Weekly Zeitgeist 243 (Best of 9/12/22-9/16/22)

The weekly round-up of the best moments from DZ's season 254 (9/12/22-9/16/22)

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello the Internet, and welcome to this episode of the
weekly Zeitgeist. Uh. These are some of our favorite segments
from this week, all edited together into one nonstop infotainment
laugh Stravaganza. Uh Yeah. So, without further ADO, here is

(00:22):
the weekly Zeitgeist. Well, miles, we're thrilled to be joined
by a very funny stand up, comedian, writer and poet
who you know from such places as TV. Have you
heard about it? What a Harvard Review? What her amazing
podcast in your hands. It's the hilarious and talented Lizzie Cooperman.

(00:45):
Oh my God, I am beyond thrilled to join you today.
Oh Man, we're thrilled too. Heavy here, very eclectic credits.
Maybe your show is your show is so cool. Oh,
thank you. I wish I had faith in our listeners
like that. You turned it's called in your hands, because

(01:08):
you put your life in the hands of your listeners.
It's ruining my life and it's like major ship. It's
it's absolutely insane. I almost started myself on fire a
few weeks ago. Yeah, I had a task rabbit. It's
a long story. First I was trying to put this
dresser together. The episode was called Guy. I met, or

(01:28):
Dresser Roulette? Do I go out with this guy who
I met outside of food truck one night, you know,
at a bar, or do I play a game of
Dresser Roulette where I go through my phone and text
the last ten romantic interest? Will you help me build
an Ikea Dresser? It took this this was like a

(01:49):
three episode long saga and it ended with me having
to call a task rabbit who came over and I
saw in the task rabbits bio that he was a
fire performer. And Yeah, and I asked him about and
he goes, I could pretty safely set you on fire,
and I was like, you mean like at a comedy show,
and he goes yeah, and I was like in an

(02:09):
episode is born. Yeah, and so yeah, so that was
one of the options. So the next episode was called
this is fire or this is us. Do I let
this guy set me on fire at an outdoor comedy show,
or do I become a tour guide for the TV
show this is us, and I am officially a tour

(02:31):
guide for that show. Wait, what does that mean? What
does that mean? I found it in backstage magazine. I
was just looking up like Oh, what can I do?
This week because I always wanted to be something kind
of interesting or just have some kind of stakes involved,
and I said we're seeking people in L A to take,
you know, tourists to different locations. It would be me, basically, yes, exactly,

(02:52):
being like this is where the Crock pop blew up.
A spoiler, spoiler. Yeah, yeah, I mean spoiler. That's when
they die. That's when we find out, isn't is that
when the DAD dies? That's actually an Air Fryer. I'm
still on the second episode. Oh God. I started watching

(03:14):
because too many people are like Yo, it's so emotionally manipulative.
I'm like, let me see this, and I'm like, Oh,
it's underscored with every scene as delicate piano music. And
I keep telling people that like every every episode has
at least one monologue based on whatever object is writing

(03:37):
in front of them. You know, like you guys could
be like some say a life is like a hat.
Put It on and you know the day is going
to go well, but sometimes you can't find your hat
and that's when you lose God or something and that's
when your dad yeah, exactly, and that's when your crop

(03:58):
pop blows up. Is that? What is he in the
middle of a monologue about crop pops being like life
when it blows up and kills him. No like that.
It's a little more dramatic. There is a scene they
do that with Nachos and I knew it was coming.
I'm watching the scene and it's, you know, a couple
late at night, their marriage isn't going while they're eating Nachos,
and then woman goes you know, life is like a

(04:19):
plate of Nachos, and I'm like no, I'm starting again.
I could feel it coming on and she was like
sometimes you get the top Nacho that has a lot
of cheese on it and then there's the Middle Nacho
and that's fine. Sometimes you just get the crumbles and
I don't want the crumbles in this marriage. Right if
we both preak up a Nacho that's connected at the

(04:41):
same time, I want to figure out how to equitably
split that Nacho and not have it be this passive,
aggressive push pull back and forth over who will get
the NACHO. That stuff. Oh my God, there's just a
writer in the writer's room like how are we going
to work in Guacamole? I have to figure out everything.
I'm not going to play whack a mole with the
relationships and our problems like a bowl of whack a mole. Okay,

(05:08):
I think it's wild wind. Shows have those tropes that
are predictable, because my wife, Her Majesty, uh, the one
that is alive, uh, she watches like gray's anatomy, and
every time, like I sit down and watch, I'm like,
there's always like a seemingly regular thing and then they're
like like a pregnant woman is like, I gotta go
to the hospital. Then it's like a car accident over
out of nowhere, like it always has these weird steaks

(05:30):
where she'll even call it. She's like watch, this person
is probably gonna die like inexplicably in three seconds. And
then they do, and I'm like and then they tie
it up with the monologue at the end. Yeah, yeah, man, sorry,
distracted for the past fifteen minutes just thinking about how
much is like in so many different ways. Wait, what

(05:53):
are the significant locations like when you go on this tour?
So well, she so she sent me the list of locations,
some of which are I told her I would keep
it confidential. Well, I guess I have to keep confidential
where they are exactly, but it would be, like, you know,
this is where someone's offices or this is like, because
how serious? Right, yes, exactly it would be. It's going

(06:16):
to be a lot of time in a hot car, probably, right,
and you should definitely go on the tour. Yeah, Oh,
y'all that gang. If you want to do some fun
in L A, hit up lizzie's. Uh. I think we
might ask seriously, have a lot of questions, a lot
of questions. Okay, I don't I haven't seen the show,
so I don't know about that. Okay, what's next? Well, I'll,

