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2022 - We're Tweeting for Elon Musk in Ep35
10 Plays3 years ago
Salman soliloquizes on the Twitter buyout, Billionaires, and the NBA Playoffs
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Transcript
Introduction to Expat Brat Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey, everyone.
00:00:01
Speaker
It's Salman Qureshi.
00:00:02
Speaker
You're listening to the Expat Brat Podcast.
00:00:05
Speaker
The life stories and thoughts of a dude who grew up in the Middle East and now lives in the Middle East.
00:00:15
Speaker
So you can see I've come far in life.
00:00:18
Speaker
And...
00:00:20
Speaker
I'm really selling this.
00:00:22
Speaker
I should probably try to sell this better, right?
00:00:25
Speaker
You're listening to a comic who has performed across the Middle East.
00:00:33
Speaker
Oh, screw this, man.
00:00:34
Speaker
Welcome.
00:00:35
Speaker
I hope you guys had a good week in the past few days.
00:00:39
Speaker
It's...
00:00:40
Speaker
It's a new week ahead for all of us.
00:00:42
Speaker
It's awesome.
00:00:43
Speaker
We're all geared up to do great things in life.
00:00:47
Speaker
Some of us.
00:00:49
Speaker
Not on Twitter, I guess.
00:00:51
Speaker
Because I don't know what to do about that anymore.
Elon Musk and Twitter Drama
00:00:54
Speaker
Hey, look, if you don't know, Elon Musk just spent $44 billion on buying an app that you can download for free, I guess.
00:01:01
Speaker
So, I don't know.
00:01:05
Speaker
I think that's a lot of money to spend to stop people from bullying you.
00:01:11
Speaker
He gets trolled a lot too.
00:01:12
Speaker
He trolls and he gets trolled a lot.
00:01:16
Speaker
There are quite a few people who are up against it.
00:01:21
Speaker
They're like worried.
00:01:22
Speaker
Oh, no, it means Trump's going to get back on Twitter.
00:01:27
Speaker
And yeah, I don't know.
00:01:30
Speaker
Right.
00:01:32
Speaker
I don't know.
00:01:32
Speaker
Right.
00:01:33
Speaker
Like he does swing that way.
00:01:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:37
Speaker
You know, what bugs me most is that he professes, he pitches himself to be some kind of free speech protectionist and whatnot.
00:01:47
Speaker
And if you look at his Twitter handle, he actually blocks anyone who, you know, kind of attacks him or criticizes him.
00:01:55
Speaker
So...
00:01:57
Speaker
What world do these guys live in?
00:01:59
Speaker
Oh, I know.
00:01:59
Speaker
They live in a billionaire world where everything around them is about them and they have nothing else to do except to mess around with the world and try to make more money and claim they're trying to change the world for the better.
00:02:14
Speaker
Now, the other side claims, well, you know, it's not like it's owned by some hippie people right now.
00:02:21
Speaker
It is private hedge funds.
00:02:23
Speaker
And I think there's a big like Saudi buy-in.
00:02:26
Speaker
Is it Prince Walid or someone?
00:02:28
Speaker
You know, one of them has a big stake.
00:02:30
Speaker
And so they're kind of pitching the whole, well, Saudis own this and it's better to have it in the hands of an American.
00:02:38
Speaker
Although Elon Musk isn't exactly American.
00:02:41
Speaker
He lives in the States.
00:02:42
Speaker
I didn't know.
00:02:43
Speaker
He had a South African upbringing, grew up there with his dad, and then he left him.
00:02:48
Speaker
So he was from a wealthy family, and I think his mom was like a big model in Canada.
00:02:53
Speaker
So he's half Canadian, half South African, least likable Canadian ever, perhaps, perhaps.
00:03:00
Speaker
And then he ended up in the States and did what he did, you know, made a lot of money, was successful, won't deny him that.
00:03:07
Speaker
But making money and making other good decisions are two different things.
00:03:11
Speaker
You know, I make other good decisions like I had a banana yesterday for breakfast, which meant I made a healthy choice.
00:03:19
Speaker
But if you look at my finances, there is no way I'm paying forty four billion dollars for Twitter.
