The Daily Zeitgeist - Weekly Zeitgeist 41 (Best of 9/10/18-9/14/18)

Episode Date: September 16, 2018

The weekly round up of the best moments from DZ's Season 48 (9/10/18-9/14/18.) Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informat...ion.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist who on October 16th 2017 was assassinated. Crooks Everywhere unearthed the plot to murder a one-woman WikiLeaks. She exposed the culture of crime and corruption that were turning her beloved country into a mafia state. Listen to Crooks Everywhere on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. a lot to figure out when you're just starting your career. That's where we come in. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in people who do, like negotiation expert Maury Tahiripour. If you start thinking about negotiations as just a conversation, then I think it sort of eases us a little bit. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Starting point is 00:01:02 How do you feel about biscuits? Hi, I'm Akilah Hughes, and I'm so excited about my new podcast, Rebel Spirit, where I head back to my hometown in Kentucky and try to convince my high school to change their racist mascot, the Rebels, into something everyone in the South loves, the biscuits. I was a lady rebel. Like, what does that even mean?
Starting point is 00:01:22 It's right here in black and white in print. It's bigger than a flag or mascot. Listen to Rebel Spirit on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Captain's Log, Stardate 2024. We're floating somewhere in the cosmos,
Starting point is 00:01:37 but we've lost our map. Yeah, because you refused to ask for directions. It's Space Gem, there are no roads. Good point. So, where are we headed? Into the unknown, of course. Join us on In Our Own World as we uncover hidden truths, navigate the depths of culture,
Starting point is 00:01:52 identity, and the human spirit. With a hint of mischief. One episode at a time. Buckle up and listen to In Our Own World on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Trust us.
Starting point is 00:02:02 It's out of this world. 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 laughstravaganza. Uh, yeah. So, without further ado, here is the weekly zeitgeist. Lucas, what is something from your search history that is revealing about who you are? Uh, revealing about me?
Starting point is 00:02:37 I guess, uh, well, just the last thing that I Google searched was, uh, images of Joseph Stalin. Uh-huh. Um, because, uh... Just a big fan uh no love joseph stalin love his work love yeah big well you know efficient efficient and thorough um no my left a job half complete my wife's relationship to uh to house flies is sort of most similar to joseph stalin's relationship to the Russian rural class. So she like—
Starting point is 00:03:08 She crushes them. She crushes them. Got it. She's furious at their insubordination, and she's constantly making lists. Okay. Got it. Yeah, so I was looking up for— Yeah, I was looking up for a good image that I was like, this is you.
Starting point is 00:03:20 This is who you are. Right. And it's sort of like him in military uniform sort of in the middle end of his career. We have this podcast, Behind the Bastard, hosted by a guy, Robert Evans, where he has this theory that it's actually Joseph Stalin's handsomeness and a lot of these different dictators' handsomeness
Starting point is 00:03:37 that caused them to- He was really good looking when he was a kid. He was a really handsome dude. If you look up young Joseph Stalin, you're going to be like, I would totally have signed up. I mean, it's a- Well, it's the same thing with CEOs. We were talking about Elon Musk being really tall earlier.
Starting point is 00:03:49 There's some average height of CEOs that they're almost all over six feet tall. Right. Really? Which is just like we like tall, good-looking people. Charisma, you know? And also, I think it's also partially there's that 30 Rock episode, The Bubble, where Jon Hamm is so good looking that nobody tells him he's a terrible doctor or a terrible cook. And I wonder how much of it is just them sort of just everybody being like, yeah, man, that's great. You're crushing it,
Starting point is 00:04:16 Joseph Stalin. I think we all live in a bubble. Yeah. I think we're all actually in a bubble that's almost completely filled with sort of like delusions of some measure. Well, you think we're living in a... I, you think we're living in a... I don't think we're living in a simulation. Okay, that's good. I don't think that. I think this is very real. I adhere to the Raymond Tallis view of life.
Starting point is 00:04:35 What is that? He's a polymath, and he's like, all these theories about time and everything are really great, but at the end of the day, you're still late for the bus. I think that things are a lot simpler than we... I mean, in LA, no one's late for the bus really because there are no buses practically, but I mean, people take it. But it's just that there's certain, life in some ways in time is simpler than we like to imagine because I think it's sort of, more complicated theories offer us the possibility
Starting point is 00:05:03 of less mortality. And I think that's sort of very seductive. Yeah. But I don't think it's true. At the same time, really complicated math gave us the atomic bomb, which was very real. So somewhere in between. Well, I think math is real. Yeah, I agree.
Starting point is 00:05:19 So Trump was doing his Trump thing at a rally at the end of last week. So Trump was doing his Trump thing at a rally at the end of last week, and people started paying attention to the people behind him because he's just on auto-repeat animatronic Trump just spitting out the same, respecting the shit out of the flag, wiping her nose on it, which for some reason people didn't object to that, even though that's the sort of thing that if an NFL player did it, whoo, man, they would freak out. But anyways. They'd have a real tough time if Tom Brady did it. It'd be tough to figure out how to feel about that. Right.
Starting point is 00:06:02 A lot of people would be really confused. Feeling is disrespectful for the flag, but you can stick that shit all the way up your nose on national television. I do feel really bad for her because she looks like she's, you know, middle school age person and is probably getting a lot of shit.
Starting point is 00:06:16 But she's also at a Trump rally, so that's on her. So there's also this dude who was like right over Trump's right ear who seemed to be, you know, reacting appropriately because he was like, what? At a couple of points, like literally mouthing the words of what after Trump said something particularly wild and was like looking into the middle distance, like just kind of shocked and horrified as to what the president was saying. And but not like overly so. Like he wasn't like hamming it up really.
Starting point is 00:06:47 And then at a certain point, a young woman who looked, she really has the same look as Kavanaugh's assistant who was sitting behind him and Dana Lash. She's got like that straight brunette hair look that there's apparently like a factory for conservative women that churns these folks out. But she comes up and just like moves him out of the she's just like, you have to leave. And he's like escorted out the other direction. And then there are these other people, a couple of dudes wearing MAGA hats who aren't doing anything really bad.
Starting point is 00:07:26 But a pretty Trump staffer comes up and replaces them and begins just smiling like a cheerleader. He's just like, yes. And then another woman comes up and is smiling. So they want the optics of, you know, enthusiastic Trump supporting women, and they don't want any sort of dissonance. But it ended up having the vibe of real, like, invasion of the body snatcher shit. And I'd like to take credit, though, because those women came from my new modeling school, Make America Beautiful Again.
