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Jack Armstrong
This is an iHeart podcast.
Joe Getty
Time for a sofa upgrade. Visit washablesofas.com and discover Annabe where designer style meets budget friendly prices. With sofas starting at $699, Annabe brings you the ultimate in furniture innovation with a modular design that allows you to rearrange your space effortlessly. Perfect for both small and large spaces, Anime is the only machine washable sofa inside and out. Say goodbye to stains and messes with liquid and stain resistant fabrics that cleaning easy liquid simply slides right off. Designed for custom comfort, our high resilience foam lets you choose between a sink in feel or a supportive memory foam blend. Plus our pet friendly stain resistant fabrics ensure your sofa stays beautiful for years. Don't compromise quality for price. Visit washablesofas.com to upgrade your living space today with no risk returns and a 30 day money back guarantee. Get up to 60% off plus free shipping and free returns. Shop now at washablesofas.com Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply.
Christiana Amanpour
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Jack Armstrong
That's the power of Lenovo.
Christiana Amanpour
With intel inside, enjoy flexible financing, rewards on every purchase and free shipping. And students get special offers when you create an account@lenovo.com Lenovo Lenovo.
Jamie Rubin
I'm Christiana Manpour and I've been on the front lines and interviewing world leaders for more than 30 years.
Jack Armstrong
And I'm Jamie Rubin, a former advisor to both Presidents Clinton and Biden.
Jamie Rubin
We were married for 20 years and divorced for seven. Now we've joined forces on the X Files to make sense of how we ended up with no world order. Listen to Christiane Amanpour presents the X files on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Joe Getty
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Jack Armstrong
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Joe Getty
Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.
Jack Armstrong
Armstrong and Getty. And now here's Armstrong and Getty. Too much news, that's what I say. If you'd have told me a week ago that we'd have been talking about that stupid Cindy, what's her name? Chick. Blonde.
Sydney Sweeney
Sydney Sweeney. Yes.
Jack Armstrong
Blonde Chick Gene. Ad Every day for a week, I would have said, how would that possibly happen? But here we are.
Sydney Sweeney
Says the guy who's soft on fascism, apparently. And eugenics and Nazism and. Am I leaving anything out?
Jack Armstrong
I ordered some of the Nazi jeans yesterday. I'll have them tomorrow. I'll wear them to work.
Sydney Sweeney
Yes, American Eagle. Is that a dog whistle? No, this is Fido. Come here.
Jack Armstrong
Come here.
Sydney Sweeney
That's a dog whistle. The jeans are just jeans. Anyway. One of the more interesting challenges we have in society, American society these days, although it occurs to me it's international, is what the hell do we do about our young women losing their minds? Like, they don't get together with a dude or another female, which I'm told is a thing. They don't have a partner, a romantic partner. They don't have children. They have no interest in starting families. And so it would appear that they are pouring their feminine energies into radical politics. I mean, to a huge extent, and we've talked about this because, you know, you look at the polls of young women age 17 to 27 and men, and they're politically just completely divergent.
Jack Armstrong
Right.
Sydney Sweeney
Anyway, the gals have gone nuts in.
Jack Armstrong
A way that has never been right. Yeah, it's completely unprecedented. Young people. There used to be equal number of people leaned right or left, usually more left than right for young people. Always has been that way. But boys and girls were the same. Now they're not like so many other groups, which is not good.
Sydney Sweeney
It's. It's a weird, unprecedented demographic mutation. Anyway, what to do about it, I don't have any idea other than keep doing what we're doing. Y' all do what you do to try to reign in those you love. But anyway, so the whole Sydney Sweeney fake reverse over the jeans commercial refuses to die. And somebody did some woman on the street interviews at some sort of gathering of pierced behair, dyed, sexually ambiguous looking young women and. And got these answers. We'll start with 15, Michael, which they asked. She asked, is the question included? Go ahead, just play the first one.
Cindy Crawford
The Sydney Sweeney ad. Have you seen it?
Jack Armstrong
Oh, yes, I have.
Cindy Crawford
What are your thoughts? Trying to calm myself. But that was Sydney Sweeney has good gene. Really?
Jack Armstrong
Like the eugenics in that.
Cindy Crawford
It's dripping with it. And I'm like, no.
Jack Armstrong
Okay.
Sydney Sweeney
All right. So, I mean, that kind of stands on its own, you know. What I'm interested to hear is, does somebody actually make a case, make an argument, or do they just repeat the catch words?
Jack Armstrong
Well, yeah, it seemed to me there. It's certainly until the end, I thought, okay, she's got no, she just knows she's supposed to be upset. She doesn't have an argument.
Sydney Sweeney
Yeah, but she heard eugenics.
Jack Armstrong
All right, next one.
Cindy Crawford
I get both sides of the argument.
Jack Armstrong
Like, she's talking about, like actual genes.
Cindy Crawford
But then I get the other side saying, like, oh, but like, this could.
Jack Armstrong
Be like a play on words for like something else.
Cindy Crawford
But, like, honest, honestly, I think there's.
Jack Armstrong
Just so much more going on in.
Cindy Crawford
The world that, like, an ad about Sydney Sweeney isn't something that we need.
Jack Armstrong
To pay attention to. Good for you.
Sydney Sweeney
Oh, wow. Wow. There's hope. There's hope. Next one.
Joe Getty
When you saw it, what did you think of?
