Constellation, Episode 60 | The Political Episode: John Stewart's Return, Social Justice, Ukraine Propaganda, 2020 Fraud
🕑 Added 2024-02-26 17:00:12 +0000 UTCWelcome to a very special episode of Constellation, Last Stand Media's conversational podcast. This year, we're going to try to execute on a small number of 'themed' episodes that revolve around certain sets of topics, and today, we present to you an all-political discussion. As such, joining the Brothers Moriarty this time around is Punching Up co-host Gene Park and storied game designer David Jaffe, and you should be warned that if you don't like politics, don't want to hear about them, or get upset when you disagree with people, you shouldn't watch or listen. Dagan starts us off with a brisk chat about Jon Stewart, who has recently returned to The Daily Show in a limited capacity. Is his presence more necessary than ever, or is he one of the reasons our discourse has sunk to its current level? Gene seamlessly executes his topic from Dagan's, wrangling a wide-ranging deep-dive into social justice. Are we in a better place than ever socially, or has everything been pushed too far? From here, Colin talks about the deteriorating situation in Ukraine, and regrets how deeply propagandized American society became in a war that didn't involve it. Should we be inserting ourselves into geopolitical situations, or seeking peace no matter the cost? Finally, Jaffe rounds things out by exploring claims of fraud in the 2020 election, which haven't at all convinced him. Will Trump ever admit he lost, or does he perhaps have a point that not all is at it seems?
Comments
Marco Maluf
Gene’s comments about seeking immortality was the reason I endured this episode 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Marco Maluf
Jaffe talking politics os just a bunch of rehearsed speech, saying the same nonsense the left always says, it only makes sense on their minds, every time they need to categorize people and segregate us by our gender, race, sexual orientation, its just really annoying, besides the constant interruptions wich unfortunately Colin seems to be getting it from him. Invite Jaffe to talk anything but politics because he is what he accuses other of being, that is the way the left acts.
Zorro
In Europe, we have healthcare, because we pay almost double the taxes Americans pay. Not to mention we do tax our millionaires more fairly.
Clint Needs
Just read some of the other comments and it does make me wonder if Jaf has ever thought to himmself.............................................................................even if only for a second.
Clint Needs
Just read some other comments it does make me wonder if Jaffi has ever thought to himself..................................................................even if only for a second.
Clint Needs
Wish Jaffi would let people finish there thoughts before interrupting with semantics that 50% of the time derail the ORIGINAL speaker. Do love you though Jaffi and stand with you on most of the points you make , just please wait your turn dude. Our ear drums require equilibrium.
Tabes
Great episode. Would love more of this.
Tabes
Totally disagree
Tabes
Again, disagree. I think Colin explains his positions very rationally, whereas Jaffe has a hard time explaining his thoughts in a way that makes sense. Also, often it just sounds like he’s arguing for the sake of arguing. I think he likes the contrarian approach to any given subject.
Tabes
Disagree. Myself and many others feel exactly the way Colin explains regarding the economy and daily struggles of regular people. Really appreciate how well he explains it
Stephen Dow
Not meaning this is an insulting way but by his own admission Colin leads quite a closed lifestyle I think he is being misled at times how it actually is out in society because he doesn't particularly engage in it that much anymore Whilst being online a lot can be very informative it can also lead to very skewed perspective on what conversations and concerns most people actually have
Stephen Dow
Love having Jaffe on these shows, as he admits he can get excitable.but I think he does a very good job of asking pertinent questions to make people back up what they are saying More than once Colin was working up a head of steam as he does but when stopped an asked for a specific example he can actually be found wanting
Stephen Dow
Colin places way way way too much importance in how much his opinion matters on any given subject It's not all about you!
Timothy Monnig
Late to this, but I have to say this was one of the weakest discussions about the war in Ukraine I've heard in a while. Colin in the thrall of Tucker Carlson wants to replace NATO with basically NATO (and another version of the status quo or broadly distributed alliances), Jaffe learning just now that NATO members chronically underfund their militaries (even though it's evidently enough funding to aid as a coalition the only country to ever invoke Article 5, the US after 9/11), and Gene having basically no opinion. Pining for some actual debate here. I may be insufficiently loyal to this seething hellscape called the United States, but the last time I checked, we've never had our house in order, but we've been able to maintain a standard of decency on the world stage. I'm with Dagan on this one.
