WEBVTT - "Comic Books Are Coming For Your Kids!" 0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:04.400 Ridiculous crime. It's a production of I Heart Radio Done. 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:08.280 What's you doing? Nothing? Good? Good? I got a quick 0:00:08.360 --> 0:00:11.119 question for you. Yeah, you know what's ridiculous? Oh I 0:00:11.160 --> 0:00:15.360 do too. Let me let me drop this on you. 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:19.200 Um there's a company that is partnering up with a 0:00:19.239 --> 0:00:23.240 resale retailer called thread Up and they're going to have 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:27.120 a hundred and fifty seven secondhand streetwear and designer pieces 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:30.200 that are part of a collection. Why am I telling 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:32.600 you this? I don't hear the ridiculous part. Now, it's 0:00:32.680 --> 0:00:35.440 part of This is the end of my trilogy of 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:39.240 food brands getting where they shouldn't be. So I talked 0:00:39.240 --> 0:00:43.519 about Applebee's. Applebee's I talked about it was the other 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:50.479 one in Velveta, Martin Hines. Catch Up is doing the 0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:55.480 Hinze Vintage Drip collection. Every piece comes with its own 0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:59.400 unique glob of dried ketchup. Wait what I mean? I 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:01.400 caught the whole Like I can hear the marketing meeting. 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:03.800 You know, the kids are saying nice drips. So we're 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:07.200 known for drips as ketchup. We should merge that synergy. 0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:09.680 I can totally hear the meeting, But what I could 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:12.240 not anticipate is we should also put some of our 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:13.920 product on it. What do you mean our product? Like 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:17.840 a nice dried dupe of ketchup? So some fashion maven 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:21.199 has to go out and collect all these vintage pieces 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:23.600 and then some dope has to walk around with a 0:01:23.600 --> 0:01:26.640 bottle of ketchup and just fling it at it. So 0:01:26.720 --> 0:01:29.520 each piece has some ketchup on it. And what happens 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:32.240 when I wash my piece? You don't, because then I 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:42.800 lose the ketchup? Who washes clothes? Long awkward pause. Um, 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:45.920 they yeah, I don't know. I don't know how you 0:01:46.000 --> 0:01:49.120 wash it whatever. Some of the things you're basically not 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:51.200 supposed to wear, Like you you buy it and you 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:53.040 want to tell people you own it, You take pictures 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:54.640 of it, and you put on I guess well. They said, 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:58.840 you know that they kinds is iconic and that the 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:02.800 celebrating reuse is one of the things in the statement. 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:06.880 And then they said it's for quote fashion risk takers, 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:09.360 is it though? And food lovers alike? So what are 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:10.760 you going to buy it then suck on it when 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:14.639 you're hungry? Lovers? Not Like you can just take a 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:16.360 little with you and we can have a little favor 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:20.480 in the in the press release that says, uh, they 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:23.120 want to participate in the circular economy while doing good 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:25.040 for the people in the planet. We hope it makes 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:28.400 a splash or drip. The circular economy is that where 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:30.240 they make a product, they sell it, and then when 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:31.919 you come up with something creative, they take that and 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:35.399 then they sell that again. That's the circular economy. All 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:40.160 proceeds go to rise against hunger. Couldn't they just give 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:43.240 the money right to them? Thank you, thank you, instead 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:45.800 of like turning it into this whole whatever, this is, 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:50.840 whatever gestures wildly and everything. Okay, that's ridiculous, thank you, Okay, ridiculous, 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:55.480 Thank you, Elizabeth, I got something for you. Ridiculous And 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:59.240 I stressed that, oh yeah, oh yeah. I mean there 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:02.120 have been many things poised to ruin America in the 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:05.240 course of our hundreds of years of existence. I mean 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:07.800 so many things that we can list. It wouldn't people 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:10.280 worried and claimed this is going to threaten the young 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:14.560 of America, ruin the fabric of our society. Today, I'd 0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:16.120 like to tell you about one of the most sinister, 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:19.600 one of the most pernicious threats we've ever survived, Elizabeth. 