Weekly Zeitgeist 308 (Best of 2/5/24-2/9/24)

The weekly round-up of the best moments from DZ's season 324 (2/5/24-2/9/24)

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello the Internet, and welcome to this episode of The
Weekly Zeitgeist. 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 the Weekly Zeitgeist. Well, Miles,

(00:26):
We're thrilled to be joined in our third seat by
a digital research analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue,
where she researches online hate, extremism disinformation in the US.
It's being Lauren.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Hey, thanks for welcome. Oh, thank you for stopping by, Thank.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
You for being here on our silly show.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yeah, to talk about serious things because it's a big
year ahead.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
In twenty twenty. Fourth.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
From what I hear, what I'm hearing, it sounds like
good people.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Keeping saying that, and I'm like, what, like why, what's
the big what's going on? Is it because of the
super Bowl? Because I was.

Speaker 3 (01:07):
I was already involved in politics in twenty twenty, and
that was probably one of the most stressful years of
my life.

Speaker 4 (01:12):
Hands down. It was non stop.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
I think I had like four or five just straight,
like seven day weeks in the office till one two
in the morning, ordering food, getting rashes, from the stress.

Speaker 4 (01:25):
It was just awful. I can't just going to be
it was.

Speaker 3 (01:29):
It was mostly just all the prep work, all of
the like, because I'm researched extremism vaguely then, and it
was like getting all of the seed lists to get
all getting all the groups, to get all the discord
chats to kind of make the way so when things
kind of popped off, Yeah, but things popped off then,
like I.

Speaker 5 (01:47):
Was in it.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
Yeah right.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
I'm always amazed at, like, you know, people like you
and your colleague Jared Holt, who we've had on the
show many times, and he was like, you got to
talk to Sabine he got on Like of course then
if you say, Joe, like, we love the work you do.
But I'm always amazed at like how people get into
monitoring extremism, Like what how what was your journey there?
Like what were you doing, Like I know you said

(02:11):
twenty twenties when you start to get into it, what
were you doing in like twenty eighteen, Like was things
very different or what was your sort of path into
this kind of work?

Speaker 3 (02:20):
Really funny, I actually started doing this as a joke.
I was in college of twenty eighteen twenty nineteen. I
was in anthropology major. I recently switched and in Cells were
like the big laughing stock punching back to the Internet
at the time. I think ContraPoints had her video on
in Cells and I was like obsessed with it, and
so from my thesis I was like, Oh, how about

(02:42):
what if I did like a funny ethnography on like
the inner lives of in cells, like as a goof
for my the It doesn't matter, I'm already going to graduate.
I did it, and then I that was December twenty nineteen,
and then I looked for in twenty twenty January and
I got picked up by gq are, which is like
a polling consortium, and they were looking for researchers who

(03:03):
already knew about that kind of under CD underbelly of
the Internet stuff. And I got picked up immediately after
that and then worked for the whole election season and
I ended up becoming my career path fully on accident.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yeah, And are you embracing that? I know you say
like it's on accident, but I mean, like.

Speaker 3 (03:21):
The field and the people are really great, and it
just ended up being a really good mix for me.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
Right, something tells me you're a pretty good student. When
you do a thesis as a goof and get away
with it. I'm like, damn, this is really fucking good.
Killed that thesis. Maybe you want to do this for
a living higher them. Yeah, yeah, that's amazing. What is
something from your search history that's revealing about who you are?

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Well?

Speaker 6 (03:49):
I last night the last thing I googled was the
forty nine ers because I wanted to give myself a
forty nine or Valentine's nail, some Valentiners and I did it. Unfortunately,
the people at home k oh shit, logo, look at
the logos. Yeah, and I did a forty nine Oh shit,
damn lip prints.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (04:09):
I like doing my nails, and I was like, ooh,
it's Valentine's Day, the Niners going to the Super Bowl.
I'm gonna do SF Valentiner nails.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
Okay, okay, yeah. Yeah. We have a family.

Speaker 6 (04:23):
My family. When my parents came to from El Salvador,
they landed in San Francisco, and so they were just
hardcore Joe Montana fans immediately because they were just like, yeah,
let's do the American thing, watch football, and they they
tried baseball, didn't like it, and they but they loved football,
and so my parents have always been Niner fans since
they got to this country. So we have always been

(04:43):
Niner fans. And my brother is so excited that they're
going to the super Bowl and we always like do
shit on Super Bowl Sunday, Like, well, just have food
and we just hang out. It's just like a breason
to kick it with the family, which I always like.
So okay, I got my nails ready for the weekend.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yeah, m did Christmas? You know, just so many chips,
so many dips.

Speaker 6 (05:02):
So many chips.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
So yeah, what's the spread? What's the spread like for
your family?

Speaker 6 (05:05):
Do you never know? My mom likes to do different things.
Sometimes she'll order everything, sometimes she'll make everything. Sometimes it's
potluck style, everybody brings some things.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
I don't know.

Speaker 6 (05:13):
I don't I don't think she's thought about it yet,
so I'm excited to find it out.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
Yeah, as are you partaking this year? I didn't really know.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
I don't have plans, but I mean passively I'll end
up doing I mean, like maybe have it on in
the background.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
Yeah maybe.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
I mean I got to catch that halftime show. Uh,
oh for sure. Yeah, I want to see her sure,
but no, I don't really. I mean I've as a kid,
I was just never that, Like I was into the
NFL when like everybody was into the NFL.

Speaker 1 (05:41):
In the nineties.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
I'm like, oh yeah, when Dion Sanders was playing with
the Niners too, and even the Cowboys. I was like
going back and forth with that whole thing. But then
I just never I just never got fully bit by it.

Speaker 1 (05:50):
So I was just you know, yeah, there's a great
Joe Montana story that is making the rounds that I
love wearing. He Yeah, So the phone thing is the
latest update that during he would call his wife from
the field, like during games and.

Speaker 2 (06:05):
Like the field that they on the bench like with
there's a phone on the bench, Like everyone's like, oh,
he must be talking to his offensive coordinator.

Speaker 1 (06:12):
Yeah, calling his wife because he realized he could. And
like another thing about him that is like kind of
saying similar energy is like that there's this famous like
drive he like brings the forty nine ers down the
field in the Super Bowl and like the highest stress
situation that a quarterback like had been in to that point,

(06:35):
and one of the players on his team like recalled that,
like he came in the huddle to talk to them,
and he was just like kind of looking over their
heads and then he was like, is that John Candy.
Then he just like pointed John Candy, what's on the side,
and then he was like all right, let's go out,

(06:56):
and you know it just like chilled everyone the fuck
out there, just like, man, this guy doesn't give a fuck.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
He's like, oh man, you've seen planes, trains and automobiles.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
Oh that shit is so funny.

Speaker 6 (07:07):
I love that. That's how you know someone's really good
at their job, like they can be distracted and it
doesn't affect their game.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
Yeaeah exactly. And they're like, yeah, all right, we back
in it. Okay, yeah, but that was John Candy, right, okay, yeah, and.

