Latest / Journey to the Fringe / We're ranking assholes (part 1 of 5)
Transcript
- 0:03From the unexplained to the mundane, come join
- 0:06us on a Journey to the Fringe. Oh, yeah, at least.
- 0:34Maybe more. Yeah, I mean, it's probably our life's
- 0:37work right here. It is. Oh, no. So soon. And
- 0:43I may have just put too much pressure on us for
- 0:45this one. But here's what we got, guys. We've
- 0:48decided we've covered so many individuals that
- 0:51we needed to just kind of like put a list together
- 0:54and see how they stack up to each other to see
- 0:57who is the biggest asshole that we cover. Now,
- 0:59we have come up with a scoring system. We have
- 1:02each done our own list, ranking everybody. We
- 1:05are going to go through my list from the bottom
- 1:07to the top, everybody that we've done episodes
- 1:09on, and we've also done a neutral AI list. To
- 1:13that, we can kind of see if we're doing what's
- 1:15a reasonable interpretation, or at least what
- 1:17other people might think when they're looking
- 1:19at this kind of list. Yeah, at least AI. At least
- 1:22AI. A perfectly normal human being. Yeah. I don't
- 1:28think we captured everybody that we could have
- 1:30put on this list. We captured most. There's quite
- 1:33a few people who could have made the list, but
- 1:35they're going to get their own episode at some
- 1:36point in the future. Also, corporations didn't
- 1:39make the list, broadly speaking. Yes, but we
- 1:43actually also talked about it kind of being its
- 1:45own thing. Yeah, we also know that they all scored
- 1:47a perfect 50, every single one of them. Yeah,
- 1:50especially Chevron. Especially all of them. But
- 1:54we've got a list of 49 to go through still with
- 1:58that said. We're gonna start from the bottom
- 1:59and work our way up. This is gonna be a several
- 2:01episode thing, so strap yourselves in for it.
- 2:04Get ready, everybody. This score is out of 50,
- 2:08with 5 categories that got scored out of 10.
- 2:11First category is Deception and Fabrication,
- 2:14which measures how much the person knowingly
- 2:16invents, falsifies, or manipulates evidence with
- 2:19a high score, indicating outright hoaxes, admitted
- 2:22fabrications, staged photos, fake documents,
- 2:25and a low score with speculative storytelling
- 2:27exaggerations or sincere but misguided beliefs.
- 2:30Next we have Harm, assesses the degree of damage
- 2:33they cause, psychological, financial, or cultural.
- 2:37With a high score, there's deaths, ruined lives,
- 2:40or severe paranoia or abuse. Low scores, they're
- 2:43mostly harmless for entertainment or folklore
- 2:45with little real -world damage. Next is Grift,
- 2:48which focuses on how shamelessly they monetize
- 2:50their claims. High scores, aggressive pipelines
- 2:53of books, courses, and merch, paywalls, or scams.
- 2:56A low score, minimal monetization, occasional
- 2:58publishing or appearances. Legacy evaluates how
- 3:02lasting their influence is, whether their nonsense
- 3:04still shapes UFO lore or fringe culture today.
- 3:07With a high score, myths that endure for decades
- 3:10inspire movements or shape pop culture. Low scores
- 3:13are short -lived notoriety, forgotten figures,
- 3:16And the last one, which we kind of added on,
- 3:19not last minute, but later on, is vibes. It's
- 3:22just, do they give off asshole vibes? Yeah. And
- 3:26I don't think I need to give any more for that
- 3:28one. I think that's simple enough. Vibes are
- 3:31pretty much self -explanatory. But again, somebody
- 3:35who gives off asshole vibes might not be that
- 3:37high on the list because maybe they're not actually
- 3:39doing asshole things, but they seem like assholes.
- 3:42Yeah. With these all combined, we get a score
- 3:44out of 50. If it's below 20, I think consensus
- 3:48is that they might actually not be an asshole.