0:03:19.600 --> 0:03:23.800 Are you ready to discuss the life changing threat, the 0:03:23.960 --> 0:03:50.720 democracy wrecking threat of comic books? Oh wow, this is 0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:56.040 ridiculous crime A podcast about absurd and outrageous capers. He 0:03:56.400 --> 0:04:04.080 and cons. It's always murder free and ridiculous. Our story starts. 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:08.360 That's when there was the Chicago newspaper that wanted to 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:12.080 do the good thing and warrant its readers that quote 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:18.040 superman heroics, voluptuous females in scanty attire, blazing machine guns, 0:04:18.360 --> 0:04:22.120 hooded justice, and cheap political propaganda were to be found 0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:25.760 on almost every page. What mind you could they be 0:04:25.800 --> 0:04:27.680 talking about? Of course I've already told you the answer. 0:04:28.120 --> 0:04:31.560 Comic books. Now, this writer, this is talking to in 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:34.560 America right before World War Two. This is a different 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:36.920 America than America we know of right. This is a 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:40.800 isolationist America. This is a America that was basically had 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:43.000 its head turned inward, if you will, from the world 0:04:43.000 --> 0:04:45.200 and comic books was one of our favorite fantasies for 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:47.200 the young and you know, for the young at heart. 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:51.080 And yet that's scared people. There were these these superman's 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:53.760 and these wonder woman's that they just didn't understand what 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:57.320 the kids saw in them right now, they compared this 0:04:57.360 --> 0:04:59.760 to what they did know. And so the newspaper said, 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:02.880 and I quote, the old dime novels in which in 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:06.880 an occasional redskin bit the dust, were classic literature compared 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:11.680 to the sadistic drivel polaring from the presses today. So 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:14.560 a genocide of a whole continent of people is good 0:05:14.600 --> 0:05:17.919 for children to read about, but somebody in spandex that's 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:20.880 ruining them. So just you can see where we're going 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:24.680 with all of this. Okay, Now, the children of America, 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:27.960 you know, we've often hear this being the you know, 0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:30.200 there they are the sheep who we have to worry about, 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:33.120 these wolves descending upon right Who will protect the kids? 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:38.680 What about the kids? Now, this Chicago paper had the 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:42.640 exact same tone that you would recognize today. And I quote, 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:47.640 unless we want a coming generation even more ferocious than 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:51.239 the present one, parents and teachers throughout America must band 0:05:51.279 --> 0:05:55.800 together to break the comic magazine. Now, you don't typically 0:05:55.839 --> 0:05:58.520 hear about the ferocious thirties and forties kids. You know, 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:01.279 I think the greatest generally turned out. Okay, from what 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:03.760 I understand, I don't know. I mean, I think weren't 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:09.600 they all smoking when they were eleven years old? Yes? Yes, no, 0:06:10.240 --> 0:06:13.080 I will be honest, I can understand looking back why 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:15.479 they may have been a little worried, because, to be 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:17.880 all the way real, there were comic books like one 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:19.719 of the most popular characters at the time was a 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:23.960 character named Lady Satan. Oh, and that sounds bad. Lady Satan, 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:26.440 You're like, wait, wait, how can that be good for 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:28.919 the kids? Right? But you have to hear her side 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:33.000 of the story. Okay, it's actually Lady Satan. It's actually, 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:40.120 it's a whole misunderstanding. It's French lad Now, Lady Satan, 0:06:40.240 --> 0:06:45.400 a right innocent Lady Satan. Just before she was to 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:48.360 be married to become Lady Satan, she and her fiance 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:51.760 were on a boat and a boat was attacked by Nazis. 