hurricane refund_4 ===

Regan: [00:00:00] Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Mr. Pick Me and the Man Hater Show. I am Regan, aka The Man Hater, and I am actually going to be making it through this intro without any problems, because today We do not have Chesco. We actually have a different Mr. Pick Me, which is Michael Vaughn, a. k. a. World Shaker.

Regan: He talks a lot about parenthood, being a good partner, and Bluey. So, hi, Michael.

Michael: Feel like we should like loop the bluey theme song in if it didn't create some copyright issues for you all

Regan: if it didn't get It ripped down immediately We would be on that by the way has anyone ever called you pick me in your comment section

Michael: Yeah, literally I put content filters just on that

Regan (2): Oh no!

Regan (2): I

Michael: always take, cause what they want is they want me to see it, and so literally I have content filters for like the most common insults that I get from other men, and they all just get filtered. Like they're still [00:01:00] posted, but they're like filtered out of my view. Nice. So basically they get to scream at the wind.

Michael: But yeah, usually. It's a little bit more like soy boy or beta like I get those every once in a while. They throw a cuck in there, you know

Regan: What is so so soy boy like you drink soy like you're not cool enough to you're not manly enough for milk Is that what this means?

Michael: So I don't know if this stood up to scientific rigor, but my understanding is there was a study that came out at one point that said, like, if you have a lot of soy in your diet, it can like, I think like decrease testosterone or like

Regan (2): the size of certain

Michael: male anatomy.

Michael: It's just another way to say, like, you lack manhood is really like the underlying theme of all of these insults. So

Regan: I thought maybe it's like all American, like you can't even drink milk. Like, I don't know why. You

Michael: know, I hate to jump in. It's just like, I, I am lactose intolerant, you know, like I'm non practicing, but [00:02:00] it's like, I tend to be more of an oat milk person.

Michael: It was like, you gotta, you know, get on my level guys.

Regan: I don't think you can tell them that. I think that would feel the, I think that's the vibe they think. Although my wife loves oat milk, so.

Michael: It's pretty good. It's a surprisingly good substitute if you, if your tummy cannot have the real thing.

Regan: The real deal.

Regan: Okay. Well, Michael, aside from. Your normal content. There is something else you've been talking a lot about, which has to do with the Western North Carolina floods. I know you've talked a lot about wanting to decrease or eliminate misinformation that is being spread. I do want to talk about that at the end, but I also was wondering if you saw that there was a woman who was posting about what she.

Regan: seemed to think was a tragedy of the flooding in Western North Carolina, but it wasn't Mother Nature that she had a problem with. It was, uh, like Airbnb.

Michael: [00:03:00] Yeah, that was, that was a bit of poor form. I, I, you know, I, I understand when people are going on vacation, you're using Airbnb is probably like you have saved up for that trip, put some money out there.

Michael: You realize you can't take that trip and you want your money back. But you have to look at that in the broader context of The person who is empowered to refund you your money may not even have a house right now. Like, Oh, I can't. Like, read the room. You know what I mean? Read the

Regan: room. Read the country.

Regan: Like, check the weather. But I want to play her video. I want you and I to chit chat about that. Because not only did she post the first one, she came out with the second one. And then in my opinion, her entire page took a harsh left and it really took a, what I would call a manipulative spin. So I think it would be interesting to talk about it, to [00:04:00] break it down.

Regan: And then end on a little bit of talking about, like, why it's important to check your facts and, uh, not be listening to misinformation. So, are you down?

Michael: Oh yeah, absolutely.

Regan: Theme song!

Regan: Let's start with her video, which, again, putting it in the context of everything that's going on, I think we all understand that like losing money is not great. But, thinking about what everyone's going through, it was a very heated way to come in. So, let's listen to it and then we can share our thoughts.

Regan: Okay.

TikTok Video: We booked a mountain vacation, not knowing that a hurricane was going to come and destroy the little town that we're supposed to be going to and we cannot be refunded. [00:05:00] We are still expected to go on this trip, not knowing if there's damage to the property, not knowing if the place is even accessible, not knowing if surrounding events and attractions are going to be up and running.

TikTok Video: But let me tell you, if you've been following like I have and I live in North Carolina, just the eastern part of it, then you know as well as I do, nothing's going to be open and running. I mean, even if it is, it's still not going to be the same. You pay X amount of dollars to go on a vacation with friends or with family, you expect to have a vacation.

TikTok Video: Not trying to figure out your way around barricades, not worrying about what's going to be open, what's not going to be open. I mean, hell, most of the time, we're just going to worry about what's in our price range. Now we have a whole nother shlew on our plate. I have spent the last hour this morning on the phone trying to figure out.

TikTok Video: With Evolve, because we booked through Airbnb, Property Management, Evolve. You know me, I don't like going through rental companies, and this is a prime example of why. Because [00:06:00] they're telling me that they have to first get in touch with the owner before they can make any executive decisions. Oh, I'm sorry, isn't that what the owner pays you for?

TikTok Video: To make executive decisions, especially if a natural disaster out of anybody's hands? happens? Not to make matters worse, how do we know that the owner doesn't live in the area and isn't stranded there self? How do we know that the owner doesn't live out of state and doesn't even know what the fuck's going on?

