The Matt Walsh Show - Ep. 243 - The Dangers Of Cultural Relativism

00:00:00.000 Today on the Matt Wall Show, the media has coincidentally stopped talking about collusion.

00:00:04.980 You know, isn't that interesting?

00:00:06.120 As soon as Trump is vindicated of collusion, they stop talking about it.

00:00:09.720 Also, a horrific story out of Bangladesh that I think proves yet again 1.00

00:00:14.100 that we should not engage in cultural relativism.

00:00:17.540 All cultures are not created equal, it turns out.

00:00:20.800 And Netflix says that the term chick flick is now offensive.

00:00:25.200 And their reasoning is quite long and complicated and also hilarious.

00:00:29.960 So we'll talk about that as well today on the Matt Wall Show.

00:00:39.740 Well, I hope you're all having a blessed Good Friday.

00:00:43.620 I do say blessed Good Friday, not happy Good Friday.

00:00:46.960 I cringe a little bit when someone says happy Good Friday.

00:00:51.120 Although they mean well, I suppose.

00:00:52.580 But today is more of a somber remembrance than a happy occasion.

00:00:57.100 And it's a day that, for me, brings to mind my favorite story in the Gospel,

00:01:02.740 which is, as I think I've shared before, which is the one of the penitent thief on the cross.

00:01:08.480 It's a small little tidbit.

00:01:11.440 Three of the Gospels don't even think to mention it, but Luke does.

00:01:15.980 And I've always found it to be especially powerful,

00:01:18.960 because it's this image of repentance on the cross,

00:01:23.240 you know, moments before death.

00:01:26.180 And the way that the penitent thief is assured of,

00:01:30.760 right then and there, of his salvation.

00:01:33.480 You just imagine the joy that he must have felt.

00:01:37.740 It's a great story.

00:01:39.480 So I hope that we all take some time to read

00:01:41.260 and reflect on the entire passion narrative today on Good Friday.

00:01:48.660 Now, there's a lot to cover.

00:01:49.920 I'm not going to harp much on the Mueller report today.

00:01:52.520 I think all that needs to be said about it has already been said

00:01:56.240 and will continue being said, of course,

00:01:58.340 ad nauseum for the next two years, really.

00:02:02.420 So we know that Trump did not collude.

00:02:04.700 He's not being charged with obstruction either.

00:02:07.000 He is guilty of being reckless and dishonest, as the report does show.

00:02:13.300 But all that is baked into the cake at this point.

00:02:15.880 I think that's something that maybe some people still don't understand,

00:02:19.080 is that, you know, we,

00:02:21.660 anyone who's been paying even a little bit of attention

00:02:23.880 over the last two or three years knows what Trump is all about.

00:02:28.320 And we've taken that into account.

00:02:29.580 We've factored it in one way or another.

00:02:31.740 So the political damage will be minimal here, I think.

00:02:35.020 But as we discussed yesterday, the goalposts are being rooted out of the ground

00:02:39.880 and dragged across the field now.

00:02:42.920 Whereas before it was all about collusion, now it's not about collusion anymore

00:02:46.280 because Trump has been vindicated on the collusion score.

00:02:49.480 And notice how, you know, no one is really arguing about that.

00:02:53.260 Now, they're arguing about obstruction and should there be impeachment?

00:02:56.440 They're using those words.

00:02:58.040 So you're going to hear, you know,

00:02:59.980 the word collusion has fallen out of the media's lexicon.

00:03:03.220 And instead, what we're hearing is obstruction and impeachment.

00:03:06.660 But it's really interesting that nobody's even bothering to dispute the collusion thing

00:03:12.460 because Trump was so thoroughly absolved on that score

00:03:19.600 that even his enemies are not even trying to claim anymore

00:03:23.300 that he was colluding with anyone.

00:03:24.680 But instead, they're saying, no, he obstructed.

00:03:26.280 So, for example, let me pull up the, where'd it go?

00:03:33.400 The Washington Post's front page of their print edition,

00:03:40.040 which honestly, I'm shocked that physical newspapers even still exist, but they do.

00:03:45.760 And so this is what they're, if you went for some reason

00:03:48.160 and bought a Washington Post at the 7-Eleven,

00:03:51.440 these are all of the headlines on their front page, okay?

00:03:55.600 Notice what word is missing.

00:03:59.080 So the big headline is,

00:04:01.340 Mueller details Russian interference, Trump's attempt to disrupt probe.

00:04:05.980 That was a big headline.

00:04:07.100 And then other headlines on the page says,

00:04:09.780 again and again, president's aides refuse to carry out his orders.

00:04:13.440 Question of obstruction seemingly tossed to Congress.

00:04:17.440 Frame it however you like,

00:04:18.740 but it's a damning portrait of Trump's presidency.

00:04:21.260 These are all headlines on the page.

00:04:23.340 Trump's efforts to obstruct were clear, Democrats say,

00:04:26.340 but impeachment isn't.

00:04:28.440 Offers from Russia were not reported or forcefully rejected by campaign.

00:04:32.560 Okay, so those are all the headlines that the Washington Post offers.

