WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:02.560 No, let's let this is gold Let's talk about this 2 00:00:02.600 --> 00:00:03.120 on the podcast. 3 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:06.639 All right, so let's let's go. 4 00:00:11.839 --> 00:00:15.240 You know what word I'm not comfortable with? Nuance. 5 00:00:16.239 --> 00:00:19.120 It's not a real word. Like just gesture is a 6 00:00:19.160 --> 00:00:21.920 good word. At least you know where you stand with gesture, 7 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:24.239 But nuance, I don't know. 8 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:37.759 Maybe I'm well, we're coming on the end of February, 9 00:00:37.799 --> 00:00:40.159 and this is glop culture. And I'm John pod Horitz 10 00:00:40.200 --> 00:00:44.840 in New York in Princeton, New Jersey. Rob Long, Hi, Rob, Hey, John? 11 00:00:44.840 --> 00:00:45.200 How areight? 12 00:00:45.719 --> 00:00:51.439 In Washington, d C? Jonah Goldberg Hi, Jonah, Hey, John, guys. 13 00:00:51.679 --> 00:00:54.759 I don't know if you know this or not, but 14 00:00:56.439 --> 00:01:01.439 Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post, and this morning he 15 00:01:01.479 --> 00:01:06.560 announced that he was changing the editorial policy of The 16 00:01:06.680 --> 00:01:11.359 Washington Post's opinion section to reflect his interest in it 17 00:01:11.519 --> 00:01:19.040 promoting personal liberties and free markets. And I speak as 18 00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:23.200 somebody who has twice in my life been the editorial 19 00:01:23.239 --> 00:01:28.239 page editor or the opinion editor of two newspapers, one 20 00:01:28.280 --> 00:01:30.920 The Washington Times, the other New York Post that lost 21 00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:37.280 money and were owned by proprietors with ideological interests in 22 00:01:37.319 --> 00:01:42.319 ideological goals in mind. And it was my understanding, as 23 00:01:42.359 --> 00:01:46.640 it is for anybody who works for money losing institutions, 24 00:01:46.680 --> 00:01:50.400 that it was the prerogative of the owner to set 25 00:01:50.439 --> 00:01:54.319 the editorial philosophy of the thing that he owned, particularly 26 00:01:54.359 --> 00:01:57.239 when it was losing money. But you would think today 27 00:01:57.640 --> 00:02:00.239 Jeff Bezos having announced this, and having also annound that 28 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:03.719 David Shipley, the current manager of the opinion section, would 29 00:02:03.719 --> 00:02:06.719 not be joining him in his new approach, and was 30 00:02:06.760 --> 00:02:11.719 therefore leaving that what Jeff Bezos did was a craven 31 00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:17.159 act of monstrosity, largely designed to curry favor with Donald Trump, 32 00:02:17.159 --> 00:02:19.439 which it may be. It may be that he wishes 33 00:02:19.479 --> 00:02:22.120 to curry favor with Donald Trump. However, the fact is 34 00:02:22.120 --> 00:02:24.960 that the guy has now lost something like three hundred 35 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:28.319 million dollars in the last three years on the Washington 36 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:32.840 Post and may not want to continue losing enormous amounts 37 00:02:32.840 --> 00:02:36.120 of money on the Washington Post and having his other 38 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:41.039 businesses affected by the anger of politicians. Which again, through 39 00:02:41.280 --> 00:02:46.240 the course of American history, politicians have used their editorial 40 00:02:46.280 --> 00:02:49.280 pages and their opinion sections to curry favor with politicians 41 00:02:49.280 --> 00:02:52.879 and power who might help them get things like favorable 42 00:02:52.919 --> 00:02:57.120 placing of their printing plants and things like that. So 43 00:02:58.280 --> 00:03:00.759 the crocodile tears on the screen, and the yelling and 44 00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:04.400 the and the and the hysteria that has been uh, 45 00:03:04.639 --> 00:03:08.840 the michi flowing, the mischia go has been flowing today. 46 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:11.000 Yeah no, you're right. 47 00:03:11.080 --> 00:03:15.080 Yeah, so that's why the focus just keep going, every 48 00:03:15.159 --> 00:03:16.520 Yiddish word, just go ahead. 49 00:03:16.680 --> 00:03:19.840 But also it's such a weird bromide. What he said 50 00:03:19.960 --> 00:03:22.080 was he wanted to be one the editorial page to 51 00:03:22.120 --> 00:03:27.280 be to be to emphasize personal liberty and pre market. 