October 9, 2025 • 19 mins
Saron is back — sharper, louder, and completely unfiltered. In this comeback episode, she dismantles the illusion that pop culture and politics live in separate worlds. From the right’s reaction to Charlie Kirk’s execution to the left’s meltdown over Taylor Swift’s lyrics, Saron calls out hypocrisy across the spectrum — no matter who it offends.
She breaks down:
• Why pop culture has never been apolitical — and why pretending otherwise is dishonest
• The right’s weaponization of grief after Charlie Kirk’s death
• The left’s embarrassing crusade to brand Taylor Swift as racist over “Onyx and Opalite”
• How purity politics and media delusion keep America divided
• What it means to fight for democracy without losing your sanity or sense of humor
If you’re exhausted by outrage cycles, allergic to bad faith, and ready to hear the truth — this one’s for you.
Pop culture. Politics. No pandering.
Welcome to the new era of Saron Things.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:13):
Welcome back to Surround Things after a long and unexpected
hiatus, she's back and better than ever.
I'll be honest, I did feel a little stifled by my previous
format, and I want to be clear that we will always talk pop
culture here. That will always be at the heart
of the content. But I must be honest.
(00:35):
Pop culture and politics, that'smy life.
This typically isn't the foot I lead with, but I've spent the
entirety of my professional career, almost a decade, working
with progressive Democratic candidates, trying to get them
elected up and down the ballot. This is what I spend my days
thinking about, and for the longest time, the pop culture
content was an escape. I'm a serious person with some
(00:58):
unserious interests, and like most women, I'm sick of being
told that because we enjoy pop culture, we're silly and serious
and disposable. Men can memorize baseball stats
and quote The Wire for hours, and somehow that's culture.
But women dissecting housewives?That's frivolous.
Fuck that. And like I said, for a long time
pop culture felt like my escape hatch, a place to go when the
world was too ugly or too loud. But here's the truth.
(01:21):
There is no real escape. The politics still find you.
To sit behind this mic and pretend otherwise would be
inauthentic. So I'm not shying away from
politics anymore. Sometimes my feelings won't fit
into any box, sometimes they'll contradict.
But I'd rather give you the truth messy and alive rather
than play pretend. And as we enter this new era of
Saron things, I want to give youa rundown of my ideology and how
(01:45):
I became this person. I spent the majority of my
career helping elect Democrats, like I said, but my backbone was
built way earlier. I was 5 voting for Bill Clinton
in a mock election at my DC elementary school.
That's how deep this runs. Then I got dropped into
evangelical schools. I was surrounded by kids being
(02:06):
brainwashed into cruelty. I was often the lone Democrat in
science class. We debated whether gay marriage
was unchristian and my stance was simple.
What person would choose to be gay if people like you are out
here delighting and making theirlives hell?
Silence. Of course, no one could answer
that question. And that's when I realized in
(02:29):
like the 6th grade I would neveroutsource my conscience to small
men with big egos and sadistic interpretations of God.
And that's why I don't want to tiptoe anymore to be true to
that girl. Not for conservative snowflakes
who want their alternate realitycater to, Not for the leftist
hall monitors with their endlesspurity tests.
(02:49):
I will fail your test every time, gladly.
Because my job is not to keep your feelings intact, it's to
keep democracy intact. And if that makes me a stone
cold bitch, then so be it. So let me make my priorities
clear, OK? No fluff, no utopian daydreams
1. Preserve free and fair elections
2. Protect the rights and safety of
(03:11):
marginalized communities 3. Save Medicare and Social
Security 4. Gerrymander the fuck out of
every blue state because the other side already torched the
rule book and I'm done playing nice all right now for you.
Never, Kamala people, listen closely.
Seriously, if you're still out there frothing protesting her
(03:31):
book tour or whining online likethe useless bitch babies you
are, this is not for you. You're dead weight.
But if you're ready to repent, admit you screwed up, and fight
the real enemy, fine. Welcome.
Grab a chair, but don't get comfortable because you are on
probation. Do I want decrepit, bought and
paid for politicians running theparty forever?
(03:53):
Absolutely not. Primary them.
