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Marxist-Verhoevenists · Outside Issues

• 0:00
  Speaker A: There was a double narrative, isn't it? There is a narrative, really, which is saying, these are wonderful guys and they fight for their country and they are really heroes and they're supporting each other and they're wonderful and they go to win. But we also wanted to show that these people are really in their heart, or without knowing it. I would say they're on their way to fascism. This kind of statements are not so much going back to the Third Reich. I would say they are much more statements about American politics. War makes fascist of us all. Welcome to Outside Issues with Audrey and Patrick. This is Melanie. I met Melanie on Twitter. I talked to some people who know my politics, and they're just, like, confused as to why I'm still on Elon's platform. And I tell them it's just because of, like, the people I met along the way. And it's really, I've met, like, a lot of really wonderful friends in real life and a lot of, like, artists and like, just some really cool people. Somehow I don't know how, like, the Twitter platform lent itself to that, because when I first started, it was like, counterintuitive. You get, like, I don't know how many characters we got at first to, like, express ourselves in, but a lot of, like, left politics, you know, in a, in a space that's currently owned by a super right wing guy.
• 1:36
  Speaker B: I do have, like, movies and TV shows that I'll just, like, play on a loop. And like, I, I get like, scared to watch new movies. And then like, Patrick is such a cinephile, and I'm like, well, like, do
• 1:49
  Speaker C: I hear what you're saying, Audrey? I get in phases where, like, all I can do is rewatch, like, comfort movies and I can't watch anything new. And then I'll be like, okay, I, I will make myself sit down and be like, okay, it's time to watch something new. Comfort movie. The last few years has really been. Well, now with Furiosa out as well, it's been Mad Max, Fury Road, and Furio. So those two are just. I can watch them over and over and over again.
• 2:17
  Speaker A: You know, this touches a little bit on my, on my recovery, and I kind of at the end of my addiction because when that movie came out, I was in, like, the dregs of my life. It was like the last couple years of my using. And I remember, like, I, I, it was a point in time when I wasn't even able to, like, stay awake during films. Like, I would go to the movie theaters because it's like one of the last refuges that would take me. And like, I remember seeing Fury Road and like, I was aware, like, I had some kind of like, thrumming sense that, like, what, this was greatness, but I just couldn't. I was so unhappy and I was just so kind of like, out of my body and everything that, like, I couldn't even feel it. So I rediscovered it in early recovery and like, it's become one of my. I think during COVID like, I remember, like, I hadn't seen Fury Road for a little while and. Yeah, not gonna spoil it for you, Audrey, but there's just like a very. It's a very powerful collectivist ending, you know, And I was crying to all kinds of weird movies during COVID But
• 3:16
  Speaker C: yeah, oh, yeah, I totally. I totally cried watching it in the theater. It totally got me. I'm like, I got so emotional.
• 3:23
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 3:23
  Speaker C: And yet movies were. Yeah, 2016, I was still very much shooting up heroin every day. I went to see Suicide Squad for my birthday and I nodded out. I think, like, halfway through I woke up to what's her name Destroying New York. And I like, oh, okay, you didn't miss much. I really did. When I finally saw. I definitely did watch the movie all the way through a couple years later, I was like, oh, I guess I really was. Ye.
• 3:55
  Speaker A: Yeah, you dodged a bullet there, Audrey. You've been watching the Pit, right? And I have not watched it, but, like, that's been your jam lately, right?
• 4:02
  Speaker B: That's something that I've been rewatching.
• 4:05
  Speaker A: Rewatching. I haven't even seen the first time what it is.
• 4:08
  Speaker B: It's like a hospital ER shift that's like a 12 hour shift. And so each episode is just one hour of each shift. And it has like, very, very accurate medical stuff within it, so I've heard. And there's like, you know, gruesome injuries. There's some like, mental health stuff, but, like, there's a lot. The, the, the basis behind it is actually it's turned into mental health because the main character, Dr. Robbie, who sort of runs the ER, it slowly progresses into, like, revealing that he's suicidal. And there's a lot of themes that touch on, you know, anxiety, depression. There's one patient who has schizophrenia, but the, the main storyline really is focused on Dr. Robbie and how he wants to not exist anymore. Despite the fact that he's like this head, this top person at this hospital, he will do behaviors sort of like riding a motorcycle with no helmet and people his, his co workers Will, he's about to go on a sabbatical. I'm sorry. I'm ruining everything.
• 5:27
  Speaker A: This kind of thing makes me want to watch it.
