All language subtitles for Adam Ruins Everything s03e03 Games.eng

♪♪

[bell jingling]

Hello?

Are you open?

I came for
the two-for-one!

Wait.

This isn't
a cupcake shop.

Huh.

A jar
full of eyes.

A monkey's paw.

Ooh, a skull!
[laughing]

Did you know that teeth

aren't technically
considered bones?

"No, I did not.
I don't have a brain."

Oh, man,
this place is fun!

[man laughing maniacally]

The fun we're
going to have

hasn't even begun.[thundering]

Hi there!
Is this place new?

I could've sworn there
was a cupcake shop here.

Oh, no.

I've been here
quite a while.

Oh, how long?

I love supporting
local businesses.

Do you get
a lot of foot traffic?

Don't worry about it.

Instead, let's play
one of my little games.

Ooh, sounds fun!

You will face a series
of challenges.

The first,
so deadly and violent--

Violent?

Violent?
Got it!

The first challenge
is to debunk

the common misconception

that video games
cause violence.

Can do!

Wait, that
wasn't a riddle.

Where'd he go?

Who was that guy?!

That was Adam Conover,

and this is
"Adam Ruins Everything."

Ahh!Uh...

Closed Captions Provided
by truTV

[screaming]

'Sup, fam?!

It's Reaper666
streaming for you live

from the reap den.

Today we're going
old school with a classic!

"Gut Cruncher III:
Blood-pocalypse Rising."

Henry, it's time
for lunch.

Dad?!

Get out!

Wait.
What is this?

Are you playing
violent video games again?

You're gonna wind up
on the 6:00 news.

[Adam]
Don't worry, Dad.

The idea that video games
cause violent crime

is a total myth.

That is disgusting.

They're trying
to brainwash you

into thinking that
video games are safe.

[Adam]
Nope.

You're the one
who's been brainwashed.

For as long as video games
have existed,

they've sent
American parents

into a frenzy of fear.

In 1976, the National
Safety Council

panicked over
the arcade game "Death Race,"

calling these tame
little pixels,

"Sick, sick, sick."

Actually!

And in the '90s, politicians
had a full-scale freak-out

about a little game called
"Mortal Kombat."

Democratic Senator
Joe Lieberman claimed

it taught kids to, quote,

"Enjoy inflicting the most
gruesome forms of cruelty."

But despite these
repeated parades

of pearl clutch and panic,

there is still
no actual evidence

linking video games
to violent crime.

I don't know.

I'm still not
convinced.

[Adam]
Well, let's look at the facts.

As video game sales
in America have spiked,

violent crime has actually
gone down.

And other countries
where games are popular

have even lower
rates of violent crime.

[speaking Japanese]

[Adam]
And despite the lazy media narrative

connecting mass shootings
to video games,

multiple studies,
including an analysis

by the Secret Service,

have found that
school shooters

actually consume significantly
lower amounts

of violent media and video games
than their peers.

So you're saying
video games

don't have any effect
on our kids at all?

Not even that
game "Fork Knife,"

where you kill people
with pickaxes?

It's called
"Fortnite," Dad!

[sighing]

A pickax
is a harvesting tool.

[Adam]
Well, some studies do show

that violent video games
can cause a temporary increase

in aggressive thoughts
and behavior.

But those studies
are pretty flimsy.

Because they didn't measure
anything the average person

would actually
consider aggression.

One study just measured
whether or not

people who played
video games were more likely

to feed their opponents
hot sauce.

Hey!

And even if these studies
had tested

real-world acts of aggression,

the change in behavior
they measured was tiny.

Just 2% on average.

Other studies have shown
a similar effect

in racing games
and even real-life sports.

Dad does rage out

whenever I beat
him at ping-pong.

That's 'cause you
play dirty, Henry!

Oh...

Uh, I see it now.

Guys, meet video game
researcher

and level-30
demon slayer,

Dr. Patrick Markey.

'Sup, Reaper666?

Hope you don't mind,
I already defeated

that final boss.

Blaming video games
for real-world violence

really took off after
the Columbine shooting,

and it was an understandable
mistake,

because we all
desperately wanted

some reason why someone
would commit

such a horrific
act of violence.

But today we know

video games actually
aren't what's to blame.

And yet politicians across
the political spectrum

still scapegoat video games.

As recently as the 2018
Parkland tragedy,

the president
of the United States

was saying things like...

And reporters parrot this
lazy narrative right back.

