The Matt Walsh Show - Ep. 344 - National Cowards Association

00:00:00.000 Okay, 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.

00:00:15.860 So 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.

00:00:37.640 But 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.

00:00:49.420 So 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.

00:00:58.560 I 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.

00:01:11.000 But 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.

00:01:31.240 I 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.

00:01:42.820 I'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.

00:01:54.880 Because we were driving there, and my wife was talking about the difficulties of labor, you know, how hard it is and everything.

00:02:05.660 And 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.

00:02:13.940 So 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.

00:02:33.740 And 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.

00:02:41.880 But 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?

00:02:53.260 And 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.

00:02:59.680 I 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.

00:03:06.380 Um, anyway, she took me out of context. It was a total fake news moment. And so we went, uh, everything else turned out okay.

00:03:13.620 And, um, and the baby's here now and we're just enjoying, you know, the opportunity to not sleep.

00:03:21.820 Um, 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.

00:03:33.380 And so that's been, um, that's been a lot of, that's been a lot of fun.

00:03:37.780 And that's the thing about infants is that I've had four of them now.

00:03:42.800 And I can say from experience, infants are really easy to deal with from about a 7am to 11pm.

00:03:51.100 They're extremely easy in that timeframe because they just lie around. They don't do anything. They just lie there.

00:03:57.800 Um, 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.

00:04:08.200 And 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.

00:04:14.400 Um, 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.

00:04:28.700 And 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.

00:04:34.640 And she says, all right, I'm ready to do this. Let's do it. And so then we don't sleep all night.

00:04:38.940 Um, which is why, and this is the last thing I'll say, this is what it's really leading to.

00:04:44.400 When, when people come to me and they, they ask for parenting advice, which for some God-awful reason happens a lot.

00:04:52.360 Uh, 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.

00:05:01.560 Um, 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,

00:05:12.900 then 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.

00:05:20.620 And 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,

00:05:28.080 then 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,

00:05:35.400 but 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.

00:05:45.220 All 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.

00:05:54.980 Um, but this thing with the NBA and China is just, it's such a perfect encapsulation of corporate cowardice in so many ways.

00:06:05.140 Now let's back up for a moment. If you haven't been paying attention to this story, uh, over the weekend,

00:06:09.480 the general manager of the Houston Rockets, Daryl Morey tweeted out, um, well, he tweeted out support for the, uh,

00:06:18.420 the pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. It was just a little graphic. And the graphic said,

00:06:22.800 fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong. That's it. That's all he said. Pretty simple message.

00:06:28.400 And most people in this country agree with it because we're all fans of freedom, at least in

00:06:33.920 theory, in practice, many of us are not quite so much, but in theory, we all think that freedom is a

00:06:39.500 great thing. Um, well, China is of course a communist country and they're run by a regime that is not a fan

00:06:48.960 of freedom in theory or practice. They're just really not into the whole freedom thing.

00:06:53.880 And, um, the other thing about China is that they love the NBA and they especially love the Houston

00:06:59.840 Rockets because Yao Ming, a great Houston rocket, uh, is Chinese. He retired a while ago, of course,

00:07:07.060 but his time on the Rockets made that team one of the favorites in China. So they still love,

00:07:11.860 they still love the NBA and they love the Rockets. As it happens, Ming is now the president of the

00:07:17.500 Chinese basketball association. And he came out with the Chinese government, um, to express their

00:07:25.320 hurt feelings over this little tweet that just said support. What it was a fight for freedom.

00:07:32.360 China got their feelings hurt, uh, because you don't, the F word just is not, you can't say that

00:07:39.020 in China. They didn't like it at all. And, um, neither did the NBA because they make a lot of money from

00:07:46.040 China. So the NBA immediately issued a statement, hoping to patch things up by prostrating themselves

00:07:53.300 in front of this, the communist regime of China and licking their boots. And here's what, what,

00:07:58.760 what, uh, what the NBA said, just a, a, um, a remarkable display of cowardice. The NBA said,

00:08:09.420 we recognize that the views expressed by Houston Rockets general manager, Daryl Morey,

00:08:13.860 have deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China, which is regrettable. While Daryl has

00:08:19.080 made it clear that his tweet does not represent the Rockets or the NBA, the values of the league

00:08:23.380 support individuals, educating themselves and sharing their views on matters important to them.

00:08:28.120 We have a great respect for the history and culture of China and hope that sports and the NBA can be

00:08:33.520 used as a unifying force to bridge cultural divides and bring people together. And then Morey

00:08:40.040 himself, don't make the mistake of thinking that he, uh, stuck to his guns and held the line. He

00:08:45.580 didn't do that at all. He dropped his guns and he fled from the line at the speed of light,

00:08:50.040 essentially. And he issued his own statement. This is what he said. He said, um, I did not intend my

00:08:55.400 tweet to cause any offense to rocket fans and friends of mine in China. I was merely voicing one

00:09:00.200 thought based on one interpretation of one complicated event. I have had a lot of opportunities

00:09:05.040 since that tweet to hear and consider other perspectives. I've always appreciated the

00:09:09.600 significant support our Chinese fans and sponsors have provided. And I would hope that those who are

00:09:13.960 upset will know that, uh, offending or misunderstanding them was not my intention.

