The Charlie Kirk Show - Escaping 'The Cave' and Solving the American Crisis of Conformity—LIVE from Dream City Church

00:00:00.000 Hey, everybody.

00:00:00.000 Happy Sunday today.

00:00:01.000 My conversation at Dream City Church Freedom Night in America.

00:00:07.000 A great conversation with a lot of people in Phoenix where we talk about the allegory of the cave. 0.61

00:00:14.000 We talk about the ash conformity test and why Christians need to not conform to the ways of this world and how that applies to our government. 0.55

00:00:21.000 Email us your thoughts, freedom at charliekirk.com. 0.99

00:00:24.000 If you want to support our program, because there are no advertisers, so it's just you guys.

00:00:28.000 If you're listening to this, this is for you, made possible by you at charliekirk.com/slash support.

00:00:36.000 You can get behind what we're doing.

00:00:37.000 I want to thank Mikey for his generous support.

00:00:39.000 I want to thank Connor for his generous support.

00:00:42.000 I want to thank Erica for her generous support and Reagan for the most amazing support.

00:00:47.000 And of course, Terrell for the amazing support at charliekirk.com/slash support.

00:00:52.000 And I can never forget, Will, charliekirk.com/slash support.

00:00:57.000 And also Llewellyn from Texas.

00:01:00.000 Thank you.

00:01:01.000 And Lisa from Florida for your monthly support.

00:01:05.000 Thank you.

00:01:06.000 I also want to thank George from Elmhurst, Illinois for your monthly support.

00:01:10.000 Cameron from Cape Craver.

00:01:13.000 Did I say that right?

00:01:13.000 Canaveral?

00:01:15.000 Thank you.

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00:01:20.000 Thank you, guys.

00:01:20.000 CharlieKirk.com/slash support.

00:01:23.000 Email us your thoughts, freedom at charliekirk.com.

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00:01:29.000 We are growing quicker than we could have ever imagined, thanks to you.

00:01:33.000 Buckle up.

00:01:34.000 Here we go.

00:01:36.000 Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.

00:01:38.000 Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.

00:01:40.000 I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk.

00:01:43.000 Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.

00:01:46.000 I want to thank Charlie.

00:01:47.000 He's an incredible guy.

00:01:48.000 His spirit, his love of this country, he's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created.

00:01:55.000 Turning point USA.

00:01:57.000 We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.

00:02:06.000 That's why we are here.

00:02:09.000 Thank you, everybody.

00:02:11.000 Thank you, Luke.

00:02:12.000 It's amazing.

00:02:13.000 So, before we get started tonight, we have a lot to talk about and some great things to talk about.

00:02:18.000 About how, after just two of these freedom squares, we've put points on the board.

00:02:23.000 We've put points on the board here in Arizona.

00:02:26.000 And I got to be honest, this is an amazing turnout considering it's 175 degrees outside.

00:02:31.000 You know, before we decided to kind of come to Arizona and make this the stand for the entire nation, I didn't quite understand the perseverance and the intestinal fortitude it took to survive these Phoenix summers, but it's a little bit easier than Chicago winters.

00:02:47.000 But I just want to say our partners here at Dream City, they've been amazing.

00:02:52.000 They don't charge us anything to do this, they're incredible hosts.

00:02:55.000 And I want you to consider maybe the Lord has blessed you over the last year.

00:02:59.000 Maybe you just got a promotion to support some of the initiatives they are doing to actually improve the welfare of the city around us.

00:03:07.000 We got to step up and help our fellow neighbor after these unconstitutional and immoral lockdowns.

00:03:13.000 And so I want to just reiterate what we're experiencing right here in Arizona, getting a lot of other churches.

00:03:20.000 I don't want to say jealous because that's not of the Lord, but it gets them a little bit into a place where they want what we got here.

00:03:28.000 Let's just put it that way.

00:03:29.000 So I'm happy to announce that the vision that we have kind of put forward is now growing with momentum.

00:03:36.000 Next Friday, we will be launching Freedom Square in Albuquerque, New Mexico at Steve Smotherman's Church.

00:03:46.000 We have also Troy Maxwell at Freedom House in North Carolina will be opening up a Freedom Square in the coming month or two.

00:03:55.000 Jack Hibbs at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills will be doing a Freedom Square.

00:03:59.000 Rob McCoy in Thousand Oaks, California, and many more.

00:04:02.000 And we're just getting started.

00:04:04.000 You understand that your attendance here, your involvement here, you know, churches across the country, when they see crowds like this on a weeknight, when you have another weeknight program in the next night, that's sending a message.

00:04:15.000 You understand that this is gaining momentum all across the country.

