Examining Cancel Culture and Social Media Outrage

You're tuned in to Steve Megatron on Altered

Geek Hello and welcome to Altered Geek I'm your

host Steve Megatron Phillips joining me in this

adventure into geekdom is TFG1 Mike Hello Hello,

so Since the last time we spoke. What was it

that we discussed on last episode? You don't

even remember. I'm just it's rhetorical No, seriously,

you don't even remember because the episode before

the last episode you actually messaged me two

days later after we recorded that and you're

You're like, what did we record? Social networking,

but I just yeah, I was trying to be rhetorical

with it So this time We're gonna have another

little bit of a not really a rant. It's more

of a constructive criticism rant almost Borderline

headshot without actually going in that total

negative direction So last time we discussed

revenge of social networking where what you say

can and will be used against you in a tweet of

law Well apparently two equally at distinct groups

So and if if you're listening to Studio 2009

You'll also hear something about apocalyptic

films at some point in the future and it's almost

kind of like that except with TV and Films and

actors and you know just people that have a wild

hair up their rear end Hi there! Ahem! Do you

like me, Hedwig? I like Sanderson. Won't you

just let me? Hi there! Hey! Hey! Sorry! Oh, sorry,

sorry! No, no, no! Stop! Stop! It's okay! It's

okay! I'm just assuming! I'm just assuming! Oh,

geez! I just wanna dunk him in my coffee. They're

just a bunch of fanzies. I don't know. There's

still something about that crazy hairdo that

I find suspicious. Nonsense Maurice! Honestly,

people in general, like, I don't understand,

like, people essentially wanting to cancel themselves.

And I'm not talking about, I'm talking about

just people in general. Okay. I see so many people

on my Facebook friends list that are like, oh

my God, I just, I'm going to leave Facebook because

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Because it's like,

go then. It is and it is and it's more of like

why would you like for me personally I take My

social media and I do with it what I want I Don't

I try my best not to say too many controversial

things or not too many offensive things Because

I know how easily offended the staples culture

is right now Sorry, I'm looking at a staples

easy button that says easily offended That was

easy exactly It sounds more like this that was

easy Yep It's just one of those things where

if you're if you're in so much drama on whatever

social media Facebook or Twitter specifically

Because I mean, honestly, how much drama can

there really be on Instagram? It's photos for

crap sake. Anyway, I'm sure there's plenty. But

my point is, I'm not going to delete my Twitter

account because somebody doesn't agree with an

opinion of mine or somebody and I get into an

argument. I'm just going to block that person

or unfriend them or whatever kind of thing. Why

should I? Give up what I'm doing on social media

Because somebody else disagrees with me So if

if you haven't gathered what the topic is at

this point in time, it's cancel culture It's

come to this point now where instead of just

complaining Like we've been doing for the last

10 years Progressively getting it worse and worse

and worse and worse of everybody just whining

about oh they ruined Star Wars or they ruined

Star Trek and I mean I've done the same with

Star Trek I Star Wars I don't really care but

you know and they've they've ruined you know

in my mind the animation styles of like Ninja

Turtles and and you know which isn't really that

bad compared to when you look at Toucan Sam,

but But But honestly, like, I feel like we have

better things to focus on at this point in time.

Like, everybody's up in arms over literally everything.

I wrote one little piece of code and the world

falls apart. This is virtual terrorism. What?

That's crazy. First time I heard the concept

of a fire sale. I actually thought it would be

cool if anyone ever really did it. Just... And

I'm not even trying to be mean about it. I'm

trying to, like, be empathetical with it. People

are literally having a hard Difficult time with

life and we're complaining about what's on TV

and mind you There's worse things than a fictitious

police officer On a show like okay. I get it

cops is more of a you know re realistic Show

and so okay, I get that I'm not trying to be

Down on the whole situation that's been going

on in the world. I'm well aware of it But in

those people were total scum that did what they

did and should be punished. But I don't think

that that actively reflects on the entire police

culture. And also, I think that the fact that

we have zero respect for people in general, not

even just police officers, just police or just

people in general, there's zero respect for anyone.

