Speaker 1: There Are No Girls on the Internet, as a production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio and Unbossed Creative. I'm Bridget Todd
Speaker 1: and this is there are No Girls on the Internet.
Speaker 1: So this is gonna be a little bit of a
Speaker 1: weird episode. Uh, just right off the bat, I should
Speaker 1: say I have COVID, So if I don't sound like
Speaker 1: my normal self, it's probably because I've spent the last
Speaker 1: few days in bed with a fever and partly because
Speaker 1: I have COVID. I am joined by my producer and
Speaker 1: chief science officer, Michael to just make sure that I
Speaker 1: don't say anything wildly out of pocket and what I'm
Speaker 1: feeling so feverish. Michael, thank you so much for helping
Speaker 1: me out here. Yeah, happy to be part of it.
Speaker 1: You know, just keep a watchful eye, make sure everything
Speaker 1: stays on the right side of the science. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's funny. We were talking earlier off Mike and I
Speaker 1: was not planning on making an episode today. Um, I
Speaker 1: partly because I am not feeling well, but also just
Speaker 1: because like there has been so much going on, you know,
Speaker 1: with Elon Musk buying Twitter, which I have really come
Speaker 1: to see as our largest and perhaps most influential digital
Speaker 1: communication platform when it comes to getting real time news,
Speaker 1: and so I guess I was just feeling a little
Speaker 1: bit strange. Here we are on the eve of election night,
Speaker 1: where you and I are recording this on Monday evening,
Speaker 1: and I wasn't planning on doing an episode, and you know,
Speaker 1: we were talking about the election and sort of how
Speaker 1: we were thinking and where we were at, and I
Speaker 1: realized that I was actually feeling quite anxious and that
Speaker 1: I was feeling I don't know, just a lot of feelings.
Speaker 1: And you know, one of the ways that I process
Speaker 1: things is via podcasting, via having conversations with the listeners
Speaker 1: and helping myself sort out how I'm feeling. And we
Speaker 1: figured why not bring it to the pod. So it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a little bit of a different episode, but
Speaker 1: I did want to get on the mic on this
Speaker 1: election day eve. Yeah, and thank you for having me here.
Speaker 1: I'm excited to process it with you. I it's pretty
Speaker 1: understandable to imagine that you would feel a little anxious,
Speaker 1: unsure about what's going to happen because it's a pretty
Speaker 1: big election and also other things happening. Yeah, it's a
Speaker 1: pretty big election, and I think I had a moment
Speaker 1: of really thinking about what's at stake for so many
Speaker 1: of us, particularly marginalized people, And as someone who was
Speaker 1: a background in things like disinformation, digital communication media, I
Speaker 1: thought it might be a good opportunity to really have
Speaker 1: a conversation about the kinds of miss and discs and
Speaker 1: mal information that I am sure we are going to
Speaker 1: be seeing tomorrow. We've already seen a lot of it
Speaker 1: up until the elections, and what we're gonna see in
Speaker 1: the aftermath of the elections, And I thought that might
Speaker 1: be a helpful just sort of level set for folks
Speaker 1: and just generally talk through some of the ways that
Speaker 1: we know inaccurate misleading content is going to be showing
Speaker 1: up in this election. And so before we start any
Speaker 1: of that, I do just want to level set on terms.
Speaker 1: I realized that I tend to throw around a lot
Speaker 1: of terms that people maybe don't know. Maybe people do
Speaker 1: know these terms, and this is like old news, But
Speaker 1: so three kinds of inaccurate or misleading information we're gonna
Speaker 1: be talking about today are misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation. Mike,
Speaker 1: I know that you know some of those terms from
Speaker 1: your work producing our series on disinformation called Disinformed about
Speaker 1: a year ago. Are you, like, do you do you
Speaker 1: want me to to give you the definitions of those
Speaker 1: terms just as we go forward in this episode. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: I've been around for a little while while you've been, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, producing these podcasts about these different types of
Speaker 1: inaccurate information, and I feel like I've got a pretty
Speaker 1: good handle on miss information being information that it's just
Speaker 1: not true, but somebody really doesn't have any malicious intent
Speaker 1: for spreading it. Uh. Disinformation, I've heard is a damn lie.
Speaker 1: That's you. That's you. Okay, so you've been either popping
Speaker 1: into trainings I've done, because that's that's my little line
Speaker 1: about how to tell the difference between this and misinformation. Uh,
Speaker 1: misinformation is misleading information. Disinformation that's a damn lie. Somebody
Speaker 1: is trying to intentionally funk with you by lying. Yeah, right,
Speaker 1: So I've heard that a couple of times now from me,
Speaker 1: from you makes sense, nice and clear. Disinformation it's a
Speaker 1: damn lie, got it. Malinformation is kind of a new
Speaker 1: one for me. Oh my god, I'm so glad you
Speaker 1: asked so malan from I guess you didn't really ask,
Speaker 1: but it was a question. Yeah, it was a statement masinformation. Yes,
Speaker 1: malinformation is really important. It's one that we I guess
Speaker 1: for myself. I do a lot of train things on misinformation, disinformation,
Speaker 1: health books can combat it all of that. One that
Speaker 1: I've I've only recently started adding more into the conversation
Speaker 1: is a malinformation. Malinformation is information that is technically correct,
Speaker 1: but it's taken out of context by somebody that probably
Speaker 1: has an agenda, right, And so it's videos where the
Speaker 1: videos are not doctored. The person in the video said
Speaker 1: that thing, but that thing is then taken out of
Speaker 1: context to make some larger point that is probably misleading.
Speaker 1: And so you can really think of it as like
Speaker 1: misinformation is if there anything like me when your mom
Speaker 1: sends you, you know, things she saw on Facebook about
Speaker 1: how if you get into your car and somebody has
Speaker 1: put a dollar bill under your under your wiper, don't
Speaker 1: touch it because that's how sex traffickers get you. And
Speaker 1: it's a new way that sex traffickers are trying to
Speaker 1: get you by putting a dollar bill on your windshield.
Speaker 1: And it also probably has fencing all on it. And
Speaker 1: if you talk to that, you're definitely gonna die. Uh
Speaker 1: my mom, God, lover doesn't know if these things are
Speaker 1: true or not. Necessarily, it just comes on her Facebook
Speaker 1: page and she's sharing it just in case. She's not
Speaker 1: doing it out of malicious intent. She is doing it because,
Speaker 1: you know, let me just share this in case it's
Speaker 1: it's true, right, And so misinformation somebody is not trying
Speaker 1: to not necessarily trying to intentionally mislead you. Disinformation a
Speaker 1: damn lie. They are trying to intentionally lie to you, knowingly,
Speaker 1: to spread chaos or confusion or fear. And malinformation is
Speaker 1: technically accurate content that is taken out of context or
Speaker 1: misrepresented to make a larger point that is inaccurate or misleading.