Cindy Crawford
I mean, I thought, you know, it was disgusting.
Sydney Sweeney
I think it's.
Jack Armstrong
It's just showing what kind of country we're turning into. It's white supremacy. At the end of the day, that's what this ad is representing. Yeah, that's not a good look.
Cindy Crawford
Yeah, I mean, you know, she's blonde hair, blue eyed, white woman, you know, very cute. And a lot of things she's been doing online have been a little bit questionable. It seems that she's definitely been, you know, pandering to a certain group of men online.
Jack Armstrong
That's interesting. So they turned it into particularly attacking her when, like I was saying yesterday, I'm sure her agent got a call from American Eagle, which would your client be willing to oppose in jeans for $5 million?
Sydney Sweeney
Sure.
Jack Armstrong
She showed up for an hour, crawled around or sat on benches or whatever she does in the ads in her jeans. And went home. She didn't think she was doing anything. I would imagine that was going to make the news early.
Sydney Sweeney
Yeah. And the outrage against a product using sexual appeal to sell is. Well, that's. That's cute. I mean, it's. It's fine. Well, I'm young.
Jack Armstrong
They don't know I'm stealing this from Charles Cook of National Review. But he was making the point that. So we've been seeing ads for the last however many years where you mostly have people in the ads that don't represent the majority of the country.
Sydney Sweeney
Oh, yeah.
Jack Armstrong
Whether it's the piercings.
Sydney Sweeney
95% of the couples are interracial, for instance.
Jack Armstrong
Right. Which is fine, sir. And I get the blowback after years of every ad only having white people. But this ad features a girl who's, like, the probably the majority person in the country, if not majority, the plurality. The biggest group of anybody in the country is probably white women. I think that's almost guaranteed to be true.
Sydney Sweeney
Yeah, that is true.
Jack Armstrong
So the. So if you have an ad featuring the largest segment of society, even if it's not most people that is attacked, if you have somebody who represents a tiny chunk of people from Brooklyn, that's fine.
Sydney Sweeney
You know, I don't care who's with whom, and I hope you all find love and live long, happy lives. But I need to write a movie or a parody of Advil. You move to Advil, and every single couple is an Asian guy married to a black woman. Mm. You know, because that's the way ads are these days. It's hilarious. But that's fine. I don't actually care much. Next clip.
Cindy Crawford
And I've been seeing a lot of.
Joe Getty
People online being like, okay, well, if.
Cindy Crawford
We ran the same ad with a black woman, it would be interpreted differently. What are your thoughts on that? My thoughts on that is that, you know, a black woman probably wouldn't use the same inflection. And, you know, they didn't do that. So, you know, they can say what ifs all they want, but the fact of the matter is, is they used a white woman to spend a. Send a specific message. What about you? I definitely think if it were a black woman, it would send a different message specifically, because that's the world that we've created, that we. That we've grown up in. And so by specifically using a white, you know, a white person, it completely disregards everything that we've spent the last centuries working towards. And so that just kind of. It just. It rubs us the wrong way.
Jack Armstrong
So you really think that American Eagle's number one goal, really their only goal is not to sell as many jeans as possible and make as much profit. You really think their goal was to send the message about white supremacy? That's what, that's what they're in business for. That's what their shareholders want.
Sydney Sweeney
I'm reminded of a line from an old song. I was happier then with no mindset. How odd it is and troubling and terrible and neo Marxist that it's become our highest, our, you know, our education establishment. It's become their highest priority to churn out young people with strong political views when not very long ago at all. The vast majority of people in their teens and early twenties may have had a stance or two, generally a little left leaning.
Jack Armstrong
I don't know if I had any stances when I was 22.
Sydney Sweeney
I really don't know if I did well, exactly. They were curious about the world, learning as fast as they could, wondering what they would do to make a living, looking for love, etc. And the strong political beliefs were way down the line because you don't need them. You have much higher priorities or you should. Wow. I hope somebody writes the story someday so future civilizations can learn from our bizarre experiment in indoctrinating our young people into self hatred and radical politics. Yeah, if you're a young person and not like that, hang in there.
Jack Armstrong
Hang in there.
Sydney Sweeney
So a lot of your peers agree with you. They're just afraid to speak up.
Jack Armstrong
So whoever did that woman on the street thing, I don't have the slightest idea if they interviewed 500 people to get the 10 most political people clips to air and make it seem like they are with that or if everybody they talk to is more or less like that. I don't have any idea. I was very heartened to hear the other day. So the new King of the Hill is coming back. I didn't realize King of the Hills on for like 13 seasons or something like that. The cartoon my son loves King of the Hill. And I said did you know King of the Hills? He said do you think I don't know that, dad? And then he rattled off everything that's happening. So he knew about it and I didn't. But they come back and. And Hank and his wife older and Bobby is a grown up and has a job and. But anyway, Mike Judge and the people who make King of the Hill the cartoon realizing they needed to answer to the new world that exists since King of the Hill went off, they had to replace the voice of neighbor Khan, or they felt like they had to. Which was voiced by, I think, Judge, but one of the white guys who worked on the show, you know, and you can't do that anymore, which is. No. Which is one of the craziest things. We've decided that, like, a straight person can't play a gay person in a movie or voicing things. You have to be the race or gender or sexual orientation of the cartoon character you're portraying. Or somebody was hurt who got hurt by this. Anyway. So is it Ronnie Chang? Is that how you pronounce his name? Chinese comedian. I talked about him years ago when I saw his Netflix special. He's freaking hilarious. And he does one of the Daily Shows now. I think he does the Wednesday Daily show, and we've played clips from him. Very funny guy. He's going to voice Khan on King of the Hill. And they were. They asked him about that, like, how big a deal would it have been if they didn't have an Asian voice doing the Asian character in King of the Hill? And he said, Well, I think 5% of the Internet, which makes 100% of the noise, would have seemed like a lot to a lot of people, But I don't think it really would have said right. But I don't think would actually matter to anybody. He said. And I thought, that's so fantastic.
