The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 9.1 WOW! The Logan Paul Andrew Tate Problem Got Ugly Fast, The 3 Big Problems Post-Pandemic, & More

Starting point is 00:00:00 Logan Paul just brought the hammer down on Andrew Tate, not, no, I'm trying to build up hype so I can fight you and get paid sort of way, but rather, I think you should go die in a dark corner sort of way. The shit that Andrew Tate is saying will have a ripple effect much more dangerous than you can imagine because his narrative is truly hateful. His rhetoric has extreme negative energy in it, and it will affect impressionable young people in a way that will not show until years from now, and it is dangerous. And just in case you've ignored the news cycle, Andrew Tate, of course, blew up over the past few months with viral clip after viral clip online. Some of it is like general hustle culture, motivational bullshit, but really the thing

Starting point is 00:00:37 that has gotten the biggest spotlight are the completely violent misogynistic messages he's put out there. I think sex is alpha bro crap and then multiply it by a hundred. You know, with him, there was this debate of what do you do about a guy like this and his influence? You just trust other influencers to challenge him and that somehow is going to make him smaller? Or do you limit his influence at a social media level? And with that, we actually ended up seeing major social media companies responding by banning him, though, that really hasn't changed anything. Because there's still a whole army of fan accounts on all these platforms resharing his content anyway. And while most recently we're seeing the likes of Logan Paul speaking out against Andrew Tate,

Starting point is 00:01:07 we saw Logan's brother Jake actually kind of supporting him. Tweeting, I don't roll with Andrew Tate, may KO his ass out in the ring one day soon, but I roll with freedom of speech. With him then sharing a link to a video that Andrew Tate uploaded regarding his social media bans. You've also separately had absolutely massive creators like KSI seem to challenge Andrew Tate to a fight, which is in no way supporting that person's message, but you have people saying fighting him would still give him a ton of

Starting point is 00:01:27 visibility. And that's actually something that Logan Paul, who is also a friend and business partner with KSI, spoke on. I don't feel like platforming this guy. I don't feel like giving him the blessing of being my dance partner in the ring, especially after the social media platforms have made it very clear how they feel about this guy, right? And I would even put a little call out here to, like, fellow creators and even JJ. Like, you want to re-platform this guy? Anyone. You want to have him on your shows?

Starting point is 00:01:58 You want to give him another opportunity to speak and spread his agenda? Bogan also diving into the freedom of speech argument and the role of social media companies. Essentially saying that if you think Tate and his message deserve to be spread, but are upset that it doesn't fly on, let's say YouTube or Instagram too bad. Freedom of speech, go for it, brother. You can say whatever you want.

Starting point is 00:02:15 Go in the courtyard of the mall, scream on the fucking table and say whatever you want. But when you are now at the mercy of, you know, an organization that has brought you the visibility that you so desperately seek. And now you want to not play by the rules like that's just not going to work. Logan also asking if it's violence, if it's racism or sexism, at what point do you look at someone with a massive following spreading dangerous ideas and put it to an end?

Starting point is 00:02:39 So where's your line in the sand? Do we want to let Andrew Tate keep doing this before his subscribers of little TikTok schoolboys start doing negative, bad shit to women? So how bad do we want to let it get? When we know where it's going to lead, you know how this ends. With one of his co-hosts, Mike Malik, at various points noting how severe the consequences to this can and have been, how people online are already eating up this misogyny, and how that stands to do a lot of damage. The jokes about violence towards women, about, you know, that type of activity are at a height right now. I will say, I was actually surprised to hear these two saying this on their podcast, because I feel like a majority of creators out there, they're scared to say things

Starting point is 00:03:14 that their audiences might not like. And I'm not saying it would be like a one-to-one overlap of the impulsive audience and like Tate fanboys. But if I were to just guess, I would think there was like a decent chunk of crossover between the audience, maybe not even majority, but a decent but a decent meaningful chunk that you could see so with them publicly saying this on the podcast It wasn't a surprise to me that all their top comments are people lashing out at them with some of it just getting ugly Nasty ranging from ugly personal attacks to others mentioning his past with the Japanese for us people saying that makes Logan a hypocrite You also saw people defending Logan from those comments saying that is not a one-to-one comparison. Both in why there was massive backlash against the creators, as well as what the creators did after the backlash.