Speaker 1: So those are the sort of terms we're gonna be
Speaker 1: throwing around in this episode where we talk about some
Speaker 1: of the things that you should definitely be on the
Speaker 1: lookout for as we go into election Stay tomorrow. Well,
Speaker 1: I appreciate that, and as the chief science officer, I
Speaker 1: appreciate that we have gone from two different types of
Speaker 1: inaccurate information to three. That feels like increase in our
Speaker 1: understanding of these lies. Yeah, I mean, I really got
Speaker 1: a shout out. Dr Joan Danovan, friend of the show.
Speaker 1: She uses the term medium manipulation, which I think is
Speaker 1: a good one because I don't know, I feel like
Speaker 1: disinformation is almost kind of become like a buzzword a
Speaker 1: little bit where people are just the definition of it
Speaker 1: has become so watered down that it's become a little
Speaker 1: bit of a cliche. And so she likes to use
Speaker 1: the term medium manipulation um, which also counts for things
Speaker 1: that you see on Twitter, just sort of get back
Speaker 1: to the roots of the fact that we're talking about
Speaker 1: a citizenry being manipulated via what they see on digital
Speaker 1: media and so whether you're talking about misinformation, malinformation, disinformation,
Speaker 1: that is really at the heart of what we're talking about.
Speaker 1: And so I really wanted to get into some of
Speaker 1: the things to look out for as we go into
Speaker 1: our election day today. Um. And one, I guess the
Speaker 1: first bucket it's just sort of general I guess I'm
Speaker 1: calling it sort of the general isms racism, sexism, um,
Speaker 1: you know, homophobia, massagyny. Essentially the idea that because of
Speaker 1: someone's identity that is going to impact what kind of
Speaker 1: leader they can be. That's something that we have seen
Speaker 1: so much of in this election, I'm sorry to say,
Speaker 1: and it can be kind of difficult to see. Some
Speaker 1: of it is very blatant, but some of it is
Speaker 1: like a little bit more difficult to see. Um. But
Speaker 1: some things to look out for that I'm we've already
Speaker 1: seen in the midterms and we're definitely gonna be seeing
Speaker 1: today on election Day. One, things like baselessly connecting black
Speaker 1: candidates to crime or lawlessness. I saw a pretty, i guess,
Speaker 1: i'll say, horrific example of this in the North Carolina,
Speaker 1: a hotly contested race in North Carolina with a Ted
Speaker 1: Bud up against Sherry Beasley, and in an ad that
Speaker 1: Ted Bud put out, they I mean they basically all
Speaker 1: but call her at a file because Sherry Beasley struck
Speaker 1: down a bipartisan law requiring GPS tracking for child predators,
Speaker 1: a monster. I was able to hear that at It's horrific.
Speaker 1: She's she's a monster. She wants to like rape and
Speaker 1: kill my child. I mean that ad definitely makes it
Speaker 1: seem that way. I mean, how many people has she
Speaker 1: personally murdered? It must have been dozens of children, you
Speaker 1: would think, right, Okay, So essentially this ad kind of
Speaker 1: blames Beasley for a decision from her time on the
Speaker 1: North Carolina Supreme Court, and they blame this decision on
Speaker 1: the you know, horrific attack by a three time convicted
Speaker 1: sex offender named Tory Grady. So what actually is going
Speaker 1: on is that back in twenty nineteen, Beasley joined a
Speaker 1: four or two majority that struck down a law requiring
Speaker 1: automatic lifetime monitoring for anyone convicted at least twice for
Speaker 1: the same offense. That decision concluded that such tracking violated
Speaker 1: the Fourth Amendment and emphasized that most states do not
Speaker 1: have any sort of lifetime tracking or monitoring. And so essentially,
Speaker 1: you know, this is from the Carolina Journal. The case
Speaker 1: was not whether or not Grady had committed the crime.
Speaker 1: It was not whether or not he deserved forgiveness. The
Speaker 1: case was about whether anyone who served his time and
Speaker 1: it was no longer even on and it was no
Speaker 1: longer even on parole or probation, could have their every
Speaker 1: move tracked and monitored and recorded for the rest of
Speaker 1: their life, right. And so essentially Beasley joined a majority
Speaker 1: on this decision that no, it is it is not
Speaker 1: constitutional that somebody who is not on parole, not on probation,
Speaker 1: is not in the system in any way. At this point,
Speaker 1: should have their their behavior monitored for the rest of
Speaker 1: their life. And the AD really misleadingly claims that GPS
Speaker 1: tracking was instituted under a bipartisan law quote until Cherry
Speaker 1: Beasley struck it down, and that Beasley ruled that it
Speaker 1: violated the child predators privacy. But that's just not true, right,
Speaker 1: there is that decision made, did no such thing. If
Speaker 1: you are someone who is on parole, you absolutely can
Speaker 1: be monitored and tracked by the state. Them saying that
Speaker 1: GPS tracking has been struck down, it's just not true.
Speaker 1: That's just a fabrication. And so it's one of the
Speaker 1: it's one of those situations where it is a little
Speaker 1: bit nuanced, right, I understand what they're doing. They're completely
Speaker 1: flattening out what actually happened in this way to make
Speaker 1: it sound very scary that, oh, Cherry Beasley decided that
Speaker 1: a child predator should have their privacy protected, and that
Speaker 1: child predator went on to attack a child in a
Speaker 1: horrific way. And it's so savvy how they are able
Speaker 1: to reframe the facts and what actually happened in this
Speaker 1: way that it's just misleading. It doesn't tell the whole truth.
Speaker 1: And I feel like it doesn't actually help North Carolina
Speaker 1: voters get a better sense of what actually happened, just
Speaker 1: completely misrepresents what happened. Yeah, that's absolutely right. That ad
Speaker 1: is really it's like a great textbook example of logical
Speaker 1: fallacies of uh, I guess, deductive reasoning. I don't know
Speaker 1: where they Obviously she was weighing in on this case
Speaker 1: that had to do with general North Carolina law and
Speaker 1: affected the entire population of North Carolina. And whoever created
Speaker 1: this ad has chosen the single one worst case scenario
Speaker 1: of what happened as a result of that decision. And
Speaker 1: that's just so disingenuous. And there's like, if that's the
Speaker 1: criteria by which any policy is going to be judged,
Speaker 1: they will all fail. Everything will be horrible. Absolutely, And
Speaker 1: it's something that we've seen quite a bit of. I
Speaker 1: remember definitely saw this when Umtanti Brown Jackson was being
Speaker 1: confirmed as the first black woman Supreme Court justice. But
Speaker 1: if you remember, I think it was Josh Paulie did
Speaker 1: almost the exact same thing where they were accusing Justice
Speaker 1: Jackson of being like soft on pedophiles or soft on
Speaker 1: crime because of one decision that she had made in
Speaker 1: her career, and it was like, you know, there was
Speaker 1: a whole thing where she was like, it's not my
Speaker 1: job to you know, this is it's not my job
Speaker 1: to interpret like sentencing. That's not what I do. But
Speaker 1: the way that they're able to create I would argue
Speaker 1: a really unfair playing field for women of color, people
Speaker 1: who are originalized that they can't possibly live up to.
