All Episodes
Previous Next
July 24, 2016 - Sargon of Akkad - Carl Benjamin
25:19
This Week in Stupid (24⧸07⧸2016)
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
Hello everyone, welcome to this week in Stupid for the 24th of July 2016.
So we start this week with a first meme terrorist transforms Taylor Swift Memorial into Harambe SpongeBob tribute.
Now this sounds very important, and I'm going to be honest, I don't know what a Taylor Swift is, but I'm going to assume it's some sort of pop star.
So the only reason I'm talking about this is because someone apparently put up a fake memorial for Taylor Swift, saying in loving memory of 1989 to 2016, no tags please respect the dead.
As I'm, as I'm aware, she's not dead.
So this artist, known on Instagram as Lush Sucks, claims to have received a legal threat from Taylor Swift's legal team and has returned to give the memorial a facelift.
Now if you visit the memorial, you won't find a tribute to the woman who has once tried to trademark the phrase, nice to meet you, where you've been.
Instead, the memorial has been redesigned to honor Harambe, the Lolan gorilla shot at the Cincinnati Zoo in May.
Personally, I think this is a huge improvement, and of course this is a total non-issue.
But I think it's the first time I've ever heard the term meme terrorist, so I think it was worth noting.
So since we're talking about terribly important stuff, let's keep going.
The Young Turks.
More specifically, Cenk and Anna's meltdown at the Republican National Convention.
So now is the time to pause the video, get the popcorn and a drink, close the blinds, and settle in because this is pretty funny and I can't resist doing a commentary on it.
I just can't.
What changes in the demographics is that he wins white males in such overwhelming numbers that it overcomes every other demographic advantage.
So unsurprisingly, the Young Turks are busy, engaged in their favourite pastime of complaining about white men.
Given how that's about 90% of their content, it's not really surprising that Alex Jones would interrupt them in the middle of it.
But watch Jenk's face as Alex interrupts him.
Look at that reaction.
Jenks on high alert from the word go.
I mean, look at, look at his face.
What the fuck?
He looks at this.
This is an existential threat.
What the hell are you so worried about, Jenk?
It's Alex Jones, man.
But the thing is, Alex Jones, who claims that he was invited over there, I don't know how true that is.
He opens with a joke, how about I come and sit on your lap?
He clearly thinks that this is going to be a bit of banter.
And I think I know why he thinks it's going to be a bit of banter.
Because the Young Turks and Alex Jones have crossed paths before, and the roles were reversed.
Alex Jones has decided that he's going to take on the Young Turks.
This is a segment the Young Turks did in 2012, and it's back when I guess Chenk and Anna were a lot less highly strung, a lot less deep into their echo chamber.
Because Jenk takes this in his stride.
Listen to this.
First of all, Axe Jones apparently is going to set us straight.
So let's have some fun.
Here you go.
I mean, I saw a video yesterday where the Young Turds were saying that they are the number one internet news show.
I mean, I'm on over 100 AM and FM stations, XM.
But on the internet, just look at my website on Alexa compared to their website.
Look at my videos, more views.
I mean, you're full of crap.
I'm number one in alternative media, period, globally.
Even Rolling Stone, New York Magazine, all they've done actuaries.
I'm number one.
He's number one, period.
Yeah.
By the way, here's one thing he's missing.
It's a shirt.
Yeah.
He's going to address that later.
He's going to address that later.
Okay, but you know what?
Actually, Jesus, I want to go do the first clip from when he finally puts his shirt on.
Because he says the same thing here, but even with more detail, even though, as you saw, there's no numbers, there's no actual facts.
Right.
Let's watch that one.
I'm going to skip past the back and forth of their little show here.
And just, I just want to showcase the demeanor.
He's like, let's have a bit of fun with it.
we're gonna relax.
He knows he's in the right because he actually has, they're arguing over numbers, channel numbers, view accounts and things like that.
But Jen Kana are so much more calm and relaxed about dealing with Alex Jones on this one because they know they're in the right.
They know that they're correct when they say they have more views and subscribers and viewers than Alex Jones does.
That's not what irritated me.
It was the statement of the number one news show on the web.
Well, that's pure baloney.
I am the number one news show, bar none, by Google Analytics, Alexa, YouTube, every, every, no one is close.
No one.
No one is close.
No one.
YouTube views, etc.
He's got it.
Google Analytics, Alexa.
No one.
No.
