Under the Influence (with Jo Piazza) - Meatfluencers with Nick Aster

00:00:00.680 I don't think I can be your friend, Isabella said.

00:00:04.060 Rebecca's stomach flipped.

00:00:06.340 This is the love story of real hinge couple Isabella and Rebecca, written and read by

00:00:10.640 me, Temmie Denton-Hurst.

00:00:12.360 Listen to the free audiobook now.

00:00:21.900 We have a very special guest today.

00:00:23.800 Hi, Nick Astor.

00:00:25.020 Good morning.

00:00:26.340 Do you know why I'm having you on the show today?

00:00:29.920 Well, there must be some kind of hot new influencer genre out there.

00:00:35.400 Oh, there is.

00:00:36.440 Oh, there is.

00:00:37.180 And I don't know if I would call it hot.

00:00:39.020 Is it yo-yo influencers?

00:00:40.880 Because that's what I want to see.

00:00:42.480 You want to see yo-yo influencers?

00:00:44.040 Yeah. 0.99

00:00:44.780 I'll bet you there's a fucking yo-yo influencer. 1.00

00:00:46.620 I'll bet there is. 1.00

00:00:47.800 Should we look?

00:00:48.940 Should we look it up?

00:00:50.040 I guarantee you it exists.

00:00:51.860 All right, hold on.

00:00:52.700 All right, before...

00:00:53.400 I can already picture it in my mind.

00:00:54.800 I don't even need to see it.

00:00:55.900 Okay, before we dive into today's influencing topic, I'm going to Google yo-yo influencers.

00:01:04.900 I think I would like yo-yo influencers because I don't think there could be any underhanded

00:01:09.240 message. I think it's just people doing cool yo-yo tricks and that's it.

00:01:14.100 You don't think they're trying to sell you, you don't think that these are people trying

00:01:17.600 to sell you yo-yos?

00:01:19.400 Maybe. Just talking about it, though, makes me want to buy a yo-yo. It's been a while.

00:01:23.560 So there's a fashion influencer named Yo-Yo Cow, but it has nothing to do with yo-yos. 0.93

00:01:29.820 I did not bring you here to talk about yo-yos.

00:01:32.560 Also, do you even know how to use a yo-yo?

00:01:35.340 Oh, yeah.

00:01:36.280 Not very good, but I can do the basics.

00:01:39.320 Do we even have a yo-yo in this house?

00:01:41.860 Yeah, but it's a lousy one.

00:01:43.060 You got to get the decent quality one. 1.00

00:01:45.220 So today, we are not talking about yo-yos today. 0.96

00:01:48.140 We are talking about meat fluencers. 1.00

00:01:53.560 I'm already laughing. 1.00

00:01:55.220 Meat fluencers. 1.00

00:01:56.720 I just want to say that again to let it sink in.

00:01:59.260 Meat fluencer.

00:02:00.960 Now, I do want to be clear that when I first heard this, I thought that's kind of cool.

00:02:04.220 It's someone who teaches some barbecuing skills and how to butcher an antelope or something.

00:02:10.400 But it's not, is it?

00:02:12.060 No, it's not.

00:02:12.980 No, it's not.

00:02:13.300 And frankly, that would be cool because, as you know, I love a good butcher.

00:02:19.600 I do. 1.00

00:02:20.260 That would be fantastic, a good lady butcher. 0.97

00:02:22.660 I may or may not have had a lady butcher character in the book of the summer, The Sicilian Inheritance. 0.70

00:02:29.240 Which is the finest book that Joe Piazza has ever written. Please purchase it today.

00:02:34.040 Yeah, no, he's so good. He's so good at making commercials for me.

00:02:37.240 No, a meatfluencer is a man influencer.

00:02:41.400 And you're on today because there are not many male-centric influencing platforms.

00:02:48.240 and because you are a man you are a person with male chromosomal things i wanted to bring you on

00:02:57.960 to get your reaction to the meatfluencers a meatfluencer is a man who dubs himself a carnivore

00:03:04.840 who only eats meat and his accounts are about him eating a shit ton of meat first of all

00:03:12.300 I'm immediately skeptical of any of these types of influence

00:03:17.360 where it's like somebody claims they've committed to some lifestyle

00:03:21.160 and, you know, you should too because it's mostly fakery.

00:03:26.660 I'll bet you half those guys are eating vegetables on the side

00:03:29.680 and just saying that they're eating only meat on Instagram

00:03:32.080 because it makes pictures.

