Joe Rogan Experience #740 — Thaddeus Russell Transcript

Transcript

0:00 Do-do-do. I gotta leave. I'm trying hard, though. What did you get heat about? Someone who was referenced in the podcast. I was just told that there was a complaint made. Oh, my goodness. Are you going to move up there? I'm going to split time between the east side of LA and the west side of LA Yeah, it's an interesting trade-off. Yeah. But it was fun because, you know, I was visiting some friends, and I was with my family.

3:03 Yeah. I don't know. Sometimes I call her my lady, but I can't do that on the campus. Like, we shouldn't restrict what kind of costumes kids can wear, offend people who it's supposed to be culturally appropriating, then what's it on you? The dean? that. Yeah, it's like a South Park episode almost. Or a South Park episode. It really is to the level in my classrooms and not say in my classrooms. At Occidental, the faculty themselves, some of the faculty actually took it upon themselves

6:54 Oh God. Where are you from is one. Indeed. Like, I think that that's gender neutral. I don't think you'll know how to say mulatto anymore. It's all one race. And different cultures. That's the word that's used. Yeah, so, right. It's all systemic racism. What are you? What if you're talking to a woman and she's black and she's super articulate and you go, wow, you're really articulate?

10:34 Often been said. About model black people. Why is that racist at all? Come on, Joe. Oh, you're here because you must be on the football team. hysteria. I see what you're saying. There is We're talking about like the word microaggression is suitable for that and that is a microaggression Well, you know, college campuses, there's no fun being had. I mean, I do joke in my classroom, but sort of the space outside the classroom, on campus, sort of in public arenas on campus, no.

13:32 John McWhorter is this that were even sort of hostile and racist. So what's happening now is kids on campuses either have been trained or have trained themselves system that never have these thoughts. So we're going to clean up the world. not enough real problems. Like the real problems have become so minute. Like this is the safest I actually looked up the statistics because, you know people during when the missouri thing was happening

16:36 So basically, yes, of course, it is an extremely safe place to be for everyone. And the problem was he wasn't there, right? So one of the main demands of students at Occidental was the resignation of the president. Well, he embodies privilege. So does it have specific charges? But, you know, he's only the most recent president who hasn't done that.

18:31 But the sexual assault stuff was so bizarre. Yes. And after they had sex, someone either convinced her or she convinced herself that it was rape And so this kid got kicked out of college for having sex while drunk. courses i think there's a tremendous demand for learning and i think there are a lot of curious screaming, Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter.

21:28 It's so difficult to unpack. and discourse can therefore And if you run with it all the way, it becomes totalitarian, right? And then you're back in like Maoist China, because everyone who says the wrong thing or doesn't say the right thing is a criminal, is an enemy, and must be dealt with by any means necessary. You were like them. Yes, I was. One would hope. You were like them.

23:34 What is this? What is that, Jamie? Do you know what that one is? But do they understand what the state is? They train people to take power. So you can see it in comments sections on the web, right? This is the repressed talking. to protect us from ideas and speech and words. Exactly. That's not how it works. know that when you give the government lots of money, it uses it wisely. Oh, that's great. But Joe, we all know that when you give the government

27:08 Yeah. Everybody submit your itemized tax sheets so we can show, oh, we're missing a billion dollars. If you make more than, what is it, $250,000 a year, you pay 40% plus in taxes. 90? Yeah. and you still wouldn't have enough money. Right, yeah. If you months ago. What did he say? He said, well, maybe I guess what we're talking about in that Why wouldn't you do that? I mean, as long as the ads aren't offensive or as long as the ads aren't, you know, some ridiculous propaganda.

29:50 right? For the government to control their education. So when you say they're interested When I looked at my parents' tax returns and saw that they made $11,000 a year in the 1970s, I said, oh, this seems like not much fun to me. That you, you know, they didn't want you alone. They didn't want big government. Well, yeah, so the right that you're talking about we now call the old right because it no longer exists pretty much.