• 5:29
  Speaker C: I actually had to mute everything related to the Pit on Twitter because the fandom was getting so insane and the discord around it was so wild that I was like, okay, I'm gonna just mute everything, and I'll watch your show, like, either later this year or maybe in five years, I don't know. But I'm like, I'm tapping out. I don't want to get.
• 5:50
  Speaker B: I need to figure out how to untag myself from Facebook the. The Pit community, because it's just like,
• 5:56
  Speaker A: oh, I wasn't even aware of this.
• 5:57
  Speaker B: The Pit actually involves ice too. I didn't.
• 6:01
  Speaker A: That's got everything.
• 6:02
  Speaker C: It.
• 6:03
  Speaker B: It. It's. It's interesting because I. On the fandom pages, a lot of, like, magas will be like, this is so political. Why are they making it political? But it's as. It's actually as neutral as you can imagine. While pointing out the brutality of Ice and the absurdity.
• 6:23
  Speaker C: It's a wildly popular new show. Like, I have not seen the TV show explode this much in quite some time.
• 6:30
  Speaker B: I have. The mass of this. Is that word massivist?
• 6:34
  Speaker C: No.
• 6:34
  Speaker A: Today it is.
• 6:35
  Speaker C: We'll just pretend it is.
• 6:36
  Speaker B: Massive crush on Noah Wiley. And he used to play an ER. Oh, my God, he's so hot.
• 6:44
  Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. I've been watching ER for the first time. I didn't watch it on the 90s. I'm on season six towards the end right now. Yeah, it's a really good show.
• 6:56
  Speaker A: Yeah, Our. Our friend Aaron loves it, and I've been like. He would post the clips of, like. There was a clip from ER that he posted, like, last year of, like, they go to the roof. I think maybe they, like, medevac someone. And there's this amazing cinematic shot of, like, a helicopter touching down and, like, none of this you never see on TV these days. And I was, like, blown away. I'm like, they were doing that in the 90s.
• 7:18
  Speaker B: Oh, there's also drug addiction in. In the Pit. There's a character.
• 7:23
  Speaker C: The character played by. I believe it's Patrick Ball.
• 7:26
  Speaker B: Patrick Ball. Patrick Ball. He.
• 7:29
  Speaker C: I've been exposed enough. I know his name. I know the addict's name on the Pit, even though I've never seen it.
• 7:36
  Speaker B: Luckily, he's getting a second chance, which is nice to see.
• 7:40
  Speaker C: We all do. Well, not all of us deserve one, but most of us do.
• 7:45
  Speaker A: Yeah. Most. I like that most of us deserve a second chance. I was walking the dogs the other day in Culver City, and I ran into the vice president of the company, the entertainment company I was working at in Century City at the end, you know, when I, like, got let go because I just couldn't stay sober on the job. And it was so weird because I had, like, know, Brady is, you know, our dog. And then there's a Pomeranian that we look after. And I guess he saw the Pomeranian, this weird guy, like this entertainment industry creature, and he. And so he saw the dog and he's like, oh, I love your little Pommy. That reminds me of my dog, Joey. And then it was. It was. It was like 10 o' clock at night, and I'm like, oh, hi, Barry. And he looked at me and he's like, patrick, hi, how are you? And, like, he's a guy who was, like, way above my pay grade. Like, I mean, he's the guy who I, you know, I've worked there for a number of years, but, you know, he didn't know me. He hired me and he, you know, he reviewed me for raises and things like that. I was not in communication with him towards the end of that job. But, like, you know, I. One of the first amends I made when I was doing the Steps was my producer at the time, you know, that's like, right up there with my parents. And. And here I am, like, eight years later, I run into this guy, and I really contemplated, I don't know, like, I. I probably did the right thing. I didn't take running into him, like, on a weird dog walk late at night as, like, an opportunity to litigate any of what happened back then. But I did say, oh, it was lovely running in teaberry and, oh, I'd love to see the picture of your Pomeranian. And, you know, so it's weird how that happens. I ran into another guy from those years at the gym, like, a few months ago, actually. I was able to make, like, kind of amends to him on the spot. And not to make this the Patrick dealing with his workplace drama podcast, but. Yeah, Yeah, I. It's just happened lately. I don't know. I'm just thinking about it because, yeah, I don't know. People have given me second chances, you know, I. I lost my. In 2018. It was the end, almost, like, without exception. You know, everybody's been, like, really supportive.
