Ep. 2 | Should We Be Conscious Consumers feat. Antoinette Lee - Selective Ignorance with Mandii B

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Episode number two. I had to do it. I had
to talk about a topic that is near and dear
to my heart, one that I argue with often, one
that sits doesn't sit wow with me, I will say.
And the topic is a mix between a few things.
It's a mix between capitalism, cancel culture, and corporate greed.

(00:25):
That's what we'll talk about today, and I do want
to let you guys know this is what you guys
will be getting. At the top of every episode moving forward,
you will hear my thoughts on the topic, followed by
my guests, who will then share their thoughts on what
the hell I just said, because guess what.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
You can't handle the bullshit?

Speaker 1 (00:46):
Bear with me here for this episode, because listen, I
stand for something, I promise I do. But I'm just
not gonna sit here and get in a tizzy over
what these corporations are doing. And I've had enough of
the idea that we need to align ourselves with any
corporate views to show that we stand for something. I'm

(01:08):
just not buying it. I'm pro Palestine and i still
drink Starbucks, sure do, and I'm not gonna apologize for it.
The idea that we have to live in a life
of perfect alignment with some corporate ideal that every purchase
has to be some political statement is ridiculous to me.
I mean, do you believe that corporations are perfect? Because
I don't.

Speaker 3 (01:28):
They're not.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Also, who represents me, They're here to sell me a coffee.
Why should I change the way I live because of
the countless corporate decisions that I have zero control over it.
It doesn't make me any less of a person or
less of an activist. It just means I'm choosing my battles,
and honestly, I don't think it's fair to expect me
to fight every battle all the time. Like take Away Fair,

(01:51):
people lost their minds when the whole thing about the
kids and the cabinets came out. I ain't gonna hold
you everything in this studio right here. Wait and guess what.
I didn't also like being a villain for not jumping
into boycotting every which thing that we're doing. I'm sorry, Tarja,

(02:11):
I'm still getting my things over a hun now. Listen.
I do think that in the world that we live in,
there's so much going on. There's a lot of things
stacked up against each other, and I just don't believe
in letting every emotional uproar dictate my every move. I'm
not going to let every corporate decision make me feel
like I'm betraying my values. Don't even get me started

(02:33):
on the whole H and M Coolest Monkey in the
Jungle shirt. That was a messed up moment, for sure,
But what the hell was I supposed to do? Get
rid of my whole wardrobe? Okay, not saying that my
whole wardrobe is from H and M, just saying that's
not the deal that I'm gonna die on. There's a
ton of ugliness in the world, and I can't possibly
spend my energy trying to hold every corporation accountable for

(02:54):
their mistakes, because let's be very clear, these corporations are
just ran by human beings, and humans suck. I know
some people would argue that my choice not to boycott
certain things means I'm not doing enough, but the truth
is we all have to make different changes in the
way that we move about, and the corporate battle is
just not mine. It's not the one that I'm going

(03:15):
to fight in the trenches every single time for, and
I'm not going to be guilt tripped into a moral
high ground because of an emotional reaction to something a
company did. We have enough to stress about in this world,
and I'm doing what I can where I can, and
I choose not to let corporations dictate my every move.
I don't think that makes me a bad person. I'm human,

(03:36):
just like everyone else. Right. Yes, I'm smiling and holding
up a hello around my head, y'all. I have joined
by who should be my co host, but it is
because she's a very busy woman, and to neet here
from around the way curls and to interject on anything
throughout the episode. Y'all know, I got my boys over

(03:58):
there on the mics. We got a King and Jason
and Rodriguez. Now they will be fact checking, thank god,
but also Anthelina, I have opinions you.

Speaker 3 (04:07):
Just stated though, so check.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
Antonette has also brought her laptop. Oh so, y'all, she
has come prepared. But why I'm really excited to have
this conversation is because this is a pure example of
how people can be friends that come from different backgrounds
and have different points of view and they can respectfully disagree.
So I wanted to kind of start with the fact

(04:33):
that this is my really dear friend. And she did
tell me to stop drinks. You get Starbucks, And I said,
but pistachio is back. And though I have loved listening
to her around the way curls and listening to you
talk about the passion that you hold with what's happening

(04:55):
with Hamas and Israel and Gaza, and how you are
very pro free Palestine. When it came out that Starbucks
was supporting Israel, you were clear that you would not
then purchase anything from Starbucks.

Speaker 4 (05:12):
Well, Starbucks came out and if I remember, they came
out against their union.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
The union who supported who supported free Palestine.

Speaker 4 (05:20):
Free Palestine, so they kind of had took issue with that,
and they came out first and foremost that were in
the forefront. A lot of these companies, right are backing Israel.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
Like a lot.

Speaker 3 (05:33):
Like let's be a lot of them.

Speaker 4 (05:35):
I think that the larger conversation, the more general conversation,
is about our money, and money is power, especially in
this capitalist society.

Speaker 3 (05:45):
So being intentional as intentional as.

Speaker 4 (05:49):
You can within a very corrupt society, where like it's
difficult not this phone is a problem, right, it's very wise.
Why is the let me finish my thought though, this
phone is a problem just because we know that these
batteries are mine.

Speaker 3 (06:06):
People are dying for this.

Speaker 4 (06:07):
There's always feeling like something, whatever you're consuming, is harming
someone else. And I want to say that capitalism specifically
creates that kind of environment for the consumer, is that
it's very difficult to consume anything these days without it

(06:27):
being harmful to someone else due to exploitation, et cetera,
et cetera. And first and foremost, the people that are
exploited the most are usually people that are black, Brown,
Indigenous children, children, the folks that like are marginalized, and
so if you care about those communities, it's very difficult.

Speaker 3 (06:50):
I find it. I'll speak for myself.

Speaker 4 (06:51):
I find it to be very difficult to be a consumer,
and to be a consumer that is trying to be
intention about where I put my money. One, I want
to keep my money within the Black community. That money
leaves our community, they think within six hours, which is wild, okay,
So I want to be very intentional about uplifting that

(07:13):
community and trying to purchase from black and brown folks.
In addition to that, Starbucks don't need my money, Like
I don't like the fact, and this is me. I
don't like that stance that they took. I think I
think the larger conversation or the larger movement around the

(07:34):
Starbucks like boycott Starbucks was to so people could see
how a boycott like that actually does.

Speaker 3 (07:41):
Haven't made it im pted their money, and so they pick.

Speaker 4 (07:45):
You can't do it everywhere, right, but sometimes you try
to pick one of the big bad wolves to make
an example out of. And that's kind of where Starbucks
fell into.

Speaker 1 (07:57):
I think though, that's a bit of where I mean,
And I think I bring this conversation into kind of
you believe in the idea of world peace and that happening.
I don't or like the idea that we don't believe
we'll ever get there as long as we uphold these values.
As long as we uphold these values, this is but
this is my problem. I feel like that having that

(08:20):
idea and being so staunch on us being able to
make that difference, I feel like is a fallacy, is
a fantasy, doesn't really like I feel like it. We
already have to figure out how we're gonna pay our bills,
how we're gonna pay our rents. Some people raise their children,
some people maintain their relationship friendships. This idea that now

(08:41):
I have to fight for the better cause and not
spend on something that I actually enjoy, or now I
have to divert where I spend my money because this
person doesn't align with my values. To me, sounds like
I'm making it harder on my life for a system
that will not change the fact that we know it'll
probably never happen.

Speaker 4 (08:58):
I want to be clear. Yeah, yes, when I say
it will probably never happens, and this is no dis you.

Speaker 1 (09:04):
It's because of me. No, Because when I have.

Speaker 4 (09:07):
Conversations like this, because you use the word we, right,
who is the we? Because right now it sounds very individualistic.
Your approach is like, if I have to think about
everybody else, then I'm going to be inconvenience. And there's
privilege in that we all have it. I have it
as well. So when I have these conversations with folks
who are not focused on the true we, which is

(09:28):
the community and the marginalized group of people, right, the
real we, not just we, the people that I fuck
with in my inner circle who matter to me, who
I see value in. I'm thinking about the we of
the people who I don't know, but I know are
valuable and deserve my support. And yes, so I think

(09:49):
that is when I start to say I don't believe
it'll happen. I hope it will happen, and I will
absolutely contribute as much as possible to it happening. I'm
not going to hinder it just because I don't believe
that certain CEOs right are ever going.

