August 20, 2025 • 33 mins
The latest TikTok boycott just dropped... and it's actually absurd. I explain why the war on Elf cosmetics over a commercial featuring the comedian Matt Rife is not, in fact, that deep, in this clip from the Brad vs Everyone podcast. Plus, a TikTok girl goes viral for complaining about not finding a job after getting a PhD in "Dirt Studies" and Tucker Carlson's podcast gets extremely weird.
Support My Show: https://linktr.ee/bradpolumbo
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
One would health.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm the hey girl.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
If you have not thrown away all.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Your ELF products yet and you don't know why you should,
You're about.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
To know why.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Another day, another ridiculous boycott movement on the Internet, but
this one actually seems to be working. We're going to
break down TikTok's latest outrage and subsequent boycott, and so
much more on today's episode of the Brad Versus Everyone podcast,
(00:31):
my daily show where we cover the craziest ideas from
across our media are politics in the Internet, all from
an independent perspective. Up first, guys, I don't know if
you have ever heard of the comedian Matt Rife. He
had kind of a big moment, had some success, but
then was involved in some controversy and has fallen off
(00:51):
a little bit. But he's a pretty popular stand up comedian,
known for his crowd work and for being quite attractive,
and that's a big part of his stick. Well anyway,
TikTok is currently up at arms over his latest commercial
collaboration with a makeup brand called Elf. Now, I am
(01:13):
not a makeup person. I do it a little bit
sometimes when I'm on camera, but I'm not like a
makeup guy, So I don't know anything about makeup brands.
This is my first subway segue into this world. But
they are facing tremendous backlash right now on TikTok for
featuring him in a commercial, as if that is like
(01:34):
some evil, terrible thing to do. And just like millions
upon millions of people on the internet, particularly woke women,
if we're being honest, are crashing out over this in
kind of deranged fashion, all because of a couple jokes
Matt Rife has made in the past. It's quite something.
Here's the first video we're going to take a look at.
(01:56):
This has almost three million views, guys, and it's very normal,
very stable, very totally saying. Take a listen to this.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
One word Elf and this Hey girl, if you have
not thrown away all your Elth products yet and you
don't know why you should, you're about to know why. Elf, Elf, Elf,
someone on the Elth marketing team may need to get
fired because Elf, what did you do?
Speaker 1 (02:18):
I'm not even gonna lie.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I don't even know who this mat guy is, but
what I do know is that Elf, there is no
way in the world that Elf should have been working
with him, because metics brand that is supposed.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
To empower women.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Tell me who was in actual de Lulu when they
decided on this campaign.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
I know there's this whole thing about like dark humor.
I get it. I have dark humor. I find dark
humor funny.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
But it's one thing to have dark humor, and it's
another thing completely to joke about the things that Elf
and Matt Raife basically condone. Either someone on the elth
marketing team was like full on drunk when they decided
to like approve this campaign, or I do get the
fact that in this world of social media, a bit
of controversy goes a long way.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
But there's controversy and then there's just outright playing.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Stupidity, like don't be showing yourself as a brand that
empowers women, and then in the same breath, you're working
with people that make jokes about women being abused, Like
what the actual hell actually And in the meantime, I
will be using brands that don't make fun of female
population and basically insult them in a way that goes
far beyond dark humor.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
I think a lot of us are going to have
to agree that right now. Currently, Elf, you are on
the X.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
List, Hey, so this is unhinged and deeply incoherent. Yet
millions of people, particularly women, but also a lot of
gays and theys, are signing on to this narrative on
TikTok and elsewhere on the internet. It makes no sense
at all. First off, kind of audacious to say, I
(03:41):
have no idea who this man is really, but it's
so terrible that a brand would work with him. Maybe
you shouldn't actually yap like this so confidently about something
when you don't know who he is. Which is it right?
Are you either a voice that millions of people should
be listening to on this subject, or have you never
heard of the guy? It really can't be both, at
least not if your goal is to make any sense.
(04:01):
And then she says, well, I like dark humor, but
he joked about domestic violence involving women. Okay, so it's
dark humor is great except certain dark areas of humor
that I personally find upsetting or don't like. You can't
really have both there. And then it is absolutely insane
and totally baseless to suggest that because a comedian made
(04:25):
a joke about a certain traumatic or horrific issue, they
therefore condone it or that a brand therefore condones every
joke they've made if they feature a comedian in a commercial. Now,
I'm open to the idea that he shouldn't have been
in this commercial just because he has nothing to do
with makeup. They probably just thought that he is just
a very handsome guy that a lot of women are
(04:46):
fans of, and that that's why they put him in
the commercial. I don't know. But the idea that by
doing so they are somehow endorsing domestic violence is genuinely unhinged,
And this entire craft that we're seeing across TikTok just
seems totally unjustified and unwarranted to me. But guys, we
(05:07):
actually haven't even gotten to the most unhinged part of
this story yet. So not only do we have these
typical kind of TikTok yapping videos where people set up
and film themselves and talk, which I do too. I'm
not even saying that with any shade whatsoever, but we
also have had these extremely melo dramatic short videos with
music playing in the background. And I'll just show you
(05:29):
screenshots so I don't get copyrighted, but and there's no voiceover.
But like, for example, one person and this got hundreds
of thousands of likes, just showed their ELF products with
sad music and said, as a domestic violence survivor, I'm
so disappointed dot dot dot I loved ELF so much
upside down face they're acting like Matt Rife did Domestic Violet,
(05:53):
if they're acting like they partnered with Chris Brown or
something like somebody who is known to have abused women,
and then they still just endorsing cosign. He made a
joke about it. That's not that deep. If you're not
interested in that, or if that's too sensitive for you
because you have past experiences with it, I can respect that,
So don't go to the show or don't watch the content.
(06:14):
But it is not him in any way endorsing it.
Some of my favorite jokes, my favorite Dave Chappelle jokes
are incredibly dark. He doesn't actually support the dark things,
and in fact, a lot of people find that the
levity of more serious subjects. Making light of it is
a way to cope with the horrors of the human
(06:35):
existence and how cruel and callous the world can be.
If that's not you, that's okay. Like dark humor isn't
for everyone. But what you're not going to do, even
if I have tremendous compassion for you as a survivor
of horrific abuse, is accuse people of basically being abusers
if they dared make a joke about a thing that
does not compute. That is totally inaccurate and just absolutely unfair.
(07:00):
And then you have all these people throwing away their
elf cosmetics because they dare do a commercial with matt Rife,
and they don't seem to realize this, but you already
paid for it. So you set up your iPhone stand
to record your little TikTok video of you throwing out
the products, thinking you're like doing your big one to
(07:20):
protest this brand, but you aren't. You already gave them money.