Starting point is 00:03:50 Also, regarding the argument of being free to say what you want, you have people pointing to Ethan Klein. Because regarding Tate just yesterday, he said, Dear Free Speech Champions that defended Andrew Tate, tell me what you think about this. I just got a cease and desist letter from Andrew Tate. He demands I stop talking about him. Thoughts? Which also, congratulations to Ethan. This is like a land speed record. I joked yesterday

Starting point is 00:04:09 about how you attract legal problems like I attract people with daddy issues and already another one? But ultimately, with all that, I'd love to know your thoughts on any aspect of the story. I know we covered a lot, whether it be about the cease and desist to Ethan. What are your thoughts on the points that Logan Paul was making? Also, do you think someone like a Logan Paul speaking out makes a difference? Why? Why not? Anything and everything. I'd love to hear from you in those comments down below. Why are you high right now, James? Does this really feel like the appropriate time? Also, yes, I'm specifically talking about you. I'm not actually, but if you are high, how great was that moment? Also, if you're wondering why I said James,

Starting point is 00:04:43 it turns out it's because it's the most basic-ass bitch name in America. It is the most common name for men in America. Let's go through it together. James, John, Robert, Michael, William, David, Richard, Charles, Joseph, Thomas, and just to Adam, Christopher, you got basic-ass bitch names. It's like 25% of American men right there. But, I'm getting sidetracked. Before I decided to alienate about a quarter of my audience,

Starting point is 00:05:03 I was trying to talk about pop because it's in the news for a number of reasons. Things like if you live in California, you had big news, the state Senate just passed a bill that would amend the anti-discrimination laws and the Fair Employment and Housing Act to protect pot smokers from their employers. Now before you degenerate, but beautiful bastards get too excited, you should know this doesn't mean like you can go hot box your workplace. But it actually does mean you would be able to smoke pot outside of work and if you test positive at a hair or urine test your boss can't punish you for it Which I think for a number of jobs makes absolute sense. I remember when I applied to work at Target They were like you need a drug test motherfucker. It's Target

Starting point is 00:05:31 I should be required to be high to work with the public But also with this law there are a few caveats for example You might get hit with a loophole other tests that may determine whether you're currently high like saliva tests are not covered by the bill So watch out for that and the bill does notably exclude building and construction workers, federal contractors, workers who receive federal funding, and federal licensees who are required to maintain drug-free workplaces. Also, you need to know not to jump the gun on this. This is not signed yet, though Newsom does have until the end of this month to do so, and once he does sign it, it'll go into effect January of 2024. And with this, you have supporters saying that it could strengthen job security and open up employment

Starting point is 00:06:03 opportunities for cannabis users since drug tests are commonly used to weed out prospective applicants. Also, yes, fuck you, pun intended. And notably, California is not breaking new ground here. It would make it the seventh state to codify such protections. And very notably, and also another bit of news, this comes just as a new Gallup poll dropped this week, finding that for the first time ever, marijuana use among Americans is outpacing cigarette use. With only 11% of respondents saying they smoke cigarettes, which is down from 45% in the mid-50s. And to make the comparison, 16% of people say they now smoke weed and 48% say that they've at least tried it at some point in their lives.

Starting point is 00:06:34 Art is dead and that is not in reference to the famous Bo Burnham song that I play every time I'm sad or uninspired. Also, it's one of the only three songs I actually know all the words to. Rather, that's what some are saying after this piece won an art contest at Colorado State Fair. But why? You might ask, because you're a crazy person like me who talks to videos I can't speak back. Well, the issue is that the artist Jason Allen never actually painted this, nor did he put a stylus to a screen, since this was technically the digital art category. But rather, this art was made with AI software called Midjourney. So interesting in its own right, but this entire conversation and debate about this piece

Starting point is 00:07:05 quickly took off on Twitter after an artist posted, TLDR, someone entered an art competition with an AI-generated piece and won the first prize. Yeah, that's pretty fucking shitty. With a lot of people agreeing with them. But also, you had people pointing out, Alan knew what he was doing here. He knew that he was kicking the hornet's nest. But he was also critical of his critics by pointing out that he had to create hundreds of images and prompts to fine-tune what the AI came up with before coming across three pieces he was proud of. With him

Starting point is 00:07:27 going on to say, how interesting it is to see how all these people on Twitter who are against AI generated art are the first ones to throw the human under the bus by discrediting the human element. Does this seem hypocritical to you guys? But to that, there was a lot of pushback. With people saying that's no different than sending prompts to another artist until they made a piece that you liked and then you took credit for it. And in this case, the AI isn't a person, so Alan could take credit as maybe a collaborator on the project. But also with this, we saw no shortage of arguments. Some saying AI is just another tool for artists to use and another medium to express themselves.

Starting point is 00:07:55 Some saying it's no different than poetry made manifest as Alan had to write words. Also people questioning, is something not art because it was not made by a human? Another saying, is it no different than photography as the photographer just chooses the best image from the ones they've captured? But also one of the points that made many artists angry was that these AIs are trained on datasets of pieces made by other human beings. So it's allegedly quasi-stealing.