The Social Media Conundrum
00:03:24
Speaker
Or anyone would take that bet with me to fund it.
00:03:28
Speaker
Because they'd be like, this guy is going to drown that money out and close down the shops and everything.
00:03:35
Speaker
So, interesting.
00:03:36
Speaker
I do use Twitter.
00:03:38
Speaker
I'm on it.
00:03:39
Speaker
And it is a vile place most of the time.
00:03:42
Speaker
It's an addiction.
00:03:43
Speaker
I don't even know.
00:03:44
Speaker
Sometimes I sit there and I go, why am I using this?
00:03:48
Speaker
And I don't have a proper answer because...
00:03:51
Speaker
I kind of enjoy it, tweeting.
00:03:55
Speaker
Maybe it's my lazy... Sometimes I feel like writing and then this is a lazy way out and I call it microblogging in my head.
00:04:02
Speaker
So then it justifies and I make myself think, oh, you know, I could have written a blog post or something that required research.
00:04:10
Speaker
Or I can write this half-baked tweet and claim I've done enough writing in my life, right?
00:04:16
Speaker
Right.
00:04:17
Speaker
Can you imagine someone downloading my tweets and using it to write my auto bio?
00:04:23
Speaker
That would be terrible.
00:04:26
Speaker
I got to find a way.
00:04:26
Speaker
There's got to be an app.
00:04:28
Speaker
You know what would be a great app if you're an app developer is to have this Twitter or even maybe the whole social media combustor.
00:04:36
Speaker
So as soon as you die, it just explodes and destroys everything on there.
00:04:42
Speaker
Or at least just has it.
00:04:44
Speaker
If it's really smart, it'll destroy potentially bad idiotic stuff like this sounds a bit racist.
00:04:51
Speaker
Let's let's delete this tweet.
00:04:54
Speaker
This is.
00:04:55
Speaker
joke didn't age well.
00:04:56
Speaker
A lot of woke people are upset about it.
00:04:58
Speaker
Let's delete this one, da-da-da, and so on and so forth.
00:05:01
Speaker
So I think that would be kind of cool.
00:05:03
Speaker
I think a lot of people would set it up and pay for that service.
00:05:06
Speaker
I'd pay for that.
00:05:08
Speaker
I don't have time to go search everything that I've ever written and stuff.
00:05:12
Speaker
And when you see famous people like Kevin Hart losing shit like the Oscars, then yeah, I mean, I'm dead.
00:05:21
Speaker
in this scenario.
00:05:22
Speaker
So am I, should I be worried about what people think after me?
00:05:25
Speaker
I don't know, right?
00:05:26
Speaker
Well, it'd be embarrassing for my child, maybe.
00:05:28
Speaker
What if like my kid becomes this famous person or like a leader of something, and then they use my old tweets to go, well, his dad was a fattest.
00:05:37
Speaker
You know, he made jokes about fat people and short people.
00:05:40
Speaker
But he was short.
00:05:41
Speaker
It doesn't matter.
00:05:43
Speaker
We don't do any jokes.
00:05:44
Speaker
We live in a society now where jokes are not allowed.
00:05:48
Speaker
And then he just loses everything.
00:05:49
Speaker
And he's like, God damn it.
00:05:51
Speaker
Why didn't my dad think about this stuff?
00:05:53
Speaker
And if he hears this podcast, he'll know I did.
00:05:56
Speaker
It was just these idiots out there who could have developed this app, didn't do it in time or never did it.
00:06:01
Speaker
And hence, here we are.
00:06:03
Speaker
Right.
00:06:04
Speaker
Wow.
00:06:05
Speaker
What a scenario.
00:06:07
Speaker
Right.
00:06:07
Speaker
Like somebody get on that shit for my kid, for my child, for your children.
00:06:11
Speaker
OK, so we got to get on that stuff.
00:06:15
Speaker
And so, yeah.
00:06:16
Speaker
So, you know, this Twitter thing, I don't know.
00:06:18
Speaker
Like I'm on it.