(06:38):
I doubt, the entire season for you on the thank you. Okay,
I also have these Nachos I got from seven mone
could you possibly string together an interesting metaphor about how
my crumbling marriage is like these, like these Feda crumbles?
All right, and up next, like so are you in suspense,

(06:59):
like are you trying? I can't imagine if there was
a regular vote on like what was going to happen
in my life. I feel like I would be doing
nothing but refreshing. Like, have you found out if you're
driving uber or throwing away half of your belongings this week?
I have found out. Yes, I got the results today. Okay, Friday,

(07:24):
and so they vote. Every Thursday in my instagram stories,
I wake up either horrified or elated, depending on the results,
and then I do the thing right away. Oh my God, well,
this is daily. Well, I reveal it on the next episode.
I revealed on the next episode. Real spoiled. This is

(07:45):
us on this show, right right. Yeah, we will not.
But the last episode, but the episode before it was
called spots or slots, and it was should I try
to like become a regular at the laugh factory and
get more stand up spots, which auditioning at the factor.
You have to wait outside at four thirty PM, like
during the heat wave, you know they call it's like

(08:06):
people sitting out there with like lawn chairs and Monster
Energy during probably doing their act to the wall, you know,
people like bleak Jack. We should go. And then there
was a kind of a gambling option as the other one. So, yeah,
it's a lot of fun. People should check it out.
Thank you. What is something from your search history? I

(08:29):
googled in CONTO SCREENPLAY PDF to see if I could
find a pdf of the screenplay for the movie in Conto,
and I did find guessing that's what you were looking
for and those are good. That is good search term.
Thank for that. Thank you. It was successful. Well searched.
What are you doing the script? Oh Um, I wanted

(08:50):
to take a look to see how old the Mirabelle
character is supposed to be when she's like grown up
or like. You know, throughout most of the movie I
couldn't if she was like a teenager and adult. Wasn't sure.
We're about to cover it on the backel cast. So
what I wanted to yeah, watch out world. I mean seriously, though,

(09:11):
that is that is a great, great episode that I'm
very excited to listen to. What did you find out?
Where should should we tune in to to find out?
It's a big yeah, it's too big of a Um, no,
she is fifteen. Oh okay, so right. Yeah, I could
see that. That's definitely on the young side, but I
feel like movies always in the described age like error,

(09:35):
on the young side. You know, chief brody from jaws
was actually seventeen years old. You didn't realize that because
because they just wanted to be like young, sexy, you know,
just always go young, because I assumed she was older
because I mean that character design. Yeah, could be a

(09:56):
fifteen year old, but also could be like a year old.
Wasn't really sure. Then the voice actor is like a
full adult. So I was like, she's like twenty one
right now. It turns out she's a teenager. Right, I
haven't seen it. What. What? What does the what's the
character's function to the narrative that she's the protagonist? Ever
heard of that? Because I haven't taken your class, so

(10:19):
I don't know fancy script words like that. You mean character,
m why haven't you taken my class? Canto? That's in Canto.
So she's yeah, yeah, she's she's sorry, you're watching with
your old uncle. Which one's Incanto? Oh, got it, got it,

(10:40):
got it. So wait. So is it sort of vague
if you're like because she straddles like this sort of
age group, you're like, are you looking at this as
an adult or a child? That's not even important to
the story. I was just I always, you know, do
my recap and I wanted to like accurately say like Oh,
because we meet her when she's like a child, at
the very beginning, and then I was like flash forward
to her as and I wasn't sure if I should

(11:02):
say a teenager or adult. Got It, got it, got it.
So this is all very like. It's not super important
to the story how old she is. I just like
to be as accurate as possible. I love accuracy exactly,
and we just revealed something about who you are. You
respect accuracy. You're not here just throwing out concepts. Exactly.

(11:22):
She's a she's like yeah, flash forward to her in
an older vibe. And but I do do that sometimes,
because sometimes the right exactly you can think of a
good like how old that character is supposed to be. Mystery,
and I'm coming up blank. But honestly, let us know. UH, Paddington.
No one understands how old Paddington is or is supposed

(11:44):
to be, except for you're nobody else gets it. He's
ageless times, Fifteen, fifteen times. Actors pretended not to be
their age and TV in movies, but fooled absolutely nobody.
I guess that's what what is something you think is overraged?

(12:09):
I would have to say getting on an airplane earlier,
like being the first to board an airplane. I know
some people might disagree, for like overhead Bin Space, but
I do not want to spend any more time on
the plane than I have to, especially because I feel like,
you know, especially recently, like there's been so many horror

(12:29):
stories of like, Oh, we're sitting there for six hours
at the gate before we take off and all this stuff.
So why had any more misery to that than you
have to? So what's your what's your how does your
timing work? Like do you you're like fuck it, I'll
be in group funk out of here at the end.
I don't care, like I don't like. What's your what's
your methodology to ensure that? Like if you are, if

(12:50):
you're an early group, you're like, you know, I'm a
I'll go with everybody else at the end. Yeah, sometimes
I'll do that. And it's also like so we have
a really small airport in my town, and so it's
like there are like the planes are so small that
your bag doesn't fit in the overhead anyway. So everybody
always has to like check it plane side, and so
I'm just kind of used to that. But yeah, I

