Zombie Book Club
Welcome to Zombie Book Club! We're a Podcast that's also a book club! We talk about Zombie / Apocalyptic horror novels, TV and movies.
Zombie Book Club
Quarantining the Troll Outbreak: The Rise of the Online Zombie Horde | Zombie Book Club Podcast Episode 36
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Ever faced down the wild, colorful haired monster that is an internet troll? Prepare yourself for a direct confrontation with the Troll epidemic! Hoist the mainsail as we navigate the treacherous seas of gender misconceptions, drop anchor to challenge stereotypes and unravel media misrepresentation, discussing the myths surrounding gender-affirming care and the origin of the Bechdel test. We ready our grappling hooks to scale the fortified ramparts of the systemic barricades women face in industries where they're outnumbered, sharing gritty tales from the trucking sector to the battle-field, and delve into the intersection of gender roles, racism, and political ideologies.
We wrap up with the mastery of troll detection, laying out a troll's tactical playbook, uncovering their sneaky strategies and the psychology behind their moves. And because we love to leave you clucking, we share our 'Evil Magic Chicken Zombie Clucks' challenge highlights, teasing a themed surprise that's sure to ruffle some feathers. Tune in and join the hilarity—zombie chickens and all!
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Dealing With Zombie Trolls
Speaker 1Trigger warning . Gosh , we're doing a lot of these lately . We are responding and critiquing a comment from a sexist , homophobic , transphobic , racist troll . His comments are hateful and might upset some of you , so if that's not something you want to hear , you don't want to hear Dan rant against this person and talk about all the reasons why they're an idiot and all the reasons I shouldn't respond to trolls . Feel free to skip this one .
Speaker 2The only book club where the book is an unhinged rant on YouTube from a troll who got really triggered by the fact that we examine zombie apocalypse media with the ways it either promotes or addresses discrimination against anyone who isn't Brad Pitt . He must be new to the zombie genre , I think so . Yes , maybe hasn't seen a zombie movie since 1968 .
Speaker 1Last time I watched it was shot at the dead .
Speaker 2I'm Dan and when I'm not blocking in cells on the internet , I'm writing a book about how extreme wing fascism will rise and post apocalyptic world when the rules are gone but the fear and hate remains is pretty much what's happening now . It is what's happening now . But worse with zombies yeah , plus zombies is my book . I should just call it plus zombies .
Speaker 1I think that makes less into the standage . I'm Leah . I am officially 40 years old . Including my mother , really wanted to make sure I knew that and to celebrate , I am getting a giant lost unicorn tattoo on my left arm because I can afford to , because I don't have kids and I want it . And why one of these ? Since I was 18 . I'm never getting a zombie tattoo . I'm saying that right now .
Speaker 2It's never happening today Is a casual dead episode where we're talking about a special kind of zombie the internet troll . Trolls are zombies , you see .
Speaker 1So , dan , should we be laughing or crying about the proliferation of zombie trolls in an election year ?
Speaker 2I think we should all be crying , but honestly I feel like laughing is the only way to deal With the existential dread .
Speaker 1I think that there's like so much to cry about in the world that like maybe we can just laugh about the Troll part .
Speaker 2Yeah , let's laugh about the trolls cry about everything else .
Speaker 1We're gonna laugh about the trolls today . I need to , and maybe rage out a little bit .
Speaker 2Yeah , so we really . We release episodes every Sunday on every podcast platform . So if you want to check us out on anything that you usually watch or listen to Podcasts on , we're there , I bet you . I bet you that we're there .
Speaker 1Yeah , come hang out with us .
Speaker 2Yeah , hit the subscribe button or whatever button there is .
Speaker 1Yes , and also leave a review .
Speaker 2Yeah , reviews nice .
Speaker 1Listening and we're not getting a lot of reviews . I'm calling you out . We've got some .
Speaker 2You know it's hard when it's spread across so many platforms , because like We'll get a few here , a few there , and then some and then somewhere else , and then a whole bunch did a different place .
Speaker 1This is true . I guess what I'm saying is my ego needs to be stroked . If you could just like remind me .
Speaker 2Please stroke Lee as ego . Yeah , I love being stripped .
Speaker 1Okay , this is getting really inappropriate . And now I don't know if I want that part of me on the internet , but I think it might be too late . Yeah , it's too , late hundred dollar Amazon challenge . Well , dan , before we get into our favorite topic trolls and I'm not talking about the kids toy , Although those are pretty cool too .
Speaker 2Are we talking about the movie trolls to , which was a sequel to nothing , because it was the first movie in the series ?
Speaker 1I never saw trolls too , Wow , but I would like to picture every troll we talk about today like a troll . Hmm , yes .
Speaker 2Well , like the the frizzy hair kind , or yeah , like it's got like really bright pink hair . Yeah , it's .
Speaker 1I was thinking green sticking straight up . Yeah , green is the classic troll .
Speaker 2I like the ones with a green hair .
Speaker 1Okay , and is it ? I think it's naked .
Speaker 2Oh , they're all make . All my trolls are naked .
Speaker 1Yeah , it's like a really big head and a little body and like big feet .
Speaker 2Yeah , and also you can . You can shove a whole pencil in there , but you can yeah . Oh , you know the ones that are supposed to go on pencils . Yeah , you just just put them up on top of your pencil .
Speaker 1I feel like there's gotta be a really good like joke we can make out about , but I'm
Citizenship, Taxes, and Family Updates
Speaker 1not smart enough . So , let's get into life updates before we trash some trolls .
Speaker 2Yeah , like life update Leah yeah , this is where we talk about ourselves . Yeah yeah , on these types of episodes , everybody's just got to listen to us talk about ourselves . That's what . That's why we do this .
Speaker 1We've trapped you just for a little bit you're listening to us now .
Speaker 2Yeah , you're our neighbors . Next episode we'll talk about a movie or a book or something , but this one , it's us .
Speaker 1It's all . It's us Ranching other things we want to rant about and then trying to make it be about zombies . Yeah .
Speaker 2Oh , so my life update . Leah , I don't know if you've heard , but my brother's moving in with us .
Speaker 1I think we should have talked about this .
Speaker 2No , actually my brother , you know he's . He lives in Georgia right now . He wants to get out of Georgia .
Speaker 1That's very fair . I wanted to get to her at a Georgia the last election year and we did 2020 we did that's reoscopic , and then Georgia became a Blue state and it was really surreal . Yeah , we could have been a part of that . Yeah , so .
Speaker 2We have this , this workshop space above our garage , and it's perfect for like being like an apartment , and so we're gonna make it make a little like off-grid , like tiny home situation , even though it'll be like a normal sized home , a normal sized tiny .
Speaker 1It's a really nice , like it's gonna get a really nice apartment up there's actually kind of jealous yeah me too . But it's gonna be great , because your brother is an amazing gardener , he's an incredible cook , oh my god . And he's also a lot like you , which sometimes is weird , cuz like there's two of you in the house . One of them is just a lot shorter . Yeah , and it's , it's . It's can be a lot sometimes , but I think it'll be good . I feel like our commune sort of lifestyle is coming together .
Speaker 2Yeah , we're communists .
Speaker 1I Am not a communist . I just Applied for citizenship and they absolutely Communist party .
Speaker 2Tell us about that ?
Speaker 1I Guess I . Yeah , I guess I should talk a little bit about that . Well , yeah , I am Canadian and I applied for citizenship because I want to vote , which Actually , now that I'm going to be able to vote very shortly spoiler alert it's kind of terrifying . I didn't know that I would be so terrified by the concept of bad . They'd make a decision about who to vote for . Yeah , in this wasteland of the United States . But anyways , yeah , one of the questions they ask you on the Citizenship test is are you a member or have you earned a member of the Communist Party ? I wonder the questions they ask you that , out of the hundred questions that you study for about American history , is what was the ? What was the US concerned with during the Cold War ?
Speaker 2Oh , I know this one . Yeah , it was people of color .
Speaker 1Well , yes , also , that's still the case . Racism .
Speaker 2Yeah , was it Trying to get drugs out of the hands of narcos in South America to exchange them for For hostages in Iran , and but then also flood inner cities with crack cocaine ?
Speaker 1Yes , that was not on the test , though .
Speaker 2Oh , what was your answer ?
Speaker 1What was on the test was communism , oh yeah that makes sense . America still had the really serious beef with communism until it was literally on the test and also asked if they'd ever Detained and Turn children into child soldiers . And they ever been a prostitute which I prefer the term sex worker , but apparently they say prostitute on the test . I wanted to know they ever murdered anybody but ever done any drugs ever ?
Speaker 2ever , ever done anything illegal . I've never done the drugs .
Speaker 1No , so it's been an experience , but Anyways , that was a long time because I use the word comia . It's all coming together . I'm gonna I'm gonna be a citizen and I'm gonna be able to vote , and I'm looking for solicited advice on how the fuck do you vote in this world ?
Speaker 2Yeah , how do you do it ? Oh yeah , is there a tutorial ?
Speaker 1It's just been like a terrible spectator sport for me for 13 years , and now I have to do it .
