Elon boycotts Netflix; Ted Cruz Hates Privacy; Kash Patel Calls ADL Terrorists; Extremism is Bad for Marriage; RIP AOL – NEWS ROUNDUP! - There Are No Girls on the Internet

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
There Are No Girls on the Internet, as a production
of iHeartRadio and Unbossed Creative. I'm Bridget Tott and this
is there Are No Girls on the Internet.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Welcome to their No.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Girls on the Internet, where we explore the intersection of technology,
social media and identity. And this is another installment of
our weekly news roundup where we dig into all the
stories from the Internet that you might have missed so
you don't have to. And I am so excited to
be joined once again by their neural Girls on the Internet.
Super producer Joey Pat. Joey, thank you for being here

(00:38):
on Young Kapoor No Less.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Yes, thank you, Bridget, thanks for having me.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
Yes the Young Kapor special starring Joey Pat, Let's go.
I did not partake in the Kapoor traditions this year
and nor do I any year because I didn't want
to so, which is usually.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
A great clear reason, because I didn't feel like it,
like okay, it's like okay, like quick tangent on judaism
really quick something with GM before that's some people.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
I guess people don't know is like if you're like.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
If you're you're somebody who shouldn't fast, like you're somebody
who has like a health condition, or you're elderly or younger,
you're not supposed to like it's it's it's it's like genuinely,
and I think Ramanan has like a similar rule. Like
I think that is pretty common in most religions. But like,
so on the one hand, I'm like, I've you know,
had some issues with I'm remembering to eat in the past,

(01:34):
so I technically should not be fasting, So I'm like,
I have the medical excuse. However, on the other hand,
it is like I am more of a cultural Jew
and honestly, if I'm going to give up one holiday tradition,
this is kind of the easiest one to like go of.
But yeah, respected solidarity to all of my Jewish friends
and family out there that are fasting. Proud of you guys.

(01:58):
Is now past sunset so you can eat again. Congrats. Uh,
you are braver than I am.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
Okay, Well, in that vein, I have a story that
I've put on here just frankly because I want your
take on it. Do you remember when we were talking
about how the Anti Defamation League or the ADL, which
is the self described anti Semitism watchdog and quote the
leading anti hate organization in the world. Do you remember
back when we talked about how Elon Musk did a

(02:26):
full on Nazi salute at the inauguration.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
And the ADL was like, y'all, it's a joke. Calm down.
Do you remember this? Yes?

Speaker 3 (02:35):
I do, and yes that is that is basically what happened.
Like I was not even paraphrasing. No, like, guys, calmed down,
like what okay?

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Well, today, the FBI Director Cash Ptel announced that the
FBI is cutting ties with the ADL and ending the
FBI is long standing partnership where the ADL would work
with law enforcement to train them and share information about
anti sim extremism and all of that. Patel called the
ADL a quote extreme group functioning like a terrorist organization.

(03:08):
But they'll also sigled out the relationship that the ADL
has with former FBI Director James Comy, saying, oh, James
Comy wrote love letters to the ADL and then betted
FBI agents with them, a group that ran disgraceful op
spying on Americans.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
That era is over.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
This FBI won't partner with political fronts masquerading as watchdogs.

Speaker 3 (03:30):
And this is clearly because the FBI has gone woke
and they understand that the ADL oftentimes uses very vague
definitions of what anti Semitism is to you know, curb
people that are protesting the state of Israel and some
there actions. Right now, that's obviously why, right, It's because
they care THATBI cares so much about like Palestinian human rights.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
Obviously, I mean, I wish I could say it was that.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
I wish I could say that that the ADL has
has the FBI is calling out the ADL for this. Basically,
what's going on is that the ADL published what they
called a glossary of hate and extremism on its site,
and it included things like Christian identity, which is an
ideology rooted in the idea that God only meant for
white folks to live in the garden of Eden, and
that Jewish folks are actually descended from the biblical serpent.

(04:16):
The ADL also listed Charlie Kirk's organization Turning Points USA
in its glossary, saying that Turning Points USA quote has
a history of bigoted statements about the black community, the
LGBTQ community, and specifically transgender people. Elon Musk did not
like this. He branded the ADEL a hate group and
accused them of encouraging murder, saying using such false and

(04:38):
infammatory labels about people and organizations it encourages murder. So
the ADL was like, We're sorry, and then just deleted
this glossary of hate and extremism from their site, and
they put out a statement saying at the same time,
an increasing number of entries in the glossary were outdated.
We also saw the number of entries being intentionally misrepresented
and misused. So something that I kind of can't stop

(05:02):
thinking about is who is the ADL for.

Speaker 3 (05:04):
At this point, I know exactly who they're for, and
the same people that like Liz Cheney endorsing Kamala Harris
was for. It's for like this I think. I'm not
going to say imaginary, because they do exist. I just
think they are much smaller of a group, and I'm
like they have way much less power than I think

(05:27):
certain politicians kind of ascribe them to have. But it's
for this like small group of primarily white, upper middle
class liberals, some of whom may be Jewish, a lot
of whom probably aren't, but probably like think they're more
or less progressive, but still are holding a lot of

(05:48):
I would say racist beliefs toward certain groups or communities.
I think these are like the types of people that
are like, well, I think importations are good.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
I just don't like what Ice is doing right now.

Speaker 3 (06:03):
People that were willing to turn a blind eye when
the Biden administration was doing things you know that we're
hurting immigrant communities and queer people and trans people and
any other marginalized group, but now are up in arms
about it.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
I think like that is who this is for. This
is one of those.

Speaker 3 (06:22):
Stories where I there was a story like last week
that I think you said was like you were like,
this is setting off all of my Like this was
made perfectly.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
In a laugh laugh, like this is this kind of thing.

Speaker 3 (06:32):
Because on the one hand, I am one of the
ADL's biggest haters.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
I will be upfront about that.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
They are a terribly ron organization. The idea, great idea,
great concept. The way it's run horrible. The way that
they define what anti semitism is not accurate and deeply harmful.
They like this is a group that labels like prominent
Jewish activists and activist organizations as anti Semitic.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
Right, but also so.

Speaker 3 (07:01):
Cash patl uh not really somebody I want to be
putting my faith and trust in to you know, protect
us from white Christian, evangelical xenophobic.

Speaker 2 (07:17):
Whatever.

Speaker 4 (07:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
Again, it's like I think like they did list that
they did on one hand, like list groups like Turning
Point and like this idea of like white Christian nationalism,
like it highlight a lot of these things. It also
was an organization that went after a lot of like
Black Lives Matter protesters and a lot of people that
were sort of aligned with Palestinian human rights, not even

(07:42):
like the liberation of a Palestinian state, like just straight
up like acknowledging that these are people that have rights.
So yeah, it's like I'm not really gonna this is
how I think for me, this is my Jimmy Kimmel
Like I'm I'm kind of like I don't want to
be defending this group, but in this one situation, I
guess I kind of have to be. I don't know

(08:05):
that maybe that was not the apt comparison, but no,
I know what you mean.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
Where you don't it's like you find yourself defending organizations
and people that you're like I never thought I'd see
myself defending, but I want to ask you because I
feel like this is an example of what happens when
you kind of try to play ball and play nice
with like a fascist organization or a fascist regime. I
really think like there's state the statement that ADL put

(08:32):
out I found so sad so after Cash Battel called
them essentially a terrorist organization and Elon Musk that they
were essentially like helping people murder by making their claims online.

Speaker 2 (08:44):
Their statement just said.

Speaker 1 (08:47):
ADL has deep respect for the FBI and law enforcement
officers at all levels across the country who worked tirelessly
every single day to protect all Americans, regardless of their ancestry, religion, ethnicity, faith,
political affiliation.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
Or any other point of difference.

Speaker 1 (08:59):
There's that didn't even push back against these pretty big claims,
like they called you all terrorists, they said you were murderers,
and it's just like, oh, well, we respect the FBI.
I think that that's that toothless statement. It's like this is.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
What happened, Like this is what happens when you play
ball with fascists.

Speaker 3 (09:15):
No for real, I mean going back to like them
getting called out for doing their job and just having
this encyclopedia of hate groups and symbols and stuff like
that ideology which again I didn't always agree with stuff
they designated as hate groups. That being said, the fact

(09:37):
that they were like, oh, we received a little bit
of criticism from this, about this from the Christian right.
We're just gonna take it down and be like, oh,
we're so sorry. We love you Elon Musk. I mean,
like before, like Elon Musk kind of made his you know,
little hand gesture on TV and sort of like full
Nazi turn all of a sudden. There was a point

(09:57):
where Jonathan Greenblatt, who is the CEO of the was
like on Mike like praising me Elon Musk and being like, yes,
he's such an ally to the Jewish community.