52 00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:34.000 I mean, like only only an American editorial page editor 53 00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:37.280 of a major newspaper would find that I quit. 54 00:03:38.039 --> 00:03:39.599 I'm against both those things. 55 00:03:39.759 --> 00:03:44.080 I refuse, like I refuse to write to publish editorials 56 00:03:44.120 --> 00:03:47.000 and favor of personal liberty and the free market. So 57 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:49.240 it's sort of like like, I mean, what have you 58 00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:53.599 really said? What he wanted, which was pro tariffs, which 59 00:03:53.599 --> 00:03:55.639 is sort of slightly more more in keeping with the 60 00:03:55.639 --> 00:03:59.479 current administration. It's a very it's a it's a it's 61 00:03:59.479 --> 00:04:02.000 a strange, and it also it's like another indication that 62 00:04:02.080 --> 00:04:06.759 I I think I need to you take some kind 63 00:04:06.759 --> 00:04:11.680 of like weird retreat because all the things that people 64 00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:14.520 are really mad about, I'm not mad about, and then 65 00:04:14.599 --> 00:04:16.519 all the other things that people aren't mad about. I 66 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:22.680 find myself enrage by. But there, there you go, jonah So, 67 00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:25.959 I have a slightly more nuanced take. I generally agree 68 00:04:25.959 --> 00:04:26.240 with you. 69 00:04:27.639 --> 00:04:35.800 Ah, I don't like nuance. Paul Reiser and dieta reference there. 70 00:04:37.480 --> 00:04:42.800 I generally agree with you. And at the same time, 71 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:50.240 I think that the how to put this, the devil 72 00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:54.480 will be in the details, right, I think that's it 73 00:04:54.600 --> 00:05:00.879 really depends what he how this actually gets implemented, is it? 74 00:05:01.879 --> 00:05:05.319 You know, there are a lot of The current Washington 75 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:07.639 Post op ed page is the most conservative I think 76 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:08.399 it has ever been. 77 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:13.680 And that's I don't think that at all. 78 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:15.920 I got Jim Garritty, you got George Will, you got 79 00:05:16.199 --> 00:05:22.040 Megan mccardalship has the most conservatives it's had, right, I mean, 80 00:05:22.079 --> 00:05:23.199 crowdhammer is gone. 81 00:05:23.319 --> 00:05:28.480 But in the nineteen eighties, certainly Meg Greenfield ran a 82 00:05:28.759 --> 00:05:34.120 far more conservative or conservative friendly editorial and opinion section. 83 00:05:34.199 --> 00:05:36.800 And remember you're you're mentioning a couple of people. They 84 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:42.240 are outweighed by the tens of thousands of online columnists. 85 00:05:42.759 --> 00:05:51.199 Who's woke level of wokeness approaches? I don't know, vel So. 86 00:05:52.279 --> 00:05:57.639 I welcome your counter nuance. So I really don't like 87 00:05:57.720 --> 00:06:01.360 counter nuance. My only my only point is is that 88 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:06.759 it it just kind of depends on how this is implemented. 89 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:11.600 And in the context of Bezos's sort of switcheroo towards Trump, 90 00:06:13.240 --> 00:06:16.720 you know, with the Kamala Harris editorial spiking and all 91 00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:19.839 that kind of stuff, endorsement spiking, I have a more 92 00:06:19.879 --> 00:06:22.800 wait and see attitude about it. But I agree with 93 00:06:22.839 --> 00:06:25.759 you that in principle, you know, the Wall Street Journal 94 00:06:26.040 --> 00:06:29.439 basically is dedicated to free markets and and you know, 95 00:06:29.560 --> 00:06:32.199 personal liberties broadly understood and all that kind of stuff. 96 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:37.040 But I don't know, I also kind of think that, 97 00:06:37.079 --> 00:06:39.600 you know, the third most important op ed page in 98 00:06:39.639 --> 00:06:44.439 the country, depending on how you measure these things, should 99 00:06:44.439 --> 00:06:46.680 have a little bit of a sort of let's have 100 00:06:46.759 --> 00:06:49.720 the best arguments possible attitude on its on its pages, 101 00:06:50.399 --> 00:06:54.240 and we'll see what that looks like without you know, 102 00:06:54.439 --> 00:06:55.040 going forward. 