The Matt Walsh Show - Ep. 323 - Gun Confiscation By Another Name

00:00:00.920 So an author, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, by the way, wrote on Twitter yesterday that people should stop wearing red hats, not just MAGA hats.

00:00:11.200 They should stop wearing red hats in general. Any red hat at all is deeply triggering.

00:00:16.120 Now, Rebecca McKay said, she said, is anyone else made really uncomfortable these days by anyone wearing any kind of red baseball cap?

00:00:24.340 Like, I see one and my heart does weird stuff, and then I realize, and then I, she didn't say stuff, she said the S word.

00:00:33.320 And then I finally realized it only says Titleist or whatever. Maybe don't wear red caps anymore, normal people.

00:00:40.180 Also, for the love of God, the clever folks wearing Make America Read Again or whatever caps, no, you're making everyone scared. Don't do it.

00:00:48.420 If you're here to be contrary, an equivalent here would be Western Hindus choosing not to use the swastika, the swastika symbol in public, despite it being sacred to their faith, because it would offend slash frighten people. 0.54

00:01:00.780 The red hat has become a symbol of hate because of how its wearers act.

00:01:06.920 You know, I have to really agree with Rebecca on this one.

00:01:11.240 I think she makes a good point, but I would go a step further, because personally, I'm frightened at this point by anything red at all.

00:01:20.160 I don't care. I don't care what it is. Any kind of red thing whatsoever.

00:01:24.560 I was, I was, just for example, I was walking through a garden the other day, and, and I came up to a tomato plant, and I just vomited all over the tomato plant and, and wept.

00:01:37.140 And I broke down in tears. I cried there for 15 minutes because I was so, uh, triggered and, and traumatized by the sight of the red thing.

00:01:45.720 I panicked at a stop sign last week, which of course is red, and I plowed right into a whole group of people, and that's Trump's fault, not mine.

00:01:53.420 Red is very frightening for me. I'm, I'm like a bull in a, in a rodeo. It just, uh, it's, it's, it just triggers me in that way.

00:02:00.300 So stop with all the red people. I'm, I'm, uh, I'm in agreement with that. Actually, in all seriousness, the real truth is, and I don't know if I'm alone in this, but when I see the red hats, I still, I guess I'm stuck in the nineties because when I see red hats, I still think of Fred Durst. 1.00

00:02:16.980 I don't think of Donald Trump, which, which is also pretty traumatizing actually. So I guess, uh, I don't know if I'm, that used to be, if you didn't grow up in the nineties, you don't know this, but red hats used to be a, that used to, someone else used to have that brand.

00:02:30.300 And Trump co-opted it, which I think is pretty offensive. Okay. So the Democrats, um, somehow are getting more extreme in their anti-gun rhetoric. Maybe you didn't think that was possible, but, but here we are. Um, after that terrible mass shooting in Texas on Saturday, a psychotic killer, as I'm sure you heard, went nuts and, uh, started driving around, murdering random people, killed seven people, injured more than 20.

00:02:58.460 Absolutely. Absolutely horrible. And the most horrible thing about it is just how completely normal this has, this has become. You know, we talk about it every time this happens.

00:03:11.740 It's the same thing where we say, you think back 20 years ago and it, this sort of thing seemed like it was much less frequent. And when it did happen, it was a huge news cycle for months afterward. It seemed like it was like the only thing you talked about for months. You think about Columbine, for instance, but now it happens. And a couple of days later, we've all moved on because we're just so used to it.

00:03:37.700 And that's, and that's, and that's, that's a, that's a terrible thing. It, it shouldn't be normal. It's become normal, but it shouldn't be. That's how it's become.

00:03:48.380 Now, Democrats have their answer. And their answer is obviously to confiscate guns. When in many cases, as with this case, the real answer would have been, um, you know, in, in many of these cases, there are warning signs ahead of time.

00:04:09.820 And if the appropriate people who were in a position to do something had done something, then it probably wouldn't have happened. So we don't need to get into laws and policies and everything else.

00:04:23.900 We don't need additional laws. If the laws that were already in place had been enforced and the people who were in a position to do something had done something, then this might've been prevented.

00:04:36.820 Because that's the thing about laws. You can add, you can, you can add 50 additional laws. You can add a hundred. You could pass 500 new anti-gun laws.

00:04:45.540 It wouldn't matter if they're not enforced. And if we're not enforcing the ones we already have on the books, then what's the point of adding new ones?

00:04:54.500 So we don't even need to get into the ideological aspect of it. It's just, we, if we're not enforcing the ones we already have on the books, then what's the point of additional laws?

00:05:02.400 In this case, um, it's not a, it's not a matter of having enforced gun laws, but it turns out that the killer, uh, called the police. He was fired from his job on the day that this happened. He called the police himself and his, his job called the police.