00:03:33.800 That said, it's true that if you want to lose weight

00:03:36.620 and you commit to one of these Atkins-type diets,

00:03:39.320 which is basically all meat you can lose weight there may be other side effects this has been

00:03:44.920 talked about since the 80s if not sooner and this is nothing new i remember when i did atkins like

00:03:52.360 right after college and i ate just bacon and beef all the time and i got super ragey

00:03:59.840 i was mad like you know how you know how i get sometimes ragey after a certain number of cocktails

00:04:09.240 Oh, I've encountered this.

00:04:10.420 You've seen this.

00:04:11.000 You've seen this.

00:04:11.500 Yeah.

00:04:12.140 I was that level of ragey sober.

00:04:14.680 Hmm.

00:04:16.000 So in other words, I should keep feeding you vegetables.

00:04:19.940 Probably.

00:04:20.580 Yes.

00:04:21.040 Yes.

00:04:21.720 All right.

00:04:21.920 So I just, there was a story in the New York Times about this.

00:04:24.440 And, you know, I love it when the New York Times covers influencers because they cover

00:04:31.100 them as if they're animals in a zoo, which, I mean, these guys seem to be.

00:04:36.860 but I want to read a little bit of this. In a social media trend that won't stop,

00:04:44.060 ravenous meat eaters, mostly men, show themselves chomping on ribeye steaks, bacon, and innards.

00:04:51.760 In a recent online video, a popular TikTok user who posts as

00:04:56.020 at Carnivore Ray unveiled a new snack recipe. After sliding sheet pans packed with fatty

00:05:03.820 bacon strips into the oven, he melted two sticks of butter from grass-fed cows. Once the bacon was

00:05:10.460 crisp, he poured the melted butter into the sheet pans. Then he popped the concoction into the

00:05:17.020 freezer. This went somewhere you weren't expecting, right? The next morning, the influencer bit into

00:05:23.800 the frozen treat while filming himself for his roughly 170,000 TikTok followers. This tastes

00:05:30.300 like candy he said greasy candy greasy buttery candy and you know he he had me at the butter and

00:05:41.060 the bacon but once he put it in the freezer i'm not as into it as i as i was before i'm not what's

00:05:46.980 the point of that i don't know but this is really hot outside and it's hot outside popsicles and

00:05:55.580 sometimes you want to be i guess you can't have popsicles so this is your bacon butter popsicle

00:05:59.440 cool it sounds dreadful it sounds dreadful we should should we go to carnivore ray's account

00:06:05.340 yeah it sounds kind of like those guys that film themselves you know

00:06:08.400 lighting their farts on fire to get attention i yes this feels like the

00:06:16.920 adult male version of that but i guess those are also adult male

00:06:21.340 accounts um carnivore carnivore ray he's more popular on on tiktok uh but here he is on

00:06:31.560 instagram here just take it take a look i want you to take a look as a pasty looking guy he's

00:06:36.100 kind of yeah he's kind of pasty he doesn't he doesn't look like he's in good shape lost 87

00:06:40.040 pounds he was he was pretty plump and now he's looking pretty pretty we don't judge people's

00:06:44.380 bodies yeah whatever he was kind of plump he was a little plump i mean you know hey it's just him

00:06:53.400 talking blah blah blah well you know just a good looking steak with some pepper on it i like that

00:06:58.260 that's cool and these little eggy things those look pretty tasty

00:07:01.680 great i've seen all i need to see have you have you do you want to follow carnivore ray now um

00:07:10.980 No, not really.

00:07:13.800 Well, no, I mean, these videos are just carnivore, right?

00:07:16.340 And he has over 100,000 followers, which, you know, I'm like, if I, because the Sicilian

00:07:21.740 inheritance is so much about meat, maybe I should jump on this, you know, because I'll

00:07:26.660 do anything to sell books, my friends.

00:07:27.900 You know.

00:07:28.220 Anything to sell books.

00:07:30.160 I have to say that steak does look pretty tasty.

00:07:33.020 It does.

00:07:33.300 I like a lot of pepper on my steak.

00:07:34.720 It does.

00:07:34.740 I like a pepper steak.

00:07:35.280 Well, so we've got a video here of him going to Costco, which, guys, you know, I love me

00:07:39.960 some Costco.

00:07:40.980 To go grocery shopping on the carnivore diet.

00:07:43.860 Here it is.

00:07:44.080 Oh, here he goes.

00:07:44.720 Grocery shopping on the carnivore diet.

00:07:46.060 He's got one of those Costco shopping carts, which is like three times the signs of a regular shopping cart.

00:07:50.520 Yeah, but I, oh, all right, he's getting some ground bison, some wagyu beef.

