Ep. 275 - How Feminism Harms Women
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
180.0199
Summary
Today on The Matt Welch Show, I discuss Bernie Sanders' comments that people would be delighted to pay more in taxes, and why I think he's confused, as usual. Also, we'll talk about the latest feminist outrage surrounding the U.S. women's soccer team and why it's sexist to criticize them.
Transcript
00:00:00.000
Today on the Matt Wall Show, Bernie Sanders says that people would be delighted to pay more in
00:00:04.840
taxes. I think that he's confused, as usual. Also, we'll talk about the ways that feminism
00:00:10.300
has backfired and started to harm women in sometimes very profound ways. Related to that,
00:00:19.320
we'll talk about the latest feminist outrage surrounding the U.S. women's soccer team.
00:00:24.000
Apparently, it's sexist to criticize the U.S. women's soccer team. If you didn't know,
00:00:27.180
you can't criticize them for any reason. It's sexist. So we'll talk about that today as well
00:00:31.560
on the Matt Wall Show. Well, Bernie Sanders just made one of the most delusional statements that
00:00:42.240
I think anyone has ever made in history. And I don't think I'm overselling it too much.
00:00:48.240
He was on Anderson Cooper last night, and then this happened. You know how the president's
00:00:53.280
going to paint your talk of democratic socialism besides Venezuela? Do enough Americans know what
00:01:02.460
you mean by that and what that actually looks like? Well, Anderson, that's why I'm on your show
00:01:07.800
tonight. That's why I'm asking you. Look, what we have to understand, for example, just for example,
00:01:14.840
the United States is the only major country on earth not to guarantee health care to all people
00:01:21.200
as they write. In many countries in Europe, Germany for one, you go to college and the cost
00:01:28.360
of college is zero. I think in Finland, they actually pay you to go to college. In most countries
00:01:34.740
around the world, the level of income and wealth inequality, which in the United States today is
00:01:39.960
worse than at any time since the 1920s with three families owning more wealth in the bottom half of
00:01:46.720
America. That level of income and wealth inequality is much less severe than it is right here in the
00:01:54.880
No, the taxes in many of those countries are much higher than they are in the individual personal
00:02:00.240
tax and much higher than they are in the United States.
00:02:02.260
But I suspect that a lot of people in this country would be delighted to pay more in taxes
00:02:06.380
if they had comprehensive health care as a human right.
00:02:12.440
He says people would be delighted, delighted to pay more in taxes. No, Bernie, see, no, that's not
00:02:19.760
the way it works. Nobody wants to pay more in taxes. Nobody does. Because, you know, anyone can pay
00:02:25.760
more in taxes. Anyone can pay more. If you could send whatever amount you want to the IRS on tax day,
00:02:31.580
well, any amount, as long as it's at least what you owe, owe in scare quotes. But beyond that,
00:02:38.860
I mean, if you want to add, if you want to send 20% more, 30% more than you owe, you you're free to
00:02:44.000
do that. They'll, they'll certainly take your money. Um, but so, which means that you, you can
00:02:50.940
basically enact on your own. Any citizen can enact a tax hike. Um, but it would just be a personal tax hike
00:02:59.100
that only you would be subjected to. Nobody does that. Why does anyone do that? Because
00:03:04.400
nobody wants to pay more in taxes. Now, I think this is where Bernie gets confused because you see
00:03:09.500
a lot of people are delighted by tax increases, but they're delighted to have other people pay more in
00:03:18.280
taxes. You see? So yeah, leftists do advocate higher taxes and they are delighted by higher taxes,
00:03:23.800
but, but only as long as those higher taxes are imposed on other people, not on them personally,
00:03:30.160
on other people. Now me, I don't like to see anyone pay more in taxes. I don't celebrate tax
00:03:35.920
hikes on anybody. Um, I'm in favor of tax cuts for everybody because I just think that, uh, on,
00:03:42.020
on principle, people should be able to keep more of their own money. And I also think that the
00:03:45.520
government has entirely too much money, uh, with which to, to, uh, waste already. But, um,
00:03:52.480
leftists do take a perverse pleasure in tax hikes, just as long as the bill goes to someone else.
00:03:59.140
See, that's the way that this works. That's, that's a fundamental misunderstanding. It's
00:04:04.140
every single, I mean, without fail, when you hear someone advocating for higher taxes and you sit
00:04:10.400
down and you listen to them for 10 seconds, you're going to realize that, Oh no, hold on a second.
00:04:13.920
Oh yeah. They want me to pay more. Not them. That's what they're saying. What they're at,
00:04:17.320
what they're saying is, um, yes, government go take from those people over there. Not from me.
00:04:23.380
Very selfless, very selfless indeed. All right. Now I want to, I want to, um, a lot I want to talk
00:04:28.680
about today, uh, including, I want to start by revisiting a conversation from yesterday,
00:04:33.000
but first, before we get to that, a word from Bolin branch, uh, you know, we're never going to
00:04:40.000
agree on everything or maybe even on, on almost anything as a country, but I think we all can agree on,
00:04:46.180
on one thing, which is that we all could use a lot more sleep. Getting a great night's sleep
00:04:50.780
is easier than ever. Thanks to the world's softest sheets brought to you by Bolin branch.
00:04:55.940
Everything Bolin branch makes from bedding to blankets is made from 100% pure organic cotton,
00:05:01.020
which means that they're super soft and they get even softer over time. Um, everybody who tries
00:05:06.740
Bolin branch sheets loves them. And that's why they have thousands of five-star reviews. So you just go,
00:05:11.920
you listen to the people, the people have spoken, um, and look at the reviews for yourself.
00:05:16.180
Uh, Forbes, the wall street journal fast company. They're all talking about Bolin branch.
00:05:20.920
Uh, these sheets have even been loved by three U S presidents and they want you to love your
00:05:25.680
purchase too. So they offer a no risk 30 day trial and free shipping. So you both of those things,
00:05:32.980
uh, but you're not going to want to send them back. You get the trial, you try them out. You're
00:05:38.360
going to want to keep them. Once you sleep on their sheets, you're never going to want to sleep on
00:05:41.900
anything else. So to get you started right now, my listeners get $50 off your first set of sheets
00:05:47.420
at bolinbranch.com promo code Matt, uh, go to bolinbranch.com for $50 off your first set of
00:05:54.240
sheets. That's B O L L and branch.com promo code Matt bolinbranch.com promo code Matt.
