The Matt Walsh Show - Why Did Fun American Neighborhoods Vanish？ This Might Be The Reason

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00:00:30.000 Now that we live in a wonderful world of ubiquitous statistics where virtually everything is tracked

00:00:35.960 from the real-time biometrics of NFL players to the precise amount of time you spent listening to

00:00:40.920 Spotify while you were on the toilet last year, it's easy to fall into the trap of worshiping

00:00:47.180 data and raw information. At no point in American history have we been able to quantify so many

00:00:53.240 different aspects of day-to-day life, which is probably not a healthy thing. Prediction markets,

00:00:59.320 draft kings, AI assistants, they all contribute to the quantification of everything.

00:01:05.280 And one inevitable side effect of this development is that we've all developed a real blind spot

00:01:09.840 for massive signs of civilizational decay that are very difficult, if not impossible, to measure

00:01:16.400 in a scientific way. I'm talking about ways in which our life is clearly getting worse,

00:01:21.600 and everybody knows it, even though there's no widely recognized peer-reviewed metric to prove it

00:01:27.320 exactly. Now we've talked in the past about various manifestations of this decline, including the

00:01:31.680 quality of restaurant food and the quality of children's entertainment all going down, but maybe

00:01:35.940 the best example of what I'm talking about is the death of neighborliness and fun neighborhoods.

00:01:41.000 It's a very real issue that's almost never talked about. When did neighborhoods, even suburban

00:01:46.680 neighborhoods and nice areas, become such cold, uninviting, antisocial places? Why is it that if

00:01:53.280 you're a typical American living in a suburb, you probably don't have a great place to take your

00:01:56.880 kids to hang out? You don't have good friends on the block. You don't spend a lot of time at local

00:02:02.200 events. You might not even know your, you might have never even spoken to your neighbors.

00:02:06.020 Now it was more than 25 years ago that a political scientist named Robert Putnam wrote the book

00:02:10.240 Bowling Alone about the decline of social capital and meaningful relationships in America.

00:02:14.560 And to this day, that's still the book that's always brought up when people try to have this

00:02:19.540 conversation. University professors are still citing Putnam's findings about how Americans

00:02:24.440 aren't joining civic groups and bowling leagues and so on. But the decline has only gotten much,

00:02:29.580 much worse over the past 25 years. And remember, he wrote this before things like social media,

00:02:34.880 before our life, before our lives had migrated fully to the internet. He had already spotted this

00:02:43.560 problem. So think about how much worse it's gotten. And although you won't find the evidence

00:02:48.220 in a sociology textbook, it's all over the internet that this has gotten a lot worse. Consider the very

00:02:53.480 sad but increasingly popular TikTok genre of lonely Halloweens. This is something I noticed in my own

00:03:00.540 neighborhood as well over the past few years. Trick-or-treating in a lot of places is all but dead.

00:03:07.960 A lot of people have stopped putting up decorations or hosting gatherings entirely.

00:03:12.920 But even households that do want to participate in Halloween are coming to the realization that kids

00:03:17.260 aren't nearly as interested anymore. Watch.

00:03:20.540 They do this every year.

00:03:25.020 Why? Doesn't anyone love me?

00:03:27.560 How long is this going to take?

00:03:33.800 It's the full-size candy for trick-or-treaters.

00:03:38.480 Only three kids have showed up.

00:03:42.200 At least the house looks cool.

00:03:45.080 For my monster from his slab began to rise.

00:03:48.560 And suddenly, to my surprise,

00:03:51.640 he did the match.

00:03:52.540 My mom finally can afford to hand out candy to trick or treaters, 1.00

00:04:04.360 but no one cups that face still.

00:04:08.840 Another year with no trick-or-treat...

00:04:11.180 Oh, no.

00:04:13.160 Are you so sad?

00:04:15.580 No trick-or-treaters again this year?

00:04:17.860 So even the cat is depressed by the state of Halloween.

00:04:22.460 Can't take it anymore, right?

00:04:23.680 You know that this is a common issue

00:04:25.160 because some of the most popular videos on TikTok and YouTube

00:04:27.400 are about the fact that kids don't trick-or-treat anymore.

00:04:29.740 This video has more than 10 million views, for example.

00:04:32.640 Watch.

00:04:33.360 Instead of partying on Halloween, we give out candy every year.

00:04:35.700 Trick-or-treaters.

