The Matt Walsh Show - May 15, 2020


Ep. 488 - Your Fear Won't Dictate My Life

Topics
hate crime investigation canceled NFL season
Hosted by
Matt Walsh
Mentioned
Andrew Baker Matt Quinton Dunbar Letitia James Kevin Vesey Godspeed Jussie Smollett Robin Fenderson Bernie Sanders Gary Habermas J.P. Moreland Danny D'Amico Phil Scott Joe Buck Michelle Cuomo Walsh
Ep. 487 - Democrat Governors Don't Want To Give Up Their Lockdown Powers Ep. 489 - Media Matters Has A Hissy Fit Because I Said Boys Are Male

Episode Stats


Length

39 minutes

Words per minute

171.64

Word count

6,865

Sentence count

475

Harmful content

Misogyny

4

sentences flagged

Toxicity

16

sentences flagged

Hate speech

4

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

On this episode of the Matt Walsh Show, the host talks about the return of the barber shop, the dangers of wearing a face mask in public, and why he doesn't think you should wear one in public at all. Also, a new book is out on the subject of homeschooling and millions of Americans are now considering it.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 Today on the Matt Wall Show, I have an idea, a plan for how to proceed, how to get things
00:00:06.100 going again, and it involves, you know, everybody making their own decisions.
00:00:10.380 Personal responsibility is what we used to call it, and I will outline that today.
00:00:14.600 Also, five headlines including millions of Americans now considering homeschooling for
00:00:19.400 the first time, so we'll talk about that. 0.98
00:00:21.200 And in our daily cancellation, we will cancel two of the dumbest criminals in world history, 0.96
00:00:27.760 possibly, and they happen to be NFL players, perhaps not surprisingly. 0.96
00:00:31.700 So all of that coming up.
00:00:33.320 All right, and also I should mention at the top, just because, that I really, really need
00:00:38.900 a haircut.
00:00:39.600 It's getting, the situation is getting bad.
00:00:42.200 I am getting precariously close to ponytail territory in the back here.
00:00:47.120 I could almost make a ponytail, almost.
00:00:52.040 And that has brought me precariously close to actually allowing my wife to cut my hair.
00:00:57.760 And I have, I've held off for two months, bravely, boldly, not allowing it.
00:01:03.480 And the reason I won't allow her to do it is because I know that at least part of her
00:01:09.060 would be tempted to take the clippers and just go right off the top of my head, just
00:01:13.280 buzz cut right off the top.
00:01:15.480 And I know she'd be tempted to do that because I would be tempted to do that if I was her.
00:01:19.640 So there would at least be that temptation.
00:01:22.380 And I could never be, probably only about a 5% chance she would actually do it.
00:01:26.860 And then I also know, yes, it would be hilarious if I had to go do the show the next day with,
00:01:31.540 you know, with totally mangled hair.
00:01:33.980 So I would kind of appreciate the humor, but at the same time, it would ruin my life.
00:01:38.600 So that's the situation.
00:01:40.940 Hopefully we can get the barbershops open again.
00:01:43.740 And, you know, mainly not because of people like me need haircuts because we look like
00:01:47.600 mangy dogs, but mainly because people who run barbershops and hair salons and so on,
00:01:52.800 you know, they need to make a living.
00:01:53.800 I think that's probably the more important thing.
00:01:55.280 So as we talk about opening up and everything, there's been a lot of debate about whether people
00:02:01.300 should wear masks and whether it's really effective or not to wear masks and whether
00:02:06.420 businesses should require it of their customers or not.
00:02:11.500 You know, personally, it seems clear to me that mandating the use of face masks outside,
00:02:16.880 as some localities have done, like in Los Angeles, for example, is absurd at best.
00:02:21.740 I mean, the best thing you can say about it is absurd.
00:02:23.440 There's no reason to think that you're at any appreciable risk of contracting or spreading
00:02:28.000 the disease when you're outside, outdoors, especially if you're maintaining a comfortable
00:02:32.500 distance from other groups.
00:02:34.060 Now, on the other hand, there does seem to be reason to think that running or cycling
00:02:40.300 or jogging or exercising outside in the heat with a mask strapped to your face and collecting
00:02:47.380 sweat and spit as you go is not the most hygienic practice.
00:02:52.900 You know, I've done no scientific research into this.
00:02:55.980 I admit I have no data whatsoever.
00:02:58.620 But I'm guessing that when presented with a choice between exercising while breathing
00:03:04.900 into a spittle-soaked rag or exercising without the rag, the latter choice will generally be
00:03:11.820 healthier and more sanitary.
00:03:13.300 That's, I'm guessing.
00:03:15.560 Now, does that mean that people shouldn't wear masks, in my opinion?
00:03:21.040 Am I anti-mask?
00:03:22.560 Okay, now this is one of those things where we all have to be anti-mask or pro-mask.
00:03:28.680 No, I'm neither.
00:03:30.380 I have really no opinion on what other people decide to do with their faces.
00:03:36.460 You can do whatever you want with your face.
00:03:38.400 Cover the whole thing in a mask.
00:03:39.480 You can walk around with a pillowcase over your head if you want to.
00:03:41.860 It doesn't matter to me.
00:03:42.660 I acknowledge a business owner's right to require masks in his establishment, and I'll
00:03:48.460 comply with those requirements out of respect to the private property rights of a business
00:03:53.100 owner.
00:03:54.400 Outside of that, I'm probably not going to wear one.