Speaker 3 (10:04):
To say, oh, yeah, you know what.

Speaker 4 (10:06):
I think that all of the employees should have, you know,
some sort of stock in our company, and you know,
we should pay them real livable wages, and you know,
provide resources to certain communities that were impacting that we're marginalizing. No,
I don't think that that's going to happen without the we,
the marginalized group of people, actually coming together and deciding

(10:28):
that we're going to think about the WII. It's just
like the Montgomery boycotts. Yes, ride the bus boycott. That
was wildly and like that was that was you know,
people don't realize how revolutionary that was.

Speaker 3 (10:41):
And how wildly inconvenient it was for folks like you're
telling folks who need to get to work, who need
to pick up children, who need to live their lives.
You can't take the bus. We're going to organize together
the WI, the community and figure out ways to ensure
that everybody gets their knee.

Speaker 4 (11:00):
It's met It's not going to be easy, it's not
going to be pretty, but we're going to make a difference.

Speaker 1 (11:04):
I just had this conversation and it was that we
haven't seen anything really be revolutionized since like the sixties,
and so even you saying that in mentioning individualism, I
feel like that is the reality. Though I don't think
that there's a lot of this community or enough of
a weed to make a difference today. And I say

(11:26):
that even in terms of yes, there was an inconvenience
right with the Montgomery boycott and people not doing buses.
Look what just happened with the NFL. Niggas wouldn't take
a knee because they said, well, I got a family
to feed. When we see what happened, even in BLM
and where we're at with really doing justice and change,
I have an episode coming up where we talk about
accountability and the justice system. In reality, people really don't

(11:49):
care like what happens unless it straight impacts them, or
they don't care about seeing justice unless they're seeking justice
for themselves. They don't really care about other people getting
just So when I say we, the we I'm talking
about is actually the humans and the people on this
globe now, and how we see people in other countries
acting people here, I don't think there's a big enough

(12:11):
weed to see a difference, because I do think that
we have gotten so far away from actually seeing change
or seeing that it's possible. Let's be very clear the
fact that people are like y'all got it to our
own community because Kamala wasn't voted into the presidency and
now we have another fucking four years with Trump because
we didn't even come together to vote a black woman
into place. I see people like, oh yeah, but black

(12:34):
people then, don't specifically the black men I'm seeing our
own women say well, black men didn't want to do it.
So when y'all want us to cry about y'all with
police brutality, don't ask for my tears. And so when
I think of this bigger cause, I've seen so many
ways in which we're divided and which were individuals within
our own country, I'll be like, girl, dadd say, I'm cute,

(12:56):
y'all should see me and Antonette will be out and
she's so passionate. I love it because it sounds really good.
And then I'm like thinking of the reality and the
community and the type of place we actually live in,
and I'm like, bruh, I just want to make sure
my lights stay on. I finally got a passport. I
want to travel. My time on this light on this

(13:19):
planet is not guarantee you. I don't know how many
years I'm going to live, and so for me as
a very probably selfish being who's not even having kids,
so maybe I'm not thinking of the world I'm leaving behind.
I just want to enjoy my life because there's so
much bullshit that I already have to exist in. Bruh,
I ain't thinking about not drinking a coffee. I like,

(13:39):
because this nigga is supporting some shit I don't agree with.

Speaker 3 (13:42):
I think that your feelings are valid.

Speaker 1 (13:46):
I love that.

Speaker 3 (13:47):
This is why. Look, I do I think that your
feelings are valid. I'm not going to sit here and
say you're wrong for feelings.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
Like, oh, I don't think you're wrong either.

Speaker 3 (13:53):
Yeah, I think your feelings are completely valid.

Speaker 4 (13:55):
I think the way that I have chosen to go
through things is to There's so much that you said there,
and there was a really important point that you touched
on where you talked about how people how we're divided
so often, and that is by design as well. Okay,
so to be very clear, there is misinformation, like just
specifically black men did vote for Kamalin.

Speaker 1 (14:17):
No, they want to make.

Speaker 4 (14:18):
They did by the fact that the narrative narrative that
they didn't.

Speaker 3 (14:21):
So to further divide, and that's by design.

Speaker 4 (14:24):
Why to prevent folks from coming together to actually make
a change.

Speaker 3 (14:28):
I just want to say that in.

Speaker 4 (14:29):
Twenty twenty, one point one percent of the population owned
forty five point eight percent.

Speaker 1 (14:35):
Of the global wealth.

Speaker 3 (14:37):
Yeah, one point one percent, and you're sitting.

Speaker 1 (14:40):
Here here are getting a billionaire talk.

Speaker 3 (14:42):
But listen to me.

Speaker 4 (14:43):
We're getting it, yes, because that's a part, that's a
deep part of it's not just billionaire. It's like it's
beyond what we can even wrap our heads around. But
one point one percent of the population owning almost half
of the wealth, hoarding those resources.

Speaker 3 (15:00):
They are organized, they are a community.

Speaker 4 (15:03):
They're very clear, and they're very like, we got our type.

Speaker 3 (15:08):
Group and y'all ain't in it.

Speaker 4 (15:10):
We're the ones that are being positioned against one another.
We are the ones that are fighting. We are the
ones that cannot get ourselves organized, and that will continue
on this this hamster hamster wheel, continue in this rat
race that is very real, which is why your feelings
are very real, the rat race of I gotta pay

(15:32):
my bills, Like, the reality is I got.

Speaker 3 (15:34):
Fucking stuff to do for me.

Speaker 4 (15:38):
I have chosen that once my bills are paid, right,
once I have my basic needs are meant, there is
a certain amount of money that I have that I
will that will be used for joy, will be used
for me to just enjoy myself. Okay, there's another amount
of money that goes to other things. Right, I have

(16:00):
pledge that every single day after these fires, I'm going
to I am going to donate to somebody's GoFundMe daily
because if I can go by lunch, then I can
make lunch instead and then donate to somebody to help
them which doesn't have a fucking home.

Speaker 1 (16:17):
So can I can? I?

Speaker 3 (16:18):
But I'm talking about me.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
I get that. So here is this pessimist, skeptimist whatever
skeptimist is crazy? Brook that up like that? What's what?
What's what?

Speaker 5 (16:36):
Were you skeptic, skeptic skeptic, we can we can build
a selectively ignorant.

Speaker 1 (16:49):
Skepticist.

Speaker 3 (16:50):
That's the namest.

Speaker 1 (16:52):
So and this is where and I don't think it's
a it's an agenda. But to me, even hearing you
say that, my mind immediately went to, well, how do
you know it's real? How do you know the money
going to the right place? And that's because even during BLM,
we saw the leaders that were supposed to be helping

(17:14):
a lot of black people either get out of jail,
like there was a lot of work that they were
supposed to be doing, and they want to spent that
shit on mansions and Lamborghini's and stuff like that. Right
then when GoFundMe came out, we've seen a lot of
people create stories that weren't real for those things. So
it's so hard for me because again, I know we

(17:37):
like to think that people are good people. I'm overly
aware that people suck as well. And so when it
comes to even charity, now I'm a little like, I
don't want to say stingy, but where is it going?
Even when we talk about the un housed, because I
know we can't use the other word, but even when

(17:59):
we talk about.

Speaker 3 (18:00):
This, you know why we can we should use the
other word. Why then?

Speaker 1 (18:03):
To me, I'm not going to hold you.

Speaker 3 (18:05):
They're trying to put the.

Speaker 1 (18:05):
Oner on the system of individual that is.

Speaker 4 (18:09):
Not housing them, because we have enough space to the
word makes sense.

Speaker 1 (18:13):
They're less of a home, there's no home.

