Parenting, Media Consumption, and Social Media Ethics

You're tuned in to Steve Megatron on Altered

Geek. Hello and welcome to Altered Geek. I'm

your host, Steve Megatron Phillips. And joining

me in this episode is Mike the Birdman Dodd from

thisweekendgeek .net. And hopefully you are having

yourselves a wonderful long weekend. If you happen

to be up in Canada, it's the civic holiday weekend.

And if you're in the States, it's The weekend,

as far as I know. I don't think you'd do anything

special the first weekend of August. No, not

really. Yeah, in Canada, we just decided it's

a civic holiday. What does that mean? Fuck if

I know. It's just have a long weekend. Party

on. Party on, man. So, yeah, I mean, I've started

a new job as of this week. learned that inventory

is not fun, which is totally unrelated to my

skill set. And yeah, so I've been having fun

with some of the listener feedback. I've been

having fun avoiding social media during the day,

which has been different other than when I was

waking up the other day and discovered I was

reported. Yeah, who does that? Like, seriously,

what person has a stick up their butt to report

you, of all people, friggin' social media Mr.

Rogers? I'm not social media Mr. Rogers. You

should've seen my old stuff. I was gonna say,

you are one of the least controversial people

that I know. I'd like to get controversial on

the podcast. And let my opinion fly. I don't

like to put it in text. Which is almost as incriminating.

You got to make them work for it. If they're

going to get you on the podcast, that means they're

listening. They've downloaded. I've got your

download anyway. Exactly. Just like one of the

listeners mentioned, Brad says that I still have

all the headshot episodes. And he says, you know,

well, it's funny to have a good rant nowadays

unless you do it into a mirror so no one hears

that you're going to offend someone. Yeah, it's.

Kind of unfortunate, but we've dug ourselves

in that hole long enough. And that's kind of

like a part of that whole, you know, politically

correct police type thing. Yeah, there's that,

you know, thing that people are, you know, limiting

who they're talking to or talking down to specific

groups. But when it comes down to it, just people

just need to just stop being dicks to each other.

Exactly. I mean, and that was the whole point

of it last week show, although I have discovered

something and I don't know how to phrase this

quite right. So I'm just going to fire from just

say it here. So I've created something I've called

the asshole theorem. And what the asshole theorem

is, you can guarantee people are jerks if you

give them the right bait. And I've noticed this

specifically, and I hate to say it. But I have

these several conservative fans slash friends

online. And guaranteed, if you bring up certain

topics, they immediately jump onto it. Everybody

is wrong. They are right. And it's just to the

point where I'm just thinking, you know what,

man? I can't even have my Facebook open for civil

conversation anymore without you jerks showing

up and ruining the party. It's like someone has

to take a dump in my pool guaranteed if I bring

up a certain topic and I don't do it because

I'm like, oh, I like to watch the world burn.

No, I generally enjoy having a good conversation

about it because what happened recently in Ontario,

we just had this election happen and we elected

this guy named Doug Ford. who is what some people

are calling Trump Jr. And once I get off this

topic, this will be the last thing that I'll

mention about politics for a while. And he just

canceled this government initiative for basic

income, and they launched it in several smaller

municipalities around the area. And it's supposed

to help people who have low income, and it's

supposed to boost them up sort of thing, right?

In some provinces and in some places around the

world, it's been very, very successful to help

raise people out of poverty. It helps them rely

less on certain social services, et cetera, et

cetera. And I posted this article talking about

one guy who was a conservative voter. He voted

against it, but he was using the program himself

saying, oh, I was doing better. My family was

using the money. I was going to go back to university.

And now that this is being taken away, I don't

know what I'm going to do. I voted for this guy,

but I didn't want this. And this guy comes on

my Facebook. He's like, you need to pull yourself

up by the bootstraps. And there's this Chinese

immigrant. Now he's a self -made billionaire

and all this other crap. And he just posts this

epic rant. And the point he wanted to make is,

I hate poor people. I have skills that make me

a millionaire. Why aren't you a millionaire with

me? And the rest of my friends who are all working

people were like, well, there's more to life

than being a paycheck and being a serial number.

And it just degenerated into the dumpster fire

that is my Facebook, nine times out of 10. And

I'm just like, man. I gotta take my own advice

and stop feeding the trolls, but I wanna have

my, I like sharing things of social interest

to people, and it's pretty obvious that I fall

pretty far to the left, but not the extreme,

because I'm not. psychotic. And I obviously don't

go very far to the right because that's just

not the way that I do things. And I don't think

less of people that are on the right. That's

just not my thing. But whatever, everybody has

a has a voice, you should be heard, we should

all have a conversation. I've always believed

that. And it's getting to the point where I just

want to say, man, if you search shit on my Facebook,

I'm gonna shoot you in the face. Um, just just

It upsets me. But as I said last week, I'm going

to purge the negativity. Take a deep breath.

Exhale. Relax. Everybody's OK. Everybody's chill.

We are chill. Nobody get angry at the podcast.

Unless you want controversy, and then that's

fun. Yeah. Unless you want controversy, and then

that's fun. Just don't be a douche. For the love

of God, don't be a douche. Yeah. predominantly

conservative, but I don't necessarily label myself

as either because I find both sides kind of detestable.

Yeah, like I just want people to be human at

the end of the day. You know, it would be nice

because when you're watching kindergartners battle

each other back and forth in the political system

that are teaching the rest of the world how to

act. Yeah, it's it's kind of funny and kind of

disturbing at the same time I don't know man.

