Based Camp - Shinzo Abe, the Man, the Meme

00:00:00.000 Hello, Simone! Today, occasionally I will go down a rabbit hole and I'll be like,

00:00:06.020 this is something I really wish I could find a good, succinct video on,

00:00:09.540 because now it's a topic that interests me.

00:00:11.600 And this topic is the Harambe of pronatalism, Shinzo Abe.

00:00:16.920 I have just seen so many pronatalist Shinzo Abe memes of him trying to promote fertility.

00:00:23.640 And then after the recent thing happened, which we'll go into, where people in Japan became convinced

00:00:31.180 that Shinzo Abe from the dead had told Trump to move, to avoid being assassinated.

00:00:36.780 And it's just amazing.

00:00:39.300 So first, I'm going to bring the audience along with me on a journey through some memes about Shinzo Abe.

00:00:46.140 Then we're going to go into who he actually was, like what did he accomplish in his life,

00:00:51.620 how pronatalist was he really? And then we're going to go into the assassination.

00:00:56.580 And then we're going to go into the, what led to the assassination.

00:01:01.480 All right then.

00:01:03.020 So we're starting with meme number one of Shinzo Abe here, which is him holding a gun out.

00:01:09.280 And what does it say, Simone? 0.98

00:01:10.600 It says, stop watching VTubers, you stinky meats. Do your duty. Have sex. I'm no longer asking. 1.00

00:01:17.960 I love this.

00:01:19.580 The next one I love, and this is something that as I first started, like going into Shinzo Abe,

00:01:25.440 I really realized how well liked he was, was in like meme community.

00:01:29.880 So here's one that's a political compass that shows a former, former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe shot dead.

00:01:36.100 And it shows people on all sides of the political compass, sad about this.

00:01:40.240 But then the next political compass one, which I think is more true,

00:01:42.760 shows everybody horrified except for the authoritarian lefties who are,

00:01:49.500 hooray, death to Japan, I'm coming. 1.00

00:01:52.160 It says, and it shows from China news, like from one of their main sources.

00:01:56.620 And all of the, you know, far, far commies, they're being like, you know,

00:02:02.240 don't be stunned, celebrate, stuff like that, so horrified.

00:02:05.540 But I think what this shows is that the only people who were really happy that he died

00:02:09.800 was the crazy, like pro-China people, which again, if you're not pro-China,

00:02:16.400 should make you love him even more.

00:02:18.720 And this was something that a lot of people were saying in the analysis of him

00:02:21.480 that made me want to learn more about him is that one, longest serving PM in the history,

00:02:25.840 I think, of Japan.

00:02:27.100 So very, very popular person.

00:02:28.740 And people were like, they don't understand, like Japan losing him in some of the analysis I saw,

00:02:34.280 they said could significantly hurt the country because he was so effective at everything he did.

00:02:39.100 For the next meme here, this takes place in the Fren universe. 0.83

00:02:43.080 And it starts with the character saying,

00:02:45.560 Elves may live a long time.

00:02:47.940 Oh, that's good.

00:02:48.800 But across the board, we lack romantic feelings and reproductive instincts.

00:02:54.220 Wait, hold on.

00:02:56.080 We're quietly going extinct.

00:02:58.300 Huh?

00:02:59.280 Last time I met a fellow elf was more than 400 years ago.

00:03:03.520 Sigh.

00:03:04.540 Perhaps we're closer to the end than I thought.

00:03:07.340 We're too late this time.

00:03:09.720 You doing a girl voice, by the way, is so out of character for you. 0.98

00:03:14.260 Here, do the next meme.

00:03:15.480 Well, I read that a boy and a girl can create new life by joining their bodies together.

00:03:21.180 Can create new life by joining their bodies together.

00:03:24.500 And it shows Sun Tzu Abe smiling in the background.

00:03:30.120 She's like, yes.

00:03:31.760 And then this one, it's Korobo and Mitsubo are having their force. 0.83

00:03:36.020 And then it shows Sun Tzu Abe.

00:03:37.280 My job here is done.

00:03:40.420 And then this is one of my favorite, where this was after the assassination.

00:03:44.060 And it shows a picture of the scenery of Japan with Shin Tzu Abe's face fading out. 0.98

00:03:49.060 And it just says, have sex in big letters. 0.94

00:03:51.540 And then on the bottom right, it says, see ya, space cowboy. 0.96

00:03:54.840 Which was the outro from Cowboy Bebop.

00:03:57.000 Yes, which was really got to me.

00:04:00.440 So now I'm going to talk a bit about the really funny thing that happened.

00:04:04.320 Well, not funny, but I guess touching.

00:04:06.400 But there's memes about like women, like I cry at the Titanic.

00:04:10.260 Men don't cry over anything.

00:04:11.760 And it shows the men like crying over memes of a protecting Trump from the assassination.

00:04:16.640 But this makes sense.

00:04:17.760 They were, they did have a very, very strong relationship.

00:04:20.320 And we'll get into why this was the case in just a second.

00:04:22.680 But here in a Japanese Twitter post, it says, during his speech, Trump heard Shin Tzu Abe's voice calling him to attention in his ear.

00:04:31.540 When he tilted his head to listen to the voice, he heard the sound of a bullet cutting through the air.

00:04:35.440 And the bullet penetrated Trump's right ear.

00:04:38.060 And he heard a gunshot.

00:04:39.520 If Trump had not tried to listen to Abe's voice, he would have been killed by the bullet.

00:04:43.660 And for people who are like, wait, why would a lot of people in Japan actually believe this?

00:04:47.600 Well, a big group that liked Shin Tzu Abe was extremist Christians, specifically the Unification Church, specifically the Moonies, who would have believed something like this was possible. 0.95

00:04:58.080 And people were memeing about this in the West, and they thought it was serious.

00:05:02.160 Well, apparently that was why Shin Tzu Abe was shot, right?

00:05:05.300 It was the guy who shot him was...

00:05:07.360 Yeah, it was the Unification Church, which we'll get to.

00:05:08.920 It was against the church. 0.83

00:05:10.080 And I mean, in light of all these memes, you can think, oh, these memes are so silly, etc.

00:05:14.480 One of my favorites has always been the, what I watched, which it shows Franks.

00:05:18.960 And it goes, what I expected, which is Gurren Lagann.

00:05:20.940 And then it's a gif of what I got. 0.95

00:05:22.760 It's Shin Tzu Abe's face pointing at the screen, and occasionally it flashes, have sex.

00:05:27.400 My very favorite Shin Tzu Abe meme I found after we recorded this episode.

00:05:32.500 It shows a post from rredditwitchesvspatriarchy.

00:05:36.360 Some other witches have mentioned that doing spells directly against Trump are not as effective

00:05:41.800 as we might hope, as he seems to have some kind of protection around him.

00:05:45.780 And then they wrote, quote unquote, some kind of protection around him.

00:05:50.600 And it shows Shin Tzu Abe's face in the background.

00:05:54.560 And here's a great one, which is a political compass one, which shows why Shin Tzu Abe was

00:05:59.220 so well liked.

00:06:00.200 It shows, you know, people being shocked at his death.