Speaker 2You know when ? When you're done , they'll give you a sticker .
Speaker 1That's cool .
Speaker 2Yeah , free sticker .
Speaker 1That's cool . You want to know what else they asked me on the the test . Yes when our federal taxes do oh , that is important , april 15, . I don't think they taught me that in high school I ever not filed my taxes . That was also a question . It's really important for them to know the answer to so have you know , I've always felt my tax on time . I'm a model Permanent card holder , permanent residents card holder , because if you do anything out of line , you'll get departed . Yeah .
Speaker 2So I was a citizen wasn't a citizen .
Speaker 1I can do things and go to jail and not get deported , yeah . I'm not that I'm planning to do that .
Speaker 2They won't deport me to anywhere . Yeah , I'm , nobody else wants me .
Speaker 1Yeah , I might , but . I'm not going to over to the United States government . I took a vow , and that's true . I'm really not .
Speaker 2Well , those are binding contracts . When you take a vow , yes , you can't break that .
Speaker 1And I will pick up arms if required by law .
Speaker 2Yeah , like . United States just like just if there's arms lying around , you'll pick them up .
Speaker 1Yes , and I've never participated in a genocide , not even with my tax dollars .
Speaker 2Yeah , no , what we're doing now does not count .
Speaker 1No , I Help you here . Sarcasm and some of those answers , others . I'm very serious , uscis .
Speaker 2USCIS . If you're listening , this is all jokes . Yeah no , this is real . We're not even real . People Don't look for us . You know . That said I'm when I am my first , my first year in the army . I don't know if I knew anything about taxes and I think I might have missed filing the first year , like still to this day .
Speaker 1I don't know I got away with it Because I was a long time ago .
Speaker 2Yeah , it was a long time ago .
Speaker 1It's true . They didn't teach that in school either . Yeah , I found the whole adult thing really confusing for the first five years .
Speaker 2And I think what happened is like our drill sergeants were like it's taxis and make sure you pay your taxes , and I'm like looking at my past of them like says I'm paying them right here . They take them out automatically . So I think I'm okay .
Speaker 1It should be that easy . Should be that easy . It should be automated yeah , but it's not you know what's .
Speaker 2What's crazy about taxes is they're like like , guess how much you owe us . And then you're like is it this number ? And they're like no . And then you're like , can you tell me what the number is ? They're like no , you have to guess , but if you guess wrong you're going to fucking jail . Hmm , like they know , but they won't tell us .
Speaker 1I don't know if they always know what they definitely know . If you have like a W2 , yeah , and like people are 1099 , you know , then yes , they'll know . Yeah , but you know taxes really suck . And also one of the other things I learned is that Larry knew this , but it was on the test , so I now officially know it . Forever is the reason why we went to war against Great Britain , not the United Kingdom , because that happened later . Dan and farm man , I did not realize there's like a change that happened .
Speaker 2Yeah , they weren't united back .
Speaker 1Oh well , whatever .
Speaker 2It was very much Great Britain versus Ireland and the Scots and the Welsh . Oh that's sad , yeah . And then at some point they were like Group hug and the rest of them were like I guess .
Speaker 1No wonder it was such a backlash . Anyhow , it's because there was taxation that representation , which is what I've been doing for 13 years in this country .
Speaker 2I have my taxes of absolutely zero . You should have started a revolution as a permanent resident .
Speaker 1No , I can't do that . You should have performed a revolution or acts until you were a citizen . That's right .
Speaker 2That's one of the way with it .
Speaker 1Yeah , a lot of people have died and been assassinated . For you know , I'm going to be democratically elected , but socialists in a foreign country , oh I thought you were talking about January 6th , oh yeah , which .
Speaker 2What I learned about that is that it's okay to do a coup as long as you don't stand out . Don't wear fucking horns to your coup .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , that is a good tip . I mean a general good protest tip is to cover up all your tattoos .
Speaker 2Wear a mask .
Speaker 1Yeah , have a beanie on . Get rid of anything that would make you distinguishable , but you need to know that . What you do need to know is that we are recording in a zombie bunker .
Speaker 2We did it . That's another update . We've got a zombie bunker .
Speaker 1Yeah , these are things that like distract us from the impending Remind me of pending current terribleness that exists all around the world Is doing things like painting the entire room . Army green per down's request .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1Fancy new carpet and the dogs are very calm and chill of us right now , so they're in here with us , not even barking or anything . I think they're really much less interference purely because of the carpet . There won't be any more tippy-tips .
Speaker 2Yeah , also , we don't have a giant water bowl in here .
Speaker 1That's true , I was gonna put one in here , but now I'm recording .
Speaker 2Yeah , they can go outside and drink out of the toilet .
Speaker 1Yeah . Yeah they never drink over the toilet . My dogs are not toilet drinkers .
Speaker 2Yeah , what's wrong with them ? We should , we should take them to the vet .
Speaker 1Well , you're always going to the vet tomorrow because he's being really groany .
Speaker 2We should bring up that he doesn't drink toilet water .
Speaker 1You're all groans . You know , we should record Nero's ground , we should exploit them for zombie sounds , because they are right on they are zombie sounds .
Speaker 2I I love the zombie bunker and I can't wait to do more with it . I .
Speaker 1Yeah , I think it's gonna be really fun once we get it fully set up , but we're just the beginning and because we both have ADHD we're talking about on this podcast really for accountability , we need it . There are so many like Quarter-done projects in our home , so many . We got to finish this one before we do anything else . But we're in here , we just like decorate it and organize some stuff now .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , it's got a nice bookshelf . We're gonna put lots of zombie books on .
Speaker 1Yeah , I've got Celeste Barzee's plan of the dead from last week right here .
Speaker 2You know , I've like had to restart my life so many times over and over again . They're like I used to have a lot of zombie books , but now all of my zombie books are like unaudible . Yeah well , I've been going around to some like secondhand online bookstores to like try to find some of these things and not have to pay like full price for , and I found a lot of them that like I've owned in the past and like I want to like recoup that collection , mmm , and then move on to more .
Speaker 1Well , my friend just sent me a coupon for a secondhand bookstore online . Dan , I didn't know . This was my idea . We'll do that later . Maybe it's a place that I podcast we get to listen to his talk about coupons for buyer purchasing use books .
Speaker 2Yeah , and you know . You know what group of people talks about coupons a lot trolls . I Was gonna say this next live life update where you said you've made it to the middle age .
Speaker 1I have a middle-aged yeah , and Dan took me out for dinner , and it's one of those words where it's like you know what . I think I would choose the 40 hour work week and not the zombie apocalypse , because in the 40 hour work week we can go to vegan f as fuck yeah , town , that's a ways from us and I can eat the best gnocchi of my life . I I was really having to hold back , making sounds that aren't appropriate in public , so it was so good , she sounded just like Nero .
Speaker 2She'd like put some gnocchi in her mouth .
Speaker 1She's like it was really delicious .
Speaker 2Honestly , it's the proof of the best is yet to come you know , I have some good news for you , Speaking of this update , is that you're actually not middle-aged yet . What's middle-aged ? Middle-aged starts at 45 .
Speaker 1That's assuming we're gonna make it to 90 . Most people die like .
Speaker 2Rules they already declared .
Speaker 1I don't think so I'm pretty sure that now that I'm almost a US citizen , that my life expectancy will go down . Yeah , your cholesterol go up my life expectancy will go down .
Speaker 2Lose like 30 IQ points .
Speaker 1Yeah , the sheer stress and anxiety of living in this culture , I'm sure has reduced my life expectancy .
Speaker 2You're also gonna get a po buddies nerf tattoo across your forehead .
Speaker 1I'm absolutely not doing that , and neither you know that's divorce Activity . Do not do that .
Speaker 2I did . I did always want to get a tattoo that said no , rick Hertz . I know and I don't know can't right across , like my forearm , like an old font . I can't .
Speaker 1Also , the older I get , the more regards I have .
Speaker 2That's true . I have so many regards .
Discussion on Online Trolls and Misinformation
Speaker 2Let's talk about trolls .
Speaker 1Yeah , we had our first troll , I'm so .
Speaker 2Yeah , like you know , I've dealt with a lot of troll . Actually , me dealing with trolls has kind of become like my second career on threads , like I've kind of become like the subject matter expert of trolls .
Speaker 1Yeah , that's like your side game .
Speaker 2It's not what I wanted to do . I just want to talk about writing zombie books , but like I kind of turned into the troll guy .
Speaker 1That doesn't sound good , because it sounds like you're the troll .
Speaker 2Oh , I am the troll of the trolls .
Speaker 1You troll , trolls , I troll the troll and the trolls today .
Speaker 2We are today ? Yes , for sure . Okay , cuz , we're going to reply to his trolly comment , but we've already blocked him , so all we can do is listen to this , get angry and not say anything .
Speaker 1Well , I don't always blocked anywhere , not that I'm trying to give this guy tips . You know what . This is one of those moments where I'm perfectly comfortable listening to . This is the dude .
Speaker 2Who read oh , he's definitely a dude .