00:04:36.560 We haven't lived in this house long enough,

00:04:37.840 so we don't know if anyone's coming tonight.

00:04:39.240 I just bought a lot in case.

00:04:41.340 I even got healthy options.

00:04:43.360 What are you doing?

00:04:44.340 I'm setting up lights.

00:04:45.460 Why?

00:04:45.900 So they know where to come.

00:04:47.860 It's been an hour, and there's still no one.

00:04:50.080 We have all our candy still.

00:04:52.020 Can I have a piece of candy?

00:04:53.080 No.

00:04:53.520 Why?

00:04:54.100 The kids need the candy. 0.82

00:04:55.320 I don't think anyone's coming to our house

00:04:56.880 and Cobra's stress-baking.

00:04:58.840 I'm making snacks.

00:05:00.200 Okay.

00:05:00.960 It looks really good.

00:05:02.140 Whatever happened at Halloween spirit?

00:05:04.220 This very simple and straightforward 30-second video

00:05:06.380 is half the viewership of the finale of Game of Thrones,

00:05:09.360 and that's because it resonates.

00:05:11.120 It's an experience everybody relates to.

00:05:13.440 Everyone knows this kind of thing is happening at scale.

00:05:15.880 We can all detect it,

00:05:18.180 even if there are no studies that bear it out.

00:05:20.380 We can all see it, but we don't really know why.

00:05:22.560 Now, for Halloween specifically,

00:05:23.660 there are a lot of theories as to why young people

00:05:25.900 aren't interested in trick-or-treating anymore.

00:05:28.620 Maybe they're more interested in spending time on their cell phones

00:05:30.860 than interacting with anybody in the real world.

00:05:33.380 The COVID lockdowns, which forced children to become antisocial,

00:05:36.280 obviously didn't help in that regard.

00:05:38.300 There's also the fact that our culture has been trending heavily

00:05:40.720 towards irony and cynicism,

00:05:42.840 and therefore insecurity is at an all-time high.

00:05:46.180 Goofy traditions,

00:05:47.940 traditions like where you go out in public 0.98

00:05:49.620 in a ridiculous costume and interact with strangers, 0.55

00:05:52.280 have fallen out of favor 0.92

00:05:53.660 because they're considered embarrassing or uncool.

00:05:56.020 So kids would rather stay inside,

00:05:57.560 play video games, watch TikTok and YouTube videos,

00:06:00.040 where they can watch an infinite number of other people

00:06:02.440 being torn down and judged and ridiculed

00:06:05.120 for one reason or another.

00:06:07.200 Now, if you don't spend a lot of time in the world of TikTok,

00:06:10.180 then you really have no idea how bad things have gotten.

00:06:13.200 There's a whole genre of video called

00:06:15.420 Pop the Balloon and Find Love, for example.

00:06:18.640 It's like speed dating mixed with a game show.

00:06:21.360 And in one incarnation of this concept,

00:06:23.120 a preppy-looking host interviews a student,

00:06:25.400 usually a guy, outside of his dorm room.

00:06:28.100 And there's a bunch of girls lined up against the wall 1.00

00:06:30.020 watching the interview with balloons,

00:06:31.640 which they pop as soon as they hear something they don't like.

00:06:34.040 The idea is that if any girl is holding a balloon by the end of it, 1.00

00:06:37.580 then the guy gets the chance to go out with her.

00:06:39.960 But invariably, the guy says something extremely inconsequential

00:06:42.400 that his audience doesn't approve of,

00:06:44.260 and the girls pop the balloons

00:06:45.740 and make some judgmental comments and walk away.

00:06:48.500 That's the entire concept.

00:06:50.300 Every one of these videos gets millions of views,

00:06:52.200 if not tens of millions.

00:06:53.780 The audience is predominantly children.

00:06:57.440 And here's just one of the videos.

00:07:04.040 Welcome to Pop the Balloon.

00:07:06.120 Can I have you stand right here?

00:07:07.160 We're here with?

00:07:08.200 Zach.

00:07:08.800 Zach, all right.

00:07:10.560 All right, we're all good so far.

00:07:11.960 What's your job?

00:07:13.120 My job?

00:07:13.860 Yeah.

00:07:14.620 Do you have one?

00:07:15.160 I'm unemployed.

00:07:17.080 Oh my God, wrong eye out.

00:07:18.500 Okay, okay.

00:07:19.340 Why'd you pop?

00:07:20.100 Because we need an employed man.

