The Michael Knowles Show - The Little Mermaid Is Racist： YES or NO with Eric July

00:00:00.000 Every Hollywood superhero moving forward will be required to have at least one LGBTQ character shoved into the story. 0.83

00:00:07.160 What do you mean moving forward?

00:00:08.240 We're already there, buddy.

00:00:25.500 As occasionally happens on this show, maybe more than ever in this episode though,

00:00:29.460 I am completely out of my depth because today I will be playing the Yes or No game with my friend Eric July,

00:00:37.780 the biggest comic book maven on the right, and one of the biggest ones in the country, frankly.

00:00:42.780 Founder of Ripaverse, the founder of Being Libertarian.

00:00:45.900 We won't hold that against him though.

00:00:47.360 And now a participant in Yes or No.

00:00:50.800 Get your copy of Yes or No over at dailywire.com slash shop.

00:00:55.420 We have sold about a bazillion copies of this game, and it's still not as many as the number of comic books that Eric has sold.

00:01:02.480 So head on over right now, dailywire.com slash shop.

00:01:05.120 The most anticipated follow-up to the best-selling game is finally here.

00:01:08.820 The Yes or No Conspiracy Expansion Pack is here.

00:01:11.980 If you haven't gotten the full Yes or No game, now would be the time.

00:01:14.580 Go to dailywire.com slash shop.

00:01:16.240 Get yours.

00:01:16.860 And the all-new Yes or No Conspiracy Expansion Pack, play responsibly.

00:01:23.860 Eric, thank you for coming in.

00:01:25.860 Oh, of course, man.

00:01:26.720 I'm actually stoked to play this.

00:01:28.320 So the first time I ever even heard about you, my producer said, you know, he was this guy, you know, you should have money.

00:01:34.840 I was like, wow, that sounds so interesting.

00:01:36.440 I was like, but I never, man, I don't know anything about comic books.

00:01:39.220 I don't, there's no, I don't think the audience is going to really be there for that.

00:01:42.640 But whatever, let's try it out.

00:01:43.600 And then you were one of the fan favorites of all time of the show.

00:01:48.440 So I'm very excited.

00:01:50.060 Here we go.

00:01:52.380 I hate all comic book movies.

00:02:01.200 Oh, Eric, this is not starting off well for you.

00:02:04.300 What?

00:02:06.220 I hate almost all comic book movies.

00:02:10.520 So I was close.

00:02:11.720 I liked Logan.

00:02:12.480 And to a lesser degree, I liked Dark Knight.

00:02:16.080 I didn't like Dark Knight as much as everybody liked Dark Knight.

00:02:18.560 I thought it was fine.

00:02:19.680 I enjoyed it.

00:02:20.480 I really liked Logan.

00:02:22.160 Is it like, because it's more like dark-ish? 0.94

00:02:25.540 Because it's a cowboy movie.

00:02:26.960 Okay.

00:02:27.260 Logan, it was, the fact that it was a superhero movie was kind of tangential.

00:02:32.000 I got you.

00:02:32.440 You know what I'm saying?

00:02:33.540 But, which I guess the same thing is true of Dark Knight. 0.65

00:02:35.940 But the other ones, like Captain Marvel America 17 with some chick spatting off feminism. 1.00

00:02:40.940 I can't.

00:02:41.520 Nobody wants that.

00:02:42.480 Nobody wants that.

00:02:43.480 It's not just me.

00:02:44.060 Everybody hates that.

00:02:44.880 I'm right there with you on that. 0.98

00:02:47.220 Most of them are terrible.

00:02:48.700 Most of them are.

00:02:49.580 I'll be the first to tell you that.

00:02:51.540 I'm not the biggest fan of a lot of these.

00:02:53.600 They're not really that good.

00:02:54.820 But I can deal with most of them.

00:02:57.460 Let's just say that.

00:02:58.480 Have you seen any of the Netflix ones that were like Daredevil?

00:03:02.220 If you like Logan and Dark Knight, you never seen it.

00:03:03.980 I heard Daredevil was good, though.

00:03:05.120 I think if you like Logan and you like Dark Knight, I think Daredevil might be up your speed.

00:03:09.720 I want to see the Ripaverse studio movies.

00:03:11.720 That's what I want to see coming up.

00:03:12.660 Hey, man, at this rate, it might happen sooner than later.

00:03:15.240 It might.

00:03:15.900 Like, seriously.

00:03:16.700 Yeah.

00:03:16.980 It actually might happen sooner or later.

00:03:18.780 Man.

00:03:19.080 All right.

00:03:19.520 You're up.

00:03:19.880 Let's do it.

00:03:20.300 Let's do it.

00:03:22.460 Political commentary is the lowest form of art.

00:03:25.800 Let's say you would say no, or would you say yes?

00:03:40.080 I would say that, to me, it brings out the ugly in people, and I'm not the biggest fan

00:03:48.180 of it.

00:03:48.440 People know that.

00:03:49.280 I think it's kind of in the title.

00:03:50.620 But, I do think there's something to be said for the people that are able to galvanize

00:03:56.280 troops.

00:03:56.800 I think that's a, that's an art net.

00:03:59.560 You can like, no matter what it is.

00:04:01.320 But is it the lowest?

00:04:02.300 I agree there's an art net, but is it the lowest form of art?

00:04:06.280 That is, it's down there.

00:04:08.820 It's down there.

00:04:09.380 It's definitely down there.

00:04:10.020 It's down there.

00:04:10.660 It's for sure down there.

00:04:11.720 Do you know why I say, so you're right.

00:04:14.680 I don't think it's the lowest form of art.

00:04:16.480 But the only reason, slam poetry.

00:04:20.620 That is obviously a lower form of art than even the worst political commentary.

00:04:25.340 I can see that.

00:04:26.200 I'm actually, I'm actually following you on that one.

00:04:28.540 I'm actually, I'm actually following you on that one.

00:04:30.360 I'll drink anyway, though.

00:04:31.160 So, you know the rules.

00:04:31.920 The rules, if you get it wrong, you have to drink.

00:04:33.920 And if you get it right, you get to drink.

00:04:36.160 Okay.

00:04:36.800 Okay.

00:04:37.520 That works for me.

00:04:38.080 It was just a coincidence that the major opponents of the Federal Reserve died when the Titanic

00:04:46.080 sank in 1912.

00:04:48.100 Hmm.

00:04:49.760 Hmm.

00:04:50.620 It was just a coincidence.

00:04:59.420 So, I'll tell you what.

00:05:00.600 I, you're right.

00:05:03.180 I soft lean, yes, it was a coincidence.

00:05:06.280 But I'll tell you, man, I don't really like coincidences.

00:05:08.820 I find them delightful, but I often see intention behind coincidences.

00:05:14.760 Yes.

00:05:15.040 I mean, I can actually see where it is a coincidence.

00:05:20.340 And I'm the libertarian here, so I'm-

00:05:21.880 Yeah, you're supposed to be.

00:05:23.220 I know.

00:05:23.680 That's where I'm supposed to be.

00:05:24.880 But I don't know if the guys that were the actual, that were advocating this knew just how rotten it was going to be years, years beyond.

00:05:35.940 Because you think of it even in the context of right now.

00:05:38.840 A lot of people are economically illiterate.

00:05:40.860 Absolutely.

00:05:41.460 We accept that.

00:05:42.740 However, you know, people tend to kind of grow out of that sometimes.

00:05:45.260 I mean, what's the old saying?

00:05:46.880 Like, you're a conservative if you, whatever hit that.

00:05:49.860 If you're not a liberal by the time you're 17, you don't have a heart.

00:05:52.240 And if you're not a conservative by 30, you don't have a brain. 0.68

00:05:54.340 Exactly.

00:05:54.940 So, considering that, I like to think that even the people that were advocates of it didn't know how rotten it actually was.

00:06:01.740 And, I mean, the people that were against it probably didn't understand just how bad it was going to, let's say, impact the economy, especially going to.

00:06:08.600 And 1913 sucked because you didn't just have that.

00:06:11.660 You had the income taxes implemented then that same year.

00:06:14.840 That's just a terrible year.

00:06:16.340 Well, what happened to the income tax, guys?

00:06:18.060 We need to figure that out.

00:06:18.980 And the Titanic.

00:06:20.040 Yeah.

00:06:20.540 Well, it was 1912, I think.

00:06:21.680 But it was right around that time.

00:06:22.620 Yeah, yeah.