• 9:56
  Speaker C: I got lucky. I don't know if it's lucky. Actually had a couple of things going for me. One, I had health problems that Helped me cover up my addiction with my family. And so they financially supported me while I was sick. And I could mask my heroin addiction as sickness for a number of years. Getting arrested a couple times did not help with that case. But, you know, denial is also very powerful when it comes to the parents. And, you know, they're great parents. They've loved and supported me no matter what. Without them, I'd be in jail or dead. So because I had that, I didn't have any of the, like, a lot of the typical, like, stressed out, running out of money, can't, don't know where I'm gonna get my next fix. Gotta go fuck somebody over to get money to get a fixed. I didn't have that. Plus, I isolated myself. I pretty much pushed everyone out of my life so they wouldn't see me in the state that I was in. So really only my family was the one who is exposed for the bulk of my addiction run this last 15 years or so. Like, I had several dealers, as you do, right? You know, because you can't get a hold of one. You've got backups, right? Unfortunately, one got arrested, went to jail, one got clean. And then the one that was left was the one who was my least favorite. She was very flaky. And I kind of started paying attention to her politics. And it slowly dawned on me that she was not only probably a racist, but a neo Nazi. This is 2020. The announcement comes, COVID lockdown is happening. I make a run to cop from her before lockdown. And I don't remember what it was she did, but she pissed me off in some way that night. I was like, you know what? Fuck this. So I was like, I'm going to do this last bit of dope. And first thing Monday morning, I'm going to the methadone cleft. And that was it. It was like Covid locked down. She pissed me off. I was like, okay, that's brilliant. It was a rock bottom in a sense, but it was more just like, I. I know, I'm just fed up. I'm fed up with myself. I'm fed up with doing this. I don't like how any of this feels anymore.
• 12:22
  Speaker A: I saw it for a moment when you described it. Like, that reminded me a little bit of like, my bottom where, like, there's just this shift where you're like, you look at yourself and you're like, this is fucking crazy. This is fucking stupid. Like, and it's. And in a way that I just was not able to fully. I was not fully cognizant of it before, but there's just something that happens, and it's a, it's a probably a combination of factors, but then once you see it, you can't unsee it. And that doesn't make the work that you have ahead any less difficult or a little less difficult. But, like, it really is, like, it galvanizes you to just like, all right, I'm going to go through the discomfort of, like, changing, you know, the, the entire way I live my life just because, like, I see what I am now or I see what this is, and I don't like it anymore.
• 13:08
  Speaker C: I just did some simple things, which was, I was like, okay, methadone clinic opens up early. So I'm going to get up early every day, go there early, talk to my counselor every single day. And I did that. I talked to him every single day. I checked in with him. Sometimes we would talk about me, sometimes we talk about politics, sometimes we talk about the news. He got me into anime. He never pressured me to, like, be done with the methadone in a certain amount of time. He never made me feel like, okay, if you're doing it for this long, you know, it's just as much of a problem. He was like, no, stay on it for as long as you need. And I just set goals for myself. I was at little goals like, okay, I'll go down 5 milligrams in two weeks. I'll go down another 5 milligrams in three weeks and just say slowly but surely weaned myself off to where I was down and then got my last bit of take homes. And then that was it and it was over. And I've been okay. But yeah, it's, it's really funny because I see there's a lot of schools of thought about sobriety, and I am very much against the school that says you shouldn't do medicated assisted treatment. I'm like, you absolutely should. If it works for you, cold turkey works for you, that's cool. But if you need something to help you, especially if you've been using for 15 years like I was, yeah, do it, do it. I mean, that's also how I quit smoking after 30 years, is I just, instead of doing the patch for six weeks or whatever it is in those steps, I just did step one for four months, step two for four months, step three for four months. And I haven't had a cigarette in almost three years. So congrats.
• 14:57
  Speaker B: I, I smoked cigarettes until 2019 or 2019. But now I, I continue to vape as I hit a vape like maybe two minutes ago. Like I, that's one thing in my, that's the one thing that I can't kick. But I'm gonna have to at some point. Nicotine.
• 15:18
  Speaker C: Do well when you're ready. What also helped is I went to a psychiatrist and got diagnosed with mild to moderate bipolar disorder. You got put on medication, so that helped too. Yeah, I know, I watched the episode last week. I know you're bipolar as well. So yeah, that definitely helps me in terms of giving me some insight. It's like, oh, so that's why I am the way I am. Okay, well that is information and I can use that and I can monitor my behavior more carefully now that I am aware that this exists.
