China’s "white paper revolution" protests—sparked by COVID lockdowns like the Jingjiang fire, where officials allegedly trapped residents—highlight authoritarian brutality, mirroring Tiananmen Square’s 1989 crackdown. Meanwhile, Balenciaga dropped a $25M lawsuit over child-exploitation-themed ads, with CEO ties to Jake & Dino Chapman’s controversial art (a $189K piece later deleted). Critics like Kim Kardashian and Kanye West clash on accountability, while brands exploit children (e.g., Victoria’s Secret) and silence dissent—Apple disabled AirDrop during protests, prioritizing profits over human rights. The episode warns of media cycles burying justice and corporate complicity in global abuses. [Automatically generated summary]
Yeah, so apparently he's watching those protests very closely.
He said, every, obviously, obviously, he said, obviously, everyone in China should be allowed to express themselves.
They should be allowed to share their perspectives, not your perspectives, just theirs.
No, you shut up.
And indeed, he says, protest.
We're going to continue to ensure that China knows we'll stand up for human rights.
We'll stand with people who are expressing themselves.
Come on!
Hello and welcome to Misunderstood, the show for all of you culturally and politically misunderstood lady, gent, non-binary, or Balenciaga shopper.
We are your hosts.
I'm Kat.
And I'm Nat.
And today we're keeping the Balenciaga saga alive, bringing forth some updates on the brand's icky scandals.
Plus, people are protesting China's strict COVID-0 measures, and our democracy-loving prime minister allegedly supports their right to demonstrate.
So we provide our super hot take.
But first, our patented culture shock moment of the work.
Turkado Wer, Kurt.
Here's a shocker.
Big savings are on the horizon, fam.
That's right.
Rebel News is having a sale right now in the Rebel News store for Christmas?
I think it's Christmas.
It is Christmas.
It's the Advent season.
So right now, if you buy two Unisex t-shirts, you get one for FRE.
Okay.
And guess what?
Misunderstood sells unisex t-shirts.
Yes.
And what's the code?
Oh, Christmas.
Christmas.
Christmas one.
It's just Christmas.
It's Christmas.
Use the code Christmas at checkout.
You have to have all three items in your curtain otherwise the code won't work.
Yeah, so don't put two in there and say, where's my free shirt?
Yes.
You're not doing it right.
And so make sure y'all go to misunderstood merch.com and browse our sexy merch like this sexy sweater.
I think this is not on sale.
I think it is because it's unisex, but it's not t-shirts.
I don't know.
Check it out and let us know.
Let us know.
Okay.
This is a new, this is a new color that we recently added to the store.
It's pink.
It's so cute.
And I already got soup sauce on it.
Nothing screams Christmas like a pink sweater.
With a stain.
Yes.
Yours will not come with a stain.
It also comes in black.
If yours comes with a stain, call us.
Yeah, no.
I got the stain on post-purchase because I had a big bull of suit.
If you want cat stained sweater, 50K.
The bidding starts at 50K.
All right, let's get into it.
So as y'all know, we're going to be talking about Balenciaga again because it's still going on, surprisingly.
Although I wonder if it's going to come to an end soon.
Do you think people are just going to forget about it as if it never happened?
Oh, way before Christmas.
Yeah.
Like as in the company just stops its shit.
It completely implodes on itself.
That would be nice.
I don't think that's going to happen.
I think so we did.
Just as a recap for those of you who don't know, the Balenciaga gift shop campaign shot by Gabrielle Galimberti depicted children holding bondage adjacent teddy bear bags, leather harnesses, padlocks, fishnet.
And then there was a second campaign featuring Nicole Kidman and Bella Hadid, which showed a $3,000 bag with papers about child pornography laws strewn across the desk.
All this was the Tinder that ignited the internet-wide backlash.
And of course, as we mentioned last week, there was other satanic and pedophilic symbolic stuff riddled throughout other campaigns, including these two.
If you missed it, we summed it up in a 60-second clip, which you can find on our YouTube channel.
And also, if you go to watchmisunderstood.com, it's there as well.
Yeah, watch the full episode.
It's literally 59 seconds and 23 milliseconds.
So I'm sure you have the time.
But also just watch the full episode because if the full episode because we did a really thorough deep dive last week and it was amazing and incredible and it was life-changingly was stunning and brave stunning and brave and incredibly disturbing.
Okay.
So the updates, there's a lot.
There's a lot going on.
But basically, the big one for me is that Balenciaga has dropped the lawsuit against the production company that it was suing.
It had a $25 million lawsuit against, I think what was the North One or North something?
Yes.
The production company that shot the actual teddy bear, or was it the other one?
I shouldn't know these things.
North Six, I think it's called.
Yes, North Six.
Yeah, I don't know which campaign they actually shot.
Was it both?
I'm not sure.
But I think it's both.
I think they shot.
It might be both.
I think it was.
Yes, because they said instead of doing a 180, they're focusing on org, they're doing a 180 focusing on organizations that benefit the protection of kids.
