Everything Is Content - American Censorship, RaptureTok & Queuing Etiquette in Pubs

Episode Date: September 26, 2025

Happy EIChicks! It's Friday, which means we're attempting to sail through the sea of Tiktok trends, mass hysteria and major headlines...This week on the podcast, we’re diving into why parts of TikTok were prepping for an apocalypse this week, America’s dystopian censorship of Jimmy Kimmell and queuing in pubs – should you?Thank you so much for your love thus far. You can follow us @everythingiscontentpod on IG and the Tok. Also please could you give us a review – we'd be so grateful!In partnership with Cue Podcasts.-----This week Oenone has been loving Caledonian Road and The Hunger Games. Ruchira has been loving Top Boy: Summerhouse.Why are TikTok conservatives predicting the rapture this week?The Rapture Didn’t Happen, And The Internet Is DisappointedWhen Did Cancel Culture Become ‘Consequence Culture’?Trump criticises countries' migration and climate policies in scathing UN speechBrits Undecided About Queuing At The Bar Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi, it's Liv Little. It's Miranda Sawyer here and we are the hosts of the newest culture podcast out there. We have notes from The Observer. As writers, we give and take notes all the time. It's part of the fun, especially when it comes to culture. But now we're sharing our thoughts on the most interesting stories dominating the zeitgeist. No headlines skimming here. We promise to give you the insightful takes, plenty of debate and a recommendation or two.

Listen to new episodes of We Have Notes every Wednesday wherever you get your podcast. I'm Ruchera and I'm In Oni and this is Everything is content, the podcast that handpicks the week's biggest stories to analyze in depth. We cover everything from internet trends to red carpets and your next best read. We're the effervescent bubbles in your steamy bath of content. Our gorgeous bath is unable to record today, so Ruchera and I, will do our best to steer the ship of content through the sea of TikTok trends, mass hysteria and major headlines. Speaking of, this week on the podcast, we're diving into why parts of TikTok we're prepping

for an apocalypse this week, America's dystopian censorship of Jimmy Kimmel, and queuing in pups. Follow us on Instagram at Everything's Content Pod and make sure you hit follow on a podcast player app so you never miss an episode. I know it's just two of us, but I have to know. have you been loving this week? Anoni. So what I'm loving currently is I am reading Caledonian Road by Andrew O'Hagan. Have you read it? I haven't read this, but I have wanted to read this for so long and I just keep forgetting.

So I'm so glad that you brought this up. So I also remember hearing about it for ages, then kind of forgot about it and went into Waterstones the other day and was like reading the blab of it. and it was like, this is our answer to like the UK's Jonathan Franzen, who, if you've been listening to the podcast for a while, you'll remember I got a bit obsessed with. So I bought it. It was very excited to that started. Then stupidly went on the good reads and read loads of bad reviews, which I was like, that is one of my rules that I never read good reads before I read a book. I think it really kind of like tells you what to think. But I'm about, it's a long

book. I'm like 200 pages in. And so far I'm really enjoying it. It's kind of about the downfall of an extremely wealthy man. It's all based in London. He's a professor that robs shoulders with sort of the elite circles in London and he strikes up a friendship with one of his students who kind of challenges the way that he thinks and this guy Campbell Flynn thinks he's a very forward-thinking liberal mind and it's kind of about the ways that we lie to ourselves that we're upholding certain beliefs so I'm really enjoying it so far and a bit of the criticism was that it's got a bit too many cultural references, like it feels a bit too clunky in that sense. But I so far haven't minded that. Then the second thing, which is really

random, but in the week before my marathon, I was like not doing anything in the evenings because I needed to sleep. So I weirdly decided to watch all three Hunger Games films over the course of three days. And my God, do they hold up and are weirdly even more stressful in this current time period. When did you last watch them? Okay, so very prescient for me because I did the exact same thing, I think two months ago. And I think I was maybe home for the weekend, had a bit of a slower, you know, pace of life, started one and then within 48 hours finished all three. So I really, really feel you on that. And also on the book, when you say that the criticism around the book having lots of cultural references, is it that they feel like Plangers or is it that it really

dates the book and then makes it feel really old and just like dated if you're not reading it in that era? What is the problem with the references do you think from the vibes of the feedback? I see I wouldn't have picked up on that that much if I wasn't, if I hadn't read that because I actually don't find them standing out too much and I'm really impressed actually with Andrew O'Hagan's ability to write like a younger character from a different generation with different lived experiences because more often than not we see

when especially like a middle age white man tries to write a character that hasn't got his lived experiences they do it really badly but I actually thought the language that he uses and the references that he uses felt really true to life so I don't know if people are just wanting something to pick out or maybe I'm just not discerning enough I do find sometimes that cultural references really

age something. But so far when I've been reading it, it's not necessarily anything that I've found too much, but maybe it gets worse as it goes on through the book. But I do have a thing about good reads where sometimes I think there are obviously quite prolific characters on good reads. And I think some people on good reads treat their reviews like their own body of work and feel like they want to have clever criticism within that in order to like bolster their good reads ego so I don't always necessarily trust really bad reviews on that but I'm going to keep going because it is a long book so maybe it does get worse as it goes on I have to I have to be posted on the book because yeah I think you've made such an interesting point about what these

review sites have become and what they're for because I think the same thing about letterboxed sometimes you get these like three page reviews that are like works of art or just like a journalism article on their own and then I think it becomes way more about the kind of the content on those platforms rather than the original thing that you're basing it on you're so right yeah I completely agree I'm so sorry I'm going back to hung again again again and then I'm going to ask you what you've been loving but I have the same experience but I was like I have to watch the next film I almost found the films better now than I did when I was younger I just think it was making me think of our conversation with caroline adonoghue because she

said didn't she that like The Hunger Games are the perfect dystopian novel. And I just, and even in things we're going to be talking about today, I couldn't help but find it actually weirdly quite emotional. Did you have that experience? Yeah, totally. And I think details I hadn't picked up on the first or second or maybe third time I watched those films.

I picked up this time. And I think there is so much rich detail in the storytelling of this whole, you know, mass dystopian. futuristic world that they have that is so amazing just even the different districts and Caroline O'Donoghue did a special um I can't remember what the franchise is called for the new dystopian kind of like futuristic specific sentimental garbages she does but one of them she did on the films and the books and just the different districts she points out how the cultural the cultures between them are so different and what that says about maybe if you're kind of making links

to different parts of America, how you can make these very clear links between the deep south and a certain district, you know, the industrial parts of America, all these different things. And I just hadn't realized that until I watched it and then listened to that podcast. And even just, you know, what different characters represent, I just think it's an amazing story. And I think you're so right, especially with this year, maybe even the last few months in particular, events that are happening, the kind of conversations we're happening. It really feels strange and quite scary that films from like 10 years ago are only becoming more and more relevant to what we're seeing in our world. Yeah, I had the same reaction. And I also think,

and obviously this is the whole point of sentimental garbage, but the idea that the Hunger Games are kind of pitched as these young adult silly books. And if you said to someone who maybe hadn't engaged with them, oh, I've just watched The Hunger Games. games films they were like all right loser but actually they really hold up so anyway we'd recommend that if anyone's got a spare six hours because I think each film is like two and a bit hours so worth it though so worth it okay what have you been loving so I am so late to the party but I started watching top boy for the first time this week and I have just finished series one it is amazing It is absolutely amazing TV.

It is just so pacey, so thrilling, really just like gets you sick with anxiety at the bits that you're supposed to be stressed about, really makes you feel for all the different characters. I just, I don't know why it took me so long, but I am so excited to just have, you know, three or four more series to race through. Have you seen it?

So I was just checking when it came out because I think this is one of the shows that I started in lockdown, But at the time when there was like a million different shows to watch a knockdown. And it was when I was living with my not the most recent acts, the acts before that, and we started watching it together. And we were really enjoying it. But then I think for some reason we then started watching This Is Us,

which there's about five seasons of. And so I think it got lost by the wayside. And you just reminded me that it's one I really need to pick back up because it is such a good show. But I was probably only like four episodes into it. And I know that it's amazing. and it's such like an important part of the culture. That show was so massive at the time. So no, I need to cut back into it.

But I remember also finding it quite stressful. It's really, really stressful. And I think at first I just couldn't deal with all the stakes being just incredibly high. It is quite literally life and death, like every single minute of the show. But I think once you get into it, it just becomes so addictive and just so thrilling in the sense that you're constantly needing to know what the next thing is. I think if I was allowed to just live my life the way I wanted to, I probably wouldn't go to work and just watch it all day.

So it's probably good that I can't do that. I've only been able to watch an episode a night. And I think that's probably quite good for my mental health. Yeah, that is good for your mental health. Because I remember when I got into, did you ever watch Gangs of London? I watched a few episodes, but I couldn't get on board with it. Because I watched the whole of like season one.

I remember of that and I got so ditched. and then I didn't ever sleep, but then I kind of tried to get back into it, like a couple of those days to watch the second season. I was like, I actually can't. I've got a very low tolerance I've realized as I'm getting older for things that are, like, extremely violent. So one episode of night, I think is very wise.

Yeah, it's really bad. Like, I don't know if I always used to be like this. I think I used to be a bit more detached and numb from TV, but every time there's like a really violent, like, punch to the face, I gasp as if somebody's just like winded me. I don't know why. I'm almost like feeling everything. I'm obviously not because I'm not punched in the face.

But it feels like it definitely elicits more of a reaction and a feeling and a shock from me than it used to. Me too. No, I actually cover my eyes in any scenario. There's so many things like I literally just can't look. And when I was younger, I remember just being eyes wide open staring at the TV. Just like, that's fine. But I'm the exact same. I will constantly just wait and think till things are over.

