Hello, hello, hi. Welcome to It's Open with Alana Glazer. I'm your host, Alana Glazer. This world that we are in is, it is just fucking wildly insane. It's so insane. This is like the day-to-day battle is to stay in your life and live your life moment to moment and not feel like you are living the headlines you read. Oh my god. I'm 38 years old. I was born in 1987, so I was like a little kid in the 90s. And like, you know, it's, this country has always been a fascist one for black people and native people. Like the rule of law goes, is on a spectrum from fascism to democracy. And the dials have been turned such that we're all, all living under fascism now. And like white people are really understanding the fascist framework that this country can and has operated under. The country has been on a spectrum from fascism to democracy since its inception as the, as the country we know today. And now, you know, like for a while when AI, when everybody started realizing how dangerous this is, like the internet was saying AI is gentrification for white people, which is true. But now it's like clear that it's actually colonization for all people. And we're in this moment, you know, the power structures that we live under create binaries to own us. Man or woman, well then we're going to fuck women over. Rich or poor, we're going to fuck poor people over. Black or white, we're going to fuck black people over. They made the binary. So now we're all seeing in binaries. We are now in this moment of pro-human or anti-human, just pro-human, pro-human rights. People want to parse out, you know, I believe that although I am a Jewish American, I don't have some loyalty to the idea of Israel because I've always lived in the United States. I have loyalty to New York City. That's my Israel. Okay. You want to parse out my speaking up for the dignity, safety, and basic human rights that Palestinian people, families, and children deserve. It's pro-human or anti-human right now. What are we even parsing out? Here in the United States, data centers are springing up and by the way being fought back on and not being implemented in many places because the people, no matter what fucking party they check off on their little ballot, are working together to fight big tech and keep data centers out of their towns because these creeps, these big tech, techno-fascist creeps are anti-human and they want to give our water to their AI data centers that are like bloating, leading up to fucking nothing. They want to poison our land. They want to take our land. They want to take the fucking soil off and like literally they're creating like new dust bowls for their AI data centers and it's just anti-human. It is anti-fucking human. They are so violent and it really feels like they want to enslave all humans and then just create some worlds where they're, it really feels like actually that these big tech, techno-fascists, and of course the Republicans who are like in my opinion, sucking their dicks, want to create AI and prop it up because it is their only ability to create and what they think is comparable to creating human life, which only women can do. It is misogynist. It is woman hating and it's humanity hating as is all misogyny, as is all racism. They think this is like their little baby and it's like not. AI just steals human data and becomes the most average version of fucking everything. It's, it really is white male mediocrity as software. It's not anything new. It's completely uncreative and it totally and literally appropriates all human magic, creativity, our faces, our eyeballs, the way we speak, the way we write, just to average it and make something that like can sort of sound like or look like humanity but just doesn't have that, doesn't have that sparkle and them getting even realer. The best they can do is copy better. They can't even create anything and they're violent man. I don't know if you saw these horrific headlines right before the US bombed Iran for, I guess to distract us from the Epstein files. There was this headline that said that anthropic AI wouldn't let the US government use, clawed their chatbot for lethal purposes, wouldn't let them use, clawed the chatbot for murder. Anthropic said no. Thanks Anthropic. So guess who stepped in to say they would let the government use their AI for murder? Sam Altman. They somehow found the deal with Sam Altman and made a deal with open AI and and and then I saw the New York Times writing an article about this as though it's fucking normal as though this is a normal article and a normal headline. All this shit is scary, right? I've been thinking also about leadership and the voice of a leader. It's scary but we have to be brave and honestly that LOL, literally that animated movie Brave, I think they have this line about if it weren't scary you wouldn't be being brave. Dark Chuckleburg, which is what I call Mark Zuckerberg, Dark Chuckleburg. You know just until six years ago was these people were including him, Tech had a bent toward at least culturally representing progress and there was this like moment in time in Facebook and Meta and Instagram's trajectory where like Mark Zuckerberg might I had a friend who worked at Facebook for a long time and then he and then other people I know this very smart woman who had worked at Facebook also they moved to the Chan Zuckerberg initiative CZI and it was like an initiative for progressive policy and they had forward.us, FWD.us Chan Zuckerberg initiative. Mark Zuckerberg had forward.us and this was a tool, a really effective tool to get people registered to vote. They were trying to do voter empowerment work. That was just a few years ago and the tides have turned and they've just grabbed onto the coattails of whoever's in power and they're fully, they appear to be fully in the government surveillance business now. So this other piece of horrific news that I saw on Instagram while it was like extracting my biggest emotions was that Meta, their their glasses are, they're like trying to, they're not, they're trying to not release their Meta glasses until they're in the clear for not being regulated and these are facial recognition tools that are going to take pictures without people knowing you're wearing glasses and it takes pictures of people non-consensually. This is like a badly written version of a 1980s movie of an evil nerd in high school who can't get laid making these ugly stupid fucking glasses that can record presumably up skirt shots, down shirt shots. This, what else could these be used for other than abusing people and specifically women and girls? Also, they are so ugly. They look so stupid and when I see Dark Chuckleburg, I don't know why I'm coding his name, Mark Zuckerberg, Ashkenazi Jewish man, millennial from Westchester, New York. When I see him wearing these glasses, it softens it because it looks like just like a nerdy dude wearing these glasses. This is like a piece of evil technology, evil. The last horrible piece of news was that Apple bought a company for $2 billion that allows them to listen to silent speech, which means whispers and I can only imagine so our phones can listen to us even more. This made me lose my mind. I was like, this is so fucking scary and I really feel like these billionaires want to enslave humanity, kill people whoever doesn't want to go along with their stupid and bad plans. I also get the sense that they want us to kill each other. They want us to certainly hate each other. They have all these hateful comments whenever I post something about human rights specifically within the conflict of Jews and Arabs and Israel and Palestine. The hateful comments I get, I'm like, I get that there's anti-Arab, certainly anti-Arab sentiment, there's anti-Semitic sentiment, but I do not spend much time on it, but all this to say, shit is bots. There are so many bots. These billionaires invented bots to make us think we're fighting each other even when we're not. When I take myself away from social media and from short form scrolling and it's burning my fucking brain and making me so upset, I really find that the moment I start talking to people, and I love people, I love talking to people, and I love talking to people about sharing reality, they want to fracture our reality. I think it is so important that we weave a sense of shared reality at the top of all of our conversations because it lets us all remember and know that we mostly more agree with each other than disagree. James Talerico won the primary in Texas. He is the Democratic Senator candidate for Texas this year. James has been saying that the fight in this country, the people in charge want us looking left to right, but the real fight is top to bottom. And the bottom, which by the way is 99% of us, the bottom is becoming more united in my opinion, and not just in my opinion, actually in my lived experience. I really don't care how much money they have. I don't care. You know, all these horrific policies, they are literally killing us. The Republicans are the people in power. Federal agents, ICE have killed Americans and had no trials. They're going on. They're out there living free. The government has been, has killed people in plain sight. I'm holding that while I'm saying they are not as powerful as the people. The people still have the power. And the more united we are, the more efficient, the more efficiently that power can be executed. This administration has the lowest approval ratings. They know, they absolutely know that if and when in this country we have safe and fair US midterm elections in November, they will lose and there will be an historic sweep among candidates running on platforms for basic human rights for Americans. So they are in the meantime coming up with all the different ways they can cancel the elections. In my opinion, and in the opinion of many people I know and respect, that's why they bombed Iran so that they can say we're at war with Iran. Guys, they are coming for our elections. That is why they had ICE terrorize and also murder US citizens, actually execute US citizens. They are doing that to show the rest of the country you better watch out. On the midterms in November, ICE is going to be there. We're going to be disrupting these elections. Well, here's what I want to say about that. I said this before, I'm going to say it again. I'm organizing with some really smart women a campaign called Moms and Neighbors for Safe and Fair US Midterm Elections 2026. This is a pointedly anti-controversial de-escalating campaign to center moms in the narrative in order to soften the fight for safe and fair elections in the midterms. This originally started in my mind as Moms and Neighbors for a global standard for basic human rights because you know what? Fascism is on the rise globally and people around the world, most people around the world want most people around the world to have basic human rights. Now listen, listen, LOL, you are. The world follows the United States' lead culturally. The world follows black Americans' lead because black Americans are the leaders of American culture. And civil rights is, well, I'll say this, you know, freedom, people who settled this country and colonized this country and enslaved people to build this country because they couldn't have otherwise, they had ideas about liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And then the people who were enslaved to build this country actually, you know, somewhat ironically, created the path to true freedom. And that's the civil rights movement. We have the blueprint. We have our historic heroes and their blueprint. We have their books. We know how to achieve freedom. And right now, we are in a shift, late-stage capitalism, the empire of the United States as it's been pretending that it is a place for freedom for all is falling. But what can and is emerging is a true civilization, not just a society, not a capitalist structure, a civilization where people are working together in their communities to stay safe. And, you know, to see Zoran Mamdani pass universal child care and 2K, you know, like like preschool for two year olds, which helps working parents work and know their kids are taken care of for free. That is a civilization. That is that is civilized. Us working to the fucking death just to pay our bills and a crew, no wealth is not civilized. That is something else that is dying. And the administration right now is so unpopular. It is actually dying. That's why they are so violent and ratcheting up. And, you know, it's we're in a messy moment. It's hard to say, you know, there's no really, really winners or losers right now. We're all kind of losing because we're living in this fucking painful time together. And, you know, just to see the suffering, to know this suffering is happening, to know that this girl's school was bombed in Iran. It's like, you know, I can't. I don't know. It's it's so bad. It's so it's so it's such a fucking travesty of human life, but we can very economically and more efficiently than you think, unite and work together to get to those safe and fair midterm elections in November. And when we do, it will be an historic sweep. And that can be what we make America's 250th anniversary mean, that we finally have our sights set on a democracy for the people by the people. We can do this. You should talk to everyone you know about the midterms. If you're like, where do I start in working towards safe and fair elections this November? When you talk to anyone in your community, talk about authoritarianism or fascism, whatever word choice you like, just weave it in like, how are you doing this country is so divided, it's really terrible. Name fascism, de-normalize what's happening. It's not normal. And just point it to the midterms and say, you know, I really what I'm concerned about is the safety and fairness of the midterm elections in November. Start there. Let's start there. That to me is the call to action for this moms and neighbors project is going to be volunteering to work at the polls. But while I work with moms first and Brittany Packnett Cunningham and Glenison Rania, Patrice, you know, we're like, how are we really going to make this happen leading up? Right now, the messaging, talk to your communities about fascism right now and how it's going to connect to the US midterm elections. We're getting breaking word. Trump just fired Kristi Noem. Okay, I'm like one monster. It's a monster swap. The monster mash. You've heard of the monster mash, right? It's a fucking monster swap. What fucking monster is he going to put in this monstrous place? He's going to leave shitty sludge behind her and then new shitty sludge is going to take her place. Great. Let's bleep these words, all of them, but evil white supremacist. You know, the Democratic Party, I'm also like, ew, you guys are nothing, you know, but the party is splitting into true progressives who fight for human rights and corporate centrist, nothings. You know, I saw Jennifer Welch on, I've had it. It was a great phrase. She said, Gavin Newsom's death march to the center. I was like, woof. And it's exactly true. It's just nothing. What does it even mean? The center, it's just absolutely nothing. You know, may God bless us soon with centrist Democrats being the Republicans and progressives being our mainstream left. And they, you know, they're waiting for the proper, as though this is business as usual, waiting to, you know, waiting for the primaries for presidential candidates in 2028. We are not in normal times. Can we nominate AOC to be the presidential candidate now? Does that sound like, does that sound right to you? I'm curious what you think. AOC had like some of the highest percentage of Democrats who also voted for Trump in her district. I hate this argument that younger women of color, it just couldn't happen yet, people say, usually white people who are like, think that they're being like safe and protective. But I'm like, what are we talking about? Like, we are in unprecedented times now. We need the person. We need the narrative. We need the hero. Okay, this has been like so intense. I want to just wrap it up. I announced that I'm going on tour. I am so fortunate. My God, it is so much fun. I am having so much fun with stand-up. It has been a long journey for me to go from anxious and self-loathing to enjoying it and loving it. I don't think I'm unique in that. But I am just fucking loving it. And the feeling of the act of getting together to laugh is so magical and is so spiritual for me. It truly feels in line with my Judaism, my spirituality. I'm really looking forward to this. And I feel so fortunate that I have this to look forward to. Yeah, like buy tickets if I'm in your city and let's hang out and have fun and laugh and allow me to perform for you. But also, you know, if it's not this, I guess I just want to evoke the feeling of knowing the organization that it takes to get people together. Whatever it is that is your tour or even going to see, you know, a music show or something or a stand-up show or whatever, just getting together with people, that is reality. You know, that is also reality. These headlines, like there's an element of reality, but like you're lived in, like the limits of your body's reality. Let's get together. And whether it's, you know, on my tour or something else, just remember to get out there and get your body among other bodies, even just go to a coffee shop, even go to the mall, walking around, seeing people, whatever. Just a reminder that like our lives are not a really actually majority, not the scrolling that we're doing. It is the lived experience we're having within the limitations of our sweet little bodies. And I hope you can find a good feeling in-person IRL experience soon and maybe create in your mind a series of those things to count on. Because in my experience of planning this tour and knowing I'm going to see my peeps all around the country and in Europe actually this time, my first time touring in Europe, it feels so damn good. So yeah, just a reminder that you can put your phone away, you can turn it off, you can have time limits around it. My brother has an alarm set for like when he hits 15 minutes on Instagram, so smart and good. Yeah, get out there in person and talk to your people and share reality. They are systematically fracturing our reality. Let's share our reality and create our reality. And I think that's all I got you guys. God bless you. I love you. This has been It's Open with Alana Glazer and it has also been a Starpix production. I want to thank my creative producers, Annika Carlson, David Rookland, Madeline Kim, Kelsey Kiley and Glenna Smohar. I want to thank the good, smart, creative, good taste, people with good taste who set up the look and the feel and the sound and the visuals for this show, which are Kevin Deming, Nicole Mopin and Lexa Krebs. I want to thank Ray Moventura for the graphics and the opening musical Sting. I want to thank Tovaliva Wits for his awesome editing and just created partnership on this show. And I want to thank Don Her, the band for their outro music. And I believe that is all. Take care of yourselves and see you next time.