Starting point is 00:08:14 But then that has a whole different argument of is it theft or just being inspired by? Well, of course, I'd love to know your thoughts on any aspect of this story. I wanna know your thoughts on this specific reaction, which reads, we're watching the death of artistry unfold right before our eyes. If creative jobs aren't safe for machines, then even high skilled jobs are in danger of becoming obsolete. What will we have then? What

Starting point is 00:08:32 is your opinion on that? What does it make you feel? Are you more excited or inspired or are you indifferent on something like this? Because if you're an artist, maybe it makes you feel better that you're not the only ones that need to worry. In fact, apparently you can now make scripts for YouTube videos with an AI. Though my writers assure me that it's just absolute shit at writing and refuse to even link me to a video because I would be so offended by how bad it is. But yeah, what are your thoughts regarding this whole situation, whether you're in a creative field or not? And from that, I want to take a second to thank the fantastic sponsor of today's show, Squarespace. You know, I've been partnering with Squarespace for years now,

Starting point is 00:09:04 and I have to say, if you're getting your business off the ground or creating a place to share your homemade goods, your new favorite hobby, current obsession, or even a personal blog to get all those thoughts out of your head, no matter what you're doing, Squarespace is there to help. And it's all so easy. There's nothing to install, patch, or upgrade ever. Plus, creating a beautiful website with Squarespace's all-in-one platform has never been so simple. It's extremely intuitive and easy to use. And with their mobile-optimized websites, your content automatically adjusts so it looks great on any device plus with squarespace you get access to all their marketing tools and analytics and their award-winning customer care

Starting point is 00:09:30 team via email or live chat 24 7. so if you want to check it out see why so many others love it see if it is right for you start your free trial today over squarespace.com fill when you realize you love it make sure you enter an offer code phil to get 10 off your first purchase sexual assault test scores, and movie sales. What do those three things have in common? Well, it turns out all have gotten worse since we re-emerged from the pandemic. So starting with the first and worst, SA across the US military has shot through the roof recently. According to new data, as military bases began relaxing COVID restrictions last year, sexual assault jumped 13%, with close to 36,000 service

Starting point is 00:10:03 members saying in a confidential survey that they had experienced unwanted sexual contact, which is an absolutely insane number considering when a similar poll was taken in 2018, only roughly 20,000 said the same. And if last year's numbers are accurate, that means only around one in five victims officially reported their experience, with these revelations coming just over a year after the Biden administration formed an independent commission to study the issue and devise solutions, and coming up with 80 recommendations including things like removing military commanders from the adjudication process and assault cases, better evaluating commanders for the climate that they create, and making victims advocates independent of the chain of command. And all of that leading to a bill being passed by lawmakers back in December,

Starting point is 00:10:37 where, among other measures, it made it so that independent prosecutors, not commanders, decide whether a case goes to a court-martial. And so where I want to end this section is that if you are a survivor of assault, this is the essay hotline. There's also specific numbers that you can call if you're a male survivor or if you're a member of the military. Please stop doubting yourself and get the help that you deserve. There is no reason to feel ashamed and you deserve justice. Then we should talk about the second post-pandemic trend, test scores.

Starting point is 00:10:59 And this one, likely not a surprise if you've kept up with our coverage of the state of the American education system or your kids are in school right now or you are in school right now. Our kids are doing far, far worse in school, with new data being published by the National Center for Education Statistics, which administers what's commonly called the Nation's Report Card. You've got exams for reading and math that nine-year-old students took first in early 2020, and then again in early 2022, with results showing that average scores dropped five points in reading, which is the largest decline since 1990. And it's even worse in math points in reading, which is the largest decline since 1990.

Starting point is 00:11:25 And it's even worse in math, seven points, which is the first decline in that subject ever recorded. Plus, for the students who were already falling behind before COVID, the picture's even uglier, with their scores crashing as much as 12 points in math and 10 in reading, with the Secretary of Education saying, yes, this is connected to the long absence of in-person teaching and that the U.S. is in an education crisis. And while we've seen test scores dropping, we've also been seeing increases, but it's increases in things like school shootings, violence, classroom disruptions, teacher and staff vacancies, absenteeism, cyberbullying, and students' use of mental health services. But all of that brings us to the third and least concerning

Starting point is 00:11:57 of this trio that we're talking about, movies. Right currently, box office figures in North America, France, and Germany are tracking at around two-thirds of pre-pandemic levels for the first half of this year. With the U.S. bringing in $3.6 billion during that time, far short of the $5.4 billion over the same period in 2019. Numbers that would be even worse if you didn't have big blockbusters like Spider-Man No Way Home and Jurassic World Dominion. Though, the industry's saving grace in the first half of the year was actually Paramount's Top Gun Maverick, which brought in $692 million in the U.S. and Canada. But here's the thing, a lot of studios have not done so well, such as Warner Bros., with inside sources reportedly claiming that they can only afford to release two more movies this year despite having several ready to go. And apparently a lot of this stalled return to the theaters is being driven by older

Starting point is 00:12:35 demographics who have refrained from theater since COVID. Meanwhile, young audiences are back in full. In fact, theaters in America are so desperate. This Saturday, they are selling tickets for just $3. They're trying to turn it into an event? They're calling it the first annual National Cinema Day. You've got over 3000 locations participating, equivalent to more than 30,000 screens. And really, in a lot of places, there's no better time because it's so fucking hot outside.

