WEBVTT - Part One: Behind the Bastards Q&A: 2026 Edition 0:00:01.760 --> 0:00:11.080 Also media. Happy New Year, everybody. Welcome to Behind the Bastards. 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:14.840 I'll be leading this episode. I am your executive producer, 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:18.520 Sophie Lickterman. I'm gonna ask Robert some of your questions. Robert, 0:00:18.520 --> 0:00:20.680 how you doing, buddy. 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:23.439 I'm doing. You know. It's that fun time of the 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:27.240 year where the holidays are over. We still don't quite 0:00:27.240 --> 0:00:30.800 have to work. But also I can feel it coming 0:00:31.280 --> 0:00:34.040 the real world, having to get back into the real world, 0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:38.760 you know, So that part's not great, the like looming 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:42.159 knowledge that the stuff that you were like, ah, the 0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:44.319 world's over, news is over. I don't have to pay 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:47.400 attention to anything for the next period of time. Well, 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:48.879 that period of time has come to an end and 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:51.800 it's time to re engage with reality. I'm at that 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:54.120 part of the year, so, you know, mixed. 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:59.520 Yeah, what was a highlight for you over your semi 0:00:59.560 --> 0:01:00.160 time off. 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:04.160 I don't know, not really any particular highlight. I just 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:05.280 didn't do much. 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:10.560 Excuse me. We had a party, thank you, and your 0:01:10.640 --> 0:01:13.800 highlight was it starting fire with the lightsaber torch I 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:14.160 got you. 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:16.560 Yeah, you got me a lightsaber torch that I started 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:17.640 a fire with. That was fun. 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:18.440 It looked really good. 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:20.400 Got me some nice liquor that was fun. 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:23.640 I did you did? You looked very cool that night. Yeah, 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:28.560 Robert got me. Every year Robert gets me some kind 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:32.559 of really cool weapon. At the beginning of twenty twenty five, 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:35.119 he got me a bowie knife after I had surgery. 0:01:35.440 --> 0:01:39.560 Everybody else set flowers, not my business partner. Robert got 0:01:39.600 --> 0:01:40.679 me a really cool axe. 0:01:40.720 --> 0:01:40.840 One. 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:45.520 You're shetty what you called Sophie. This is your perse knife, 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:47.319 which was one of my favorite things you've ever said 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:47.520 to me. 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:49.360 And this year everyone needs a perse knife. 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:52.280 You got me this thing. Yeah. 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:56.560 Yeah, it's like a it's a Moroccan like a ceremonial dagger, 0:01:56.640 --> 0:01:58.280 so you know you're supposed to it's like a it's 0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:00.400 a I think it's like one hundred years old, post 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:04.600 to beaut and weddings and kind of fancy events like that. 0:02:04.720 --> 0:02:06.560 I can do. I could stand and do some rehab 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:09.679 on the blade for you, because it's kind of dull 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:11.280 at the moment, but yeah, you could. You could cut. 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:13.720 You could cut like a I got like a goat's 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:15.359 throat with that if you had to, if you're being 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:17.720 attacked by a goat and had to defend yourself with 0:02:17.760 --> 0:02:20.079 a knife. You know it would work for that. It's 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:20.720 pretty cool. 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:23.320 You also one year for my birthday, got me this 0:02:23.520 --> 0:02:28.080 uh like horseshoe knife that's like for like that looks 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:30.920 like a horseshoe, but it's for like a cheeseboard. I 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:33.040 got caught all the time. 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:35.400 And I yeah, yeah, yeah, I love that knife. 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:37.240 Robert's a great gift giver everybody. 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:39.600 Anyways, it's easy if you're just getting knives. 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:42.079 Yeah, but you know, nobody gives me a knife the 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:43.720 way you give me a knife, you know what I mean? 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:44.480 Thank you. 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:48.120 We got four hundred and eighty one comments on the 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:52.560 thread asking for for questions for this Q and A as 0:02:52.000 --> 0:02:55.200 of time of recording, which is New Year's Day. Everyone, 0:02:56.320 --> 0:02:59.160 I'm gonna ask as many as many as we have 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:00.840 time for you. 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:03.760 Ready, let's let's do it. Let me let me get 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:06.680 a slug of my mountain dew. Baja Blast. 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:09.280 Shut the fuck up, that's what you're drinking? 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:12.480 Yeah? Maybe good? Yeah you're free Baja Blast. 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:14.400 Do I need to drink that? Because I I've got 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:15.560 a I've got a sweat? 