Culture Club - Let The Activist Hunger Games Begin

00:00:00.000 kylie jenner's normie pregnancy announcement two musicians divisive album covers and the

00:00:13.520 dystopian show the activist we're maggie and jasmine and you're listening to culture club

00:00:19.720 our weekly chat about pop culture current affairs the internet and our lives 0.98

00:00:25.580 We acknowledge that the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung people are the traditional custodians

00:00:33.260 of this land we are on today. We would like to pay our respects to Elders past, present

00:00:39.300 and emerging. We would like to celebrate their rich history of culture and storytelling that

00:00:45.400 we can learn from. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.

00:00:50.040 last week we had our interview with the amazing calf ebbs so we didn't do our normal one-on-one

00:01:00.780 chat and i feel like we've missed out on so much new like so much celebrity news has happened we

00:01:05.260 really had to kind of curate today's episode like what's the most important i know so much

00:01:12.180 happened um i feel like so many babies will also popped out in this two-week period for some reason

00:01:17.980 don't know what's in the water nine months ago but lockdown here we are oh god yes very true

00:01:23.800 and zoe suggs little baby otterly as well okay thoughts about the name such a controversial name

00:01:29.560 i think it's cute but it's very posh i love like alfie days being like i'm not a tory

00:01:35.820 but the name otterly is giving me tory vibes sorry like it's very pretty but especially when

00:01:41.880 you say it with the accent it's like otterly otterly very posh very much so and like nickname

00:01:48.880 otty or otter in my head um it's quite funny i also think otterly just sounds like a really

00:01:56.780 bougie salad exactly like an otterlini otterly salad so true yeah i think otty is cute for a

00:02:07.380 name though me too i do think so but um friend of the pod kitsch um one of our friends was like

00:02:12.840 that baby's gonna be bullied like that kid is gonna be bullied growing up and i'm like they're

00:02:17.080 probably gonna have so much money they will not yeah they'll just pay away the bullies you know

00:02:21.040 what i mean i wouldn't care if i was their child i want to be their child so bad did you see their

00:02:26.620 baby room yes so sweet yeah their whole life i'm like oh my god why wasn't i on youtube like 15

00:02:34.300 years ago damn it i know i know um but yeah she's not the only famous person who's had a baby

00:02:41.420 of course kylie jenner officially announced her pregnancy this week with her second child 0.92

00:02:47.680 um with travis scott and that was through instagram igtv it's a bit different this time

00:02:54.180 around um because she has announced it before she had the baby as we all remember with stormy

00:03:01.260 it was very publicized that she kept it secret for so long um did you see the tiktok about the

00:03:08.460 woman who figured it out through kylie's nails it's incredible it's incredible yeah such a good

00:03:16.140 detective and um so publications i remember were like announcing it a few weeks ago and then because

00:03:22.380 like an unconfirmed source or something but then it was official this week the 90 second video has

00:03:29.000 a very sentimental piano music score setting the tone for the tear-jerking vid I thought it was

00:03:35.100 very sweet very classy um it's just like a really nice glimpse into their life oh yeah so for those

00:03:42.200 who haven't seen it we're taken to doctor appointments um we get to see the reveal to

00:03:47.520 Kris Jenner and we see the baby's like the bumps growth and even like this intimate

00:03:53.460 gathering with friends so I'm guessing that's like a baby shower of some kind or I think it

00:03:58.760 was her kylie's birthday as well i don't know but yeah yeah very sweet very home video vibes

00:04:05.820 exactly right it was very much home video vibes it was so sweet um again like as you know i don't

00:04:13.220 follow the kardashians and jenners that much but this really pulled up my heartstrings

00:04:19.080 so sweet and an interesting buzzfeed article headline read kylie jenner's pregnancy announcement

00:04:26.640 marks a new era for the Kardashians attempting to control the narrative without keeping up with

00:04:31.760 a Kardashian series what do you think about that I have so many questions okay because this video

00:04:42.000 makes them seem so down to earth right it's a very lovable and endearing video it really humanizes

00:04:48.000 their family but I'm just thinking like sitting here being like uh like Kylie didn't edit this

00:04:54.360 herself did she like is she on iMovie playing around go to YouTube um like copyright free

00:04:59.920 royalty music like no this is still an engineered um I guess depiction of their life yes like very

00:05:09.680 highly curated and definitely showing what they want to show yeah I bet that her like assistant

00:05:15.280 made it for her or something or they probably had a full production company can you imagine

00:05:19.160 the amount of people who had to be involved for Stormy's pregnancy in terms of like keeping it

00:05:23.620 secret and all the nda signs so yeah similar energy but um i thought it was sweet and the

00:05:31.980 internet has been ablaze this week with chatter around another celebrity pregnancy this one has

00:05:36.980 been much more controversial everyone's fave comedian john mulaney announced his partner

00:05:43.360 olivia munn who's an actress is pregnant with their child so usually this is great news right

00:05:50.180 Well, not everyone is happy as John divorced from his ex-wife, artist Anna Marie Tenler,

00:05:57.280 went to rehab twice and began a new relationship all within a year, which again, of course,

00:06:03.500 is his own business, their own business. But people are feeling particularly miffed about