- 3:51If it's 20 to 29, their French storytellers or
- 3:54pranksters getting into asshole territory may
- 3:56be so questionable. 30 to 39, classic grifters
- 3:59and hoaxers who definitely are assholes, and
- 4:03at the highest, probably in our Hall of Fame
- 4:04at that point, 40 to 50. Now, Chelsea, are you
- 4:07ready to get going with this thing? I'm ready
- 4:10to go. I'm excited. And I will say we would love
- 4:14to hear from everybody who listens how you would
- 4:17rank these individuals. Yeah. If you think that
- 4:20we've ranked somebody too high or too low, or
- 4:22if you think that we've omitted somebody that
- 4:24should have been on this list, please let us
- 4:27know. Yeah. Love to hear it. I think we can do
- 4:29this annually with people added to the list.
- 4:32And I said 49. It's only 48. I had to do a change
- 4:35there. Bottom of my list, Paul Benowitz, who
- 4:37makes many appearances, first season 2 episode
- 4:4017, also season 3 episode 46, and also the John
- 4:45Lear episodes, but I forgot to list where that
- 4:47took place. Benowitz was, I think he was an engineer
- 4:50actually, who believed he was intersep - and
- 4:52I say that without having listened to that episode,
- 4:55so don't hold too much weight in what I just
- 4:58said there. He believed he was intercepting alien
- 5:01signals near Kirtland Air Force Base, his most
- 5:04notable achiev - was inadvertently sparking one
- 5:07of the most influential UFO conspiracy threads
- 5:10of the 1980s. His biggest asshole actions are
- 5:13complicated. He spread paranoia through his claims
- 5:16but he was also a victim of government disinformation
- 5:19which drove him into psychological collapse.
- 5:23He got an overall score of five from me. and
- 5:26it's basically he got a one right across the
- 5:28board. I don't think he was deceiving anybody,
- 5:31and at most you can see he was naive, but even
- 5:34the amount of government force put against him,
- 5:39I don't think you can even say he was naive.
- 5:41I don't get bad vibes. If anything, he might
- 5:43just be a guy who you get I need to bully him
- 5:46vibes from, because apparently multiple people
- 5:48that we've covered have felt that from him, which
- 5:50is anti -asshole. Pretty much all the harm he
- 5:55did was to himself. I don't think he made any
- 5:58money, and you might score slightly higher in
- 6:02legacy just because Dulce's still out there,
- 6:05but I don't think you can... Put that legacy
- 6:08on him either. I think that's going to come much
- 6:10higher on the list He's not the bottom of my
- 6:13list actually because I have a few people I was
- 6:15unable to fill out which we'll discuss in a little
- 6:19bit when the rankings come out We'll compare
- 6:21them with taylor, but he's not the lowest on
- 6:24my list And I agree with everything you're saying
- 6:27where I gave him points was deception and fabrication
- 6:30not through any fault of his own obviously and
- 6:34harm I did do a little bit because Paul Benowitz
- 6:37did write a book with all the disinformation
- 6:40that he was being fed. That disinformation is
- 6:43out in the world like Dulce and stuff like that,
- 6:46mostly sparking from that book that he put out
- 6:49which was fed to him by other people. So that's
- 6:52where he got points with me because I feel like
- 6:55there was a little bit of harm with that done.
- 6:57I do know people who do refer back to stuff like
- 7:00that as proof that stuff like that exists. That's
- 7:04where he gets all his points from me. That's
- 7:06why he ranked not the lowest on my list because
- 7:09I did give him a few points for harm and deception
- 7:12and fabrication. Okay, AI, he is third from the
- 7:16bottom of their list with a score of 25. 25?
- 7:20Yeah. Where'd he get his points from with AI?
- 7:24Did they use the same scale? Yeah. Copilot says
- 7:27that Benoit scores high in Harm and Legacy because
- 7:31his paranoia seeded UFO lore and ended tragically,
- 7:34but his deception and vibes are low. He wasn't
- 7:37malicious, just misled. His grift is minimal
- 7:40since he didn't profit. He's held back because
- 7:42he was more of a victim than a perpetrator. And
- 7:44I do get where they're coming from on that, but
- 7:46I'm going to attribute those scores somewhere
- 7:49else that we're going to see way later on in
- 7:51this class. Yeah. Okay. I'll agree with how they
- 7:53gave the scoring. I just don't think he scores
- 7:55that high. However, maybe I didn't give them
- 7:58enough. for the information that he put out into
- 8:01the world based on what he was being fed by government
- 8:05agents. So I think we're all going to have a
- 8:07different approach to this list. So I think it's
- 8:10pretty straightforward on that. I just don't
- 8:12think he's an asshole because of it. No, I agree.