• 15:53
  Speaker B: The typical onset is in your early 20s. And so it's like very rare to get diagnosed after your 20s. And so I was personally I was very surprised. I was like, what? Oh, that explains a lot. That explains like why I've been Texting people at 2:00am, you know, like, no,
• 16:13
  Speaker C: I thought I had ADHD. So I went to a psychiatrist because I was like, my attention span was definitely all over the map. Social media doesn't help in that respect, that's for sure.
• 16:22
  Speaker A: We've talked before, Audrey, about like you've got a lot of clients that are California sober. And I think like for me my interpretation of recovery is like at the base it's your, it's a preservation of life and it's like it's cultivating a better life. And so I don't, I don't believe in like orthodox gatekeeping of like, you know, it's oh, recovery's only got to be one thing. It's got to be 12 step or it's got to be like abstinence based. It's got to be like whatever preserves life, keeps people away from their most self destructive tendencies. I think that can take a bunch of different shapes.
• 17:00
  Speaker C: I did 12 steps when I was younger and it was a miserable experience and I never wanted to go back. And so this time I just was like, yeah, I will do it without. You do have to find and build your own community. Like that is one thing I will say that AA provides that you do don't get if you're doing sobriety on your own is you have a built in community and support network. That's definitely tough. But I've managed and I've still followed a lot of basic principles. You know, making amends, praying to God. I pray Multiple times a day, every day. Because it centers me. It gets me out of my head and my anxiety and so, yeah, what does.
• 17:48
  Speaker B: What kind of prayers do you do? Like, you know, I've been doing Islamic prayers.
• 17:53
  Speaker C: I'm reading the Quran.
• 17:55
  Speaker B: Nice.
• 17:55
  Speaker A: Oh, my God.
• 17:56
  Speaker C: I'm actually thinking about reverting.
• 17:58
  Speaker A: I've always appreciated, Melanie, your outspokenness about Palestine. And for me, it was Shereen Abu Aklay's murder that really was like. Yeah, that was a big. Got like a moment for me where they really crystallized, like, what. What that. What Israel was and what the apartheid looked like and that I was not aware of before. And I think I learned about that via, like, Michael Brooks and Majority Report. Like, I think when I. I was. I was like, very much a shitlib for, like, you know, my upbringing. And, you know, I say shit, but
• 18:39
  Speaker C: I mean, you were raised American, so you were raised. If you weren't raised conservative, you were raised to be a liberal capitalists. Like, that's just. Those are the options here pretty much. Maybe libertarian on occasion. That we don't really have any true libertarians. Not really. They like to think they exist, but they just don't. Like age of consent laws.
• 19:02
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 19:03
  Speaker B: Sovereign citizens.
• 19:04
  Speaker A: Sovereign citizens. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's what they say, right?
• 19:07
  Speaker C: Reading Edward Said in college was my first kind of door cracking open. And to be like, okay, my whole life, I. Because I went to a very prestigious private school in Los Angeles with a large Hollywood population, lots of Jewish people, lots of bar and bat mitzvahs. And the idea of ever criticizing Israel would just not have occurred to me as a teenager because it was just. It was the Middle east, it was complicated. And that's all the thought that I really gave to it because I just didn't have anybody saying, no, it's not complicated. They've actually just been occupying and dispossessing the Palestinians for a century otherwise. So when I started reading Edward Said, I was like, okay. And then I got into drugs and tapped out of politics for 15 years. When covet hit and I got clean, I started getting on Twitter again. I started getting into politics again. And I went to a couple. I forget the group. I want to say students were Palestine. I went to a couple protests down in San Diego that they had. I can't remember if I was after Shireen was killed or not. I want to say it was both before and after. Yeah, it was very clear to me. So when I woke up October 7th and I saw what happened, I was like, wow, they actually managed to Fight back in an effective way and seize prisoners so they can negotiate for the release of Palestinian prisoners. But of course, the immediate reaction from the government, everyone else, this is an act of terrorism. This is the worst thing that's happened since the Holocaust. And it was very funny because the week before, the week before, in the Canadian Parliament, they had given a standing ovation to a former SS officer because he was Ukrainian.
• 21:17
  Speaker A: Yes, I remember that. Wow, you're, you're. Yeah, that was that year.
• 21:20
  Speaker C: People are expressing opposition to violence now who had no problem applauding Nazi violence just a week ago. I don't believe you. That you actually care and think this is one of the most violent things that ever happened. Plus there was so much misinformation. I mean, I knew right from jump that the numbers were wrong. The claims of mass rape, I'm like, right, they're doing this highly time restricted operation, but they penciled in time for rape breaks, like, maybe we got to stop and do the mass rape. I was like, no, I'm sorry, I don't believe that. Not in a million years.