Lol.
So, yes.
So they've dropped the lawsuit.
Last week I mentioned that I thought they would keep the lawsuit alive until the scandal went away.
Right.
And I was wrong on that.
And it's like, I think it's probably they have even less of a leg to stand on legally.
Well, exactly.
So they were just like, regret art.
No, totally.
I think it's not out of charity at all that they're giving this money to a child protective sort of charity.
They're doing it for optics and to keep people like Kim Kardashian happy.
Right.
So that she can keep working with them.
Right.
Although allegedly she won't be anymore, but we'll get into that a little bit later.
But there are some other new discoveries, some interesting things.
So super gross, you guys.
The Balenciaga parent company CEO owns an auction site selling sexually explicit child mannequins.
So there's these two brothers named Jake and Dino Chapman, and they sell art depicting children as sexual objects.
I'm not going to describe them.
They're really gross.
If you want to Google it, you can Google it.
It's so gross.
It's so disgusting.
It's worse than you think.
But basically, imagine a baby with genitalia on its face.
Well, yeah, you just described it.
Yeah.
It's like a take on Pinocchio.
Yeah, but it's not cool.
But with a penis.
It's really not cool.
It's not cool.
And so the, what does this have to do with Balenciaga?
Well, as Nat mentioned, the owner of the parent company.
No, he's the CEO of the CEO of the parent company that owns Balenciaga as well as a bunch of other fashion houses.
He owns an auction site called Christie's, which people have probably heard of.
Yes.
And on that site, they sell this disgusting art by these two people, one of which, Jake Chapman, has been quoted as saying, he was talking about parents shouldn't bother taking their children to art galleries or showing them art because children aren't human yet.
Oh, yeah.
I'm pretty sure he's also a father to children, which is really interesting.
There are some people who should not reproduce.
Interestingly enough, too, this art sold for $189,610 Canadian and was posted on Instagram on Jake and Dino's Instagram, which, by the way, has now been deleted.
And it garnered over 1,000 likes.
So people actually think this is okay, not only on social media, but some rich idiot was just like willing to buy this.
Is that like, imagine going to someone's house and seeing that and then finding out how much they paid for it and then being like, oh, you're one of those, you're one of those people.
But how could, how could, like, why is art able to get away with this stuff?
Because it's like, even when you think about movie ratings, for example, someone shows their breasts, then automatically the ratings go up higher.
So it's an R-rated movie now.
But if you see someone naked in a billboard or in a pin in a subway station, then it's okay because it's art.
Oh, they're not the subway.
No, I wouldn't take that the other way.
No.
If it's in a subway station, it's not art.
But if it's on a billboard, it is art.
It makes no sense.
Right?
Like, I mean, there's this restaurant in my neighborhood, and there's literally a painting of a naked woman in the window.
And children, it's a very child-friendly neighborhood.
Children walking by all the time, and somehow that's okay.
It makes no sense.
I grew up in a house where there were paintings of naked women.
Were they like more tasteful?
They were tasteful.
Yeah, I think like a little side boob.
No, I'm talking like something that's more sexually explicit, such as these Dino and the Chalmer brothers.
They're sick.
Yeah, they're perv.
Also, this guy, his name's Francois Henri Pineau.
Yeah, he's an idiot.
Creative Director's Critique00:15:33
Pineau?
Yeah.
He's married to Selma Hayek.
Weird.
So, you know, disappointing.
It is disappointing.
Yeah, so that's and this article on Rebel News, although that's not the one we're showing right now, is it?
Anyways, we'll show it.
Rebel News wrote this story up and I wrote it.
I wrote it.
Yeah.
I wrote it, you guys.
Go check it out.
It's amazing.
Even me.
It's the best.
And it does show images of the child.
Sorry.
She's apologizing.
I'm apologizing.
She's taking off my brain, you guys.
I'm so sorry.
She's due soon, you guys.
I can't think of a single word.
What's the thing that Kim wanted them to do?
Taking ownership.
Yeah.
She's doing that for the children.
Forget it.
All right.
Sorry.
I need to go home.
To go give birth.
It's been a day.
Okay, so another really interesting discovery that people have made is how Balenciaga translates on Google Translate.
Olivia, are we able to pull up Google Translate?
Olivier.
So if you type in Balenciaga on Google Translate with two A's, and then you put a space between the L and the E, and then the I and the A. A.
Yeah.
And then you make it Latin to English.
Yes.
It translates to what?
Baal is king.
Oh, gosh.
And Malis King.
Who is that again?
He's a demonic demon guy that just sacrifices children to.
Yeah, yeah.
He was worshipped by the Israelites in the Bible when they went astray after the death of Gideon, according to Hebrew scriptures.
And scriptures have nothing positive to say about this deity.
So that's great.
Really interesting.
I mean, it's hard to say if this is intentional or not, but given the history of their recent ad campaign, it just, yeah, it totally adds to the demonic nature of this brand.
Yeah.