Now, imagine if back then Alex Jones had walked onto their stage.
You'd think they would probably be thrilled to see him.
He's currently the butt of a joke.
And he would walk onto the stage.
He would be the one getting irates, like in the video they show of him.
And they would probably be able to make him look like a complete clown.
And this is why.
They have the facts on their side.
Alex Jones is actually not bad.
It's pretty good.
177 million.
Nicely done.
Here's the problem.
Young Turks, over 659 million.
Boy, that is shut.
Oops.
What happened to Bar None?
What happened to Noah?
You're bigger than us.
My math, if I got this right, is the Young Turks then would be 371% times larger than Alex Jones.
No one comes close.
It would almost be no contest.
Totally chilled out because they are totally in the right on that issue.
The Young Turks is a bigger YouTube channel than Alex Jones.
If Alex Jones had turned up, they would have carried on laughing.
They would have asked him to stay and probably chipped in on a few things to get it, you know, see, get the crazy conspirator perspective on things.
It would have been probably quite entertaining to watch.
So fast forward four years, and what's changed?
How's it going?
Hey, Alex Jones.
How are you going to see you, man?
You're looking sexy.
All right.
Hey, how's the revolution going?
You got to start the revolution?
We are indeed, Alex.
The revolution is afoot.
Welcome to the Young Turks.
You know what's Real America is done?
I am going to restore American democracy along with progressives and conservatives in this country.
I love this introduction.
Jenks puts up the formality of being polite.
Yeah.
Hello, Alex.
Hello.
But you can tell that he's worried.
And I think he's worried because he's about to get a narrative or two burst.
All right.
Well, I gotta tell you, I'm really, really proud to be here with you.
It's good to meet you in person.
How are you guys doing?
We're doing okay.
You like all our Hillary for prison shirts everywhere?
No, I kind of despise it.
Wow, how on edge does Cheng seem?
Do you not like our Hillary for prison shirts?
No, I kind of despise them.
Why?
Jenkins, you're not a Hillary supporter.
Alex Jones is probably not like what people think of when they think of a Republican.
This doesn't necessarily have to be some sort of partisan thing.
You should have just played it off completely, man.
Do you see them?
Yeah, I'm going to get one myself.
I think she should go to prison.
I don't agree with Hillary Clinton.
I'm a Bernie supporter, is what you should have said.
But instead, you start getting a rod up your ass.
Stop just sat there, like you're humming and quivering in your seat.
God damn it.
I'm about to have to say something or do something because he's about to say something that's going to make me look like a giant fucking hypocrite.
What shirts are they?
I haven't seen that in them.
You haven't seen.
Oh my God.
You didn't see me?
I don't exist and he didn't see me.
I'm not.
So the person shouting from off-camera is notorious tongue wrangler Jimmy Dore, whom legend has it was once a comedian.
We now have perhaps the most esteemed guest we've ever had on TYT interviews.
The legendary Jimmy Effendor.
Hey, thanks for having me on, Jenks.
The funniest man on the planet is right here, right in Rebel headquarters.
You know, I'm not going to argue with you.
All right.
I can argue with you whatsoever.
I am pretty funny.
It's true.
Well, people don't know about me.
Can I tell people what they don't know about me?
No, of course you can.
Is that I come from a big family, right?
So I come from, there's 12 kids in my family, which that's true.
And you go, wow, you learn.
People always say to me, well, you learn a lot about life growing up in a big family.
And you do.
I think the biggest thing I learn is I'm easily replaced.
Okay, I'll just cut out loads of laughter because I love Jimmy Dore so much.
But he's the brave, brave fellow who's yelling at Alex Jones from off-camera.
And we'll come back to him in a bit.
All right, guys.
Okay.
Look at this.
This is where things start ratcheting up.
Jimmy's annoying 11th child standing at the back of the crowd yelling, Alex Jones, Alex Jones, is really not helping the situation.
But if you look on the left of Chenk is Ben Mankowitz, one of the co-founders of the Young Turks.
And he's fairly relaxed.
He's smiling.
He thinks that this is going to be quite funny.
Alex Jones is going to come on, make a fool of himself, and then leave.
They'll get to mock it.
I mean, Chenk is not a Hillary supporter.
He's a Bernie supporter.
I'm sure that he's done plenty criticizing Hillary in the past.
And there are some pretty severe rumors about Bill Clinton going around.