- 8:15And that's why I attribute it elsewhere. Next
- 8:18up on my list at forty seven is Edgar Casey showing
- 8:23up in season two. episodes 22, 23, and 24, and
- 8:28by extension, several episodes after that if
- 8:31you want to believe some people. Also known as
- 8:33the Sleeping Prophet, became famous for his trance
- 8:35readings on health, spirituality, and prophecy.
- 8:38His achievement was building a massive following
- 8:40in founding institutions that still exist today.
- 8:42His asshole factor lies in exploiting followers
- 8:45with unverifiable medical and spiritual claims,
- 8:47encouraging people to substitute his readings
- 8:49for evidence -based practices. The highest he
- 8:52scored in, for me, was Legacy. And I should say,
- 8:55before we get too far, I gave him a 9. I don't
- 8:58think he really was trying to deceive people.
- 9:00I don't think so either. I gave him very low
- 9:04vibes, but also I think we're gonna run into
- 9:06this with people pre -video, that they're gonna
- 9:09have different vibe scoring than everybody else.
- 9:12Oh, I didn't even think about that. I think he
- 9:14did have some harm just with putting out psychic
- 9:17readings that we're never gonna really know for
- 9:20sure if he harmed anyone, which gave him a 2.
- 9:25I gave him a two because he was accepting some
- 9:29payment I forget for sure but I think he was
- 9:32accepting some payments for his readings and
- 9:34he did end up with an Institute so I think he
- 9:36got some money from somewhere and at the end
- 9:39of the day he did get a three in legacy because
- 9:41I do think he's probably if you're gonna name
- 9:44profits the sleeping profits gonna be high on
- 9:47that list although it's something that has really
- 9:49fallen off I have the same score I had him high
- 9:53in legacy over anything i don't think that he
- 9:56was purposely deceiving or fabricating or anything
- 10:00vibes are zero harm i agree with you actually
- 10:04i might put him up on harm maybe maybe a 0 .5
- 10:08because you don't really know Because of the
- 10:11times, I guess, there is no Reddit to be like
- 10:14Edgar Cayce reading Gone Wrong. I know. And really,
- 10:17the people that talk about him are people who
- 10:19love him. There's not a lot of Cayce detractors
- 10:22out there. So I don't think you're ever going
- 10:23to know that. Yeah, I think it's just a time
- 10:25where, you know, it's just... I don't know. You
- 10:28see so much hate. He's very low on my list. He's
- 10:31tied with Ben Woods. And surprisingly, he is
- 10:3427th on the co -pilot's list. I love that they
- 10:38took the rankings so seriously because I like
- 10:41start with three and go 11, 13, 14 for totals
- 10:46and they start out at 25. Nobody is not an asshole
- 10:49that we've covered in its co -pilot's mind. Edgar
- 10:51Casey is 27th on the list with a 35. Wow. He
- 10:55is a certified asshole according to Co -Pilot.
- 10:58He scores high in Legacy for shaping New Age
- 11:00Prophecy. I get that. I just don't think New
- 11:03Age Prophecy is that big and I think we have
- 11:05bigger names in New Age Prophecy that we're going
- 11:07to talk about later. I agree with that, yeah.
- 11:10His deception is moderate. Visions and readings
- 11:12were unverifiable. His grift was steady, monetizing
- 11:15through followers. His vibes were middling, seen
- 11:18as kindly but misleading. He's held back by a
- 11:21moderate harm, since his influence was cultural
- 11:23rather than destructive. I don't know that I
- 11:26agree with that, yeah. Next up on my list is
- 11:29John Zegris, who is also the man from Torrid.
- 11:32He comes from Season 2, Episode 39. Okay, what
- 11:36ranking do you have him? I have him 46. Mine's
- 11:41a 27. Really? Yeah, because I have him at a 10
- 11:46for deception and fabrication. I guess true enough.
- 11:51I just didn't think it was that big a deception.
- 11:54He was saying he came from a country that didn't
- 11:57exist. Oh we need to read what he is, hold on.
