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Nov. 6, 2018 - Real Coffe - Scott Adams
25:55
Episode 288 Scott Adams: Elections, Alien Probes, Racist Ads
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Hey everybody!
Come on in here. Eddie.
Good to see you this morning.
Eddie Cool. Who else we got coming in here?
Well, everybody's coming in now.
Alright. Hey Nancy.
Hey Fuzzy. Hey Ronald.
Dan. It's almost time for this special.
Election Day midterm version of Coffee with Scott Adams.
Yeah, it's going to be good.
It's going to be a fun day.
And let's start it by enjoying our favorite beverage.
Grab your stein, your mug, your glass, your cup, your container.
Fill it full of your favorite liquid.
I like coffee.
And join me for the simultaneous sip.
Ah... Now you may have missed some of the big news of the day.
CNN is reporting that a Harvard paper claims that there's a cigar-shaped interstellar object that may have been an alien probe that went through our solar system.
That's right. A gigantic cigar-shaped interstellar object may have been an alien probe, Harvard paper says.
And they show a picture of it.
It turns out that the alien probe looks exactly like a big rock.
And I know if I were an alien, and I were going to design an alien probe, I would make it look like just a regular rock.
That's how I would do it.
So while this alien probe, which coincidentally looks like a rock, Has been visiting our universe.
I think it's a sign.
It's a sign. It's a sign that anything can happen.
Yes, I said cigar-shaped.
And maybe anything will happen.
The same time we get a report about an interstellar object that might be an alien probe, We hear on an interview that President Trump has agreed that perhaps he should tone it down and be nicer.
What? In the same week that we have an alien probe, President Trump says he's going to tone it down and be nicer?
Connect the dots, people.
Connect the dots. Aliens have already taken over our president.
I think that's obvious now.
Our president does not tone it down.
He does not agree to be nicer.
It has to be aliens.
I think we've solved that problem, or that mystery.
Anyway, it turns out that, you know that campaign ad for the Trump campaign that showed the cop killer?
It was very well, let's say, well-distributed.
Got a lot of attention. Turns out that even Fox News won't run it anymore because it's too racist.
And everybody's, poor Fox News, everybody's saying, even Fox News won't run it?
That's pretty racist.
So you have to work on your brand when people are saying, even you think it's racist?
You know that something, you've done something wrong with your brand when people say it that way.
Instead of just, you know, when NBC also decided not to run it.
Now when they report NBC decides to not run it, they say NBC decided not to run it.
They thought it was too racist.
But when they report that Fox News didn't run it, they say, even Fox News?
So maybe Fox News needs to shore up that brand a little bit.
Now, my take on it was that if you're going to talk about crime, and you're going to talk about crime from south of the border, you're going to want to make it visual, because just talking about crime as a concept doesn't work.
And if you're going to make it visual, it's going to be a person, and it's going to be a person who came from south of the border.
So it would have been hard to tell the crime story without Creating a commercial that looked racist, based on the standards of the day.
So the standards of 2018 are that if you show one person, and that one person happens to not be white, or white male I guess, if that person is not a white male, the assumption is that you're talking about all of the people.
Now you could question whether that assumption is a reasonable one or a true one, Or crazy.
But that's the standard.
In 2018, the standard is, if you're only going to show one person as a bad example, the only kind you could show would be an adult white male.
And then people wouldn't make assumptions.
But if you show any other ethnicity, if you show a woman, if you showed any kind of strange group, Let's get rid of that guy.
If you show any other strange group, then people will make assumptions.
My take on it was that it does come across as racist.
Which is different from saying that the people who made it are racist.
There's a big difference between saying The ad comes across to people who watch it as racist.
That's not the same as the people who made it are racist and they wanted you to know it.
Those are different concepts.
But I would say, here's the interesting part.
We've just watched an election cycle that's similar to other election cycles in which both sides try to brand the opponent By the worst few people in their group.
So the Democrats are trying to brand all Republicans by the whatever small percentage are actual racists.
And so the idea is, oh, even though it's just some small percentage of racists, let's call them all racists because they're not doing enough about the racists.
Something like that. And then, of course, the Republicans brand the Democrats as being exactly the same as the worst Democrats.
You know, a few of them want to be communists and have open borders and crazy stuff like Soros is the devil.
So both sides are branding the other side by the worst few people in the group.
Normal politics.
The same was done with the criminals coming across the border.
Exactly the same technique as both parties are using against each other.
Pick the worst people in the group and then say that somehow represents the group.
So when the campaign commercial did the same thing, Unfortunately, it came off as looking pretty darn racist.
So the big networks are not running it.
But does that matter?
Well, not today, because the election is already here.
And the ad probably did whatever damage the ad was going to do.
It already did.
Now, I've asked people if they want to give a report from a polling station to use my company's app, Interface by WenHub, and to put in either election or poll.
And I see there is one person in Newtown, Connecticut, who is a poll watcher.
I'm going to try to call her up.
I tried to A minute ago and she didn't answer.
And let's see if she answers this time.
So this is somebody at one of the polling places in Connecticut.
But I don't know if she's really there or just left her profile on.
So if she answers, we'll see what she says.
