just think that's so hard to remember 2:29:45.160 --> 2:29:51.160 because it's a they're framed as this very like ideal 2:29:51.600 --> 2:29:55.000 warrior bullshit and it's so far from the truth. 2:29:55.280 --> 2:29:58.480 Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Their eighteen year old kids. Yeah, 2:29:58.560 --> 2:30:04.320 these aren't like US, like marines that are career assassins. 2:30:04.959 --> 2:30:06.520 Like have you ever seen in a US marine and 2:30:06.560 --> 2:30:09.600 next to an Israeli soldiers. I'm serious, like like. 2:30:09.760 --> 2:30:12.119 I know, there's become a trend to be a soldier 2:30:12.160 --> 2:30:14.400 of anything. It's like very like you see these like 2:30:14.920 --> 2:30:19.120 young people talk like yeah, exactly, it's like a very 2:30:20.440 --> 2:30:21.240 cool thing to. 2:30:21.240 --> 2:30:24.720 Do because there's never a threat though Israel. Israel has 2:30:24.760 --> 2:30:27.240 been You've grown up in Israel believing that you're the 2:30:27.240 --> 2:30:29.280 most powerful entity and you can do whatever you want 2:30:29.320 --> 2:30:33.920 whenever you want, right, and that notion has been shaken 2:30:33.959 --> 2:30:36.440 to its core. And if you're part of the propaganda machine, 2:30:36.440 --> 2:30:38.240 if you if you're caught in the propaganda machine that 2:30:38.360 --> 2:30:42.000 is kind of Zionist Israeli ideology, you're basically now your 2:30:42.040 --> 2:30:46.120 whole world is crumbled beneath you. Right, you're completely in 2:30:46.160 --> 2:30:49.720 survival mode. Everyone's posting, everyone's like you have to eradicate 2:30:49.720 --> 2:30:52.039 come us. They're not even eradicating comas. What are they doing, 2:30:52.080 --> 2:30:55.000 They're just emboldening come ups Like this happens all the time. 2:30:55.000 --> 2:30:56.959 It's just happening on a much bigger scale right now. 2:30:57.360 --> 2:31:01.039 Every any Hamas leader that they basically looking for, like 2:31:01.080 --> 2:31:05.480 a big like a major Hamas leadership, you know, attack 2:31:05.560 --> 2:31:09.320 and once they're able to neutralize, you know, in their words, 2:31:10.120 --> 2:31:14.040 numerous high ranking officials. I think they'll declare victory even 2:31:14.080 --> 2:31:16.080 though they're not going to be victorious. They're not going 2:31:16.080 --> 2:31:18.880 to bring back the fourteen hundred people. 2:31:18.920 --> 2:31:20.959 They're also going to kill the hostages at this rate, 2:31:21.000 --> 2:31:22.280 you know what I mean, Like they're not like. 2:31:22.280 --> 2:31:23.959 They've already killed more than twenty two. 2:31:24.600 --> 2:31:27.039 That's how much do you actually care about your civilians 2:31:27.080 --> 2:31:29.560 and the hostage like the foreign hostages either like it's 2:31:29.720 --> 2:31:33.039 your but but I don't know those clearly showing their ass. 2:31:33.040 --> 2:31:36.359 In my opinion, I want to have a clear message 2:31:36.400 --> 2:31:40.240 though to kind of people that are on the fence 2:31:40.959 --> 2:31:46.880 in the West that are being fed propaganda through Western 2:31:46.959 --> 2:31:49.000 media outlets. That is quite clear at this point. And 2:31:49.040 --> 2:31:50.959 some of them recognize this, and that's why they come 2:31:50.959 --> 2:31:53.360 to my page and they're like, oh, you know, thank you. 2:31:53.400 --> 2:31:57.359 I didn't I didn't know. I didn't know. In Israel, 2:31:58.400 --> 2:32:03.400 there are many people, not even ideologically that want to 2:32:03.400 --> 2:32:06.360 bring the hostages back and don't understand why Israel is 2:32:06.400 --> 2:32:09.560 doing what it's doing before and not even talking to 2:32:09.600 --> 2:32:10.680 them about the hostages. 2:32:11.240 --> 2:32:15.560 Yeah, it complete being like pleads just yeah. 2:32:16.320 --> 2:32:18.440 I'm not talking about left wing activists. I'm talking about 2:32:18.440 --> 2:32:23.080 like average israelis right. Natania has failed the Israeli people 2:32:23.760 --> 2:32:26.600 that attack the fact that and again this I don't 2:32:26.640 --> 2:32:28.920 enough people know this right, people who know know, but 2:32:29.320 --> 2:32:33.439 maybe some some don't. That attack was a complete military 2:32:33.520 --> 2:32:38.560 failure on behalf of Israel. And that happened because over 2:32:38.600 --> 2:32:41.920 the last six to nine months since the right wing 2:32:41.959 --> 2:32:50.640 government took place, took power, they've been using the idea 2:32:51.080 --> 2:32:57.119 to support, empower, embolden and protect settlers in the West Bank. 2:32:57.959 --> 2:33:00.800 And that's why settler attacks have increased. That's why settlements 2:33:00.800 --> 2:33:03.480 have increased, that's why they're more settlers than ever before. 2:33:03.840 --> 2:33:06.160 And what they were doing on that very day people 2:33:06.200 --> 2:33:08.039 don't already know. I hope they do. But if they 2:33:08.040 --> 2:33:11.040 don't already know, the IDF was in the West Bank 2:33:11.520 --> 2:33:14.760 on Sukquot, which is a Jewish holiday, and they were 2:33:15.080 --> 2:33:21.400 protecting settlers in building a sukkah, that structure that people 2:33:21.400 --> 2:33:27.160 sit in in the middle of Juara, a Palestinian village, 2:33:27.320 --> 2:33:31.840 and they were protecting them and chaper owning them so 2:33:31.879 --> 2:33:34.080 that they can break into Palestinian village to build a 2:33:34.120 --> 2:33:38.160 sukkah in order to antagonize Palestinians. That's say what you 2:33:38.160 --> 2:33:41.400 may about anything else. The fact that that is the 2:33:41.400 --> 2:33:43.600 priority of the government. You know you're doing the oppression. 2:33:43.720 --> 2:33:47.959 You're already committing the oppression. You're already subjugating the Tastinian people. 2:33:48.000 --> 2:33:51.320 You know that Hamas is comas, you're going to remove 2:33:52.040 --> 2:33:57.040 security forces from the border to embolden and empower settlers instead. 2:33:58.200 --> 2:33:59.199 It doesn't make any sense. 2:34:00.400 --> 2:34:03.400 It's I mean, that's why the most unsettling things I've 2:34:03.440 --> 2:34:06.039 seen coming out of Israel are those right wing protests 2:34:06.040 --> 2:34:08.560 where they're like death to Arabs and whatever, or like 2:34:08.560 --> 2:34:11.240 they're attacking people and the ideaf is like either helping 2:34:11.240 --> 2:34:15.400 them or standing by. If you're on the fence about this, still, 2:34:15.879 --> 2:34:19.120 you are literally for genocide. Those are the two differences. 2:34:19.320 --> 2:34:22.760 It's either your for genocide or you're against genocide. And 2:34:23.040 --> 2:34:27.960 if you're considering the options, examine yourself. That's not right. 2:34:28.879 --> 2:34:33.760 I was just sent this tweet apparently yesterday, the twitter 2:34:33.840 --> 2:34:37.880 for Israeli Prime Minister at Israel PM said this is 2:34:37.920 --> 2:34:40.680 a struggle between the children of light and the children 2:34:40.760 --> 2:34:43.879 of darkness, between humanity and the law of the jungle. 2:34:45.680 --> 2:34:49.039 Are you fucking kidding me? That's like Nazi Hitler shit? 2:34:49.080 --> 2:34:52.440 Are you there are so many lives I've already been lost, 2:34:52.480 --> 2:34:54.119 and the ones that have not been lost are never 2:34:54.200 --> 2:34:58.240 going to recover. They've lost so much other than their life. 2:34:59.240 --> 2:35:02.160 There are so many terarrifying and horrific videos that I've 2:35:02.160 --> 2:35:07.119 seen that no one should have to go through, And 2:35:07.640 --> 2:35:09.720 not only are they going through it, they're getting funded 2:35:09.760 --> 2:35:14.920 and encouraged by most of the world. I cannot accept that. 2:35:15.360 --> 2:35:19.160 I sorry, I don't want to cry, but I might. 2:35:20.640 --> 2:35:23.960 I mean, it's that's where we're at at this point. 2:35:24.160 --> 2:35:29.600 No, but I appreciate you being here to get through 2:35:29.640 --> 2:35:32.800 to people who might still be considering what's happening as 2:35:33.160 --> 2:35:36.879 a both sides thing or a justification for anything. When 2:35:36.879 --> 2:35:40.000 they see tweets like that, or when they see justification 2:35:40.080 --> 2:35:42.440 for killing all the people because they're all barbarians or 2:35:42.480 --> 2:35:45.959 whatever it is. I urge you. I urge you to 2:35:46.000 --> 2:35:50.560 seek out Palestinian sources of news, actually see what's happening 2:35:50.840 --> 2:35:55.800 in Gaza, listen to people who are not advertising anything 2:35:55.800 --> 2:36:01.520 to you, and it's like pleading for their lives. I 2:36:01.920 --> 2:36:05.600 just this can't be how we end up as a people. 2:36:05.920 --> 2:36:14.240 I'm it's extremely unlike no words to describe how devastating, 2:36:14.400 --> 2:36:16.840 and I think if you are listening and you are 2:36:16.840 --> 2:36:20.240 wondering what to do, there are places you can donate to. 2:36:20.360 --> 2:36:22.760 I can put some links in the description of sources 2:36:22.760 --> 2:36:26.240 that I trust of people to follow and all that stuff, 2:36:26.280 --> 2:36:29.920 so you can look at the description for that. I 2:36:30.000 --> 2:36:32.760 think what's very important that people maybe aren't taking too 2:36:32.800 --> 2:36:37.160 seriously is how important social media and like spreading awareness 2:36:37.200 --> 2:36:41.120 has been, because the only reason the resistance has come 2:36:41.160 --> 2:36:43.960 this far is because of that, because more people are 2:36:44.000 --> 2:36:48.000 aware about what's going on. People aren't accepting that Israel 2:36:48.120 --> 2:36:51.600 is doing this. So I think we just can't stop. 2:36:51.600 --> 2:36:53.800 Like as much as they want the world to forget 2:36:53.800 --> 2:36:57.280 that Palestinians were even there, we cannot forget Palestinians, and 2:36:57.320 --> 2:37:02.040 I'm not going to stop talking about it neither he is. 2:37:02.200 --> 2:37:03.959 This is why I'm speaking on I just got a 2:37:03.959 --> 2:37:09.840 message on Palestinian friends. You are our voice now. We're 2:37:09.920 --> 2:37:12.600 not allowed to spit out a lip. They are arresting 2:37:12.640 --> 2:37:16.240 anyone who speaks or shares the truth. Please, I beg 2:37:16.320 --> 2:37:18.400 you don't give up on our people in Gaza. We 2:37:18.440 --> 2:37:21.680 need your voice to stop the genocide. Thousands of lives 2:37:21.680 --> 2:37:24.520 have already been taken. We can't stand this anymore. 2:37:25.120 --> 2:37:28.119 Please listen to that, everybody, please. 2:37:28.600 --> 2:37:35.119 It's very hard to fathom and internalize what's happening. 2:37:35.640 --> 2:37:38.920 Yeah, it's a lot, and we're privileged enough to think 2:37:38.920 --> 2:37:42.280 about it that deeply. People in Gaza Palestinians, they don't 2:37:42.280 --> 2:37:46.680 have the luxury of no of anything other than their 2:37:47.280 --> 2:37:48.480 nightmare of a reality. 