00:06:07.920 this news because John's comedy regularly referenced his married life. He spoke about

00:06:13.640 his wife often. He was seen as one of like the good guys in the way we talk about straight

00:06:19.960 cis men in terms of like he's one of the good ones but they also reference the fact that they didn't

00:06:25.980 want kids it's been really interesting seeing this unfold because um I think this is a pretty

00:06:31.900 good example of what we talked about a couple episodes ago about the norm core boyfriend or in

00:06:37.280 this case a norm core girlfriend because Anna Marie Tenla you know she she was a normie of

00:06:43.580 course she's established herself in her own right um as like this incredible artist and she's done

00:06:49.680 work in like a makeup field fashion field um and also like photography stuff as well so it's been

00:06:56.100 interesting seeing this play out because they were kind of heralded as this like ideal couple

00:07:03.640 as we're saying right it's like such a hollywood romantic happily ever after moment so keeping that

00:07:13.160 all in mind we also saw Anna you know release this very open and vulnerable statement about

00:07:19.820 John leaving her and then you know she also posted a series of really intense and emotional

00:07:25.860 photography self-portraits of herself as well which just added salt to the wound honestly and

00:07:31.960 it made people feel really quite defensive yeah now usually I feel quite indifferent towards

00:07:41.280 celebrities like obviously I like certain ones and I buy certain celebrities merch or music or

00:07:48.200 whatever it is because I don't think they owe us anything and I can't imagine struggling with

00:07:54.340 divorce and addiction issues and rehab in general let alone um in front of the whole world but I am

00:08:03.920 on team anna with this one because i saw this tiktok from user celebrity memoir book club

00:08:11.100 who read out an extract from olivia munn's 2010 book suck it up wonder woman the misadventures

00:08:17.080 of a hollywood geek um we'll play a bit in here content warning for fat phobia especially

00:08:23.980 let's do a part two and all the meanest things that olivia munn says about people specifically 0.64

00:08:28.560 women in her book suck it wonder woman before we go back to the specific woman hatred let's 0.96

00:08:33.020 just do a general one. Trigger warning, fat phobia. So in her book, she says if she ran for 1.00

00:08:37.340 president, these are the 10 things she would run on. Here's number two. I will fix America's

00:08:42.120 obesity problems by taking all the motorized transport away from fat people. In turn, I will

00:08:46.780 build an infrastructure of fat tunnels where all the fat people can walk. This will create jobs 0.92

00:08:51.280 and subsequent weight loss, which is a bit ironic because then a 0.5 of our presidential campaign 0.64

00:08:56.060 would be that pie would be its own category placed at the top of the food pyramid. And number nine

00:09:01.000 is forget what i said about pie as a category pie should actually be our new monetary unit

00:09:05.600 people will now haggle by saying that's not worth five meringues that's two peach cobblers at most

00:09:09.980 so a bit confusing olivia do you want people to be healthy and skinny or do you want them to only

00:09:14.120 eat pie i guess it's really funny to like pie when your body looks like this but if she thinks

00:09:19.580 you're fat you don't get a car that is so gross like i actually don't know much about olivia mun

00:09:25.780 at all but that's not a great first impression I do have a question for you though um if you 0.99

00:09:32.680 liked his new partner if you like John Mulaney's new partner would you feel the same way be all

00:09:38.760 team Anna I think I would be indifferent um I'd be like oh that's a sad situation and I would feel

00:09:47.720 for Anna but I don't know it was written 10 years ago and it was probably ghost written

00:09:53.460 but even 10 years ago olivia munn was like 30 like she's i think she's like nearly 40 now

00:09:57.860 um so yeah i think that's a big reason why if he had just shacked up with like a normie

00:10:05.660 maybe there wouldn't be so much press around it but because it's like another actress it's olivia

00:10:10.060 munn she's already known has a certain reputation in hollywood you know yeah i also think it's to

00:10:18.840 do with um the very human emotion of hating betrayal hating infidelity um lol I feel like

00:10:26.980 I don't know much about this field and that's also um I guess a good thing because I just don't know

00:10:31.880 too many couples that have been divorced or experienced cheating and whatnot but I do feel

00:10:38.140 like people just oh I don't know how to describe it like I feel like that is why people are so angry

00:10:46.480 as well because he's ruined that kind of Hollywood perfect couple narrative and people feel betrayed

00:10:53.220 by that even though it's not their relationship but because it's done in this quite cruel way

00:10:59.160 I think that's what has people really fired up as well exactly such a good way to put it it kind of

00:11:05.640 changes our perspective and it just shows that like one everything is marketing John Mulaney

00:11:12.680 has created his persona himself um but a lot of the also criticism was like um saying they're

00:11:21.360 more worried about john in terms of like if you go to rehab twice and you're struggling with

00:11:25.660 addiction issues to make like three massive life two massive life choices within such a short

00:11:31.340 amount of time apparently is you're not meant to do that but i don't know enough about addiction

00:11:35.540 and rehab and stuff to kind of have much of an opinion on it but yeah that was a lot of the

00:11:41.260 internet speak as well so it's been interesting to see it play out but it does make me wonder why