Gabriel Baker
Eastern Europe is the domain of Russia, that’s a fact that’s remained for the overwhelming majority of history. Those former Soviet states can beg to join NATO if they want, but we had an agreement to leave a buffer zone between the two parties and we went back on our word. When your main adversary ignores promises made, acting defensively is common sense
Gabriel Baker
Jesus Christ Jaffe actually said the “straight white cis male” meme. Fuck
Bailey Callis
This is my absolute favorite LSM cast
Glen Yelenovic
Colin forgot the third time he heard about Ukraine… on Seinfeld when Kramer and Newman were playing Risk
Nicholai
tldr
Nicholai
Difficulty: helldive
Nicholai
Insanely cringe
Nicholai
Jaffee is just unbearable. Ruined this episode entirely, as usual.
Matt Llewellyn
Easiest solution is not have Jaffe on. That’ll cut down on the interruptions. He even tells himself to shut up out loud rather than just closing his mouth. He’s in love with his own voice and his ability to bulldoze a conversation is second to none. Gene lost his train of thought multiple times because Bulldozer Jaffe derailed it over and over again.
Rio_Yeti_
I can listen to political LSM discussions weekly. I hope that is being considered.
Jon Cooke
Love everything you do LSM, except this, this wasn’t good 👎 Was looking forward to the political topic but had to give up halfway. Should have to raise your hand to speak guys 😅
Dan P
The Right and the Left NEED eachother like a car needs Drive AND Reverse. If you hit a ditch you can't just keep going, back it up, re-orient. Some of the progress has been good, let's keep that. Some progress has been destructive, let's take a step back and rethink. I hate the current thingism mindset that treats anything old or traditional as automatically bad and all progress is good progress. Old endures because it survived the filter of time. Modern day thinking is all intelligence and no wisdom. Like a shitty driver in a powerful car. Dangerous. Let's reclaim some of the wisdom that made that era better (in some ways) than today. Nobody is saying let's go back to greatness by bashing homosexuals on the street again.
Joseph Cerini
Teaching people about the past is different then declaring you are this because of your skin color. That is a postion stuck in the past and a postion that really is about punishing people who had nothing to do with said past. So white people today are not inherently racist. Do white people today benefit from the past, yes, but that is also because white people make up the majority of the population here. So inherently white will benefit regardless. The true path forward is not to put up barriers again like Colin is suggesting but just all being human. When I grew up in late 90s into 2000s the the color of someone's skin didn't matter. So it's strange today to see everyone jumping into these groups. The truth is, our children can only really benefit from teaching them, that the human species is one. Different cultures of course but at the core, everyone is a human being.
Dennis
I know Jaffy could have reined it in a little bit. But I still liked that he called out Colin with the "back to the 90s stuff". Just like Make America Great Again. These are vague statements that people that had a less than stellar time back then take umbrage with.
Manuel Nascimento
Very interesting episode. I guess one could criticise that after some time Colin and Jaffe took the majority or airtime and a there was some loss in balance. But if anyone listening is honest with themselves we all have in our real life friends people that are more passionate and expansive in discussions than other people. The major point for me was exploring all these different topics. I guess in honesty the conclusion is I should cancel my Patreon and subscribe to NATOs Patreon instead since I am Portuguese :)
NinjaDC
The problem with the narrative that NATO was acting aggressively by growing after the fall of the USSR is all of that growth was from ex soviet states begging to join. Why were they begging? To escape the yoke of the Russian empire. From the czars, soviets, to Putin Russia has controlled most of eastern Europe for centuries. The combination of NATO and the EU offered nations like Poland, Lithuania, and Estonia the first true freedom from the Russian sphere of influence. And Russian nationalists hate that. Remember, Crimea was stolen after Ukrainian protests against closer economic ties with Russia. After Russia's puppets in Ukraine were removed by the people, Russia invaded Crimea in retaliation.
David Jaffe
I don't think anyone interested in a serious conversation about this topic would deny personal racism and system racism are different things.