00:06:20
Speaker
And I think the other thing is I do use social media because I'm like I'm a comic.
00:06:25
Speaker
I got to broadcast my.
00:06:26
Speaker
Content and stuff through various channels, blah, blah, blah.
00:06:29
Speaker
You got to be everywhere if you're an entertainer.
00:06:31
Speaker
It's just one of these weird things.
00:06:33
Speaker
But how much time you spend on it maybe is the problem.
00:06:36
Speaker
And I also think are there enough people on Twitter?
00:06:40
Speaker
Is it, you know, the claim is growing and it's had its moments because Trump kind of actually, you know, they should be thankful to him.
00:06:47
Speaker
kind of making it popular again in some ways, in a bad way, I guess.
00:06:51
Speaker
But it did bring people in.
00:06:54
Speaker
And so I don't know.
00:06:56
Speaker
Is it worth investing as a platform, as a content creator?
00:07:05
Speaker
If you're a content creator, I'd love to hear your thought on that because people do keep saying, yeah, Twitter is important.
00:07:12
Speaker
But my wife doesn't use it at all, and she's far more successful than
00:07:17
Speaker
Maybe it's to do with her field also.
00:07:18
Speaker
I don't know that.
00:07:20
Speaker
But she's great and she's killing it on Instagram.
00:07:24
Speaker
But she produces beautiful work that people probably like.
00:07:27
Speaker
I think it's that too, right?
00:07:28
Speaker
Like maybe I'm just not putting out work that people like.
00:07:31
Speaker
But she does it and she does it so well.
00:07:33
Speaker
And she doesn't need to be on like 10 platforms.
00:07:36
Speaker
She's not on TikTok.
00:07:38
Speaker
She's not on Twitter.
00:07:40
Speaker
I don't think she uses Facebook too much.
00:07:43
Speaker
it's Instagram and that's enough for her.
00:07:47
Speaker
So maybe that's what some of us need to do.
00:07:53
Speaker
Not spread ourselves too thin or whatever and come back to where and I guess it also depends the kind of content you're creating, right?
00:08:00
Speaker
So
00:08:01
Speaker
Lots of factors.
00:08:02
Speaker
Anyway, I'd love to hear someone's thoughts on Twitter and whether to be on it or not.
00:08:08
Speaker
So that's going on in my head.
00:08:12
Speaker
But I haven't said that.
00:08:13
Speaker
It's not like it's my control.
00:08:14
Speaker
It's not like I'm going, hey, I'm not comfortable.
00:08:17
Speaker
with Elon Musk buying Twitter.
00:08:19
Speaker
So could somebody put an end to that, please?
00:08:21
Speaker
I wish I had that kind of power, but we don't.
00:08:24
Speaker
And here we are.
00:08:25
Speaker
So all the other platforms, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, are owned by billionaires who may not be working in the best interest of the people.
00:08:36
Speaker
All right.
00:08:37
Speaker
So that's the world we live in.
00:08:39
Speaker
And ain't nobody, none of us are going to be able to do anything about it.
00:08:43
Speaker
So accept it.
00:08:45
Speaker
All right.
00:08:46
Speaker
Wow.
00:08:47
Speaker
Wow.
00:08:47
Speaker
That's a downer, isn't it?
00:08:48
Speaker
No motivational there.
00:08:50
Speaker
Come on, we can make a change.
00:08:51
Speaker
No, we can't just accept it and use it to your advantage as much as you can.
00:08:57
Speaker
See, that's a positive spin on it, right?
00:09:00
Speaker
Like stop concentrating on the stuff you can't control and just do the bit you can and get something out of it and know the pitfalls of it and use it in that context, in that manner.
00:09:12
Speaker
Cool?
00:09:13
Speaker
So that's your lesson for the day, people.
00:09:16
Speaker
Um, there's, uh, you know, I've also been indulging a little bit in the, in the Johnny Depp case.
Extreme Wealth and Legal Battles
00:09:23
Speaker
And, uh, and again, you know, it's crazy.
00:09:28
Speaker
They're both crazy.
00:09:29
Speaker
Okay.
00:09:29
Speaker
I'm not taking sides.