It's not cute.
It's not.
And then there's another, one other quick update, which we can talk to at length later if we want to.
But Balenciaga has decided to keep Demna blah, blah, blah, blah, name, last name of Demna.
Visalia.
Denma Vizala.
Dem, who is the creative director there.
So we can, I guess, get to their apology.
Yeah.
This is a man who is the creative director at Balenciaga, and it's taken him two weeks following the immense backlash for him to make a statement.
And he has issued an apology via Instagram, which is how you know it's sincere when you whenever I screw up in the in the home I posted on Instagram first whenever I make at husband I'm so sorry yeah yeah so um his apology Is weak.
It's another weak one.
I don't have it written down.
I do.
Yes, I will read it.
Okay.
I want to personally apologize for the wrong artistic choice of concept for the gifting campaign with the kids, and I take my responsibility.
Do you?
It was inappropriate to have kids promote objects that had nothing to do with them.
You mean teddy bears?
You mean, excuse me?
Teddy bears have nothing to do with children?
Yeah, I think it was the BDSM.
I think it was the kind of sexual nature of the objects, not the objects themselves.
Yeah.
But also, teddy bears are completely tied to children.
Yes.
Well, also apparently, allegedly pedophiles.
So we'll see.
Continue.
Yes.
As much as I would sometimes like to provoke a thought through my work, I would never have an intention to do that with such an awful subjects as child abuse that I condemn, period.
Yeah.
Really?
Then you should maybe resign.
He has more, don't worry.
I apologize to anyone offended by the visuals.
Classic, classic.
Oh, so if you were offended, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry you're offended, but I wasn't.
He's not sorry about the overall concept or the subjugation of these children.
Is that a word?
I think so.
I don't know.
Anyway, we'll find out.
Cut that.
He's not offended by the nature of the campaign.
Anyway, we'll continue.
So I apologize to anyone offended by the visuals, and Balenciaga has guaranteed that adequate measures will be taken, not only to avoid similar mistakes in the future, but also to take accountability in protecting child welfare in every way we can.
But they won't fire you.
No.
And you won't step down.
I mean, if he were truly sorry, he would have resigned.
I completely stand by that.
I mean, really?
It's just like, and he's like, he's the creative director.
So nothing is going to go up without his eyes on it.
And even if he doesn't have his eyes on it, that's his own fault.
Yeah.
Nothing should go on without his knowledge.
And he's saying, oh, Balenciaga is assuring me, Balenciaga.
It's like, you are representing Balenciaga in a creative facility.
He's literally the face of the brand behind in the behind the scenes way.
You know what I mean?
Because there's no one to pass this off to.
I mean, it's his concepts that the people behind the scenes are inspired by as well, which means that even if he had nothing to do allegedly with this campaign, he did not.
I know, but even if he didn't, the people behind the scenes who developed this concept are still inspired by his creepy, you know, things that he likes.
I don't know.
Anyway.
I'm just wondering, like, you know how they say there's no such thing as bad publicity?
Like, do we think that this is now a case of this is actually bad publicity and it's like they would be better off without it?
Or do you think Balenciaga's not firing him?
Because it's like, you know what?
The word Balenciaga has never been spoken so much.
Is that bad?
Yeah.
And I was, I have this later on in our notes because we're going to talk about some of the celebrity responses and stuff.
But I mean, are celebrities actually going to stop wearing Balenciaga?
Yeah, and have the sales dropped?
I didn't look at it.
I want to know.
Because I mean, even Kim Kardashian, we're kind of jumping around a bit, but she's not really.
Yeah.
We talked about the lawsuit.
She said.
Okay, one sec.
Okay.
So she announced she was re-evaluating her future with Balenciaga, but it appears she made up her mind declining an offer from the brand and ditching outfits she was set to wear at upcoming events.
Sources with direct knowledge of the situation tell us that the design house presented Kim an offer to do a 2023 Balenciaga campaign before the controversial child BDSM ads went live.
TMZ was told once those ads went public, Kim made the decision to reject the offer even before releasing a statement on the issue.
And then apparently she had plans to wear Balenciaga outfits at events she's attending in coming months, but pulled the plug.
I just don't understand.
Like, that's cool.
I respect that.
Me too.
However, I think it's so weird that if that's how she feels, she didn't, she did that and then made a statement that was super wishy-washy.
Well, that's what I'm getting so much criticism for her wishy-washy statement, and people are saying, oh, you're not canceling the brand or dropping them.
Yeah, she did.
That was my question, though.
Is she actually condemning the brand or is she, is this all for optics?
Because we know she has probably the best PR team out there.
Yeah, and it's also a temporary measure.
Like, she's not several minutes with them.
She, which, again, I do respect that she's chosen to decline this offer and she's not going to wear Balenciaga at the next couple events.
Like, that's somehow big.
It's something.
Yeah.
And I mean, she's not a permanent solution.
And she could easily just, once this goes away in a couple of months, when people forget about it, she could easily just start teaming up with them again.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking too.
