The Daily Zeitgeist - NYTimes Covid Fanfic, Cocaine Bear Gets Us 02.28.23

Episode Date: February 28, 2023

In episode 1431, Jack and guest co-host Jamie Loftus are joined by co-host of Just Between Us and author of Overthinking About You, Allison Raskin, to discuss… Two Big Covid Stories Revise Things So Trump / Republicans Were Right, Woody Harrelson’s SNL Monologue Was Just an Anti-Vax Rant? ‘Cocaine Bear’ is the Ultimate Pandemic Movie and more! The New York Times Mask Op-Ed Tweet Thread Woody Harrelson’s SNL Monologue Was Just an Anti-Vax Rant? Here's the Bonkers Conspiracy Theory Blaming 5G for the Coronavirus Martin Sheen and Woody Harrelson set for 9/11 'truther' film September Morn Unpacking the conspiracy theory that Woody Harrelson's father killed John F. Kennedy ‘Cocaine Bear’ is the Ultimate Pandemic Movie The True Story of Cocaine Bear Eats, snorts and bereaves: killer Cocaine Bear grips Hollywood 'Cocaine Bear' Cast and Character Guide: Who Stars in the Grizzly Horror Comedy LISTEN: Maureen by Illa JSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm Jess Casavetto, executive producer of the hit Netflix documentary series Dancing for the Devil, the 7M TikTok cult. And I'm Clea Gray, former member of 7M Films and Shekinah Church. And we're the host of the new podcast, Forgive Me for I Have Followed. Together, we'll be diving even deeper into the unbelievable stories behind 7M Films and Shekinah Church. Listen to Forgive Me for I Have Followed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Keri Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese.

Every great player needs a foil. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have

changed the way we consume women's sports. Listen to the making of a rivalry Caitlin Clark versus Angel Reese on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Hey, I'm Gianna Pardenti

and I'm Jermaine Jackson-Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. There's a lot to figure out when you're just starting your career. That's where we come in. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in people who do, like negotiation expert Maury Tahiripour. If you start thinking about negotiations as just a conversation,

then I think it sort of eases us a little bit. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, the internet, and welcome to season 277, episode two of Dirt Daily's iGuys Day production of iHeartRadio. Hey, who's that? If no magic, no yogis. My boss is the motherfucking P-O-P-E. That is courtesy of Salvador Jolly in reference to the new Russell Crowe joint in which he is the Pope's exorcist and gets to utter the line, If you got a problem with me, pick it up with my boss, the Pope, which I'm trying to make my own new catchphrase. I'm trying to absorb that into my life.

Well, I'm thrilled to be joined by a very special guest co-host, one of the very faces on Mount Zitemore, an Emmy-nominated writer, artist, comedian, behind many acclaimed podcasts, author of the upcoming New York Times bestseller, I'm going to manifest it into existence, Raw Dog.

It's Jamie Lofton! Woo! Minion time. Jamie will take over the daily zeitgeist. Dominion geist. Say

below and banana. Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. Look, I think it's fun. I think it's fun. I don't know if... I think it may have been so long that I haven't even been able to really fully talk Minions

on the Daily Zeitgeist. No. It's been way too long. It's been that long that you haven't been able to fully talk about the rise of Gru. Yeah.

Oh, the rise of Gru. oh the rise of grew yes and that i'm legally married to kevin lemon young there's just been so much going on yeah i'm so excited hi jack i'm so excited to have you thank you so much for being here it's so so wonderful to have you did you say dominion time at one point time. Yes, Jurassic Park Dominions. Okay. I was just wondering, like that was the first time that I realized that the minions were behind the Dominion voting scandal.

Like the, isn't that the name of the voting machines? Like how am I the first person to write this conspiracy theory? Come on, QAnon. And I mean, they like exactly they work they work for the most most evil master you know available at the time come on i just love that in minion world they have an elaborate reason for why the minions were had no ties to world war ii you're like oh my god they were living in a frozen cave then, Jack. Of course they were. Yeah. Yeah, for both of the world wars.

So relax. Yeah. I mean, I can't relax when it comes to the main story. I know. What were they up to and if they should have tried harder to get out of the frozen cave? Like, I mean. Did they get the news? Did they just, did they sit one out?

We don't know. We don't know. They're in supervillain circles like throughout all their existence and then just didn't even know this was coming. Like, come on. They're out by the 60s, though. So you kind of, I guess we just need to wait for the next movie to find out what they were up to during the Gulf War. I don't know. Yeah.

9-11, the Gulf War. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. They were the architects of all that CIA, like, false information. Oh, for sure. For sure. Wasn't it yellow cake uranium that was used to false?

Yellow. Interesting. I'm just connecting dots that are there. I'm not adding anything to this. Anyways. No, you're just stating facts. I'm stating facts. I'm doing my own research.

We are thrilled to be joined in our third seat by the author of the new book, Overthinking About You, about the intersection of dating and mental health. You know her from Just Between Us. It's the brilliant and talented Allison Raskin. Oh, wow. Thank you for having me. I did not know any of that about the minions yeah oh my god what i haven't seen a single one i haven't seen a despicable me i haven't seen a minion movie i i don't know about this rich history oh it's oh there's so much going on and troubling jack have you have you seen them all

because of your kids or are you just watching them for fun? I have, but not in order. It's like I'll walk in for a scene here and there. But usually if the kids are watching a movie, it's an opportunity to go get adult things done.