Speaker 1Yeah , there's no question .
Speaker 2No question in my mind . This is a dude .
Speaker 1So I want to be clear , first of all , foremost , that , like you know , there's the term don't eat the trolls . But I think it is important to respond to the commentary of trolls in other ways , because the things that he says , even though they are like Unhinged and extreme , there's like little bits in there that are like talking points , like super right wing talking points that I think are important to have some language to respond to , because you know how it goes people you love start to repeat this shit and then you're like fuck , what do I say ?
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , you gotta stop what happens in my life stop loving those people .
Speaker 2Well , that's weird , it is . It's like I can't come to Christmas because of what you believe about pyramids . That one's harmless . I know , I mean You're going back in time .
Speaker 1I'm currently harmless , but it's scary .
Speaker 2She's on the tipping point going back to time in time when Conspiracy theorists were like so harmless , where they just wanted to believe the world was flat . Yeah it was cute . Almost . It was like when I ran into a flat earth , or like if I'm jumping into an uber and I've got a 20 minute ride , and the guy's like you know the world's flat right . I'm like okay , let's go along with this , let's see where this goes . I , I got 20 minutes .
Speaker 1Yeah , I actually went to another podcast my favorite is called best friends with Nicole Beyer and Sashira Zaneda and they were talking about how they pretend to be different people when they're on uber rides . I was like that's kind of brilliant , I'm gonna start doing that , including being a flat earth , or I love this for us . Yeah , that sounds very fun .
Speaker 2I could . I could put I could affect a Australian accent .
Speaker 1Yeah , just be like I'm visiting from the down under what have you accidentally put on a New Zealand accent and then offend all of the New Zealanders ?
Speaker 2Oh well , you know , if , if somebody knows Tells that it's a New Zealand accent , I'll be like , oh well , right , mate , but Um , you know , I just put on this accent . I just tell people that I'm Australian because they don't know about New Zealand here in America .
Speaker 1Did I ever tell you at the time that some soldiers tried to pick me up at a bar ? I'm pretending to be from the UK .
Speaker 2No , please tell me that's what happened .
Speaker 1And then I got into a fight with one and my ex had to like because because I was a woman at the time , I'm thinking fully understood that we were together . This happened a lot in the south . Um , I think it would like make really verbal comments , that is , having threesomes with them , or they'd ask if we were sisters . It was really Never in between and this , this dude and I got into a bit debate about the agricultural revolution . This is after they revealed that they were not from the UK . I call . I was like you're not Probably UK . I started flossing them to things and eventually they they failed did they have convincing accents at least ?
Speaker 1no , that's why I knew that they were lying . It's like why are you ? Why are you ? Why are you pretending to be british ?
Speaker 2Yeah , that is rolling .
Speaker 1They were trolling for women at the bar by pretending to be like oh fancy , I'm a british soldier . Yeah , I mean , while they were very clearly american anyways . Uh , yeah , it almost became like a fistfight I'm not kidding Me and this guy were gonna really go at it because I told them that the agricultural revolution was a terrible idea , because I still really deeply believe that . He's like I love agriculture . No , he just , you know , playing for his country , capitalism , that the I can like system of choice here in the United States .
Speaker 2That's , that's why we vow to defend capitalism . Yes , basically , that's exactly what you're defending oh . It is literally true , but we almost got in a fight .
Speaker 1my ex-wife , who's exactly five foot two , got up in this guy's naval and Wreaked out at it . It's wonderful , good memories , oh , good times . Yeah , this is , this is gonna be one of those .
Speaker 1It's way like the casual day we just get the chat and then like weave in some zombie stuff . So this troll that for their do , let's talk about it . It is terrible but it's also funny , um , and I think that like what makes it terrible ? So this guy's out there and honestly I think , possibly dangerous . I don't know that's what's thinking about . Trolls Like these are people that really believe this stuff like really deeply and their mission in life Is to like torture everybody else .
Speaker 2Yeah , and and there's been like a huge upsurge of anti-woman trolls . Like it's been around for a long time , don't get me wrong . Um , but I think I think this has a lot to do with , like Trump's stance , yeah , on women , and it's become like a war against women . So you'll just see trolls everywhere a woman posts like it doesn't matter what they're posting about , and it's it's weird because , like they've kind of learned how to change their verbiage so that the algorithm doesn't detect that they're doing something wrong , doesn't detect that they're doing hate speech .
Speaker 1That's at least a semi smart troll . This one was not smart . You have found this comment by accident , because it automatically filtered out with your own settings , right ?
Speaker 2Yeah Well , yeah it , it got filtered out somehow . I didn't even see it until like a couple weeks later because I was I was just looking through , um . So yeah , it's hard to tell if this was somebody who believes the nonsense or somebody who's spreading the propaganda .
Speaker 1Uh , probably both . Yeah , well , he's definitely spreading it for sure , but like you don't , like he believes it .
Speaker 2I think . I think there's people along the line that are the , the troll farm , the operators , the ones that are trying to so , um , discord on the internet . Um , it's not necessarily that they believe any of the things , but they are trying to Get something to catch fire to , to take wins , so that other other trolls will believe it and spread it For them . Well , why would they want to do that ? To further their , their agenda .
Speaker 1But what's their agenda ? They don't believe in it .
Speaker 2Well , troll farms , it doesn't matter what they believe in , they are hired to spread misinformation .
Speaker 1This is real . Yeah that's fucking disturbing .
Speaker 2There's troll farms in russia and that's that's most famous . Uh , reference to troll farming . Um , it's actually part of the kgb . The kgb a lot of people think , oh , james bond , spies , lots of gadgets , fast cars , cool , um , but actually the actual spying part of the kgb is only 10 of their budget . 90 percent of their budget is misinformation , and there will just be massive troll farms , just people on computers , just like rows and rows and rows in a giant factory .
Speaker 2And they have a method of spreading misinformation where they um have like a multi-step system like that involves finding a person with a small amount of credibility that will believe what they're saying and then start spreading it for them , um , and that's called the useful idiot . So donald trump is a useful idiot . Wow , he is putans useful idiot . Oh , this is . And then , and then , that person with a small amount of credibility . They might be like a doctor or something and they might say that , um , hydroxy chloroquine will cure covet . Well , people see that . They're like oh well , it's a doctor and a doctor saying this . So now I'm going to start spreading this , and it just spreads and catches fire like a virus , like a virus , even though so the , the , the useful idiot , actually didn't do any research and isn't actually like even a credible source , but because he had a small amount of credibility and people enough people to believe him it spread to other people who were willing to believe anything they heard .
Speaker 1This is deeply disturbing .
Speaker 1So , let's just read this guy's troll letter to us so we can laugh , yeah , and then be like , should we guesstimate if he's a troll farmer or actually a troll ? But I want to read it first . So I've got a couple of x5 intersections , dan , for you to react to . We also have some responses that are from some folks that were you were interacting about this with on threads . We're not going to say their name , just for a respect and also because we don't need them to be targeted . But yeah , it was the responses we got basically pretty much just proved everything this dude had to say from real experience . So here we go , dan . I'm going to read this first part All right , I'm ready .
Speaker 1And then I'd like you to go on your own unhinged rant in response to this section of this unhinged rant .
Speaker 2I will troll the troll .
Speaker 1OK , I'm going to try and make a voice for this person , and make a really dumb
Gender Identity and Representation in Media
Speaker 1voice . The podcast was fine until they started injecting their woke called propaganda into a discussion that previously had nothing to do with disaster preparedness . By the way Bechtel herself said , the thing you claimed to be some kind of test was a joke . Imagine going so far to the left . You come back around to the right and claim that someone's role determines their gender .
Speaker 2Wow , big , big skip , big step here .
Speaker 1These are the same people that claim that boys can play with dolls and girls can just be tomboy's . Now claim that a boy likes dolls . He must be a girl trapped in a boy's body and if a girl likes to wear pants instead of skirts . She must actually be a trans man .
Speaker 2You know that's this exactly how it works . Whenever you see a boy with a doll , somebody from the left always comes up to that person . They're like you are getting bottom surgery because you are now a woman .
Speaker 1Yeah , and it's going to happen under the age of five .
Speaker 2Yeah , that's how we work . That's I mean , that's my side hustle actually .
Speaker 1Is helping children transition .
Speaker 2Yeah , well , forcing them to , forcing children transition .
Speaker 1Yeah , that's what I do you know like required to say , because I think a lot of you don't actually know about gender reform and care for children , but that's not how it works .
Speaker 2Oh yeah , I mean try . Try . Anybody who like is opposed to it , though , Try your best to like to change their mind on it . Yeah , that's you can't like . This guy will never believe you .
Speaker 1No , he thinks it's all children may explain , but it's actually the opposite . It's the . It's incredibly difficult , and most gender affirming care that has any kind of physical intervention before 16 or 18 is basically like hormonal , like Pumori blockers . Yeah , so they can be old enough to then make a choice later what they want to do .