2:37:49.080 --> 2:37:52.680 No, I want to add in just yea, because I 2:37:52.720 --> 2:37:56.480 think that the biggest kind of pushback that we keep 2:37:56.480 --> 2:38:00.640 hearing is homas Yes, please yet. And I think that 2:38:02.120 --> 2:38:05.200 again remembering what we kind of mentioned earlier in the call, 2:38:05.640 --> 2:38:12.760 how liberation movements for occupied peoples have always been deemed 2:38:13.440 --> 2:38:17.680 terrorist organizations and you know, even targeted civilians. Right, So 2:38:17.840 --> 2:38:21.280 not only like by the definition of terrorist organizations are 2:38:21.360 --> 2:38:24.480 terrorist organizations. So even if that's what we believe, and 2:38:24.840 --> 2:38:27.040 let's just say that that's you know, we accept and 2:38:27.120 --> 2:38:34.400 agree that that's what Hamas is, I think it's important 2:38:34.400 --> 2:38:40.360 to understand that terrorist organizations have become political organizations time 2:38:40.360 --> 2:38:43.240 and time again. And I think that it's also important 2:38:43.280 --> 2:38:50.119 to understand historically the Hamas As as an entity again 2:38:50.640 --> 2:38:55.040 remind you was created and partially created and funded by 2:38:55.040 --> 2:38:57.959 the State of Israel, emboldened by the State of Israel. 2:38:58.040 --> 2:39:01.119 Because I want to be very clear, up until the nineties, 2:39:01.280 --> 2:39:04.440 right al slow accords to the peace process. People say, oh, 2:39:04.440 --> 2:39:06.800 the Palestinians didn't want peace. To your point earlier, the 2:39:06.840 --> 2:39:11.680 Palestinians were willing to take almost anything. At that point, Arafat, 2:39:11.920 --> 2:39:15.240 who was considered a terrorist before he became a statesman, right, 2:39:16.160 --> 2:39:21.800 was on the table with Robbin had an agreement in place. Okay, 2:39:22.480 --> 2:39:25.320 and then people don't know. If you're not a scholar 2:39:25.360 --> 2:39:28.960 and you don't know, you should know. Oh, Goldstein, an 2:39:29.040 --> 2:39:33.080 Israeli terrorist came in to a mosque I believe it 2:39:33.120 --> 2:39:36.320 was in Hebron, I don't remember exactly, and he killed 2:39:36.720 --> 2:39:41.080 more than thirty people during prayer, just indiscriminately shot innocent 2:39:41.120 --> 2:39:43.400 people in a mosque. So the biggest, one of the 2:39:43.400 --> 2:39:50.200 biggest tragedies. Right, and then he was not only did 2:39:50.200 --> 2:39:53.520 they the response you know Overban's response to that was 2:39:54.120 --> 2:39:59.640 it was locking down Hebron, Palestinians in Hebron, so because 2:39:59.640 --> 2:40:02.519 he was fearful of what the Palestinians would do in retaliation. 2:40:03.160 --> 2:40:07.640 The immediate response by Rabine was locking down the people 2:40:07.640 --> 2:40:13.240 of Hebron. Okay, instead of going and doing something about 2:40:13.280 --> 2:40:16.680 the settlers that committed the crime or that emboldened the 2:40:16.680 --> 2:40:21.240 person committing the crime. That's number one. Number two, that 2:40:21.440 --> 2:40:25.720 sparked the retaliation because when people don't have justice, they 2:40:25.720 --> 2:40:28.080 take justice in their own hands. So that sparked this 2:40:28.240 --> 2:40:34.280 series of attacks in Israel, right, devastating attacks in Israel. 2:40:34.600 --> 2:40:36.680 But it was that that did that, And it was 2:40:36.720 --> 2:40:39.160 his He could have he could have handled that differently, 2:40:39.200 --> 2:40:42.240 but he didn't, right and and and that was what 2:40:42.400 --> 2:40:49.760 sparked the response. Then in turn, okay again who putting 2:40:49.800 --> 2:40:57.760 that aside? Right? And sorry, little tidbit. His grave Hu 2:40:57.920 --> 2:41:03.440 Cochtain's grave is go uarded by the IDF as some 2:41:03.800 --> 2:41:06.440 and many many many consider him a national hero. 2:41:07.240 --> 2:41:09.560 Yeah, I've seen photos of people like crying at his 2:41:09.640 --> 2:41:12.560 grave like it's yes, save their family or something. When 2:41:12.560 --> 2:41:14.440 he's not just you literally just like went into a 2:41:14.440 --> 2:41:17.720 mosque with a gun and shot thirty people who were 2:41:17.800 --> 2:41:18.640 fucking praying. 2:41:19.160 --> 2:41:20.840 Yes, And that's wrong. 2:41:21.120 --> 2:41:22.960 People are idolizing exactly. 2:41:23.000 --> 2:41:25.039 It's rotten to its core, is my point. This is 2:41:25.040 --> 2:41:28.359 what you're supporting when you support the state of Israel. Okay, 2:41:28.480 --> 2:41:30.240 this is part of part of this is part of 2:41:30.280 --> 2:41:35.000 what you're supporting. Now taking a second step, Robin was 2:41:35.040 --> 2:41:42.960 assassinated by a Jewish Israeli, not by Pastinian. Even in 2:41:43.000 --> 2:41:45.440 spite of everything, the peace process was still going on 2:41:46.040 --> 2:41:51.200 because they did everything to foil it, right, and then 2:41:51.240 --> 2:41:56.000 they assassinated the Israeli Prime minister. And ever since then, 2:41:56.360 --> 2:41:59.720 right then you had Ariel's your own and whatever that 2:42:00.160 --> 2:42:02.720 to continue a peace process and you know, some capacity. 2:42:02.879 --> 2:42:04.800 But ever since then, for the last twenty three years, 2:42:05.600 --> 2:42:08.640 no one has been talking about a peace process. They blamed, 2:42:09.160 --> 2:42:13.080 they blamed the Palestinians for every act of resistance. They 2:42:13.080 --> 2:42:16.360 don't listen. They believe that they talk the way that 2:42:16.840 --> 2:42:25.160 politicians discussed the Palestinian kind of oppression is managing the occupation, Okay, 2:42:25.720 --> 2:42:29.160 managing the oppipation. No one's talking about peace, not left left, 2:42:29.200 --> 2:42:31.520 pseudo left, whatever you want to call it, not liberal, 2:42:31.600 --> 2:42:35.480 zionis left or center or right. No one is talking 2:42:35.520 --> 2:42:39.640 about peace. No one is talking about any semblance of peace. 2:42:40.480 --> 2:42:43.440 I find it very particular, right, and this is why, 2:42:43.640 --> 2:42:45.600 this is why I'm saying we live in the twilight zone. 2:42:47.120 --> 2:42:53.200 That Donald Trump's four years in office, okay, he had 2:42:53.320 --> 2:42:56.920 Kushner that that say, what all the bad things right 2:42:57.200 --> 2:43:01.360 about his about his behavior. He was and through normalization 2:43:01.400 --> 2:43:02.920 deals with their world, trying to get a deal for 2:43:03.000 --> 2:43:08.039 the Palestinian people, albeit the most absurd sort of deal 2:43:08.080 --> 2:43:11.080 if you ever read what the Abraham Cords actually entailed, 2:43:11.160 --> 2:43:14.720 right like weird like highways and weird, right like not 2:43:14.920 --> 2:43:18.480 a deal that anyone should have accepted. But putting that aside, 2:43:18.720 --> 2:43:22.440 he was talking about it. There was discussion, there was 2:43:22.520 --> 2:43:26.480 Palestinian like the word Palestinian was being said by the 2:43:26.520 --> 2:43:29.560 Office of the President. In the last four years that 2:43:29.560 --> 2:43:33.280 Biden was in office. No one said anything, no one 2:43:33.320 --> 2:43:35.840 did anything to advanced piece. No one even brought a 2:43:35.840 --> 2:43:39.760 bogus deal like Darrek Kushner to the table. I don't 2:43:39.760 --> 2:43:43.520 make it make sense. I don't understand. They basically bought 2:43:43.560 --> 2:43:49.760 into the Zionist idea that we can just live, continue 2:43:49.800 --> 2:43:53.480 living while millions of people are being oppressed and occupied. 2:43:54.640 --> 2:43:56.480 This is the Democratic Party. And that's why we see 2:43:56.480 --> 2:44:00.320 the media now the way it is, because they're rolling 2:44:00.320 --> 2:44:04.520 the media narrative too. Right, So open your eyes see 2:44:04.560 --> 2:44:07.600 it for what it is, right, don't get cloud don't 2:44:07.640 --> 2:44:11.879 let your judgment get clouded by this. Two side bs 2:44:12.080 --> 2:44:17.920 aspect hold space for the killing of innocent civilians, including 2:44:17.959 --> 2:44:23.120 the killing of Israeli innocent civilians, while simultaneously understanding that 2:44:23.280 --> 2:44:27.480 this is all because of the aggression of colonialism and 2:44:27.640 --> 2:44:31.599 specifically a perpetuation of the Zionist project as a colonialist, 2:44:32.200 --> 2:44:37.120 nationalist ethno state. And that is what I ask of 2:44:37.200 --> 2:44:42.000 you guys to do, right, Yeah, thank. 2:44:41.800 --> 2:44:45.440 You for that. That's I think a great place to end. 2:44:46.200 --> 2:44:50.760 Thank you again for joining me. You are just as 2:44:50.800 --> 2:44:54.039 your Palestinian friends said in that message, your voice is 2:44:54.080 --> 2:44:57.320 really critical because people will more likely listen to you 2:44:57.600 --> 2:45:01.080 than to a Palestinian. So I very much thank you 2:45:01.080 --> 2:45:07.000 for your activism. And I don't know, it's we're not 2:45:07.200 --> 2:45:11.360 living in a just world and so we just have 2:45:11.440 --> 2:45:13.640 to stick together. I also want to mention the other 2:45:13.680 --> 2:45:16.520 reason why social media is so important is like, one, 2:45:16.640 --> 2:45:19.320 there's a reason they cut electricity to Gaza. They don't 2:45:19.360 --> 2:45:21.480 want anything coming out of there. They want them to 2:45:21.520 --> 2:45:24.840 die in a blackout. And two they are literally arresting 2:45:24.879 --> 2:45:29.640 people for following Palestinian accounts. Now yeah, so I mean, 2:45:29.640 --> 2:45:32.160 if that's not sutalitarianism, like what the fuck is? I 2:45:32.200 --> 2:45:37.920 don't but anyway, so, uh, that's it for today. I 2:45:37.920 --> 2:45:41.520 can't I don't think I can do anymore. But again 2:45:41.600 --> 2:45:44.960 I'll put some sources in the description to donate to 2:45:44.959 --> 2:45:47.800 to keep raising awareness. If you have people in your 2:45:47.800 --> 2:45:52.560 circles that are still hesitant about having a stance on this, 2:45:52.800 --> 2:45:56.520 like have conversations. It shouldn't be complicated. It really shouldn't be, 2:45:56.520 --> 2:45:59.120 because it's not. And that's all. That's all I have. 2:46:00.320 --> 2:46:02.280 Thanks everybody, thank you. 2:46:02.200 --> 2:46:02.680 For having me. 2:46:18.080 --> 2:46:22.240 Welcome back to it could happen here, a podcast about 2:46:22.440 --> 2:46:26.720 things falling apart, And speaking of falling apart, when we're 2:46:26.720 --> 2:46:31.240 talking about the crumbles, the slow and sometimes rapid erosion 2:46:31.320 --> 2:46:35.879 of institutions in this country, nothing is quite as relevant 2:46:35.959 --> 2:46:37.119 as the tech industry. 2:46:37.920 --> 2:46:38.720 I'm Robert Evans. 2:46:38.720 --> 2:46:42.560 Obviously on the line with me is Garrison Davis, and 2:46:42.600 --> 2:46:45.800 we also have someone new with us today who's going 2:46:45.840 --> 2:46:49.440 to be talking talking tech and particularly talking about the 2:46:49.560 --> 2:46:52.840 NFT crash and some of what that has to tell 2:46:52.920 --> 2:46:56.520 us about both how the tech industry functions now and 2:46:56.640 --> 2:47:00.720 about how kind of our economies of hype contribute to 2:47:00.959 --> 2:47:04.400 a state of what Ed Zitron, who was our guest here, 2:47:04.520 --> 2:47:08.240 tends to call the rot economy. Ed welcome to the show. Hey, 2:47:08.280 --> 2:47:09.080 thank you for having me. 2:47:09.680 --> 2:47:12.400 Yeah, I'll just hand it over to you at this point. 