Ep. 284 - The Compassionate Answer To The Border Crisis
Episode Stats
Words per minute
172.71593
Harmful content
Misogyny
17
sentences flagged
Toxicity
11
sentences flagged
Hate speech
15
sentences flagged
Summary
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went to the southern border for a photo op, and now she's doubled over. Also, a liberal film critic says Toy Story 4 is racist because there are no black toys in it.
Transcript
00:00:00.000
Today on the Matt Wall Show, there is a crisis on the southern border, but what can we do about it?
00:00:04.580
Well, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's answer is to go down there for photo ops,
1.00
00:00:09.120
but what's a better answer? What's a compassionate answer to the problem on the border? We'll talk
00:00:14.000
about that today. Also, and this is not a joke, folks, but a liberal film critic says that Toy
00:00:20.840
Story 4 is racist because there are no black toys. Yes, she really said that. We'll talk about that
00:00:27.480
today and other interesting topics on the Matt Wall Show. Okay, so a guy named Ivan Pierre Aguirre
00:00:40.500
posted some photos to Twitter yesterday. These are photos of a trip that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
00:00:47.300
took to the border a year ago, apparently, and we're told that she took the trip to the border
00:00:53.000
not for publicity. In fact, she took a break from campaigning, a break from campaigning to go to
00:00:59.720
the border to protest our immigration system, basically. The photos are so transparently
00:01:06.720
staged and phony that it's almost physically painful to look at them. It's difficult to look
00:01:15.780
because they are so contrived. But let's take a look at them anyway. So here you go. Here are the
00:01:22.100
photos that were posted. You got a lot of retweets and likes, and people were saying that, oh, well,
00:01:27.260
in fact, some people were very touched by these photos. But there are a lot of people, even
00:01:32.580
apparently AOC supporters, who said, come on, I like you, but this is ridiculous. So there's AOC.
0.86
00:01:40.100
You see her standing next to a fence, looking right into the camera, a very sad, disappointed,
00:01:44.760
kind of concerned look on her face. That look right there, you see right now, that is a look that I get
00:01:50.380
for my wife a lot, especially when I make puns. So it's a very familiar look. And then we have her
00:01:57.180
right after she looked into the camera. Now she's covering her face in despair. And then now she's
00:02:04.980
doubled over. Okay, so now she's really going in for the, this is the dramatic moment, the climax.
00:02:12.160
She's utterly overcome by despair. Now she's doubled over, covering her face. This actually looks like,
00:02:18.300
this looks like me when I go to a bar and find out that they only have Miller Lite and Coors on tap.
00:02:23.580
It's a very similar, like, no, why, why, why? Those beers taste like watered down goat urine.
00:02:30.040
So it's a, so I do the same kind of thing. I understand that, actually. Okay, and now here
00:02:34.260
she is again. Now she's regained her composure. But she's still looking quite sad. And now though,
00:02:40.600
angry and disturbed. This is the look that I give when I'm stuck in the car with all three kids,
00:02:45.660
and they started singing songs from the Wiggles. This is the look. Actually, no, that's go back to
00:02:50.600
the, to the one I've heard doubled over. No, that's me. That's actually me when I'm in the car
00:02:54.900
and the kids are singing. So it's difficult to drive. It's a little bit dangerous for me to be
00:03:00.040
doing that while, while driving. Anyway, so there, those are the pictures. I mean, it's, it's
00:03:06.940
just a joke. Now, the crisis down on our border is not a joke. That is a serious problem. We're
00:03:16.080
going to talk about that today. But she is making a joke out of it by using it as a, as a, you know,
00:03:22.600
this is very similar. Remember those stories a couple of weeks ago of the Instagram influencers
00:03:26.820
who were showing up at Chernobyl to take selfies, sometimes half nude selfies. This is very similar
00:03:34.300
to that. This is an essentially a glorified Instagram influencer, um, going to the site of
00:03:40.940
a real human travesty, uh, for, for a photo opportunity. Uh, just disgraceful. Well, as I
00:03:50.600
said, there's more that needs to be discussed about our border, but first a word from Wives Company.
00:03:55.340
You know, Wives Company freeze-dried food is very easy to prepare. And the best part is that it can be
00:04:00.380
stored for 25 years, uh, 25 years. That is longer than I've been alive. I'm only 20 years old in case
00:04:07.380
you didn't know. There are a lot of practical benefits of that, but, but I think maybe the
00:04:11.920
greatest benefit, um, to having that 25 years is the peace of mind that comes with being prepared with
00:04:18.200
food, um, in case of an emergency. Emergencies come in many forms, you know, hurricanes, tornadoes,
00:04:24.040
earthquakes, flood, wildfires, wildfires, uh, power outages, even job loss, something like that.
00:04:29.780
You may need to be prepared for all of those. Wives Company takes an innovative approach in
00:04:34.400
providing dependable, simple, and affordable freeze-dried food for emergency preparedness
00:04:38.160
and outdoor use. You can't know what tomorrow is going to bring. You don't know what the future
00:04:42.040
is going to hold. Um, but you can have peace of mind knowing that you'll be ready for whatever
00:04:47.240
is on the way. This week, my listeners get any wise emergency or outdoor food product at an,
00:04:53.440
at an extra 25% off the lowest mark price at wisefoodstorage.com when entering Walsh at checkout,
00:05:01.840
or if you call 855-475-3089. Plus shipping is free. So this can't get any better. Wise has a,
00:05:11.320
uh, well, in fact, it does get better because wise has a 90 day, no questions asked return policy.
