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Karol Markowicz Show: Reviving Traditional Storytelling with Libby Emmons
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- [00:00]
Ryan Reynolds
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- [01:03]
Carol Markowitz
21 + terms and conditions apply.
- [01:05]
Ryan Reynolds
Are you still quoting 30 year old movies? Have you said cool beans in the past 90 days? Do you think Discover isn't widely accepted? If this sounds like you, you're stuck in the past. Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide and every time you make a purchase with your card, you automatically earn cash back. Welcome to the now it pays to Discover. Learn more@discover.com credit card based on the February 2024 Nielsen report, it's Wednesday night after a long day and the last thing you want to do is cook dinner from scratch. But you still want a satisfying, tasty meal without the guilt. Enter your freezer's sidekick Caulipower. From thin and crispy cauliflower crust pizzas to all natural white meat chicken tenders and more, Caulipower is gluten free, always satisfies every craving and is ready in minutes. Caulipwer is available in freezer aisles nationwide. Visit eatcolipower.com where to buy to find a store near you in the heat of battle, your squad relies on you. Don't let them down. Unlock elite gaming tech@lenovo.com Dominate every match with next level speed, seamless streaming and performance that won't quit so you can push your gameplay beyond performance with Intel Core Ultra processors for the next era of gaming. Upgrade to smooth high quality streaming with Intel Wi Fi 6e and maximize game performance with enhanced overclocking. Win the tech search Power up@lenovo.com.
- [02:41]
Carol Markowitz
Hi and welcome back to the Carol Markowitz show on iheartradio. Tyler Cowen wrote two articles this week that bothered me enough to discuss them. Both were in the Free Press, an outlet that I really enjoy. One of them was on how the elites got Covid mostly right. If you know anything about me, I very much don't think so, and I'm writing an article about that now, so look for it in the New York Post or maybe on the Fox News website. We'll see. But his other piece is somehow even more wrong than that one. It's called the Case for Living Online or why I Often Choose My Phone Instead of Flesh and Blood, he writes. Why do I spend so much of my time with email, group chats, and also writing for larger audiences such as Free Press readers? I ask myself that earnestly, and I have arrived at a pretty good answer. I believe that by spending time online I will meet and befriend a collection of individuals around the world who are pretty much exactly the people I want to be in touch with. And then I will be in touch with them regularly. I call them the perfect people for me. I recognize that many of these communications are online and thus they are thinner than many more local face to face relationships. Yet I do end up meeting most of these people, and with great pleasure. That in turn enhances the quality of the online communications. And frankly, if forced to choose, I would rather have thinner relationships with the perfect people for me than regular bear hugs and beer guzzlings with people who are in the 87th percentile for me. End quote. The problem with this is that you may meet these people once, twice, even 20 times, let's say, but they're not a part of your everyday life. Their proximity does not allow for true close for true friendship. But I think what Tyler is describing is exactly what people do get caught up in. When, for example, they do online dating. Why settle for just 87% compatible when clearly the hundredth percentile would be better? But I just think 100 is an illusion. You can only imagine that you're 100% compatible with someone when you have limited interaction with them. It's the whirlwind romance that you have when you're studying abroad in college. Pablo or Marco or Suzette is just your absolute match. You spend three blissful months together eating baguettes around Paris or on the back of a Vespa in Rome. Nothing could be better and no one better suited to you. But nearly anyone who has tried to take that relationship yes, to real life, where there are bills and jobs and chores and grocery stores, the drudgery of the everyday. We'll find that it all gets old very, very fast. That's what Tyler has with his Internet friends. He has the high points. And sure, he can maintain them for longer because he doesn't have that romantic connection to burnout without