00:05:21.640 And apparently I think the FBI was notified as well, but nothing was done. And, uh, and then this happens.

00:05:30.560 So we don't need to get into talking about gun laws, but of course we will. And that's, what's happened over the last few days.

00:05:37.040 Um, now you, you, you, you may recall that up until very recently Democrats pretended that they were not interested in confiscating guns.

00:05:52.640 They were very clear about that, uh, that this is not what they're looking to do.

00:05:58.420 They want common, common sense gun regulations, so on and so forth, but they're not looking to confiscate guns.

00:06:04.620 Now, for the first time they're, they're being relatively upfront about it, uh, as upfront as these people are capable of being anyway.

00:06:12.840 Here's a Beto O'Rourke talking to reporters on Saturday and listen to what he had to say.

00:06:17.840 Um, how do you address the fears that the government is going to take away those, uh, assault rifles, as you call them, if you're talking about buybacks and banning?

00:06:28.200 Yeah. So I want to be really clear that, um, that's exactly what we're going to do.

00:06:34.680 Um, Americans will, who own AR-15s, AK-47s, will have to sell them to the government.

00:06:41.660 We're not going to allow them to stay on our streets, to show up in our communities, to be used against us in our synagogues, our churches, our mosques, our Walmarts, our public places.

00:06:53.340 And then on Twitter, in reaction to the news that the shooter had used, uh, an AR-15, he said simply, buy them all back, period. Buy them all back.

00:07:01.920 Now, I call this only relatively upfront. It's more upfront than Democrats have been in the past, but it's only relatively because the term buyback is, of course, a euphemism.

00:07:13.460 Um, it's like, it would be like if, uh, if I were to, to commit an armed robbery, and when the police come, I said, hey, it wasn't armed robbery, it was a compelled donation, is all.

00:07:24.920 It's the same kind of thing. A mandatory buyback, which is what the Dems want, is the same as confiscation.

00:07:32.300 It is confiscation by another name. It's the exact same thing.

00:07:35.320 It's confiscation with maybe a financial compensation tied to it, but the problem with the financial compensation is that it does nothing to address the violation of rights,

00:07:44.320 the fundamental and, uh, you know, underlying violation of rights that, that's taking place.

00:07:48.460 You can't, you can't, um, undo that by just giving someone money.

00:07:55.560 So that's a problem, and it's compelled, and the government is just, in effect, giving you back your own money.

00:08:01.920 Let's remember that if the government has money, whatever money the government has, it has because it's taken it from you and from me.

00:08:10.140 And so now, they want to take your guns and then give you money in exchange, but they're giving your own money back to you.

00:08:18.880 So they're buying back your gun with your money.

00:08:21.880 It's basically like they're taking your gun and then taking your wallet out of your back pocket and taking a few dollars out of your own wallet and saying, here you go.

00:08:35.240 Here's that, that, that, that, that's for your, here's for your trouble here.

00:08:38.400 Here's for the gun.

00:08:39.980 It's just, uh, it's completely absurd.

00:08:42.080 Meanwhile, here's, um, here's what Joe Biden had to say about, about guns.

00:08:46.280 The idea that we don't have elimination of assault-type weapons, magazines that can hold multiple bullets in them, it's absolutely mindless.

00:08:56.800 It is no violation of the Second Amendment.

00:08:59.180 It is, uh, it's just a, a bow to the special interest of the gun manufacturers and the NRA.

00:09:05.260 It's got to stop.

00:09:06.100 Now, yes, obviously it's easy to, uh, make fun of Joe Biden talking about magazines with multiple bullets.

00:09:14.640 All magazines have multiple bullets.

00:09:17.140 That's the point of a magazine.

00:09:19.000 You might as well ban six packs that have more than one beer, right?

00:09:22.320 That's sort of the whole point of it.

00:09:24.320 Um, so once again, the opponents of guns reveal that they really know nothing about guns, which is a problem.

00:09:31.720 And it is a very telling thing that almost everyone who has a knowledge of the subject seems to be in favor of gun rights.

00:09:41.800 That's an interesting correlation there.

00:09:46.980 Um, but the, the most significant thing, aside from the ignorance on display, is just that the, the general anti-gun rhetoric, which is way more extreme and direct than it's ever been before.

00:09:58.080 And what's really troubling about that, that the only reason why Democrats are doing this right now during the primary on the campaign trail is because they sense, they know, they've looked at the numbers, they've looked at the polls, they've done the focus groups and everything else.

00:10:13.700 They have their internal polling data and they know that at least on their side of the aisle, there is a real appetite for this now.

00:10:22.240 So if this was just a few radical politicians going around saying, oh, we got to confiscate all the guns, uh, I wouldn't be worried about that.