00:06:02.700 And it shows people at every side of the political compass sad, but it shows why they're sad.

00:06:06.100 So the authoritarian left, he oversaw a 15% real increase in minimum wage while dropping

00:06:11.380 unemployment to under 3%.

00:06:13.020 That was lefty authoritarian, righty authoritarian.

00:06:16.620 He worked to ensure Japan could stand with America and protect democracy in Taiwan when

00:06:21.860 the day comes.

00:06:22.620 And then because he rebuilt Japan's military.

00:06:25.320 And then at the libertarian right, it just shows the economy going up under his leadership.

00:06:30.600 And then in the libertarian left, it shows his policies opened the door to ensure millions

00:06:35.320 of women were able to join the workforce.

00:06:37.260 And I just think that that's really cool.

00:06:38.920 This guy who is so universally liked.

00:06:43.620 And I wanted to understand.

00:06:45.700 And I will say that when I dug on him deeper, I didn't necessarily come away universally liking

00:06:51.320 him.

00:06:52.060 Interesting.

00:06:52.640 Well, that's what I was just going to ask you.

00:06:54.400 Was he universally liked because he was shot?

00:06:56.800 Because he was assassinated?

00:06:58.140 No, it was universally liked before that.

00:06:59.900 But unfortunately, his reputation took a hit in the investigation of the person who shot

00:07:05.600 him.

00:07:06.160 Because the person who shot him had, he didn't have no point.

00:07:11.500 He should have written a sternly worded letter, you're saying.

00:07:14.680 He should have written a sternly worded letter.

00:07:16.880 But Shinzo Abe may have facilitated a cult that destroyed a lot of people's lives and used

00:07:22.780 the cult to stay in power.

00:07:24.500 The movies, really?

00:07:26.360 Yes.

00:07:27.660 Now, whether you consider it a cult or a religion, I mean, it could be like people saying, well,

00:07:31.340 you guys do the same with like, I don't know, you know, being overly positive about Mormons,

00:07:35.580 people who are like really anti-Mormon and think of it as a cult.

00:07:38.100 And I'd be like, one, I don't think we're that overly positive Mormon.

00:07:40.560 But like if they became like a major voting block for us and we were running and then

00:07:43.480 they blamed us, like I could see, I don't know.

00:07:47.060 Because I don't think the unification church is a much more culty cult than the Mormons, 0.96

00:07:52.480 but we'll get into them in a second.

00:07:53.660 Yeah, well, then it would have to be if Tom Cruise was president, but then someone assassinated

00:07:59.280 him because...

00:08:00.680 Well, he wasn't in the unification church.

00:08:02.740 I know.

00:08:03.520 Oh, he wasn't?

00:08:04.340 Oh, okay.

00:08:05.040 No, no, no.

00:08:05.340 The unification church.

00:08:06.520 Okay.

00:08:06.760 So I'll go quickly into this right now.

00:08:08.760 Please.

00:08:09.200 Yes.

00:08:09.660 I don't know this.

00:08:10.480 Before he was ever in his party, actually during the age of his dad, who helped the unification

00:08:15.520 church a lot get established in Japan, they began to...

00:08:18.500 Because it's South Korean, right? 0.61

00:08:19.780 Yeah, which is a South Korean cult or religion.

00:08:23.400 They began to help the party a lot with local organizational stuff.

00:08:27.340 And when he took over the party, he didn't like clear them out of the party.

00:08:31.220 And they still had a big role in helping with, you know, like flyers and door knocking and

00:08:36.760 all of that in a very, very big way.

00:08:38.780 And people think that the party wouldn't have as much power as they had if they didn't have

00:08:43.140 this free resource of human labor.

00:08:46.200 Okay.

00:08:47.360 So his pro-natalist initiatives.

00:08:49.980 So Womanomics, in 2013, Abe called for a society in which all women can shine, setting 0.91

00:08:56.400 a target that 30% of leadership positions should be held by women by 2020. 0.91

00:09:00.340 This was a conservative, by the way.

00:09:01.560 This policy aimed to increase women's participation in the workforce, which Abe believed could potentially

00:09:08.260 improve both Japan's GDP and fertility rates.

00:09:11.120 And so right away, when we've gone into other countries' fertility rates and we've like laughed

00:09:14.940 at their like extended maternity leave and stuff like that.

00:09:18.140 And he's like, get them to work.

00:09:20.480 This is the first time I've heard one where I'm like, one, counterintuitive and two, probably

00:09:24.860 right.

00:09:25.640 And I will note, what is Shinzo Abe's legacy?

00:09:27.740 The by far highest fertility rate in the region is Japan.

00:09:31.920 So, I mean, he was kind of right.

00:09:35.000 Yeah.

00:09:35.240 Women working does help fertility rates. 1.00

00:09:38.100 Childcare expansion.

00:09:39.020 Abe planned to spend 2 trillion yen, approximately 17.6 billion on education and childcare.

00:09:45.000 This included promises of free preschool for children aged three to five, free childcare

00:09:50.400 for children aged two and younger from low-income households.

00:09:54.260 He did labor reforms.

00:09:55.380 He attempted to break down Japan's two-tier employment system, which often excluded temporary

00:09:59.540 workers from the regular workforce.

00:10:00.920 These reforms were aimed at creating a more flexible labor market that could better accommodate

00:10:04.700 working parents.

00:10:06.020 And then Abenomics and Abenomics 2.0 in September, 2015.

00:10:09.900 The first one is called Abenomics.

00:10:11.000 This is Abenomics 2.0.

00:10:12.680 Abe announced an updated platform that centered on raising the birth rate and expanding social

00:10:17.220 security.

00:10:18.100 This included creating new cabinet positions dedicated to reversing Japanese demographic decline.

00:10:23.860 Abe, huh?

00:10:24.360 Now, a lot of people think that he sponsored anime that had pronatalist themes.

00:10:31.080 Right.

00:10:31.360 This is-

00:10:31.920 And I have wondered that.

00:10:33.120 When we watched recently released anime, I don't know if you only watch pronatalist anime

00:10:38.440 shows or-

00:10:40.140 No, I mean, the studio that did, for example, Frank's, which is seen as having hugely pronatalist

00:10:44.740 message.

00:10:45.860 Yeah, I'm going to find another female partner. 1.00

00:10:47.460 Fine then!

00:10:48.080 What?

00:10:48.460 You think in the real world, your perfect girl will just come falling out of the sky?

00:10:51.880 Hey, you want to help me bang this robot?

00:10:53.920 You mean pilot this robot?

00:10:54.940 I know what I said.

00:10:58.680 Whatever.

00:10:59.320 Time to fight some monsters!

00:11:00.540 So no one besides me thinks this control scheme's a bit weird.

00:11:06.500 Why would anything about this be weird?

00:11:08.220 Now spank me hard and I'll shout out daddy to get the engine started. 1.00

00:11:11.080 Does anyone not have a partner to ride?

00:11:12.760 Sure no.

00:11:13.120 You see, I've always thought of you as a brother.

00:11:15.520 You mean like the normal kind or the anime kind?

00:11:17.240 The anime kind.

