The Daily Zeitgeist - Uprising Turned Revolution, VR For Babies (Shouldn’t Exist) 10.06.22

Episode Date: October 6, 2022

In episode 1346, Jack and Miles are joined by comedian, Madison Shepard, to discuss... The Uprisings in Iran Aren’t Just About the Morality Police, Walmart Built a Creepy VR Toy Store and more! The Uprisings in Iran Aren’t Just About the Morality Police Interview with PARANDEH: In Iran, Mass Protests Are Chanting “No Mullahs, No Shah, Just Democracy” Walmart Built A Creepy VR Toy Store Walmart enters the metaverse with Roblox experiences aimed at younger shoppers Toy Commercials Are Being Replaced by Something More Nefarious Inside bizarre Walmart in the metaverse aiming to draw in ‘young users’ with ‘free toys’ Kids and the Metaverse: What Parents, Policy Makers, and Companies Need to Know ‘This is creating more loneliness’: The metaverse could be a serious problem for kids, experts say LISTEN: Calabria by RuneSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm Keri Champion, and this is Season 4 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.

Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Elf Beauty, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. 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. Hey, I'm Gianna Pradenti. And I'm Jemay 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. 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. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's basketball. And on this new season, we'll cover all things sports and culture. Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network,

iHeartRadio apps, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke. Hello, the internet, and welcome to season 257, episode 4 of The Daily Zeitgeist! A production of iHeartRadio. This is a podcast where we take a deep dive into America's shared consciousness, and it's Wednesday, October 6th, 2022. What are we working with today on the National Day?

10-6, big fella, National Coaches Day. Shout out all the coaches there, myself included. Your father included. Jack, you ever coach before? I have not coached before other than dabbling with life coaching. Oh, okay. Yes, thank you. Hey, I stopped biting my nails after working with you.

Yeah, for sure. You said just put spicy spices on your fingers. And that's actually my cure for most things, most maladies, not just chewing your nails. Just put spices on your fingers. It did help my insecurities as well. It's also National Mad Hatter Day. Shout out to, was that mercury poisoning? Is that why they were mad?

Exactly. National Noodle Day. National Orange Wine Day. I see you. People with the skin contact. People love fucking orange wine these days. Skin on skin. Yeah. National Plus Size Appreci Wine Day. I see you. People with the skin contact. People love fucking orange wine these days. Skin on skin. Yeah.

National Plus Size Appreciation Day. National German American Day. Boom. Hey, there we go. Shout out to German Americans. Yeah, what is that? Alex Schmidt. Schmitty the Klan.

You know, one of our finest, I think, German Americans. Anyways, my name is Jack O'Brien, a.k.a. Mountain Mountain Dew. Mountain Mountain Dew. I'm crazy like a fool. Because I drink Mountain Mountain Dew. That is courtesy of Bruce Chili's. And it's Daddy Cool by Boney M. Boney M is a group that I'm just gaining an appreciation

for because via my kids because they have a dope song about Rasputin. That's a lot of fun. And I'm just... Am I weird? Like was I just weirdly sheltered from Boney M or are they known? I don't know.

Anyways, I got to watch a YouTube video of them performing Daddy Cool this morning. Okay. And it is a lot of fun. Highly recommend. Anyways, I'm thrilled to be joined, as always, by my co-host, Mr. Miles Gray! Put a snake on me. Oh, to make fun of Chuck.

Put a snake on me. Come and python me up. Put a snake on me come and python me up put a snake on me i can't get enough shout out to tbz burner because you know what shaktoberfest we saw the logo of shaktoberfest looked like it was requisitely spooky but shack had to add a big snake on the logo for good measured i guess to make it scarier but it for us seemed a bit superfluous but whoq had to add a big snake on the logo for good measure, I guess to make it scarier, but it for us seemed a bit superfluous. But who are we to criticize Shaq Diesel's logo design? Shout out to TDZ Burner for that wonderful AKA. And inspired by yesterday's episode and my washed old Halloween decorations,

I rushed out this morning before this recording and got a 12-foot witch at Home Depot. Wow. That I will be struggling, attempting to put together for the next 30 days. Probably until right up until after Halloween. It comes in a box. You get it done at 11 p.m. on Halloween night. It's going to be a mess. But anyways, Miles, we are thrilled to be joined in our third seat

by one of the funniest up-and-coming stand-ups doing it. She's open for Maria Bamford and TDZ favorite Dulce Sloan. You've seen her on TV and things like Barry. And as Gail in Single Drunk Female, it's Madison Shepard! Madison! Hi.

What's up? Hi, guys. Welcome back, Madison. It's been too long. Thank you for having me. What's up? Hi, guys. Welcome back, Madison. It's been too long. Thank you for having me. I'm glad I can come back. Yeah. We were just talking about how the last time you were on, the episode was titled, Turns Out This Trump Guy Is An Asshole. So, I think we were being sarcastic, but it feels like it was early in our journey as a podcast and as a country.

100%. Yeah. I remember that episode because after I think I said like weed culture was overrated or something. Because all these like weed heads started tweeting at me about how I was wrong. And I was like, it's just not for me. I'm sorry. Yeah. Or just being like, and you're proving it.

Like, come on. Don't cape for it. Look, I love weed too, but I'm not going to waste my energy being like, hey, hey, it's cool. 2018 was a different year. Yeah, priorities, priorities shifted, hopefully, for those people. A lot of other shit going on that you could maybe get outraged about. But what else is new with you? Oh, gosh, not much.

You know, I'm just really excited. We're shooting season two of Single Drunk Female right now. Yeah. Well, yeah well they are obviously i'm back home in la right now so right um guest star so just you know i go when they want me and then i don't when they don't yeah yeah yeah you know okay okay where do you shoot that we shoot that in atlanta actually even though it's like set in boston so oh atl Atlanta is like every city you know what I mean right yeah they shoot everything there yeah they really make it uh very it's very malleable that Atlanta I mean like God bless the subsidies that's right yeah I feel like I know people who you who work in the film industry that just moved to Atlanta straight up or at least I

hear about them. I don't know. Yeah. But my uncle had like an apartment or my uncle had, he would just get an apartment there because production was taking him out there so much. And then it would be funny. He'd come back from Atlanta and like get his shit mixed up and be like,

where's that one? And I was like, wait, that's in Atlanta. Nevermind. I can't get there right now. Yeah. I,

I could see myself living there some of the time. I know a lot of people who have condos there and stuff. It just depends on how often you're there. If you're shooting an hour-long TV show, you're there six to eight months or something. It can be a very long time. And it's like, well, what's the point of not just being there for that time? Right, right, right. Yeah. What's something you like to do when you're in atlanta i try not to catch covet that's kind of my main oh nice gig yeah i've heard of that that's actually getting uh that was big for

like a little while in 2020 i feel like yeah people aren't talking about it. Oh, cool. Retro. I like that. Yeah, yeah. They're back. No, when I'm in Atlanta, I just like, I mostly stay in my hotel. I do get up at the Laughing Skull like a little bit. Like I'll always try to pop in there. Whatever Ian at Bear is hosting. At the time, I will pretty much do any show he asked me to do. But yeah, I get wings. I order J.R. Cricketickets hot wings yep you know lemon how do you get them okay wet yep there you go and i go to busy bees i get that on uber eats

it's not very exciting you know yeah when you're working it's not like you're like out there like well i have a whole social scene out here rather Rather than being like, I'm here to work and, you know, do whatever I can in between. Well, because I know so many people who have lost their gig because they tested positive like days before or hours before they were slated to get on set. And I'm like, I can't afford it. I'm sorry. Oh, right, right, right. Oh, my God. I didn't even think about it.

