1
00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:14,640
Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to okay F Daily with

2
00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:17,439
Speaker 1: Meet Your Girl Danielle Moody, recording live from our plot

3
00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:21,680
Speaker 1: Stream studios in Times Square. Folks. I'm really excited about

4
00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:26,400
Speaker 1: today's episode with our in house doctor, doctor Jonathan Metzel.

5
00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:29,720
Speaker 1: So we're doing something a little bit different today, which

6
00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:33,400
Speaker 1: is that we're going to do a live show inside

7
00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:37,159
Speaker 1: of doctor Jonathan Metzel's class at Vanderbilt University and the

8
00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:39,360
Speaker 1: class that he is teaching right now. One of them

9
00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:43,080
Speaker 1: is COVID in the media. Essentially, how has the media

10
00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:46,560
Speaker 1: functioned in the midst of a pandemic and has it

11
00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:51,479
Speaker 1: shifted forever. The conversation is interesting that Jonathan and I

12
00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:54,240
Speaker 1: have and you'll hear him, as a turn of events,

13
00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:57,760
Speaker 1: interview me instead of me interviewing him. They think that

14
00:00:57,800 --> 00:01:00,840
Speaker 1: what's really exciting about this conversation is one I don't

15
00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:04,080
Speaker 1: get to talk with young people very often about how

16
00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:07,000
Speaker 1: they are experiencing the world that we're living in as

17
00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:10,040
Speaker 1: they are learning about the world that we are living

18
00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:14,000
Speaker 1: in in the context of a university. And then also

19
00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:17,440
Speaker 1: just given the opportunity to talk about what it's been

20
00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:20,679
Speaker 1: like to be on the air for the past eighteen months.

21
00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:23,960
Speaker 1: You know, we've made a lot of shifts at WOKEF

22
00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:26,520
Speaker 1: and thankfully many of you have made those shifts with

23
00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:30,160
Speaker 1: us as we've moved from studios, moved into a different

24
00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:33,479
Speaker 1: transition of audio, and then now get to be back

25
00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:37,440
Speaker 1: in a studio with all of our wonderful vaccinated folks.

26
00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:40,039
Speaker 1: But what is really interesting during this time is I

27
00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:42,800
Speaker 1: think the importance of media. And I've been talking about

28
00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:46,760
Speaker 1: this since forever, since back on serious days and to

29
00:01:46,959 --> 00:01:50,040
Speaker 1: now that the media, in my opinion, has a really

30
00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:54,160
Speaker 1: important responsibility, as a responsibility to tell the truth, not

31
00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:56,640
Speaker 1: to be impartial and not to be neutral, but to

32
00:01:56,720 --> 00:01:59,320
Speaker 1: tell the truth. And I think that what has happened

33
00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:02,080
Speaker 1: over the core of the last several years is that

34
00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:04,960
Speaker 1: we have lost the idea of what it means to

35
00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:08,400
Speaker 1: tell the truth in the desire to show both sides

36
00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:11,960
Speaker 1: of the story, and the reality is that not every

37
00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:16,160
Speaker 1: story has two sides. Frankly, the media did a disservice

38
00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:20,040
Speaker 1: to us one discussing climate change. Think about our climate

39
00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:23,760
Speaker 1: change conversations and how they would bring in both climate

40
00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:26,600
Speaker 1: scientists that are telling us the truth about how ice

41
00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:29,960
Speaker 1: caps are melting, waters are getting warmer, storms are hovering

42
00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:33,320
Speaker 1: longer and causing more damage, and how all of this

43
00:02:33,639 --> 00:02:37,160
Speaker 1: is because our climate is changing. And then in the

44
00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:40,840
Speaker 1: same segment sometimes they would have on climate deniers that

45
00:02:40,919 --> 00:02:43,839
Speaker 1: are saying, no, this is normal. It's totally fine that

46
00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:47,720
Speaker 1: it's fucking snowing in June in some places, and that

47
00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:51,360
Speaker 1: it's totally okay that fire season now lasts for several

48
00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:54,680
Speaker 1: months and burns, you know, hundreds of thousands of acres.