Now you could boycott them and no longer purchase free
future products. That is your prerogative, But to throw the
ones you have away genuinely makes no sense. You are
only hurting yourself financially and all just for like this
kind of performative social media faux outrage that all traces
(07:43):
back to like two jokes in one special. You have
got to be kidding me, y'all. This kind of reminds
me after Russia's invasion of Ukraine a few years back.
These videos went viral of people pouring out Russian vodka
and I remember laughing at at the time because it's
like a lot of that Russian vodka was like actually
(08:04):
produced in America or some of it was actually produced
in Ukraine, but regardless, like you already bought it, so
maybe you want to boycott future purchases, that makes sense,
But pouring it out for performing to performative like TikTok
videos made no sense whatsoever. It was just stupidity at
the exponential level. And this is the same thing throwing
(08:25):
away products who already paid for does not do anything
these people ay ya yai. I also found it obnoxious
how some other brands tried to like join in the
pylon to promote themselves. So for example, this I think
it's a food company shop Missa that's a women owned
business and apparently super woke they shared a video and
(08:45):
they said, just a reminder that we do things like
this instead of paying comedians who make bad jokes against
women to do an ad for us. Wow, you're just
so stunning and so brave. It's like, can y'all show
me on the doll where the hurt you right, like,
is the the trauma and pain inflicted by a joke
no one forced you to watch? Really that deep Listen,
(09:09):
I've been through some bleak things in my life and
there are certain things that are sensitive to me. But
you know what, people are still allowed to joke about them.
And I'm sorry, but that doesn't make them evil, and
it certainly doesn't make them persona non grata for brands
to work with for the rest of time and eternity. Like,
I'm open to the idea that Matt Riif didn't need
(09:29):
to be in this commercial or wasn't a great fit
for the brand, but this joke should not render him,
you know, untouchable in the marketing industry for life. That
is insane and this is also sinister. This is cynical.
These other brands hopping in, they're just trying to cash
in on the unfair cancelation of another company. They're not actually,
(09:50):
you know, genuinely moved by this, or at least I
kind of doubt it. They just want to get their bag. Now.
The brand has addressed the backlash in a statement that
we are going to get to. But just a quick
reminder to make sure you subscribed. If you weren't yet,
do hit that like button while you are at it,
and remember to send in your voicemails for my Voicemail
Friday episodes where I react to your wolkarer stories, give
(10:12):
you advice about your personal life situations, and answer any
questions you guys have for me. The link to send
in one of those is as always in the description. Now, guys,
we're going to take a look at some of the
statements that ELF has released that are sort of like
quasi apologies that aren't quite apologies, and spoiler alert, they're
(10:35):
not going over particularly well. Here is one ELF hater
on TikTok reading over and reacting to some of their statements.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Y'all, this whole Elf Matt Wright situation keeps getting worse.
There is a big gap between our intention and how
this missed the mark for some people. We always aim
to deliver positivity and this one didn't. So we find
ourselves in a position where, quite honestly, that doesn't feel
good for us. Okay, some of this is just like
word vomit, and quite honestly, this doesn't feel good for us,
(11:05):
like it doesn't feel good for your customer.
Speaker 5 (11:08):
Base.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
None of that is an apology. And then here we
are very much known for operating in real time. That's
what it means to be in the cultural zeitgeist. So
we're not looking in the rear view mirror when we're
operating the real time marketing machine. So this could be
construed into ways. One, you knew that this comedian was
making jokes about domestic violence in the past, but you
(11:31):
didn't care about the past, Or you're not going back
and vetting the people that you work with, which I
mean this wasn't like some niche incident. This is his
Netflix special is very difficult to miss. So you're basically
saying either you knew and you didn't care, or you
didn't go back to find this out. Lastly, they posted
a note on their social media that was still like
(11:53):
making jokes and making light of this, we understand we
missed the mark with the people we care about in
our oalth community. Not an apology, while al Fino and
Schmor is closest to how could you still keep joking? Also,
at the time that I'm recording this, after all that
has transpired, the campaign is still up on their Instagram.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
It's just shocking. So I agree with him. Actually, it
is shocking that ELF is like not quite apologizing and
is keeping up the campaign. A year or two ago,
I feel like the brand would have instantly folded to
the backlash. But maybe it actually, maybe some of these
corporations are developing, like just a little bit of the
spine just like this much but maybe not.
Speaker 5 (12:34):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
It gives me a little bit of hope. And these people,
I mean, they must not have real problems. I'm sorry,
but if y'all are this pressed, and I feel this
way about the right wingers getting all upset about a
couple male cheerleaders on a couple of NFL teams, if
y'all are this pressed over a makeup company featuring someone
(12:56):
in a commercial, it wasn't even all about him. He
was like one character of multiple high profile characters and
a commercial because he made one joke that offends you
or two jokes that offended you a while ago. You
must have a pretty chill life, Like you really can't
have that much stress or that many problems going on.
You can't be that oppressed. If you have time to
(13:17):
worry about that kind of stuff, you simply cannot. Now
one heartening aspect of this is that a significant number
of women on TikTok were posting videos essentially saying that like,
they're not gonna stop buying alf products, it's not that deep,
and they're over canceled culture. And while these videos were
not getting millions of views and millions of likes in
(13:41):
the way that the kind of outrage videos were, they
also weren't small. They were getting hundreds of thousands of
views and tens and tens and thousands of likes. So
maybe nature is healing a little bit. Maybe even young people,
even on TikTok, some of them are starting to catch
up with common sense and get getting sick of the
(14:01):
incessant outrages and cancelations and boycotts, because lord knows, I'm
sick of it all, but I suffer through it for
your viewing pleasure. Okay, guys, up next, we're going to
react to a girl on TikTok complaining that shocker, she
is struggling to find gainful employment after studying for many
(14:23):
years to get her PhD in dirt studies. I'm I'm
not making this up. I'm not trolling you. This is real,
you know. Without further ado, let's just let's hear her out.
Maybe she really is a victim in all of this.
Speaker 6 (14:40):
Getting crushed by capitalism is like so cringe, but it's
like it's happening to me. And like I got a
PhD from Berkeley, and like I can't get a job
to save my life. Like I got a soil biology PhD.
And like now I'm a tutor and a babysitter and
(15:04):
a dog sitter, and like part of that is because
like I don't want to like move to some random
place in the middle of nowhere. But like the other
half is like they cut all the funding for science,
and like the biotech market is just like absolutely cratered,
and like I have long COVID, so it's difficult for
(15:26):
me to work like a full time job. And just
like I got on here to rant a little bit,
but like, oh my god, like what do we do?
Speaker 1 (15:36):
I just have to work?
