Voting Rights and Podcasting: Grey Hair Dave's Take on Politics
Grey Hair Dave discusses the importance of voting in the upcoming U.S. elections, emphasizing that everyone should take advantage of their right to vote, regardless of their political views. He expresses his frustration with the current political climate, particularly the mudslinging and lack of coherent answers from candidates during interviews and debates. Dave highlights the trend of presidential candidates appearing on podcasts to connect with voters in a more personal and direct manner, which he finds intriguing. He shares his own experiences with using AI tools in podcast production and editing, mentioning his efforts to improve sound quality amid distractions. The episode wraps up with an invitation for listeners to share their thoughts and engage with him through his website, encouraging open dialogue and participation.
In his latest podcast episode, Grey Hair Dave takes listeners on a journey through the evolving landscape of podcasting, the intersection of technology and creativity, and the nuances of political engagement. He starts by introducing Eleven Labs, an AI-powered voice generation tool that he uses to enhance his podcasting experience. With a practical approach, he shares his personal challenges with editing, particularly in dealing with background noise—an all-too-common issue for podcasters. Dave’s anecdotes about using AI for noise reduction and editing poetry with his brother reveal his dedication to quality and his willingness to embrace technology to improve his craft. This segment not only provides insight into the technical aspects of podcasting but also showcases Dave’s relatable and down-to-earth personality.
As the conversation unfolds, Dave addresses the impending U.S. elections, a topic he approaches with a sense of responsibility and care. He makes it clear that while he has his own political views, he prefers not to impose them on his audience. Instead, he emphasizes the importance of voting as a fundamental right and encourages everyone to participate in the democratic process. His assertion that those who do not vote should refrain from complaining about government actions sparks a meaningful dialogue about civic duty and personal accountability. This perspective is particularly resonant in today’s climate, where voter apathy can often overshadow the critical importance of engagement in political matters.
The episode also explores the trend of political candidates using podcasts as a platform for communication. Dave discusses how this innovative approach allows candidates to connect with voters in a more genuine and unfiltered manner, bypassing traditional media constraints. He mentions notable appearances by figures like Kamala Harris and Donald Trump on popular podcasts, illustrating how this shift reflects a broader change in political strategy. By engaging in relaxed, one-on-one conversations, candidates can convey their messages more effectively and establish a rapport with potential voters. Dave’s reflections on this trend invite listeners to consider the implications of such changes in political discourse and the role they can play in shaping their communities through informed voting.
Takeaways:
- Grey Hair Dave emphasizes the importance of voting, stating that if you don't vote, you lose the right to complain about government actions.
- He discusses the increasing trend of presidential candidates guesting on podcasts to communicate directly with voters in a more personal setting.
- Dave shares his experiences with using AI technology, specifically Eleven Labs, to enhance podcast production and editing processes.
- He expresses frustration with political candidates who avoid directly answering questions posed during interviews or debates, calling for more transparency.
- The podcast highlights the significance of citizen engagement in politics, urging listeners to make their voices heard and participate in the democratic process.
- Dave reflects on the challenges faced by political leaders and the necessity of having good advisors to navigate complex issues.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Eleven Labs
- Ecamm Live
Transcript
Welcome to five minutes with grey hair Dave.
Speaker A:He has grey hair.
Speaker A:He has a grey beard.
Speaker A:He wears glasses like the guy in the artwork.
Speaker A:Oh, and the guy in the artwork is better looking.
Speaker A:Now here is grey hair Dave.
Grey Hair Dave:Well, welcome back, folks, to another episode of five minutes with grey hair Dave.
Grey Hair Dave:That's right.
Grey Hair Dave:That was eleven labs.
Grey Hair Dave:You've heard me talk about eleven labs.
Grey Hair Dave:Eleven Labs is a.
Grey Hair Dave:Is an AI generated voice that will read back what you type into it.
Grey Hair Dave:Now, Eleven Labs is just one, just one of the many, many, many things that I use in my podcast and in editing others.