Speaker 2So so I did . I did a little bit of research . I wanted to find out about this whole Becdel test fraud . Yeah , she said it was a joke all along and we just won't listen to her because she's a woman , probably . So I did some research and here's what I found . The Becdel test originally derived from a 1985 comic strip by Allison Becdel . Right away , that's not the scientific literature Fraud , it's all fake . It was called Dykes to Watch Out For .
Speaker 1I want to read this .
Speaker 2I do too . Let's read this Does it have zombies in it ?
Speaker 1We just will make it zombies .
Speaker 2Yeah , we'll draw in our own zombies Called Dykes to Watch Out For has indeed been referenced by Becdel herself with a degree of levity . In the comic , A character mentions she only watches movies if they have at least two women in it who talk to each other about something besides a man . This was indeed presented in a somewhat humorous context within the comic strip . However , over time the Becdel test has been adopted more seriously as the basic indicator to highlight the lack of female representation in films and other media .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2Allison Becdel has acknowledged that the test was conceived more as a joke than a formal litmus test for feminist content media , probably because she is a comic strip artist and makes jokes .
Speaker 1Makes jokes about the ways in our world as students .
Speaker 2Yes , However , she also recognizes and supports the way it's been used to provoke discussions about gender representation in film and other media . In interviews and discussions , becdel has expressed a mix of surprise and support for her new rule has evolved into a widely used feminist critique tool , reflecting its unintentional impact beyond its comedic origins . So yeah , was it originally a joke ? Yes , because that's how comic strips work . But also comedians take the world that we live in and they critique it through humor , a comedic lens . So what she was expressing was this frustration , especially , I bet , in 1985 . I don't think there's a movie you could go watch that wasn't about a man .
Speaker 1I was one years old , and everything I had been given was extremely pink .
Speaker 2Yeah , was there any movies ? I guess the last unicorn . That was probably the only movie that you could watch . That wasn't about a man .
Speaker 1But it was still pretty heteronormative it was .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , I mean , at least she didn't have to marry a prince at the end .
Speaker 1She didn't , that's true , but she was sad and she had regret . It's true , she was the only unicorn to know regret because of this random guy who knew her for five minutes and then was like trying to kill dragons for her fall in love with him . Yeah , she was pretty because she was actually a unicorn in human disguise . Just in case you ever watched last year , there you go , that's the prince tries to kill everything to impress her .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1She's like I don't really impress what you do .
Speaker 2Yeah , I don't think you should be killing dragons .
Speaker 1But anyhow , yeah , I think it's actually really interesting to hear the origin stories of the back door test , and its origins also just demonstrate how incredibly useful of a tool actually became . Yeah , but it was an offhand joke . But then when you start to look at media including up and until 2024 , a lot of things don't pass .
Speaker 2Yeah , and like I would also say and this was my first reaction was like , like , yeah , it is kind of a joke because it is . It is such a bottom bar for feminism . Yeah , it is like a woman must speak to another woman . That's not about a man , that's it the end .
Speaker 1Yeah , Honestly , I'm just really glad this person hates our podcast .
Speaker 2I love it too . I don't want him listening .
Speaker 1No , he thought it was just fine until then . Anyways , not like he was going to be a super fan , yeah , regardless . So I've got another section I would love for you to respond to Dan .
Speaker 2OK .
Speaker 1And I have thoughts for this one as well .
Speaker 2I'm ready .
Speaker 1This person continues the homophobia inherent in telling effeminate young boys they're not gay , they're actually straight women . The staggering homophobia and telling a girl who likes other girls , she's actually a man in a girl's body . It's just so choice .
Speaker 2So choice Indeed the audacity that we would do that . You know that I do that on the weekends . Is that what you do ? Do you feel like we ?
Speaker 1are a boy that's holding a doll , that he's actually a girl .
Speaker 2Yeah , I hop on my big bad motorcycle and I go find a boy with a doll and I tell him that you don't actually like boys , you're a woman , so actually you're a heteronormative . That's what I do .
Speaker 1The whole like it's really really . This one really frustrates me for a lot of reasons , because one , it feels like he's hiding a little bit behind , saying that like it's almost like he's cool with gay people , but it's one of those things I think this is saying like I'm cool with gay people , but trans people that's just too far .
Speaker 2Yeah Well , like , like , like . We are the hate group against , against gay people , because we're like you're not gay , you're trans , you're just a different gender .
Speaker 1Which is bizarre , because the whole like , if anybody fall , well you know what , this guy would never really know who a look is . No , I mean , I'm not even going to go there If you don't know who a look is . Check it out , check them out . They're a very cool artist that has a lot of interesting things to say about gender . Anyways , gender expression the whole point is that you can have freedom and express yourself how you are and that you know you're gender . Nobody else knows that , so you can appear to be you know , checking all the boxes like you like pink , you have long hair , you like my little ponies this is basically me but you don't see yourself as a woman , doesn't matter . Yeah , well , yeah .
Speaker 2And I mean there's , there's , there's so many reasons to not want to identify as as the assigned gender that's on your birth certificate , like all of the , the shit , the performative shit that you're expected to do in society .
Speaker 1Yeah , it's exhausting .
Speaker 2Yeah , like like . You're supposed to wear high heels every day , probably why I have foot fuckery now . Yeah , you're supposed to make less money than me , of course .
Speaker 1And I'm allowed to have a bank account .
Speaker 2No , you don't have a bank account , do you ? I have a credit card . Oh , it's mine . Now I'm the man .
Speaker 1But yeah , it's absurd . If the whole thing's absurd , like there can be very mask presenting people who identify as female , they can be very STEM presenting men who identify as male . It's not about whether you choose to look like fucking male polish on Like I . I read this and I'm like are you just a literate ? Like , have you had ?
Speaker 2Yes .
Speaker 1And I don't mean a literate in writing , because clearly this person's on the internet writing , but they have , I'll wait till the end , I feel like this is why the gutting of education in the United States is so concerning to me , because how he got to this conclusion that this is what trans people are all about , or what gender expression like , ultimately becomes that people get assigned no that only happens if you join the twin flame universe cult . That's true it might be randomly assigned a gender , yeah , so don't join that cult .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1That's not what's happening with trans people . Trans people are saying who they are and it's our job to respect them . Yeah , Period . And the other reason this is like why I think talking about this Charles comment is important , because even people who are not on the surface trolls still have these beliefs . So I was actually a part of the new Leaders Council . It's a national organization that does leadership training for progressives all across the country and there's like local chapters .
Speaker 1I was part of my local chapter in the South in Georgia and like was a part of the fellowship and we had a training from this quote unquote social justice expert who literally came in and was going on about all kinds of things around you know , like women's rights , civil rights , right , equity across races , the importance of respecting different religions , and then they said they just felt they had to say but I'm not talking about those trans people with their pronouns , I'm going to call you the pronoun that I think you are like literally that through their mouth and like I have not felt that level of rage in a long time . I think because I didn't expect that kind of transphobia in a space that was literally a social justice presentation .
Speaker 1That's right , it's the South and Democrats in the South the most part are like Republicans in Vermont , like our government . They're pretty much the same .
Speaker 2They all have junkyards in their front yard , Of course there are lots .
Speaker 1Yeah , of course there are lots of left leading people in the South that are not , you know , fundamentally still pretty right leaning , but this person was and it can happen anywhere and it's really important to be able to respond to those things . And I will give a shout out to my fellow folks that were in the program with me , because they could see my face just went beat red and I started like taking some deep breaths and I simply responded and I said you don't have to understand someone to simply respect their pronouns , like you don't have to know anything about them . It's the same thing as calling in the name . They told you that they are , and then a bunch of folks like spoke up with me and were like this is really fucked up , and then I just basically waited to the person left and that was it . It was horrible .
Speaker 2Yeah , that sounds like not a great social justice speaker .
Speaker 1No , I really hope they learned something , but I highly doubt it .
Speaker 2Yeah , now let's move on to Section Three Leah .
Speaker 1Oh , do you want to read this one ? Do you want me to read it ?
Speaker 1Well , I think you got the voice OK we'll discuss your heteronormative patriarchy when men get to stay at home and home make , or when only women get drafted into military combat roles while the men stay home where it's safe . I don't see women protesting for their right to be drafted . We'll discuss your imaginary gender pay gap when women start working the dirty , dangerous job that earn commensurately higher pay . Come talk to us and women take the initiative to do the brick laying undersea welding , deep sea oil drilling , combat vehicle repair , frontline fighting and public sanitation and human waste disposal . Let's see the protest for girls getting into asphalt repair , electric grid maintenance and animal husbandry .
Gender Equality in Male-Dominated Fields
Speaker 2This . What this tells me is that this guy has never worked in any of these fields .
Speaker 1This is the part that makes me think that they are a farm tool . Because , again , I'm just like you're telling me you've never seen a man stay at home or heard of that before . You've never seen a female electrician .
Speaker 2You didn't notice that women can be in combat roles now yeah , I mean women have been serving in the military since when World War Two .