00:06:23.300 That, yeah, I really, I like your take on it because it's rosy in that you're giving the benefit of the Dow.

00:06:30.820 Which I shouldn't be doing.

00:06:31.640 Yeah, but no, it's very charitable.

00:06:33.320 I probably shouldn't be doing that, to be fair.

00:06:39.320 Fine, I'll say it. 0.99

00:06:40.260 The Little Mermaid was hot garbage. 1.00

00:06:42.020 And it should only be shown to inmates of Guantanamo Bay for interrogation purposes. 0.74

00:06:51.820 What kind of information are you going to get out of here?

00:06:54.180 Okay, so hold on.

00:06:55.020 But now, you got to, this is vague.

00:06:56.980 Are we talking about the original Little Mermaid or the new one?

00:06:59.120 No, we have to talk about the new one.

00:07:00.520 It's the new one.

00:07:01.080 Okay, okay.

00:07:01.620 Let's make it apply to the new one.

00:07:03.060 Okay.

00:07:03.080 So, we're saying that, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:07:05.860 Now, I did not see it, and I read like half a news article about it.

00:07:11.120 But that's not going to stop me from having a very strong opinion on the subject.

00:07:14.760 And yes, I totally agree with that.

00:07:17.200 And it's especially painful because the original Little Mermaid, which came out when I was four or something.

00:07:23.480 I not only loved it, I loved her.

00:07:27.720 She was very hot.

00:07:30.440 Little Mermaid, all right.

00:07:31.440 The recent one, yeah, I think everybody, even the people that were defending it, they have to accept.

00:07:36.220 I mean, it doesn't matter if they think it was great or it sucked anyway because it lost all that money or it's going to lose all this money.

00:07:41.460 So, at the end of the day, I mean, it's terrible.

00:07:44.340 Nonetheless, I don't even understand.

00:07:46.760 I don't know if you remember.

00:07:47.580 What's the actress's name? 0.84

00:07:48.720 Halle Bailey or something? 0.80

00:07:50.060 I think that's the lead actress's name for the new Little Mermaid, right?

00:07:52.480 Is Halle Bailey different than Halle Bailey?

00:07:54.400 Halle Bailey, yes, they're two different.

00:07:55.660 I get the name.

00:07:56.420 I don't know.

00:07:56.840 I haven't seen a movie in a while.

00:07:58.180 No, well, she went on to say that she was obviously influenced by the original Little Mermaid.

00:08:04.960 She loved it.

00:08:05.560 But then she flipped and then out of nowhere, she's talking about, well, the little black and brown boys can see it and they can finally be influenced and all that.

00:08:11.840 I'm like, well, you still somehow got something out of it when you were young, despite it being a fair-skinned Little Mermaid.

00:08:19.180 There's nothing wrong with that.

00:08:20.040 I mean, to be honest, I can't think of anything whiter than a Danish fairy tale.

00:08:24.680 Well, so this is a big debate, though, because that was my take, and I guess that still basically remains my take.

00:08:29.580 It's Han, Christian, Anderson, you know, Little Mermaid is a white character, and so they're just race-switching to be provocative politically. 0.86

00:08:38.180 My friend Spencer Clavin had a different take.

00:08:40.520 He said that actually the Little Mermaid should be black, even though it's written by a Danish guy.

00:08:45.680 Okay.

00:08:46.240 Because where is the mermaid being spotted? 0.99

00:08:48.820 The mermaid's being spotted somewhere in the Caribbean, and so, you know, you don't buy it.

00:08:52.700 No, I'm sorry.

00:08:53.640 I will say that definitely African folklore has mermaids.

00:08:58.560 Why didn't they just do those?

00:09:00.060 If they really wanted to tell one of those stories.

00:09:02.120 That's, now, did you hear, there's a story from Columbus's voyage where he sees a mermaid, and he writes about this.

00:09:09.840 Okay.

00:09:10.620 And the libs today, they say, well, he saw a manatee.

00:09:15.680 He mistook a manatee for a mermaid, and I thought, I don't know a manatee.

00:09:18.440 Unless that guy was blind, I wouldn't mistake a manatee.

00:09:20.720 How do you mess that one up, right?

00:09:22.040 Yeah, and so, I don't, and they're all modern libs, so they don't believe in any, like, fun, mystical stuff.

00:09:28.400 But I don't know, I, like, look, I don't know, maybe the guy saw a mermaid, is what I'm saying.

00:09:33.620 I guess it could happen.

00:09:34.800 I don't know, people are talking about seeing aliens, why can't they see a mermaid?

00:09:37.160 Yeah, exactly, exactly.

00:09:38.240 All right.

00:09:40.260 Although most are charlatans, some psychics are real and can actually see and predict someone's future.

00:09:45.520 You're going to say no, and you're going to get mine, incorrect, mine. 0.94

00:09:53.380 What?

00:09:54.220 Oh, yeah, you're going to have to explain yourself.

00:09:55.860 Yeah, I don't know.

00:09:56.540 I think there's more in heaven and earth than is dreamt of in our philosophy, Horatio.

00:10:01.220 I think some of these guys, look, they're all dealing with the devil.

00:10:03.660 I mean, it's all bad stuff.

00:10:04.820 Okay.

00:10:05.140 But, like, when the Bible says, the Bible says, don't consult astrologers.

00:10:09.380 Don't consult these mediums and stuff. 1.00

00:10:11.560 But I don't think the Bible says that because it's like they're a bunch of dumb idiots and 1.00

00:10:17.100 they're charlatans who are going to steal your money. 1.00

00:10:18.840 I think the Bible says that because it's real and sometimes these people, maybe a lot of 0.63

00:10:23.760 them are charlatans, but maybe sometimes that you actually can do it and that it's demonic.

00:10:28.740 Never heard it expressed like that.

00:10:30.480 I thought for sure definitely going the biblical route, you would have for sure said the opposite.

00:10:37.340 But putting it that way, I guess I can kind of see where you're coming from.

00:10:41.120 So you're looking at it from the perspective of that they exist, and because you can't

00:10:47.200 separate what is truth from what is false.

00:10:50.780 And because it compromises your free will.

00:10:52.740 So if you go to a psychic and the psychic says, you know, you're going to die on Thursday.

00:10:55.660 Okay.

00:10:56.240 Then, you know, if you predict the future, you read the stars or whatever, you're compromising

00:11:01.440 your free will and you're not trusting in God's providence.

00:11:03.820 You're trying to assert control over the order of things.

00:11:08.760 You even see this in the Bible in the Witch of Endor when Saul, who says, no more necromancy,

00:11:14.660 you know, and he goes to the Witch of Endor and he's like, hey, I need to talk to some

00:11:18.180 dead people.

00:11:18.980 And she goes, no, King Saul said we can't do that anymore.

00:11:21.580 And he's like, yeah, don't worry about King Saul.

00:11:22.720 I'll take care of him.

00:11:23.680 And she goes, okay, whatever.

00:11:25.180 And then she conjures up the ghost of Samuel.

00:11:28.260 But what's real, and look, this is just my interpretation of this scene, but she seems

00:11:32.600 kind of surprised that she actually conjured up this ghost.

00:11:36.440 Okay.

00:11:36.860 Which makes me wonder, is she mostly a charlatan?

00:11:41.560 But then when the ghost comes up, she's like, oh, shoot, man, I actually conjured a ghost.

00:11:44.620 I just pulled this off.

00:11:45.840 I guess I could see that.

00:11:47.360 I mean, Bible's interesting.

00:11:48.560 I definitely read, you know, read a lot more of it as an adult.

00:11:51.800 And you start to pick up things.

00:11:53.020 There's even little stuff about everybody has their position on dinosaurs, and you'll

00:11:57.500 hear in the Bible, it's explained that these, like, massive animals that are around, it's

00:12:02.280 like, well, maybe, I mean, I don't think they used the term dinosaur, but maybe that was

00:12:05.500 what they were referring to.

00:12:06.700 So, I can see that.

00:12:07.960 Yeah.

00:12:08.340 Okay.

00:12:08.700 All right.

00:12:09.000 Now, I don't, I'm just going to choose to drink on that one.

00:12:11.940 Yeah.

00:12:12.480 All right.

00:12:13.720 A parallel economy is the only way forward for non-leftists today.

00:12:17.600 And I, yeah, that's a, that's a no-brainer.

00:12:24.500 I think for me, it's, there's no, it's not even up for dispute.

00:12:29.300 You know, I think there's a lot of pushback.

00:12:30.800 I think people, they have some sort of, how do I dare to explain this?