Speaker 3 (18:15):
It's hard less of a home.

Speaker 1 (18:16):
They don't have a home. They're homeless, right.

Speaker 3 (18:19):
They're not. Can I pitch something reallyick? So I know
this is a corporate cancel culture.

Speaker 5 (18:25):
I was gonna wait to say this at the end,
but it sounds like the conversation is going this way.
What if we're talking about conscious consumerism right and following yes,
because I think I think a big challenge to your
point with your stats, with who controls the percentage, who
controls the wealth? Because historically, when we were talking about protests,
and we're talking about some of the ones that you're

(18:46):
referring to in the sixties, there's the matter of the
collective's inconvenience versus like the big bad right, and so
now because of the concentration of wealth, I don't know
if are inconvenience and what we're willing to do is
powerful enough to go against these corporations, right, and so
let me let me.

Speaker 1 (19:05):
Roll with this.

Speaker 5 (19:07):
So so I think that's I think that's kind of
like a baseline of what's happening because I think Starbucks
can just afford to wait it out, right, And so
right now, I feel like when I'm hearing from you
two is different uses of individualism, right, Whereas Antoinette is
she's going to use her own individual conscious decision making
to contribute.

Speaker 6 (19:28):
To these gofundmes.

Speaker 5 (19:29):
Right, So if the group won't come together, I'm still.

Speaker 1 (19:31):
Going to come together with my dollars.

Speaker 6 (19:32):
This is what she's saying.

Speaker 5 (19:33):
Right where you're saying me as an individual, I don't
even trust you, say, I think that that's my problem.

Speaker 1 (19:41):
It's a lack of trust and the fact that I
actually live in reality. I think a lot of people
want to believe that if they do a little bit,
that they're going to make this big change.

Speaker 5 (19:52):
But then the trust, right, And because we're we're we're
again we're talking about the inconvenience and the convenience of it,
all right, And so she consumer I'm not just inconvenience,
I know, but what I'm saying is like for you, right,
there's an inconvenience to you too. And I'm using convenience
as a tool more like, right, like you're gonna make
your own lunch. Right, there's an inconvenience to it takes
more time to do that, Right, It takes more time

(20:12):
to do that, But you're doing that will unlock dollars
to then I can put this towards this GoFundMe every day. Right,
there's there's a there's a change that you're doing to
your life that I'm blanket statement calling inconvenience, whereas man,
I'm not just say it's.

Speaker 3 (20:26):
A state of being for me.

Speaker 4 (20:28):
That's what I don't look at capitalism as just capitalism.
I look at capitalism as it's not just a system.
It has turned into a state of being for us.
This constant consumerism, this this individualistic, this unidealistic approach to life,
is a state of being that we are living in

(20:49):
that the system has created for us. This reality you
talk about is reality because of the system. So what
I'm saying is we have to break this that state
of being and we have to imagine something else being
possible for us. We have to imagine that our community.

Speaker 3 (21:07):
Will uphold us.

Speaker 4 (21:08):
The only way that I can imagine that is to
create that reality for myself, and I will do it.
And if I get burned, I get fucking burned. But
the majority of people out there, I feel like that
I have impacted in a positive.

Speaker 3 (21:23):
Way that they're they're real and they need help and
they needed help.

Speaker 4 (21:28):
And it's interesting because a lot of my friendships here
in New York has started.

Speaker 3 (21:32):
With me lending money.

Speaker 4 (21:34):
For sure, it's been you're down, I got this save,
I got you, and then like, yo, you don't.

Speaker 3 (21:40):
We're not even that close. It doesn't matter. I got you.
Please pay me back by the and we make these
arrangements if you can whatever this way of being.

Speaker 1 (21:47):
Do you know what you just sounded.

Speaker 3 (21:49):
Like to me? Is it gonna piss me off?

Speaker 6 (21:51):
All right?

Speaker 1 (21:52):
My pis a few people off. It sounds like the
idea behind religion. You said hope, you said you needed
something to believe in.

Speaker 3 (22:01):
No, I think religion is a means to control people.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
I don't want to capitalistic way. Sure. However, I think
people lean into religion because they need the hope that
they will end up in a better place after life.
I think that they need the belief that someone will
answer their prayers when all things are bad, let me pray,
let me get like.

Speaker 4 (22:21):
So when I say, here's the opposite of that for me,
because I'm actually doing what I've said I'm going to
do it. I'm not hoping in praying that I'm actually
being the person that allows me to sleep better at.

Speaker 1 (22:30):
So that but that's that's where I drew the comparison.
It's why people go to church on Sundays, It's why
they pray. It's because they believe that if I tie that,
if I do these things, then what then I'm going
to end up in the better place after life. So
when I'm hearing you talk and you're saying I have
hope that this will make change or that with what
I'm doing it will create a better world maybe in

(22:52):
the future, say that, Yeah, you just said that that
you you said hope and you believe I'm.

Speaker 4 (22:56):
Saying that we Okay, let me clarify. I'm saying we
collective need to have that. I am doing that because
that is what I need to do in order to
be able to function in this world. I won't be
able to sleep at night purpose right, I won't be
able to sleep at night knowing that I was like, yo,
free fileastyme fuck them, and I'm drinking the starbus because

(23:19):
I really like Chi t latte from whatever like that
would that would personally bother me deeply. And so that's
where I'm like, I'm not saying it's for everybody else,
but what I'm saying is collectively, we have to imagine
something else being of reality for us.

Speaker 3 (23:38):
But we can't because capitalism. While I have so many
issues with it, it is extremely.

Speaker 4 (23:45):
Effective, extremely effective because it has created this reality for
all of us that we live in.

Speaker 1 (23:52):
Okay, well let's get into the hook, okay of it all.
And this is where we get into corporations. And I
sit here and try to goals into your statement. Look,
she's like, no, you can't be right.

Speaker 3 (24:06):
I had the laptop to center myself because I really
don't want to be right.

Speaker 4 (24:11):
When you said what you said, I said, your feelings
are completely so it's not even all.

Speaker 1 (24:16):
Right and wrong. I think it's it's me. And because
I love you so much, I do want to maybe
find myself agreeing with you when I can't, like I
want same, Like when we sat at the dinner table
and I had a completely different take on so many things,
I was just like, Damn, I really respect and like

(24:38):
all these women I'm sitting with, yet I highly disagree
with all of them, and I'm standing in my bullshit.
And then it even made me think of and and
this is where maybe I want to ask you and
maybe even the listeners. Before I left New York, we
went and had dinner at a pretty expensive restaurant, right,

(24:58):
and so they came to our things into go boxes.
And I waited for them to put it into go
boxes because when you go to nights of restaurants and
you spend the money, they supposed to put things into
go boxes. And Toinette, did they motherfucking job? She said, no, no, no, no, no,
just bring the boxes. I got it. I'll do it.
And me and my friendly to her and was like, mister,

(25:19):
you know how much as mill costs. This is a
part of the service that we get. And she was like,
and I almost got mad. And I think there was
a conversation of like, is it because you haven't experienced
it a lot? Like and I think that maybe that's
where I'm at. I think I felt that way growing
up Section eight food stamps. I didn't have the luxuries

(25:42):
that I have now, But now that I've experienced it,
I love that this is what I'm paying for. And
so when you started doing that, I like, I think
we had a difference of opinion. You were like, bro,
his job is already hard. I can do this and
make his job easier. And on the other end, we're like, bitch,
we just paid for this service. That's why they at
the text of the food. Let them pack our foods.

(26:04):
Is there then a connection between caring more when maybe
the luxury isn't as reachable.

Speaker 3 (26:13):
Not reachable, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (26:14):
I said, you'll always be poor.

Speaker 6 (26:19):
Well, okay, in the episode it's Mandy a closeted all.

Speaker 1 (26:26):
Right, Mac, maybe because you liked reachable.

Speaker 6 (26:37):
You know, it's crazy.

Speaker 1 (26:39):
It's really hard for you with words. And I did
not just call one of my best friends.

Speaker 6 (26:45):
It's okay, it's very elegant.