Speaker 3 (15:38):
She lost me out long COVID. I know it's a
real thing for some people. This refers to like the
phenomenon of hot long time term symptoms after you have
a COVID infection that don't go away. But I think
a lot of people have psychosomatic long COVID like it's
mostly in their head or it's kind of an a
victim identity they have somescribed to and kind of perpetuated
(16:02):
in their own mind. Not to say it's not a
real thing that affects some people, but a lot of
the descriptions of what they have and what it qualifies
as is incredibly vague and is probably rooted in either
other problems, other medical issues, or inside the old noggin. Now,
so she just lost me a little bit there. And
(16:23):
she also, I don't lack sympathy entirely for young people
who graduate with insanely overpriced degrees and struggle to find
work because the system is broken. College is way too expensive.
It should not be as costly as it is. And
then the loans, I think, are you know a real problem,
But you lose some of that sympathy where you say, well,
(16:46):
I probably She basically said, I probably could have gotten
a job in my dirt studies field, like my dirt
biology whatever, but I didn't want to move to the
middle of nowhere. Hold on, like, if you I know
a couple people who are person doing PhDs, and the
PhD job market is tough, so yeah, if you want
to do you know, get a job as an assistant
(17:07):
professor or something. You got to go to the University
of Idaho's whatever campus, Like you kind of just have
to go to wherever you can find a job. That's
a pretty normal thing that PhD graduates do to get
started in academia. So you probably should have known that.
And if you're just not willing to leave whatever city
you live in, the idea that there's going to happen
to be a perfect academic position in your extremely niche
(17:31):
field there and if not, then capitalism is just screwing
you over is ridiculous. It is totally unreasonable and out
of touch. And I'm like, sorry, but you are not
getting crushed by capitalism. You are getting hit with the
consequences of your own bad decisions, and at some point,
as a grown adult, that is on you. Again. Though
(17:52):
I'm not entirely without sympathy for this young woman, and
she did raise I thought a legitimate point in a
follow up video, take a listen to this.
Speaker 6 (18:00):
I feel so stupid for listening to everyone in my
life who said that if you follow your passions, the
money will come. Because I got like a whole ass
PhD in soil biology, because everybody eats right, everybody like
wears clothes, and I thought that like sustainability was important
(18:21):
or whatever.
Speaker 5 (18:22):
And now like.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
Where are the jobs?
Speaker 6 (18:27):
Uh, if anybody could let me know where the jobs went,
that would be cool, that would be really cool.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Thanks. So, I mean, look, at some point, you are
an adult. You are responsible for your own decisions. But
I think there's a grain of truth to this that
like adults and older generations or rather not they are adults,
but like their parents and grandparents did give young people
advice that was outdated or wasn't great. Like there was
(19:03):
this push like you have to go to college, even
though you know, a lot of times that degree is
still worth it, but a lot of times it isn't.
And depending on the student, just going getting a generic
bachelor's degree and racking up ADK and debt is not
necessarily the right choice. There was this advice if no,
of course, you have to go to college. And then
I don't know who gave her this advice of just
(19:23):
pursue your dreams and the money will come. And yeah,
she probably should have known better, But if that really
is what her parents were telling her or what her
you know, role models or mentors were telling her, then, yeah,
that's pretty bad advice. You know, the truth is somewhere
in the middle that, like, you can't simply ignore finances
(19:44):
and job prospects and all that. But you also, I can't.
I don't think you should, generally speaking, discount you know,
what are your passions, what are your interests? You have
to try to find some sort of sweet spot where
you can you know, have a productive life that will
enable you to provide for your family and your but
also ideally, you know, have some interest or not hate
(20:04):
your job. But I did that. You just do whatever
you want and the money will come. If somebody actually
gave her that advice, they they did you dirty there,
my girl. Now this final video from her, I mean, okay,
she's really I'm trying to be nice, but she is
straining my patience beyond its breaking point. Let's listen to this.
Speaker 6 (20:24):
I know not many right wingers get this, but as
a leftist, I really don't want a job. Like I
know that people make fun of leftists for not wanting
a job, but like I'm really one of them.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
I just.
Speaker 6 (20:38):
I can't stand the idea of having to work, and
I don't understand why right wingers want to work either,
like they are like slaves to their master's low key
and they love it and they eat it up. But
when someone like me says like I don't want to
work in the middle of nowhere, everybody's and it's it's
(21:01):
pretty obvious that you're a little bit like coocked, if
you know what I mean by your circumstances. And maybe
I am too, but I'm into that.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
So so you lost me. You lost my last shred
of sympathy there, dear, because I know that you did
not just go on a long ramp. But how I
actually don't want to work, and I don't want a job,
and I just want to be lazy and somebody else
will take care of me mommy or daddy or the
government and all my neighbors while just have debate taxes
for my healthcare and my food stamps and everything because
(21:36):
I just want to veg all day. Maybe this is
why you're unemployed, girl, Like if I was an employer
and you applied to my job in sustainability and dirt
studies or whatever, and you have this expensive PhD from
this fancy university, but then I look you up on TikTok,
and I see you yapping about how you hate work
and don't want a job and just wish you could
do nothing all day. That is not giving Employee of
(21:58):
the Year to me. It is simply not. So that
could explain something. Maybe some of that energy is creeping
into the whole atmosphere of your resume, your interviews, your applications,
and so Yeah, at the end of the day, I mean,
the situation is your fault. Your attitude is terrible, and
(22:21):
I really don't consider you a victim of anything except
your own terrible decisions. But other than that, you're doing amazing.
Keep it up. What do you guys think? Let me
know in the comments and hit that like. But make
sure subscribed if you aren't yet. Okay, guys. Up next,
we are going to talk about the Tucker Carlson podcast,
(22:42):
which is going off the rails and getting extremely weird.
In particular, we're going to react to a couple of
clips from a recent interview Tucker did with Aaron McIntyre,
who I'm not really very familiar with, but I think
he's affiliated with the Blaze and he's maybe like a
Christian nationalist type. Regardless, this interview was very strange. Obviously,
(23:06):
you know, Kentucker is traditionally conservative and his podcast is
more like right wing media. But the ideas in here
expressed in these clips are very weird and also like
kind of anti American to their core. But I, without
further ado, I guess I'll just show you the first
clip I want to chat about. Here would they appear
(23:26):
to suggest that America is not really a particularly free
country except for I don't know.
Speaker 7 (23:34):
Listen, a political formula is the way in which your
rulers justify their power. In China, their political narrative is
very different. But the United States, it is built on
this idea of we are a free society. We are
a society that at the very least allows you every
libertine desire that.
Speaker 5 (23:50):
Right, have right and so asotomy as you want right exactly.
Speaker 7 (23:53):
Yeah, not the right to live where you want, next
to the people you want to know, right to form
a religious community, but lots the freedom of sodomy for sure,
freedom to purchase a small child if you like.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
I'm sorry, what the actual heck did I just listen to?