00:12:36.820 The status quo comes with its set of familiarity as well as comfort.

00:12:41.020 Right.

00:12:41.920 And so, I can understand and empathize with people that believe that there's something

00:12:45.680 to salvage there.

00:12:46.820 But I think for non-leftists, if we're going to be able to definitely be creative, and to

00:12:51.900 be able to do it freely, the parallel economy is the only answer.

00:12:55.740 Of course.

00:12:56.400 I mean, I'm trying to think, what would you and I be doing right now if we didn't bet

00:13:01.100 on the parallel economy, and if the parallel economy didn't exist?

00:13:03.920 Yeah.

00:13:05.000 I actually don't even know.

00:13:07.100 I don't have that many hard skills.

00:13:08.620 No.

00:13:08.720 I don't, I'd be in Hollywood like pushing a broom.

00:13:12.580 Yeah, no, it'd be virtually, I mean, you get knocked down, you know, definitely as people

00:13:17.360 have become so ideologically obsessed, you know, you'd be knocked down at every turn.

00:13:20.720 Even if you did make any general stride, you'd be knocked down.

00:13:23.900 So, there's a lot of pushback on this, though.

00:13:26.940 I think there's a lot of folks that do believe that the status quo is worth salvaging.

00:13:30.660 So, you know, get a little nostalgia bait, especially with a lot of modern, like, creative stuff.

00:13:35.520 But people are still clinging on to that idea that there would be room for us.

00:13:39.500 And I'm like, I don't know.

00:13:40.080 But here's the thing is, I'll use the pushing a broomstick in Hollywood example.

00:13:44.180 So, a lot of people, if you're in Hollywood, that's what you do.

00:13:46.920 You start in the mail room or you start doing these really basic jobs.

00:13:50.880 But it used to be you would move up and there would be, you'd be building towards something.

00:13:57.340 And what you're really trying to build toward is to help create this beautiful art or some

00:14:00.800 kind of vision that you really believe in.

00:14:03.000 But now, you go through all the hassle of pushing a broom, working in the mail room.

00:14:09.080 For what payoff? 0.98

00:14:10.360 So that you can push some awful message and some ugly, dumb art that the audience doesn't 0.99

00:14:16.480 even want to buy? 0.98

00:14:17.180 Why wouldn't you just go start your own comic book and sell a bazillion copies?

00:14:19.860 That's the only way forward.

00:14:21.240 And I think people need to take that seriously as an option.

00:14:24.220 Because we've had a lot of people, we're talking about Isom 2, for example, with Gabe

00:14:27.800 El Taib and Cliff Richards.

00:14:29.040 These are former Marvel and DC guys.

00:14:31.220 They tell me all the time how much fun that they're having with working with these sort

00:14:34.740 of projects because it's more fulfilling than it ever had been working for some soulless

00:14:39.040 sort of mega corporate entity.

00:14:40.880 So with that being said, these guys feel like they're doing their best work.

00:14:44.780 So I think even if you just look at it just from the sense of if you're a creative

00:14:49.160 person, you want to entertain people, whatever it is that you want to do, you really have

00:14:53.260 to consider the parallel economy as really the only option because that's the only place

00:14:59.220 that you can be free to create.

00:15:00.460 And you'll be rewarded too.

00:15:01.680 Absolutely.

00:15:01.920 Or you'll fail.

00:15:02.800 But you could fail on anything.

00:15:03.820 Anybody.

00:15:04.660 But at least here, you're controlling the audience.

00:15:08.460 I agree.

00:15:09.620 Or you're serving the audience.

00:15:11.440 The audience kind of controls you actually.

00:15:13.060 But you're serving a real audience.

00:15:14.680 There's no mediator in there.

00:15:16.540 The ISOM, I sum, comic book, and its main character are attacked by the left primarily 0.70

00:15:23.600 because the main character is black and the left is racist. 0.63

00:15:29.100 That's the... 0.90

00:15:29.720 So primarily, that's why.

00:15:35.620 It's not the only reason.

00:15:37.180 Yeah.

00:15:37.820 Primarily?

00:15:38.500 Primarily.

00:15:38.940 I would say that, yeah, you're correct.

00:15:41.100 The reason being is because of what all that it means.

00:15:44.620 Like, the book's existence, the company's existence alone shatters everything that they

00:15:50.680 not only believed about me, but they more importantly believed about the audience.

00:15:54.620 So it nullified them of whatever argument.

00:15:56.660 The arguments that were, well, people have an issue with black characters.

00:16:01.600 No, that was never the issue, right?

00:16:03.420 Or people don't like to see black people be creative.

00:16:06.680 No, that was never the problem.

00:16:08.000 So you see all that stuff get knocked down, and that's why they're so aggravated and angry.

00:16:13.560 And the racism, the legitimate racism actually comes from the box of expectations that they

00:16:18.820 have of be it black characters or black creatives.

00:16:23.980 Like, you have to think a certain way, and once you don't, look, I'll say this here on

00:16:28.920 the record.

00:16:29.780 I have not been, I mean, I've done, I've had my hot takes politically, right?

00:16:33.740 We've all had those, and you get your pushback.

00:16:36.180 Like, nothing has got me pushback, and this is apolitical, more than anything.

00:16:40.520 Nothing has got me more pushback than creating my own comic book company based on this character,

00:16:45.920 or the first character that we launched being ISOM.

00:16:48.820 But also, I've not been called any names remotely to what, I mean, I have to Google some of this

00:16:54.440 stuff that I get called from these guys who apparently are, well, they claim to be fist

00:16:59.880 in the air, pro-black, all of this stuff.

00:17:01.880 Yeah, that stuff went out the window pretty early.

00:17:03.500 Yeah, of course, of course.

00:17:04.820 Because that's really what gets the ire up.

00:17:07.540 It's not so much the perspicacity of your insight.

00:17:11.000 It's not so much the precision of your attack and rhetoric.

00:17:15.620 It's success.

00:17:16.500 When you're successful, that's what really gets them the most.

00:17:20.760 Okay, you're up.

00:17:21.460 Yeah, I'm up.

00:17:26.180 Oh, man, this is good.

00:17:27.960 Christopher Nolan is overrated.

00:17:29.760 Mr. July, I'm afraid you're going to have to take a little sip of your Diet Coke.

00:17:43.120 I think he is, I'm not saying he's totally without talent.

00:17:47.700 But the movies that you say that you like.

00:17:49.620 I know, I know.

00:17:50.960 But he's still, those movies are very good.

00:17:53.340 He's a very, very fine director, especially for comic book movies.

00:17:56.660 They talk about this guy like he walks on water.

00:17:59.360 They talk about him like he's, you know, Orson Welles.

00:18:02.420 They talk about him like he's Coppola or something.

00:18:04.200 He's not, he's a fine movie maker.

00:18:06.320 But I just think, if he were to make Citizen Kane,

00:18:13.280 if you put him to make The Godfather or On the Waterfront or something like that,

00:18:17.160 I wouldn't be, he wouldn't be up to the task.

00:18:20.480 Okay, for me.

00:18:21.220 Did I get that right?

00:18:24.540 Wow, okay, huh.

00:18:25.820 Okay, the reason being, the reason being is because people look at what he,

00:18:30.340 like if we talk about the movies that you were just referencing,

00:18:32.860 as that being the definitive version of those characters.

00:18:35.920 And they're not.

00:18:38.460 They're not, they're not.

00:18:39.700 Too much artistic license.

00:18:41.280 Far too much.

00:18:42.340 I mean, top to bottom, really.

00:18:44.460 This applies really to everybody that's been in either of those movies.

00:18:48.140 That doesn't mean that if you look at it isolated, that they aren't good.

00:18:51.920 Yeah.

00:18:52.100 So I don't want anybody to think, you know what I'm saying? 1.00

00:18:53.840 They suck. 1.00

00:18:54.560 No. 1.00

00:18:55.360 But that's where, to me, they're overrated.

00:18:57.320 Because now, even to this day, people look at, and they look at like,

00:18:59.940 what's the one of the greatest comic book movies or trilogies or whatever,

00:19:03.160 what do they point to?

00:19:03.820 Dark Knight.

00:19:04.440 Okay, right there.

00:19:05.300 And I would say, maybe if you look at it in isolation,

00:19:09.040 but if you're talking about adaptations, no.

00:19:11.820 No.

00:19:12.340 I'm sorry.

00:19:13.080 I can't, I can't, I can't go that far.