He doesn't have to defend any of this.
He doesn't have to defend any of this.
He can just shrug and go, yeah, the Clintons are awful.
I've been saying it for years.
I'm going on about corruption and money and politics.
Hillary Clinton is probably number one on that list.
But for some reason, Cheng seems to be trapped in a kind of tribalistic mindset.
I mean, it must be because he's at the Republican National Convention.
And I suppose he's been defending the Democrats from Republicans all day.
But this is where Cheng thinks he's about to re-establish control.
It's rape.
It's Bill Clinton that says rape.
Oh, God, hide that in the alien.
That's the big note.
The Roger Stone's been on.
All right, you want to take my show over?
I'll take your show over.
I find this fascinating.
He's just like, no, I'm not even going to let Ben have the shirt that I've taken off Alex.
I'm having the shirt.
I'm having his microphone.
And now I'm going to tell him what's what.
And Alex Jones doesn't give a fuck.
Alex Jones is not the one here who's going to be defending a narrative.
Because this is the thing about these narratives.
They're about emotional investment.
And you can see that Chenk, his emotional state has ratcheted up another notch.
Now he's about to start fighting back.
Okay, you know what, who does this kind of shirt?
First of all, a sick guy.
A value judgment.
Totally worthless as an argument against whether Bill Clinton is or is not actually a rapist.
And Alex Jones recognizes it as such.
He just starts mocking it.
Why?
Because there is a good chance that Bill Clinton probably is a rapist.
Bill Clinton's not a rapist, folks.
No, you know who you know who's accused.
And this is where he really gets to Chenk.
Come on, come on.
Yeah, Bill Clinton's not a rapist, Cenk.
That's what you're saying.
Come on.
He's trying to rile him up.
Probably for the cameras, probably for a bit of drama.
So the question is, why did Cenk take the bait?
This is really obvious stuff.
Why did he not just turn around and go, okay, how do you know that he's a rapist?
Where's your proof?
Is there anything that you could get in front of a court?
And of course, Alex Jones is going to have nothing of the sort.
He's probably going to have some sort of conspirator, ridiculous.
Well, you know, some Bilderberg group member said that they rape children as a method of fucking summoning Satan or something.
And he could just lean back and laugh.
Alex Jones would look ridiculous.
He wouldn't need to take him seriously, but instead, he's taking him really seriously.
As in, Cheng seems to think that what Alex Jones is saying is genuinely important, and he needs to now change the direction of focus.
You know who's accusing Court Ray Papers of being a rapist?
Donald J. Trump!
By Donald Trump, Roger Stone!
See the shit-eating grin on Alex Jones' face.
He knows he's got him.
Now, Chenk is going to go off on a fucking tirade about something irrelevant to whether Bill Clinton is or is not a rapist.
No one cares about this whataboutism.
Alex Jones was just confirming what he said.
He said, Donald Trump.
He's like, Yeah, Donald Trump.
He doesn't care about Donald Trump.
He doesn't need to defend Donald Trump.
And he's not going to.
And then Cenk goes off on Robert Stone, I think it is.
Some Republican news person.
I don't really know who he is, so I'm going to skip that bit.
Actually, no, I won't skip it, because you can see Cenk getting more and more angry.
I just don't have a useful comment on it, I'm afraid.
It's in court papers!
I don't know why it's so amusing watching Alex Jones troll Chank, because that's what this is at this point.
And Jenk is trying to maintain some kind of moral high ground.
You know, you're a bad person, blah, blah, blah.
As if that matters in the case of whether Bill Clinton's a rapist or not.
Because this is about Jenk defending the left against the right.
I think in his mind it's become very much in this situation.
It was very much the black and white dichotomy.
Anyone from the right is a bad person.
Anyone from the left must be a good person.
And therefore now, you have to take on responsibility and ownership of defense of people like Bill Clinton.
I don't think Jenk is usually this bad or like this, but he seems to be so irate about it that he knows he's going to have to defend the indefensible, which is why he just wants to point the finger at Donald Trump.
Alright.
Roger, yeah, run away.
Roger, don't go.
He wants to debate you right now.
I'm not going to debate this guy.
Then don't shame him for leaving.
If you're like, yeah, run away.
Oh, you're too scared to not come and debate me.
Jenkin, you know, you're not, you don't want to talk to him, so don't shame him.
You're a hatchet man.
I don't know why anyone in the media takes you seriously.