(13:11):
just kind of hang out the gate. It's it's fun
to like watch everybody like jockeying to get, you know,
their premiere status points whatever. You know, just like watch
all that unfold at the game it's like it's like
the equivalent of people like dudes in the key, like
when a free throws about to be and they're like
hold on, let me, I'm about to get my box out. Yeah, yeah,

(13:35):
the little arm thing they do where they put their
arm on top of each other. I like to do
that with a stranger if I'm makes them on a plane,
just like put my arm above theirs just to make
sure they know who's who's boss. And you're like well,
group are you and they're like hey, you're like oh
my okay, my bad. Yeah, I like to. I like
to get in there early, you know, fill up all
the overhead space with just every everything I have with

(13:56):
me and then just establish a very wide stance in
my in the taking your jacket out of your bag.
I definitely like I I now, especially with like mask
off plane like riding. I'm like yeah, I'll go, I'll
take as a few breaths in there as I need
to now, but in the before times, when been space

(14:19):
was at a premium, I was fucking shameless. Like Jenna.
I would I will command my way onto like and
if we have any armed forces, people in the military,
active duty, and I'm like yeah, right here. Okay, like,
I gotta get in here. Bro I see everybody got
a bag and I'm not checking that ship. I will
steal some valor. You're like counting the Rollie bags, like

(14:40):
people card county done that. We're in trouble. We're in
trouble here. I've never done that. Oh, I have. I well,
not like that, you know, sort of precise, but I
am like, Oh, I don't like these ratios. Do you have?
You ever met people who are such professional travelers, like
they're like George Clooney in up in the air, like

(15:02):
they're like, oh, yeah, I like this flight because it
flies in seven from like this year, and like those
are actually really good. And like you just want to
sit in business class and it is usually like like
business people who travel for business a lot. And Yeah,
you gotta know what the configuration is up there. Yeah, yeah, too, too.

(15:23):
It's a surprise. Every time I got on a plane,
I'm like wow, it's a big one, wow, it goes
up in the air and yeah, that's that's the surprise.
I look at the people around me I'm like what,
Oh my am going. Yeah, I've never been on one

(15:49):
of these busses before. What is something you think is underrated?
Diet Sodas? What you say? I said you're consistent. Yeah, listen,
here's the deal. Have you tried it? It's so good,
it's so much it is so much better than water.

(16:12):
It's not even close. Oh my God, they with this.
I feel like I talked about it. No, I mean
in some not that it's exact same thing, but I
feel like this has been something I'm you're like, yeah,
I think waters all right, but you're like the fucking
diet though. I don't know. Did I say water was overrated?

(16:33):
I do feel water is overrated. Um, here's the thing.
I was off of Diet Soda, and I'm not even
talking about diet coke or coke zero, ever since I
had clear braces as a teenager. The braces themselves didn't stain,
but the rubber bands did. I'm a fan of the

(16:53):
clear diet option and I got off of them, Um,
for a long time, and I was drinking water like
all the other human beings, and then I don't like it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
Just I'm an Automaton. I drink water good, I get up,

(17:13):
I go through my dit, you know, like a robots
of no, do you enjoy? If you enjoy water. That
was an impression of you. But anyway, I recently backslid.
Now I'm drinking died seven up again and, Oh my God,
you guys tried this stuff. Seriously, I'd forgotten how good

(17:34):
it was. Like I realized I sound like someone who
is like doing heroin again, and I'm like, Oh my God,
have you tried it? It really takes all your pain away.
It's so good. But like, Oh my God, I it's
so much better than water. Everyone Triet. It is really

(17:55):
so good, refreshing. It's Chris, it's first quenching. Now when
I go to bed, I put a can of it
next to my bed, along with my water. Both the
middle and I it's so bad this. So you don't
mind it being a little warm. You'll take a warm

(18:16):
bad you guys, and I'm now I'm embarrassing. You got kids, Allison.
You got kids and you're living like that. You prefer
the bed like that. How does that work? So you
don't wake you're like, actually, actually, because I don't want
to wake up my husband and I don't want him
to know. Um, I had it in a camel pack

(18:38):
under my pillow. I slept through the night and I
didn't crack the can and I woke up and I
was like, good for me warm. I feel like warm
beverages like really forces you to take in the full
flavor profile of a thing worth and all. So, I
mean it's a true give Ote. Too warm a drink

(19:02):
needs to be down to drink it like room tip,
room tip. I don't yeah, I don't want it hot. Sure, okay, well,
that's we're making progress. I don't want to like swim
to bill's pool. Right, right, right, you know, room temper below. Yeah, okay,
this is a cry for help. Kind of you should,

(19:25):
when I think it's going to get up to like
the nineties and like a week, leave a can out
for a few hours in the sun and drink it
and see if you get superpowers. I feel like you might,
based on what just like, how you're how energized you
are talking about. I feel like something with the sun's
energy just beamed into it might take it up a notch.
Just try. Just there like a theory you had about

(19:48):
one flavor of Lacroix that was really good warmed up.
Oh yeah, passion fruit. It's an air freshener. Yeah, if
you leave a passion fruit Lacroix opening on a hot day,
your car smells great, fantastic. It's easy. These are the
life acks of our world crumbling into climate change. Yeah, exactly.

