Speaker 1: Hello the Internet, and welcome to this episode of The
Speaker 1: Weekly Zeitgeist. These are some of our favorite segments from
Speaker 1: this week, all edited together into one NonStop infotainment laugh stravaganza.
Speaker 1: Uh yeah, So, without further ado, here is the Weekly Zeitgeist. Well, Miles,
Speaker 1: We're thrilled to be joined in our third seat by
Speaker 1: a digital research analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue,
Speaker 1: where she researches online hate, extremism disinformation in the US.
Speaker 1: It's being Lauren.
Speaker 2: Hey, thanks for welcome. Oh, thank you for stopping by, Thank.
Speaker 1: You for being here on our silly show.
Speaker 2: Yeah, to talk about serious things because it's a big
Speaker 2: year ahead.
Speaker 1: In twenty twenty. Fourth.
Speaker 2: From what I hear, what I'm hearing, it sounds like
Speaker 2: good people.
Speaker 1: Keeping saying that, and I'm like, what, like why, what's
Speaker 1: the big what's going on? Is it because of the
Speaker 1: super Bowl? Because I was.
Speaker 3: I was already involved in politics in twenty twenty, and
Speaker 3: that was probably one of the most stressful years of
Speaker 3: my life.
Speaker 4: Hands down. It was non stop.
Speaker 3: I think I had like four or five just straight,
Speaker 3: like seven day weeks in the office till one two
Speaker 3: in the morning, ordering food, getting rashes, from the stress.
Speaker 4: It was just awful. I can't just going to be
Speaker 4: it was.
Speaker 3: It was mostly just all the prep work, all of
Speaker 3: the like, because I'm researched extremism vaguely then, and it
Speaker 3: was like getting all of the seed lists to get
Speaker 3: all getting all the groups, to get all the discord
Speaker 3: chats to kind of make the way so when things
Speaker 3: kind of popped off, Yeah, but things popped off then,
Speaker 3: like I.
Speaker 5: Was in it.
Speaker 1: Yeah right.
Speaker 2: I'm always amazed at, like, you know, people like you
Speaker 2: and your colleague Jared Holt, who we've had on the
Speaker 2: show many times, and he was like, you got to
Speaker 2: talk to Sabine he got on Like of course then
Speaker 2: if you say, Joe, like, we love the work you do.
Speaker 2: But I'm always amazed at like how people get into
Speaker 2: monitoring extremism, Like what how what was your journey there?
Speaker 2: Like what were you doing, Like I know you said
Speaker 2: twenty twenties when you start to get into it, what
Speaker 2: were you doing in like twenty eighteen, Like was things
Speaker 2: very different or what was your sort of path into
Speaker 2: this kind of work?
Speaker 3: Really funny, I actually started doing this as a joke.
Speaker 3: I was in college of twenty eighteen twenty nineteen. I
Speaker 3: was in anthropology major. I recently switched and in Cells were
Speaker 3: like the big laughing stock punching back to the Internet
Speaker 3: at the time. I think ContraPoints had her video on
Speaker 3: in Cells and I was like obsessed with it, and
Speaker 3: so from my thesis I was like, Oh, how about
Speaker 3: what if I did like a funny ethnography on like
Speaker 3: the inner lives of in cells, like as a goof
Speaker 3: for my the It doesn't matter, I'm already going to graduate.
Speaker 3: I did it, and then I that was December twenty nineteen,
Speaker 3: and then I looked for in twenty twenty January and
Speaker 3: I got picked up by gq are, which is like
Speaker 3: a polling consortium, and they were looking for researchers who
Speaker 3: already knew about that kind of under CD underbelly of
Speaker 3: the Internet stuff. And I got picked up immediately after
Speaker 3: that and then worked for the whole election season and
Speaker 3: I ended up becoming my career path fully on accident.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And are you embracing that? I know you say
Speaker 2: like it's on accident, but I mean, like.
Speaker 3: The field and the people are really great, and it
Speaker 3: just ended up being a really good mix for me.
Speaker 1: Right, something tells me you're a pretty good student. When
Speaker 1: you do a thesis as a goof and get away
Speaker 1: with it. I'm like, damn, this is really fucking good.
Speaker 1: Killed that thesis. Maybe you want to do this for
Speaker 1: a living higher them. Yeah, yeah, that's amazing. What is
Speaker 1: something from your search history that's revealing about who you are?
Speaker 2: Well?
Speaker 6: I last night the last thing I googled was the
Speaker 6: forty nine ers because I wanted to give myself a
Speaker 6: forty nine or Valentine's nail, some Valentiners and I did it. Unfortunately,
Speaker 6: the people at home k oh shit, logo, look at
Speaker 6: the logos. Yeah, and I did a forty nine Oh shit,
Speaker 6: damn lip prints.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 6: I like doing my nails, and I was like, ooh,
Speaker 6: it's Valentine's Day, the Niners going to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 6: I'm gonna do SF Valentiner nails.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, yeah. Yeah. We have a family.
Speaker 6: My family. When my parents came to from El Salvador,
Speaker 6: they landed in San Francisco, and so they were just
Speaker 6: hardcore Joe Montana fans immediately because they were just like, yeah,
Speaker 6: let's do the American thing, watch football, and they they
Speaker 6: tried baseball, didn't like it, and they but they loved football,
Speaker 6: and so my parents have always been Niner fans since
Speaker 6: they got to this country. So we have always been
Speaker 6: Niner fans. And my brother is so excited that they're
Speaker 6: going to the super Bowl and we always like do
Speaker 6: shit on Super Bowl Sunday, Like, well, just have food
Speaker 6: and we just hang out. It's just like a breason
Speaker 6: to kick it with the family, which I always like.
Speaker 6: So okay, I got my nails ready for the weekend.
Speaker 1: Yeah, m did Christmas? You know, just so many chips,
Speaker 1: so many dips.
Speaker 6: So many chips.
Speaker 2: So yeah, what's the spread? What's the spread like for
Speaker 2: your family?
Speaker 6: Do you never know? My mom likes to do different things.
Speaker 6: Sometimes she'll order everything, sometimes she'll make everything. Sometimes it's
Speaker 6: potluck style, everybody brings some things.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 6: I don't I don't think she's thought about it yet,
Speaker 6: so I'm excited to find it out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, as are you partaking this year? I didn't really know.
Speaker 2: I don't have plans, but I mean passively I'll end
Speaker 2: up doing I mean, like maybe have it on in
Speaker 2: the background.
Speaker 1: Yeah maybe.
Speaker 2: I mean I got to catch that halftime show. Uh,
Speaker 2: oh for sure. Yeah, I want to see her sure,
Speaker 2: but no, I don't really. I mean I've as a kid,
Speaker 2: I was just never that, Like I was into the
Speaker 2: NFL when like everybody was into the NFL.
Speaker 1: In the nineties.
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh yeah, when Dion Sanders was playing with
Speaker 2: the Niners too, and even the Cowboys. I was like
Speaker 2: going back and forth with that whole thing. But then
Speaker 2: I just never I just never got fully bit by it.
Speaker 1: So I was just you know, yeah, there's a great
Speaker 1: Joe Montana story that is making the rounds that I
Speaker 1: love wearing. He Yeah, So the phone thing is the
Speaker 1: latest update that during he would call his wife from
Speaker 1: the field, like during games and.
Speaker 2: Like the field that they on the bench like with
Speaker 2: there's a phone on the bench, Like everyone's like, oh,
Speaker 2: he must be talking to his offensive coordinator.
Speaker 1: Yeah, calling his wife because he realized he could. And
Speaker 1: like another thing about him that is like kind of
Speaker 1: saying similar energy is like that there's this famous like
Speaker 1: drive he like brings the forty nine ers down the
Speaker 1: field in the Super Bowl and like the highest stress
Speaker 1: situation that a quarterback like had been in to that point,
Speaker 1: and one of the players on his team like recalled that,
Speaker 1: like he came in the huddle to talk to them,
Speaker 1: and he was just like kind of looking over their
Speaker 1: heads and then he was like, is that John Candy.
Speaker 1: Then he just like pointed John Candy, what's on the side,
Speaker 1: and then he was like all right, let's go out,
Speaker 1: and you know it just like chilled everyone the fuck
Speaker 1: out there, just like, man, this guy doesn't give a fuck.