00:06:01.420
Okay. So as I said, um, as I said at the top there, I want to revisit something we talked about
00:06:09.780
yesterday briefly, because I think that, uh, there's a little bit more to be said about it.
00:06:16.320
We discussed yesterday, this new survey that was conducted, which shows that a majority of male
00:06:23.100
managers are uncomfortable working one-on-one with female subordinates. Um, CNBC originally reported
00:06:31.900
on this and they had other stats as well. Uh, senior level men say that they're 12 times more
00:06:37.420
likely to be hesitant about one-on-one meetings with a junior woman, nine times more likely to be
00:06:42.220
hesitant to travel with a junior woman. Uh, they're more likely to be hesitant to have a work dinner
00:06:47.780
with a, with a junior woman rather than a, you know, a subordinate man. Now, as we talked about
00:06:55.980
yesterday, this news has been met with predictable finger wagging by the finger waggers on the left.
00:07:02.220
Um, Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook, uh, she says that it's totally unacceptable for men to feel
00:07:09.780
uncomfortable at work, totally unacceptable. And of course the, if men are uncomfortable,
00:07:13.600
the real victims of that discomfort are you guessed it women. Um, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,
00:07:19.720
uh, it was talking about this survey and, and she's, and she decided that the men in the survey,
00:07:25.200
uh, they're just having a quote hard time, not being quote creepy. That's, that's the way that
00:07:30.480
she sums it up. But I was, I was writing about this yesterday and I found this article in the Chicago
00:07:36.420
Tribune written by a woman named Heidi Stevens. And her article is what makes me bring this up again,
00:07:42.680
because she wrote something that just completely proves the point that she was trying to disprove.
00:07:50.640
It really is amazing. So she wrote this thing, which, which offers some, um, dismissive and
00:07:58.880
sarcastic pointers for men in the workplace. Uh, now it's sort of hard to take these pointers
00:08:05.220
seriously because she admits outright that she doesn't understand the issue. Uh, she, she says,
00:08:10.640
I'm confused about the root of these male managers discomfort. Do they not know how to interact
00:08:15.980
with women in a way that doesn't accidentally or overtly imply they'd like to sleep with them?
00:08:20.040
Or do they worry that me too has women going around willy nilly making up stories of harassment and
00:08:25.480
assaults that didn't happen and they can't risk, uh, being the subject of such stories? Well, yeah,
00:08:30.940
kind of, I mean, that is sort of what's happening, but she says that at the beginning of the,
00:08:36.020
well, I don't really understand it. So she doesn't understand, but despite her professed ignorance,
00:08:40.740
she plugs right along with some helpful pieces of advice. Uh, this is what she says with some
00:08:46.880
advice for everybody. Don't pleasure yourself into potted plants as Harvey Weinstein is alleged to
00:08:53.080
have done. Don't have a secret button that locks your office door behind people as Matt Lauer is
00:08:57.880
alleged alleged to have done. Don't send a bunch of gross, inappropriate texts to a direct report
00:09:02.700
as Kevin Quinn, a former staffer for house speaker, Michael Madigan is alleged to have done.
00:09:07.660
These are her, her pieces of advice. So don't fornicate with the flora. Um, don't have secret
00:09:12.460
locking mechanisms installed in your office. Easy enough, you know, by the latest count, only like
00:09:17.560
two or three men in the country have done either of those things. So it's, you know, sort of easy for
00:09:23.260
the rest of us not to do that, but here's where, and she's not done doling out advice. Here's where
00:09:29.180
she undercuts her whole case. She says, I just think this is so interesting because it, it,
00:09:34.500
it encapsulates the whole problem inadvertently. She says, treat your female colleagues and
00:09:43.540
subordinates the way you'd want to be treated by a male in power. Would you want him to tell you how
00:09:48.960
nice you look in that suit? Now again, this is talking to men. Okay. Would you want him to tell
00:09:54.580
you how nice you look in that suit? Would you want him to ask you if you're happy in your relationship?
00:09:58.380
Would you want him to rest his hand lightly on your shoulder when he talks? Talk to your female
00:10:03.420
colleagues and subordinates about the same topics you talk to your male colleagues and subordinates
00:10:07.380
about the NBA finals, their kids' summer day, summer break plans, the China tariffs, the weather,
00:10:13.360
your book club, why the break room coffee is so bad, the profit and loss report that's due later that
00:10:18.760
day. Okay. So that's her advice. Now, actually I have been told by men that I look good
00:10:28.340
in my suit that I'm wearing. And I have myself dispensed similar compliments to men.
00:10:35.300
There's nothing strange or inappropriate about that. It's a compliment. So she says, well,
00:10:40.960
you would never want a man to compliment your outfit. Well, sure I would. Why not?
00:10:45.140
If I'm wearing a great suit and a guy say, Hey man, nice suit. Looks great. I'm sure that that's,
00:10:52.680
that's, that's, I would be happy with that. Why wouldn't I be? Do you not think that men compliment
00:10:59.320
each other? It's, it's a really normal, see, this is someone who clearly just never just doesn't know
00:11:05.760
anything about men. And that's the, that's what you find with feminists is that they just know they,
00:11:11.500
now they make this claim about men in regards to women. They say, Oh, you're, you're, if you're,
00:11:16.440
especially if you're a male conservative, you don't know anything about women. No, it's actually
00:11:19.600
the reverse is true. You, you clearly know nothing about men. You're just nothing at all that you think
00:11:25.320
we would, what we would recoil in horror. Did you just compliment my suit? How dare you? Well,
00:11:31.400
I never, um, no, no man would react that way. You know what? If, if another man says, Hey,
00:11:36.640
great suit, you look great. I would say, Oh, cool. Thanks. That would be it. And then I would
00:11:41.820
move on. I would never think about it again. I would just move on with my life. Um, what I want
00:11:47.220
a guy asking me how my marriage is going. Well, uh, sure. Why not? You know, when I meet up with a guy
00:11:55.600
friend, I will definitely say to them, Hey, how are things going at home? How's the wife?
00:11:59.380
It's a normal thing to say. It's just, it's completely normal. Or if they're dating someone,
00:12:06.800
uh, they're not married, then you can be a little bit more specific about the asking about the
00:12:11.680
relationship. Like, Hey, are you still with that girl? How's that going? Um, it's, it's normal.