But I mean, she doesn't.
I hope so as well.
What else do we have here?
Well, there's other celebrities that have decided to burn their Balenciaga or throw it away.
I made a list of, so there's two articles that we talked about here, but all the celebs that have condemned Balenciaga.
The one that you sent was better, I think, was it Mindy?
Or whatever.
It doesn't matter.
No, I sent a different one.
Okay.
So from US Magazine or Us Magazine.
Yes.
So there's a list here.
There's Kim Kardashian.
Allegedly.
Allegedly.
Kanye West.
So this is their list.
They write Kim Kardashian, maybe.
Okay.
Kanye West.
No.
Kanye West literally wore Balenciaga on Alex Jones like last week.
Yeah.
And not only did he wear Balenciaga, he wore a face mask inspired allegedly by Michael Borman's painting.
So that's pretty sinister.
Yeah, like I don't actually know if that because the mask does look different than the one that they wore at the Met Gala.
Like it looks more like a sock.
I mean, it's like a crappier version of it.
So the point is, is I'm not actually sure if it's like a designer piece of Balenciaga, but he's clearly trying to invoke the same look.
Yeah, and even the things he said on Twitter, he said, I stand by Balenciaga and denounce all witch hunts and I can't, and I cancel canceled culture.
Jesus is King, ending trafficking doesn't start or end with a fashion campaign for Christ's sake.
Actually, that's just, I mean, that's a really bad take.
Ending trafficking does start and end with fashion campaigns to a degree.
Like anything that's exploited.
I mean, it doesn't end, but it starts definitely.
I think it could end, though.
You're right.
Anything that exploits children.
And the fashion industry in general is notorious for this.
We see models wearing, like, dressed very maturely and they end up being really young, you know, stuff like that.
I mean, that could be considered exploitative too.
We've talked about this before where many runway models are under the age of 18.
Right.
And then, of course, we know Victoria's Secret has a sinister past as well.
Just all those kinds of things, which is a really bad take.
It's a bad take.
He's on a tear right now.
Yeah, but another person that they mentioned is Bella Hadid.
Bella Hadid did not condemn Balenciaga.
She simply deleted an Instagram post of her most recent campaign, which included these images.
Yeah, which is so fascinating.
I didn't know that she was in the actual campaign images.
You didn't look at the set.
So she just quietly deleted them.
Like, oop, nip, nope.
That's not exactly still anymore.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah, for sure.
She hasn't come out and said, I've donated every penny of that disgusting campaign to X, Y, Z Child Trafficking Charity.
No.
That would be too big of her.
Yeah.
So that's, so there's more people on this list.
And so those are the ones that I put under.
Yeah.
And then I put under a new category, the legit ones.
I don't know who this person is, but rapper Omi the in the Hellcat.
I don't know who that is.
Oh, Hellcat, Hellcat?
I don't know who that is.
I don't know who you are, but thank you for your.
I think he burned his Balenciaga.
Yeah, he did.
So that's symbolic.
And then there's someone named Jason Eldeen's wife, Brittany.
I don't know who that is.
He's a country singer.
Okay.
Yeah.
The thing about this, these two lists are the first ones, they don't need an introduction.
Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, Bell Hadid.
You're like, oh, I know who those are.
And unfortunately, the ones on the legit list all have to have introductions, such as reality stars Ari Lewindyke Jr. and wife Lauren Burnham from The Bachelor.
And then there's 90210 star Anna Lynn McCord.
Well, everyone knows her because she wrote that poem about Putin.
Right.
Yeah.
And then there's the real housewife star Bethany Frankl.
So it's just like it's so unfortunate that A-list people who don't need introductions are not the ones who are actually condemning this.
And it's all these people who are like kind of on the verge of fit.
Like they're famous in their circles.
Yeah.
Like we are with our fan right there.
Our literal fan.
Bethany Frankl suggests that A-listers have stayed quiet due to contracts.
And maybe she's right.
Yeah.
I mean, that sounds about right.
Sounds about right.
We don't know for sure.
Yeah.
But that's why else would you be so silent on it?
Yeah.
Why would Bell Hadid not come out and say something about it?
Because she doesn't want to lose money.
It's a very lucrative contract.
And she actually walked in a runway show in October holding one of those bears.
Yeah.
She didn't think that was your now.
There were no kids in that.
But it's still a friggin' weird.
It's a teddy bear.
Yeah.
That's for babies.
It's for free.
Yeah.
And allegedly pedophiles.
Yeah.
Allegedly.
Yeah.
But and then I guess we got one more thing here on this and then we can move on.
Kylie Jenner.
Kylie Jenner denies covering up for Balenciaga while wearing Balenciaga.
Oh my gosh.
Well, that was, that must be interesting.
So I actually read in another article about how Kylie Jenner also condemned Balenciaga.
Oh, really?
Oh, no, they said she was distancing herself from them.
Oh, really?
You know how I distance myself from brands?