Yeah, that form of bag. Wait, so then in that instance, do, like, a standby performer in case? Like, in those times? Like, we were like, well, you know what happens. We're calling up the PA now. Depending on who it is. Like, if it's, like, a series regular or the lead of the movie or whatever, they will halt production. But short of it being, like, numbers one through three on the calls sheet right they just

write you out and it's right around you it's painful yeah you're just not in that episode or in in that section of the movie or whatever you're shooting i know somebody who's couldn't film their special because they were literally doing i guess like they like, they were about, they were, like, a day out from, like, shooting it. And while they were there, like, rehearsing or something, they got a positive result. And their special was no longer taping. Wow. Yeah. That actually happened to my friend Adele.

Yeah. I think she actually had some issues with that. I'm not sure. You guys might have heard of her. The computer? She's a real up-and-comer. Yeah. Oh, the singer. Okay.

All right. Well, we are going to get to know you a little bit better in a moment. First, we are going to tell our listeners a couple of the things that we're talking about today. We are going to talk about the uprisings in Iran, which aren't just about the morality police and what, you know, they've been going on for three weeks and they're both inspiring and the government response and crackdown has been horrifying. And, you know, we talk on here a lot about lack of America's lack of revolutionary imagination. And I feel like this is this is a good one to be paying attention to, especially because you look on any American news site and they are like there's like one article every six days and most of it's like it's bad and we're not going to tell you about like class solidarity or

anything that's occurring right yeah the new yorker like it's a it's very much leaderless and the new yorker like did this profile of a Air America, which I'm pretty sure is like the CIA radio station media outlet. Like somebody who works for Air America who they're like, this is who's really behind this thing. So, you know, the invisible hand of the CIA is always very busy, always working. All of that, plenty more. But first, Madison, we'd like to ask our guest, what is something from your search history? Okay.

So I was looking and I was like, what do... I mostly Google stuff for work. So it's like, you know, I write on a countdown show for Roku. And so it's like, David Beckham has a show coming out. So it's like, number of times David Beckham won a World Series. I don't know. World Cup. Zero.

Yes. Whatever he won. Okay. So the last like thing that I Googled where I was like, oh, that's interesting. A couple of days ago, I Googled Hong Kong coffin and cage apartments, which are these horrifying, dwellings in Hong Kong. And they have them in other cities, too, where it's essentially, like, they, you know, imagine, like, you know, like, on a tour bus, how they'll have, like, you know, basically bunk beds that are, like, little capsules and, like, folks will have, like, you know you know their charger their headphone or whatever imagine

living in something that size like 24 7 during a pandemic with a country that like super duper locks people down and you literally can't leave it was like a crazy like eye-opening thing but on the flip side of that pictures of this scary. Point of view pictures, actual point of view, not TikTok point of view, which just means everything, but actual like pictures taken by people sitting in their coffin apartments. And it's giving me a panic attack. And of course, like, you know, these are like truly people who cannot afford to pay for more space. Like this is literally using up most of their income to pay for these like literal coffins. But the flip side of that, which I found interesting, is there is luxury cage apartments, which are similar, but they are like more expensive. I mean, I get as a binary, I would rather be in a cage than a coffin.

But immediately in my mind doesn't go, of course, a luxury cage home. I'm picturing where Hannibal Lecter is housed at the end of Sounds of the Lambs. He's in that big loft space like classical music playing and lamb being served to him inside a cage i'm guessing that's not what we're dealing with here it looks like the you know in the movie fifth element when they like have to go to the like this and go into the little bed it looks like that it looks like the airport hotel looks like a tanning booth yeah yeah it's it's but it's luxury so people pay more for luxury it's wild though too like that because this is all obviously because we have a housing crisis

like globally and like the options are like well obviously you've been priced out of the traditional home market might i offer you a fucking cage like what's with the fucking names here like where are we even like this is i mean look shouts to them for not trying to fucking paint it any other way they're like motherfucker this is a luxury cage right and that's that because it has led mood lighting yeah yeah i mean usually usually the world of real estate comes up with euphemisms but cage is pretty that i guess they were asleep at the wheel on that day you know they're just like yeah i don't know it's fucking cage man stop stop asking me to come up with good spins to put on this shit and i guess like in i want to say and forgive me

this was a few days ago but i think in like tokyo they have a version of it that is actually luxury and it's like in places like harajuku and stuff where like the rent is mad expensive but even the cage apartment has been elevated to be the cost of a regular size apartment yeah very crazy a lot of like a lot of capsule hotels or capsule see that's the thing in japan called capsule apartments it's like living in a fucking pill you know the same size as a pill but yeah uh it is it's just it's wild that like we're constantly just figuring out like ways to just be like have less of a functioning life and like learning how to deal with that rather than like being like no no no no no no no no no i mean like i i like the problem we're trying to solve here but god we've really got to be moving the other way and being like we need to

get people in regular ass houses i i feel like it's only a matter of time before that's commonplace here you know oh yeah i mean we're already seeing it with a lot of the like sort of shared apartment like we work type live like work cult spaces or whatever i know someone who stayed in one they said it was fine but they didn't stay there for more than like a couple weeks i'm not sure they got the full like feeling of being and i and i don't know like the way it's always marketed is like the ghouls who buy up all the housing are like it sounds like young people really like these like like luxury prison setups. Now, yeah. Hey, the young kids go over there and that's in Gen Z block that they have to go to.

And it's like, wow. That was good. Once these get to America, I can see real estate agents going to work and just being like, this cozy and snug as a bug dwelling is replete with amenities. So ho a Jace. Yeah. You know, in East Hollywood, they have this like apartment set up where it's a two or three bedroom apartment. And essentially they pair you with roommates, but they're calling it like just like shared living. Or they have like some weird euphemism for it.

But I'm like, you're basically just like renting a room with three strangers you don't know. Yeah, it's like a boarding house. It's very strange. Yes, exactly. Oh, yeah. No, it has already arrived here. There are people who are just straight up now. There's an article, California startup offers affordable capsule pods in shared living accommodation.