00:11:46.800 we do feel that ownership over the celebrity relationships like what you said it's like that

00:11:52.300 kind of we build up a persona in our head a good example is Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde of course

00:11:57.240 with Olivia divorcing Jason Sudeckis and then getting with Harry quite quickly there's I feel

00:12:04.280 like that's dying down a little bit now on the internet but people are still a bit like why is

00:12:08.660 harry dating her like she's a home wrecker blah blah blah so if you don't know what's going on

00:12:13.580 in celebrities lives like just because they have public lives we don't know yeah i also think with

00:12:17.740 that olivia and harry situation right like take that into let's pretend they're like buddies

00:12:22.660 olivia and harry they're not famous people but that would still be the talk of the town if

00:12:28.080 someone's divorced their partner and then has quickly gone with someone else we would be

00:12:32.760 talking about that regardless of whether they're famous or not that's true yeah if a guy from high

00:12:39.080 school was like in rehab and then like left partner and then I don't you wouldn't be like

00:12:45.620 making moral judgment but it would be like whoa that's a crazy story you know exactly like wow

00:12:50.780 what an intense situation which I don't know maybe the internet's doing that oh I actually

00:12:55.140 love that distinction I feel like potentially we will just discuss this as just oh this is a

00:13:02.420 passing of events this is what happened but I feel like in cases like this where these celebrity

00:13:06.540 couples we feel more inclined to pass judgment and I feel like that's the difference here

00:13:12.000 yes because they are kind of untouchable they'll never listen to a podcast or two girls from

00:13:18.500 Australia make so we can discuss it and it's not considered gossiping or bitching or whatever it's

00:13:25.120 like just it's like it doesn't affect them yeah yeah this is getting so much deeper if you didn't

00:13:33.020 know this is supposed to be our little chit chat topic and it's turning into our full-blown topic

00:13:37.020 but we love that that's why we do make this podcast because we love getting deep on supposed

00:13:42.940 you know exterior stories so how good

00:13:47.820 two major musicians have caused a stir this week receiving backlash for using pregnancy to promote

00:14:00.060 their albums so first up you probably saw this on like just about everybody's instagram stories

00:14:07.440 but Drake revealed his artwork for his forthcoming album Certified Loverboy which features 12

00:14:15.160 emojis of pregnant women in varying skin tones and shirt colors. Just hours later Lil Nas X spoofed

00:14:23.140 Drake's album announcing his forthcoming album Montero. This photo featured 12 male emojis who

00:14:30.560 were pregnant but then he went even further posting pregnancy photo shoots on instagram

00:14:37.060 there was the carousel of a professional shoot of him kneeling by a pool in a white robe and

00:14:42.620 flower crown looking pensive with an ultrasound scan too it was definitely giving me beyonce

00:14:49.900 announcing the twins pregnancy vibes yeah what um else i found interesting was that this wasn't

00:14:55.900 the first time that Lil Nas X has kind of parodied Drake so according to CNN um in 2019 he joked that

00:15:04.420 he would be naming his debut album Nothing Was The Same which was the title of Drake's 2013 album

00:15:11.620 he then unveiled his take on Drake's album cover tweeting an almost identical image featuring his

00:15:18.360 side profile against a cloud-filled blue background you probably you know the one yeah I love how I

00:15:23.980 just like turn my side profile anyway um so you're saying that little nas x is a drake fan

00:15:30.340 it seems that no is it a fan thing or is it or is it commenting on the rivalry thing yeah rivalry

00:15:38.460 or is it commenting on the rap game or the yeah okay interesting take more pics of little nas x

00:15:47.780 and his bumble poster too joking about his baby shower and due date which was interesting you

00:15:55.060 mentioned before that the um photo shoot especially if that super professional one by the pool

00:16:00.540 um was really reminiscent of Beyonce and a lot of celebrity pregnancy announcements

00:16:05.920 and you know what like you know we I am a Lil Nas ex-fan and I'm just so tired of comedy that's

00:16:15.960 like this we're about to dive deep into some of like the problematic issues with fake pregnancies

00:16:22.020 and whatnot but even just at the call kind of mocking um typically women's milestones and how

00:16:29.360 they post that and celebrate that on instagram feels so done it reminds me of like bo burnham's

00:16:35.920 um a white woman's instagram yeah it reminds me of bo burnham's song a white woman's instagram

00:16:41.220 and to be honest I have mixed opinions about Bo Burnham but I did enjoy his Netflix special 0.59

00:16:47.360 but that white woman's Instagram song I hated I was like this is so done this is quite 0.91

00:16:53.340 reductive it's lazy I get I like the TikTok trends that came afterwards but I was like oh like are

00:16:59.880 we are we like we're past this surely so this just feels similar oh okay like past making fun of

00:17:06.080 women just for like doing things and i also feel like a lot of time instagram in the same way that

00:17:14.920 we spoke about a few episodes ago that men kind of work out or post certain pictures in the gym

00:17:21.900 they do it for other men it's for the male gaze whereas i feel like with instagram a lot of stuff

00:17:28.360 i post i post for the female gaze and i post for my girlfriends um yeah so are they making fun of

00:17:35.420 like Instagram trends or like pregnancy photo shoots because those things are traditionally

00:17:43.680 done for the female gaze they're not done for the male gaze yeah and it's like this is sometimes

00:17:51.440 like a very sacred thing among women and there's no need to like poke fun at it I don't know it's

00:17:59.500 Just because, yeah, it's not for you, like, as a cis man or whatever, doesn't mean that other people aren't getting enjoyment out of it.