But even a film that I went to see with Livy, I want to see that sorry baby film. And I can't remember what happened in it. And I just had to cover my eyes and be like, is it over yet? And she was like, it's over. But I don't even think it was anything that bad. We're just, we're sensitive little snowflakes. And we will definitely get onto that in a little bit.

So true. If you're listening to this episode, it means that you are not one of the chosen followers of Jesus, who got taken up to heaven in Tuesday's much. anticipated rapture. But then again, nobody was, because it didn't happen. For anyone who missed it, there was a pastor in South Africa called Joshua Michaela, who claimed in a YouTube video to have seen a vision of Jesus in a dream, which predicted that the end times were here, and that the rapture, the physical ascension of chosen Christians to heaven leaving the rest of us sinners

down on earth, would take place on the 23rd of September. This isn't the first time evangelical Christians have predicted the rapture, but it is the first time the event has made such a big splash on the internet. There are currently over 300,000 videos about this rapture on TikTok, with true believers making videos and non-believers and commentators making their own videos in response. Ahead of Tuesday, some believers sold their cars, gave away belongings, lost or quit jobs, prepared their houses for non-believers to move into, said goodbye to friends, family and in some cases, even their young children who they believed would not be coming up to heaven with them when the rapture came. In a recent piece for Al Jazeera, Lyndon Rollins reports

that according to research from 2022 by the Pew Research Centre, 47% of all Christians in the US answered yes when asked if they believed that they were living in the end times. And in an article for The Guardian by Elena Demopoulos, Matthew Gabriel, a professor in the Department of Religion and Culture at Virginia Tech, who studies apocalyptic movements, had to say this, quote, if you're a believing Christian, you don't know when this is going to happen per se, but you look for the signs. Usually when things are getting, quote, really bad. That's when we elect to be saved. So it's not a surprise in this particular moment where there's political violence, economic concerns, disease, etc. These are very common tropes within apocalyptic texts.

So, did you hear about the rapture online? What do you think about the rapture? What do you think about the fact that things got so, I guess, widespread about this alleged rapture that people were taking really, you know, extreme, big moves in their lives to prepare for it. I heard about the rapture because as with all of these wild stories, it's normally Beth that brings them to my attention because she seems to be really on the polls for this kind of thing. It doesn't surprise me too much in that I think we're seeing the rise of real Eva. evangelical Christianity eat ever more in the US than we have before. And actually we'll talk about this, but we're kind of seeing that coming over here a bit as well. And I guess I, the more I think

about it, the more I'm surprised this hasn't happened more. I think that social media really encourages mass hysteria. And I remember in like the millennium when everyone was like the world was going to end, the world was going to end in 2012. This is not new this concept of kind of these days when, you know, we're going to see Christ or whatever it is raise its head and show us. So I think that sort of like social media and mass hysteria, mass delusion even, are really perfect kind of things to come together. It is weird as someone that isn't sort of like practicingly religious, although as I get older, I feel less strongly. that I'm like an atheist, I'm open to the possibility of there being, you know, other things

out there of spirituality. I love to believe in the power of manifestation even though I actually kind of forget to do it. So I'm not like, I don't think that certain things are impossible, but I do find it, and maybe this is like snobby to say, but I do find it quite outrageous that people believe things like this because it just feels so nonsensical. But I also think that at a time when there is so much unrest and everything, everyone seems to being pitted against each other. I also do kind of feel jealous with people that have this unbridled faith in something so much so that they can believe something like this because it probably provides quite a nice emancipation from reality.

And you must have a lot of times to be able to get sucked into these things because how are you going about your day to day life? It must be so disruptive if you genuinely think this rapture is going to happen. What do you make of all? Yeah, I agree with you. I think we've spoken about it a bit before. But just the way ideas spread now online, it is just, it's like another ballgame. When something like this goes viral, it is just like, it feels like mass hysteria.

That is the best way to put it. But I also think it's hard to know what is legit and what isn't because of the nature of TikTok and because of the nature of just people taking the piss out of everything. It is so hard to know what is a bit and what is real people, you know, genuinely giving away their cars and saying goodbye to their children. I hope the latter is a really tiny community. But if it is real, that is really terrifying that something, you know, an idea from a pastor in South Africa

can spread and then catch on to that level of behavior. I just, I don't know what to make of any of it. I just, I get the idea that things feel so bad right now that an idea such as the rapture is coming has found a perfect place in 2025 in September, what I can't understand is, would people really believe it to the degree that they would sell away their possessions, quit their jobs, and do all manner of things like saying goodbye to their children in anticipation of it? That feels very, very worrying. I guess people are just

always looking for a leader and a voice and something to believe in. And I do find this extreme level of belief quite hard to understand because it feels so far away from the realms of groundedness that I think we so often really strongly try to strive towards, which is finding facts, checking information. The idea that you can believe in something because it's just been like passed on a TikTok trend is a level of delusion that I actually would aspire to. But yeah, I don't know. You're so right. It's so hard to know what is and isn't real. But the more that we see from the way that, yeah, that Christianity is maybe it's always been this embedded and we're just being kind of awoken to it because of the means of social media and us being

now more connected to these communities and it being broadcast more often. Maybe this has always been a thing. But it would be fascinating to know how much of it is true. And I wonder now what happens, because it doesn't seem that when these doomsday things don't occur, there seems you're very like even if any segment of the people that believed in it that are put off their beliefs when it doesn't happen so I wonder if I wonder how many people now I'm sure there'll be charlatan saying like my mom got raptured and people believing it even though we know it didn't happen oh no I just I do I know we always come back to this but I do feel like it's time to log out culturally spiritually mentally all of it we all need to log off

touch grass all of the above i just it really reminds me of the film that i mentioned a few weeks ago eddington where it's just like this general pervasive paranoia and fear and what it makes people do is latch on to different conspiracy theories different um extreme beliefs makes them act out in all of these behaviors and i i do think politically at the moment because everything feels so extreme, you know, there is this like pervasive sense of doom, I would say, whether it's the climate, whether it is the fact that we're walking into fascism in the US and the UK, whether it is the genocide that is happening in Gaza and the way that politicians are unable to act in a way that is in any way defensible in regards to that. It's just everything really is the highest stakes

that can be when it comes to the news and, you know, everything that's happening around us. So I understand looking at that and either wanting to, wanting to throw the towel in and say that there is something higher than me that can save all of us from this. But I also understand this sense of this anxiety, this fear, this like utter panic and needing an outlet for it to go in and just because of the nature of the internet and because of all of these extreme things that people are just saying and spreading and saying it with their chest, it's just easy to pick up on something and just run a mock with it and like put all of your fear and your panic into that outlet rather than kind of thinking, no, politically this is a mess

and no one is going to save us other than ourselves. We need to deal with the situation at hand. So there's a really good piece in Forbes called The Raptor didn't happen and the internet is disappointed and in it they say there's no short to fail predictions of the apocalypse second coming or the rapture and rapture to talk is just the latest but it's the only prediction to have spread through social media one famous prediction of the second coming was hotly anticipated by many faithful followers of the baptist preacher william miller who reckoned the end would arrive in 1844 when the date came and went with no almighty reckoning the mournful reaction was deemed the great disappointment raptor tock might not be the first time but it was an interesting

example of an in-group belief not intended to be shared with outsiders, turning into something of a TikTok trend and drawing new observers in with each algorithm-boasted post. Whilst Rapture Talk posted earnestly about their beliefs, the rest of the web jokingly celebrated the prediction, relating to the urge to just get swept away to leave the physical world and all of its annoyances behind. For those looking forward to the Rapture, however, don't despair. There's always another date on the horizon. And I think that's so interesting and it is a bit funny, But it also makes me think we are going to see this more and more now. Because we're going to see it from people that are just kind of taking the piss

and seeing how much they can make this proliferate. Because there's been so many times when trends have happened. And when you actually like go right back to the beginning person who started it, they were like, oh, I was only joking. I just made something up and then it got really carried away. And I think that there is going to be, yeah, a real uptick in this kind of content happening. And this is a kind of a sideways thing. that I just wanted to mention, but since we did our AI episode, which actually at the time got a bit of backlash from some listeners who didn't love our kind of negative stance on AI, there's been a lot of interesting episodes from different reports. I think there's one from the Daily, which is the New Yorkers podcast and one for the news agents. And they were both talking about, I don't know if you read about this, but this guy that was trying to help his child with mass homework. And then he basically was trying to figure out how to do kind of an algebra or something. And the AI was like, you've come up with this.

really clever maths. Like, you're amazing. And he was like, how can I do that? I've got like no credentials. And it goes on and on and on to the point where the guys, the chat AI tells the man that he's basically invented like a code or a formula that's going to fix the universe. And they were talking about how in the US, however many tens of thousand people every year, um, suffer with psychosis. And people with psychosis might be more likely to use AI. And if you have all of the people suffering with psychosis, then using AI is only going to like emboldened and enhance their beliefs and what they're going through. And not to say that this is like a mass psychosis, but it is also this kind of extreme belief in religion to the point of it being slightly

absurd can also point towards certain forms of psychosis. And I think we're only just getting to the nub of how the internet is going to interact with mental illness to the point of actually it might create wild harm. I think this has been quite a funny, silly and not that dangerous thing to happen. But I can imagine a world in which combine AI, TikTok and extreme religious beliefs and we might actually see quite crazy fallouts within certain communities that like that Forbes piece said, maybe would have been slightly more localized and not necessarily taken action on a belief that they had. So this one's funny, but I wonder where it's going to go in the future. I think everything you said is so true. And I think that Forbes piece is such

interesting take on it. The thing I'm left with is just it feels as if the common thread through everything is just this increased zero to 100 culturally of moral panics or just panics, I think. So I'm just thinking of the Coldplay example, how everyone is whipped into a hysteria over what they think on their take and just, you know, rushing to condemn, rushing to villainise and then uphold the right and wrong people. And with something like Rapture Talk, it might not seem relevant, but everyone is just getting whipped up into these very extreme, very reactive, very panic states.