Sydney Sweeney
Yeah. Yeah.
Jack Armstrong
To not buy. To not feel like you've got to say, oh, thank God that they chose an Asian person to do the Asian voice, or something horrible has happened. And Hank Azaria, who I like as an actor, you know, who's been apologizing now for years for doing the Apu voice on the Simpsons. I mean, who was damaged by that? Find me the human being on earth who was hurt in any way. It's like standing with a case in the Supreme Court. Find someone with standing in this story.
Sydney Sweeney
Yeah, Yeah. I have been friends with known Indian people since my middle school days, and it hasn't come up yet. They're terrible. Pain and offense at the Apu character.
Jack Armstrong
What wound would have occurred?
Sydney Sweeney
It's hard.
Jack Armstrong
It's hard to even imagine what it would be.
Sydney Sweeney
Well, final note among the activists, they know that they just want to call you racist until they're in charge. It's a technique of capture the useful idiots. Like several of those young girls. We heard they actually internalized it. That's, Sweetheart, please come to get a boyfriend. Get a boyfriend and a job and call me back in a year.
Jack Armstrong
Speaking of the Chinese millions and millions and millions of Chinese were killed by the Japanese in World War II, and they were killing them like crazy as we dropped the bomb 80 years ago tomorrow. Which another part of the whole story that should be better known, I think when we're having this discussion about whether or not we should have used atomic weapons or not. We'll get to that a little bit later this hour. Some of the history stuff. Oh, I'm looking up at tv. They're doing it right now. That story, among other things. On the way. Stay here. Armstrong and Getty.
Joe Getty
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Jamie Rubin
I'm Christiane Amanpour and I've been on the front lines and interviewing world leaders for more than 30 years.
Jack Armstrong
And I'm Jamie Rubin, a former advisor to both Presidents Clinton and Biden.
Jamie Rubin
We were married for 20 years and divorced for seven. Now we've joined forces on the X Files to make sense of how we ended up with no world order. Listen to Christiana Manpour presents the X files on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Cindy Crawford
Ah, come on. Why is this taking so long? This thing is ancient.
Christiana Amanpour
Still using yesterday's tech Upgrade to the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Ultra Light, Ultra powerful and built for serious productivity with Intel Core Ultra processors, blazing speed and AI powered performance. It keeps up with your business, not the other way around.
Cindy Crawford
Whoa, this thing moves.
Christiana Amanpour
Stop hitting snooze on new tech. Win the tech search@lenovo.com Lenovo Lenovo unlock AI experiences with the ThinkPad X1 carbon powered by Intel Core Ultra processors so you can work, create and boost productivity all on one device.
Unknown
Life moves fast. A new home, a new baby, a new chapter. But without an estate plan, your future is still vulnerable. With Trust and will, you can name guardians, Start a trust, create health care directives and more. All online in about an hour. It's attorney designed, state specific and built to protect what you love. Plans start at just $199 and every plan is safe, secure and kept completely private. From families with young kids to adults caring for aging parents. Trust in will makes it simple to take control without a law office, paperwork, stress or court delays. Go to trustandwill.com and use code RADIO to save 20%. Start your plan today. Don't wait for life to force your hand. Estate planning is one of the smartest, most loving things you can do. Trust and Will is an online estate planning service. See website for details.
Sydney Sweeney
Trust and Will.
Cindy Crawford
Hi, I'm Cindy Crawford and I'm the founder of Meaningful Beauty. Well, I don't know about you, but like, I never liked being told, oh wow, you look so good for your age. Like, why even bother saying that? Why don't you just say you look great at any age, Every age. That's what Meaningful Beauty is all about. We create products that make you feel confident in your skin at the age you are now. Meaningful Beauty. Beautiful skin at every age. Learn more@meaning beauty.com.
Sydney Sweeney
Diner chain IHOP has.
Jack Armstrong
Unveiled a luxe version of its Dubai chocolate pancakes, which it claims are the most expensive item they ever served. Well, the most expensive thing at Waffle House is the ambulance ride. I've been to Waffle House hundreds of times. I've never ridden in an ambulance once. I've witnessed some fights to the death, but I've never ridden in an ambulance.
Sydney Sweeney
Right, right. Unfortunate cliche coming up.
Jack Armstrong
Why we dropped the bomb on Japan 80 years ago tomorrow. And Michael, I told you remind me of sailing lessons. Also remind me to talk about luxury beanbag chairs, which are a thing.
Sydney Sweeney
Wow. Two phrases I never thought I'd hear out of your mouth. You know, back to the Waffle House thing. If you are going to be in a fist fight in a restaurant, it's likely to be awful. House. Sure, maybe McDonald's. Second place terms of likelihood. I mean, I'm not likely to be in a fist fight in any restaurant, but unless somebody brings me a cab that's not quite ready. How dare you.