Speaker 2 (10:06):
We love him, He's great. Are we sure? Are we
sure about that? Like I don't know.

Speaker 3 (10:11):
It is kind of like watching the ADL function for
the past like like since you know, I think since
I've become politically conscious, but also especially within the past year,
has been like yeah, it is like watching a train wreck,
but like watching a train wreck where there's like like
somebody waving with the sign that says I have a

(10:32):
bomb and they were like able to stop or change course,
and instead of doing that, they were like, well, why
would he have a bomb?

Speaker 2 (10:39):
Yeah, he looks so nice. That's that's a good way
to describe it.

Speaker 1 (10:45):
Do you think that there's a so the contingent that
you were speaking about that you think there's sort of
four right, like nice, polite, liberal white folks. Do you
think that this move with the FBI essentially calling them
an organization that functions like a terrorist organization? Do you
think that that will shrink the base of people who
like the ADL or look to the ADEL or respect

(11:07):
to the ideal, like is like are they are they?

Speaker 2 (11:09):
Is it over for them? I don't know.

Speaker 3 (11:10):
I do I think that like that specific again, and
this is generalizing about a large group of people. I
think that is like because the ADEL, because the ADL
has the reputation it does. I think this is like
a group that probably would look at this and just
be like, oh see, this is just further like they don't.
It's it's a group that doesn't like the Trump administration
either and doesn't like what the Trump administration is doing,

(11:33):
maybe not necessarily for like the same reasons that I
don't like them, and I don't like what they're doing, but.

Speaker 2 (11:38):
They still don't like it.

Speaker 3 (11:39):
So I mean, I'm thinking of again, like some of
the people in my life, particularly like older relatives that
are you know, consider themselves to be progressives, are democrats,
but I maybe don't necessarily see eydiye to them with
a lot of things. I think like there are time
people they would be just be like, oh my god,
I can't believe this is happening. This is insane, similar

(12:02):
to a lot of the things that have been happening lately.
Like I think there's just kind of been this response
of like, Wow, I can't believe they're doing this. That's terrible,
but that's illegal. I don't know, and it's like Okay,
well it's happening.

Speaker 2 (12:16):
So I don't know.

Speaker 3 (12:17):
I don't think this is gonna change the view of
the ADL to those specific people. I think the people
on the left that don't like the ADL, this probably
what you were saying. I think this is just gonna
kind of confirm like, yeah, this is what happens when
you fold too fascists and you give them.

Speaker 2 (12:33):
A crumb, they're taking the whole cookie. They're you know,
I don't know, come in for the whole, damn cake, whole,
damn cake, hol buffet.

Speaker 4 (12:45):
Let's take a quick break at our back.

Speaker 2 (13:01):
Speaking of giving an inch, and they take a mile.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
I didn't really want to talk about this, but it
looks like it's getting traction, so I'll talk about it.

Speaker 2 (13:11):
And we haven't done this on the show in a while.
But do you want to know what Elon Musk is
up to? Oh God, what's Elon doing? Now?

Speaker 4 (13:20):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (13:21):
That was it?

Speaker 1 (13:22):
Yes, Well, Elon Musk is trying to drive a boycott
of Netflix. And that is because a children's show had
a trans character. And say, it is so even by
even by the standards of silliness that we are used to,
it is so fucking silly. So because this show had

(13:46):
a trans character, it's a kids show, he's saying that
it's transgender propaganda because according to trans philbs like him,
just any kind of media that acknowledges the existence of
trans people is transgender propaganda. The whole thing is so silly.
So here's what's going on. Basically, after Charlie Kirk was killed.
Side note the way that the way that people have

(14:08):
been using Charlie Kirk's death as a way to sort
of remake the fabric of our cultural society is the
quickness that they've tried to be like and I have
this grievance and that grievance that should be taken care of.

Speaker 2 (14:23):
Has been very interesting. But Charlie Kirk was killed.

Speaker 1 (14:26):
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer made a post about it
on social media. Hemi Steele, who is an animator and
the creator of a Netflix show called dead End Paranormal Park,
commented on the British Prime Minister's post, asking why, as
the Prime minister, are you commenting on the death of
a quote random Nazi libs of TikTok our old foe

(14:48):
of course saw this and retweets it and says you
will never guess who the creator of this show is.
A he Slash is a LGBTQ Blue Sky fan who
mocked Charlie Hirk's murder and called him a Nazi.

Speaker 2 (15:02):
Also part of me is like, it's funny that she's
snuck Blue.

Speaker 3 (15:04):
Sky Fan in there, Like I was gonna say, I'm
proud of her forgetting the he they specifically, I checked
the pronouns on Steele's bio.

Speaker 2 (15:15):
Those are correct. Pronouns like a day, them were the
blue haired? They thems? But no, she went h he
they lgbt Q blue Sky fan. Get it right? What
are the other things? Like? This is so funny to me,
the things that she that she is like, you know
what I'm saying? He likes blue Sky.

Speaker 3 (15:38):
So they're a millennial like, right, no offense, But I'm
none taken.

Speaker 1 (15:45):
I'm a proud millennial. So then Lives of TikTok posts
another tweet saying, o MG, dead end. Paranormal Park, a
show on Netflix is pushing pro transgender on all caps children.
This show is advertised for seven year year old It's
being promoted on Netflix Kids Now Parents, All calves beware,
and then includes a very short scene from the show

(16:08):
where a character comes out as trans. So, because we
know he's a massive transphobe, this was a bat signal
to Elon Musk, and he was like, trans people existing
where I must bounce. So he tweeted that this was
quote not okay and rallied his followers to boycott Netflix.
But here's the thing. This show that they're all up
in arms about has actually been off the air for years.

(16:31):
It was canceled back in twenty twenty two, so it's
been off the.

Speaker 2 (16:33):
Air for quite a while. A classic classic Netflix show.
You know, Yeah, how many show?

Speaker 4 (16:39):
That's what?

Speaker 2 (16:40):
There's so many shows? This is okay, I'll be real
with this story. Okay.

Speaker 3 (16:43):
I saw on I Think Like Them posted an article
about it, and I just like saw it on my
Instagram feed and I was like, I had a second
because it just said a Netflix show that was canceled
in twenty twenty two, and I was like, this could
be so many shows. Like I was like, I was like,
I need to open the comments try and figure out
what it is. Sorry, bad journalist in me, I should

(17:03):
have I checked. I definitely clicked on the article and
read the actual article at to see and definitely didn't
just see this when I was doom scrolling on Instagram.

Speaker 2 (17:11):
Whatever.

Speaker 3 (17:11):
Uh, let's pretend that's what happened. But I was like,
I like a million shows went through my head where
I was like, I wonder if it's this or this.
My first thought was I was like, oh my god,
it's Sensate because I was the first show I could
think of that head of trans character that show was
canceled years ago. I don't even I never watched that show.
I just it was not for children. It definitely was
on a show for children either, But yeah, no, I

(17:34):
did think it was kind of funny that I was like.

Speaker 2 (17:35):
My first thought was I was like, yeah, which canceled
Netflix show? There are a bazillion of.

Speaker 1 (17:41):
Those, and I will say to me, that's a reason
a boycott Netflix.

Speaker 2 (17:45):
I got.

Speaker 1 (17:45):
I got hooked on this fantastic show on Netflix with
Jeff Goldbloom, Chaos. They canceled it in one season, and
so I was like, I was like very invested. I
was burning through the episodes. Then they announced it it's canceled,
and it's like, what's the wait, Well, why even finish?
I'm not even gonna get an ending?

Speaker 2 (18:03):
Why even finish?

Speaker 1 (18:03):
Now there's a legitimate reason to boycott Netflix, not this nonsense.
So you're here it now, Yes, you heard it.

Speaker 4 (18:10):
Now.

Speaker 2 (18:10):
That's how I thought about.

Speaker 3 (18:11):
There was that lesbian vampire yeah show that they canceled,
Like I was like about to watch it. I just
finished coming out and then they canceled it and I
was like, well, now I don't really want.

Speaker 2 (18:20):
To watch it. Yeah, uh, you're hearing it now.

Speaker 3 (18:22):
We're calling for a boycott of Netflix until I bring
back all of the shows I've only had one.

Speaker 2 (18:28):
Season, bring a stuff, Goldbloom, come on.

Speaker 1 (18:31):
Genuinely, I this is such a tangent, but I get
so irritated because Netflix and then also just the streaming
lands gave us so different But they will cancel shows
so quickly, And think about it, how many shows do
we love that didn't really find their footing until season three,
season four?