Organize, build packs, run killers who actually want to
serve, take their seats. But until then, while they're
still holding onto the gavel, webeat Republicans at their own
rigged game. We save Medicare, we protect
voting rights. That means being ruthless when I
have to be pragmatic when it counts, and unflinching all of
(04:15):
the time. And if that makes me the villain
in your story, good. At least you finally understand
the plot. This episode is going to be
largely political. Next week we will get back to a
healthy mix of both pop culture and politics.
But I feel the need to go in, and I shall.
We're going to dive right on in by discussing the right's
reaction to Charlie Kirk's execution.
(04:38):
So the right is out here doxing people for not mourning Charlie
Kirk hard enough, publishing names and addresses, harassing
folks because someone dared to quote him critically or didn't
hit the right note of grief. And they're calling Democrats
evil for this. OK, so let's pull up some
examples. Wrong video, but actually not
(05:04):
wrong at all. Because when I first saw that on
January 6th, I felt physically I'll nauseous.
I despise Mike Pence, I always have.
But in that moment I was terrified for him.
Because they weren't kidding. They weren't performing.
They built gallows outside the Capitol, They were ready to hang
the Vice President of the UnitedStates.
(05:25):
And for the first time, I saw exactly what they meant by Make
America Great Again. It means drag this country back
to the ugliest chapters of its past.
It means public lynchings. It means fear and blood as a
tool of power. That is their America.
That's their project. And now these same people, these
(05:47):
mobs, these defenders, their apologists, want to lecture us
about morality. They want to call Democrats evil
because we don't cry on cue overCharlie Kirk.
Spare me. OK?
These people stormed the Capitol, smeared shit on the
walls, beat cops with their own flagpoles, and tried to stop the
(06:07):
peaceful transfer of power, and now they want to pretend like
they're the guardians of decency?
They call themselves patriots while chanting for lynchings of
their own vice president. They wrapped themselves in the
Constitution while they piss on it.
And the worst part? It's not just the rioters, it's
the whole ecosystem of cowards and frauds who excuse them.
(06:30):
Members of Congress calling thempolitical prisoners, Mogga
influencers branding them as martyrs.
Every one of them is complicit. They don't just excuse treason.
They celebrate it. They sell merch about it.
They build a movement on top of it.
OK, so no, I don't want to hear another fucking word about
Democrats being evil for not mourning Charlie Kirk.
(06:50):
Not from the crowd that tried tolynch Mike Pence in broad
daylight. Not from the people who wave
Blue Foot Lives Matters flags while beating cops.
(07:11):
You don't get to weaponize griefwhile you glorify gallows.
You don't get to lecture anyone about decency while you cheer
for sedition. And if calling that out makes me
a bitch in your story, fine. At least I'm telling the truth
and you can choke on it anyhoozle.
Let's rewind a little bit back to, say, November, right after
(07:31):
the election. I was devastated.
I, along with many people, said that they could not negotiate
the choice many Americans made to pick a man who has absolutely
no interest in preserving the dignity of this country and its
people over any competent human,let alone one as competent as
Kamala Harris. I was so confused as to how they
(07:53):
didn't see him for what he was, a liar, a conman, a criminal.
Many people cut off family and friends based on their blind
support for Trump, and only whenhis policies started harming
Trump voters themselves that they suddenly had a bad taste in
their mouth. And then and only then did they
start questioning his motives. Which is a tough pill to swallow
for the Americans who voted in their best interests, in the
(08:15):
best interest of our farmers, families, children, our economy,
small businesses, in the best interest of our democracy.
And yet they did not, hoping theharm would befall someone else.
And that to me, someone who cares about the well-being of
all my fellow hard working, taxpaying Americans who is
sometimes preoccupied with justice, was resolved to write
(08:36):
them off. But as time goes on, especially
in these past few weeks, particularly since Charlie
Kirk's passing, I've observed a few things.
I don't think Charlie Kirk was agood person.
I think he purposefully conflates topics and muddied
waters to justify his bigotry. His debates were not in good
faith and he almost certainly did far more harm than good in
(08:58):
his lifetime, and no additional context changes that.
That said, did he deserve to diefor being a shitty person?
No Frankly, when I first heard about it I thought it was a
Trump type situation where his ear was grazed.