00:03:57.940 My opinion on masks is like my opinion on most other coronavirus precautions.
00:04:02.900 Make your own decision and live your life.
00:04:07.060 And Godspeed.
00:04:08.120 It's just, it's not clear to me why there needs to be a consensus or a universal strategy
00:04:17.400 that we all adopt when it comes to this.
00:04:20.560 Now, yes, you could argue that masks are more effective if everybody else wears them too.
00:04:25.080 But if they're effective at all, if they have any effect, they should still offer you a
00:04:29.620 significant amount of protection regardless of who else has them on.
00:04:33.780 Like if you're, if you're going to the store or something and you have a mask on and you're
00:04:41.140 maintaining social distance and you're not lingering very much, you're going in, getting
00:04:44.840 what you need and you're leaving.
00:04:46.460 Even if nobody else in the store has a mask on, yeah, it's not perfect protection, but
00:04:51.760 it should offer you some protection.
00:04:53.160 It should make a difference.
00:04:55.680 And if you're telling me that masks make no difference at all, unless everybody has them,
00:05:00.060 then it sounds like masks are pretty ineffective anyway.
00:05:02.420 So what's the point?
00:05:05.040 Somewhere along the line, we decided that the coronavirus threat is one threat that we all
00:05:10.000 have to respond to in the exact same way without exception.
00:05:13.920 But that is not how this country generally functions and it shouldn't start now.
00:05:18.160 So why can't this be the way forward?
00:05:21.300 Those who wish to wear masks, wear them.
00:05:24.560 Those who don't wish to wear masks, don't wear them.
00:05:28.200 Businesses that wish to require masks, require them.
00:05:31.260 Businesses that don't wish to require them, don't.
00:05:34.900 Businesses that wish to remain closed, remain closed.
00:05:37.860 Businesses that wish to open up, can open up.
00:05:41.760 People who wish to stay locked in their homes indefinitely, stay locked in their home indefinitely.
00:05:45.960 People who wish to go outside of their homes, will go outside of their homes.
00:05:49.540 See, these are all matters of risk assessment.
00:05:51.560 So a combination of factors have to be weighed, and that calculation can be complicated for
00:06:02.180 every individual, depending on your situation.
00:06:05.560 That calculation, though, is downright impossible if we're treating 330 million people as if they 0.98
00:06:11.480 are one homogenous single entity when they're not.
00:06:15.340 The calculation is going to be different for everybody, depending on their situation.
00:06:21.220 And that's the point.
00:06:23.040 I think there are some people, personally, it seems to me there are some people who, for
00:06:28.240 them, it makes a lot of sense to stay inside as much as possible.
00:06:32.020 Wear a mask when you go out.
00:06:33.340 There are some people like that.
00:06:38.140 People who are elderly, people who have pre-existing conditions.
00:06:41.680 But that's not everybody.
00:06:44.280 Why do we have to pretend that everybody is the same?
00:06:48.800 And why is it that people who usually are all about extolling the virtue of choice suddenly
00:06:54.920 have abandoned that when it comes to this?
00:06:57.220 We'll talk about that more in just a second.
00:06:58.960 But first, you know, Ancestry.com, I've done this myself with AncestryDNA, learning about
00:07:06.700 our family, Ancestry, where we come from.
00:07:10.140 And, you know, I'll be honest with you, I was a little bit worried at first when I started
00:07:14.160 because I'd heard of so many people doing this.
00:07:15.940 And I was worried that I'd be disappointed, that it wouldn't live up to the hype.
00:07:18.400 But it definitely did.
00:07:19.740 And it's just been fascinating to learn about my own family and where I came from, how it
00:07:25.060 is that I ended up this way, which I think is a question a lot of people have.
00:07:27.760 There are many paths to finding your family story.
00:07:30.460 Whichever way you choose, tracing your family generations back with a family tree or uncovering
00:07:34.700 your ethnicity with AncestryDNA, whatever it is, it's easy to get started with Ancestry.
00:07:39.740 An AncestryDNA test tells you where your ancestors are from.
00:07:43.840 And Ancestry's billions of records and millions of family trees let you discover their personal
00:07:48.740 stories.
00:07:49.560 Researching a history is a fun activity.
00:07:51.500 It's something that involves the whole family.
00:07:54.240 You know, I know my kids especially have been very interested to find out as well.
00:07:56.820 Uh, and the stories you learned about, you learn about can, you know, be shared and it
00:08:01.760 gives you something to talk about, um, around the dinner table and with your families.
00:08:07.080 So, uh, if you haven't, if you've never tried this before, I would absolutely recommend it.
00:08:11.500 You could trace the paths of your recent ancestors, learn how and why your family moved from place
00:08:16.600 to place around the world.
00:08:17.680 Just learning the story of your family.
00:08:20.200 Start exploring your family story today.
00:08:21.760 Head to my URL at Ancestry.com slash Matt to get your AncestryDNA kit and start your free
00:08:27.360 trial.
00:08:27.700 That's Ancestry.com slash Matt, Ancestry.com slash Matt.
00:08:32.600 Um, okay.
00:08:35.800 So this, this is my point.
00:08:37.560 This much seems obvious to me.
00:08:39.100 If you remain shut inside your home indefinitely, and you only emerge for brief moments, fully
00:08:44.340 masked, just to go to the grocery store, you're probably not going to get sick.