But I've been sucked in for entire chunks of the main movie what is it what is adult things do you like go watch meet joe black or something just constantly paying bills just bills stacking up on my desk and then just mailing them out the door with a real harried look on my face yeah yeah no i go watch meet Joe black. I don't know. That's like the most adult movie I can think of. Got adult things to do kids like the true love between the grim Reaper and somebody who met the grim Reaper.

Although it's not clear. I actually have never seen meet Joe black. I just, my parents had it and it was two vhs tapes so i was like damn that's grown up hours were you kind of like walking into the room to make sure that they were occupied and then going to do kids stuff was it like a reverse of how i treat my kids you were just like i needed to make sure i was good to go watch pinocchio uh and you can watch that's like you can watch Pinocchio three times in the runtime of Meet Joe Black.

That's true. Meet Joe Black is very long. And my dad really loves it. Like has given like he doesn't give me heartfelt soliloquies about much. But he has been like that Meet Joe Black is a hell of a film. Someone had to say it. He may be the first someone did allison how are you doing where are you coming to us from i'm in rainy los angeles so i know it's really going on don't know how to function overwhelmed by the wetness it's it's been it's been rough we're just like not we're not built

for it and then every time it comes up for like for people who live in cities that get snow they're like oh shut the fuck up you're like okay but it's raining and it's actually really hard for us we're not built for it it just falls apart right away like so it started raining hard friday night and someone immediately like one of the traffic lights in my neighborhood went down a car immediately like sped through that intersection knocked over a like telephone electric pole like knocked out power and internet to our entire neighborhood for the whole weekend. It's just like, this is just, just rain. Just rain.

Yeah. My friend had another one where somebody hit a pole and then she lost power and she had to stay at my house for a night. Yeah. But it's funny that it's not just the weather. It's people driving into poles. Seems to be a main cause of the issue. Yeah. Fascinating. I didn't see that cause of the issue. Yeah. Fascinating. I didn't see that part coming.

Yeah. Yeah. No. Just right away, there's a knocked over telephone pole. The trees are getting knocked over, too, which I'm a little confused by. I think just the wind, climate change. I'm not sure. That's my catchphrase.

The wind, climate change. I'm not sure. That and the Pope is your boss catchphrase. The wind climate change. I'm not sure. That and the Pope is your boss. Yeah. I mean, leave it to the Pope. Pope is going to figure it out. All right, Allison, we're going to get to know you a little bit better in a moment. First, we're going to tell our listeners a couple of things we're talking about today. We're talking about there are like two big covid stories that were like revised over the weekend or over the past week. that were like revised over the weekend or over the past week like one in the new york times i was like masks don't work at all like never at all have they worked and that is a fact and then another that in the wall street journal that claimed that they now have like it was like

breaking news we now have like evidence that covid was caused by a lab leak in Wuhan. And yeah, it just feels like there's... And then Woody Harrelson's SNL monologue was like a weird anti-vax rant. It was? I watched that show and I like it. Yeah. Big fan. Okay, well, I guess we'll get okay well i guess we'll get there yeah we'll get there i mean it wasn't like a full-on antivax rant but like he had this long like it was weird

this long like story in the middle of it yeah so we'll talk about that it just feels like things like in what's supposed to be the center are moving right in a weird way so we'll talk about that we will of course talk about cocaine bear, which also according to our writer, JM may be the ultimate pandemic movie. I've never seen a concept for a movie. I would want to see less. Whoa.

And maybe that's because I know the bear dies. Like, I don't want to watch a movie about an animal. And even if the animal is doing bad things and then the animal dies, like, no, thank you. It looks like the animal is very fun. I'm trying to think. My reaction was quite the opposite. Yeah, it's having fun before it goes out.

But yeah, I can sympathize i guess my mind didn't immediately go to like oh buddy i have to know before i watch anything if any animals die in it because if they do i i have to opt out so no john wick no i've never been able to see a single john wick movie because even though I hear they're excellent, because I know that the central, you know, act, the catalyst moment is his dog dying. So it's no for me. It's devastating. It's no for me. But before we get to any of that shit, Allison, we do like to ask our guest, what is something from your search history?

A lot of my search history is like what my dogs can and cannot eat so a more recent one cocaine is that okay it seems like it's okay based on this movie it seems like dogs get really good at jumping that would be my guess i recently googled can dogs have sparkling water? And what do you think was the answer? What would your guess be? No, too spicy. My guess would be yes, and it will be hilarious to watch them react to it. They can have it in small amounts if there's no flavoring. Okay.

So you can't have any kind of flavored sparkling water. But in a pinch, I guess they can have a little bit. But it seems like, it also seemed funny, they were like, and some picky drinkers might be intrigued by the bubbles. You're on a slippery slope there.

Where your dog's like, uh, Perrier, please. Did dogs like it? I don't know. You're on a slippery slope there where your dog's like, Perrier, please. Yes. Did dogs like it? I don't know. I never tried. Now I'm a little curious. But I personally hate it.

So I've never liked sparkling water of any kind. And that's deeply upsetting to everybody in my life. and that's deeply upsetting to everybody in my life. So you were thinking about going out to buy, like acquire some sparkling water for your dog. Like it wasn't a thing you had laying around and we're like sipping on it and the dog was looking at you and you're like, oh, maybe it was like a thing where you're like, I feel like they might really fuck with sparkling water.