(20:09):
See Passion Fruit Lacroix. I don't and I don't really
like Lacroix, but the passion fruit especially has like almost
a a Musky funk to it. Sorry, say more. We're
a Musky, funky show, but you guys like that flavor.
I take it. Yeah, and also shout out to our band,
Musky funk. UH, like Elon Musk fronted funk band. We're

(20:31):
really great. Check up. All right, let's take a quick break,
we'll come back, we'll talk about less important things. We'll
be right back to play that funky music, mind boy,

(20:51):
and we're back. And you know, Queen Elizabeth, I don't know,
how do you? How do you put into words? Passed
onto the Nether World, and this event hath created many
a reaction from around the world, from former colonies demanding

(21:13):
their ship back to Kanye seeing the light. It is
clear that this was a significant event for many people
in there. Just it's like this. This really put some
ship into perspective. Stupid. Life is precious. On his instagram,
releasing all grudges today, leaning into the light. Best wishes

(21:36):
and blessings to Pete Cutty, Daniel cheery. Yeah, yeah, did
he actually post that? Like the background? There was one where,
apparently he posted one with where the queen had yeasy
shades on. No, yes, and it deleted it. That's alleged

(21:56):
that there was a post that went up with her
in shades and it's like, okay, now mine, let me
play some more respect and the one that's on his
page now are like pictures of her in her youth.
This kind of makes me wonder what he was like
in elementary school, right, because I used to do stuff
like this, like if a paper was due, I'd have
to put my unique spin on it, like you know,
I'm not going to do a book report, but I'll

(22:18):
choreograph a dance with flashlights, like you know. I think
a little bit differently, Mrs Campbell, this is my skin. Yeah,
I mean, I guess it was. It really shook him
to his core. So he is no longer going to
go after that. I mean, bless his heart. I'm sure
he'll say some wild shit pretty quickly. More collage is

(22:39):
to come. Yeah, exactly. But looking around, you know, you
look at the people of South Asian colonies, former South
Asian colonies, um. And just as a primer, you know
the British extracted over at a minimum forty trillion dollars
from the subcontinent between seventeen sixty five and nineteen thirty eight.
So you know, a lot of fucking off was stolen

(23:00):
from that, and one of the main ways that occurred
was like through basically, the British will collect taxes on
goods in India then used the taxes, those funds they
just collected to then buy ship from these people and
then send it to England or sell it on for Fucking,
you know, astronomical fees to other countries. But essentially they're
just like in built theft, which, because that number of

(23:22):
forty trillion is um, that's basic. Yeah, that's what that
that but it's such a big number that I had
my hard time getting my mind around it. And so
like the GDP of the United States right now in
the year two is twenty four eight trillion. So that

(23:43):
that is an entire United States that was stolen from
them and more. Yeah, and more and way, way more.
And again that's based off the records they could find.
That's why, again, historians that actually have an eye on
this kind of ship, they're like this is again at
a fucking minimum. Where they kept the receipts. They were
like we're going to do this theft and keep receipts

(24:04):
for it, which not always the first instinct. Like then
redeem it for a free Puzzuki, right, and a lot
of historian has been like it would have been a
lot more clear if the person was collecting taxes and
then the quote unquote buyer of goods was actually just
the same person. But really the one person came for
the taxes and someone was like, Hello, I'm here to
buy this thing. Just so you know, my pockets are

(24:26):
filled with the money that they just shook you down for. Okay,
here you go and I'll take that and you have
nothing again. So yeah, I think reparations might be in
order there, as many people have pointed out. But one
of the most controversial stolen items from the former colony
is the COO nor diamond, and it's breathtaking. You know,
at the Times one of the largest diamonds on earth.
So naturally it had to be taken to be given

(24:48):
as a gift to Queen Victoria to put in her crown,
and the diamond is valued right now like four million dollars.
Other people are just simply described as priceless. And this
is something the British government has refused to give back
on numerous occasions. I think right now it's in like
the Tower of London museum or something, and eventually, I
believe Camilla will probably also get to rock that thing.

(25:11):
I mean she put so much time. We did it, Joe,
we did it, Joe. You know she's having it. She
really did it. But again, like this has been something
that British government has always been like, I'm not really
given that ship back. How do you give them back?
Like do you I'm picturing, I mean the way in

(25:32):
which you would have to deliver, I'm picturing the nearest
target area, or would you be really sly about it?
Just sneak it in with their postmates? Right? I don't know.
You well, considering how fucking rigid they've been in terms
of like reckoning with the history of colonial rule there,

(25:52):
I don't know what they do. Like David Cameron when
he visited India once he was asked directly about returning
the diamond. His quote back was literally, they're not having
that back. They're not having that back, like like someone's
like deadwood DVD set, the thing they're having. They're not
having that back. So, like, if we bring it back

(26:13):
within three years, you get a store credit, right, who
knows what? They'RE gonna die. So now many South Asians
are asking like what's good? You know, now that Elizabeth
is dead and it began trending like alongside her death,
like pretty much instantly on twitter. We're like, okay, now
what's up? Like we this, we were not forgetting about
this fucking epic theft. Like Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, in India,

(26:36):
they all consider this diamond stolen goods, despite the British
insistence that it was a gift, that we acquired the legally. So,
you know, let's just let's just fucking let's just call
it that. But more than that, I think for a
lot of people, just sort of the reluctance to return
the diamond sort of underscores just how the British government

(26:59):
has just refused to really reckon with all of the
atrocities of their colonial rule and I think that's a
big part of it as well. Uh, and again I'm
speaking as a speaking on this as an American, very superficially,
but it's wild. Did you see? Like, again, many countries
have many things that they consider stolen and it's just
the second this thing happens, like please have a reckoning