00:07:54.720 Okay, a lot of ground beef.

00:07:57.600 Oh, he does not get the budget beef.

00:07:59.360 Oh, yeah, there he goes.

00:08:00.060 Oh, but look.

00:08:00.680 Not happy about the styrofoam.

00:08:02.620 Yeah, I don't like the styrofoam that Costco uses.

00:08:04.420 That's why we don't buy a lot of meat at Costco.

00:08:06.540 We do buy the underwear at Costco, though.

00:08:08.960 Beef oxtail. 0.90

00:08:09.860 yeah so i mean this is this is literally a video of a man going into costco and buying a shit ton

00:08:17.660 of meat which has 6 000 likes 139 comments uh i mean this let's look at the comments what do

00:08:28.220 people say oh let's look at the comments it's good see you're good at this you're good at this

00:08:31.500 oh all right what would you recommend for a woman what would you recommend for a woman interested 0.54

00:08:36.760 in starting a carnivore diet? 1.00

00:08:38.400 I think the answer is eat meat.

00:08:40.260 I think the answer is eat meat.

00:08:41.780 But here is my concern.

00:08:43.720 I want to read this comment in full, actually. 0.98

00:08:46.380 What would you recommend for a woman 1.00

00:08:47.680 interested in starting a carnivore diet?

00:08:50.000 I've seen so many variations.

00:08:51.440 I need to lose 30 pounds.

00:08:52.940 I've gained from menopause.

00:08:54.380 Ugh.

00:08:55.140 Unhappy face.

00:08:56.360 Now, here is my issue with this comment. 0.99

00:08:58.780 Carnivore Ray is not a fucking expert. 1.00

00:09:01.020 Carnivore Ray is not a fucking doctor. 1.00

00:09:03.620 And yet, this woman is asking his advice 0.99

00:09:05.540 as if he is both of those things yeah and that is my problem with this um i mean that i have a lot

00:09:13.540 of problems with this but my problem is carnivore ray is presenting himself but i mean either

00:09:18.560 wittingly or unwittingly as an expert and people believe that he is please help me lose the 30

00:09:23.500 pounds that i gained in menopause how about you talk to a doctor and i know that that is hard

00:09:28.260 because doctors ignore women and doctors ignore menopause doctors ignore everybody but doctors

00:09:32.600 to ignore everybody which is why did i tell you that um the new menopause book that's represented

00:09:38.580 by my friend heather has been number one in books and it's not even out yet they pre-sold

00:09:42.700 54 000 copies because women are hungry for menopause information that is not given to them

00:09:49.660 by doctors just saying and is she an expert she's a doctor yeah she's an expert i mean she's not

00:09:56.840 carnivore ray but um yeah so okay how do we know carnivore ray is not a doctor i

00:10:02.460 think Carnivore Ray was selling cars until he became Carnivore Ray. I mean, I don't want to

00:10:06.460 slander Carnivore Ray or anything. I don't know enough about Carnivore Ray. But I will say his

00:10:11.120 bio just says, I don't give a rip nine-month carnivore. So he doesn't have MD after his name.

00:10:17.480 Fair enough.

00:10:18.180 We are going to take a quick break. And when we get back, we are going to dive into

00:10:22.420 the even crazier bananas world of meatfluencers.

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00:11:07.520 a millennial on their skinny jeans in 2026? Dentine. Chew bold.

00:11:20.840 All right. And we are back with special guest Nick Astor, who is talking to us today

00:11:25.420 about meat fluencers now i want to go back to this new york times story that talked about the

00:11:31.980 meat fluencers this is how i found it i found it late last night while i was scrolling the new york

00:11:36.040 times and sick of reading all of the shitty news about the world so this the time says

00:11:41.600 tiktok and instagram are awash in videos of these men and some women we'll get to the women 0.85

00:11:47.940 feasting on a petting zoo's worth of meat products petting zoo a petting zoo's worth of meat products 0.62

00:11:54.180 So it's, I mean, so then I immediately think of the...

00:11:56.060 That means you're eating guinea pigs, which are a delicacy in Peru, as we know.

00:11:59.660 Did you eat guinea pigs when you were in Peru?

00:12:01.140 I did.

00:12:01.820 Yeah, I did.

00:12:02.560 I did too.

00:12:04.660 It's a guinea pig on a stick.

00:12:06.440 Yes.

00:12:06.920 Yeah, yeah.

00:12:07.680 I didn't love it, but, you know, meat is meat is meat.

00:12:10.660 So, all right, I'm going to go back to the article.