Jack Armstrong
Slap, slap. The tannins. The ten and too many tannins. They're too harsh. Put up your dukes. The tannins.
Sydney Sweeney
So a couple of stories more or less from the world of Technology. First of all, Mark Zuckerberg kind of declared war on the iPhone the other day. He. He announced that that would be awesome.
Jack Armstrong
I'm a big fan of free market competition.
Sydney Sweeney
Oh yeah, yeah. He old Azak who, who is Satan, by the way? If you're a new listener. We determined that years ago.
Jack Armstrong
Wow.
Sydney Sweeney
But anyway, he's. He's totally into the AI thing, spending billions and billions and billions of dollars on developing AI and is quite certain that the roughly rectangular grow glowing box will not be the go to hardware device in the future. He's convinced it'll be glasses or something like that.
Jack Armstrong
I believe that's probably true. I don't know how soon or what it will be, but.
Sydney Sweeney
Yeah, I don't either. But he announced that they're going big on both the software and the hardware thing, so I wish him well. Fine, whatever.
Jack Armstrong
I could easily see us moving into an age pretty quickly where we look back and remember when everybody used to walk around holding this device. How crazy he was at.
Sydney Sweeney
Yeah. And actually I was going to go into something else, but there's a fair amount here. He called his vision personal super intelligence and drew a path for finally achieving his desire to have an Apple like experience that combines software and hardware. Personal superintelligence that knows us deeply, understands our goals and can help us achieve them will be by far the most useful.
Jack Armstrong
Pretty interesting to have. Zuckerberg, a competitor, used the term an Apple like experience, but it's a good description.
Sydney Sweeney
That was not part of the quote.
Jack Armstrong
Okay.
Sydney Sweeney
But yeah, that's the way everybody's taking it. And let's see, Zuckerberg. Once you get the display in there, there's also going to unlock a lot of value where you can just interact with an AI system throughout the day in a multimodal way. Blah, blah.
Jack Armstrong
I feel like we're so far away from it. I don't know if. If I have to correct. So we have a dog named Pup. I probably send a text that includes Pup eight times a week. It always auto corrects it to pop. How is my phone not figured out by now that I use a word called pup a thousand times a year? But it hasn't. Until they fix that, I'm not ready for AI to take over. Yeah. And I'd.
Sydney Sweeney
I would forcefully argue that Mark Zuckerberg's vision of humanity being constantly, effortlessly online is a miserable. It's a threat, it's not a promise.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, I don't think there's anything you can do about that.
Sydney Sweeney
Oh, I won't. I won't have to because human beings will die out. We'll continue the trends we're doing right now and that'll end it.
Jack Armstrong
Why we dropped the bomb in Japan among other things on the way, like glamorous beanbag chairs, Armstrong and Gettysburg.
Joe Getty
Time for a sofa upgrade? Visit washablesofas.com and discover Annabe where designer style meets budget friendly prices with sofas starting at $699, Anabe brings you the ultimate in furniture innovation with a modular design that allows you to rearrange your space effortlessly. Perfect for both small and large spaces, Anabe is the only machine washable sofa inside and out. Say goodbye to stains and messes with liquid and stain resistant fabrics that make cleaning easy. Liquid simply slides right off. Designed for custom comfort, our high resilience foam lets you choose between a sink in feel or a supportive memory foam blend. Plus, our pet friendly stain resistant fabrics ensure your sofa stays beautiful for years. Don't compromise quality. For price, visit washablesofas.com to upgrade your living space today with no risk returns and a 30 day money back guarantee. Get up to 60% off plus free shipping and free returns. Shop now@washablesofas.com Authors are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply.
Jamie Rubin
I'm Christiane Amanpour and I've been on the front lines and interviewing world leaders for more than 30 years.
Sydney Sweeney
And I'm Jamie Rubin, a former advisor.
Jack Armstrong
To both Presidents Clinton and Biden.
Jamie Rubin
We were married for 20 years and divorced for seven. Now we've joined forces on the X Files to make sense of how we ended up with no world order. Listen to Christiana Manpour presents the X files on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Cindy Crawford
Ah, come on. Why is this taking so long? This thing is ancient.
Christiana Amanpour
Still using yesterday's tech upgrade to the ThinkPad X1 carbon ultralight. Ultra powerful and built for serious productivity. With Intel Core Ultra processors, blazing speed and AI powered performance, it keeps up with your business, not the other way around.
Cindy Crawford
Whoa, this thing moves.
Christiana Amanpour
Stop hitting snooze on new tech. Win the tech search@lenovo.com Lenovo Lenovo unlock AI experiences with the ThinkPad X1 carbon powered by Intel Core Ultra processors so you can work, create and boost productivity all on one device.
Unknown
Life moves fast. A new home, a new baby, a new chapter. But without an estate plan, your future's still vulnerable. With trust and will, you can name guardians, start a trust, create health care directives and more. All online in about an hour. It's attorney designed, state specific and built to protect what you love. Plans start at just $199 and every plan is safe, secure and kept completely private. From families with young kids to adults caring for aging parents. Trust in Will makes it simple to take control without a law office, paperwork, stress or court delays. Go to trustandwill.com and use code RADIO to save 20%. Start your plan today. Don't wait for life to force your hand. Estate planning is one of the smartest, most loving things you can do. Trust and Will is an online estate planning service. See website for details.