After the Newtown
school shooting,

it was widely reported that
the gunman played video games.

But what they left out was
that his favorite game,

the one he'd play
up to ten hours a day,

was "Dance Dance Revolution."

The fact is,
it's just easier to blame

video games than to tackle
societal problems

that actually
impact rates of violence.

Things like educational
and employment disparities,

stigma against seeking
mental health treatment,

and, especially in the case
of shootings,

access to guns.

[Adam]
Instead, we're wasting time

and tax dollars on even
more research

to try to prove a link

between violence
and video games

that just doesn't exist.

That's right.

I'm a video game researcher,

and even I think
this is a waste of time.

And that's why I'm taking
a break

to beat the next level.

Oh, man,
it's underwater!

See you, guys.

The truth is, scapegoating
and banning

violent video games
doesn't protect kids;

it just distracts us from
figuring out

what we
really need to do

to keep people safe.

Ah, you're right.

Henry, you can play
that gut game,

with supervision.

[sighing]
Okay, Dad.

You just gotta narrate
everything for the stream.

Mm-hmm.

Let's see what
we got.

[gasping]

Did you just shove
that gun up his...

[gasping]
Oh, God!

♪♪

Doh!

First challenge
complete.

No!

You were supposed
to fight a demonic...

You know what?
Never mind, it's fine.

[clears throat]

The second game
we're going to play

won't just monopolize
your time--

Oh, Monopoly.

You want me to ruin
Monopoly

by explaining how
it was originally intended

to be an anticapitalist
teaching tool.

Sure thing.

What?! No!
Come back!

[sighing]

You do realize he's
going to be like this

the whole time?

[sighing]

[woman laughing]

And you're bankrupt.

And that's how
you do it.

Wow, Gail, you win.
Again.

Hell, yes.

Corporate-mandated
team-bonding night

just got started.

How about this?

If either one of you
can beat me

in the next round,

I'll give you back
your health benefits.

Really?
Come on.

If you can't make
it in Monopoly,

you can't
make it in life.

The point is to make
enough cash

to crush anybody
that can't compete.

[Adam]
Actually, that's wrong.

The original point
of Monopoly

was to teach players
that accumulating wealth

at all costs is terrible
for society.

Here, I'll show ya.

Whoa.

In the version
of Monopoly you know,

you collect as much
property as you can

until you've bankrupted
all the other players.

[laughing]

Mine!
Pay up, bozos.

But this
isn't how the game

was meant to be
played at all.

When Monopoly
was first invented,

these monopolist rules

were just one
of two ways to play.

The second was called
the prosperity rules.

Here, take another turn.

Ooh, heck, yeah!

I got Boardwalk,
baby!

Hey, congrats.

Under the prosperity rules,

when you buy a property,
you share a portion

of the wealth with
all the other players.

Thanks, Gail.Thanks, Gail.

Wait, what?

But... this is my money.

Who wants to play a version
of Monopoly

where everybody wins?

Well, originally,
it wasn't just a game.

What we know today
as Monopoly

was invented in 1903
by a social activist

named Lizzie Magie,

who meant for it to be
a teaching tool

about the evils
of capitalism.

How can I make people realize

that Carnegie
and Rockefeller

are swimming in money

while their workers
struggle?

And that's a bad thing.

Ah, a board game.

Magie called her idea
The Landlord's Game,

and it was meant to demonstrate
that while

the winner-take-all
system of capitalism

forces everyone to fight
against each other,

when wealth
is equally distributed,

all of society wins.

And lots of people
loved it.

Using a board game
as a teaching tool

for economic justice?

How keen.
Your turn.

Sounds like a pretty
boring game to me.

But I love a badass
female innovator

as much as the next CEO.

Go make bank off that
socialism, girl.

Oh, even if she'd wanted
to make money off of it,

she never had the chance.

Magie's game was ripped off
by a destitute

Depression-era deadbeat.

His name was
Charles Darrow,

and he was introduced

to The Landlord's Game
at a party.

He didn't think
anyone owned the idea,

so he passed it off

to Parker Brothers
as his own.

Hey, Parker Bros.

Check out this game I definitely
made up all by myself.

It's called Monopoly.

It's about making money,

and it's gonna make us all
a ton of money.

Oh, heck, yeah.
We're in.

But then they discovered
that Lizzie Magie

already had a patent.

Hey, according
to the patent office,

some lady came up
with this game.