00:08:49.120 Uh, you'll also be living a kind of dreary life, uh, not a life that I want to live, but,
00:08:54.120 but, uh, that's, that's my own perspective.
00:08:56.360 And who cares what my perspective is?
00:08:57.980 You can live that life if you want to.
00:08:59.260 You are free to be a reclusive hypochondriac if that's the sort of existence that you prefer.
00:09:06.220 The point is that there's no reason to require the same existence of everyone.
00:09:11.160 Even if all the rest of us are running around, you know, coughing in each other's faces, kissing
00:09:17.500 strangers on the mouth, whatever it is, you will be safe, shut in your home, sheltered from
00:09:24.720 the germ orgy that's happening out there. 0.80
00:09:27.180 So you don't need to worry about it.
00:09:29.260 So, so why not make this our reopening strategy?
00:09:33.500 Another term for this strategy is personal responsibility.
00:09:37.300 Also liberty.
00:09:39.960 Um, it's the strategy we've employed for most other diseases, most of the time.
00:09:46.980 If you're very fearful of this disease, it doesn't matter if anyone else thinks that your
00:09:52.380 fear is overblown or justified.
00:09:55.220 I think that's where a lot of the tension and the argument and the division is coming from.
00:09:59.540 Where we think that we have our opinion of this disease and the threat that it poses and
00:10:04.140 we think that everyone else has to feel the same way about it.
00:10:06.220 They don't.
00:10:06.740 It doesn't matter.
00:10:07.180 It shouldn't matter.
00:10:07.660 At least they shouldn't have to feel the same way.
00:10:09.140 If you're fearful of it, if you're fearful of it, you have your reasons, great.
00:10:13.360 Well, not great.
00:10:14.160 I mean, I'm sorry that you're fearful, but, but you, you can live accordingly.
00:10:19.140 You're entitled to your fear.
00:10:21.040 You're entitled to whatever strategies you put in place for its sake, but your fear is not entitled
00:10:26.760 to dictate my life.
00:10:30.440 That's the point.
00:10:33.040 Now, I know you can dream up scenarios where even if you're locked in your house, someone
00:10:37.800 can get you sick.
00:10:39.620 And I've, it is someone, someone today told me that, or yesterday when I was talking about
00:10:44.060 this, someone said, oh, well, that's the old canard of, well, it's great for you, but 0.94
00:10:49.240 your choices might kill my parents. 1.00
00:10:51.120 And I said, how are my choices going to kill your parents? 0.99
00:10:56.080 If I'm, if I'm out doing my thing and they're shutting their house, uh, because they want 0.98
00:11:00.620 a shelter in place.
00:11:01.380 And it seems like I'm, how could I have any effect on them?
00:11:03.520 The only way I could have any effect on them is if they choose to go out and participate in
00:11:07.620 society.
00:11:07.980 And if they, if they choose that, then they choose to take on the risk and that's it.
00:11:12.220 And then I was told, well, uh, you could get a mail carrier sick and then he could deliver
00:11:19.060 mail to my parents and the virus could get on the mail and my parents could touch the
00:11:23.920 mail and then get sick. 0.66
00:11:26.660 Okay.
00:11:28.680 That's, that's how extreme, that's how tortured people are getting and trying to explain how
00:11:34.900 or why everybody has to stay locked in their home.
00:11:38.020 Because you might, you might get a mail carrier sick who somehow transmit the virus, transmits
00:11:42.780 the virus by mail to someone who's locked in their home.
00:11:46.820 I mean, come on.
00:11:47.440 The other argument I've heard a lot in the last couple of days is, um, that if we're
00:11:55.580 going to take this approach of everyone, you know, assess their own risk level and live
00:11:59.400 accordingly, then by that logic, well, it almost seems like you're saying we shouldn't
00:12:05.160 have seatbelt laws or we shouldn't have smoking bans.
00:12:08.880 And actually, funnily enough, yes, that's how I feel.
00:12:12.340 And that's, that's actually a great comparison.
00:12:14.260 I think the seatbelt law comparison is very good because let me tell you how I feel about
00:12:19.760 seatbelt laws.
00:12:20.400 I think they're completely ridiculous and nothing but a fundraising mechanism for the 0.90
00:12:24.740 state. 0.93
00:12:25.220 There is no reason why we need cops going around looking for people to have, that don't
00:12:29.180 have seatbelts on so they can charge them 50 bucks for not having a seatbelt on.
00:12:32.280 If you want to drive down the road without a seatbelt on, that's your choice.
00:12:34.700 It's your risk.
00:12:35.280 You're not putting anybody else at risk and, uh, and you know, no problem.
00:12:41.540 You, you should be able to choose to take on that risk.
00:12:45.460 Except even with that, you know, that's a very, that's actually a generous comparison
00:12:51.100 for the pro lockdown side, because at least with, at least with seatbelts, although I believe
00:12:57.960 that people should be able to take on that risk if they want to.
00:13:00.600 And there's no reason why we need daddy, you know, daddy state out there, daddy police
00:13:06.680 officer out there lecturing us to keep our seatbelts on.
00:13:09.880 But at least there, you know, the, the science is pretty well established.
00:13:14.400 Um, there's very little controversy that you're, you are safer with seatbelts anyway, most of
00:13:19.300 the time.
00:13:20.780 Now you could argue if you're going very slow, you get into a fender bender, you might be
00:13:23.980 better off without the seatbelt.
00:13:24.980 Cause if you have it on, you could get whiplash or something.
00:13:27.320 I don't know.