ever having anything like real life and real life. And I know I say this on here, a lot is better, 87% compatible with 13% where you love your spouse or your friend anyway because their imperfections make them a real person is actually amazing. I've made friends online. Don't get me wrong, I cried when a friend I knew, mostly just on Twitter, died. But a lot of the time I've watched the death of someone that we all know online hit the online world, and people are sad. People might give their condolences or say a word or two about the person or be shocked, but it lasts a minute. And then they're scrolling and retweeting like nothing had ever happened. That person's actual family and their actual friends in real life will miss them. And they are who is important. Thanks for listening. Coming up, my interview with Libby Emmons. But first, Israel is still under attack. Missile fire has resumed from Israel's enemies, terrorists who seek utter death and destruction. Here in America, we can't imagine what it's like to live in constant fear like this. But for the people of Israel, it's all very real every single day. Please join me and show the people of Israel you'll help protect them in this time of attack and uncertainty. And one of the best ways to do this is by giving to the International fellowship of Christians and Jews. Your gift today helps provide security essentials like bomb shelters, flak jackets and bulletproof vests, armored security vehicles, ambulances, and so much more. There's no better time to give than right now during the Passover holiday when we celebrate Israel's historic deliverance and birth as a nation. Give a special Passover gift today and help protect the people of Israel. Call 888-488-IFCJ. That's 888-488-4325. Or go online at supportifcj.org or one word supportifcj.org Ryan Reynolds here from Mint.
- [08:31]
Ryan Reynolds
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- [08:58]
Libby Emmons
Taxes and fees extra.
- [08:58]
Ryan Reynolds
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- [12:31]
Carol Markowitz
Hi, and welcome back to the Carol Markowitz show on iheartradio. My guest today is Libby Emmons. Libby is editor in chief of the Post Millennial. Thank you so much for coming on, Libby.
- [12:42]
Libby Emmons
Sure thing, Carol.
- [12:44]
Carol Markowitz
So we knew each other a little bit in Brooklyn, and I know a little bit about your story, how you got into this thing of ours. But you came from the theater world, is that right?
- [12:54]
Libby Emmons
Yeah. Most of my career was in theater, doing weird experimental downtown shows and tiny theaters, hoping people would come. And then I. I spoke out against trans, and that turned out badly. And I had to find a new career and different friends. So rather quickly, like 2019, early 2019, and I came up with this idea that I should just walk through any open door, and that's how I got here.
- [13:29]
Carol Markowitz
Do you miss the theater world?
- [13:31]
Libby Emmons
Yes. Yeah.
- [13:32]
Carol Markowitz
Would you go back to something if it was normal, if it wasn't insane? But it kind of just is insane, right?
- [13:38]
Libby Emmons
It kind of just is insane. I don't know that that door would ever be opened at this point. I would love to see people on this side of things making art and making theater and doing, you know, exploring ideas in that aesthetic kind of way, picking up the threads of storytelling where the arts community has dropped them years and years ago. Going into creating beautiful things, creating artwork that makes you feel something positive when you're sitting in the audience. Or even just doing Shakespeare like it's normal. Instead of doing Shakespeare like Romeo is a girl too, you know, or doing Macbeth like it's normal. Doing all of these shows. What was the one they did and they decided the bad guy in Shakespeare was actually Trump? That was dumb. One of them, yeah, pick your poison. But I would love to see more traditional pieces done like they should be. Even Ibsen, Moliere, any of these guys, you know, Sam Beckett. I think there's actually a revival of Waiting for Godot that's going to be up on Broadway this year with the guys from Bill and Ted's, Keanu Reeves and the other guy. And I really want to see that because Bill and Ted's meets Waiting for Godot. That's kind of. That's very Boquetian that works, that kind of thing. But would I make art again? For sure. And I haven't stopped making art. I just have not been making theater art.
- [15:17]
Carol Markowitz
Were you an actress or were you behind the scenes?