31:45 It used to be about fiscal responsibility. and around the world, right? Sort of right wing intellectuals sort of around the Bush And if you have cultural sameness, Times. I mean, they published this. I mean, it's the United States Army wrote the history textbooks What? and they become upset, and then they never trust a word you say. Yeah. they all join together in these little message boards and what have you, and little Twitter hashtag groups, and then they feed off of each other

35:07 So like this YouTube video of the students in Yale screaming at the dean. So this Occidental guy that they're trying to kick out, Genderqueer? There's a list of demands. Okay. and they were protesting the raising of tuition, and they wouldn't leave. word. And this woman walked and she was being escorted to her car and just dead silence. first of all,

37:43 And the fact that they were pepper sprayed for doing that by some fucking asshole cop spraying chemicals in the face of these kids. that sort of document specific microaggressions Yeah, it was going to be dicky people. And I think these kids really do feel damaged by it. This doesn't rise to the level of your tuition, your scholarship being cut, right?

39:44 this day I think, I think fucking shit up is effective too, actually. Um, I am not pro-riot. I'm just, uh, but. Sounds like it. Well, maybe. You're gonna get in trouble. After those riots, those cops were indicted. Just dead quiet. And people are taking photographs, but no one's saying a word. I don't know. Right. cops deal with black people in this city now. And that was from one video, the Rodney King video,

43:50 about police brutality constantly now. And that's clearly only because of Black Lives Matter. Bernie Right. So in that sense, you're in favor of those kind of protests? Well, I think the future is the university I'm going to start next year. I'm going to Willamette only part-time, but what I'm really doing this coming year is or just curious about the world, right?

46:08 There's, you know, it's much cheaper to do this than for them than to pay tuition at a Yale or Occidental College. There's always information that's coming in. You know, I think that it's very, It's actually medieval. I believe. I was right. Yeah. Yeah, but do you have to go to college to get that? Well, otherwise, you're stuck with your So go to San Francisco, folks.

49:13 That's not a joke either. Right, as far as your return, immediate, able to get a job. than there is a four years of college. I mean, there's far more conflict of ideas on social to have a real debate about big ideas. I want the best minds from conservatism and liberalism and socialism and libertarianism I mean, so what happened was conservatives basically dominated colleges until the 1960s.

52:14 the problem with tenure right it sort of protects academic freedom but mostly it So if you have tenure, there's essentially no way you can get fired the most hate I ever got. and that what's really going on dangerous. But meanwhile, he has tenure. dais with a holocaust denier and you start debating them like you're you're giving him merit by just But the market should be able to do that as well

55:14 So they have fiscal responsibilities they have to take into consideration as well. by the administration. And when was it and 30s and 40s and 50s, schools were dominated by kind of, you know, straight white male elites, right? So the problem is tenure, the heart of it. and can't have solid, secure jobs. Well, one of the criticisms was by this guy who is a professor.

57:44 Right. Who were these two people that did it? Right. And in that situation, you got a hunger strike over two people using that word over six months. I'm a victim. A bouncy house. They created a safe space that had like coloring books, I think, for students to go to because But yeah, I believe it to some extent. Right. because they get to watch videos of all this nonsense going on at Yale and all this craziness going on in Missouri,

1:01:39 Well, it seems worse than that. I mean, because the ideas these kids are espousing, they've gotten from the classrooms. Right? or who you are and how you behave? Being called a racist and having people believe it. It's worse than being a sexist? The transphobic one is weird because there's so few transgender people. And the thrust of that was, after Stonewall, 1969, 1970s, as part of the gay liberation movement.

1:04:24 They're my heroes, that generation. And by the way, RuPaul So you can't misgender him? Nope. So now what you see a lot, but not entirely, but a lot among trans people is, you know, It's fucking hilarious. Wouldn't it be better if we just didn't care? Yeah. I mean, I don't, I think this idea that a man has a woman I'm 100% for that. Right. That alone should make you go, okay, what are we dealing with here?

1:07:37 Whether it is one percent or one tenth of one percent that are crazy now a certain amount of men who are who get punched in the face for a living. but you're putting out this thing in the public. You're making it this big social issue. But that seemed to be entirely concerned with what I think and what I say. which I'm 100% in favor of. Well, it just doesn't mean a lot.

