Hello the Internet, and welcome to this episode of The Weekly Zeitgeist. These are some of our favorite segments from this week, all edited together into one NonStop infotainment laugh stravaganza. Uh yeah, So, without further ado, here is the Weekly Zeitgeist. Well, Miles, We're thrilled to be joined in our third seat by a digital research analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, where she researches online hate, extremism disinformation in the US. It's being Lauren.
Hey, thanks for welcome. Oh, thank you for stopping by, Thank.
You for being here on our silly show.
Yeah, to talk about serious things because it's a big year ahead.
In twenty twenty. Fourth.
From what I hear, what I'm hearing, it sounds like good people.
Keeping saying that, and I'm like, what, like why, what's the big what's going on? Is it because of the super Bowl? Because I was.
I was already involved in politics in twenty twenty, and that was probably one of the most stressful years of my life.
Hands down. It was non stop.
I think I had like four or five just straight, like seven day weeks in the office till one two in the morning, ordering food, getting rashes, from the stress.
It was just awful. I can't just going to be it was.
It was mostly just all the prep work, all of the like, because I'm researched extremism vaguely then, and it was like getting all of the seed lists to get all getting all the groups, to get all the discord chats to kind of make the way so when things kind of popped off, Yeah, but things popped off then, like I.
Was in it.
Yeah right.
I'm always amazed at, like, you know, people like you and your colleague Jared Holt, who we've had on the show many times, and he was like, you got to talk to Sabine he got on Like of course then if you say, Joe, like, we love the work you do. But I'm always amazed at like how people get into monitoring extremism, Like what how what was your journey there?
Like what were you doing, Like I know you said twenty twenties when you start to get into it, what were you doing in like twenty eighteen, Like was things very different or what was your sort of path into this kind of work?
Really funny, I actually started doing this as a joke. I was in college of twenty eighteen twenty nineteen. I was in anthropology major. I recently switched and in Cells were like the big laughing stock punching back to the Internet
at the time. I think ContraPoints had her video on in Cells and I was like obsessed with it, and so from my thesis I was like, Oh, how about what if I did like a funny ethnography on like the inner lives of in cells, like as a goof for my the It doesn't matter, I'm already going to graduate.
I did it, and then I that was December twenty nineteen, and then I looked for in twenty twenty January and I got picked up by gq are, which is like a polling consortium, and they were looking for researchers who already knew about that kind of under CD underbelly of the Internet stuff. And I got picked up immediately after that and then worked for the whole election season and I ended up becoming my career path fully on accident.
Yeah, And are you embracing that? I know you say like it's on accident, but I mean, like.
The field and the people are really great, and it just ended up being a really good mix for me.
Right, something tells me you're a pretty good student. When you do a thesis as a goof and get away with it. I'm like, damn, this is really fucking good. Killed that thesis. Maybe you want to do this for a living higher them. Yeah, yeah, that's amazing. What is something from your search history that's revealing about who you are?
Well?
I last night the last thing I googled was the forty nine ers because I wanted to give myself a forty nine or Valentine's nail, some Valentiners and I did it. Unfortunately, the people at home k oh shit, logo, look at the logos. Yeah, and I did a forty nine Oh shit, damn lip prints.
Yeah.
I like doing my nails, and I was like, ooh, it's Valentine's Day, the Niners going to the Super Bowl. I'm gonna do SF Valentiner nails.
Okay, okay, yeah. Yeah. We have a family.
My family. When my parents came to from El Salvador, they landed in San Francisco, and so they were just hardcore Joe Montana fans immediately because they were just like, yeah, let's do the American thing, watch football, and they they tried baseball, didn't like it, and they but they loved football, and so my parents have always been Niner fans since they got to this country. So we have always been
Niner fans. And my brother is so excited that they're going to the super Bowl and we always like do shit on Super Bowl Sunday, Like, well, just have food and we just hang out. It's just like a breason to kick it with the family, which I always like. So okay, I got my nails ready for the weekend.
Yeah, m did Christmas? You know, just so many chips, so many dips.
So many chips.
So yeah, what's the spread? What's the spread like for your family?
Do you never know? My mom likes to do different things. Sometimes she'll order everything, sometimes she'll make everything. Sometimes it's potluck style, everybody brings some things.
I don't know.
I don't I don't think she's thought about it yet, so I'm excited to find it out.
Yeah, as are you partaking this year? I didn't really know.
I don't have plans, but I mean passively I'll end up doing I mean, like maybe have it on in the background.
Yeah maybe.
I mean I got to catch that halftime show. Uh, oh for sure. Yeah, I want to see her sure, but no, I don't really. I mean I've as a kid, I was just never that, Like I was into the NFL when like everybody was into the NFL.
In the nineties.
I'm like, oh yeah, when Dion Sanders was playing with the Niners too, and even the Cowboys. I was like going back and forth with that whole thing. But then I just never I just never got fully bit by it.
So I was just you know, yeah, there's a great Joe Montana story that is making the rounds that I love wearing. He Yeah, So the phone thing is the latest update that during he would call his wife from the field, like during games and.
Like the field that they on the bench like with there's a phone on the bench, Like everyone's like, oh, he must be talking to his offensive coordinator.
Yeah, calling his wife because he realized he could. And like another thing about him that is like kind of saying similar energy is like that there's this famous like drive he like brings the forty nine ers down the field in the Super Bowl and like the highest stress situation that a quarterback like had been in to that point, and one of the players on his team like recalled that, like he came in the huddle to talk to them, and he was just like kind of looking over their
heads and then he was like, is that John Candy. Then he just like pointed John Candy, what's on the side, and then he was like all right, let's go out, and you know it just like chilled everyone the fuck out there, just like, man, this guy doesn't give a fuck.