00:18:07.480 And it's, you know, it's a really special moment for some people.

00:18:11.120 I don't know.

00:18:11.600 I just think it's lazy.

00:18:14.980 Interesting.

00:18:15.380 Yeah.

00:18:17.680 But he was also using this fake pregnancy announcement for good, too.

00:18:21.940 he held a baby registry to raise money for numerous lgbtq plus non-profit organizations

00:18:28.900 and other social causes how did you feel when you initially saw the pictures

00:18:34.720 first i was like damn that's really good photoshop or like what's happening here is

00:18:39.960 this a makeup artist um but no um kind of taken aback because i am usually quite i'm like a

00:18:47.580 massive fan sorry of how Lil Nas X navigates social media I think he's so smart and so funny

00:18:52.980 but this I was like oh like this is kind of strange it's got that shock value kind of but

00:18:57.940 I didn't find it funny I was just like confused that was probably my main reaction what about you

00:19:04.440 I felt similar in terms of like being like what's he doing now between like the devil

00:19:11.360 marketing the blood shoe Nike uh advertising and this it's like lots of I love Lil Nas X but like

00:19:22.240 why does he feel that there needs to be some sort of gimmick to his releases when he could just

00:19:29.100 release a good album oh very good point but I didn't think of the pregnancy thing that deeply

00:19:34.360 to be honest it wasn't until I started seeing other commentary commentary that I was like oh

00:19:38.840 maybe that is a bit insensitive especially given the news um last week that texas is now banning

00:19:46.120 abortion after six weeks so both drake and little nas x's albums had people quite divided so some

00:19:54.440 people i would actually say most of the commentary i saw were just enjoying the humorous aspect of it

00:20:01.560 while others condemn the insensitivity of fake pregnancy shoots and also the potential transphobic

00:20:09.960 undertones. Shoyla Baylor, an American transgender advocate and swimmer, said on Instagram,

00:20:17.600 for the people saying, but Lil Nas X is queer. Being queer doesn't make you immune to being

00:20:22.280 transphobic. Some cis queer people are transphobic as hell. Now, I don't think Lil Nas X is 0.99

00:20:28.160 intentionally transphobic, but we live in a transphobic world. So this intent did not land.

00:20:33.660 He continued, Lil Nas X shock factor here only works because people don't think men can get 0.99

00:20:39.780 pregnant, but trans men can and do all the time. That is the joke slash sensationalism only works 0.99

00:20:47.040 at the expense of trans masculine people. Yeah. On TikTok, especially we saw people talking about 0.98

00:20:52.780 how we shouldn't use pregnancy as a prop or a gimmick which I agree with you know there's lots

00:20:58.340 of talk on April Fool's Day about not using not doing those fake pregnancy announcements and I

00:21:03.900 think with the internet we're all much more online so we see things that may make us more upset if

00:21:12.740 that makes sense so we shouldn't really be using this as a gimmick when so many people with uteruses

00:21:18.720 don't have autonomy over their own bodies but I don't know part of me is like when I saw it I was

00:21:25.540 like oh little Nas X is doing another crazy gimmick or like he's doing another shock value thing and

00:21:32.900 maybe it's because I haven't experienced pregnancy loss or I haven't you know dealt with infertility

00:21:39.940 that i didn't take much notice of it but yeah in that in that defense a lot of the arguments

00:21:48.940 were coming from tiktok and one of the criticisms of tiktok is that people are chronically online

00:21:55.080 which means that like everything is so like much more intense and like

00:22:00.040 if you're chronically online it means you're always on the internet their entire existence

00:22:07.220 revolves around being on the internet um you're always debating people and getting upset about

00:22:13.800 certain things not negating trans people's criticism of this at all but sometimes between

00:22:22.280 drake and little nas x i was like is this an issue where there is an issue would if the internet

00:22:28.620 wasn't as massive would we be sweeping past this good point oh i had not actually heard of that

00:22:35.580 phrase chronically online before i'm like lol that's me um but but i find that very interesting

00:22:41.220 because i think it can dangerously like lend itself into the territory of like oh people are

00:22:46.320 snowflakes you know all these gen z's are um like overreacting about everything these days

00:22:52.020 etc but i think there is a good point of sometimes being um distracted by non-issues i'm not saying

00:23:00.060 of this but I do think sometimes we focus our attention on smaller potentially more digestible

00:23:06.480 issues that are easier to wrap our heads around like this small kind of like artist

00:23:10.720 tiff almost or whatever it might be rather than this massive systemic issue of like

00:23:17.020 transphobia or whatever it might be or like even infertility yeah abortion rights or whatever

00:23:23.120 yeah in saying that i just really dislike the way drake talks about women on his own right and i

00:23:32.700 saw some conversations about they can't really compare these two because drake is has so much