2:47:13.000 --> 2:47:16.240 So you may remember two years ago where kind of ghoulish, 2:47:16.240 --> 2:47:21.520 half wit libertarians emphatically told you that NFT's non functible 2:47:21.600 --> 2:47:25.039 tokens would change everything, that people wanted to own a 2:47:25.160 --> 2:47:28.560 unique digital object, and indeed that the said uniqueness of 2:47:28.600 --> 2:47:32.000 said object, say a picture of an ape or an 2:47:32.040 --> 2:47:36.240 animated gift of a sports moment, would be worth millions. 2:47:36.520 --> 2:47:39.880 The hypeia was insane. Justin Bieber paid one point three 2:47:39.920 --> 2:47:43.000 million dollars for a board ape, which is one of 2:47:43.080 --> 2:47:48.040 ten thousand procedurally generated pictures of a monkey, and celebrities 2:47:48.080 --> 2:47:50.960 like Milakounis and Lindsay Lohan would fund and create their 2:47:50.959 --> 2:47:54.960 own NFT projects. In fact, multiple celebrities raised millions of 2:47:54.959 --> 2:48:01.120 dollars for these kind of noxious little creations. Their logic 2:48:01.440 --> 2:48:04.360 entirely hinged upon the idea that something being a one 2:48:04.360 --> 2:48:07.360 of a kind somehow made it valuable, and that a 2:48:07.400 --> 2:48:09.879 digital token connected to a picture or a video was 2:48:09.920 --> 2:48:12.360 the same as say, a rare baseball card or a 2:48:12.360 --> 2:48:15.400 comic book, or the sense that owning part of a 2:48:15.440 --> 2:48:18.880 digital entity like a game was somehow valuable. I personally 2:48:18.879 --> 2:48:21.720 do not think owning a sword from World of Warcraft 2:48:21.720 --> 2:48:24.920 a unique one means anything. I do not think that's 2:48:25.040 --> 2:48:28.040 meaningful in any way. But listen, got a bit of 2:48:28.120 --> 2:48:31.240 advice for anyone listening. When any one tells you to 2:48:31.320 --> 2:48:33.520 ignore your eyes in your ears, it's the Duller voice 2:48:33.520 --> 2:48:37.240 in your head that says, huh, that sounds really goddamn stupid. 2:48:38.560 --> 2:48:40.200 Or to of course, put a bunch of money into 2:48:40.200 --> 2:48:42.680 an unproven asset. You should always try and work out 2:48:42.680 --> 2:48:47.160 how they're going to get paid in the end. But nevertheless, 2:48:47.760 --> 2:48:50.800 it's important to know the fundamentals of this crap, this 2:48:51.400 --> 2:48:56.879 noxious industry. Now, of course we're talking about cryptocurrency, so 2:48:57.400 --> 2:49:01.440 these are tokens on a decentralized blockchain. In this case, 2:49:01.520 --> 2:49:04.600 a non fungible token or not as an n FT 2:49:05.000 --> 2:49:08.000 is a unique digital identifier on a blockchain like Ethereum 2:49:08.040 --> 2:49:11.360 or Polygon, one that cannot be copied, substituted, or divided 2:49:11.440 --> 2:49:15.360 like a regular token. Ownership in this case, who owns 2:49:15.360 --> 2:49:18.400 the n FT is based on whoever owns the wallet. 2:49:18.560 --> 2:49:22.560 That said, that the NFT in question is actually stored 2:49:22.600 --> 2:49:24.440 and meaning that if someone tricks you into sending your 2:49:24.440 --> 2:49:28.760 board ape to somebody else they technically own it. These 2:49:28.959 --> 2:49:33.039 NFTs of images, say the board Ape, Yacht Club, Pudgy penguins, 2:49:33.040 --> 2:49:38.160 what have you, are connected to images. So by which 2:49:38.200 --> 2:49:40.520 I mean you are quite literally buying a jpeg, you 2:49:40.560 --> 2:49:45.120 are buying a tokenized jpeg. These images are kept on 2:49:45.160 --> 2:49:49.280 something called the Interplanetary File System IPFS, and you have 2:49:49.320 --> 2:49:52.560 an IPFS address that attached to each token. What's important 2:49:52.600 --> 2:49:55.520 to know about this is this is another decentralized project 2:49:56.400 --> 2:50:00.520 where there's no real proof that your IPFS dress isn't 2:50:00.520 --> 2:50:02.800 going to disappear in ten years. So you could end 2:50:02.879 --> 2:50:05.039 up buying one of these tokens and be left with 2:50:05.120 --> 2:50:10.120 bugger roll. Like I said, you're effectively buying a very 2:50:10.160 --> 2:50:14.440 expensive jpeg that may or may not be an image 2:50:14.480 --> 2:50:17.400 of something in ten, fifteen, twenty years, or even five years. 2:50:17.800 --> 2:50:20.200 So like I used to buy a whole bunch of 2:50:20.200 --> 2:50:24.320 digital games for my Nintendo Wii system, right, and these 2:50:24.360 --> 2:50:28.520 were not physical games, And now I cannot re download 2:50:28.560 --> 2:50:31.039 any of these things even though I bought them, because 2:50:31.040 --> 2:50:34.080 the digital system is just Nintendo is no longer supporting 2:50:34.080 --> 2:50:36.480 it is because it's kind of like a similar mechanism 2:50:36.520 --> 2:50:40.039 here in terms of there's like all this necessary internet 2:50:40.080 --> 2:50:44.800 infrastructure to like host these digital assets, but we don't 2:50:44.800 --> 2:50:47.680 actually control it infrastructure, right, So it's different than holding, like, 2:50:47.800 --> 2:50:51.040 you know, a disc or, in the case of an NFT, 2:50:51.240 --> 2:50:53.760 like an actual physical picture of a monkey. 2:50:54.640 --> 2:50:57.240 What's really funny is the example you just gave is 2:50:57.280 --> 2:50:59.720 one of the few examples of where NFTs could actually 2:50:59.720 --> 2:51:00.000 be used. 2:51:01.040 --> 2:51:01.400 Huh. 2:51:01.800 --> 2:51:04.560 Digital games right now are in this position where, like 2:51:04.600 --> 2:51:06.320 you said, and you find this a lot with streaming 2:51:06.320 --> 2:51:09.000 products as well, where you can buy something, you buy 2:51:09.360 --> 2:51:12.200 a video game, you buy a movie, and you own 2:51:12.240 --> 2:51:15.640 it on Apple TV. Apple has complete power to pull 2:51:15.680 --> 2:51:18.480 that down if indeed there was a non fungible token 2:51:18.520 --> 2:51:21.480 that contained the video in question, that might be quite useful. 2:51:21.520 --> 2:51:26.200 That might be really useful. In fact, unlike NFTs in general, 2:51:26.240 --> 2:51:28.600 which are not useful at all. You are just buying 2:51:28.640 --> 2:51:34.960 a jpeg that leads to an image, and owning this jpeg, 2:51:35.040 --> 2:51:38.840 this NFT might get you inside a discord, perhaps a 2:51:38.879 --> 2:51:42.800 special discord, of like minded people who have spent a 2:51:42.800 --> 2:51:44.320 lot of money on something very silly. 2:51:44.760 --> 2:51:46.240 Sounds like a party. 2:51:46.640 --> 2:51:50.320 It's so good and it's it was really something. These 2:51:50.360 --> 2:51:54.640 things have been around since at least twenty fourteen. I 2:51:54.680 --> 2:51:57.280 think crypto Kitties was one of the original ones. You 2:51:57.320 --> 2:52:01.480 could breed horrible looking cats. These horrible cats have sex 2:52:01.560 --> 2:52:04.360 and create horrible looking cats. Well you didn't get to 2:52:04.400 --> 2:52:05.600 see the sex. Don't worry. 2:52:05.720 --> 2:52:12.520 Okay, what's the only reason I invested? Well, I let 2:52:12.560 --> 2:52:14.959 me google crypto kitty rule thirty four. I'm sure. 2:52:15.879 --> 2:52:18.240 I'm sure that there is a crypto kitty hen type. 2:52:18.280 --> 2:52:21.640 But now make sure to put Reddit in the in 2:52:21.680 --> 2:52:22.480 the search RaSE. 2:52:22.560 --> 2:52:22.760 There. 2:52:22.800 --> 2:52:25.000 You gotta you're gonna get better results that way. 2:52:25.320 --> 2:52:27.760 Will I get in trouble for sending these results in 2:52:27.800 --> 2:52:30.600 the group chat? Will people get mad? 2:52:30.080 --> 2:52:32.199 I feel nothing anymore. 2:52:32.600 --> 2:52:35.720 Yeah, honestly, there's not as much as I thought there 2:52:35.760 --> 2:52:36.240 would be. 2:52:36.320 --> 2:52:37.439 I'm kind of disappointed. 2:52:38.480 --> 2:52:42.920 Well, there's a vampire. So the thing about this is 2:52:42.959 --> 2:52:47.480 the gold rush, This huge multi billion dollar NFT industry 2:52:47.520 --> 2:52:50.360 that kind of popped and dropped in the last couple 2:52:50.440 --> 2:52:53.760 of years, was something created by a kind of perfect 2:52:53.760 --> 2:52:56.680 storm of post lockdown financial hystery. You saw it with 2:52:56.720 --> 2:52:59.840 like AMC and game stop stocks, you saw it with 2:53:00.200 --> 2:53:04.640 crypto in general, and it was the sense that you 2:53:04.640 --> 2:53:07.240 were getting in early on something, and it kind of 2:53:07.240 --> 2:53:10.680 resembled in a funky way, like beanie babies baseball cards, 2:53:11.160 --> 2:53:14.400 but also with the kind of stench of the fine 2:53:14.480 --> 2:53:19.199 art industry. But I also think that during the pandemic, 2:53:19.560 --> 2:53:21.600 and I'll get to a little more of this later, 2:53:22.160 --> 2:53:25.520 people really got this defined sense of how unfair everything is, 2:53:26.080 --> 2:53:28.440 how you can't just go to college anymore, you can't 2:53:28.520 --> 2:53:31.160 just work really hard and get a mortgage. You have 2:53:31.240 --> 2:53:34.000 to effectively find a way to cheat. And this seemed 2:53:34.040 --> 2:53:37.280 like a cheat they had got in on early. The 2:53:37.320 --> 2:53:40.080 problem is they didn't, and I'll kind of get into 2:53:40.080 --> 2:53:42.760 that later. But another part of it, the part that 2:53:42.840 --> 2:53:47.120 really stank to me, was that they were selling this ugly, 2:53:47.680 --> 2:53:51.640 obviously rotten dream that you were owning part of a 2:53:51.720 --> 2:53:56.200 future media property, being at the yeah, like you were 2:53:56.200 --> 2:53:59.840 going to be part of Disney or Marvel the board apes. 2:54:00.040 --> 2:54:02.959 When you bought a board ape, you allegedly got the 2:54:03.080 --> 2:54:08.880 rights to distribute it and build a show or merchandise, 2:54:08.920 --> 2:54:12.040 And in fact, Seth Green bought an ape that he 2:54:12.120 --> 2:54:14.760 tried to build a TV show around, Classic twenty twenty 2:54:14.760 --> 2:54:16.720 two idea building a TV show. 2:54:16.520 --> 2:54:20.160 Around Oh you guys, did you guys see the show? 2:54:20.240 --> 2:54:23.080 By the way, we waked in the first few episodes. 2:54:23.120 --> 2:54:25.240 No, no, no, that was a different NFT show. 2:54:25.600 --> 2:54:27.280 Yeah, that was a different board ape show. 2:54:27.440 --> 2:54:28.440 I can clarify here. 2:54:28.480 --> 2:54:30.879 There was a there was a show called The Red 2:54:31.000 --> 2:54:35.600 Ape Family that was about an adjacent property that Red Apes, 2:54:35.640 --> 2:54:39.039 but other NFTs. But then Seth Green was also trying 2:54:39.040 --> 2:54:42.360 to make a show that was like almost like a 2:54:42.440 --> 2:54:44.520 Who Framed Roger Rabbit where it's a mix of like 2:54:44.560 --> 2:54:49.039 cartoons and like real background sets. But it's just like 2:54:49.080 --> 2:54:52.840 about Seth Green, who is a monkey as a bartender, 2:54:52.959 --> 2:54:54.240 Like it looked like dog shit. 2:54:55.000 --> 2:54:59.199 What's funny is someone scammed him out of that ape 2:54:59.600 --> 2:55:02.600 so he I had to pause He had to pause 2:55:02.680 --> 2:55:04.519 production on his show. 2:55:04.800 --> 2:55:07.119 This is the future of entertainment fucks. 