There have been a few posts about K&S coverage \ not covering topics and in the AMA yesteday they talked about a few brought up. Below is the transcript from the episode.
If you want to hear it directly DM me and I will share the ama link.
TLDR:
- The Cornell 7: Krystal and Saagar haven't covered the story because they feel it's outside of their show's main wheelhouse and they missed the initial news cycle. Both agree the text messages were incredibly scummy and dehumanizing, even if the incident likely isn't a legally prosecutable case. Saagar feels the resulting expulsions and social consequences mean the "system worked," and he views the broader discourse around the event as a sign that culture is shifting away from 2010s-era sensitivities and back toward mid-2000s vulgarity.
- International Protests (France & India): They are hesitant to cover foreign protests because they lack the necessary cultural and political expertise. They want to avoid inaccurately projecting an American political lens onto foreign issues, noting they would only feel comfortable covering them if they had a guest with deep, local knowledge.
- Spain Housing Protests: Krystal brought up recent mass protests and a snap election in Spain triggered by the eviction and subsequent death of an 87-year-old woman. She contrasted Spain's unified, systemic outrage with the United States, pointing out that this kind of tragic eviction likely happens every day in the US without anyone even knowing.
Krystal:
We got some questions here about coverage of the Cornell 7 and also coverage of the protests in France. Um, we've been thinking more about covering the the protests in Europe, France in particular, but in Europe in general. Um, it's the sort of thing where, you know, I'm always reticent to cover these things as an American who I mean, I don't have like a fine grain understanding of French political and cultural sensibilities. It's the sort of thing that I would want the right guest. The Cornell 7 thing. I don't know. I just I don't know that I have anything really to to add to the the conversation on that and it's not really the sort of you know it's not really in the wheelhouse of the show. It I could see like Emily covering it more
Saagar:
she is Oh, Emily's all over Cornell.
Krystal:
if you Yeah, I bet on her other on afterparty.
Saagar:
Yeah. Yes. Um no, I actually So Emily cuz I cuz it's I'm like you. anything toy like this? I'm like, uh, I don't hey, Emily, I said, can you send me? So Emily has like a 25 page Google doc with all of the text and the statements and everything. So yeah, if you want, she could cover her and Ryan, I'm sure, can cover it. I have watched it more from a uh of interest of so there are two things that have happened recently of which I've been like huh the culture seems to be swinging back uh and so it's Cornell 7 but actually it's been this Shane Gillis thing are you aware of of this recent SNL thing this Shane Gillis thing organically has become like a major kind of social media incident around like women and gym ware, etc. And again, with no judgment or any of that whatsoever, I'm like, "Huh?" I'm like, I feel it. It's just not a news cycle or a social trend that I would have seen since like 2014. It really reminds me of kind of like what the internet and social trends were like that. And so, I'm just wondering, I'm like, I do it seems like the culture I wouldn't say it shifted right-wing, but I would say it shifted more mid 2000s vulgar. Is is that fair to say? like a vulgarity like with Trump and kind of less within the bounds of 2010's style. I wouldn't say cancel culture again necessarily, but the general shape of the discourse was much more like capital L liberal. I don't think that we're necessarily back to that, but I do feel like things are starting to swing a little bit more back towards that direction. I mean, obviously I'm opposed. Uh, and you know the other the other important thing around Cornell is that at the end of the day this one and I talked about this a lot with Mac and Griffin kind of behind the scenes. This is very different. You know, you might expect me to be cuz I I've openly said, you know, rape on campus was one of the most like radicalizing events for me because this is a total Bullshit story. It ends up becoming like this national sensation. I'm like, well, you know, this is a little different, right? It's like, you know, you got you got a very questionable incident, but you also have people who are literally like texting and admitting that this thing happened, right? Like it actually did happen. It's about a discussion about whether what happened was rape or not. Do think that that's a bit uh I don't know that one changes dramatically. I think in terms of the discussion. So I almost find it understandable I guess uh in the way that it has become more of a discussion. So anyway that's kind of my take generally.
Krystal:
Yeah. I mean if you look at the text messages that are like you know free pussy come and whip it out. Like no one can look at that and be like
Saagar:
oh these guys behaved in a perfect scumbag, you're a piece of shit
Krystal:
Yeah. And all of these dudes come and and nobody's like like they didn't see her as a human. like they they did not recognize her humanity. I think that's true. Now, the legal question is a totally separate one.
Saagar:
Right. Right. Exactly.