Speaker 2 (18:47):
Exactly, Seinfeld?

Speaker 1 (18:49):
When it first came out, the first few seasons were men,
they were not well reviewed. What if somebody pulled the
plug then? Right, Sometimes shows need a little bit of
breathing room for folks to get to know them. And yeah,
stop canceling show so quickly, exactly now, one hundred percent.
I agree it's a conspiracy. What is going on?

Speaker 3 (19:06):
They don't want us to have good TV anywere But
I agree. I think I got not to go on
too much of a tangent. But I'm like one of
my when I was in high school, my hair at shows,
parks and rec The first two seasons are terrible, like
famously right, but yeah, no, it is like streaming has
been bad for again, there's a bazillion amazing valid reasons

(19:27):
to boycott Netflix. I do find it kind of funny
that Netflix is one of these companies. Again, this kind
of is similar to the Idel story, Like I feel
like Elon Musk, proud loud transphobe calling for a boycott
of this platform that also has treated its trans creators
and employees terrorists. Like we did eight an episode on

(19:48):
this show, so I remember editing that was about how
they laid off all of these like queer employees that
they had. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (19:57):
It is kind of like, hey, you can't win with
these people.

Speaker 3 (20:01):
But also like on our sign, I'm kind of like
and and sorry now you want me to defend you.

Speaker 2 (20:06):
No, I think you said it.

Speaker 1 (20:08):
You can't win with these people. And the fact that
this show has been off the air for years.

Speaker 2 (20:13):
What do you want?

Speaker 1 (20:14):
It's not as if queer and trans and marginalized creators
are running Hollywood running studios like we're not.

Speaker 2 (20:24):
I mean it from your List.

Speaker 1 (20:26):
To God's Ears maybe, but it's just like what else
do you want? What else do you want? How how
would Netflix? They can't go back in time and recancele it.
It's just it's just grievance after a grievance after a grievance,
and I gotta say I really feel bad for Steel
because on Blue Sky, Steel was like, the show is
so Limbits of TikTok was like this show is being

(20:47):
promoted on Netflix to kids, and Steel was like, that's
not true. It's all lies and slander. Netflix is not
promoting the show at the moment. And then I also
feel very bad because they followed up with I will
just say today is much worse and I going to
basically be down low for the foreseeable future. My apologies,
and so again, this person did not do anything wrong,

(21:08):
just happened to I guess have the wrong opinion about
Charlie Kirk, and now they are able to slander work
that they did years ago on a partnership that they
had years ago with Netflix, And I guess I really
do think what they're advocating for it's not even really
about this show. It's about we demand the entire culture

(21:29):
be remade in the way that we want it to be.
We want the only movies that shows that people can
watch to be the ones that we like. We want
the final say, we want all the cultural power and capital.

Speaker 2 (21:39):
That's really what this is about.

Speaker 1 (21:40):
And the way they're trying to use Charlie Kirk's death
to remake culture in their idealized image is just really
sad and gross to me.

Speaker 2 (21:50):
I mean, I think they tried it. They had a
very narrow window.

Speaker 1 (21:52):
With the Jimmy Kimmel thing, and it seems to not
have taken. And I think now they're just like, Okay,
let's just throw a bunch of shit at the wall
and see what sticks.

Speaker 3 (22:00):
Yeah. Yeah, it really is insane because yeah, exactly like
you said, it's like, hey, no, none of this has
to do with Charlie Kirk's death in the slightest, Like
maybe we should like just take a page from their
book at this point, if if you listener have a
show that got canceled that you're really sad about, I
think you should like tweet at Netflix and be like,

(22:22):
do you know that this was actually Charlie Kirk's favorite show.
We need to be honoring Charlie Kirk, to be honoring
his legacy Chaos back on their he was literally a father.

Speaker 2 (22:34):
Get called call up Jeff Goldbloom. This is such a tangent.
I'm gonna I'm sorry everybody. I'm in a tangent mood.
Have had two drinks.

Speaker 1 (22:43):
I rewatching the show Community and the characters, so it's
such a it's it's a very good rewatch.

Speaker 2 (22:49):
Honestly, this is this is like I could go on
all day.

Speaker 1 (22:52):
But something about the show it has such an optimistic
kind of like, even even though it's very meta and
it gets dark and all of that, but it ultimately
is grounded in a kind of optimism that just feels
very good to kind of remember and have nostalgia for.
But there's a scene where the characters Troy and Ahbed
revealed that if one of them ever dies by suicide,

(23:13):
they have a way to frame it to make it
seem like it was related to getting the show Firefly
back on the air.

Speaker 3 (23:18):
Yes, I remember that, but I get also a huge
community found. I've watched it so good many times and
it is a great like feel good show to go
back to.

Speaker 2 (23:29):
Yeah, yeah, I Troy and Ahbed they knew what was up.
They knew what was up.

Speaker 3 (23:34):
We actually people don't know this, but Community was actually
Charlie Kirk's favorite show. And the fact that they still
haven't made the Community movie six travesty.

Speaker 2 (23:45):
It's a travesty sixties of the movie.

Speaker 1 (23:47):
Yeah, we should just start saying that Charlie Kirk really loved.

Speaker 2 (23:51):
Things that we liked, and then he was a huge
Troy and abbed.

Speaker 3 (23:55):
Yeah, I hope in the movie we find out that
they actually got married and we found his secret fan thick.
They still live with Annie. I'm now revealing how many
times I'm seeing this fucking show. But yeah, yeah, Bridget,
we'll do it. We'll do a community rewatch podcast. That'll
be our next next project.

Speaker 2 (24:17):
I'm so ready, I'm so ready.

Speaker 4 (24:21):
Let's take a quick break at our back.

Speaker 2 (24:38):
Well, should we talk about Ted Cruz. Let's go, let's
talk about Cruise. We'll talk about Ted Cruise.

Speaker 1 (24:44):
Okay, So, after the horrible assassination of the Minnesota lawmaker
Melissa Hortman, her husband Mark, and even her dog, we
talked about how the attacker was able to get her
home address and the home addresses of other Democratic lawmakers
that he targeted through data brokers. So data brokers, it
is an issue that I've talked about on this show.

(25:05):
Data brokers endanger everybody, but especially anybody who is from
a marginalized background. If you're a woman, if you're a transperson,
if you're a queer person who's in the public eye,
or running for public office or holding elected office, you
are going to be more likely to be disproportionately targeted
by the fact that all of our personal information, including
our addresses, are just available to the highest bidder online.

(25:27):
So after that horrible attack, MSNBC published the items that
the attacker had on him during the murders, and it
included photos of a notepad they found in his car
that had a long list of people's search sites where
anybody can basically find the home addresses of anybody in
the United States. He had notebooks in his car that
included Hortman's name and address. So these data broker sites

(25:51):
and people search sites, they are such a just a
plague on our society. Anybody can buy the personal inefrom
a of anybody, and if you've ever paid a parking ticket,
or voted, or gotten the utilities turned on in your home,
your information is likely for sale, and your local and
state government might even be the entities putting that information

(26:13):
up for sale. Federal lawmakers like Senator Ted Cruz do
have enhanced protections, but because Melissa Hortman was a state lawmaker,
she was just as exposed as you or me. Those
of us who are not federal lawmakers, really have no
meaningful data protection or privacy legislation in this country to
protect US. Senator Ron Wyden was trying to change that.

(26:36):
Tech Crunch reports that he asked to send it for
unanimous consent from Senators to pass his legislation, the Protecting
Americans from Doxing and Political Violence Act. So, this bill,
if passed, would have taken bipartisan past provisions designed to
protect government officials and lawmakers and their families from having
their personal information sold or traded by data brokers, and

(26:56):
extended those protections to all of us, to every American
and living person in the United States. Widen said members
of Congress should not receive special treatment. Our constituents deserve
protection from violence, stalking, and other criminal threats. Protecting everyone
is the most effective way to protect US military and
intelligence personnel, including undercover.

Speaker 2 (27:18):
Officers, he said. So, I've been saying the same thing
on this show for years. We need meaningful data privacy
protections for everyone, full stop and of sentence. But do
you know who doesn't feel that way?

Speaker 1 (27:31):
You know who doesn't feel that every American deserves data
privacy protections.

Speaker 2 (27:35):
I've got a guess. I've got a guess it's Senator
Ted cruz aw Man.

Speaker 3 (27:41):
I love that specifically the quote was protection from violence, stalking,
and other criminal threats, because it's so funny to picture Ted.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
I mean, he probably would hear that and just be like,
wellly don't.