And I think it doesn't sit in isolation. I think the nature of everything right now, it is just so debilitating. We're in shaky ground. I think everyone feels just these extreme emotions. The internet is a place for those emotions to run amok, and also to be whipped up into a further frenzy because it's just people doubling down, tripling down on any fears that you have

and then repeating and swaying. And it's just, it's very, it's very worrying. I just, I feel as if, especially with what you said about the rise of AI, the lack of information, real information, verified information, and the amount of proliferation of just nonsense, just absolute rubbish information

feels like it's completely become, skewed. So I do worry about the state that we're going to end up in with all of these kind of intense emotions and a lack of credible information and the nature of just viral trends repeated within week to week to week to week to week. Hi, it's Liv Little. It's Miranda Sawyer here and we are the hosts of the newest culture podcast out there. We have notes from The Observer. As writers, we give and take notes. We give and take notes all the time. It's part of the fun, especially when it comes to culture. But now we're sharing our thoughts on the most interesting stories dominating the zeitgeist. No headline skimming

here. We promise to give you the insightful takes, plenty of debate, and a recommendation or two. Listen to new episodes of We Have Notes every Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts. week, Jimmy Kimmel's show was suspended following his comments about Trump and MAGA responses to Charlie Kirk's murder. And Rolling Stone reported that in the hours leading up to the decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel, two sources familiar with the matter say, senior executives at ABC, its owner Disney and affiliates convened emergency meetings to figure out how to minimize the damage. Multiple executives felt that Kimmel had not actually said anything over the line, and the

two sources say the threat of the Trump administration retired. retaliation loomed. After this, many users took to social media to praise the decision in defence of Kirk and Trump, whilst others erred their concerns of a state-controlled media. And as this was unfolding, Sinclair Broadcast Group, who run dozens of shows affiliated to ABC, said it would replace the Jimmy Kimmel live time slot with the Charlie Kirk special. And the company also called for Kimmel to issue an apology to the Kirk family and to donate to Turning Point USA. And this week, the BBC reported that local TV stations say they will not air Jimmy Kimmel Live, despite Disney-owned ABC bringing back the comedian's late-night show on Monday. Next, Ar, and Sinclair said

they would continue to replace the show with a regular programming on Tuesday. They said, Mr Kimmel's remarks were inappropriate and deeply insensitive at a critical moment for our country. In a piece for The New York Times, Joseph Bernstein writes, when did Council culture become consequence culture? As some prominent Conservatives target both ordinary people and public figures for their comments about Charlie Kirk, they're trying to rebound a practice they once maligned. Though many pundits seem to have recently adopted the term, it is not new, and neither did Conservatives invent it. Consequence culture began floating around in the late 2010s when social media campaigns

called for the firings and ostracisms of cultural figures for insensitive or offensive statements. When Council Culture entered the popular lexicon to describe the, these campaigns, many on the right rallied against it as their chords celebrates, citing the chilling of free speech. I think that this has been so fascinating, interesting and quite scary to watch unfold. How did you first feel when you first saw the news? I was aghast, truly, truly shocked because you're so right and it's something that I've been thinking about every day since the news happened. And obviously, since we first heard that it's, you know, his show was taken off the air, Jimmy Kimmel is back, but the whole issue still

remains. The US prides itself on freedom of speech, the First Amendment, the ability to have, you know, the ability to speak freely, to act as you wish, and to not have the state curb that in any way. It is, and to say that there is, you know, a right-wing president, the right-wing has branded itself as the party of free speech for the last 10 years. All they have fought for is their ability to say what they want to say. The fact that this government, this president, has been the one to have an effect where he is essentially censoring somebody on TV, affecting cultural change, limiting speech, limiting the ability for culture to exist as it wants to be, when the source of the issue as well was not even that bad, not even nearly as bad

as many of the things that have gone, you know, freely have been said freely by him himself, especially about medication for pregnant women that is absolutely bullshit. It's just, it's unimaginable. And I think it sets a really dangerous precedent that there can be this political chilling effect and even just extreme behaviour to cut people for saying things that they disagree with, that offend them, that upset them, that have a different stance. I think you kind of assumed that the US, regardless of all of the kind of mad crockpot shit that happens politically, it would never intervene in a way like this. And I think what it's actually told us and what this whole situation has shown us is there is no limit to what can possibly happen now. If President Trump,

If his cabinet disagrees with anything you say on TV, if you are a YouTuber, if you are a podcaster, they will have the means, they will have the gumption to basically tell you that you need to stop what you're doing or else. And most people will probably go along with it because they don't want to have the fight. They can't afford the lawyer fees. They will just go along with it. ABC might have reinstated Jimmy Kimmel, but what this has done is kind of stretched the over to the window, in my opinion, of what the government in the U.S. is able to do and can do and will do in front of us. I think it's a really dangerous precedent for free speech. I think it's a very dangerous precedent for this government

and what they might do. I'm honestly, I'm chilled by the whole situation. What do you think? Yeah, it's literally all I've kind of been, every time I sat down at dinner or gone to the pub or having a conversation with vans, kind of all we've been talking about. And before this happened,

we had the Tommy Robinson, Unite the Kingdom March, in the UK, which I kind of spoke about a bit on my stories and received some backlash from followers who I don't really know why they're following me, but didn't know my political beliefs, and citing freedom of speech, calling me a left-wing lunatic. And it's just so interesting this kind of the idea that it's freedom of speech but for only one group. So the freedom of speech does not exist when you're criticizing the speech of the right or the far right. that is you're not free to have that speech. It's, and I'm kind of getting tied up in my words because it's almost like a farce.

It's so, it's so stupid to watch people so vehemently defend their right to say whatever they want. And when someone stands up and says something, which is often quite a lot tamer, like you said, like Jimmy Kimmel's joke wasn't that extreme. In fact, the main thrust of it was him showing a video of Trump post the murder of Charlie Kirk. And the reporter asked Trump, how you're feeling? And he goes, yeah, very good. And this is the new wing that's being built, whatever he says. So it wasn't like Jimmy Kimmel said to anything untrue or stated anything that was like going to be angering or provocative. He just kind of took the piss out of Trump seemingly not that upset over a man that he has previously said he regards like a second son. So it's all quite hard to swallow. And I was in Berlin for the marathon. and I went to the Topography of Terror Museum, which is an incredible memorial museum that talks through about the Third Reich and kind of the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party.

And I then was in a taxi when I was coming back from the expo when I was doing the marathon. And my taxi driver asked me what was going on in London with the far right riots and stuff. Obviously Berlin has an incredible history with the war and the Holocaust. And my taxi driver said to me, It's so interesting because we have this history here. And Berlin is a very interesting culture.

I'd never been before, but it's so fascinating. They're very, it's kind of its own country within Germany, within like how it votes. And it's extremely political, very kind of like anti-government. And he was just saying it's so fascinating to watch history repeats itself. And there was a part in the museum where it said, how should we learn from this history? So when you got right to the end, people had written on cards.

And there was loads of cards from people saying there was one specifically that, posted from someone that wrote as an American and it absolutely terrifies me walking around this museum because I'm seeing this happen right before my eyes in the US. Now I know I'm making loads of claims but anything to do with like a state controlled media where you can be taken off air by the government and there have been numerous things now from Trump talking about taking other hosts from other TV shows down numerous quotes from him saying that he doesn't want certain people saying certain things. There's so much I want to talk about here that we can't don't even have time to go into, but kind of Charlie Kirk's memorial where Trump said,

you know, I know that his wife has just said, forgive thy enemies, but I don't forgive my enemies. I hate my enemies. Kind of this complete polarization, but then also this sort of shackling of the people that want to fight back. It's like, that's what's so scary. It's, if you have freedom of speech on both sides, at least the footing is even. But when something like this happens, as innocuous as it may seem to some people, if we are taken away the opportunity to fair protest to also have free speech there is no fight there there's kind of nothing you can do you're just cut off but the knees is that a phrase i don't know does any of that make any sense sorry that was a ramble it's because i've so much in my brain

about this i can't get out well enough no it made total sense and i completely agree with you it's really hard to coherently put together all of the the fears the they're kind of like racing thoughts about it all because it means it means so much it feels like it represents so much it is just very very very scary i think it's interesting that a lot of the image that america presents itself as and trump has won a huge fan base for is this idea of it being the you know leader of the free world and actually i think for all of the countries that he always picks out as being places where people don't have any liberties people don't have any um freedoms they are controlled by the state, he is acting from the playbook of those countries, you know, front to back at

this point. And I think it is really worrying this concept of American exceptionalism, the idea that, you know, we are so different because we would never do that. We have the right to bear arms. We have the right to do this, that and the other. Because I think it shields, I think it shields people from what's actually happening, which is you are not, you are not free to behave as you wish. You know, there are so many limitations that are coming into the U.S. There's so many limitations that are coming to the UK, like you said and only with the things that we can protest on. Oh, only when it's, you know, certain issues and not other issues. And I think we need to open our eyes.

We need to be very, very cognizant of the directions we're walking into and what liberties and freedoms we are fighting for at the cost of others. You know, the last 10 years might have been a fight for the right wing to say that they can say whatever they say. Now they've completely shirked their responsibility on fighting that fight for things they don't want to hear. and we've lost that fight with them being part of it. Now it's going to be the left wings battle possibly to fight for that. And it's going to be really, really difficult. It's going to be really shit and it's going to be very difficult. But we need to be very aware of what's happening right now.