(27:21):
with this. Like. The one thing which is wild is
because people there seems to be like monarchists who are
like this is a song day and like we shouldn't.
You know, it's just like really, I don't have the
words to speak, while many others are like let me
break down that, like my parents were born under colonial rule.
Here are the things that I know, and so it's
just a very the royalist take that you just described

(27:45):
seems to also be the mainstream media take, like it's
all been like we we treat this very solemnly, like
we at Lego, like need to like stay black and
white picture of like a leg Oh figure of the
Queen and be like we're we're heartbroken and in mourning
over here. And you know, I have a friend who

(28:07):
is over there and had tickets to a comedy show
and they just canceled it. Like the like Comedians were
like we this is no time to laugh. was kind
of how it seemed to me. There's also like a
great CNN clip where, a they're interviewing a bunch of
people in London on the street and they're like how
do you feel like? You must be absolutely gutted, right,

(28:29):
that's what you guys say, and the person they interview
is like, Oh, I don't really care because of colonialism
and oppression and her son being a pedophile who used
the power of the crown to like, you know, prey
on people. Should I say more? And they're like fair enough, yeah,
except he did push her. He was like, uh no,
I wonder why, why you would say such a thing.

(28:50):
And she just said all that and he was like
over here we have some Americans. You're not a hater,
are you? So I wonder. I'm wondering if it's I mean,
I guess American media does this ship when like, you know,
Ronald Reagan or George H W Bush or like these
people who are essentially war criminals die, like they do

(29:11):
all get all solemn, even though these are people who
are are monsters. But like you definitely wouldn't see comedy
shows being canceled, or so I guess. I'm wondering. Is
it that they are afraid? They just don't want to
put up with the bullshit from like the you know,
Fox News viewer equivalent over there, like they just don't

(29:34):
want to put the energy forward. But it's just part
of you know, but that part of that. It's been,
you know, the monarchy has just been so yeahs of
the culture there. So I can imagine for them it's
just like because of that, I guess it resonates in
a completely different way, whether you give a shit or not,
but see why, out of like the whatever decorum that

(29:54):
is always you know, like the sense of decorum that's
given to the crown and all this. Like is it
a US pres resident, like a former US president dying?
was what I had equated to, but it might be
more like a US president dying or like a president
being assassinated or something like that. That feels like how
they are treating it, even though she was fucking nineties six.

(30:14):
I think we yeah, we'd relate more. Of Our presidents
wore hats. That's kind of the main thing. Well, our
greatest president did. It was a big Red One and
nobody likes Oh my God wow, but I think you know,
it's it is again interesting to see all of like

(30:36):
people come out with their takes and people being aghast
with some of other people like how could you say that?
And it reminds me of like the summer. You know,
fucking white supremacist violence has been such an inbuilt part
of American culture. Barely heard the words white supremacy during
that time. We heard about police violence and we talked
around it. And I think at the end of the day,

(30:57):
this because so much of the critics like the anger
is born out of the empire and what that stands for.
That it's then I don't I can't see the BBC
being like now let's kind of run down why the
British empire was so fucked up and why these people
might be feeling so fucking turned up. Yeah, I think
it's just in general, like we can't, we don't have

(31:18):
reckonings like good faith reckonings with like with our truly
fucked up pasts, like on a scale like that. But
don't worry, though, not everyone is going fucking woke five
thousand on us because while, you know, many people were
getting their jokes off Tucker Carlson was absolutely fucking disgusted

(31:39):
with how these people were talking about one of the
greatest empires ever on our planet. Uh, and I'm just
gonna play a bit of him just talking about the
good old days. To this day, Britain claims to have
won both of the twentieth centuries World Wars, but together
they destroyed that nation forever. After victory came humiliation. The

(32:00):
evaporated and along with it Britain self, confidence and, ultimately,
it's self respect. It's hard to believe now, but Britain
wasn't always a regional banking center slash refugee camp. Whoa,
my God, you're ready, you're ready, you're ready, you're ready.
Here we go, Bill Place with a history and a
language and a culture, genuinely remarkable people, a country in

(32:23):
the North Atlantic the size of Alabama that somehow took
over the world and ruled it with decency unmatched by
any empire in human history. Somehow ruled it with decency. Okay,
but again, you see how he's already he's using this

(32:44):
already to be the you know, evaporation of white culture,
White Tagside by talking about how to turn his refugee camp.
It used to have coca COA culture. Okay, we'll go on.
The British empire was not perfect, but it was far
more human main than any other ever. It's gone now,
barely even remembered. Queen Elizabeth the second was the last

(33:06):
living link to a truly Great Britain. Uh Huh. He
goes on to talk about what like in Africa. He's like,
look at what happened when the British left. You have
idiom mean and like goes down all these like autocrats
and he's like and now China is their new ruler.
I bet they're begging for the British to come back. No,

(33:28):
they're fucking not. And also, I can't. This the most
humane fucking empire ever. That that is. That's just that is.
That's a premise that does not exist. Those areathetical concepts.
That is the benefit of having an audience that doesn't read,
because I can just make you can be like they
were so nice. You guys, like you don't have to

(33:50):
read about the British Empire History. You guys. They were
like so nice. Living under British rule is like super tight.
And you can believe me because behind me is a
photo of a lion. The graphics they're using you're so bizarre.
One is just like an old timy like Buggy, and
then it switched to a graphic of a lion and
next to the right. Exactly, and I mean like, colonization