00:12:14.560 Health experts are skeptical of the health benefits of the carnivore diet.

00:12:19.040 Fair point.

00:12:19.980 The protein and fat heavy eating regimen has been promoted by podcasters Joe Rogan and Lex Friedman, influential figures in a testosterone-fueled segment of the media often called the manosphere.

00:12:34.000 Oh, the manosphere.

00:12:35.520 Oh, the manosphere.

00:12:37.080 Yes.

00:12:37.920 I feel by...

00:12:39.240 Sounds smelly.

00:12:40.540 Smells so bad there.

00:12:42.760 I feel by far the best when I eat only meat, Mr. Friedman, a computer scientist, said during a 2023 episode of the Lex Friedman podcast.

00:12:51.380 Again, Lex Friedman, computer scientist, not a doctor.

00:12:54.800 Speaking of meat, what's going on here? 1.00

00:12:56.660 That is Our Lady of Meat from Sicily. 0.94

00:12:58.500 Honey, focus.

00:13:00.640 This is where we're going to get at some of the issues.

00:13:03.300 In recent years, a number of online fitness influencers have risen to fame promoting animal-based eating.

00:13:10.980 They include Brian Johnson, who is known as the Liver King.

00:13:15.620 A Texan with a bushy beard, Mr. Johnson amassed millions of social media followers

00:13:20.560 after claiming he ate raw meat, testicles, animal organs, and bone marrow to achieve his powerful physique.

00:13:28.500 Now, wait for it. Mr. Johnson has since admitted to using steroids.

00:13:33.940 I do want to show you the Liver King, okay?

00:13:38.080 Oh yeah, there you go.

00:13:40.400 Yeah, I've seen this guy before, actually.

00:13:41.880 I've seen this guy before, too. 0.95

00:13:43.260 Yeah, this is just a grown-ass man with a bad tan and kind of gross muscles gnawing on a liver. 0.97

00:13:51.640 Yeah, it's kind of gross. 0.98

00:13:52.680 Gnawing on a liver, yeah.

00:13:54.520 But that's the thing.

00:13:56.200 I'm wondering, these accounts do have hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of followers.

00:14:02.920 What is intriguing about them?

00:14:06.160 I think they're funny, but people are, like, you saw that woman's comment.

00:14:09.760 people are taking it seriously are we so desperate for health health advice that we're not getting

00:14:15.820 um are men i mean we talk a lot about women looking at social media and feeling bad about

00:14:21.960 their bodies do men also feel bad about their bodies do you feel bad about your body sometimes

00:14:26.960 i am a little overweight um you could be you it's not the weight it's not the weight it's that i

00:14:32.640 think you could be fitter because you turned 50 last week and as we were saying when we drank lots

00:14:39.080 and lots of beers outside our hotel room while the baby slept inside. You know, we want to be

00:14:45.000 fit and spry because we're old parents and we want to be able to do things with them for the

00:14:52.200 next 50 years. So it's not that you're plump, although you're a little plump right now. It's

00:14:56.800 that I think that you could be in better shape. Yeah, yeah. As could I. As could I. Here's the

00:15:02.860 deal. Obviously, everybody knows this is not rocket science. Get exercise and eat right. That's it.

00:15:08.440 Now, all of these diets have been around for a million years.

00:15:12.260 In general, if I actually, if I did this, if I actually committed to eating nothing but steak and eggs,

00:15:17.460 I'd probably have a cholesterol issue, but I'd probably lose weight.

00:15:21.040 I just have a hard time committing to something like that.

00:15:24.720 And I don't know that you necessarily have to, but the low-carb diet thing, which could be meat exclusive,

00:15:29.640 there are other ways to do a low-carb diet, is indeed probably a decent way to lose weight.

00:15:36.700 that's that's that's been documented um and the thing is why is this stuff appealing

00:15:41.700 well yeah why why is appealing why why why do people want like why can't you turn away from

00:15:48.740 this why do these people have millions of followers and i don't after writing the best

00:15:53.660 book i've ever written the book of the summer the sicilian inheritance because it's simple and easy

00:15:58.460 to digest internet content and people are bored that's all and people want quick fixes yeah is

00:16:05.760 the thing and they think well if i read about this guy for a while maybe it'll inspire me to do

00:16:09.840 something and it's kind of a lazy way of you know getting yourself psyched up and then you probably

00:16:15.000 don't do anything and you come back and look at it again tomorrow fair point fair point or you make

00:16:19.840 a bacon popsicle and then you're like this is disgusting i don't want to do this anymore um

00:16:26.660 yeah i mean i i do i i find it i find it fascinating i do i find this obsession with the

00:16:34.380 quick fix diets of which, of course, like, you know, every time that I try on one of my old

00:16:43.580 dresses that I love. And my biggest issue with my body is not even the number on the scale,

00:16:48.060 but it's that I want to fit into my old clothes, which I love. I don't feel like buying new clothes.