But don't worry.
That won't stop us.

What?! I hope she sued
the pants off of them!

And then I hoped they all
got slapped with

HR violations
for being pants-less.

She couldn't
and didn't.

Parker Brothers
convinced her to sell

them her patent for
just 500 bucks.

Say, dame, what do you
say you let us

make your
little game for you?

And in exchange
for sharing,

here's an amount
of money that's definitely

not lowballing you.

Oh, I don't care
about the money.

I'm just happy more people
will learn

how dreadful capitalism is.

[Adam]
But Parker Brothers only made a few copies

of Magie's Landlord's Game.

Instead, they mass-produced
Darrow's version,

which only included
the monopolist rules.

And when Monopoly took off,

it made Charles Darrow
a millionaire.

While Lizzie Magie never
saw a penny in royalties.

Oh...

And even worse,
Parker Brothers

completely erased her name
from the game's history,

giving full
credit to Darrow.

Step right up to buy
America's

favorite board game!

It'll take you
from rags to riches

just like its inventor,
Charles Darrow.

Ironically,
what Darrow

and Parker Brothers did

actually proved Magie's
original point.

Capitalism can be
a cutthroat competition

where one person winning

means someone else
has to lose.

And maybe that's
something to think about

the next time
you play Monopoly

or do business.

Bye-bye.

Wait, you're gonna
leave me in here?

Guys,
you still there?

Can you hear me?!

Help!

Oh, great,
you're back.

Don't care where
you've been.

Let's just
cut straight to...

the most sinister, vile,

and destructive
game of all!

That's an easy one.

The Olympics.

Really?!

That's what you got
out of that?!

[watch alarm beeping]

Oh, my God!

Oh my God, oh my God,
it's starting!

[TV announcer]
Good morning to whoever

is crazy enough to watch sports at 3:00 a.m.

Today's women's
weightlifting finals

will make or break dreams
of Olympic gold.

Oh, there she is!
Go, Bethany!

You're a winner just
by being here, girl.

[chanting]
USA, USA!

Actually, in the Olympics
almost everyone loses.

Come on, I'll show you.

Even though
the Olympics

are a multibillion-dollar
industry,

everyone from
the athletes to the cities

that hosts the Games
gets screwed.

This is so cool.

But wait,
what do you mean?

I mean, making it
to the Olympics

is like
a dream come true.

Yes, but to achieve
that dream

many athletes
are living a nightmare.

[Adam]
Even some medalists

are unable to make ends meet

and live close
to the poverty line.

Tell us, what's
it really like to be

an Olympic athlete?

Uh, we often have to pay
for our own training,

travel, and equipment.

[panting]

It costs... tons of money.

Often tens of thousands
a year.

[crowd cheering]

Wow!
An incredible performance

while speaking
an incredible truth.

What are you gonna
do next?

Oh...

Sleep in my car,
I guess.

I can't afford
to pay rent.

Heartbreaking.

Just like Ronda Rousey,

who had to live in her car
even after she won

a medal in judo in 2008.

[woman]
Wait a minute.

Olympics athletes
aren't paid?

But millions of people
are watching them on TV.

Well, they might get
some pay

but hardly enough to live on.

Sometimes their only
compensation is team swag.

I can't eat this.

Ugh, I guess
I could try.

Okay, what about
Michael Phelps?

He makes tons of money.

Yeah, but most of that
sweet sports scratch

comes from sponsorship,

and only
the megastars can get those

because the International
Olympic Committee

bars anyone but
the biggest names

from using phrases like
the "Olympics"

or "Team USA"
to earn money.

Hulko Puffs puff me up
for the [bleep].

What the... ?

For the [bleep].

You know what?
Never mind.

Okay, why don't their
teams just pay them?

Because they'd rather
spend the money

they get from the Olympics

on overpaid coaches
and administrators.

[Adam]
In 2016, the executive director of U.S. Swimming

made $854,000.

But most of his swimmers
only made 5% of that.

What?

But the athletes
do all the work.

[man]
Exactly.

Sweet baby Costas!

It's shot put gold medalist
Adam Nelson!

Always a pleasure to meet
another Adam.

So, tell us
what it feels like

to be an Olympic
athlete.

Sore mostly, but seriously,
it's a struggle.

Athena, I was
the number-one-ranked

shot putter in the world
for a number of years

and my family still lived
competition to competition,

oftentimes barely able
to get by.

What?!
That is terrible.