Speaker 1 (27:52):
Yeah, yeah, I deserve that, but not that you all
won't deserve that.

Speaker 3 (27:57):
Oh, you deserve the right to enact myviolence. Yes, you
do deserve that. Yes, No, no, not protection. I don't know,
not about that.

Speaker 2 (28:04):
That's too far.

Speaker 1 (28:05):
That's essentially what he is saying. Like, that's hardly even
an exaggeration. Because Ted Creuves decided that even though he
gets this enhanced protection, the rest of us we don't
deserve it at all, and he blocked an effort to
pass legislation that would have extended these data privacy protections
that federal lawmakers like him enjoy to.

Speaker 2 (28:24):
All of us. His reasoning behind this is truly wild
to me, And it's wild to the point.

Speaker 1 (28:28):
Where I'm like, well, what's really going on, because what
you're saying doesn't even make sense. So the reason that
he cited for why he doesn't think the rest of
us deserve the same protections that him and his family
get is because if all of our data wasn't just
up for grabs, it might potentially interfere with law enforcement
in some way. Question Mark, I don't know so completely

(28:51):
living up to his reputation as like a lonely pariah
who everyone hates. Cruz was the sole objecting senator to
this bill, claiming without evadence, the bill could disrupt law enforcement.
Quote such as knowing where sexual predators are living. But
think about that for a second, because we already have
a sex offender registry list that gives the addresses of

(29:14):
where convicted sex offenders live, and TechCrunch spoke to Daniel Schuman,
the executive director at the nonprofit the American Governance Institute,
who pointed that out, saying that that was completely.

Speaker 2 (29:25):
Wrong and that yeah, federal law already.

Speaker 1 (29:28):
Requires a publicly available registry of sex offenders. He said
that registry lists offenders names and addresses online so parents
and communities know where they live, adding that Widen's bill
leaves that system fully intact, explicitly permits law enforcement to
share information with at risk individuals and exempts the press
so news outlets can continue reporting freely on offenders nothing

(29:50):
in the bill would prevent parents from being notified or
limit public access to this critical information. Schuman said, So, yeah, Ted,
Cruse's explanation for why all of us don't deserve the
same protections that he and his family get doesn't really
make sense or hold water.

Speaker 2 (30:07):
And I think it's really just a money thing.

Speaker 1 (30:09):
You know, this is just my opinion, But y'all might
remember that Cruz also introduced legislation that would have allowed
the White House to unilaterally exempt AI companies from nearly
all federal regulation. And he was also behind that ten
year moratorium on any state level AI legislation. So I
think he's just in the pocket of big tech. And
I think for all of his posturing about protecting freedom,

(30:33):
he consistently demonstrates just a clear and flagrant lack of
regard for our citizens of privacy.

Speaker 2 (30:39):
And I genuinely this is a genuine question.

Speaker 1 (30:42):
I wonder if he thinks that this level of privacy
protections that he enjoys if not good in some way,
or that we all shouldn't have it, would he give
up those protections for himself and his family if he
thinks that apparently nobody should have these Like is he
special in some way, I genuinely do understand what he's
doing here other than just being completely in the pocket

(31:04):
of big tech.

Speaker 2 (31:05):
Yes, he is special. He's Ted Cruz.

Speaker 3 (31:08):
Of course you shouldn't give up those rights that only
exist for him and his besties.

Speaker 2 (31:13):
Yeah, he's Ted Cruz. That's different.

Speaker 3 (31:18):
Yeah No, but like I think you're totally right. Like
it's at this point it's like they're not even like
pretending like this isn't the case. It's like you're just you're, yeah,
you're supporting nonsense ideas. You're you're shutting down these things
that are pretty universally like supported, because you're like, but

(31:40):
but the.

Speaker 2 (31:41):
People that pay me don't want that, so I'm gonna
make it.

Speaker 3 (31:45):
And it is the thing where it's like yeah, no, obviously,
like yeah, like there is a like registry of like
sex founders. It goes like there's all these things that
exist through the police already through the government, but that
doesn't matter because you can just throw out you could
just say like, oh, but I'm worried about sex venders,
as they've been doing for every issue lately, that means

(32:07):
nothing anymore because they say that again, this is like
this is the same argument they use for why trans
people shouldn't be allowed to do literally anything, is they're like, ah,
but what about sex offenders? Like at this point, it's like,
I feel like we could have legislation on like if

(32:28):
we went back in time and we were just now
in twenty twenty five introducing legislation about seat belts, Like
there would be some way that the Republicans would be like,
but what about the sex offenders?

Speaker 1 (32:39):
Yeah, it would be like, but what if there was
a bad guy who used a seat belt and the
crash and he was protected, But what.

Speaker 3 (32:47):
If a transgender Antifa tried seat belt? And I don't
like it's it's just nonsense anymore. They just throw out
worries and people eat it up, or they just know
that they're not going to face consequences.

Speaker 2 (33:02):
So it's so true.

Speaker 1 (33:04):
Like I I guess I'm just in a silly goofy
mood because it's been a week.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
I'm just going all over the place, y'all stay with me.

Speaker 1 (33:11):
I mean, I saw I saw the interview that the
like Donald Trump getting on a plane and I forget
what he's asked about something and he just says, well, well,
you know, the Democrats just they just want transgender for everybody, And.

Speaker 2 (33:25):
I just wish somebody would ask a follow up, like
what is what does that mean? What do you? What
do you? What does that mean?

Speaker 3 (33:31):
I wish Okay, that makes so much sense because I
feel like I keep seeing like tweets and like means
and stuff that are using the like everything is computer
transgender for everybody, And I'm like, I thought the transgender
and I will say everything is computer.

Speaker 2 (33:44):
That is a banger. That's a banger. I do say
that a lot.

Speaker 3 (33:47):
Everything you know what transgender for everybody?

Speaker 2 (33:51):
That is the platform that I'm running on.

Speaker 1 (33:54):
I would put that on our shirt. I also say
everything is computer.

Speaker 2 (33:57):
You ever listened to a Sophie song? You ever listen
to a Sophie song?

Speaker 3 (34:02):
Everything is computer and transgender for everybody.

Speaker 2 (34:05):
Let's go Brad Summer.

Speaker 5 (34:10):
Part three, because truly it's so funny, Because truly he'll
say things where you g it's so wrong, it kind
of loops around to being right, you know, you like
really funny.

Speaker 1 (34:21):
Line, Oh my god, do you know the guy who
does like Trump as a gay man?

Speaker 3 (34:26):
But Arnold Palmer was all man.

Speaker 2 (34:28):
And I say that in all due respect to women.

Speaker 6 (34:31):
And I love women.

Speaker 2 (34:33):
But this guy, this guy, this is a guy that
was all man.

Speaker 1 (34:41):
It starts as a joke, but it's like Trump really
was born to be a gay man, Like she would
have been so good on drag Race.

Speaker 3 (34:47):
And that is the biggest tragedy of this whole situation.
Is like, this is why I'm like kind of like
in my heart, there is some like I do, like
George Santos, like I do sort of, I'm like, you
know what, like you're all right, Like I don't know,
I like this is probably the best case scenario.

Speaker 1 (35:06):
Oh my gosh, wait where he's behind bars, no living,
his entire living is truth.

Speaker 3 (35:12):
Like I was like, I gotta, uh, have you ever
seen the video where.

Speaker 1 (35:16):
A reporter is like, sir, sir, what do you think
about drag Rice this season? And he stops in his tracks.

Speaker 2 (35:22):
That is the happiest I've ever seen that man. But
it is the happiest I've ever seen that man.

Speaker 3 (35:28):
That I again another like I look at George Santos,
I'm like, this is what Trump was supposed to be,
like if you had kept in where like I was
like the clip of him on ze Way, like he's
so like busy Way interviews all the canos. I like,
this should have been what Trump was, and it should
have stopped there. This should have been what trump. Ted

(35:49):
Cruz what Ted Cruise doesn't have the charisma? Actually, I
take that back. I take that back, Ted Cruz, there
was no hope but Trump.

Speaker 2 (35:56):
This is what.

Speaker 1 (35:57):
There's an image of Santos when he was being I
think a rain or sentence where it's just a black
and white image of him wearing sunglasses and it's just
cameras all around him, and I'm like, girl, listen to
album cover that was like I think that cover.

Speaker 3 (36:12):
I think like that is like the most like group
chat used image that I've had, like on like like
whenever somebody's like got the haircut, like uh, the image
like I don't know it is that is like how
I feel, but I leave the house.

Speaker 2 (36:27):
I'm like, that's I don't know that.

