Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Tana Mongeau vs. Tara's World, Pearl Davis "silent tantrum" + 2016 nostalgia trend theories

Transcript

MINI SCROLL: Tana Mongeau vs. Tara's World, Pearl Davis "silent tantrum" + 2016 nostalgia trend theories · Mini Scroll

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  Hi everyone, welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
• 0:04
  culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories from social
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  media, the creator economy and the digital space.
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  Every Monday through Thursday and sometimes Fridays.
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  I'm your host, Lauren Meisner, the founder of the youth digital
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  media brand Centennial World. Welcome back to Mini Scroll,
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  everyone. A Friday at Mini Scroll OK,
• 0:25
  before I get into it, Please remember to rate review and
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  subscribe. Please Spotify star rate US.
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  We're trying to get to 1000 Spotify star ratings and also
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  follow me on Instagram. OK, please follow me on
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  Instagram. There's a story in here that one
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  of you guys DM Ed me about on Instagram.
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  So if you guys ever have recommendations for stories asks
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  So please follow me. OK, All right, let's get into
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  the stories for today. The first story that I have for
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  you guys is Tara's world is beefing with Tana Mojo over the
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  halter top situation. I really didn't think I would
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  ever talk about this halter top situation again, but here we
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  are. So last week I covered how
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  TikTok star Tara Lynn AKA Tara's world had this huge drama on
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  TikTok where basically she wanted to wear a specific halter
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  top for New Year's Eve. It was sold out.
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  She asked her followers, does anybody have this top that I
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  could borrow? She ended up making a deal with
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  a girl that lived relatively close by and she was going to
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  send her the top and then Tara said that this girl ghosted her.
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  Sorry, I don't, I always call her Tara, but I actually think
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  it's Tara. Anyways, I think I go back and
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  forth so apologies. So it turned into this whole
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  thing because Tara made a video saying that this girl played
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  her. Basically she was like she's a
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  hater and she played me. And then this girl commented
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  being like, hi, it's me, I'm a nurse and I ended up having to
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  stay late. I didn't ghost you.
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  I couldn't look at my phone. And then she also, this girl
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  posted screenshots of alleged messages between herself and
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  Tara in which Tara was really not being super nice to her.
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  Now, before I talk about how Tana was involved, I wanted to
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  give you guys a couple updates because there are actually some
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  new theories since I reported on this that I just haven't
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  mentioned on the pod. First, there's a lot of
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  speculation that the user who claims to be a nurse isn't
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  actually a nurse. There's lots of reasons why
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  people think she's probably not a nurse and I mean, we will
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  probably never know. I think it doesn't matter so
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  much in this situation though, because the outrage was more
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  about the fact that Tara thought it was appropriate, first of
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  all, to ask her followers to borrow their clothes and also
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  the how she allegedly spoke to this follower of hers in the
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  DMS. Second, the other theory I've seen is that the user was
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  actually Tara herself trying to drum up views and controversy.
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  We know she's been talking a lot about how she's quote UN quote
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  broke lately. She's had to move houses.
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  So a lot of people think maybe she herself is the nurse and she
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  did this to drum up like her own controversy again, literally,
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  who knows? OK, so back to Tana.
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  So Tana and Tara have been friends for years and used to
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  occasionally create content together.
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  As we know, Tana recently stopped the Canceled podcast,
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  which was an outlet for her to be able to share her opinion on
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  Internet drama. And since Canceled ended, she's
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  been saying here and there that she misses having that outlet
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  because she has so many opinions about things that come up.
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  But she's trying to be like brand safe right now in her
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  drama free era. So she will occasionally touch
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  on Internet drama on TikTok. And this is how the whole
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  situation with Tara started because she decided that she was
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  going to post a video about this whole situation.
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  So Tana made a TikTok commenting on the halter top situation
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  saying that as influencers you shouldn't be asking to borrow
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  things from your followers because there is a power
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  imbalance, which I totally agree with.
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  And that maybe this halter top situation is just rage bait and
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  maybe Tara is actually the nurse herself because she's done quote
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  a lot of calculated things before on the Internet.
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  I do not think that we as influencers or celebrities
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  should be asking to borrow things from our fans.
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  I, I feel like my fans are my friends.
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  We have a very, whenever someone comes up to me and says like,
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  oh, this is parasocial, I always say, I don't think it's
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  parasocial. I share everything.
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  You share everything with me. We do have a very friendship
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  like bond. But I also understand that as
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  the person on the opposite side of the power imbalance, that
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  there are certain lines I cannot cross with my fans because
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  that's what it is. It's a power imbalance.