1:09:49 I've been called crazy. But. I'm not saying it's stopping them. But if you're really people with all sorts of dysmorphia issues, You can say that guy's crazy, right? always look tiny. Sure. He was a white guy like as white as you he would turn fucking purple. I mean, purple. He was just Is that a crazy person? I do. Like I said, like martial arts. Infantilizing people that you would use that moniker on.

1:13:59 What do you gain by any adjective? It's not about being okay or not okay. Oh, aren't you? Oh, okay. That's crazy. It's not a crazy person? So I, you can do whatever you want, Well, it's also utterly arbitrary, right? or anyone should stop his choices, like that this should be taken into consideration, or the possibility that someone who gets their You should do whatever you want.

1:17:32 It sounds like a very boring place. Well, maybe he's crazy. Oh, that's a good word. I just judge myself harshly using it. It could be. He was a handsome guy, but he had his nose cut off. Here he is. I wouldn't call him crazy because I'm scared of him. Possibly unique. Yeah. It's a meaningless term. It's meaningless. if that's your son and he does that and someone says,

1:20:38 What would you call it? he wants to do. changed the subject. Martial arts, come on. I mean, it's a reason. by much of the population, That's the only reason. most likely for the rest of his life, because of corruption, Because the majority would not have the power that it does. But they haven't voted on it. Most of those guys are pussies, though. Interesting.

1:23:15 I've noticed that people are starting to call women dicks now really haven't you know? Oh, I love it. women in a negative way or like sort of how black people yeah it's kind of like the nigga of like But in a good way. The UK is like 30 or 40 years behind the US do you ever say your girlfriend? Yeah. You're my avenue out. Well, I certainly think that the boxy confines of ideas that you seem to be forced into when you're a professor at a college, it definitely reinforces this sort of self-censorship.

1:25:40 So do you, like, arrange certain bits of humor in your curriculum, in your courses that you teach? Oh, right, right. It's a real drag. Oh, uh-oh. Is it douchey? Well, it's a little bit. It's a little bit like I'm a rebel, bro. It's my. Do you worry about that word being kind of douchey? Which one? Renegade. Oh, uh-oh. But the word renegade, like, you know, you're going to, you got a bunch of dudes who are

1:26:48 It works for a book, a renegade history of the United States. That friend's probably crazy. The moniker? Oh, perhaps. are the people I don't want anyway. But not crazy. Do you do a chat or email? And with other students. Wow. It's going to roll out next year. Yeah, I mean, there will be some production. disaffected with colleges and universities probably 10 years ago uh after getting fired

1:30:19 And they wanted a black woman also for that job. We weren't going to hire a white guy. because there's so many more white men doing your job. But how does that work, though? Right. are distinct and hierarchical biological races of human beings, right? Yes. Okay. That's racism. Like, he's woke. Check Wikipedia. This is amazing. Like, they'all need to check Wikipedia. Like, what? Check Wikipedia.

1:32:58 Well, they can against, I mean, if they are an employer and they don't want to hire Chinese people. The day is coming. Well, racism and sexism and even homophobia are almost meaningless now because they're applied to almost everything. billion plus people yeah oh sure it's stupid i mean it's ignorant and it's a gross generalization Yeah, we're going to have to somehow or another get over this as a race.

1:35:28 But how's that going to happen? counterproductive idea that i don't understand Well, how about interracial couples, like black and white couples? The idea was we need to get these black people into our institutions to train them to become like us, right? That's hilarious. Well, but imagine being the one black kid in this class of 20 people or 30 people, right?

1:38:16 of a lot of it. Sean King? I don't believe that, actually. I don't know. Even he's got the little pencil-thin mustache in order to try to accentuate the possible African-American looks. Well, there's been stories written about this where they've gone pretty deep into this guy's past, Yeah, we can't know. I know. Russian. So Sean King can be whatever he wants to be.

1:40:24 That's my point. Right. That was my point. That was amazing. It's hilarious. That was an amazing should be celebrated. Yes. That's my point. But do you think people would get pissed if you appropriated the Polish culture? who he said, he never said he was actually black, I just think that when you make He was always up front about everything. Well, again.