49
00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:58,400
Speaker 1: And the reality is is that because of that both

50
00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:02,880
Speaker 1: sides is um, we've gotten to a really dangerous place

51
00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:06,120
Speaker 1: in our society where we don't all have the same

52
00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:08,560
Speaker 1: set of facts. You know, we thought it was funny

53
00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:11,320
Speaker 1: ha ha ha when Kelly Ane Conway said, well, there

54
00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:14,040
Speaker 1: are facts and then there are alternative facts. Well, no,

55
00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:17,399
Speaker 1: actually they're fucking aren't. There's one set of facts, right,

56
00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:19,760
Speaker 1: Like we all agree that the sky is blue, we

57
00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:22,920
Speaker 1: all agree that gravity exists, we all agree right that

58
00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:26,120
Speaker 1: water is wet, that it's not. There's not an alternative

59
00:03:26,400 --> 00:03:31,160
Speaker 1: to those real, known, hard facts and truths. But as

60
00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:33,560
Speaker 1: we have gone on in the media, because of the

61
00:03:33,639 --> 00:03:37,720
Speaker 1: desire to get ratings and to have clickbait, they turned

62
00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:41,560
Speaker 1: what should have been thoughtful conversations about analysis about where

63
00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:44,920
Speaker 1: our society is headed on a myriad of topics. They

64
00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:47,920
Speaker 1: turned it into a food fight, and because of that

65
00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:51,840
Speaker 1: we are led completely astray and everyone is now in

66
00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:54,560
Speaker 1: their corners. Right. There are those of us who listen

67
00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:58,240
Speaker 1: to wokaf and who listened to and believe in doctors

68
00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:01,360
Speaker 1: and science and truth. And then there are others that

69
00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:05,840
Speaker 1: are now ingesting I don't know, huffing hydrogen peroxide in

70
00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:10,600
Speaker 1: a nebulizer because some quack on a QAnon network told

71
00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:13,480
Speaker 1: them that that will get rid of COVID, or are

72
00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:16,760
Speaker 1: threatening to blow up hospitals because they won't give you

73
00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:21,000
Speaker 1: a horse tranquilizer or horse hormones that, of course they

74
00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:24,000
Speaker 1: wouldn't have at a fucking hospital that treats human beings

75
00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:27,479
Speaker 1: because it's not a vet. Right. But we have lived

76
00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:30,880
Speaker 1: in a place for way too long that we have

77
00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:35,880
Speaker 1: allowed these conversations to be normalized when they should have

78
00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:39,919
Speaker 1: never been. Right, think back way back when when the

79
00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:42,919
Speaker 1: Obamas were coming into office and you had the entire

80
00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:46,920
Speaker 1: tea party led by fucking Donald Trump, who was debating

81
00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:49,000
Speaker 1: on whether or not Barack Obama was born in the

82
00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:51,960
Speaker 1: United States, or debating on whether or not. He wasn't

83
00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:56,280
Speaker 1: the Antichrist. Like all of those things sounded crazy then,

84
00:04:56,560 --> 00:04:59,720
Speaker 1: but they were not pushed back against hard enough, and

85
00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:04,240
Speaker 1: you gave voice and gave space too crazy, And now

86
00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:08,080
Speaker 1: crazy is dictating our policy. Crazy is what has produced

87
00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:10,720
Speaker 1: the Marjorie Taylor Greens and the Laura Boberts of the

88
00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:15,280
Speaker 1: world that are now sitting in our Congress. Right. Those

89
00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:18,880
Speaker 1: were the nut job fringe folks that are now sitting

90
00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:23,000
Speaker 1: on committees and deciding legislation for the rest of us. Right.