00:16:53.120 I like, I love the clothes that I have and I want to fit into them. Like that's, that's it. That's

00:16:56.740 where I'm at with my body right now. I do. I'm like, okay, what should I do? Should I do keto?

00:17:02.640 And I will say, when you and I did keto, we lost weight.

00:17:06.180 We did lose weight.

00:17:06.800 We did lose weight.

00:17:07.400 But we also quit drinking.

00:17:08.740 I will tell you, I think that the majority of our calories come because we like an IPA.

00:17:14.460 Yeah.

00:17:16.400 But you can drink whiskey on the keto diet.

00:17:18.780 You can apparently drink whiskey on the keto diet.

00:17:23.080 So yeah, so meat fluencers. 0.76

00:17:24.960 Meat fluencers are a thing. 0.98

00:17:26.720 I'm fascinated by this. 0.97

00:17:28.500 I'm fascinated by the corner of the internet that is sucking in men right now. 0.96

00:17:37.800 Not the corner of the internet, but the corner of social media that is sucking in men, the 0.83

00:17:41.100 TikToks, the Instagrams, because we do talk so much about women.

00:17:45.560 And I'm curious, you know, what are men seeing?

00:17:49.660 One of the things that I've been noodling on lately, I want to start just, I'm like

00:17:55.320 workshopping this idea to see if it's a thing, see if it's a thing.

00:17:58.020 because we share everything with our audience. I'm noodling on a new nonfiction book

00:18:04.380 called The Expectation Gap. Yes, the internet is making you hate your life.

00:18:11.540 And it's based on everything that we talk about on this show. The expectation gap is, you know,

00:18:17.780 where your expectations are about something. And if they're very high, and then your expectations

00:18:23.320 aren't met, you have anxiety. And I think that social and disappointment, anxiety and disappointment

00:18:29.800 and friction. And I think that social media has created that expectation gap for almost everything.

00:18:37.340 And we know that it's happened for mothers, that we see these picture perfect mothers with their

00:18:43.960 beautiful houses, and then ours don't look like that. And we're disappointed and we feel guilt

00:18:49.200 and shame but i think it's also happening in the world of fitness and even for some men they look

00:18:55.500 at these men's bodies and they're like mine doesn't look like that i feel guilt and shame

00:19:00.660 i will now do this weird thing where i freeze bacon yeah no it's all true although i must you

00:19:06.400 must acknowledge that you know this is an acceleration of a process that's been going on

00:19:10.680 forever social media instagram tiktok is just the latest most aggressive manifestation of it i mean

00:19:16.700 has been going on since motion pictures and tv 100 100 and i am duly acknowledged and i'm coming

00:19:25.200 at this as a person who used to create magazines uh magazines that often made people feel bad

00:19:29.920 about themselves to be honest uh but it's much more dangerous than that and here is why here is

00:19:37.320 my like quickie you know explanation for why when we looked at magazines and admittedly we know that

00:19:46.040 women's fashion magazines did create for women a lot of eating disorders and body dysmorphia.

00:19:52.440 And actually, we know that it was the same thing for men in magazines like GQ, Men's Health. There 0.68

00:19:56.160 have been studies that said it did it for men, too. But we knew that there was something

00:20:03.140 manufactured in that because it's a magazine. It's a glossy page. You know there's an industry

00:20:08.660 behind it. And also, you read it how often? Like maybe you're reading it in the bathroom or the

00:20:13.480 doctor's office, right? With social media, it's in the palm of your hand. It's literally attached

00:20:18.920 to your body. And it's with you all of the time. It's just that much more intense. And also, you

00:20:25.700 feel like these are just regular people. You don't feel like it's a celebrity or a model or someone

00:20:29.980 who has been airbrushed by an entire team of people. We're told that these are just regular

00:20:34.440 people. And we're just peering into their houses, which does make it seem like, oh, I'm viewing the

00:20:39.540 real life of all of these people, and their real life is so much better than my real life. That's

00:20:43.460 the difference here in this kind of media. Yeah, totally. And here's the deal. Here's the best

00:20:49.140 part. This is the good news. Well, hold on, hold on. We're going to take another quick break.

00:20:52.840 And when we get back, tell me the good news.