00:09:18.640 My tweets are my own and in no way represent the Rockets or the NBA.

00:09:24.800 Remember what his initial, what the initial thing was. He just said, fight for freedom.

00:09:30.860 That's all it was. So now he has apparently heard other perspectives about freedom. He's heard from

00:09:39.960 the anti-freedom crowd. And, uh, and I guess they made some really good points about how freedom

00:09:45.240 actually isn't that good. And so now he's reconsidering and he's saying, listen, I thought

00:09:50.200 freedom was good. I thought I was in favor of it, but I've, I've listened to, you know,

00:09:55.820 it's a totalitarian Chinese communist and they, they, they raised some good points. And so now I 0.99

00:10:01.900 just, uh, look, I, you know, there, there are two sides to this thing. Um, and he's not the only one

00:10:07.260 who's listening to both sides of the freedom versus tyranny discussion. Steve Kerr, coach of the

00:10:13.080 Golden State Warriors and someone who is usually very outspoken about political issues and usually

00:10:20.060 cannot wait to, to jump in and insert himself into all kinds of issues that have nothing to do with

00:10:25.240 basketball. Um, well, now you have a political issue that does have something to do with basketball.

00:10:31.220 It is directly associated with the NBA. And so you would think that Steve Kerr, uh, would,

00:10:36.980 would be eager to, he would just be chomping at the bit to, um, to champing at the bit actually is

00:10:44.420 the, it's not chomping at the bit is the incorrect phrase there. Anyway, um, he would just be eager to,

00:10:49.880 to get in there and, and say something, but that actually isn't how it worked out. Here's what he

00:10:55.180 uh, he, uh, he was asked if he has a comment on the China situation and here's what he said.

00:11:00.660 Um, actually I don't, I mean, it's a, it's a really, it's a really bizarre international story.

00:11:11.840 And, um, a lot of us are, you know, don't know what to make of it. So, um, it's something I'm reading

00:11:20.560 about and just like everybody is, but I'm not going to comment further. Oh, he's, he's reading

00:11:26.640 about it. You see, he's reading about whether China's suppression and persecution of pro-democracy

00:11:32.880 protesters is good or not. So he's doing some reading. Um, he's considering the angles you see,

00:11:40.600 and he doesn't want to comment. It would be, it'd be irresponsible for him to comment. Now, just for

00:11:44.920 comparison sake, just for, just for fun and for comparison, let's reminisce about how Steve Kerr

00:11:54.040 responded after the election of Donald Trump. Now with, with, with something like that, a U S election,

00:12:00.300 uh, first of all, it has nothing directly to do with the NBA. Um, second, there are certainly

00:12:06.160 multiple sides. It's a complicated issue. You could do a lot of reading about it, but on that,

00:12:11.960 um, Kerr was, was very eager to share his opinions. And here's what he said about that.

00:12:18.040 For me, the, uh, probably the biggest disappointment with this whole election was the level of

00:12:23.080 discourse. You know, um, there should be some level of decorum and respect and dignity that goes with,

00:12:31.460 you know, the election of the presidency. And it was like, went out the window and, um,

00:12:39.160 maybe we should have seen it coming over the last 10 years. You know, you look at society,

00:12:42.920 you look at what's popular, you know, people are getting paid millions of dollars to go on TV and

00:12:47.640 scream at each other, whether it's in sports or politics or entertainment. And, and I guess it was

00:12:52.760 only a matter of time before it spilled into politics, but you know, then all of a sudden you're

00:12:56.520 faced with the reality that, uh, that the man who's going to lead you is, as routinely used racist and

00:13:03.400 misogynist, um, insulting words. Um, that's a, that's a tough one. That's a tough one. Um,

00:13:11.480 and I, you know, I, I wish him well, I hope he's a good president. I have no idea what kind of

00:13:17.800 president he'll be because he hasn't said any, anything about what he's going to do. We don't

00:13:22.880 know. Um, but, um, it's, it's tough when you, when you, when you want there to be some respect

00:13:32.300 and dignity and, and there hasn't been any. And this goes on for several minutes, by the way,

00:13:37.200 he goes on and on. And there have been many other rants from Kerr about Trump. He is again,

00:13:42.280 very willing to pontificate about that, but not on China. Meanwhile, other Rockets players like,

00:13:49.100 uh, um, uh, James Harden have joined in the bootlicking fest. Now Harden was, let me play

00:13:56.620 this clip. Um, he, I think they were in Tokyo, uh, for exhibition game or something. And, and, um,

00:14:04.820 this is what he had to say about China. Yeah. We apologize. Um, you know,

00:14:10.720 you know, we love China. We love, you know, playing there. Uh, I know for both of us

00:14:16.640 individually, we go there, you know, once or twice a year, uh, they show us the most important

00:14:21.220 love. So, you know, we appreciate them as a fan base and, uh, we love everything, you know,

00:14:25.560 they're about it. And, uh, and, you know, we appreciate the support that they give us

00:14:29.020 individually and as an organization. So, uh, you know, we love you.