TikTok Video: How do we know that we're even going to hear from the owner? So I have five days to cancel this reservation and only get a partial refund. A partial refund after a 2, 500 trip for a week with my family of six. Do not misunderstand me, I understand completely cancellation policies, house rules, I do this for a living.

TikTok Video: But when a natural disaster out of everybody's hands hits, I expect some sort of accommodation. I'm just gonna cut her off right there. [00:07:00]

Michael: Unmute?

TikTok Video: I think

Regan: that's all we need to hear from her for right now.

Michael: Oh. I sometimes have this saying that I use for, like, people who get a little too spicy in my comments, where it's like, you know, three Advil will help with the headache from running straight into the point.

Michael: Um, there were just so many spots in the video, she's like, I get it, and I was like, oh, this is, this is the turning point, this is where she's gonna say, like, I understand these people may have just lost their homes, and it's like, I get it, sometimes you use a management company, and I'm like, no, that is not what you get.

Regan: I get it. There's cancellation policies. No! No! No!

Michael: I, I just, I, I don't think, and here's the other thing, like, I'm, I'm trying to take like a top level view and just like step outside, just, you know, sort of disassociate from my body and look at this situation from above. And it's like, any rational person would end up with a refund in that situation.

Michael: Sure. Like, I, I don't [00:08:00] think that they would not refund her given the circumstances. And I mean, like, this is why sometimes people have trip insurance and everything like that. Right. Right. So I, I, at the very least, like, a charge back or whatever. So like, if we just segment off her concerns, which seems to be like, am I getting my money back?

Michael: Uh, as like the core concern, like, yes, obviously, you're going to get your money back, like, but then to fuss about how long it's taking and how you have to call these people on the phone and how like, you don't even know how you're going to drive there on the roads or talk, you know, local restaurants and things like that.

Michael: I just, yeah, like, I don't Oh, like she posted on Tiktok. So like she has Tiktok too. Like if you're, if you're, it was in the middle, it was in the middle

Regan: of it too. This was like right in the midst of things that were happening. This was like, this wasn't like, oh, it just started. Like it was fully happening.

Michael: Like all those videos being posted with like the, uh, that, that stupid sailor [00:09:00] song. I can't. Yeah. Well, it's just like all these montages of devastation and flooding and destruction, Western North Carolina. And it's like, you had to have seen that too. Would

Regan: she, okay. To your point, like the point I thought, okay, this is going to take a turn for better.

Regan: You know, it's not good, but it's getting better is when she said they can't get a hold of the owner Like he could be stranded and i'm like, okay So maybe now she's gonna say like we don't know what's going on. The house could be gone He could have just lost his house. The last thing he needs is to be bothered By me really needing my refund right now, you know, I at least thought maybe that was the direction And instead she was like, so like, how are we even going to get a hold of him so I can get my refund?

Regan: He, he, we don't know where he is. Don't go looking for him, but do find my refund. Like, the self centeredness. And, and what I think is a little bizarre. I truly [00:10:00] believe That she thought this was gonna be like rage bait, but in her favor. You know what I mean? Like we're be like, yeah How you can't get your refund?

Regan: It's a natural. That's crazy that you can't get your refund And in the end, let me let me hold on. She literally says hold on I'm gonna play it cuz she asked for like feedback

Regan: So she genuinely says Thoughts. Comments. And, uh, boy, did she get them.

Regan (2): She. It's

Michael: my favorite. It's like one of those Am I the Asshole posts on the net where you are very much obviously the asshole and like, it just, the floodgates open up. Uh. Yeah, I just, the, the lack of self awareness to go into it. I, I mean, I get it, you had this vacation plan, like you spent a bunch of money, but like, you're gonna get your [00:11:00] money back.

Michael: Yeah. There's no situation where you don't get your money back. Like, there are some people who are treating similar situations in the complete opposite way. Right. In Western North Carolina. Like, I think it was a wedding venue that was talking about like, how They won't be up and running for months.

Michael: People are literally going there to book like weddings that they're never gonna have. It was either a wedding venue or like a rental house. I don't remember which. But people are literally booking knowing that they will never be able to go there just so that they can essentially donate funds. To the, the people who own that place.

Michael: Uh, and, and it's like, okay, that's one way to show support, do you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. And I don't expect her to just like, leave her money in this Airbnb or anything like that. Sure. That's not what I'm saying. But I'm saying some people are taking a different approach in this situation where Some people It's, it's not self centered.

Michael: It is, you know, victim centered.

Regan: The thing that was crazy to me, which I actually didn't catch, because the first time I saw it was obviously, Uh, reactions like, uh, stitches, cause I'm sure yours [00:12:00] are the same way. Most of the terrible videos I see are stitched and it's someone, you know, having commentary. So I actually didn't know one of her professions, which is in fact, being an Airbnb, she does Airbnbs like she, of anyone should understand the stress that someone who is renting out their property should go through, like, She should get it.

Regan: Like, oh my God, Michael, Michael.

Regan (2): Okay.

Regan: I would like, I'm going to have you guess, but you won't guess it.

Michael: Okay.

Regan: Guess what? One of her reoccurring types of videos on her pages. That's so open ended. It has to do with your babies.