91
00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:26,680
Speaker 1: And so we are in a very dangerous space. And

92
00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:28,920
Speaker 1: one of the questions that you will hear Jonathan ask

93
00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:31,760
Speaker 1: me is where do I think that media will be

94
00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:35,880
Speaker 1: in ten years. Well, I'll be honest, I'll be surprised

95
00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:38,920
Speaker 1: if we're around in ten years. And I say that

96
00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:42,680
Speaker 1: very seriously. I mean, look at what we have dealt

97
00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:45,919
Speaker 1: with over the last eighteen months. We have a global

98
00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:48,800
Speaker 1: health pandemic that is killed over six hundred and fifty

99
00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:53,240
Speaker 1: thousand Americans right and shows no sign of stopping. Because

100
00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:57,240
Speaker 1: now we're living in a space where at first COVID

101
00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:01,800
Speaker 1: nineteen was ravaging blue state those that were highly populated,

102
00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:05,120
Speaker 1: densely populated states that had a lot of international travel,

103
00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:08,279
Speaker 1: which usually happens in blue states. But then once the

104
00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:12,560
Speaker 1: vaccine came into being, we saw our numbers decrease well

105
00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:15,359
Speaker 1: right now, right the New York Times is reported in

106
00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:19,320
Speaker 1: a piece called red Covid that now the deaths are

107
00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:23,559
Speaker 1: on partisan lines, the infection rates are strictly on partisan lines,

108
00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:27,280
Speaker 1: and they're calling it red COVID. Right, so you know,

109
00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:30,320
Speaker 1: we're at a place right now where this virus is

110
00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:33,240
Speaker 1: going to persist for god knows how long. At the

111
00:06:33,279 --> 00:06:38,040
Speaker 1: same time, we have seen superstorms like we have never seen.

112
00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:41,200
Speaker 1: How many times have we saw over the course of

113
00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:47,799
Speaker 1: the last several months historic flooding, historic hurricane, historic fires?

114
00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:50,360
Speaker 1: How many times can you see the fucking word historic?

115
00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:53,880
Speaker 1: Before we realize that this has become our new abnormal,

116
00:06:54,800 --> 00:06:58,440
Speaker 1: and we look at the media and we say to ourselves,

117
00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:03,719
Speaker 1: you know, tell us the truth. When weather people meteorologists

118
00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:06,440
Speaker 1: are reporting on the weather, how come they aren't talking

119
00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:09,679
Speaker 1: about climate change because they've been told not to because

120
00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:12,640
Speaker 1: some of them will lose their jobs. Right it's Al

121
00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:14,960
Speaker 1: Roker is one of the only people that you will

122
00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:19,960
Speaker 1: hear talk about how climate change is devastating our country. Right,

123
00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:23,400
Speaker 1: we talk about white supremacy. Donald Trump wanted to tell

124
00:07:23,480 --> 00:07:26,120
Speaker 1: us that they were good people on both sides. We

125
00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:29,000
Speaker 1: knew that white supremacy was on the rise in this country,

126
00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:32,040
Speaker 1: but did you see it reported in mainstream media. Did

127
00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:34,520
Speaker 1: you see conversations about what was going on with the

128
00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:38,160
Speaker 1: Proud Boys and the Boogoaloo boys and these folks know right,

129
00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:43,360
Speaker 1: every time with regard to the killing of unarmed black people,

130
00:07:43,400 --> 00:07:45,560
Speaker 1: we would talk about, oh, that this cop is a

131
00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:48,400
Speaker 1: bad apple, but the large majority of cops are good.

132
00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:50,800
Speaker 1: And then we'd get a blitz on media of all

133
00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:53,720
Speaker 1: of these good cops, stories of look at them playing

134
00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:56,360
Speaker 1: basketball with the black kids. They wouldn't dare kill them,

135
00:07:56,360 --> 00:07:59,920
Speaker 1: And next week. The reality is is that the medias

136
00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:04,480
Speaker 1: had a way to shape our images of ourselves, of

137
00:08:04,520 --> 00:08:08,480
Speaker 1: these pandemics of historic climate change, and they've had an

138
00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:11,400
Speaker 1: opportunity to tell the truth, and instead they decided to

139
00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:14,120
Speaker 1: go after ratings. They decided to go after the low

140
00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:17,480
Speaker 1: hanging fruit, which was just how to make more money.

141
00:08:17,520 --> 00:08:20,320
Speaker 1: And so now we are living inside of this reckoning,

142
00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:24,720
Speaker 1: living inside of the problem that was created by media.

