You're listening to Comedy Central. Trissie McMillan Cotton, welcome back to the Daily Show. Welcome back to me. Indeed, it's a pleasure to be back, right or do I say professor? I'd love to know what you prefer because you you have so many prestigious titles. You know, it's with New York Times best selling author. You know, it could be professor, it could be Mccauthin. Is it a genius ground that they give you? You can say that. I think I'm not supposed to say that. The Foundation would prefer not. But that's interesting. So they say you're a genius, but they're not. They're like, you're not allowed to say it of yourself exactly, kind of like your mother tells you some things are best said about you by others. I see, Oh, you're amazing, but don't ever think that about yourself. Yeah, that's well, well, then I will say to the genius professor that is Trissy, Welcome to the show. Thank you very much. What a time to have you on, because you know, there are a few people who I've enjoyed learning from engaging with um studying because you're not just a professor, You're a sociologist. You're somebody who looks at the world. You study what has happened, what is happening, and how you think it will happen going forward, and right now feels like an interesting time of everything this going on. Let's let's start with you know, one of our favorite platforms that we chad on all the time. Twitter. It's been a really interesting time on Twitter right now. That's an understatement. I try I specialize in those. Um I would love to know your opinion on Twitter itself and how we see its role in our society. There are some who say, because it is a business, Elon can do whatever he wants. He paid it, he paid for it, he can take it, he can he can do as he pleases. On the other hand, there are people who are saying Ellen taking over Twitter, which has become this public square, only goes to show how, you know, dangerous can be to have billionaires defining what everybody else can speak, or what what what the speech might or may not be. And all of those things are true, they are not true to mam line in equal parts. So I think the bigger story here, uh is that we outsourced the public square to the private sector. Right, Twitter becomes or it feels like, the public square, but it has never operated in practice as a public square. It cannot. It is not owned by the state or by the people. And in fact, one of the things that minority people, queer people have said for years about Twitter is that they could not participate the same way that really powerful brands could participate, or politicians or particular specially trolls. Uh. And so in a true public square, there would be some way for people to talk back right to the powers that be. That's never been Twitter. That's never been any social media platform. That is the difference between a business and something that is truly public. So it is a business. Elon Musk can buy it as he was eventually, you know, forced to do um uh. You know, he wrote a check and then his behind had to cash it. And that's how we find ourselves here, that we have used it to try to express sort of you know, people power does not mean that the people own it or have any authority over it. What that says to me, and what I think it says to many other people, is that there should be a public space. We are in an information society. Information is power, and it is money. Why don't we have a civic public square that exists on the internet? Elon must buy and Twitter would not have mattered if the state was competing with Twitter. That's interesting, Yeah, but what do you think? But do you think you know, many of these ideas are sound except when you add in that the states in question would be America. Yes, no, no, And I mean that's not because of America's in netnos or anything, but rather because America sees everything through the lens of you know, left or rights, Democrat Republican always it doesn't matter what the issue is. And it feels like America itself would never be able to create something like this because both sides wouldn't agree on what the thing should or shouldn't be. Oh no, absolutely. I mean we see this debate about everything that is publicly governed, particularly our schools, right where we cannot agree on whether or not our schools are indoctrinating our children or should be preparing them for the economy of the future. Somehow Americans wanted to do both, right, don't teach my children anything but make sure that they can be competitive in the economy of the future. But you know what that is the mess of democratic participation. It does not mean that we get it right. It means that there is a way to get it right sometimes, so we don't have to have the whole thing figured out for us to invest in publicness. So one of you know, I teach at a public university in North Carolina, and I teach a lot of students who will go on to work in libraries and in the information sector. You know, libraries are to me the shining example on the hill of what a public space can be. Are they perfect at Absolutely not? But do they welcome people into them and meet people where they are? Absolutely? Can America do that? Yes? Now do we have to fight to do it every step of the way, Absolutely, But we can have that fight. You can't have that fight when an entity is owned by a single meglomaniac. Huh. You know, well, when we when we talk about these spaces and we talk about these ideas, and we talk about these conversations, there's no denying that Twitter and many places like it have benefited from the diverse array of voices that have now been part of the platform. You know, you wouldn't know what was happening on the ground in the same way in Iran. Were it not for Twitter, you know, you wouldn't know what was happening on the ground, in the same way in Charlottesville, were it not for Twitter, it has become as you said, it has the illusion at times of a public square. But many people have used it to that effect. I would love to know, you know, from your perspective, if somebody who seen your own journey, you know, from general obscurity to now becoming somebody whose voice is so respected and recognized. You know, you right for the New York Times as part of the ed. You you you're shaping people's opinions. How do you find the balance well? Or how do you inspire people you teach to think critically about the world that they're living in, because half of the things we know are taught to us, and then at some point we have to decipher between what we've been taught is the truth and then what is the truth or where the gray even exists? How how do you even begin that journey as a teacher and as a learner who's constantly because you're constantly learning, well, I think that is part of it. I try to always be a learner. It's really easy, I think to develop and grow in your career and forget how