00:10:31.400 What is worrying is that this is a trend now among democratic politicians because they are pandering to their base, which means there are millions of average Americans who are in favor of this.

00:10:47.760 Not a majority, not a majority by any stretch, but they're out there.

00:10:52.960 I think it's a, certainly a growing number of the, of the mob.

00:10:56.580 Now, this is what they want.

00:10:59.620 And that's, what's really troubling.

00:11:02.440 That's what we have to, I think, worry about.

00:11:05.520 All right.

00:11:06.020 Um, moving on.

00:11:07.420 Here's a story that I've been wanting to talk about for the last few days.

00:11:12.760 If I can pull it up here.

00:11:16.440 Okay.

00:11:16.920 This is, um, as reported by NPR, it says that the title is academic science rethinks all too white dude walls of honor.

00:11:29.900 Now that headline doesn't make a lot of sense.

00:11:32.420 So this is what it says.

00:11:33.360 A few years ago, TV celebrity, Rachel Maddow was at TV celebrity, Rachel Maddow.

00:11:38.040 So, you know, it's an interesting label for it was at Rockefeller university to hand out a prize that's given each year to a prominent female scientist.

00:11:48.280 As Maddow entered the auditorium, someone overheard her say, what's up with the dude wall? 0.57

00:11:53.340 She was referring to a wall covered with portraits of scientists from the university who have won either a Nobel prize or the Lasker award, a major medical prize.

00:12:02.480 100% of them are men.

00:12:04.740 It's probably 30 headshots of 30 men.

00:12:06.900 So it's imposing, says Leslie Voss Hall, a neurobiologist with the university and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

00:12:13.960 Voss Hall says Maddow's remark and the word dude wall crystallize something that has been bothering her for years.

00:12:21.020 As she travels around the country to give lectures and attend conferences at scientific institutions, she constantly encounters lobbies, conference rooms, passageways, and lecture halls that are decorated with portraits of white men.

00:12:34.140 Voss Hall says, it just sends the message every day when you walk by it that science consists of old white men.

00:12:41.000 I think every institution needs to go out in the hallway and ask, what kind of message are we sending with these oil portraits and dusty old photographs?

00:12:48.260 She's now on a committee that's redesigning the wall of portraits at Rockefeller University to add more diversity. 0.95

00:12:56.240 Now, I'm not going to keep reading from it, but adding more diversity means, of course, taking down some of those portraits of those dastardly old white men. 0.90

00:13:08.100 Those old white men who just so happen to accomplish marvelous things, and that's how they earn their spot on that wall. 0.96

00:13:13.960 But we're going to take them down, not because they've been superseded in accomplishment by somebody else, but just because they don't have the right skin color or the right reproductive organs. 0.99

00:13:25.040 So we're going to take down their portraits and put up portraits of women or people who don't have white skin, darker skin.

00:13:33.620 Let's ask ourselves, though, why do all of these schools have all of these portraits, or why did they, at least, have all these portraits of white male scientists and doctors?

00:13:48.140 Well, and I'm going to try to be as diplomatic as I can be when I say this, so as not to offend anyone.

00:13:58.000 But the reason is that most of the greatest scientists and medical pioneers in history have been white males. 0.52

00:14:10.800 Okay, so I just want to emphasize that.

00:14:14.860 Most, by far, in fact, I mean, this is an understatement.

00:14:19.820 By far, most of the greatest scientists in history have been white males. 0.81

00:14:24.340 Not exclusively, but primarily.

00:14:28.840 That's just a historical fact.

00:14:31.200 Okay, it just is.

00:14:33.120 You think about the greatest scientists in history.

00:14:35.660 I mean, just whatever, rattle off the names that come immediately to your head.

00:14:39.300 Newton, Einstein, Copernicus, Galileo, Tesla, Hawking, you know, Kepler, Hubble, Herschel.

00:14:47.560 You know, I'm blending time periods and disciplines here, but you get the point.

00:14:52.280 Now, most of the greatest scientific minds in history have been white men. 0.97

00:14:57.080 That's a reality.

00:14:58.800 We could talk about why that is, and that's a different discussion.

00:15:02.740 That's an interesting discussion.

00:15:05.380 But that's not the discussion I'm having here.

00:15:07.760 What I'm simply establishing is that it is.

00:15:10.700 I'm not talking about why it is.

00:15:11.920 I'm saying that it is.

00:15:13.260 As for why, what I will say is this.

00:15:16.940 You can't claim that, well, white men were the only ones who had the opportunity to invent modern science. 0.61

00:15:23.420 They're the only ones who could do it because of the patriarchal and racist societies of the past.

00:15:27.580 And so they're the only ones who had the chance.

00:15:29.940 And so they're the ones who did it.

00:15:31.860 No, let me tell you something.

