Ryan Mitchell: Hello, hello. Welcome to Offline Days, the podcast time machine to pre-internet existence. Back when your friends couldn't find you because you didn't know where the fuck you were. I'm Ryan and this is my co-host.
Coley: I'm Coley and I'm ready to hit that hot tub time machine, man. It's been a while.
Ryan Mitchell: It has, it has. And we are the Offline Days Podcast and you can find us on a social media perspective at offline D A Z E on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube. Did I get all, Coley?
Coley: Yeah, I think so. Yeah. There's
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, well that's all that's that's a mouthful right there.
Coley: a lot of There's so many of
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, it's nice just to have so many places that you have to advertise to. It's great, isn't it?
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: today we are going to talk about how the internet has ruined political discourse and essentially how we've, I don't know, lost the ability to disagree with people without turning them into lifelong enemies who want to murder us.
Coley: Yeah, it well, it those those trolls are pretty ruthless sometimes.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. I mean, I guess I'll kick it off. So we used to disagree with people we actually knew, right? So your Republican uncle was still your uncle. Your liberal coworker was still the guy who helped you move. You could spend three hours arguing about politics with someone and then be like, All right, anyway, wanna grab a beer?
Coley: Yeah. yeah, I that I think that that was one of my favorite things is but see like we've talked about this and we talked about this with in with Movita in one of our episodes where it's like the online bullying has gotten so bad, it's the same thing. When you used to bully people, you had to do it to their face and you would see them cry or you would see a reaction
Ryan Mitchell: Right.
Coley: or you would get knocked in the face. Same thing with with talking politics. It's like If I'm there with you and I'm talking politics and we're disagreeing, we're seeing facial expressions of like, maybe I hit a nerve, maybe I need to back off a little bit.
Ryan Mitchell: Right. Yeah. And you know, with that person, you know, that like I was talking about before, you know, your Republican uncle or your liberal coworker, you didn't immediately back in the day need to know who they voted for, what their stance was on forty seven different issues, and whether they ever retweeted something you found offensive. I mean, you might have thought your uncle's politics, you know, political opinions were completely insane, but You also know he was a guy who showed up when your water heater exploded. So it's like I don't know. We just were able to coexist a lot more seamlessly pre internet with different political opinions. You know what I mean? and now families get destroyed from it, you know. People won't come to Thanksgiving. Not even your drunk uncle. I mean it's bad.
Coley: And you know what's crazy about it is it it could be it could be literally about one issue. You could agree on across the board on many things and it could it could be one issue that can basically like that could bring you down and you and you would never want to talk to that person ever again.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. It's it's unfortunate. and like and like you know, we've discussed before, it's all this kind of this everything is like a an echo chamber of of of information and you kind of flow, you know, and and and let's and let's be honest, there's so many people, you know, we increasingly get news from people who aren't journalists, right?
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: I mean TikTok creators, influencers, podcasters, streamers, and random guys with microphones can now become political commentators like us.
Coley: Ooh, who should we promote? No, no, no, I'm just kidding. We're not gonna do that. Ross Perot.
Ryan Mitchell: Ross Perot for president.
Coley: Yes! I would love Ross Perot. Come on back, Ross.
Ryan Mitchell: What did Ross Perot say about Mexico? NAFTA it was. I'm looking it up right now. What did he say about it?
Coley: Yeah, I think it wa I think that's that was one political figure that the the ears.
Ryan Mitchell: The giant sucking sound was a phase used b a phrase used by United States presidential candidate Ross Pro to describe what he believed would be the negative effects of the NAFTA, which he opposed. So
Coley: Okay, and you want to talk about how it's changed a lot, is that he probably said that in a in a press conference or a debate or something like that. And that I mean, I I know he didn't have a shot anyway, but that killed that probably killed his career. Like that, like something like that, where it I mean, it's not necessarily crazy political, but like I mean, it wasn't it wasn't great and it wasn't politically correct at the time, but that killed his career. And now you
Ryan Mitchell: Right.
Coley: look where we are where I mean you you look at I don't know, this is the first you look at Lauren Lauren Boebert, you know, the the
Ryan Mitchell: Mm-hmm.
Coley: Colorado representative and how like given a hand job in in the middle of of the of the theater of like in the DCPA. And it's like and and and she's still she's still representative. Like what
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, yeah. Well you gotta remember Bill Clinton didn't get a blowjob in the Oval Office, nor did he did he inhale, so it's
Coley: And he didn't there's that picture of there's that meme that shows a picture of Bill Clinton and it says only only people older than forty know that there are two people in this picture.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, yeah. That's hilarious. But let's be let's be honest, you know, political arguments have existed long before Facebook and and and social media. You know, political discourse didn't suddenly become toxic when Facebook showed up. So early American politics was filled with, you know, vicious partisan newspapers, personal attacks and propaganda. You know, I think here from the research I did in the early eighteen hundreds, political parties actually published their own newspapers to to promote their candidates and ideas. So
Coley: Huh. Sounds like we're back to where we are. Okay, so we just big spiral circle.
Ryan Mitchell: It's it's it's yeah, yeah. And kind of piggybacking on what I was saying, you know, honestly, I like the fact that the internet has given regular people a voice. The problem is that somewhere along the way, we decided that having a ring light and strong opinions kind of maybe qualified you to explain geopolitics, right? You can literally wake up tomorrow, buy a microphone, put yourself behind, you know, put a bookshelf behind you and announce today we're going to break down the collapse of Western civilization. and I'm like, dude, you were just reviewing gas station breakfast sandwiches six months ago, right?
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: And now you're you're really kind of getting into it deep.
Coley: How was that brat that gas station breakfast sandwich?
Ryan Mitchell: man, it made me just shit myself like before I even ate it.
Coley: yeah, I you know, I think I you know, I agree with you that the that I mean propaganda and everything, that that's been around since the beginning of politics. I I think that when you think about the eighties and nineties, and you think about the the political part of the eighties and nineties, I don't know if this was common in your house, but in my house, I never heard my mom and dad talk about politics. Like that was not necessarily
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah.
Coley: something and even like when we go to you would go to a family dinner or you like that was remember that was that was taboo. You don't talk politics, you know, with family or whatever it is. And so like we grew up not necessarily knowing what was going on. Now I look at like
Ryan Mitchell: Sure.
Coley: Violet and like Violet knows Who the president of the United States is, which is good. I'm glad that she, you know, I'm glad that that it's yeah, that's my
Ryan Mitchell: Coley's daughter, by the way, for people that don't know.
Coley: yeah, for yeah, for our new listeners. Violet
Ryan Mitchell: No.
Coley: is my daughter, yeah. and she you know, she knows who the president of the United States is, and so it's like that that that part's good. and then you know, again we have this twenty-four hour news It doesn't matter whether you're watching CNN, Fox News, or whatever, that's rapidly twenty-four hours. You now have it on TikTok and you have it on Facebook and you have it on YouTube and it's there and it's just twenty four seven all the time. And so I think people are I don't know, maybe it's like maybe it's like political overload almost.
Ryan Mitchell: I agree. And and think about too, like us as kids. I mean, how old is Violet? Nine, ten? Okay, so
Coley: She's nine, yeah. Mm-hmm.
Ryan Mitchell: try to envision yourself at nine years old, like like you said, you know who the president was, but you probably don't know much more beyond that, right? Not but I'm sure kids these days know way too many details about whatever is happening that shouldn't be polluting their forming minds. Right.
Coley: Yeah. I mean, do you maybe also we talk about it more, you know? We're people who who
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah.
Coley: might talk about it a little more and like if something is bothering us that's happening in the real world, we're gonna bring it up. And if we have kids or kids are in the area, they're gonna hear it, they're gonna they're gonna learn and they're gonna process it.