Like everybody's always up in arms or always

ready to attack someone. And it doesn't matter

what you look like or who you are. There's always

something like that going on. And the fact that

we're going after fictitious cartoon characters

now, I mean we've already gotten People are trying

to do away with the chase the police dog. Like

there's even articles saying Euthanize the police

dog defund the Paw Patrol All ours go to heaven

accept the class traitors in the Paw Patrol like

I've seen like oh my god. Yeah, that's ridiculous

literally this stuff is going on like people

are losing their mind over it and so somebody

asked me What am I doing with my podcast or whatever?

to bring Positivity to whatever or to actually

ask you that So yes, well somebody, you know,

basically I said something to the if we I miss

some argument a month ago or however long ago

it was the point was somebody asked me what am

I personally doing to help change the current

perception of the world or how people see police

officers or how people see whatever. And I said,

basically, I, you know, on my podcasts, whichever

ones I'm on, like specifically Altered Geek now,

because we talk about this stuff on this show,

you know, I try to bring some sort of semblance

of common sense to the point of the fact that,

you know, There's a lot of misinformation out

there. I don't want us spreading misinformation

or misleading things. And the fact that people

are calling for defund the police, first of all,

and I found this and I'll send this to you later

off the show, but since we're bringing this,

since you're talking about this, hashtag defund

the police does not mean eliminate all police

funding. Defund the police means police will

be funded. Police will not be overfunded. Redistribute

the city budget. Everyone gets a fair share.

Defund the police because police should focus

on crimes and criminals. Police are not mental

health counselors. Police. are not social workers,

are not medical professionals, are not education

specialists. Police should not be responsible

for everything. Well, defund the police emphasizes

reassessing our values, investing in our communities,

investing in our people, funding our schools,

our hospitals, our services, our infrastructure.

Understand that presenting quote unquote defunding

the police as the same as eliminating all funding

for police is intentionally misleading and manipulative.

Well, To kind of combat that a little bit and

unpack it I'm not disagreeing with any of that

Because I for one have no idea and two Exactly,

we don't know there are instances where certain

counties they are under the tooth like Except

for like when you look at a place like Flint

where they barely have enough cops to patrol

the city And so there's no there's not enough

funding there to go around anyway But what's

funny is, is the politicians are backing this

up pretty well, and not to get political with

it, but how much of that money that goes towards

the city that's supposed to go towards education

anyway, or the roads that they promise with all

these miraculous taxes that they keep increasing,

what part of it goes to them? Because I have

a feeling that they keep adding more managers

for stuff and more the money keeps going that

direction instead of in the direction It should

be which is education in the roads But back to

the original point at hand You know people were

having a tizzy over Gone with the wind and so

they pulled it albeit temporarily to add historical

connotations to it Which okay that makes sense

putting a disclaimer at the beginning saying

hey We realize that this has some distasteful

things that happened and it's referencing things

in history. But if you want to do that, there's

a lot of stuff that's come out in the last 20

years even, that's covered the same ground and

nobody's losing like batting an eye. There's

things that where women are being objectified

in modern media quite often as a matter of fact.

And they don't seem to bat an eye at that. There's

a lot of double standards, I guess, is what I'm

saying. And if we're going to cancel one thing

because we're offended over it, like police,

there's a lot of stuff that should be canceled.

You know, people are calling for friends to be

canceled, you know, to be removed from all sources.

You know, I mean, look what they did to Cosby,

you know, because he got in trouble for sexual

allegations. They pulled his show from everything.

Yeah. So, I mean, I guess it kind of boils down

to where do you draw the line? You know, yeah.

Was the I did I agree with his stuff being pulled?

No. You know, maybe the the contractual part

of it where he receives a royalty check. Yeah.

Yeah. Boils down to like the whole thing with

Hartley, too, that that got in trouble on Twitter.

