The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 6.20 Cancel Culture Hits New Level, Jacksfilms VS Fortnite, Reparations, & India's Water Crisis

Starting point is 00:00:00 One, two, three, four! Welcome to the Philip DeFranco Show! It's a show that is the best show that's not really a show, but it's me talking to a camera for three, four minutes. Yeah. Yeah. Sup, you beautiful bastards? Hope you're having a fantastic Thursday. I hope some of you enjoyed that throwback.

Starting point is 00:00:17 My name, of course, is Philip. I will throw a punch if you do not hit that like button DeFranco. And let's just jump into it. And the first thing we're going to talk about today, and something that could honestly be a daily recurring segment, the call for cancellation of the day. And today, according to the Guardian, more than 20,000 Christians have signed a petition

Starting point is 00:00:33 calling for the cancellation of Good Omens, a television series adapted from a 1990 fantasy novel. They're saying that the show is apparently another step to make Satanism appear normal, light, and acceptable, calling on people to tell Netflix cancel Blasphemous Good Omens series. And the only issue there is it's actually a series on Amazon Prime. Also, I'm a little bit biased here. I'll watch anything David Tennant is in and actually watch a series. I think it's good. That's just my takeaway. Although I will say I do, yeah, there are some disgusting problems with the series. For one, and I am outraged by this,

Starting point is 00:01:03 the season is only six episodes. Sure, they're quality, but this blasphemer would like more. And two, I found it just downright appalling people should be ashamed that there wasn't more press around this series because I really wanted to be successful so that there's a season two. And while obviously that's sarcasm, I think this is probably the best thing for the series for there to be some sort of outrage. Also, one of my favorite things that the petition apparently has a problem with is God is voiced by a woman. Yeah, that's really it. It's kind of your daily supply of stupid.

Starting point is 00:01:30 Although in my opinion, the really sad news around this is they didn't even need to call on Granted the Wrong Company to cancel the show because it's very much expected that it's gonna be a one and done show. I would love for there to be a season two, for there to be an expansion upon the book. But you know, sometimes life's just not fair. Then in the latest edition or iteration

Starting point is 00:01:47 of Fortnite stole my moves, we have JacksFilms, AKA Jack Douglas, AKA the guy with garbage dogs. I shouldn't actually say that because there's gonna be a lot of people that don't know that joke. Yes, Epic Games and Fortnite allegedly stole his most prized possession, the deep dab.

Starting point is 00:02:04 A move so cringy, it's believed to be responsible for 37 American deaths a day and those are real statistics that I made up just now. But yeah, fans and Jack alike have pointed out that the move seems to be exactly a copy and ripoff. Although it appears right now that Jack is not going down the route that we've seen others go. Like 2Milly, Alfonso Ribeiro, Backpack Kid, who of course have filed lawsuits against Epic Games. And instead Jack used the situation as an opportunity to promote his Fortnite creator code. His creator code which upon fans using it and making purchases gives him a portion of the proceeds. But yeah, honestly, I think this is probably the smartest move for him. It's low effort, probably not as ill-fated, but that's also my personal takeaway from it. When he talked about this on Twitter,

Starting point is 00:02:42 some of the top responses were saying, lawsuit,awsuit, lawsuit.'" So, I pose the question to you. Do you think that Jack's handling the situation the right way, or no, you think that he should go a much harsher route? Now, let's talk about this news coming out of India, where you may or may not know there is a water crisis. And yesterday, hundreds of people were arrested in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu for staging a protest

Starting point is 00:02:59 over severe water shortages in the region. Protesters reportedly demonstrated in front of a local government building and carried empty water containers. Most of these protestors who were arrested were reportedly members of the main opposition party in the state. And according to India Today,

Starting point is 00:03:11 the police arrested protestors because they had not received permission to hold the demonstration. And right now, while it is unclear how many people were actually arrested, you had CNN reporting that at least 550 people were arrested. Meanwhile, you had Indian newspapers going in both directions.