Never in my wildest imagination did I think that he was executed
in such a horrifying manner. I don't want to get bogged down
on who Charlie Kirk was. We do not have to agree that he
(09:20):
was a good person. We just have to agree that he
shouldn't have died after peoplefinished their tantrums about
the left's admittedly callous response to his passing.
Something that felt like a moment of like, finally we can
feel morally superior and cancelthem for being morally bankrupt.
The right has rarely had the opportunity to do that.
(09:42):
So it made sense to me why they were behaving in such a rabid
manner. It was a release, a release of
guilt and opportunity shift. Some of the weight of what
they've denied but knew all along that they are never on the
right side of history when it comes to humanity.
But like I said, there was a shift.
Specifically, after Charlie Kirk's memorial, there was
rumblings of recognition that something was very off.
(10:05):
I think to even the most conservative of Republicans, a
political rally dressed up as a memorial left them feeling, for
lack of a better word, icky. Particularly the gleeful
division stoked by Stephen Miller and Trump emphasizing
their hatred of the left. Left people dazed and frankly,
exhausted. And it became very clear to me,
Americans have division fatigue and there are some on the right
(10:29):
who will cling to MAGA until a bitter end because that is their
whole identity, fear and hate and false vibrato.
But there are also some folks who are looking for an offering.
I think people are are looking around saying why are we
fighting one another, who are realizing they have been lied to
about so much. Are there racist on the right?
(10:49):
Sure. Are all of them?
No. And call me naive, but I think
truly there's more good than badto be found.
And I'm not afraid to admit that.
There's also plenty of racism onthe left.
It's just dressed up and more palatable language.
And as a liberal myself, I have never in my life been more aware
of my party shortcomings as I amright now.
(11:09):
And it has never been more clearthat mainstream media is failing
us every single day. They are complicit in the
brainwashing of the American people, and I just want us all
to have access to the truth so that we can make decisions based
on the well-being of the people and the country we love, rather
than out of fear that our neighbors are somehow out to get
us. I think we can all agree on the
(11:33):
$20 billion that Trump sent to Argentina.
That was a slap in the face to all Americans.
It's robbery. We're literally being robbed so
that Trump can float another wannabe dictator who tanked his
own economy, much like DJT is currently doing.
The government has shut down because the Republicans are
trying to avoid passing a continued resolution that would,
(11:56):
in some places, particularly in red states, triple insurance
premiums. And they refused to negotiate
with Democrats. All the while they're telling
their base that Dems won't negotiate because they want
illegal immigrants to receive health benefits from the federal
government. Who wants that if you believe
that someone without a Social Security number can receive
(12:16):
Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, SNAP benefits,
etcetera? You want to be lied to and you
can't be helped. And I won't coddle you and try
to ease you into understanding. No, that would be a waste of my
time. Even Marjorie Taylor Green has
acknowledged that the Dems are holding out so that American
premiums don't skyrocket. If she, with all of her
(12:37):
intellectual deficiencies, can figure it out, so can you.
OK, on to Taylor Swift, The Lifeof a Showgirl came out and I've
never been more embarrassed by the left.
This was confirmation that we are the caricatures that
conservatives make us out to be.I watched that conversation go
from how shallow and lyrically rudimentary the album was.
And don't get me wrong, I know that all of her albums are
(12:58):
trashed initially before everyone falls in love, but the
intensity of this it felt different.
Then I saw the conversation evolved to not only was this
just a shitty album, it was a shitty racist album.
And not just that it's a shitty racist album, but it's a shitty
racist album that confirms that she's a Mogga loving trad wife.
(13:19):
All this over their interpretation of her abstract
metaphors in her songs. There is a huge campaign to
convince us that her use of the words Onyx and opalite convey
your life sucked when you were with a black woman and now
you're with a white perfect fairy Angel Princess.
As if this is the first time anyone has used the word Onyx to
(13:41):
describe night or darkness. And Taylor herself says that
she's always loved Opal and she used opalite because it's man
made and it makes her feel that even happiness can be man made.
We can create our own happiness is what she said.
I could do this with line after line that people were up in arms
about, but I'll spare you because it is an absolute choice
(14:02):
to interpret these metaphors as racist.
But there are no ethical billionaires.
