The Matt Walsh Show - June 03, 2019


Ep. 270 - Facebook Doxxes Its Own User At The Behest Of The Media


Episode Stats

Length

58 minutes

Words per Minute

166.39413

Word Count

9,667

Sentence Count

638

Misogynist Sentences

15

Hate Speech Sentences

20


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Today on the Matt Walsh Show, the Daily Beast decided to take vengeance on a random guy who made a Nancy Pelosi meme.
00:00:07.600 They doxed him, they shamed him publicly, but that's not even the most disturbing thing about this story.
00:00:14.140 We'll talk about it today.
00:00:16.160 Also, Budweiser is celebrating Pride Month, but specifically they decided to celebrate asexual pride.
00:00:25.380 What in God's name does that mean?
00:00:27.980 We'll try to figure that out today as well.
00:00:30.000 On the Matt Walsh Show.
00:00:35.860 Okay, before we get into the show today, I got to tell you about Big Token.
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00:02:26.240 Okay, let's begin now with the most important news item of the day.
00:02:30.720 It's the thing that everyone's talking about, breaking news.
00:02:33.040 I don't know if you saw this over the weekend, but President Trump's new hairdo.
00:02:38.820 Look at this thing right here.
00:02:40.520 He debuted this over the weekend.
00:02:42.800 And I'm hearing reports that it's actually not an intentional hairstyle.
00:02:48.180 It's just his hat hair.
00:02:49.060 He took his hat off and that's what his hair looks like under his hat.
00:02:51.760 But I think he needs to go with this.
00:02:53.580 This is a game changer for 2020.
00:02:55.300 This is, in my opinion, now I am not a stylist.
00:02:58.620 I'm not an expert in these things.
00:03:00.140 My wife tells me that I am stylistically challenged sometimes.
00:03:05.160 But to me, gut reaction, this is 10 million times better than his normal haircut.
00:03:10.340 And it is, it just, it changes everything.
00:03:13.560 I think we need to get President Trump with that hairstyle and then put Ted Cruz with his new beard on a ticket together.
00:03:23.540 And from a purely, from just a basis, from a follicle basis, from a follicular, if that's a word, basis, I think that that would make an unstoppable combination.
00:03:35.440 I like the hairstyle.
00:03:36.240 You know why?
00:03:36.560 Because it's, yeah, it's a little bit startling because it's not, his weird usual thing is iconic at this point.
00:03:43.320 It's part of who he is.
00:03:44.040 But I like the hairstyle because it's normal.
00:03:47.360 It's just what a normal hairstyle should be.
00:03:50.180 When I was a kid, my mom would take me to the barber and she would tell the barber, normal boy's cut.
00:03:55.960 That was my haircut when I was a kid.
00:03:57.900 Normal boy's cut.
00:03:59.640 And so this looks to me just to be like a normal man's cut.
00:04:02.480 And that's good.
00:04:03.180 A lot of people on social media have been making fun of the president for this haircut, saying he looks like Gordon Gekko or whatever.
00:04:08.360 Well, what's wrong with that?
00:04:09.620 You know, I mean, and they'll make fun of him no matter what.
00:04:12.320 So my plea to the president is do not listen to those people who are making fun of you.
00:04:18.240 It is, I think, go with this.
00:04:21.440 This changes everything.
00:04:23.620 All right, so maybe on slightly more important news, only slightly, you know, it's often said that these sort of anti-media sentiments in our country, the hostility to the media has been created by Donald Trump, that he's the one who's making everyone hate the media.
00:04:46.840 This obviously is false.
00:04:48.760 People hated the media way before Donald Trump came along.
00:04:51.620 I myself come from a long line of media haters.
00:04:55.460 This is something we have a long tradition in my family.
00:04:58.280 It runs in our blood of hating the media.
00:05:00.560 I can remember, you know, being a kid and my dad really hated the media.
00:05:06.020 He still does.
00:05:07.320 I can distinctly remember the sounds that would come from, you know, the living room when my dad was downstairs watching TV, watching the news, because he would watch the news every night, even though he hated.
00:05:19.880 He hated the media and he would watch the news during, especially during the Clinton administration.
00:05:25.980 He would just be shouting at the TV, screaming at the news anchor.
00:05:29.100 And then I would eventually grow up one day to also watch TV and scream at news anchors, although I don't watch the news that much, partially because I want to save my vocal cords.
00:05:39.540 Point is, people have hated the media for a long time, not because of Trump.
00:05:43.700 And we have good reason.
00:05:44.900 I could cite any number of reasons.
00:05:48.640 There's a million reasons I could choose from, but let's just go with the latest.
00:05:54.120 Here's the latest reason to hate the media.
00:05:57.200 And it's a pretty significant one.
00:05:59.620 You may recall, maybe you recall, that meme from a few weeks ago showing Nancy Pelosi giving a speech and slurring her words to make it look like she was drunk.
00:06:15.020 Now, this is not the same video.
00:06:18.220 There was one, there's this video, and then there was a different video of Nancy Pelosi stammering that President Trump shared.
00:06:24.900 It's not that video.
00:06:26.300 Okay, this is a different one.
00:06:27.360 And this is a video that I actually had not heard of until this whole thing happened over the weekend.
00:06:33.240 Up until this, I hadn't heard of it or seen it, but it's just, it shows her as a slurring of words.
00:06:40.220 And apparently the video has been messed with.
00:06:42.440 Someone slowed it down to make it seem like she was, you know, drunk or something.
00:06:49.120 And it went viral on Facebook and on Twitter.
00:06:51.740 And, um, but then very quickly after that video went viral, the real footage got out there and everyone understood that it was a, that the original thing was doctored.
00:07:04.820 And, you know, it's not a real video, um, you know, so I don't know if there was any real damage done to Nancy Pelosi because of this.
00:07:15.320 I think probably not, probably none at all.
00:07:17.380 But I doubt that any of her potential voters were turned off by a fake video that went viral on right-wing conservative pages for a few days before the national media spent several more days debunking it.
00:07:29.940 Um, well, we thought we had all moved on with our lives, right?
00:07:35.120 After this video apparently came out.
00:07:37.140 Um, but evidently not because the Daily Beast was on the case.
00:07:43.840 They were hunting down whoever created the original video and, um, finally they found him.
00:07:50.060 And yesterday on Sunday, they doxed him.
00:07:53.580 They published a, a news article with his name, where he lives, personal details, criminal record, work history, everything.
00:08:03.620 And he's, he's just some random private citizen who made a fake Pelosi video on Facebook.
00:08:08.420 And, um, for that crime, for that sin, the Daily Beast dragged him out onto the public stage and they shamed him in front of the entire world.
00:08:15.900 The Daily Beast article, um, that's up on their site right now is by Kevin Poulson.
00:08:21.160 And Poulson has been applauded in the liberal press for this.
00:08:25.140 In fact, the, the, the, the way that I found out about this article originally is that some other journalist shared it and said, you know, with a, with a caption, like incredible work by the Daily Beast.