Yeah. pods in shared living accommodation yeah so they they've gone with the capsule pod wording to you know make it more attractive fancy it's just weird how like we're truly like in these two paths where there's like traditional you know luxury for the wealthy and how like that keeps getting more fucking ridiculous but now we're also like trying to like luxurify people like not having access either you know it's like you can have luxury as well in your place of little options and essentially like people with wealth like cosplaying to be poor it's nothing new you know what i mean they they do it in different ways but this is just like a fun new iteration of it that's like barf inducing what a time yeah i mean what do you do if someone

like farts are there rules about that because the wall if you have company or you want to i don't know stand up not be laying down see that shows you i don't have a very uh i wasn't much of a lothario back in the day i was mostly always farting in situations and my first thing is what about farts what about farts? What about farts? Are you, is this pro fart or do I have to, is there a fart cap? I don't think this is designed for sharing this space at all. Like, I don't think that even crossed anyone's mind when they're doing this. So I think what you're worried about is your own farts in this case.

Is that fair to say, Miles? Okay. Okay. Well, look, let's cover that in our next session. I'm telling you, man, spices on your fingertips. One thing at a time. Look, Jack, you told me spices on the fingers would stop my farting. It didn't.

What is something you think is overrated, Madison? I think cottagecore is overrated. Okay. Like, cottagecore is, like, basically, I mean, it's a style of dress, but it's also like an entire lifestyle. It's basically going back to like, you know, old school, little house on the prairie, simple living, living off the grid, you know, making your own bread, your own butter. Living off your trust fund. Basically. Because wasn't there like one of those people who were there like, yo, like I felt there was a cottagecore influencer where people were like, this person has a lot of money.

Like, so they're not actually, I mean, like as they are living off the land, they are also have a massive financial safety net. I mean, oh, yeah. I mean, it's crazy. So, yeah, I mean, it's crazy. There's a girl who I follow who's like, I live in this cottage in a mountain range. And it's like the mountain is owned by her family. Oh, is that the one in Europe? No, she's in Washington.

I mean, she's a sweet girl, but I'm like, girl, get out of here. Yeah. I understand that. My name is Cassandra Olympia. And this Olympia mountain. Yeah. Cascadia. Yes. That's amazing.

But wait, what were you going to say about it? I just, I just think it's weird. I think it, you know, I understand like wanting to live more simply. Like my family, my grandmother lived in a trailer in West Texas. I know about living simply and just having to like make your own food and like go get the water and like what, you know, all of these kind of things. But I think it's like it. I worry sometimes like, is this a hop, skip and a jump away from like being anti-feminist, like trad wife, like barefoot and pregnant in the house of with no electricity nothing with because right now it's mostly like a feminine aesthetic like the cottage core we're not seeing like bro cottage core yet where it's like we're a cottage core couple and he's out there drinking his homemade mead and swinging an axe why i mean that's portland that's portland that's that's portland and a lot of that's actually there they said their homemade mead that is right there yeah yeah i think any

style that is based on that just completely co-ops like a version of history is probably i don't know i feel like fashion is where we get to like maybe pull some elements from history, but then combine them to make something new and interesting. But if it's just, you know, if it's just like colonial Jamestown or, you know, people, people cosplaying, I feel like that that's a that's a waste of a fashion movement. Personally, it's just it's elements of whimsy. It's not a fetishization of fashion movement personally. It's just, it's elements of whimsy. It's not a fetishization of fashion or history. Looking back on even like rockabilly style, like when I was a teenager in the early aughts, there was a lot of like rockabilly looks and we were really hearkening back to the fifties. But like as an adult, I'm like looking back and I'm like, oh, you mean where they like

hose down your grandmother, where my like dad was born in the colored section of the hospital you mean that that 50s my association with these outfits isn't the most the warmest of memories it's usually them screaming in someone's face and a german shepherd like on a leash fucking like attacking children yeah like that's what i but okay that's it's funny though too like even with like the fash wave haircut you know like when everybody was getting like the hitler youth like like fascist hair and it was like super fashionable at a time and it took a few people with like some historical eyeballs be like this is like y'all are just doing like hitler youth haircuts just so you know and then it became then like suddenly like every conservative

is like yes i am fascist now thank you i've like it's not like it led to the real reckoning of like gender norms or something progressive and i can't imagine that you know if i saw people dressed up and you know just like when we see this shit on airbnb we're like hey stay in a slave cottage right i'm like no no no no no like don't even offer the people the idea that they could that they're interacting with such a sordid time in history but look cottages are fine you know get your gunny sack on i guess you know i mean you can also get married at plantations and stuff like that's yeah it's weird to me that the like, in America, we don't treat plantation sites or sites of former plantations like they do Holocaust memorials like in Germany. Like it's not dissimilar.

It's actually quite worse in a lot of ways. I mean, I don't actually need to wade into that, but it's horrible both. But we don't even acknowledge that like these atrocities happened here oh yeah of course so weird it's like it's like man remember like simpler times like the dog whistle conservatives talk about all the time like you know how when things were simpler easier times and it's like well sure for you yeah i'm also not saying that the hollow i'm not trying to compare the holocaust slavery i just want to be clear about that i'm just saying that our country has no acknowledgement chattel slavery was fucking brutal and but when we see the sites of those crimes we do our first

as a country the first instinct isn't to go oh my god take you know take a moment to reflect here right it's like girl go run by those fucking columns i love this this is where the fucking chariot would pull up yeah they're like take pictures for your instagram here yeah which i mean to be honest look that shit's happening also at holocaust memorials where people have no fucking decency or concept of like decorum where people are like planking on top of like you know wild yeah didn't ryan reynolds america's most likable man, get married on a plantation? Yeah, to his wife, Blake Lively. He's Canadian, man. See, he's trouble. I knew it.

Yeah. I mean, Canadians weren't that innocent during that time either. No, no. Let's be clear about that. Both colonizing freaks out here. What is something you think is underrated? Something. This is more reflective of what I'm going through as a person.

But something I think is underrated is not posting on the Internet. Like, we don't need to see. Let me put it on. I don't. Let me say I I don't need to share my hot takes feelings thoughts emotions about every subject that comes on the internet I mean I went so far like I'm just I've had just like a moment where I was like let me shut up some also the internet is so bad for me like I deleted my Twitter I deleted my Facebook I only have IG and I sometimes scroll tiktok but it's like i don't need to like i'm only

using it for promo now and so i just think like shutting the fuck up is just incredibly overrated in general in society today yeah giving yourself the ability to be like i don't i i get that right now like we're so especially on social media it's it's like we're just in like that fucking take economy. I got to participate in my take. And I'm the same way. Like I get overwhelmed pretty quickly, like going on social media and shit like that, where I've definitely had to like throttle shit back or I can do it in like waves. But yeah, it is. I slowly did lose the earth.