If there are others of you who see something interesting at a polling place today, just use the free interface by WenHub app, sign up as an expert, and put in your keywords, poll or election.
And I'll give you a call.
And it looks like maybe she's not online anymore.
Okay, it looks like she's offline.
So if anybody else wants to try it later, we'll be calling in.
I'll be checking in with you every once in a while today.
I'm using it as a realtor.
Yeah, you know, we just have to get more users on there and then the value of it goes up for everybody.
So it's really a chicken egg problem we're working on right now.
Who will Mueller indict tomorrow?
Yeah, it could get interesting right after the election.
But here's my advice for all of you.
No matter what happens today, it is a victory for the United States.
It's a victory for democracy.
Election Day, I hate to be the one who's always looking at the good side of things, but if I may, here's the good side of today.
As rancorous as things have been, an entire nation is watching while the people who are willing to actually vote Show up by the tens of millions to vote today.
Odds are there will be no violence.
Think about that.
I mean, there might be. There might be a skirmish here or there.
But the odds are, in this entire gigantic country, there will be no violence.
For the most part.
Chances are that whatever the result is, the country will accept it.
That's amazing. Chances are that when we're done we will still have a government that functions better than most governments and we will move forward.
If it turns out that we have a split Congress, Senate goes one way, House goes the other, I am not convinced that will be worse for the country.
We will do different things than if it were not split, but my guess is that healthcare and immigration, maybe infrastructure, maybe prison reform, you've got all of these things, maybe drug laws.
There are a whole bunch of things.
They almost require, probably do require, both sides to buy into them.
If you don't have a split Congress, I don't know if you can get any of that done.
Because if it's just one side, the other side will just go nuts trying to stop them.
So you need both sides to have a little bit of power.
To have a creative tension.
Somebody used that phrase.
So we may be on the cusp Even if it ends up being a split Congress, of being stronger than we've ever been.
Because that will give us the power to do the things that need to be done, a split Congress.
Because we do have a president who can deal with both sides if he needs to.
He's sort of unique that way.
So, again, I would say, let's celebrate the day.
Tens of millions of Americans who are deeply committed to the preservation of the system and the betterment of the United States and all of its people.
Going to these polls, or have already voted, watching with great interest in the best interest of the country.
And as the United States goes, so goes much of the world.
So you're seeing one of the coolest things the civilization can ever serve up.
Election Day. A successful election day in the United States.
It's one of the greatest things that could ever happen in the whole history of the world.
And you get to watch it.
You get to watch it live today.
So here's my preview of what I'm going to say no matter what the outcome is.
Good job. Good job.
Whatever the outcome is.
Both sides fought hard.
Both sides brought their best.
I saw a tremendous energy.
I think if the Democrats pull it out, if the Democrats grab the house, I for one, I'm going to say good job.
You put in the time.
You put in the work. You did the legwork.
If you win, good job.
Let's get something done.
If you don't win, I'm not going to rub it in.
That's my personal decision.
I hope that you join me.
So we may be on the verge of something very good and it almost doesn't matter who wins.
I think we're on the verge of being an even better country than we were.
So that's my optimism for today.
I hope some of this rubs off.
I don't know if you share this feeling But I don't know if you share this feeling, but it feels like there's something about Election Day in which all of the anger, all of the division, for just one day, gets collapsed.
Because everybody's doing the same thing, which is voting or watching the vote with great interest.
So at least at the moment, Just for today, or at least until the results are announced, we're all very much Americans.
At least those of us who are actually Americans.
So has anybody voted and can you report on the size of the lines compared to other midterms?
I don't know if anybody can do that.
I'm going to check the interface app and see if anybody signed up yet for...
I would love to know.
It's only 6 a.m.
where we are.
Longer than 2016 lines.
Longer than the lines.
Big lines. Longer earlier.
I voted early. Longest I've ever seen.
I'm just looking at your comments.
Somebody said small.
Massive turnout.
Rainy pouring down in Pennsylvania.
Big lines in Texas.
Yeah, you can't really tell because of all the early voting.
But I think you could tell, you can't tell, let me put it this way.
You would not be able to tell much from the early voting, but you should be able to tell something by the physical voting today.
Because the early voting was bigger than ever.
So if the lines are also bigger than ever, that does tell you something.
It tells you that combined they're bigger than ever.
Des Moines was quiet.
That's probably not a big surprise.
Miami lines were empty.
That's interesting. Miami, you would think that would be pretty busy.
Depends on the location.
Yeah, there may be some cities, some towns where people just get up later.
There's something to that.
It's pouring in Delaware.
In Georgia, it's raining. Alabama, big turnout.
Go Alabama! Early voting seems more than 2016.
It's still dark in South Africa.
Thank you for participating.
Huge lines in Texas.
Rainy in North Carolina.
Democrats vote tomorrow, somebody said.
In Pennsylvania, it took five minutes.
Raleigh, long lines.
Fort Pierce, Florida is small.
Heavy in Miami. West Michigan, big.
Houston is packed. We had some shared press.
Who just said that? I missed your name.
Let's see if I can scroll that back.
I can't. I thought I could scroll back, but apparently I can't.