Speaker 2: He's like, oh man, you've seen planes, trains and automobiles.
Speaker 1: Oh that shit is so funny.
Speaker 6: I love that. That's how you know someone's really good
Speaker 6: at their job, like they can be distracted and it
Speaker 6: doesn't affect their game.
Speaker 2: Yeaeah exactly. And they're like, yeah, all right, we back
Speaker 2: in it. Okay, yeah, but that was John Candy, right, okay, yeah, and.
Speaker 6: It's John Candy.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 6: That motherfucker was huge in the eighties and nineties, so
Speaker 6: that was like probably like oh shit, yeah right, a.
Speaker 1: Great taste, you know, great they knew John Candy was
Speaker 1: like recognized that of all the celebrities, all the eighties celebrities,
Speaker 1: that's the one you point.
Speaker 6: There's a big motherfucker you you can spott.
Speaker 1: That's true. It's also for practical purposes, he could get
Speaker 1: his linemen to see him Yeah, funny.
Speaker 6: I do love that that phone story because the wife's
Speaker 6: the first time it happened. She was just like, I
Speaker 6: was watching the game and then the phone rings, and
Speaker 6: I was like, who's calling me? During my you know,
Speaker 6: my game. She picked up the phone. Hey honey, she
Speaker 6: was like, what are you doing?
Speaker 1: Oh my god? Yeah, he's crazy. Right, the phone works
Speaker 1: like a real phone, he said.
Speaker 6: He said, he was like, he just was like, you know,
Speaker 6: because I think you like, remember you used to dial
Speaker 6: nine to dial outside, right, Yeah, yeah, he just out
Speaker 6: of know, we're just decided to try it and it worked.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's adorable, so cute. I know what a what
Speaker 1: a little like love story. I know, it's I love it.
Speaker 2: They're still together, yeah, okay, good, that would have been wild.
Speaker 2: He's like, yeah, I divorced it right after.
Speaker 6: God it was a good man right there.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Joe Montana, what a name to Joe Montana.
Speaker 6: And that's and that's the other thing. That was my
Speaker 6: my parents' favorite player. So like, you know, that's the
Speaker 6: other thing with the Niners, the associated oh Joe Montana.
Speaker 6: So like when he came out when the Niners won
Speaker 6: the last game, he came out, my mom was like
Speaker 6: it's like, he's such a fucking huge So it's cool.
Speaker 6: It's just cool. It's just kind of nice to see that,
Speaker 6: you know, those associations my parents have.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what is something you think is overrated?
Speaker 7: Over rated? Okay, so I am. I will just say this.
Speaker 7: I live in an area that is very much becoming
Speaker 7: heavily gentrified, and they just put and I still don't comprehend.
Speaker 7: And I guess, Okay, so I understand why there's a
Speaker 7: Starbucks on every corner. However, they just put another Chick
Speaker 7: fil A on the other side of one of the
Speaker 7: streets that, yes, like there's a Chick fil A right
Speaker 7: on one side when you get off on the freeway,
Speaker 7: and then they just put another Chick fil A on
Speaker 7: the other side of Yeah, and I'm like, this is
Speaker 7: so stupid, but it is. It's causing a lot of backup,
Speaker 7: Like the like one of the main streets that I
Speaker 7: used to get into my apartment complex is now like
Speaker 7: I'm having to go around or go through the back
Speaker 7: gate now because of how much traffic it is. And
Speaker 7: it's just stupid. And I guess my overrated To get
Speaker 7: to my point is the food is not that good.
Speaker 7: I'm sorry, I don't believe that. I mean, it's not
Speaker 7: even about the It's like the food is just not
Speaker 7: that good and the lines are always so long, and
Speaker 7: I'm like, do people really like unseeass and food that much?
Speaker 7: Like because it's not seasoned well, the oil is not good.
Speaker 7: Like there's nothing about Chick fil A that's good. I
Speaker 7: don't get it. They don't even have soda.
Speaker 2: They don't have soda.
Speaker 7: No, I think they only have tea and lemonade.
Speaker 1: No, they gotta have soda, but they do.
Speaker 7: Not have soda. My husband said that they do not
Speaker 7: have soda, and I am almost one hundred they don't.
Speaker 7: I don't think they carry soda.
Speaker 1: That's is that trime against fast food? But yeah they
Speaker 1: do they have coke.
Speaker 2: I was like, doctor John, you cannot operate in the
Speaker 2: United States without offering.
Speaker 7: All these fake, fake newses. Yeah, come for you, right,
Speaker 7: but the food is still terrible.
Speaker 2: It's not I mean, obviously what we learned with the
Speaker 2: chicken sandwich wars, other people learned how to make a
Speaker 2: good chicken sandwich. So you can no longer say that
Speaker 2: there's only one rightful heir to the chicken sandwich thrown
Speaker 2: but yeah, to your point, I hate when it, like
Speaker 2: every time a Chick fil A opens up, it's the
Speaker 2: traffic it causes. It's just like the same thing because
Speaker 2: for so long in the West Coast, people never had
Speaker 2: Chick fil A, And there's all these things like when I.
Speaker 1: Go back used to visit my family or whatever, like
Speaker 1: we go to Chick.
Speaker 2: Fil A, and now that it's here, it becomes they
Speaker 2: and you gotta line up and sure sure.
Speaker 7: Just same with in and Out. In and Out is
Speaker 7: also overrated. It's good, but it's overrated.
Speaker 1: At least it's good like that. I was just having
Speaker 1: that thought that like there there are these fast food
Speaker 1: restaurants that have ceased being fast food because they are
Speaker 1: so popular. I think the two that jump out to
Speaker 1: me are Chick fil A and in and Out. In
Speaker 1: and Out though, like once you're done, you just feel
Speaker 1: like you've had, like you you've got what you came for.
Speaker 1: Where it's Chick fil A, yeah, I feel like it's
Speaker 1: it's just kind of coast on reputation at this point
Speaker 1: and like be having been rolled out at a good
Speaker 1: speed where it like never got overexposed or something. And
Speaker 1: that's why Chick fil A like, I feel like they
Speaker 1: did something smart along the way, they like capitalized on
Speaker 1: some social contagion. And now I think this is just
Speaker 1: like a very classically good, overrated I think you're absolutely right.
Speaker 1: The Chick fil A is just you know it.
Speaker 7: And I know we've mentioned it here before. I've listened
Speaker 7: to the show daily and I know that it's been mentioned,
Speaker 7: but I just had to go back on record and
Speaker 7: just say it's not worth the time and it is
Speaker 7: not like even And I think to your point, I
Speaker 7: think a lot of it has to do with those
Speaker 7: the quote unquote Christian values. I think there's so many
Speaker 7: people who are like, well, because it's such a strong
Speaker 7: Christian org that's why we support it, because we're good Christians.
Speaker 7: And it's like, baby, you like there's better food out there, Like,
Speaker 7: spend your money somewhere else. Someone just made a point
Speaker 7: about raising kings. Now I'm one of those clowns that
Speaker 7: will sit in line.
Speaker 2: For raising kanes.
Speaker 1: Now give me some canes, Jack.
Speaker 7: Can sauce.
Speaker 1: I have not had canes. Jack. Are you a Christian?
Speaker 1: You have been raising caine?
Speaker 7: Oh?
Speaker 1: Some days I wasn't able. There was always canes. There is, Baby,
Speaker 1: it might actually be the the one, Like I think
Speaker 1: this is maybe the fourteenth positive review I've heard of
Speaker 1: Raising Cain, so maybe that's the one that gets me there.
Speaker 2: And then think, remember in the rehearsal, Nathan built an
Speaker 2: entire raising canes for that one guy to confront his brother. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's in the air, it's in.
Speaker 7: The Yeah, I am that girl that will pre start.
Speaker 7: But I can prestart my car from an app and
Speaker 7: I will started my car to get in it to
Speaker 7: go down to the raising canes. Honey, yes, yeah, I.
Speaker 2: Mean because also I mean if you, oh yeah, you
Speaker 2: put canes up against Chick fil A, and I'm sorry,
Speaker 2: Chick fil A, you have to go all the way
Speaker 2: to the back because the Chick fil A sauce it
Speaker 2: ain't it ain't.
Speaker 1: It's not the cane sauce.
Speaker 7: What's that other chicken place? Zaxby's good too? When I
Speaker 7: go back, I always like Zaxby Zaxby's is really good.