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:56.360 Nazis Elizabeth. She survived the boat wreck, but her fiance 0:06:56.960 --> 0:07:00.680 he did not. He perished, and in her fiance's dying moments, 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:04.359 there in the wide expanse of ocean, Lady Satan was born. 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:09.880 She swore to defeat the Nazis and Nazism. Lady Satan 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:14.240 Elizabeth is basically the first Antifa superhero. Where are you 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:20.280 yelling at look, this is my superhero voice, and I 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:26.000 watch you understand these are serious times. So lady Satan, yes, 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:32.239 you can see how the parents may get worried about 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:35.680 that they hear Satan and yeah, it doesn't sound so hot. Yeah, 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:37.920 but I mean, like the same time, right around the 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:39.720 same time, you're gonna have the Hell's Angels. It took 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:41.600 him at a little while to be afraid of the 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:43.840 Hell's Angels. And they were literally hitting people in the 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:51.320 they were literally angels from Hell. Now, this theme of 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:54.560 like comic books being the greatest danger to America, obviously 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:57.840 it pales in comparison to real fascism. So during the 0:07:57.880 --> 0:07:59.880 war years and you didn't see any of this talk 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:03.200 of like, oh the kids, the fascism and the comic books. Right, 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:05.880 But as soon as the war is over, we get 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:10.360 right back to it. Time Magazine of all People publishes 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:15.040 another screed against comic books. And ready for this Titleiza, Yes, 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:21.840 the title was our comics fascist. I don't know. I 0:08:21.920 --> 0:08:24.000 was just I'm just I'm just asking questions over here, 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:29.680 and then there's yes, no, maybe. So the article featured 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:32.480 a bevy of people, but the person that I really 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:36.839 focused on was this dude on Walter j onng O 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:40.199 n G Right. He was a professor at a small 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:43.640 college in Colorado, and he'd been writing articles mostly in 0:08:43.840 --> 0:08:48.360 religious things and in local Southwest magazines like Arizona Quarterly. Right, 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:51.040 Like in Arizona Quarterly. The headline for his article was 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:57.480 Superman is a Nazi. He wasn't like time asking questions. 0:08:57.679 --> 0:09:00.679 He decided, you know, he just declared so in his 0:09:00.760 --> 0:09:03.960 article Superman is a Nazi. Ang had argued that quote 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:07.080 everything is centered on one man, the leader, the hero, 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:12.200 the duce. The herd responses not being on the rational level, 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:15.400 this hero does not appeal by argument. He builds on 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:20.680 the herd's dreams. He hypnotizes, thus did Hitler and Mussolini. 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:23.840 The Superman of the cartoons is true to his sources. 0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:27.880 That is a stretch, right exactly. Now he's totally like, 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:30.080 you know, people worry about like Antiva. Now he was 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:34.120 like worried about FAFA or whatever whatever it is. He's 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:36.360 convinced that kids are gonna go full fascist because of 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:38.760 Wonder Woman and Superman, Like, I don't trust this blake, 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:45.960 spider Man, Spiderman so on, right, he focuses obviously on Superman, 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:50.920 but the real focus for his vim and vigor is 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:54.360 Wonder Woman. Because of course he's also summons Yeah you know, 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:58.080 you saw it coming. So he says, well, can you 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:02.439 guess why Wonder Woman would be a threat to this guy? Yes? 