The Daily Zeitgeist - Weekly Zeitgeist 285 (Best of 7/31/23-8/4/23)

Episode Date: August 6, 2023

The weekly round-up of the best moments from DZ's season 298 (7/31/23-8/4/23)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kay hasn't heard from her sister in seven years. 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. What was that? That was live audio of a woman's nightmare. Can Kay trust her sister or is history repeating itself? 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 iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts there's so much beauty in mexican culture like mariachis delicious cuisine and even lucha libre join us for the new podcast lucha libre behind the mask-episode podcast in both English and Spanish about the history and cultural richness of Lucha Libre. And I'm your host, Santos Escobar, emperor of Lucha Libre and a WWE superstar. Santos! Listen to Lucha Libre Behind the Mask on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you stream podcasts.

Do you ever wonder where your favorite foods come from? Like what's the history behind bacon-wrapped hot dogs? Hi, I'm Eva Longoria. Hi, I'm Maite Gomez-Rejon. Our podcast, Hungry for History, is back. And this season, we're taking an even bigger bite out of the most delicious food and its history. Seeing that the most popular cocktail is the margarita,

followed by the mojito from Cuba, and the piñocolada from Puerto Rico. Listen to Hungry for History on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, the internet, and welcome to this episode of the weekly Zeitgeist. These are some of our favorite segments from this week, all edited together into one nonstop infotainment laugh-stravaganza. So without further ado, here is the Weekly Zeitgeist.

We are thrilled to be joined in the third seat by a very talented human being. I gotta say, I don't know what this person doesn't do, but I'll tell you what they are doing right now. They got a single coming out August 8thth okay because because music runs through their blood also they got a film that's crushing the festival circuit right now and we might get into that a little bit later and also a podcast called trust me talking about cults and extreme beliefs uh which kind of that kind of intersects with today's topic given all the trump stuff going on so please welcome to the microphone lola thank you for having me oh we got a real singer we got a real singer go ahead and drop go ahead

and drop something lola go ahead yeah what's your favorite what's your favorite karaoke track you know i i never do karaoke because i feel too awkward because people are like oh she's a real singer and the expectations are too high and i also don't drink so i can't like while out you know what i mean yeah yeah but when i'm by myself it's torn by natalie and brulia what oh hell yeah i'm all out of faith yeah Yeah. So good, right? This is how I feel. Like when people don't respect that part, you know what I mean?

I get a little upset. You know what I mean? Yeah. I like though that you were like, you're a kind God too, where you're like, let me not just ether the whole party right now with my pipes.

I will just sit back and say, no, that was great. That was great. Yeah. Oh, I'm not singing today. Don't worry about it. No, I'm not even that kind of singer. You know, like I can't belt like other people can belt i feel like my musical theater friends they're better at karaoke than me i'm like i'm good at singing my songs yeah yeah

yeah okay yeah all right let me let me give you some let me give you a track next time you go to karaoke you don't have to sing just do stand by eminem or some shit. Oh, that's a good one. And then, you know, and then you can also, but you can sing the little part, you know? Just the dido, just dido, yeah. Just the dido, but then you do the rap, but you gotta do the fourth verse. Like, you know, you gotta do the fourth verse. All right, I'm on it.

Who are your favorite kind of, because if you're not a powerhouse singer, who are your sort of like softer voice vocalists that you kind of put in your pantheon of great singers? Well, I feel like great singers, it just depends on what kind of singing you're talking about. But I love Fiona Apple. Oh, yeah. I love like an angsty, throaty, like kind of fucked up sounding voice.

You can say fucked, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, cool. But only when we talk about Fiona Apple. I started the podcast with what up, niggas? You can say fuck right yeah yeah yeah yeah okay only but only when we talk about i said i started the podcast with what up niggas you can say that would be wild i was like hold on no no no we're not doing that hold on hold on now come on this is pg-13 over here yeah if you own an apple yeah fetch the bolt cutters great great one that's the bolt cutters you know it's so's so good. Yeah. And who else? I mean, I love, I love like classic jazz singers. So I love like Ella Fitzgerald.

Okay. Wow. Classing up to join. I see that. But also, you know, I'm getting really into this new Norwegian singer, but you know, that will come later when you ask me about the media I've been enjoying. Okay. Fantastic.

Was it reminiscent? Like, I'm trying to think, well, who's the last big Scandinavian singer I remember? Like Leaky Lee. Back like 14 years ago Scandinavian singer I remember? Like Leaky Lee. Back like 14 years ago. Oh, I love Leaky Lee. Yeah, I know. But it's crazy how old that album is now. I feel very old.

Yeah. And I remember being like, I was like, I love her voice. It's like effortless, but it's just whispering. Anyway, we're going to get into that and plenty more. But first, we'd like to ask our guest, which is Lola Blanc. What is something from your search history that's revealing about, you know, reveals something about who you are,

what you're interested in? So I was looking at my most recent search results and this morning, the last one was observed particle theory. Okay. Oh, okay. You know, and it's actually something I don't know that much about yet. So that's why I was Googling it.