It's where do you draw the line and things that

people have done or said, no matter how bad it

is? Like, I mean, yeah, Cosby. He dug a pretty

big hole. He had the physical action in there,

which is even worse. But where do you draw the

line where, you know, I mean, I can see the studios

wanting to distance from certain type of behavior,

which is mostly them covering themselves. It

has nothing really to do with the actor. It's

just more so so they can say, hey, we did this

so that we don't have backlash. But before it

gets to be where we cancel everything because

cancel culture seems to be coming for a lot of

different shows not just you know, it's whatever

triggers somebody today or tomorrow and It's

never the same like there was a comment I made

About the Somebody made a comment about Star

Trek the original pilot the cage from 1964 and

what i thought was quite humorous about this

is um somebody posted i'm a male when i watched

the star trek pilot the cage from 1964 i'm not

outraged by pike's line saying just can't get

used to having a woman on the bridge i don't

demand its destruction it's a stark reminder

of where we were and how far we have come And

I said, in my reply, I says, if you watch this,

remember that in every track in the timeline

before and after, they've had a woman on the

bridge. But this episode is still the first episode

that ever aired. So things changed distinctly

between this and the new pilot with Kirk, where

they had Uhura, they had Yeomun Ran, they had

different Female characters on the bridge that

would show up or you know, you look at any of

the series before and after You have admirals

that are females that are in discovery. So I

mean it's it's honestly It was a throwaway line

for that time point time that it was created

It doesn't necessarily mean it's okay. And obviously

they've totally retconned that anyway but Again,

it's where do you draw the line? Yeah, and that's

the problem is that look Okay, I listened and

I'm gonna do a little bit of pimping here I've

been listening to a podcast called superhero

cine files. It is hosted by Perry Constantine

and Derek Ferguson. I've known Derek for years

and Derek's a pretty smart guy Derek along with

his friend Tom DJ used to do podcast called better

in the dark was all about films and things like

that In the most recent episode, they were reviewing

Guardians of the Galaxy volume two. And in the

beginning, they mentioned something about the

whole Hartley thing. And here's what Derek said.

How are you going to the only way that we should

be faulting? a person on Twitter or social media

or whatever about what they said five, 10, 15

years, well Twitter wasn't around 15 years ago,

but you know what I mean? Like back in 2008,

if I was still saying the same stupid crap that

I was saying then now, if I still have those

same opinions now, that's the problem. But if

that was said at that time, two, three, four

or five years ago from that actor or whomever.

And it was like just him going on a rant or something

at the time. And what he said was disgusting,

obviously, but it's just one of those things

where how are you going to punish him now? Unless

you know, he's still like that and that like

like when I saw that story, I was like. Did this

happen recently? Yeah, I know I was kind of purposely

to get him canned like Exactly because as far

as I can see he hasn't posted any kind of crap

like that since Over the last five years like

that was something he did at the time. I think

it was just more so for a reaction if anything

else, which again, it's still wrong, but Right.

It's still good. It's still yeah. Yeah, I mean

it's like it's like James Gunn doing some comment

he made ten years ago, and then Disney's like,

where are we going to fire him from Guardians

3? And then they end up having to rehire him

anyway because people are through such a big

protest over there like it happened ten years

ago. But that goes to show you that as long as

the money bags are going in the right direction,

people don't care. They'll turn a blind eye.

Yeah. So it just goes, you know, it ultimately

kind of boils down to, you know, why are we making

such a big deal over some of this. Listen to

the news. You got a problem with the news now?

Yeah, I got a big goddamn problem with the news.

You ready for this? The news is completely manipulated.

Everything you hear every single day is designed

by corporate media to do one thing and one thing

only. Jesus. To keep you living in fear. Of fear?

Total fear. Fear so you'll go out and you'll

spend money on things. Things you probably don't

even need. Things you probably already have six

of, so that their advertisers will keep buying

ads on their stations. Tell you one more thing,

you ready for this? I'll do this all day, man.

I got days of data at home you don't believe

me. For crying out loud, people say worse things

about, whether you like them or hate them, people

say worse things about the president every day.

In other countries, they would be shot. Like

or hung or something like because you can't get

away with that here. We have freedom of speech

So you can say things like that and get away

with it. You can make fun of things You can't

that's why we have Saturday Night Live. I mean

it's it's The blatant yet overall not even talking

about him Not talking about and we've called

them the annoying orange. So it doesn't really

matter Not even talking about him the blatant

disrespect people have for each other It's disgusting.

I Try my best to respect everybody and I've tried

Okay, so we've had opinions in the past Of course,

and I've changed my opinion since we started

this network over a lot of things Exactly. And

here's my thing specifically To Transformers,

okay We have seen people on forums and other

places and wherever. Basically, it's G1. Nothing

else exists. That's it. Beast Wars didn't revitalize

the franchise. It did. You know, it's like, and

my opinion has been for the longest time now,

not just the last four or five years, I would

say since at least maybe 2010, 2011, I like Out

of the five main United States eras, Beast, G1,

Animated, Prime, even now, Cyberverse and whatever,

I like them all for different reasons. So here's

a thing, again, that I mentioned. I mentioned

Tom DJ earlier, who's a friend of Derek Ferguson.

Tom and I did a podcast on our flagship show,

Geekcast Radio, of how, you know, broken fandoms

and how we can fix them. Tom has come up with

what he calls the modern fandom manifesto. And

these are some of the tenets. And I'm not going

to go through all these. I'm just going to, you

know, read one of them here. Actually, one and

three. Number one, I will respect that people

may like something I do not like, and I will

not try to force him or her to believe otherwise.