Let me look into this. No, my fiance is a big fan and he okay he asked the question and i did the google okay that's true teamwork yeah that's partnership what is something you think is overrated okay so we're we're planning our our wedding and so that obviously gets you thinking about a lot of like these traditions around that. And something that I even before this process has found to be overrated is a formal thank you card. I think it is really annoying for the people to do who are writing them out, especially after a big event. And then I think most people read them for one second and throw them out right so i'm more of a fan of a of a text a quick text thank you but a formal thank you card i don't know i i i'm wondering if as a society we can sort of start to leave that behind so i i've recently received one from a couple for an engagement party and they took a video it was very charming and like

they you know them just expressing their heartfelt thanks and you know it seemed like it took less time than like writing writing a thing out and then we we just attempted it yesterday because it's my five-year-old's birthday and so we were like well we don't want to go through the trouble of of having him you know us writing the cards and then painstakingly getting him to write his name out and like a couple words so we did videos after he opened it and was like super excited about the gift and it worked really well like i think little videos are are fun are a fun alternative also probably a little taxing especially from kids yeah from kids definitely fun oh wow so then how do you get them the video is it in an email is it a yeah email or text url just a text or yeah

that makes sense i like that so an update on it yeah jamie we did go to chucky cheese for his birthday party i know but i'll pretend to learn again i'm so excited i i saved a couple of questions for you for on my so yeah you said you said that the one you went to there's no more band but there is one chuck there's the one there is an animatronic chuck and when you enter and the lights are all right because like it's we did a thing where you go in before it opens up and like have like the video games to yourself but you also get a tear yeah elite tear chuck experience the the couture chucky chucky cheese experience but when you when you enter and there are no lights on his eyes are like black holes and it yeah that'll happen upsetting yeah it looks like a character from one of those medieval paintings that's just like them go going nuts on

like the idea of a punishing god they're just just like, what, what circle of hell? Yeah. How did the kids react to the animatronic? Did they ignore it? Did they engage with it? Completely ignored it. Well, that's just not to call your,

your child and their friends disgusting, but what a, what a lost, what a missed opportunity and what a lost generation. I was trying to get attention to it. I was like, you know, doing a little dancing over by it and being like, it's talking kind of. Guys, check this out.

Check it out. His mouth wasn't moving, but his hands were in a way that was completely dissociated from his voice, but it was close enough that you could kind of tell that that's what was supposed to be happening. That is something that bugs me. I mean, the top two Chuck E. Cheese things that bother me right now. Right now.

It's always changing. Your list is constantly updating. Is that people, they're like, well, did you know his middle name is Entertainment? I was like, all right, call me in 2014. And that's when I didn't know that. I didn't know that. I didn't know that. Oh, his middle name is Entertainment. Jamie's a connoisseur.

I don't think I've ever been to a true Chuck E. Cheese. And now you can't. That's the problem. All the animatronic bands are gone. Even the Chuck E. you're describing, which is a mid-2000s model after he's already been changed from a rat to a mouse that skateboards. Yeah. He's already got the voice of the guy from Bowling for Soup.

So it's already a lesser experience. He used to smoke. He used to smoke a big fat cigar. But now. Did he really? Oh, yeah. Early Chucky was the band leader. He played no instruments.

He just yelled at the band. He didn't even sing. James Brown style. Yeah. He just he was an emcee. He smoked a big cigar. He was a rat and he ran a casino. And that was what happened.

He's still giving rat, by the way, because of the color. Like his fur is like a dirty gray it looks like every rat i've ever encountered and i think that's what you get from him the vibe chucky should be giving should be like if he was in your house you would kill him not you would make him your pet yes yeah not you would make him your pet. Yes. Yeah. Now, are you saying that you don't like the lead singer from Bowling for Soup?

Because that's one of my favorite bands of all time. No, I'm glad that he's getting those Chucky checks. I think it's more just like they made Chucky so friendly when he used to be a little hostile. And I kind of liked when he was a little hostile. I don't even remember when he was hostile, but I've watched so many hours of video. Yeah. Anyways, Pasquale is the best character. Did you see any Pasquale?

No Pasquale. I don't think so. I don't know who Pasquale is, to be honest with you. He's the one human in Chucky Cheese. He's anian pizza chef but he also plays the drums oh okay and he does stand-up comedy no no pasquale that i saw at all unfortunately pizza's still very good they are they have shifted into a new thing where it's like very needy and they like they open the truck the announcement that chucky cheese is going to come out by like running a psyop where they're like attention someone's car is parked in the

loading zone they like read off a fake license plate number i thought it was real but then like they accidentally played the recording a second time and it happened again like 20 minutes later so they just have that as a thing that i think is designed to get everyone's attention and get everyone to like shut the fuck up so chuck can do his thing but they the the most noticeable kind of dissonance is between how excited they want you to be for the arrival of chucky cheese the person in the chucky cheese costume and how like uninterested everybody is in it no kind of their knowledge that that is also the case like the the people who work there are just kind of like yeah kind of going through the motions unfortunately but it was a blast i do recommend a chucky cheese birthday party it's i wonder how

much time we have left with with chuck and friends they seem to have reinvented themselves as just like an arcade which isn't a thing that really exists in most places anymore. And so kids think, kids call like arcades Chuck E. Cheese's in the five-year-old set. So yeah, I think they've just, I think they did a smart thing. Got rid of the ball pits, unfortunately, with COVID.

