00:00:00.000Okay, I'm back. It's good to be back. As you know, I now have one more kid than I had the last time we spoke. We've experienced child inflation, which I guess makes it sound like our kids are getting fat. What I mean is that we had a baby.
00:00:15.860So another one, that's the fourth one. And I want to thank everyone, first of all, who sent nice emails and messages over the last few days. And there were a lot of people sending things, well wishes and prayers and congratulations and everything. And it does mean a lot to me and I really appreciate it. My wife appreciates it too. So I thank you for that.
00:00:37.640But to those who've been asking, yeah, the delivery went very well. At least from my perspective, it went well. I was more in a spectator role, so I didn't have quite as much to do.
00:00:49.420So as far as I'm concerned, it was actually pretty easy, to be honest. And the baby's healthy. My wife is healthy at the end of it. That's the main thing.
00:00:58.560I will say, you know, we went in on Wednesday for an induction because the doctor said they needed to induce for a few medical and health reasons. They were going to induce the birth.
00:01:11.000But that process took about 12 hours. It was a 12-hour thing. It was actually so long that I left halfway through. I was sent by my wife, I should say. She sent me to go buy a board game. I went to a bookstore. Actually, I left the hospital. So this was technically during labor.
00:01:31.240I left the hospital during labor to go buy a board game that we could play while this whole process was happening. And I got Stratego, by the way, a great game.
00:01:42.820I'll tell you, there was just one little sort of hiccup, I guess, one dicey moment that I'll tell you about. And that happened actually on the way to the hospital.
00:01:54.880Because we were driving there, and my wife was talking about the difficulties of labor, you know, how hard it is and everything.
00:02:05.660And so I was trying to be sympathetic, and I'm trying to listen and be sympathetic, but also respond, right? It's a two-way conversation.
00:02:13.940So I observed very helpfully, I think, that the reason why labor is hard for women is that human females are unique among the large mammals in that they have very small, relatively small birth canals, and the baby's heads are relatively large.
00:02:33.740And that's sort of a unique thing. That's the point I was trying to make. It's really just sort of a biological observation.
00:02:41.880But the only thing that my wife latched on to is, she paused for a minute and she said, wait, so you're telling me I'm a large mammal. Is that what you're saying?
00:02:53.260And I said, no. Well, yes, I'm saying that, but that's not, it's, I mean, you're not the largest, not like a hippo or something.
00:02:59.680I didn't mean, but not like that. I'm saying that it's just, it's, I'm saying technically humans are large mammals, okay? That's all I'm trying to say.
00:03:06.380Um, anyway, she took me out of context. It was a total fake news moment. And so we went, uh, everything else turned out okay.
00:03:13.620And, um, and the baby's here now and we're just enjoying, you know, the opportunity to not sleep.
00:03:21.820Um, uh, because the baby's on a fun schedule where she's, uh, she sleeps the entire day and then she wakes up at about 1115 and then stays awake the entire night.
00:03:33.380And so that's been, um, that's been a lot of, that's been a lot of fun.
00:03:37.780And that's the thing about infants is that I've had four of them now.
00:03:42.800And I can say from experience, infants are really easy to deal with from about a 7am to 11pm.
00:03:51.100They're extremely easy in that timeframe because they just lie around. They don't do anything. They just lie there.
00:03:57.800Um, they aren't going to literally climb the walls like my six-year-old son and they're not going to scream because they can't find their Paw Patrol pajama pants like my three-year-old son.
00:04:08.200And they're not going to talk back like my six-year-old daughter. They're not going to do any of that. They just, they just lie there thinking about whatever babies think about.
00:04:14.400Um, but then at night, that's when they sort of clock in. So at nighttime, there's a transition where my, my older kids clock out and they kind of pass the baton to the infant.
00:04:28.700And they say, okay, we've been annoying mom and dad all day. Now it's your turn. And then that's when the infant comes to life.
00:04:34.640And she says, all right, I'm ready to do this. Let's do it. And so then we don't sleep all night.
00:04:38.940Um, which is why, and this is the last thing I'll say, this is what it's really leading to.
00:04:44.400When, when people come to me and they, they ask for parenting advice, which for some God-awful reason happens a lot.
00:04:52.360Uh, this is what I always say. Here's my advice. And it's a really, it's a really important tip. You're not going to hear this a lot of places.
00:05:01.560Um, be rich. That's my advice. Just be rich as rich as possible. I mean, a multimillionaire at the least, because if you're rich,
00:05:12.900then you can hire a night nurse to take care of the kid at night and then you can sleep. And then even during the day you can hire a nanny.
00:05:20.620And so you don't really have anything to do. That's what makes parenting the easiest. You know, you might not expect that, but if you can hire someone to do everything,
00:05:28.080then you don't have to do anything. So just be rich. That's my advice. Um, I admit that I have not taken my own advice in that regard,
00:05:35.400but if you can do it, I would say definitely be rich choosing between the two options, not rich or rich, just be rich. That's my, that's my slogan in life.
00:05:45.220All right. Let's, um, let's, let's get into the, the news. Uh, I want to talk first about corporate cowardice because there's a lot of it these days.