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:16.680 Is that what you say? 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:18.280 I don't even know if that's how you say it. 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:21.080 It's bad swepes. 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:23.320 Yeah, that seems that sounds right. I know what you're 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:23.800 talking about. 0:03:23.840 --> 0:03:26.200 That's a good ginger. Wait, uh do I need to 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:26.640 drink that. 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:28.839 I wouldn't recommend it. 0:03:28.840 --> 0:03:33.000 It's not good fair enough unless you want to sponsor 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:33.760 this mountain. 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:35.400 Dew then yeah, sure, then it's great. 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:40.360 Then we'll say whatever you want. Anyways. Uh, what are 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:43.960 your tips and tricks for identifying false information while doing 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:44.680 your research? 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:49.360 Well, hmm, that's tough because there's such like a wide 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:52.880 variety of false information right, and and and some there's 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:54.920 not really any basic tips that can help. I call 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:59.240 this like good natured disinformation or good natured bad information. 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:02.120 And it's no one's trying to propagandize you, no one's 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:04.440 trying to like fuck with you. It's just a false 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:08.240 version of reality has spread because somebody got a story 0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:10.520 wrong and started telling it, and other people have been 0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:14.040 like retelling it and adding into it. And if there's 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:16.520 not like an agenda, that's kind of hard. You just 0:04:16.560 --> 0:04:19.800 have to actually dig into like what the work historians 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:23.520 have done. I would say, as a general rule, if 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:26.160 something sounds too good to be true, like if it's 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:29.159 exactly what you want to believe about a really complicated 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:31.920 and difficult situation, you should take a second look at it. 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:36.279 And if it just sounds like too cool and wacky 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:38.240 and like something in a movie, like a lot of 0:04:38.240 --> 0:04:40.160 times that is true. A lot of times history is 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:42.640 crazier than anything that winds up in a movie. But 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:45.039 if there's like a specific anecdote that I'm like, I 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:47.560 don't know, I'll just like type a description of that 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:53.160 anecdote in and then I'll put in like ask historians, 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:55.400 Reddit or something like that to see if and that 0:04:55.480 --> 0:04:57.560 gets rid of the low hanging fruit. Right, if it's 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:02.520 common disinformation or a common just like inaccuracy that gets 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:06.159 spread around, someone who knows their shit will have talked 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:09.200 about it there and will have sources. Right, so you're 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:11.240 not just relying on a Reddit post. You can look back. 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:13.640 You can find where the myth has been busted. You 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:16.920 can also just like type in again like a brief 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:21.400 description of the anecdote, comma, myth, comma, you know, something 0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:23.560 like that to see if like it has been discussed 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:26.080 in that context or if there have been a lot 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:28.240 of times, which you'll find as historians who are analyzing 0:05:28.279 --> 0:05:31.040 it and who have found Okay, this these couple of 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:33.760 parts probably aren't true. This part might be surprisingly true, 0:05:33.760 --> 0:05:36.400 but like, that's that's kind of how I go about 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:39.280 doing that sort of thing. If you're asking about, like 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:42.560 how do you tell if like pictures or videos are 0:05:42.600 --> 0:05:45.880 AI generated, that's a separate set of like skills and 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:48.800 tactics that probably runs longer than we have in this episode. 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:52.640 But when I'm just like casually studying history and I 0:05:52.680 --> 0:05:54.800 come across something that I'm like, I don't know about that. 0:05:56.160 --> 0:05:59.359 It's also useful when you are reading a history book 0:05:59.360 --> 0:06:01.760 when you've like, especially like if it's kind of more 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:04.280 in the pop history side of things, and you're really 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:08.560 enjoying it. That always, if it's super entertaining and I 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:11.840 find myself like unusually into it, sometimes that's just a 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:14.320 sign that like a really good writer got a hold 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:16.279 of some history. But it's also sometimes a sign that, 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:20.000 like someone's massaging the facts to make a better piece 0:06:20.040 --> 0:06:22.880 of pop history. So I will search for the book 0:06:23.160 --> 0:06:28.039 and variations of like historians analyzed response from historian and 0:06:28.080 --> 0:06:31.599 see are there some professionals who have better or equivalent 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:34.640 credentials to the author who have taken issue with some 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:36.920 of the claims that they've made right. These are all 0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:40.240 kind of like tactics that you can use. There's not 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:41.280 like a one size. 