But yeah, it was the easiest way to, you would get so sick. It didn't, who knows how many diseases could be contracted. Right. Yeah. The balls at the bottom of the ball pit were, I hope that when they got rid of the ball pits, those were donated to science. Just to be like, what has been growing in here?

Yeah, there's new species. Yeah, absolutely. Allison, what is something you think is underrated? I'm a very picky eater and something I've realized that I haven't been eating enough of because it is delicious and lovely

is melon. I think melon has a really bad rap a lot of times when you're like, oh, I'll have a side of fruit. People will be like, what kind of fruit? And when people say melon, they go, ugh. But good melon is really lovely.

And it's harder to get, I feel, like gross melon. Like when I buy berries, berries are so expensive. And then they're like moldy in one day or like taste disgusting. We're like, you buy a whole melon, you got fruit for days, less chances that it will be horrifying, a bad bite. So I'm really pro-melon over here is my new thing. And are you just chipping off? Wow, the melon lobbyists bought you out. Yeah, they have.

For not much. So you're leaving the melon intact and then just like kind of chipping off pieces as you go. Do you cut the whole melon up and like just have it that way? Because, yeah, I do feel like melons have a better shelf life than other like kind of fruit once you open them. Yeah. I got all these half open bananas and they don't last well at all. No. I've got to say.

Oh, God. bananas and they they don't last well at all no i think it's i think something that gets in the way of melon melon eating is that uh it seems like a lot of work but if you sort of go into and say okay now i'm gonna cut up my melon you pre-cut it all up then you have melon for days it's already ready to go yeah i like melon for days that's enough to sell me on a melon yeah i can't remember the last time i bought a melon but i also i don't know i can't remember really the last time i brought i bought produce that was like not disgusting but that's what i'm saying melon is a way around disgusting produce and it's much more affordable. And it's affordable.

Yeah. And great names for the melons. Cantaloupe and honeydew are both well-named fruits. A lot of pun possibilities. Are we including water in the melon family? Definitely. Oh, yeah. Yeah, of course.

Okay. Okay. I'm just checking. Yeah. Of course. Okay. Okay. I'm just checking guys. Of course, Jamie. Did you not read the notes that we got from the melon lobby? This is all a way of pushing all melons. Make sure to read the brand name next. Yeah.

But I do think watermelon has a good rep. Whereas honeydew and cantaloupe are the real underrated all-stars that need to be back in the circulation absolutely wrap a little wrap a little ham around that shit oh so good i don't i don't think that's there's there's another word for it that for the ham that you're supposed to use. Ham melon. Yeah. Do you guys have any ham melons that I could order for my appetizer? And they're like, wow, this guy

knows his stuff. Cultural force over here. All right. Let's take a quick break and we'll come back and we'll talk some COVID stuff. Cool? No. Yes. I'm Jess Casavetto, executive producer of the hit Netflix documentary series Dancing for the Devil, the 7M TikTok cult.

And I'm Clea Gray, former member of 7M Films and Shekinah Church. And we're the host of the new podcast, Forgive Me For I Have Followed. Together, we'll be diving even deeper into the unbelievable stories behind 7M Films and LA-based Shekinah Church, an alleged cult that has impacted members for over two decades. Jessica and I will delve into the hidden truths between high control groups and interview dancers, church members, and others whose lives and careers have been impacted, just like mine. Through powerful, in-depth interviews with former members and new, chilling firsthand accounts, the series will illuminate untold and extremely necessary perspectives. Forgive Me For I Have Followed will be more than an exploration. It's a vital revelation aimed at ensuring these types

of abuses never happen again. Listen to Forgive Me For I Have Followed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I've been thinking about you. I want you back in my life. It's too late for that. I have a proposal for you. Come up here and document my project. All you need to do is record everything like you always do. One session, 24 hours. BPM 110, 120. She's terrified. Should we wake her up? Absolutely not. What was that? You didn't figure it out? I think I need to hear you say it. That was live audio of a woman's nightmare. This machine is approved and everything? You're allowed to be doing this?

We passed the review board a year ago. We're not hurting people. There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing. They're just dreams. Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm. Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. How do you feel about biscuits? Hi, I'm Akilah Hughes, and I'm so excited about my new podcast, Rebel Spirit, where I head back to my hometown in Kentucky and try to convince my high school to change their racist mascot, the Rebels,

into something everyone in the South loves, the Biscuits. I was a lady rebel. Like, what does that even mean? The Boone County Rebels will stay the Boone County Rebels with the image of the Biscuits. It's right here in black and white in print. A lion. An individual that came to the school

saying that God sent him to talk to me about the mascot switch is a leader. You choose hills that you want to die on. Why would we want to be the losing team? I just take all the other stuff out of it. Segregation academies, when civil rights said that we need to integrate public schools, these charter schools were exempt from that. Bigger than a flag or mascot. You have to be ready for serious backlash. Listen to Rebel Spirit on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. And there are two COVID stories that seem to be making the rounds from like climate change and, you know, just dismissing it as like an activist thing.