00:23:39.960 like history and like reputations being a womanizer and like talking about baby mamas and all this

00:23:47.160 stuff versus little nousex who has done so much for the queer community um so yeah i just think

00:23:54.040 we're part like what you said we're past using pregnancy as like a shock value thing like

00:23:58.360 especially in a time when a girl who is raped can not be able to abort the child um the baby

00:24:10.100 the fetus whatever you want to call it in a first world country like do we really need to be

00:24:17.520 using this why can't he just release an album exactly

00:24:20.560 you guys know that we were going to talk about this this week it was announced that american

00:24:34.120 production company CBS has commissioned the most dystopian Hunger Games-esque show to ever

00:24:41.060 be conceived. Titled The Activist, Usher Priyanka Chopra Jones and Dancing with the Stars alumni

00:24:48.780 Julianne Hough will be paired with six young activists to help different causes around education,

00:24:56.160 health and the environment. Yes and they won't just be sitting around campaigning for grassroots

00:25:02.440 causes though because this is a dystopian hellscape it will be set to a game show format that's similar

00:25:09.060 to the apprentice or the voice so activists will compete with one another with winners and losers

00:25:15.560 being chosen each week based on quote online engagement social impacts and the host's input

00:25:22.240 yeah in the end they will be tasked with speaking to world leaders at the g20 summit in italy the

00:25:30.120 g20 summit being the annual forum bringing together the world's largest economies according

00:25:35.760 to their website the g20 summit accounts for more than 80 of the world gdp which is gross domestic

00:25:42.060 product 75 of global trade and 60 of the world's population the activist with the most backing at

00:25:50.980 the end of the competition is crowned the winner you are the best activist in the world congratulations

00:25:57.840 Obviously, money will be raised for whatever cause they are, you know, working towards.

00:26:03.920 According to the CEO of Live Nation Entertainment, the show is a, quote, unprecedented example of how entertainment can change the world.

00:26:14.040 I love that.

00:26:14.400 That's like a CEO of an entertainment industry that makes money off this.

00:26:18.600 And they're like, yeah, like, totally, this is going to change the world.

00:26:21.660 Give us your money.

00:26:24.240 I love this quote from Douglas Greenwood for ID Magazine.

00:26:27.840 that said it feels like the natural conclusion of our capitalist hellscape existence that a show

00:26:33.520 about activism would be helmed by the singer of yeah whose wikipedia page describes him and namely

00:26:39.140 as a supporter of feminism and a fan of art a model and actor who was accused of encouraging

00:26:46.540 nuclear war with pakistan the 37 year old responded war is not something that i'm really

00:26:52.440 fond of but i'm patriotic adding but i think that all of us have a sort of middle ground

00:26:57.900 that we all have to walk and a personality julian who famously donned a blackface one halloween

00:27:05.020 i mean they really picked the cream of the crop here i definitely think of they're the first

00:27:10.780 people i think of when i hear the word activism usher and activism are basically synonyms in my

00:27:16.400 mind so oh yeah makes sense the internet has very fairly been on fire around this it almost feels

00:27:27.100 like twitter fodder like it was made to be tweeted about you know what i mean a few highlights

00:27:33.360 include in order to prevent global warming you must first seek counsel from wise r&b singer

00:27:39.720 usher on how to create a killer tiktok that will garner enough online engagement to knock out your 1.00

00:27:46.020 chief rival that bitch who wants to eradicate malaria i literally had to cover my mouth then 0.99

00:27:51.660 to stop from laughing so you wouldn't get distracted oh my god that's so funny another 1.00

00:27:58.020 said sorry charlie your posts didn't get enough likes we're tearing down your orphanage and your

00:28:04.780 plan to defund the police did not receive enough tiktok likes on your video explaining why please

00:28:09.680 pack your things and leave activist island peak comedy to be honest like i'm so kind of like

00:28:16.440 eye rolling at this but it has delivered some very good internet like content oh my god i know right

00:28:22.480 i told you made for the twitter sphere so yes this made for very funny twitter commentary but um you

00:28:30.240 know you might be thinking all of this backlash is a bit harsh you know all we have seen is a

00:28:35.420 press release so far but this thread came out from 22 year old climate activist Clover Hogan

00:28:42.840 which is very revealing about the show's mission and their purpose. Yes and we have to read this

00:28:50.940 whole thing for context. So Clover says earlier this year I was approached to appear on this show

00:28:57.700 The Activist. I was contacted by someone quote looking for passionate activists who are actively

00:29:03.460 engaged in making an impact in the areas of environment, health, education, and reducing

00:29:08.860 world hunger, end quote. I took a call with them. They continue, they spoke about bringing activists

00:29:16.080 together to solve global challenges, yet every question I asked received an evasive answer.