00:13:27.640 I mean, there's, but generally speaking, you're, you're better off with the seatbelt on.
00:13:31.460 That's pretty well established science.
00:13:33.620 The thing with the lockdown though, is not only should people have the right to assess
00:13:37.640 their own risk, but it's by no means a foregone conclusion that this lockdown strategy is actually
00:13:45.420 the safest.
00:13:46.060 So it's, it's not just that people aren't being given the right to assess their own
00:13:54.400 risk, but it's that we are being forced to, to accept the risk assessment of government
00:14:02.660 officials and scientists who are on the government's payroll.
00:14:06.600 We're being forced to accept their assessment when their assessment is at a minimum, highly
00:14:12.080 controversial.
00:14:13.480 And there's a whole other way of looking at it.
00:14:18.360 So that's the point.
00:14:19.860 But either way, it goes back to, as I said, you can be as scared as you want.
00:14:25.060 Um, whether your fear is justified or not is not the point, but your fear does not dictate
00:14:29.760 choices in my life, or at least it shouldn't.
00:14:32.240 Let's go to headlines.
00:14:33.880 Um, a camera, uh, a camera guy from a New York news channel was at a lockdown protest
00:14:41.060 and, uh, the video was shared by Kevin Vesey from news 12 in New York.
00:14:46.980 And, uh, he, he said, as he shared it on Twitter, the level of anger directed at the media from
00:14:51.880 these protesters was alarming.
00:14:53.600 And a bunch of other media people shared the video as well, shaking their heads and disappointment
00:14:58.180 and indignation and all the mean things that people in this video said about the
00:15:02.240 uh, the media.
00:15:03.040 But if you listen to it, I don't know.
00:15:05.280 I listened to it and everything seemed pretty accurate to me.
00:15:09.820 So take, take a listen to this.
00:15:12.020 I'm just trying to get by on the sidewalk.
00:15:14.080 That's all.
00:15:14.440 You shouldn't be here.
00:15:15.360 You're fake news.
00:15:16.260 You stopped, you stopped airing the Trump briefings and you keep airing Cuomo briefings.
00:15:21.900 Go home.
00:15:22.380 You're fake news.
00:15:23.480 Go home.
00:15:24.200 You're destroying something in Long Island.
00:15:27.080 You are the enemy of the people. 0.61
00:15:28.900 You are fake news. 0.99
00:15:29.800 You are the enemy. 0.97
00:15:30.740 You all know it. 0.98
00:15:31.320 You are fake news.
00:15:32.240 We know that you're a liberal agenda.
00:15:33.780 We know you want to keep your job.
00:15:35.200 We get it.
00:15:35.580 You're not getting advertising dollars in right now.
00:15:38.340 You're not going to answer.
00:15:39.760 So you're just going to go live.
00:15:41.460 Yes, I am getting a paycheck.
00:15:42.460 I'm very happy.
00:15:43.360 But other people are not getting paychecks.
00:15:45.820 That's why we're here.
00:15:46.780 You used to be a good channel at one time.
00:15:49.280 I don't know what happened to you.
00:15:53.120 Tell the truth, Kevin.
00:15:54.660 Come on.
00:15:55.160 I got to say, I can't find fault with anything that was said there.
00:16:11.020 It just.
00:16:13.740 Where's the lie?
00:16:14.680 Tell me where the lie is.
00:16:15.640 It shows you the whole problem with the media, though, doesn't it?
00:16:19.900 That rather than think to themselves, geez, people really hate us.
00:16:27.060 What have we done wrong?
00:16:29.320 Okay.
00:16:29.520 What have we done?
00:16:30.780 What are we doing wrong that people feel this way about us?
00:16:33.120 Rather than saying that, which is the question that a self-aware person would ask themselves,
00:16:39.480 rather than that, they say, oh, geez, people really hate us.
00:16:42.160 There must be something wrong with them.
00:16:45.580 Number two, NFL announcer Joe Buck says that it's quite likely the NFL season will go forward
00:16:50.660 without fans in the stadium.
00:16:53.240 But he indicates some other adjustments that might be made.
00:16:56.060 He said in an interview, quote, I think Fox and these networks have to put crowd noise
00:17:00.580 under us to make it a normal viewing experience at home.
00:17:03.620 I think whoever's going to be at the control is going to have to be really good at their
00:17:07.140 job and be realistic with how a crowd would react, depending on what just happened on the
00:17:11.200 field.
00:17:11.540 So it's really important.
00:17:12.740 And then he also said on top of the crowd noise that they might pump in, at least to the
00:17:17.980 broadcast, they might have CGI.
00:17:20.260 He indicated they've talked about doing this, but they'll have CGI people in the stands.
00:17:25.280 So it looks like a full stadium.
00:17:27.660 And this, of course, is all a very terrible idea.
00:17:29.760 If anything, you get more mics down on the field so we can hear the action, you know,
00:17:34.960 on the sideline, on the field.
00:17:36.840 That might be interesting.
00:17:38.760 Might get a little dicey, too, with the language, I admit.
00:17:43.080 And or, you know, of course, the other option is just play the games, have people in the stands,
00:17:50.700 let people come to the games.
00:17:52.820 It's outdoors.
00:17:54.280 At least most stadiums are.
00:17:56.000 Even the indoor stadiums are obviously very big.
00:17:58.400 So there's plenty of air circulation.
00:18:01.160 I don't I really don't see any reason why you have to not have people in the stands.
00:18:05.280 Or at a minimum, you got a 70,000 person stadium.
00:18:09.740 Sell 40,000 tickets or 35,000 tickets.
00:18:13.260 And then there's plenty of space.
00:18:14.500 People can spread out.
00:18:15.280 Not a problem.