(34:12):
is all about power, dominant, subjugation, nothing. There's nothing fucking
humane about that ship. There's just you can't engage with
it in a humane way because that's that's just not
how it works. It was like saying, Oh, they're the
most humane fucking murderer. Right, okay. I'm like, if you're
out there murdering people, there's no humane way to do it.
If you're out there kicking people off of their land, saying, Oh, this,
this is ship, this ship is mine. Also, you work

(34:34):
here now, I don't give a folk which you say,
else I'll kill you, that's nothing fucking humane about that.
But again, obviously someone with like a white supremacist agenda
would speak glowingly of a society that clearly just put
people into like categories of human or non human. So No,
no real surprises. They're right. And so then immediately after
that he brought on some people who lived under British

(34:54):
ruled us but right, I have to assume to just
like talk speak. Poke was. Yeah, yeah, exactly, a bunch
of cool characters that people would remember. He's like what
would pocahontas have said? Like, what are you fucking talking about?
Looking terrible for everybody. So, yeah, it's it's just it's interesting.

(35:18):
How again, like what we see from the like just
from outside of England, like what those responses are? You
have many people saying like we do not forget the
fucking terrors of living under this rule and like let's
maybe rectify that. And then again, this has also given
fodder to like ghouls, like fucking Tucker Carls, like make

(35:40):
it about really using the soft focus filter. I don't
know if they're using some kind of new Lens Fox.
Not to be superficial, but I'm looking at it, it
looks like an interview on real housewives, like a talking
head segment from real housewives. It's a very soft glow
about the soft blow. There's definitely a touch of Jew German. Yeah,

(36:00):
you know, but shout out to his his representative. They
gotta argue that. They got to get that in the contract. Yeah,
you got to be shot with a nice bloom alright, alright, well,
let's take a break. Well, we'll be right back to
talk about texting bubbles and the various colors. The blue
bubble versus the green bubble. Wars are upon us. The

(36:33):
new episodes should be called Snoop Santa. There you go.
You guys just missed the enthralling back and forth about
what the origins of Fanta. Or maybe you didn't. It's
totally up to just he can leave it in if
you either way. There is a reason, though, you may
not be experiencing a lot of Fanta in your local store,
because rail workers are ready to strike. What is it

(36:56):
this time? Hold on, Jack, let me just at the
table for you here. Okay, so companies for years have
prioritized maximum profits, which has led to understaffing and general
negligence of the rail infrastructure, for example in America. Yes,
like a typical like, if you're like a like a train,

(37:17):
if driving a train going from Chattanooga to Atlanta, it
took about five to six hours in the eighties. Now
it takes around twelve because again, understaffing, negligence. The infrastructure
is not great, and a lot of this too, is now.
That just work. It's just been more intense, more intense
business on the rails because of the increased demand for

(37:39):
goods from people just ordering ship more and more online.
And right now two large rail unions, the International Association
of Sheet Metal, air, rail and Transportation Workers, Transportation Division
Smart TV and the Brotherhood of locomotive engineers and train men,
are ready to strike with up to like a hundred,
forty thousand plus people. This would be the first mass
railroad strikes since the nineteen eighties. I think it's since

(38:01):
nineteen eight potentially. And these workers aren't really necessarily complaining
about wages. What they're really the biggest sticking point in
these negotiations is that they're fighting to have just a
decent quality of life because as it stands, when these
workers have a day off, they're always on call and
they have to constantly check in to see if they're
gonna get called in up until like midnight and then

(38:24):
they know like they'll have the day off. Like it's
very unpredictable and like they never have any semblance of
being able to live their life. And because of this,
even when they think they have days off, means they're
missing doctor's appointments, they're missing birthdays, they're missing the births
of children, they can't bike, they can't park their bikes
on the bike racks. This is how this is how

(38:44):
out of control of this ship. But this is all because, again,
the rail companies. They are the railroads. They would rather
run these workers ragged with eighty to ninety hour work
weeks than actually just invest in hiring more people. And
what sort of is now at stake? Is that Congress,
because of the Railway Labor Act, it does a couple
of things that helps the railroads. First is that the

(39:07):
Railway Labor Act it's it's basically doesn't cover these workers
for federal overtime protection. The only thing that they get
is like a guarantee of like ten hours between shifts
every twenty four hours. So it's like, if you're working
a tent, like ten hours in between shifts, depending on
how far you like live from your place of work
or you have to be, that might not even be
enough to actually sleep and like do ship that you

(39:29):
might have to just as a normal person who is
in the in between times of not working. And Second,
the Railway Labor Act, because of it, Congress can step
in and stop a strike and force workers to accept
a contract unilaterally. And so what about the Senate, though?
Can't that person step in? What depends on who it benefits.