Speaker 1 (36:29):
Yeah, if these people weren't spreading so much misery and
fascism and torment, they would be in and up. Yeah
in another universe we're watching them all scheme on housewives
or drag race or something. If they weren't responsible for
so much pain and misery, we could sort of be
like low key rooting for them in another in another
capacity or arena.

Speaker 3 (36:49):
You know, Trump would have killed it on Housewives, Like yeah, yeah,
we did.

Speaker 1 (36:55):
An episode with Ashley Ray of the podcast TV I
say all about how Trump. If you are a scholar
of reality TV, you sort of get Trump because he
definitely came from the reality TV world and he knows
how to be a reality TV show villain. And watching
a lot of reality TV helps us understand how he
moves right.

Speaker 3 (37:15):
Now, exactly exactly. And I know this is something we
disagree on. I'm a reality TV hater, but I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, but well, I so like you.

Speaker 2 (37:27):
No, no, no, no, no, I know, I I listen.

Speaker 3 (37:30):
I have many friends that are very under reality TV.
It's just nothing. I don't I don't get it. I
like drag Race, I watch I did watch The Secret Wives,
The Secret Lives of Morb Lives. That was fun, but like,
I feel like, I like why I watched the first
season and I ask a bit, I don't know. It's
not for me, and to me, I'm like, and that
demonstrates everything that's wrong with American culture and how.

Speaker 2 (37:51):
We count wearc to they oh what absolutely does.

Speaker 3 (37:54):
But also it is like, how you understand what the
fuck is happening today?

Speaker 2 (37:58):
Because this is, unfortunately the reality we are in. So
it is the reality we are living in.

Speaker 1 (38:04):
Well, speaking of occupying different realities, I found this fascinating
study from Emily Van Dunn, a professor of communications at
the University of Illinois or Bana Champaigne, who did this.

Speaker 2 (38:17):
Oh you're from out there, right I am. I did
not go to UI but I am from Illinois. My
dad's a u of IM half of my high school.
IT'SO U u C. So shout out, shout out, shout
out to uyu C. My dad loves to bring up
that they invented the Internet.

Speaker 3 (38:35):
I don't know how accurate that is, but he loves
to say that UI u C invented the Internet.

Speaker 1 (38:40):
H yes, well, thank you U I U C. I
probably wouldn't have this podcast if not if.

Speaker 2 (38:45):
Not for their invention. Actually, sorry, my bad.

Speaker 3 (38:49):
It was the first Internet browser that was created at
ui UC.

Speaker 2 (38:54):
But it's I guess the Internet as a whole.

Speaker 3 (38:58):
It was a bit more complicated, but but yeah, I
still still same applies.

Speaker 2 (39:04):
We would not have this show without UIUC. So thank you.

Speaker 1 (39:09):
Emily Van Dunn from Uyuc did this fascinating research that
says that misin information is not just ruining our democracy,
ruining our information ecosystem, it's also ending marriages. So she
did these in depth interviews with twenty eight people who
had recently ended a relationship with a partner whose political
ideology did.

Speaker 2 (39:29):
Not match their own.

Speaker 1 (39:29):
So there are people who when they got into relationships,
it's like, oh, well, I'm a Democrat, my partner is
much more left leaning. Or I'm a moderate Republican, my
partner is much more conservative. So like people who already
from the beginning did not share the same political ideology.
A lot of the couples involved in these interviews said
that their media choices were directly responsible for the political

(39:50):
differences that ultimately caused the relationships to end. Their stories
offer fresh insight that the corrosive effects of the tendonaciousness
being fuel by disinformation, misinformation, and partisan online communities in
the public sphere can be just as divisive in private.
Van Dunn said, quote, it is important to note that
these relationships were not dreamed for failure because the differing

(40:12):
political beliefs. They failed, at least in part because those
differing beliefs were associated with different realities that disrupted a
shared identity and shared reality with their partner, which I
find so fascinating and so something I have definitely felt
when dealing with people who have been deeply, deeply taken
in by just incorrect information and that there's nothing you

(40:34):
can do to convince them otherwise they create their own
little world around them that it's just very difficult to penetrate.
And so, how could you then share a world with
somebody that you're intending to be a romantic relationship with
as a romantic partner if they are already in their
own little, isolated world that you cannot penetrate. So what

(40:55):
completely kind of makes sense to me? This really bore
out in a lot of the conversation. Van Dunn said
that the study participants experiences went beyond differing interpretations of
political facts because false information created an alternative fictional reality
that isolated their partners from each other ideologically and relationally,
straining their bonds until the relationships failed. She said that

(41:18):
her findings, published in the Journal of New Media and Society,
draw on the theory of shared reality, shedding light on
the potential implications for intimate relationships when online miss and
disinformation and radicalization disrupt individuals expectations that their partners will
recognize and validate their respective understandings of the world.

Speaker 2 (41:37):
So that really, I.

Speaker 1 (41:38):
Think is the key that we kind of expect our
romantic partners to live in the shared reality with us.
And it seems to become an issue from her research
when a partner is confronted with whether or not they
want to validate what they understand to be truth and
reality versus validating with their partner.

Speaker 2 (41:57):
And yeah, it just is really interesting to think that people's.

Speaker 1 (42:00):
Online rabbit holes can can and have torn relationships apart.

Speaker 3 (42:06):
Yeah, I really do not find that surprising. I've dated
people before with different political beliefs than me. I think
most people have. But even in that, there's like maybe
this isn't the best term to use, but there's.

Speaker 7 (42:22):
Like a margin of error almost of like what you're
willing to like tolerate that like somebody, yeah you don't
agree on you know, like it could be like, okay,
we don't agree on like these things, but there's only
like so much that you can put up with until
it's like you're just like too far apart.

Speaker 3 (42:38):
And maybe this is just a sign of how polarized
we are right now, that that like gap between what people, Yeah,
like the realities kind of are, like we're living in
completely different realities, so there's more things that we disagree about.
I mean this also makes me think of like back

(42:58):
a year ago. Now, I mean that's crazy that this
was a year ago, but a year ago, and there
were these campaign ads that were like encouraging women to
vote for Kamala Harris even if like their partners were
voting for Trump. Yeah, it was mainly Yeah, I was
mainly aimed at women.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
And I mean I.

Speaker 3 (43:17):
Think the fact that this was something, this was a
reality that like the Harris campaign understood to an extent
and was like trying to campaign.

Speaker 2 (43:25):
On shows how.

Speaker 3 (43:29):
Polarized, like in terms of gender we are especially. I
mean this also like makes you think if there was
this article I ran a while ago about how like
gen Z women were dating older men a lot more,
and like it wasn't because of like the visual reasons
you know, people would be in age gap relationships, but

(43:49):
it was literally because a lot of gen Z men
have become and like this is generalizing obviously, but like
a lot of them have gone so far right and
have gotten like red pilled or whatever, like gone to
the whole like Andrew hate spiral and so it's like
there's literally no good options of people at our age.

(44:11):
So sure, yeah, we'll look to the like older generation
that maybe has like a little bit more progressive beliefs.
I thought that was really interesting. I mean, I don't
this isn't really like something I have to deal with
in my dating life. But like, like honestly, I talked
to like my straight girlfriends and I'm like, the dat
excite seems really bleak, Like I totally get that, Like
there clearly is a gender gap right now, and I

(44:31):
mean mainly among heterosexual people, but not always.

Speaker 2 (44:36):
And yeah, there, I can't imagine.

Speaker 3 (44:39):
What it's like right now, like being a straight woman
trying to date.

Speaker 1 (44:43):
Yeah, many years ago, I I like casually dated someone
and this is someone who I thought I was like,
I have met the person I'm going to marry, Like
this is this person is going like I'm our first date.
I'm like, I'm planning my wedding. Uh, and we I
had to break it off when I found out that
he deeply believed a very specific and incorrect conspiracy theory

(45:08):
and it was something that I was like, I don't
think I'm gonna be able to like drop this. Basically,
this guy was gorgeous, probably the most attractive person I've
ever seen in my life. In real we didn't know that.
Just put it out whatever you're imagining gorgeous. So he'd
been living in New York City, but it just moved
to d C because he was a restaurant tour He

(45:29):
was opening a new restaurant in DC that he was
going to be the owner and head chef of.

Speaker 2 (45:34):
He was French, he had a great accent. He was hilarious.

Speaker 1 (45:38):
You know the cliche in movies of a girl who
goes on one or two good dates and then is
going home and essentially planning her wedding.

Speaker 2 (45:45):
That was me.

Speaker 1 (45:46):
It's Christmas time. He's from France, and I say, oh,
what are you doing for Christmas? You know, da da da,
And he says, oh, I'm going home to France.