Sydney Sweeney
Trust and Will.
Cindy Crawford
Hi, I'm Cindy Crawford and I'm the founder of meaningful beauty. When Dr. Sabah and I decided to do a skincare line together, he said to me, we are going to give women meaningful beauty. And I said that's exactly right. We want to give women meaningful beauty. Which means each and every product is meaningful. It has a a reason to exist, it's efficacious, you're going to get results and then you just go out and live your life. Meaningful beauty confidence is beautiful. Learn more@meaningful beauty.com the US Navy has.
Jack Armstrong
Dozens of nuclear powered submarines. Fourteen are capable of carrying nuclear weapons. Each Ohio class sub can carry 20 Trident ballistic missiles with eight nuclear warheads.
Cindy Crawford
Each, meaning one American Ohio class nuclear submarine could strike 160 cities at once.
Jack Armstrong
I thought it would be good to play something current before we get into discussion about the anniversary tomorrow. 80 years since we dropped the atomic bomb now on Japan. We still have wars going on. Nuclear weapons are still a conversation. People are still willing to fight to the death over a variety for a variety of reasons. Nothing has changed on that front since World War II. World War I was the going to be the war to end all wars. Then we had World War II, which was significant, significantly bigger and since World War II we've now had more people die in wars since World War II than happened during World War II.
Sydney Sweeney
And I believe as we speak we have the most armed conflicts going on earth that has been recorded.
Jack Armstrong
Really?
Sydney Sweeney
I just heard that yesterday.
Jack Armstrong
I I didn't know that.
Sydney Sweeney
It's like 140 or something like that.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah. So I get discouraged sometimes with my love of history and that I feel like it is wrongly portrayed so often or narratives catch on and they just become the truth forever in some cases. And they're not accurate. It's just the way it is. Like our friend we like Victor David Hansen. He wrote a book a couple years called the World wars and he was trying to make the argument that it was really separate wars, that we call it World War II, but there were separate wars going on that really didn't have much to do with each other. This other book that I've been reading just recently, Operation Downfall by Richard B. Frank. It's the most recent book written about downfall. Was going to be the. Was the campaign for us to end the war with Japan. Japan bombs us December 7, 1941. They attacked us. Hitler had already been defeated at this point, and we needed to figure out how to finish off the Japanese who were still fighting like crazy. And. But the whole fight in Japan and fighting Germany didn't really have much to do with each other. There are a couple of instances when Japan and Germany kind of work together. But if it ever came down to it, I mean, think about it. These are two incredibly racist regimes that believe the other side shouldn't exist on.
Sydney Sweeney
Planet Earth or at least ought to stay the hell away.
Jack Armstrong
The Nazis would have killed every Japanese person on Earth if they had the opportunity, and vice versa. Japan was an incomplete, incredibly racist nation. They believed they were superior to the Chinese, let alone the white mongrel United States. And this Franks guy is trying to make the argument that a lot of historians have, but it just hasn't worked yet. That World War II started in 1937 when Japan invaded China and started taking over that part of the globe. But because we're mostly from Europe and we're so Europe focused and most of our World War II movies are about Europe and fighting the Nazis. We just. We don't. We think World War II started in September of 39 when Germany goes into, you know, Poland and all those countries and starts doing their thing. But the Japanese invaded China in 1937 and started one hell of a war. Eight million Chinese had died at the hands of the Japanese before Pearl Harbor. Eight million Chinese.
Sydney Sweeney
Yeah.
Jack Armstrong
Japan was one of the most ruthless regimes that's ever existed on planet Earth. Why we regularly refer to Nazis or Hitler like the worst thing that has ever happened, I don't quite know. Stalin was worth worse than Hitler and the Japanese were more deadly than the Nazis. Japan controlled 20% of the planet. What they were fighting at the time that we defeated them, a significantly greater chunk than the Nazis took over, even though they took over most of Europe.
Sydney Sweeney
And. And call it racism or bigotry or just resentment, but I've always reacted to the obscenely unspeakably stupid statement from progressives that only white people can be racist because ask. Ask a Korean about the Japanese Right. Ask a Japanese person about the Chinese, ask a Filipino about any of them. They, oh my God, will they bring the hate anyway? But part of that is fairly legitimate resentment of, I don't know, killing 8 million of our people, often in horrific, you know, ways.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah. And things had gotten so ugly there at the end, fighting Japanese soldiers island by island. As we tried to get close enough to the. The main island of Japan to, at the time we thought we were going to invade, we ended up deciding that wasn't going to work because it would have been too deadly and too costly. 60. Between 60 and 70% of all of our casualties happened in the last year of the war. Half of all Marine deaths happen in the last couple of months as we were fighting island to island. By the time we got to Guadalcana Canal, it was the first battle in which we lost more people. More men died that were US soldiers than the Japanese lost. And we just figured that that was going to continue. As we got closer to the island and then invading the island, we were going to take way more deaths than they were going to take. So people who make the argument we shouldn't have dropped the bomb, why do you think we should suffer more losses than the people that attacked us? What's the argument there?
Sydney Sweeney
Well, and there are a lot of good arguments on that side. Loyal listener Mike of San Francisco urged us me to read about the BO Battle of Okinawa, which raged for two months and three weeks and was one of the last big ones before we were either going to invade Japan or not. But 100,000 Japanese troops in Okinawa, 50,000 Allied casualties, around 100,000 Japanese casualties, also including local Okinawans conscripted into the Japanese army. According to local authorities, at least 149,000 Okinawan people were killed, died by coerced suicide or went missing. So, yeah, the carnage at the end was, well, it's unspeakable, it's unthinkable.