Starting point is 00:03:24 Some saying 400 people were arrested, while others cited police reports saying that it was actually closer to 700. While we're talking about the arrests of hundreds, the situation that we're talking about is affecting millions. Right, these protests are coming as water shortages in the state capital Chennai, which is India's sixth largest city, have basically left the entire city of around 4.6 million people without water. In the last few weeks, the four reservoirs that supply water to the millions of residents in the region have nearly run dry. As a result, the state government has had to truck in tons and tons of water. So that means right now there is a situation every day where hundreds of thousands of residents are forced to wait in line for hours in the summer heat just to fill plastic containers with water. And that's the day-to-day life of those getting

Starting point is 00:03:59 water. There are still many others still left without it. And when I mention that heat, it is bad. This shortage has been described as one of the worst in years, and it also comes as the region is facing an extreme heat wave that has already killed hundreds of people. Schools, businesses, and restaurants have been forced to close. Water crisis has also caused unrest. People have started fighting over water with clashes breaking out across the city. Also, there have been reports that trucks transporting water have been hijacked, and the drivers have even been attacked.

Starting point is 00:04:22 And so, of course, with this story, there's's the question of, well how did it get this bad? How did it get to this point? Well the main reason for the shortage is the fact that the seasonal monsoon rains are late. Monsoon season usually starts in early June and it is essential for replenishing India's water supplies each year. But so far it has barely rained at all.

Starting point is 00:04:36 And as a result the state's high court has accused the state government of negligence and poor management. Saying that the government has just been passively waiting for the monsoons to come rather than being proactive about it despite the fact that a late and dry monsoon season had been predicted. Also, another cause of the shortages

Starting point is 00:04:50 is the lack of proper infrastructure. Revertedly, even when the monsoons do come, the city's current infrastructure often is unable to store water adequately, with experts saying that's largely due to the fact that the city doesn't have rainwater harvesting or recycling. Now, India also relies on groundwater collection,

Starting point is 00:05:02 but groundwater has been depleted by years of drilling into the earth and urban development that has destroyed the wetlands. And notably here, that groundwater depletion is especially bad in large cities and disproportionately affects low-income families who rely almost entirely on groundwater. Now at this point, I do want to point out that India experiences droughts every year and smaller towns have even run out of water in the past. But what we're talking about today is an escalation of what we've seen in the past, a downright horrible situation now, and a future where it could get far, far worse.

Starting point is 00:05:27 According to a 2018 report by an Indian government think tank called National Institution for Transforming India, or NIDI, droughts all over India caused water shortages that impacted 600 million people. And according to the same report, only one in four Indian households have drinking water at home. And nearly 200,000 people die each year

Starting point is 00:05:42 because of inadequate water supply or water contamination. But Chennai, right, what we're talking about today is the first major city to have a severe water shortage. And according to Nidhi, this is a growing problem in India. At least 21 cities in India, including the capital, New Delhi, will run out of groundwater by 2020, which is expected to affect around 100 million people. And that report also says that 40% of India's population

Starting point is 00:06:02 will not have access to drinking water by 2030. And all of these problems are expected to get worse thanks to climate change, which experts say will make monsoon rains more erratic and water shortages more common. And that is especially problematic for India, where 70% of the population depends on agriculture, and 75% of the water required for that agriculture comes from monsoons. But ultimately, that is the situation as it is right now. We are most likely going to see an escalation regarding these protests. Already the opposition party has called

Starting point is 00:06:27 for statewide protests on June 22nd, so we're gonna see what happens there. Right, so that's just a thing to keep in mind. Even if something happens where this gets handled in the now, this is a long-term situation. But yeah, that's where we're going to end that one. And then let's talk about the potential strides being made in terms of reparations for the descendants of slaves.

Starting point is 00:06:43 Yesterday, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties held a hearing. And this hearing was about a bill introduced by Sheila Jackson Lee, who was a Democratic representative from Texas. And this bill proposes the formation of a commission to quote, study and consider a national apology

Starting point is 00:06:57 and proposal for reparations for the institution of slavery. And these reparations could potentially include compensation to descendants. But, and this is important to note because I've seen different kinds of reports coming out, wildly different understandings of what is happening, the bill itself does not directly propose any kind of reparations, just a commission that would look into the matter.

Starting point is 00:07:13 Now for some background on reparations for those that maybe missed that day of eighth grade US history, after the Civil War, an order was signed to set aside 400,000 acres of land that used to belong to the Confederates in the South, and give that land to recently freed slaves, with each family getting up to 40 acres of land. And while this next the Confederates in the South and give that land to recently freed slaves with each family getting up to 40 acres of land and while this next part was not specified in the order some families were also meant to receive army mules and that's why it was dubbed 40 acres and a mule which is actually why this new introduced bill is called HR 40 It's in reference to those 40 acres However after the Civil War none of those former slaves ever saw that land and that is because Andrew Johnson who succeeded Lincoln

