Episode 204 · The Ben Avery Era
#204 - Katie Herzog | The Tim Dillon Show
with Katie Herzog
Jun 14, 2020 · 2:02:06 · 165,000 views · 28 segments, 212 moments indexed
Tim has on Seattle-based journalist Katie Herzog to discuss CHAZ, her exile from the gay community, Furries, and many other things that if I typed them here would take us out of the algorithm.
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- 1 min
Tim introduces guest Katie Herzog, discusses her departure from The Stranger, her podcast Blocked and Reported, and the aborted plan to interview a CHAZ leader named Raz before turning to Katie for her take on the Seattle autonomous zone.
3moments
- Katie Herzog was a writer at The Stranger but was furloughed and now runs an independent podcast called Blocked and Reported.
- Tim attempted to interview Raz Simone, leader of the Seattle autonomous zone, after they reached out via Instagram, but it fell through.
- Tim speculates Raz Simone may have gotten cold feet, found his earlier work, or is reading CIA emails about what to do next.
Katie HerzogBlocked and ReportedThe StrangerRaz SimoneSeattle autonomous zone
- 2 min
Katie corrects the zone's actual name (CHAZ/CHOP) and describes the gentrified, gay historic neighborhood it occupies, contrasting wealthy condo owners with the occupation, while she and Tim discuss why Seattle and Portland are hotbeds for anarchist activism and liken Proud Boys vs Antifa clashes to LARPing.
7moments
- The Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone is actually called 'Chaz,' which sounds like a tennis coach name.
- The autonomous zone was declared in a highly gentrified neighborhood where Tim's former office was located.
- Protesters graffitied 'Fuck Herzog' on the door of The Stranger, making it awkward to enter the zone for work.
- The Capitol Hill area is Seattle's historic gay neighborhood with rainbow crosswalks, now mostly chain ramen shops and $3,000-$4,000 studio apartments.
- Many Amazon workers live in the gentrified Chaz neighborhood, raising the question of what they think about their new protest overlords.
- The occupied park is surrounded by multi-million dollar condos and townhouses, creating tension with wealthy residents.
- Tim wonders why the Pacific Northwest, particularly Portland and Seattle, has historically been such a bastion of activism and anarchism.
CHAZAmazonPortlandSeattleThe StrangerPacific Northwest activism
- 3 min
Katie explains Antifa's lack of hierarchy or formal organization, argues it isn't a terrorist network, and Tim describes an abandoned sketch idea called 'Fat Antifa' about fake protesters who get beaten by a teenage Trump supporter.
7moments
- WTO riots in Seattle 20 years ago compared to recent Portland activism
- Portland dynamics: conservative groups from suburbs stage marches, then antifa responds and clashes ensue
- Street conflicts feel like revolution cosplay where nothing actually changes and everyone retreats
- Ideologically homogeneous cities with no Republican presence naturally drift toward extremism
- Tim asks what antifa actually is and whether it deserves terrorist designation
- Antifa is just a loose group—anyone can join by wearing the outfit and covering their face
- No hierarchy, anarchist in nature, appears during fights then disappears with no real political power
Proud BoysAntifaPatriot PrayerWorld Trade OrganizationPortlandSeattle
- 2 min
Tim and Katie debate whether righteous anger at these protests can lead to real political reform, or whether it's dissipated by broad anti-capitalist, anti-ism sloganeering rather than focused demands.
5moments
- Tim pitched a sketch called 'Fat Antifa' where he and a co-star dress in black, get sidetracked by fast food on the way to a march, and end up getting beaten by a 14-year-old Trump supporter.
- There's valid, righteous anger in these protests, but the major disconnect is how any of it translates into actual political change.
- Many people believe elections no longer matter, even local ones, and that angry chaotic energy will somehow magically remake these systems.
- Anger at protests gets directed at ending entire isms and capitalism rather than focusing on one concrete goal like police brutality.
- Tim argues it's logical to ask how you end an ism during a pandemic and economic meltdown, and suggests tackling one thing at a time instead.