I just wear their boots.
Yeah, I just in an Instagram post.
That's what I do.
Yeah.
So nothing screams distance like on your feet.
Yeah, like it's like I'm distancing myself from the misunderstood brand.
Uh-oh.
No, I'm not.
Not doing a great job.
I'm not doing a great job.
So people who follow the Car Jenners will know that Kylie Jenner had a baby about a year ago and she has since not released the baby's name or any photos of it.
And you're like, I think that's cool because I think you shouldn't exploit your children on social media.
However, the Kardashians, apparently, like this is all what I read from Reddit.
They all exploit their female children, posting tons of photos like Kim uses North to for her skins products.
They have TikTok.
They have TikToks.
And so there seems to be a disconnect between how the Car Jenners treat their female children and their male children.
I mean, even look at their brother Rob.
Exactly.
He's totally off the radar.
Yeah.
And even the way they treated Bruce, formerly Bruce, now Caitlin Jenner.
Exactly.
But so this past week, Kylie Jenner posted photos of her kid, not his face, but like photos with him in them.
And this is the first since the child's birth.
And people were accusing her of distracting from the Balenciaga thing because real fans of the Car Jenners have been waiting eagerly to see this kid, which is creepy.
Yeah, I mean, it wasn't even on their show.
No, exactly.
The second season of The Kardashian Weirds in Life.
But she came out and denied it and said that she wasn't trying to cover up for Balenciaga.
And people are like, oh, like she's distancing herself from Balenciaga.
But in the exact same Instagram post with the pictures of her kid, she's wearing Balenciaga boots and sunglasses.
Yeah.
That's not, that's nothing more close to you than something on your face.
You know?
And if you're wearing glasses, that's pretty close.
Super strange.
Super strange.
Don't have, yeah.
I think my thoughts on that are clear.
Yeah.
Okay.
I think that's it for that.
Actually, maybe we should just talk about why it's important to keep this conversation alive.
Why is it important to keep this conversation alive?
Well, because it's obviously gonna, the news cycle is gonna keep on cycling, and people are gonna forget about this, and Balenciaga is going to get away with this.
And 100% our society is so okay with exploiting children and glamorizing and normalizing abuse of even women and children.
And I just don't think we can let them get away with it.
I think conservatives have made a ruckus about this, and that's great, but I don't think we should stop.
Like, I think there needs to be real justice because this is actually so evil.
Since our January 6th, it is in a way.
Because, and it's, you know, it's so important because children are like there's a targeted attack against children in our society when it comes to the transgender movement, when it comes to the COVID-19 lockdowns, when it comes to like exploiting them, when it comes to Jeffrey fricking Epstein.
There's just everyone hates kids in our society.
Well, let's remind everyone.
I'm sure we all know that Ghillene Maxwell is currently serving a sentence in prison for pimping out children to nobody.
Conservatives Protest COVID Lockdowns00:12:44
Yeah, apparently, nobody.
Nobody has been charged with actually being the recipient of these young girls.
So it's this is how we treat children in our society, like Nat just said.
And it's disgusting, and we're not going to drop it.
No, especially because not only was there pedophilia in a lot of these campaign ads that they had posted, there was also really weird, satanic, and dark symbolism that was very explicit.
And I just think we can't ignore it.
Exactly.
And it's not just the one, it's not like, oh, there was just one picture.
Absolutely.
Because we shouldn't read into symbols.
Exactly.
We shouldn't like, oh, like I flashed the oh, this pattern.
Like, you know, I'm no.
Like, if there were consistently weird, satanic, pedophilic images in this show, I would urge you to stop watching it.
Yeah.
There's only like one or two.
Just kidding.
There's zero.
Just kidding.
So yeah, we're not going to drop it because, you know, screw this big fashion house who thinks that because honestly, the media cycle has a people have the memory of a goldfish these days.
Yeah.
Mostly me because of my hormones.
I don't even know where I am right now.
What was it talking about?
I forced her to come here.
I don't even notice.
People have the memory of a goldfish and they think that we're going to forget.
I genuinely forgot.
They think we're going to forget about it, but I won't because I wrote it down.
Yes.
It's here.
This is why we take notes.
Yeah.
And I mean, maybe, maybe this is a good thing that this is just that they've gone so far.
Like the pendulum has just swung so damn far that people are like, whoa, hold the phone there, babe.
Let's bring it back.
Maybe the pendulum is swinging back.
I'm not convinced.
I'm not that optimistic.
But, you know, justice, we need justice for this.
Yeah.
And we're going to switch gears a little bit, but not even really that much.
We're still talking about justice.
We're talking about China still in a way.
Exactly.
Because so much of what Balenciaga produces is made in China.
Not all of it.
Much of it.
Yeah.
Some much.
Yes.
Apparently, they're unisex t-shirts is one of them.
Really?
How much are those shorts?
Yeah.
They're a little bit more expensive than the ones at the Rebel store and probably not that much better quality.
Yeah.