She's not at the top of my priority list when it comes to
problematic billionaires. Not to mention the bulk of her
network are her masters. I'm going to go out of my way to
attack the woman who crashed thevoter registration website in
2018 after she urged her fans toregister and explained why she
(14:23):
was voting blue, something she has reaffirmed election after
election. And suddenly, because she's in
love, happy and getting married and talking about having kids,
she's obviously MAGA and we now have to find ways to interpret
her lyrics as racist. Shut up.
You are an unserious person and you do not own the left.
Leftists in their miserable purity tests are an albatross
(14:45):
around the neck of democracy. Liberals are just right wingers
with better vocabulary. You scream.
You don't get to decide. You are not the arbiter of
progressivism, and frankly, you're an obstacle to progress.
You're trying to hand Taylor Swift over to the Republicans
because you don't understand hermetaphors and because she had
the audacity to sing about having children with her future
(15:05):
husband who was also white. How does that help your cause
and not alienate anyone who doesnot want their life held hostage
by what it is that leftist are outraged about this week?
I don't trust your ability to triage, to be pragmatic, to
understand nuance, and at this point I don't trust your ability
to interpret art and not create monsters where there aren't any.
Why should I, why should anyone?Credibility is important in this
(15:29):
world that we are currently living in, and you do not have
any. You want me to cosign that
Taylor Swift is a racist based on your loose interpretations of
her abstract metaphors? I, in good conscience, cannot.
Someone in my in my comments tried to say that there was a
one to one comparison with a metaphor that Beyoncé used in
one of her songs and my jaw hit the floor.
(15:49):
The English major in me screamed.
What do you mean a one to one comparison with art, let alone a
metaphor? That is simply not a thing.
And if you've been following me for any amount of time, you know
that I am not afraid to admit when I'm wrong.
Backlash doesn't immediately trigger the urge to double down
in me. It's kind of a superpower, All
(16:11):
right? So I really did inspect this
from every angle. And the more I tried to twist
and contort myself to understandwhere people were coming from,
it just became so clear that these bigoted interpretations
were a choice and not at all an inevitability.
And I'm going to pretend to see evil where there is none.
(16:35):
Do I think that Taylor Swift is preoccupied with the fact that
Travis's ex was black? No, but I think everyone else is
and I find that embarrassing. Also I'm going to follow
Kendrick Lamar's lead on this one.
When he says Taylor Swift is anti black I'll believe it when
he's I'm out. Someone commented how can she
(16:55):
call herself English teacher andnot talk about the current
crisis in the American educationsystem and how undervalued
teachers are? You want her to write a song
about the literacy crisis but you are the literacy crisis.
And to be clear, conservatives don't own families.
To give them that is a big loss on our part.
We don't want to be the party that is anti family because it's
(17:18):
not true One. And two, that's what they want.
Why are you trying to hand them win?
Conservatives are being lied to boldly and blatantly everywhere
they turn. It's actually low key abusive
psychological warfare. Pundits on Fox News will look at
them in the eye and tell them that illegal immigrants are
getting Social Security with no Social Security number.
(17:39):
Liberals are also lied to by ourmedia, but our lies are lies of
a mission which can be just as damaging and make us complicit
to things that we do not understand.
They can't lie to us as blatantly as conservative
mainstream media lies to conservatives because we will
Fact Check them and if the factsyou don't align, we will
embarrass them publicly. It just doesn't work if your
(17:59):
viewers are educated and you gotto admit we've ordered the
market on that one. And that's also something to
think about for anyone who leansright.
Why are these right wing politicians and pundits and
influencers denouncing higher education or really any
education at all while sending their own children to college?
They would scoff at the suggestion that their kids
wouldn't attend university because how else would they
(18:22):
compete in this cold, hard work world?
Why are your children any different?
But that's a conversation for another time.
My point being, I will never lieto you.
I don't fit neatly into anyone'sbox and I think that there are a
lot of people on both sides of the aisle that can relate.
And if you can relate, then thispodcast is for you.
(18:43):
If you've been told that you're not left or right enough,
welcome to surround things, you're not going to agree with
everything I say, but I will never lie to you.
Plus, we'll find a way to laugh through the insanity, I promise.
And that is all for today's Saron Things.
It's a brief episode. I wanted to focus on politics
and hit you hard with that stuffso that you guys can make an
(19:05):
informed decision if you want tokeep listening or not.