Speaker 1 (26:47):
No, no, no, that's why I was still talking about I.

Speaker 3 (26:50):
Said the same coming up from you. I understood it.
Bagging with you.

Speaker 4 (26:53):
You know what you mean when you yes, I am
not somebody that goes to a whole lot of fancy dinners.

Speaker 1 (26:59):
I couldn't do any more. You couldn't go, you don't.

Speaker 3 (27:03):
I'm pretty sure you got here.

Speaker 1 (27:04):
They need to go fu me, y'all.

Speaker 6 (27:07):
That's a character and that's just.

Speaker 3 (27:08):
How it comes to being a server.

Speaker 4 (27:12):
I was a server for years. I know how hard
that job is, and I know how underpaid those people are,
and I was also just.

Speaker 3 (27:21):
Able to do it.

Speaker 1 (27:22):
You gave me the box.

Speaker 3 (27:23):
It ain't that much shit to put in this box,
so let me just put it in the box.

Speaker 4 (27:27):
So to me, I'm like, why I gotta wait for
you to do this, for you to take it back there, like,
just give me the box, we'll see.

Speaker 1 (27:32):
It, toget it. You talk about the pay, I'm like,
well they didn't text broccoli shouldn't have been twenty dollars.
So because I'm I remember this dinner, where do we go?
The type place where we sat at the bar.

Speaker 6 (27:45):
Oh, when she put the boxes together, did you ask
for the box?

Speaker 1 (27:50):
That's how I said.

Speaker 3 (27:52):
I didn't even remember to to go.

Speaker 1 (27:53):
I had it all up.

Speaker 3 (27:57):
She packed it all up.

Speaker 1 (27:58):
We saw heavy, we saw walking down the street. I said,
bitchuaite even got off.

Speaker 3 (28:03):
I had mine.

Speaker 1 (28:06):
It's like, well no.

Speaker 3 (28:07):
But that that has nothing. I don't. Maybe that's deeply
connected to me not feeling worthy for it and.

Speaker 4 (28:14):
I'll, i'll, i will deaf, I will sit with that,
and I will explore that. But in that moment, truly,
I think a big part of it is that I
really identify with working class people because I have.

Speaker 3 (28:26):
Been that for so long and I am.

Speaker 4 (28:30):
If I'm able to do something, I don't need you
to do it, just because you know, society tells us
that the higher you know, the value systems mean you
need to do that, you need to wait on me.

Speaker 3 (28:41):
You're already in a position of like servitude. It's just like,
fuck it. I can pack my own food.

Speaker 1 (28:47):
And I think for me, there's a there's a lack
of survivors remorse on my end. I busted my ass. Yes,
I've spread my ass.

Speaker 4 (28:59):
Which is why I understand your well, because we had
these conversations right where I have said to you, a
lot of what you say that you feel within corporate
America does not translate to your personal relationships at all.

Speaker 3 (29:21):
Where's it?

Speaker 6 (29:22):
Where's it?

Speaker 4 (29:23):
Mandy is one of the most giving, one of the
like She is not this person that's hoarding resources in
any way with the people that she loves. My challenge,
my challenge to you is to is to expand that
and if that, if you can't, then I get that
because you're also somebody who has not received that type

(29:45):
of treatment from the community, right, you had to get
it the hard way.

Speaker 3 (29:49):
And that's why I say.

Speaker 4 (29:51):
Your your your feelings are completely valid, and I know
why you feel that way. My my other challenge to
you is, just because it was that hard for you,
doesn't mean that we should encourage it to be that
hard for others, or that we should create those obstacles
for others. Just because I hear a lot of people

(30:13):
it's like the student loans, right, the forgiveness. I paid
my student loans off the fucking hard way, waiting them
tables dead ass.

Speaker 1 (30:21):
And I have the money to pay it off. And
I said, and I hope my money.

Speaker 4 (30:26):
Immediately was I hope that everybody gets their student loans forgiven.
And there's a lot of people who are like, no,
I paid mine off, they should have to pay theirs
off too. I would never feel like that, because why
would I want them? Why would I want their journey
to be as hard as mine fucking was. If it
could be better for you, then it's better for the
fucking community. And so what I'm challenging even the listeners,

(30:51):
the viewers, is to like think outside of just you.

Speaker 3 (30:55):
Like that's hard. It's so fucking so hard, especially when
you've been burned.

Speaker 4 (30:59):
I be honest, I grew up with you know a
lot of support, like emotional support, and you I'm sure
you right, you talked about that, so you you are
coming at it from a survival mode where it is
individual because it was just you for so fucking long.
I've had a community around me. I've been blessed to
have a community around me. So I see the value

(31:22):
in it, and I'm willing to invest in it in
a different way. I don't know that you've seen the
value in these communities.

Speaker 1 (31:28):
I mean even my family growing up, single parent household,
my mom being the mom and dad working multiple jobs,
me having to work since I was fourteen fifteen, And
I mean I remember even that this is gonna be,
this is gonna sound awful, but this is how I know.
I've had this mindset for so long. I remember working
at Quizno's first job.

Speaker 3 (31:50):
They used to have good sandwiches. When they first came out.

Speaker 1 (31:52):
Their sandwiches shit on somewhat okayse was good no no, no, no, yeah,
God good actually smart that carbon hit. But I remember
I was fifteen when I had that job. My cousin

(32:15):
was the manager, but I started at six seventy five.
You got a quarter raise when you learned all the sandwiches.
My heart, so baby, I went in and was like,
I'm gonna learn these sandwiches. I'm gonna know the soups,
the ones you put in the balls. I'm gonna learn everything.

Speaker 3 (32:30):
And how old were you?

Speaker 1 (32:31):
Fifteen? So this is ninth grade summer, summer going into
ninth grade, or so I was fourteen? I was fourteen.
I was fifteen because as soon as I could work
at the mall, bitch I left it went to demo.
I wanted my discount on the koujie. Anyways, so I'm
fifteen years old and I'm in work and I'm like,

(32:52):
I'm showing up early, I'm staying late if they need
to all these things. I learned the sandwiches in like
two weeks. So by the time I get my check,
my second check, I'm at seven dollars an hour. I
feel so proud, I said, bitch did that. There's another
guy that works there who's been there longer than me.

(33:13):
He is probably thirty five, has two kids and lives
with his people. And I remember even just the way
he talked down on me. I'll never forget because even
in that moment, he felt like he was superior of me.
I couldn't help but be like, fuck, nigga, you at Quiznos.
You work in the same job as a fifteen year old.

(33:34):
You gotta do this. But even the fact that you
have so much more responsibility in the same setting where
I even know more than you, you gonna talk down
on me, even in terms of how I've had to
work harder in places where people older than me or
that had more than me didn't respect me. That's where
when we talk about community, we have the same goals

(33:58):
when you're behind the line making sound, which so we
could talk about even as a black community, we have
the same goals. We want more for us, some of reparations,
some don't. Whatever. In every job I've had, whether we're
supposed to be a team or not, it's never felt
like that I could take this even to ey. This
man that sat behind me would show up to work

(34:18):
late all the time. I would show up early. Guess
we got a worse review than him because I wasn't
sleeping under the desk for work and doing all these things.
Though he left early, came late, he could for religious reasons.
The fact that again we have the same goal. This

(34:39):
man is being rated whatever he's being rated, and as
a black woman on the same team with the same goal,
I'm being torn down because I'm not showing up a
certain way. Again, I say all have to say, from
quiznos to corporate, in every facet of life, in every
way possible, shape or form, I don't feel like community

(35:00):
is a word that really exists. Teamwork doesn't exist. But
y'all just ended a podcast because partnership don't even really
motherfucking exists. That I have never seen that.

Speaker 4 (35:10):
Okay, there's a couple of things there, and this is
and I appreciate, I definitely I feel you, okay. And
some of what you're talking about is directly related to
capitalism directly right. I wrote this down before I came

(35:34):
in here, and it was the capitalism. My issues with
it is that it's an unfair distribution of wealth and
power most often determined by race and gender. Capitalism and
white supremacy and patriarchally are deeply intertwined.