Number three, I will celebrate what I love and

accept the loves of my fellow fans So again,

like I mentioned last time or at some other point

and whatever other recordings we've done in the

last week or two weeks You're a die -hard Star

Trek fan. I'm a casual Star Trek fan. I Don't

you know, I'm not going after you because you're

you know, you can pull at season 9 episode 27

or whatever, you know out of your hat, you know

I'm trying my best now to and I have been trying

to do this not just ever since Tom and I recorded

that but basically I'm trying not to put out

that my opinion is the only opinion because we

all have giant assholes on our mouths for opinions

and they all shit all over the place from time

to time But at least I can go into a conversation

saying, okay, this is my opinion. And if somebody

else says, hey, that's great, but this is mine,

I can agree to disagree or whatever. And we can

all just have a friendly discussion about what

we like and what we don't like. You know what

I mean? Like it doesn't have like, I'm not really

in the whole end all be like, you know, Yeah,

for example Scrappy do is the best thing to ever

happen to scooby -doo You're delusional. I But

you said strange little man. No, but I mean that's

your opinion Right and that I'm not saying he

is I'm just saying, you know That's the the kind

of thing that we we do here and we agree to disagree

but everybody has their own opinion Just counting

that like great and none of us do and that doesn't

mean anything because you're still a fan exactly

so you mentioned about you know in other countries

how you know people get shot for saying things

about people or presidents or rulers or whatever

else as of this recording I saw a thing on the

dad jokes Facebook page got a new job at the

guillotine factory I'll be heading there shortly

I Know not everyone's gonna get along I know

not everyone is going to feel the same way about

certain things But I would hope that we could

all come together and Try our best to be better

for ourselves for the people that are around

us loved ones you know, family members, friends,

wives, girlfriends, children, whatever, you know,

whatever you have in your life. I always think

we should at least try our best to strive to

be better. And if we, you know, do or do not,

there is no try. Yoda is right, but it has to

be a try for this because how can we be better

as the human race when Nobody wants to even attempt

to do so. Yeah, I mean I'm I'm kind of of the

same Thought like I think that we should be I

get Everybody has an opinion I get people are

upset over a lot of stuff that's going on because

I mean there's there's a lot of discord there's

a lot of Issues going on that honestly should

not have been going on this long Again, I blame

our central government. In, I mean, the last

50 years, nobody's really tried to do anything.

It's just been pushing an agenda for the last

50 years. And it's been the back and forth, you

know, headbutting between each other. And so

I don't feel like that they've, any of them,

have actually had people's best interest at heart.

And unless it suits them and there's a, you know,

big payday at the end of it. Unless or unless

they have money of their own and they just don't

care I'm not leaving any of them out. They're

all garbage. I think they all need to be flushed

away like Robin Williams says You know politicians

are all out like diapers and they need to be

changed frequently and for the same reason, you

know, it's We don't need these lifetimers that

are in there because I honestly don't think they

help at all And honestly, I think if we need

real change, I think we need younger people in

there um that have a clue what's going on not

these 70 80 year old people that are running

and i i'm not discounting them at all because

they are citizens but they have no idea how you

know the job market works today they have no

idea how a lot of things work today like everything's

changed it's totally different than when they

were in the workforce and so honestly like i

i feel like between that and you know the way

twitter is i mean twitter is basically everybody's

unfiltered emotions coming out on everything

because there's no filter um and that's something

i've always tried to be careful of not pushing

my my beliefs my uh things that i know about

on other people that may rub them wrong I've

had conversations with other geeks that in podcasts

and they or before them And we believe totally

different stances on things or I ride the middle

of the road and they are far one direction or

the other I'm still friends with them. I don't

care. I mean, it's just Mm -hmm and find the

common ground And we stay on that and yeah, we

discuss a little bit in either direction But

for the most part we stick with the equal the

common ground That's where we need to be unifying.

It's not in the constant battling or trying to,

oh, I'm upset about this, I need to cancel the

show, or I need to make this creator feel bad

for making this rendition. It's like that old

phrase, wait five minutes, it'll change with

the Michigan weather thing. It's the same thing

with pop culture. Wait two years, it'll change.

Look at how many times we've changed Spider -Man

in the last 15, 20 years. Or changed Batman or

changed really any of them. I mean we're going

through another change of a lot of that stuff

now I mean Honestly, it's if you wait long enough,

it will change Mm -hmm. So So, yeah, I mean I

I feel like we are at this weird phase of things

at this point of just waiting for things to change

and and honestly, I think that people need to

be a little bit more understanding and And if

your your end goal is to try and. Flesh a TV

show down the toilet because you don't like it.

You've got a real problem. Yeah. If I don't like

some. OK. And again, this goes back to and I

know I've mentioned this on the show for the

last. Six. Wow. Is Altergeek six this year or

seven? Oh, no, it's older. It started in 2013.