Jack Armstrong
It is a version of total war that is practically unseen on planet Earth. Why it doesn't get discussed more often, I don't know. And then as to the idea that Japan would have surrendered at any point. So Japan had never surrendered. Historically, in their 2700 year existence, they had never surrendered to an invader. And more recently During World War II, no Japanese unit, not one, had surrendered in any battle. No matter how defeated they were, they would continue to fight until they were all dead. That was just their culture. And it's kind of hard for us to get into the mindset of it's why the whole kamikaze thing worked. They had a. They have a culture and a mindset that we do not have of where they would take such great pride to have their young son go get in a plane and fly it into a ship and die. They were perfectly okay with that. It made every bit of sense to them to serve their God King Hirohito thing that they had going on that we also can't quite wrap our heads around culturally because it not only was a monarch, but it was a religious figure. And, and we just. We can't. It doesn't make any sense to us culturally, the way that that worked. Roosevelt also believed. If you're a fan of World War I, you know, the whole stabbed in the back myth that entered into Germany after Germany lost. And we, we left their government, we, the Allies, left their government in charge. Then the young Hitlers of the world, people that had fought in the war, started this whole our government stabbed us in the back and it's the dirty Jews that caused it thing that grew and grew and grew and led to the rise of the anger of the German society and Nazi Germany in World War II and all that. Roosevelt knew that. And he didn't want to leave in Germany or Japan any. He wanted to make sure. Roosevelt believed Germany and Japan, every man, woman and child in the country had to believe they were defeated to make sure that they, either one of them didn't rise up again. They had to all know they were beaten, completely beaten. Their own government didn't stab in the back. Nothing like that happened. They were soundly defeated. That was one of the reasons they had to take it clear to the end the way they did. Combined with the. Nobody had ever surrendered, so there was no reason to think they would ever give up. The Japanese we now have. We've only had this for 30 years. We now have the communications that were going on in Japan. Thanks to Japanese historians, there are only six people in control of the whole decision they called the Big Six. Five of them were in the military and they had no interest in surrendering whatsoever. And they were willing to lose tens of millions of Japanese civilians. They believed if we, if we surrounded them and did a blockade and tried to starve them out, which ended up. That was going to be the plan. If we didn't drop the bomb, we were going to surround Japan and starve millions of people until they surrender, which would have killed way more people than the bombs killed. But the. The big six in Japan, they figured if 20 million Japanese starve, the world opinion will finally turn against the allies in the United States and we'll very.
Sydney Sweeney
Hamas like strategy.
Jack Armstrong
Exactly. And we'll be able to negotiate a much better situation. They're perfectly comfortable with that. For anybody who argues that there is a way out that would have been less deadly than the nuclear weapons. Also, I mentioned it the other day, but worth mentioning again, around 200,000 people were killed by the bombs. It's hard. Depends on where you, you know, you do the cutoff because the cancer later and everything like that. But around 200,000 died from the bombs that were dropped 80 years ago tomorrow. And then on the 9th, the other bomb, twice as many Japanese as that died at the hands of the Russians in the very same weeks as Russia was coming on and taking ground and trying to take it back from much more ruthless than we were. When do you ever hear anybody say anything about that?
Sydney Sweeney
Well, yeah, self hatred is the, the hallmark of the progressive and, and they're proud of it. They stoke it, they like it. And it's, it's just, it's, it's perverse.
Jack Armstrong
They had a million men ready to defend a ground invasion, some 8,000 planes, maybe half of which were going to be kamikazes, attacking every one of our ships, which would have been. That's why they ultimately decided, and we've only known this since the 90s, that our Navy decided, we ain't going to do this. That's a no. We're a no vote on that. So the ground invasion was not going to happen because it would have been too deadly. It just absolutely couldn't be done. So it was either starve him out or drop the bomb. So I went to the Oppenheimer movie with a friend. When was that? Three, four years ago that that Oppenheimer movie came out. This friend was a super lib. But anyway, we're driving away from the movie theater and we're having a conversation about the whole should we have dropped the bomb or not? Kind of got started the conversation and it was very funny because it took us 10, 15 minutes of driving and saying, I know, can you believe that? There are some people that believe that. Before we realized we were, we had completely different positions. We were both saying, I know it's crazy that people believe that. I was thinking, it's crazy that people believe we shouldn't have dropped the bomb. She was thinking, it's crazy that people think we should have dropped the bomb. And at some point, and it got very quiet in the car after that, we realized, oh, oh, we're completely on the opposite side of this because those of us on whichever side just can't believe the other side believes what they believe. And I'm on the side of obviously we should have dropped the bomb. Who wouldn't have given the circumstances. But there are plenty of people that think it's just nuts that we opened up the can of worms and it's one of the great black marks in U.S. history that we crossed that line and dropped an atomic bomb on Japan.
Sydney Sweeney
Yeah.
Jack Armstrong
What's the other pushback, the best. What's the, what's the college kid, college professor pushback on dropping the bomb?
Sydney Sweeney
That Japan was prepared to offer a not unconditional but more or less complete surrender and that it just had to be worked out over the course of a couple more days of conversation.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, there's no documentation for that.