00:05:15.460
So there's no risk in taking the initiative to get yourself and your family more prepared today,
00:05:20.020
but I don't think you're going to want to prepare, return it because I don't think you're going to
00:05:23.420
get the food and then say to yourself, you know what? I don't actually want to be prepared for an
00:05:26.820
emergency. I'll send it back. Um, if you love your family anyway, you wouldn't do that.
00:05:32.160
That's wisefoodstorage.com promo code Walsh to get any wise emergency or outdoor food product at an
00:05:37.940
extra 25% off and free shipping. All right. The company Wayfair has been the target of protests
00:05:45.100
and outrage by the left because it's selling furniture to migrant detention centers. Uh,
00:05:50.020
in fact, a bunch of employees of the company, over 500 of them are planning to walk out today
00:05:55.780
in, in protest of it. But, but, uh, wait a second. I thought we were upset
00:06:01.500
that the kids at these centers don't have beds to sleep in. And that is upsetting. I agree because
00:06:07.820
they should have beds, right? So, um, now the centers are getting beds
00:06:12.900
and that's a problem too. You're protesting that they don't have beds and then they get beds and
00:06:19.800
you're protesting also. Um, it, it just, it doesn't make any sense. Over 500 employees signed a letter
00:06:26.860
to the company. The letter says in part, this particular order for over $200,000 worth of bedroom
00:06:32.580
furniture is destined for Carrizo Springs, Texas to a facility that will be outfitted to detain up to
00:06:38.320
3000 migrant children seeking asylum in the United States. So it sounds like this, this detention
00:06:45.980
facility is trying to be prepared. It's, it's, it is outfitting itself. Um, knowing, you know,
00:06:52.240
the people running the facility know that there's going to be an influx of children. So they're trying
00:06:55.980
to prepare and make sure that they've got places for the kids to sleep and stay. That's good.
00:07:00.960
That's what we want, right? Um, it continues. The practice of detaining children and adults
00:07:08.000
on our Southern border has been condemned since its inception, but the, but since the acceleration
00:07:12.460
of the practice in 2018 and the increase in death and injury that has come with that acceleration,
00:07:16.600
we have seen more vocal condemnation of the practice. We, the undersigned are writing to you
00:07:21.120
from a place of concern and anger about the atrocities being committed at our Southern border.
00:07:26.000
They said condemned since its inception. No, it has not been, it has not been condemned since
00:07:30.480
its inception because the left was not condemning it during the Obama administration. And it was
00:07:35.180
happening then also. Now the way they get around it is they try to say, Oh yeah, it was happening
00:07:39.880
during Obama's administration. We didn't talk about it then we didn't care. Um, in fact, not only did
00:07:45.560
we not talk about it, but it wasn't just that the left wasn't talking about the crisis on the border
00:07:51.540
back in the Obama administration is that they were actively denying that there was a crisis.
00:07:59.080
So now they're condemning it. The way they get around it is they say, well, uh, you know, it's,
00:08:04.100
it's, it's, it's, uh, the problem's gotten worse since then. Okay. The problem's gotten worse. You
00:08:08.180
claim. Um, but so you're more concerned now than you were before that, that would justify being more
00:08:15.320
concerned, except that you weren't concerned at all before you went from zero to a hundred.
00:08:19.360
There was no 25 or 50 in between like there should have been, which really makes it seem like this
00:08:25.760
is political partisanship. And the only reason you're pretending to care now is that Trump is
00:08:30.320
president. Um, and they also say that, uh, that, uh, why do they phrase it? The practice of detaining
00:08:37.300
children is condemned. Well, uh, the mere fact that we are detaining people is obviously not a
00:08:47.080
problem and you didn't think it was four years ago and you were right. The, the, the, the simple
00:08:53.060
act of detaining people is, is there, there are scenarios where you need to do that. Um, it's a
00:09:00.640
problem when the conditions at these facilities aren't up to par and sometimes they're not, but
00:09:05.480
that, but that's where getting furniture, getting food and all that. Um, that means that we're
00:09:09.940
improving conditions and that's what we're supposed to want. The hypocrisy on this issue, the partisanship,
00:09:17.320
the lack of real concern, um, is infuriating because there is a real crisis down there, as
00:09:29.580
I said, and that crisis comes with a significant human cost. In fact, there's a photo, um, that
00:09:36.880
has been all over social media for the past day that really shows that cost. I think it shows two
00:09:44.720
immigrants from El Salvador, El Salvador, uh, excuse me, um, uh, father and daughter apparently.
00:09:54.000
And, uh, they're washed up on the shores of the Rio Grande. Both have died, um, lying face down in
00:10:00.440
the water. The young girl, two years old has her arm around her father's neck. It's just a, it's a,
00:10:06.320
it's a devastating gut-wrenching photo that, uh, you can't, I mean, if you're a human being, you
00:10:13.840
can't help, but be moved when you see it. Um, especially as a father myself. Well, even if I
00:10:20.760
wasn't a father, obviously I know I would still know that it's tragic for people to die, especially
00:10:25.080
children. But as a father, I, I see this kind of stuff and inevitably I'm going to think of my own
00:10:31.460
kids and imagine my own kids in that situation. It's unspeakable. I'm not going to show you the
00:10:36.420
photo here because it's extremely upsetting and not everyone wants to see something like that.
