Reality Bites transcript

[hawthorne]

Okay I had someone email this to me today. I didn't watch the program but I think it's rather interesting. I am putting it into CODE tags because it's quite long and I don't want it taking up huge amounts of room. Links included.

 Reality Bytes - Transcript
PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT: Monday, 25 August , 2008 

http://www.abc. net.au/austory/ content/2007/ s2346964. htm

CAROLINE JONES, PRESENTER: Hello I'm Caroline Jones. Tonight's
Australian Story is about a life lived on the internet. In the real
world Daniel Meadows is an anxious young recluse, yet he found friends
and even fame on YouTube, an on-line universe which I must admit I
find a bit of a mystery. However, so real was it for Daniel Meadows
that when love beckoned he felt compelled to leave the security of his
parent's Brisbane home and follow his heart across the globe. But it
wasn't long before the harsh judgements of the real world overtook the
romance of the virtual one.

DANIEL MEADOWS (speaking into video camera): Hey people, as you can
see I'm back in my home in Australia. To you guys it probably seemed
like I never left because I haven't posted anything since cause I've
been in prison. (Laughs) Well I might as well have been in prison. I
was in a detention centre in Detroit. I was detained by border
security on suspicion of terrorism and that makes me laugh.

ISAAC GRONLUND, FRIEND: It's sort of like he attracts trouble. As soon
as he steps out of that bedroom of his, full on things happen.

DANIEL MEADOWS (speaking into video camera): I don't know how long I'm
banned. I'm banned from the US! Yeah, well, there you go - Homeland
Security keeping America safe from Australians.

(Excerpts from YouTube vlogs - video blogs):
MALE: Is this the f*****g United States of America or the f*****g Gestapo?
MALE: Dr Lemur isn't a terrorist, wasn't suspicious, had nothing to hide…
MALE: But do we need this security? F**k yes we do.
MALE: I've just got done watching your video...
(End of excerpts)

SHANNON JONES, VLOGGER: There was a lot of buzz about it. All of these
news stations wanted to do stories and write reports on it. It was
kind of crazy for a while.

DANIEL MEADOWS (speaking into video camera): I'm still alive, that's
the most important thing. (Sigh) I've almost got a sense of humour
about it. Almost.

DANIEL MEADOWS: I was always one of those people that never really
knew what they wanted to do with their lives and everyone else in
class wanted to be a vet or something and I just liked watching movies
and I was always interested in film.

DANIEL MEADOWS (excerpt from vlog): G'day guys. It's three in the
morning here, which is not really unusual for me...

JOHN MEADOWS, FATHER: Daniel finds it a little bit hard to get close
to people. He doesn't like a lot of people around. Every time we take
Daniel to where there's people are he sort of shies away from it a bit.

CLARE MEADOWS, MOTHER: Yeah, he does.

JOHN MEADOWS, FATHER: Seems to have to go to the toilet all the time,
says, "I have to go for a minute".

DANIEL MEADOWS: That's why it's hard for me to get jobs too because
I'm just awful when being questioned in job interviews and stuff like
that, I just always just say stupid things (laughs). I've always
struggled with anxiety. I've had panic attacks when I was young, when
I was like 10 years old and they were just like hyperventilating and
stuff in situations that were stressful. And anything could set me off
and get me stressed. And I've always, I've dealt with that my whole
life, pretty much.

CLARE MEADOWS, MOTHER: Daniel finds it very hard to sleep at night. I
don't know why but he just finds it very hard. He's awake at night and
he's walking around, wakes me up sometimes.

DANIEL MEADOWS (excerpt from vlog): It's 2am and I still can't sleep.
And this is a sleep clinic so sleeping is kind of essential here. It's
kind of the whole point of the exercise….

SHIRLEY SCHURMANN, COUNSELLOR: Daniel certainly is quite shy; he's a
very private person. He doesn't let people into his life very easily
and he did lock himself away a lot. And I mean in his bedroom, I don't
just mean in the house.

DANIEL MEADOWS: I think my interest in computers came through all that
kind of isolation and there was that kind of, not anonymity but,
because I was always very honest on-line, but it was another world and
it was easier to sort of communicate with people for me that way.

REBECCAH SNYDER, VLOGGER (excerpt from vlog): Hi, I'm Rebecca and I'm
Dan's friend. Although Dan and I have never actually met in person,
the one thing that we had in common that stood out among everything
else is that we were both video bloggers on YouTube.