00:04:38.760 You notice what word is missing?

00:04:41.880 Collusion.

00:04:42.540 There's no mention of collusion.

00:04:43.860 They don't even think to mention in any of their articles on the front page,

00:04:47.260 oh, by the way, he actually was not colluding with Russia.

00:04:51.440 He was not a secret Russian agent, it turns out.

00:04:54.420 This is the way it's going to go.

00:04:55.500 The media is at war with the president.

00:04:57.160 Has been since the beginning of his term, of course,

00:04:59.340 but that war has now entered a new phase.

00:05:01.980 If you thought that it had already gotten as ugly as it was going to get,

00:05:06.400 you were mistaken,

00:05:07.700 because it's going to get a lot worse.

00:05:10.720 And you know what?

00:05:11.360 But they just might salvage this thing for the president.

00:05:16.300 I think this is probably good news for Trump.

00:05:18.480 The media, against all odds, might salvage 2020 for Trump.

00:05:27.240 I think all things being equal, okay,

00:05:30.020 Trump faces the very real possibility of not just losing in 2020,

00:05:35.380 but of a landslide, historic, and historically embarrassing loss.

00:05:40.360 He does face that possibility.

00:05:42.820 And there's just no denying it.

00:05:44.980 He, and I'll tell you why,

00:05:47.880 because he won in 2016 with 3 million fewer votes than Hillary.

00:05:55.540 And the reason why that happened was because Hillary ignored the Rust Belt. 1.00

00:06:00.700 So there was that.

00:06:01.860 She didn't focus on those states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania.

00:06:09.760 And the urban voters in those states did not show up.

00:06:13.260 Uh, they didn't show up in great numbers in Philly and in Detroit,

00:06:17.600 which is, that's how Democrats win, you know,

00:06:20.980 Pennsylvania and Michigan is by, is by getting the turnout in those, those cities.

00:06:25.280 Um, and the reason that those voters didn't show up and, and why, you know,

00:06:29.260 a lot of Hillary's voters didn't show up for is because number one, 1.00

00:06:32.480 they weren't excited about her because she's Hillary Clinton. 1.00

00:06:34.800 And number two, because few people took Trump seriously and they figured,

00:06:39.320 well, he's going to lose anyway.

00:06:40.120 I, you know, I don't need to go vote in 2020.

00:06:43.620 Trump is not going to have those advantages anymore.

00:06:46.780 He will not be running against Hillary, unfortunately.

00:06:49.980 Um, and the democratic base will show up.

00:06:54.960 Absolutely.

00:06:55.840 Uh, they will show up in force because they hate Trump's guts and it really doesn't even

00:07:00.460 matter.

00:07:00.920 Now, I mean, he could actually run against Hillary again.

00:07:02.760 And I think this time it would be completely different because it almost doesn't matter

00:07:06.720 who they put up against him.

00:07:08.240 Um, their voters are going to show up in mass.

00:07:11.100 They'll have their biggest turnout ever for sure.

00:07:14.360 No question.

00:07:16.060 Um, so what that means is that Trump cannot win if he simply has maintained the same voters.

00:07:23.940 He certainly can't, if he's lost any voters, then he can't, he's doomed.

00:07:29.500 Um, he needs to have not only maintained, he needs to have gained a whole bunch of new voters

00:07:34.740 to win again.

00:07:35.740 And then we have to ask the question, has he really done anything in office to attract

00:07:40.580 new legions of supporters?

00:07:42.140 I know that if you, if you're a diehard supporter, then you're still a diehard supporter.

00:07:46.520 Great.

00:07:46.800 That's, that's, that's good.

00:07:47.860 But, um, you might not be a good judge of this because your, your, uh, support of the

00:07:58.360 president has maybe, uh, clouded your ability to, to look at it objectively a little bit,

00:08:05.420 because the fact is while maybe you love the things that he's done in office and the way

00:08:10.040 that he's generally carried himself, um, I don't think it has necessarily attracted new

00:08:16.940 people.

00:08:17.660 Okay.

00:08:18.460 Um, so at a minimum, he's, I think he's kind of flatlined as far as that goes, but he's

00:08:23.580 probably lost people as well, which is bad news.

00:08:28.940 Um, but the point is the media may pull this out for him again, like they did in 2016.

00:08:36.240 They might just do it because the one thing that could manage to actually, uh, give Trump

00:08:47.460 a bigger turnout than he got in 2016 would be, um, people just completely disgusted with

00:08:53.940 the media and with the left.

00:08:55.780 And so they're turning out in mass against that group.

00:09:02.360 Um, it's possible.

00:09:05.360 Now, I, I think that that's Trump's best hope at this point.

00:09:09.000 And with the way that the media has, I mean, the way, with the way it's conducted itself

00:09:13.620 over the last two years, but especially now with this, with this Mueller thing, they're,

00:09:18.080 they're just being so blatantly dishonest.

00:09:21.300 Um, and if they continue with that, and maybe if the Democrats move forward with impeachment,

00:09:28.720 trying to impeach, even though there was no underlying crime, well, maybe they'll alienate

00:09:34.580 just enough people to put, put Trump over the top.