00:05:54.980Um, but this thing with the NBA and China is just, it's such a perfect encapsulation of corporate cowardice in so many ways.
00:06:05.140Now let's back up for a moment. If you haven't been paying attention to this story, uh, over the weekend,
00:06:09.480the general manager of the Houston Rockets, Daryl Morey tweeted out, um, well, he tweeted out support for the, uh,
00:06:18.420the pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. It was just a little graphic. And the graphic said,
00:06:22.800fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong. That's it. That's all he said. Pretty simple message.
00:06:28.400And most people in this country agree with it because we're all fans of freedom, at least in
00:06:33.920theory, in practice, many of us are not quite so much, but in theory, we all think that freedom is a
00:06:39.500great thing. Um, well, China is of course a communist country and they're run by a regime that is not a fan
00:06:48.960of freedom in theory or practice. They're just really not into the whole freedom thing.
00:06:53.880And, um, the other thing about China is that they love the NBA and they especially love the Houston
00:06:59.840Rockets because Yao Ming, a great Houston rocket, uh, is Chinese. He retired a while ago, of course,
00:07:07.060but his time on the Rockets made that team one of the favorites in China. So they still love,
00:07:11.860they still love the NBA and they love the Rockets. As it happens, Ming is now the president of the
00:07:17.500Chinese basketball association. And he came out with the Chinese government, um, to express their
00:07:25.320hurt feelings over this little tweet that just said support. What it was a fight for freedom.
00:07:32.360China got their feelings hurt, uh, because you don't, the F word just is not, you can't say that
00:07:39.020in China. They didn't like it at all. And, um, neither did the NBA because they make a lot of money from
00:07:46.040China. So the NBA immediately issued a statement, hoping to patch things up by prostrating themselves
00:07:53.300in front of this, the communist regime of China and licking their boots. And here's what, what,
00:07:58.760what, uh, what the NBA said, just a, a, um, a remarkable display of cowardice. The NBA said,
00:08:09.420we recognize that the views expressed by Houston Rockets general manager, Daryl Morey,
00:08:13.860have deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China, which is regrettable. While Daryl has
00:08:19.080made it clear that his tweet does not represent the Rockets or the NBA, the values of the league
00:08:23.380support individuals, educating themselves and sharing their views on matters important to them.
00:08:28.120We have a great respect for the history and culture of China and hope that sports and the NBA can be
00:08:33.520used as a unifying force to bridge cultural divides and bring people together. And then Morey
00:08:40.040himself, don't make the mistake of thinking that he, uh, stuck to his guns and held the line. He
00:08:45.580didn't do that at all. He dropped his guns and he fled from the line at the speed of light,
00:08:50.040essentially. And he issued his own statement. This is what he said. He said, um, I did not intend my
00:08:55.400tweet to cause any offense to rocket fans and friends of mine in China. I was merely voicing one
00:09:00.200thought based on one interpretation of one complicated event. I have had a lot of opportunities
00:09:05.040since that tweet to hear and consider other perspectives. I've always appreciated the
00:09:09.600significant support our Chinese fans and sponsors have provided. And I would hope that those who are
00:09:13.960upset will know that, uh, offending or misunderstanding them was not my intention.
00:09:18.640My tweets are my own and in no way represent the Rockets or the NBA.
00:09:24.800Remember what his initial, what the initial thing was. He just said, fight for freedom.
00:09:30.860That's all it was. So now he has apparently heard other perspectives about freedom. He's heard from
00:09:39.960the anti-freedom crowd. And, uh, and I guess they made some really good points about how freedom
00:09:45.240actually isn't that good. And so now he's reconsidering and he's saying, listen, I thought
00:09:50.200freedom was good. I thought I was in favor of it, but I've, I've listened to, you know,
00:09:55.820it's a totalitarian Chinese communist and they, they, they raised some good points. And so now I
00:10:01.900just, uh, look, I, you know, there, there are two sides to this thing. Um, and he's not the only one
00:10:07.260who's listening to both sides of the freedom versus tyranny discussion. Steve Kerr, coach of the
00:10:13.080Golden State Warriors and someone who is usually very outspoken about political issues and usually
00:10:20.060cannot wait to, to jump in and insert himself into all kinds of issues that have nothing to do with
00:10:25.240basketball. Um, well, now you have a political issue that does have something to do with basketball.
00:10:31.220It is directly associated with the NBA. And so you would think that Steve Kerr, uh, would,
00:10:36.980would be eager to, he would just be chomping at the bit to, um, to champing at the bit actually is
00:10:44.420the, it's not chomping at the bit is the incorrect phrase there. Anyway, um, he would just be eager to,
00:10:49.880to get in there and, and say something, but that actually isn't how it worked out. Here's what he
00:10:55.180uh, he, uh, he was asked if he has a comment on the China situation and here's what he said.
00:11:00.660Um, actually I don't, I mean, it's a, it's a really, it's a really bizarre international story.