Speaker 2 (45:55):
And I was like, oh, that's so nice.

Speaker 1 (45:57):
At the time, I had not been to France. And
I said, oh, I'm what France like and Christmas? And
he said, oh, well, it used to be lovely when
I was a kid, but now and there used to
be Christmas markets. But unfortunately now Christmas markets are illegal
in France because of the Muslims, and because of Muslims,
they have outlawed and banned Christmas markets in France. And

(46:18):
I said, well, that's not true. I see pictures of
Christmas markets in France all the time.

Speaker 2 (46:22):
Also, France historically a very pro Islam culture.

Speaker 3 (46:26):
Never never had any issues with minority religions.

Speaker 2 (46:32):
As a Jewish person, I can said this is what
I'm saying. Like what he was saying was so.

Speaker 1 (46:38):
Ridiculous that I was like, oh no, he's not smart,
Like that was truly it like shattered something. But then
you know, I guess I just feel like what someone
reveals themselves to be one not a critical thinker and
then too believing an islamophobic, easily debunkable conspiracy theory. It's

(46:59):
like like I I didn't I didn't want to stick
around to find out more about that worldview and where
it let where it ended. And you know, I and
we're talking over with a friend and he was like, unfortunately,
that's actually like quite a common attitude in France.

Speaker 2 (47:13):
Unfortunately.

Speaker 1 (47:15):
Yeah, so we had to I had to break it
off with someone that I genuinely thought was gonna be
my my soulmate. Yeah, based based mostly on looks and
clocking ability. Really, now now that I'm like really being honest.

Speaker 3 (47:26):
And those are balid things to look for a soulmate,
I think personally, thank you, No.

Speaker 2 (47:32):
That's a real I was gonna say.

Speaker 3 (47:33):
I honestly dating a European you you get to learn
about a whole new brand of racism that you've never
uh bridget one day. Well we'll trade stories about our
our mutual I am not going to go and.

Speaker 2 (47:46):
Seal on this podcast, but there were uh.

Speaker 3 (47:51):
You know, I will say at least I was the
first Jewish person that one of my exes had ever met,
and that was something that resulted in some interesting comments.

Speaker 2 (47:59):
Everyone.

Speaker 3 (48:00):
It's a while, but yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a fun
Europe is really fun, really cool place.

Speaker 1 (48:07):
They're doing hate in like real novel ways. It's like
you learn new they found.

Speaker 7 (48:14):
Like ways to be racist to other white people that
you would have never imagined.

Speaker 4 (48:19):
You know.

Speaker 2 (48:21):
Oh boy, it's so true.

Speaker 1 (48:28):
More after a quick break, let's get right back into it.

Speaker 2 (48:47):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (48:47):
So lastly, Joey, I know we are of different age eras,
but if you will allow me a little bit of nostalgia.
If you are listening to this and you are my
age or older, this sound you probably associate with the Internet,
specifically booting up America online back in the day. Even

(49:15):
hearing a little taste of it, I feel like I
get chills because it reminds me of being up in
the computer room getting online.

Speaker 4 (49:22):
Is it you?

Speaker 2 (49:23):
Did you have this? Does this mean anything to you?
I did? I did? For the record, I do remember
aol I okay good.

Speaker 3 (49:32):
I was born in ninety nine, so I had a
little bit of the early Internet era I did. My first,
you know, introduction to computers was my family's desktop. I
didn't have an iPhone until I was fifteen, so I
did get in trouble in elementary school for using our

(49:53):
family printer to print out a bunch of like pictures
from like Star Wars movies that I wanted to put
on my wall, and they were my parents were like,
you used up like all of our ink with the
hell And I was like, what one thing in color would.

Speaker 2 (50:03):
Be like that's the whole canady?

Speaker 3 (50:04):
Yeah, I was like, I need this giant picture of
Potter May from Star Wars.

Speaker 2 (50:12):
And then somehow it.

Speaker 3 (50:13):
Took me till I was like fifteen to realize that
I was gay. But it's fine whatever, that's another story.
But yes, I do remember, although I feel I do definitely,
I will say like it was a shorter period of
my life than I think for a lot of our
listeners of you, and.

Speaker 2 (50:32):
I say that without disrespect.

Speaker 3 (50:34):
Again, I love the millennials. I love the millennials. Y'all
did so much for us.

Speaker 2 (50:38):
Thank you. None taken.

Speaker 1 (50:40):
We don't get down with any of the like millennial
gen z right, we're not about goode and exactly. We're
all love on this podcast, I was fourteen years old
reading a bout of speed being like so true.

Speaker 2 (50:53):
I also can't afford a house. We're the same, That's.

Speaker 1 (50:57):
The thing is like, why are we a pitty again?
None of us can have a shit? Why are we
pinning each other against each other? B Yeah, we're all broke,
We're all trading around the same twenty.

Speaker 2 (51:06):
Dollars literally each other. Why why should we be at
odds with each other? We shouldn't be.

Speaker 3 (51:11):
The world is on fire. We love Lady Gaga. What
else is there? I don't know what.

Speaker 2 (51:18):
Else is there to talk about? Everything is computer? What
else you get talking about I really got a computer.
Everybody's transgender. Let's go everything is computer transgender for everybody.
Funny but AOL.

Speaker 1 (51:32):
Yes, yes, okay, So I've talked about this on the podcast,
and I just got to give it up.

Speaker 2 (51:37):
To AOL that noise. When I was.

Speaker 1 (51:40):
Growing up, it was possibility. It was like the portal
to the new world.

Speaker 2 (51:45):
You know, Joey.

Speaker 1 (51:46):
But for people who were younger, it was like how
you got online, Like getting online meant that it tied
up your family's phone line. I have very clear I
can hear my mom, God rest her soul. I can
hear the pitch, the specific pitch of her voice being like,
get out the damn.

Speaker 2 (52:03):
Phone, get out the damn computer.

Speaker 3 (52:06):
I'm trying to make a call like this was this
was before, this was before everything was computer.

Speaker 1 (52:10):
So yeah, but everything had everything was not yet computer,
and it could either be on the computer or your
mom could be making phone calls for her literal life
or death job as a medical doctor.

Speaker 2 (52:23):
It was one of the exactly I'm like, why is
my dad mad at me? Because he needs to use
the printer for.

Speaker 3 (52:29):
His like work, And I'm like, but again, I need
to pick this picture of Yeah, Anakin from Star Wars.

Speaker 1 (52:36):
I'm finding out that the truth is out there and
an X files the chat room. I don't care that
you have like actual adult work to do, and then
I'm tying up the phone lines preventing you from doing it.
But so, yeah, it just really was something special, and
believe it or not, I was shocked to hear this.
A handful of households in the United States we're still
using that exact same technology, dial up.

Speaker 2 (52:58):
As recently as last week.

Speaker 1 (53:00):
Census data from twenty twenty three showed that about one
hundred and sixty three thousand households were still overlying on
dial up for their Internet. That's just over a ten
of a percent of all Internet subscribers nationwide. However, this week,
America Online AOL confirmed it was officially pulling the plug
on its dial up service or good So like, if

(53:22):
you did not live through it, I cannot express to
you how much AOL was synonymous with the Internet back
in the day, and it was very much was what
the Internet was for an entire generation and has shaped
what the Internet has become for all of us ever since.
If you've seen that movie, you've got mail It's called
that because when you would get on the America Online,

(53:43):
the little guy would say, you've got mail. That was
literally what AOL told you when you would sign in.
That little voice became iconic. AOL CDs were absolutely everywhere.
They were like fall out of magazines. They would come
in the mail randomly. When you would go to Blockbuster
where they would give your change, they would give you
an AOL.

Speaker 2 (54:01):
CD you would order repeat it. It would be like
like glued to the top of the buy Sorry, what's Blockbuster? Okay, Joey.

Speaker 1 (54:12):
I So although I know, I know, even if you
didn't live through some of this, I know that you're
like a nostalgia.

Speaker 3 (54:18):
I was about to say I watched Stranger Things, of
course I know, but they actually in Stranger Things they
worked at Family Video and there, well, there was a
family video like a couple of blocks for me growing
up that actually one of my best friends are high
school worked out for a little bit because it was
it was still open into the twins for us. But yes,
I am Family video is the one closest to me.

(54:41):
But I missed that that was a.

Speaker 1 (54:43):
We were a family video family and there was also
a Hollywood video sometimes when we go to I think
I want to say we had an issue, like like
we didn't RedWine the videos or something, we had some
sort of problem with them.

Speaker 2 (54:54):
But yeah, those were the days. Those are the days.