Speaker 1Yeah , and I also want to say I got to say something . Before we even get into all the ways this is backed up on a basic level , the fact that these were things that were once explicitly only for men and still implicitly are , he's not wrong right , like it's not common for you to see women in these places . It's becoming more common , but it's still . It's frankly hostile for women to be in these kind of workplaces . Like Dan , how well would I do with your coworkers ?
Speaker 2Oh , I barely manage my coworkers .
Speaker 1Yeah , and then I have a vagina . So fuck , it's gonna be the end . And then also I'll just get really mad and scream on the CD radio .
Speaker 2Yeah , imagine there's a radio that you have to listen to all the time and people are using it to talk back and forth to each other about their liberal son who came to Thanksgiving and told them to vote for Biden or whatever , and said something about gender pronouns and everybody else is like I would have kicked them out of the family , or like reporting in great detail things they did to their girlfriend the night before , and like objectifying women at literally every road stop .
Speaker 1Like it's the things you tell me are wild , so not exactly yeah , yeah , definitely called , drew out , yeah drew .
Speaker 2Actually , I still have drew in my telephone machine , my pocket telephone .
Speaker 1Yeah , and what's his name on your pocket telephone ?
Speaker 2His name on my pocket telephone is fuck head , yes , which actually there's a funny story behind that . I have a hat that says hat and my boss thinks that's hilarious . And fuck head went up to my boss one day and asked when he was getting a hat . He was referring to a hat from the company that we work for and but he didn't specify that . He's like when am I getting a hat ? And my boss was just looking at my hat and he's like . He's like yeah , you're going to be getting a hat that says fuck head on it .
Speaker 1Yeah , this is a hostile workplace . This person would be going into CHR , where I work .
Speaker 2That's it . I've doubled over the last thing . Ever since then he's been fucking in my phone .
Speaker 1Well , I mean he doesn't look the greatest human on earth , but my point that I'm trying to make is that the patriarchy is why we're divided in this way , like being a man in this patriarchal society kind of fucking sucks . You know a lot of feelings . You have to do all the dangerous jobs . You got to bring in the bacon or tofu . No , that's not very man . You got to bring in the bacon .
Speaker 2Got to bring in them soys , yeah , you can never have feelings .
Speaker 1Also , superficial friendships where you have to like play a sport and never talk about anything other than the sport .
Speaker 2Yeah , also , I want to point out the the women getting drafted into in the combat . First of all , this person writing this has never been drafted , so they need to shut the fuck up . We shouldn't be protesting for more people to be drafted . That's a wild thing . No one should be drafted . Being drafted fucking sucks and no one should have to do it . But that said , I'm going to . I'm going to go into something discussion that I had on threads when I posted this and got a lot of responses from it , because all of these roles are roles that many women do . I even , like I do asphalt paving . There's about four women that I work with .
Speaker 1If I think you can count them on a one hand it's true , out of like 30 or 40 guys . The point is that it is possible .
Speaker 2Yeah , and you know what . You have to be really fucking tough to to work in that environment , because every dude around you is gross as shit . And I don't blame more women for not wanting to work in in that , in that world , because it is . It is disgusting what people have to go through just to make it through the day .
Speaker 1Obviously it's disgusting that you have to go through again they just for any day , yeah .
Speaker 2Well , but I wanted to bring up a comment from somebody . I'm not going to say who it was , but they were . They were a , an officer in the army and she says I don't know where to begin . Of course women should be made to register for the draft . I disagree person on threads , but agree to disagree . Same as men . Many men are stay at home dads . I know plenty of military families where the women stayed in and the man got out to take care of the kids and be there to stay . Be a stay at home parent . This guy is crazy . Does he really think the women don't do jobs like animal husbandry ? Yeah , me , that was . That was my aunt's degree . It's like he's showing how little he understands about everything in the universe . In one message she continues I was already finished with my second tour in Afghanistan when they decided to let women into combat roles .
Speaker 2The rule was needlessly hurting women's careers and IED ambush is more likely to hit support personnel than combat troops . So we all have to be combat soldiers first . It's really the first thing you learn in boot camp when the shit hits the fan , you all better be ready to shoot and fight . So that brings me to how it hurt women . So I talked to her a whole bunch about this topic because I really wanted to , because I hadn't really thought about how it hurts the careers of women . But now that I think about it makes a lot of sense . So there's a lot of roles that somebody who hasn't had combat experience isn't allowed to have . She was saying that she couldn't be the S2 officer because she couldn't deploy to combat . I forget what S2 does . I remember I went there to do paperwork a lot . I don't know .
Speaker 1The military loves acronyms .
Speaker 2Yeah , they mean nothing . In each company there's a whole bunch of different offices , from S1 to S6 . Maybe there's more than six , I don't know . I worked in S6 for a little while . That was like an IT repair shop . So , like you call the S6 , if you're a printer didn't print .
Speaker 1She just called the IT repair shop , whatever .
Speaker 2But yeah , so like , in order to get promotions , you would have to , like , you would have to be able to do certain roles and if you couldn't do those roles , you were likely not to get a promotion . So like , if you made it to captain and they're like we want you to be the S2 OIC .
Speaker 1What's an OIC ?
Speaker 2Officer in charge .
Speaker 1Thank you . I'm with an IED because she says that too .
Speaker 2That's . I don't remember the exact acronym . Ieds is an explosive device , an I explosive device .
Speaker 1Oh , so they're saying that . They're saying an explosive device in ambush is more likely to hit support personnel than combat troops .
Speaker 2Yeah , it's an improvised explosive .
Speaker 1We'll actually combat soldiers .
Speaker 2So a lot of potholes in Afghanistan and Iraq . They would put like mines and like unused tank rounds into a pothole , fill it up with dirt and then , like somebody , would sit by with a trigger and wait for a military convoy to drive over top of it and then they detonate it . Wow , that's intense . Yeah , I mean , that's basically what happened to a convoy that was right outside of my safe house in Afghanistan .
Speaker 1I'm already telling you that story . I'm not a savior . I'm conflicted about this now because they're not making good points that it did impinge . Hold that impinge . Hold women back from promotions . I just don't like the military and , yes , I know that I will pick up arms if I'm required to by law , but I'm saying that I don't really want to and I'd like us to have less military , so but at the same time , like if you're going to have these kinds of things , then women should have equal access to them , period .
Speaker 2Yeah , and you know , it's important to note that I think it was like around 2014 . I don't know the exact date . On that , women fought for their right to serve in combat rules because of this because I remember it was like when I was in basic training , a lot of women who joined . They were being told like , if you're a woman , you're never going to be in combat , and they were just like what the fuck , why did I join the army Really ?
Speaker 1Yeah , Wow , that's really wild . It's amazing to me how much the world has changed , even since you and I were kids , and how I still was told as a teenager that , like we didn't need feminism because we'd already figured that out meanwhile .
Speaker 2Solve the problem .
Speaker 1In a way that was really not sure . We still belong ready like 2014 , if I got that right . This is my favorite response that you got , I'm sure , as , if I may read it yeah , as a woman who was in the military , the shipboard , plumber and welder they can fuck right off . This was something like hit every single point in a nutshell as themselves and our lived experience it's really cool .
Speaker 2Yeah , I liked this comment from this guy that like follows me and talks to me sometimes . I learned a lot about him in the following weeks . This kind of like started our journey of like knowing a little bit more about each other .
Speaker 1Oh , your friends yeah .
Gender, Homemakers, and Racism
Speaker 2Your friends and friends . Wow , most women still quote unquote get to stay at home and home make these days . I mean , I guess I was lucky enough to do that for a few months back when we moved and our first daughter , who was a toddler , and my wife had a job and I didn't . Even when the photo lab industry takes , I guess I got to be out of work for a couple of years while I was over 50 and it was hard to get hired . I didn't realize how lucky I had it being able to stay at home .
Speaker 1Yeah , this bizarre and you're basically in the winter . It might stay at home , hubby .
Speaker 2Yeah , I'm the home dad .
Speaker 1I have a dog , so I'm the home dog , dad , yeah home dog dad . Yeah , literally cooks me three meals a day , puts on his heels for me .
Speaker 2I do put on heels .
Speaker 1So when I walk out of my office , which is two feet from the kitchen .
Speaker 2See what happened is . I was holding a doll one day and this guy came by and told me I was a woman .
Speaker 1Yeah , so now yeah .
Speaker 2So now I have to wear dresses . I don't have a choice , yeah .
Speaker 1I eat soy . You've got a choice in your gender . I'm a soy femme , that's what you're , but yeah , I just . I mean , which is what happens when you consume soy , by the way ?
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1You become a woman .
Speaker 2That's exactly what happens .
Speaker 1I'm surprised that wasn't a part of his plan . I know . I hope when I say they think , people know that this is not true .
Speaker 2Yeah , we are 100% .
Speaker 1There's a lot of really bad junk science that once claimed that soy will make you a woman , and it's incorrect .
Speaker 2I'll just say that .
Speaker 1There's a whole episode about it on the maintenance phase . We'll listen to that instead . We don't have time for that .
Speaker 2Yeah , I think that's all we have to say about that one .
Speaker 1Yeah , we got one more , and this is the doozy .
Speaker 2This one is a doozy .
