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Episode 30 - Kelly, youll laugh, you'll cry, you might get angry...
37 Plays5 months ago
Kelly comes to join us in a conversation that spans everything from magic wands to politics and more.
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@txmpod
We are now on Discord as well. Please excuse the growing pains there.
https://discord.gg/SrUmwFcu
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Transcript
Stuart's Anger & Dungeons & Dragons
00:00:17
Speaker
dandy I kind of want angry Stuart. I don't know if I've seen angry Stuart. Poor, poor, a shitty pint against us. That's generally the only time you see me. Yeah. Uh, that's how that rules. Uh, shitty Guinness brings out the anger. r yeah Yeah. As soon as we're done here, I get to go play D and&D. It's going to be great. Oh, nice. I played last night too. And I played so Friday. It's just all the games kind of coincided today or this week.
00:01:01
Speaker
I'm tired. I feel like I need to like work on stuff and pack for next week, but I'm also like, or I could just rot in bed and play sense.
Travel Return & Guest Introduction
00:01:13
Speaker
Hey kids, welcome to toxic masculinity with Ian and Stewart.
00:01:18
Speaker
We have our friend Kelly with us this week and I think I forgot to how to do intros in the time we've taken off for travel and things. So yeah so are you guys two weeks is your Brian reset. That's yeah good currently yeah just about how's everybody doing Kelly? How are you doing? I'm good. Um, I completely understand this is like,
00:01:39
Speaker
I'm sure when I come back to doing my Spider-Man podcast, I'll just forget how to do things. this is why This is why I keep notes. This is why I ask you. I was like, all right, what do I need to like research? So I have it in front of me. Otherwise, it's one ear out the other. No, not again. Yeah. Stuart and I tend to drink and just talk with whoever we have on and we find avenues to talk. And it usually starts with this question.
Masculinity & Hercules Debate
00:02:05
Speaker
Okay. What does masculinity mean to you?
00:02:13
Speaker
That is a complicated question. yeah i I would say generally masculinity would be, i would I would say an example would be Hercules from Disney's Hercules particularly. I think that that's the pinnacle of masculinity or what it should be. What about that screams the pinnacle of masculinity to you? Is it just the muscle?
00:02:38
Speaker
what is And so it there's the muscle, but there's also the attitude and the, while he does like learn, he doesn't have to necessarily prove himself. He's always trying to prove himself in the best and positive light. And also is not intimidated by strong women. So he doesn't even know how to be intimidated by That's a good point. I like that point. Strong women things good. Cause I was like, I don't know how to like word everything properly, but that to me would be a good example. I'm going to offend people now. I have never seen Disney's Hercules. The music's actually really good. Yeah. despite My only experience of Hercules is the rock.
00:03:28
Speaker
No. the the original kind of greek mythal I have a book on Greek mythology, so the original kind of Greek mythological stories. um And ah Kevin Sorbo. No. yeah no no Kevin Sorbo is the opposite. He is the total music and music synthesis of what I'm talking about.
00:03:52
Speaker
nine Oh man. that's Those are my own, let's that's about it. Those are your references, the actual history and Kevin Sorbo. did The actual history and Kevin Sorbo, I've never actually seen. yeah so So throw all of that out the window.
Buying TVs: Brands & Experiences
00:04:07
Speaker
ah we will The only real true Hercules is Disney's Hercules. Oh, so as the Greeks may argue. yeah yeah then they with yeah I mean, in the Rock version, they made him like a charlatan. Like they were all like pulling shit to like get paid and stuff. And then eventually he had to be actually the actual Hercules at the end. That was his journey. I was like, I don't know about this. What's the Rock Hercules? I have never. Yeah, he did a Hercules. Yeah, it's not worthwhile. Well, it is worth watching. But don't expect a good movie.
00:04:39
Speaker
Yeah, okay it's that kind if you if you see it on like TV, like if it's on cable, i definitely walk US, s if it's on, my cable stuff you know, it's, it's okay. If there's nothing else. We have cable television here, Kelly. he' because No, you don't. we're Just because we're in Ireland doesn't mean we're still living with with two video channels and one TV channel, you fuck.
00:05:05
Speaker
entirely on for it we have kibbling television and as they say but i'm meaning what i'm meaning is and like the u.s we don't We don't pay for any sort of TV. I have an Apple TV ah box thing. And I actually, up up until this week, I haven't had live TV channels in, I want to say about six years. I don't have live TV channels. that i even well i got i changed my I changed my broadband.
00:05:47
Speaker
Yeah. It's a fun conversation. Anyway, I changed my broadband because I am the man of my house. I'm the only man in my house.
00:05:58
Speaker
ah I am the man of my house, Ergo. I use words like Ergo and change the broadband as I see fit to 1.4 gigabytes, and which is quite nice. and But it came with an Apple TV with live TV channels on it.
00:06:18
Speaker
Which is pretty cool. I'm like, it didn't cost me anymore. And I'm like, well, this is fun. And, you know, now I can watch the news live like a weird person. I have a Samsung and it comes with a few free channels you can go through, but I don't ever watch any of that shit. Yeah. Yeah. Of course. TV has that too. Yeah. Yeah. I noticed that because I got a new Samsung TV, ah my Okay. When I say this, I'm expecting people to laugh when I say the brand because it's Hitachi. Oh, that's fine. Okay. But I had an old Hitachi TV from 2011. Does Hitachi still exist? do I think they do. They do. Why do they people laugh at that? I don't understand. Well, because Hitachi is known for things that are not TVs.
00:07:08
Speaker
What the fuck? i hate that Hold on a minute. Step back. Step back from that comment. What? What the fuck? What? What are known for and there they? massage ones. Oh, is that high touchy? Yes, it is. The famous the famous big white one. It's not like you just plug in the wall.
00:07:27
Speaker
For some reason I always thought that was Mitsubishi for some reason. No. Same as the late 90s ecstasy tablets. You know, both get you off like a motherfucker. The magic wand, motherfucker. I had one of the last Hitachi TVs that were sold in the US market. TVs. It finally died. It lasted like 13 years, which I feel is pretty decent. That's pretty good. Yeah, it's pretty good for anything modern. That's pretty bloody good.
00:08:16
Speaker
Yeah, so I finally got a smart TV. I noticed Samsung had all those channels. Yeah. Well, it was funny when I, um because obviously I i wasn't going to just buy a random TV. I was at least going to look for some kind of upgrade. And I realized when I was looking at the specs, I was like, why does my 13 year old Hitachi TV have all this, like other than the processor, which I think is what was starting to die.
00:08:44
Speaker
had the same, pretty much the same hardware, LED, 720p, that all the rest of the like, you're now like lower brands are doing today. And I was like, but that's interesting. yeah Did you go into a store to buy the TV or did you buy it online? I went into a store. I don't, as much as I love, I love just clicking and like buying things online.
00:09:14
Speaker
um I was redoing my bedroom and got some mirrors and um ah two of them were sent completely shattered from Amazon. so I don't trust Amazon or USPS. Anything that could break. If I can buy stuff like that in the store, I would prefer it plus two with a TV. You don't just want to buy a
Cosplay Community Challenges
00:09:38
Speaker
TV blind. You want to go in, you want to look at the color, you want to look at the light.