00:10:39.960
But if you do want to see it, you can easily find it online. Um, now this photo is being used
00:10:46.760
and we could stop right there. The problem is that the photo is being used. Uh, it shouldn't be used
00:10:55.020
for anything. It's not a political tool. This is real life. This is real death. This is something
00:11:01.000
real that's happening. It's not, it's not a ammunition to be used in an argument or it shouldn't
00:11:07.700
be, but that's how people are treating it. So it's being used to, of course, make the case against
00:11:12.580
Trump's immigration politics, uh, or policies, even though, again, the problem didn't start with
00:11:18.120
Trump. But aside from that, Trump is not responsible for this poor child's death. He didn't,
00:11:23.500
he didn't do that. Um, there are many authorities, many, uh, uh, entities that you could point the
00:11:32.980
finger at. Trump is not one of them. So how do we prevent more of these tragedies? We need to do
00:11:41.960
everything we can to discourage illegal border crossings. Crossing the border illegally is incredibly
00:11:49.900
dangerous, especially for children. Children. You have to deal with the elements, dehydration,
00:11:54.780
starvation, gangs, bandits, wild animals. I mean, everything you can imagine. You're trying to cross
00:12:01.640
a desert, um, to sneak across the borders of a country. It's a very hazardous undertaking.
00:12:10.840
And the best way to protect human life is to discourage people from undertaking it in the first
00:12:15.840
place. There are a lot of ways to do that. For one thing, people, uh, I think the first thing that
00:12:21.420
needs to happen and that this is not something that we can primarily do, but people should be working
00:12:27.800
within the central American countries to improve conditions and punish crime, thus encouraging people
00:12:34.720
to stay. Uh, I mean, rather than having everyone abandoned ship and leave their countries, which I
00:12:44.960
understand the instinct to do that. And as, again, as a father, um, you know, if I had kids and I happen
00:12:51.780
to have the bad luck of being born in one of those countries and living in one of those countries,
00:12:55.760
uh, I'd want to leave too. I think I would, yes, on one hand, if everyone leaves that it makes it
00:13:02.700
difficult to clean up the problems within the countries. Um, but so that's a problem. But if I
00:13:12.860
was a father, I think I would say, you know what, I'm more concerned about taking care of my own
00:13:16.920
children than I am about enacting change generally in the country. My first responsibility is to my
00:13:24.920
kids. Uh, so that's the case. And I understand that, but the fact remains that it's a self
00:13:32.700
perpetuating problem because these, these countries are in terrible shape. Everybody wants
00:13:37.860
to leave, but everyone's leaving. So there's no one there, there's no one sticking around to fix
00:13:43.060
the problems. And so then it just perpetuates itself. Now, when, when Trump famously said back
00:13:48.820
in, uh, back when he launched his campaign, that they're not sending their best, um, which is true
00:13:54.360
in, in some cases, in some cases we are getting criminals and drug dealers and so on. Not, not all of
00:13:59.840
them, of course, but there is some of that and it's a problem. But when he said that leftists
00:14:05.100
were very outraged and they insisted that, uh, no, they are sending their best. They're sending good
00:14:09.980
law-abiding, uh, hardworking people. And I agree that a certain significant portion of these people
00:14:17.840
fall into that category, but you see the problem here. Those people are coming here. If they are good,
00:14:25.540
law-abiding, hardworking, then those are exactly the kinds of people that these countries need
00:14:33.160
in order to clean themselves up. Especially when you've got, now we talk about the kids and the
00:14:40.380
families coming over and because that's what, uh, affects us emotionally the most. But the fact
00:14:48.240
remains, when you look at these caravans of people and everything, many of them are, are single,
00:14:53.480
um, young men. And those people especially are the kinds of people. They're physically healthy,
00:15:03.080
strong, capable, don't have any dependents, young men, people like that. Those especially are the
00:15:09.120
people who need to stay or, or whose countries need them to stay, to stay there and help, um, rebuild it.
00:15:21.280
So, uh, but how do we get people to stay? It's a self-perpetuating problem. People are leaving,
00:15:31.940
makes the problem worse. How do we get people to stay? Well, we'll talk about that, but, but before
00:15:37.960
we get into that, um, I want to thank our sponsors over at Dynatrap. Dynatrap is the leading manufacturer
00:15:44.880
of, uh, of outdoor mosquitoes and insect traps. And now they've come up with a solution for indoor
00:15:51.220
pests because, you know, when, when in the, in the summertime, this is one of the most annoying
00:15:56.600
things you have to deal with. Summer's great. I'm not actually a big fan of summer, but, um,
00:16:01.200
some people like the summertime for some reason. If you like it to be hot and you're sweating all the
00:16:05.280
time. And, uh, and, and if you, if you enjoy that, and also if you like insects inside your home,
00:16:10.060
because that's another thing that comes with summer, it's a very annoying problem. Uh, and
0.95
00:16:13.860
when you have those insects flying around, especially flies, you know, flies, when they,
00:16:17.980
when they land on your food, they vomit on your food. Did you know that? I'm pretty sure that's
00:16:21.660
true. I saw it on Wikipedia. I think either way, you don't want them on your food. So what do you do
00:16:26.740
about that? Well, that's where the Dynatrap fly light comes into play. Forget those disgusting fly
0.82
00:16:33.100
strips, the little sticky things where the flies land. Uh, forget about that. The Dynatrap fly light
00:16:38.840
looks like a subtle nightlight that plugs into any indoor outlet. I've been using the Dynatrap fly
00:16:43.940
light for a couple of days now, a couple of weeks now, really. And it's just insane. The number of
00:16:48.800
insects that these things catch. Um, and, uh, and they really do clean up the problem. Um, get yours
00:16:56.320
at Dynatrap.com. That's D Y N A T R A P.com. Enter the promo code Walsh and receive 15% off any of their
0.83
00:17:04.060
products. Uh, Dynatrap is the safe, silent, simple solution to household insect control.