Grey Hair Dave:Or even.
Grey Hair Dave:Even when I was editing poetry of christian faith with my brother, I used some AI generated stuff to help me with the editing process.
Grey Hair Dave:Whether that was noise reduction or hissing, a lot of it came down to noise reduction and background noise reduction, which I got pretty good at because there's, you know, it's inevitable either he's gonna have somebody in the neighborhood mowing their lawn, or I'm gonna have somebody in my neighborhood mowing a lawn, you know, or all these other things that can happen during a podcast.
Grey Hair Dave:So that's what happened.
Grey Hair Dave:Now today also, I'm trying something new.
Grey Hair Dave:I don't know if I'm gonna post it.
Grey Hair Dave:If I do, it will go out to YouTube.
Grey Hair Dave:But I'm recording this also on ecamm Live.
Grey Hair Dave:Now, he cam Live is a video recorder or a video live program that I can go if I want to go live to the YouTube or Facebook or LinkedIn or.
Grey Hair Dave:I don't think I'll ever go live to twitch because I'm not playing a game and I don't think any of my listeners are on Twitch.
Grey Hair Dave:Maybe.
Grey Hair Dave:I don't know.
Grey Hair Dave:All I'm saying is I.
Grey Hair Dave:I'm not there that I know of.
Grey Hair Dave:So we're putting this out.
Grey Hair Dave:We're putting this out as a test just to see what happens.
Grey Hair Dave:Okay?
Grey Hair Dave:So that's that.
Grey Hair Dave:That's what's going on.
Grey Hair Dave:Okay?
Grey Hair Dave:That's that.
Grey Hair Dave:That's what's going wrong on in the periphery.
Grey Hair Dave:So if you live in the United States right now and you don't live under a rock, you know there's a election coming up.
Grey Hair Dave:Now, I have never made this podcast very political on purpose because it's my political views, and your political views are our own.
Grey Hair Dave:I am not here to try and convince you to vote one way or the other.
Grey Hair Dave:I do hope you vote.
Grey Hair Dave:If you're in the United States and you're able to vote, please do.
Grey Hair Dave:It's very, very important whether you vote one way or the other is irrelevant to me.
Grey Hair Dave:Please, please go vote.
Grey Hair Dave:You know, it's your right.
Grey Hair Dave:It's, it's, it's not your duty.
Grey Hair Dave:It's your right.
Grey Hair Dave:And why not take advantage of it?
Grey Hair Dave:There's a, no, there's no theory that I've, I've believed in all of my life.
Grey Hair Dave:If you don't vote, you don't have the right to complain.
Grey Hair Dave:And that's the way I felt about it for years.
Grey Hair Dave:I really have.
Grey Hair Dave:If you don't vote, you don't get the right to complain about government.
Grey Hair Dave:You know, that's just my opinion.
Grey Hair Dave:But the thing I find interesting is that I saw this on a news report yesterday, or maybe it was early this morning that the presidential candidates, both sides, have been going on podcasts to get more word out about what they're thinking or what they're doing.
Grey Hair Dave:I find that very, very interesting.
Grey Hair Dave:I really, really do.
Grey Hair Dave:Because it's a one on one or a one on two or three scenario where they're not being baited.
Grey Hair Dave:Well, they could be being baited.
Grey Hair Dave:I don't know.
Grey Hair Dave:I haven't listened to a lot of, I've been looking them up, but, and I haven't gotten to them, but I'm going to, for your sake, I'm going to do that.
Grey Hair Dave:And for my sake, but I want you to know that they're there.
Grey Hair Dave:Go look them up.
Grey Hair Dave:It's interesting.
Grey Hair Dave:I know that Kamala Harris has been on this show called call me Daddy.
Grey Hair Dave:It's, it's a female show, female host.
Grey Hair Dave:It's called call me Daddy.
Grey Hair Dave:And it's very, very popular.