00:18:15.780 Number three, the New York Post reports, quote,
00:18:19.720 a black professor driving in Vermont with New York license plates was flagged down by two white men
00:18:24.900 and told to leave the state in what police are investigating as a bias-related incident.
00:18:30.040 According to a report, the unidentified professor was driving with his 11-year-old son last Friday
00:18:34.440 in Hartford when two unknown vehicles approached and flagged them down around 10 a.m.
00:18:39.140 The professor who owns property in the state told police that one of the drivers, a white man,
00:18:43.800 said that he was not wanted in Vermont and told to leave, according to the report.
00:18:47.900 He also told police that there were significant racial undertones to the interaction.
00:18:52.880 Vermont's Governor Phil Scott said he'd spoken with the victim and added that he has, quote,
00:18:56.960 no tolerance for hate crimes in the state.
00:19:00.600 Well, you know, I have to say I'm not surprised that Jussie Smollett got a job as a college professor, 0.92
00:19:05.940 but what the heck is he doing in Vermont?
00:19:08.020 That's my question.
00:19:10.240 Also, there are a number of issues here, okay?
00:19:12.320 Like, what do you mean they flagged you down?
00:19:15.020 So you were driving along and some white racists flagged you down to say something racist to you
00:19:20.660 and you just stopped and listened to hear them out?
00:19:24.860 It doesn't, I can't even make sense of this.
00:19:27.960 And even if this did happen, which I doubt, couldn't it be that the guy's from New York
00:19:33.860 and he has New York license plates and that's why they didn't like him?
00:19:36.980 I mean, couldn't it be, if this really happened, my first thought would be,
00:19:41.780 well, he's got New York license plates and these are people that are worried that he's bringing the coronavirus into Vermont.
00:19:46.480 And so that's why they told him to leave.
00:19:48.820 And whether it happened or not, whether it was racial or not, why are police investigating it?
00:19:55.640 Hate crime?
00:19:59.420 The governors involved calling it a hate crime?
00:20:01.940 What crime occurred?
00:20:03.380 Telling people that, telling someone they aren't welcomed in the state, how is that a hate crime?
00:20:07.920 Based on what law?
00:20:10.920 What law forbids using that phrase to another person?
00:20:14.020 That's what I would like to know.
00:20:14.760 Number four, another report from the New York Post says New York Attorney General Letitia James said Wednesday
00:20:22.940 that she is looking into reports that the NYPD is targeting minorities for aggressive enforcement of social distancing.
00:20:29.080 She says, quote, in a statement, the apparent unequal enforcement of social distancing policies is deeply troubling
00:20:36.180 and deepens the divide between law enforcement and the people they are tasked to protect.
00:20:42.620 Then she mentioned some videos that have popped up on social media showing violent arrests in black and Hispanic neighborhoods.
00:20:47.920 Okay, so to state the obvious, videos of arrests in black neighborhoods do not prove or even indicate
00:20:56.340 that these laws are being enforced unequally on a racial basis.
00:21:00.920 Of course, though, they are being enforced unequally, but it's got nothing to do with race.
00:21:06.700 The inequality is between the people who've been subjectively determined to be essential workers
00:21:14.580 and the people who have been subjectively determined by the government to be inessential.
00:21:19.240 The inequality is between politicians who keep making a paycheck while depriving everybody else of their paycheck.
00:21:26.300 The inequality is between small businesses that are shut down while megacorporations that sell the same sort of stuff are allowed to stay open.
00:21:33.220 Okay, this is all inequality.
00:21:34.900 It's all injustice.
00:21:36.700 It is something the Attorney General of any state should be looking into.
00:21:41.220 But unfortunately, leftists like Letitia James have to see everything through a racial lens, 1.00
00:21:46.200 which means they often miss the point entirely, like is happening here.
00:21:51.660 Finally, a real clear opinion poll released this week says 40% of Americans are more likely to homeschool once the lockdowns end.
00:21:59.760 And that at least is one good thing.
00:22:03.260 Maybe the only good thing to come of all this.
00:22:05.700 Now, I'm sure that a lot of the people that are thinking about this,
00:22:09.160 it's just because they're afraid of the virus, and that's why they want to homeschool their kids.
00:22:13.540 But whatever prompts parents to at least think about, consider taking charge of their child's education,
00:22:22.480 well, then it's good that they're considering it at least.
00:22:24.420 So maybe that's one thing that people will pry their kids loose from the grip of the state.
00:22:35.240 I think it's good.
00:22:37.920 It's something to at least think about.
00:22:40.700 Now, let's go to your daily cancellation.
00:22:42.280 This is a fun one.
00:22:42.980 I've been looking forward to this.
00:22:44.060 Fun for us, anyway.
00:22:45.060 Not so much for the NFL players Quinton Dunbar and DeAndre Baker, who are both being canceled.
00:22:51.040 They're canceled because, allegedly, despite being NFL players and making millions of dollars to play a game for a living,
00:23:01.600 they participated in an armed robbery a few days ago.
00:23:05.360 Now, the details in this case, all alleged, yes.
00:23:09.020 The details are pretty incredible. 0.99
00:23:11.840 Bear in mind, okay, just to clarify, the cancellation is because of the sheer stupidity of this crime. 0.92