00:07:22.220 Okay, why'd you pop?

00:07:23.480 Because he has to be employed.

00:07:25.340 Can we have the final three come right here?

00:07:27.140 Um, what's your dream date?

00:07:29.040 You know, we go to downtown.

00:07:30.620 Oh, okay.

00:07:31.160 A little early.

00:07:31.960 You know, get something to eat.

00:07:32.880 Oh.

00:07:33.500 And then after, we go to, um, Sunset Cliffs.

00:07:36.600 Oh.

00:07:37.100 Watch the sunset.

00:07:38.840 Okay, why'd you pop?

00:07:40.460 It's just so, like, cliche romantic, like, boring.

00:07:43.280 Okay, well, you're cliche too.

00:07:44.420 You need something more unique than that.

00:07:46.220 Okay, you can get out of here too.

00:07:47.220 All right, we have our winners.

00:07:49.740 No kiss, no kiss.

00:07:51.120 Oh, yeah. 0.57

00:07:52.260 Any culture in which trashy videos like this

00:07:54.360 get 10 million views or more,

00:07:55.780 which this one did,

00:07:57.140 is not going to have many kids dressing up 0.68

00:07:59.320 in silly little costumes

00:08:00.260 and going out with their parents 0.98

00:08:01.600 and knocking on doors for candy. 0.98

00:08:03.440 Videos like this are a sign of a culture

00:08:05.000 that's preoccupied with being judgmental

00:08:07.680 and sarcastic at every opportunity.

00:08:10.140 And it used to be that 0.99

00:08:11.120 if you wanted to watch garbage like this, 0.96

00:08:13.140 it meant that you were unemployed 0.99

00:08:14.220 and sitting on your couch at 10 a.m.

00:08:15.640 watching Jerry Springer

00:08:16.580 or something like that.

00:08:18.120 Now children and young adults

00:08:19.320 are watching this kind of stuff

00:08:21.420 all the time in huge numbers.

00:08:22.860 And when you zoom out

00:08:23.560 beyond the context of Halloween,

00:08:24.760 that's a very bad omen

00:08:25.760 for neighborhoods in general.

00:08:27.400 Overly judgmental and sarcastic people

00:08:29.360 usually aren't good friends.

00:08:30.820 They don't want to spend time with you

00:08:31.940 and you don't want to spend time with them.

00:08:34.520 But these observations

00:08:35.100 still don't answer the fundamental question

00:08:36.640 of why our culture

00:08:37.620 has transformed like this

00:08:38.820 and why neighborhoods

00:08:39.540 have become so antisocial.

00:08:41.260 Why is it more common than ever

00:08:42.620 for everyone,

00:08:43.880 especially young people,

00:08:44.980 to hunker down 1.00

00:08:46.080 and watch dumb videos on the internet 1.00

00:08:47.480 rather than engage 0.99

00:08:48.260 with their communities?

00:08:48.980 Recently, I came across this video

00:08:50.360 from a man returning to his hometown

00:08:52.480 in Pomona, California

00:08:54.980 and he identifies the problem immediately.

00:08:57.400 Watch.

00:08:58.360 So this is the home

00:08:59.860 that I spent most of my childhood in.

00:09:04.320 When I lived here,

00:09:05.640 none of these fences were here.

00:09:08.160 My neighborhood now

00:09:09.660 is not like it used to be.

00:09:13.440 All these fences and palm trees weren't here.

00:09:16.140 You could run from yard to yard

00:09:17.820 through each another's yard.

00:09:19.660 All my friends,

00:09:20.500 we just run right through each neighborhood.

00:09:23.380 As you can tell,

00:09:25.260 this is what immigrant progress is.

00:09:29.600 This is where,

00:09:31.100 this is totally Hispanic now.

00:09:34.040 It's not even close to being

00:09:35.480 when I grew up.

00:09:37.680 This is where it is.

00:09:39.280 You see the screen doors with iron?

00:09:44.780 That's how they're living

00:09:46.140 in my old neighborhood.

00:09:47.680 They're locked in.

00:09:48.780 They're caged in.

00:09:50.160 They're living in a prison.

00:09:53.240 This is where my,

00:09:54.680 this is where my grandmother lived.

00:09:59.660 And all of this,

00:10:03.800 there was bushes in between each house,

00:10:06.240 but none of these gates,

00:10:07.860 none of the dogs,

00:10:09.540 this is a totally Latino neighborhood now.