Speaker 3 (35:50):
The accumulation of wealth.

Speaker 4 (35:51):
It's often, if not always, on the backs of black
and brown and indigenous people through various forms of economic
and cultural ex exploitation, in.

Speaker 3 (36:01):
Addition to inhumane treatment of workers. Upholding whiteness.

Speaker 4 (36:06):
You're talking to me about spaces right where people are
benefiting more than for whatever reason. Right capitalism allows for that,
It creates that reality. It helps make these rules. You're
talking about being frustrated being a fourteen fifteen year old
having to learn all of this stuff, having to work mode,

(36:28):
and you shouldn't have to do that. So what I'm
saying is we have to envision something else for ourselves.
We have to say this isn't the fuck it, or
we just have to lay down and say this is it, and.

Speaker 3 (36:42):
Then it's just Survival of the Fittest.

Speaker 1 (36:45):
I'm not gonna lie to you. I like Hunger Games, uh,
and I'm not gonna lie one of my favorite films.

Speaker 4 (36:53):
But this is where I just called bullshit now because
you're not like that.

Speaker 1 (36:57):
I'm not like it conservative in terms of right, like
when Survival of the Fittest and you've made fun of
me because I've come from where I've come from and
been able to get what I've wanted. I've spoken into existing,
I've stayed up late, I've figured out how to do it.
I am that and I don't want to mag this out.

(37:18):
Get yourself up from the bootstraps, like pick yourself up
from the bootstraps and don't make But but.

Speaker 4 (37:23):
You just said just a couple of seconds minutes ago
that if you agree that, like with the student loan thing,
if people can have their student loans forgiven.

Speaker 1 (37:35):
Then it's forgiven. Yes, I'm talking about though in terms,
but that's.

Speaker 3 (37:38):
Not pull yourself up by the boots.

Speaker 1 (37:39):
No no, no, that's that's forgiveness through something else. No, no, no, no,
I want them to have their forgiven. I'm talking about.

Speaker 3 (37:46):
Those it's the same concept.

Speaker 1 (37:47):
I don't think it's the same concept. You think it's
the same concept because you paid your loans off and
you there's a difference there. To me, what I'm saying
is Sally may not get hurt. Don for me, whether
niggas get their shit forgiven or not, I guess I
don't think of the bigger picture. If that makes sense
to me. That is draining. It's exhausting, and sometimes when

(38:08):
I hear you speak with the passion because you care
so much, it doesn't sound fun to care about I
don't want the people, and I know that sounds crazy,
it sounds exhausting to me, and I get it. But
to sit here and want to see change that we
also know may never be a reality, I do think

(38:30):
that it's just easier, and this is going to sound
also awful. I think it's easier to actually care about
my life and my life only and not about what
everyone else has to do with it, because I've dealt
with a lot of bullshit myself, and I would never
want to put that on people, which is why, even
when I went friends, I know you and I talk
sometimes I don't want to tell you all the things
that I'm actually drowning in, because, bro, I just life

(38:52):
is better than me talking about the things that I
can't control.

Speaker 4 (38:56):
I think if I was in a place in my
life where I didn't have the capacity.

Speaker 3 (39:01):
To feel the way that I feel.

Speaker 4 (39:03):
That I probably wouldn't be able to be as intentional
and operates as I try to do.

Speaker 3 (39:10):
I fail often.

Speaker 4 (39:12):
I think I've done a lot of work to let
go of the stuff that I'm still holding on.

Speaker 1 (39:18):
To go ahead and call me out bitch, bitch, go
to therapy. You still holding on to it?

Speaker 4 (39:22):
Yeah, I've tried to let go of a lot of
that pain and create a new narrative for myself. I
think you and I are similar in this narrative that
I'm alone and people are They're not going to follow through.
I can only really rely on me. And I realized
I had someone tell me that, Like, is that a
true narrative? Does that?

Speaker 6 (39:46):
Sure?

Speaker 4 (39:46):
That exists in your workspace and this and that, But
when it comes to community, Antonette, you have a community,
a real one. You've had the same friends since you
since fourteen. You have two loving parents, you have a
wonderful sister, you have a wonderful brother in law, you
have a partner. Now you're actually not alone. Are you
getting all of the thing?

Speaker 1 (40:06):
Well?

Speaker 3 (40:06):
Are okay? But are you getting all of your needs
met in those relationships?

Speaker 4 (40:11):
Not all of them. But you have a community, and
you have a community where you can talk to them
and work on expanding your relationship, deepening your relationship so
your needs are more met.

Speaker 1 (40:22):
I think that's my thing. I got community with friends,
love y'all down. That's the community you've born, and that's
the place where I feel safe right right. But even
though Amazon just got rid of DEI I love my
Amazon Prime and the easiness, like the easiness of it,
the convenience of it. And so where my community is

(40:43):
within my friends, and I want to make sure my
friends got it. However I can help my friends. That's
what I pour into. All the other things that you
care about, well, everything else.

Speaker 3 (40:53):
It's too much.

Speaker 1 (40:53):
I don't have the capacity.

Speaker 4 (40:54):
Listen, it's too much. And I've told myself it's too much.
I have told myself, Antnette, you need to pick three
things that you care a whole lot about.

Speaker 1 (41:02):
Can we do that? What is it? I'm still thinking
about what are the three things you really care about?
Because Crystal does this often to me and when we
when we have even the conversation, she's like, what do
you stand for?

Speaker 3 (41:15):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (41:15):
And I think that that's the question that has always
asked when I go off on these tangents and where
I think, do you stand for anything? And I think
when I have to think of what I stand for
or in ways I feel like I would make change,
it's only one thing, and it's crazy because the bitch

(41:36):
don't want kids. But it's reproductive rights. That's it. I
want women to be able to make the decisions that
they want for their own body when it comes to
sex and health. That's it. Other than that like which
is why and y'all will hear jokes coming into the
season of.

Speaker 3 (41:51):
You want women to have equal pay?

Speaker 1 (41:53):
I want. I want all the rights for all the women.

Speaker 3 (41:56):
So there's a plethora of things for you to cheers.

Speaker 1 (41:59):
The thing.

Speaker 3 (42:00):
I also don't like all women.

Speaker 1 (42:02):
Some of them holes get on my nerves. But when
I think of the only thing I stand on that
will make me vote blue.

Speaker 7 (42:09):
Mm hm, is I gotta do this when that Florida
just none of my don't because I still understand and
to stay to Florida, and I voted for Kamala.

Speaker 1 (42:22):
But I think that that is where when we talk
about money and I care about it, I will pay
whatever I need to pay in taxes and everything to
make sure women still have the rights for their bodies,
which is why I didn't vote red. However, I agree
with some of that ship over there too. You know
I make I'm purple. You know, I think that's the color.

Speaker 4 (42:40):
You don't need to be a I don't want to
hear screaming I'm a democrat.

Speaker 1 (42:44):
No, no, we're not doing that. We're not liberal conservative?

Speaker 6 (42:48):
Is that what it isnt can can try to read you?

Speaker 1 (42:52):
No, no, no, fiscally conservative, socially liberal. Thank you. That's what
I learned about myself. But yeah, I don't know. I'm
I'm I'm in this space where again finding what works
for me, what my moral grouning is. Even dating you
already know I'll be like, think I'm not monogamous. That's

(43:13):
what I'm leaning into. And I like to be honest,
But niggas lie what am I doing here? Like I
think in every which way I want to make a difference,
even going to horrible decisions and thinking we can empower
and you know, empower the word or and see a
difference in life, and that not happening.

Speaker 4 (43:29):
I don't think you've done that for individuals, but here
we go individuals, but not enough people to see change
or to me make a difference.

Speaker 1 (43:38):
Word. Yes, I believe I've made a difference in thousands
of women's lives. That is my legacy. That's what I leave. However,
I don't see it making.