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:06.240 One reason? Um is it? Because what would he claim 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:09.000 that the children would be ruined by Wonder Woman by 0:10:09.559 --> 0:10:12.000 maybe like her? Doesn't she have like an Amazon army 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:16.080 spot there it is. It's either that of the Invisible Plane. No, no, 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:18.280 he didn't care about the technology so much. It was 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:21.719 that one. She swears by Zeus, which is clearly a 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:26.160 violation of Judeo Christian gods the Creek. Yeah. Also she 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:34.280 praised Afrodity, which, according to On is a hitler write paganism. 0:10:34.360 --> 0:10:37.760 He needs to get out. He had on his side 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:41.040 the creator of Wonder Woman, William Marston. Not like they 0:10:41.040 --> 0:10:43.440 weren't on the same side, but William Marston was saying 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:45.520 stuff that would make you be like, these people are 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:50.880 saying this is yeah basically so William Marston, Uh, well 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:54.680 here he's like, finally someone understands Wonder Woman exactly, someone 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:56.640 gets what I'm trying to drive back, like, oh no, 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:01.959 So basically, you know, theorized that wonder woman is as 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:05.600 you pointed out about this Amazonian matriarchy, and that's a threat, right. 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:09.720 But Marston had said in his own quote that and 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:13.320 I quote men actually submit to women now. They do 0:11:13.360 --> 0:11:15.560 it on the sly with a sheepish grin because they're 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:18.440 ashamed of being ruled by weaklings. Give them an alluring 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:21.400 woman stronger than themselves to submit to, and they'll be 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:25.800 proud to become her willing slaves. Marston, Man, come on 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:29.839 over here. I love how everything has to be like 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:33.840 one or the other. Oh yeah, no, totally. So Marstin 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:36.559 is basically going, yeah, Feminazis are good. This guy's alongs 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:38.880 every here's going man, Feminazis are coming. But they both 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:44.560 agreeem the future. So this future America did look bleak. 0:11:44.600 --> 0:11:47.040 And so by nineteen fifties, all this tension that was 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:49.040 bubbling up in the forties starts to come to a 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:51.760 rock and royal and bubble. Right now, we know in 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:53.680 the fifties we think of, oh, that's when all the 0:11:53.720 --> 0:11:55.640 conformity culture is there, and that's when you have the 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:59.480 red scares. Well, there were more than one moral panic, 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:03.240 and you end up having things like this TV show 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:08.000 called Confidential File, which was hosted by serious journalist Paul Coates. Elizabeth, 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:10.280 can you imagine what Paul Coates who had to say 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:13.400 in nineteen fifty five to the American people about comic 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:15.400 books based on what you've heard up till now. And 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:18.480 he's trying to go past that, he's going past the 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:20.880 Nazi thing. Well, you know, I would say past the 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:22.960 Nazi thing. That's its own little thing. But the basic 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:25.199 the idea of America be afraid of comic books. Look 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:26.600 what they're doing to the kids. Do you think there's 0:12:26.640 --> 0:12:34.080 subliminal messages? Basically, his idea is that the real problem 0:12:34.280 --> 0:12:37.440 is not the comic books, it's you, the American people. 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:41.760 Of course, so he's like, this problem is going on, 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:45.840 why does it exist? And he says, the undesirable comic 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:49.719 books haven't disappeared from the news stands of this country. Why. 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:52.800 I'll tell you exactly why, Because no action has been 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:58.600 taken by the most powerful influence in America, the people you. So, Elizabeth, 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:01.280 I gotta ask you, why don't you protect to America? Like, 0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:03.600 why won't you just get off your duff and do something? 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:08.240 Because I'm tired, tired? Well, you know, I have no 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:10.960 answers for you other than it's up to you. Like 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:14.280 the with the forest, it's the same thing I'm telling you. 