00:17:11.960
All right. So we're talking about what can be done, uh, to minimize the human cost, uh, the human
00:17:24.340
tragedy crisis on the border. And one of those ways, I think the main way is to get people to,
00:17:31.820
to, to discourage illegal immigration in the first place. And the way that you do that is we shut
00:17:37.000
down the border. Um, we, we enforce our immigration laws. We deport people. Yes. Uh, we stop offering
00:17:46.720
entitlements to illegals. We, in fact, we make it clear that if you come here illegally, you're not
0.99
00:17:51.220
going to get entitlements. We make it clear that if you come here illegally, it's not going to work.
0.99
00:17:56.000
You won't be able to sneak in. Um, yes, we build a wall. We build a physical barrier that's going to
00:18:03.020
make it even more difficult. It's just yet another roadblock in the way we do all of that. That's how
00:18:08.940
we preserve human life. We want people to think that this, this is to try to come here illegally is a
00:18:16.900
dangerous, potentially fatal, um, decision. If we care about human life. And if we're compassionate,
00:18:25.880
if we care about these people, then we want to discourage them from doing that.
00:18:31.360
And this is how we discourage them. Um, but if we insist on keeping the borders open,
0.61
00:18:42.380
on, on just welcoming anyone, not enforcing our immigration laws, saying anyone can come in,
00:18:49.040
then all you're doing is you're encouraging more people like that father, uh, to try to bring their,
00:18:59.060
their children on, on such a dangerous journey and more people are going to die.
00:19:02.440
All right. Um, let's, uh, let's talk about this as we have established repeatedly. The left is
00:19:13.940
now beyond parody at this point. Impossible to be, you can't satirize them anymore. It's just
00:19:18.920
impossible to do. Uh, and here's exhibit 45,000, um, in, uh, to, to demonstrate that BBC radio four's,
00:19:27.660
uh, Saturday review show did a segment on toy story four, which just came out last week and
00:19:34.340
which I'm, which I'm looking forward to taking my kids to. Um, but apparently maybe I shouldn't
00:19:40.000
take my kids because it is a racist, sexist movie that also discriminates against disabled people.
00:19:47.260
Apparently that's according to Stella Duffy, who's a film critic, I guess she came on the show to share
00:19:52.260
her thoughts on the film. Um, a film that in case you didn't know is animated. It's an animated
00:19:57.520
children's movie about talking toys. In case you were unaware of what toy story is, that's what it
00:20:03.280
is. And, um, this is what she had to say about it. Listen to this. Hello, my name is Stella Duffy
00:20:09.260
and I didn't like toy story four. Um, I'm the Grinch who hated it. Seriously. It's 2019. What on earth
00:20:17.960
are Disney doing? Having a film that for a start has no leads that are black characters. Yes,
0.95
00:20:25.780
there are black actors here, but we do not. They're yellow and they're green and they're
00:20:29.600
plush. How can they possibly think it's all right now? I mean, yeah, maybe 1995, which was
00:20:37.400
also wrong then as well, actually. But now to be seriously, every single humanoid toy is
00:20:44.280
white. It's just shocking. Then let's talk about the white feminism on display here. Oh, look,
1.00
00:20:50.560
Bo Peep's a feminist. No, she's not. She's still going to fall in love. She's still going to
1.00
00:20:54.460
get all happy. Not spoiling. Still going to get all happily ever after. That's not feminism.
1.00
00:21:00.280
That's a woman kicks off her skirt to reveal bloomers, has a couple of thoughts, does some
0.98
00:21:05.580
high wire acts and it's disablest. Okay. So it's covering every base. Okay. So there you
00:21:13.460
go. It's, it's racist, sexist, disablest, disablest. I thought ableist was the term. So ableist
0.81
00:21:22.600
is when you discriminate against disabled people. So then disablest, I guess, is when
00:21:27.460
you discriminate against non-disabled people. Um, I, well, anyway, she's upset that, uh,
00:21:33.440
there are also no black leads. Okay. But all the leads are toys, which means they're all
00:21:39.600
Chinese, either Chinese or they have no race at all because they're toys. I mean, one of
1.00
00:21:45.460
the lead characters is a toy slink is a, is like a slinky dog. Um, another is a green
00:21:51.000
dinosaur. Another is a, is a pink piggy bank. Um, another is a Mr. Potato head. What, what
00:21:56.960
ethnicity is a Mr. Potato head Irish? I mean, what, that doesn't make any sense. Um, should
1.00
00:22:03.700
the film, what do you want? Do you want the film? So even though we've got all these toys
00:22:07.160
who have no race, no ethnicity, you're saying there should be a black lead in the film. So do
00:22:12.720
you want, uh, should the film feature like a miniature real life black person? Should this
0.97
00:22:17.560
suddenly become honey, I shrunk the kids and, uh, and a black person, the size of a, of a doll
1.00
00:22:23.700
walks on and, and, you know, interacts with the toys, uh, just so we can check off that demographic
0.73
00:22:28.920
box. It's obviously absurd. And this is, this is really mental illness. Um, this, that person you
00:22:36.740
just heard is mentally ill clearly. And I mean that sincerely. I mean, I'm concerned about her.
