The Matt Walsh Show - Ep 257 - Pro-Life Rally In Philly Is A Huge Success

00:00:00.000 Today on the Matt Walsh Show, we had our big pro-life rally here in Philly, and the turnout and reception was incredible.

00:00:06.820 I want to tell you about it and talk about where we go from here with the pro-life movement.

00:00:12.200 Was this the tipping point of some kind? And we'll talk about that.

00:00:15.540 Also, Mother's Day is now offensive. We will discuss why.

00:00:19.340 And I will field one of the most outrageous and offensive emails that I've ever received.

00:00:25.680 I'll have to address today as well on the Matt Walsh Show.

00:00:30.000 Well, I'm pretty blown away, honestly, by what I just witnessed.

00:00:38.060 I'm coming from the rally here in Philly, the rally that, as I'm sure you're aware of, the genesis of it by now.

00:00:44.460 But just to review, Brian Sims, the Democratic state lawmaker here in Philadelphia, had been harassing and accosting pro-lifers and filming himself doing it proudly.

00:00:56.880 So we decided to hold a rally in support of the victims of his bullying and in defense, most importantly, of the unborn.

00:01:04.920 And as I said, I'm just coming from the rally and the turnout was incredible.

00:01:11.640 I mean, hundreds of people. The street was packed. There was barely room to stand.

00:01:16.060 People came from all over. I personally talked to people who came from Texas, California, Ohio, all up and down the East Coast.

00:01:26.720 I talked to one guy who drove in from Oklahoma, basically drove through the night to be here, on and on.

00:01:33.160 And of course, there were a lot of local people here as well. Hundreds and hundreds of people.

00:01:37.620 And, you know, what I was most excited about is that a lot of people that I talked to afterwards told me that they had never attended an event like this.

00:01:46.340 They had never been to a pro-life event before.

00:01:48.660 I heard that from a lot of people. And so there were there were plenty of pro-life veterans, plenty of of activists, you know, people who do this kind of thing all the time, which is great.

00:02:01.000 But there was also a sizable number of people who have never stood outside of a clinic.

00:02:05.680 They've never done this, never participated in something like this. And I'm I'm grateful for that.

00:02:11.660 And I hope that it's in what many of those people told me is that this is they they planned for this to be the first of many such events that they will attend.

00:02:20.900 And I hope that is the case. In fact, CBS reported that over.

00:02:25.760 I was wondering what the I didn't get a headcount myself, but as far as the official I don't have an official crowd size number.

00:02:33.240 CBS says that there were over a thousand people.

00:02:37.540 And in fact, I'll let me I'll play their report, their report that they did on the rally just to give you an idea of the size.

00:02:43.860 And also, because honestly, I'm I'm kind of shocked at the local CBS affiliate.

00:02:47.780 First of all, they sent the helicopter to get a look at the crowd and then they accurately reported the size of the crowd, which I'm impressed by.

00:02:55.640 So here's their report.

00:02:56.940 Senator Sims has received widespread condemnation for the incident.

00:03:01.040 Let's take you live now to that rally on the ground with Eyewitness News reporter Greg Argos.

00:03:05.840 Good afternoon, Greg.

00:03:08.260 Good afternoon there, Janelle and Jimmy.

00:03:10.440 Yeah, more than a thousand people have gathered here in front of the Planned Parenthood Clinic at 12th and Locust Street.

00:03:16.460 Take a live look at just how many folks are out here right now.

00:03:19.200 Most of these folks are part of the pro-life movement.

00:03:21.560 They're calling for an end to abortion, but they're gathering here today because of two videos posted by an elected state official.

00:03:28.040 Now, the two videos went viral this week, but state representative Brian Sims recorded them in April.

00:03:33.380 One video shows Sims approaching three teens and a mother prayerfully protesting in front of the clinic.

00:03:38.580 He offers money to anyone who can identify the teens.

00:03:41.360 The second nearly nine-minute video follows an elderly woman.

00:03:45.380 She's also praying outside of the Planned Parenthood Clinic here.

00:03:48.540 Sims calls the woman racist and says she's an old white lady.

00:03:52.500 Now, back here live, if we take a look from our chopper, you can see just how large this crowd is.

00:03:57.740 The videos received widespread criticism, as you can imagine, from both sides of the abortion debate.

00:04:03.360 And this week, live action, a pro-life organization called for a rally outside the clinic.

00:04:08.520 The crowd gathering here this morning calling for state rep Sims to resign and praying for those working and entering the facility.

00:04:14.980 A heavy police presence surrounds this building, and at least a dozen Planned Parenthood volunteers stood guard outside to help escort, I should say, anyone inside the building.

00:04:25.860 Most gathered here say this shows the power of the pro-life movement.

00:04:29.800 We also did speak with one woman who was pro-choice.