Ryan Mitchell: Right. And it's and again, it's just the information overload. And I feel like we don't share information anywhere anymore. We share ammunition is is the way I think about it. so social social media makes how do I phrase this, information incredibly easy to share, but we're often not sharing something because it's accurate. We're sharing it because it helps our side. So like the whole fact checking, you know, just getting random information. It's like, well, I got this post here that and I'm a Democrat and my aunt's a Republican and I hate her. So I'm just gonna just tag her and blast her with this. So it's
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: it's like you're you're you're getting this information to just we're in tribal mode now, right? Where everyone's like going back to the the tribal mode. It's like, well, I'm part of this party, you're part of that party. Which party are you a part of? I need to know.
Coley: Do you do you remember I I I don't remember this at all. I the fact that there that the spectrum of between Democrat and Republican is, you know, it it's a spectrum, clearly. But like
Ryan Mitchell: Sure.
Coley: there are I mean you you hear the word, you know, you hear the word MAGA and you hear the word radical left, and it's like I don't remember people that were that extreme. on both sides growing up.
Ryan Mitchell: I think you're you hit the nail on the head there. I think both sides were more moderate. what's that old term? Blue dog democrat. Let me Google that. I've heard that before. It's a fiscally conservative or moderate House Democrat in the United States Congress. So I don't know what triggered me to think about that, but I think it's just more the sides being moderate. Like you said, the the extremes weren't here. And I think the ex extremes weren't here because We didn't have social media to create these psychopathic kind of echo chamber, house of horror, whatever you want to call it, sides. And I think that's what and it's easy. Another thing, it's easy for you know, the let's talk about the monetization side of it. When you're just spewing bullshit, I mean people watch, I mean, like conspiracy theories, misinformation. I feel like people just love that. They eat that shit up. So you do that long enough and then you you get these extreme sides.
Coley: Yeah, I d do you think the algorithm has anything to do with with the extremes as well? I mean, it's it's so interesting when I when I look at my Facebook or I look at my TikTok and sometimes it'll I'll have like extreme left views and sometimes I'll have extreme right views and I don't necessarily know if that's me being an independent and it's like they're just trying to like They're trying to reel me in on either side and I don't know.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. I like to call myself politically gender neutral. politically gender neutral. but I don't know if that's a thing. But yeah, pol yeah, politically gender neutral.
Coley: I like it. Let's make it a thing. We'll hashtag it.
Ryan Mitchell: yeah, I think the algorithm has a lot to do it, just like just like it has a lot to do with all the other aspects of just getting people to look at inflammatory things because it creates revenue, it creates clicks. I mean, people aren't clicking a billion times on the the firemen that saved the turtle in Maine. They'd rather see the whole town in Texas burning down because I don't know, some figment of their imagination like the Muslims are taking over or something like that.
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: You know, and you know, there's the there are these kind of just illusions that people have. And I think it all it has all to do with the algorithm and that then backs up to the people behind the algorithm, which are the data scientists, the social media, the C the the the the big wigs that are all they care about is making money. They don't give a fuck if this world blows up tomorrow, you know? They'll have a bunker with a caviar.
Coley: Yeah. I yeah, I don't know what that that's I mean that's capitalism. That's that's where we are. We we we wouldn't have this political debate or d you know, this we wouldn't have I don't think we'd have a democracy if capitalism wasn't a thing. I I don't know. we we might. We don't know. But like capitalism is is the thing that that runs everybody.
Ryan Mitchell: Sure.
Coley: I mean it I I wanna I don't necessarily say like I'm not necessarily a religious person in general, but like if there like if if America or people in first world countries or even s it doesn't matter. It honestly capitalism is the god. Like money is the god if you think about it, because that's what controls everything.
Ryan Mitchell: Sure, sure. And capitalism, you know, I think capitalism has, you know, worked for many years. Now maybe there'll be a hybrid version of it in the future, you know, where we keep, you know, certain capitalist things and maybe we adopt some other things, like maybe from, I don't know, Norway, Sweden, you know, the places that are always like the happiest countries to live in in the world.
Coley: Right? There there's so many places that it seems like it just seems like a really interesting and really fun place to to live and and you know, it's like okay, well let's you know, let's make sure you know, but we're but we're gonna try to make as much money as we can and we're definitely gonna have that money that money gap there, that class gap.
Ryan Mitchell: See, that's where capitalism has has it's kind of like it's on crack now, right? Because companies have gotten so big. Amazon, Google, Microsoft, you know, you have your super PACs, you have, you know, that are pulling the strings, you know, on the political side. So that's another thing you you know, you talk about. It's like you didn't have these super PACs back in the day that were just, you know, on both sides, that were just massively swinging. votes to one side or the other, right?
Coley: Yeah, and and and they're gonna they're gonna pay whatever candidate is gonna help them help their company grow and make more money. That's that I mean, so that that's just n that's just normal and that's that's where we are right now. Where it's like and I'm not saying that it's it's I mean this has been a thing at for a while where big corporations are paying, you know They're donating to pot to political candidates so that they can vote certain ways. I mean, that's the whole reason a lobbyist exists.
Ryan Mitchell: Right. And you know, there's nothing new about kind of that sort of playbook, right? But it's just gotten so big and there's been so much money, you know, in it now. It's just the influence is a lot more probably significant than I would say historically what it's been. and you
Coley: yeah. I mean you look at I mean Amazon is I don't even know what Amazon is worth. But if you're if you're talking about in the in the billions of dollars for a for a company, you know, th like that they're gonna they're gonna try to vote one way to make sure that that you know, that the president signs a certain bill that makes it so that they can have more money.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. And you know, we were talking about the algorithm, but I think the algorithm built political echo chambers, you know. you know, before the inter internet, your political bubble might consist of your family, your coworkers, three guys at a local bar. No, now you can construct an entire alternate universe online. You can find ten thousand strangers who agree with you about absolutely everything. So just imagine the effect of that in combination with some of these other things we're talking about.
Coley: Yeah, I mean that that's the biggest thing is is and and you don't have to you could type five words like I do not agree with you and and all of a sudden everybody jumps on you or or and then the pi the you know the people who you do agree with you they're jumping on your side and all of a sudden you've created this again you've created this algorithm for everybody that anybody who comments on a on on any sort of political page or whatever, now that algorithm clicks in. It's like, you liked something that was this. Now I'm gonna start sending you all these things.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. There needs I feel like there's some somehow needs to be like a a law against that or you know, something to to stop the perpetual shitstorm of information that people get and they don't know what to do with and then it turns them all into werewolves.
Coley: Yeah. we could start that. We'll just say werewolves are real and and and see how many people and see how many people hop on that board and see how many people get mad at us. Speciesist? I don't know, is it?
Ryan Mitchell: Right. All of a sudden we're racist for talking about werewolves or something like that. Yeah, speciesist. but think about it too. Think about both like think about CNN and Fox News. They're both the same side or the different sides of the same coin. Right? I mean it's it's essentially you you you're in your Fox News den or your CNN news den and it's just one side just fucking slinging mud the whole time. I mean, maybe there's a a couple of good, you know, pieces in there, but let's be honest, the art of journalism has died. The art of just being biased has died.
Coley: Yeah. I I mean, and that I mean that that's that misinformation thing that you talked about earlier. Like and and and here's the thing is like candidates and it doesn't matter who who the candidate is, candidates won't take the accountability for something that they said five years ago, or they won't take accountability for something that they did you know, two weeks ago. And it's like The the fact that these these are our leaders and I'm putting that in quotes, you know, the listeners can't see this, but but I but I'm doing
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah.
Coley: the international quotes sign or it looks like bunny foo foo. But
Ryan Mitchell: Right.
Coley: but you know, you put your leaders and and if if your leaders aren't gonna take the accountability, then then why would the rest of us take accountability? Like if I mess up on something, why am I gonna be like, yeah, that was my fault. I'm gonna try to change that, we're gonna try to fix it. Whatever. Instead, it's like I try to I point fingers, I blame, I you know, it's like where does that end? And and that goes back to I mean, that was not a thing back in in the 80s and 90s, like like leaders, and I'm not talking about presidents, I'm just talking about leaders of like districts, Mitt
Ryan Mitchell: Are you talking about Mitt Romney?
Coley: Romney and Bob Dole. I'm Bob Dole. I'm Bob Dole.