overwhelming it is to learn something new for the first time. So I try to be an idiot as much as humanly possible that all the time, you know, I enroll in something, I take up something that I'm just absolutely horrible at doing because I want to feel how vulnerable it feels to learn. And it is a very vulnerable space. So when I am feeling generous, I think that there is a not insignificant part of the American public that isn't so much afraid of the other as they are of being ignorant. And some people would rather be angry than stupid, and so figuring it out is actually really hard. This is something I've learned as I've taught people, uh, And so there's a certain amount of vulnerability I think we have to share with each other to say that just because I have achieved something in one part of the world or in one profession, doesn't mean I know everything. Now, the challenge for us is that we have a culture that absolutely likes to turn every success story into a universal story of genius. Right, so you found it Facebook, and now you can solve world hunger. As if those have anything to do with each other. Uh, you know, so that is a problem of the culture, but don't think it has to be that way. And I actually think one of the good things about Twitter has been how many people have been willing to model learning and public so that other people could see that it doesn't have to strip you of your status or your position, that learning can happen without you, you know, flailing about I think I'll miss that about Twitter. You know, it ends eventually listen all social media apps and uh, there'll be something new, obviously, but I don't know that anything else would be able to capture. That was one of the best things about Twitter. Um. It was a space for people to see different kinds of genius. That you could be a good in one domain still learning in another domain, that you could risk it. It is something that I enjoyed doing personally, and I think that it was never the the appsentension listen people turned it into that that is not what it was designed to do. Think that's because we innately want to do that as human beings. I do. I have to believe that human beings are fundamentally curious, and social media is only popular because we're curious. We go there because we want to see we're nosy, we you know, we want to rub reneck the world, you know. Uh. And so what it is done, it is it's made it profitable, made our curiosity profitable. Uh. And it has made our curiosity politically polarized. But that doesn't mean the curiosity is bad. I actually think it is a thing that separates us, you know, from the rest of uh, one of the animal keenom. I don't want to. I don't wanna throw shade on animals. Animals are good, They're pretty curious. Yeah, actually are pretty curious. Yeah. I think at heart we're eight if we're lucky, right, you know. But it does separate us, I think from like a brick wall. It does. Indeed, it doesn't need shade has been thrown. Animals haven't spread. I could talk to you, I could talk to you for hours. But that's why we have your books, That's why we have some of your tweets. Thank you again for joining me on the show. Thank you everything, Thanks for shame. Thank you so much. One more time starts Tony for Everybody. The Daily Show with Trevor Noah ears edition. Subscribe to the Daily Show on YouTube for exclusive content and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast

You're listening to Comedy Central. Trissie McMillan Cotton, welcome back to the Daily Show. Welcome back to me. Indeed, it's a pleasure to be back, right or do I say professor? I'd love to know what you prefer because you you have so many prestigious titles. You know, it's with New York Times best selling author. You know, it could be professor, it could be Mccauthin. Is it a genius ground that they give you? You can say that. I think I'm not supposed to say that. The Foundation would prefer not. But that's interesting. So they say you're a genius, but they're not. They're like, you're not allowed to say it of yourself exactly, kind of like your mother tells you some things are best said about you by others. I see, Oh, you're amazing, but don't ever think that about yourself. Yeah, that's well, well, then I will say to the genius professor that is Trissy, Welcome to the show. Thank you very much. What a time to have you on, because you know, there are a few people who I've enjoyed learning from engaging with um studying because you're not just a professor, You're a sociologist. You're somebody who looks at the world. You study what has happened, what is happening, and how you think it will happen going forward, and right now feels like an interesting time of everything this going on. Let's let's start with you know, one of our favorite platforms that we chad on all the time. Twitter. It's been a really interesting time on Twitter right now. That's an understatement. I try I specialize in those. Um I would love to know your opinion on Twitter itself and how we see its role in our society. There are some who say, because it is a business, Elon can do whatever he wants. He paid it, he paid for it, he can take it, he can he can do as he pleases. On the other hand, there are people who are saying Ellen taking over Twitter, which has become this public square, only goes to show how, you know, dangerous can be to have billionaires defining what everybody else can speak, or what what what the speech might or may not be. And all of those things are true, they are not true to mam line in equal parts. So I think the bigger story here, uh is that we outsourced the public square to the private sector. Right, Twitter becomes or it feels like, the public square, but it has never operated in practice as a public square. It cannot. It is not owned by the state or by the people. And in fact, one of the things that minority people, queer people have said for years about Twitter is that they could not participate the same way that really powerful brands could participate, or politicians or particular specially trolls. Uh. And so in a true public square, there would be some way for people to talk back right to the powers that be. That's never been Twitter. That's never been any social media platform. That is the difference between a business and something that is truly public. So it is a business. Elon Musk can buy it as he was eventually, you know, forced to do um uh. You know, he wrote a check and then his behind had to cash it. And that's how we find ourselves here, that we have used it to try to express sort of you know, people power does not mean that the people own it or have any authority over it. What that says to me, and what I think it says to many other people, is that there should be a public space. We are in an information society. Information is power, and it is money. Why don't we have a civic