00:04:32.680 Take a listen to both sides.

00:04:33.940 It shows the strength of the pro-life community, that the pro-life community here in Philadelphia and beyond will not back down to violence, bullying, and intimidation.

00:04:42.280 We were overwhelmed just with the success of our fundraiser, where people were giving their own money in $5 and $10 and $25 increments.

00:04:49.820 But the fact that people showed up, I know some people here traveled from such incredible distances to be here.

00:04:54.940 It means so much to me and to my family.

00:04:57.500 I'm out here to provide support for the volunteers that are coming to help people get services that they need.

00:05:03.480 I wanted to just make sure that it felt like they felt safe.

00:05:09.180 And back here live, you can just see how large this crowd is.

00:05:12.360 It's basically closed down Locust Street between 12th and 11th Street here in Center City, a heavy police presence.

00:05:19.400 And if we look to the left here, you can see some of the volunteers from Planned Parenthood.

00:05:22.700 They're wearing the smocks, the orange and pink smocks, helping everyone or anyone who needs to enter the clinic here get through.

00:05:29.780 Now, a lot of folks have called for Representative Sims to resign.

00:05:33.420 He has not made any direct statement other than a video he released two days ago calling his actions aggressive.

00:05:39.560 But he's not stated anything since.

00:05:41.860 That is the latest live here in Center City.

00:05:44.240 That is a that's a that's a pretty big, pretty big crowd.

00:05:47.640 I would have been happy, honestly, with 100 people showing up.

00:05:51.020 And when I sent a tweet, this all started with a tweet that I sent on Monday night where I said it'd be great if we had a rally there.

00:05:59.440 You know, if a bunch of pro-lifers showed up in response to all this bullying.

00:06:04.180 And five days later, there you go.

00:06:07.300 With over a thousand people packing the street.

00:06:10.160 As I said, if 100 people came originally, I was thinking maybe we get 100 people and that would be good.

00:06:16.560 I'd be I would have been happy with that.

00:06:17.820 Um, I wasn't expecting anything like that.

00:06:21.120 And so that shows you, you know, it shows you a few things, but it shows you that social media can.

00:06:27.840 Twitter is a godforsaken hellscape most of the time. 0.68

00:06:30.780 And it's a time suck most of the time.

00:06:32.800 And it's destroying our lives in many ways.

00:06:36.120 But it can be used for good.

00:06:39.140 Um, and that's where this pretty much this entire event was organized just through not just me, but, um, many pro-lifers and conservatives and with, you know, a platform tweeting about it and getting people out.

00:06:54.900 So this was, this is pretty much, this is a grassroots, uh, uh, organically organized through social media, mainly through Twitter.

00:07:03.620 And that's what you get.

00:07:04.440 So, um, it is a tool that can be used for good.

00:07:07.980 And, and, uh, I think we should try to do that more often.

00:07:10.580 If I did have one complaint about the event, it's, um, this moment right here.

00:07:14.340 Look at this picture.

00:07:15.440 Uh, you see Lila's, that's the Lila Rose there.

00:07:17.840 And you see her face, the expression she's making.

00:07:21.240 Um, now, of course, I get that face a lot when I talk.

00:07:23.640 I'm very used to it.

00:07:25.380 Um, you know, I get that face for, or when I'm tweeting, I assume that people read my tweets with that look on their face.

00:07:31.140 I get that look for my wife a lot, um, uh, from all my family and loved ones.

00:07:35.520 So I'm, I'm used to that face, but that was actually, see, she's making that face there because I, when I first got to the podium, uh, Lila tried to get me to take off my sunglasses because she said it was cloudy and rainy at the time.

00:07:47.300 So there was no reason to have them on.

00:07:48.700 Um, and, uh, I refused to take them off.

00:07:51.740 Why did I refuse?

00:07:52.560 Because they're prescription sunglasses and I'd be blind without them.

00:07:57.360 So Lila, you know, arguably is discriminating against the visually impaired there. 0.99

00:08:02.040 Um, and, uh, which, which is, which is terribly terrible.

00:08:05.920 Honestly, after that moment, I had to keep the sunglasses on to hide my tears that I was shedding because I was so wounded by this discriminatory attack.

00:08:16.360 Um, you might say that I could have worn regular glasses and that's true, but then what if the sun peeks out from the clouds suddenly and melts my eyeballs?

00:08:24.300 And, and, and that does happen.

00:08:25.520 I mean, it happens all the time to people.

00:08:26.560 I've heard of it happening.

00:08:27.280 Uh, so, so there's that, but aside from that one little hiccup, it was a remarkable and inspiring, motivating, uh, all around awesome event.

00:08:35.620 And, and in all seriousness, aside from the sunglass shaming, Lila Rose and the people at Live Action deserve a ton of credit.