Speaker 4 (43:48):
As where that consumerism that that like Amazon, I want
my package tomorrow, like I want my change tomorrow too.

Speaker 3 (43:56):
I don't have.

Speaker 4 (43:57):
Any patients like it needs to be down now now.
And sometimes you put stuff out in the world and
you gotta hope that it catches on. And I think
the years from now, people will look back on horrible
and it will be quite important for a lot of folks.
Yea horrible itself that half these dollies wouldn't have.

Speaker 1 (44:17):
A podcast if it was.

Speaker 4 (44:20):
Shot out to them, because there's space for everybody, right.

Speaker 3 (44:24):
But to be very clear, okay, you you have created
space where people can now sustain themselves and their families
because you created a lane. So that's not nothing. It
might not be on this global scale that we wanted
to be yet, but it is something.

Speaker 4 (44:43):
I think maybe the more love you feel, the more
love you're going to be able to give. The less
harm you feel, the less harmful we will be. I'll
include myself in that you have not been treated kindly
in a lot of spaces. I completely understand why you're like,

(45:03):
I have to take care of me. What I'm my
hope for you is is that you experience something else
so that the we gets incorporated a little more. Yeah,
And I think it's possible. Not everybody's going to be
in the same place, but I'm still going to be
Fuck Starbucks. I'm not I'm not supporting you. You know,
like I have to do better at recognizing that I

(45:25):
can't save the world, but I also have to pick
my three fucking things.

Speaker 3 (45:31):
It's like, these are the three things I hear about.

Speaker 1 (45:32):
You said you haven't pickted three things yet.

Speaker 3 (45:34):
No, I what I'm insane and I can't narrow it down.

Speaker 1 (45:37):
I want to shake the table a little bit, I know,
just just a little bit, just a little bit, just
a little bit. This is where we mix things up
and kind of see things from a different angle. And
because you do, I would say, pride yourself in making
the efforts I do. Want to know, what.

Speaker 3 (45:55):
Are you about to do you look up.

Speaker 1 (45:58):
Every company or corporation that you consume.

Speaker 4 (46:02):
No, no, no, I would drive myself crazy because I'd
be heartbroken every two seconds because everything is fucking harmful.

Speaker 1 (46:10):
This okay, so this is kind of I get.

Speaker 3 (46:14):
It, kind of capitalism.

Speaker 1 (46:16):
It's so crazy because you just said everything. I just said, oh.

Speaker 3 (46:21):
Well everything, No, no, no, everything is harmful. Not everything. I
shouldn't say everything.

Speaker 4 (46:26):
There are definitely small businesses and things that you could support, YadA, YadA, YadA.

Speaker 3 (46:31):
Absolutely. When I say everything, I mean the.

Speaker 4 (46:35):
Apples, everything almost getting some love now because they're not
getting ready of their DEI they were just like, we're
gonna we're not gonna get crucified on social media.

Speaker 3 (46:44):
It's gonna look good for us.

Speaker 4 (46:45):
Fine, they still donated to Trump's inauguration fund, all of them,
they all.

Speaker 3 (46:52):
They all kissed the ring they got to.

Speaker 1 (46:55):
I mean, it's one of those where like, so the
other day I went and I had some s car
got right, that ship, that's my ship? So what why'd
you look over?

Speaker 8 (47:14):
Guve?

Speaker 1 (47:16):
And I posted it on the Instagram and somebody wrote
me it was like, you really shouldn't be in that
there's like parasites or some ship. And I was like,
you shouldn't go outside and breathe. There's fucking ship in
the air. And so I think that.

Speaker 3 (47:29):
That inundated with information, and I think that.

Speaker 1 (47:32):
That's like my issue with the idea of aligning capitalism
with the thing with the day to day life. Everything
is harmful. Our foods are ship. When we walk out,
we're breathing in air and fire fumes down if here
in fucking California, nothing is safe for us. So I

(47:52):
think this idea that nothing is safe for us community
wants to be a real community. That makes me want
to be sele actively ignorant and not. It's too much
between Twitter, between the documentaries and I'll be honest with you.
You know what else gets me fucking AI and the
goddamn onion pages. Bro, someone got me the other day.

(48:15):
It said that they was they was like getting rid
of uncrustables. Bit it ruined my day and don't right.

Speaker 3 (48:22):
I don't look at me, look at the out line.

Speaker 1 (48:25):
I'm like this date because y'all wanted to act like
I was.

Speaker 4 (48:37):
Trump says he what did he say he was doing
when he started talking? He starts riffing literally Trump, he
was saying that he's actually brilliant. Think he's crazy, but
he's like, y'all don't understands.

Speaker 1 (48:50):
What immediately happened was y'all brought up where I was
not relatable with the s cargo, So I said, actually,
I really was heard about my crustibles.

Speaker 3 (48:58):
I want to know the idity.

Speaker 1 (49:00):
I see everybody. Duality is a thing I did want
to ask you then, on the same thing of shaking
the table when you keep bringing up community you brought
up the Montgomery boycott. I brought up the NFL shit
that didn't really play out. Mind you, Kaepernick trying to
get back in the league. Crazy, But do you believe

(49:20):
organizing is dead at all? You don't believe organizing is down,
So you believe it's still possible to make waves?

Speaker 3 (49:27):
Absolutely in organizing. Absolutely.

Speaker 4 (49:31):
I think we would be foolish to think that organizing
is not currently happening. And I mean it's happening honestly
on a lot.

Speaker 3 (49:38):
Of local levels. There's a lot of organizing.

Speaker 4 (49:40):
One for instance, I mean they got played, but in Philly,
like there was mass mass organizations because they wanted to
move the arena. The Sixers Arena got into Chinatown and
displace all of those people. People were going crazy about
this and also create a crazy gridlock for downtown for

(50:01):
all kinds of stuff. The mayor pushed it through, city
Hall approved it. All of a sudden, it didn't go through.
I don't know if that's because of the organizers, but
I do know that city Hall and the mayor got played.
But I know that people definitely organize against that, and
they're the stadium staying where it is. You have the
working Families Party, which is very grassroots. We're actually going

(50:23):
to have him on a podcast. You have people out
here that are doing a lot of stuff on the
local level. We just don't consume that it's not sexy.
It doesn't get the likes, and so we don't see it.
So we're because we don't see it in our ignorant minds,
We're like, it's not happening.

Speaker 3 (50:39):
Nobody's doing it. We have no black leaders. It's not true.

Speaker 1 (50:42):
I know.

Speaker 7 (50:45):
Research voices that need to shut the fuck out.

Speaker 8 (50:48):
From that give Scott says that the revolution won't be televised, right,
So think about that concept. The people that's doing the work,
they're not doing it for cloud. They're not doing it.
You've seen they did going to the representative. They holding
feet the fire. And I think now where we as
a culture you pull up the phone earlier, we're so
entrapped byest thing. We always look for what's behind it

(51:09):
for approval for these things. Community is not sexy. Community
is not you know, you gotta do the community shit.
And it started just to jump on what you said before.
Community starts with your ecosystem, the strongs, the five people,
the six seven people, they're going to have their old
micro ecosystems, and that's the community.

Speaker 6 (51:27):
You just don't need to see it in real time.

Speaker 4 (51:29):
Community is I got to come up to New York
and record for a week. I need your apartment is free,
I need a place to stay.

Speaker 3 (51:36):
Boom, you got it. That's community.

Speaker 1 (51:40):
They got community. It's just all the other niggas.

Speaker 8 (51:42):
I don't know.

Speaker 6 (51:43):
They're not part of the ecosystem.

Speaker 1 (51:46):
I know, I mean, and I value my ecosystem. I think.
I think that's where when when we were having these
broad topics, I just like to look at things logically
and so where even where we began. You want to
create this reality for yourself because it makes you feel better.
I have a way where I can't.

Speaker 3 (52:07):
Capitalism is real.

Speaker 5 (52:08):
You know.

Speaker 4 (52:08):
I'm never going to sit here and say that I
do not live in a capitalist society, in a world
where my labor will be exploited. That is the basis
of capitalism. If you do some labor, I'm going to
pay you, not what its value is. I'm gonna pay
you less than that so that I can profit from
your labor.