00:14:33.400 Of course, all of this groveling amounts to nothing as usual, because there are still boycotts

00:14:39.500 now in China and China's state controlled media is dropping NBA games. Um, so as I always say with

00:14:46.440 these situations that number one, you should never apologize for the truth in the first place,

00:14:53.420 no matter the consequences, if what you said is true and right, supporting freedom is true and right.

00:14:59.520 You shouldn't apologize, but even on a, on a more pragmatic level, it won't matter if you do,

00:15:06.160 it never does because whether you're apologizing to communists or you're apologizing to the American

00:15:13.000 left, and that's basically a distinction without a difference. Um, they're not going to forgive you

00:15:18.440 anyway. So there's no point. You might as well just say, Hey, the, I said it, I'd say it again.

00:15:23.840 You might as well take that approach because it won't matter. You can grovel and apologize and,

00:15:29.380 and, and, and kiss their feet. Um, and he will make no difference. And that's, what's happening

00:15:34.540 here. Um, by the way, I read about that, the backlash in China, how they're still boycotting

00:15:41.820 and dropping games or anything. I read about it in a Yahoo article. Um, actually I think it's an AP

00:15:46.820 article that Yahoo is running, but with a, with a very bizarre headline, here's the headline of this

00:15:52.300 article. It says NBA chief, NBA chief silver stands firm as China backlash mounts. And here's the lead

00:16:01.500 the national basketball association won't gag its personnel or apologize over a team executives tweet

00:16:07.020 that ignited a firestorm in China. Commissioner Adam silver insisted Tuesday standing firm despite

00:16:12.540 a growing backlash that imperils the league's lucrative Chinese following. Now, wait a second.

00:16:17.000 You know, the NBA did apologize. I just read it to you. That was, it might not have said the words

00:16:23.420 we apologize, but that was definitely an apology. And they are clearly gagging their personnel.

00:16:32.160 There's a reason why it's not a coincidence that the NBA players are either saying nothing,

00:16:38.540 refusing to comment or coming out and apologizing. So the AP or Yahoo is, is running, running cover for

00:16:46.040 the NBA, which itself is running cover for a communist regime. So duplicity and cowardice just

00:16:53.060 abound in this case. I call this a perfect, perfect encapsulation of corporate cowardice precisely

00:16:58.520 because of this comparison between the NBA's approach to Trump and its approach to China.

00:17:06.500 Because if you're an NBA coach or a player, um, there is no downside to attacking Donald Trump.

00:17:13.820 All your friends are going to agree with you. Uh, many of the fans will agree. Everyone on the team's

00:17:20.080 going to agree. Um, so it's the media will certainly agree and they're going to celebrate

00:17:25.440 whatever you say. So you risk nothing by criticizing him. In fact, you may actually risk something by not

00:17:32.560 criticizing him to, to, to, to fail to join the chorus criticizing Trump. Um, if you're in the NBA,

00:17:40.560 if you're in a position like that, that could actually be where the risk comes in yet with China.

00:17:46.620 Okay. Now there's something on the line because China has a lot of money and a lot of power and

00:17:52.500 a lot of influence, obviously standing up against them, really standing up against them, not the fake

00:17:59.400 stance that, that, uh, that, you know, Yahoo is pretending that the NBA is taking, but really standing

00:18:06.160 up would be risky. And that's why all of these outspoken, these supposedly outspoken players and

00:18:13.060 coaches and, and, and personnel, they've all run for the Hills because they want nothing to do with

00:18:17.560 this. Um, I think the word courage is way overused in our society. And there are so many people

00:18:27.760 who get credit for saying courage, supposedly courageous things. When, if you, if you look at

00:18:35.100 what they had to say, whether what they said was true or not, there's no courage in it because they

00:18:40.740 didn't risk anything in saying it. It's only courageous. Taking a stance is only courageous.

00:18:47.340 It can only be courageous if you are really risking something. But if you are, if what you're going to

00:18:54.000 say it, it, it will be appealing to all of the people who you need to appeal to, there's no courage

00:19:02.100 there. So this is just utterly shameful, disgraceful, um, uh, cowardice. And, you know, the,

00:19:14.980 all of the, um, the kneeling and everything that, that happened in the NFL. And there was a little bit of,

00:19:23.440 of it in the NBA, certainly NBA players supported have, have been outspoken in their support for

00:19:29.840 the kneeling that happened at, uh, in the NFL. Well, again, if, if these, if these players really

00:19:38.180 want to have courage and if they really care about standing up against oppression, which is supposedly

00:19:43.660 what that whole Anthem stunt was about, well, you know, now they're, they'll all link arms and, uh,

00:19:50.720 and make some kind of demonstration against China because that is going to take guts.