- [15:21]
Libby Emmons
I was writing plays, so my master's is in playwriting and theater, and I was writing plays and producing plays, and that was pretty much all I wanted to do from the time I was 14 years old. And so trying to come up with something else to do, it was like, well, everything I loved has kind of been burned down. I don't really know where to go from there. And the thing about theater is you need an audience. And if you don't have an audience, there's no point really to making the work. You can write all the script that you want. You can do animations of them if you want. But, like, you need an audience. And I just did not have the feeling that I. In the community where I was doing the kind of work I was doing, I was pretty sure I had no audience left. So that would. That's the key thing that you need. You know, I think it's such a.
- [16:20]
Carol Markowitz
Good moment for something like that. Now I'm like, I'm gonna spend the next, you know, few days trying to talk you into it. I mean, I think the work that you do is amazing, and I love just your style in general. You've always been a really interesting follow for me on X, and I think the work you do at post Millennial is fantastic, but I feel like you need to be making plays for the stage, and it's such a good moment for that our family, we don't watch a lot of tv. I just, I'm just, I'm an Internet junkie. I'm not like, better than anyone. I just, I just channel my insanity in a different way. But we started watching that House of David series recently and that's, you know, made by conservatives. Ye. We just, we've only, we're only one episode in, but it's excellent and it's, you know, for, for families. But what all the other things suggested to me on Netflix were all like, America, it's an amazing country. Like just very, very different than what would have been suggested on Netflix even a year ago. So I think, I think this is your moment.
- [17:21]
Libby Emmons
Yeah, well, we only really need $50,000 in a theater space and we could get something going, easily done to invest in that. Let's, let's put it together.
- [17:29]
Carol Markowitz
I feel like that is a, an investment that can absolutely happen. I'm going to, you know, see if we could do that. What would you want to write about? Yeah, what, what were your shows about? Like, what was your theme? Did you have one?
- [17:42]
Libby Emmons
I wrote about a lot of different things and they, you know, pretty different. I wrote satire about. I wrote this ridiculous satire that was a send up of everything that they do to women. So there was trans abortion, there was metoo stuff in there. There was adoption, surrogacy, like all of this crazy stuff. And it was two HR reps sitting there going through like all having all this crazy stuff happen with no other characters. That was fun. I wrote a play about that would.
- [18:14]
Carol Markowitz
Be such a hit.
- [18:16]
Libby Emmons
You know, I did one about domestic slavery in the United States and that was really fascinating. There had actually been. Sometimes I would pull stuff from the news and there had been this Long island couple I remember from Indonesia or something like that, and they had this perfume empire. And so they would bring women from their hometown in Indonesia and essentially enslave them in their home. So that was, you know, uplifting. Yeah, a lot of. But there was a lot of stuff. There was a lot of stuff. My favorite play that I wrote was the last one that got performed and it was called I'm not an Allegory. These are people I know and you know, you know, from Brooklyn. So it was about a bunch of people in Brooklyn that loosely connected and how they navigate their lives. One of them needs a new job. One of them's having sort of like a mental break because of childhood trauma that she never dealt with. Somebody else is like in love with his co worker and he's Trying to take her out. And all of the women in the show kind of end up meeting at a dance class. So it's a very Brooklyn show. Yeah.
- [19:24]
Carol Markowitz
Do you miss Brooklyn?
- [19:25]
Libby Emmons
Yeah, I love Brooklyn. I love New York City. My family's from New York City, going way back to, like, the Italian immigrants coming over in the 19. 19. 18, 19, something like that. 20. My grandparents were born in Brooklyn. My mom was born in Brooklyn. My son was born in Brooklyn. Yeah, I definitely miss it. And I'm that person who's, like, always looking at the Zillow like, what could I take out a home equity loan and buy a new. Buy a place and have two places, you know?
- [19:57]
Carol Markowitz
Yeah, I feel like do the math on a hotel before you do that. But, yes.
- [20:03]
Libby Emmons
Right.