Speaker 3 (52:27):
Okay, I live in that world.

Speaker 4 (52:29):
What I'm saying is my contribution to this world is
going to be me doing everything I can to be
as least harmful to those marginalized community. And I'm going
to hope and pray and try to imagine something else
and put myself in spaces.

Speaker 3 (52:44):
Where hopefully we're working towards that.

Speaker 4 (52:46):
And I'm not going to shut up about it because
there's like everybody is a capitalist because we are looking
at I hate this, We're looking at black capitalism and
thinking that that's the fucking goal and it's not.

Speaker 3 (52:59):
That's just fucking harmful. I love Beyonce, I love Jay,
I love Rihanna.

Speaker 4 (53:05):
Y'all are fucking harmful and not you personally, you as people,
but your existence as billionaires Oprah all y'all, whether you
give back or not or like, it's harmful.

Speaker 1 (53:17):
So they're a mass of wealth. They're harmatic. But let
me finish the Minissance concert.

Speaker 3 (53:23):
Secret that.

Speaker 4 (53:25):
Yes, and I'm saying I say I fail all the time.
I'm not somebody that like, Yeah, I like Beyonce and
I want to see the show.

Speaker 3 (53:32):
So yes, I'm.

Speaker 4 (53:33):
Contributing to her mass wealth and that's something that fucks
me up.

Speaker 3 (53:37):
It's it fucks me up.

Speaker 4 (53:40):
Also, they're harmful, not they they're not actively trying to
be harmful. I personally don't believe there's any way to
become a billionaire without exploiting people. You just can't fucking
do it. Cut it out, but.

Speaker 1 (53:54):
You just can't do it. Do this because.

Speaker 4 (54:00):
To know them being hungry, them being the models is
harmful because that creates that individualistic outlook for folks where
it's like I got to get to that and I'm
stopping on anybody that's in my way. Fuck community, It's
about me, and I'm trying to get to where they're at.

Speaker 1 (54:18):
She has to behive.

Speaker 3 (54:19):
She's built community, you know what I mean.

Speaker 4 (54:22):
So that that is where that type of thinking is like.
And honestly, we don't have to. And what I'm saying
is I'm not encouraging people to be fucking poor. There's enough,
There is enough out here for folks to have their
needs met hans. Nobody needs to be poor, nobody needs
to be unhoused, nobody needs to be suffering and.

Speaker 3 (54:42):
To go without.

Speaker 4 (54:43):
I'm saying, because people have it won't allow us to
live in any kind of way where we're actually like
enjoying this earth and actually actually providing resources for other people.
We don't understand that until there's a disaster, When there's
a disaster and Fema comes and we're all.

Speaker 1 (55:00):
Social even for that, and we're socialized for a week
and a half.

Speaker 3 (55:03):
No, I said, socialist like people get it.

Speaker 1 (55:06):
But I think though that that's the thing when I
look back in even all the history books and things
like this, this classic system, this idea that there's the
haves and the have nots is what makes this world
like is how we're able to exist. That's how the
world is always to see. And that's where this idea
of a utopia where everyone can be on the same

(55:26):
playing field and everything can be equal.

Speaker 3 (55:29):
To me as long as to me it's a sci
fi film, you know.

Speaker 1 (55:32):
No, Like, I don't think it's it's a reality that
can ever exist. I think whenever we get to the
other planet, they got a classic system too.

Speaker 3 (55:40):
I just feel, like Mandy do.

Speaker 4 (55:41):
There's been so many cases where I put myself and
because I'm reading this here flush again and I put
myself and she talks about people being enslaved, right, the
enslaved people. I try to imagine myself being an enslaved
person and trying to organize within that cohort of enslaved

(56:05):
people right, trying to find space to love, right, to
have babies, to have marriages, to figure out ways to
actually get free, to create language, to still worship God,
trying to make space for that. And I'm like, Yo,
if they could imagine that and there was that possibility
for them, we we have to do better. But to me,

(56:29):
the root of that imagination was the community and the
people who were about individuals we hear about and we
called them, what Uncle Tom's house, negros, you sold out,
You ain't sure, you weren't here.

Speaker 3 (56:47):
For the people. So I think about that often and I'm.

Speaker 4 (56:52):
Like, what what kind of strength, bitch?

Speaker 1 (57:00):
What?

Speaker 3 (57:01):
Seriously?

Speaker 4 (57:01):
But what what was in them that enabled them to
imagine freedom?

Speaker 1 (57:06):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (57:08):
Are you kidding? Like I can't imagine that.

Speaker 4 (57:11):
I can't imagine being in that position and being like, yo,
there has to be something else.

Speaker 3 (57:16):
Let's collectively figure that out. And they fucking did.

Speaker 1 (57:18):
They did it.

Speaker 4 (57:19):
Yeah, So that's kind of why I'm like, there's no
way that this ship is not actually possible. We just
have to be a collective because we outnumber these motherfuckers.
It's one point one percent this horn.

Speaker 1 (57:36):
Because people now we don't know, but they were able
to still make.

Speaker 4 (57:41):
Come on, now, you had Amazon people delivering packages in
the middle of those Palisades fires.

Speaker 1 (57:47):
I'm glad they delivered mine in a snowstorm.

Speaker 6 (57:49):
I was.

Speaker 3 (57:50):
That's crazy, That's what I'm saying, Like, that's the topic stuff.
That's be like seeing that. That's one of the things
that I'm like, I can't funk with you.

Speaker 1 (57:58):
Not with the fire, but the.

Speaker 3 (58:00):
Subscription canceled, Like I'm not.

Speaker 4 (58:01):
Doing it, Like that's you, yeah, subscribe people at risk,
Like I'm good, I'll figure out another way to get it.
I will plan ahead to get my ship when I
need it, and I don't need it overnight.

Speaker 3 (58:13):
It's just crazy. I'm like, really, we will. These people
are It's just crazy. I can't deal with it. It's like these.

Speaker 4 (58:20):
People are literally having all kinds of issues in these warehouses.

Speaker 3 (58:24):
They're being like, it's absurd the type.

Speaker 4 (58:27):
Of inhumane treatment that these Amazon's workers experience all based
off of us consuming When is it the fuck enough?

Speaker 3 (58:36):
When do you have enough?

Speaker 4 (58:37):
Like I'm just don't.

Speaker 6 (58:41):
Choices right too.

Speaker 5 (58:41):
It's like when you talk about community, like those Amazon
jobs used to be like union jobs, or they used
to be or they used to be like look, that
job forty years ago was like a fact, a warehouse job.
You either unionized or you had a pension. And you
can see, you know, see executives make decisions now like
you know, instead of pension, will do four one ca.
So now it's on you. Yeah, like yougur, you got

(59:04):
to figure out we're not going to think about a
community safety net for it, Like it's on you.

Speaker 3 (59:08):
And so so I can pocket that money.

Speaker 4 (59:10):
Yeah, I can continue to hoard resources to become richer
and richer and richer, and you can't take none of
that shit, which.

Speaker 1 (59:17):
I think it's just also difficult because when we think
of and this will be my last thing, because it
just immediately made me think of yes, us having the
iPhone gang and also shaming the niggas with green bubbles.
But for people who don't have the money to spend
on luxury, we all know that it's kids making our
shean clothes as women, and even the fact that we

(59:41):
as as workers and working class that don't have a
lot of money also don't want to see those T
shirts go from two dollars to twenty dollars. We like
that those clothes are affordable to us.

Speaker 3 (59:53):
And there's some people need them to be affordable.

Speaker 1 (59:55):
And that's what I'm saying. And so even to think
of the moral compass of it all, where I wouldn't
shame those people that keep buying she In because the
prices are low, even after finding out, so they're going
to be selectively ignorant to liking the prices but knowing
that they're being made at the hands of children that
are making fit.