00:29:22.340 What's the purpose? How are they finding activists? Is it about collaboration? How are they platforming

00:29:27.520 folks who have been historically excluded? I wish I'd taken the evasiveness for the giant red flag 1.00

00:29:33.440 it was, but this person kept emphasizing what a brilliant opportunity it would be to put eco

00:29:39.680 anxiety on the agenda and said my cues would be answered on another call. So I agreed to an

00:29:46.340 interview with a producer from the show. Clover continues, the quote interview was the worst I've

00:29:53.400 ever experienced. When asked about my background, I mentioned growing up in nature, feeling

00:29:58.640 heartbroken when I discovered documentaries, choosing to become an environmentalist at 11,

00:30:04.020 moving to Indonesia, working with grassroots communities. Afterward, this dude looked

00:30:09.140 irritated. He said I sounded like a robot talking from a script. He asked me to do it over, this

00:30:15.180 time with more emotion, and gave me pointers of, quote, what the producers want to see.

00:30:20.920 We repeated this several times until I burst into tears. Perfect. I'd done what he wanted,

00:30:27.880 apparently. I felt humiliated. The only explanation I have for not hanging up then and there is

00:30:33.780 gaslighting. I kept thinking perhaps I'm just being dramatic. This is showbiz right? He's just

00:30:39.540 trying to help me communicate better. I chose to be here. Clover continues after the tears he asked

00:30:46.820 me about our work at Force of Nature. I lit up at the chance to talk about our research programs for

00:30:52.680 youth the urgency of the mental health crisis he cut me off toward the end it was too complicated

00:30:59.460 I needed to quote talk like an American at the end he revealed that this would be a competition

00:31:05.980 show with activists going against each other for resources I remember thinking I was in a Black 0.54

00:31:12.160 Mirror episode when the call ended I cried and called my mum the whole time I was made to feel

00:31:18.540 as if I was failing a test. The weeks following I tried to block the experience from my mind

00:31:23.760 only to receive an email that I'd been successful yay me with an invitation to meet the whole

00:31:28.700 production team. I politely declined and declined again when told to reconsider as quote this is such

00:31:34.880 a huge opportunity end quote. I won't relate what has already been said so eloquently by other folks

00:31:40.860 what I will add from behind the scenes experience is that they were not interested in issues at all

00:31:46.520 they only wanted a story and a story manufactured for hollywood are we even surprised definitely

00:31:54.540 not but it was nice to hear and that's why we had to read the whole thing out because it's so

00:31:58.860 important i think to hear from people who are involved in this you know in being approached

00:32:04.500 and it proves that they're approaching real activists like we'll link clover's instagram in

00:32:09.000 our bio show notes but you know they are legit they're doing amazing work grassroots work

00:32:15.040 um these aren't performative activists but they're turning it into as in they being the

00:32:20.900 production company are turning into performative activism yeah i saw another quote that was like

00:32:27.740 you can't commodify activism simple as that right and i think that just kind of summarize it it's

00:32:33.500 almost an oxymoron that you can't try to put these two things together that are at ends with each

00:32:38.660 other i love that clover's asking you know is this collaborative but no they're fighting for

00:32:43.420 resources can't we tell that that's not working in the real world like why why should that um why

00:32:49.680 should this reality tv show um reflect this broken world you know so true for them to be like you'll

00:32:58.420 be fighting it out for like resources when all of the activists on there are trying to create a

00:33:04.880 better world but these production companies are kind of like dangling like a carrot in front of

00:33:08.800 them being like you want this you want this you better like like capitalism like work your work

00:33:15.380 to your bones or whatever um when really the money that they're probably paying usher in itself

00:33:23.140 you know for that fee could help so many hundreds or thousands millions of people

00:33:29.680 but they're choosing not to do that which kind of gets to the question of why these people

00:33:37.080 it's not like this show is being hosted by well-known activists like Greta Thunberg or AJ

00:33:43.560 Barber who we reference a lot on the show these are like legit celebrities like yes they're

00:33:49.580 talented in their own right yes they're skilled in their own right but you know if Priyanka

00:33:54.200 especially has been called out for her lack of activism in the past why did they choose her

00:33:59.240 in a 2019 interview Priyanka actually said she considers herself quote apolitical as much as I

00:34:05.560 can be i prefer to be a humanitarian which in itself is an oxymoron how can you be a humanitarian

00:34:13.240 and be apolitical when the definition of humanitarian is quote concerned or seeking

00:34:18.720 to promote human welfare what creates the welfare or the lack of welfare in countries

00:34:24.420 politics it's an oxymoron oh my god exactly hey yeah to summarize this i feel like there's this

00:34:31.740 great quote by Awa Madawi for The Guardian. They say, like feminism, activism has been consumed

00:34:39.760 by the corporate world. It's been given a glossy sheen, had its revolutionary edges removed.

00:34:46.980 Corporate feminism undermines structural change by focusing on individual empowerment, 1.00

00:34:52.920 social justice capitalism, or woke washing is similar. Awa says, it peddles a convenient lie 1.00

00:34:59.720 that you can change the world without fundamentally changing your habits.

00:35:03.660 It divorces individual causes from the exploitative structures

00:35:07.640 underlying them.

00:35:08.860 It pretends you can be a humanitarian while being apolitical.

00:35:12.400 You know what this reminds me of after reading that?

00:35:15.880 I feel like we're going to see Girlboss 2.0 come soon.

00:35:21.140 Oh, my God.

00:35:22.420 What happens in Girlboss 2.0? 1.00

00:35:26.680 They're more concerned with social issues rather than capital.