00:19:14.340 Right, because I think even of like, I'll just use the, like, Joker.

00:19:17.740 Of course.

00:19:18.220 That's the main one.

00:19:19.220 And you're just like, man, that, that was an interesting movie.

00:19:22.340 I enjoyed it.

00:19:22.960 There were very memorable scenes, especially at the end.

00:19:26.240 But that's not the Joker.

00:19:27.320 I didn't know it isn't. 0.98

00:19:28.020 That's just like a crazy guy. 0.77

00:19:29.260 Yeah. 0.97

00:19:30.040 It's just like interesting to watch a movie about a crazy guy.

00:19:32.260 Yeah.

00:19:32.820 That's what it is.

00:19:33.560 Yeah.

00:19:33.920 Okay.

00:19:35.300 In movies and TV, men are held to a more unrealistic body standard than women.

00:19:42.740 You know, it's like us men, man.

00:19:44.480 We just don't get enough.

00:20:01.420 No, look, man, I'd love to complain as much as I can.

00:20:04.360 Okay.

00:20:04.600 I was going to say it's, but no, you can, you can be a kind of dad bod guy and still

00:20:10.520 get away with, so that was especially true in the 50s when even the most fit guys were

00:20:14.740 just like kind of fat.

00:20:15.780 Yeah.

00:20:16.020 But it's even true now.

00:20:17.700 A guy can kind of get away with it.

00:20:19.320 I'm thinking of, obviously, older actors can really get away with it, but even younger

00:20:24.360 guys.

00:20:24.860 I mean, Leo's going through dad bod phases.

00:20:27.000 Yeah.

00:20:27.500 Yeah.

00:20:27.560 Right. 0.97

00:20:28.320 And whereas for women, they either need to be cartoonishly ugly or they need to be very 1.00

00:20:36.120 hot. 0.99

00:20:36.420 I'll say this.

00:20:38.500 I think men look at, definitely like in a superhero realm, they look at it different than what

00:20:45.680 women do, right? 1.00

00:20:46.600 So when, for whatever reason, women see a very attractive, even in a comic book, right? 0.96

00:20:52.180 It's like, oh, it's unrealistic where her organs, they'll say, if she is fit.

00:20:56.820 And for us, it was just different.

00:20:58.980 We would see He-Man and he's jacked to the gills. 0.52

00:21:01.880 And a lot of dudes looked at it like, I want to get buffed up.

00:21:06.340 You know what I mean?

00:21:07.240 That's something to strive for.

00:21:08.740 And I think still to this day, when you look at some of these anime, Goku has muscles where

00:21:12.580 a guy, I don't know if he can actually really get there, but it's still like, oh, I can

00:21:16.680 be that person.

00:21:17.400 That's how they look at it.

00:21:18.380 So I think it's just a difference in approach.

00:21:21.180 We just don't have an issue.

00:21:22.140 Most men don't have an issue with seeing it versus women when they see a lot of characters.

00:21:26.140 There's a female character that is just, nobody can look like that.

00:21:29.560 I could look at a modern Batman, who's built up like the craziest muscle man ever, and just

00:21:35.400 think like, okay, well, man, that's Batman.

00:21:36.980 That's fine.

00:21:37.520 But you think, you're right.

00:21:38.880 In comic book movies, the men tend to be pretty jacked, except for Spider-Man.

00:21:45.060 Yeah, he's lean.

00:21:45.440 Parker's kind of like a lean, like weeby kind of guy.

00:21:47.700 Yeah, that's true.

00:21:48.400 That's a good point.

00:21:49.000 Yeah, he's slow.

00:21:49.520 Okay.

00:21:50.660 I'll choose to drink for that.

00:21:51.880 Okay.

00:21:52.660 You're up.

00:21:53.000 In general, the left wins more libertarians over than the right does.

00:22:02.260 Mm-hmm.

00:22:15.940 You're going to say no, but I am going to say yes.

00:22:19.240 And if you had asked me this question seven years ago, I would have said no.

00:22:26.220 Okay.

00:22:26.520 The right gets more libertarians.

00:22:27.980 Because libertarians cut, they're right libertarians and left libertarians, right?

00:22:31.100 I always said the right gets more libertarians.

00:22:33.240 Because that was the era of the real hardcore libertarian types of Ron Paul people.

00:22:37.840 Mm-hmm.

00:22:37.960 Of course.

00:22:38.340 And the kind of lolbertarian, internet, fashionable, I-just-want-to-be-liked libertarian types,

00:22:44.500 they still went along with Mitt Romney or Paul Ryan or whatever.

00:22:48.600 Right.

00:22:49.620 Trump, I think, broke that.

00:22:51.180 And I think you had a lot of libertarian or libertarian-adjacent outlets who just hated

00:22:57.440 this guy so much.

00:22:58.460 And in part because he was more statist and more authoritarian than the libertarian types

00:23:02.540 present themselves as, at least, that they tended to go a little bit more either third

00:23:08.340 party, Evan McMullin, Egg McMuffin type guy in 2016, or even some of them now are openly

00:23:13.560 Democrat.

00:23:14.800 I'll say that I think that you're at least correct that in 2016 there were a lot of people that

00:23:21.360 claimed to be libertarians that proved that they weren't actually that.

00:23:26.240 It was more of, and I think a lot of them fit the bill of the latter position it is that

00:23:30.300 you mentioned, where you have libertarians or people claiming to be that, that more so

00:23:34.280 use it as on some edgelord stuff.

00:23:36.420 Like, hey, I just don't want to be lumped in with these guys or that guy, so I'm just

00:23:39.780 going to call myself.

00:23:39.900 I'm above it all.

00:23:40.680 Yeah, that type of stuff.

00:23:41.820 I'm cool, yeah.

00:23:42.300 And I think that the only reason why I would say that I would kind of detach myself from

00:23:47.300 that idea is because I look at, while that was true, we saw a shift like in the Libertarian

00:23:53.120 Party as an example where the Mises Caucus guys took the entire party over and they were 0.97

00:23:57.540 like, you left us all up out of here.

00:23:59.480 And they are still screeching and screaming about that right now, like, oh my God, look

00:24:03.660 at all the fascists now run the Libertarian Party because you have actual people that actually

00:24:08.320 believe in libertarianism running it.

00:24:11.100 And unfortunately, and I actually thank Trump in that regard because he showed like these

00:24:15.580 people are more libertine than anything.

00:24:17.880 They're more hedonist.

00:24:18.760 Exactly.

00:24:19.320 Right?

00:24:19.580 Than anything.

00:24:20.220 They don't actually value liberty by any means.

00:24:23.120 Yeah.

00:24:23.520 No, that's such a good point.

00:24:24.660 And this is the other thing I've noticed.

00:24:26.080 It's why I can never totally discard the libertarians is the real hardcore types, not the Lulberts,

00:24:34.140 not the Libertines, but the real hardcore libertarians.

00:24:36.480 I disagree with them on their premises, but I often agree with them on many of their conclusions.

00:24:44.320 It's sort of like the Mormons to me. 0.77

00:24:46.000 You know, the Mormons, I don't buy the premises of the religion. 1.00

00:24:52.060 And yet, when I look at the outcomes of Mormon societies, I agree with a lot of what they're

00:24:57.000 doing, right?

00:24:57.680 And I think there's, yeah, the purging of the Lulberts, the purging of the squishes, that 1.00

00:25:03.680 can be very helpful.

00:25:04.640 Oh, yeah.

00:25:05.080 Most definitely.

00:25:05.540 I'll drink to that anyway.

00:25:06.820 I'll drink to that, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:25:07.520 The main reason the left is so focused on destroying superheroes and rewriting their

00:25:15.380 origins is because many of the traditional heroes reflect Christian values.

00:25:20.660 For example, with great power comes great responsibility, Uncle Ben, and from everyone

00:25:25.260 who has been given much, much will be demanded, St. Luke, chapter 12, verse 48.

00:25:29.760 I mean, yeah, okay, I agree with that.

00:25:37.700 Okay.

00:25:38.000 Yeah, I can agree with it, too.

00:25:39.480 It was certainly a lot more traditional back in the gap.

00:25:42.580 That's it.

00:25:43.080 Yeah, that's more of the term that I would certainly use with a lot of these characters.

00:25:47.320 I mean, even with Superman, you know, truth, justice, and the American way, they kind of

00:25:52.860 went back on it.

00:25:53.600 Now they're trying to bring it back.

00:25:54.700 I think they realized how much of a terrible idea it was to try to drop some of that rhetoric.