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:18.079 If it's anyway, you get the point. I take care 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:21.760 of myself. This is the problem. And On was right. 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:24.760 So this dude, this serious journalist, Paul Coats, right, he 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:27.200 starts warning people about the economies that the kids are 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:29.719 using to get these comic books, because he says, look, 0:13:29.760 --> 0:13:31.720 the kids aren't buying them all. They buy one comic 0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:34.199 book and then they spread them around by sharing them 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:36.480 with their friends, so they end up reading ten comic books, 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:39.000 but they only buy one. So the numbers are misleading. 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:41.400 So there's a black market out there that he's telling 0:13:41.440 --> 0:13:43.920 people parents mostly to be worried about that their kids 0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:45.920 are like, you know, pushing comic books to each other, 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:49.000 like you'll, like a gateway drug pushers. We don't want 0:13:49.040 --> 0:13:51.760 him to read. Oh oh, I'm glad you bring that up. 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:55.640 Because there's this scene where Paul Series Paul Coats, he 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:57.640 has this the audience has to watch this group of 0:13:57.679 --> 0:13:59.480 ten and eleven year old boys. They all they're all 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:02.640 from different ethnicities, economic stations. But it's mid fifties America, 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:04.960 so they're all in like the big cuff blue jeans 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:07.320 and the striped shirts, all running out of their houses 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:09.440 and out of their like tenement homes. And they go 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:12.000 and they run to this place that gets under a tree, 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:14.680 and then under this big tree we see and I 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:17.200 quote when I was a boy and played with the gang, 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:19.800 we did a lot of things. We roasted potatoes, went 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:22.600 on expeditions, We tipped over garbage cans now, and then 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:25.520 we wrote nasty remarks about the teacher on the sidewalk. 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:32.760 We never spent an afternoon sitting around like this reading potatoes. No, 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:36.160 but he's talking about these kids are reading, and he says, 0:14:36.320 --> 0:14:40.160 and they continue, but they're not reading anything constructive. They're 0:14:40.160 --> 0:14:44.240 reading stories devoted to adultery, to sexual perversion, to harra 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:48.600 to the most despicable of crimes. Sir, you weren't reading anything. 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:52.720 You were potatoes and knocking over trash. Cand He's mad 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:56.240 these kids are reading that. He's literally making the should 0:14:56.240 --> 0:14:58.800 I be reading? So at this point in this news footage, 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:01.320 we see this little kids. He's the tiniest kid in 0:15:01.360 --> 0:15:03.280 the group. He gets picked up by all the others 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:05.920 and they fly him around. Then they like hold him 0:15:05.920 --> 0:15:08.320 against a tree. Then they pull out like matches and 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:10.000 try to burn them. Then they pull out a pocket 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:13.800 knife and they're gonna cut him in serious journalist Paul 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:17.160 Coates is like, I'm not suggesting that comic books and 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:20.280 still violence in the minds of these boys. I've never 0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:23.440 heard any responsible person to suggest that. What I am 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:27.320 suggesting is that crime and horror comic books simulate outbursts 0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:30.880 of destructive violence that might otherwise have been channeled into 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:37.160 much less anti social activity like potato roasting. Exactly, Coats, Dude, 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:39.120 I bet you he looks like he choose on his 0:15:39.120 --> 0:15:41.920 own to nails completely. He ended the big scene with 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:45.480 games like this have ended in death many times. It's 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:50.360 very fifties games, which is tossing the rent. They have 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:52.800 the knife there, holding knife up to the kids like face, 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:54.720 and they're like taunting him with his pen knife. And 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:57.320 he's like, games like this have ended his death many times. 