Speaker 1: And so this is like a very common tactic of
Speaker 1: people who are interested in kind of doing these coded
Speaker 1: attacks on marginalized people who are running for public office.
Speaker 1: You mentioned that, you know, this is particularly particular, really
Speaker 1: weaponized against the marginalized people. Do you have other examples
Speaker 1: beyond Cherry Beasley? Yeah, I mean, I think in the
Speaker 1: way that we've seen certain buzzwords be flung around to
Speaker 1: specifically black candidates, black women in particular. You know, buzzwordsider
Speaker 1: at this point essentially just dog whistles. Biden, Warnock and
Speaker 1: Abram's are woke communists, leftists who hate this country. Okay,
Speaker 1: So something that sticks out at me about this is
Speaker 1: the use of the word the words communist and woke.
Speaker 1: As far as I know, I don't believe that Warnock,
Speaker 1: Stacy Abrams or Joe Biden have officially endorsed communism like
Speaker 1: a very specific thing. And I also think it's interesting
Speaker 1: how they say, like, oh, woke gone laws. What does
Speaker 1: woke mean? Right? Like at this point when someone says, oh,
Speaker 1: though they're woke agenda, basically what they're meaning is that,
Speaker 1: like that person is black, they don't give you any
Speaker 1: specific you know, the thing that they think is woke.
Speaker 1: It's just the woke agenda. And so I've definitely seen
Speaker 1: an uptick in this when it comes to black candidates
Speaker 1: where just like, oh, if you want woke policies, that's
Speaker 1: what they give. Yet, yeah, it's It was an interesting
Speaker 1: add because I feel like the actual descriptions of the
Speaker 1: policies that Biden and Warnock and I guess they she abrams.
Speaker 1: It's not really clear who the ad was against, but
Speaker 1: like the policies they were describing actually sounded pretty good,
Speaker 1: like banning Air fifteen. That kind of sounds like a
Speaker 1: good idea to me. And there was one about like
Speaker 1: red flag laws, like yeah, maybe some people, maybe there
Speaker 1: should be occasions where red flags disqualify someone from gun
Speaker 1: ownership in an intensely concentrated, dense society. Mike it sounds
Speaker 1: like you're endorsing what we know are bow gets mental
Speaker 1: health exams. Well, that's the thing. It's like, the actual
Speaker 1: policies were totally reasonable sounding, and it was only like
Speaker 1: they're woke, they're totally bogus, they're communists, they're far let
Speaker 1: radical left. It's like they had to just layer on
Speaker 1: these descriptors because the actual policies themselves, I believe are
Speaker 1: actually popular among most of the American people. I guess
Speaker 1: I can't speak to the Georgia electorate, but I suspect
Speaker 1: most Georgians would be in favor of some sort of
Speaker 1: reasonable gun restrictions. I don't know most people in most
Speaker 1: parts of the country are I don't know Georgia in particular.
Speaker 1: I mean, anything sounds unreasonable if you say it like this,
Speaker 1: if you say it's communist, okay. So I have one
Speaker 1: way example for you, and this is this is an
Speaker 1: example that kind of paints me because it's an issue
Speaker 1: that boy, I hate to see how it's taken off
Speaker 1: under Gretchen Whitmer. The radicals who want a drag queen
Speaker 1: in every classroom. So there's a lot going on in
Speaker 1: this ad One they say that Gretchen Whitmer, who is
Speaker 1: running in Michigan, wants to put quote a drag queen
Speaker 1: in every classroom. First of all, I want to go
Speaker 1: to that school queen in every classroom. So, first of all,
Speaker 1: that's not even something that Gretchen Witmer said. Michigan Democratic
Speaker 1: Attorney General Dana Nestle said that in a speech, and
Speaker 1: she was like, oh, and and she said this was
Speaker 1: in June. She said that she was joking, and it was.
Speaker 1: It was a joke about her frustration with politicians who
Speaker 1: focus on these quote wedge issues that divide us, right,
Speaker 1: and a teacher in every classroom. You know, we don't
Speaker 1: have the funding for drag queens in there. Have you
Speaker 1: seen the makeup the outfits that heals like, it's a
Speaker 1: lot of money to put a directqueen in a classroom. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we cannot afford that. Let's just focus on teachers. So
Speaker 1: this not even something that Gretchen Whitmer says. And and
Speaker 1: yet in this attack ad it attributes that quote that
Speaker 1: she never said to her, and even the person who
Speaker 1: did say it says they were just joking and that
Speaker 1: line was taken out of context. But even beyond that,
Speaker 1: it's clear that this ad is really trafficking and identity
Speaker 1: based attacks, right, that a vote for aggretgion wit Mere
Speaker 1: is a vote for someone who wants to quote indoctrinate
Speaker 1: our kids with gender theory. And it's really just more
Speaker 1: of what we've seen of attacks and further criminalization on
Speaker 1: trans youth in schools. Um, which I you know, I
Speaker 1: hate that it has become a winning strategy for extremists
Speaker 1: to further marginalize a group that is already so marginalized.
Speaker 1: Our fucking babies, our youth. Um. Yeah. And so not
Speaker 1: only does this ad include a completely incorrect attack on
Speaker 1: Gretchen Whitmyer attributing something that she never said to her,
Speaker 1: but it also is just a further attack on trans
Speaker 1: youth and anybody who would dare to support trans youth
Speaker 1: or be an ally to trans use. And it's it's
Speaker 1: meant to it's not just an attack on them. I
Speaker 1: think it's meant to scare parents. It's meant to scare
Speaker 1: parents that people like Gretchen Whitmer, who sensibly want to
Speaker 1: be allies to trans you trans youth or support trans
Speaker 1: youth in schools are coming to pervert and attack your
Speaker 1: children and you parents should be afraid. And it's so
Speaker 1: clear to me who like what this ad is meant
Speaker 1: to do. They certainly are not talking to the parents
Speaker 1: of trans youth, you know, they are trying to pit
Speaker 1: parents of kids who are not trans against trans youth.