Ryan Mitchell: Ha ha ha.
Coley: I'm not talking about those guys. I'm talking about I'm talking about anybody that is a representative of even down to the, you know, you talk about cities, cities and counties. Like if those people aren't gonna take responsibility, then why why would I take responsibility? I don't if if no one's gonna
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah.
Coley: hold me accountable, then I don't need to.
Ryan Mitchell: I mean if you see if you see all these commentators and you know, politicians acting like clowns, then most most people are gonna just mirror that and be like, Well, I guess this is a fucking clown show here, so here we come.
Coley: so there's a there's a book out there and I don't know who wrote it, but it's called It's the End of the World As We Know It. And it
Ryan Mitchell: Mm-hmm.
Coley: you know, and it's it's not necessarily saying that the world is ending. It's just the what what it's saying is everything that we've kind of learned and grown up with in the eighties and nineties has changed and we have to figure out how to go along with that change.
Ryan Mitchell: Mm mm. I wanna go back. I'm go I'm still I'm I'm still going back. Nah. Yeah, we're we're gonna
Coley: You wanna go back. I wanna go back too. This hot tub time machine is not working, Ryan. I don't know what's going on.
Ryan Mitchell: yeah, we're gonna find some physicist that can just kinda take us back. So sorry to interrupt you there, but I'm I'm gonna die on that hill.
Coley: I d I I I'll die with you on that hill. I totally agree. I I want to go back too, but I'm just saying that it's just it is just one of those things where it's like, okay, well, I I don't know. I I also think that that when you give social media is like is like a microphone for everybody and when you
Ryan Mitchell: Mm-hmm.
Coley: when you don't know about the crazy And then all of a sudden the crazy pops out because it has a microphone. That's you know, it's like, yeah,
Ryan Mitchell: Sure. Hello, hello.
Coley: exactly. We we are crazy and and we have microphones. It's a
Ryan Mitchell: Right. Well, we s we stop trying to persuade people. You know, I think it's an important distinction. Political discussion traditionally has had some element of here's why I believe this, here's why you should consider it. You know, and online discourse these days frequently becomes here's why you're an idiot.
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: and you're not trying you're not trying to convince the person. you're arguing with. You're performing for the forty seven people watching. I mean, it's like take it back to the Roman times in the in the in the theater where you have or what was that, ancient Greece where people were just watching people get slaughtered by giants
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: and lions. And I feel like we're kind of going back to that somehow.
Coley: Yeah, I mean it's just it is one of those things where it's you people people get locked in because it's entertaining and it's something and and and that's that's TikTok. Like TikTok is the is the version of of Roman times or Greek times of going to a stadium and watching animals rip apart human beings. You know, it's just it's it's one of those things that it's just it's it's evolved in so people will not look away. From TikTok.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. I mean everyone it's weird too, because I feel like everyone's living in a different version of reality. you know,
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: when I think kind of the way to I guess to articulate is when people are exposed to n enough lies, the danger isn't simply that they believe every lie. It could eventually lead people to stop trusting anything at all. Which You see a lot of these days.
Coley: Yeah. I I mean there's a lot of things that I don't trust anymore. And I I don't know, maybe this is me getting older and and kind of understanding stuff, but like I
Ryan Mitchell: You are old.
Coley: am old, I know. Not as old as you. You just had a birthday. I
Ryan Mitchell: Motherfucker. Got me, got me.
Coley: know. but I you know, it's just w when you look at a political ad, I I I remember I mean political ads are always attacking the other person in a in a way to to make them look better. You know, this person doesn't this person doesn't do this, this person doesn't do this, this person does this.
Ryan Mitchell: Mitt Romney sells babies on eBay. Did you not know about that?
Coley: man, that would have been such a great business idea. But it's just it like, what was I? I was watching a political ad the other day and it's just like They they were attacking the person because they were a vegan. Okay, I get that. I would attack you if you were a vegan too. But like but that's where we are. Do you are you are you really voting for a candidate that is like, he doesn't eat meat, I'm gonna vote for him, or he eats all the meat, I'm gonna vote for him.
Ryan Mitchell: Were you seeing were you seeing political ads from Texas or something like that?
Coley: no, this is a political answer from Colorado.
Ryan Mitchell: my god. Yeah. And I think everyone kinda hates this time of year when it comes around too, because then they have to just like deal with all these stupid ads and you know, and I feel like the trust I don't think anyone has really ever trusted politicians, but I don't think that's really necessarily gotten any better as time's gone on.
Coley: No. I no, and and it like it's it's funny that you know it's like these are the people that you like. Depends on who you know, but it doesn't matter whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, you are you're voting for certain things that are gonna eventually help you. And we go back to the capitalism thing. Like if
Ryan Mitchell: Mm-hmm.
Coley: I if I'm if I'm a senator and I, you know, I'm voting for extra AI. or I'm voting for no regulations on AI. and I clearly have some sort of investment in AI because
Ryan Mitchell: Sure.
Coley: if I don't have regulations on AI, then my investment skyrockets.
Ryan Mitchell: Right. Yeah. It's interesting. I feel like this day and age in the past twenty years, the algorithm, whatever you want to call it, turned politicians into influencers. Right? So, you know, politicians used to give speeches. Now they post. They don't just communicate policy. They think about engagement. Because on social media, a politician isn't completely or competing merely against another politician. They're competing against cat videos, celebrities, porn, memes, your
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: friend's vacation. I mean, so
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: so that's an and that's a problem because you could have a candidate, a sound candidate that would be a great president that would never get elected because he is not a social media star.
Coley: Yeah, I think I think that that's you're right. That's exactly where you have to do it. You know, and speaking of that, a a dying a dying art in the in the political era is debates. There are candidates
Ryan Mitchell: Sure.
Coley: that are turning away debates. Do you re I remember th I
Ryan Mitchell: Mm.
Coley: mean that was the best part of Saturday Night Live was when they made fun of the debates.
Ryan Mitchell: Sure, sure. And I didn't and back then you could you used to not be able to just not debate or you wouldn't get elected.
Coley: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Right. You could s yeah, right. You if you said I'm not gonna debate, then everyone's gonna be like, Well, then I don't know your issues, so what are we doing? Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: Then what are you what are you hiding? You know? It's just and I think it's just important to have these conversations, just so not only our age, the younger generation knows that p you know agreeing to disagree with someone is okay.
Coley: Yes.
Ryan Mitchell: You can still be friends with someone and not agree with them on absolutely every political box that you need to check to
Coley: Right.
Ryan Mitchell: put it simple.
Coley: Right. And in in I don't think you and see this is where I think that it it's changed a lot is is it gets pushed on you. And it's like, you know, you and I would what was the what was the term you used? politically gender neutral. Is that what we is that hashtag?
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, politically gender neutral, that's me. Yeah.
Coley: But it's like all of a sudden it doesn't matter, both sides of the spectrum are gonna are gonna try to push something on you. because you don't agree like because you're closer to the middle and and it's like all of a sudden being in the middle is like bad. It's like you need to have a party.
Ryan Mitchell: Sure. Yeah. It is. It is. It's or God forbid, like somebody f a friend of yours finds out that you voted for someone that they didn't like. my God. Or,
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: you know, you see it in Hollywood all the time when when like certain people, it's like disclose that they either voted for one person or another, and it's this big ordeal. It's like, my God. I mean, at the end of the day, I I think it's The problem for the younger generation is I think it's just it probably disgusts them. Like I'm already sick of politics. I can't imagine kids that just see it on their feet all the time, you know, a million times by age fifteen. I mean, no wonder people are going crazy around the United States.
Coley: Yeah. I mean, I I think there was there was a comedian and I can't rem I don't maybe it was George Carlin. I don't know. It was talking about it was talking about extremists, you know.
Ryan Mitchell: Mm-hmm.
Coley: and it was like i it compared the the extremists in the Middle East and they you know, they they had that cheer and I'm not gonna do it 'cause that's probably super racist if I did it. Well you
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. I don't even know what the cheer is, but sure, I get it.