Hopefully we can pull ourselves out of this tailspin

we're in but we'll see it sooner or later and

obviously I don't like to talk politics on this

show because This is our fun thing and as our

listeners, I'm not going to insult your intelligence

by Preaching to you one way or the other no big

because you've got your own minds to make up

You got your own belief systems and you know

what? I respect that. Well, and this is the thing

about and this is the last thing I'll say about

it, but this is the thing about media that that

kind of sucks like the mainstream media. It doesn't

matter like any type of media that covers politics.

They tell you what to think. Yeah. They don't

report it. They just they tell you what they

think. And then that's it. Like there's no. It's

it's you know you get the blue side on one side

and you get the red side and the other there's

no you know It's it's it's like Morpheus. You

know we want Morpheus. You know do you take the

red pill or the blue pill? You know it's not

There is no middle ground. Yeah, there's there's

no middle ground like you know he is you know

you got to pick one or the others how everybody

wants wants you to be so But yeah, nonetheless,

that crap's trickled into pop culture, which

we've been dealing with a lot lately in the modern

time. But just roundabout way of saying that.

Like you know what I'm almost thinking about

taking a pop call or a social media sabbatical

or only posting stuff that I love not posting

anything controversial anymore because um I've

been talking on my Facebook and my Twitter a

lot and I'll talk about this more in a second

a lot of tabletop RPG type of stuff and It's

just it's more fun to engage when I want to talk

fantasy stuff or talk conversationally about

I don't know something ridiculous like I don't

know James Bond or Ghostbusters or some shit

like that. I'm gonna I don't know maybe I'll

try it for a week or two not posting anything

socially social activism which is something I'm

very involved like I very much care about getting

involved in doing something quote unquote but

maybe I'll try it for a week and only post nerd

stuff. and see if the fights still continue.

They probably will. But I don't know. It's almost

to the point where I want to unplug and only

talk about D &D or something like that. And I

kind of wonder if maybe that's an idea. Because

I heard you talking earlier in the show about

you don't do much on social media during the

daytime. I kind of wonder if maybe I should follow

that example. And this is the thing, is when

I worked from home, I was more active on social

media than I am now. And actually, even while

I was unemployed, I didn't spend a lot of time

on social media. And that was more so because

I just didn't have time. I was out doing other

things, getting things done, looking for work.

So it was just kind of... Believe it or not.

It was a lot more relaxing because you're not

sitting there worried about Like I I was on vacation

the week of STCC Mm -hmm, so I literally didn't

have to pay attention to anything till I got

back and then it seemed like this information

overload when I At least because it was STCC.

It wasn't just a normal day and honestly like

I was able to cherry pick the news that actually

mattered to me and I was able to talk about that

and not worry about oh and this development happened

and this development happened and or just you

know this person's an a -hole you know and it's

just it was just a lot easier not to have to

worry about any of it and honestly it's I find

that I'm less wound up or interested in communicating

on it unless people are just you know Being nice

on there or if it's something I want to share

or I kind of just Keep it clean, especially nowadays

because people don't Can't don't have a sense

of humor people don't you know, even if it's

made import taste like the James Gunn thing And

you know, it's just it's a lot easier to not

get into any trouble or frustration and I noticed

that the last time I made some kind of a comment

about It was some movie or some TV show or something

and I made some kind of a remark and Then I had

a bunch of people gang up on me and I was like,

you know Really? Yeah, and I was like, you know,

this is I Could you know take the the the low

road and just dig in? Which is what every ambition

was telling me to do and I was like, you know,

I'll just let these people talk And then I'll

wait until somebody makes some kind of a reason

for me to agree, and then I'll just leave it.

And that's what I did. And it seemed to work

out for me, honestly. One of the things I do,

and I'm a big believer, and everybody should

have a voice whenever things degenerate. I will

never censor you unless you're an outright racist

or some shit like that. I don't take a side unless

you truly force me to. Yeah, cuz honestly the

the fire will put itself out eventually unless

it happens to be started with with napalm People

kind of get bored and they move on to the next

person to attack so yeah Although it you know

what it's funny all these people talk a good

game, but I don't think they do it in real life

You know what I mean you're you're pretty brave

behind the keyboard well It's much easier to

to complain about somebody when you don't have

to see their face like Yeah, the difference is

that would you actually win that battle in front

of them? Yeah, because I find because obviously

when you're behind a keyboard you have the wonderful

miss that is Google so you can look up facts

figures or Find some witty repartee or some bullshit

where you can look up their tweet history or

something and and you know find something from

like eight years ago that where you said you

were a movie whore and Yeah, seriously, who does

that? Why? Of all the things in all the world

you could possibly do, why? Yeah, that was what

made, that's what amazed me. And it didn't give

me the URL so I could even go back and listen

to it, or not listen to it, but look at what

I wrote. And I was like, um. Okay. Okay. And

so like, I went back and I found it. And I was

like, I didn't even say anything, you know, bad.

And like Booth Ninjas, like the Internet is coming

for you. And Jennifer was like at Jelly Swirl

on Twitter was like triggered, you know, from

South Park. And then DJ Valentine is like, wow,

our show is doomed. Who tried to hurt you? Where

is this person? Show me on the doll where they

touched you. I know. So. And then our newest

podcast on the network, Jenna from Geeks and

Garters or Geek Responsibly says people are just

way too damn sensitive and involved in other

things that don't matter. Yeah, you know what?