public square that exists on the internet? Elon must buy and Twitter would not have mattered if the state was competing with Twitter. That's interesting, Yeah, but what do you think? But do you think you know, many of these ideas are sound except when you add in that the states in question would be America. Yes, no, no, And I mean that's not because of America's in netnos or anything, but rather because America sees everything through the lens of you know, left or rights, Democrat Republican always it doesn't matter what the issue is. And it feels like America itself would never be able to create something like this because both sides wouldn't agree on what the thing should or shouldn't be. Oh no, absolutely. I mean we see this debate about everything that is publicly governed, particularly our schools, right where we cannot agree on whether or not our schools are indoctrinating our children or should be preparing them for the economy of the future. Somehow Americans wanted to do both, right, don't teach my children anything but make sure that they can be competitive in the economy of the future. But you know what that is the mess of democratic participation. It does not mean that we get it right. It means that there is a way to get it right sometimes, so we don't have to have the whole thing figured out for us to invest in publicness. So one of you know, I teach at a public university in North Carolina, and I teach a lot of students who will go on to work in libraries and in the information sector. You know, libraries are to me the shining example on the hill of what a public space can be. Are they perfect at Absolutely not? But do they welcome people into them and meet people where they are? Absolutely? Can America do that? Yes? Now do we have to fight to do it every step of the way, Absolutely, But we can have that fight. You can't have that fight when an entity is owned by a single meglomaniac. Huh. You know, well, when we when we talk about these spaces and we talk about these ideas, and we talk about these conversations, there's no denying that Twitter and many places like it have benefited from the diverse array of voices that have now been part of the platform. You know, you wouldn't know what was happening on the ground in the same way in Iran. Were it not for Twitter, you know, you wouldn't know what was happening on the ground, in the same way in Charlottesville, were it not for Twitter, it has become as you said, it has the illusion at times of a public square. But many people have used it to that effect. I would love to know, you know, from your perspective, if somebody who seen your own journey, you know, from general obscurity to now becoming somebody whose voice is so respected and recognized. You know, you right for the New York Times as part of the ed. You you you're shaping people's opinions. How do you find the balance well? Or how do you inspire people you teach to think critically about the world that they're living in, because half of the things we know are taught to us, and then at some point we have to decipher between what we've been taught is the truth and then what is the truth or where the gray even exists? How how do you even begin that journey as a teacher and as a learner who's constantly because you're constantly learning, well, I think that is part of it. I try to always be a learner. It's really easy, I think to develop and grow in your career and forget how overwhelming it is to learn something new for the first time. So I try to be an idiot as much as humanly possible that all the time, you know, I enroll in something, I take up something that I'm just absolutely horrible at doing because I want to feel how vulnerable it feels to learn. And it is a very vulnerable space. So when I am feeling generous, I think that there is a not insignificant part of the American public that isn't so much afraid of the other as they are of being ignorant. And some people would rather be angry than stupid, and so figuring it out is actually really hard. This is something I've learned as I've taught people, uh, And so there's a certain amount of vulnerability I think we have to share with each other to say that just because I have achieved something in one part of the world or in one profession, doesn't mean I know everything. Now, the challenge for us is that we have a culture that absolutely likes to turn every success story into a universal story of genius. Right, so you found it Facebook, and now you can solve world hunger. As if those have anything to do with each other. Uh, you know, so that is a problem of the culture, but don't think it has to be that way. And I actually think one of the good things about Twitter has been how many people have been willing to model learning and public so that other people could see that it doesn't have to strip you of your status or your position, that learning can happen without you, you know, flailing about I think I'll miss that about Twitter. You know, it ends eventually listen all social media apps and uh, there'll be something new, obviously, but I don't know that anything else would be able to capture. That was one of the best things about Twitter. Um. It was a space for people to see different kinds of genius. That you could be a good in one domain still learning in another domain, that you could risk it. It is something that I enjoyed doing personally, and I think that it was never the the appsentension listen people turned it into that that is not what it was designed to do. Think that's because we innately want to do that as human beings. I do. I have to believe that human beings are fundamentally curious, and social media is only popular because we're curious. We go there because we want to see we're nosy, we you know, we want to rub reneck the world, you know. Uh. And so what it is done, it is it's made it profitable, made our curiosity profitable. Uh. And it has made our curiosity politically polarized. But that doesn't mean the curiosity is bad. I actually think it is a thing that separates us, you know, from the rest of uh, one of the animal keenom. I don't want to. I don't wanna throw shade on animals. Animals are good, They're pretty curious. Yeah, actually are pretty curious. Yeah. I think at heart we're eight if we're lucky, right, you know. But it does separate us, I think from like a brick wall. It does. Indeed, it doesn't need shade has been thrown. Animals haven't spread. I could talk to you, I could talk to you for hours. But that's why we have your books, That's why we have some of your tweets. Thank you again for joining me on the show. Thank you everything, Thanks for shame. Thank you so much. One more time starts Tony for Everybody. The Daily Show with Trevor Noah ears edition. Subscribe to the Daily Show on YouTube for exclusive content and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast