The Daily Zeitgeist - Debate Me, Child! Rainbow Fish CANCELLED?! 07.01.26

Episode Date: July 1, 2026

In episode 2083, Miles and guest co-host Pallavi Gunalan are joined by English professor, author of The New Mutants: Superheroes and the Radical Imagination of American Comics, and host of Nerd from the Future, Ramzi Fawaz, to discuss… GOP Rep Is Finally Back At Work After 116 Day…Medical Issue, The American Fair is a success STFU, TikTok’s Most Hated ‘90s Children’s Book Is Being Turned Into A Movie and more! GOP Rep Is Finally Back At Work After 116 Day…Medical Issue GOP Rep. Tom Kean announces depression diagnosis after mysterious monthslong absence from Congress Just left the great American state fair where I watched Michael Knowles debate a ten year old girl about the Salem witch trials in front of DOZENS of people Trump’s July 4 Fireworks Show is Monumentally Insane 'The Rainbow Fish' read by Ernest Borgnine Studiocanal Unveils Animated Adaptation Of Controversial ‘The Rainbow Fish’ Children’s Book The Rainbow Fish Wiki Fifth-grade teacher explains why he thinks the classic kid’s book ‘Rainbow Fish’ isn’t great ‘Toxic message’: Teachers and parents are cancelling 90s classic The Rainbow Fish Did this book shape your childhood? Apparently it's why we all need therapy. The rainbow fishkeeps his scales Rainbow Fish (TV series) LISTEN: walkin. by Andy BeatzSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One recipe I saw said six to seven minutes on the dot. I'm like, but which is it? Six or seven? Like literally said six. Seven. On the dot. Six seven. Six seven.

It's like, rude. Get out of here. Please. Get out. Kick him out of his own pod. Six seven. Six seven. There was one of my kids,

classmates at preschool. She just had like a little sister be born. And I'm like, and I'm friends with the parents. And I just saw them after they're born. I was like, oh, I heard the baby was born. Yeah. And I was asking the dad, I was like, when was your daughter born? He's like, June 7th, man.

Don't even, don't even say it. He's like, he's seen more. And I went like this. I looked at him and he just looked at me and he went, six, seven. Like, he had to complete it. No. We're 40. But the real key is you do it in a shot, like maybe an inch of water and you put your eggs in cold from the refrigerator.

Oh, I thought you were still talking about six, seven. Yeah, this is how you have. You got to do it in an inch of water. If you want to have a child be born, if you want a guaranteed birthday of 6.7, this is what you got to do. You're going to smash in about an inch of water. Okay. Come out there, a refrigerator, cold. No, you take, you take like an inch of water in like a saucepan and then you put the eggs in.

Like, get the water boiling. Eggs out of the fridge in there. Put a lid on. Hey, put a lid on it. Sick. Sick. Depend on how jammy. That's the thing.

It just depends on how jammy. Like, if you like a jammy, that's six. If you like a little more together, that's seven. You're like it in between, 6.30. And then immediately in the ice bath, the second the timer goes off in an ice bath. That's also my like recovery routine. Just a little bit steam yourself, then getting an ice bath right away. Yeah.

And me, if I like a little saucy. Yeah. I don't know what that mean. Yeah. A little ghee goes in there. You know what I mean? Okay. A little bit of butter.

Okay. Get out of here. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human. Joy is essential and it's also elusive, but now there's a new and exciting way to start your journey toward a more joyful existence, Joy 101. It's a new podcast hosted by me, Hoda Kotbi. If you're craving inspiration to maximize your joy, tune into these candid, uplifting,

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And I get into a bit of trouble along the way. I'd say probably start bone smashing. That doesn't work. To make it look more defined. They say it works. I don't know. Listen to Skyline Drive, How to Live Forever on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast.

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Your identity is formed by a secret history. I'm Danny Shapiro, and these are just a few of the stunning stories I'll be exploring on the 14th season of Family Secrets. He kind of shoved me out of the way and said, move, and he went out the front door, and he jumped in a car and drove off, and that was the last time I saw him.

Listen to Season 14 of Family Secrets on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Betrayal Weekly is back with brand new stories from threatening text messages disturbing a small Midwestern town. It was from an unknown number. Who else is getting these messages?

Why did it start with us? To long cons and stolen identities. Who lies about being this sick? This was the last time I ever believed a word she said. Listen to Betrayal Weekly on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever. you get your podcasts. Hello, the internet?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's me. It's me, and you're here. It's season 445, episode three of the Daily Zykeyes, a production of iHeartRadio. This is the podcast where we take a deep dive into America's shared consciousness through the news. You already know that. And if you've been listening long enough, and if you're loyal and you're real Zykegang, you already know that every Monday we got the iconograph episodes dropping where we take

a look at the Zykeyes through the lens of icons. This week, Uncle Sam came out. On the horizon, just so you know, we just wrapped up. recording an episode. I meant he came out for pride. Oh, no, no, no. For anything, you remember, Uncle Sam was jerking off at the fair

as we reported. He got arrested at the fair because I was just like a straight man, honestly. Yeah, Uncle Sam, probably definitely straight because he also had a wife too. Like, he had like a Mrs. Club. We get into all that an episode. It's out right now. It's with Robert Evans. Get into it. We just wrapped

an episode about one of my favorite musical artist, Bjerk. Okay? We will save her name. properly. I also just watched an episode with, like, an interview with her and Lady Gaga, we're like, it's just so funny because, you know, Lady Gaga is usually doing the most. Shit, not when you're front of York, fam. Not when you're around Bjork. She had like a fucking funeral veil on. And she was like, do you ever feel like a marionette or like a puppet? And like, it just, like Lady Gaga couldn't even. Can you be fucking normal for

her? She was like, fuck, girl, I don't even know what the fuck that means. Yes. That's how you know Bjork is like a real one and Lady Gaga is putting on a character. Look, you're a great performer Lady Gaga, but that's the thing I realized too. I really learned through like the research that Jack and our writer jam did about it. It was like she is so singular in so many ways that it's actually mind-blowing and I think is worth commending nonstop. Anyway, that's every Monday. Check those out. They're fantastic.

Anyway, it's Wednesday, July 1st, 2020. And that means it's International Joke Day. It's American Zoo Day. For whatever reason, it's Blink 182. Why is it Blink 182 Day? Is it 1802 days into the year? There. Gosh, there.

Wow. Okay. Okay. Blink, that is exactly what it is. We're 1802 days into the year. That's what I thought I'm thinking. Yeah. Also shout out Canada.

It's Canada Day. Also shout out Ghana. It's Ghana Republic Day. You gained independence in 1957. I know that only because I've been in Ghana before and I had a jersey that 757 on it. Also, National Ginger Snap Day and National Postal Workers Day. Shout out the fucking postal workers. Because I see you.

Hell yeah. It's hot. It's always, man, and always be good to your postal workers. You're postal carrier. I love all the videos of them making friends with the dogs on the root. Yeah. Yeah. Especially when like they know the dog's name.

Or I've seen ones where like you can see the evolution. Like, this dog used to not fuck with me. And then it's like three weeks later. The dog's like wagging his tail. Yeah. Anyway, I'm Miles Gray, aka Miles takes a knee for peepee, dripping down his inseam because he got a spot for Jay-Z. Shout out to Flash Hardcore.

That's from Ace Trumpets by the clips. One of my, we were talking about yellow diamonds look like peepee. And that was in relation to my anecdote about how I did pee my pants at Coachella because I was too upfront near the stage for Jay-Z. and I couldn't get to the battle. You were too ahead of your time. Too ahead of my time. My parents haven't even met yet.

You know what I mean? That's also a bar. Anyway, shout out to you, Flash Hardcore on the Discord. I think that's the first time I've read that name. Welcome to the Discord server. Also, I know y'all want in on the Discord server. I've been really busy. I've been taking care of the family, stuff like that.

Her Majesty's been sick. Send me your request for it in Discord server. I will try to see it. And keep spamming me. I will fucking get. get to it. Okay. There is, I will get you in. Trust me. Trust me. Trust me. If you want the Discord invite, let me know. Anyway, I am thrilled to be joined in my guest, co-host spot by a fantastic comedian, biomedical engineer. Do I get that right this time? Yeah. Yep. Biomedical engineer

could have been a doctor, but instead is now a fantastic comedian, a fantastic podcaster. You can find her on her comedy show, facial recognition July 31st at the comedy store. second screens comedy show. If you like Brandy, you know Brandy Posy. I know Zykang folks with Brandy Posy. They do that together.

That's July 30th at the Elysian Vault. And then the new podcast, Millennial Mood Board with Valerie Tossey and Jasmine Ellis. Please welcome one of my favorites and one of yours, Polygonne All right? Okay, I don't have an A.K.A.

today, but I do have a fact check from Rizzo Jenkins. The largest cat that purrs is the cheetah. The larger cats roar due to skull size. If it roars, it can't purr. And if it purrs, it can't. it can't roar.

Whoa. Because I guess you we were talking about, like, how fucking sick a tiger perils on you. It can't. But a cheetah can. Wow. Oh, because, yeah, what counts as a roar? Like, what about when a jaguar? Is that a roar?

Yeah, but, but Cheetah's jaguar is different, right? Because, you know, I've heard a lion, right? Are you not like a seal? What is that? No, because I've, when they were making the, I feel like one of the sounds for Jurassic park. They were like, this is a lion roar as part of the T-Rex. I'm like, that's a lion roar. Yeah, that's why you didn't hear a teradactal purr because they could get it from. I see. I love like little, I love facts like that. What are they called? Chuff? What?

That's what they're like? No, no, no, they have that other sound they do where they're like, they're like, oh, oh, oh, oh, sure, sure. I'm not around large, uh, you know, predator cats. You're not around large pussy, my. So stupid. Imagine that's a currency, bro. You know I'm around big, giant pussy, bro. Pussy, just a huge pussy. That's what I'm about, bro.

Gigantic, bro. It scares me, dude. Titanic levels, dog. Anyway. That shit's sinking, bro. What the fuck? Hi, welcome to the show, and please welcome our guest in the third seat for the third appearance.

Get them the whatever jacket of their choosing they want because that's, I guess, I guess When you're on three times, that's a milestone. Our guest is just not only an intellectual. Fantastic podcaster, a public speaker, professor. Okay, we got professors here. Queer cultural critic. And one of our favorite guests, please welcome for the third time. Rosie Bowers!

What an honor. What a pleasure. Welcome back, Ramsey. Professor. Now you know all my identities. Look at that third time. I'm so many things wrapped in one. Exactly.

You're just, and look, and you're still yourself, despite it all. That's what we love about. This is when you said Bjork, I thought that was my icon growing up. Oh, really? Really, because I think when I saw her, I mean, I love that you said that she's so singular. I thought, this is a person who has drilled down into their style so aggressively. And I think I thought to myself, like, oh, I should figure out what my thing is. Like when you see that, when you see somebody who's not trying, she's just being herself.

Yeah. You're sort of like, oh, that's my job. Like one of my closest friends, Taylor Black, he wrote this beautiful book I think I've mentioned on the show before called Style, a queer cosmology. And he basically just says, style is becoming more yourself and less like other people. Yes. Yep. That's why money can't buy it. Exactly.

It's a form of, he calls it, rudimentary differentiation. It's like a basic form of distinguishing yourself, and you don't really need to try at it because it's literally you just inhabiting whatever's already innate to you. And he says even boring people have a style, like some people's style is to be boring. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And it's like you have to figure out what yours is, and then you have to start. She really is my model of that. Oh, yeah. She's fantastic. I mean, like everything about her, her from her just, you know, she was like a star from like 11 years old and was already on like the most gangster art, like artists arc.

Like they're like the labels wanted her to do another album after her first one at 11. And she was like, no. She's like, I want to keep playing music just on my own. They're like, look. Yeah, yeah. Like we need just like, no. She's like, I'm sorry. I'm going to retire to this teddy bear's stomach and finish my album.

Yeah. Yeah. The crazy thing is like I, like I sort of end the episode talking about this. but I think the thing that's so beautiful and is a lesson to all people, right, is like we so much let the external opinions and factors affect our internal level of being in our own, like our own solitude or sense of peace

when that's really like you're in control of that internally. Totally. Bjork does not let the external affect the internal. She operates purely from her inside and let's not come out. And that's what's, I'm like, that's a fucking, that's an artist right there. That's a dog.

Truly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's an amazing model for how to exist in the world. Yeah, yeah. And you know, get the thing where people are like, she's fucking weird, dude. What's with that fucking dress? And like that she,

we talk about like swan dress and what her whole, you know, motivation with that. And it was just her being like, I don't know, I just thought it was funny, bro. Yeah. But also, I feel like that's inherently queer is to be weird. I was just thinking that. I know.

And to like to break down these like strange structures that we have, even if they're implicit in our minds, like that's what like, queer culture is to me, is to, like, deconstruct this compartmentalization that a lot of artists are able to do just by being themselves. Yeah. So you are anticipating my overrated today. So putting a pin in that, we're going to definitely come back to that queer honey.

We're about to come back to that. But first, Ramsey, we're going to tell people what we're going to be talking about today. New Jersey representative, Tom Keene Jr. He was missing for almost four months from Congress. and he just emerged. And we'll talk about his reason that he's asking sympathy from the public for

about that, why he missed so much work while, you know, like the business of Congress was happening. Yeah, exactly. He was like, I was trying to nail Sincere's hairstyle

and I just could not do it. Then Windows Bay came out and it was like, Winnow Bay and then like, I was just finishing up paradise, you know what I mean? There's a lot going on. Then the American, for just checking in

with the American Fair again. because every day there's new highs and lows to sort of observe this time. Just taking a look at the crowds, kind of what some of the programming is like, as well as talking about the fireworks show that's going to happen on the 4th of July, because Trump may not have been lying when he said this is going to be something unlike anyone has ever seen on Earth. He's going to set fire to the White House. A man after my own heart. We'll see.

We'll see. And then we'll check in with the rainbow fish. because it's being turned into a movie, but that's really not the big thing. I didn't realize that the book from 1992 is actually, it's been canceled. We want.

Yeah, we'll talk about it. Just about sort of toxic sort of lessons that maybe we're teaching our children, so we'll get into that and other things. But first, Ramsey, what is something from your search history that's revealing about who you are? It's so embarrassing.

It's nothing cool, you guys. Emerald Green mesh crop top. Okay, you're definitely wearing an emerald green look like an Ise-Miyake joint you got on. Exactly. So we're doing like the high and the low. I'm usually wearing EC.

Usually wearing a pleat. But I am going to go to a queer rave in the woods at the end of this summer, which is very unlike me. And I need to look slutty and cute. Did you find it? Did I what? Did you find it?

I did find it, yes. Under Armour makes such a, thing and so does Adidas. It feels very, very hetero to wear a underarmor thing. Yeah, but I have to say their stuff is looking really chic and cute. This little orange shirt that I'm

wearing is under armor, neon orange. What if you, what happens if, let me just search, Emerald Green, mesh marina. Okay. It's already in his cart. Yeah, I'm like, oh. You're like, oh, I don't know, because I'm going to buy the last one that I'm trying to get in the right size.

That's the nit Jamaican, like, Caribbean joint, the mesh marina. You know what I mean? So like, I feel like you could find a mesh like, I was just thinking of words you use. A mesh marina. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I'm scary. Don't implant such things in my head because I will get on a mission. Check out the mesh marina because I'm like, I'm going to have to get the best marina ever made. Oh yeah. People are like, oh, is that Ramsey in the mesh marina? I know. I'm crazy. It is. I was caught on the street wearing a full Ysimiaki ensemble in New York City. It was like the first time that I've ever been stopped by like an influencer.

Oh my God. And I did like a video. Like he did a video of me. He was so sweet. Star. He's this guy named Preppy Pete. And I was like, this will be no big deal. Whatever. And he's followed by 170,000 people. Okay. So. Oh my God. 170,000 just saw your, your whole outfit then. My Isamiaki dorkiness was fully on display. But I love it. I lived for it, obviously. I mean, why didn't get dressed?

You're never lacking on the fashion side, Ramsey. Thank you. What's something you think is underrated? I'm also going to be really dorky right now. Reading. Reading is so underrated. I do not understand. People don't read and they don't realize what they're missing.

Number one, reading is therapeutic. It is totally emotionally regulating. I have to remind my students all the time when they don't do reading. I'm like, why are you so anxious and freaked out? Because you don't ever sit and calm down quietly and read something. And explore the world's within your mind. Thank you. Number one.

Number two, just like the feeling of learning something you didn't know is so empowering. I just taught, I teach a workshop at the Assela Institute twice a year, which I highly encourage people if you ever want to study with me and be nerdy for a week. The Asylum Institute is a wellness retreat. And so people are not used to studying anything there. They usually go there to do like yoga and meditation and all of this stuff. But it used to be this like amazing place of intellectual exchange between like psychologists and people who do. therapy and philosophy and all this stuff. So they're inviting more academics to do stuff there. And every day I just assigned like 30 pages of reading, like nothing, like really tiny. And then

we watched a movie. We would talk. And the 19 people who signed up for my seminar were, it was like a five-day workshop. They were like, I have not been intellectually challenged in like 15 years, like since college or whatever. They were so desperate for exchange of ideas like to engage and talk. And my mom, similarly, it's like she never was a reader. And now in her late 60s,

she has way more time to read. And it's like the greatest joy of her life is to sit with a book. I've been rereading a lot of the things that changed my life when I was in my teens and 20s. And I'm like, I can't believe I read this much when I was younger. Because even as a professor, you sort of read less sometimes

because you're just teaching stuff you already know often. Right, right over and over. And then you'll try to read new stuff so you can incorporate it into your class. But it's just, It's astounding how healing reading is. And it's just amazing to me the inability of people to just sit down quietly and engage with a book even for 20 minutes. It's such a, yeah, it's just to watch adults in my adult learners in my class be like,

I loved reading just 30 pages a day. It was really, I was just like, oh yeah, talk about reading is fundamental, honey. Yeah, seriously. I saw this comedian. I forget, Zygang, find him. He posted a clip of him. him being like every like the world is crazy every woman I know is reading as much as she can and every man I know has lost thousands of dollars on Cal She like.

It's like wild. Yeah. Well, and also too, like younger people, I was just reading like how precipitously just reading rates are falling like with young kids like too. Like they read less and less and less like at least I don't know like I remember for me comic books help me appreciate regular books. a little bit more because at first, I used to read just like, first I would read manga, like Japanese manga, so that's how I learned how to read Japanese as a kid.

And then like, then I was like, it doesn't have, then I was like on this whole thing like, it doesn't have pictures and shit. Then you get to like around eight years old, got into like some other, you know, pee we scouts. So they're just like kind of like young kid type book things. But it really was like one of those things that I definitely had to like keep reminding myself how much I like it because it's so easy to get caught up in like other things. or you feel like you're tired and like you don't want to do it.

But to your point, it's the thing. Like, that's why I really love nonfiction because I love the feeling of like reading a new thing and going, what the whole? What?

Did this shit just say? Totally. Like, yeah. I have like a stack of like six different books. I'm part way through. Yeah. I also believe in reading unsystematically. Yeah.

Like when you set yourself to this optimized idea of like, I have to read every one of this or I have to read every page or whatever. Read a bunch of things. See what you love. There are certain books that I'm like, I have to read this cover to cover. I can't stop.

There are certain books I read half of it. And I'm like, I think I got the picture. It's like you figure out a lot of the reason people don't read it because they don't know what they like. Yeah. I mean, I also, it was after I had spent years reading 600, 800 page fantasy and science fiction novels that I started reading comics. So my comics came after I developed my literacy and they're really amazing and challenging. That's the same thing for me. Yeah.

Wait, what were the comics that you? got into? I got into, like, just random ones, like, a bitch planet, too. Oh, my God. Amazing. Yeah. Just, like, some different ones that my friends recommended to me. But, like, I definitely, I have a similar theory where I call it dumb bitch reading.

Like, you read not to learn. It's solely for your, like, own comfort and entertainment. And I also think this is why a lot of women read Romanticy, because it's, like, world-building. And then, like, little pieces of smut that make. She feels safe and comfortable in our sexuality. And like all my friends in their 30s, we all read Romantic disease. And it's also shared, right? It creates like a social thing between you.

It's like the minute somebody mentions comics, everybody's like, I read comics, I read comics. And the idea of the bookstore, like I, in the summers, I go to the bookstore almost every week for an hour. And I just look around and I see things that I love and I'm surprised by stuff. and I buy stuff all the time. My shells are filled with books I haven't read, but there's always just stuff to look at. That's beautiful. Right. Yeah.

I mean, I'll say one thing about this. So there's this fantasy science fiction writer named Tad Williams, who is very, very famous, written these huge series, and he wrote this series called Otherland, that is one of the most extraordinary works of literature I've ever read. It's four parts. Each one of them is like 6 to 800 pages. And it's about the idea.

of this group of psychotic rich people producing a virtual reality world that they're going to escape into. And it's about a group of people of, like, tech workers, like the main characters, this incredible black woman living in South Africa, who, at Reni Sulawayo, who's like a virtual engineer, and she's a professor. It's about how they get trapped in that virtual reality and are trying to understand how it was created. Wow. So it's like this book in the 1990s is anticipating the Epstein class. Right.

It's anticipating social media because what little by little, what you begin to discover is that children are sort of involved in the making of this world. I don't want to give anything away. That's like right at the beginning. And so the lives and the attention economy of children is being wrapped up into this virtual world. It anticipates everything about the internet, about how it's going to be unevenly distributed based on class, but it's also about these virtual fantasy worlds that people produce.

And I reread it and I, it is the first time as an academic, I ever read something and I was like, I want to write this screenplay of this. I want to actually write this for TV. I think it's been optioned before, but I don't know if I ever got picked up. I mean, it doesn't matter whether I do it or not. But that's just to say to the audience, to go back and reread this book and to be like, No wonder this reshaped my entire brain when I was 17. Because it was so ahead of its time.

It's so brilliant. No one talks about it. They talk about the wheel of time and they talk about all these things. And I'm thinking like there's a billion books you've never read. That could completely change your life. And all of these movies that you're watching when you're not reading, the video games you're playing, the movies you're watching, the IP all came from books. Yeah. Like all of it came from literature.

So why not do all of it? you know, read books, watch movies. There's nothing like reading an incredible book, seeing it adapted to a movie where the movie is so distinct that it's really doing its own thing. And both are amazing. Like, usually adaptations suck. And every once in a while, a good adaptation.

Like Station 11 is an incredible adaptation of a solid novel that I liked, but I wasn't obsessed with. And then the TV show is like unbelievable. And I'm so glad it is a life changer. Somebody just had just the, Catherine in the chat. Yeah, like I, it's, the, the TV show actually, I think, you know, with all love to the author, is better than the novel, like, by far. And like, but to see that it could do that, you wouldn't know if you didn't read the novel.

Like, you wanted to see all the different versions of it. So, yeah, go to a bookstore and get lost and buy this because you like the cover. Libraries. All the library. Yeah. Exactly. Can I say, like, I had a thought when we were talking about, like, the literacy crisis, I'm always going to link this back to reality TV on Love Island.

There were like cases where it was clear that the, these are all like the Zoomer, the generation that went through the pandemic on Zoom, like in their formative high school college years. Yeah, God bless. Yeah. So their vocabulary is like interesting. It's like clear that they've like read the word and they're trying to use it, but they haven't really had a chance to, they haven't had like classroom discussions and stuff.

Yeah. So like sincere use the word at the tone. That's sincere. Yeah, he said epitome. Yeah. Instead of epitome. And then Jan used compromise instead of compromise. Wow.

No. Wow. So there is like a whole thing where I think like our generation is we're trying to like dive back into books because we're seeing this literacy crisis and book clubs and like. Yeah. This book club and no name and like all these things. Like I think like all of that is like we kind of fear this lack of literacy. because we know that that's where ideas start

and that's where information is unlocked. Exactly. I really do think, I mean, like, the constant talking trash on Gen Z as like, not literate or whatever, is really like, it fails to acknowledge that you guys really are noticing what's missing. Like, young people are like, oh, my imagination is limited because I'm not reading, or I'm not watching movies enough,

or I'm not whatever. And I think that there is a push to, um, expand. And one thing I remind people as a teacher, the biggest problem is that nobody teaches young people how to read. So what I mean is not literacy, like how to read words on a page, right? Like we, I mean, God bless our education system, but like it's still hanging on by a thread. I'm talking about like, I have to explain to my students. I'm like, you do know when you sit and read, you need to sit in a well-lit place. You need to be sitting up. You need to not be on your stomach or on your back where you're going to fall asleep

because it's not a sleeping activity. You should probably be surrounded in an active place, sit at a coffee shop where it's quiet enough where you can read, but there's still activity going on and people are doing stuff. I have to explain to students how to create the context of reading. Your phone needs to be on Do Not Disturb. It shouldn't ding.

It shouldn't vibrate. And you set a time limit. You say, I'm going to sit for 30 minutes today. Or I'm going to sit for 45. Do you know how many students come to me after I give those instructions at the beginning of an advanced college class. And they say, nobody ever explained that to me before.