But it's that thing in quantum physics where the particles behavior changed upon observation. Yes. So a lot of people who a lot of people reference that as like, we don't know. There's so much that we don't know yet. There's so much that like maybe science has no idea. Like there isn't evidence for it yet but there will be eventually anyway i just was very curious about that little rabbit hole yeah it's going down okay so okay what kind of shit are you into lola you're like you're like hold on man because you know i like the idea that just the mere observation affects these particles yeah yeah i should say this is the smart this is the most educational smartest like search that i've heard everybody else be up here like oh man i was up here searching about you know how quick your toenails grow you up here like

let's talk about quantum physics but i don't know about it yet i don't know about it yet that's it look are you is any of this due to any of the hearings about uaps and non and non-human intelligence does that intersect at all with any of this or how we're like you're into this kind of shit you're into quantum physics quantum mechanics what what do you make of all of the ua uap shit going on i mean like i'm a science bay so like i'm just kind of waiting to see what happens like i feel like one guy saying stuff is not really enough evidence but i'm really excited to see what more comes Like, I feel like one guy saying stuff is not really enough evidence, but I'm really excited to see what more comes of it

because I'm on that alien shit, you know? Like, I'm really excited about the UAPs thing. But yeah, I'm just like, I'm someone who's like trying to figure it all out all the time and figure out like what we have evidence for, what we don't have evidence for. And I'm just trying not to buy into like the first thing that people tell me. So I'm just

Googling what we have evidence for. Does that have to do with just sort of your upbringing and life of being just a little like not taking people at their word when they say things are one way? I think absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I'm sure we'll get into that too. Okay. This is going to yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah, I'm sure we'll get into that too. Okay. This is going to be therapy, Lola. I can't wait. But yeah, shout out, shout out all my Alien fans

who are going to go to the first interstate bank, formerly first interstate bank building in Los Angeles to welcome the aliens. You know what I mean? And they put that blue light on us and then vaporize us.

I'm excited. Yeah, 100%. What's something you think is overrated? I was thinking a lot about aunties. But I don't know if aunties are overrated as much as the way that we talk about aunties

is overrated. I think we're in a new generation of aunties. Give us your definition of aunties. Right, so my art show revolves around this idea. It was actually inspired by a hate crime incident that happened in 2016, where two Muslim women were kicked off of a plane for staring too hard. And the flight attendants were like, we didn't like how they were looking at us.

So we kicked them off of the plane. And that's what inspired my series on aunties with deadly stares. And I don't know i think that part like aunties are just out there to get you is kind of like like like me making the art was like re retaking the power that auntie has like yeah of course the aunties are gonna stare at you like that that's what they do this is like an auntie's stare is a terrorist act which what you're gonna do about it you know what i mean like yeah that's how we aunties are and now and you are and just for

those who are not familiar with the auntie term is not like your mom or dad's like sister that's not the auntie you're talking about the older is not the auntie. The older generation of women who we colloquially call aunties too. Oh, I know. I'm dating an Indian lady right now and I've been schooled on all her aunties and all. It's

a beautiful thing. Auntie culture. This one white lady came up to me at the art show and she's like, oh, so this happened to your aunt? I was like, no. talking about the universal auntie. Come on now. Yeah, I think that's a problem people have. Like in black culture, aunties, that doesn't have to be a thing to be a literal aunt. Sometimes it's like your mom's best friend and that's just like your auntie or whatever. Yeah, auntie or even uncle or cousins.

Exactly. Or your cousin. Family terms. So many people are my cousins that are not my cousin. Yeah, that's just is what it is and i think in america sometimes it's it's viewed a little bit more rigid but that they're like when they hear it they're like so this is a sibling of one of your parents bro i have i like i last year i went to my cousins uh like the whole family descended okay your actual cousin my actual cousin okay just clear and the whole family but my actual cousin my actual cousins the whole family descended onto vegas for my cousins graduating

from med school and we were like out and like my younger cousin who's now in like her early 20s or whatever so i was there when she was born literally i was there when she was born and and we were like out like having a drink having a smoke and she like turned to me and she was like jockeys are you our real cousin or like how are you related and i'm like girl our parents are first cousins yes we are as real cousins but like it's so like ingrained that like you can because we're family but it's so ingrained that that you can't be related by blood or not, but you're still cousins, uncles, aunties. It's a beautiful thing. It's the same level of closeness

that you don't really examine half the time, especially when you come up with these people all the time. It's just, it is what it is. What's something you think is underrated? You know, I've been thinking a lot recently about David Graeber, who died during the pandemic and is one of my favorite writers and thinkers. And I think he think is underrated? You know, I've been thinking a lot recently about David Graeber, who died in during the pandemic and is one of my favorite writers and thinkers. And I think he's really underrated.