00:09:42
Speaker
But it's a it's a weird one because you normally buy a TV in a big giant fuck off store shop, as we would say. um And I can remember one time vanity and we we I think it was like the biggest TV we've got. It was like 50 inches. And I had been looking at one that was like fucking it must have been 60 inches, something stupid. And I was like, that would really fit in our room. And we took the 50 inch one home. In fact, I think it might have been 42 inches.
00:10:11
Speaker
Yeah, anyway, it was a smaller size. And we took it home and put it on the wall and went, yeah, that's that's ludicrously big for this living room. If we hadn't got the other one, which looks small in the giant shop, we we would have been sunburnt from the TV. but Did you, did you um because i i've I've kind of seen i kind of seen this and it's kind of rare people would go in and actually buy a product now in a shop from a person? A sales type person? Did you have to deal with a sales person? Well, I walked into Best Buy. So surprisingly, yes. But I already knew what I want. So it's like I went, walked to the item, looked at it, went, okay, yes, I want this 1080p Samsung. I knew what size I needed because I have i converted one of those 80s built-in
00:11:01
Speaker
bookshelves that are above a desk and then the desk into a vanity and took the shelves out of the the bookshelf to put a TV. So that way it's like, I know like it's just, it needs to fit this exact width, needs to go in. So I knew what I wanted, knew what I needed, looked at like, I think it was between two of them. They had them on display, chose the one I wanted, put it in the cart. And then, um, my parents were with me and my parents were looking at the fancy, you know, new Samsung 4Ks. Because of course, why wouldn't you? They're gorgeous. And sales guy shows up. Spends the entire spiel on trying to get them to buy that 4K. And it's just like, okay, cool. Like, can we leave now? I just wanted to walk in and walk out. Like you don't get commission off this server. Did you get some standard issue mansplaining? Did you?
00:12:00
Speaker
It was funny because I think he was trying and then when it's like my parents were just kind of staring at the TVs, he turned to me and I'd just be like, well, you know i mean I'm just here because I'm replacing my Hitachi TV. yeah he was like He looked at me for a second like he was about to start it and I was like, I know, but they are not sold in the US market anymore. Thanks.
00:12:26
Speaker
oh ah Oh man. So wait, wait, you do, you do, uh, you do cosplay and stuff too, right? I used to, I would say I'm semi retired. Yeah. Semi, semi retired. Did you do any of the competitions or anything like that? I, so I used to, um, they're not fun for me. Yeah. doesn't for anybody but no no and i To me, there's a lot of toxicity there. That's what I was getting into. That's what I was curious about.
00:12:56
Speaker
Yeah. There's a lot of, I call, so I was ah really big in the Atlanta scene, which I know is like, in terms of cosplay is like the hub. It's like, that's where you want to be, yeah especially with DragonCon and stuff like that. And I'm still semi the leader of the Spiderverse photo shoot group and stuff like that with DragonCon.
00:13:24
Speaker
Um, but I took a huge step back for my own mental and emotional health because talking about, um, what I call missing stairs. Um, there's a lot of missing stairs, AKA people that are not so great, um, that get protected by other people because they're good at what they do. They're talented with crop making or costume design or whatever their well known for and it's easier to placate them and keep them safe because it helps the other person and the other person, especially if they've got a lot of followers and they have a maybe a career in costuming.
00:14:10
Speaker
And it's it's been lovely with like the nosedive where jollywood hollywood Hollywood has come in because they've taken a lot of these cosplayers and are using them in their makeup and SFX and costuming. And so you have that other added layer of the let's protect people that shouldn't be protected.
00:14:34
Speaker
For sure. It's been fun. But yeah, I had to take a step back because no. yeah i'm I'm confused.
00:14:46
Speaker
oh okay Ask a question then. i am So when you say people that shouldn't be protected, do you mean like predators? Oh dude. Yeah, well it happens. it's So I was never competed, but I was around bodybuilding a lot and it happens there too.
00:15:03
Speaker
No, it, it happens everywhere. I yeah yeah i was going to say the HHM community, especially, um, I even have my own fun time. Obviously I won't name people, but there's, there's somebody who really, really wants their version of events to be the truth. And to the point that they manipulated a friend of mine to meet me and then would not leave me alone for the weekend. And now I'm sitting here like.
00:15:32
Speaker
trying to make sure and basically I'm safe and it's like I don't think it's that as serious as that but it's like I saw the same red flags from that yeah yeah yeah and I was like I'm not doing this like like this is not happening man Yeah, I've seen it in a lot of communities. I mean, I've seen it in in the in the Orlando, the theme park stuff here, too. Like there's there's some people that do some things. I don't comment on it because I have to survive in it being on the other podcast and stuff. Yeah. Just keep my thoughts to myself. um That doesn't mean I won't stand up for somebody if it's required. You know, if it's needed, obviously. But it's not. And that's why it's like I it's I just don't I think the thing is is like when you've been around it or you've experienced it, even if it's been in another group.
00:16:19
Speaker
a You notice the pattern and you notice those flags. You deciding to say, I'm not a part of this, I'm actively refusing to engage in this. That's the adult way of handling it. yeah Especially when like it all starts from stuff that like doesn't involve everybody in our mom to begin with. and I don't understand why it you know, stuff has become this way. i It's very strange. It's like I've i' seen it and then the cosplay community and now here and it's like, do people just not understand? I have thoughts. Would you like my thoughts? Yes, sorry. All right. So situations like cosplaying and um the theme park community where people are trying to be
00:17:09
Speaker
you know, all over YouTube and some kind of influencer, or like I said, bodybuilding before, these are very self-centered kind of things people go after. So it seems to be not everyone. I'm not saying this is a blanket thing for everybody. There's good people everywhere. There's assholes everywhere, but it seems to be slightly more prevalent in communities where narcissism is something that benefits you to excel in.
00:17:32
Speaker
OK. So, you know, being an influencer, your face is always on camera. You want attention. You want attention at all costs, which means good or bad. So even if there is bad, you will throw it out there if it gets people talking about you. And that is just something I have seen personally. Yes. um And I mean, I'm not just talking about any specific community, just things I've seen across the board through all the subcultures and things I've been in. And I would actually throw out there.
00:18:03
Speaker
that it's probably it's probably gotten a lot worse and kind of infiltrated more communities because of social media. because even if somebody maybe not
00:18:19
Speaker
It's weird because it's like there's there's narcissism and then there's almost like this narcissistic behavior because it's conditioned on you.
00:18:29
Speaker
and so and I think that kind of comes from the whole, like the studies, Stuart, maybe you read these two, but the studies about people getting likes, it's kind of like getting, it's such an endorphin release. It's kind of like drugs. So I think between that and people like craving that attention and then also Whether people admit it or not, there is ah there is a bit of protection. There's a chance to be anonymous. There's a chance to know that you somebody can't touch you so they can say whatever they want. um Just to give you an example of like disturbing behavior um from my own experience, from things I've seen from friends, ah female friends that have competed in bodybuilding,
00:19:16
Speaker
Women and men send them very inappropriate messages. yeah Very inappropriate messages. um And people do it without thinking. People will say shit that they would never say to your face because of that, that protection they feel. They feel safe because there's no consequences really anymore. So I have a funny, so I have a funny antidote on that. That's not, um it's one of my tamer ones. So I, one of my,
00:19:45
Speaker
more famous costumes I've done is Spider-Girl, Mayday Parker. She's from an alternative universe, daughter of Peter and Mary Jane, um longest running ah female led solo series at Marvel ever. And um one of my favorite requests, like weird DMs I ever got was somebody straight up went, hey, are you going to sell your costume? Now, of course, this is like I am actively in this costume doing photo shoots. So hell no. like And I made it. I spent so much money. And when I was like, no, but you know you can get it you know you can get the patterns from these people that make these patterns. You can go to the Sentai group that can get this printed, et cetera. And well, they went, yeah, but i I wanted a fun romantic shoot with my girlfriend. He's a Spider-Man cosplayer.
