Latest / Blocked and Reported / Episode 298: Miss Finland And The Slitty-Eyed Picture

Transcript

Episode 298: Miss Finland And The Slitty-Eyed Picture · Blocked and Reported

• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: I can just jump into it.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: No, keep this, keep this, keep this.
• 0:16
  I always like it when people understand how much polish it
• 0:18
  takes to do this,
• 0:19
  right?
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to keep that intro.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: What I was going to say is I have a bone to pick with Helen Lewis.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, because you've heard of her, right?
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_03: What did Helen do?
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: She wouldn't fucking answer the body swap question.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_03: She would fucking answer the body swap.
• 0:32
  Like if anyone is equipped to answer the body swap question,
• 0:37
  it's a bisexual.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's Lindy West.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Who knows both of us.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how I would answer.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_03: You're going to have to explain this.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 0:43
  At the end of your episode with Helen Lewis,
• 0:45
  which I'm...
• 0:46
  Which you finally listened to.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: I listened to it not a half hour ago.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: It was really well done.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: It made me think we should talk more once in a blue moon.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: If there's a really bar podish book out, we should do that more.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: This is a really good episode.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: And surely I can replicate Helen Lewis's performance.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, she's...
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_03: How's your British accent?
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Oi!
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's good.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: But in the primo section, you guys answered some listener questions.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: And who is it?
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Gia?
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_03: I think it was Gia, yeah.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Gia.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_03: Some freak, some real pervert.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: And this is,
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not reading the question directly,
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: but it was basically,
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: hey,
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: hey,
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Ellen,
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: you're a bisexual.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then it was like,
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: if you could have sex with Helen,
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Katie's body with Jesse's brain or vice versa,
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: which would you pick?
• 1:32
  And Helen,
• 1:34
  like the coward she is,
• 1:35
  she'll cover the most hot button issues in the world.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: She'll answer questions like, what is a woman?
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Stuff that the rest of us won't touch.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: She won't answer a simple question about who she'd have sex with.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_03: In a body swap situation.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_03: Well, she told me off mic, so I just didn't want to hurt your feelings.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: My feelings will be hurt either way, like you said.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Which way?
• 1:56
  No,
• 1:57
  if it's your body with my brain,
• 1:58
  I don't want to be known for my body.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone already knows me for how incredible my body is.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: So my brain and your body was her choice.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not going to tell you.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_03: This was off the record.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_03: It was private just between the two of us.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: This was off the record.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_03: She didn't tell me.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that was great.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_03: Really good questions.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_03: Really good and disgusting questions from our listeners.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_03: So if you haven't listened to that, become a primo.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_03: This is the sort of content you get when you become a primo.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_03: I actually was thinking about this today.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_03: About how,
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_03: you know,
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_03: sometimes I think when you join a podcast or a sub stack,
• 2:29
  oftentimes it's like kind of the worst parts of the content
• 2:34
  that they just like
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_03: send out as extras.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_03: I think that is false in our case.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_03: I think our best, we keep our worst stuff for the free episode.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_03: The best stuff is paid.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_03: Would you say that's true?
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:44
  And I've never understood the logic,
• 2:45
  like send your best stuff out to everyone.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: No, that shit's valuable.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely not.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, you should all become premium subscribers at blotrimported.org.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_03: I guess we just did housekeeping.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, Jesse, we have a lot to talk about today.
• 2:57
  The bulk of the show is going to be about a scandal in a
• 3:01
  Finnish beauty pageant.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_03: This became an international scandal.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_03: So we're going to talk about that in the second half of the show.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_03: But before we get to that, we have a lot of updates.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_03: Starting with Lindy West.
• 3:14
  Who became the character of the day on X this week or last week
• 3:17
  as our Freemoths
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_03: are listening to this.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_03: Another perk of the show.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_03: You get, Freemoths get the episodes early.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_03: So Lindy was interviewed for the New York Times Modern Love column.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_03: Did you read it or listen to it?
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: I did not.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_03: It's, okay.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_03: So as usual,
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_03: as typically happens when something like this,
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_03: like someone took a screenshot of a pull quote from
• 3:38
  and a photo of her and put it on x and then that went viral
• 3:41
  with people commenting
• 3:42
  on it who hadn't listened to it including you yeah but and this
• 3:47
  is one of these
• 3:47
  cases where i don't think that actually like reading the
• 3:49
  interview or listening to
• 3:50
  it would elucidate it that much more i didn't know you knew
• 3:54
  that word elucidate
• 3:55
  yeah i don't know every word oh every word yes okay we'll see
• 3:58
  about that i'll test
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: you later in every language okay okay chat gpt
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_03: I'm a scrap.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_03: I've recently become quite addicted to the New York Times Scrabble game.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_03: So my vocabulary is improving, at least on medium level.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_03: So the pull quote on this image that went viral was, I was devastated.
• 4:13
  Our initial conversation was a lot of me crying and being like,
• 4:16
  I don't want anyone else.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_03: And so this is the part that people naturally latched in, latched on to.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_03: And then if you actually read the interview or listen to it,
• 4:23
  Maybe they laughed down to it because they thought that this
• 4:25
  was about the polyamory.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_03: That's what it was.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_03: That's what it was about.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_03: They weren't wrong about that.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_03: But then she goes,
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_03: in the interview,
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_03: she goes into how she,
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_03: and in the book,
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_03: it's Ellen and I discussed,
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_03: she goes into how she actually gradually came to her independence,
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_03: and then she joined the throuple,
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_03: and everybody lived happily ever after,
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_03: although it seems like bullshit.
• 4:44
  And the reaction to this on X,
• 4:46
  I've become more and more obsessed with Lindy West's
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_03: Since reading her book, she was not a little cow.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_03: Now she is.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Just hearing about it, I was like, yeah, it was a dark listen.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_03: And so I thought...
• 5:00
  When I saw this going viral,
• 5:01
  I thought like,
• 5:02
  oh,
• 5:02
  people are going to be mean to Lindy.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_03: My prediction was like people on X are going to be really mean to Lindy,
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_03: basically just calling her a fat,
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_03: a stupid fat bitch.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, it is given who is on X right now.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: I would think that would be a good prediction.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_03: And then I thought on Blue Sky,
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_03: what would happen is people would like go girl her,
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_03: you know,
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_03: you're poly.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_03: It's cool to be poly, whatever.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_03: This is a woman reclaiming her whatever.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: Her right to have a husband who fucks multiple women.
• 5:26
  bugs other people because slavery because slavery but that's
• 5:28
  not actually i'm sorry
• 5:30
  i can't get over i admire this guy i'm sorry this is not this
• 5:35
  is also in the primo
• 5:36
  this is not the kind of guy i am but yes he said um the way
• 5:39
  lindy west explains it
• 5:40
  is he made some sort of argument that i can't even um explain
• 5:48
  right now off the top
• 5:49
  of my head but basically that having to have sex with one woman
• 5:51
  right was like
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: being owned like a slave right
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and he felt this deeper because he's black.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, this is something you and I discussed in the last promo.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, we talked about it.
• 6:05
  So my prediction when I saw Lindy going viral was fat bitch on
• 6:08
  Twitter and then
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_03: feminist hero on X,
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_03: you know,
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_03: queer feminist hero on X because she's now also fake gay.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_03: And that's not what happened.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_03: And what actually happened was pity everywhere.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_03: So, Jesse, in our notes here.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know Blue Sky was capable of pity.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's really interesting.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_03: So, I put a link here to the search on Blue Sky for Lindy West.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_03: Just click that link there in our doc.
• 6:31
  Well,
• 6:32
  I mean,
• 6:32
  I'm going to have to switch to my burner because I'm so
• 6:35
  blocked.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Let me switch account.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I recognize all these people from the bad old days.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
• 6:40
  The other half of the Lindy West thing is it really shows the
• 6:42
  tragedy inevitable
• 6:43
  and make a career based on telling extremely personal stories
• 6:46
  about yourself and
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: specifically your love life.
• 6:49
  So the person who tweeted that,
• 6:52
  I know her to be psychotic,
• 6:54
  at least in my dealings with her.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: But that's absolutely true.
• 6:56
  Someone says wishing Lindy West a pleasant divorce in the next
• 7:00
  three to five years.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: I think Helen was right about the next memoir she's going to write.
• 7:04
  I read the Lindy West article and crawled out of my skin with a
• 7:07
  selfie of her looking disgusted.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's a lot of this.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_03: Did you see the Emily Nussbaum tweet?