Coley: you'll I'll tell you about it later. But
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah.
Coley: it's like, but it it doesn't matter because they were ta you know, it's like he compared it to the United States and then he used a really heavy southern accent you know, as a stereotypical like like that that's the like you just I mean it was n
Ryan Mitchell: Redneck like me? You talkin' shit about me? God damn it.
Coley: that's not quite I mean if you talk regular, I think it'd be closer.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. Okay. Okay.
Coley: But but it's just like that it's like everybody the extremists have these have these stereotypes and it's like I mean come on, let's let's just go with the you know, let's let's let's read the issues, let's decide whether you wanna do it or not. And then that's how you can decide who wan who you want to vote for.
Ryan Mitchell: Not if they're vegetarian or maybe they wear
Coley: Ha ha ha.
Ryan Mitchell: Timbaland boots or or maybe they you know they like to drink, they don't like to drink, they like black, they like white, they like up, they like down.
Coley: I mean I mean personally I would like a senator or somebody who's my representative to be able to have the nutrition that that allows them to eat better or to or to eat and live. So, you know. Quality food, yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: Right. You mean just quality food, you mean or sure, sure. Well, based off that last conversation we had with the the the journalist on the the on how companies get chemicals into our foods, you know, I don't I'm not I'm not putting a lot of hope into that. you know.
Coley: Yeah, I've been eating a lot at home lately. Ever ever since that interview.
Ryan Mitchell: Hmm. I think about some of the, and we won't I know we're gonna we're kind of getting close to cutting it off here, but you know, when I think about some of the old old news anchors, you know, I think of like a Dan Rather or like a Peter Jennings, you know, Tom Brokaw, Walter Cronkite, you know, people like
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: that, just objective journalists, and it's just I don't know. And also Back in the day too, like like we talked about, you would just watch news on T V and there were only a couple stations. You didn't have sixty five thousand outlets to to look at.
Coley: Yeah, and if there was a debate on, it was on four channels. So you got whatever channels you had left were had if you didn't have cable, see now there's so many channels, the debate could be on five channels and you could go watch House Hunters or Crocodile Hunter or all the hunters.
Ryan Mitchell: And then, you know, it's the information, the all the information I think that's out there, it makes it hard for people to cut through what is actually true. And I think that's a a big problem. The average person is busy, the average person is barely able to make ends meet. And it's like you have to you have to solve a complicated calculus equation just to get to the simple. bare root truth of something these days, which shouldn't be the case.
Coley: No, and and you should be able to understand it. The fact that they have to give you a giant book to go along with your ballot so so that you can understand it. And then and even then you're not even understanding it. It's like, well, do I want one A or do I want one B? I don't know. maybe
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah.
Coley: maybe I have to Google it now. It's just like, my God. It's too complicated.
Ryan Mitchell: Well well I mean, as much as I don't love AI, I mean, thank God for certain things for like chat GPT and Claude, it's like, here's a bible of information they just gave me here. Why don't you just
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: why don't you just narrow this down to the the dumb Ryan version?
Coley: Yeah, right. I don't understand any of this. Make it so I can understand it.
Ryan Mitchell: Right. man. That's
Coley: Ha ha.
Ryan Mitchell: just been a good conversation then. I feel like it's you know, we tried to keep it pretty in the middle as far as just discussing politics and the political discourse and not aside, picking a side.
Coley: Right, there were there were no sides. I and I think that that's one that's why you and I get along pretty well because we are there they're they're like you and I obviously we're having this conversation, but you and I can have a conversation in a bar about a political you know issue or whatever, and we can see each other's side. See, that's the thing is we don't we don't get to like no no one wants to explain their other side. If you give me fifteen minutes to explain my side of why I think that this is a good issue, you will at least understand, regardless if you agree with me or not, you'll
Ryan Mitchell: Agree, yeah.
Coley: at least understand why it why it's an issue to me.
Ryan Mitchell: I yeah. And I think also at the end of the day, something people need to know is you're never gonna be able to argue with someone so much that you're gonna magically turn them into a believer of your truth. Let's let's be let's be honest about that. That's just that's not gonna happen. That's just a fantasy. And I think a lot of people try to do that. It's like, All right, well, we've had this political argument here. I think I'm up five points, so
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: they're like counting the points in their mind.
Coley: I mean, argue till you're blue in the face. You y y you're not you're not gonna change my mind that that dogs should have birthdays.
Ryan Mitchell: Getting on to more important things. And I th and I feel like that's a good way to good way to end it, you know, just just because that's the great thing about animals. They can't talk. And and they give you unconditional love. They don't care about politics. They don't care if you well, actually, my dog does get irritated when I accidentally fart in her face.
Coley: I mean I I do that too. I get irritated when you fart in my face too. So that's that's
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, yeah. It's just it's just
Coley: that's that's species.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, yeah. I it's funny actually, I feel like she was sitting next to me recently. The TV was loud. I farted and then I think she thought she farted and then she like
Coley: Ha ha.
Ryan Mitchell: looked at her ass. She was like, Did I just fart there?
Coley: That's amazing. Yes, you
Ryan Mitchell: maybe I need to put that in a stand up bit right there. That's I think that's
Coley: do. That needs to be that absolutely needs to go in your stand up. Good luck. There you go.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, yeah.
Coley: In case in case you draw something that has something to do with farting, you have your joke right there.
Ryan Mitchell: There we go. Yeah, that's a that's a fart joke there. Any any last kinda comments or sentiments on your end before we call today?
Coley: Yeah, I mean I just want people to stop again, I think we go back to it. I don't want people like I I don't need my mind changed. My mind is the way that it is. And your
Ryan Mitchell: Mm-hmm.
Coley: mind is the way that it is. I don't you know, we don't need to to see eye to eye on all issues. We just need to be kind to each other, be humans to each other.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, and and I'll just add one more thing to that. It's it's essentially sure we might disagree on things, but there are so many things that in life that two people that have completely different political views may still have children, right? That's a commonality there. You still eat fucking food. That's a commonality there.
Coley: Right?
Ryan Mitchell: You know, you like to go to the gym. That's a commonality. You like to play golf. You like to jerk off. I don't care. You know,
Coley: Ha ha ha.
Ryan Mitchell: it's like I what I'm trying to say is there are a lot of other things that you can agree on and not just, you know, shun someone because they don't agree with you on a few things where they voted for whatever. So I think that's just a message to to everyone from our perspective. You know, it's try to make the world a Better place, agree to disagree. Don't murder your fellow human being.
Coley: Don't murder. There we go. That's the if there's anything you can take away from this episode is don't murder.
Ryan Mitchell: Yep, that's the truth. That's the truth. do you wanna give us one more s where they can find us? I know we're still doing some contests.
Coley: Yeah. We still have the offline days contest for the fifty dollar Blockbuster gift card. There's two of so we're st we're trying to get I think I think a thousand Facebook followers is is is the ultimate goal, and then we'll have the drawing and I think you there's a a t-shirt or a a college
Ryan Mitchell: Cola
Coley: Apollo shirt giveaway that we're trying to do and trying to get that and make sure you you can go find that video. and comment on it and and and we'll take the the top comment and they'll win it. and then so we have TikTok, Facebook, Instagram. I don't think there's any contests on Instagram and I don't think there's any contests on YouTube, but that's where you can find us is at offline days d-A-Z-E.
Ryan Mitchell: D-A-Z-E. And this is a little fidget tool that I got recently that's pretty cool since I I
Coley: Nice.
Ryan Mitchell: have bad ADD and this thing just keeps me at bay here. So keep
Coley: You see the that was something that we didn't have in the 80s was was was fidgets. You just twiddled your thumb.
Ryan Mitchell: We did not we did not well it's been we you did or or maybe sniffed glue or ate lead or something like that. all the above. But it's been a it's
Coley: All the above.
Ryan Mitchell: been a great conversation. I've enjoyed it colley and you know excited to release this episode Thursday.
Coley: Yeah, yeah, I think it'll be great. All right. Well, everybody,
Ryan Mitchell: All right, signing off.