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:43.839 Fits all, and like how many sources are using for 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:47.839 different things. I feel like, never just accept one source. 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:50.560 You try not to accept one every now and then 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:52.440 you run into something where like, well, there's really one 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:55.040 book about this guy, or there's like one good book 0:06:55.080 --> 0:06:58.040 about this thing, and I will at least try then 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:00.599 to like come across like, well, what's some like untrue, 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:03.159 what are some bad books? Like what's some bullshit that 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:05.920 got spread? Because then at least we're broadening it from 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:08.560 here's what's in that book too, and here's some stuff 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:11.760 that's spread that's not true or whatever, like you try to, 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:15.080 Like when I'm at least putting together the podcast, I 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:19.240 always want to be saying like, Okay, there's there's more 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:21.520 than is just in this one source. Like when I 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:23.560 was working on the new episodes, I started reading that 0:07:23.600 --> 0:07:25.880 any Jacobson book. I realized that there's a number of 0:07:25.880 --> 0:07:28.520 people who have some good issues with that book, including 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:31.760 somebody discussed in the episode. So I read two other books, 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:36.400 and I read that John Rubel's like you know essays 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:41.360 and stuff because they provided like more context and when 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:43.120 I looked at the stuff. Okay, there's people who have 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:46.200 like issues with this part of Jacobson's book, but they 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:48.360 seem to speak highly of command and Control. So why 0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:50.640 don't I use, you know, for that segment of the history. 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:52.480 I'll focus more on what command and control or what 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:56.440 fifteen minutes has to say. And that way, number one, 0:07:56.480 --> 0:08:00.840 you're just you're getting a more varied You're giving the listeners, 0:08:00.880 --> 0:08:05.400 the audience something more varied and effortful. Then just here's 0:08:05.440 --> 0:08:07.600 one book and what one guy said in one book. 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:11.960 And you're also hopefully avoiding some of the most obvious pitfalls. 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:17.280 Sure, and I mean again just to say the obvious. 0:08:17.400 --> 0:08:19.240 Never trust the Google AI summary. 0:08:19.600 --> 0:08:21.880 No, no, And you can always when you're googling. Now, 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:24.480 if you just want to avoid that, just with whatever 0:08:24.520 --> 0:08:27.760 you're typing in add minus AI at the end, just 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:31.200 a space and then minus AI. And it doesn't mean 0:08:31.200 --> 0:08:34.600 that there won't be AI generated articles or whatever in 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:37.720 your responses. That's basically impossible to avoid, but it cuts 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:41.840 out the AI generated summary because that alone. Sometimes it's right, 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:44.720 and when it's right, it's like fine, I guess, but 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:47.760 the downside is when it's right, you'll read that instead 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:50.880 of reading an actual source that probably will tell you more. 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:53.200 And it's also hard to tell when it's wrong, and 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:55.640 there's often just kernels of wrong baked into the right, 0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:57.920 and you're really doing yourself more of a favor by 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:00.679 trying to find a better source. I find that just 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:03.880 not having that little summary there can kind of like 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:08.199 avoid you sort of casually almost acts, because sometimes it's accidental. 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:10.679 Sometimes you can't just the way your brain works, your 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:12.319 eyes work, You're going to read part. 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:16.200 Of that summary even before you scroll down, right, Yeah, 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:18.400 even if you are scrolling down to read a real thing, 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:21.000 you may catch something in there and not realizing it, 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:23.240 realize that you're picking up some disinformation. 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:28.000 So I kind of start with that, like that's my baseline. 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:30.720 I've also I'm you can do the same thing on 0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:34.320 Duck duck go, I think, so I've been using that more. 