Really?
That's a good point.
So you're not supporting a good cause.
You're supporting alleged pedophiles.
Literally Satanism.
Okay.
So people, you know what's happening in China right now, but do you know why?
Do you even know why?
I mean, or do you even know why?
Do you even know what?
Because I don't find it's being covered too extensively.
It's not that much.
And it's strange.
So right now, there are huge protests going on in China, the biggest ever since Vianni Square in 1989, where between hundreds and thousands of people were killed for protesting, civil rights, free speech, et cetera.
So right now, people are protesting in China against the extreme COVID lockdown measures that are taking place there, the ongoing testing.
China has a zero tolerance or zero case.
Yeah, it's called zero COVID.
Yeah.
Zero COVID.
So they're basically saying if there's a single case, they're not going to stop.
People are being separated from their families.
So if someone tests positive, even a child, they're being literally physically removed from their families.
There's a lot going on.
But what sparked the outrage and the protests was a fire in a place called Jingjiang.
that left 10 people dead and nine people injured.
Yes.
And the reason that this happened, people are alleging, is because, so some of these lockdown measures included people getting physically locked in their homes.
There's videos there's videos of Chinese authorities chaining people into their apartment complexes and bolting doors shut.
And apparently, when the fire broke out, people couldn't escape.
Yikes.
And there is video, like I saw a video on Ladder with Crowder of, we're not going to play it here because it's so messed up, but you can find it if you want, but of a woman screaming from an apartment building during the fire saying, help me, help me, help me.
She can't.
I can't watch that.
I won't.
Yeah.
I don't want to watch that.
I don't suggest it.
But of course, Chinese authorities have come out and said that this is not the case.
The people were free to exit the fire, but failed to do so.
But I don't know if I believe them.
And apparently people were under lockdown for more than 100 days before this fire broke out.
Yeah.
That's insane.
That is so insane.
It's so insane.
And Canada responded.
We had a response, you guys.
Apparently, Justin Trudeau stands with the people, quote, expressing themselves, end quote, amid China COVID-19 protests.
LOL is my first response.
I don't understand how the Rachel Gilmore, of all people, the journalist at Global News.
Well, don't worry.
She didn't mention the convoy.
Okay, because she's literally one of the people that was like TikToking herself during the convoy, being like, oh my God, this is so, I can't even work.
It's so loud.
No, she did not actually mention the convoy or vaccine protests in Canada at all.
She did not tie those.
It's not even like when we've, we've talked about this before, like in our Justin Trudeau episode, which will air in a couple weeks.
But we talk about how hypocritical it is that Justin Trudeau will literally support any protest going on in any other country except for the one in his own country.
No, he all targets him.
He only cares if it's not an attack on his alleged dictatorship.
But this one is literally the same exact issue.
It's COVID mandates.
It's extreme COVID lockdowns and COVID mandates.
Yeah, so apparently he's watching those protests very closely.
He said, every, obviously, obviously, he said, obviously, everyone in China should be allowed to express themselves.
They should be allowed to share their perspectives, not your perspectives, just theirs.
No, you shut up.
And indeed, he says, protests.
We're going to continue to ensure that China knows we'll stand up for human rights.
We'll stand with people who are expressing themselves.
It's interesting because you could argue that China's kind of a police state right now.
And although the Emergencies Act is not as extreme, necessary, the way it was in, you know, the way it played out was not necessarily as extreme as this.
It was really bad.
Like a lot of really bad things happened during the Emergencies Act.
Alexa Lavois was shot.
Bank accounts were frozen.
They lost their jobs.
Somebody got trampled.
Medical care.
Exactly.
People are still being denied medical care in Canada for transplants and stuff like that.
And yet he needs to come out and make this really democratic, freedom-loving statement.
It's sickening.
It's shocking.
It's not shocking.
Yeah, it's sickening.
It's sickening.
Oh, but don't worry.
It actually gets better.
Says, we also need to make sure that China and places around the world are respecting journalists and their ability to do their job.
No, you should shoot them with pepper spray canisters and then call them not real journalists.
I mean, who, I mean, you're right.
To your earlier point, Rachel Gilmore, come on.
What the hell?
What the hell?
How does she type that up?
And like, she, I imagine she was writing it and in her mind was like, no, don't even go there, Rachy.
Yeah.
Don't, because that's what she probably go there, Rach girl.
Don't do it.
Don't go there.
Just write the words.
I mean, maybe the vaccine's gotten to your brain.
Maybe five boosters in, you're just like a like a mess up there.
I, I, I don't know.
These are all, I mean, maybe she was a mess before, allegedly.
Allegedly.
But I come on.
It's crazy.
It's the cognitive dissidence it takes to write something like that or for Justin Trudeau to say those words.
And it hasn't fallen on deaf ears.
People on social media are like, bae?
Yeah.
Hey.
But I do notice it's like the people that I follow, like Viva Fry is like calling them out.
Like it's like, yeah, obviously.