00:04:18.000 So last month, our second Freedom Square, we talked about the need to get involved in school boards.

00:04:24.000 And we talked about the Chandler Unified School District.

00:04:26.000 Where are my Chandler people out here?

00:04:28.000 Somewhere?

00:04:29.000 God bless you guys.

00:04:30.000 So I kind of previewed this very carefully because I didn't want to over-preview my plans.

00:04:39.000 But I showed up at the Chandler Unified School District meeting last month.

00:04:43.000 So let me tell you about this experience.

00:04:45.000 I had never been at a school board meeting before.

00:04:47.000 And I did this in part because I wanted to show the power of Freedom Square and the power of regular people showing up and holding our school board leaders accountable.

00:04:56.000 So I didn't really know what I was doing.

00:04:58.000 So you have to show up rather early and you sign in your name and then a crowd kind of starts to form.

00:05:04.000 And what was so amazing, the first thing I just want to say is how many of you came up to me and said, Hey, we're here because of Freedom Square.

00:05:11.000 We're here because of Freedom Square.

00:05:13.000 Now, I don't know about you.

00:05:15.000 Have you ever heard of a school board meeting where there are more people that want to get inside than they have chairs?

00:05:20.000 Well, this was the case, right?

00:05:22.000 So they only had 25 chairs for us, but there were like 200 people there.

00:05:28.000 And I think Freedom Square is largely responsible for at least half of that, right?

00:05:34.000 And so let's just refresh our memory as to why Chandler Unified.

00:05:38.000 Did we just kind of close our eyes and point somewhere on the map?

00:05:40.000 No, because they were putting forward critical race theory, mandatory equity in symposiums for all their teachers and all their instructors.

00:05:48.000 We've went through in prior teachings of why that is so dangerous and pernicious and against who we are as Americans and who we are as Christians.

00:05:55.000 So I show up and it's kind of funny.

00:05:57.000 The people that were announcing it, they kind of realized that there is some things that don't belong.

00:06:02.000 And James T. Harris also showed up alongside me from KFYI, who's just phenomenal.

00:06:07.000 And so they, you know, they're announcing, you know, Joe Smith, Carl, James T. Harris, and they're like, Charlie Kirk.

00:06:17.000 And it's like, not exactly enthused about that, right?

00:06:21.000 So we're let in, we're granted access.

00:06:23.000 And so the first thing that I noticed when I showed up to this school board meeting, and I want you all to understand that you inspire me to also take action when I see these crowds.

00:06:31.000 It goes both ways, right?

00:06:33.000 That I hope that we can inspire you to action, but you also inspire those of us that are presenting to actually take more action.

00:06:39.000 So I showed up to the meeting.

00:06:41.000 The first thing I realized, whoever thought this is a good idea should be held accountable and fired.

00:06:46.000 Why is it that these school board members sit 10 feet above you when you enter, as if they're on the United States Supreme Court?

00:06:52.000 It's intentionally, physically, and aesthetically intimidating, right?

00:06:56.000 It's like, I'm going to look down, you sit.

00:06:58.000 It should be the other way around.

00:06:59.000 It's like, no, we're going to look down on you.

00:07:00.000 We employ you.

00:07:01.000 And so it's intentionally that way.

00:07:01.000 Okay.

00:07:04.000 And so you could tell that there was, you know, a lot of parents that had never spoken before.

00:07:09.000 But I have to say, before I had an opportunity to speak, the courage and the wisdom of parents that have never spoken publicly before about these issues was so inspiring.

00:07:20.000 I have not seen this kind of grassroots movement in anything except maybe 10 years ago in the Tea Party, but this is a different type of energy.

00:07:28.000 And these were parents that were rising up and they were saying, you know what?

00:07:31.000 I've never cared about this before, but I'm not going to allow you to take my taxpayer dollars to destroy the neighborhood around us.

00:07:37.000 Now, and so I want to play you my remarks there.

00:07:42.000 They only gave me a minute, and you're going to hear halfway through the video.

00:07:45.000 They interrupt right through 30 seconds, like right on.

00:07:49.000 You cannot go a second over.

00:07:51.000 And so, for those of you that are going to show up to school board meetings, maybe you're inspired.

00:07:54.000 You have to embrace the over-legalism, right?

00:07:58.000 The signing in the credentials, where you sit, how long you speak.

00:08:02.000 They are looking for technical reasons to not allow you to speak.

00:08:06.000 We navigated all of that.

00:08:08.000 Let's just watch my one-minute remarks.

00:08:10.000 We had a lot of fun with that.

00:08:11.000 Good evening.