Next week we'll be back to our hour long episode, split
probably 5050 between politics and pop culture.
We'll talk housewives and everything else that's going on,
Hollywood entertainment, news and celebrity nonsense.
It'll be fun. I'm excited for this new era of
(19:26):
Saron things. I think only good can come from
me being more authentic. That's how I built my platform
in the 1st place and there's no reason to stray from that now.
So buckle up butter cups, and I'll see you next week.
Welcome back to Surround Things after a long and unexpected
hiatus, she's back and better than ever.
I'll be honest, I did feel a little stifled by my previous
format, and I want to be clear that we will always talk pop
culture here. That will always be at the heart
of the content. But I must be honest.
(00:35):
Pop culture and politics, that'smy life.
This typically isn't the foot I lead with, but I've spent the
entirety of my professional career, almost a decade, working
with progressive Democratic candidates, trying to get them
elected up and down the ballot. This is what I spend my days
thinking about, and for the longest time, the pop culture
content was an escape. I'm a serious person with some
(00:58):
unserious interests, and like most women, I'm sick of being
told that because we enjoy pop culture, we're silly and serious
and disposable. Men can memorize baseball stats
and quote The Wire for hours, and somehow that's culture.
But women dissecting housewives?That's frivolous.
Fuck that. And like I said, for a long time
pop culture felt like my escape hatch, a place to go when the
world was too ugly or too loud. But here's the truth.
(01:21):
There is no real escape. The politics still find you.
To sit behind this mic and pretend otherwise would be
inauthentic. So I'm not shying away from
politics anymore. Sometimes my feelings won't fit
into any box, sometimes they'll contradict.
But I'd rather give you the truth messy and alive rather
than play pretend. And as we enter this new era of
Saron things, I want to give youa rundown of my ideology and how
(01:45):
I became this person. I spent the majority of my
career helping elect Democrats, like I said, but my backbone was
built way earlier. I was 5 voting for Bill Clinton
in a mock election at my DC elementary school.
That's how deep this runs. Then I got dropped into
evangelical schools. I was surrounded by kids being
(02:06):
brainwashed into cruelty. I was often the lone Democrat in
science class. We debated whether gay marriage
was unchristian and my stance was simple.
What person would choose to be gay if people like you are out
here delighting and making theirlives hell?
Silence. Of course, no one could answer
that question. And that's when I realized in
(02:29):
like the 6th grade I would neveroutsource my conscience to small
men with big egos and sadistic interpretations of God.
And that's why I don't want to tiptoe anymore to be true to
that girl. Not for conservative snowflakes
who want their alternate realitycater to, Not for the leftist
hall monitors with their endlesspurity tests.
(02:49):
I will fail your test every time, gladly.
Because my job is not to keep your feelings intact, it's to
keep democracy intact. And if that makes me a stone
cold bitch, then so be it. So let me make my priorities
clear, OK? No fluff, no utopian daydreams
1. Preserve free and fair elections
2. Protect the rights and safety of
(03:11):
marginalized communities 3. Save Medicare and Social
Security 4. Gerrymander the fuck out of
every blue state because the other side already torched the
rule book and I'm done playing nice all right now for you.
Never, Kamala people, listen closely.
Seriously, if you're still out there frothing protesting her
(03:31):
book tour or whining online likethe useless bitch babies you
are, this is not for you. You're dead weight.
But if you're ready to repent, admit you screwed up, and fight
the real enemy, fine. Welcome.
Grab a chair, but don't get comfortable because you are on
probation. Do I want decrepit, bought and
paid for politicians running theparty forever?
(03:53):
Absolutely not. Primary them.
Organize, build packs, run killers who actually want to
serve, take their seats. But until then, while they're
still holding onto the gavel, webeat Republicans at their own
rigged game. We save Medicare, we protect
voting rights. That means being ruthless when I
have to be pragmatic when it counts, and unflinching all of
(04:15):
the time. And if that makes me the villain
in your story, good. At least you finally understand
the plot. This episode is going to be
largely political. Next week we will get back to a
healthy mix of both pop culture and politics.
But I feel the need to go in, and I shall.
We're going to dive right on in by discussing the right's
reaction to Charlie Kirk's execution.