Speaker 1: What uh what something you think is underratd.
Speaker 8: Chris experts like people valuing an experts opinion. I know
Speaker 8: this is a little out of not not not as
Speaker 8: on the nose as airport lounges, but I feel like anymore.
Speaker 8: People will ask me about TV shows or like storytelling
Speaker 8: or things in the media and be like, what do
Speaker 8: you think of this, and I'll give them my opinion
Speaker 8: and they'll be like, well, no, like I don't know,
Speaker 8: and I'm like, okay, never mind. Yeah, it's it's not
Speaker 8: what they want to hear. They're just like, oh, but
Speaker 8: don't you think this, And I'm like, no, I actually
Speaker 8: think exactly the opposite and here's why, and they just
Speaker 8: that just doesn't it doesn't permeate, and it doesn't They're like,
Speaker 8: just that doesn't agree with what they're into, and so
Speaker 8: they're just like, I'm gonna just set that aside and
Speaker 8: not even take it in.
Speaker 2: And I'm like, okay, yeah, I mean it's like it's interesting.
Speaker 2: It take it takes a person to be able to
Speaker 2: hear a thing that they weren't prepared for and just
Speaker 2: be like, oh, that's new information or do the whatever
Speaker 2: Ostrich effect or whatever they call it, just like no, actually,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna just put my head on the ground because
Speaker 2: I don't like what you just said and that's more
Speaker 2: comfortable for me.
Speaker 1: The well, that's just like your opinion man effect. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the dude, the dude effect.
Speaker 8: And I feel like you guys have a lot of
Speaker 8: experts on this show in different ways and being we
Speaker 8: will tell me about this, and like you actually listen
Speaker 8: to them and like want to hear more and ask
Speaker 8: them follow up questions rather than just be like, but
Speaker 8: don't you actually think that blah blah blah is the
Speaker 8: thing I've been waiting to say the whole time.
Speaker 1: But you should hear after after they get off the
Speaker 1: zoom Call.
Speaker 2: Ship, right, yeah, we're like doctor, Oh.
Speaker 8: Yeah, you're like, oh he produced reality television. Give me
Speaker 8: a fucking why should we trust? Why should we trust?
Speaker 2: His opinion on how that scene was filmed on that
Speaker 2: season he worked on that episode, he worked on.
Speaker 8: Miles. I wish I was joking when I was like,
Speaker 8: I was there when this you are And they're like
Speaker 8: but and I'm like, there is no like I watched
Speaker 8: this happen in real life, Right, you don't want to
Speaker 8: believe what I'm telling you?
Speaker 6: Yeah? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah, Oh man, that's amazing. Is there is there a
Speaker 1: scene from like reality show you've been on that has
Speaker 1: been analyzed like the Zapruder film? Oh yeah, a million
Speaker 1: of them. I don't even know.
Speaker 8: I'm trying to think of like an example, not not
Speaker 8: Zapruder film level, but there's definitely been stuff where it's
Speaker 8: like why did this person do this? And I'm like
Speaker 8: because of this and they're like, huh, I don't know.
Speaker 8: I'm trying to think of like a good example.
Speaker 1: Well here's here's like a broad one is like why
Speaker 1: do they talk about the person like knowing that this
Speaker 1: is going to be on TV? What is it because
Speaker 1: the me they know that the messiness is like part.
Speaker 2: Of the product or is it people like you Chris,
Speaker 2: the producers that's now are they a certain type of
Speaker 2: person who is just you know, like someone will leave
Speaker 2: the room and they'll like be like, well that bitch,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 8: And then it's not but it's not as again, I
Speaker 8: think that's something where we think it's like exactly that,
Speaker 8: and it's more that like there is always a reason
Speaker 8: that they're coming up in conversation, sure because of what
Speaker 8: happened in the last time that they saw them, or
Speaker 8: whatever happened over the time that we've not seen them,
Speaker 8: like since we've been filming, we I saw this person
Speaker 8: at this place and blah blah. And it really is
Speaker 8: about if you want to go into like a Housewives realm.
Speaker 8: It really is just about their interpersonal relationships, and so
Speaker 8: it's like you are wanting to hear the opinion of them,
Speaker 8: and it's they know that.
Speaker 1: That's I mean, that is what they know.
Speaker 8: Yeah, it's about them being friends or lack thereof, or
Speaker 8: being in a fight or not being in a fight,
Speaker 8: exactly about them as a group of friends.
Speaker 1: And so like they know that what time it is.
Speaker 2: And then the added calculus is am I willing to
Speaker 2: scream about it in the tell all you damn right?
Speaker 1: I am?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I will, so I'll say this shit right now
Speaker 2: to camp. Yeah, which like how the.
Speaker 1: First season of Survivor was about like people trying to
Speaker 1: figure shit out and survive, like the premise, the o
Speaker 1: sensible premise of that show, and then every season after
Speaker 1: that is like people who have studied the game of
Speaker 1: Survivor and they're playing the game of Oh yeah now it's.
Speaker 8: Like yeah, now, it's like who is like the Wikipedia
Speaker 8: Survivor time is that by thirty and now here they.
Speaker 1: Are, Yeah, and they're gonna be great at the show.
Speaker 8: Yeah. Whereas like if I was like I've watched like
Speaker 8: most of the seasons They're like, absolutely not.
Speaker 1: You can never come on the show, right, yeah.
Speaker 8: Like they're like, you don't like want to stalk Jeff Probes,
Speaker 8: Like don't I don't think so?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah exactly. I mean we all want to stalk
Speaker 1: Jeff Probs. Don't wait, don't we king? All right, let's
Speaker 1: take a quick break and we'll be right back. Were back.
Speaker 6: She'd always been love to come back, and we're fucking
Speaker 6: bike y'all. Here we are with the boys and the
Speaker 6: one girl.
Speaker 1: Questionably some pretty cool stuff, man, we have yeah, God
Speaker 1: damn man, sure do. Federal appeals court goddamn just rejected
Speaker 1: arguments to refuse to wear a mask during the first
Speaker 1: COVID outbreak was legally protected free speech.
Speaker 2: That's so wild that like it was hard to take
Speaker 2: that as a real statement.
Speaker 1: Or actually I had to.
Speaker 6: Reread it because it was Actually I was kind of confused.
Speaker 2: I was like, wait, what, yeah, is this so? A
Speaker 2: federal appeals court just rejected arguments that refusing to wear
Speaker 2: masks during the first COVID outbreak was legally protected for
Speaker 2: e speech.
Speaker 1: That's what the fuck I said, Man, that's what the
Speaker 1: fuck I said. For the anti mask crowd.
Speaker 6: Yeah, big l big super.
Speaker 1: L super L, I mean too late, probably, I get.
Speaker 1: I guess that'll be valuable for our next global pandemic.
Speaker 1: But there are these two related cases of all the
Speaker 1: people who claimed that they had been retaliated against by
Speaker 1: the New Jersey school boards for refusing to wear masks
Speaker 1: during the health emergency, and what one of them was
Speaker 1: just dismissed out of hand because they're like, no, like,
Speaker 1: your definition of retaliated against right like borders on the nonsensical,
Speaker 1: so like, we don't, like you have not proved that
Speaker 1: you were retaliated against the other one was kicked back
Speaker 1: to a lower court. They took it serious as a
Speaker 1: legal argument and were like, you know, refusing to wear
Speaker 1: a mask during a public health emergency didn't amount to
Speaker 1: free speech protected by the Constitution. They pointed out that
Speaker 1: this makes as much sense as refusing to pay taxes
Speaker 1: or wear a motorcycle helmet as a symbolic protest, which
Speaker 1: I don't know why they had to come for, like
Speaker 1: the ones that I'm actually down with, like not wearing
Speaker 1: a motorcycle helmet or not, I mean, I don't know,
Speaker 1: but not wearing no Connie Crew over here, that's right.
Speaker 6: Okay, it's no Condom Day and pinge on my freedom.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: You know what was that song you made like ten
Speaker 2: years ago? You're like, oh, no condom style? Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: he had a whole music video and everything. Lag okay,
Speaker 2: back to life, no pun intended.
Speaker 6: That's funny. I used to do parody songs too, until
Speaker 6: one of my friends made fun of me and I
Speaker 6: believed him. Oh man, I'm so pissed I let him
Speaker 6: hurt my feelings.