• 21:59
  Speaker A: Well, it was another, it was a keychain.
• 22:01
  Speaker C: It was Israel, who is renowned to rape Palestinian prisoners. Men, women, boys and girls.
• 22:09
  Speaker A: Systematically.
• 22:10
  Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, systematically. It's a matter of course. And they ride, they riot in the, in the years of the genocide, we've seen them riot to let rapists go free for the right to rape. They have argued about it in their courts and in the nesset. And it's just like, okay, everything you accuse the Palestinians and the Hamas of doing is what you guys are doing. So it was very clear to me who I should be on the side of. Same with Lebanon and Hezbollah. Same with Iran and the IRGC and the Iranian people. It should probably make the communists take notice that the Muslims are the ones who are giving it to Empire right now, not the communists. This idea that revolution or resistance has to come in the ideological manner you prefer, I completely reject that. Like, I don't believe the Palestinians like the Palestinians. My support for them shouldn't be contingent on whether they're doing revolution and resistance in a way that I ideologically agree with. Right, right.
• 23:19
  Speaker A: Well, I compare it.
• 23:20
  Speaker C: I don't care what I think. I'm a white American sitting over here in California. What I have to say about it really doesn't matter. All I have to do is be like, yeah, I support them and that's it. Everything else is just noise and chatter. And it drives me nuts that still, after almost three years, people will still talk about Spread the Zionist lie that Hamas was created by Israel. And that's been debunked multiple times. So when the genocide kicked off in earnest and it became clear that Biden and Harris and Blinken and Miller and those scum fucks were not going to do anything but continue supporting Israel, it made it very clear to me that I was like, all right, well, I didn't vote in 2020. I was like, I didn't vote in 2024 and I will never vote for a Democrat again as long as I live. They had a chance to stop mass slaughter and they decided that Israel was a more important ally than human lives. So I was fine. And people can scold me and lecture me all they want. I'm in California, my state's always going to go for the Democrats, so I get to not vote and be fine about it. You can just cry. Yeah, I get to. I get to make that choice. And frankly, it's also not much of a choice for me because I'm not okay with my comfort coming at the expense of other people's lives in any capacity. Whether it's those beautiful, skilled children in Manob or is those Palestinian children I see trying to find clean water in the blown out rubble that I see every day. When I have my Twitter, I have so many Palestinians hitting me up for retweets and donations and it's like I can only get to so many of them, you know?
• 25:29
  Speaker A: Yeah, me too, because even before retweeting
• 25:32
  Speaker C: anymore, I just try to donate now as opposed to just retweeting because, like, they really have slowed down on the donations. So. Yeah, I mean, it really sucks that that's all we've managed to do. The one good thing I will say, and I never thought I'd see this in my lifetime, is the massive public opinion shift against Israel. I never thought I would see Israel become a pariah state. And that is one thing that Palestinians. That Hamas. Yes. October 7. Yes. Yaya Sinwar managed to achieve an accelerationism like Israel spends hundreds of millions of dollars on PR and they can't combat the narrative anymore. They're still desperately trying. They got the licensed by TikTok. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because it's too late. As my dad and I were talking about it the other day and he's like, once you start going like this, like once you start. You see, I'm like doing a gesture and I'm off straight. Once you start going downhill, it's very hard to like go back up yeah, momentum shifts, especially with how precipitously Israel has fallen in public opinion, not just on the left and amongst liberals, but also on the right. The right is fed up with how much we're supporting Israel. I mean, it's embarrassing. The Democrats have let themselves, regardless of what you think of his motives, they've let themselves be outflanked by Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene. They should be embarrassed that they're not leaning on this issue.
• 27:17
  Speaker A: It is embarrassing. And, you know, for no other reason, that the Republicans are always trying to get somewhere. And I think Democrats are so passive and on top of the Zionism, you know, that is at the leadership level in the party, I feel like, you know, just look at the way they're dealing with Trump. You know, they're really. The way they've chosen to play this is basically to just let him run riot and destroy the world. And they can just kind of like, reflexively gain power, you know, because everyone else is fed up with him. But there's like a resolute there. They seem resolutely against providing any kind of alternative vision.
• 27:57
  Speaker B: But I guess this is a question for both of you. I live in Washington State, so. And I love my governor. He is amazing. Bob Ferguson, he just passed a millionaires tax. And so the top 1% will be taxed starting, and I believe next year, let's actually build infrastructure and childcare and all the good things. But I was going to ask you, who's your. Both of you, who's your contender for California governor?
• 28:27
  Speaker C: Probably the best hope for California right now is probably Tom Steyer. I hate to say it, but he's the only one who came out and said he wants to abolish ice. I was like. I have heard no other Democratic candidates say that. I was like, okay, Tom, okay. My mom doesn't like him because of the Prop 13 stuff.
• 28:47
  Speaker A: But, you know, I was remembering the text threads I was on with family members. As a block, we just vote blue no matter who, and just telling them about the genocide and, like, how Biden's a psycho murderer and when Harris got the nomination, or if that's how we want to characterize it, she wasn't coming out strong against the genocide. And I saw that as a real problem. And I. And beyond it being just like a moral failing, I saw it as being like a big problem for the election. The way the Democrat part, the Democratic Party is acting in this moment just says everything about what they are even going into an election, I feel like they're pumping the Brakes. And they're not. They're trying to avoid promising too much. And, and how is that any kind of, like, how is that any kind of motivating message or. Because they don't want your vote, really? If they did want your vote, then they would present you with a vision and offer commitments.
• 29:41
  Speaker C: They're too busy on the new election villain. Hasan Piker. It's all Hasan Piker. 2016 it was Chapo Trap House, now it's Hasan Piker. It's always something outside of what they're doing that is the issue. You know, and like, I get it. I know a lot of people dog on Hasan and Chapo. And yes, they're CIA. Whatever funded, whatever floats your boat conspiracy about those guys. Fine.
• 30:10
  Speaker A: That's weird. I don't know. I don't see it. I don't see it.
• 30:12
  Speaker C: When I see those, when I see those accusations, I'm just like, okay, well what are you doing about it? What efforts are you making as an antidote to it? And if all you're doing is just posting and getting mad and popping off on social media, you're part of the same media ecosystem and feeding the same beast. We all are. We all do it. That's why when I try, if I'm pointing out a behavior on Twitter I get annoyed by, I will also point at myself and say, I do this too. I'm guilty of it. And I need to check myself because I need. One of the biggest things we don't do enough of is self crit. We don't take a look at ourselves and be like, okay, how am I contributing to the discourse? How am I contributing to the movements, to possible formation of new parties of any of it? Like, you have to be like, okay, well where am I at and what am I doing in my day to day? And if all you're doing is just posting, well, then yeah, that's fine, but don't act like that puts you in a superior position to other people. We're all in the same boat.
• 31:27
  Speaker B: My only outlet for a long time I had a political blog when I was using. And to be honest, it was kind of cringe and I wish I could redo it, but my only outlet was posting. And now it's like I'm kind of removed from my homeostasis back in California. I'm kind of removed from all the people that I used to connect with. And so I'm trying to find things like Seattle dsa, like there's not much DSA coded things where I live up in like, north of Seattle. But I need to get a little bit more involved in community in order to take action. And so, you know.
• 32:12
  Speaker A: Community? Yeah, I mean, you know, asserting our humanity together, you know, in different constructive and positive ways is just one major thing that I think is ameliorative. I always get caught up on that word. And, you know, Anna was on our show a couple episodes ago, and she has this amazing substack. I might put it in the notes again here. But she said that one of the things that really kind of brightened her up this last month, which has just been brutal in terms of, you know, all just this continued decay that's happening here and especially abroad. But she. She went to a DSA meeting and they made a bunch of, like, anti ICE care packages with, like, you know, different numbers to call and, like, you know, the thing. Things to basically just, like, what to do, you know, if ICE harasses you, if you see them take somebody, and. And she just sat there and, like, with, like, a big group of people and made this stuff and then passed it out in la. And that was just. It was a small act. But I think if you add up enough of those small acts and enough people are doing them, you know, then you've got at least the start of something.
• 33:22
  Speaker C: Yeah, I'm looking to get involved. I know there's people, I think, in one of the local churches who do, like, covert grocery shopping and whatnot for undocumented immigrants. So I want to try and get involved in something like that, like helping people get groceries and basic necessities they need if they don't feel safe going out, because ICE is around things of that nature. Like, it's important to do stuff like that.
• 33:46
  Speaker B: I. I try. I. I had somebody call me their healer the other day, and I. That was. That was a really nice moment for me. I do have a lot of imposter syndrome when it comes to my job, and a lot of imposter syndrome when it comes to talking about politics, also more so than I did when. When I was using. Maybe it's because I was undiagnosed bipolar and using stimulants. Who knows?
• 34:13
  Speaker C: But, yeah, we're gonna talk a lot when you're like that.
• 34:18
  Speaker B: Manic is stimulus.
• 34:21
  Speaker C: That's. Yeah. See, I was. I was stimulants in my teens. That's what got me sober the first time. So as an adult in my early 20s, I went the opiate route, which was actually probably helpful for the manic stuff. Probably kept me out of a lot of trouble.
• 34:39
  Speaker B: I Don't know about you, but I was one of those opiate addicts that got the energy from the opiates instead of like the downers. Like, I would go on target runs every time I would get a couple of pills, you know.
• 34:52
  Speaker A: Oh, that's dangerous. Yeah.
• 34:54
  Speaker B: And, you know, who knows what I
• 34:55
  Speaker A: bought and you know, shout out to left media. You know, what we were talking, what you were talking about before with October 7th, Melanie, and like, how you were really, like, you had some foundation and knowledge of, you know, the dynamic with Palestine going into that. And so you were able to like hold, stand your ground and not get swept by this tide of propaganda. And I think for me, you know, I mean, your, your journey with that began in college. And for me it really was through the, these podcasts and like shows like Chapel and shows like, yeah, Sam Cedar and you know, and Matt Leck and, and, and then all the people that they interviewed, you know, like they had the real. Knowing that something's wrong doesn't mean that anything about that's going to change. You know, I think that's what a lot of us are facing is you can get all that, you can get education to be blue in the face, but we're still dealing with like these structures that seem insurmountable. But I think that, yeah, in terms of like allowing us to kind of see, see some of the truth and then see each other, you know, and see like minded people and kind of like figure out and then we can kind of figure out how to stand together.
• 36:02
  Speaker C: My attention span for podcasts is really depend. Depends. Like sometimes in the mood, I'm in the mood for something goof. I just throw on the Chapel boys. I just want to laugh. Then sometimes I want to do the very serious History Korea History podcast. They have fun too. I just like, it's just a different tempo. So it really depends. No, it's just, it's, it's very nice. It's. It definitely is great that we have. I mean, we had Consortium News alternate. I knew about Consortium News because I met Robert Perry through a family friend. I was very young, which was a huge honor because he was a tremendous journalist. He told me, if you're going to get into journalism to be Woodward and Bernstein, don't. Because he's like, you're more likely to end up Gary Webb if you really want to go out.
• 37:02
  Speaker A: Well, you know, it's so funny. I learned about Gary Webb, you know, Dark Alliance, Iran Contra, that whole conspiracy. It's funny. I learned about that from my dad who was really steeped in it and but man, he became like, he's got such an incoherent politics. He became like a big Biden guy and you know, like, you know, loves Obama, loves Biden and kind of like, you know, they're all very. It's funny, I was out to dinner with my parents like a year or two ago like you know, before the election and I think when Trump had finally been convicted for I think it was for rape or you know, sexual assault, but it was like he had his first felony conviction. And like we like they heard about in the restaurant, I think they like somebody texted them or whatever and they cried and they like held each other and they were just like, this is the end, you know, this is the end of Trump's reign. He's not going to be re elected. The people are going to see now that he's been convicted of a felony. And yeah, it's funny, that was another memory that got joss loose today when I was thinking about talking to you guys. Is it. But that's kind of where our, some of our parents are I think is just like, oh, I have been.
• 38:09
  Speaker C: I've got my parents on the nuke. Silicon Valley, New D.C. kill all billionaires tip right now. And my mom will probably vote down ballot Democrat but she is fed up with the Democrats. She hates them too. And she's in her 70s. I'm pushing 50. Like Democrats are losing their boomer tail end Gen X like gen xillennial cusp base. So I'm like, if you guys are losing us and you've already lost young people, you're in deep.
• 38:42
  Speaker B: I'm happy that a lot of Gen X folks have really, really become outspoken. I really love that.
• 38:52
  Speaker A: Yeah, not enough.
• 38:53
  Speaker C: We need more.
• 38:55
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, we'll keep, we'll keep, you know, planting seeds. Before I let you go, Melanie, I didn't want to ask what was the last couple things you watched and can you give us your snapshot?
• 39:06
  Speaker C: Oh yeah, here, let, let me pull up my trusty letter box. I've been watching great stuff this week. I got to see Greg Araki's new movie. I want.
• 39:17
  Speaker A: Yeah, I read your review for that.