Speaker 1: And I think it's just it's just disgusting. And so
Speaker 1: when we talk about sort of the kinds of isms
Speaker 1: in the attacks that I know that we're going to
Speaker 1: see more of on election date today that we've already
Speaker 1: seen in the lead up to the election, this is
Speaker 1: exactly what I mean. Yeah, it's like an ignorance based
Speaker 1: tack right Like it it attacks Gretchen Whitmer for wanting
Speaker 1: to push sex and gender theory on children, uh, but
Speaker 1: then also says boys and girls are different, I know
Speaker 1: the difference. It's like, well, how do you know, like right,
Speaker 1: like maybe there's some theory behind the difference, Like why
Speaker 1: is it so taboo to even talk about gender If
Speaker 1: it's like so crucial to you that this dichotomous gender exists,
Speaker 1: Why is the very idea that somebody might like talk
Speaker 1: about it and you know, apply some evidence to inform
Speaker 1: theories of what it is. Why is that so deeply
Speaker 1: threatening exactly, and I I mean, lady, maybe you're not
Speaker 1: a doctor, and maybe you should shut the funk up.
Speaker 1: But that's like what I'm like whenever, whenever I hear that,
Speaker 1: I'm just like, maybe you don't know anybody who is trans.
Speaker 1: Maybe you don't have any kind of educational background or
Speaker 1: expertise in this. Maybe you have no idea what you're
Speaker 1: talking about, and you should just stop talking about it.
Speaker 1: Like like, I'm to the point on this now where
Speaker 1: I'm like, why are you positive? Like why are you
Speaker 1: one fucking television talking about trans youth? Like like, what
Speaker 1: do you even know about it? Right? Like why are
Speaker 1: you attacking the very idea of talking about it, investigating it,
Speaker 1: understanding what gender is? It's yeah, it's revealing. What's so funny?
Speaker 1: You're You're right on the money. What's so funny? Is it?
Speaker 1: It's like in that ad, she's like, I don't think
Speaker 1: that we should be talking to our kids about gender,
Speaker 1: but I do believe that that boys and girls are different,
Speaker 1: and that's very important to me. Yeah. So that so,
Speaker 1: which is it? Which is it? Right? Either gender is
Speaker 1: this important thing or it's not an important thing. It's
Speaker 1: obviously an important thing. Maybe we should teach kids about
Speaker 1: it exactly. Yeah, But again, we we digress. Let's stay
Speaker 1: focused on the election, what we're going to be seeing
Speaker 1: on election day. Let's take a quick break at our back.
Speaker 1: So another topic that frankly, I I guess I feel
Speaker 1: comfortable saying should not be quote divisive. I don't think
Speaker 1: that just the existence of trans youth trying to live
Speaker 1: their lives should be divisive. But here we are. Another
Speaker 1: topic that I know that we're going to be seeing
Speaker 1: a lot of disinformation and misinformation and our information around
Speaker 1: is abortion. We have already seen incumbents who are up
Speaker 1: for the election really backtracking on their records on abortion.
Speaker 1: I can absolutely understand why they are very invested in
Speaker 1: misrepresenting they actually stood when it comes to row and
Speaker 1: protecting abortion rights, because it's incredible, because it's incredibly their
Speaker 1: their stances are incredibly unpopular. Right, So, like we've seen
Speaker 1: UM folks who are running for re election talk about
Speaker 1: how like, oh, well, you know, it really just sent
Speaker 1: the issue back to the States. Things like that, trying
Speaker 1: to point people who are interested and invested in protecting
Speaker 1: abortion rights trying to paint us as the extremists. UM
Speaker 1: we've seen candidates who are supportive of abortion access being
Speaker 1: accused of quote partial birth abortions or quote late term abortions,
Speaker 1: which I always say this, those are not real terms.
Speaker 1: They are not medical terms. They are terms that are
Speaker 1: completely made up by anti abortion extremists. So in Oregon,
Speaker 1: Oregan Right to Life sent mailers making claims about what
Speaker 1: they call quote late term abortions. In Oregon, there are
Speaker 1: a flyer that they sent out attacked Democratic candidate for
Speaker 1: the Senate, Mark Meek, who has been endorsed by a
Speaker 1: Planned Parenthood, And the flyer has a picture of a
Speaker 1: baby and it says babies have to watch their backs.
Speaker 1: Radical Mark Meek wants to allow late term abortions right
Speaker 1: up until the moment of birth at taxpayer expense. Everything
Speaker 1: about that isn't correct, Like nothing nothing in that statement
Speaker 1: is true. Late term abortions isn't a thing that's that's
Speaker 1: not a real medical phrase. I feel like Pete Bouda
Speaker 1: Jag nailed this when he went on TV a while ago,
Speaker 1: and he pointed out that like when you talk about
Speaker 1: somebody who's having an abortion at that period, it's because
Speaker 1: they intended to carry it to term and something terrible
Speaker 1: has happened. Nobody is choosing to terminate their pregnancy at
Speaker 1: a late state like that, Yeah, you are a thousand
Speaker 1: percent correct. And the fact that this mailer frames it
Speaker 1: as if Mark Meek endorses that, he's like, oh, I
Speaker 1: think that you know, you should be able to Yeah,
Speaker 1: it is like not happening, and I understand what they're doing.
Speaker 1: It makes it makes someone who maybe doesn't know much
Speaker 1: about like like, if you're like a low information vote
Speaker 1: on the issue, you might not have thought about the
Speaker 1: fact that like somebody having to terminate a pregnancy at
Speaker 1: the moment of birth, like what that what the circumstances
Speaker 1: would actually be around that, Maybe you haven't thought about it.
Speaker 1: They're making it seem as though doctors are essentially delivering
Speaker 1: babies and then killing them like out of the vagina
Speaker 1: into the garbage. Correct, So I think that you know,
Speaker 1: the organ Right to Life who put together these mailers
Speaker 1: are just banking on people not really thinking through what
Speaker 1: the circumstances would actually be for someone who would need
Speaker 1: to terminate a pregnancy right up to the moment at birth,
Speaker 1: and that they're banking on them thinking, oh, that person
Speaker 1: is you know, they're banking on them having in consely
Speaker 1: negative reaction, and it just makes me sad because like,
Speaker 1: where is the empathy, Where is the empathy for someone
Speaker 1: who would actually be in that situation when it comes
Speaker 1: to abortion disinformation ahead of the midterms and in the midterms,
Speaker 1: the thing that gets me is that we've allowed both
Speaker 1: candidates electi officials and in some cases are media not
Speaker 1: you know, fringe media, I mean like mainstream media outlets
Speaker 1: to frame abortion as this divisive issue where you know,
Speaker 1: we have to do both sides because you know, people
Speaker 1: disagree when the reality is that of Americans are supportive
Speaker 1: of abortion access. There is not a pocket of America
Speaker 1: anywhere where the majority of people are anti abortion, even
Speaker 1: in deep red states. It is not a divisive issue.