1:41:57 Wow. Or whether they were sort of an ape, sort of missing link, missing link, or they were just something else entirely. And, you know, I mean, it's always been a heady intellectual culture. And I think it's because those are essentially intellectual movements. From the beginning. Right? Stand-up comedy. Yeah, it's interesting how many of them were involved in nightclub performing.

1:43:41 There's a very vibrant. It's just not as big. stand-up comedian was actually Mark and resonating quotes that he wrote hundreds of years ago right what was his what year was Hmm. I don't know. I mean, I think some other people have said that the first stand-ups were ex-slaves. Hmm. He was sort of an MC for other acts. it was one of the weird things is that they had sort of street jokes,

1:46:08 why some of the parts of our culture didn't make any sense, know non sequiturs not not connected and then there's George Carlin which is like Where'd that sock go? Lenny Bruce was the first radical, popular, observational humorist, I think. when Jackie Onassis was jumping out of the limousine His head exploded and she jumped out of that limo. She was trying to get away because they just shot and killed her husband.

1:48:47 Not necessarily. They're so bizarre. For obscenity? Yeah, he was arrested. Well, if it wasn't for those guys exposing how ridiculous it is. Oh, yeah. many successful court cases on obscenity issues and and he went all the way to the Supreme Court, and he won many of them. I did. It's not interesting. I mean, that's a lot. What? So he said, no talk about politics at all. Deal?

1:52:42 understood quite the extent of how deranged Hunter was. It's hard to think of another man even remotely like Nixon. He was one of the oddest presidents ever. It's hard to think of another man even remotely like him. And nobody knew who he was. They just were so outside of that cultural loop. What a pussy. No, that's not fine. But he didn't. like an hour long speech.

1:55:21 That's what countercultural comedians do. by many, to be sort of countercultural. Like what is it like to make these decisions Like, what do you think about a guy like Julian Assange? And this is why Obama will never be in this chair that I'm sitting in right now. I think those are very, very complicated subjects. In the way that you would, yeah. look cool and hip. It just really

1:58:09 He was very upset some endangered I think that's the recent provision. That's interesting. And they bred these animals in there. It's super conflicted. It seems, to me, shooting something that you never planned on eating, unless it's a danger. You just want to put a head on your wall. I get it. I mean, I know you're into eating what you kill. Oh, yeah?

2:01:51 But so is a pig. as, like bears are one of them. But bears have been eaten by people forever. of the story. Okay? not only would he not and there was a story was not Jericho Oh, okay. Well, I don't even know how we got started on this, but, Oh, Just really. Giving a platform to a politician is just... I didn't listen to the It was pretty weak. Does he know you?

2:05:02 I think for a guy like him, it's an opportunity to just sit down with What do you think that— I think very few would give much of their credit to government policies. recovery? Yeah. But would we have been better off if we'd let them fail? Many of us think so. Let the market work. Those were great questions. Right? I mean, that's what he's doing. So I want to know sort of personally. with being the president who murders brown people in Africa, right?

2:08:09 Wouldn't you want to know? Also, I would want to know, like, what is it like inside? Like, what is what's the mechanism? Like, what's it like once you get into office? Like, how different is it than what you thought it was when you were running? So one of them, yes, I would love to get into that. it is true that he has no power, then what's the point of having a president, of getting excited

2:09:24 Do you think so? what he believes is that Obama gets into office is inherently violent, is that jihad is a necessary outgrowth of Islam, that if we don't take action, Lethal action against him. Right. us. And that's what needs to be addressed in my view, right? Stop giving them a reason to hate us, right? Take that away. If they continue to fly planes into our buildings

2:12:42 with the most dangerous radical fundamentalist group in recent memory. Well, we're seeing that in Libya as well. We're seeing that everywhere you get rid of a dictator. victims are Muslim. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So let them, let them hang themselves is my, my position. But you think so much about it. No doubt about that. And I'd give you quite a bit of credit for moving it as fast as it has moved.

2:15:20 That's in that sense. I've seen you mentioned. cultural shifts. Right. Right right and presidents certainly can't they Most American children are trained in schools run by the government. What is the government going to do in schools? What are they going to train those kids to do and be and how to think? No, you don't get a choice. These are your lesson plans.