Speaker 2: Wait really, yeah, I used to.
Speaker 6: There was a I did a rude boy parody the
Speaker 6: Rihanna and it was like I did like like if
Speaker 6: I was from the version of Snooky Snooky's perspective and
Speaker 6: it was just basically like fucking without a condom and
Speaker 6: fucking in the hot tub and it was just gross.
Speaker 9: It was.
Speaker 1: It was funny, though, man, and you're a great singer,
Speaker 1: as we said, Yeah, you know.
Speaker 6: It was when it was so rough, but it was fun. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I love I love it.
Speaker 1: Go back in the lab, Go back in the lab,
Speaker 1: and what my.
Speaker 6: Partner makes music. And so I'm I don't know if
Speaker 6: I told you guys, I'm moving to Chicago and I'm excited. Yeah,
Speaker 6: And I'm excited because he makes music. So we're going
Speaker 6: to make music together, like literally and figuratively. And I'm
Speaker 6: excited because I was like, I want to do like
Speaker 6: five song of every genre right right, because he can
Speaker 6: and we just don't take it serious. Anyways, back to
Speaker 6: the news, guys, what are we talking about? Nothing? Then
Speaker 6: I want to do like, oh yeah, everything I want
Speaker 6: to do. I want to do. Like remember in the
Speaker 6: like the late nineties and early two thousands, there's a
Speaker 6: lot of male rapper, female singer, a lot of those damns.
Speaker 6: Like we want to do ship like like a five
Speaker 6: just that doing that style. Yeah, yeah, exactly like that,
Speaker 6: that type of ship, very hyper specific ship. But we're
Speaker 6: gonna do all kinds of shit. I'm very excited. It's
Speaker 6: gonna be fun. I'll be on here promoting that ship too.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Please, we'll write.
Speaker 1: Out on it. All right. We do need to catch
Speaker 1: up on other more important stories. Masks you want to
Speaker 1: talk about was important but not important anymore? Whatever? Who cares.
Speaker 1: On the other hand, we we gotta hear what Donald
Speaker 1: Trump thinks about bud Light.
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, this is a big one.
Speaker 1: Did a full on.
Speaker 2: This is just wild for some reason. Let's call it cash.
Speaker 2: Donald Trump has declared on Booth Social that bud Light
Speaker 2: is no longer on the MAGA shit list. And you
Speaker 2: like this this like post, you know, like when somebody
Speaker 2: else writes his ship because it's like a little too coherent,
Speaker 2: and it like follows a bit of structure, even thought
Speaker 2: right stylistically, it like reads like his. He just said
Speaker 2: the bud Light ad was a mistake of epic proportions
Speaker 2: and for that a very big price was paid.
Speaker 1: But Anheuser Busch is not a will company.
Speaker 2: But I can give you plenty that are and building
Speaker 2: a list and might just release it for the world
Speaker 2: to see.
Speaker 1: Why not.
Speaker 2: The radical left does it viciously to well run because
Speaker 2: they're to companies and people very nasty, but it's the
Speaker 2: way they play the game. On the other hand, Anheuser
Speaker 2: Bush spends seven hundred million dollars a year with our
Speaker 2: great farmers employee sixty five thousand. It's like starts running
Speaker 2: down all this shit that Anheuser by him.
Speaker 1: He just did like three hundred gram adderalls and then
Speaker 1: banged this out.
Speaker 6: Just wait, can we give Miles props for that? You've
Speaker 6: been working on that impression. It's great, Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2: Look, you know that's coming from somebody who's killing it
Speaker 2: on national television with impressions that actually means a lot.
Speaker 6: Martello start pro I love an impression. I love the
Speaker 6: impression from from an Asian guy. We don't get enough
Speaker 6: of that.
Speaker 2: No, no, exactly, you don't have. You know, we're the
Speaker 2: biracial like I could be leaning into every race right now,
Speaker 2: and really and I get to because I'm black and Asian. Yeah, okay, sorry,
Speaker 2: hate to use that excuse again like the one from
Speaker 2: the nineties. But anyway, it's like interesting to see or
Speaker 2: figure out what caused this whole thing. Maybe the donation
Speaker 2: stop from Anheuser Busch. Is it because he's BFFs with
Speaker 2: Dana White and the UFC and bud Light, like that's
Speaker 2: like their main one of their main sponsors. Is it
Speaker 2: because he saw some polling that made him realize that
Speaker 2: being a piece of ship to people all the time
Speaker 2: is bad? Others point out, is it because he has
Speaker 2: between one and five million dollars in Anheuser Busch in
Speaker 2: bev Stock knows? But I love how he's just talking
Speaker 2: about Canon, an American company. They're owned by a like
Speaker 2: their own.
Speaker 1: There's a Belichick company American companies.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so yeah, great American brand.
Speaker 6: What news is his supporters don't look at facts, so
Speaker 6: now an American company, so right.
Speaker 2: And also a lot of people pointed out when they
Speaker 2: were boycotting bud Light, they're like, they were probably just
Speaker 2: buying another beer owned by the same company.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what's it called a bev Anheuser Busch in bev
Speaker 1: in bev Yeah exactly.
Speaker 2: And I think also to be clear too, like when
Speaker 2: he's like that the advertisement was a big mistake, they're
Speaker 2: talking about the Dylan mulvaney thing where they sent out
Speaker 2: like bud Lights sent out a bunch of personalized cans
Speaker 2: to influencers with their face on it, and Dylan mulvaney
Speaker 2: happened to be on that group of influencers that got
Speaker 2: a can, so she posted the fact that she got
Speaker 2: a bud Light can, and everyone's like they're doing a
Speaker 2: fucking whole ad campaign. That's like like just all of
Speaker 2: that is where all of this shit started.
Speaker 1: But who knows.
Speaker 2: There's other people like on Twitter who are like being like, yo,
Speaker 2: this is just a conspiracy. Like Republicans like to tank
Speaker 2: a brand that they own stock in and then they
Speaker 2: buy the dip and then like, oh, wow.
Speaker 6: That's a great idea. I need to start doing that.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: They're like yo, they're like, hey, if you're in the
Speaker 2: stock market, like just see what company they're going after,
Speaker 2: and if the stock price starts going down by the dip.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I give you ahead of Super Bowl. Son.
Speaker 6: Wow, that's great financial advice. It's dip Christmas in the stocks,
Speaker 6: bitch Christmas.
Speaker 1: Yeah. It's also like I do just want to acknowledge
Speaker 1: that that whole backlash campaign has been wildly successful. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the mainstream news story about that has been like a
Speaker 1: bud light fucked up big time and like had a
Speaker 1: terrible year, and like people in the business community like,
Speaker 1: I think this is one of the stories that is
Speaker 1: driving that whole backlash to having any sort of moral
Speaker 1: compass as a corporation, you know that like they're just now,
Speaker 1: you know, saying that we're gonna invest in like ESG
Speaker 1: or you know, any sort of diversity equity initiative, like
Speaker 1: all of that is a bad word in when you're
Speaker 1: doing your earnings calls, because yeah, because there's ship like
Speaker 1: this and yeah, it's a shame, it's it's very frustrated.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, they've got there doing. You know, Shane
Speaker 2: Gillis is the new face of bud Light and Ship.
Speaker 6: Yeah, he's killing it. He's SNL this weekend.
Speaker 2: I think they're trying to be like, hey man, look
Speaker 2: we kind of fuck with shitty people too, who have
Speaker 2: like some questionable past and things like that, like don't
Speaker 2: what the fuck you know?
Speaker 6: You know, but the reason that works is because most
Speaker 6: people are shitty, and Republicans aren't afraid to accept their
Speaker 6: their shitty past and their shitty present and their shitty future.
Speaker 1: It's kind of their whole thing. Yeah, yeah, we.
Speaker 6: Just don't get there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we don't care, all right. I do want to
Speaker 1: get to what's happening in the state legislature of.
Speaker 2: You get to that, huh oh, I musnd out.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately I must bro working on it right now. But
Speaker 1: to pull your card, homie. Yeah. So there's a bill
Speaker 1: currently making its way through the chambers that would essentially
Speaker 1: prevent live performance venues from canceling a performer for exercising
Speaker 1: their free speech rights and not just their ability to
Speaker 1: not wear a mask when they don't want to, because
Speaker 1: but you know, you can't cancel a show if the
Speaker 1: performer says like racist or homophobic shit. Okay, that's okay. Now.
