Rebecca: 0:00

I'll let you do the intro,

Jamie: 0:01

Okay.

Rebecca: 0:02

'cause you'll probably say it with a lot less fuck than I will.

Jamie: 0:05

I don't even know, I don't even know how to do this because it's just everything's shit. That's the

Rebecca: 0:10

All right. I think, actually, I think that is intro. We don't know how to do this because everything is shit and, uh, let's talk about it.

0:20

I am Jamie. And I'm Rebecca. Welcome to the Burnout Collective.

Jamie: 0:28

Welcome to the Burnout Collective, where we just remind you how. Shitty everything is in the world.

Rebecca: 0:34

we actually wanted to, I don't wanna come on here and do something performative, when it feels like that's what the rest of the world is doing. I just wanna come on here and say that yes, we also feel crazy and everyone is feeling crazy and it's okay if you don't have your shit together.'cause I don't think anyone does right now.

Jamie: 0:51

yeah. And you're not alone. And we know every single day there's something new that's happening. something horrible happening. and we just wanted to address it because yeah, it's just hard. It's hard to pretend.

Rebecca: 1:06

So, and I don't think we're gonna say anything different that people haven't already said. I don't think we're gonna say anything. groundbreaking. But I just wanna normalize, I think that's the point of this, is we just wanna normalize that things are weird and we're being expected to exist in the world, like they're not,

Jamie: 1:23

Which,

Rebecca: 1:23

and goodbye

Jamie: 1:25

yeah. All right. Bye.

Rebecca: 1:27

It's been the past however many years now, but let's just start at, do you remember when they repealed Roe versus Wade?

Jamie: 1:33

Yep.

Rebecca: 1:34

That day specifically, and I was at work and I had to just sit in meetings and pretend like, oh shit, everything, everything is different and terrible, and I'm expected to continue on. January 6th was the next time I remember that happening. You and I were saying, It's like millennials are like, Hey, where were you when nine 11 happened? Except now it's just been like, Hey, where were you when

Jamie: 1:57

These 20 things, these just life changing events. It's, I mean, it's true. I mean, we, millennials have lived through so much more than any other generation. I say as a competitive millennial who's trying to win the game. just kidding. But yeah, nine 11, I can picture exactly where I was when that happened. I was in, I was in high school. I was in my fashion and design class.'cause I went to vocational school for the first part of the day. and over the loudspeaker, like somebody came and it was just like, oh shit. Crash towers in New York. And then we're like, huh. And then next thing we know, like there's people going like room to room telling everyone what's happening and like wheeling into TV for so everyone to watch the news.

Rebecca: 2:49

Yeah, that was the last time we got excited to see a TV before we knew it was actually coming. Wheeling a TV through was like the best thing ever, and now we're like, why? Why is there a TV in here

Jamie: 2:57

It's like, why can't this be like grade school where we're about to watch like Romeo and Juliet?

Rebecca: 3:03

So I was in third grade and my teacher turned on the television. It was when the Oklahoma City bombing happened

Jamie: 3:09

Oh, see, I don't remember that specifically.

Rebecca: 3:13

and he was watching it. And just to show you how inappropriate this was to do, I remember freaking the fuck out because I knew my cousins lived in Oklahoma and I just thought they just blew up Oklahoma and I had no idea. just some casual midday trauma for third

Jamie: 3:28

and it was so disturbing because, and it's like because you were in third grade, Yeah.

Rebecca: 3:33

Okay. Yeah.'cause your little mind couldn't handle exactly what they were seeing. Yeah, no,

Jamie: 3:37

it was preparing you. It was preparing you For the millennial. The millennial life.

Rebecca: 3:41

yeah. And my friend Vivian she and I were talking, and she's a therapist. And, um, I was trying to explain to her, I was like, I don't think we're meant to take in. This many things all at once, day after day after day. And people talk about becoming numb, and I think it's not that we don't care, I think it's that our brains have run out of the ability to react or

Jamie: 4:05

Or deal with, we don't have time to deal with it. I was talking to my therapist this week about it, and I was like, we're actually gonna do podcast episode on this because we just think it's important and we can't just not say anything and talk about it. And that's what she said is you can't, we don't get a chance to recover because like. Recover and deal. there's no time to do that and heal.