A lot of people in mainstream U.S. society don't know about David Graeber, who was a professor at Yale and he was sort of forced out of Yale for being too progressive and ended up teaching in the U.K. in London for the rest of his career. And, you know, if I had to recommend one thing, the super fun, short, amazing book called Utopia of Rules, which you can even read for free online. It's an incredible introduction into so many things about our society. There's has everything in it from a critique of the Batman movies, has everything in it from a critique of the Batman movies, superheroes generally, to a critique of bureaucracy and capitalism and really great thoughts and ideas about how we live our lives. It's just an incredible and a brilliant book. He was one of the leading anthropologists in the

world, but he used those anthropology skills to really turn his eye toward analyzing some of the ways in which our society is actually incredibly violent. And he was also really interested in the concept of play. And he was a big proponent in that people should be working less and playing a lot more. And so he has other great essays, for example, on why it is that the police hate puppets. He has really great work on why it is that animals really love to play and, and, and why modern society is, is crushing the, the spirit of play and people.

And so I think it's a really beautiful, funny, uplifting, but also very intelligent set of writing. So David Graeber is someone I recommend is underrated. Yeah. He's one of my favorites. I talk about him a lot on the show.

The, the dawn of everything is so great so much too bullshit jobs we talk about a lot on the show but yeah the way the dawn of everything uses anthropology to like dig into like there was that myth that like well even though like there are problems with modern society. You think like Pinker's whole narrative that like when you look before colonialism, things were a lot worse and like everybody was way more violent. And he just like demolishes that. And it's like actually like we're way, way worse than those. like takes you through some of the ways that civilizations that you don't learn about in generally in American educational systems organize themselves and like really interested in some like

indigenous communities and value these things that have been completely written out of our our society and again like really makes you see the some of the assumptions that I think a lot of us take for granted on a day-to-day basis about the world we live in again, with fresh eyes, it makes them kind of stick out to you as being as weird as they should seem to you. Why do police hate puppets? I actually, I've never read it. So I'm going to immediately act on this underrated and read Utopia of Rules. I've read, you know, Bullshit Jobs and History of Debt and The Dawn of Everything, but I never read Utopia of Rules. Of those books, I think Utopia of Rules is my favorite. I think it's his best, most concise work. So I think you're in for a treat. And the other essay you can read for free

online is called On the Feminology of Giant Puppets. And it's, it's a sort of a, it has a lot of pictures in it. It's about sort of the protest culture of the puppets. And it's a sort of a, it has a lot of pictures in it. It's about sort of the protest culture of the early 2000s and why police always target puppets when they go to protests and why they always try to destroy puppets and why police officers

are so infuriated by puppets. And I don't want to give too much away, but it's also a great essay. Wow. All right. Well, we're going to take a break. I'm going to go read that and we'll come back in like three hours

to continue talking about puppets. Now we're going to take a quick break and then we're going to dig in to some of your work and specifically the book, Usual Cruelty. So we'll be right back. 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 Boone County rebels with the image of... 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 just take all the other stuff out of it. On the 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. Hi, everyone. It's me, Katie Couric.

Have you heard about my newsletter called Body and Soul? It has everything you need to know about your physical and mental health. Personally, I'm overwhelmed by the wellness industry. I mean, there's so much information out there about lifting weights, pelvic floors, cold plunges, anti-aging. So I launched Body and Soul to share doctor-approved insights about all of that and more. We're tackling everything. Serums to use through menopause, exercises that improve your brain health, and how to naturally lower your blood pressure and cholesterol.

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I guess, look, all jokes aside, we should talk about Donald Trump getting indicted for a third motherfucking time. The hat trick of indictments. He's done it. Well, I think this all relates to the, you know, overturning of the election in 2020, January 6th, all that wild, fun stuff. And I think, again, for most people, we saw that play out in real time. Like we saw him continually begin to ramp up the rhetoric around the stolen election. We saw evidence of him leaning on people, a fake elector scheme, telling Mike Pence to fucking, you know, delay the certification of the election.

We all saw it. But now we're at the point where it's been articulated in indictment. And yeah, it's interesting to watch basically Fox News and all the right wing news outlets just fully melt down with what apparently they are saying the stakes are. Jesse Waters on the five called it political germ warfare and said if it goes to trial we'll have to quote go back and find fraud in the 2020 election i'm sure they would love to do that because you did such a good job the first time showing that all happened and then greg gutfeld on the same show he was so out of it he just held up like doodles he was just holding up

doodles of like dudes in hats. And I'm not sure like what that exactly the point of that was. Cat Abu, who's on Twitter, who does a lot of like monitoring of Fox News segments, put together just kind of like this mixtape of the reaction to the third indictment on Fox News. And I just want to the it's they're ramping it up. The rhetoric is getting ramped up. I'll play a little bit of it. It's very dramatic dramatic but this is kind of how fox news is talking about everything equivalent of the french guillotine a political war crime a junk indictment the shredding of our constitution they're going full banana republic full third Republic. Full third world on this. Third world Banana Republic. Full Banana Republic.