00:12:18.280
That's a normal thing to talk about. And so how would I feel if a man said that to me, I would feel
00:12:24.460
perfectly fine with it. I would say, Oh, things are going great. You know, the wife is doing well
00:12:29.560
and that's it. Um, would I want a guy resting his hand on my shoulder? No, I mean, not particularly
00:12:36.280
I wouldn't, but I wouldn't report it to HR either. Now I prefer to avoid physical contact with
00:12:42.280
everybody. Um, with the exception of my wife and my kids, like I, they're the only ones who I'm okay
00:12:49.760
with invading my personal space. Uh, everybody else, I, I, what I would like, what I would prefer
00:12:55.800
is if everybody respected a 30 foot radius of personal space for me at all times. That's what
00:13:00.900
I would just personally, I would like that. But, um, but I cannot say that I'm sexually harassed just
00:13:08.020
because people don't know that I have those personal space demands and therefore don't respect them
00:13:12.960
because they are, I understand that they are a little bit unreasonable. It's just personally,
00:13:16.960
that's what I would like. Um, and some people are more physical, you know, than others, maybe not
00:13:22.340
Joe Biden levels of physical, but, uh, but some people are just are more like that. I've got friends
00:13:27.620
that are more like, you know, pat you on the back and that kind of, some people are like that men and
00:13:32.080
women. We've all had conversations. I'll, I'll, I'll go out, um, to a speaking event or something,
00:13:36.240
and I'll be meeting people afterwards. And you always had these older women, you know, women who are
00:13:41.540
probably in their seventies who will come up and they'll, they'll grab your hand and, uh, they'll
00:13:47.680
just hold it for like 10 minutes while they're talking and kind of like lightly shaking it while
00:13:52.220
they talk to you. And, uh, for like 10 minutes, they're holding your hand. Now, am I a big fan
00:13:58.040
of that? Not really, but, but I mean, they're being friendly and it's kind of funny, you know,
00:14:02.640
it's just, they're, they're just sweet old ladies and this is what they do. It's not a big deal.
00:14:05.820
Right. And there are some older men who are like that as well. Uh, so how would I, so would I consider
00:14:12.140
that? Would I be scandalized by that? Would I, no, no, I wouldn't. And this is the point. She says,
00:14:18.000
she says, Oh, you would never treat guys like that. Uh, yes, I would. And then she proceeds to tell us
00:14:24.600
to treat women like we would treat guys. Yeah. But as I just explained, I would treat guys the way that
00:14:30.840
you claim we only treat women, but you say, don't treat women like that. So you see the confusion
00:14:37.180
here. It just doesn't work. There's a two mixed, mixed messages going on here. Um, I would compliment
00:14:44.160
a man on his outfit. If it's a nice outfit and he looks good in it. Um, you're saying don't say that
00:14:49.340
to women. So we should treat women differently is what you're saying. Now it's recommended that we
00:14:55.360
talk about the NBA finals instead, but wait a second, according to a BBC article that I just
00:15:01.700
pulled up sports lingo at work is quote, hidden sexism that quote reinforces the idea that work,
00:15:08.320
the workplace is, or should be a man cave with water coolers. Um, so now I imagine that the same
00:15:16.400
could be claimed about any attempt to talk politics or about the Chinese tariffs or whatever on the job
00:15:21.140
talk about their kids, summer Blake break plans. She, um, she recommends or book clubs. Well then
00:15:27.120
won't I be guilty of stereotypically assuming that the woman that I'm talking to, uh, has kids and is
00:15:34.140
interested in book clubs. Isn't that a stereotype? See, again, this is exactly the point. This is why
00:15:40.300
men are uncomfortable talking to women at work. And this is why feminism has hurt women by just by yes,
00:15:46.980
making it more difficult for them on the job because men are just freaked out now. And, and
00:15:52.680
they're not freaked out around men, but they are a little bit around women because of this kind of
00:15:56.260
stuff. The rules change from moment to moment and person to person. Anything can be sexist.
00:16:03.620
Anything can be construed as harassment. Maybe your female worker is like Heidi Stevens and would like
00:16:08.820
to talk about the NBA finals, but maybe she's more inclined to see talk of sports at the workplace
00:16:13.560
as sexism that reinforces a male centric environment. We have no way of knowing it could
00:16:19.320
go either way. That's, that's the kind of conversation that if you, I could talk, I could
00:16:24.180
bring that up to a man. It's no problem. I don't have to worry about anything, right? Um, more than,
00:16:28.520
more than likely he'll want to engage in that conversation. Maybe he's not interested in it
00:16:32.480
and then fine, whatever you move on, you talk about something else. Um, but you bring it up to a woman
00:16:37.460
and there's a chance that she'll think that it's sexist because there have been articles written
00:16:43.700
explaining why it's sexist. We have no way of knowing. And it's clear that the woman isn't
00:16:49.780
necessarily going to speak up. Okay. So she may suffer through the sexist conversational assault
00:16:55.240
silently seething about it. Um, because we failed to read her mind and then later on use the incident
00:17:02.120
to get us fired or worse. That's the way it could go. It's not going to go that way with a man.
00:17:07.120
We know that, which means we're probably going to be more inclined to just bring that conversation
00:17:12.180
up to a man. Here's the other thing about men that you need to understand. Um, I think, well,
00:17:16.660
just like any other, like, like humans in general, we don't like to risk our jobs. We don't like to
00:17:21.420
risk false accusations. Uh, we also just, you know, we're, we're not a big fan of games and BS. We just,
00:17:29.060
we just don't want to be bothered with stuff like that. So it, you know, we're kind of just like,
00:17:36.460
it's very practical minded. So we're thinking like, okay, I want to talk about sports at work.
00:17:40.480
It's like, why am I going to bother when it's this whole minefield? I don't even,
00:17:44.780
why am I going to bother even trying to navigate that? There's no point. I'll just go talk to a
00:17:48.600
guy about it or I won't talk about it at all. Um, the me too movement and feminism in general
00:17:54.700
have made a few things clear. Number one, literally anything can be sexist.
00:17:59.760
It all depends on the feelings of the woman. Number two, women are not expected to speak up
00:18:05.740
and let you know that they're uncomfortable. In my opinion, they should be expected to do that.
00:18:10.660
Just like any person should be. If you're uncomfortable, say something as an adult,
00:18:15.500
as a grownup, it's your responsibility to say something. I mean, it's like you hear these
00:18:21.200
stories about Louis CK and how he, you know, I mean, disgusting how he pleasured himself in front of
00:18:26.600
women. Well, uh, now of course, obviously doing that on the job is completely inappropriate or
00:18:32.340
doing that at any, anywhere, in any context, completely inappropriate and disgusting and
00:18:35.680
wrong and creepy and perverse and degenerate. But, um, when it comes to speaking up, you know,
00:18:42.400
in every case, apparently he would ask these women, Hey, do you mind if I, and they would just say,
00:18:48.880
Oh, sure. Meanwhile, in their head, they're uncomfortable, but it's like, well, of course you're
00:18:53.760
uncomfortable, but say something, say, you're not, don't, don't say yes when you don't mean it.
00:18:59.140
Just, just say, leave, right? Say something and leave if you're uncomfortable. I think we can
00:19:04.580
expect people to do that. We all, man or woman, we all have to do that. And that's especially the
00:19:12.700
case, you know, you take something that's a lot less severe and gross than that. Just take a
00:19:17.300
conversation. Let's say that's making you uncomfortable. Um, well then definitely in
00:19:23.320
that case, if you're uncomfortable with the, leave the room, you don't have to, you could just say
00:19:29.500
nothing and leave. That's an option or speak up and say, you know, I don't think we should be talking
00:19:33.520
about this. Um, I think we can expect everyone, man or woman to, to speak up, to be adults,
00:19:42.700
to take charge of the situation, to make your own thoughts known because you can't expect anyone to
00:19:49.740
read your mind. Um, but that's how we know from the Me Too movement that, you know, we can't expect
00:19:54.480
that. And, and, um, and then number three, we know, believe women. So the women's version of events
00:20:00.640
will be believed, must be believed. And the only thing the male offender is allowed to do is grovel
00:20:05.740
and apologize. So is it really so surprising that men in this environment with the rules set up the
00:20:13.020
way they are, may be wary about interacting with women, especially when nobody else is present to
00:20:19.500
witness it. Um, so perhaps, you know, we should stop and think about that and think about the damage
00:20:31.280
that it's doing, not just to men, um, but to women as well, because there are a lot of, of normal,
00:20:42.140
non-feminist, non-crazy women out there who are not looking to entrap men or trick men or, you know,
00:20:50.740
get men into trouble, make things up, who are the kinds of people who won't be offended by a
00:20:57.280
conversation about sports or whatever, even if they're not interested in it, uh, who won't be
00:21:01.780
offended if you compliment them. There are plenty of women like that, plenty, the majority, you know,
00:21:05.780
are like that. But, uh, because of crazy feminists, you know, men don't know necessarily, unless they
00:21:17.660
know a woman well already, they don't know if they don't know where the woman falls on that spectrum.
00:21:21.700
And so unfortunately, a lot of women get lumped in with that just as a precautionary measure.
00:21:29.280
Men are going to say, well, she might not be a crazy feminist, but I don't know. So I, I guess
00:21:35.360
I just have to act as though she is just from, from my own self-preservation. And that's not fair
00:21:41.300
to those women, but whose fault is it? It's the fault of the crazy feminists. It's not the fault of
00:21:47.900
the men. The men are just, again, they're just self-preservation. They're just, they've got,
00:21:52.480
you've got to be prudent. It's not worth risking your job or your livelihood, your life over.
00:21:58.160
All right. Um, so I thought that was, uh, interesting staying in the vein of feminism for a minute.
00:22:04.780
Um, the women's U S soccer team beat the 34th ranked Thailand team a couple of days ago by 13 to nothing.
00:22:17.900
Uh, and Kristen is a couple of things that stemmed from this victory that are sort of annoying and
00:22:24.600
stupid. First of all, Kristen Gillibrand had this to say in a tweet. She says, here's an idea. If you
00:22:29.400
win 13 to nothing, the most goals for a single game in world cup history, you should be paid at least
00:22:34.520
equally to the men's team. Now, she's not the only one to say this. Of course, I've heard this
00:22:39.260
elsewhere. Uh, the women's soccer team is running rough shot over low ranked opponents. And this proves
00:22:44.980
that they should be paid the same as the men's team because they're just as good, I guess.
00:22:49.620
And they are great athletes. And there's no question that they're better at soccer than me.
00:22:53.100
Uh, if it was me and, and, uh, you know, and guys like me versus the women's, um, world cup team,
00:23:00.480
I have no doubt that they would win handily against us. Uh, but that's because I don't play soccer
00:23:06.020
because I prefer to play sports personally, but in any case, uh, yes, they would beat me. I'll admit
00:23:11.140
that. But at the same time, I can't help, but note that this women's team did lose a couple of years
00:23:18.120
ago to a team of under 15 high school boys in a scrimmage. It's not funny. I I'm sorry. I don't
00:23:24.600
mean to laugh. Um, they, they did lose to, uh, to, to teenage boys in a scrimmage. That's true. You
00:23:31.360
can look that up, Google that one that did happen. My only point bringing that up. Okay. Is, is,
00:23:37.060
is no disrespect. It's just to point out for all the people that are, you know, talking now about
00:23:42.800
pay disparity. Why aren't they paid the same? You see how good they are. You know, I, I, I'm just
00:23:49.400
trying to point out the vast gulf that separates male athletes from female athletes. I mean, it's
00:23:55.940
just, they're like in two different universes. I mean, um, and that's why male athletes generally
00:24:02.260
get paid more. And that's why there's generally more interest in men's sports because the athletes
00:24:07.680
are just a lot better. Um, and they're just, and they're more fun to watch now, not in every sport,
00:24:13.340
something like gymnastics, for instance. Um, you know, I think it's, uh, because the, just the
00:24:20.960
physiology of men versus women. Um, I think women can oftentimes be more gifted, uh, in, in that area,
00:24:29.520
more graceful and everything. Um, but in these other kinds of sports, especially these team sort
00:24:35.780
of sports, it's different. The men are just a lot more fun to watch because they're just so much
00:24:41.080
better. Um, and, and that's fine. Men are allowed to be better than women. It's okay to acknowledge
00:24:46.720
that. It's okay to acknowledge it because it's true. Why is it that the NBA gets great ratings while
00:24:52.800
nobody watches the WNBA, the WNBA? I don't know. Is the WNBA even still on? I don't even know.