Speaker 1: And the people who are against a protecting abortion access,
Speaker 1: they are the extremists. They're the ones who are widely
Speaker 1: out of step with the will of the majority of
Speaker 1: the people. And that's why you see elected officials having
Speaker 1: to really lie about their stances on this because they
Speaker 1: know that those dances are are wildly unpopular. They know
Speaker 1: that most people do not agree with those stances, and
Speaker 1: that the only way that they can even talk about
Speaker 1: them in a way that would not have them like
Speaker 1: run out of office is to lie and the misrepresent them.
Speaker 1: And so I can understand why we see these folks
Speaker 1: backtracking on their records saying like, oh, we're just leaving
Speaker 1: after the States, because if they were to say the truth,
Speaker 1: which is that like we're attacking abortion access, they know
Speaker 1: that that's not what people want. That is not what
Speaker 1: Americans want. It is non divisive issue. Whoever decided to
Speaker 1: frame it that way really pulled a snow job on
Speaker 1: all of us because it's just not it's just not true. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that's absolutely right, and I think the math
Speaker 1: changed underneath them in a really big way where it's
Speaker 1: their position has always been unpopular, right like most Americans,
Speaker 1: I believe, since the beginning of America until now, have
Speaker 1: been support of abortion rights and access to abortion. Most
Speaker 1: people support it, and so like people who starting in
Speaker 1: the seventies decided that it was going to be a
Speaker 1: winning wedge issue for them, they've always had that difficult
Speaker 1: challenge of trying to sell an unpopular opinion, and it
Speaker 1: worked for them because it was intensely motivating to the
Speaker 1: subset of the population who like really intensely cared, and
Speaker 1: the majority of the voting populace UH did not have
Speaker 1: the same intense feelings. And now, following the Dobbs decision, UH,
Speaker 1: they suddenly realized that they can't just continue to speak
Speaker 1: to this small group in these impassioned, over the top
Speaker 1: ways to like rile them up, because they realized that
Speaker 1: a much wider segment of the population is now listening,
Speaker 1: and that wider signment of the population wants abortion access.
Speaker 1: That's something that it's just always been a given in
Speaker 1: society for like thousands of years, and it's just this
Speaker 1: recent cadre of right wing assholes who realized that they
Speaker 1: could like win some elections by pretending like it's some
Speaker 1: radical position, which it obviously isn't. Yeah, people need to
Speaker 1: have abortions. It's just just, yeah, we live in a society.
Speaker 1: People need to have abortions. I'm sorry that people don't
Speaker 1: like it, but like that's what it is. People need
Speaker 1: to have abortions. People are gonna have abortions. People been
Speaker 1: having abortions. Just let people sort out their own ship more.
Speaker 1: After a quick break, let's get right back into it.
Speaker 1: So let's talk more about some of the miss and disinformation.
Speaker 1: I know we're going to be seeing today on election
Speaker 1: day about voting more generally. Um one, it's just sort
Speaker 1: of spreading fear, particularly fear to black and brown folks
Speaker 1: and marginalized voters. You know, every election year we see
Speaker 1: you know, oh, people are being arrested at the polls. Oh,
Speaker 1: a picture that purports to show ICE agents doing arrests
Speaker 1: of undocumented folks at the polls. Oh. I always see
Speaker 1: the little thing that's like, oh, they're checking for outstanding
Speaker 1: warrants or child unpaid child support payments at the polls. Clearly,
Speaker 1: these are tactics meant to scare black and brown voters.
Speaker 1: And they're so savvy because they're clearly tactics that play
Speaker 1: into the very like rightful fear and baggage and trauma
Speaker 1: that black and brown folks have around being criminalized in
Speaker 1: the United States. And so what's so fucked up is
Speaker 1: that oftentimes with disinformation and misinformation, it's it is the
Speaker 1: reason why it works is because there's a grain of
Speaker 1: truth to it. There is one aspect to it that
Speaker 1: is accurate, and that one aspect is sort of blow
Speaker 1: out of proportion or like misrepresented. And so it makes
Speaker 1: me so sad because in reality, we know there are
Speaker 1: states where black and brown voters are being criminalized. Right
Speaker 1: in Florida, Folks with felonies on their records who were
Speaker 1: told that who thought that they could vote, went to
Speaker 1: register to vote and then the police showed up at
Speaker 1: their door for voter fraud, right, And so we know
Speaker 1: that that happened, and we know that that is clearly
Speaker 1: meant to create a climate where folks who might have
Speaker 1: felonies on their records, folks who have so there there,
Speaker 1: you know, served their time, paid their death society are
Speaker 1: unclear on what's happening and are maybe just afraid. And
Speaker 1: so I have to give it to the santists that
Speaker 1: it is such a savvy move to put fear in
Speaker 1: the heart of people who are just trying to exercise
Speaker 1: their civic duty of voting. And I mean, if you
Speaker 1: were someone who had a felony on your record and
Speaker 1: you weren't sure whether or not you could vote, you
Speaker 1: feed these viral videos of folks, black and brown folks
Speaker 1: who thought they could vote. We're told they could vote,
Speaker 1: We're given the paperwork to vote, and then we're arrested.
Speaker 1: I could understand why that would keep you from voting.
Speaker 1: I could understand why that would keep you from the polls.
Speaker 1: And it's sad to me that when I talk about
Speaker 1: sort of the lies around black voters being criminalized, that
Speaker 1: folks like the Santists have gone out of their way
Speaker 1: to make sure that that continues to be based in reality,
Speaker 1: to make sure that that that that continues to have
Speaker 1: that bit of truth. And we they deserve so much
Speaker 1: better than leaders who are going to exploit our traumas
Speaker 1: and baggage and anxieties as marginalized people living in this
Speaker 1: country that are so real for us. But this is
Speaker 1: what we have. Yeah, it's so disgusting and and sad
Speaker 1: to see people's right to vote attacked. And like you said,
Speaker 1: there's like a germ of truth in all successful disinformation campaigns,
Speaker 1: and there's more than a germ of truth in the
Speaker 1: idea that like black and brown people have not had
Speaker 1: the easiest time voting in the United States, right, Like,
Speaker 1: there's definitely like the right to vote was just categorically
Speaker 1: denied to black people for the first hundreds so years
Speaker 1: of the United States, and ever since then, it's been
Speaker 1: a fight. It's a constant fight. It's a fight in
Speaker 1: this election, and it's just so dispiriting, uh to me,
Speaker 1: and I can only imagine it's even more dispiriting to others.