Right. Yeah. They're like, nobody explained that. And second, a bunch of them come to me and they're like, I thought I had ADHD and I realized like I literally just don't create the context to which I could pay attention. Yeah. I was just sitting in a room with like five TVs on and a radio and my phone going off.

Yeah. The practice of focusing because it is a skill and you have to like practice. I lose it every year. I remind people like I'm halfway through the summer. I traveled most of the beginning of the summer. I'm writing a new book. I have tons to read. I have not been able to sit and read

because I cannot focus. I've been like compulsively shopping for my trips. Trying to get that mesh marina? Yeah, exactly. I thought pleats. I just like, I need more pleaded shirts. But I think I retrain myself every year. Like I get back into it in the middle of the summer

and I'm like, oh, now I need to be able to like sit and read for a certain amount of time. Right. So it's, yeah. Also, I just want to point out that I think you thought I was Gen Z, and that's incredible. Thank you. I'm the youngest girl in the whole world. Oh, my God.

Late Gen Z. I don't know. Full millennial. Welcome to Millennial. I got full blown millennial. You're full-blown, FBM. All right, let's take a quick break in when we come back. We're going to figure out what Ramsey thinks is underrated right after this.

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Hey, I'm Hoda Kotby, host of the podcast, Joy 101 with Hoda Kotby. Okay, if you know me, you know this. I'm always searching for inspiration, for support, and useful tools to help maximize joy. So this podcast lets us uncover all of that together. We're going to have these meaningful conversations with the world's most fascinating people, like when actress Olivia Munn shared how she overcame fierce health challenges that she never saw coming. I've gone through breast cancer and then helped my mother through breast cancer, and that was more difficult.

There's a lot of people who understand postpartner depression. I was not prepared for postpartum anxiety. Olympic champ Sean Johnson revealed why she had no choice but to be a gymnast. There was something about gymnastics that was intoxicating to me. It's given me a belief that we all have one of those treasures inside of us. We just have to find it. Listen to Joy 101 with Hoda Kotby on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

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Ramsey, what is something you think is overrated? Being normal. Yeah. Being normal and trying to get people. Yeah. And trying to get people. people in positions of power to like you or to think you're palatable is disgusting and horrible and soul destroying. And I'm so over it. Like, and the reason I say this is because today,

one of my dear friends sent me a New York Times op-ed written by this guy named Matthew Vines, who's like, he's the author of this book called God and the Gay Christian, the biblical case in support of same-sex relationships. He basically wrote this op-ed piece where he's like, I'm gay, not queer. There's a difference. And he goes on this huge rant about how, the attempt to turn gayness, the idea of same-sex desire into this broader notion of queerness, of being resisted to social norms. Like the idea that many queer people started to say, it's not just that we like the same sex or that we're trans or whatever.

We don't want to conform to the social norms of a society that is homophobic and transphobic. He says the more and more we did that, the more and more the society hates us, And the more and more we've lost our case for our civil liberties. We've made the category way too broad, and we've lost the idea that gayness is not a choice, because the more that you argue for queerness, for critiquing social norms, the more you're suggesting that it is a choice. And I'm like, it is a fucking choice.

It is every single decision you make every day is a choice you make about how you want to relate to the world. You could be born desiring the same sex and still change. choose to live as a gay person every day. Or a straight person. Yeah, exactly. Or to choose to be a straight person. You're choosing how you want to articulate your identity at every minute.

And I think this is such a disgusting argument that's like, it's such an overrated argument. That's like, if only we could be more normal, those straight people would like us more. And they would keep giving us our civil liberties. And it's like, no, the culture they come from is corrupted. to its core. Yeah. You know, what did gay people gain in gay marriage? Many civil liberties, sure, and also a 50% divorce rate.

And also all of the stress and the anxiety of that, nobody ever questioned whether or not the rights of marriage should be given to everyone, regardless of whether you're married or not. Right. So this idea that's like, I'm gay but not queer girl, you do you and let queer people do that. Right. Or like, we're LGBT, not LGBT. like what exactly he's like the more capacious it became the less compelling it is and I'm like no the genius of queerness is it says none of us actually successfully live up to these norms it says you think that gay people are a niche subgroup a subculture that in fact the way that we struggle to feel normal all people experience this including straight people that's the point of queerness it's to remind you that gender transitivity is not

not only a problem of trans people. It's an experience everyone has, including cisgender people, because nobody ever feels 100% comfortable in their skin all the time. Right? So, like, it's a big tent for a reason. It actually makes people feel that they're included

in the queer world. Why do you get to own gayness just because you fuck men? Like, chill out. It's just so ridiculous. I don't get it. Stanley Tucci, technically straight, still gay. Okay?

Absolutely. I mean, I just, I want to include people in the big tent, and I just don't understand why the only way you can make an argument for the rights of gay people is to say that we were born this way. Why? If I chose to be gay, so fucking what? It's a free fucking country. I can do whatever I want.

I'm not destroying the social fabric of the society just because I'm not doing it the way that you want me to. So I just, those kind of arguments for normality that's like, but let's just make them hate us less by being. normal. And I'm like, they hate us just as much for trying to be like them. Yeah. They hate themselves. Like, that's the problem. Because, like, they've never had to or refused to or pushed away interrogate their own, like, sexuality and queer. Like, correct. Straight cis people have never, like, had that conversation with themselves. And that is, like,

a huge, like, problem that they've imposed on society. It's their reaction to not accepting themselves. Totally. And by the way, what has? the idea of queer culture done, it has granted more and more people in the society, gay, straight, bi, non-binary, etc., the opportunity to ask, is this the way I want to live my life?

Yes. Is this joyful? Is following the line of heteronorbidivity, joyful? Does it bring me everything I want? If it does, girl, more power to you. Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, if it doesn't, you don't have to, but I love, like, something I thought when I read that op-ed piece, which maybe what I should say is the New York Times op-ed section.

No. Oh, no. Certainly not, Ramsey. Right. Everything they publish is ridiculous. But it made me think of what the queer theorist Eve Sedgwick says. She has this amazing essay that is called How to Raise Your Kids Up Gay. And she says the debate over nature versus nurture is ridiculous.

Yeah. Because whether you chose to be gay or whether you were born that way, doesn't matter if you're in a fundamentally homophobic society. If the society hates people that do not conform to heterosexuality, and you say we were born this way, the conservatives will say, well, we're going to figure out the gay gene and then we're going to eliminate it from existence, right? And if you say, well, I chose this, they will send you to gay conversion camps. Right. She's like, tell whatever fucking story you want about being gay.

Your fight should be to make a world where in which the existence of more gay people is a good thing. Right. The idea of fundamental sexual diversity would be valued. And she says in a world like that, if you want to say that you were born this way over here, more power to you. If you want to say you chose it, more power to you. If you want to say that God gave it to you and it's a gift from the universe,

more power to you. She says we should have more stories, not less. And when I read this op-ed, I'm like, this is the fundamental American problem, which is that we want one story to explain everything. We are so incapable of dealing with genuine diversity of thought, diversity of human experience, uncertainty, the idea that everything, every identity, every term means more than one fucking thing. Right. And like, just because you like the word gay doesn't mean it's the only one.

Yeah. And like justifications for human existence is a distraction from the inclusion of those people. Beautiful. Yeah. Beautifully said. It's just, yeah, it's like the exact same patterns of like white supremacy too. You know what I mean? Exactly.

It's all of it is so backwards and it completely ignores like the bigger picture of like humanity. But hey, if that's what you need to power your argument to say this makes me better or these people less than, then, then that's your fucking problem. Because you know what? Exactly. People like marginalized people, gay people, people who we have access to shit that apparently y'all don't. Exactly. And that's, I mean, that's upset sometimes for them. Derek Scott would say we have resources

in the form of the emotional capacity to survive and withstand being made inhuman. Right? Like part of what we've done is we've developed superpowers to live with and through and past being made to feel that we mean nothing. And to have people who are among our own community saying, why don't you fucking settle down?

Why don't you just reduce your identity, this one thing? And I'm like, why isn't there room for all of these different ways. If you want to say that your identity is defined merely by the fact that you like having sex with other men and that you are in a loving relationship with a man, bless you, girl, love and light. And if other people want to do it differently, so what? Like, why does the struggle for our humanity at a political level need to be a zero-sum game between these moves? Right, right.