But what are the average Canadians who aren't super involved in politics and don't lean heavily one way or the other thinking about this?
Like, do they see it?
I don't know if people want to see it because, I mean, our COVID response was pretty heavy-handed.
Obviously, some of the strongest in the world measures were here.
And obviously, it's not as extreme necessarily as what's happening in China, but people didn't see it then.
So I don't know how they'll see it, even if it's over.
Exactly.
I just don't think they will.
And part of the whole China thing is that civil disobedience there is met with super, super strict retaliation.
This is one of the places in the world that if you get arrested, sometimes you're never seen again.
Sometimes it's like, oh, they've just disappeared and you can, that can happen.
So in China, protests don't take place very often.
So these people are literally risking their lives holding up.
And they're calling it the white paper revolution, which is also known as the A4 revolution.
It's the type of paper that they're using.
People are under such extreme censorship that they won't even write anything on the paper.
It's part of, it's like a protest within a protest.
That's like, we don't even need to say it.
You know what's happening.
And by putting words on the paper, we could be endangering our lives even more.
So it's super eerie and creepy.
And it just, my point, I think, is that China is like that because of what happened in 1989, how people then were trying to protest for civil rights and freedom of speech.
And they didn't want that to happen again.
Exactly.
They didn't want to go down the path that they're on now.
And they were all friggin' literally mowed down with machine guns for it.
And it's not as like in Canada here, it's not as bad as it is there.
But the reason that we have to do things like what people did in February of 2022, protesting.
We need to get to the point.
Exactly.
By peacefully protesting, we cannot let ourselves go down this road.
And if they're going to start shooting people in the street, like that needs to be seen.
Hopefully that never happens in Canada.
And thank God it didn't.
Yeah.
But they did trample someone with a horse.
Alexa got shot with a canister.
Like it's not as bad, but we can't ever let it get that bad.
And that's why it's important that we, and even for protests that we don't personally align with, it's so important that they take the rights without being, you know, beaten by the police and the government.
It's so true.
It's such a, it's such a gift to be able to, you know, say, hey, I disagree with my government and to be able to gather and say it loudly and proudly.
And we were just so complacent as a nation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
And it really, it was really polarizing and really showed people's true colors.
And it's sad because it kind of seems like more Canadians lean on the side of trusting the government rather than, you know, criticizing COVID-19 measures.
And it's so scary.
I mean, people always say, oh, that'll never happen here.
That'll never happen here.
But it will.
It is happening.
Our freedoms are slipping away every single moment.
Like they really are, even with the gun bangs and all that sort of stuff.
Yeah, we should talk about that another time.
Yeah, that's a good story.
This actually reminds me of a couple, I think it was last winter when the Democracy Fund had one of those events.
I think it was called Freedom and Democracy.
With Tucker Carlson.
Tucker Carlson spoke and he talked about how statistically countries that are colder have a more collectivist mentality because it makes sense if you, I think maybe I've mentioned this on the show or the live stream or something, but if you live, and these aren't my words or theories, but anyways, if you live in a place that's super, super cold and you are ousted by the collective, you're going to freeze to death in the forest.
But if you live in like a warmer climate, you might survive.
More people will come.
You could build another community.
So like in Canada, it might make sense.
That's why people are so like, I think I would venture that it's like 80% people are on board with this.
That we're on, because that's about how many people got vaccinated at the time.
I mean, assuming the numbers are accurate.
Assuming the numbers are accurate, it was about 80-20.
So I would guess that that's about maybe a representation of how people feel about this.
Maybe things have, that was, you know, last year.
Yeah, a lot's changed.
I'm hoping things have changed.
And I'm hoping things like this, that Justin Trudeau is saying, oh, I stand with their right to protest.
Their voices need to be heard.
What are you talking about?
Like, what are you talking about?
I think he says these kinds of things knowingly, though.
He knows it's going to piss off conservatives.
And he knows what, like, he knows.
I think he thinks rightfully that people don't remember.
Like, we remember because we're involved in this.
This is what we do.
But, like, I think, like, no offense, mom, but like, someone like my mom will just be like, yeah, no, he has, yeah, they know.
He cares about democracy.
He cares about democracy.
It's like, lady, where were you?
People's Bubbles00:05:45
Where you?
Yeah.
Like, it's crazy.
I think people literally just live in like a two-week bubble, just like the Balenciaga.
I mean, everyone has tunnel vision too.
They only want to accept things that they want to accept and see things that they want to see.
It's so easy to turn a blind eye, you know, especially when the news cycle does move so quickly.
It's hard to even go back and find some of these clips of Trudeau saying it's true because things move so damn quick.
And because we don't use, like, I don't have a subscription to the Globe and Mail where I can be like, hey, look at this newspaper article that they printed.
They could, like, the Globe and Mail could just delete articles.
Which is very Orwellian, y'all.
It is.
Very Arwellian.
Yeah.
I'm not saying that they did.
I'm just saying, like, it sometimes is hard to go back and find something that you're like, I know I read that.