(04:38):
So the right is out here doxing people for not mourning Charlie
Kirk hard enough, publishing names and addresses, harassing
folks because someone dared to quote him critically or didn't
hit the right note of grief. And they're calling Democrats
evil for this. OK, so let's pull up some
examples. Wrong video, but actually not
(05:04):
wrong at all. Because when I first saw that on
January 6th, I felt physically I'll nauseous.
I despise Mike Pence, I always have.
But in that moment I was terrified for him.
Because they weren't kidding. They weren't performing.
They built gallows outside the Capitol, They were ready to hang
the Vice President of the UnitedStates.
(05:25):
And for the first time, I saw exactly what they meant by Make
America Great Again. It means drag this country back
to the ugliest chapters of its past.
It means public lynchings. It means fear and blood as a
tool of power. That is their America.
That's their project. And now these same people, these
(05:47):
mobs, these defenders, their apologists, want to lecture us
about morality. They want to call Democrats evil
because we don't cry on cue overCharlie Kirk.
Spare me. OK?
These people stormed the Capitol, smeared shit on the
walls, beat cops with their own flagpoles, and tried to stop the
(06:07):
peaceful transfer of power, and now they want to pretend like
they're the guardians of decency?
They call themselves patriots while chanting for lynchings of
their own vice president. They wrapped themselves in the
Constitution while they piss on it.
And the worst part? It's not just the rioters, it's
the whole ecosystem of cowards and frauds who excuse them.
(06:30):
Members of Congress calling thempolitical prisoners, Mogga
influencers branding them as martyrs.
Every one of them is complicit. They don't just excuse treason.
They celebrate it. They sell merch about it.
They build a movement on top of it.
OK, so no, I don't want to hear another fucking word about
Democrats being evil for not mourning Charlie Kirk.
(06:50):
Not from the crowd that tried tolynch Mike Pence in broad
daylight. Not from the people who wave
Blue Foot Lives Matters flags while beating cops.
(07:11):
You don't get to weaponize griefwhile you glorify gallows.
You don't get to lecture anyone about decency while you cheer
for sedition. And if calling that out makes me
a bitch in your story, fine. At least I'm telling the truth
and you can choke on it anyhoozle.
Let's rewind a little bit back to, say, November, right after
(07:31):
the election. I was devastated.
I, along with many people, said that they could not negotiate
the choice many Americans made to pick a man who has absolutely
no interest in preserving the dignity of this country and its
people over any competent human,let alone one as competent as
Kamala Harris. I was so confused as to how they
(07:53):
didn't see him for what he was, a liar, a conman, a criminal.
Many people cut off family and friends based on their blind
support for Trump, and only whenhis policies started harming
Trump voters themselves that they suddenly had a bad taste in
their mouth. And then and only then did they
start questioning his motives. Which is a tough pill to swallow
for the Americans who voted in their best interests, in the
(08:15):
best interest of our farmers, families, children, our economy,
small businesses, in the best interest of our democracy.
And yet they did not, hoping theharm would befall someone else.
And that to me, someone who cares about the well-being of
all my fellow hard working, taxpaying Americans who is
sometimes preoccupied with justice, was resolved to write
(08:36):
them off. But as time goes on, especially
in these past few weeks, particularly since Charlie
Kirk's passing, I've observed a few things.
I don't think Charlie Kirk was agood person.
I think he purposefully conflates topics and muddied
waters to justify his bigotry. His debates were not in good
faith and he almost certainly did far more harm than good in
(08:58):
his lifetime, and no additional context changes that.
That said, did he deserve to diefor being a shitty person?
No Frankly, when I first heard about it I thought it was a
Trump type situation where his ear was grazed.
Never in my wildest imagination did I think that he was executed
in such a horrifying manner. I don't want to get bogged down
on who Charlie Kirk was. We do not have to agree that he
(09:20):
was a good person. We just have to agree that he
shouldn't have died after peoplefinished their tantrums about
the left's admittedly callous response to his passing.
Something that felt like a moment of like, finally we can
feel morally superior and cancelthem for being morally bankrupt.
The right has rarely had the opportunity to do that.
(09:42):
So it made sense to me why they were behaving in such a rabid
manner. It was a release, a release of
guilt and opportunity shift. Some of the weight of what
they've denied but knew all along that they are never on the
right side of history when it comes to humanity.
