SPEAKER_04 0:00

Welcome back to the Blurred Spectrum Podcast, everyone. We are back for an interesting topic, a new topic, a topic that you know we probably think every single minute of every single day if you live in the continental US. Uh uh, and the name of the game, the name of the topic is WTF uh my BFF Jill. No, what the fuck is wrong with America? What's going on in this country? What's going on in this this this this uh this mass of land? Uh and this is this this is widespread. This could be talking about anything. This could be talking about anything from uh education to weather to politics to geography to uh uh rules, regulations, how people think oh my god, this is plenty of talk about. So I have a couple panelists here. Um, each of them have in their own special way told me about some of their gripes uh with not necessarily America, but you know, the people who are here and the people who control it, and the people who are coming next, which I guess comprises America. Uh, and so they're gonna they're gonna we're gonna discuss a little bit of those things. So, of course, I must introduce our panelists, uh, starting with uh the doctor. What's good? I have uh Miss uh Miss andor Doctor Rebecca Quinzel. What's up? And then of course I have Miss Sayone Cosplay. Hello. So without further ado, I mean, pretty much, you know, let's jump into it. Uh, in the words of Kiki Palmer, let's get into it. Uh, what's uh what the fuck is wrong with America? There's been a variety of things that have happened. Uh, we actually wanted to do this episode a couple of weeks ago, and what's interesting is since those couple of weeks ago, a shitstorm of other things have happened. Granted, that stuff is always happening, but it's just interesting how when you're especially when you're working on a podcast, you have like a scope in mind. You're like, okay, this is what we're probably gonna talk about in this conversation based off this big news, this you know, current events. But then as time elapses, you're like, oh oh, oh, America's still going. Oh, you're giving us more. Oh, there's more to talk about. So, um, okay, one thing that I would like to talk about, um, and it happened a couple weeks ago. It's not, of course, uh big news right now, but people, you know, are well, there's a bigger news, but it happened a couple weeks ago, which was um uh the the the we we call it the orange clouds of New York, um, which of course started in Canada, as we were told. Some people don't believe it did, but pretty much the the air quality, the the the the smog in the air, it's like somebody got a bunch of wheezings, uh, put them in the stratosphere and said, use smog, and we we were all hacking and coughing and choking, or some of us were smart and stayed the fucking side. Um, or some of us were divorced. Nobody. Um, or you know, some people in New York were looking out their window and it looked like Godzilla was attacking. So, like, let's let's talk about it. What what was your panelists? What was your feel? Like, what was going through your mind when uh the smog attacked?

SPEAKER_00 3:16

So for me, it was interesting because this was just around the time I had gone to Atlanta, you know. So I think like right when I left Maryland, like the next day just happened, whatnot. You know, I was um, I don't know, and I was remembering still getting my my weather app was still set to Maryland and whatnot. And I think like maybe two days later or so, I just like open my weather app. I'm like, oh, let me see what the weather is. And it shows Maryland, it's like a purple alert for air. I'm like, what the hell? Like this weird, and then so you know, I asked, um, I texted my mom about it, like, hey, like, is everything like okay back there? Like, what's going on? And then she's talking, like, oh shit, it's the end times about, you know, like the sky is falling and shit. Like, I'm just panicking. I'm like, but you know, and I looked it up and I saw some some of these pictures people were taking. And I remember this one from New York, and it was just a thick, hazy gray sky with like almost a blood red sun in the background. Yes. It was the most dystopian looking image. I was like, geez, and you know, I would have never thought that like wildfires in Canada could go as far south as like Maryland, yeah. But like that's apparently, I mean, it's serious, and you know, we things like this are gonna become more and more common, and we've had more and more like freak weather stuff, because of course, you know, climate change continues to climate change. Um, and it's yeah, like it was just it's nothing I've ever seen before. So definitely jarring, and it felt almost supernatural a lot of ways.

SPEAKER_04 4:55

Oh no, 100%. I think the last time I ever, I'm not gonna say paid attention to, but the last time I can recollect there being like a air quality index being like any color other than normal was like years ago, like almost a decade ago. I think I was in high school or middle school, and it was because of a heat wave, it they were like, you know, different things are happening, you know, it's gonna be a little bit hard for everybody to breathe. Um, if you're if you have uh breathing problems, not necessarily if you're just you know doing what you normally do. If you have a healthy body and you're working out and stuff like that, just be careful, be mindful. But they said for people who actually this happened a couple years ago as well, but it was like for older people who might have, or people who have asthma, people have breathing problems, you know, be careful. But for them to, I think it was like what 246 or 265, something like that was the what was the what the level of the air quality. I'm like, for someone who doesn't know what that means, uh excuse me, doctor. Um I was like, what kind of buff is this outside in the air that's gonna fuck us up? And I told who was I talking to? I think I was talking to Kaze, and I was saying, if if anybody has remembered the M Night Shyamalan, Mark Wahlberg movie, the hat was it, the happening, and I remember I remember this movie because it was alleged, it was slated to take place in Maryland, and it was like uh at pretty much the premise was the trees were trying to kill us, and the trees were letting off these fours that were getting into people's minds, and they were killing themselves. And I was like, huh. Okay, it's it's happening. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I'm looking out, I look out my door. It's like I'm I'm looking straightforward and it's dense. Like, and you you know when it's like not like it's almost like putting a gray tint or shades on, but you're not wearing shades, like it was bad, and I and like I took I told myself not to take a deep breath, so I was like trying to filter it through my teeth.

SPEAKER_03 6:52

I was like myself.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

Oh god, see, I thought you were gonna say the mist when you're talking, oh my god, I didn't think of the mist. That's what I saw. Oh, you know what's wild? Like, I remember people were saying um in New York was going on, so people would put on like their covet masks outside because of the air. Yep, then they take them off inside. So it's like a flip of like, but you know.

SPEAKER_04 7:18

Oh I and you're you're correct because when when it was happening, I I had to like I had to go and find all of my masks. I was walking around, people were looking at me like I was crazy. I was like, I can look at you and tell you ain't breathing right. So I feel like I'm the smart one in this situation because if I put take my mask off, I feel like I'm breathing in like like train smoke. So when I put the mask on and I'm breathing properly, I'm like, hmm, okay, well, it's it's like to me, I was like, in my mind, I was like, okay, it's COVID in mist form or COVID in like this dense uh uh uh miasma form. I was like, bad. So we good. Say o day, what it what did you think when the uh when the when the when the mist attacked?

SPEAKER_02 8:02

So I didn't even know about it until a co-worker, well, I'll just I'll just say this. The night before, um, I got an alert on my phone that was like air quality 180. I'm like, what the fuck does that mean? I'm like the air quality is great, and you know, like I'm out here at night, I don't see no issues, you know, and and um I might might have did like a you know that but I'm like no we got you know that was I was probably that was around 11 o'clock and I remember I had to go to my car and I came into my room and I was looking at the weather to prepare to go to work, and then you know, I didn't even know anything happened because where I was I thought it was just like a little bit of you know, a little bit of haze, a little bit of fog. You know, it's a little foggy day, I was like, you know, I see some sunshine, but you know, it's a little fog, whatever. So I'm just kind of driving and and my co-worker was like, Did you hear about you know about the about the the fire? I'm like, what fire? The haze? I'm like, what haze? Because it wasn't that bad, and I'm just like, what? You know, I'm just walking down, Johns Hopkins, you know, looking fine, breathing in, huge gulps of air, just fight fire.

SPEAKER_04 9:12

Like, she's like, this is normal Baltimore air.

SPEAKER_02 9:17

Fine day in Baltimore, you know, just like and even though I didn't pay it much mind. And so she's like, Yeah, you know, do you know about Nova Scotia? I'm like, Nova Scotia, what's going on, Nova Scotia? She's like, Yeah, the the the fire. I'm like, you tripping, you capping. You know, and I'm just here at work, like Jane, like there's literally a fire, and the the the all of the smoke is traveling down to us. I really thought she was lying. I thought she was joking until the next day, I'm like, oh bitch, we in the we we in the we in uh what is it? Not not Resident Evil. Silent Hill.