Speaker 1This is where the racism comes in , and I think there's I just don't think that can say so .
Speaker 2Some of this history too .
Speaker 1Yeah , I'm going to just like literally blitz the shirt .
Speaker 2Some straw man's in there , some red herrings .
Speaker 1Yeah , he says the like a race . Ok , so he's mocking , I'm pretty sure me right now , but like races , had it on over the picture . He's like so bad . And this entire country that affords me this life of luxury where I can sit around and complain about it without any fear of reprisal or censorship is like the literal worst . All of those hundreds of thousands of soldiers that died to destroy the Democrat slave on Inconfederacy in the South are so stupid Because the Democrats are totally the good guys . And all of those white guys who died , they were part of the patriarchy .
Speaker 2They were .
Speaker 1I'm going to pause there if you want to respond to just that part .
Speaker 2Oh boy , the Democrats . I do have a whole paragraph about this . Yeah , you know , this isn't news to me . Like I knew this , but like I did my research just to make sure what was going on here .
Evolution of Party Ideologies in America
Speaker 2So the Democratic Party , that at that time , that time being the 1800s they supported slavery , while the Republican Party was focused on anti-slavery principles . However , over the decades I don't know if you'd noticed political ideologies and bases of these parties have shifted slightly , just a little , a nuance often lost in contemporary political discourse .
Speaker 1I think that it's not lost on anybody , except for the people who like to be like . Are you on a Democrat who like that ? Yeah ?
Speaker 2The people who are in denial about the fucking General Lee banner on the top of their 68 Charger .
Speaker 1Yeah , I can have my Confederate flag , because the Democrats were racist .
Speaker 2Yeah , but that wouldn't that be the Democrat flag , no Burn . So historically , the Republican Party was founded on anti-slavery principles . In the mid 19th century , the Democratic Party , particularly in the South , supported slavery and later segregationist policies . However , in the mid 20th century onwards , through major political and social movements , including the civil rights movement , there was a significant realignment of party ideologies and bases . This shift saw a Democratic Party moving toward civil rights advocacy and broader liberal platform , while the Republican Party attracted conservative elements , including some who resisted these changes .
Speaker 1That was a good little summary and I feel like I need to say none of us are standing Democrats .
Speaker 2Yeah , I don't give a shit about Democrats Like , I vote that way just because they're not as much of a piece of shit as Trump is .
Speaker 1The two parties all put it this way . I think the two-party system is really fucked up and clearly dysfunctional , so having to think along those lines is really strange . In Canada we have multiple parties and the way that power is shared across them is very different . If you're not familiar with the parliamentary system , check it out . I think it's . I hate to say that the British had something that was better than this two-party system , but I kind of am . Well , why don't you go back to your country ?
Speaker 2I don't know , because I like it here .
Speaker 1I don't ask me why I like it . People look at me like I'm having a tail when I say that I'm from . Canada and I've chosen to live here . I don't know , I'm very privileged in that way . All right , I want to read this last little bit .
Speaker 2This is fun .
Speaker 1So this is the super racist part , and I think I'm going to just like . Cover your ears , kids . Well , I'm just not going to say some of the things where he says I mean , so one of the presidents says things like if you don't vote for me , you ain't black . So what if he calls schools like bleep jungles ? So what if he fought to defend segregation ? I mean , he might have called black kids bleep , but at least he learned about kids jumping on his lap unquote , and he loved kids jumping on his lap unquote .
Speaker 2Yeah , I'm unfamiliar with that .
Speaker 1I don't know what this is about but , like again , no one is saying that our current president is a shining star of progressivism . In fact , I don't think that anybody I know and agree with in anything politically is like go Biden , this person's like a shining star .
Speaker 2You know , and this is like . This is like something that is an argument that I see with Republicans all the time , whenever you bring up a problem with their guy is like it's like , oh well , biden did this and you still vote . You know , you still do this . And it's like , yeah , but I'm not sucking Biden's dick over here . There's a difference . I'm not just accepting every shitty thing that Biden does and being like that's exactly what you're supposed to do . You're the best , you are God , you are Jesus .
Speaker 1I have to object to you making the act of sucking dick sound like it's a bad thing .
Speaker 2OK , I'm rolling back .
Speaker 1I think that's like yeah , I think that's like . I think that's one of those things is probably its origins are homophobic . You know , you don't meet it that way and it's like considered an insult to be a dick sucker , right , and you know what , kim Petrus .
Speaker 2Kim Petrus , yeah , she is the throat go and you know we got to respect that .
Speaker 1Yeah , I think dick sucker should be respected , and so I just everything else I agree with except for that .
Speaker 2Well , good thing , everybody who would be offended has already not listened to this . True , because of our we already warned you , this is going to be a ride , I think .
Speaker 1if you like to suck dicks , that's great .
Speaker 2I think that , too , you know what , and that's why I roll back on this . I don't know what the appropriate way to express what I'm feeling is , though , because that is kind of what I feel like they like they're doing is they're just accepting everything that he does as the best thing that could ever happen .
Speaker 1Yeah , but when you use the term dick sucking , there's like a subservience thing that I think you're trying to indicate and that's what I'm having problem Like . I think it's one of those .
Speaker 2Yeah , I need another word for that .
Speaker 1Yeah , I got to work on it .
Speaker 2Yeah , I don't know what it is .
Speaker 1Hey , last week I was the one who said a bunch of stupid shit , and now this week , yeah , you know , I'm used to it , though . No , we're brave .
Speaker 2I say stupid shit a lot , especially on threads I try not to . I sometimes mansplain . Did you know that ?
Speaker 1I do know that Let me tell you all about it . You want to tell me a little bit how you mansplain to me .
Speaker 2Yeah , you know , I'm not perfect and I'm trying to be a better person , and that's what people like this fucking troll will never understand is that this is like a work in progress to get to a point in society where we're all allowed to be happy and that's all that we're trying to get . Is like that we can just live here , not die because of who we are .
Speaker 1Yeah , it's pretty simple and who we are is going to be unique , based on our social . Yeah , it's going to show something really technical , based on , like , who we are in our background and all of those things . I feel like I've gone totally off track , because now I'm thinking about dick sucking and I just need to get back on topic .
Speaker 2What are ?
Speaker 1you talking about Hold ?
Speaker 2on , let me go back and read this Honestly .
Speaker 1the throat code is an excellent song . Also , there's a Hold on . Let's see if I can remember it . Oh , I'm a superpower bitch , I can make you come . I'm a superpower bitch . I spit it out like that's a direct quote from that's powerful Kim Petrus . Yeah , she's the best . I'm quite sure this guy would not be a fan of Kim Petrus based on the things that he has to say but yeah , super Like .
Speaker 1I think again this is a very black and white way of looking at things that people who are voting Democrat or Democrat themselves , aren't also racist . There was a song in a musical , the Muppet musical , called Everybody's a Little Bit Racist and it's true , avenue Q yes , everybody's a little bit racist , sometimes Something like that . I'm not sure if that's quite it , but I'll take it . That's it we got . Ok , I remember Later .
Speaker 2You do yeah .
Speaker 1Yeah , it's ingrained in us , Just like I'm also . I have sexism ingrained in me . I have homophobia ingrained in me . I took an implicit bias test , which you never take them before . I highly recommend just Google the words implicit bias test and I discovered this was while I was in a same sex relationship , but I had a moderate preference for straight couples . That's ingrained homophobia . So you know we're all works in progress here . Yeah .
Speaker 2I probably have so many biases .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2Just so , so many and like I don't know . I mean like people are going to have biases , whether those biases are like progressive thinking or if they are harmful to people . And I think the important thing is that you're aware of when you're harmful to people , like when you talk about people sucking Trump's dick this tiny mushroom dick .
Speaker 1Hey , don't be mean to the small dick people too .
Speaker 2See , that's exactly what I mean .
Speaker 1Yeah , it's okay if you're besmacked .
Speaker 2Also , we shouldn't make fun of mushrooms .
Speaker 1That's really most important to you .
Speaker 2Yeah , you know , trump's dick is the worst thing that happened to mushrooms in a long time .
Speaker 1Oh , dude , I don't call this dick a mushroom dick .
Speaker 2Yeah , his dick has been described as a toad from , oh , from Super Mario Brothers .
Speaker 1I'm sorry . I'm like wrinkling my nose , like I'm smelling something sour . That's why I'm so silent right now . We're gonna move on . I don't want to think about that name .
Speaker 2Yeah , I want some of the responses to this .
Speaker 1Yeah , there was two really good ones .
Speaker 2Yeah , which one do you want ? I want the last one . Okay , so this person says Wow , so much rage . I think you caught yourself in , incel . I sure did .
Speaker 1Or a farm , I think a troll farmer .
Speaker 2I put on my incel net . I scooped him right up . He clearly hates slash , misunderstands women . Has some kind of issue with LGBT qua , maybe questioning his sexuality . Possibly serving in the military ? I doubt it . And is a Republican likely ? I don't have the necessary credentials to touch this with a ten foot pole . Good luck , I think we did an okay job . Yeah .
