Ep 119: Too Online [Moving To A New Feed!] 1) Bolivia's TikTok Strategy 2) #HillaryBarbie

[00:00] I had coffee with a friend this week and they were like, wait, what's going on with the feeds? [00:04] That's a terrible question to get as a podcaster. Worst case scenario. I literally was like, what do you mean? What do you mean? What's going on with feeds? And they're like, oh, I just mean like, [00:15] or you mentioned something spinning out. And I was like, excuse me, sir, the two online episodes are spinning out. And he was like, I don't really, can't really tell the difference. [00:25] And so if that's you, no worries. This, this, [00:28] The ones where we just talk about memes and internet culture and it's not as news forward [00:35] are in their own feed now. And that feed is called to online and it is still in your other feed as well, because we're being nice, but we soon will turn that spigot off. If you have not moved over and you will miss out on content that you're about to listen to, which personally I [00:52] subscribe, like, subscribe to the new feed, subscribe to the new feed for two online. Right. Or if you're not subscribed to this feed, we'll take it too. [01:01] We won't say no. Boys club. If you're on the boys club feed and you're not subscribed. [01:06] Or if you're on the two online, just make sure you're subscribed to all these places. Okay. [01:12] One simple call to action from Boys Club. You can always count on us for that. Welcome to Two Online by Boys Club. Hot internet news served fresh. I'm Natasha Hoskins. I'm Dina Burke. And this is Boys Club. [01:27] Wait, is it just boys club? It's just boys club.

[01:30] The Boys Club podcast? No. No. [01:33] Just boys club. [01:34] Guess what? Boys Club is doing our very first conference called Brand New. Dina, what are we going to be talking about? So we're going to be covering a lot of the stuff that we cover on this podcast. Crypto, of course, the new internet, digital culture, emerging technology. We'll be at the Austin proper on March 12th, and we're pulling in some of the smartest people we know. [02:04] Today, go buy your ticket. Members and zaddy holders get special pricing. And if you aren't a member, you can apply to attend brand new. So go to boysclub.vip backslash brand new link and show notes to get all the details and can't wait to see you in Austin. Yeah. So we have a treat as a part of this to online half of this episode, we brought in [02:27] a friend of the pod discord member, Gwai Stefani. [02:31] If you know we're on Discord. Because she sent us a story that we couldn't do it justice. We had to have an expert come and talk about it. So tell us about it, Dina. Okay, so we had Marikita on. She lives in La Paz, Bolivia. And she is a freelance journalist and writer. And she sent in a pitch for a story, I suppose, which... [02:54] to Natasha that was so thoughtfully researched and laid out. [02:59] And also such a...

[03:01] Odd... [03:03] strange occurring that's happening. Situationship that's happening on TikTok. That's happening in Bolivia that it was just perfect, pitch perfect. So we invited Marikita on to talk us through that. It's a story about, I suppose, a social media strategy and a government. And it's a story of our time. It's a story of our time. It is a story of our time. You're right. It is a story of our time. You should definitely listen to it and send in [03:33] really interesting. And then the second half of the episode, I bring... [03:37] a story [03:38] for Dina and I to discuss. That is just for me personally, a great time and also a story of our time. It is also a story of our time. So give it a listen. Hey, Natasha, what is crypto to you? Crypto is so much more than charts and gains. It's a whole new financial system, entirely new technological rails to enable creativity, ownership, wealth building, and more. Free of credit scores and spending habits, Kraken is your easy to use, newbie friendly [04:08] whole new world. Everything can be better. So why not finance? To get started, go to kraken.com backslash boys club, sign up in just a few minutes and see what crypto can be. Not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss. Cryptocurrency services are provided to US and US territory customers by Payward Ventures Incorporated, PVI, DBA, Kraken. Very excited about this segment of two online. We are going to hear from an expert who has a story in a corner of the internet that

[04:38] Dina and I have not been exposed to. Marikita, welcome to the show. [04:42] Thank you. It's really lovely to be here. So do I just jump in and sort of share what came across the FYP? Really quick, I'm going to give a little bit of context of how we all ended up here. I got a Discord DM. You're in our Discord. And you had submitted a story for two online. And I started to read it. And then I stopped myself because I was like, you have to tell the story. This is a story that was so thoughtfully put together. It was so deeply researched. [05:12] And so I am so excited for you to jump in and tell us, but just wanted to give that context for how we ended up here and the wonderful connections of the Boys Club Discord. Natasha sent it to me and I was like, we can't do this justice. We gotta get her on. Thank you so much. Yeah, so our friends in the Discord might know me as Grace Stefani. But yeah, I need to thank my partner for this one because I'd actually put myself on a TikTok ban. I just needed to really put some distance between myself and that. [05:42] laughing and at the same time had his face in his hands. He's Bolivian. And it's interesting that the TikTok that he was, he was sharing with me is from a, an account which really doesn't sound like it would bring anything interesting at all. It's from the Ministerio de Gobierno, which is like the government ministry and the equivalent in the U S would be like Homeland Security or something like that. So you're not going to, yeah, like necessarily kind of expect to,

[06:12] exciting things on TikTok from... Lols from that type of organization. Right, exactly. Although like, I mean, just to start in the UK where I'm from and in the US and the EU, I mean, government, civil servants, people involved in government aren't even allowed to have TikTok on their phone, right? So we're already starting off on a different foot. But basically, the government ministry has decided to go all in and they've really kind of figured out what works on the For You page and [06:42] algorithms. The reason that I wanted to send this to you was that it really kind of spoke to me of the whole sort of skibbity-doo toilet thing, but like in politics. Oof, dark. And it also really reminded me of the episode on EAC where I think it was Reggie James, I'm not really sure, but someone had been advocating for an anime representative or anime president. And then here I was watching [07:12] hedgehog with all of these like dank meme references. And it was just like, whoa, whoa, whoa, what's going on? So I wanted to share that with you and just sort of see made of this. [07:25] Thank you. I love how it's become that people are like, I am seeing something weird on the internet. I need to get it over to Dean and Natasha. Wait, so really quick, just to bring it to life for

[07:42] TikTok account. And on this TikTok account, they're making memes with like a hedgehog. [07:48] Yeah, it has this hedgehog. So this is the kind of thing that they're going with at the moment. There's this hedgehog that very noisily sort of scuttles onto the screen. And the voice is sped up. There's lots of sounds going on. So there's one particular TikTok, because there's a couple of them. I guess the account mainly wants to get across certain things that they think are in the public interest. So there's one about how you can renew your passport in a fraction of the time that it used to do. Things like that, right? [08:18] one that really touches on something very sensitive. So on this particular TikTok, it opens up and it's like a WhatsApp sound in the background. And the first thing this hedgehog says after very noisily kind of scuttling onto the screen is, which means like, hello, crazy people. And it's just not what you would expect from, you know, a ministry. And the issue that they're talking about is narco trafficking. Whoa. Okay, I'm tracking. [08:48] introduction is definitely sort of the feeling that I had about it. And yeah, so they sort of launch in and they kind of recognize that it's like a heavy topic, right? It cuts to this kind of darker music and this darker animation. The basic narrative is how for the past 16 years, the police have not been able to enter. There's been a no-go zone in an area called the Chapari, which is a tropical region outside of Cochabamba, where it is alleged that cocaine production has

[09:18] going on for you know how many decades so that's that's kind of the story and how you know now under the new president uh they've sent police in and they're capturing npcs which is the word that they're using for criminals and they're shutting down all these factories and all of this kind of stuff so that's like the news and it's all like oh yeah go ministry of government and all of this stuff but like it's just so wild to see the means that they're using there's one [09:48] just wild imagery. [09:50] And the reason is just so jarring. I mean, I don't really know what my take is on it. And I said that to you in my message, because I mean, I don't really feel like I'm qualified to get into that. [10:02] But it's just so jarring, honestly, to see something treated with so much irreverence when it's actually a highly sensitive issue. The first thing that comes to mind for me is if this is some sort of Gen Z propaganda, or that's the sinister way to frame it, if this is some sort of Gen Z comms effort, [10:26] What... [10:27] they're trying to communicate. [10:30] feels like important to unpack. And when you first started, you were like, oh, they're doing passport renewal messages. And at that point, I'm like, great, that seems like a totally perfect medium to talk about how to renew your passport, use a little hedgehog, stop the scroll, get me to renew my passport. But the drug trafficking piece feels much more political and much more politically weighted. And so at that point, it feels like maybe there's something else going on here that

[10:58] It's curious. It's definitely curious. Yeah. And it's really interesting. I mean, engagement, it's winning, right? Because engagement absolutely skyrocketed. Like when I went back through what they were doing only a few weeks ago, earlier in January, and then, you know, last year or whatever, it was really interesting. [11:17] what you might expect, just sort of like clips of interviews or, you know, and the very, very little engagement. And it's interesting, because you see comments of things, like I saw one today, where someone was like, I'm from Guatemala, but I know more about what's going on in Bolivia than I do in my own country. Someone saying, I'm 22. And this is the first time I've known anything that is happening in the government. And someone else as well, though, to speak to your point was like, what does propaganda look like in your country? [11:47] me dot dot dot um yeah it's it's it's complicated i mean at the minute here as well like maybe just to really briefly unpack some of the things that are going on politically around all of that like the country's kind of grinding to a halt at the moment because within the government there's a rift between the previous president of the socialist government the mass and the government who's who's who's in at the minute so this no go zone was actually something that was part of like [12:17] And at the moment, there are blockades in the country, like certain products can't get through between regions and things like that, because he's running for president again. And anyway, it's all like a huge mess. But basically, the issue of the narco trafficking and what's happening in the Chaparri is really tied into that. So that's one side of things.

[12:47] came internationally, but that was something that brought a lot of bloodshed to the region. You know, a lot of people were disappeared and the people who paid the highest price for that were basically people who were in mining, but like mining got shut down through neoliberal policies and they got brought into farming. So it's this indigenous sort of impoverished population that were most affected by the war on drugs, basically. [13:11] So it's just knowing all of that and then seeing the TikTok come out that, [13:17] And again, it's interesting because like you say, with Gen Z, I mean, Gen Z doesn't really remember that, right? Like that's something that for like millennials and Gen X, it's present in our memory. So it's interesting to see how on the one hand, people are engaging with messaging and they're, as you say, learning about how to renew their passports and things. But on the other hand, there's this, you know, it's really complicated. [13:42] Wow. What a wild situation. And I think it's a great encapsulation of how internet culture works. [13:52] around the world is being utilized in many different forms and the unseriousness that TikTok presents and is required to win on that platform. But when a government organization is utilizing those tactics to promote or to distribute information, it is so touchy and it's so layered. And it's really, really interesting to see

[14:18] the sort of lack of parameters around that that's allowing for this distribution of information. And you could argue both sides that people are learning about a ton of stuff. And for young individuals, they're learning about what's going on. You could also see a very sinister route to it being a very... [14:36] clear path to propaganda for a specific ideology. And what's also wild to me is that when you sent me this story, it was so clear to me that this is a part of the world that I know very little about. This is a trend that's happening in a totally different corner of the internet. I hadn't been exposed to any of the things that you were sending me. And- [14:59] It's, [15:00] demonstrates, I think, how much we can live in a subculture of our own and be completely immersed in something and feel like, oh, timeline takeover, everybody's talking about this for stuff in any individual's own online diet. Well, thank you so much for coming on. Thank you so much. And I hope this inspires other listeners to send us their little slices of the internet as well, especially ones that Natasha and I would have no exposure to. I'm going to call it [15:30] I don't want to make light of it, but it is always so interesting to like see other people's timeline and see what they're looking at. And so thank you so much for sharing that with us. Thank you. Take care. When you're first getting started with crypto, it can be scary. Am I doing this right? Is this just like my bank or trading app? How is it new and different? Well, that's why we love Kraken. They have a 24-7, 365 customer support team that's there to hold your hand all along the way. This isn't a 9-to-5 Monday to Friday bank. This is crypto.

[16:00] Welcome. Open door policy. Come one, come all. Try something new at kraken.com backslash boys club. [16:18] Okay. Majorly switching gears here. Shifting into a new timeline. I don't know where we're going here, so I'm excited. You have no idea. And I love when that happens. Okay. So... [16:29] My two online story. This is a story about knowing your lane. This is a story about people needing to share their opinion. This is a story about the internet not letting it go. This is a story about feminism. This is a story about Hillary Clinton. Oh, I think I know what you're going to bring up. [16:46] Great. Okay, let's go. Let's go. Perfect. Okay, headline here. The Barbie Oscar snub discourse takes a bizarre political turn as Hillary Clinton tells Greta Gerwig and Margaret Robbie they're both so much more. [17:03] Then can-uff. [17:06] And if you didn't get that, it's enough and can put together. [17:10] so here do you know what happened i saw a bunch of people making fun of hillary clinton and uh and her and like using it as a meme format for other things so i roughly but i can't wait to hear the full story okay so here's what happened last tuesday oscar nominations come out and as with every year

[17:30] There are snubs and the internet is outraged and people have big opinions and they have small opinions, but they take to the keyboard. [17:40] to get it out. And myself included, you know, I feel some authority for absolutely zero reason, besides I watched some movies that I should know what should be Oscar nominated. And I will put this in the show notes, but my big snub, [17:57] I had found an image of a swan who was covered in blood and then swimming. And I was like, this is a great image. Got to save it, save it to the meme folder. And then last Tuesday, when the Oscar nominations came out, [18:09] I used it and put a little caption on my own saying me after raging on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for snubbing Greta Lee for best actress in a motion picture. So my big upset. Thank you. Thank you for the laugh. My big upset is that Past Lives is a perfect movie and Greta Lee is exceptional. [18:29] in it and she deserved to be nominated. She wasn't going to win, but she deserved the nomination. And I was upset. So I took to the internet and I told everybody about my feeling. Keyboard warrior over here. Exactly. Doing God's work. Others did the same. And the biggest snub, I would say, of this year for many people was that Greta Gerwig, she directed and co-wrote Barbie. [18:55] And she did not get nominated for best director. [18:59] And she didn't, they did not get nominated. Her and her longtime partner, Noah Baumbach, who they both wrote the Barbie movie, did not receive a nom for adapted screenplay. And Margot Robbie also did not get nominated for Best Actress. So those three snubs, I will say Barbie did get nominated for Best Actress.

[19:19] Picture. [19:20] So they both did get a nod, but not in these categories, which people felt they very much deserved. [19:26] You are very familiar with the Barbie movie at this point. You have watched it hundreds of times. Hundreds of times. Yeah. My kids love it. So we've, we've really, we've gone through it many times. [19:39] And for me, that speaks to, it should be nominated for best adaptive screenplay because I loved it and your kids want to watch it a hundred times. And there was no story. There was no story. So I understand that. I'm curious what you feel about these snubs. [19:54] I don't feel like I've watched enough movies this year to... [19:59] have [20:00] have a voice in this. I don't have a horse in this race. I haven't watched enough of the movies. So I think that I've seen Barbie many times. I think that it's an incredible movie and it should be nominated, but I don't really have a sense of the rest that the ones that took their, their place, you know, measured. That is not how the internet felt. So what happened was people got upset and all of a sudden, very quickly, it became a conversation about feminism. Yeah. [20:25] I think also, what's his name, did get it. Ryan... [20:28] uh Gosling did get a nomination Ryan Gosling did get a nomination and he wrote an open letter as any king would he is the goat of all he just where do I sign up to be with this man I will go willingly um he had an open letter talking about like Ken is nothing without Barbie very sweet very cool approach to being nominated and then we have someone who nobody wanted to weigh in on it

[20:58] And I like Hillary Clinton. I'll say it. I'll say it out loud on a podcast. This woman does not know how to read a room. She's never been able to. Sit down. Don't speak on this one. It's okay. We will survive, Hillary. And she can't help herself. And she tweets and also posts a designed asset on Instagram, both saying the same thing. [21:19] That says Greta and Margo. [21:22] While it can sting to win the box office but not take home the gold, [21:27] Your millions of fans love you. [21:29] You're both so much more than Knuff. I have to say it again. It's so bad. And then tweets hashtag Hillary Barbie. [21:37] And... [21:38] I don't need to tell you what happened. [21:41] Anybody who even isn't on the internet is going to know exactly what happens. Nobody likes it. Not one person. There's no one on the internet that thought this was a good idea. Also, she went cross-platform with it. [21:53] Everybody went on. Full send. Full send. My personal one of my personal favorites is a reply to that tweet that says Margo really should have visited Wisconsin. [22:04] Which is a deep political cut about Hillary Clinton not visiting Wisconsin during the primaries in 2016. Very, very funny, well-researched tweet there. Another one here. [22:17] It's Kristen Bell in The Good Place. And she's saying something with a caption, with a subtitles underneath. And someone says, longing on to see Hillary Clinton chiming in on the Barbie snub discourse in the year of our Lord 2024. And it is Kristen Bell saying, this is the bad place. Which is very good. But my favorite is Always Can Count on...

[22:43] right wing [22:44] Very hyper conservative. What are they called? [22:47] like anchors, news anchors, news anchors to give you some great content. And I'm just going to play this quickly for you because it is so funny to me. Speaking of movies, Barbie not the only, not only dominated the box office over the summer, it also dominated headlines after its star and director did not get Oscar nominations this week. Hillary Clinton, always a sore loser, just had [23:17] funny that is an example of them making this story about them as well i know everyone's crossing lanes here like stay in your lane people a hundred percent it's so perfect i watched it and i was like this is insane always the sword leaves are like what are we talking about um anyway i that's all i have that's all i have that's great thank you so much this is not a political story nobody needs to be worried we're not going into politics on this show although it is an election year [23:47] But mostly just perfect. Perfect. In my internet, this gives me an opportunity to share one of my favorite memes ever, which is the Hillary Clinton in the kitchen. [23:58] You know, it's not a meme, it's a photo, but it's so good. It's so good. It's such an incredible photo. What I want to imagine as what happened... [24:08] which actually, if this is a scenario that happened, it's actually like kind of endearing, is that Hillary Clinton...

[24:14] just whipped it up as herself. Like she was just like, I'm Hillary Clinton, and I'm on Canva. And I'm gonna create a graphic because I feel moved to weigh in on this subject as an individual. I would love that. And it just was her, you know, and she was like, I'm gonna post on Instagram and post on Twitter. That [24:32] actually would be kind of sweet. But of course, it's not. It was a team of people who [24:38] advised her to post it and create a graphic and that's what makes it so bad but i do want to say if it was just like her as an individual i'm [24:45] That'd be kind of funny. And like, whatever. It'd be so cute. It'd be like, oh, wow, she really liked that movie. [24:50] I think what actually kills it is the hashtag, though. That makes it extra. Because there's one other part of the story that I did not... [24:56] I did not include that. I will say here is that then the next image, the next day is her Barbie. She has a Barbie. [25:06] Oh, and it's Hillary Barbie, which is fine. Again, whatever. But that's what the hashtag is about. I think it's about her Barbie. [25:15] And there is a world where she feels a kinship [25:19] To Barbie because she's been a Barbie and... [25:24] She liked the movie and all these things. Is it for sale? It's like an old, it's like an archived Barbie. It's not like, she's not shilling her shit. I was like, you always have to ask yourself, who stands to profit here? But okay, that's not what's happening. No, that's not what's happening. I mean, maybe I'm an idiot and next week, [25:44] Mattel is like, here's your Hillary Clinton Barbie renewed election year. But yeah, I think it was more just, I don't know why. I guess that's my why, you know, don't. But...

[26:00] But you can't help yourself sometimes. And I can appreciate that. [26:04] Man, election year Barbie sounds so sinister. Put a bullet in my head. [26:09] On that note. Okay. See you later.