(39:53):
MATERARIAN will not step in on this one. They're like no, no, no,
you can go ahead and do that. But right now
other unions have agreed to deals that have been sort
of like the government that was like trying to intervene
to really stop this strike from happening, because it's it
would be a massive disruption, obviously, because we just got
a news thing from my phone. The Washington Post says
Amtrak cancels all long distance trains beginning Thursday as rail

(40:17):
systems brace for potential strike. Yeah, and I mean by
the time you hear this it may be happening all.
Because so right now, one of the deals that the
government has intervened on put on the table some unions
have like have accepted this, was like a twenty four
percent wage increase over five years, but a lot of
people point out, with inflation where it's at, that's actually
they cut. Yeah, that's you're not even keep him, so

(40:40):
that's nothing. The other offer now is that they're trying
to negotiate their like well, we can get you guaranteed
time off to go to the doctor and that's it,
and that doesn't seem too attractive to the people that
also want to be able to again have a life.
All of these people like constantly, these union members and workers.
All they're saying is, I can't, I can't fucking ever

(41:03):
know when I have time to like see my kids
or my grandkids. I'm sorry they think when my queen
died they became the queen of England because go to
the doctor whenever you want to get the fun exactly here.
Who Do you think you are? It's some bad taste
to go to the doctor because you know someone died somewhere.
But you hear people saying this is my living situation,

(41:25):
my work situation, you'd be like that's fucked up. At
a minimum, you gotta have time to fucking spend, like
see your fanis like live like someone whose life isn't
all worked well. I've been reading about this and talking
about it quite a bit, because this is like someone smart.
I didn't think of this, but they were like, if
you're like when they were talking about unionizing starbucks, and

(41:47):
they're talking about unionizing Amazon warehouses or things like that,
and they're like, oh, that's gonna make our business, that's
gonna sunk up our business model. That's because if you
have a business that's built on violating labor laws, then
that's not a business, and that's like. That's why I'm
so glad that unions are you know, some seems to.

(42:07):
Of course, this is like me just watching the news
and being like, unions are gonna come back. You know,
I don't know how much, how significant it is, but
every time a starbucks gets unionized, or I mean this
is obvious stuff, like workers get abused without unions. I
mean it's it's it's as simple as that. And and
you know, you've got people being in bottles and not
being able to go to doctors appointments and it's all

(42:29):
in the name of the executives of these companies. The
Stat is, I forget what the stat is exactly, but
it used to be the CEOS of companies made whatever,
twenty times the income of their lowest paid worker, or
whatever whatever, and now it's like two twenty thousand times.
It's not that high, but it's like something like it's
it's twenty thousand times. It's high. So it's not a mystery,
and it's that. That's the thing. Is like there's this

(42:51):
constant lie that the one percent or that, you know,
the wealth hoarders have that somehow this has always been
the way it's been, and it hasn't been. It's been
like since the early nineties when they started making full
time people temp workers and saying, Hey, what are they
gonna do if we cut their pensions? What are we
gonna do if we make them on call all the time?
You know, my brother pointed out the other he mentioned

(43:12):
the fucking Iraq war, sending the fucking National Guard, and
the National Guard was not supposed to be deployed overseas,
and they're like, what are they gonna do about it?
It's just this the gradual erosion of like a social contract.
It's just like, and I'm so glad that these fucking
people are in some way getting because they're just abusing
workers just to pay their fucking dividends. Right. And you

(43:34):
know this one of the guys who is quoted in
this this American prospect article about like the impending strike.
He talks about like what it's been like just because
of the pandemic. Quote. I don't know what happened during
the pandemic. That woke everybody up, and I'm talking about
all of America. But yeah, they had a big effect.
People are saying now there's something more to life than
wasting it on the railroad or at my job, and

(43:57):
that's true across the board. I think it's helped people
realized established different priorities in their lives. And this is
again you're countless people saying this is this strike needs
to happen. Quote. This is not about money, this is
about quality of life. This is about getting time off
with your family and remembering that people that people don't
know what trains are, even they think trains are like
some relic of the past. They don't know how they

(44:18):
get their ship and the pandemic and the supply chain
stuff is just highlighted for Americans who think this ship
comes out of the air, that that that if you
don't fucking support your workers and your infrastructure. You know
I mean, I thinking about people at starbucks being like
where's my Mocha? You know what I mean? Like enduring
the pandemic, people were like, they were like the poor

(44:39):
workers are like, we have no MOCHA here, and they're
like what do you mean? You know? It's like fucking
kick the wall's yeah, exactly, there must be Mocha in here.
It comes out of the ground or whatever. Just put yeah,
they don't. You know. It's like a train, right. What?
Wait to hear about all your other consumer electronic yeah,

(45:00):
I mean it's it's right. Yeah, fucking asshole. But like
you look again, right, like we're saying. Anybody with half
a heart and a human soul says, yeah, you need
time to fucking be with your family, otherwise you this
is what? How? How different is this from just like
forced labor, indentured serf servitude, where you're like no, your

(45:23):
whole existence is actually built on you working for me,
not you having a life. Funk out of here. But
you know, because I think most people, you haven't seen
this talked about, because I think the steaks are so clear.
Like every time we talk about these these unions forming
or disputes they're having with contracts, you'll always hear me like, Yep,
I side with them, like if I hear about it,

(45:45):
I'm never being like these people are trying to bite
off more than they can shoot. No, you're like, damn,
they're getting violated, like that they're trying to get the
bare minimum exactly. And you look at places like Bloomberg
right there front page. Right now. It's actually been overtaken
by the amtrack closures, but earlier the main headline was quote,
US Rail Strike Risk Stoking inflation at worst possible time. Right,

(46:09):
like what? Yeah, it's like locking your bike at the
worst possible time. Yeah, this is yeah, callback, call a callback.
I hope you're taking notes. Like then there are a
couple other articles underneath that. Not just freight. The rail
strike maybe coming for US commuters. Another one. Crop car

(46:29):
shipments set to halt on US rail strike. Threat White
House ways emergency to create to keep vital goods on
rails if there's a strike. Not One fucking mention that.
These people are working eighty to ninety hour fucking weeks.
Can barely see their families there in like working unfathomable
hours into their sixties and beyond and are still you know,