00:08:36.980 He would do great job or something like that.
00:08:39.560 Um, and so I clicked on it and said, oh, well, what's, what incredible job did they do?
00:08:44.160 I'm interested in the Daily Beast.
00:08:45.880 Doesn't usually do incredible jobs with things, but, uh, I was interested.
00:08:49.720 So I clicked on it and I was immediately horrified.
00:08:53.260 So let me read a few, uh, I'll read a little bit of this article.
00:08:56.140 I'm going to omit the guy's name, even though his name is out there everywhere.
00:08:59.020 I don't want to be part, you know, I don't want to be part of the effort to spread his name out there.
00:09:03.760 So I'll omit his name, but this is, um, let me read a little bit from the Daily Beast article.
00:09:08.620 It says,
00:09:08.720 On May 22nd, a Donald Trump superfan and occasional sports blogger from the Bronx named Blank posted a video clip of Nancy Pelosi on his personal Facebook page.
00:09:17.820 The clip showed Pelosi at her most excitable stammering during a press conference as she voiced frustration over an aborted infrastructure meeting with the president.
00:09:25.940 Blank's commentary on the video was succinct.
00:09:28.620 Is Pelosi drunk?
00:09:29.680 13 minutes later, a Facebook official, pay attention to this part.
00:09:35.680 13 minutes later, a Facebook official told the Daily Beast that Blank posted a very different Pelosi video to a Facebook page called Politics Watchdog,
00:09:46.320 one of a series of hyper-partisan news operations that he runs with help, he claims.
00:09:50.220 This clip has been altered to slow Pelosi down with lowering the, while lowering the pitch of her voice.
00:09:56.360 Uh, the effect was to make it look like she was drunk, blah, blah, blah.
00:09:59.980 15 minutes after that, the same doctored video appeared on the second Facebook page that he manages.
00:10:06.160 Uh, and then it spreads from there.
00:10:07.920 They talk about how it spreads.
00:10:09.480 The video was an instant social media smash surging through the internet's well-worn lines of, uh, credulity and venom.
00:10:16.660 Uh, it was shared by James Wood and Rudy Giuliani, uh, so on and so forth.
00:10:23.540 And then it gets into talking about this guy's personal life.
00:10:27.460 It says, Blank, a 34-year-old day laborer currently on probation after pleading guilty to domestic battery,
00:10:34.300 claims that his drunk commentary on an, on, on an unaltered Pelosi video had no connection to the now infamous fake clip
00:10:40.700 that premiered less than 15 minutes later.
00:10:42.820 He says, I wasn't the individual who created the Pelosi video.
00:10:45.980 He, he insisted in a telephone interview.
00:10:48.980 It's conceivable that someone else actually edited the clip, but a Facebook official confirming a Daily Beast investigation
00:10:55.320 said the video was first posted on Politics Watchdog directly from Blank's personal Facebook account.
00:11:02.680 Uh, and then it goes into more about the Facebook pages that he, that he, uh, manages.
00:11:08.080 Um, okay.
00:11:12.440 And it goes on from there.
00:11:13.540 It's a, it's a lengthy expose.
00:11:15.120 Uh, it's very long about, remember, this is a lengthy expose about some random blue collar guy
00:11:22.440 who posted a, allegedly posted a Nancy Pelosi video.
00:11:27.640 He says he didn't even, he wasn't even the one who posted it.
00:11:31.000 Um, it goes into more detail about his private life, his work history.
00:11:35.420 Ann Poulsen, the guy who wrote this article admits, admits that the guy the article's about didn't want to be outed like this.
00:11:45.200 It says, at first, Blank didn't respond to emails, phone calls, text messages, Facebook messages, and a direct message over Instagram.
00:11:51.420 And he blocked this reporter on Twitter.
00:11:54.020 Okay.
00:11:54.380 So this, this reporter is harassing this guy until finally he relents.
00:11:57.900 On Friday, he called back explaining that he was worried over the prospect of being publicly linked to the, to the video fakery.
00:12:04.720 Uh, I'm in New York city, New York city.
00:12:06.840 He said, very liberal people make judgments.
00:12:09.760 I just don't want to be linked to a conservative right winger and be potentially denied services and stuff.
00:12:15.100 People are nasty.
00:12:16.440 You should see some of the messages that are coming in,
00:12:18.780 but they published all of his personal details.
00:12:23.760 Anyway, he said, he doesn't want to be published.
00:12:26.560 He's worried about the effect it would have on him yet.
00:12:29.760 They did it anyway.
00:12:32.600 So what is the point of this?
00:12:37.100 Can it be justified on any level?
00:12:39.940 Can it be seen as anything other than cruel partisan vengeance?
00:12:45.200 Well, as for partisan, it's, it's clearly partisan.
00:12:49.940 There's no question about that.
00:12:51.420 Does anyone think that in a million years, the daily beast would hunt down someone who made a negative meme about a Republican?
00:13:01.360 I mean, uh, about Donald Trump.
00:13:04.900 There are a lot of negative memes about Donald Trump.
00:13:07.180 There are a lot of doctored videos of Donald Trump out there.
00:13:10.620 Do you think the daily beast is going to go hunt down any of those people?
00:13:13.300 No, of course not.
00:13:15.760 Uh, in fact, let's use a real world example.
00:13:19.180 Someone initially took the full video of the, the, the Covington Catholic students,
00:13:25.840 the now infamous video of the Covington Catholic students.
00:13:30.220 Um, someone took that whole video.
00:13:32.780 It's like an hour and a half long.
00:13:34.060 Um, and they cropped out the context and they put the out of context video online, a video which proceeded to put the lives of those kids in danger.
00:13:45.980 I mean, there were death threats and bomb threats to the school.
00:13:48.720 Um, and a video that could have possibly destroyed their lives, if not for a counter campaign, you know, among conservatives to get the truth out there and to, and to defend these, these boys.
00:14:02.080 Uh, but do you think the daily beast would dox whoever put that video out there?
00:14:08.940 Did they dox that person?
00:14:11.620 No.
00:14:13.000 So yeah, it's partisan, of course.
00:14:15.480 As for cruel and vengeful.
00:14:17.340 Well, look, I'll be the first to say that I don't think you have some kind of carte blanche general expectation of or right to privacy when you're online.
00:14:30.900 Um, what I mean is if you say or do something anonymously online, I don't think that your anonymity has to always be respected.
00:14:39.980 I think it depends.
00:14:40.800 Now, you may recall a few weeks ago when I was on here giving the, uh, the names and Twitter handles of people who had threatened and, and, uh, or wished rape and death on my, on my wife and my children and myself, um, for my pro-life stance.
00:14:58.960 And I didn't dox, dox those people.
00:15:01.420 Uh, doxing is when you go digging for personal information that's not readily available.
00:15:06.040 And then you put it out there for everyone to see.
00:15:08.160 I didn't do that.
00:15:09.000 If they had their names attached to their Twitter handles, then I said what their names were.
00:15:13.780 Um, but that's it.
00:15:15.260 So there was no doxing, but I did remove to some extent their anonymity because these were messages, uh, that they sent me privately.
00:15:25.480 And I took those private messages and I made them public.