Speaker 1: But it's like, this is the core part of what
Speaker 1: it means to be like a participating citizen in republic
Speaker 1: is like you get to vote, You get to have
Speaker 1: a say in who leads the the county Highway Department
Speaker 1: or like the state dot or like whatever, or like
Speaker 1: the governorship or the presidency or like passes the laws
Speaker 1: in Congress. You get to have a say. All the
Speaker 1: citizens get to have a vote, and to attack that
Speaker 1: and undermine it is so antithetical to the whole enterprise.
Speaker 1: And it's I guess it's like not surprising because they're
Speaker 1: so disingenuous and so hypocritical, but it and it's almost
Speaker 1: like it feels expected at this point, like, oh, well,
Speaker 1: of course Republicans are going to try to suppress the
Speaker 1: vote of like black and brown people and young people,
Speaker 1: like that's just like what they do. But like it's
Speaker 1: really like cuts to the core of American democracy being
Speaker 1: at risk. Well, that's I that's one of the reasons
Speaker 1: why I even wanted to have to do this episode tonight,
Speaker 1: because I think I was just coming to terms with
Speaker 1: the weight of that feeling of that it feels I
Speaker 1: didn't Maybe this is gonna sound pollyanna ish. Only in
Speaker 1: the last few years have I come to realize how
Speaker 1: tenuous and fragile democracy is. And you know, seeing these
Speaker 1: these poll les about how little and who knows about polls,
Speaker 1: But I saw a couple of polls that were, like,
Speaker 1: people are interested in economic issues and they're not interested
Speaker 1: in like protecting our democracy and speaking just for myself.
Speaker 1: I don't know how anybody doesn't see those two things
Speaker 1: as linked. I don't know how anybody doesn't see like
Speaker 1: just the ability to be a person who is free
Speaker 1: to try to make a better life for themselves, free
Speaker 1: to try to start a family on their terms. When
Speaker 1: they say how they say, free to raise that family
Speaker 1: safely in a safe community, with access to you know,
Speaker 1: accessible health care and food. Like, I don't see how
Speaker 1: like to me those things are the then diorhem as
Speaker 1: a circle that democracy in living in a living in
Speaker 1: a democratic state also means it is also connected to
Speaker 1: being able to be free to exercise your democratic will
Speaker 1: and fucking raise your family without without fear of Yeah,
Speaker 1: just being able to raise your family. I see those things.
Speaker 1: I mean, like I feel like I'm like spinning out
Speaker 1: talking about it, but reading polls that are like, oh,
Speaker 1: people don't care about abortion, they care about putting food
Speaker 1: on the table. And economic issues. People don't care about democracy,
Speaker 1: they care about putting guests in their car. I see
Speaker 1: those things as all the same to me. If I
Speaker 1: don't have body autonomy and people don't see that as
Speaker 1: part and parcel to economic freedom, what are we doing?
Speaker 1: If I'm not able to go vote free of lies
Speaker 1: and legit violence, political violence, what are we doing? And
Speaker 1: so I see that, like all these ways, that the
Speaker 1: fabric of what it means to live in a healthy
Speaker 1: functioning democracy is being so pulled apart, and I see
Speaker 1: all the little threads and it scares me. I'm scared.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm usually I usually try to be like
Speaker 1: optimistic and hopeful on the show, and generally I am.
Speaker 1: But I am scared and I hate that. I mean,
Speaker 1: I I'm you know, me, I'm not someone who is
Speaker 1: like very interested in electoral politics as the end all
Speaker 1: be y'all. But how the fund did we get here
Speaker 1: where the only path to liberation is like at this point,
Speaker 1: all we can do is fucking vote, Like if it's
Speaker 1: voting for the lesser of two evils, do what you
Speaker 1: gotta do. I want so much better for us, But
Speaker 1: it's it's do you know what I'm saying? Like it
Speaker 1: feels scary. It feels like we are It feels like
Speaker 1: something has been pulled apart and we are trying to
Speaker 1: scotch tape it back together. It is scary times. I
Speaker 1: wish I had some nice words to make it less scary. Uh. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's tenuous, it's weird. Make it all better, Mike, No.
Speaker 1: And on the eve of this election, you know, I
Speaker 1: just like there's a Winston Churchill quote that I think
Speaker 1: about all the time about how democracy is the absolute
Speaker 1: worst form of government except for all the others, and
Speaker 1: actually pretty good. It's pretty good, and I think it's accurate.
Speaker 1: Like it, it's so stupid. We're stuck in this union
Speaker 1: with all these imbeciles who hate the idea of unionism,
Speaker 1: and yet here we are. It's difficult. I don't know
Speaker 1: that there's an answer. I think we're all just like
Speaker 1: trying to get through it. It's best we can. People
Speaker 1: listening or like, why did I tune into this. Now,
Speaker 1: I'm bummed out you asked me to be on this episode.
Speaker 1: I know, I know, I know. If I want to
Speaker 1: bump everybody out, let's bring Michael Lamotto on the podcast. Yeah, all,
Speaker 1: I see your risks. No, it'll be fine. Everything is
Speaker 1: going to be fine. Well, let's I do want to
Speaker 1: talk about So it's election day. I do want to
Speaker 1: just sort of talk about what we are likely to
Speaker 1: see on election day and beyond. That's why people tuned
Speaker 1: into this episode. Let's get to that. I know, I'm yeah,
Speaker 1: I have COVID. I'm sorry. Let's take a quick break.
Speaker 1: So if you've been listening to their No Girls on
Speaker 1: the Internet for a while, you probably know that I
Speaker 1: was lucky enough to work with the amazing team at Mozilla,
Speaker 1: the makers of Firefox, to host a podcast called I
Speaker 1: r L, where we explored the promise and perils of
Speaker 1: artificial intelligence. It was a dream for me. And guess what,
Speaker 1: It's been nominated for a Shorty Award and I really
Speaker 1: need your help. Can you take a minute and vote
Speaker 1: for I r L to win Best Use of a Podcast.
Speaker 1: It's super quick, I promised. Just go to Tangoti dot
Speaker 1: com slash I R L. You can vote every day,
Speaker 1: and y'all, I don't know if this sounds bad to say,
Speaker 1: but I kind of really want to win, So please vote.
Speaker 1: That's tango D T A n G O T I
Speaker 1: dot com slash I r L and thank you. It
Speaker 1: means so much to me. And we are back just
Speaker 1: talking about some things to look out for in terms
Speaker 1: of this and miss and malinformation on and after election day.