00:11:18.020 Oh, ew, ew! 0.83

00:11:20.060 Don't you have anyone else that likes you anyway?

00:11:21.940 Well, now that you mention it.

00:11:23.220 I do!

00:11:23.880 I want to make a baby!

00:11:25.360 Uh, how do we do th- 0.98

00:11:26.020 Daddy's gonna die! 0.99

00:11:27.900 That was amazing! 1.00

00:11:29.840 Yeah!

00:11:30.200 And now you can look forward to paying a lifetime's worth of child support!

00:11:38.280 What's child support?

00:11:39.520 I'd like to declare that we're getting married!

00:11:41.680 Is also the studio that did Gurren Lagann, which came out a long time before anyone was

00:11:45.720 freaking out about demographic collapse.

00:11:47.360 And Gurren Lagann's very anti-aggressive.

00:11:49.740 Or at least an anti-aggressive.

00:11:51.560 But wasn't, I mean, Gurren Lagann was-

00:11:53.600 Well, that was Gurren Lagann that I'm talking about.

00:11:55.080 It was the same team.

00:11:56.660 Well, no, yeah, Gurren Lagann is-

00:11:58.080 Yeah, but no, sorry, but they were also-

00:11:59.500 They were also, sorry, they were also Evangelion, which is an anti-nuda list.

00:12:02.620 And Evangelion was pre-Abe. 0.59

00:12:05.320 I think Gurren Lagann, did that overlap with Shinzo Abe?

00:12:07.780 That was pre-Abe.

00:12:08.540 So, I was wrong on this one.

00:12:10.620 Shinzo Abe first served as Prime Minister of Japan in 2006 to 2007, then again from 2012

00:12:18.080 to 2020.

00:12:19.520 Well, his 2006 to 2007 run?

00:12:21.760 That is when Gurren Lagann was released.

00:12:23.780 Gurren Lagann was released in 2007.

00:12:26.340 Not that there is any chance that he influenced its development, but yeah, Simone was right

00:12:31.000 on this one, weirdly.

00:12:32.620 Um, you know, Gurren Lagann's old.

00:12:34.560 And then they did a, um, like other, you know, pro-natalist anime that I've shown on

00:12:38.980 here, like the one about old people and stuff like that.

00:12:42.120 It's not that the Japanese government never sponsors anime or manga, but they're typically

00:12:45.780 one-off projects and not full series.

00:12:48.060 And it was doing that before Abe.

00:12:50.200 And it doesn't appear that there's any documented evidence of like super pro-natalist stuff being

00:12:54.920 pushed.

00:12:55.300 It appears that most of the pro-natalist anime was just created because people love their

00:12:59.200 country and love their culture.

00:13:00.900 And I think that that shows in part why Japan has been more resistant to fertility collapse

00:13:07.020 than other countries in the region.

00:13:08.660 Is that there's just much more pride in the Japanese identity than there is, um, you know,

00:13:14.580 and ask somebody who spent time in Japan and Korea, for example, uh, there is simply more

00:13:19.140 pride in the Japanese identity than there is in the Korean identity.

00:13:21.740 And I suspect it's, you know, people just pushing this into their own media in an attempt

00:13:28.120 to save their culture.

00:13:28.940 And I think it's sad that we don't see more of this in U.S.

00:13:31.460 media.

00:13:31.700 Uh, but I think it's because in U.S.

00:13:34.040 media, there's very few actual conservatives, um, because the, the far left in the urban

00:13:39.640 monoculture sort of acts as a cabal, keeping them out of positions.

00:13:43.000 Um, whereas in Japan, you don't have the same extent of conservatives, just not appearing

00:13:48.520 in media, uh, which didn't used to be as extreme in the U.S.

00:13:51.720 as it is today.

00:13:52.860 Now let's talk about other big things he did.

00:13:55.020 Constitutional reinterpretation in 2014, Abe's government reinterpreted article nine of Japan's

00:13:59.280 past of its constitution to allow for collectivist self-defense, enabling Japan to come to the 0.89

00:14:03.620 aid of its allies under attack.

00:14:05.000 Now, this is really big.

00:14:08.040 He really, really began to turn Japan into a military power again, to put it on a military

00:14:15.020 footing.

00:14:16.000 And I think that as an American, this is something I am really glad that he did because he also

00:14:20.740 pretty much unilaterally rebuilt Quad, or the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, which is

00:14:28.840 an alliance between Japan, U.S., India, and Australia.

00:14:32.820 And if you're wondering who would those four countries be allied against, specifically,

00:14:37.460 this would be against China.

00:14:38.640 They would really only kick into action against China, but it would be incredibly damaging

00:14:42.320 to China, uh, especially if you had the U.S. and Japan plus Australia and India involved

00:14:48.060 in any sort of a boycott because China imports around, I think last I checked was 83% of their

00:14:54.520 energy needs and something like 86% of that is coming through the Strait of Malacca, which

00:15:00.500 basically means past India.

00:15:02.600 Um, so like there's very little they could do.

00:15:04.800 They could take it into the deep ocean, but then they need to go all the way around Australia.

00:15:07.920 But if you go all the way around Australia, well, now you need to get through the island

00:15:12.840 chain that Japan and the U.S. control.

00:15:14.860 So there's really no way to supply China by water if there was ever a blockade and the

00:15:19.600 Quadrilateral Alliance was at play.

00:15:22.140 And he increased military spending to one to 2% of GDP.

00:15:25.260 And he also pushed through controversial security laws that allowed the Japanese Self-Defense

00:15:29.540 Force to deploy overseas and engage in combat to defend allies when it used to be defense

00:15:34.740 only.

00:15:35.260 And the ally in contest here is very obviously Taiwan.

00:15:38.680 Any thoughts before I go further, Simone?

00:15:40.260 Were you like this guy so far or he's sounding?

00:15:42.080 I mean, for any elected politician, he sounds pretty solid.

00:15:46.900 And also just the fact that he made some pretty meaningful changes, too.

00:15:51.780 Mm hmm.

00:15:52.700 No, he's a I mean, in terms of a man of action.

00:15:55.940 Yeah, he's one of those characters where like the way he got elected may have been shady.

00:16:00.480 But as a politician, he was God tier and really only did good.

00:16:05.480 A good example of this in the United States would be Nixon.

00:16:08.020 And Nixon is generally considered one of the best presidents in American history by people

00:16:13.340 who like know their presidential history stuff.

00:16:15.660 Building our current relationship with China and building globalization was really important

00:16:21.460 in securing peace and making America as prosperous today as it is.

00:16:25.220 However, you know, he did cheat in the election cycle.

00:16:29.740 Well, basically cheated.

00:16:31.200 And to give you an idea of how well like Nixon is in the US, Stephen Colbert, you know, far

00:16:35.400 lefty Stephen Colbert.

00:16:36.860 He said that out of all American presidents, Nixon is his favorite.

00:16:40.720 So that should show you that he really does appeal across the aisle.

00:16:45.080 So another thing to note here is he did a very good job building a relationship with Trump

00:16:51.260 and he had a close personal friendship with Trump from what we've seen, you know,

00:16:55.700 with Trump saying after he died, something along the lines of no one will ever understand

00:17:00.180 how much Japan has lost, you know, with Abe's passing.