Daniel E
Oof. This episode was a hot mess and despite best efforts didn’t seem like a productive political conversation in the slightest.
Charles Pedersen
damn
Brenden
Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz** he’s a Jew who changed his name
NinjaDC
The problem with academic racism (aka systemic racism) is it is often used to gaslight, and justify racism. It's concerning to see more and more open racism tolerated under the false notion that minority groups can't be racist. And the gaslighting comes in from trying to change the definition of racism to systemic racism which are too very different things.
Jay
I felt like Gene couldn't say too much because of his day job.
Joseph Abraham
I love Colin but totally agree with you here, to me letting Ukraine get steamrolled starts a precedent around the world that the U.S influence is waning and could not only encourage Russia further and I would not be shocked to see aggression from China regarding Taiwan in the near future as well like you said. I get that it's frustrating to see all this money go somewhere when the problems in your country are not being properly addressed but it's farcical to me that these both things cannot be accomplished by better policy ideas on both sides.
Xamar
Love the political episode Colin!!!
Colin Moriarty
I dunno man. The more I marinate on this episode, the more I feel like it was a miss for me. Less that I find a lot of takes very questionable, and more that BOTH Colin and Jaffe (love you, don’t feel guilty about the whole ep) tend toward steamrolling the convo. Really just felt bad for Gene and Dagster. I would definitely look forward to a sequel if there was an effort to better balance the conversation. Maybe have someone moderate, keep track of speaking time. And honestly, I’d love to see an outsider with a leftist view who is willing to jump in a lot. Jaffe fits on that side but he admits he’s not knowledgeable about everything. Again, (doubtful, he seems to be reclusive) I love Kyle Kulinski. Also know that Destiny is a debate bro but I’m not much of a fan. Anyway, this is just MY OPINION. I don’t expect anyone to do what I suggest, but I just wanted to offer my thoughts out of love and respect for all of LSM.
Hozi
A kick in the bolacks for Colin but Ukraine did sign a neutrality agreement, they gave up nukes for it and kept it after the cold war. And what did Russia do with it?
Hozi
On the Ukrainian issue, it's a mess that the west set-up by their inactivity. This they either short it out or watch chaos insues.
Yalingo
The intersectionality people have it right, though they just haven't finished their intersections. The base of intersectionality is the individual. Every single person is their own group. Give them time, they'll get there.
Alex Roberts
Really enjoyed this one, hope we get more political episodes every so often.
NeO JD
Was surprised nobody else commented on that. 😄 Another scene in the wild movie that is Gene’s life.
Kojima Made Me Gay
Oof. This episode needs a nonliberal lol. Hire me as the show’s Marxist.
Zackery Parkerson
Yo Gene. Where these dick suckin bars at?
PluuusRyan
lol, “the truth”.
Ryan Rumsey
This is all around fantastic. It definitely would have been interesting to have Chris on this one as well. Hoping for a Part Two at some point.
Jeece
Jaffy my dude if someone is speaking simply wait for them to finish what they are saying lmao
Alex Weiss
I really wish more people could have differing opinions and remain friends and respect eachother the way you guys do! I feel like the world would be a far better place if people could keep an open mind and agree to disagree while remaining civil! Love the pod like always guys!
David Jaffe
That's such a cis white guy thing to say.
Zeke the Plumber
I’m simple man. I see David Jaffe, I take my pants off. You’re my boy, blue
Eric Crunkilton
I want to go back to a time I don’t have to hear a white guy (or anyone) confidently say “cis white guy.”
David Jaffe
My response to your responses (aka an apology...of SORTS!!! :)... https://twitter.com/davidscottjaffe/status/1762590909198377219
Walrus4300
This topic was missing Christopher Ray-Gunathon.