2:55:07.120 --> 2:55:11.400 Because he didn't have the intellectual property rights anymore. And 2:55:11.440 --> 2:55:13.560 then he ended up having to pay one hundred grand 2:55:13.560 --> 2:55:16.520 to get it back and the show never I cannot 2:55:16.520 --> 2:55:21.640 find the show anywhere. But this is the thing putting 2:55:21.640 --> 2:55:25.360 that aside. People genuinely thought they were buying, like amazing 2:55:25.400 --> 2:55:28.000 Fantasy fifteen, first appearance of Spider Man, stuff like that. 2:55:28.040 --> 2:55:30.720 They thought that they were buying something that would give 2:55:30.760 --> 2:55:34.800 them access but also some degree of ownership over a 2:55:34.879 --> 2:55:38.959 future IP and frankly, I can understand how they were 2:55:39.000 --> 2:55:42.680 scammed because you had people like Alexis o'hanian, the founder 2:55:42.720 --> 2:55:47.040 of Reddit, who threw his VC firm seven seven six 2:55:47.080 --> 2:55:50.840 sunk fifty four million dollars into an NFT project called Doodles, 2:55:51.680 --> 2:55:55.240 claiming in January of this year, twenty twenty three, that 2:55:55.360 --> 2:55:58.720 Digles this year, this year. H In fact, now, to 2:55:58.760 --> 2:56:01.640 be clear, the funding was last twenty twenty two. Okay, okay, 2:56:02.200 --> 2:56:05.160 but he claimed this year. And to be clear, Doodles 2:56:05.200 --> 2:56:07.600 is a collection of NFTs and an associated cut in 2:56:07.640 --> 2:56:10.480 that kind of looks like Adventure Time, but significantly worse. 2:56:10.840 --> 2:56:11.880 Yeah, that makes sense. 2:56:12.520 --> 2:56:16.240 Alexis said that Doodles wanted to build the next generation 2:56:16.320 --> 2:56:18.480 of Disney and a whole world of IP that is 2:56:18.520 --> 2:56:20.920 giving people a state and a sense of ownership. 2:56:21.120 --> 2:56:23.680 Sure so, sure, buddy, Yeah. 2:56:24.240 --> 2:56:27.760 Exactly, Thank you, Alexis. I one hunch, how does being 2:56:27.879 --> 2:56:31.320 rich feel? So to be clear, what Doodles was is 2:56:31.800 --> 2:56:36.240 still it was a collection of ten thousand NFTs of 2:56:36.320 --> 2:56:39.920 Doodles procedurally generated, like most of these, and it's worth 2:56:39.920 --> 2:56:42.080 taking a step back here. Why are so many of 2:56:42.080 --> 2:56:48.599 these projects ten thousand images? It's because there's absolutely no creativity, 2:56:48.680 --> 2:56:51.759 not even a little. They just is it's. 2:56:51.959 --> 2:56:54.959 Like a is there like a false scarcity aspect which 2:56:55.040 --> 2:56:57.840 is trying to like inflate value. Is that like another 2:56:57.959 --> 2:57:00.000 reason for why they would have like these limitatches becase 2:57:00.280 --> 2:57:03.440 I know the original board ape ones were like around 2:57:03.600 --> 2:57:05.920 around ten thousand as well, at least initially. 2:57:06.760 --> 2:57:11.200 Yes, there's always like a couple thousand ten thousand, but 2:57:11.240 --> 2:57:13.600 when you take a step back and really think about it, 2:57:14.160 --> 2:57:17.240 that's actually a huge amount. It isn't the scarce good 2:57:18.000 --> 2:57:21.240 It isn't It may be to the people who are 2:57:21.280 --> 2:57:26.320 pumping and dumping them, but ten thousand isn't creativity. There's 2:57:26.360 --> 2:57:30.320 what like it's maybe thirty different spider men, so that's 2:57:30.360 --> 2:57:33.200 not ten thousand of them. And none of these have 2:57:33.280 --> 2:57:36.560 a name, none of these have a character. I will 2:57:36.600 --> 2:57:39.440 get to the two characters and Doodles, because there are 2:57:39.520 --> 2:57:39.840 just two. 2:57:41.320 --> 2:57:43.160 The more that you talk about this and just kind 2:57:43.160 --> 2:57:46.400 of based on my paying attention to it, I kind 2:57:46.440 --> 2:57:47.800 of feel like part of what we're seeing is like 2:57:47.800 --> 2:57:51.640 the intersection of two cultural myths, right. One of them 2:57:51.720 --> 2:57:54.800 is like the myth about how I mean, it's not 2:57:55.000 --> 2:57:58.039 entirely myth, largely accurate about what happened with Apple when 2:57:58.040 --> 2:58:00.320 it went public, right, and you have all of theseundreds 2:58:00.320 --> 2:58:03.400 of like nerds who had just been like working class 2:58:03.480 --> 2:58:06.200 kids who become worth hundreds of millions of dollars overnight, right, 2:58:06.400 --> 2:58:08.879 which has become part of kind of like our our 2:58:08.959 --> 2:58:12.400 cultural memory of like how tech is supposed to work 2:58:12.480 --> 2:58:16.760 ever since. And then the other is like Star Wars, right, 2:58:16.840 --> 2:58:21.400 and the way in which George Lucas revolutionized capitalizing on 2:58:21.879 --> 2:58:24.880 every silly idea you've ever had, Like a lot of NFT. 2:58:25.360 --> 2:58:27.039 A lot of the NFT hype is based on the 2:58:27.040 --> 2:58:29.800 belief that like you could be you could you could 2:58:29.840 --> 2:58:32.240 buy into the next like Glurf, stream Bow or whatever 2:58:32.280 --> 2:58:36.240 fucking weirdo George Lucas character, and it could get a movie, 2:58:36.320 --> 2:58:39.160 you know, because yeah, it's all infinitely capitalizable. 2:58:39.840 --> 2:58:43.160 Yeah, the kind of Buckshittos of the world. Yeah, yeah, 2:58:43.320 --> 2:58:45.520 I mean you're actually right as well, because I don't 2:58:45.560 --> 2:58:48.000 know if you remember when episode one Star Wars Episode 2:58:48.000 --> 2:58:51.160 one came out, they deliberately made the box to look 2:58:51.240 --> 2:58:53.320 like the old Return and the Jedi figures, which were 2:58:53.320 --> 2:58:55.520 now worth thousands, well a lot. 2:58:55.440 --> 2:58:56.720 Of money, a lot of money. 2:58:57.160 --> 2:58:59.440 But there is that full scarcity aspect, and it is. 2:58:59.680 --> 2:59:03.280 It is like that, except even worse because there's less 2:59:03.360 --> 2:59:07.880 value to it. Because when you buy a doodle, as 2:59:07.920 --> 2:59:10.880 you will putting thousands of dollars into something called a doodle, 2:59:11.360 --> 2:59:15.000 one might wonder what exactly is the value of this, 2:59:15.080 --> 2:59:19.480 Because doodles do not actually convey any intellectual property. Board 2:59:19.480 --> 2:59:23.680 apes kind of do. The legalities muddy. You can merchandise 2:59:23.800 --> 2:59:27.039 your doodle for up to one hundred thousand dollars of 2:59:27.120 --> 2:59:30.000 physical goods, So T shirts. You know why you would 2:59:30.000 --> 2:59:32.640 buy a doodle T shirt? I'm not really sure, but 2:59:32.720 --> 2:59:40.440 you could sell it. Just the theoreticals here are amazing. But Doodles, really, 2:59:40.480 --> 2:59:43.039 at it's call, was sold on the idea that it 2:59:43.160 --> 2:59:45.760 allowed you to steer the company to vote on the 2:59:45.800 --> 2:59:49.800 future of Doodles, which is kind of similar to Board 2:59:49.800 --> 2:59:52.160 Ape Yacht Club. You could get ape coin if you 2:59:52.240 --> 2:59:55.240 had NFTs of the apes or the mute apes, and 2:59:55.280 --> 2:59:59.960 you could then vote in these votes about the few 3:00:00.120 --> 3:00:03.600 true of the Board eight Yacht Club, but not Yuga Labs, 3:00:03.600 --> 3:00:05.680 who owns the board ep Yacht Club. So really you 3:00:05.720 --> 3:00:10.400 were just controlling a vague sense of nothing. In the 3:00:10.440 --> 3:00:14.400 case of Doodles, you could vote on what they may 3:00:14.520 --> 3:00:17.160 do in the future. It was never really obvious was 3:00:17.160 --> 3:00:21.400 doodles a doo. Doodles is a dow okay, okay. And 3:00:21.800 --> 3:00:24.040 the funny thing to remember about almost all of these 3:00:24.080 --> 3:00:26.600 as well is not in the case of Doodles, but 3:00:26.640 --> 3:00:28.280 in the case of like the bord Epe Yacht Club 3:00:28.320 --> 3:00:32.000 and the ape chain, I hate this crape and Joyson 3:00:32.040 --> 3:00:36.879 Horowitz owns fourteen percent of all ape coin of their 3:00:36.920 --> 3:00:41.920 initial drop. They own multiple cryptoproducts, large chunks of these 3:00:41.920 --> 3:00:44.240 total tokens, and so they can control these votes if 3:00:44.280 --> 3:00:46.760 they need to. But what's also important to know is 3:00:47.040 --> 3:00:50.400 none of this stuff involves the actual goddamn company. Nobody 3:00:50.480 --> 3:00:56.240 owns a thing. These decentralized autonomous organizations doos are always 3:00:56.240 --> 3:00:59.360 framed as this kind of democratic process, carefully leaving out 3:00:59.360 --> 3:01:01.959 the fact that demo crack system with transactable votes is 3:01:02.000 --> 3:01:05.680 by definition of goddamn kleptocracy. But on top of that, 3:01:05.800 --> 3:01:09.240 you don't own anything. You don't have anything with these companies. 3:01:09.240 --> 3:01:13.240 You don't get stock, you don't get anything. You just 3:01:13.360 --> 3:01:16.760 have one of ten thousand images that may in ten 3:01:16.840 --> 3:01:23.080 years not actually go anywhere. It's farcical. The only thing 3:01:23.240 --> 3:01:26.840 dumber than that, however, is the fact that Doodles is 3:01:26.879 --> 3:01:29.600 no longer an NFT project and will no longer cater 3:01:29.680 --> 3:01:33.879 the speculators. According to a statement from marsh by the 3:01:33.920 --> 3:01:37.840 co founder, Jordan Poopy Castro, Poopy is oh wow. 3:01:37.720 --> 3:01:40.000 See this is where I'm putting, you know what, Garrison, 3:01:40.200 --> 3:01:43.640 I'm putting the whole company pension plane behind this guy. 3:01:43.840 --> 3:01:45.680 Poopy's got to be the one who makes those cars 3:01:45.720 --> 3:01:46.160 from now on. 3:01:47.480 --> 3:01:49.160 It's really going to suck as well. If you were 3:01:49.200 --> 3:01:52.600 like a speculative investor in Doodles already and you find 3:01:52.600 --> 3:01:55.240 out that your whole thing is going to be worthless 3:01:55.360 --> 3:01:59.240 because of a guy called Poopy, I think that that 3:01:59.240 --> 3:02:05.840 that's just very special to me. So yeah, continue, I'll continue. So, 3:02:06.440 --> 3:02:09.320 just to be clear, less than the year before this, 3:02:09.440 --> 3:02:13.720 according to their investor, this company was positioned to continue 3:02:13.760 --> 3:02:17.120 to define the NFT industry and onboard millions to the 3:02:17.120 --> 3:02:20.800 blockchain and become one of the most inclusive, creative, joyful 3:02:20.840 --> 3:02:24.879 media brands in Web three and beyond. This is the 3:02:24.920 --> 3:02:28.440 same company that had now officially rug pulled their entire 3:02:28.560 --> 3:02:32.359 customer base. And by the way, if you'd have invested 3:02:33.080 --> 3:02:35.560 at the time that the fifty four million dollar funding round, 3:02:35.600 --> 3:02:37.959 so towards the end of twenty twenty two, you would 3:02:37.959 --> 3:02:40.840 have lost money. You would not have gained money. There 3:02:40.840 --> 3:02:43.760 was no liquidity event that had given would give you anything. 3:02:44.480 --> 3:02:48.320 Also important to recognize with so other than Alexis o'hanian, 3:02:49.440 --> 3:02:57.000 the other investor in Doodles was FTX Ventures. So in 3:02:57.120 --> 3:02:59.800 March of twenty twenty three, you kind of sat down 3:02:59.840 --> 3:03:02.199 with morning coffee and you read the announcement from Jordan 3:03:02.240 --> 3:03:04.560 Poopy Castro and found out that your FTX back to 3:03:04.640 --> 3:03:08.280 n FT project had lost about eighty five percent of 3:03:08.280 --> 3:03:10.560 its value and now the company was not backing you 3:03:10.600 --> 3:03:11.560 in any fucking way. 3:03:11.959 --> 3:03:14.560 Yeah, but I mean FTX is putting out Super Bowl ads. 3:03:14.560 --> 3:03:17.240 They seem stable, they seem like Alliam, that'd be fine, 3:03:18.320 --> 3:03:18.800 what could. 