DANIEL MEADOWS: YouTube is just like a video sharing website but it's
more than that. There are more kind of permanent users of the site
that have formed a community and you watch their videos, they watch
your videos and you form this friendship.

REBECCAH SNYDER, VLOGGER (excerpt from vlog): It's a lot more
interesting to use the video format because not only can I tell you
but I can also show you.

DANIEL MEADOWS: My screen name on YouTube is Dr Lemur. I started out
posting a video which was just of my cat fighting with my dog and then
there were people sending me e-mails saying well when's the next
video? I had a video that I posted which was basically just puppies
attacking me and that ended up getting about 1.7-million hits. I don't
know how for the life of me.

ISAAC GRONLUND, FRIEND: He's probably got heaps of friends on the
internet but in terms of getting out in the world, I don't think he
has got many friends outside the monitor.

DANIEL MEADOWS: I parodied a guy who set a Guinness world record for
wearing the most t-shirts at once except I did it with socks.

KEITH OLBERMANN (Excerpt from "Countdown" posted on Daniel's vlog):
Ah, I'm terribly sorry you've fallen just 47 socks shy of the record...

DANIEL MEADOWS: And that became really popular somehow and got on the
news in America and certainly raised my profile quite a lot.

KEITH OLBERMANN (excerpt continued): He felt as if his foot was being
mashed in a vice and he then required urgent podiatric assistance. No
permanent foot damage was sustained. The socks however have to be
burned. Better luck next time Doc.

SHIRLEY SCHURMANN, COUNSELLOR: It's quite common these days for people
to be on the internet and in chat rooms and those sort of things. And
for Daniel I suppose it was a way of him socialising but still in his
own bedroom.

SHANNON JONES, VLOGGER (excerpt from vlog): Hello YouTubers. Here is
my harmony guitar...

DANIEL MEADOWS: Shannon actually found me. I met Shannon in April of
2007. She messaged me and I messaged her back and we kind of got to
know each other and watched each other's videos.

SHANNON JONES, VLOGGER (excerpt from vlog): Hello, this is Grayharp
once again and I'm going to be cooking you some food tonight.

DANIEL MEADOWS: Shannon lives near Pittsburgh and I live on the Gold
Coast in Queensland.

DANIEL MEADOWS (excerpt from vlog): I thought I'd show you a bit of my
day, or as much as I can get away with filming today without being fired.

SHANNON JONES, VLOGGER (Bridgeport, West Virginia): He was appealing
to me because, well he was attractive to me and I liked his accent. We
just had a lot in common. I mean he finds humour in these little small
things that you know, maybe some other people wouldn't find funny.

SHANNON JONES, VLOGGER (excerpt from vlog): I think I've had about
five hours of sleep in the past like three weeks maybe because I'm
just up all night thinking about the next video.

DANIEL MEADOWS (excerpt from vlog): I'm afraid of honey bees, not
really specifically honey bees, any kind of waspage you could throw in
there.

SHANNON JONES, VLOGGER: I started becoming emotionally attached to
him. Dan was a lot more guarded about his feelings at first. I think
he was, he was very hesitant to you know, become, get in a
relationship or anything because we live so far apart.

DANIEL MEADOWS: There was just a connection that took place between us
that was more important than the distance. It was very serious for me.
I just found myself thinking about her all the time and just falling
in love with her.

(To Shannon on Skype - internet video phone): Hello?
SHANNON JONES, VLOGGER (to Daniel on Skype): Hey, can you hear me?
DANIEL MEADOWS (to Shannon on Skype): Hey, yeah, I can hear. I've just
got to get this video working.

DANIEL MEADOWS: We spoke every night for about three hours a night,
for around six months.

(To Shannon on Skype): Did you get the package I sent?
SHANNON JONES, VLOGGER (to Daniel on Skype): I'm going to eat all
those Tim Tams up right away.

DANIEL MEADOWS: Oh it was very frustrating that we couldn't actually
spend time together in a physical sense. Shannon is a student and I'm
unemployed so the biggest obstacle was just getting the money together
to see each other.

(To Shannon on Skype): I can't hear you at all now, it's awful.

SHANNON JONES, VLOGGER: I did have a lot of problems with my family.
They said, well why can't you just get a guy around here? You know,
why do you have to find a guy half way across the world? You know,
it's internet, it's not real. I started to get really discouraged and
I think that's the point where I was like, maybe this isn't such a
good idea. Maybe I am crazy.