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: I did.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: That was one of the top ones.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_03: She says, what does Lindy West think of Lily Allen's album?
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_03: Do you get that?
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: I don't.
• 7:19
  I mean,
• 7:19
  I obviously know who Lily Allen is,
• 7:20
  but what was the controversy of Lily Allen's album?
• 7:22
  So she put out an album earlier,
• 7:24
  or last year,
• 7:25
  I guess late last year,
• 7:26
  about her husband.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_03: She was married to the guy from The Adult in Stranger Things, that actor.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_03: I can't remember his name.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_03: And he – very similar situation.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_03: Like, he – it was basically, like, coercive polyamory.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_03: And this album is, like, scorched earth.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: And can I – Lily Allen is, like, the fucking –
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean,
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not a pop culture guy,
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: but she's like undeniably incredibly cool,
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: like highest social status imaginable for a woman,
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: and she gets sucked into something like that?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_03: I think that your conception of pop culture stopped in like 2007.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: I think that like... No, I know, come on.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: There's a British artist I know called Jamie T,
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: and she does really good vocals for one of the songs,
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: and I know some of her songs is like 2008 shit,
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: but still,
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: she's still a very,
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: she's like our age.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: She's very high status.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_03: She's our age.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_03: That's the problem.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_03: She's...
• 8:16
  like cool now is like tiktokers we have never heard you think
• 8:20
  you think your age
• 8:21
  yes lily allen would be cool but you think that's what anyway
• 8:23
  sorry continue i just
• 8:24
  find it crazy that like anyway sorry go ahead you find it crazy
• 8:28
  that someone has
• 8:29
  like high status as lily allen would have a man who's like i
• 8:31
  have to fuck other
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_03: people even if it's not because of slavery
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: And that she'd be like, she'd be okay with it if she wasn't.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I don't think she was okay with it.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_03: If you listen to her album.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, more tweets.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_03: The Lindy West modern love is oof.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_03: I have my issues with her, but yikes, sis, throw the whole man out.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: Oof.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: Wait, so this person unironically says oof and yikes in the same tweet?
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's so awesome.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: I love Blue Sky.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: I was wrong about Blue Sky.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so it's mostly that.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_03: So even on Blue Sky, people feel bad for her.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm just curious as to how this is going to play out.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I'm sure the reviews will be good.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sure the book will sell well.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_03: But she, you know, on the one hand, like I have to give it to her.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_03: She like did this like very vulnerable thing.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_03: But also if the reaction is the whole world.
• 9:13
  telling you to dump the motherfucker already like how is this i
• 9:17
  just don't think
• 9:17
  that the that the empowering narrative of like finding yourself
• 9:21
  enjoying the crop
• 9:22
  the throuple and realizing that you're bisexual i don't think
• 9:24
  that's coming through
• 9:25
  that was this whole thing yeah i should i read the memoir you
• 9:29
  should i don't think
• 9:30
  you would enjoy it but you should read it i'll send it to you
• 9:33
  she really did a road
• 9:34
  trip and just didn't well we don't need to rehash everything
• 9:36
  you said okay okay so
• 9:37
  that is our lindy west update there will probably be more when
• 9:40
  does he get to write
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: a memoir why is he being silenced
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_03: You know, he's a trumpet player.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know if he... I guess he does write.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_03: He did make a couple movies.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: He should at least get to write a trumpet solo about the relationship.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_03: That's pretty good.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: I get to have texts with whoever I want.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_03: Okay,
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_03: we also have an update on Charles Chuck Chuckles Johnson,
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_03: who we did an episode about with anti-racist...
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: A.K.A.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Fuckles.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_03: I was texting with Richard Hanania about Chuckles today.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_03: Or not texting.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_03: I was emailing.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm canceling you.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_03: And he said that he finds Chuckles highly fuckable.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know if this was off the record or on the record.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_03: I'm saying it's on the record.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_03: He said highly fuckable.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_03: I said he had the sex appeal of a sponge, a dish sponge.
• 10:24
  Anyway,
• 10:24
  the update is not about Richard Hanania wanting to koodle with
• 10:29
  him.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_03: It is about...
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_03: His legal problem.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_03: So Jesse, remind people who Charles Chuck Chuckle Johnson is.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Just a legendary internet troll who somehow cozied up to folks like J.D.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Vance and Peter Thiel, powerful people on the right.
• 10:43
  Lots of false accusations,
• 10:45
  including Senator Bob Medendez soliciting underage pro.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_03: That he has made...
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_03: He would say false accusations made at him,
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_03: but he has...
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_03: In fact,
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_03: what you were saying is he has made false accusations.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: He has made... Well, I'm sure both.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure he's been... Well, he shit on the floor, according to Gawker.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_03: But we don't know if it was in the bathroom, the hallway.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: We don't know if that's a false accusation.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: He has...
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Been accused of making a lot of false accusations.
• 11:08
  He was sued for defamation after falsely accusing an anti-Trump
• 11:11
  protester of
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: killing Heather Heyer in Charlottesville.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's at the Unite the Right rally.
• 11:16
  Claimed to have access to a sexual harassment suit against
• 11:18
  Chuck Schumer based on a forgery.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: He also has wild stories we've gone over in the past about...
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: his ties to intelligence and arm stealers, I think, and shit like that.
• 11:29
  He was sued by former business associates in 2024 and was
• 11:33
  ordered to pay a lot of
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: money,
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: tens of millions of dollars.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it was like $70 million.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_03: So the last time we checked in with Chuck,
• 11:39
  he was locked up in a Texas County jail after failing to comply
• 11:43
  with court orders
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_03: and also stealing a mug and bottled water from the courtroom.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_03: He was also facing outstanding charges for wire fraud.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_03: Of course, Chuck explained to the court that it wasn't him.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_03: It was his government handler.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_03: So the update is this.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_03: Chuck is finally out of jail.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_03: Chuck has been freed.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_03: And this was a real roller coaster of a case.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_03: So he was let out of jail in late January.
• 12:07
  He claimed to have been assaulted by other inmates who they
• 12:11
  said he was a child
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_03: molester,
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_03: probably because he's a ginger.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_03: The judge let him out, but his freedom was short-lived.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_03: So right after he was released from jail,
• 12:19
  there was a hearing over a contempt of court charge and the
• 12:23
  order to release was
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_03: rescinded.
• 12:25
  But then a few days later,
• 12:26
  Chuck was released again and he put out this statement.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_03: So Jesse, please read this excerpt.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: I lost 31 pounds after the 77 days I spent in jail,
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: 51 of which were spent in solitary confinement.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_03: I think that sounds great.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_03: People always say that solitary confinement is torture.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_03: I would want solitary confinement.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: I know, but you're a freak.
• 12:43
  It's totally torture,
• 12:43
  although I don't believe anything Chuck Johnson says.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Even Chuck Johnson.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: If anyone does deserve solitary confinement,
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: it's Chuck Johnson,
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: but even Chuck Johnson doesn't deserve solitary confinement.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_03: How is it worse to be around a bunch of degenerate
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_03: Con artists and violent people who are farting and shitting.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think you're picturing like a motel, just you're alone in a motel room.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's a box.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uber Eats.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a little.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_03: No, I've never used Uber Eats in my life.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_03: It would be hard.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_03: It would be a box.
• 13:15
  I assume that I would get very strong that all I would do is
• 13:17
  spend my time doing.
• 13:19
  push-ups and like writing notches on the wall day by day trying
• 13:23
  to track the time.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: This is your worst take yet.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: I lost 31 pounds after the 77 days I spent in jail,
• 13:28
  51 of which were spent in solitary confinement in one of the
• 13:31
  most corrupt jails in
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: the country.
• 13:32
  Indeed,
• 13:33
  while I was there,
• 13:33
  the sheriff who oversees the jail was indicted.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Am I continuing to read?
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Keep going.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: I was not idle and I wrote over 400 pages.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: See?
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's like a writer's retreat.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: And read dozens of books.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: Wait, dozens of books in 77 days?
• 13:47
  That's so...
• 13:48
  I wish...
• 13:49
  Okay,
• 13:49
  now I want to be solitary,
• 13:50
  confined for the productivity.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_03: I'm talking... You would have finished your book way before.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: I am talking to publisher and studios, dot, dot, dot.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: My opponents have claimed that I was not a CHS.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_03: That's confidential human source.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_03: So that's like confidential in format.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: But the record is clear.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: I was among the very best.