Hell yeah. Just so you know, we've gone full Banana Republic. Banana Republic. Oh, yeah. And I'm going full J.Crew. They got the memo at the beginning of the day. Oh, yeah. All right, everybody.

The word of the day is Banana Republic. Oh, yeah. We've gone full third world. And, yeah, we saw miller was saying that this was the legal equivalent of the french guillotine during the reign of terror okay robespierre oh my god and then we had laura trump come on to defend her father-in-law who just basically said quote he did exactly what you would want a president to do following an election okay yeah he did leave office

but then it was wild somebody pointed out that she was apparently she was live on Fox and Newsmax at the same damn time somehow and with different outfits on and somebody on Twitter was like I'm sorry who the fuck is lying about being live right now

because there's no way you're live on Newsmax and Fox News with different fucking outfits on. We're still not sure what happened there. But again, I think it all speaks to the chaos. Yeah. When you have Jesus magic on your side, you can do anything. I was going to say quantum mechanics. It's changing depending on observation. I observed it,

I affected the particles of her clothing to become something else because my vision is also... Just to get back to that, it's sort of like the idea that even the act of looking upon something is affecting the waves around it, right? Yes.

Yeah. That's wild. Anyway, shout out to Jesus for that. He was talking about that in the Bible. And then Newsmax, they had Rudy Giuliani on, and my man is just... He's...

He sounded not as articulate as he normally does, which is not at all, but I'll just play a clip of him talking about the real indictment needs to be for Jack Smith. The strange thing here is the people lying, but the people bringing this and this count

they have here, conspiracy against rights, they should be indicted for conspiracy against rights for bringing this indictment. Oh. It's a conspiracy against... So, Mr. Mayor, no one... Okay, cool. Yeah, he said that.

Does he seem especially old all of a sudden i feel like drunk he drinks he's his last descent in the last year and a half of that administration he was definitely having some wild ass appearances where people were like i just saw this dude drunk as fuck at the cigar bar in manhattan and. And then you would see him on Fox like two hours later. And he's like, oh, my God, screaming. I think, again, too, he's just a fucking he's a creep. So we all love to see him. Yeah, yeah, he's a creep.

He was drunk enough to literally, as a former politician on the campaign trail, find himself in a Borat movie. Oh, yeah. Right. Oh, my God. that's like that tells you everything you need to know about rudy right there like how dumb how dumb are you seriously he's so dumb yeah so you know we have we've heard everybody we the first amendment thing that's coming up a lot and we'll and we'll talk about that in a second but then on breitbart they implied that jack smith would be seeking the death penalty against trump it says jack smith's charges against trump include potential death penalty

now why do they say that there's no evidence that that's even close to what jack smith is pursuing but what they're pointing out is that the conspiracy against rights can result in the death penalty if, quote, death results from the actions covered under this provision. And somebody did die on January 6th, Ashley Padgett. So, the fact that they are saying that the death penalty is an option is an admission of guilt to the fact that he caused it. Because, you know, he caused that shit and she did die. So therefore, they will give him the death penalty. And that's what's really interesting is watching this sort of cognitive dissonance play out in such an extreme way.

Already, Trump has come screaming with his toupee in hand asking for cash donations. The email he sent this morning, quote, Patriot, with Crooked Joe's corrupt DOJ having unlawfully indicted yours truly yet again, reports indicate that I can now face a combined 561 years in prison from the left's witch hunt. That's lifetimes there's only one message and he goes on and on it's like a long ranting thing yeah i'm looking at 561 years i'm like sir i'm not yeah but he goes on to be like he's like will you help me fight this marxist government you're like this ain't no marxist government if you did people never mind look i wish it were theory yeah it's like it's only a word bring the marxist

aliens now uh solve this but yeah so he's begging uh and the main thing we're seeing right now is the maga pundits are all kind of saying that this is some version of his first amendment rights being violated that's the sort of logic that they want to pursue. They're saying he was merely exercising his first amendment rights by saying these things out loud. And now they're saying it's a crime because he didn't believe that the election was rightfully won by Joe Biden. And again,

he's trying to, they're trying to just create some kind of logic out of this indictment that doesn't acknowledge that Trump was doing all kinds of shit, not just shit he was saying out of his mouth, that his actions are also part of a, quote, larger conspiracy to subvert the election in the will of voters and undermine, you know, people's right to vote. So and the part of this indictment sort of makes that clear. It's, quote, the purpose of the conspiracy was to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election by using knowingly false claims of election fraud to obstruct the federal government function by which those results are collected, counted and certified. It's not.

Why was he just lying all the time? No, we saw it. There was a fake elector scheme. There was calls to other governors. It's not. It's not something where they're like, it's just bad. It's misinformation is all.

You guys are trying to fucking put him in bars. It's just what he thought. It's just what he thought. He wasn't just expressing an opinion. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Very clear. Very clear.