00:24:58.420
Um, well, it's because NBA athletes are some of the best athletes in the world.
00:25:04.420
They are so ridiculously good and it's amazing to watch what they can do on the court. And that's
00:25:11.380
why people watch the NBA, a WNBA team on the other hand would easily lose to an above average high
00:25:17.300
school boys team. Uh, and probably, and it wouldn't even be close just like the soccer players, just
00:25:23.540
like with the soccer situation. That again is how vast the divide is between the two skill levels.
00:25:28.300
And that's fine. It's nothing to panic over. Men are men and women are women. Um, and there's no
00:25:34.220
sexism in that. There's also no sexism in the criticisms that the women's team, uh, has faced
00:25:45.720
for excessive celebrating. Okay. While the women's team was trouncing the 34th rank,
00:25:52.000
there was a 34th ranked Thailand team. Uh, and they built an insurmountable lead. They still
00:25:56.640
celebrated every goal. Like it was the game winner and they were running around the field and pumping
00:26:00.740
their fist and doing all this stuff. Um, and some people have argued that it was poor sportsmanship on
00:26:07.540
their part, you know, to, to be, to be gloating over your 10th goal in a soccer match. Um, it is match
00:26:15.600
soccer match, right? Not soccer game. I don't know this, this, the soccer sporting competition,
00:26:21.360
uh, to be gloating over it is, you know, it's just, it's not good sportsmanship. It's, it's,
00:26:27.100
it's kind of lame. And, uh, it just, it makes you look a Bush league. It makes it look like amateur
00:26:32.960
hour really. And that's the criticism anyway, that some people have, have articulated. Here's a,
00:26:37.900
here's a, just to kind of explain it. Here's a CBS report that summarizes the controversy.
00:26:43.280
The U S women's blowout win yesterday at the world cup did not come without controversy.
00:26:49.420
Some are saying they showed poor sportsmanship by celebrating after every one of their 13 goals.
00:26:57.080
Roxanna Saberi reports from Paris. As team USA's players piled on goal after goal last night,
00:27:05.620
it's loose. Setting a world cup record, their parents beamed.
00:27:17.080
And Thailand wept, stirring the sympathy of spectators like Kaylee Ferreira of Phoenix.
00:27:22.700
Did you guys feel bad for the tie at least a little bit?
00:27:29.340
So bad. U S coach Jill Ellis had to field questions about whether the best team in the
00:27:34.060
world should have gotten easier on a team ranked 34th.
00:27:37.220
I sit here and I go, if this is 10 nil in a men's world cup, are we getting the same questions
00:27:42.680
But it was the way that team USA celebrated each of its 13 goals that sparked much more criticism.
00:27:49.180
Even former teammate Hope Solo called some of the celebrations a little overboard.
00:27:57.360
They can come at us cause I think our only crime was an explosion of joy last night.
00:28:02.860
Some U S players say what last night's game really showed is that other countries need
00:28:07.660
to invest more in women's soccer. And they urged players like Thailand's Miranda Nild not to feel defeated.
00:28:14.700
I told her that it's a dream of all of ours to play in a world cup.
00:28:18.780
And, um, to stay encouraged team USA's next game is on Sunday against Chile, which is ranked
00:28:25.820
39th in the world. Roxanna Saberi, CBS news, Paris.
00:28:31.500
So you heard what the, I think it was the head coach said there. Oh, well, the men's team wouldn't
00:28:35.980
be criticized like this. And this is something that's been echoed by the media. Uh, the soccer
00:28:39.900
team was criticized both for running up the score and trying aggressively to score more goals,
00:28:45.340
even when there are only a few minutes left. Um, and then, and then also they celebrating so much,
00:28:50.380
but it's, it's, we're told that that's, it's sexist to, to criticize them for that. Uh, these
00:28:55.260
are sexist criticisms because men are never criticized that way. As the story goes, Casey
00:29:00.220
hunt and NBC reporter sent out a tweet said, don't celebrate too much. Bros said no one ever.
00:29:07.340
And then a bunch of think, think pieces have been written about this issue, um, about the sexism
00:29:11.260
of criticizing female athletes, including this one from pop sugar, which is of course, a great,
00:29:16.300
great publication, any publication called pop sugar, you know, you're going to find great content,
00:29:20.300
very, very intelligent content. Um, they have an article titled why criticism of the U S women's
00:29:25.580
soccer team is sexist. So very straightforward. I appreciate that. And then the article says,
00:29:30.140
in part, um, the women's, uh, soccer team in a thrilling first game of the 2019 women's world
00:29:37.420
cup, uh, one with a record breaking 13 to zero score. First of all, that's not a thrilling game.
00:29:42.460
In a thrilling game, they won 13 to nothing. Uh, it's not thrilling. That's the opposite of
00:29:47.420
thrilling. That's that's a blowout. And you know, it's, I mean, it's thrilling if you're a fan of the
00:29:51.500
team, I guess, but it's not really a thrilling game in general. Um, but she says, but unsurprising in
00:29:56.220
the context of heedless sexist double standards in the world of sports, the players were almost
00:30:00.860
immediately criticized for their resounding victory shortly after the game, predominantly male
00:30:06.380
commentators and Twitter users questioned why the one, yes, I'm sure they went through and they
00:30:10.860
looked at all the criticisms on Twitter and they, they, they, they counted them all by sex and
00:30:15.740
discovered that it was predominantly male, right? Okay. Um, predominantly male commentators and Twitter
00:30:21.420
users questioned why the team ran up the score to 13 to zero, despite the fact that in the,
00:30:26.060
the event of a tie during the world turned to group stage of the world cup, the team with the
00:30:29.980
highest goal differential would advance to the knockout round. The players were also criticized
00:30:33.980
for continuing to celebrate their goals, uh, throughout those 90 minutes to play suggesting
00:30:38.300
this reflected poor sportsmanship. Um, in contrast, similar criticisms have yet to be lodged against
00:30:46.140
men's athletic teams for ruthless high margin victories and repeated celebrations. The 1992 U S men's
00:30:52.300
basketball team defeated opponents by an average of 44 points during the Olympic games. And it's
00:30:56.620
still affectionately known as the dream team, the annual NFL, uh, the annual NFL honors ceremony
00:31:02.220
includes a category for celebration of the year. Uh, it's a gendered backlash against the women's team
00:31:08.780
is even more frustrating and notable considering the players have been a goblah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
00:31:11.980
blah, blah. Okay. I can't even get tired. So I'm going to throw up if I keep reading that.
00:31:15.300
Uh, this of course is just grade a pure unadulterated nonsense. It is completely untrue, completely
00:31:25.100
false, totally, completely, utterly ridiculous. It shows yet again, the theme of the show, how feminists
00:31:31.820
don't understand men and know nothing about men at all. Um, no, nothing about men's sports have no idea
00:31:40.100
what they're talking about on any subject. Male athletes are criticized all the time for excessive
00:31:47.100
celebration and for running up the score and all that. The dream team was criticized for running
00:31:53.260
up the score. They're called the dream team because they were so insanely talented. These were some of
00:31:59.280
the best basketball players that had ever lived on the planet that were on one team. That's why they
00:32:06.480
were the dream team. Now the U S women's soccer team, I know these are very good athletes. This is
00:32:10.440
not a collection of the best soccer players ever to live. So that's why they're not the dream team.
00:32:16.300
Okay. Um, a collection of the best soccer players ever to live will be all men's players. That's how
00:32:21.880
you know that that's, that this isn't the dream team. Now this was the, these were the best basketball
00:32:25.320
players ever. Uh, you know, some of them. And, uh, that's why they were called the dream team,
00:32:31.860
but they were, yeah, they scored by average of 44 to 44 points or whatever. They were criticized for
00:32:37.860
that. They were, um, the two set, the 2007 Patriots who went undefeated, but finally lost in the Super
00:32:44.560
Bowl and we're beating teams by like 55 to three, these crazy scores running up the score. They were
00:32:51.380
criticized for that constant. It was, it was a never ending topic of conversation in 2007 about how
00:32:58.440
the Patriots are bad sportsmen and running up the scores. It was, it was an ongoing debate on ESPN
00:33:05.920
and among football fans and commentators. Um, in fact, as for celebrating, you know, up until
00:33:13.480
recently, you weren't allowed to celebrate at all in the NFL. And now they do allow some celebration,
00:33:18.480
but I think you can still be penalized for it. You can be fined for it. If you go to,
00:33:21.880
for there are certain things you're not allowed to do in the course of a celebration.
00:33:24.540
One of the oldest cliches in sports is act like you've been there before. And when you're, that's
00:33:32.380
just, it's something that you hear. If you watch men playing in the NFL, if you watch men playing in
00:33:37.220
the NBA, if you watch men playing in the MLB, you're going to hear this cliche, act like you've
00:33:41.920
been there before. And what that's always targeted at a man who's, you know, uh, you know,
00:33:47.320
made a basket, scored a touchdown, got a home run, and then freaks out about it. It acts like it's
00:33:53.280
the first time he's ever scored a point in his career as a professional athlete. And then people
00:33:58.040
will say, act like you've been there, but be professional, you know, act the, the cool thing
00:34:02.200
is to act like you've done it a million times and it's no big deal, right? You score the touchdown,
00:34:06.780
just like casually hand the ball to the ref and then walk off the field. Now that's bad-ass that
00:34:12.300
that's a power move right there. Um, so this is a constant conversation. So when women are criticized
00:34:17.720
for it, they are being treated exactly like the men, exactly like they say they want to be treated.
00:34:24.120
But yet again, what we find is that when women are treated like men, feminists complain. And when
00:34:29.880
they're not treated like men, feminists complain. Uh, it's so it's, it's bogus. And you know what?
00:34:35.840
Yes, it is lame to go running. I mean, you saw some of that stuff to go running frantically around the
00:34:41.640
field, pumping your fists and gloating after you scored the 10th time against a team that isn't even
00:34:46.820
ranked in the top 30. Yeah, that's, that's lame. It's kind of stupid. It makes you look,
00:34:51.860
it, it, it, it makes you look like an amateur. Um, it just does. If, if Tom Brady ran around the
00:34:59.780
field, screaming triumphantly after scoring his sixth touchdown against the Buffalo Bills to go up 53 to
00:35:05.580
seven, you're damn right. People would criticize him for that. They would say you're Tom Brady. What
00:35:09.740
are you freaking out about this? You, what you scored a, uh, you got a, you threw a touchdown against the
00:35:13.740
bills. You're freaking out. Come on. But he does do stuff like that. And he has, and he is criticized
00:35:19.220
for it all the time. It's one of the main things Tom Brady's criticized for. Act like you've been
00:35:24.160
there before. Be professional, be cool. It's, it's a, it's a normal thing. Um, in the NFL, if you're up,
00:35:31.440
you know, if you're up by two or more scores and you have the ball with two or three minutes left in
00:35:36.320
the game and the other team doesn't have any timeouts, it's customary to take a knee and not even try to run
00:35:41.260
to play and just run and just let the, let the game end. That's what you're kind of supposed to do
00:35:46.460
by the customs of the game. If you're in that situation as the winning team and you take shots
00:35:51.540
at the end, you start throwing hair, Hail Marys to the end zone. Yes. You're going to be criticized
00:35:55.980
for that severely because people are going to say, Oh, you're just, you're trying to pad your stats
00:36:00.740
against the team that is you already beat essentially. Um, so now my own personal opinion is that, um,
00:36:11.260
you know, I, I generally don't mind the celebrations. I, I think if people get pumped up in sports and
00:36:17.940
they get excited and that's great, it is a game. You're supposed to have fun in the NFL. I like
00:36:23.100
some of the more creative touchdown celebrations you see them do now. I think it's just, it's,
00:36:27.040
it's a, cause it's a game at the end of the day, it's still a game. So that's fine, but it can get to
00:36:32.260
a point where it's overboard. And if you're, if you're decimating a team, especially if you're
00:36:37.400
decimating a team that you're supposed to beat, if it's a team that you're decimating that you're
00:36:42.740
supposed to decimate, yeah, then celebrate and overly celebrating just makes you look foolish
00:36:49.180
in my opinion. Um, now if you're doing, if you're the underdog doing that to the team that was
00:36:54.980
supposed to beat you, maybe, maybe there's more of a reason there, but as the favorite, um,
00:37:01.820
I would, I would agree with the criticism, but there's nothing gendered about it. All right. Um,
00:37:12.220
let's go to, to emails, mattwalshowatgmail.com, mattwalshowatgmail.com.
00:37:17.900
This one is from Victoria says, hi Matt, my name's Victoria, big fan of the show. Last year,
00:37:23.160
a film called Boy Erased released, which is a biography about a young man who went to a Baptist
00:37:29.160
gay conversion camp. This film was adapted by a, uh, from a memoir has won many accolades.
00:37:35.180
I was raised Christian and have been a Christian for most of my life. I've never even heard of this
00:37:39.000
sort of thing. I was wondering if you have, and what are your opinions of them? And are they common
00:37:43.480
somewhere in the U S they seem creepy and just wrong to me if they do indeed still exist. Keep up
00:37:48.000
the great work. Hi Victoria. I've only ever heard of the gay conversion camps and gay conversion therapy,
00:37:52.900
all that stuff. I've only ever heard about that from people railing against it. Um, like you,
00:37:59.000
I, I have never heard of, I had never heard of such a thing until the left started fear mongering about
00:38:05.280
it. I'm not saying it doesn't exist or it didn't exist at some point. Um, but it's certainly not
00:38:10.600
nearly as widespread as it's presented and not nearly widespread enough to justify all the panicking
00:38:18.560
that people do about it. You know, the other thing about this gay conversion stuff is that,
00:38:22.700
um, I think sometimes, um, sometimes you'll have totally normal Christian counseling that maybe
00:38:33.680
can be rebranded with that nefarious sounding label. So as far as actual camps where gay kids are sent
00:38:41.860
against their will is creepy kind of reprogramming that goes on and, you know, electroshock therapy,
00:38:47.400
all that kind of stuff. Again, I'm not saying that stuff didn't happen in the past, but I've in
00:38:53.880
current day America, I've never heard of that. I, and I've been a Christian for 32 years. I've never
00:38:58.620
heard of it, never encountered it, just never. Um, but I think you could have, for instance, a person
00:39:08.740
who's struggling with homosexual thoughts or urges, um, doesn't want those thoughts and seeks
00:39:17.220
counseling from a pastor or a Christian counselor because they don't want those feelings. And then
00:39:23.740
they receive counseling. And then I guess probably that's going to be labeled gay conversion therapy,
00:39:29.400
but it's not as though this was a gay person abducted off the street and brought in a bus to a
00:39:36.120
camp somewhere. Okay. Um, this is someone who sought counseling and received it. It was totally
00:39:43.700
of their own volition. So if that's what gay conversion is, then if it's that meaning just
00:39:51.280
someone who goes and seeks counseling of their own free will and volition, because they're struggling
00:39:56.120
with something that they don't want to struggle with. Uh, if that's what we call gay conversion
00:40:01.460
therapy, then I don't see a problem with it. But I think to label it that way is disingenuous.
00:40:08.420
The stuff that you're talking about. Yeah. I, it, I don't think that that's a widespread phenomenon.
00:40:14.360
I'll put it that way. All right. This is from Don, um, says, man, I myself, I'm not a huge fan of
00:40:21.260
parades. I agree that it's a glorified traffic jam, but I think you neglected a major issue with your own
00:40:26.020
personal faith. The Pope, every time he goes out in public is basically parading around Catholicism.
00:40:31.100
In fact, you may even call it a celibacy parade. Thousands flock the streets causing major traffic
00:40:35.860
delays for miles around. I demand you recant your parade hypocrisy. I think a celibacy parade actually
00:40:41.360
might be a great idea. Um, maybe that's the way to counteract all this, all these other
00:40:45.760
sexually oriented parades you find out there, but I won't recant Don because actually, uh, I, you know,
00:40:54.540
I know you're half kidding, but I'm not a big fan of the kind of hysteria and, and, and pageantry
00:41:00.640
that surrounds the Pope. Uh, I'm a Catholic, but I don't worship the Pope. No Catholic does. Okay.
00:41:07.260
Let's be clear about that. No Catholic worships the Pope. He's just a man. He's not God. We all know
00:41:11.120
that. Um, yet sometimes the pageantry around him, the way we treat the papacy can give the wrong
00:41:19.800
impression. And I think Catholics, Catholics need to acknowledge that and understand that.
00:41:24.540
It does sometimes come off the wrong way. Um, and sometimes it can approach something like
00:41:35.580
worship, but in the same sense that we might talk about celebrity worship. So that's the kind of
00:41:42.140
worship that we're talking about. Someone who freaks out because they see, I don't know, Lady Gaga,
00:41:46.680
uh, you know, walking down the street. Okay. Well, that person isn't literally worshiping Lady Gaga
00:41:53.220
as a God. This isn't someone who actually thinks that Lady Gaga has supernatural capabilities.
00:41:59.700
Um, but they treat her as something other than just another human. And they, they, they heap way too
00:42:06.420
much adulation and admiration upon her personally, just because they like her, you know, her songs and,
00:42:14.900
and they're impressed with her celebrity. So with the Pope, uh, I think you can find
00:42:19.860
something like that sometimes with some people, just as with the president, um, there can be something
00:42:25.940
like that. And I'm not a fan of it in those cases either. I'm not a fan of it in any case. Um,
00:42:31.860
and I think with the Pope in particular, I think it could be, uh, a good thing maybe to, um,
00:42:45.940
maybe to pull back on, on, on some of that, some of that pageantry. All right. This is,
00:42:53.300
let's see. Do we have another one? I thought we had another. Okay. Well, this one is from Nick.
00:43:00.580
Uh, another Catholic question says, I'm Catholic. I was recently reading about several miracles,
00:43:04.520
including the Shroud of Turin, the Tilma of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Uh, I understand that the church
00:43:10.220
runs miraculous claims through the gauntlet to ensure their validity. Many scientists and experts
00:43:14.600
who are atheists are tasked with finding natural explanations for the events in question. If there's
00:43:19.400
any doubt, the church dismisses the claim. What are your thoughts on these and other miracles?
00:43:23.300
Do you believe in them? What role, if any, um, do you think they should play in our faith? And do
00:43:29.000
you think they can be used as a means of evangelization? While they are by no means the
00:43:33.320
basis of my faith, I do sometimes fall back on them when I begin to doubt the existence of God.