Starting point is 00:08:00 I'm sure you've heard it on the radio. Mabba. Yeah, Mabba. Mabba. I'm sure you've heard of us on the radio. We gonna have a convention at the marriott next week bring your checks um but like it's crazy because also what they're saying is is that like look you real ugly ass trump supporters gotta get the hell out of the way like they replaced them with complete plans like there was a girl who was just being quiet loving trump yeah you know what i mean like
Starting point is 00:08:24 she looked like she came straight out of a hot topic and threw on that manga hat right and they were like oh no sis get your goth ass out of here yeah exactly give me somebody who looks like they love god god in the aryan race yeah let me get tina but yeah the most white woman white woman right yeah uh and apparently ever since the Manafort and Cohen guilty pleas, the energy at these events has been down. Really? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:08:53 I thought it would never change. I thought there was nothing that could shake them. Such a deep denial. It just doesn't matter. I thought nothing mattered. They're still able to fill the places, so it's not like it...
Starting point is 00:09:04 Are they filling it? Or are they calling central casting? Yeah. I mean, from beginning, right? It was always central casting, right? Right, right. Well, at the beginning, it was central casting. But then it started being pretty authentically a groundswell.
Starting point is 00:09:18 But now it seems like it might be going back to them having to stick staffers here and there to kind of pep things up because everyone's like oh he's talking about this shit again um so i don't know just you just i mean the level of artifice in politics in general is i mean it's across the board yeah as much as it is like like if you think that either of our major political parties aren't like handpicking every single person you see on camera as much as possible right and like you know like you know yeah you look at
Starting point is 00:09:50 um what was the convention last or in 2016 I want to say last year but with Hillary and you're like it is the most like overt diversity like diverse here is a woman and here is an Irish you know a Middle Eastern American they just called Dove, and we're like,
Starting point is 00:10:06 who did y'all have in that commercial? And then someone's weak, and there's a league of acapella singers in wheelchairs. And you're like, this is a better message, but it's just as, to some extent, feels just as artificial to me. Because it's meant to manipulate us into thinking a certain thing about the candidate.
Starting point is 00:10:24 At the same time, yeah. i guess it's just the idea that who you're replacing them with oh yeah it's just their idea yeah they didn't roll anybody in super alarving and it is this yeah i there's something about that aesthetic i mean you could almost it's progressive for republicans to have a dark-haired woman instead have a dark-haired woman instead of a blonde-haired woman. They've seen how big Kim Kardashian's got. They're like, look, the goddamn Jenners aren't going anywhere.
Starting point is 00:10:52 Get us a brunette. Yeah, well, it's still like Betty and Veronica, like levels of diversity. Exactly. Whoa, different. Watch out now. Brunette. Whoa.
Starting point is 00:11:00 I think brunettes are in for the Repubs. It's not the artifice that gets to me, because I agree with you, Lucas. It does cross party lines. And sometimes it is nice to see yourself represented on TV. No, it's great to see that representation. In this manner, because this is obviously not acting. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:11:16 It is just seeing people on television. But what's interesting to me is how they go about it. I want this shit to be behind the scenes. Y'all knew where the podium was. Y'all knew who was going to be standing behind the truck. Y'all let this old. His eyes look dodgy as fuck. Like, they should have known he was not supposed to be standing behind the president.
Starting point is 00:11:30 It's like the Wizard of Oz where you're like, really? You put the curtain and the controls directly next to the hologram? Right. You could have had, like, a separate room nearby. Like, at least, like, Ed Harris was in the moon watching Truman. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like, he had a little bit of distance.
Starting point is 00:11:46 You weren't going to see him in the same shot. He wasn't like walking behind Jim Carrey being like, okay, let's get another pretty lady over here. And then, you know, it was a little bit more covert. Right. And they weren't even smooth about it. It feels like they respect your intelligence a little bit more. Yeah, that's true. You want them to respect you with their lies.
Starting point is 00:12:04 And Trump doesn't give a fuck. His lies have become so lazy. And that's what I mean. I'm like, come on, you can't even act like we're looking at you right now. Y'all are like, fuck it. Well, he's mastered the superpower of being able to come up with a lazy lie and believe it himself immediately. It's a talent.
Starting point is 00:12:21 It's really beautiful. It is September 11th, Tuesday, the same day the original attacks happened on. In 17 years. That's crazy, man. Yeah. I was just thinking about this, and I think I've read other people reflecting on the same thing, that the longer we go, oh, it was actually the frank rich article that was about how 2008 was like a turning point in american history and he was like if you stood in the ashes of the twin towers
Starting point is 00:12:52 today like on september 12th and i told you in 17 years there wouldn't be another like major terror attack you'd be like well great we great, we won. Like everything's great. And then he goes on to make the point that, you know, actually the most significant event of the past 20 years was the 2008 stock market crash. But just in terms of- Or the Iraq war. Right. Yeah. If you really want to take it there, I think that whole war, I mean, completely destabilized
Starting point is 00:13:21 the region for many years. Yeah, yeah. I guess specifically American history. But yeah, the longer we go, it seems like the more anomalous this looks. Like it may go down as, I don't know, I was trying to think of like some equivalent because it was like such a, you know, huge and all consuming spectacular event when it happened. consuming spectacular event when it happened that like what is there a historical equivalent of something like that that was just an anomaly and i was thinking like the trojan horse thing or something like that where it's just like a really lucky strike that took advantage of a key weakness that we just like weren't kind of aware of.
Starting point is 00:14:06 Or ignore. I mean, ignore. I don't know. It's so hard. I don't know. That was such a... When that happened, I was only 14 or 15 years old
Starting point is 00:14:15 or something like that. So my mind couldn't grasp the gravity of that entire thing like it would today. But just to think like how those attacks were just laid out over the day is so insane that that couldn't have been random that was just like you said uh an ignoring of something that we should have saw coming there were a lot of yeah there seemed to be a lot of warnings from the intelligence community that that was happening.