3:03:18.680 --> 3:03:25.800 Happen'd be fine. But what's great about this is it 3:03:25.920 --> 3:03:29.080 is probably one of the largest rug pools I've ever seen. 3:03:29.200 --> 3:03:32.800 And nobody is in trouble. Nobody's mad at Alexis Ohanium. 3:03:33.280 --> 3:03:36.240 Doodles sold people on a dream, a stupid dream, but 3:03:36.240 --> 3:03:39.959 a dream, yes, yes, yes, very very goddamn stupid one 3:03:40.040 --> 3:03:42.320 that you'd be investing in participating in the future of 3:03:42.360 --> 3:03:45.920 intellectual property and have some industry over its future. You 3:03:45.959 --> 3:03:48.920 would theoretically, though obviously when you read this now it 3:03:48.959 --> 3:03:51.160 sounds dumb. And also when you read it at the time, 3:03:52.240 --> 3:03:55.199 it's you were meant to be buying into the next Disney, 3:03:55.280 --> 3:03:57.520 the next Marvel, Yes, what was sold? 3:03:58.400 --> 3:03:59.960 That is another huge aspect a thing. 3:04:00.080 --> 3:04:02.800 There's like, I think a lot of people who are like, 3:04:03.440 --> 3:04:05.480 you know, grew up with like pop culture and want 3:04:05.480 --> 3:04:07.840 to take part in like the creation of like culture 3:04:07.879 --> 3:04:12.280 and media. But you know, Hollywood systems feels so foreign 3:04:12.360 --> 3:04:15.400 and unattainable. So this thing comes up and this looks 3:04:15.440 --> 3:04:17.760 like like a democratized way that you can like get 3:04:17.800 --> 3:04:21.000 in on some like new version of what the entertainment 3:04:21.120 --> 3:04:22.920 like landscape will be. And you're like, oh, this is 3:04:23.000 --> 3:04:24.520 this is like my chance I can be one of 3:04:25.120 --> 3:04:29.520 ten thousand people to like contribute towards this next big, 3:04:29.560 --> 3:04:32.800 you know, cultural thing in ten twenty years. I mean, 3:04:32.840 --> 3:04:37.000 obviously that's like in retrospect, it's very clearly a scam 3:04:37.040 --> 3:04:40.120 for some people, like probably myself and many people listening. 3:04:40.400 --> 3:04:43.800 Initially this sounded like a scam, but it certainly was 3:04:43.840 --> 3:04:47.600 alluring for a good deal number of people. I mean, 3:04:47.600 --> 3:04:50.560 I'm this is kind of reminding me that there was 3:04:50.560 --> 3:04:56.119 this very similar kind of DOW, big big failure around Dune. 3:04:56.560 --> 3:04:58.640 They were wanting to put out. 3:04:58.600 --> 3:05:01.119 Oh yeah, they wanted to buy, they wanted to buy 3:05:01.200 --> 3:05:06.280 the deck and the rights to Yodorowski's Dune, Yes yeah. 3:05:05.560 --> 3:05:07.840 And and and put out media and put it like 3:05:07.879 --> 3:05:11.240 their own like animated series, which is funny because initially 3:05:11.280 --> 3:05:13.640 they just they weren't even gonna bother with like the 3:05:13.680 --> 3:05:16.600 intellectual property, which is really funny because you know, a 3:05:16.600 --> 3:05:19.040 big part of of this this NFT stuff is like 3:05:19.879 --> 3:05:23.920 you own the IP of each NFT character, right, And 3:05:24.360 --> 3:05:26.959 as they as this kind of project progressed, they slowly 3:05:26.959 --> 3:05:29.560 started to realize that what they've done was probably just 3:05:29.600 --> 3:05:34.560 commit massive fraud, and they completely collapsed. Like this Dune 3:05:34.560 --> 3:05:37.760 like NFT DOW project was being was being boosted by 3:05:37.760 --> 3:05:40.720 a lot of like very mainstream publications. It was it 3:05:40.760 --> 3:05:43.280 was extremely hyped up, which can lead people to like 3:05:43.920 --> 3:05:46.800 assume this is like a legitimate, like entertainment project that 3:05:46.840 --> 3:05:50.920 you could like participate in by buying this small little piece. 3:05:51.480 --> 3:05:54.000 Last year, very very clearly kind of fell apart. Yes, 3:05:54.640 --> 3:05:57.439 was kind of pre predestined. 3:05:58.280 --> 3:06:01.760 And what's really sad about this is we can laugh 3:06:01.800 --> 3:06:03.920 at these people. I'll get to this in a bit 3:06:04.080 --> 3:06:06.920 and laugh at these people. We should, It's very funny. 3:06:06.959 --> 3:06:11.080 But at the same time, a lot of people got 3:06:12.000 --> 3:06:15.440 screwed here because they trusted in people like Alexis Ohanian, 3:06:15.600 --> 3:06:19.080 founder of Red unscathed despite the horrifying things that Reddit 3:06:19.120 --> 3:06:23.160 has done. Alex Ohenian insanely rich, married to a tennis star, 3:06:23.959 --> 3:06:28.600 God bless him. Oh they're happy. But nevertheless, Alexis has 3:06:28.720 --> 3:06:32.240 managed to fairly easily escape all blame for the fact 3:06:32.280 --> 3:06:35.920 that he misled everyone with this and other things. But 3:06:36.000 --> 3:06:40.840 this in particular because the dream of doodles. God that 3:06:41.040 --> 3:06:44.279 sucks to say out loud, by the way, the dream 3:06:44.360 --> 3:06:46.520 of doodles was that you would buying one of these 3:06:46.520 --> 3:06:48.440 ten thousand things, and that you'd be part of a 3:06:48.480 --> 3:06:51.480 community and you'd be able to steer the doodle's movement. 3:06:52.120 --> 3:06:56.359 The doodles community is christ I know, the doodles revolution 3:06:56.520 --> 3:06:58.000 I think is more more accurate. 3:06:59.360 --> 3:07:02.160 And the doodles no, that's not term no, no, no, 3:07:02.200 --> 3:07:02.600 I like that. 3:07:02.760 --> 3:07:04.400 I like that this. 3:07:06.280 --> 3:07:08.279 Dood least as doodlers. They're all the doodoos. 3:07:09.080 --> 3:07:10.119 Yeah, but you would be. 3:07:10.120 --> 3:07:12.280 Investing in the future VIP, you'd have part of this 3:07:12.400 --> 3:07:14.840 and you'd be you know what, put aside the money, 3:07:14.840 --> 3:07:18.040 put aside all the cash, because they're not doing speculation anymore. 3:07:18.120 --> 3:07:21.000 It's not about that. Let's just focus on the community, 3:07:22.160 --> 3:07:26.800 which is dying, which is completely dead, I would argue. 3:07:26.959 --> 3:07:31.519 So fairly recently, Doodles had to remove the fifty quorum, 3:07:31.680 --> 3:07:34.480 which would require fifty percent of NFT holders to interact 3:07:34.480 --> 3:07:37.119 with the project to push a vote through. They had 3:07:37.160 --> 3:07:40.040 to remove that in say why they had to remove it, 3:07:40.080 --> 3:07:44.879 and I guess because nobody gives a shit, because nobody cares, 3:07:45.160 --> 3:07:48.480 nobody gives a rap fuck about any of this, and 3:07:48.520 --> 3:07:52.119 then voted to appoint a founding Community Council to make 3:07:52.160 --> 3:07:55.800 decisions about where the doodle bank, oh my god, Jesus 3:07:55.920 --> 3:07:59.879 christis would be would be spent in the future. So 3:08:00.120 --> 3:08:03.320 the doodle bank was where some of the revenues went 3:08:03.800 --> 3:08:06.800 from the secondary sales of these NFTs, because the companies 3:08:06.840 --> 3:08:11.200 always take a cart because let's seeking baby anyway. So 3:08:11.320 --> 3:08:13.640 if you were interested in the community aspect of Doodles, 3:08:13.640 --> 3:08:15.760 you're kind of shit out luck because they've now entirely 3:08:15.760 --> 3:08:19.240 deleted their Visions and Guidelines document, which is the part 3:08:19.320 --> 3:08:21.480 of the website that tells you how any of the 3:08:21.520 --> 3:08:26.760 community shit works, and they nothing is happening right now 3:08:26.800 --> 3:08:30.480 with them. There's nothing going on. This is the ninth 3:08:30.520 --> 3:08:34.440 most popular NFT project, and they have attempted to and 3:08:34.840 --> 3:08:39.840 indeed succeeded in removing their association with NFTs. Now one 3:08:39.840 --> 3:08:43.240 would think, okay, maybe they have a discord. Of course 3:08:43.240 --> 3:08:46.920 they did find it eighty five thousand members, oh wow, 3:08:48.080 --> 3:08:52.320 except it felt more empty than my discord, which has 3:08:52.360 --> 3:08:56.320 six hundred people in it eight seven hundred and sixty 3:08:56.360 --> 3:09:00.480 members as of when I opened it last. And the 3:09:00.560 --> 3:09:03.800 newest stands section did not have a post in it 3:09:04.000 --> 3:09:07.480 since August thirtieth, which was announcing that the Doodle's Crops 3:09:07.520 --> 3:09:10.480 collaboration had sold out, terrible news to the least buckable 3:09:10.480 --> 3:09:14.560 people alive, and their other official channels really hadn't been 3:09:14.600 --> 3:09:17.520 updated since mayor August. The General Hall channel, which is 3:09:17.560 --> 3:09:21.440 where everyone was talking, was mostly just bots and people's 3:09:21.520 --> 3:09:28.359 saying the words Dude's rule, that's dods rule. No real communication. 3:09:28.440 --> 3:09:31.840 It felt like several chat bots kind of what you know, 3:09:31.879 --> 3:09:35.720 how you see Oblivion or Skyrim MPC's walk up to 3:09:36.160 --> 3:09:39.480 the other Yeah, kand greetings to you. Imagine that with 3:09:39.640 --> 3:09:43.840 NFT's eighty five thousand bloody people. I even tried to 3:09:44.160 --> 3:09:47.320 I'm not going to say antagonize them, but I did 3:09:47.400 --> 3:09:50.520 ask them, are you happy with your investment? No responses. 3:09:52.040 --> 3:09:54.680 I was like, how'd you feel about? No response? Someone 3:09:54.720 --> 3:10:00.840 responded with Dude's rule once and it's insane because you 3:10:00.879 --> 3:10:03.520 won't believe this. The valuation of this company in their 3:10:03.560 --> 3:10:06.199 fifty four million dollar funding round was seven hundred million 3:10:06.200 --> 3:10:10.240 goddann dollars, and their chatroom as the charm and vibrance 3:10:10.280 --> 3:10:12.959 of a dying more. This is meant to be the 3:10:13.000 --> 3:10:16.040 next generation of Disney, and yet it has no fans. 3:10:16.400 --> 3:10:18.480 There are people who will shoot. 3:10:18.200 --> 3:10:22.240 You to death for insulting Spider Man. There are people 3:10:22.240 --> 3:10:24.920 who will scream at you for not liking the latest 3:10:24.959 --> 3:10:29.040 Star Wars thing. These are superfans. Yeah, there are people 3:10:29.080 --> 3:10:31.760 who will do that with obscure video games you've never 3:10:31.840 --> 3:10:36.119 heard of. But for Doodles, this barly billion dollar enterprise, 3:10:36.240 --> 3:10:39.400 the future of Disney. Not one of these people cared 3:10:39.680 --> 3:10:44.440 anything about this. All it was there's like, there are 3:10:44.440 --> 3:10:48.119 no superfans no loyalists, no evangelist, nobody excited, no one 3:10:48.160 --> 3:10:51.200 even expressing an emotion. Just a bunch of freaks who 3:10:51.280 --> 3:10:55.360 got con saying GM every two minutes or hours. Actually, 3:10:56.040 --> 3:11:00.440 it was so strange because I've been in chatrooms since 3:11:00.440 --> 3:11:03.720 it was like eleven. I've seen varying levels of chat 3:11:03.760 --> 3:11:07.119 rooms in various games. Even the smallest community was kind 3:11:07.120 --> 3:11:09.959 of hopping at some point. This then had no life. 3:11:10.080 --> 3:11:13.320 It was so strange. It's just like a digital ghost town. 3:11:14.959 --> 3:11:19.200 And the reality is what I said earlier. There's ten 3:11:19.280 --> 3:11:24.400 thousand of these goddamn things, these featureless, procedurally generated things. 