Grey Hair Dave:I think it's the number two or three in the country or in, you know, in popularity.
Grey Hair Dave:Trump's been on one or two.
Grey Hair Dave:I don't know which ones they are.
Grey Hair Dave:I'm still looking and I'm going to look later on.
Grey Hair Dave:But, you know, it's, that's my personal thing as I'm going to look later on.
Grey Hair Dave:So now for you, that's, that's what I want you to think about.
Grey Hair Dave:Another thing about this is, do you believe, and I'm sorry, but I'm having a hard time with this crap, too.
Grey Hair Dave:I am so sick and tired of the mudslinging.
Grey Hair Dave:He's so this, she's, so that.
Grey Hair Dave:Oh, my.
Grey Hair Dave:Can you, can you coherently tell me what you want to do and how you want to do it?
Grey Hair Dave:Is it that difficult?
Grey Hair Dave:I mean, she gets asked a question and she obvious skates and she goes, walks all the way around it and never answers the question.
Grey Hair Dave:Right.
Grey Hair Dave:And on the other side, he gets asked the same question and he'll start talking and he won't stop because we don't know what Donald, find a period.
Grey Hair Dave:Come on.
Grey Hair Dave:Find a coherence cohesive sentence.
Grey Hair Dave:Answer the questions.
Grey Hair Dave:Answer the questions you're being asked.
Grey Hair Dave:Otherwise the voters are not informed.
Grey Hair Dave:And I'm sorry, but I feel that way.
Grey Hair Dave:Answer the questions.
Grey Hair Dave:Now, I gotta admit, I gotta admit a lot of these people who are asking questions are doing it to bait them.
Grey Hair Dave:And I, and I don't think that that's right.
Grey Hair Dave:But you know, come on, let's get realistic here.
Grey Hair Dave:Answer a few questions.
Grey Hair Dave:You know, Grandpa Joe, our president.
Grey Hair Dave:Now, I have nothing good or bad to say about Joe.
Grey Hair Dave:Joe Biden is our president and that's the way it is.
Grey Hair Dave:I wouldn't have done things he's done.
Grey Hair Dave:I'm appalled at some of the things he's done, but he's also done a few good things.
Grey Hair Dave:When you're in that position, it can't be easy.
Grey Hair Dave:It's got to be tough.
Grey Hair Dave:It can't be easy.
Grey Hair Dave:That's all I'm saying.
Grey Hair Dave:You got to have good people around you.
Grey Hair Dave:And I believe right now the people around him are running the show.
Grey Hair Dave:Just my opinion.
Grey Hair Dave:If you don't like my opinion, folks, you have the opportunity to just not listen to the rest of this one.
Grey Hair Dave:Okay?
Grey Hair Dave:But please come back again.
Grey Hair Dave:That's just my opinion.
Grey Hair Dave:Don't burn me at the stake for having an opinion because I will never burn you at the stake for having an opinion.
Grey Hair Dave:Now, this may create, this may create some voicemails to me from my website on your feelings or thoughts about what I just said.
Grey Hair Dave:Do it.
Grey Hair Dave:Go ahead.
Grey Hair Dave:Go to my website.
Grey Hair Dave:Five minutes with grayhairdave.com.
Grey Hair Dave:that's the number.
Grey Hair Dave:Five minutes with grayhairdave.com.
Grey Hair Dave:leave me a voice message.
Grey Hair Dave:Leave me an email on the contact me page.
Grey Hair Dave:If you can leave me a voice message by going down to the little microphone in the bottom right hand corner, click on that.
Grey Hair Dave:It'll ask you for your email address, my name and email address.
Grey Hair Dave:All you got to do is give me your first name and your email address.
Grey Hair Dave:Let me know.
Grey Hair Dave:Excuse me.
Grey Hair Dave:Let me know what you thought about what I've talked about today.
Grey Hair Dave:I want this company.
Grey Hair Dave:I want this company.
Grey Hair Dave:I want this country to be good, to be a beacon for the rest of the world, that we can do good everywhere.