00:35:29.720 i think so and i think they kind of merge together i like what ala was saying about how it

00:35:36.000 is focused on individual benefit not collective and community change and i think activism can kind

00:35:43.640 of be a wolf's inner sheep clothes or whatever the saying is i've wooded that on instagram whether

00:35:50.840 that's like a brand or a person or even like an informative page we see a lot of people you know

00:36:00.100 jumping on causes and jumping on um good good things right potentially by spreading information

00:36:08.100 and trying to spread awareness or raise awareness for certain societal um topics but we know that

00:36:16.560 being woke gets you clout and street cred on the internet which also leads to literal like

00:36:23.560 monetary gains it is a financially viable option for people to appear woke which is what girl 0.93

00:36:30.920 bossing is right it's like pretending to be or not specifically pretending but kind of 1.00

00:36:36.600 jumping on the back of feminism or white feminism in particular to build up your own brand and

00:36:43.280 therefore like game get more money I think I'm oversimplifying it way too much but this is

00:36:48.500 literally off the cuff like no that is I'm kind of ranting that's a very good observation and I

00:36:56.300 think this show proves that in that in the same way feminism was marketed and sold about 10 years

00:37:06.480 ago maybe yeah five to ten years ago we're gonna see the exact same with activism and it will 0.65

00:37:13.860 become another in another five years we'll have a reckoning in the same way we had the girl boss

00:37:18.240 reckoning of last year and then there'll be something else yeah i think it's going to become

00:37:24.300 quicker this time i think a lot of people are picking up on this and and that's why this show

00:37:29.120 is copying so much backlash as well because we're tired of this like you can't like it's simply as

00:37:35.780 if this is real I still don't believe it oh we've skipped the week of recommendations so I think

00:37:47.440 we've got double the recommendations for you this week Jazz why don't you kick us off yes we just

00:37:53.700 have to share everything we consume so we've got double travel I'm recommending two podcasts this

00:38:00.660 week. The first one is Panic Years by Afterwork Drinks. I saw a few people recommending this,

00:38:08.100 posting about it, and I wasn't sure because I didn't know if it would exacerbate my anxiety

00:38:12.880 around this stuff, but I thought I would give it a go. So in this episode of Afterwork Drinks,

00:38:18.400 which we are huge fans of, writers Grace O'Neill and Isabel Truman interview British writer Nell

00:38:24.940 frizzer. Nell is the author of the non-fiction book, The Panic Years, a term that Nell defines

00:38:31.800 as the period of your late 20s into your 30s, when suddenly it seems as if everyone is thinking

00:38:37.100 about babies, houses, and marriage. Nell shares her thoughts on these topics and how women have

00:38:44.220 conditioned to be constantly thinking about like fertility and life goals and how babies would

00:38:50.820 interrupt that um always thinking like five to ten years ahead in terms of like ambitions and

00:38:56.600 relationships and I did find it very comforting to hear a lot of the things I had been internally

00:39:02.640 kind of like mulling over and thinking about and I thinking that they were due to my anxiety

00:39:07.740 but they're actually very common things to have especially if you're kind of like a career focused

00:39:13.600 woman in today's society um have you listened to this before oh yes it's honestly such a stellar

00:39:23.020 podcast episode and it's really been ingrained into my brain i keep thinking about it every

00:39:27.900 couple days and i think if people are maybe put off um listening to it because the topics of

00:39:34.040 potential like fertility and stuff uh kind of not exactly boring but maybe you're not up to

00:39:39.840 that life stage like like I wasn't and you know I hear these conversations a lot and I was like oh

00:39:44.980 it's going to be a little bit repetitive it really wasn't I feel like Nell brought so many new like

00:39:51.080 truth bombs and made me feel like I I'm rethinking a lot let's just say yeah definitely I'd recommend

00:39:58.420 it to everyone I was like sending it to my friends obviously recommend it on Instagram

00:40:02.680 and I even sent it to my boyfriend and I was like this explains why I think the way I do because I

00:40:09.260 definitely think like not being like I want to have babies anything like that but it's terms of

00:40:14.940 like okay what are we doing this year what am I doing this year because how that impact me when

00:40:19.960 I'm 30 or when I want to have kids or what am I doing in my career now and how will yeah how my

00:40:27.220 life play out kind of thing which cisgendered men don't think about and it's referenced in the

00:40:32.160 in the podcast about like what do they talk about because apparently they get to like their 30s and 0.69

00:40:38.020 they're finally like oh I guess I can have a kid after they've squeezed out all the life they can

00:40:42.520 out of their 20s whereas like I'm only halfway through mine and I know me and some of my friends

00:40:47.900 already thinking about these things so yeah anyway I would recommend it 100 percent my second podcast

00:40:54.420 recommendation is one called The Trap it is a quote harm prevention podcast that was created by

00:41:03.020 the Dugdale Trust for Women and Girls and also the Victorian Women's Trust. It's hosted by

00:41:10.120 Jess Hill and delves into a really heavy topic but one that I think needs to be spoken about

00:41:16.900 especially in Australia. We seem to have some sort of like blinkers on with it but that is

00:41:22.380 domestic violence. The podcast looks at the abuse that happens both in private and public