It's very, I've been on record on this podcast many times saying that I think anybody that thinks this man is going to jail should not get their hopes up. You know, I don't think that's what any of this is about, is him facing jail time. I mean, he should face jail time, but he won't. But I do think that we're seeing a very interesting thing that he is using all these indictments to just line his spot he doesn't care about the presidency he didn't care about the presidency the first time

like he doesn't like it's a means to an end for him that's a way to stay out of jail i can't wait for the documentaries to come out if they will where like you know and miles i'm sure you've heard this too lol i'm sure you've heard this too. Lola, I'm sure you've heard this. He was pissed he won the first time. He was pissed he won. He was like, fuck, I got to do this. I think Melania cried, right? Isn't that the story from election night?

She was sobbing. They didn't want to win. They didn't think they were winning. But like, you know, and this is all, it's happening all over again. I think like the bigger thing that we are seeing is we and I don't know if this will happen in our lifetime. Maybe it will. Maybe Gen Alpha can help us out. It can save us. Like, he should not be able to run for president when you are literally under indictment after indictment after indictment. Right. Like, that's not like that. What? That's insane. That's insane.

I couldn't get a job at McDonald's if I was like multiple indictments. And this man is running for the highest office. And like, we should be able to change the Supreme Court. Just like there's so much shit well i think that needs to change with it reveals too that you know the status quo is meant to be like yeah man if you're kind of powerful enough like you're gonna break some fucking laws so why are we gonna keep that from you running for president but i think this is all part of like why we need laws that are actually robust that protect voting rights and shit like this where it's just enshrined in law to be like, well, you can't even can't even begin to try and test

the results of an election, or at least in this such a cynical way. People are so convinced that it is actually a witch hunt. I mean, I don't think that Trump is actually convinced it's a witch hunt. I don't think his people are. But I think they've convinced so many of the American people that it is. How can you actually achieve any change when no one can agree on what the reality of the situation is? It's all just being like propagandized. And it's so hard to figure out how to fix anything when we don't even agree on the truth. Yeah. We can get worn down with propaganda, at least to apathy.

And that's exactly what they need. And it's just clearly it's funny too because you're kind of seeing it on the right where they're also like fuck man like god what am i supposed to say about this one this time like can't we just pretend like we don't think it's bad and then keep moving but there is something really interesting and going on with polling or not interesting obviously there are groups of people who just don't give a fuck what Trump does, no matter what. But it looks like the January 6th case isn't really moving the needle that much for for independents and Republicans or even Democrats, because everyone is already so entrenched in their view of what happened that it just feels like a rehashing of shit that it's like, yeah, I know. Like, it's like, yeah, OK, we get it. He didn't fucking steal the election or, yeah, that motherfucker stole the election or whatever. I don I know. It's like, yeah, okay, we get it. He didn't fucking steal the election or yeah, that motherfucker stole the election or whatever.

I don't know. But it looks like the documents case is actually the thing that has begun to shift polls a little bit. Interesting. Last October, it said 34% of independents said that a crime had been committed in that case.

The latest poll, it grew to 46%. Because I think we just see more new evidence of like hearing him on tape saying like talking about documents or learning like with new indictments that he was telling people like you know vaporize the fucking surveillance camera footage and shit like that and then for republicans since last october the percentage of republicans who said they believe that Trump had committed a crime, hand in classified documents, rose from nine to twenty five. But make no mistake when they follow up with a question about like, now, would that affect your support going into election? They said if the fucking election was today, I'd be fucking wearing my MAGA hat.

I don't care if that happened. So it's very, very cult vibes. We always talk about that of just truly, I will not, there's no information that you can show me that're seeing it a lot on the MAGA side, obviously. But, you know, it happens on the left as well, where it is like, you know, where we're not we we are not in a place now where we are. us as a collective society. I'm blaming the people who are in power that have kind of led us to this and also just the world we live in with social media and things like that. But, you know, we're not in a place where we are actively like picking the best choices or we are actively like like debates don't mean anything or, you know, like these things don't mean as much as they used to. It is a popularity contest in many ways. And it is a I'm this person, I'm this side. And this is what we are. Bernie bros.

We are MAGA. We are Clintonites. I don't know if they call it Clintonites or not, but, you know, like, you know, that's kind of where we are right now. I think there's it sucks. I think generally we're just from the conversation. We're like missing. Like what we actually want as outcomes from our elected officials and what we want from the government,

because the conversations are usually completely devoid of like sort of what what speaks to people on a human level. Like there's a lot of policy talk and things like that. And you see people sort of like make appeals to like these sort of like sort of what what speaks to people on a human level like there's a lot of policy talk and things like that and you see people sort of like make appeals to like these sort of like populist talking points but just in general like people to each other aren't the it's harder for people to say like these are the kinds of policies that would really help my life because we also have a there's such a for the perception of the government is like i don't know they do shit that helps sometimes kind of yeah so what's the point of fucking paying attention because my life really doesn't change and that's a huge chunk of people that are really disconnected