00:17:04.320 You know, like he knew more from his position to know just how important he was,

00:17:08.700 which is probably true from the position of president of the US.

00:17:11.660 You have more information than other people have.

00:17:13.660 Well, but I think Abe also demonstrated the first time Trump flew out to have a major

00:17:19.300 meeting with him, just how much he wanted to invest in a good relationship with Trump

00:17:24.340 and that what did they do?

00:17:26.080 First thing after they land, go golfing.

00:17:28.440 What did they do?

00:17:29.320 They eat American beef burgers.

00:17:32.800 They, he had special hats made that played on the make America great again slogan, but it

00:17:38.500 had something to do with like their partnership.

00:17:40.880 Yes.

00:17:41.140 And he gave Trump a golf cart.

00:17:42.680 That was the gift that he gave to him.

00:17:44.940 And he was the first person to call Trump of world leaders.

00:17:48.200 And Abe appeared to genuinely like golfing as well.

00:17:51.760 So, you know, Trump always loves just golfing all the time.

00:17:54.160 I figure like Trump really works well for the Japanese mindset because he's a larger than 1.00

00:18:00.920 life character.

00:18:01.860 And they really like characters that, that ham, you know, what's it, what, how do you use

00:18:07.340 the term?

00:18:08.840 Oh, I love it.

00:18:09.980 He also gave Trump a gold colored driver.

00:18:13.140 That's perfect.

00:18:14.040 But see, he gets it.

00:18:15.180 It's Trump.

00:18:15.880 And he, he, he spoke with Trump and Trump words.

00:18:18.900 And that is.

00:18:19.420 And he kept the meetings private, which was another thing that he did to build.

00:18:22.740 People were always trying to like Trump's foreign policy team was always trying to protect

00:18:26.380 him from forming too close a personal relationship with people because that's what he would always

00:18:30.820 go for.

00:18:31.520 He'd get their personal phone numbers.

00:18:33.180 He just called them up.

00:18:34.640 Yeah.

00:18:35.240 In HR McMaster's biography or autobiography, he keeps talking about how Trump would say

00:18:40.020 things like stop by the white house.

00:18:41.600 And everyone's freaking out.

00:18:42.720 Like, no, no, no.

00:18:43.160 That doesn't mean you've just received an official foreign like visit invite.

00:18:46.300 And he'd be like, here's my number.

00:18:47.660 Like, he'd just give people his cell phone number and they'd freak out about that too

00:18:51.240 because they needed to monitor all the calls or something.

00:18:54.880 He also didn't.

00:18:55.980 One of the interesting things is, you know how Trump loved trying to play like hard maul

00:18:59.200 with these deals that he would make with countries?

00:19:01.140 Yeah.

00:19:01.380 Japan didn't really push back and basically took one of Trump's like fairly one-sided

00:19:05.600 deals to flatter his ego, which was probably the right thing to do.

00:19:11.100 And it's also so Japanese.

00:19:12.660 Like, it is the proper thing to do at this point.

00:19:14.940 You know, out of courtesy, we will do this.

00:19:16.660 Well, I mean, I think it showed an understanding of Japan's relation with the United States

00:19:22.740 today and the importance on having it be incredibly strong.

00:19:27.200 And that is what he was able to accomplish.

00:19:30.720 Now, the downside was Trump is one of Shinzo Abe's things was the TPP.

00:19:35.180 And Trump did still torpedo that.

00:19:37.040 So he wasn't like always going along with what Abe wanted.

00:19:41.240 But broadly speaking, oh, by the way, for people who don't know my thoughts on the TPP,

00:19:45.340 I actually think Trump's torpedoing the TPP turned out for the best.

00:19:50.200 And a lot of people are very surprised by this because they're like, oh, no, it was an Obama

00:19:54.340 era thing that could have like built this great relationship and caused us to be an economic

00:19:59.320 superpower in the region.

00:20:00.540 But it was very, very, very heavy handed.

00:20:03.680 It was just bloated regulation or something.

00:20:07.540 In what way was it?

00:20:08.000 Yeah, IP regulations.

00:20:09.320 A lot of it was like Hollywood lobbying to try to make the IP regulations super strong

00:20:13.680 around pirated stuff and things like that.

00:20:16.040 And it led to something that could have.

00:20:19.400 So let's see, because we do know what happened post TPP blowing up.

00:20:23.420 And we can talk about what ended up happening in the region.

00:20:25.460 And post TPP blowing up, China at first looked like they had gained all of the strings.

00:20:32.780 They started really forming a tight relationship with the Philippines.

00:20:36.060 They started really forming fixing relationships with Vietnam. 0.52

00:20:39.340 They started really expanding their influence.

00:20:42.620 Well, then what happened?

00:20:43.920 Because the US wasn't there to act as a counter influence, China immediately began to overplay

00:20:50.000 their hand massively and began to really push this nine dot line thing.

00:20:55.460 Basically just claiming huge swaths of territory from like the Philippines and Vietnam and all

00:21:01.340 of the people who they had just made friends with and then began to basically threaten Taiwan.

00:21:06.660 Well, what did this do?

00:21:09.080 Is it basically pissed off that basically because we didn't have this economic fenced in area in

00:21:16.600 the region, China immediately overplayed their hand and turned the Philippines right now has an

00:21:22.420 extremely pro-US head who grew up in Hawaii.

00:21:26.640 You know, Vietnam is becoming increasingly pro-US to the point where both countries, I guess you could

00:21:32.100 say, are basically in our pocket at this point.

00:21:34.260 Same with the only country they've really made any headway was this maybe South Korea, but not even

00:21:39.300 really there.

00:21:40.540 And Japan has become increasingly pro-US because they don't like the moves that China is making

00:21:44.640 around Taiwan.

00:21:45.220 Basically, it ended up making the entire geopolitical region extremely strong allies of the United

00:21:51.820 States from goading China into overplaying their hand with economic extinctions and land 0.86

00:21:57.780 grabs.

00:21:59.460 But I think that here you see, like with the Trump thing, just an incredible amount of strategy

00:22:05.780 and charisma in terms of building the relations he needed to build.

00:22:10.280 Now, let's talk about the assassination because this is something, anything you want to talk about

00:22:14.760 before we get to the assassination?

00:22:16.040 No, let's dive into it.

00:22:18.760 Shinzo Abe was shot twice from behind with a homemade shotgun while giving a campaign speech

00:22:23.200 near Yamato Sadeja Station, Nara, Japan.

00:22:26.980 The attack occurred around 1130, hitting Abe in the chest and neck.

00:22:31.480 Despite being rushed to a local hospital, Abe was pronounced dead at five o'clock, just five hours

00:22:36.880 after the shooting.

00:22:38.040 So the gun that was used was like a homemade thing that somebody he learned to put together

00:22:45.040 actually from YouTube videos.

00:22:46.880 And people said even somebody without a lot of knowledge could learn to make one of these.

00:22:50.180 It used a battery for the ignition and some wires attached to the battery and then two tubes

00:22:56.000 for the barrels and likely some sort of bot propellant in the region or something like that.