00:20:40
Speaker
He knew very well who Mayday Parker was. It was like, and you want a romantic shoot with your girlfriend. Okay. Yep. So that's that's where I was like, no, it could have gone a lot different. it was This is one of those like funny wholesome, but it was like, so you want your girlfriend to be dressed up as your daughter.
00:21:03
Speaker
And make out with her I was going to say and for people that don't understand cool the connection between those characters. So, uh, yeah, so no. And I would say, yeah, cause you know, somebody wouldn't have come up to me face to face to ask any of those, to you know, explain that or ask that question, yeah but they felt like they were, it was okay to do that in a DM. Of course. and Yeah.
00:21:30
Speaker
I locked down my DMS, not because I was offended, it was just because it was somebody I didn't know and it was a completely random message. But what I like, I locked down my DMS on Facebook because somebody, and it's a funny, this isn't bad, but I was like, nope, I'm not dealing with this anymore. It's not even that offensive. But somebody saw a picture of me and my arms crossed and it was a gay dude. I'm like all about like, I will take, you wanna blow my ego up? Bring it, I don't get offended. But this dude was like, mm, Popeye forearms. And I'm like, nope, we're done. Nope, we're done. It's just weird and random. I don't wanna deal with it.
00:22:00
Speaker
Like I said, it's not really offensive. I was just like, nope, that's just weird. and I don't know you. Yeah. and i'd say It's kind of like the. Super tame, but still. Standard thing of the dating websites and men just going here, here's, here's hi. My name's Dave and here's my dick. And you're like. Perfect. Great. yeah ah no Nobody wants to say the ugly flashy bit. Thank you. That's why I don't get it. you know mean I mean, it's also it's just like cosplay does not equal consent, but nothing equals consent except consent and you need continuous consent. But people don't understand that either. and it's just it's and Sometimes you have to laugh, but sometimes it's
00:22:53
Speaker
it is really like you get you get to a point where you get so numb. oh yeah yeah' like And that's kind of what like I realized in the cosplay community was, okay, I'm starting to get numb to this. I'm starting to accept this and see that's not okay. That makes me sad because I go to, well, obviously
00:23:18
Speaker
Our cons here are small in comparison. It's a little country. What? It's a little country. Fuck you. But I love the cosplay elements of it. I've never had the
00:23:42
Speaker
cojones to go for the cosplay although i do like i do love doing a low-key um if somebody gets it happy days cosplay like the last the last one i i did uh uh hooper from jaws And a couple of people came up and went... And I was fucking boiling because it was really sunny down. It was very hard wearing jeans and a denim jacket. But I was very happy. And those are the kind of things that I like to do. I would love to be able to go all out, but I just... I've never really... But I love going and seeing the masquerade and seeing the various bits and pieces. And I love watching it, but I can see how...
00:24:25
Speaker
it, you could get faced with the creepier element of attention seeking people because I'm sure it comes from men and women, not just men, what I would say predominantly. It it happens with both genders for sure. I've seen um like Spider-Man cosplayers, I know for a fact have, women are gross at just as much as men are. Oh yeah, yeah. but When it comes to their idolizations of certain fictional characters. um like For me personally, like there's a reason you probably won't ever see me pull out Rose Tyler ah or for Doctor Whoever again. And that's because we had somebody that literally said that they were collecting cosplayers and that we were their cosplayers. And it was to the point I had to take um the celebrity route at DragonCon for my own safety.
00:25:26
Speaker
Jesus Christ. Which is also how I met Billie Piper, and she's very sweet, but she was also very, very gentler. see but yeah that is that kind of because that the Any of the community the of the cosplay community that I've met have been absolutely lovely. I mean, when I took Cora to her first con, she dressed as a very, very tiny Wonder Woman and everybody wanted their photograph taken with her. am and My daughter has disabilities, so having her dressed as Wonder Woman was
00:26:01
Speaker
Epic. Awesome. But she had such a good time. Everyone was super friendly. And any questions she had for any of them about their costumes or anything like that, they were more than happy to talk to you. And it just makes me sad that there's that kind of darker side to it. Because it is such an artistic and fun method of expression. I feel sad that you've had to step back from it. Do you know what I mean?
00:26:28
Speaker
It's well, like it's it's not like necessarily like I didn't step back. I stepped back away from certain characters because things got a little crazy. I stepped back from it overall because of essentially like my own, like I was abused by some people. I was being stalked by some people and I'm talking about like this wasn't just an overexcited fan that didn't fully understand boundaries. like This was somebody I knew, yeah somebody I trusted um that should, like I said, predator, like should not be around people. And it was I was basically being told by a community
00:27:14
Speaker
to be quiet, to let it go. And it wasn't necessarily because they didn't believe me, but it was because, oh, they get free prop making from them. They, you know, they can hold them down using what happened to me and with others. They can hold them down and get them to do things for them for free. And then they get their 10,000, 20,000 likes, you know, from this prop maker.
00:27:45
Speaker
But look at all the silent look at all the silent you know turmoil that happened from these lesser known creators or these lesser known situations because that it was almost allowed. And it's like it's systematically been that way. And like it it was very that was happening at the same time. There was a lot of stuff with some a voiceover artist with Adult Swim that was also kind of bleeding into that into the same community. um And it was just like, I was like, there's too many. It's like, why is it I'm going to hang out with some friends? And I can probably find about four or five different people that have like legitimate, like, they they should not be around people. Like, they should not be, you know, and I'm watching them do whatever the heck they want.
00:28:40
Speaker
And it felt like I was like, I have no voice. I can't speak. I'm getting out of here. um And so that's kind of, that's a large part of why I step back. Another part obviously is I got a little bit more into podcasting. I do, um I'm a panelist on Spiderman Crawl Space, which is one of the longest running Spiderman podcasts, like on, online. I'm also doing an Continuing, although it's pretty much finished up, we're kind of figuring out our next steps for Make Mine Mayday, which is my Spider Girl podcast, which is something I'd always wanted to do. And so it's like I kind of got more into that creative space. Yeah. And um it just it felt more like, okay, this is at least a part where I don't feel like I have to be something I'm not and
00:29:41
Speaker
hold my voice back to keep the peace. and like Because that's like what I've been dealing with like right now with the theme park stuff. It's like on one hand, I want to sit there and be like, no, I'm seeing all of these red flags. like We want to sit there and play these games. But do you not see that y'all are feeding into this like it's person that is legitimately scaring me? It seems really unfair in 2024 that you have to do that. yeah that I mean, in ah in a post me too society but that we're not more fucking attuned to go on, hold up, this person's an absolute fucking bastard. Get them out of here. But the the issue at hand, and I would even say this, and I would actually use, I'll use some celebrity here.