Starting point is 00:14:47 Yeah, right. Yeah, it was, I mean, so when you say that it becomes more obscure, what do you mean? That we're becoming more and more detached of, like, from? No, no, just, like, more, I think I assumed that this was going to be the new reality, that there was just going to be more and more terror attacks in America, and, like, like, especially like in the aftermath, there was the anthrax attacks. And I was in DC at the time. And it just seemed like everyone was like, oh, yeah, like, this is just the beginning of, you know,
Starting point is 00:15:14 there was going to be a war on terror, but the terror was going to be fighting a war back on the United States. And, you know, there have been mass shootings and isolated terror attacks here and there, but nothing on the scale. There was also a, I think it was an editorial in the few years immediately following September 11th, where they talked about how it was basically a 50-50 proposition that somebody was going to blow up a major U.S. city with a rogue nuclear weapon in the next decade. You don't want to talk about dirty bombs? Yeah, it just seemed like, okay, this is how things are going to be from now on. And the fact that it has kind of gone into history as this huge, crazy thing that happened on U.S. soil that we haven't seen a sequel to I guess
Starting point is 00:16:08 is what just what I mean that like it's not the context I would have expected looking back 17 years from now at the time yeah well I think it just gave a lot of pretext for a lot of other shit to happen so like gave a pretext for war gave a pretext for unwarranted surveillance on the people of the u.s it justified people's islamophobia it the effects of it are so when you think about where we are today and you can kind of be like oh yeah 9-11 had a lot to do with that yeah like at least changing the thinking of american people like yeah i think a lot of the tangible event stuff like yeah there may not have been another attack or things like that, but it fundamentally changed the culture in a way that we're still wrestling with. I mean, yeah, it changed the culture
Starting point is 00:16:52 in a way that even our current president is, the rhetoric is toxic and vile because of that day. Yeah, and then we began commodifying the whole patriotism idea thing too, just making that whole. Yeah, that's something else that I was thinking about on September 11th in particular that it doesn't seem like we have a good unifying way to recognize the anniversary of September 11th. I feel like all of the things that have become associated
Starting point is 00:17:27 with recognizing September 11th are things from the right, like NASCAR rallies and football and respect our flag and stuff. And it just seems like there could be something that the whole country could agree on and get behind. I think you were talking at one point about how japan has a nationwide moment of silence yeah for like nagasaki hiroshima like at the moments where those bombs were dropped there's a moment of silence there's another one on march 11th for the tsunami right so yeah it's weird i mean like in in europe
Starting point is 00:18:01 you see it too like i know remembrance day before like the football matches you see proper like it's really interesting to see an entire stadium like even with rival fans just figuring out like okay shut the fuck up for a second and let's take a moment to be solemn here and reflective on everything i think too like in today's society that we are so quick to move on to the next thing right uh where Where, you know, 2001, 2, 3, those subsequent years after the attack, it was, we were just a different society where we didn't, the 24-hour news cycle wasn't as prevalent as it is today or social media wasn't even a thing
Starting point is 00:18:38 or all this type of stuff that, if that was gonna happen for us, that moment has passed, I think. Because now it's just like, okay, 9-11, let's reflect. Well, those years. But then tomorrow there will be something else. Right.
Starting point is 00:18:53 But even in those years following, I felt like there was still this idea of like, we still were connected to it a little bit. And we're like, that was a dark time. And it did bring people together, together for sure because it was just such a horrific event but yeah not to the point where like i think now as time goes on we're just a little bit more and more we've distanced ourselves a bit and i don't know i mean even though when i go to new york and stuff and i go to the memorial there yeah there's still very much you can feel it
Starting point is 00:19:23 there you know like you can understand just the gravity of the situation but yeah i think nationally i'm surprised that we don't really i don't know if it's a thing where but i don't know are there real days of like national tragedy that america really has kind of took stock of i mean like hold on now right because i mean like december 7th for pearl harbor it's like a people like oh yeah today mean like December 7th for Pearl Harbor, it's like people are like, oh yeah, today's December 7th. Yeah. I think that kind of ended. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:19:47 Right. It was a thing for a while and then, you know, now people are just, it's more of a piece of trivia, I feel like. Yeah. People are like, oh, you know, today was. Today was Pearl Harbor Day. But I don't know, maybe that speaks to the idea of American resilience too, that it's like we're going to move forward so we don't need to get hung up.
Starting point is 00:20:04 But at the same time, you know, that I think of what the world looked like on September 10th, 2001 and how different that was and then how that kicked off this whole other thing. I mean, even that morning, like this is a little bit of a funny story, but even that morning for me was just different from the end of that day. And like I said, I didn't have the mental capacity to understand the gravity of what was going on. But that morning, September 11th, I woke up that morning, go to school, and that was the morning that I found out
Starting point is 00:20:34 Michael Jordan was coming back to play for the Wizards. And so I was distraught. Did he announce that? He didn't announce it that day, but that's the day I found out that it was about to happen. I think he officially signed the contract like a couple of days later or a few days later or something like that. But that was the day on ESPN where they announced Michael Jordan is seriously considering a comeback. And I was distraught.
Starting point is 00:20:57 I was distraught. So 9-11 has a different meaning for you. So, well, now it means what it's supposed to mean. But I went to school that day pissed like how dare he come back to the wizards this is bullshit and my spanish teacher opened up the class second period was like today is just such a sad day and at this point i hadn't known about 9-11 yet and i was like man it ain't that damn serious guys like michael jordan just coming it's fine guys uh and then like it was like no there's a terror attack and i was like oh this sounds like a this sounds like a rejected snl
Starting point is 00:21:29 sketch i was like oh that's what happened and like the rest of the day was just such a weird day to just hearing all this stuff trickle in and seeing the fear in people and at this point i'm in chicago so like the sears tower was one of the targets and so like gas prices started rocking it up and all this shit so like the rest of that day just and then put it in perspective it puts it in perspective for me now like what i was distraught about at the beginning of the day compared to what actually happened right right is just so insane how much of a difference the feeling of myself and everybody was from when we woke up that morning to we went to sleep that night yeah it's crazy yeah it's crazy as a nation famously time magazine had the summer of the shark as their cover oh right in the weeks before because there had been two shark attacks that summer. But they were kind of high profile
Starting point is 00:22:26 and a pretty young woman had one of her arms or legs bitten off while surfing. And so they were high profile. And so they were like, this will go down as the summer of the shark. And then September 11th happened. Aaliyah died a month before that. Oh, really?
Starting point is 00:22:45 I was at Disneyland with my grandparents. Really? Yeah. I just landed when her plane crashed. Oh, really? Yeah, it was the first time I'd ever flown. Oh, wow. So it's the one and only time I experienced the airport without TSA.
Starting point is 00:23:00 Right. Wow. That's crazy. It's crazy. And we're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist who, on October 16, 2017, was murdered. There are crooks everywhere you look now.
Starting point is 00:23:22 The situation is desperate. My name is Manuel Delia. I am one of the hosts of Crooks Everywhere, a podcast that unhearts the plot to murder a one-woman Wikileaks. Daphne exposed the culture of crime and corruption that were turning her beloved country into a mafia state. And she paid the ultimate price. country into a mafia state. And she paid the ultimate price. Listen to Crooks everywhere on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Gianna Prudente. And I'm Jemay Jackson-Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline, a new podcast from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts.
Starting point is 00:24:10 When you're just starting out in your career, you have a lot of questions. Like, how do I speak up when I'm feeling overwhelmed? Or, can I negotiate a higher salary if this is my first real job? Girl, yes. Each week, we answer your unfiltered work questions. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice.
Starting point is 00:24:30 And if we don't know the answer, we bring in experts who do, like resume specialist Morgan Saner. The only difference between the person who doesn't get the job and the person who gets the job is usually who applies. Yeah, I think a lot about that quote. What is it, like you miss 100% of the shots you never take. Rejection is scary, but it's better than you rejecting yourself. Together, we'll share what it really takes to thrive in the early years of your career without sacrificing your sanity or sleep. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app,
Starting point is 00:25:00 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In a galaxy far, far away. No, babe, that's taken. We're in our own world, remember? Right, in our own world. We're two space cadets. And totally normal humans. Sure, totally normal humans.