- 12:01John Zegras is the alleged man from Torrid, a
- 12:04supposed traveller from a non -existent country.
- 12:07His achievement was inspiring one of the most
- 12:10enduring urban legends of anomalous identity.
- 12:14His asshole actions are minimal, fabricating
- 12:16a story that misled audiences but with little
- 12:19exploitation or harm beyond myth making. Yeah.
- 12:23I gave him a 10 overall. He's 46th on my list.
- 12:27He got two across the board. Yeah, he deceives.
- 12:30Yeah, he's got weird vibes, especially when you're
- 12:32reading the story. I gave him a two just because,
- 12:34I don't know, maybe there's harm in the story.
- 12:36I don't know. Probably more than the Benoist
- 12:38story. And that's whenever I have a one, I have
- 12:41to compare anything that's low, it compares to
- 12:43that. and I think it wasn't quite there. There
- 12:46has to be some sort of grift attached to this.
- 12:49I don't know what it is, but I gave them a two
- 12:50there. And I gave it a two for legacy just because
- 12:53it's a story that comes up, but it doesn't buttress
- 12:55anybody's arguments for anything. Yes. Yes. Like
- 12:58that we're gonna get later on. Yeah, so I gave
- 13:01him ten for deception because it's obviously
- 13:04made up. I gave him an eight for vibes because
- 13:07who makes up a story like that? Harm? Low. Three.
- 13:10Grift? Four because like he's gone on radio shows
- 13:14and stuff like that and then legacies too because
- 13:17exactly like who goes back to this. I'm not sure
- 13:21if John Zegras actually exists so that is why
- 13:23it's so low. Right, where did he come from? I
- 13:26can't remember. That's another one I didn't listen
- 13:28to. I know, I had to go back and listen to it.
- 13:30So many assholes, so little time. And this one
- 13:32actually, Copilot matched. John Zegris got a
- 13:36Is 46 on their list, although with a 26. Ooh!
- 13:40This is the first one we've even come close to.
- 13:43And I feel like it'll be very few and far in
- 13:46between. Oh no! It didn't give me the reasoning
- 13:48on this one. So we'll never know for sure. But
- 13:50the guy's an asshole. Just kind of, though. Per
- 13:53copilot. So we'll move on from there. Yeah, I
- 13:56agree with that. Cause they got basically my
- 14:00total. Alright, Chelsea, next on my list, somebody
- 14:05that we covered very recently, Emanuel Swedenberg,
- 14:08Season 5, Episode 94. Swedenberg was an 18th
- 14:11century mystic and theologian who claimed visions
- 14:14of heaven and communications with spirits. His
- 14:16achievement was founding a theological movement
- 14:18that influenced mysticism and philosophy. So
- 14:21I gave him he's 45th overall on my list with
- 14:24an 11 and I should say he's tied with 45 He's
- 14:27at the bottom of mine too with but I do think
- 14:30I do think just looking at the two names Swedenborg
- 14:33should be below the next So mine would be about
- 14:3645 because I have those two that are not ranked
- 14:39yet. I got a little overzealous there. I mean,
- 14:42I gave him an eight. I gave him a one on deception.
- 14:45Just because he was doing it from his dreams,
- 14:48it's really hard to say that he was trying to
- 14:50pull a fast one on anybody. I get weird vibes
- 14:53from him, but it's mostly because of how much
- 14:55he was into minerals and his own dreams. But
- 15:00not that high of vibes, like a two, like I said.
- 15:03I do think they're so some harm that came from
- 15:05him, like the fact that his followers did get
- 15:08some repercussions in Sweden, and he did make
- 15:10money off his book, so I gave him a three, and
- 15:13I gave him a three for legacy. He's the foundation
- 15:15of a lot of ideas, but very few people actually
- 15:18know that he's the foundation for these ideas,
- 15:20and they have changed so much for saying that
- 15:23you met enemies from other planets. I think that
- 15:26your reasoning is much more logical for what
- 15:28you scored him than what I had. I don't even
- 15:30want to go over mine because I think yours is
- 15:33much more accurate. I gave him a one in harm,
- 15:35but now that you say that, I forgot that his
- 15:37followers were punished. You can't really blame
- 15:39him for that. Like you got to blame Swedish law
- 15:42at the time too. He's still implicated in it
- 15:44because it's his, right? So. Yeah, but it wasn't
- 15:47even him. He was writing in English and then
- 15:50the books were being brought back by followers
- 15:52and sweet. Like he was trying to do everything
- 15:54he could to avoid it. Which is why it's low.