00:08:12.000 I'm an Arizona taxpayer, an employer of over 100 people in this state.

00:08:15.000 I'm disgusted that you are lying to the citizens of this state and the people that pay your salaries.

00:08:21.000 You say critical race theory is not in the school district, and then moments later, you have someone come up and use that word equity.

00:08:28.000 Just last week, the CUSD Summer Equity Symposium was held, and it was quote: To create systemic change, change your leadership thinking.

00:08:37.000 How about addressing implicit bias for student excellence?

00:08:40.000 If you know anything, just a little bit about where these ideas and these phrases come from, you know that this is stomping on the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

00:08:50.000 This is a racist, vile, and evil ideology that has infected this once great school district.

00:08:55.000 I implore every single member of the school board to actually learn what you are supporting.

00:09:00.000 Equity means redistribution. 0.97

00:09:02.000 If you care about skin color, you are a racist.

00:09:06.000 That is a bigoted, awful idea is against who we are as Americans.

00:09:10.000 I implore this school district to reconsider.

00:09:12.000 Thank you.

00:09:16.000 That was a lot to fit into a short period of time.

00:09:19.000 And that was not the best speech of the night, I could tell you.

00:09:23.000 Now, I do have to say that doing radio every single day, and thank you for those of you that listen to us on AM 960 every day here, kind of gets you.

00:09:30.000 Used to have to say a lot in a short period of time, so it was good training for that.

00:09:33.000 But here's the amazing news: after these speeches, and I'm going to get this exactly right, after all that controversy, there were two open seats on that school board, and 17 patriots and conservatives that had never run for anything before had stepped up to fill those seats.

00:09:50.000 17 people have stepped up to fill those seats.

00:09:59.000 So, we're going to keep our eyes on the Chandler Unified School District.

00:10:02.000 And what was so great through the whole process is that it was evident that the school board members were not used to the big crowd, they were not used to being held accountable, and they were a little bit nervous.

00:10:16.000 I don't wish that upon people, right?

00:10:18.000 I don't want them to be discomfortable.

00:10:21.000 At the same time, I do want them to feel as if what they're doing is being watched by the people who fund these institutions.

00:10:29.000 And so, this is now happening.

00:10:32.000 We're going to keep our eyes on all this.

00:10:33.000 The second thing that happened since the last time we spoke, there's been a lot of announcements around this, what we've been involved in.

00:10:39.000 I know this can be somewhat of a tricky topic, and I'm going to do my best to make it not very controversial or tricky, which is this idea around mandatory vaccination, right?

00:10:48.000 And so, I'm not here to tell you the vaccine's a good idea, I'm not here to tell you the vaccine's a bad idea.

00:10:53.000 I'm completely neutral on the topic.

00:10:55.000 I've personally made the decision that I'm not getting the vaccine, and no one should be forced to get the vaccine against their will.

00:11:01.000 It's that simple.

00:11:03.000 And so, we saw this, and we're seeing this across the country: this trend, mandatory vaccination.

00:11:13.000 People say, Well, Charlie, they're not really mandating the vaccines, they could always drop out of school.

00:11:19.000 So, basically, the way, yeah, okay, so yeah, you could only have to get the vaccine to go live your life.

00:11:24.000 Like, okay.

00:11:25.000 And so, what was happening almost out of nowhere is Arizona State University came out with guidance saying that if you don't get the vaccine, you must be subject to almost daily testing.

00:11:36.000 You must wear a mask at all times, indoors and outdoors.

00:11:38.000 And if enough class people in the class demand it, you have to be forced to take an online class, right?

00:11:44.000 So, basically, you don't get any of the same sort of experience as your fellow classmen.

00:11:50.000 And so, we went really hard against this.

00:11:53.000 And so many Freedom Square attendees joined us in this at an almost instantaneous reaction.

00:11:59.000 And we said to Arizona State University, this is not going to happen.

00:12:03.000 And we called on the governor to step up and do the right thing.

00:12:07.000 And I am pleased to say that within hours, Governor Ducey stepped up and said, this has no place in the state of Arizona.

00:12:14.000 And we are not going to mandate vaccinations for college kids that attend our state universities.

00:12:22.000 And by the way, the people in President Trump's orbit have been keeping eyes on what's been happening here at Freedom Square.

00:12:29.000 And it really, I think, played a big role in him wanting to come out on July 24th.

00:12:34.000 So mark that on your calendar.

00:12:36.000 We're really excited about that.

00:12:37.000 Okay.

00:12:39.000 And that's not it.

00:12:40.000 So we won on the mandatory vaccination program.