Speaker 3 (54:58):
I Netflix just is the same as Uh there's like
like you you don't have like the smell, you can't
buy like shitty junior mints, or like like like a movie.

Speaker 2 (55:10):
Theater candy when you're checking out. It's not the same,
you know. I honestly so, I we're both movie people.

Speaker 1 (55:17):
I honestly associate why that is for me with going
to video stores, because you would just get the title
and then a printed up like paragraph synopsis, and you
would have to decide whether or not you wanted to
watch a movie based on that. And I took a
chance on a lot of movies I probably would never
have seen at a very young age, just because I
was like, oh, this paragraph makes it seem interesting. So yeah,

(55:40):
I just I wanted to sort of pour one out
for AOL. I don't think I'd be making this podcast
if not for spending hours and hours and hours in
the computer room using AOL. I read that at one point,
half of all of the CDs manufactured worldwide where AO
all sign up discs like that is a massive and

(56:01):
you know, for me, and I think for probably a
lot of us, it was not just technology. It was
it was a lifeline. AOL chat rooms were genuinely how
I figured out so much about myself. I saw reflections
of myself. I saw worlds that I had never seen before,
lifestyles I had never seen before.

Speaker 2 (56:18):
Is how I figured out I was queer.

Speaker 1 (56:20):
Like living in a small southern town, that glowing.

Speaker 2 (56:25):
Screen was like possibility to me.

Speaker 1 (56:27):
And I say this to say that we were alluding
to this earlier, but it is so important that the
generation behind us gets to have those same experiences. I'm
not going to say those I'm not going to say
that those experiences were all good because I was certainly
in some online spaces, I certainly had no business in
asking asl in some rooms that.

Speaker 2 (56:46):
I probably should not have been in.

Speaker 1 (56:48):
However, it truly was a lifeline that a life that
I have now, which is fucking awesome and would not
exist without the Internet.

Speaker 2 (56:56):
And it is so important that all youth.

Speaker 1 (56:59):
Trans youth, queer, FIS, youth straight use that they all
have places like this where they can figure out who
they are, and if these if we allow for the
powers that be to regulate the Internet in such a
way that it e rasis queerness and transness, I don't
think that. I don't think that we're going to be
creating an Internet landscape that allows for people to just

(57:20):
figure out who they are, and we should And it
was a beautiful thing for me.

Speaker 2 (57:23):
I don't want to sound too.

Speaker 1 (57:24):
Too sentimental, but with AOL fund setting it's dial up connection,
it just was a moment where I really remembered that magic.
I want to make sure that that magic is available
for those that are coming up now and behind us.

Speaker 2 (57:39):
Totally, yeah, totally agree.

Speaker 3 (57:42):
I think like, and I mean again, I'm coming as
this as somebody who I was as a tail on
a herv of AOL.

Speaker 2 (57:50):
Kind of being a big thing.

Speaker 3 (57:52):
So that wasn't really like the Internet when I was
experiencing the Internet. But at the same time, like, I
totally resonate what you're saying. I think I was kind
of at the tail end of the like the Internet
being like the wild West, and just kind of being like, yeah,
I look back and there's a lot of things where
I'm like, cool, I probably should not have been exposed

(58:12):
to at a young age, I probably should have whatever
there was.

Speaker 2 (58:15):
I was a tumbler kid, I was you know, online
being like.

Speaker 3 (58:21):
No, don't kill yourself. Some people that were probably like
ten years older than me. Yeah, that wasn't great that
being said a lot of shit about my life. Now, Like,
it gave me space to like find out who I was,
and it gave me space to like explore and like
see that there was like another world out there, And

(58:42):
I think that is really important.

Speaker 2 (58:44):
And I think, like like Kebridge it, that is kind.

Speaker 3 (58:46):
Of why I like, I think the Internet was like
a huge part of my life growing up. I think
it like it can used to be a huge part
of my life. I think that is something that on
the one hand, I agree, like, yeah, I want it
to be safe for a healthier for the next generation,
but I want them to have access to that. I
want them to have access to being able to like
explore new ideas and new possibilities. And unfortunately it's kind

(59:10):
of like there's no real solution or like easy option
to be like and we need to do that because
it's like, no, we shouldn't also be like the state
of the internet right now is so depressing, and so
it makes me so sad for the next generation to
be like this is what it's gonna be.

Speaker 2 (59:28):
So yeah, no, I agree, this is it is sad
to see that.

Speaker 3 (59:30):
And it's also it's like one of those things where
it's like the way like looking at how fast technology moves,
not to be too nostalgic about this, like obviously yes
there were still problems, and it's kind of like it
feels like it's like the end of the Internet feeling hopeful.

Speaker 1 (59:44):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's exact. You really articulated that well,
and yeah, I really you know, We've talked to a
Neil dash an og internet entrepreneur who was like, oh,
let's not get caught up in false nostalgia. But so
I don't want to do that, but it does feel
like we're at the end of that era where the

(01:00:05):
Internet felt like promise and not just a slog that
was being hijacked and weaponized and sold and codified. And
I just we can't let them take the Internet. I
think that we deserve an internet landscape and a tech
landscape that feels like connection and community and it feels
like hope, you know, community the show and also community

(01:00:28):
small c community. That feels like hope, And I guess
I always just feel heartened by the fact that there
are more people that want that and are really there
are more smart nerds who want to do the work
of recapturing that and rebuilding that than there are people
who just want to sell it back to us and
commodify it. Like I'm just going to talk about this

(01:00:49):
on the News Roundup. But you you live in New York,
there was a whole thing where an AI companion service
had taken out ads and the subway and.

Speaker 2 (01:01:00):
By these all the time. It is so weird. It
is so weird. It's the friend ones. They're all called
like friend too.

Speaker 3 (01:01:07):
It is so like I I will I'd say too,
like on just like my most people I follow obviously
are in people that I know in New York. And
like I've seen so many people sharing photos of like
the graffitied over signs too, and that that does again,
like that gives me hope.

Speaker 2 (01:01:22):
The fact that people are pushing back I think.

Speaker 3 (01:01:24):
Like I think again, just like with the AI stuff,
something that on the one hand, yes, I am somebody
who going back to the story like I grew up
in the Internet. I think the Internet is great and
it's helpful. I think specifically seeing like the pushback with
AI has given me hope. I think specifically like I've
had a lot of moments with the especially stuff with

(01:01:45):
people like having like AI like boyfriends and girlfriends or yeah,
like the AI friend thing where I was like am
I like, do I have to try and look at
this at a different perspective or like no me, And
I'm like, no, no, this is weird.

Speaker 2 (01:01:58):
I have moral concerns with this.

Speaker 3 (01:01:59):
Here's why it affects how we as like a community
interact with each other. And I think seeing the backlash
that it's getting like that gives me hope. I think, yeah,
somebody went to all of those different AI friend advertisements,
like that company, you must have spent lots of money
to trick out the MTA system with those billboards, and

(01:02:20):
somebody is graffeeding them, writing things like stop exploiting our loneliness.
And I think, you know, I think there's a wisdom there,
and I think it really does show that people want humanity,
people want connection, people want community, people want to be
in community with each other, and these these tech these

(01:02:41):
this handful of white tech oligarchs trying to exploit that
and sell it back to us, and then the form
of AI.

Speaker 1 (01:02:50):
People are saying no. The backlash to that AI actor
that recently popped up.

Speaker 2 (01:02:56):
People don't people.

Speaker 1 (01:02:57):
I don't know how much louder people need to be
saying no until the powers that beget it, But people
are saying no very loudly.

Speaker 2 (01:03:04):
You don't stand Tillie Norwood. What do you mean? Also,
way to know her name off the top of your head,
it will be so real.

Speaker 3 (01:03:13):
The only reason I do know her name is because
I've seen so many like actors that I follow, like
making parodies being like I, okay, first all, I love
Meg stlsher so fucking funny. She's She made like a
really funny one recently where she was like pretending to
be like another AI thing.

Speaker 2 (01:03:27):
And she was like actually, like it was like this twice.
Lenora is a looking bitch. She's terrible. I don't know,
she looks like it.

Speaker 3 (01:03:33):
There was one the actress who plays I'm blaky on
her name, but she's the actorss who plays Nessa and
Wicked and the Wicked movie.

Speaker 2 (01:03:38):
Oh yeah, yeah. She made one where she.

Speaker 3 (01:03:40):
Was like, guys, like I need to be honest, and
she like she was like she like pushed me out
of my.

Speaker 2 (01:03:43):
Wheelchair, Like she's just like terrible.