00:09:37.260 Uh, so, you know, I guess, I guess our message to them is, uh, uh, continue right along, you

00:09:43.180 know, continue, continue with, uh, as you were basically.

00:09:47.880 All right, now let's turn to an absolutely horrific story out of Bangladesh. 1.00

00:09:52.920 Uh, I'm going to read a part of the report from the BBC reported by Mir Sabir.

00:09:58.780 And, uh, here's what it says.

00:10:01.940 This is a, just a terrible story that I'm trying to pull up.

00:10:09.640 Okay.

00:10:10.200 It says Nusrat Jahan Rafi was doused with kerosene and set on fire at her school in Bangladesh.

00:10:19.000 Less than two weeks earlier, she had filed a sexual harassment complaint, camp complaint

00:10:23.080 against her headmaster, her courage in speaking out against sexual assault, her death five days

00:10:28.920 after being set alight and everything that happened in between has gripped Bangladesh and brought 1.00

00:10:33.360 attention to the vulnerability of sexual harassment victims in this conservative South Asian country.

00:10:38.200 Um, Nusrat, who was 19, was from a small town, a hundred miles, um, south of the car.

00:10:46.660 She was studying at a madrasa or Islamic school on the 27th of March.

00:10:51.580 She said that the headmaster called her into his office and repeatedly touched her in an

00:10:55.420 inappropriate manner before things could go any further.

00:10:58.320 She ran out.

00:10:59.640 Um, and it goes on a little bit later, says at the local police station, she gave a statement.

00:11:04.420 She, uh, should have been provided with a safe environment to recall her traumatic experiences.

00:11:10.240 Instead, she was filmed by the officer in charge on his phone.

00:11:13.760 And, uh, as she described the ordeal.

00:11:15.940 So the officer was, was filming her in the video.

00:11:18.700 Nusrat is visibly distressed and tries to hide her face with her hands. 0.71

00:11:23.400 The policeman is heard calling the complaint.

00:11:26.460 No big deal.

00:11:27.400 And telling her to move her hands from her face.

00:11:29.680 That video was later leaked to the media.

00:11:32.800 So this scumbag guy made sure to get her face on camera and then immediately sent it to the media.

00:11:39.140 Um, then, um, after she went to the police, they arrested the headmaster.

00:11:45.180 Then, then things got worse for Nusrat.

00:11:47.920 A group of people gathered in the streets, demanding his release.

00:11:50.840 The protests had been arranged by two male students and local politicians were allegedly in attendance.

00:11:56.160 People began to blame, uh, the, the woman, her family say that she started to worry about her safety.

00:12:03.140 Um, then she went back to school, regardless of, of, of this, fearing for her safety.

00:12:10.640 She still went to school because she wanted to finish her final exams.

00:12:14.720 According to a statement given by Nusrat, a fellow female student took her to the roof of the school,

00:12:19.280 saying one of her friends was being beaten up when Nusrat reached the rooftop,

00:12:24.580 four or five people wearing burqas surrounded her and allegedly pressured her to withdraw the case against the headmaster.

00:12:30.660 When she, when she refused, they set her on fire.

00:12:35.720 Uh, and it goes on from there in the ambulance, um, fearing that she might not survive.

00:12:41.880 She recorded a statement on her brother's mobile phone.

00:12:44.420 Um, she said they, the teacher touched me.

00:12:46.700 I will fight this crime till my last breath.

00:12:49.640 Um, and then eventually she dies.

00:12:53.840 Okay.

00:12:54.580 Uh, so the first thing that jumps out of the, uh, out at you about the story is the incredible courage of this young woman.

00:13:00.400 I mean, she obviously knew the risks involved in reporting the conduct of her alleged abuser.

00:13:07.360 Um, when you think about how hesitant, you know, we can be even in this country to report inappropriate conduct by people who are in authority over us,

00:13:16.880 not just sexual misconduct, but any kind of misconduct.

00:13:19.940 Uh, you think about how hesitant we can be because of the consequences we might face.

00:13:24.740 Well, the risks that she faced were a hundred times greater than anything we face.

00:13:28.420 And yet she did it anyway.

00:13:29.640 So that is extremely heroic.

00:13:30.840 And then even as she was dying after being set on fire, she still was standing her ground and, um, demanding justice.

00:13:38.300 I mean, you, you just don't encounter this kind of courage every day.

00:13:41.800 The second thing is we have to realize that in fundamentalist Islamic countries, this is what women face.

00:13:51.520 Um, they're not only required to walk around in bags, essentially covered from head to toe, but if they're raped or abused, they can be punished for it.

00:14:03.820 They can be set on fire or stoned to death or attacked in some other equally gruesome way.

00:14:08.660 And, and, and this is why it's so dangerous, I think, to engage in the sort of cultural relativism where we say, oh, well, all, you know, all cultures are equal.

00:14:20.280 We can't judge, you know, everything is, it's all, it's all equal.

00:14:23.420 This is why it's dangerous to condemn people who celebrate Western culture as objectively superior to other cultures, which it is.