00:08:43.100 Um, after I had this idea on Twitter, I, I immediately got in touch with Live Action because I know that if anyone could throw this together in four or five days, it would be them.

00:08:52.660 And they did, um, and they, you know, they had to do quite a bit, uh, to, you got to get the permits, you got to get all the equipment, organize the speakers, you get to, you know, coordinate with the local, um, pro-life leaders, law enforcement.

00:09:05.320 There's a lot you got to do.

00:09:06.760 And they had four or five days to do it.

00:09:08.620 And, uh, and they did it.

00:09:10.100 Now, people have been asking me if Brian Sims showed up.

00:09:14.780 Um, and of course, no, he didn't, he did not show up.

00:09:20.720 There was a little chance that he would, I would have loved to see him.

00:09:24.420 I would have loved for him to come, but I didn't expect that he would, uh, Sims is a pariah now to Planned Parenthood, um, perhaps even more than he is in the pro-life movement.

00:09:36.300 I think, I think Planned Parenthood probably hates him more now than they do us, um, because I'm sure they blame him for the fact that a thousand pro-lifers showed up to their front, you know, were standing in their front yard.

00:09:47.720 Well, not really in their front yard.

00:09:48.940 We were on public property, but, um, they, the fact that there were a thousand pro-lifers outside of their building, they blame him for that, not without reason.

00:09:56.540 And so he was never going to shut up, uh, show up.

00:09:59.960 Um, and not only that, but it's, it's not just that Sims didn't come.

00:10:06.120 Um, there were also almost no counter-protesters, which, which did not surprise me either.

00:10:11.420 That isn't surprising.

00:10:13.400 There never are very many who come to these kinds of things.

00:10:16.540 They don't show up to the March for Life, uh, or, or any other pro-life event.

00:10:20.900 Even if you think, well, this is the kind of thing where you would, um, like, where is Antifa?

00:10:25.880 Isn't this what Antifa is made for is to show up at something like this?

00:10:29.660 Um, I didn't expect them to come in and they didn't.

00:10:33.440 Why is that?

00:10:34.200 Well, I think there are two reasons.

00:10:36.320 One, um, they don't want to engage, right?

00:10:42.280 They can't defend their position and they know it.

00:10:46.060 So they pick on the weak and the vulnerable.

00:10:48.620 They, they, they pick on, they're like, you know, lions who are looking for the weak, injured gazelle to, like, separated from the pack, um, to go after.

00:10:57.300 And I'm being way too flattering to them comparing them to lions because they're not at all, uh, maybe hyenas or something would be a better comparison.

00:11:03.860 But they, they're looking, they, they, they'll come after you if you're by yourself.

00:11:09.040 Um, and if they think that you're not going to be able to, if they think you, you won't be able to or won't be willing to defend yourself.

00:11:16.980 So Brian Simpson was going after kids.

00:11:19.440 Uh, he was going after the, the, the older woman who would have been perfectly capable of defending herself. 0.99

00:11:24.180 But she decided to remain silent, which I think was a, which I think was a very good decision on her part.

00:11:29.180 She let him basically, uh, you know, dig his own grave, as it were, uh, bury himself with his words.

00:11:35.540 And he did.

00:11:36.140 So she made the right decision and that's what they're looking for.

00:11:41.360 If they think that, okay, there are going to be people there who will engage with me and, and argue with me and do so, um, you know, competently.

00:11:52.880 Well, they don't want any part of that.

00:11:55.060 So they're not going to be there.

00:11:56.080 The second reason though, why, why we didn't see any, um, counter protesters is the pro abortion movement.

00:12:01.280 You have to understand is much smaller and much more lethargic.

00:12:06.140 And, and that's the fact of the matter.

00:12:07.940 Now I say the pro abortion movement is much smaller than the pro-life movement.

00:12:14.020 Yet abortion is still legal almost everywhere in the country.

00:12:18.140 Right.

00:12:19.340 Um, so why is that?

00:12:21.560 If I'm claiming that the one movement is so much bigger than the other.

00:12:25.840 Well, that's because the vast majority of people are not part of either movement.

00:12:31.940 Most people aren't in any movement at all.

00:12:34.300 They're, they're not interested in moving one direction or another.

00:12:37.640 They just want to sit back and, uh, and float.

00:12:40.960 And that's where most people are.

00:12:42.140 The vast majority are indifferent, um, intellectually lazy, and they're, they're kind of in the middle.

00:12:48.420 And that means they're going to go with the status quo.

00:12:50.800 They're going to go with the way that, with the, just the direction that the water happens to be flowing.

00:12:55.580 And, um, and so the status quo is abortion in our, um, society.

00:13:01.740 But in terms of, uh, actually getting people, and that's the, that's the ace they have up their sleeve, is that they know, um, that, yeah, they don't have an energetic and large movement.

00:13:20.320 But they also know that most people are just going to go with whatever they say.