SPEAKER_04 9:55

There it is.

SPEAKER_02 9:57

I was like, oh shit. I'm just looking and people like outside. I'm like, bitch, ooh, I'm about to hear the clacks on, uh alarms and shit about to happen, or whatever. You know, that I'm like, ooh, this is triggering. And I'm looking up, I'm like, oh shit, where am I supposed to go? Is hobbies about to, you know, I'm looking, you know, I'm looking through, looking at people. I'm like, all right, nobody is transformed into anything yet. So I'm a little worried, you know, and and um I'm starting to see that the air quality index has gone from like 180 to like 260. I'm like, oh bitch, she's about to die. And I'm like, oh, I'm like, well, you know, at least we're gonna go out on a blaze of glory, I guess. So I was just kind of worried about like, you know, but again, it was kind of like, well, if we if we all gonna die, at least it's gonna be epic, like an epic death of like but then but then I was like, but maybe but you know, I don't have asthma, so I I kind of felt bad. I feel like my co-workers are like hacking out lunk, and I'm like, damn, you good? And like I'm just kinda looking like, damn, the Houston water, you lick it. I felt I felt really bad for them, but it was scary, it was scary, it was in it was very interesting because I thought it was gonna possibly travel down to Florida, and it didn't. Um my my boyfriend, he he's incredibly asthmatic. I'm like, ooh, like preparing for some crazy shit coming your way, but I think it stopped. I don't know if it went past Virginia, I'm not quite sure. But DC, I they theirs is horrible. I know that um, you know, I was completely ignorant of the air quality index as well. So I just used my trusty old friend Google and I looked up uh what are the different ranges of air quality, and it said that from when it when it gets into 300s, it's when it's hazardous, like hazmat type of shit. I'm like, oh, and then DC's like we in the 300s, like oh shit. So I felt really bad for people in DC. Yeah, DC was in the 300s. I don't know how it passed us, like I don't know why we weren't in the 300s, and DC got it so bad. Um, but yeah, looking at New York, I felt I felt horrible. I really thought it was like AI generated images because you can't believe people can't believe anything on the internet. So um, but yeah, like when I saw that it looked like we were about to have like the sep the seventh seal was unlocked in Heyman. Very interesting just seeing that that dot in the sky with a whole bunch of like it was like orange, reddish orange. It was very terrifying. Um, but I had a couple friends in in um in Canada and I reached out to them, like, y'all niggas good up there. She's like, No, no, no, we're not. No, but thanks for asking. She's like, We've been kind of locked in our house for like almost a week.

unknown 12:45

I was like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 12:47

So um, it was very interesting, but like the doctor said, this is going to be happening more frequently because of climate change and everything that's going on, and that's terrifying. Um, so this is gonna be not a new norm, but it's definitely something we're gonna see again. Um, and I don't know how people in in California have been dealing with those wildfires for so many years. Um, because you know, we're on we're completely on the east side, so yeah, we don't know what's going over going over there, but like they're used to seeing those huge like brush fires and then it going the smoke going over to neighboring states. Like, what's neighboring? My geography is fucking was it Nevada? Um, Nevada, I think Arizona. So they must be they're probably looking at us like ah, yes, y'all finally see what the hell we've been talking about, huh?

SPEAKER_01 13:36

I mean, they in California, because I asked that same question to um chammy v because he used to live in San Diego. So when San Diego has their huge fires, it can travel to Nevada, but it'll just die in the mountains because there's nothing but desert air. So the neighboring states don't really get hit as hard as like we did with Canada.

SPEAKER_04 14:02

And there's the explanation. But it's interesting because Maryland is very mountainous, right now, it is, which is why, like up where I live, like I'm not gonna say I live in the mountains, but up where I live, where it is a little bit higher up than some of the normal places in PG County, Cecil County. Well, I say Cecil County is mountains, but anyway, we're a little bit higher up, so when it gets to this height, it's it was we could see the thickness, but it wasn't like you said, like in DC. It wasn't as foggy, it wasn't as thick and uh um almost uh not translucent in any way, shape, or form. Also, I was gonna say maybe it's because it was a metropolitan uh city that you know there's taller buildings, so it's more difficult for the the smog or the the smoke to get through. Because like when you're thinking like open-air planes, it's just traveling and it's moving. But when you're in large buildings like New York, for example, when it goes between the buildings, it kind of sits there until wind passes through and moves it to the next area. So I'm thinking maybe that was a part of it as well. And then going back to what you said about the Californians saying, look what you got. Well, that's the same thing we were saying when they was getting what half an inch of snow and it was complaining. We were like, Alright, cool.

SPEAKER_02 15:16

That's uh good on you. You know, I've learned not to, I've I I had to learn to not compare our weather systems with other people because we don't have to deal with tornadoes. So I'm like, you know what? Like, I I've I do like, damn, y'all niggas gotta deal with snow tornadoes and hurricanes and shit. And I'm just here like, damn, like Maryland, we just kind of cut so we don't even the hurricanes. I feel so bad for New York because the hurricanes will pop, skip, and a jump us, they'll like leapfrog Maryland and then go straight up there. Go straight to Florida. I mean, go straight to New York, and it's just kind of like interesting, like the geography of where we are, we're kind of like in like a hidden little cave in a way. So like anything that comes from like anything that comes from Florida, it'll always like dip, like dip in. Well, once it reaches land, it loses power. But like by the time it gets to us, it's a tropical storm, it's not even a hurricane. I don't remember the last time we had a category one hurricane. The last time I know we had a tropical storm, I was in my early 20s.

SPEAKER_04 16:24

I think I was like maybe wasn't Hurricane Floyd, wasn't that the last one that was like really damaging to this area?

SPEAKER_02 16:30

The one that I remember I can't remember the name, but I remember my early 20s. It was when like basically Baltimore didn't have no fucking power for days, like and it wasn't even a hurricane, it was just a very strong tropical storm. It was like right underneath the category one, and we were that was when no flashlights were available, you couldn't even get no water. Uh the dollar stores were completely, you know, swiped of any type of um, you know, I would say light source of any kind, generators. I know I should have put some stock in generators because bitch, they was all gone. No generators are not cheap. So I think this, I would say this was um 20 2011. I was in my early 20s, but that was the last time we we just had a tropical storm. And um, I remember like it was just horrible. I think it happened, I would say right around hurricane season, with this like early fall. I want to say October. I think October, September. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I mean, again, Maryland, we don't do well with any type of like harsh, I would say, hurricane either.

SPEAKER_04 17:34

Because our wait, wait, wait. Don't say that. No, no, no. See, and that was gonna be my next point. I was about to say what the fuck is wrong with America, because for some unorthodox reason, uh, Maryland, like you said, is at a it's in a point within the country on the east coast where we get a little bit of everything. Like, like we they call DC the melting pot. We literally get a little bit of everything. We get a little bit of what comes from the north, a little bit of what comes from the south, some oceanic stuff. I mean, I don't think we've got anything from the Midwest, but we've been getting everything from the north and south for years. You know, sometimes a little bit too heavy, we get a little blizzards, sometimes we get a little too heavy, we get winds and rains and stuff like that. Four inches, six inches, stuff like that, pineapples.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

Um, but you know, we no one was even thinking about come on, go on.

SPEAKER_04 18:17

All right, so we get all of that stuff, and what the fuck is wrong with America when it's like you know you've experienced this before, yet you still act like it's a pandemic, and you'd be running to the stores and cleaning off these shelves. I'm like, can't we just in an organized fashion just pick up our necessities and then go home?

SPEAKER_02 18:37

No, can't we?

SPEAKER_04 18:39

Is it possible?

SPEAKER_02 18:40

You give people too much credit. I mean, these are the these are the no no, I'm not giving them too much credit.