Like I used to have like a compulsion to want to post something and over time i think that's diminished whether that's through like just becoming older and maybe more like secure in who i am and i'm like less having to prove myself through like my wit on the internet or maybe it's the anxiety i get from having to interact or see a bunch of fucked up shit too it's who knows knows, but yeah, I definitely agree. You know what I find helps is, um, just podcast for two hours a day and then you get it all out that way. Yeah, exactly. I mean, it's true. Like since we started doing the show, I, I, I post less and less. And a lot of the times i like a lot of stuff i would share from my personal life i talk so much about my life on the podcast like at a certain point

i'm like i've already given up so much of my like intimate stories and shit i don't have anything for fucking twitter after that right right and here at least you can explain oh what oh yeah subscribe that's i was gonna say you have to subscribe to the Patreon to get the intimate details of my life. Yeah, obviously, obviously. Our life coaching sessions. The black market Patreon that we got going on. All right, let's take a quick break and we'll be right back.

Hey, I'm Gianna Pradente. And I'm Jemay Jackson-Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline, a new podcast from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. When you're just starting out in your career, you have a lot of questions. Like, how do I speak up when I'm feeling overwhelmed? Or, can I negotiate a higher salary

if this is my first real job? Girl, yes. Each week, we answer your unfiltered work questions. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in experts who do, like resume specialist Morgan Saner. The only difference between the person who doesn't get the job and the person who gets the job is usually who applies. Yeah, I think a lot about that quote. What is it like you miss 100% of the shots you never take? Yeah, rejection is scary, but it's better than you rejecting yourself.

Together, we'll share what it really takes to thrive in the early years of your career without sacrificing your sanity or sleep. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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.

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.

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, where we live at the intersection of sports and culture. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry, Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game.

Every great player needs a foil. I ain't really near them boys. I just come here to play basketball every single day, and that's what I focus on. From college to the pros, Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Angel Reese is a joy to watch. She is unapologetically black. I love her. What exactly ignited this fire?

Why has it been so good for the game? And can the fanfare surrounding these two supernovas be sustained? This game is only going to get better because the talent is getting better. This new season will cover all things sports and culture. Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple

Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke. 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, 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. As a leader, you choose hills that you want to die on. Why would we want to be the losing team? I'd just take all the other stuff out of it. Segregation academies. When the 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 usually we don't talk about a lot of international news because this show is about the American zeitgeist, and the American zeitgeist is very difficult to puncture, aka ignorant. The American zeitgeist doesn't pay a ton of attention to news around the world, but I think the uprisings in Iran are incredibly worthy of our attention for a number of reasons. And yeah, so I mean, we've talked about it in passing,

but just to kind of bring it up to speed. I mean, I think there's a couple of versions that you could interact with the story on. One is you might just see rampant violence in Iran, like with the government attacking protesters, or you see people cutting their women, cutting their hair and protest. And you might say, Oh, wow, people are angry, huh? And then you might just keep scrolling past. And that's the most that you'll ingest from that. And you know, in Iran is a place where there've been revolution or these kinds of mass uprisings

before. So people might get into the rhythm of, Oh, well, they're having an uprising. I'm, you know, Oh, I can just now put that to the back of my mind. But just I think it's important to understand just like the totality of what's happening right now, because it obviously the protest began as a response to the death of 22 year old Zina Masa Amini, who, you know, died at the hands of Iran's morality police. And they insisted that this was they had nothing to do with it. She wasn't beaten to death, you know, and that's that's despite witnesses saying they saw the complete contrary occurring. Yeah. And just for some context, right, it's important to know the sequence of leadership in Iran.

At present, the country is ruled by a theocratic government that came to power after the U.S., the last U.S.-backed Shah was ousted in the 1979 revolution. The reason the Shah was backed by the United States is because of Western greed. So prior to the Shah being installed, Iran was being led by this prime minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, who was very popular. Like, people were like, yes, we support this guy. Because he had policies like, you know, trying to uplift people. And because of the massive amounts of oil that Iran has in their land, they were also like, you know what,

we need to actually nationalize our oil industry. So we are the ones who are reaping the benefits of this oil being pumped rather than the Brits who are here under this like convoluted agreement, which we're not getting a fair share out of the resources that are coming out of our own lands. And so when he decided to nationalize the industry, the British, you know, came to the CIA and they're like, yo, we got to fucking, this is a problem. Like if we have no access to this, this is lucrative. This is not, fucking this is a problem like if we have no access to this this is lucrative this is not this is not the order of things that we want so he was ousted in a cia-backed coup in 1953

led by kermit roosevelt who i believe is a grandson of teddy roosevelt or nephew so then the shah was installed and he welcomed foreign meddling in the oil industry as well as running a repressive government that basically struck down dissent and exploited labor so all all of this was happening. And then, you know, when the 79 revolution comes, you know, these religious leaders are promising a new vision of Iran. One where like workers, like worker centric, like we understand, like this isn't like the Shah exploiting people, like we want to level things up. But a lot of those things didn't come to pass, come to pass. So again, like I said, this isn't the first time that this has happened even in this century. Recently, the most notable uprisings have been in 2019 in response to gas

prices, which is more of a worker-led uprising. And in 2009, during the green movement, that was more of a middle-class, upper middle-class educated people's movement. But this time, upper middle class educated people's movement. But this time things feel different, not just to observers, but to the people in Iran. They began spontaneously, mostly in Iranian Kurdistan, but then quickly to other cities. And typically the protests around wearing like a head covering has been in places like Northern Tehran or other metropolitan areas and was like a middle class, like a middle class movement or was represented by more middle class people. And it's important to note that class, the class representation here amongst many other

dimensions of this uprising, because Amini is from this place called Saqqez, which is a very working class area where Kurds are already facing an uphill battle as like an ethnic minority. So what we're seeing now is going beyond like this initial killing. And obviously the, the increased violence is only motivating people more, but now we're seeing that it's a very intersectional movement involving numerous classes,

ethnicities, and even religious beliefs. Yeah. And that's like a really, that's a huge aspect of it that I don't every, like anything I see outside of algeria algecira or like a very like a like a socialist like world news outlet you're not going to hear about like these other dimensions that are going on obviously every dimension is just as important but it's

it seems like western media sort of picks and chooses what to focus on. Yeah, it feels very easy for them to just other these people rather than focus on, like there are a lot of the protesters who are, so one of the notable things is it's really led by women in the streets, just protesting by showing their hair, like not wearing the thing that the government wants them to wear

and just being free and dancing. But it's leaderless. And I think that is one way the U.S. government is like, or the U.S. mainstream media is just like, you know, they're trying to impose leadership on it. The government is trying to attack it by like taking and kidnapping and in some cases reportedly like murdering these like really bright, some of the brightest students in Iran who are involved in the protest know killed and that's also not something that is getting covered in the mainstream it's just seems very easy for the mainstream media in the west to just other them and the story sort of fades into the background as trouble in other country you know yeah i think just like to your point right like the u.s version is like trouble in iran again people aren't happy because their government's bad and then it's like that's the end of it and i think what's really fucked up too is like the people in the government who like love the like sanctions on iran might think that their plan is coming together, that, you know, depriving the everyday Iranian of like resources, medicine, food will get them to destabilize their current government, which is like the thinking, right? It's like, hey, man, if it gets bad enough, they're going to do something about it. And we can, you know, we can play dirty like that. But the fucked up part of that is to because of that, it allows like the the current government to just sort of paint this as sometimes inauthentic to say, like, you see, this is because of Western meddling.