- 15:56I had them low too, but I forgot about that.
- 15:58So I might push him up one. He falls 41st on
- 16:02Copilot's list with a 30. They gave him a low
- 16:06asshole factor because he didn't monetize heavily,
- 16:08but his fabricated visions misled followers and
- 16:11created doctrinal confusion that persists today,
- 16:14giving him an overall score of 30. I'm disturbed
- 16:17that you still haven't gotten to the person that's
- 16:19on the bottom of my list yet I'm very curious
- 16:22who you're gonna have at the bottom of your list
- 16:24and I frankly am Astonished at who copilot put
- 16:27at the bottom of their list. Have we gotten to
- 16:30it yet? No, it's not going to be for a long time
- 16:33either I shouldn't say a long time he's coming
- 16:34up, but I wonder if it's the same when I put
- 16:37at the bottom of my list at number 44 I have
- 16:43Travis Walton. Okay, that's the bottom of my
- 16:46list. Walton claimed to have been abducted by
- 16:49aliens in 1975, a story that became a bestselling
- 16:53book and the film Fire in the Sky. His achievement
- 16:56was creating one of the most famous abduction
- 16:58narratives in UFO history. He profited from the
- 17:01story and misled audiences, but his case is less
- 17:04exploitive than others and remains more folklore
- 17:07than fraud. And that's what Copilot said, giving
- 17:10him a ranking of 37th on its list. with a score
- 17:12of 33. He did profit off it. He did profit. That's
- 17:17his highest score for me. You know what? I didn't
- 17:20even fill out grift. I gave him a four. He might
- 17:23be tied with Paul Benowitz and Edgar Cayce with
- 17:25me on this. Honestly, I don't want to believe
- 17:29he's grifting, though, but he has profited off
- 17:32of it. He has definitely profited. In fact, that's
- 17:35how he makes pretty much all his income. Fire
- 17:37in the sky. Huge story. I would put it out of
- 17:39three, okay? So he's tied for me for bottom with
- 17:41Benowitz and Casey. And that's the biggest part
- 17:44for me. I can't fault him for profiting from
- 17:47this. Yeah. But at the same time, it is a category,
- 17:50and he did score higher because that's where
- 17:52his income's coming from, is this story. Yeah,
- 17:56I would agree with that. So yeah, I'm gonna give
- 17:58him a 3 for Griff. I gave him a 12, again, 44th
- 18:01on the list. Whiffle, give me a 3. Though, to
- 18:03me, he doesn't have a legacy as an asshole. Like,
- 18:06overall... See, I said he had a legacy of a 2
- 18:09just because this is a very famous UFO story.
- 18:12It is. Shit. And that's actually where his grift
- 18:14comes from is the legacy of the story. It's really
- 18:18weird. I know. Now that you say that, he's moving
- 18:21up on my list from last. Son of a bitch. Okay.
- 18:28Next up on the list at 43, I have the Weekly
- 18:32World News. I have them at 39. This tabloid became
- 18:37famous for sensational headlines like That Boy
- 18:39Found in Cave and countless UFO cryptids and
- 18:42paranormal stories. Its achievement was shaping
- 18:44pop culture, perception of fringe claims, blending
- 18:46satire with pseudoscience in a way that entertained
- 18:49millions. I gave it overall a 12. It tied with
- 18:53Travis Walton. It got very high in deception
- 18:56and fabrication because that's literally what
- 18:58it is. Mine's at 10. Ten out of ten. Yeah, it
- 19:01should have been there. I gave it a seven just
- 19:05because I don't think it's that bad a deception
- 19:08compared to other people on the list. It's not.