00:19:55.560 If they really cared about it, if all that Anthem stuff was, was, was anything more than just a

00:20:04.340 publicity stunt, then these players are going to come out and, um, and make a meaningful stance

00:20:11.140 against China. But of course we know it all was a publicity stunt. So they're going to remain 0.99

00:20:14.420 silent and, uh, and take their marching orders and just go along with it. All right. Um, a couple

00:20:21.100 other things. This was, this was kind of funny. I wanted to mention it briefly. A guy named, uh,

00:20:24.820 David W. Brown, I have no idea who he is, but he has a blue check mark on Twitter. So he must be

00:20:31.220 important. And he wrote an article, uh, lamenting the fact that women are failing, apparently the army

00:20:38.860 combat fitness test. And here's his, uh, sort of, uh, summary on the link, uh, that he posted on

00:20:44.740 Twitter said, um, leaked, leaked slides reveal the catastrophic failure of the army combat fitness

00:20:51.640 test. If 84% of women are failing your physical fitness test, 72% in a single preposterous event, 0.87

00:20:57.800 you're not trying to make a stronger army. You're trying to force women out. So 84% of women 1.00

00:21:05.920 are failing this test. And it says in the article that 70% of men are passing. So that's 30% are

00:21:13.340 failing. That's almost three times as many women failing as men. Now, what does that tell you?

00:21:20.240 Well, it tells you that women are built differently, that women are not as strong as men. It further 0.52

00:21:26.360 tells you that most women are not physically suited for combat. That's, that's literally what it tells 1.00

00:21:34.920 you, right? It's the combat fitness test. So if most women are failing it, it would seem to mean 1.00

00:21:40.880 that most women are not fit for combat, which, which is not a big surprise. But how is this all

00:21:48.240 manipulated and twisted? David Brown says, no, you see, it's not women failing the test. It's the test 0.97

00:21:56.180 failing women. That's what he says. If women fail it, well, then there must be something wrong with 1.00

00:22:01.820 the test. Now, if, if 84% of women were passing the test, then we would say, oh, this is the best, 0.68

00:22:08.780 greatest test. It's a wonderful test. This test proves that men and women are equal. In fact,

00:22:13.140 women are better than men. So if women, if, if, if the tests were getting the results that the left 1.00

00:22:20.000 wants, then we will be told that this is the greatest and most accurate physical fitness test of

00:22:24.760 all time, but it's not. And so, no, there's something wrong with the test. Forget about it.

00:22:28.640 And that, you know, I guess I can't really quibble with the logic because that's the exact same

00:22:34.600 argument I tried to make in high school all the time. You know, where I would say, uh, yes, teacher,

00:22:39.760 this, uh, this test, this math test seems to be broken or something because I got, I got, I, you know,

00:22:45.080 I got every question wrong. I got a 0%. So there's something wrong with it. Oh, what's that? I'm,

00:22:49.720 I'm just stupid. You're saying, okay, well maybe that's it. Could be that, or could be either way. 1.00

00:22:53.580 Uh, so this is just how desperate people are to avoid basic biological realities,

00:23:01.040 which is that men and women are different. Men are stronger and that's it. Um, and of course,

00:23:08.540 uh, ironically, what ends up happening is in this effort to protect women or to get women involved or

00:23:17.120 whatever they're trying to do. You end up undermining, um, the women who are really exceptional 0.94

00:23:24.220 because yeah, 84% of women are failing this test, but that means that 16%, I could still do the math 0.97

00:23:30.640 on this one. I think 16%, right? 84 plus 16. That means 16% of women are passing it, which means that

00:23:37.260 those women are really exceptional. So if you change the test and you make it easier, then all you've done 0.51

00:23:43.080 is you have, uh, undermined the achievement of these really exceptional women. Um, let's see a

00:23:52.860 couple other things. Oh, here. Uh, so I, I saw this headline from CNN. I just, I don't really have

00:23:57.140 anything to say about it. I just wanted to point it out. Um, the, the, the headline is dog owners are

00:24:02.740 24% less likely to die for any reason, but the life prolonging benefits are even higher for anyone

00:24:09.300 with cardiovascular disease. I just, I, I couldn't, I saw that online today and I, I couldn't pass it

00:24:16.660 over. Um, less dog owners are 24% less likely to die for any reason. So no, I haven't looked at the

00:24:26.780 study and I hate to be the guy who contradicts scientific findings without actually researching

00:24:32.540 them. I admit, I admit, I haven't done my research on this. I do though have to doubt whether dog

00:24:40.860 ownership actually imbues immortality into the dog owner, because that's what that headline would seem

00:24:47.080 to, if you're less likely to die for any reason, then, so that would be your immortal, I guess.