from like the ills that our current governmental system is you know raining down on people so there's a lot yeah there's a there's a lot. Yeah, there's a there's a lot of things to battle. It's just so hard to keep your focus on even the issues that do really matter because it feels like there's so much on fire all the time at once. And everybody is like vying for your attention for the issue. That's like, you know, viral that week or whatever, like climate change is the most important issue to me. But do I forget about it constantly? One hundred percent, because there's so much else that's like, oh, but that's urgent, that's urgent, that's urgent, that's urgent. I feel like it's really a hard time to be a politician who, you know, maybe does have something substantive to offer because it's just

like a race for the virality or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, we miss out. can change that which and sometimes is a very good thing and sometimes it's just like well you know let's actually allow a person to progress and grow like as they grow and progress you know and we don't we don't do that as much as we should on like our side you know so yeah there's a culture of an expectation of purity and perfection that I think is really detrimental to organizing in general. Yeah, I think, you know, there's the vote blue no matter who crowd. There's the MAGA crowd. And, you know, you try and get people to understand that it's the stakes aren't just if Joe Biden isn't president. that it's the stakes aren't just if joe biden isn't president it's everything that comes along with that that in the and the tragedies and the horrors that people are experiencing even now

with joe biden as president that are societal issues that we refuse to actually grapple with so yeah until we can i mean not until but the discourse is so centered around just anything but real substantive policy like everyone's talking about Bidenomics right now and I like you know it's like it's a three-pillar thing about what Bidenomics is but ask any person who is not interested in policy what they if they give a fuck about Bidenomics they're gonna say fucking no they'll say I don't know inflation is still fucked up I mean I guess it's going down like gas isn't as high, but like there's still all these other like costs of living things that are not being addressed. But we but every day they just point to things like look at the unemployment numbers. And it's such a different metric than what people's lived day to day experiences are. So, yeah, we will see where this goes again. I am just like with the aliens. I'm like, I'll believe it when I see Trump in court and he can't do his comb over,

you know, like the way he normally does. And we get to see that kind of weird hairdo that he's got going until then, you know, I just feel like, well, I'll believe it when I see it. Cause you know,

there's the already debate about like, is this even a strong case against him? Like, what the fuck are we doing, man? Uh, but he, at the very least, not like in his documents case, the judge that is assigned to this case, it was, you know, is an Obama appointee who apparently has been going the hardest at January 6th insurrectionists.

So for every judge Eileen Cannon, there are other judges who are kind of like, you know, I'm not really here to fuck around with this case. All right, let's take a quick break. We'll be right back to talk about blue checks and Barbies. After this, yes. 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 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. In a galaxy far, far away. No, babe, that's taken. We're in our own world, remember? Right, in our own world. We're two space cadets. And totally normal humans own world, remember? Right. In our own world, we're two space cadets and totally normal humans. Sure, totally normal humans. Embark

on a journey across the stars, discovering the wonders of the universe one episode at a time. We'll talk about life, love, laughter, and why you should never argue with your co-pilot. Especially when she's always right. Right. And if we hit turbulence, just blame it on Mercury retrograde.

Or Emily's questionable space piloting skills. Hey! Join us on In Our Own World for cosmic conversations, stellar laughs, and super corny dad jokes. Listen to In Our Own World as a part of the My Cultura podcast network available on the

iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And don't worry, we promise to avoid any black holes. Most of the time. When you think of Mexican culture, you think of avocado, mariachi, delicious cuisine, and of course, lucha libre. It doesn't get more Mexican than this. Lucha libre is known globally because it is much more than just a sport and much more than just entertainment. Lucha Libre. It doesn't get more Mexican than this. Lucha Libre is known globally because it is much more than just a sport and much more than just entertainment. Lucha Libre is a type of storytelling. It's a dance.

It's tradition. It's culture. This is Lucha Libre Behind the Mask, a 12-episode podcast in both English and Spanish about the history and cultural richness of Lucha Libre. And I'm your host, Santos Escobar, the emperor of Lucha Libre and a WWE superstar. Santos! Santos! Join me as we learn more about the history behind this spectacular sport from its inception in the United States to how it became a global symbol of Mexican culture.

We'll learn more about some of the most iconic heroes in the ring. This is Lucha Libre Behind the Mask. Listen to Lucha Libre Behind the Mask. Listen to Lucha Libre Behind the Mask as part of My Cultura Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you stream podcasts. And we're back. And buckle up, folks. It's time for us to take a deep dive into the world of the internets and be utterly confused i will admit before anybody as a geriatric millennial i'm not sure what the fuck is going on but i do know this for the last few years i have thoroughly enjoyed the absolute roasting uh of millennial culture

from gen z it's mostly on point and at times it's fucking transcendent. It's eye-opening to be seen through the younger generation's eyes about like, what the fuck is wrong with these people? Some millennials took it a little hard, you know, as it was a reminder to us that it was no longer 2006 and we, when we were the cool kids

out there with our weird ass outfits. But can I say that as right as you are, the other half of me was also like, motherfuckers, just wait. Just fucking wait. They're like, we didn't have the

internet to cook Gen X. I'm sure we could have. Now we do it retrospectively. But yeah, I was like, time does come for you as well. Time is coming for you and guess what we have arrived there generation alpha which is the kids born between like 2011 and now they are sending gen z some of them into an existential panic uh and i say that lightheartedly based on the commentary around this meme. This meme, brace yourselves, Zyke gang.