00:21:00.520 I don't think I can be your friend, Isabella said. Rebecca's stomach flipped.

00:21:05.000 This is the love story of real hinge couple Isabella and Rebecca, written and read by me, Temi Denton-Hurst.

00:21:12.100 Listen to the free audiobook now.

00:21:19.020 And we're back today with special guest Nick Astor.

00:21:21.780 We've covered meatfluencing.

00:21:23.840 We've talked a little bit about the expectation gap and the anxiety and disappointment and friction that comes with that

00:21:31.540 and why the internet is indeed making you hate your life

00:21:34.980 and it's not your fault.

00:21:36.280 Check it out.

00:21:37.020 I'm going to give you some good news and some bad news.

00:21:38.780 The bad news is this is only accelerating.

00:21:40.960 It is the, for some reason,

00:21:42.420 it's got something to do with the entropy of the universe.

00:21:44.700 I don't know what, but this stuff is accelerating.

00:21:47.740 Instagram, TikTok, it's the latest,

00:21:49.760 most aggressive manifestation of this manipulative media

00:21:53.460 that by its own sheer existence manipulates us,

00:21:58.920 whether intentionally or unintentionally

00:22:00.900 or whatever good news and this is very apropos of what you just threw out there as a book idea

00:22:07.260 which i think is possibly your best book idea ever at least as far as non-fiction is concerned

00:22:11.680 um let's see if they let me write it let's see i haven't told the agents yet who's they man

00:22:16.300 the agents we already kind of you know you don't have you don't need somebody to let you write it

00:22:22.760 but i need someone to pay me cold hard cash to write it yeah i know how it works but there's

00:22:29.440 only one solution the pan it's like pandora's box it's open there's no closing the door there's no

00:22:33.660 going oh let's regulate instagram or whatever maybe you could maybe we ban tiktok i don't know

00:22:38.280 if that actually accomplishes anything well the interesting thing about the banning of tiktok and

00:22:41.920 we recently learned this because we were with a friend who we're not going to name him because

00:22:46.740 he doesn't like to be named um but he works very high up in government in the biden administration

00:22:51.820 he's he's like a big deal and you know we were joking we're like oh whatever tiktok it's not 0.94

00:22:57.540 that big a deal he's like oh no it is a serious national security threat in the context of chinese 0.85

00:23:01.840 spying but not necessarily i don't think they care about kids getting bulimic because of it they do

00:23:07.180 not care they they do not care about that but in the context of chinese spying um this friend of 0.58

00:23:12.140 ours was just like oh yeah massive problem massive problem yeah yeah anyway let me get back to my

00:23:16.820 point here's the deal only one solution and that's education agreed agreed this is the only solution

00:23:22.420 As noted, a book about the subject is a terrific first start, but ultimately there needs to be a class from elementary school onward called, you know, media awareness or understanding media or something that just at the very least gets people to ask the question, who made this and why?

00:23:43.840 Who made this and why?

00:23:45.040 I mean, and that's the thing.

00:23:46.220 How is this making me feel and why?

00:23:47.760 One of the things that we're going to be doing coming up is we're going to be doing a read-along about the new Jonathan Haidt book, The Anxious Generation.

00:23:58.180 Nick, you could do this with me.

00:23:59.160 You want to be on the podcast.

00:24:00.360 Boom.

00:24:00.820 We'll read The Anxious Generation, and we'll do an episode about each chapter and say what we think about it.

00:24:05.960 Because this is a book that everyone seems to be reading.

00:24:08.600 It's about how social media and the internet is creating a generation of very anxious and unwell children.

00:24:16.120 I think this should extend to all of us, not just children, but we can start to fix it with

00:24:21.880 children. One of the things that I've seen, you know, just from, you know, glossing through the

00:24:27.440 book and again, deep dive to come is the quitting of the devices. That's not going to happen. The

00:24:33.900 train has left the station, which is why there has to be education as early as possible. Who

00:24:39.960 created this and why? That is the question. Like as much education as we can do, because social

00:24:45.920 media i mean even if tiktok gets banned something new is gonna come up it's like a is a hydra the

00:24:50.580 thing that keeps getting cut off in greek myths and keeps coming back yes yeah worse it comes back 0.98

00:24:56.300 with two heads then it comes back with two heads so social media is a fucking hydra is what it is 0.98

00:25:01.620 that you cut off one head and then you get two uglier heads every time it gets cut off exactly 0.94

00:25:08.240 so yeah it's not going anywhere and i so i do not like recommendations of just don't give phone give

00:25:15.720 kids phones. Just don't let kids watch these things. It's going to happen. And so the answer

00:25:20.780 is in education. And I don't even think that there was enough media literacy when I was growing up.