So first you have these conservative patriots talking about seemingly
China in like, well, you know, they got this different
idea in America. Are we really free? Sure, you're sure
free if you want to do sodomy. Oh, Actually, America
(24:27):
is free in a lot more ways than just that,
even though that is an objectively good way. Actually, it
is actually good that the government does not send police
into people's bedrooms, both gay and heterosexual, and then arrest
them or find them or otherwise punish them based on
the particulars of their sexual activity. That's actually good. That's
(24:48):
actually kind of part of basic human freedom. And if
you somehow think otherwise, then that is very strange and
remarkably authoritarian. Actually, the other idea that lists like, you know,
you're free to do all the sodomy you want in
the world. These people spend so much time on the internet.
They are in such a weird echo chamber or like
(25:10):
niche place. But you are not free to live where
you want, live next to who you want, or build
your own religious communities. You are literally free to do
all of those things. In America. You may absolutely live
wherever you want. I mean, there's some financial constraints with that,
but if you want to move to Idaho you can.
(25:32):
Nothing's stopping you if you want to move to New
York City or the a different borough of New York.
You can, like, you can literally move where you want. Now,
if what you mean by like you can't live next
to who you want, you kind of can live next
to who you want. I mean you can buy a
house and a certain neighborhood. You can buy a house
across the street from your brother. Like, if what you
(25:54):
mean is that you can't literally legally have like whites
only neighborhoods, okay, is that like your basic test of
human freedom? That's not mine? Actually, I actually think like
racial segregation was bad. But and then this idea that
like you can't build a religious community in America. I
do think there are some threats to religious liberty, like
(26:15):
attempts to persecute religious individuals or business owners through anti
discrimination laws and the like, and I object to that,
but nothing is stopping you. There are flourishing churches and
synagogues and parishes across the country from building a religious
community like that. It's not that there's no issues or
there's no like cultural you know, conflict between woke ideas
(26:37):
and religion. But when you frame it like this, it's, yeah,
it is basically you're no longer free to even have
a church community in America. It's like, what are you
talking about? Do you go outside? Do you look around?
Lots of people still do that. It is not, in
fact illegal to build a religious community. It's maybe difficult
(26:58):
due to social trends, but it's still very much possible
and happening every single day all across America. Some of
these people they almost sound like the snowflakes or the
social justice words. They want to be victims, like they
want to imagine a world where modern America is like
viciously oppressive to them, even though it isn't. And this
(27:19):
other thing, it's like, oh, you're only free for to
pursue sawdomy oh, yoh yo. You're actually free to express
yourself in America because of the First Amendment. You're free
to practice your religion because of the First Amendment, more
so than in most countries and in most parts of
the world, and more so than most human civilizations in
human history. Actually, you are free to own firearms, you
(27:44):
are free to start a business, work in whatever line
of work you would like, dress however you would please like.
You are remarkably free in modern America, and there are
threats to that freedom that are very real. But you
can act like, oh, the only freedom left in America
these days is just the rights of gay people to
(28:06):
have sex. You sound deranged, You sound completely out of
touch with reality, and like, I really don't know what
is happening to Tucker because he just keeps going into
these kinds of strange territories. I mean, later in this podcast,
these pro America patriots actually seem to suggest that they
(28:27):
want a king in America. Take a listen to this
next clip.
Speaker 5 (28:32):
At some point when the regime decides, actually, we're against
crime and we do have to have real borders, and like,
I don't know, we care about drugs and we don't
want the society to like collapse completely, that's when you'll
know they have complete to tau ring control.
Speaker 7 (28:51):
Or they recognize that the utility of destroying the country
is coming to an end.
Speaker 5 (28:56):
That's what I'm saying, because at that point they'll feel like, Okay,
we own this completely, so why rack it? It's our
house now?
Speaker 7 (29:03):
Yes, And this is how you you know again, this
is the classic principle of actually how you get a king, right,
because they're generally generationally invested in the well being of
the land they're ruling, the people they're ruling, and they
have the power to control the outcomes there. So if
you actually care about that, if you're actually going to benefit,
why not invest your control in actually producing a better pop.
Speaker 5 (29:23):
Plint I completely. I mean, feudalism is so much better
than what we have now because at least in feudalism,
the leader is vested in the prosperity of the people
he rules, Right, you know, if all your surfs die,
you starve.
Speaker 7 (29:35):
Yeah, there's a true incentive to care for those people.
Now again, there is also that also exists in a
republic if properly managed. But as we've noted, we're well
beyond the requirements that even our founders laid out for
a functional republican government.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
Did did I hit the crack pipe before coming on
this podcast today?
Speaker 6 (29:55):
Like?
Speaker 3 (29:56):
Did I mix up and my medications and take something stronger?
Did I accidentally like eat some edibles? Maybe? What is
going on? Where am I right now? I'm listening to
a very prominent right wing conservative podcast say some of
(30:19):
the most strange and bizarre and fundamentally anti American things
I have ever heard that are also just like incoherent
and wrong. I am open to the idea that America's
current leaders in our democratic republic system do not always
advocate for the best interests of the people one hundred percent.
(30:39):
But this idea that they are all like evil and
intentionally want to destroy the country, I think is overwrought
and hyperbolic. But is that to actually suggest that a
king with unlimited power and authority, who stays in power
for life no matter what happens, somehow cares about the
people is totally deranged. It is against everything we know
(31:02):
about incentives and economics and about human history where actually
a lot of those rulers pursued their own self aggrandizement
and interests at the expense at tremendous expense to their people.
And the idea that feudalism was, which is referring to
this system of you know, like medieval serfs and lords
(31:24):
and kings, is superior to modern day capitalism. It just
is one of the most historically and economically illiterate things
I've ever heard in my entire life. And I covered
TikTok almost every day, and he's making the TikTok crazies
look like brilliant economists with that statement. The increase in
(31:46):
human health, life expectancy, living standards, wealth, everything between feudal
times and then post feudal times when capitalism and the
industrial revolution all these things fell is enormous. It is tremendous.