00:12:44.000 But also the last time we talked, we spoke, you might remember that I took a very, I was very careful, but also very disappointed that the governor was not taking more decisive action on some very important pending legislative items.

00:13:00.000 And I told you to contact the governor and contact your legislature.

00:13:04.000 Now, it wasn't a perfect reversal, but I could tell you that there are now more points on the board than I even expected.

00:13:10.000 For example, HB 2906, authored by Representative Jake Hoffman, quote, fully bans the hateful racist and divisive critical race theory at all levels of government within our state, including schools.

00:13:23.000 And this is the first in nation legislation to combat CRT in a sweeping fashion, making Arizona the national leader in combating the divisive curriculum signed into law.

00:13:42.000 HB 2898, this is a law which ensures that students cannot be taught that one race, ethnic group, or sex is in any way superior to another, or that anyone should be discriminated against the basis of these characteristics.

00:13:54.000 The law allows a fine up to $5,000 for schools that violate this law.

00:13:59.000 And these two work in concert, again, signed into law.

00:14:02.000 So they're right there.

00:14:03.000 So we identified a problem here in May.

00:14:06.000 And don't underestimate the combined power of thousands of people gathering and collaborating.

00:14:11.000 You contacted legislators if you saw fit in this session.

00:14:15.000 And all of a sudden, you've now seen Arizona take bold and dramatic action against these problems.

00:14:20.000 Now, you know what's so incredible about this?

00:14:22.000 What's incredible is that this embodies leadership.

00:14:26.000 This embodies, and who's leading?

00:14:28.000 You are.

00:14:29.000 That's the true form of government, isn't it?

00:14:32.000 Because the people in charge should be taking their cues from you.

00:14:35.000 And when big crowds congregate and messages are sent around what we demand, that's how we start to get this stuff done.

00:14:42.000 That's how we start to implement this form of policy.

00:14:48.000 And I'm not done.

00:14:51.000 HB 2905 is a piece of legislation for an election integrity that bans the mass mailing of ballots to voters who did not request an early ballot.

00:15:02.000 The legislation also adds a class five felony for county recorders who go rogue and willfully violate this law.

00:15:09.000 Also, HB 2035 is curriculum transparency and parental notification piece of legislation that provides parents with an opportunity to participate in, review, and provide input on any proposed sexual education, curriculum, or course of study before it becomes adopted.

00:15:32.000 Now, I want to reiterate this.

00:15:34.000 This might seem obvious, but while Arizona is now taking a pro-freedom moral stance, the rest of the country is going the other direction.

00:15:43.000 Where the legislation prohibits sexual education from occurring kindergarten to fourth grade.

00:15:49.000 You might say, well, that's obvious.

00:15:51.000 Well, in Chicago, where just last week they announced that fifth graders will be given free access to condom.

00:15:59.000 That's happening in Chicago.

00:16:00.000 Fifth graders.

00:16:02.000 That's the difference between leadership and decay.

00:16:06.000 Now, some people say, Charlie, how do we prevent Californians from coming to our state and wanting to destroy it?

00:16:13.000 You know, honestly, one of the ways we prevent that from happening is when we implement policies that they hate and they might not actually live move here and live here and might want to actually, if they love critical race theory, I'm sorry, Arizona is not the state for you.

00:16:28.000 If you want fifth graders to be taught sexual education, Arizona might not be the state for you.

00:16:34.000 And the point is that when you lead and not follow, all of a sudden, as it says in, as it says in Jeremiah 29, 7, we talk, this is kind of the theme verse of Freedom Square that contest or demand the welfare of the city or the nation at which you are in, because your city's welfare is your welfare.

00:16:51.000 And that's exactly what we're doing here today.

00:16:53.000 So I just want to say that in the course of 60 to 90 days since starting this, we've put points on the board.

00:16:58.000 And if you're like me, I don't want to let up.

00:17:01.000 I want to play offense.

00:17:02.000 I want to keep on making Arizona a leader in these sort of pro-freedom, pro-American reforms.

00:17:10.000 So now I want to get to two things that have really been on my heart to talk about.

00:17:14.000 The first thing is I want to talk about this idea of being propagandized to do something that you know is wrong.

00:17:23.000 Now, it doesn't just pertain to some of the COVID issues or the vaccine.

00:17:29.000 I'm just talking in general.

00:17:30.000 What do we Christians do?

00:17:32.000 What are we supposed to do when you see something is wrong, but everyone around you is telling you something completely and totally different.

00:17:41.000 Well, there's a very interesting psychological study that focuses on this called the Ash Conformity.

00:17:49.000 Some of you might be aware of it.