It's not a small thing. So there's a podcast called System Update with Glenn Greenwald, who's quite a controversial but very interesting figure, who's a massive proponent of free speech. And my friend told me to listen to this podcast. And I don't agree with everything he says, but he has been saying on this podcast for a really long time that we've got to be really careful about trying to stop people from having free speech specifically because of this outcome. And I think what's so hard, and I hate saying the left and the right, but we have to say it just so that it organizes things in a conceptual way. On the left, when we talk about free speech, what we're saying is we don't want people to harm people with language.

So we don't want you to say words which are offensive, which are triggering, which are imbued with so much history and trauma. But for the most part, you can say what you want, you can say what you think, you can say what we feel, you can say what your beliefs are, just don't use certain rhetoric and language. That's what we're saying when we're talking about free speech. But often, generalising on the right, they go, oh, I can't say anything anymore. Famously, a lot of right-wing comedians who were, you know, accused of sexual assault or sexual offences or other criminal activity got very up. in arms for about 10 years about not being able to say anything as a comedian. And it's so interesting that it's Jimmy Kimmel, who is famously an extremely vanilla comedian who actually saw the consequences, as they're calling it, consequence culture, of saying something fairly

tame but critical of the head of state. And in this podcast, which I would recommend this thing too, but it is, it's not like our natural flavour necessarily. He does kind of predict this outcome, which is that we do need to remember that whatever angle you're coming at from, if we, it's kind of making me realize that we do need free speech and it sounds really weird because the opposite of that is actually really scary when it gets into the hands of the wrong people. And freedom of speech is really important. Obviously, our laws are different. Within the UK, hate speech is seen as a separate entity from free speech. We recognize hate speech to be separate whereas in the US their laws are that free speech is literally you can say exactly

anything that you want which is also often why I think we come across or like buttheads on certain things but my final thing on Trump is that what I think makes him such a complicated Machiavellian character is that he's so slippery also so funny he does make me laugh constantly like just the way that he speaks his malaproposms he says really quite dangerous things but the way the levity in which he says things does really make me laugh and I find that kind of the most complicated thing of it all because you can't even take him seriously like the whole Tylenol thing the way he said that didn't even make sense so many people are sharing the quotes from him he kind of says whatever he wants to the point where it should be funny but it's

so extremely dangerous his speech at charlie kirk's memorial was really charismatic and I think what's really scary is it feels like we're kind of sleepwalking into this repeated history. But the figurehead has such a different face. He's almost like a jester or a clown that's making it feel slightly blanketed because you can get quite distracted by the absurdity of Trump as a leader to the point where it feels bit like this isn't real life. But the darkness of exactly what he believes in and the lengths he's willing to go to for control and power. And the fact that he has no kind of scruples or morals, no interest in facts, that is the most sort of dangerous angle of it because you're fighting a completely indiscernible enemy because you never kind of know what he's going to do or say next. And there seems to be no sort of like plan for it. And so I think that there is, I think for a little bit you could kind of been watching Trump and just.

think, well, he's a walking disaster, but this Jimmy Kimmel thing really highlights just how dangerous and scary. And even if it feels very small, it is very much from the playbooks of history of what we've seen about controlling what we can and cannot stay. And that is a really dark and scary thing. But I think that even like Trump sort of at the Buckingham Palace dinner when he goes, America's like the hardest country right now. No one can deny it. And you're thinking, how is this man, man president? But you cannot let that. kind of disguise just how much we really are not to bring it back to rapture talk but it does feel like we're heading towards the end times. I completely agree with you and I think what you said

about him being the face of a jester and just so unsurious at the same time. It's so, I don't know, it just adds to this like cognitive dissonance around the whole situation because it feels like this can't be the person who's making us closer and closer to. you know, a hellscape, a political nightmare. But at the same time, as all of this has been going on the same week, Donald Trump delivered a speech at the UN and it honestly made me feel sick reading what he was saying. But he said, Europe is in serious trouble. They have never been invaded by a force of illegal aliens like nobody has ever seen before. Both the immigration and suicidal energy ideas will be the death of Western Europe. If, I'm sorry, if that was a

quote taken from the 1930s Europe, you wouldn't bat an eyelid. The fact that that is being said at the United Nations by the President of the US to an audience of people from Europe is it is just so sickening. And I think for however ridiculous he looks, a lot of the rhetoric and a lot of the things that are happening this year are absolutely terrifying both in the US and the UK. and it feels like they are linked intrinsically more and more with the things we're seeing. I'm absolutely terrified. Okay, so to round things off with a bit of local levity, to queue or not to queue, that is the question, at least if you're trying to get a drink at a UK pub.