00:23:18.940 It's not because I object morally to armed robbery. 0.70
00:23:21.840 On the issue of armed robbery, I'm sort of in the middle ground.
00:23:26.180 I can see arguments for it and against it.
00:23:28.100 So this is not me passing judgment on armed robbery or armed robbers, just to be very clear about that.
00:23:33.520 Anyway, let me read from TMZ.
00:23:34.980 It says, according to police, the two men were partying in Florida on May 13th when things took a disturbing turn.
00:23:44.580 Cops say Baker and Dunbar were allegedly hanging out at a cookout playing cards and video games when an argument broke out and Baker whipped out a semi-automatic firearm.
00:23:55.760 Cops say the man began to rob party guests with Dunbar assisting and taking watches and other valuables at the direction of Baker.
00:24:01.560 At one point, cops say Baker directed a third man who was wearing a red mask to shoot someone who had just walked into the party.
00:24:08.680 But fortunately, no one was actually shot.
00:24:11.380 All right.
00:24:11.600 Law enforcement says the men made out with more than $7,000 in cash, along with several valuable watches, including an $18,000 Rolex watch, a $25,000 other kind of watch that I can't pronounce because I'm not rich, and then some other watches too.
00:24:28.620 According to cops, some people at the party believe it was a planned robbery because the three men, when they were done taking valuables, there were three getaway cars strategically positioned to expedite an immediate departure.
00:24:38.880 And the alleged getaway cars, by the way, were a Lamborghini, a Mercedes-Benz, and a BMW.
00:24:47.900 Okay, so first point here, obviously, is why weren't they social distancing?
00:24:53.760 That's the real crime here.
00:24:55.720 Forget about the armed robbery.
00:24:58.260 The real issue is what were they doing at the party in the first place?
00:25:02.060 First, very irresponsible behavior during a pandemic.
00:25:06.400 Second, they were hanging out at a party with people they know, and everybody knows them.
00:25:16.900 They're there, okay, having a good time, apparently.
00:25:20.560 Argument breaks out.
00:25:21.460 So they say, hey, you know what?
00:25:25.100 Might as well rob the joint.
00:25:26.740 And they rob it, and then they run away, and they get in their luxury cars, and they run away.
00:25:30.980 But where are they going?
00:25:32.760 Everybody knows who they are.
00:25:34.900 So what's the point?
00:25:36.400 This is like when my, a couple days ago, I caught my three-year-old sneaking into the pantry to steal a snack.
00:25:41.940 And I stopped him.
00:25:42.860 I said, hey.
00:25:43.740 And then he ran away.
00:25:44.800 And I'm thinking, where are you going?
00:25:45.980 I know who you are, and I know where you're going.
00:25:49.000 And I have a key to every lock in this house.
00:25:52.340 So you might as well face up to the punishment now.
00:25:54.540 The jig is up.
00:25:56.100 So I'm just, this whole thing perplexes me.
00:26:00.160 Who robs people out of frustration?
00:26:03.880 What kind of response is that?
00:26:06.400 I'm not saying I'm the best at conflict resolution, but, and I get frustrated too.
00:26:11.560 It sounds like they were playing a game, and one of the guys got frustrated.
00:26:14.200 I get frustrated too, playing board games.
00:26:17.280 But it never occurred to me to flip over a scrabble board and just commit felony robbery on the spot out of anger.
00:26:25.580 And then the whole fact, of course, that, again, these are NFL players making millions of dollars.
00:26:33.240 One of these guys was a first-round pick last year.
00:26:36.700 So, I mean, he just became a millionaire recently, and now he's out robbing barbecues.
00:26:41.380 Imagine how shocking that is for everybody else there, that not only are these dudes robbing you, not only do you know them, not only are you going to be able to ID them to the cops in five seconds, but they're the richest dudes at the party.
00:26:57.540 And they're the ones robbing you, which is super surprising.
00:27:02.360 That would be surprising, I guess, to everybody but Bernie Sanders, who I guess will not be surprised that rich people are robbing others.
00:27:08.240 Maybe he was on to something.
00:27:09.120 I don't know.
00:27:09.380 All I can say is that it is now more important than ever that the NFL season go forward.
00:27:16.340 We cannot cancel the NFL season.
00:27:19.520 Look at what NFL players are doing after just the off-season workouts were canceled.
00:27:26.680 And now you've got two NFL players, one of them a first-round pick last year, committing armed robbery.
00:27:31.940 Not just one person, but mass armed robbery.
00:27:38.160 Just from canceled workouts.
00:27:40.580 Can you imagine?
00:27:41.840 Can you imagine if they cancel the season?
00:27:45.120 Imagine what it's going to look like in, like, December 2020 if the NFL season is canceled.
00:27:50.720 And these guys have had nothing to do this whole time.
00:27:52.900 The sheer death toll from NFL players, the death toll from NFL player-related violence will easily exceed the COVID death toll.
00:28:02.400 So that's a pretty good argument right there, I think, for keeping the season going.
00:28:06.320 Also, I just want to watch football.
00:28:07.940 That's the other argument as well.
00:28:09.720 Okay, let's go to emails.
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00:29:00.720 See you there.
00:29:01.500 Okay, so as mentioned, if you're a Daily Wire member, you can send an email through the mailbag, and I'll get to a couple of those now.
00:29:11.500 This is from Michelle, says,