SPEAKER_04 18:43

I'm I'm asking what the fuck is wrong with them. Like that's that's what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_02 18:47

These are the same people that literally was going to the grocery store fighting for toilet paper because apparently COVID causes you to have horrible diarrhea that you're gonna share. I mean, come on now. America's always been very questionable.

SPEAKER_04 19:03

You're right, these are the same people that went to the gas station and filled like trash bags full of gasoline and put it in their back seats.

SPEAKER_02 19:09

And selling it, honey. They were like, Yeah, yo, you need to stop selling weed. Like, yo, you need some of this uh gas.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

Oh my god. You know, some of them tried to return it afterwards, yes. Like, how?

SPEAKER_02 19:24

Oh my gosh. So, what do you what are they gonna do? Open the tank and just pour the gas in there, like alright, right.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

Oh, it's wild, but yeah, it takes very little for people to start to panic en masse. Yeah, I think individually, we're often a little bit more rational, but at a collective level, like when more people get involved and whatnot, we become more prone to fear and panic and just reaction. I think I I love the COVID toilet paper thing as a perfect example because COVID doesn't do anything related to like diarrhea, really. Like, that's not a common symptom. I don't know why. Every time people go for toilet paper, that's like the number one of every single, no matter what the emergency is like, toilet paper's gone, you know.

SPEAKER_02 20:11

Yep, and it's funny that you said that, Doctor, because there was an episode in Supernatural when it was an apocalypse, and they were like, one thing you gotta go, get that toilet paper, and it just it automatically reminds me of like how that world was ending. Because you know, supernatural, the world is always fucking ending in that show, but it was one episode in particular, and they're like, one thing you gotta do, if the world's ending, you make sure you stock up on toilet paper. Every time I think about COVID, I automatically think about supernatural. I'm like, where are they taking this from like Dean or like Sam? Like, where did this toilet paper thing come from?

SPEAKER_04 20:45

Such a first world problem. Like, it's it's annoying when you really like if you like really open your mind and think about like the fact that they're the most concerting thing, the most the one thing that you got to go and do when you feel as though the world is about to end and you ain't gonna be able to get your resources for a long period of time is to get toilet paper. I get it, it's a comfort that you've had since you were an infant. I understand, but I don't understand why you feel as though that's the like you didn't say water, you didn't say stock up on canned foods, you didn't say find a safe place to lay your head, build a bomb shelter. I don't know. But the first thing you thought of is to go and get toilet paper. That's what you need. You about to eat that toilet paper?

SPEAKER_02 21:28

Right. I mean, I would think that the first aid kits would be like one of the first things. Like, if if the world was ending, I would want to get first aid kits, alcohol, 100% alcohol, 100%.

SPEAKER_04 21:39

First aid kits and alcohol. I've played enough video games to know that those are the most scarce things that you be having. Is first aid kits, like the medicinal stuff, and then alcohol. Well, actually, alcohol is the stuff that people use to trade. Actually, yeah, you might want to stock up on alcohol because people want to trade that shit. I trade an alcohol for first aid kids. I don't know, bandages. Maybe I just want to drink myself to death and just get it over with. I don't know. But like literally, toilet paper?

SPEAKER_02 22:06

Toilet paper. It's giving privilege. It's given privilege. The world is ending, but I must be comfortable with my Charmin to wipe my ass. Like, what?

SPEAKER_03 22:18

Come on. But yeah, it's no.

SPEAKER_04 22:24

So, I mean, and we were just talking about the smog. So, what else? What else is the fuck wrong with uh America? The doctor, did you have a specific point that you want to talk about?

SPEAKER_00 22:33

Oh, dude. I mean, you know, I could go at length about like all the issues coming up around like this anti-pride backlash. Really? Oh, yeah, no. So, and you know, when I hear about, I guess one of the things that really makes you think of this is everything that went down with um like Target's Pride Line, for instance. You know, and how there were like uh the Proud Boys had come out and like protested, and like there were threats of violence, and like, you know, I think there were like bomb threats at what point, to the point where a lot of vendors like didn't want to do you know pride stuff going forward, or they like scaled it back a lot. And it feels like this has been a backlash that's been slowly growing, you know, against a lot of the advancement when it comes to LGBTQ plus rights and all that. Uh, but it's really reached an explosive point lately, you know, and it's it's a little bit terrifying, to be honest. You know, I'm really concerned about the direction of this country, you know, especially when it comes to you know things related to like both sexuality and race. Um I'm sure we know about like the don't get don't say gay bills and whatnot, and you know, the war on um anything, you know, black when it comes to like DeSantis and everything going on, you know, in Florida and like critical race theory, which isn't even critical race theory most of the time. Like that's it's just anything related to race, is what they call critical race theory, you know. And it's it really does concern me a lot. Um, and it's something where I feel like we're going to have to fight a lot harder going forward. You know, not to say that we haven't been fighting, because we certainly have in many ways, but I think um, you know, I think this is just the tip of the iceberg. And I'm really, I'm really, really wondering what this looks like going forward, uh, what this looks like politically, what this looks like socially. Um, you know, and I don't know if you heard about like um like drag brunches, like getting like protests and whatnot, and like Proud Boys going there and all that, but um, yeah, it's you know, it's something that's gonna take a lot more action to counteract. And that's something that I've been, you know, really thinking about a lot more intently lately. I don't know. We're going in a direction I do not like us going in, you know, and that um definitely makes me think that you know this is becoming a less and less safe world for any minority group, really, yeah, but particularly black people, queer people, and especially black queer people.

SPEAKER_04 25:19

Yes, correct. I mean, it's it's kind of what people say about the more things change, the more they say the same. Like the, you know, you as time goes on, you know, when we were younger, I want to say half of the things, most of the things that we see today about people being more open, people being more free, being able to, you know, talk about themselves, and you know, whether it's on TV, whether it's in the streets, whether it's on the internet, being able to voice who you are, what you love, who you love, what you like to do is now a lot more accepted. But then on the other end, like I said, the more things change, the more they say the same. Now, people who don't like the things that you love, the things that you do, the things that you want to express are now even more vocal. It's like, oh, well, if you're saying your speech is free, well, so is mine. And I can tell you I hate you, and I can do it on a global scale or a national scale, we'll stay there for now. Um, and it's it's it's really depressing to watch how individuals how they decide on their attacks and their their anger and their hatred, you know, whether you know, before it was just they would use the Bible and they would use Christianity and it would be like that. But at honestly, at this point, they're not even using the Bible, and then we're just saying, I don't like you, and I don't have to have a reason. And I'm like, God damn. That is kind of like you can't even use Jesus no more, you just don't like me.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

It is a wild shift where like I feel like there used to be this kind of like dance around the issue of having these prejudice abuse where you had to like couch it in something else, or you had to really deny it, you know, you had to deny it openly, but like you engage in kind of the prejudice more subtly and all that. Um, but now like no, it's very open, and it feels like um, you know, like politically, it's become just all culture stuff, you know. Like for a lot of these, you know, kind of most um anti-black, anti-gay, like you know, political figures, like I don't even know that their economic stances aren't even like particularly put out there, like it's all you know, just you know, you know, anti, like no woke shit, quote unquote.

SPEAKER_04 27:35

But it's I've I've heard woke more times in uh political meetings, conversations, and forums than I think I personally would like to. Like, you know, on the internet you hear woke and you're like, all right, guys, we can stop using it. But now that it's like they're literally writing it into bills, the word woke. And I'm like, are you serious, bro? Like, that was a that literally was a social media fad. Like, the word woke is is in the dictionary, we've been using it for quite a long time. Using it in this particular context, of course, is new to you. I don't think it's necessary for you to make a bill about schools not being woke.