Starting point is 00:25:22 Embark on a journey across the stars, discovering the wonders of the universe one episode at a time. We'll talk about life, love, laughter, and why you should never argue with your co-pilot. Especially when she's always right. Right. And if we hit turbulence, just blame it on Mercury retrograde. Or Emily's questionable space piloting skills. Hey! Join us on In Our Own World for cosmic conversations, stellar laughs, and super corny dad jokes. Listen to In Our Own World as a part of the My Cultura podcast network available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Starting point is 00:25:59 And don't worry, we promise to avoid any black holes. Most of the time. of storytelling. It's a dance. It's tradition. It's culture. This is Lucha Libre Behind the Mask, a 12-episode podcast in both English and Spanish about the history and cultural richness of Lucha Libre. And I'm your host, Santos Escobar, the emperor of Lucha Libre and a WWE superstar. Join me as we learn more about the history behind this spectacular sport from its inception in the United States to how it became a global symbol of Mexican culture. We'll learn more about the history behind this spectacular sport from its inception in the United States to how it became a global symbol of Mexican culture. We'll learn more about some of the most iconic heroes in the ring. This is Lucha Libre Behind the Mask.
Starting point is 00:26:55 Listen to Lucha Libre Behind the Mask as part of My Cultura Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you stream podcasts. And we're back. Gentleman by the name of Barack Obama is back, you guys. He gave a speech at the University of Illinois that had just some great rhetoric that would unite us all if half the country wasn't just like bouncing on the balls of their feet, just ready to jump on whatever he says and be offended by it. But his overall message was that Trump's not America's biggest problem. America's biggest problem is indifference, which was a nice, refreshing message, I think, because it's something that people can actually solve and do something about, as opposed to the news cycle and just the zeitgeist in general these days makes people feel a little bit helpless and like they
Starting point is 00:27:51 don't really have any control over the world or, you know, the news cycle. And I think his point was, you know, get out there and vote. Did you guys hear the the speech hear any parts of it um i heard it and by heard i mean i read quotes on twitter yes there you go so it's practically like brock was like sitting next to me right did anything reach you did anything move you or affect you i mean he's always a moving speaker and i've seen him and heard him speak a ton of times and what he's saying is not stuff that i guess i'm unfamiliar with so So I was just like, okay, cool, cool. Yeah, we should be voting. Yeah, we shouldn't be getting, you know,
Starting point is 00:28:29 complacent or cynic or... Why am I... Cynical. Cynical, thank you. My brain is not functioning on full form yet. But I... I don't know. I think Trump could get a second term.
Starting point is 00:28:45 Yeah, no, I think it's totally possible. It feels almost inevitable. Yeah, I don't know. So some part of me this morning was like, ah, shit, this is really going to rev up the Trump base. But people were saying that that's not necessarily true, that he's gone out and stumped for liberal candidates in the past and it hasn't like gotten the Republicans out anymore it's just their levels of participation have stayed the same and Democrats have shown out in higher numbers but the the right like Ben Shapiro was like Obama lecturing us is how you got Trump in the first place which is probably what he'd say if he
Starting point is 00:29:24 was just worried that Obama talking to the country was bad for his side. Yeah. I mean, Obama galvanizing the country isn't what caused Trump to be elected. I mean, does it ever feel like these sort of moments
Starting point is 00:29:39 are just this endless feedback loop? It's just the same people saying the same things over and over and over and over and over again. Yeah. Like, I mean, I don't know what sort of analysis of actual impact these sort of like,
Starting point is 00:29:52 like the conversation, like Obama makes a speech, the right gets upset, the left defends it. Right. It feels like this sort of is happening ad infinitum. Like, at what point does
Starting point is 00:30:02 it still matter to everyone that Ben Shapiro criticized Obama? Like, I mean, does it still matter to everyone that Ben Shapiro criticized Obama? Does it still matter? It still matters deeply to me because I am a Shapiro head. I'm a huge fan. No, I think his argument is disingenuous and bullshit. I think it's more of a sign of them being a little bit scared or worried about it. Because this is the first time that Obama has come out and directly addressed the state of the nation and Trump in particular. And I think he did it in a way that wasn't lectury. I think sometimes you can look at people's words and see what they'll use the word that they want to be true.
Starting point is 00:30:44 And so he wished that obama came off his lecturing but it was really like a unifying message and kind of rhetorically pretty smart and not luxury the way that he did it yeah and essentially this speech is the equivalent of a you up text from the one that got away like you know we know, we did our bae, Barack, so dirty, and then he went on vacation. He lived his best life. Right. And, you know, he's finer than ever.
Starting point is 00:31:10 And he came back, and it was just, it's like having a cathartic talk with an ex, like, yeah, man, I know I fucked up. Right. You're like, yeah, you did fuck up, but hey, you can always change your life, but not with me, though. I've moved on.
Starting point is 00:31:22 Yeah. But he seemed to be really reaching his hand out to everybody except for the powerful and the privileged so in a sense he may have been lecturing ben shapiro if because he might be one of the few people who's like i am powerful and privileged that's how i identify do you think anybody's listening to obama who doesn't already listen to obama yeah like do you think the like any part of the right is actually open to listening to the man they literally despise?
Starting point is 00:31:51 I don't think that that speech is for the right. I know, but you know what I mean? I'm just like, so the people who are listening, though, are like, what new audience is he reaching? I don't think he's probably reaching the 39% of people who are still supporting Trump, but Trump didn't win with only those people. of people who are still supporting Trump, but Trump didn't win with only those people.
Starting point is 00:32:07 He also won with people who were Obama voters and then came over to the Trump side and now Trump has lost part of the people who voted for him. Like not a huge part, but still a percentage of them. And, you know, I think- Well, also the people at home, right? Like the people who didn't vote in the last election, who didn't feel as inspired.
Starting point is 00:32:26 I feel like Obama has the gift of being a talented speaker. And unfortunately, we live in a country that sustains itself more on entertainment than it does on education. So people need their dick's hard to go vote, you know? Yeah, I guess like I still think, like for me, I guess I always think that's a candidate issue. Like, you know what I mean? Yeah, it was. If Obama makes a million great speeches, but you have a shitty shitty candidate people are still going to be less motivated to go vote but they'll still be motivated to vote if they're worried about the alternative although we've seen in the past with
Starting point is 00:32:53 like elections like john kerry where it was like we were voting against bush and not voting against yeah it's not yeah i mean he specifically he specifically tried to address that by connecting people's outrage to the act of voting as opposed to, and I think he even specifically said, like, this is not a popularity contest. Like, there's some great candidates out there, but, like, this is not Coachella. It's not a rock concert. Like, you're not going there to be necessarily, yeah, like, inspired. You're going there to vote to inspired. You're going there to vote to affect change in the world around you.