I just I don't get it anymore. I don't get people.

I thought I did, but I'm wrong. And I don't want

to use the phrase you people, but. You're forcing

my hand? Um... Hey, when you have 26 ,000, you

know, tweets under your belt, somebody's bound

to find one that they don't like. Wow, then they

got to sort through my 68 ,000 to find something.

It's just me ranting about Dungeons and Dragons

and Battletech. The Power Rangers. I think this

would be a fun endeavor to go back and find things

where we're just, like, totally irritated about

something and telling something off. I remember

I used to have quite a few rants against Twilight

fans when that was a thing. I did too. I think

that was back in the early days of like Twig

maybe like the CRNC days or just thereafter.

Yeah, I remember one incident where I was on

vacation and I was back in my old hometown and

I visited this this neighboring city. And I'm

going for lunch with with a friend of mine and

we're sitting in subway and I'm talking about

Twilight and these girls are just gushing about

it and I'm pointing out every logical Flaw in

the plot in the characters and everything and

then I think I just said something along the

lines of man You know what? I just want to launch

you into the Sun You sparkle then exactly so

I'm like Try to get offended against that shithead.

See, I've always gone against companies. I don't

go against individuals generally. Oh, yeah. I'm

like Comcast, you're evil, blah, blah, blah.

And then when they fix it, I'm like, they're

awesome. And then when they screw up again, I'm

like, you're evil. Used to weaponize my social

media to get what I want because I've got a background

in PR Social media shaming will get you what

you want nine times out of ten especially now

man. Oh god Yeah, which it's so funny because

everyone cares about their image and as well

you should But for every person who has a legitimate

complaint, there are ten people trying to take

advantage of that Which is sucks. Well, it's

just like the thing with like James Gunn like

okay He said something off -color ten years ago

Sarcastically to somebody and then I'm a knee

-jerk reaction instead of investigating Disney's

like you're fired Yeah, and and now they're talking

about like supposedly rumor has it rumor rumor

rumor That they're there. They had a meeting

with them They're reluctant to rehire him them

and they may push Guardians back Go Guardians

of the Galaxy volume 3 back and my response is

that Look man, do you want money or not? Um,

cuz you know what if you don't get James Gunn

fine Get the guy who did Thor Ragnarok to do

it because that movie was awesome. It was and

You'll probably still be fine. You know, it'll

have a different flavor sure but gun he apologized

for it he's become a better person since that

he's not the same jerk who made the joke eight

ten years ago well no and that's and that's the

whole thing is i think everybody loves the fact

that these famous people have to say sorry yeah

i think it's a position thing like i don't think

it has anything to do with people just you know

having being insulted i think they just want

these famous people to acknowledge them by saying

they're sorry for saying what they said Yeah,

like I don't get it's almost like we like people

to feel shame I mean Because they're people and

we want to know that they hurt too. I don't get

that I really don't Like of course, I'm sure

people feel bad when they do something dumb just

because they have a million dollars Doesn't mean

they don't feel the same things that we do. I

mean, I'm sure James Gunn is a wonderful person

I mean from what I've seen on Twitter, he interacted

with fans very genuinely And he's a type of person,

hey, I'd like to get a hot dog with you at some

point in my life. And obviously he's not the

same jerk who wrote Tromeo and Juliet back in

the 90s. He's obviously grown up since then.

Yeah, I don't know. People exist. People are

people, for lack of a better phrase. There's

more good than bad, I think. I hope on most days

anyway. But I'm trying to think of what else

because you were talking what? Whatever you've

been doing. We just talked about this on twig

This past week on the prototype talking about

gaming habits in our 30s and whatnot and Alex

had challenged me to play the dragon eight series

by Bioware babe Bioware guys who did Mass Effect

Knights of the Old Republic Mm -hmm. Very very

very awesome games Dragon Age very highly regarded

as one of the best role -playing game franchises

to ever come along. And I can't stand it. I went

back and played six hours of Dragon Age Origins.

Don't like it. I got to skip Dragon Age 2 thanks

to a YouTube video just showing me the storyline.

And I'm playing Dragon Age 3 Inquisition on the

Xbox One. I think it's okay. It's not blown up

my proverbial skirt, so to speak. And Alex is

like, okay, I want you to try something else

because you're Mr. Cyberpunk, Mr. Neuromancer.

So here, try Deus Ex, see what you think about

that. And even that's not impressing me yet.

I go back and on Xbox backwards compatibility

this week, they just re -released Splinter Cell

Blacklist. I'm having a blast playing that and

playing Hitman. And I guess I like the stealth

games. And I know you can play Deus Ex like that.

And it kind of got me thinking, what's going

on with me? Because I used to be Mr. Video Game

so many years ago. And I kind of wonder. If my

tastes are just changing, whether I'm changing

or what's going on, because I said on Twitter

this past week too, I have more fun with tabletop

role -playing games like D &D, Shadowrun, Vampire

the Masquerade, or whatever, than I do video

games these days. What the hell's going on? Have

I finally turned into that guy? And I don't mean

to say that guy necessarily has a bad connotation.