00:11:11.840And, um, a lot of us are, you know, don't know what to make of it. So, um, it's something I'm reading
00:11:20.560about and just like everybody is, but I'm not going to comment further. Oh, he's, he's reading
00:11:26.640about it. You see, he's reading about whether China's suppression and persecution of pro-democracy
00:11:32.880protesters is good or not. So he's doing some reading. Um, he's considering the angles you see,
00:11:40.600and he doesn't want to comment. It would be, it'd be irresponsible for him to comment. Now, just for
00:11:44.920comparison sake, just for, just for fun and for comparison, let's reminisce about how Steve Kerr
00:11:54.040responded after the election of Donald Trump. Now with, with, with something like that, a U S election,
00:12:00.300uh, first of all, it has nothing directly to do with the NBA. Um, second, there are certainly
00:12:06.160multiple sides. It's a complicated issue. You could do a lot of reading about it, but on that,
00:12:11.960um, Kerr was, was very eager to share his opinions. And here's what he said about that.
00:12:18.040For me, the, uh, probably the biggest disappointment with this whole election was the level of
00:12:23.080discourse. You know, um, there should be some level of decorum and respect and dignity that goes with,
00:12:31.460you know, the election of the presidency. And it was like, went out the window and, um,
00:12:39.160maybe we should have seen it coming over the last 10 years. You know, you look at society,
00:12:42.920you look at what's popular, you know, people are getting paid millions of dollars to go on TV and
00:12:47.640scream at each other, whether it's in sports or politics or entertainment. And, and I guess it was
00:12:52.760only a matter of time before it spilled into politics, but you know, then all of a sudden you're
00:12:56.520faced with the reality that, uh, that the man who's going to lead you is, as routinely used racist and
00:13:03.400misogynist, um, insulting words. Um, that's a, that's a tough one. That's a tough one. Um,
00:13:11.480and I, you know, I, I wish him well, I hope he's a good president. I have no idea what kind of
00:13:17.800president he'll be because he hasn't said any, anything about what he's going to do. We don't
00:13:22.880know. Um, but, um, it's, it's tough when you, when you, when you want there to be some respect
00:13:32.300and dignity and, and there hasn't been any. And this goes on for several minutes, by the way,
00:13:37.200he goes on and on. And there have been many other rants from Kerr about Trump. He is again,
00:13:42.280very willing to pontificate about that, but not on China. Meanwhile, other Rockets players like,
00:13:49.100uh, um, uh, James Harden have joined in the bootlicking fest. Now Harden was, let me play
00:13:56.620this clip. Um, he, I think they were in Tokyo, uh, for exhibition game or something. And, and, um,
00:14:04.820this is what he had to say about China. Yeah. We apologize. Um, you know,
00:14:10.720you know, we love China. We love, you know, playing there. Uh, I know for both of us
00:14:16.640individually, we go there, you know, once or twice a year, uh, they show us the most important
00:14:21.220love. So, you know, we appreciate them as a fan base and, uh, we love everything, you know,
00:14:25.560they're about it. And, uh, and, you know, we appreciate the support that they give us
00:14:29.020individually and as an organization. So, uh, you know, we love you.
00:14:33.400Of course, all of this groveling amounts to nothing as usual, because there are still boycotts
00:14:39.500now in China and China's state controlled media is dropping NBA games. Um, so as I always say with
00:14:46.440these situations that number one, you should never apologize for the truth in the first place,
00:14:53.420no matter the consequences, if what you said is true and right, supporting freedom is true and right.
00:14:59.520You shouldn't apologize, but even on a, on a more pragmatic level, it won't matter if you do,
00:15:06.160it never does because whether you're apologizing to communists or you're apologizing to the American
00:15:13.000left, and that's basically a distinction without a difference. Um, they're not going to forgive you
00:15:18.440anyway. So there's no point. You might as well just say, Hey, the, I said it, I'd say it again.
00:15:23.840You might as well take that approach because it won't matter. You can grovel and apologize and,
00:15:29.380and, and, and kiss their feet. Um, and he will make no difference. And that's, what's happening
00:15:34.540here. Um, by the way, I read about that, the backlash in China, how they're still boycotting
00:15:41.820and dropping games or anything. I read about it in a Yahoo article. Um, actually I think it's an AP
00:15:46.820article that Yahoo is running, but with a, with a very bizarre headline, here's the headline of this
00:15:52.300article. It says NBA chief, NBA chief silver stands firm as China backlash mounts. And here's the lead
00:16:01.500the national basketball association won't gag its personnel or apologize over a team executives tweet
00:16:07.020that ignited a firestorm in China. Commissioner Adam silver insisted Tuesday standing firm despite
00:16:12.540a growing backlash that imperils the league's lucrative Chinese following. Now, wait a second.
00:16:17.000You know, the NBA did apologize. I just read it to you. That was, it might not have said the words
00:16:23.420we apologize, but that was definitely an apology. And they are clearly gagging their personnel.
00:16:32.160There's a reason why it's not a coincidence that the NBA players are either saying nothing,
00:16:38.540refusing to comment or coming out and apologizing. So the AP or Yahoo is, is running, running cover for
00:16:46.040the NBA, which itself is running cover for a communist regime. So duplicity and cowardice just
00:16:53.060abound in this case. I call this a perfect, perfect encapsulation of corporate cowardice precisely
00:16:58.520because of this comparison between the NBA's approach to Trump and its approach to China.