Starting point is 00:33:30 I think what you're talking about is specifically something he was trying to address. So there will be no Tupac holograms at the polls? I guess not. That's why I was going. It might be The Rock. I voted stickers. Get people out. You can put that on your Instagram should we make those cuter
Starting point is 00:33:47 yeah do we need a mural like an I voted mural at every poll yeah I'll come take Instagram photos of you if you just go vote let's move on to the U.S. Open which was the U.S. Open final between Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka was unexpectedly also a really upsetting event where, you know, half of the crowd was booing and the other half was crying. It was a lot. So, I mean, for people who didn't watch it, I mean, it was basically a situation where the judge, like the umpire, the umpire penalized Serena for communicating with her coach. And then it just sort of snowballed from there with like penalized her for breaking her racket, then penalized her for like all these different
Starting point is 00:34:40 things that I've seen so often happen in men's tennis. You mean go unpunished? Yeah, go unpunished. Yeah. So common. It was a – man, because the game – the match, rather, was really shaping up to be really good because Naomi Osaka, who's 20 years old, was giving Serena the work in that first set. And I was like, yo, this is going to be a really good match.
Starting point is 00:35:03 And that second set started and Serena was looking like you know Serena can come back in finals it's like her thing she's like a slow starter yeah exactly and I thought oh we're gonna we're gonna see like a fucking like the three set just nail biter here and then yeah the umpire just with his rigidity and just like he just
Starting point is 00:35:19 started taking her to task by like using the letter of the law to really get at her and you know I think on one, a lot of people take her like, she lost it or whatever. It's like, yo, first of all, have you seen men's tennis before? Or tennis at all? Have you just seen sports? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:35:35 People are going to lose it because they work their entire lives for moments like this, in Serena's case, to win her 24th Grand Slam and literally cement her place as a GOAT goat. And yeah, it was a real shame because by the end, she's a competitor. He was fucking her over with a lot of these calls and she lost it and it just exacerbated the situation and it completely ruined the moment for Naomi Osaka,
Starting point is 00:36:02 who I feel like they do not talk enough about how good she looks as a player. Because a lot of this has been around. It's either been Serena's too hysterical or unsportsman or she was a victim of sexism, which I totally agree with that take. The unsportsman like shit. Shut the fuck. Miss me with that. But I feel like there needs to be more praise for Naomi Osaka, too, because too because man that was a shitty way for her to have to experience her first grand slam title i mean like when they announced her as a winner they fucking booed and you could just see
Starting point is 00:36:33 it destroyed her to win and for me i was really conflicted during the whole thing because naomi osaka i see a lot of myself as a a blackese person up there. I was like, yo, I was so conflicted. I was like, Serena or the Blackanese girl? Like, this is crazy. I've never had anything like this. And it was a very, I could feel everything Naomi Osaka was as an American, as a Japanese person. She kept bowing to Serena because she has the most utmost respect for Serena as a player she even apologized for winning which broke my heart that she could tell that the audience was
Starting point is 00:37:11 not happy with the result and she felt bad that she won and you know she did a really great job and she was in the finals yeah it's not like they just picked somebody from the crowd and you won like playing very well you you you got there yeah you won. And playing very well. You got there. Yeah. You got there. And I know that's probably got to suck, too, to know your opponent was kind of psyched out by the ref and maybe didn't give you their best performance,
Starting point is 00:37:33 and it's not as satisfying. But, man. I hope she's back. Who? The one who won. Naomi Osaka? Yeah. I mean, she ain't going anywhere.
Starting point is 00:37:42 Billie Jean King said in her op-ed in the Washington Post about this that she's like the future of the game, basically. That's great. It should have been just sort of a torch passing or the greatest of all time versus the up-and-coming next greatest. For Serena, who during this tournament has faced the guy who heads up the French Open, criticizing her and saying he wouldn't let her wear her cat suit anymore. All this shit where it's just sort of an outdated patriarchy kind of fucking with her. And she's struggling to be recognized as the greatest athlete of all time
Starting point is 00:38:25 without this sexist double standard. And then this dude comes and starts fucking getting in her face and seemingly having a very clear double standard and very rigid against her. It just seemed, I don't know, i can see where the where she was coming from i mean it is it's sexist that cartoon that australian person made today also paints it as racist as well uh was the cartoon the guy made serena look you should go look at it it's um He made Serena just look like the angry black woman. He made Osaka look white.
Starting point is 00:39:08 And basically painted it as what, you know, what it is. Oh, yeah. They got her, like, all stomping on her racket, having a tantrum. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, that's another part of it, too, where this man couldn't. Here's the thing, man. As somebody who loves sports, who has played sports, who plays sports,
Starting point is 00:39:31 there is a certain thing that you recognize as a fan, as an athlete, and usually as a referee, that when it comes down to the finals, if you are the referee, the umpire, you've got to have thicker skin. It's the fucking finals. It's the finals. You have to let some things go because this is literally the height of these guys
Starting point is 00:39:49 and these women's professional careers and everything is on the line so the fact that he couldn't take a woman and a black woman saying you're a thief when dude I'm sure your wife has said stuff worse to you.
Starting point is 00:40:06 Right. I remember, I'm sure, like. She didn't want to stand for it then, either. So this is his opportunity. This is his opportunity. He's like, do you see how high my seat is? Do you see how high I am? I finally can be in power.
Starting point is 00:40:19 Shut up, Jennifer. What? My name is Serena. So, you know, it's so amazing to me how thin of skin men get when it comes to a woman shutting you down. Yeah. Where you can take so much from other men. And I know we have this machismo thing about with each other where, man, you ain't going to say that shit to me, blah, blah, blah. But how long does it take you to get to the point where you're like, I'm finally going to do something?
Starting point is 00:40:50 Right. Where all this, all Serena had to do was say, you owe me an apology and you're a thief because you stole a point from me and you're going to take a game away from her? Right. Right. You're a bitch. Yeah. I mean, that's literally the only thing that I can equate him as. There were so many dimensions of gravity to this match,
Starting point is 00:41:12 not just that it was these two women, especially being women of color in a sport that has traditionally been so dominated by white people. There was a lot going on. And the other thing about the coverage was they were so insistent on her just being Japanese. It was kind of bugging me out, too, because there's this other thing about being biracial where people sometimes cannot see you as being biracial. Right. They're like, you're Japanese.
Starting point is 00:41:36 But then they weren't. No one was saying that her father is Haitian. You know what I mean? She is just as much Haitian as she is Japanese as she is American. You know what I mean? She is just as much Haitian as she is Japanese as she is American. And it was interesting to see because even there are times, for me personally, where I have to, like, people are like, oh, you're Japanese.
Starting point is 00:41:52 Well, no, I'm half black, I'm half Japanese. Or people only choose to see a dimension of your racial identity when it suits a certain context. And it was, yeah, there was just a lot going on in that match. But at the end of the day,'m just glad that you know what naomi osaka you got your grand slam you're 20 years old you have your entire career ahead of you uh shout out to serena though she tried her best to calm the the whole crowd down by being like yo let's knock the booing off but yeah it was just a really really bittersweet kind of moment and you know no matter who you're you were supporting like there was no way to feel good about it it's unfortunate because i can't think of any other great oh that's probably
Starting point is 00:42:29 not true but in in modern sports time i can't then by modern i mean like the past 25 to 30 years the last shit i can remember yeah i can't think of any great who has had to deal with what Serena has had to deal with in this tournament, where you have an umpire calling you a cheater, and you have this marring your professionalism and your athleticism and how great you are. This is what happens. This wouldn't have happened to the Tom Brady's of the world or the LeBron James's of the world or
Starting point is 00:43:07 the Michael Jordan's or the Kobe's. Like, you know, the painted narrative would have been completely different if they had done the exact same thing that Serena Williams did. And that's sad to me. That's so sad. It's unfortunate.