That's that's the thing that I'm noticing more and more popular in the mainstream is like, yeah, ensure climate activists will tell you that this is something to be worried about. But this time he came through with a story where he was he was quoting a study from Oxford that is basically like masks don't really work or we don't the the study like the actual abstract of the study was like we don't have evidence that masks work and when people who understand how studies work like dug into it they were like this is a study that should basically be read as there haven't been enough good mask studies essentially like that that was the conclusion that was drawn but that's not the trad cath reed that is not the trad cath reed he he basically take that up with your boss the pope jack like this seems like a huge problem it does and yeah you know you but my my quote is actually that if if you have a problem with me you can take that up with my boss, the Pope. I don't take things up with him. I'm actually scared of him. But yes, like, yeah, just the details of the studies are

all examples where people like didn't have proper education on them, on like how to use them, or there was like no way to guarantee that they were using them with any sort of consistency. was like no way to guarantee that they were using them with any sort of consistency. And so like basically the two scientific sides of the conversation are like masks work when used correctly and consistently, but mask mandates don't work because people don't actually like follow them versus masks work. So of course there should be mandates when you're trying to prevent the spread of disease. Like there's never any scientist who's coming out and being like masks themselves never work. And why are we even talking about this? But the way he like opens the article is there is just no evidence that they masks make any difference. Full stop. And I don't know. make any difference full stop and i don't know so wild i'm i'm getting a master's in psychology and i'm right now i'm in my research methods class and so i couldn't be more prepared for this discussion um you know you go into these classes and you're like well why would i even

need to understand how to read a research study like you know but it's so true that like when people like write these like clickbaity articles off of these research studies it's like they're pulling the wrong thing they don't even understand what the study is saying it's so easy to like trick people but this one feels like especially egregious in that like the study itself wasn't even making the claims that like let alone like that this guy's making where like some studies in themselves are just bad studies and i think that was another big thing is like we just haven't even had enough good studies on masks like if anything this should just be this should prove that we need to like spend more money researching masks so that people will believe it but i also feel like even if we did those studies people who don't want to believe in masks would be like well those are

the fake studies right right uh which which i totally agree is like complicated by a sort of fundamental misunderstanding that like not all studies are created equal they're not all done as broadly and how i don don't know. I feel like sometimes when like, I'll, I'll, I'll go ahead and throw my own mother under the bus in this case. Like if my mom's coming to me with like, I saw a study, she'll talk about it as if it's like from the university of good and accurate science, like just like it was studied. Therefore it must be true with, which I did at one time also. But then it's like the more you look into it, like sometimes studies are paid for by people who want certain results.

The control groups can vary and just like all this other stuff that is like more common knowledge now. But even so, this is like such a bad faith reading of a study that we don't even know how like well it was conducted so it's like a right a hat on a hat issue a little pope hat on a pope hat if you will and it wasn't even a study about covid right it was like done before covid and yeah a lot of the studies a lot of the studies that were in the thing were from before COVID or like right as COVID was happening and people didn't have like any education on how to wear masks or like they gave a huge chunk of the population of people like traveling to Mecca for the pilgrimage, like a bunch of masks.

And then they were like, and they actually got COVID more than the other people. But it was like, they had no control, no understanding, no insight into like whether they were wearing them, like if they were wearing them the entire 24 hours, which presumably they were not. And it was like not at a time when masking was particularly popular. So, yeah, it just it's a mess. It's like very complicated and it just feels like there is this push in the center to like revise things so they're not complicated. And so that the government was wrong and doing it to because they were mean, because they they're just mean, strict parents.

Like, I don't know. I feel like they're working through some issues or something. There's also just like this sense of like, well, something is not 100% effective all of the time, no matter how I do it, then it's useless. Right. Like it's like and you see that with like vaccines and boosters and all this stuff where it's like, you know, it's not like when you get in a car accident and you still get hurt but you were wearing your seatbelt you're not like well i'm never gonna wear my seatbelt again like yeah like this expectation that like well if it doesn't work 100 that it's totally made up and and stuff like this supports that when like any basic

understanding of like how germs are transmitted. Masks are clearly doing something. Yeah. The seatbelt was the metaphor that a letter to the editor used. Like it was universally like this article was panned by scientists. They were like, this is crazy. But yeah, they were like, so should we stop requiring like putting laws in place to wear seatbelts? like so should we stop requiring like putting laws in place to wear seatbelts because sometimes people don't wear them properly and like get hurt as a result of that which yeah i think that's a good metaphor this is some minion shit i mean and also it like it i don't know i i there's still so

many like i've seen a lot of immunocompromised people online being like i'm once again being bullied for wearing a mask at the fucking airport like yes for and this time it's like by people that probably wouldn't have been doing that three years ago it's really really bizarre to see that kind of shift yeah that seems to be like the aggressive behavior we're seeing is not people being like, could you wear a mask? It's like, it's people getting mad at people wearing a mask. And like, just in my personal life, like, that's what I've seen is someone walking in and be like, well, fuck, we wear masks, huh? It's just like, gee, like, what? I just don't. And like, it's kind of the same question I have for like a Brett Stevenson or, you know, any of these people who like work for these big, you know, centrist journalistic institutions is like, what do you think you're helping here by like trying to shame people for having suggested like we know that they help people sometimes. So like what exactly are is your angle here is kind of right a question that comes up a lot it just seems like annoyance it's like a way for

people not to feel bad about their choices right because if masks don't work then i don't have to feel bad that i'm not wearing a mask and i think that that's really been at least like, you know, my theory, like seeing being like one of the last people I know that still masks, even though I'm surrounded by liberal minded people, people who took COVID very seriously at the beginning to see them all sort of drop off on wearing masks. And I think it is like almost this exhaustion of like I can no longer mentally tolerate the idea that I need to mask or that COVID is still real. And therefore, I'm going to I have to believe that it's not. So then I won't do things that like are scientifically proven to help. Yeah, this article was written because audiences want it to be true, essentially. Yeah. Yeah. There's also a Wall Street Journal article that was like, we now indicate that this was settled.