Coley: yep, see you later.
Coley: I'm Coley and I'm ready to hit that hot tub time machine, man. It's been a while.
Ryan Mitchell: It has, it has. And we are the Offline Days Podcast and you can find us on a social media perspective at offline D A Z E on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube. Did I get all, Coley?
Coley: Yeah, I think so. Yeah. There's
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, well that's all that's that's a mouthful right there.
Coley: a lot of There's so many of
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, it's nice just to have so many places that you have to advertise to. It's great, isn't it?
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: today we are going to talk about how the internet has ruined political discourse and essentially how we've, I don't know, lost the ability to disagree with people without turning them into lifelong enemies who want to murder us.
Coley: Yeah, it well, it those those trolls are pretty ruthless sometimes.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. I mean, I guess I'll kick it off. So we used to disagree with people we actually knew, right? So your Republican uncle was still your uncle. Your liberal coworker was still the guy who helped you move. You could spend three hours arguing about politics with someone and then be like, All right, anyway, wanna grab a beer?
Coley: Yeah. yeah, I that I think that that was one of my favorite things is but see like we've talked about this and we talked about this with in with Movita in one of our episodes where it's like the online bullying has gotten so bad, it's the same thing. When you used to bully people, you had to do it to their face and you would see them cry or you would see a reaction
Ryan Mitchell: Right.
Coley: or you would get knocked in the face. Same thing with with talking politics. It's like If I'm there with you and I'm talking politics and we're disagreeing, we're seeing facial expressions of like, maybe I hit a nerve, maybe I need to back off a little bit.
Ryan Mitchell: Right. Yeah. And you know, with that person, you know, that like I was talking about before, you know, your Republican uncle or your liberal coworker, you didn't immediately back in the day need to know who they voted for, what their stance was on forty seven different issues, and whether they ever retweeted something you found offensive. I mean, you might have thought your uncle's politics, you know, political opinions were completely insane, but You also know he was a guy who showed up when your water heater exploded. So it's like I don't know. We just were able to coexist a lot more seamlessly pre internet with different political opinions. You know what I mean? and now families get destroyed from it, you know. People won't come to Thanksgiving. Not even your drunk uncle. I mean it's bad.
Coley: And you know what's crazy about it is it it could be it could be literally about one issue. You could agree on across the board on many things and it could it could be one issue that can basically like that could bring you down and you and you would never want to talk to that person ever again.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. It's it's unfortunate. and like and like you know, we've discussed before, it's all this kind of this everything is like a an echo chamber of of of information and you kind of flow, you know, and and and let's and let's be honest, there's so many people, you know, we increasingly get news from people who aren't journalists, right?
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: I mean TikTok creators, influencers, podcasters, streamers, and random guys with microphones can now become political commentators like us.
Coley: Ooh, who should we promote? No, no, no, I'm just kidding. We're not gonna do that. Ross Perot.
Ryan Mitchell: Ross Perot for president.
Coley: Yes! I would love Ross Perot. Come on back, Ross.
Ryan Mitchell: What did Ross Perot say about Mexico? NAFTA it was. I'm looking it up right now. What did he say about it?
Coley: Yeah, I think it wa I think that's that was one political figure that the the ears.
Ryan Mitchell: The giant sucking sound was a phase used b a phrase used by United States presidential candidate Ross Pro to describe what he believed would be the negative effects of the NAFTA, which he opposed. So
Coley: Okay, and you want to talk about how it's changed a lot, is that he probably said that in a in a press conference or a debate or something like that. And that I mean, I I know he didn't have a shot anyway, but that killed that probably killed his career. Like that, like something like that, where it I mean, it's not necessarily crazy political, but like I mean, it wasn't it wasn't great and it wasn't politically correct at the time, but that killed his career. And now you
Ryan Mitchell: Right.
Coley: look where we are where I mean you you look at I don't know, this is the first you look at Lauren Lauren Boebert, you know, the the
Ryan Mitchell: Mm-hmm.
Coley: Colorado representative and how like given a hand job in in the middle of of the of the theater of like in the DCPA. And it's like and and and she's still she's still representative. Like what
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, yeah. Well you gotta remember Bill Clinton didn't get a blowjob in the Oval Office, nor did he did he inhale, so it's
Coley: And he didn't there's that picture of there's that meme that shows a picture of Bill Clinton and it says only only people older than forty know that there are two people in this picture.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, yeah. That's hilarious. But let's be let's be honest, you know, political arguments have existed long before Facebook and and and social media. You know, political discourse didn't suddenly become toxic when Facebook showed up. So early American politics was filled with, you know, vicious partisan newspapers, personal attacks and propaganda. You know, I think here from the research I did in the early eighteen hundreds, political parties actually published their own newspapers to to promote their candidates and ideas. So
Coley: Huh. Sounds like we're back to where we are. Okay, so we just big spiral circle.
Ryan Mitchell: It's it's it's yeah, yeah. And kind of piggybacking on what I was saying, you know, honestly, I like the fact that the internet has given regular people a voice. The problem is that somewhere along the way, we decided that having a ring light and strong opinions kind of maybe qualified you to explain geopolitics, right? You can literally wake up tomorrow, buy a microphone, put yourself behind, you know, put a bookshelf behind you and announce today we're going to break down the collapse of Western civilization. and I'm like, dude, you were just reviewing gas station breakfast sandwiches six months ago, right?
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: And now you're you're really kind of getting into it deep.
Coley: How was that brat that gas station breakfast sandwich?
Ryan Mitchell: man, it made me just shit myself like before I even ate it.
Coley: yeah, I you know, I think I you know, I agree with you that the that I mean propaganda and everything, that that's been around since the beginning of politics. I I think that when you think about the eighties and nineties, and you think about the the political part of the eighties and nineties, I don't know if this was common in your house, but in my house, I never heard my mom and dad talk about politics. Like that was not necessarily
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah.
Coley: something and even like when we go to you would go to a family dinner or you like that was remember that was that was taboo. You don't talk politics, you know, with family or whatever it is. And so like we grew up not necessarily knowing what was going on. Now I look at like
Ryan Mitchell: Sure.
Coley: Violet and like Violet knows Who the president of the United States is, which is good. I'm glad that she, you know, I'm glad that that it's yeah, that's my
Ryan Mitchell: Coley's daughter, by the way, for people that don't know.
Coley: yeah, for yeah, for our new listeners. Violet
Ryan Mitchell: No.
Coley: is my daughter, yeah. and she you know, she knows who the president of the United States is, and so it's like that that that part's good. and then you know, again we have this twenty-four hour news It doesn't matter whether you're watching CNN, Fox News, or whatever, that's rapidly twenty-four hours. You now have it on TikTok and you have it on Facebook and you have it on YouTube and it's there and it's just twenty four seven all the time. And so I think people are I don't know, maybe it's like maybe it's like political overload almost.
Ryan Mitchell: I agree. And and think about too, like us as kids. I mean, how old is Violet? Nine, ten? Okay, so
Coley: She's nine, yeah. Mm-hmm.
Ryan Mitchell: try to envision yourself at nine years old, like like you said, you know who the president was, but you probably don't know much more beyond that, right? Not but I'm sure kids these days know way too many details about whatever is happening that shouldn't be polluting their forming minds. Right.
Coley: Yeah. I mean, do you maybe also we talk about it more, you know? We're people who who
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah.
Coley: might talk about it a little more and like if something is bothering us that's happening in the real world, we're gonna bring it up. And if we have kids or kids are in the area, they're gonna hear it, they're gonna they're gonna learn and they're gonna process it.
Ryan Mitchell: Right. And it's and again, it's just the information overload. And I feel like we don't share information anywhere anymore. We share ammunition is is the way I think about it. so social social media makes how do I phrase this, information incredibly easy to share, but we're often not sharing something because it's accurate. We're sharing it because it helps our side. So like the whole fact checking, you know, just getting random information. It's like, well, I got this post here that and I'm a Democrat and my aunt's a Republican and I hate her. So I'm just gonna just tag her and blast her with this. So it's
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: it's like you're you're you're getting this information to just we're in tribal mode now, right? Where everyone's like going back to the the tribal mode. It's like, well, I'm part of this party, you're part of that party. Which party are you a part of? I need to know.