00:14:33.120 Our Western culture is superior to the culture that, um, that this woman lived in. 1.00

00:14:43.780 It's dangerous because when you do that, when you do this relativistic thing, when you insist that even, even this culture where this happened is equal to our own, you are denying or downplaying or dismissing the horrific treatment suffered by women.

00:15:01.460 And, and, and, and homosexuals and many other groups in these countries, what you're saying is, yeah, it's not cool, but you know, it's not so bad. 0.98

00:15:09.860 I mean, it's not, it's not so bad that we should make any statements about the overall culture, but we should, we should, there is something deeply disordered about a culture where women are treated like this, where a woman is not even allowed to show her face in public for fear of being killed.

00:15:30.100 I mean, uh, there's something deeply wrong there.

00:15:36.020 The point is when we say that Western civilization is better than the cultures that essentially enslave women, we are not saying that the individual human beings themselves are better. 0.65

00:15:49.000 Okay.

00:15:49.400 It's not what we're saying.

00:15:50.240 We are saying that our system of treating women with respect and dignity is better.

00:15:57.660 Uh, we're saying that that's a better way.

00:16:01.440 And that's what we should be saying.

00:16:03.820 We should be putting that forward as an objectively better system and, and saying, you know, this is a better way to be.

00:16:11.220 So you just, you can't have it both ways.

00:16:16.600 You really can't, you cannot claim that you are, uh, you know, fighting for equality for women across the globe.

00:16:26.380 And then in the next breath say that, well, you know, cultures that treat women like cattle are equal to ours and we can't make any judgments.

00:16:35.920 No, in our culture, you know, Western civilization is not perfect.

00:16:41.680 America is not perfect by any means.

00:16:43.920 And I'll be the first one to say that, listen, through abortion, uh, we've, we, we have killed 60 million babies through abortion.

00:16:51.680 And so that is a historic atrocity that is certainly holding us back morally from being the kind of moral light to the world that we could otherwise be.

00:17:08.900 Uh, so there are, there are serious problems in our own civilization.

00:17:13.440 And interestingly enough, most of the people who engage in this cultural relativism who say that, you know, hey, our, uh, we're not much better than them.

00:17:23.820 They're the same ones who defend this, this atrocity that is, that is preventing us from being that moral light.

00:17:31.640 So we have our own issues, but the fact is, um, in this country, you know, despite what feminists say, I mean, women are free in this country and they can walk around in public and they can get jobs and they can live lives just like any man can. 0.99

00:17:51.240 Um, and you're not going to hear stories like this in America.

00:17:55.520 Um, so we, you know, it's easy enough to say that, well, we condemn this particular incident.

00:18:07.060 Of course, everyone would say that, right?

00:18:09.980 But we also need to condemn the, uh, aspects of that culture that allow this sort of thing to happen.

00:18:22.520 Um, let's see here.

00:18:25.520 A couple of other things.

00:18:26.640 I wanted to, uh, mention something on a much lighter note.

00:18:29.580 A guy posted a picture of his son's math test to Facebook a couple of days ago.

00:18:35.900 And, uh, his son is in second grade.

00:18:38.880 He was, he wanted to call attention to the, uh, some of the comments that the teacher made on his second grade son's math test.

00:18:52.380 Okay.

00:18:54.000 So this is, this is why there's the image of the test and, um, what the teacher allegedly wrote.

00:19:01.920 Now we have the image that he put on Facebook, but the teacher on this image, the comment says,

00:19:07.340 absolutely pathetic.

00:19:09.760 He answered 13 in three minutes.

00:19:12.560 Sad with a smile, with a smiley face.

00:19:16.000 Uh, now, first of all, I, I wouldn't take this at face value.

00:19:19.460 Maybe it's legitimate, but that by no means is established.

00:19:22.880 And just because you see a picture of something on the internet doesn't mean that it's true.

00:19:27.520 I think hopefully by now we all understand that.

00:19:29.800 So, you know, it might be a hoax or something like that.

00:19:31.800 But if it isn't, I mean, is it wrong of me to laugh at this?

00:19:38.040 Maybe, maybe this pathetic, uh, maybe this is the kind of feedback that our kids need.

00:19:43.420 Uh, toughens them up a bit.

00:19:44.640 It's a dog eat dog world out there.

00:19:46.520 And I don't know, there might not be anything wrong with that.

00:19:50.380 That's, that's all I'm saying.

00:19:52.220 Okay.

00:19:52.760 Finally, Netflix launched into a hectoring tweet storm a couple of days ago, complaining

00:20:00.940 about the phrase chick flick.

00:20:02.580 And I want to share this with you, uh, for a couple of reasons, but first of all, because

00:20:08.820 you, you see here a stark contrast between the sorts of things that feminists are worried 1.00

00:20:17.080 about in this country, uh, versus what, what women face in other, other parts of the world.

00:20:22.360 And, and, and you start to think, you know, maybe feminists should be less concerned about 1.00

00:20:27.160 this sort of thing and should be spending, I don't know, all of their time and efforts

00:20:32.220 calling attention to women who are being set on fire and killed, uh, for being sexually

00:20:37.380 assaulted in other parts of the world.

