The Matt Walsh Show - February 17, 2024


Is Shaq Right About Women？ [Weekly Walsh Original]


Episode Stats

Length

6 minutes

Words per Minute

187.98874

Word Count

1,202

Sentence Count

109

Misogynist Sentences

7

Hate Speech Sentences

7


Summary

In this episode, we discuss Shaquille O'Neal's recent comments that men should never be emotionally vulnerable in front of a woman, ever, under any circumstances. We also talk about why Shaq thinks men should be emotionally unavailable to women.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 We're going to talk about male-female relationship dynamics again,
00:00:03.340 as we often do during this segment of the show.
00:00:05.540 But this time, it will be the first time that the conversation begins with Shaquille O'Neal.
00:00:10.020 Recently, Shaq made some comments on his podcast, that he apparently has a podcast.
00:00:15.140 During the course of the conversation, the NBA legend cautioned men
00:00:17.720 that they should never be emotionally vulnerable in front of a woman,
00:00:21.240 ever under any circumstance, according to him.
00:00:23.500 Here's his reasoning, watch.
00:00:25.000 Yeah, once you start complaining and dragging your feet...
00:00:27.380 She don't want to hear no complaints.
00:00:28.460 The day you come home and think, you could be like,
00:00:31.900 baby, I was down, I lost it.
00:00:34.100 She's going to be stroking your ego, but she's going to remember that time.
00:00:36.960 You cannot let them see you one time down.
00:00:40.400 The world can't see your head down one time.
00:00:42.620 Ever.
00:00:43.980 So I'd help you stay up.
00:00:45.020 I want you both to know that you can.
00:00:48.100 No.
00:00:48.460 And I know that you've experienced...
00:00:50.460 Cannot.
00:00:52.020 I don't want to get into, like, Dr. Phil shit right now.
00:00:54.860 No, but I think...
00:00:55.740 You don't think you've ever had someone that you really could trust
00:00:57.800 and really open up.
00:00:59.400 Now, if you want to give somebody else some coochie all the time,
00:01:01.980 you know what I'm saying?
00:01:02.380 I'm just saying, if you want a bad one, I'm just being real soon.
00:01:05.720 No, I guess.
00:01:06.280 Open up to a woman?
00:01:07.640 Yeah.
00:01:07.860 Never.
00:01:08.480 No, never.
00:01:09.820 When's the last time you think you've opened up to a woman?
00:01:11.820 We don't.
00:01:13.500 Your whole life?
00:01:14.520 Bro, I'm going to tell you.
00:01:15.860 You know, I've got players like...
00:01:17.440 I can...
00:01:18.160 Me and him related.
00:01:19.440 Yeah.
00:01:19.820 It's a fair time meme, but I did.
00:01:21.160 Yeah, I can tell you.
00:01:21.620 There is some connection here.
00:01:23.180 Oh, no.
00:01:23.880 And they going to tell you you can't.
00:01:25.200 Because you know why?
00:01:26.880 Because once you do, whenever something go down,
00:01:30.180 they're going to throw it back in your face.
00:01:31.380 Well, that's...
00:01:31.840 I've had that.
00:01:32.580 That's real.
00:01:33.240 That's why.
00:01:33.880 So you can't ever...
00:01:34.840 That's why you cry because your dad left.
00:01:36.480 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:01:37.140 So you should never open up to a woman,
00:01:39.260 because if you do, the woman will store that moment away in her brain
00:01:42.460 and throw it back in your face at some point in the future.
00:01:46.000 My dad!
00:01:46.840 That's the argument Shaq is making.
00:01:48.660 Interestingly, there's one guy of the three
00:01:50.560 who initially takes the position that you can
00:01:52.400 and should be emotionally vulnerable with women.
00:01:54.860 But even he, by the end,
00:01:56.140 admits that he has personally had the experience
00:01:58.200 of having his vulnerability used against him
00:02:00.160 by a woman that he had opened up to.
00:02:02.680 Shut the f*** up.
00:02:04.800 We should note that Shaq is divorced
00:02:07.080 and therefore not necessarily the sort of man
00:02:09.280 that you should consult for relationship advice.
00:02:11.400 He's also making a general statement
00:02:12.780 that seems to be informed more by his own personal experience
00:02:15.500 than by any broader insight into male-female dynamics.
00:02:18.080 But with those caveats, there is still some truth to what he's saying.
00:02:21.840 And the truth is very important to understand.
00:02:23.600 First of all, some of the sort of angry reactions to Shaq's comments
00:02:26.800 ironically lends validity to the very point