2:19:25 the official curriculum because those guys said bad words and they said naughty things. That's disturbing. So, I mean, that's not explicit anymore because that would turn off a lot of people, but that's what's being done. And we have to compete with China and India. But now it doesn't challenge the status quo. It doesn't challenge sort of fundamental ideas of

2:21:58 Is that the platform to do it in high school, do you think, debating democracy? I know lots and lots of high school students who would love to have that debate and are not able to in their which is going to be even more intense, It's basically a monopoly, right? make it much more difficult for third party candidates to have a viable campaign. people would vote. Yeah. I think there's a certain amount of futility that people feel when they look

2:24:27 So this Common Core that I was talking about, this national curriculum that's now being imposed on all the schools, right? his idea he said we need to have a common core to make all americans similar culturally that became some diversity of ideas and cultures in the schools do we all need to have the in and and talk in these really passionate ways about what it's like to grow the food that you

2:27:12 And then he was trying to explain to us that everything in the entire world, including human beings, and there are an infinite number of stars in the galaxy. This wasn't, this isn't a part of some state sponsored curriculum that he had to follow. The system must sustain itself, And it does that by training So this standardizes it, raises them all to the same level.

2:30:06 Is it working? Yeah. He had a whole Twittering about it, too. Yeah. My argument is that it shouldn't be standardized, right? leaving in any room for creativity or any room for exploring the possibilities of the wonders See, I think one of the coolest trends in this country And I'm going to find something I'm passionate in. It's almost like there's this longing for something that's not homogenized and pasteurized

2:32:59 That's happening just in the real world. It's driven by individuals and individual desires, right? Doing what you're passionate about. So you're a fucking rebel. That's not good. there's Udacity, to teach these MOOCs, right? But these people already have jobs. They have tenure usually, right? And so they get professors in those universities to teach these MOOCs, right?

2:34:40 and I have a book that's given me I'm going to say the thing that people hate me when I say it. If I think someone's interesting, I think they should Jocko podcast just went live on iTunes. So there you go, fuckers. Talk Jocko into a podcast. And half-joking the entire time. I remember when Fox came around, everybody was like, what is this? But he had to do that.

2:36:54 Well, yeah, I mean, No, of course not. You know what I read that's a staggering statistic? For years Bezos made not a dime. I'm pretty sure. Oh, hell yeah. I don't know. Yeah. You're going to have a toothpaste button and a fucking toilet paper button, you know? What I don't like about it is I hear about the pressure that they're under and they have to run from one spot to the other and deliver these things and they're yelled at and, you know.

2:39:10 in vietnam are terrible places but obviously they're better than the alternatives for those They called themselves a fair phone, but they fucked up and they only had like 3G. Right. Because it was very limited. Oh, it's a good five-inch display. with a brick phone. from a fucking rap video in the 80s? How dare they? Really? they get it from the farmers, they roast it and they sell it. They hire all American labor

2:42:25 I mean, yeah, of course, but like, how is that going to happen? But how did they get employed in the first place? in those factories is because they make substantially less we advanced tremendously because of it. like an awesome idea. It does sound like, there was another company that had an interesting idea What they're saying is, no, instead when they come up with new improvements, like a new

2:44:57 So, say if you have a Nexus phone, it'll work on Sprint, T-Mobile, whoever's got the signal. Has any institution or organization For the better. But if you lived in the Bay Area, you wouldn't know it because they're the devil. I know. I mean, what happens is, so San Francisco will no longer be a countercultural center. Your spot. Just right down the road.

2:47:08 But those two, He was talking to me are in Brooklyn and Queens So for a lot of people, nostalgia. But it's also, I think, in a lot of That's a blip in history. That's true. It's one way of looking at it, but it's also the, I'm not a fan, Phenomenal. That's ridiculous. There's more cell phones than there are people. that's an incredible advance in the way people live. Huge numbers of poor people live in air

2:49:54 of balanced perspective will be available to you at renegade University That's incredible. Thank you. Really enjoyed it. Bye-bye.