• 14:03
  I could not turn over documents to the law firm of the very
• 14:06
  people we were
• 14:06
  investigating without violating my oath as a confidential
• 14:09
  informant and potentially
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: incurring criminal sanctions.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: Every sentence I read, I lose brain cells.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: Do I have to continue?
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I keep continuing.
• 14:18
  I am pleased with the court receivers in this case and I've
• 14:20
  already been assisting them.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: And though it cost me and my family tremendously,
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: my parents mortgaged their home while my assets were frozen.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: I've kept my commitment.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, even now I stand ready to be of service to the country I love.
• 14:31
  I think that's what they look for in a confidential informant
• 14:34
  is someone who talks
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_03: a lot about his service.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: A lot.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: The first rule of spy club is you talk about being a spy a lot.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_03: So Chucky's now out of jail,
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_03: and he's supposed to keep quiet,
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_03: although we will see how long that lasts.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so he's probably back in jail by the time you hear this.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yes,
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_03: I think maybe the wildest thing about his story that he was,
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_03: in fact,
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_03: a confidential informant for the FBI,
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_03: although like that is true.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_03: That is verified.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_03: Not apparently a super credible one, as far as I can tell.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_03: So last month,
• 15:04
  the London Times posted an article about Jeffrey Epstein and
• 15:07
  his supposed link to
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_03: Mossad.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_03: You know, one of the persistent rumors is that he was working for Israel.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_03: And they included this sentence.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_03: So everything he said was true.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_03: I wouldn't go that far,
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_03: but quoting from Semaphore here,
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_03: the source offers no evidence and their name is redacted in the document,
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_03: but you can find the same case number.
• 15:46
  The redactions are incredibly sloppy in a related document and
• 15:50
  it reveals that the
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_03: source is Charles C.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_03: Johnson,
• 15:52
  a famous troll and occasional Holocaust denier recently found
• 15:55
  liable in a fraud
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_03: scheme that involved impersonating an intelligence agent.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_03: London Times did not mention that.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_03: It seems like they should have.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I would think so.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_03: But he is currently out of jail, and we'll see how long he stays out.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: Any other updates, Katie?
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, we have at least two more, maybe three, I think two.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_03: All right, Chop Chaz.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_03: You remember that old thing, Summer of Love and all that?
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yes,
• 16:14
  it was a neighborhood during the Summer of Love in 2020 that
• 16:18
  would have been a
• 16:18
  utopia if not for all the people who were murdered in the
• 16:21
  cop-free neighborhood,
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: autonomous zone.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_03: So CHOP,
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_03: this was the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest,
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_03: nay CHAZ,
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_03: the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone,
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_03: renamed,
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_03: I assume,
• 16:30
  because CHAZ sounds like the name of a Fordham student
• 16:33
  interning at Goldman Sachs.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_03: So yes,
• 16:35
  this was the area in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood that
• 16:37
  was occupied by
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_03: protesters following George Floyd's death.
• 16:41
  The police actually withdrew from their own precincts,
• 16:45
  which was in Chop Chas.
• 16:46
  So the idea was that this was going to be this model of what a
• 16:49
  community could do
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_03: without policing.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_03: And there were activities,
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_03: live music,
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_03: art events,
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_03: a community garden,
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_03: and several rapes and murders.
• 16:56
  And on the left,
• 16:57
  Chop Chas became a symbol of community organizing and the power
• 17:01
  of protest.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_03: And on the right, lawlessness and dysfunction.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_03: And to some degree...
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_03: Both things were true.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_03: I visited several times,
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_03: and during the day,
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_03: it did feel a bit like a street fair,
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_03: although I suspect that was not the vibe at night,
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_03: you know,
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_03: when people were being raped and murdered.
• 17:15
  And conservatives were right when they said it was bad for
• 17:18
  local business.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_03: So Nellie Bowles did some great reporting on this for The New York Times,
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_03: and she interviewed,
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_03: among other people,
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_03: the owner of this very sweet little coffee shop called Cafe Argento.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_03: I actually took your brother there, Jesse.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 17:29
  And the owner was this gay guy who moved from Texas because he
• 17:33
  wanted to be he was
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_03: Middle Eastern.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_03: He wanted to be someplace more liberal.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_03: And he,
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_03: along with other business owners and residents,
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_03: actually ended up suing the city for abandoning the area.
• 17:41
  And they claimed that it harmed their businesses and put public
• 17:44
  safety at rest.
• 17:44
  And they ended up settling with the city in 2023 for three
• 17:49
  point six five million.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_03: So the update is about another lawsuit that recently concluded.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_03: So the city was sued by the family of Antonio Mays Jr.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_03: He was one of two teenagers who were shot and killed within Chop Chaz.
• 18:00
  And the family argued that the city was negligent and emergency
• 18:03
  responders failed
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_03: to provide timely care when Antonio was shot.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_03: So basically what happened is that there was a shooting inside Chop.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_03: The police and emergency responders refused to enter.
• 18:13
  So bystanders had to transport him out of the zone to the
• 18:16
  ambulance and he was still alive.
• 18:19
  And the family argued that he could have survived if he'd
• 18:22
  received immediate care.
• 18:23
  And last month,
• 18:24
  a jury decided the case in the family's favor and awarded them
• 18:27
  $30 million.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: Good for them, man.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: This total abdication of any responsibility,
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: like we're just going to hand over this neighborhood,
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: remains very crazy to this day.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_03: So there have been at least eight lawsuits over Chop Chaz.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_03: Antonio Mace, his friend Robert West, was also shot in the same incident.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_03: He was just 14.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_03: He lost an eye and has other very serious injuries.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_03: He's currently suing the city.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_03: The family of 19-year-old Lorenzo Anderson,
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_03: who was also killed,
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_03: they sued the city and settled in 2022 for $500K.
• 18:58
  And there was a suit filed by over 50 protesters claiming that
• 19:00
  police use excessive force.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_03: They settled for $10 million in 2024.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_03: And there was a whistleblower suit bought by two public employees.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_03: The city settled that one for $2.3 million.
• 19:11
  And there was a suit by the Seattle Times over city officials
• 19:13
  deleting public records.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_03: And that one cost the city or their insurers $200K.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_03: So the Summer of Love was, if nothing else, really fucking expensive.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: That whole thing just didn't really work out.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_03: Not so much, no.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_03: Next update.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_03: Jesse, who was Brian Johnson?
• 19:27
  He's the fitness influencer who had a boner contest with his
• 19:32
  high school age son.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_03: That is a way to put it.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know if were they competing or was it just like a discussion?
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: He was curious about his teenage son's boners versus his boners.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_03: He measures everything.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_03: He's like a dated head.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_03: So he,
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_03: yes,
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_03: like not just like sleep patterns,
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_03: but like nighttime erections and things like that.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, he's a big data guy.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: He does look very young.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think he looks young.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_03: I think he looks good for his age, but I don't think he looks young.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_03: But he's basically been doing this 40 plus version of looks maxing.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_03: He's been doing this for years.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_03: He sells lots of products related to his various protocols.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_03: He has a very regimented, very strange life.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_03: And we did an episode on Brian Johnson in 2024.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_03: We actually got a demand letter over that episode because of our use of a
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_03: screenshot of a tweet that included a photo of Brian Johnson.
• 20:24
  We've mentioned this before,
• 20:25
  but we ended up settling before a lawsuit was filed.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_03: We just paid this like shitty.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: There will be an episode on this at some point.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_03: Anyway, giant headache.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_03: Don't recommend it.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_03: But that episode was largely about a legal battle between Johnson and his
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_03: ex-girlfriend and former employee Taryn Southern.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_03: So do you remember what she alleged, Jesse?
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: No, I just remember very abusive and coercive.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, not great.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: I don't remember the details, to be honest.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_03: So among other things,
• 20:47
  she claimed that he was controlling and coercive and that he
• 20:50
  forced her out of
• 20:50
  their shared home and fired her from his company when she was
• 20:53
  undergoing treatment
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_03: for stage three breast cancer.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_03: That was kind of the big thing.
• 20:58
  She also says that he pressured her to sign a separation
• 21:00
  agreement that would
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_03: penalize her $500,000 every time she broke an NDA.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 21:05
  She says that he promised to pay her $150,000 to move out of
• 21:08
  the house after their
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_03: breakup and didn't do it.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_03: He denies all this.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_03: He says he supported her through her entire cancer treatment.