00:13:25.540 In terms of actually getting people mobilized, um, well, they could never do what we just did in a week.

00:13:32.800 They could never do that.

00:13:34.740 I mean, I would challenge them to try, but they can't.

00:13:38.380 They're never going to do that.

00:13:39.560 Uh, just like they're never going to get a march the size of the March for Life.

00:13:43.380 The most they could do is they had the one women's march, but, but they claimed that that was not a pro-abortion march.

00:13:48.840 That was just a march for women. 1.00

00:13:50.220 So, uh, as far as an, a, an event that explicitly deals with this issue, they're not going to do anything like what we did today, or what the March for Life does, or in many other kinds of similar events.

00:14:04.620 Um, they just can't do it.

00:14:06.440 Now, my point in bringing that up is that this is a, a, a huge advantage that we have, that we do have all the energy on our side.

00:14:21.260 We have the ability and the willingness to mobilize, to get involved, um, and we also have the truth.

00:14:29.200 You know, it, it, what we're defending is life, and, um, that really lends itself, you know, it, it, it, it lends itself to a rally or a march or giving a speech, uh, because what are you putting on the sign?

00:14:50.360 You're saying, you're, you're putting things on the sign about life and love and liberty, and that's what we're, we're marching for.

00:14:58.200 It's the kind of thing you could be proud to be a part of.

00:15:00.880 And that's one of the other reasons that, that's one of the other problems that the pro-abortion movement has, is that, um, even people who are sympathetic to them,

00:15:09.240 and even people who otherwise maybe would be willing to go out and be an activist, a lot of them are embarrassed and ashamed, uh, to be explicitly involved in this issue on that side of it.

00:15:27.960 They don't want to be, they don't want to hold a sign saying, yay, abortion, right?

00:15:34.340 They don't want that, uh, which is why if there's any hope of actually getting people, they need to say something, oh, it's a women's march. 1.00

00:15:42.260 It's not about that.

00:15:43.180 It's about all these other random issues.

00:15:45.540 Uh, so sure, I'll hold a sign saying, yay, women, but we're not afraid to address the actual issue because we're not ashamed of our position. 1.00

00:15:55.220 We know that it's right and it's good and it's just, and that's a huge advantage we have.

00:16:01.420 So my hope is that what happened today is, um, the beginning of something.

00:16:10.000 It's the, it's a tipping point.

00:16:12.800 As I said, all these people said I'd never been involved in a pro-life movement before.

00:16:16.060 This is my first time.

00:16:17.620 Well, I hope that those people stay involved and stay active.

00:16:21.120 And, you know, this isn't, as I said, this isn't new for pro-life activists.

00:16:26.240 They've been doing this for a long time.

00:16:27.200 So this isn't new for them.

00:16:29.520 But I hope it's, it's a new thing for a lot of people who are sympathetic to the pro-life cause, who are pro-life.

00:16:35.560 Uh, but up until this point, they're pro-life in their heads or maybe on the computer, not out in the real world.

00:16:43.340 You see, what we did with this issue, what we did, it was very simple.

00:16:48.240 We saw something that we didn't like, that was unjust and wrong.

00:16:55.000 And we said, you know what, we're just going to show up.

00:16:58.700 Yeah, we can send tweets and we'll do that and we can complain and all that.

00:17:02.300 But we're also just going to show, we're just going to go.

00:17:05.380 We're going to get on our feet, we're going to walk there and we're going to show up.

00:17:08.260 And that's what we need to start doing, showing up, expressing our, um, point of view in the real world.

00:17:20.760 We need to be doing a lot more of that.

00:17:25.420 Nothing wrong with, uh, with complaining about injustice.

00:17:30.320 But when we're complaining about it, the next question is, okay, what are you going to do about it?

00:17:34.780 We did something here, and this might seem like a small thing, I don't know.

00:17:41.320 But at the very least, you know, this guy, Brian Sims, he, he, this was, in him harassing pro-lifers, he'd been doing that for a long time.

00:17:48.280 And filming himself doing it for a long time.

00:17:51.680 The only difference is that we finally put our foot down and said, you know what, no, we're not going to let you do this anymore.

00:17:57.300 You're going to pay a price for that.

00:18:00.980 All right, what else?

00:18:01.860 Um, here's something, let me see if I can pull it up.

00:18:09.720 Um, an Australian school renamed Mother's Day, uh, calling it Acknowledgement Day.

00:18:19.060 Acknowledgement Day.

00:18:19.800 As the principal stated, we no longer subscribe to a binary world.

00:18:23.540 This is from, I'm reading from the Daily Wire now.

00:18:25.260 Uh, as the Daily Mail writes, of Brunswick East Primary School in Melbourne,

00:18:30.320 in previous years, the school has hosted a fundraising stall where children could buy Mother's Day merchandise,

00:18:35.080 such as mugs, trinkets, candles, and soaps.