00:17:51.000 The ASH conformity test was a lab experiment with 50 male students from Swathermoor College.

00:17:58.000 Here's how it worked: they were told when they were signing up that they were participating in a vision test.

00:18:04.000 It wasn't a vision test.

00:18:06.000 The participants were actually being misled intentionally to find out what is the power of group and mob psychology.

00:18:15.000 So there was one person that was actually being tested and four people that were in on it.

00:18:20.000 So they brought everyone into the room, and the one person would always go last who was the test subject.

00:18:26.000 This person would be sitting over here, and the other four people would be lined up.

00:18:30.000 So at the front of the room, they would draw three lines and they would ask one after the other, which line is longer than the other.

00:18:39.000 And what happened is, despite the apparent and obvious difference that one line was longer than the other, if the four people, one, that the line that was actually shorter was longer, 75% of the time, the last respondent would go against what they saw instead of what they heard.

00:18:58.000 So I'm going to tell you, I'm going to read this study for yourself.

00:19:01.000 So there were 18 trials in total, and seven students who were on the experiment purposely gave the wrong answer 12 times.

00:19:10.000 12 out of 18. 0.51

00:19:12.000 And the head of this study, Solomon Elliott App, said, quote, the tendency to conform in our society is so strong that reasonably intelligent and well-meaning young people, I would say, all people are willing to call white black.

00:19:31.000 This is a matter of concern.

00:19:33.000 It raises questions about the ways our education system functions and the values that guide our.

00:19:40.000 I'm going to reiterate this: throughout 12 trials, about three-fourths of participants conformed at least once, and one out of four participants never conformed.

00:19:49.000 So you here today are the one in four of that trial that refused to conform.

00:19:55.000 Now, just to give you an idea that this is not sampling error, when they did this individually without the other people around them, less than 1% of respondents gave the wrong answer.

00:20:08.000 So 1% versus 75%.

00:20:10.000 And I feel right now, and I see in America, this crisis of conforming.

00:20:18.000 This crisis that you have to give the same answer as the four people next to you, even though you see that one line is longer than the other.

00:20:26.000 Even though you say, that's not the right decision for you, I know it's not.

00:20:30.000 Well, the four people next to you are saying that.

00:20:32.000 I'm sure all of you feel this almost on a daily basis, and it has a psychological, almost torment, where you start to question yourself.

00:20:40.000 Am I seeing things correctly?

00:20:42.000 Am I processing information?

00:20:45.000 And when participants were interviewed after the experiment, most of them said that they did not believe they were.

00:20:56.000 They went along with the group out of fear of being ridiculed.

00:21:00.000 When you think about that, they didn't say to the people afterwards, why'd you give that answer?

00:21:05.000 They said it's because I was afraid of ridicule.

00:21:08.000 Line A is shorter.

00:21:12.000 Line A is shorter.

00:21:12.000 You see, obviously.

00:21:14.000 Line A is not.

00:21:17.000 But you're very likely to conform because you don't want the ridicule.

00:21:22.000 And a few of them even stated in this study that they thought the group's answer was correct.

00:21:27.000 They were convinced against their own lying eyes that the virus didn't come from a laboratory or whatever.

00:21:39.000 The experiment concluded that people conform for two main reasons.

00:21:43.000 They want to fit in, which is called normative information, because they believe the group is more informed than they are, which information. 0.54

00:21:54.000 Now, so many Christians are going through this right now. 0.80

00:21:57.000 And this psychological study confirms the truth of the Bible.

00:22:01.000 It confirms something that Paul wrote about in Romans, Romans 12, 2.

00:22:05.000 Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God and what is good and acceptable and perfect.

00:22:18.000 You see, what we're living through right now is too many Christians are listening to the four answers before them instead of listening to what God wants them for their life and looking at what the wisdom of the Lord is.

00:22:30.000 And this applies to almost everything that's happening right now.

00:22:33.000 I have never seen in my life, and I'm sure you agree, such propaganda, such pressure to do something that you know is wrong, to do something that even you see that one line is shorter than the other, but we know how that psychology works.

00:22:50.000 But I can tell you, one of the powers of this gathering here tonight is for you to know that 2,000 other people see that one line is shorter than the other, that 2,000 other people see the nonsense that is happening, whether on television or radio or podcasting or on social media.

00:23:06.000 But again, the scriptures say, do not be conformed to the pattern of this world.

00:23:09.000 Here's the test for you before the next time we meet next month.

00:23:12.000 We'll be on a Wednesday, right?

00:23:13.000 Moving it to Wednesday next month, which is the next time you're in a group setting at work with your family, with your friends, on social media, and those four people say something that you could see is wrong, are you going to be willing to answer it honestly and maybe face some ridicule?