Speaker 6 (07:18):
It's John Candy.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (07:20):
That motherfucker was huge in the eighties and nineties, so
that was like probably like oh shit, yeah right, a.

Speaker 1 (07:24):
Great taste, you know, great they knew John Candy was
like recognized that of all the celebrities, all the eighties celebrities,
that's the one you point.

Speaker 6 (07:34):
There's a big motherfucker you you can spott.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
That's true. It's also for practical purposes, he could get
his linemen to see him Yeah, funny.

Speaker 6 (07:43):
I do love that that phone story because the wife's
the first time it happened. She was just like, I
was watching the game and then the phone rings, and
I was like, who's calling me? During my you know,
my game. She picked up the phone. Hey honey, she
was like, what are you doing?

Speaker 1 (07:58):
Oh my god? Yeah, he's crazy. Right, the phone works
like a real phone, he said.

Speaker 6 (08:06):
He said, he was like, he just was like, you know,
because I think you like, remember you used to dial
nine to dial outside, right, Yeah, yeah, he just out
of know, we're just decided to try it and it worked.

Speaker 1 (08:16):
Yeah, it's adorable, so cute. I know what a what
a little like love story. I know, it's I love it.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
They're still together, yeah, okay, good, that would have been wild.
He's like, yeah, I divorced it right after.

Speaker 6 (08:29):
God it was a good man right there.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
Yeah. Joe Montana, what a name to Joe Montana.

Speaker 6 (08:36):
And that's and that's the other thing. That was my
my parents' favorite player. So like, you know, that's the
other thing with the Niners, the associated oh Joe Montana.
So like when he came out when the Niners won
the last game, he came out, my mom was like
it's like, he's such a fucking huge So it's cool.
It's just cool. It's just kind of nice to see that,
you know, those associations my parents have.

Speaker 1 (08:57):
Yeah, what is something you think is overrated?

Speaker 7 (09:01):
Over rated? Okay, so I am. I will just say this.
I live in an area that is very much becoming
heavily gentrified, and they just put and I still don't comprehend.
And I guess, Okay, so I understand why there's a
Starbucks on every corner. However, they just put another Chick
fil A on the other side of one of the

(09:22):
streets that, yes, like there's a Chick fil A right
on one side when you get off on the freeway,
and then they just put another Chick fil A on
the other side of Yeah, and I'm like, this is
so stupid, but it is. It's causing a lot of backup,
Like the like one of the main streets that I

(09:43):
used to get into my apartment complex is now like
I'm having to go around or go through the back
gate now because of how much traffic it is. And
it's just stupid. And I guess my overrated To get
to my point is the food is not that good.
I'm sorry, I don't believe that. I mean, it's not
even about the It's like the food is just not
that good and the lines are always so long, and

(10:05):
I'm like, do people really like unseeass and food that much?
Like because it's not seasoned well, the oil is not good.
Like there's nothing about Chick fil A that's good. I
don't get it. They don't even have soda.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
They don't have soda.

Speaker 7 (10:21):
No, I think they only have tea and lemonade.

Speaker 1 (10:24):
No, they gotta have soda, but they do.

Speaker 7 (10:26):
Not have soda. My husband said that they do not
have soda, and I am almost one hundred they don't.
I don't think they carry soda.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
That's is that trime against fast food? But yeah they
do they have coke.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
I was like, doctor John, you cannot operate in the
United States without offering.

Speaker 7 (10:49):
All these fake, fake newses. Yeah, come for you, right,
but the food is still terrible.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
It's not I mean, obviously what we learned with the
chicken sandwich wars, other people learned how to make a
good chicken sandwich. So you can no longer say that
there's only one rightful heir to the chicken sandwich thrown
but yeah, to your point, I hate when it, like
every time a Chick fil A opens up, it's the
traffic it causes. It's just like the same thing because
for so long in the West Coast, people never had

(11:15):
Chick fil A, And there's all these things like when I.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
Go back used to visit my family or whatever, like
we go to Chick.

Speaker 2 (11:19):
Fil A, and now that it's here, it becomes they
and you gotta line up and sure sure.

Speaker 7 (11:27):
Just same with in and Out. In and Out is
also overrated. It's good, but it's overrated.

Speaker 1 (11:33):
At least it's good like that. I was just having
that thought that like there there are these fast food
restaurants that have ceased being fast food because they are
so popular. I think the two that jump out to
me are Chick fil A and in and Out. In
and Out though, like once you're done, you just feel
like you've had, like you you've got what you came for.

(11:55):
Where it's Chick fil A, yeah, I feel like it's
it's just kind of coast on reputation at this point
and like be having been rolled out at a good
speed where it like never got overexposed or something. And
that's why Chick fil A like, I feel like they
did something smart along the way, they like capitalized on
some social contagion. And now I think this is just

(12:19):
like a very classically good, overrated I think you're absolutely right.
The Chick fil A is just you know it.

Speaker 7 (12:26):
And I know we've mentioned it here before. I've listened
to the show daily and I know that it's been mentioned,
but I just had to go back on record and
just say it's not worth the time and it is
not like even And I think to your point, I
think a lot of it has to do with those
the quote unquote Christian values. I think there's so many
people who are like, well, because it's such a strong
Christian org that's why we support it, because we're good Christians.

(12:47):
And it's like, baby, you like there's better food out there, Like,
spend your money somewhere else. Someone just made a point
about raising kings. Now I'm one of those clowns that
will sit in line.

Speaker 2 (12:57):
For raising kanes.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
Now give me some canes, Jack.

Speaker 7 (13:05):
Can sauce.

Speaker 1 (13:06):
I have not had canes. Jack. Are you a Christian?
You have been raising caine?

Speaker 7 (13:12):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (13:14):
Some days I wasn't able. There was always canes. There is, Baby,
it might actually be the the one, Like I think
this is maybe the fourteenth positive review I've heard of
Raising Cain, so maybe that's the one that gets me there.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
And then think, remember in the rehearsal, Nathan built an
entire raising canes for that one guy to confront his brother. Yeah,
it's in the air, it's in.

Speaker 7 (13:36):
The Yeah, I am that girl that will pre start.
But I can prestart my car from an app and
I will started my car to get in it to
go down to the raising canes. Honey, yes, yeah, I.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
Mean because also I mean if you, oh yeah, you
put canes up against Chick fil A, and I'm sorry,
Chick fil A, you have to go all the way
to the back because the Chick fil A sauce it
ain't it ain't.

Speaker 1 (13:56):
It's not the cane sauce.

Speaker 7 (13:57):
What's that other chicken place? Zaxby's good too? When I
go back, I always like Zaxby Zaxby's is really good.

Speaker 1 (14:04):
What uh what something you think is underratd.

Speaker 8 (14:06):
Chris experts like people valuing an experts opinion. I know
this is a little out of not not not as
on the nose as airport lounges, but I feel like anymore.
People will ask me about TV shows or like storytelling
or things in the media and be like, what do
you think of this, and I'll give them my opinion
and they'll be like, well, no, like I don't know,

(14:27):
and I'm like, okay, never mind. Yeah, it's it's not
what they want to hear. They're just like, oh, but
don't you think this, And I'm like, no, I actually
think exactly the opposite and here's why, and they just
that just doesn't it doesn't permeate, and it doesn't They're like,
just that doesn't agree with what they're into, and so
they're just like, I'm gonna just set that aside and
not even take it in.