- [20:04]
Carol Markowitz
This is. I mean, whenever I think about any property anywhere, I start thinking, like, I could live there. I could have a second house there. And then I'm like, wait, I could just have. Stay there in a hotel whenever I want to go. But, yeah, you know, I obviously, I miss the Brooklyn. I miss old Brooklyn. I don't know that I miss Brooklyn right now, but I miss actually your area, where you lived Bay Ridge, a lot more than I miss where I lived, which is Park Slope. Don't miss Park Slope at all.
- [20:32]
Libby Emmons
Pretty different neighborhoods. Although in my neighborhood, right outside my building, because I was on. I was on, like, right on Fifth Avenue and Ovington, there's like, it's a very Arab neighborhood. And every weekend there were these, like, big anti Israel protests, and they were just getting bigger, you know, and now.
- [20:51]
Carol Markowitz
They'Re like, bigger, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. When I went to high school in Bay Ridge, it was a very Italian area. No, I really did love it. It was a great little neighborhood. So what's your life now? Can I say where you live?
- [21:07]
Libby Emmons
Yeah, I live in West Virginia.
- [21:09]
Carol Markowitz
Do you love it or what do you think?
- [21:12]
Libby Emmons
I do love it. I love having my own house. I love having a little piece of land. It's a very New Yorker thing for me to say, no one can kick me out of my house, that no one can raise my rent. I love that. That's great for me. I have my own parking space. It's just right in front of my house. So these are basic things. But it is interesting, the differences just in lifestyle and what you expect. In New York, everything is about quality of life. And here it's like, I pay for my water separate, and I pay for my trash pickup separate. I just got a bill for the ambulance service, and I was like, I Didn't take an ambulance. Oh, wait, you have to pay. Yeah. Every. It's like super a la carte.
- [21:53]
Carol Markowitz
It's like libertarian fantasy over there.
- [21:56]
Libby Emmons
Right. So. But I. Yeah, I love where I am. It's absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful. And I love that I'm a lot closer to D.C. now, so I do more, like, D.C. stuff.
- [22:07]
Carol Markowitz
Mm. Yeah. I. Yeah, I have a warm spot for D.C. i. You know, but. And you get to have kind of the best of both worlds. You're in somewhere that you get to have land. You get to have a parking spot. I. I fully relate to the parking spot thing. When I am back in Brooklyn and my brother is like, I have to go move the car. I'm like, oh, yeah, I don't miss that at all.
- [22:27]
Libby Emmons
Right. Or like, you do that math. You'd be like, do I move the car? Or do I figure they're not going to tow it? And I'm just paying 65 bucks for parking this week.
- [22:35]
Carol Markowitz
It's, like, cheaper than a garage. Right. Whenever anybody would have that conversation and on the Park Slope boards, like, all these people would be like, that's so wrong. You shouldn't do that. Like, well, the math. The math. Maths, as the kids say, you know. So what do you worry about?
- [22:52]
Libby Emmons
What do I worry about in terms of, like, I worry about the future. I worry about aging. I'm going to be 50 this year, and I find that. I find that. Oh, thanks. I just find that crazy. Like, how could I be 50? Like, how can that be? I think that's nuts. So I think about that, and I think about my grandmom and my mom. My grandmother's passed, but my mom is, like, 75. Something like that. And I think about, like. So I think about that because mortality is this crazy thing, and you don't think about it for your whole life. You run out into the street, you don't think about anything. You do whatever crazy stuff comes into your mind, and then suddenly you're like, wait, my friends are having their knees and hips replaced. Like, what is. What is this about? Why is this happening? So I write in terms of personal stuff. I think about that. Like, what does aging look like? Is the kid going to put me in a home? I don't know.
- [23:47]
Carol Markowitz
I don't think so.
- [23:50]
Libby Emmons
I worry about my. So he's 15, and I worry about, like, getting him sort of launched into his life.
- [23:58]
Carol Markowitz
Yeah.