Matthew Guilford
A South Park episode from 2000 explains the “race” debate perfectly. Chef wants to change the South Park flag because it’s racist. The flag shows 4 white stick figures with a black stick figure hanging from a rope. Kyle, Stan, Cartman and Kenny don’t find the flag racist. Chef accuses them as being racist. The boys then explain when they looked at the flag they didn’t see 4 white people and a black man hanging, they saw 5 *people*. They didn’t see them as two different races, but saw them just as 5 human beings. Chef came to the conclusion that he was actually causing racism in this context. This is how I’d explain the left and mainstream media, causing racism in America when the majority of Americans judge people based on their character and actions. Civil rights leaders would have been proud of how far we have come, and so ashamed by where some people are taking us. I also wish we would stop saying people can’t speak on racism in the country unless your that specific race. A person can still speak to their experiences and what they see as their personal opinion, and you might find that it is less bias toward the subject.
Ignorant Primate
Love Jaffe and this particular crew. Patiently waiting for the next conference
Justin
Yup
Justin
Ita a shame Jaffe can't put that energy towards the truth. It's almost aggravating at how ill informed he is because of his ideology.
Kenny C
Poor Dagan, kept getting talked over. I knew that would happen in this line up
Cody Horne
I’m a Jaffe fan but you can’t on one hand say that we need to bring in individuals from different social, ethnic, and sexual backgrounds and give their opinions heightened status on particular topics due to the topics effect on them, then downplay Colin’s lived experience because the topic also “affects other people outside of him”. That’s blatantly hypocritical. Jaffe basically bundled Colin into the ambiguous “White” category without knowing his history and by Colin breaking down his own history, showed the absurdity of interest politics due to its infinite regressiveness. This is the problem with segmenting humans into groups. It’s too messy and is dehumanizing.
Zac
Colin I think the word you were looking for when you said Jaffe had a very not quite "nihilist" mentality was "defeatist." To me, he seems to have a very defeatist mentality which makes him very annoying to listen to sometimes. I don't mind him being on shows but it can very frustrating to listen to. For example when you were talking about racial issues being more prominent nowadays compared to how you were raised and Jaffe asked "well how do parents today remedy that" and you said to raise your kids more similarly to how you were raised instead of race being shoved down their throats and his response was "yeah I just think humans can't have these conversations." Like c'mon dude stop being such a defeatist victim. It's the same thing with his free will argument. It's just annoying and frustrating to listen to someone who is black pilled argue about politics and culture. They just brick wall the conversation if you start offering solutions.
Lucas Ladlee
I really can’t stand Jaffe the more he’s on LSM
Colin Moriarty
I would have really enjoyed (unlikely) Kyle Kulinski or (before the controversy LOL) Vaush. Everyone but Jaffe gets steamrolled by Colin.
Owen S
This episode was microcosm of our issues today, with the only exception being that Colin and Jaffe didn’t degrade to throwing insults. Just a whole episode of interruptions and misunderstandings with little to no common ground found. The only real takeaways are Colin and Jaffe disagree on many things, Dagan is a good dude, and Gene used the bathroom
Christopher
I rarely comment on stuff, I love LSM and the content, but this was a huge miss. Jaffe showed no respect to the other people on the show, spoke entirely out of his ass, and genuinely ruined the episode for me. Please, out respect for your co hosts and listeners, tone Jaffe down, listening to Dagan try and ask a question for 15 minutes to have Jaffe just interrupt him for no reason was really hard to listen to. I wish this was better, but I didn’t enjoy listening to Jaffe spout his own politics for 2 hours of a 3 hour show.
Context Should Matter
The problem with the election question is how it is framed. Everyone just expects you to just believe it is legitimate which I don't. I fundamentally think the US election is primed for fraud. It should not fall on me to prove it is legitimate though. That is the governments job and if they can't prove to me that it is then I don't believe any election is fair. That is how it should be framed but no one is pointing that out because they want you to have this false choice. You wouldn't play a game where everyone had different rules and then lose and think it was fair. I say this as someone who thinks all politicians are pedos and/or murderers. We don't live in a democracy, we live in an oligarchy.
Kmarkada
Really had some good laughs this pod, Gene stumbling sayin Cause x4 times at 49 mina and later Jaffe saying “alexa call a 5150 to DC” for evil Gene 💀
Max Stahl
Three Liberals and a moderate walk into a bar!