Michael: Ooh, uh, maybe complaining about people who rented her Airbnb. That's gonna be my guess.

Regan: That's a good guess. That's not it, but that actually is an excellent guess. If I would have asked myself that question, I'd be like, What kind of [00:13:00] question is this? What type of content does she do? She has a reoccurring segment called What My Airbnb Left Me where she goes through the Airbnb and like, picks out, like, in the video I'm looking at right now, like, they left yogurts it's just her like, drinking the Gatorade and like, eating the yogurt and bragging about the food that she gets to eat that gets left behind.

Regan: Like, ha ha, hee hee. So fun being an Airbnb owner. And while I'm not saying she can't do that, It's just so interesting to me that she would make like this reoccurring thing where she's eating the food that they leave, which like granted, they've left it, but that is their money that they've spent, right?

Regan: And then when it comes to her being put in any kind of pain or being, having anything withheld from her, which

Regan (2): like

Regan: she re With that attitude, she strikes me as a person who would be like, I left my yogurts there, I'm coming back for them, you know? But, like, it shouldn't strike me as the person that would be cool with this.

Regan: But I guess in the [00:14:00] grander scheme of things, it's like So it's all like funny and like loosey goosey and kind of cool and like, oh you get it, you get it, when it's you gaining something, but when someone who's suffering from a flood could be missing, as she points out herself, is not, is not being able to be contacted.

Regan: Their house could be gone. There's so many things that could be happening. happening to the person renting it, the area. You are so fixated on yourself and your money that you need now, which to your point, most people know, and definitely someone who rents out Airbnbs come to the conclusion, you'll get your money back.

Regan: Like.

Michael: Like there are systems in place for that.

Regan: Right, but I just thought that was so interesting, like the tonal shift from her. Like, here's, I get to eat your yogurt you left, and then like, I can't believe this. It's just like, girl, like the attitude change shows a lot of entitlement. I'm entitled to my refund immediately, despite a flood.

Regan (2): Yeah.

Regan: And [00:15:00] I'm entitled to like the food you left. And like showing off the food you left is just an interesting, I don't know, I found that to be, Uh, an interesting thing that she, that she does, uh, repeatedly.

Michael: It is one of those things where like, I know, I, you know, sometimes I, I think, you know, Laura and Crystal talk about this from time to time too, on like the Time to Lean podcast where it's like, how much can we know about someone from this short snippet that she used to share online.

Michael: But, you know, she does have a bit of a pattern here of, of centering herself in her content.

Dom OB: Yeah.

Michael: Um, Rather than centering others from time to time. It's weird that it's like, it's so amplified in this moment. Yes. Yeah, there is a part of me that will like always feel badly a little bit for anyone who gets the dogpile of the internet on them because instead of having one or two people criticize you, you might end up with tens of thousands of people telling you that you're a bad person, which we are not mentally equipped for, but like you also bear [00:16:00] some responsibility for the content that you put out there and the consequences that that come along with that.

Michael: And I just, if she had recorded that, I think hit pause, waited a day. You know, like, with that, it's still going up, and it's just, I, I, I'm really disappointed with the lack of empathy, the lack of care, especially from someone who says that they also live in North Carolina, and feel like they have a better understanding of what's happening.

Regan: And have the same profession, and it's like, the attitude is so strong of that, like, if you watch the video, like, she's like, talking in the camera, like, mm, like, there's so much attitude and sass, where like, I think that video would have hit differently. Granted, I don't think it would have hit well. But had she been like, Oh my god, like, We've been saving up like I'm worried.

Regan: I'm not getting this money back. Obviously. This is not the top concern about what's going on But you know if she had made a frantic fearful, whatever that would have rang I feel like it would have hit a little different [00:17:00] than this very sassy video But okay, so so keeping in mind, okay Well, maybe you know, it's hard to be like you said on the internet give an opinion I Granted, she did ask for feedback.

Regan: She blatantly did.

Michael: Yep. There's that consequence.

Regan: You ask and you shall receive. Listen to this response from her after people are like, uh, no, we don't like what you said. So this is what she has to say back.

TikTok Video: Well, it's been brought to my attention that my last post about canceling our mountain vacation has struck a few nerves.

TikTok Video: Okay. Because I strictly made a post about. booking the vacation, canceling the vacation and wanting to be refund for the vacation because the natural disaster struck. Am I aware that people have lost their lives? Absolutely. Am I aware that roads are washed away? There's no gas, there's barely food, there's a lot of devastation and that people are still looking for friends and family [00:18:00] members.

TikTok Video: Absolutely. Does that break my heart? It sure does. I live in a coastal town. We deal with hurricanes. My post was basically stating that the remote realty company handling the Airbnb for whoever the owner is needs to be able to make these executive decisions and cancel all reservations in surrounding devastated areas.

TikTok Video: I am not an insensitive person. I'm actually a very caring person and that's why I found a displaced family and I'm letting them stay in one of my Airbnbs for an entire week. Also, for anybody dealing with a similar situation that has booked a property through Airbnb or VRBO, they have policies in place right now to fully refund everybody involved, even if the host does not agree.