This is because of this or that when it truly is just so widespread that they're actually at a point now where they really aren't sure what to do, because typically the ebb and flow would be well you come out you know be a super violent quell the fucking uprising and then move on but what we're seeing i think has a much different texture to it and from many other people who consistently write about this and report on it they're like this has a much different feeling to it because of how like you know widespread uh the anger is and it's not just you know relegated to like one segment of the society yeah i mean it's so interesting to me like all i'm seeing so all i see on like my ads on youtube are promotions i guess or messages like commercials from women in israel like, we support Iranian women. And like, which is like lovely, but I don't understand why I'm seeing it here because

whatever, but that's neither here nor there. But also all I see is it's just like repost from like white women. So like, I think, I think like for my, in my algorithm, my timeline, how it's being given to me is literally that it's just, like, a women's rights issue, which in this country is they're like, oh, poo-poo. You know what I mean? Like, remember when you guys used to march in the streets a couple years ago? Oh, well. Like, it's done. Like, your rights don't matter. We're still actively taking them.

yeah like it's done like your rights don't matter we're still actively taking them so i think that it's getting painted with this like i guess like a pink brush where they're just like oh this is women's stuff and yeah you know like they they aren't taking it as seriously because it's mostly women who are being outspoken and then also that's all that's being fed to me like as just like an average well i guess i'm not really that average american woman but like just like a regular person on social media the algorithm has deemed a regular american media consumer right they really have painting it with a pink brush is an interesting way to think of it as like a divide and conquer sort of this is a this issue that you only need to care about if you like wear pink for breast breast cancer awareness month or you know like the the like the things that when we talk about the lack of a revolutionary

imagination in the united states like the things that we're seeing here that i feel like should inform how we think about you know organizing and movements in the United States is the, like Miles said, the intersectionality, the cooperation, like labor is now threatening to strike around oil, which is something that obviously the, you know, the government can't ignore. And what is being painted and portrayed in a lot of cases is this like social justice movement is actually spreading and there's cooperation between labor and, you know, the Kurds and women, women across classes. And but but yeah, getting labor involved, you can't like the government can't kidnap their way out of people not working to like make a functioning. They'll try. It seems like they'll try to.

Right. Of course. Yeah. I mean, it's like, again, like there are just so many things simmering, you know, because even between the 2009 where, you know, there was another activist who was killed and there was a huge outpouring of like anger over that you know people have continued to die protesting or be taken away and disappeared and shit like that so they're like this was it's been constantly simmering and now it's turning into a revolution there

was an interesting interview in jacobin with this activist organizer in iran and just talking about how the demands like they're evolving like it started about like being about like liberty and body autonomy and now we're talking like you have people now like fucking fighting the islamic republican guard corps like in some cases killing them and they're now saying things like no down with this like theocracy like down with like we want we want to now we want to move into something new. And it's again like the government's crack. The crackdown on this has just been to be just to turn up the volume on the violence.

And like behind all that, too, like when you look at just sort of the disparity between the haves and have nots, there's plenty of normal working people who are saying like, I'm I fucking lost family in the cove like during covid because of the lack of medical resources that were there due to sanctions or just the greed of the regime, whatever. There are many things that are that are adding up to our anger. And like while we have these people in like the ruling class are able to like live lives that are more akin to like, you know, huge cities in Western Europe, like sending their kids abroad to be educated and things like that. And it's all just becoming a lot. And I just want to read this quote from this activist. She, I think just gave her first name, which is Parandeh. And she said this, the Iranian public is intelligent. We know

when we are being taken advantage of. This is not an uprising, but a revolution. They are killing Basijis, which are members of one of the sort of elements of the Islamic Republican Guard. They are standing in the face of the army and saying death to the dictator, death to Khamenei, death to the Islamic Republic. They're tearing down and burning down, burning images of Imam Khomeini, Rahbar and Qasem Soleimani, who was the guy, the Quds Division Islamic Republican Guard, like sort of leader that was killed in a drone strike in 2020. Women are shaving their heads, removing their veils, shouting in the faces of the Revolutionary Guards and Morality Police. They're standing in front of tanks, fire hoses, machine guns and tear gas. We have only rocks and

our fists to fight with. We are one of the bravest groups of people on the planet. I am really convinced of it. I would say for now, the goal of the average protester would be a revolution resulting in a transition to democracy. But of course, it is subject to change as these protests carry on, which I think they will. Fuck, yeah.

All I got to say is like, hell yeah, more of that. Yeah, like you are, you are the brave like honestly yeah when to look like she goes on this interview to say it's a really haunting like line i just want to uh she said we've been encouraged for 43 years to look into the barrel of a gun and see paradise and to die with smiles on our faces why are they surprised now that my generation is fearless we were born prepared for fighting and have no qualms about death it's fucking it's haunting too you know because like underneath that bravery which is i'm taken aback by that to hear someone say i have no option but to fight for something better than what i have now. It's like there are these underpinnings, too,

of just like how Western imperialism has contributed to this situation decades ago. And these people have had to constantly fight to the point that like, again, in her words, death is not something they fear. Yeah, it's just it's all like it's this all encompassing sort of uprising. And it makes sense why you go to like ABC News or NBC News and the things are just about, you know, there's tensions or that, you know, this is this is what the supreme leader is now saying in response to things rather than trying to inform people that there's all of these things that have contributed. people that there's all of these things that have contributed that's the thing i think most of the time is we we do news seekers the disservice of never explaining how we get to a point it's just like and that's happening in a vacuum yeah all right back to you aaron judge just man motherfucker hit 62 home runs huh rather than hey why don't you go i mean like there's plenty of plenty of forks in the road you could talk about.

But again, you have the perfect opportunity to talk about how the CIA backed coup sort of began this countdown for a country that, again, at the time was just trying to say we have natural resources that the West is trying to exploit. How about you give us our fair share rather than it's like 70-30 split that we're being offered? And that was like, nah, fuck it. We're throwing you out. The right to use their own natural resources and the CIA was like, no, we can't allow that. And killed people to make it so that they couldn't allow

that. So that they could get companies basically a better deal and ownership of those natural resources. Yeah. America, man. Yeah. ownership of of those national uh natural resources yeah america man yeah it's i mean yeah yeah i when i hear stories like this i'm just like what will it take in our country to have that sort of like revolutionary action like i'm just like what is it going to take for us to get to that point because i mean we're obviously not in the exact situation of, you know, the people in Iran.