00:30:38
Speaker
look at how everybody's starting to paint someone like Drake Bell, who, yes, what happened to him was horrible. But what he's done to these teen girls, multiple teen girls, for a decade and a half now, half of you know our lives, because i'm I think he's a little bit older than me, but still, but it's like, that's wrong.
00:31:03
Speaker
Yeah. and But see, we've contextualized this thing where it's like, no, as long as you play the victim, what you've done is okay, which is not true. And I mean, I could go super into that and I'm not going to like bring up somebody else's past, but it's like, I can understand why somebody might not understand their patterns are part of that, but it's also, it's like, it's not my job. They can go get therapy.
Dealing with Trauma & Community Dynamics
00:31:32
Speaker
um It's you know, and so it's it's this very like I things are not always black and white people can be a victim and the monster and And I would also state too with the me too movement it's like a lot of times there was lots of specific things where it's like people Like did did people actually get cancelled or was it um maybe only one or two people that were truly truly irredeemable?
00:32:01
Speaker
because yeah nothing really lasted. So I am sitting here kind of quietly because I am stupid and angry at this point. I'm sorry. It's not your fault. I'm not mad at you. um i have I have on this show given up a little bit of my trauma in my past, but not all of it. And I will definitely not be delving into some of the trauma I've dealt with. Of course, of course. But saying that as someone who's been through a lot and someone who's seen a lot, fortunately or unfortunately, however you want to look at it,
00:32:31
Speaker
um I don't like when people use the shit they've been through as a crutch. It's not an excuse. It is a bunch of bullshit. You own your shit. You learn from it. We all have shit.
00:32:47
Speaker
Perspective matters. I say this a lot. Like just because something seems like a lot to you, maybe it's nothing to me, but I'm not going to judge you for that. But you still need to deal with your shit. It's not a crutch. It's not a reason to do anything to anyone else. um If somebody tells you like if just as an example, because we were talking about it, if you came to me and you were like, this is happening to me, I wouldn't be like, shut up and be like, let's go fucking get this dude and drag him out here and fucking put him on display.
00:33:12
Speaker
Yeah. Because fuck that shit. I don't care what you get for free. It's not worth that part of it because yeah if it's happening to one person and the person knows they have a get out of free jail card, it's happening to a lot of people. And that fucking makes me more mad. There were eight girls on one of the guys.
00:33:32
Speaker
And um i you haven't listened to all the shows, I'm sure. So I will tell you this so you understand also where I'm coming from. But I spent five years of my life anonymously helping abused kids too, because I was drawn to that. Because I'm drawn to helping, but I have seen some real shit.
00:33:49
Speaker
And it really bothers me when people who have been through shit use it as a crutch. And it bothers me more when people bury the shit for other people to let them continue to do horrible things. It's just not a fucking excuse. And it's if you're somebody's friend and they tell you the shit's going on, you should at least hear them out and you should have a conversation with that person that they're telling you is doing shit.
00:34:13
Speaker
It should be at least that you should at least hear the person out. And then if it, if more people come out, then you go on the fucking attack, so to speak. i mean Personally, I would like to beat the shit out of those people, but that's not going to help in the long run. You need to drag them out and do the proper thing. So, and so and this is, this is my thing. Um, at least in terms of a large part of why I chose to step back, there was, you know, a point where I was like, I was calling it out. I was saying something. I was trying to get help.
00:34:43
Speaker
I basically was told, we'll go to the police, get a police report. Well, I think everyone knows that's it's harder to get that to happen. And then even if you do that, yep what does it entail to get that brought to court and spend the money on that? Sometimes that's just not, it's not, you're not able to do that. Yep. I know.
00:35:12
Speaker
Um, and so so like, guess it was like, once you start realizing it's like, even when you're doing it and you're getting gas lit and you're being basically told to shut up, you learn really quickly where you feel safe and where you don't feel safe. yeah And sometimes you have to take your peace of mind and kind of be like, look, I know what happened to me. I know what the truth is, but I'm going to move on.
00:35:41
Speaker
because it's insanity to try to make this work when it's not gonna work. I mean, I pretty much, i I told them, I was like, look, when somebody's hotter, younger, has, you know, a million followers, whatever, whatever, and this happens to them, and then you finally choose to throw that guy to the wolves, throw multiple guys to the wolves. You know, I'm gonna know.
00:36:11
Speaker
yeah And the other girls that also steamrolled are gonna know. yeah For sure, and it should be if there's multiple people with accusations against one person who have no benefit to do that, especially like if there's no benefit to it, the community itself should police itself to keep itself wholesome and as as you can, because I came from a community that had no nothing. We we policed ourselves like there was criminals amongst us and all kinds of stuff. But if something happened in a place where we were all together and we all saw it, the shit didn't stand like we had least ourselves. Yeah, you should be doing that.
00:36:43
Speaker
And, and see like, and I'll be on like, that's like the thing I've been dealing with, like why I haven't been super excited about my own like birthday trip is because for the last three months I've seen this happen. You know, cause I got dragged into it in the theme park community. And I'm like, I, it's not to this extent, like it's definitely not as sinister and dark. Um, but it is, I'm just sitting here going, okay, I see this narcissist.
00:37:12
Speaker
manipulating groups of people to create what I feel is a middle school girl war for no good reason. And I'm being watched to see who I'm hanging out with, who, you know, who I'm making plans with. And it's like, sure, I could private in my social media, but I also feel like that's stupid.
00:37:37
Speaker
Yeah, well, it's not who you are. You you shouldn't have to have to do that. You shouldn't be forced to change who you are and what you want to do. exactly but It should be the community. If it's community wide, everybody knows they should be standing up. But it seems to be there's there's been a few episodes of this show in that I've noticed where these kind of this kind of has been a thread. Yeah. So there has within the theme park community of this shit coming up.
00:38:05
Speaker
Well, it's like I said, anywhere you find narcissists where it's like beneficial to like put yourself forward. Like we were talking about cosplay, bodybuilding. Like I said, and again, I'm not painting the whole entire community like none of these communities with that same brush. It just seems to happen there because there are awesome some people in all those places. It's social media. It's finding yeah it's wanting to be the voice. It's wanting to be. Do you think it's the social media and the the wanton debate that that um quest for fame or the quest for... Do you think that's what it is? Or is it just that because of these things, the world is smaller now, so they're easier to spot and easier to find? I think it's both. It's both. Because I think on one hand, like I said, I think that
00:38:56
Speaker
certain people who maybe, like I said, they might not be true, like born narcissists, like that it's not like just in their DNA. Like this was taught to them. This is, they just, they think that this is how the world works and they don't realize what they're doing is a very beamy, me, me, me light shines on me. I am this, you know, this thing. And I have to have the center of attention around me. I call it main character syndrome.
00:39:26
Speaker
Because it's there's so many people that literally they just think that they are the main character of the world. They don't know any better. So especially when they're on social media and they're getting these likes and they're getting this attention, they feel it it almost it in it it's not emboldened, but basically like it confirms this bias to them. It reinforces that. Yeah. For sure.