TikTok Video: Okay? So, keep that in mind. We are not the only people dealing with this. We are completely aware of this. [00:19:00] The devastation and everything that's going on, and our hearts truly are broken for this situation. So

Michael: there's round two. I'm glad I mute myself for these.

Regan: I

TikTok Video: know, I

Regan: just see you laughing in silence.

Regan: What a quiet laugh you have.

Michael: I, it's amazing, like, how often In her reply, she manages to shoot herself in the own foot. Like I just,

Regan: there she goes again.

Michael: I just, uh, and even so many little things in there that I'm just like, come on, come on, I, she literally said that like there are systems in place. For those refunds and then she's talking about the management company.

Michael: No, her issue was actually with the management company. I was like, I don't know. I don't know what the management company's contract is like with the Airbnb. They might not be able to unilaterally say, yes, here's a refund. Right. Because they would be in breach of their contract, even if there is a hurricane.

Michael: So not defending like realty companies, rental companies or anything like that. I'm just saying there might be extenuating [00:20:00] circumstances that you would think she would be aware of as an Airbnb host.

Regan: It's also just like, that's not why people are mad, like, to act like, oh, you just misunderstood my video because Yeah,

Michael: that's exact.

Michael: We all collectively misunderstood. Yes,

Regan: the, the, the internet misunderstood my video. I was just mad at these like, realty rental companies or whatever. And it's like, no, no, no, no. It's not that. It's the fact that in this time of absolute tragedy and devastation, you got on your platform to be very sassy and mad that you didn't get your refund.

Regan: That's what people are upset about. It's the timing, it's the tone, the lack of empathy. Like, even when she says it, she's like, am I aware? Of all the people that may have died. Yes. Is my heart broken? Absolutely. I have never been more upset in my life. Oh, no.

Michael: Yeah. And even knowing like the [00:21:00] numbers that her content was getting at the time, like.

Michael: No thought to say, like, if you want to donate, here's a good place. If you want to volunteer, here's a good place. Like, yeah, just that extra little step.

Regan: She did mention I'm a good person and that's why I'm letting someone stay in my rental property for free. It's like, come on, I'm a good person. Here's why.

Regan: I feel like breezing over the devastation was not a good look at all. And immediately getting to why she's great. Like, she could have taken the time to say, Hey, I absolutely messed up here. I was thinking of myself. This was not the time. I could have handled this like, Off the internet. She could have been upset off the internet.

Regan: Like this could have been an inside thought.

Michael: Bring journaling back.

Regan: Yeah. Uh, here's the things that are happening here. So you can do it, whatever. Uh, there I am. I'm heartbroken by what's going on, which like all of us should be like, it's horrible and for her to be like, [00:22:00] am I heartbroken? Yes, obviously I am.

Regan: Like. Just give it some actual motion, like please, I'm begging you. I'm begging ya.

Michael: It's, yeah, even the response was very like, me, me, me.

Regan: I

Michael: know! Which, yeah, I hate to judge someone off of like, a couple of minutes of video that they post online, but still like, once you get the strong response that you did to your original video and you come back out and it's like, no, the problem isn't what I said.

Michael: The problem is what you heard.

Regan: Well, okay. This is, this video is just me trying to crack you into deciding this woman's in the wrong. So I. I do this all the time. I'm constantly looking at people, trying to like get a grasp of situations and, and like trying to like understand people through their videos.

Regan: So that happens. And I, I was like, well, I'm not, I'm not too pleased. And so I try and keep in my mind, like a running log of things that I [00:23:00] find people on the internet do when they're in trouble and they're trying to be manipulative. So one of the next posts after this blows up. Is a video of the beach and the message when you pass through the waters I will be with you and when you pass through the rivers They will not sweep over you when you walk through fire.

Regan: You will not be burned. The flames will not set you ablaze No Woman, uh, please, uh, please, uh, It's like, you are not, like, going through trials and tribulations right now. You are not being punished. Like, you said something that people had a problem with. You asked them to respond.

Michael: On a public forum. Yeah!

Michael: Like, inviting people to comment on it.

Regan: And they'd be like, I'm the victim here! I'm being persecuted. Like I just, I, I literally gasped when I saw it. I was like, Oh, that's the route we're going. [00:24:00] Okay. I get it. Okay. Let me give you some more, just like, these are all rapid fire on her page. Then, to your point that you mentioned, she starts posting, like, videos of the devastation that is happening, uh, in, is it Rodanthe, North Carolina?

Regan: I think it's

Michael: Rodanthe.

Regan: Oh, Rodanthe. Okay. She does the montage, and I'm like

Michael: We have literally a hundred counties, so it's like hard to track sometimes.

Regan: There's so many! Uh, yeah, so she does a full montage of it, and it's like, yes, this is the thing we were discussing, but now you're trying to use it on your platform.

Regan: Like, ooh, girl. And also, comments turned off.

Michael: That was a bad sign. You gotta cut comments. It's usually a bad sign that you're like up to something bad.

Regan: Yeah, you're not, you're not good. So, so we went through the, the Jesus kind of, I don't know if that was a Bible verse or just something that felt biblical.