Krystal:
She has text messages that she's like nothing illegal happened and you know, if I want to have a gang bang my body, my choice. So, you know, legally, I think that's going to make it difficult to prosecute the case. But I don't think you can look at what happened and be like, "This is fine." I mean, I think frats tend to encourage like this worst kind of dehumanizing toxic behavior to use a throwback term. But um but yeah, I don't know. I I just I didn't I wasn't on top of the story when it first broke. I just didn't dig into the details. And then by the time I started to like really look at the text messages and things, if we haven't covered a story from the be I I felt like we were kind of behind the curve. And again, it's not really directly in the wheelhouse of what we're focused on.
Saagar:
So, I totally agree and I feel like I have nothing really to add. I'm sure people will be mad at this. I I'm curious. I feel like the system actually worked very well in this in this case. And I'm not usually a fan of kangaroo courts, etc. Cuz like you just said, um, as you just said, you're like, look, legally, like I'm sorry, like this is not this is not prosecutable like literally in any way. However, um many of these guys were expelled and are now suffering social consequences. I'm like, "Yeah, that seems good." Like I'm like, "Yeah, you should be expelled." Yeah. I'm like, "That seems like incredibly appropriate." The fraternity, you know, I was in a fraternity, I can assure you. Uh literally, like if anything like this is fucking happening, I could guarantee you I'm fucking saying something about it. Uh and the national fraternity apparently I think they expelled many of these members and they were like, "This is insane. Like, I can't believe we got Do you know what I Like I feel like this is actually one of those instances where I'm like, "Wow." I mean, to me, you know, my hot take seems to be like the system worked fine. I will say I think the media handled it irresponsibly by withholding some of those text messages. But to your point in terms of like coverage and all of that, we're so late to it at this point and neither of us are like, you know, this, you know, for Glenn, for Emily, for I don't know, for you know, Caller Daddy recently, you know, came in hardcore on Jane Doe's side and all of that. I'm like, that's all in their wheelhouse, but like this is, you know, it's not I don't know. I'm I'm more comfortable with Houthies in Saudi Arabia. Anyway, what else we got? Um or the guillotine, of which I went on a long diet tribe today. Enjoy.
Krystal:
Um when someone says, "I'm more surprised they haven't covered the France school protest." Yeah, that would be more likely
Saagar:
But your point is so important. Somebody just said, "Why aren't you covering the cockroach protest?" I don't know. You know, I I'm I'm I I may know more than the average person, but Krystal, like, you know, waiting into a country's politics, which is 1.3 billion people is kind of ridiculous if you don't know anything about it. I can read the Western press like anybody. I'm not Indian. I don't even speak I mean like I mean I'm not like an Indian citizen. I don't speak Hindi, right? I can't read these guys primary documents. I don't live in the society. Uh, and so like I see the coverage and like you said with France because I mean the France stuff is super interesting from a school budget perspective. I've seen the teachers say that they actually became violent after they banned phones which I love because for the first time people weren't an anesthesized you know by social media and by Tik Tok. So obviously that's like tickling my fancy but you know like you said and you got to have the right guests. They got to be actually French and speak fluent French and and are immersed like in the culture because otherwise I mean we're kind of just shooting at a subject of which we we don't know a ton about and of which it's very hard to explain.
Krystal:
You risk applying your own like political lens and hobby horse to a situation where it's not really applicable. You know what I mean? would have our no on to talk about it. I saw he was posting about it and very interesting talking about like the way that they completely upended the system for advancement from high school into higher education and made it way worse and people extremely disgusted and frustrated with it. I do I also think it's admirable like students being like no we demand a quality education is kind of a you know admirable admirable thing and an aspect to it. Um but uh anyway so You we'll keep our eye on that and and keep it in mind as a potential uh potential coverage item. And there's I was in Spain. There were protests going on in Spain uh as well that totally separate issue. Th those were all about housing. Really horrible, heartbreaking story. This woman is just like 87 years old. She lived in the same apartment for 70 years. And some big corporation came in and bought her building and spiked her rent from like 600 euro to €2,600, something along those lines, and then evicted her, carried her out on a stretcher. She's immediately hospitalized over this dress and then dies just recently and this sparked mass protests in Spain and then the president of Spain called for a snap election. Um, so it's it's really been tumultuous. And one of the things I was thinking about when I was there is I wonder, you know, it was sort of heartening to see that they cared about this woman's humanity. And I'm like, I don't know if that happened in the US
Saagar:
No
Krystal:
if it would cause no, like if we would even know about it, you because they have like tenant unions, so they were able to publicize the story and like get attention to it and wage this battle. And I'm like, this kind of [ __ ] probably happens in the US every day. We don't even know.
BP Realated: AMA \ Topics requested.