- 4 min
Katie argues loud activists are out of touch with what most Americans (including black communities) actually want from police reform, discusses the irony of 'defund the police' policy contradictions, and they mock Andrew Yang's suggestion to just rename police 'Guardians.'
8moments
- Loudest activists are often out of touch with the American people, even when supporting valid causes like police reform.
- 'Defund the police' and 'abolish the police' are unpopular slogans that alienate people, even among Black communities most affected by police violence.
- Black communities polled actually want functional police, not abolition—they want police to help when called and not brutalize them.
- Defunding police means fewer officers and longer response times, which harms the communities that rely most on police response.
- When you ask protest leaders what 'abolish the police' actually means, they walk it back to something like rebuilding the force or community policing.
- Relying on empty slogans like 'defund the police' or 'build the wall' turns people off, regardless of what they actually mean.
- Andrew Yang tweeted suggesting calling police 'the Guardians' instead, but changing the name doesn't fix anything if the same people and systems remain.
- Some successes emerging from protests: San Francisco announced police reforms and Minneapolis is attempting to rebuild policing as community-focused organization.
police brutalityabolish the policeBlack Lives MatterAndrew YangSan FranciscoSeattle Police DepartmentMinneapolisBreonna Taylor
- 4 min
Katie recounts the firestorm after her 2017 Stranger article on people who detransitioned, being called transphobic and having her name spray-painted as a slur, and explains her personal fascination with heretics who speak up despite social cost.
6moments
- Tim argues against defunding police entirely, saying wealthy communities would just hire private forces with less accountability.
- Katie Herzog clarifies she's been called a TERF but doesn't identify as one, explaining the acronym.
- Her early article 'The D-Transitioners' for The Stranger in 2017 sparked massive backlash, with people burning papers and posting flyers.
- Tim notes the irony that Herzog experienced the same social costs she'd documented—shunning by communities—after writing the piece.
- Herzog explains she's drawn to writing about heretics and people who pay social costs for speaking out, including detransitioners cast out by their own communities.
- As a lesbian embedded in queer communities for nearly twenty years, Herzog noticed rapid acceleration in transitions around 2016-2017, with entire households transitioning within the same year.
Katie Herzogde-transitionersThe StrangerJordan Peterson
- 6 min
Katie lays out research showing most children who present with gender dysphoria eventually desist and grow up gay or lesbian rather than trans, argues for caution with pediatric transition versus adult autonomy, and explains why the shift to an 'informed consent' healthcare model removed gatekeeping.
9moments
- Tim found the rapid rise in gender dysphoria diagnoses statistically implausible and trendy, which prompted him to examine the issue more critically once he felt financially secure enough to speak freely.
- The complication with children: desistance studies show 60-90 percent of kids presenting to gender identity clinics eventually decide against transition and are fine living as their sex at birth.
- Gender dysphoria is clinically defined by distress, unlike sexual orientation, making caution around pediatric transition crucial since most kids who revert find different ways to manage their dysphoria without permanent medical changes.
- Tim questions why trans activists and the broader community ignore these desistance studies and why people won't simply wait until adulthood to pursue transition.
- Historically, trans healthcare required strict gatekeeping—living as your preferred gender for two years minimum before accessing hormones or surgery—creating barriers that trans people had to navigate.
- The informed consent model removed these gatekeepers, allowing faster access to medical transition, though it also introduced the phenomenon of people identifying as trans without dysphoria, hormones, or surgery.
- Removing gatekeepers helped trans adults access necessary care, but the pendulum swing to the opposite extreme will inevitably produce more false positives and regrets among young people.
- Trans activists push back against desistance studies from a place of legitimate fear, having lived through onerous approval processes and worrying future generations will face the same barriers.
- The data and lived reality of regret don't disappear when studies are dismissed; questioning methodology doesn't change the reality that more young transitioners means more false positives and later regret.
pediatric transitiongender dysphoria
- 7 min
A Hydrant electrolyte-drink sponsor read drifts repeatedly into Tim complaining about a friend's destructive bulldog he's dog-sitting, then spirals into a fake testimonial about a man who beat up cops after drinking Hydrant.