0.99
00:22:42.720
And she, she has a problem because little Bo Peep falls in love. The characters fall
00:22:49.820
in love. Imagine how bitter and sad and, and lonely you have to be to get ticked off that
00:23:00.180
the characters in an animated children's movie fall in love. But this is, you know what?
00:23:09.620
I, I like to write satire articles. Sometimes I'll write satirical pieces for the daily wire.
00:23:18.620
And, um, if someone had suggested to me two weeks ago that I write a satirical article complaining
00:23:27.500
that toy story is racist because there are no black leads, I would have said, uh, no,
00:23:32.800
I'm not going to do that because that's, that's obviously too absurd. Like that's, that's too far
00:23:37.400
out there for a satire to work. You want it to be, it has to be, it has to be a little
00:23:42.600
absurd. Like whatever you're satirizing, you're taking that line of thinking that, um, uh, you
00:23:49.740
know, philosophy, and you're just taking it to an sort of absurd extreme to demonstrate
00:23:54.160
the inherent absurdity of that, uh, that line of thinking. But I would have thought, well,
00:23:59.580
that's too extreme. You know, that's, I mean, they wouldn't read it. Come on. Like that's a
00:24:03.340
straw man. They wouldn't really, but no, they, they really are complaining that toy story is racist
00:24:07.280
because there are no black, there are no black toys. By the way, toy story four, um, you might
0.94
00:24:13.640
try to justify this by saying, well, maybe she means that there are no black voice actors, but that
00:24:18.980
isn't true. Um, uh, key and peel are, are, uh, are in, they are voice actors in this movie. They voice
00:24:26.700
two plush, plush dolls. But the problem is that the dolls are not black. The dolls are like blue and
00:24:33.060
pink or something. Just absolutely ridiculous. All right. Um, so one other thing to mention before,
0.90
00:24:43.420
but we get to emails, San Francisco, a city that resembles a large outhouse at this point has
00:24:49.200
decided to really focus on the important issues. It has banned the use and sale of e-cigarettes and
00:24:55.820
vape pens. Now I'm pretty sure that you can essentially legally shoot up heroin in San
00:25:02.820
Francisco. I don't know. I mean, I don't know if that's actually a law in the books. I'm not
00:25:06.280
recommending it. I'm just saying that people do that anyway, and it's no, they don't seem to be
00:25:12.680
arrested for it. Uh, they also, you know, defecate on the sidewalks. So you could do all of that
00:25:18.160
without much fear of legal repercussion, but no, you can't, uh, you can't smoke a e-cigarette or vape.
00:25:25.060
Um, the mayor, this is the reason the mayor gave for the ban. The mayor said, there's so much we
00:25:31.720
don't know about the health impacts of these products, but we do know that e-cigarette companies
00:25:35.700
are targeting our kids and they're advertising and getting them hooked on addictive nicotine
00:25:39.040
products. Okay. So did you catch that? We don't know the health impacts and that's why we're going
00:25:45.560
to ban it. Hey, we don't know much about this better ban it just in case. Yeah. You know, there,
00:25:51.040
there could be a problem with it. We have, we don't know. Uh, so let's, uh, I will just ban it.
00:25:58.440
Ban it and ask questions later. That's, that's the philosophy now of, of the nanny staters.
0.99
00:26:03.680
Listen, um, I don't smoke e-cigarettes. I don't vape. I, I, I, I do tend to think that, uh,
00:26:11.920
vaping, it's not for me. I think vaping looks kind of ridiculous. Um, if you're going to smoke,
0.90
00:26:18.480
I think, you know, smoke like a man, smoke a cigar, that's not a real recommendation kids.
00:26:22.940
I'm going to don't smoke at all. I'm just saying that if you, I mean, if you had to choose,
00:26:26.460
if someone put a gun to your head and said, smoke one of these, I would say, go for the cigar.
00:26:30.640
Um, so, you know, this is not, it's not like I'm trying to defend something that I do because I
00:26:36.120
don't, I don't use these cigarettes, but it's just, when are we going to get it through our heads
00:26:41.480
here? That this kind of nanny state, um, approach does not work. You're only, when you do this,
00:26:53.900
um, you're only making whatever you're banning, you're just making it seem cooler.
00:27:00.500
And maybe at a certain point, we have to just accept the fact that we're not going to ever stop
00:27:06.520
all the teenagers from smoking something. It just, it's the reality. It seems like,
00:27:11.260
I mean, just looking at the human history, uh, at least modern human history, the teenagers,
00:27:16.940
some of them are always, there's going to be something that they're smoking. So yeah,
00:27:20.160
we got them, we got them. So it used to be back in the seventies and eighties that all the
00:27:25.060
teenagers smoke cigarettes. And then we, we embarked on this 20 year campaign to stop people from
00:27:31.320
smoking cigarettes. Um, and that kind of worked. And so then they just graduated to EC
00:27:36.500
cigarettes and vape pens. Like there's always going to be something. And I think at a certain
00:27:40.500
point we have to just realize that and accept it. It doesn't mean we, it doesn't mean we stop
00:27:45.160
discouraging it. It just means we stopped trying to stop it by force of law with regulations and fines
00:27:51.740
and penalties and all that. Because really at the end of the day, that's regulations and fines and
00:28:00.440
penalties and laws. That's not actually what, what, uh, stopped kids from smoking cigarettes.