00:20:39.160 But in this country, this is what they're worried about.

00:20:41.160 So this is what, this is what Netflix said in their feminist, uh, screed. 1.00

00:20:46.700 They said, for starters, chick flicks are traditionally synonymous, synonymous with romantic comedies.

00:20:51.780 This suggests that women are the only people interested in one romance and two comedy, which I can 0.98

00:20:57.760 promise from the men I've come across in my life simply isn't true.

00:21:01.220 Uh, these aren't sweeping categories specific to men.

00:21:06.380 You don't hear people asking to watch man movies.

00:21:09.060 Instead, pretty much every intersection of genre is on the table and, and seen as for

00:21:13.360 men, except of course the aforementioned rom-coms.

00:21:15.820 The term also cheapens the work that goes into making these types of films.

00:21:19.380 Romantic comedies and or films centered around female leads go through just as much editing,

00:21:24.220 consideration, and rewriting as any other film.

00:21:26.460 And nicknaming films chick flicks drives home that there's something trivial about watching

00:21:31.100 them.

00:21:31.620 But what's trivial about watching a film that makes you feel a thousand emotions in 90 minutes?

00:21:35.840 Overall, there's nothing inherently gendered about liking a lighthearted film with a strong

00:21:40.520 female lead and emotional arc.

00:21:42.400 So next time you call something a chick flick, you better be referring to chicken run.

00:21:46.640 Uh, okay.

00:21:52.800 So the first problem here is just the triviality of it.

00:21:55.720 And this is what feminists are worried about. 1.00

00:21:57.880 The second thing is you do hear people talking about man movies or movies for men.

00:22:02.720 And I'm not offended by that as a man.

00:22:04.840 It doesn't offend me.

00:22:05.640 But here, here, here's the, here's the, the double standard because, okay.

00:22:10.420 If we call something a chick flick or a woman, a movie for women, that's offensive to women 1.00

00:22:16.740 apparently.

00:22:18.420 But if we were to say of a Bruce Willis action movie, that it's a man movie, that's offensive

00:22:25.180 to women.

00:22:26.260 So no matter what, it's offensive to women. 1.00

00:22:28.340 Now, how does that work for a second?

00:22:29.440 So I thought if we gender a movie and say it's only for a particular gender, then it is 0.94

00:22:35.340 offensive to the gender that we have assigned it to.

00:22:38.160 But no, that's not, that's apparently not the case.

00:22:40.600 No matter what you do, it's just going to be offensive to women in the end. 1.00

00:22:42.880 And that's, that's, that's the way it works.

00:22:45.500 Um, but of course, in the end, it doesn't matter because it's just, it's, it's still,

00:22:51.420 it's a lighthearted way of referring to, uh, a movie.

00:22:56.380 It doesn't matter.

00:22:57.100 And this really reminds me of this clip that's making the rounds online right now of Brie Larson

00:23:04.980 reacting to, uh, a lighthearted joke that one of her, one of her, um, fellow castmates

00:23:12.560 made.

00:23:13.400 But watch this.

00:23:14.680 I did all my stunts.

00:23:15.660 I did, I did my stunts because I thought that that's what everyone did.

00:23:18.920 And then Tom, Tom Cruise over here.

00:23:20.800 No, I'll be the first me, not the next Tom Cruise.

00:23:22.800 Thank you very much.

00:23:24.120 Wow.

00:23:24.520 So, yeah.

00:23:26.460 And that's what, that's what feminism has become. 1.00

00:23:29.020 Can't even, can't even take a joke.

00:23:30.840 I mean, taking yourself way too seriously.

00:23:34.000 I guess if we were to sum up feminism in one kind of line or one phrase, I think that's 0.99

00:23:40.040 sort of what it is.

00:23:40.760 It's women who take themselves way too seriously and have no sense of humor whatsoever. 1.00

00:23:47.360 All right.

00:23:49.720 Um, let's go to emails, mattwalshowatgmail.com, mattwalshowatgmail.com.

00:23:57.060 This is from John.

00:23:58.360 It says, Matt, crucial questions.

00:24:00.760 What's your favorite type of beer, ale, lager, amber, et cetera.

00:24:04.520 What's your favorite mass produced beer, like Coors, Sam Adams, et cetera.

00:24:08.600 What's your favorite craft brew?

00:24:10.960 It's a fascinating inquiry.

00:24:12.860 Uh, here's how it breaks down for me.

00:24:14.720 If I'm going to sit down and have only one beer, which I mean, why would I ever do that?

00:24:19.940 Of course, it's absurd.

00:24:20.720 Obviously you'd have more than one, but in that case, I'll probably go with a porter.

00:24:24.440 That's my, that's my go-to.

00:24:26.640 You can't beat the richness and complexity of a porter in my opinion, but I'm not going

00:24:31.480 to sit there and have three porters.

00:24:32.900 It's a little bit too much.

00:24:33.760 So if I'm going for higher volumes, then I'll go with an ale, probably an IPA, you know,

00:24:37.700 something like that.

00:24:38.700 So for me, ales and porters are number one.