00:29:12.640 Hey, Matt, I agree with everything you say about letting people make their own choices, but aren't you walking right into an obvious response from liberals?
00:29:19.480 If you can make your own choice about being exposed to the virus or not, why can't women make their own choices over their bodies when it comes to abortion? 1.00
00:29:25.680 You said on Twitter, quote, if you want to leave your house during lockdown, do it.
00:29:30.120 If you don't, don't.
00:29:31.440 Well, isn't that just like the lefts don't like abortion, don't have one logic?
00:29:36.920 Yeah, Michelle, I've heard this many times now.
00:29:39.400 And no, I don't think the two issues are the same at all.
00:29:42.420 I think that these are two very different arguments.
00:29:45.240 Here's the crucial difference.
00:29:46.460 Well, there are two crucial differences.
00:29:48.520 Number one, abortion is the direct and intentional destruction of another person's body. 0.94
00:29:54.180 It is the direct and intentional killing of another person.
00:29:58.320 It would be completely irrational and incoherent to claim that a person who leaves their house during a lockdown is directly and intentionally killing another person.
00:30:08.720 As if the very point of leaving is to kill someone, is to infect and kill someone.
00:30:14.100 Now, but here's the thing.
00:30:16.340 If someone actually did, you know, let's say someone knew they had coronavirus and they went out because their intention was to infect people.
00:30:26.200 Then I would say, yeah, I mean, I would put that person in jail.
00:30:30.040 If someone dies as a result, I would charge them with murder.
00:30:32.560 Of course.
00:30:33.160 But the law recognizes a distinction between accidentally getting somebody sick, even though you didn't mean to, and getting them sick on purpose.
00:30:44.640 And so that's, so really, related to abortion, it's like the difference between a miscarriage and abortion.
00:30:50.460 You know, in both cases, a child dies and it's tragic.
00:30:53.520 But in one case, the mother intentionally and directly killed the child. 0.74
00:30:57.140 In the other case, the child died by, you know, accident or illness or something else.
00:31:03.960 Number two, and this is a very important difference too.
00:31:08.080 The unborn baby cannot and does not consent in any way to the abortion.
00:31:15.140 Whereas my whole point here with the shutdown is you have to, in order to be exposed, in order to have any reasonable likelihood of being exposed, you have to choose to expose yourself to the potential of getting sick.
00:31:32.780 If you stay locked down, you won't be exposed.
00:31:35.340 If you go out and about, then you might be.
00:31:37.920 But that's a choice that you made.
00:31:42.020 Which again, the unborn baby does not have a choice.
00:31:45.260 So, on one hand, you have a child being directly and intentionally killed without any choice or any consent on their part.
00:31:52.360 On the other hand, you have a person potentially getting sick unintentionally by accident because partially they chose to go out and, you know, participate in society.
00:32:04.080 So, those are, I think, just not the same at all.
00:32:07.040 Okay, this is from Dan.
00:32:07.980 Says, hey, Matt, great show.
00:32:09.000 Definitely been enjoying it on a daily basis.
00:32:10.420 I wanted to respond to your reaction to the NDE testimonials you were asked about on the May 13th episode, near-death experience.
00:32:18.060 I think the near-death experiences you described were a poor representation of the case studies, which make for the piqued interest on the subject.
00:32:26.160 If you've read Gary Habermas and J.P. Moreland's research, you might find that they have a more discriminating view on the subject, which makes their findings on it more compelling.
00:32:34.700 The things you described about seeing lights and tunnels and universal religious experiences are subjective and unverifiable and, therefore, not very compelling when it comes to analyzing these accounts.
00:32:43.480 The more intriguing cases are ones in which an individual experiences temporary brain death, in which case they should have no conscious awareness and yet can describe scenes slash events in the physical world, which from a materialism slash physicalist perspective should be incapable of doing, such as seeing on the roof, witnessing an accident a few blocks down, overhearing a private conversation, which they can repeat verbatim.
00:33:05.960 This says nothing at all about religion, and the mistake people make is jumping to conclusions that it does.
00:33:15.700 It merely shows or suggests that materialism is false or untenable under these circumstances.
00:33:21.160 There could, of course, be possible alternative explanations, such as a case of universally experienced clairvoyance at the point.
00:33:28.020 Maybe they're just lucky guesses. It's possible, though arguably unlikely.
00:33:31.320 The important thing to take from these accounts is not that religion is true, but that materialism is likely false.
00:33:37.420 For materialism to be false does not prove theism or any religious belief. It is just merely consistent with it.
00:33:43.920 Anyway, great show. Keep up the good work.
00:33:46.120 Okay, yeah, Dan, I agree that these NDs you describe are far more compelling, and that was my point, as you mentioned,
00:33:52.600 that the religious experiences and experiences of the afterlife are very subjective and oftentimes tailored to a person's preconceived religious beliefs,
00:34:05.460 which would seem to very much call into question their validity as a scientific proof of anything.
00:34:13.800 But then, okay, what about these cases of somebody who says they floated to the top of the room,