You may know, you may not. And this is the first time I heard it. It's called Skibbity Toilet. And you say, what the fuck is Skibbity Toilet? So basically, I'm going to play a little bit. And just so you know, there's a remix of this track, Dom Dom Yes Yes by Bizer King, who, if you remember TikTok, there was like this Turkish dude who would be like, kind of gyrating his

hips around like plates of food and stuff. He's like, bim, skibbity-up, bop, bop, yes, yes, bump. Anyway, for people who are terminally online like me, you know that track. It's like remixed, and there's a dude coming out of toilet. And I'm just going to play a little bit for us, just to feast our eyes on it, and

try and give you some kind of running commentary as we look at it. It is a visual thing for everybody. I mean, I think you guys should, when you post online about this episode, have a second slide and showing some of this. Skibbity toilet. Yeah. Check out. Well, check this Skibbity out. What the heck is going on here?

So there's an elevator with urinals and heads come out the toilet yep and they're big giraffe necks the nets the next that was it that was it that was one full up that was one post about it and i'm like what the fuck was that we got heads coming out of toilets we have people with surveillance cameras on their heads there are people with tvs on their heads and they fight in some of the videos I cannot I don't know what the meaning is and what's funny is I don't understand I know I don't either I think we've I think we've reached a point where the generations that are born like gen a and or alpha whatever you want to call them

and generations that are going to be born after that yeah we've reached a point where their brains are born broken yeah yeah yeah because they're like on screens as soon as they're on screens as soon as they are fucking born yeah like as like i like i know there is a four month old baby in my life not mine but like that i know and and you got a kid miles like they know immediately they know how to look at you pull a phone out they know how to look at it they can follow with their eyes like they are and i'm saying this lightheartedly that their brains are broken but like that's a different reality for sure. Yeah, I want to play this. So somebody one of these people who had like a younger gen alpha sibling, they posted on TikTok of being like, just be like, hey, can like their little brother.

They're like, can you break down the skivvity toilet meme for me? This kid is like nine years old. And I'm telling you, it's I can't even follow what this kid is saying that's like what's so frustrating about it i think for other people okay wait so like why are skivity toilets and cameramen in the war because how did it start because after before they saw each other like what we got take take over the city. Oh, okay. The Skivities or all of them? The Skivities. Okay, so the Skivities are trying to take over the city and the cameramen don't like that? Yeah, so the

cameramen are trying to save the city. Oh, so we're talking about two different peoples. Like the cameramen. The camera heads, the TV heads. That's like one. Then there's the skibbity toilets, which is the heads that come out the toilets.

Okay. And urinals. And the camera people represent like corporate America or like the bad people in the world. You're going too deep. Too deep. Too deep. Too deep. Too deep.

Okay. The skibbities want to take over the city. The skibbities want to take over the city. As this young man said. So then. The skibbities want to take over the city. The Skibbities want to take over the city. So then... The Skibbities take over, but the TV heads and the camera heads fight them to prevent the takeover

of the Skibbity toilets. To fight them, right, because, yeah, yeah, yeah. And, like, the cameras are on their heads because they see all... Again, that's too much. Going too deep. Okay, okay. It feels like like okay again i don't know again like these kids are going to be they're the most online generation of all time and i think it just it's probably going to be one of these things where like even if it doesn't make sense to us

it the aesthetic is probably going to be what like spongebob simpsons memes and shit are to us wait i have a i have a question. Yes, in the back. Yes. Is this related to Minecraft at all and how these kids are all into Minecraft? Minecraft? Popular again? Oh, shit. Minecraft? I don't know. My nephew plays the fuck out of Minecraft. I talked to a 10-year-old last night and she plays Minecraft on the internet

with someone else. Look, Taz, we are washed and old and if we said that to them, they would probably laugh at us and then vaporize us. They did laugh at me when I asked that. Yeah, actually. Okay, Victor. Oh, whoa, whoa, Victor.

Well, producer Victor in the chat. Victor, what? Come on. Hey, come in here. Come in here. If you're about, don't, you act like you know what's going on. Sorry for poor audio quality.

No, don't worry. Producer Victor, come through the building. Yes, yes. Please. Yeah, so. So back in the day, people would gary's mod to mod video games and make little machinimas which is just basically making a tv or a movie around video games essentially so i think that's what it looks like here they're making the memes off of it i'm but butchering it, but I think it might be Unreal Engine

3. So there's a software where you can screw around with video game characters, and that's how they're making it. And then animate it and do all this. Okay, but Victor, now thank you for the technical part, but what the fuck is going on, Victor?