Speaker 2 (14:48):
And I'm like, okay, yeah, I mean it's like it's interesting.
It take it takes a person to be able to
hear a thing that they weren't prepared for and just
be like, oh, that's new information or do the whatever
Ostrich effect or whatever they call it, just like no, actually,
I'm gonna just put my head on the ground because
I don't like what you just said and that's more
comfortable for me.

Speaker 1 (15:07):
The well, that's just like your opinion man effect. Yeah,
the dude, the dude effect.

Speaker 8 (15:13):
And I feel like you guys have a lot of
experts on this show in different ways and being we
will tell me about this, and like you actually listen
to them and like want to hear more and ask
them follow up questions rather than just be like, but
don't you actually think that blah blah blah is the
thing I've been waiting to say the whole time.

Speaker 1 (15:30):
But you should hear after after they get off the
zoom Call.

Speaker 2 (15:35):
Ship, right, yeah, we're like doctor, Oh.

Speaker 8 (15:41):
Yeah, you're like, oh he produced reality television. Give me
a fucking why should we trust? Why should we trust?

Speaker 2 (15:48):
His opinion on how that scene was filmed on that
season he worked on that episode, he worked on.

Speaker 8 (15:55):
Miles. I wish I was joking when I was like,
I was there when this you are And they're like
but and I'm like, there is no like I watched
this happen in real life, Right, you don't want to
believe what I'm telling you?

Speaker 6 (16:09):
Yeah? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (16:09):
Yeah, Oh man, that's amazing. Is there is there a
scene from like reality show you've been on that has
been analyzed like the Zapruder film? Oh yeah, a million
of them. I don't even know.

Speaker 8 (16:21):
I'm trying to think of like an example, not not
Zapruder film level, but there's definitely been stuff where it's
like why did this person do this? And I'm like
because of this and they're like, huh, I don't know.
I'm trying to think of like a good example.

Speaker 1 (16:32):
Well here's here's like a broad one is like why
do they talk about the person like knowing that this
is going to be on TV? What is it because
the me they know that the messiness is like part.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
Of the product or is it people like you Chris,
the producers that's now are they a certain type of
person who is just you know, like someone will leave
the room and they'll like be like, well that bitch,
you know.

Speaker 8 (16:59):
And then it's not but it's not as again, I
think that's something where we think it's like exactly that,
and it's more that like there is always a reason
that they're coming up in conversation, sure because of what
happened in the last time that they saw them, or
whatever happened over the time that we've not seen them,
like since we've been filming, we I saw this person
at this place and blah blah. And it really is
about if you want to go into like a Housewives realm.

(17:20):
It really is just about their interpersonal relationships, and so
it's like you are wanting to hear the opinion of them,
and it's they know that.

Speaker 1 (17:28):
That's I mean, that is what they know.

Speaker 8 (17:30):
Yeah, it's about them being friends or lack thereof, or
being in a fight or not being in a fight,
exactly about them as a group of friends.

Speaker 1 (17:37):
And so like they know that what time it is.

Speaker 2 (17:40):
And then the added calculus is am I willing to
scream about it in the tell all you damn right?

Speaker 1 (17:44):
I am?

Speaker 2 (17:45):
Yeah, I will, so I'll say this shit right now
to camp. Yeah, which like how the.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
First season of Survivor was about like people trying to
figure shit out and survive, like the premise, the o
sensible premise of that show, and then every season after
that is like people who have studied the game of
Survivor and they're playing the game of Oh yeah now it's.

Speaker 8 (18:03):
Like yeah, now, it's like who is like the Wikipedia
Survivor time is that by thirty and now here they.

Speaker 1 (18:08):
Are, Yeah, and they're gonna be great at the show.

Speaker 8 (18:10):
Yeah. Whereas like if I was like I've watched like
most of the seasons They're like, absolutely not.

Speaker 1 (18:14):
You can never come on the show, right, yeah.

Speaker 8 (18:17):
Like they're like, you don't like want to stalk Jeff Probes,
Like don't I don't think so?

Speaker 1 (18:21):
Yeah, yeah exactly. I mean we all want to stalk
Jeff Probs. Don't wait, don't we king? All right, let's
take a quick break and we'll be right back. Were back.

Speaker 6 (18:44):
She'd always been love to come back, and we're fucking
bike y'all. Here we are with the boys and the
one girl.

Speaker 1 (18:55):
Questionably some pretty cool stuff, man, we have yeah, God
damn man, sure do. Federal appeals court goddamn just rejected
arguments to refuse to wear a mask during the first
COVID outbreak was legally protected free speech.

Speaker 2 (19:13):
That's so wild that like it was hard to take
that as a real statement.

Speaker 1 (19:16):
Or actually I had to.

Speaker 6 (19:20):
Reread it because it was Actually I was kind of confused.

Speaker 2 (19:22):
I was like, wait, what, yeah, is this so? A
federal appeals court just rejected arguments that refusing to wear
masks during the first COVID outbreak was legally protected for
e speech.

Speaker 1 (19:34):
That's what the fuck I said, Man, that's what the
fuck I said. For the anti mask crowd.

Speaker 6 (19:41):
Yeah, big l big super.

Speaker 1 (19:43):
L super L, I mean too late, probably, I get.
I guess that'll be valuable for our next global pandemic.
But there are these two related cases of all the
people who claimed that they had been retaliated against by
the New Jersey school boards for refusing to wear masks
during the health emergency, and what one of them was

(20:04):
just dismissed out of hand because they're like, no, like,
your definition of retaliated against right like borders on the nonsensical,
so like, we don't, like you have not proved that
you were retaliated against the other one was kicked back
to a lower court. They took it serious as a
legal argument and were like, you know, refusing to wear

(20:25):
a mask during a public health emergency didn't amount to
free speech protected by the Constitution. They pointed out that
this makes as much sense as refusing to pay taxes
or wear a motorcycle helmet as a symbolic protest, which
I don't know why they had to come for, like
the ones that I'm actually down with, like not wearing

(20:48):
a motorcycle helmet or not, I mean, I don't know,
but not wearing no Connie Crew over here, that's right.

Speaker 6 (20:59):
Okay, it's no Condom Day and pinge on my freedom.

Speaker 1 (21:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (21:04):
You know what was that song you made like ten
years ago? You're like, oh, no condom style? Oh yeah,
he had a whole music video and everything. Lag okay,
back to life, no pun intended.

Speaker 6 (21:23):
That's funny. I used to do parody songs too, until
one of my friends made fun of me and I
believed him. Oh man, I'm so pissed I let him
hurt my feelings.

Speaker 2 (21:29):
Wait really, yeah, I used to.