00:10:12.040 Now, you don't see,

00:10:14.220 you don't see a neighborhood

00:10:17.100 that's welcoming now.

00:10:19.320 Certainly not like it was

00:10:20.900 in the 70s and 80s.

00:10:22.800 It's changed quite a bit.

00:10:25.060 Now, his firsthand observation

00:10:26.660 that higher immigrant populations

00:10:28.260 have made his community

00:10:29.560 more insular and more antisocial

00:10:31.640 is actually something

00:10:33.560 we do have data to support.

00:10:34.960 This is data that's fallen out of favor

00:10:36.520 in modern academia,

00:10:37.600 but 20 years ago was the consensus.

00:10:39.560 Earlier, I mentioned Robert Putnam

00:10:40.820 in his book, Bowling Alone.

00:10:41.880 But separate from that book,

00:10:42.660 Putnam also published findings

00:10:44.120 that clearly demonstrate

00:10:45.000 the effect of diversity

00:10:46.760 on community engagement.

00:10:49.000 And the New York Times,

00:10:49.740 of all places,

00:10:50.380 promoted his work.

00:10:51.400 Here's what they wrote.

00:10:52.700 Quote,

00:10:53.000 Harvard political scientist

00:10:54.100 Robert Putnam has found

00:10:55.280 that the greater the diversity

00:10:56.700 in a community,

00:10:57.940 the fewer people vote

00:10:59.100 and the less they volunteer,

00:11:00.760 the less they give to charity

00:11:01.740 and work on community projects.

00:11:03.000 In the most diverse communities,

00:11:04.660 neighbors trust one another

00:11:05.960 about half as much

00:11:06.840 as they do

00:11:07.160 in the most homogenous settings.

00:11:08.300 The study,

00:11:09.440 the largest ever

00:11:10.060 on civic engagement

00:11:10.820 in America,

00:11:11.700 found that virtually

00:11:12.160 all measures of civic health

00:11:13.860 are lower

00:11:14.680 in more diverse settings.

00:11:17.040 Now, Putnam

00:11:17.480 conducted his research

00:11:19.500 by sending surveys

00:11:20.660 to 41 different U.S. communities

00:11:23.140 and he asked residents

00:11:24.740 about, you know,

00:11:25.820 how much they trusted

00:11:27.100 their neighbors.

00:11:28.060 He found that people

00:11:28.680 living in more diverse communities,

00:11:30.220 quote,

00:11:30.960 tend to distrust

00:11:32.080 their neighbors

00:11:32.520 regardless of the color

00:11:33.360 of their skin

00:11:33.900 to withdraw

00:11:34.800 even from close friends

00:11:36.220 to expect the worst

00:11:37.840 from their community

00:11:38.440 and its leaders

00:11:38.960 to volunteer less,

00:11:40.780 give less to charity

00:11:41.460 and work on community projects

00:11:42.500 less often,

00:11:43.180 to register to vote less,

00:11:44.520 to agitate for social reform more,

00:11:46.880 but have less faith

00:11:47.680 that they can actually

00:11:48.220 make a difference

00:11:48.700 and to huddle unhappily

00:11:50.140 in front of the television.

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00:11:57.100 and find yourself

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00:12:55.260 As Putnam worded it,

00:12:57.220 quote,

00:12:57.380 people living in ethnically

00:12:58.540 diverse settings

00:12:59.360 appear to hunker down,

00:13:00.620 that is,

00:13:01.500 to pull in like a turtle.

00:13:03.880 And it wasn't just Putnam

00:13:04.720 who came to this conclusion,

00:13:06.580 quote,

00:13:07.060 economist Matthew Kahn

00:13:08.360 of UCLA

00:13:09.640 and Dora Costa

00:13:10.460 of MIT

00:13:11.340 reviewed 15 recent studies

00:13:12.780 on a 2003 paper,

00:13:13.820 all of which linked diversity

00:13:14.900 with lower levels

00:13:15.740 of social capital.

00:13:17.040 Greater ethnic diversity

00:13:18.080 was linked, for example,

00:13:19.060 to lower school funding,

00:13:20.820 census response rates,

00:13:22.000 and trust in others.

00:13:23.040 Other research documented

00:13:24.720 higher desertion rates

00:13:26.180 in the civil war

00:13:27.300 among Union Army soldiers

00:13:29.000 serving in companies

00:13:29.880 whose soldiers varied more

00:13:31.480 by age, occupation,

00:13:32.620 and birthplace.

00:13:34.540 Now, again,

00:13:35.060 all these studies

00:13:35.980 are from 2003 or so.

00:13:37.240 It's become extremely

00:13:37.880 unfashionable

00:13:38.660 to make this kind of point

00:13:40.340 in public.

00:13:41.720 But recently,

00:13:42.460 as you may have seen,

00:13:43.360 J.D. Vance

00:13:44.040 went ahead and did it anyway.

00:13:46.400 Watch.

00:13:47.440 Let's say a family of five

00:13:49.400 that you've known

00:13:49.900 for five years,

00:13:50.840 10 years,

00:13:51.680 moves out of a house,

00:13:52.600 is actually evicted

00:13:53.480 from the house

00:13:54.100 because there are people

00:13:54.960 who are going to pay

00:13:55.580 more for rent.

00:13:56.740 And then what happens

00:13:57.540 is 20 people

00:13:59.280 move into a three-bedroom house,

00:14:01.480 20 people from

00:14:02.240 a totally different culture, 0.80

00:14:04.040 totally different ways

00:14:04.960 of interacting.

00:14:06.320 Again,

00:14:06.640 we can respect their dignity

00:14:08.240 while also being angry

00:14:10.200 at the Biden administration

00:14:11.360 for letting that situation happen

00:14:13.180 and recognizing

00:14:14.340 that their next-door neighbors

00:14:15.540 are going to say,

00:14:16.040 well, wait a second.

00:14:16.920 What is going on here?

00:14:18.200 I don't know these people.

00:14:19.600 They don't speak

00:14:20.220 the same language

00:14:21.000 that I do.

00:14:21.680 And because there are 20

00:14:23.580 in the house next door,

00:14:24.820 it's a little bit rowdier

00:14:26.120 than it was

00:14:26.840 when there was just

00:14:27.380 a family of four,

00:14:28.340 a family of five.

00:14:29.280 It is totally reasonable

00:14:30.860 and acceptable

00:14:31.960 for American citizens

00:14:33.340 to look at their

00:14:34.560 next-door neighbors

00:14:35.240 and say,

00:14:35.880 I want to live next to people

00:14:37.580 who I have something

00:14:38.900 in common with.

00:14:39.860 I don't want to live next

00:14:41.060 to four families

00:14:42.480 of strangers.

00:14:43.560 There's a reason

00:14:44.320 that pretty much

00:14:44.720 every population,

00:14:45.680 whether they're in the suburbs,

00:14:46.840 in prison,

00:14:47.660 on a battlefield,

00:14:48.500 or anywhere,

00:14:48.900 tends to self-segregate

00:14:50.940 along the lines

00:14:51.600 of race,

00:14:52.200 national origin,

00:14:52.840 and all of that.

00:14:54.220 It's not because

00:14:54.700 they have some irrational

00:14:56.080 hatred of anyone else.

00:14:57.660 It's because they have

00:14:58.100 a rational preference

00:14:59.100 to be around people

00:15:00.080 who speak their language,

00:15:02.460 share a common history

00:15:03.300 and culture,

00:15:03.900 and behave in ways

00:15:05.340 that they expect

00:15:06.300 people to act.

00:15:07.640 But for most Americans,

00:15:08.540 it's impossible

00:15:09.180 to find a community

00:15:09.880 like that at the moment.

00:15:11.720 And it's especially

00:15:12.360 hard for children.

00:15:13.960 Only around 20%

00:15:14.880 of the students

00:15:15.320 in California public schools

00:15:16.380 are white.

00:15:17.600 Only around 30%

00:15:18.500 of the children

00:15:18.860 in Texas are white.

00:15:19.880 Not too long ago,

00:15:20.620 those numbers

00:15:21.000 were north of 90%.

00:15:22.360 So it's harder

00:15:23.200 for kids to make friends

00:15:24.480 due to demographic change,

00:15:25.660 and it's harder

00:15:26.080 for their parents

00:15:26.880 to connect

00:15:27.440 with other parents

00:15:28.180 as well.

00:15:29.820 So what Vance said

00:15:30.600 should be completely

00:15:31.360 uncontroversial,

00:15:32.200 but it wasn't.