00:23:34.000 That's the question.

00:23:36.000 Because the Bible tells us, do not, that's a forcible teaching, isn't it?

00:23:40.000 Do not conform instead, stand firmly on truth against the pattern of this world.

00:23:47.000 We know who runs the world.

00:23:49.000 The world is enemy-occupied territory.

00:23:52.000 You can call it anything you want.

00:23:53.000 You can call it serpent, Satan, devil, this world.

00:23:58.000 Jesus called Satan the prince of this world.

00:24:02.000 And so, are you going to conform to that pattern?

00:24:04.000 Are you going to stand firmly for truth?

00:24:06.000 The second thing I want to share with you, then we'll get to some questions that I think is really important, which kind of ties together with this idea of conformity.

00:24:14.000 But it's really what we're living through right now, which is actually where we get the word education.

00:24:19.000 The word education comes from a Latin word, which means to lead forth.

00:24:25.000 Now, an interesting question is: well, what are you leading them forth from or out of?

00:24:29.000 Actually, in the original Latin, it means to lead forth from out of the cave.

00:24:34.000 Now, if those of you that know your Plato or your Socrates, it's okay, we're going to walk through all of it.

00:24:38.000 This is actually where the first idea of education was passed.

00:24:43.000 And I'm going to show you right now in an illustration what our public education system is doing and what we have to do about it.

00:24:49.000 What Socrates told Plato 2,500 years ago, then what does the Bible tell us about that most importantly?

00:24:54.000 Because these metaphors and these teachings can be helpful.

00:24:57.000 But if these studies contradict the teachings of the Bible, I ask them. 0.85

00:25:00.000 That's why I like the ash conformity test because it literally tells you what Romans 12, 2.

00:25:05.000 And so the allegory of the cave, something a lot of people would hear if they actually were being taught in college.

00:25:12.000 But the allegory of the cave is something that's really important.

00:25:15.000 This is something that was passed down for generation after generation of how we are living and existing.

00:25:21.000 And this is exactly what I think is happening right now on CNN, happening on social media.

00:25:26.000 And so many of your friends, and I'm going to show you a picture of this.

00:25:29.000 So Socrates told Plato, Socrates taught Plato, Plato taught Aristotle.

00:25:32.000 I think we'll be able to get the picture up.

00:25:34.000 If not, do my best to illustrate it the best I can.

00:25:36.000 Do we have it up?

00:25:37.000 This is called the allegory of the cave.

00:25:37.000 Okay.

00:25:40.000 This is the basis of the word education, not just some bizarre thing out there.

00:25:45.000 Imagine people who have been imprisoned since birth.

00:25:49.000 That's them on the bottom left-hand corner.

00:25:51.000 Okay.

00:25:52.000 They share a cell that is completely dark, except for one wall, which they look at all day long, which is illuminated by an unseen, an unrecognized source of light.

00:26:05.000 So there's a light at their back illuminating the wall of the cave.

00:26:09.000 Prison guards and other prisoners, boxes and carts, pass between the light and the wall casting shadows.

00:26:17.000 The inmates are incapable of interacting with each other except through speech.

00:26:22.000 And all these prisoners see are the shadows on the wall, which they deem to be reality.

00:26:28.000 These people come to name the shadows and have conversations about them and take them to be real objects, as the shadow world is the only world that they have ever known.

00:26:38.000 One day, one of the prisoners escapes and sees that some of the prison guards have been passing shapes in front of the fire.

00:26:45.000 So the prison guards are standing elevated.

00:26:48.000 The fire is illuminating it, and they're making almost puppets that are casting a shadow on the wall.

00:26:54.000 Somewhat easy to understand.

00:26:55.000 It's a little bit complicated.

00:26:57.000 But once she comes to see the shadows for what they are, which is only partial representations of real things, only previously perceived in rough shapes and approximations, the freed prisoner escapes the prison itself and sees for the first time the sunlit world.

00:27:15.000 At first, the sunlit world causes our escapee to squint and her vision is blurry.

00:27:21.000 She experiences pain, irritation, and even a longing for the comfort of her familiar self.

00:27:27.000 She's then tempted to return to her former life.

00:27:30.000 However, after a time, her eyes adjust and she comes to see things differently rather than as shadows.

00:27:35.000 She comes to see real trees, cars, and so on, know the difference between shadows and things that cast light on them.

00:27:42.000 What's happening right now in our education system and in media and in social media and from our public health officials is we are not seeing the full truth of the truth at all.

00:27:51.000 We are seeing a shadow being broadcast on the wall that we're told to look at all day long.