Speaker 3 (01:03:45):
Like I just I do think it's really funny saying
all these actors now like being like, you know what,
sure if you're gonna hit us with this ridiculousness. Then
I heard Tillie Norwood saying the unword actually, yeah, like.

Speaker 2 (01:03:59):
You should hear your reviews on pills.

Speaker 3 (01:04:01):
But she was actually she was actually you know the
like Army Hammer cannibalism scandal, she was like also involved
with that, Like she was like sitting round next to him, like.

Speaker 2 (01:04:15):
Truly, I don't know, that's what I'm saying. A. I
couldn't do this.

Speaker 1 (01:04:19):
A I couldn't come up with that level of like
intertextual response. You know, we we got to protect humanity.
And I think I think that's really I think.

Speaker 2 (01:04:31):
There are, genuinely there.

Speaker 1 (01:04:32):
Are more people who who are interested in that than
there are people who are interested in making a quick
buck off of it.

Speaker 2 (01:04:38):
You know, the Sora saying.

Speaker 1 (01:04:40):
Watching all these tech bros convince themselves that videos that
Sora came up with were visionary, and it's like, it's
if this is the kind of content you want, You're
in the minority.

Speaker 2 (01:04:51):
I am sorry.

Speaker 1 (01:04:51):
People want good people want good stories, people want humanity,
people want connection, people want real human experience. And if
if you're someone who was satisfied with slop, that says
more about you than it does about our society.

Speaker 3 (01:05:05):
I feel for real, I think that the friend things
specifically and like that and the like people that are
have AI partners that that it always does bring me
back to the social network where like they're at Like
the whole kind of point of that movie at the
end is it's like it's this one like asshole loser

(01:05:26):
who was unable to connect with people and he made
it the rest of our fucking problem.

Speaker 2 (01:05:31):
Like that's the always I look to her. I'm like,
it's people like fucking Mark Zuckerberg, which we've talked on
the show before. I fucking love Jesse, I'm Eisenberg, love him.
He's amazing. He plays that role so fucking good.

Speaker 8 (01:05:45):
Yeah, Like, I like he does such a good job
just like like embodying the type of person that is
like and this is the future and we're gonna like
put it on the rest of y'all, and it's like
it's up to us to say, fuck, no, that is
a you problem.

Speaker 2 (01:06:02):
Sorry. I don't need an AI friend too.

Speaker 3 (01:06:06):
If I want to do something stupid, I text one
of my roommates and I'm like, hey, should I do this?
And they're like, you go, Bessy, well live your life,
and I'm like sure. And then the next day I
text them and I'm like, now I'm sad that I
did that thing, and they're like, well, we're going to
get a glass of wine and cry about it.

Speaker 2 (01:06:24):
And you know what, AI can never do that. AI
will never replace you. Joey, thank you. Yes.

Speaker 1 (01:06:31):
Before we end, I just want to say we are
planning on doing a mailbag episode where we answer whatever questions.

Speaker 2 (01:06:39):
What are the burning questions you all might have. Maybe
you want to know something about the team.

Speaker 1 (01:06:45):
Maybe you want to know something about me or producer Mike,
or producer Joey or producer Darry or producer Jonathan.

Speaker 2 (01:06:51):
You don't hear from them too much, but they are
also about there. Maybe you have a question about one
of our takes on a tech or culture issue. I
don't care whatever it is.

Speaker 1 (01:06:59):
I just hate mail bag episodes where they're just reading
random emails. So I'm asking if folks have questions or
comments aren't really anything they want ran on the pod.

Speaker 2 (01:07:08):
Send us an email, hit us up. We will read
it on the show.

Speaker 1 (01:07:11):
There was meant to be a deadline, but I've forgotten
what it was. I want to say it was October ninth. Oh,
that's soon October ninth. It's your deadline.

Speaker 2 (01:07:21):
Yeah, let's say the night is a soft deadline. But
get them to us when you can. I hope people
joe I feel like people don't.

Speaker 1 (01:07:31):
You are like a very interesting person, and I feel
like I don't know how the shit you get up to.
So if you have questions for Joey, Joey is a
very fascinating person.

Speaker 2 (01:07:40):
Thank you. That's very kind of you for seant I try.

Speaker 3 (01:07:44):
I feel like as I'm on the producer side of
a lot of iHeart things, so I feel like I
just kind of like pop up every once in a
while and I'm like killoa, it's me and then yay.

Speaker 2 (01:07:55):
So but yeah, I if people have questions, I love
the time. Let's go. Well, Joey, where people can hear
you on this podcast?

Speaker 1 (01:08:08):
People can hear you on stuff? Mom never told you?
Where else are you around?

Speaker 2 (01:08:13):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (01:08:14):
I will be I have a couple upcoming stuff Mom
never told you episodes TVD if you want to hear
stuff that I do more on the behind the scenes side.
I am a producer for our Outspoken network at iHeartMedia,
which is our slider shows that highlights lgbt Q plus

(01:08:34):
identities and stories and all that you can hear. First
of all, if you're listening, you should vote for.

Speaker 2 (01:08:43):
Signal Awards or nominee nominee.

Speaker 1 (01:08:47):
When is the When is the I'm technically I was
technically a judge for the Signal Words, So I don't think.

Speaker 2 (01:08:51):
That's a conflict of interest. No, I'm not saying anything. Yeah, yeah, Joey.
Where can people vote for.

Speaker 1 (01:09:01):
After Lives as a Signal Award nominee?

Speaker 2 (01:09:05):
So if they wanted to.

Speaker 3 (01:09:06):
Do that, which they should, they should the Signal Awards.
Their voting is open now. It's open till October ninth,
So if you're listening to this when it comes out,
you have that a week. There are actually two shows
that I work on that have been nominated. One is Afterlives,
which is a documentary show about marsh P. Johnson that
was nominated for Best Limited Series in the LGBT two

(01:09:28):
plus category, and then Also there's a show called BFF
Black Fat Them that is also part of the Outspoken
network that I work on, that was nominated for Best Show,
so different category, best Show for lgbt Q plus all
the things, and then also diversity, equity and inclusivity. I
always want to say inequality, and I'm like, that doesn't

(01:09:49):
make any fucking sense, So.

Speaker 6 (01:09:55):
Please go to the Signal Awards website. It is open
and audience choice right now. So yeah, I would appreciate
if y'all give us a vote there.

Speaker 3 (01:10:07):
I mean a lot also just kind of signals to
iHeart and to you know, the podcast Gods that you
want to see more content that highlights queer voices and
queer voices of color, which is just like so so
important right now because of all of the aforementioned things
that we were talking about.

Speaker 2 (01:10:26):
But yeah, please vote for those Please check those shows out.
But yeah you can.

Speaker 3 (01:10:31):
Also if you want to listen to The Two Outlaws,
which is hosted by the iconic TS Madison Session another
show that I work on, Please choke it out.

Speaker 2 (01:10:42):
Would appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:10:44):
Hardest working producer in Hollywood over here, oh yeah, and
all in Brooklyn.

Speaker 3 (01:10:52):
The busiest somebody did this is a minor call it.
I don't think this person listens to the show. I
was on a date recently and somebody to tell me
I said that I was a podcast producer and they
were like, like, honestly, the first.

Speaker 2 (01:11:05):
Thing I thought it was Chadas and I was like, oh, hey, ideas.

Speaker 3 (01:11:09):
I was like, I haven't watched just like that, like
I know, like I've watched in the city. And I
was like, wait a minute, kady As is the fucking
podcast producer?

Speaker 2 (01:11:19):
Are you kidding me? And they were like yeah, And
I don't know that was that. That hurt. That hurt
a lot.

Speaker 3 (01:11:25):
But you know, no hate s Sierra Ramirez like love
what you're doing.

Speaker 2 (01:11:31):
But but but yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:11:34):
It's it's rough out here as a as a queer,
non binary podcast producer in Brooklyn, I guess I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:11:41):
Yeah, Das making y'all look bad.

Speaker 1 (01:11:45):
Well, Joey, thank you so much for being here, and
thanks to all of you for listening. I will see
you on the internet. Got a story about an interesting
thing in tech which want to say hi? You can
reach us at Hello at tangody dot com. You can
also find transcripts for today's episode at tengody dot com.

(01:12:06):
There Are No Girls on the Internet was created by
me Bridget Todd. It's a production of iHeartRadio and Unbossed
Creative Jonathan Strickland is our executive producer. Tari Harrison is
our producer and sound engineer. Michael Almado is our contributing producer.
Edited by Joey Pat I'm your host.

Speaker 2 (01:12:21):
Bridget Todd.

Speaker 1 (01:12:22):
If you want to help us grow, rate and review
us on Apple Podcasts. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, check
out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts.

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