- [23:59]
Libby Emmons
With all of the tools that. What tools can I give him? You know, you can save money for them. You can make sure you're teaching them stuff, but there's like all these variables, so you have no idea what could possibly happen. I don't really worry too much about, like, the broader anxieties of the world. Nuclear war, any of that stuff. Like, if anything, like, super crazy happens, it's almost a relief. You're like, oh, now I don't have to worry about the stuff that was bothering me anymore. No worries about that.
- [24:32]
Carol Markowitz
Right now. It's all about foraging foods.
- [24:36]
Libby Emmons
Now. I'm just looking for nuts and berries.
- [24:40]
Carol Markowitz
I read too many books about Russia during World War II and end up looking at our pantry and being like, how long can we survive on just what we have here? Yeah, it's, it's. I mean, they, you know, they were all starving to death, and that was not that long ago and not, you know, not such a crazy thing to have happened. So, yeah, I think we'd be okay for at least a few weeks, maybe a few months. But yeah, it's a, you know, I.
- [25:07]
Libby Emmons
Think I'd have like a few months because there's also a ton of flour and you can always just make stuff, right?
- [25:12]
Carol Markowitz
Yeah, I guess I feel like a few months of just. We'll be eating like a little pasta every day.
- [25:19]
Libby Emmons
Yeah. My son jokes, because during the pandemic, I started doing like.
- [25:23]
Carol Markowitz
Oh, yeah, yeah.
- [25:24]
Libby Emmons
But I was doing like New York Prepper, right? So it was like fake prepper. I was like buying cases of pasta, which of course doesn't do anything if the gas goes out.
- [25:33]
Carol Markowitz
But sure, yeah, we'll eat it raw. The Russians in my war books would happily eat our raw pasta.
- [25:41]
Libby Emmons
Raw pasta. Yeah, I, Yeah, I think about that. My son, actually, he just read 1984 for, I think, the second time. And he's a little obsessed with it. And so we talk about.
- [25:52]
Carol Markowitz
It's a good one.
- [25:53]
Libby Emmons
Yeah, it's good. So we talk about some of those themes too. I was like, next up, you have to read the Master and Margarita.
- [26:01]
Carol Markowitz
And I'm like, wait, is that a.
- [26:02]
Libby Emmons
Good one if you're 15? I don't know.
- [26:04]
Carol Markowitz
Actually, a really good one is we by Zamyatin. It's a similar theme to 1984. I have a 15 year old, also my daughter, but she has. She's into like fantasy books. But I should get her to read like 1984 soon.
- [26:16]
Libby Emmons
Yeah, it's really. I foisted these on him. It was like a little stack. It was that Brave new world, Fahrenheit 451. Go read these and then we'll have something to Talk about we have we around here on my shelf somewhere. Yeah.
- [26:30]
Carol Markowitz
Yeah, definitely check that one out. It's a really good one.
- [26:32]
Libby Emmons
Yeah.
- [26:33]
Carol Markowitz
So we're gonna take a quick break and be right back on the Carol Markowitz Show.
- [26:39]
Ryan Reynolds
Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with a message for everyone paying Big Wireless way too much. Please, for the love everything good in this world stop with Mint. You can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying. No judgments. But that's weird. Okay, one judgment anyway. Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 for three month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate.
- [27:04]
Libby Emmons
First three months only, then full price.