00:23:01.320 It was all over the table showing the factlessness of laws against guns and the complacency it can

00:23:07.700 cause.

00:23:08.120 The suspect, the shooter identified as Tetsu Yamanagi, was immediately arrested at the scene.

00:23:14.480 Yamanagi is a 41-year-old former member of the Maritime Self-Defense Force, admitted to

00:23:20.660 shooting after his arrest.

00:23:21.800 He was formally charged with a murder, violating gun control laws and motive.

00:23:25.880 His motive was that his mom had donated tons of money to the Moonies or the Unification

00:23:32.120 Church.

00:23:33.040 And this led to his family being in poverty and his brothers unaliving himself.

00:23:38.060 He blamed all this.

00:23:39.420 Well, I mean, cults could do this.

00:23:40.500 They can be incredibly like, we're going to take all your money.

00:23:42.980 We're going to take everything you own.

00:23:44.240 We don't care about you at all.

00:23:45.600 And the Moonies as a community are kind of known for that.

00:23:49.180 In the United States, by the way, if you don't know who the Moonies are, if you've ever

00:23:53.200 seen a cult in like a 70s movie or stereotype where everybody went to work at a plantation

00:23:59.660 and then was like tricked and kept hostage, those were Moonies.

00:24:04.160 That was what the Moonies were famous for, was these big plantations where like yuppie

00:24:09.040 college kids would go thinking like, oh, I'm going to learn to live off the land.

00:24:12.500 And then they'd spend extremely long hours working fields.

00:24:16.840 They would be sleep deprived.

00:24:18.160 And when they were doing that, they were exposed to constant messaging.

00:24:23.120 Wow.

00:24:23.860 Are you familiar with these cults?

00:24:25.260 Like, did you hear about them or?

00:24:26.880 I'm not.

00:24:27.680 I think in media, I've seen references to creepy cults that involve agricultural work,

00:24:34.520 but I didn't know that was a Moonies thing.

00:24:37.000 So yeah, it was a Moonies thing.

00:24:38.300 They don't do that as much anymore.

00:24:39.780 They do other things now, but there is still an incredibly high demand religion.

00:24:42.580 The Unification Church's relationship with the Japanese conservative politicians dates

00:24:46.560 back to the 1960s when Abe's grandfather, sorry, I said dad, grandfather, former Prime

00:24:50.720 Minister Noboke Kisha, helped the church establish itself in Japan.

00:24:54.600 This connection was based on shared anti-communist ideologies during the Cold War.

00:24:58.480 The Unification Church provided valuable political support to LDP politicians.

00:25:02.540 This was the party of Abe.

00:25:04.620 Dispatching believers to volunteer in election campaigns, mediating organizational votes for

00:25:09.540 LDP candidates, and providing a volunteer army of campaign workers.

00:25:13.900 In return, many LDP lawmakers, including Abe, gave speeches at church meetings and related

00:25:18.860 organizations effectively acting as promoters of the church.

00:25:22.760 The scale of the church's influence in Japanese politics was revealed after Abe's assassination.

00:25:27.880 Almost half of the LDP's 379 diet members, Congress members basically, admitted to some

00:25:33.520 form of contact with the Unification Church.

00:25:35.100 At least 180 of 379 LDP lawmakers in Japan's national diet were found to have ties with the

00:25:42.600 church.

00:25:43.220 23 of 54 members appointed as vice ministers and parliamentary secretaries in second Kishida

00:25:49.920 cabinet had connections to the church.

00:25:52.560 So 23 out of 53.

00:25:54.480 So Yamaniga alluded to the assassination before the incident, posting on his blog, Mr. Abe was

00:26:00.860 one of the most influential Unification Church sympathizers.

00:26:04.460 And yeah.

00:26:05.880 Now, what about Abe's role?

00:26:08.740 Abe was alleged to have overseen LDP's relationship with the Unification Church, using it to help

00:26:13.200 the party win office.

00:26:14.760 And yeah.

00:26:15.900 That just sounds like they were a major donor block and he treated them like he would treat

00:26:20.880 any other major donor block.

00:26:22.600 What's shady here?

00:26:23.560 That's basically, I don't feel like he did anything wrong.

00:26:26.420 Like even as a politician, would I have done that if a religion, like suppose like Jehovah's 1.00

00:26:30.880 Witnesses, I think Jehovah's Witnesses do some shady things, but like if I became the 1.00

00:26:36.280 presidential candidate for like the U.S. Republican Party and the Jehovah's Witnesses were like 0.95

00:26:41.960 always behind me a hundred percent, am I going to advocate for their policy positions?

00:26:46.160 Yeah.

00:26:46.420 I mean, that's called a democracy, right?

00:26:48.140 Well, but yeah, that's what happens with politicians and unions, with politicians and corporations,

00:26:52.300 with politicians and any big supporter.

00:26:54.500 That's.

00:26:55.640 Absolutely.

00:26:56.260 Yeah.

00:26:56.460 And people think that they might be influencing the policy that his government did, specifically

00:27:01.660 that Japanese still hasn't legalized same-sex marriage, could be downstream of this church.

00:27:07.120 But I mean, come on, the Mormons have pushed for that in the U.S. for a long time, right?

00:27:11.000 Like, and I don't think that somebody deserves to be assassinated over that.

00:27:14.560 And the church's name change to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification in 2015 was

00:27:22.240 approved by the government during Abe's tenure.

00:27:24.080 And this is why, by the way, it was our-

00:27:26.200 It's a name change.

00:27:26.840 Wait, why is that notable?

00:27:28.600 Oh, I think a normal government would have said, we're not going to call you the Organization

00:27:31.880 for World Peace and Unification.

00:27:33.600 But I think that also when people look at our religious beliefs and the unique religion

00:27:39.160 we're creating, one of the things I really appreciate about it is that it isn't pro-unification,

00:27:45.060 unification, which sounds really nice on paper, World Peace and Unification.

00:27:50.040 You know, the Baha'is are also about this and they think that, like, we have similarities

00:27:52.860 to them.

00:27:53.320 I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

00:27:54.900 No, I just think of unity from Rick and Morty.

00:27:58.060 Unification is not-

00:27:59.400 It's not a good thing.

00:28:01.080 Then I found this world where I was better able to focus on my passion for unification.

00:28:05.940 You mean stealing people's bodies?

00:28:07.660 Summer.

00:28:08.320 Rude.

00:28:09.140 This world will be invited into the Galactic Federation.

00:28:12.060 From there I'll have access to countless planets and species.

00:28:15.420 One by one I will unify them and I will be what the single-minded once called a god.

00:28:20.120 Oh, that's pretty sexy.

00:28:21.220 Where can we get a drink around here?

00:28:22.760 Recreational substances were phased out here.

00:28:25.200 There's no need for escape from the self when your world is one.

00:28:28.180 Unity, unity, who am I talking to?

00:28:30.660 No, it's not.

00:28:31.980 It's a creepy thing.

00:28:33.180 It's a pod person thing.

00:28:34.220 It's a homogenizing thing.

00:28:36.040 We do not want unification.