People like weirdo right wing people who like fetishize the
(32:07):
medieval age. I mean, they must have played too many
video games and they think that's what's what it's actually like,
or watched I don't know, too many TV shows that
just show the life of the nobility. It was life
was hell most like a huge percentage of the children
just died, right. The ones that didn't just worked in
the fields. Like, I don't know how to even engage
(32:31):
with this to some extent that we have people. I mean,
America was founded because we didn't want a king, and
conservatives are supposed to want to conserve our constitution, our principles,
our founding principles, and yet you have these conservative voices
like pining for monarchy. I am law, I feel lost
(32:55):
when I listen to these people, and the fact that
this is a growing movement and cod on the modern
American right, this kind of Christian nationalist, authoritarian, monarchist I
guess is genuinely terrifying and genuinely unhinged. But other than that,
Tucker is doing amazing stuff. Wow wow, But what do
(33:18):
you guys think of all that? Let me know in
the comments. Make sure you're subscribed if you aren't yet,
and to hit that like button while you are at it,
because I suffer on this show, wading through insanity and
extremism and stupidity, and I do it all for you,
So the least you can do is reward my suffering
(33:38):
by hitting that like button. And guys, that'll be it
for today's episode of The Brad Versus Everyone Podcast. Thank
you so much for tuning in, and we'll talk again
real soon
One would health.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm the hey girl.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
If you have not thrown away all.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Your ELF products yet and you don't know why you should,
You're about.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
To know why.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Another day, another ridiculous boycott movement on the Internet, but
this one actually seems to be working. We're going to
break down TikTok's latest outrage and subsequent boycott, and so
much more on today's episode of the Brad Versus Everyone podcast,
(00:31):
my daily show where we cover the craziest ideas from
across our media are politics in the Internet, all from
an independent perspective. Up first, guys, I don't know if
you have ever heard of the comedian Matt Rife. He
had kind of a big moment, had some success, but
then was involved in some controversy and has fallen off
(00:51):
a little bit. But he's a pretty popular stand up comedian,
known for his crowd work and for being quite attractive,
and that's a big part of his stick. Well anyway,
TikTok is currently up at arms over his latest commercial
collaboration with a makeup brand called Elf. Now, I am
(01:13):
not a makeup person. I do it a little bit
sometimes when I'm on camera, but I'm not like a
makeup guy, So I don't know anything about makeup brands.
This is my first subway segue into this world. But
they are facing tremendous backlash right now on TikTok for
featuring him in a commercial, as if that is like
(01:34):
some evil, terrible thing to do. And just like millions
upon millions of people on the internet, particularly woke women,
if we're being honest, are crashing out over this in
kind of deranged fashion, all because of a couple jokes
Matt Rife has made in the past. It's quite something.
Here's the first video we're going to take a look at.
(01:56):
This has almost three million views, guys, and it's very normal,
very stable, very totally saying. Take a listen to this.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
One word Elf and this Hey girl, if you have
not thrown away all your Elth products yet and you
don't know why you should, you're about to know why. Elf, Elf, Elf,
someone on the Elth marketing team may need to get
fired because Elf, what did you do?
Speaker 1 (02:18):
I'm not even gonna lie.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I don't even know who this mat guy is, but
what I do know is that Elf, there is no
way in the world that Elf should have been working
with him, because metics brand that is supposed.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
To empower women.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Tell me who was in actual de Lulu when they
decided on this campaign.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
I know there's this whole thing about like dark humor.
I get it. I have dark humor. I find dark
humor funny.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
But it's one thing to have dark humor, and it's
another thing completely to joke about the things that Elf
and Matt Raife basically condone. Either someone on the elth
marketing team was like full on drunk when they decided
to like approve this campaign, or I do get the
fact that in this world of social media, a bit
of controversy goes a long way.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
But there's controversy and then there's just outright playing.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Stupidity, like don't be showing yourself as a brand that
empowers women, and then in the same breath, you're working
with people that make jokes about women being abused, Like
what the actual hell actually And in the meantime, I
will be using brands that don't make fun of female
population and basically insult them in a way that goes
far beyond dark humor.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
I think a lot of us are going to have
to agree that right now. Currently, Elf, you are on
the X.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
List, Hey, so this is unhinged and deeply incoherent. Yet
millions of people, particularly women, but also a lot of
gays and theys, are signing on to this narrative on
TikTok and elsewhere on the internet. It makes no sense
at all. First off, kind of audacious to say, I
(03:41):
have no idea who this man is really, but it's
so terrible that a brand would work with him. Maybe
you shouldn't actually yap like this so confidently about something
when you don't know who he is. Which is it right?
Are you either a voice that millions of people should
be listening to on this subject, or have you never
heard of the guy? It really can't be both, at
least not if your goal is to make any sense.
(04:01):
And then she says, well, I like dark humor, but
he joked about domestic violence involving women. Okay, so it's
dark humor is great except certain dark areas of humor
that I personally find upsetting or don't like. You can't
really have both there. And then it is absolutely insane
and totally baseless to suggest that because a comedian made
(04:25):
a joke about a certain traumatic or horrific issue, they
therefore condone it or that a brand therefore condones every
joke they've made if they feature a comedian in a commercial. Now,
I'm open to the idea that he shouldn't have been
in this commercial just because he has nothing to do
with makeup. They probably just thought that he is just
a very handsome guy that a lot of women are
(04:46):
fans of, and that that's why they put him in
the commercial. I don't know. But the idea that by
doing so they are somehow endorsing domestic violence is genuinely unhinged,
And this entire craft that we're seeing across TikTok just
seems totally unjustified and unwarranted to me. But guys, we
(05:07):
actually haven't even gotten to the most unhinged part of
this story yet. So not only do we have these
typical kind of TikTok yapping videos where people set up
and film themselves and talk, which I do too. I'm
not even saying that with any shade whatsoever, but we
also have had these extremely melo dramatic short videos with
music playing in the background. And I'll just show you
(05:29):
screenshots so I don't get copyrighted, but and there's no voiceover.
But like, for example, one person and this got hundreds
of thousands of likes, just showed their ELF products with
sad music and said, as a domestic violence survivor, I'm
so disappointed dot dot dot I loved ELF so much
upside down face they're acting like Matt Rife did Domestic Violet,
(05:53):
if they're acting like they partnered with Chris Brown or
something like somebody who is known to have abused women,
and then they still just endorsing cosign. He made a
joke about it. That's not that deep. If you're not
interested in that, or if that's too sensitive for you
because you have past experiences with it, I can respect that,
So don't go to the show or don't watch the content.
(06:14):
But it is not him in any way endorsing it.
Some of my favorite jokes, my favorite Dave Chappelle jokes
are incredibly dark. He doesn't actually support the dark things,
and in fact, a lot of people find that the
levity of more serious subjects. Making light of it is
a way to cope with the horrors of the human
(06:35):
existence and how cruel and callous the world can be.
If that's not you, that's okay. Like dark humor isn't
for everyone. But what you're not going to do, even
if I have tremendous compassion for you as a survivor
of horrific abuse, is accuse people of basically being abusers
if they dared make a joke about a thing that
does not compute. That is totally inaccurate and just absolutely unfair.
(07:00):
And then you have all these people throwing away their
elf cosmetics because they dare do a commercial with matt Rife,
and they don't seem to realize this, but you already
paid for it. So you set up your iPhone stand
to record your little TikTok video of you throwing out
the products, thinking you're like doing your big one to
(07:20):
protest this brand, but you aren't. You already gave them money.
Now you could boycott them and no longer purchase free
future products. That is your prerogative, But to throw the
ones you have away genuinely makes no sense. You are
only hurting yourself financially and all just for like this
kind of performative social media faux outrage that all traces
(07:43):
back to like two jokes in one special. You have
got to be kidding me, y'all. This kind of reminds
me after Russia's invasion of Ukraine a few years back.