143
00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:28,360
Speaker 1: I don't say that Donald Trump created alternative facts, but

144
00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:31,280
Speaker 1: the media did because they allowed us to live inside

145
00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:34,280
Speaker 1: of this both sidesism. They allowed us to think that

146
00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:37,640
Speaker 1: neutrality was something where we took ourselves out of the story,

147
00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:41,360
Speaker 1: when in fact, we are the story. So when asked

148
00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:43,320
Speaker 1: the question where do I think that media goes in

149
00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:46,640
Speaker 1: ten years, I have no fucking idea. And to be honest,

150
00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:49,480
Speaker 1: I don't feel really hopeful about where media goes because

151
00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:52,120
Speaker 1: I think that we are so far into our corners

152
00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:54,720
Speaker 1: right now that I can't even imagine what a coming

153
00:08:54,760 --> 00:08:57,319
Speaker 1: together will look like. But I know that we don't

154
00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:01,280
Speaker 1: come together unless we come together around a shared truth,

155
00:09:01,480 --> 00:09:05,640
Speaker 1: around values, around a shared understanding of what it means

156
00:09:05,679 --> 00:09:08,640
Speaker 1: to be moral right. And I don't mean the religiosity

157
00:09:08,679 --> 00:09:11,839
Speaker 1: of it. I mean to understand that no one should

158
00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:15,880
Speaker 1: fear losing their life for passing a counterfeit bill. No

159
00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:18,760
Speaker 1: one should fear or losing their life as they're driving

160
00:09:18,760 --> 00:09:21,439
Speaker 1: down the street, or sending their black son to the store,

161
00:09:21,559 --> 00:09:25,199
Speaker 1: or playing on a playground. Right that you know, these

162
00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:28,720
Speaker 1: things that we have seen, these stories that we continue

163
00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:32,760
Speaker 1: to hear, they could provide a sense of empathy and

164
00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:35,839
Speaker 1: humanity if they were told in the right way. So

165
00:09:35,880 --> 00:09:39,720
Speaker 1: where does media go? I have no, honestly, no idea.

166
00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:42,200
Speaker 1: But I know that we need to challenge media more

167
00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:44,760
Speaker 1: and not just take what they've been feeding us, not

168
00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:47,560
Speaker 1: just ingest it and say that that is the way,

169
00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:50,760
Speaker 1: because it is not, and it has never been until now.

170
00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:54,800
Speaker 1: So I hope that you all enjoy this conversation, this

171
00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:58,200
Speaker 1: kind of flipping of the script that doctor Jonathan Metzel

172
00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:01,320
Speaker 1: and myself will do in this episode. So let me

173
00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:03,920
Speaker 1: know on the comments section below what you think of

174
00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:07,400
Speaker 1: our live in studio or I should say, live in

175
00:10:07,520 --> 00:10:15,559
Speaker 1: classroom conversation with doctor Jonathan Metzel at Vanderbilt University. Folks,

176
00:10:15,640 --> 00:10:20,120
Speaker 1: I am so excited for this edition of woke ffa

177
00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:23,640
Speaker 1: daily with our friend, our in house doctor, doctor Jonathan Metzel,

178
00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:27,959
Speaker 1: to be live in his classroom for the very first

179
00:10:27,960 --> 00:10:31,120
Speaker 1: time at Vanderbilt University. So this is an exciting time

180
00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:34,240
Speaker 1: to be talking about what it means to be covering

181
00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:37,400
Speaker 1: a pandemic in the media, what it means to tell

182
00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:41,560
Speaker 1: the truth, what it means to use our platforms for good. So, Jonathan,

183
00:10:41,960 --> 00:10:44,680
Speaker 1: we're turning the tables today and you're going to ask

184
00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:47,880
Speaker 1: me questions as opposed to the last eighteen months of

185
00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:50,880
Speaker 1: me hammering you with the most important questions that the

186
00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:54,000
Speaker 1: wokeaf audience gets to know. So I'm very excited to

187
00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:57,559
Speaker 1: turn the tables today, so to you. Wonderful, wonderful, Well,

188
00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:00,200
Speaker 1: welcome to my honored guest here, Daniel Moody, who's going

189
00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:02,440
Speaker 1: to be interviewed by me, which is really really exciting.