He's like, oh man, you've seen planes, trains and automobiles.
Oh that shit is so funny.
I love that. That's how you know someone's really good at their job, like they can be distracted and it doesn't affect their game.
Yeaeah exactly. And they're like, yeah, all right, we back in it. Okay, yeah, but that was John Candy, right, okay, yeah, and.
It's John Candy.
Yeah.
That motherfucker was huge in the eighties and nineties, so that was like probably like oh shit, yeah right, a.
Great taste, you know, great they knew John Candy was like recognized that of all the celebrities, all the eighties celebrities, that's the one you point.
There's a big motherfucker you you can spott.
That's true. It's also for practical purposes, he could get his linemen to see him Yeah, funny.
I do love that that phone story because the wife's the first time it happened. She was just like, I was watching the game and then the phone rings, and I was like, who's calling me? During my you know, my game. She picked up the phone. Hey honey, she was like, what are you doing?
Oh my god? Yeah, he's crazy. Right, the phone works like a real phone, he said.
He said, he was like, he just was like, you know, because I think you like, remember you used to dial nine to dial outside, right, Yeah, yeah, he just out of know, we're just decided to try it and it worked.
Yeah, it's adorable, so cute. I know what a what a little like love story. I know, it's I love it.
They're still together, yeah, okay, good, that would have been wild. He's like, yeah, I divorced it right after.
God it was a good man right there.
Yeah. Joe Montana, what a name to Joe Montana.
And that's and that's the other thing. That was my my parents' favorite player. So like, you know, that's the other thing with the Niners, the associated oh Joe Montana. So like when he came out when the Niners won the last game, he came out, my mom was like it's like, he's such a fucking huge So it's cool. It's just cool. It's just kind of nice to see that, you know, those associations my parents have.
Yeah, what is something you think is overrated?
Over rated? Okay, so I am. I will just say this. I live in an area that is very much becoming heavily gentrified, and they just put and I still don't comprehend. And I guess, Okay, so I understand why there's a
Starbucks on every corner. However, they just put another Chick fil A on the other side of one of the streets that, yes, like there's a Chick fil A right on one side when you get off on the freeway, and then they just put another Chick fil A on the other side of Yeah, and I'm like, this is so stupid, but it is. It's causing a lot of backup, Like the like one of the main streets that I used to get into my apartment complex is now like I'm having to go around or go through the back
gate now because of how much traffic it is. And it's just stupid. And I guess my overrated To get to my point is the food is not that good. I'm sorry, I don't believe that. I mean, it's not even about the It's like the food is just not that good and the lines are always so long, and I'm like, do people really like unseeass and food that much? Like because it's not seasoned well, the oil is not good. Like there's nothing about Chick fil A that's good. I don't get it. They don't even have soda.
They don't have soda.
No, I think they only have tea and lemonade.
No, they gotta have soda, but they do.
Not have soda. My husband said that they do not have soda, and I am almost one hundred they don't. I don't think they carry soda.
That's is that trime against fast food? But yeah they do they have coke.
I was like, doctor John, you cannot operate in the United States without offering.
All these fake, fake newses. Yeah, come for you, right, but the food is still terrible.
It's not I mean, obviously what we learned with the chicken sandwich wars, other people learned how to make a good chicken sandwich. So you can no longer say that there's only one rightful heir to the chicken sandwich thrown but yeah, to your point, I hate when it, like every time a Chick fil A opens up, it's the traffic it causes. It's just like the same thing because for so long in the West Coast, people never had Chick fil A, And there's all these things like when I.
Go back used to visit my family or whatever, like we go to Chick.
Fil A, and now that it's here, it becomes they and you gotta line up and sure sure.
Just same with in and Out. In and Out is also overrated. It's good, but it's overrated.
At least it's good like that. I was just having that thought that like there there are these fast food restaurants that have ceased being fast food because they are so popular. I think the two that jump out to me are Chick fil A and in and Out. In and Out though, like once you're done, you just feel like you've had, like you you've got what you came for. Where it's Chick fil A, yeah, I feel like it's it's just kind of coast on reputation at this point and like be having been rolled out at a good
speed where it like never got overexposed or something. And that's why Chick fil A like, I feel like they did something smart along the way, they like capitalized on some social contagion. And now I think this is just like a very classically good, overrated I think you're absolutely right. The Chick fil A is just you know it.
And I know we've mentioned it here before. I've listened to the show daily and I know that it's been mentioned, but I just had to go back on record and just say it's not worth the time and it is not like even And I think to your point, I think a lot of it has to do with those the quote unquote Christian values. I think there's so many people who are like, well, because it's such a strong Christian org that's why we support it, because we're good Christians.
And it's like, baby, you like there's better food out there, Like, spend your money somewhere else. Someone just made a point about raising kings. Now I'm one of those clowns that will sit in line.
For raising kanes.
Now give me some canes, Jack.
Can sauce.
I have not had canes. Jack. Are you a Christian? You have been raising caine?
Oh?
Some days I wasn't able. There was always canes. There is, Baby, it might actually be the the one, Like I think this is maybe the fourteenth positive review I've heard of Raising Cain, so maybe that's the one that gets me there.
And then think, remember in the rehearsal, Nathan built an entire raising canes for that one guy to confront his brother. Yeah, it's in the air, it's in.
The Yeah, I am that girl that will pre start. But I can prestart my car from an app and I will started my car to get in it to go down to the raising canes. Honey, yes, yeah, I.
Mean because also I mean if you, oh yeah, you put canes up against Chick fil A, and I'm sorry, Chick fil A, you have to go all the way to the back because the Chick fil A sauce it ain't it ain't.
It's not the cane sauce.
What's that other chicken place? Zaxby's good too? When I go back, I always like Zaxby Zaxby's is really good.