And also, like, on the terms of your oppressors, too, which is like, isn't it. isn't going to render liberation in any meaningful way. So put all that shit. Togans get spent. There it is. It's like queer people. Career theory is the problem. I love that he talks about queer theory in it,

which is a subfield of interdisciplinary study in the humanities, right? And I love the idea that's like, so you're saying like a group of a few hundred academics writing over the last 40 years about sexual diversity are like the reason the culture is homophobic. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like really? Okay, okay, girl. It's back to literacy.

It's reading, villainizing reading. Yeah, yeah. Get a grip. We don't have that much power. We really don't. Like, and it's absurd. Like, you should be so lucky that queer theory came along and gave people an amazing vocabulary to demand their humanity, right?

Like, that's what we did is we gave four generations of young people a language to claim the diversity of their humanity. And if you don't like the way that it plays out, come up with some other terms. Right, right. If there's nothing new with saying, why can't we just be gay? They finally got good with gayness. Right, right, right. Yeah, and no fucking non-binary baristas for you, bitch.

Get out of our coffee shops. That's how you feel. All right, well, the news is also out there. But this has been fantastic conversation. Ramsey, you're always bringing it, Paula V. Oh, shit. We're on TDZ. I forgot.

No, no, I mean, no. Oh, yeah. It's supposed to be the day. I thought I was in class. No, but this is, this is everything. I mean, like, it's, it's, this is like what underpins the news, like, even especially with the Supreme Court rulings, everything. Like, this is, we are constantly finding ourselves at the whims and wills of the oppressors.

And you have all these conflicting theories or strategies, tactics to how to circumnavigate all that. And it's like, and the respect, the respectability shit. No, no, no, no, no, no. Come on. Girl, I know. No, no, no, no. It's so cliche.

I'm just like, okay, we've done this a thousand times. Let's keep doing it more. We're not going to use their tools to bludgeon ourselves further. That doesn't make any sense. But GOP representative, Tom Keene, I just want to talk about him because we've been checking in on this guy, he's the New Jersey Congressman. He's missed 116 days. Wow. And has not.

And just first missed out and said like, yeah, I'm kind of, I'm sick. And then later on, they're like, bro, it's been like 40 days. He said, I got a medical issue. and when I'm recovered, I will return and I will explain further. And people were pointing at it like, but there's like, based on like financial records, like you, you're using Uber's like in other cities outside of your district. You're doing stuff. It doesn't seem like you're in one place.

I just feel like you're being ableist right now, my old. So if you could just let the Congress people like disappear and not show up. Sure, sure, of course, of course. And look, he returned today. We almost made it 117 days. He capped it at 116 days. Just a third of the year. Yeah.

And just spoke directly. He was trying to make Kamala 127 days. Yeah, yeah. He almost did it. He had some spraining to do, as we say colloquially. And this is, he's just letting people know, yeah, I missed some time, but I want people to understand why I did it. And it's just interesting because keep in mind, this is somebody who constantly votes to slash health care to take away people's Medicaid, Medicare, things like. like that. So this is Tom Keene explaining. This is why I've, I've been gone.

Several months ago, due to health concerns, I entered the hospital for some testing. I did not believe that this would result in a long-term stay. I was given the diagnosis of depression. Now, when people hear the word depression, many people think simply means feeling sad. But depression is so much more than that. It is physical. It is emotional. And until you experience it yourself, it is difficult to fully understand how powerful this illness can be. The doctors recommended that I remain in the hospital to address my illness. They explain to me that this would be the fastest way to recovery.

He goes on to sort of explain, like sort of using like, and this is affecting a lot of people. Now, when I hear this, part of me is like, I mean, obviously, anybody, I'm not trying to be insensitive because depression is a motherfucker. And I'm sure most of us know how serious it can be. But there's something, there's just something, something so odd about, like, his caginess around explaining himself, the movements that he's been doing, like saying he was where you hospitalized the whole time. And the, but really, the thing that really gets me is that this motherfucker, he got the audacity to cut people's health benefits by being a rubber stamp for all of Trump's budget. it cuts and austerity measures all over the place, then ask the public to be understanding of his, you know, absence in office because he said he was hospitalized with depression,

which sounds fucking serious, if that's really the case. But it's like, then I'm like, man, it must be nice where you live in a country where you can take off fucking almost four months of work with superior health care to most of us, like in this country, still collect your salary and still come back to your job and ask for understanding. It's just like, it's just another one of these moments or like it's the lack of empathy

that I see from the right. And then they come out and say like, I've actually been dealing with some stuff. Like I immediately just get sort of becomes dubious. Exactly. You just nailed it. Yeah.

Exactly. I mean, this is the conservative playbook. Yeah. Which is to act not human to say we're above ordinary humanity. Yeah. We are morally right. We are angelic.

We have God. To absorb and borrow and steal the language of humanity from the people who have been developing it. To hear someone so naively talk on the floor of Congress about what depression is, Mitch, we've been talking about this for 40 years. Right, right, right. It's like people in 2008 who became Q&ONM members later shocked that the housing market imploded. and are like, oh my God, the housing market is so unfair, and it's a Ponzi scheme. And it's like, yeah, people who've been doing housing, like struggling.

Yeah. For housing equality, have been arguing this for 50 years. So instead of saying, we are joining late to the conversation and would like to combine forces with the people who believe in mental health, they appropriate the language and say, we've discovered it now. So that's what's what's rubbing you the wrong way is that you are actually deeply sympathetic with people who struggle for mental health. And you're like, who the hell are you guys to claim it for yourselves as, you know, your hobby force?

Or like, or as if it's the one valid example of someone having depression, be like, well, of course. I mean, if you need to take 116 days off of work to sort that out, even though I'm like, this feels like this story, there's a lot more going on than what's actually happening. That's what I'm like, I'm going to, I won't fully cast dispersions on it right away. But pardon me, like, I look at. at and I go, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm. You don't usually get hospitalized for 116 days for... Unless, yeah, unless something serious happened.

And then I don't know if you had to go to some kind of mental health treatment or whatever that path was. But to me, it's just some, because you also do see people tactically deploy this sort of like, oh, this thing happened to me to sort of just paint over whatever, you know, the dereliction of duty has occurred. But we'll see because I have a feeling that this story. couldn't keep developing or the other crisis will just hit and then no everyone will forget and they'll just be like yeah man you had depression they like they also will employ these justifications for like their absence or whatever but simultaneously if you were to say like oh trans kids might kill themselves if you don't include them in things like sports then they'll be like well that's not a good enough reason that's real right right right right right so it's like the end result might be they you know they are all for you know health care for depression but then they like gatekeep who gets to claim depression.

100%. I mean, again, it's the fundamental, like, but we don't count. We're separate from everybody else. We're better than. We're unique. I mean, I kept thinking the other day, the Daily, this story that we're talking about really reminded me the daily, the New York Times podcast, did a whole episode about RFK Jr's kind of new mission

to deprescribe to get people off of SSRIs. Right. And there's an element, like part of what's weird about him is that there's always like an element of truth at the core of. every one of his projects. Sure. You're like, we aren't over-prescribed, right? Yeah.

He doesn't care about medicine and he doesn't actually care about expertise or any of that. And all I could think was like, why is nobody talking about the idea that maybe people like RFK Jr and people like him in the government have made life such a living hell for people that they don't feel that they can get off of us our eyes? Sure. Like, wouldn't you, if you've had 113 days of depression, did it ever occur to you that the conditions that people like you have helped create in this country are making people depressed. No, because that would make me feel more depressed than my doctor said, don't do that kind of thing.

Exactly. I'm just hiding into my own ignorance. Yeah, it's, I mean, and it goes again, like, this is sort of fundamental to conservatism is this. They've completely excised like the idea from their minds that they are vulnerable in any way. Correct. Because all of it is based on invulnerability of invincibility. So the moment they do intersect with some vulnerability. It's like, hold on. Man, I had it. I had my kids were premature. I have to disagree on this one time, Mr. Trump. We're like, people suddenly they're able to sort of access the idea that they are vulnerable.

But all of the policy, yeah, all of the policies sort of underpinned by the idea of like, well, we don't give a fuck because we're not vulnerable. Exactly. And that's got to be a terrifying place to be. Horrible. No wonder that's so depressing. Yeah, 100%. Because a second anything fucking touches you the wrong way, you are, you're going to be fucked up. Anyway, just we all have to admit we're vulnerable.