- [27:05]
Ryan Reynolds
Plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full terms@mintmobile.com It's Wednesday night after a long day and the last thing you want to do is cook dinner from scratch. But you still want a satisfying, tasty meal without the guilt. Enter your freezer's sidekick Caulifowr. From thin and crispy cauliflower crust pizzas to all natural white meat chicken tenders and crowd pleasing snacks, Cauliflower satisfies every craving. Cauliflower's products are your favorite comfort foods but made better for you and gluten free. Always the best part. You don't have to sacrifice taste or time so you can honor your cravings without compromising craving. Pizza. You can enjoy Cauli Power's delicious Margherita Pizza for only 370 calories for half the pizza. Looking for easy snacks that kids and adults alike will love. Caulifower's baked, never fried pizza snacks are nostalgia reimagined and ready in five minutes. Caulipwer's products are available in freezer aisles nationwide. Visit eatcollipower.com where to buy to find a store near you Are you still quoting 30 year old movies? Have you said cool beans in the past 90 days? Do you think Discover isn't widely accepted? If this sounds like you, you're stuck in the past. Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. And every time you make a purchase with your card, you automatically earn cash back. Welcome to the now it pays to Discover. Learn more@discover.com credit card based on the February 2024 Nielsen report, busy work weeks and weekends can leave you feeling drained. Prolon's five day nutrition program works at the cellular level to rejuvenate you with boxes labeled by day so you know exactly what to eat. Developed at USC's Longevity Institute, this Science backed program makes your cells believe they are fasting to support fat loss, skin appearance and healthy blood sugar levels. Feel the difference and get real results in just five days. Get 15% off today plus a $40 bonus gift when you subscribe to their five day program at prolonlife.com iheart that's prolonlife.com iheart @&t has a new guarantee because most things in life are not guaranteed. Like actually getting the rental car you requested or your wedding turning out just like you dreamed it would and someone making another pot of coffee in the breakroom after drinking the last drop of the last one. Yeah, don't get me started. Not guaranteed. In a world where Nothing is guaranteed, AT&T is bringing something new to the table. AT&T is introducing a guarantee with connectivity you depend on, deals you want and service you deserve or they'll make it right. So if you want to know more about the AT&T guarantee, head to att.com guarantee AT&T connecting changes every everything. Terms and conditions apply. Visit att.com guarantee for details.
- [30:02]
Carol Markowitz
What advice would you give your 16 year old self? What does 16 year old Libby need to know?
- [30:08]
Libby Emmons
What does she need to know? Oh, probably everything. You know, probably. I think the best advice would be no one's looking at you. Don't worry about it. No one. You're not in a movie. No one is paying attention to anything you think or what you do. You have more freedom than that. I didn't realize that until I was 32 and that would have been a good lesson to know earlier. No one cares that much about what other people are doing. Everyone's obsessed with their own life. People are as obsessed with their lives as you're obsessed with yours. So just chill out.
- [30:45]
Carol Markowitz
I feel like that would be really good advice for a lot of people on X because I think they think they are the main character on there and you know, relax a little with your. Yeah, yeah. As a teenager. It's funny because I do feel like teenagers today are like that. I don't know that they are. Is it maybe because they are watched all the time on like social media that they don't feel like it?
- [31:06]
Libby Emmons
That they don't feel like they're being watched?
- [31:09]
Carol Markowitz
Like I don't get that sense. I mean I've only met your son a few times, but does he feel like everyone's like looking at him? You know, like the thing that. Yeah, my daughter doesn't feel like that either. So he's way chill.
- [31:19]
Libby Emmons
He's like very Chilled out in his life, you know, and he doesn't really want anything to do with all of the online stuff. He'll tell me like, mom, stop scrolling. I'll be like, you do scrolling. And he's like, no, I gave up scrolling ages ago. I don't even scroll YouTube shorts anymore. Like, oh, all right. I will try to stop scrolling. I was like, what should I do? And he's like, read a book, Mom.
- [31:47]
Carol Markowitz
Man, that is. Yeah, I get a lot of that also from my kids. Like, you know, read a book and don't scroll.
- [31:55]
Libby Emmons
Touch grass.
- [31:56]
Carol Markowitz
That whole touch grass, for sure. But the whole, like, the whole little mini videos, I really feel like they're so bad. It's so interesting that he's identified that, because I just don't feel like a lot of people see how bad those shorts are. Like, they say TikTok, but everything is TikTok now.