People idolize
you guys,

and you didn't get
anything out of it?

Well, don't
get me wrong.

I love the Olympics Games

and-- and the fans
that support it.

But the bottom line is that
the IOC exploits the athletes.

It's our work,
our dedication,

and our competition that
allows the IOC

to generate
billions of dollars

in revenue every year,

yet for some reason
it's the athletes

that are still
struggling to make a living.

That's why I've tried
to organize

a Track & Field Athletes Union

to empower
the voice of the athletes

within the Olympic
movement.

Now, if you'll excuse me,

I've gotta
go find that shot put.

They are not cheap.

Man.

I always thought that
Olympic athletes' lives

were all Wheaties boxes

and Olympic village
orgies.

I'm afraid not.

And if you think
the athletes

are treated poorly,

wait till you hear
what the Olympics does

to its host cities.

♪♪

To host the Games,
cities have to spend

billions on accommodations
and upgrades.

And that investment
almost always loses money.

At the 2012 Games,

London only made back
29% of what they spent.

[bell tolling]

Beijing spent almost
half a billion dollars

to build a new stadium,

and they're still spending
11 million a year

to maintain it,

even though most of the time
it's empty.

♪♪

Whew!

Analysts even believe
that Greece is dead

after the 2004 Athens Game

helped lead
to its economic crisis,

which has had a ripple effect
all over the EU.

And not only are
taxpayers footing the bill,

the impact on the residents
of those cities

is more destructive
than Ryan Lochte

in a Rio gas station.

When local governments
start suping up their cities

for anticipated
tourists,

rents skyrocket,

and many people are
forced from their homes,

even into homelessness.

Sometimes citizens
are straight up

kicked out
under the guise of

"cleaning up the city for
the global spotlight."

Before the Rio Olympics,

business leaders spent
$12.7 million

on private security

to force over a thousand
homeless people

and young black men

out of high-tourist
areas.

For Seoul, almost
750,000 people were displaced.

And in Beijing
an estimated

1.5 million people

were kicked out of their
homes to make room

for Olympic construction.

Oh, my God.

All those people,
just for a game?

Yeah.

Which is why people
around the world

have fought
against the Games

coming to their city.

[all chanting]
No Olympics here!

No Olympics here!

Organizers in Boston,
Budapest,

Hamburg, and Rome

have all successfully
lobbied their governments

to drop bids to host
the 2024 Games.

And in Los Angeles,
right now,

activists are fighting
to try to get their mayor

to pull out
of the 2028 Games.

This is horrible.

Why do we even do
the Olympics

if it's this bad?

Because the people
who organize them

make too much money
to care.

[Adam]
In the last Olympics,

the International Olympic
Committee

made over $3.5 billion
in TV rights

and company partnerships.

While businesses
and developers make billions

building flashy new stadiums,
hotels, and high-rises.

[cash register ringing,
crowd cheering]

And of course,
the prestige of hosting

the Games is a huge boost

to the careers of ambitious
politicians.

[cheering and applause]

And the IOC encourages
and exploits all of this.

Even going so far as
to accept bribes.

So the people who run
the Olympics

are making
all this money

and everyone else
is getting screwed.

Yup. Until those
who benefit

use their power
to change the system,

this is the true
Olympic spirit.

Guess I'm going back
to watching football.

Actually...

Eh, never mind.

You've had enough
for one day.

Ah, I figured you
weren't coming back.

I'll take my
prize now, please.

♪♪

Do you really
have no clue

what's going on here?!

Fine.

This was supposed to be
a big reveal, but...

I'm the devil!

And I was doing this
whole thing more like,

you know, if you didn't
win my games

I was gonna steal
your soul, but, uh...

doesn't really matter now

because you didn't play
by the rules!

So I get to steal
your soul anyway!

[laughing maniacally]

Actually, that's not
how rules work at all.

[laughing mockingly]

Hey, Adam, thank you so much
for coming on the show.

We really
appreciate it.

It's a pleasure
to be here, Adam.

Are you optimistic about
the chances for

athletes in the Olympics

organizing and-- and being
able to fight

for better treatment?

I am an eternal
optimist,

which is why I think I was
pretty good as an athlete.

I always believe
that there's

something more to achieve,
and that we can achieve it.

But in order
for that to happen,

the athletes are gonna
have to bridge the gaps

that exist between them

and see that they
have this common bond.

Unfortunately, they are
actually exploited.