No, no, no. It's just... It's weird when when

you realize you're growing up or when you realize

your tastes are changing and you're cognizant

of it It's very strange Like even even this weekend

the black ops 4 beta is coming out I'm gonna

get a copy. Sure. Am I gonna have fun? I don't

know and Steve you could a year ago if you know

if you told me I was gonna play black ops how

excited would I have been? hype super hype and

Now it's just like I don't know. I Don't know

what is going on and I do find that fascinating

just realizing the psychology of growing up or

Getting older because I'm turning 37 this year

in a row. I know Nice, and I'm just Blanchard

would have been the first to call that one Oh,

God, do I know that? And I was just kind of thinking

about that, too. Just thinking, wow, it's kind

of weird. I never thought I'd get this far. And

I looked at people because I had a very different

childhood growing up. My parents were in their

50s and 60s raising me because I was adopted

by my grandparents. They raised me as their own.

I never had younger parents. So it's kind of

weird to think about People's parents Being this

age into where they are now like what were their

hobbies and everything like what were their?

Thoughts on growing up compared to when they

were kids or sort of thing I mean like Steve

look at your parents for example. They were once

your age Well, what's funny is is when my parents

were were my age Like one they weren't divorced

but to to I think my dad got like our first computer

around this time when when I you know when he

was my age of 32 and Yeah, that was man that

was a long time ago, but Yeah, I You know those

were back in the days of playing doom or f15,

you know strike eagle Fighter games, you know

with the simulators and you had the the two different

floppy drives and everything else it was just

you know, totally different time then but Yeah,

I don't know we've we've kind of got the best

of everything yet the worst of everything at

the same time Yeah, cuz I kind of wonder like

what did our parents do for fun I mean we know

what we do in our 30s are fun. We play video

games we go out and we my case I play D &D and

stuff like that with my friends and I know there

were people like me back then But I always kind

of wonder what did what did her parents do for

fun sort of thing? What did they think about

because I can't picture our parents sitting around

the water cooler debating the latest episode

of Game of Thrones I guess it would have been

mash Dallas, I guess back in the day if I'm I

don't know I guess I Don't know. I was gonna

say my parents watched Star Trek The Next Generation

the original series They watched you know mash

they watched a team A lot a lot of those type

of shows you know that we're on during the 70s

and 80s and so like they I Used to I kind of

grew up with a lot of that Yeah, cuz I'm just

kind of thinking now that cuz Steve you're a

parent. Yes. I'd like to be a parent at at some

point just It's kind of weird kind of thinking

about that. What are we going to be like at some

point? I mean, well, you're already in it right

now. Sort of sort of thing. What kind of parent

would would I be like? And I'm just kind of thinking.

I don't know what do I want to expose my kids

to because the online world sucks. And I want

to give them the benefit of experience and knowledge

and power But I also don't want to hand them

the big history eraser button at the same time

Don't press me. I think there's I think there's

a difference between erasing history or Exposing

them to things at certain points of time Yeah

Sorry, go ahead because I was gonna say like

they're their ability to process information

is Not what people act like they can do at that

given point in time like all these people that

are trying to push all these You know you have

to ask your child or you know like these these

morons that are like you can't wipe your child's

butt because They can't answer for themselves.

You should let them sit in it. You know or something

stupid You know because there was somebody actually

that did that in like Australia on TV. Because

Blanchard was like, have you seen this? And I

was like, no. And he sends it to me and I'm like,

you've got to be kidding me. Like anybody with

any common sense knows that if you sit in your

own filth, you're going to have a real irritation

problem. Yep. If not, you know, depending on

what you ate, depends on how quickly it burns

through your rectum. So it just, you know, there's

there's a line that, you know, people act like,

you know, the child should have choice to choose

for themselves. And that's kind of where I kind

of beg to differ until they're 18. They're under

my rule, under my thumb, you know. I don't know.

I'm of the opposite mindset. I think of it in

the sense that, yes, they should be their own

individuals. but I ultimately hold final say

hold final say you know I will tell them if you

know this decision is not going to lead to the

consequence that they're hoping for like when

my five -year -old attempts to control his brother

and hit him or throw a tantrum or decides not

to eat his food and discovers that it's breakfast

So, I mean, there's consequences, and that's

kind of the world that we live in, is there's

consequences if you're an adult and if you're

of a certain viewpoint, so to speak. And when

you're a child, there should be no consequences,

is kind of how, and I don't think that that's

necessarily the way it should be. Yeah, I see

how they treat people nowadays like back when

we were kids, you know Yeah, they couldn't chase

you down the street with a belt, you know or

you know somebody's you know little Johnny's

parents couldn't go spank you because you know

You did something to their kid, you know like

they could back in the 60s and 70s but But yeah,

I mean we still had repercussions when we were

kids Mm -hmm I don't know, like, kind of thinking

about having a kid make, where I make all their

choices until they're 18, I'm of the mindset,

I find it varies to vastly dependent upon the

child, because my parents let me get away with

bloody murder, but I also wasn't an idiot. I

understood things where I'm like, if I do A,

that will lead to B, I don't like the outcome

of C, so maybe I won't do that. or exposing me

to certain things. Because I remember very clearly,

one of my first movies I ever saw as a child

was Friday the 13th, part five. Very vividly

do I remember this. And I remember that the second

movie I ever saw was Fox and the Hound, two movies

that could not be further apart, virtually planets

apart. I think that very much made me grow up

rather quickly. It made me question the world

around me. And I kind of wonder what happened

to not that sense of wonder, but children asking

the right questions or asking questions. And

now with things being the way they are now, we

have a whole new generation of children with

prob. I wouldn't say problems is not the right

word, different. Issues facing them that I never

thought we'd ever have to deal with and I'm not

saying that to be Closed -minded or anything.