Starting point is 00:12:56 I went for a hike yesterday and I looked at my phone halfway through and it was 107 degrees. I felt like my face was melting. I was scared I was gonna look like fucking Ted Cruz when I got back to my car. But hey, I guess the way that I'll end this shitty trio is $3 movies this Saturday.

Starting point is 00:13:09 What are we going out to see and watch this weekend while we try to, you know, forget about the state of the world for two to three hours? And then let's close out the day with the least polarizing topic we possibly could talk about, and that is abortion. And that is in part because pro-birthers are making some interesting moves. Right, so for months now, abortion rights activists in Michigan have been collecting

Starting point is 00:13:27 signatures for a ballot initiative that would enshrine abortion rights in the state. And not only would this proposed referendum install permanent abortion protections in the state constitution, it would also extend those protections to other reproductive health services like birth control, prenatal care, miscarriage management, and more. Plus, it would also stop a law from taking effect that would ban abortions without exception for rape

Starting point is 00:13:44 and incest. That law, which by the way is from 1931, was supposed to go into effect after Roe's reversal, but had been blocked by a county court. So unsurprisingly after the Supreme Court decision, this ballot initiative got a ton of momentum with tens of thousands of people volunteering to knock on doors, ultimately gathering over 750,000 signatures from all 83 counties in the state, far more than the roughly 425,000 required for an initiative to make it on the ballot. Which makes sense. Polls have consistently shown

Starting point is 00:14:07 that Americans broadly support abortion protections. I mean, hell, it's saying something when you go to a place like Kansas, a reliably red state, and voters there resoundingly rejected an amendment that would strip abortion protections from the state constitution. And as Politico explains,

Starting point is 00:14:19 along with a slew of pending court cases and state legislative battles, these ballot initiatives have the potential to remake the country's abortion access map as the number of states implementing near total bans has mounted. And all of that is likely why we saw Republicans doing what they did yesterday in undermining the will of the people. Because the reason we're talking about all this now is despite the fact that the Michigan Bureau of Elections recommended that the ballot initiative be certified, the Michigan Board of State canvassers, thanks to you guessed it, Republicans, killed it. With the board yesterday rejecting the inclusion of the amendment on the ballot this November after getting deadlocked

Starting point is 00:14:47 two to two. With both the Republicans on the board voting against certifying the measure while both Democrats voted in favor. And as far as why these Republicans killed this initiative before it could come into this world, they said they were doing it because of a literal formatting issue. I am not kidding, really. Screenshots of the petition that was circulated to collect signatures for the initiative appeared to have spaces missing between multiple words. And while parts of it can be hard to look at and it takes a minute to parse through, if you know how to fucking read, you can. And beyond that, the

Starting point is 00:15:14 language that appears to be missing spaces isn't the summary of the measure which most voters read but instead just the full legal text of the proposal. The legal mumbo jumbo technical legal definitions of words part that most people probably didn't even read or understand. But pro-birthers use this little thing to argue that it should be invalidated and of course the Republicans on the board went along with it. And truly anyone who hasn't drank the Kool-Aid yet can see through this bullshit.

Starting point is 00:15:34 And it really brings up the question of how are there so many fucking people in our government at so many different levels that do not care about the will of the people. But ultimately that's where we are as far as what happens next. The groups behind the ballot initiative can appeal the board's decision to the state Supreme Court, which they've already said they'll do, also about the will of the people. But ultimately, that's where we are. As far as what happens next, the groups behind the ballot initiative can appeal the board's decision to the state Supreme Court, which they've already said they'll do, also accusing the board of disenfranchising voters. And hopefully we see a resolution, but this is fucking ridiculous. Right, how are you gonna use the argument

Starting point is 00:15:55 that this is about states' rights, but then at the state level, they try to make sure you don't use your right to vote a certain way? Bananas. But ultimately, that is where that story and today's show ends. As always, thank you for watching and subscribing to my daily dives in the news, which if you didn't know,

Starting point is 00:16:07 I actually post on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday as well now. They're just shorter videos. But as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love yo faces, and I'll see you tomorrow.

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The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 9.1 WOW! The Logan Paul Andrew Tate Problem Got Ugly Fast, The 3 Big Problems Post-Pandemic, & More

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