Rebecca: 4:30

Not only that, then you have to go to work and try to push it out of the way mentally for at least five to six hours, to be somewhat productive because we have to pay our rent or our mortgage and we need insurance.

Jamie: 4:46

Millennials don't have mortgages, Rebecca, please.

Rebecca: 4:50

true. You gotta wait till your, we gotta wait till our fifties. Forgot about that. No, but it's just having to push it away. But then also just sitting in meetings looking at each other, no one's saying anything. And then someone is like, I don't even know, something stupid was said. And they're just like, I don't fucking care. I don't care about your shitty weekend. I don't fucking care. I don't care because this is not important. And we're just sitting here pretending like this is the most important thing.

Jamie: 5:14

It just makes, yeah, and it makes work. Feel not important. I'm just thinking back to, I think it was just last year and I was having a conversation with you and you were like, do I just quit my job and Do you remember this?

Rebecca: 5:30

Yeah, do I just quit my job and just go set things on fire in the streets?

Jamie: 5:34

Yeah,

Rebecca: 5:34

what, I mean my, we're always like, this is how you get Nazis. And I feel like sitting at my job and not doing anything is like complacency and like, well, this is how you get Nazis. You just sit there and you don't do anything.

Jamie: 5:46

yeah. Well, this is how you get Nazis. I like.

Rebecca: 5:51

the rule though. And it's I didn't do it. I didn't devote my life to it. I did a thing on a weekend once. That's not helpful. what is the, what is the amount of things we need to do at all times to be. Not complicit.

Jamie: 6:04

that's, that's the thing is that we, that drives us crazy and just makes us feel worse and we couldn't possibly, yes, we should be doing many things, but you can't be doing everything and you can't be doing something all the fucking time.

Rebecca: 6:22

My friend Scott calls his representative's office, I think literally every day.

Jamie: 6:28

That's nice.

Rebecca: 6:28

like, no one answers the fucking phone. And when they do, I chew out an intern.

Jamie: 6:34

Sorry, is this in Arizona? I just have to note.

Rebecca: 6:37

No, this is Pennsylvania. So he is no one answers the phone. And when they do, it's an intern. And so I'm doing what they call your representative. Call your congress, call your senator. They don't answer the fucking phone. They're hiding. So the conversations I'm having now is this means we need to go inward community wise. And I think that's actually what Minneapolis is doing focusing on your community and doing smaller things there because. I don't know what to do anymore. I think we have to just start relying on each other. And I don't, I, this is why I was worried to have this podcast.'cause we don't have answers. But it's just a lot of us walking around going, I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. And it's never gonna be enough. No, it will never feel like it's enough.

Jamie: 7:16

Truly that reminds me, like community. I was just talking to a friend of mine and she was telling me how someone, she knows a teacher at their kids' school was kidnapped on the way to work, on the way to teach children.

Rebecca: 7:34

Christ.

Jamie: 7:35

Buy ice. And now a bunch of the parents at the school take shifts and go to the school to kind of like stand guard basically.

Rebecca: 7:48

That's amazing.

Jamie: 7:49

That is amazing. But it's amazing. But it's also what the fuck? Like what?

Rebecca: 7:55

No, that's true. This should.

Jamie: 7:56

It shouldn't be happening like that. It, we shouldn't have to do that kinda shit, but like you do, I saw a woman with, a megaphone in a Home Depot parking lot saying, Hey, they have cameras, that they share with ice.

Rebecca: 8:12

Home Depot. What the fuck?

Jamie: 8:13

Don't fucking shop here. Don't fucking shop here.

Rebecca: 8:16

This episode has been brought to you by Lowe's. We're just.

Jamie: 8:20

Oh my God. Now I'm like, what if it was Lowe's? That's just some, you know, just a

Rebecca: 8:25

I had the same conversation with my cousin a couple days ago, and she knows a lawyer who has been lawyering since the beginning of time. And, there's a nonprofit, indivisible, and I think they're nationwide. Um, but it's basically like local groups, you know, on a national scale, it's thousands of group leaders and more than a million members who take regular. Iterative and increasingly complex actions to GOP's agenda, elect local champions and fight for progressive policies. They make calls, they show up, they speak with neighbors, they organize and they're protesting on a local scale.

Jamie: 9:02

Did you say it's called

Rebecca: 9:03

indivisible?

Jamie: 9:04

Okay.

Rebecca: 9:05

Yeah. So I found a chapter that's really close to my house and I'm going to the next meeting.

Jamie: 9:10

That's awesome.

Rebecca: 9:11

They have a ton of chapters, so they make it really easy to participate. I don't know if there's as much of on the East coast as they are on the West coast, but, it's at least something. It's at least something. And I know that I don't know enough to know what to do, so I want someone to tell me what the best steps are, and I want them to tell me what to do.

Jamie: 9:30

Yep. Yeah, that's a

Rebecca: 9:32

But not like Nazis, not like a Nazi thing, like a. I'm not taking orders, I just,

Jamie: 9:38

We, we are tauruses after all, so that's not something we do.

Rebecca: 9:43

it's indivisible.org. If you go there, they have emails that you can email to representatives, so they have email, templates that you can use, which is also super helpful, especially they have emails about ICE right now and expressing your displeasure.

Jamie: 9:56

So much displeasure to express. You have no idea. And you can, you can support them

Rebecca: 10:03

Yeah, that's the other thing too. Money. Money talks. And even if it's just a little bit donating to someplace like

Jamie: 10:09

Five bucks, 10 bucks, 25 bucks.

Rebecca: 10:12

it makes a difference.

Jamie: 10:13

It does, if we all do it. So yeah, if you feel like physically going out and taking action, if you can't, if you're like unable to, for different reasons like that's okay. But, donating can really get things moving.

Rebecca: 10:30

Even online conversations. just being, I think just participating in any way you can. I saw a call for white people to make sure that they are doing everything they can to make sure that people of color are not getting arrested and using their whiteness to prevent that from happening, especially in Minneapolis right now. again, I don't wanna, I'll put a link to the actual, post in there just'cause I don't wanna overstep, but there's different ways you can help and different things you can do.

Jamie: 10:57

Yeah, definitely. Even like, um, some people, maybe can't leave their homes or are too scared to leave their homes right now, it's not safe. just like offering, like picking up groceries for your neighbor, picking up medications, like any of that, like, I think it is, I think it's just like supporting your community as much as you can and.

Rebecca: 11:20

Don't be like my neighbor who sent out a neighborhood wide email to everyone complaining that his next door neighbor was driving too close to his Tesla every morning and asking if we had ring doorbell footage to show to the police.

Jamie: 11:34

Oh my

Rebecca: 11:35

Don't be like him. Yeah. Don't be like that

Jamie: 11:37

Can you like catch him doing something else on your ring doorbell and share that, like him doing something bad, and then share that with police.

Rebecca: 11:43

I genuinely considered every time like a squirrel or a cat or a bunny runs across the porch. I just wanna send and be like, is this it? Is it, oh, sorry.

Jamie: 11:50

Is this the te This is what a Tesla looks like, right?

Rebecca: 11:53

is this a Tesla?

Jamie: 11:54

Pretty sure this is a Tesla

Rebecca: 11:55

I like,

Jamie: 11:56

that's so offensive. That's so offensive to squirrels. Rebecca, how dare you.

Rebecca: 12:00

It was the adult version of he's not touching my car. I was right. So don't, don't be like that. Just, just, actually, I am going to an event on the 31st. It's, she called it Gines and we're just crafting and we're making Valentine's for like friends and family to send out, or just neighbors just,

Jamie: 12:20

You gonna make me a

Rebecca: 12:21

but it's, I'm making my version of Valentine's.

Jamie: 12:25

but I mean, do I get one? That's my question.

Rebecca: 12:27

Yeah. I'll make you one. I'll make you

Jamie: 12:28

you.

Rebecca: 12:29

So getting to know people in the community, supporting each other, just little stuff like that. I don't know. Again, we don't have answers, but. I think everyone is desperately trying to do something,

Jamie: 12:40

Just like be kind like

Rebecca: 12:42

especially to people with Teslas.

Jamie: 12:44

I was gonna say, like, I don't know if you drive a Tesla, like you're basically asking for it, you're like asking for that to happen.

Rebecca: 12:51

I met with everyone who I manage and I said, Hey. Everything is terrible. I don't want us to pretend that things aren't, if you need a mental health day or two or three, please take it like

Jamie: 13:04

Yep.

Rebecca: 13:05

You are important. This is, you are the most important thing and you need to take care of yourself. And I was just, and I think once I said like, Hey, I know everything is terrible. Everyone just kind of like, oh, you could just see

Jamie: 13:17

The shoulders drop. Yeah. And just,

Rebecca: 13:20

Yes.'cause they don't have to try to keep it together anymore.

Jamie: 13:24

yeah. I remember we had a manager when they overturned Roe v. Wade, we had a manager that. Did that for us and was like, Hey, I know everyone's feeling like really shitty. Why don't we, why don't we call it a day? And it was like early.

Rebecca: 13:40

Except for the boys. You have to work. You have to work still.

Jamie: 13:43

Yeah. I feel like she wanted to say that. Yeah. But just I feel like sometimes that's like, all I can say is it's a lot, and maybe that's just what we all need to hear. Hey, it is a lot. This does really suck, and things are horrible and hurtful, and. Scary.

Rebecca: 14:06

The other thing that I wanted to say is doing something for you. I just started taking piano lessons again. my friend is working on drawing characters of his son's stuffed animals.'cause he thinks it could be a book and is adorable. You said you were coloring, like you got, pastels you said.

Jamie: 14:24

Yeah, I got pastels. I haven't used them yet. I was just coloring with some old markers I had, but I got coloring books to start just doing that again. And also something to just take me away from screens and take me, away from the news a little bit.

Rebecca: 14:39

I love that.

Jamie: 14:40

And also meditation. And again, I hate it because I do feel like meditation to me even seems like woo woo. But, that has been helping me so much. And you would be so surprised at like the specific things that you can find, or like the specific types of meditations that you can find, like on YouTube for example, like the day before I started my new job, I did one about, you know, like new beginnings and just kind of, I was looking for one about starting a new job and being anxious about it. And and there are a ton out there that I've been listening to a lot lately about just like feeling stress, anxiety, and overwhelm just in the world, in the news. and that's helped me a ton, but I know that's not for everybody.

Rebecca: 15:30

I wanna derail us a little bit and mention that it has been wonderful seeing you in this new job and watching your confidence level come back and watching you realize like everything that you contribute and everything you can do, and just, it's oh, there she is. There she is. that's my Jamie.

Jamie: 15:47

Yeah, it was just so bad I wasn't hearing back from all these jobs I applied for, seemed like everyone else was getting jobs, right? And I just wasn't for like over a year. And so it was just shot, but honestly it took two days and I was like, oh, holy shit, I can do all this. I was like, yeah, this is no.

Rebecca: 16:05

here are my business cards. I am content witch Now just.

Jamie: 16:09

I really do want business cards to say content witch, but I'm

Rebecca: 16:12

No, just hearing how happy you sound and like just fulfilled and not, not in a capitalist way, but in a like, oh yeah, my brain. My brain is the best and I do know this, and now someone else knows that my brain is the best.

Jamie: 16:25

And it just, and it does, it feels so good to use that muscle again. yeah. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Rebecca: 16:31

i'm so happy for you and I'm so glad that they seem to be good people and they're taking care of you.

Jamie: 16:34

yeah, me too. That makes a difference. And like sometimes I always feel silly thinking about that.'cause like sometimes it's like, oh, culture fit. And like for me, it's not even that. It, like, I mean, it is that, but it's is it just vibes? I don't know. That's why I didn't say it, because I knew this would happen. Rebecca is snorting into her arm.

Rebecca: 16:55

I dunno. It's just vibes.

Jamie: 16:57

just vibes, right? But listen, people being like, you don't even have to be a good human being. Just be a decent human being. And I'm like, oh, wow, I really like

Rebecca: 17:09

The bar is literally in hell. The bar is literally in hell.

Jamie: 17:12

so low.

Rebecca: 17:13

Did you see that? That fucker, he went to a plant and gave someone the finger in mouth. Fuck you. To a worker who was like, you protect pedophiles. The goddamn president of the United States gave someone a finger and said, fuck you. I'm sorry mouthed, fuck you. I don't wanna be taken down for incorrect information. The, and he's a trash person, and I know no one is surprised, but that now that's in the history books

Jamie: 17:38

You know what's even worse?

Rebecca: 17:40

I don't know, honestly.

Jamie: 17:41

Shooting a citizen in the face and calling them a stupid bitch.

Rebecca: 17:46

Oh, it was a fucking bitch. Actually, I'm gonna, I'm actually on this. It was a fucking bitch. And he said it in the tone that, so many women have heard

Jamie: 17:54

Yeah, that like that set me off.

Rebecca: 17:57

that, that was, and see, I don't again. Not performative, but wanna caveat that I know this is not the first person killed by ice. And I know that people should have taken action long before when those people were killed, and I know they weren't white people who were killed. And I agree that it took way too long for people to do something.

Jamie: 18:15

Yeah.

Rebecca: 18:16

Opening your phone and watching someone get shot in the head without knowing, that's what's happening on social media again, is just that special kind of, oops, oops. All trauma, just an a, oops. All trauma day. I, I just watched someone get shot in the head.

Jamie: 18:31

Yeah.

Rebecca: 18:32

Okay, back to work. I go, what? What the fuck?

Jamie: 18:36

That said, people of color, especially black people, have dealt with all of this shit as like a normal part of their life all the time. So I do wanna say yes, it sucks that like everyone's oh wow, this sucks ice is

Rebecca: 18:52

and we don't, We're not trying to, but we are just trying to say out loud

Jamie: 18:57

that we are white women.

Rebecca: 18:59

you're quite women.

Jamie: 19:01

Ugh. I think one of the things, I mean I know we don't need to talk about specifics too much, but you were saying like the way that he said, fucking bitch, a lot of women have heard before and

Rebecca: 19:12

Oh yeah.

Jamie: 19:14

even just like the other, like what was, there was like another officer yelling like, get outta the fucking car. Get out. oh my god. Like I would drive away too. I would be fucking terrified. That's terrifying screaming at you and trying to just like break into your vehicle wearing a mask. It's terrifying.

Rebecca: 19:34

and in the video you can see her be like, I'm not mad at you guys. You can see her saying that right? In that same sort of voice that. Women who are in abusive relationships or abusive partnerships do to deescalate the situation. And I felt that in my fucking bones. And you can see it on her face. And when he says, fucking bitch, I, it just takes you right back to where you were. first time you were called that or the first time you heard that. And I think every woman pretty much knows that tone and that intonation and, um, again, we have to go about our day. Like we're not surrounded by men who could do the exact same thing to us if they wanted to.

Jamie: 20:11

Let's also, okay. Can we, can we talk for a minute about, can we talk for a minute?

Rebecca: 20:16

You just said that in the same voice like a youth pastor, like he sits across like a down woman floor with the kids. let's wrap kids. Let's wrap for a second about the Lord.

Jamie: 20:26

Jesus. All right. Rapping for Jesus. I was hoping we could talk for a minute about. The process of joining ice,

Rebecca: 20:35

Please, Jamie, tell us about the process of joining ice.

Jamie: 20:38

I'll put this in the show notes, but, um, a journalist named Laura IDE applied for ice. And, I saw her just explaining the process that she went through and they were marking things as done and clear, in the future. Like a drug test passing. A drug test. They didn't do a background check and check for any domestic violence. The biggest fucking red flag I've seen in my entire life. I mean, the funny thing is, is like she has a very specific last name at least. And so it would be so easy for them to have like, done research and been like, oh shit, she's drawn to infiltrate us. You know? but they also didn't, which I'm glad because I think this is like just such a, a perfect.

Rebecca: 21:32

Do you know why they didn't think that though? Because legitimately, they're a group of fucking Nazis and you're joining the Nazis, and why would anyone try to infiltrate the Nazis? People just wanna join, and that's their fucking mindset.

Jamie: 21:45

Mm-hmm.

Rebecca: 21:46

That's why they wouldn't think it, because they're like, sure. We wanna be, surely everyone wants to be here.

Jamie: 21:50

You need to get your student loans paid off. Become a nice asshole, you know?

Rebecca: 21:54

And I guess there's a whole conversation maybe that people smarter than me can have about how the cost of living is so high and the wages are so low in this country that people are desperate enough

Jamie: 22:03

Oh, yeah.

Rebecca: 22:05

Summer. That promises you what? A 50 K signing bonus.

Jamie: 22:08

they're fucking banking on that shit. They're absolutely,

Rebecca: 22:12

But for the most part, it's a lot of white men. Oh, by the way, there are many children apparently who are doxing, their parents who are in ice, which I find

Jamie: 22:24

Ooh, I haven't been to that side of the internet yet.

Rebecca: 22:27

Good job. Gen ZI love that for you and I will adopt you so you don't have to live with your isol parents. Great job. Honestly.

Jamie: 22:37

a really good mom. You guys like she is.

Rebecca: 22:40

Oh, and then there are ex-wives of former cops who are on like Reddit forums and you're like, guys, this is the shit that actually bothers them. you will get to them. Here's X, Y, and z to say to them and what to do and basically how to push all their fucking buttons and basically how to do emotional warfare on fragile white men

Jamie: 23:00

Whoa.

Rebecca: 23:01

guns from a distance.

Jamie: 23:03

I was thinking about that post that I sent you, and it was like the cousin of Steven Miller.

Rebecca: 23:11

Oh yeah, that

Jamie: 23:12

I think it was a Facebook post and was when I called out my cousin for being the face of evil, I did not stutter. she's talking about Renee. Good. her death is blood on your hands, Steven. I'm just glad our grandparents are no longer alive to witness the shame you've brought to our family. I just like love that

Rebecca: 23:30

Good job on those family members being like, yeah, we hated him since he was born.

Jamie: 23:34

But it is just

Rebecca: 23:36

Okay, here it is. her name is it, Alyssa Kaser. A-L-I-S-A-K-S-M-E-R. Her username is Kaser. Okay. This is my favorite people here asking for stories about Steven all the time. Here's one I will happily share Steven, and my birthdays are a day apart. A fact I loved in our small family having birthdays so close was a fun little bond we shared. But that fun bond was broken when his bar mitzvah fell on my 21st birthday. On my actual birthday, my 21st birthday was spent waking up early to go to temple and doing the horror with middle schoolers. If you think you hate him, I've been holding the grudge since 1998.

Jamie: 24:08

I love that. That just that's great.

Rebecca: 24:10

So, yeah, I, I love the cousin roasting the absolute living fuck out of that asshole.

Jamie: 24:18

It is so nice to just see people, standing against fascism, standing against Nazis, standing up for your community, your neighbors, your loved ones, your city, but it still fucking sucks. God, this is depressing. Why'd we do this?

Rebecca: 24:36

I, I, we just, we have to say out loud, we have to say it out loud. Everything is terrible and we are feeling it. And to try and act in the world like it isn't, is a farce and disingenuous and I'm so mad that we have to keep doing it

Jamie: 24:51

Me too. Talk about it more. Find people you can talk about it with. Hey, you can email us. You wanna email us? Talk about it. Let's talk about it.

Rebecca: 25:00

and friends who can help us like figure out what to do. Even if it's little stuff. Just doing it together.

Jamie: 25:06

Yeah.

Rebecca: 25:07

You have to like, I'm not, I am, if anyone said I'm optimistic, they're fucking lying. I'm not. I'm one of the most cynical people I know. But even, I feel like there has to be an inflection point where we decide that we've had enough and that good things and good people have to.

Jamie: 25:27

Prevail.

Rebecca: 25:28

Yeah, they have to. I really deep down want to believe that.

Jamie: 25:33

Me too. And that's what sucks is like just being bombarded with policies and murders and families being torn apart. It does. It's like it's not only desensitizing us, which we talked about, but it's also, it's made to, it's done to make us afraid to like keep us scared and keep us scared to do anything and scared to stand up and we can't be. I mean, on the other side of that, do I completely understand people who are like, uh, I can't do that. Like, I'm like, I get that.'cause people are fucking scared.

Rebecca: 26:10

I think we're obligated to use whatever privilege we have to. Help them and protect them

Jamie: 26:15

Everything that they're doing is making you feel more and more unsafe and more and more afraid,

Rebecca: 26:22

but I also feel like we have to get over

Jamie: 26:24

oh, yeah. Yeah. Yep.

Rebecca: 26:26

You have to get over it. Even if it's something little, like emailing someone, you ha you can't, you have to, and you made a really good point. People of color have been dealing with this forever and they have to deal with it forever. So we don't get to be like, I just don't like have the spoons today. So I just can't. That's no. There's something, even if it's little, we just have to do something because there's no fucking way in the world that we can let that, awful walrus melted piece of chicken nugget who shit his pants constantly and yet is somehow in charge of the country and is now threatening Greenland, which we haven't even gotten to Venezuela yet. I don't even have, I don't have the spoons to get into Venezuela right now, just a pile of disgusting schmalz oozing around the White House and he's in charge. There's no way that, there's no way we can let that continue. He shits his pants in meetings. There's no way he can, I feel crazy.

Jamie: 27:26

What have we been talking about since the beginning of this? Moral injury. Moral fucking injury.

Rebecca: 27:32

Yep.

Jamie: 27:32

It's exactly what it is.

Rebecca: 27:34

He's just the worst. people can't let him. Like they can't,

Jamie: 27:37

this is like totally off topic. it's not off topic, it's about, but did you end up seeing that segment that 60 minutes pulled? Did you watch it?'cause people had it?

Rebecca: 27:49

Mm-hmm. Again, how can people watch things with their eyes and not see parallels to slave plantations or to.

Jamie: 27:58

Nazi Germany

Rebecca: 27:59

They're fucking people. They're mostly boys and they're so, so many of'em are so fucking young looking. And I think that's the hardest part of this administration is you see things with your eyes and you feel things. And yet they're telling you, well that's not what you said,

Jamie: 28:12

Yeah. No,

Rebecca: 28:13

You didn't see it.

Jamie: 28:14

that's not what that was. That's not what,

Rebecca: 28:17

And I think the journalist in me is protecting me because I just research the shit outta everything. I check everything. I read everything I can because that's my way of regulating myself.'cause I feel crazy.

Jamie: 28:32

Yeah,

Rebecca: 28:32

And that's their goal is to make people feel fucking crazy.

Jamie: 28:35

and that's what's really shitty is like not everyone is a journalist. Most people aren't. Most people

Rebecca: 28:44

Yes.

Jamie: 28:44

just believe what they see. You know, they see an Instagram reel, for example.

Rebecca: 28:49

like, this happened today. And it's if you just Googled it, you could see when it actually happened and be like, oh, what I'm seeing is not

Jamie: 28:57

Or no, that woman actually has six fingers. This is ai, you know.

Rebecca: 29:02

I've really gotten the habit of if I see something and I'm like, I have to check. I'm like, is this, that's the first thing I do now is like, is this ai, is this real?

Jamie: 29:12

We should do just like a mini little show on Twitch where we just like show Rebecca like the best AI videos and have her tell the difference between what's AI and what's not. It'll be like a game show. I love this,

Rebecca: 29:28

I love that a hundred percent. Let's do it. I think there's something connected there where we are being encouraged not to use our brains anymore. I like

Jamie: 29:37

and that's what they count on.

Rebecca: 29:39

AI makes it so easy and you don't have to think, and you don't have to research, and you can just ask it and make it do it, and you can just. And that's unfortunately where a lot of Gen Xers and boomers who don't recognize AI content or ai formatting of content We were at like the dawn of the social media boom. Okay. We're, we've lived this, I like to call us like internet children. Like we fucking grew up on the internet. Maybe we're conditioned to be like, that's a lie, just automatically, because we know. But

Jamie: 30:11

Maybe it's just us, Rebecca, because we're just cynical of everything. No,

Rebecca: 30:15

you know what? That's a really good point. No. yeah. I. I don't know. I guess the point of this episode is to validate, to encourage, to keep going. We're sitting in the shit with you. And we're also acknowledging that everyone's sitting in the shit and we can't keep being asked to pretend like we're not.

Jamie: 30:34

and we'd love to hear from you guys too. The burnout community still means a lot to us and. We would love to hear, you know, on Discord, email us, you know, talk to us on social media about like what you're doing and share some resources with us that we can share with everybody. Because like the Burnout Collective community is a community too. So we just wanna say, yeah, we get it and we're right here. And you're not, you're not alone. So cliche, but you're not alone. it's okay to not be okay. I mean, I if you're not, not okay right now, like I just feel like there's a problem.

Rebecca: 31:15

Oh, okay. If you're not, not, okay.

Jamie: 31:18

Trust me, Rebecca. when I dare use a double negative, I make sure to use it correctly.

Rebecca: 31:22

No, I know. I wasn't following,'cause my gummy just kicked in. I was like, wait. Yeah. Oh, speaking of which, and you know what? I don't care if he hears this because I just got a text message from a manager. I'm just gonna share this with you. It's a picture of a building on fire and it says the world right now. And then Will Ferrell yelling work and it says we must finalize goals for 2026. And I got that from someone who's in charge of me. So that is fucking refreshing. And this is why we're doing this fucking podcast

Jamie: 31:51

Yep.

Rebecca: 31:52

because

Jamie: 31:53

Some days that's like all I feel like I can manage is just. Checking in on my people and then sending memes like that.

Rebecca: 32:00

Yes, and it's, this is why we need to do this because I need to know that someone knows if I'm not okay that. They're also not okay.

Jamie: 32:09

Yeah.

Rebecca: 32:10

It's not a failure. It's not me being weak. It's how could you be okay? How could you not not be okay? Is that right? Did I use that right? How could you not Not be? Yeah, okay.

Jamie: 32:21

Yes.

Rebecca: 32:21

Oh God.

Jamie: 32:22

It's a lot.

Rebecca: 32:23

It has to be okay that it has to be right. It has to be.

Jamie: 32:27

We gotta hope. Sorry, I'm just really inside myself right now and I'm like,

Rebecca: 32:32

I am too. I'm like, don't cry on the podcast that no one can see. Thanks for sitting and talking with me about this. it is. At the very least, it's normalizing and I feel like my nervous system coming back to a level that is functional.

Jamie: 32:46

Yeah, anytime.

Rebecca: 32:49

Yes. I do wanna say the worst thing in the world happened to me today is the ice maker that makes the good ice broke. And I

Jamie: 32:57

And there we have it folks. Rebecca has erased everything that we've already said in this episode by being a white woman who can't have her sonic ice at home

Rebecca: 33:09

Listen, I have to angrily chew ice with my teeth. I don't know what else to do if I can't chew ice with my teeth. I have nowhere else to put it.

Jamie: 33:19

I feel like there's a really bad punny title.

Rebecca: 33:22

I know

Jamie: 33:22

i'm just laughing because of ice and ice and you having to chew your ice.

Rebecca: 33:27

I'm having to drink fucking Kroger ice right now and it's the wrong ice. It's the wrong ice.

Jamie: 33:34

She shows me, she shows me, takes a lid off her cup and shows me the ice in it as if I'll be like, oh yeah, that's terrible.

Rebecca: 33:42

listen. I met with another autistic person today and they were like, oh my God, you have to have the big ice. I'm like, yeah, not the big

Jamie: 33:49

Well, now I'm just, now I'm just picturing like I met with another autistic person today to talk about ice

Rebecca: 33:55

We

Jamie: 33:56

in my drink.

Rebecca: 33:57

we did.

Jamie: 33:57

Alright, we can stop now.

Rebecca: 33:59

Well, I think we should say thank you guys. Thank you.

Jamie: 34:03

Okay. We can stop now.

Rebecca: 34:05

And we're done. again, as always, we are doing our best. And we just, we wanna do whatever we can. And thank you guys for joining us and for being here. And we're sorry that this is where we are right now.

Jamie: 34:18

Yeah. And you know, we don't know. We didn't know, and we don't know is this gonna help? But we thought like, at least just getting it out there and just validating everyone else's experience and like our own, even just validating our own experience. but

Rebecca: 34:34

But yeah, if you have any suggestions on

Jamie: 34:37

please.

Rebecca: 34:37

other ways to help or inform community, please, please join a Discord. Send us an email. We would love to hear from you.

Jamie: 34:44

Pod podcast@burnoutcollective.com. Yeah, shoot us an email or get ahold of us on Discord or post resources in our discord. we would love to share that with everybody. Okay, bye.

Rebecca: 34:56

Okay. Okay. Bye.