3:11:25.280 --> 3:11:28.480 There's nothing to them. These NFT companies, these ones that 3:11:28.520 --> 3:11:33.640 allegedly want to replace Disney, they're incapable or unwilling to 3:11:33.720 --> 3:11:40.000 do anything approximating world building or law development. Lore Doodles, 3:11:40.040 --> 3:11:44.080 which is worth seven hundred million goddamn dollars, which got 3:11:44.120 --> 3:11:48.920 fifty four million dollars, has three characters that I can find. 3:11:49.360 --> 3:11:52.440 There's hap Is cap Mellow, and there was another one 3:11:52.440 --> 3:11:55.480 which I could not find a name for. There is 3:11:56.160 --> 3:11:59.760 maybe ten minutes of footage in the years that this 3:11:59.760 --> 3:12:03.720 thing is meant to exist. It's just so bizarre. It's 3:12:03.760 --> 3:12:08.440 so utterly craven and half fast. It's people attack Disney 3:12:08.680 --> 3:12:11.760 and Marvel through Disney obviously in Star Wars that oh 3:12:11.800 --> 3:12:14.160 they're just ah, they're pushing this crap out, They're just 3:12:14.440 --> 3:12:16.680 churning this shit out and saying people are buy anything. 3:12:17.320 --> 3:12:24.360 In comparison, Disney are steadfast or teurs. They are creative 3:12:24.560 --> 3:12:29.879 agents like likened to Salvador Dally. They are the compared 3:12:29.879 --> 3:12:36.040 to the NFT people, they're gods. Because even Disney's least 3:12:36.040 --> 3:12:39.280 likable properties get more attention and have bigger fans than this. 3:12:39.360 --> 3:12:41.720 There are Disney adults who would like crying and falling 3:12:41.720 --> 3:12:44.240 on their knees when the lockdowns ended. Oh yeah, now 3:12:44.320 --> 3:12:47.240 these people would care. Now these people of Jordan, Poopy 3:12:47.280 --> 3:12:50.920 Castro died tomorrow, nobody would shed a tear or even remember, apparently, 3:12:52.640 --> 3:12:56.480 And it's just I think the way to look at this, 3:12:56.520 --> 3:12:58.800 and especially Doodles, is that there is just within the 3:12:58.920 --> 3:13:01.560 NFT world and actually within the tech industry, writt large 3:13:01.640 --> 3:13:06.480 just this deep deep seated loathing for creativity, storytelling and 3:13:06.520 --> 3:13:11.119 the customer Pendleton Ward who made the original avengue time 3:13:11.120 --> 3:13:14.440 don't if you remember, which is very clearly where Doodles 3:13:14.480 --> 3:13:17.120 is ripped off from Just compare them. They look very similar. 3:13:17.920 --> 3:13:19.760 He made it over a decade ago. It's a five 3:13:19.760 --> 3:13:21.840 minute long video. He made it on his own, without funding, 3:13:21.840 --> 3:13:24.680 without anything, and it's beautiful and it's weird and it's great, 3:13:24.680 --> 3:13:27.680 and you're like, Wow, I'm so glad this guy did this. Doodles, 3:13:27.720 --> 3:13:30.880 which has tens of millions of dollars sitting around, has 3:13:30.920 --> 3:13:35.280 put out seven goddamn minutes of teasers and advertisements for 3:13:35.320 --> 3:13:36.920 brand collaborations. That's it. 3:13:37.760 --> 3:13:38.200 That's all. 3:13:38.800 --> 3:13:42.560 Something about Pharrell, something about Crocs, something about allegedly Doodles 3:13:42.879 --> 3:13:46.240 having a cartoon. I don't goddamn know, but my theory 3:13:46.520 --> 3:13:49.320 is that none of this was ever about creating anything. 3:13:49.920 --> 3:13:52.160 This was an attempt to go back to what you 3:13:52.200 --> 3:13:55.160 were saying earlier, to recreate that sense that I just 3:13:55.200 --> 3:13:57.119 bought the Star Wars toy that will be worth three 3:13:57.160 --> 3:13:58.480 thousand dollars and ten years. 3:13:58.640 --> 3:13:59.280 That's all. 3:13:59.320 --> 3:14:03.240 This works well, and I'm pretty sure they're well on 3:14:03.280 --> 3:14:05.640 their way, because I'm looking at the Doodle site right now. 3:14:05.959 --> 3:14:10.000 You can buy a rug featuring my favorite Doodles character 3:14:10.120 --> 3:14:11.720 hap for one hundred dollars. 3:14:12.080 --> 3:14:15.200 So are you serious that these not the focus is 3:14:15.240 --> 3:14:15.920 selling a rug. 3:14:16.400 --> 3:14:21.680 Yes, yes, the crops are sold out. Unfortunately, I know, 3:14:22.080 --> 3:14:23.920 I know you were really wanted to get those. 3:14:24.040 --> 3:14:26.160 They're sold out. They were one hundred and twenty bucks. 3:14:26.680 --> 3:14:30.160 They're selling. They're selling little Vinyl toys for one hundred 3:14:30.160 --> 3:14:34.680 and eighty five dollars. They have a cat mush, they 3:14:34.720 --> 3:14:37.960 have a cat plush for forty bucks, they have a 3:14:38.040 --> 3:14:41.480 puzzle for twenty two dollars, and they finally have the 3:14:41.560 --> 3:14:42.600 before mentioned rug. 3:14:43.600 --> 3:14:47.760 So yeah, it's it's just wonderful. 3:14:47.920 --> 3:14:49.840 It seems like a good investment. These things are selling 3:14:49.840 --> 3:14:52.640 out fast. You want to, you gotta, you gotta get in. 3:14:52.959 --> 3:14:54.720 Your character is gonna be the next one? 3:14:55.000 --> 3:14:55.800 Yeah. 3:14:56.160 --> 3:15:00.640 But I think that the ultimate thing is none of 3:15:00.640 --> 3:15:03.440 this was about creating anything that really is it. It 3:15:03.560 --> 3:15:07.440 was creating just enough to sell securities, the suckers, and 3:15:07.480 --> 3:15:10.560 now all of it is falling apart. The SEC just 3:15:10.680 --> 3:15:16.800 sued a group of celebrities for an NFT cat cartoon 3:15:16.959 --> 3:15:18.440 called Stoner Cats. 3:15:18.720 --> 3:15:21.240 Yeah. No, I was really excited about Stoner Cat. 3:15:21.320 --> 3:15:25.440 I was really pumped up for seeing Stoner Cats. But 3:15:25.640 --> 3:15:31.840 sadly the SEC changed the creator for unregistered offering of NFTs, 3:15:31.920 --> 3:15:36.320 which are securities, and they raised eight million dollars. It's 3:15:36.520 --> 3:15:40.080 just very sad, very funny by the way that the 3:15:40.120 --> 3:15:42.480 SEC now was to get in like Garyginsters, to look 3:15:42.520 --> 3:15:45.400 at stoner cats and say all right, let's let's take 3:15:45.440 --> 3:15:49.440 a look at this, or that's not good. How a 3:15:49.520 --> 3:15:53.360 test is going to have fun with this? But I 3:15:53.400 --> 3:15:58.119 think NFTs were and are probably one of the more 3:15:58.200 --> 3:16:02.040 nihilistic parts of the tech industry. Yeah, because they did 3:16:02.080 --> 3:16:06.440 the bare minimum to convince people. They made up all 3:16:06.480 --> 3:16:08.360 of It's kind of like that episode of The Simpsons 3:16:08.400 --> 3:16:10.960 where they remake Flanders's house and it's just a facier 3:16:11.240 --> 3:16:16.920 and it effectively falls poster. Yeah, yes, exactly, and it's 3:16:17.040 --> 3:16:19.920 just enough to make people believe this could be worth enough, 3:16:20.160 --> 3:16:23.879 because it's never really obvious what actually makes something worth something. 3:16:24.280 --> 3:16:27.879 In the collectible's market, there are established artists whom I 3:16:27.959 --> 3:16:30.760 personally own a bunch of original comic artwork, a lot 3:16:30.760 --> 3:16:33.520 of it by Arthur Adams, and that market is fairly 3:16:33.560 --> 3:16:35.560 small because there's only so much one man can do, 3:16:35.959 --> 3:16:38.000 and the value comes from what people are willing to pay. 3:16:38.920 --> 3:16:41.600 But in that case, it's beautiful pencils and inks and 3:16:42.040 --> 3:16:44.480 it's gorgeously you want on your wall. In this case, 3:16:44.520 --> 3:16:47.720 it's I'm buying something that sounds like it might be valuable. 3:16:47.840 --> 3:16:51.200 There's not really a fundamental community that sounds fine, but 3:16:51.240 --> 3:16:54.720 when you push past even the first layer, it all 3:16:54.760 --> 3:16:58.400 falls apart. And that's because, in my opinion, the NFT 3:16:58.600 --> 3:17:01.120 hype was just a long come on customers in the media. 3:17:01.680 --> 3:17:05.720 It's a scam, a scam where companies built the appearance 3:17:05.760 --> 3:17:09.400 of value without but actually generating anything. There's nothing to 3:17:09.480 --> 3:17:12.800 old some vinyl figures. Who cares. Nobody's done. The boord 3:17:12.800 --> 3:17:16.680 Ape Yacht Club has the world's shittiest cartoon. They did 3:17:16.720 --> 3:17:19.000 a flash game called Dookie Dash. 3:17:19.160 --> 3:17:21.480 Yes I did, I did see Dookie Dash. 3:17:22.520 --> 3:17:23.520 What was great was. 3:17:23.920 --> 3:17:25.200 Game of the Year twenty twenty two. 3:17:25.440 --> 3:17:29.480 Game of the Year twenty twenty two. Immediately, by the way, scammed, 3:17:29.680 --> 3:17:32.240 just immediately someone broke it and they had to like 3:17:32.560 --> 3:17:35.560 they were like, what, how did this happen? But that's 3:17:35.600 --> 3:17:37.840 the thing, you go, Labs worth a couple billion dollars, 3:17:38.400 --> 3:17:41.600 Doodle's worth seven hundred million, nothing to them, not a 3:17:41.640 --> 3:17:47.160 single interesting idea in any of them. But they existed 3:17:47.280 --> 3:17:52.840 to con people into believing this completely thin view it 3:17:53.000 --> 3:17:56.400 and also the nihilistic part is it was talking about 3:17:56.400 --> 3:18:03.400 people collecting art and collecting creative things without actually ever 3:18:03.520 --> 3:18:08.120 seeing the value in the object. The objects creativity was 3:18:08.120 --> 3:18:11.280 only as valuable as it was sellable, but not even 3:18:11.320 --> 3:18:14.440 sellable to an enterprise. It was just like to another 3:18:14.560 --> 3:18:16.840 person who could continue the chain of shit. 3:18:17.879 --> 3:18:21.000 I think there is a large untapped market for this though, 3:18:21.440 --> 3:18:25.080 that Doodles is actually trying to exploit, because I just 3:18:25.120 --> 3:18:27.880 found probably one of the most upsetic things I've discovered today, 3:18:27.920 --> 3:18:29.600 which is saying something because I've seen a lot of 3:18:29.920 --> 3:18:33.160 a lot of best stuff today, today's footage, a lot 3:18:33.200 --> 3:18:37.920 of workime footage is But there is a Doodle's immersive 3:18:37.959 --> 3:18:43.560 experience in Chicago for children. Oh No, children create their 3:18:43.600 --> 3:18:47.480 own Doodles and you can pay twenty eight dollars per 3:18:47.560 --> 3:18:51.840 person to spend an hour in this Doodles themed art 3:18:51.879 --> 3:18:55.560 installation in Chicago. I'm looking at I'm looking at the 3:18:55.600 --> 3:18:57.360 availability there is. 3:18:57.680 --> 3:18:59.360 Yeah, looks like we can book one for the team. 3:18:59.520 --> 3:19:01.680 There is ten slots open each day. 3:19:02.080 --> 3:19:04.680 All the slots are open tomorrow, so I think we 3:19:04.680 --> 3:19:06.360 should get a flight like tonight. 