00:27:56.000 That we are seeing a simulation of a shadow.

00:27:58.000 And what happens is once people break free, I mean, how many people here have been what we call red-pilled? 0.62

00:28:03.000 Anyone?

00:28:04.000 Where you used to be on the left and now you're not?

00:28:07.000 I love people.

00:28:08.000 By the way, I love The Matrix.

00:28:09.000 I think it gets in.

00:28:10.000 We're just having a whole conversation about this before, but how The Matrix is like one of the most underrated actual Christian films.

00:28:15.000 I could get into that later time.

00:28:16.000 Actually, it's more than you might think, right?

00:28:18.000 Trinity, Morpheus, Neo, you know, reword it, the one anyway.

00:28:22.000 That's a different conversation.

00:28:23.000 Red pill, blue pill, right?

00:28:25.000 You take the red pill, we'll see how long the rabbit hole actually goes.

00:28:27.000 Blue pill, wake up in your, you know, your bed.

00:28:29.000 By the way, if you want to take the blue pill, like fine, just watch CNN, get your stimulus check, wear two masks, and you'll live a great life, right?

00:28:35.000 Like whatever.

00:28:36.000 But you won't be free.

00:28:38.000 I can tell you that.

00:28:39.000 So, and so the Bible tells us that we should pursue truth, even if it makes our eyes squint.

00:28:51.000 And we should always question what we are living through is actually rooted in reality.

00:28:56.000 In Acts 28, 27, it says, For this people's heart has grown dull.

00:29:00.000 With their ears, they can barely hear.

00:29:03.000 And their eyes, they have the closest lest that they should see with their eyes and hear with their ear and understand with their hearts turn.

00:29:09.000 And I would heal them.

00:29:11.000 And Hosea 4:6, it says, The question is, why are people destroyed?

00:29:16.000 A great question, isn't it?

00:29:17.000 So Leo Tostoy, which one of my favorite authors wrote War wrote these afternoon read, but he had a great question.

00:29:24.000 He said, What is the power that moves nations?

00:29:29.000 Why do some people succeed and other people do not succeed?

00:29:33.000 The Bible tells us.

00:29:35.000 The Bible tells us in a Hosea 4:6, my people are destroyed because of a lack of knowledge.

00:29:42.000 That's what the Bible says, that my people are destroyed due to a lack of knowledge.

00:29:47.000 My people wither away in that cave, staring at a shadow all day long.

00:29:51.000 Little do they know it's a simulation of what's actually happening.

00:29:54.000 And what all of you are here tonight living through is you've decided to break those chains because you've been born new by Jesus Christ first and foremost, who is the breaker of the ultimate chains.

00:30:04.000 And then you get in the world, you see everything differently.

00:30:06.000 You see things like, oh, that commercial doesn't actually say that.

00:30:10.000 I see what they're trying to make me do.

00:30:11.000 And then here's the interesting part.

00:30:13.000 The Socrates predicted his own death.

00:30:16.000 You may or may not know this, but Socrates was accused by his peers by a 51% vote of being a heretic or being someone that was corrupting the young.

00:30:26.000 And he was basically assassinated to be a rough word, but he was murdered, similar to Jesus by his peers.

00:30:33.000 And he was actually forced to commit suicide by a certain drug simply for asking questions and pursuing truth.

00:30:39.000 Now, what Socrates did, though, in this illustration, he said, you know what happens when most people are freed from their chains?

00:30:47.000 They're angry because they realize they used to be in a place of.

00:30:50.000 How many of you have friends and family where you've shown them the truth about something in the last year in the news cycle?

00:30:56.000 You're like, no, no, no, actually, there's a thing called VARES, V-A-E-R-S.

00:31:01.000 I don't want to hear it.

00:31:02.000 I don't like it.

00:31:03.000 I want to just focus on the shadow.

00:31:06.000 You see, we as Christians, we must pursue light, not just the light of the fire, but get out of the cave and the ultimate purpose.

00:31:12.000 And that's what we're living through right now.

00:31:14.000 What I want to say, and just to kind of close this all together, is that if we're going to be destroyed, it's what Hosea says.

00:31:19.000 We'll be destroyed due to lack of knowledge.

00:31:21.000 And that's what we should be doing in our education system, to lead forth, remember, to lead forth out of the cave.

00:31:26.000 That's not a good place.

00:31:27.000 Human beings are not made in God's image to be chained to a wall and watching shadows all day long.

00:31:33.000 That is not why God made us.

00:31:35.000 He wants us to worship him, to obey his commands, to live obediently, and yes, live free thanks to Jesus Christ in the same way that we should contest for our local government.