Grey Hair Dave:I do.
Grey Hair Dave:I grew up in the sixties and the seventies and the eighties.
Grey Hair Dave:There were some horrific and tumultuous times.
Grey Hair Dave:Wars, strife, riots, civil rights.
Grey Hair Dave:You know, disco, for God's sake, folks, if we can survive disco, and I like some of the music from disco, but if we can survive disco, we can survive this.
Grey Hair Dave:Okay?
Grey Hair Dave:Do you know why disco disappeared?
Grey Hair Dave:I do.
Grey Hair Dave:People voiced their opinion by buying and listening to other music that came around.
Grey Hair Dave:That's how you change things.
Grey Hair Dave:One person can change things, folks.
Grey Hair Dave:Let it be you and I.
Grey Hair Dave:Yeah, let it be you and I.
Grey Hair Dave:Let us change a few things.
Grey Hair Dave:Only by letting your voice be heard.
Grey Hair Dave:Okay?
Grey Hair Dave:So that's about all I've got for today, I think.
Grey Hair Dave:I don't know.
Grey Hair Dave:We've been at this a little bit and there's a whole lot I'm cutting out of this.
Grey Hair Dave:You won't believe what was going, but went on that I've cut out.
Grey Hair Dave:And I realized I went just a tad too far.
Grey Hair Dave:Orlando.
Grey Hair Dave:I went in a direction I didn't want to go.
Grey Hair Dave:So I'm going to edit this video, too, folks.
Grey Hair Dave:I'm going to let you know next week what I thought about it.
Grey Hair Dave:Or there may be an update this weekend.
Grey Hair Dave:We'll see when I get to editing it because I'm not going to do it till tomorrow.
Grey Hair Dave:At least not the video.
Grey Hair Dave:This is Thursday.
Grey Hair Dave:It's October 17.
Grey Hair Dave:I'm not going to 24.
Grey Hair Dave:I'm sorry.
Grey Hair Dave:I'm not going to edit the video before I go to work because I do have to work today.
Grey Hair Dave:The mouse would like me to be there.
Grey Hair Dave:Hey, I'm going to see the mouse.
Grey Hair Dave:So if you got a question, folks, don't.
Grey Hair Dave:Don't hesitate to ask me on my website, five minutes of gray hair day, please.
Grey Hair Dave:That's the number.
Grey Hair Dave:Five minutes of gray hair.
Grey Hair Dave:Dave, calm.
Grey Hair Dave:I'll answer any questions you got.
Grey Hair Dave:Leave me a message.
Grey Hair Dave:I'll be happy to get back to you, or I'll be happy to talk about it in the future.
Grey Hair Dave:Also, if you know somebody who doesn't know what a podcast is, doesn't know how to find one, doesn't know how to play one, how to subscribe or follow, doesn't know about these new podcast apps.
Grey Hair Dave:It's not all just Apple podcasts and Spotify.
Grey Hair Dave:Nothing against Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Grey Hair Dave:I'm on them.
Grey Hair Dave:I love them.
Grey Hair Dave:I love Apple.
Grey Hair Dave:Spotify's got rules I don't deal with.
Grey Hair Dave:But all these other ones, I'm on 30 other ones, fountain pod page, I mean pod pocket cast, all kinds of them.
Grey Hair Dave:Look them up.
Grey Hair Dave:Go to the modern podcast.
Grey Hair Dave:Go to podcastapps.com and look up all the modern ones.
Grey Hair Dave:Those are ones where you can, you know, maybe send me some treasure if you think you got some value out of this.
Grey Hair Dave:We'll talk about that in the next episode.
Grey Hair Dave:So on behalf of Gray here, Dave, don't forget, tell those folks how to find a podcast.
Grey Hair Dave:You all have a great day and have a great weekend, and I will be talking to you again very, very soon.
Grey Hair Dave:Have a great day.
Grey Hair Dave:Bye.