- 19:11So to me, like it was all deception. So that
- 19:14was a ten. So it scored way lower points for
- 19:16other things because in the vibes, it got a zero
- 19:19because I gave it a zero for vibes. Yeah. So
- 19:22that's where it evened out on mine. I gave it
- 19:24a one for harm, because I feel like some people
- 19:27might have thought it was real, but I don't think
- 19:30many. I had to give it one for Gryff, just because
- 19:32it was a paid subscription, like you bought it
- 19:35at the store. But even then, when it went online,
- 19:37it was free for a while. It is trying to monetize
- 19:39a little bit. It's still free, yeah. But it's
- 19:41still minimal. But it had to make money to continue
- 19:43to provide the wonderful entertainment that it
- 19:47did, which I can't fault it, really. It's just
- 19:51filling a void that people need to fill. And
- 19:53I gave it a three for legacy, just because it
- 19:56does have that nostalgia in my mind. But at the
- 19:58same time, when we were going through the episodes,
- 20:00you could see the underpinnings of the fake news
- 20:03we see today from it. Oh, yeah. Just in their
- 20:06pure form. It was the original. In their fun
- 20:08form. Other than Town Crier. Co -pilot. We put
- 20:11it at 36 with a score of 34. And it says its
- 20:15asshole factors come from fabricating stories
- 20:17that blurred satire and fact, misleading casual
- 20:19readers, and trivializing genuine inquiry while
- 20:22profiting from sensationalism. They give it a
- 20:249 for legacy, which I think is crazy. Wow. Yeah.
- 20:28That is crazy. Because, let's be honest, we do
- 20:31all know who Batboy is. Don't get me wrong, but
- 20:34it's not like batboy shows up anywhere else,
- 20:37you know And that's the holding code like the
- 20:40whole thing is like it can't be like a generally
- 20:42known thing Yeah, like everyone knows batboy,
- 20:45but it's not like it was the taking off point
- 20:48for Where batboy the cryptic came from like everybody
- 20:52knows batboy is not real even though he's lived
- 20:55a whole lifetime He's gone to afghanistan taylor
- 20:58swift is carrying his baby Yeah, I can't quite
- 21:02remember how that works out. There was a whole
- 21:04lot of stuff going on. Man, that was a fun, nostalgic
- 21:06episode. Yeah, I know. Episodes. I know, that
- 21:09was so good. I don't think we said it. That was
- 21:12just covered this year in season five, episode
- 21:14seven before. Oh, yeah. 74 and 76. We should
- 21:18have had the names of them ready to go, but we
- 21:22can't be... We're doing it on the spreadsheet.
- 21:23That's really hard. Next up, 42nd on the list
- 21:30is Mother Shipton. Oh, I have her really low
- 21:33too. She's ranked on mine 44. Season 3, episode
- 21:3612. Yeah, we're right around the same spot, 43,
- 21:4044. I don't think the scores are gonna be that
- 21:41different. That is one that I listened halfway
- 21:44through. Hey, me too. I hope it didn't turn halfway
- 21:49through. I have to tell you, listening to Mother
- 21:52Shipton, I was like, wow, I remember when we
- 21:54did the opening news article on our actual episodes.
- 21:58It was like a little bit of nostalgia for me
- 22:01before we broke it out to a mini. And just a
- 22:03breaking the fourth wall here, it was something
- 22:06that kind of shook us to our core when we took
- 22:08that away. And we're like, how do you start an
- 22:10episode just with theme songs? it's true but
- 22:15now i think it's a beautiful thing and i wouldn't
- 22:18want to go back but just listening to it that
- 22:21way i was like wow and then the episode starts
- 22:24like after that and so i was like a little bit
- 22:27taken aback i was like what's going on but anyhow
- 22:30shipton is a legendary english prophetess whose
- 22:34prophecies were largely fabricated posthumously
- 22:38Her achievement is enduring folklore status,
- 22:41with her name attached to centuries of predictions.
- 22:44Her asshole factor is modest. Her myth was exploited
- 22:47by later promoters, misleading audiences, but
- 22:50functioning more as entertainment than fraud.
- 22:53Co -pilot with that description put her at 46.
- 22:56She's actually very low on there. Wow. But they
- 22:59gave her a 26, so she's still an asshole. We're
- 23:03coming up all in the same, whether or not they
- 23:07- She's a tragic character. She is. Like, when
- 23:09you listen to it, you kind of get the vibes from
- 23:12if you listen to it back in the day. Oh yeah,
- 23:14woman brought up in a brothel, evil woman. You're
- 23:16like, no, it's just the circumstances of her
- 23:18life that really make everybody mean to her.