Coley: Do you do you remember I I I don't remember this at all. I the fact that there that the spectrum of between Democrat and Republican is, you know, it it's a spectrum, clearly. But like
Ryan Mitchell: Sure.
Coley: there are I mean you you hear the word, you know, you hear the word MAGA and you hear the word radical left, and it's like I don't remember people that were that extreme. on both sides growing up.
Ryan Mitchell: I think you're you hit the nail on the head there. I think both sides were more moderate. what's that old term? Blue dog democrat. Let me Google that. I've heard that before. It's a fiscally conservative or moderate House Democrat in the United States Congress. So I don't know what triggered me to think about that, but I think it's just more the sides being moderate. Like you said, the the extremes weren't here. And I think the ex extremes weren't here because We didn't have social media to create these psychopathic kind of echo chamber, house of horror, whatever you want to call it, sides. And I think that's what and it's easy. Another thing, it's easy for you know, the let's talk about the monetization side of it. When you're just spewing bullshit, I mean people watch, I mean, like conspiracy theories, misinformation. I feel like people just love that. They eat that shit up. So you do that long enough and then you you get these extreme sides.
Coley: Yeah, I d do you think the algorithm has anything to do with with the extremes as well? I mean, it's it's so interesting when I when I look at my Facebook or I look at my TikTok and sometimes it'll I'll have like extreme left views and sometimes I'll have extreme right views and I don't necessarily know if that's me being an independent and it's like they're just trying to like They're trying to reel me in on either side and I don't know.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. I like to call myself politically gender neutral. politically gender neutral. but I don't know if that's a thing. But yeah, pol yeah, politically gender neutral.
Coley: I like it. Let's make it a thing. We'll hashtag it.
Ryan Mitchell: yeah, I think the algorithm has a lot to do it, just like just like it has a lot to do with all the other aspects of just getting people to look at inflammatory things because it creates revenue, it creates clicks. I mean, people aren't clicking a billion times on the the firemen that saved the turtle in Maine. They'd rather see the whole town in Texas burning down because I don't know, some figment of their imagination like the Muslims are taking over or something like that.
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: You know, and you know, there's the there are these kind of just illusions that people have. And I think it all it has all to do with the algorithm and that then backs up to the people behind the algorithm, which are the data scientists, the social media, the C the the the the big wigs that are all they care about is making money. They don't give a fuck if this world blows up tomorrow, you know? They'll have a bunker with a caviar.
Coley: Yeah. I yeah, I don't know what that that's I mean that's capitalism. That's that's where we are. We we we wouldn't have this political debate or d you know, this we wouldn't have I don't think we'd have a democracy if capitalism wasn't a thing. I I don't know. we we might. We don't know. But like capitalism is is the thing that that runs everybody.
Ryan Mitchell: Sure.
Coley: I mean it I I wanna I don't necessarily say like I'm not necessarily a religious person in general, but like if there like if if America or people in first world countries or even s it doesn't matter. It honestly capitalism is the god. Like money is the god if you think about it, because that's what controls everything.
Ryan Mitchell: Sure, sure. And capitalism, you know, I think capitalism has, you know, worked for many years. Now maybe there'll be a hybrid version of it in the future, you know, where we keep, you know, certain capitalist things and maybe we adopt some other things, like maybe from, I don't know, Norway, Sweden, you know, the places that are always like the happiest countries to live in in the world.
Coley: Right? There there's so many places that it seems like it just seems like a really interesting and really fun place to to live and and you know, it's like okay, well let's you know, let's make sure you know, but we're but we're gonna try to make as much money as we can and we're definitely gonna have that money that money gap there, that class gap.
Ryan Mitchell: See, that's where capitalism has has it's kind of like it's on crack now, right? Because companies have gotten so big. Amazon, Google, Microsoft, you know, you have your super PACs, you have, you know, that are pulling the strings, you know, on the political side. So that's another thing you you know, you talk about. It's like you didn't have these super PACs back in the day that were just, you know, on both sides, that were just massively swinging. votes to one side or the other, right?
Coley: Yeah, and and and they're gonna they're gonna pay whatever candidate is gonna help them help their company grow and make more money. That's that I mean, so that that's just n that's just normal and that's that's where we are right now. Where it's like and I'm not saying that it's it's I mean this has been a thing at for a while where big corporations are paying, you know They're donating to pot to political candidates so that they can vote certain ways. I mean, that's the whole reason a lobbyist exists.
Ryan Mitchell: Right. And you know, there's nothing new about kind of that sort of playbook, right? But it's just gotten so big and there's been so much money, you know, in it now. It's just the influence is a lot more probably significant than I would say historically what it's been. and you
Coley: yeah. I mean you look at I mean Amazon is I don't even know what Amazon is worth. But if you're if you're talking about in the in the billions of dollars for a for a company, you know, th like that they're gonna they're gonna try to vote one way to make sure that that you know, that the president signs a certain bill that makes it so that they can have more money.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. And you know, we were talking about the algorithm, but I think the algorithm built political echo chambers, you know. you know, before the inter internet, your political bubble might consist of your family, your coworkers, three guys at a local bar. No, now you can construct an entire alternate universe online. You can find ten thousand strangers who agree with you about absolutely everything. So just imagine the effect of that in combination with some of these other things we're talking about.
Coley: Yeah, I mean that that's the biggest thing is is and and you don't have to you could type five words like I do not agree with you and and all of a sudden everybody jumps on you or or and then the pi the you know the people who you do agree with you they're jumping on your side and all of a sudden you've created this again you've created this algorithm for everybody that anybody who comments on a on on any sort of political page or whatever, now that algorithm clicks in. It's like, you liked something that was this. Now I'm gonna start sending you all these things.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. There needs I feel like there's some somehow needs to be like a a law against that or you know, something to to stop the perpetual shitstorm of information that people get and they don't know what to do with and then it turns them all into werewolves.
Coley: Yeah. we could start that. We'll just say werewolves are real and and and see how many people and see how many people hop on that board and see how many people get mad at us. Speciesist? I don't know, is it?
Ryan Mitchell: Right. All of a sudden we're racist for talking about werewolves or something like that. Yeah, speciesist. but think about it too. Think about both like think about CNN and Fox News. They're both the same side or the different sides of the same coin. Right? I mean it's it's essentially you you you're in your Fox News den or your CNN news den and it's just one side just fucking slinging mud the whole time. I mean, maybe there's a a couple of good, you know, pieces in there, but let's be honest, the art of journalism has died. The art of just being biased has died.
Coley: Yeah. I I mean, and that I mean that that's that misinformation thing that you talked about earlier. Like and and and here's the thing is like candidates and it doesn't matter who who the candidate is, candidates won't take the accountability for something that they said five years ago, or they won't take accountability for something that they did you know, two weeks ago. And it's like The the fact that these these are our leaders and I'm putting that in quotes, you know, the listeners can't see this, but but I but I'm doing
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah.
Coley: the international quotes sign or it looks like bunny foo foo. But
Ryan Mitchell: Right.
Coley: but you know, you put your leaders and and if if your leaders aren't gonna take the accountability, then then why would the rest of us take accountability? Like if I mess up on something, why am I gonna be like, yeah, that was my fault. I'm gonna try to change that, we're gonna try to fix it. Whatever. Instead, it's like I try to I point fingers, I blame, I you know, it's like where does that end? And and that goes back to I mean, that was not a thing back in in the 80s and 90s, like like leaders, and I'm not talking about presidents, I'm just talking about leaders of like districts, Mitt
Ryan Mitchell: Are you talking about Mitt Romney?
Coley: Romney and Bob Dole. I'm Bob Dole. I'm Bob Dole.
Ryan Mitchell: Ha ha ha.