What uh what something you think is underratd.
Chris experts like people valuing an experts opinion. I know this is a little out of not not not as on the nose as airport lounges, but I feel like anymore. People will ask me about TV shows or like storytelling or things in the media and be like, what do you think of this, and I'll give them my opinion and they'll be like, well, no, like I don't know, and I'm like, okay, never mind. Yeah, it's it's not
what they want to hear. They're just like, oh, but don't you think this, And I'm like, no, I actually think exactly the opposite and here's why, and they just that just doesn't it doesn't permeate, and it doesn't They're like, just that doesn't agree with what they're into, and so they're just like, I'm gonna just set that aside and not even take it in.
And I'm like, okay, yeah, I mean it's like it's interesting. It take it takes a person to be able to hear a thing that they weren't prepared for and just be like, oh, that's new information or do the whatever Ostrich effect or whatever they call it, just like no, actually, I'm gonna just put my head on the ground because I don't like what you just said and that's more comfortable for me.
The well, that's just like your opinion man effect. Yeah, the dude, the dude effect.
And I feel like you guys have a lot of experts on this show in different ways and being we will tell me about this, and like you actually listen to them and like want to hear more and ask them follow up questions rather than just be like, but don't you actually think that blah blah blah is the thing I've been waiting to say the whole time.
But you should hear after after they get off the zoom Call.
Ship, right, yeah, we're like doctor, Oh.
Yeah, you're like, oh he produced reality television. Give me a fucking why should we trust? Why should we trust?
His opinion on how that scene was filmed on that season he worked on that episode, he worked on.
Miles. I wish I was joking when I was like, I was there when this you are And they're like but and I'm like, there is no like I watched this happen in real life, Right, you don't want to believe what I'm telling you?
Yeah? Yeah?
Yeah, Oh man, that's amazing. Is there is there a scene from like reality show you've been on that has been analyzed like the Zapruder film? Oh yeah, a million of them. I don't even know.
I'm trying to think of like an example, not not Zapruder film level, but there's definitely been stuff where it's like why did this person do this? And I'm like because of this and they're like, huh, I don't know. I'm trying to think of like a good example.
Well here's here's like a broad one is like why do they talk about the person like knowing that this is going to be on TV? What is it because the me they know that the messiness is like part.
Of the product or is it people like you Chris, the producers that's now are they a certain type of person who is just you know, like someone will leave the room and they'll like be like, well that bitch, you know.
And then it's not but it's not as again, I think that's something where we think it's like exactly that, and it's more that like there is always a reason that they're coming up in conversation, sure because of what happened in the last time that they saw them, or whatever happened over the time that we've not seen them, like since we've been filming, we I saw this person at this place and blah blah. And it really is about if you want to go into like a Housewives realm.
It really is just about their interpersonal relationships, and so it's like you are wanting to hear the opinion of them, and it's they know that.
That's I mean, that is what they know.
Yeah, it's about them being friends or lack thereof, or being in a fight or not being in a fight, exactly about them as a group of friends.
And so like they know that what time it is.
And then the added calculus is am I willing to scream about it in the tell all you damn right?
I am?
Yeah, I will, so I'll say this shit right now to camp. Yeah, which like how the.
First season of Survivor was about like people trying to figure shit out and survive, like the premise, the o sensible premise of that show, and then every season after that is like people who have studied the game of Survivor and they're playing the game of Oh yeah now it's.
Like yeah, now, it's like who is like the Wikipedia Survivor time is that by thirty and now here they.
Are, Yeah, and they're gonna be great at the show.
Yeah. Whereas like if I was like I've watched like most of the seasons They're like, absolutely not.
You can never come on the show, right, yeah.
Like they're like, you don't like want to stalk Jeff Probes, Like don't I don't think so?
Yeah, yeah exactly. I mean we all want to stalk Jeff Probs. Don't wait, don't we king? All right, let's take a quick break and we'll be right back. Were back.
She'd always been love to come back, and we're fucking bike y'all. Here we are with the boys and the one girl.
Questionably some pretty cool stuff, man, we have yeah, God damn man, sure do. Federal appeals court goddamn just rejected arguments to refuse to wear a mask during the first COVID outbreak was legally protected free speech.
That's so wild that like it was hard to take that as a real statement.
Or actually I had to.
Reread it because it was Actually I was kind of confused.
I was like, wait, what, yeah, is this so? A federal appeals court just rejected arguments that refusing to wear masks during the first COVID outbreak was legally protected for e speech.
That's what the fuck I said, Man, that's what the fuck I said. For the anti mask crowd.
Yeah, big l big super.
L super L, I mean too late, probably, I get. I guess that'll be valuable for our next global pandemic.
But there are these two related cases of all the people who claimed that they had been retaliated against by the New Jersey school boards for refusing to wear masks during the health emergency, and what one of them was just dismissed out of hand because they're like, no, like, your definition of retaliated against right like borders on the nonsensical, so like, we don't, like you have not proved that you were retaliated against the other one was kicked back
to a lower court. They took it serious as a legal argument and were like, you know, refusing to wear a mask during a public health emergency didn't amount to
free speech protected by the Constitution. They pointed out that this makes as much sense as refusing to pay taxes or wear a motorcycle helmet as a symbolic protest, which I don't know why they had to come for, like the ones that I'm actually down with, like not wearing a motorcycle helmet or not, I mean, I don't know, but not wearing no Connie Crew over here, that's right.
Okay, it's no Condom Day and pinge on my freedom.
Yeah.
You know what was that song you made like ten years ago? You're like, oh, no condom style? Oh yeah, he had a whole music video and everything. Lag okay, back to life, no pun intended.