- 23:22And that's where everything came from. And even
- 23:23the stories about her didn't come out until a
- 23:26century after her. Yeah. No, I just really felt
- 23:28bad for her. I gave her a six in legacy, and
- 23:31that's not her own doing. Yes. It's stories that
- 23:34come later. It's legend. Yeah. It's the legend
- 23:37that was built around her. And like, she made
- 23:39up stories. I got to assume that. And that's
- 23:41I gave her a three in deception. Yes. That's
- 23:44everything else is twos. Mine's pretty much exactly
- 23:47the same. Me and you are pretty much neck and
- 23:50neck. Matching the bottom. Yeah. I think we have
- 23:52agreement in who's not assholes. Yeah. Yeah,
- 23:55because these are all below 20s mother ship did
- 23:57definitely By her own means I don't think is
- 24:02an asshole She's a little bit more up there in
- 24:04legacy because of the cult status She's kind
- 24:08of gotten around her but it's not through any
- 24:10what was any of her own doing Okay, Chelsea next
- 24:15up on my list and sorry, I don't know if I said
- 24:18it I gave her 15 overall again, clearly not an
- 24:21asshole Yeah, she is punished by her circumstances
- 24:26and talked about later in life. Yeah, which is
- 24:29actually pretty sad. Yeah. It's like a Benowitz
- 24:31actually. Next up coming in at number 41 on my
- 24:37list is Dee Dee Holmes coming from season 4 episode
- 24:4165. Holmes was a Victorian era medium famous
- 24:44for levitations and seance tricks. His achievements
- 24:47were captivating elite audiences and becoming
- 24:49one of the most famous spiritualists of his time.
- 24:52I have him with an 18 overall with the highest
- 24:55being grift. He got a 6 in grift. I have him
- 24:58pretty hard and I just have to admit here between
- 25:02me and you. I really get him mixed up with AJ
- 25:05Tomes. Yeah, and those are very different vibes
- 25:08that you're going to get from those. Very different
- 25:10vibes. So it took me a while to remember who
- 25:12he was. He's at a 35 for me because he's one
- 25:17away from the Fox sisters, who to me are very,
- 25:20very similar. They ran the same grift. So I had
- 25:23him at a 10 for deception. I had him actually
- 25:27fairly low in deception. I gave him a three,
- 25:30which is higher than pretty much everything except
- 25:32the weekly world news we've had. And the reason
- 25:34that's so much lower than we're going to see
- 25:36with the Fox sisters later on is because the
- 25:38Fox sisters later admit all of their hoax. So
- 25:41I can't say for sure he didn't believe what he
- 25:45was doing. Huh. Interesting take on that, because
- 25:49I would say wouldn't that make him a bigger asshole
- 25:52for not admitting to it. Yeah, and especially
- 25:55with, like, levitation stuff that he would do.
- 25:58I might rethink that. It's interesting that it
- 26:01kind of puts us at different levels because we're
- 26:04interpreting it a little bit differently, which
- 26:06is the fun of it. And I also don't get weird
- 26:09vibes from him. I do! And I always love that
- 26:12he had, like, people around to notarize everything.
- 26:16There were affidavits always signed at his shows
- 26:18that they were fantastic. I forgot about that
- 26:23but because of that he gets weird vibes from
- 26:26me because I guess I forgot about the notary
- 26:30thing when I was scoring maybe it would have
- 26:32been a little higher Fox sisters, they're taking
- 26:35advantage of that spiritual movement. And around
- 26:39that timeframe, they're all doing kind of a very
- 26:43similar grift. So they're all kind of playing
- 26:45off each other. They know what they're doing.
- 26:48It's rapping, it's levitating. It's clearly made
- 26:51up stuff. That was all the rage at the time.
- 26:54So it definitely was a timely thing as well.
- 26:56So I gave them higher asshole vibes as well.
- 26:59Like I said, the only thing that really held
- 27:00him back for me is like he kept up the grift.