00:39:51
Speaker
for sure So it's ah and I think like it's gotten worse since the pandemic. And I think it was because we were in our bubbles. So of course, in those bubbles, how are you not the center of your world? you know And I don't think that it's changed. like I think the thing is is like people aren't kind of realizing it's like the person at the grocery store is not an NPC. They they don't just like you know yeah shut down when they turn off the lights.
Conspiracy Theories & Political Frustrations
00:40:19
Speaker
For sure. I agree.
00:40:21
Speaker
And, and I feel like they don't, a lot of people, like that's the thing I've seen about the theme park community, especially. I don't think they seem to get that, that everybody's dealing with something else. Um, cause like what I've noticed personally is like when I've, I've brought up like what, what I've kind of been dealing with and seeing the amount of dismissal going, Oh, but you know,
00:40:45
Speaker
They just don't know you or you just, you you know, you haven't seen the side of this person. I'm like, okay, look, if I sit there and tell somebody, Hey, you're triggering me, can you please stop talking? Like let's move, change subjects. And they start hammering the same thing home and refusing to change the subject. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. That's not a person I want to be around. I don't feel like that should be one. I shouldn't have to sit there and have some gigantic blow up about it.
00:41:13
Speaker
Because there's no sense in that. But there's also I shouldn't sit there and have to, you know, be told, oh, well, you know, you don't know what you're doing if you're not kind to them and unfriend them because it's like, yeah, exactly. Who gives a shit? Who gives a shit? Paper. There's an awful lot of fucking there's an awful lot of self entitlement. There's also there's an awful lot of fucking people out there, too. You don't need that. There is enough. Exactly. It's but I'm also it's just like, OK, look, like.
00:41:42
Speaker
why Why is this turning into World War III just because I don't think somebody were respected my boundaries. I was going to say, I don't think I think social media has also hindered people's abilities to actually be social in person in a lot of ways. Like take the fucking hint of somebody's blatantly saying, let's not talk about that anymore. And they're not laughing and they're not kidding. And they say it more and more. And every time they get more and more upset or angry or however they they deliver it, just fucking take the hint and shut the fuck up and change subjects or walk away.
00:42:14
Speaker
And and if I was if I was if it was happening to me, if if I was in this situation, I would walk away and be like, you're not fucking listening to me. I don't I don't need to deal with this. Like, you're not that important to me. Simple. Yeah, I wish I walked away. If you're not. Yeah, for me. No, no, no, no. I'm just kidding, dude. Sometimes I should walk away, but I don't. I i i i sometimes will dig my heels in and fight.
00:42:43
Speaker
Yeah. And I find that I find it hard not to do that. And I've been trying to change my ways in that respect, because at the end of the day, it's not they don't give a shit. They're happy with with the with this response that they're getting. That's why they're doing it. Exactly. Do you know, what i I'm coming up on forty six and almost I've almost died a handful of times. I know what.
00:43:07
Speaker
Is worth my time and i still get caught once in a while being like a twenty year old and yelling at people and not walking away but. I got nothing else to prove i mean it's not like i'm trying to like i'm forty six shit hurts when i get out of bed i don't wanna fucking get in fight now or anything you know like i will if i have to but i don't want to i really don't.
00:43:25
Speaker
not I just want to walk away, dude. My my nephew and the other night tried to tell me that the moon landings weren't real. Oh, Jesus. I'm like, dude, i'm not I'm not having this shit. Absolutely not. I'm see getting involved with your absolute fucking stupidity. Well, see, so this is this is on like, for me, it's like, I always determine it. It's like, okay, how how damaging is it to just let them live in their world?
00:43:56
Speaker
And it's like, and that's kind of where, like the way I choose to pick my battles. Cause it's like, no, but I think so. so well And that's fair. It's so um hard totally fair. It's totally fair. Why are you being so fucking stupid? It's my head, every fiber of my game screaming open a fucking book. And I'm not just talking about my nephew. I'm talking about all of the conspiracy. oh Yeah. yeah It just dry it absolutely drives me to the start and I can't understand how anyone can be so fucking lunatic.
00:44:33
Speaker
yeah
00:44:36
Speaker
Incidentally, that's why I moved to ah to bourbon because this definitely turned into a whiskey conversation. That's That is a okay. Yeah, no, i I feel that way, especially like with our current US political cycle all the time. We bring that up too. I've no idea what you're talking about. What are we talking about? Yeah, yeah, but yeah. But that also reinforces my plan of not talking to them, because most of the ones that are left are just dug in, so there's no way to win. Do you know my main fucking thing about this current political discourse that has really, really, really fucked me off, right? What?
00:45:16
Speaker
Is actually realizing how much of a- Fucking lunatic Elon Musk is. Oh yeah, yeah. um um i mean And I fucking love all his spacey shit. If he would stick to the spacey shit, keep putting the rockets up, flying them around the planet, all of that shit. That's all great. But stop talking, man. You're doing my tits in. This is my thing. And maybe it's just because like I have chronically been on the internet for far too long in my life because i'm I'll be 34 next week and I probably didn't. I've been on the internet. ah like, like unsupervised on the internet since about 95. So how we all please don't yeah, all of us. Yeah. I was 17 and 95. So good. But yeah, so what I'm saying, that was like, I remember like the PayPal stuff. So I remember seeing his name attached to PayPal, like when he got kicked out and they changed the locks when he didn't have her. so Yeah. she know being reminded of that Yeah. And he didn't have hair. And yeah, so.
00:46:26
Speaker
ah He's always kind of just been an idiot. And so it's like, I don't mind him being an idiot. I mind that he has all this money in the entire world and he's using it to fund fascism.
00:46:41
Speaker
fucked up yeah kid it Although not not overly, when you think about it, if you actually sit back and think about it, it's not overly unsurprising from a white South African. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, that's that's pretty valid. Also, just to clarify for any Americans, it might be a little right wing cleaning, which no offense to you. Welcome. I hope you're listening.
00:47:03
Speaker
um As a European steward, do you think that the the orange guy is a fascist? Yes. Yeah. See, there you go. It's not just it's not just the weirdos on the left. It's no longer. So weirdos across the entire planet. Yeah. I asked a question. I asked a question a couple of weeks ago and nobody fucking answered me and it really wind me up. But anyway, the question was how did the right right. Yeah. How the fuck.
00:47:29
Speaker
did the right of society of the social sphere become the torchbearers and the bastions of freedom of speech? How the fuck did that happen? Because that is the pathway of the left. The the left are the people of freedom of speech, the right burden books. And I understand that the argument is they're arguing for freedom of speech, but they're not actually arguing for freedom of speech. They're arguing for their own freedom of speech while dissenting any valid comparing opinion. But it's boggling my mind. I can tell you. Okay.
00:48:15
Speaker
So the reason is in this country, not all right-wingers, I'm not talking to everybody, the extreme motherfuckers out there, yeah because of Dear Leader, they all play victim. So anytime they get shut down, it's because they were censored or they were yeah canceled or this. Oh, I didn't lose an argument for valid reasons. i was if you if you if you look into the freedom of speech but If you look into the data,
00:48:41
Speaker
they were actually Shit was bent for them to have more speech. yeah They had way more leniency. And when that's fine, I don't give a shit. I don't i don't care what you want to say as long as you're not like doing the dumb shit. And sorry, Kelly, one more thing. Yeah, no. The things that people forget in this country that ah that Kelly and I live in is that freedoms have limits in this country. Freedom home limits everywhere. I'm just speaking in my country. Because mike we're talking about my country, so you know.
