Recently, podcast bros have been interviewing heads of state and other power players without

doing any basic research beforehand, and the result has been a propagandistic catastrophe.

Now, look, ignorance can actually be an asset if you're an interviewer.

If you don't know anything about a subject, you can ask curious and childlike questions

that produce interesting answers.

If you had to choose between listening to Neil deGrasse Tyson, talk to a fellow astrophysicist

about a very technical subject or hearing him talk to a six-year-old child,

you'd probably be more interested in hearing him talk to the child unless you're an astrophysicist

yourself. I find as an interviewer that it's unwise for me to do too much research on a subject

because I end up having a very high-level technical conversation. So interviewers don't always need to be

subject matter experts in order to produce good and valuable conversations. But my God,

if you're talking to a politician who has been accused of major crimes, you need to do some

goddamn research beforehand, and you need to come prepared,

because otherwise, you're not really doing an interview.

You're functioning as part of the public relations operation of a powerful figure,

and you've surrendered the right to call yourself independent.

Now, recently a pair of pro-Trump Canadian prankster

YouTubers called the Nelk Boys interviewed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Now,

Netanyahu is responsible for the starvation of Gaza and a war on the population that kills

hundreds of people every day.

It's an unconscionable crime against humanity, which is why Netanyahu is wanted by the International Criminal Court.

And the Nelk boys, by their own admission, did not do a good job interviewing Netanyahu, asking questions like like You guys are very tight, right? Would you call it a bromance? Well, you might. I mean, we've known each other several decades and, you know, I really like them. What's your go-to at McDonald's? No, I'll tell you, Burger King. We did the, you know, the double, you know. Wopper? Yeah. I haven't ripped Burger King in a long time. It's not.

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