00:15:28.060 Now, in that case, I felt completely justified and I would absolutely do it again without hesitation.
00:15:33.220 Because if you come to me, if you message me threatening my family and my kids and my, and my wife and myself, um, I'm going to let everyone know what you said.
00:15:46.040 You should have to stand by your words publicly.
00:15:48.160 I'm not going to respect your privacy when you're privately sending me messages threatening to my family.
00:15:53.320 It doesn't work that way.
00:15:54.740 If you're going to do that, if you're going to take the time to send me a private message threatening my family, I'm going to put it out there.
00:16:00.100 It's just, uh, fair is fair.
00:16:02.200 Uh, if you don't want that, then don't send me those messages.
00:16:04.460 Don't come to me like that.
00:16:05.780 I wasn't hunting anybody down.
00:16:07.880 They came to me and I simply said, Hey, everybody, look at what this person said.
00:16:12.180 Um, you made that choice.
00:16:14.560 So now you have to live with the conflict consequences, but that in my mind is very different from what the daily beast has done.
00:16:23.340 For one thing, this guy isn't threatening anybody.
00:16:25.900 He's not threatening anyone's spouse or children.
00:16:28.280 He isn't personally harassing anyone.
00:16:31.280 He just put a video out on Facebook.
00:16:33.120 And the people going after him were not affected by it.
00:16:38.400 So listen, if Nancy Pelosi herself was, you know, was offended by this video and she wanted to get up there and say, Oh, so, you know, so-and-so put this video of me out there and she wanted to name the guy.
00:16:50.480 Then I would probably say, okay, fair is fair.
00:16:52.940 She's defending herself.
00:16:54.380 You did make the fake video of her.
00:16:56.840 Um, she named you, you started it in essence.
00:16:59.680 So she defended herself.
00:17:01.780 That's fine.
00:17:03.120 But that's not what happened.
00:17:06.220 And the point is here that this isn't newsworthy.
00:17:09.260 Just like the people who came after me, that wasn't newsworthy either, either.
00:17:14.340 But I took it personally because they were threatening my family.
00:17:18.420 And so I defended myself.
00:17:20.820 It wasn't about trying to pretend it was news.
00:17:23.000 I was just personally responding to those people, um, to, you know, to punish them for what they had said to me.
00:17:32.280 So if Pelosi had taken it personally and decided to respond, then, uh, then fine.
00:17:37.440 But that's not what happened.
00:17:40.220 The problem is that the media takes it personally when Democrats are attacked.
00:17:47.160 They act like Nancy Pelosi's good personal friends or something.
00:17:52.420 You know, they're getting defensive and lashing out against people who attack her or other Democrats.
00:17:58.280 So they're acting like her personal PR team.
00:18:00.980 That's the issue here.
00:18:02.820 Um, the identity of this guy is not news.
00:18:06.200 It doesn't matter.
00:18:07.840 He does not matter on a national level.
00:18:10.120 I'm sure he'd be the first person to say that.
00:18:12.540 Yet the media came after him vengefully to send a message.
00:18:16.700 And the message is don't mess with our people.
00:18:22.720 That's, that's really the, that's, that's the problem.
00:18:26.580 So, you know, I, I, I've, I've heard some people defending the Daily Beast, uh, behavior here by saying, well, this guy chose to put a video out there.
00:18:38.200 So he had it coming.
00:18:40.580 But again, that's, that's not what the media, that's not what the news media is supposed to do.
00:18:46.700 It's not their job to give people what's, what's coming to them.
00:18:53.200 You know, it's not their job to, to be defensive of Democrats who are attacked.
00:19:00.220 The question is, their job is to report the news.
00:19:04.300 Their job is to tell us what is newsworthy.
00:19:07.340 And this guy's personal identity and his work history and his criminal record, none of that is newsworthy.
00:19:13.780 You and I as just average consumers of the news, we can't do anything with that.
00:19:20.560 That information does nothing for us.
00:19:22.420 It doesn't matter to us at all.
00:19:25.940 But I think there's, um, there's something about this story that's even more disturbing than the fact that the media is doxing this guy.
00:19:35.160 Um, and that is that if, if you caught this part, Facebook gave user information to a Daily Beast reporter.
00:19:47.080 Let's, uh, let's go back and read this part again.
00:19:49.300 It says, 13 minutes later, a Facebook official told the Daily Beast, blank, posted a very different Pelosi video to a Facebook page called Politics Watchdog.
00:19:58.620 Um, and then at one other point in the article, it talks about how Facebook confirmed that this guy posted the video.
00:20:07.100 Okay, so, so Facebook will tell the media about your activities on Facebook if they call and ask?
00:20:15.960 It's really that simple?
00:20:17.300 I mean, it's, it's, it's not even like, um, police, you know, coming with a warrant.
00:20:24.480 It's just, it's someone with the Daily Beast who calls up Facebook and says, hey, um, hey, did, uh, did this person post that at this time?
00:20:32.340 Can you, can you check and let me know?
00:20:35.220 And they went and looked and said, yep, uh-huh.
00:20:37.240 Anything else you need?
00:20:38.160 Any more information you need, uh, access to his private messages or anything?
00:20:41.180 Just let us know and we'll help you out.
00:20:42.500 That is, uh, that's, that's, that's terrifying.
00:20:48.680 And that has got to be a violation of their terms of service.
00:20:53.200 Now, I'll admit that, you know, as, as probably with, with most people, when, um, you know, when I, when I get those lengthy terms of services online, I, I don't really read the entire thing.
00:21:05.440 I'll, I'll admit it's stupid.
00:21:06.860 We probably should.
00:21:08.060 Most of us don't.
00:21:09.540 Um, but I'm guessing that there's nothing in the terms of service that says that Facebook has the right to share your personal information with the news media if they just ask.
00:21:22.380 I'm guessing that probably isn't in there.
00:21:26.280 So this guy's got, um, I think a lawsuit.
00:21:29.640 He's got grounds for a lawsuit, at least based on that.
00:21:32.320 Um, and that, you know, to me, that actually is the headline.
00:21:38.260 It's not that the daily beast doxed this Trump supporter because we expect that of them.
00:21:44.640 Unfortunately, it's that Facebook doxed its own users for apparently political reasons.
00:21:53.420 That is, uh, uh, just horrifying and terrifying.
00:22:03.020 Okay.
00:22:03.560 A couple other items related to the media.
00:22:05.540 Um, first the cast of Handmaid's Tale was on CNN yesterday and there's an article on CNN.com about, uh, about it and about what they had to say.
00:22:16.580 Um, and, uh, the, the, the cast of Handmaid's Tale, they were talking about how, um, the United States is, uh, turning into the, the Handmaid's Tale.
00:22:31.220 We're almost there, you know, we're, we're, we're on a slippery slope into living in that patriarchal dystopia.
00:22:39.680 And you hear this a lot, of course, about how America is a Handmaid's Tale, but you know what, um, America is not the Handmaid's Tale.
00:22:49.760 And you know how I know that?
00:22:52.300 Well, because it's just a stupid claim for one, but also the number one clue that America is not the Handmaid's Tale is that the Handmaid's Tale exists.
00:23:05.200 So that's, that's how you know, that's how you know we're not in the Handmaid's Tale.
00:23:09.680 And that we're not anywhere close to the Handmaid's Tale because, um, we live in a country where women can make millions of dollars portraying America as a patriarchal dystopia.
00:23:20.760 If we actually were a patriarchal dystopia or close to a patriarchal dystopia, you wouldn't be able to do that.
00:23:28.380 So that's just a, just, just one little, just to allay your fears.
00:23:32.700 Uh, as long as Handmaid's Tale is on TV, I think we're good.
00:23:36.520 Um, also one other note about the media, the Hill has a, an article on their website with a curious headline.
00:23:47.500 And the headline is, headline says, poll, nearly half of Americans say Supreme Court should uphold Roe v. Wade.
00:23:57.220 Now, of course, intuitive people hear that headline and they think, wait, hold on a second.
00:24:05.300 Nearly half of Americans say the Supreme Court should uphold Roe v. Wade.
00:24:09.700 That's the headline you're giving us.
00:24:12.640 Nearly half want Roe v. Wade upheld.
00:24:15.000 Well, doesn't that mean that more than half don't want that?
00:24:21.500 Well, yes, it does.
00:24:23.340 Uh, let's read the second paragraph of this article about a Harvard poll.
00:24:26.740 Um, now remember, they made the headline about the almost half who want to uphold Roe v. Wade.
00:24:32.700 But here's the second paragraph under the headline.
00:24:35.240 It says, 46% of respondents said the high court should uphold the ruling in Roe, um, if the issue comes before the justices.
00:24:42.980 While 36% said the Supreme Court should modify the 46-year-old ruling, 18% wanted the ruling to be overturned altogether.
00:24:53.020 So what's the real headline?
00:24:54.640 More than half of Americans want Roe overturned or modified.
00:25:00.160 That's the real headline.
00:25:01.900 And in fact, it's better than that because let's go to the end of the article.
00:25:05.880 It says a plurality, 41%, said the procedure, um, should be allowed only in cases of rape or incest.
00:25:13.200 So 41% only want abortion in cases of rape or incest.
00:25:16.720 That's a, it's a, I'm actually surprised by how high that number is.
00:25:20.560 Um, 29% said it should be permitted up until,
00:25:24.640 until the first trimester of pregnancy.
00:25:26.420 While 17% said that it should be allowed until the second trimester.
00:25:31.080 Only 8% said abortion should be permitted up until the third trimester.
00:25:35.740 And 6% said the procedure should be allowed up until the birth of the child.
00:25:39.440 So 92% of Americans do not support late-term abortion.
00:25:49.000 Even though support for late-term abortion is mainstream among Democrat politicians.
00:25:55.660 You know, almost every Democrat on the federal level among, among the political class support late-term abortion.
00:26:06.140 They support abortion from, you know, from the very moment of conception all the way to the moment of birth.
00:26:13.820 And actually, abortion up to the moment of birth, 94% of Americans are against that, according to this poll.
00:26:21.240 Which is a staggering number.
00:26:25.460 And it shows you just how out of touch, how fringe, how radical, uh, the, the Democrat party has become on this issue.
00:26:34.900 94% of Americans disagree with them on the abortion issue.
00:26:38.380 But, of course, the Hill, they don't make that the headline.
00:26:42.800 The headline for them is that nearly half of Americans say that a Supreme Court should uphold Roe v. Wade.
00:26:48.240 This is just, um, it's one of the most disingenuous and misleading headlines that we've seen probably this year.
00:26:55.820 Which is saying quite a lot.
00:26:58.140 Um, but it also shows you just how the media is able to mislead the public.
00:27:03.200 Because remember that, you know, probably 90% or more of, of, of the people who see a headline will not click on it.
00:27:12.880 And even among the people who click on it, most will just read the first sentence or the first two sentences and then skim the rest, if they even skim the rest at all.
00:27:20.100 Um, so the idea is just put that headline out there and most people are going to see it and they're going to, and they're not going to think about it.
00:27:27.980 And they're going to, they're going to say, oh, okay, well, so, you know, uh, most Americans are, you know, what they see is that a lot of Americans, uh, want to uphold Roe v. Wade.
00:27:39.920 That's what most people are going to take from that headline because they're not going to click and read.
00:27:43.840 And so that's the, the idea behind it.
00:27:47.120 All right.
00:27:47.800 One last thing, um, before we get to emails, it's, it's June, you know, and, and June is pride month.
00:27:54.800 If you haven't heard pride month is a time for people with certain sexual attractions to talk about how proud they are of those sexual attractions.
00:28:07.020 Of course, keep in mind, um, that people's sex lives are none of our business.
00:28:13.180 It's none of our business, but there's a whole month set aside to talk about it, which is a little bit confusing.
00:28:18.740 That's that's, it's hard to square those two things.
00:28:21.760 Is it our business or not our business?
00:28:24.000 If it's not our business, then why are you spending a month talking about it?
00:28:27.640 You know, it's, it's a little bit strange, but nevermind.
00:28:30.480 Don't try to make sense of that.
00:28:31.520 One thing that's kind of funny about this month is to see all of the major companies in the world, um, tripping over themselves to virtue signal and, and celebrate pride, uh, in, in these increasingly weird and embarrassing ways.
00:28:49.520 And that's kind of interesting because it, it isn't what you would expect based on the fact that we're told that LGBT folks are oppressed in this country.
00:29:01.000 We're told that they're, they're oppressed yet.
00:29:04.120 All of the most wealthy and powerful forces in the country will spend the month trying to flatter LGBT people.
00:29:11.980 That's not usually how oppression works.
00:29:14.720 In fact, that's usually a hint that you're not in an oppressed group.
00:29:23.020 If people are doing everything they can to flatter you and celebrate you and applaud you, that probably means you're not being systematically oppressed.
00:29:37.640 Black people were truly oppressed, systematically oppressed in this country prior to civil rights.
00:29:44.720 And based on my reading of history, back in those days, um, the rich and powerful forces in America, they were not in a mad rush to celebrate black power.
00:29:54.840 It was kind of the opposite.
00:29:58.080 Um, Jews were oppressed in Nazi Germany.
00:30:02.320 And again, you did not see the powerful forces in that culture trying to flatter Jews.
00:30:07.140 Again, it was precisely the opposite.
00:30:09.600 So, uh, you know, if this is oppression, it's a very subtle form of oppression.
00:30:16.420 I mean, it's, it is so subtle that you would almost think it doesn't exist.
00:30:21.980 Just a thought.
00:30:23.420 But in any case, Budweiser has gotten in on the action.
00:30:27.040 Budweiser, a company that makes, um, rusty tap water, which it somehow gets away with calling beer.
00:30:32.860 However, Budweiser has, uh, you know, taken a hit in recent years financially because people have discovered that real beer exists.
00:30:41.180 And so we don't really need Budweiser.
00:30:43.280 Um, so I guess they're desperate for attention and in an effort to get attention, they've unveiled a new series of cups, which celebrate pride.
00:30:53.320 And, uh, but it's not just the normal celebration of gay pride or whatever.
00:30:57.460 This is, this is, these are worth taking a look at.
00:30:59.820 So let's, let's look at some of these.
00:31:01.600 Okay.
00:31:01.780 So the first one, uh, just kind of normal, what you would expect.
00:31:06.000 It says fly the flag for inclusive pride.
00:31:09.200 Uh, so take a look at this says in 2017, the city of Philadelphia added a black and brown stripe to the classic rainbow design to better represent people of color within the community.
00:31:18.860 It has since been flown at prides around the world.
00:31:22.000 Uh, now, okay, but I don't really understand why you need to add brown and black to represent brown and black people.
00:31:28.000 Now, because the normal pride flag has like pink and green and purple, right?
00:31:34.000 There are, it's not like the pink and green and purple are there to celebrate pink, green, and purple people.
00:31:39.320 Uh, I thought the colors had nothing to do with race.
00:31:41.440 So I don't know why you have to add the racial colors in there.
00:31:45.980 It doesn't really make any sense.
00:31:46.720 But anyway, um, and the next one is, uh, so this one is fly the flag for bi pride.
00:31:54.620 Uh, it says magenta is for same gender attraction.
00:31:59.040 Blue is for attraction to genders other than your own and lavender, a mix of the two represents attraction to your own and other genders.
00:32:06.480 Though some interpret it differently.
00:32:08.600 Okay.
00:32:09.660 Uh, and then fly the flag for lesbian pride says, while this flag is commonly used, it's, it's, it isn't the only one.
00:32:16.960 Um, if you look around, you might see a version with a kiss in the corner representing lipstick lesbians, whatever that is, I have no idea.
00:32:23.260 Or a purple flag with a double headed ax for labrous lesbian feminist pride.
00:32:30.740 I don't know what that means.
00:32:32.440 Okay.
00:32:32.660 But now things start getting weird.
00:32:34.240 It's already weird, but now it's going to start getting weird, weirder.
00:32:37.780 Um, so this one is fly the flag for non-binary pride.
00:32:42.500 It says yellow is for those whose gender exists outside of the gender binary.
00:32:47.960 White is for people with many genders.
00:32:50.680 Purple is for those who feel a mix of male and female.
00:32:54.400 And black is for those who feel there without any gender entirely.
00:32:58.460 Um, now wait a second, but I thought black was for black people.
00:33:02.520 Now it's for black people or those who have no gender.
00:33:05.940 So in other words, um, it's for black people or people who don't exist because there's no such thing as a person with no gender.
00:33:12.500 That doesn't exist on earth, never has, never will.
00:33:15.100 Uh, but, uh, so, okay.
00:33:17.740 So we've, we've expanded black and now it includes those two things.
00:33:21.220 Uh, then it says, uh, fly the flag for pan pride, pan pride.
00:33:28.180 Not like a frying pan.
00:33:30.340 Um, blue symbolizes male attraction.
00:33:33.740 Pink symbolizes female attraction and yellow attraction to other genders.
00:33:39.180 So how's that different from, uh, didn't we already cover all of that?
00:33:45.580 I don't know.
00:33:46.860 Uh, fly the flag for intersex pride.
00:33:49.780 The circle symbolizes wholeness and completeness while purple and yellow were chosen as they don't have female or male association.
00:33:57.120 Okay, but purple and yellow have, have like 19 other associations, don't they?
00:34:01.860 We've already used purple and yellow on every other flag.
00:34:05.020 So you're saying it has no other associations.
00:34:07.020 I mean, you're, you're, you're cramming too many things in each of these colors.
00:34:09.780 It doesn't make any sense.
00:34:10.980 But now this, this really is, is what I wanted to, this is, this is the only one we need to focus on.
00:34:16.640 Uh, so get ready for this one.
00:34:19.080 Last one, fly the flag for asexual pride.
00:34:23.880 Um, it says black is for asexuals who don't feel sexual attraction to anyone.
00:34:30.320 Gray is for gray sexuals who sometimes feel sexual attraction and demisexuals who only feel it if they know someone well.
00:34:39.620 White nods to non-asexual allies and purple represents the whole community.
00:34:44.180 So now, so we're using purple again.
00:34:46.500 So it represents like nine, 52 different things.
00:34:50.160 Um, and, uh, and then we're using black again.
00:34:53.160 So black represents black people or people with no gender who don't exist or people who feel no sexual attraction to anyone.
00:35:01.000 That's what black means on the flag.
00:35:02.960 Now, of course, there are probably like four actual asexual people on earth.
00:35:07.960 Uh, if there are any at all, which I'm skeptical of actually,
00:35:11.180 because to be, to be a real asexual, you would have to never experience any sexual attraction to anyone ever.
00:35:21.160 That would be a, a, a really, a really asexual person is someone who never feels sexually attracted to anyone,
00:35:29.680 any shape, size at all.
00:35:32.720 If that group exists, it is numerically very close to non-existence.
00:35:40.160 But however many of them are out there, what does it mean to take pride in being asexual?
00:35:47.820 What does that mean?
00:35:48.880 You're proud of not being attracted to people?
00:35:52.460 Now, if you're not attracted to people, you're not attracted to them.
00:35:54.920 I'm not saying that you should be ashamed of that.
00:35:57.260 I mean, if that's just, if that's how you are, then, I mean, you can't help it.
00:36:01.720 But, um, but what does it mean to be proud of it?
00:36:06.080 Like, how does that work?
00:36:08.480 How can you be proud of an attraction you don't have?
00:36:12.440 You're proud of your absence of attraction?
00:36:15.200 I mean, isn't that like, isn't that like marching to express your pride in the fact that you don't like ham sandwiches?
00:36:21.960 If you don't like ham sandwiches, that's fine, but you don't need to, you don't need to throw a parade about it.
00:36:27.260 That's what I'm saying.
00:36:28.300 So what are you proud of exactly?
00:36:30.260 And then demisexuals are those who need to get to know someone before feeling attracted.
00:36:34.820 All right, so those are just women, in other words.
00:36:37.020 That's just what, that's a woman.
00:36:39.780 Women are less visual in their sexual appetites, and they tend to be attracted more based on personality, and that's the kind of thing.
00:36:47.260 So those are just normal women.
00:36:49.600 Um, so we've got asexuals, which include four people on Earth, then demisexuals, which include three and a half billion people.
00:36:59.200 So things are a little bit lopsided here.
00:37:00.900 And then we get to graysexual, and those are people who sometimes feel sexual attraction.
00:37:07.100 All right, so now that's just literally everybody in the world.
00:37:11.960 That's just seven billion people.
00:37:15.380 Because everyone sometimes feels sexual attraction, I guess except for the four asexuals out there.
00:37:21.560 The only other option is to walk around always sexually attracted to every human, animal, and object you come across.
00:37:30.220 That's the other option.
00:37:31.880 If it's either never sexually attracted, or sometimes sexually attracted, or always sexually attracted to everything.
00:37:41.340 Which, by the way, why aren't those people represented?
00:37:44.860 What would that be?
00:37:46.800 If you're always sexually attracted, if you're sexually attracted to literally everything in existence, like a man, a woman, a desk, a tree, a dog, a rock, the sky.
00:38:00.960 I mean, I guess that's, because that's the other option here, and I don't know what that would be.
00:38:04.820 Would that be like, we need a name for that.
00:38:08.340 I'm not clever enough to come up with a name right now, but they need to be in the acronym.
00:38:11.920 Universal attraction, something like that.
00:38:18.720 Unisexual?
00:38:19.500 No, that sounds like you're only, I don't know.
00:38:21.740 I would think that that would be pansexual.
00:38:26.480 Anyway, we can work on that.
00:38:27.960 But regardless, if you're not that, and you're not asexual, then that means you're going to be sometimes sexual,
00:38:36.500 and that you're sometimes sexually attracted, but then sometimes you're not.
00:38:39.800 Depending on, depending on what's around you, I suppose.
00:38:44.760 So that's approximately 7 billion people.
00:38:50.040 And, which means that we all get to be in the acronym.
00:38:53.460 The acronym has been expanded to include now 7 billion people.
00:38:56.700 And this is what I'm talking about, that people are so desperate to be included,
00:39:02.620 to be included in the supposedly oppressed LGBT category,
00:39:07.180 that they're making up labels that make no sense just so they can be included.
00:39:12.660 It's become a very sought-after club to be in.
00:39:16.680 And that is not how oppression works.
00:39:21.180 If you live in a country where there is a really systematically oppressed group of people,
00:39:28.300 you are not going to be clamoring to be included in that group.
00:39:34.020 Unless you're some kind of masochist, which I think they might be in the acronym too, I'm not sure.
00:39:39.920 They are, I'm pretty sure they are.
00:39:41.280 But unless you're a masochist, you wouldn't want to be in the group.
00:39:44.740 The fact that everybody wants to be in the group and that we're making up labels just so we can get in that group
00:39:49.620 just goes to show you that this is not an oppressed group.
00:39:53.720 In fact, it shows you that the opposite is the case.
00:39:56.740 It shows you that this is a privileged group.
00:39:59.840 This is a group that if you're in that group,
00:40:03.360 it affords you social and legal privileges.
00:40:05.980 That's why people want to be in it.
00:40:11.100 That's what attracts people to a group,
00:40:13.280 is the privileges that they will gain if they're a part of it.
00:40:20.820 All right.
00:40:21.720 So there you go.
00:40:24.000 So I've become a very long acronym.
00:40:27.320 MattWallShow at gmail.com.
00:40:28.760 MattWallShow at gmail.com is the email address.
00:40:31.380 We'll read a few of your emails here.
00:40:32.880 This is from Lou.
00:40:34.860 Says, hi, Matt.
00:40:35.640 I know you've been joking about your Achilles injury this week.
00:40:38.780 I respect that you have a good sense of humor about it,
00:40:41.060 but in all seriousness, how are you doing with it?
00:40:43.180 Is it a full tear?
00:40:44.740 I've never injured my Achilles,
00:40:46.160 but I have broken multiple bones in my leg and foot at various points in my life.
00:40:50.060 I'd always heard that an Achilles tear is the worst injury you can sustain on your leg.
00:40:53.960 Extremely painful and very hard to recover from.
00:40:56.300 I don't mean to be discouraging.
00:40:57.700 I'm sure you already knew this,
00:40:59.060 but I'm concerned about you and I'm wondering how you're actually feeling and doing aside from the jokes.
00:41:03.140 Lou, I really appreciate that email.
00:41:07.120 And this is, I've got several emails like this of people who are just genuinely concerned.
00:41:11.480 And I do appreciate that because that's, to take the time to write an email, you know,
00:41:16.560 of expressing concern and sympathy for someone that you don't even know personally.
00:41:20.060 Uh, it's just a very, it's a very, it's a kindness.
00:41:23.080 So I appreciate that.
00:41:24.080 Um, it is a full, I, I, now I haven't been, I'm going to the doctor after the show to,
00:41:30.380 uh, you know, get all the details and talk about treatment and stuff.
00:41:34.160 But I did call the, um, I talked to the doctor with the MRI results over the weekend
00:41:39.220 and they, they read the MRI results.
00:41:41.960 There was a lot of stuff in the results I didn't understand,
00:41:44.380 but I did understand the phrase full and extensive tear of the Achilles,
00:41:48.660 which I think is probably not good.
00:41:52.520 Probably not what you want to hear.
00:41:54.300 Not a doctor, but you know, so it is a full, full and extensive too.
00:41:59.300 So that's good.
00:42:00.300 Um, yeah, it's, uh, it does hurt.
00:42:03.440 Um, I mean, when it first happened, it felt like a gunshot to the back of the leg.
00:42:08.100 It's extremely, extremely painful.
00:42:09.840 I've never been shot, but I feel like it, I mean, I don't know.
00:42:12.980 I, I think it's probably in that realm as far as pain goes.
00:42:15.860 It's just, you know, it's when you go to the doctor, they ask,
00:42:19.660 they ask you to rate your pain on a scale of one to 10.
00:42:22.760 And so there, there is kind of like, you get to a limit where a thing can't be any more painful
00:42:28.380 than it is.
00:42:28.840 It's like 10 is kind of the limit.
00:42:31.140 Um, and so I think it was pretty close to a 10, maybe a nine, I don't know.
00:42:35.620 But, uh, ever since then, you know, it's, it's, it, it, it, it, mostly it feels okay.
00:42:41.140 There are moments of, of searing intense pain, but, um, for the most part, it's, it's fine.
00:42:47.340 Uh, as for how I'm doing, and you know, I was talking about this yesterday that it has been,
00:42:53.720 I've been actually strangely encouraged by the fact that I've had this torn Achilles now for a week
00:42:59.700 and I've been to the doctor, I don't know, three or four times over the week.
00:43:05.640 And, uh, I still have not been prescribed painkillers with a torn Achilles.
00:43:10.480 They haven't given me pain.
00:43:11.180 They just say, take Tylenol and put ice on, which, um, which is fine because I don't really want
00:43:15.900 pain.
00:43:16.180 Like if they gave me Oxycontin or something, I wouldn't take it because I just, I'm, I'd be too
00:43:20.000 afraid of, I just, I'd rather not, I'd rather just deal with the pain and take Tylenol personally.
00:43:25.680 Um, but it was not what I expected because I, I kind of thought that doctors hand out
00:43:33.880 painkillers like candy and that's how half the country got hooked on the stuff.
00:43:37.900 But as I said, I've been to the doctor three or four times with a torn Achilles,
00:43:41.460 unable to walk and they don't give you painkillers.
00:43:44.060 So I'm just wondering who do they get painkillers to?
00:43:46.560 If not, if, if this doesn't rate getting a painkiller, then what does?
00:43:51.180 As I said, I don't really, I don't want one.
00:43:53.040 I'm just wondering.
00:43:53.700 It's, it's curious.
00:43:54.380 Although, uh, as I was talking about this online on Twitter yesterday, people were saying
00:43:59.460 that, uh, yeah, I mean, they used to give out painkillers like candy, but now they've
00:44:02.960 gotten a lot stingier about it.
00:44:05.220 And so that's good.