00:15:32.680 It sparked a week-long

00:15:33.560 outrage cycle,

00:15:34.600 which included this response

00:15:35.940 from Zoran Mamdani,

00:15:37.220 the Muslim socialist

00:15:38.120 who has now taken over

00:15:39.320 the city of New York.

00:15:41.000 This language

00:15:41.880 from the vice president

00:15:43.060 of this country,

00:15:44.260 it betrays so much

00:15:47.420 of the promise

00:15:48.080 that we have

00:15:48.760 as a nation.

00:15:50.580 And I stand here

00:15:52.420 in Diversity Plaza

00:15:53.440 proud to be

00:15:56.000 an immigrant New Yorker.

00:15:57.560 Proud to call

00:15:58.800 this borough my home.

00:16:00.340 A borough where

00:16:01.220 there are more languages

00:16:02.100 spoken than most cities

00:16:03.260 in the world.

00:16:04.320 And proud to be

00:16:05.800 on the precipice

00:16:06.420 of becoming

00:16:06.800 our first immigrant

00:16:07.540 mayor of the city

00:16:08.440 in generations.

00:16:09.760 And the fact

00:16:10.600 that the vice president

00:16:11.620 would view

00:16:12.680 someone speaking

00:16:14.140 a different language

00:16:14.900 in this country

00:16:15.580 as something

00:16:16.120 that

00:16:17.020 should be avoided,

00:16:21.520 as something

00:16:22.060 that

00:16:23.000 could be pushed

00:16:26.700 out of our reality.

00:16:28.660 It is

00:16:29.260 so emblematic

00:16:32.060 of the politics

00:16:32.800 that we are trying

00:16:34.060 to show a contrast

00:16:35.000 to a politics

00:16:35.800 that has room

00:16:36.520 for each and every person

00:16:37.640 who calls the city off.

00:16:38.780 What Mamdani

00:16:39.360 doesn't want to say,

00:16:40.120 although he clearly

00:16:40.640 believes it,

00:16:41.620 is that he's also

00:16:42.660 a proponent

00:16:43.540 of homogenous neighborhoods.

00:16:45.840 He just wants

00:16:46.480 homogenous neighborhoods 0.95

00:16:47.560 without white people, 0.98

00:16:49.040 which is why he plans

00:16:50.080 to raise taxes

00:16:50.800 on white people

00:16:51.420 to force as many 0.99

00:16:52.360 of them out

00:16:52.920 of the city

00:16:53.400 as possible.

00:16:54.520 We went on your website

00:16:55.840 and realized

00:16:56.720 there's a policy proposal

00:16:57.880 that says your plan,

00:16:58.900 and I'm going to

00:16:59.600 quote it for folks,

00:17:00.640 is to shift

00:17:01.200 the tax burden

00:17:02.040 from overtaxed homeowners

00:17:03.780 in the outer boroughs

00:17:05.000 to more expensive homes

00:17:06.740 in richer

00:17:07.400 and whiter neighborhoods.

00:17:09.160 Explain why you are

00:17:10.880 bringing race

00:17:12.040 into your tax proposal.

00:17:13.960 That is just

00:17:14.420 a description

00:17:15.420 of what we see

00:17:16.400 right now.

00:17:17.100 It's not driven

00:17:17.680 by race,

00:17:18.200 it's more of an assessment

00:17:19.020 of what neighborhoods

00:17:19.900 are being undertaxed

00:17:20.860 versus overtaxed.

00:17:21.880 So no plans

00:17:22.780 to change that language

00:17:23.660 on your website?

00:17:25.500 The focus here

00:17:26.740 is to actually ensure

00:17:28.000 a fair property tax system,

00:17:29.540 and the use of that language

00:17:30.660 is just an assessment

00:17:31.360 of the neighborhood.

00:17:32.080 All right.

00:17:32.380 This is how Mom Donnie 1.00

00:17:33.720 is planning to sell

00:17:35.020 the large-scale replacement

00:17:36.300 of whites in New York,

00:17:37.440 which has already been

00:17:38.660 well underway

00:17:39.260 for the better part

00:17:39.940 of a century.

00:17:40.640 According to data

00:17:41.260 from the mayor's office,

00:17:42.500 one in five New Yorkers

00:17:43.400 can't speak the English language.

00:17:44.780 40% weren't born

00:17:45.820 in this country.

00:17:46.900 If you encounter

00:17:47.420 a random New Yorker

00:17:48.240 on the street,

00:17:48.680 there's a good chance

00:17:49.240 he can't understand

00:17:49.800 a word you're saying,

00:17:51.220 hates everything you stand for,

00:17:53.060 and survives off

00:17:53.920 your tax dollars.