All you do is lie.
You're known as the biggest liar in media.
You're the biggest liar in media.
There's nobody watching this show.
Okay, so there's clearly some kind of history between Cenk and that guy that I'm not aware of.
And it's really pissed Jenk off.
To the point where Alex Jones is even like, look, don't get too mad.
Don't get too mad.
He's patting him on the shoulder.
He's trying to be buddy with him, but Cenk is losing his shit and here here comes the real the real issue Alright, well, first of all.
Oh, get that fucking t-shirt away from me.
Now look at Chenk's face here.
Just fucking hell.
This guy really got to him.
And I think that Chenk's friends around him can see this.
So Anna Kasparian decides to leap in and white knight for her friend and mentor Cheng Yuga.
And it's kind of sweet that she would think to do this.
She goes into full like bitch girlfriend mode.
And it's, it's hilarious.
So Anna has decided that Alex Jones is the problem.
Even though it doesn't really seem that Alex Jones was actually the one who really wound up Chenk.
He just put him on edge.
It was the Roger Stone guy who really got him pissed, but it doesn't really matter.
And you can understand why she would think it was Alex Jones' fault in the first place.
But calling Alex Jones a fat fuck, I mean, that's fat shaming.
I mean, just like everyone on Twitter was asking, what would Anna Kasparian think of such language?
And a lot of the people that are picking on him for his weight gain aren't really lookers themselves.
And it's the classic bullying move where you want to feel better about yourself.
So you look to someone and pick on their imperfections to feel good about yourself.
It's just, it's stupid.
She strikes me as someone who's actually trying to make a very serious and very terrible statement about overweight people.
Look, I think that if someone, if someone that cares about you tells you, like, hey, let's get healthy together, it's not fat shaming.
You know, fat shaming is pointing a finger at you and being like, you're fat.
So you would think that Anna would not be particularly proud of her behavior there, but I think in her mind she was defending her friend.
And so anything went and she went for the lowest blows she could think of.
The thing is, this doesn't bother Alex Jones at all, probably because he knows he's a fat fuck.
But since Anna just lowered the bar, Alex decides to lower the bar one further.
And I think it's this that really pisses Chenk off because until then, he's waving his hand at Anna, trying to get her to calm down.
No, it's okay.
You don't need to fight my battle for me.
That sort of thing.
But it's this that really gets him riled.
All right, all right, all right, all right.
Let's get out of here, Alex.
All right, we gotta continue.
Hey, man, nobody watches.
So this is the complete clusterfuck.
Alex Jones is paying attention to what she's saying.
The other guys are just like, no, just wait for him to go away.
And then he decides to mention Saudi Arabian funding.
Hey, first of all, let me explain something, all right.
And this is the thing that really got Cenk upset.
And I think that he thinks Alex Jones was implying that the Young Turks took Saudi money.
Okay, this is bullshit!
Oh, God, hold on!
We're against Saudi Arabia, you dumbass!
We talk about that all the time!
We talk about that all the time!
So, Jenkin is obviously against Saudi Arabia because the Saudi regime is awful.
It's a terrible regime.
It's produced a terrible country that has a terrible ideology that treats its citizens terribly, both male and female.
So I'm not surprised that he would want to not only not be a part of that, but not want to think that he wasn't opposing that.
The very idea of being endorsed by any kind of country like that is obviously something Chenk is not very pleased with.
He thinks himself as a progressive, secular, liberal guy.
So he doesn't want to think of himself as being backed by a tyrannical Islamist regime.
Fun for everybody, we've got a new partnership.
It's with AJ Plus.
That's the digital only channel for Al Jazeera.
Oh, that explains everything.
Let's hear their narrative.
And they're doing a bunch of great content.
Look, the overall thing is Voice of the Voiceless.
Yes.
That's pretty good.
We like that.
We like that.
We do like that.
Alright, so every once in a while we want to do a story on something, but it's kind of cool that Al Jazeera has its own reporters.
So they go out, they do the story, and we actually want to use some of their content to kind of give you guys a bigger picture of the things that we talk about on the Young Turks.
So, the partnership between the Young Turks and Al Jazeera is entirely one of self-interest for the Young Turks.
It means they don't have to get their own reporters.
I think they have one of their own reporters.
So having other people going and doing the reporting and then the young Turks being given the content to use in whatever way they want, that's a massive help for the young Turks.
But why might it also be a problem for the young Turks?