00:24:40.800 Best mass produced beer.

00:24:42.500 Uh, well, Miller Lite, Budweiser.

00:24:44.140 That tastes like watered down goat urine.

00:24:46.280 And, uh, yes, I do know what that tastes like.

00:24:48.800 Um, so I would say best mass produced probably be Sam Adams or, or, uh, Sierra Nevada, Sierra

00:24:54.800 Nevada, probably.

00:24:55.720 And then finally, uh, best craft brewery.

00:24:59.900 That's a tough one because I think they're all great.

00:25:02.300 I've never had, I've never encountered a craft brewery that doesn't make good beer, but I

00:25:08.260 guess I got to go with the OG of craft breweries.

00:25:10.440 That would be a dogfish head. 0.97

00:25:12.700 I don't know.

00:25:13.460 It's dogfish head.

00:25:15.140 You really can't beat, can't beat them.

00:25:17.460 Um, this is from Brian says, Matt, I love your show, but I disagree with your assessment

00:25:21.340 of Trump as a quote, reckless loud mouth.

00:25:23.720 I think he's, he's, he says what's on his heart.

00:25:25.880 And I find that refreshing.

00:25:27.900 Well, Brian, I get that you find it refreshing and you know, I respect that.

00:25:32.800 That's, that's your opinion, your perspective.

00:25:35.660 That's fine.

00:25:37.520 But what you have to understand is that the vast majority of people don't feel that way.

00:25:44.760 And I think there are also a lot of people who used to feel that way and don't anymore.

00:25:48.480 And I think that there's probably nobody who, you know, really didn't like that style, but

00:25:55.120 recently has decided, you know what, that's, that's great.

00:25:57.520 I love it when Trump's constantly running his mouth and, you know, just saying whatever happens

00:26:01.100 to pop into his head, um, whether it's true or not, whether it makes sense or not, whether

00:26:05.200 it's relevant or not, whether it matters or not, you know, I don't think there's anyone

00:26:09.240 who has recently decided they actually love that.

00:26:11.820 I think there are a lot of people who have, um, in the last few years have just gotten sick

00:26:16.580 of it and would like to see maybe a little bit of presidential behavior, maybe just a

00:26:22.860 little bit every now and every now and then.

00:26:25.660 Um, so that's my point that, you know, you might personally like it and that's fine.

00:26:33.800 But as a supporter of the president, when you encourage more of it, you're not doing yourself

00:26:39.860 any favors.

00:26:40.400 You're not doing Trump any favors.

00:26:41.920 You're not doing his reelection chances, any favors.

00:26:44.140 You're just not, I'll tell you, think about in the last, I mean, really throughout his

00:26:52.360 presidency, what are the moments when Trump seems to, you know, really almost verge on

00:27:02.980 the, on the edge of even getting some good press.

00:27:05.380 And, um, you know, what, what are, what are the Trump moments that you can think of where

00:27:10.100 at least pretty much all conservatives seem to rally around it and, and, and be energized

00:27:15.400 by it?

00:27:16.780 When does that happen?

00:27:17.820 It seems to happen.

00:27:20.100 Uh, well, the last example I can think of is a state of the union speech.

00:27:24.260 Okay.

00:27:24.980 It seems like a million years ago now, but a state of the union speech, uh, it was a great

00:27:29.700 speech that all conservatives seem to be energized by it and loved it.

00:27:35.060 And he was even, even got a little bit of credit outside of the conservative circles for

00:27:40.080 giving a good speech.

00:27:41.760 Um, and I think any other example you can name would be something like that, where he delivered

00:27:47.420 a scripted speech and he had what appeared to be a presidential moment where he really seemed

00:27:53.840 like a president, like a dignified kind of guy up there in charge, in command.

00:28:01.320 Um, it's, those are the moments that appeal to, that appeal beyond Trump's hardcore fans.

00:28:11.200 He, he, he never has moments like that because of what he tweets or because of one of his rambling

00:28:17.060 pep rally speeches that he gives that appeals to the people who he doesn't need to appeal to.

00:28:23.840 Because they're on his side, no matter what his most hardcore fans.

00:28:29.020 I think to win in 2020, he needs fewer of those moments where he is winning people who will

00:28:35.460 vote for him literally no matter what he says or do does.

00:28:38.100 He needs fewer of those moments.

00:28:39.660 He needs a lot more of the state of the union type moments.

00:28:43.980 Uh, and I think if you're interested in him getting reelected, that's what you would be

00:28:49.420 encouraging.

00:28:51.040 Uh, let's see from Jesse says, hi, Matt.

00:28:53.280 I just want to let you know that your show is definitely the worst on the daily water.

00:28:56.680 You're not as thoughtful as Ben or as funny as Knowles or as entertaining as Clavin and

00:29:00.680 your long wandering rambles about theology and biblical history and whatever other topic

00:29:05.440 you feel like babbling about are not interesting.

00:29:08.180 I don't even say this to be mean.

00:29:09.780 I'm just trying to be honest and I'm not in all caps sending this so that you'll read

00:29:14.180 it on your show.

00:29:15.220 Sorry about that.