- 27:03whole life so it's hard to say he thought it
- 27:05was a grift and maybe hey maybe he could actually
- 27:08levitate i doubt it the funny thing for me here
- 27:11is i gave him lower harm i still gave him a five
- 27:15because obviously he's taking money from people
- 27:18but scored lower on the vibes because i don't
- 27:21feel like it was that harmful it was just taking
- 27:25taking money from the rich it was the entertainment
- 27:28at the time right it was like i want to go see
- 27:30a movie take my money so i he's not like a villain
- 27:34in anything like that to me because he was entertaining
- 27:37and taking advantage of that and copilot has
- 27:40him at a 34 actually very close to chelsea and
- 27:44in 34th His asshole factors come from exploiting
- 27:48grief and curiosity with fraudulent performances,
- 27:51monetizing deception, while presenting himself
- 27:53as a genuine medium. I should also say, I think
- 27:55this might be the first time it becomes apparent.
- 27:57I didn't listen to DD Holm's episodes again for
- 28:01doing this list. Neither did I. But I remember
- 28:03him. But, and weirdly enough, I do find when
- 28:07I re -listen to episodes, the score went up significantly.
- 28:11Because apparently you just forget some of the
- 28:13asshole stuff people do. It's true. I mean, especially
- 28:15when we're looking back at where are we right
- 28:17now. This is the late 1800s. No. Oh, sorry. Season
- 28:23four, episode 65. So we're talking about like
- 28:26August of last year. Yeah. So it's been a while,
- 28:30but I remember his vibes. So that's why his vibes
- 28:33scored an eight for me. Okay, and this is the
- 28:37last person on my list, Chelsea, who isn't an
- 28:40asshole, as it's the last score below 20. And
- 28:43Chelsea, how many more on your list are below
- 28:4420? I have below 20. How many are you? 1, 2,
- 28:493, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. Oh, you've
- 28:54got quite a few. Well, this is my last one who's
- 28:56not an asshole. Oh, no, no, 12, because I was
- 28:57counting one at 20. And yeah, I have one who
- 29:00just barely cracked up. I love the guy, but anyhow,
- 29:03we'll get to him when we get to him. Last one
- 29:05I have at 40th with a score is Gary McKinnon,
- 29:10the man who hacked NASA season two episode 38.
- 29:13Oh yeah, I have him very low too. I actually
- 29:15really like Gary. I know. McKinnon became infamous
- 29:22as the UFO hacker after breaking into NASA and
- 29:26US military computers in the early 2000s claiming
- 29:34he was searching for evidence of extraterrestrial
- 29:41technology. His achievement was exposing vulnerabilities
- 29:45in government systems and sparking global headlines
- 29:48about UFO secrecy. Overall, I have him at a 19.
- 29:52The highest thing he scored is a six in legacy.
- 29:55Yeah, because he is somebody who's remembered
- 29:57and it gets talked about a lot in UFO circles.
- 30:00But. He doesn't actually make the UFO round.
- 30:03He hasn't really profited off this. I get weird
- 30:06vibes from him, but like not in like necessarily
- 30:09a bad way. Just like nerd vibes, like just weird.
- 30:13Yeah. Like I live in a basement vibe, I think.
- 30:16He did hack a government mainframe, so he got
- 30:20a four in arm, but he didn't do anything bad.
- 30:24completely on with that and i think it's gone
- 30:27actually from like they're scoring low because
- 30:30you just feel bad for them to like yeah he's
- 30:33scoring low because like he's a good guy and
- 30:35i like him and funny enough copilot agrees too
- 30:38he's 39th on their list at a 32 another one that
- 30:43i tied with ai i have three ties with ai that
- 30:46is hilarious which is weird i'm yeah i'm on my
- 30:50ranking That is where we finish off with the
- 30:53total agreement. They are not assholes. So I
- 30:55think this is where we're going to cut the list.
- 30:57And next week, we're going to continue on starting
- 30:59with the actual start of the asshole list. I'm
- 31:03excited. Yeah. This is going to be a lot of fun.
- 31:05We have a lot to go through. I'm just shouting
- 31:08out my ranking. I've been Taylor here with Chelsea.
- 31:12We are a journey to the fringe. Thank you all
- 31:13for listening. We'll see you next week. Bye.
- 31:18Thank you for listening to Journey to the Fringe.
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