3:19:06.720 --> 3:19:10.160 Yeah, right now, I want to book this asap. 3:19:10.400 --> 3:19:14.000 Yeah, that's gonna sound I'm gonna send you this like 3:19:14.120 --> 3:19:16.440 because it's the most one of the more disturbing things 3:19:16.480 --> 3:19:20.119 I've found. I don't want to go to the Doodles camp. 3:19:20.040 --> 3:19:24.960 Every It's twenty twenty eight dollars per kid for one 3:19:25.120 --> 3:19:30.360 hour of walking in this one Doodles themed room where 3:19:30.720 --> 3:19:33.640 first your kid creates a Doodle's character so you can 3:19:33.800 --> 3:19:34.840 enter doodle World. 3:19:35.360 --> 3:19:38.520 You go through a rainbow portal, you slide down rainbows, 3:19:38.560 --> 3:19:42.600 play in puffy clouds, and crash a spaceship, and then 3:19:42.640 --> 3:19:45.280 you romp through a limpsical world until your hours up, 3:19:45.280 --> 3:19:48.000 and then you leave after spetting twenty eight dollars per child. 3:19:48.560 --> 3:19:54.360 It's like if a committee designed fucking U Meal wolf right. Yeah, yeah, 3:19:55.040 --> 3:19:57.720 it's it's a committee of people on thorazine. 3:19:58.360 --> 3:20:00.800 But if you watch this video, is well of this 3:20:00.879 --> 3:20:07.600 Doodle's world. Here's the thing. You don't see anything of anything, 3:20:07.720 --> 3:20:11.400 there's none. There's a picture of the guy who I've 3:20:11.440 --> 3:20:13.440 already forgotten the name of Hop. 3:20:13.600 --> 3:20:15.040 I can't believe forgot Hop's name. 3:20:15.440 --> 3:20:16.640 I can't believe I've forgot Hop. 3:20:16.879 --> 3:20:20.160 But one and eighty five dollars to get a figure 3:20:20.240 --> 3:20:21.519 you have to remember. 3:20:22.320 --> 3:20:25.760 God damn it. And but that's that's the thing. This 3:20:25.920 --> 3:20:33.600 is just it's a masterpiece of emptiness. It is a 3:20:33.640 --> 3:20:37.480 meaningless thing. There is nothing to doodles, no. 3:20:38.360 --> 3:20:41.040 It's it's it's vapid, there's nothing to any of it. 3:20:41.840 --> 3:20:46.000 And NFT investors was sold this dream of kind of 3:20:46.040 --> 3:20:49.560 an access to wealth or for both sides that like, oh, 3:20:49.600 --> 3:20:52.480 the artist will make money because every NFT sale you 3:20:52.560 --> 3:20:56.200 get some royalty, some residuals, which theoretically is a cool 3:20:56.240 --> 3:20:58.680 thing that when an artist has a piece sold on 3:20:58.720 --> 3:21:03.000 someone else. I like that idea I always have. And 3:21:03.640 --> 3:21:07.680 in turn, by buying into this quote unquote art, you 3:21:07.720 --> 3:21:11.000 can generate your own wealth and you can be part 3:21:11.040 --> 3:21:15.600 of this positive chain where everyone wins. But you're also 3:21:15.800 --> 3:21:19.280 early so you get to feel smart. Except the problem 3:21:19.360 --> 3:21:21.600 is that you're more than likely left with a worthless 3:21:21.640 --> 3:21:29.280 piece of shit. You're left with nothing. So fundamentally there 3:21:29.320 --> 3:21:31.640 will be and I don't believe more than a couple 3:21:31.720 --> 3:21:36.439 thousand people made any money on NFTs. Now, the majority 3:21:36.480 --> 3:21:38.200 of the people who bought NFTs are going to be 3:21:38.280 --> 3:21:41.240 left in the red, and every new entrant is just 3:21:41.320 --> 3:21:45.080 another sucker to hopefully dump an investment onto. Because there 3:21:45.120 --> 3:21:48.360 are no NFTs that have a fundamental value. There's not one. 3:21:48.640 --> 3:21:52.440 It's not like No, it's that Disney, Marvel, none of 3:21:52.480 --> 3:21:54.640 these major things. Notice that none of them got involved. 3:21:54.640 --> 3:21:56.800 They didn't want to fucking touch as DC did a 3:21:56.920 --> 3:21:59.080 vague idea of buying comic covers, but even then it 3:21:59.120 --> 3:22:02.959 was half us because why why would you do it. 3:22:03.640 --> 3:22:06.680 I've been saying this since twenty twenty one, that these 3:22:06.720 --> 3:22:09.360 things had no value, that it was just an attempt 3:22:09.360 --> 3:22:12.880 to sell people this vague sense of participation in a 3:22:13.000 --> 3:22:15.880 new economy. And in fact, there was a study that 3:22:15.959 --> 3:22:19.680 came out an analysis of seventy three two hundred and 3:22:19.720 --> 3:22:24.640 fifty seven NFT collections. Ninety five percent of NFTs on 3:22:24.680 --> 3:22:28.760 the market are now totally worthless. The value of these 3:22:28.800 --> 3:22:33.879 collections is zero ethereum. Almost every single person encouraged to 3:22:33.920 --> 3:22:38.160 invest them by The New York Times, by CNBC is 3:22:38.200 --> 3:22:41.359 a victim of a massive legal fraud peddled by Internet 3:22:41.440 --> 3:22:45.320 charlatans like Alexishenian. I'm not saying he's one of them, 3:22:45.320 --> 3:22:47.760 but there are people within the NFT industry who also 3:22:48.120 --> 3:22:51.360 washtrade these things, which means that they effectively sell them 3:22:51.360 --> 3:22:58.640 to themselves. And there's actually increasingly impressive research that suggests 3:22:58.680 --> 3:23:02.040 that most NFT set were just washtrading, just people pumping 3:23:02.040 --> 3:23:05.840 and pumping and pumping. That's why justin Bieber's ape that 3:23:05.959 --> 3:23:07.960 he blet for one point three million dollars is worth 3:23:08.000 --> 3:23:11.920 about sixty grand. Now he'll be fine, but other people won't. 3:23:12.240 --> 3:23:15.680 And that's what's really anger inducing. That's what fills my 3:23:15.760 --> 3:23:18.720 veins full of poison. And if these were never worth anything, 3:23:18.840 --> 3:23:20.680 and the majority of the industry is made up of 3:23:20.720 --> 3:23:25.400 fake goddamn transactions, and the people who will suffer on 3:23:25.480 --> 3:23:28.600 the majority, and the majority are not rich, the majority 3:23:28.640 --> 3:23:33.320 are not anything other than desperate people who were manipulated. 3:23:33.840 --> 3:23:36.959 It's like with fucking the FTX collapse, which is funny 3:23:36.959 --> 3:23:39.160 in a lot of ways, but also one of the 3:23:39.160 --> 3:23:42.959 big bag holders wound up being like a teacher's pension fund. 3:23:44.040 --> 3:23:47.320 Like that was massive, and obviously I think that like 3:23:47.360 --> 3:23:50.400 an addition to going after sam people, regulators should be 3:23:50.400 --> 3:23:52.640 looking at who the fuck made the call to put 3:23:52.680 --> 3:23:57.879 people's pension money in fucking brain genius kids gambling din 3:23:58.080 --> 3:24:02.120 But it is like there is like real harmed it 3:24:02.160 --> 3:24:04.280 and that was like always the plan. Everyone who was 3:24:04.320 --> 3:24:10.360 involved in pushing this is was trying to, Like the 3:24:10.400 --> 3:24:13.960 whole game plan was create this critical mass of hype 3:24:14.520 --> 3:24:21.039 that broke people's ability to actually analyze what they were doing. 3:24:21.160 --> 3:24:23.880 That just kind of made them panic and throw money 3:24:23.920 --> 3:24:25.720 in because they felt like otherwise they were going to 3:24:25.800 --> 3:24:28.760 miss out on their chance to retire, right That was 3:24:28.800 --> 3:24:31.720 the whole thing, and that's why, like the entire social 3:24:31.800 --> 3:24:35.360 media hype around this was all based on you're going 3:24:35.440 --> 3:24:37.640 to stay poor forever if you don't get in on 3:24:37.680 --> 3:24:43.280 this right now, Like it's so disgusting, and yeah, just evil, 3:24:43.680 --> 3:24:44.320 evil people. 3:24:44.800 --> 3:24:46.720 And they were never a great investment. They were never 3:24:46.760 --> 3:24:49.240 in the future of IP. They're just a vehicle to 3:24:49.280 --> 3:24:53.280 extract capital from retail investors, from regular people who to 3:24:53.320 --> 3:24:55.959 your point earlier, who didn't invest in Apple earlier, oh 3:24:56.000 --> 3:24:58.520 Google early, they didn't get the chance, they didn't buy 3:24:58.560 --> 3:25:00.680 the Star Wars toy. So this was their chance to 3:25:00.720 --> 3:25:04.800 get ahead. And if these are just an exploitative scam, 3:25:05.160 --> 3:25:07.800 they create just enough it's a true scam as well. 3:25:07.840 --> 3:25:10.080 They create just enough to get people in the door 3:25:10.160 --> 3:25:13.959 and just enough to make that investment defensible. They and 3:25:13.959 --> 3:25:16.320 it honestly shared a lot of the language of the 3:25:16.400 --> 3:25:21.000 Joe Oldsteins and conspiracy theorists and other teller evangelists telling 3:25:21.000 --> 3:25:23.520 people to your point that oh, you're not gonna make it, 3:25:23.680 --> 3:25:26.440 Oh have fun staying poor. What a noxious fucking thing 3:25:26.480 --> 3:25:29.800 to say, What a disgusting thing to say to someone. 3:25:30.400 --> 3:25:34.080 And what's funny is they use the other scam that 3:25:34.200 --> 3:25:37.280 some companies in the tech industry used FDx, for example, 3:25:37.720 --> 3:25:41.680 where they would raise rounds a venture capital which gave 3:25:41.720 --> 3:25:44.480 the appearance of a real enterprise where things were actually happening, 3:25:44.680 --> 3:25:46.360 and then they sold them this dream of oh, you 3:25:46.360 --> 3:25:48.440 could own a piece of this, despite the fact that 3:25:48.480 --> 3:25:52.720 not a single goddamn NFT actually granted stock options, voting rights, 3:25:52.800 --> 3:25:55.160 or anything else because if they did that, it would 3:25:55.160 --> 3:25:59.440 immediately become a security, so they'd never do that. You 3:25:59.480 --> 3:26:03.840 don't have consequential votes. You don't have any industry over 3:26:03.879 --> 3:26:08.280 this industry. You just have a thing that can be 3:26:08.680 --> 3:26:11.959 It may not be fungible, but the operating environment for 3:26:12.000 --> 3:26:17.200 it is absolutely fucking fungible. If doodles was truly not fungible, 3:26:17.200 --> 3:26:19.439 they wouldn't be able to change the doodle's quorum. 3:26:19.640 --> 3:26:20.400 They would just have to. 3:26:20.400 --> 3:26:24.320 Sit there and do nothing. But what's also important to realize, 3:26:24.440 --> 3:26:26.120 and as I've said before, but I'll say it a 3:26:26.160 --> 3:26:29.600 goddamn again, is they really didn't try very hard. The 3:26:29.640 --> 3:26:32.560 board ape Yarch Club, which is the biggest one the 3:26:32.640 --> 3:26:37.360 ten thousand horrifying looking apes owned by a company called 3:26:37.400 --> 3:26:40.200 Yuga Labs. They were valued at four billion dollars in 3:26:40.240 --> 3:26:44.160 twenty twenty two. Despite the fact that they said they 3:26:44.160 --> 3:26:47.360 were going to go Hollywood, they've not actually created anything. 3:26:47.440 --> 3:26:50.560 They They said they were going to do a metaverse product. 3:26:50.800 --> 3:26:56.400 They sold NFTs of this metaverse thing that they've never shown, 3:26:56.440 --> 3:26:59.759 called other Side. I believe. Yeah, it crashed. 3:26:59.400 --> 3:27:02.720 Ethereu, but they have not the video game where you 3:27:02.760 --> 3:27:07.400 travel through a toilet looking for poop, Dookie Dash. 3:27:07.480 --> 3:27:11.160 Yeah, this is the new Disney everyone, This is it. 3:27:11.320 --> 3:27:13.760 This is the new Disney. It's the metaverse that will 3:27:13.760 --> 3:27:18.119 never get built. It's the cartoon about monkeys and toilets 3:27:18.480 --> 3:27:23.480 that actually advertise Dookie Dash. The rich, deep lore of 3:27:23.680 --> 3:27:26.120 the bored A Yacht Club, by the way, is that 3:27:26.240 --> 3:27:28.840 a monkey did a poo so bad that a key 3:27:28.920 --> 3:27:31.360 came out to another dimension. But then the monkey somehow 3:27:31.400 --> 3:27:33.480 put that key in a beer that the monkey drank, 3:27:33.680 --> 3:27:35.959 and then the monkey did another poo where it put 3:27:35.959 --> 3:27:38.800 it into the sewer pipes, thus making it necessary for 3:27:38.920 --> 3:27:41.240 you to pilot another monkey to go and get the key. 3:27:42.200 --> 3:27:46.240 Very fucking stupid, very bad, ugly, like the designs suck. 3:27:46.480 --> 3:27:49.600 That's the other thing. These aren't even good looking. And 3:27:49.640 --> 3:27:50.840 this is a company worth. 