Speaker 6 (21:31):
There was a I did a rude boy parody the
Rihanna and it was like I did like like if
I was from the version of Snooky Snooky's perspective and
it was just basically like fucking without a condom and
fucking in the hot tub and it was just gross.

Speaker 9 (21:47):
It was.

Speaker 1 (21:48):
It was funny, though, man, and you're a great singer,
as we said, Yeah, you know.

Speaker 6 (21:53):
It was when it was so rough, but it was fun. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (21:56):
I love I love it.

Speaker 1 (21:57):
Go back in the lab, Go back in the lab,
and what my.

Speaker 6 (22:00):
Partner makes music. And so I'm I don't know if
I told you guys, I'm moving to Chicago and I'm excited. Yeah,
And I'm excited because he makes music. So we're going
to make music together, like literally and figuratively. And I'm
excited because I was like, I want to do like
five song of every genre right right, because he can

(22:22):
and we just don't take it serious. Anyways, back to
the news, guys, what are we talking about? Nothing? Then
I want to do like, oh yeah, everything I want
to do. I want to do. Like remember in the
like the late nineties and early two thousands, there's a
lot of male rapper, female singer, a lot of those damns.
Like we want to do ship like like a five

(22:43):
just that doing that style. Yeah, yeah, exactly like that,
that type of ship, very hyper specific ship. But we're
gonna do all kinds of shit. I'm very excited. It's
gonna be fun. I'll be on here promoting that ship too.

Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (22:55):
Please, we'll write.

Speaker 1 (22:56):
Out on it. All right. We do need to catch
up on other more important stories. Masks you want to
talk about was important but not important anymore? Whatever? Who cares.
On the other hand, we we gotta hear what Donald
Trump thinks about bud Light.

Speaker 6 (23:13):
Oh yeah, this is a big one.

Speaker 1 (23:15):
Did a full on.

Speaker 2 (23:18):
This is just wild for some reason. Let's call it cash.
Donald Trump has declared on Booth Social that bud Light
is no longer on the MAGA shit list. And you
like this this like post, you know, like when somebody
else writes his ship because it's like a little too coherent,
and it like follows a bit of structure, even thought

(23:40):
right stylistically, it like reads like his. He just said
the bud Light ad was a mistake of epic proportions
and for that a very big price was paid.

Speaker 1 (23:49):
But Anheuser Busch is not a will company.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
But I can give you plenty that are and building
a list and might just release it for the world
to see.

Speaker 1 (23:57):
Why not.

Speaker 2 (23:57):
The radical left does it viciously to well run because
they're to companies and people very nasty, but it's the
way they play the game. On the other hand, Anheuser
Bush spends seven hundred million dollars a year with our
great farmers employee sixty five thousand. It's like starts running
down all this shit that Anheuser by him.

Speaker 1 (24:15):
He just did like three hundred gram adderalls and then
banged this out.

Speaker 6 (24:22):
Just wait, can we give Miles props for that? You've
been working on that impression. It's great, Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 2 (24:28):
Look, you know that's coming from somebody who's killing it
on national television with impressions that actually means a lot.

Speaker 6 (24:33):
Martello start pro I love an impression. I love the
impression from from an Asian guy. We don't get enough
of that.

Speaker 2 (24:39):
No, no, exactly, you don't have. You know, we're the
biracial like I could be leaning into every race right now,
and really and I get to because I'm black and Asian. Yeah, okay, sorry,
hate to use that excuse again like the one from
the nineties. But anyway, it's like interesting to see or
figure out what caused this whole thing. Maybe the donation
stop from Anheuser Busch. Is it because he's BFFs with

(25:03):
Dana White and the UFC and bud Light, like that's
like their main one of their main sponsors. Is it
because he saw some polling that made him realize that
being a piece of ship to people all the time
is bad? Others point out, is it because he has
between one and five million dollars in Anheuser Busch in
bev Stock knows? But I love how he's just talking

(25:26):
about Canon, an American company. They're owned by a like
their own.

Speaker 1 (25:30):
There's a Belichick company American companies.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
Yeah, so yeah, great American brand.

Speaker 6 (25:37):
What news is his supporters don't look at facts, so
now an American company, so right.

Speaker 2 (25:43):
And also a lot of people pointed out when they
were boycotting bud Light, they're like, they were probably just
buying another beer owned by the same company.

Speaker 1 (25:50):
Yeah, what's it called a bev Anheuser Busch in bev
in bev Yeah exactly.

Speaker 2 (25:57):
And I think also to be clear too, like when
he's like that the advertisement was a big mistake, they're
talking about the Dylan mulvaney thing where they sent out
like bud Lights sent out a bunch of personalized cans
to influencers with their face on it, and Dylan mulvaney
happened to be on that group of influencers that got
a can, so she posted the fact that she got

(26:17):
a bud Light can, and everyone's like they're doing a
fucking whole ad campaign. That's like like just all of
that is where all of this shit started.

Speaker 1 (26:24):
But who knows.

Speaker 2 (26:25):
There's other people like on Twitter who are like being like, yo,
this is just a conspiracy. Like Republicans like to tank
a brand that they own stock in and then they
buy the dip and then like, oh, wow.

Speaker 6 (26:35):
That's a great idea. I need to start doing that.

Speaker 1 (26:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (26:38):
They're like yo, they're like, hey, if you're in the
stock market, like just see what company they're going after,
and if the stock price starts going down by the dip.

Speaker 1 (26:44):
Yeah, I give you ahead of Super Bowl. Son.

Speaker 6 (26:48):
Wow, that's great financial advice. It's dip Christmas in the stocks,
bitch Christmas.

Speaker 1 (26:59):
Yeah. It's also like I do just want to acknowledge
that that whole backlash campaign has been wildly successful. Yeah,
the mainstream news story about that has been like a
bud light fucked up big time and like had a
terrible year, and like people in the business community like,

(27:19):
I think this is one of the stories that is
driving that whole backlash to having any sort of moral
compass as a corporation, you know that like they're just now,
you know, saying that we're gonna invest in like ESG
or you know, any sort of diversity equity initiative, like

(27:40):
all of that is a bad word in when you're
doing your earnings calls, because yeah, because there's ship like
this and yeah, it's a shame, it's it's very frustrated.

Speaker 2 (27:51):
Well, you know, they've got there doing. You know, Shane
Gillis is the new face of bud Light and Ship.

Speaker 6 (27:56):
Yeah, he's killing it. He's SNL this weekend.

Speaker 2 (28:00):
I think they're trying to be like, hey man, look
we kind of fuck with shitty people too, who have
like some questionable past and things like that, like don't
what the fuck you know?

Speaker 6 (28:08):
You know, but the reason that works is because most
people are shitty, and Republicans aren't afraid to accept their
their shitty past and their shitty present and their shitty future.

Speaker 1 (28:18):
It's kind of their whole thing. Yeah, yeah, we.

Speaker 6 (28:21):
Just don't get there.

Speaker 1 (28:22):
Yeah, we don't care, all right. I do want to
get to what's happening in the state legislature of.

Speaker 2 (28:29):
You get to that, huh oh, I musnd out.