Speaker 1But you want to know who summed it up perfectly , being the wonderful indie writer that he is .
Speaker 2Tell me .
Speaker 1I think we can say Sylvester Barzee's name .
Speaker 2I think he'd stand by it .
Speaker 1I think you would . Yeah , Sylvester , you can yell at us later . Sylvester says you spend a lot of time to be loud and wrong . That's it .
Speaker 2I love that so much . Yeah , like that is a perfect way to describe a lot of Loud and wrong , a lot of trolls . Loud and wrong . Let's talk about a word I made up . This is like my claim to fame on threads Troll boosting .
Speaker 1Yes , do you know what troll boosting is ? I do , because you talk about it . It's like one of your special interests now , and so , daniel , just like sit me down the couch and be like Leah . We've got to talk about troll boosting today .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1So what is it Dan ?
Speaker 2I created the term troll boosting because on threads you can reply or you can quote somebody and you know a lot of people thought it was harmless for a long time to hit the quote button because it would post like a little block of text that the previous post had and then you could write your reply as your own new message , right ? The bad thing about this is that it's another interaction . So , like when it like trolls , what they want is they want you to interact with them . They are farming your range . It's a range farm and they're using your rage to propel them into uh , into favor of the algorithm . So the algorithm doesn't know that , like everyone hates this person that they're replying to , the algorithm doesn't know that everyone is displeased with this person . The only thing that the algorithm knows is people are hitting reply , people are hitting quote , they're doing all these things like 400 comments show up in Apple's feed .
Speaker 2Yeah , and it's like it's going to push that trolls , um nonsense into the hands of somebody who would believe it . Yeah , that's disturbing . So a troll boosting , I think is is really dangerous and it's something that we all need to like stop doing . And , uh , one of those things is , if you feel the need to reply to a troll similar to this , uh , it's better to screen cap the comment instead of replying , because then you're not , you're not doing an interaction with them , you're not allowing them to receive more attention , uh , other than your criticism for their comment . So it's kind of like stealing from a troll , which I love . We should all steal from trolls .
Speaker 1Yeah , I will . Pot of gold and that's leprechauns . Yeah .
Speaker 2Trolls do have treasures , but it's like treasure trolls yeah , treasure trolls Like a little weird , like dot , like they did , they had a gem , they had a rhinestone and a belly button Treasure trolls .
Speaker 1There's an important side quest .
Speaker 2I need to look at them again .
Speaker 1Oh , they're so cute and there is a pink haired one . Yeah , they do have gems in their bellies .
Speaker 2Yeah , they have belly gems Damn , I want one . So I wanted to talk a little bit about the uh , the methods that this troll used to manipulate us .
Speaker 1Do we have story with that organized start describing all these cute trolls I'm looking at to you ?
Speaker 2Uh , you look at those trolls and you formulate your discussion about trolls .
Speaker 1Can I just tell you about one .
Speaker 2Yes .
Speaker 1And then we'll move
Identifying and Dealing With Trolls
Speaker 1on . Okay , it's a little tiny baby troll and it's wearing a Chicago shirt this is , I love Chicago and red short shorts red short shorts , literally and has really bright blue hair and blue eyes . So I don't know it's um , billy Gem is , but it's very cute , I guess you would have to take its clothes off . That feels creepy . We have a lot of pieces of naked yeah .
Speaker 2And I will never touch a troll , because somebody will come by and reassign my gender .
Speaker 1Do you think that this troll would be offended by trolls because they're genderless ?
Speaker 2They would yes , this is this is the the woke agenda .
Speaker 1I consider myself genderless , so real , real quick , um .
Speaker 2there I identified eight ways that this troll used to uh , to manipulate us , to anger us , to create a false statement that has just enough truth in it for him to make an argument .
Speaker 1But did he make anybody angry ? Cause ? Honestly , like you were like when you saw , you were like should , should I show this to you ? I think you're gonna get mad and I just laughed , cause . I was so stupid .
Speaker 2Um , yes , it made people angry , okay , but also we all laughed . We laughed with our anger away . Uh , number one , the straw man fallacy . Uh involves misrepresenting or oversimplifying someone's argument to make it easier to attack . You did this several times . Uh , the red herring . Uh , the comments are introduced . Uh introduces and roughly irreval irrelevant topics or historical references to divert attention from the original discussion topic .
Speaker 1Oh , nothing yet to say anything to do with what we talked about , right , nothing at all .
Speaker 2Yeah , uh , add hominem . Uh , this is an attack on the character of a person rather than the argument or opinions .
Speaker 1Absolutely . He attacked my character . That's right .
Speaker 2All of all of everybody listening , he attacked your characters . Uh , so it's personal . Find this guy , drag him into the street . Uh , false dilemma , um kind of like when he's talking about , uh , kids playing with dolls and having their genders reassigned .
Speaker 1Yes , that is definitely a false dilemma .
Speaker 2Uh . The message implies a binary choice between recognizing the historical faults of one's political party uh like with the um , the Democrat , republican debate or uncritically supporting another , ignoring the complexities and nuances of political beliefs of party affiliations over time . Uh , appeal to hypocrisy . The fallacy tries to discredit an opponent's position by suggesting that their actions or statements are inconsistent with their argument .
Speaker 1Uh , this happens . Where did he do that ?
Speaker 2Oh , it's , it's , it's all over the place . Um he started off .
Speaker 1He started off because we make people trans .
Speaker 2Yeah , right it's , it's weaved within it ever so artfully . Yeah .
Speaker 1And I guess he does also try and insults us by like naming the fact that we're privileged and we're also named . The world is shitty . Yeah , the fact that I'm privileged and we're like well aren't , is why the world is shitty .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1That's . That's the problem , yeah , is that my comfort is literally at the expense and cost of other people I'll never meet or know their names . Um , anyways yeah see I'm getting angry Happened .
Speaker 2Appeal to emotion , um , specifically an appeal to patriotism and historical sacrifice , by referencing soldiers who died in the civil war . So , like they'll , they'll take something that has historical significance that we all agreed we should all be on the same page about , and then use that to discredit , I hate to say , our argument , because it's more of his argument against the things that we said . That is now record . Yeah , we , we weren't arguing with him over simplification and generalization , I think . I think you can figure that one out Definitely Um and uh . Sarcasm and mockery Definitely yeah . And like a lot of people will ask me , like , how do you identify a troll ? And like these , all of these are , are like keystone tactics of a troll . But a troll is somebody who purposefully , um , tries to upset you , to cause a debate that will have , in the long run , help them achieve their goal of ranking higher in the search algorithm .
Speaker 1I hope the SAR world . I have a heart to understand the psychology of trolls . I bet you there's like a really good book about this somewhere . There needs to be I think there already is . I'm going to have to look it up later to see if there's something I want to talk briefly about Darvo .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1Because that's also what this guy did and it's what most , I think , trolls do .
Speaker 2Oh yeah , these are only a few examples .
Speaker 1Yeah , Darvo is deny . So deny the thing that you've been um , accused of attack , and then reverse the victim and offender . So because we were saying that the patriarch he's problematic , he's like no , it's not , you feminists are . And now I'm going to attack you and tell you all the reasons why you're terrible , and then I'm the victim and that you're the offender . That's Darvo . It happens in interpersonal relationships . It happens definitely politically . Um , and this guy is like classically , using it Honestly . Anytime I see someone Darvo now since I've learned about acronym I just immediately disengage . Yeah , If someone uh does like respond to your critique by changing the topic and critiquing you and arguing back at you and pretend that they're the victim , then that's like a waste of time to continue . Yeah , they're a manipulator .
Speaker 2Yeah , they're appealing to your hypocrisy . They're straw manning , you , red herring ying ying you . Yeah , add hominin , and they knew you .
Speaker 1They're false dilemma .
Speaker 2Yeah , you Um yeah , if you , if you guys at home noticed some that , uh , that we didn't notice , be sure to send us a message .
Speaker 1No , let us know , let us know if you enjoyed it If you , if you have any ugly rants you want to make , if you want to be unhinged about this person you know on his thoughts . We'll definitely listen to it . Yeah , as long as it's you know um democratic thoughts . I'm kidding .
Speaker 2All other thoughts will
Evil Magic Chicken Zombie Clucks
Speaker 2be deleted .
Speaker 1Yes , and if you say you're a boy and you like dolls , you're required to be a woman now .
Speaker 2Yeah , that's the rules .
Speaker 1That's how it works . I think that's . But again , this is why it's important to talk about it , because I think that people like my brother love him , but he I asked if I could get his boy at all and you should just look a horror on his face . I think he thinks that if if his son has a doll , then he's going to be gay at best case scenario .
Speaker 2Well , everybody knows that makes you gay .
Speaker 1Yeah , I don't know how my brother and I were raised by the same people ? I really don't . It's confusing , but um , you know we I work on it a little bit at a time with my family . Okay , something much less serious . It is time for our evil magic chicken zombie Clucks .
Speaker 2Oh , wow .
Speaker 1Yeah , this could say one , because it is his trolling . Except for that , we asked for it . We asked for our voicemail to be filled with zombie clucks .
Speaker 2Yeah , I did .
Speaker 1I guess I'm the one who's in trouble here .
Speaker 2Yes and Leah , your clucks . Um , you're going to hear some clucks . When was the last time we had some clucks ?
Speaker 1Well , last time we had some clucks . Uh , the last casual debt .
Speaker 2So episode 33 .
Speaker 1Yeah , so it's been a little bit , yeah , and I'm not going to play them all , because I've gotten 12 now , wow , in total , and then my goal is a hundred . So I'm going to play like three , maybe four , and we're actually going to start with a child friendly segment of um , a person named Lily who wants to give an impression of their evil magic chicken zombie . Are you ready ? So we have to have no swears in our response . Okay .
Speaker 2I'll try .
Speaker 1To be respectful to Lily . Lily , you're up , let's listen . Hey , lily . What would a um ? What would a zombie chicken sound like ? What would a um ? What would a zombie chicken walk like ?
Speaker 2Can you describe what we're seeing they ?
Speaker 1are stumbling while having chicken wings . They're like dragging one foot . Their hats come up down . Can you walk in the talk together ? Oh , here we go . It's great . I wish I could share the video , but Lily deserves to not become famous for their zombie chicken . I don't think that's what they want . I mean , I probably shouldn't have said that . I probably already said something I shouldn't have said . Lily , I just want you to know I was super fan of you . That was .
Speaker 2That was incredible .
Speaker 1That was brilliant .
Speaker 2I'm now imagining a million of those coming at me .
Speaker 1Yes , terrifying . The walk is like really impressive . That's better acting than most extras in zombie movies . So you knocked it out of the park , lily , thank you very much .
Speaker 2Yeah , definitely better than World War Z on the plane zombies Definitely better .
Speaker 1So you never know , lily , maybe that's your profession , is to be a professional zombie extra , because I didn't kid zombies sometimes All right , moving on , I think , to an adult . But we'll find out . Are any of us really adults ?
Speaker 2I mean , that's just a social , social category for somebody who's old .
Speaker 1That's true . I think you're a kid at heart when you decide to be a chicken zombie . Are you ready for this chicken zombie ? I'm ready . Is there more ? Okay , that was it . That was it . Honestly , I really do want to like Are you just like , mash these all together at some place we can have like a cacophony .
Speaker 1Yeah , we have all the files , like a hundred of them , cacophony of you know , and you'll have just chicken zombies together . I don't know why I enjoy this so much . All right , one more , one more for today . Yeah , oh , they're driving this chicken zombie . Oh , oh , oh , oh , oh , oh , oh , oh , oh , oh , oh , oh , oh , oh , oh , oh , oh , oh . Yeah , yeah , I think the person's just laughing at you .
Speaker 2You know what this reminds me of is on . You know those things , like it's a little plastic cylinder and he turned it upside down and it moves Uh-huh . Well , like I had one of those , but it was like kinda broken so I tuned , just kinda like , made like sounds , oh goodness , cause like it wouldn't go down all the way and I like have to shake it and it'd be like oh god , can you play one more ?
Speaker 1Yeah one more . Okay , okay , I'm gonna pick a random one from a number I have not seen .
Speaker 2Oh boy .
Speaker 1Okay , here we go Weng Weng , weng , weng , weng , weng , weng , weng , weng Weng . I feel like the more it says brains , the more it's excited about eating somebody's brains . This sounds a minute and seven seconds long , but it's like a long silence . Did they just forget to hang up ?
Speaker 2Maybe , maybe this was a pocket dial all along , like it wasn't actually somebody like sending a like Somebody didn't mean to send that to us . Yeah , like they were just making these noises . That is wonderful , they never intended to call us . I love that idea .
Speaker 1Oh goodness , all right . Well , that's what you got for today . Yeah , dan , I think we should make a commitment from the Evil , magic Chicken Zombie teacher . It's gonna come out like a real commitment , so that we do it .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1When is it gonna come out ?
Speaker 2It's gonna be out next week , oh my goodness , Are we ?
Speaker 1I mean , I guess we have the design folks .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1I did make a bloodier chicken inspired by your clocks .
Speaker 2Yeah , I do have to update some of the things , but for the most part it's pretty put together .
Speaker 1So by the time episode . What episode is this ? By the time episode 37 comes out , you're gonna have the Evil , magic , chicken , zombie T-shirts . This could be up Brian's on Poclips . You're gonna get one just for the sheer joy that you have given us for the suggestion , and if I get 100 , I'll give a T-shirt away . Or I may just randomly give T-shirts away . Yeah , because I think it this way . I might do it a few times , because 100 is a lot .
Speaker 2It's pretty rad .
Speaker 1Yeah , I just want more . Give me more .
Speaker 2And it is the most metal shirt you've ever seen with a chicken on it .
Speaker 1It is . I can't wait to wear it . I think a lot of people are confused when they saw it because they're like I didn't know you drew this kind of content . I got it . Thanks everybody for listening . Your zombie homework for episode 45 is the comic series Path of the Pale Rider .
Speaker 2Yeah , and who's it written by Dan . It's written by our reigning champion of the zombie ween game show , episode 21 , lori Calcutterra . You can get the comics at pathofpaleridercom . Here's what I'm excited for for this comment . What's that Dan Comic ? I said comment , I meant comic . This is great . I'm doing good , I'm doing great . The possibility of sentient yogurt .
Speaker 1I mean it makes sense because there is bacteria . So it's a lot .
Speaker 2Yeah , that's right . Yeah , it's in a world where the death is broken . Yeah , things aren't dying . So yeah , sentient yogurt that would happen .
Speaker 1Yeah , my kombucha is also sentient .
Speaker 2Just see your kombucha Yeast . Yeah , sentient , I'm a little bit perplexed about how this world works and , like , if nothing dies , like how do you get rid of the zombies ?
Speaker 1We're going to find out because we got the comics in the mail . So we'll take some pictures of them later so folks can see them Also . I'm down for the zombies , Whether or not they have human rights debate .
Speaker 2Yeah , and also a zombie bear . It's kind of like a cocaine bear , but it's a zombie .
Speaker 1I really want a zombie bear t-shirt . Like a lot , a lot , a lot , a lot , a lot , a lot , please yeah .
Speaker 2Well , maybe Lori will see how great our chicken t-shirt is and be like you should make a bear .
Speaker 1They have a bear t-shirt , but I want another bear t-shirt , another bear I think it's on white and I refuse to wear white shirts because I stained them immediately .
Speaker 2I cannot do white shirts , put it on black , please , or a darker color . I only ever wear black , sometimes dark gray .
Speaker 1Yes , I wear lots of colors , but I'm very careful because I don't like seeing things . And , to be clear , we're reading this because we want to . We're not compensated for it , so please give it a check out . At pathofthepailrinercom you can download a PDF where you can actually get the comics themselves . The covers are super rad . So how do they recommend that ? And if you know you're in between reads or in between episodes and you miss us , give Mrs Zombie a click , yeah just a little click .
Speaker 1Yeah , and you can also call in with your survival story . We've gotten a couple . We're just saving them for future episodes . Oh , we do . Yeah , I monitor the email , oh thanks . And I just want to say , if you try to communicate with us on Instagram lately . Both Dan and I are ADHD , took us elsewhere for a while and I'm going to recommit to going back onto that platform .
Speaker 2Yeah , I'm having dental problems , so I'm I can't even think about social media .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , it's been rough , it's been rough .
Speaker 2I'm barely here right now .
Speaker 1Yeah , so please , please , call in . The number is 614-699-0006 . And you've up to three minutes to either give us a survival story of some kind bonus points if you can pretend there's zombies in it or maybe there were , maybe you believe . I want to believe . I want to believe . Or email us at zombiebookclubpodcastgmailcom . We'd love to hear from you .
Speaker 2Yeah , if you have a long story , I'd rather read it . To be honest , true , yeah , yeah , don't forget to subscribe , rate and review . It helps us spread like a virus infecting new listeners through their ear holes .
Speaker 1Sounds disgusting .
Speaker 2We go right in those holes in your ears .
Speaker 1I mean , you're going into my ear holes right now .
Speaker 2Yeah , Somebody went into my ear holes . Now they ring all the time .
Speaker 1Wow , and that's why you have a disability rating for Tinnitus . That's true .
Speaker 2I have Tinnitus .
Speaker 1True , yeah Well thanks .
Speaker 2Thanks for listening . I was going to say thanks for listening . You say thanks for listening and I'll say thanks for listening .
Speaker 1OK , who does it better ? Thanks for listening . Thanks for listening . Thanks for listening .
Speaker 2Follow us on Instagram and threads , Subscribe rate and review Linktree . Linktree is in the description .
Speaker 1It's in there . It has all the info and when in doubt , don't be a troll booster .
Speaker 2Yeah , don't boost those trolls . Yeah , and don't forget to cluck with your chicken .
Speaker 1Right , ok , right , thanks , bye , bye . Cluck cluck rimes . Cluck cluck rimes .