I just it's not something that I would have thought

about Like I don't know my My parents let me

get away with a lot of things and I'm grateful

that they did because I learned a lot of right

from wrong don't do dumb and Don't drink the

bleach for the love of God so to speak And if

I was raising a kid today, I'm trying to think,

obviously, don't hit your brother, because no,

don't. My kids will learn the rule of Will Wheaton,

don't be a dick. That will be the first rule

that I teach them. Shut up, Wesley. Whack! And

I don't know, I'm just, I want my children to

ask questions and I want them to want for knowledge.

Which they do. Which is good. You'll get tired

of the word why, but they keep asking about everything.

And that's good. Which is good, because you get

to educate them. Yeah. You know, as far as like

what I expose them to, like YouTube, you have

to be very careful. well yeah because you don't

know what they're gonna get because there's this

thing that i learned about last year and i couldn't

believe this this is a thing they have people

who dress up in costumes like spider -man elsa

from frozen and peppa pig and they do these really

screwed up skits now they start out normal meant

for children and then they degenerate into really

weird things Like one I exist one that I saw

and you can look this up on YouTube But I I promise

you that you'll hate me for it afterwards it

was Peppa Pig eats poop burger and It's not watching

that yeah, it's Peppa Pig and the Joker And there's

entire YouTube playlists dedicated to this that

people just throw on for their kids. They don't

realize what it is. And I can't imagine like

Steve, you've got such the work cut out for you

that you have to, you really have to watch out

what your kids are exposed to. Cause you don't

know. I mean, my biggest worry as a child was

When am I exposed to pornography? When am I exposed

to horror movies and the inevitability of death?

You know what I mean? Those were the same ones

I had. Nowadays you have a million other things

that are far worse. Yeah, it's scary. And this

kind of rolls into the email that Scanner 51

brought up because I'd mentioned shielding my

kids. And he says, no, I know this is going to

be really a small conversation. He says, but

I did like the question, thought it was worth

expanding on. He says, I know Steve does. And

in a way, my wife and I do the same for our daughter.

She's five now. There are really only three things

we keep her from. One, YouTube vids of adults

and kids using dolls to act out plays, weird

stuff. Yeah. Or, you know, and I'll expand after

this. He says two, the cartoon PJ Masks, they

do a little too much name calling for our liking.

And three, the PBS show Daniel Tiger, Kid whines

way too much when he doesn't get his way. As

for stuff like scary movies, we leave that up

to her. She knows what she likes and doesn't

like. The opening up to The Martian scared her.

Some people find it odd that she's seen all the

DCEU movies, Extended Cuts not theatrical, and

most of the other live action movies. But again,

she knows what she likes and her household bleeds

DC. Believe shielding can be good. But then again,

I do believe in pushing her to do things and

if she Fails she fails and we try again enjoy

the show as usual and I and I agree You know

being able to kind of choose some of the things

and we've put on shows and and our kids have

been like I Really don't like this show. Can

can we turn it off? Can we change it and I'm

like sure And you know and it could be something

small it could be something they don't like the

behavior of somebody that's that's in the show

like my my youngest if you see somebody hurting

somebody like we watched a Paddington bear like

one of the old claymation Paddington bear animations

it just we found it my my oldest was enjoying

it and then the youngest came to the room and

watched it and there was this episode where Paddington's

going against a sumo wrestler and because he

thought the sumo wrestler was going to crush

the bear he started crying and my oldest is like

he's like nothing's gonna happen to the bear

the bear gets away every time or you know and

But like we had him sitting there like screaming

because he thought the bear was gonna get squashed

and I was like You know just watch and then the

bear was on his back, you know riding the swimwear

wrestler so it was just kind of funny but But

no, I mean like they choose in that sense, but

there's this YouTube show and It's not as bad

as what my wife makes it out to be but it's called

Blippi. I don't know if you've ever heard of

it But it's this dude that's, he's basically

pulling a like Steve from Blue's Clues. Okay.

In a sense, but he's almost like if you mix Steve

from Blue's Clues with like Pee Wee Herman. Okay.

So you get like this weird personality with like

high pitched, you know, and they kind of make

it all goofy and everything and he dresses in

like kind of orange and blue, like bright colors

and you would almost think it's almost like a

Teletubby type of thing. But it's or like the

Wiggles or something like that But I know you're

not familiar with a lot of this just because

it's okay man. The Wiggles are awesome Captain

Feathersword is a harsh mofo, but but anyways

Lee he's Borderline like just kind of weird and

so like my wife doesn't like it because of that

But he does have some like good educational videos

from time to time, but we we try and steer away

from when Adults are using toys and playing with

them on on the screen or anything where it seems

just kind of strange So we kind of put on more

like educational YouTube videos and we have like

a specific playlist that we built And I have

like an ad blocker for YouTube so it gets around

a lot of the problematic aspects of that but

like You kind of have to watch everything that

they watch. You have to see it before they see

it. It's funny because we never thought about

media consumption like this back when we were

children. What was the worst thing we had to

deal with? Buy this toy, eat this sugary cereal.

Yep, pretty much. Or the commercials for the

sugary cereal. Yeah, I mean, I like to watch

a lot of nostalgic TV commercials on YouTube.