00:25:58.580 I mean, what did they say in the movie?

00:26:00.660 This was like 15 years ago.

00:26:02.080 They said, now it's going to be truth, justice, and all that other stuff.

00:26:06.620 They took out the American way. 0.99

00:26:07.800 Yeah, most definitely.

00:26:09.180 Now they probably take out truth and justice.

00:26:10.640 Oh, no, I would say, I mean, at this rate, definitely the direction that they're going,

00:26:15.180 I don't know if you know that they, I don't remember we talked about this when we discussed

00:26:18.800 this last year, how now Superman's son is gay.

00:26:23.880 Yeah, that's a thing.

00:26:24.920 It's out of nowhere.

00:26:25.840 Sure, he's, and they didn't stop telling you about it either. 0.87

00:26:29.740 They made sure that everybody knew just how gay. 0.97

00:26:33.180 So who's the lowest lane of the gay super junior? 0.97

00:26:37.840 How do we, he has neon colored hair. 0.93

00:26:40.640 Like, seriously, I'm not even joking.

00:26:41.800 Leroy Lane?

00:26:42.440 Is it Louis Lane?

00:26:45.460 It's some guy that has neon colored hair.

00:26:48.520 So, you know, it's it.

00:26:49.600 Dennis Rodman.

00:26:50.120 Yeah, I guess.

00:26:52.140 I even did.

00:26:52.760 I think Dennis Rodman would be more manly than than that.

00:26:57.160 The constant news of aliens is a distraction and not proof of life from a galaxy far away.

00:27:03.160 Eric, you're going to be hammered on that.

00:27:13.320 What?

00:27:14.260 Yeah, bro.

00:27:15.020 It's a complete distraction, and it's a distraction either by the government,

00:27:19.180 because you notice whenever there's a hot political story,

00:27:22.120 like they're indicting the leader of the opposition,

00:27:23.860 all of a sudden these UFOs start popping up everywhere.

00:27:26.500 So, but I don't even buy that totally.

00:27:28.800 I mean, the government's always trying to distract us with all sorts of nonsense,

00:27:31.240 but it's a distraction by demons who are here to lure us away.

00:27:37.260 When you see weird flickerings that defy all the laws of gravity

00:27:42.080 that don't really make any sense based on everything we know about physics

00:27:46.420 and even light, even the speed of light,

00:27:49.440 and, you know, they're making these 90-degree turns in the sea

00:27:52.800 at, like, a thousand knots or whatever, I don't know,

00:27:55.080 whatever G-forces that totally exceed expectation,

00:27:58.220 it's because it's demons, man.

00:28:01.780 So you think, be it from the UFOs or the unidentified things,

00:28:10.440 paranormal, you think it's demons?

00:28:13.160 Well, yeah, I just think the only...

00:28:14.400 Less aliens, more demonic.

00:28:16.200 Yeah, it's demonic in the sense that it's not corporeal.

00:28:18.320 So it's, I think that the only rational soul in the created universe with a body is us.

00:28:26.260 I think we're the pinnacle of creation.

00:28:27.560 Creation is for us.

00:28:29.340 And that's why we don't, you know, like a dog doesn't have a rational soul.

00:28:32.820 That's why we don't put him on trial for biting people.

00:28:34.980 And I don't think there's some superhuman Martian type thing out there somewhere either.

00:28:38.920 I think it's really, really us.

00:28:40.980 But there are intelligences that are more intelligent than us.

00:28:43.920 Just as there are things that are purely physical and not intelligent like a rock,

00:28:49.080 there are things that are purely intellect and not body like angels and demons and spiritual things.

00:28:55.120 And we all, I know this sounds kind of kooky in the modern era,

00:28:58.300 but, you know, we all acknowledge spiritual reality because we say there's morality.

00:29:02.780 We say that there is, you know, metaphysics like hope and dreams and loves and all that.

00:29:06.760 So, if you believe that God exists at all, right, what you're saying is that God the Father is metaphysical.

00:29:16.920 He doesn't have a body.

00:29:18.620 And so, we're granting that there is at least one intelligence that is not corporeal.

00:29:24.440 And then if you believe that, then you might believe, whether through your natural reason or more likely through revelation,

00:29:31.140 that there are other intelligences that are not corporeal.

00:29:33.240 And I think that's what people are seeing in the sky.

00:29:34.720 Man, I can go either way on that, or I can say a little bit of both.

00:29:38.760 I do for sure believe that there are demons.

00:29:42.440 I think that there are things that exist that are here, that have been here,

00:29:47.820 and it's far more difficult to explain.

00:29:53.780 However, I still think that there's an idea of something beyond what we know to be our planet that has something.

00:30:04.040 That has any kind of life or intelligent life?

00:30:08.980 I think intelligent life.

00:30:11.080 Maybe not intelligent enough, because I look at it like, you know, Earth.

00:30:14.160 Like, we have these people that we like to think are intelligent, right?

00:30:19.340 And we haven't quite figured out how to even navigate outside of Earth.

00:30:25.640 It's in America, frankly.

00:30:26.680 Yeah, to be fair, we haven't figured that out.

00:30:29.680 So, I'd imagine that there may be intelligent life that also has not been able to crack the code on that.

00:30:37.780 So, they're contained to their geographical area.

00:30:41.400 Now, as far as them coming here, which they would have to be uber smart, right,

00:30:45.720 to be able to figure out how to leave where they're at to get here,

00:30:48.820 that's where I think the debate more so needs to be had.

00:30:51.900 And I don't know if we've seen anything that's that smart.

00:30:55.440 Because, you know, often I was talking about this with a buddy not too long ago.

00:30:58.820 You think about these guys, they see a certain thing, and it's like, hey, this is an alien, right?

00:31:04.080 And he's hiding behind some car or something.

00:31:06.800 So, I'm like, I don't know if they were that intelligent to figure out how to get here.

00:31:10.700 You know, would they be able to, why on earth are that's how they would react?

00:31:16.060 I don't know about that.

00:31:17.000 Yeah, that you just, they like are in your backyard and you're scampering away.

00:31:20.600 I don't really buy that.

00:31:22.100 Yeah, that's my thing.

00:31:23.220 Okay, who's up?

00:31:24.980 I think it's you.

00:31:25.600 All right, I've had three sips of my martini.

00:31:28.020 I didn't have lunch today, though, that's why.

00:31:30.480 RFK, junior, I assume, has a better chance of being on the winning ticket in 2024 election

00:31:36.380 than Joe Biden.

00:31:39.480 All right, that winning part is the key.

00:31:43.520 Not the nominee on the winning ticket.

00:31:51.280 Not a chance.

00:31:52.420 No.

00:31:53.220 I'm not saying it's not a chance that, you know, some crazy world, Trump picks Bobby Kennedy,

00:31:57.720 they run, and they win somehow.

00:32:00.000 I'm not saying that can't happen today if you said odds are who wins the presidency 2024.

00:32:06.380 Joe Biden.

00:32:07.680 I mean, they kind of scooted him in there, right? 0.99

00:32:11.000 And he's, we can think of it, he's as crazy and old as all get out. 0.94

00:32:15.900 But if you don't think they would pull the stop, they already pulled all the stops they 0.96

00:32:20.320 could last time.

00:32:21.340 With this, they especially would.

00:32:23.800 So I just can't, I can't see it.

00:32:26.620 I like to think that maybe, but that's me being too optimistic about it.

00:32:30.020 If I'm going to be rational about this situation, considering all evidence, there's no way that

00:32:34.440 they would even allow that to happen.

00:32:36.060 That's the thing they found the other day, they found 300 mail-in ballots from 2020 in

00:32:40.880 a locker in Michigan.

00:32:42.340 And I know all the, the unit party says, we're not allowed to ever raise any, you can't, I'm

00:32:46.380 not raising any questions.

00:32:48.300 It was, the 2020 election was the most secure election ever in all the history of democracy.

00:32:52.460 But I think, man, there's probably a lot of lockers in Michigan.

00:32:57.020 Probably a few in Pennsylvania.

00:32:57.920 There'll be a lot more, this gore, that's for sure.

00:33:01.240 All right, you're up.

00:33:05.060 Plato was clearly on shrooms when he said Atlantis was a real place.

00:33:11.260 Well, hold on, I don't want to give, I've got to give an answer to this in my, I'm not

00:33:15.340 very subtle.

00:33:16.260 Okay, so.

00:33:21.740 Plato was on shrooms.