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  They are a fan of me and I cannot take advantage of them.
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  Part of me also thinks that this entire thing is Class A rage
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  bait. Like put it on her IMDb and give
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  her an Oscar slash. Is she the nurse slash like all
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  of you? Because she's done a lot of
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  calculated things before on the Internet and has said it that
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  she does those to make money to pay for certain things, whether
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  it's Harry Styles or her mortgage.
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  You know, if it isn't rage bait, I just simply don't understand
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  that you have all the power, money, agency and tools to hire
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  a stylist to source you the exact same top or something
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  similar to find it for sale online in another way, etcetera,
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  or to get a different talk. It would be one thing.
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  I was trying to rationalize it too.
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  It's like if you were looking for a one of 10 item and maybe
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  it was your 21st birthday and you had a whole photo shoot that
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  was relying around this one one of 10 item and you really
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  couldn't find it. But then still it's just like
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  get another thing. I just all that for I don't
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  know. Tara has now responded and here
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  is what she said. There is probably nothing worse
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  than somebody you've been a fan of for so long, like just
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  jumping on the hate train and putting you down publicly.
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  Like I have been a fan of Tana Mojo since I was 16 years old.
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  I've watched every single YouTube video, every single
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  podcast episode, every TikTok, every YouTube video and podcast
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  episode that she's been in of somebody else.
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  I've watched everything she's ever put out.
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  I she makes me so happy really every time I see her face now on
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  my TikTok, I just get sad because like, I don't know, she
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  talked shit about me like a bunch of times on the cancelled
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  podcast. And honestly like I didn't
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  really care when that happened. But the other day she made a
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  TikTok about me and it just felt like, it feels like she was just
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  dog piling on to me like the rest of the Internet and kicking
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  me while I was down. And she knows how much I love
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  her and she knows how much of I remember in one of the cancelled
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  podcast episodes, Brooke was literally like she was like, can
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  I stop? Like Tara's a huge fan of us
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  Like, why are you saying all this?
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  And I'm like, I don't know, it just also feels like recently
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  she doesn't really have like any opinions of her own.
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  It just feels like she takes the side of the majority of the
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  people so that she doesn't get cancelled or it's just so sad.
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  I've been a fan girl my whole life with like musicians and
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  influencers and I've never like experienced this before.
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  And I think it's finally at the point where like I can't watch
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  her things anymore because like, she just makes me.
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  It just makes me so sad. So the general consensus online
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  seems to be that Tana wasn't wrong in what she said about
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  Tara, but one of the main reasons they claimed to stop the
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  canceled podcast was because they didn't like to continually
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  talk about other people, especially their peers in the
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  influencer space. They didn't like to talk about
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  drama. So people are like, Tana, either
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  leave it behind or let's bring canceled back.
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  All right, the next story that I have for you guys, I don't like
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  to cover this person very often, but there is a reason why I'm
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  covering this and I will get into that.
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  But Pearl Davis has thrown a quote silent temper tantrum in
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  this viral debate that people cannot stop clipping.
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  So every so often a story with Pearl it makes sense to cover
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  within the context of of what we try and do here at Centennial
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  World. And today is one of those
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  instances. So conservative influencer
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  Hannah Pearl Davis, AKA Pearl Davis recently debated
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  experienced political commentator Ana Kasparian at a
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  World War debate event in Atlantic City.
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  And everyone is talking about how the outcome did not go well
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  for Pearl. If you're not across Pearl, her
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  personal brand online is essentially being anti feminist
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  and pushing like really red pilled esque rhetoric.
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  However, over the years, there have been several instances
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  where Pearl has either not been able to hold her own and like,
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  back up her opinions when she's on a podcast, when she's being
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  interviewed, when she's having a debate like this.
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  And a few years ago, an alleged former friend of Pearls spoke
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  out publicly about her, saying that her current views that she
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  espouses online do not line up with who Pearl was growing up
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  for her whole life, her family dynamic.
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  And so her friend at the time was kind of speculating that
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  it's possible her entire online persona is for views and money,
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  essentially, that she's a grifter.
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  And that is why I wanted to cover this story today.
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  So this debate with Anna seems to confirm at least some of
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  those speculations. In several moments captured on
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  camera, Pearl went strangely quiet between questions,
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  sometimes looking out to the audience and laughing to
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  herself. Online users are labeling these
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  pauses as silent temper tantrums and suggesting that she ran out
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  of responses under pressure, probably because she doesn't
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  actually know what she's saying or fully agree with the points
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  that she's supposed to be debating on.