00:34:18.340 or they saw something happening down the road, etc., and those are interesting,
00:34:23.920 and I'm not sitting here saying that they don't happen,
00:34:26.760 and I'm definitely not accusing people who experience them of lying intentionally.
00:34:31.500 That's not my position.
00:34:34.400 But to say that this happens because the soul leaves the body and travels down the street or up to the roof or whatever,
00:34:41.980 I think raises some difficulties.
00:34:44.360 Maybe not insurmountable difficulties, but difficulties.
00:34:47.540 The first is that you think this would be relatively easy, or simple at least, to test and confirm.
00:34:56.800 But it would need to be in a controlled environment, like an experimental, like a scientific experiment,
00:35:02.960 so you're not relying on anecdotes or personal testimony,
00:35:06.320 which I think most of the time, right, when it comes to these NDEs,
00:35:09.000 what it comes down to is the personal testimony, anecdotal testimony of a person who says they experienced it.
00:35:16.800 Doesn't make it invalid, doesn't make it uninteresting, doesn't, you know, nothing like that.
00:35:21.480 It just, it's difficult to call it scientific proof when you're just going based on what someone tells you happened, right?
00:35:28.520 So, I don't know, you know, why can't they do an experiment?
00:35:34.160 Maybe they've done this before, I don't know, you tell me.
00:35:36.920 But one thing they could do is, you would think, like scientists, researchers could place,
00:35:42.380 I don't know, a note, let's say, up on a high cabinet in a trauma ward at a hospital where NDEs typically happen.
00:35:52.240 Don't tell anyone what the note says.
00:35:53.880 And then wait to see if somebody reports floating to the top of the room and they can tell you what's on the note, you know?
00:36:03.140 Now, that might sound silly, but if you want to propose that these are actual scientific phenomena,
00:36:08.220 then you would need to be able to test them scientifically.
00:36:11.560 And I think there would have to be some kind of experiment like that in a controlled environment.
00:36:16.600 As I said, maybe they've done that, I don't know.
00:36:18.920 But it strikes me that you need to have an experiment like that.
00:36:21.820 The other issue I have is just sort of a metaphysical one.
00:36:25.000 You mentioned somebody who has temporary brain death and then wakes up and talks about an accident that happened down the road.
00:36:31.920 Now, again, that's interesting.
00:36:34.100 I'm not sure if that's an actual case that you're talking about or a hypothetical one, but let's just use that.
00:36:40.140 Now, the skeptical explanation for that could be, yeah, lucky guess.
00:36:46.840 Or maybe they heard something about it, people talking about it when they were, you know, when it seemed like they were unconscious.
00:36:55.000 They were still somewhat conscious.
00:36:56.400 They heard discussion of the accident that happened.
00:37:00.200 You know, those sound like stretches, but, I mean, that's a potential explanation.
00:37:05.200 Now, the NDE believer, what would be your explanation, though?
00:37:10.260 Like, that's what I'm trying to get at.
00:37:14.640 What's the claim here?
00:37:15.740 That when you die, or not even die, but when you almost die, your soul literally floats out of your body and travels down the street?
00:37:23.860 That just doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me.
00:37:25.780 And I say that as someone who believes in souls.
00:37:27.360 I still don't think that makes sense.
00:37:28.420 You know, we're imagining souls now as these things that, you know, in some sense are literally contained within your body, as if they're like a fluid inside a container.
00:37:42.580 And that when you die, or not even die, but just almost die, your soul leaves and travels spatially through the physical world down the street and sees something and then comes back.
00:38:00.720 I don't know.
00:38:01.520 That just seems to raise metaphysical questions.
00:38:03.480 I can't quite make sense of that.
00:38:04.720 It raises enough questions that perhaps the lucky guess explanation is just more sensible, simpler.
00:38:13.160 It doesn't require as many additional explanations on top of it.
00:38:17.040 And that's the thing, I think, about explaining something, especially in a scientific context.
00:38:21.000 If the explanation you provide raises more questions than it answers, and there's another available explanation that answers more questions than it raises, probably the latter explanation is better for the time being.
00:38:37.440 So anyway, that's, but as I said before, I'm open to more information on that.
00:38:45.760 But it's definitely, I mean, certainly, at a minimum, it proves that, it proves that there's a lot about the human mind we don't understand.
00:38:54.060 So certainly that.
00:38:55.720 And that's why it's interesting to look into.
00:38:57.620 But I still think, you know, I'm far from convinced, I guess, is what I would say.
00:39:02.840 Well, thanks for emailing, and thanks everybody for watching.
00:39:05.660 We'll wrap it up there.
00:39:07.700 Have a great weekend.
00:39:08.980 Godspeed.
00:39:09.340 Thank you.
00:39:39.340 Edited by Danny D'Amico, and our audio is mixed by Robin Fenderson.
00:39:44.240 The Matt Wall Show is a Daily Wire production, copyright Daily Wire 2020.
00:39:48.840 If you prefer facts over feelings, aren't offended by the brutal truth, and you can still laugh at the insanity filling our national news cycle, well, tune in to The Ben Shapiro Show.
00:39:57.360 We'll get a whole lot of that and much more.
00:39:59.300 See you there.
00:39:59.720 See you there.