Regan: Felt very

Michael: footprints, you know. Yes,

Regan: yes. And this, follow me. There was two [00:25:00] sets. Okay. So, so we have that. Then we directly have the devastation. And the floods. These are all within days of each other, okay? This might have been the same day. Then she posts a video of her boat to island day drinking. What are we Yeah, it's actually usual content.

Regan: And we're

Michael: back! Let me

Regan: just talk about the Lord.

Regan: Show some videos of the devastation and back to day drinking. I just was shocked by this. I'm like, where, it's like three different manipulative approaches. It's the one which is just ignore, which would be the day drinking. Go to some type of like repentance or spiritual religious route. And then the other one would be like, Oh, no, I get it.

Regan: Let me let me show you that I get it. So she's like, I'll do all three in one day. Blanket.

Michael: I was a lot [00:26:00] of diminishment for the original video.

Regan: Right. I

Michael: wasn't that big of a deal because you didn't understand what I was saying. And

Regan: here's what I think is the top. Bad response again.

Michael: Oh, no,

Regan: this would have been one day after that So she did the three fur in a day and then those

Michael: all happened on the same day.

Regan: I'm telling yes Yes The

Michael: Jesus one was two

Regan: days before But she showed her day drinking on the beach the same day that she showed the montage of the flood destruction

Michael: Come on, juxtaposition is a word like Come on! Look at this devastation. Alright. If you like piña colada, like

Regan: Day drinking! Like, I mean it's literally water on, like water to water, beach to beach, like If you want it to say, like, show you're not insensitive, pairing the two in the same day [00:27:00] is not giving a good vibe.

Regan: Okay, but here's, here's where I was like, bingo. If we were doing, like, bad apology bingo. So, this, this one woman, I don't know who this is, this is like a stitch where they're like, cut up. She made a video about the devastation. I'm not commenting about her video, because She said like, they're, I think she said they're taking out racist people or something.

Regan: I have no idea, but it was, it was not, yeah, it was in poor taste video. Okay. So that video is posted by, I don't even know who this person is. And then next to it, she stitches this video and says, absolutely unbelievable. Y'all blew up the wrong video. We should be blasting this video. I just asked for a refund.

Regan: This girl took it way out of hand.

Michael: It's, it's not hard to find someone worse than you on the internet, like, I just [00:28:00]

Regan: That's so true, actually. Very true. Can

Michael: you imagine, like, the apology strategy of, like, over there.

Regan: And over there! They do it all the time. All the time we have that one. Oh my god. Like, yeah, they're

Michael: bad too, but we're talking about you right now.

Regan: We'll get to them. We'll get to them. Give it a minute. Just give us a second. Both can be true. Both of those people can be wrong. We can be upset at both of you. But to go on the internet and purposely find a video worse than yours and be like, Don't be mad at me. Look at this other guy. Like, oh my word.

Michael: And this is, this is not a critique on religion. It's more how some people interpret religion in their, in their lives. But she does seem to have that, I've done something good so it makes up for something bad mentality.

TikTok Video: Sure. Yes. Like,

Michael: that I found to be really prevalent when I was a part of the church where it's like, oh, okay, you did something bad.

Michael: Well, you know, ask for forgiveness or like, do this instead. And now, you know, it equal, it balances, you know, the divine scales.

Regan: You know, what's interesting is people [00:29:00] forget so often as someone who grew up in the Catholic church, uh, obviously that's not my path currently. Um, but what the main thing is, you have to actually be sorry.

Regan: Like, you genuinely have to be sorry. I think most people forget that. They're just like, I mean, you guys really took my video out of context, but like I gave my Airbnb to someone. So tomato, tomato, I'm done. I'm good. Like, Oh God, I, I was just like. It'd be so much easier if she just, you know, did a good apology.

Regan: You know, just did a heartfelt apology.

Michael: I think people really underestimate how powerful a simple sorry is. Like, I thought about my actions, I agree that I was a bit out of line there. I'm sorry, I'll do better. And like, This still comes back to Am I the Asshole for me, because there are some posts where like, people are very obviously the asshole.

Michael: I love the ones where they post an update and they're like, you were right, you were right, I was wrong. [00:30:00] I have come to, you know, Jesus here, you know, if we're sticking with the religious theme, and I understand the error of my ways, and I, I'm moving forward on a better path. There's literally subreddits devoted to follow up posts from these things.

Michael: Oh, nice festive red or updates. You can even see like the the the love and support and care that they receive in the comments where it's like, I'm so glad that OP came around. And like, you know, I was really worried at first because this was a really bonehead move and now they're like, they seem to get it.

Michael: So love, you know, happy endings. And yeah, I just, we haven't gotten that happy ending here. It's, it's really disappointing. And it's also, I think one of the more egregious parts of this for me is it's stolen a lot of attention from places that desperately need it. Yes. And And when it does shine a light on Western North Carolina, it's not in a helpful way.

Michael: Um, because there's so much that has happened in, in Western North Carolina over the past couple of weeks. Yeah. Um, that [00:31:00] I think is, is, is, is. Is naturally going to be missed. And part of that is just how we as a culture handle news. Like it was the big news story and now the news story has shifted over in Milton, which just happens to be another major generational weather event that's happening.