00:24:55.960 And anyway, if, but here's the thing, even if that's true, that as long as you own a dog,

00:25:04.400 you'll be immortal. Again, I, I, I have some issues. I suspect there's some problems with the,

00:25:11.720 with the methodology of the study, but even if that's true, I, I would say that, well, maybe

00:25:16.780 mortality isn't so bad then because I'd rather be dead than live with a dog for all eternity.

00:25:22.760 So it's kind of a catch 22. It's like, yeah, you can live forever, but you got to have this

00:25:27.720 hairy beast around you at all times for all eternity. I, in that case, I would say, you know

00:25:32.900 what? Death isn't so bad, actually. Death is a little bit underrated, you might say. All right. Um,

00:25:39.760 speaking of CNN, they have, uh, CNN has been completely obsessed with this Joker movie.

00:25:50.400 Now, as you know, leading up to the release of the film, the Joker movie came out over the weekend,

00:25:55.860 uh, leading up to the release of it, the media, not just CNN, but the media in general, the mass

00:26:01.360 media, they were really rooting hard for a mass shooting to happen at one of these screenings.

00:26:05.980 And I know that may sound harsh to say that they were rooting for a shooting, but, um,

00:26:10.980 I don't know how else to characterize it because story after story, headline after headline,

00:26:17.140 I'm sure you saw them talking about the worries and fears and, and, and everything that, that,

00:26:22.140 that someone might shoot up a Joker screening, uh, that it might inspire violence and so on.

00:26:26.940 And why is that? Where were they getting this from? Why did they randomly decide that we should

00:26:31.840 be worried that someone's going to, that this specific movie is going to inspire violence and

00:26:37.720 there's going to be a mass shooting at a movie theater? Is it because of the Colorado theater

00:26:41.380 shooter who dressed in Joker cost, you know, makeup and said he was the Joker? Um, well,

00:26:47.960 no, it couldn't be that because the Colorado theater shooter actually didn't dress like the

00:26:53.480 Joker and didn't claim to be the Joker and didn't do or say anything associated with the

00:26:59.520 Joker at all. That was, maybe you didn't know that a lot of people still don't that whole thing

00:27:05.260 about the Joker shooter. He said he was there. That was all that, that didn't, that didn't have

00:27:09.360 the shooting happened, but he'd never said he was the Joker. That was invented by the media.

00:27:14.100 That was a media narrative that they invented, I guess, because it makes the shooting more

00:27:20.100 spectacular. Um, so where did this idea come from that someone might attack a Joker screening? Well,

00:27:26.980 it was also invented by the media. There was no reason to worry about it. Um, but they kept suggesting

00:27:34.660 it in the form of cautions and warnings over and over again saying, Oh gee, I hope someone doesn't

00:27:39.960 shoot up the Joker. It would really be a shame if someone shoots up the Joker screening. And then,

00:27:44.880 uh, and then, you know, so, so how else am I supposed to interpret that? It would really seem

00:27:50.700 like that's what the media wanted to happen because they kept bringing it up, suggesting it.

00:27:58.400 And then the movie comes out and a bunch of people go see it. It gets, uh, breaks all these

00:28:02.680 records and everything. No violence. Nobody shot up the, the, any theater. And so what does the

00:28:08.160 media do? They immediately pivot to other Joker related concerns. Let me give you an example of,

00:28:13.640 um, let me give you an example of some of the headlines from CNN over the last few days about

00:28:19.600 the Joker, um, the Joker movie. I'll read a couple. Um, one is, uh, Joker, the film about a

00:28:26.860 marginalized clown who goes on a killing rampage is facing a wave of criticism that it glorifies a

00:28:32.300 killer and could encourage copycat attacks. Another headline, the true appeal of the new 0.93

00:28:38.660 Joker movie lies in its invidious validation of the white male resentment that helped bring

00:28:43.220 president Trump to power. Of course you got to, by the way, in the invidious validations would be a

00:28:47.960 great name for a indie band. But, um, aside from that, of course we got to bring Trump into this.