00:02:29.540 that the angry people are arguing against.
00:02:31.840 Congratulations, you played yourself.
00:02:33.940 By Shaq saying that you can't open up to women
00:02:36.360 because they'll throw it in your face,
00:02:38.320 he is himself opening up.
00:02:40.320 He's obviously talking about his own experiences.
00:02:42.600 And it's an experience that many men,
00:02:44.780 as you can also see in the comments about this clip, have had.
00:02:47.220 So once again, we see how society says men should open up.
00:02:50.760 And then a man does open up.
00:02:52.380 And society responds, not like that.
00:02:54.900 It's apparently Shaq's experience that his emotions are used against him
00:02:58.040 by the women in his life.
00:02:59.840 To yell at him for sharing that experience
00:03:01.660 is to say that he should not have shared it.
00:03:03.780 So which is it?
00:03:04.420 Hey champ, that's really interesting.
00:03:06.480 Next time, keep it to yourself.
00:03:08.320 The problem with Shaq's point is that it's too absolute.
00:03:11.300 He says, well, never open up. Never, ever.
00:03:12.800 Well, if you never open up to a woman at all,
00:03:15.960 then you'll be entirely emotionally closed off.
00:03:18.360 This is an extreme level of stoicism that even I find excessive
00:03:22.280 because your wife married a human being, not a tree stump.
00:03:25.140 You need to have some emotion or there will be no connection,
00:03:28.120 no understanding between the two of you.
00:03:30.040 And then there can't be a real relationship.
00:03:31.640 But these days we've gone way too far in the other direction, right?
00:03:33.960 We've massively overcorrected as we have with pretty much everything else.
00:03:36.720 And men are encouraged in theory, in theory.
00:03:40.040 Yes, again, in theory.
00:03:41.720 To be completely vulnerable, to air all of their fears and anxieties,
00:03:45.720 to be sensitive, to cry.
00:03:47.720 Society bids a man to be as emotional as a woman
00:03:51.060 because society denies that there's any essential difference between the two.
00:03:54.460 Why? Why is this happening to you? Why?
00:03:58.900 And then when a man accepts this invitation,
00:04:01.960 he quickly discovers that it doesn't work in practice the way it works in theory.
00:04:05.920 And that's because men are supposed to be strong, resilient, self-contained,
00:04:11.880 and to a large degree, though not absolutely, more stoic.
00:04:16.400 Consider this hypothetical.
00:04:18.020 Husband and wife are driving on a back road at night.
00:04:21.300 Car breaks down.
00:04:23.120 Maybe we'll throw in that you don't have cell reception.
00:04:26.280 It's a back road, so you're not able to call anybody.
00:04:28.000 The woman is frustrated, nervous, scared, maybe starts to cry.
00:04:32.620 And situations like this have played out a billion times.
00:04:34.920 There's nothing unusual about it.
00:04:36.180 Women often cry when they're frustrated, nervous, and scared.
00:04:39.500 On the other hand, imagine that they're driving down that same back road at night.
00:04:43.280 Car breaks down.
00:04:44.260 And the man starts to cry.
00:04:46.240 The woman in the seat next to him could be the most dedicated feminist in the world.
00:04:50.520 She could be as progressive and supposedly enlightened as they come.
00:04:54.680 But if he cries in that situation,
00:04:57.240 she will be extremely disturbed and frustrated and, frankly, disgusted.
00:05:00.920 And that's because, regardless of what anyone claims,
00:05:04.960 men are men.
00:05:05.960 They are not women.
00:05:07.080 And when push comes to shove, we expect men to act like men and not women.
00:05:11.280 So does that mean that he can't open up?
00:05:13.520 No, it doesn't always mean that.
00:05:15.100 He can open up sometimes, to some extent.
00:05:17.000 But if he opens up so much and so often that he begins to project a sense of weakness and instability,
00:05:22.460 then he will have gone too far.
00:05:23.660 You cannot be so vulnerable as a man that those who depend on you now also feel vulnerable.
00:05:29.880 It's tough, but that's what it means to be a man.
00:05:32.540 It's the gift we give to our families.
00:05:34.480 It's the most generous kind of gift.
00:05:36.340 Because it's the kind that they don't even know they're receiving most of the time.
00:05:40.620 But there's a lot of honor and dignity in that.
00:05:45.300 And anyway, that's why the people yelling at Shaquille O'Neal are today canceled.
00:05:53.660 Thank you.