I know I read that somewhere.
And it's no, it's scrubbed from the internet.
Yeah.
And you have to look on an archive.
And then you never find it again.
Yeah.
Or tweets that people say you have to go back like in one of those way back machines.
The moral of the story is: screenshots are really good.
Screenshots are.
Take screenshots.
So just one more thing on China, I guess.
So Tucker Carlson, Apple is now an active collaborator with China's murderous police state and is in no sense American.
This is really messed up.
I mean, it's not surprising, but apparently they've had recent efforts to aid China's communist regime in quashing dissent and putting down a peaceful anti-lockdown movement have prompted some to suggest that Apple takes its marching orders from a genocidal foreign power.
Last week on Tucker Carlson, he suggested that while it is not manifestly clear whether the American news media is compromised by a hostile foreign power, we know for a fact that Apple is covering for the government of China.
So basically, they disabled the airdrop feature in China, which means that the protesters can't, and critics of the CCP, the Chinese Communist Party, were unable to communicate with each other.
So they cut off communication.
And Apple would have done that knowingly.
Yeah.
Of course.
Why, guys?
Why?
I wonder if it has to do with money.
Where are iPhones made?
Where are Apple products made?
I'm pretty sure it's in China for the most part.
Yeah.
And it's messed up because I was making my notes on this episode.
Writing them on my Apple computer.
And I was like, I was like, how, what can I do?
Really?
What?
Like, well, they have a monopoly on, they do.
And even if I go to another brand, that's made in China too.
Yeah.
And then if I go to another brand, that's probably owned by a Chinese company.
Which is crazy because we're basically a slave to all of these manufacturers who manufacture in China because everybody needs a phone.
I mean, or at least that's what we're relenting.
We leave in 2022 because we rely on it for everything.
We have everything on our phones.
I don't even know where I live.
Yeah, I don't remember my postal code sometimes.
I don't.
I just, well, I moved.
Yeah.
I do know my postal code, but you know what I mean.
I mean, you know what I mean, though.
Like, there's so much information on our phone and we're still relying on it.
And it's like, while we sit here and criticize China, rightfully so, we're completely empowering them to continue doing what they do.
And this is why we're like, oh, why does Justin Trudeau not speak up?
Why does Elon Musk not say anything?
Like he's, he actually recently said something about how China is amazing for how many green vehicles they produce every year.
It's like, yeah, despite the fact that they have the most emissions in the world.
Despite the fact that they're literally committing a genocide right now against Uyghurs, despite the fact that they had the one child policy and forcibly aborted babies.
Despite all these and the animal torture, like racism, they empower North Korea to allow North Korea to exist, basically.
Yeah.
As per Yen Yunmi Park.
So, but what can we even do?
It makes me really angry.
We can't do anything.
And it's funny because all of these super large companies are always preaching at us about what we need to do.
We need to do our part.
We need to recycle.
We need to and gender pronouns.
Exactly.
We can't do that.
That is so unimportant.
We need to be more inclusive and more accepting and loving negatives.
That's going to save the world.
But literally, we're torturing animals and killing human beings for being Muslim in China, but no one cares.
Meanwhile, yeah, it's so true.
And interestingly enough, the mainland Chinese market makes up a fifth of Apple's total revenue.
That's a pretty big chunk, you guys.
That's a big chunk.
So follow the money, honey.
And stop letting these people preach at you.
They're hypocrites.
They're all hypocrites.
They're all hypocrites.
Yeah.
And in a way, so are you for using your iPhone?
And so am I for using my iPhone.
I'm not.
No.
I'm holding up my iPhone right now.
It's a good suit.
Yeah.
Okay.
I guess that's the sure.
On a positive note, we shall end.
Let's find a better way to live.
Just, I don't know.
We need our phones.
You really can't.
Well, there are companies, like Joe Rogan has talked about this at length.
There are companies that are in the process of figuring out how to make an affordable American-built phone.
Yeah, in America.
Yeah, exactly.
That's the problem.
It's extremely expensive.
It's not going to happen here.
And Apple's an American company.
Anyways, we're not there yet.
we're working on it though and if you find well america's working on it America's, we're not working on it.
And Canada will probably never work.
Never, no, no.
Because Chester literally loves China.
Yeah, he's pretty open about that, y'all.
But anyways, there is hope.
Perhaps.
There's a lot of in like heaven.
And the more people that talk about this, maybe the more, like, if we pull money away from these big platforms like Apple, maybe we can invest it in new technology that's grown here and built here.
And maybe it'll cost more, but maybe there is a solution.
Just saying.
It's not definitely hopeless.
And then, like Nat said, you know, we'll all die and go to heaven.
So it'll be fine.
I mean, not everyone.
Only if you accept Jesus in your heart.
But I'm going to be in heaven.
We'll see you there.
You guys will.
Hopefully we'll see you.
If not, okay.
Share and Subscribe00:01:05
Ookie doogie, that's the sure.
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