00:28:52.780 Um, another headline, Joker is a cash grab by a major studio, which capitalizes on intellectual

00:28:58.840 property with 80 years of history. Oh, a cash grab. Yeah. Because this, of course the Joker movie is

00:29:03.740 the first superhero movie to be a cash grab. Right. So yeah. Um, and then this was my, this one was my

00:29:09.040 favorite. This was a headline yesterday, uh, last night from CNN says rock and roll part two, a song

00:29:15.900 by convicted child sex offender, Gary glitter plays for about two minutes as Joaquin Phoenix, who plays

00:29:21.620 the Joker dances down a flight of stairs. Um, that in particular, all of those headlines are ridiculous. 0.98

00:29:29.760 That last one, you know, rock and roll part two, nobody even knows you hear that name of the song,

00:29:33.860 you know, you don't know what that, but you've heard that song a million times. If you ever, if

00:29:37.220 you've ever been to any stadium, any sports stadium of any kind, you have heard that song. It plays in

00:29:42.540 every stadium in America at every level. It's the, you know, it's the, most people know it as the

00:29:47.220 Hey song, that song where it plays a beat and then everyone shouts, Hey, right. That's, that's the

00:29:52.560 song. Um, so that's a song that nobody knows the name of it. We've all heard a million times. They

00:30:01.620 played in stadiums across the country. And, uh, and apparently news to me, the guy who wrote that song

00:30:08.200 is a sex offender. And so now somehow CNN is trying to make a tie-in between that and the Joker.

00:30:16.340 Uh, it's just, this is, you talk about grasping at straws. It's completely desperate,

00:30:20.900 but CNN is not the only one. Of course they've been, uh, there's been a lot of talk of Joker

00:30:25.760 glorifying violence and encouraging violence and on and on. Well, I did see the movie. And, uh,

00:30:32.040 so I want to, I wanted to give my brief thoughts on it and kind of chime in on this whole,

00:30:36.680 on the hype surrounding it and everything. Um, so first of all, as for the hype and the concerns

00:30:44.580 about encouraging violence and all that, well, as I suspected, it was completely unwarranted or

00:30:51.140 unwarranted. Yes, it is a violent movie. It's not even close to the most violent movie to come out.

00:30:57.060 Even it's certainly not the most violent movie to come out this year. Probably not the most violent

00:31:01.560 movie that will come out this month. Um, it's just, there are tons of violent movies. We could,

00:31:08.800 we could all name right now off the top of our heads, 50 movies that are more violent than this movie is.

00:31:14.580 And here's just one, for example, John Wick. Okay. Now like 800 characters die in every John

00:31:21.960 Wick movie. He just goes around shooting everybody. And yet the media doesn't freak out about violence

00:31:27.320 in John Wick movies nearly to the same degree that they freaked out about Joker. Really the media is

00:31:33.760 okay with any and all violence in movies and on TV, unless it's this particular Joker movie

00:31:42.040 or a Mel Gibson movie. Those are the two times. So they've kind of expanded their repertoire a little

00:31:49.700 bit because usually they, um, they, they'll say nothing about violence in movies because they don't

00:31:55.260 care. And they just wait for Mel Gibson to come out with a movie. And then all of a sudden they care

00:31:59.800 there's all this violence. And I, I'll never forget. Um, of course, passion of the Christ to be the

00:32:06.660 primary example of this passion of the Christ comes out and the media, they're very concerned

00:32:12.640 about the violence. It's so violent. It's so brutal. And it was around the same time that kill

00:32:18.320 bill, I think it was either volume one or volume two came out. I think it was in the same year that

00:32:22.960 one of those and the same media personalities that were lamenting the violence and passion of the

00:32:31.380 Christ. They, they loved kill bill. It was critically acclaimed. Meanwhile, there's a scene in that movie

00:32:37.520 and either volume one or two that the entire movie is, is ridiculously violent. There's a scene in,

00:32:43.780 in volume one or two where, um, the protagonist, Uma Thurman, she, she like, she decapitates

00:32:51.840 a hundred people in one. She, she fights off. I mean, it's a pretty impressive fight scene, 1.00

00:32:56.960 but she just is with a sword. She just decapitates one person after another, just heads rolling all 1.00

00:33:01.920 over the place. No problem with that. That's fine. But this movie is, uh, the violence is too much.

00:33:08.540 So that's the way it goes. Does this movie actually glorify violence? I would say no, not at all.

00:33:15.580 Actually. Um, I agree that some movies do glorify violence and that is a problem. A movie glorifying

00:33:25.320 violence isn't going to cause real world violence. It doesn't work that way. It's not a one-to-one

00:33:30.120 causal relationship where somebody goes and they see violence in a movie and they say, Oh, I think

00:33:35.500 I want to commit violence also. And then they go out and do it. It's not the way it works. It's much

00:33:39.280 more complicated than that, but people are influenced by the images they see on a screen. And when you go,

00:33:47.340 when you watch a movie or you sit down and you watch TV, um, you are immersing yourself in this

00:33:55.480 world, the fantasy world, and you're in some sense, giving yourself over to it. Um, subconsciously at

00:34:01.940 least. And you're, you're certainly, uh, susceptible to being influenced. And so I would agree that it is

00:34:09.700 a, it's a, it can be a problem when people marinate their minds in all of this stuff that does glorify

00:34:18.060 violence. But just because there's violence in a movie, that does not mean that the movie is

00:34:24.100 glorifying it. A movie that glorifies violence is a movie that makes it seem cool and fun and sexy.