Speaker 1 (28:33):
Unfortunately I must bro working on it right now. But
to pull your card, homie. Yeah. So there's a bill
currently making its way through the chambers that would essentially
prevent live performance venues from canceling a performer for exercising
their free speech rights and not just their ability to

(28:58):
not wear a mask when they don't want to, because
but you know, you can't cancel a show if the
performer says like racist or homophobic shit. Okay, that's okay. Now.

Speaker 2 (29:07):
So this bill is you know, it's being debated. It says,
like the text of it says, quote, the owner or
operator of a public venue may not cancel a live
performance of an artist or performer musical group because the artists, performers,
or musical groups lawful exercise of freedom of speech or
their personal beliefs for the purpose. So basically what they're
saying is, if that happens, then they have to pay

(29:29):
damages or like you know, execute whatever financials or in
the contract between the two and be like, okay, well
then you owe them that kind of shit. And every
people are like, what the what's the point? Like, there's
real shit happening all over the fucking place, and we
have this bill. Notably, the author of the bill couldn't
really even point to one example where this has happened,

(29:50):
except wait, the one time the libs messed up my
midlife Crisis Bands statewide tour.

Speaker 1 (29:58):
So this is what center fucking sky. What's his name?

Speaker 2 (30:02):
Let me make sure I want to make sure I
have his full name out there. Joel Rudman, Senator Joel Rudman,
he posted this shit on Facebook. Shout out to Robin
panank On Wankat for putting this piece together because it's
so eye opening. He posted this on Facebook about his
own fucking band. This is a elected official in Florida. Quote.
This is what liberals do. When I announced my concert tour,

(30:23):
I used event bright to process free tickets so I
could get a rough headcount for each gig. The woke
mob liberals flooded my system with fake emails and bogus names.
So now we have no way of knowing how many
do expect. Show these radicals what happens when you try
to cancel Conservatives come out and force Tomorrow night to
Horsepower Pavilion at seven pm. These liberals tried to cancel

(30:47):
my voice. I became Navari's Business of the Year. Then
they tried to cancel my medical career. I became state representative.
Now they are trying to cancel my concert.

Speaker 1 (30:57):
Fuck wow. Yeah, he's not a business man, he's a
business business man. Business of the year, yeah exactly. So
this guy basically couldn't accept the fact that no one
wanted to see his shitty band and decided to waste
time by using his office to like create a bill
that will most likely fail because, like, let's be real,

(31:18):
Florida isn't someplace where they're canceling acts for being Jesus.

Speaker 6 (31:22):
That's why that shit doesn't make sense because to me,
I hear it as like, oh, that's actually good for
people that are like pro Palestine, because they're getting shit
ripped out from under them exactly. And it's like, but
in Florida, you know, like no one's getting upset that
you're homophobic or racist or whatever. The fuck that's actually
gonna cel tickets, I think. But because he was giving

(31:44):
away free tickets, that's your problem, sir.

Speaker 1 (31:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (31:47):
And again it's just like it's like half. I think
it's probably ninety five percent this guy's fragile, fucking ego,
and then five percent like obviously this is like the
culture War playbook one oh one. It's like, act as
if this woke threat exists in your state, when actually
your state is like the antithesis of that, and that's
pretty much what he's doing. But dude, this guy's fucking banned.

Speaker 1 (32:09):
I had a feeling this guy's band was gonna suck,
and then he got to that paragraph where he was like,
then they tried to cancel my medical career. Yeah. Like, wait,
so you're not even a musician, you Horsepower Pavilion. I
couldn't make that.

Speaker 2 (32:25):
Sounds like a made up venue name and like a
viral tweet that someone would write it.

Speaker 6 (32:29):
Sounds like Deaf Puppy Comedy Club in Mantica, California.

Speaker 2 (32:32):
Deaf Puppy Comedy Club, but an actual place in Mantica, California.
Get your tickets at the end of this month. So yeah,
his band is called Doctor Rudman and the Freedom Fighters.
And then like I think their was called, uh the
Let me just get this right, it was called the God,
Guns and Less Government Tour. Oh wow, I just want

(32:53):
to give y'all a quick taste of this of his band.

Speaker 1 (32:57):
I cannot wait, God, Guns and Less Government? How cool?
How rock and roll is that?

Speaker 2 (33:03):
The Wild Thing is like a group of like middle
aged dudes are opening or I like, are clearly the band,
but they wait for him to go on stage.

Speaker 1 (33:11):
Is like the lead guitar player.

Speaker 6 (33:13):
He's a friend supploring.

Speaker 2 (33:14):
Okay, sorry that was that was him howling. Let me
just show you. This is him coming on stage for
everybody to see. And he's wearing his white doctor's coat.
Just so you know, this guy is a fucking doctor.
The band's singing now, he's coming up on stage, grabbing
the guitar, got his doctor coat on.

Speaker 1 (33:38):
Somebody get me a shot. Somebody got me a shot.
That's his catchphrase.

Speaker 2 (33:42):
I also love I love when I love when like
performers be like, yo, let me get a shot, and
then nobody gets much shot.

Speaker 6 (33:50):
It's one of the worst feelings. I gotta say, that's
definitely happened to be before we're going.

Speaker 2 (33:54):
To drink up here. Done that some of our live shows.
And then I just go to beg I'm like, hey, please, man,
I'll give you cash.

Speaker 5 (34:00):
Man.

Speaker 2 (34:01):
Would you mind just getting something really quickly?

Speaker 9 (34:03):
No?

Speaker 1 (34:04):
No, but here he goes.

Speaker 2 (34:06):
He's gonna just let everybody know. He picked up the
guitar as if he was gonna he realized, I gotta
take my coat off.

Speaker 1 (34:13):
Stripping well back to the fish house, taking off his
white coat or a gill a bad jean jacket under here. Yeah,
appeared to be in an equipment shed on the roof
of a condo in like a marina somewhere.

Speaker 6 (34:35):
This is where you watch live performance.

Speaker 1 (34:38):
Okay, here we goes.

Speaker 2 (34:39):
He's got interesting two tone bell bottoms on black and
red leather.

Speaker 1 (34:44):
He's so.

Speaker 6 (34:46):
He looks like he drinks bud.

Speaker 2 (34:47):
Light his like he doesn't even his his.

Speaker 1 (34:51):
Guitar has even turned up.

Speaker 6 (34:53):
Oh oh, there you go, well cow bell.

Speaker 2 (35:02):
Anyway, So this guy's band is wild. He's got some
kind of face paint on it.

Speaker 1 (35:08):
He looks like he's like, you know, a five year
old who did their own makeup as a zombie.

Speaker 2 (35:14):
Look at like, look at this woman who came up
to do a devil.

Speaker 6 (35:17):
Horns right in the way.

Speaker 2 (35:24):
Did you say there's no where's all the people see
what we want to know too?

Speaker 6 (35:29):
Okay, we all want to know the venue wants to
know that exactly.

Speaker 1 (35:32):
You're a good partner for supporting him and his fool's
errand of you know, narcissism. But wow.