But, like, we're not not. Like, we're close, you know. And I'm just like, when are we going to wake up and understand that, like, we as the people have more power collectively to, like, act and make change happen, you know? Yeah. And I think that's probably a part of the reason why it's being undercovered and like not put into the perspective, like thinking of it as women fighting for bodily autonomy can form the foundation of a revolution for social justice that like intersects with, you know, a minority group that has been persecuted traditionally, like the Kurds, that includes labor and people just wanting,

you know, to be able to feed their families. If you treat it as a recipe for, you know, social change and, you know, relevant, it compared it to what, you know, different movements that are happening in the U.S. and like a way to rethink how those movements could could work together. But instead, it really seems like they're trying to find ways to siphon that energy off. Well, I think it's our own egos as Americans that keeps us from doing it. Right. Because we are, though, I'd say the biggest obstacle is American people.

Owning, not necessarily owning, acknowledging the fact that they are, they have been exploited at some level. And things are bad. Yeah. Too many people are like, I ain't getting exploited. What the fuck are you talking about? I'm not exploited. Yeah. I got a job. I got, I can do this. I'm not exploited. I'm not oppressed. And the difference, this is another really interesting quote from this woman in this interview. She talks about what the similarities that she sees between Latin America and the Middle East in terms of their ability, right? Because we're looking at like Luis Arce in Bolivia and people like that, like coming up and you're like, whoa. Yeah, there are people like our people are in their bag and they get what the stakes are. They get what the stakes are. She said,

I find that Latin America and the Middle East are similar in that we both have been exploited, are revolutionary as people, and have large gaps between the rich and peasant classes, and are religiously devout. When thinking about the future of Iran, I often look to Latin America for hope and inspiration. And there is a few elements there that I think aren't quite as vivid to American people as they are to people in the Middle East or Latin America. Right. Because we've we're convincing ourselves. I think a lot of energy spent on soothing people who are currently being exploited into believing they are not. Oh, I mean, America's entire marketing plan from jump has been you're the greatest. You're the freest. You're the greatest you're the freest you're the best we fought to get away from the british and now everything is fine and yeah we beat up the nazis

just to become them i mean right exactly i mean also you know not to put it all on the people but like our government goes out of its motherfucking way to quell any and all like revolutionary groups for good and for bad right like the cia was all in the january 6th like group chats and like facebook groups like heavily involved getting involved trying to like stop january 6th from happening or understanding what was happening as well as like how they treated like the black panthers and hell, I mean, Aretha Franklin apparently had like a 40 year surveillance file from the government because she just wanted Black people to be liberated. Like, yeah, we have such a powerful machine that's like keeping us in place and like not able to rise to that. Yeah. So it's going to be interesting when that.

Well, and I think that's and I think this is what's happening. I think we're seeing this breakdown happen between the old ways of trying to convince people that everything's OK or the old ways of stopping an uprising or like they're just not working in the same way. You know, like for because like even in like I just think of in like the US specifically, this like revival of the labor movement precisely comes because they've not they can they can spin all this propaganda they want. But at a certain point, you're not at that job with the person who is looking at a fucked up situation and say, I fucking don't want this at all. Yeah. And there's no amount of, you know, propaganda or Facebook posts or whatever that can change what your lived experience is. And I think that's the hard part is they can't. The only way to stop that is to actually meet people where they're at and meet their needs.

Yeah. So if that's not going to happen, you're going to increasingly, you know, have a group of people who are, and this is where it gets dangerous, looking for answers and solutions to what they're like, the cause of their lack as a human being. And that's where bad faith actors come in. And, you know, fascists are like,

what'd you say you needed? Oh, let me tell you who can solve this and who the bad guy is. And that's what currently I feel like that's what where the knife's edge we're on is what is the the majority of people what version of getting in back in touch with their power and their ability to advocate for better for themselves which perspective are they going to go for the one that says we have to treat certain people worse because it's a zero-sum game or the version that is we're all people and we can fucking work together because there is enough. It's just that there only there's only the illusion that there isn't enough because we have too many people hoarding too much of the wealth.

And that's and that's really what that's that's the fork in the road right now. And you see people splitting off. There's people who definitely are picking one over the other. But the critical mass of where that ends up, I think, our horniness for the market as a nation, just completely drench in every piece of information that we get. Like, unless it's a zine or, you know, a socialist, you know, outlet, which are so few and so far between like just every part of the information economy is pushing in this one direction and so like it when it comes to like our i think we said earlier like you know our ego as americans to be like you know not no americans want to think of themselves as peasants but they're also like not given the tools to really do that if they're not going to like get a deep college education or, you know, something

like that. Like it's the, the mainstream media is, is really all pushing in the same direction as, you know, what, what the market and whatever is good for the upward era and i don't want to say and i i know we talk about like we the the the perceived lack of imagination for revolution people do have it i don't mean to say that no one understands in this country what the stakes are and is not willing to fight for it it It's just that we have been systematically fed, like we exist in the most potent propaganda atmosphere on earth. And that's basically led to the amounts of confusion that, again, benefit the status quo.

And I think that's why I think the parts that they're, you know, the powers that be aren't really understanding when they get confused. And it's like, whoa, whoa, why are we getting all this pushback on this other stuff? It's because you don't actually live in the same fucking world as the majority of people do. for people who overreach to exploit people or to not create more equitable terms for people because they think that most people are just sitting idly by satisfied with their lot in life when many are not many are asking questions many are trying to figure out what to do and in many instances we're starting to see people organized yeah so yeah i mean the the one thing that this woman parande in this interview said uh she's like to

americans do not call your senators or congress people and read some script about this that is the last fucking thing we need i've seen that on social media and it is the app so we do not need the help of congress yeah it's so i'm glad that somebody is understanding that like us calling our oppressors to be like well we have a complaint about this isn't going to help people abroad or here yeah upholding that status quo to keep us oppressed my god what a brilliant thing to say yes this woman is dope whoever she is like shouts to her. You know what I mean? Yeah, we'll link off to this interview she had in Jacobin because it's really amazing. And I just, I will read this last part because it's really just a good, the last question

that was just asked was, you know, what is your hope for Iran? She said, my hope for Iran is simple. I want us to finally have a say in our own government. We were a monarchy from day one and faced invasions from multiple empires. The West found oil on our land, financed a new monarchy, and overthrew our elected prime minister in a British and American coup d'etat. We started a revolution that was hijacked to prevent the spread of communism and have now been stuck for 50 years. It is time we have a say in our livelihood without the interference of foreign powers. Whatever the Iranian masses choose, I will accept. As I said before, the fight of leftists will be the same.