00:44:06.160 I actually, I, I appreciate that.
00:44:07.740 Uh, I was actually encouraged by that.
00:44:09.200 Um, uh, because it's, you know, I, I don't think they should be just handing out synthetic
00:44:15.220 heroin to everybody who comes in with a little minor pain or whatever.
00:44:19.320 Uh, so as for how I'm doing generally, it's, you know, it's, it's, I'm fine.
00:44:22.980 It's just, I, I just can't walk is the problem.
00:44:26.100 And, um, a lot of people have worse problems than this, but I appreciate, as I said, the
00:44:31.260 concern.
00:44:31.980 All right.
00:44:32.600 Um, my name is, uh, this is from Nathan says, my name is Nathan Deathloff.
00:44:37.920 I'm 18 years old, a huge fan of the show.
00:44:40.160 I'm responding to your May 31st episode entitled Donald Trump caused Chernobyl in which you give
00:44:45.360 analysis in depth about the pop slash rap slash country song, Old Town Road.
00:44:50.320 I disagree with your assertion that Old Town Road, OTR parentheses, is the worst song ever
00:44:55.580 recorded.
00:44:55.960 And that one must have an IQ of 25 to enjoy it.
00:44:58.720 I think that to understand why OTR is popular, one must first understand the origins of the
00:45:04.120 song.
00:45:05.120 OTR got its start on the social media site, TikTok, in which creators can share short videos,
00:45:09.900 usually dubbed with music.
00:45:11.000 The majority of the videos on this site are comical and meant for mindless entertainment.
00:45:16.000 OTR then became the subject of memes far and wide across the internet.
00:45:19.820 The song had nearly run its course until the mastermind behind such incredible compositions
00:45:24.000 as Achy Breaky Heart and I Want My Mullet Back, Billy Ray Cyrus, remixed the song and was featured
00:45:29.700 on it.
00:45:30.600 This gave Lil Nas X's almost comically bad song the staying power and legitimacy required
00:45:35.480 to be heard in every stereo in the US.
00:45:38.520 People don't listen to Old Town Road because they enjoy the song and definitely don't listen
00:45:44.040 to it because they're impressed with the lyrical content.
00:45:46.020 Instead, they listen to it because people love satire.
00:45:49.880 OTR is an indirect criticism of rap country and the materialistic culture that consumes
00:45:54.780 society today.
00:45:57.720 And then it goes on.
00:45:58.700 So I got a few emails like this claiming that Old Town Road is actually not a really stupid,
00:46:07.580 awful, terrible song.
00:46:08.920 It's actually a brilliant satire of stupid, awful, terrible songs.
00:46:15.880 I don't know if I'd buy that.
00:46:17.380 I mean, if it is, then I'm a fan of satire, musical satire, musical satire that's so subtle
00:46:27.320 that you might not even pick up on it.
00:46:29.700 Now, I really respect that if that's what this is.
00:46:33.880 But if this is satire, then I mean, can't we now claim that every bad pop song and every
00:46:39.620 bad pop country song is now satire?
00:46:41.860 Uh, I just don't, I, I hope that's true, but I don't know if I, I don't know if I buy
00:46:47.660 it.
00:46:48.480 This is from Vicky says, Walsh, uh, I laugh at the suggestion that the victim hole you're
00:46:53.520 starting from is a mere 75 victim points.
00:46:56.120 Tell me, how could you be any whiter?
00:46:59.220 You're wearing plaid for God's sake.
00:47:01.380 Well, not right now, but I guess I was before.
00:47:04.240 How could you be any more straight?
00:47:06.060 Not only are you married, but you've sired several children and impregnated your wife yet
00:47:09.900 again.
00:47:10.200 How could you be any more male?
00:47:12.320 The strength and vigor of your beard cries out against you.
00:47:16.600 I love that sentence.
00:47:18.380 The strength and vigor of your beard cries out against you.
00:47:20.960 That is a, that is a great sentence, Vicky.
00:47:23.700 Um, as such, it is blazingly obvious that you, you are the epitome of the dominant patriarchal
00:47:30.180 male oppressor.
00:47:31.220 I will give you the benefit of the doubt and blame naivety for you, uh, uh, to putting yourself
00:47:35.780 at only negative 75 points.
00:47:37.500 Consider this, what would it take for you to reach negative a hundred points or negative
00:47:41.720 a thousand or negative 10,000?
00:47:43.580 Nothing.
00:47:43.960 Because you're already as low as is possible to go.
00:47:46.840 The depth of your hole is incalculable.
00:47:49.020 Its bottom is without limit.
00:47:50.860 You are in the black hole of victim points.
00:47:52.740 And much like an actual black hole, there is simply no escape.
00:47:56.020 Your failure to recognize this is only further evidence of its inherent truth.
00:47:59.940 So now that we have established your, your true starting point, any more talk of credit
00:48:04.480 points for your temporary infirmity is just silly.
00:48:07.380 In fact, I could make an argument that your injury and its subsequent treatment is stealing
00:48:12.220 valuable medical care from those woke victims who truly need it.
00:48:15.760 I am tempted to say that your temporary disability might actually drive you even further down the
00:48:20.340 hole, but we've already demonstrated that this is impossible.
00:48:22.800 You can't get any whiter, straighter, or more male.
00:48:25.040 So on the scale of victimhood, you're digging in the Marianas trench.
00:48:29.860 I hope to help you sort this out and you're welcome.
00:48:36.660 Yeah, Vicki, I guess, I mean, as I was reading that, I began to realize
00:48:45.120 just how oppressive I am.
00:48:52.880 In fact, even in claiming that I'm a victim for my temporary disability, that makes me
00:49:01.900 even more oppressive.
00:49:03.700 And what I really realized is that I guess I am appropriating from disabled people by walking
00:49:10.860 around on crutches and having this boot on and hobbling around on one foot.
00:49:14.040 I guess now I'm actually guilty of appropriation because as a straight, white, cisgendered Christian
00:49:22.360 male, I can't really be a victim, which means I can't really be disabled so that this is all
00:49:30.780 appropriation.
00:49:31.400 So I guess you're right.
00:49:32.460 Yeah, I am deeply ashamed.
00:49:35.240 What right do I have to have a torn Achilles?
00:49:41.260 You know, who gave me permission for that?
00:49:42.720 Who did?
00:49:42.980 I didn't ask anyone's permission.
00:49:47.560 Yeah, I am.
00:49:49.260 Thank you for that.
00:49:50.020 Thank you for setting me straight.
00:49:51.620 This is from Keith says, Dear Matt, I must take exception to your discussion of Jefferson's
00:49:55.280 attitudes.
00:49:55.960 You said Jefferson didn't mean for the Declaration of Independence to apply to non-white people.
00:50:00.620 You might dig into some history that's exactly on point.
00:50:05.000 Jefferson's original draft of the Declaration contained his intent to outlaw slavery.
00:50:09.300 He was overruled in the interest in including the southern states in the New Union.
00:50:14.320 Did you know that?
00:50:15.180 And even the final draft blamed slavery as something inflicted on the colonies by King
00:50:18.880 George.
00:50:19.700 He hated owning slaves, but felt that in the absence of abolishing slavery completely, which
00:50:24.920 he could not pull off, it would be cruel to turn these illiterate people loose on the
00:50:28.620 public, even if he could.
00:50:29.700 Both sides, he thought, would be badly harmed.
00:50:33.040 He hated slavery and wrote against it all his life.