2013 no 2012 wasn't it it started the video show

started in 2012 the August 2013, okay, so I've

been saying this for years Trailers for anything

video games movies television shows, whatever

They're there to either get you into it and get

you excited for it or they're there for you to

see them and you're like Okay, that's not a like,

you know, that's not a movie for me Kind of or

video game or whatever kind of thing, you know

If I watch a couple episodes of a show I usually

I actually it's funny I can bring this back around

to the original Co -host for you our good buddy

Mike booth ninja powers. I feel like every time

I say his name He should just appear because

he hasn't appeared in a while. Just make him

go anyway Exactly, he should just you know, just

show up Transporter in or some phase in or whatever

you want to call it from Star Trek. Anyway, you

know Something he said years ago was he usually

gives TV shows a five episode chance if by the

end of the fifth episode He's not interested

in it of the first season then he probably won't

watch it and I have kind of taken that same approach

At the same time, I know there are TV shows out

there that are not for me because it doesn't

align with my interests. Am I gonna sit there

and waste my time and a creator's time by going

on Twitter and saying, oh, you know, you created,

you know, Hill Street Blues or The Odd Couple

or... cash cab or you know, whatever I'm just

scrolling through hulu with the Agatha Christie's

Marpa, you know You know what I mean? Like am

I gonna go to these people and say oh this show

shouldn't be a thing because it's you know, I

think it's no Yeah, cuz it cuz it Upsets me and

no no, I'm like, no, I'm not gonna watch it like

There are plenty of comedies out there that I

don't watch There are plenty of comedies out

there that I do watch You know, I'm not the biggest

fan of friends. I'm not a fan of that show I

prefer Seinfeld because I think Seinfeld was

funnier But at the same time am I gonna go to

the people who created friends and say you suck

your show sucks you the fact that certain creators

and this makes me so mad get death threats over

what they've created because they're trying to

If you watch friends and you get something out

of it and you get enjoyment out of it or whatever

it is that you get out of it, that's great. That's

something good for you. That show, you know,

helped you get through a time. You know, if you

find, you know, Joey funny or Chandler or Monica

or Ross or Rachel or whomever, Phoebe, you know,

that's great. It's not my thing. And that's OK,

too. But at the same time, Because it isn't my

thing. I don't think it shouldn't exist I'm not

one of those people's that you know what I mean?

Like Yes, there are bad movies out there and

whatever else but you know There's always gonna

be bad movies I've been No, and I get it like

there's just it yeah and and some people enjoy

bad movies. Say what you will about it and what

it represented. But in 1993, we didn't have the

technology and advancements for what we have

today. So in 1993, Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo

was all we could get for Super Mario Brothers.

I still love that movie. Even though it's not

really based on the game. It has some aspects,

but not a lot Doesn't matter. I still enjoyed

it And yeah, and it was it was fun and memorable

to you And so therefore it's not any less validated.

But again, I feel like cancel culture. I feel

like we're at this stupid point where If you

cancel everything, folks, we won't have anything.

I mean, because everything has something that's

offensive in it. Ain't that the flippin' truth?

I mean, it is. It's a poison, and it needs to

stop. Because if you get to that point, if you're

offended over... movie about religion or you're

you know mad because oh there's a politician

you don't like or there's Oh Well, this has you

know that the the Twin Towers And I I don't believe

that we should have to watch anything with that

so they try and cancel all those you know I mean

Really it it boils down to just you know you

can't erase history things happened All you can

do and here's the thing and move on Here's the

thing If we erase the history that has been created

throughout our lifetimes and even before then

You're doomed to repeat what the mistakes were

that happened. Mm -hmm History is exactly that

it is history There's no changing the past there

is only living in the present and forging your

future whatever future that may be Yeah, and

and what's funny is as we talk about this it

says People are trying to get dominoes cancelled

for an eight -year -old tweet I'm not lying.

What I'm not lying. What was dominoes getting

ready for an innocent reply from a 2012 tweet

is Absolutely peak 2020 energy It says and I'm

crying and laughing and also crying for the poor

dominoes social team They It was a I have a feeling

it's somebody that is a I love when when Things

are blocked and it's not somebody I would personally

actually block. I've noticed okay, it I swear

Twitter goes through people's feeds and then

if You're not like hardcore liberal. They block

anything on the other side So you can't actually

weigh the options of what they're both saying

because half the time I go in to read these tweets

It says you've blocked this person and I know

for a fact I never did So this is former national

press secretary for Donald Trump 2020 campaign

says former GOP person. Okay, you know the person

put Fun fact Domino's is way better than any

New York City pizza back November 8th, 2012.