00:29:15.940 Uh, I'm just giving some honest feedback.

00:29:21.100 Okay.

00:29:21.640 You know, I don't, I mean, I don't even care what you, what you think.

00:29:23.860 So hold on, put some water.

00:29:29.100 Look what you've done.

00:29:37.460 You've hurt my feelings.

00:29:38.440 Does it look like I'm crying?

00:29:39.380 I can't get the, you know, I really feel like I could, I was thinking about this the other

00:29:42.460 day when I was watching TV that I could be a Hollywood actor.

00:29:46.400 Uh, I, I think I could act, you know, I think almost anyone could.

00:29:49.300 It doesn't seem like that hard except for the fake crying thing.

00:29:52.720 I can't pull that off.

00:29:53.780 I don't know how they do that when you've got the scene where someone's really emotionally

00:29:56.840 distraught and you know, they're just the waterworks that I could not do.

00:30:01.080 That's the, that is the one, that's the most impressive element of acting in my opinion.

00:30:06.380 Um, let's see here.

00:30:08.660 We'll do one more.

00:30:10.080 Um, this is from Tina.

00:30:13.480 Uh, now my glasses are getting fogged up for my fake tears from Tina, uh, says very disappointed

00:30:19.700 in your presentation related to the gifts of the Holy spirit.

00:30:22.420 I would have thought you would have done a better job with that in particular, in the

00:30:25.920 way of understanding the dynamics of those gifts and the use of them, especially in the

00:30:30.060 modern church today.

00:30:31.380 Yes, it is a gift that is given to only particular people.

00:30:33.620 And just like any gift that's given to you or me, we can abuse that gift.

00:30:37.480 I would highly encourage you that, uh, when you do any kind of commentary on something this

00:30:41.860 specific in regard to the spirituality of those in the Catholic church, that you give it

00:30:46.480 due respect and due research.

00:30:48.440 Mockery does not serve you well.

00:30:49.820 I was very offended personally by your cavalier approach to a very important topic and a very

00:30:54.360 important part of the spirituality of many faithful Catholics like myself.

00:30:57.880 Um, I, she's referring, I believe to when we talked about speaking in tongues and I said

00:31:02.580 that people who babble in gibberish are not really speaking in tongues.

00:31:06.680 And, uh, that is not a gift of the, you know, speaking gibberish is not a gift of the Holy

00:31:10.500 spirit.

00:31:11.000 It is just theatrical, embarrassing nonsense.

00:31:13.540 And I wish that Christians wouldn't do that. 1.00

00:31:15.360 So she says that she's offended by that.

00:31:17.720 Well, Tina, I, I never objected to the concept of Holy spirit of the Holy spirit giving gifts.

00:31:22.960 I agree that that happens.

00:31:25.200 Um, we all have gifts from the Holy spirit in one form or another, but the question is

00:31:29.320 whether babbling in gibberish is a gift from the Holy spirit, or if it's just a man-made

00:31:33.620 thing and something that people do because it's a trend in modern Christianity.

00:31:37.300 And I emphasize a modern trend, uh, nobody was babbling in gibberish in the church prior

00:31:44.020 to the 19th century or so.

00:31:45.520 So that's really the question is, is, is gibberish a gift of the Holy spirit?

00:31:50.980 Now, when you babble gibberish and nobody can understand you and nobody on earth recognizes 0.99

00:31:56.020 it as a language, um, am I supposed to take your word for it?

00:32:00.780 That it's some kind of mysterious angelic language that no one can understand.

00:32:05.740 Like when my, when my son starts babbling gibberish and says, I, I made up a new language,

00:32:12.660 daddy.

00:32:13.060 Am I supposed to take that seriously as an actual real language?

00:32:17.680 Um, well, you know, I, I guess I, I don't, to be honest with you, I guess.

00:32:26.420 And I don't mean this in an offensive way, but I just don't see any reason to believe

00:32:31.440 that your gibberish is really some kind of miraculous event and not just gibberish.

00:32:37.760 Sounds like gibberish, looks like gibberish.

00:32:40.960 According to everyone around us, it's just, no one understands.

00:32:43.540 I mean, you know, it seems by all accounts to be gibberish.

00:32:47.040 So I'm going to go with gibberish. 0.98

00:32:48.960 Um, there, there simply is no reason to believe anything other than that.

00:32:52.360 And considering how detrimental this stuff is to the church and how it serves no functional

00:32:56.960 purpose whatsoever, unlike when the early disciples did it and they were doing it so that other

00:33:01.260 people could understand them so that they could evangelize to those people.

00:33:04.860 Um, but this does not serve that purpose.

00:33:06.880 It doesn't really seem to seem to serve any purpose other than to embarrass, um, Christians. 0.99

00:33:13.420 So I'm led even more to the conclusion that there's no reason to believe it's miraculous.

00:33:17.360 Uh, do you really think that God is evangelizing?

00:33:20.420 God is drawing people to himself by inspiring Christians to babble nonsensically? 1.00

00:33:25.940 It's, it almost is like blasphemous.

00:33:28.200 You're going to, you know, babble nonsensically and blame it on the Holy spirit.