00:17:06.500Because if you're an NBA coach or a player, um, there is no downside to attacking Donald Trump.
00:17:13.820All your friends are going to agree with you. Uh, many of the fans will agree. Everyone on the team's
00:17:20.080going to agree. Um, so it's the media will certainly agree and they're going to celebrate
00:17:25.440whatever you say. So you risk nothing by criticizing him. In fact, you may actually risk something by not
00:17:32.560criticizing him to, to, to, to fail to join the chorus criticizing Trump. Um, if you're in the NBA,
00:17:40.560if you're in a position like that, that could actually be where the risk comes in yet with China.
00:17:46.620Okay. Now there's something on the line because China has a lot of money and a lot of power and
00:17:52.500a lot of influence, obviously standing up against them, really standing up against them, not the fake
00:17:59.400stance that, that, uh, that, you know, Yahoo is pretending that the NBA is taking, but really standing
00:18:06.160up would be risky. And that's why all of these outspoken, these supposedly outspoken players and
00:18:13.060coaches and, and, and personnel, they've all run for the Hills because they want nothing to do with
00:18:17.560this. Um, I think the word courage is way overused in our society. And there are so many people
00:18:27.760who get credit for saying courage, supposedly courageous things. When, if you, if you look at
00:18:35.100what they had to say, whether what they said was true or not, there's no courage in it because they
00:18:40.740didn't risk anything in saying it. It's only courageous. Taking a stance is only courageous.
00:18:47.340It can only be courageous if you are really risking something. But if you are, if what you're going to
00:18:54.000say it, it, it will be appealing to all of the people who you need to appeal to, there's no courage
00:19:02.100there. So this is just utterly shameful, disgraceful, um, uh, cowardice. And, you know, the,
00:19:14.980all of the, um, the kneeling and everything that, that happened in the NFL. And there was a little bit of,
00:19:23.440of it in the NBA, certainly NBA players supported have, have been outspoken in their support for
00:19:29.840the kneeling that happened at, uh, in the NFL. Well, again, if, if these, if these players really
00:19:38.180want to have courage and if they really care about standing up against oppression, which is supposedly
00:19:43.660what that whole Anthem stunt was about, well, you know, now they're, they'll all link arms and, uh,
00:19:50.720and make some kind of demonstration against China because that is going to take guts.
00:19:55.560If they really cared about it, if all that Anthem stuff was, was, was anything more than just a
00:20:04.340publicity stunt, then these players are going to come out and, um, and make a meaningful stance
00:20:11.140against China. But of course we know it all was a publicity stunt. So they're going to remain
00:20:14.420silent and, uh, and take their marching orders and just go along with it. All right. Um, a couple
00:20:21.100other things. This was, this was kind of funny. I wanted to mention it briefly. A guy named, uh,
00:20:24.820David W. Brown, I have no idea who he is, but he has a blue check mark on Twitter. So he must be
00:20:31.220important. And he wrote an article, uh, lamenting the fact that women are failing, apparently the army
00:20:38.860combat fitness test. And here's his, uh, sort of, uh, summary on the link, uh, that he posted on
00:20:44.740Twitter said, um, leaked, leaked slides reveal the catastrophic failure of the army combat fitness
00:20:51.640test. If 84% of women are failing your physical fitness test, 72% in a single preposterous event,
00:20:57.800you're not trying to make a stronger army. You're trying to force women out. So 84% of women
00:21:05.920are failing this test. And it says in the article that 70% of men are passing. So that's 30% are
00:21:13.340failing. That's almost three times as many women failing as men. Now, what does that tell you?
00:21:20.240Well, it tells you that women are built differently, that women are not as strong as men. It further
00:21:26.360tells you that most women are not physically suited for combat. That's, that's literally what it tells
00:21:34.920you, right? It's the combat fitness test. So if most women are failing it, it would seem to mean
00:21:40.880that most women are not fit for combat, which, which is not a big surprise. But how is this all
00:21:48.240manipulated and twisted? David Brown says, no, you see, it's not women failing the test. It's the test
00:21:56.180failing women. That's what he says. If women fail it, well, then there must be something wrong with
00:22:01.820the test. Now, if, if 84% of women were passing the test, then we would say, oh, this is the best,
00:22:08.780greatest test. It's a wonderful test. This test proves that men and women are equal. In fact,
00:22:13.140women are better than men. So if women, if, if, if the tests were getting the results that the left
00:22:20.000wants, then we will be told that this is the greatest and most accurate physical fitness test of
00:22:24.760all time, but it's not. And so, no, there's something wrong with the test. Forget about it.
00:22:28.640And that, you know, I guess I can't really quibble with the logic because that's the exact same
00:22:34.600argument I tried to make in high school all the time. You know, where I would say, uh, yes, teacher,
00:22:39.760this, uh, this test, this math test seems to be broken or something because I got, I got, I, you know,
00:22:45.080I got every question wrong. I got a 0%. So there's something wrong with it. Oh, what's that? I'm,
00:22:49.720I'm just stupid. You're saying, okay, well maybe that's it. Could be that, or could be either way.