SPEAKER_01 28:12

What? Well, I mean, I think between Trump's last run, yes, he stepped the presidents and DeSantis decided to take the like the baton and run with it. Like, because you figure all that anti-woke stuff uh started in Florida, like he really started revving it up because Texas just signed a bill for I think no um like minority groups or something like that.

SPEAKER_04 28:36

What that means?

SPEAKER_01 28:37

So, like you remember how DeSantis is trying to do the same thing where minority groups such as the Divine Nine or Oh yeah, like so they're trying to get rid of that stuff.

SPEAKER_04 28:49

So you mean no the no minority groups on college campuses?

SPEAKER_01 28:52

No, the Texas took it a step further, I think. But somebody can fact check it, but I think they're they they're trying to get rid of them altogether.

SPEAKER_00 29:01

Yeah, yeah, I think it's like any public institution, like any public institution.

SPEAKER_02 29:07

Could you explain that to me? Because I'm a little um ignorant to that, like what's been going on in Texas with the schools and the minority groups?

SPEAKER_01 29:14

So with Texas and Florida, with this anti-woke stuff, they're trying to get rid of any minority groups, such as the Divine Nine. They want to wipe it away because they don't feel pretty much like it's inclusive.

SPEAKER_02 29:29

Inclusive to what?

SPEAKER_01 29:31

Okay, well, I had to be careful what I was gonna say. But last time I checked, they have their own sororities and paternities, but it's just another attack. That's just like I heard that there's a lawsuit going on with a guy for Harvard where his SAT score was really, really high, but he got turned down for six Ivy League schools, so he feels like he is getting shaded or jaded by um us, like the Harvard.

SPEAKER_03 30:01

Wasn't that guy Asian?

SPEAKER_01 30:03

Exactly. So now the Asians are attacking the African Americans. So he feels that he's getting jaded by not getting entry into Ivy League schools because they're giving the um scholarships to blacks. And if he was to look at the statistics, we're not even in those schools to a degree where we would jade him into getting it. Like, I would love to see his resume because last time I checked with Ivy League schools, SAT scores aren't enough. They need to see that you're a well-rounded student, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:36

Exactly. You know, and it's it's so interesting because they always come for black people when it comes to any affirmative action. Like, but black people are not even the biggest beneficiaries of affirmative action at all. Disapportionately white women, yeah. Like that's the number one group, but you never hear that group talked about as like, oh, you know, they're taking our slots and whatnot. Like, no, it's it's just another excuse to shit on black people and to keep black people out of these spaces, you know. And I mean, it's it's something that's been ramping up, you know, like you said, definitely for Trump. Um even with Obama was when I first started to notice it getting more overt, where you had like congressmen, you know, congressmen calling, like saying, you know, calling him boy and shit, and like saying things openly that were just you know kind of unbelievable to me. And like these online, you know, um 4chan type forums where you know some of them were like posting some of the most hateful racist shit, you know, and it was just really, really open, and that's just been growing and growing and growing, you know, and it's it's fucking awful. Um, you know, with these new bills are passing, and they're passing and they're really coming up more and more and more. I don't know what it's gonna look like a year from now, two years from now. I really don't.

SPEAKER_01 31:58

You think we all collectively need to come together and go off of Sinee's list and figure out what country we're going to?

SPEAKER_02 32:04

Oh, honey, you already know who I'm dead. I'm not gonna be here in 10 years. Like, I've I've already I've never felt comfortable in this country. Um, and uh I you know being in my Afro-American history class, one thing I would have to say about Bowie State that that class was just wonderful because the history that we were taught, and I'm talking about all minorities, but more so black people that we were taught in school in this country was all fucking wrong, and they put it in textbooks. Um, and you know, they had to be fact-checked over the years and they had to change the textbooks, how slaves were indentured servants. Like that was I remember that was the most annoying thing that in school they never really touched base on um the you know, slavery, really. They're kind of like, yeah, they're slaves, but really they were indentured servants and they worked, you know, and they had their own land, but they were very hush-hush and they brush it over. Everything about this country, how it was formed, what how it was taught to children was a lie. How Christopher Columbus found founded the US, and and and if people really knew about Christopher Columbus and how his ads had to actually be be taken back, I think he had to be taken back to Europe because he kept raping people, raping the natives. And he not only that, he's like the he's like the world-class like syphilis spreader all over the fucking world. And but we weren't taught that. I had no idea. I was just learned that, I would say, a couple months ago. And I was just dumbfounded. I remember in school, I used to hate American history because there was always propaganda, no matter what country you're in. There's always propaganda about our country is the greatest. And let me tell you why. And they never really focus on what really happened, so to speak, even though there's there's facts there. We thought Eli Whitney, I think Eli Whitney, we were taught that Eli Whitney was black. You know, he's a white man. Like, and and and again, like these are things that were taught, and people like people are like, I didn't even know that until I got into college. But these there are reasons why the American legislation, why the American education system wants to pacify on black history, is because they want they don't want us to know about our history. And they said that, well, it's a fear that you know black people are gonna you know rev up and and basically uh come against us. I'm like, we just want to know what our history, we want to know how we came about, we want to know what your ancestors did. It's not gonna make us hate you, it's gonna make us at least respect that you want to know your ancestors and that we want to know our history. The more that you try to pacify on us is the more we're gonna start feeling, the more that we're going to feel like we have to rebel because there's literally a whole entire history that we are ignorant of, and that is exactly how our African history, our culture was taken away from us. Like they a lot of the slaves came to this country, they on purpose didn't even want them to know where the fuck they came from. You can't even find, I think, on if you're looking for if you're trying to go back, um, for African Americans try to go back in history, try to figure out their lineage. I think it's you can't even find it anytime anything before 1850. I believe I can't remember the date, but it's like it's very difficult because their names were changed, where they came from changed, it was completely erased. So it's it's just horrible. Like history is unpurposely burnt and and erased so that we as people don't even know where the fuck we came from, and it's just very, very sad. And all of that is so that we can become ignorant to who we are, who we were, instead of being educated, and it's still how how like what hundreds of years later, this shit is still fucking going on. Like, they don't want children to to know about black history. Like, I never thought that I would live in 2023 and they're having legislation that is banning black history to be taught in fucking school. That is absolutely asinine to me. And for me personally, I've always had like a I've always teetered with the thought about having children for my own personal reasons, but a big reason is that I don't trust this country. Um, I'm terrified. I'm terrified for us as people, we're definitely terrified of our children. We can't go anywhere, we can't go to school, we can't go to the movie theaters, we can't go grocery shopping, we can't go to the library, we can't go to the fucking park, we can't go anywhere without being shot down, killed for just being black. You go to the grocery store, elderly black people get gunned down by this racist piece of shit. We can't go anywhere. It's just it's you can't go to the gas station. It's just it's just nightmare fuel. And I'm like, I just I personally I I really look up to parents that have children in this country, more so black parents, because I can't fucking do it. That's why I told my my my boyfriend, I was like, sweetheart, I need to get the fuck out of here. I just can't, I just can't. It's it gives you anxiety, and I feel like our whole entire like us as black people, we have so much anxiety because tomorrow is not promised to us just by fucking breathing. We don't have to do anything, we don't know you. It's just that you're black, you're gonna get gunned down. There is no difference. It's basically the new new age of being lynched in different ways now, just for being black, and it's just fucking terrifying. I I just I don't even know really what to say or how to even equate such a such a thought process, but it's just it's just terrifying being here, and I I personally can't see myself moving to another state because I know people are like, oh, maybe maybe move to another state.

SPEAKER_04 37:58

I'm like, no, no, no, no, it's the whole fucking country, and each country no country, move to a different country, you move to a different country, and and you know, not saying that other countries don't have their own shit, they do.