Speaker 2: So this bill is you know, it's being debated. It says,
Speaker 2: like the text of it says, quote, the owner or
Speaker 2: operator of a public venue may not cancel a live
Speaker 2: performance of an artist or performer musical group because the artists, performers,
Speaker 2: or musical groups lawful exercise of freedom of speech or
Speaker 2: their personal beliefs for the purpose. So basically what they're
Speaker 2: saying is, if that happens, then they have to pay
Speaker 2: damages or like you know, execute whatever financials or in
Speaker 2: the contract between the two and be like, okay, well
Speaker 2: then you owe them that kind of shit. And every
Speaker 2: people are like, what the what's the point? Like, there's
Speaker 2: real shit happening all over the fucking place, and we
Speaker 2: have this bill. Notably, the author of the bill couldn't
Speaker 2: really even point to one example where this has happened,
Speaker 2: except wait, the one time the libs messed up my
Speaker 2: midlife Crisis Bands statewide tour.
Speaker 1: So this is what center fucking sky. What's his name?
Speaker 2: Let me make sure I want to make sure I
Speaker 2: have his full name out there. Joel Rudman, Senator Joel Rudman,
Speaker 2: he posted this shit on Facebook. Shout out to Robin
Speaker 2: panank On Wankat for putting this piece together because it's
Speaker 2: so eye opening. He posted this on Facebook about his
Speaker 2: own fucking band. This is a elected official in Florida. Quote.
Speaker 2: This is what liberals do. When I announced my concert tour,
Speaker 2: I used event bright to process free tickets so I
Speaker 2: could get a rough headcount for each gig. The woke
Speaker 2: mob liberals flooded my system with fake emails and bogus names.
Speaker 2: So now we have no way of knowing how many
Speaker 2: do expect. Show these radicals what happens when you try
Speaker 2: to cancel Conservatives come out and force Tomorrow night to
Speaker 2: Horsepower Pavilion at seven pm. These liberals tried to cancel
Speaker 2: my voice. I became Navari's Business of the Year. Then
Speaker 2: they tried to cancel my medical career. I became state representative.
Speaker 2: Now they are trying to cancel my concert.
Speaker 1: Fuck wow. Yeah, he's not a business man, he's a
Speaker 1: business business man. Business of the year, yeah exactly. So
Speaker 1: this guy basically couldn't accept the fact that no one
Speaker 1: wanted to see his shitty band and decided to waste
Speaker 1: time by using his office to like create a bill
Speaker 1: that will most likely fail because, like, let's be real,
Speaker 1: Florida isn't someplace where they're canceling acts for being Jesus.
Speaker 6: That's why that shit doesn't make sense because to me,
Speaker 6: I hear it as like, oh, that's actually good for
Speaker 6: people that are like pro Palestine, because they're getting shit
Speaker 6: ripped out from under them exactly. And it's like, but
Speaker 6: in Florida, you know, like no one's getting upset that
Speaker 6: you're homophobic or racist or whatever. The fuck that's actually
Speaker 6: gonna cel tickets, I think. But because he was giving
Speaker 6: away free tickets, that's your problem, sir.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And again it's just like it's like half. I think
Speaker 2: it's probably ninety five percent this guy's fragile, fucking ego,
Speaker 2: and then five percent like obviously this is like the
Speaker 2: culture War playbook one oh one. It's like, act as
Speaker 2: if this woke threat exists in your state, when actually
Speaker 2: your state is like the antithesis of that, and that's
Speaker 2: pretty much what he's doing. But dude, this guy's fucking banned.
Speaker 1: I had a feeling this guy's band was gonna suck,
Speaker 1: and then he got to that paragraph where he was like,
Speaker 1: then they tried to cancel my medical career. Yeah. Like, wait,
Speaker 1: so you're not even a musician, you Horsepower Pavilion. I
Speaker 1: couldn't make that.
Speaker 2: Sounds like a made up venue name and like a
Speaker 2: viral tweet that someone would write it.
Speaker 6: Sounds like Deaf Puppy Comedy Club in Mantica, California.
Speaker 2: Deaf Puppy Comedy Club, but an actual place in Mantica, California.
Speaker 2: Get your tickets at the end of this month. So yeah,
Speaker 2: his band is called Doctor Rudman and the Freedom Fighters.
Speaker 2: And then like I think their was called, uh the
Speaker 2: Let me just get this right, it was called the God,
Speaker 2: Guns and Less Government Tour. Oh wow, I just want
Speaker 2: to give y'all a quick taste of this of his band.
Speaker 1: I cannot wait, God, Guns and Less Government? How cool?
Speaker 1: How rock and roll is that?
Speaker 2: The Wild Thing is like a group of like middle
Speaker 2: aged dudes are opening or I like, are clearly the band,
Speaker 2: but they wait for him to go on stage.
Speaker 1: Is like the lead guitar player.
Speaker 6: He's a friend supploring.
Speaker 2: Okay, sorry that was that was him howling. Let me
Speaker 2: just show you. This is him coming on stage for
Speaker 2: everybody to see. And he's wearing his white doctor's coat.
Speaker 2: Just so you know, this guy is a fucking doctor.
Speaker 2: The band's singing now, he's coming up on stage, grabbing
Speaker 2: the guitar, got his doctor coat on.
Speaker 1: Somebody get me a shot. Somebody got me a shot.
Speaker 1: That's his catchphrase.
Speaker 2: I also love I love when I love when like
Speaker 2: performers be like, yo, let me get a shot, and
Speaker 2: then nobody gets much shot.
Speaker 6: It's one of the worst feelings. I gotta say, that's
Speaker 6: definitely happened to be before we're going.
Speaker 2: To drink up here. Done that some of our live shows.
Speaker 2: And then I just go to beg I'm like, hey, please, man,
Speaker 2: I'll give you cash.
Speaker 5: Man.
Speaker 2: Would you mind just getting something really quickly?
Speaker 9: No?
Speaker 1: No, but here he goes.
Speaker 2: He's gonna just let everybody know. He picked up the
Speaker 2: guitar as if he was gonna he realized, I gotta
Speaker 2: take my coat off.
Speaker 1: Stripping well back to the fish house, taking off his
Speaker 1: white coat or a gill a bad jean jacket under here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: appeared to be in an equipment shed on the roof
Speaker 1: of a condo in like a marina somewhere.
Speaker 6: This is where you watch live performance.
Speaker 1: Okay, here we goes.
Speaker 2: He's got interesting two tone bell bottoms on black and
Speaker 2: red leather.
Speaker 1: He's so.
Speaker 6: He looks like he drinks bud.
Speaker 2: Light his like he doesn't even his his.
Speaker 1: Guitar has even turned up.
Speaker 6: Oh oh, there you go, well cow bell.
Speaker 2: Anyway, So this guy's band is wild. He's got some
Speaker 2: kind of face paint on it.
Speaker 1: He looks like he's like, you know, a five year
Speaker 1: old who did their own makeup as a zombie.
Speaker 2: Look at like, look at this woman who came up
Speaker 2: to do a devil.
Speaker 6: Horns right in the way.
Speaker 2: Did you say there's no where's all the people see
Speaker 2: what we want to know too?
Speaker 6: Okay, we all want to know the venue wants to
Speaker 6: know that exactly.
Speaker 1: You're a good partner for supporting him and his fool's
Speaker 1: errand of you know, narcissism. But wow.
Speaker 2: So yeah, anyway, this is the pace we're at with
Speaker 2: the people entering public office.
Speaker 1: You know, just people.
Speaker 2: It's either like you got an axe to grind, or
Speaker 2: you've got followers to gain, or a shitty band to promote,
Speaker 2: or maybe fucking all three.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so what better place to do that than you know,
Speaker 1: beautiful the right is getting good at rock and roll,
Speaker 1: and the liberals are scared.
Speaker 6: I was really scared watching that. I was like, oh,
Speaker 6: that's scary.
Speaker 2: Sheer pant those pants too, I love. It's just like
Speaker 2: you can tell when people they have this like fantasy
Speaker 2: image of like this alter ego they may have and
Speaker 2: it has zero swag either.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and like some people, you'll be surprised. You're like, damn,
Speaker 2: I didn't know you had that in you. Like that
Speaker 2: it was kind of cool.
