Bari Weiss: Australia is Sleepwalking Through History - Joe Rogan

Well, one of the things that was so interesting about Australia is that in certain ways it's a more, you know, it's thought of as sort of a macho culture, maybe more masculine, a little bit more conservative than here generally. And yet the left has won there on so many of the major issues that we're fighting, we're killing each other over now. They're very good people. Universal healthcare. Yeah. Mandatory 401K. It's like a $18 minimum wage. Pensions. Four weeks of vacation a year. Like... I think they get maternity leave as well. Oh, yeah. Long maternity leave. Yeah. It's just like so many of the things that here up for grabs they already solved. I think we have to take two things into consideration. One, that they have a small population. Small and homogenous. Yes. And it's an enormous place. You're dealing with a place as large as the contiguous United States of America, but there's only 20 million people. Oh, I'm aware. Because when they... Yes. They were in a restaurant and I was like, you mean I don't have to wait for an hour to get in? They had no... They've never seen a crowd of people. Yeah. They don't know what a real crowd is. And also, I think their culture is less constrained by history because they came... They were essentially prisoners. I mean, it's like several generations were moved. Right, the non-Indigenous. Exactly. Yeah. But not only that, they're not indigenous. No, I mean like the non-Indigenous population were prisoners. Yes. Yeah. Well, they came from... they were sent there because England didn't want them. And that's literally how the country got founded. Oh, yeah. For like stealing a watch. Yeah. Like they were low-level crowds. Well, then they sent them to a much better place. Oh, yeah. Way better. It's amazing. The Gold Coast. You're like, holy shit. It's shoving. It just takes forever to get there. Yeah. If you were a Manchester and it's raining every day, you're like, fuck this place. And you stole a watch and they shipped you off to the Gold Coast. You'd be like, what? What just happened? This is hilarious. Totally. You could fish out here. It's fucking beautiful. They're nice people. And I wonder if they're so nice. I feel like they are slightly less nice than Canadians who are way more nice than us. I think that's right. I also think that they have... they have it so good that they're a little complacent and that makes me concerned because China. Okay. Right. That's like the big story there. Yes. Yes. I see what you're saying. Yeah. It is to be considered, but I think the United States, first of all, we have this momentum of innovation and of ass kicking and getting things done and creating things that's so different than any other part of the world. If we took that shit down a notch, I think we'd be okay. I mean, I think we definitely do have to worry about China. And I've been really trying to closely follow all this Huawei stuff where these executives keep getting arrested. And it's the close relationship between some tech companies and this communist government is very confusing. But some people look at over... So if you talk to people that are Chinese natives or who have been to China, they almost look at it as a positive. There's less resistance. It's more even though the censorship is open, it's at least you know what you're dealing with over there as opposed to the NSA is spying on us... Oh, but come on. Oh, I don't buy it at all. Yeah. I've seen some people make that argument. It's horrifying to me. It's weird. It's horrifying. Yeah. So I agree with you. You do have to worry about China, but I think Australia is like, ah, it's fucking Americans take care of it. That's how they think. Sort of, except like their situation is that they're enormously dependent on China economically and they love having that money. But they seem to be a little bit like sleepwalking through history and not... At least some people that I spoke to. But that's the real story in Australia, is China. Yeah. Well, I think when you're not a military might, you know, you're not like one of the big players, you're kind of like sitting back watching. Because what are we going to do? Like what if Australia decides to ramp up its defense budget by, you know, 5,000% over the next 10 years and develop a crazy arsenal of weapons and super soldiers and shoot them all up with steroids and give them exoskeletons and get ready to go to war, start building bunkers, and freak the rest of the world out. I mean, and take this like North Korea with money approach the world. What do you mean North Korea with money? Well, North Korea is basically like this scary spot that nobody wants to invade, even though we know that there's a military dictatorship there. They have nuclear weapons. Yeah, because they have nuclear weapons. Yeah. They have nuclear weapons. They have bombs in control. They have people that escape with horrific stories. And we have a president who talks about them as if they're sort of a normal country. Yeah. Well, the weird thing is like he might be able to sit down with them and actually talk to them. His unconventional approach might actually lead to some sort of communication, at least, which is better than nothing, I guess. But if I don't mean like in North Korea, like they take over the country and imprison its people. I mean, like they're, they become kind of dangerous and sketchy and small. Like North Korea is not a military power, like in terms of like the way the Soviet Union is, where they could take over the world, but they're scary. No, but they're untouchable. Yeah. And that's scary. Exactly. If Australia became that, then I think we have a totally different attitude about Australia. Yeah, no. Australia, we don't need... Yeah. Australia's just laid back and they're like, eh, Americans are taking care of it. And then we're over here building fucking walls and shooting missiles. I would imagine it would be really weird to watch us from afar. You know, if you were paying attention to world politics... They know everything. I mean, everyone I talked to there was like, let's talk about gerrymandering in Virginia. And I'm like, what? Like what? What are you saying? Like they obsessively follow what's going on here in a way that I found kind of amazing. Like genuinely, actually gerrymandering in Virginia. I was like, what? I would move over there. Don't you have news going on over a year? But the answer is sort of no. Comedians move over there. They move over there and become huge in Australia. Shout out to my friend, Arj Barker.