Speaker 1: And a big thing that we really have to talk
Speaker 1: about on election day and after election day is people
Speaker 1: saying that because it's taking a long time to count votes,
Speaker 1: that that is somehow evidence of voter fraud or a
Speaker 1: stolen election. Now, I've already seen a lot of this
Speaker 1: happening so far, and I need to be really clear.
Speaker 1: It has always taken a long time to clount votes
Speaker 1: in elections because of things like the increased use of
Speaker 1: mail in ballots and early voting. In some places, counting
Speaker 1: votes cannot even start before polls closed thanks to Republican legislation.
Speaker 1: So in a lot of legislatures, it is very much
Speaker 1: by design that it takes a little bit of time
Speaker 1: to count the votes. And people who say this, I
Speaker 1: would argue that they're actually just lying, because anybody who
Speaker 1: has worked in politics, political media, news media for a
Speaker 1: few years, they know that it is totally normal for
Speaker 1: it to take a while for all the ballots to
Speaker 1: be counted and to have a definitive winner. That is
Speaker 1: not a surprise. If you're somebody who hasn't followed a
Speaker 1: lot of elections or hasn't followed a lot of this
Speaker 1: very closely, that's completely fine. You might not know. But
Speaker 1: the people who go on Fox News and say that
Speaker 1: it's out of the ordinary that it takes a little
Speaker 1: while to account votes, they know that's not true, and
Speaker 1: they're deliberately lying. In this election, we already know that
Speaker 1: we're going to see contested elections and contested races. You're
Speaker 1: going to see it taking a little bit of time
Speaker 1: to count votes in certain places, in certain races because
Speaker 1: of things like mail in ballots. Because of that like weird,
Speaker 1: nebulous time. That is the kind of time where like
Speaker 1: bad actors can really run wild. You're gonna see a
Speaker 1: lot of claims about voter fraud or election fraud, and
Speaker 1: and they seem to be like super clear, there is
Speaker 1: no widespread voter fraud in the United States. End of sentence.
Speaker 1: There might be voting irregularities, sure, perhaps those are never
Speaker 1: to the scale to actually impact an election. It just
Speaker 1: does not happen. And so I hate, as much as
Speaker 1: I hate Trump and his presidency, something that I cannot
Speaker 1: believe that he actually got into the lexicon that stuck
Speaker 1: with this idea of like, oh, count every legal vote.
Speaker 1: Like I remember when Ivanka Trump tweeted that, like this
Speaker 1: shouldn't be controversial, count every legal vote. It's so insidious
Speaker 1: how it makes it seem as though there are lots
Speaker 1: of So if you're saying count every legal vote, yeah,
Speaker 1: it sounds totally reasonable when you first say it or
Speaker 1: when you first hear it, but you're making it seem
Speaker 1: like there are lots of illegal votes, and that's not true.
Speaker 1: So it's it's already kind of grounded in a situation
Speaker 1: that is not happening. And so I know that we're
Speaker 1: going to see We've already seen so many claims about like, oh,
Speaker 1: it doesn't take a long time to count votes, like
Speaker 1: there are something funny is going around. Don't I know
Speaker 1: that you're gonna see it. I've already seen some of it.
Speaker 1: I hate that this has become part of our national
Speaker 1: understanding of the voting process because it's just not it's
Speaker 1: just not reflective of reality. There is no widespread voter
Speaker 1: fraud in the United States. If anybody was gonna find
Speaker 1: it, it it would have been Trump in and he didn't
Speaker 1: find it, So there's not any there. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: you're absolutely right. We're going to see so many claims
Speaker 1: about voter fraud, uh, people like making cases to various courts.
Speaker 1: It's just these people have had the past two years
Speaker 1: to just be like stroking their heart ons and thinking
Speaker 1: about how they're going to like yell voter fraud this
Speaker 1: time around, and so they're gonna be out there. They're
Speaker 1: gonna be doing it. Yeah, They're gonna be doing it
Speaker 1: everywhere that they possibly can. They're probably gonna burn Arizona
Speaker 1: to the ground and immediately burned because they have no
Speaker 1: water anymore. It's gonna be everywhere, though. It's gonna be everywhere.
Speaker 1: And that's kind of my point of making this episode
Speaker 1: is that you were talking about burning Arizona to the ground,
Speaker 1: and I know you're kidding, but well, to be clear,
Speaker 1: I suggested that they were the Arizonans were going to
Speaker 1: burn in the ground. I was not suggesting that anyone
Speaker 1: else go there and burn it to the ground. It
Speaker 1: was a lament, not a threat. Oh, I shouldn't go
Speaker 1: to Arizona and burn of town. You should not know.
Speaker 1: There are no threats. I'm not making any threats to Terris.
Speaker 1: Let me cancel my flight here. You know, I'm kidding.
Speaker 1: I'm just concerned for their well being based on some
Speaker 1: of the people inside the house. Well, so you know
Speaker 1: we're kidding. But we are in this very weird time
Speaker 1: where ship is just weird. You know. Election officials have
Speaker 1: been warning for the last few days of election related
Speaker 1: violence on election day and after um, which is scary
Speaker 1: and makes me so sad that that's just where we're at.
Speaker 1: Conspiracy theories about stolen elections and voter fraud have translated
Speaker 1: to extremist groups getting trained to become quote pole watchers,
Speaker 1: which basically means they just harassed and intimidate voters and
Speaker 1: poll workers at the polls. Elon Musk owns Twitter they've
Speaker 1: got a new pay eight dollars to get verified verification
Speaker 1: process rolling out stuff is just weird, And so I
Speaker 1: think in this moment where things feel weird, tenuous, scary,
Speaker 1: like all of the things. The question is like, what
Speaker 1: can we do? And I would say this, I mean,
Speaker 1: this is the spiel I always give. But one, whatever
Speaker 1: you do, don't share or amplify misinformation, even if you're
Speaker 1: trying to like debunk it, make a joke of it,
Speaker 1: point out like, look at this incorrect information. If you're
Speaker 1: on a platform where you can report it, report it.
Speaker 1: But nine times out of ten, if you engage with
Speaker 1: incorrect information, you're just gonna help it spread. That's true
Speaker 1: for pretty much anything. And so if you see something
Speaker 1: that is extremist or like a really bad tweet, don't
Speaker 1: engaged with it. Um, don't share things just in case.
Speaker 1: We had an interesting situation during early vote where somebody
Speaker 1: shared that like, oh I heard from a friend that
Speaker 1: if your ballot has writing on it, then like a
Speaker 1: signature on it, that it's going to be avoided, and
Speaker 1: the election that the county election official had to post
Speaker 1: on Facebook saying, actually, we are legally required to sign
Speaker 1: each ballot, and so like if we sign it, that's
Speaker 1: like that's actually required of us. And so don't share things,
Speaker 1: even if you're sharing them, just in case that you
Speaker 1: cannot verify that they're correct, and instead focus on sharing positive,
Speaker 1: accurate content about the election, the candidates, the the the
Speaker 1: you know, issues and the causes that you're that are
Speaker 1: motivating you to vote you It is going to be
Speaker 1: so much better if you focus your time on spreading
Speaker 1: that kind of information that is accurate and timely and
Speaker 1: positive and helpful, rather than engaging with information it's not true.