00:15:33.340 Isaac Newton, okay, did not become Isaac Newton as we know him today because he benefited from the patriarchy.

00:15:41.160 Isaac Newton is Isaac Newton because he was a towering genius.

00:15:46.700 The genius level of a guy like Isaac Newton, the genius level, I never said that I was a genius.

00:15:56.760 The genius level, the force, the force of his genius is what made him a scientific revolutionary.

00:16:05.340 And that's all.

00:16:06.900 Okay, there's no additional, oh, he had help from the patriarchy.

00:16:10.480 Like, no, this was just, if you understand how incredibly brilliant this guy was, you know, he went into a room and thought about it and invented calculus, okay?

00:16:22.680 Same for Einstein and Copernicus and these other guys, just so incredibly brilliant.

00:16:30.120 And that's why they're scientific, you know, pioneers.

00:16:37.360 And that's why they get the credit for that.

00:16:40.940 But here's the point.

00:16:42.480 Now, what I also would not say, when we talk about, okay, so we have the fact that most of the greatest scientists in history have been white men.

00:16:53.620 Not all, but most.

00:16:56.900 The question of why is a different question.

00:16:59.020 I'm not getting into that.

00:17:00.380 What I will say, it's not that, well, white men are superior or smarter generally, and that's why they're the ones who did all. 0.94

00:17:06.980 No, I'm not saying that.

00:17:08.120 That's not the case. 0.95

00:17:10.480 And I think one of the, you know, one of the ridiculous things about white supremacists, those that do exist, is that it's like they're trying to take credit for things that other people did. 0.73

00:17:25.680 So I, you know, Newton was a genius. 0.88

00:17:29.260 I would love if I could take some of that credit and say, oh, yeah, you know, he was on my team as a white man, so I get some credit too.

00:17:35.560 You know, we, we, we did it.

00:17:37.160 No, it wasn't a we.

00:17:37.820 He happened to be, he happened to be a white guy, and he did, he was the genius.

00:17:41.440 He did, I didn't do it.

00:17:42.200 I don't get any credit for that.

00:17:45.200 That's, aside from the, the, the, the moral, uh, the, the moral derangement of the white supremacist viewpoint, the, the, one of the other problems with it is just that you have these people who haven't done anything but, you know, post on message boards and play video games that are trying to take credit for these things that, that, uh, people other than themselves have done.

00:18:05.280 So that's not the case, but it's just a simple fact that white men, uh, most of the great scientists have been white men.

00:18:16.380 Here's the main point, though.

00:18:18.660 I don't see this as a point of shame or embarrassment.

00:18:23.700 Okay, we are now told that we should be ashamed and we should be embarrassed that white men have done so much good in the world. 1.00

00:18:30.480 Uh, and it, it's an interesting message because on one hand we're told, oh, white men are toxic bullies and oppressors. 0.99

00:18:38.800 And on the other hand, we're essentially told they've done too much good in the world. 0.92

00:18:42.520 They've contributed too much to medicine and science, so we have to take down their portraits and pretend that they didn't do it because it's, it's not fair.

00:18:48.760 They didn't give anyone else a chance.

00:18:50.000 Um, but I don't think embarrassment or, or anything like that is the right emotion.

00:18:59.180 I, I would suggest a different emotion, maybe gratitude.

00:19:02.780 Maybe we should be grateful for what these men have accomplished.

00:19:07.140 Not because they're men or because they're white, but just because of what they accomplished.

00:19:12.060 Maybe we should be grateful for that.

00:19:13.640 Rather than whining that they didn't have, you know, different reproductive organs or darker skin. 0.98

00:19:20.060 Why don't we have gratitude for what they did and what they accomplished?

00:19:26.840 Um, and how much easier they made our lives through the invention of modern science.

00:19:34.700 I think probably that's a better reaction than one of embarrassment or shame or resentment, jealousy, envy.

00:19:48.900 Because I think it's great if you want to, if you, if you're saying, well, we need to get more women involved in science. 1.00

00:19:53.920 Fine.

00:19:54.500 Great.

00:19:55.000 Go for it.

00:19:57.180 But when we start taking down and covering up the portraits and the statues so that they don't feel bad, that's, that's, that's not the right message.

00:20:05.480 When you, if you have a young woman entering a university, she wants to be a scientist. 1.00

00:20:09.780 She should be looking up to these guys.

00:20:12.240 You got to keep their portraits up because you could say, look at what these incredible people achieved.

00:20:19.760 Maybe you could do the same.

00:20:23.420 So it's aspirational, but you lose that effect if you start taking it down and hiding it and saying, oh, don't worry about them.

00:20:30.400 Um, and it's, it's absurd anyway, because if you're, if, if you're, if you're in a school and you're trying to get into the sciences and you're learning and you're reading textbooks, these, these white men whose portraits you've covered up or taken down, they're going to be all over the textbooks.