We will still advocate for the working class, labor rights and so on. We deserve to be prosperous and independent. Yeah. I mean, the fact that all the groups recognize that they are fighting for human rights and the same bodily autonomy and, you know, being impressed by the same force. That is something that whenever there's a movement in the U.S., quickly that movement gets othered. The U.S. version of this would have been have a referendum, maybe lighten the morality police laws, and then address one dimension of what people are asking about for change and then

just kind of keep it moving again treat it as an extremist kurdish movement is which is something that's happening or a western influenced movement yeah yeah to just other the people as quickly as possible and and then obviously like you know some sort of propaganda use of reports of violence to make people feel unsafe. Yeah. And also, I mean, like, we'll have to mention that there is just like in the who'd have thought just like in the US, this happens all the time with, you know, dirty regimes, they like to have, you know, plants in the protest causing damage to make the move to try and discredit the movement. Same thing thing is happening except these cops are so sloppy they're like on camera fucking up mosques and shit and it's just like dude you're on camera and then another thing i was really interesting is one of the like sort

of local law enforcement people in a municipality was saying that like the average age of people that they've detained is around 15 years old wow yeah that's in one part like so this isn't like this is a this is a mass movement and yeah i just uh again can't i can't tell how much like i'm equal parts amazed inspired frightened by the bravery of these people but that's that's the situation that these people have found themselves in. And I think to not, you know, for our,

for the version that American people are getting, when honestly, like to your point, Madison, like we have a lot in common, we have more in common with oppressed people around the world than we do with the fucking one percenters in this country, you know,

to then feed people this like disingenuous summation of things, which is like, yeah, man, look there. Rouhani's bad, huh? All right. You're killing people. Let's keep it there. Don't talk about anything else. Don't give people any more texture to it.

Yeah. All right. Let's take a quick break. We'll come right back. We'll come right back. 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 L.A.-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. Hey, I'm Gianna Pradente. And I'm Jemay Jackson-Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline, a new podcast from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. When you're just starting out

in your career, you have a lot of questions like, how do I speak up when I'm feeling overwhelmed? Or can I negotiate a higher salary if this is my first real job? Girl, yes. Each week, we answer your unfiltered work questions. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in experts who do, like resume specialist Morgan Saner. The only difference between the person who doesn't get the job

and the person who gets the job is usually who applies. Yeah. I think a lot about that quote. What is it like you miss a hundred percent of the shots you never take? Yeah. Rejection is scary, but it's better than you rejecting yourself. Together, we'll share what it really takes to thrive in the early years of your career without sacrificing your sanity or sleep. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Keri Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports, where we live at the intersection of sports and culture.

Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry, Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Every great player needs a foil. I ain't really near them. Why is that? Just come here and play basketball every single day, and that's what I focus on.

From college to the pros, Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Angel Reese is a joy to watch. She is unapologetically black. I love her. What exactly ignited this fire? Why has it been so good for the game? And can the fanfare surrounding these two supernovas be sustained?

This game is only going to get better because the talent is getting better. This new season will cover all things sports and culture. Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black podcast network is sponsored by diet coke hello everyone i am lacy lamar and i'm amber ruffin a better lacy lamar boo okay everybody we have exciting news to share

we're back with season two of the amber and lacy l Lacey and Amber show on Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network. You thought you had fun last season? Well, you were right. And you should tune in today for new fun segments like Sister Court and listening to Lacey's steamy DMs. We've got new and exciting guests like Michael Beach. That's my husband. Daphne Spring. Daniel Thrasher. Peppermint.

Morgan J. And more. You got to watch us. No, you mean you have to listen to us. I mean, you can still watch us, but you got to listen. Like if you're watching us, you have to tell us. Like if you're out the window, you have to say, hey, I'm watching you outside of the window.

Just, just, you know what? Listen to the Amber and Lacey, Lacey and Amber show on Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. And just briefly, we wanted to talk about, so Walmart built a creepy virtual reality toy store in the metaverse, and it features some of the best selling toys. Jack, it's an interactive world. Right.

Yeah, yeah. Web 3, man. It's in Roblox, marketed to Gen Z and children. And yeah, it's called Walmart's Universe of Play. of play it allows kids to play games that feature some of the best-selling toys this year all while a magical blimp drops virtual toys on you from the sky everything about the metaverse just makes me feel like i'm in hell it's the parallels of like we just talked about this revolution mass uprising happening and in the u.s like hey kids put on these fucking reality changing goggles and live in this fucking space for a little bit huh yeah where you get little

treats it's specifically designed to be like a little skinner box with a little treat trigger that drops little treats on you every regularly not regularly actually randomly so that you feel like you are can change the outcome is is actually how they engineer it but it's blatantly a commercial targeting kids by enveloping them in a new immersive reality also this relates to the earlier conversation about the casket apartments and cage apartments, because, you know, this is that that's the next step in the whole idea. Oh, don't like what your eyes see? Change what your eyes see with this product. Yeah.

Why would you need a whole entire living space where you could just go in here and. I hate it so much. I mean, I was like, as a poor kid, I grew up very poor in the 90s. And the commercials during children's programming were so gross and toxic. And like, eat this sugar, buy this toy. Your old one sucks. Get this bike, get this outfit. You need this.

Push, push, push push like so much crazy advertising and i think that to the point like there are some laws that have changed around how you can advertise to children because there were none so many and now i'm just like this is the loophole to those laws protecting that's exactly right kids and i'm just like oh it's so horrifying well there's no way they could own a blimp, Your Honor. Yeah. Kids don't watch TV anymore. They're all court cutters.

And so in addition to YouTube ads, they're trying to find new ways to reach kids. And this is what they've come up with. And people are pointing out that it's illegal. It's illegal. Like the terms of service for these various VR products, like say that you can't go in there if you're under 13. Oculus is for 13 plus. Sony's VR headset is for 12 and above. You know, HTC says that children should not be allowed to use its VR headset HTC Vive or Vive. I actually don't know that. But that didn't stop us from going in the AOL chat rooms. I mean, whatever they say. I was out here saying I was 26. Well, it's very, it's very clear because Walmart via Walmart's little toy land is has a bunch of stuff from Paw Patrol.

Paw Patrol is something that my four-year-old has already outgrown like that that's paw patrol is also just like cop propaganda right yeah it's also for very young kids it's like the i think you know everybody goes through different things at different times but like in our household like the birthday parties that we would go to for like, it was like more three and four year old birthday parties were Paw Patrol. And then the kids move on to other stuff. What's the other one? PJ.

What's the PJ? What's it? What's that? PJ masks. Yeah. PJ masks. Yeah. That's what my niece and nephew's fucking with.