103 00:06:55.040 --> 00:06:57.680 Well it should, but not, no, no, no editorial page 104 00:06:57.720 --> 00:07:00.800 in the country has a let's just have the best arguments. 105 00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:03.639 That's that's not the way any of them works. They're 106 00:07:03.680 --> 00:07:07.600 always aligned or affiliated with one side or another broadly speaking, 107 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:10.720 And I don't care. I don't care what the editorial 108 00:07:10.759 --> 00:07:13.319 line of the Washington Post is, by the way, look 109 00:07:13.800 --> 00:07:17.480 on it. I genuinely don't care. Unless they were unless 110 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:20.120 they wanted to hire me, I would, unless they want 111 00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:23.000 a couple hundred thousand dollars a year to write one 112 00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:26.720 column a week. I really, I really don't particularly they 113 00:07:26.800 --> 00:07:27.160 used to. 114 00:07:27.079 --> 00:07:29.560 Do that, remember that, Nor that they used to do that. 115 00:07:30.279 --> 00:07:34.480 There were people who had ridiculous deals to do stuff 116 00:07:34.519 --> 00:07:36.519 like that. When I say that I don't care, I 117 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:40.759 mean Jeff People at the Washington Post who are complaining, 118 00:07:40.759 --> 00:07:44.560 there's some guy named Jeff Stein who you know, you know, 119 00:07:44.680 --> 00:07:47.240 actually went out and sort of attacked Visa. They should 120 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:49.680 be falling on their knees to thank Bezos for the 121 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:53.959 fact that he is supporting this completely insupportable enterprise that 122 00:07:54.120 --> 00:07:59.560 cannot make a nickel and in fact loses nine figures. 123 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:04.319 This is nine figures a year. So you know what, 124 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:06.399 You're lucky to have a job there. You don't like it, 125 00:08:06.439 --> 00:08:09.000 get the hell out, What do I care? David Shipley 126 00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:11.720 doesn't want to go work there. Fine, everybody gets hired 127 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:13.680 by the Atlantic. I'm sure he'll get hired by the 128 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:18.480 Atlantic to produce equally mediocre op ed edits that he 129 00:08:18.839 --> 00:08:23.839 has currently that's whatever, Like it's nobody. The weird thing 130 00:08:23.959 --> 00:08:27.519 is the staff. I felt this way. Look, I worked 131 00:08:27.560 --> 00:08:31.199 for Sun Young Moon, you know, and he let me 132 00:08:31.480 --> 00:08:34.240 work and like I ran sections of a newspaper, I 133 00:08:34.279 --> 00:08:36.120 ran a magazine, I ran up you know. It was 134 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:39.200 like he was a crazy person and you know, had 135 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:42.000 a lunatic religion and all of that. And I was 136 00:08:42.039 --> 00:08:44.600 still grateful to him because I had a job, I 137 00:08:44.639 --> 00:08:48.039 got to do something that I really liked. And he 138 00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:51.679 lost money. He was losing money to provide me with 139 00:08:51.759 --> 00:08:54.759 a forum, and like everybody who works at that paper 140 00:08:54.960 --> 00:08:56.679 should be on their knees. I felt the same way 141 00:08:56.679 --> 00:08:58.840 about Rupert Murrock when I worked at the New York Post, 142 00:08:58.840 --> 00:09:01.279 which now, by the way, does not lose money, and 143 00:09:01.679 --> 00:09:06.320 it is it is ungrateful and unseemly for people to say, oh, 144 00:09:06.360 --> 00:09:08.120 he doesn't have the right to do this, he's just 145 00:09:08.240 --> 00:09:11.279 cow towing to Trump. Well maybe he is cow tewing 146 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:13.320 to Trump, and maybe you should let me have a 147 00:09:13.399 --> 00:09:15.279 right to do it. Yeah, and maybe you should let 148 00:09:15.240 --> 00:09:18.559 her do that because he should be happy. He shouldn't 149 00:09:18.679 --> 00:09:22.120 have tourus. If you'll look use the owning the newspaper 150 00:09:22.600 --> 00:09:24.039 is then they'll just get rid of the newspaper. And 151 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:26.559 you know who is going to come in and spend 152 00:09:26.600 --> 00:09:29.600 lose one hundred million dollars a year on it. Nobody. 153 00:09:30.360 --> 00:09:33.240 Nobody loses one hundred million dollars a year on things 154 00:09:34.080 --> 00:09:36.360 like that is actually not something that's done in the 155 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:39.960 United States. Capitalists don't come in and then like waste 156 00:09:39.960 --> 00:09:42.320 a hundred million dollars. They come in, if they have 157 00:09:42.360 --> 00:09:45.320 a delusion, then they can run it at a profit. 158 00:09:45.399 --> 00:09:49.840 I think Bezos is basically proved it can't be done. Yeah, 159 00:09:49.879 --> 00:09:51.879 there are like three newspapers in the United States that 160 00:09:51.960 --> 00:09:54.600 make money. The Journal is one and The Times is another. 161 00:09:54.840 --> 00:09:56.279 And as I say, I think the New York Post 162 00:09:56.320 --> 00:09:59.240 doesn't lose money anymore. Nobody can make money on a newspaper. 163 00:09:59.360 --> 00:10:01.360 No one's coming to buy it from them, or if 164 00:10:01.360 --> 00:10:04.159 they do, they're buying it for scrap. So they should 165 00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:06.480 be happy. They should say thank you, Jeff Bezos for 166 00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:10.919 changing your editorial policy. Those personal librities and those free markets. 167 00:10:11.240 --> 00:10:12.240 What a great idea. 168 00:10:13.120 --> 00:10:18.240 So I do think what is interesting is that, you know, 169 00:10:18.639 --> 00:10:23.799 I have this long standing argument about like how America 170 00:10:23.840 --> 00:10:27.600 took this weird turn because basically because of TV bits 171 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:34.440 starting with the Telegraph, of buying into objective coverage, right, 172 00:10:34.480 --> 00:10:36.159 And it was this whole idea, if you just put 173 00:10:36.200 --> 00:10:38.039 a TV on things you didn't have, you could take 174 00:10:38.039 --> 00:10:40.759 out all the bias. And of course it's nonsense and 175 00:10:42.759 --> 00:10:45.360 that never happened like in the UK or most of Europe. Right, 176 00:10:45.399 --> 00:10:48.000 I mean the Guardian stayed left wing. Doesn't mean I 177 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:49.639 mean I don't like the Guardian, but it doesn't mean 178 00:10:50.200 --> 00:10:52.120 it was. Or the times of the Telegraph which are 179 00:10:52.159 --> 00:10:54.799 right of center or conservative, doesn't mean they were bad papers, 180 00:10:54.799 --> 00:10:56.639 but you just knew where they were coming from, right, 181 00:10:56.879 --> 00:10:59.879 And I think that's a more honest way to do journalism. 182 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:04.039 What is interesting to me is like American media is 183 00:11:04.080 --> 00:11:06.480 reverting back to the nineteenth century model in all sorts 184 00:11:06.519 --> 00:11:08.559 of ways. And I've been making that argument for a 185 00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:12.200 long time, and now it's reverting in another way, which 186 00:11:12.240 --> 00:11:17.120 is to have media barons basically leaning heavily on how 187 00:11:18.039 --> 00:11:21.759 their outlets cover the news. And I think that's both 188 00:11:22.200 --> 00:11:24.279 good and bad depending on the actual circumstance. You know, 189 00:11:24.279 --> 00:11:26.519 the La Times is going through all sorts of turmoil, 190 00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:28.039 where I've been a columnist coming. 191 00:11:27.879 --> 00:11:29.279 Up on twenty years. 192 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:34.320 Because the new owner has an idea about how these things, 193 00:11:34.519 --> 00:11:37.759 how a newspaper should work, and that's normal. 194 00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:38.480 I agree with you. 195 00:11:38.519 --> 00:11:41.399 There is this weird sense that the sort of institutionalized 196 00:11:41.960 --> 00:11:47.360 progressive elite seems to think that these institutions should always 197 00:11:47.399 --> 00:11:51.799 and forever be aligned to their priors and their interests, 198 00:11:52.279 --> 00:11:55.080 and when these institutions go another way, they think, it's 199 00:11:55.200 --> 00:11:59.159 this just outrage It's like petting the cat backwards. They 200 00:11:59.159 --> 00:12:03.320 just think it's apps outrageous and unthinkable, and it's it's 201 00:12:03.559 --> 00:12:04.519 kind of fascinating to me. 202 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:07.360 Again, We're used to living in a world in which, 203 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:10.159 sure we hold minority view. We work in a profession 204 00:12:10.799 --> 00:12:13.360 in which they have had the high they have had 205 00:12:13.399 --> 00:12:16.840 the uh you know, the high ground uh in the 206 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:19.960 culture for our entire professional lives, all three of us, 207 00:12:20.600 --> 00:12:23.720 in our different you know, in our different respective professions 208 00:12:23.799 --> 00:12:26.240 or places that we work. And we're used to it, 209 00:12:26.279 --> 00:12:28.639 and they're not, and they don't. They are not used 210 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:31.000 to not being kowtow too. And in fact, the last 211 00:12:31.039 --> 00:12:35.080 five years, for the last seven years, they were kowtowed too. 212 00:12:35.639 --> 00:12:38.720 They were sold a bill of goods that not only 213 00:12:38.840 --> 00:12:41.559 if they went woke, and they and they went in 214 00:12:41.559 --> 00:12:45.679 this direction. Not only would it be commercially a blockbuster 215 00:12:45.879 --> 00:12:49.000 for them, but they could alter the course of American 216 00:12:49.080 --> 00:12:52.320 history for the better by preventing the return to power 217 00:12:52.600 --> 00:12:55.919 of one Donald Trump. And guess what, it didn't work. 218 00:12:56.960 --> 00:13:00.559 They didn't prevent him from getting reelected. In fact, maybe 219 00:13:00.600 --> 00:13:05.080 if they had not covered up Biden's infirmities, the Democratic 220 00:13:05.080 --> 00:13:07.960 Party could have been forced to ditch him into twenty 221 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:10.759 twenty three. They got a different candidate in twenty twenty 222 00:13:10.759 --> 00:13:13.960 four who might have had a chance of beating Trump. 223 00:13:14.279 --> 00:13:18.039 Who knows. But all these owners Shu and Singh, you're 224 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:22.799 the guy at the at the at the La Times, Bezos, 225 00:13:23.000 --> 00:13:25.720 all these guys, they were told, you have to go 226 00:13:25.840 --> 00:13:28.919 this way. It's going to be fantastic. Democracy dies in darkness. 227 00:13:29.720 --> 00:13:32.080 It's a gold mine. The resistance is a gold mine. 228 00:13:32.080 --> 00:13:33.799 And it turned out a it wasn't a gold mine. 229 00:13:34.639 --> 00:13:38.399 Look at what's happening at MSNBC and b what whatever 230 00:13:38.519 --> 00:13:42.679 political end they thought they were going to achieve backfired 231 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:45.399 on them. So why is he still giving them run 232 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:48.399 of the paper. Why is Jeff Bezos giving them run 233 00:13:48.440 --> 00:13:51.240 of the paper. They didn't take the guy down. He's 234 00:13:51.279 --> 00:13:57.039 now running things, and Bezos wants to make peace with him. 235 00:13:57.080 --> 00:14:00.519 Maybe you think that's, of course the illegitimate, because you think, yeah. 236 00:14:00.399 --> 00:14:02.799 I mean, I don't know if he I mean, I 237 00:14:02.799 --> 00:14:07.159 mean I think that Trump will can consider this a triumph, 238 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:08.799 but I'm not sure it's gonna be making peace. I mean, 239 00:14:09.320 --> 00:14:11.159 the the as you want to point it out, the 240 00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:15.320 pro free market, pro individual liberty newspaper in America right 241 00:14:15.320 --> 00:14:18.440 now is the Wallsey Journal, and the editorial page has 242 00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:22.120 all been called Trump and his administration fools and a moron. 243 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:24.320 And he complains about it, and he complains about it. 244 00:14:24.360 --> 00:14:25.919 So I was like, you know, you could be you 245 00:14:25.919 --> 00:14:29.879 could be pro pro free market and pro personal liberty 246 00:14:29.919 --> 00:14:35.440 and still run a thwart of our erratic and I 247 00:14:35.440 --> 00:14:39.279 think sort of mentally imbalanced president. Yeah. 248 00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:41.879 We don't need to get deep into conservative esoterica here, 249 00:14:41.879 --> 00:14:45.799 but just to put a pin on this, the contention 250 00:14:45.919 --> 00:14:48.840 that Donald Trump is pro free market. 251 00:14:48.799 --> 00:14:51.799 And pro personal liberty is disputable. 252 00:14:52.200 --> 00:14:55.000 Yeah, that's right. Yes, it's not a Yeah, it's not 253 00:14:55.039 --> 00:14:55.759 a fact. 254 00:14:56.480 --> 00:14:58.840 Okay, So let's go where where Bezos is going. So 255 00:14:58.919 --> 00:15:01.919 forget that maybe he's trying and to make peace. No, 256 00:15:02.039 --> 00:15:05.799 but maybe what he's making peace with is the original 257 00:15:06.440 --> 00:15:11.720 Silicon Valley worldview, right, which was this kind of libertarian 258 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:14.759 I know he's not Silicon Valley that he was in Seattle, 259 00:15:14.919 --> 00:15:18.919 but he's over there, this libertarian let it all hang out. 260 00:15:19.080 --> 00:15:22.360 Information wants to be free, you know, do all that. 261 00:15:22.639 --> 00:15:25.320 And then they got woke. They got woke. In the 262 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:28.440 twenty ten Silicon Valley went to the left. It was 263 00:15:28.519 --> 00:15:31.000 this weird leftist libertarian thing. 264 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:35.360 And now, yeah, no, I just I don't think that's true. 265 00:15:35.639 --> 00:15:39.600 I think that if anything that weird and information wants 266 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:42.279 to be free nonsense, they're all embarrassed by because that's 267 00:15:42.279 --> 00:15:44.919 how you go broke. I remember hearing. 268 00:15:44.759 --> 00:15:47.200 That information was destroyed the newspaper industry. 269 00:15:47.279 --> 00:15:49.000 Yeah, information wants to be free. He wants me free. 270 00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:51.519 He wants to be free. And I remember a very 271 00:15:51.559 --> 00:15:55.480 very prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalist running something he called 272 00:15:55.480 --> 00:15:57.440 the New York Times Deathwatch, because of course the New 273 00:15:57.519 --> 00:15:59.679 York Times is foolishly not doing that. And the New 274 00:15:59.720 --> 00:16:01.600 York Time realized, Okay, well, we just have to do 275 00:16:01.639 --> 00:16:02.960 something about our brand, and we have to have a 276 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:04.799 better cooking section, and we have to have a better 277 00:16:04.879 --> 00:16:07.320 games section. That people will pay for and that actually 278 00:16:07.320 --> 00:16:10.120 did that actually had a huge effect on their bottom line. 279 00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:12.600 I think what Basis wants to be is he wants 280 00:16:12.639 --> 00:16:16.720 to be a really important guy that everybody thinks is cool, 281 00:16:16.840 --> 00:16:19.240 rather than this weird nerd that he is still in 282 00:16:19.240 --> 00:16:22.559 his weird transference phase to the guy who doesn't really 283 00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:26.000 understand popular music. That that guy. He doesn't want to 284 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:29.720 be that guy anymore. And it's intoxicating to have a newspaper, 285 00:16:29.840 --> 00:16:33.240 to be able to like have a newspaper, and I don't, 286 00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:37.600 but you know, he's got that. He's got Elon Musk 287 00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:40.320 running around. And seeing Elon Musk is basically president standing 288 00:16:40.360 --> 00:16:42.759 looming over Donald Trump, It's like it must be really 289 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:45.960 really frustrating and also really really cool. I mean, why 290 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:49.480 why else would he buy James Bond? That's what he 291 00:16:49.519 --> 00:16:50.759 wants to be, you know. 292 00:16:51.919 --> 00:16:53.799 I lately I've been on a bit of a terror 293 00:16:53.879 --> 00:16:56.759 against needless anthropomorphization of things. 294 00:16:57.440 --> 00:17:00.519 And as one does, you know, and this one does. 295 00:17:00.559 --> 00:17:05.359 And the first of all, information wants to be free. Well, 296 00:17:05.400 --> 00:17:08.680 first of all, who gives that rats ass what information wants? 297 00:17:08.839 --> 00:17:09.039 Right? 298 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:13.480 And second of all, like alcohol wants to be free, 299 00:17:13.640 --> 00:17:16.039 Lots of things want to be free by the same logic, 300 00:17:16.119 --> 00:17:19.720 but like bars that serve alcohol for free go out 301 00:17:19.720 --> 00:17:23.319 of business. And the whole idea that somehow you were 302 00:17:23.359 --> 00:17:27.359 going to have something that's very expensive to produce, which 303 00:17:27.400 --> 00:17:30.400 is reported journalism. Believe me, it's very expensive, as we're 304 00:17:30.480 --> 00:17:33.480 learning at the Dispatch to have good reporting, both in 305 00:17:33.559 --> 00:17:36.839 terms of time, salary and resources and all the rest. 306 00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:38.920 If you go by the motto, it just it just 307 00:17:38.960 --> 00:17:42.200 wants to be free, like it's some stallion that needs 308 00:17:42.200 --> 00:17:44.599 to be let off some BLM ranch in New Mexico. 309 00:17:45.799 --> 00:17:47.400 You're going to go out of business. 310 00:17:47.559 --> 00:17:53.480 And the willingness of the news industry in general to 311 00:17:53.799 --> 00:17:56.680 buy into something that they obviously had to know at 312 00:17:56.720 --> 00:17:58.359 some foundational level. 313 00:17:58.680 --> 00:17:59.720 Was not true. 314 00:18:00.920 --> 00:18:03.720 Is one of the great self inflicted wounds of America. 315 00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:04.240 I think I. 316 00:18:04.279 --> 00:18:06.519 Told this story about the New York Post. When I 317 00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:08.759 was at the New York Post and when the website 318 00:18:08.880 --> 00:18:13.160 went sort of the entire paper was put on the 319 00:18:13.160 --> 00:18:16.559 website for free. And I had just come from the 320 00:18:16.599 --> 00:18:19.640 Weekly Standard, and I had had one rule when we 321 00:18:19.680 --> 00:18:22.559 started the Weekly Standard, and I went to Bill christ 322 00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:27.119 I said, we are not giving content away for nothing. 323 00:18:27.480 --> 00:18:29.680 Because I had watched time magazine did it and they 324 00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:32.119 had made a huge mistake. And then Walter Isaencson tried 325 00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:35.519 to correct that mistake, and we didn't. The Standard did not. 326 00:18:36.279 --> 00:18:39.519 You had to subscribe to get a code to read 327 00:18:39.599 --> 00:18:42.200 the Standard online. There was no other way to read 328 00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:44.359 if you were going to read it at all, and 329 00:18:44.440 --> 00:18:49.640 not on paper. And the New York Post went entirely free. 330 00:18:50.519 --> 00:18:54.079 And I said to my boss, why are we doing this? 331 00:18:54.119 --> 00:18:59.039 I don't understand. He said, you should love this because 332 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:01.599 it'll give you a national audience. Like people are still 333 00:19:01.640 --> 00:19:03.880 going to read the Post the way people are going 334 00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:06.240 to buy the paper to read it on the subway. 335 00:19:06.839 --> 00:19:09.880 We were the number one selling newspaper in Manhattan. People 336 00:19:09.920 --> 00:19:11.759 bought it in the afternoons to read it on the 337 00:19:11.799 --> 00:19:14.400 subway on the way home. Sold three to four hundred 338 00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:18.920 thousand papers that way by hand for fifty cents, you know, 339 00:19:18.960 --> 00:19:23.079 two quarters thrown in. And that therefore there was no 340 00:19:23.160 --> 00:19:25.119 threat because all the only thing you were going to 341 00:19:25.119 --> 00:19:27.599 get was people reading The New York in Cincinnati or 342 00:19:27.640 --> 00:19:31.599 San Francisco or something like that. And it made sense 343 00:19:31.839 --> 00:19:34.640 if you if you didn't understand that at some point 344 00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:37.839 people were going to be able to carry something around 345 00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:40.240 that was going to make the free thing available to 346 00:19:40.279 --> 00:19:44.279 them when they were on the subway, and therefore weren't 347 00:19:44.279 --> 00:19:45.359 going to buy the paper. 348 00:19:45.720 --> 00:19:47.119 It's still a part of you though, that when you 349 00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:50.400 hear the stuff, you think, wait, we're still talking about 350 00:19:50.480 --> 00:19:51.119 the newspaper. 351 00:19:51.319 --> 00:19:53.920 Well, I mean, Joan and I both still write for newspapers, 352 00:19:53.920 --> 00:19:56.279 so we're still talking about it because you know, it's 353 00:19:56.359 --> 00:19:58.519 like if we were if we had a if we 354 00:19:58.559 --> 00:20:00.839 had buggy whips, if we had a horse and we 355 00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:02.640 needed a buggy whip, we would still talk about the 356 00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:05.599 best place to buy a buggy whip. Yes, you know, 357 00:20:05.640 --> 00:20:09.039 maybe maybe that's not something that other people really pay 358 00:20:09.079 --> 00:20:10.359 attention to, But you know. 359 00:20:12.079 --> 00:20:14.240 I also still love physical newspapers too. 360 00:20:14.279 --> 00:20:15.279 I do the crossword every day. 361 00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:20.279 See I don't. I'm very happy not reading the physical newspaper. 362 00:20:20.440 --> 00:20:22.640 I mean, and I find, by the way, with books 363 00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:28.720 that because my my eyesight isn't great, that that iPads 364 00:20:29.319 --> 00:20:31.119 you know, where I can blow the type up or 365 00:20:31.160 --> 00:20:34.400 actually and the phone, by the way, are much easier 366 00:20:34.480 --> 00:20:40.200 on my eyes than a than a conventional codexes. But 367 00:20:40.200 --> 00:20:42.319 but that's okay. I mean, I many people do. 368 00:20:44.839 --> 00:20:48.319 Like doing the crossword puzzle. The Journal and The Times 369 00:20:48.359 --> 00:20:50.240 cross repuzzle, and there is a mystery to the Journal 370 00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:52.960 and the Crimes cross re puzzle, in which there are 371 00:20:53.119 --> 00:21:00.960 occasionally clue that are that are repeated. There'll be one 372 00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:03.079 on Tuesday and The New York Times that will appear 373 00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:05.720 on Thursday. Not not exactly the same clue, but close. 374 00:21:06.519 --> 00:21:11.279 And it's impossible to know how that happened. It's unlikely 375 00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:15.279 that anyone consciously stole it right, because it's just too silling. 376 00:21:15.319 --> 00:21:17.359 These things are all done way ahead of time. But 377 00:21:17.799 --> 00:21:19.200 I don't know if anybody else has noticed that. I 378 00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:20.759 just thought I would talk a little bit about crossroad 379 00:21:20.759 --> 00:21:24.119 puzzles because I don't know. 380 00:21:24.200 --> 00:21:29.279 I'm just doing storing. To me, doing a crossroad puzzle 381 00:21:29.319 --> 00:21:31.319 on the phone or on the computer on the iPad 382 00:21:31.480 --> 00:21:32.240 is fantastic. 383 00:21:32.839 --> 00:21:33.680 It's not. 384 00:21:33.720 --> 00:21:34.559 Oh yes it is. 385 00:21:35.319 --> 00:21:36.920 No, that's an incorrect opinion. 386 00:21:37.599 --> 00:21:39.559 It is not an incorrect opinion, and it is in 387 00:21:39.599 --> 00:21:42.000 fact demonstrated by the fact that, as you say, the 388 00:21:42.039 --> 00:21:45.599 puzzle is one of the things that makes The Times 389 00:21:45.640 --> 00:21:47.240 have ten million subscribers. 390 00:21:47.640 --> 00:21:49.200 I'm not saying it's not profitable. I'm just saying it's 391 00:21:49.200 --> 00:21:51.279 an incorrect opinion. But you know, it's not an incorrect opinion. 392 00:21:51.359 --> 00:21:53.000 John, please tell. 393 00:21:52.839 --> 00:21:56.880 Me that you need to know when your metabolism is 394 00:21:56.920 --> 00:21:59.920 working properly. And when you do know that you. 395 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:02.119 That is such a correct opinion, you will. 396 00:22:02.039 --> 00:22:04.160 Feel the benefits in literally every aspect of your life. 397 00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:05.759 And I have found a valuable tool. It gives me 398 00:22:05.839 --> 00:22:08.279 insights to create a healthy metabolism for my body, and 399 00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:12.240 that tool is called Lumen. Lumen is the world's first 400 00:22:12.279 --> 00:22:15.680 handheld metabolic coach. It's a device that measures your metabolism 401 00:22:15.880 --> 00:22:18.039