Speaker 1: Shot yeah.
Speaker 6: About an alter ego.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a few of them, like you know you got
Speaker 2: that doc oc in you. But like this guy purely
Speaker 2: is like was raised on like hair metal videos, but
Speaker 2: also like he his hate filled heart doesn't know like
Speaker 2: to open it to be like other I don't know
Speaker 2: to like more creative pursuits. It's like, oh, wear leather,
Speaker 2: red pants, a jean jacket, and I'll smear makeup on
Speaker 2: my cheeks, but.
Speaker 1: My doctor's white jacket a white coat on top of it.
Speaker 9: Teen fantasy yeah yeah, yeah, and yeah, like he got
Speaker 9: up there during the band, like the band was playing
Speaker 9: a different song and just like interrupted them and held
Speaker 9: up his guitar and was like.
Speaker 1: Somebody get me a shot, like, which is like you
Speaker 1: can tell. It was like in his teenage rock star fantasy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but then like there's two minutes of awkward like tuning
Speaker 1: his guitar after like cuts off ruins the other people's song,
Speaker 1: and then is just like complete end of any momentum
Speaker 1: that was being built.
Speaker 6: I'm also now realizing it was probably his wife that
Speaker 6: came up, like okay, Gottle's tickets, Like she's like, I
Speaker 6: just don't I'm tired of this. It's got to end,
Speaker 6: you know what I mean. She's like, I can't do
Speaker 6: this anymore. And it wasn't the liberals that were getting
Speaker 6: him in canceled with his wife like you need to
Speaker 6: come home White.
Speaker 1: A woman comes up in the middle of a show
Speaker 1: of the show, stands directly in front of the camera
Speaker 1: by herself, completely empty, no signs of a crowd like
Speaker 1: in the sound or any like energy, and then she
Speaker 1: just goes up and starts doing like devil horns, and
Speaker 1: it's where's the crowd? Where's the crowd?
Speaker 5: Nobody knows this so hard the liberals stopped my crowd
Speaker 5: from coming right exactly, But it's why you can hear
Speaker 5: it from the ambient noise, like there's five people there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like that's it. There's five people there. I can
Speaker 2: that I can hear.
Speaker 6: Victor said he wished he was there, and I gotta
Speaker 6: say that is a type of shit I like to
Speaker 6: see live. That is my favorite thing about like going
Speaker 6: to a bar, like like a local bar and they're like,
Speaker 6: there's live music. I'm like, oh, I'm staying for this.
Speaker 6: I gotta know what's going on here tonight. That's my
Speaker 6: favorite ship because that's exactly what you see, is that share.
Speaker 1: Just like wander in there like yeah, I always.
Speaker 6: Got a good deal on drinks, and that's the fries.
Speaker 6: Just play. Whenever you have an opportunity to see live music,
Speaker 6: like a small local bar, especially if you're like traveling,
Speaker 6: please watch you get You will be entertained. It's not
Speaker 6: what they want you to entertain you with. It's just
Speaker 6: that you will be like this is a character. This
Speaker 6: is some shit that they make characters on TV with.
Speaker 6: These people are insane.
Speaker 2: These people they give us the joy, like these are
Speaker 2: things that we like to share. It's go check out
Speaker 2: some local music and just bask in the authenticity of
Speaker 2: some of these people.
Speaker 6: I love a fifty year old band just grown ass
Speaker 6: men just won't give up on their dreams and the
Speaker 6: politics getting in there, and you're just like, oh, this
Speaker 6: is good.
Speaker 1: Like usually I will encourage this to give them a
Speaker 1: different vent, like a different outlet than politics, you know,
Speaker 1: like when old like didn't Stephen King, like all those
Speaker 1: like famous authors when they hit their fifties, were like,
Speaker 1: and we're starting a rock band.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like.
Speaker 1: We're starting the most mid rock band in the state
Speaker 1: of Maine, which is.
Speaker 6: Saying a lot, but that's how most of these people are.
Speaker 6: Like it's like I'm I'm I'm not ashamed that I
Speaker 6: pursued comedy, you know, like because I'm good at it
Speaker 6: and I you know, you just got to work hard.
Speaker 6: Like Ben Shapiro wanted to be a writer, comedian or
Speaker 6: some shit and then he failed. So he was like,
Speaker 6: I'm just gonna talk shit online. It's like his next
Speaker 6: step is what being a band. He already put out
Speaker 6: a rap song.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know what I.
Speaker 6: Mean Like this, it's the people are just unsatisfied egos
Speaker 6: and then they just rehabit because they're just not satisfied.
Speaker 1: Yeah. We feel like he became a doctor because he
Speaker 1: had that vision in his mind of going up on
Speaker 1: stage and saying somebody get me a shot at a bar. Wow,
Speaker 1: Like all been building up to that.
Speaker 6: You think he's jealous of Ken Jong for actually being
Speaker 6: a successful.
Speaker 2: Hate ken Jong because you know what he was probably
Speaker 2: doing ship as the stand up comedian doctor Joel, And
Speaker 2: he's like, wait, there's a guy named doctor ken Who
Speaker 2: the fuck is this guy. They're like, dude, he's killing it, man,
Speaker 2: he's fucking killing it.
Speaker 1: And he's like, fuck guitar woke. Yeah, all right, well,
Speaker 1: I'm glad I saw that. I think let's uh, let's
Speaker 1: take a quick break. We'll be right back. And were back,
Speaker 1: and there was a whole Atlantic magazine those like if
Speaker 1: Trump wins, But like I didn't see like any of
Speaker 1: those stories like really breaking through or capturing people's imagination.
Speaker 1: It just feels like people are kind of exhausted by
Speaker 1: him at this point, which is something that we talked about,
Speaker 1: like in the very early days of this podcast, like
Speaker 1: of the Trump administration, the idea that you know, the
Speaker 1: Nazis first came to power, they were front page or
Speaker 1: just like when they first existed, rather you know, they
Speaker 1: were front page news. It was in a national scandal
Speaker 1: and international scandal. By the time that they came to power,
Speaker 1: they were people were just like exhausted by it and
Speaker 1: tired of like reading about them and like just people.
Speaker 1: You know, it's the Bannon strategy of flooding the zone
Speaker 1: with shit, and you just become kind of inert to it.
Speaker 1: So I'm just curious, like to hear your thoughts generally
Speaker 1: on like what you think a world looks like with
Speaker 1: these groups preparing the way they are and like kind
Speaker 1: of changing their changing how open they are. Like if
Speaker 1: Trump wins, I feel like they become a lot less
Speaker 1: scared of prosecution and like things go in a different direction, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean in my mind that Trump would would
Speaker 3: probably also accompany a bunch of smaller the same election
Speaker 3: wins for Republicans, and I think that that would end up.
Speaker 3: I could see it being almost like you know how
Speaker 3: Twitter was and how Twitter slash x is now, where
Speaker 3: it's like you go online and like I saw beheading
Speaker 3: online in my feed yesterday and it was just like
Speaker 3: that's just around now and that was just part of
Speaker 3: your everyday normal. I can see it being like you
Speaker 3: walk around your city and you see like a white
Speaker 3: price sticker on the stop sign, and that's just like
Speaker 3: part of the landscape of where you live, and it
Speaker 3: being essentially laws are paths that are that are you know,
Speaker 3: regressive and bigoted, And I could see it being like,
Speaker 3: you know, I think I'm thinking more in the sense
Speaker 3: that it would feel just generally unsafe, but then also
Speaker 3: have the coffee other being like and you would feel
Speaker 3: like yeah, tired, tired, and like it's normal, and like
Speaker 3: it sucks, you don't like it, but like it's a
Speaker 3: bunch of title instances that go about your day, not one.
Speaker 4: Big guy yelling at you or fighting with you. What
Speaker 4: are you going to do about it?