Michael Thew
I agree 100%, I’m sick of others telling me how I should think or how I should act by trying to guilt me. I have friends of many different shades and creeds who have opposing views but friendship, at least the ones I have, rise above stupid identity politics.. I feel bad for those that don’t have that, but only to a point. That change has to start with them and some are too afraid that people will judge them and to them rejection is the worst thing that can happen to them, instead of taking the loss and trying again. Failure is only bad if you don’t learn from it and try again.
dennis riha
With all due respect to Colin's opinion, I don't think he could be more wrong about Ukraine. People said Hilter would stop once he got X, Y or Z and he didn't and we got WW2. The US can spend barely anything and sacrifice no troops to give Ukraine the tools to win and cripple Russia who has long been our enemy. Not just that but Putin losing will discourage China from attacking Taiwan which we as their ally would have to fight and loose lives to. Isolationism has never and will never work.
Strider32
Colin, I've never commented before but I had to say that you are spot on with absolutely everything this episode. You managed to rather eloquently summarize my thoughts on all these topics. And you aren't wrong that our military is NOT currently prepared to handle what it needs to be able to do.
Philip Dunphy
The Lockmort edit of this episode is gonna be wild
Michael Rogers
I'm all for political conversation in a separate forum like constellation. Unfortunately I just can't listen to Jaffe. I had to turn off at the end of 1st topic. Nothing is more annoying than the white knight liberal who thinks they speak for all minorities ever while also bashing anything a "white guy" says. Its so cringe. Also, I find the same issue here as in the other podcasts lately. There's no diversity. Everybody is a leftist and every episode of SS talks about Persona. Colin I appreciate your attempt at pushback, but I think your too close to these guys for that and it often means you just end up conceding or moving on. In the future, please consider getting someone from the other side. TBF though, I'm sure it would have been an awesome conversation if not for Jaffe.
Asique Alam
I love Jeff, but the constant interruptions were kind of annoying in this episode. I really wanted to hear the full thoughts of the other members. But it seems like almost every time they get cut up and switch to another stream of conversation because of Jeff's interruptions. Lmao great episode tho.
SeanG123
The “lie” of voter fraud persists because the “teamsters” actually say out loud that more black people voted for Joe Biden than BARACK OBAMA and claim they actually believe it. Lockstep.
CUMSoftware
Trademark shitlib attribute.
There’s No I in LLC
Colin just wanted to say I respect you bringing people on who disagree with you even hsrshly
Madsines
Europe is so fucked if this is the mindset of most Americans. Thinking Russia is just going to stop with Ukraine is so ignorant I don't even know where to begin, I'm so surprised Colin feels that way considering he's a history buff.
Jared R
That was a strange take to me.
Aphelion
This was a fascinating conversation to listen to. I personally side more with Colin than Jaffe. I just so happen to be gay and I think a lot of what the left is pushing socially is why acceptance for us and other groups has gone down in recent years. It’s sad to witness. I’d just like to be accepted and walk side by side with other Americans. I don’t want people to focus on an immutable characteristic that I have. I’d rather be valued for being a competent and positive member of society. Just my two cents. Much love to everyone here.
ByWatterson
The idea that a war on NATO's doorstep, against a military ally, doesn't have anything to do with the United States is....like a colossally bad take. Putin is a despotic murderer. And you're regretting our support of Ukraine? Jesus, Colin. Maybe don't feed on a diet of Gutfeld and Tucker, man. Read instead of watch.
Brandon Soto
Jaffe constantly interrupts and never lets people finish. Dagan barely got a chance to speak.
Thecraftygamer
John Oliver is an American citizen, don’t see an issue.
Adam Barnes
If Destiny ever makes his way onto this content I’d seriously consider cancelling my subscription 🤢
PluuusRyan
Colin, assuming you do this again, please consider reaching out to someone who’s liberal and has more of a political content background. I particularly think you might have success with Destiny (who I also think you would get along with).
Chris Evans
Love Jaffe but listening to his political stances is torture sometimes lol. Colin nailed it as always. Much love guys
Jonathan Turner
"Confessions of a Economic Hitman" and its sequel really opened my eyes to how stuff works in the country and the world at large. Recommended reading.
Repede
Love this ep
Jonathan Turner
Loved this episode. I would love another in the future.