0:15:57.920 --> 0:15:59.600 But then the last thing I'll tell you about this, dude, 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:02.240 Paul Coo, he has these these panels of experts, and 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:05.680 so he invites these people to tell American parents and 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:08.760 school teachers why it's so dangerous. So the first expert 0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:11.520 he talks. He was this guy, David Freeman, tell me 0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:14.400 how comic books make you feel? Dave. Now, Dave, mind 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:18.280 you is an eleven year old boy, and saying will 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:22.640 make a couple of times you got I threw up, 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:27.160 Oh god, that's what he's got right, that's kids scare 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:29.640 tactic or is this one of those I talked to 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:32.200 my three year old son and he said pretty much, 0:16:32.960 --> 0:16:37.360 you know the the hierarchy of capitalist society. Like then 0:16:37.360 --> 0:16:40.120 know that kids? No three year old he's got to 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:43.880 get on camera and he's saying, kids clearly been coached. Okay, 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:47.200 My question for you simple, Elizabeth, If not you, who 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:50.080 will save the children of America from Superman and Wonder Woman, 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:53.400 Blake Spiderman. Yeah. Well, after this break, I'm gonna tell 0:16:53.440 --> 0:17:16.639 you who will save America? And it ain't you. That 0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:18.720 was a bit before the break. I asked you who 0:17:18.800 --> 0:17:21.639 other than you should America turn to in order to 0:17:21.680 --> 0:17:24.920 save the children? Not that coats Man? Yeah? And uh. 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:27.520 In our one corner we had serious journalist Paul Coates, 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:29.879 and in the other corner we had Lady Satan. I 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:33.560 trust Lady Satan quite frankly. Well, I'll let you know 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:37.720 that America chose differently. America turned its hopeful eyes to 0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:40.960 a team of geriatric men, many of whom were kids 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:44.159 in the eighteen hundreds. That's right, the U. S. Senate 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:48.240 Subcommittee on Comic Books in four and so many of 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:51.879 them were born in the comic books. Yes, think of 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:57.320 Joseph McCarthy's Red Scare, But for kids it was the 0:17:57.359 --> 0:17:59.880 social event of the season. All the all the materials 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:02.479 written in cran with like a backwards letter, every money. 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:05.320 I don't need that piece of paper. Our center stage 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:08.879 character taking the role of Joseph McCarthy is Senator Estes 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:12.399 Key father from Tennessee. Wait was his name Keith fab 0:18:13.000 --> 0:18:14.720 It sounds like you're you don't know how to say 0:18:14.720 --> 0:18:20.040 it's he was keeping? Sorry, do you know your home 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:25.080 last name? Yes? That can't read it right here somewhere, 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:29.480 Now keep father, he may find comic books his personal 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:38.840 key father k father f au v e a ke 0:18:39.560 --> 0:18:43.920 ke kee father. Now keep he had for his star 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:50.080 witness Mr Dr Frederick Wortham, Dr Frederick Dr Frederick Wortham, 0:18:50.160 --> 0:18:54.560 child psychologist. Was he a child? Like how it is? 0:18:54.560 --> 0:18:58.119 A child? Made me throw up? I'm Dudie Howser is 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:00.679 based on me. So, I know he in a Harlem 0:19:00.720 --> 0:19:04.440 hospital and he treated under privileged children. And his research 0:19:04.560 --> 0:19:09.240 was integral to more than one nineteen fifty four media sensation, 0:19:09.280 --> 0:19:11.960 not just this case, but also for the Brown versus 0:19:11.960 --> 0:19:15.919 the Board of Education. He was integral to establishing a 0:19:16.040 --> 0:19:19.240 legal argument for why segregation was wrong. So this guy 0:19:19.320 --> 0:19:21.720 was like about it. At this time, people were listening 0:19:21.720 --> 0:19:25.040 to him often in Washington, right. So at that same 0:19:25.080 --> 0:19:26.960 time he was out, you know, in Washington at this 0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:31.000 point to testify on Capitol Hill about how the children's 0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:34.440 souls are being poisoned by lady Satan. So he was 0:19:34.480 --> 0:19:38.600 an early and vocal advocate for children's well being and uh, 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:41.119 he also advocated for poor children. He was known for 0:19:41.200 --> 0:19:44.080 arguing for mentally challenged children as well, because he wanted 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:46.680 all of them to be able to receive wait for it, 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:52.680 fair criminal trials. Wow. Okay, wow, he just whipped the 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:56.159 run out from He didn't want any children not to 0:19:56.240 --> 0:20:02.000 have a fair criminal for the prison industrial content exactly. 