00:22:53.580Uh, so this is just how desperate people are to avoid basic biological realities,
00:23:01.040which is that men and women are different. Men are stronger and that's it. Um, and of course,
00:23:08.540uh, ironically, what ends up happening is in this effort to protect women or to get women involved or
00:23:17.120whatever they're trying to do. You end up undermining, um, the women who are really exceptional
00:23:24.220because yeah, 84% of women are failing this test, but that means that 16%, I could still do the math
00:23:30.640on this one. I think 16%, right? 84 plus 16. That means 16% of women are passing it, which means that
00:23:37.260those women are really exceptional. So if you change the test and you make it easier, then all you've done
00:23:43.080is you have, uh, undermined the achievement of these really exceptional women. Um, let's see a
00:23:52.860couple other things. Oh, here. Uh, so I, I saw this headline from CNN. I just, I don't really have
00:23:57.140anything to say about it. I just wanted to point it out. Um, the, the, the headline is dog owners are
00:24:02.74024% less likely to die for any reason, but the life prolonging benefits are even higher for anyone
00:24:09.300with cardiovascular disease. I just, I, I couldn't, I saw that online today and I, I couldn't pass it
00:24:16.660over. Um, less dog owners are 24% less likely to die for any reason. So no, I haven't looked at the
00:24:26.780study and I hate to be the guy who contradicts scientific findings without actually researching
00:24:32.540them. I admit, I admit, I haven't done my research on this. I do though have to doubt whether dog
00:24:40.860ownership actually imbues immortality into the dog owner, because that's what that headline would seem
00:24:47.080to, if you're less likely to die for any reason, then, so that would be your immortal, I guess.
00:24:55.960And anyway, if, but here's the thing, even if that's true, that as long as you own a dog,
00:25:04.400you'll be immortal. Again, I, I, I have some issues. I suspect there's some problems with the,
00:25:11.720with the methodology of the study, but even if that's true, I, I would say that, well, maybe
00:25:16.780mortality isn't so bad then because I'd rather be dead than live with a dog for all eternity.
00:25:22.760So it's kind of a catch 22. It's like, yeah, you can live forever, but you got to have this
00:25:27.720hairy beast around you at all times for all eternity. I, in that case, I would say, you know
00:25:32.900what? Death isn't so bad, actually. Death is a little bit underrated, you might say. All right. Um,
00:25:39.760speaking of CNN, they have, uh, CNN has been completely obsessed with this Joker movie.
00:25:50.400Now, as you know, leading up to the release of the film, the Joker movie came out over the weekend,
00:25:55.860uh, leading up to the release of it, the media, not just CNN, but the media in general, the mass
00:26:01.360media, they were really rooting hard for a mass shooting to happen at one of these screenings.
00:26:05.980And I know that may sound harsh to say that they were rooting for a shooting, but, um,
00:26:10.980I don't know how else to characterize it because story after story, headline after headline,
00:26:17.140I'm sure you saw them talking about the worries and fears and, and, and everything that, that,
00:26:22.140that someone might shoot up a Joker screening, uh, that it might inspire violence and so on.
00:26:26.940And why is that? Where were they getting this from? Why did they randomly decide that we should
00:26:31.840be worried that someone's going to, that this specific movie is going to inspire violence and
00:26:37.720there's going to be a mass shooting at a movie theater? Is it because of the Colorado theater
00:26:41.380shooter who dressed in Joker cost, you know, makeup and said he was the Joker? Um, well,
00:26:47.960no, it couldn't be that because the Colorado theater shooter actually didn't dress like the
00:26:53.480Joker and didn't claim to be the Joker and didn't do or say anything associated with the
00:26:59.520Joker at all. That was, maybe you didn't know that a lot of people still don't that whole thing
00:27:05.260about the Joker shooter. He said he was there. That was all that, that didn't, that didn't have
00:27:09.360the shooting happened, but he'd never said he was the Joker. That was invented by the media.
00:27:14.100That was a media narrative that they invented, I guess, because it makes the shooting more
00:27:20.100spectacular. Um, so where did this idea come from that someone might attack a Joker screening? Well,
00:27:26.980it was also invented by the media. There was no reason to worry about it. Um, but they kept suggesting
00:27:34.660it in the form of cautions and warnings over and over again saying, Oh gee, I hope someone doesn't
00:27:39.960shoot up the Joker. It would really be a shame if someone shoots up the Joker screening. And then,
00:27:44.880uh, and then, you know, so, so how else am I supposed to interpret that? It would really seem
00:27:50.700like that's what the media wanted to happen because they kept bringing it up, suggesting it.
00:27:58.400And then the movie comes out and a bunch of people go see it. It gets, uh, breaks all these
00:28:02.680records and everything. No violence. Nobody shot up the, the, any theater. And so what does the
00:28:08.160media do? They immediately pivot to other Joker related concerns. Let me give you an example of,
00:28:13.640um, let me give you an example of some of the headlines from CNN over the last few days about
00:28:19.600the Joker, um, the Joker movie. I'll read a couple. Um, one is, uh, Joker, the film about a
00:28:26.860marginalized clown who goes on a killing rampage is facing a wave of criticism that it glorifies a
00:28:32.300killer and could encourage copycat attacks. Another headline, the true appeal of the new
00:28:38.660Joker movie lies in its invidious validation of the white male resentment that helped bring
00:28:43.220president Trump to power. Of course you got to, by the way, in the invidious validations would be a
00:28:47.960great name for a indie band. But, um, aside from that, of course we got to bring Trump into this.
00:28:52.780Um, another headline, Joker is a cash grab by a major studio, which capitalizes on intellectual
00:28:58.840property with 80 years of history. Oh, a cash grab. Yeah. Because this, of course the Joker movie is
00:29:03.740the first superhero movie to be a cash grab. Right. So yeah. Um, and then this was my, this one was my
00:29:09.040favorite. This was a headline yesterday, uh, last night from CNN says rock and roll part two, a song
00:29:15.900by convicted child sex offender, Gary glitter plays for about two minutes as Joaquin Phoenix, who plays
00:29:21.620the Joker dances down a flight of stairs. Um, that in particular, all of those headlines are ridiculous.
00:29:29.760That last one, you know, rock and roll part two, nobody even knows you hear that name of the song,
00:29:33.860you know, you don't know what that, but you've heard that song a million times. If you ever, if
00:29:37.220you've ever been to any stadium, any sports stadium of any kind, you have heard that song. It plays in
00:29:42.540every stadium in America at every level. It's the, you know, it's the, most people know it as the
00:29:47.220Hey song, that song where it plays a beat and then everyone shouts, Hey, right. That's, that's the
00:29:52.560song. Um, so that's a song that nobody knows the name of it. We've all heard a million times. They
00:30:01.620played in stadiums across the country. And, uh, and apparently news to me, the guy who wrote that song
00:30:08.200is a sex offender. And so now somehow CNN is trying to make a tie-in between that and the Joker.
00:30:16.340Uh, it's just, this is, you talk about grasping at straws. It's completely desperate,
00:30:20.900but CNN is not the only one. Of course they've been, uh, there's been a lot of talk of Joker
00:30:25.760glorifying violence and encouraging violence and on and on. Well, I did see the movie. And, uh,
00:30:32.040so I want to, I wanted to give my brief thoughts on it and kind of chime in on this whole,
00:30:36.680on the hype surrounding it and everything. Um, so first of all, as for the hype and the concerns
00:30:44.580about encouraging violence and all that, well, as I suspected, it was completely unwarranted or
00:30:51.140unwarranted. Yes, it is a violent movie. It's not even close to the most violent movie to come out.
00:30:57.060Even it's certainly not the most violent movie to come out this year. Probably not the most violent
00:31:01.560movie that will come out this month. Um, it's just, there are tons of violent movies. We could,
00:31:08.800we could all name right now off the top of our heads, 50 movies that are more violent than this movie is.
00:31:14.580And here's just one, for example, John Wick. Okay. Now like 800 characters die in every John
00:31:21.960Wick movie. He just goes around shooting everybody. And yet the media doesn't freak out about violence
00:31:27.320in John Wick movies nearly to the same degree that they freaked out about Joker. Really the media is
00:31:33.760okay with any and all violence in movies and on TV, unless it's this particular Joker movie
00:31:42.040or a Mel Gibson movie. Those are the two times. So they've kind of expanded their repertoire a little
00:31:49.700bit because usually they, um, they, they'll say nothing about violence in movies because they don't
00:31:55.260care. And they just wait for Mel Gibson to come out with a movie. And then all of a sudden they care
00:31:59.800there's all this violence. And I, I'll never forget. Um, of course, passion of the Christ to be the
00:32:06.660primary example of this passion of the Christ comes out and the media, they're very concerned
00:32:12.640about the violence. It's so violent. It's so brutal. And it was around the same time that kill
00:32:18.320bill, I think it was either volume one or volume two came out. I think it was in the same year that
00:32:22.960one of those and the same media personalities that were lamenting the violence and passion of the
00:32:31.380Christ. They, they loved kill bill. It was critically acclaimed. Meanwhile, there's a scene in that movie
00:32:37.520and either volume one or two that the entire movie is, is ridiculously violent. There's a scene in,
00:32:43.780in volume one or two where, um, the protagonist, Uma Thurman, she, she like, she decapitates
00:32:51.840a hundred people in one. She, she fights off. I mean, it's a pretty impressive fight scene,
00:32:56.960but she just is with a sword. She just decapitates one person after another, just heads rolling all
00:33:01.920over the place. No problem with that. That's fine. But this movie is, uh, the violence is too much.
00:33:08.540So that's the way it goes. Does this movie actually glorify violence? I would say no, not at all.