Agony
Love this episode
Tomthechosen1
While I'm an Italian in Italy with very clear biases towards Europe when it comes to geopolitics I have to say that Colin has a very american naivete on the whole situation. NATO didn't "expand" into the Baltics and Eastern Europe, those countries fought tooth and nail after the Soviet collapse to JOIN NATO so that they would be guaranteed protection. The american who comes from everything and becomes nothing in their boiling pot of cultures cannot truly understand nor appreciate the very real cultural, ethnic and linguistic foundations that makes these states in Europe. Do most European states fail the 2% of GDP guideline (not a payment or requirement as states by Colin) for defense? For sure and it's something we as united europeans need to get out of our own naive ideals and properly work on for the betterment of everyone. That being said when the messaging of the leader of one of two parties in your country is encouraging the invasion of Europe (doesn't matter if this is a poorly stated joke or sincere) and by action a minority of republicans blocking all aid to anybody to those begging for help it puts into question what is the worth of an American's word. We can understand that things are tough because it's nasty everywhere these days but if all it took were troubles at home to throw your supposed allies and friends under the bus then Europe would do better without NATO and to focus completely on our own protection from instead of putting our faith on an unreliable ally. But all in all while I disagree with a lot of what was said, I appreciate you guys putting on this episode to enjoy and as usual look forward to more Last Stand goodness.
Jake Z
Colin, you might like this piece by Jon Askonas, an interesting new conservative thinker. How Stewart Made Tucker https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/how-stewart-made-tucker
Josh Frazier
The stances and leanings of everyone aside, I just wanna say that I really appreciate seeking out this lineup for a topic like this. I can't stand most political conversations anymore, they lack so much nuance and respect for being open to other ways of thinking. I don't fully align with Colin or Jaffe, but I love that you guys all expressed yourselves honestly, without interrupting each other and getting out of hand. Thanks for keeping open minds in these discussions!
Froilan
This actually made me reexamine my stance on different things. Thank you
Jared R
Either that or have someone whose sole job it is to moderate. Colin trying to steer these conversations while being so passionately a part of them just doesn’t work.
Peter Jansen
One of my favorite episodes, but when jaffe’s on it might be good to drop it down to just 2 people. Gene and Dag just got steamrolled the whole episode
Geoff
I learned a lot during this podcast and appreciate these types of topics being covered. Colin is clearly passionate about politics and i was very engaged when he was making his points.
David Jaffe
Oh, I own all that shit. I just don't understand it :).
Rafael Costa
This is one of the best episodes 😄 I loved the political discussion and the different points of view. I think we should have this more often 😄 love the episode.
GameSimp
I like Jaffe but I was kinda surprised he didn’t understand why the government issues debt. I feel like most people would own treasuries by his age but I also didn’t create God of War or Twisted Metal so I’m not criticizing. I also appreciate that he’s willing to learn and admit he doesn’t know things.
chirpyburpyderpy
Now I’m only listening, but I hope Dagan is doing okay during this
Christopher Gourley
He does that often, even on Sacred. I figure it gives the person he is asking an opportunity to gather their thoughts instead of being put on the spot.
George
We (white people) don't inherit the guilt of our ancestors, be we do inherit the spoils of historical exploitation and stolen labor and a favorable social context. So whilst the sins of our ancestors are not ours to repent for, we do bear a moral burden to repay what has been unjustly inherited to us.
Rio_Yeti_
Dying here listening to the Fred Schneider impersonation. Hoping to hear a “ you’re what?!!” By the end of the episode.
Lovat
For the historically minded. Modern day NATO has many similarities with the post Napoleonic Wars Concert of Europe agreement. A geopolitical alliance structure that was designed for a specific situation/threat. That was not adequately restructured overtime; which has lead it to be unwieldy and potentially prone to cascading failures.
Jared R
A little thing I’ve noticed about Colin sometimes is that he can ask questions in aggressively leading ways. In this episode there were a few times where he’d make his point, then when he threw it to someone would start by asking “Do you agree with me that…” and then would summarize his own point again. I know that doesn’t change anybody’s answers or opinions, but it just doesn’t feel like the question is being asked in good-faith anymore.