0:20:02.520 --> 0:20:04.920 So he wrote a book called Seduction of the Innocent, 0:20:05.720 --> 0:20:09.119 and he made some wild claims, as one does when 0:20:09.160 --> 0:20:11.080 they want to sell a book like his, and he 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:14.920 said such things that Superman, which is an anti American fascist, 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:17.600 which we've kind of covered. He also made claims about 0:20:18.119 --> 0:20:22.440 Batman and Robin They hitting it. They dating, aren't they? Yeah, 0:20:22.480 --> 0:20:25.879 they're a couple right now the whole chapter. And I 0:20:25.920 --> 0:20:28.040 don't know what's going on with you. So Wortham is 0:20:28.080 --> 0:20:31.760 our star witness for the Senate sub Committee, and Elizabeth, 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:34.800 I would like you to close your eyes and picture it. 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:41.360 I will. Okay, year you're in Washington, d C. You're 0:20:41.440 --> 0:20:44.280 a hungry beat reporter, just a cub reporter sent by 0:20:44.280 --> 0:20:47.959 your editor to meet with First Lady Mamie Eisenhower. Did 0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:49.840 I get one of those cool hats? This has pressed 0:20:49.840 --> 0:20:52.600 the tag and it can just for the sake of 0:20:52.640 --> 0:20:54.680 the I can imagine it better. Could you do a 0:20:54.720 --> 0:20:56.840 quick impression that made me? Eisenhower? For me? Oh, I 0:20:56.920 --> 0:20:58.919 do a really good meaning do? Okay? I thought I 0:20:58.960 --> 0:21:03.520 have to heard you say that. Okay, hey, that that 0:21:03.800 --> 0:21:05.920 is me? Maybe it is? And how I get out 0:21:05.920 --> 0:21:10.600 of my way I'm driving the car. It's amazing. It's 0:21:10.640 --> 0:21:14.080 like Ike's ghost would be confused. Yeah, it's if I 0:21:14.119 --> 0:21:17.840 do say so of myself. It's on. I'mcanny. So as 0:21:17.920 --> 0:21:20.200 you now are well aware that's the voice of the 0:21:20.240 --> 0:21:22.919 lady who you are sent to cover, Mamie Eisenhower. And 0:21:22.920 --> 0:21:26.400 you're there to ask about beautiful voice so amazing they 0:21:26.520 --> 0:21:29.000 talked to about garden parties and the lunches with the 0:21:29.080 --> 0:21:31.800 ladies of the Beltway. And on your way to meet 0:21:31.840 --> 0:21:34.680 Mamie Eisenhower, you see this like gathering of crowd as 0:21:34.760 --> 0:21:37.960 melee a hullabaloo outside the Capitol Hill. Being a reporter, 0:21:38.080 --> 0:21:39.960 you're like, what's going on over there? I got a 0:21:40.040 --> 0:21:42.040 nose for news. Yes you do. Girls, So you go 0:21:42.119 --> 0:21:45.119 head and over and you part through the crowd because 0:21:45.119 --> 0:21:47.200 you're all business. You're right into the Capitol and then 0:21:47.240 --> 0:21:49.760 soon enough you're carried by this way of enthusiasm and 0:21:49.800 --> 0:21:53.760 action right into the Senate floor and actually you're above it. 0:21:53.760 --> 0:21:55.800 You're in the Senate Gallery. They wouldn't let you onto 0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:58.879 the Senate flower right there. Give me, give me that 0:21:58.920 --> 0:22:01.840 gabble like meanwill. There's a kid there who's testifying on 0:22:02.760 --> 0:22:08.680 these comic books. Made me feel funny inside. So you 0:22:08.760 --> 0:22:11.840 go and find your seat in the Senate Gallery, the 0:22:12.280 --> 0:22:15.960 seats above you know, the rotunda, and uh, this raucous 0:22:16.040 --> 0:22:19.960 subcommittee is going on underway. You have Chairman Robert Hendrickson 0:22:20.119 --> 0:22:25.000 banging his gabble. He's making pronouncements about his subcommittee hearing 0:22:25.040 --> 0:22:28.320 and what the purposes will be. And then Chairman Hendrickson 0:22:28.400 --> 0:22:31.720 he gives the floor to the Senator Esther's key Fall 0:22:32.720 --> 0:22:35.920 and he lays out the stakes of this case and 0:22:36.160 --> 0:22:41.120 I quote the subcommittee is looking into violations of various 0:22:41.160 --> 0:22:45.919 federal laws such as the Dire Act, the Man Act, 0:22:46.480 --> 0:22:52.400 violation of interstate commerce, and in connection with the subject matter. Now, 0:22:52.720 --> 0:22:55.760 Senator est key Fall hands it up for the press 0:22:56.160 --> 0:22:58.199 for all of you in the gallery. Right, you're like 0:22:58.240 --> 0:23:00.159 the Dire Act, the Man Act? What could he be 0:23:00.240 --> 0:23:03.160 talking about? What danger is America facing? And he keeps 0:23:03.200 --> 0:23:06.399 mentioning kids with the Man Act. Now, Senator that's his 0:23:06.480 --> 0:23:08.600 key Father is not done. He's also gonna do a 0:23:08.640 --> 0:23:11.439 little bit of name and names so that people know 0:23:11.520 --> 0:23:13.879 how serious he is. So Senator key Father and a quote. 0:23:14.359 --> 0:23:19.840 Mr Jack Hoover's report of yesterday shows that where as 0:23:20.080 --> 0:23:24.199 the increase of population last year was five percent, crime 0:23:24.280 --> 0:23:29.320 had gone up twenty and a particularly large increase was 0:23:29.400 --> 0:23:34.359 in connection with burglar reis and stealing the Automobile's interesting 0:23:34.520 --> 0:23:37.800 part is that the large part of the burglaries are 0:23:37.920 --> 0:23:44.399 committed by juveniles. Juveniles, Elizabeth, juveniles. Now Senator s his 0:23:44.480 --> 0:23:47.560 key father takes a moment and refreshes his Southern linguistics. 0:23:47.880 --> 0:23:50.159 You recognize this is a dramatic pause, just for the 0:23:50.160 --> 0:23:52.000 news cameras to get a close up of him. Right, 0:23:52.200 --> 0:23:55.119 your reporter instincts are fully piqued. You're still wondering what 0:23:55.200 --> 0:23:57.320