00:33:22.960 Give me a break.

00:33:23.460 You know, there were a lot of weird druggie cults back in ancient Greece, but Plato was

00:33:27.420 not among them.

00:33:28.560 Okay.

00:33:29.040 And Atlantis maybe was real.

00:33:30.960 What's your take?

00:33:34.060 What did they say as far as the sea?

00:33:36.300 They say, what is it, 5% of it has been actually discovered, right?

00:33:41.200 Yeah.

00:33:42.520 And we know that there's all sorts of things that, I mean, through the years, you know,

00:33:47.000 the new thing that got discovered in the sea, like this creature might have looked like

00:33:51.420 this, and it's like, we clearly haven't seen everything.

00:33:54.540 Yeah.

00:33:54.720 And we were just talking about mermaids earlier on, so.

00:33:57.320 Yeah.

00:33:57.800 Maybe that's where they're at.

00:33:58.700 We haven't seen, I mean, to you, not that we haven't seen everything, we haven't seen

00:34:02.560 anything.

00:34:03.900 We have not really explored the ocean.

00:34:06.580 I was talking to a friend of mine, there was that tragedy, obviously, in the ocean a

00:34:09.560 little while ago.

00:34:10.120 You know, and back when it was unclear if the people in that submersible would still

00:34:15.980 be alive or not, and I said, I asked a friend who was a special forces guy, I said, is there

00:34:20.160 any way to locate them?

00:34:22.320 He goes, man, it's the ocean.

00:34:25.300 No.

00:34:25.720 Like, you can't, it's the ocean, you can't find stuff in the ocean, basically, you know.

00:34:30.560 But like, wow, you're in the Navy, you're supposed to know, but it's just, we talk about

00:34:35.620 exploring outer space, but, you know, when would we even begin to start seriously making

00:34:41.180 a dent into exploring the ocean?

00:34:43.080 That's true.

00:34:43.560 That's a weird stuff.

00:34:44.060 That's actually an even better point.

00:34:45.460 I mean, you look at, it might, maybe that's the, you deal with finding what's in the ocean

00:34:52.080 before you even explore that idea.

00:34:54.620 Yeah.

00:34:54.740 I mean, because it has a lot, I don't want to say similarities, but as far as the pressure

00:34:57.880 and all that, that's all the stuff that you deal with if you went to space as well.

00:35:01.780 But yeah, it's here, you know, and we haven't figured out how to, how to actually navigate

00:35:07.280 it.

00:35:07.760 And because of that, I believe definitely deep down there are some probably crazy animals

00:35:12.880 out there, man.

00:35:13.600 Yeah.

00:35:14.080 Insane ones.

00:35:14.680 And some super hot mermaids. 1.00

00:35:19.140 I think we both know.

00:35:20.640 Yeah.

00:35:22.500 Every Hollywood superhero moving forward will be required to have at least one LGBTQ character

00:35:28.160 shoved into the story.

00:35:29.660 Yeah.

00:35:30.080 What do you mean moving forward?

00:35:31.460 We're already there, buddy.

00:35:33.220 We're already, oh, hands down.

00:35:34.500 I mean, they're not even able to get nominated for certain awards unless they check these boxes,

00:35:39.480 right?

00:35:39.660 So Hollywood did themselves in.

00:35:41.000 This is why I've said it might get worse before it get better.

00:35:43.600 Yeah.

00:35:43.820 Because they've made it abundantly clear.

00:35:46.100 And they love that stuff, right?

00:35:47.360 It's all about the peers.

00:35:48.540 They really don't care about what customers think at all.

00:35:50.540 It's like, they want to get the admiration from the peers.

00:35:53.420 Yeah.

00:35:53.620 And the investment from the webcast.

00:35:55.360 Of course.

00:35:55.580 Yeah, exactly.

00:35:56.320 So it'd be any of that ESG stuff, whatever that is, they have to check the box so they feel like

00:36:00.940 they have to check the box.

00:36:02.320 So for sure, you're going to get, even though it's an over-representation, I don't know if

00:36:06.040 you saw that GLAAD, they had did some like end of year, like they went through all the

00:36:12.800 TV shows and they were looking at, it's really detailed.

00:36:15.860 And in comparison to the population, they're actually vastly, it's not even close, over-represented.

00:36:23.080 Wait, hold on.

00:36:23.520 You're not, you're telling me that not 97% of human beings are transgender or something?

00:36:29.280 It's not even close.

00:36:30.180 And when they published that, I was like, they're kind of doing themselves in there because

00:36:34.400 that's what they've led with, right?

00:36:35.920 They need to be represented like this, the world outside. 0.96

00:36:39.140 And this is how it looks nowadays.

00:36:40.820 This is why old stuff has to be changed because this is how it looks.

00:36:44.100 And you see those percentages and it's like 20% here of like 50% here.

00:36:49.120 And I'm like, wow, this is a, this is a high.

00:36:51.860 You guys are vastly over-represented.

00:36:54.160 Yeah.

00:36:54.740 It's like, I didn't realize that everybody was a lesbian.

00:36:57.880 I had, who knew?

00:36:58.940 Who would have thought?

00:37:00.960 Let's see what we got here. 0.70

00:37:02.220 It's racist to cast black actors as traditionally white characters.

00:37:10.020 It is racist? 0.95

00:37:11.100 It's racist to cast black actors as traditionally white characters.

00:37:22.000 Well, I'll answer for you.

00:37:23.380 I'm actually kind of torn out of myself.

00:37:25.020 Okay.

00:37:26.980 It's racist to cast.

00:37:28.700 I'm going to say, you would say it's not racist. 1.00

00:37:36.220 It's just like stupid. 1.00

00:37:38.360 Okay. 1.00

00:37:38.980 I would say, I would say both.

00:37:42.120 I'm going to tell you why.

00:37:42.760 I'm going to make my case here.

00:37:44.040 So I call this tokenism.

00:37:46.300 That's the term that I, I see what, you know, that's what I call it.

00:37:48.920 So when I see race swaps, you can even apply gender, sexuality, all that stuff.

00:37:53.540 I call that tokenism.

00:37:55.000 So for me, I do think it is a slap in the face and I do think it is.

00:38:00.860 The reason why I would call it slightly racist, and I don't use that term loosely, is because

00:38:06.000 they often, like, let's speak about superheroes, excuse me.

00:38:11.440 They generally have a big pool, Marvel DC.

00:38:14.280 They have an encyclopedia that they put out all the time.

00:38:16.340 Yeah.

00:38:16.780 Where they have a, I mean, an incredible amount of, let's say, non-white characters. 1.00

00:38:21.400 They get left on the shelf and their version of representation or trying to do something

00:38:28.520 that is quote unquote black is turning something that everybody recognizes as white to just

00:38:36.400 race swapping it.

00:38:37.860 Yeah.

00:38:38.240 And then they just say, hey, here's a palette swap.

00:38:40.240 It's a new character.

00:38:41.020 Like, no, it's not.

00:38:41.740 It's just that character in blackface. 0.93

00:38:43.700 That's all.

00:38:44.100 Yeah, yeah.

00:38:44.600 That's true.

00:38:44.940 No, you're right.

00:38:45.620 And it's racist in the sense that it is, the decision is made almost entirely on the

00:38:51.900 basis of race.

00:38:52.420 Yes.

00:38:52.820 And it's, yeah.

00:38:53.760 That's the primary determinant.

00:38:54.920 That's true.

00:38:55.720 The counterexample to this is Denzel in Macbeth, I think.

00:38:59.940 I think that, I love Denzel Washington.

00:39:02.320 I think he's one of the greatest living actors.

00:39:04.020 And Macbeth is a Scottish character.

00:39:07.180 Yes.

00:39:07.420 So, you know, you'd say, okay, it should be a Scottish part.

00:39:09.940 But Shakespeare, I think, has transcended a limit for, that virtually no other writer

00:39:16.520 gets to transcend where his plays are taken as so representative of the universal human

00:39:21.860 condition that you can do it.

00:39:25.680 You can get away with it.

00:39:26.440 It doesn't bother me on the screen.

00:39:28.160 Whereas, like, black James Bond, I would say, well, I don't know. 0.99

00:39:31.400 James Bond's not black.

00:39:32.540 Yeah.

00:39:32.740 It's like, much as I love the James Bond movies, they have not transcended the limit where

00:39:37.160 I think they're talking about a universal human condition.

00:39:39.000 Okay.

00:39:39.420 And so, I think, and also Denzel's performance was just so good.