And then they replied, that's one heck of a compliment.

Thanks for the love. We appreciate it. And people

are trying to get it canceled because of this.

And people are going way to align yourself with

a political party dominoes probably should have

been just been silent. Like, did they say anything

against that? They were just saying that's a

that's a compliment that saying that it was better

than New York City pizza. Like, what does that

have to do with politics? Nothing. And people

are just going bananas over it. Somebody else

was like how so this was in 2012 and wasn't responding

to a political comment literally just a comment

this canceled culture is pathetic And it's the

most most pathetic part is the people who actually

took the time to dig up this tweet Yeah, so I

found I didn't find the actual tweet, but I found

on Twitter a person that that Screencapped this

and this is from Well, it's from Today from June

15th. So this person I don't know who they are

whatever they say Domino's being quote -unquote

cancelled for a tweet from 2012 when they thank

someone for complimenting their pizza is peak

2020 also you have deep mental issues if this

triggers you as As you said the the tweet fun

fact at Domino's is way better than any NYC pizza

Yeah, that's what Domino's replies to the person.

Yeah Yeah, I mean like Seriously, that's not

well and somebody just to be funny was like How

can you tell President Trump's gonna win in November

when cancel culture seizes an eight -year -old

tweet about pizza? I Just read this like somebody

posted this it's it's quite funny And somebody

else is like this is from eight years ago in

addition to dominoes Just wait till they find

her Taco Bell and Pizza Hut tweets cancel culture

is real and despicable and people are like you

just killed your brand like literally it's it's

people that are these famous people are sitting

there like rallying against somebody because

they've they had anything to do with trump like

it it's it's honestly just ridiculous i get that

he's not a very well liked person he has a big

mouth i don't nobody would deny that he says

a lot of stupid stuff that shouldn't be said

but that's fact yeah it's factual so but What

is funny is cancel cultures to the peak of they're

making fun of pizza Like do you have anything

better to do than kill things with an old tweet

and Okay, so old tweets is funny because Every

now and then and I have to go in and check these

accounts sometimes because I don't know how the

hell they do this I will get like notifications

For tweets that I made in 2014 or 2020. I'm like

who the Frag spends their time going through

my Twitter timeline to find something from 2014

2012 2010 whenever I'm like who has like I you

know this hopefully the altered geek audience

knows this I Have a lot of time on my hands sadly

because of my physical disabilities and whatever

else, I can't hold down a regular job kind of

thing. So I do a lot of podcasting and I do a

lot of prep for podcasting and I watch a lot

of stuff and I read a lot of comics and I have

a lot of time throughout the day. I am not gonna

waste that time going through somebody who has

been on Twitter for 10 plus years. I'm not gonna

waste my time going through their timeline. to

try to get them in trouble now for something

that they said and it isn't that's a completely

innocent two -part conversation it's like this

conversation is between a and b see your way

out of it and don't see your way out of it and

don't come back ever kind of a thing just i understand

people are restless i understand people are tired

of being at home But Man it's just What is this

world coming to Yeah, it's it's definitely broken

that's for sure Mm -hmm, and honestly like I

just don't know where I don't know where all

this crap's going anymore But it's honestly the

most ridiculous thing in the world to sit there

like I Like I said, whether you're talking politics

or not, or you've said something distasteful,

something that happened, you know, even two years

ago isn't necessarily something that's how you

think now. Yeah, essentially, like, yeah. I mean,

I said a lot of stupid crap in headshot like

10 years ago. Which is why it's not only because

I did say a lot of stupid stuff And I'm sure

it went off half cocked and there was no thought

behind it I know for a fact I had a lot of comments

like that so So honestly like I don't I don't

feel That that's a good portrayal of my character

now Yeah, exactly and so like if these people

that are grasping at straws purposely to alienate

somebody or ruin their life It's it's not helpful.

Like we're already as a nation. We're broken

We're already hurting enough. We don't need to

be worrying about trying to cancel each other

or destroy each other's credibility because We

had an alignment with something at some point

So I guess I guess how would you Wrap your side

up. Anyway, like you're you're part of the commentary

I Hope and Here's the thing folks. You always

have to have hope if you don't have hope then

there's Whatever for me I hope we can all be

better to each other. I hope we can all stand

up for one another and help each other. I hope

that us as podcasters, for what we do, we bring

some sort of levity, some sort of entertainment,

some sort of escapism from everything that's

going on in the world because I know I need that.