00:25:28.700 There were no classes talking about what is a magazine, what is a newspaper, who is writing

00:25:32.980 this. I have heard from some of you that librarians are working on digital media literacy, which is

00:25:38.880 librarians are the best people. They really are. I think that's a great idea. But I think we need

00:25:44.820 to have more because there should be government regulations but our government can't do anything

00:25:48.520 these days they can't get anything done you think you really think they're going to do this

00:25:51.360 you know shout out to my weird experimental school that i went to in the 80s we did have we

00:25:58.200 had a class explain what your weird experimental school was in the 80s it was a great school

00:26:01.920 it was called alverno it was an offshoot of alverno college which is a i don't know if it's

00:26:06.420 still around but anyway milwaukee was technically a catholic school but it was not it was a catholic

00:26:12.380 light like we didn't have any religion classes or anything but we did have nuns who were great

00:26:16.140 and taught us well we love nuns here yeah anyway um i don't might have been third grade might have

00:26:21.340 been fourth grade i don't know we had a class called propaganda which i i remember being like

00:26:26.200 what's that mean that's a funny word is something to do with popcorn but anyway no and we sat there

00:26:30.760 and we watched advertisements and talked about them yeah and looked at advertisements in magazines

00:26:35.740 and talked about them and it was very basic but it was like why is this person dressed like that

00:26:40.500 Why is, what is this person trying to, you know, do?

00:26:44.360 And I mean, it was basic, but it was like a nice little foundation.

00:26:47.740 There needs to be a propaganda class in every grade school.

00:26:52.740 Yeah.

00:26:53.240 Yeah. 0.98

00:26:53.660 Propaganda, digital crap, just dissecting everything, all of it. 0.98

00:26:58.540 Because, you know, if I'm, and look, people are addicted to these phones. 0.99

00:27:03.280 People are addicted to these screens and these apps.

00:27:05.540 One of the things that makes me the saddest is when I'm on the Amtraks, which I love,

00:27:12.420 or the New York City subway, which I love less.

00:27:16.000 And instead of reading newspapers or a book, everyone is just glued to their phones, but

00:27:23.020 not glued to their phones in a productive way, just like mindlessly watching Instagram

00:27:28.700 or TikTok like it was television.

00:27:30.640 But it's not television.

00:27:31.700 There's no plot.

00:27:32.360 like it's it's all it's all very similar to carnivore ray watch me go to freaking costco

00:27:37.940 and put a bunch of meat in my cart and yeah so if we had the who is this and why are they doing this

00:27:44.680 let's do it for carnivore ray poor carnivore ray although whatever carnivore ray is probably

00:27:50.420 making so much money from costco and meat companies oh what if carnivore ray teamed up

00:27:56.400 with ballerina farms meat oh that's a that's a crossover i'm here for cool cool so watch out for

00:28:03.780 the raw milk yes yes ballerina farm has been ballerina farm as the brand not the human being

00:28:10.960 uh ballerina farm the brand like they love talking about raw milk but apparently raw milk is a

00:28:15.520 problem according to the new the news is yeah the bird flu thing is not a joke so stay away from

00:28:20.940 raw milk at least for now for now and you know i mean i have no real thoughts on raw milk we once

00:28:25.400 gave baby charlie milk straight from a goat's goat's nip yeah it was delicious i had it too

00:28:30.960 yeah it was good it was good we were at this weird farm camping site outside of yosemite yeah

00:28:37.720 yeah um and there were goats and he he had a bottle and we squirted the milk into the bottle

00:28:42.600 and i don't know people are probably going to write to me and tell me i'm a bad mom but you 0.99

00:28:45.800 know what when people do that let's just say fuck off yeah it was a very clean goat it was a very 0.99

00:28:52.260 clean goat such a clean goat yeah and you know what he's fine he's a little too smart for his 1.00

00:28:57.040 own good at this point he did well with the goat goat nipple milk it was okay it's all okay did i

00:29:03.800 tell you that i got an email from from a listener where the subject line was not to give you

00:29:09.560 parenting advice but but here's some parenting advice you shouldn't post any pictures of your

00:29:15.320 kids on the internet i was like do you even listen to my show like do you have any idea and then she

00:29:19.000 told me to follow an account about not posting your kids on the internet and i was like that

00:29:23.680 woman literally the woman that you just told me to follow created her account after listening to 1.00

00:29:28.400 my show and being inspired by it so i told that woman to fuck off in a nice way no i said fuck 1.00