00:20:50.320 Because like I said, these are mostly the people who invented modern science.

00:20:54.220 So you, you can't escape them even if you want to.

00:20:58.800 All right.

00:20:59.440 Um, there's one other thing I wanted to, yeah, let's see, we have time.

00:21:04.960 Yeah, I have time.

00:21:05.360 Uh, one of the things I wanted to talk about, uh, another article I wanted to read partially in mainly because it raises a question I've had for a while and maybe you guys can help me out with it.

00:21:15.560 This is, this is just a question that I have.

00:21:17.620 I don't fully understand it.

00:21:19.480 Um, it's from CBS news.

00:21:21.760 It says, it says a Catholic school in Nashville, Tennessee has banned the Harry Potter series because a reverend at the school claims the books include both good and evil magic as well as spells, which if read by a human can conjure evil spirits.

00:21:36.640 According to the Tennessean, the publication obtained an email from Reverend Dan Rehill, uh, a pastor at St. Edward's Catholic school, Paris, which was sent to parents.

00:21:45.720 In the email, Rehill explains, um, that he consulted several exorcists in the U.S. and in Rome, and it was recommended that the school remove the books, the Tennessean reports.

00:21:57.520 Reverend Rehill said of the Harry Potter series, these books represent or present magic as both good and evil, which is not true, but in fact a clever deception.

00:22:05.940 The curses and spells used in the books are actual, are actual curses and spells, which would, uh, which when read by a human being, risk conjuring evil spirits into the presence of the person reading the text.

00:22:18.140 Uh, and then it goes on how they, other parents had complained and so on, and that's, and so they took out the Harry Potter books.

00:22:24.840 Um, I, I've heard this from other, from other people that the spells, the magic spells in Harry Potter are, quote, actual magic spells.

00:22:35.940 Are they, though, I mean, actual magic spells?

00:22:43.380 Because I don't think magic spells exist in reality.

00:22:47.920 Have you ever seen anyone say a magic spell and then something magical happens?

00:22:52.020 Have you ever seen that in your life?

00:22:53.080 I never have.

00:22:55.080 Um, you know, that, that's something that exists in, in fantasy books.

00:22:59.040 It's not, it's not a real thing.

00:23:00.460 Um, so, but this problem with Harry Potter, this is a, a thing among some Christians, a not insignificant number of Christians in my experience.

00:23:12.940 Some Christians are very uncomfortable with Harry Potter, uh, and maybe that's understating it.

00:23:17.980 Um, but I have to say that I don't understand it personally.

00:23:21.560 I'm not a Harry Potter fan.

00:23:23.900 I think quality-wise, it's nothing special.

00:23:27.640 But this, and I haven't read it, and yes, I do say that even though I haven't read it.

00:23:34.520 I mean, I also haven't read Twilight or, or, uh, you know, Fifty Shades of Grey, but I feel confident that I can say those are not literary classics, even though I haven't read them.

00:23:44.400 Um, Harry Potter, I'm not going to say is at quite down at that level, but I, I don't think it's at the level of something like Lord of the Rings.

00:23:52.280 But this idea that it's somehow spiritually dangerous, that I don't get.

00:23:58.960 Yes, there are magic spells, there are evil spirits, evil forces, all that, but, but all of that exists, being a Lord of the Rings, all of that exists in Lord of the Rings too.

00:24:06.580 And I get that Tolkien, Tolkien was a, was a, was a Christian, and there are some Christian elements in the Lord of the Rings.

00:24:12.180 And Lord of the Rings is not a Christian allegory, as some people like to claim.

00:24:16.500 Tolkien himself was clear that it was not that, wasn't meant to be that, but he was a Christian, a devout Christian.

00:24:23.060 Um, uh, uh, so yeah, that's true.

00:24:27.140 But still, it's a fantasy story dealing with good and evil forces and magic spells and so on and so forth, just like Harry Potter.

00:24:34.060 So why is Harry Potter a problem, but not Lord of the Rings?

00:24:37.860 I, I, I, I don't quite understand that.

00:24:43.840 Um, I think, here's what I say.

00:24:46.920 I, I think the depiction of evil in a story, whether it's magical evil or ordinary everyday evil, really doesn't much matter.

00:24:55.920 The depiction only becomes problematic when the evil is either glorified or when we're given sort of a nihilistic view where there's really no difference between good and evil and they all blend together and in the end there is no good or evil.

00:25:11.640 I think both of those are problems, especially for kids.

00:25:14.620 So I would agree with that.

00:25:17.280 And I'm not saying there's anything inherently absurd about, you know, being concerned about a, a, a fiction story.