SPEAKER_01 38:10

Oh no, but not like this, not like this, yes, the way, the way, like, there was a shooting that happened not too long ago in my neighborhood between like some teenagers, not high school teenagers, like young adults, and it's just like why? Like, that was that was complete and utter nonsense. Like, you're going over your friend's house that I know, and I'm thinking you're safe, and that same friend invited you over just to kill you. Like, what what the fuck? Like, the times where we grew up and the times that like my kids are living in are completely different. Like, I gotta be head on a swivel and like just really cautious. Like, no, I'm going with you. There is no, I can just drop you off at the mall with your friends. Absolutely not. We go into the mall together, I'll stay a couple feet behind you, but we're going to get like don't know what's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_04 39:02

That's real shit. Cause I I I think about those stories of like the girls who, you know, because I used to that's not I I will tell me if I'm sexist or not, but I used to think when girls are hanging out with their girlfriends, it's like one of the safest places they could be because like girls look out for one another, they make sure that they're all safe. But then I hear these stories about like literally group groups of girls, the majority of the group doesn't like this one girl, and they'll kill that girl at a party, at somebody's house. Like, I've heard, you know, the girl getting stuffed in this in the freezer, the girl getting stuffed uh in the trunk. Like, I've heard this these stories all the time, and I'm not even just talking about like obviously we know about the the groups of white girls and they killed the black girl, but I've heard it was like groups of black girls, and they'll just literally, oh, I don't like her because she thinks she's better than me. We need and and the other followers will listen, and then like I've been nervous about sending my niece places uh all the time because I'm like, I absolutely not. I don't I can't I I thought I could trust your female friends. Nah, I'm not gonna call nobody no bees or nothing, but the good the people out here are crazy, and I don't know why. Like it's it's very frightening, as as as Dr. Quinn Rebecca Quinn said, like the times where we were growing up, if you really had a problem with somebody, you would square what square up with them outside, get your two-piece in a combo, and then you would go home. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 40:26

They don't want to fight anymore. Like, it's almost like I'm wanted to have hands, like now I gotta bring a weapon.

SPEAKER_04 40:33

But how you go from being a keyboard warrior to picking up a gun and then gunning somebody down because somebody said you look stupid on on Instagram for real?

SPEAKER_01 40:43

Or Discord, or Discord or Twitch, or whatever, right?

SPEAKER_03 40:47

Yeah, okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:50

No, and honestly, um, this is probably one of the owners one of the main areas where I do genuinely feel hopeless, like when it comes to this getting better, because gun violence in this country, like, it's something that seems like it's getting worse. I see no signs of it changing. And honestly, like when I think back to Sandy Hook, you know, and those, you know, children, like was it preschoolers or kindergartners getting killed?

SPEAKER_03 41:17

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:18

And these were little white kids. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 41:22

If that was not enough to move policy in this country, don't think anything it's not because at the end of the day, the NRA is in everybody's pocket, Republican or Democrat. Yeah, like so, so they put on this front, like, oh, we're so sad, we're gonna try to get these guns off the street. No, you're not because the NRA is in your back pocket and you think we don't know. Honestly, I think all this, like to loop it back to the woke stuff. I think all that happened because everybody wants the voters to be docile. Like, I don't want you to have a mind of your own. I want you to take what I say and believe that it's gospel, like how Trump's followers are.

SPEAKER_03 41:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:59

They don't look it up, they don't try to ask nobody, they're not having think groups, whatever he says, they believe. So I think after that, that's what the politicians want. They want everybody to be on the same playing field and just be docile. Almost like them people in Kentucky that keep revoting uh turkey neck back in.

SPEAKER_04 42:20

Oh, yeah. I mean, no, no, that that's that's I think that's a really good sentiment because if you really look at it, uh, and you know, both the doctor and record quint brought up that point about the fact that when it happens to them, when it happens to the white children, you you would think, because before they were just like, oh, look at all that black on black crime. Look at the look look at them people, you know, killing each other in the streets and stuff like that over stupid stuff. But now it's happening to your children, it's happening to your families, it's happening to your people. And then at the end of the day, like like Rebecca Quinn said, the NRA is in the pocket. So when when the moms or the dads or whoever start to protest, when they start to go to the school boards, when they start to go to the uh town home, uh, what's it called the uh town halls and the open mics and stuff like that to talk about the different things that are happening and they're silenced or they're bought off or their stories are forgotten, or maybe they pull up their back their uh their their histories, and now they're they're they're saying, Well, if you don't stop talking about this, we'll tell people about what you used to do back in the day, and then now everybody has to get quiet. Now everybody has to no longer talk about the things because everybody's worried about their past being unlocked, and I think that's what scares them the most is with most, if not all, black movements, whether you know our past or not, we're not concerned about reputation, we're concerned about our our livelihood, we're concerned about our lives, we're concerned about our families and about how our future is going to look. Which is why when we're moving forward and you keep on trying to knock an individual down, the next individual comes forward and keeps trying to move forward because as a collective, we're trying to make it better. Now, I'm not gonna say as a Complete whole society, every single person isn't do is doing their part. But it's like if you if you compare and contrast the different groups, we have a lot less to lose other than our lives at this point, because our lives are on the line every single day. So it's like, okay, well, if you let let me some people think literally, instead of you gunning me down in my car driving at a stop sign, let me at least do it on the front lines. And I'm not talking about military, I'm I'm talking about picket fences, sadly.

SPEAKER_02 44:33

Yeah, no, you're you're right. And I just want to kind of just touch base on um Trump, so to speak. Oh, he's the antichrist, he's horrible. And you know, my grandma, my grandmother hates Trump. This is the funniest thing. Like, she makes her past time talk about Trump cursing at the screen. But um, I have to I said grandma, you know, as if Trump is one man, and you have to understand that one person doesn't have power. You have people who've been thinking this way for quite some time, and you have a person that says it's okay to be loud and to voice your opinion. That's it. So people voted Trump in the office, and these can be your doctors, your teachers, nurses, your judges, people all in legislation, they in the judicial system, like they voted this man in. So Trump is just a figurehead, but you have people who've been thinking this way for quite some time. You're okay, and people have to understand that yes, Trump is a is this is trash, but the people that are even more trash are the people that literally are keeping him in power because they've been wanted this for so long, to have a messiah, so to speak, to voice what they wanted to say, but they felt like there would be ridicule too much. So when you have someone that says it's okay to be, it's okay to let that fly, they're like, Oh, yeah, this is great. And and so I'm like, yes, Trump is a piece of shit, but people people don't understand that if you have one person that's trash, he's no one if he has no support, it's everybody who is supporting him.

SPEAKER_04 46:24

No, now now wait a minute. I agree with you until you said that part, and the reason why I'll say that is if you look at and I'll use the uh insurrection, right? If you look at that situation and how he revved up that entire uh uh people, just call them people, he revved up that entire people to do what they did and come against the literally against the country, because you're you're talking about the district of Columbia, the the capital of your nation, you came across the capital house, which is government property. The fact that both sides, well, let me not say both sides, uh, the fact that the policing side stood there at times and was like, I don't like this isn't what I was taught. I was taught that I'm supposed to protect this land against outsiders. I was taught that I was supposed to gun down anybody who's coming against my nation, but this is my nation, these are my people, and I don't mean like us our people, I mean them, their people. Right, and if they're coming up on the Capitol, like how many police officers do you actually think were standing there? Come on now. You you got a teenager who gets too close to a senator's house, not even knowing the senator's house and disappears. Yeah, you got several hundreds of people walking up to the walking. They weren't running, they weren't in trucks and cars, they were a couple blocks away, and they walked after being televised what they were about to do. Walked all the way to the Capitol building and then into the Capitol building. Like, so and the reason why I said not all of that statement about about Trump is because I feel like at the beginning of Trump being put to where he was, there was uh everybody, yeah, this this is our guy. He's gonna rile them up, he's gonna get them to go the right way, but then he he he he he was loose with the chips. Like Trump was not the right, like you could have picked up a different person, like he's he you're right, he has the charisma. You could have pulled a toddler out of a preschool room and they would have did just as well, significantly better job than Trump because Trump went left so many times to the point where even the people who were backing him, even the people who would would side with him on all these different news outlets, would literally be like, Yeah, uh um, so Trump did this today, and um I mean we know we know we know he did good, we we know he's thinking the right way. Um uh uh Ken, they don't know how to handle the situation because at the beginning he was their guy, but towards the end, they're like, Well, we can't even defend you no more because now you're you're you're going off the rails.