DANIEL MEADOWS: She sent me an e-mail which said that, you know, this
is not working and that she was giving up on this. I just needed to
get on a plane and I had to see her. There was just a point where I
knew that this couldn't end on-line any more, no matter what happened,
that I needed to look into her eyes and see this person face to face.
No matter what, that had to happen. My plan was to see Shannon and
then move along the eastern side of the US and see different YouTube
friends that I've come to know really well over the last two years.
The travel agent got me to take this route which was flying around
from Brisbane to Sydney, via Tokyo, Japan, and then over to Detroit
and I'd catch another plane from Detroit to Pittsburgh. So it was a
lot of flights and a lot of flying around and I didn't really mind
doing that because it saved me so much money. I had left feeling quite
happy and anxious I guess about the whole thing because I've never
travelled overseas.

(Excerpt from vlog, "Journey to the homeland" - April): Well, I've had
three days no sleep. I'm tired, I'm nauseous, I'm frigging in Japan.
And I don't know what I'm doing here…

DANIEL MEADOWS: It was probably about 40 hours since I'd left Brisbane
to the time that I got to Detroit. I was just absolutely exhausted. I
filled out the standard entry form for a tourist visa and on that form
you actually have to write where you're headed and that was West
Virginia and they looked at that and it was suspicion straight away
almost. I thought it was a random check. I was kind of nervous about
it but I thought, I'll calm down, it'll be over soon. They'll ask me
some questions and I'll be on my way.

DORIS MEISSNER, EX US IMMIGRATION SERVICE (Washington) : Landing in
Detroit shouldn't be any different from landing in Los Angeles and New
York. That said, sometimes the inspections in those smaller, less
highly travelled destinations, sometimes the inspections there are far
more rigorous than they would be in the major ports of entry.

DANIEL MEADOWS: Then they pulled me into the Homeland Security
section. One of the officers said, "This guy looks iffy". And they
were immediately very angry and loud and it was at that point I just
thought, this is not normal, this is not something that happens to
everyone.

DORIS MEISSNER, EX US IMMIGRATION SERVICE: This is a subjective
process and inspectors in particular will tell you and feel quite
proud to tell you that their gut instincts are very important and that
their experience over many years of doing this work is something that
they rely on.

DANIEL MEADOWS: They patted me down, they had a bit of a feel
downstairs and did all that kind of thing. And that was, that was
disconcerting. They looked through my bags and pulled out a novelty
hat that I had. I don't know how it got in there, if my Mum put it in.
And they immediately said, oh, "Have you ever worked for the FBI?" And
I just sort of laughed at them and said, "No I don't work for the FBI,
it's just a novelty hat". And I think they thought I was a terrorist.
They went through my footage on my camera which had stuff from Japan
on it and they sort of looked oddly at that because I was filming
around the airport and things like that. They'd found an e-mail from a
friend of mine that was a joking kind of mail about, you know, you'd
better not bring box cutters and, you know, exploding shoes and that
sort of thing.

DORIS MEISSNER, EX US IMMIGRATION SERVICE: The sensitivities now after
9/11 in the United States are super high. In this particular case that
had to do with box cutters and whether or not the tone in the e-mails
was joking, inspectors will take that and do take that kind of thing
very, very seriously.

DANIEL MEADOWS: I had a little address book with me of all my friends
where I would be going and with their phone numbers so they began
calling those people. It was more about that I knew a lot of these
people through YouTube and that was something that they didn't
comprehend. They were asking me if I'd actually met these people
before in real life.

SHANNON JONES, VLOGGER: Then they started questioning me, all of these
questions about Dan and his occupation in Australia - very, very
specific things. How many dogs does he have, you know? They just asked
me all these random questions, rapid fire. And it was really
nerve-wracking. I wasn't worried that he was going to be detained in
any way. I just sort of waited around to hear from him, you know, I've
arrived in Pittsburgh, I'm fine, everything's okay. And I didn't think
anything could go wrong at that point.

DANIEL MEADOWS: Well they actually came up to me and said, "Good news,
almost. We no longer think you're a terrorist." And they were looking
more into the fact that I may just disappear into America and work
there illegally. They were going from one idea, one suspicion to
another suspicion and they were just all over the place. And it was
almost, you know, at one point they were almost arguing with
themselves about, you know, what are we going to pin him on. It was
very, very, very scary just to be in that position of, you feel like
you're in a no man's land, you have no rights at all. I was thinking,
am I going to get out of here? Would I end up in Guantanamo Bay like a
David Hicks kind of character? A lot of my thoughts were on Shannon
and whether I was going to get to see her and that was just really
like heart breaking because I'd come all this way and I'd done all
this stuff and, yeah, it was really hard to deal with. They approached
me and said, you know, you're going home for not having permanent ties
to Australia. I was really confused about what they meant. You know,
I'm a citizen, my whole family and everything I know is in Australia -
is that considered a tie? And they just kind of laughed it off and
said no, you know. And no-one could really explain to me what that
actually meant.