00:28:37.960 But I will say that also if I get myself in the mind of the-

00:28:42.800 Moonies?

00:28:43.400 The assassin, right?

00:28:44.380 Oh.

00:28:45.180 So think about him.

00:28:46.360 You know, you grow up, your brother has unalived themselves, your family grew up in

00:28:51.060 poverty, you feel like they were scammed out of everything, and who do you blame the most?

00:28:58.180 You know that the Unification Church played a large role in this, and then you can ask,

00:29:02.400 well, who has done the most to aid the Unification Church's agenda in the country?

00:29:07.700 Hardly, though.

00:29:08.500 No.

00:29:09.480 He needs to blame the members of the church who give the church the money, who donate to

00:29:13.500 political campaigns.

00:29:14.500 No, this is in the hands of the church itself.

00:29:19.080 Yeah, I would agree with that.

00:29:20.820 He made it wrong.

00:29:22.200 He shot the wrong guy.

00:29:24.280 Abe should be with us here today.

00:29:26.240 Very sad.

00:29:28.400 Very much Harambe situation of pronatalism.

00:29:32.220 I really like that he has been seen as sort of the face of pronatalism because the memes

00:29:38.160 are really sweet, I would say.

00:29:40.160 Like, they do a good job of conveying a positive sentiment in a way where, like, suppose we

00:29:46.520 became the meme face of pronatalism.

00:29:48.400 We're known as, like, the pronatalist people who speak on the topic all the time, but we've

00:29:53.280 never had many memes of us around pronatalism.

00:29:57.400 And I really appreciate that because I think they'd come off, like, the Elieizer memes around

00:30:02.420 AI apocalypticism.

00:30:03.700 Are there Elieizer memes around AI apocalypticism?

00:30:05.240 Oh, there's not. 0.97

00:30:05.700 They just make the movement look, like, deranged and, like, a bunch of fat neckbeards, whereas 0.98

00:30:12.060 Abe comes across as very sincere and worried about his people. 0.96

00:30:17.620 That's how they chose to frame them.

00:30:19.000 They could have framed him very differently, but they chose to frame him that way.

00:30:22.640 Mm-hmm.

00:30:22.840 Well, any final thoughts, Simone?

00:30:27.780 Japan is great.

00:30:29.180 Isn't it great?

00:30:30.040 I love Japan.

00:30:30.620 People who don't know, she was born in Japan, and her middle name is Haruko, because she

00:30:34.080 was named after, well, being born in Japan.

00:30:36.980 Named after being...

00:30:39.280 Yeah, we don't want to go into why Haruko's my name.

00:30:45.040 Hey, there's a lot of great anime characters with the name Haruko.

00:30:48.120 Just from Fooly Cooly.

00:30:50.060 Wait, who else is named Haruko?

00:30:51.420 The character from the show where, I'm pretty sure it's this one, where the main character

00:30:56.740 is a god.

00:30:58.500 It's a really interesting show, actually.

00:31:01.060 So, the main character is a female girl who is a god, and she doesn't know she's a god.

00:31:09.520 But she creates the world around her and the world that everyone is in.

00:31:14.680 Oh, no.

00:31:15.520 So, it starts...

00:31:16.920 So, she's living in the simulation.

00:31:19.720 She doesn't realize it.

00:31:20.180 She's living in a simulation that she's creating around herself of being a high school character.

00:31:25.160 Oh, no.

00:31:25.500 What's interesting about the show is that her best friends, who are created as members

00:31:32.020 of the simulation, begin to realize this as the show goes on, and they begin to realize

00:31:39.300 how dangerous their situation is, like, if she gets on to some conspiracy, that conspiracy

00:31:46.620 will start happening.

00:31:47.920 Oh, no.

00:31:48.180 Like, if she gets into anime girls, and anime girls start appearing.

00:31:51.500 If she thinks that there's, like, robots replacing people, robots start replacing people.

00:31:56.060 And so, like, one of her friends will turn out to be a robot or something like that.

00:32:00.120 And so, her friends have to constantly guard this girl who is otherwise very much, I almost

00:32:05.960 want to say, like, a manic pixie dream girl type character, like, change her hair color

00:32:09.740 every day, like, really wants to believe all these crazy things.

00:32:13.520 They have to constantly be trying to ground her, because if they don't, it fundamentally

00:32:18.520 breaks the nature of their reality.

00:32:21.860 Maybe this isn't the old world anymore. 0.62

00:32:24.520 Maybe this world is a new one that Haruhi created.

00:32:27.980 And if that's the case, how would I go about confirming it?

00:32:31.980 That's, man.

00:32:34.940 Why are anime plots so fun?

00:32:36.580 I don't like it, but it's a classic.

00:32:37.760 I feel like with anime and manga, they nail the premise, they nail the aesthetics, and

00:32:43.980 then execution is 25 to 30% of the time okay, 7% of the time god tier.

00:32:54.460 But the rest, you know what I mean?

00:32:57.300 I'm actually going to maybe be controversial here, but I think with anime, what I've noticed

00:33:02.100 is almost always when the theme and ideas are interesting, the execution is mid.

00:33:11.680 When the theme and ideas are boring, the execution is really good.

00:33:16.120 Okay, let's play this out.

00:33:17.540 Well, here's examples.

00:33:18.580 No, Food Wars.

00:33:19.220 Food Wars, which is one of our favorites.

00:33:21.260 Pretty lame concept.

00:33:23.040 Yeah, excellent.

00:33:23.860 Pretty amazing.

00:33:24.740 Yeah.

00:33:24.860 Something like Darling with Franks, which I think is a really interesting concept in mid-execution.

00:33:31.020 Dears, which I've mentioned before, is a really interesting anime, mid-execution.

00:33:35.900 Like, yeah, usually when the ideas are good, the execution...

00:33:39.580 Goblin Slayer, right?

00:33:40.960 Actually kind of a boring concept.

00:33:43.460 What about the one that you really like that's depressing, that everyone's very smart?

00:33:49.120 Grandma and Grandpa Turn Young again.

00:33:51.080 Again, very mid-idea.

00:33:51.900 Yeah, very boring, but great execution.

00:33:54.080 The one that you're thinking of is Code Geass.

00:33:56.560 Yes.

00:33:56.860 Code Geass might be one of the rare instances of...

00:34:01.200 Well, okay.

00:34:02.920 I'd say Code Geass is interesting, very interesting ideas.

00:34:09.460 Okay execution.

00:34:11.020 But I wouldn't say it's, like, in terms of, like, execution and flow of a show, one of the better shows I've seen.

00:34:18.640 Where I just, like, love all the characters or anything like that.

00:34:21.420 If anything, it just, like, holds me kind of.

00:34:24.600 Oh, here's another example.

00:34:25.980 God-tier execution would be High School of the Dead.

00:34:29.980 Very mid-theme.

00:34:31.540 Generic zombie world.

00:34:33.240 Yeah.

00:34:33.700 Yeah, you would think, what's the point?

00:34:36.300 Okay, well then, so you kind of get Japanese culture.

00:34:39.980 You've traveled a little bit there, and you've watched a lot of anime.

00:34:43.580 I've met with a lot of heads of companies there, and I've met...