Speaker 1: And also if you want a little extra, you can
Speaker 1: come to a training that I am doing with the
Speaker 1: organization Women's March. It is virtual, it is on zoom.
Speaker 1: It is the Wednesday after election day. It is free.
Speaker 1: I would love to hang out with y'all there and
Speaker 1: talk disinformation and the election. I will put the information
Speaker 1: to join in the show notes. But yeah, you want
Speaker 1: a little if you're gonna be like me on Wednesday,
Speaker 1: probably feeling a little anxious, come hang out with me
Speaker 1: on Zoom on Wednesday evening. Hopefully wed I mean hopefully
Speaker 1: I won't be feeling like feverish with COVID, but also
Speaker 1: hopefully I'll be feeling better. And then just a couple
Speaker 1: of like random things I want to throw out there.
Speaker 1: As our digital communications platforms like Twitter become more and
Speaker 1: more interesting, will say now and given that like all
Speaker 1: the stuff is happening with Twitter while an election is happening,
Speaker 1: digital hygiene is going to be more important than ever.
Speaker 1: So if you're listening to this, please please please turn
Speaker 1: on two factory identification. It is a small step that
Speaker 1: you can take to protect yourself as this like verification
Speaker 1: stuff rolls out. We don't know how it's gonna be.
Speaker 1: I don't really have any insight on how it's gonna work.
Speaker 1: All I know is I would not be tweeting if
Speaker 1: I did not have two factor authentication. So please enable it.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's such a weird. It's a weird to
Speaker 1: even talk about it, because this is such untrited territory.
Speaker 1: Usually I would say, like, oh, check to see if
Speaker 1: there's a verified check mark, But I don't know if
Speaker 1: that's great advice anymore for Twitter. So just do. If
Speaker 1: you're gonna be sharing stuff on social media about the
Speaker 1: election in terms of results and races, just check before
Speaker 1: you share. I have been fooled before, and I do
Speaker 1: this for a living. They get the best of us.
Speaker 1: Just make sure that you're checking, and just generally stay calm,
Speaker 1: you know, like, let's take comfort in each other. Right,
Speaker 1: No things are weird right now you might be feeling
Speaker 1: and I'm definitely feeling it. You know, rushing to share
Speaker 1: things on social media doesn't help anybody. Take a minute,
Speaker 1: take a beat, check your sources. Let's just try to
Speaker 1: lean into the comfort of the collective that we all
Speaker 1: have together. And I guess that would end by saying like,
Speaker 1: this episode is weird. I feel weird. I have COVID also,
Speaker 1: But you know, I just want to say, like, we
Speaker 1: deserve a functioning, healthy democracy. We deserve a healthy media ecosystem.
Speaker 1: We deserve to have platforms that are that amplify accurate, honest,
Speaker 1: timely helpful information and not extremism and lies. We deserve
Speaker 1: to have leaders running those platforms who are not complete
Speaker 1: man children, who are transparently looking for sycophants and adoration
Speaker 1: and lashing out at any criticism they get, even though
Speaker 1: they're really embarrassing and super easy to make fun of.
Speaker 1: And they let Azelia Banks live in their house for
Speaker 1: a while and that didn't turn out well because they're
Speaker 1: not smart people, and they are really invested in people
Speaker 1: thinking they're really smart, even though they're not talking about
Speaker 1: Elon musk Um. We deserve better, We deserve better that's
Speaker 1: all I'm saying. It's like, I hate that we're in
Speaker 1: a situation where we have to like be working so
Speaker 1: hard at creating the creating things that we deserve for ourselves. Frankly,
Speaker 1: you know we don't. We we deserve better, and I
Speaker 1: want better for us. But I guess this is my
Speaker 1: plea for voting. You know, please vote? Why would people
Speaker 1: not vote? Like? Why why would somebody not vote? Because
Speaker 1: there is an entire well moneyed, effective machine invested in
Speaker 1: telling people that both can't all parties are the same.
Speaker 1: Your vote doesn't matter. No party is looking out for you.
Speaker 1: They are invested in in having everybody just check out
Speaker 1: of the of the democratic system, just check out of voting.
Speaker 1: And so I don't shame people who don't vote, because
Speaker 1: I know there is like an entire well moneyed system
Speaker 1: invested in you being like it doesn't matter both parties
Speaker 1: are the same. It's so much noise, I say, out
Speaker 1: of politics, who gives a ship? But there's so much
Speaker 1: at stake that even if you feel that way, just
Speaker 1: do it as a personal favor for me, please at
Speaker 1: this point fair, All right, Well, thank you Bridget for
Speaker 1: taking the time to take us all through this little
Speaker 1: list of what to expect from the election returns tomorrow.
Speaker 1: I know you've got COVID. I hope you rest up
Speaker 1: after recording this. Um. I know that I fought tooth
Speaker 1: and nail to prevent you from having to record this.
Speaker 1: But the executives that my heart were like, we need Bridget,
Speaker 1: don't say that episode for the election, So thank you
Speaker 1: for doing it. No, this was all volunt terry, and
Speaker 1: we're gonna have to do a heavy edit on this
Speaker 1: because I feel like I sound ridiculous. No, well, thanks
Speaker 1: for fting me on. Thank you listeners for listening. Uh yeah, Bridget,
Speaker 1: thanks for for doing the thing take us out. Thanks
Speaker 1: thanks for being her Mike, and thanks to all of
Speaker 1: you for listening. Oh. I hope this episode doesn't sound awful.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry in advance. Sorry, sorry for making you listen
Speaker 1: to this. I got a story about an interesting thing
Speaker 1: in tech. I just want to say hi. You can
Speaker 1: be just at Hello at tangodi dot com. You can
Speaker 1: also find transcripts for today's episode at tangodi dot com.
Speaker 1: There Are No Girls on the Internet was created by
Speaker 1: me Bridget tod It's a production of I Heeart Radio
Speaker 1: and Unboss creative Jonathan Strictland as our executive producer. Tara
Speaker 1: Harrison is our producer and sound engineer. Michael Almato is
Speaker 1: our contributing producer. I'm your host, Bridget Todd. If you
Speaker 1: want to help us grow, rate and review us on
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts. For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, check out
Speaker 1: the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts. H