DORIS MEISSNER, EX US IMMIGRATION SERVICE: The judgement that the
inspector makes at the port of entry is absolute. There is no formal
appeal from that decision and the person who's coming, the applicant
really doesn't have any rights.

SHANNON JONES, VLOGGER: I found out that he was going to be deported
and something clicked in my head. And I started thinking I really,
really wanted to see him, like I really wanted to see him. And it was
more than just wanting to see a friend you know. And that's the point
where I realised I still had feelings for him and that I'd made a huge
mistake.

JOHN MEADOWS, FATHER: Four days after, this was on a Saturday, we got
a phone call, I'm 10 minutes away from home. Can you come and pick me
up? We didn't hear nothing in between, there was just question marks,
you know. What happened? He was tired, his eyes looked like he hadn't
slept for a week and he looked really, really, really stressed.

DANIEL MEADOWS: About 10 minutes after getting home I'd switched the
camera on and made a YouTube vlog just to let everyone know I was home.

(Excerpt from vlog): Right now I'm just really annoyed about the whole
thing because those of you that know me know that I've put frigging
everything into this trip...

DANIEL MEADOWS: The reality just set in at some point, that sense of
hopelessness of this situation with Shannon, am I ever going to see
her again and, you know, will I see her at all.

(Excerpt from vlog): I don't know, Homeland Security is kind of
sorting out whatever I'm charged with. I'm not even clear on it...

CHRISTOPHER BATEMAN, "VANITY FAIR" MAGAZINE: The fact that he put his
story up on YouTube was interesting. He did a good job of getting it
out there.

(Excerpts from YouTube vlogs):
MALE: Australian vlogger Dr Lemur has come under brutal dumb arse
attack in recent weeks…
MALE: It will just make your blood boil especially when he describes
the Gestapo-like tactics...
MALE: You owe him his complete and entire money back for the entire
trip and there better be some accountability for this s**t…
MALE: I have no idea what they were thinking…
MALE: Dude, I feel for you but all this f*****g America bashing - no!
Absolutely not!
MALE: Maybe this is like an event that God placed there to make you
not go to America because…
(End of excerpt)

DANIEL MEADOWS: I just received through YouTube scores of e-mails from
travellers all around the globe about their encounters with Homeland
Security. It was really difficult to know that it wasn't just a freak
thing that happened to me.

(Excerpts from YouTube vlogs):
MALE: You're not the first case I heard of. I mean this is absolutely
completely f****d up what happened to you…
MALE: This is an opportunity for YouTube to truly represent the power
of the voice of regular people…
(End of excerpts)

DANIEL MEADOWS: Well the internet is really that last place left where
you can have a voice as just an individual and have that ability to
tell your story.

MALE (excerpt from YouTube vlog): I just want to let you know there
was an interesting article with regards to Homeland Security…

SHANNON JONES, VLOGGER: All of these news stations wanted to do
stories and write reports on it and it just turned into this sort of
big huge thing.

DANIEL MEADOWS: Christopher Bateman from "Vanity Fair" contacted me
and said, "This sounds like a story that we'd like to look into".

CHRISTOPHER BATEMAN, "VANITY FAIR" MAGAZINE: He was someone who seemed
so honest on video and so forthcoming and just really opened up about
his story. It's an awful thing when you're powerless like that and
have no control over your own fate really.

DANIEL MEADOWS (excerpt from vlog): I'm just going to chill for a
while and try not to think about this. Yeah, it didn't go well. Anyway
that's all you need to know.

SHANNON JONES, VLOGGER (Bridgeport, West Virginia): We started
e-mailing each other again. I told him, "When I found out that I
wasn't going to get to see you, that's the point that I realised that
I had to see you. If it means I have to fly to Australia, I'm going to
do it. I applied for a credit card and I got approved and I booked a
flight.

DANIEL MEADOWS: One day she just sent me an e-mail which was just a
copy of a plane ticket. And yeah, that was, I just couldn't really
contain it for a while.

SHANNON JONES, VLOGGER: I came through these doors and there he was.
You know, we just hugged each other and he looked like a total nervous
wreck. He was like a Woody Allen type character, just all over the
place and I was like, oh my gosh. But it was exactly the way I
expected him to be.