• 21:14
  He does have his own receipts showing him present at various
• 21:17
  appointments,
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_03: including at surgeries and at her bell ringing ceremony.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, that's marks the last day of treatment.
• 21:23
  He also later said that he was afraid she was going to murder
• 21:26
  him with scissors and
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's just like normal relationship stuff.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_03: But she sued him.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_03: He petitioned to have that suit move to arbitration,
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_03: which was part of this separation agreement that she signed.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_03: He won in arbitration.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_03: And as part of that separation agreement, the winner got legal fees.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_03: So she had to pay him like half a million dollars.
• 21:43
  Now,
• 21:44
  the arbitrator did not make a decision on whether or not her
• 21:46
  claims were true or false.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_03: This was purely about the terms of the contract.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_03: But after he won, Johnson framed this victory as exoneration.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_03: So he posted this 16-minute video.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: I remember he like really badly misconstrued what happened.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: So, yeah, he posted this very long video.
• 22:02
  It went very viral claiming that he was a victim of a shakedown
• 22:04
  by a scorn woman.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_03: He called it the dark underground accusation economy.
• 22:08
  He was sort of leaning into like post me to allegation,
• 22:12
  like false allegations.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_03: But he did.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_03: He prevailed in the end.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_03: That part is partially true.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_03: He was not exonerated by the arbitrator, but he did win.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_03: And our former researcher,
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_03: Tracy Woodgrains,
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_03: aka Jack Despain Zoo,
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_03: he did the heavy lifting on that episode.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_03: So he did a ton of research on this case,
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_03: not just for us,
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_03: but for another substacker who goes by the name Raspy Aspy.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_03: Raspy Aspy saw Johnson's video.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_03: He started looking at the legal documents himself.
• 22:37
  He saw that Taryn Southern was bound by a gag order so she
• 22:39
  couldn't defend herself,
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_03: and he hired Tracy to do more digging.
• 22:42
  So Trace ended up posting most of what he found rather than on
• 22:46
  Raspi Aspi's sub stack.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_03: Trace posted on this long Twitter thread.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_03: So Jesse, just read the top of this here.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now that I've read all thousand plus pages of arbitration documents.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus, Trace.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: I screwed twice.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: Does he mean screwed up?
• 22:59
  yes i screwed no because okay what it says is i screwed twice
• 23:03
  actually good for you
• 23:04
  trace first i nodded along to at brian johnson's account of his
• 23:08
  experience based on
• 23:09
  my own prejudices this was foolish of me and i regret it then i
• 23:12
  laughed along with
• 23:13
  him and millions of others when he tried to push people into
• 23:15
  denying events that
• 23:16
  actually happened because i didn't like the people who were
• 23:18
  speaking against him
• 23:19
  and wanted to see them taken down a peg because truth matters
• 23:22
  because i was so
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: wrong here's the truth
• 23:24
  So then he went into what he found when he read all these legal
• 23:26
  documents.
• 23:26
  And basically what he found was that Brian Johnson misconstrued
• 23:30
  this sort of victory.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_03: And the update is that Brian Johnson has subpoenaed all of Raspi Aspi's
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_03: communications about him.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_03: Really?
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 23:38
  And this is all part of a different lawsuit than the one that
• 23:40
  ended in arbitration.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_03: So in 2024, Taryn Southern filed a complaint against Colonel.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_03: So that's one of Johnson's companies, the one that she worked for.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_03: She filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Bureau,
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_03: which for our non-American listeners is a
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_03: federal agency that, among other things, adjudicates labor disputes.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_03: So they're basically a referee for labor law.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_03: Jesse, guess who's representing Terrence Southern?
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: Lindy West.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_03: Matt Brooding.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_03: Good for him.
• 24:04
  So he's representing both Terrence Southern and at least two
• 24:06
  other former employees
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_03: of Johnson's.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_03: He's arguing that Johnson's non-disclosures violated labor law.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_03: I'll post a New York Times article about this in the show notes,
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_03: but the subpoena of Raspy Aspie has to do with this case.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_03: And Raspiasi is fighting this.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_03: So he posted this on his own subsac.
• 24:24
  Quote,
• 24:24
  because he,
• 24:25
  so that's Johnson,
• 24:26
  is more of a coward than he's an idiot.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_03: He is abusing the non-party subpoena process issued as part of an ongoing
• 24:31
  arbitration between him and his ex-fiance instead of coming
• 24:34
  after me directly,
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_03: which limits the legal defenses I have available.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 24:56
  And I was a bit mystified by the subpoena because race hasn't
• 24:59
  gotten subpoenaed.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_03: We haven't heard anything.
• 25:01
  I hope we don't or we're going to have to turn over all of our
• 25:04
  checks calling Brian
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_03: Johnson,
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_03: the hottest,
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_03: most virile baby blood drinker.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_03: It's just the coolest guy.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_03: His skin is so glossy.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: You could see your coolest guy.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_03: Also very smart and amazing boyfriend.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_03: Please don't sue us.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_03: So I was curious about.
• 25:16
  So I was just sort of mystified as to why he would be
• 25:18
  subpoenaing raspy aspy.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_03: But he told me this in an email.
• 25:23
  It was and still is my belief that Brian Johnson only started
• 25:26
  lying so egregiously
• 25:27
  about Terrence Southern in public because he didn't realize
• 25:29
  that almost all of the
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_03: documents from his private arbitral proceedings with her were public.
• 25:33
  So his theory is that Brian Johnson thinks that he got these
• 25:37
  documents that Trace
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_03: read from Lauren Southern,
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_03: which he did not.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_03: He got them like through PACER.
• 25:43
  So he's trying to get her on that using raspy-aspy's
• 25:47
  communications to do it.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_03: That's his theory.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: Best of luck to friend of the pod, Brian Johnson.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_03: No, no, Jesse, to Raspy Aspy, not to Brian Johnson.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: No, I'm on Brian Johnson's side.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: Brian Johnson has been wronged by so...
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: Whoever has the most power to sue people is the person I will side with.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's why I'm a big Donald Trump guy.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, Jesse, on to our main event.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_03: So why don't we do housekeeping before we get to this?
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_03: Will you do it?
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: We are a podcast.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: We are called Blocked and Reported.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: You can find us at blockedreported.org,
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: where you can also find the best way to support us,
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: which is to become a premium subscriber,
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: which gives you access.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_03: You get the good shit.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_03: All of this, this is like the dregs.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_03: This is the bad shit.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: This is just garbage.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: We suck.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: No, this is great, but that's even better.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, extra content.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: You get to hear Helen Lewis answer our listeners' questions.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: You get often early or exclusive access to meetups and events.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: Stuff like that.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: Should we do a live soon?
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we should.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_03: You want to do it right now?
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: Set the date to Wednesday, March 11th.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, we'll do it.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_03: I'll put it on the calendar right now.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_03: What time?
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm now scared.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: Well, can we do like 5 p.m.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: Western?
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, no, wait.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: We have the West Coast Advantage.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we can do 5 p.m.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: 3 p.m.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: No, 3 p.m.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: Western, 6 p.m.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: Eastern.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_03: I'm putting it on my calendar right now.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_03: Live.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_03: All right, 3 p.m.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_03: Pacific time on March 11th.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_03: Jesse and I will do a live.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_03: You want to do an AMA?
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: Let's figure it out.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe a hybrid.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: We'll be able to come up with stuff.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:16
  If we're going to do an AMA,
• 27:18
  we'll send out an AMA solicitation to our primos.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: But we haven't decided yet if that's going to be the format.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_03: So stay tuned for that.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_03: Anything else?
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely not.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_03: Jesse, our main event today is another international scandal.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_03: This one taking place in Finland.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_03: Have you been to Finland?
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: I have.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: I took a boat from Tallinn, Estonia.
• 27:36
  This would have been not too long before we started this
• 27:39
  podcast,
• 27:39
  within a year or two.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_03: That's how you measure time, before podcast, after podcast.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: BP, AP.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then you take this amazing ferry across to Helsinki.
• 27:50
  And what I remember the most is there's really steep taxes on
• 27:54
  liquor in Finland
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: because they constantly drink themselves to death.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: Because what else are you going to do?