190
00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:05,920
Speaker 1: And we actually have a live studio audience, which is

191
00:11:05,920 --> 00:11:08,240
Speaker 1: why I'm wearing. Man, I'm wearing a mask. You don't

192
00:11:08,280 --> 00:11:09,960
Speaker 1: often to get to see yourself in a mask, but

193
00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:12,800
Speaker 1: I'm wearing like a big ass pancake on my face here,

194
00:11:13,520 --> 00:11:15,679
Speaker 1: which is weird to be on television and be doing that,

195
00:11:15,720 --> 00:11:17,600
Speaker 1: but that's the way it goes. But let's just quickly

196
00:11:17,880 --> 00:11:20,199
Speaker 1: have our studio audience say hi. Let's get a big

197
00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:24,920
Speaker 1: cheer from the studio audience and they will be joining

198
00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:29,000
Speaker 1: us very shortly. But Danielle, today we're talking about the media.

199
00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:32,160
Speaker 1: The class that you're coming in on today is called

200
00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:35,000
Speaker 1: COVID and Society, and what we do in the class

201
00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:38,520
Speaker 1: is we just think about how is the pandemic changing

202
00:11:39,080 --> 00:11:42,760
Speaker 1: and how has it changed the world as we know it.

203
00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:44,360
Speaker 1: And so even though we have a lot of questions

204
00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:45,760
Speaker 1: for you, and actually the students are going to come

205
00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:47,959
Speaker 1: up and ask you questions on a little bit. Can

206
00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:50,400
Speaker 1: you just tell us, first of all, what's it been

207
00:11:50,520 --> 00:11:53,520
Speaker 1: like to be I mean, if we can even use

208
00:11:53,559 --> 00:11:56,440
Speaker 1: the word the media, what's it been like to be

209
00:11:56,600 --> 00:11:59,720
Speaker 1: in the media during a time like this? What's your

210
00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:03,439
Speaker 1: what's your experience been like? Just to start, I mean,

211
00:12:03,480 --> 00:12:05,719
Speaker 1: I will say that we've had to learn how to

212
00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:09,160
Speaker 1: do a lot of things differently, right. I came from

213
00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:13,440
Speaker 1: a radio and a podcast and then a radio background

214
00:12:13,640 --> 00:12:18,040
Speaker 1: and then back into doing a podcast. And the reality

215
00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:21,520
Speaker 1: was that before the pandemic, I'd been in studio, guests

216
00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:25,240
Speaker 1: were coming in studio every day, and so you're building

217
00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:28,000
Speaker 1: a rapport and you're having conversation, and now we had

218
00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:31,880
Speaker 1: to transition to doing all of our interviews doing everything

219
00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:36,760
Speaker 1: on zoom. I think that the basic way that I

220
00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:40,120
Speaker 1: can say how the pandemic has shaped has reshaped me

221
00:12:40,400 --> 00:12:43,679
Speaker 1: is that it has reflected to me just how important

222
00:12:43,880 --> 00:12:47,520
Speaker 1: the media is. Like we had the nightmare that was

223
00:12:47,559 --> 00:12:51,880
Speaker 1: Donald Trump because of the media. We have a completely

224
00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:56,360
Speaker 1: and total breakdown and facts and science and truth because

225
00:12:56,520 --> 00:13:00,079
Speaker 1: of the media. And so to me, I feel a

226
00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:04,400
Speaker 1: huge responsibility as we are living in and will essentially

227
00:13:04,559 --> 00:13:08,360
Speaker 1: until forever. Who knows living in this pandemic what it

228
00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:11,520
Speaker 1: means to tell the truth and to use whatever platforms

229
00:13:11,559 --> 00:13:14,199
Speaker 1: that you have in order to do that. So that

230
00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:17,280
Speaker 1: to me has just been hammered home more so over

231
00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:21,000
Speaker 1: the last eighteen months. And when you say the truth,

232
00:13:21,080 --> 00:13:23,520
Speaker 1: I mean, is there a different relationship now that you

233
00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:25,240
Speaker 1: have with the truth than you think you had before

234
00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:28,240
Speaker 1: all of this? And you know, I think that initially,