SPEAKER_00 49:09

Yeah, but you know what it is, and it's super interesting. And you know, with Trump, like I think we think it's in it, it's like in some ways he's both in a cause and an outcome. So he facilitated a lot of this ramping up, but he is also an outcome of a problem that has existed in America for a very long time. And you know, I agree, you know, what Tanya's talking about it's this is really just a lot bigger than just Trump. Yes, I think, you know, I would it would be a lot more comfortable to believe that, oh well, he's kind of the one who's like the issue, and once he's out, it's fine. But the problem is, and I hate to say it, but it's completely true, he accurately represents a lot of this country.

SPEAKER_03 49:52

Yes, absolutely, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 49:55

Exactly, you know, and then and that's part of the problem where like he's someone who, yeah, like some of the more um, I guess old school conservatives start to have issues with him. But for his voters, no, they loved that shit. How long does that they absolutely loved it, but it's really representative and in many ways the face of this um this vocal and very present element of white supremacy in politics that is much work front, yes, no, but I mean, honestly, there are a lot of Trumps in our office and who have been in political offices for a long time who just been quiet. Um, Mitch McConnell, you know, has been probably one of the biggest boarders of white supremacy for you know more than our entire lives, like longer than anyone, you know, on this podcast has lived. Like, you know, we have other like politics like that too, but it's just he is symptomatic of this massive issue, you know, and a part of me did want to believe that, oh, once Trump's out, we can go back to normal. But no, because that bigger issue still exists. Right. And you know, we've honestly we thought things were bad under Trump. If DeSantis gets into office, be honest, he could win. He could, like, he has the political wherewithal. Yeah, and you know, he riles up very much that same base of getting support from like literal like Nazi groups and shit.

SPEAKER_03 51:23

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:24

But we can see some shit that we never could have imagined if that happens. We'd be intelligent to be honest, we'd be begging for Trump instead of trying to literally like it would be it would be a nightmare. Yeah, it would be nightmare. Because one thing about Trump, like, he's for all the egotism and the way he's around people up, like he's not his political savvy is very limited. Very limited, yes. Very, very limited.

SPEAKER_02 51:51

Um he just cares about himself, to be honest. Like, I mean, like he just he's like, hey, I'm just here. Hey, look, you know, I'm saying he has this whole my dick's big, zig, you want that?

SPEAKER_04 52:04

I never thought we would agree that Trump was the lesser of two evils.

SPEAKER_01 52:09

He is terrifying, he was. That's the exact reason why Hillary Clinton didn't get in. Because America wasn't America was not ready for a female president.

SPEAKER_04 52:19

But Hillary Clinton is not DeSantis.

SPEAKER_01 52:23

I mean, you're right, he's not. That's all I mean.

SPEAKER_04 52:29

Look, I'm not getting lost in the sauce by Hillary Clinton. We talk about America right now. I'm just saying, Hillary Clinton is a very good thing.

SPEAKER_01 52:34

But I'm just saying, even with the even with the Joe Biden and uh Trump election, that was a lesser of two evils, which was Biden, okay? So these these last couple of elections that we've had has literally been all right, which one is fucking up less?

SPEAKER_03 52:50

Yeah, I won't disagree.

SPEAKER_01 52:56

It's not about, oh, I agree with your policies, I agree that you're gonna move the country in the right direction. It's about none of that, these last couple of elections. And DeSantees is low in the polls because he keeps poking the bear, aka Disney. Like he just lost his own state $2 billion because Disney pulled out of building their campus there. So, no, I wouldn't want him in the office either before our dollar value be like negative.

SPEAKER_04 53:22

It's already practically negative.

SPEAKER_01 53:24

I well, because you know, you got other countries looking at us, a laughing. They building wondering why our government isn't doing what they need to do to protect their citizens. When you have Putin and whoever the prime minister is in China over there striking the deal, you should be shaking in your boots at that point because China holds the keys to everything that we pretty much have over here.

SPEAKER_00 53:48

Yeah, more or less. No, and honestly, that's that's a really good point about how we haven't had an enthusiastic candidate in a long time. Like someone we're like, damn, I love this person, they represent me. Like Obama was the last one I really cared about, you know. And even then, like, you know, I was I'd say I was like 60, 70% on his policies, you know. But you know, that's the last one who I really like. It's like, okay, I'm enthusiastic to vote for this person. But no, since then it's been a lesser of two evils thing, it has, and it kind of shows how much of our leadership that's right to the top, they're not often not people who represent us. Nope. They're not people who we feel have our best interests at heart. Um, essentially, voting has turned into harm reduction. That's what it is, you know.

SPEAKER_04 54:38

It's like that episode of Futurama with uh uh Nixon and then Jack Johnson and John Jackson. Oh, like I literally that's how I feel every time like it's getting towards like election season. It's like we got everybody who's doing the same thing, and then it's like, do we go with Nixon again?

unknown 54:55

Like, what the fuck?

SPEAKER_04 54:57

That was what we should do. No, because no, and uh, you know, before we uh travel further and further into this conversation, what else is the fuck wrong with America? I believe uh Sayone has a specific topic that she specifically wanted to talk about.

SPEAKER_02 55:12

Ooh, someone medical? Oh, I wasn't sure.

SPEAKER_04 55:16

You know I'm not diving into medical. Uh y'all can do that after this one, but I thought you had a um you had a um an oceanic situation you wanted to talk about. Something that might be at the tip of your iceberg, uh you know, something that uh may rock your boat a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 55:33

Yes, yes, yes, oh no, hold on, hold on, but say on that before you start talking, we gotta be careful because one of the people have already called out Cardi B and her sentiment. I saw. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 55:46

Anyway, and did they gonna talk they're gonna and and you know what? And there was a whole bunch of receipts on him, too, honey. Did you see?

SPEAKER_01 55:55

Oh please still in this this this newscast you are about to give.

SPEAKER_02 56:05

From what I've seen. You can fact check me, but people are like, oh baby, you can't be talking about Cardi B when you got we got receipts on you. So, like, yeah, he he ain't he ain't the one. He he ain't ready for that scope. Because Twitter is like tearing his ass apart. So people are always gonna people are always gonna say whatever they want to say as in an opposition of a thought. So I ain't worried about that fool. But uh, I do have an issue with the media coverage in this country. Um, it's well, it's really media coverage in general, but I'll just stay with this country. So there was this whole entire submarine nonsense. Well, I don't want to say that because lives are lost, so you know, of course, to that, I don't want to be respectful to the lives that were lost, but my issue was that there was already news that this submarine them blew up on the on basically um on the time that they had departed the same day on Sunday. So there was this whole entire wild goose chase for no fucking reason, having people try to get emotional for what four days knowing that they already died. Come to find out we already knew that they they passed away, and all of this energy and sympathy and empathy going out to these billionaires where you have in Greece this boat of immigrants and refugees that are trying to cross the ocean of over 750 fucking people, and a hundred. I think I think the body count from when I last saw was 82 people died. There was over a hundred children unaccounted for, and the rest is like over 600 people unaccounted for. So we're worried about these five people in this fucking tube of billionaires where you have different immigrants of nationalities. You have people that are from Asia, Africa, the Middle East that were trying to seek refuge, and no one no one cares. There's no coverage. These are people, this is and this actually happened a week prior to the submarine incident. A week prior.