Sydney Sweeney
There are a couple of communications from a couple of people that hint that that might be possible and they extrapolate from there and feel free we can talk about this as long as you want. But on the at home sociological. Why do people believe what your friend did? It occurred to me, and I've said this many, many times, that if you are on the left, you get a great deal of social reinforcement, a lot of pats on the back, acceptance for being a self hating American. But it's funny, I hadn't really looked at it from the other perspective. You cannot be accepted in those circles if you are a patriotic American who thinks by and large we have been a great country doing mostly the right thing. I mean that is, you are drummed out. That's, it's, it's like committing an act of violence, you know, at a social club. That's it. There's no hearing you're gone. That's, that's enormous social pressure for those people.
Jack Armstrong
Well, just as a response to your thing before we, we and we can break and I want to get too in the weeds on this, but the big six made all the decisions for Japan. If there was going to be any sort of surrender, they would have to do it. There's no indication anybody in that group wanted to surrender. And five of the six were in the military and they absolutely were into fighting to the last man. So it just was never going to happen.
Sydney Sweeney
Right.
Jack Armstrong
Anyway, I wanted to get this on on the 5th because I have a feeling tomorrow you'll hear a lot of news from mainstream media pushing the idea that we did something wrong. And I'll be interested to see how that plays on your evening newscasts. You have any comment on any of this? Text line 415295 KFTC ARMSTRONG and GETTY.
Joe Getty
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Jamie Rubin
I'm Christiana Manpour and I've been on the front lines and interviewing world leaders for more than 30 years.
Jack Armstrong
And I'm Jamie Rubin, a former advisor to both Presidents Clinton and Biden.
Jamie Rubin
We were married for 20 years and divorced for seven. Now we've joined forces on the X Files to make sense sense of how we ended up with no world order. Listen to Christiana Manpour presents the X files on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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Jack Armstrong
Before I get into it, do you have a compelling reason for why we the 80 year anniversary of us dropping the bomb on Japan is tomorrow. Do you have a reason why we focus so much more on the fighting the Nazis European part of World War II as opposed to the Pacific War?
Sydney Sweeney
I I don't know that I've perceived that in the same way you did. I've always been into the Pacific War partly because my father in law served there and I've always been acutely aware of it. I don't know, maybe culturally, I don't know.
Jack Armstrong
I know factually in terms of movies and books and everything like the whole European theater dominates and has forever. I think it's because it was just so morally more clear cut. Things got so ugly against the Japanese bit by bit, island by island where both sides were just so the book I'm reading read several of them. Twilight of the Gods by Ian Toll, which is considered one of the definitive books on it. He had a story, oh by the way, we got a text, the Japanese. The text was it's cute that you think the Japanese surrendered because of the bombs. It was because they knew Russia was coming. There's no documentation about that. If you have a book book that says that's true, that's a common narrative, but there's no documentation that that conversation was being had by the big six who made these decisions in Japan. So if you have a different book that says they were, you know, feel free to text me. I'd be interested in reading it for instance, on one of the islands and I don't remember which one it was, but this became A common thing. Our Marines would come across dead US soldiers who had had their genitals cut off and shoved in their mouths, sometimes while they were alive, by the Japanese. So the Japanese soldiers had come across a, you know, a wounded Marine, cut off his junk, stick it in his mouth. So we got more and more brutal and it just, it got that way to where it was just like freaking Lord of the Flies. Total war. As awful as it could get, foot by foot, trench by trench in the mud and the blood and your own feces and everything right across the islands. And that's what it was going to be in Japan. And it had a story in there of collecting gold teeth, became a thing. So US soldiers would collect gold teeth and it had a story in there about one US soldier coming across a wounded but still alive Japanese who he then took his bayonet and started digging in the guy's mouth, trying to pry his teeth out while he's still alive. Some of some of his fellow US soldiers said, dude, that's not cool, came up and shot the guy in the head to put him out of his misery. But that's the sort of warfare. It was there at the end and it was going to be that times who knows how many thousand on the beaches of Japan if we actually invaded.
Sydney Sweeney
Well, and I think Europe got more coverage partly because a film crew could do what they did then go back to Paris or London or whatever. And so you can't do that in the islands of the Pacific. Coming up next hour. Among the other things progressives have completely screwed up in America are lyra libraries like actively like they're doing it deliberately. This is not some sort of paranoid wackiness. I've got it in their own words. Stay with us. If you can't stay with us, grab the podcast. Subscribe to Armstrong and Getty on demand.
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Joe Getty
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Jamie Rubin
I'm Christian Amanpour and I've been on the front lines and interviewing world leaders for more than 30 years.
Jack Armstrong
And I'm Jamie Rubin, a former advisor to both Presidents Clinton and Biden.
Jamie Rubin
We were married for 20 years and divorced for seven. Now we've joined forces on the X Files to make sense of how we ended up with no world order. Listen to Christiana Manpour presents the X files on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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Podcast Summary: Armstrong & Getty On Demand – "The Gals Have Gone Nuts!"
Episode Information:
The episode opens with Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty introducing the show. Following a series of advertisements, the hosts transition into the main discussion seamlessly, setting the stage for a deep dive into contemporary societal issues.
Time Stamp: [03:16] – [10:59]
The core of the episode revolves around the controversy sparked by Sydney Sweeney's latest advertisement for American Eagle. Armstrong and Getty express strong criticism, interpreting the ad as a subtle endorsement of white supremacy.