Speaker 3: And I could see that being like a you know,
Speaker 3: every school board meeting is now some weird right rit
Speaker 3: rings screen about how trans kids are ruining everything, and
Speaker 3: that's every school board meeting now, and there's not a
Speaker 3: lot of ways to let counteract that or like to
Speaker 3: make that stop.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: I'm like, you know, because just we're in an election
Speaker 2: year and it feels like every time shit just gets
Speaker 2: worse and worse, Like the technology gets better for bad
Speaker 2: faith actors, the potential for violence increases. And I think
Speaker 2: a lot of people will probably hear like, okay, so
Speaker 2: there's not gonna be no j six two point zero
Speaker 2: and probably be like, Okay, great, nothing to worry about,
Speaker 2: Like they realize they've been fully dissuaded from trying that
Speaker 2: shit again. No need to be vigilant about anything. But
Speaker 2: you know, like I said, we've had Jared on the
Speaker 2: show too, and we were talking about like white nationalism
Speaker 2: two point zero and the rise of like active clubs
Speaker 2: and things like that. Aside from like sort of those
Speaker 2: groups and how they've sort of just like shifted or
Speaker 2: what however they're going to participate in this upcoming year
Speaker 2: or next few years. What can what do you think
Speaker 2: people can expect to see from these right wing groups
Speaker 2: in terms of what sort of activities they feel like
Speaker 2: they're invested in in terms of like the build up
Speaker 2: to the election.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I career for a lot of ads
Speaker 3: about the very gross, disgusting ads in your YouTube and
Speaker 3: your Spotify is and your everything. I would also say that,
Speaker 3: at least from my perspective, viral content and like and
Speaker 3: like just change the language. I mean, people use red
Speaker 3: pill in Selly style language as on the regular even
Speaker 3: if you are in the community. Now it's just now
Speaker 3: part of the language of being online. And I think
Speaker 3: that expecting feeling a weird like right wing ideology shift.
Speaker 3: I mean, like this whole I mean, I'm seeing a
Speaker 3: lot a lot of trad wife content, a lot of
Speaker 3: a lot of white supremacists, like word usage or meme templates.
Speaker 3: I mean, that's only going to get more and more frequent.
Speaker 3: Feeling like everyone in your feetus constantly has some weird,
Speaker 3: disgusting worldview where everyone's out for themselves and the outsiders
Speaker 3: and the freaks are trying to ruin your life, and
Speaker 3: like that's what's going to feel like. It's a constant
Speaker 3: messaging wherever you go, and people are very much invested
Speaker 3: in making it feel like you should be scared all
Speaker 3: the time. The fact that you were upset and that
Speaker 3: things are going well for you is somebody else's well
Speaker 3: that you should specifically blame. And solutions that aren't that
Speaker 3: or more nuanced in depth conversations, I'm going to feel
Speaker 3: less like a part of your daily conversations.
Speaker 1: Mm.
Speaker 2: So, like, right, that's a lot of it is now
Speaker 2: just sort of shifting to what can we create energetically
Speaker 2: as an environment for people to operate in, and then
Speaker 2: hopefully that will nudge people in the right direction. Or
Speaker 2: just dissuade them from doing anything at all. That's some Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: so grim, especially now when you look at just like
Speaker 2: the rise of like AI shit and the like all
Speaker 2: this deep fake stuff that's happening that can already like,
Speaker 2: I mean, we're already seeing it and here little flashes
Speaker 2: here and there are you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, as somebody who's like paying attention to misinformation online,
Speaker 1: you know, we've done a couple episodes about AI and
Speaker 1: you know we're somewhere between. This shit is scary too. Also,
Speaker 1: like the way companies are using it is kind of
Speaker 1: like hamfested and not not that impressive at this point,
Speaker 1: but just generally, like, I know, my job has gotten
Speaker 1: harder when it comes to being able to like find
Speaker 1: reputable information on the Internet. I can only imagine what
Speaker 1: it's like in the trenches, Like as you are trying
Speaker 1: to track trends and things like that. Are you how
Speaker 1: much of that is the new technologies that are advancing,
Speaker 1: How much of that is that the companies have completely
Speaker 1: given up on reining it in at all? And just yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm curious to hear your overall thoughts on the state
Speaker 1: of the union when it comes to disinformation online.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean when I was when I was doing
Speaker 3: work in twenty twenty, I marveled to my coworkers about like, like, wow,
Speaker 3: people on the right spend so much time doing illustrations
Speaker 3: and making like interesting meme and art to like just
Speaker 3: flood these systems, and I would like reverse image starts
Speaker 3: constantly because there's always new things being made with AI.
Speaker 3: I feel like that's only getting more frequent and worse.
Speaker 3: I fly with disinformation. I mean when I'm doing when
Speaker 3: I'm doing reports on the daily for my job, I
Speaker 3: have to generally go back and fat chet and say
Speaker 3: how people are saying this, what's actually happening and find
Speaker 3: that information now, especially if it's a smaller local story
Speaker 3: that doesn't have a bunch of news art news outlets
Speaker 3: on it is so difficult to like see.
Speaker 4: Is what they're saying true or not.
Speaker 3: I don't want to just like write them off completely
Speaker 3: as being like everyth say is a lie, and like
Speaker 3: I want to actually do my research, but there's not
Speaker 3: a local news article about it or someone or like
Speaker 3: a reparatable source like trying to figure out something is
Speaker 3: true that they're saying. I'm like they're saying it. I
Speaker 3: honestly believe them, but there's nowhere else to look to
Speaker 3: find different information. And I think that that's one of
Speaker 3: the bigger issues. I mean we I mean, obviously Twitter
Speaker 3: has the community know this thing, which is you know,
Speaker 3: biased at best, but like having reliable fat checks, especially
Speaker 3: for things that are more local or that on a
Speaker 3: smaller scale, is like you're only getting the right way
Speaker 3: narrative of any event, and to find the truth or
Speaker 3: like the non biased thing is just so difficult, And
Speaker 3: I don't I don't know how that's changing our people
Speaker 3: perceive current events or or local events or just like
Speaker 3: regular takes on everyday life, if they're only seeing one
Speaker 3: side and like even if they don't like that person
Speaker 3: like that opinion, there's no other opinion or other side
Speaker 3: to look at to balance it out and define the
Speaker 3: truth in the middle.
Speaker 1: Yeah, why do you think these big social media companies
Speaker 1: gave up so completely? Like it seems like this would
Speaker 1: be a time when you would be able to make
Speaker 1: a name for yourself by being the one place that
Speaker 1: actually tries to fact check. On the other hand, it
Speaker 1: was already an extremely difficult task to fact check all
Speaker 1: the misinformation, and now it's getting more difficult. Is it
Speaker 1: just kind of that combination because we've also talked about
Speaker 1: how most corporate entities have like gone away from doing
Speaker 1: good from that idea being like, you know, it was
Speaker 1: never their main driving impulse, but it was like fashionable
Speaker 1: for a little bit to like have these ESG programs
Speaker 1: and stuff, And now it's like a bad word to
Speaker 1: say that you're investing in those things. Like where do
Speaker 1: you think that kind of giving up came from?
Speaker 4: I think there are like a few things.
Speaker 3: One of the first things I'm thinking is that, like
Speaker 3: I remember when they started to do kind of disinformation
Speaker 3: countering and started to do those efforts, they got a
Speaker 3: lot of pushback from actual Republicans in Congress because they'd
Speaker 3: be like, my statement is getting fact checked and flatter
Speaker 3: of the day isn't true. And it's like when you
Speaker 3: start to objectively go about what is true information or not, Hey,
Speaker 3: a real person has to traysically go through every single thing.
Speaker 3: If someone doesn't get a joke and doesn't understand that
Speaker 3: there's the satire that apsims get caught in the middle
Speaker 3: of it. But also people who are making inflammatory rhetoric
Speaker 3: then who are elected officials also get caught in that,
Speaker 3: and then it starts looking to Republicans mostly that this
Speaker 3: platform is being biased because it's censoring Republicans. Now they're
Speaker 3: believing narrative for a long time that social media companies
Speaker 3: are censoring the right because you put something up that's
Speaker 3: like the COVID nineteen vaccine causes autism, and then you
Speaker 3: get flagged, and it's like, well, then of course you're
Speaker 3: going to get flagged. But then if that happens in
Speaker 3: a weird biased scatagram, then like you think that that's
Speaker 3: a negative or like it's a targeted harassment campaign from
Speaker 3: the social media company.
Speaker 4: Also the fact that rage clicks make money.