00:29:35.860 off really yeah i did she got she got me at a moment she got me at a moment but you know what 1.00

00:29:40.820 but no one should ever start an email with not to give you parenting advice but i'm going to tell 0.57

00:29:45.760 you what to do because i'm an asshole people just want people useful people want to feel useful 0.85

00:29:53.560 like carnivore ray carnivore ray he's helping helping helping millions of people helping 0.99

00:29:59.060 millions of people you know you got to look at through the lens and you realize it's just

00:30:03.180 entertainment well that's the other thing i'm so bored with instagram i just like yeah i mean

00:30:08.820 but if people could see it as in that's the thing if people could see it as entertainment as 0.86

00:30:12.920 mindless entertainment that would be fine but like we saw with that woman commenter she's like

00:30:17.200 please give me health advice and that's the problem here well it's yeah well it's you know

00:30:22.180 it's is it a problem i don't know it's it's the point is it's connecting people which is a good

00:30:26.720 thing um but it's replaced but it's connecting people with someone who is not a doctor or an

00:30:31.280 expert true um here's my here's my other question for you uh would you since you know you're you're

00:30:38.540 currently figuring out your next job your next step you know we've been talking about that uh

00:30:43.520 do you want me to turn you into a meatfluencer do we think we could make some make some some

00:30:48.140 cold hard cash i turning you into a meatfluencer do not want to be a meat influencer could we try

00:30:54.180 how long do i have to do it for i don't know the answer to that until you get a job

00:30:59.180 i i would i wouldn't do a good job because my enthusiasm just isn't there committing to the

00:31:09.320 diet i could probably do that for a little while but sitting around let's start today i'm gonna

00:31:14.140 call you carnivore nick okay and i'm gonna take a picture of you with your shirt off uh no you're

00:31:20.040 No, you're not. 0.54

00:31:20.320 Yes, I am.

00:31:20.900 No, you're not.

00:31:21.400 Yes, I am.

00:31:22.360 I'll give you some whiskey.

00:31:23.740 No.

00:31:25.020 Oh, man, you're like, from today on, I shall only eat meat.

00:31:31.860 Do I have to talk like that?

00:31:33.300 Yeah, that's how you...

00:31:33.860 What's up, bros?

00:31:34.700 Check it out.

00:31:35.520 I got myself a pepper steak.

00:31:36.960 It's freaking badass, man. 0.83

00:31:38.900 Hell yeah. 0.98

00:31:39.780 I killed this cow myself. 0.99

00:31:41.440 Use a chainsaw. 0.95

00:31:42.660 Yeah.

00:31:43.440 Check it out.

00:31:44.080 I got a freezer full of meat, and I'm going to eat it.

00:31:46.680 Honey, I think we could put our kids through college with this.

00:31:49.280 Yeah.

00:31:49.480 I got a freezer full of meat, and I'm going to eat it.

00:31:57.380 I think that's great.

00:31:58.240 We're just going to end here.

00:31:59.040 And when I get hungry, I just gnaw on a raw bone.

00:32:01.360 Just gnaw?

00:32:02.060 Like a dog.

00:32:02.880 Hurr! 1.00

00:32:03.540 Just gnaw on my dog's leg.

00:32:07.620 I don't know.

00:32:08.340 I mean, I think that you could really, I mean, besides the sustainability aspect of meat is bad for the world, this could be good for your personal brand.

00:32:16.500 I'll think about it.

00:32:17.500 Right.

00:32:18.280 And that's all we have for you.

00:32:19.260 That's all we have for today, friends.

00:32:20.980 Loved having you here.

00:32:22.180 Go do something nice for yourself.

00:32:23.880 Go say something nice to another mom.

00:32:26.460 Go, I mean, maybe don't eat a lot of meat.

00:32:28.620 I don't know.

00:32:29.340 Don't follow Carnivore Ray.

00:32:30.940 I gotta be honest.

00:32:32.600 A steak tonight might be the right move.

00:32:34.420 That sounds nice, but let's go to the nice independent butcher down the street and get a nice steak.

00:32:38.780 Let's do it.

00:32:39.480 Great.

00:32:40.060 Boom.

00:32:40.700 Done.

00:32:49.260 Transcription by CastingWords

00:33:19.260 I didn't like what you said, Odin pauses, about the future.

00:33:34.840 This is the love story of real hinge couple Odin and Edward,

00:33:39.160 written and read by me, Curtis Garner.

00:33:41.900 Listen to the free audiobook now.

Under the Influence (with Jo Piazza) - May 03, 2024

Meatfluencers with Nick Aster

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