00:34:45.840 Yeah, if you were working with the Japanese government on pronatalist policy, where would you take things?

00:34:54.180 Because I would say the solution that works best for the United States, say, or France, or Germany, very different from what I think would work in Japan.

00:35:02.940 Oh, I've got a solution for Japan. 1.00

00:35:04.340 Yeah?

00:35:04.560 I think what Japan needs to do is, if you look at, like, latent parts of Japanese culture, which make it unique when contrasted with other culture, pronatalist animes do well in Japan.

00:35:18.680 A lot of people act like Spy Wars has been, like, pushed by the Japanese government.

00:35:23.200 No, not Spy Wars.

00:35:24.140 What's the word I'm saying?

00:35:24.700 Spy Family.

00:35:26.640 Oh, Spy Family. 0.99

00:35:28.080 Yeah.

00:35:28.320 But I thought Grandpa and Grandma turned young again.

00:35:30.280 No, no, no, no.

00:35:31.420 That's a good anime, but it's not, like, super famous.

00:35:33.620 Like, Spy Family is, like, One Piece-level famous now in Japan.

00:35:36.120 Oh, wow.

00:35:36.900 That's good.

00:35:37.620 Like, on every billboard, it's like, I go to Walmart in the U.S., and it's a quarter of the manga.

00:35:42.920 And it's a very pronatalist.

00:35:44.520 It's, like, about the joys of being a family, basically.

00:35:48.080 And then it tries to spice it up a little, but that's the core idea of it, wholesome family.

00:35:52.540 I think that the market in Japan loves wholesome family.

00:35:55.940 The other thing that goes really popular in Japan is animes that are about how awesome the Japanese military is.

00:36:02.780 God, a great one I want to say is Something Portal.

00:36:05.560 I'll put a clip from it here, but I love it as well, where they open a portal to the, like, a fantasy world in the middle of Tokyo.

00:36:13.060 And then the Japanese military goes in and starts, like, cleaning up elves and dragons and stuff like that, you know.

00:36:18.960 Because, of course, they would.

00:36:19.760 And they get to, like, nerd out about all the weapons.

00:36:33.280 And I don't feel that Japan has ever lost its order-focused, imperialist-focused identity at its core among my, like, Japanese friends who are really patriotic.

00:36:45.320 I think that Japan needs to combine the wholesomeness that it has at the core of its culture with the militarism and imperialism that it had historically to build, I'd say, almost a militarized iteration of pronatalism.

00:37:06.800 Maybe something like units that are dedicated to cultural—basically build an infrastructure for cultural warriors to protect the culture, to meet with other people, to dress in little uniforms.

00:37:26.740 These are things that Japanese people love, okay?

00:37:30.280 To have their kids dress in, you know, uniforms, go to events, maybe create, like, scouts, but make it a bit more military, make it a bit more ordered, get the parents more involved, and more focused on the number of kids you can have, getting you specific badges, military awards for parents who have a certain number of kids.

00:37:49.180 I think that's the direction Japan needs to go if it's going to hyper-ignite the existing Japanese cultural core. 0.98

00:37:58.360 And people are going to be like, well, that's not going to work for everyone in Japan.

00:38:01.000 Yeah, but it'll work for the most Japanese people in Japan.

00:38:04.260 And I think it would do a good job of creating one of the unique cultural solutions that might make it through the Valley of the Lotus Eaters.

00:38:11.860 But what is your thought, Simone?

00:38:14.380 No, I could—I'm actually digging that a lot.

00:38:17.060 Yeah, I think going—I would say a part of it, culturally speaking, would be to make it feel like they're going back to tradition, but really they're switching out an improved version of tradition with the context of modern technology and greater gender equality, but make it seem very traditional.

00:38:44.760 Well, yeah.

00:38:45.540 I mean, I think to not focus on it being tradition, but to focus on it being pro-Japanese.

00:38:51.660 And I think that this sort of—

00:38:52.540 Yeah, well, but what I'm saying is I'm thinking about, for example, office culture in Japan.

00:38:56.240 I'm thinking about how marriage is treated in Japan.

00:38:58.680 And there is a much more—the issues they're dealing with are not as toxic as the inter-gender issues that we're seeing in South Korea, for example.

00:39:09.240 But there are—there is some mismatch, and there are different expectations between men and women that I don't think you can just say, okay, well, now we're going to completely ignore them and they don't exist anymore.

00:39:20.580 La, la, la, la, la, la.

00:39:21.420 Instead, you have to lean into them but redirect in a way that makes it productive.

00:39:25.560 That's what I mean is you make it something like a man's, like in one of these units, duty to treat women with, I'd say, honor.

00:39:36.020 Not, i.e., I'm going to be like a simp for women like Western feminism, but like an extremified version of manners in terms of women in the workplace and bringing women into the workplace. 0.99

00:39:50.440 And I think that this—in the same way that Abe was like, oh, well, you know, it is actually conservative to want to promote women because, you know, it helps Japan, it helps our economy, it helps our nation, right?

00:40:00.860 To have these organizations not focused on old ways—and Japan has actually been very good at modernizing historically while maintaining its unique identity.

00:40:11.420 I mean, look at anime, right?

00:40:12.700 Like, is anything more modernized but culturally unique?

00:40:16.880 And so one of the things that I think that they need to fight against is the stoji, we have to keep things the way they were people, i.e., whether it's gender roles or things like in Japan. 0.98

00:40:28.560 Now they still do, like, whale meat in school because people are like, oh, it's our culture, it's our culture, you can't take it out, which is just horrible.

00:40:36.340 Like, they should not be doing this.

00:40:37.860 And so I think that fighting against inefficiencies for the goal of preserving into or until we become an intergalactic civilization Japanese culture to ensure that they are one of the cultures that are part of this alliance.

00:40:54.280 And I also think turning Japanese culture, if you want to make this easier to fight for, into a unique cultural avatar within the ecosystem we're going into, but a cultural avatar that is pluralistic.

00:41:06.380 I think that that, when I say pluralistic, what I mean is they are fighting to preserve and advance Japan, i.e., for Japanese people in the Japanese island and no one else was in that environment, but alongside people like the Americans, alongside people like the Koreans.

00:41:21.640 When they can build into their honor system protecting global pluralism as one of their duties, which is something that America did a fairly good job of historically, it's not like it doesn't work.

00:41:35.140 I think that that can do a very good job in terms of this redirection.

00:41:39.780 Yeah, that's interesting.

00:41:41.180 I do have this hopeful feeling that Japan can pull through, but I don't know how delusional that is.

00:41:49.540 I think of the East Asian countries, it's by far the most likely to pull through because they have the best fertility race right now. 0.97

00:41:55.540 And this all happened to it earlier.

00:41:57.440 Like, it basically went into the collapse that China hasn't even gone into yet, you know, a few decades ago.

00:42:02.620 And it got to deal with that before things got as bad as they are right now.

00:42:08.000 So that's one reason why Japan's in a really strong position.

00:42:10.460 The other reason is that they've been a very, very successful cultural exporter, which is, in the grand scheme of things, going to earn them a lot of friends that want them to pull through.