00:28:08.100
I think the main thing, uh, you know, well, the, the, the main thing was just, was just
00:28:13.760
discouraging it just by pointing out like, yeah, you can do it, but it causes cancer. It's going to
00:28:20.980
make your teeth yellow, so on and so forth. Just hammering on that. Then people chose not to.
00:28:25.580
Um, and also I think when, uh, when it, it, it, it did have an effect when you stopped seeing so
00:28:34.760
much smoking on TV and the celebrities weren't doing it quite as much that it didn't seem as cool
00:28:39.300
to the kids. And so they didn't do it. But what I'm trying to point out here is that the, there's
00:28:43.320
the cool factor is big with kids. And that's the reason why they, why they were all smoking in the
00:28:49.820
eighties because it was just a cool thing to do. The problem is, and trying to make something less
00:28:55.320
cool is difficult. That's a, that's a, when you are an uncool adult and, uh, which we all are uncool
00:29:03.360
as adults, and you notice something that kids are doing that is destructive yet they think is cool.
00:29:10.580
And you're saying to yourself, I want to make that thing uncool. It's really difficult to do because
00:29:14.980
you're uncool. So whatever you say about it, the more you complain about it, you're just making
00:29:19.660
the thing cooler. You see, that's the way the equation works. So it's a difficult trick to
00:29:24.360
pull, pull. I think that it was basically pulled off with cigarettes. It took a long time.
00:29:30.140
But one thing I know for sure is that you're not going to make something less cool by making it
00:29:36.640
illegal. That I'm a hundred percent certain. All right. We're going to talk about, we're going to
00:29:41.580
get to some emails here in a minute. Um, but before we do a quick word about shaving,
00:29:48.640
did you know that the average guy spends 3000 hours of his lifetime shaving, which is an
00:29:55.380
interesting statistic. I don't know where they get it from. I've always thought to myself that
00:29:59.840
this is one thing that I hope that when we die and we're, you know, kind of in that big waiting
00:30:05.180
room in the sky, waiting to go in and talk to the big man and find out which direction we're headed.
00:30:09.600
Right. Um, and we're all just kind of soon as I imagine it being like a big dentist, like
00:30:13.880
waiting room. There's a couple of old magazines. So maybe out of date magazines from 1730 or
00:30:19.380
something. Um, but I, what I hope is that while we're there, maybe they give us a fun little packet
00:30:24.040
that has a bunch of just interesting statistics about our life. Like this is how many hours you
00:30:30.080
spend shaving. Uh, this is how many days you spent sleeping, that kind of thing. This is how many
00:30:35.800
gallons of orange juice you drank in your life. Just random things. So I always hope that,
00:30:39.520
um, anyway, 3000 hours of, uh, of the life shaving don't, don't waste four months of your
00:30:46.240
life overpaying for poor, for poor performing razors. Uh, that's where Harry's comes in. Get
00:30:51.920
Harry's a razor. That's so sharp. You can shave less often and you'll save money. It's just $2 per
00:30:56.660
blade. I use Harry's myself, uh, because I do shave contrary to popular belief. I got to shave the
00:31:01.880
neck and you know, around here. So I don't look like Chewbacca. And the thing I love about Harry's
00:31:06.720
is that number one, the price, um, razors are ridiculously expensive. Usually these are not
00:31:11.680
number two, it's a very smooth and close shave. I don't even have to use shaving cream when I do it.
00:31:16.500
Um, you could join the 10 million people who have tried Harry's claim your special offer by going to
00:31:21.900
harrys.com slash Matt Walsh. You know, Harry's founders were two regular guys tired of getting
00:31:27.600
ripped off, paying for overpriced gimmicks, vibrating heads, flex balls, um, handles that look like
00:31:34.000
something from a sci-fi movie or whatever. Harry's makes quality durable blades at a fair price.
00:31:39.360
That's just $2 a bit a blade. You can get a trial set that comes with everything you need for a close
00:31:44.100
comfortable shave. Um, weighted ergonomic ergonomic handle for an easy grip, a five blade razor with
00:31:50.980
laser razor with a lubricating strip, uh, a trimmer blade for a closeup shave. Listeners of my show can
00:31:58.720
redeem their trial set at harrys.com slash Matt Walsh. And if you prefer to shop and store, you
00:32:05.160
can go to a Walmart and target and get Harry's there as well. All right. Let's, uh, answer some
00:32:11.720
emails, mattwalshshow at gmail.com, mattwalshshow at gmail.com. This is from, uh, Denise says, hi, Matt.
00:32:20.180
Thank you for the witty sarcasm you add to my life every day. I am wondering if you believe in spanking
00:32:25.460
young children as a form of discipline, do you spank your own children? Well, Denise, that's a tough
1.00
00:32:31.980
question because I'm of two minds when it comes to this. Well, I can tell you what we do. That's not
00:32:37.720
tough. We don't spank. Um, am I against spanking on principle? I suppose I'm not. Uh, the Bible does
00:32:46.880
say spare the rod, spoil the child. And people use that as a justification for spanking, or even people
1.00
00:32:53.840
will use that to make the case that we are morally obliged to spank. But the problem though, is that
00:33:02.440
if you're claiming to take that verse totally literally, then that means that you must hit
0.97
00:33:09.520
your kid with a rod. Uh, do you use an actual rod? Do you take out like a metal rod to spank your kid?