That's funny. I used to do parody songs too, until one of my friends made fun of me and I believed him. Oh man, I'm so pissed I let him hurt my feelings.
Wait really, yeah, I used to.
There was a I did a rude boy parody the Rihanna and it was like I did like like if I was from the version of Snooky Snooky's perspective and it was just basically like fucking without a condom and fucking in the hot tub and it was just gross.
It was.
It was funny, though, man, and you're a great singer, as we said, Yeah, you know.
It was when it was so rough, but it was fun. Yeah.
I love I love it.
Go back in the lab, Go back in the lab, and what my.
Partner makes music. And so I'm I don't know if I told you guys, I'm moving to Chicago and I'm excited. Yeah, And I'm excited because he makes music. So we're going to make music together, like literally and figuratively. And I'm excited because I was like, I want to do like five song of every genre right right, because he can and we just don't take it serious. Anyways, back to the news, guys, what are we talking about? Nothing? Then I want to do like, oh yeah, everything I want
to do. I want to do. Like remember in the like the late nineties and early two thousands, there's a lot of male rapper, female singer, a lot of those damns. Like we want to do ship like like a five just that doing that style. Yeah, yeah, exactly like that, that type of ship, very hyper specific ship. But we're gonna do all kinds of shit. I'm very excited. It's gonna be fun. I'll be on here promoting that ship too.
Yeah.
Please, we'll write.
Out on it. All right. We do need to catch up on other more important stories. Masks you want to talk about was important but not important anymore? Whatever? Who cares. On the other hand, we we gotta hear what Donald Trump thinks about bud Light.
Oh yeah, this is a big one.
Did a full on.
This is just wild for some reason. Let's call it cash. Donald Trump has declared on Booth Social that bud Light is no longer on the MAGA shit list. And you like this this like post, you know, like when somebody else writes his ship because it's like a little too coherent, and it like follows a bit of structure, even thought right stylistically, it like reads like his. He just said the bud Light ad was a mistake of epic proportions and for that a very big price was paid.
But Anheuser Busch is not a will company.
But I can give you plenty that are and building a list and might just release it for the world to see.
Why not.
The radical left does it viciously to well run because they're to companies and people very nasty, but it's the way they play the game. On the other hand, Anheuser Bush spends seven hundred million dollars a year with our great farmers employee sixty five thousand. It's like starts running down all this shit that Anheuser by him.
He just did like three hundred gram adderalls and then banged this out.
Just wait, can we give Miles props for that? You've been working on that impression. It's great, Yeah, thank you.
Look, you know that's coming from somebody who's killing it on national television with impressions that actually means a lot.
Martello start pro I love an impression. I love the impression from from an Asian guy. We don't get enough of that.
No, no, exactly, you don't have. You know, we're the biracial like I could be leaning into every race right now, and really and I get to because I'm black and Asian. Yeah, okay, sorry, hate to use that excuse again like the one from the nineties. But anyway, it's like interesting to see or figure out what caused this whole thing. Maybe the donation stop from Anheuser Busch. Is it because he's BFFs with Dana White and the UFC and bud Light, like that's
like their main one of their main sponsors. Is it because he saw some polling that made him realize that being a piece of ship to people all the time is bad? Others point out, is it because he has between one and five million dollars in Anheuser Busch in bev Stock knows? But I love how he's just talking about Canon, an American company. They're owned by a like their own.
There's a Belichick company American companies.
Yeah, so yeah, great American brand.
What news is his supporters don't look at facts, so now an American company, so right.
And also a lot of people pointed out when they were boycotting bud Light, they're like, they were probably just buying another beer owned by the same company.
Yeah, what's it called a bev Anheuser Busch in bev in bev Yeah exactly.
And I think also to be clear too, like when he's like that the advertisement was a big mistake, they're talking about the Dylan mulvaney thing where they sent out like bud Lights sent out a bunch of personalized cans to influencers with their face on it, and Dylan mulvaney happened to be on that group of influencers that got a can, so she posted the fact that she got a bud Light can, and everyone's like they're doing a
fucking whole ad campaign. That's like like just all of that is where all of this shit started.
But who knows.
There's other people like on Twitter who are like being like, yo, this is just a conspiracy. Like Republicans like to tank a brand that they own stock in and then they buy the dip and then like, oh, wow.
That's a great idea. I need to start doing that.
Yeah.
They're like yo, they're like, hey, if you're in the stock market, like just see what company they're going after, and if the stock price starts going down by the dip.
Yeah, I give you ahead of Super Bowl. Son.
Wow, that's great financial advice. It's dip Christmas in the stocks, bitch Christmas.
Yeah. It's also like I do just want to acknowledge that that whole backlash campaign has been wildly successful. Yeah, the mainstream news story about that has been like a bud light fucked up big time and like had a terrible year, and like people in the business community like, I think this is one of the stories that is driving that whole backlash to having any sort of moral compass as a corporation, you know that like they're just now, you know, saying that we're gonna invest in like ESG
or you know, any sort of diversity equity initiative, like all of that is a bad word in when you're doing your earnings calls, because yeah, because there's ship like this and yeah, it's a shame, it's it's very frustrated.
Well, you know, they've got there doing. You know, Shane Gillis is the new face of bud Light and Ship.
Yeah, he's killing it. He's SNL this weekend.
I think they're trying to be like, hey man, look we kind of fuck with shitty people too, who have like some questionable past and things like that, like don't what the fuck you know?
You know, but the reason that works is because most people are shitty, and Republicans aren't afraid to accept their their shitty past and their shitty present and their shitty future.
It's kind of their whole thing. Yeah, yeah, we.
Just don't get there.
Yeah, we don't care, all right. I do want to get to what's happening in the state legislature of.
You get to that, huh oh, I musnd out.