I don't fucking know. This one's new to me so again like we're trying to figure this out and i get that this is just sort of what this is so for whatever reason the audio visual aesthetic that they love and it's just again like going back to this i just love that the last few years zoomers have laughed at us for being chuggy cringe you know we fucking love skinny jeans the charcuterie boards and shit we're washed but they this is like one tweet from someone this is hilarious they quote i just heard oh i just overheard my sister talking about how gen z is old and stupid and how they don't get their jokes hello i am right here i am only 15 she was born in 2013 then she asked me if i knew what a

skibbity toilet was please help me what the fuck is a skibbity toilet i feel old other commenters like on these videos said they already feel quote outdated some are horrified that they don't understand what this meme is and i'm like that's why i'm like don't worry y'all it's just being washed is pretty comfortable at a certain point. You know? Hey, listen, man. You know, I went to bed last night excited for sleep. I was so sleepy.

Couldn't fall asleep because insomnia eventually did and woke up and was like, my body hurts. So like, you know, that's coming for all of y'all. You know what I'm saying? Well, you just sleep wrong. Oh, you wake up and your whole damn body hurts. And you got to get up and walk through the day to, like, relieve your pain. Wait until you have to do morning stretches. Yeah.

Because you can't walk without the morning stretch. Hey, don't sit on that office seat with your ankle tucked under your butt like that. Wait till you get that IT band pain like I did. But, yeah, again, I just love that there's also like just this whole i don't know there's like lack of acceptance around it but i get it and i and what i tell them is these kids they're they're they're the oldest ones are 11 so gen z you're still you're still firmly in the driver's seat don't worry about that yeah but just some stats about gen alpha just quick hit off the census this is going to be the most diverse generation ever which makes sense i think just subsequently this is what it's going to be because hey we're going to be the most diverse generation ever, which makes sense. I think just subsequently, that's just what it's going to be.

Because, hey, we're going to be living in a brown country soon, baby. Generation Alpha will also be the largest generation, over 2 billion by 2025. 73% of U.S. children under 12 use the Internet. 73% under 12. I didn't start using the internet till I was 12. Miles, how old is your baby? My baby is about to be 6 months old. How does it feel to have a baby

entering this shit? Also, your baby may not be generation alpha. Technically, I think it's babies born from then until now. Okay, but you know they changed that shit in retrospect. They'll go back and be like, actually, this generation Babies born from then until now. Okay. But you know they change that shit. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

In retrospect. They'll go back and be like, actually, this generation was 2023. I'm going to tell them, I'm like, you're a millennial. Like, you're dead. That's what we do. Because when we were first born, we were Generation Y. Like, Y. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We were Generation Y.

And then it changed. We changed to millennials. Yeah. Because it was just more millennials yeah because it was more I think it was easier to follow but anyway so

shout out to y'all I get it the slow creep of death comes for all of us but just accept it and you will be saved alright well thank you so much

Taz and Jack Keese for joining me today appreciate us taking a journey through our evolving culture aliens Gen A. Elon Musk.

Skibbity Toilet. And if anybody can give me some kind of sociological, anthropological analysis of Skibbity Toilet, please. And I understand what Victor's saying. This is like a natural progression of Gary's mod, and that's how we got this visual.

What are we saying with this? And if you are Generation Alpha and you're listening to this and you wanna like let us know, don't don't come into my DMs you're too young

I will say this, you know we could team up and gang up on Gen Z together the millennial Gen Alpha, yo listen I will say this. You know, we could team up and gang up on Gen Z together. Oh, shit. Oh, yeah. The millennial Gen Alpha. Yo, listen, we do have proper names for our generations. We got just no fucking letter.

You know what I'm saying? We got names. That's that mural where we tie our flags together. Gen A and fucking millennials. And we go to bully Gen Z. So stupid. All right. That's going to do it for this week's weekly Zeitgeist.

Please like and review the show if you like the show. Means the world to Miles. He needs your validation, folks. I hope you're having a great weekend, and I will talk to you Monday. Bye. Thank you. Kay hasn't heard from her sister in seven years. 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.

What was that? That was live audio of a woman's nightmare. Can Kay trust her sister or is history repeating itself? 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. There's so much beauty in Mexican culture, like mariachis, delicious cuisine, and even lucha libre. Join us for the new podcast, Lucha Libre Behind the Mask, a 12-episode podcast

in both English and Spanish about the history and cultural richness of lucha libre. And I'm your host, Santos Escobar, emperor of Lucha Libre and a WWE superstar. Listen to Lucha Libre Behind the Mask on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you stream podcasts. How do you feel about this, kids? 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?

It's right here in black and white in print. It's bigger than a flag or mascot. Listen to Rebel Spirit on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.