00:18:37.920 But now the stall will be called the Appreciation Stall, instead, where children can buy gifts for anyone.

00:18:43.900 Um, Principal Janet D. Pila wrote in the school newsletter,

00:18:48.840 You will see further in this newsletter a fantastic poster for our first Acknowledgement Day.

00:18:54.160 We will be holding two of these days each year, one to coincide with the traditional Mother's Day,

00:18:58.020 and the other to coincide with the traditional Father's Day.

00:19:00.660 There's been a lot of discussion about the reason we celebrate these days and the naming of the celebration.

00:19:04.560 I believe that days like this are important because we do need to stop and show gratitude.

00:19:08.880 Um, we do need to stop and show gratitude.

00:19:14.400 I sincerely hope that this change in name will show that we as a computer recognize blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

00:19:19.640 Uh, okay, so it's, it's, uh, it's Acknowledgement Day now, not Mother's Day.

00:19:25.660 Uh, you know, I've talked about this plenty, um, as you know.

00:19:33.940 But here's what it comes down to, okay?

00:19:35.520 With all this non-binary stuff, transgenderism stuff, gender fluidity stuff, uh, here's, here's the point. 0.81

00:19:43.520 Here's the question, really.

00:19:46.580 It's a simple question.

00:19:49.160 What is a woman? 1.00

00:19:53.400 What is a woman? 1.00

00:19:55.040 Very simple question.

00:19:57.240 What is a woman? 1.00

00:19:58.680 Can you define the word?

00:20:00.680 You need to be able to define it.

00:20:03.620 I can.

00:20:04.460 So, as a believer in biology, uh, I confess, I, I do believe that biology is a thing, that it exists.

00:20:12.380 So, as a believer in biology, I can define it.

00:20:14.740 I would say that a woman, in principle, is a female of the human species who possesses two X chromosomes and female reproductive organs, 1.00

00:20:22.100 as well as dozens of other, or even hundreds of other biological markers distinct to the female subset of the human species.

00:20:29.500 That, that's how I would define the term.

00:20:31.240 Um, and, and this will be the case for every female, barring sickness, mutation, or injury.

00:20:37.700 So, there are going to be a few exceptions.

00:20:40.000 But, uh, you know, for instance, women who don't have female reproductive organs, uh, not because they have functioning male reproductive organs, 0.74

00:20:47.740 but just because they've, they've, you know, some sort of mutation, or, or there could have been a sickness.

00:20:51.960 I mean, uh, but if, if it is an exception, it's because something has gone wrong physically, and that's very clear.

00:20:59.780 So, there you go.

00:21:01.940 That's how I define it.

00:21:04.100 If you don't define the word that way, then how do you define it?

00:21:11.660 After all, if you're going to say that a man can be a woman, then you must be able to define what both of those words mean,

00:21:21.700 because otherwise it's nonsense, right?

00:21:25.600 To say that so-and-so can be a woman, or is a woman.

00:21:30.260 Okay, well, what is that?

00:21:32.140 What are you, what are you trying to say he is?

00:21:36.480 Now, I posed this challenge on Twitter yesterday.

00:21:39.060 Uh, I spent much of yesterday trying to get someone to answer this question, like some leftist.

00:21:43.680 Just, just, it's, it's, if this is a gotcha question for you, then that should tell you something about your point of view.

00:21:49.920 This should not be a gotcha question.

00:21:51.020 All I'm saying is, you're using this word, what do you mean by it?

00:21:54.960 Tell me that, and we can proceed with the conversation.

00:21:58.460 So, I posed this challenge on Twitter.

00:22:00.220 I said, here's a simple challenge for everyone who thinks that a biological male can be a woman.

00:22:03.620 Define woman. 1.00

00:22:05.240 Uh, I think any definition will either rule out the possibility of men being women,

00:22:09.020 or expand the concept of womanhood into utter meaninglessness. 0.99

00:22:12.280 Prove me wrong.

00:22:13.460 Go ahead.

00:22:13.900 All right.

00:22:14.180 So, there you go.

00:22:15.120 Hey, it's just, there's the challenge.

00:22:17.420 Someone step up to the plate, some leftist, and give me a definition.

00:22:22.060 And, and then we can go from there.

00:22:24.780 Uh, but going through the responses, and there was almost a hundred responses.

00:22:29.920 Um, and no one, someone says, why don't you mind your own business?

00:22:36.400 Okay, that's not a response.

00:22:38.340 And how am I not minding my own business?

00:22:40.300 I'm just saying, what's, what's, what's the definition of this word?

00:22:43.180 When someone asks for the definition of a word, if someone, you know, if your kid said to you, uh, you know, daddy, what, what does, what does, what does this word mean?