Unfortunately I must bro working on it right now. But to pull your card, homie. Yeah. So there's a bill currently making its way through the chambers that would essentially prevent live performance venues from canceling a performer for exercising their free speech rights and not just their ability to not wear a mask when they don't want to, because but you know, you can't cancel a show if the performer says like racist or homophobic shit. Okay, that's okay. Now.
So this bill is you know, it's being debated. It says, like the text of it says, quote, the owner or operator of a public venue may not cancel a live performance of an artist or performer musical group because the artists, performers, or musical groups lawful exercise of freedom of speech or
their personal beliefs for the purpose. So basically what they're saying is, if that happens, then they have to pay damages or like you know, execute whatever financials or in the contract between the two and be like, okay, well then you owe them that kind of shit. And every people are like, what the what's the point? Like, there's real shit happening all over the fucking place, and we
have this bill. Notably, the author of the bill couldn't really even point to one example where this has happened, except wait, the one time the libs messed up my midlife Crisis Bands statewide tour.
So this is what center fucking sky. What's his name?
Let me make sure I want to make sure I have his full name out there. Joel Rudman, Senator Joel Rudman, he posted this shit on Facebook. Shout out to Robin panank On Wankat for putting this piece together because it's so eye opening. He posted this on Facebook about his own fucking band. This is a elected official in Florida. Quote. This is what liberals do. When I announced my concert tour, I used event bright to process free tickets so I
could get a rough headcount for each gig. The woke mob liberals flooded my system with fake emails and bogus names. So now we have no way of knowing how many do expect. Show these radicals what happens when you try to cancel Conservatives come out and force Tomorrow night to Horsepower Pavilion at seven pm. These liberals tried to cancel my voice. I became Navari's Business of the Year. Then they tried to cancel my medical career. I became state representative.
Now they are trying to cancel my concert.
Fuck wow. Yeah, he's not a business man, he's a business business man. Business of the year, yeah exactly. So this guy basically couldn't accept the fact that no one wanted to see his shitty band and decided to waste time by using his office to like create a bill that will most likely fail because, like, let's be real, Florida isn't someplace where they're canceling acts for being Jesus.
That's why that shit doesn't make sense because to me, I hear it as like, oh, that's actually good for people that are like pro Palestine, because they're getting shit ripped out from under them exactly. And it's like, but in Florida, you know, like no one's getting upset that you're homophobic or racist or whatever. The fuck that's actually gonna cel tickets, I think. But because he was giving away free tickets, that's your problem, sir.
Yeah.
And again it's just like it's like half. I think it's probably ninety five percent this guy's fragile, fucking ego, and then five percent like obviously this is like the culture War playbook one oh one. It's like, act as if this woke threat exists in your state, when actually your state is like the antithesis of that, and that's pretty much what he's doing. But dude, this guy's fucking banned.
I had a feeling this guy's band was gonna suck, and then he got to that paragraph where he was like, then they tried to cancel my medical career. Yeah. Like, wait, so you're not even a musician, you Horsepower Pavilion. I couldn't make that.
Sounds like a made up venue name and like a viral tweet that someone would write it.
Sounds like Deaf Puppy Comedy Club in Mantica, California.
Deaf Puppy Comedy Club, but an actual place in Mantica, California. Get your tickets at the end of this month. So yeah, his band is called Doctor Rudman and the Freedom Fighters. And then like I think their was called, uh the Let me just get this right, it was called the God, Guns and Less Government Tour. Oh wow, I just want to give y'all a quick taste of this of his band.
I cannot wait, God, Guns and Less Government? How cool? How rock and roll is that?
The Wild Thing is like a group of like middle aged dudes are opening or I like, are clearly the band, but they wait for him to go on stage.
Is like the lead guitar player.
He's a friend supploring.
Okay, sorry that was that was him howling. Let me just show you. This is him coming on stage for everybody to see. And he's wearing his white doctor's coat. Just so you know, this guy is a fucking doctor. The band's singing now, he's coming up on stage, grabbing the guitar, got his doctor coat on.
Somebody get me a shot. Somebody got me a shot. That's his catchphrase.
I also love I love when I love when like performers be like, yo, let me get a shot, and then nobody gets much shot.
It's one of the worst feelings. I gotta say, that's definitely happened to be before we're going.
To drink up here. Done that some of our live shows. And then I just go to beg I'm like, hey, please, man, I'll give you cash.
Man.
Would you mind just getting something really quickly?
No?
No, but here he goes.
He's gonna just let everybody know. He picked up the guitar as if he was gonna he realized, I gotta take my coat off.
Stripping well back to the fish house, taking off his white coat or a gill a bad jean jacket under here. Yeah, appeared to be in an equipment shed on the roof of a condo in like a marina somewhere.
This is where you watch live performance.
Okay, here we goes.
He's got interesting two tone bell bottoms on black and red leather.
He's so.
He looks like he drinks bud.
Light his like he doesn't even his his.
Guitar has even turned up.
Oh oh, there you go, well cow bell.
Anyway, So this guy's band is wild. He's got some kind of face paint on it.
He looks like he's like, you know, a five year old who did their own makeup as a zombie.
Look at like, look at this woman who came up to do a devil.
Horns right in the way.
Did you say there's no where's all the people see what we want to know too?
Okay, we all want to know the venue wants to know that exactly.
You're a good partner for supporting him and his fool's errand of you know, narcissism. But wow.
So yeah, anyway, this is the pace we're at with the people entering public office.
You know, just people.
It's either like you got an axe to grind, or you've got followers to gain, or a shitty band to promote, or maybe fucking all three.
Yeah, so what better place to do that than you know, beautiful the right is getting good at rock and roll, and the liberals are scared.
I was really scared watching that. I was like, oh, that's scary.
Sheer pant those pants too, I love. It's just like you can tell when people they have this like fantasy image of like this alter ego they may have and it has zero swag either.
Yeah.
Yeah, and like some people, you'll be surprised. You're like, damn, I didn't know you had that in you. Like that it was kind of cool.
Shot yeah.
About an alter ego.
Yeah, a few of them, like you know you got that doc oc in you. But like this guy purely is like was raised on like hair metal videos, but also like he his hate filled heart doesn't know like to open it to be like other I don't know to like more creative pursuits. It's like, oh, wear leather, red pants, a jean jacket, and I'll smear makeup on my cheeks, but.
My doctor's white jacket a white coat on top of it.
Teen fantasy yeah yeah, yeah, and yeah, like he got up there during the band, like the band was playing a different song and just like interrupted them and held up his guitar and was like.
Somebody get me a shot, like, which is like you can tell. It was like in his teenage rock star fantasy. Yeah, but then like there's two minutes of awkward like tuning his guitar after like cuts off ruins the other people's song, and then is just like complete end of any momentum that was being built.
I'm also now realizing it was probably his wife that came up, like okay, Gottle's tickets, Like she's like, I just don't I'm tired of this. It's got to end, you know what I mean. She's like, I can't do this anymore. And it wasn't the liberals that were getting him in canceled with his wife like you need to come home White.
A woman comes up in the middle of a show of the show, stands directly in front of the camera by herself, completely empty, no signs of a crowd like in the sound or any like energy, and then she just goes up and starts doing like devil horns, and it's where's the crowd? Where's the crowd?
Nobody knows this so hard the liberals stopped my crowd from coming right exactly, But it's why you can hear it from the ambient noise, like there's five people there.
Yeah, Like that's it. There's five people there. I can that I can hear.
Victor said he wished he was there, and I gotta say that is a type of shit I like to see live. That is my favorite thing about like going to a bar, like like a local bar and they're like, there's live music. I'm like, oh, I'm staying for this. I gotta know what's going on here tonight. That's my favorite ship because that's exactly what you see, is that share.
Just like wander in there like yeah, I always.
Got a good deal on drinks, and that's the fries. Just play. Whenever you have an opportunity to see live music, like a small local bar, especially if you're like traveling, please watch you get You will be entertained. It's not what they want you to entertain you with. It's just that you will be like this is a character. This is some shit that they make characters on TV with. These people are insane.
These people they give us the joy, like these are things that we like to share. It's go check out some local music and just bask in the authenticity of some of these people.
I love a fifty year old band just grown ass men just won't give up on their dreams and the politics getting in there, and you're just like, oh, this is good.
Like usually I will encourage this to give them a different vent, like a different outlet than politics, you know, like when old like didn't Stephen King, like all those like famous authors when they hit their fifties, were like, and we're starting a rock band.
Yeah, it's like.
We're starting the most mid rock band in the state of Maine, which is.
Saying a lot, but that's how most of these people are. Like it's like I'm I'm I'm not ashamed that I pursued comedy, you know, like because I'm good at it and I you know, you just got to work hard. Like Ben Shapiro wanted to be a writer, comedian or some shit and then he failed. So he was like, I'm just gonna talk shit online. It's like his next step is what being a band. He already put out a rap song.
Yeah, you know what I.
Mean Like this, it's the people are just unsatisfied egos and then they just rehabit because they're just not satisfied.
Yeah. We feel like he became a doctor because he had that vision in his mind of going up on stage and saying somebody get me a shot at a bar. Wow, Like all been building up to that.
You think he's jealous of Ken Jong for actually being a successful.
Hate ken Jong because you know what he was probably doing ship as the stand up comedian doctor Joel, And he's like, wait, there's a guy named doctor ken Who the fuck is this guy. They're like, dude, he's killing it, man, he's fucking killing it.
And he's like, fuck guitar woke. Yeah, all right, well, I'm glad I saw that. I think let's uh, let's take a quick break. We'll be right back. And were back, and there was a whole Atlantic magazine those like if Trump wins, But like I didn't see like any of those stories like really breaking through or capturing people's imagination.
It just feels like people are kind of exhausted by him at this point, which is something that we talked about, like in the very early days of this podcast, like of the Trump administration, the idea that you know, the Nazis first came to power, they were front page or just like when they first existed, rather you know, they were front page news. It was in a national scandal
and international scandal. By the time that they came to power, they were people were just like exhausted by it and tired of like reading about them and like just people. You know, it's the Bannon strategy of flooding the zone with shit, and you just become kind of inert to it. So I'm just curious, like to hear your thoughts generally on like what you think a world looks like with these groups preparing the way they are and like kind
of changing their changing how open they are. Like if Trump wins, I feel like they become a lot less scared of prosecution and like things go in a different direction, right.
Yeah, I mean in my mind that Trump would would probably also accompany a bunch of smaller the same election wins for Republicans, and I think that that would end up. I could see it being almost like you know how Twitter was and how Twitter slash x is now, where it's like you go online and like I saw beheading online in my feed yesterday and it was just like that's just around now and that was just part of
your everyday normal. I can see it being like you walk around your city and you see like a white price sticker on the stop sign, and that's just like part of the landscape of where you live, and it being essentially laws are paths that are that are you know, regressive and bigoted, And I could see it being like, you know, I think I'm thinking more in the sense that it would feel just generally unsafe, but then also have the coffee other being like and you would feel
like yeah, tired, tired, and like it's normal, and like it sucks, you don't like it, but like it's a bunch of title instances that go about your day, not one.
Big guy yelling at you or fighting with you. What are you going to do about it?
And I could see that being like a you know, every school board meeting is now some weird right rit rings screen about how trans kids are ruining everything, and that's every school board meeting now, and there's not a lot of ways to let counteract that or like to make that stop.
Right.
I'm like, you know, because just we're in an election year and it feels like every time shit just gets worse and worse, Like the technology gets better for bad faith actors, the potential for violence increases. And I think a lot of people will probably hear like, okay, so there's not gonna be no j six two point zero and probably be like, Okay, great, nothing to worry about, Like they realize they've been fully dissuaded from trying that
shit again. No need to be vigilant about anything. But you know, like I said, we've had Jared on the show too, and we were talking about like white nationalism two point zero and the rise of like active clubs and things like that. Aside from like sort of those groups and how they've sort of just like shifted or what however they're going to participate in this upcoming year
or next few years. What can what do you think people can expect to see from these right wing groups in terms of what sort of activities they feel like they're invested in in terms of like the build up to the election.
Yeah, I mean, I career for a lot of ads about the very gross, disgusting ads in your YouTube and your Spotify is and your everything. I would also say that, at least from my perspective, viral content and like and like just change the language. I mean, people use red pill in Selly style language as on the regular even if you are in the community. Now it's just now part of the language of being online. And I think that expecting feeling a weird like right wing ideology shift.
I mean, like this whole I mean, I'm seeing a lot a lot of trad wife content, a lot of a lot of white supremacists, like word usage or meme templates. I mean, that's only going to get more and more frequent. Feeling like everyone in your feetus constantly has some weird, disgusting worldview where everyone's out for themselves and the outsiders and the freaks are trying to ruin your life, and
like that's what's going to feel like. It's a constant messaging wherever you go, and people are very much invested in making it feel like you should be scared all the time. The fact that you were upset and that things are going well for you is somebody else's well that you should specifically blame. And solutions that aren't that or more nuanced in depth conversations, I'm going to feel less like a part of your daily conversations.
Mm.
So, like, right, that's a lot of it is now just sort of shifting to what can we create energetically as an environment for people to operate in, and then hopefully that will nudge people in the right direction. Or
just dissuade them from doing anything at all. That's some Yeah, yeah, so grim, especially now when you look at just like the rise of like AI shit and the like all this deep fake stuff that's happening that can already like, I mean, we're already seeing it and here little flashes here and there are you.
Yeah, as somebody who's like paying attention to misinformation online, you know, we've done a couple episodes about AI and you know we're somewhere between. This shit is scary too. Also, like the way companies are using it is kind of like hamfested and not not that impressive at this point, but just generally, like, I know, my job has gotten harder when it comes to being able to like find
reputable information on the Internet. I can only imagine what it's like in the trenches, Like as you are trying to track trends and things like that. Are you how much of that is the new technologies that are advancing, How much of that is that the companies have completely given up on reining it in at all? And just yeah, I'm curious to hear your overall thoughts on the state of the union when it comes to disinformation online.
Yeah, I mean when I was when I was doing work in twenty twenty, I marveled to my coworkers about like, like, wow, people on the right spend so much time doing illustrations and making like interesting meme and art to like just flood these systems, and I would like reverse image starts constantly because there's always new things being made with AI. I feel like that's only getting more frequent and worse.
I fly with disinformation. I mean when I'm doing when I'm doing reports on the daily for my job, I have to generally go back and fat chet and say how people are saying this, what's actually happening and find that information now, especially if it's a smaller local story that doesn't have a bunch of news art news outlets on it is so difficult to like see.
Is what they're saying true or not.
I don't want to just like write them off completely as being like everyth say is a lie, and like I want to actually do my research, but there's not a local news article about it or someone or like a reparatable source like trying to figure out something is true that they're saying. I'm like they're saying it. I honestly believe them, but there's nowhere else to look to find different information. And I think that that's one of
the bigger issues. I mean we I mean, obviously Twitter has the community know this thing, which is you know, biased at best, but like having reliable fat checks, especially for things that are more local or that on a smaller scale, is like you're only getting the right way narrative of any event, and to find the truth or like the non biased thing is just so difficult, And I don't I don't know how that's changing our people perceive current events or or local events or just like
regular takes on everyday life, if they're only seeing one side and like even if they don't like that person like that opinion, there's no other opinion or other side to look at to balance it out and define the truth in the middle.
Yeah, why do you think these big social media companies gave up so completely? Like it seems like this would be a time when you would be able to make a name for yourself by being the one place that actually tries to fact check. On the other hand, it was already an extremely difficult task to fact check all
the misinformation, and now it's getting more difficult. Is it just kind of that combination because we've also talked about how most corporate entities have like gone away from doing good from that idea being like, you know, it was never their main driving impulse, but it was like fashionable for a little bit to like have these ESG programs and stuff, And now it's like a bad word to say that you're investing in those things. Like where do you think that kind of giving up came from?
I think there are like a few things.
One of the first things I'm thinking is that, like I remember when they started to do kind of disinformation countering and started to do those efforts, they got a lot of pushback from actual Republicans in Congress because they'd be like, my statement is getting fact checked and flatter of the day isn't true. And it's like when you start to objectively go about what is true information or not, Hey, a real person has to traysically go through every single thing.
If someone doesn't get a joke and doesn't understand that there's the satire that apsims get caught in the middle of it. But also people who are making inflammatory rhetoric then who are elected officials also get caught in that, and then it starts looking to Republicans mostly that this
platform is being biased because it's censoring Republicans. Now they're believing narrative for a long time that social media companies are censoring the right because you put something up that's like the COVID nineteen vaccine causes autism, and then you get flagged, and it's like, well, then of course you're
going to get flagged. But then if that happens in a weird biased scatagram, then like you think that that's a negative or like it's a targeted harassment campaign from the social media company.
Also the fact that rage clicks make money.
People engage with things when it makes you mad, and so there's not really a financial benefit of having that not be there. And also like, yeah, real people have to go through and moderate spaces. I spend a lot of time submitting posts for moderation or flagging posts for reporting posts because it's like this person missed this, and
it's like a lot. I mean, especially Twitter slash x, they cut down their moderation team basically zero, and Facebook already doesn't really have a super big one that's always on the clock, so it's like you're asking a team of fifteen people to monitor the entirety of Facebook.
That's a really gas They're going to miss stuff.
And so it's like they have the company have to invest in hiring your people and setting stronger, more specific guidelines and then also ad hearing to those guidelines even at the person that they're adhering to brings them a lot of traffic and money to the platform. It's like there's not a ton of upfront incentive.
So it's the stuff that's always been true. It's just again like the public they just got tired of, like resisting the main impulse of capitalism to be like yeah, no that you can do that. It's not profitable and you'll get fired for doing it, but yeah no, go ahead, it's great. That looks great on you. After a while, the forces just kind of wear you down. Yeah, exactly.
Well then, also, just how much we've seen how much conservatives have just worn even the media down to be like, how dare you well fact check the words I say?
You're trying to silence me, and like there's no they're like fuck man, I don't we don't have the will to push back or we're not getting the directive from the people high up to push back, So it's just kind of like, Okay, I guess we'll just please appease them, and then you event you end up in this sort of place where it's like too much of a hassle to follow through on those kinds of things, And it's kind of like it's a little unsettling Sabine, right, because
with everything you're saying, it's like, you know, they're they're not the fucking platforms aren't going to do anything. They're fucking just doing their own thing, putting out their own news. That is going to be the first point of contact for a lot of people if they're looking at like one of these stories or manufactured sort of scandals or
whatever it. What is the role that normal people can play in sort of countering this, Like not to say that like now you need to get on your moderation shit and start like hopping in these spaces, but like what what is like like what are the sort of steps because I feel like all the time you hear about like a project twenty twenty five or like these other things are like what what the fuck? Like what I mean not that this is specifically to that but
you're like, what do weo? Is the Left doing anything about Project twenty twenty five, not that I can see, But for regular people who are witnessing this kind of evolution, I'm sure many people already live in areas where they are seeing like white Pride stickers or they're getting fucking KKK Nazi shit thrown in their driveway and is it
block bag filled with rocks and stuff like that? Is what is the response or what is the what kind of networks of people or can be created or things can be done to sort of counter that?
Yeah, I mean so online, particularly because most of my expertise. Yeah, there are always some forms of practice that I think I would endorse. I know people are like, hey, well you're dunking on someone's screenshot and then do the dumps. They don't get the engagement if your tweet goes viral. There's also just I guess not encouraging behavior.
Maybe we're not dunking at all. If you can help it.
If you see a tweet or you see a headline, take the extra time to see if it's actually true before before you share it. Before you then again make outrage bait A lot of a lot of particularly right re accounts make their money and get their influence from being inflammatory and like and triggering that like the instant thing you to get mess and that you know isn't right or that you know isn't true, and like taking the time to like step back, think about is it worth it to engage?
Is it worth it if it really is a narrative you want a counter.
Screenshot it and talk about it on your own things so they don't get the engagement, or and then make sure you can like double check fact check whatever you're sharing, like and not just doing an immediate emotional share offline.
I would say that, at least for me, there are tons of people in my community have heard stuff or said stuff, or like kids will come home and say anything that they've heard at school, and like it all feels in the moment like a one off instance of someone being shitty, and like it honestly, it can be more than that, and it can foster a bi it like that's okay, and so like not letting those things slide or let lie or kind of just brushing them off.
I know, like in my hometown, my parents were walking by your school, someoney changed it to say a bunch of slurs and like pro Nazi stuff.
When everyone was on vacation.
We took a picture of it, put it in the county Facebook group and said, hey, this isn't cool. When we talk about this, we had a conversation about talking to your kids, if you have teenagers or anything in the area, make sure you're talking about what is there is not appropriate to do and what is this not.
True about minority groups.
That's meaning that you can do to kind of like not just let it be a shitty thing that you saw and then now have to I guess ignore a brush ups.
I know.
Also, my company I See has a program called Strong City's Network where they do deradicalization programming, trainings and classes for city officials, for local officials, for community members about like what you can do to fostered environment where extremism doesn't feel welcome or safe in your area. There are I think already existing anti hate groups that are either
national or that could be in your state. I know that Virginia where I lives, certainly has some, and seeking out those groups and participating is also great to feel like you're doing something, You're getting involved.
Right, Yeah, I think it's it's also I mean, it's kind of a really interesting point too, where it's like so much of the engagement that these inflammatory accounts get is purely because of the reaction from people on the other end of the spectrum, and it's like sort of like it's that easy for them. It's like, dude, all you gotta do is just say this, and then it blows up and it's just.
People dunk on you, and then their content becomes your content.
Right exactly, and then it's like sort of like, yeah, i mean, one of the biggest ways to sort of like pull the rug out from under them is to also, like to your point is like if you're gonna talk about it, maybe don't share the handle or just take the screenshot, so that actual individual post isn't getting the sort of engagement that they need to feed the algorithms.
It kind of blows eyes, like just remember a lot of this shit while it is upsetting, it's the hint is for you to interact with it, so the message goes further and wider. And that's like just such a super subtle thing that, yeah, to think about how it's like, yeah, it's kind of like a Rube Goldberg machine that it's just kind of like, yeah, man, I'll get it this one thing and he can do next thing. You know, it's setting off all kinds of a warm below.
All right, that's gonna do it for this week's weekly Zeitgeist. Please like and review the show If you like, the show means the world demiles. He needs your validation, folks. I hope you're having a great weekend and I will talk to him Monday.
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