00:49:11
Speaker
Freedoms have limits here. There are things that are quote unquote freedoms, but you can't do every version of that thing. Yeah. And there are not only repercussions, but responsibilities that come with that.
00:49:23
Speaker
Like, don't be a fucking douche and spread hateful shit because you're fucking feeling like a victim. Yeah. Yeah. It's Elon Musk's fighting about freedom of speech on a ah privately owned social media network. That's not where freedom of speech sits because he makes those rules.
00:49:43
Speaker
Yeah, it's not the government. That's the other thing people don't understand. It's so fucking weird. And it's it's it's the weirdest conversation to be having in this day and age that people don't understand. It's no shirt, no shoes, no service.
Historical Narratives & Capitalism Critique
00:49:57
Speaker
It's the same shit. It's just online. No shirt, no shoes. But at the same time, and I will say this, I mean, think about how many people that still get banned for just saying something like men are trash or yeah sex is bad, whatever.
00:50:12
Speaker
and Uh, the auto, like the auto ban system for Facebook will shut them down for tick tock, tick tock. If you hit a certain amount of just, you have like a really huge viral moment, your account could just get zapped because it violates terms and services, even though the, all it did was trigger a spam and auto ban for spam. And it's not on you. It's not on what you posted.
00:50:42
Speaker
It's just the influx of people. um And then like what I was going to say about the the other things I've noticed with the right wingers nowadays, aka the what has turned into the tea from what became from the Tea Party movement. um Am I the only one that just feels like maybe the Cold War never ended and it just started triggering with these Because what you find on a lot of these like tea party or these super right-winger stuff, and this isn't just the US. This was happening in France. I know this has been happening in other countries, where when you start looking at the bots, the bots are all from one place and they'll have 30, 40 different accounts. They're obviously saying the same thing. Try not
00:51:37
Speaker
Well, Russia. that's it's yeah it's it it might be yeah kind of same thing but the but the tan The tangerine might be saying it's China. but um it Well, but well china China runs the technology and yeah Russia pulls the finger. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, but the thing is, I mean, Russia, they prove that it only takes like a ah ah small room full of people can just disrupt everything because it's not It's not a lot. They just have to do one little drop. It's like one drop of poison and then it just spreads. Yeah, all right. The Cold War is it's not the same Cold War. It's not along country lines now. It's around social economic lines. But I don't feel like it ever it never truly ended. That's the point. Well, it it doesn't help that the guy in charge of Russia right now wants the USSR back. So, you know.
00:52:24
Speaker
Yeah, well, that's that's a large part of it. Yeah. um And we had we had my friend on ah we had Corwin on who's from Ukraine, which was kind of a fun chat to have, too. And I think I brought this up one other time. But one Thanksgiving, I think it was last Thanksgiving, one of the neighbors to the house that I was at was Russian. And I was having all kinds of oh fucking field day asking that guy questions.
00:52:47
Speaker
He said he left over, I think it was like 13 or 15 years ago. And he's like, I left because I saw this shit coming. I was like, that's fucking interesting as shit. We're going to talk all Thanksgiving now, sir. Oh, yeah. No, I mean, there's. It's it's funny because I feel like to.
00:53:06
Speaker
people forget almost, it's kind of to sort of bring it back to the theme park situation. So, you know, most people have forgotten that a piece of the Berlin Wall is behind hard rock. To the point that some um some janitor some clean you know same person no no they power washed all the graffiti off of it it so bad it's hilarious um but anyway no because they don't know it's not taught in schools especially not in florida um but it's the fact that like that was only 30 less than 35 years ago
00:53:45
Speaker
I remember when the wall came down. Incidentally, not at not being taught in schools is not just an American thing. it's Everybody teaches their own version of history. Even here in Northern Ireland, we now have three educational systems. We've got the Protestant educational system, the Catholic educational system, and the ah both sort of the cross-community kind of integrated education system. And each one teaches their own version of history. So the Catholics would teach about the famine and the basically the English are absolute horrible bastards. And then the Protestant side would teach about the Titanic.
00:54:37
Speaker
and the First World War and the Second World War and all of that kind of mad stuff. And then Integrated would do a wee bit of both. well You know, teach it a bit about the actual history of the land and kind of not kind of focus on any one side with anything. So every every country, I reckon, in teaches their own particular brand of history. And to use over there is of so much of your own fucking history that actually
00:55:08
Speaker
the Berlin Wall probably didn't even make a fucking dent. I learned about it and i I watched it come down, but also. Yeah, I watched it come down. I mean, hey, hey, you can't. In our country, they they have summarized American history so much that it's not even history anymore. It's mythology. They talk about like everybody knows that America rose up and fought the British and won, but nobody talks about that. We would have fucking lost without the French like nobody talks about that part of it. So like you learn mythology like you you It's like a skimming of history. it's a Yeah, no, it's a skimming of history. It's either you focus on like, so for at least the state of Georgia. And when I was in school, yeah, we focused, I mean, we focused on the French helping, but I remember all those little like, where we'd have these different sections where it would show like African-American history here, Native American history here. Oh, ignore that. We'd get to World War II. Huge thing about
00:56:07
Speaker
you know, Asian history and the internment camps. Oh, no, no, no, we don't need to learn that. yeah so a lot of And a lot of people wind up not even realizing that there were internment camps until college or even not even then. I have a feeling half the right wingers don't even realize that that ever happened on US solo. And if and if they did learn it, they would think it was a lie. yeah Also, they don't even talk about how um how the Asians were treated like on the West Coast when they came here, even before that, when they were just like used to like build the train the the railway and stuff like that. Like all kinds of fucked up shit. And honestly, if anybody's interested about that, if you watch the show, Warrior, they actually cover a little bit of that in the show. It's part of the show. It's really good. You should watch that show. um There's just so much about American history, people don't know, ah like the Federalist Papers. I don't think people really get taught that as well anymore. um
00:57:00
Speaker
I don't know that they know that we got so many ideas from, ah well, here, how about this? The most basic line is how many people talk about how this is a christian it was just founded on Christian values when we weren't? It's a deus society. We literally, like the entire point of...
00:57:15
Speaker
It's freedom. freedom yeah real It's deus. They were also atheists among the founding fathers. What the fuck, man? When they say freedom of religion, they took that as freedom of Christianity. Yeah. I'm curious real quick, Stuart.
00:57:36
Speaker
What do they what did they teach you about us in Ireland in history? That you walk crazy. I mean, they're not wrong. Let me think. ah Obviously, I liked television. You like history like I do, so. And I like history and stuff like that. But in school, I think we learned about the Native Americans. Yeah. We learned about um Salem Witch Trials. yeah okay We learnt about the emigration
00:58:14
Speaker
of Irish to America, because there was a lot of that. Yeah, we were talking about potato famine. That's about as far as we get with that. You guys probably get much better history on that. Yeah. That was the English accounts. Yeah. They're like in this country. In this country, they're like, oh, there's a potato famine. So all the Irish people fucked off and came here. That's pretty much what you get. No, no. So what happened was... I know. I'm just saying that's what they teach.