Starting point is 00:43:24 Yeah. Tennis needs to work on itself let's put it that way because it's she's the best thing that your sport has going people fucking fuck with tennis because of Serena by far I watched the ESPN clips because of Serena
Starting point is 00:43:42 yeah look at you I don't watch the matches but I watched the clips on ESPN. But your Lacoste polo looks great. I got a couple tennis rackets, and I might swing once in a while. But I use them as guitars for improv shows. They props, you know what I'm saying, for sketch comedy, but I got them. Speaking of inconceivable, I guess, kind of uh the midterms are getting tighter uh so a couple things to point out first the gop is really scared of beto a rook and he's just he's closing in yeah
Starting point is 00:44:16 he's uh winning or they're they're basically neck and neck at this point and it was not supposed to be like that and now you have people like john cornyn who's the number two in the senate being like basically kind of waving his arms to donors being like you know for donors who are on the sidelines who think this is uh you know this isn't a problem uh it's a problem yeah and i think a lot of the funds from the party are like being diverted into texas because a thing that should have been a like layup of a re-election It's just so funny that Ted Cruz is so weird and unlikable Well I think yeah, I think Texans
Starting point is 00:44:52 have finally realized This guy eats his own boogers, we can't have him in the office. Really? Come on, we're Texas We love guns and we love men but this guy He's like, Heidi and I. You're just like, ugh.
Starting point is 00:45:06 You see the video of him trying to dunk? Yes. Oh, boy. Are you talking about the trampoline thing? Oh, boy. We were talking, trying to whether or not is it intentional that he bailed. Because there's no, I don't think there's a. If it's a bit, it makes me like him like 2% more.
Starting point is 00:45:19 I mean, he's Canadian, so I got to give him maybe some points in the irony. If he knew and was like, okay, this will be funny, I'll go up and won't even come close. But if he thought he was going to nail that, it's so amazing. He has, I mean, just looking at him, he looks like someone with the inflated sense of self and overestimation, like crazy self-confidence. Yeah, that he's like, oh, watch me fucking smash. I don't think he has any self-confidence. I think he's been beaten down and bullied his entire life. Oh, that he's like.
Starting point is 00:45:48 But also, we're forgetting, September 11th, anniversary of the day he got caught watching porn on Twitter. Right. Big day for me. Yeah. Because it's the first time I saw him as like a relatable human being that I could like gel with. Who's watching cuck porn. Well, you know, yeah. With women that look like his wife. And cuck porn well you know yeah with women
Starting point is 00:46:05 that look like his wife and i was like you know what you have your values you're a real guy he's not like these other fucking grifters man he like you know what i love my blonde white woman wife and i will i will not stand up for her when donald trump's talk shit about her and i will watch another man fucker yeah but i also he's like reek in Game of Thrones, or he's just been so beat down, he's like, yes. Wait, so how did the Twitter thing happen? He like put a search in or put a link? I think he searched for like, well, I don't know. There's like sex gifs at sex gifs Twitter, and he just liked it.
Starting point is 00:46:42 And then someone noticed in his likes like why did ted crews like this like two and a half minute video of his wife you know fingering herself to him getting fucked or whatever and then or like people their lookalikes or whatever right and then it was up for like a while right and uh and then he came up with the whole like i got hacked right by someone super cool yeah yeah it was it was it showed up in his likes. Right. But you know how they always say about that politician, like, oh, George Bush won because he's someone you want to grab a beer with.
Starting point is 00:47:13 It's like, that's the first time I've ever felt that about Ted Cruz. Yeah, yeah. It's like, you watch porn, I like porn, we have a connection. But he won't be upfront about it like you would. You know what I mean? I could get out of him. He'd be like, well, that was a mistake, and I don't, I'm very happy with Heidi. Yo, three beers in, we're talking about BB Dubs.
Starting point is 00:47:31 I promise you. He's like, hey, I like Pogs. He's like, alright, Yusuf. I like Pogs. Fat-ass white Jesus. That's what I call them oh man and then the other thing is
Starting point is 00:47:48 the Senate Democrats they're starting to fucking start feeling themselves and there's now they're they're catching a whiff of a blue nami not even a blue wave
Starting point is 00:47:56 where they think the Senate could go to the Democrats Icarus let's not go crazy here guys I'm already I'm as we can tell we've already been very
Starting point is 00:48:04 apprehensive about even acknowledging the polls, even though we're seeing in real time that a lot of these Democratic candidates are winning. But yeah, it looks like when they do the math, because now Cook Political Report has moved a few more races into toss-ups, which means it's a 50-50 shot. If the Democrats win every race that is in the toss-up category and even lose in Texas, they would have a 52-48 majority. But again, if the Republicans just win even two, like it doesn't matter. But, you know, it shows you that there's clearly a lot.
Starting point is 00:48:37 There's still so much going on. There's still plenty of time in terms of, well, not plenty of time, but there's still time left that we might see something interesting. Yeah. But who knows? Super producer Nick was just pointing out again this morning, like, there does seem to be a trend where, like, these far left, more populist candidates really seem to be overperforming the polls. But still, I think it's underrepresenting the young people. I think pollsters are a little shook too because they fucked up so bad
Starting point is 00:49:06 last time. Right. And I think also too we're also less likely to believe them like I'm like a like I have like baggage from it where even if the polls say something right I'm like nah that ain't gonna happen. Right. Or even if it's bad I'm like I can't trust that. And even though the good shit is happening like
Starting point is 00:49:22 verifiably with a lot of these big wins like of Andrew Gillum and Ayanna Pressley, et cetera, I'm still just like, ah, you never know. Because we still have that trauma of being like, yeah, this should work. Yeah, it looks okay. It seems the numbers look right, but don't know until, you know, November. Yeah, but Gillum was supposed to be down by, like, 10 points and ended up winning. And Ayanna Pressley won by 20 points when she was down 13 in the polls so i mean that's democrat versus democrat but it does seem to skew things left
Starting point is 00:49:54 if you're just looking at the yeah and there's and there are a lot more uh like polls coming out that just show a lot of republican incumbents like it's tightening up with like democratic challengers so you know we'll see that's why everybody got to vote no matter where you live all right we're gonna take another quick break we'll be right back Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist who on October 16th 2017 was murdered there are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate. My name is Manuel Delia.
Starting point is 00:50:32 I am one of the hosts of Crooks Everywhere, a podcast that unhurts the plot to murder a one-woman Wikileaks. Daphne exposed the culture of crime and corruption that were turning her beloved country into a mafia state. And she paid the ultimate price. Listen to Crooks everywhere on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Gianna Pradente.