No need to...
Crimson Tide in Alabama.
Tornado warnings in North Carolina.
Wow. Raining in North Virginia.
Pouring in Philadelphia.
Raining in upstate New York.
And you know what? People are going to vote anyway.
Because that's the kind of country we are.
Umbrella is needed. Well, if you're over a certain age, bring an umbrella.
If you're under a certain age, put your hoodie up.
Raining hard in Maryland.
This is interesting.
I'm getting this instant weather report from all over the country.
Retirement areas were big.
Pennsylvania, long lines.
Grand Rapids, big.
Melbourne, long lines.
Brisk. The dead have already voted.
Somebody says, Raleigh blustery and wet.
Thoughts on Amazing Grace.
Yeah. So, if you watched, you probably saw the news results of the rally, the Trump rally, in which there was some woman who had some kind of a medical problem, and I don't know if she passed down or she fell down.
And as the medical folks were working on her, the president paused his speech, and spontaneously the audience started singing Amazing Grace.
And... It was kind of a cool moment.
You know, it's the sort of moment that the pro-Trump people like a lot, the anti-Trump people don't care, won't see it, so it won't change any votes.
But it was this great shared moment that did not make the Trump supporters look dangerous in the least.
You saw the most well-behaved, well-meaning I've often said that the safest place on earth would be a Trump rally.
Think about it.
Where's the safest place you could possibly be?
And I think even the woman who had the medical problem would confirm they had medical people there.
And the moment one person One person out of however many tens of thousands were in that stadium, they all came there for a different reason.
And the moment that one person had a medical problem, the entire stadium and the President of the United States stood back.
All at once.
It was a complete, it was kind of this cool American moment.
Because there are some times when everybody's on the same side, and it's when somebody gets hurt.
So it was a cool, cool thing.
Somebody says, are you left to Bernie?
Yes, I am, socially.
Speaking of that... Hawk Newsome texted me yesterday and asked me if I would help amplify his message.
I think it's for Proposition 4 or something.
I don't know what the name of it is.
In Florida, there's a ballot proposition to let ex-cons who have paid their price vote.
To which I do agree.
I think ex-cons should vote.
Now, if you're very political, you say to yourself, no, we don't want them to vote because they might not vote Republican and you're Republicans and you hate it because they get to vote.
To which I say, who cares?
You're in America.
If you've paid your debt, You should get to vote.
Now it turns out that you could always petition, I guess you could petition to get your vote back in Florida.
So it's not that you couldn't vote before, you just had to do some paperwork.
And I believe the new law does nothing but change it so that the paperwork is unnecessary.
So if you're telling me that getting rid of paperwork and letting people vote Is not Republican enough?
I say you don't know what a Republican is.
If you could be a Republican and you're not in favor of getting rid of some unnecessary paperwork, and you're not in favor of letting every American who has paid their debt vote, you're just not being very Republican, in my opinion.
Now, of course I know that that will change the vote balance and it will be bad for Republicans because they might vote, but how many ex-cons are really going to vote?
I mean, it's hard to get anybody to vote.
And I've got to think that the class of people who are ex-cons may just have other things to do.
They may not be thinking about politics so much.
So, I was happy to amplify that message and join Hawk in that because where we agree, we agree.
And where we disagree, we can agree to disagree.
But we'll work on it productively.
You know, in the business world, there's a phrase for that.
Somebody says it's a slippery slope.
You know, if you're in business and you make a product and it's hugely popular and everybody's buying it, what is the first thing you should think about doing if you have a really successful product?
Well, the first thing you should think of doing is cannibalizing it.
Meaning, replace it with another product that takes the sales from the one that's good.
Why does that make sense?
It makes sense because if you don't do it, somebody else is going to cannibalize your product.
So in business, it is typical to cannibalize your own product.
And in a very indirect way, if you're a Republican and you're in favor of giving ex-convicts who have paid their price, they've paid their debt, If you're in favor of giving them the vote, I think that's just the higher level of operating.
And you should hope that some of that goodwill comes back to you.
But preventing it just doesn't feel American to me.
All right. Am I stoned again?
It's only 7.30 in the morning here.
I am not stoned again.
The victim should decide.
Well, that would be interesting.
But here's the thing.
If you need to add some extra something to the sentence, give them another year in prison or something.
But denying somebody the vote is just cutting off your nose to spite your face.
As they say. If you don't let a convict vote, you're also not letting them become part of the system.
And if they're not part of the system and they're already inclined to be criminals, that's just not a good look.
Your best case scenario is to give ex-convicts the vote because it makes them feel part of the system and allows them to buy in to something bigger than themselves.
So the reason you should do it is selfish.
You should want them to buy into the system because that helps them get on the right path.
The last thing you want is for them to commit another crime because they feel like the system is here and they're here and it's just two different entities.
Uh-oh. My computer just spontaneously turned weird.
I'm just sitting here and suddenly my computer screen just went haywire.
That's not a good look.
Alright. I'm going to sign off now and I'll check back with you later today as we get more information about the election.
And we will talk then.
But to answer your question, yes, I am left to Bernie on a lot of topics.
I guess I'm rebooting.
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