According to new research by UGov, Brits are divided on the issue of whether single file queuing at a bar is the way forward or an absolute no. So in a survey of 5,914 adults, they found that two in five people, that's 40%, would prefer to queue up to order at the bar and 39% said they liked the traditional way of gathering along the bar in a kind of scrum formation and waiting to be served. 21% of those people polled were still undecided. And the survey also showed that more women than men wanted to queue 43% of women and 38% of men. So, Routhera, I turn to you on this very important issue and I must know, are you a cure or are you more of a barger? I am a cueer. I get pissed off. There is a code of conduct in a pub and especially in a queue for a drink. And if there is somebody who has been waiting before me, I take note, I take stock. There's somebody on my left. There's two people on my right. There is no way I would slip in. I would allow them to go first. If I make eye contact with the bar,

person unless it is a humongous cue then it's every person for themselves ignore everything I said but if you're just at a pub and it's like I don't know five to ten people where am I going what am I doing there is no need for me to behave in a shitty way I will allow people to go before me I will get my drink I will go back to my table what about you interesting I agree on principle about taking note of people around me however as I am five foot three I do sometimes sort of whittle my way to the front through the throngs of the six foot man and they don't actually see me coming and I sort of place my little hands on the bar and I wait so I the thing is it's never that much of a discernible cue and I think it's every man for themselves now I

once I'm at the front will take stock and notice and I also am really good at if someone really barges but I more do that when there's like no discernible cue formation and everyone is sort of like just getting to the front and I do hate it when someone I'll be like is you first or if someone if I've been waiting for ages and then a man just rocks up and tries to get in front of me I don't get spicy very often I'm actually very serene and I very rarely get annoyed at strangers but that is a that is a point when I will turn around and evil them until they recoil but I don't really I haven't seen I guess very good queuing systems in pubs if it's a really obvious cue I'm joining

it if there's any leeway as to whether or not it's a cue, I'm taking advantage of being a short ass and I'm marching myself to the front. That is so true about if somebody, I think that's the thing that pisses me off. If somebody doesn't take stock or just visibly ignores the fact that you've been waiting there and it is a maybe, you know that awkward situation where it's like you and one other person and you're both kind of vying for the person's eyes and then they get first but you are waiting clearly first and they've just slipped through

and then they don't do the polite thing of being like oh would you like to go first that pisses me off that makes my blood boil and I'm the same as you although I will say to my to my shame I am becoming that person

shaking their fist in the air like you know 80 years old there is an epidemic of rudeness in our country and it gets me going every single day and I need to relax but that is a situation that absolutely triggers me. Another one is people not waiting at the tube doors to allow people to come off first. I have been getting so angry on behalf of families with push chairs, elderly people, just anyone really doesn't matter.

They don't need to be with children or whatever. People do not wait. People barge through and it is so rude. And I agree with the same as waiting at the bar. I totally get what you mean. If there's no queuing service and it's not clear. you know, whatever. You can't, you can't make a cue happen. You'll never get a drink. But there are clear parameters for being an asshole and people are breaking them every fucking day.

Oh, sorry. You can swear. It's so funny that you brought up about the tubes because I was literally about to say that it has become this is, so there are, there are some things that I'm really good at not getting annoyed at that my friends get annoyed at. But the things that kill me more than anything else are people standing on the left on the escalator because I always walk on escalators. I'm a very impatient person, I never, ever, ever stand. And the amount of people now that stand, I understand when it's tourists, if you're someone like Kings Cross of Victoria and people don't necessarily know, and they move out the way. But people quite happily now just don't move. And the getting on the tubes thing is such a thing. It was such a point of etiquette that

you stand at the sides and you wait for people to get off. And even on a busy tube now, people that quite clearly live in London, like they know the rules, are just pushing you kind of like back into the tube as you're getting off. And this, more and more as I get older, I'm turning into my mum. I'm turning into my mum in the way that I will talk to anyone and everyone on the tube in a shop to the point where I suddenly get like retroactive embarrassment because I remember my mum doing it and being really embarrassed. But I also have no shame in going, excuse me to people like really in a quite a matronly way. It's quite a fun thing about being in your 30s is you do get a bit of like authority and I feel like I'm entitled to kind of tell people off. Not in a not in a, I'm not being super aggressive. I'm being very passive aggressive. I also love to do the thing of if I've held a door open for someone. I think we spoke about this before. I will go, thank you. It's good just to take the edge off sometimes just to be a bit of a sort of year nine school teacher.

Yeah, I love a little sassy comment when somebody is just like turned around and walking back, but they've been a bit rude to you. I'll just say something like, okay, thank you. Yeah, me too. I wish we knew best answer because I actually would love to know what she did in this queuing situation. I reckon she's a, I don't think she's a stick to the rules, gal. Yeah, I think she's probably on your side where she probably has her code of conduct, but it's like she's street smart. She's like, you know, if there's no system there, there's no system for me either.

I've got to, I've got to be scrappy with what I've got. Well, as always, you can always DM us and let us know your thoughts on this very important issue. Thank you so much for listening this week. Before we go, just tracking that you've listened to our latest Everything in Conversation episode where we discussed cute debt and the rise of by now, pay later services. If you enjoy listening to us, please do you leave us a rating. And please also give us a follow on Instagram and TikTok at Everything is ContentPod. See you next week.

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