Ryan
Jaffe go 10 seconds without interrupting challenge. Difficulty: impossible
Brandon V
Lmfao he is more relevant than ever
Jordan Falduto
Listening to this is equivalent to self harm. And this comment section :)
OnkiDonkGinkGonk
Gonna be looking like the fish from the Simpsons
Vaidotas Bacianskas
As somebody living in the good old Baltics, I can tell you that the problem we have here is not wether Putin is a rational or a irrational actor, but one of him being an actor of bad faith. Colin talks about all these agreements that could have happened if supposedly we (the west) wouldn't have declined it, but the issue is that all of these agreements are worth nothing when you are dealing with somebody who never sticks to his word. Also, more than ever are we here certain that Russia will be coming for other Eastern European countries next, simply because of how the whole Russian state is being transformed around war. Economy is on full war footing, history books are being rewritten with more and more blatant propaganda, Veterans of this war (who are mostly poorly educated PTSD ridden messes) are being encouraged to work as teachers in highschools etc. The Russian ship is sailing to war in disregard to any agreement made or to be made. And about NATO, we fought tooth and nail to get into it ourselves back in 2004, I don't see how this is NATO being expansionist. what? does anybody really think we got into NATO so that we can invade Moscow with the help of the US? Or visa versa that US got Lithuania into NATO so that it can use us as pawns for conquering Russia? Putin knows all too well that this is BS, and nobody was coming for him in a form a conventional war. But if NATO wouldn't have existed, I believe the first target would have been us and not Ukraine. The thing is that this whole region in Putin's eyes should be his sphere of influence, but because we are getting more and more detached from Russia in terms of culture, economics, political thinking, we all, including Ukraine (and when I say all I mean the majority in a given country, which in a democratic country should decide what's the policy) want to distant ourselves from this great black hole of a culture and country called Russia. It's not about us (the Eastern block countries) posing any actual military threat to anyone. Anyway, we pray for more democracy aid from USA (by which I mean guns) so that Ukraine can somehow outlast the reign of Putin, cause only then could there be an opportunity for some kind of change. It's either guns or more deaths of Ukranians, after that reeducation of Ukrainians into Russians, after that on to the next target, now with Ukranians included into the Z army. One observation from aside about this conversation (and I do deeply respect all the people on the podcast) Is that it's amazing how some people in "the far west" cares about Russian soldiers more than Putin does. When Colin mentioned the numbers of Russians killed you could feel it really hitting everybody. Well if Putin can live with that, maybe he is a cartoon villain. I can go on and on, but I am tired of going on and on, and us here are also tired about going on and on, about going on and on about the war. But there is no choice for us, and I hope for Ukraine US support to continue.
Adam Barnes
He’s mentioned that a few times, what’s the issue?
Adam Barnes
How DARE you
Adam Barnes
Imagine still getting covid vaccines 😬
Zeke the Plumber
Muffster Evolution
Chris
Lots of good stuff in here. I agree with the sentiment that race wasn’t a big deal growing up and I had friends of all races, and that some of the recent conversation has been productive, but a lot really destructive. One thing that wasn’t mentioned was the advent of ESG, which stems from a study published in 2011 by the Wharton School of Business. The key takeaway was that businesses that met or exceeded certain diversity metrics tended to better perform financially in the long term. Within a couple of years, Fortune 500 companies and Wall Street began to use it as the premiere non-financial metric for valuing a business. It’s created massive negative incentives that produce results that can only ever be incidentally aligned with the actual ideals. The media also operates under a similarly bad incentive structures, where enragement so often correlates with engagement, and generally speaking the institutions that fund their content begin with (often large financial institutions) have their ulterior motives. When the backlash against target and Bud Light impacted actual YoY revenue, only then did major financial institutions like vanguard, citadel, etc. come out and say they will begin to weigh these non-financial metrics less in how they determine the valuation of public companies. I’m hopeful that it’s a good first step in actually moving identity and related conversations into a more honest place. I think so much of the race issue boils down to class at its core. I think this saga has taught us that racism and equality are much more of a feeling than an actual demonstrable metric, and when your opponent can sway public opinion like financial institutions and foreign governments, and their motives are to get us to blame others for our financial hardships or create infighting, it may just be an unwinnable battle. PS I just wanted to say I don’t think Jon Stewart has ever spoken for democrats or republicans—I think he has pretty much always been on the side of rationality and, more importantly, opposed to authoritarianism. It’s just that nowadays, democrats have shifted up from libertarianism on the political spectrum toward authoritarianism, and no one who speaks out of party line is welcome.