Know a lot of other people need that too. So

I'm hoping that the people can look to Altered

geek and geek cast radio network, even though

we're talking about these deep issues on this

episode cancel culture is a Cancer and it's not

good Like I said earlier in the show if you cancel

everything you have nothing. I mean it was canceling

comedies Years ago like you're not allowed to

say anything because it offends somebody which

basically killed, you know, stand -up comedy.

Yeah, or, you know, look at the video, oh my

god, video games are so violent, like, and that's

another part of the cancel culture that's come

up, the fact that Elmer doesn't have his gun

in the new Looney Tunes shorts. I get it, because

people are triggered by guns. I get it, yeah,

I get it too, but I'd save this meme from Facebook.

It's a picture of classic Elmer and classic Yosemite

Sam. Both of them have guns in their hands. Raise

your hand if you grew up watching these guys

and haven't shot anyone. I don't even own a gun.

Like, I mean, I've shot a gun at a target, like

at a gun range. Yeah, that's it. Like I don't.

Yeah. Like I honestly, it's a cartoon. People

get anvils dropped on them. Do we sit there and

drop anvils on people off the cliffs? No. Exactly

my point like it's it's yeah, it doesn't make

any sense Yeah, exactly Like I said my side of

it is I'm hoping for hope. I'm hoping for all

of us to be better I'm hoping that together We

can fix What's broken or we can find a new way

of living and leave the broken part of it behind

because What's broken is in the past and yes,

I understand there are still things going on

to this day as of this recording that Stuff hasn't

changed yet But if we fight for that change,

maybe we won't be so broken anymore Exactly,

I don't know so so on a later note to end this

episode Well, I mean this is good news San Diego

Comic -Con We'll be for everyone at home July

22nd through the 26th, and I'm not sure how often

we'll be covering it, but we'll be covering it

as much as we can During that time span yep So

it'll be taking place on the original SDCC dates

It has been confirmed to be free for everyone

They're promising panels and presentations about

comics gaming television film and a wide variety

of topics from publishers studios and more It's

probably because they're gonna be on zoom, but

I guess we'll see So yeah, it'll be interesting

to see what what we get to experience from that

So It will be interesting to see what happens.

So the question I would like to pose is what

would your solution be? Instead of getting upset

over everything and wanting to fuel cancel culture

or personal attacks on people or you know, what

what would you? Kind of think would be the solution

to this and not that it's a one overarching solution.

There's obviously a lot of problems, but It would

be interesting to know, you know what you think

in general Absolutely So until next time get

altered get geeky with the altered geeks Think

things that you don't think the office would

get the green light in today's cultural conditions

Yeah, not only because some you know times have

changed and and and there's this there's this

there's this new weird sort of Fascism of people

thinking they know what you can say and what

you can't and it's a really weird thing that

there's this new trendy myth that people who

want free speech want it to say awful things

all the time. This just isn't true. It protects

everyone. And this new thing, hate speech, oh,

that's hate speech. And the two catastrophic

problems with the term hate speech is one, what

constitutes hate speech. Everyone disagrees.

There is no consensus on what hate speech is,

right? And two, who decides? And there's the

real rub, because Obviously, the people who think

they want to close down free speech because it's

bad are the fascists. It's a really weird, mixed

up idea that these people hide behind the shield

of goodness. We're good. with social justice

where we're doing this for good and what we say

goes. And they don't realise how corrupt and

wrong that is. It's just a nonsense. We're doing

this for the good of humanity and because of

that we're going to destroy your life. Well exactly

and it is mob rule and I think that's what would

compromise the comedy. Not that some people wouldn't

love it and get it, it's that the people in charge

would be bullied you know that the BBC would

you know have to write letters and that's usually

the case with with a with a complaint when they

worry about someone they're not worried about

right and wrong they're worried about how many

letters they'll have to write and how it will

look bad because And I've said before, I've talked

people down off the ledge my whole career, and

they said, oh, we're worried about this bit.

And I go, why? And they say, well, no, it's not

like that at all. Here's the joke. That's the

subject of the joke. Here's the target. And sometimes

it needs to be explained, but it needs to be

defended as well. you put something together

that's over on it or satirical, someone says,

someone will be offended by that, let's lose

it. No, no, let's not lose it. Let's defend it.

Let's explain. Let's talk about this. What are

you doing? This is madness. It's not illegal

to be offensive, to offend people. And I agree

that at the heart of this is this kind of...

feeling that or this belief that to offend is

against the law. Well it's not. What about...