00:33:15.580Actually. Um, I agree that some movies do glorify violence and that is a problem. A movie glorifying
00:33:25.320violence isn't going to cause real world violence. It doesn't work that way. It's not a one-to-one
00:33:30.120causal relationship where somebody goes and they see violence in a movie and they say, Oh, I think
00:33:35.500I want to commit violence also. And then they go out and do it. It's not the way it works. It's much
00:33:39.280more complicated than that, but people are influenced by the images they see on a screen. And when you go,
00:33:47.340when you watch a movie or you sit down and you watch TV, um, you are immersing yourself in this
00:33:55.480world, the fantasy world, and you're in some sense, giving yourself over to it. Um, subconsciously at
00:34:01.940least. And you're, you're certainly, uh, susceptible to being influenced. And so I would agree that it is
00:34:09.700a, it's a, it can be a problem when people marinate their minds in all of this stuff that does glorify
00:34:18.060violence. But just because there's violence in a movie, that does not mean that the movie is
00:34:24.100glorifying it. A movie that glorifies violence is a movie that makes it seem cool and fun and sexy.
00:34:31.800You know, that's, that's a movie that glorifies violence. Um, but Joker does not do that at all.
00:34:40.740Uh, the violence in this movie is it's not fun. It's not funny. It's brutal and it's random and
00:34:47.240it's disturbing and it's sad. It's the, the entire movie is very sad. In fact, that's one
00:34:52.640thing that surprised me about it. Um, I, you know, I, I went, I didn't go into it expecting it to be a
00:34:58.840barrel of laughs, but, uh, I was actually surprised by how sad the movie is from the first scene to
00:35:05.760the last. It's a very sad movie. And that's the way the violence is portrayed. That's how it comes
00:35:10.560across. You don't, it's, it's, it doesn't look, there's nothing glorifying about it. You leave the
00:35:16.820movie feeling like that was very sad to see all of that. Um, which is, which is how you should react
00:35:23.740to violence. And so violence, I think in a movie or a show, it's, it's only a problem when it
00:35:30.420elicits the wrong sort of reaction as for the quality of the film itself. Um, well, like everybody
00:35:38.900says, Phoenix's performance, walking Phoenix's Joker was mesmerizing performance, uh, which is
00:35:44.620nothing new because walking Phoenix has been one of the best and certainly the most interesting actor
00:35:49.300in Hollywood for a long time. Um, I thought it was, uh, very engrossing. It was captivating. Uh,
00:35:55.600it's a character study about a man on the fringes of society, slowly losing his grip on reality. Um,
00:36:02.800a man who, as he says in the movie, explaining to a social worker that he over time started to question
00:36:12.080whether he even exists. He started to get this feeling like he doesn't exist. And so the outbursts
00:36:16.920of violence towards the end of the movie was really about him asserting his existence on the
00:36:21.800world and saying, Hey, look at me, I exist, which is, which is, uh, is, is true to life. That is,
00:36:27.440that's, I think what is, that's why most mass killers do what they do because they're trying to
00:36:33.520assert their, they're trying to exist to be seen, to be noticed. Um, and, uh, which, which to point
00:36:40.900that out is not to excuse it by a long shot. It's just to give insight into what drives these disturbed
00:36:49.320people. It's not a movie for everyone. That's for sure. Um, as I said, there's brutal violence in the
00:36:55.320movie. Uh, it's a slow burn. It builds tension gradually. It's not an action film. Uh, it's not a
00:37:02.360superhero film really. And even though it's selling tickets like a superhero film, it's not. And that,
00:37:08.540I think that was my takeaway that I think is the best thing about the movie is that, um,
00:37:15.900basically the filmmakers tricked a mass audience to rush to the theater and watch this movie to watch
00:37:23.980essentially an art house character study about a man's descent into madness. Um, they tricked everyone
00:37:29.560to go watch this movie by attaching a superhero brand to it, which they didn't need to do. It's not
00:37:34.280essential to the plot or the story at all because the superhero tie-ins, the, the, the Batman tie-ins,
00:37:40.740yeah, there's a few of them, but it's, it's, uh, it, you could cut that out and it would do nothing
00:37:46.200to impair the story whatsoever. It was completely unnecessary except that it, you know, we are so
00:37:53.900programmed to, we want the brand name, we want the superheroes. It's, it's, those are the only movies
00:37:59.760that anybody will pay to go see anymore. And so I guess the people behind this movie, they said,
00:38:04.540all right, okay. If, if, if that's the only way we can get people to watch this movie, then we'll
00:38:08.240just, we'll call it Joker. It's not even a Joker movie. The, the, the character's name is Arthur Fleck.
00:38:14.740Uh, so they could cut out a couple scenes with, with, you know, Bruce Wayne's father, take those
00:38:21.420scenes out, call it Arthur Fleck instead of Joker. And the problem is that nobody would go see it.