00:09:31
Speaker
If you, he was drugged up, coked up the whole time.
00:09:36
Speaker
And when you listen to his testimony about like, you know, he's filed a suit against, uh, what's her name?
00:09:42
Speaker
Amber.
00:09:43
Speaker
And, um, and the
00:09:45
Speaker
Both sound crazy to me.
00:09:47
Speaker
One's like shitting on the bed.
00:09:49
Speaker
The other guy's coked up.
00:09:50
Speaker
So what why would you want to take sides?
00:09:53
Speaker
I know some of us have our pretty reasons to do it.
00:09:57
Speaker
Some men are like, look, it's, you know, he lost his career and stuff.
00:10:01
Speaker
And I agree with that somewhat to a large extent.
00:10:05
Speaker
and she didn't have to face any repercussions for her behavior.
00:10:08
Speaker
She's still signing movies and whatnot, so I get that.
00:10:12
Speaker
So people are like, you know, the men on that side, no, no, we got to be protected too, and this is what happens.
00:10:18
Speaker
And then obviously there's this care about domestic abuse.
00:10:22
Speaker
If he was like that, if some of it is true, then that's disturbing too.
00:10:28
Speaker
But, you know, it's just...
00:10:31
Speaker
It's fascinating, though.
00:10:33
Speaker
You know, these people have all the money in the world, fame, and they're both just petty at the end of the day.
00:10:43
Speaker
And I feel bad about it because I do like Johnny Depp as an actor.
00:10:47
Speaker
I wish he had done some other movies instead of, you know, and not being this crazy.
00:10:52
Speaker
But hey, whatever, you know, maybe that's what we'll always remember about him and some great stuff he's done.
00:10:58
Speaker
And not a big fan of Amber, but I haven't really watched her stuff too much.
00:11:02
Speaker
And it's I don't know.
00:11:05
Speaker
It just reminds you, look, look, all these rich people going talking about must, we're talking about these guys.
00:11:10
Speaker
I mean, Johnny Depp is one of the richest actors ever.
00:11:14
Speaker
Right.
00:11:14
Speaker
Because I think he made like a billion dollars off frickin just a pirate of the Caribbean movies.
00:11:21
Speaker
And then.
00:11:21
Speaker
Doesn't he own an island?
00:11:23
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know, right?
00:11:24
Speaker
Like, it's so much wealth.
00:11:26
Speaker
And that's why rich people are the only people who should be taxed.
00:11:31
Speaker
Like, it should be redistributed after a certain point.
00:11:34
Speaker
I sound like a socialist, but too much money is too much for anyone, right?
00:11:38
Speaker
Like, it's crazy.
00:11:39
Speaker
And this is what they end up doing with their lives.
00:11:41
Speaker
And someone's, like, buying into Twitter, causing a storm.
00:11:44
Speaker
He's also, by the way,
00:11:47
Speaker
Musk is also breaking all sorts of rules about the Security Exchange Commission in America, which protects shareholders and makes sure it's all fair play.
00:11:56
Speaker
He thinks he's above that.
00:11:57
Speaker
He's actually quoted to have said something along the lines of, I'm just remembering, not word for word, but something about, I have no respect for the SEC.
00:12:09
Speaker
That's saying something, right?
00:12:12
Speaker
You're dangerous then if you think you're above.
00:12:16
Speaker
Everywhere you look with people who think they're above the law, that's a problem.
00:12:19
Speaker
Politicians in Pakistan are an example.
00:12:23
Speaker
The ex-prime minister has gone out unhappy about it.
00:12:26
Speaker
And he's like, well, it's not fair when the rules are against – when I get knocked out because of the rules.
00:12:33
Speaker
It's just –
00:12:34
Speaker
You can't, you have to work within the law system to some extent, right?
00:12:39
Speaker
We're not talking about slavery, which was, I know some people like to give that example.
00:12:42
Speaker
Well, you know, slavery was legalized at one point.
00:12:45
Speaker
I know, but you can tell the difference between that and some of the other stuff.
00:12:50
Speaker
Okay.
00:12:51
Speaker
All right.