Starting point is 00:51:09 And I'm Jemay Jackson-Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline, a new podcast from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. When you're just starting out in your career, you have a lot of questions. Like, how do I speak up when I'm feeling overwhelmed? Or, can I negotiate a higher salary if this is my first real job? Girl, yes. Each week, we answer your unfiltered work questions. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in experts who do,
Starting point is 00:51:37 like resume specialist Morgan Saner. The only difference between the person who doesn't get the job and the person who gets the job is usually who applies. Yeah, I think a lot about that quote. What is it like you miss 100% of the shots you never take? Yeah, rejection is scary, but it's better than you rejecting yourself. Together, we'll share what it really takes to thrive in the early years of your career without sacrificing your sanity or sleep. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
Starting point is 00:52:05 or wherever you get your podcasts. In a galaxy far, far away. No, babe, that's taken. We're in our own world, remember? Right, in our own world. We're two space cadets and totally normal humans. Sure, totally normal humans.
Starting point is 00:52:24 Embark on a journey across the stars, discovering the wonders of the universe one episode at a time. We'll talk about life, love, laughter, and why you should never argue with your co-pilot. Especially when she's always right. Right, and if we hit turbulence, just blame it on Mercury retrograde. Or Emily's questionable space piloting skills. Hey, join us on In Our Own World on Mercury Retrograde. Or Emily's questionable space piloting skills. Hey!
Starting point is 00:52:45 Join us on In Our Own World for cosmic conversations, stellar laughs, and super corny dad jokes. Listen to In Our Own World as a part of the My Cultura podcast network available on the
Starting point is 00:52:56 iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And don't worry, we promise to avoid any black holes. Most of the time.
Starting point is 00:53:06 When you think of Mexican culture, you think of avocado, mariachi, delicious cuisine, and of course Lucha Libre. It doesn't get more Mexican than this. Lucha Libre is known globally because it is much more than just a sport and much more
Starting point is 00:53:22 than just entertainment. Lucha Libre is a type of storytelling. It's a dance. It's tradition. It's much more than just a sport and much more than just entertainment. Lucha Libre is a type of storytelling. It's a dance. It's tradition. It's culture. This is Lucha Libre Behind the Mask, a 12-episode podcast in both English and Spanish about the history and cultural richness of Lucha Libre.
Starting point is 00:53:36 And I'm your host, Santos Escobar, the emperor of Lucha Libre and a WWE superstar. Santos! Santos! Join me as we learn more about the history behind this spectacular sport from its inception in the United States to how it became a global symbol of Mexican culture. We'll learn more about some of the most iconic heroes in the ring.
Starting point is 00:53:56 This is Lucha Libre Behind the Mask. Listen to Lucha Libre Behind the Mask as part of My Cultura Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you stream podcasts. And we're back. So Facebook is garbage and everyone should leave. Yeah. The end. And no.
Starting point is 00:54:18 So Facebook, there's a couple of things coming out recently. First, Narc Sucker Nerd has a big fake news problem on his platform. And he tried to make it better by hiring all these legit fact checkers to vet, you know, the most highly circulated stories. This seems like just the obvious fucking, you know, solution to all of their problems.
Starting point is 00:54:41 Right. And except the right is not having that shit. Well, yeah, because he had, like, people who do fact-checking for a living and come from, like,
Starting point is 00:54:49 think tanks that are, like, about journalistic integrity, like, you know, PolitiFact or factcheck.org. But conservatives are like, well, hold on. All they do is just call out all these conservative articles.
Starting point is 00:54:59 This is not fair. Yeah. This is bullshit. Right. Because that's not fair. Essentially. Because this is, what we're saying is bullshit. Right. Because that's not fair. This is what we're saying is true. So he caved. And now the Weekly Standard, which is a fucking very conservative, you know, co-founded by Bill Kristol site that has all kinds of op eds like, you know, fucking fuck carlson writes in there from time to time they have them doing fact checking on uh stories that are from the left and they have like they were putting like certain articles having like liberal bias that didn't at all purely because they were
Starting point is 00:55:35 just taking things literally from like a headline and be like well that literally didn't happen so this is a lie without taking nuance into it without actually going over like what the story was about and just simply slapping that on and then facebook actually put that up there and like this is kind of shady yeah and it was causing a lot of problems because it brings up this whole thing of like why is he caving to this whining because when they're actually fact checking these stories from like far-right websites that are actually dealing in non-fact and misinformation that's because that's what the facts are but then to go and be like well let them have their weird like right-wing rag take a look at it of course they're going to try and obscure things or just mischaracterize a lot of articles that are critical of some of the
Starting point is 00:56:21 right-wing politics but yeah yeah Remember when things were just listicles? Wasn't that nice? Yeah. I miss that. You're telling me, sister. Oh my God. I miss just being like, having my family members wishing me happy birthday who I haven't heard from.
Starting point is 00:56:35 Yeah. That's what it should just be. Or just quizzes. I'm off. I'm done. I can't do it anymore because the thing is, is the gaslighting is constant.
Starting point is 00:56:45 And if you allow people to just pouty dance and be like, that's not right. What about me? It's like, that's not what this is about. Yeah. If I use that argument as a kid where I'm like, well, that's not fair. Yeah. You know what my teacher said to me? I had a teacher who whenever we said this in her class, you go, that's not fair.
Starting point is 00:57:02 She'd say, you know, life is not fair mmm and dead any complaint we had his kids and we learned real quick don't to complain about shit like that but I think the thing is that I think just because they're so noisy about it and they think that because they've misled so many people who are of their thinking to come out and be like whoa yeah Facebook is censoring or whatever I mean they are doing that to even far left things too don't get wrong. But we can't actually have a touchstone for like, what is actual fact, like a foundation for reality for both sides to agree upon? Because if their version of fact, which is usually misinformation, is called like,
Starting point is 00:57:39 then they're saying, well, that's a liberal bias. We're completely restructuring and reframing this conversation about liberal versus conservative when we're talking about fact versus fiction. Yeah. And it's a slippery slope. Yeah. There's a New Yorker article where Evan Osnos,
Starting point is 00:57:56 one of their best writers, got access to Zuckerberg and the Facebook campus for the last year, basically. And it's pretty interesting there's like a couple really alarming things where you see Zuckerberg like knows about all those problems happening in like India and overseas and he's like yeah well I hate that this problem's happening and we're working on it but we've got to hire the right people. And it's just like,
Starting point is 00:58:25 he deals with everything in the same way where he's like, I acknowledge the problem, but however, on this other thing, and there's no, like there's no DEFCON one, like, you know,
Starting point is 00:58:35 this, we need to get shit done. Like we're in an emergency situation. And they point out that it's probably, you know, he has been in this industry that is criticized by outsiders. Like his testifying on Capitol Hill, like in front of all of these senators who don't know what the fuck they're talking about, is part of the problem. Because he has spent his life being criticized by people who don't have the knowledge base to actually make good criticism.