Michael: Oh, just like two weeks from the other one. Yeah, great. Totally great. Normal. Really, really cool. Climate's fine. But then it's going to move on to something else and then it's going to be the election and like attention has already shifted away from Western North Carolina. Um, and because of how distributed those Cities and towns and townships and even like that little unincorporated places around the map of Western North Carolina are There are folks who like in some instances literally had to backpack out To who had to like hike out to get to emergency services because they're in a really small town They're a bit more distributed.

Michael: They didn't have cell service Like, [00:32:00] they're only now getting access to internet to sell service to, you know, some of the basic utilities that we expect to have access to, and then being able to share like the videos and pictures that they took about like what happened where they were. Um, but that's precisely happening at the time that like attention is shifting away.

Michael: And now we, we ended up talking about, you know, folks who are complaining about their Airbnb

Regan: stuff,

Michael: you know, and, uh, and, and, you know, She just kind of took attention away at a really critical time. Yeah in a way that I think was really disappointing

Regan: Yeah, I feel like to your point after this happened like maybe she didn't expect it to get as big as it did She could have brought attention to it back.

Regan: She could have said whoa, I messed up Let me here's this these resources or here's where people need help I know that you speak a lot about misinformation. Like what are you wishing people heard? Versus this ridiculous story.

Michael: So the the hard part here is it's a very emotional thing, right? You see this devastation you see people who are then these videos aren't [00:33:00] taken by journalists These are taken by the people who live there.

Michael: Yeah, uh, and they walk out the next day and you know there are towns like chimney rock that were almost completely wiped out because so much of the So many of the businesses too many of the homes are right along the river there and that just gets wiped out You Uh, and so you have a town that's been wholly devastated, and you have these photos taken by the people who live there, and sometimes they're crying, sometimes you can just hear how upset they are, and it's hard not to feel very wound up by that, it's hard not to feel empathy and be like, I'm sorry, I'm like sad, I'm angry, I want something to change, I want something to happen.

Michael: Where's the government? Where's FEMA? Like, where's the state government? What's going on? Um, and there are a good number of people who aren't willing to take a pause in that moment and go like, people are on the way, things are happening, you know, networks are being distributed, people are receiving supplies, like it may not be happening in the way that you want, but it is happening.

Michael: [00:34:00] Um, and. It's just people really want something to happen immediately, like right in that moment. And it does take a minute to get people in. It takes a minute to, you know, get line workers in to start rebuilding electrical infrastructure and to get Spectrum and Charter in to start rebuilding fiber lines and, you know, to get water treatment plants back up online.

Michael: Um, Verizon and a couple of other companies, I think AT& T too, were setting up mobile cell towers for people to come and like be able to text their loved ones and say, okay, you know, we're here. But in the meantime, people are looking at all this devastation desperately wanting to help people. Uh, and then using that to spread misinformation the moment they see a video that's like, no one's helping us and it's really, it's been pretty disappointing to see.

Michael: Um, I just did a video about this the other day, like asking people to please stop sharing misinformation, which one thing that that kind of. [00:35:00] Folks who follow me know that I, I am very politically, very much on the left. Uh, and I was like, how in the world is a right wing state senator Republican agreeing with me on this issue?

Michael: But you know, there was a state Senator from North Carolina who's, who's based out of Western North Carolina, uh, who literally put another post up on Facebook, just saying like, please stop posting misinformation. The things you're saying aren't true. Um, and what happens is. You know, those folks who really want something to be done to help these people who are in like very clear need of assistance, uh, is they will latch on to the smallest thing and then amplify it as an example.

Michael: You know, one thing I'll give is, um, uh, some people who are trying to fly out. were diverted away. And it's like, yeah, cause you didn't coordinate emergency management services. There have been over 30 close calls with air traffic because people are flying [00:36:00] drones, they're flying helicopters, they're flying their small prop planes out.

Michael: Um, and then like Cessna's little things like that and their heart's in the right place. Like they're trying to help. You know, there, there might be trying to bring supplies. They might be trying to spot and see if they can find someone who, you know, is trying to flag them down. Sure. Um, or like, you know, use the drone to capture some footage of the devastation to share with others.

Michael: But if you don't coordinate with others, Like you are essentially creating the risk of a problem, right? Uh, that's, uh, that's even, uh, some other things that have been blown out of proportion. Like sometimes people are just like, I'm putting supplies in the truck, I'm going out, like I'm bringing stuff over.

Michael: And it's like, That is a great sentiment. Sure. It is way more effective if you coordinate that through an aid organization that already has that relationship with emergency management services because they know essentially where the areas of highest need better than Us random everyday random

Regan: person.

Regan: Sure.

Michael: Like they have [00:37:00] the, the ways to actually get those supplies where they need to be. They are coordinated with the people who are in charge. Like it's much easier for them to get those things where they want to go. But if you show up in a truck full of supplies and you try and drive down a road, that's like washed off it.

Michael: Yeah. They are going to stop you. Like police are going to stop you. Highway patrol is going to stop you, maybe even like national guard or FEMA. They're going to stop you and say, Hey, you can't go there. You can't go there because the right there

Regan: there's no road and how do you even get like you don't know the way to Get there without you could yourself be at risk.

Michael: Yeah, there are enough people who need help and like They're essentially just saying you're not allowed to become part of the problem It's really what it is, but people are seeing that and they're like they're turning away aid They won't let people fly out and help. This is all just a government conspiracy like It's like, come on, man.

Michael: This is no, we let the professionals manage this because they help people in disaster scenarios all year long. That's their job. That's what they do. So we're going to let them coordinate.

Regan: It's like, if people [00:38:00] are having trouble getting out and then you're trying to get in, but if you're not from there, like, how do you know where, even if you were from there, you wouldn't know how, like, where you could get in safely.

Regan: And like, what? What's still there and where it could be risky, like just to come into a situation you don't know. You want to make sure, like, I guess what I want to say is if your goal is to get that aid, whatever it is, to the right place, you would think you'd want to put it in the hands of the people who have the experience, who have mapped out the routes, who do this a lot, who are aware of, to your point, like who needs it the most.

Regan: Like, Organization is key in these type of situations. And I think it, it makes sense to want to help. And again, to your point, like they can't just have random people coming in, if they have a system in place and they don't know people's intentions or, or like their skill levels or like, will they be harming themselves?

Regan: Harming others? Like it's important to have people in place that are. Keeping track of what's going on.

Michael: Yeah. Like, it's great. You have a chainsaw, but do you know how to use it safely? Like, do [00:39:00] you have, do you have the helmet? Do you have like, there are special pants that they make that like, if you cut into, they're basically really fibrous.

Michael: I don't know if you've seen these, uh,

Regan: maybe I've seen, I don't know. I've seen, I don't see chainsawing very often. Yeah. I

Michael: would say like for the folks who have no idea what I'm talking about right now, there's special like work pants you can wear. When you're using a chainsaw, if the chainsaw hits them, it has all these little fibers in it, and it gums up the chainsaw, it stops it from being able to turn, so you can't cut yourself.

Michael: Are people coming

Regan: with chainsaws?

Michael: Oh yeah, yeah. Lots of chainsaws. To like, cut down trees and like, clear off roads and things like that. Oh, okay. Which You know, if we have a windstorm roll through where I'm at in central North Carolina, people just show up out of the woodwork with chainsaws, clear the roads before the city ever comes out.

Regan (2): Yeah,

Michael: it's, it's helpful, but we're not in that situation now. Like some of those roads don't exist. You might be clearing trees off of a road that people think they can now go down that is washed out like a mile or two down. Um, cause in the mountains, It's like very often the roads follow the rivers. So if the river [00:40:00] swells up and washes out, like it's taking the road with it.

Michael: So it's, it's usually not safe to go there. Um, that also means that if you have emergency services and they need to get to a place shortly after. Something like a major flooding, hurricane event like this, they usually have to like fly in with helicopters to get supplies and people in and out because they can't get there on the roads, the roads don't exist anymore.

Michael: So it takes longer, like it does take longer.

Regan: That's such a good point too, is that like, say you were clearing one place but down the, the ways a little bit it's flooded out or it could be flooded, like, Then maybe a car would go down that road because it would be like, Oh, it's cleared out. It's like You want to know that the areas that are looking like they're okay Are sanctioned, you know, like are by the people who understand are said to be okay.

Regan: Do you have uh, I'm, like making you the expert on this now Do you like where's a good place for people to get good information rather than uh, bad information, [00:41:00] misinformation.

Michael: This might start like a longer conversation about critical thinking skills. It's really what it is. There's a, like, there was one person, uh, who had, um, she was very upset by a video that I posted on TikTok and a couple other places saying, like, stop spreading misinformation.

Michael: Like,

Regan: sure.

Michael: People are being helped. Sometimes if they are in more distributed areas, it takes longer to get to those areas because A lot of people for scale for anyone listening to this like Western North Carolina, that region is the same size as Massachusetts as 100 percent located in the mountains.

Michael: And so to think about the scale of a search and rescue assistance operation in there is, is monumental. It's like literally an entire state in and of itself. Um, so Typically, I'm saying look for your news from actual news sources, even when, uh, videos and, and posts are coming from people who live in the area, they are sometimes misinterpreted or taken out of context [00:42:00] by others.

Regan: Sure.

Michael: Uh, a really popular example of that recently was like, The folks in Chimney Rock, uh, a lot of Chimney Rock runs alongside a river and a lot of it was wiped out. It is not hard to find pictures and videos right now of, of the aftermath in Chimney Rock, North Carolina. Um, the downside to that is there were some people who were saying that like, you know, Officials were seizing land by eminent domain.

Michael: Um, and that they were like forcing people out of their homes. And it's like, no, no one sees it. Literally the town had to waste precious communication time and resources to have someone draft a message to be posted to their Facebook page to say like, that's not happening. Like we're not seizing homes over eminent domain.

Michael: But there are even things where like. If I, if a house is wrecked, it's likely to be condemned. At which point, like the state or the local municipality has a responsibility to say, like, you can't put your life in danger going into that place, which is heartbreaking, but also like. [00:43:00] a shared responsibility, right?

Michael: Like, so I, it's, it could be something as simple as like someone's house being condemned because it's been severely damaged and people saying like, Oh, the city took my house and won't let me do this. And that gets, gets blown up into this thing where it's like, FEMA stealing people's homes, like Democrats made a hurricane that wiped out Republicans.

Michael: And I'm like, it just escalates so quickly into this ridiculous. And you know, the person who, yeah, take an exception to my misinformation video tagged me over 60 times in different videos. You know, some of the things that were like evidence of people being helped or like examples of what we were already talking about.

Michael: Um, one of them was, you know, A video from an actual conspiracy theorist account. It was a collection of clips and one of them was a woman saying that like, she was upset because FEMA wouldn't provide her with a cell phone. Um, and it's like, that's not what FEMA does. FEMA doesn't give out phones.

Michael: Sometimes they give out like RVs and things like that in hurricane [00:44:00] areas. People have a place to stay. Um, but they give out funds mostly like they, they bring the power of the purse is, is the saying. Um, and so, uh, they can give funds to replace electronic devices. They can provide funds like there's a seven 50 or 750 emergency relief fund that you can get pretty quickly.

Michael: Uh, just direct deposited into your account. Um, I think that number is woefully low, um, but, you know, again, misinformation, people are using that to say, like, FEMA is. is giving money to immigrants instead of, you know, uh, uh, folks who actually need it. Only 750 isn't enough. And it's like, I'm glad we agree.

Michael: 750 isn't enough. That was decided by the United States Congress when they made the budget for the United States. So if you think it's too low, you have to talk to your Senator and your representative.

Regan: Yeah. Right.

Michael: To say that is not enough. Like, so it, it, it's just, you [00:45:00] know, this escalation of things that I find to be dramatically unhelpful and unproductive.

Michael: And not only that, but taking the devastation that people are experiencing, like the upset that they are feeling, uh, and manipulating it and twisting it to say, like, people aren't being helped. Or, you know, FEMA is trying to take over the government or like, uh, you know, people's homes are being stolen. And it's like, it's, you know, It's literally not that this is an emergency situation.

Michael: People are being helped. It happens in certain ways. If people are being turned away from bringing an aid, it's probably because they're going down a road that they're not allowed to go down because it's dangerous. If people are being told don't fly in, it's because they need to coordinate with emergency services.

Michael: To make sure that they have a flight path that is clear that will not be disrupted by a bunch of random folks popping in trying to be helpful but actually creating more of a problem. So it's like we're gonna let the folks in charge help direct us where we're gonna go if we're trying [00:46:00] to volunteer our time and energy and resources.

Michael: Um, but we're not gonna turn around and spread a bunch of misinformation and say that like the government doesn't want to help people because they won't do it on our terms. Thanks. Right,

Regan: that's a very good point. And I think even just aside from that, just highlighting the fact that every time we focus on like the conspiracy theory, like every time we focus and and give attention and views to these more outlandish things that people are saying, like, I actually saw a video.

Regan: That this woman said the Democrats have made a hurricane. Um, like I saw that. So, clearly, if it got to my feed, it's making its rounds, okay? So, the fact is we need to focus on the things that matter. Focus on what's important. If you really want to help people, make sure you're informed. And make sure that the aid you're giving is in the way that is the most helpful and can actually get to the people that need it.

Regan: Unlike our friend, who wants to talk about her Airbnb. For full circle, let's, [00:47:00] let's not do that. Okay. Well, Michael, it has been so amazing having you. This is not your regularly scheduled content, but if people like what they heard from you, where can they find you to see more of you?

Michael: Uh, I think the easiest spot is, uh, probably my Lincoln bio.

Michael: It's just, uh, Beacons. ai slash world shaker. Um, so beacons. ai slash world shaker at the top of that page right now, I have information. Like if you do want to, if you're in Western North Carolina and you are impacted, there's a resource guide in there. It's like a living Google doc that people are coordinating with to let you know where you can find like water, food, medicine, things like that.

Michael: Uh, there's a link to donate to hurricane relief. Um, you can donate directly to the state of North Carolina. They then use that fund. to funnel it to the United Way, who is managing on the ground operations on behalf of the state. And there's also a bit of information about, um, voter ID laws because North Carolina does now require [00:48:00] very silly, uh, a voter ID or like an ID, a state issued ID to vote.

Michael: You might have lost your ID if you're in Western North Carolina impacted by a terrible flood. There is an exemption built into the law that allows you to vote without an ID if you have been impacted by a natural disaster within 100 days of an election. This absolutely counts under that statute. So you can still vote.

Michael: You just fill out a provisional ballot and then you sign an affidavit saying I am who I say I am. Um, and you can still vote if you want to and if you're able.

Regan: Okay, perfect. And to see your content,

Michael: the link in bio also links out to like, all right. Perfect. Tick tock, Instagram, Facebook, all that good stuff.

Michael: Yeah.

Regan: Well, thank you for bringing like information and research where I brought tick tock videos to today's. episode. I appreciate you so much. Thank you to everybody who's listening. Cheska will be back. [00:49:00] Don't worry to mess up my intro. Thank you for listening. A shout out to our patrons who we love and we will see you next week.

Regan: Bye. You gotta say bye too.

Michael: Oh bye.

Regan: Oh bye.

Michael: I was like, I don't want to interrupt. No, you say bye. All right. Bye everybody.