Coley: I'm not talking about those guys. I'm talking about I'm talking about anybody that is a representative of even down to the, you know, you talk about cities, cities and counties. Like if those people aren't gonna take responsibility, then why why would I take responsibility? I don't if if no one's gonna
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah.
Coley: hold me accountable, then I don't need to.
Ryan Mitchell: I mean if you see if you see all these commentators and you know, politicians acting like clowns, then most most people are gonna just mirror that and be like, Well, I guess this is a fucking clown show here, so here we come.
Coley: so there's a there's a book out there and I don't know who wrote it, but it's called It's the End of the World As We Know It. And it
Ryan Mitchell: Mm-hmm.
Coley: you know, and it's it's not necessarily saying that the world is ending. It's just the what what it's saying is everything that we've kind of learned and grown up with in the eighties and nineties has changed and we have to figure out how to go along with that change.
Ryan Mitchell: Mm mm. I wanna go back. I'm go I'm still I'm I'm still going back. Nah. Yeah, we're we're gonna
Coley: You wanna go back. I wanna go back too. This hot tub time machine is not working, Ryan. I don't know what's going on.
Ryan Mitchell: yeah, we're gonna find some physicist that can just kinda take us back. So sorry to interrupt you there, but I'm I'm gonna die on that hill.
Coley: I d I I I'll die with you on that hill. I totally agree. I I want to go back too, but I'm just saying that it's just it is just one of those things where it's like, okay, well, I I don't know. I I also think that that when you give social media is like is like a microphone for everybody and when you
Ryan Mitchell: Mm-hmm.
Coley: when you don't know about the crazy And then all of a sudden the crazy pops out because it has a microphone. That's you know, it's like, yeah,
Ryan Mitchell: Sure. Hello, hello.
Coley: exactly. We we are crazy and and we have microphones. It's a
Ryan Mitchell: Right. Well, we s we stop trying to persuade people. You know, I think it's an important distinction. Political discussion traditionally has had some element of here's why I believe this, here's why you should consider it. You know, and online discourse these days frequently becomes here's why you're an idiot.
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: and you're not trying you're not trying to convince the person. you're arguing with. You're performing for the forty seven people watching. I mean, it's like take it back to the Roman times in the in the in the theater where you have or what was that, ancient Greece where people were just watching people get slaughtered by giants
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: and lions. And I feel like we're kind of going back to that somehow.
Coley: Yeah, I mean it's just it is one of those things where it's you people people get locked in because it's entertaining and it's something and and and that's that's TikTok. Like TikTok is the is the version of of Roman times or Greek times of going to a stadium and watching animals rip apart human beings. You know, it's just it's it's one of those things that it's just it's it's evolved in so people will not look away. From TikTok.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. I mean everyone it's weird too, because I feel like everyone's living in a different version of reality. you know,
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: when I think kind of the way to I guess to articulate is when people are exposed to n enough lies, the danger isn't simply that they believe every lie. It could eventually lead people to stop trusting anything at all. Which You see a lot of these days.
Coley: Yeah. I I mean there's a lot of things that I don't trust anymore. And I I don't know, maybe this is me getting older and and kind of understanding stuff, but like I
Ryan Mitchell: You are old.
Coley: am old, I know. Not as old as you. You just had a birthday. I
Ryan Mitchell: Motherfucker. Got me, got me.
Coley: know. but I you know, it's just w when you look at a political ad, I I I remember I mean political ads are always attacking the other person in a in a way to to make them look better. You know, this person doesn't this person doesn't do this, this person doesn't do this, this person does this.
Ryan Mitchell: Mitt Romney sells babies on eBay. Did you not know about that?
Coley: man, that would have been such a great business idea. But it's just it like, what was I? I was watching a political ad the other day and it's just like They they were attacking the person because they were a vegan. Okay, I get that. I would attack you if you were a vegan too. But like but that's where we are. Do you are you are you really voting for a candidate that is like, he doesn't eat meat, I'm gonna vote for him, or he eats all the meat, I'm gonna vote for him.
Ryan Mitchell: Were you seeing were you seeing political ads from Texas or something like that?
Coley: no, this is a political answer from Colorado.
Ryan Mitchell: my god. Yeah. And I think everyone kinda hates this time of year when it comes around too, because then they have to just like deal with all these stupid ads and you know, and I feel like the trust I don't think anyone has really ever trusted politicians, but I don't think that's really necessarily gotten any better as time's gone on.
Coley: No. I no, and and it like it's it's funny that you know it's like these are the people that you like. Depends on who you know, but it doesn't matter whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, you are you're voting for certain things that are gonna eventually help you. And we go back to the capitalism thing. Like if
Ryan Mitchell: Mm-hmm.
Coley: I if I'm if I'm a senator and I, you know, I'm voting for extra AI. or I'm voting for no regulations on AI. and I clearly have some sort of investment in AI because
Ryan Mitchell: Sure.
Coley: if I don't have regulations on AI, then my investment skyrockets.
Ryan Mitchell: Right. Yeah. It's interesting. I feel like this day and age in the past twenty years, the algorithm, whatever you want to call it, turned politicians into influencers. Right? So, you know, politicians used to give speeches. Now they post. They don't just communicate policy. They think about engagement. Because on social media, a politician isn't completely or competing merely against another politician. They're competing against cat videos, celebrities, porn, memes, your
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: friend's vacation. I mean, so
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: so that's an and that's a problem because you could have a candidate, a sound candidate that would be a great president that would never get elected because he is not a social media star.
Coley: Yeah, I think I think that that's you're right. That's exactly where you have to do it. You know, and speaking of that, a a dying a dying art in the in the political era is debates. There are candidates
Ryan Mitchell: Sure.
Coley: that are turning away debates. Do you re I remember th I
Ryan Mitchell: Mm.
Coley: mean that was the best part of Saturday Night Live was when they made fun of the debates.
Ryan Mitchell: Sure, sure. And I didn't and back then you could you used to not be able to just not debate or you wouldn't get elected.
Coley: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Right. You could s yeah, right. You if you said I'm not gonna debate, then everyone's gonna be like, Well, then I don't know your issues, so what are we doing? Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: Then what are you what are you hiding? You know? It's just and I think it's just important to have these conversations, just so not only our age, the younger generation knows that p you know agreeing to disagree with someone is okay.
Coley: Yes.
Ryan Mitchell: You can still be friends with someone and not agree with them on absolutely every political box that you need to check to
Coley: Right.
Ryan Mitchell: put it simple.
Coley: Right. And in in I don't think you and see this is where I think that it it's changed a lot is is it gets pushed on you. And it's like, you know, you and I would what was the what was the term you used? politically gender neutral. Is that what we is that hashtag?
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, politically gender neutral, that's me. Yeah.
Coley: But it's like all of a sudden it doesn't matter, both sides of the spectrum are gonna are gonna try to push something on you. because you don't agree like because you're closer to the middle and and it's like all of a sudden being in the middle is like bad. It's like you need to have a party.
Ryan Mitchell: Sure. Yeah. It is. It is. It's or God forbid, like somebody f a friend of yours finds out that you voted for someone that they didn't like. my God. Or,
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: you know, you see it in Hollywood all the time when when like certain people, it's like disclose that they either voted for one person or another, and it's this big ordeal. It's like, my God. I mean, at the end of the day, I I think it's The problem for the younger generation is I think it's just it probably disgusts them. Like I'm already sick of politics. I can't imagine kids that just see it on their feet all the time, you know, a million times by age fifteen. I mean, no wonder people are going crazy around the United States.
Coley: Yeah. I mean, I I think there was there was a comedian and I can't rem I don't maybe it was George Carlin. I don't know. It was talking about it was talking about extremists, you know.
Ryan Mitchell: Mm-hmm.
Coley: and it was like i it compared the the extremists in the Middle East and they you know, they they had that cheer and I'm not gonna do it 'cause that's probably super racist if I did it. Well you
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. I don't even know what the cheer is, but sure, I get it.
Coley: you'll I'll tell you about it later. But
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah.