9moments
- Tim took his friend's bulldog for two days and the dog turned out to be a literal terrorist, rolling down car windows and tearing everything apart.
- Hydrant electrolyte drink helps avoid coffee and the midday slump by keeping you properly hydrated with sodium, potassium, magnesium, and zinc.
- The formula was developed by an Oxford scientist and is backed by research, with no synthetic colors, stevia, or artificial sweeteners.
- Tim tries Hydrant and says it tastes great and is a total replacement for coffee he doesn't really need anymore.
- Hydrant contains a small amount of natural cane sugar, which is necessary because glucose is essential to activating the body's hydration process.
- The bulldog has destroyed Tim's headphone cable, illustrating what happens when you don't have Hydrant.
- Tim notes that while Hydrant isn't marketed as a hangover cure, hydration is important for getting rid of hangovers, so it could help.
- 75% of Americans spend their days dehydrated, which is where Hydrant comes in as a dissolvable hydration mix launched in 2018.
- Customers can get 25% off their first order by using promo code TIM at hydrant.com/Tim.
- 10 min
Tim wraps the increasingly unhinged Hydrant riff with a guest cameo from 'Duncan,' then transitions into a Mac Weldon underwear ad, joking about a failed Starbucks commercial audition where he played an ICE agent.
10moments
- Tim pitches Hydrant energy drink, claiming it provides mental clarity and sharpness needed to get nonexistent jobs.
- Drinking Hydrant will make your family and friends love you and let you finally accomplish something in life.
- Duncan describes having a seizure after trying Hydrant for the first time, though he's not sure if it was related.
- Tim claims after drinking Hydrant he beat two female cops with batons for twenty minutes to send a message about hydration.
- In all seriousness, Hydrant is a great way to replace coffee and sugar, and everyone Tim knows is trying it.
- Mac Weldon founders wanted to fix the pain of buying quality basics and engineered their own fabric from scratch.
- Tim describes going to the mall to buy underwear and getting tear-gassed, hit with a brick, and attacked by police horses.
- Mac Weldon's loyalty program offers free shipping after $200 spent and 20% off for a year, plus early access to new products.
- Tim questions Shane Gillis about a Starbucks commercial where he played an ICE agent trying to arrest a taco stand owner.
- Tim urges listeners to get Mac Weldon underwear delivered home rather than leaving the house during the pandemic and civil unrest.
- 3 min
Katie and Tim discuss the rise of non-binary identification among mostly white college students, arguing it reinforces gender stereotypes and functions more as a social/identity trend than genuine dysphoria.
8moments
- Tim argues that many white middle-class college students identifying as non-binary are experiencing an identity crisis rooted in socio-political concerns rather than true gender dysphoria.
- He's skeptical whether people have actually studied how many non-binary identifiers eventually return to heterosexual or homosexual lives, since the phenomenon is too new for good data.
- Tim finds the concept of non-binary incredibly regressive because it presupposes a binary divide and relies on gender stereotypes.
- He describes conversations with non-binary friends where they explain feeling like a man sometimes and a woman other times, or wearing masculine or feminine clothes depending on mood.
- Reinforcing gender stereotypes about clothing and feeling contradicts what both men and women should be rejecting, in Tim's view.
- Non-binary identity is undeniably trendy, whether people want to admit it or not.
- When Tim was a teenager, people organized around cliques and styles—goths, emo kids, jocks, rednecks—rather than constantly discussing identity.
- Now there are just more labels: non-binaries, indies, activists, anarchists, asexuals, aromantiques, furries—more categories than he ever imagined.
- 4 min
They riff on furry culture as an identity rather than just a kink, and speculate about overlap between fantasy-obsessed 'nerds,' autism, and gender identity trends, including the story of an ex-girlfriend with Harry Potter tattoos who excommunicated Katie.