3:27:50.720 --> 3:27:55.879 Four billion dollars, four billion dollars, and all they've done 3:27:56.000 --> 3:27:58.480 is not make a metaverse, but make a lot of money, 3:27:58.879 --> 3:28:02.160 make a terrible he is looking of cartoons that may 3:28:02.240 --> 3:28:06.080 or may not go anywhere, and an Ebulum's World clone that. 3:28:07.520 --> 3:28:11.000 Got scammed almost immediately. Someone found a way to exploit 3:28:11.040 --> 3:28:14.200 it immediately because it's a flash game. These are not 3:28:14.360 --> 3:28:19.440 creative enterprises. These are not entertainment companies. They're shell corporations 3:28:19.440 --> 3:28:23.200 for ill godden revenues for secondary market sales of ten 3:28:23.280 --> 3:28:26.959 thousand bullshit pictures that were hyped up by the media 3:28:27.000 --> 3:28:30.080 who could not analyze it properly. They just saw the 3:28:30.160 --> 3:28:33.080 large amounts of money that were being made, the crooked ways, 3:28:33.120 --> 3:28:35.640 by the way, the ones which were clearly pumped everyone 3:28:35.680 --> 3:28:37.800 covered them. World of Woman. Do you remember that one 3:28:38.040 --> 3:28:40.920 World of Woman? The NFT That was my favorite one 3:28:40.959 --> 3:28:43.280 because there were so many guys in the crypto world 3:28:43.320 --> 3:28:45.760 who like Yeah, I bought a world of woman entity. 3:28:45.920 --> 3:28:51.800 I support woman. That's I love it. No, it's so good, 3:28:52.360 --> 3:28:56.600 And it's because all of it's exploitative. NFTs are vehicles 3:28:56.680 --> 3:29:01.119 to exploit people, particularly Americans, who so desperate and fairly 3:29:01.200 --> 3:29:03.880 questioning their place in the world that is continually turned 3:29:03.959 --> 3:29:07.120 upon providing basic social services and the ability for its 3:29:07.160 --> 3:29:09.800 citizens to thrive. There are a few honest ways for 3:29:09.840 --> 3:29:12.600 the average person to accumulate wealth anymore. It's nearly impossible 3:29:12.640 --> 3:29:16.400 to buy a house. Returns on the market suck. Market's 3:29:16.400 --> 3:29:19.840 already confusing, And yeah, all of that's quickly outpaced by 3:29:19.840 --> 3:29:22.520 the fact that you have student loans, health insurance, and 3:29:23.320 --> 3:29:27.959 inflation is making things more expensive than ever. And I 3:29:27.959 --> 3:29:30.200 would argue that that is really the root of what's 3:29:30.200 --> 3:29:31.320 so evil about crypto. 3:29:31.680 --> 3:29:35.280 Yeah, it's inherently exploitative. 3:29:35.400 --> 3:29:39.280 It is inherently linked in all of these ways to 3:29:39.920 --> 3:29:43.400 religious dogma that you're buying into something that you're finally 3:29:43.440 --> 3:29:46.880 part of, something meaningful, something that will grow, something that 3:29:46.920 --> 3:29:51.599 will make you whole in a way that your predecessors 3:29:51.680 --> 3:29:55.280 might have been just through living normally. This industry it 3:29:55.320 --> 3:29:59.640 took root because most people can't thrive. Everyone has to hustle. 3:30:00.600 --> 3:30:05.200 Everyone has to struggle. You can't do the things that 3:30:05.440 --> 3:30:07.760 people even twenty years ago could. You can't work a 3:30:07.800 --> 3:30:12.680 normal job and buy a house anymore. You can't get 3:30:12.680 --> 3:30:15.720 a mortgage. In many cases, you can't just go to 3:30:15.800 --> 3:30:18.360 college and probably pay those loans off in five years. 3:30:18.440 --> 3:30:22.640 God no, that shit's going to follow you decades and 3:30:22.920 --> 3:30:27.320 nobody's helping you. And then along comes these Along comes 3:30:27.760 --> 3:30:33.039 this very technological, cool sounding, non fungible token, this thing 3:30:33.080 --> 3:30:35.640 where oh, I could be part of this new art market. 3:30:36.400 --> 3:30:38.080 I can be the smart one for once. I could 3:30:38.080 --> 3:30:40.080 be ahead of everyone, and the people on the other 3:30:40.120 --> 3:30:42.520 side of that transaction are telling you everything you want 3:30:42.520 --> 3:30:45.160 to hear. Then the next Disney, then the next Marvel. 3:30:45.320 --> 3:30:47.440 You're gonna be part of something. You're gonna make it. 3:30:48.400 --> 3:30:51.400 That's what you'll do if you buy into this. All 3:30:51.480 --> 3:30:54.480 of those crypto people are totally fine, all of them, 3:30:54.520 --> 3:31:01.760 the Winklevosses like Sohanian Mack Andresen Christi, they're all doing great. 3:31:01.800 --> 3:31:06.120 They are multi millionaires several times over. The people on 3:31:06.160 --> 3:31:09.160 the other side are victims, victims of what I would 3:31:09.320 --> 3:31:14.480 argue any just society would decide was a financial crime. 3:31:15.280 --> 3:31:19.120 And I think that every single venture capitalist who put 3:31:19.160 --> 3:31:22.400 money into these products and who pumped them should be 3:31:22.440 --> 3:31:26.080 held accountable. They won't because that is the modern tech industry, 3:31:26.160 --> 3:31:29.920 because that is the modern government. There is no justice 3:31:29.959 --> 3:31:36.000 for the victims of NFTs. And it's really horrifying to watch. 3:31:36.760 --> 3:31:37.000 Yeah. 3:31:37.080 --> 3:31:39.240 I know, sometimes it can be hard to be sympathetic 3:31:39.320 --> 3:31:42.120 for these folks because we imagine them being like, you know, 3:31:42.600 --> 3:31:48.200 freedra Reddit, you know, chriacters. But I think if you 3:31:48.240 --> 3:31:52.920 have the capacity to feel sympathetic to like former cult members, 3:31:53.480 --> 3:31:55.480 this is kind of the same thing. This is like, 3:31:55.560 --> 3:31:58.440 this is it's really the same process and a big 3:31:58.480 --> 3:32:02.560 part of actually beating cults is the ability to be 3:32:02.640 --> 3:32:05.720 sympathetic to former cult members. That it's actually like a 3:32:05.760 --> 3:32:08.560 crucial part of getting people to like get past this 3:32:08.720 --> 3:32:09.320 sort of thing. 3:32:09.600 --> 3:32:12.520 Yeah, and that's that's going to include not just the innocent, 3:32:12.560 --> 3:32:17.119 but some people who did some pretty ugly things. And yeah, 3:32:17.240 --> 3:32:20.760 I think that's and that's hard critical. 3:32:21.200 --> 3:32:23.120 Yeah, And I always try and push people to think 3:32:23.120 --> 3:32:24.920 of that because it is very easy, to your point 3:32:24.920 --> 3:32:27.199 to look at the fedoras, to look at the wag 3:32:27.280 --> 3:32:30.960 me guys, we're going to make it people and say 3:32:31.000 --> 3:32:33.680 these are the majority. I would argue most people, and 3:32:33.720 --> 3:32:36.280 I'll say this haven't been in too many telegrams of 3:32:36.360 --> 3:32:40.119 too many rug pulled projects just watching the vast majority 3:32:40.120 --> 3:32:43.640 of people are desperate. They just want their investment to turn. 3:32:43.720 --> 3:32:48.000 They just want something because there really isn't much way 3:32:48.040 --> 3:32:51.840 out for most people. There really isn't. Most people get lucky, 3:32:52.959 --> 3:32:55.560 and that's how they live what used to be, what 3:32:55.720 --> 3:32:58.200 used to be just like the general purpose good life, 3:32:58.680 --> 3:33:01.440 two point four children, house, white picket fans just doesn't 3:33:01.440 --> 3:33:07.760 happen for anyone anymore. And you're left with this. In 3:33:07.800 --> 3:33:11.760 a society where that happens, where there's so there are 3:33:11.800 --> 3:33:17.279 so few opportunities to thrive for people, you get things 3:33:17.360 --> 3:33:21.040 like this, you get these massive cons and I think 3:33:21.200 --> 3:33:24.520 that it will be hard for this to take root again. 3:33:25.600 --> 3:33:28.760 I don't think cryptos unscrewing people. I think that they 3:33:29.400 --> 3:33:31.400 will find a way to pump this in the future. 3:33:32.680 --> 3:33:37.520 Yeah, which is why you should buy our new cool 3:33:37.600 --> 3:33:40.760 Zone coin, you know, for just the price of forty 3:33:40.840 --> 3:33:44.160 five dollars a coin you can ape in and we're 3:33:44.240 --> 3:33:48.320 recommending right now just kind of transferring your whole four 3:33:48.360 --> 3:33:51.520 oh one k over into cool Zone coins, which which 3:33:51.520 --> 3:33:54.320 you can do by just sending it to our mailing 3:33:54.360 --> 3:33:56.440 address in the form of a check. Well, we'll get 3:33:56.440 --> 3:33:57.200 your coins to you. 3:33:57.240 --> 3:34:00.480 Don't worry, no problem, I will personally take care. 3:34:01.800 --> 3:34:02.000 Well. 3:34:02.160 --> 3:34:04.560 Ed, thank you so much for putting this together. I 3:34:04.600 --> 3:34:07.160 think it's important to kind of look at this sort 3:34:07.200 --> 3:34:10.680 of stuff in retrospect, especially as the next con builds 3:34:10.760 --> 3:34:14.440 up scheme. You know, interest rates will drop eventually and 3:34:14.640 --> 3:34:18.039 then there will be another attempt to fleece large numbers 3:34:18.080 --> 3:34:22.680 of people, possibly using Larry David, although he may have 3:34:22.760 --> 3:34:25.120 learned this lesson this time. Ed, do you want to 3:34:25.160 --> 3:34:27.080 give the people some some notes on where they can 3:34:27.120 --> 3:34:29.200 find you if they want to read your stuff? 3:34:29.800 --> 3:34:33.320 You can find letters your ed dot at that's my newsletter, 3:34:33.360 --> 3:34:35.880 where's your red app? And you can find me on 3:34:36.680 --> 3:34:39.600 Twitter or x the Everything app or rate. My newstop 3:34:39.600 --> 3:34:42.960 business will be called soon at ed Zitron. I'm also 3:34:43.080 --> 3:34:45.960 on blue Sky. You find me a zitron, C I, 3:34:46.040 --> 3:34:46.640 t R O N. 3:34:47.400 --> 3:34:50.640 Well, check ed out any of those places and check 3:34:50.760 --> 3:34:53.519 us out here. You already found us once, so presumably 3:34:54.120 --> 3:34:56.480 you will not forget how to find us the second 3:34:56.520 --> 3:35:01.400 time until next time. You know, don't invest money in 3:35:01.640 --> 3:35:09.480 unregistered securities. Hey, we'll be back Monday with more episodes 3:35:09.560 --> 3:35:12.040 every week from now until the heat death of the universe. 3:35:12.600 --> 3:35:15.120 It Could Happen Here as a production of cool Zone Media. 3:35:15.200 --> 3:35:17.879 For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website 3:35:17.920 --> 3:35:21.040 coolzonemedia dot com or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, 3:35:21.080 --> 3:35:23.720 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 3:35:24.000 --> 3:35:26.120 You can find sources for It Could Happen Here, updated 3:35:26.200 --> 3:35:30.240 monthly at coolzonemedia dot com slash sources. Thanks for listening.