00:34:31.800 You know, that's, that's a movie that glorifies violence. Um, but Joker does not do that at all.

00:34:40.740 Uh, the violence in this movie is it's not fun. It's not funny. It's brutal and it's random and

00:34:47.240 it's disturbing and it's sad. It's the, the entire movie is very sad. In fact, that's one

00:34:52.640 thing that surprised me about it. Um, I, you know, I, I went, I didn't go into it expecting it to be a

00:34:58.840 barrel of laughs, but, uh, I was actually surprised by how sad the movie is from the first scene to

00:35:05.760 the last. It's a very sad movie. And that's the way the violence is portrayed. That's how it comes

00:35:10.560 across. You don't, it's, it's, it doesn't look, there's nothing glorifying about it. You leave the

00:35:16.820 movie feeling like that was very sad to see all of that. Um, which is, which is how you should react

00:35:23.740 to violence. And so violence, I think in a movie or a show, it's, it's only a problem when it

00:35:30.420 elicits the wrong sort of reaction as for the quality of the film itself. Um, well, like everybody

00:35:38.900 says, Phoenix's performance, walking Phoenix's Joker was mesmerizing performance, uh, which is

00:35:44.620 nothing new because walking Phoenix has been one of the best and certainly the most interesting actor

00:35:49.300 in Hollywood for a long time. Um, I thought it was, uh, very engrossing. It was captivating. Uh,

00:35:55.600 it's a character study about a man on the fringes of society, slowly losing his grip on reality. Um,

00:36:02.800 a man who, as he says in the movie, explaining to a social worker that he over time started to question

00:36:12.080 whether he even exists. He started to get this feeling like he doesn't exist. And so the outbursts

00:36:16.920 of violence towards the end of the movie was really about him asserting his existence on the

00:36:21.800 world and saying, Hey, look at me, I exist, which is, which is, uh, is, is true to life. That is,

00:36:27.440 that's, I think what is, that's why most mass killers do what they do because they're trying to

00:36:33.520 assert their, they're trying to exist to be seen, to be noticed. Um, and, uh, which, which to point

00:36:40.900 that out is not to excuse it by a long shot. It's just to give insight into what drives these disturbed

00:36:49.320 people. It's not a movie for everyone. That's for sure. Um, as I said, there's brutal violence in the

00:36:55.320 movie. Uh, it's a slow burn. It builds tension gradually. It's not an action film. Uh, it's not a

00:37:02.360 superhero film really. And even though it's selling tickets like a superhero film, it's not. And that,

00:37:08.540 I think that was my takeaway that I think is the best thing about the movie is that, um,

00:37:15.900 basically the filmmakers tricked a mass audience to rush to the theater and watch this movie to watch

00:37:23.980 essentially an art house character study about a man's descent into madness. Um, they tricked everyone

00:37:29.560 to go watch this movie by attaching a superhero brand to it, which they didn't need to do. It's not

00:37:34.280 essential to the plot or the story at all because the superhero tie-ins, the, the, the Batman tie-ins,

00:37:40.740 yeah, there's a few of them, but it's, it's, uh, it, you could cut that out and it would do nothing

00:37:46.200 to impair the story whatsoever. It was completely unnecessary except that it, you know, we are so

00:37:53.900 programmed to, we want the brand name, we want the superheroes. It's, it's, those are the only movies

00:37:59.760 that anybody will pay to go see anymore. And so I guess the people behind this movie, they said,

00:38:04.540 all right, okay. If, if, if that's the only way we can get people to watch this movie, then we'll

00:38:08.240 just, we'll call it Joker. It's not even a Joker movie. The, the, the character's name is Arthur Fleck.

00:38:14.740 Uh, so they could cut out a couple scenes with, with, you know, Bruce Wayne's father, take those

00:38:21.420 scenes out, call it Arthur Fleck instead of Joker. And the problem is that nobody would go see it.

00:38:27.960 You put Joker on it, people go see it. Um, and that, uh, is, uh, is, is maybe the greatest trick

00:38:36.880 that the Joker has pulled in a sense, you might say by tricking all these people to go watch a

00:38:41.500 movie that this movie has no business being a blockbuster. And I don't see that it say that as

00:38:47.380 a criticism. I think it's a, it's a good, interesting movie that makes you think, but

00:38:51.160 it's just, again, you, you take Joker off, you call it Arthur or something. And it's the kind of movie

00:38:56.560 that would be released in select theaters for a week. And then it would be on demand. So you could

00:39:01.080 watch on Comcast or Netflix or something. It's just, it's that kind of movie. It's, it's not the

00:39:05.320 kind of movie that would normally sell a hundred million, whatever it was, you know, a hundred

00:39:10.000 million dollars in the first weekend or whatever it was. Um, and I, I think that maybe there's more

00:39:14.820 to the branding choice than that. Even at one level, it exploits our, our obsession with brand names

00:39:22.120 and superheroes, um, in exploitation that I appreciated personally, I thought it was pretty,

00:39:28.120 pretty genius at another level though, a deeper level. I think maybe the movie is, is, yeah,

00:39:34.780 you could argue is saying something about the kind of stylistic violence that we all enjoy,

00:39:41.540 um, in things like superhero movies without ever considering what we're really watching.