00:31:45.000 So I want to just encourage you right now.

00:31:47.000 We are starting to make real movement.

00:31:49.000 Now, don't be surprised, though, if the enemy tries to make a counterattack at this moment.

00:31:54.000 And that's why we have to keep on gathering, keep on praying, keep on reading, keep on organizing, keep on doing real things.

00:32:00.000 But all of us right here in the business that we're in at Turning Point USA, every single day, we just, by the way, we just launched the largest ever anti-mandatory, let me say it again for the journalists that don't watch anything, antor anti-mandatory vaccine project for college and high school kids across the country.

00:32:23.000 Because I know all of us have days sometimes where we wish we didn't know as much as we know, right?

00:32:31.000 We didn't see all of it because it makes you a little bit, it makes you squint because you have to be exposed to the sunlight.

00:32:36.000 We wish we could do a steep chain of the cave and just watch Hulu and Netflix all day long.

00:32:40.000 That feels kind of just forms, right?

00:32:43.000 That's kind of what Hulu and Netflix literally is.

00:32:46.000 That's what TikTok is, by the way.

00:32:48.000 You want to see what the allegory of the cave is?

00:32:50.000 It's literally TikTok, right?

00:32:52.000 It's nothing is real.

00:32:53.000 It's all made up.

00:32:54.000 It's to music.

00:32:55.000 It's other people making like you all day.

00:32:57.000 Break free of that, everybody, and lean on each other, lean on the word of God.

00:33:02.000 And so to tie all that together, where we are headed in the next couple months, I could just see it.

00:33:08.000 And we have a really good ability in our program and our podcast to see things, you know, as they're happening, not before they happen, that they're going to try everything they possibly can in the next 30, 60, 90 days to ridicule, to mock, to intimidate, to do everything they can against you to make you conform to their demands.

00:33:27.000 The question is: are you going to conform to the word or to the world?

00:33:32.000 And I know tonight and here at Freedom Square, we are here to say that we are going to obey God's commands, not that of the world.

00:33:39.000 And I want all of you to know you're not alone and we are going to win that fight together.

00:33:44.000 And then I'll close with this: is that this idea of spontaneous order, the beautiful thing, where because of this, thousands of other mini decisions are going to be made for boldness and courage and truth that I will never know about and can't control.

00:33:57.000 But you'll tell me three years later, you did that because you were at Freedom Square.

00:34:01.000 And that's the bigger thing that's happening, right?

00:34:04.000 Gather, you congregate, and you guys want to say the young mother, what you're doing and the fact that you're aware is so important.

00:34:12.000 Find other, here's my other piece of advice: find other young mothers that are just as alert as you.

00:34:19.000 Thank you so much.

00:34:20.000 So I just want to close on this.

00:34:22.000 Thank you again to Dream City.

00:34:23.000 I encourage you guys to get behind what Dream City is doing in a variety of different ways locally here.

00:34:28.000 Next, Freedom Square is August 4th.

00:34:31.000 All right.

00:34:32.000 It's a Wednesday to circle your calendar.

00:34:35.000 We'd love to keep on growing this and getting more people here.

00:34:38.000 We're going to talk more about what's happened in Arizona last 30 days, what we can do about it, how we're engaged.

00:34:43.000 And of course, we'll do a little teaching, question and answer.

00:34:46.000 You guys want to come July 24th, Turning Point Action.

00:34:49.000 We'll be hosting President Trump.

00:34:51.000 You guys go get your tickets.

00:34:52.000 Let's put Freedom Square.

00:34:53.000 We'll do our best.

00:34:54.000 Say that again.

00:34:55.000 We'll do our best to get in, get you guys in, but we have a huge amount there.

00:34:58.000 And then the final thing is this: if you have not given your life to Jesus Christ, make him the chairman of the board of your life.

00:35:04.000 You'll never regret the decision.

00:35:05.000 You'll be born new.

00:35:06.000 It's the most important thing you can do in your life.

00:35:09.000 Thank you guys again for coming tonight.

00:35:11.000 We put points on the board.

00:35:13.000 Thanks to all of you.

00:35:14.000 God bless you guys.

00:35:19.000 Thanks so much for listening, everybody.

00:35:20.000 Email us your thoughts, freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:35:22.000 If you want to support our program, go to charliekirk.com/slash support.

00:35:26.000 God bless you guys.

00:35:27.000 Speak to you soon.

00:35:31.000 For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to CharlieKirk.com.

The Charlie Kirk Show - July 18, 2021

Escaping 'The Cave' and Solving the American Crisis of Conformity—LIVE from Dream City Church

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