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:37.160 I'm kind of experimenting. I'm hoping to find this next year, 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:41.360 like a search engine solution that I'm happier with, because 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:43.920 nothing that we've got right now is better than Google 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:47.480 was like six years ago. But I've found Duck duck 0:09:47.520 --> 0:09:50.480 Go generally better than Google now and doing the minus 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:54.000 AI you know, thing gets you better like or at 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:56.800 least reduces the odds of you getting some bad information. 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:02.319 Sure what bastard or bastards have you not done because 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:05.240 the research will take too long or they're just too complicated? 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:10.200 Uh? I mean, I haven't done the Nixon episode yet 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:12.240 because there's so many books that I know I need 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:14.880 to get through to do it. And that's only part 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:17.280 of it. I had been planning to do it in 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:20.920 twenty twenty four and talked about doing with the doll 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:22.920 Up guys. They were on board, and my dad got sick, 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:26.079 and I just haven't gotten Like it's been a while now, 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:28.000 I should have gotten back into it. I just kind 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:31.520 of haven't because it's it's such a it's such a 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:36.080 heavy lift. Sure, I haven't done now yet for the 0:10:36.120 --> 0:10:40.040 same reason. You know, I do those heavy lifting episodes 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:43.079 periodically throughout the year. The Nuke one was a heavy lift. 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:45.079 You know, there were all a number of books involved 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:47.360 in that. Himmler was a heavy lift, a number of 0:10:47.400 --> 0:10:51.360 books involved in that. You know, The Zizians was a 0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:52.040 heavy lift. 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:55.520 Several comments on Himmler. People want more Himmler. 0:10:55.440 --> 0:10:57.880 People always want more Himmler. That's what everyone was saying 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:02.480 when he died. So like, I'm try, I try to 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:05.480 do like at least every quarter, like a heavy lift effort, 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:08.640 you know, longer episode. But there's a lot of those, 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:11.240 So I just there's not like a particular reason other 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:13.839 than I just didn't feel confident tackling that one at 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:14.319 that time. 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:20.400 Sure, this next one says, what are some unexpected commonalities 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:23.920 between bastards other than grew up in poverty and had 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:25.760 abusive parents slash guardians. 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:29.480 Yeah, I wouldn't even say. I mean, those are commonalities 0:11:29.480 --> 0:11:32.400 between a number of bastards from specific time periods, but 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:37.560 they're not commonalities I think because having being poor or 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:41.079 having like a household where you know, you don't have 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:44.680 both parents around is a common thing with bastards. It 0:11:44.760 --> 0:11:47.960 just was really common for kids growing up in those 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:51.280 time periods, Like is it should we see it as 0:11:51.280 --> 0:11:53.640 significant that Hitler was poor and that his dad died 0:11:53.679 --> 0:11:55.839 when he was young and his mom died tragically when 0:11:55.840 --> 0:11:57.719 he was not a whole lot older, and it really 0:11:57.760 --> 0:11:59.440 fucked him up where it's like, but those were really 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:03.560 normal experiences for just kids in the late eighteen hundreds, 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:07.080 and early nineteen hundred, sickness and disease were a lot 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:10.520 easier to you know, just wipe out portions of your family, 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:13.360 and poverty of that sort was a lot more common. 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:17.120 So I think you're kind of like a misnomer if 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:19.199 you're looking at that as like a and those are 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:22.679 common traits of monsters, because even if we're looking at 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:25.960 the Nazis, it was more common for the big Nazis 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:28.600 to have been comfortable and of like what we might 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:31.280 call at least like a middle class upbringing than it 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:34.040 was for them to be as like poor and downtrodden 0:12:34.080 --> 0:12:36.120 as Hitler was. He really you know, he had a 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:39.320 very tough childhood. But I would say that's almost the 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:43.840 exception more than it is the rule. One of the 0:12:43.880 --> 0:12:49.040 big rules is a kind of I mean, it's almost 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:50.640 like too much to say, not even like a sense 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:58.560 of megalomania, but a desperation to be somebody, to like 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:02.040 be someone who matters in your society is like you 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:07.360 see it, and like this kind of desperate need to 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:11.560 be attached to whatever group is in power. Right. It's 0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:15.680 this yearning to be close to power that I think 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:19.920 often predicts a lot of like the worst people, like 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:23.120 the folks who will do anything for their career to 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:26.840 like improve the perception of their place in society. That's 0:13:26.920 --> 0:13:29.800 like the biggest warning sign. I think that you see 0:13:29.840 --> 0:13:32.560 that somebody's going to do some really bad shit. 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:36.679 Let's go to a quicker ad break and then sure 0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:49.199 we'll back more questions back. All right, So, Robert, what 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:52.120 made you initially want to become a journalist? Was there 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:55.160 a specific journalist or publication that inspired you to take 0:13:55.200 --> 0:13:55.720 that path? 0:13:56.840 --> 0:14:01.000 I mean, I remember as a kid during the Yugoslav 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:04.640 Civil War and the you know, the genocide in Bosnia 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:10.440 catching some news like live news footage from Sarajevo and 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:14.679 thinking that, like wow, like what a like what a 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:18.440 what a important, serious job. Maybe I'll do something like 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:21.320 that as an adult, like the you know, the reporters 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:22.800 on the ground that we're talking about, like what was 0:14:22.800 --> 0:14:25.640 happening in the city. I remember thinking that, like, that's 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:29.720 that's like something adults do. That's a serious job for 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:35.080 serious people. And so I definitely like that's the first 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:38.840 time I can remember thinking that like something in line 0:14:38.880 --> 0:14:42.600 with the career I wound up picking out sounded intriguing, 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:47.720 and then I don't know, like as a an eighteen 0:14:47.840 --> 0:14:50.880 nineteen year old reading trans Metropolitan for the first time. 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:53.840 It's a comic book series with a journalist as a 0:14:53.840 --> 0:14:56.320 protagonist that's set in the in the far future. It's 0:14:56.400 --> 0:15:00.240 very good. It's one of the best illustrated graphic novel 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:02.600 series I think I've ever seen, and I really I 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:06.760 still revisited every couple of years. That definitely like jazzed 0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:10.520 me up as a as an adolescent, as a young adult. 0:15:12.160 --> 0:15:16.600 And then I was really influenced by Occupy Wall Street. 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:18.280 You know, I was there at Zuccati Park for a 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:21.640 couple of days. I saw little bits of some of 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:24.640 the regional ones, and I just was never happy with 0:15:24.720 --> 0:15:28.360 the coverage that was going on, either like the mainstream 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:30.880 media coverage or the stuff that was really celebrated at 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:32.360 the time, which was like a lot of the people 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:34.840 who were like within the movement and kind of doing 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:37.120 movement coverage of what was happening. I mean, that's kind 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:39.840 of where Tim Poole came out of, right, So I 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:43.920 think maybe I was maybe I was just could see 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:46.440 that a problem was coming, but I was I was 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:49.360 not happy with what I was seeing, and I was 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:51.920 I was becoming as I became more, you know, in 0:15:51.960 --> 0:15:56.080 my early twenties, more acquainted with like history and particularly 0:15:56.080 --> 0:16:00.000 like the political history of Latin America and US interactions 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:01.840 in the Middle East. I grew like more and more 0:16:01.880 --> 0:16:05.320 frustrated with the news. With what I still saw is 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:07.800 this like really important job that I thought was being 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:12.040 like kind of systemically done badly. I took when I 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:14.560 was in college, I took courses on the Holocaust in 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:18.040 remembrance that was about how the Holocaust has been covered 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:21.840 in like movies and fiction, but also how the Holocaust 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:25.680 was reported on at the time and afterwards. A lot 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:27.760 of that stuff, by the way, made it into the 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:32.560 episodes about how like the liberal media helped fascism get 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:36.280 a foothold, you know, the last time. So really, since 0:16:36.280 --> 0:16:38.840 I was in kind of like twenty twenty one, I've 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:42.640 been I've been thinking about like the shortcomings of our 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:47.720 of our media and how disastrous those shortcomings are. And 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:49.400 I still kind of fundamentally believe what I did as 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:52.400 a kid, that it's like a really important job reporting 0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:55.960 on conflict, especially for serious people, and there's just not 0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:58.240 a lot of them doing it. You know, there are 0:16:58.400 --> 0:17:01.360 there are some great reporters obviously much better than me 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:04.120 out there reporting on conflict. But I think the bulk 0:17:04.160 --> 0:17:08.960 of what gets written about war and genocide and conflict 0:17:09.000 --> 0:17:11.520 around the world, including you know, in the United States, 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:15.720 protests and the like, is bad. And I guess I 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:18.639 became aware of that at a pretty young age. 