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  Pearl isn't saying anything. What?
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  What? The.
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  Fuck, are you just making things up?
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  Pearl, what are you doing? Like seriously.
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  And this is just a really good example of how these people and
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  their talking points completely crack under the pressure of
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  being faced with an opponent that actually knows what they're
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  talking about and is able to completely dissect each and
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  every one of these talking points with facts.
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  And logic. And then Pearl later said on a
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  live stream that her silence wasn't due to being unprepared,
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  but rather because she was angry at how Anna responded to her
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  points in the stream. She jokingly mimicked her own
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  silence and even said that part of her frustration was physical,
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  claiming that she wanted to, quote, beat Anna's ass but held
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  back because she didn't want to get in trouble with the police.
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  OK, what did I mean? Even for Pearl?
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  What a crazy tone deaf things to say at this current time.
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  OK so I was talking to Annabelle kind of debating if I should
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  cover this story today or not. I don't love to platform Pearl
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  and I also wondered if this story really has much to it.
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  And basically I said to Annabelle I don't think Pearl is
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  relevant enough anymore to cover this story.
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  I think the exact wording that I used was, who the fuck is she
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  even influencing these days anyways?
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  And I still do stand by that somewhat.
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  Like I know a lot of those right wing Bros, like they don't
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  necessarily respect her or claim her.
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  But Annabelle made a couple good points.
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  She said first, not that she was necessarily advocating for me to
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  cover this story, OK? But she was just, you know, like
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  we were just talking about this. That makes it sound like she
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  really wanted me to cover this story, but it's more that she
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  wanted to give me an alternative perspective.
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  She was like, well, first of all, you know, we're not in the
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  same echo chamber as these people that are consuming Pearls
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  content. So we may not know how
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  influential or non influential she is right now.
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  And 2nd, Pearl may not be great at converting people to her
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  beliefs, but she is confirmation for people who already do
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  believe these things, especially because she's a woman.
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  And I think that gave me the perspective that, yeah, like we
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  don't need to cover her often. And I don't think she's very
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  worthy of being covered very often.
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  But occasionally we can cover these moments from all of these
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  types of creators, not just Pearl.
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  When it feels like their mask is slipping or things aren't adding
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  up with what they claim to believe versus their actions or
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  what they're saying, what they're projecting, how they
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  behave. Because at the end of the day,
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  if we as left-leaning Internet net users can show how fake and
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  griftery so many of these right wing influencers actually are,
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  and that so many of them are clearly doing this for the money
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  above all else. And that is the point that I
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  really wanted to make in relation to this debate.
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  Is it funny to see Pearl get owned?
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  Is it funny to watch her fumble on stage?
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  Like, yes, of course, of course it is.
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  But above all else, this shows how little these people actually
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  know about the stances that they're taking.
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  Because for so many of them, it is a grift.
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  All right, And the last way that I have for you guys, one of our
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  listeners, like I said, a listener damned me, Hannah, and
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  she asked me to talk about my opinion on why 2016 nostalgia is
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  everywhere. Like why everybody's posting
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  their 2016 throwback pictures, grid posts.
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  Crazy. I did one of my stories grid
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  posts is wild. Actually, Annabelle was like the
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  2016 throwback grid posts are like so 2016, which is honestly
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  true. But yes, so I'm sure you guys
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  have all seen this. It's become a trend this week.
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  People are sharing their 2016 throwback picks.
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  The whole concept is like 02026. I've heard it's 2016.
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  Like, you know, looking a decade behind.
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  And we're like, we're bringing 2016 back.
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  It was so hopeful and nostalgic. And, you know, it was so much
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  more optimistic and positive. And that's like the messaging
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  around this. OK.
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  Specifically, though, it has to be 2016.
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  Like, it's not 2014. It's not 2015.
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  Why did this not happen in previous years?
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  Why is it specifically 2016? Especially because 2016 is not
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  as hopeful and optimistic and positive as I think a lot of us
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  online are remembering it as. So I believe it is specifically
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  2016. And this trend for 2016 has
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  emerged right now for a few reasons.
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  So first I did want to say there seems to be a misunderstanding
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  of what 2016 actually was. A lot of the nostalgia being
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  posted for 2016 right now was actually like 2012 to 2014.
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  People are posting throwbacks like indie sleaze twee, like
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  overblown Valencia filtered Instagram photos.
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  Like none of that was actually 2016.
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  That was even earlier than 2016. Now As for why 2016 specifically
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  is popping off, there are so many theories that it has to do
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  with the nostalgia for simpler times.