Well, let's do the bare minimum research and just go on Wikipedia and see what we can find about Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera is the Doha-based state-funded broadcaster owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network, which is partly funded by the House of Fanny, the ruling family of Qatar.
Al Jazeera has been called a propaganda outlet for the Qatari government and its foreign policy by analysts and by news reporters, including former Al Jazeera reporters.
Citation, citation, citation, citation, citation, citation, citation.
The network is sometimes perceived to have mainly Islamist perspectives, promoting the Muslim Brotherhood and having a pro-Sunni and anti-Shia bias in its reporting of regional issues.
It's also accused of having an anti-Western bias.
Citation, citation.
However, Al Jazeera insists that it covers all signs of a debate.
It says it presents Israel's view, Iran's view, and even aired videos by the Osama bin Laden.
Al Jazeera is owned by the government of Qatar.
Citation, citation, citation, citation, citation, citation.
In 2010, the UN Department of State Internal Communications, released by WikiWeeks as part of the 2010 diplomatic cables leak, claimed the Qatar government manipulates Al Jazeera coverage to suit political interests.
In 2012, The Guardian reported that Al Jazeera's editorial independence came into question when the channel's director of news, Salan Negum, stepped in at the last minute to order that a two-minute long video covering UN debate over the Syrian civil war include a speech by the leader of Qatar.
Okay, so the Young Turks happened to partner with Al Jazeera, the propaganda mouthpiece of the Qatari government.
Okay, how bad is the Qatari government?
Qatar complicit in modern slavery despite reforms, say the unions.
Foreign workers employed in Qatar make up nearly 90% of the population?
90% fucking hell.
And they still need permission to leave the country, keeping them at the mercy of their employers, said the International Trade Union Confederation.
Promises of reform have been used as a smokescreen to draw in companies and governments to do business in Qatar as the Gulf state rolls out massive infrastructure developments to host the 2022 World Cup.
The tragedy of 1.7 million migrant workers trapped in Qatar defines modern day slavery.
Look, the overall thing is Voice of the Voiceless.
Yes.
That's pretty good.
We like that.
We like that.
We talk about that all the time.
We talk about that all the time.
And I'm not sure.
Look, the overall thing is Voice of the Voiceless.
Yes.
That's pretty good.
We like that.
We like that.
So it really looks to me like Chenk has some serious moral issues with people profiting from terrible, terrible regimes.
And I think that this is something he puts out of his head when he thinks of him and how he profits from Al Jazeera.
And how Al Jazeera is funded and owned by the Qatari government.
A government that is currently in the process of oppressing 90% of its population to the point where it can be described as modern day slavery.
And this is where Chenk has just completely lost the plot because now he is desperate, I think, to defend his own principles that, in his mind, deep down, I think he knows he's violating.
What do you think the Lizard people are in charge?
No!
What do you think?
You're pissed!
Oh, I love these truth bombs.
You're the anti-liberal.
That's so true, Chenk.
You fucking are.
You're a progressive.
That was brilliant, actually.
And Alex says, he's totally got me and he knows it.
This is the thing, because he's not protecting a narrative here.
It doesn't matter if Chenk's like, oh, lizard people.
He's not going to defend that.
He's not even going to bother.
He's talking specifically about something that's true about the young Turks, and about you specifically, Cenk.
You know, saying lizard people, he didn't give a fuck.
It was a silly thing to go for at that point.
Bullshit!
We're being Nazi!
You know what I care about!
I dare!
I care about the American people's good!
And then we reach the final phase in the collectivist progressive mindset.
I'm thinking of the people.
Which people, Cenk?
Not all people, surely.
But that's really the root of all of this.
He's got his ideal.
I'm thinking of the people.
I'm going to do good for gays or women.
I'm going to be progressive.
And in the cause of doing this, it's okay if I sell out to a dictatorial regime that enslaves 90% of the population of its state.
Alex Jones got to him because he is a sellout.
Chenk comes from the era where you didn't sell out to major corporations.
In fact, anyone who was a teenager in the 90s will remember that being a sellout is the worst thing you could be.
And that's what Chenk's become in the course of his mission to make the world a better place for the people.
I think Alex Jones presenting Chenk's own hypocrisy to him on his own show is what really made him lose his shit here.
And with good reason, because Chenk is violating some of his own principles by forming partnerships with companies like Al Jazeera.
▲
Export Selection