But like I said, there was a shift.
Specifically, after Charlie Kirk's memorial, there was
rumblings of recognition that something was very off.
(10:05):
I think to even the most conservative of Republicans, a
political rally dressed up as a memorial left them feeling, for
lack of a better word, icky. Particularly the gleeful
division stoked by Stephen Miller and Trump emphasizing
their hatred of the left. Left people dazed and frankly,
exhausted. And it became very clear to me,
Americans have division fatigue and there are some on the right
(10:29):
who will cling to MAGA until a bitter end because that is their
whole identity, fear and hate and false vibrato.
But there are also some folks who are looking for an offering.
I think people are are looking around saying why are we
fighting one another, who are realizing they have been lied to
about so much. Are there racist on the right?
(10:49):
Sure. Are all of them?
No. And call me naive, but I think
truly there's more good than badto be found.
And I'm not afraid to admit that.
There's also plenty of racism onthe left.
It's just dressed up and more palatable language.
And as a liberal myself, I have never in my life been more aware
of my party shortcomings as I amright now.
(11:09):
And it has never been more clearthat mainstream media is failing
us every single day. They are complicit in the
brainwashing of the American people, and I just want us all
to have access to the truth so that we can make decisions based
on the well-being of the people and the country we love, rather
than out of fear that our neighbors are somehow out to get
us. I think we can all agree on the
(11:33):
$20 billion that Trump sent to Argentina.
That was a slap in the face to all Americans.
It's robbery. We're literally being robbed so
that Trump can float another wannabe dictator who tanked his
own economy, much like DJT is currently doing.
The government has shut down because the Republicans are
trying to avoid passing a continued resolution that would,
(11:56):
in some places, particularly in red states, triple insurance
premiums. And they refused to negotiate
with Democrats. All the while they're telling
their base that Dems won't negotiate because they want
illegal immigrants to receive health benefits from the federal
government. Who wants that if you believe
that someone without a Social Security number can receive
(12:16):
Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, SNAP benefits,
etcetera? You want to be lied to and you
can't be helped. And I won't coddle you and try
to ease you into understanding. No, that would be a waste of my
time. Even Marjorie Taylor Green has
acknowledged that the Dems are holding out so that American
premiums don't skyrocket. If she, with all of her
(12:37):
intellectual deficiencies, can figure it out, so can you.
OK, on to Taylor Swift, The Lifeof a Showgirl came out and I've
never been more embarrassed by the left.
This was confirmation that we are the caricatures that
conservatives make us out to be.I watched that conversation go
from how shallow and lyrically rudimentary the album was.
And don't get me wrong, I know that all of her albums are
(12:58):
trashed initially before everyone falls in love, but the
intensity of this it felt different.
Then I saw the conversation evolved to not only was this
just a shitty album, it was a shitty racist album.
And not just that it's a shitty racist album, but it's a shitty
racist album that confirms that she's a Mogga loving trad wife.
(13:19):
All this over their interpretation of her abstract
metaphors in her songs. There is a huge campaign to
convince us that her use of the words Onyx and opalite convey
your life sucked when you were with a black woman and now
you're with a white perfect fairy Angel Princess.
As if this is the first time anyone has used the word Onyx to
(13:41):
describe night or darkness. And Taylor herself says that
she's always loved Opal and she used opalite because it's man
made and it makes her feel that even happiness can be man made.
We can create our own happiness is what she said.
I could do this with line after line that people were up in arms
about, but I'll spare you because it is an absolute choice
(14:02):
to interpret these metaphors as racist.
But there are no ethical billionaires.
She's not at the top of my priority list when it comes to
problematic billionaires. Not to mention the bulk of her
network are her masters. I'm going to go out of my way to
attack the woman who crashed thevoter registration website in
2018 after she urged her fans toregister and explained why she
(14:23):
was voting blue, something she has reaffirmed election after
election. And suddenly, because she's in
love, happy and getting married and talking about having kids,
she's obviously MAGA and we now have to find ways to interpret
her lyrics as racist. Shut up.
You are an unserious person and you do not own the left.