235
00:13:28,559 --> 00:13:31,360
Speaker 1: you know, when you're a commentator, you're being asked to

236
00:13:31,400 --> 00:13:33,920
Speaker 1: come on television, You're being asked to do shows to

237
00:13:34,040 --> 00:13:38,880
Speaker 1: provide your opinion, which your opinion is basically the information

238
00:13:38,920 --> 00:13:41,600
Speaker 1: that you're taking in, and you're providing your analysis the

239
00:13:41,640 --> 00:13:44,800
Speaker 1: world that you see with the perspective that you have

240
00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:48,600
Speaker 1: through your work, through your ethnicity, your race, your religion,

241
00:13:48,679 --> 00:13:51,960
Speaker 1: your geography, your gender, your sexuality, orientation, all of the

242
00:13:51,960 --> 00:13:54,840
Speaker 1: things that help shape how we see and reflect back

243
00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:59,040
Speaker 1: the world. And you know, now I have a lot

244
00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:04,240
Speaker 1: more people on like yourself who are steeped in you know, facts,

245
00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:07,479
Speaker 1: who are steeped in science, right like I am interviewing

246
00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:10,960
Speaker 1: and talking with scientists and doctors more so than I

247
00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:13,719
Speaker 1: would ever because I before it was just like, let

248
00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:16,400
Speaker 1: me have another commentator on to get their opinion on,

249
00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:18,720
Speaker 1: you know, on the state of the world. Where I

250
00:14:18,760 --> 00:14:22,600
Speaker 1: don't really want people's opinions on this pandemic so much

251
00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:25,840
Speaker 1: as I just want to keep people alive, right Like,

252
00:14:25,880 --> 00:14:28,640
Speaker 1: I just want to give people the information that they

253
00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:31,560
Speaker 1: need in order to keep themselves, their families, and their

254
00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:34,880
Speaker 1: communities safe. And so it's not so much setting up

255
00:14:35,640 --> 00:14:38,600
Speaker 1: thoughtful debates, you know, as we would on let's say,

256
00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:42,000
Speaker 1: the reconciliation package or let's talk about, you know, the

257
00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:45,360
Speaker 1: debt ceiling or these things. But it's more so this

258
00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:47,680
Speaker 1: is about life and death. So I'm not looking for

259
00:14:47,920 --> 00:14:51,520
Speaker 1: opinions so much as as much clarity as we can

260
00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:54,200
Speaker 1: get in these times. But isn't it the case that

261
00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:57,400
Speaker 1: facts themselves are so contested right now in a way,

262
00:14:57,440 --> 00:14:59,880
Speaker 1: So I mean, how do you how do you navigate

263
00:14:59,880 --> 00:15:01,280
Speaker 1: that out of There are examples you can think of

264
00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:03,320
Speaker 1: during the pandemic where it's kind of like, what is

265
00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:05,760
Speaker 1: a basic fact and how do I convey that to

266
00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:08,840
Speaker 1: my audience? You know, I will say that for me,

267
00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:12,440
Speaker 1: I have always trusted let's say, you know, the World

268
00:15:12,480 --> 00:15:18,920
Speaker 1: Health Organization, the CDC. Aside from the Trump administration, I

269
00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:23,920
Speaker 1: had trusted for the most times what was being delivered outside,

270
00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:26,760
Speaker 1: you know, from the White House. And so you know,

271
00:15:26,880 --> 00:15:30,560
Speaker 1: I trust the people who I believe have reputations of

272
00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:33,200
Speaker 1: telling the truth and wanting to really do no harm.

273
00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:36,840
Speaker 1: So the doctors and the scientists, the data analysts, the

274
00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:39,960
Speaker 1: folks that I'm bringing on I have either worked with

275
00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:43,320
Speaker 1: or I have had deep connection through work that I

276
00:15:43,400 --> 00:15:47,000
Speaker 1: have done with people who are dedicated to upholding their

277
00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:51,120
Speaker 1: oaths right to protect people and to provide you know,

278
00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:55,720
Speaker 1: as much coherent, thoughtful information as possible to many people

279
00:15:55,800 --> 00:15:58,360
Speaker 1: who haven't had a biology class since they were in

280
00:15:58,520 --> 00:16:02,200
Speaker 1: middle school, right, And so you're trying to reach people

281
00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:05,080
Speaker 1: where they are, and those are the people that I

282
00:16:05,160 --> 00:16:07,160
Speaker 1: like to bring on Woke A f are people that

283
00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:10,200
Speaker 1: are adept at reaching people where they are. You know.