Coley: it's like, but it it doesn't matter because they were ta you know, it's like he compared it to the United States and then he used a really heavy southern accent you know, as a stereotypical like like that that's the like you just I mean it was n
Ryan Mitchell: Redneck like me? You talkin' shit about me? God damn it.
Coley: that's not quite I mean if you talk regular, I think it'd be closer.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah. Okay. Okay.
Coley: But but it's just like that it's like everybody the extremists have these have these stereotypes and it's like I mean come on, let's let's just go with the you know, let's let's let's read the issues, let's decide whether you wanna do it or not. And then that's how you can decide who wan who you want to vote for.
Ryan Mitchell: Not if they're vegetarian or maybe they wear
Coley: Ha ha ha.
Ryan Mitchell: Timbaland boots or or maybe they you know they like to drink, they don't like to drink, they like black, they like white, they like up, they like down.
Coley: I mean I mean personally I would like a senator or somebody who's my representative to be able to have the nutrition that that allows them to eat better or to or to eat and live. So, you know. Quality food, yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: Right. You mean just quality food, you mean or sure, sure. Well, based off that last conversation we had with the the the journalist on the the on how companies get chemicals into our foods, you know, I don't I'm not I'm not putting a lot of hope into that. you know.
Coley: Yeah, I've been eating a lot at home lately. Ever ever since that interview.
Ryan Mitchell: Hmm. I think about some of the, and we won't I know we're gonna we're kind of getting close to cutting it off here, but you know, when I think about some of the old old news anchors, you know, I think of like a Dan Rather or like a Peter Jennings, you know, Tom Brokaw, Walter Cronkite, you know, people like
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: that, just objective journalists, and it's just I don't know. And also Back in the day too, like like we talked about, you would just watch news on T V and there were only a couple stations. You didn't have sixty five thousand outlets to to look at.
Coley: Yeah, and if there was a debate on, it was on four channels. So you got whatever channels you had left were had if you didn't have cable, see now there's so many channels, the debate could be on five channels and you could go watch House Hunters or Crocodile Hunter or all the hunters.
Ryan Mitchell: And then, you know, it's the information, the all the information I think that's out there, it makes it hard for people to cut through what is actually true. And I think that's a a big problem. The average person is busy, the average person is barely able to make ends meet. And it's like you have to you have to solve a complicated calculus equation just to get to the simple. bare root truth of something these days, which shouldn't be the case.
Coley: No, and and you should be able to understand it. The fact that they have to give you a giant book to go along with your ballot so so that you can understand it. And then and even then you're not even understanding it. It's like, well, do I want one A or do I want one B? I don't know. maybe
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah.
Coley: maybe I have to Google it now. It's just like, my God. It's too complicated.
Ryan Mitchell: Well well I mean, as much as I don't love AI, I mean, thank God for certain things for like chat GPT and Claude, it's like, here's a bible of information they just gave me here. Why don't you just
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: why don't you just narrow this down to the the dumb Ryan version?
Coley: Yeah, right. I don't understand any of this. Make it so I can understand it.
Ryan Mitchell: Right. man. That's
Coley: Ha ha.
Ryan Mitchell: just been a good conversation then. I feel like it's you know, we tried to keep it pretty in the middle as far as just discussing politics and the political discourse and not aside, picking a side.
Coley: Right, there were there were no sides. I and I think that that's one that's why you and I get along pretty well because we are there they're they're like you and I obviously we're having this conversation, but you and I can have a conversation in a bar about a political you know issue or whatever, and we can see each other's side. See, that's the thing is we don't we don't get to like no no one wants to explain their other side. If you give me fifteen minutes to explain my side of why I think that this is a good issue, you will at least understand, regardless if you agree with me or not, you'll
Ryan Mitchell: Agree, yeah.
Coley: at least understand why it why it's an issue to me.
Ryan Mitchell: I yeah. And I think also at the end of the day, something people need to know is you're never gonna be able to argue with someone so much that you're gonna magically turn them into a believer of your truth. Let's let's be let's be honest about that. That's just that's not gonna happen. That's just a fantasy. And I think a lot of people try to do that. It's like, All right, well, we've had this political argument here. I think I'm up five points, so
Coley: Yeah.
Ryan Mitchell: they're like counting the points in their mind.
Coley: I mean, argue till you're blue in the face. You y y you're not you're not gonna change my mind that that dogs should have birthdays.
Ryan Mitchell: Getting on to more important things. And I th and I feel like that's a good way to good way to end it, you know, just just because that's the great thing about animals. They can't talk. And and they give you unconditional love. They don't care about politics. They don't care if you well, actually, my dog does get irritated when I accidentally fart in her face.
Coley: I mean I I do that too. I get irritated when you fart in my face too. So that's that's
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, yeah. It's just it's just
Coley: that's that's species.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, yeah. I it's funny actually, I feel like she was sitting next to me recently. The TV was loud. I farted and then I think she thought she farted and then she like
Coley: Ha ha.
Ryan Mitchell: looked at her ass. She was like, Did I just fart there?
Coley: That's amazing. Yes, you
Ryan Mitchell: maybe I need to put that in a stand up bit right there. That's I think that's
Coley: do. That needs to be that absolutely needs to go in your stand up. Good luck. There you go.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, yeah.
Coley: In case in case you draw something that has something to do with farting, you have your joke right there.
Ryan Mitchell: There we go. Yeah, that's a that's a fart joke there. Any any last kinda comments or sentiments on your end before we call today?
Coley: Yeah, I mean I just want people to stop again, I think we go back to it. I don't want people like I I don't need my mind changed. My mind is the way that it is. And your
Ryan Mitchell: Mm-hmm.
Coley: mind is the way that it is. I don't you know, we don't need to to see eye to eye on all issues. We just need to be kind to each other, be humans to each other.
Ryan Mitchell: Yeah, and and I'll just add one more thing to that. It's it's essentially sure we might disagree on things, but there are so many things that in life that two people that have completely different political views may still have children, right? That's a commonality there. You still eat fucking food. That's a commonality there.
Coley: Right?
Ryan Mitchell: You know, you like to go to the gym. That's a commonality. You like to play golf. You like to jerk off. I don't care. You know,
Coley: Ha ha ha.
Ryan Mitchell: it's like I what I'm trying to say is there are a lot of other things that you can agree on and not just, you know, shun someone because they don't agree with you on a few things where they voted for whatever. So I think that's just a message to to everyone from our perspective. You know, it's try to make the world a Better place, agree to disagree. Don't murder your fellow human being.
Coley: Don't murder. There we go. That's the if there's anything you can take away from this episode is don't murder.
Ryan Mitchell: Yep, that's the truth. That's the truth. do you wanna give us one more s where they can find us? I know we're still doing some contests.
Coley: Yeah. We still have the offline days contest for the fifty dollar Blockbuster gift card. There's two of so we're st we're trying to get I think I think a thousand Facebook followers is is is the ultimate goal, and then we'll have the drawing and I think you there's a a t-shirt or a a college
Ryan Mitchell: Cola
Coley: Apollo shirt giveaway that we're trying to do and trying to get that and make sure you you can go find that video. and comment on it and and and we'll take the the top comment and they'll win it. and then so we have TikTok, Facebook, Instagram. I don't think there's any contests on Instagram and I don't think there's any contests on YouTube, but that's where you can find us is at offline days d-A-Z-E.
Ryan Mitchell: D-A-Z-E. And this is a little fidget tool that I got recently that's pretty cool since I I
Coley: Nice.
Ryan Mitchell: have bad ADD and this thing just keeps me at bay here. So keep
Coley: You see the that was something that we didn't have in the 80s was was was fidgets. You just twiddled your thumb.
Ryan Mitchell: We did not we did not well it's been we you did or or maybe sniffed glue or ate lead or something like that. all the above. But it's been a it's
Coley: All the above.
Ryan Mitchell: been a great conversation. I've enjoyed it colley and you know excited to release this episode Thursday.
Coley: Yeah, yeah, I think it'll be great. All right. Well, everybody,
Ryan Mitchell: All right, signing off.
Coley: yep, see you later.