Speaker 2 (35:39):
So yeah, anyway, this is the pace we're at with
the people entering public office.

Speaker 1 (35:43):
You know, just people.

Speaker 2 (35:44):
It's either like you got an axe to grind, or
you've got followers to gain, or a shitty band to promote,
or maybe fucking all three.

Speaker 1 (35:51):
Yeah, so what better place to do that than you know,
beautiful the right is getting good at rock and roll,
and the liberals are scared.

Speaker 6 (35:59):
I was really scared watching that. I was like, oh,
that's scary.

Speaker 2 (36:02):
Sheer pant those pants too, I love. It's just like
you can tell when people they have this like fantasy
image of like this alter ego they may have and
it has zero swag either.

Speaker 1 (36:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (36:14):
Yeah, and like some people, you'll be surprised. You're like, damn,
I didn't know you had that in you. Like that
it was kind of cool.

Speaker 1 (36:19):
Shot yeah.

Speaker 6 (36:23):
About an alter ego.

Speaker 2 (36:25):
Yeah, a few of them, like you know you got
that doc oc in you. But like this guy purely
is like was raised on like hair metal videos, but
also like he his hate filled heart doesn't know like
to open it to be like other I don't know
to like more creative pursuits. It's like, oh, wear leather,
red pants, a jean jacket, and I'll smear makeup on

(36:47):
my cheeks, but.

Speaker 1 (36:49):
My doctor's white jacket a white coat on top of it.

Speaker 9 (36:52):
Teen fantasy yeah yeah, yeah, and yeah, like he got
up there during the band, like the band was playing
a different song and just like interrupted them and held
up his guitar and was like.

Speaker 1 (37:05):
Somebody get me a shot, like, which is like you
can tell. It was like in his teenage rock star fantasy. Yeah,
but then like there's two minutes of awkward like tuning
his guitar after like cuts off ruins the other people's song,
and then is just like complete end of any momentum

(37:26):
that was being built.

Speaker 6 (37:27):
I'm also now realizing it was probably his wife that
came up, like okay, Gottle's tickets, Like she's like, I
just don't I'm tired of this. It's got to end,
you know what I mean. She's like, I can't do
this anymore. And it wasn't the liberals that were getting
him in canceled with his wife like you need to
come home White.

Speaker 1 (37:41):
A woman comes up in the middle of a show
of the show, stands directly in front of the camera
by herself, completely empty, no signs of a crowd like
in the sound or any like energy, and then she
just goes up and starts doing like devil horns, and
it's where's the crowd? Where's the crowd?

Speaker 5 (38:00):
Nobody knows this so hard the liberals stopped my crowd
from coming right exactly, But it's why you can hear
it from the ambient noise, like there's five people there.

Speaker 2 (38:10):
Yeah, Like that's it. There's five people there. I can
that I can hear.

Speaker 6 (38:14):
Victor said he wished he was there, and I gotta
say that is a type of shit I like to
see live. That is my favorite thing about like going
to a bar, like like a local bar and they're like,
there's live music. I'm like, oh, I'm staying for this.
I gotta know what's going on here tonight. That's my
favorite ship because that's exactly what you see, is that share.

Speaker 1 (38:30):
Just like wander in there like yeah, I always.

Speaker 6 (38:34):
Got a good deal on drinks, and that's the fries.
Just play. Whenever you have an opportunity to see live music,
like a small local bar, especially if you're like traveling,
please watch you get You will be entertained. It's not
what they want you to entertain you with. It's just
that you will be like this is a character. This
is some shit that they make characters on TV with.

(38:54):
These people are insane.

Speaker 2 (38:56):
These people they give us the joy, like these are
things that we like to share. It's go check out
some local music and just bask in the authenticity of
some of these people.

Speaker 6 (39:07):
I love a fifty year old band just grown ass
men just won't give up on their dreams and the
politics getting in there, and you're just like, oh, this
is good.

Speaker 1 (39:16):
Like usually I will encourage this to give them a
different vent, like a different outlet than politics, you know,
like when old like didn't Stephen King, like all those
like famous authors when they hit their fifties, were like,
and we're starting a rock band.

Speaker 2 (39:32):
Yeah, it's like.

Speaker 1 (39:33):
We're starting the most mid rock band in the state
of Maine, which is.

Speaker 6 (39:38):
Saying a lot, but that's how most of these people are.
Like it's like I'm I'm I'm not ashamed that I
pursued comedy, you know, like because I'm good at it
and I you know, you just got to work hard.
Like Ben Shapiro wanted to be a writer, comedian or
some shit and then he failed. So he was like,
I'm just gonna talk shit online. It's like his next
step is what being a band. He already put out
a rap song.

Speaker 1 (39:57):
Yeah, you know what I.

Speaker 6 (39:58):
Mean Like this, it's the people are just unsatisfied egos
and then they just rehabit because they're just not satisfied.

Speaker 1 (40:05):
Yeah. We feel like he became a doctor because he
had that vision in his mind of going up on
stage and saying somebody get me a shot at a bar. Wow,
Like all been building up to that.

Speaker 6 (40:20):
You think he's jealous of Ken Jong for actually being
a successful.

Speaker 2 (40:25):
Hate ken Jong because you know what he was probably
doing ship as the stand up comedian doctor Joel, And
he's like, wait, there's a guy named doctor ken Who
the fuck is this guy. They're like, dude, he's killing it, man,
he's fucking killing it.

Speaker 1 (40:39):
And he's like, fuck guitar woke. Yeah, all right, well,
I'm glad I saw that. I think let's uh, let's
take a quick break. We'll be right back. And were back,

(41:05):
and there was a whole Atlantic magazine those like if
Trump wins, But like I didn't see like any of
those stories like really breaking through or capturing people's imagination.
It just feels like people are kind of exhausted by
him at this point, which is something that we talked about,

(41:25):
like in the very early days of this podcast, like
of the Trump administration, the idea that you know, the
Nazis first came to power, they were front page or
just like when they first existed, rather you know, they
were front page news. It was in a national scandal
and international scandal. By the time that they came to power,

(41:46):
they were people were just like exhausted by it and
tired of like reading about them and like just people.
You know, it's the Bannon strategy of flooding the zone
with shit, and you just become kind of inert to it.
So I'm just curious, like to hear your thoughts generally
on like what you think a world looks like with

(42:08):
these groups preparing the way they are and like kind
of changing their changing how open they are. Like if
Trump wins, I feel like they become a lot less
scared of prosecution and like things go in a different direction, right.

Speaker 3 (42:24):
Yeah, I mean in my mind that Trump would would
probably also accompany a bunch of smaller the same election
wins for Republicans, and I think that that would end up.
I could see it being almost like you know how
Twitter was and how Twitter slash x is now, where
it's like you go online and like I saw beheading

(42:45):
online in my feed yesterday and it was just like
that's just around now and that was just part of
your everyday normal. I can see it being like you
walk around your city and you see like a white
price sticker on the stop sign, and that's just like
part of the landscape of where you live, and it
being essentially laws are paths that are that are you know,

(43:05):
regressive and bigoted, And I could see it being like,
you know, I think I'm thinking more in the sense
that it would feel just generally unsafe, but then also
have the coffee other being like and you would feel
like yeah, tired, tired, and like it's normal, and like
it sucks, you don't like it, but like it's a
bunch of title instances that go about your day, not one.