I'll watch entire, I'll lose an hour or two watching

old commercials or old PSAs. I've done that,

too. They're great, actually. Yeah. And I look

at the advertising and sometimes I get really

sad because I'm like, huh, we don't have that

anymore. But at the same time, I'm thinking we

don't have the police. We know enough as. Adults

to recognize. Hey, we're being sold go buy the

kids club meal or whatever and yet you look at

the stuff on YouTube today and Some of it may

have an agenda that you don't necessarily agree

with Yeah, and that's that's kind of majority

of things that are out today is There's there

they're more so pushing the envelope or pushing

an agenda and you if you're not in agreeance

with that agenda Then it's gonna really make

you mad and you're not gonna you're gonna tune

out everything that has to do with that agenda

Now let me ask you this would you show your kids

Bill Nye the science guy the old one? Okay the

new one no way I Haven't seen the new one. What's

your problem with it? It's less science and more

just pseudoscience of just you know It's not

Is it backed up with data That's what I want

to know. Yes and no. It's backed up by an agenda

more than data. Okay. Whereas back then it was

by straight like fact and data. Okay. And I know

that science can change, you know, that's one

of the things that they love about science, but

there's still certain things that are concrete

in certain pieces of data. For them to try and

reevaluate it even though there's no way that

it could be reevaluated it I'm jumping around

a subject. I really don't want to touch on but

I'm kind of curious to know what you're talking

about. I have an idea but there's there's a couple

of them that I've seen and it's not just this

particular one, but Okay, I just find the original

show more educational Okay, that's anyone the

new one is more placating to agendas and especially

with their musical guests and it's almost like

a If you parodied the original one and you threw

in a bunch of stuff that sounds like science

and you turn it into You know Saturday Night

Live Okay is what the new one is and the fact

that they've gone back and Part of this agenda

of having his new show have gone back into the

old show and edited out Pieces of the old show

so you can no longer find them unless you can

get them on YouTube Interesting. I was unaware

of this. Yeah, specifically the X and Y chromosome

thing Okay, and I get that people are Attracted

to different genders. I don't have an issue with

that What I have an agenda or like an issue with

is the the fact that they say that they're you

know born and underwater hippopotamus, you know

of a different gender and their chromosomes don't

lie. You're born with a set and that's, you know,

unless you're kind of born kind of in the middle

of it. But I say whatever makes you happy, however

you express yourself. I'm cool with it. I've

never had a problem with that. But then again,

we're entering a new era of science and who's

to say what we say right now won't be wrong in

20 years. Who's to say? Because as you said,

science changes, and we never know. And that's

what I love about science is the fact that certain,

there are few inalienable facts, like gravity.

We know how that works. But even still, we find

out new information about black holes and stuff

like that. And we're like, oh, that kind of changes

how we look at gravity or how we look at electricity

and its role in the universe. Science is a fascinating

topic and it's one of my favorite things to debate

and talk about all the time I mean, I'm not a

scientist myself. I Really wish I'd paid more

attention in school and maybe followed that path

Truth be told if I had to follow one path and

you're gonna this one's gonna take you by surprise

astronomy would have been my number one pick

but I suck at math I Suck at math so hard. Um,

I like paleo botany the study of old plants I

just find it weird. Yeah, it's weird. And I got

the idea from Jurassic Park, because that's what

Ellie Sattler was. And when I heard her talk

about Paleo Botany, they go, man, that just sounds

cool. But anyway, yeah, I mean, things I'd expose

my kids to, obviously a lot of learning stuff,

a lot of Bill Nye I would very much get them

into. Not so much Beacon's World, because he

was just a ripoff. It was interesting in its

own right that it wasn't as good as Bill Nye.

Yeah, exactly. In terms of younger stuff, we

help babysits or watch a couple of kids in our

building named Rosa and Garrett, and they like

a show called The Wiggles. And honestly, that

show, I really like it. I'm sorry. There's this

one song they do. where they talk about the bear

is now asleep and cold spaghetti and fruit salad.

Okay, no, no, no, no. Okay, this I have to tell

people about. It's so freaking weird. Okay, so

there's this one episode where they're singing

and there are these puppets of the Wiggles and

they're singing about fruit salad and it turns

into this acid trip. where they start freaking

out and the people are puppets and then this

crab shows up and there's this mutant shrimp

and then like Captain Feathersword shows up and

starts freaking out and it's the most, oh my

God, I'll have to find it on YouTube. and send

it to you, Steve, because it is the most amazing

two and a half minutes of your life. It'll change

your life. My God, I'm not explaining it well,

but holy shit, do you have to see it. And that's

what made me a fan of The Wiggles. One show I

used to really like, and I would show my kids

this. Unfortunately, the original lemur has now

passed away, I know. I'm mourning a lemur. But

the show up here was called Zaboomafood. Okay,

it was a great show. Oh, yeah, so I just like

to I would show Art Attack because I think that

shows I love anything that promotes art anything

that promotes creativity Another show I would

love this. I would love to show my kids would

be Eureka's castle because I thought that show

was awesome I haven't seen that like in forever

like oh, I think we I'm pretty sure we covered

that on the telecast like a few years back. I

think I think you did too. I'm pretty sure you

did. I'll have to look. And the only way I can

find this out is honestly by going back to the

archive. But it's thankfully on the new version

of the site that I have to finish. Basically,

I would show a lot of old Nickelodeon and PBS

shows and stuff like that. Or as they get older.