Clara Martin
[Insert innocuous opinion that gets reactionary backlash here]
Colin Moriarty
Oh boy, time to get my blood boiling! Edit 1: Whaaaat? Tucker Carlson has largely faded into obscurity after getting shitcanned, it was not good for him.
Noah Trujillo
This is the tough part about politics now. Everything comes down to an impasse. There’s plenty of ideological exposure. There’s a significant lack of piercing the echo chamber.
Zeke the Plumber
As far as “going back to 1993,” hell I’d be happy going back to the early 2000s. I had friends who voted for Gore and Kerry, I had friends who voted for Bush twice, it didn’t matter. It wasn’t an issue at all for any of us. I miss that. I miss being able to support different candidates without being vilified.
Eric the human
Yeah I agree with Jaffe quite a lot and usually welcome his opinions I disagree with but he started to get a bit insufferable on that one.
MusicAndStuff
No, it’s a fairly popular show, just look at the YouTube numbers for the clips, millions of views. Don’t forget democrats/left leaning voters make up a majority of the country, it’s just the House/Senate/Presidency essentially have a handicap in place for rural communities. I’m not much of a fan myself, but a quick Google search and you can find plenty of times where JO is critical of Democrats and the DNC.
Zeke the Plumber
lol at Jaffe Caillou
Brandon V
The argument that all white people are racist by birth is completely asinine, racist bullshit and a complete non starter. There will never be progress on racial issues in this country and this condescending mindset is the #1 reason. Actually insane to listen to. White guilt is cancer and Jaffe is terminal
Tristan Abraham
*Jon Stewart
Brenden
Jaffee has a trans kid… lmaooooo
heyVinno
Ah, American Politics. Hope everyone enjoys. See you next week's lads.
Fella
Exactly. Hopefully he’ll step in at a later date.
IceCreamRickShaw
Crazy to have a political episode without one of the political youtube og's chris raygun
PRETENTIEUX
They are never going to get even close to the fact that the left/right paradigm presented to us is fake and politics is freemasonic theater for the hopeless. For the most part, political discourse is like listening to toddlers argue about their favorite superhero.
PRETENTIEUX
barf
PRETENTIEUX
Tucker wears a red string on his wrist which is tied to the kabbalah. IMO Tucker is a covert FtM
Daddy T
You didn’t listen to it
Brandon V
“If the audience doesn’t like them they would be off the air” John Oliver’s show is subsidized by the DNC. He is an actual mouthpiece of the regime.
PluuusRyan
Just about 1hr 15 min in so far, but holy shit the amount of good faith towards Tucker Carlson "just earnestly saying he wishes for a different time" is jarring. Strange to hear an acknowledgement that he's a propogandist but then take his words completely at face value.
A Hind D
Brandon V
John Stewart destroyed an entire generation’s minds
Meatball
The Muffster now has a pipe. His character lore is growing 🪈
Scott Barber
I'm obviously not Gene, but man what an odd phenomenon. I was happy to feel mostly fine while taking it but that taste was truly wretched!
Shawn Kelvey Jr
Let’s go
BadHairDayCaveman
The 4 Horseman of LSM!!
Gray Gordon
Gene, what did you think about PaxlovidMouth?
Jose Horrach
You know the comments are gonna go crazy
Jose Horrach
Oh this is going to be good
Tom Gentry
Ohhh yes baby
Murder and Such
I’ve been waiting for this one!
PluuusRyan
I understand the point of the podcast description, and that the convos themselves may not necessarily go this way, but I'm already leery of the black and white framing of these topics. Should be an interesting listen...
Jacob R.
🫦
Mattveego
Love that you brought Jaffe on to this one Colin. More opinions the better
Austin Clemence
This shit gonna be a banger
Diddy’s Dong Quest
I don’t know what I’m more excited for, the podcast or the comments!