00:41:29.860 and asks why it still happens why people become abusive in the first place and what needs to be

00:41:37.280 done to help prevent it the victorian women's trust is a local gender equality agency that's

00:41:46.240 advocating for the rights of women girls and gender diverse people so even if you don't listen

00:41:53.300 to the podcast like i understand that's a very heavy topic not something maybe in lockdown you

00:41:58.120 can handle but just learning what the victorian women's trust does for people is incredible and

00:42:04.500 we should be supporting that so just want to say thank you to them for making such a sensitive

00:42:10.120 podcast about a very serious topic so i had two podcast recommendations what are you recommending

00:42:17.000 this week i've also got a podcast but i've also got a movie as well so i'll get cited with a

00:42:24.240 podcast because it kind of jumps off the back of your one um it is the new podcast from 7am which

00:42:31.400 is called everybody knows it's a five-part podcast series hosted by ruby jones who is a journalist

00:42:38.700 and also host of the 7am podcast they are from schwartz media who do the saturday paper so this

00:42:47.060 one explores the rise and fall of the me too movement in australia specifically in regards

00:42:52.840 the music industry outlining you know serious allegations of harassment abuse and assault

00:42:59.700 so yeah heavy stuff obviously and it was a podcast that I had heard quite a bit about but it wasn't

00:43:07.880 something I wanted to listen to I don't think anyone really wants to listen to these topics

00:43:12.160 but it is a really compelling and important lesson so at the time of recording three of

00:43:20.520 the episodes have dropped and i have listened to all of them i like binged the first two it is

00:43:25.280 a really well-produced um podcast so it makes you want to listen uh interviewees include human

00:43:32.720 rights lawyer jen robinson who acted for amber heard and rose mcgowan ruby also interviewed

00:43:38.940 the barrister who represented jeffrey rush as well as journalists who broke australia's first

00:43:44.000 me too stories and other survivors too so I would really recommend this if you are mentally up for

00:43:51.760 it it isn't really just focused on sexual harassment but more about like toxic workplace

00:43:57.180 culture and misogyny and also Australia's failing defamation laws so it's really interesting

00:44:03.640 especially those in the media industry or who are interested in it yeah I loved it I'm a huge

00:44:11.060 fan of 7am and um the culture which is their pop culture podcast so i would definitely it's

00:44:17.900 definitely on my list and i also think it's interesting because australia didn't have as

00:44:22.580 much of a me too reckoning as america did um and i kind of sometimes wonder why that is because

00:44:29.080 there's definitely stories there's been a couple jeffrey rash of course sticks out when your mind

00:44:33.120 bit and that's basically it but compared to america we didn't have as much of like a cultural change so

00:44:40.380 very keen to hear that this is a podcast you'll really enjoy she gets right into the nitty and

00:44:47.340 gritty of that and you'll be so shocked to learn that australia's me too movement basically lasted

00:44:52.880 five days yeah that's what it felt like i knew i wasn't going down

00:44:57.080 well i do have a light-hearted recommendation to take us to the finish line and i watched this

00:45:04.660 last night it is a movie called the king of satin island it was released last year in 2020

00:45:10.800 and it is a semi-biographical drama comedy starring pete davidson and it is also directed

00:45:18.000 by judd apatow who i love classic and you love pete davidson so i feel like this is a great mix

00:45:26.340 so the movie follows 24 year old protagonist scott who you know lives at home is

00:45:34.400 lacking ambition he's very lost and he basically just smokes a lot of weed he has ADD and Crohn's

00:45:41.340 disease and is an amateur tattoo artist who dreams of opening his like tattoo parlor slash restaurant

00:45:50.360 two-in-one deal thing we find out that he is obviously not over his father's death so when

00:45:57.400 he was seven years old his dad died as a firefighter those who know Pete Davidson know

00:46:04.780 that this is based off his real life so his dad was a firefighter who died in 9-11 interesting

00:46:10.700 that I watched it yesterday which was like the 20 year anniversary of 9-11 but yeah overall I

00:46:15.900 really enjoyed this watch it's a great look at American masculinity that's quite endearing it's

00:46:22.160 also quite cheesy so it's got its heartfelt moments too it's very long it's like two hours

00:46:28.240 15 or something like that I do think it could have been cut down by half an hour or something

00:46:33.180 but I really enjoyed Pete Davidson's performance and I am also now a stan of him it also features

00:46:41.740 Belle Powell who is going to be in the upcoming Dolly Alderton's tv adaptation everything I know

00:46:49.500 about love so very cool so cool it sounds like a good cast that has also been on my list i promise

00:46:56.220 i'm not just saying that i remember the trailer came out and i was like oh i really want to watch

00:46:59.540 that yeah i think you'll really enjoy it and for anyone else who wants to watch it it is on binge

00:47:04.380 i definitely will be watching

00:47:06.420 well another week another episode down thanks for listening everybody and if you enjoyed

00:47:18.440 please don't forget to rate or review or follow us on instagram at culture club pod

00:47:23.600 stay connected stay chronically online like us and we'll talk to you next week see you then bye

00:47:32.280 bye

Culture Club - September 13, 2021

Let The Activist Hunger Games Begin

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