(Excerpt from video):
SHANNON JONES, VLOGGER: How are we going to do this because I want to
film and you're filming?
DANIEL MEADOWS: I'm filming you.
(End of excerpt)

DANIEL MEADOWS: It was just like seeing someone you'd known for years
walk in the door and at the same time it was emotionally intense
because you've never been able to touch that person.

JOHN MEADOWS, FATHER: The way they were sort of responding together
and doing stuff together and they just sort of clicked.

(Excerpt from video):
DANIEL MEADOWS (to Shannon): I love you.
SHANNON JONES, VLOGGER: Haha, that's on video.
DANIEL MEADOWS: Oh you were recording...
(End of excerpt)

SHANNON JONES, VLOGGER: I was just very happy. We laughed, I think I
laughed more in those eight days than I've laughed in a long time.

(Excerpt continued):
DANIEL MEADOWS (to Shannon): You could delete that.
SHANNON JONES, VLOGGER: No. I love him too.
(End of excerpt)

DANIEL MEADOWS: It was a really sort of wonderful eight days but it
just wasn't long enough. It was really, really hard to watch her leave
as well.

(Speaking into video camera - last month): Hey guys, I'm just going to
Brett Raguse's office at the moment who is a Federal MP. I've gone
through, you know, various channels to complain to the DHS. Nothing's
sort of worked so this is my last resort almost.

DANIEL MEADOWS: My travel status at the moment is that I can't travel
to the US like a regular Australian citizen can.

(To Brett Raguse): Kind of looked on the form and said I will be going
to West Virginia...

BRETT RAGUSE, FEDERAL MP: This could happen to anyone and I think
Daniel certainly wasn't at fault. In good faith he took the trip and
probably never thought about the sort of inquisition that he might get
on the other end.

(To Daniel Meadows): Well I understand that probably is legally their
position but given that you weren't an obvious threat...

DANIEL MEADOWS (to Brett Raguse): No, no, it was just...

DORIS MEISSNER, EX US IMMIGRATION SERVICE: Now that he's been denied
entry he would be on a watch list. If people in his own Government
think that it is legitimate they can then come to their counterparts
in the US Government and ask for an informal review or ask for a
second look at the case and then the chips would have to fall where
they may.

SHANNON JONES, VLOGGER: I think we have a future definitely. I think I
am going to go back. I love the continent, I love him, I love his
family. I think that if I don't then I'll always wonder what if.

DANIEL MEADOWS: The plan with Shannon is really for both of us to save
money so we can see each other. And that's the ongoing struggle is to
get through the obstacles in our way and ultimately be together.
That's the hope anyway, that's my hope.

SHIRLEY SCHURMANN, COUNSELLOR: It's interesting in seeing him now,
there's a huge change that's come over him. And I see a different
person now when I see him. I see somebody who's looking for something
more in life. He's not stuck somewhere.

DANIEL MEADOWS: I'm working now as a metre reader for the city and the
place. On the one hand you're spending a lot of time sort of running
away from dogs and on the other side I mean you get out and about and
you see life happening. I don't know really what me and Shannon will
ever be but I know that I won't give up and if she won't give up
either then we've got a real chance at something.

END CAPTIONS:
The US Department of Homeland Security declined to comment for
tonight's program.

Daniel Meadows says he hopes to be reunited with Shannon Jones next year.

Meanwhile, he is still making videos for the internet. His mother
stars in a recent effort…

[hawthorne]

My reaction to this is that, frankly, I am apalled. If this guy had flown into NYC, LA, SF, Miami, Chicago and mostly likely Seattle, then he never would have faced this. Travelling to West Virginia raises flags with security? WTF is that about?

I live in Australia, Sydney to be precise. But I am American. I have lived here since 2003, partly because of employment, partly because of family. I was in the US when 9/11 happened. I served my country in the Marines. I understand fear and succumbing to it. It's time that things like this did not happen anymore. America is a country founded on Freedom.

[ThaShadowknight]

Amen.

[Dracho]

Just because it is typed doesn't mean it is true.

[Fry]

It's simple. All Australians are terrorists. Why do you think they breed kangaroos? To make new episodes of Skippy? I think not!

[Dragonthorne]

That is, however, a great side-effect!

[kkthnx]

Originally Posted by Fry

It's simple. All Australians are terrorists. Why do you think they breed with kangaroos? To make new episodes of Skippy? I think not!

Fixed