But the German athletes

have done a good job
of organizing

over the last year and a half
and earning recognition

for their
independent athletes group.

We in the U.S. have still
struggled to--

to get to that point.

And I'm optimistic
about it

but I know it's always
gonna be an uphill battle.

Well, for folks at home
who are hearing about

this issue for
the first time

and wanna support
the athletes

but still, you know, love--

love watching
the Olympics on TV,

what can they do
to help the athletes

fight for better
treatment?

I don't have an answer
for that, Adam.

[laughing]
That's fine.

There isn't always something
that people at home can do.

You know, I think everything
that the culture can do,

everything that
the fans can do

to empower athletes,
to recognize their value

is gonna help.Right.

And that's--
that's the big change that has to happen

is the athletes
have to understand

what the value is that they're
actually giving up

and then not
be afraid to say,

"It's not un-American

for me to ask
for what I'm worth."

In fact, it's the exact
opposite.

Right, that's a real

foundational
American principle.

That you-- you have value
and you should ask for,

and you should
negotiate, damn it!

Exactly, exactly.

And a negotiation
doesn't involve you

giving me a contract
that I can't change.

Right.

Well, I really appreciate
you being out there

fighting for it, Adam,
and-- and thank you

for coming on the show
to talk to us about it.

Oh, thanks for
having me, guys.

Read the contract.

According to the rules,
your soul is mine.

But I never agreed
to those rules.

And games are
better for everyone

when we all get to decide
what the rules are.

Just like society.

Hell isn't society.

It's... hell.

For instance,
we've ignored

all the positive things that
video games can bring

just 'cause a few people

wanna make rules about
which games we get to play.

You know, I somehow feel

like you haven't been
listening to anything

I've said
this entire time.

And we never learned
Lizzie Magie's

lesson about capitalism

because Charles Darrow
and the Parker Brothers

threw her rules
in the trash.

I-- I-- I don't think
I even want your soul anymore.

You're too annoying.

And the Olympics
can't truly

live up to their ideals

of bringing people across
the world together

if the rules
we use to govern them

are so unfair
and destructive.

Yeah, uh-huh.
Great. You done?

Games are important.

They're often how
we first learn

to interact with others,

and they're a reflection
of the world we live in.

So, in games and real life,

when we see that the rules
aren't working,

we have to change them.

Yeah, right!
Bye!

[bell on door jingling]Oh, man.

This was so much easier

when I was just
selling cupcakes.

[sighing]

[laughing maniacally]

Thank you for joining me.Thanks for having me.

So, Maria, we just
talked in this episode

about how the Olympics
negatively impacts cities that host it.

Your group, Strategic Actions
For A Just Economy,

is working here in L.A.

to try to mitigate
those negative effects.

Absolutely.
That's exactly what I do.

If you look at the Olympics

that happened in London,
Sweden, Geneva,

usually what you see
is rental prices increase

between 30 to 40%.

You have a developer
who says

I can make
an apartment there,

or I can make
a boutique hotel

or a big luxury hotel

that's gonna hold
all of the athletes

that are gonna come and be
a part of the Olympics

and they'll
try to get permits

for hotel, restaurants
and whatnot.

Evict everybody,
knock it down,

build a hotel there.Absolutely.

And then what you have
is these families

who can afford
very little rent

suddenly thrown out
into the street,

where rents are between
$1,500 to $2,500.

Oh, wow.So, often we see that
homelessness raise--

rise two to three times
what they normally are.

And in L.A. we wanna make sure
that that doesn't happen.

What is your group doing

and what can folks
at home do to,

you know, push back
against this trend?

Either in L.A.
of if the Olympics comes to their city.

Absolutely.
Some of the ways

that people are countering that
is they're forming groups.

For example,
here in Los Angeles

we have a group NOlympics,

and they're--
it's a consortium

of different groups that
have come together

to basically say
here is how the Olympics

are gonna negatively
impact our society,

our communities,
our homes,

and we're not
going to take that.

They write letters,
they stage rallies,

they go to decision-makers

and they let them know
exactly what their worries are

and what they would like to see
in place of the Olympics.

That's democracy
in action.

To take that action...Absolutely.

...and lobby
the government directly,

as citizens.Absolutely.

You cannot wait for
the answers

to be written for you.

You have to take part
in a democracy.

It's a full-contact sport.

Well, thank you
so much for doing it.

Thank you so much
for coming on the show and talk to us about it.

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