• 39:19
  Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, no, it was so good. It was so good. One of my favorite movies I've seen this year. I mean I haven't seen a lot of new releases because the new releases have not been like I have. I have multiplex by me. I don't have a lot of repertory screenings anywhere near me. I have to go to San Diego or la, if I want to see that stuff. So I don't get to those a lot. But yeah, Greg Araki is back. He.
• 39:51
  Speaker A: Mother Mary.
• 39:52
  Speaker C: Yes. And I. I am. I did not care for the Green Knight very much. I thought it was fine. It just didn't really move me at all. But I liked Mother Mary. And as my buddy Alex and I were talking about, he's like I said, my one criticism of it is it doesn't get into the racial dynamics at all. He's like, you probably don't want David Lowry doing that. I'm like, yeah, you know what? You're right. I don't think I want him doing that. But it would have been interesting to see a director who could have gotten into that, because that was the one major weakness of the movie for me was I felt like the tension between the two women got frictionless at times. And it's because that underlying racial dynamic was untapped. But, yes, I watched that. I watched two Richard Fleischer movies, the New Centurions and See no Evil. See no Evil is the movie that Aaron calls a Secret Odor. And I have to begrudgingly agree with him on that. It's kind of a secret odor. A Secret Odor is fantastic. Amazing Stacy Keach and Georgie Scott performances. I highly recommend it. And then I rewatched Michael Clayton, A
• 41:06
  Speaker A: lot of Michael Clayton mad all over
• 41:08
  Speaker C: again that Tom Wilkinson didn't win a bunch of awards for that performance because he is he. He and Swinton and Clooney are so good. Like, it's just uncanny to me how dynamic their performances are in that movie. They're just absolutely flawless. They don't skip a beat. You know everything you need to know about these characters, their motivations in their gestures and their facial expressions and the dialogue, like you're never left wondering who you're dealing with. But, yeah, highly recommend. I want your sex. When it comes to theaters. I think it comes out in August. I'll go see it again.
• 41:51
  Speaker B: You're talking about. I just need a list.
• 41:55
  Speaker A: Well, I'm going to take you. I. I'm going to take. We're going to go to a movie next time I visit Seattle. I don't know when it's going to be, but that maybe that'll be the first movie you've seen that year. But we'll do our research and we'll make sure it's a good one. Yeah.
• 42:07
  Speaker B: Yes, we will. And there's plenty. There's plenty of, like, cute little, like, indie, Indie theaters and queer theaters that I Love over here. Well, I haven't been in them, but I've seen them and I've heard about them. So let's visit one of those. Maybe the Paramount Theater if they're showing or a play or something.
• 42:31
  Speaker A: Michael Clayton. I saw that when I was in film school in college. I was in San Francisco and I think it was. Was it 2007 or 6? Something like that? Yeah, yeah. And I'll do. I saw it by myself and all I knew was that the reviews are very good and, you know, everybody knows who George Clooney is, but like the, the other. The pedigree of everyone else. Like, I was just kind of oblivious to. But I just remember I sat through that and I was like utterly absorbed from like the first minute and when I. When the credits were rolling. And it has one of my all time favorite credits sequences, which is just a close up of Clooney's face as like the text rolls over it and
• 43:09
  Speaker C: you just see it as the credential.
• 43:11
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And you just. And you just get to watch basically like the, the preview. The events of the movie that we just watched. Like, we get to watch like those emotions fall on the main character.
• 43:23
  Speaker C: I know it's so good, but.
• 43:26
  Speaker A: Yeah, the economy of it, like, there's just. And I feel like it's a world obviously, it's like entirely unfamiliar to me. It's, you know, these like, high powered attorneys and like corporations and you know, there's like. It's. It's like if you were to read like a synopsis of the movie, it's like not. It wouldn't immediately register as like, this would be a great film. But I think, you know, it's just. That's the. That is like Cinema Power 101. Is that like. It's the way that it's told to you, you know, and it's the way that like that. And that that information is like compressed and relayed and like styled and you know, through the performances and the clip that always comes up. You were mentioning Wilkinson when he's got the baguettes and you know, and, and, and George Clooney, Michael Clayton approaches him, trying to badger him into like, coming in and, you know, laying down his sword and working with them. And then like the bulldog attorney inside, the man suffering from psychosis comes out and he does this great.
• 44:25
  Speaker C: He's like, if you wanted to contain me, Michael, you should have had me committed when I was still in the other state. Because xyz, you had the arrest, you had my outbursts you had all the evidence on your side. My favorite line of that scene is when Michael says, I'm not the enemy. And he goes, no. Then who are you?