Starting point is 00:07:43 reversed the order and so the land ended up going back to its Confederate owners. The government later proposed a form of pensions, but nothing ever came of it. Also, every year between 1989 and 2017, now retired Representative John Conyers Jr. proposed a reparations bill, but nothing ever came of that either,

Starting point is 00:07:57 and all of that brings us to now Jackson Lee's bill, which is actually a reintroduction of the bill Conyers had been pushing. So, yesterday was the hearing. What happened at the hearing? Well, this was the first time a judiciary committee held a hearing about reparations in over a decade. It was also notably held on June 19th or Juneteenth, which commemorates the Emancipation of slaves in Texas. And leaders from several fields got the chance to speak about this bill and explain why they either did or did

Starting point is 00:08:17 not support it. And those people included the likes of Senator Cory Booker, actor and activist Danny Glover, and more. We also of course saw Jackson Lee speak, who also said that this bill deserves to move forward because even though slavery ended 150 years ago, the impacts of it still live on today. HR 40 is in fact the response of the United States of America long overdue. One million African Americans are incarcerated. That is a continuing impact. The black employment rate is 6.6% in spite of what has been said currently. More than double the national unemployment rate. 31% of black children live in poverty compared to 11% of white children. Writer Ta-Nehisi Coates also spoke.

Starting point is 00:08:58 And there was a lot of press coverage around him because he countered the common argument of people asking why present day Americans should have to pay for something that happened several generations ago. To which he said, We honor treaties that date back some 200 years despite no one being alive who signed those treaties. Many of us would love to be taxed for the things we are solely and individually responsible for. But we are American citizens and thus bound to a collective enterprise that extends beyond our individual and personal reach. Of course, all those who are speaking did not speak in support of it.

Starting point is 00:09:29 There were those who did not support the bill. For example, you have the likes of writer Coleman Hughes who argued that while it was an injustice that there were never reparations paid in the past, there are more pressing issues to deal with in the present. Black people don't need another apology. We need safer neighborhoods and better schools. We need a less punitive criminal justice system. We need affordable health care. Now as far as the future of this bill, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer says he expects the House to vote on it if the bill gets through the Judiciary Committee.

Starting point is 00:09:56 Also right now it is supported by the likes of Chairman Jerry Nadler and Speaker Nancy Pelosi as well as many other Democrats in the Congressional Black Caucus. But of course many people think that it will face problems once in the Senate, where Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already stated this week that he does not support reparations. Yeah, I don't think reparations for something that happened 150 years ago for whom none of us currently living are responsible is a good idea. We've, you know, tried to deal with our original sin of slavery by fighting a civil war, by passing landmark civil rights legislation. We've elected an African-American president.

Starting point is 00:10:31 And to his note on Obama, I imagine a certain group responded, "'Who's we, Mitch?' I'm not gonna argue one way or another with this story, but it feels like Mitch doesn't want people to have to be responsible for the past, but for some reason we're taking credit for the good stuff. You know, ultimately that's where we are with the story as of right now, and I'm very interested to know your thoughts on this whole situation.

Starting point is 00:10:50 What are your thoughts on the topic of reparation? Do you feel like it would help with the horrors of the past, the give-and-take promise of the past, and potentially undo the inequality that is believed to have stemmed from it? Or are you on the other side of it? No, you are completely against it. It was different people, a different time. Or maybe you're along the lines of someone like Hughes who you are completely against it. It was different people at different times. Or maybe you're along the lines of someone like Hughes who says that we would be better off focusing on issues that impact African Americans today.

Starting point is 00:11:10 Or the argument that maybe the money should be focused on the communities that people live in, the schools that people go to. Although, to bring us back to the beginning here, what we're talking about is not a bill that creates reparations, but rather a committee to study and consider it where hypothetically it could lead to a situation

Starting point is 00:11:26 where they find what they consider a better answer. But ultimately that's the story and of course I pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts around all of this? And that's where we're going to end today's show. And of course with it being the end, this is the part where I tell you to hit that like button. If you're new here, hit that subscribe button,

Starting point is 00:11:39 ring that bell to turn on notifications. Also, you're not 100% filled in. You wanna see my stupid face vomit some more words at you, maybe you missed one of the last two Philip DeFranco shows, which you can just click or tap right there to watch that right now. But with that said, of course, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco, you've just been filled in.

Starting point is 00:11:53 I love yo faces and I'll see you tomorrow.

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The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 6.20 Cancel Culture Hits New Level, Jacksfilms VS Fortnite, Reparations, & India's Water Crisis

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