Starting point is 00:59:07 So he just has this mode of dealing with criticism. And he applies that even to when people are making good points, essentially, is one of the arguments in the article. But, I mean, just a couple of the memorable details. Facebook has more users than Christianity does at this point users yes I'm a frequent user of Christ yes and the design of Christianity is
Starting point is 00:59:34 so simple and intuitive I'm so fucked up off salvation right now fam all about that Jesus juice it has the most customers an American company has ever had in the history of capitalism. And that is the result of something. So in 2007, they basically saw the size of their user base plateau, which had been like it was the same size that other social networks like MySpace,
Starting point is 01:00:10 And like it was the same size that other social networks like MySpace, like other all other social networks had hit this one size and then just like not been able to grow any larger. And so Facebook basically made their business a cult of growth. Like they had a growth team that was like the cool, smart kids on campus. And everybody like was just like wanted to know what the growth team was up to. How do we grow it? That was like the cool, smart kids on campus. And everybody was just like wanting to know what the growth team was up to. How do we grow it? That was it. It was like a very single-mindedness of focus to the whole company. And he basically, I think the best and most clarifying line in the article is, the cult of growth leads to the curse of bigness. Because all of their problems can be seen as just size related.
Starting point is 01:00:46 Like you just have so many people now that you can't regulate all these problems. And they're trying to solve the problem of like, what is hate speech, what is free speech? And Zuckerberg specifically says at a certain point, like, you know, we used to be able to write an algorithm to spot a nipple and like that was easier to stop pictures that had nipples in them. Right.
Starting point is 01:01:07 Nipples are very offensive, guys. Very, guys. But Nazis, I'm just saying. But you can't write an algorithm to stop Nazis. So that's like. Yeah, that's fair. That is the problem. Just kick them off.
Starting point is 01:01:19 Wait, when did they open up Facebook to people who didn't have a college email? Yeah. I think it was before 2007. It must have been like 2000. I think it was before 2007. It must have been like 2000. I think it's around that time. Because I had to have, I graduated, not to date myself, but 08. And I think maybe 08 or 09 is when they allowed. Something around there.
Starting point is 01:01:37 Because I remember feeling salty about it. Because I was like, yo, I remember I was like, yo, you can't get Facebook unless you got that.edu. That edu? Yeah, that proper college email. And then when they let all these motherfuckers in. And then your mom gets it. I was like, why did I go to college then? I did it just to flex on Facebook.
Starting point is 01:01:54 Right. But yeah, I wonder if that, I'm sure that must have factored into it. Like when they hit that plateau or like, oh, we're only limiting it to college students. Yeah. And then like after that, after you're done with college, what's the use for it? Right. You know what I mean? If it's only going to be available for college students.
Starting point is 01:02:08 Cut to 2016. I can't imagine they were like, how do we solve this size problem? They were like, what if we allowed people who weren't just college students? I think it was after that, that they had the issue
Starting point is 01:02:21 because yeah, like they said that a big thing was hiring people who spoke other languages and just making it more user friendly to other countries and basically.
Starting point is 01:02:29 Ah, 2006, September 26th, 2006, when they opened it to everyone age 13 and older with a valid email address. There you go.
Starting point is 01:02:35 Boom. How do you even like know if a kid is 13 though? Do they just click a box? Is that how you do it? I'm pretty good at that. Miles, you're good at that,
Starting point is 01:02:43 right? Sorry. You're good at guessing people's ages, right? I'm good at guessing people's ages, and do not watch any past episodes of Catch Predator. No, that's a joke. But yeah, I'm pretty sure it was just like, put in your fucking birthday.
Starting point is 01:02:59 Yeah, AOL email. Yeah. Like when I used to look at liquor websites in high school, and they're like, what's your age? And I'd be like, email. Yeah. Like when I used to look at liquor websites in high school. And they're like, what's your age? And I'd be like, 1969. What would you find on liquor websites? I was really into hypnotic liquor.
Starting point is 01:03:12 Oh, I loved hypnotic. And I remember there was like- What was hypnotic? Hypnotic was that blue shit. Blue tropical passion fruit. You mix it with Hennessy, it was Incredible Hulk. Anyway. And I was fucked up because it was in all the rap videos
Starting point is 01:03:25 and I was like, yo. So you were just trying to buy it? Well, I was trying to, at first I was like, what is this? You know what I mean?
Starting point is 01:03:31 It's blue, it's opaque. Yeah, because I saw it in videos and like I wasn't really around liquor stores enough to quite put it all together. It's mango based,
Starting point is 01:03:38 right? It's probably just, it's unicorn frap flavored drink. It basically took the spot of Alizé. Right. You know what I mean? It's the same sort of very fruity shit. But it's blue.
Starting point is 01:03:46 Yeah, exactly. And that color had people being really into it. But anyway, yeah. Yeah, I remember I thought Facebook was going to be the solution to all of the internet's problems when it was first hitting because it was like so much of the internet was just anonymous trolls. And so people connecting themselves to it. That was something that had happened over in Korea
Starting point is 01:04:06 that helped to make the Korean internet a better place to exist is because they just made it mandatory that you connect your online activity to who you are as a person and basically your citizen ID. And so I thought Facebook was going to do that. But turns out,
Starting point is 01:04:23 as we saw in that comment section yesterday where it was all Facebook people commenting under their Facebook identities and just being super racist, people just don't give a fuck. No. Everybody thinks they can do whatever they want. No. They just have a mouthpiece for it. I just miss the Facebook that if you wanted to go and look at somebody's Facebook you had to go to their page and that was it there was no updating that when Twitter came
Starting point is 01:04:50 out and like there you know you have that stream of just what people are freaking thinking and now everyone's like well I can comment on that I can't read a comment section even at like goodhomemagazine.com it's just a bummer.
Starting point is 01:05:07 I just refuse to read any comments. Yeah, their thoughts on Wicker are so dated. Just aggressive and rude and not very nice. I for one still love Rattan furniture. I mean, who doesn't? Yeah, I don't even use it. I just, I can't stand Facebook anymore in general. I don't use it. So don't try to find me because I don't use it.
Starting point is 01:05:22 I'm going to find you. Okay, that's fine. One of the things the article said, though, is they're buying Instagram at the time was seen as completely overpaid for it, and now it's viewed as the smartest purchase in the history of online retail, or in the history of...
Starting point is 01:05:39 Of online retail since I bought that donut. Yeah, not online retail. In the history of Silicon Valley. All right, that's going to do it for this week's weekly Zeitgeist. Please like and review the show if you like the show. It means the world to Miles. He needs your validation, folks. I hope you're having a great weekend, and I will talk to you Monday.
Starting point is 01:07:00 Bye. Thank you. Defne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist who on October 16th, 2017, was assassinated. Crooks everywhere unearths the plot to murder a one-woman WikiLeaks. She exposed the culture of crime and corruption that were turning her beloved country into a mafia state. Listen to Crooks Everywhere on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in people who do, like negotiation expert Maury Tahiripour. If you start thinking about negotiations as just a conversation, then I think it sort
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