00:22:54.120 Would you say mind your own business?

00:22:56.040 I mean, I'm a human being, and so words are part of my business, too.

00:23:04.360 So, mind your own business, someone says, um, someone says, a woman is a classification of human beings that we make in society. 1.00

00:23:13.260 It's ultimately arbitrary.

00:23:15.200 Okay, so their definition is, there's no definition.

00:23:18.140 It doesn't mean anything.

00:23:19.040 All right, well, that's not really answering the question, but, uh, if that's the case, then you understand that it makes no sense for you to say, so-and-so is a woman.

00:23:30.960 Or for someone to say, I am a woman.

00:23:34.320 You realize that that, that phrase now means nothing.

00:23:39.120 And so, if I'm supposed to respect, well, that they identify as a woman, you have to respect that.

00:23:43.940 Well, why do I have to respect it?

00:23:45.020 It doesn't, you just said it doesn't mean anything.

00:23:47.500 They may as well identify as a, as a, you know, as a hoobily boo.

00:23:51.800 It's just, it's a, it's a made-up word, you're saying.

00:23:54.660 Um, definitions are problematic and were invented by the patriarchy to oppress minorities.

00:24:00.380 Well, I, you know, I, I assume that's sarcastic, but I, I have no idea at this point.

00:24:04.560 Uh, yeah, there's, I, I, I go through all these, but no one is able to give a definition.

00:24:13.720 No, no one from a woman. 0.94

00:24:18.580 Okay, here's the definition.

00:24:19.880 Um, a woman is someone who identifies as a woman.

00:24:23.440 That's it.

00:24:23.880 It's really simple.

00:24:26.900 Okay.

00:24:27.980 So, your definition of woman is someone who identifies as woman.

00:24:33.120 Your definition of table is a thing that is a table.

00:24:37.380 Your definition of apple is a thing that is an apple.

00:24:40.960 You see, that's not a definition.

00:24:42.180 You can't use the word you're defining in the definition because that still leaves the question of,

00:24:48.260 okay, well, what does that word mean that you just used in the definition?

00:24:53.420 Um, if, if I were, uh, on, if I were on, uh, of, uh, the left-wing persuasion,

00:25:00.500 this would trouble me.

00:25:05.000 It would, it would trouble me that a simple word like woman that I use all the time, I 0.94

00:25:14.060 can't define because I know that if I define it, my whole worldview will shatter.

00:25:20.340 You should be troubled by that.

00:25:25.260 All right, let's go to, uh, some emails before we wrap things up for the day.

00:25:28.880 MattWalshow at gmail.com, mattwalshow at gmail.com.

00:25:31.560 This is from, um, from Hope.

00:25:34.500 Says, hey, Matt, I've been following for a while and don't always agree with your views,

00:25:37.840 but I appreciate your passion for the pro-life cause.

00:25:39.980 I might be wrong, but I don't feel I've heard you talk much about how to act towards women

00:25:44.340 who are in a position to make the choice.

00:25:45.960 I was a pregnant teenager who was surrounded by a lot of people from church who are more

00:25:49.960 judgmental than they were supportive.

00:25:51.500 It was extremely lonely and scary.

00:25:53.940 Abortion was never on the table for me, but I believe a lot of these women feel forced 1.00

00:25:57.380 because they want to avoid the judgment.

00:26:00.160 There seems to be a lot of focus on how awful abortion is, which is fine. 1.00

00:26:04.480 I just feel like there should be more focus on caring for these girls and applauding the

00:26:08.060 choice to keep their babies. 0.77

00:26:09.940 Um, not applauding the situation or the choice to get pregnant, but showing love and grace.

00:26:14.380 What do you think?

00:26:15.040 Well, I totally agree.

00:26:16.520 And, um, and, uh, it will please you to learn that there are a lot of people in the pro-life

00:26:23.260 movement that this is their, this is, this is what they do.

00:26:26.260 Uh, they offer support and encouragement to women, pregnancy centers.

00:26:31.420 There are pregnancy centers in every city, every major city in America, um, and, and plenty

00:26:36.560 of non-major cities as well.

00:26:38.660 And this is what they do.

00:26:39.980 They reach out to the women.

00:26:40.900 They offer help and counseling and guidance and, um, love and acceptance and a lot of

00:26:47.560 practical things too.

00:26:48.200 Like we'll help you with diapers.

00:26:51.300 We'll get your clothes.

00:26:52.540 We'll, you know, we'll everything.

00:26:54.500 Um, pregnancy centers will help women in, in any possible way.

00:26:58.500 Um, there was, I, I did a, a fundraiser for a pregnancy center down in Florida recently,

00:27:03.580 and they had, um, some volunteers from the center had built a house for a pregnant woman,

00:27:11.620 um, who was homeless.

00:27:13.840 So, I mean, you know, they, they, that does happen, but I agree with you that that's a

00:27:20.060 really important part of this discussion.

00:27:23.080 Um, and I will also say that when we're talking about this issue or any issue, the way that

00:27:32.580 we talk about it will depend in large part on who we're talking to and what the context

00:27:40.820 is now there is never a context where we should lie.

00:27:44.500 There is never a context where we should encourage people to do the wrong thing, but there can

00:27:53.760 be situations where it calls for a more gentle approach, um, where using certain words and

00:27:59.800 certain phrases wouldn't be helpful.

00:28:01.460 And if you're talking to a woman who's in a desperate situation, who's scared, who doesn't 0.99

00:28:05.880 know what to do, uh, who has no support around her, well, that's someone who needs, as you

00:28:14.740 say, for you to reach out, show love, show acceptance, um, avoid anything that reeks of judgment.

00:28:23.980 Um, that's going to be the approach you need there while still remaining firmly grounded in the truth.

00:28:34.340 So you can never compromise on that, but the way that you communicate that truth will, will, uh, shift

00:28:43.180 sometimes depending on who you're talking to and what the, what the, um, situation is.

00:28:48.740 When we're talking about this issue on a, on the public stage and we're talking about it generally,

00:28:54.480 then I think that calls for a much more straightforward, blunt, uh, approach because you're trying to cut

00:29:02.520 through the noise, cut through the haze, speak to people in their indifference, um, and kind of

00:29:08.880 douse some cold water on them to wake them up.

00:29:11.620 But, but not every situation is like that.

00:29:16.020 And when it's a more personal one-on-one thing, then maybe you change your approach a little bit.

00:29:20.800 All right.

00:29:21.080 This is from, um, Kim.

00:29:25.960 I got a lot of emails on this issue.

00:29:27.700 So I'll, I'll, I just, I'll read just one.

00:29:30.520 We talked about this earlier in the week.

00:29:32.520 Um, we talked about the issue of, of, uh, kids in church and what do you do about kids

00:29:37.840 that are loud in church and, and, and all of that.

00:29:40.640 So this is from Kim.

00:29:41.280 It says, hello, Matt.

00:29:41.840 I am deeply annoyed by the comments about children in mass.

00:29:44.880 Those comments are everything that's wrong with Catholic fellowship here in America.

00:29:48.560 Children need to be in mass.

00:29:49.860 We need to norm, normalize worship for them from a young age.

00:29:52.540 We hear all the time that practice makes perfect.

00:29:54.540 Children will not learn how to act in mass.

00:29:56.320 If they aren't given the opportunity to be a part of the mass often, we make mass a dreadful

00:30:00.460 experience for kids when it's just a place where they're yelled at, scolded, expected

00:30:04.260 to sit still and quiet for 45 minutes.

00:30:06.780 Um, where are you going to church?

00:30:09.080 It's only 45 minutes.

00:30:10.640 Uh, let me know.

00:30:11.320 I'd like to go there.

00:30:12.240 It is.

00:30:12.600 No, I'm kidding.

00:30:13.220 Sort of.

00:30:13.640 Uh, it's especially frustrating because that is not how Jesus acts towards children in

00:30:17.920 the gospels.

00:30:18.480 Jesus is very open and loving to children.

00:30:20.160 Let the children come to me.

00:30:21.180 He says, I have three children, age three, two, and one.

00:30:23.800 We carry a lot of, quote, joyful noise wherever we go.

00:30:27.380 We have a lot of joyful noise, too, in our family, although it's, you know, I must admit

00:30:31.100 sometimes the noise is less joyful than others, but it's a lot of noise anyway.

00:30:35.420 Um, from experience, the only people who have problems with children are people who aren't

00:30:39.140 parents.

00:30:39.500 Uh, I, I even bring my children to daily mass and the little old ladies love that we're 1.00

00:30:44.300 there.

00:30:44.900 I can remember before I was a mom feeling like young children who are loud or distracted or

00:30:48.040 just misbehaving.

00:30:48.820 But now that I'm a mother, I totally get that no two-year-old can developmentally act like

00:30:53.080 an adult at mass or anywhere else.

00:30:55.300 Um, it doesn't matter how well behaved this two-year-old is in any other setting.

00:31:00.400 Um, the serious problem with this is, is allowing a Catholic church where children are made to 1.00

00:31:04.560 feel unwelcome.

00:31:05.320 If children are unwelcome, then young families are unwelcome.

00:31:07.720 If young families are unwelcome, then who will be the future of the church?

00:31:11.100 This contributes to the issues that, uh, the church is having with losing American Catholics.

00:31:16.780 I am Hispanic American.

00:31:18.060 When I go to Spanish speaking masses, those masses are filled with families who are so warm

00:31:21.880 to children.