Yeah. My, my youngest is really into PJ Masks, even though he can't watch an entire episode because he finds it too scary. But he has all the costumes. It's these three kids who turn into superheroes at night in their PJs, their pajamas, and fight crime at night. Which I think resonates with my four-year-old because he is does not sleep he he has whatever that gene is that only that internal yeah oh like he's like i need 2.7 hours yeah he doesn't need sleep like i'm i'm like sitting there with him like just

watching him like stare back at me just be like and you're hope oh he's watching you goes off like yeah the roles are reversed you're like oh i could watch him go to sleep but meanwhile you're like yeah look at my dad his older brother like falls asleep hours before him it's crazy but anyways they they're blatant like you can't tell me that you were advertising paw patrol characters to children over the age of 12 like that's it's just not happening and even so that's too young but well the whole thing is just so dark vr on a dude i've i almost fucking walked through a like a plate glass sliding door with a vr headset once yeah like and that's me as a fucking well you know high out of his mind 30 something year old but tell the truth that's like being a

small child and if i can't have my shit together like that i can't imagine like a six-year-old like they're gonna know the boundaries outside of the headset and like if they're in some fake ass toy store they're gonna be like yay over here run over here into the fucking stove or some shit i don't know yeah i wouldn't be shocked if we don't see like a crime, like a big crime be committed because a kid was like, oh, I'm blaming it on VR. Because remember when like those girls murdered or attacked another girl and like blamed it on Slenderman,

which was just like stories they were reading on the internet. Like it's only a matter of time before something like this is going to cause a child to really not understand how reality works and the internet is the internet is already like social media is already a huge danger for children that like children should not be using social media it's terrible and this is like more immersive social media it's basically what this creates so it's very don't put that headset on don't put the headset on kids yeah although i kind of want an oculus i'm not gonna lie oh i'm not i want that shit too yeah i don't want it i look i think the best part about that

stuff is like it's giving me a new way to watch tv because i remember like there's like a theater mode and you can be like whoa i'm watching this fucking big movie but yeah i mean i love i love gadgets and shit i just got into animal crossing in the pandemic so that's about as far as i've gotten yeah and i played um another game called like middle little miss misfortune or something but like you know i don't know if i'm actually gonna be able to handle an oculus i can't i can't survive mario kart i suck at it don't go with a head started right so yeah anyways well madison such a pleasure having you uh where can people find you follow you all that good stuff so even though i don't like social media but still you know follow your

girl because the people who hire me care about my social media numbers. You can follow me on Instagram at Madison underscore Shepard, S-H-E-P-A-R-D, or on TikTok, I believe it's the same, at Madison underscore Shepard. Amazing. And is there a tweet or some other work of social media or media in general that you've been enjoying? So there's this kid on TikTok and Instagram called Sean McManus. He is a cast member of Beetlejuice on Broadway. And he, I don't know if you guys remember a couple months ago,

there was a church in Texas who did an unauthorized version of Hamilton. Where it was basically like, and in summation, Hamilton should be about Jesus and if you're like LGBTQ like you are basically addicted to drugs it's the same it was very weird anyways I got the shit suit out of them but so this kid Sean McManus does Patti LuPone impressions Patti LuPone is a famous Broadway actress who is like a three-time Tony winner I believe just an incredible talent if you don't know like look her up anyways he does this crazy impression where he does like patty lapone

like performing selections from the unauthorized hamilton and i don't know why it as a former theater kid it tickles me to no end it is It's flat. It's like so camp and silly. And literally, I think about it like maybe once a week. Oh, shit. I dropped the link in the chat. Alright, you'll definitely see that in the footnotes. Yeah, it's a fun one.

Awesome. Miles, where can people find you with the tweet you've been enjoying? Oh, man. Find me on Twitter and Instagram at miles of gray if you like basketball check us out my on miles and jack got mad boosties our nba podcast the season is that's it's quickly the best part of the season where anything can be true where a play a single performance a single good pre-season play by a player. And I'm like, what? Oh, my goodness.

Or maybe a player missed less shots than normal. Yeah. And you're like, we're going. We're there, man. He's going to be a problem. He's going to be a problem. Just wait. Despite what the stats say in history.

And if you like 90 day fiance check myself and sophia alexandra out on our other podcast for 20 day fiance smoking loud and getting loud about trash reality tv uh let's see some tweets that i like first one is from uh cory at cool math game underscore uh tweeted random guy it's not a big deal, man. I just don't think it matters. Me pulling out a gun. The two main characters in a show called veggie tales are fruits. And that doesn't matter to you.

It's not a big deal. Which yeah, think about that. This one was another one from at Kona Slater tweeted saying the body of Christ each time I give my dog a cracker. And then Dan to me at DH to me tweeted levels of male friendship. Just met. Seems like a cool guy. Hung out twice. I got a buddy who go out on weekends or go out on weekends.

I got a buddy who literally best friends. I got a buddy who known each other for life. I got this buddy who. That's so true. Those are the levels. Yeah. It seems like a nice guy. And I got this buddy.

Yeah. Yeah. Seems like a cool guy. Yeah. He seems cool. He seems like a cool guy. All right. You can find me on Twitter at Jack underscore O'Brien, liking things like Kristen Stockdahl. Tweeted a screencap of a news headline, Kim taunts West by launching test missile over Japan.

And she tweeted, an interesting development in the Kim Kanye saga. Which, it was a story about north korea yeah they just fired some missiles back in the sea too so this is laugh cry coffee tweeted me any costco requests husband who is out of deodorant toothpaste and work snacks nope i'm good Nope, I'm good. And then Depths of Wikipedia, Depths of Wiki tweeted, love how the kayak Wikipedia article has a section that's just roasting this child. And apparently the picture for kayaking is a child. And the caption is, child using oversized equipment.

The kayak is floating too high. It is too wide for his hips and shoulders. And it is so deep that his elbows hit the deck. His paddle is also too long. It is impossible for him to paddle efficiently and he will tire quickly. His PFD is also large enough to slip off over his head while fastened. So it's just, somebody just got mad when they saw this picture and just roasted this motherfucker

who is hey but that's that's what you give a fuck bro yeah exactly I love that but that personal

quotation device looking way too backy though my man yeah anyways 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 footnotes where we link off to the information that we talked about in today's episode, as well as a song that we think you might enjoy. Miles, what song do you think people might enjoy?

Oh, man. So I posted that video of the DJ three-piece trio that was at the wedding I was at over the weekend. The dude was playing sax and another dude on trombone just killing it. And a lot of people were like, yo's the track some people thought it was too many zoos uh which I I know what you mean because they they would get down in the train stations in New York with their big barry saxes I think they went to the new school they're jazz guys uh but this actually is from this old track called Calabria by Rune it It's like an old house track. That's where that sax sample, I believe, is originally from. So listen to that.

Go back to the year of my high school graduation and LeBron James's as well and just float away to Calabria by Rune. Amazing. All right. Well, The Daily Zeitgeist is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, wherever your favorite shows are. Wherever, Apple Podcasts, or wherever your favorite shows are. Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Oh no, the computer is glitching. That is going to do it for us this morning, but we are back this

afternoon to tell you what is trending and we will talk to you all then. Bye. Bye. I'm Carrie Champion and this is season four of naked sports up first i explore the making of a rivalry caitlyn 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 and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Listen to The Making of a Rivalry, Caitlin Clark vs. Angel Reese on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Elf Beauty, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Hey, I'm Gianna Pradenti. 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. 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 4 of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese.

People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's basketball. And on this new season, we'll cover all things sports and culture. Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio apps, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke.