Mike Rowe | This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von #416

processing the cognitive dissonance of The Other Thing is, yes, we are in real trouble. I had a guy on my podcast. Just a couple of weeks ago, an economist named Nicholas Everhart. Okay,

this

guy is brilliant. Harvard, all the abbreviations after his name that you want. uh, the American Enterprise Institute wrote a best-selling book in 2016 called Men Out of Work, I just republished it because the argument in the book is now on steroids. Wow, and basically what it says is that it doesn't matter the unemployment numbers, they don't matter, it's an era of depression. This is what 7 million healthy men between the ages of 25 and 54 need to know.

Not only are they not working, but they are not looking, affirmatively they are not looking. for labor never in peacetime has that metric ever existed before we have four million more open jobs today than before the pandemic and we have four million fewer people in the workforce it's really bad and you can't find a employer anywhere today that isn't desperate to hire, so that's really happening, so some of the things that I hear when I'm out and about, you know, you hear from some people that they're not paying enough, are they? TRUE? Oh right, um and then you hear from other people that if they weigh if they raise the minimum wage in some jobs and in some businesses, then it will kill the business, sure, I think greed is also probably a big problem that has happened in

this

country, it's like no Don't you want the man who works with you to also be successful at some point?

It's like it's exactly what we just said about two things being true at the same time and people struggling with that. It is true that many and many people are out of work, it is true that even more people are not looking for work if I tell you that there are 11 million jobs available in the country right now, that is not political, it is just a fact, yes, and no one can argue it, no one disputes it, but what happens immediately is that my friends are in The left responds to your point when I say why do you think there are so many opportunities here that cannot be taken advantage of, they will say because, as the owners Business people are idiots, they are greedy and rapacious, and if those jobs paid more money.

I would fill my friends on the right when I ask them the same question I would say because people are lazy people are just lazy they don't want to work they won't come early they won't stay late they won't have a bite they bite into the sandwich when it's their turn they don't do what needs to be done and that's how it gets politicized, that doesn't change the fact that there are still 11 million open jobs, but if we want to argue that jobs are open because the opportunities suck versus jobs are open because people don't want to work then we are going to paint with a very broad brush and we are not going to solve the problem.

The truth is exactly as you said, surely greed plays a role, but so does work ethic. You know, my Foundation offers work ethic scholarships because I think work ethic is actually under siege and I don't think it has that much to do with profits. it has to do with salary, but it's not just that, it's a very clear and present aversion to going in there and you know, I mean, I don't care if it's blue collar or white collar, you know, my work ethic whatever it is. it means, um, I learned it when I was a kid, I learned it from my father and it has nothing to do with the crafts, your work ethic, how many shows you do a year, how many podcasts you do, we held a mirror for years, I put. in a I put in my job you know and I still do it you still do it yeah and I still want to do it better and you are and you like me I mean, I don't know much about your career, but what I like Much of everything you've done it's that you're actually a pretty serious person and you have a platform and you have listeners and you have the ability to do and say things that could really help someone and you. you're doing it right and you're not doing it for a metal you're not doing it for a prize you don't have to do it even though you know you don't have to do any of this right so you know I admire that and the people my Foundation tries to help They have that right quality and I'm sorry, but I have to put my thumb on the scale too and say if you're not up for it. take a bite of the sandwich once in a while, so why should I give you money that people trust me to dole out judiciously and, you know, I'm in a weird situation.

People get really mad at me now because they're like, Well, who are you? I have this thing called the "sweat promise." Okay, some people love it, some people hate it, and what is this Sigma New thing or something? So I had a couple of drinks one night and like eight years ago and I was trying to figure out what can I do to get people to talk about work ethic, how can I challenge them, you know, I can't look into their soul, but what are 12 things? What do I think are true? impact people's success, so I wrote these 12 things with sweat.

I defend something as a skill and work ethic are not taboo, right? It was just a thing to get high school kids thinking and talking about the value of an honest day's work and, you know. said that the sweat promise says things like I think the first one is um I think I've won the biggest lottery of all time I'm alive I live in America above all else I'm grateful so I feel like this and I understand that life isn't fair and I understand that other people feel differently, but if you don't feel fundamentally excited, psyched and excited about this brief little time you've been given to fog up a mirror and walk this planet, man.

If that doesn't excite you, I can't help you. No, I don't want to help you, yes, no, because there are other people who come early and stay late. out there that understand delayed gratification, they understand, they understand the most important rungs of the ladder, you mentioned the minimum wage that I get for this all the time, but it's like those minimum wage jobs, you know they're not meant to be careers, right? TRUE? Are they meant to be something you do for a while so you can learn about it and get paid for your troubles? You know, those bottom rungs on the ladder are important, right?

You're in the middle, but you shouldn't hang around forever if you can help it, and you should try to help him. Look again. Simple advice is dangerous. We are all different and there are atypical circumstances. We will have children that they don't have. any other option than what you're suggesting, but if someone just sits in that position and then complains about it, then it creates a different set of circumstances. Here's the scary thing about Nick Eversat's conversation with me. What really stuck was not that seven million healthy men aren't looking for work, it's what they're doing instead and there's a lot of research on this vaping, but what they're doing instead and this and this data from The Way It comes from self-report surveys, so here's what the seven million men have explained: They take up all their time.

Ninety percent of them spend more than 2,000 hours a year in front of screens. Yes, now, 2,080 hours, that is, 40 hours a week. full time job these guys spend a lot of time on screens well this would be my thought and at one point it was our government and I know this is like people are going to say well you can't respect your government . take care of you and this and that and me neither I don't expect I don't expect my government to take care of me I have taken care of myself but at some point there was supposed to be some protection against screen addiction like it was obviously dangerous for us people are dying because they text people are losing their human instincts because they're human they connect you know, it's so obvious yeah, it's like it's not so obvious, it's obvious now, but you know it is You have to think of it as a ban .

You know, people looked at alcohol and it got to the point where it became undeniable that it was destroying lives, so in the 1920s we decided there was no more alcohol and we're going to ban it. Well, that's not going to work, you know, because not everyone struggles with the same problem in the same way and you can cross out alcohol and write in porn, cross out porn and vaping and write in vaping, cross that out and write, ya you know, etc. then, suddenly, you get to fentanyl and now no, your experience is not going to change, you are going to die, of course, and then you put up screens, now there is something different on the screens, it is the addiction and it is the fun of I mean, look , I literally sat on the ball the other day and I don't like to stay in the bowl any longer than I have to.

Yes, you hinder my circulation. I can't get away from it. You rise and you fall. a cheap game table because I'm sitting there on Tick Tock or reels, yeah, something like that and suddenly I had 20 minutes. I stopped shitting 20 minutes ago and here I sit and look, it's addicted, and they created the algorithm. beyond what we can, we can't even take it anymore, but you turn that on, you get into it, man, I'm 60 years old, okay, I've had some success in my life. I have seen many things. I'm not a stupid person. I sat in the bowl for 20 minutes until I lost circulation watching this.

Yes, it's fine and I'm busy. I have five programs going. I do a podcast. I'm running a foundation. Trying to throw a line of whiskey, I'm busy but I sat there for 20 minutes while all the blood left my legs, yeah, you know, waiting to see the next little magic trick, where would the next guy get a pie in the face? , If that? So what is that? There's something on the screen that's different from alcohol and porn and all those other things that came along that would keep a sensible, busy man sitting at the bowl wasting time, so why? seven million people sitting at home doing this because they like it because it's fun because they can, you know, just so you know, and the other thing you said before, I think is very true, is that we all want feedback, remember that since at the beginning we were talking about comments from a podcast comments from a television show the amount of time you have to wait to see if it rated we're going to wait for Nielsen we're going to wait for the pod track we're going to wait for someone somewhere to tell us let it be known If what we did worked you can post this conversation with you and me right now on YouTube or wherever you go and know in real time how we're doing it, yeah you can just watch it happen and man that's addictive for me too me, it's interesting because we all want feedback, we all want to know how we're doing and there's the screen that offers something like, yeah, how angry do you get, how impatient do you get when you text someone and they don't?

Is it good for you? That's unreal, isn't it. what happened don't give me the three points I see I know you read it I know you read it but what you are doing you know what they are doing they are sitting on a toilet watching some respectfully walk a plank between them two balloons looking yes, yes, No, you're right, we're looking at the construction of autism, that's how I see all of this. I'm like wood, you know, bird houses and many of you know I get caught up in that world, but one thing is It's also interesting, it's interesting, Mike, we used to go to our grandparents to get a skill that you know, we I liked it.

If you needed a skill, you had to be an apprentice, if you needed a skill, you had to go to a master of the skill and understand it, you know, and now with YouTube and instructional videos that has become the granddaddy of them all, that has become become the father of all, in many ways, we have killed, not killed, but we have hindered the skills and the connective pieces. that even connected, uh, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, man, that's what I call the death of grout, grout is what connects the tiles, it's the connective tissue, you know, and we haven't eliminated it to the point, but but we have replaced it, so Zoom learning is not the same as classroom learning and YouTube instruction is not the same as hands-on learning and there is nothing inherently wrong with Zoom or YouTube , but they sell it to us as if it were the same. thing and that's a lie it's like that movie you ever saw pet cemetery uh oh yeah, so the cat what was his name uh church, right, the cat that comes back to life, that's a bad cat, right, I mean, yeah the cat dies and they bury him and he comes back and of course the same thing happens with his son and that's what these things are his versions of the original like multiplicity like Michael Keaton like he keeps cloning versions of himself and each he becomes dumber and less competent and more entitled and more tragic. and yes, you can replace these things with these other things, but there will be hell to pay, there will always be an unintended consequence.

I don't care if you're talking about rent control or the minimum wage or Zoom learning for school. learning, there it is, it's a poor substitute, it's a poor substitute, you know, rent control is a poor substitute for self-sufficiency, a minimum wage is a poor substitute for people who refuse or can't leave the rung on which They are, you know, justboxing uh no Ultimate Fighter Dana White's oh okay Ultimate Fighter, now yes I walked into Craig's office one day, halfway through the first season of Dirty Jobs and there was this big bald guy who was finishing up a deal and I walked right in time to watch him shake hands and then Dana looked at me and he was like, hey man, I enjoy your show and I said, well, thanks.

What is your problem? He told me what he was doing and I just told it very casually to Craig. um, I said, hey man, I do the vo for that, that sounds fun. I did it. 12 seasons of The Ultimate Fighter wow, previously on The Ultimate Fighter, yeah right, it was just those things and, um, I never really got to see one, but I went to the booth every week and there was always a stack of copies and someone from The Ultimate Fighter. It was always there, so my whole experience in that world was just narrating it and I hadn't done that.

I didn't even watch the show for a couple of seasons and then I sat down and watched it and I was like shit. that's why boxing ended Don, hey, this is the reason why it ended authenticity is like, you're not fixing that fight right, that's what it seemed like there was no way to fix it no, no, no , it's not an easy way and you know it was It's amazing to see that happen to get that Gladiator Nest level back, yeah you know what I mean listen to it a lot of people have strong feelings both ways but I think that was in our culture one of the first indicators that People were hungry for something more, right, people were hungry for something that was real because reality was no longer reality, no.

Nonfiction was yes, there were no podcasts yet. , no, Joe Rogan wasn't doing his thing, uh, when that started, so you know, we've lived to see big changes and your audience is part of that. You're a part of this and it's a journey to watch and I can't wait to see what happens next. Yeah, yeah, me neither. I think about that moment. Do you think we're Mike Sager? Someone will pick me up in three minutes. Yes. so I have three minutes to say something like really really really Unforgettable mmm let me think if there is anything I would like to know oh my god I'm exhausted I'm not curious anymore do you remember your first kiss in your life?

Yes, yes, her name was Donna, oh, I met a girl, yes, God, and believe it or not, it was turning the bottle. God, right? Yeah, man, and uh, it was dark, I spun it and it landed where she wanted it to land, God. And I remember I slid on the shag carpet in the basement and she came up to me and uh God, yeah, it was, uh, it was something else, yeah, there was something else that was good, what about you? One time, I think some people locked us in a room, one time, me and a girl named Chrissy who had this, she had like this kind of broken tooth, this Lloyd Christmas, you know, this girl named Chrissy, beautiful girl, no I know, but it's a part of me.

I don't know if it was that or this other time we played a game of spin the bottle and there was this girl named Emily or her last name was cute oh, now we're doing last names and I'm going to bring that up, but man, she looked like a million angels, Dude, it seemed like I could close my eyes and see her even brighter than I could if I looked directly at her, yeah, and I and I were like, oh my gosh. She's really going to do it. I don't. I just thought that any girl out there wasn't going to kiss me.

You know, I felt like a failure in that space and um, and I approached her and I just I've seen people kissing each other opening their mouths and kissing like a French kiss or something, so I approached her like a fish, you know, like you were taking a bite of an apple and not like I was putting my mouth in my mouth. yeah, and it didn't make sense and everyone thought what was going on and I think she just went downhill. I like what you know. I did the same thing, but not in my first kiss there was a girl, a couple like maybe a year later and I realized that every kiss I had tried up to that point was doing what you did, not to that extent, but It was always on the outside of her lips, you know what I mean, yeah, it made me feel good, but this girl's name is Debbie.

I'm not using the last name because you might not get it, but she had it in her head that her job was to be on the outside of my lips, so the first two. times we tried to make it out, it really looked like two people trying to eat each other's heads, yeah right, it's just that it's bigger and bigger and wider and wider and finally both mouths are open as wide as possible with these horrible tongues waving. just nose to nose and I remember opening my eyes and seeing that her eyes were open and she asks what are you doing?

I say what am I doing? What are you doing? You don't know how to understand it. You know we probably should. just start groping, it's simpler, it's a simpler moment, like a blind betta fish, huh, dude, and I remember this was, I'm telling you, this guy, a girl, she let me touch her like it was chess, probably we were 14 years old. I don't. I don't know what we were, but they were 34. Yeah, their dad was an Elvis impersonator, right, huh, but we live in a small town, you don't need one, you know? So he really was an alcoholic and he kept his children at home. an electric fence in her yard and this girl let me feel her tit through that electricity through the electrical system right above her dress, okay man look still counted, that's where we have to probably, I mean look , it's your show, I have to go, yeah, but, I mean that's one of the greatest metaphors of all time.

Passing through an electric fence to gently caress the chest of a young love so that you are surrounded by consequences. You are in danger wherever you are. You are allowed to do something, but there is risk, right, there is risk around you. I was at my cousin's house one time and we had to pee like we had to pee here 20 minutes ago and my cousin's son said yeah this is just a good place to go and uh he had an electric fence that kept his horses inside and I don't know what he said to make me think it would be okay, but I peed on the electric fence and the current coming up through my urine stream.

Straight to the very essence of my waist God hit me, hit me on the butt and um, I still remember this day, this is one of the most awkward moments of my life lying on my back next to my cousin, laughing hysterically as the peeing continued I shoot up in the air like a horrible yellow fountain and I just lay there and peed on myself and that's fracking, that's why we power wash guys Mike, thank you so much man, what's the name of your podcast? We want people to see it. It's called like I heard it it airs every week it's a little different than this but you know what it is in the end uh I think we're trying to do the same thing man just tell the truth to the people who have the balls to hang out with and stay with you for two hours.

Amen micro. Thank you so much. Brother, at any time, I appreciate it. Yes, now I'm in the breeze. I must be Cornerstone. I will share this part of my life.