SPEAKER_01 58:09

Well, well, you know why there was no coverage. Well, of course we don't. Like, I don't know why we need to follow the story of white billionaires going into a uh a plastic tube with a large tech controller. What that seems real interesting, right? Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 58:26

But there's there's literally like what five lives. Not saying that lives aren't precious because they are, but I'm just looking at the ratio. You have five billionaires, and you still have a current issue now, a current issue that needs to be dealt with of almost a thousand fucking people on account. And I'm it's just it's just boggling to me why there isn't news coverage about that, why there aren't people trying to help them out. And of course, you know, when it comes to like refugees and immigrants, there's also like a gray area on to like why they probably aren't gonna help, uh, or why they don't want help because you know they've probably be deported back to where they came from, wherever they came from, or obviously they're trying to flee on purpose. So, but there's there's a reason why, like, like what lives are only precious when we have money. Again, these billionaires aren't paying for us, we don't know them. The only I think the only sympathy I had was really for the 19-year-old kid who didn't even want to go. But again, that's one 19-year-old boy compared to hundreds of like a ch hundred children or over a hundred children who who we don't even know what's going on. There's no help going out to them, and I think I had to search for it because even my algorithm on my fucking phone changed this damn separation shit.

SPEAKER_04 59:44

Yeah, I was I was I was gonna plug that in about what you said about the media. Like, I I agree about your sentiment about what the fuck is wrong with America's media because realistically, there are news outlets that are talking about it, just not American news outlets that are really really talking about it. Our algorithms, our media, I'm not gonna say that they're shifting to the more positive things, they're shifting to the things that America wants us to know about, the things that they like that's why you'll see a clip or a real quick segment about what happened, and then they'll move forward towards many other things that they specifically want you to know about. This thing's going on every moment of every of every second of every day. And yes, one, they can't talk about everything, but it's like when you Google it, your assumption is that your Google, your your algorithm, your search will give you the information that you want to know. But the problem is based off of your area code, there you go, zip code, time zone, uh, your IP address, certain news outlets, certain articles, certain websites are not allotted to you. So there are certain things, I'm sure there are countries that are are looking into it, just not this one. And this particular one does not want you to know what we are or are not doing for that particular situation.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:04

That you say that like you remember when the whole battle of I guess the government wanting to shut down TikTok, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:10

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:11

So it's crazy because TikTok probably, I'm pretty sure, if I go on there just because say on a said it, I'll see like somebody posting a video up there about you know what's going on. And I feel like the government wanted to stop it because a lot of people get their news from TikTok, and it's like you can fact check it and everything, but most of the time they have the links in the description box so that way you know what they're saying is true. I'm like, y'all want TikTok to be gone because they're doing what your news anchors aren't doing.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:42

Correct. They are your news anchors at that point because they're giving you around the world knowledge on top of telling you the fuck shit that these politicians are doing with the receipts, which is why, like, the one thing that TikTok had to negotiate is that they would increase the strength, not aggression, but the strength of the algorithm to more so focus on where you're located rather than an open platform. Because the last thing they would want to do is give you worldwide news, right? So, what they specifically are trying to do is to change the algorithm where it focuses you into a specific direction. Now, if your algorithm or your let's say your four-year page, right? If your for you page is if what you're watching is everything, like let's say everything you're watching is about current events in Greece, then of course you're gonna see more information about what's happening over there, but they're there's they had to agree to set it up in a way where it won't specifically give you everything at any given moment. But at the end of the day, if you've already been watching um uh influencers or TikTokers from the Middle East or from Africa or from Asia or from all these different places, and their algorithm or their keywords or their hashtags are already cycling you through that particular set of information, you're gonna see it anyway. So that's why you I think that's a great point to make. That's why they tried to close it down, that's why they tried to uh get it shut down to get it removed from our phones, is because of that type of situation. Same thing why um TikTok is not allowed in certain Asian countries, they don't want people them, the people over there to know about the stuff going on everywhere else, not at all. They don't, but also they don't want the influences of other countries and continents to be readily available for their people. There's negatives and positives to it. You would think, oh my gosh, no free will, no free speech. Not all of that. Sometimes it's there's negative things going on on the internet that they don't want their people uh um contaminated with, if that's the way you want to put it. They they want to protect the children's minds and say, hey, yes, there's funny, happy, go lucky things on social media and TikTok, but there's also detrimental things, there's also things that will get you into other things if you allow it. So it's kind of like the worst of not the best of two evils, it's kind of you and it's always interesting, and that that's kind of an another one of the topics I want to talk about, but I'm not gonna go into it. It's that that premise of how people in certain countries, because of how they were raised, because of what their influences are, because of what they their their morals and ethics, their values, they feel as though those should be the same. Some people feel as though those should be the same ethics and morals worldwide. If you feel like this particular thing is happening, not not happening, if you if you feel this specific thing is how the world should work, or how people should be treated, or how things should be done, and another part of the world does not view it that way, specifically Americans feel as though, oh, we need to help them change it so it's like us. And I'm like, I get where you're coming from, I see where your moral values are focused on, but they have been in operation in existence since um before America existed, before you existed, where your ancestry started. They've been doing what they've been doing in that country, in that continent for a very long time, whether it's right or whether it's wrong. So you coming up on social media and saying, I think you're wrong in what you're doing, is cute. But unless you're about to take over the country, which I hope nobody thinks what I'm saying is is accurate, then please don't cancel us. Uh-huh. Um, unless you're gonna do something about it, that's the last thing you should be saying. You should figure out a different way to say that, or you should turn your algorithm elsewhere because they've been doing it for decades, for centuries. It's not something that's gonna happen overnight. That's why it's always so interesting when Americans are like, oh, you know, the way that they treat their women over there is terrible. I was like, look at the way you treat your women over here. Oh god, nope, we're not gonna do that.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:44

That's a whole nother segment right there. That's a whole nother segment. We're not gonna do that today.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:49

Like the the way they're treating their children is terrible. Look at the way you're treating your children. Just because they're not white, you think you can treat them a different way?

SPEAKER_02 1:05:58

Well, it's not even good until like pregnant. And the E black women. So let's not even get there. That's a whole entire episode on its own.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:07

We we need to have that episode though. Um that because that that's that's important. Like all Grey's Anatomy was pretty much about the the turn of rover's wade, but uh black women in pregnancy, we won't so glad I have my kids already.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:36

Is the way black women are treated during pregnancy and how the mortality rates and whatnot just purely related to not being listened to. Like it's it's awful, it really is. But um, you know, to your point, uh, you know, Suchi, we talk about like this idea that many people want to enforce their belief systems onto others, you know, and this whole like if you could change that or at least teach people that you can have your particular belief system or whatnot, whatever that may be, um, you know, and someone else can have theirs, and it's fine as long as neither of you are harming the other, like that would solve a lot of social issues, yes, but you know, people are drawn to control in a lot of ways, yeah, especially when you already have some power, like you know, particular groups who have power in this country. Uh, you want to control, you want to maintain that power a lot of the time. And that means, you know, enforcing people to be more like you, enforcing assimilation, and all the problems there within that come with that. So, yeah, I think you could probably erase more than half of our social issues if you actually just like you know were able to address that problem. This idea that not everyone has to be just like you, people can have their own cultures and it's fine, you know, people can have their own belief systems, like as long as it's not getting to the realm of harming each other or the realm of straight up misinformation. Because that needs to be corrected too. Like, there's kind of um almost complimentary issue of people have turned, you know, or like this idea that anything you believe is, you know, you can believe anything you want, and your opinion is valid no matter how true it is. So, you know, in that way a lot of misinformation spreads, and you know, I think we saw that particularly with you know COVID being the go-to example, but that's um I mean a lot of things, you know. Yeah, but no, I mean there's a lot of other issues related to that. Um, and it comes up a lot with um issues around racism, too. This idea that you know many people have just been taught a certain way, you know, and they don't want that belief challenged. And this is part of why we think of a lot of these more anti-black um like political organizations and whatnot and political movements, um, a big center to them is, you know, is you know, kind of creating barriers to educational black history, you know, the whole critical race theory thing. Because of course, when kids start to learn about these other cultures that might not be their own, it makes you more empathetic and understanding. And it starts to teach you that, oh no, these people like you know, they're people too, and they've made these massive contributions to you know my country and all that, quote unquote. Um, and then you start to see them as more human, and that's what a lot of people, you know, a lot of this country does not want.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:35