I'd want to expose my kids to cool documentaries

that don't seem like documentaries. For example,

if my kid ever expressed an interest in movies,

I would show them cool behind the scenes featurettes

for stuff. Because one of the things that made

me as a child not afraid of horror movies was

learning how it was done. When I saw the behind

the scenes featurettes for the movie Aliens and

I learned that those were guys in suits, I was

like, How did they do that? And then how they

built the alien queen, stuff like that. And I

was like, oh, that's a giant puppet. That's so

cool. How did it look so real? and stuff like

that. Or like Star Trek 4 where they had the

whale, which was just a motorized fin in the

back parking lot of Paramount. Yeah, I mean,

it's stuff like that. I mean, if I can get my

child interested in learning about stuff like

that, I think that'd be fascinating because it

opens up new worlds to them. And that's something,

as we said before, I always want my, if I had

a child, never stop learning, always be creative.

And I don't know. I mean, I'm not saying I expect

my child to be an aerospace engineer, but if

they turned into some kind of an, of an artistic

expressionist, like an actor or writer, or I

don't know, something in the, in the entertainment

industry, which I realize is a very difficult

industry to make it in. I'd be, I would be kind

of proud of that. Cause we have a member of our

family, his name's Andrew. He's graduating York

University with a theater degree. And he's going,

I think he attended Second City, which is this

awesome comedy place where like Dan Aykroyd's

come out of there, John Candy, Steve Martin,

Eugene Levy, et cetera, et cetera. And hell,

I'd be so happy. Hell, if he turned into a standup

comic, I will support that till the end of the

earth. Obviously people will say, get a real

job, but you know what? As long as you're doing

something, as long as you're paying your bills,

it is a job. It ain't the most glamorous, but

hey, you know what I'm saying? And I want my

child to realize, if anything, your life is more

than a paycheck. Oh, yeah. Because my parents

were drones. And I don't mean to disrespect their

memory, but it was check in, check out, come

home. do nothing, don't play with me or anything

that I was ignored. I raised myself and I'm very

cognizant of that. And they even admitted that

in their later years. And I feel sorry that we

didn't connect on a level that I feel we would

now. But I want my kid to be to be very full

of wonder. Because the world as it stands right

now, and we've talked about this before on the

show, we stand on such an interesting cusp of

technology, politics, art, and exploration, that

it's an exciting time to be alive. It's a weird

time to be alive because of all the above as

well. Because politics is messed up. Art is messed

up. Music is messed up. Exploration. We're not

going as far as I think we should, but we'll

get there. We'll get to the final frontier sooner

or later. Hopefully. Hopefully. And I don't know.

It's an interesting time. And I hope the parents

of today will be less offended and be more, I

don't know. I'm trying to find the right phrase

here, Steve. What am I trying to say? Understanding.

Understanding, yeah. I mean, be happy for the

world around you. Yeah, it is kind of a dangerous

place at times, but it's also a wonderful place,

too. You just have to be careful what you're

entering into. And if you think it's something

possibly dangerous, don't let your kids near

it. But if it's something that, you know, they're

going to stub their toe and be fine, you know...

then go for it. Yeah, exactly. Because there's

a great quote out of the movie. I think it's

the movie Seven. And I know that's a weird quote

to be pulling from. But I think it's Morgan Freeman's

character. And he says the world is a great place

and worth fighting for. Well, I believe the second

part. And I guess kind of circling back to last

week, the whole the whole be excellent to each

other. I want our kids to have hope. I don't

want them to be so afraid of being offended or

be so afraid to not try anything because they're

literally afraid of something. No, be adventurous.

Be daring. Don't be reckless is what I think

that's the point I'd want to make to kids. Don't

be reckless, but be daring. Be adventurous. Learn.

have that sense of wonder about the world. And

I hope I can pass it on to my children. I hope

I'm, I hope I'd be a good parent. I hope so.

I'm definitely not gonna make, I'm not gonna

make the same mistake of showing them Friday

the 13th part five. But I would show them a horror

movie and I'm like, okay, if you think that's

scary, did you know we could make that in our

bathroom for 20 bucks? And they'd be like, really?