(46:52):
we're like, oh, this couldn't come in a worse time.
You want to borrow the car. You can't have a
strike this close to an election, right exactly. And that's
why and that's why it's interesting it out on Bloomberg,
their friends opinion Congress won't let a rail dispute cripple
the US, which means they'll step in and which sounds,

(47:15):
which is pressure, which is pressure, you know, because the
railroads know what it is, they can force Congress's hand
because they have the ability to be like all right, well,
this is the contract, I'm sorry, that's it. That's that,
and they're counting on that rather than just, you know,
taking the fucking millions of millions of dollars they make
and just making a couple of couple million less. So

(47:37):
these people can, you know, maybe work like fucking seventy
work weeks. I don't know what the fuck, but yeah,
and I think they know with this constant thing, because
a lot of the rail the railroads, have told shipping companies, hey,
we can't take certain kinds of cargo because we've got
to prepare for this strike, and that's already affecting the
markets and they know. Oh See, they got election coming up.

(47:58):
If I fucking hold the account to be hostage as
an employer, let's see what happens. All of dark's owning
news outlets will be the death of of of us all.
I really believe that because because it's it's as simple
as that. Now, you know that guy bought CNN. You know,
it's like this is not people still are trying to

(48:21):
take these outlets seriously and as long as billionaires are
allowed to buy like multiple outlets, and you know, I
mean the fair or what do you call it, the
old rules of media ownership, you know, are essential. I mean,
like this is the thing. It's like what those headlines
You're reading? You know, it's like that's all because billionaires
only goddamn newspaper. I mean, otherwise it would be I

(48:44):
mean whatever, the headline would be different. And also all
the speculation. I just wrote my most recent advice king
column about one of those New York Times op ED
writers who like not to mention all the sub stack. MOTHERFUCKER's,
these old white dudes who are like talking about, you know,
do people understand the value of work? And it's like

(49:06):
fuck you, motherfucker's, like, you know, it's like the New
York Times it was under different ownership. Would not allow
these people to speculate about this nonsense. That's not a
question of like whether people want to work. It's a
question of what's the quality of the fucking work. It's not.
It's it's it's like you you give someone a job
with absolutely I mean, it's just it's a dishonest argument.

(49:28):
Nobody doesn't want to work. Also, it's a dishonest argument
because you have to work in a capitalist society or
you're on the fucking street. All that's happening is everybody
is like facing like, well, at the moment I don't
really feel like having my life ruined, so I guess
I'll take money from mom or I'll move into mom's house.
I mean, that's what's happening, if anything. But there's nobody
who's got the luxury of being like, I don't think

(49:49):
I want to work. In America, that doesn't exist. So
it's a false discussion. It's just a matter of do
you want to fucking drive your own car to deliver sandwiches,
you know, while you're paying off student loans? And that's
not a question of that's not a referendum on whether
or not people like like the think work is no
ball or whatever it is that these fucking rich people think.

(50:11):
People sit around. It's it's all the it's all these
like tool tools don't work anymore. Like shaming people into
being like, well, nobody wants to work anymore, and that's
why I think there's like that whole push back to
quiet quitting too, which is like they caught wind of
the fact that people are like just setting boundaries in
their own minds with how they like survive the toil

(50:34):
of working, and they're like, Whoa, there's a way that
you can get quiet fired too. You know what, it
doesn't matter, like people don't give a funk because, like
to Chris, your point, the if right now just like
it's this or beyond the street. So I'll make that
work like however fucking way I have to. Yeah, I mean,

(50:55):
it's it's it's just, Um, I've been alive for the
whole thing, you know, I remember, I remember when when
temp were like people were working forty hours a week
and they were calling it temp work, you know, and
I knew that something was wrong. You know, that was
the early nineties. I didn't know that it would lead
to absolutely stripping every benefit in the world, but I
knew and we all knew, and we're talking about back

(51:17):
then like this is bullshit, like, but realizing that we
were powerless, and that's the problem is there's no. You know,
if there's no union, and I think about show business,
you know all these like people who want to be
in show business. At this point it's like, do you
even want to be an artist or you just want
to be safe? Show business has strong unions. The reason
why people get paid in fucking show business is because
of union. There was no fucking union, like no sag no,

(51:41):
whatever the funk else. There is U Afterra. If there
was no AFTERRA, I'm I'm actually Um. What do you
call it when you're SAG eligible, Wendell Berry? No, was it?
Was it? Yes, that's Ta Taft, totally for life. I

(52:03):
got that bad for life. I could never get that
second gig. Well, Chris, as always, truly a pleasure of
having you. Man. Where can people find you? Follow you
all that? I like the way you just cut me off.
The hardcore. I don't care. I don't care, I like.
I need it. I need it. I'M gonna keep talking

(52:24):
about this stuff as soon after I turn off our
fucking zoom by myself. And that's why to a water ski.
There's a water ski in the corner. M My sail
this ship too. You heard that right. Yeah, right, you're
mucking motherfucking water ski I'm weeping. You're part of the problem,

(52:45):
fucking rich people water skiing. You piece of ship. So
you think the bike locks should be all you wish
your water skiing right now, a piece of ship. At
a time like this, Queen Elizabeth's Corgy died. Yeah, okay, stop,
all right, that's gonna do it for this week's weekly Zeite. Guys,

(53:08):
please like and review the show. If you like the show,
uh means the world to miles. He needs your validation. Folks,
I hope you're having a great weekend and I will
talk to you Monday. By