9moments
- Tim discusses his previous articles about furries and their connection to social justice movements.
- The most interesting furries are those who dress in suits and have sex inside them during conventions.
- Furry culture has shifted from being purely a sexual kink to becoming a full identity people take seriously.
- Furries with anime avatars and custom suit drawings in their bios are a reliable signal of who not to take seriously.
- Tim's ex-girlfriend had six Harry Potter tattoos and stopped speaking to him after he wrote a transphobic piece, making him wonder how fast she covered them up.
- The conversation pivots to the overlap between nerds who love fantasy worlds and people experiencing sexual identity crises.
- The guest identifies autism as a potential connection between fantasy world obsession and gender identity issues, noting a correlation with rapid-onset gender dysphoria in natal females.
- Rapid-onset gender dysphoria describes people without childhood gender dysphoria who spend time online and later decide to transition.
- The guest suggests they're observing a social contagion effect around trans identity, something they wouldn't have said while working with an editor.
JK RowlingNick Malin
- 6 min
Referencing Johann Hari's book, Katie and Tim discuss theories that depression/anxiety stem from disconnection rather than chemical imbalance, speculate about SSRIs and autism correlation, and Tim discusses his mother's real schizophrenia versus the trend of self-diagnosing mental illness as identity online.
11moments
- Johann Hari's book argues depression and anxiety stem from living in a disconnected world, not chemical imbalance.
- The serotonin imbalance theory was based on a small 1960s study that was never replicated.
- SSRIs like Paxil and Lorazepam are mostly effective as placebos rather than as active medications.
- Hari's book suggests a possible correlation between SSRI use during pregnancy and autism diagnoses.
- Tim's mother was genuinely paranoid schizophrenic, which shaped his skepticism about self-diagnosed mental illness.
- People diagnosing themselves with anxiety off Instagram treat mental illness like an identity rather than actual pathology.
- Many straight white male comedians now claim anxiety or depression as a way to establish victimhood status.
- Taking a pill is easier than exercising and changing behavior, even though evidence shows pills work mostly as placebos.
- SSRI patients must continually increase dosages over time and face serious side effects like sexual dysfunction and hair loss.
- SSRIs produce real physiological side effects, unlike placebo pills, which makes their limited efficacy problematic.
- The contradiction of freedom during lockdown—people stuck alone in apartments for months, now able to protest.
pharmaceutical companiesJohann Haridepression and anxietySSRIsautism
- 8 min
Katie details the wave of firings and resignations (James Bennett at NYT, Andrew Sullivan, David Shor, bon appetit, etc.) tied to critical race theory ideas moving from campuses into mainstream media and corporations.
9moments
- Tim says ideas that thrived in academia for a decade are now bleeding into media, citing James Bennett's resignation from the New York Times after publishing Tom Cotton's op-ed.
- Andrew Sullivan at New York magazine cannot publish freely about the riots; his articles require extensive vetting to avoid triggering readers.
- Tim argues that academia's attack on humor backfires because people who've worked minimum-wage jobs bond over race jokes as a release from misery.
- The George Floyd murder has exposed these academic excesses to the mainstream after years of college kids demanding trigger warnings and deplatforming speakers.
- David Shore was fired for tweeting a study by a Black researcher showing violent protests hurt voter support while nonviolent protests increase Democratic turnout.
- Someone called current workplace purges "Me Too for microaggressions," which parallels real harassment firings but targets elite institutions instead of working-class jobs.
- Tim worked in cafes and restaurants where actual racist comments and sexual harassment happen; he doesn't expect purges to reach the underclass where real abuse occurs.
- Wealthy corporations use social justice language to signal commitment to change while running out the back door with money, avoiding taxes and not improving employee conditions.
- Jeff Bezos lauded as a hero for Black Lives Matter statement, yet he doesn't ensure his Black employees get bathroom breaks at fulfillment centers.
Jeff BezosacademiaNew York TimesAndrew SullivanDavid ShoreJames Bennettsocial justiceGeorge Floyd+5 more
- 4 min
Tim pushes Katie on whether Davos-style elites and the 'deep state' are cynically stoking division for their own benefit, floating conspiratorial framing while Katie remains skeptical and says she isn't equipped to speak to it.
10moments
- LA theater companies are being tracked on a crowdsourced list for not making public Black Lives Matter statements.
- Tim asks whether wealthy elites in smoke-filled rooms are deliberately keeping people divided to benefit themselves.
- Tim admits he has no deep state connections and can't answer what the permanent political class is actually planning.
- Historically, protest groups have been co-opted by the FBI, though people may now push things further without needing infiltration.
- Tim speculates wealthy people are probably feeling white guilt, but doubts it will change actual corporate policies like Amazon's.
- Companies and brands engage with social justice because being perceived as racist will kill their brand.
- The elites at Davos and Bilderberg are the ones connected to Epstein, cut sweetheart deals, and get the country into unnecessary wars.
- Tim wonders whether wealthy elites have turned against Trump or still support him during this period of chaos.
- Obamagate, Brennan, Clapper, and other evidence of entrenched power are real, not just Twitter conspiracy fantasies.
- As a journalist, should you ignore the dimension of power held by very wealthy, very powerful people operating behind the scenes?
Jeff BezosJeffrey EpsteinBilderberg GroupDavosFBIJames ClapperJohn BrennanObamagate+1 more
- 5 min
Tim and Katie each articulate their competing political anxieties: a protest backlash re-electing Trump, versus a Biden administration being pressured to install 'illiberal liberal' identitarian appointees, citing Elizabeth Warren's LGBTQ town hall stunt with a child vetting the Education Secretary.
8moments
- Tim worries the current protests could trigger a backlash that gets Donald Trump elected.
- Orange man is bad, but Tim notes a bungling idiot president who can't get anything done doesn't bother him much.
- Fox News anchor was told Lincoln's freeing of the slaves was "mixed," forcing him to correct that enslaved people were actually freed.
- Trump is holding a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma—site of a Black massacre—on Juneteenth.
- Tim is also concerned that if Joe Biden wins, the pressure to appoint woke critical theorists to his cabinet will entrench bad ideology in government.
- Critical race theory in education systems focuses everything on race, which Tim thinks makes resentful white people respond negatively rather than building solidarity.
- Elizabeth Warren said at an LGBTQ town hall that she'd let a nine-year-old trans kid vet her next Secretary of Education.
- That Warren pledge was simultaneously a campaign ad for Trump and insane on its face—children shouldn't dictate cabinet picks regardless of how trans they are.
Donald TrumpElizabeth WarrenJoe BidenCritical race theoryTulsa, OklahomaRobin D'AngeloLincolnPete Buttigieg
- 2 min
Katie argues critical race theory's endgame is about power, frames anti-racism as a quasi-religious dogma without mechanisms for grace or reconciliation, and Tim jokes about becoming a diversity trainer.
4moments
- Tim asks what the endgame is for critical race theory advocates and what kind of society they want to create.
- Tim demands someone explain what 'whiteness' actually means, noting it's presented as something spiritual and connected to white supremacy.
- The religious nature of anti-racism rhetoric becomes clear when compared to actual religions, which offer mechanisms for reform, grace, and reconciliation that this dogma lacks.
- Tim jokes about potentially going back to school to become a diversity trainer if his podcast fails.
Critical race theoryElizabeth WarrenJulián CastroMarianne Williamson
- 5 min
Tim tells an absurd, increasingly dark fabricated story about his childhood friend Paul who was abused by his parents and comforted with cereal, eventually revealed to have been killed and eaten by his parents, as a lead-in to the Magic Spoon ad.
9moments
- Tim introduces his best friend Paul, a kid who loved cereal and shared his values about freedom and democracy.
- Paul had a brutal home life—his parents drank heavily and beat him mercilessly.
- Tim would comfort Paul with bowls of Lucky Charms after he showed up to his house bloodied and beaten.
- One time Tim found Paul's parents attacking him in the backyard with hockey sticks, hitting what appeared to be his lifeless body.
- Tim carried Paul back to his house to nurse him back to life with Lucky Charms, comparing himself to Christ taking him off the cross.
- Paul is now dead—his parents cooked and ate him.
- Magic Spoon is a cereal company that recreates childhood favorites with zero sugar, twelve grams of protein, and only three net carbs per serving.
- Tim describes Magic Spoon's food scientists putting someone's head in a fish tank and breaking the glass while swirling it around.
- Tim realizes he's been talking about his friend's dog the whole time, not an actual person named Paul.
- 2 min
Tim finishes the Magic Spoon cereal read, promoting the variety pack and promo code while continuing dark jokes about Paul's parents and his own bulldog-sitting frustrations.
4moments
- Tim watched a friend's dog while they flew to Tahoe and describes it as a literal terrorist that got loose through the door.
- He hopes his friends' plane crashes for lying about how well-trained the dog was.
- Tim recalls a childhood Christmas when his friends' parents made their son eat their feces from a box, nearly killing him.
- He pushes Magic Spoon cereal code for a dead friend whose parents beat him to death, and notes Tim and Adam never got charged and are still free.
- 3 min
Tim reads a Manscaped ad for their new nose/ear hair trimmer, riffing on nose hair as a turnoff and inventing a bit about a girlfriend who prefers rough men with nose hair.
8moments
- Tim introduces the Manscaped Weed Whacker nose and ear hair trimmer as a new product release.
- The device features skin-safe technology to prevent nicks—Tim objects to the ad copy rhyming "nicks" with cocaine jokes.
- Weed Whacker specs: 9,000 RPM motor, 360-degree rotary dual blade system, waterproof for shower use.
- Tim compares the pain of pulling nose hair by hand to nicking your balls with the trimmer.
- Survey shows 79% of partners find long nose hair a major turnoff; Tim questions who the other 21% are.
- Tim recalls doing that to a woman once in a crowded Macy's.
- He endorses the Weed Whacker as genuinely effective, noting it's especially useful for fat people who can't see what they're shaving.
- Final pitch: 20% off with code TIMWEED at Manscaped.com—"go whack your weeds."
- 7 min
Katie explains her political shift away from socialism after seeing state mismanagement (unemployment systems, ventilators), argues for regulated capitalism over full socialism, and criticizes performative 'rose emoji' socialism among young people.
9moments
- Changed perspective on socialism in recent years, now more sympathetic to free-market values than five or six years ago.
- Capitalism is flawed but could be regulated better through stricter environmental controls and incentives rather than penalties.
- Young people use socialism as a signifier—rose emoji in Twitter bio—without thinking through the logistics of who'd actually run things.
- Federal and state governments have repeatedly shown they can't manage industry as well as the free market does, citing ventilators and broken unemployment systems.
- Wealthy people evade taxes by dumping money into real estate through shell corporations, driving up housing costs and pricing out longtime residents.
- When billionaires turn cities into money-laundering schemes, it fills people with anxiety that gets redirected into race resentment, paranoia, and conspiracy theories.
- Money's impact on politics is absurd—Bloomberg spent billions and lost, Koch brothers had massive war chests, yet it may matter less than local manipulation.
- Concerned about regulation even though he's not a Marxist, because capitalism in America has been married so closely to the country's identity.
- Wealthy people don't care when Detroit collapses, the Rust Belt hollows out, or Chicago's South Side suffers—their loyalty is to economic architecture, not country.
capitalismsocialismMichael BloombergRust BeltMarxismDonald TrumpChicagoDetroit+5 more
- 5 min
Tim argues wealthy elites treat cities like money-laundering vehicles disconnected from any national loyalty, and questions whether they care about places like Detroit or Chicago's South Side, while discussing how campaign spending (Bloomberg, Koch brothers) does or doesn't sway elections.
9moments
- All the prime real estate on the California coast and Puget Sound has been taken over by insanely wealthy powerful people.
- Foreign speculation and empty investment condos create cities where multi-million-dollar high-rises sit vacant—it's money laundering.
- Developers won't build cheap single-family homes when they can build expensive high-rises; that's the real housing crisis driver.
- Washington State has no income tax because it's unconstitutional, which is exactly why billionaires and Amazon chose to locate in Seattle.
- Jeff Bezos initially wanted to put Amazon headquarters on a Native American reservation for even more relaxed tax laws.
- Amazon opposed Seattle's proposed head tax so fiercely that Bezos threatened to halt construction and move the company.
- Seattle city council member Shama Sawant, a socialist, pushed the head tax and wants Amazon out of the city entirely.
- Sawant stood in front of the Bezos Balls screaming about workers' rights and a tax on Amazon while construction workers behind her chanted against the head tax.
- Socialists claim to fight for the working class, but the working class itself is saying no to their policies—that's identity politics.
AmazonJeff BezosShama SawantSeattlehousing crisisVancouverPuget Sound
- 4 min
Katie tells the story of Seattle's head tax fight, Jeff Bezos threatening to pull Amazon's tower, and the ironic video of socialist councilmember Kshama Sawant being drowned out by construction workers chanting against the very tax meant to help them.
7moments
- Working-class unity has fractured into identity-based groups rather than coalitional movements around wages and inequality.
- Bernie Sanders represented the best chance to build cross-race working-class movements, though he was going to lose to Trump anyway.
- Elizabeth Warren split the progressive vote and abandoned her consumer-protection platform for identity-focused rhetoric.
- Tim moved to the suburbs to escape the constant rhetoric about trans women being murdered.
- The Human Rights Campaign reported 25 trans murders in 2019 — calling this an epidemic doesn't match the statistical definition.
- Murder rates for trans people are actually lower than for cisgender women and far lower than for men.
- Most of the trans murder victims in recent years were killed during sex work, domestic violence, or random incidents, not hate crimes.
Bernie SandersElizabeth WarrenHuman Rights Campaign
- 4 min
Katie uses HRC data to debunk claims of a trans murder epidemic, explaining most victims died from sex work-related violence or domestic issues rather than bias crimes, and traces the false '35-year trans life expectancy' statistic to a misapplied South American study.
8moments
- Tim argues trans murders aren't actually an epidemic, nor disproportionately high relative to other vulnerable groups.
- The '35-year life expectancy' statistic gets repeated constantly but comes from almost nowhere when investigated.
- Tim traces the statistic to a South American human rights organization studying murder victims in Brazilian favelas and sex work populations.
- The 80% of trans murder victims under 35 in that specific population tells you nothing about average trans people in the U.S.
- Many trans people don't come out until after 35, making the life expectancy claim nonsensical on its face.
- A study gets published, media picks up the press release, does no digging, celebrities repeat it, and it spreads like a virus through culture.
- Kamala Harris told an LGBT town hall attendee 'I know you are' being hunted, validating a claim that isn't true.
- There's no serial killer terrorizing trans women; what's happening is mass repetition of false statistics.
trans womenKamala HarrisUnited StatesBrazilian favelas
- 6 min
Katie compares the current cultural moment to communist-era struggle sessions and predicts it will intensify, then clarifies that claims linking Trump's rollback of ACA trans protections to JK Rowling's comments conflate two unrelated issues, explaining the actual UK Gender Recognition Act controversy Rowling was addressing.
9moments
- Tim describes current culture as a mass hysteria comparable to witch trials, with witchcraft itself now trendy.
- Struggle sessions in Romania during the 70s and 80s involved mandatory public self-criticism about being enemies of the working class.
- Unlike authoritarian governments, these struggle sessions are coming from the bottom up, driven by educated elite and upper-middle-class white people feeling guilt.
- Tim speculates Trump hasn't managed much authoritarianism, but wonders if authoritarianism could emerge from the resistance instead of federal government.
- The problem isn't that norms exist in society, but that acceptable thought has become increasingly narrow, affecting basic mainstream opinions.
- Trump's recent policy appears to roll back protections under the Affordable Care Act for trans people rather than enshrine biological sex into law.
- Critics blame JK Rowling's biological essentialism for enabling government health care takeaways from trans people, conflating two unrelated issues.
- JK Rowling addressed the UK's gender recognition act, which would shift from a panel-based gatekeeping process to self-declaration for legal sex change.
- The Conservative Party proposed self-declaration as a legal sex change mechanism, expecting it to be popular like gay marriage.
Donald TrumpObamacareConservative PartyNational Health ServiceJK RowlingRomaniaUnited KingdomCultural Revolution+1 more
- 6 min
Katie reflects on being drawn to outsider/heretical positions, and she and Tim compare notes on immediately doubting the Jussie Smollett hoax story, with Tim recalling being falsely attacked by Warren supporters after a video.
10moments
- Tim explains he's drawn to heretics because his job is like being the town fool or public crier, shouting in the square.
- He describes the realization that almost nothing is as it appears, and the more you read, the less you trust institutions.
- Tim cites the Jussie Smollett case as an example of completely fake mainstream media coverage.
- The specifics that bothered him: Trump-supporting gang members committing a hate crime at 2 a.m. in a metropolitan city seemed implausible.
- Tim questions why a wealthy actor would be eating Subway at 2 a.m. instead of using GrubHub or making himself a meal.
- He made a video about this incident and was subsequently attacked by Elizabeth Warren supporters with feathers and a headdress.
- Coming out at 25 and immediately quitting drinking and starting comedy meant he transformed into essentially another person without typical gay party years.
- Tim expresses his hatred of groupthink, describing it as antithetical to humor and cultish.
- He learned to distrust people with no room for nuance because everything worth saying lives in nuanced space.
- He bought a house at 22 with a subprime mortgage while on cocaine, waking up in a $700,000 home asking how he got there.
- 4 min
Tim discusses his own path (coming out at 25, quitting drugs, becoming a comedian) and argues being gay is a minor part of his identity compared to his wild personal history, criticizing queer communities and culture at large for being conformist and overly identity-obsessed.
9moments
- Tim argues sexuality is part of the story for most people, not the whole story.
- Living in Queens queer circles meant all anyone talked about was being gay.
- When Tim said he was gay on stage early in his comedy career, people were openly hostile.
- If sexuality is all that makes you unique, you're just a basic person otherwise.
- Groups of queers are conformist like every other group, breaking into tribes similar to high school.
- Tim lives a largely friendless existence now after being excommunicated from queer circles.
- The 60s revolution focused on sensory experiences and expanding consciousness; this one is about language policing and bureaucratic fear.
- Modern culture took all the bad parts of the 60s—people chewing their tongues on Adderall, posting tweet threads.
- Violence is being excused and even agitated for in certain media corners when framed as righteous.
- 2 min
Referencing Camille Paglia, Tim contrasts the sensory, expansive 60s counterculture with today's fearful, nitpicking, sexless online activism, and worries aloud about whether cultural violence is the next escalation.
5moments
- Tim's guest decided writing is over and she's now a full-time podcaster and speaker instead.
- She positions herself as fighting against autistic trans communists on social media.
- Tim recommends following her on Twitter and praises the way her mind works.
- Tim criticizes progressive people in his industry for clinging to archaic institutions like Hollywood instead of building their own platforms.
- He's made a hundred sketches in two years that get millions of views on Twitter without ever needing television.
- 1 min
Katie plugs her podcast Blocked and Reported and Twitter handle, and Tim closes by praising independent media platforms like Patreon over legacy institutions, contrasting his own DIY sketch/podcast output with performers still chasing Hollywood gatekeepers.
2moments
- Tim explains they put out two podcasts a week with no institutional interference, living or dying on audience response.
- What Tim and his guest are doing — independent podcasting — is working out, which surprises them both.