- [32:12]
Libby Emmons
Oh, it's everything. It's X. It's Instagram. I had dinner. I was actually in New York over the weekend, and I had dinner with an old friend of mine. We've been friends since high school. And I said something to her about Instagram scrolling, and she was like, just stop. I can't even handle the Instagram scrolling. And she does it, too. She's like, it's crack. And my daughter tells me to stop. It's the same. Yeah, yeah. So we're impacted by all this stuff that is designed to capture their attention, and it's not capturing their attention. It's just holding us hostage instead.
- [32:42]
Carol Markowitz
Yeah, it's us. And, like, the generation just below us, like, between us and our kids, is the generation I think is most in trouble with it. Like, they are. They just can't seem to, you know, have conversations. I just. I see them. They're. They're hanging out together and they're scrolling. Like, just. I don't know. No socializing going.
- [33:02]
Libby Emmons
Disturbing, too, when you see kids together. Well, kids, but like, 20s, 30s, at a restaurant, and they're all looking at their phones and not having a conversation.
- [33:11]
Carol Markowitz
Yeah, it's really wild, that generation. I don't know, I'm concerned about them, but I do think that next one is kind of over it. And I've seen this somewhere where people say, like, it'll be the cool thing that you're not on the Internet. And I already see that developing that the analog life is going to be what makes you interesting.
- [33:32]
Libby Emmons
Either that or they're actually just using the Internet to talk to each other. My son's best friend from Brooklyn. His family moved to. He moved to Morocco, which is where his parents were from, even though he's American. And I was like, he's got his passport, right? Like, you got that. Don't leave anything behind. He's going to need it to get home. Yeah, but he's. You know, my son will talk to him and his brother. They're all really tight and they talk on discord.
- [33:59]
Carol Markowitz
Right.
- [34:00]
Libby Emmons
So when my son's online, he's usually just talking to his friends. And I'm kind of. I'm okay with that.
- [34:06]
Carol Markowitz
Right.
- [34:07]
Libby Emmons
Yeah.
- [34:07]
Carol Markowitz
It's a totally different thing than, you know, because a lot of the conversations, like, you know, social media is bad for kids. But I'm like, social media barely exists anymore. It's like all these mini videos. We're just all carrying around television visions with us and, like, watching little episodes and, you know, if somebody watched 10 hours a day of TV, we'd understand it's bad, but because it's on our phones and in small doses, it's like, okay, somehow.
- [34:31]
Libby Emmons
Yeah. And there's all these weird things that pop up on Instagram where it's like some horror, horrifying story from some house in the middle of nowhere. And I'm always like. Because I do news, and I'm like, did that really happen? And I go look it up. And it's. No, it's just some fake thing for Instagram that everyone's talking about.
- [34:47]
Carol Markowitz
And you can't.
- [34:48]
Libby Emmons
The other thing, too. I'm sure that you remember this, like, five years ago, you could trust Twitter to give you news and you'd be like, oh, that's a tip. Let me go figure out what's going on. Or I can report straight off Twitter. And in the past, like, year or so, I appreciate all of the free speech angle of x 100%. But what I don't like are all of the influencers slash journalists who don't actually do the digging. And so they'll throw something out there and then you'll go to find it and it doesn't really exist.
- [35:28]
Carol Markowitz
Right.
- [35:28]
Libby Emmons
And you're like, oh, this was extrapolated. It's not actually real.
- [35:33]
Carol Markowitz
Yeah, that's extrapolated. I see that all the time. People post, like, breaking and then, like, a headline. I'm like, oh, my God, really? And then I'll look it up and, no, not really at all. This didn't. Didn't actually happen.
- [35:44]
Libby Emmons
People are really quick to post and get the clicks, which I think is in part driven by Elon Musk's whole revenue thing. And so that's, you know, that's disconcerting. There's definitely accounts where it's like, oh, you can take this to the bank, but not all of them, and not always the biggest ones, you know.
- [36:03]
Carol Markowitz
I agree. Yeah. How does it affect your business? Like, how do you guys vet stories?
- [36:10]
Libby Emmons
Well, you have to take something, then go digging around. We also work with. Andy Ngo, is a senior editor at Post Millennial.
- [36:16]
Carol Markowitz
That's great.
- [36:17]
Libby Emmons
He's terrific. He's smart, he's thoughtful. He knows what he's doing. So there's definitely times when I'm like, andy, what is the deal with this? You know. Yeah. And sometimes. And, like, you know, he can help us because.
- [36:31]
Carol Markowitz
And he's thorough. He's very. Like, I've had breaking news in the past that I've, like, run by him because he's not going to be this sensationalist, just throw something up to throw it up. Yeah, he's fantastic. You guys make.
- [36:46]
Libby Emmons
You're usually good. Usually you'll post something if you get, like, an advance. Yeah. I'm like, watch for this. Because Carol's probably right. So let's check that out.
- [36:54]
Carol Markowitz
I. There's a bunch that I did not post that I haven't. Like, when I've gotten breaking news and I didn't post it because I could not, like, corroborate it or I couldn't really, really say that it was 100. So I didn't post it and lost the story. But. But, you know, so what I'd rather be right. I'd rather be right than first is my. You know. Yeah.
- [37:13]
Libby Emmons
That's what we go with, too, is like, let's. We don't have to be first, we just have to be right. Because if you're a news outlet, you lose your credibility really quickly. And if you're an ex poster, it doesn't matter if you lose your credibility because people are still following and you're still getting it first. And, you know, people will. You'll still get what you want from it.
- [37:33]
Ryan Reynolds
So.
- [37:34]
Libby Emmons
Yeah, we go with that, too. We decide to be right. Not first, necessarily. We also. We work with Jack Fosovic. He's a senior editor at Human Events, which is also under our media group. And I'll ask Jack things, especially if it has to do with national security or any kind of intelligence stuff. And he'll often say, stay frosty. And I'm like, okay, I won't. We'll just hold on. Just hold on. You know? Yeah.
- [38:01]
Carol Markowitz
What does stay frosty mean stay frosty.
- [38:04]
Libby Emmons
Means don't do anything. Don't jump on anything. Don't set your hair on fire.
- [38:09]
Carol Markowitz
Stay on.
- [38:09]
Libby Emmons
Be chill. Just be chill.
- [38:11]
Carol Markowitz
I like it.
- [38:12]
Libby Emmons
You know, don't freak out. Hang on. Just wait for it.
- [38:16]
Carol Markowitz
Love it.
- [38:17]
Libby Emmons
Yeah.
- [38:18]
Carol Markowitz
Well, I've loved this conversation. You are so fun. Leave us here with your best tip for my listeners on how they can improve their lives.
- [38:27]
Libby Emmons
How to improve your lives. Exercise in the morning is a good one. I hate exercising. I hate it so much.
- [38:34]
Carol Markowitz
Me too. I try and do it the best in the morning. In the evening, I hate it all the time.
- [38:38]
Libby Emmons
It's the worst. But I try and do it in the morning and then no matter what happens for the rest of the day, you can say like, well, I did that. See, I did that thing.
- [38:48]
Carol Markowitz
I've got it.
- [38:48]
Libby Emmons
Yeah, that and turmeric ginger tea. That's all I got.
- [38:52]
Carol Markowitz
I like it.
- [38:53]
Libby Emmons
Thank you.
- [38:54]
Carol Markowitz
She is Libby Emmons, editor in chief of Post Millennial. Check out her work. She is fantastic. Thanks so much for coming on. Libby.
- [39:01]
Libby Emmons
Thanks so much, Carol.
- [39:02]
Carol Markowitz
Thanks so much for joining us on the Carol Markowitz Show. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
- [39:11]
Ryan Reynolds
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Carol Markowitz
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Libby Emmons
Come on.
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Ryan Reynolds
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