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: You're in Finland.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_03: You know,
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_03: that's actually so the Sinclair method,
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_03: which was what my book is about,
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_03: was developed in Finland.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: Naturally.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_03: By a researcher who worked for their like state alcohol distributor.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: I mean,
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not trying to overgeneralize,
• 28:14
  but literally every single Finnish person drinks himself to
• 28:16
  death by age 25.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's just science.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway,
• 28:19
  the Finns would come down to Estonia where they don't have
• 28:22
  those taxes by massive
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: amounts of booze.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I saw people on this ferry with like pallets of booze.
• 28:29
  And there was like live traditional folk music in a big theater
• 28:33
  on the boat.
• 28:33
  And I don't know if it was Finnish folk music or Estonian,
• 28:36
  but it was great.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_03: Could you do a rendition for us?
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_03: That sounded very authentic.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, I only saw Helsinki.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: It was a very beautiful city, very quiet.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: They seem like introverted people.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's a youth place.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_03: I have not been to Finland,
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_03: but I hear they let babies nap alone outside in the winter,
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_03: which sounds amazing to me.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm always telling new parents, leave your baby outside in the snow.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_03: They don't listen for some reason.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, so our story today is about a Finnish beauty queen.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_03: Her name is Sarah, like, Jaffe?
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_03: Jaffe?
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_03: It's spelled D-Z-A-F-C-E.
• 29:10
  Jessica,
• 29:10
  the 80s baby,
• 29:11
  when she was putting these notes together,
• 29:12
  she said pronunciation.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_03: You're on your own for this one.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_03: I'm just going to call her Sarah.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: Zafka.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, Zafka.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_03: Jesse, what's your take on beauty pageants?
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: Are you a big pageant guy?
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: Involving women or children?
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_03: Either one.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a big child beauty pageant follower.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have kids participating.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: I just really like them.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_03: You just go.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: I just go.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: Beauty pageants.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: What's my take?
• 29:32
  I think they're incredibly empowering and wonderful unless
• 29:36
  people get mad at me for
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: saying that,
• 29:38
  in which case I think they're just the latest sign of the
• 29:40
  patriarchy's iron grip
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: over every woman.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_03: Such a centrist.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_03: I've always been pretty judgmental of beauty pageants.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_03: They seem so anti-feminist, right?
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_03: Parading around, being pretty.
• 29:51
  But now I wonder if my own conceptions of feminism were
• 29:54
  actually kind of misogynistic.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_03: When I was younger,
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_03: if I were asked to paint a picture of the ideal feminist,
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_03: it would have been someone like me,
• 30:02
  like a muff diver who refused to shave for political as well as
• 30:05
  dry skin reasons.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_03: I basically considered the best feminist to be as masculine as possible,
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_03: which when you think about it,
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_03: is a little sexist.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_03: And really,
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_03: I should have been into beauty pageants because,
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_03: as you might expect,
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_03: because you're also a sexist,
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_03: there can be a lot of drama within these contests.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_03: And I do love drama.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't surprise me.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: But give me an example of the good beauty contest drama.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_03: Okay,
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_03: so at the 2025 Miss Universe pageant,
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_03: there was some controversy because during the event,
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_03: this was held in Bangkok,
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_03: Miss Chile posted a video of herself pretending to snort cocaine.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_03: I assume the issue was that she stole this bit from Miss Columbia.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_03: She later apologized and blamed her makeup artist.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's racist.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: Should we just apologize now or wait until people get mad at us?
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: When do we do our apology?
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_03: Then the pageant director publicly chastised Miss Mexico.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_03: She called her a dumb head.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: A dumb head?
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: A dumb head, yes.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: Is that like a failed translation?
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_03: Tonto Caballo, maybe, yeah.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: Miss Mexico.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: Loco en la cabeza?
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_03: What is that?
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_03: Crazy?
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: Crazy that.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 31:07
  Miss Mexico then walked out on a live stream,
• 31:10
  as did several of the other contestants.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_03: There were also allegations of favoritism and bad management.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_03: Several judges and officials resigned.
• 31:18
  And after a video went viral that appeared to show Miss Israel
• 31:21
  giving the first
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_03: ever Miss Palestine a side eye,
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_03: Miss Israel allegedly received death threats and rape threats.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_03: Also, Miss Jamaica fell off the stage.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: That last one's true.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: You're not just being racist.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_03: No, that's true.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_03: Why would it be racist to say that Miss Jamaica fell off the stage?
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: Because she got too high.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't say that.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't say that at all.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_03: You're replying that.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: On reefer.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_03: So it was a turbulent year for the Miss Universe contest.
• 31:46
  But the biggest incident by far happened after the competition
• 31:49
  had finished.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_03: And the tiaras and sashes were stowed away for another year.
• 31:54
  So as I mentioned,
• 31:55
  Miss Finland 2025 was Sarah Jaffe,
• 31:58
  whose name I'm surely mispronouncing.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_03: She's half Finnish, half Kosovoan.
• 32:03
  And she spent a lot of time shortly after she was crowned
• 32:05
  talking about her
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_03: experiences with racism.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_03: And of course,
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_03: in an American context,
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_03: that's like,
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_03: why don't white violence,
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_03: you know,
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_03: if any European here said that he or she was a person of color,
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_03: we'd be like,
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_03: Hassan,
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_03: no.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_03: But I do think this demonstrates how stupid race is.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_03: Like Kim Kardashian, who is Armenian, is considered white.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_03: But Drake, who is also white, is considered a person of color.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I do.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_03: So anyway,
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_03: Miss Finland,
• 32:30
  she'd been outspoken about her own experiences as an ethnic
• 32:33
  minority in Finland.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_03: And Finland is one of the most ethnically homogenous nations on Earth.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_03: So about 90% of the population is ethnic Finns.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_03: About 10% is foreign born.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_03: And of that group, the largest bloc is Russian.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_03: They also have a very interesting indigenous population.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_03: So Jesse, do you know about the Sami people?
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
• 32:50
  if you go to either – I've been to little bits of both Sweden
• 32:55
  and Finland,
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: and the Sami are the people I think more up in the north.
• 32:58
  They're like an indigenous – I think it gets like actual Arctic
• 33:01
  Circle up there.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: I know they're like reindeer herders stereotypically.
• 33:05
  I put a picture of some – like a stock photo of the Sami people
• 33:09
  or Sami people in
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_03: our notes here.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so just describe that photo.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: Without being offensive or with?
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_03: Either one.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_03: It's fine.
• 33:16
  I mean,
• 33:17
  they look like white people dressed up in sort of like...
• 33:20
  Costumes.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: Midsommar.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's the film Midsommar.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_03: A little bit.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: So they're wearing their traditional... I thought the Sammy were like...
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: Now that I say this out loud,
• 33:31
  it makes no sense because they're completely descended from
• 33:34
  like parts of the
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: world.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: They've been cut off from one another for a while.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_03: You think they were Asian?
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: No,
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: I thought they had that sort of the look of like Inuit,
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_00: like just like darker skin and stuff.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, these folks are white looking.
• 33:44
  That would be like the other side of Russia,
• 33:46
  like the Siberians would have that.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: Right, because they came across the Barrett Strait.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a completely different population.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_03: So these people...
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: These folks would be...
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: If they were dressed in different clothes,
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'd think these are white people.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_03: They are white.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, they are indigenous.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: No, that's... Well, okay.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: So, wait, hold on.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: You're telling them they're not allowed to identify as minoritized.
• 34:04
  No,
• 34:04
  I'm saying that the indigenous people of Finland are white,
• 34:07
  are Caucasian.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's... And as you say that, you don't realize how racist that is.
• 34:11
  So,
• 34:12
  in this photo,
• 34:13
  which I cannot...
• 34:13
  Wait,
• 34:13
  were you saying white with capital W or lowercase w?
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, white does not usually get capitalized.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it only gets capitalized on, like, what's the Stormer website?
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_03: The Stormer websites.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_03: So...
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_03: The photo that we have here,
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_03: which I can't put in our notes because I don't want to get sued,
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_03: is these very white looking people.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: And just to be clear,
• 34:30
  it's three Sammy people and then Brian Johnson's in the
• 34:33
  background flexing.
• 34:34
  These three Sammy people in their indigenous costumes and
• 34:37
  they're in front of a
• 34:38
  teepee and they're so white that they look like they should be
• 34:42
  canceled for
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_03: gentrifying the teepee.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: They look like this is like a party,
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: like Sammy frat party theme and that they're about to get canceled.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: Except this is actually them.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 34:52
  So it is among- It's interesting that you and I are both-
• 34:56
  Compared to these people,
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_03: we are people of color.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_03: That's how white they are.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: Well,
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: no,
• 34:59
  but there is something genuinely interesting that we are so
• 35:03
  fascinated in making
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: fun of the fact that they look like they're just white,
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: but they're dressed in a way we find unusual for white people.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_00: I think we're actually being racist for the first time on the show.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's been almost six years.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, when's the anniversary?
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_03: I think April.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_03: Happy anniversary.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's March.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: You don't remember when we fucking started the podcast.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: Oh,
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_03: it's March because it was like,
• 35:23
  I think our podcast anniversary is like the day before my
• 35:26
  wedding anniversary,
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_03: which I also don't remember.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_03: I'm going to have to look that up.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'll get my... Don't celebrate.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: Do you celebrate one more than the other?
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_03: The only thing I celebrate is Moose's birthday.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so let's get to this scandal now.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_03: Okay,
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_03: so it's among this population,
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_03: among this very,
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_03: very white place,
• 35:41
  that Miss Finland is an ethnic minority who has herself
• 35:44
  experienced racism and has
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_03: talked much about it.
• 35:47
  That's a big part of her identity,
• 35:48
  but that would not help her in this particular scandal.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_00: Well, so what is a scandal?
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_03: So this started in November last year when a photo of Miss Finland,
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_03: Sarah,
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_03: went viral on social media.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_03: So Jesse, please describe this photo.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's a woman who...
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: pulling her eyes back.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_03: She's doing China eyes.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_00: She's doing China eyes.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_03: And smiling.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 36:09
  And it says,
• 36:15
  If she's going to be racist,
• 36:16
  I'm going to be racist in pronouncing the Finnish.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_03: So that translates to eating with a Chinese.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: Eating with a Chinese.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 36:26
  And she,
• 36:27
  okay,
• 36:27
  but she,
• 36:28
  someone posted a screenshot of her having posted this.
• 36:31
  OK,
• 36:32
  so this was the photo of her was originally shared in a private
• 36:36
  group chat.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_03: So her friend took this photo, put it in their front group chat.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_03: And according to Sarah,
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_03: it was the friend who added the caption eating with the Chinese,
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_03: not her.
• 36:46
  But this soon broke free from the group chat and started
• 36:49
  circulating across social media.
• 36:51
  And at first it was contained to a social networking site
• 36:54
  that's really only used
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_03: in a few countries in Northern Europe.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_03: But soon the story broke into the news in Finland.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_03: Sarah herself quickly made a statement.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_03: So she said,
• 37:03
  I was eating at a restaurant with a friend and I had a severe
• 37:05
  headache and pain in
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_03: my eyes.
• 37:07
  I leaned against the table and rubbed my temples and stretched
• 37:09
  my eyes because it
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_03: relieved the pressure.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_03: My friend found the situation funny and said, hey, let me take a picture.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_03: I smiled at the camera and he wrote his own text on it.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_03: The text is not mine and it is not related to my purpose in any way.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_03: Do you buy it, Jesse?
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_03: She does not look like someone suffering from a migraine in that photo.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: She's smiling.
• 37:26
  She looks like she either is about to or just did say something
• 37:29
  very offensive in a
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_00: certain accent.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_03: And we actually don't know.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_03: We don't know.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_00: We have no idea.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm judging a book by – I'm just judging by this one screenshot.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_03: And as you can probably tell, other people didn't buy this either.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_03: So there was more backlash.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_03: And Sarah decided to take a different tactic.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_03: So a few days later, she posted a video on Instagram.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_03: It's been taken down, but here's a screenshot.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_03: So Jesse, can you describe that?
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it just says her, Miss Sammy 2025.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: What am I looking at here?
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_03: Okay,
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_03: so she's in a first-class flight,
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_03: and the caption...
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: Oh,
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't realize she was on plane.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: She's got like a gold watch very visible.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it looks very high-end.
• 38:10
  The caption translates as,
• 38:12
  People throwing hate while I'm in Finnair business class.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_03: That's not going to help.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_03: This just made people angrier.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_03: She failed to read the room, as they say.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_00: Would a racist be able to fly business class?
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_00: Come on.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_00: Let's be real.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_03: I think they have rules against that.
• 38:25
  And as the backlash grew,
• 38:27
  the Miss Finland organization was compelled to make a
• 38:29
  statement.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_03: So Jesse, please read this excerpt.
• 38:31
  The Miss Finland organization states clearly and unambiguously
• 38:34
  that we do not
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: accept racism or discriminatory behavior in any form.
• 38:37
  We are deeply sorry for the offense and distress caused by the
• 38:39
  conduct of our representative.
• 38:42
  We recognize the seriousness of this matter and its impact on
• 38:45
  those who have felt
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_00: hurt or disrespected.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: We offer our sincere apology.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_03: Do you notice anything odd about this statement?
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm probably missing it.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_03: It's written in English.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_03: And none of their other posts are in English.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_03: So that might tell you who was mad about this.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_03: That said, a number of the comments are in Finnish.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_03: So let's read a few of these.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_03: These are translated via Instagram's like autotranslator.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_03: So Jesse, read these comments.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: When Miss Finland gave gum in universe interviews.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_03: Imperfect translator.
• 39:14
  I thought that these young women should definitely have a
• 39:16
  longer education from the
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: organization side,
• 39:18
  but this outcry and making fun of the business class is totally
• 39:20
  vile and still
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_00: supported by the organization.
• 39:23
  And as a foreign Finn,
• 39:24
  I think that that thinglish doesn't suit anyone,
• 39:28
  at least not Finland.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_03: Very clear.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_03: Read this one.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_00: This is a good use of our time.
• 39:34
  I'm Chinese and I especially wanted to travel to Finland for
• 39:36
  Christmas because
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's real,
• 39:40
  but that's like when people are mad about something you wrote
• 39:43
  of the stranger,
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: people are like,
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: I canceled my stranger subscription.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a Chinese person.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: I was so excited to go to Finland,
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: but because of this Miss Finland,
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm scared because I don't know if Asians will face discrimination there.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_00: I don't dare to go anymore.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_03: Keep going.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_00: We Asian people would not accept any apology unless you cancel her title.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_03: And then one more.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_00: There's no way these are real.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_00: I would like to ask that the current Miss Finland title be removed.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_03: So the comments were not super supportive,
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_03: but the organization announced that a,
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_03: quote,
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_03: formal meeting with the current Miss Finland will take place tomorrow,
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_03: during which the full sequence...
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_00: Over dim sum.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_03: During which the full sequence of events will be reviewed thoroughly,
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_03: responsibilities were clarified,
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_03: and further actions will be determined.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_00: What happened?
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_00: What happened at the meeting?
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_03: So the next day they posted another statement.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_03: This one was written and finished, so quoting here.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_03: This is also via translator.
• 40:36
  Following this thorough consideration,
• 40:38
  we have made a difficult but necessary decision.
• 40:41
  The title of Miss Finland held by Sarah Jaffe has been revoked
• 40:44
  as of today.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_00: Damn, she lost Miss Finland?
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_03: And the organization, they also shared an apology from Sarah herself.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_03: And you might think that the story would end there.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_03: You know,
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_03: someone does or does not do a racism,
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_03: gets canceled,
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_03: apologizes and promises to do clap better clap.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_03: But it's no longer 2020.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_03: So we're just getting started.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_03: And this time the backlash came from the Finns party.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_03: So this is a right wing political party.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_03: And you've probably never heard of the Finns party.
• 41:07
  But the mere fact that they used to be known as the true Finns
• 41:11
  may give you an idea
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_03: of their ideology.
• 41:13
  And the party is one of these European parties that some people
• 41:18
  call right wing,
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_03: some people call far right.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_03: They're not full on Nazis,
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_03: but their policies include things like withdrawing from the EU,
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_03: banning the burqa.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_03: So they want to reduce the refugee quota.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_03: They want to teach something called healthy national pride in schools.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_03: And they favor subsidizing traditional art instead of postmodern art.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_03: That's one of their more popular policies.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_03: And then,
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_03: yeah,
• 41:38
  anyone from Europe is probably nodding along because there are
• 41:41
  similar populist
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_03: parties in every European country at this point.
• 41:43
  So at the moment,
• 41:44
  the Finns are a junior coalition partner in the Finnish
• 41:47
  government.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_03: And in general,
• 41:48
  it would be very unusual for the Finns party to be on the same
• 41:52
  side as an ethnic
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_03: minority,
• 41:54
  particularly the daughter of an immigrant like the former Miss
• 41:57
  Finland is.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_03: But strange times, strange bedfellows.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_03: So Jesse, I want you to describe this photo of Finns party MP.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_03: His name is Yuho Rola.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sure that's mispronounced.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_03: This was his Facebook profile page.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, God.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_00: He's going way further than she did in terms of certain...
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to amplify this,
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_00: but I want to describe it.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_00: So he's...
• 42:19
  Taking the eye thing,
• 42:20
  Sarah did,
• 42:21
  and then also adding a dental or teeth component.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, like a mouth thing.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_03: Like,
• 42:26
  imagine the most racist impression of a Chinese person you can
• 42:31
  imagine without
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_03: doing,
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_03: like,
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_03: literal yellow face.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, no, he's not, like, wearing the hat.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_00: He's not wearing the hat.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_03: Without a costume.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_03: No costume.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, Mina Olin Sarah, which I can pick up from context.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_00: It probably means, like, basically, je suis Sarah, I am Sarah.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_03: I am Sarah.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_03: So the new Jaysu Charlie,
• 42:49
  except it's about a disgraced beauty queen who may or may not
• 42:51
  have made a racist
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_03: joke.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_03: And within a few days,
• 42:53
  three other Finns party politicians had decided to stand with
• 42:57
  Sarah by posting
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_03: their own slitty eye photos.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, my God.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_03: And,
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_03: you know,
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_03: when I saw this,
• 43:02
  I was just struck by how stupid this is and how politics have
• 43:04
  just gotten more and
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_03: more kind of lowbrow.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_03: It's very like it's very Trumpy.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_03: And this absolutely might have preceded Trump.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_03: But doesn't this seem like the kind of shit that Trump would do?
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_00: Trump and like populist social media,
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_00: because like this,
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_00: it's just so absolute scraping the bottom of the barrel.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_03: Totally.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_03: It's very internet, very online.
• 43:24
  So the deputy leader of the party also posted this incredibly
• 43:27
  long diatribe on Twitter.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_03: So Jesse, read a few of these quotes.
• 43:31
  the current media environment social media culture and moral
• 43:34
  guardianship is
• 43:34
  merciless don't make mistakes don't be yourself don't speak
• 43:37
  freely don't joke don't
• 43:38
  even gesture disrespectfully don't i mean what's funny is like
• 43:43
  there's he's
• 43:44
  gesturing at something that in some cases was true like the guy
• 43:46
  who got in trouble
• 43:47
  for like making the okay sign gesture who did it but it's
• 43:51
  pretty easy to not do a
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_00: chinese thing assuming that's what she did
• 43:56
  And then he continued,
• 43:57
  you can't squint your eyes among friends without being a
• 44:00
  xenophobe.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_03: That's a new term for me.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_03: Xenophobe.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_00: Xenophobe.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_03: Xenophobe.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_03: You can't play around with an African star without being a racist.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_00: Don't know what that means.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know what that means.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_03: You can't good-naturedly joke with your wife about being a misogynist.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_03: I think you can do that.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's allowed.
• 44:15
  You can't marvel at lessons on male menstruation without being
• 44:18
  a bully of trans people.
• 44:19
  You can't twirl your hair without being a white supremacist or
• 44:22
  cultural appropriator.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_03: I bet that's twirl your hair.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_03: That probably refers to dreadlocks.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_03: You can't play with cultural difference without being xenophobic.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_03: You can't be proud of your genes or your genes, J-E-N-S, or your genes.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_00: You can't round up Jews into camps without being a Nazi.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_00: It goes on in that vein for quite some time.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_03: Without being at least a touch of a Nazi.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_03: That's probably a reference to the, what was her name?
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_00: Sydney Sweeney.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_03: Sydney Sweeney.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_03: You can't even make mistakes without being mistaken.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_00: No, men do not forget Sydney Sweeney's name.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_00: Only women do.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_03: And what strikes me about this is how American it is.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_03: It's extremely American.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah,
• 44:56
  that America or that Finland also has gone through its own sort
• 45:00
  of awokening and
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_03: that these cultural issues are also present in Finland.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's also, I mean, I could be...
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_00: coloring the past,
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_00: but I,
• 45:09
  I think I remember when I was in Swinland and a few that like
• 45:11
  mentions of Sammy,
• 45:12
  the Sammy culture did seem to be like a little bit trying to
• 45:15
  slot that into like
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_00: American talk about,
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_00: um,
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_00: indigenous people,
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_00: which is just,
• 45:19
  I think very different just because like a whole populated
• 45:23
  continent and then white
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_00: people show up and wipe them out,
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_00: wipe them off their land.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh,
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_00: I don't,
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_00: I get the sense their history is very different,
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_00: but I just remember I could be misremembering,
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_00: but it's,
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_00: I just don't think it's a clean fit,
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_00: but yes,
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_00: this all strikes,
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_00: um,
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_00: seems like
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know, right wing American culture war grievance mongering.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_03: And then so, right.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_03: And the MPs getting involvement at this story,
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_03: which had started out on Finnish social media,
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_03: now went global.
• 45:48
  And the people who were really pissed off here were not
• 45:51
  actually second gen Asians
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_03: living in the West.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_03: They were Asians in Asia.
• 45:55
  And you can see that like the top comments on his post are all
• 45:59
  from East Asian people.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_03: And many are in Japanese.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_03: So Jesse, read this example.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_00: You white folks really lack manners, don't you?
• 46:06
  Self-proclaimed leaders in etiquette,
• 46:08
  yet you haven't learned a damn thing.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_00: A herd of idiots, honestly.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_00: Poor things.
• 46:12
  Why not stop calling yourselves white people and go with white
• 46:14
  monkeys instead?
• 46:15
  It's embarrassing that you lot are the ones claiming to have
• 46:17
  civilization.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_00: Also, Japanese people are historically very racist, too.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_00: But that's a fair tweet.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_03: Someone tags Grok, summarize this excuse for me.
• 46:24
  It'd be nice if Finns could receive discrimination education
• 46:27
  and become an advanced country too.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_03: Someone says, quit yapping, you racist piece of shit.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_00: Quit yapping on, which is itself appropriate if you racist piece of shit.
• 46:36
  So both China and Japan send large numbers of tourists to
• 46:39
  Finland each year.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_03: And now Asians across social media were threatening to boycott Finland.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_03: Finnair, all things Finnish.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_03: I suppose the mackerel industry was probably terrified.
• 46:48
  And what started out as this minor scandal around this beauty
• 46:51
  queen was threatening
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_03: to become an international incident.
• 46:54
  So there was a Japanese change.org petition calling for a
• 46:57
  public apology from the politicians.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_03: That got over 38,000 signatures.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_03: There was also this incredible post on threads.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_03: Read this, Jessie.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_00: Ray Chang 502.
• 47:06
  Finnish beauty pageant contestants and politicians showing
• 47:08
  their true colors.
• 47:09
  I've been to 60 countries but will not be going to Finland
• 47:11
  unless I'm invited to do
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_00: a workshop on anti-Asian racism.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_00: He just wants a trip to Finland, which is fine.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_03: He does, yeah.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_03: So by this point,
• 47:21
  the Finnish politicians had started to realize that they may
• 47:24
  have gone too far.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_03: So Juno Arola, he was the first one.
• 47:28
  He deleted the slitty eye picture and uploaded a new Facebook
• 47:30
  profile picture.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_03: So Jesse, describe this one.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_00: He's doing the opposite thing.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_00: He's making his eye really big.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's actually, I'm sorry, but that's actually funny.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_03: Although that could be anti-black.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_00: Do black people have big eyes?
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_00: Is that even a stereotype?
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_03: That's one of the stereotypes.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_03: Big eyes.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_03: The Finnish prime minister stepped in to do some damage control.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_03: He issued official apologies in both Japanese and Korean,
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_03: but not Chinese for some reason,
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_03: probably racism.
• 47:58
  But despite the prime minister's apology,
• 48:00
  a lot of Asians were still not happy and
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_03: And the incident had generated a lot of press in Japan in particular.
• 48:06
  And there were grumblings on social media about how the Finnish
• 48:08
  embassy in Tokyo
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_03: had stayed silent throughout this.