Sydney Sweeney: "The gals have gone nuts."
(04:01)
Armstrong: "It's dripping with it. And I'm like, no."
(06:19)
The hosts discuss how the advertisement's portrayal of a white, blonde woman might reinforce harmful racial stereotypes. They question whether the ad's intent was purely commercial or if it inadvertently sends a more troubling message.
Armstrong: "They used a white woman to send a specific message. What about you?"
(10:59)
Sydney Sweeney: "It's a dog whistle."
(04:11)
The conversation highlights the tension between representation and messaging in modern advertising, questioning the broader implications of such portrayals on societal attitudes.
Time Stamp: [09:53] – [15:22]
The discussion shifts to the representation of different races and sexual orientations in media. Armstrong and Sweeney touch upon the recent changes in voice acting, particularly the replacement of Hank Azaria with Ronnie Chang for the character Khan in "King of the Hill."
Armstrong: "You can't do that anymore, which is one of the craziest things."
(14:33)
Sweeney: "It's fine. I don't actually care much."
(09:30)
They debate the necessity and impact of such changes, weighing the importance of authentic representation against the flexibility of creative choices in entertainment.
Time Stamp: [05:02] – [12:23]
A significant portion of the episode addresses the alarming trend of young women increasingly aligning with radical politics, diverging sharply from their male counterparts.
Sweeney: "What the hell do we do about our young women losing their minds?"
(04:06)
Armstrong: "It's a weird, unprecedented demographic mutation."
(05:21)
The hosts explore potential causes, including societal pressures, shifting cultural norms, and the influence of media and education systems in shaping young women's political ideologies. They express concerns over the fragmentation of political views among the youth and its implications for societal cohesion.
Time Stamp: [28:07] – [46:58]
One of the episode's most in-depth segments delves into the historical context and ethical considerations surrounding the United States' decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan during World War II.
Armstrong: "Why we dropped the bomb on Japan 80 years ago tomorrow."
(28:07)
Sweeney: "It's raw and impassioned commentary on historical decisions."
(32:41)
They discuss the cultural mindset of Japanese forces, highlighting the reluctance to surrender and the extreme measures both sides were willing to take. Armstrong references historical figures and literature to support his argument that the bombings were a necessary, albeit tragic, decision to prevent even greater loss of life.
Armstrong: "Japanese soldiers would continue to fight until they were all dead."
(31:37)
Sweeney: "It's perverse how certain narratives overshadow the brutal realities of war."
(38:30)
The conversation also critiques modern interpretations and narratives of World War II, arguing that the focus on the European theater has overshadowed the equally significant and brutal Pacific conflicts.
Time Stamp: [20:27] – [23:53]
Shifting focus, Armstrong and Sweeney discuss the rapidly evolving technology sector, specifically addressing Mark Zuckerberg's ambitious AI projects aimed at surpassing traditional hardware like the iPhone.
Armstrong: "I could easily see us moving into an age pretty quickly where we look back and remember when everybody used to walk around holding this device."
(21:30)
Sweeney: "Personal superintelligence that knows us deeply... a miserable threat."
(22:45)
They debate the potential societal impacts of pervasive AI integration, expressing skepticism about the balance between technological advancements and personal autonomy.
Time Stamp: [15:44] – [42:20]
The hosts return to discussing the broader societal pressures influencing young people's political beliefs. They argue that there's an increasing expectation for individuals, especially women, to adopt certain political stances, often labeled as self-hatred or radicalism.
Sweeney: "If you are on the left, you get a great deal of social reinforcement, acceptance for being a self-hating American."
(41:58)
Armstrong: "So, keep doing what we're doing to try to reign in those you love."
(05:21)
The conversation underscores the challenges of maintaining personal beliefs amidst a highly polarized and ideologically driven environment.
Time Stamp: [46:25] – [53:11]
As the episode winds down, Armstrong and Sweeney reflect on the enduring consequences of historical decisions and the importance of understanding diverse narratives. They preview upcoming discussions, promising to tackle topics like educational reforms and the manipulation of information by progressive agendas.
Armstrong: "Why we dropped the bomb in Japan... It's almost forgotten."
(46:25)
Sweeney: "Progressives have completely screwed up in America... Stay with us."
(49:44)
They encourage listeners to engage critically with historical and current events, emphasizing the need for nuanced perspectives in an increasingly complex world.
Representation Matters: How media portrayals can reinforce or challenge societal norms and prejudices.
Political Polarization: The growing divide in political beliefs among young women and the societal implications.
Historical Narratives: The importance of understanding multiple perspectives on pivotal historical events like WWII.
Technological Advancements: The potential benefits and threats posed by emerging AI technologies.
Societal Pressures: The influence of ideological reinforcement on personal beliefs and societal cohesion.
Jack Armstrong: "They used a white woman to send a specific message. What about you." (10:59)
Sydney Sweeney: "It's a dog whistle." (04:11)
Sydney Sweeney: "Personal superintelligence that knows us deeply... a miserable threat." (22:45)
Jack Armstrong: "Why we dropped the bomb in Japan... It's almost forgotten." (46:25)
This comprehensive discussion by Armstrong and Getty offers listeners a critical perspective on current societal issues, historical narratives, and the intersection of technology and politics. By weaving historical analysis with contemporary commentary, the hosts provide a thought-provoking examination of the forces shaping modern America.