And then all of the follow-ups were like, this is still an active debate where most of the evidence suggests the normal version of events that we got was the right one. All of the early cases seem to cluster around this wet market. All of the early cases seem to cluster around this wet market. And yes, there is a lab that would be a candidate for like leaking this sort of thing in Wuhan. But that doesn't mean that it happened that way. And even and like the Wall Street Journal headline were talking about like was they were like we suspect this with a very low level of certainty but it just gets filtered back to being yeah we we figured it out racists were right well i was like it's like and for those of us with brains that are so tiny what is the ideological advantage of this being true versus the wet market you can blame china yeah okay just confirm china and chinese people yeah cool cool cool okay so

that's what the wall street journal is going to do today cool yeah yeah that it was like china was working on this virus that got out of their lab. And so we can 100% put the blame on them and like their massive cover up of what happened. It's interesting because this story keeps coming back, right? Like we had the Vanity Fair article a few months ago and now it's like getting on Wall Street Journal. And it is this interesting thing of like, if it ends up being true, I'm very scared. Like I don't want it to be true because then I think it will just lead to so much like racism and anti-Asian hate and like strange relations. And like, I much prefer that it just like was transferred from animals to humans at

a wet market like that feels like a you know but then i'm sometimes like oh well do i have to like allow for the possibility that this could be true since all these major news organizations keep talking about it right but like they keep talking about it but they have yet to to prove it in any definitive way right like with the same level of accusatory like baselessness that they did three years ago yeah yeah and i mean like when you look at what scientists were warning about in like before covet happened like they were all about like yeah this zoological, like this leap from animals to humans is the most likely way that this is going to happen. And, but when you look at like

how, how it happens usually in like movies, like 12 monkeys or something, like it's, it's a science, like an evil scientist wanting to hurt people. And so I feel like there's something about that version of events that is just like, I don't know, like more narratively appealing. And the right is trying to capitalize on that to drive up the racism industry. I don't know. Well, then it's also feels more preventable in the future, right? If it was just like this lab leak from a foreign government versus, oh, these diseases pass from animals to humans kind of naturally. And that's something that can like keep happening weird rambling anecdote with a punchline that was

basically just like that vaccine. So he was like biggest drug cartel. He was like, imagine a world or he said, I have a script where the biggest drug cartel in the world get together and buy up all the media and all the politicians and force all the people in the world to stay locked in their homes and people can only come out if they take the cartels drugs and keep them keep taking them over and over who's gonna believe that crazy idea yeah he also like called himself a marxist while he was like doing this which right that's like i mean i guess i don't know i don't know much about the politics of woody harrelson and i stand by not knowing that right that's a strong decision that is such like lazy word salad that again it's just like that's just like not someone you expect to hear that kind of

bullshit from yeah very bizarre the whole monologue i was like who approved this like who wrote this and approved it like what did he just go rogue it was like so kind of like stumbling and strange and yeah i mean and then elon musk being like this was a great monologue that's like that to me is like just like if you had any doubt about whether it sucked right there it is that's the new fear i feel like it's like if elon musk will approve of what you've done you're like no no no no no i wanted so much more from him after i saw a triangle of sadness when he was like a socialist uh boat captain who just like right who who like has like coherent perspectives but of course in America, like it's going to be more like somebody who's, you know, listened to too many episodes of Joe Rogan and thinks that that makes him like a free

thinker. But yeah, he has previously posted about the theory that 5G is exacerbating the COVID outbreak and once signed up to co-star in a movie that was just like 12 Angry Men but made by 9-11 truthers. Oh my God. Yeah, I had the same reaction where I was like, not Woody.

And it's like, oh, he's been, Woody's been Harrelson-ing. He's been Harrelson-ing. His brain's been boiling in that in that big old head well that's a damn shame yeah also the oh man 12 angry men by 9-11 truthers does sound like a really solid 30 rock fake thing right yeah absolutely the world has turned into 30 rock also his dad is one of the suspects in the jK assassination, like in a bunch of JFK assassination conspiracy theories. Really? Yeah, this is wild. His dad like murdered a very famous judge.

Yeah. Which is like a whole nother bananas backstory to Woody Harrelson. Woody Harrelson is murder nepotism? Yeah. Yeah. That's right. Wow. i'm confused and i feel lost yeah i mean i don't know i but i i do think that there is just an overall movement towards the right like that's happening in the mainstream culture because the the American like media and like the American sort of central ethos like rejects socialism as a as anything serious, anything that can be taken seriously. And so the other option is like leaning towards the right and like slowly moving everything towards the right. And so it

just feels like people are still like, man, Trump, Trump's an idiot. Right. But they're they're just these like tiny like baby steps that are being taken by what is supposed to be the center. And it's fucking bummer. But I think probably is where things are headed more and more, unfortunately. I wonder, like on the set of saturday night live if there was like pushback that this was going to be their monologue you know like how does the cast and writers feel about that that this show is becoming more moderated to the right and everything yeah given the makeup of that room i would assume that there is but i i don't really know where like the buck stops in that situation. Like Pedro Pascal's monologue from a couple weeks ago was clearly him just like

telling a story that he tells to people because like it's charming in person and like it's just like famous people telling their like famous people stories that everyone's charmed by. And so I wonder like if that is a genre of like monologue that they have of just like just let woody get up there and do his thing in this case it was ill-advised but the studio audience was like huh like even though there's no there's like a giant sign that's like clap laugh like blasting like blasting them in the face. You know, they were still kind of like, oh, they still had their free will. When there was ever a punch line, you could tell there was just like relief from the audience. Yeah.