• 48:10
  They hadn't apologized or condemned Miss Finland or her high
• 48:14
  profile defenders.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_03: So the Japanese were pissed.
• 48:16
  And at this point,
• 48:17
  we have a truly unexpected plot twist as another country steps
• 48:21
  in.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_03: The tiny Pacific nation of Nauru.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_03: Jesse, what do you know about Nauru?
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_00: I think I've actually – I think I saw a YouTube video.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's the least healthy country on earth or something.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_03: Like the people being – like they only eat McDonald's?
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_00: I think so.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_00: Give me a sec.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's like cigarettes.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think they have McDonald's.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_00: They have like a very – I highly doubt it.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_00: Least healthy country earth.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_03: So it's one of the smallest countries on earth.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's smaller – Well, Central African Republic, that sounds –
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_03: It's smaller than Central Park.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_03: It has a population of about 12,000 people.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_03: And back in the 70s,
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_03: it was briefly the world's second richest nation per capita,
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_03: second only to Saudi Arabia,
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_03: because it had enormous phosphate deposits.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_03: And that became the backbone of the economy.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, just breaking in.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's maybe the fattest, not the least healthy.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_00: As we all know, obesity has no correlation with health.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_03: And with a few wise economic decisions,
• 49:15
  they could have generated a kind of sovereign wealth fund that
• 49:17
  leaves its entire
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_03: population with generational wealth,
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_03: but that's not what they do.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_03: And the government was comically bad at handling money,
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_03: like poor person winning the lottery bad.
• 49:26
  They lost millions financing a musical about the life of
• 49:29
  Leonardo da Vinci.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_03: Nice.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_03: It was one of the biggest disasters in London theater history.
• 49:35
  At one point,
• 49:35
  they started selling passports,
• 49:37
  which were bought by members of Al Qaeda.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_03: That caused a lot of diplomatic tensions.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_03: And today, the island has been totally gutted by phosphate mining.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_03: The natural resources have been largely depleted.
• 49:47
  And its economy just sort of limps along by taking a deal with
• 49:50
  Australia to hold an
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_03: offshore detention center for asylum seekers.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's a very cheerful story.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_03: So Nauru does not have an embassy in Japan,
• 49:59
  but it does have a Japanese language Twitter account that is
• 50:02
  run by the National
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_03: Tourism Bureau called Nauru Japan.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_03: The bio reads,
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_03: Official Republic of Nauru Government Tourism Bureau,
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_03: a South Pacific country with total population of about 10,000.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_03: Follow back 100%.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_03: It takes time.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_03: And then there are some hashtags.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_03: It's
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of hashtags, yeah.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_03: So the account is quite popular in Japan.
• 50:22
  I'm not sure if this actually translates to Japanese tourists
• 50:25
  visiting the island.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_03: Probably not.
• 50:27
  But generally,
• 50:28
  it's one of those nice,
• 50:29
  feel-good Twitter accounts that everyone enjoys.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_03: So here are some of their typical posts.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_03: Will you read these, Jesse?
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_00: This is the narubento.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just like rice with a drumstick and fish on it.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_03: Spam, it looks like.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe spam.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's probably fish.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_03: It's like triangle fish.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_00: They probably have a lot of fish.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_00: There's just like another weird cooking one translated from Japanese.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_00: Production of Japan's first domestically made Naaru kola.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, they're making kola.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_00: This seems pretty non-controversial.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, non-controversial.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_03: Good morning.
• 51:02
  May the person who sees this post of Naaru Island and beautiful
• 51:04
  clouds be blessed
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_03: with good luck.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_03: And so these are all translated.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_03: These are all –
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_03: That's pretty sweet.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_03: It was posted originally in Japanese.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_03: Nothing controversial there.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_03: It's a tourism board.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_03: But in the midst of this situation with Miss Finland,
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_03: the account stopped posting its usual content,
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_03: these cheerful posts,
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_03: bento clouds,
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_03: and started tweeting about the situation.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_03: And they started asking why the Finnish embassy hadn't apologized.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_03: And in response, an account called Hadoliko spoke up.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_03: And Hadoliko is a former staffer at the Finnish embassy in Tokyo.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_03: And he called Naoru's repress for an apology misguided and dangerous.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_03: So here's one of these posts roughly translated from the Japanese.
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_03: So Jesse, will you read this?
• 51:42
  The incident began when an unrelated Nauru tourism board
• 51:45
  account blew a misguided
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_00: dog whistle at the Finnish embassy in Japan.
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because they used an official account instead of a personal one,
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_00: the issue has already been archived and passed on to the Finnish embassy,
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_00: escalating into an international issue.
• 51:58
  So he went on to accuse the Nauru Japan account of being run by
• 52:03
  local Japanese
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_03: staffers and therefore not representing the true views of Nauru.
• 52:09
  He said it was rogue Japanese people using the name of a
• 52:13
  sovereign nation to give
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_03: their opinions.
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_00: Damn.
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_00: Stolen Nauru valor, basically.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_03: And the Nauru account responded by confirming that,
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_03: yes,
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_03: it is the official account of the Nauru tourism board.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_03: And it's posted, in fact, represent the views of the Nauru government.
• 52:28
  And they invited Haraliko to call the Nauru foreign minister if
• 52:31
  he wanted.
• 52:31
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think the foreign minister is very busy.
• 52:34
  And throughout all of this,
• 52:35
  Japanese onlookers were firmly on Nauru's side.
• 52:38
  So Jesse,
• 52:40
  read this commentary from a Japanese,
• 52:42
  presumably a Japanese national.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_00: So to sum up what we've got so far,
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_00: while some Finns were mocking Asians and couldn't stand by to watch,
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_00: Nauru's official account stepped in with some advice like,
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_00: you might want to cut that out,
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_00: only for their own countrymen to turn beet red and throw a fit,
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_00: yelling,
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_00: what business does an unrelated country have butting in?
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_00: Dog whistle.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_00: Is that about the gist of it?
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_00: Another one says, I can't believe this.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Rusen is not bad at all.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_00: 100% at fault is Finland.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_00: Finland's image has plummeted to rock bottom.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_00: By the way,
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_00: why does Finland have so much influence on human rights issues,
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_00: even though they don't even understand human rights?
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_00: As a Japanese person, is there anything I can do?
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_03: Read one more, Jesse.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_00: The Finnish embassy keeps making blunder after blunder,
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_00: and at this point,
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_00: their moves are on the same level as the Chinese embassy's.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_00: Ooh, burn.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's just baffling to discriminate that much while being so alike.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_00: They've got to be out of their minds.
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_00: Ahem, ahem.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like a little coy emoji.
• 53:32
  That's how deeply ingrained that intense discrimination against
• 53:34
  Asians must be,
• 53:35
  huh?
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_00: Mr. Misnaru, don't get down about it.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_00: Lots of Japanese people support you, you know.
• 53:40
  So then the Finnish embassy confirmed that Hadoliko was merely
• 53:44
  a rogue former
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_03: staffer whose views did not represent the country's official position.
• 53:49
  SPEAKER_03: He then deleted his Twitter account.
• 53:51
  A few more Finnish apologies were made,
• 53:53
  and the Nauru-Finland War was called off.
• 53:55
  So what started as a photo in a beauty queen's private group
• 53:59
  chat eventually
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_03: escalated into a legitimate diplomatic incident between several nations.
• 54:05
  When I think about the bullet we dodged by avoiding all out
• 54:11
  confrontation between
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_00: Finland and Naru.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_00: Rough.
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 54:15
  Can you imagine living in a world with that level of just
• 54:17
  warfare going off?
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_00: That would suck.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_00: Too much.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_00: Most importantly, did they crown a new Miss Finland?
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_03: The title went to the first runner up.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_03: Her name is Tara Latonen,
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_03: who has hopefully internalized the lesson here,
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_03: which is if you're going to do a racism,
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_03: make sure your friends are not filming it.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_00: Words we have always lived by.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you for that, Katie.
• 54:36
  That's a lot more than I ever thought I would know about
• 54:40
  Finnish Twitter or Nauru Twitter?
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_00: Naurushin Twitter?
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's probably not the right thing.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_03: Apologies for all of the mispronunciations here.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sure there were at least one.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_00: Just probably just one.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe just one.
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you guys for listening.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_00: This has been Blocked and Imported.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_00: As always, we are produced with help from Jessica the 80s Baby.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_00: Goodbye.
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_01: Bye.
• 55:02
  Bye.