00:25:25.600 Uh, because I also think this idea that, well, it's all, it's just make believe it doesn't matter what happens in the story.

00:25:30.400 No, I don't think that's true at all.

00:25:31.400 It definitely matters.

00:25:32.360 And people are shaped and formed and influenced by the stories they read.

00:25:38.560 This is part of human nature.

00:25:39.940 It's been the case ever since the dawn of human civilization.

00:25:42.440 We tell stories and this is one of the things that moves and motivates and, and as I said, forms us.

00:25:49.140 So it does matter what those stories contain and what sort of stories we're dealing with.

00:25:54.720 But I think that's where it becomes a problem, where there is no difference between good and evil or where evil is actually glorified.

00:26:00.780 And there are many examples of both of those things, both in modern literature and in modern television and movies and everything else.

00:26:07.700 Um, but my understanding is that Harry Potter, and as I said, haven't read it.

00:26:13.420 I've seen a little bit of some of the movies, but that's all.

00:26:17.540 My understanding is that Harry Potter is a pretty straightforward, good character.

00:26:21.560 And the story is all about his struggle, his ultimately successful struggle, right?

00:26:26.640 Against the bad guys.

00:26:28.160 So, there's no problem as far as that's concerned.

00:26:33.780 I mean, are kids likely to read Harry Potter and come away identifying with Voldemort?

00:26:39.920 Come away rooting for Voldemort to win?

00:26:44.120 Um, you do see that with some fictional stories where the bad guys are kind of cooler and those are the ones that kids identify with.

00:26:52.300 What about, what about Darth Vader?

00:26:54.540 When I was a kid, um, I was never a big Star Wars fan, but I definitely thought, like most people, I thought Darth Vader was by far the coolest Star Wars character.

00:27:04.620 I still, I still think he is.

00:27:06.400 Um, but you never hear Christians worrying about Star Wars.

00:27:11.400 There, you've got, you've got magical forces.

00:27:13.660 You've got the force, right?

00:27:14.980 Uh, bad Jedis, good Jedis. 0.98

00:27:17.260 You've got Darth Vader, who's the cool bad guy that everyone sort of is more interested in.

00:27:23.140 Uh, yet, as I said, Christians aren't worried about that.

00:27:25.900 Um, and so I don't quite understand it.

00:27:30.300 Now, there's a trend on the other side of the coin to get rid of literary classics like Huckleberry Finn and so on because it isn't politically correct and because it has language that is, uh, that's, they say is problematic.

00:27:43.320 The stuff with Harry Potter, though I don't think that Harry Potter is a literary classic, but this stuff seems a little like the Christian version of that.

00:27:50.860 But, um, if we're going to say, and I do say, that books with the N-word, books such as Mark Twain books with the N-word in them, should be allowed to stay on the shelves in schools because kids can be expected to take that in context and understand it in its context.

00:28:10.840 If we're going to say that, then can't we expect kids to understand magical spells in their context?

00:28:16.880 Namely, the context of make-believe?

00:28:23.760 There's a, there's an interesting thing there, but I, I welcome your emails on that subject and I'm sure I will receive them.

00:28:30.140 MattWallShow at gmail.com, MattWallShow at gmail.com.

00:28:33.900 If you can, I would be interested if a Christian could explain to me why Harry Potter is a spiritual problem, but Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, for example, are not.

00:28:46.020 That, that's the specific question I would like to read and answer to.

00:28:50.980 And maybe I'll find out that there's a good answer.

00:28:52.920 I just don't know what it is.

00:28:54.480 All right.

00:28:54.840 MattWallShow at gmail.com is the email address.

00:28:57.000 Let's answer a few emails.

00:28:58.440 This is from Terry, says, Matt, I agree with you about FaceTime in public, but what about speakerphone?

00:29:04.180 Is that better or worse?

00:29:05.800 We talked about this on Twitter a few days ago.

00:29:07.360 I was saying that, um, that, and this should be obvious.

00:29:10.700 I shouldn't need to say it.

00:29:11.740 I can't believe I need to say it, but using FaceTime in public is completely outrageously inappropriate. 0.98

00:29:21.520 And it's an absolute jerk move to do that yet. 0.93

00:29:25.360 It seems to me in my experience that, um, that this is becoming more and more common where you've got, where you've got people that are sitting in a, in a coffee shop or something like that. 0.99

00:29:36.920 And, and they've got their little pal on FaceTime talking to them as if they're in the room.

00:29:42.800 Like put, talk, just pick up the phone and talk to them.

00:29:48.980 You don't need to see their face the whole time.

00:29:52.780 Now, is it, is that, is, is it like speakerphone?

00:29:55.360 No, speakerphone is actually worse because there's really no reason for that.

00:29:58.920 And I, and there are people who do that too.