Leftists in their miserable purity tests are an albatross
(14:45):
around the neck of democracy. Liberals are just right wingers
with better vocabulary. You scream.
You don't get to decide. You are not the arbiter of
progressivism, and frankly, you're an obstacle to progress.
You're trying to hand Taylor Swift over to the Republicans
because you don't understand hermetaphors and because she had
the audacity to sing about having children with her future
(15:05):
husband who was also white. How does that help your cause
and not alienate anyone who doesnot want their life held hostage
by what it is that leftist are outraged about this week?
I don't trust your ability to triage, to be pragmatic, to
understand nuance, and at this point I don't trust your ability
to interpret art and not create monsters where there aren't any.
Why should I, why should anyone?Credibility is important in this
(15:29):
world that we are currently living in, and you do not have
any. You want me to cosign that
Taylor Swift is a racist based on your loose interpretations of
her abstract metaphors? I, in good conscience, cannot.
Someone in my in my comments tried to say that there was a
one to one comparison with a metaphor that Beyoncé used in
one of her songs and my jaw hit the floor.
(15:49):
The English major in me screamed.
What do you mean a one to one comparison with art, let alone a
metaphor? That is simply not a thing.
And if you've been following me for any amount of time, you know
that I am not afraid to admit when I'm wrong.
Backlash doesn't immediately trigger the urge to double down
in me. It's kind of a superpower, All
(16:11):
right? So I really did inspect this
from every angle. And the more I tried to twist
and contort myself to understandwhere people were coming from,
it just became so clear that these bigoted interpretations
were a choice and not at all an inevitability.
And I'm going to pretend to see evil where there is none.
(16:35):
Do I think that Taylor Swift is preoccupied with the fact that
Travis's ex was black? No, but I think everyone else is
and I find that embarrassing. Also I'm going to follow
Kendrick Lamar's lead on this one.
When he says Taylor Swift is anti black I'll believe it when
he's I'm out. Someone commented how can she
(16:55):
call herself English teacher andnot talk about the current
crisis in the American educationsystem and how undervalued
teachers are? You want her to write a song
about the literacy crisis but you are the literacy crisis.
And to be clear, conservatives don't own families.
To give them that is a big loss on our part.
We don't want to be the party that is anti family because it's
(17:18):
not true One. And two, that's what they want.
Why are you trying to hand them win?
Conservatives are being lied to boldly and blatantly everywhere
they turn. It's actually low key abusive
psychological warfare. Pundits on Fox News will look at
them in the eye and tell them that illegal immigrants are
getting Social Security with no Social Security number.
(17:39):
Liberals are also lied to by ourmedia, but our lies are lies of
a mission which can be just as damaging and make us complicit
to things that we do not understand.
They can't lie to us as blatantly as conservative
mainstream media lies to conservatives because we will
Fact Check them and if the factsyou don't align, we will
embarrass them publicly. It just doesn't work if your
(17:59):
viewers are educated and you gotto admit we've ordered the
market on that one. And that's also something to
think about for anyone who leansright.
Why are these right wing politicians and pundits and
influencers denouncing higher education or really any
education at all while sending their own children to college?
They would scoff at the suggestion that their kids
wouldn't attend university because how else would they
(18:22):
compete in this cold, hard work world?
Why are your children any different?
But that's a conversation for another time.
My point being, I will never lieto you.
I don't fit neatly into anyone'sbox and I think that there are a
lot of people on both sides of the aisle that can relate.
And if you can relate, then thispodcast is for you.
(18:43):
If you've been told that you're not left or right enough,
welcome to surround things, you're not going to agree with
everything I say, but I will never lie to you.
Plus, we'll find a way to laugh through the insanity, I promise.
And that is all for today's Saron Things.
It's a brief episode. I wanted to focus on politics
and hit you hard with that stuffso that you guys can make an
(19:05):
informed decision if you want tokeep listening or not.
Next week we'll be back to our hour long episode, split
probably 5050 between politics and pop culture.
We'll talk housewives and everything else that's going on,
Hollywood entertainment, news and celebrity nonsense.
It'll be fun. I'm excited for this new era of
(19:26):
Saron things. I think only good can come from
me being more authentic. That's how I built my platform
in the 1st place and there's no reason to stray from that now.
So buckle up butter cups, and I'll see you next week.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
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