00:39:44.200 Do you think that's, like, the time that has passed that makes, to you, do you think

00:39:48.960 that that's what makes it acceptable?

00:39:50.500 No, I think it's that.

00:39:51.720 I mean, we call Macbeth the Scottish play, but it's not, it's not just about Scotland.

00:39:56.200 It's not just about Scottish people.

00:39:57.480 It's about human beings and power and ambition.

00:40:01.320 And whereas, James Bond is really about, like, a British guy, you know?

00:40:04.560 Yeah.

00:40:04.720 And so, that would be one exception.

00:40:08.660 Now, there was a big debate on this back in, I think it was the 90s, between this guy,

00:40:13.840 Bruce Stein, who was the head of the Yale Repertory Theater and then took over a theater

00:40:17.980 in Boston, the American Repertory Theater, I think, and August Wilson, who was one of the

00:40:23.640 big black playwrights, who did Fences, which is another Denzel movie, actually, and did Ma

00:40:28.280 Rainey's Black Bottom and all these plays that are pretty good.

00:40:31.540 They're not Shakespeare, but they're pretty good.

00:40:33.600 And Bruce Stein was a white liberal, and he said, you need to be able to race swap.

00:40:38.660 You need to be able to have colorblind casting.

00:40:40.700 And August Wilson, who was, I think he was mixed race, but he identified as black, he said,

00:40:47.060 no, you need white parts for white people, black parts for black people. 0.71

00:40:49.960 And at the time, Bruce Stein's view was the liberal view, but now, August Wilson's view 0.92

00:40:57.300 is the liberal view.

00:40:58.140 And I don't know, it just keeps switching, and anything you do, you're damned if you do

00:41:01.220 and damned if you don't.

00:41:02.160 Yeah, okay. 0.99

00:41:02.540 But I agree, I guess, okay, I'm going to give you the point that you got me right.

00:41:05.680 Okay.

00:41:06.200 Because it is, when they do it, they're doing it because they're saying like, hey, we're

00:41:12.540 going to give this little token to a black guy, and we're going to stick it to the white 0.95

00:41:16.000 guy. 0.94

00:41:16.220 Yeah.

00:41:16.340 That's true.

00:41:16.700 That's true.

00:41:17.360 I agree.

00:41:17.480 Most definitely.

00:41:17.800 Okay, I'm up.

00:41:23.300 Drag Queen Story Hour is protected under the First Amendment.

00:41:33.100 No.

00:41:33.840 It's not, my man.

00:41:35.080 Here we go.

00:41:36.220 Let's go.

00:41:37.500 Yeah, man.

00:41:38.220 The reason why I'll say this is, oh my God, definitely because it involves children.

00:41:43.860 Obviously, that's the big issue with it, the core issue with it.

00:41:46.840 But you look at even what historically, actually, drag has a lot of similarities historically

00:41:52.260 to blackface.

00:41:53.260 I run through it enough.

00:41:54.400 It's actually came about around the same, roughly the same time, and really for the same

00:41:58.660 reasons, to be completely fair.

00:42:00.060 You had black actors that couldn't act in these plays, obviously, and they thought to

00:42:04.340 make these sort of hyper weird versions of them.

00:42:07.800 And they used to do the same thing with women. 1.00

00:42:10.440 And for me, it became this, for them, you know, this uber-sexual thing.

00:42:15.480 Yeah.

00:42:16.220 And I think for people that value liberty, and I'm saying this obviously as a libertarian,

00:42:20.780 we recognize that, you know, children and protecting their sanctity is something that

00:42:25.120 should be of the utmost importance, right?

00:42:27.280 And to me, drag queen, story hour, you take this sexualized sort of, I don't know, subculture,

00:42:34.500 whatever you want to call it.

00:42:35.560 Yeah.

00:42:35.940 And you're-

00:42:36.560 It's like a burlesque show.

00:42:37.580 Yeah.

00:42:38.420 Parading around in that, and then speaking to children.

00:42:41.260 Like, that would, I would imagine, though, unfortunately, not enough people would be

00:42:46.020 against that.

00:42:47.020 And that doesn't fall under some umbrella of being, of it being liberty, or being based

00:42:52.500 on liberty.

00:42:53.140 If we accept that children can't consent, and we accept the idea that their innocence should

00:42:58.220 be preserved, then that is something that is rotten and abhorrent, right?

00:43:02.000 So that's my opinion.

00:43:02.860 That's the thing about the really hardcore libertarian types today, who I would identify as on the

00:43:08.160 right, they're not these relativist, squishy jokes who say, you know, well, actually, you

00:43:16.000 know, James Madison secretly wanted a bunch of drag queens to jiggle for kids. 1.00

00:43:20.700 Like, are you kidding?

00:43:21.380 He's rolling in his grave thinking about that.

00:43:23.320 The ones today who are really hardcore are the ones who have a, not a relativistic framework,

00:43:27.920 very hardcore, objective framework of morality.

00:43:33.480 And they say, no.

00:43:34.700 You know, they're the ones who are pro-life.

00:43:36.120 Yeah.

00:43:36.200 You know, it's the squish libertarians who say, well, actually, you know, the states 0.96

00:43:39.540 can decide, you know, and it's like, no, you're saying, no, actually, if we have any

00:43:43.440 rights at all, we've got the right to life, right?

00:43:45.200 Bingo.

00:43:45.580 Yeah.

00:43:46.340 Yeah.

00:43:46.660 No, that's great.

00:43:47.340 That's good.

00:43:48.000 You're making me a libertarian.

00:43:50.160 My success.

00:43:51.660 You're making me at least very amenable to libertarians.

00:43:54.780 Ooh.

00:43:56.980 Metal is the only genre worse than rap.

00:44:06.200 You'll say no.

00:44:12.540 Of course.

00:44:13.520 I mean, obviously, this is...

00:44:15.740 This is rigged.

00:44:16.560 Yeah.

00:44:17.040 This is rigged by the producers.

00:44:18.940 I'm a big metal guy, huge metal guy, massive performance.

00:44:23.440 And though I will say that if I am to put them both like on a just straight artistic level,

00:44:30.300 I have to put metal above rap, and I say this as a guy that has performed in both genres,

00:44:38.400 though, yeah, as of late, primarily metal, just because the instrumentation and all that

00:44:42.480 stuff, and there's a level of creativity that comes with rap, but you can't really get away

00:44:47.180 with being a terrible metal artist, but you can certainly get away with being a terrible

00:44:52.580 rapper.

00:44:53.880 So, that way, I mean...

00:44:56.480 No, man, listen, I mean, my name is Wonder Mike, and I've come to say hello to the black,

00:45:00.080 the white, the red, and the brown, the purple, and yellow.

00:45:02.260 So, I'm very well aware of the intricacies of rapping.

00:45:06.820 I think you're right, too, on the instrumentation, because, you know, metal is too percussive and

00:45:13.220 too flat in its harmonics, I think.

00:45:21.980 Okay.

00:45:22.100 But the melodies can be really wild, right, because it's just, you know, not the vocal

00:45:25.780 melodies, but the guitars are just like flying everywhere, you know, I'm thinking like Yngwie

00:45:28.800 Malmsteen or some like insane, you know, virtuosic playing.

00:45:31.940 Whereas for rap, you don't usually get melody, you get too much percussion in metal, but you

00:45:38.620 also get too much percussion in rap, too, so I think that's about even.

00:45:42.540 The one, I'll probably get canceled for saying this, the one exception to rap, though, is like

00:45:48.960 Kanye, who, at this time of hardcore gangster rap, comes in and just reintroduces this really

00:45:55.660 light, melodic, kind of musically interesting type of rap.

00:45:59.040 Absolutely.

00:46:00.080 But that's the problem, and why, if we're going to talk about it as a genre, you know,

00:46:04.980 yeah, you have those, you've Kanye's, the Lauryn Hills, and the people that are producing

00:46:09.920 the rap that have been able to blend genres as well as be able to obviously show that they

00:46:16.120 have a creative bone in their body, and even like from the rap stuff, you know, the Nas

00:46:20.440 is where they're being actual wordsmith, right?

00:46:23.140 Yeah, yeah.

00:46:23.580 Not just rhyming the end of the word, but like being actual wordsmith.

00:46:27.160 But again, the problem is, is that as a genre, that's not the main thing.

00:46:32.280 Yeah, yeah.

00:46:32.540 It's not what's going to hit the billboard charts.

00:46:34.320 It's not what's being created.