And also there are loads, let's not forget, there

are loads of caveats to free speech already but

I agree with all of them. Libel, slander, watersheds,

protection of children's rights, food additives,

all these things are already in place. What's

not in place and what's never should be in place

is... that you mustn't say that someone somewhere

might find offensive. Because someone somewhere

will find everything offensive. And as I've said

so many times, just because you're offended,

it doesn't mean you're right. Some people are

offended by equality. Some people are offended

by gay marriage. Some people are offended by

mixed marriage. So what? It's ridiculous. Offense

is good because it makes you think and it makes

you come up with an argument. And what's happened

recently is I'm offended as replaced an argument

you have to say so what yeah that's that's offensive

yeah and uh yeah how has uh the office changed

your life um well um completely uh i i think

um in in the sense of you know financially comfort

career -wise of course luckily though um i was

already 40 when it happened so You know, I had

my values in place. I knew who I was. Fame didn't

define me. So I've tried to stay a normal person.

You know, I have extreme friends and family and

all that. And I think that's the real worry with

fame. And I did fear it. I feared it for lots

of reasons. I didn't want people to think that

I've signed that deal with the devil, you know,

that made me famous and you can go through my

bins. I didn't want to be lumped in with those...

people that did anything to be famous and now

i don't want to be lumped in with those celebrities

who lecture people who think they're above everything

just because they've got because they've got

a platform i mean it really works both ways and

that the worry the worry now is social media

amplifies everything if you're if you're mildly

left wing on on twitter you're suddenly trotsky

right and if you're mildly conservative you're

a hitler you're a nazi and if you're centrist

and you look at both arguments you're a coward

you know they both hate you you just can't win

can you no no you can't you know so you just

got to do your thing and sleep at night and know

you know you're doing you're doing a decent you

know job of work and stuff listen but just before

you go ricky um On my show tomorrow I've got

our mutual friend Peter Egan. I've been doing

a bit of a campaign about this horrible canned

trophy hunting. industry and the way that lions

are bred and mistreated from the moment they're

born to the moment they die. And I just wanted

to get your thoughts on the issue. Well two things,

no one does more for animal welfare than Peter

Easton. I know it's amazing isn't it? He's like

a mentor, if someone asked me to do something

I'd check with him, is this a special charity,

is it good, is it great, or that he knows everything.

I don't know how he gets... the time to do it

and still have a career. We should mention, by

the way, starring in your excellent Netflix series,

Afterlife. Oh, he's been, since ever the recent

circles, I've always wanted to work with him.

But, you know, as a friend and an animal advocate,

he's, you know, number one, I'd say, in Britain.

And two, it's disgusting. Of course it is. Imagine,

well, here's the real thing, okay? So they breed

lions and they sort of, they sort of socialise

them, you know, pay to pet them. So these are

basically big tame cats right they've never experienced

the wild at all then some rich fat lazy american

dentist pays 30 grand to shoot a big tame animal

drug they're usually drugged someone shoots it

drug yeah i mean it's disgusting and and this

thing about her You know, I should say, wherever

we go about hunting, we don't mean hunting. We

don't mean a man catching a fish and feeding

his family. We mean someone who's... We're placating

them. We're giving them a bloodlust. This nonsense

of paying to shoot an endangered species. It's

good for conservation. It's not good for conservation.

It's a con. That's propaganda. It goes into corrupt

officials' pockets. And all we're doing is letting

someone... shoot something with a bow and arrow

because they like it it's disgusting and this

is particularly offensive because that lion hasn't

even had a wild life it's horrible it's like

it's like you know letting someone shoot their

pet dog it's really it's it's ludicrous i don't

understand it i don't i don't understand the

psychology of ending something's life for fun

i've never and then when there's torture involved

like bullfighting that's the worst it's most

disgusting because again They drug the ball,

they cut the tendons on the back of the neck

so it looks like it's charging all the time.

They bleed it so it's weak. They blunten a horn.

They find smaller... I want to choose the ball.

I want to choose the ball. That's right, okay.

Fight this one. Fight this one. And, you know,

I love it when the ball wins. But it should be

banned. It's absolutely disgusting. And anyone

who takes part and watches it, I just... I don't

get it. I've never understood animal cruelty.

I don't either. I think there's always an exception

to the rule and I think we're allowed to take

great offence about what goes on with these poor

creatures. Well, this isn't offence about work.

People have said this to me. When I say about,

you shouldn't be offended by a joke, I say, well,

you don't like torturing an animal. I go, no,

that's actually torturing an animal. Make a joke

about it. Fill your boots, mate, but don't act.

actually torture an animal. That's not a joke.