00:30:00.100 They'll sit there in public talking on speakerphone.

00:30:03.220 You, in that case, you can't even see their face.

00:30:05.780 So there's really no reason at all to not just pick up the phone and talk to them.

00:30:09.600 We don't all need to hear the conversation.

00:30:13.500 Now I know the, the answer is, well, what's the difference between sitting at a coffee shop?

00:30:18.840 You've got someone on FaceTime talking to them.

00:30:21.820 What's the difference between that and having an actual person sitting, you know, in the chair?

00:30:27.840 Well, I think there is a difference.

00:30:29.260 The FaceTime is louder.

00:30:30.460 Just the tone and everything is louder.

00:30:32.200 You can hear it more if you're not involved in the conversation.

00:30:35.340 And it's also completely unnecessary.

00:30:37.320 If you really want to see that person's face, face, then go to wherever they are and talk to them.

00:30:44.540 One excuse I've heard from people is, well, I, you know, I travel a lot.

00:30:50.220 And so I have to FaceTime my kids.

00:30:52.400 Okay.

00:30:52.740 I travel a lot too, but you know what?

00:30:54.320 That's not an excuse.

00:30:55.540 You can go to your hotel room and FaceTime them.

00:30:57.620 You can go somewhere in private and FaceTime them.

00:30:59.880 If you, and if you really need to FaceTime in public, you know what?

00:31:02.980 Just talk to them on the phone.

00:31:04.760 And while you're talking to them, to your kids, just stare at a Polaroid of them or something.

00:31:08.840 Have a little Polaroid picture.

00:31:11.140 You remember those?

00:31:11.900 And just look at the picture while you're talking to them.

00:31:14.060 How about that?

00:31:16.040 It's no excuse.

00:31:18.160 This is from Danny says, hi, Matt.

00:31:21.960 As a Catholic, I take it you are not a fan of Martin Luther.

00:31:25.340 Correct, Danny.

00:31:26.640 But I am interested in your take on this quote from him that I ran across recently.

00:31:30.640 And the quote is, reason must be deluded, blinded, and destroyed.

00:31:35.480 Faith must trample underfoot all reason, sense, and understanding.

00:31:39.620 And whatever it sees must be put out of sight and know nothing but the word of God.

00:31:45.260 End quote.

00:31:46.240 What do you think?

00:31:47.180 Should faith come before reason or reason before faith?

00:31:53.460 Yes, Danny, as with so many other things, I must disagree with Martin Luther here.

00:32:00.640 And in fairness, that quote there, I'm sure there's a larger context to it, and I don't have the context here, so I'm just engaging with it as it's presented out of its context.

00:32:14.780 Taking it like that, I would disagree with it.

00:32:17.260 I think it's a big problem to sort of put faith over here and then reason and understanding over here as if they're two completely different categories of things.

00:32:34.360 And then to say that they're at odds with each other and we should choose one or the other.

00:32:41.860 I think that's a problem.

00:32:43.820 That's the stereotype of faith, the negative view of faith, the negative version that we get from atheists.

00:32:50.760 When I hear Christians confirming it, it really makes me cringe. 1.00

00:32:55.400 And I do hear this.

00:32:56.520 Putting this Martin Luther quote aside, I hear this kind of thing from Christians sometimes. 1.00

00:33:02.620 If we have to choose faith over reason, sense, and understanding, how do we...

00:33:07.760 If you're saying, well, I have faith completely apart from your reason, your sense, and your understanding, then what do you mean that you have faith?

00:33:21.620 What does that even mean in that context?

00:33:23.440 What does it mean to say, I think this proposition is true, that there is a God, that Jesus is the Son of God, that the Bible is the Word of God, etc.

00:33:35.160 What does it mean to say that you think that proposition is true if you are accepting it apart from reason and understanding?

00:33:42.820 What does that mean, I think it's true?

00:33:44.440 Well, you can't think anything without reason, and you can't understand the distinction between truth and falsehood without reason.

00:33:54.580 That's what you use your reason for, it's what makes us human.

00:33:59.260 To call something true is a judgment of reason, it seems to me.

00:34:04.920 All of these things are linked, is what I'm saying.

00:34:06.940 I don't think you can neatly separate them and put them into different compartments and different categories.

00:34:12.560 I just don't see how you can do that.

00:34:15.160 Look, if someone asks you, why do you believe in God?

00:34:20.420 Which, if you're a believer, I assume you have been asked that question many times,

00:34:24.600 and it's certainly a question that you must be prepared to answer.

00:34:30.220 So what do you say when you're asked that question?

00:34:33.340 I guess you could say, well, I just feel like it's true.

00:34:36.860 I feel it.

00:34:37.700 But that will be a very unconvincing answer.