Oh no, one one 1000%. I was I was gonna say that uh before earlier, which is one of the things I believe, or one of the things I've seen, is that a lot of the reason why they keep calling these different books and these different teachings critical race theory is because it causes their children to critically think. And it's it literally the way it looks is this is the history that we want to give our child our children. This this is how same thing with the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus and Groundhog and the Easter Bunny. This is the history, this is the story about all of this this is how we want to give our history to these children, to our youth. And your history brings up too many things that we don't want to tell them right now. If they want to know, if we want them to know, they can learn it later, they can go find it later. And in the in from what I see, it's like because we don't sugarcoat shit, we give it to them raw, no bullshit, we give it to them the way that they need to know because we don't want any misconceptions or confusions in the future. That's the reason why at times they not at times, that's the reason why they're really pushing to erase and or silence what we're trying to tell our children because they don't want to give them the truth themselves.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:55

You know what? My mom, you all know she she's an educator, so her and I were talking about that subject because she didn't know what was going on in Florida. So she was like, you know, it's interesting they're doing that because they're one of their reasons is when their kids learn about what happened during slavery times, it makes them sad. And I'm like, oh, it makes you sad that your grandpa, twice removed, whatever, used to be a slave owner, and you don't want to explain that to your children, even though it happened. Don't be embarrassed about something that you're trying to take us back to.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:30

So I'm not I'm not understanding why you're trying to erase it or eradicate it for that matter.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:36

I agree with you. Um, I was telling you about the the course that I took, and um there were, I forgot what the association was, but it was basically association to move African people or slaves out of the US and to take them back to um Liberia. Um, and so Liberia is like the one country that the US has founded. And um, what ended up happening is that like I think around the Revolutionary War when the US was fighting against uh Britain and the US won. I just want to make sure my history is right. Um, the US basically had uh promise, well, the I would say Britain did a better job of promising the the slaves, like, hey, if you if you just fight for this war, we will send you somewhere else. You know, you just you don't have to win, just fight. And so they took them to Canada, yeah, just fight. You take they took them to Canada. And so the US is like, you fight, maybe, maybe we might, you know, give you freedom. Maybe. So um there was one one person in particular, I w I wish I knew the name, but he was basically the all-star um black slave who fought for his freedom. And even when the US won, he still had to fight for his freedom with Congress. They did not want to give it to him, but they finally gave it to him. And with other black slaves that were in the war to kind of fight for their freedom, they um were shipped over to Liberia. And so these were um black uh African Americans at this time who didn't really know anything about culture, their culture was completely erased, and you have black people in this country that were basically used to, I guess, the American culture or whatever it was at the time, so they don't know anything about going back home, so to speak. So, what ended up happening is that they were shipped to Liberia, and the Liberian, the the people in the natives in Liberia, and this number that they don't they don't teach you this, is that black people actually enslaved them, which is very interesting because I was like, you know, this is called this is something that we would love to know, and it's funny because my professor's like, yeah, black people don't like to know, don't really want to hear that we also have our own history that wasn't so shiny and bright as well. But I thought that was very that was a good point. Like, no one wants to be the bad guy because I didn't know that, but I'm like, wow, isn't this wonderful? Because history won't fucking repeat itself if we know what happened. Monkey monkey, how about that? But it's like in uh in all in in everything that we do, and the reason why things keep repeating over and over and over again is because people are not being educated on how to do better, or they you know, or they just don't want to even educate people to do better because they want to continue this insane cycle of death, of cruelty, because again, it makes money and it gives people in power.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:35

Death, cruelty, and control.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:37

Yeah, death, cultural, and control. It keeps it keeps it keeps people in power, it keeps the money flowing. It's not profitable if everybody's harmonious. It's not profitable, it's not at all. So it's just very interesting, you know. Even even we have, you know, even like after Wowta, people, the black people in America, their you know, their history, even even us as people, as black people, we have our own dark past. Every everybody has a dark past, everyone has a dark past. So, you know, I think the reason why we keep having the same shit happen is because no one wants to put themselves out there. And if we are put out there, if we're taught how to be better so that demolition doesn't happen again, then that needs to be taught in school. That needs to be that really needs to be educated.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:32

Magnetic. I love it.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:36

Nah, nah, nah, nah. I don't know. Because she does this every single time. We're in the middle of a deep conversation, and she comes out here looking like pussy galore with her with her uh uh uh leopard cheetah prince.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:50

I better get ready. Sorry.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:52

Where the hell are you going with with with the with the Tat House to Tuesday?

SPEAKER_02 1:15:57

It's hot, it's sheer, it's hot, it's 87 degrees. You know, I don't do heat. But a ball naked, so all right, that's the point.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:06

I I I know we were in the midst of a very heated conversation about the the fuck is going on in America, but clearly the fuck is going on at Sayone Cosplay's house because she's she's once again put donned her cosplay, or uh rather she shed her alter ego, and now she is her true self, Sayone cosplay, as she hits these streets. Correct. Uh, but of course, um, this this is a um I think we've said many times that each and every one of the things we talked about in this episode have the ability and should be their own episodes. So we definitely plan on circling back to this. I I honestly, like I said at the beginning, I didn't expect this to kind of turn this route, like we really got into some heated stuff. Um, so I'm excited uh for the future of these episodes, and we we might make this a series. We might, you know, do this. Shoot, we might even do this at Blurricon. Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe not. I don't know. Anyway, so let's go ahead and wrap up this episode. Uh, thank you all uh panelists for uh joining this episode. Thank you all for listening. Um, first off, if you want to get in contact with us, the blurred spectrum on Instagram, Facebook, uh, Twitter, and YouTube, uh, as well as our mailbag, theblurred spectrum at armblestrike.com. Uh, if you want to reach out to me, Suchi no Shogun, uh, that's Suchi underscore no underscore underscore shogun on Instagram. Suchi is spelled T-S-U-C-H-I. Uh the doctor, how can you be reached?

SPEAKER_00 1:17:34

No, I'm lightning RT777 on Instagram. No, you didn't. I actively use my Instagram now. Like I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:48

I heard I thought I was gonna be like Rod R2 on Facebook. You know, I thought it was gonna be running.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:55

I love it. Um I you have no idea how excited I am. I have not been able to tag the doctor in anything. And he y'all hear y'all heard that, right? This is official. The the doctor is on IG.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:09

Yeah, prepare to be shared with the nonsense because I share Suchi a whole bunch of nonsense on the documents.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:14

All the nonsense. I love it. Send me all of your memes. Uh Sayone, how can you be found?

SPEAKER_02 1:18:21

Yes, Sayone Cosplay on Facebook, Sayone underscore cosplay on IG, and Sayone periodcosplays at gmail.com.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:30

Dr. Rebecca Quinn, how can you be found?

SPEAKER_01 1:18:34

Um, you can find me on at Blur Creations on Instagram and at Blur Creations store on Facebook. Yeah, and look for us at Otacon.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:47

Correct. Uh, and then of course, as I was saying, uh, we have officially been uh announced and set for BlurredCon 2023. We will be doing a panel Saturday morning, excuse me, Saturday morning at 11:30. Uh, once we, I think it's Tidewater 8, go figure, um, uh is the room. Uh, once we get all the details, we will be sharing it, including the the we'll be posting it definitely, uh, to let you know. So come and hit uh check us out, hit us up, uh, sit in. If you want some autographs signed by your favorite cosplayers, favorite cosplayer, uh, feel free to come through because I never cosplay will be there. Um, so uh, I believe Ms. Skittles will also be there. So come and check it out. Um, and then of course, as I always say, as we wrap up this episode, until next time, Sayonada.