00:42:22.540 And friends in high places, specifically, their cultural exports.

00:42:27.140 So this is what makes Japan as a cultural exporter very different from Korea as a cultural exporter. 0.56

00:42:31.680 So Korea has been as successful as Japan as a cultural exporter.

00:42:34.660 Yeah. 0.98

00:42:34.900 Korea has disproportionately hit, well, basically dumb commie high school girls in the U.S. 1.00

00:42:41.280 And it's disproportionately hit countries where American media is partially banned, like Pakistan, like a lot of countries in Africa, like a lot of the Middle East. 0.94

00:42:49.760 I think Ibran has a lot of Korean stuff.

00:42:51.640 Really? Interesting.

00:42:53.000 Yeah, yeah.

00:42:53.420 Korea does really well in Islamic countries that partially ban U.S. media.

00:42:57.640 So they've done really well in these environments, but none of these people really matter.

00:43:03.220 Japan, on the other hand, if you, for example, were to take a polling of the people who work to develop things like OpenAI's model and Anthropik's model and ask how many of them are big anime fans, I bet the number is 90, maybe even like 95%.

00:43:21.760 Oh, no, no, no, there's, there's a lot of bro-ish people in Silicon Valley now, but it's high, it's higher.

00:43:28.020 Yeah, it's not at those companies.

00:43:31.220 Sorry, you have friends who work at these companies, right?

00:43:33.720 Like you remember from the events, like these are not Silicon Valley bro people.

00:43:38.580 These are Silicon Valley nerd people.

00:43:41.340 Thank goodness.

00:43:42.260 Thank goodness.

00:43:43.540 Anyway, I love you to Desimone.

00:43:45.960 This has been a fun conversation.

00:43:47.780 And I think Japan can pull through.

00:43:49.140 We've actually looked at holding a conference in Japan tied to prenatalism that's going to focus on like the U.S., Japanese, and maybe the rest of the Quad Alliance in, in, in the ways that they are fighting fertility collapse.

00:44:01.800 Mostly just to dunk on China, because I think it can create a lot of good press and China will get very angry when we talk about, okay, what are we going to do with China when they're no longer here?

00:44:10.500 You know, maybe have a picture on the screen was like a divided map of a depopulated China, like the Paris Accord.

00:44:18.200 What, what, you think that's too much?

00:44:21.640 It could cause major diplomatic incidents.

00:44:24.500 Like so much for us hosting that conference.

00:44:29.720 But I would.

00:44:30.360 That's my goal.

00:44:31.660 That's my goal to get, get people free.

00:44:33.980 Because I think that would get a lot of Americans excited.

00:44:36.000 When you could turn this into one, a national defense issue and a patriotic issue, I think that's when a lot of people are like, hell yeah, hell yeah.

00:44:43.980 I could see it.

00:44:44.900 Yeah.

00:44:45.620 Well, you know, I honestly could see pronatalism becoming the new space race.

00:44:50.880 Once demographic collapse really starts to hit in, it's kind of the, the national signal of vitality.

00:44:58.400 I like that.

00:44:58.880 We might want to do a whole episode on this.

00:45:00.460 The pronatalist space race.

00:45:01.820 There's something there because I know how much the space race and especially this whole Russia, U.S. thing really captured the public imagination.

00:45:12.520 And I feel like this is one of those things that would be even more powerful because every individual family could be involved.

00:45:18.240 It's a whole, I doing, I'm doing my part thing.

00:45:21.420 It could be pretty great.

00:45:23.360 I love that.

00:45:24.660 I love you.

00:45:25.880 Have a good day, Simone.

00:45:26.940 Bye-bye.

00:45:29.800 By the way, am I making you pizza?

00:45:32.220 Tonight or what?

00:45:33.140 Yo, do I have any meat left?

00:45:34.740 I guess pizza.

00:45:36.060 So I can get from the freezer and quickly thaw out one smaller packet of...

00:45:42.380 I'm actually kind of in the mood for pizza.

00:45:44.300 No, I feel like the kids are in the mood for pizza.

00:45:48.780 Pizza it is.

00:45:49.860 Pizza Friday.

00:45:51.360 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:45:53.260 All right.

00:45:54.160 Oh, shoot.

00:45:54.700 Sorry.

00:45:54.980 Malcolm Collins meme.

00:45:56.140 I don't have any pronatal.

00:45:57.040 Hold on.

00:46:02.600 I'm sending you some stuff on WhatsApp.

00:46:07.200 Looks like, oh, you have a bunch of your curtains down, don't you?

00:46:17.180 Let's see if I do.

00:46:18.440 Alexa, first plug on.

00:46:20.000 Does it help?

00:46:23.000 Maybe a little.

00:46:29.020 Maybe if I...

00:46:32.560 I don't know.

00:46:36.960 It's a little chilly, you see.

00:46:38.680 Sorry, you feel that way?

00:46:40.420 Oh, are you kidding me?

00:46:42.240 The cold?

00:46:42.740 Our children.

00:46:43.240 I love the cold.

00:46:44.140 Titan, when I make her shower warm, not hot, mind you, warm, she says, too hot, and then

00:46:52.660 she insists that I give her, like, what I would consider a cold shower.

00:46:56.400 A cold shower.

00:46:57.260 Yeah, all of our kids, and I love the news, it's like, they deprive them of even the warmth

00:47:02.060 and the...

00:47:02.780 I'm like, no, and this is why, I'm about to go on a sci-fi podcast, so to talk about sci-fi,

00:47:07.780 Frostpunk is the genre, is the post-collapse world I most want to wake up in.

00:47:15.840 As long as you're well-dressed, as one of our friends would say to us, there's no such

00:47:22.260 thing as being cold, there's just being poorly dressed, so just bundle up, I guess.

00:47:30.080 Speaking of being dressed, everyone makes one of our glasses, Malcolm.

00:47:34.760 Cutler and Gross, who makes these glasses, they had two actors in the Kingsman, Secret

00:47:41.020 Service, wearing Cutler and Gross glasses.

00:47:43.600 Oh, they did?

00:47:44.680 Yeah, Colin Firth's character, and then also Samuel L. Jackson's character were wearing

00:47:49.280 Cutler and Gross glasses, because they're awesome.

00:47:54.040 So we are going to start with, go down to the first of the...

00:48:01.880 Sorry, look, I just saw, like, the latest meme that you said.

00:48:06.440 You just sent me, like, a wall of memes.

00:48:08.960 I knew you was so funny.

00:48:13.940 Ain't no cool.

00:48:15.600 Ah!

00:48:19.200 I need help movie!

00:48:22.260 I need help!

00:48:27.340 Apartos! 0.99

00:48:29.900 Apartos! 0.99

00:48:30.980 Ah!

00:48:32.340 Where are you going?!

00:48:32.960 Honey! 0.98

00:48:36.380 Daddy.

00:48:50.700 Daddy, help me!

00:48:52.700 Help me. Help me.

00:48:55.700 Help.

00:48:56.960 That's so funny.

00:48:59.960 Happy birthday to you

Based Camp - October 28, 2024

Shinzo Abe, the Man, the Meme

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