We need help. And that's why we need to extend that to other people. It's just like a basic, you know, part of human decency or human right. Anyway, moving on also because it, the American, the great American state fair is well underway. And a Monday was our first Maha Monday because this thing is happening for like multiple weeks. So on Mondays, the theme is Maha Monday. Still not sure what that means, although I think I may have an idea from some of the clips. the clips that we've seen so far,

we were talking about it on yesterday's show, pretty, not pretty poorly attended. And it seems like if anything, I feel like based on the clips I'm seeing, there's more people there out of morbid curiosity rather than like patriotic fervor. They're just like,

dude, is it as fucked up as I think it is? It is, it is. I just want to play a couple of the clips. One is of Dean Kane and Dr. Oz pretending like, they're like, man,

it's a great event we're talking about here. Shout out to the just shady TMZ camera person, camera operator here for like while they're talking about the event, just doing a quick pan around the empty field. So funny. So here's Dr. Us. You mean Superman, Dean Kane? Yes, the one who is trying out for ice. The one that couldn't get into ice. Him and her.

I did not know this. Oh, yeah. Kevin Sorbo and Dean Kane are horrible people. Yeah. You guys. And Kevin Sorbo is a shitty improviser, too. That's what I've heard. Yeah.

Oh, I'm so naive. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no. Dean Kane was like, I'm going to sign up for ice. And they, like, they showed a clip of him in the training. He couldn't do shit. He was having a hard time. He was so past. And I'm like, bro, you know your Superman is made up. It was like me trying to pass the presidential fitness test.

You would have done a lot better based on, I think, I honestly believe, I think that in his mind, he's like, well, I did play Superman. Therefore, I have been viewed with the powers of Superman. But here's Dr. Oz and Dean Kane, just talking on a casual Maha Monday. What a fucking nightmare blunt rotation. At the packed Great American State Fair. Take it away. And it's because there's tons of people here. Tons of people.

Shady camera. It's going to get more and more better than as we're going to. You guys. You can't even like relay how few people there are. It's criminal. That's like a boraphobic. Yeah. I'll let him keep playing because they're like, oh yeah, it's a really great turnout.

I have a lot of people here. We have people who want to have like, Stacy Garrity, that woman's going to be next governor of Pennsylvania right there we go. There we go. And it's because there's tons of people here. It's a huge.

Anyway, they keep looping that clip. There's like 20 people there. Yeah. And like most of them, I like saw this like clip of this woman. They have like this weird like wallpaper that makes like some of the columns look like 3D but they're not.

Yeah. It's not. It's all flat. It might be Amanda Moore who's, she's posted a lot from, um, yeah. Fair, but like all of the structures.

They don't like us touching things, but let me shoot because of the reflecting pool. Oh, yeah, yeah. But like, but she touches it. And it's like an Acme like Wiley Coyote. Yeah, backdrop. Just like, yeah. Yeah, they've just been printing out stuff and then like nailing it on, staple it on to like plywood.

Like for the Trump's arch, like there's columns and stuff. There's like sculpting and stuff and really interesting, intricate sort of designs. All of that is just flat one like just one dimension. Just, wow. Anyway, or two dimensional. Anyway, so then we have also had some really, some interesting powerhouse conversations. Michael Knowles from, I believe, the Daily Wire. He had a really, really fantastic conversation on stage.

You know, he likes to debate, as these conservatives love to do. He was there, and he debated a 10-year-old girl. Oh, my God. Abuse. Child abuse. I know. Or maybe. It's like not a debate.

I don't know. Maybe it's a discussion. But anyway, he's on stage with a child, and this is what they were talking about on Mahamunday at the Great American Fair. But the one area where the sale of witch trials went a little far is I would say they weren't organized enough. You had these like random judges, you know, kind of burning these ladies. I'm not, I don't know if they were guilty or not. But I think more, if it were more formalized, built up a little bit more, maybe with like any grand inquisitor or,

something, that would have been a better way to do it. I am so impressed. I could not. But the one area. What are we living in? Literal child? About the Salem witch trials. About the burning of women.

Of all those women. And that he doesn't know if that, if they were guilty of being witches or not. It could have been more organized. What's your take? 10 year old child? There's another clip. Why? 10 year old future witch.

He's like false. Jackie Robinson never said that. You're an idiot. Like, literally, that's what's out of the fair. Yeah. Yeah. This is so perverse that this is what people think is normal now. This is that we've arrived.

I don't even, I don't even have the words, you guys. I don't even think, based on the attendance, it doesn't, it seems like most people don't think this is normal or worth your attention. But yeah, clearly to the operators, organizers of it, they're like, yeah, this is good. And also just, I think, a testament to how poorly organized everything is, like, when it comes to the right, like, with these sort of cultural events, because they, no one is, really subscribing to their version of mainstream culture that they want to say this.

I'm genuinely worry for those children. Like, that is insane. I know. Who else wants to come up here and get fucking rinsed by Michael Knowles? You know what I mean? Like Jubilee, surrounded by 10 year olds. He's going to run the formalized witch hunt.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. I mean, are we not basically seeing the long-term outcome of failing upward? Oh, 100%. Right? Like if you are able to fail upward in this society, in a runaway train version where it never ends, what you get is these very monumental decisions like three Supreme Court justices and the running of the 250th anniversary celebrations by these kinds of people who have no idea what they're doing, who have run purely on unearned confidence and arrogance. and this is what we're seeing. This tattered, unraveling kind of like mush. But also apparently there was like another committee that they like lay weighed. Way laid.

Way laid. Way laid. That was supposed to originally be like it was a nonpartisan committee that was supposed to run this. And then Trump was like, no. And then just like let me just do it this horrific way. That's why we have Queen Latifah at the Coliseum from that same. nonpartisan group. Yeah.

That's our official 250 that we get in LA. Here's another clip. This is Maha Mondays of this. Just some guy who was like ranting about all kinds of stuff up there. I think this one he's talking about breast implants. Women in them that are all able to connect about breast implant illness only in the last call at five to 10 years. And so fortunately these women are now learning about BII. They never knew it.

Previously when they got the rest implants place. It wasn't until 2012. that the trial was placed on the breast implant Blackhawks warning and even with this so yeah this is this dude is up there talking about breast implant illness to a packed crowd of threes so yeah just just some really next level stuff happening there

at the Great American Fair I will say this though the one thing that I have been reading about is this fucking fireworks show because there's there's footage of how they right now obviously the reflecting pool is closed is fenced off but Typically, they do launch fireworks from the reflecting pool on Fourth of July. So it's like, so it would be fenced off.

But now they're putting all the fireworks in. And this is what we've heard, right? Trump said this is going to be the largest fireworks show in history. Like, yeah, right. So you say that all the time about everything. But if you're talking just about the sheer numbers of shells that are going to be like launched. So a typical Fourth the July show in D.C., they say roughly between 17,000 and 20,000 shells for, 17 minute show. This year, they are going to have a 40-minute display that will use more than

860,000 explosives. And they will be set off along the reflecting pool as well as in the West Potomac Park, and eight barges on the Potomac River. Deport the dogs and cats, please. Please deport the dogs and cats. If you're in the DMV area, get your dogs out now. Leave now. The previous record, held by Manila in the Philippines was the Guinness World Record Fireworks Display Show in 2016 809,000 fireworks during a New Year's event.

This just like feels just so like typical wealthy absentee father. Like, hey, sorry I fucked up your party to compensate. How about one million fireworks? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just like, what the fuck?

No one even asked for that shit. I used to do shit like that when I was like in my 20s and just like didn't know, like it was a terrible boyfriend to be like, I completely fucked that up. Here's like way too big a bouquet of flowers. Yeah. And they're like, no, I just need you like fucking listen.

Overcompensating. Yeah, exactly. No, here's material overcompensation for you. I know I completely, no one's fucking over there's like. Here's 860,000 explosives to be launched. I'm so sorry to the way you're right, babe. Will this distraction of destroying your eyes and years help? Yeah.

What's also crazy is like it's like a, the security level is like the same as the like, uh, state of the union or an inauguration. So for the people that go, you can't like, you can't bring shit there. If you're trying to see it, they're like,

you can't bring a lawn chair. You can't bring a cooler. They're gonna, somebody's going to like pee or poop themselves for sure. Oh yeah, yeah. I'm sure people will probably expire from trying to endure a 41 minute explosive show directly overhead.

But who knows? Who knows? Um, but yeah, he's, he's looking out for everybody with this. fucking crazy fireworks.

And with the way things go with this administration, that is what is projected and then they will end up releasing 12 shells. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. With like a lighter. Six of which will not work.

Yeah. Also, just to know, the fireworks display doesn't start until 10.30 at night because this dude wants to talk before. Of course. So it's just like,

it's going to be great, guys. to be great. It's going to be great. I hope he scares himself. He gets a really scared of the fireworks. Oh, no. This is what it would have been like if I went to Vietnam, but luckily I got out because I'm a draft dodger. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see what happens. But that'll be the 4th of July. Big question marks there. All right, let's take a quick break when we come back. Just got to touch in with a beloved book. And maybe, Ramsey, you were saying something about sacrificing your individuality to please others. That might be some of the thing. Oh, no. Oh, no. I'll be right back. Happy to come back to it.

Beal experience. You end up how with weekend gold tickets to Lasso Montreal. Thomas Rhett. Mumford and Sons. Here's my pride and here's my shirt. John Party. Old Dominion, Carly Pierce, and more. And the prize gets even sweeter. With flights from Porter Airlines, three nights at residence in downtown Montreal and $1,000 cash. Download the free I-Heart radio app, listen to Pure Country for 10 minutes, and enter to win. Lassau, Montreal. Every day you listen is another chance to win. Hey, I'm Hoda Kotby, host of the podcast, Joy 101 with Hoda Kotby.

Okay, if you know me, you know this. I'm always searching for inspiration, for support, and useful tools to help maximize joy. So this podcast lets us uncover all of that together. We're going to have these meaningful conversations with the world's most fascinating people, Like when actress Olivia Munn shared how she overcame fierce health challenges that she never saw coming. I've gone through breast cancer and then helped my mother through breast cancer, and that was more difficult. There's a lot of people who understand postpartner depression. I was not prepared for postpartum anxiety.

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It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. Whether you're a lifelong fan or this is your first World Cup. We've got you covered. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos and the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. My first guest is Paris Hilton, Shakira, Luke and Yerrin, Samira and Gracie. I'm so excited. On the bouncy bed.

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This is Sweet 305. Listen to Sweet 305 with Lele Pons as part of my Coulthura Podcast Network on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Mangashit together

and I'm back with a new season of the podcast, Skyline Drive. This time I'm diving into a rabbit hole of peptides, organoids, blood boys, blue zones, and brain replacement to try to understand what this longevity obsession is all about, and what it really means to live forever, for all of us. I learned about some rad science. I can make a brain for you, and then we can test what draw is the best for your brain, as opposed to his brain.

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Listen to Skyline Drive, How to Live Forever on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And we're back. So Studio Canal, who's the same studio that has given us the Paddington, movies. Reportedly, it's been sort of, the, the rumors are sort of circulating that they are going to be producing an animated feature adaptation of the 1992 book, The Rainbow Fish, that sold more than 30 million copies. And unlike that, the Rainbow Fish film will be using handcrafted puppets. You're like, whoa, interesting. Although, look.

Project Mail Mary. If people have seen Ernest Borgneur, read The Rainbow Fish, it might not be as good, but shout out to those who have seen that version. But recently, the book has become controversial thanks to social media debates over what is the underlying message of the book. So, you know, the book, the rainbow fish has like the colorful scales and the other fish weren't getting along. And they're like, hey, let me get some of your scales. And they're like, ah, well, no one, you're not sharing. Then it's got to go to the octopus. The octopus is like, hey, man, you know, maybe you should give someone a little

way and share. And then that way you can get along with everybody. And that's how he's accepted by giving up his scales to the other fish. Well, this is a lot of people are like, no, we don't like this. Because why is this character literally ripping off their skin for the sake of being liked? It's redistributing wealth, I thought. Well, the author, the author says that this is about the beauty of sharing. Yeah.

Which maybe, you know, maybe it would be more successful if the fish wasn't forced to share like its physical body parts. It wasn't bleeding in the end. But then a few years ago really kicked off when this fifth grade teacher went viral on TikTok for questioning it. This is Mr. Vuong, aka America's favorite teacher. He said, quote, in my opinion, I think he has the right to do that because he doesn't have to give up part of himself or anybody.

The real flaw is that was that he was not humble. In the book, when the rainbow fish said, no, all the other fish decided not to play with him, which made it more about all the fish, about how all the fish didn't accept him because he didn't give up his scales rather than them responding to his stuck up behavior. So he got acceptance when he gave up parts of who he was. And then soon, like other librarians, psychologists were like posting about it and they're like, oh, this is about like toxic people policing potentially. He's like, what is the underpinnings of this book? I thought it was about eat the rich. Look, I think it's, it can be truly about what you bring to

it. But I think one version is sort of like, but I see physically ripping off who you are and be like, there you go. I, under the literal sense, maybe, maybe a little, yeah. What do you think about this literary interpretation? Yes, Professor. You guys just described the entire fucking purpose of the existence of culture. Right, right. Which is that it's supposed to spark a variety of competing interpretations and debates. Like the idea of canceling things because they don't have the mess.

that you want them to in the context you're looking at is so boring and so ridiculous and naive. Like, it's naive to the idea that, like, things travel across time and then they mean differently in different moments. Right. Like, for all we know, it could have been a critique of communism, right? Like, you could do this really conservative reading of it that's like, oh, it's post-World War II. It's actually, like, critiquing the idea of sharing, or it's supporting the idea of sharing, or it's whatever.

Like, we could provide all of these competing readings. And the point is that it got us talking. Right. And if you wanted to celebrate your message, you could then write a book that's different. And then share that book with people. So it's like that's the beauty of a book like this that it's getting people to talk. It feels like one of those things where like someone went to therapy and realized like I definitely like in my therapy journey realized well like my people pleasing traits and how it's gotten me. Sure.

We all have. I got to stop buying all those bouquets. But more like, but it's like someone saw that and then also was like, it was that. Like, see, I was getting these messages. And like this book did that. It's like, no, this one book isn't going to make a child bring them up with like the thing that is bringing in people pleasing culture. I think a lot of that too has to deal with how you're raised and things like that. Yeah.

But again, it's interesting because then I think especially when this when this video took off, it was like truly like peak TikTok where people were like, oh man. Like, yes, dude, these are fucking bars that I'm hearing from a TikTok video. Hilarious. And, yeah, part of me is like, yeah, sharing is good. That's good. We fundamentally need to learn how to share things. I get if maybe you don't like the physical version of how that's happening, like,

because you're taking it as like, it's ripping off its skin to give it to someone else. Like in the book, he's not like, no, man, I'm ripping off my fucking skin to give it to you. He's like, yeah, man, here, go ahead. Take that. It could also just be outdated as a medical. Yeah, exactly. Like, again, like, people are so naive about, like, when they look back at something, they can't acknowledge that, like, it was made at a certain time.

And maybe it just seems weird now, right? Like, things get old. Yeah, sure. It's not weird. It's beautiful. It's a rainbow fit. Yeah. It's weird because, like...

Oh, you're homophobic now, Ramsey. I don't like the rainbow fish. It's exactly. Like, I was reading this book, like, you know, my world and Good Night Moon. And there was, like... People pleasing having to say good night to everybody before going to bed. That's true. That's true.

But Margaret Wise Brown, like, their, uh, boy, what the fuck was I going to say? You're reading Goodnight Moon and something else. It doesn't matter. Oh, sorry. No, no, I completely lost my train of thought. It'll come back to you. I mean, what I would say is also Rainbowfish is obviously trying to make everybody gay. That, yeah, that's a gay agenda.

So he has a gay agenda. What I was going to say was in, in, in, uh, So Good Night Moon is by Margaret Wise Brown. Most people know that book. But then there's other words like My World that is also a similar book that was like a sequel to that. In that book, there's like a scene where there's like a family like of rabbits like in a bathtub. And like the book was like fucking shelved like went out of print because people like the 60s and 50s like what the fuck? Like why is that family bathing in front of each other to the point about how dated weird shit is like from them.

They're like it's a fucking family. I don't know. Like the dad's in the bathtub. The kid's brushing his teeth. like it's a fucking family. But then there was all this thing like, this is so inappropriate that then it wasn't until people kind of were like, wait,

why did this, why was this out of print? And they were like examine it. They're like, no, no, fire that shit back up. What the fuck are you talking about?

Exactly. Start the process. Yeah. It got canceled because we're like disgusting and abusive. So puritanical that it's a cynical and we can't imagine the idea. Yeah. Of the idea of like families where people are not being abused. The one I think the thing that's,

my version of Lolita. No kidding. Yeah. Right. you're gonna let me let me finish you're gonna like this you're gonna like this um what is funny though is like that book was a cartoon like turned into a cartoon series in the 90s which again didn't have the fish just ripping itself apart ripping itself asunder but was really it was weird for a different reason one of the rainbow fish's hangout spots like in the universe of the book was shipwreck

park which if you look at like what this shipwreck looks like you're like hold on bro that look like the Titanic. It's sort of like this similar broken hole of the Titanic. He's a colonizer. He's settling. Hanging around the Titanic at shipwreck bark. The idea of a sequel to Good Night Moon is cracking me the fuck up.

No, there's a whole, I've seen a ton of literary. Wake up a little bear, there's more shit to say goodnight too. There's a ton of literary analysis about these books and like, you know, the sort of like editable. complex. There's like weird stuff that people are reading into that work, but also because Margaret Wise Brown had a pretty interesting personal life too. But actually, can I get really intellectual for a minute? There is an extraordinary book that I love so much by a scholar named Julia McItenberg, who's a friend of mine. It's called Learning from the Left. And it's like the subtitle is like Children's Literature, The Cold War, and something else. And basically it's

all about how it speaks to this, this, to the rainbow fish story, which is that she basically shows you how like all of these people who are part of the Communist Party in the 1920s and 30s, when there was a huge red scare after World War 2, many of them were

blacklisted from their careers, from their lives, from teaching from all the stuff. And she shows how many of them decided to become children's books authors. And because communism had been so discredited as a progressive political philosophy, they started writing children's books that were about democracy

and about democratic practice. And so when you read a lot of those books like Harold and the Purple Crayon and like all of these things, they're all about like imagination and sharing and all of this stuff. And you're seeing this long-term outcome, not of these authors trying to indoctrinate young people in communist ideas, but actually trying to circulate the idea of democratic sharing,

the idea of like the sharing of, like, the sharing of, like a lot of the science books from that, from the 60s and 70s, she says. We're all about the idea that, like, science is for everyone and, like, anyone can learn about ideas and share them with other people. So it's also kind of funny that people are canceling this text based on a thing about identity, which is our obsession in this era, right? When in fact, like, it's really about sharing and the spreading of wealth. It's such an interesting thing that we're living in this moment where many young people, are invested in resuscitating democracy and

and collectivity or whatever, but we're also obsessed with our identities. And we can't stand anything that questions the idea of like the truth of myself. That's an interesting contradiction. Yeah. Well, Ramsey. That's wild. Thank you so much for joining us on the Daily Zeit. Such a pleasure, always.

You're always welcome back. So lovely meeting you. Great having you. Oh, my God, you too. I'd love to come back. Always love being here. Where do the people find you, follow you, you take in your work, all that good stuff? People can find me on my website, ramesyfawaz.com, which has all of my published articles

and links to my books. You can find me at Nerd From the Future on Instagram. My second season of my podcast, which is the same title, Nerd from the Future, will start on Monday, July 14th. And we're going to be covering a whole bunch of more topics about what's happening in higher education, from AI, to talking to my former undergrads about what. their education is done for them. It's going to be really fun,

amazing range of conversations. And yeah, you can, of course, always Google me and see my faculty website. And the last thing I'll say is I teach twice a year at the Essilin Institute in Bixir, and I'll be teaching another workshop for five days in January. And that'll be posted on their website in a couple months. Boom.

Is there a work of media that you're enjoying? Social media, tell them it, whatever it is. I just saw the podcast. episode that Anderson Cooper did with Sharon Stone. Oh, yes. That is one of the most amazing episodes. First of all, she's a genius. She's like a public intellectual.

And that's sort of what I love about her. She's having a major renaissance, both like in acting in her art, in her public presence. Commentary. But like, she, her level of intelligence, her precision of thought, her articulateness is so crisp. you sort of like while you're listening to it, you're like awake. You're like, this is a person who knows what they're fucking talking about. And she talks all about the death of her mother and the complicated mixed feelings she has about both being really devastated

but also sort of free from the emotional intensity of her mother who also she feels like never really liked her very much. And it is so moving. And it's really about what we talked about earlier that like there's a beautiful moment where she says, Americans really struggle with the idea that we can have mixed feelings about things, that things mean more than one thing, and that there is uncertainty about things like grief. And she's just like, you leave feeling so empowered by her presence, and I'm so glad she's a public figure.

Well, thank you for that. Yeah. Polly-Vie, where do the people find you, follow you, and what's a work in media that you're enjoying? I'm at P-A-L-L-A-V-I-G-U-N-A-L-N-E-N everywhere. I have facial recognition comedy, second streams comedy at the comedy store and the lesion, respectively towards the end of July. And I, please, please, please listen and subscribe and positively review the millennial mood board podcast. Our latest episode was on like the history of Napster and how quickly that rose and fell. And we just love our podcast. We want to keep it going.

A work of media I've been paying attention to is the prisoners at a jail in eastern North Carolina over powering the staff and seizing control of the facility, which I think is fucking awesome. And I hope they get whatever they're asking for. And then also at Time and Memorial underscore had this quote tweet that I thought was funny. There was a polymarket tweet that said, Justin, Ford rehires more than 300 veteran human engineers after it says AI failed to deliver the same level of expertise. And the quote tweet, wow. Yeah. And the quote tweet is that screenshot of Idris Elba from the wire, I want you to put the word out there that we back up. The humans.

Oh, man. You can find me everywhere at Miles of Gray. I'm talking about 90-day fiancé on 420-day fiancé. I'm talking about football, old football, including the tournament's happening now, in it. On Ain't It Footy with Jamel Johnson and Chris Martin. I work in media I like, I mean, you know, I'm half Japanese. Japan lost in the World Cup and so did Germany. A lot of people pointing out, huh, it's crazy.

Germany and Japan, taking an L together on the World Cup. stage again? This is from at Panasonic DX-4,500. It's Germany and Japan taking an L together on the world stage again and it's that clip of Paul Rudd on hot ones. Look at us. Hey, look at us. Look at us. Who would have

thought? Not me. That hit a little bit different. It's such an episode. Yeah. You can find us on everywhere, our Twitter, Blue Sky, Daily Zikeyes. We're at the Daily Zikeyes on Instagram. You can go to the description of the episode wherever you're listening to

and there at the bottom you will find the footnotes. Footnotes? Ah, where you can find all of the links to the articles we talked about. As well as a song, I think you might enjoy. What song is that going to be? Just, again, I've just been kind of mellow stuff, stuff that feels like summer, stuff that feels like you could watch the sunset to it, or maybe the sun rise to it.

This one is called Walkin by Andy Beets, B-E-A-T-Z, just like a, you know, producer, One of those just like simple boom bat producers. Feels like somebody you just put on, have it on the background. Lo-fi girl. Read your book. Make your coffee. Make your tea.

Make your eggs. Whatever you do, put that on. It's nice and easy. That's walking by Andy Beats. All right. The Daily Zike guys is a production of IHard Radio. So for more podcasts from My Heart Radio is the Iriad app, Apple Podcast. Everybody get your shows for free.

That's going to do it for us. Today, we'll be back. What is that? A little bit later to tell you what's trending. Until then. Bye. Bye. The Daily Zykeyes is executive produced by Catherine Law.

Co-produced by Victor Wright. Co-written by J.M. McNabb. Edited and engineered by Justin Conner. Joy is essential and it's also elusive. But now, there's a new and exciting way to start your journey toward a more joyful existence. Joy 101. It's a new podcast hosted by me, How to Coppe. If you're craving inspiration to maximize your joy, tune into these candid, uplifting,

and moving on-air chats. Open your free IHeart Radio app. Search Joy 101 and listen now. Joy 101 with Hoda Kotfi is presented by CVS. I'm Munges Chatekular and I'm back with a new season of my podcast, Skyline Drive. This time I talked to scientists, biopunks, curmudgins, blues owners, super seniors, and Goa's top cryotherapy lab to try to understand this obsession with living forever and what it means for all of us.

And I get into a bit of trouble along the way. I'd say probably start bone smashing. That doesn't work. To make it look more defined. They say it works. I don't know. Listen to Skyline Drive, How to Live Forever, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcast. Your husband is not who you think he is. Your body is not what you thought it was. Your identity is formed by a secret history. I'm Danny Shapiro. And these are just a few of the stunning stories I'll be exploring on the 14th season of Family Secret. He kind of shoved me out of the way and said, move.

And he went out the front door and he jumped in a car and drove off. And that was the last time I saw him. Listen to season 14 of Family Secrets on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Betrayal Weekly is back with brand new stories from threatening text messages disturbing a small Midwestern town. It was from an unknown number. Who else is getting these messages? Why did it start with us? to long cons and stolen identities.

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