Speaker 4 (43:26):
Big guy yelling at you or fighting with you. What
are you going to do about it?

Speaker 3 (43:30):
And I could see that being like a you know,
every school board meeting is now some weird right rit
rings screen about how trans kids are ruining everything, and
that's every school board meeting now, and there's not a
lot of ways to let counteract that or like to
make that stop.

Speaker 1 (43:44):
Right.

Speaker 2 (43:45):
I'm like, you know, because just we're in an election
year and it feels like every time shit just gets
worse and worse, Like the technology gets better for bad
faith actors, the potential for violence increases. And I think
a lot of people will probably hear like, okay, so
there's not gonna be no j six two point zero

(44:05):
and probably be like, Okay, great, nothing to worry about,
Like they realize they've been fully dissuaded from trying that
shit again. No need to be vigilant about anything. But
you know, like I said, we've had Jared on the
show too, and we were talking about like white nationalism
two point zero and the rise of like active clubs
and things like that. Aside from like sort of those
groups and how they've sort of just like shifted or

(44:26):
what however they're going to participate in this upcoming year
or next few years. What can what do you think
people can expect to see from these right wing groups
in terms of what sort of activities they feel like
they're invested in in terms of like the build up
to the election.

Speaker 3 (44:42):
Yeah, I mean, I career for a lot of ads
about the very gross, disgusting ads in your YouTube and
your Spotify is and your everything. I would also say that,
at least from my perspective, viral content and like and
like just change the language. I mean, people use red
pill in Selly style language as on the regular even

(45:04):
if you are in the community. Now it's just now
part of the language of being online. And I think
that expecting feeling a weird like right wing ideology shift.
I mean, like this whole I mean, I'm seeing a
lot a lot of trad wife content, a lot of
a lot of white supremacists, like word usage or meme templates.

(45:25):
I mean, that's only going to get more and more frequent.
Feeling like everyone in your feetus constantly has some weird,
disgusting worldview where everyone's out for themselves and the outsiders
and the freaks are trying to ruin your life, and
like that's what's going to feel like. It's a constant
messaging wherever you go, and people are very much invested
in making it feel like you should be scared all

(45:47):
the time. The fact that you were upset and that
things are going well for you is somebody else's well
that you should specifically blame. And solutions that aren't that
or more nuanced in depth conversations, I'm going to feel
less like a part of your daily conversations.

Speaker 1 (46:04):
Mm.

Speaker 2 (46:04):
So, like, right, that's a lot of it is now
just sort of shifting to what can we create energetically
as an environment for people to operate in, and then
hopefully that will nudge people in the right direction. Or
just dissuade them from doing anything at all. That's some Yeah, yeah,
so grim, especially now when you look at just like

(46:25):
the rise of like AI shit and the like all
this deep fake stuff that's happening that can already like,
I mean, we're already seeing it and here little flashes
here and there are you.

Speaker 1 (46:36):
Yeah, as somebody who's like paying attention to misinformation online,
you know, we've done a couple episodes about AI and
you know we're somewhere between. This shit is scary too. Also,
like the way companies are using it is kind of
like hamfested and not not that impressive at this point,
but just generally, like, I know, my job has gotten

(46:57):
harder when it comes to being able to like find
reputable information on the Internet. I can only imagine what
it's like in the trenches, Like as you are trying
to track trends and things like that. Are you how
much of that is the new technologies that are advancing,
How much of that is that the companies have completely

(47:19):
given up on reining it in at all? And just yeah,
I'm curious to hear your overall thoughts on the state
of the union when it comes to disinformation online.

Speaker 3 (47:32):
Yeah, I mean when I was when I was doing
work in twenty twenty, I marveled to my coworkers about like, like, wow,
people on the right spend so much time doing illustrations
and making like interesting meme and art to like just
flood these systems, and I would like reverse image starts
constantly because there's always new things being made with AI.

(47:54):
I feel like that's only getting more frequent and worse.
I fly with disinformation. I mean when I'm doing when
I'm doing reports on the daily for my job, I
have to generally go back and fat chet and say
how people are saying this, what's actually happening and find
that information now, especially if it's a smaller local story
that doesn't have a bunch of news art news outlets
on it is so difficult to like see.

Speaker 4 (48:15):
Is what they're saying true or not.

Speaker 3 (48:17):
I don't want to just like write them off completely
as being like everyth say is a lie, and like
I want to actually do my research, but there's not
a local news article about it or someone or like
a reparatable source like trying to figure out something is
true that they're saying. I'm like they're saying it. I
honestly believe them, but there's nowhere else to look to
find different information. And I think that that's one of
the bigger issues. I mean we I mean, obviously Twitter

(48:38):
has the community know this thing, which is you know,
biased at best, but like having reliable fat checks, especially
for things that are more local or that on a
smaller scale, is like you're only getting the right way
narrative of any event, and to find the truth or
like the non biased thing is just so difficult, And
I don't I don't know how that's changing our people

(48:59):
perceive current events or or local events or just like
regular takes on everyday life, if they're only seeing one
side and like even if they don't like that person
like that opinion, there's no other opinion or other side
to look at to balance it out and define the
truth in the middle.

Speaker 1 (49:16):
Yeah, why do you think these big social media companies
gave up so completely? Like it seems like this would
be a time when you would be able to make
a name for yourself by being the one place that
actually tries to fact check. On the other hand, it
was already an extremely difficult task to fact check all
the misinformation, and now it's getting more difficult. Is it

(49:39):
just kind of that combination because we've also talked about
how most corporate entities have like gone away from doing
good from that idea being like, you know, it was
never their main driving impulse, but it was like fashionable
for a little bit to like have these ESG programs

(50:00):
and stuff, And now it's like a bad word to
say that you're investing in those things. Like where do
you think that kind of giving up came from?

Speaker 4 (50:11):
I think there are like a few things.

Speaker 3 (50:13):
One of the first things I'm thinking is that, like
I remember when they started to do kind of disinformation
countering and started to do those efforts, they got a
lot of pushback from actual Republicans in Congress because they'd
be like, my statement is getting fact checked and flatter
of the day isn't true. And it's like when you
start to objectively go about what is true information or not, Hey,

(50:37):
a real person has to traysically go through every single thing.
If someone doesn't get a joke and doesn't understand that
there's the satire that apsims get caught in the middle
of it. But also people who are making inflammatory rhetoric
then who are elected officials also get caught in that,
and then it starts looking to Republicans mostly that this
platform is being biased because it's censoring Republicans. Now they're

(50:58):
believing narrative for a long time that social media companies
are censoring the right because you put something up that's
like the COVID nineteen vaccine causes autism, and then you
get flagged, and it's like, well, then of course you're
going to get flagged. But then if that happens in
a weird biased scatagram, then like you think that that's
a negative or like it's a targeted harassment campaign from

(51:21):
the social media company.