00:58:38
Speaker
Basically, the English took all the food and sent it to England. yes And at the same time, the potatoes, which was the only thing that was left to feed the Irish, got blight. So there was no food. And even if you were landing fish, it was automatically taken and sent to England to feed the English. So our population still hasn't recovered for that.
00:59:04
Speaker
Yep. I know that because I learned that. Which is insane. When you think about it, that's how many people died. But I'm trying to think of other things. You learn about Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address. What about like World War II?
00:59:21
Speaker
and we We learned about the Americans coming over and helping in World War II. See, that's the difference. You learned helping. It took them a while to come and join in. You learned helping. We learned. We learned. Oh, we came over there and fucking kicked the shit out of everybody before everybody didn't. That's not what I know. I know. I'm just telling you, that's what they teach in school here. Yeah, I know. Actually, it's it's always like, oh, we're so great. And it's It's great marketing. I mean, don't get me wrong. In general, as a country, ah especially the people in general, we're actually pretty cool. But like is is it as as a rule, you're generally pretty nice. We're pretty cool. We've done some really cool shit. We have some really cool history. but My concern is that you're um the only country that is next to you in indoctrination and national PR is North Korea.
01:00:18
Speaker
That's fair. That's fair. But actually, it's fucked. This whole fucking Pledge of Allegiance and flags we everywhere. Yeah, I don't. Fucking mental. So I was going to actually like tie this back to our first talking point on the, yeah you know, the me, me, me main character syndrome. Because I will say it's like post World War Two is really where America was like, yeah, we're great. We're awesome.
01:00:44
Speaker
Like, and everybody else just agreed. Yeah. You know, and of course, like, I'm sure there's a lot of things Americans don't learn. And so we think we're great, but it's like when you are taught that. It's it's not, you've told your grit. Yeah. You're told that we're in the greatest, every greatest nation. Exactly. We're great. We're the best. We're great. Yeah. if more per You've got no health care. You've got.
01:01:13
Speaker
Lots of people in prison. Lots more people in prison. Essentially, you've still got slave of labor because your prisons are used to make denim and jeans and all of these fucking products. and And prisons are for profit, which is absolutely fucking ludicrous. Not all of them, but most of them, yes. But most of them. Any of them is too many.
01:01:36
Speaker
Well, there's a, kind you know, you know, and those you know those private prison science contracts and the government has to keep them specifically a certain percentage full. Yeah. Yeah. So really try and actually ah like help people and get them out of prison. Yeah. now that not You know, that doesn't make you money. does it It doesn't. It doesn't. Yeah, exactly. It doesn't help. it It's such it's it's it's and people go, isn't capitalism great? Like, no, no, no, no, not that way. It's not.
01:02:05
Speaker
Yes. Capitalism has a certain amount of... Awesome. There's a certain amount of awesome. There's also a certain amount of bullshit. Anything... I'm not sure awesome is the right word. Anything unrestrained. My point is simply that anything un unrestrained, completely unrestrained and allowed to just go fucking nuts is going to ruin something. Yes. Unrestrained socialism. No. Yes. andre But social capitalism. Yes.
01:02:30
Speaker
you I mean, you argue so much against socialism because most of these think socialism is communism and they're not the same thing. They're not. They also think communism and Marxism are the same too, which is not exactly the same. Correct. Although they are branches with similar ethos. They are, but they are not the same. they But it's that thing where they go, oh no, no, you can't have socialism. Fuck, are you not going to give me fucking decent healthcare? care Fuck you. And you're like, well, do you like the army and the military?
01:02:57
Speaker
Do you like the libraries, the schools, the cops, the firemen, the roads you drive on? Do you want those privately owned? Because I sure as fuck don't. You don't. I feel like I'm in fucking a Monty Python sketch. I know they don't. Anything. Anything for us. Yeah, exactly. Anything public or owned by or maintained by the city you live in or the country living in is socialism. It's just it it's not horrible. And yet the other side of that is.
01:03:25
Speaker
ah Is there some of the nicest people i've ever met? You're friendly? No it's not good crazy now. no you are though mean but okay i like this talk Most places i go to travel people are generally add-on and friendly yeah but at the same time The Americans are generally a cheery bunch of bastards. Do you know what I mean? Because we're fucking awesome. No, I'm just kidding.
01:03:51
Speaker
<unk> it's theto yeah yeah it's it's just it's just a weird It's just a weird thing that you believe that Kool-Aid you've been given the drink. Do you know what I mean? Exactly. and phrasing yeah yeah yeah it It's unfortunate.
01:04:09
Speaker
But it's not everybody. I mean, it's it's no it's there's extremes of all kinds everywhere on the planet. And I know we talk about extreme left and extreme right, and they're both kind of fucking out of their minds in their own ways, I think. Most people are sitting in the middle going, fuck. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I think most of this country, and it's the funnier thing is that people think that the loud the loudest group are the fucking majority. And they're just fucking really loud and ah not everyone else is just like, fuck off. I just want to live my life. The majority are generally the quietest.
01:04:38
Speaker
Yeah. all All I have to say is when George Bush looks like a moderate, yeah much but things are off the rails. Yeah. That's the thing. After the first Trump, we call it an administration.
01:04:55
Speaker
and Halfway through that, I was going, my God, do you remember the days of Bush? I mean, he made Bush look positively fucking intelligent.
01:05:07
Speaker
People sort of like people started being getting a soft spot for him because of all those paintings and stuff. And we were like, yeah, it's still a fucking war criminal, but whatever. Well, yeah, i mean we we had one of those to shut the fuck up. I know. And it happens. But. it happens But it's a it's just I just can't believe where he's even running again. I cannot. I need to know this as somebody from outside of the U.S. Stewart. Mm hmm. I need you to say this from a European's perspective. What is the general perspective on Trump over there? Fucking tube. Absolute psychopathic idiot.
01:05:46
Speaker
ben ledd I'm just curious what the outside world thinks because I have my own opinion. There is people here that think he's great, but they're generally stupid. They're listening to Sky News and have black mold in their house? Yeah, pretty much. yeah yeah um But most people just think he's like... It's yeah it's like you're on crazy pills but saying that I live next to a country that elected Boris Johnson And he's a fucking for sure. He's a shit, too for sure. I mean, although we've got right now So yay, I mean, I wasn't asking you either like just to be clear to the listeners I wasn't asking to like make it seem like Europe is better or worse or anything. I was just wondering butmanites we have active Since we have an outside perspective. I was just curious what Europe thought no I yeah
01:06:34
Speaker
I you know i kinda i kinda liked Joe Biden. He was a bit popular either towards the end which is a bit strange but while he was with Obama he was a same pretty cool and dead on and i can see why he ended up there but.
01:06:53
Speaker
He's got issues too. Yeah, well, if anyone who wants to actually be in politics has fucking issues. For sure. do For sure. I'm just being honest and absolute nutter. The shit that he said, he can't even string coherent sentences together. And that's the thing that I just.
01:07:09
Speaker
ah My mind boggles what he makes. He makes W. Bush look like an autistic savant, which is fucking mental.