00:33:32.520 I mean, of all the miracles that God can perform, you think, you think making people babble is

00:33:38.920 a miracle?

00:33:41.720 Well, I don't honestly, and I'm not going to believe you just because you say it.

00:33:48.160 Uh, and again, no offense there, but like, if you told me you had the ability to heal

00:33:53.580 the blind, now that's a real miracle that, and maybe there are people in the world today

00:34:00.200 who can heal blind people.

00:34:01.580 I'm not going to say that they don't exist, but I'm not going to take your word for it.

00:34:05.480 If you come up to me and say, yeah, I can heal blind people. 1.00

00:34:08.240 I'm not going to say, oh, oh my gosh, you can.

00:34:10.500 Wow.

00:34:10.780 Okay.

00:34:10.960 Well, I totally believe you.

00:34:12.940 And see my reluctance in believing you is not a reluctance in trusting God.

00:34:18.660 It's not, this isn't about God.

00:34:19.540 It's about you.

00:34:20.200 I'm just not, I'm not going to implicitly trust what you tell me because you're a person.

00:34:24.960 You're not God.

00:34:25.720 Right?

00:34:26.720 So from you, I'm going to need more evidence.

00:34:29.340 I'm not just going to believe it because you say it.

00:34:32.560 And so if you say you can perform that kind of miracle, you can heal the blind.

00:34:35.940 I'm going to say, okay, show me.

00:34:37.080 Let me see.

00:34:37.700 Let me see you do it.

00:34:38.400 Bring a blind person in here and let me see you heal them. 1.00

00:34:40.900 Um, but if you can't do it, or if you heal a blind person, but by all appearances, they're 0.99

00:34:51.260 still blind and they can't see at the end of it, uh, then I'm going to say that, no,

00:34:56.360 you don't really have that gift.

00:34:57.540 You're either confused or you're a charlatan lying.

00:35:01.400 You know, it seems to be the two options.

00:35:02.720 I'm not accusing you of lying, but I think that people can, by the power of suggestion,

00:35:08.200 come to sincerely believe that they're in the midst of a divine trance when really it's

00:35:12.760 just an ecstatic kind of hysterical, but totally earthbound phenomenon.

00:35:17.180 I gave the example of hypnosis.

00:35:19.140 Um, that's a good parallel.

00:35:20.320 I think people really believe that they are hypnotized.

00:35:23.320 You watch a hypnotist on TV and you see people go up there and say, oh, I'm going to ring the

00:35:28.320 bell.

00:35:28.580 You're going to bark like a dog.

00:35:29.580 And then they ring the bell.

00:35:30.580 He barks like a dog.

00:35:31.260 They're not, he's not really hypnotized.

00:35:33.480 Nothing has happened there other than he's been convinced to play along without realizing

00:35:38.340 that he's playing along.

00:35:39.420 And that's what I think the gibberish is. 0.99

00:35:41.180 I'm afraid to say, um, so once again, the issue is that nobody has provided me one single

00:35:49.040 substantive reason to believe that gibberish is a miracle and you insisting on it and saying

00:35:54.420 that you're offended is not a reason.

00:35:56.000 And, uh, and that's just it and, and quoting the Bible and say, well, it says here in the

00:36:00.740 Bible that, yeah, I know it says that, but that doesn't prove that that's what you're

00:36:03.820 doing.

00:36:04.860 The Bible recounts many miracles, but that doesn't mean that you can do it.

00:36:09.800 And if you say you can, again, I'm going to need evidence.

00:36:13.080 I'm not just going to believe you.

00:36:15.880 Uh, and I think that's the approach that we all should have.

00:36:19.220 And that's the other thing as, as Christians, we don't want, I think we undermine our faith 0.83

00:36:23.240 when we, uh, appear to be gullible.

00:36:27.860 Like if, if it, if it seems that we'll just believe anything anyone tells us, then you

00:36:34.840 know what people on the outside, they're going to start to think they're going to say, oh,

00:36:37.120 well, so is maybe their whole religion is just that.

00:36:39.920 It seems like this is a gullible person who just believe anything.

00:36:43.880 So, man, that's, I guess that's all the Bible is just another story that this gullible person

00:36:49.780 believed because they believe everything.

00:36:52.420 Now, I think we want to show some discernment and show that, no, we do have some standards

00:36:56.160 here and we're not going to fall for any story someone tells us.

00:37:02.560 Um, all right.

00:37:03.440 So that's that.

00:37:05.620 I guess we'll leave it there.

00:37:06.660 Uh, hope you guys have a great, not just a great weekend, but a great, uh, Easter weekend,

00:37:11.220 the most important weekend of the year for, for Christians everywhere.

00:37:14.800 So God bless and Godspeed.

00:37:29.600 Today on the Ben Shapiro show, we recap the Mueller report Democrats call for impeachment and the

00:37:34.160 media changed their tune from collusion to obstruction.

00:37:36.760 That's today on the Ben Shapiro show.

The Matt Walsh Show - April 19, 2019

Ep. 243 - The Dangers Of Cultural Relativism

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