284
00:16:10,240 --> 00:16:12,840
Speaker 1: It's interesting because like, of course, I'm somebody who's a

285
00:16:12,880 --> 00:16:15,160
Speaker 1: cultural critic. I you know, I happen to have gone

286
00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:18,000
Speaker 1: to med school, but I study race and politics. And

287
00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:21,040
Speaker 1: yet when I go on your show, I'm probably more

288
00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:23,440
Speaker 1: of a doctor than I ever expected to be on

289
00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:25,880
Speaker 1: television because I'm like, you know, because I'm like you know.

290
00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:29,200
Speaker 1: But it's interesting because that used to be the role

291
00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:31,440
Speaker 1: of everybody, right, getting out the information. And now there's

292
00:16:31,480 --> 00:16:34,280
Speaker 1: such a hunger for information in a particular way. And

293
00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:37,400
Speaker 1: so tell us about your audience a little bit, you know,

294
00:16:37,880 --> 00:16:40,000
Speaker 1: is it your sense that your audience is also looking

295
00:16:40,040 --> 00:16:43,080
Speaker 1: for they're looking for opinions, but they're also looking for facts.

296
00:16:43,520 --> 00:16:46,360
Speaker 1: I think that in the beginning of the pandemic, I mean, Jonathan,

297
00:16:46,400 --> 00:16:49,120
Speaker 1: the comments that we used to get from you know,

298
00:16:49,200 --> 00:16:52,120
Speaker 1: our segments in the very beginning, when we didn't know anything,

299
00:16:52,360 --> 00:16:55,120
Speaker 1: people were so desperate for you to come on and

300
00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:58,760
Speaker 1: just tell us what we need to know, just tell us, like,

301
00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:01,440
Speaker 1: you know, am I to be is this is this

302
00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:05,080
Speaker 1: virus spreading on cardboard boxes? Is it? You know? Can

303
00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:07,400
Speaker 1: I walk past my neighbor? Do I have to move

304
00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:09,520
Speaker 1: to the other side of the street. You know, they

305
00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:13,959
Speaker 1: were just so desperate in the beginning for any you know,

306
00:17:14,080 --> 00:17:17,680
Speaker 1: any sense of how they can control right their environment

307
00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:21,760
Speaker 1: and themselves. Now, so I think that it is also

308
00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:27,520
Speaker 1: folks wanting your analysis, right, like wanting you know, why

309
00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:30,439
Speaker 1: is there such a big gap? Right? Like you know,

310
00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:35,200
Speaker 1: in the New York Times yesterday was the article entitled

311
00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:39,040
Speaker 1: red COVID right where it's just like, why is this

312
00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:43,200
Speaker 1: this virus that started out ravaging blue states, now ravaging

313
00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:45,840
Speaker 1: red states, right when we have a vaccine and we

314
00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:48,920
Speaker 1: have more information than we did this time last year.

315
00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:53,000
Speaker 1: And so my audience are very you know, they're they're

316
00:17:53,080 --> 00:17:58,480
Speaker 1: highly educated, they're multiracial, you know, span pretty much everything

317
00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:00,920
Speaker 1: that you can think of. But the thing that they

318
00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:03,479
Speaker 1: all have in common is the truth and is a

319
00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:08,800
Speaker 1: dedication to progress, right, to progressive values and ideals. And

320
00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:12,719
Speaker 1: you know, it's funny because because of course we're not

321
00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:15,520
Speaker 1: just talking about COVID. COVID is also a reflection of

322
00:18:15,560 --> 00:18:20,080
Speaker 1: American society, right, It's a reflection of our investments, or

323
00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:23,040
Speaker 1: our lack of investments about race, about social justice and

324
00:18:23,119 --> 00:18:24,879
Speaker 1: things like that. And so, do you feel like the

325
00:18:24,920 --> 00:18:30,080
Speaker 1: pandemic has also changed how you talk about other social, political,

326
00:18:30,520 --> 00:18:34,880
Speaker 1: racial issues, because I think, yeah, I think that everything

327
00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:38,639
Speaker 1: has been colored in such a very distinct way because

328
00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:41,240
Speaker 1: of the pandemic. Things that we had always talked about

329
00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:44,920
Speaker 1: right before the pandemic. We would talk about racial disparities,

330
00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:47,480
Speaker 1: we would talk about you know, mass shootings, we would

331
00:18:47,520 --> 00:18:49,639
Speaker 1: talk about all of these things. We talk about hunger,

332
00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:55,040
Speaker 1: we talk about education and public schools. Everything became so

333
00:18:55,080 --> 00:18:58,840
Speaker 1: exacerbated over the course of this pandemic, the ills that

334
00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:04,480
Speaker 1: we always knew we're facing our society now were blown up,

335
00:19:04,600 --> 00:19:06,720
Speaker 1: you know, on a big screen in a way that

336
00:19:06,760 --> 00:19:09,600
Speaker 1: we couldn't look away from it. I think that we

337
00:19:10,119 --> 00:19:13,959
Speaker 1: in our society we love to excuse the faults that

338
00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:18,280
Speaker 1: government and bad policies have created. We always put it

339
00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:20,560
Speaker 1: on the people. Oh, there's something wrong with them, because

340
00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:24,640
Speaker 1: they're low income, because they're poor, because they're because they're black,

341
00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:27,040
Speaker 1: because they're Latin X, because they're this. It's always the

342
00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:29,800
Speaker 1: problem of the community. But what we see through this

343
00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:33,760
Speaker 1: pandemic is that no, this is it's the problems that

344
00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:38,600
Speaker 1: we are seeing enlarged. Our societal problems right they are

345
00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:42,159
Speaker 1: their policy problems. There are things that weren't fixed that

346
00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:44,600
Speaker 1: we knew were a problem. For instance, in our public

347
00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:47,520
Speaker 1: school system and public education. I'm talking K through twelve.

348
00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:50,440
Speaker 1: We knew that a majority of children didn't have access

349
00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:53,120
Speaker 1: to the internet, didn't have access to broadband. We knew

350
00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:56,000
Speaker 1: that a majority of kids didn't have you know, decent

351
00:19:56,560 --> 00:20:00,800
Speaker 1: computers and technology in their homes. We known that because

352
00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:04,040
Speaker 1: reports had told us that for a decade plus, but

353
00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:07,560
Speaker 1: we waited until now. We couldn't go into school, and

354
00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:10,000
Speaker 1: now teachers were forced to teach on zoom, which they'd

355
00:20:10,040 --> 00:20:13,159
Speaker 1: never been asked to do, or forced to teach on blackboard,

356
00:20:13,240 --> 00:20:15,560
Speaker 1: or use technology in a way that we never asked

357
00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:17,520
Speaker 1: them to do. And then all of a sudden, we're

358
00:20:17,560 --> 00:20:22,280
Speaker 1: having to have public school buses with broadbands circulate neighborhoods,

359
00:20:22,560 --> 00:20:25,200
Speaker 1: or kids go and sit outside of the McDonald's or

360
00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:27,400
Speaker 1: a diner in order to do their work because they

361
00:20:27,400 --> 00:20:30,520
Speaker 1: needed access to the internet. That wasn't the pandemic's fault.

362
00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:33,600
Speaker 1: That's a failure of our public education system, right that

363
00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:36,040
Speaker 1: we had ignored and continued to kick the can down

364
00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:42,679
Speaker 1: the road until there was no more road. That's it

365
00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:45,360
Speaker 1: for Today's Woke a f Daily podcasts To hear more

366
00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:49,040
Speaker 1: from today's show, including my full interview with doctor Jonathan Metzel,

367
00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:52,359
Speaker 1: support me on Patreon at patreon dot com Slatch Woke

368
00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:55,280
Speaker 1: a F. Power to the people and to all the people. Power,

369
00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:57,320
Speaker 1: get woke and stay focus. Fuck