Yes, let's go do it. And that's what I want to

do with my kids, explore. Hell, I want my kid

to be a special effects artist. That'd be so

awesome. Anyway, I've read it and rambled long

enough. Yeah, I mean, I honestly, like, I'm gonna

just, you know, hope for what they do, but with

their life, because obviously, like, I'm not

going to hold them back or, like, you know. hate

my own kid or anything for anything he does but

um either one of them uh but you know all all

you can do is guide them yeah and if you need

to shelter them from certain things and then

you know if they come into a situation like you

know there's certain things that they know that

they should not watch or or be present around

um for instance their their cousins they have

some cousins that are like stuck in their their

tablets And then they have other cousins that

are not And they actually get a like we've told

them like if their other cousins are on their

tablets like we don't want them Just sitting

there with them because like then they're just

becoming glued to it just like them You know

if they're not on their tablet, then it's okay

to you know sit there and play with them But

you know most the time they're doing Watching

like things that we would not have approved of

and they know that so they actually take the

incentive to move themselves um which is you

know good um because we don't let them i kind

of do it in the sense of where when we were kids

like we just didn't have a lot of that stuff

like i don't shield them from it completely but

it's like limited access and it's usually we

give them like the television or the tablet when

we have to be preoccupied with something and

we need them to be out of our hair during that

time and it's it's usually because we have like

a meeting or something or like when I was doing

phone interviews before I got the job you know

and I needed them to just be quiet it was kind

of a way of doing that you know with things that

we approved of so I mean it's it's kind of you

know kind of a tool but not you know something

it's not a babysitter like a Everyday permanent

babysitter, which is it seems like everybody's

doing nowadays Yeah, I'd want to be hands -on

with my kids obviously be very cognizant of technology,

but did not be absorbed by it No, but like I've

I've showed them, you know my headphones and

my my microphone I've turned it on and let them

record something and then hear themselves and

They think that that's the most hilarious thing

in the world or You know watching a YouTube video

where you know I've live stream myself or something

and just they'll be like you're on the screen

and you know just funny stuff like that but for

the most part like I enjoy playing you know I've

gotten them out in the backyard playing sports

I've gotten them playing Legos it's just in the

stuff and watching them come up with stuff now

it's just so interesting Maybe that's something

you could show them. Just show them really cool

Lego tutorials online. And I've been doing that.

I've been pulling out. That would be an interesting

thing to do is pull up some videos of some kids

building with Legos. Because I know at least

Lego, I'm pretty sure they still do it. They

sponsor robotics competitions and stuff like

that. So Lego still the innovator like 40, 50

years later actually. Man, they've been around

for a long time. They've been around, yeah, I

think longer than that, but... Yeah, I think

so. Watch the documentary on Netflix, The Toys

That Made Us. It's interesting as hell when you

learn all the stuff that LEGO's done and how

close they've come to going out. I haven't seen

that episode. I've seen the first season. I haven't

seen the second season, but the... Did you know

that they give, you can sign up your kids for

free LEGO magazines? Did not know that actually

they send them out you I mean, I'm pretty sure

anybody can sign up for them, but You can select

it by age range and they'll send you like I think

it's either every month or every other month

They'll send you a free magazine with like some

a couple of like tutorials on how to build things

some of the you know Things that kids built Because

I remember when I was a kid my parents signed

me up for it Cool and so when you know, of course

I have kids I signed them up for it You got Lego

I got encyclopedias Yeah Yeah, yeah It's yeah,

I I was fortunate I had a lot of toys when I

was a kid Which it's kind of funny just going

back to that for a second. Think about that Encyclopedias

are useless now. Mm -hmm. Do you ever winning

Carter was the big thing? I do. Encarta 95, Encarta

96, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I had Encarta.

And yeah, I used it. And it was actually just

as useless as the encyclopedia itself. It's so

funny because that information can now change

on a dime. And that's, once again, going back

to technology, I love that, that our information

technologies can update what we just assumed

was facts so quickly. We live at a cool age.

We really do. Well, and it's it's it's even funnier

yet that We we have that but you know now we've

got like Wikipedia we can Google it It's yeah,

it's just totally different world now Absolutely.

And now access to information has never been

easier. Hell, you can even contact universities

and colleges, and you can use social media to

reach out to some of your favorite scientists

or people involved in interesting fields and

say, hey, I have a question. And sometimes they'll

answer you. Yeah, that's true. Just thinking

to how easily it is to contact. voice actors

actors, you know and converse with them on social

media or email or It's just getting so much easier

for just the general person to be able to contact

people Yeah, the world has become larger yet

yet. It's become smaller at the same time and

it's a It is a fantastic thing despite all the

crap that we give the world as a whole not undeservedly

but Sometimes things can be pretty neat So I

guess that pretty much does it for this topic,

because we've been talking. This has been a very

free -flowing Altered Geek this week. So we definitely

want to hear what your guys' thoughts are. Spread

some positivity. What are some of the things

you're doing with your kids that maybe we should

maybe consider doing? Steve as a parent, maybe

me as an upcoming parent. Who knows? I'm not

saying we're pregnant. Oh, God. Blair would be

like, what the hell, Michael? You'd have Don

Jr. God, growing in a lab somewhere. But yeah,

I mean, what are some of the cool things you

do with your kids? I mean, maybe there's something

that, I don't know, maybe there's some neat ideas

out there and we'd love to hear them. Yes, and

if there's any particular topics that you guys

would like to hear on the next episode, one thing

I was kind of thinking, do you remember that

card game I got a while back? I remember you

talking about one, but I don't remember anything

more about it. Yes. Well, I got it last year,

and I've only ever played the game like twice,

but I thought it would be kind of interesting

to... use the cards to create a fake movie on

an episode. Oh, that card game! Okay, yeah, sure.

So maybe that could be the next episode. Like,

it would just be completely free -flowing, could

go anywhere, doesn't really matter. But I figure

that that might be a fun little tactic to do

to try and see just kind of what comes up. Okay,

we will do that next episode. So if you want

to get a hold of us on the social media as you

can find me on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook

at BirdmanDodd, though they're not connected

anymore. Thanks, Facebook API. God, I hate those

jerks. But yeah, you can find me. I always respond.

I love talking with people. So hit me up and

we'll definitely have a conversation, have a

couple of laughs. But don't actually hit him.

Yeah, please don't hit me. Please not in the

face. Not in the face, not the face. You can

reach out to me at SCP 21 and at AlterGeek. And

until next time, get AlterGeeky with the AlterGeeks.