00:12:51
Speaker
Just don't be a bit more smart about it, please.
00:12:57
Speaker
Anyway, shit, that's all this stuff going on, man.
00:13:01
Speaker
Rich people stuff.
00:13:02
Speaker
You know, maybe I should just stop reading the news because but they're the people that make a difference in the world.
00:13:07
Speaker
And that's the world we live in.
00:13:08
Speaker
Right.
00:13:08
Speaker
So here we are.
00:13:10
Speaker
Well, what else?
00:13:11
Speaker
What else can you talk about?
00:13:13
Speaker
There's a war going on and the world's falling apart and everyone keeps crying about it.
00:13:17
Speaker
We're
Thoughts on Longevity and Aging
00:13:18
Speaker
going to enter a bear market and it's going to be terrible next couple of years.
00:13:24
Speaker
So I'd rather talk about the good stuff.
00:13:26
Speaker
Like the world's oldest person dies in Japan.
00:13:31
Speaker
She was like 119 or something.
00:13:33
Speaker
I'm not laughing at her.
00:13:34
Speaker
That's terrible.
00:13:35
Speaker
But that's quite an achievement, right?
00:13:37
Speaker
But she's dead now.
00:13:38
Speaker
So it's good news, bad news, bad news.
00:13:41
Speaker
She passed away.
00:13:42
Speaker
It's sad.
00:13:44
Speaker
Good news that people could live that long.
00:13:46
Speaker
So I think it's quite interesting.
00:13:50
Speaker
My grandfather, my dad's dad, lived up to 99.
00:13:54
Speaker
But I think that's like a little blip in the subcontinent.
00:13:57
Speaker
We...
00:13:59
Speaker
When we look at our diets, I'm like, that's not going to happen for us.
00:14:03
Speaker
So I don't know.
00:14:05
Speaker
And also, I sometimes have this debate, right?
00:14:07
Speaker
Like how old do you really want to be anyway?
00:14:11
Speaker
How old do you want to grow, right?
00:14:13
Speaker
Like at what age would you go, I'm done?
00:14:17
Speaker
I think part of it is health for me.
00:14:20
Speaker
If I can live an independent, healthy life, I'm fine to keep going on.
00:14:25
Speaker
And I guess looks won't matter after a certain point.
00:14:29
Speaker
But, you know, if you're like 90 and a lot of your friends, family have died, yeah, you know, you might have extended like –
00:14:38
Speaker
the next generation around with you.
00:14:40
Speaker
But they'll be busy and they'll love you and respect you in some ways.
00:14:43
Speaker
But you're on your own mostly, isn't it?
00:14:45
Speaker
What are you going to do?
00:14:46
Speaker
Go out and make friends again?
00:14:49
Speaker
So I don't know.
00:14:50
Speaker
Unless everyone can live to 150, do I want to live to 150?
00:14:53
Speaker
And what do I do with all that?
00:14:54
Speaker
Like I just...
00:14:59
Speaker
learn from my mistakes and then do them better but you know you can't because not it's also not like okay i've learned my mistake with my mistakes and now i am going to chase my dreams which were to be a basketball player like you can't do that maybe the richest person in the world kind of thing maybe you could try that but i don't know it's uh it doesn't make sense to me you know what else is terrible the bulls all right
00:15:27
Speaker
If you've been listening to my podcast, I'm a Bulls fan.
00:15:31
Speaker
And I had high hopes after the early start of the season.
00:15:35
Speaker
And now we're on the brink of being knocked out.
00:15:38
Speaker
Rightfully so.
00:15:40
Speaker
You know, DeRozan has really let me down.
00:15:42
Speaker
And then I hear that's what he was like.
00:15:45
Speaker
He has a playoff problem.
00:15:48
Speaker
And that makes me a bit sad.
00:15:50
Speaker
Because he was really good this season.
00:15:52
Speaker
Fun to watch.
00:15:54
Speaker
But it's been an amazing...
00:15:56
Speaker
The playoffs so far, the Celtics just sweeped the Nets, which was, and that's another thing.
00:16:03
Speaker
I was excited about the Nets at the beginning, but when I look at the players, Kyrie and all that, I'm just like, man, I'm glad.
00:16:10
Speaker
Like, it's so easy to hate you guys right now.
00:16:12
Speaker
And then they took Ben Simmons, like, just easily.
00:16:16
Speaker
dislikable immediately right and I'm glad they got sweeped maybe they'll come back stronger next season who knows but the Celtics look so good right now my money's on them to take it all because everyone else really inconsistent I mean the Suns right number one
00:16:35
Speaker
Most wins.
00:16:36
Speaker
And now they got humiliated
NBA Playoffs Insights
00:16:39
Speaker
by the Pelicans.
00:16:40
Speaker
Oh, my God.
00:16:41
Speaker
It was game four, right?
00:16:42
Speaker
It was embarrassing.
00:16:44
Speaker
The last five minutes, it was like the Pelicans were playing against a bunch of high school kids, like stealing the ball from them, dunking it.
00:16:52
Speaker
It just became a joke to watch.
00:16:55
Speaker
And I felt so bad.
00:16:56
Speaker
And they've lost.
00:16:57
Speaker
I know Booker's out.
00:16:59
Speaker
But, you know, yeah, I know he's your star player, but to be embarrassed, and you still have CP, right?
00:17:05
Speaker
So we shouldn't have ended that way, but it did.
00:17:09
Speaker
Let's see how the Suns bounce back.
00:17:10
Speaker
But everyone else has been showing chinks, right?
00:17:13
Speaker
Like the Bucs are a great team.
00:17:17
Speaker
but I don't know, you know, I think the Celtics might be able to lock down Giannis enough to beat them.
00:17:22
Speaker
They do have some great D on their team, probably the best chance of anyone beating the Bucks and, and, and, you know, uh, holding down Giannis if, if at all, um, cause the guy's a beast and, and,
00:17:36
Speaker
And the Sixers lost to the Raptors today.
00:17:39
Speaker
I know they're an even-keel kind of team, but I would have expected the Sixers to take that series and maybe lose it.
00:17:47
Speaker
I know, they bounce back maybe.
00:17:49
Speaker
They're already 3-1.
00:17:50
Speaker
But, you know, all these games kind of shown some chinks in each team.
00:17:54
Speaker
So I don't know who else has the power to get through.
00:17:57
Speaker
Who else is in the Western Conference?
00:17:59
Speaker
You know, it's who else we got?
00:18:01
Speaker
I can't even remember right now.
00:18:03
Speaker
The sun's coming to my mind.
00:18:04
Speaker
Oh, yeah, the Grizzlies, the Jazz Nuggets, and the Dallas Mavericks.
00:18:12
Speaker
Why is my mind just shutting down?
00:18:14
Speaker
Maybe I'm just so upset about the Bulls still.
00:18:16
Speaker
All right, so none of them stand out too much for me yet.
00:18:19
Speaker
They've all got great players.
00:18:20
Speaker
The Hawks are on the brink of being out as well.
00:18:25
Speaker
Yeah, Celtics, man.
00:18:26
Speaker
That's my bet.
00:18:27
Speaker
Place some money on it.
00:18:28
Speaker
When you win, share it with me because I'm not a betting person.
00:18:32
Speaker
I just say stuff.
00:18:35
Speaker
Okay?
00:18:35
Speaker
That's my roundup of the NBA playoffs as well.
00:18:39
Speaker
Catch you guys next week.
00:18:41
Speaker
Got to run.
00:18:42
Speaker
Got to see to my kid and get some workout in.
00:18:45
Speaker
Lose some weight.
00:18:46
Speaker
Make life happen.
00:18:48
Speaker
All right?
00:18:50
Speaker
Enjoy your week
Podcast Conclusion
00:18:51
Speaker
ahead.
00:18:51
Speaker
And don't forget to share, subscribe, review, rate, everything.
00:18:55
Speaker
It helps spread the word on the podcast.
00:18:57
Speaker
Thank you very much for listening.
00:18:59
Speaker
Take care, guys.
00:19:00
Speaker
Bye-bye.