Speaker 3: People engage with things when it makes you mad, and
Speaker 3: so there's not really a financial benefit of having that
Speaker 3: not be there. And also like, yeah, real people have
Speaker 3: to go through and moderate spaces. I spend a lot
Speaker 3: of time submitting posts for moderation or flagging posts for
Speaker 3: reporting posts because it's like this person missed this, and
Speaker 3: it's like a lot. I mean, especially Twitter slash x,
Speaker 3: they cut down their moderation team basically zero, and Facebook
Speaker 3: already doesn't really have a super big one that's always
Speaker 3: on the clock, so it's like you're asking a team
Speaker 3: of fifteen people to monitor the entirety of Facebook.
Speaker 4: That's a really gas They're going to miss stuff.
Speaker 3: And so it's like they have the company have to
Speaker 3: invest in hiring your people and setting stronger, more specific
Speaker 3: guidelines and then also ad hearing to those guidelines even
Speaker 3: at the person that they're adhering to brings them a
Speaker 3: lot of traffic and money to the platform. It's like
Speaker 3: there's not a ton of upfront incentive.
Speaker 1: So it's the stuff that's always been true. It's just
Speaker 1: again like the public they just got tired of, like
Speaker 1: resisting the main impulse of capitalism to be like yeah,
Speaker 1: no that you can do that. It's not profitable and
Speaker 1: you'll get fired for doing it, but yeah no, go ahead,
Speaker 1: it's great. That looks great on you. After a while,
Speaker 1: the forces just kind of wear you down. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2: Well then, also, just how much we've seen how much
Speaker 2: conservatives have just worn even the media down to be like,
Speaker 2: how dare you well fact check the words I say?
Speaker 2: You're trying to silence me, and like there's no they're
Speaker 2: like fuck man, I don't we don't have the will
Speaker 2: to push back or we're not getting the directive from
Speaker 2: the people high up to push back, So it's just
Speaker 2: kind of like, Okay, I guess we'll just please appease them,
Speaker 2: and then you event you end up in this sort
Speaker 2: of place where it's like too much of a hassle
Speaker 2: to follow through on those kinds of things, And it's
Speaker 2: kind of like it's a little unsettling Sabine, right, because
Speaker 2: with everything you're saying, it's like, you know, they're they're
Speaker 2: not the fucking platforms aren't going to do anything. They're
Speaker 2: fucking just doing their own thing, putting out their own news.
Speaker 2: That is going to be the first point of contact
Speaker 2: for a lot of people if they're looking at like
Speaker 2: one of these stories or manufactured sort of scandals or
Speaker 2: whatever it. What is the role that normal people can
Speaker 2: play in sort of countering this, Like not to say
Speaker 2: that like now you need to get on your moderation
Speaker 2: shit and start like hopping in these spaces, but like
Speaker 2: what what is like like what are the sort of
Speaker 2: steps because I feel like all the time you hear
Speaker 2: about like a project twenty twenty five or like these
Speaker 2: other things are like what what the fuck? Like what
Speaker 2: I mean not that this is specifically to that but
Speaker 2: you're like, what do weo? Is the Left doing anything
Speaker 2: about Project twenty twenty five, not that I can see,
Speaker 2: But for regular people who are witnessing this kind of evolution,
Speaker 2: I'm sure many people already live in areas where they
Speaker 2: are seeing like white Pride stickers or they're getting fucking
Speaker 2: KKK Nazi shit thrown in their driveway and is it
Speaker 2: block bag filled with rocks and stuff like that? Is
Speaker 2: what is the response or what is the what kind
Speaker 2: of networks of people or can be created or things
Speaker 2: can be done to sort of counter that?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean so online, particularly because most of my expertise. Yeah,
Speaker 3: there are always some forms of practice that I think
Speaker 3: I would endorse. I know people are like, hey, well
Speaker 3: you're dunking on someone's screenshot and then do the dumps.
Speaker 3: They don't get the engagement if your tweet goes viral.
Speaker 3: There's also just I guess not encouraging behavior.
Speaker 4: Maybe we're not dunking at all. If you can help it.
Speaker 3: If you see a tweet or you see a headline,
Speaker 3: take the extra time to see if it's actually true
Speaker 3: before before you share it. Before you then again make
Speaker 3: outrage bait A lot of a lot of particularly right
Speaker 3: re accounts make their money and get their influence from
Speaker 3: being inflammatory and like and triggering that like the instant
Speaker 3: thing you to get mess and that you know isn't
Speaker 3: right or that you know isn't true, and like taking
Speaker 3: the time to like step back, think about is it
Speaker 3: worth it to engage?
Speaker 4: Is it worth it if it really is a narrative
Speaker 4: you want a counter.
Speaker 3: Screenshot it and talk about it on your own things
Speaker 3: so they don't get the engagement, or and then make
Speaker 3: sure you can like double check fact check whatever you're sharing,
Speaker 3: like and not just doing an immediate emotional share offline.
Speaker 3: I would say that, at least for me, there are
Speaker 3: tons of people in my community have heard stuff or
Speaker 3: said stuff, or like kids will come home and say
Speaker 3: anything that they've heard at school, and like it all
Speaker 3: feels in the moment like a one off instance of
Speaker 3: someone being shitty, and like it honestly, it can be
Speaker 3: more than that, and it can foster a bi it
Speaker 3: like that's okay, and so like not letting those things
Speaker 3: slide or let lie or kind of just brushing them off.
Speaker 3: I know, like in my hometown, my parents were walking
Speaker 3: by your school, someoney changed it to say a bunch
Speaker 3: of slurs and like pro Nazi stuff.
Speaker 4: When everyone was on vacation.
Speaker 3: We took a picture of it, put it in the
Speaker 3: county Facebook group and said, hey, this isn't cool. When
Speaker 3: we talk about this, we had a conversation about talking
Speaker 3: to your kids, if you have teenagers or anything in
Speaker 3: the area, make sure you're talking about what is there
Speaker 3: is not appropriate to do and what is this not.
Speaker 4: True about minority groups.
Speaker 3: That's meaning that you can do to kind of like
Speaker 3: not just let it be a shitty thing that you
Speaker 3: saw and then now have to I guess ignore a
Speaker 3: brush ups.
Speaker 10: I know.
Speaker 3: Also, my company I See has a program called Strong
Speaker 3: City's Network where they do deradicalization programming, trainings and classes
Speaker 3: for city officials, for local officials, for community members about
Speaker 3: like what you can do to fostered environment where extremism
Speaker 3: doesn't feel welcome or safe in your area. There are
Speaker 3: I think already existing anti hate groups that are either
Speaker 3: national or that could be in your state. I know
Speaker 3: that Virginia where I lives, certainly has some, and seeking
Speaker 3: out those groups and participating is also great to feel
Speaker 3: like you're doing something, You're getting involved.
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, I think it's it's also I mean, it's
Speaker 2: kind of a really interesting point too, where it's like
Speaker 2: so much of the engagement that these inflammatory accounts get
Speaker 2: is purely because of the reaction from people on the
Speaker 2: other end of the spectrum, and it's like sort of
Speaker 2: like it's that easy for them. It's like, dude, all
Speaker 2: you gotta do is just say this, and then it
Speaker 2: blows up and it's just.
Speaker 1: People dunk on you, and then their content becomes your content.
Speaker 2: Right exactly, and then it's like sort of like, yeah,
Speaker 2: i mean, one of the biggest ways to sort of
Speaker 2: like pull the rug out from under them is to also,
Speaker 2: like to your point is like if you're gonna talk
Speaker 2: about it, maybe don't share the handle or just take
Speaker 2: the screenshot, so that actual individual post isn't getting the
Speaker 2: sort of engagement that they need to feed the algorithms.
Speaker 2: It kind of blows eyes, like just remember a lot
Speaker 2: of this shit while it is upsetting, it's the hint
Speaker 2: is for you to interact with it, so the message
Speaker 2: goes further and wider. And that's like just such a
Speaker 2: super subtle thing that, yeah, to think about how it's like, yeah,
Speaker 2: it's kind of like a Rube Goldberg machine that it's
Speaker 2: just kind of like, yeah, man, I'll get it this
Speaker 2: one thing and he can do next thing. You know,
Speaker 2: it's setting off all kinds of a warm below.
Speaker 1: All right, that's gonna do it for this week's weekly Zeitgeist.
Speaker 1: Please like and review the show If you like, the
Speaker 1: show means the world demiles. He needs your validation, folks.
Speaker 1: I hope you're having a great weekend and I will
Speaker 1: talk to him Monday.
Speaker 10: By spending nothing bad