00:43:38.200
I really appreciate you getting to my question. Hope your leg is getting better by the day.
00:43:41.800
Uh, Nick, I treat miracle claims on a case by case basis. Uh, I, which I think is what we all should
00:43:48.960
do. You know, you look into them personally, decide if you are inclined to believe
00:43:53.180
that they're supernatural or not. Uh, I think that's what we all should do. We shouldn't believe
00:43:58.880
a miracle claim just because someone claims it. Obviously, if we did that, then we'd have to
00:44:03.080
believe every single miracle claim that anyone ever makes and not just miracle. We'd have to believe
00:44:07.500
everything everyone tells us. And we clearly, we don't do that. So, um, the fact that someone said
00:44:14.900
something is not enough reason to believe that it's true most of the time, especially when it's
00:44:21.560
something like a miracle. Now, if your wife walks into the room and says, Hey, it's raining outside.
00:44:25.840
Well, okay. Well that the fact that your wife said it's raining is probably enough reason to
00:44:29.100
believe that it's raining because raining, raining rain is something that happens on a daily basis.
00:44:33.240
It's completely normal. You trust your wife, you know her, there's no conceivable reason why she'd
00:44:38.480
lie about it. So yeah, you'll just take that on faith as it were, but a miracle claim, you know,
00:44:44.740
someone you don't even know says, Oh, you know, Jesus appeared to me or, Oh, this or that happened.
00:44:48.440
Um, well, we know that those are not daily occurrences. We don't know anything about this
00:44:53.620
person personally. So we don't know about their trustworthiness. And we know that these are the
00:44:58.540
kinds of stories that people are willing to make up. And there are plenty of reasons why a person
00:45:02.200
might make them up. So with all that in mind, then we, I think we have to look specifically at it,
00:45:07.640
look at the evidence and, uh, draw our conclusions from there. So, uh, a couple of examples you,
00:45:14.120
you get, I'm inclined to believe the shroud of Turin as being authentic because it's been subjected to
00:45:21.700
numerous scientific studies through the years. It's, it's validity has not been disproven.
00:45:26.280
And I know that failure to disprove something is not the same thing as proving the affirmative of
00:45:31.020
that thing. Um, but the fact that the shroud is basically a photographic negative of, you know,
00:45:38.960
an image of a, of a, of a man who's suspiciously wounded, just like Jesus was wounded as it is told
00:45:46.200
in the gospels. Um, and, and that's still, nobody has been able to explain how a thousand years ago
00:45:54.300
or even 500 years ago, someone could have produced an image like this. Well, that kind of cinches it for
00:46:01.880
me. So yeah, I, I believe it. I believe the shroud. Um, and there probably is an element of just sort
00:46:11.520
of intuition with some of these things, because I think there's a lot of evidence, but I also just,
00:46:19.640
I think beyond that, I just say, you know, I guess we, we might say it's the, it's the Holy Spirit
00:46:25.860
as well, guiding us on that. As for, um, our lady of Guadalupe, the Tilma, I am skeptical there for
00:46:34.020
those who aren't familiar with that story. As the story goes, uh, Mary, the blessed mother appeared
00:46:38.720
to a guy named Juan Diego in the 15th century in Mexico. Um, and there's a whole story there that
00:46:44.640
I'm not going to get into it cause I don't have time, but there's now a cloak essentially with an
00:46:50.260
image of Christ's mother. Um, and supposedly it appeared miraculously. Okay. Um, that's the
00:46:59.100
really bare bones story there, but I'm skeptical because I can see the image, right? You know,
00:47:04.640
you can go, you can look at the image. You could go online and look it up, uh, the Tilma and you'll
00:47:07.860
see it. And when you look at the image, it looks like a painting. It doesn't look miraculous at all.
00:47:14.380
In my opinion, it just looks like something that someone could have paid. It looks like something
00:47:18.120
that almost anyone could have painted. Um, and I don't see why a miraculous image would look like
00:47:27.220
a rather basic painting, right? Like if, if God is, uh, if, if through super, if, if through divine
00:47:33.560
intervention, um, an image is going to appear on a surface somewhere, why would it look like a
00:47:41.760
painting? You know, the, the shroud of turn does not look like a painting. That's the, if the shroud of
00:47:47.800
turn just looked like a painting, then I would say it's probably a painting, but it doesn't,
00:47:52.380
it looks like a photograph of someone. And so that's what makes you stop and go, how did that
00:47:58.120
get there? It doesn't look like some, something someone would have painted, especially not,
00:48:02.100
you know, centuries ago. But with the Tilma, you look at it and there's, if no one told you the
00:48:09.680
whole story behind it, you would look at it and say, oh, okay, yeah, it's just someone painted
00:48:13.000
that. So, you know, I just, I don't see any compelling reason to believe that it's more
00:48:21.120
than a painting other than the fact that I would like to believe that it's more than a
00:48:24.900
painting. But the fact that I would like to believe it isn't a reason at all. Um, so that's,
00:48:34.900
that's how I would parse it. I could be wrong about one or both of them. Who knows? You know,
00:48:39.300
I don't know, just, these are my own opinions. Um, but I, I tend with any miracle claim,
00:48:46.600
I think my first reaction is skepticism in that. Okay. Well, that's, it's a, that's an incredible
00:48:54.860
story. It's literally incredible. And oftentimes incredible stories aren't true, but I'm all ears.
00:49:00.180
I'm not going to rule it out. Obviously we can't rule out the miraculous. So bring me the evidence
00:49:04.740
and I'll look at it. And if I see compelling evidence, I'll, I'll probably believe it. Um,
00:49:08.320
with the Telma, I just haven't, I haven't seen compelling evidence, uh, other, other than just
00:49:14.140
a lot of people through the centuries have believed it, but that's, that's not evidence of anything.
00:49:19.040
People believe wrong things all the time, especially if they want to believe it because
00:49:22.920
it's a beautiful story and it is by the way. All right. Uh, we will leave it there.
00:49:29.460
Thanks everybody for watching. Thanks for listening. Godspeed.
00:49:38.320
Today on the Ben Shapiro show, Iran draws everybody closer to war. That's today on the Ben Shapiro show.
00:49:51.000
Today on the Ben Shapiro show, I've been calling you a Join Millionaire oh 예