00:46:36.160 Whereas, again, with metal music, there's no room for that.

00:46:39.520 There's no, I don't know who the, maybe a hot rapper is, but there's no like metal

00:46:44.240 equivalent to that, you know, it doesn't exist.

00:46:46.400 Yeah, okay.

00:46:48.440 I'm up.

00:46:49.100 You're up.

00:46:49.440 There we go.

00:46:49.760 Then you get the last score.

00:46:52.480 It's okay to drink Bud Light.

00:46:59.140 You know, remember with Seinfeld, they said like, no, there's anything wrong with that.

00:47:03.860 If you're picking up that Bud Light, man.

00:47:07.460 At this point, yeah, you're going to get judged, and rightfully so.

00:47:11.180 Yeah, there it is.

00:47:11.620 Like, I'm not saying that I'm going to like, send the police to your home to arrest you,

00:47:18.340 but it's like, there's something a little wrong if you're picking up Bud Light.

00:47:21.880 I mean, this thing became so massive, man, that even like normies know about what's going

00:47:28.500 on with it.

00:47:29.220 Like, even people that just don't, they don't keep up with it.

00:47:31.400 That's the marker, is when the normies figure out, not these people who are watching politics

00:47:36.340 all day.

00:47:36.720 Yeah, yeah.

00:47:37.260 Normies now understand it, and I think, yeah, I mean, if their stock is anything or their 0.88

00:47:42.240 brand in itself is anything to show for it, people are responding the way that they are.

00:47:46.720 But yeah, you, I mean, we make jokes about it now.

00:47:49.740 I mean, I don't think that's ever going to go away.

00:47:51.260 You do something mildly fruity, we're going to say, oh, that guy drinks Bud Light.

00:47:55.000 That's just what it is.

00:47:55.720 I knew I was at this wedding for my cousin, and so, you know, the cousins are pretty close,

00:48:01.560 and we've got a bunch of them.

00:48:02.960 And this one cousin comes over and he's like, hey, hey, Michael, you need another drink?

00:48:08.580 I was like, yeah, I could have another drink.

00:48:09.800 He's like, cool, I got your beer.

00:48:11.560 I figured you'd really like it.

00:48:12.700 You know, it's Bud Light.

00:48:14.240 And I thought, man, if this is a, I've had liberal friends make this joke.

00:48:18.180 I've had, I'm not that politically engaged.

00:48:20.440 And I thought, oh, that's bad.

00:48:23.240 You don't come back from becoming a meme.

00:48:24.940 No, you don't.

00:48:25.540 There's no turning around from that.

00:48:27.240 Okay.

00:48:27.840 All right.

00:48:28.380 Last one.

00:48:29.920 Let's see what we got.

00:48:32.520 Women should never fight in action movies. 1.00

00:48:37.840 It ruins the movie about, I think this is the key, 97% of the time.

00:48:44.360 So maybe you disagree on the percentage, but let's say 97% of the time.

00:48:48.660 So the first part.

00:48:50.960 Women should never fight in action movies. 1.00

00:49:09.360 I don't like to see women being hurt. 1.00

00:49:12.560 Okay.

00:49:13.720 So I lean a little bit, yes.

00:49:15.600 But as a hard rule for filmmaking, the problem with women fighting in the movies is not the fighting. 1.00

00:49:23.720 It's that they beat up the guys.

00:49:25.480 Okay.

00:49:25.760 Which is absurd.

00:49:27.600 And so women, I would allow in very, you know, tastefully shot, you know, where it's not too graphic or anything. 1.00

00:49:34.900 I would allow the studios to allow women to fight in the movies. 1.00

00:49:37.760 Okay.

00:49:38.180 But they have to lose.

00:49:39.340 Like you can't have some little girl beating up the Hulk, you know. 1.00

00:49:41.980 And that's why I would say, you know, this is what I'll say.

00:49:49.320 Okay.

00:49:50.620 I think if it's done, and even definitely, especially with like Kill Bill or something, you know.

00:49:55.460 Yeah.

00:49:56.080 Let's say they're fighting like even another woman or something like that. 0.96

00:49:58.800 Yes.

00:49:59.360 Yeah, yeah.

00:49:59.740 That's true.

00:50:00.440 I think that could be huge.

00:50:02.760 Mm-hmm.

00:50:03.600 Or if they have powers, obviously.

00:50:05.640 You know what I mean?

00:50:06.320 Like that makes it make a little more sense.

00:50:07.960 But I'm with you on-

00:50:09.340 Or a gun.

00:50:09.920 I can-

00:50:10.400 That's the-

00:50:10.740 That's the-

00:50:11.500 That's probably even better.

00:50:13.100 That's the great equalizer, as they all say.

00:50:15.420 But yeah, if you get some like, even if they do have powers, but if it's like some scrawny,

00:50:22.440 and generally they kind of do that, not built, probably, it's not believable, right?

00:50:26.540 Yeah.

00:50:26.720 And it's like, the first thing that's going to go in your mind is like, all right, this

00:50:29.640 chick just went in. 1.00

00:50:30.740 Black Widow kind of, it happens sometimes, right? 0.99

00:50:33.440 Where it's like, she just went in and destroyed like all of these built dudes that are also

00:50:38.640 like probably as, in levels of expertise, probably up there with her.

00:50:45.480 Maybe that doesn't happen, right?

00:50:47.140 It doesn't happen to that degree.

00:50:48.420 So, in an action movie, I-

00:50:50.580 Yeah.

00:50:51.600 I remember in one of the new Star Warses, one of the Disney Star Warses, I guess it

00:50:56.400 was the first one, maybe, where the little girl is fighting the big new Darth Vader guy,

00:51:01.400 and they're fighting with lightsabers.

00:51:03.340 I thought like, that's not-

00:51:04.780 It's not believable.

00:51:05.820 That's not in any way, like, do you know what muscle is?

00:51:08.920 Do you know what swords are like to fight with?

00:51:11.680 That's not, it's just so-

00:51:14.200 I'm right there with you on that.

00:51:15.720 But I do believe that it can be believable.

00:51:17.880 I think it can be believable, and-

00:51:20.180 But you need to explain it.

00:51:21.320 I mean, it can't just be like, okay, I'm a chick, but I've got girl power.

00:51:24.800 Well, yeah, see, and that seems to me why I think so many people are leaning towards

00:51:28.840 this moronic idea that, well, people have a problem with women being in action films, 0.99

00:51:35.220 and I think that's less of the issue. 0.88

00:51:36.920 I think more it's the setting that they're being put in, and people are like, this is

00:51:40.380 corny.

00:51:41.060 And I can kind of, I can be with them on that.

00:51:43.440 Yeah, I'm happy to have women in movies. 1.00

00:51:45.800 I really enjoy it when women are in movies. 1.00

00:51:47.400 But they gotta play women. 1.00

00:51:48.620 They can't be playing men.

00:51:49.760 And Eric, I truly have no idea who won or lost that game.

00:51:54.980 Where can people get that comic book?

00:51:57.120 Ripaverse.com.

00:51:58.280 You can go to the campaign page there.

00:52:00.180 You can pre-order, get you all your perks.

00:52:01.880 We got bundles.

00:52:02.580 People are able to save money.

00:52:03.720 We got several covers as well of that.

00:52:05.980 That's the main cover right there.

00:52:07.400 But there's several other covers that you can get as well.

00:52:10.400 And just, we appreciate it.

00:52:13.780 We appreciate it big time.

00:52:15.080 This is something that's been unprecedented.

00:52:17.240 It wasn't supposed to happen when it happened the first time.

00:52:19.880 And here we go again.

00:52:21.460 It shows that it wasn't just like...

00:52:23.500 It wasn't a fluke.

00:52:24.160 No, not by any means.

00:52:25.500 So I'm very appreciative.

00:52:26.680 My team's very appreciative.

00:52:27.940 And look, I'm just thankful to be in a position where we're able to employ people in an industry

00:52:33.020 that people thought were dying.

00:52:34.480 You know, that's a challenge.

00:52:35.680 Not only have you softened me on libertarianism,

00:52:39.020 you've softened me on comic books.

00:52:41.520 It's very impressive, Eric.

00:52:43.140 Thank you for coming on.

00:52:44.560 Thank you, little brother.

00:52:45.200 See you next time.

00:52:46.380 And we'll see you next time on Yes or No.

The Michael Knowles Show - August 19, 2023

The Little Mermaid Is Racist： YES or NO with Eric July

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