00:17:55.440 And yet in New York,

00:17:56.240 40% of people living

00:17:57.220 in rent-controlled housing

00:17:58.260 are foreign-borns,

00:17:59.540 and so Americans

00:18:00.420 are paying for these people,

00:18:02.380 who despise us,

00:18:04.060 can't relate to us

00:18:04.940 in any meaningful way,

00:18:06.700 yet we're paying for them

00:18:07.440 to take our property from us.

00:18:09.180 If you're an American

00:18:10.020 who wants to rent

00:18:11.060 a tiny one-bedroom apartment

00:18:12.240 in New York,

00:18:13.060 you'll easily spend

00:18:14.420 more than $2,000 a month,

00:18:16.200 and many tenants

00:18:16.860 in rent-controlled units

00:18:17.760 pay less than half of that.

00:18:20.220 This phenomenon

00:18:20.800 is not just playing out

00:18:22.520 in New York.

00:18:22.940 We've talked at length

00:18:23.640 about communities

00:18:24.160 like Dearborn and Minneapolis,

00:18:25.620 but it's far more

00:18:26.260 widespread than that.

00:18:27.100 Patients and Somalis 1.00

00:18:27.960 have seized control

00:18:28.740 of entire communities

00:18:29.480 in Ohio and Washington State,

00:18:31.000 for example,

00:18:31.500 and in southern states

00:18:32.220 including Tennessee,

00:18:33.100 Kentucky,

00:18:33.620 North and South Dakota,

00:18:34.980 Maryland, and so on.

00:18:36.060 The population of Hispanics

00:18:37.420 has grown drastically,

00:18:39.240 often by more than 200%,

00:18:41.100 just the last two decades.

00:18:43.120 The trajectory is bad,

00:18:44.460 and it's getting worse.

00:18:46.000 Whites are no longer 0.99

00:18:47.280 the majority of births

00:18:48.200 in many states.

00:18:49.280 Leave it to Meaver

00:18:49.880 is basically a foreign concept

00:18:51.400 for a foreign country now.

00:18:54.260 Who voted for that,

00:18:55.080 by the way?

00:18:56.200 Well, we all know

00:18:56.960 the answer to that question.

00:18:58.500 More than any other

00:18:59.400 single factor,

00:19:00.080 this is the reason

00:19:00.920 that neighborliness has died.

00:19:03.060 This is the reason

00:19:03.640 that communities have decayed

00:19:04.880 and neighborhoods

00:19:05.380 have become insular.

00:19:07.220 We have much less in common

00:19:08.400 with one another

00:19:09.040 than ever before.

00:19:10.640 And it's not simply

00:19:11.460 that we're importing

00:19:12.140 more immigrants.

00:19:13.000 It's that the foreigners 1.00

00:19:13.760 we're importing

00:19:14.400 are nothing like the Irish 1.00

00:19:16.280 or the Germans 0.98

00:19:16.820 or the Brits.

00:19:17.340 They're people who harbor 0.67

00:19:18.100 a deep and abiding disdain

00:19:19.600 for this country

00:19:20.180 and come from cultures

00:19:20.940 that are completely alien

00:19:22.640 to our own,

00:19:23.500 that have nothing in common

00:19:24.340 with ours.

00:19:25.980 And therefore,

00:19:26.560 more Americans,

00:19:27.160 including children,

00:19:27.680 are turning to the internet

00:19:28.500 and social media

00:19:29.200 for a faint proxy

00:19:30.680 of real social interaction

00:19:32.920 and community.

00:19:34.240 25 years ago,

00:19:35.020 Robert Putnam

00:19:35.620 sounded the alarm about this.

00:19:37.400 He predicted exactly

00:19:38.220 what would happen.

00:19:39.460 And rather than address

00:19:40.420 what he said,

00:19:41.060 his more controversial conclusions

00:19:42.700 were memory hold.

00:19:44.580 As a result,

00:19:45.380 everyone in this country,

00:19:46.960 particularly people

00:19:47.640 who wish they lived

00:19:48.660 in a better neighborhood,

00:19:49.960 are now suffering

00:19:50.780 the inevitable consequences.

The Matt Walsh Show - December 29, 2025

Why Did Fun American Neighborhoods Vanish？ This Might Be The Reason

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