0.99
00:33:18.160
Because if you don't, and probably you don't, hopefully you don't, then you are literally
00:33:24.380
sparing the rod. I mean, in a literal sense, you are defying that particular passage because you are
00:33:30.260
not using a rod to hit your kid. Um, so I, my point is that I think even those of us who spank,
00:33:37.240
I think we all kind of take that passage in a more general way to mean don't, don't spoil your kid.
00:33:44.320
Don't coddle your kid too much. Instill discipline. You know, that's, that's the way that I take it.
00:33:49.140
Um, I don't take it as we are somehow committing a sin if we don't spank our kids. Um,
0.70
00:33:55.680
I'll just tell you my, my thing with it. I could never quite bring myself
00:34:00.920
to see violence as a parenting technique. And I know that calling it violence is,
00:34:09.840
is going to upset people who spank their kids. Uh, it seems extreme. Maybe it is an extreme way
1.00
00:34:15.720
of putting it. I mean, it is, but it is, you're physically hitting someone, right? Um, so that
00:34:22.880
are there, I don't know. I mean, it is violence, technically speaking now spanking, if it's really
00:34:30.420
spanking and not beating, um, spanking is, and this is where maybe you say, well, it's not really
00:34:35.140
violence because it's not about inflicting physical pain. Uh, now there may be a little bit of
00:34:39.280
physical pain, but that's not the point. The point isn't look, if you're just grabbing your kid
00:34:43.540
because you're ticked off and you're just looking to let out your aggression. And so you start spanking
1.00
00:34:49.520
him. Well, then that's physical abuse. You're abusing your kid. You're a physical abuser in that
0.93
00:34:53.980
case. Um, in fact, I would go so far as to say, just if you spank your kid angry, you are physically
0.71
00:35:01.660
abusing. That is you're hitting your kid because you're, you're pissed off. That's what that is.
00:35:06.840
And that is definitely wrong. But what about a scenario where you're not angry? You're calmed
00:35:14.740
down. Um, you're not doing this because you're trying to make your kid hurt, but it's just,
00:35:20.860
it is a form of discipline and you approach it yourself in a disciplined way, in a sort of
00:35:25.420
business-like way. Like, look, this is the penalty. So I'm going to spank you. Um, I'll give you a hug
0.53
00:35:31.180
afterwards because I love you, but this is the penalty. Um, I think if we talk about the non-abusive
00:35:38.100
spanking, that's what it has to be. Unfortunately though, just from talking to people, it seems like
00:35:44.660
a lot of parents, that's not really what spanking is for them. They may say that it is, but really
0.74
00:35:51.000
it's, they're ticked off. And that again is abusive. Um, so, you know, but, but let's,
00:35:59.260
let's talk about the spanking where it's, you're, you're approaching it from a disciplined
00:36:03.040
point, uh, perspective and, and it's, it's not just anger. Well, no, I don't think that the parents
00:36:10.940
that spank that way are abusing their kids. Um, but I still just choose not to do it.
1.00
00:36:16.880
And I think because I could never, for me, it always seemed like if I spank and I get the kids
00:36:24.600
to behave based on that, then, then basically the, the implied threat is do what I want or I'll hit
00:36:31.700
you. And again, I know that's not what parents are literally saying to their kids. At least I hope
00:36:36.720
they're not. Um, that's not the intention, but I personally couldn't get past seeing it that way.
00:36:42.140
And one thing that I've learned as a parent is if something just doesn't feel right to you,
00:36:48.120
if it, if it doesn't, if it doesn't feel right for your family, um, for your situation,
00:36:54.240
then listen to your gut, follow your instincts. I think if you follow your gut,
00:36:59.800
um, if you follow your instincts, you'll be right about 98% of the time as a parent,
00:37:06.480
it seems to me. So I'm, um, uh, I'm not sitting in judgment of parents who do use corporal punishment.
00:37:16.480
My parents did not that much, but they used it. I'm not traumatized by it. I don't feel like I was
00:37:20.860
abused. I, you know, I survived. I'm fine. Um, but still, it just didn't seem right to me. So it,
00:37:26.900
it, I don't do it. Uh, I have my reasons for not doing it, which I've tried to sort of in a babbling
00:37:32.380
way explain. Um, but I think I do believe that there is a, an appropriate way of going about it.
00:37:40.360
And parents who do that have my blessing, not that they need it.
00:37:46.540
All right. From Rebecca says, hi, Matt, do you believe in ghosts? Just curious if it's a belief
00:37:52.180
that clashes with our Christian faith. Yeah, I think it does clash with our Christian faith. Now,
0.77
00:37:56.380
if by ghosts, you mean demonic spirits, then yeah, I believe in that. That doesn't clash.
00:37:59.980
But if you mean the souls of dead people who are just sort of wandering around on earth randomly,
00:38:05.260
um, then I think it does present a contradiction or at least a problem theologically because
00:38:10.220
you're, you die and, uh, you stand before God and, and then it's decided which direction you're
00:38:19.800
going to head. Um, it's hard for me to see how God would allow some souls to just walk around on
00:38:25.480
earth, scaring people. Like what's the point of God, does God really do that? Because there could
00:38:30.740
be, there can't be any ghosts who are here by accident. That has to be through God's will. So
00:38:36.040
does God really send a soul back to earth, back to some old creepy house to walk around and scare
00:38:44.000
children. Um, you know, if I was God, then maybe I would do that just for fun, but I'm not God. And
00:38:54.640
I think that God is not nearly as petty as I am. Thankfully. Uh, this is from Johnny says,
00:39:04.440
hello, Mr. Lord Walsh. Well, you don't have to call me that. Lord Walsh is fine. This is a very upfront,
00:39:10.280
but difficult for me question. It's something that I've been struggling with for a while.
00:39:13.820
And I think it's something that might've ruined my past relationship of three years.
00:39:17.680
What is love? Is there an objective definition? Can scripture back it up? Well, if you want an
00:39:24.820
answer to that question, I think share, listen to that share song. What is love? She really provides
00:39:28.840
the answer. If I had to elaborate on that answer, I would say, uh, I would second secondarily, I would
00:39:34.720
quote after share Thomas Aquinas, who said that love, uh, to love is to will the good of the other.
00:39:41.760
And I think that's the best definition that anyone has ever come up with. And I think that if you read
00:39:46.180
scripture, uh, you're going to find that that's the, that's the definition offered, not a direct,
00:39:52.000
not directly, but all throughout scripture, you know, and that's one as, as I, as I, as I sometimes say
00:39:57.740
about quoting from the Bible or using the Bible. Um, we can't always look for one sentence, which
00:40:05.940
just sort of parrots, whatever point we're trying to make. I think that, um, I think we have to,
00:40:13.060
we have to look at the totality of scripture. We have to look at the whole sort of story that's
00:40:17.060
being told and we have to take a more comprehensive view of it. And so with a question like, what is
00:40:22.500
love? I think you're going to find that this answer, love is to will the good of the other.
00:40:27.620
That is all throughout the Bible. That's the answer that you get. That's how love is portrayed.
00:40:35.000
Um, and what that means is, I mean, it's pretty straightforward. It means that if you love someone,
00:40:41.180
then you want what is best for them. And you not only want it, but as Aquinas says to will it,
00:40:49.580
meaning you're going to do what you can to help bring about what is best for them.
00:40:55.020
Now, in order for your, for you to have a properly ordered and healthy and, um, good love,
00:41:04.940
then you have to have a correct understanding of what is best for someone. I think there are people
00:41:10.720
who have an incorrect understanding of what is best. So they love people, but in, but they have a
00:41:16.440
incomplete, a sort of misdirected love, uh, because they don't understand what's actually best for the
00:41:23.040
human person. The ultimate goal of the human person is to go to heaven. So ultimately, if you
00:41:28.040
love someone, that means you want them to go to heaven, uh, and you're going to do whatever you can
00:41:32.920
in your own way to help them in that quest. That's what it means to love someone. Now we can get into
00:41:39.760
the Greek and start breaking down the different, are we talking about agape love? Are we talking about
00:41:45.200
arrows? So, you know, what, what kinds of love are we talking about? There's the charitable love.
00:41:50.400
There's the erotic romantic love, uh, brotherly love. You know, the Greeks had different words for
00:41:55.660
love, which is good because we only have the one and they can get confusing sometimes, but the common
00:42:01.400
thread that ties together all of those forms of love is that you are willing the good of the other.
00:42:07.820
As a follow-up to that, I think the sad reality is that
00:42:17.640
there are a lot of people out there who don't love anyone because I think there are a lot of people
00:42:25.760
who really don't will the good of anyone but themselves. They really don't, at the end of the day,
00:42:32.280
I think there are a lot of people who really don't care that much. Um, if anyone else,
00:42:37.400
you know, uh, is, is, ends up going to heaven or, or gets, or, or, you know, gets, gets the good
00:42:47.180
things in life. I think there are a lot of people who just don't care about that. They're focused on
00:42:50.640
themselves. And so they might will the good for you insofar as it will help them. So in a, you know,
00:42:59.880
if you're, if you're a selfish person in a marriage, you may sometimes act in a way that
00:43:06.080
looks loving. It has the appearance of love, but really what you're doing is you're just trying to
00:43:12.500
make the other person happy because it's easier for you if they're happy. So you're trying to sort
00:43:16.440
of satiate them because it's going to be easier for you, or you're doing them a favor. You're doing
00:43:20.680
a good thing for them because you want them to do you a favor or because you just want credit for it
00:43:26.200
or because you want to emotionally blackmail them later. And you can say, you remember when I did
00:43:30.420
that thing for you and now you're doing this to me? How dare you? Um, so there's a lot of that
00:43:34.500
that goes on marriages. I think there are a lot of marriages where really there is no love
00:43:37.380
because neither spouse is really willing the good of the other for the sake of the other.
00:43:43.620
Maybe that's the addendum we should add to that to will the good of the other for the sake of the
00:43:48.080
other, not for your own. Um, so that is, uh, I think love. Thank you for the question though. And
00:43:55.320
thanks for watching everybody. Thanks for listening. Godspeed.
00:44:11.260
Today on the Ben Shapiro show, we prepare for the first democratic debate and the media get
00:44:15.640
hypocritical about illegal immigration and crisis today on the Ben Shapiro show.