00:50:36.360 He wrote in the first draft, King George has waged cruel war against human nature itself,
00:50:41.480 violating its most sacred rights and liberties in the person of a distant people who never
00:50:45.940 offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere or to incur
00:50:50.740 miserable death in their transportation thither.
00:50:52.840 This is piratical warfare.
00:50:56.400 The upper boreum of infidel powers is the warfare of the Christian king of Great Britain, determined
00:51:03.240 to keep open a market where men should be bought and sold.
00:51:06.180 He has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain
00:51:11.920 this commerce.
00:51:17.800 Washington set up his estate to pay his former slaves a stipend for as long as they lived.
00:51:22.300 He, too, felt that merely turning them loose would be cruel, but he had enough money to set
00:51:26.780 up this fund for his freed slaves.
00:51:28.460 Okay, Keith, first of all, how dare you give me Jefferson to read publicly like that for the
00:51:37.540 first?
00:51:37.740 I guess I should have read that ahead of time.
00:51:41.140 I think you understand.
00:51:42.240 I wasn't bringing that up about Jefferson in order to argue that he was some kind of villain
00:51:47.140 who shouldn't be honored.
00:51:48.520 I think he should be honored.
00:51:50.100 But at the same time, we should acknowledge what his shortcomings were, and they were significant
00:51:55.200 shortcomings.
00:51:55.680 We should, as I argued all last week, we should develop a nuanced and mature perspective on
00:52:01.360 our historical heroes, one that does not ignore the evil they perpetrated, but also doesn't
00:52:07.160 erase them from history either.
00:52:09.400 So there's got to be a middle ground, and that's what I'm advocating for.
00:52:13.960 As for slavery, I fully acknowledge and I believe that we have to see slavery within its historical
00:52:20.300 context.
00:52:20.860 It was, and it is, and it always will be objectively evil, but in terms of assessing personal moral
00:52:28.000 culpability, which of course we can't do with any exact precision, that's up to God, but in a general
00:52:33.580 sense, assessing personal moral culpability, when we do that, we have to keep in mind that
00:52:40.380 slavery was an accepted institution across the entire world for thousands of years.
00:52:45.660 Every country, every country, every race, every culture, they all participated in it at some
00:52:50.840 point.
00:52:53.120 So, someone who owned slaves in the year 1800 or the year 1600, the year 1300, is less personally,
00:53:03.440 morally culpable for that than you would be today if you went out and bought a slave.
00:53:09.020 Uh, because you have much more awareness of the evil of the institution than someone had,
00:53:19.020 you know, uh, back, back in the old days.
00:53:22.420 With that said, I don't think a slave owner of 1800 can be entirely absolved of guilt, especially
00:53:29.840 if they did understand that it was evil, as Jefferson did, as you mentioned.
00:53:34.380 Um, and you say that he kept his slaves because he thought it would be cruel to release them,
00:53:40.060 uh, which, okay, but that, that's a rationalization that slave owners always used.
00:53:46.740 That's the rationalization that slave owners in the South in the Civil War times used.
00:53:52.140 And they said, hey, you can't, you can't just go abolishing slavery because then we're going
00:53:55.280 to unleash all of these illiterate slaves who can't care for themselves.
00:53:58.660 It's not fair to them.
00:53:59.740 It's not fair to the, it's not fair to, to, to the white folk and say, you know, we, we,
00:54:03.760 we have to keep them enslaved, unfortunately.
00:54:06.460 And, uh, and hey, while we keep them enslaved, I might as well have a few myself working the,
00:54:10.780 working the plantation.
00:54:12.520 Um, this, it seems to me is obviously a rationalization.
00:54:19.500 Um, it's an attempt to justify something that you know is wrong.
00:54:26.080 Um, and it, it, to me, it seems on par with the rationalization that we have to, you know,
00:54:34.260 it would be cruel to abolish abortion because if we did that, we consign all of these unwanted
00:54:39.680 babies to living in poverty.
00:54:41.820 It's the exact same kind of thing, but obviously the idea that it's better to kill someone than
00:54:47.440 to let them be poor is absurd.
00:54:49.140 Uh, and just as it's absurd to argue that it's better to keep someone in chains as chattel
00:54:56.260 than to let them be free and experience the pitfalls of freedom.
00:55:02.220 Yeah, there, there are disadvantages and, and, and pains and miseries that come with being poor,
00:55:07.080 but you don't get to just kill someone to decide for someone ahead of time that they don't want
00:55:13.400 that.
00:55:13.580 And then, and then to kill them, you don't get to do that.
00:55:16.200 And yes, there are, there are struggles and, uh, misfortunes that come with freedom,
00:55:21.020 but you don't get to decide for someone that, oh, well, you know, you, you wouldn't want to be
00:55:27.820 free.
00:55:28.260 It's, it's, it's not worth it.
00:55:29.440 Trust me.
00:55:29.840 Your life is much better now.
00:55:31.200 So I'm just going to keep you in chains.
00:55:33.760 That obviously is not okay.
00:55:36.060 So I think that Jefferson was rationalizing an evil practice, which he recognized as evil,
00:55:42.480 um, and in the meantime, he was benefiting from it.
00:55:47.780 It's not as though he, he said, okay, well, you know, slavery is, is not abolished, unfortunately.
00:55:53.620 So instead I will just free my own slaves and, and I'll let them live on our property as
00:55:59.200 equals, you know, uh, he, he didn't do that.
00:56:01.920 He still kept them as slaves serving him.
00:56:04.220 So yes, he was a deeply flawed man who participated in a horrendous evil that cannot be justified.
00:56:19.740 Even if his personal moral guilt can be mitigated to some extent, it cannot be justified and his
00:56:26.020 guilt cannot be erased.
00:56:27.180 So that's just a fact.
00:56:31.440 Yet he still was in many ways, a great man.
00:56:35.540 So both of those things are true, you know, and, um,
00:56:39.180 and as I said last week, that's, that's the case for a lot of great men of history.
00:56:45.380 A lot of the great people of history, men and women, um, many of them were, they did great
00:56:53.560 things.
00:56:54.380 They accomplished things that, that no one else could accomplish.
00:56:58.040 They changed the course of history for the better, but they also had a dark side, um,
00:57:06.780 as everyone does.
00:57:07.660 But I think for, for great people, just as their virtue and their accomplishments are going
00:57:14.400 to be greater than the rest of us, the evil they commit is also many times going to be
00:57:19.800 greater than the rest of us.
00:57:21.780 And I think, uh, just as a matter of, of studying history, honestly, we need to look at both of
00:57:28.300 those and acknowledge them and, uh, factor, you know, all of that in to our overall assessment
00:57:35.720 of those.
00:57:37.080 All right.
00:57:37.800 Uh, thanks for the emails.
00:57:39.260 We'll leave it there.
00:57:40.040 Thanks for watching.
00:57:41.140 Godspeed.
00:57:44.400 Today on the Ben Shapiro Show, our venerable media members over at the Daily Beast tracked
00:57:59.000 down the nefarious huckster who posted a video of Nancy Pelosi.
00:58:03.280 It was a joke.
00:58:04.080 Didn't matter.
00:58:04.800 Today on the Ben Shapiro Show.