These videos went viral of people pouring out Russian vodka
and I remember laughing at at the time because it's
like a lot of that Russian vodka was like actually
(08:04):
produced in America or some of it was actually produced
in Ukraine, but regardless, like you already bought it, so
maybe you want to boycott future purchases, that makes sense,
But pouring it out for performing to performative like TikTok
videos made no sense whatsoever. It was just stupidity at
the exponential level. And this is the same thing throwing
(08:25):
away products who already paid for does not do anything
these people ay ya yai. I also found it obnoxious
how some other brands tried to like join in the
pylon to promote themselves. So for example, this I think
it's a food company shop Missa that's a women owned
business and apparently super woke they shared a video and
(08:45):
they said, just a reminder that we do things like
this instead of paying comedians who make bad jokes against
women to do an ad for us. Wow, you're just
so stunning and so brave. It's like, can y'all show
me on the doll where the hurt you right, like,
is the the trauma and pain inflicted by a joke
no one forced you to watch? Really that deep Listen,
(09:09):
I've been through some bleak things in my life and
there are certain things that are sensitive to me. But
you know what, people are still allowed to joke about them.
And I'm sorry, but that doesn't make them evil, and
it certainly doesn't make them persona non grata for brands
to work with for the rest of time and eternity. Like,
I'm open to the idea that Matt Riif didn't need
(09:29):
to be in this commercial or wasn't a great fit
for the brand, but this joke should not render him,
you know, untouchable in the marketing industry for life. That
is insane and this is also sinister. This is cynical.
These other brands hopping in, they're just trying to cash
in on the unfair cancelation of another company. They're not actually,
(09:50):
you know, genuinely moved by this, or at least I
kind of doubt it. They just want to get their bag. Now.
The brand has addressed the backlash in a statement that
we are going to get to. But just a quick
reminder to make sure you subscribed. If you weren't yet,
do hit that like button while you are at it,
and remember to send in your voicemails for my Voicemail
Friday episodes where I react to your wolkarer stories, give
(10:12):
you advice about your personal life situations, and answer any
questions you guys have for me. The link to send
in one of those is as always in the description. Now, guys,
we're going to take a look at some of the
statements that ELF has released that are sort of like
quasi apologies that aren't quite apologies, and spoiler alert, they're
(10:35):
not going over particularly well. Here is one ELF hater
on TikTok reading over and reacting to some of their statements.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Y'all, this whole Elf Matt Wright situation keeps getting worse.
There is a big gap between our intention and how
this missed the mark for some people. We always aim
to deliver positivity and this one didn't. So we find
ourselves in a position where, quite honestly, that doesn't feel
good for us. Okay, some of this is just like
word vomit, and quite honestly, this doesn't feel good for us,
(11:05):
like it doesn't feel good for your customer.
Speaker 5 (11:08):
Base.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
None of that is an apology. And then here we
are very much known for operating in real time. That's
what it means to be in the cultural zeitgeist. So
we're not looking in the rear view mirror when we're
operating the real time marketing machine. So this could be
construed into ways. One, you knew that this comedian was
making jokes about domestic violence in the past, but you
(11:31):
didn't care about the past, Or you're not going back
and vetting the people that you work with, which I
mean this wasn't like some niche incident. This is his
Netflix special is very difficult to miss. So you're basically
saying either you knew and you didn't care, or you
didn't go back to find this out. Lastly, they posted
a note on their social media that was still like
(11:53):
making jokes and making light of this, we understand we
missed the mark with the people we care about in
our oalth community. Not an apology, while al Fino and
Schmor is closest to how could you still keep joking? Also,
at the time that I'm recording this, after all that
has transpired, the campaign is still up on their Instagram.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
It's just shocking. So I agree with him. Actually, it
is shocking that ELF is like not quite apologizing and
is keeping up the campaign. A year or two ago,
I feel like the brand would have instantly folded to
the backlash. But maybe it actually, maybe some of these
corporations are developing, like just a little bit of the
spine just like this much but maybe not.
Speaker 5 (12:34):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
It gives me a little bit of hope. And these people,
I mean, they must not have real problems. I'm sorry,
but if y'all are this pressed, and I feel this
way about the right wingers getting all upset about a
couple male cheerleaders on a couple of NFL teams, if
y'all are this pressed over a makeup company featuring someone
(12:56):
in a commercial, it wasn't even all about him. He
was like one character of multiple high profile characters and
a commercial because he made one joke that offends you
or two jokes that offended you a while ago. You
must have a pretty chill life, Like you really can't
have that much stress or that many problems going on.
You can't be that oppressed. If you have time to
(13:17):
worry about that kind of stuff, you simply cannot. Now
one heartening aspect of this is that a significant number
of women on TikTok were posting videos essentially saying that like,
they're not gonna stop buying alf products, it's not that deep,
and they're over canceled culture. And while these videos were
not getting millions of views and millions of likes in
(13:41):
the way that the kind of outrage videos were, they
also weren't small. They were getting hundreds of thousands of
views and tens and tens and thousands of likes. So
maybe nature is healing a little bit. Maybe even young people,
even on TikTok, some of them are starting to catch
up with common sense and get getting sick of the
(14:01):
incessant outrages and cancelations and boycotts, because lord knows, I'm
sick of it all, but I suffer through it for
your viewing pleasure. Okay, guys, up next, we're going to
react to a girl on TikTok complaining that shocker, she
is struggling to find gainful employment after studying for many
(14:23):
years to get her PhD in dirt studies. I'm I'm
not making this up. I'm not trolling you. This is real,
you know. Without further ado, let's just let's hear her out.
Maybe she really is a victim in all of this.
Speaker 6 (14:40):
Getting crushed by capitalism is like so cringe, but it's
like it's happening to me. And like I got a
PhD from Berkeley, and like I can't get a job
to save my life. Like I got a soil biology PhD.
And like now I'm a tutor and a babysitter and
(15:04):
a dog sitter, and like part of that is because
like I don't want to like move to some random
place in the middle of nowhere. But like the other
half is like they cut all the funding for science,
and like the biotech market is just like absolutely cratered,
and like I have long COVID, so it's difficult for
(15:26):
me to work like a full time job. And just
like I got on here to rant a little bit,
but like, oh my god, like what do we do?
Speaker 1 (15:36):
I just have to work?
Speaker 3 (15:38):
She lost me out long COVID. I know it's a
real thing for some people. This refers to like the
phenomenon of hot long time term symptoms after you have
a COVID infection that don't go away. But I think
a lot of people have psychosomatic long COVID like it's
mostly in their head or it's kind of an a
victim identity they have somescribed to and kind of perpetuated
(16:02):
in their own mind. Not to say it's not a
real thing that affects some people, but a lot of
the descriptions of what they have and what it qualifies
as is incredibly vague and is probably rooted in either
other problems, other medical issues, or inside the old noggin. Now,
so she just lost me a little bit there. And
(16:23):
she also, I don't lack sympathy entirely for young people
who graduate with insanely overpriced degrees and struggle to find
work because the system is broken. College is way too expensive.
It should not be as costly as it is. And
then the loans, I think, are you know a real problem,
But you lose some of that sympathy where you say, well,
(16:46):
I probably She basically said, I probably could have gotten
a job in my dirt studies field, like my dirt
biology whatever, but I didn't want to move to the
middle of nowhere. Hold on, like, if you I know
a couple people who are person doing PhDs, and the
PhD job market is tough, so yeah, if you want
to do you know, get a job as an assistant
(17:07):
professor or something. You got to go to the University
of Idaho's whatever campus, Like you kind of just have
to go to wherever you can find a job. That's
a pretty normal thing that PhD graduates do to get
started in academia. So you probably should have known that.
And if you're just not willing to leave whatever city
you live in, the idea that there's going to happen
to be a perfect academic position in your extremely niche
(17:31):
field there and if not, then capitalism is just screwing
you over is ridiculous. It is totally unreasonable and out
of touch. And I'm like, sorry, but you are not
getting crushed by capitalism. You are getting hit with the
consequences of your own bad decisions, and at some point,
as a grown adult, that is on you. Again. Though
(17:52):
I'm not entirely without sympathy for this young woman, and
she did raise I thought a legitimate point in a
follow up video, take a listen to this.
Speaker 6 (18:00):
I feel so stupid for listening to everyone in my
life who said that if you follow your passions, the
money will come. Because I got like a whole ass
PhD in soil biology, because everybody eats right, everybody like
wears clothes, and I thought that like sustainability was important
(18:21):
or whatever.
Speaker 5 (18:22):
And now like.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
Where are the jobs?
Speaker 6 (18:27):
Uh, if anybody could let me know where the jobs went,
that would be cool, that would be really cool.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Thanks. So, I mean, look, at some point, you are
an adult. You are responsible for your own decisions. But
I think there's a grain of truth to this that
like adults and older generations or rather not they are adults,
but like their parents and grandparents did give young people
advice that was outdated or wasn't great. Like there was
(19:03):
this push like you have to go to college, even
though you know, a lot of times that degree is
still worth it, but a lot of times it isn't.
And depending on the student, just going getting a generic
bachelor's degree and racking up ADK and debt is not
necessarily the right choice. There was this advice if no,
of course, you have to go to college. And then
I don't know who gave her this advice of just
(19:23):
pursue your dreams and the money will come. And yeah,
she probably should have known better, But if that really
is what her parents were telling her or what her
you know, role models or mentors were telling her, then, yeah,
that's pretty bad advice. You know, the truth is somewhere
in the middle that, like, you can't simply ignore finances
(19:44):
and job prospects and all that. But you also, I can't.
I don't think you should, generally speaking, discount you know,
what are your passions, what are your interests? You have
to try to find some sort of sweet spot where
you can you know, have a productive life that will
enable you to provide for your family and your but
also ideally, you know, have some interest or not hate
(20:04):
your job. But I did that. You just do whatever
you want and the money will come. If somebody actually
gave her that advice, they they did you dirty there,
my girl. Now this final video from her, I mean, okay,
she's really I'm trying to be nice, but she is
straining my patience beyond its breaking point. Let's listen to this.
Speaker 6 (20:24):
I know not many right wingers get this, but as
a leftist, I really don't want a job. Like I
know that people make fun of leftists for not wanting
a job, but like I'm really one of them.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
I just.
Speaker 6 (20:38):
I can't stand the idea of having to work, and
I don't understand why right wingers want to work either,
like they are like slaves to their master's low key
and they love it and they eat it up. But
when someone like me says like I don't want to
work in the middle of nowhere, everybody's and it's it's
(21:01):
pretty obvious that you're a little bit like coocked, if
you know what I mean by your circumstances. And maybe
I am too, but I'm into that.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
So so you lost me. You lost my last shred
of sympathy there, dear, because I know that you did
not just go on a long ramp. But how I
actually don't want to work, and I don't want a job,
and I just want to be lazy and somebody else
will take care of me mommy or daddy or the
government and all my neighbors while just have debate taxes
for my healthcare and my food stamps and everything because
(21:36):
I just want to veg all day. Maybe this is
why you're unemployed, girl, Like if I was an employer
and you applied to my job in sustainability and dirt
studies or whatever, and you have this expensive PhD from
this fancy university, but then I look you up on TikTok,
and I see you yapping about how you hate work
and don't want a job and just wish you could
do nothing all day. That is not giving Employee of
(21:58):
the Year to me. It is simply not. So that
could explain something. Maybe some of that energy is creeping
into the whole atmosphere of your resume, your interviews, your applications,
and so Yeah, at the end of the day, I mean,
the situation is your fault. Your attitude is terrible, and
(22:21):
I really don't consider you a victim of anything except
your own terrible decisions. But other than that, you're doing amazing.
Keep it up. What do you guys think? Let me
know in the comments and hit that like. But make
sure subscribed if you aren't yet. Okay, guys. Up next,
we are going to talk about the Tucker Carlson podcast,
(22:42):
which is going off the rails and getting extremely weird.
In particular, we're going to react to a couple of
clips from a recent interview Tucker did with Aaron McIntyre,
who I'm not really very familiar with, but I think
he's affiliated with the Blaze and he's maybe like a
Christian nationalist type. Regardless, this interview was very strange. Obviously,
(23:06):
you know, Kentucker is traditionally conservative and his podcast is
more like right wing media. But the ideas in here
expressed in these clips are very weird and also like
kind of anti American to their core. But I, without
further ado, I guess I'll just show you the first
clip I want to chat about. Here would they appear
(23:26):
to suggest that America is not really a particularly free
country except for I don't know.
Speaker 7 (23:34):
Listen, a political formula is the way in which your
rulers justify their power. In China, their political narrative is
very different. But the United States, it is built on
this idea of we are a free society. We are
a society that at the very least allows you every
libertine desire that.
Speaker 5 (23:50):
Right, have right and so asotomy as you want right exactly.
Speaker 7 (23:53):
Yeah, not the right to live where you want, next
to the people you want to know, right to form
a religious community, but lots the freedom of sodomy for sure,
freedom to purchase a small child if you like.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
I'm sorry, what the actual heck did I just listen to?
So first you have these conservative patriots talking about seemingly
China in like, well, you know, they got this different
idea in America. Are we really free? Sure, you're sure
free if you want to do sodomy. Oh, Actually, America
(24:27):
is free in a lot more ways than just that,
even though that is an objectively good way. Actually, it
is actually good that the government does not send police
into people's bedrooms, both gay and heterosexual, and then arrest
them or find them or otherwise punish them based on
the particulars of their sexual activity. That's actually good. That's
(24:48):
actually kind of part of basic human freedom. And if
you somehow think otherwise, then that is very strange and
remarkably authoritarian. Actually, the other idea that lists like, you know,
you're free to do all the sodomy you want in
the world. These people spend so much time on the internet.
They are in such a weird echo chamber or like
(25:10):
niche place. But you are not free to live where
you want, live next to who you want, or build
your own religious communities. You are literally free to do
all of those things. In America. You may absolutely live
wherever you want. I mean, there's some financial constraints with that,
but if you want to move to Idaho you can.
(25:32):
Nothing's stopping you if you want to move to New
York City or the a different borough of New York.
You can, like, you can literally move where you want. Now,
if what you mean by like you can't live next
to who you want, you kind of can live next
to who you want. I mean you can buy a
house and a certain neighborhood. You can buy a house
across the street from your brother. Like, if what you
(25:54):
mean is that you can't literally legally have like whites
only neighborhoods, okay, is that like your basic test of
human freedom? That's not mine? Actually, I actually think like
racial segregation was bad. But and then this idea that
like you can't build a religious community in America. I
do think there are some threats to religious liberty, like
(26:15):
attempts to persecute religious individuals or business owners through anti
discrimination laws and the like, and I object to that,
but nothing is stopping you. There are flourishing churches and
synagogues and parishes across the country from building a religious
community like that. It's not that there's no issues or
there's no like cultural you know, conflict between woke ideas
(26:37):
and religion. But when you frame it like this, it's, yeah,
it is basically you're no longer free to even have
a church community in America. It's like, what are you
talking about? Do you go outside? Do you look around?
Lots of people still do that. It is not, in
fact illegal to build a religious community. It's maybe difficult
(26:58):
due to social trends, but it's still very much possible
and happening every single day all across America. Some of
these people they almost sound like the snowflakes or the
social justice words. They want to be victims, like they
want to imagine a world where modern America is like
viciously oppressive to them, even though it isn't. And this
(27:19):
other thing, it's like, oh, you're only free for to
pursue sawdomy oh, yoh yo. You're actually free to express
yourself in America because of the First Amendment. You're free
to practice your religion because of the First Amendment, more
so than in most countries and in most parts of
the world, and more so than most human civilizations in
human history. Actually, you are free to own firearms, you
(27:44):
are free to start a business, work in whatever line
of work you would like, dress however you would please like.
You are remarkably free in modern America, and there are
threats to that freedom that are very real. But you
can act like, oh, the only freedom left in America
these days is just the rights of gay people to
(28:06):
have sex. You sound deranged, You sound completely out of
touch with reality, and like, I really don't know what
is happening to Tucker because he just keeps going into
these kinds of strange territories. I mean, later in this podcast,
these pro America patriots actually seem to suggest that they
(28:27):
want a king in America. Take a listen to this
next clip.
Speaker 5 (28:32):
At some point when the regime decides, actually, we're against
crime and we do have to have real borders, and like,
I don't know, we care about drugs and we don't
want the society to like collapse completely, that's when you'll
know they have complete to tau ring control.
Speaker 7 (28:51):
Or they recognize that the utility of destroying the country
is coming to an end.
Speaker 5 (28:56):
That's what I'm saying, because at that point they'll feel like, Okay,
we own this completely, so why rack it? It's our
house now?
Speaker 7 (29:03):
Yes, And this is how you you know again, this
is the classic principle of actually how you get a king, right,
because they're generally generationally invested in the well being of
the land they're ruling, the people they're ruling, and they
have the power to control the outcomes there. So if
you actually care about that, if you're actually going to benefit,
why not invest your control in actually producing a better pop.
Speaker 5 (29:23):
Plint I completely. I mean, feudalism is so much better
than what we have now because at least in feudalism,
the leader is vested in the prosperity of the people
he rules, Right, you know, if all your surfs die,
you starve.
Speaker 7 (29:35):
Yeah, there's a true incentive to care for those people.
Now again, there is also that also exists in a
republic if properly managed. But as we've noted, we're well
beyond the requirements that even our founders laid out for
a functional republican government.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
Did did I hit the crack pipe before coming on
this podcast today?
Speaker 6 (29:55):
Like?
Speaker 3 (29:56):
Did I mix up and my medications and take something stronger?
Did I accidentally like eat some edibles? Maybe? What is
going on? Where am I right now? I'm listening to
a very prominent right wing conservative podcast say some of
(30:19):
the most strange and bizarre and fundamentally anti American things
I have ever heard that are also just like incoherent
and wrong. I am open to the idea that America's
current leaders in our democratic republic system do not always
advocate for the best interests of the people one hundred percent.
(30:39):
But this idea that they are all like evil and
intentionally want to destroy the country, I think is overwrought
and hyperbolic. But is that to actually suggest that a
king with unlimited power and authority, who stays in power
for life no matter what happens, somehow cares about the
people is totally deranged. It is against everything we know
(31:02):
about incentives and economics and about human history where actually
a lot of those rulers pursued their own self aggrandizement
and interests at the expense at tremendous expense to their people.
And the idea that feudalism was, which is referring to
this system of you know, like medieval serfs and lords
(31:24):
and kings, is superior to modern day capitalism. It just
is one of the most historically and economically illiterate things
I've ever heard in my entire life. And I covered
TikTok almost every day, and he's making the TikTok crazies
look like brilliant economists with that statement. The increase in
(31:46):
human health, life expectancy, living standards, wealth, everything between feudal
times and then post feudal times when capitalism and the
industrial revolution all these things fell is enormous. It is tremendous.
People like weirdo right wing people who like fetishize the
(32:07):
medieval age. I mean, they must have played too many
video games and they think that's what's what it's actually like,
or watched I don't know, too many TV shows that
just show the life of the nobility. It was life
was hell most like a huge percentage of the children
just died, right. The ones that didn't just worked in
the fields. Like, I don't know how to even engage
(32:31):
with this to some extent that we have people. I mean,
America was founded because we didn't want a king, and
conservatives are supposed to want to conserve our constitution, our principles,
our founding principles, and yet you have these conservative voices
like pining for monarchy. I am law, I feel lost
(32:55):
when I listen to these people, and the fact that
this is a growing movement and cod on the modern
American right, this kind of Christian nationalist, authoritarian, monarchist I
guess is genuinely terrifying and genuinely unhinged. But other than that,
Tucker is doing amazing stuff. Wow wow, But what do
(33:18):
you guys think of all that? Let me know in
the comments. Make sure you're subscribed if you aren't yet,
and to hit that like button while you are at it,
because I suffer on this show, wading through insanity and
extremism and stupidity, and I do it all for you,
So the least you can do is reward my suffering
(33:38):
by hitting that like button. And guys, that'll be it
for today's episode of The Brad Versus Everyone Podcast. Thank
you so much for tuning in, and we'll talk again
real soon
Popular Podcasts
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com