Travel & Education for Broader Perspectives
01:07:21
Speaker
fuck Well, this is probably the episode we're getting canceled on, so it's going to be great. It's going to be great. Yeah, I don't know, man. like we And just to be clear, we do We do hark on the extreme left occasionally too. They're just fucking bad shit. They're just as yeah fucking bad shit. But since we're on this side of the, I'm not going to swap it. I don't even know how to get out of this. I'm trying to think of something right wing. and ah At this point, there's nothing because that's that's kind of what this has turned into. It's like, do you have common sense or did you drink bleach when you had COVID?
01:08:00
Speaker
Well, here's Here's the thing, too, that um also, Stuart, maybe you can back me up being an outsider. this yeah America does not have a left wing party. We have a right and a center right. We don't have a left wing party, technically. We are left of the right, but we are not. Yeah, but I mean, the Democrats are generally more. Well, and they're ten girls they're they're they're more left.
01:08:27
Speaker
than the Republicans. They are, but more left than the Republicans. It doesn't really matter. it when you but if you're if you when your bar is Unfortunately, when your field is set with two poles, they're the left and they're the right. There's no two ways about it. just your you but the thing is too my My point is simply that you should be able to also have a macro view as relation to the planet and not just your one view.
01:08:50
Speaker
because it helps you understand things a little better too. We're not at Star Trek yet, unfortunately. Well, I mean, we still have one planet. Maybe we don't have all of them and we don't have Star Trek. No, but I mean, the whole kinda one people for one planet, we're not definitely not there yet. We're not, but also you should know about other countries and how they function or talk to people from other, like you and I are like, like I said, you're like one of my best friends. So like,
01:09:16
Speaker
you should You should want to talk to other people and learn and you should have perspectives outside of your own so you can shoot square things. That's my real point of bringing that up. that's that like Do you know the way some countries still have um military service? yeah Like France and Israel. I'm not talking about them right now. and And let's not go down that rabbit hole. No, no. unless's I mean, this is will be our cancellation episode. But some countries still have military service. I don't think and you just don't need any more people in your military. It's all already too big. and But Americans really should be told to do a gap year in university that's funded. And basically you have to travel somewhere. I totally agree with that. Yeah. Because but it would either A,
01:10:05
Speaker
grow your knowledge set that you bring back into the country, which creates productivity and creates education and all those things. Or B, it will give you a broader view of the world around you, which will stop you looking inwards so much and make you look at a wee bit more. yeah I agree. This is just further down a rabbit hole.
01:10:26
Speaker
it's not That's not such a left wing thing to say. No, no, that's not my point. That's not my point. My point is the stifling of education that is being attempted right now. But that's the whole point. So with the US, it's if we keep the citizens dumber, then they will willingly go into slavery, essentially, whether it's slavery through a corporation or our military service or wind up in some kind of trouble.
01:10:53
Speaker
Well, even more immediately, if you're less educated, you're more likely to keep arguing dumb points without opening your brain to find more. So it's even more immediately. But that's that's a talking point that has been around like the whole like keep the poor fighting each other while the rich get richer. That is a talking point that has been around for as long as I have been alive. buts It's serfdom. I mean, this this is at the end of the day, it's it all boils down to greed and it's all Pretty much. mike It's all pretty much a human evil that has been around for you know forever, really.
Reflections on Cosplay & Responsibilities
01:11:33
Speaker
Stewart. I'm depressed. I'm sorry.
01:11:40
Speaker
He kind of brought some of it on himself. I did. This has been a fun conversation. It's been a good one, actually. We've been all over the fucking board cosplaying and fucking Hercules and politics and fucking history. And from Kevin Sorbo to Trump. No, we don't talk about Kevin Sorbo. He's a he's a Trump. Anyway, he's a cunt. Oh, he's he's special. Oh, I special isn't terrible.
01:12:09
Speaker
um I still will never forget the 1997 and 1998 Zina and Hercules show at Universal Studios Orlando yep because when they first opened it and they were doing test runs, it wasn't like you could join them on the Avenger. It was you could be Zina, you could be Hercules. And I'm seven years old. I want to be Zina.
01:12:36
Speaker
So I'm screaming, I want to be Zina. They pick me and you cannot be Zina. You can only be a senator. And I just remember the football pads of yak hair um that they put on you for this like experience. No, thank you. um I just remember being so angry and Hurt and upset and felt lied to and i'm sure there's somebody out there at halloween horror nights wearing this like now 20 what 25 year old, uh yak hair lovely and um It's yeah, and that's like all I think about whenever I go to hhn now is just like I try to find the yak hair Like that most evil evil of experiences because that like ruined zina and her chilies for for me forever because it was like
01:13:32
Speaker
Kelly's like, like be zena fuck the scary shit. Where's the yak hair? I yeah you need burn i need to burn it i used to really, I used to really like Xena actually. What was Xena? What do you call Xena's mate? The red headed lady. Oh, Xena ends. Oh gosh. All right. Hold on.
01:13:53
Speaker
Listen, I'm literally putting Zeno's friend in here. Gabrielle. Gabrielle. I was a fan of Gabrielle. Yes, you were. I'm sure. Thank you. Anyway, Yakker on that very stinky note. Fucking hell, we're going to get canceled.
01:14:09
Speaker
so It's kind of our point, kind of. We kind of and just to assume it's going to happen. What was I talking about? Oh, yes. and So and we only really have two things that we do in the show. First question and the last question. So Kelly, thank you for the awesome conversation. It really has been fun.
01:14:33
Speaker
okay even if it's depressed the and yeah because because of my own worldview and outlook. But. out Listen, it was a roller coaster. I got angry. It was a roller coaster. I got angry. You got depressed. We got to laugh. It was great. Yeah, I drank whiskey. it's all So the final question is, Kelly, what is the manliest thing you've done this week? I would say manliest thing I've done this week.
01:15:04
Speaker
is actually get my work done.
01:15:11
Speaker
Pull myself up, you know, instead of, you know, that's pretty good bad and just, uh, you know, making sure I get everything lined up. Cause would you know, this is like the boringest thing ever, but it's, I'm trying my best to make sure, uh, I don't have anything like any loose ends on clients hanging around on my vacation because the last thing I would ever want to do.
01:15:34
Speaker
And what I think is a manly thing to do ah in in terms of this is just, you know, owning my responsibilities and making sure they're taken care of so they don't fall on someone else. Yeah. That's a pretty good answer. I was saying before I went on my trip there a couple of weeks ago, I was doing 60 hour weeks. It was killer. Oh no. Yeah. I am not that bad, but like I've also asked for more clients.
01:16:02
Speaker
um But I didn't start this new job till January. So like I think that they're trying to ease me into it. And I've had some pretty roller coaster ah clients the last ah nine months. So I think it's been... It's like every single time, it's like, okay, is this going to turn into some psychotic three month job when it should just be like a six week project. but Let's see. Um, so, but I'm at the point where like craziness is starting to die down. Uh, I know, I know it's going to happen. It's going to happen. something
01:16:44
Speaker
ah Spin around, spit in the wind. So, salt, knock on wood, do something. Yeah, whatever. Erase it. Whatever we... Yeah, no, it'll be fine. Voodoo, voodoo... What do we do? Yeah. Whatever voodoo, voodoo, you do? Yeah. Yeah, Jesus. It's been awesome. Thank you very much. Thank you, Kelly, for coming to hang out.
01:17:10
Speaker
Thank you. Goodbye, everybody. Goodbye, everybody.