Speaker 4 (51:22):
Also the fact that rage clicks make money.

Speaker 3 (51:26):
People engage with things when it makes you mad, and
so there's not really a financial benefit of having that
not be there. And also like, yeah, real people have
to go through and moderate spaces. I spend a lot
of time submitting posts for moderation or flagging posts for
reporting posts because it's like this person missed this, and
it's like a lot. I mean, especially Twitter slash x,
they cut down their moderation team basically zero, and Facebook

(51:49):
already doesn't really have a super big one that's always
on the clock, so it's like you're asking a team
of fifteen people to monitor the entirety of Facebook.

Speaker 4 (51:59):
That's a really gas They're going to miss stuff.

Speaker 3 (52:01):
And so it's like they have the company have to
invest in hiring your people and setting stronger, more specific
guidelines and then also ad hearing to those guidelines even
at the person that they're adhering to brings them a
lot of traffic and money to the platform. It's like
there's not a ton of upfront incentive.

Speaker 1 (52:20):
So it's the stuff that's always been true. It's just
again like the public they just got tired of, like
resisting the main impulse of capitalism to be like yeah,
no that you can do that. It's not profitable and
you'll get fired for doing it, but yeah no, go ahead,
it's great. That looks great on you. After a while,
the forces just kind of wear you down. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 (52:43):
Well then, also, just how much we've seen how much
conservatives have just worn even the media down to be like,
how dare you well fact check the words I say?
You're trying to silence me, and like there's no they're
like fuck man, I don't we don't have the will
to push back or we're not getting the directive from
the people high up to push back, So it's just
kind of like, Okay, I guess we'll just please appease them,

(53:06):
and then you event you end up in this sort
of place where it's like too much of a hassle
to follow through on those kinds of things, And it's
kind of like it's a little unsettling Sabine, right, because
with everything you're saying, it's like, you know, they're they're
not the fucking platforms aren't going to do anything. They're
fucking just doing their own thing, putting out their own news.

(53:28):
That is going to be the first point of contact
for a lot of people if they're looking at like
one of these stories or manufactured sort of scandals or
whatever it. What is the role that normal people can
play in sort of countering this, Like not to say
that like now you need to get on your moderation
shit and start like hopping in these spaces, but like

(53:48):
what what is like like what are the sort of
steps because I feel like all the time you hear
about like a project twenty twenty five or like these
other things are like what what the fuck? Like what
I mean not that this is specifically to that but
you're like, what do weo? Is the Left doing anything
about Project twenty twenty five, not that I can see,
But for regular people who are witnessing this kind of evolution,
I'm sure many people already live in areas where they

(54:10):
are seeing like white Pride stickers or they're getting fucking
KKK Nazi shit thrown in their driveway and is it
block bag filled with rocks and stuff like that? Is
what is the response or what is the what kind
of networks of people or can be created or things
can be done to sort of counter that?

Speaker 3 (54:29):
Yeah, I mean so online, particularly because most of my expertise. Yeah,
there are always some forms of practice that I think
I would endorse. I know people are like, hey, well
you're dunking on someone's screenshot and then do the dumps.
They don't get the engagement if your tweet goes viral.
There's also just I guess not encouraging behavior.

Speaker 4 (54:50):
Maybe we're not dunking at all. If you can help it.

Speaker 3 (54:53):
If you see a tweet or you see a headline,
take the extra time to see if it's actually true
before before you share it. Before you then again make
outrage bait A lot of a lot of particularly right
re accounts make their money and get their influence from
being inflammatory and like and triggering that like the instant
thing you to get mess and that you know isn't

(55:13):
right or that you know isn't true, and like taking
the time to like step back, think about is it
worth it to engage?

Speaker 4 (55:21):
Is it worth it if it really is a narrative
you want a counter.

Speaker 3 (55:25):
Screenshot it and talk about it on your own things
so they don't get the engagement, or and then make
sure you can like double check fact check whatever you're sharing,
like and not just doing an immediate emotional share offline.
I would say that, at least for me, there are
tons of people in my community have heard stuff or
said stuff, or like kids will come home and say

(55:46):
anything that they've heard at school, and like it all
feels in the moment like a one off instance of
someone being shitty, and like it honestly, it can be
more than that, and it can foster a bi it
like that's okay, and so like not letting those things
slide or let lie or kind of just brushing them off.
I know, like in my hometown, my parents were walking
by your school, someoney changed it to say a bunch

(56:08):
of slurs and like pro Nazi stuff.

Speaker 4 (56:10):
When everyone was on vacation.

Speaker 3 (56:11):
We took a picture of it, put it in the
county Facebook group and said, hey, this isn't cool. When
we talk about this, we had a conversation about talking
to your kids, if you have teenagers or anything in
the area, make sure you're talking about what is there
is not appropriate to do and what is this not.

Speaker 4 (56:25):
True about minority groups.

Speaker 3 (56:28):
That's meaning that you can do to kind of like
not just let it be a shitty thing that you
saw and then now have to I guess ignore a
brush ups.

Speaker 10 (56:38):
I know.

Speaker 3 (56:38):
Also, my company I See has a program called Strong
City's Network where they do deradicalization programming, trainings and classes
for city officials, for local officials, for community members about
like what you can do to fostered environment where extremism
doesn't feel welcome or safe in your area. There are

(56:58):
I think already existing anti hate groups that are either
national or that could be in your state. I know
that Virginia where I lives, certainly has some, and seeking
out those groups and participating is also great to feel
like you're doing something, You're getting involved.

Speaker 2 (57:12):
Right, Yeah, I think it's it's also I mean, it's
kind of a really interesting point too, where it's like
so much of the engagement that these inflammatory accounts get
is purely because of the reaction from people on the
other end of the spectrum, and it's like sort of
like it's that easy for them. It's like, dude, all
you gotta do is just say this, and then it
blows up and it's just.

Speaker 1 (57:32):
People dunk on you, and then their content becomes your content.

Speaker 2 (57:36):
Right exactly, and then it's like sort of like, yeah,
i mean, one of the biggest ways to sort of
like pull the rug out from under them is to also,
like to your point is like if you're gonna talk
about it, maybe don't share the handle or just take
the screenshot, so that actual individual post isn't getting the
sort of engagement that they need to feed the algorithms.
It kind of blows eyes, like just remember a lot

(57:57):
of this shit while it is upsetting, it's the hint
is for you to interact with it, so the message
goes further and wider. And that's like just such a
super subtle thing that, yeah, to think about how it's like, yeah,
it's kind of like a Rube Goldberg machine that it's
just kind of like, yeah, man, I'll get it this
one thing and he can do next thing. You know,
it's setting off all kinds of a warm below.

Speaker 1 (58:20):
All right, that's gonna do it for this week's weekly Zeitgeist.
Please like and review the show If you like, the
show means the world demiles. He needs your validation, folks.
I hope you're having a great weekend and I will
talk to him Monday.

Speaker 10 (58:38):
By spending nothing bad