00:31:22.320 And there's no expectation that children are going to remain quiet and seated and no one

00:31:27.360 is fazed by that.

00:31:28.880 Um, we as a church have to stop being so strict about the meaning of reverence when it comes

00:31:34.320 to small children.

00:31:35.040 Obviously, older children are different.

00:31:36.840 Once children reach the age of reason or preparing for first communion, then they must 1.00

00:31:40.680 start to have true reverence and attention to the whole mass.

00:31:43.720 Um, okay.

00:31:44.620 And she goes on for that.

00:31:45.320 I have to cut for time a little bit, but that's, but, uh, yeah, I, I, and it makes a good

00:31:51.900 point.

00:31:52.100 I don't disagree with that.

00:31:54.340 We do have to be accepting of children in, in, in society in general.

00:31:58.580 And this is what we're talking about here today.

00:31:59.820 Right.

00:32:00.720 Accepting children.

00:32:02.740 Um, and especially in church, I agree there too.

00:32:07.500 And that's one of the reasons I don't like, I don't, not a big fan of things like children's

00:32:12.200 church or, you know, some churches where you ferry the kids off to some other place.

00:32:16.820 I think they need to be with their parents, be with their family, be, they're a part of

00:32:21.860 the body of Christ.

00:32:22.880 Right.

00:32:23.020 And they need to feel like it.

00:32:24.680 So I agree with that.

00:32:26.640 Um, but that's, that's fine.

00:32:31.940 Right.

00:32:32.360 We can make that statement.

00:32:33.380 Children should be accepted and welcomed.

00:32:35.380 Absolutely.

00:32:35.780 But also, um, I would assume you agree there can come a point where a child is simply being

00:32:47.480 disruptive to a point that is unacceptable because it just makes it impossible for everyone

00:32:55.800 else to do what they came there to do.

00:32:59.320 Um, so it's great for your child to be included.

00:33:05.460 It's not great if your child's inclusion means that whatever he's included in becomes all

00:33:12.620 about him because of how disruptive and loud he's being.

00:33:15.700 I mean, obviously if a kid is sitting in church, literally screaming, then the only thing anyone

00:33:20.400 can hear is that.

00:33:21.260 And so now everything is about him and that's not okay.

00:33:23.520 Yeah, he should be included, but you can't expect us to, for us all to simply go along

00:33:32.080 patiently and with acceptance with all of your kids, various moods and everything and

00:33:37.420 whatever he wants to do, we have to simply deal with it.

00:33:40.520 You can't expect that either.

00:33:41.940 And I don't think you would expect that.

00:33:44.040 I think you would agree.

00:33:45.900 I hope you would agree.

00:33:47.880 There are parents, and most parents understand that, but there are parents who seem to think

00:33:52.140 that my kid's going to act however he wants.

00:33:55.140 And if he's a distraction, you have to deal with it.

00:33:57.800 And if everything becomes about him, okay, that's just the way it is.

00:34:02.600 And that's not, that's wrong to everybody else.

00:34:06.320 It's also wrong for the child because the child needs to learn how to be a part of things.

00:34:12.920 But that's not being a part when you're making everything about you.

00:34:16.880 A two-year-old can't help but do that.

00:34:18.760 But we as parents have to offer that loving correction, right?

00:34:22.760 So I think there's a balance there that can be struck.

00:34:26.880 Finally, this is from Joey, says, well, the subject line of the email is, should men wear

00:34:31.340 beards?

00:34:34.760 Says, dear master of the known universe, I was listening to your podcast and thought of a

00:34:38.220 verse in Corinthians.

00:34:39.340 Doth not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?

00:34:43.700 So, uh, first Corinthians, my question is, does this verse apply to beards too?

00:34:49.200 And if so, should we all shave ours?

00:34:51.560 Please forgive this heresy when you're coming to your power.

00:34:55.080 Uh, Joey, I, um, I am, it's no big deal.

00:35:01.560 Don't be concerned, but I am keeping a list of, uh, people who, when I am dictator of the

00:35:11.300 country, uh, will, you know, be questioned and probably imprisoned.

00:35:16.640 And, uh, so, uh, let's see, Joey, last name.

00:35:21.620 Okay.

00:35:21.860 So you're, you've just, you've made the list with that question.

00:35:24.860 And, uh, so congratulations.

00:35:28.260 I won't, I won't even dignify it with an answer.

00:35:30.700 Should we all shave our beards?

00:35:32.920 That you would even insult me with such a question is all the more reason for you to

00:35:37.820 have made my, my list.

00:35:40.200 All right.

00:35:40.520 We'll leave it there.

00:35:41.100 Hope you all have a great weekend.

00:35:42.420 Um, Godspeed.

00:35:54.860 We'll be right back.

The Matt Walsh Show - May 10, 2019

Ep 257 - Pro-Life Rally In Philly Is A Huge Success

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