But that's like, OK, this is I meant to laugh here because I didn't sort of know what to do with the rest of it. He's like, and I still smoke weed, though. And everyone's like, yes. Yes. That is what we like about you. That's like, and I still smoke weed though. And everyone's like, yes! Yes! Woo! Yes! That is what we like about you. That's very countercultural in the year 2023. Right.

All right. Let's take a quick break. We'll come back. We'll talk a little Cocaine Bear. We'll be right back. I'm Jess Casavetto, executive producer

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And we're back. And so Cocaine Bear came out last weekend. I think it did pretty well. I actually don't know. Yeah, it came out. It did well right behind Ant-Man 7 or whatever.

Right. The one that made everybody just be like, i don't know man i'm out yeah we always think it's the one that says it makes people say i don't know man i'm out but then they're like well it made a billion dollars so yeah you have to watch seven more it is doing pretty well uh yeah so cocaine bear debuted with 23 million so that's that's pretty good it's like it seems like it's escaped the snakes on a plane curse where it's like if the internet loves the thing and says they're gonna go see a movie they actually won't so you can just ignore it it seems like they kind of got this one right by just making it super fun. So I still haven't seen it. J.M., our writer, saw it. Oh, I'm jealous. uncertainty around that and just like a thing happening that like our brains can't make sense of i also just so the wall street journal not to keep picking on the the journal here but they

dropped a story on people like an alert that was like the true story behind cocaine bear is even crazier than the movie which is a movie in which a bear ingests a bunch of cocaine and gets superpowers like that's crazy what was what was wilder about it according to the wall street i just it's their explanation was that like an ad an ad guy made they were like that so part of the backstory is that they have the actual cocaine bear at this lexington kentucky museum the lexington kentucky's fun mall which is an intriguing place having fun in the title is very smart marketing yeah just a fun mall hopefully not a yeah hopefully not a promise that backfires.

So it's just made up by some ad executives. So there was a bunch of cocaine dropped from a plane in Georgia. They found the cocaine and a bear next to it that had eaten some of the cocaine. And that is the extent of the story. And then two Kentucky ad exec execs were like wouldn't it be funny if we took this taxidermy bear that we have and put it in our thing and said it was cocaine bear and that is the story that the wall street journal claimed is crazier than a bear actually ingesting pounds of cocaine and getting superpowers i mean the wall Journal, in addition to having a lot of bad journalism, they're also just fucking dorks.

So, of course, they would think this boring-ass story is more interesting than the plot of Cocaine Bear. Yeah. I do think that this bear taxidermy in Kentucky is fun. It's wearing a little hat, and you can't take that away from the taxidermy. Yeah, they put a little hat on it in a red gold chain, which is fun. It's wearing a little hat. Yeah, they put a little hat on it and a red gold chain, which is fun. Something that has changed about me

recently is that I'm really into seeing taxidermy in a public place. I'm very ready for it. As long as it was ethically done. And I do ask every mall manager and every airport manager that has. But I've been to a couple airports recently that have taxidermy there.

And I like it. And then I took a taxidermy class myself. And I liked it. It was fun. Wow. What a turn for you. Do you think finding a bear that overdosed on cocaine in the woods and then stuffing it, is that ethical? Well, it more depends on like what

species the bear was there's like a bunch of i've read a lot about taxidermy law um it depends on like what species the bear was as long as it wasn't you know killed to be stuffed that's obviously like the biggest ethical issue but if it died of natural causes or even cocaine causes it just really can't be taxidermy causes that i think taxidermy just like freaks a lot of people out which is understandable and you obviously shouldn't kill an animal specifically to stuff it right but you know cocaine bear lives on in a way in the fun mall question mark maybe better places for it but right maybe not that fine. I'm open to being taxidermied. Okay.

At any particular airport that you want to see yourself displayed at? I think Logan International at the JetBlue terminal would be good. Oh, you had that answer ready to go. Near the legal seafoods. In the legal seafoods, if possible. If possible. And what would the display display like what would be happening

during the display like what would you be teaching would you be podcasting would you be no i think pretty similar to cocaine yeah i would be yeah i'd be wearing a hat and a gold chain yeah sunglasses look like someone who partied too hard yeah yeah exactly um i'd like to really get a retroactive party girl personality when I die. that quote there was no greater metaphor for the chaos that we were all feeling in 2020 than a bear high on cocaine which i i like i do think that this has to happen right we've been talking about how like during the iraq war the second iraq war like nobody was really seeing movies about the iraq war but like everybody was watching like these torture porn movies and then like fast zombie movies and like that so i don't know if like drug crazed animal is going to be the next like version of that that we use to like deal with our complicated unacknowledged angst around the pandemic but there seems to be like an argument

for it i don't i think i'm gonna have to see the movie to fully understand like what what exactly it is about it that is evoking covid but i think it's like the unpredictability right like i've never dealt with a bear on cocaine before. What what do I do to protect myself? Right. Yeah. Yeah. Do you run away? Do you lie down?

Like if you climb a tree like bears can't climb trees. Right. Oh, wait. When they're on cocaine, they actually can. According to this movie. But I mean, in real life, the bear just immediately died. It just died. Yeah.

I was really sad. I know. Yeah. I would also watch the Sundance sleeper hit about the bear that eats cocaine and just dies, sadly. Right. It's more of a family drama. Honestly, I haven't seen it yet. I'm going to see it this week.

But I don't know. I haven't seen it yet. I'm going to see it this week. But I don't know. This movie and a couple different movies that have done well recently, I feel like these feel like depression movies, basically. Where movies that don't have anything to do with anything, really. And they're just fun and distracting. And they're just big, goofy movies that are about whatever.

I felt the same way about like and and that's not to say that that genre of movie can't be saying something and like i take elizabeth bank said her word there and but it's like the same thing with like megan like did incredibly well recently and like that does have like some commentary but it's mostly just like I want to see the robot dance and kill someone in an elevator and that would make me feel good on a Tuesday night to distract from the world falling apart I like that genre of movie I'm

glad cocaine bear people are liking it yeah Megan is truly at its best when she's dancing and just like putting on cool sunglasses it's really a lot of fun i saw i saw a very online video on twitter of the of megan dancing to the ariana debose rap she's doing flips to angela bassett did the thing it was very exciting uh the internet yeah yeah well so we at least the wall street journal totally fucking up

reporting on the movie is another way that we can add to the the idea that the cocaine bear represents covid and and our experience with that allison truly a pleasure having you on the daily zeitgeist as always where can people find you follow read your words, all that good stuff? Yeah, I have a weekly podcast called Just Between Us that has its main episodes on Wednesdays and then also like a fun Reddit exploration episode on Mondays. And then you can check out my book, Overthinking About You, Navigating Romantic Relationships When You Have Anxiety, OCD, and or Depression, pretty much anywhere books are sold. check out my book over thinking about you navigating romantic relationships when you have anxiety OCD and or depression pretty much anywhere books are sold there you go and is there a tweet

or a work of media that you've been enjoying oh I found this tweet that I thought was just so lovely from Jack Callow and it said my mom started painting shared, like, four screenshots of, like, these really beautiful paintings. And the tweet's, like, blown up and has, like, has like over almost like 290,000 likes. And so I just like, like to imagine this, like this, like woman seeing her paintings, getting the credit that they deserve.

It brings me joy. Amazing. Jamie Loftus, where can people find you? And is there a work of media you've been enjoying? Yeah, you can follow me on Twitter still at Jamie Loftus Help. Instagram, Jamie Christ Superstar.

Listen to the Bechdel cast. Listen to any podcast you want, really. And then buy Raw Dog, my book about hot dogs, on May 23rd. You can pre-order it now. And you should. Go do that. You absolutely should. Right now. It's very good. It's so good.

Oh yeah, you guys have both read it. Exciting. Yeah, and we just revealed the hardcover art today, so I'm really excited about it. The tweet I am enjoying is from Jacob Oller, at Jacob Oller, O-L-L-E-Rr i don't know why jacob was watching

a it seems like a silent film about whalers but he posted some screenshots and captions that whaling slang still goes because it's like two whaling captains shaking hands. And then they say, farewell, Captain. Greasy luck. And I want to integrate that into my daily. That's my new email sign-off. Greasy luck. Greasy luck unto you. Yeah.

And a very greasy luck to you. Mine will be, if you have a problem with me, talk to my boss, the Pope, and we'll see how it goes. Please sign all your emails like that. Tweet I've been enjoying. Loanachafchen tweeted, 44-year-old guy at your work who says metric fuck ton. It's about a bear who does cocaine. Yeah, you heard that right. I just thought that was...

Love that guy who says metric thought that was. Yeah. Love that guy who says metric fuckton all the time. You can find me on Twitter at Jack underscore O'Brien. You can find us on Twitter at Daily Zeitgeist. We're at The Daily Zeitgeist on Instagram. We have a Facebook fan page and a website, DailyZeitgeist.com, where we post our episodes and our footnotes, where we link off the information that we talked about in today's episode,

as well as a song that we think you might enjoy. Super producer Justin, what is a song that we think people might enjoy? Well, this is a track that I thought was very touching and charming. This is a song by Illa J, which is J Dilla's younger brother. It's a song called Maureen that's just an homage to their mother. And it's very, it's just very nice. And it's got a cool style where it's got like this boom bap, like soulful style. It kind of reminds me of old Kanye West before he turned into a fucking super villain.

Speaking of minions, my God. But yeah, but I love this track. It's got a lot of heart. And yeah, if you want to check this out, it's called Maureen by Illa J. And you can find that song in the footnotes. Footnotes. The Daily Zeitgeist is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

you listen to your favorite shows. That is going to do it for us this morning. Back this afternoon to tell you what is trending. And we'll talk to you all then. Bye. Bye. I'm Jess Casavetto, executive producer of the hit Netflix documentary series, Dancing for the Devil, the 7M TikTok cult.

And I'm Clea Gray, former member of 7M Films and Shekinah Church. And we're the host of the new podcast, Forgive Me For I Have Followed. Together, we'll be diving even deeper into the unbelievable stories behind 7M Films and Shekinah Church. Listen to Forgive Me For I Have Followed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Listen to the making of a rivalry, Caitlin Clark versus Angel Reese, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Hey, I'm Gianna Pradenti.

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then I think it sort of eases us a little bit. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.