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:21.360 Just made me think about when I was in college. 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:24.439 I took early on in college, I got approval to 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:27.040 take a class. I was a freshman. Everyone else was 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:28.959 a senior in the class, but the professor for some 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:31.800 reason let me take it. And it was a psychology 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:36.320 of ethics class, and I had to do this report 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:38.000 that was like most of what I worked on in 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:42.480 that semester, and it was all about, you know, the 0:17:42.520 --> 0:17:45.199 ethics of the insanity defense for mass shooters. And it 0:17:45.240 --> 0:17:51.120 was right after the Aurora shooting, the movie Theater Batman shooting, 0:17:51.800 --> 0:17:55.919 and I think a lot of that really shaped the 0:17:55.920 --> 0:18:00.639 way that I thought about people, which I think impacts 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:03.200 a lot of our work. So I don't know, it 0:18:03.280 --> 0:18:05.639 just kind of takes like one class. I feel like 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:10.000 sometimes it's just one one or one assignment really to 0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:12.480 like influence you creatively. 0:18:13.280 --> 0:18:16.520 Yeah, yeah, it is, because when I think back on, 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:19.640 like my time in school, I can think, I can 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:22.840 I can only really remember like one teacher two teachers 0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:26.240 by name that I've had in like the whole twelve years. Yeah, 0:18:26.280 --> 0:18:29.679 but I remember moments kind of more than one, like 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:32.080 three or four. But there's a but I do. There 0:18:32.080 --> 0:18:34.880 are like some moments, and really for the most part 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:37.240 they were singular moments, like three or four of them 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:41.639 that like were absolutely foundational to who I became, which 0:18:41.720 --> 0:18:43.960 is always interesting to me, the degree to which like 0:18:44.520 --> 0:18:47.919 both great like school is just a complete blur, like 0:18:48.000 --> 0:18:50.560 I barely remember it, and also I can point out 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:52.080 like three or four moments, so I'm like, well, that 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:54.840 changed everything, you know. Yeah, I guess that's how it 0:18:54.920 --> 0:18:57.240 is sometimes stuff with how it was for me. 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:03.119 There's several different questions that basically sum up to the 0:19:03.160 --> 0:19:06.240 same question from folks that they're asking, who's the oldest 0:19:06.320 --> 0:19:08.159 bastard in history? 0:19:08.480 --> 0:19:12.440 The oldest bastard, Like I'm assuming they mean like chronologically 0:19:12.520 --> 0:19:14.440 like the first bastard Literear. 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:17.520 Yeah, that was asked several different times. 0:19:18.640 --> 0:19:21.840 I mean, we certainly don't know his name right like 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:25.800 there because here's the thing, and this is because I've 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:31.720 talked a lot, you know about like something that gets 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:34.840 that anarchists bring up quite frequently, which is how you 0:19:34.920 --> 0:19:38.119 had a lot of in prehistory among these hunter gatherer tribes, 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:42.640 a lot of like extremely egalitarian communities, right particularly compared 0:19:42.680 --> 0:19:46.040 to like a lot of the settled cultures that followed them. 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:49.600 Right where there were was significantly more equality between men 0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:53.560 and women, there were significantly flatter hierarchies, you know, a 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:56.760 lot less power being invested in single individuals. And I 0:19:56.840 --> 0:20:02.520 talked about in the Manifested episode about like the that 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:05.359 ekung ritual, like the shaming of the meat, to try 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:07.880 and stop young men who are our hunters from getting 0:20:07.920 --> 0:20:10.359 too big an ego because they think that hunting is 0:20:10.400 --> 0:20:12.800 all that matters, because it's like the cool sexy job 0:20:12.840 --> 0:20:15.600 to have, right, And if you're focusing on that, you're 0:20:15.600 --> 0:20:18.359 ignoring how will most of our calories come from? People? 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:20.760 Like gathering nuts, and a lot of that work it's 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:24.040 done by women. And also people need clothes, people need tools, 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:26.159 all of these things that are just as important as 0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:28.120 going out and killing a deer and in fact necessary 0:20:28.160 --> 0:20:30.480 precursors that are a lot less sexy. So if you 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:33.800 let like the young hunter boys get you know, a 0:20:33.840 --> 0:20:37.320 fucking ego about them because like, well, I'm the one 0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:40.399 who brought home the meat. Then you're ignoring everyone else's contributions, 0:20:40.440 --> 0:20:43.240