Speaker 4 (01:00:14):
This is about shame. None of this freedom does not
start with shame. None of this is about that. What
it is about is folks who have means, intentionally time
to do the least amount of harm possible. If you
are someone that can only afford she In, then you
have to do what you have to do. And I

(01:00:35):
understand that there are other alternatives. Though, right you want
she In because it's cute, fine, I hear you. There's
also thrift stores. There's also other ways to get clothing
on your back. You're still making a choice. But I'm
not shaming anybody for that. I understand that that is
the reality. That is what capitalism do you see what
I'm saying. It creates this reality, this way of being

(01:00:59):
for all of us, and it is unsustainable.

Speaker 3 (01:01:03):
We're seeing that when.

Speaker 4 (01:01:05):
It when it comes to there is a class war
brewing in this country.

Speaker 6 (01:01:11):
We just saw it with Luigi.

Speaker 3 (01:01:13):
There is a class war happens.

Speaker 4 (01:01:16):
We just saw it with the fires, where people were
like them, they got money, crazy mad people. I don't
have time, Okay, but I don't know what the hell
happened with Luigi. But the response to Luigi, you're right, okay, yeah,

(01:01:41):
and this will wrap it up.

Speaker 1 (01:01:43):
Well. We talk about community, when we talk about individualism,
when we talk about the haves and the have nots.
It's exactly what I'm seeing with the lack of empathy
to the millionaires who lost their homes in comparison to
the rest of the community. The fact that these are
still families with kids that still have to work to

(01:02:06):
have accumulated whatever what they have. Looking online and seeing
how many people do not give a fuck about the
loss of a roof and a home and all the
memories because this person has more money than you.

Speaker 3 (01:02:21):
Yeah, that's you dehumanize them, And.

Speaker 1 (01:02:23):
That's where we're at. I think at the end of
the day, that's where I'm like, the way we have
our ability to comprehend things or come up with our
own opinions or come up with the ideas of what
can exist if we do just a little bit of
the research and see how it's been done in the history.

(01:02:44):
We completely like that as a society.

Speaker 4 (01:02:48):
I think these people have been harmed by a lot
of the people who are responding like that have been
harmed by this system, and they're not recognizing the fact
that it's capitalism, not.

Speaker 1 (01:02:58):
These not these individuals visuals.

Speaker 4 (01:03:00):
Right, there is something to be said about someone who
loses a home who will be able to rebuild, and
someone who loses a home and that was everything that
they've ever had in life rut into that they still
have to make mortgage payments on the burned home, which
is crazy capitalism.

Speaker 1 (01:03:17):
Yea, the sky insurance, the fire shit.

Speaker 3 (01:03:22):
This is when I'm talking about capitalism where I have
a real issue. You are exploiting these people.

Speaker 4 (01:03:28):
You are exploiting people who are in need, dire need,
who just had their lives like the fucking carpet ripped
from out under them, and you see opportunity for profit.
Shame on that. That's where the shame lies. So it's
less about the person that's making thirty thousand dollars getting

(01:03:49):
an Amazon package. It's the structural system of profitability over
everything and anything else.

Speaker 1 (01:03:56):
I agree, So we gonna end it with the now
what so we agree? No? No, no, no, I agree? Where
do we disagree?

Speaker 6 (01:04:04):
What?

Speaker 1 (01:04:04):
What your sound like?

Speaker 3 (01:04:06):
Y'all agree?

Speaker 1 (01:04:07):
We just just don't because you don't care for each other.

Speaker 6 (01:04:11):
It's like.

Speaker 1 (01:04:13):
Conversation with your disagree so politely.

Speaker 8 (01:04:17):
But but but that's inverbal the actions agree with each other.

Speaker 4 (01:04:21):
Yeah, okay, because the way operates is the what I'm
talking about that and that's why with her, But nigga,
I got an Amazon order right now.

Speaker 1 (01:04:31):
I'm waiting all you feel me? What don't see that?

Speaker 3 (01:04:35):
You just look.

Speaker 4 (01:04:36):
I have to pay my battles and I'm learning that
and I have to be less judgmental.

Speaker 6 (01:04:40):
Recording time? How much? And Palestine reached that ceasefire agreement?

Speaker 3 (01:04:44):
They yeah, who went back on.

Speaker 6 (01:04:48):
No more?

Speaker 4 (01:04:49):
Yaady went back on it in mamas, Yeah, he said, yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:04:54):
Yeah. This morning, I said, you gotta be kidding.

Speaker 6 (01:04:58):
We won't put that.

Speaker 3 (01:05:00):
Today. That happened, all right.

Speaker 1 (01:05:01):
Well, I always have a question for the audience, and
so I want to leave you guys with this question.
After our conversation, has your mind changed? Are you making
decisions with your dollars to help the community or your
dollars for yourself. I don't like that because that wasn't
really I was on the flock you started. But also

(01:05:23):
give me I don't like that. Is that really what
I said?

Speaker 3 (01:05:30):
All this conversations enough you said a lot more.

Speaker 1 (01:05:33):
Yeah, no for yours No, no, no, no no, it's already over. Anyways,
I want you all to share your answers and the
comments over on our social media page. You guys can
get that in the description of this episode, and especially
over on our Patreon page. There's the discord. And I
am going to encourage this type of discourse where we

(01:05:56):
can find a way to agree to disagree with respect.
God damn it, because that's what we just We just
did a masterclass day because y'all we are real friends
and clearly she's like bitch Starbucks, Amazon could suck my
dick from the back. Crazy. Anyways, where can our audience
listen to you? Because now with this not y'allhoo.

Speaker 3 (01:06:19):
Y'all more fun than this, though my podcast is fun
y'all too. I'm talking about ship over here.

Speaker 4 (01:06:25):
I'm all serious, Like, you have to think about community.
We're not just like tenfoil hell all the time.

Speaker 1 (01:06:31):
But ye'ah know, y'all have to tune in when she
decides to do shrooms on airs shrews.

Speaker 4 (01:06:36):
Sorry, Edible actually had a crash our episode for our
four hundredth episode, no.

Speaker 1 (01:06:40):
Outline, I had no outline.

Speaker 3 (01:06:45):
I was like, fuck it, let's do it.

Speaker 1 (01:06:46):
And how'd you feel about that?

Speaker 3 (01:06:48):
It was wonderful. We I cackled that it was an hour.
We made it to an hour. We did it.

Speaker 1 (01:06:55):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (01:06:56):
I know what is the show?

Speaker 4 (01:06:58):
The show is Around the Way Curls. We are a
dynamic duo. I'll talk about all things duality. But Mondays
we drop episodes related to politics, pop culture. On Thursdays
it's more meteor episode, evergreen topic, more Ralph matters.

Speaker 1 (01:07:15):
Of the heart, you drop that passion but.

Speaker 3 (01:07:20):
Yeah, twice a week. Around the Way Curls everywhere.

Speaker 1 (01:07:23):
You get your podcasts all right, and as always, you
could hate it or you could love it. Either way.
Are you choosing to be selectively ignorant? Are you choosing
to get educated? See you motherfuckers next week.

Speaker 3 (01:07:35):
Congratulations you.

Speaker 6 (01:07:39):
Cargo for the community.

Speaker 2 (01:07:45):
Thanks for tuning in the selective ignorance of Mandy B.
Selective Ignorance. It's executive produced to Buy Mandy B. And
it's a Full Court Media studio production with lead producers
Jason Rodriguez. That's me and Aaron A.

Speaker 1 (01:07:56):
King Howell.

Speaker 2 (01:07:57):
Now, do us a favor and rate, Subscribe and share
wherever you get your favorite podcast, and be sure to
follow Selective Ignorance on Instagram at Selective Underscore Ignorance. And
of course, if you're not following our hosts Mandy B,
make sure you're following her at full Court proms Now.
If you want the full video experience of Selective Ignorance,
make sure you subscribe to patreons patreon dot com backslash

(01:08:20):
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Ep. 2 | Should We Be Conscious Consumers feat. Antoinette Lee

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Ep. 2 | Should We Be Conscious Consumers feat. Antoinette Lee