00:39:46.760 So this movie's Joker is, is what a supervillain would be like in real life. Nothing super,

00:39:54.560 really just a villain, insane, violent, brutal, a sad, pitiful sort of character, not funny, 0.98

00:40:01.920 not silly. Um, no superpowers, nothing like that. Just a disturbed and violent man. So maybe this movie 0.98

00:40:08.880 is saying to the audience, Oh, you want supervillains? Okay, well, uh, well, here you go. How's this?

00:40:14.460 And then some people recoil and say, well, Hey, this is, this is problematic. This is, this is,

00:40:19.340 uh, inappropriate. This is violent. Yet normal superhero movies depict death and destruction on

00:40:25.220 a large scale all the time. They just, they just do it. They do it without the blood and, uh, they do

00:40:29.960 it with a few one-liners and quips and everything. And so nobody notices you're still being exposed to

00:40:36.320 the violence. It's just, you don't notice it because you've got Robert Downey Jr. cracking a joke and

00:40:41.100 they don't really have the blood. It's just the, you know, the building comes down and you imagine

00:40:45.480 there's probably a thousand people inside who just died, but you don't really see it. And so

00:40:49.580 this movie, I think makes you notice what is actually happening and what the implications really

00:40:56.120 are. Um, I don't think the movie is saying that we shouldn't watch superhero movies. I think it just

00:41:01.380 causes you to stop and think about what you're watching and why exactly some forms of violence in

00:41:08.280 entertainment disturb you while others you find whimsical and fun. So it just makes you think

00:41:17.380 in general. And, uh, and I think that's, um, uh, it's, it's very unusual for a blockbuster film to do

00:41:27.760 that. And so I appreciate it for that reason. Um, and I would say it's worth watching for that reason.

00:41:33.820 I would hesitate to, uh, say that I recommend it because I, I don't think it's a movie for everyone.

00:41:42.700 And I think there's a lot of people watching this or listening to this who, um, judging by other

00:41:48.300 emails I've gotten, this probably is not your taste. So, but if you know going in that it is, yes,

00:41:55.920 it's a sad movie, there's brutal moments, there's blood. Um, if you know that going in, you're prepared

00:42:01.240 for that, then I think that there, there are, there are things you can take from it. Uh, and

00:42:05.380 it does, you know, I, I just think it's, there's not enough of that where you go, you watch a movie

00:42:10.400 in the theater and on the way home, you have something to talk about. You're actually talking

00:42:15.460 about the movie and the issues it brings up. And, you know, was it just, there should be more of

00:42:20.680 that with movies, I think. And, um, unlike most superhero movies where you go, you watch it,

00:42:27.060 you leave. And five seconds later, you forget what even happened. You couldn't even talk about

00:42:32.240 it because you don't even remember. It was just, it was just colors and images and things happening.

00:42:35.960 And, and who knows? Um, so I appreciated it for that reason. All right. We will, uh, we'll leave

00:42:42.680 it there. Um, no emails today. We'll get back to that tomorrow. Matt wall show at gmail.com is the

00:42:47.840 email address. If you want to chime in, um, with your opinion on this movie or anything else we talked

00:42:53.360 about today. Uh, and I will talk to you tomorrow. Godspeed. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget

00:43:02.400 to subscribe. And if you want to help spread the word, please give us a five-star review and tell

00:43:06.120 your friends to subscribe as well. We're available on Apple podcasts, Spotify, wherever you listen to

00:43:10.980 podcasts. Also be sure to check out the other daily wire podcasts, including the Ben Shapiro show,

00:43:15.640 Michael Knowles show, and the Andrew Klavan show. Thanks for listening. The Matt wall show is

00:43:20.040 produced by Robert Sterling associate producer, Alexia Garcia del Rio executive producer, Jeremy

00:43:25.200 boring senior producer, Jonathan. Hey, our supervising producer is Mathis Glover. And our

00:43:30.440 technical producer is Austin Stevens edited by Donovan Fowler. Audio is mixed by Mike

00:43:35.500 Coromina. The Matt wall show is a daily wire production copyright daily wire 2019. If you

00:43:40.540 prefer facts over feelings, if you aren't offended by the brutal truth, if you can still laugh at

00:43:45.680 the nuttiness filling our national news cycle, well tune on into the Ben Shapiro show where

00:43:49.960 you'll get a whole lot of that and much more. We'll see you there.

The Matt Walsh Show - October 08, 2019

Ep. 344 - National Cowards Association

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