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  Like I said, a more hopeful time.
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  But again, that simple hopeful time was actually like 2010 to
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  even 20/15/2016 was when Trump was elected.
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  And the reality was that the culture was already shifting by
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  then. So I think a few things are
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  happening all at once that make 2016 like the moment that we've
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  chosen to look back on, like this one.
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  I think 2016 is around the time when most people who are very
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  active online right now in the current moment, we're old enough
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  to have social media. So the 2016 throwback is
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  inclusive because most people online right now can actively
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  participate. And it's also probably one of
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  the first years where a lot of us would have content from
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  because by then most people had smartphones.
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  Social media had been a thing for a couple of years.
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  Like my camera roll only goes back till I think I have like 2
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  photos from 2015 and then 2016 is like a full album.
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  I think by then it's a time when most people have proof on social
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  media. We have Snapchat memories, like
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  all these things that just attributed to us having like
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  quite a large digital footprint that is also saved on our phones
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  that we can actively go back to #2.
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  Things have been really bad culturally for several years
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  now. And while nostalgia for the 20
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  tens has been popular throughout this entire time, I think the
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  concept that we are like, quote, UN quote, bringing back the past
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  decades specifically has worked for 2026 because there are fewer
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  unknown variables going into this year.
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  In theory. Not in reality, of course, but
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  I'm going to say in theory because it's like the devil we
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  know now. So since TikTok really blew up,
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  which is where, you know, this trend has emerged from,
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  obviously we have had the pandemic lockdowns.
• 15:54
  Then globally, there was like this impending sense of doom,
• 15:58
  even when things felt politically like they might be
• 16:00
  getting better financially, What the pandemic has done to us is
• 16:05
  traumatic. It caused a huge amount of
• 16:08
  economic fear, At least that's what I experienced.
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  And especially as a business owner.
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  There were a couple of years there when we came out of
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  lockdown, but people were like, oh, we're still not spending any
• 16:18
  money because, like, we're going to go into a recession.
• 16:20
  And then obviously, Trump got reelected and 2025 is when he
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  took office. So I do want to stress here,
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  like, we are still in a pandemic.
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  There are still horrific economic circumstances.
• 16:31
  We are in a cost of living crisis.
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  Trump is the president. He's destroying the whole world.
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  And you know, I am well aware that it will probably get worse.
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  However, what I think 2026 has that other years didn't those
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  years obviously in which TikTok existed or was like really
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  popular, part of the zeitgeist was that we now have a sense of
• 16:51
  the devil. You know, we've been through so
• 16:54
  much and we have survived so much.
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  All of the impending doom of like, Oh my God, what's going to
• 16:59
  happen after we get out of lockdown?
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  What's going to happen with the economy?
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  OK, we're a couple years out of that now.
• 17:05
  OK, so we're in a cost of living crisis, but we've been through
• 17:07
  that now. We've been living through that
• 17:09
  now, you know, and it's like, Oh my God, fuck, Trump got re
• 17:12
  elected. What's going to happen?
• 17:13
  Oh, his first year, what's going to happen?
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  We've been through all of that. I agree everything's probably
• 17:17
  going to get worse unfortunately, until it gets
• 17:19
  better. Hopefully, knock on wood, it
• 17:21
  gets better. But you know, things are going
• 17:22
  to probably progressively get worse.
• 17:24
  But it is the devil we know, at least for now.
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  So there are just fewer unknown variables going into 2026, which
• 17:31
  allows us to maybe go into this year feeling slightly more
• 17:35
  prepared and therefore maybe slightly more hopeful question
• 17:39
  mark. And after so many years of
• 17:42
  trauma, 2016 genuinely does mark the last year before everything
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  felt like it got really, really bad, right?
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  It's like looking back on the last year of innocence and hope
• 17:53
  for a lot of us. So that's my theory.
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  I think all of those things together have created like this
• 17:58
  perfect storm for 2016, nostalgia to become really big
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  and for this trend to take off specifically in 2026 instead of
• 18:06
  it having taken off in like 2024-2025.
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  That's my theory and I'm sticking to it, but I'd love to
• 18:12
  hear your theories. Anyways, guys, that's it for
• 18:14
  Mini Scroll today. Thank you so much for listening.
• 18:16
  I love you guys. Please remember to rate, review
• 18:18
  and subscribe please Spotify star rate US.
• 18:21
  Please follow me on Instagram. I love you guys Have a good
• 18:23
  weekend and I will talk to you guys on Monday.
• 18:25
  Bye.