00:34:43.860 That will leave you, by the way, totally exposed to the obvious follow-up from your, let's say, atheist questioner.

00:34:52.740 The obvious follow-up is, well, I feel like God isn't true.

00:34:57.020 And Hindus feel like their God is true. 1.00

00:34:59.720 And Muslims feel like their God is true. 1.00

00:35:01.800 And the ancient pagans felt like their gods were true.

00:35:04.300 And, you know, tribesmen in the Amazon feel like their gods are true.

00:35:10.540 If all you have are your feelings, then how do you know that your feelings are more true than anyone else's?

00:35:17.660 It does no good to say, well, I just really, really feel it.

00:35:20.300 And I assume that they must not feel it.

00:35:23.300 Or they're misunderstanding their feelings.

00:35:24.920 Or something else.

00:35:25.620 How do you know that?

00:35:27.040 You can't say that.

00:35:28.140 You have no idea.

00:35:29.000 You've only experienced the world through your own mind.

00:35:31.920 You've only had your own feelings.

00:35:33.240 You cannot make those kinds of statements about other people.

00:35:38.540 That's why it would be a problem.

00:35:41.020 And that's, if you're trying to answer that question, why do you believe in God?

00:35:44.660 If you're trying to answer it totally apart from reason, understanding, and sense,

00:35:50.700 then it seems like that could be, that's the only answer you have left.

00:35:54.720 It's just, you know, I sort of feel it.

00:35:56.720 But probably, probably that's not what you would say.

00:36:01.540 Or that's probably not what you have said when you've been asked this question.

00:36:05.800 If you're asked why you think God is true, why God is real, probably you give some answer that hinges on reason.

00:36:14.120 And certainly, it must hinge on sense and understanding.

00:36:21.400 I mean, even saying, I feel like it's true or whatever, that's a sense.

00:36:25.560 Another way of putting that is, I sense that it's true.

00:36:28.220 So, it seems to me, that's kind of what faith is.

00:36:32.560 It's a certain spiritual sense of the truth of this thing.

00:36:38.840 So, to even say faith without sense, well, now you're really.

00:36:42.860 Now, I just have no idea what faith is.

00:36:44.680 If it's not even sense, then what the hell is it?

00:36:47.460 Pardon the expression.

00:36:48.120 So, anyone who would agree with that quote, I would challenge you to come up with a definition of faith that is completely separate from any notion of sense, understanding, or reason.

00:37:03.480 I don't think you can.

00:37:04.680 I don't think you can come up with a coherent, intelligible definition of faith that has nothing to do with any of those things.

00:37:13.920 So, I think we just create a false dichotomy here.

00:37:16.620 And like I said, our, I think any time you come to the conclusion that something is true, your reason is always involved in that.

00:37:34.800 Always.

00:37:36.400 That's kind of the definition of what reason is.

00:37:39.520 Well, that's part of it anyway, is the ability to contemplate the truth or falsehood of a particular idea or proposition and come to a conclusion.

00:37:55.260 Animals can't do that.

00:37:56.340 We can because we have the ability to reason.

00:37:58.160 And so, and that is very much involved in our, you know, in faith as well, it would seem to me.

00:38:09.860 So, when you read the Bible, for example, when you read the Gospels, and you say to yourself,

00:38:18.120 it really seems to me that this is true, that's faith, but it's also reason.

00:38:27.640 What do you mean?

00:38:28.420 It seems to you.

00:38:30.400 It obviously seems to you as reasonable.

00:38:33.020 It seems to you as something that is true.

00:38:34.620 So, that's your reason talking there.

00:38:36.940 Even just the ability to understand what you're reading.

00:38:42.540 You couldn't possibly read the Bible without reason.

00:38:46.520 You literally couldn't read it.

00:38:47.960 You wouldn't know.

00:38:48.600 You wouldn't be able to put together what any of the words even mean.

00:38:52.220 To be able to read words and understand what they mean is reason.

00:39:00.300 All right.

00:39:01.640 So, we'll leave it there, I suppose.

00:39:05.160 Thanks, everybody, for watching.

00:39:06.200 Thanks for listening.

00:39:07.100 Godspeed.

00:39:07.480 If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe, and if you want to help spread

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00:39:21.680 Also, be sure to check out the other Daily Wire podcasts, including The Ben Shapiro Show,

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00:39:28.180 Thanks for listening.

00:39:28.900 The Matt Wall Show is produced by Robert Sterling, associate producer Alexia Garcia Del Rio, executive

00:39:34.560 producer Jeremy Boring, senior producer Jonathan Hay, our supervising producer is Mathis Glover,

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00:39:46.120 The Matt Wall Show is a Daily Wire production, copyright Daily Wire 2019.

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The Matt Walsh Show - September 03, 2019

Ep. 323 - Gun Confiscation By Another Name

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