00:38:27.960You put Joker on it, people go see it. Um, and that, uh, is, uh, is, is maybe the greatest trick
00:38:36.880that the Joker has pulled in a sense, you might say by tricking all these people to go watch a
00:38:41.500movie that this movie has no business being a blockbuster. And I don't see that it say that as
00:38:47.380a criticism. I think it's a, it's a good, interesting movie that makes you think, but
00:38:51.160it's just, again, you, you take Joker off, you call it Arthur or something. And it's the kind of movie
00:38:56.560that would be released in select theaters for a week. And then it would be on demand. So you could
00:39:01.080watch on Comcast or Netflix or something. It's just, it's that kind of movie. It's, it's not the
00:39:05.320kind of movie that would normally sell a hundred million, whatever it was, you know, a hundred
00:39:10.000million dollars in the first weekend or whatever it was. Um, and I, I think that maybe there's more
00:39:14.820to the branding choice than that. Even at one level, it exploits our, our obsession with brand names
00:39:22.120and superheroes, um, in exploitation that I appreciated personally, I thought it was pretty,
00:39:28.120pretty genius at another level though, a deeper level. I think maybe the movie is, is, yeah,
00:39:34.780you could argue is saying something about the kind of stylistic violence that we all enjoy,
00:39:41.540um, in things like superhero movies without ever considering what we're really watching.
00:39:46.760So this movie's Joker is, is what a supervillain would be like in real life. Nothing super,
00:39:54.560really just a villain, insane, violent, brutal, a sad, pitiful sort of character, not funny,
00:40:01.920not silly. Um, no superpowers, nothing like that. Just a disturbed and violent man. So maybe this movie
00:40:08.880is saying to the audience, Oh, you want supervillains? Okay, well, uh, well, here you go. How's this?
00:40:14.460And then some people recoil and say, well, Hey, this is, this is problematic. This is, this is,
00:40:19.340uh, inappropriate. This is violent. Yet normal superhero movies depict death and destruction on
00:40:25.220a large scale all the time. They just, they just do it. They do it without the blood and, uh, they do
00:40:29.960it with a few one-liners and quips and everything. And so nobody notices you're still being exposed to
00:40:36.320the violence. It's just, you don't notice it because you've got Robert Downey Jr. cracking a joke and
00:40:41.100they don't really have the blood. It's just the, you know, the building comes down and you imagine
00:40:45.480there's probably a thousand people inside who just died, but you don't really see it. And so
00:40:49.580this movie, I think makes you notice what is actually happening and what the implications really
00:40:56.120are. Um, I don't think the movie is saying that we shouldn't watch superhero movies. I think it just
00:41:01.380causes you to stop and think about what you're watching and why exactly some forms of violence in
00:41:08.280entertainment disturb you while others you find whimsical and fun. So it just makes you think
00:41:17.380in general. And, uh, and I think that's, um, uh, it's, it's very unusual for a blockbuster film to do
00:41:27.760that. And so I appreciate it for that reason. Um, and I would say it's worth watching for that reason.
00:41:33.820I would hesitate to, uh, say that I recommend it because I, I don't think it's a movie for everyone.
00:41:42.700And I think there's a lot of people watching this or listening to this who, um, judging by other
00:41:48.300emails I've gotten, this probably is not your taste. So, but if you know going in that it is, yes,
00:41:55.920it's a sad movie, there's brutal moments, there's blood. Um, if you know that going in, you're prepared
00:42:01.240for that, then I think that there, there are, there are things you can take from it. Uh, and
00:42:05.380it does, you know, I, I just think it's, there's not enough of that where you go, you watch a movie
00:42:10.400in the theater and on the way home, you have something to talk about. You're actually talking
00:42:15.460about the movie and the issues it brings up. And, you know, was it just, there should be more of
00:42:20.680that with movies, I think. And, um, unlike most superhero movies where you go, you watch it,
00:42:27.060you leave. And five seconds later, you forget what even happened. You couldn't even talk about
00:42:32.240it because you don't even remember. It was just, it was just colors and images and things happening.
00:42:35.960And, and who knows? Um, so I appreciated it for that reason. All right. We will, uh, we'll leave
00:42:42.680it there. Um, no emails today. We'll get back to that tomorrow. Matt wall show at gmail.com is the
00:42:47.840email address. If you want to chime in, um, with your opinion on this movie or anything else we talked
00:42:53.360about today. Uh, and I will talk to you tomorrow. Godspeed. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget
00:43:02.400to subscribe. And if you want to help spread the word, please give us a five-star review and tell
00:43:06.120your friends to subscribe as well. We're available on Apple podcasts, Spotify, wherever you listen to
00:43:10.980podcasts. Also be sure to check out the other daily wire podcasts, including the Ben Shapiro show,
00:43:15.640Michael Knowles show, and the Andrew Klavan show. Thanks for listening. The Matt wall show is
00:43:20.040produced by Robert Sterling associate producer, Alexia Garcia del Rio executive producer, Jeremy
00:43:25.200boring senior producer, Jonathan. Hey, our supervising producer is Mathis Glover. And our
00:43:30.440technical producer is Austin Stevens edited by Donovan Fowler. Audio is mixed by Mike
00:43:35.500Coromina. The Matt wall show is a daily wire production copyright daily wire 2019. If you
00:43:40.540prefer facts over feelings, if you aren't offended by the brutal truth, if you can still laugh at
00:43:45.680the nuttiness filling our national news cycle, well tune on into the Ben Shapiro show where
00:43:49.960you'll get a whole lot of that and much more. We'll see you there.